Last night Annika and I went to the Adidas Arena to watch the Italy vs. USA match. The Arena is made to look like the Olympiastadion in Berlin and holds about 10,000 people who can watch the action on 2 not-so-big screens. The Arena is located on the lawn between the Reichstag and the Kanzleramt and just a few blocks from the new main train station (Berlin Hauptbahnhof.) It was actually quite nice there. You get a more stadium-like feeling than at a normal viewing because the supporters play off of each other better and of course there was the “wave”.

We left just before 11pm. The area looks really impressive at night. Makes me feel homesick when I think about leaving Berlin next month. I’m of course American but I’ve lived here since 1999, met my wife here and this feels like home. I’m not sure if San Diego will feel like home but I’ll give it a try. Annika’s really looking forward to move anyway.

The new Berlin Hauptbahnhof is really going to change the city I think. It is aready impressive to look at and has turned an area that had been dead since I arrived into a quite pleasent place to hang out along the river while seeing the sights or preparing for a journey by train. In the next couple years a lot will change for the area just to the north of the station, I think. It will probably turn into a Fisherman’s Wharf type thing but I I guess every major city needs one of those.

Oh yeah, the match ended in a 1:1 draw. There were 3 red cards though.

So, it’s been a while since I last posted something. Here goes…

For a couple weeks I was working for the censor-ware company, Websense, Inc. The work was monotonous but I expected that. Basically, I catagorized web sites which I thought I was going to find a bit morally objectionable. Turns out however that what I was doing was pretty harmless. It’s the companies that set the Drakonian policies that are the problem. The Websense software does enable them to do this, however. You be the judge. The people I worked with were really nice, though. Maybe because they were foreigners.

Anyway, I quit that job because I was making an adequate amount of money trading stocks which is what I’m trying to focus on. This is ideal because I can make money independent of my location. That means I’ll probably be going back to Berlin shortly since I’ve already established residency here in California.

Although, the weather is nice here in San Diego and I like being so close to Mexico, I think I’ll probably choose to move to San Francisco when Annika and I come back. I think I need a more European city after living so long in Berlin. Everything is so far apart here in San Diego that you really need a car and I don’t really want to have to get one. My Vespa gets me around town fine but so many thinks are further out.

When Annika comes on Nov. 3rd, we’re taking a 2 week trip around the Southwest and Northern California to do some scouting. We’ve reserved a Toyota Prius hybrid car which should be interesting. It cost almost double an economy class car but we’re driving so far that we’ll probably spend about the same due to better gas mileage but cause much less pollution. I’m interested to see just how good the gas mileage actually is.

Well, slowly I’m getting settled in San Diego. I’ve got a temporary driver’s license, an ADSL connection, a bank account and a job interview lined up for Tuesday. The driver’s license is only temporary because I still have to do the motorcycle test once my Vespa arrives in 2 weeks.

The bus system’s pricing structure is far from transparent here. If you come here save yourself the trouble and get a day or month pass. The “Trolleys” are really nice, though. Someone told me the trains are made in Germany. That may be why they reminded me of the new trains on the U2 and U5 lines in Berlin. Next time I move I’ll try to get on one of the trolley lines.

I went swimming in the waves for the first time yesterday. Darcy gave me a ride to Ocean Beach where she was selling her jewelry. The waves were a really nice size for surfing, body boarding and general frolicking. The marine layer was absent yesterday so the sun was nice and warm. I gave a guy a mouthful for not picking up his pit bulls shit. He said he was going to get a bag. 20 minutes later it was still there. Ocean beach is actually what you think a California beach is supposed to be. I enjoyed it.

I posted new photos to my gallery. Check’em out.

Last I wrote I was in Baltimore. After I left there I went to visit mommy and the bros. And last Tuesday I finally made it to San Diego. Man the weather is nice out here. Just go check out the san diego weather. I’ve only been in the water once so far because I’ve been doing a lot of errands. The only thing left to do now is get a job and I started the search today.

Only 23 hours after landing I found a really nice place with a couple self-pronounced “old-hippies,” Darcy and Richard. Richard lived in Germany for about 20 years so he also speaks German. The place is right on the edge of Balboa Park and only 1.8 miles from downtown. Going downtown on my bike is east but coming back home can be hell. They’ve got some hill that can compete with San Francisco. I walk out my door and I’m surrounded be palm and eucalyptus trees and tons of flowers that Darcy has planted. The only drawback is that the landing path for the airplanes is just to the south of us and at certain times of day can get really loud.

I’ll be uploading photos and probably a video guide of the place to the gallery on the weekend so keep an eye out there. We’re getting DSL on Friday so I won’t have to go to the library to go online.