GluttonFest 2011

Kim went to Zurich with Allison on Saturday so the kids and I headed out to a local American Style restaurant.

Xavier went with the burger. The best burger we have purchased at a restaurant so far. It was good but not a good as burgers from the states.

Izzi went with the ribs. Ribs have been her favorite thing to order in a restaurant for a few years. She enjoyed them but said they weren't as good as Famous Daves.

I went with the crispy wings, again pretty good but not great. In addition we had fries and onion rings and a couple of Rivelas. We managed to put away about 90% of what was on our plates. It amazes me what can fit in those little bodies when they get something they are craving.

29% Raise!

Not really.

When I came here in November of 2009, the exchange rate was 86 cents to 1 CHF. Now the exchange is $1.11 to 1 CHF. You would think that the increase in value of the Frank would result in lower prices. So far that does not appear to be the case. I haven't noticed in movement in the cost of goods even with the signifacant increase in value.

For the most part, the exchange rate doesn't really matter anyway since we live here. I just find it interesting that the prices of goods in Switzerland is fairly static regardless of global currency exchange. I'm sure there is some economist that could explain it to me, but at this point I haven't been able to determine why prices haven't decreased.

Zvieri: Afternoon Snack

Morning and afternoon snack happen like clockwork in most Swiss homes. I've come to follow it myself most days, and most definitely when the kids have friends over.

Last Friday, Xavier went to a friends after school. The day was sunny and gorgeous, and Izzi and I were invited to join the family and some of their friends for "zvieri" on their patio. I was enjoying the sun and the coffee way too much to get any good photos, but here is one of Iz and Xav eating their fire-roasted bananas stuffed with chocolate.

Fasnacht (Carnival) 2011 Bern

Both kids dressed up for their school's Fasnacht celebration, unfortunately I didn't get any photos. Todd, Xavier and I also attended the parade in Bern - Izzi was at a friends birthday so missed out this year.

It is tradition to throw confetti on Fasnacht. Xavier had an exciting moment when he sprayed one of the trolls in the parade with silly string. The troll picked him up and dumped him into the cart of confetti they were pulling behind their group.


One of Izzi's several costumes for school celebration


Xavier at Bern parade

Friends

Just a couple of photos of friends in the neighborhood. Isaac is in class with Xavier and they play often. Anina and Matilda are the daughters of our good friends, Dominique and Werner.

Working Weekends

Every once in a while I need to work on the weekend. It isn't a big deal, it goes with the job. This was one of those weekends.

We have a delivery next week and are still in bug killing mode. I have a couple in my responsibility that I am attempting to slew. First one went fine, diagnosed the issue and have a plan to execute on Monday morning.

Second one, not so good.
Long story short, spent 8 hours at work today trying to solve an issue that if all the involved parties would just sit in a room together for 30 minutes and walk through the exact scenario and not bring up other issues, it could be solved. Instead I am back in tomorrow hoping to finally put this one down.

This defect has been around for over a week. There are at least 100 hours invested in it by various people/teams. There is an end 2 end owner of the system. If when this first came up, he just would have called 5 people together and sat down, this would have been done. Instead we have over 100 hours into it and we still don't have a solution.

OK, now I am just ranting, so I will quit.

Hamming It Up with Webcam

Fire Department Bill

Arrived today: 147chf. Not bad considering I paid 17chf for a movie ticket last night. Relieved.

Mail from the Fire Department

I received a letter from the Fire Department last week. I felt a little anxious as I opened it, but it turned out to be a survey. I was asked to rate the performance of the Fire Department in their service to me. The last question asked if I believed the fee charged to be reasonable. I guess that means there is a bill on the way...I'll let you know when it arrives:)

Kinder Creaviva

Sunday was grey and raining, so the kids and I spent the afternoon at the Paul Klee museum. For their Invent a World exhibit, kids were able to paint designs on large wooden blocks and then use their own, along with 500 or so others, to build something. We each painted all sides of a block and the kids built a small house.

http://www.paulkleezentrum.ch/ww/en/pub/web_root/kindermuseum_creaviva.cfm