Michelangelo Antonioni R.I.P.

Workplace Satisfaction.

Would it be wrong to quit a job because they ran out of coffee? Because we're out right now. And I'm not pleased. Not even mildly amused.

Ingmar Bergman R.I.P.

Pizza of the Day & Contest Time

Today's pizza has big chunks of tofu, red peppers, green onions, olives and a whack of garlic. Oh yeah, and Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. And, it's almost round. And there's dried basil baked into the crust. Which brings us to the contest. My pizzas seem to have been lacking a certain flair and creativity of late. I don't mean to say I haven't been enjoying them, just that they're lacking a certain level of excitement. This is where you come in: In the comments section make recommendations of new pizza ingredients or combinations of ingredients that I haven't thought of or tried yet. The only rule is no meat. I'm the judge so I decide who wins. The prize: I name the pizza after you, post it on my blog and you get the public recognition you so obviously desire.

Teutonic Efficiency!

Now, I don't wish to unnecessarily propagate stereotypes and I certainly don't wish to add to the rampant anti-Teutonic hysteria that is so fashionable these days, but I would like to tell you something of what it means to be organized and efficient. So, I was recently in Deutschland for a vacation. I woke up relatively early one morning, planning to take a train from Dresden to Berlin. When I got to the train station I bought my ticket but they told me the train may not actually go as there was a strike. Mind you, this conversation was all taking place in German, and my German is nicht so gut, so, that's what I understood to be happening. Sure enough, when it came time for my train to come and go, in the land of punctual trains, it didn't. After talking to some Deutsche-Bahn (the German train company) information people I learned that there was indeed a strike on but that it should only last a couple hours and the best thing would be for me to wait until it ended, then my train would come and I could go to Berlin. They gave me free coffee as I stood and waited and before too long, there was an announcement that the strike had ended and trains were resuming. The DB info people weren't really sure what was happening but kept me informed as best they could, even writing a message on my ticket authorizing a different route, should that be required, and finally when my train came they sent me to it and off I went to Berlin. Later, while on the train, there was another announcement apologising for any inconveniences caused by the 98 minute strike. It was at this point I did the math and figured out how late my train had actually been. The answer...98 minutes. Jawohl!