Programming - 15.11.12

Today I finished my training class with IMA.  Everything went well.  At lunchtime I walked around the production floor again with Tobias.  On the door is a sign that says "fotografieren verboten".  It's kind of a bummer that I'm not allowed to photograph some of the coolest things I see.
I learned another cool word.  "Der Ruck".  It's the German word for "jerk".  No, not that kind of jerk.  It's what you ought to think about when you hear the word "jerk": the third derivative of position with respect to time.  Position, velocity, acceleration, jerk.  Position, Geschwindigkeit, Beschleunigung, Ruck.
In other news, another contribution of mine was approved for inclusion in WebKit today, which is in turn included in Chrome and Safari.  And it only took 5 months to go through the review process.  Woohoo!

No, I'm not in Lubeck - 14.11.12

This morning I got up early and was picked up by Ralf, who got up even earlier.  We drove down to Lübbecke, a little town by Osnabrück where the furniture manufacturing equipment manufacturer IMA Klessmann has its factory.  We went through some of my training materials all day.  I'm glad I prepared so well.  It's the first technical training I've ever done in German.  My language doesn't seem to be much of a hindrance (I can understand myself, anyways), but it's good to have Ralf dabei.
We took a few breaks, and on one break the engineers I'm training took me on a tour of the factory floor.  It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  There were people making everything from conveyors to robotic milling machines the size of my entire apartment.  Like the VW factory, I think every engineering student ought to see something like that.
At the end of the day, we went to a little Gasthof, where we'll spend the night.  I had a really hammer Jägerschnitzel.  I'm really tired and ready for bed.  A picture cannot adequately portray just how German this place looks and feels, but here's one anyway:

Vocabulary - 13.11.12

Typical Tuesday.  Traveled to train.  Typed.  Talked.  Trekked to teacher.  Talked.  Traveled to ... apartment. Ok, there's only so much you can say like that.  After lunch with the Grubers I went to my class in Hamburg and now I'm going to bed.
There's a new "German" word that I've heard several times all over Germany.  It's the verb "jailbreaken", most commonly used in its past participle form "gejailbreakt".  It seems to conjugate like other regular verbs.  I'll bet you can guess what it means.  It just sounds kind of goofy to hear someone ask, "Hej, hast du dein neues Smartphone gejailbreakt?"

FHE - 12.11.12

This morning I went to work as usual and spent the whole morning proofreading code.  There is a lot of code in this project, and I want to use what's already been done, but it all needs manual proofreading.  After lunch, though, I went and bought a suit.  I need a black suit for my choir concerts in a few weeks, and I wanted a black suit anyway, so I broke up the monotony of the day by going and buying one.  Ralf's wife Anke came with me.  It was good to have someone with me who knows a little about clothes.
After work I rode my bike to Pinneberg (about 10km away) for family home evening with some of the people in the area.  It was fun.  We ate dinner and talked a lot.  We only have an organized FHE once a month because the young single adults are so sparsely dispersed, and most of them live with their families anyway, but I'm glad I got to go.
I listened to some music as I rode my bike back, and I stopped in the middle of a field in the country to look at the stars, which I haven't noticed since I came to Germany.  I'm not usually in the country at night, and it's usually cloudy anyways.  I would've uploaded a picture, but I don't have a fancy camera, and it would've looked just like it does anywhere else.

Back Home - 11.11.12

I went to church in Friedrichsdorf this morning with the choir.  We had potatoes and salad for lunch, had one last choir practice, then we all got in cars and trains and went home.  We dropped off Simon in Hanover and Jan in Celle, then I was dropped off in Quickborn.  We talked and listened to music on the way.  It seems like everyone in the choir has been the best of friends their entire lives, and that is often literally the case, but I don't feel like an outcast.  I just feel like a new and welcome member of the choir.

Frankfurt - 10.11.12

The choir breakfasted and drove to Frankfurt to practice because a wedding reception kicked us out of the chapel right next to the temple.  We sang, ate, sang, ate, sang, talked, and sang.  We're getting better.  This is our last big practice before our Christmas concerts in December.  I'm really excited.
After practice, we played a little soccer in the gym and drove back to Friedrichsdorf where we'll sleep in the little hostel.  We ate some leftover wedding cake, and now we're talking, and we're about to go to bed.  I'm making a lot of new friends.

Road Trip - 9.11.12

This morning I got up and went to Hamburg.  I got there a few hours early, so I did some research for my paper at the city library.

 I met with my friends Jared and Mildred at the train station, and we drove to Frankfurt where we have choir practice for the Vocalis choir.  On the way we picked up Jan in Celle and Simon in Hannover.  Of course, on our way through Celle we stopped at the Bahlsen and Leibnitz outlet store and got some cheap chocolate and cookies.

In the car we talked about the choir, the election, Les Miserables, and many other things.  We got to Frankfurt in time for the last part of the practice, then we drove to Friedrichsdorf, where we're going to sleep.