lori's space

There is a really great word in German called Urlaubsreif.  It means to be in need of vacation.  Germans love their vacation and of course they actually have a word for this feeling or "condition."  In English, you need a whole phrase to explain it.  One of the benefits of working in Germany is that most people get 5-6 weeks of vacation every year and Germans make a point of actually using most or all of their vacation.  Supposedly makes them more productive at work.  I get 6 weeks of vacation at Microsoft and I've already used some of my vacation this year to go to Hawaii, Hong Kong, Egypt and Iowa/Chicago. I was on the road quite a bit from March to June for work and now I just need a break.  I'm very Urlaubsreif.  I considered staying at home for a couple of weeks and enjoying my apartment in Munich that I very rarely see, but I can't bring myself to do it.  As you can probably guess, traveling is one of my favorite hobbies.  Exploring some place new corner of the world, meeting new people or simply getting away from the everyday stress just makes me happy.

So what are my up and coming vacation plans?  This weekend I'm off to Zurich.  Will be my first time visiting the city.  In a couple of weeks I'll be spending the weekend in London with my lovely boyfriend visiting a friend o his.  Haven't been to London in a couple of year, so will be nice to go back again.  After that I'm off to Thailand for 2 weeks on my own.  I'm not sure what I am doing during those 2 weeks yet, but I'm going to reserve a hotel room in Bangkok for the first couple of night and then just wing it.  Maybe I'll go to Cambodia and see Angkor Wat.  Maybe I'll head up to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand and take a cooking class.  Or maybe I'll just head to an island in southern Thailand and find a great beach to relax.  Not sure how the weather will be when I am there.  Probably hot and humid, but I don't care.  I'm looking forward to the wonderful Thai food and all the Thai massages that I can handle.  Can't wait!  I was in Thailand back in 2005/2006 and had a wonderful time.  Below are some of my favorite photos from that trip.  You can see the rest of my photos on Flickr.

I'm back in Munich now doing a presentation for students from the University of Ulm.  I'm showing some of favorite features in the Windows Live Products and then what all you can do with the Windows Live Platform APIs, SDKs, and more.  This is just a little blog post to show how easy it is to work with Windows Live Writer.  And here is a map to show where Ulm ist located in Germany...

Dirk Primbs - Microsoft Developer Evangelist - and I have been on the road over the last two weeks doing Tech Talks throughout Germany.  Last week we were in Karlsruhe, Cologe and Berlin.  Last night we were in Munich and today in Hamburg.  I'm getting to see a lot of hotels and conference rooms here in Germany on this tour. 

In the TechTalk, we have been presenting a wide variety of Microsoft technologies and products from the Live Services and APIs to Popfly, Silverlight and lots of Microsoft Research Projects.  One of the things that I typically show in during the Tech Talk is the Windows Live Writer.  To demo it, I write a short blog post and then add a link and a map...which of course explains some the rather strange or half finished blog posts on my blog and my Live Space over the last couple weeks.  So to finish over the series right, I thought I would add one last map to my blog post to show where the beautiful city of Hamburg is located.  (Yes, this the city that I lived for 6 years before moving to Munich.)

Dirk and I are performing for the home crowd tonight.  We are in Munich for the fourth TechTalk in this series.  We've got some big competition this evening.  The weather is good and the beer gardens are most likely full.  The European Soccer Championships are also going on now.  At least Germany isn't playing tonight.  Otherwise it would be a really small crowd.  I'm sure most people have heard of Munich but how many outside of Germany can actually find it on a map.  Well, here it is just to make sure...

Dirk and I arrived in Berlin earlier today for our third TechTalk.  Both of us have been amazed at how much better the weather is here.  When we left Munich this morning, it was raining cats and dogs.  This afternoon we walked around Berlin, enjoyed the sun and took some photos.  Here is a little map, in case you aren't sure where it is located in Germany...