blog.zgraggen.name  All-day insanity or I have a blog too!

At the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC, I got a goody bag with various things in it. Amongst them was a little blue carabiner which can be used as a key ring. Interesting about that is that is an advertisement for the “European Union”.
I was thinking about it, why would they advertise to athletes? Or is it a general advertisement campaign in the states? I wonder what the goal of such a campaign would be. It obviously got me thinking, but I doubt that it will have a big impact on US citizen in general? Another interesting question is, who is behind this campaign. By that I mean who is paying for it? Did all the countries together decided that it is worth the money?

So many questions. If anybody has and Idea or knows something about it. Please fill me in!

Duh! Everyone who has at least been to the USA once, knows that what they sell as Swiss cheese is everything else then Swiss cheese. But this weekend, when I went grocery shopping I discovered something else.
So far I always assumed that Swiss cheese brands like Gruyère would be imported from Switzerland. How silly of me to assume that. The Target next door just opened a fresh product section which I really enjoy! It is not big and the selection is limited, but at least it is an easy way to get some fresh products. Like vegetables, fruits, sandwiches, and milk products.
So while I was looking through all the new things they have, I discovered some cheese called Gruyère. But already the looks of it told me that it is not real Gruyère. When inspecting the back of the package. I learned that this cheese was made in the USA and has nothing to do with Gruyère what so ever. In my opinion this is just a marketing trick which I lucky didn’t fall for
I’m amazed that they are allowed to do that…

But this won’t hold me back to enjoy the expanded selection of my closest “grocery” store!

Do not trust this company! Ignore phone calls and do not respond to inquiries!
Here is why:

A few weeks ago I got contacted from both my previous employers. Both said that they get bombarded with phone calls and emails from WKPRM. This polish company tried to confirm my employment background.
Email:

Dear Sir,

On behalf of WK Personal Risk Managers.I would like to confirm the employment of GUIDO Zgraggen in your company. Such verification is required for the recruitment process, because the above mentioned person has recently applied for a job.

Since, my previous company didn’t respond, they sent an email in German:
(Which is a 1:1 Google translation)

Im Namen der WK Personal Risk Managers.I möchte die Beschäftigung von GUIDO Zgraggen in Ihrem Unternehmen zu bestätigen. Eine solche Prüfung ist für das bewerbungsverfahren erforderlich, da die oben genannte Person hat vor kurzem für eine Stelle beworben.

The weird part about this is that I was never informed about this background check. Furthermore, they must have called several people till they reached my boss from the apprenticeship. Since the company was renamed and also reorganized. Besides I didn’t mention anywhere the name of him. btw: This was also almost 10 years ago!

Even though it was a little far-fetched I asked my current employer if they asked for the background checked. But they told me that they never heard of this company. My next thought was that someone must be using my identity especially my background (resume) to get a job. So I contacted this company to find out what is going on. But WKPRM never responded to my emails. So therefore the only reasonable explanation left is that this company is a fake!

For the curious people here is the link to their website.

Other theories?
Thoughts?

What a topic

I am amazed how many men abuse the urinal to deposit their used chewing gum! And that happens not only in public toilets. You can find this also at Universities and most workplaces. I find this surprising because most often there is a trash can within a few steps. Besides, if they wash their hands they and use paper towels, to dry the hands, which end up in a bin as well. So it is not a big effort to throw the gum into a bin.

I wonder if it is only me or do other people think that this behavior is inappropriate and maybe even disgusting?

While I was in Pittsburgh I learned the meaning of the “Pittsburgh Chair”. In Pittsburgh chairs are used to reserve a parking space for a car. This was heavily used in the last couple days when Pittsburgh was buried in almost 2 foot of snow. People, who dug out their car, most often reserved their spot while they were off to work or other things. The interesting part about that is that this reservation system is mostly respected by everyone and people still have their spot if they return in the evening. This tradition has even its own Wikipedia entry even though it is named parking chair.

Here is a report from a local news paper.

I uploaded some pictures with examples.

This Sunday I went for a run along the coast. Since we got about 10 inches of snow over the weekend everything was covered in white.
The thing which struck me was that in my mind model sand beaches have to be warm… warm water, good weather, and I can walk around in shorts.
What a weird feeling to run along a frozen beach which is covered in snow and ice.

I guess this happened because so far I only saw sand beaches when I went on vacation to warmer regions.
Is it only me or did other people have a similar experience. Maybe it is particular the case for Swiss people, because we are not bordering a sea so we travel to it in the summer.

This morning I witnessed a car chase: 1 old black car followed by 3 cops (one on a motorcycle). They were racing up Forbs Avenue where as the black old car drove like crazy… That is all the excitement you need at 7:30 in the morning.

I had a weird problem with the update mechanism of Thunderbird. When you restart Thunderbird for an update an error message shows up and says that it cannot do the update and closes the problem. But then it starts the program again, because you said you wanted to restart it. When starting the program it tries to perform the update and fails again. This goes on and on…

After a while Mr. Google told me the answer:
When the webcam software from Logitech is running the update fails. Don’t ask me why, or what the connection is…

When you stop the “Logitech QuickCam Software” the update goes smoothly without problem.

My recommendation for all Thunderbird lovers which own a Logitech Webcam:
- Stop the Logitech software before you update Thunderbird.

If anyone has an idea why… please let me know!

I like Pittsburgh and I feel secure in my area. However, tonight when I walked home from the cave (my study/work area) a police car drove past with red/blue lights on. Not unusual, but then I saw the next intersection with many red and blue lights. Finally, when I walked past this intersection I saw 7 police cars all with running light and no accident on the intersection. This made me feel slightly insecure. Fortunately, the police and all the other people where on the other side of the road… Good night!