yep, i am back in azeroth. it’s strangely relaxing to spend a few hours there, roaming the landscape, enjoying the scenery and also fighting some mobs…
so i divide my time now making the finishing touches (i.e. formatting and stuff) on my thesis and playing World of Warcraft…
being paranoid as always i got a second new harddisk drive to avoid further impending desasters. i need to make some final formatting of my PhD thesis before i have it printed. plus — you may have guessed it — World of Warcraft is expected to arrive at my doorstep these days. so i got the system up and running on the two brand new harddisks today. it’s good to restore a fresh “image” of windows xp from time to time anyway…
np: Edguy - Painting on the Wall (Live at Paris)
seems like life is generally quite busy right now. i did not plan to drive to klagenfurt (again) to fetch my “approved” phd thesis from the secretary’s office until tuesday or wednesday. but life’s full of surprises (or so they say) and as a result i found myself in the car heading towards klagenfurt this afternoon… for those of you waiting for the pictures from last week to show up on flickr: i am working on it, so please bear with me!
well, here’s just a short status update: thanks to my backups on CD/DVD i was able to restore most of the data lost on the defective hdd. getting a new harddisk drive was - however - a lot more difficult. thanks to some lack of communication (or plain lazyness) i had to make several phonecalls to trace the package containing my new drive and drive in the end to a “depot” to get it… but i got it and that’s what matters. yesterday was the busiest friday in months! now that things have calmed down a bit i am starting to realize that i sort of miss my “life” in Azeroth… i would be nice to spend an hour or so there…
i drove to klagenfurt to get the “approved” version of my thesis back but i was out of luck: the secretary’s office was closed this afternoon. darn, bummer! oh well, that’s life… anyway, i enjoyed a terrific winter day with low traffic on the highway and gorgeous sunshine. however, it was a bit cold. (for all those of you wondering, yes i took some pictures from my “road trip” and will be putting them up on my flickr account soon.)
so there i am all alone in klagenfurt with nothing to do. i could have driven straight home but i dropped by a retail store to check if they have the german version of World of Warcraft yet. just out of curiousity because if finally make up my mind and decide to get it, i am going to order the uk (english) version… but again, no luck here either… no World of Warcraft on the shelves… should i take this as a “sign”?
np: Fatboy Slim - The Joker
well, i decided it’s time to say goodbye to azeroth for the time being. World of Warcraft is scheduled to be released this friday (february 11). so i stopped playing the beta because all servers are going to be wiped anyway and i do not want to invest more time into my chars. however, i have not made up my mind if and when i am going to get the retail and play it “for real”. it is one of the best MMORPGs out there, no doubt about that. but i still have to finish my phd and i have no idea when i can actually take the final exam. it all depends on my supervisor and her busy timetable… talk about getting one’s priorities straight.
i have just watched the movie “Bean” on television. it has been a long time since i took the time to watch actually a film (dubbed) in german and i really enjoyed it. usually, i prefer the original version (even with subtitles) because so much gets lost in the translation and dubbing process. but it was nice just to relax and have some fun…
i guess i am on the right track now as far as my phd thesis is concerned. i received a short note from my prof telling me that she read the first chapter and it’s looking good. so i am in a good spirit that this whole thing will be over soon. actually, it has to be. i still need to confirm the details, but i think i have to take the final exam by the end of april at latest in order to avoid having to pay tuition fees for another semester…
well, here’s a picture of the “Koralpe” (altitude 2140 m) taken from outside of my house. as you can tell, most of the snow here in the valley has already melted away. dommage!
now i am off to the bank and after that to the vets’ because meryl is getting her annual leukemia shot today. this is always great fun (i’m kidding of course) due to meryl’s uncooperative behaviour when it comes to vets and shots…
finally the snow storms that have been raging all over europe reached the south of Austria. it’s been snowing on and off today with an ice-cold stormy wind blowing constantly. i am glad that i don’t have to leave the house or even drive to Klagenfurt because the conditions on the road are no fun right now. (i do of course have winter tires and all but from my past experience i can tell that it usually takes ages for the road to be cleared when winter suddenly arrives…) i wanted to take some pictures but the battery of the cam was low and when it was recharged it was already dark. should there be still some snow around tomorrow, i’ll post a picture of a “typical” austrian winter landscape…