data retention

Today the German parties CDU, CSU and SPD voted for data retention. From 2008 onwards it will be possible to trace who has contacted whom via telephone, mobile phone or e-mail for a period of six months. In the case of mobile calls or text messages via mobile phone, the user’s location will also be logged. Anonymising services will be prohibited.

The data that will be collected about the entire population will allow our movements to be traced, any calls or communications with business contacts to be monitored and will remove privacy in our personal relationships. It also allows the content of communications to be analyzed, content such as personal interests and the individual life circumstances of the person communicating. Access to the data is to be granted to the police, public prosecutors, secret services and foreign states which hope for better prosecution of crimes.

So for this sad day, my website turned black. rest in peace, german basic rights!


My 3rd half marathon – Bodensee (DE/AT)

I finished my third half-marathon just a few hours ago. The start was in Lindau (DE) and the finish in Bregenz (AT). Everything was very well organized (including a massage afterwards), the weather was great and our team was well prepared. Ok, I had some little problems with my shoelaces. But they didnt stopped me. This time I made it in less than 2 hours. The exact time is: 1:53:45. I expected something around 1:57:00, the more positive surprised am I now.

Now I can dare to start at a marathon. And so I registered for the Bonn-Marathon on April 20th, 2008 to fulfill my dream: finishing a marathon.


Istanbul reached

Hello from Istanbul,

we (Christian, Jan, Robert, Georg and I) arrived today in Istanbul. After 25 days and round about 2600 kilometers we finished our big tour without big problems. Now I have 3 days to enjoy Istanbul and prepare my bike for the flight back to germany.

See you all there again. Bye.


Summer vacation

Today, I switched on the “out of office” reply for my emails, because I’m taking some weeks off.

I’m going to travel by bike from Salzburg to Istanbul. This isn’t a “vacation” for you? But for me it is. Relieve stress, see some new places and meet nice people is all I expect from my vacations. And I can hardly wait to get on the first stage.

So you want to know where we, yes I’m not cycling alone, are right now? You can find the current status regularly updated on our website: Orient-Express en vélo. A Google map is also available.


My new baby

My new baby is the Samsung GX-10D SLR camera. Which is pretty much the same than the Pentax K10D except the right hand grip, which fits better for me. So now it is time to set up a cool gallery system, which plays well together with WordPress, to show you the cool photos I will take in future.