i'm in tokyo, yay! after over a decade of wanting to drop by here i've finally made it. cool. had i remembered to bring my usb cable, this update would also be accompanied by some photos. whatever. i'll buy one somewhere soon... so, in short, i'm here for a two month a research visit to the user interface research group, where i am working on sketch-based model creation tools together with takeo igarashi. although i've only been here for a few days (the jetlag wasn't too bad) we've already been (conceptually) quite productive. but i'l try not to work all the time: this city has such a stylish, cool vibe to it, it would be a shame to not explore every now and then. especially for a videogame / anime freak like me. but, aside of oct. 3rd-10th (tokyo and vicinity sightseeing) and oct. 21st-27th (taking a train to kyoto, osaka and a bit more south) it'll be mostly work. very, very interesting work. i'm anxious to see what we can cook up during my stay.
expect some more updates in the next couple of weeks. perhaps even some older shots and stories, who knows. also, if any of my readers (if there are any) have ever been to tokyo / japan and have suggestions, please drop me a mail.
happy new year... yeah, right. incredible. i'm really, really not into the whole web blog thing anymore. weird. i used to enjoy it so much. i guess i also used to have much more time on my hands. or, in other words, i was bored more often. well, i prefer life without the boredom, but i'd also like to maintain this website a little bit. the real reason for this (and subsequent) updates: i talked to olga and eddy on the phone today, and they both independently noted that my personal page is somewhat out-of-date. true. and i have such a ton of stuff i could post. which leads to my dilemma: it's too much. so, one step at a time, here's a new piece of news. with only a tidbit of information (if any), and one (gorgeous) photo. this was taken during eddy and my trip through british columbia in march 2004.
i've been in lots of other places in the meanwhile, but more on that at a later date. but what i will mention here and now, is that all the work of the past autumn/winter was rewarded. both our SIGGRAPH paper and Eurographics state-of-the-art report have been accepted for publication this year. i'm all happy! check it out here. we also had an i3D paper, which led anders and me to washington d.c. and new york in april. and there's more traveling (los angeles and dublin) on the horizon. if i can squeeze it in, i'll also try to drop by eddy's place in montreal. and, well, lets see... lets just say i like visiting other countries and labs :-)
enough for today. but let me leave you with my favorite link these days. my fabulously inventive, quirky and frighteningly eloquent friend eric's haikufactory. enjoy. cheers.
what should i say, obviously i am not maintaining this website much anymore, as those of you still interested might have noticed. my bad. i mean, in the meantime, strongbad got a new laptop (!) and is still up to it, so i feel very obliged to breathe some life back into this place :-) the real reason: anders, marc and me just put out a new publication, so i couldn't just update the professional part without touching this as well... so in short: 2004 has been (and still is) absolutely and utterly awesome! i just got back from a six week research visit to tel aviv university (in the land where the sun always shines :-), have been all over the place before that, and am looking forward to some relaxed days around christmas and new year. if i find the time (yeah, right) i'll go into some more detail on 'my 2004', 'my moustached month' and all the other traveling, but not today. just so there is some new picture here, check out frozen lake louise in all its glory (taken march 2004).
so i'm still alive and kicking! major plans on the horizon involve lots of work (how new) for our siggraph submission (deadline: jan. 26th), chill out time with friends and family, (hopefully) lots of snowboarding in the alps between february and april, and more trips to tel aviv :-). hope things are going splendid for you all in the various corners of the globe! adios.
back from some wicked chinese food downtown. and thereafter we went for a few pints at jack kerouac's hangout, the vesuvio. i'm stuffed, bewildered and ready to chill out with a cold beer before calling it a day. this san francisco trip has been all i hoped it would be. a hushed reconfirmation that there are places i could go to someday. here some more shots from this sunny northern california day.
in retrospect, the foggy vision i had of this place from about a decade ago wasn't as far off as i had expected, which either means that my perception back then wasn't as clouded as i thought, or that i am still the same, somewhat immature dreamer. i'd like to think the truth dwells somewhere inbetween :)
in any case, it's time to say goodbye. my overnight greyhound for L.A. leaves tomorrow evening at 8pm. guess i'll not be getting around to any more updates before i get back to germany, which means that it will take forever till anything happens here again :) i *still* have to post pics and stories from march (!) in nelson, canada. this september. definitely. after i'm back from the computer animation symposium and eurographics in grenoble and the following trip to italy (with eddy) on september 13th. more summer ahead. hope you are all enjoying it as much as i am. cheers!
man, i'm actually getting live updates up these days. good on me :) today, ruperts brother justin took me on a gorgeous hike outside of the bay. it's rich peoples home: supposedly, robin williams lives in these parts of the world :) who can blame him? it's quite the sight to see!
naturally, i still have many more nice shots (and a few stories) to post, but first i have another (seafood) dinner scheduled with justin and suzanne. so, maybe later. bye.
what a day. i am so tired from extensive exploration. but i feel like posting some of my s.f. impressions from lombard street, union street, haight street, berkeley campus and fishermans wharf. enjoy. and good night!
on the go again. this time it's san francisco. a week of exploration before i head out to L.A. for this years siggraph conference. it's been ten years since i've been here last, and back then i didn't want to leave. didn't take long to realize why. an obvious resemblence with vancouver, the ocean, gorgeous scenery, and what a scene. the good life! i dropped by fishermans wharf and golden gate park (japanese garden) today. check it out.
i need a nap now, the jetlag is getting to me. we're heading out to fishermans wharf again later (10 min walk) for a seafood dinner (yum!). first: some more shots... these are taken on haight street, walking out of golden gate park towards downtown. the hippie community. such a relaxing scene, and they have good coffee! the following series is titled 'strolling down haight street' :)
uff. must power-nap. more to come as i find the time. unlikely :) but i'll try my best. my plans for the week: berkeley, rent a bike, cross the golden gate bridge to marin county, and simply hang, read and relax... hope all is well wherever you are. take care!
what a month! i left for crete on june 11th, where i spent nine days with andrei and tobias (traveling + graphics conference). right after that, the incredibly talented olga (from tel aviv) visited dreamstadt (which is olga and andrei's name for darmstadt) for a two and a half week research visit, during which we actually managed to launch a very cool project (hard work ;-). we left for a conference in nice on july 7th, from which i got back last sunday. now i'm sick. great. but it was soooo worth it! yeah, as usual, there are many, many pictures to post and comment on. that is, if i ever get around to it (which seems unlikely these days, given that i still haven't posted the winter shots...). as a teaser, take this for a great place to stay during a conference...
more to come... sometime. when? i really do not know. so many plans on the horizon: i leave for san francisco on july 31st. the plan then is to meet up with andrei for some pre-siggraph surfing in L.A.. siggraph goes from august 8th-12th, and after that, anders, andrei and i will hit las vegas for two nights. sounds like we might have fun :) darmstadt (well, my office) will see me from august 16th-25th, then i leave to meet up with eddy in grenoble for this years symposium on computer animation (aug. 27th-29th), where both of us will be presenting. the eurographics conference (also in grenoble) runs from aug. 30th till sept. 3rd. thereafter, eddy and i want to explore northern italy till sept. 13th, hopefully in its full autumn glory. i'll be back home for a while after that, with no teaching and hopefully lots of time for my own research and preparation. reason: i'm planning on staying in tel aviv for an extended research visit, probably from mid/end october on for about six weeks. by the time that's all done, 2004 will be almost over... with other cool events on the horizon! snowboarding anyone?
again, these past weeks have been some of the best i have had. such great memories... most of these are thanks to a very special person. thank you! this will be good, i'm sure :)
have a great summer, wherever you are! cheers.
i can't believe i still haven't posted the shots from my last canada trip. yeah, ed, shame on me! and no update will happen anytime soon: i'm off to crete this friday for a few days of rest and relaxation, and some more conference days. perhaps after that (june 21st) i'll get around to a proper update. maybe. summer has finally arrived, and that makes it kind of hard to sit at this box when it's not really necessary. but i have loads to write about, so it will be necessary soon... until then, take care!
ok. no big update just yet. martin and marc will be here soon to pick me up for the next round: party in mannheim. we'll see how that goes. big update with lots of pictures will follow tomorrow. anywho, here's a *nice* shot of three hedonists on their way to mayhem, taken at a party two weeks ago.
he·don·ism
n.
bad habits are hard to break. i need to update this site with the recent canada experience fast, or at least before i forget all the nice details :-) but then again, how could i possibly forget any of that? impossible. still, i'll get to it this coming weekend at the latest. stories and pictures. stay tuned. cheers.
what a slacker day! i've only been here for about 72 hours, but this place is really growing on me. incredible. making an already good day even better, i bumped into amber on my way to the coffee shop (oso negro, great coffee). our cuddling inspired eddy to take some *sweet* shots of us sweethearts :-)
she's such a fascinating person. ah yes, good times. anyway, since we had been out both previous nights, we looked kind of rough this morning and just jammed on the front porch to get over the aftermath. we also *prepared* the car for our roadtrip, which will commence tomorow. we're headed out to golden, where we'll snowboard kicking horse and lake louise. lake louise is also a sight to see, so we're planning on one full day of hiking there as well. if we find the time, the trip will lead us up to jasper national park. we shall see. here some freshly taken shots from to[slacker]day.
to briefly recap on the past nights... monday we were hunting for some good food, so we tried for the 'rice', a hip and very stylish restaurant with *very* good meals. so good. hm. they were already closing down, but invited us in, cooked for us and then partied with us. such great ambience and people. amber showed up as well, by coincidence. we've been crossing paths frequently these past days. nelson is really small :-). tuesday we started here at the house with a dinner party, gin tonic and red wine. megan (she runs the local hostel), cathy, duncan (couple from new zealand) and some more showed up. after dinner we hit mikes pub. and we hit it hard. many pitchers of beer later, we managed to get home and pass out. oh, and by the way, we males are totally outnumbered by the females in this place... :-)
time to hit the shower. have to go out, eat and socialize. todays menu: scallop and tempura sushi rolls with green curry seafood. oh yeah! seeya.
reached vancouver in one piece. stayed at the kommune for two days and hung out with paula, eric, hendrik, dave and david. always great to see good friends again. hopped a greyhound to nelson on sunday. took thirteen hours. but with pleasant company, time just bleeds away. i met amber on the trip and we exchanged life stories for hours. serendipity at its best.
nelson is such an incredibly cool place. like one giant kommune. the snow isn't as great as we had hoped for, but that really doesn't matter all that much. seriously. seeing eddy again, meeting people, hanging around in coffee shops and reading/playing go is all it takes to make my day. there's a cold front rolling in this weekend, so there's snowboarding ahead. which is necessary, as i got myself the best ride money can buy. a nitro darkhorse 162 with flow pro c fr/x-treme bindings and sweet salomon boots. so good. we hit the mountain on monday and it was pretty nice. more to come on that topic after we get back from banff and jasper, where eddy and i are headed out to from tomorrow on. sunday we're meeting up with some friends in golden/kicking horse for four days of riding, after that we'll hang in nelson some more. ah yes, nelson. did i already mention how good the vibe is? hehe. way too much fun. really. feels like home. i should stay.
hope all is well back home. seeya in a few weeks. have stuff to do until then. like recover from last night. yes, nelson nightlife is also way cool. nuff said. cheers.
so i'm off! the plane to vancouver leaves at 12.30pm tomorrow. the vacation i have longed for is finally here. oh yeah. meeting up with paula for sushi tomorrow evening. hmmmmm. sushi. saturday will be spent hunting for a new snowboard, but i already know what i'm looking for. i'm hopping a greyhound to nelson on sunday and then the two week boardathlon with eddy starts. motto: follow the powder! good times ahead :-)
life has been incredible in these past days, weeks and months thanks to my dear friends and family and all the fun we've had. laughs en masse. for this i am so grateful, and it's times like these to remember when things get rougher. surrounded by people i really, really trust. so cool. life is good. so good i'm expecting the bubble to pop any minute, but not just yet. time to explore this karma high.
it doesn't get much better than this.