Hanna la Kiw

Accidentally popular! Frank, did you hear the click?

2011-06-18T09:33:00.008+02:00

Rita and Frank try to take a still photo to email to friends for Frank's 84th Birthday on their new Computer, but they are filming themselves all the time. People immediatly fall in love with Rita, who is trying so hard to take the perfect picture, and Frank, the cooles granddad in the world. He is holding the cake proudly and he is smiling constantly - you´ll love them too. I really hope they made it in the end, but the video is just brilliant. The footage itself coulp make an Apple spot: Did you hear a click? No.

Yours truly,

Hanna

For Bloggeramt

2011-05-26T20:18:00.001+02:00

Thank´s!

XYZ - lazy but with much love - my last A to Z challenge post

2011-04-30T18:37:00.005+02:00

As I said in the beginning - the A to Z challenge is like a big party and we were invited. And when every party comes to an end it is an unwritten law that there has to be some oldies. As I still needed the x y and z letter I chose to finish the party with a classic. A song from the 80´s hard rock band XYZ.

I will continue blogging but I will have to make my mind up what I want to do. I loved every letter and I defenately will be back for the next A to Z challenge.

Yours truly,

Hanna

What would you do?

2011-04-26T17:59:00.001+02:00

We are coming to the end of the challenge and I thought about the future of my blog; getting a bit sentimental here J. I love blogging – but I have the strong feeling that I have to decide on one point what do I want to achieve with my blog? I mean most of you write about special themes...so I think I need to specialise on a certain topic as well.
I really can imagine writing about golfing – there is so much to write about, and there are not many blogs about golfing. I further need to decide if I want to continue blogging in English or switching back to German language. On the one hand, I love to write in English to improve my skills – on the other hand, I am kind of limited because I am not really able to express what I am really thinking. It is so hard to be emotional in another language.
I think that there is one alternative: I continue writing this blog from time to time about whatever comes to my mind and start a new golf-blog. What would you do?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Vacation with no money – who can help?

2011-04-25T21:10:00.001+02:00

Of course it is nice to have holidays from time to time. This year I dreamed of visiting Norway, especially I wanted to see the Lofoten. I wanted to experience playing golf around midnight, as the sun is not going down these days.After I calculated the costs including renting a caravan I recognized that there is no chance of getting there, staying there, eating there of doing anything. So I got to save some money first and postpone the trip.

But I still want to have a little bit of summer experience. I mean there are thousands of all inclusive offers that might be attractive; but only if you enjoy lying on the beach all day and staying in a nice fancy hotel. Sorry, not for me – I like seeing things, doing all sorts of things, being active, nice nature, fascinating buildings, culture, people etc. So please let me know if you know some good websites or experiences with some cool road trip routes, great destinations you’ve visited...anything helps ;-)

Yours truly,

Hanna

Umbrellas, and where they come from

2011-04-24T21:26:00.008+02:00

The basic umbrella was invented over four thousand years ago. We have seen evidence of umbrellas in the ancient art and artifacts of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and China. These ancient umbrellas or parasols, were first designed to provide shade from the sun. The Chinese were the first to waterproof their umbrellas for use as rain protection. They waxed and lacquered their paper parasols in order to use them for rain.

Origins of the Term Umbrella

The word "umbrella" comes from the Latin root word "umbra", meaning shade or shadow. Starting in the 16th century the umbrella became popular to the western world, especially in the rainy weather of northern Europe. At first it was considered only an accessory suitable for women. Then the Persian traveler and writer, Jonas Hanway (1712-86), carried and used an umbrella publicly in England for thirty years, he popularized umbrella use among men. English gentleman often referred to their umbrellas as a "Hanway."

James Smith and Sons

The first all umbrella shop was called "James Smith and Sons". The shop opened in 1830, and is still located at 53 New Oxford Street in London, England. The early European umbrellas were made of wood or whalebone and covered with alpaca or oiled canvas. The artisans made the curved handles for the umbrellas out of hard woods like ebony, and were well paid for their efforts.

English Steels Company

In 1852, Samuel Fox invented the steel ribbed umbrella design. Fox also founded the "English Steels Company", and claimed to have invented the steel ribbed umbrella as a way of using up stocks of farthingale stays, steel stays used in women's corsets. After that, compact collapsible umbrellas were the next major technical innovation in umbrella manufacture, over a century later.

I hope you enjoyed the history of umbrellas as much as I did.

Yours truly,

Hanna

PS: The article was copied from this website.

Tee or Coffee?

2011-04-23T12:54:00.001+02:00

Earlier today, I played a golf tournament. It is called early bird and it ends with a nice breakfast that is included in the starting fee. When we finished the round we sat down and the waitress served coffee for everybody. I asked her if I can have tee instead but she denied it. I was wondering why and she explained that she has to follow her bosses order; tee is treated as coffee and has to be paid. “But tee is cheaper than a cup of coffee. And not everybody is drinking coffee – so there must be an alternative. Oh there is an alternative, water, she replied. I tried to argue that people usually drink coffee or tee…no chance. Her final argument was: We are in Germany and not in England- we drink coffee – end of discussion. This was a great inspiration for my “t” post although I still think this was unfair. On the other hand it was interesting to see how deep the prejudices are. It might have to be founded on certain standard of education, or lack of traveling experience.

I further found out that she is convinced that there is no one in Great Britain drinking coffee….as if ;-)

Yours truly,

Hanna

Shit I am old – but it is time for gold

2011-04-22T22:30:00.003+02:00

I recently found some golden earrings of my mum. They are very pretty, but I never thought of actually wearing them because all my life I favored silver accessories instead of golden ones. In my eyes, gold jewelry was something that rather fits to elder women than to me. With this in mind I went to the mirror and put them on. The first thing came to my mind was: Oh they look very pretty on me and really suit me. The second thought was: Shit-I am old!

So what happened? I concluded that it might actually be an age thing. I know that there are girls wearing gold accessories the whole time at every age. However, I did not. I am 28, finished study, got a job, living in a long-term relationship-so it might be just the right time for gold.

Another reason for my sudden mind switch could be the seven-year rule. Every seven years our bodies renew our cells and our system is kind of rebooting; sorry for not being able to give you the whole background - biology class was ages ago. Anyway, it does seem to work for me. I quit smoking seven years ago; changed hairstyle (still got my boyfriend – I wonder how that fit’s in?), changed my perfume …so changing my taste of ornaments seems to be just appropriate I still have the age thing in my mind – but who cares right? I just love observing such things and I love studying my own small circle of life.

What are your experiences? Do these things happen to you as well?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Rabbit facts

2011-04-21T22:24:00.002+02:00

Easter is almost there and rabbits are everywhere...but did you know these ten facts I found in the internet?

A male rabbit is called a “buck.” A female is called a “doe.” A baby rabbit is a “kit.
The babies are referred to as a litter and the largest litter of baby rabbits is 24. It has happened twice. Once in 1978 and again in 1999.
Rabbit’s teeth never stop growing.
The world record for the rabbit high jump is 1 meter.
The world record for the record long jump is 3 meters. That's over 9 feet!
The longest ears are 31.125 inches long. They belong to an American rabbit, Nipper's Geronimo.
The longest-lived rabbit was nearly 19 years old when he died.
A rabbit has 18 toenails: 4 on each of the back feet, and 5 on each of the front.
President Lincoln allowed his sons to keep many pets in the White House, including pet rabbits.
Rabbits can see behind them without turning their heads.

Have a great start into your Easter vacation!

Yours truly,

Hanna

Q-Words

2011-04-19T09:40:00.003+02:00

A great advantage of A to Z challenge is that I can learn so many new things. Thinking of what to do with the letter q was kind of challenging. I almost struggled but when I googled q-words I was impressed how many q-words exist in the english language. I think I would have never come across the folloging q-words:

1. quasquicentennial = one hundred twenty-fifth anniversary
2. quassation = act of shaking or being shaken
3. quidnunc = busybody; one keenly interested in gossip
4. quindecasyllabic = having fifteen syllables
5. quisling = one who aids the enemy; a puppet leader supported by foreign power
6. quoddamodotative = existing in a certain manner
7. quomodocunquize = to make money in any way possible
8. quoz = absurd person or thing

How about our natives, do you know all these q-words?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Pointless blogging

2011-04-18T21:28:00.003+02:00

People often ask me why am I doing this; why am I writing a blog? They cannot understand it and always judge me and say that this blogging is so pointless…

I usually spreading a bunch of arguments and the first ones that I can think of right now are:

blogging makes me happy

I like the freedom of writing about anything what comes to my mind

I enjoy sharing experiences and thoughts with other people

I sometimes like to entertain other people (mainly my boyfriend;-)

it also helps me to relax

I need to have discipline

I have to come up with creative things although I sometimes don´t really know what to write about

I was wondering lately that there might be some more good reasons I just don´t see or haven´t thought of; that´s why I would like to know:

Do you also have to justify yourself because you blog?

Why do you like blogging; what´s your point?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Oppossums - amazing animals!

2011-04-17T00:00:00.001+02:00

I think that you can learn from watching films and here is an example. I have heard of oppossums, but to be honest, I only knew their look – nothing else. But than I met Crash and Eddie the two antagonizing twin possum brothers from the film Ice Age.

I never would be interested in these fascinating animals without this film. I never would have found out that they only look like a big rat but they are actually related to the koala and kangaroo. Here is what else I´ve learned:

Opossums have many teeth
Because they eat roaches, rats, and dead animals some refer to them as "Nature's Little Sanitation Engineers".
Opossums are said to rank higher in intelligence than dogs.
Opossums have a remarkable immune system. They even can survive venomous bites from rattlesnakes!

The most incredible fact:

When threatened by an animal it is unable to frighten or run away from, the opossum will "play dead" or "play possum". This response is involuntary. They become comatose, foam from the mouth, and secrete a foul smell from their anal glands. They will not move even if they are prodded at or carried away. Most attackers will simply walk away and the opossum will regain consciousness after a few minutes or even a few hours.

Thank´s to "Ice Age" for this extra lesson.

Yours truly,

Hanna

Not a narcist - just flattered!

2011-04-16T11:44:00.009+02:00

The cutest thing happened to me since I started writing my blog: I just got honored with the "Powerful Woman Award". How fantastic is this? Special thanks to Deirdra from "A Storybook World" for choosing me.

I really hope this is not misunderstood ;-) I am not a narcist - I am just flatterd.

Yours truly,

Hanna

Memories, just nice.

2011-04-15T22:28:00.004+02:00

Following some memories of unusual stories that I have in my mind but never get the chance to tell them...

Every second man tried to write their name with their pipi in the snow.
Heidi Klum is calling her breasts Hans and Franz, Pamela Anderson: Ernie and Bert.
The American, Kent Couch, flew with 105 balloons over 310 kilometers. It took him nine hours and he had to “kill” one balloon after another to land.
There is a law regulating that it is not allowed to die in the British parliament.
A giraffe and a human being do have the same amount of cervical.
The fastest growing nail on your finger is the little one.

Do you have any memories you don´t need - but you just cannot forget them?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Lupus

2011-04-14T00:08:00.003+02:00

Everybody who is watching Dr. House knows the running gag of every season: patients with hard-to-diagnose symptoms are thought to have lupus -- underscoring the difficulty doctors have diagnosing the disease. As the fictional Dr. Gregory House says, "it's rarely ever lupus."And I thought, a running gag is defenately worth being investigated a bit closer: There is a general definition of lupus claiming that it is an autoimmune disease, one that takes on several forms and can affect any part of the body, but is most commonly attacks the skin, joints, the heart, lungs, blood, kidneys and brain - so basically anything. This is why Lupos is the first disease they always think off when they get stucked. Besides, it is very interesting that some of the common symptoms, more or less, would fit to any of our conditions:

Achy joints with swelling
Extreme fatigue
Unexplained rashes
Unexplained rashes that turn to sores, then scar
Butterfly (malar) rash across nose and cheeks
Anemia
Pleurisy (pain in the chest when deep breathing)
Ulcers inside the mouth and nose
Photosensitivity
Cardiopulmonary disorders (heart/lung)

So I guess, I "had" Lupus about 300 Times in my life so far. I don´t want to make fun of it - I´ll just want to point out that it is a real disease - and so hard to diagnose!

Yours truly,

Hanna

Julie and Julia – the passion of blogging or cooking or love!

2011-04-10T00:00:00.001+02:00

Have you ever heard about Julie Powell? She worked at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's call center. Her job was to answer telephone calls from victims of the September 11 attacks and members of the general public complaining about the LMDC's controversial plans for rebuilding the World Trade Center. She always felt sorry for the vicitms, but often there was nothing she could have done for them. To do something she decided to cook every recipe in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961) by Julia Child, her role model; and she wrote a blog to motivate herself and document her progress. At the same time, the story of how the cook book was written by Julia Child was showed; in the film Julie and Julia.

The plot highlights similarities in the women's challenges, but in different countries and different times. It further shows the passion of blogging and describes the way of becoming a blogger....I really love this film and highly recommend it!

Yours truly,

Hanna

Ideas

2011-04-09T00:00:00.001+02:00

Some people have very creative ideas, some don’t. I am always wondering which part of our body is responsible for the ideas.

The dictionary defines an “idea” as a thought or conception that potentially or actually exists in the mind as a product of mental activity. It is an opinion, conviction or principle; as well as a plan, scheme, or method. According to research, creative ideas come from the right brain. Roger Sperry, (Nobel Prize for Medicine) showed that the brain is divided into two major parts or hemispheres, the right brain and the left brain, each one with different style of thinking processes and functions: The right brain functions in a non-verbal manner and excels in visual, spatial, perceptual, and intuitive information. It processes information differently than the left-brain, which is more associated with verbal, logical, and analytical thinking. The left-brain does well in naming and categorizing things, symbolic abstraction, speech, reading, writing, and arithmetic. The right brain deals with complexity, ambiguity and paradox. Sometimes, right brain thinking finds it difficult to put into words because it is more complex and because of its ability to process information quickly and its non-verbal nature. For these reasons, the right brain is being linked with the realm of creativity.

So this is the theory, but it is actually not really helping people who are chasing for good ideas. Some say, they can create better ideas when they listen to music, get drunk, take drugs, don´t sleep, do sport. So what do you do?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Home

2011-04-08T21:26:00.005+02:00

Today is the best day of the week. Firstly, because it is Friday and on the other hand: I can go home! During the week I work in a city that is about 280km away from my home – too far to go back home weekdays. I love coming home, and these are the things I really look forward to when I think of it. (Inspired by Catlin L. Crawford “Home” poem)

When I think of 'home' I think of family, friends and my cat
When I think of 'home' I think of honesty,
When I think of 'home' I think of love
When I think of 'home' I think of trust
When I think of 'home' I think of laughing
When I think of 'home' I think of food of my mum
When I think of 'home' I think of freedom
When I think of 'home' I think of my garden
When I think of 'home' I think of sleeping
When I think of 'home' I think of watching films
When I think of 'home' I think of dancing
When I think of 'home' I think of playing golf
When I think of 'home' I think of daytrips
When I think of 'home' I think of recovery
When I think of 'home' I think of no make up and trainers
When I think of 'home' I can't stop smiling

When I think of 'home' all the homeless people come to my mind. So all of us who have a home, let’s not forget to appreciate it! So what do you think of when you think of you home?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Germany

2011-04-07T00:00:00.004+02:00

Everytime I´ve been abroad and talked to people from other countries about Germany, I was surprised how little they actually know about us. Of course everyone can remember the history lessons but this is our past. Some of you might be interested in knowing some additional fascinating fun facts about Germany and its culture:

1. Germans like beer so much that they even have an expression with it: Das ist nicht mein Bier, meaning "That is none of my business!" But: Germans are not drunk every day and we also don’t drink beer for breakfast. Oh and we don’t eat Bratwurst or Sauerkraut every day!

2. John F. Kennedy visited Germany in 1963 and announced Ich bin ein Berliner, ‘I am a Berliner’, in solidarity with those living in separated Berlin. Although stories persist this was incorrect it was in fact linguistically perfectly accurate, however a "Berliner" is also the name for a jelly doughnut, although not in Berlin where they are called Pfannkuchen, so it caused a more than a few smiles.

3. Even though there are over 82 million persons living in Germany, we have succeeded in keeping almost 1/3 (31%) of the country covered with forests and woodlands. And, as you rarely see buildings on top of the mountains, you have the feeling of being surrounded by green vegetation and of wilderness close by.

4. Germans are very curious about who their potential employees are going to be: they want to see a photo on the CV and to know if you are married or not.

5. Germans, do not sleep between two sheets. They like to sleep with one sheet underneath and a duvet directly on top of them. And their pillows are not rectangular: they like big very fluffy square pillows.

6. The German “Autobahn” is the oldest, and one of the densest, motorway networks in the world. Many of them don’t have a speed limit.

Theses were just a few fun facts. Of course we have a lot more to offer. If you want to find out more about German culture habits, I like to advice you to the website of Dr. Geert Hofstede who conducted perhaps the most comprehensive study of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture:

To sum up, I think Germany is a fascinating country with its scenic beauty. I really like being abroad but I love living here. The culture, people and food and even the climate are unique and this is what makes Germany a great place to visit. And here is my promise to you: You will find at least one German who is smiling! ;-)

Yours truly,

Hanna

PS: Please feel free to ask anything - or tell me your best or worst moment in Germany

Follower

2011-04-06T00:20:00.003+02:00

“If you follow me, I will follow you.” “Wow, he’s got so many follower...” I remember how excited I´ve been when I welcomed my first follower, who was neither a family member nor a friend. A person, I did not know made my day - just by following me. When I think about it, it sounds kind of stupid doesn´t it? Anyway, let´s try to find the reason:

Does this mean that I rather like to write my blog for total strangers than for my own family and friends? Or is there anything I want to prove or even a lack of self-confidence? In my profile description I wrote that my approach of this blog is to practice writing and to get more comfortable in my second language. I am a bit older now and I guess also a bit more grown up. (Although my height is still the same ;-) When I reflect my own thoughts I think I have to add some points. Now I know that I also started writing a blog because I wanted to be part of the blogging people, having the freedom to write about what I want...and how do I know if people like what I am writing? Right, collecting follower and comments.

So what is the best method get more follower? You need to spend lots of time in reading other blogs – commenting on their entries and ask them to visit your blog. This can be very exhausting and time consuming. I know this method works quite well as I already advised people how to manage their blogs and they are quite successful getting hundreds of followers. I personally could not be bothered to invest so much time in reading other blogs and I kind of dislike the “I follow you when you follow me” mentality. I am not a student anymore and I like to spend my free time with my family and friends so I just don´t want to invenst too much time in reading and commenting blogs just to get more follower and comments. But that´t the way it is done.

However, I cannot speak myself free of liking it when I get a comment from a total stranger. It still just makes me happy – which might be the reason why I chose to participate the A to Z challenge. After stopping to write my blog for a while this challenge is my way back on track. Putting myself under the pressure to write constantly about topics that are not related to my job is great. After the first letters I already ask myself – why did I stop it? Stupid me – blogging is brilliant and every comment proves me right, even if there is just one per post and even it is from my family or friends.

So tell me, do you have had similar thoughts? What are your reasons for blogging?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Emotions

2011-04-05T23:32:00.000+02:00

Since I work in the communications industry I have learned to see positive “emotions” as a success factor. This is based on the fact that one part of our daily business is to chase for first-class stories and hooks of diverse products which we can offer a journalist. Although, there are some good techniques to create emotions, there is no better way of using real life stories. A very emotional video I have seen this year is about an amazing man who is that amazing that it is worth sharing:

WATCH IT UNTIL THE END!

I cherish the love of the father. I know that there are some voices claiming that this video is way over the top – because of the touching music and the way it is filmed. I know what they mean, but I still love it.

I am not sure if Red Bull produced this video; all you see is that Red Bull sponsors them. However, if they are responsible for this video: compliments to the company – if not – they really missed out a very good emotional successful campaign. On the other hand, they still have a very cheap image boost.

Yours truly,

Hanna

Daft Punk, Daft Hands & Daft Bodies

2011-04-04T16:59:00.000+02:00

The music industry is fighting ordinary people uploading their videos on youtube. The reason is quite simple: it is illegal to steal someones music. Today, I would like to show you the next level of using someones song to get famous without getting banned: Imagine you are a successful and popular music such as the French electronic music duo Daft Punk and the most viewed and probably listened videos are not produced from you. You would hate it, right?

But this case is so different that it would be stupid to ban the following two videos. They were created by some Internet users. They used Daft Punks most popular song, Harder, Better, Faster Stronger, in the most unusual way to make fun of it; from my point of view, in the most creative and extraordinary way.

The video “Daft Hands” was first and there are quite a few video copying the idea.

You think this is great? Than check out the two ladies in "Daft Bodies" which is even more impressive.

I think both videos are amazing because they are no cuts or breaks! Probably one reason why Daft Punk has not deleted the videos yet.

Yours truly,

Hanna

Crying man in the 21th century

2011-04-03T12:00:00.000+02:00

When was the last time you saw a crying man scene in a film? I do - Colin Firth in the Kings speech. And while watching crying Colin I thought that I haven´t seen many crying man scenes since Titanic. But why?

There is no given reason or statistic I can relate to, thus I am just guessing that crying man are simply not attractive these days. My personal opinion is, that it really depends on the man. I really don’t know why, but a crying Jim Carrey is less appealing to me than a crying Daniel Craig.

My thesis: The more masculine a man is and the less vulnerable he seems, the more attractive he is to me when he cries. And as long as they don’t cry in every film, I would be happy to see more of theses scenes in the future. Here are my top five crying man, starting in reverse order. By the way, all pictures are part of the series: “Crying Men” by Sam Taylor-Wood.

5. Hayden Christiansen

4. Jude Law

3. Forest Whitaker

2. Ed Harris

1. Daniel Craig – I admire this picture!

So what is your opinion? Crying man in Hollywood, hot or weak?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Barbie had a role model

2011-04-02T01:08:00.011+02:00

Many of our role models made their way from America to Europe. Stars are made in Hollywood – and Hollywood is where Europe tend to look up to. But there is at least one thing I know which was invented after a European inspiration: The most popular doll in history, Barbie.

Originally, I was planning to tell something about her invention, but while researching the topic, I came across an even more interesting story. Barbies role model called Bild Lilli, born in Germany and working for one of the biggest and most popular tabloid magazines in Germany:

Six years before Barbie was invented in the US and born in Japan in 1959 there was a cortoon character, created by Reinhard Beuthien for the tabloid Bild Newspaper.

Following Beuthien's drawings a prototype of the doll was designed. Until 1964, when Mattel aquired the rights to the doll about 130.000.

Today, Lilli is a collector´s piece and commands prices up to several thousand Euros.

Isn´t that interesting?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Appletinis - shaken not stirred!

2011-04-01T00:48:00.003+02:00

I really think one can compare the A to Z Challenge to an ordinary party. You got an invitation or just saw the ad, got a recommendation from a friend...we all thought: wow this is kind of cool, why not try to be part of this. It is so easy to register and to get a ticket in no time and now we are all in. I thought, a good party needs to start with a good drink and an introduction of myself. My name is Kiw - Hanna la Kiw. Does this remind you of somebody? Since we are starting with A – I choose my favourite A-Drink, which is Appletini!

Still don’t know what an Appletini is? I am sure you remember the famous spy James Bonds saying: One Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred. This is the origin of an Appletini, but the taste is completely different. According to the girls of Sex in the City, the doctors fromScrubs and the Colbert Report this drink is old fashioned and all three popularized the drink of the new age. The ladies love the sweetness because the apple flavour generally masking the vodka, guys like the bite and probably identify themselves with the good old spy James.

Although, there are many different versions how to mix a good Appletini almost everybody agrees on how it should be served: straight up in a martini glass, and often garnished with an apple slice. Drink ingredients are poured over ice, and shaken not stirred before being strained into the serving glass.

My favorite recipe is: 1 part Vodka, 1,5 parts Apple Schnapps and 2 parts Apple Juice – shaken not stirred of course ;-)

Oh one last advice – if you want to survive the challenge, sip slowly. It is so easy to down them fast but remember, it is a cocktail, no dessert! You won’t feel the alcohol until you stand up. So welcome to the A to Z challenge!

Yours truly,

Hanna

Let the games begin - Ludi incipiant

2011-04-01T00:04:00.006+02:00

My friend Nahno McLein invited me to the A-Z challenge, a month-long blogging challenge. Idea and organisation by TossingItOut.blogspot.com is fantastic - thanks for this!

What is the challenge?

There are 26 letters in the alphabet (in English) and every participant has 30 days to dedicate one post per day to each. And if you think this is easy...than go and start blogging - you have the next 24 hours to start with the first letter...

Good luck everybody

Yours truly,

Hanna

Just a quick comeback, just for the Oscars

2011-02-25T22:51:00.015+01:00

Thanks to everybody for pushing me to upload my annual

Oscar prediction list! So here are my predictions:

Best Picture "The King's Speech”

Leading Actor Colin Firth in "The King's Speech” 

Supporting Actor Christian Bale in "The Fighter" 

Leading Actress  Natalie Portman in "Black Swan" 

Supporting Actress Melissa Leo in "The Fighter" 

Animated Feature Film "Toy Story 3"

Art Direction "Alice in Wonderland"

Cinematography “True Grit”

Costume Design "The King's Speech”

Directing “The King's Speech”

Documentary (Feature) "Inside Job"

Documentary (Short Subject) “Poster Girl"

Film Editing “The Social Network"

Foreign Language Film “Incendies"

Makeup "The Wolfman”

Original Score “The Social Network”

Original Song "Tangled”

Animated Short Film "The Gruffalo"

Live Action Short Film "The Crush”

Sound Editing "Inception"

Sound Mixing "Inception"

Visual Effects "Inception"

Adapted Screenplay “The Social Network"

Original Screenplay "The King's Speech"

Yours truly,

Hanna

Web 2.0 sabbatical

2010-11-03T18:48:00.005+01:00

Hi all,

I just want everybody know that I have almost finished my MA, moved back to Germany and started to work for an international communications agency which is quite challenging and very time consuming. Of course I will continue writing my blog but I have to focus on the job at the moment. This is why I will take a "Web 2.0 sabbatical".

As soon as I have more time, I will share the experience of my afterstudy life. In the meantime, I will collect any of your topics and of course you can still send me your ideas, comments and questions ;-). Furthermore, I will keeping you up to date on twitter @hannalakiw.

Yours truly,

Hanna

104 year old "Twittergranny" died!

2010-08-02T14:39:00.018+02:00

“Going to have my lunch now will be back later (1:52 PM Jul 6th via web).“ was the last tweet before she died.

Ivy Bean, 104 years old never came back. Pat who stayed with Ivy kept the followers informed about her physical condition until she died a few weeks after her last tweet.

At the end Ivy had about 63.000 Followers.

When I heard about Ivy Bean it was hard for me to believe that she is 104 year old. I was sure this must be a fake story made up for some commercial events; but I was wrong:

Ivy was just herself - she loved the contact to her followers all over the world and after I read some of her tweets I would have loved to be one of her followers, too

How she started:

Ivy became a member of Facebook at age 102, but she quickly migrated to Twitter because it was easier, she said, and because she could have more followers. She already had reached her friend limit on Facebook. Earlier this year, Ivy tweeted that she had 25,000 pending friend requests.

What do you tweet about at the age of 104:

People always tell me that they don`t know what to tweet about. Ivy never had this problem. She told her nearly 57,000 Twitter followers around the world what she did each day. About how much she enjoyed it to sit in the garden and to eat fish and ships. She even told her followers about the way she felt, her physical conditions and how much she enjoys the community and visitors.

Her secret:

Ivy announced her secret in an interview with CNN last year: "Keep on at it." My opinion is, that there is more than just being consistent. Her tweets were so sweet, authentic and personal that people felt connected to the old lady. In that sence, I was wondering if the Queen of England knows about the 104-year-old Ivy Bean. The Queen is also open to Social Media and she has a Twitteraccount and is also present on Flickr. On the other hand I think the way of their tweeting is very unpersonal and neutral. They use Twitter more to inform about their schedule and daily agenda. I would rather prefere to to read tweets about what they actually do and what they think of it, if they enjoy it, like it hate it love it....

Yours truly,

Hanna

PS:. Here Ivy is meeting Peter Andre, her favourite popstar. This is her last TV performance.

How Twitter and Facebook may have saved my life!

2010-07-25T19:19:00.005+02:00

The motto of the worlds biggest love festival "the art of love" turned into "the art of death"! Stampede at yesterdays love parade festival killed 21 young people and injured over 500 visitors. I am so happy that I was able to read all news and updates via Twitter and Facebook. My friends (bless them - who stayed at home) told me exactly where to go when, is the trainstation closed or open, is it a goot time to leave or not, which way to choose. All these were information which should have been provided by the organisers of the festival. But to keep people calm they pretended everything is fine - might be a good plan - but they could have done some information corners...Anyway - they didn`t - so me and my friends are just glad that we survived it.

How can one be so stupid to lead one million people through a tunnel - both ways?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Y(our) world project for Y(our) descendants!

2010-07-17T11:30:00.009+02:00

Wouldn´t it be tremendous to show the future generation how the whole world lived an ordinary day on our blue planet? If only they could see what our day life looks like – moreover what YOUR day life looks like.

Now you have the chance to tell your personal story. The “Life in a Day” project makes it possible. A so called "historic cinematic experiment" edited by Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott, who direct this documentary of one day, seen through the eyes of people around the world. It will be an interconnected story of a single day on earth, recorded on July 24 and YOU can be part of it!

The "Life in a Day" project is supported by LG Electronics as a key part of its long-standing "Life’s Good" campaign. On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a snapshot of your life on camera. It is ordinary things in life which matters - a sunrise, the commute to work, a neighborhood soccer match, or the extraordinary – things what makes you happy, you love, your reaction to the passing of a loved one, or even a marriage.

If your footage will be used in the film you will be named as a co-director. The first time the film will be presented is the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Here is what to do next:

1. Check out the “Life in a Day” channel and learn more about the project. Read through the steps you need to take to participate and the guidelines for creating your video(s).

2. Capture your day on camera, on July 24.

3. Upload your footage to the “Life in a Day” channel any time before July 31. Even if your “day” does not make it into the final film, your video will be presented on the “Life in a Day” channel.

Yours truly,

Hanna

The power of a personal note in the world of social media

2010-07-06T20:05:00.000+02:00

When was the last time you were moved to tears, just by looking at a postcard? I was suprised about the postcards I found in the internet today because they almost made me cry:

Frank Warren, known as the most trusted stranger in America, invented the Blog PostSecret four years ago. The idea was to start an “ongoing community art project” where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard to him. Successfully! There are already five books with the best cards published: “PostSecret”, “My Secret”, “The Secret Lives of Men and Women”, “A Lifetime of Secrets” and “Confessions on Life, Death, and God”. Every Sunday, thousands of people check for new postcards when the Blog is updated.

Additionally, there is whole social media movement: Last week, Catlin Robert from San Francisco set up the Facebook page “Please don’t jump” inspired by one of the postcards she saw on PostSecret:

The card says: “I have lived in San Francisco since I was young. I am illegal. I am not wanted here. I don't belong anywhere. This summer I plan to jump off the Golden Gate.” (By the way, this reminds me a bit off the US schoolgirl who said: "My mom has no papers!" to Michelle Obama a few weeks ago).

Anyway, over 13.000 Facebook users "liked" the page already and uploaded over 300 fan pictures with the message: “Please, don’t jump!”

I think this is a very good example of how social media engaging in the society is possible and let’s hope the message will also reach the right people!

Yours truly,

Hanna

PS: If you click on the purple links you´ll be forwarded to the websites!

A windows anecdote

2010-07-05T23:07:00.008+02:00

From all windows startup sounds, the one below is my favorite and I recently came along an amusing anecdote about the history of the Windows boot sound from 1995:

The composer was Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, commonly known as Brian Eno and previously as simply Eno. He is an English musician, composer, record producer, music theorist, singer and visual artist, best known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music. In 1994, Brian Eno composed the startup sound for Microsoft Windows 95. And the ironic thing is that the “sound of my childhood” was composed on a Mac.

Windows quality made by Apple - nice one, right?

Yours truly,

Hanna

Another living the "American Online Dream" story

2010-06-18T01:31:00.003+02:00

April 28: After a school performance Greyson Chance uploaded this video on his Facebook and on YouTube:

A few days later, Ellen DeGeneres saw his video. Less than 20 days after uploading the video, Greyson Chance sat in front of Ellen DeGeneres in her show talking to her and to Lady Gaga on the phone.

After this show, Greyson got a second performance on the Ellen Show and received a check over 10.000 Dollar, a record label and a new piano. Click here to find out how else he is now promoted. The whole story seems to me like a very well planned pr story. But even if this is a fake: I kind of like him. So, Justine Bieber, you better watch out and good luck to Greyson Chance for his future career.

Yours truly,

Hanna

Did you know that Steve Jobs salary is 1$ per year?

2010-06-01T16:29:00.000+02:00

most of you know that Apple is one of my favourite brands, but until today I did not know these things about Steve Jobs:

Yours truly,
Hanna

Dear Mr. Clegg,

2010-04-30T17:00:00.021+02:00

Come take a walk with me. Let's pretend we're just two people and I am your PR manager. I would like to evaluate your visit to De Montfort University on this sunny morning in Leicester and I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly (Pink, 2006):

The location was well chosen; the recently finished square in front of the new Hugh Aston building was big enough for hundreds of students. Sufficient space for your campaigning bus to drive right up to the middle of it. You could have jumped out of your bus and thrilled the hundreds of people around you with a stunning speech.Clapping –cheering - everybody will vote for you.

Badabing badaboom and a happy Mr. Clegg.

May I ask, why on earth didn`t you do it like this?

Didn`t you realise that just the two front rows, half journalists, half students were able to hear what you were saying? Yes, you had a microphone but after the fifth shout “We cannot hear you” you could have asked for another speaker. I am pretty positive that the university could have provided some loudspeakers.

Did you not know all this - still thinking this event was a success?

I know what you think: The media was happy and will cover it – that’s enough. WRONG Mr. Clegg. The media will report about you visiting and talking to students, and you might reach a lot of people in front of the television. But these people watching you are the ones who certainly already know whom they are voting for. Are these really the ones you wanted to reach? According to the Sky News reporters you were trying to get the undecided voters, the students. But most of the students don`t have a television...got it?

So wake up Mr. Clegg...the media might call it Cleggmania – but regarding to the social media coverage it was a Cleggfailure!

Just for fun, let your staff check how many Facebook entries advertising your visit announced to all their friends - and let them check what the reactions were afterwards.

Mr. Clegg, do not underestimate the social media.

Oh Mr. Clegg it would have been so easy to influence students...if you would have reached them. Please, stop destroying your image by talking longer to the media than to the people. If I would be an English citizen and haven’t made my mind up so far, I would have thought that if someone is not able to set up an event properly, speaking to a few hundred students, how would he be able to run an entire country?

Here you can see and hear what he did not say:

Here is my personal advice for you: You are smart, young and you seem to be a nice guy - get more experience and come back for the next election!

Yours truly,

Hanna

PS: Click here if you want to hear what he said.

Fun in the snow

2010-04-09T11:39:00.008+02:00

Every easter break I go to Austria to teach pupils from the Max-Planck Gymnasium how to snowboard. This year I managed to make a short video: (You better watch it "Full Screen", just click on the button right next to the volume)

Your´s truly,
Hanna

Product placement or tribute to King of Pop?

2010-03-26T16:10:00.007+01:00

Several products can be detected in the long version of Lady Gaga´s explicit video version of “Telephone” ft. Beyoncé.

The video, directed by Jonas Akerlund is full of products and hints to movies or other famous singers or actors.

Here is what I found so far:
• 1:34 Headphones by “Monster”
• 2:10 Virgin Mobile Mobile Phone (Virgin Mobile sponsors Gaga‘s “The Monster Ball Tour”)
• 2:17 Diet Coke
• 2:40 A young Lady Gaga
• 2:49 A young Lady Gaga
• 4:16 Virgin Mobile again and the Palm
• 4:25 Bebo Logo on hp Laptop. Bebo is owned by Aol. HP limited edition laptop was used in “Bad Romance”
• 4:28 PlentyOfFish - Largest Online Dating Website Completely Free Dating
• 4:33 Michael Jackson dance move
• 4:39 Kill Bill‘s “Pussy Wagon”
• 5:07 Snack
• 5:15 Drive Thru Drink
• 5:45 Polaroid. And at the end again with the photo-both.
• 6:39 White Bread? Really?
• 6:42 Kraft Miracle Whip (Majo/Butter) (Could not find an official statement if there will a a sponsorship)
• 7:45 Michael Jackson Diner full of dead people like in “Thriller”

I just wonder if I missed anything or anybody – I guess there are more…maybe you‘ll find them.

Your´s truly,
Hanna

"Big Brother Baby Boom" Facebook moves into the delivery room

2010-03-09T22:00:00.000+01:00

Lawyers claimed at the end of last year that Facebook seems to become one of the main causes for divorces, but there is another upcoming trend: (this is a real life example: NO FAKE)

Status Update: My wife is now on 30 hours without sleep and epidural only part working. Prayer request from her: pray that the flipping epidural starts working!

13 December 2009 at 11:48 via Facebook for iPhone

Status Update Now then: wife in labour. 36hrs with no sleep. Epidural is in, but not fully working. Please continue to pray. She is sleeping now. Thanks guys. I'll keep you informed. x

13 December 2009 at 12:08 via Mobile Web

Status Update: they have broken her waters- still only 4 cm dilated- come on baby!!

13 December 2009 at 13:21 via Facebook for iPhone

Status Update: baby lying back to back so needs to turn. About 8 cm now and making progress. Wife is doing amazing!

13 December 2009 at 16:23 via Facebook for iPhone

Status Update: in transition...

13 December 2009 at 18:54 via Facebook for iPhone

Status Update A 24hr labour has produced the most amazing miracle. My wife was unbelievably amazing! And please welcome to the world!

13 December 2009 at 23:36 via Mobile Web

“This is the happiest moment of my life. I am holding my newly born child in my arms!”

Oh my days. The first time I read this I thought: How on earth did he manage it? I have the picture in my mind of the proud father holding the mobile in one and the newborn in the other hand.

The urge to share EVERY single moment on Facebook still seems to increase and more and more baby`s will be “born” on Facebook. I wonder what comes next? What will be the next level of this social striptease?

Yours truly,

Hanna

The Oscars 2010 - My Prediction

2010-03-07T19:03:00.005+01:00


Leading Actor: Jeff Bridges
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
Leading Actress: Sandra Bullock
Supporting Actress: Mo`Nique
Animated Feature: Up
Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Directing: The Hurt Locker
Documentary Feature: The Cove
Documentary Short: China`s Unnatural Disaster..
Film Editing: The Hurt Locker
Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon (I really hope they`ll make it)
Make up: Star Trek
Original Score: The Hurt Locker
Original Song: the Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)
Short Film Animated: French Roast
Short Film Live Action: The New Tenants
Cinematography: Avatar
Art Direction: Avatar
Sound: Editing: Avatar
Sound Mixing: Avatar
Visual Effects: Avatar
Best Picture: Avatar
Screenplay Adapted: Precious
Screenplay Original: The Hurt Locker Good luck everybody ;-) Yours truly, Hanna

War as a loophole? Boon or bane, what would you do?

2010-02-10T14:19:00.000+01:00

Imagine you do public relations for this very unique, innovative and promising product. The company breaks even within one year. The success formula: The company’s PR strategy is build on strong core values and the vision to be the most sustainable, environmental and ethically correct company in the world and the public respects and acknowledges them as one of the “good” ones.

One year later:

The financial crisis hits your company and you might go bankrupt.

The bailout:

An offer from the national defence department of your country; they would like to buy your service and your products.

Issue:

This would not just rescue your company, moreover, you could expand and have secured employment for the next years, for it is your responsibility to control their programmes, as well as update and improve them.

My Question:

From the business point of view, there wouldn’t be any issues...but what about Public Relations? How would you deal with it? Do you forget about your core values and vision? Would you risks to become one of these „bad“ companies and forget about your core strategy? Or would you consider building up a new brand which is seen in the public separated to your company ... always with the risk that the public finds out? Or would you rather be proactive and tell truth?

I am looking forward to hear everyone’s opinion.

Yours truly,

Hanna

How does WEB 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 affect you?

2010-02-09T19:34:00.001+01:00

There are many ways to describe WEB 1.0, WEB 2.0 and WEB 3.0. I could tell you about the one-way information of WEB 1.0 with its html codes, framesets and static sites or that WEB 2.0 is actually just a buzzword (words arising from repetition). Furthermore, I could tell that it is interactive and has a dynamic user generated content like Youtube, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter... and that WEB 3.0 has something to do with artificial intelligence and is called the semantic web. I decided not to, because the majority is more interested in knowing how these “terms” affect their lives but take a look yourself:

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!

Yours truly,

Hanna

"Starbucks under Fire!" A Question of Honour?

2010-02-08T20:58:00.000+01:00

I just received one of these chain emails from a friend and find this more than interesting in case of how the Starbucks PR Department will react to this if this is going to become a big issue:

"Recently, British Royal Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffees, and to request that they send some of it to the troops there. Starbucks replied, telling the Royal Marines thank you for their support of their business, but that Starbucks does not support the war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the troops their brand of coffee. So as not to offend Starbucks, maybe we should support them by NOT buying any of their products! I feel we should get this out in the open. I know this war might not be very popular with some people, but that doesn't mean we don't support the boys on the ground, fighting street-to-street and, house-to-house. If you feel the same as I do then please pass this along.

Thanks very much for your support. I know you'll all be there again to support us when we deploy once more.

Sgt. Howard Wright, 1 Platoon, Recon Company, Royal Marines

PLEASE BE KIND ENOUGH AND DON'T DELETE THIS... BUT PLEASE PASS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR E- MAIL LIST, IN MEMORY OF ALL THE TROOPS WHO HAVE BEEN WOUNDED, LOST LIMBS AND EVEN DIED, SO THAT WE MAY HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE !

Also, please don't forget that when the Twin Trade Towers were hit, the fire fighters and rescue workers went to Starbucks because it was close by for water for the survivors and workers, and Starbucks CHARGED THEM!!! AN ADDED NOTE TO THIS: STARBUCKS HAD STORES ON SEVERAL MILITARY BASES IN THE UNITED STATES. THEY ARE NOW BEING REMOVED BECAUSE OF THIS.

There are 227 Starbucks stores across the UK, and there's no doubt that our soldiers would get the same response from this company, so let us do our bit and boycott Starbucks to show them how despicable their actions are.............................We shall leave it up to you."

This is a good case for Crisis Communication isn`t it? What do you think of this? How can you as a company "fight" against these emails? I am looking forward to hear your opinions.

Yours truly,

Hanna

Captured by brands – An unsolved riddle?

2010-01-27T02:26:00.000+01:00

“Branding“ in Public Relations becomes more and more like its own profession. I like to observe certain strategies and the different ways companies use to build up their brands because I study Public Relations. One of my favourite brands is Apple. Of course I followed the Apple presentation of the I-PAD last week and I was really impressed by the huge worldwide online participation. I tried to follow the conference itself, alongside the Twitter- Blogger- and Facebook groups and news discussions. A friend of mine wanted to know the reason that I stayed in front of my laptop rather than meeting up with him. I had no good answer for him and just used some bad excuses like: “this is for my studies…bla bla.” For the last week I have been asking myself how certain brands still manage to capture me, as I should be quite immune against them. There are two brands I am really attracted to and it seems to be impossible to figure out why: BMW and Apple.

One of the scholarly arguments is that the social environment influences your decision about whether a brand is “in” or “out”. In my case this theory would fail, as my family is a Mercedes family and they all use Microsoft PCs. I have also heard about the theory that it is quite normal to want the things you don’t have. I am sceptical and not really convinced by this argument. Furthermore, I am not exactly the target audience of either Apple or BMW.

I recently talked to a PR professional who works in the car industry, about the how good the quality of different car brands is. I assumed he drove a BMW when I saw his car keys and I asked him, if he would ever drive a different car than a BMW. His answer was clear: “He would not even consider buying another brand, although the other cars may be cheaper, more economic or a better cost benefit consideration.” Unfortunately, he couldn’t explain to me the reasons why.

What makes a brand a good “Brand”?

A good brand has strong core values, clear messages and announces a clear position. It usually does not relate to the things the organization or the company does. It obtains the values from the use and acceptance of the customer. Is this the secret of Apple and BMW?

The riddle is still unsolved, so I tried to list what I really like about Apple.

Why Apple appeals to me:

- Innovative in design and technology

- Fun and fast development

- Exclusivity as Apple seems to be one step ahead

- Simplicity (I have owned my Mac for a year and I never needed any help from computer geeks – I could solve every issue by myself and could install any programme by myself)

- Community and Apple support / good online support

- I like people who have a Mac (I know this is very superficial- but mostly true)

Why BMW appeals to me:

- Fun and fast development

- Innovative in design

- Exclusivity

- Simplicity / I know everything about my car and am able to use everything straight away

- Community and BMW support / good online support

- I like people who have a BMW (I know this is very superficial- but mostly true)

AMAZING! Different brands out of different industries, but both seem to have the same values for me. Is this the riddles’ solution? What if it is? Couldn’t this be transferred into a formula that would guarantee success? And how could you measure me as a person by the values I prefer? A part of the riddle is solved but at the same time more questions are raised. These are definitely some things to think about it in the future…

Yours truly,

Hanna

PR Permutation: English Football and Rugby

2010-01-12T02:39:00.000+01:00

You may ask yourself. Why is she writing about "mens" sport. For all of you here some background information:

I grew up in the heart of the Ruhr-Area in Gelsenkirchen, which is known as the city of a thousand fires. Besides the relations to former industry fires, Gelsenkirchen is also known for more: The football club 1. FC Schalke 04. Since I was a child, I loved being part of the football culture. It might sound strange, but I am not into football itself, although I like watching it. It is the atmosphere and the tension before the game which fascinates me. On a game day, the whole town seems to vibrate and the people who live here are inflamed with the passion for their club and 60000 people making their pilgrimage to the stadium. The whole town changes into blue and white colours and people meet on the streets to celebrate the forthcoming game. There is a vibrant atmosphere in the stadium and I am addicted to the Goosebumps when the singing and cheering starts, and they sing and cheer a lot. I don’t even know all of the songs as they continuously develop new ones.

For my study I moved to the UK, which is another football nation. Unfortunately, where I live, football is just the second most popular sport. I live in Leicester and here Rugby is the number one sport. The Leicester Tigers are one of the best teams in the country. Perfect conditions for Goosebumps, as I thought it does not matter which sport I watch, as it is the atmosphere I enjoy. All I knew about rugby was that there is no round ball; no net in the goals and the players are allowed to touch and catch the ball. In my imagination rugby must be a very violent game, watched by violent people.

I was proved wrong. I could not believe it when my flatmate who is a real rugby fan explained to me the truth about the rugby fans mentality: Could it be true that the fans are really supposed to be nice, non violent and always fair to the opponents? I had to see it with my own eyes and the next weekend I stood between Tiger and Dragon fans, non violent, fair and nice to the opponents. This was the weirdest sports game I watched in my entire life. I was shocked by the violence on the pitch, impressed by the fans fairness and disappointed by the cheering, which focused on a “Tiigeeers” shout. That’s it. No hymn, no songs, not even before or after the game apart from the national anthems that are sung before. It was a great experience especially in case of the heavy remarkable difference between the violence on the pitch and the peacefulness off the pitch. Sadly I had no Goosebumps, but I was lucky that I also had the chance to see a real premier league football game: Manchester City vs. Chelsea. I was so excited to see one of the top clubs in England.

To summarise the game: The stadium was nice, the atmosphere before the match was much better than the whole rugby game. For us what was also a bit strange and unusual was the fact that unfortunately, no one was not allowed to drink any alcohol. Sadly, there was no development of the atmosphere during the actual match. Although, Manchester had all reasons to celebrate like hell – as they won, the atmosphere seemed to be frozen at the same level from before the match began. Not enough atmospheres for me to be honest! The next football match I am going to watch will be back in Germany. Anyway I am thankful for the experiences I could have and now I know more about the different images of football and rugby.

Yours truly,

Hanna

My last Will...

2009-12-07T15:29:00.000+01:00

Have you ever thought about including your virtual life platforms in your last will? I hadn’t. Unfortunately we have to deal with this “issue” because the only thing in life, which happens for sure, is that we all are going to die one day. Some people are better prepared than others, but how many people do you think have included their wishes about the future of their Internet presence? Your parents or grandparents might not be affected with this question; but what about you? Do you have any Websites, Pictures, Blogs, or Online Profiles? It might be time to think about it.

Can you imagine sitting down, writing your last will and picture yourself as an immortal Internet ghost, lost in the World Wide Web?

When I started thinking of what I would like to happen with my virtual life, my profiles and the platforms I use, if I died, I felt very uncomfortable. And to be honest, it still gives me the creeps when I think too long about it. On the other hand, it is a very fascinating topic because there is not much research done so far. I decided to focus on Facebook which gave me the idea of writing about it once I saw an active profile of a dead person, where people still left comments such as: “Hey what’s up?” or “long time no see”. “What are you doing?”…They will never get an answer. Actually, I don’t believe that some of his friends know that this person was not alive anymore. Furthermore, there was no mention about the death of this man. Besides me, there are 109.081 people on Facebook who think along the same lines as me. They all joined the Facebook group, ‘When I Die I Give My Friends Permission To Change My Status To “Is Dead”.’

Some of these group members joined the group for fun, but there are plenty who are really thinking about the issue: What will happen to their Facebook profiles when they die. Most of the group members want to keep their profiles active and they came up with the idea of posting their passwords to give other people the chance to take over their accounts. Obviously they did not fully think through the idea in case of data security, but it is a start of thinking in the right direction. Before I thought of other solutions I wanted to know if there are people besides those who are already in this group who want to keep their Facebook profiles active after their death. I talked to students from De Montfort University in Leicester to hear their opinions. My criteria of choosing them was:

They have to be an active member of Facebook
Not in the group ‘When I Die I Give My Friends Permission To Change My Status To “Is Dead”
From different cultural backgrounds (to examine if there are any differences regarding their home country)

None of the students have thought about the question before…but three of them joined the Facebook group after the interview.

Some initial ideas about how social media platforms like Facebook could improve nowadays:

If an account is opened, then the applicant should be asked to name at least one trustable person to deal with their account after they die. (A copy of the death certificate could be sent as proof)
A question about what you would like to happen to your Facebook Profile when you are dead.
A “Date of Death” button
A non active account should become passive after no log in for 6 months and after one year the account should be freezed, and Facebook should stop trying to connect people with a passive account.

In the Future

Can you imagine a “Google graveyard”, or a Facebook memorial hall? There are already sites like Mydeathspace.com and Gonetoosoon.com, but what about an official Internet graveyard? Or what about an online funeral palour? People could leave all their data about their virtual lives and a professional online executor could manage everything. Whatever the future may bring, I will be prepared. What about you?

Yours truly,

Hanna

PS: I asked Facebook if they have an approximate value about how many members are dead, or might be dead, but I have not received an answer yet.

The new Twitter List – An answer to Brizzly or just a new feature?

2009-10-29T02:22:00.018+01:00

Since today Brizzly is connected with Facebook and Twitter just came out with a new feature, the so-called Twitterlist. "The lists are timelines “you build yourself, consisting of friends, family, co-workers, sport teams and you name it.“ (Twitter.com)

Twitter told me in a "Newsflasbox" below my twitter header, that I am part of a small group receiving this feature: but I quickly saw, that small seems to be a very distensible term. (At this time, there were already over 7000 people following the Twitter Team list.)

Anyway, I wanted to test it and at the fifth go I managed to create a #NewTwitterlist.

How to create a Twitterlist?

Click on the “New List” button above your “Trending Topics”. (If there is no button, you might need to wait a couple of days until you have the new applications)

Choose a name for your list. It will be @yourtwittername/your-twitter-list-name
Decide if you want to have a public or private list.

Search in your "Followers" and "Following" people and add as many people as you like to the list, just by clicking on the new: „add to the list button“ next to the people.
Everybody can see that he or she was added to a list; and you also can see which lists your contacts belong to.
Congratualtions: You just created your first Twitterlist

Now Twitter will suggest you to tweet your new list, which is quite smart. I clicked on it, but instead of tweeting a link to the list, I tweetet the name of the list with link to my profile, which still does not make any sense to me:

"Check out the @hannalakiw/pr-master-dmu-leicester list! The chance to meet highly motivated PR students from De Montfort University"

You also can follow interesting lists from other people which is in my opinion a brilliant idea as you can get connected to a whole Twitterlist group. Furthermore I thought I could write either a direct message or a group message to reach all members of my list by just sending just one tweet. Sadly, I did not find an application for it. (I still have in mind that this is the BETA testing…but they just can improve when they know the issues, right?)

In conclusion my first impression is; I really like the idea of organizing my twitter contacts, but as long as Twitter just offers to create a lists I rather revert to a proper Twitter Reader. On the other hand, this feature could become a great opportunity to build new interest groups, without using Hashtags. Actually, this feature could influence the whole new media industry. I quite like the idea of an "exclusive list" without any Spam or Hashtags. However, people need to create and provide lists to the public before you can start thinking of strategies how to use this lists for business.

I am not sure if Twitter planned to come out with this new feature at the same day and time like Brizzly with their new Facebook feature. It really would have been a strange coincidence, but we will get the answer soon. We just need to observe the way Twitter will promote the Twitter Lists and if they will try to "sell" the Twitterlist as an alternative for Twitter Readers or just a "nice to have" feature.

Yours truly,

Hanna

How do you organize your Twitter feeds?

2009-10-26T22:09:00.024+01:00

I started using Twitter a couple of weeks ago and recently found out that I had already missed tweets (updates) when people had written direct messages to me. Since I do not have my mobile connected to twitter, and I only follow approximately thirty people, I was wondering how people manage to follow hundreds of people, without missing any messages? I already read about several Twitter Readers which help to organize tweets and the people you follow. The three I knew were TweetDeck, Peoplebrowsr and HootSuite. When I could not decide which one to choose, I found this new twitter reader called Brizzly.

I must admit that what first attracted me to was the Logo and I am curious about what the Brizzly founder, Jason Shellen (a former Googler) and his team intended by creating a bear in a dead twitter bird costume. If anybody knows the answer please leave a comment. Apart from the logo and the name (turn the g from grizzly 180 degree into b for brizzly or what do you think?), there were some other reasons for choosing Brizzly.

First of all the twitter reader is still in a developmental stage and I really liked the idea of being kept up to date with all the changes and to see how these will influence the final outcome of the program. On the other hand I could look at the program without any preconceived notions because I have not read any reports about Brizzly so far.

I have been testing Brizzly for one week and although I am aware that it is just a beta version, I am surprised at how well it worked. Brizzly has standard features like other twitter readers, such as managing more than one twitter account or creating groups. (You cannot choose more than one person to add to a group and hopefully they will find a solution for this, as it is quite annoying and time consuming, and I only have 30 people to organize. Imagine if you follow hundreds of people!)

So, what are the main differences between Brizzly and all the other Twitter Readers?

With Brizzly, it is more the small features that I really like, because they differ from all the other programs. First of all the user interface is very simple in comparison to the other tweet readers, providing just one stream instead of the different columns which are used in TweetDeck, Peoplebrowser or HootSuite. It really looks like Twitter, just with more functions on each side. I would prefer to choose a background picture and the colour myself, but this is just a matter of taste.

The five main features are:

There is a “why” button next to the trending topics, which provides background information to help you to understand why a specific topic is discussed in this moment.
There is also the possibility to chat with other twitter users in a similar way to instant messaging.
If you do not want to follow people’s comments for a while, then you can “mute” them.
One of my favourite developments Brizzly did is the embedding function for videos and pictures, to put them straight into your timeline, so there is no need to open a new window just to see one picture or video.
Also very useful is that you can see the whole address of links in tweets, makes the decision much easier to klick on it (and I klick on more links now than before)

I really do not know if this is enough to convince people to change from their Tweet Readers to Brizzly, but I think it is a very good alternative. If you want to try Brizzly just follow me on twitter @hannalakiw, I have ten invitations for you.

Yours truly,

Hanna

New interface of my Blog

2009-10-21T12:13:00.009+02:00

It started as a diary for my family and friends; but since I have started my Masters in Public Relations in England it has turned out into an information platform. It concerns how life develops after moving to another country. By writing this blog I aim to become progressively more professional. Not only through discussing my life here in England but also by writing about my studies. Please be aware that English is not my first language and the Blog originally was supposed to be in German. I switched to English because one of my primary aims is to improve my understanding of the language. I am very open to advice; so please feel free to submit constructive criticism regarding content, language or grammar. This text was corrected by my lovely flatmates ;-)

Enjoy!

Yours truly,

Hanna

Von Deutsch zu Englisch: Die Erklärung

2009-10-17T14:29:00.007+02:00

Ihr Lieben, weil ich für ein Modul in der Uni einen Blog führen werde (als Prüfungsleistung) und es wenig Sinn macht einen weiteren Blog zu erstellen, wird Hanna la Kiw`s Blog ab heute auf Englisch weitergeführt. Auch eine gute Übung um Euer Englisch aufzupolieren oder mich zu verbessern (worum ich bitte...also immer schön mit dem Rotstift in der Hand lesen;-)

Als weitere Neuheit gibt es auch Twitterupdates...die ich auch in mehr oder minder regelmäßigen Abständen schreiben soll.

Viel Spaß und ich freue mich über jeden ENGLISCHEN Kommentare von Euch.

Eure Hanna

Wo es noch echten Service gibt? Ich weiß wo...

2009-08-06T19:25:00.015+02:00

Vor ein paar Tagen habe ich eine Tagesdecke bei dem Online Versandhandel HeimundKleid bestellt. Schon bei der Bestellung war ich positiv überrascht, dass ich die Wahl zwischen Registrieren oder ohne Registrierung zu bestellen hatte. Das ist in Deutschland kein Standard. Am nächsten Tag kam die Meldung, dass die Firma Lieferrückstände hat und meine Decke erst in 10 Tagen geliefert wird. Als Entschädigung bekomme ich einen 10 Euro Warenwertgutschein. Weil ich traurig war, dass die Decke nicht mein Zimmer aufpimpen würde, schrieb ich zurück, dass ich ab Montag in England bin und es doch so schade wäre, wenn ich auf die Decke verzichten müsste. Prompt kam diese Antwortmail:

...

"Leider haben wir in diesem Moment keine Tagesdecken auf Lager, da wir auf die Lieferung vom Hersteller warten - die voraussichtlich am Montag oder vielleicht am Dienstag erst erfolgen wird. Ich mache Ihnen einen Vorschlag! Sobald die Decken bei uns sind sende ich Ihnen Ihre Bestellung, und zwar direkt nach England! Der Versand nach England ist nicht allzu teuer und ich möchte eine zufriedene Kundin haben, die Ihr Auslandsjahr in England mit einer hübschen Tagesdecke von PIP STUDIO bereichern möchte. Was halten Sie davon? Das ist wirklich überhaupt kein Problem, ich würde Ihnen sehr gerne das Paket direkt an Ihre Adresse in England senden!"

Was ich davon halte? Das ist der Hammer- Servicewüste Deutschland - ich habe die Ausnahme gefunden. Ich habe mich natürlich schon bedankt und versprochen die Werbetrommel zu rühren: Also Leute, bevor Ihr was bei DaWanda oder Amazon (meine bisherigen Tophäuser) oder sonst wo kauft, ckeckt mal ob Ihr nicht unter HeimundKleid das gleiche findet.

Eure Hanna

Kommentar: "Vodafone - Es ist Deine Zeit" oder "Du bist Vodafone"

2009-07-12T15:05:00.001+02:00

Web 2.0 – Deine Entscheidung über die Inhalte im Internet, oder wie der neue Slogan von Vodafone erklärt "Es ist Deine Zeit". Die "Generation Upload" ist nun die Zielgruppe von Vodafone. Ausgedacht hat sich das alles die Agentur Scholz und Friends die 2009 den Etat für die Markenkommunikation von Vodafone Deutschland gewonnen hat. Mich persönlich erinnert die Kampagne sehr an die Social Marketing Kampagne "Du bist Deutschland". Vielleicht setzt sich die Strategie von Jung von Matt, (übrigens meine Lieblingsagentur) dass "ich Deutschland bin" tatsächlich durch. Ganz normale Menschen werden zu "Helden des Alltags" und tragen die Botschaft "Du kannst das auch" in die Welt. Erinnert auch irgendwie an das amerikanische Traumblabla. Aber in Zeiten der Wirtschaftskrise müssen vielleicht neben schwarzen Präsidenten auch normale Helden her.

Eure Hanna

Web 2.0 einfach erklärt

2009-07-11T14:13:00.013+02:00

Heute möchte ich Euch erzählen, was dieses Web 2.0 eigentlich ist. Grund für diese Erklärung ist, das Unverständnis vieler über die neue "Vodafone es ist Deine Zeit" die in diesen Tagen gestartet ist. Warum wurden der Punk Sascha Lobe, die Mutter Ute Hamelmann aka Schnutinger und der Dicestacker Sven Gurrath für diese Kampagne ausgewählt? Und was haben die mit Web 2.0 zu tun? Dazu muss man wissen, was Web 2.0 eigentlich ist.

Web 2.0 sind Internetseiten, die jedem die Möglichkeit bieten mitzumachen und zum Inhalt der Sache beizutragen, zu bewerten oder einfach nur zu kommentieren. Erste wichtige Voraussetzung ist, dass der Besucher der Seite kein Internetprofi sein muss. Ohne jegliche technischen Vorkenntnisse, kann jeder seinen Senf dazu geben. Einzige Regel: Man darf keine anderen Texte, Bilder oder Videos kopieren oder sonstige Urheberrechte verletzen.

Beispiele für Web 2.0 im Internet sind die so genannten Wikis, was aus dem hawaiischen Wort "schnell" abgeleitet ist. Wikis zeichnen sich dadurch aus, dass bestimmte Themen im Internet erklärt werden. Die Erklärung kommt von den Internetbenutzern selber. Das mit Abstand bekannteste Wiki ist das Internetlexikon Wikipedia. Je mehr Besucher etwas dazu beigetragen haben, desto besser und beliebter wird die Seite. Wer selber eine Seite machen möchte, der entscheidet sich für einen Weblog. Das Wort ist eine Kombination aus World Wide Web und Logbuch. Das Blog wird entweder als Tagebuch, Journal, Ankündigungsplattform, Kommentarliste oder Dialog von verschiedenen Schreiben genutzt. So sind die zwei Testimonials, Sascha und Ute, der Vodafone Kampagne auch Blogger.

Dann gibt es noch die sogenannten „Communities“ was auf Deutsch übersetzt „Gemeinschaft“ bedeutet. Hier treffen sich Menschen die gleiche oder ähnliche Interessen haben und tauschen sich aus, beraten sich und informieren sich über Neuigkeiten. Dabei spielt es keine Rolle, ob es Fotocommunities wie Flickr sind, Videoportale wie Youtube, Twitter, StudiVZ, Facebook oder Foren zu allen nur denkbaren Themen. Der Dicestacker von der Vodafone Kampagne ist der Gewinner eines Wettbewerbs innerhalb der Youtube Community.

Nicht vergessen darf man die Seiten für Testberichte und Online-Auktionen. Amazon ist so erfolgreich, weil sich der Käufer nicht aufgrund der Produktbeschreibung entscheiden muss, sondern, die Bewertung von anderen Käufern ihm hilft, seine Kaufentscheidung zu treffen. Und wenn Ihr jetzt denkt, dass gab es doch schon vorher, dann habt Ihr Recht. Eigentlich ist Web 2.0 nur eine andere Bezeichnung für längst bestehendes, nur gab es vorher noch keinen Oberbegriff.

Eure Hanna

PS: Bedankt Euch bei Web 2.0, dass Ihr jetzt wisst was dahinter steckt, denn ohne Web 2.0 wäre diese Erklärung gar nicht möglich gewesen.

Ice Age 3 - ein absolutes Muss in 3D

2009-07-09T00:26:00.009+02:00

3D oder kein 3D ist die Frage der sich die Kinobesucher von Ice Age 3 seit dem ersten Juli stellen. Nach meinem gestrigen Kinoerlebnis empfehle ich die Luxusversion im 3D Format zu wählen. Es ist ein Erlebnis und ich hoffe auch die anderen Teile irgendwann als 3D sehen zu können, auch wenn der Film 3 Euro teurer ist. Der Inhalt? Der Inhalt ist in diesem Film irgendwie die Nebensache der Hauptsache. Es ist einfach so viel Action, dass tiefgründige Handlung keinen Platz mehr hat. Vielleicht liegt es an den Dinos, dass dieser Teil nach dem klassischen Spannungsmuster eines Actionfilms aufgebaut wurde. Es beginnt schleppend und geht dann über die volle Distanz mit purer Action weiter allerdings wird das Thema Liebe und Familie nicht vergessen. Dass das Schulministerium eine Empfehlung ausgesprochen hat, den Kinobesuch wenn möglich nicht auf einen Sonntag zu legen, weil die Kinder am nächsten Tag zu aufgedreht und zu nichts zu gebrauchen sind, kann ich voll und ganz nachvollziehen. Zum Glück sind jetzt Ferien und die Kinder dürfen gehen wann immer sie wollen. Aber was ist mit den Großen? Meine Empfehlung: Nicht an einem Dienstag gehen, oder an sonst einem Tag in der Woche- denn am nächsten Tag ist man total wibbelig und voll auf Ice Age ;-)

Viel Spaß im Kino

Eure Hanna

Boxer im Bademantel wirft Handtuch und geht baden

2009-06-20T23:47:00.014+02:00

"Gibt der Klitschko eins dem

Chagaev drauf,

der wehrt sich nicht,

sondern gibt gleich auf!"

(Hanna la Kiw)

Gute Nacht,

Eure Hanna

Blauweisse Augen auf Schalke

2009-06-20T22:22:00.014+02:00

Erster Kommentar: Klitschko vs. Chagaev

Weil so ein Boxkampf ja nie pünktlich beginnt, surfe ich gerade im Netz rum und bin auf folgendes amüsantes Zitat aus der Boxwelt gestoßen: Schwergewichts-Weltmeister Lennox Lewis auf die Frage, wie er seine einzige KO-Niederlage 1994 gegen Oliver McCall erlebt hat: "Plötzlich wachte ich auf, lag auf dem Boden und der Ringrichter starrte mir ins Gesicht und brüllte: sechs, drei, sieben, fünf!"

Auf einen guten Kampf!

Wirtschaftskrise – Ich mach mit!

2009-06-20T00:30:00.011+02:00

Ich weiß überhaupt nicht warum mein Portemonnaie sich plötzlich an der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise beteiligt. Etwa aus Solidarität zu allen Betroffenen? Oder habe ich es zu viel gefordert? Zu wenig hineingesteckt? Gehen wir dem ganzen mal auf den Grund:

An den letzten Einkauf an dem ich MIR Luxusgüter (Anziehsachen, Accessoires oder Schminke) gekauft habe, kann ich mich noch nicht einmal mehr erinnern. Und als ich vor ein paar Tagen meine heißgeliebte und schon längst aufgebrauchte ägyptische Erde, die es nur bei Karstadt gibt, kaufen wollte, war sie doch tatsächlich ausverkauft. AUSVERKAUFT - Spinnen die?! Das war ja noch nie da, da frage ich doch direkt, wann die nächste Lieferung kommt.

Ich bereue jetzt immer noch meine Frage an die nette Verkäuferin, wann das Sortiment denn wieder aufgefüllt wird!? Mit Tränen in den Augen sagte sie, dass es vielleicht nie wieder diese ägyptische Erde bei Karstadt geben wird. Zwei Zentimeter kleiner entschuldigte ich mich höflich.

Als ich das Warenhaus verließ fuhren meine Gefühle und Gedanken Achterbahn: Ich war nicht nur bestürzt über meine eigene Rücksichtslosigkeit und entsetzt darüber, dass ich nicht weiß wo ich mein Puder her bekommen soll, sondern irgendwie ein wenig froh, dass ich gerade 25 Euro gespart habe (klingt teuer, hält aber auch für 1,5 Jahre) und nachdenklich warum ich jetzt froh war, dass ich 25 Euro gespart habe – obwohl ich noch nie darüber nachgedacht habe.

Was ist da los? Hat mich die Krise auch erreicht? Angeschlichen von hinten? Ich verdiene nicht mehr und nicht weniger, ich spare auch nicht mehr und nicht weniger aber ich gebe auch nicht mehr oder nicht weniger aus...sehr seltsam.

Am selben Tag habe ich im Fernsehen einen Test gesehen, wobei es um Einsparmöglichkeiten beim Lebensmittelkauf ging. Zwei Frauen bekamen eine Einkaufsliste mit 25 verschiedenen Produkten in die Hand gedrückt. Die eine ging nur in einem Supermarkt einkaufen, die andere suchte sich aus fünf verschiedenen Supermärkten die besten Angebote raus und fährt sie alle einzeln ab.

Beim Kassensturz am Ende kam heraus, dass die Schnäppchenjägerin doch tatsächlich 17 Euro gespart hatte – obwohl zusätzliches Benzin und auch Zeit mit einkalkuliert und abgezogen wurden. Das ist viel Geld, viel mehr als ich dachte und hochgerechnet fast 700 Euro im Jahr. Ob ich die wohl auch sparen kann? Bestimmt nicht, dazu fehlt mir die Schnäppchenjagdkompetenz, aber ich werde es zumindest versuchen – und somit ist ab heute mein Einkaufsmotte:

Wirtschaftskrise ich mache mit! Spart was Ihr könnt!

Eure *sparsame*

Hanna

PS: Die Frage, warum ich so wenig Geld in meinem Portemonnaie habe ist leider noch nicht geklärt...vielleicht wisst Ihr es?

Müde - Männer - Morgens

2009-06-19T10:50:00.004+02:00

Nun sitze ich hier schon eine halbe Stunde und warte auf meinen Freund der einfach nicht fertig werden kann - ständig bimmelt das Telefon, in der einen Hand einen Rasierer und in der anderen Hand das Telefon. Warum haben Kunden eigentlich unsere Privatnummer? Galant spült er sich den Schaum aus dem Gesicht, während er gute Anweisung an den Gesprächspartner gibt. Er telefoniert übrigens immer noch. Oh er hat aufgelegt.

Endlich kommen wir los...mein Termin ist verpasst, dafür scheint der Rest der Welt wenigstens glücklich zu sein. Prima, jeden Tag eine gute Tat oder? Ich habe geduldig gewartet während mein Freund die Welt gerettet hat. Und was habt Ihr schon Gutes heute getan?

Eure Hanna

Schöner freier Tag

2009-06-18T15:30:00.004+02:00

heute habe ich frei und will eigentlich den ganzen Tag schlafen. Aber irgendwie bin ich überhaupt nicht müde, obgleich meine Augenringe etwas ganz anderes zeigen. Na ja, ich werde es noch mal versuchen und vielleicht schlummere ich ja einfach weg ;-).

Heute Abend gehe ich noch ein wenig Sport machen und dann habe ich Hunger auf einen leckeren Chickendöner!

Gute Tagträume und bis bald,

Eure Hanna

Kommentar: Familientreffen

2009-06-15T13:56:00.006+02:00

Eine Großfamilie lässt es sich nicht nehmen sich ein Mal im Jahr zum Familientreffen zusammenzufinden; ein Anlass um gesehen zu werden, zu zeigen was man hat, oder zu verbergen was man nicht hat. Die größte Herausforderung besteht jedoch darin, es sich nicht anmerken zu lassen was man gerne hätte, denn eigentlich zeigt man ja, dass man schon alles hat. Dazu gehört auch das Vergleichen der Lebenswege der Kinder, Enkel, und Urenkel, die so klug, schön und so außergewöhnlich erfolgreich sind, dass ein Außenstehender seine Bewunderung nicht verbergen könnte. Auf die eigene Zucht wird mit Wein angestoßen und anstelle eines Verdauungsspaziergangs werden zum Nachtisch die frisch geschliffenen Dolche aus längst vergangenen Tagen blankpoliert. Nur poliert, nicht gestochen, denn das schickt sich nicht. Sind die Waffen einmal gezeigt, werden sie auch wieder fein säuberlich eingepackt und gut verstaut um sie dann bei der nächsten Gelegenheit wieder zu zeigen. Eigentlich entstammen die Gäste, wie das Wort es schon verrät, aus einem Stamm, nur scheinen Einige einen eigenen Ast mit eigenen Ablegern haben zu wollen. Vergessen wird, dass ein Ast alleine keine Wurzeln tragen kann und es niemals schaffen wird ein eigener Baum zu werden.
Warum aber kommt man immer wieder zusammen anstatt sich nur um das Wachstum und den Freiraum seines eigenen Familienzweiges zu kümmern? Es ist wegen der Familienzweige die man sonst leider nur selten trifft. Man fühlt sich verbunden obwohl Sie auf der anderen Baumseite hängen. Es ist schön, wenn man in alten Erinnerungen schwelgen kann und längst vergessene Geschichten werden wieder zurück in die Gegenwart geholt und ein zweites Mal durchlebt. Freunde aus alten Zeiten werden wieder beim Namen genannt und am Ende beschließt man gerne wieder zukommen um diese Erinnerungen weiter gemeinsam am Leben zu erhalten. Und solange einige der Familie die Wurzeln nähren und den Baum am Leben erhalten wird es immer ein freudiges Wiedersehen mit dem ganzen Baum geben.
Bis zum nächsten Jahr
Eure Hanna

Neue Kommentarfunktion

2009-06-10T01:06:00.005+02:00

für alle diejenigen die keine Zeit haben einen Kommentar zu schreiben gibt es jetzt die "Interessant" "Oder" Langweilig" Abstimmungsfunktion. Also immer schön abstimmen ;-)

Viel Spaß damit,

Eure Hanna

Da seid Ihr ja...

2009-06-09T13:16:00.007+02:00

sö die Einladungsmail ist raus und wenn Ihr da seid, dann seid Ihr auf der richtigen Seite ;-)

Knutschas an Euch

Eure Hanna

Wirre Bürokratie

2009-06-09T00:51:00.013+02:00

Es heißt immer, die Deutschen wären ja so bürokratisch. Jeder der das glaubt sollte sich einfach so zum Spaß an einer englischen Uni bewerben. Zuerst dachte ich auch: "Wow, das geht alles online - wie toll!" Doch der Schein trügt, denn dann hieß es, jetzt wo wir (die Uni) die online Daten haben, brauchen wir alles natürlich noch im Original mit Unterschrift und in dreifacher Ausfertigung. Nachdem ich die Dokumente ordnungsgemäß abgeschickt habe, hoffte ich, der Rest geht online oder via Mail. Hoffnungslos:

Für den "Academic Writing" Kurs - den die Uni mir geschenkt hat und auch innerhalb meiner Fakultät angeboten wird, aber in einem anderen Gebäude, sollte ich mich doch noch mal separat anmelden - wieder erst online und dann noch mal in original Ausfertigung. Auf meine Rückfrage, warum der ganze Aufwand bekam ich folgende Begründungen: "Ein anderes Gebäude, eine andere Anlaufstelle, eine andere Kostenstelle, ein anderes Formular und eine andere Registrierung." Klingt nach Deutschland - aber es kommt noch besser. Ich brauche ja noch eine nee nee ich meine natürlich zwei Unterkünfte . Warum zwei?

Na ist doch klar: "Ein anderes Gebäude, eine andere Anlaufstelle, eine andere Kostenstelle, ein anderes Formular und eine andere Registrierung." (Eine Bewerbung läuft für einen von zwei Wohnkomplexen für die Sommeruni und dann noch mal eine Bewerbung für das Studium.)

Es wird mir zumindest nicht langweilig bis es losgeht. Für zwei Bewerbungen muss ich die nächsten Wochen noch die Daumen drücken und täglich den Status der Bewerbung auf überprüfen, denn sobald ich ein Angebot habe, habe ich einen Tag Zeit das Zimmer zu bestätigen - sonst ist es wieder weg und die nächste Präferenz wird ausgewählt. Ich durfte nämlich eine Rangliste festgelegten mit meinen "Wunschwohnkomplexen". Ich bin sehr gespannt, ob ich die Nummer eins auf meiner Liste zugeteilt bekomme. Bis dahin heißt es warten.

Eure Hanna

PS: Alles Gute zum 75. Geburtstag lieber Donald Duck.

Logbuch: Der Startschuss ist gefallen

2009-06-06T01:07:00.006+02:00

Heute erhielt ich die feste Zusage, dass ich an der Uni in Leicester studieren kann. Bevor der Master in PR im September beginnt, schenkt die Uni allen postgraduierten Studenten einen vierwöchigen Sprachkurs der auf akademisches Schreiben und Sprechen vorbereiten soll. Dieser Kurs beginnt am 11 August was für mich heißt, am 10. August geht es los auf die Insel. Aber wie komme ich dahin?

Nachdem ich etwas den Rechenschieber geschoben habe kam ich zu folgendem Ergebnis:

Mein ursprünglicher Plan mit dem Auto zu tuckern ist aufgrund der nicht vorhandenen Parkmöglichkeiten gestorben. Diese Aussage der Uni werde ich vor Ort selber prüfen und dann gegebenenfalls den Wagen später nachhohlen oder mitbringen lassen. Billigflieger gibt es für August nicht mehr und bei der Mitfahrtzentrale fährt auch niemand nach Leicester. Was bleibt dann wohl noch?

Morgen werde ich bei der guten alten Deutschen Bahn checken, wie teuer das Ticket ist und vielleicht schon eins buchen. Von der Zeit her ist die Bahn unschlagbar - in 7 Stunden von Tür zu Tür - das schafft noch nicht einmal der Flieger. Jetzt muss nur noch der Preis stimmen...drückt mir die Daumen.

Gute Nacht, Eure Hanna

Kommentar: Tod von David Carradine und die Formel des Glücks

2009-06-05T02:40:00.006+02:00

Von Don habe ich gehört, dass der Schauspieler David Carradine sich in Thailand mit einem Strick das Leben genommen hat. Carradine, bekannt als der böse Ehemann von Uma Thurman aus dem Tarantino Klassiker Kill Bill war zuletzt in Thailand unterwegs um an einem Film zu arbeiten. Ob es wirklich Selbstmord war, wovon die Behörden vor Ort in Thailand ausgehen, wird derzeit noch untersucht. Ich gehe aber eher von einem Unfall aus - warum sollte sich ein über 70 Jähriger, (ausser er hat eine tödliche Krankheit oder schwere Depressionen - die er angeblich nicht hatte) das Leben nehmen.

Wie auch immer, für mich ist es immer wieder ein Phänomen, dass Menschen, egal welcher sozialen Herkunft und Situation, sein sie noch so gut, immer wieder mit psychischen Problemen zu kämpfen haben, die bei so manchen bis zum Selbstmord führen. Aktuellster Fall eines solchen Selbstmordes war der australische Schauspieler Heath Ledger, der als jüngster Darsteller in der Geschichte einen Oscar postum für seine Rolle als Joker in The Dark Night bekommen hat. Er starb durch einen tödlichen Medikamentencocktail, den er gegen seine Depressionen schluckte.

Für mich sind diese Todesnachrichten ein weiteres Zeichen dafür, dass Geld, Ruhm oder Macht alleine nicht ausreichen um ein erfülltes und glückliches Leben zu führen, geschweige eine Garantie für das Glücklich sein sind. Attribute wie Gesundheit, Liebe und Familie und Freunde sind die Variablen die für die Glücklich-sein-Formel von Nöten sind.

Eure Hanna

Hallo Mama und Papa

2009-06-04T18:07:00.003+02:00

wenn Ihr das jetzt lesen könnt, dann habt Ihr alles richtig gemacht ;-)

Und sie wartet und wartet...

2009-06-03T23:52:00.003+02:00

bis das der feine Herr die CD endlich gebrannt hat und der Videoabend endlich starten kann.

Und ich singe: Sag mir quando, sag mir wann?

Hanna goes online again

2009-06-03T23:09:00.001+02:00

Hallo Ihr Lieben,

da bin ich wieder. Und diesmal ist es mehr als nur eine Sprachreise nach Rotterdam. Deshalb habe ich auch den Provider gewechselt, damit die Fülle meiner Bilder nicht den FC Server sprengt ;-)

Ich freue mich auf Eure Kommentare und darauf, dass er ab jetzt wieder heißt:

Auf die Tasten, fertig...losgeblogt ;-)