Interior deco, my style

Without sounding too fancy, I like to put some thought into what I put in my flat. Mostly, I like bright colors, but I try to make it work with the white walls, bright wood look off the furniture and the red curtains. A new speck of color has entered my room today: The repainted drawers for my desk.

The desk is pretty ancient (older than me for sure) and has spent the last fifteen years in the attic at home, where my brothers used it as a desk, and more often, as a workbench. It was looking a little beat when I took it to my new flat, but it’s a rock-solid build, good wood, rather big and sturdy steel guides for the drawers. I maybe wouldn’t jump on them when they’re all pulled out, but anything less they’ll take.

The problem: There were stickers on it. Old, ugly stickers from when my brothers were little (i.e. I wasn’t born). Flags, soccer players, you know. The little stickers you find in choclate bars. First I tried to get them off with acetone – no reaction. Then I went to the hardware store, told of my troubles and was given Lösin (english roughly “Solvine™”). It kept its word – it vigorously dissolved the paint off the stickers. But not the glue, so now I had white stickers and a full can of something I didn’t want to touch if I could avoid it. Next attempt was sticker-remover from the electronics store, which (together with strong scrubbing) did the job. However, the wood underneath the stickers had of course aged differently. The only solution is to sand off the upper layer of wood and repaint.

My parents are better equipped for this – they have a sander, base paint and tough varnish. In between, the drawers have to dry, so it took two weeks until it was actually finished. But now I have colored drawers, nicely repainted, in my desk. For all those who wonder what colors I’d think appropriate on a desk, here’s a picture:

Bean bags: The seats of the gods

There is one item in my flat that I’ve come to appreciate a lot more recently, and that is my bean bag. It’s big and difficult to stow away when I’m not using it, but having it is totally worth it. It used to be that when I came home from work during my diploma, I’d just listen to music, cook, or go do something with friends. Well, I don’t have any local friends yet, and frankly, after nine hours or more at a rather challenging workplace, I can’t just pull through like that anymore. Or at least, it’s not as pleasant as it used to be after a six-hour workday back then.

So what I normally do now, is simply this: I come home, make sure there is nothing time-critical (like shopping) to do, pull out the bean bag, select a book and flounce down. The positive side effect is that I’m actually reading books again which are not just informative, but also fun. The current one is “the nightmare realm of Edward Moon”, a pseudo-victorian fantasy murder tale. I haven’t understood what the big conspiracy against the city of London is yet, but the book is not as predictable as it may sound now, anyway. I’ve put two flouncings (new unit of time) into it so far and expect to be done in another two. Normally, a flouncing takes about an hour before I decide that I have better things to do now. The benefit is that for the rest of the evening, I actually have some energy again.

Remember kids: Work is hard, no matter what they tell you

Painting again!

Glory be to art. I’ve taken up a brush for the first time in a month and not only had a lot of fun, but also produced a respectable painting. I’d like to draw my readers’ attention to

The Image

May there be many more to come.

Moving, isn’t it?

Prepare for the most moving thing you’ve heard today…

I’ve moved!

Instead of Aachen, the city of kings long gone by, I now live in Bonn, the city of rulers not-so-long gone by. For our international customers: The city of Bonn (300.000 inhabitants) was the capital of West Germany 1949-1999. Chosen for its location far away from the border to the Warsaw pact, it still enjoys the many benefits of that time. The cultural life is that of a much larger city, the suburbs are clean and wealthy and infrastructure is excellent. There is even a subway (albeit not where I live).

The reason I moved was work, as might be guessed. I’d finished my diploma in Aachen and was looking to continue my education by acquiring a PhD. However, it so happens that the physics in Aachen are not so reputable. The engineers are, however, but an engineering PhD would not help me in acquiring a physics tenure later on if I wanted to. So I re-oriented, looking across the republic for PhD positions with interesting topics and capable (as well as well-financed) institutes. My ultimate choice fell on professor Meschede of the Institute of Applied Physics in Bonn. He and his merry band deal with single-atom manipulation for the sake of enabling quantum computing. They are friendly, hard-working and well-regarded. In fact, a recent publication managed to upstage (in a friendly way) the competing group at Harvard, who could not offer the same degree of sensor acuity. I consider that proof that I chose well.

It certainly is a change for me, as well. I’ve slid through university mostly on ability (I’m intelligent, curious and good at combining things I heard about in various places). Now, however, that is no longer enough, and I find myself working 40-45 hour weeks. This is mostly to prove myself to my new colleagues. Also, since we work in a team on one experiment, not doing your work impedes your colleagues. Of course, this is a great disservice which I seek to avoid. I am confident, however, that I can maintain motivation to work so long and that I will be able to do right by my co-workers. They seem like the bunch to repay favors, too.

Apart from work, I’ve been trying to get some social network up again. This is starting out slowly, so far (it always is in a new city). I’ve contacted the local Mensa chapter and found it to be much more entertaining than the Aacheners. These people have more humour and are quite lively actually. They are also 10-30 years older than I am, but so what. I’m also looking for a choir, but investigations on which one to pick are still ongoing. Also, the summer holidays are not over yet, so most choirs are not even in session. Lastly, I’m trying to get evening courses in french. I promised myself I’d work harder on my languages (german and english are excellent, but I want one more).

Lastly, I’ve been taking care of my home. I live in a 35 m^2 room with separate bath that is well-kept and tastefully decorated. That has been some work, especially finding the right kind of light (bright, isotropic, energy-saving and aesthetically pleasing). I am convinced that it hasn’t been for nothing, though. Compared to my old room in Aachen, this one certainly leaves a much better impression.

Okay, this is it so far. I’ll try to post more in a couple of days. But you know me, so there might be a hiatus at some point