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In the spirit of Easter,

a religious post (perhaps only of interest to those that know DOS, but the computer saavy of you should be able to figure it out)

GENESIS BY DOS

In the beginning, there was the computer.

And God entered:

C:\Let there be light!

Enter user ID

C:\God

Enter password

C:\Omniscient

Invalid password
Enter password

C:\Omnipotent

Invalid password
Enter password

C:\Technocrat

And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Monday.

C:\Let there be light!

Unrecognizable command

C:\Create light

Done

C:\Run heaven and earth

And God created Day and Night. And God saw that there were 0
errors.

And God logged off at 12:02:00 AM, Monday.

And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Tuesday.

C:\Let there be firmament in the midst of water and light

Unrecognizable command. Try again.

C:\Create firmament

Done.

C:\Run firmament

And God divided the waters. And God saw that there were 0
errors.

And God logged off at 1:59:00 AM, Tuesday.

And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Wednesday.

C:\Let the waters under heaven be gathered together unto one
place and let dry land appear

Too many characters in specification string. Try again.

C:\Create dry_land

Done.

C:\Run firmament

And God divided the waters. And God saw that there were 0
errors.

And God logged off at 4:59:00 AM, Wednesday.

And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Thursday.

C:\Create lights in the firmament to divide the day from the
night

Unspecified type. Try again.

C:\Create sun_moon_stars

Done

C:\Run sun_moon_stars

And God separated the light from the darkness. The sun ruled over
the day and the moon and stars ruled over the night. And God saw
there were 0 errors.

And God logged off at 11:59:00 AM, Thursday.

And God logged on at 12:02:00 AM, Friday.

C:\Create fish

Done

C:\Create fowl

Done

C:\Run fish, fowl

And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature
that creepeth wherewith the waters swarmed after its kind and every
winged fowl after its kind. And God saw there were 0 errors.

And God logged off at 8:59:00 AM, Friday.

And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Saturday.

C:\Create cattle

Done

C:\Create creepy_things

Done

C:\Now let us make man in our image

Unspecified type. Try again.

C:\Create man

Done

C:\Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue
it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of
the air and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth

Too many command operands. Try again.

C:\Run multiplication

Execution terminated. 6 errors..

C:\Insert breath

Done

C:\Run multiplication

Execution terminated. 5 errors.

C:\Move man to Garden of Eden

Filename: Garden of Eden does not exist.
Abort, Retry, Ignore?

C:\Create Garden_of_Eden

Too many parameters

C:\Create Garden.edn

Done

C:\Move man to Garden.edn

Done

C:\Run multiplication

Execution terminated. 4 errors.

C:\Copy woman from man

Done

C:\Run multiplication

Execution terminated. 2 errors.

C:\Create desire

Done

C:\Run multiplication

And God saw man and woman being fruitful and multiplying in
Garden.edn

Warning: No time limit on this run. 1 errors.

C:\Create freewill

Done

C:\Run freewill

And God saw man and woman being fruitful and multiplying in
Garden.edn

Warning: No time limit on this run. 1 errors.

C:\Undo desire

Desire cannot be undone once freewill is created.

C:\Destroy freewill

Freewill is an inaccessible file and cannot be destroyed.
Enter replacement, cancel, or ask for help.

C:\Help

Desire cannot be undone once freewill is created. Freewill is an inaccessible file and cannot be destroyed.
Enter replacement, cancel, or ask for help.

C:\Create tree_of_knowledge

Done

And God saw man and woman being fruitful and multiplying in
Garden.edn

Warning: No time limit on this run. 1 errors.

C:\Create good, evil

Done

C:\Activate evil

And God saw he had created shame.

Warning system error in sector E95.
Man and woman no longer located in Garden.edn. 1 errors.

C:\Scan Garden.edn for man, woman

Search failed.
Abort, Retry, Ignore?

C:\Delete shame

Shame cannot be deleted once evil has been activated.

C:\Destroy freewill

Freewill is an inaccessible file and cannot be destroyed.
Enter replacement, cancel, or ask for help.

C:\Stop

Unrecognizable command. Try again

C:\Ctrl_Break

Unrecognizable command. Try again

C:\Ctrl_Break

Unrecognizable command. Try again

C:\Ctrl_Break

Unrecognizable command. Try again

C:\Create new world

You have exceeded allocated file space.
You must delete old files before new ones can be created.

C:\Delete earth

Delete earth: Please confirm.

C:\Delete earth confirmed

And God logged off at 11:59 PM, Saturday.

On Sunday God rested.

On Monday God created the PC.

And God saw that it was good.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Excuse me,

but could we postpone Easter?

Last year my bike and I went to Paderborn and did some sightseeing and cycling there and in the area – and ended it by watching the season opener of the Paderborn Untouchables.

This year baseball season doesn’t start til the first weekend of April. So I have a four day weekend with nothing to do. I’m saving up for my Bildungsurlaub, going away for the long weekends in May as well as a four or five day weekend in June, my October holiday and also my extended end of the year trip so, I won’t be spending much money for hotels this weekend other than possibly one night in either Frankfurt or Cologne.

Not to mention the fact that the weather is going to be atrocious - which rules out cycling and other outdoor activities.


For those that don’t know, Good Friday is a public holiday here and we also have Easter Monday off (but I have no idea why). So everything is closed on Friday, open on Saturday and closed on both Sunday and Monday. Not even the castles I haven’t visited will be open (they don’t open til April).

However, if we could move Easter back to the first weekend of April, I’d be able to attend a few baseball games to occupy my time rather being bored into a coma. So, if it’s not too much of an inconvenience, could we do so?

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

‘Look for the thing that looks like a castle’

Last week we had a businessman call to arrange English lessons for this week, and I was told that I’d be teaching him. No problem, it’s my job. The secretary then told me that the lesson would be at his office in a castle (some are used as commercial space). Great, I thought.

The problem was getting there, since it was an incompany class. Not transportation – we have a few school owned cars that we use for occasions like this – it was finding out exactly where the castle was. We tried Mapquest and GoogleMaps, but neither could pinpoint the location (that turned out to be due to the fact that it ended with a ‘g’ it nobody actually knew how to spell it correctly due to the dialect here – z, sch or ch – nobody thought it ended with a ‘g’).

So the secretary said to me, ‘It’s small a village. Just go there and look for the thing that looks like a castle.’

‘Right,’ I thought. ‘That should be easy. I have a keen eye for castles because I love them.’

As I was driving there yesterday morning, I remembered the conversation I had had with the secretary about looking for ‘the thing that looks like a castle’.

‘There it is! On a hill across the river.’

‘Wait! It isn’t in the village and this one was supposed to be [according to the student].’

So, I got off the bridge and turned right and headed into the village (one of those small German ones with narrow, winding streets) in search of my destination). When I reached the end of the village (3 minutes later), I turned around and headed back into it determined to find ‘the thing that looks like a castle’ (I couldn’t call anyone because I didn’t have any money left on my prepaid cell phone).

There it was – a large complex with a castle and a few other structures, so I pulled in. Unfortunately, the name of the complex didn’t have the German word for castle on it, so I grew uncertain that it was the correct one.

Then I got lucky – I saw people! Most small German villages are completely deserted weekdays and these were the first signs of life I saw, so I walked over to them and asked if this was the castle I was looking for. Then they broke the bad news to me – they didn’t think it was but weren’t certain due to the fact that they weren’t from that area. Despite the county designation being the same as the one of the village, they were from the other end of the county.

I got back in the car and continued in the direction I had come from looking for another ‘thing that looks like a castle’.

Two minutes later, I found a third ‘thing that looks like a castle’, parked, got out and found a small sign verifying that indeed it was my destination.

Perhaps ‘look for the thing that looks like a castle’ works some places but not in my region.

Spring Training update

The Mannheim Tornados came up for some Spring Training against the Caps and I decided to attend. I had never seen the Tornados play and thought it’d be a good way to spend the afternoon – not to mention the fact that it was free.

Mannheim's uniform


The first game was embarrassing, to say the least. The Caps were trying out pitcher I had never seen before (probably from the minor league) – not an uncommon practice during Spring Training – and the result was a loss too large to post.

I almost left.

The second game was better. They had better pitchers – pitchers that deserved to be this league – and to my surprise also changed the entire infield other than the shortstop. The first and basemen are staples on the team so I wasn’t worried about them being replaced – they were probably just trying out backups – and I have to say that both of them played quite well and impressed (unlike the second baseman).

It's a hit!


Another change this year was the catchers. The Caps are not known for having good catchers. The one I saw the first year that I attended a game (2004) was great, but he was promised a position on the national team if he joined a different team the following year and took up that offer. He rejoined the Caps last year but wasn’t there on Saturday (nor was he listed in the roster in th4 website) so I assume he’s found a better offer again. However, the replacement catcher the used on Saturday did okay. I assume that they’re also trying him out from the minor league, but see a lot of potential in him. He doesn’t appear to be a person switched from another position to attempt to catch – he appears to be a catcher.

The weather was favourable – 13C and sunny until 15h, when the clouds decided that we had had enough and brought their friend the winds with them. There’s a big difference between temperature in the sun as opposed to the clouds and wind, and got cold and was about to leave. However, the Caps were holding their own and I couldn’t – so I stayed for another 90 minutes of my favourite sport.

All in all, a fun afternoon.

Mannheim's cool van

Despite the fact that it's not on

The List, it's Shopping Sunday here!

Wooo hooo!

Time to grab my debit card (credit cards are rarely accepted in Germany) and hit the shops!

Yes, I still hate shopping, but something is actually happening on a Sunday here and I'm going to enjoy it (besides, the Irish pub - where I watch football (soccer) - is across Old Town and I have to go through it and by most of the shops anyway).

Photo Friday: The Good Life

Taken on 12 January 2008 in Thailand