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

Finally, I am a proud owner of a Connecticut Driver license.
As a foreigner I am only allowed to drive in the USA for one year with the international driver license so it was about time to get an American driver license. Besides, my Pennsylvania ID expired and I was getting tired of using my passport. So here a short description of the three things I needed to do in order to get a Connecticut driver license.

Part 1 - 8h Safe Driving Course ($125)
Overall a good thing. Similar to what we have in Switzerland. If I remember correctly we also had some light math/physics about car behavior where as this course only consistent of how drinking, taking drugs and being tired influences the driving skills. Unfortunately, it is based on the scary tactic and I felt kind of like in a boot camp where they try to “brainwash” you.

Alcohol is bad! If you drink and drive you are going to kill people! Do you want to be a murder?

Where I believe in not drinking while driving and also the designated driver concept I think that is not the best way to teach it. After a few months these teenagers will have forgotten what they learned in this course.

The best part about this course was that there were two Spanish speaking people in the course who barely spoke any English. When asked what their name is they weren’t able to answer till someone translated it to Spanish for them. I wonder how much they learned in this course. But guess what… they passed =)

Part 2 - Written Exam ($40)
I read through the handbook with all the rules about driving in the states, because I really wanted to pass this test. But as it turned out, this was wasted time. After queuing in 3 different lines (sign in, payment, document check) and overall waiting time of 3 hours I was allowed to take the test. Part of the long waiting is the STACK principle rather than the FIFO, which I observed. Even though the explanation on the stack said, that the new paper should be put underneath the stack the new ones always landed on top…
The test was rather easy, 25 questions and after 20 answers I was told, that I passed the test. No need to answer the last 5 questions. At least I saved 2 minutes there.

Part 3 - Road Test ($66)
I was a little nervous for the test when I arrived at the DMB, even though I have been driving for 10 years. The main reason that I was nervous was that it was unclear if I was allowed to take the test in a rented car. Since many friend incl. the car rental guy told me that I wouldn’t be allowed to do that. After a short wait (30min) I was asked to meet the expert by the car. We entered the car and off we went. I started a discussion with the expert which he didn’t mind, so the 10 min driving passed rather quickly. He was a very nice guy and he seemed also to have a critical opinion about the safe driving course and mentioned that he doesn’t understand why Swiss people have to take this test, since the German and French people don’t. After 5 right turns (no kidding, I didn’t do a single left turn ). I passed the test, Jihaa! One more time queuing to get the actual ID and I was done.
The only time, I got nervous was when the expert asked me what type of car I’m driving and I didn’t know the answer. I had to tell him that I rented so many cars, that I don’t care anymore.
But to everyone out there let me tell you this: You are allowed to take the road test with a rental car if you have a valid international driver license! (at least in Connecticut)

Conclusion:
13 hours and $231 and I am legal allowed to drive in the states for another 6 years!
If I include the rental car fee and insurance for the two times I drove to the DMV, the price would be around ~$350

Fun fact: The only eye-color which is missing on my ID’s is green! This one is grey, the last one was brown and my old Swiss ID said blue

It was almost 2 weeks ago, but nevertheless I would like to share my experience from the Kids in Crisis (KIC) Triathlon. This is only my 3rd triathlon. After an Olympic distance Triathlon in 2006 and an Ironman70.3 in 2007 I didn’t think about triathlons for almost 3 years. In this time I was pursuing my master’s degree where my shape degraded severely. But by now I have received my master’s degree and started training again.

The night before the event I had a hard time to fall asleep. I am not sure if I was so nervous, or if it was the fact that I went to bed at 20:00. I got up at 4 o’clock in the morning. I started more or less relaxed my morning routine and was soon out of the door to prepare the two transition areas. After getting marked with my number and checking in my running gear. I rode down to the first transition area and checked in the bike. I was ahead of the crowed and had enough time to prepare everything in a calm matter. I put on my wetsuit and went down to the beach to do a warm up. There I realized that the tide was out. And other people were walking far out into the water. As a weaker swimmer, I was almost celebrating that fact until I realized there was a catch to it. There were many stones and shells which made it dangerous to run. After a long walk and a short warm up swim we started to line up at the beach. While we were listening to the last instructions, a 10 inch crab (with about 2 inch clamps) came out of the water and turned around once he saw all the people. I didn’t expect that and spent the next few minutes hoping: “Let that not be me who stands on this crab!”

Finally, we were allowed to run off, and since we had to run the first 250m I was among the first who started swimming. But the swimmers caught up pretty fast and overtook me a few minutes into the swim. I also learned that there is a big difference in swimming in the sea (salt water) or in lakes. 20 minutes into the swim I had this weird taste in my mouth and I was looking forward to drink some water. Another thing which I realized was that one part of my feet was burning and I guessed that I had a cut from running over the stones/shells. At least it wasn’t hurting too bad and I didn’t have to give up the race as other athletes. Towards the end of the swim we had to run again and I had cramps in my calves. Surprised by that I stretched for a second and then went ahead. Luckily these cramps didn’t come back for the rest of the race. Later I learned from an expert that this can happens if the water is cold, and the wetsuit puts the caves in a stretched position without movement. So the next time I should occasionally relax my feet during the swim.

Even though I prepared everything in the transition area, I was confused after the swim and didn’t follow my transition procedures. This way it took me 2 minutes till I finally hoped on my bike. I started off in a moderate pace for the first 5 minutes. Where I drunk some water and also ate half a banana. Then I started pushing hard on those pedals. My goal was to be over a 30 km/h pace even with the hilly course. After I overtook several triathletes with much more expensive equipment I started feeling better and better. Especially up hills it seemed as I would fly past them, but I’m not sure if I should attribute this towards my Swiss roots, the road bike, or my flyweight… Towards the end I forced myself to drink some more water, since I learned in the past that I normally don’t drink enough.

The next transition went smooth. I had a clear head and was out of transition area after only 51 seconds. But I soon had to learn that this forced drinking was too much for my stomach. So I had to slow down and couldn’t run my pace. I was suffering quite a bit. But after half time I started to recover and picked up the pace. Since, I didn’t use my running muscles yet, I was able to sustain a high pace for the last 5km. So the running split doesn’t seem too bad.

Results
Time: 2:21:08, Division place: 5, Overall place: 36,

Pictures from the race!

Overall I am pleased with my time, after all it is 15 minutes faster than my last triathlon.
I am looking forward to Nationals Triathlon in Washington DC with the full length swim and less running
By then I should also have a better nutrition plan for during the race.

Thanks@Rebekka for cheering for me and supporting me after the race!

Many have heard the joke:

What do American Beer and having sex in a canoe have in common?
Both are fucking close to water!

But the sad fact is that exactly this kind of beer is what is sold to 95% in the USA. Only 5% is from smaller independent breweries. Shocking about that is that this 95% of beer comes from three companies: Anheuser-Bush (Budweiser), Miller, Coors.
Living in Pittsburgh for 1.5 years I always drunk Yuengling and wasn’t aware what kind of “war” is going on between all this smaller breweries against the big ones, since it was so easy accessible all over the city. But this is not the case in other parts of America. Here in Stamford I have the hardest time to buy decent beer in a store. Yes, I live next to a local brewery which eases this sad fact a little…

I highly recommend this documentary movie. Watch it and tell me what you think about it.
Yes, I know many readers are living outside of the USA and might ask themselves: “Why should that bother me?”. Well how do you know there is not a similar Beer War going on in your country…?

Watch a trailer of the movie!!

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?

Another weekend and another trip to NYC… this time I was accompanied by Amy
Here are four more things, which I like to point out:

- Plaid Power: We saw the NYC Tartan Day Parade. And we happened to be there for exactly the 5min, when the bag pipers (or was it only one?) of Carnegie Mellon walked by. Thanks to Amy’s loud cheering we are now proud owner of a yellow “Plaid power” towel from Carnegie Mellon.

- MoMA stands for the Museum of Modern Art. While entered the museum I was contemplating to leave right away because there were several hundred other people trying to get admission as well. But as a UBS employee I had free admission (incl. a free ticket for Amy) and was able to queue at a special desk. Since it is the modern art museum there is a lot of peculiar art which would need some time to get used to. Especially, the exhibition from Marina Abramović which included life performance and loads of nudity. The highlights for me were “Starry Night - Vincent van Gogh“, “Water Lilies - Claude Monet” and the Picasso exhibitions.

- The View. This is a restaurant in the 48 floor at the time square. And it is the only rotating restaurant in NYC, even though the rotation is not as smooth as it could be it is a great experience and the food is delicious. Definitive worth a visit before a show. Make sure to make a reservation and tell the waiter what time your show starts. They will help you that you stay on time Video on the way down in the elevator.

- Lion King. My first show at the Broadway! I guess there is not much more to say… I liked the musical and I would definitely recommend it.

Here are some pictures…

That is the title of the book I just read.
It is a compilation of stories based on Tucker Max life. This book showed me, in a funny way, that there are people out there who live their lives different. It is fair to say, that Max is an asshole and often behaves rude and condescending to pretty much everyone who doesn’t admire him. He is very narcissistic and likes to be the center of attention. This will even get worse when he is drunk.
Average people treat other people like they want to get treated by others. Not so Tucker Max…

I thought most stories are funny and I had a hard time to put this book down. Additionally, I also thought it was interesting to see how you can be an asshole and get away with it.

Here is his description on the back of his book:
My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way: I share my adventures with the world.

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

The last two weekends I did some trips to New York City. Since, I am only 45min (by train) away from NYC it is a perfect spott for daylong trips. And there is also more than enough to see. I have seen many neighborhoods in NYC and I am always amazed how different each neighborhood looks almost as you are in a different city. I would like to point out four highlights which I liked.
- High Line an old train line which was transformed into a walkway
- Williamsburg in Brooklyn, upcoming neighborhood. Nice bars and restaurants
- Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York which is supposedly the 4th largest Christian church in the world
- Grand Central Station where my train arrives and leaves

More trips to follow…

Here are some pictures.

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?

I’m awake again… We just had a fire alarm in our building.
Luckily, I was still awake and not in bed yet. But still, it took me a moment to realize that it is an actual alarm and not a drill.
The first time since I’m here that I actually used the stairs to leave the building

The fire fighters arrived just a few seconds after I left the building. So that was pretty comforting to know that they are ready if something happens.
I look up on the building, but could not find any smoke or see anything, so I guessed that there was nothing big happening. After about 15min we were allowed to go back into the building. The interesting part about the whole alarm was that the fire fighter I asked didn’t know why the alarm went off…

Finally, I screwed in the last screw and hammer the last nail of my IKEA furniture.

Thanks to the MSE program, I am inclined to keep track of various data in my life. Therefore, I know exactly how much time I spent on each piece of furniture… Just in case I will have to buy new furniture
I guess all in all the 13 hours 27 min is not too bad for all the things I accomplished. I could even go further and analyze on what time of the day I did the most work, and at what time I was most productive… but that won’t be worth the effort

Special thanks goes to my girlfriend which helped me to choose, find (in the store), transport and haul all the furniture to my apartment!
Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay long enough to also support me during the assembling

Ps: List of all the items assembled…
1 bed, 2 dressers, 1 small dresser, 2 Book shells, 1 Bookcase, 1 office Chair, 2 small tables, 3 chars, 1 kitchen Table