How not to Recruit (Grammar is Hard)

I consider myself the occasional user of some of these social and or professional networks. One of the networks is LinkedIn. The other day I received an email from a recruiter and it looked liked this (I have changed names and locations to spare the recruiter the embarrassment):

Joe Recruiter has sent you an InMail:
Full Time Opportunity with COMPANY
Dear Joerg

How are you ?
My name is Joe Recruiter and I am recruiter with COMPANY in San Jose CA and I saw your profile on LinkedIn while searching for with Exp in Search and you seems to have a Very similar background so I thought I should contact with you and see if you are interested in Pursuing any opportunity with COMAPNY in San Jose CA, in case you are please send me your updated resume and you can also call me or send me best number and time to call you and discuss more on the positions we have open.
Looking forward to hearing back from you.
Thanks
Best Regards

Joe Recruiter

Oh boy, I don't even know where to start. Is it even English? Obviously, punctuation is not Joe Recruiter's strong suit but he probably knows how to use a spell checker. Amazingly, all words are spelled correctly according to the spell checker available in my mail program. Starting with "My name ..." all the way to "... we have open.", Joe Recruiter jammed all he had to tell me in one sentence, with 97 (!!!) glorious words. I am not a native speaker and judging by the recruiter's real name, I don't think he is either but this is sad, very, very sad.

How to get people to drive sensible (fuel efficient) cars

Just read this article on a German news site and I think some of the European countries are onto something here. According to that news article cars are going to be taxed based on their CO2-emissions. SUVs like the Porsche Cayenne or the Audi Q7 will get much more expensive. For example, the Porsche Cayenne S will cost anywhere from an extra €3000 in France to an extra €53000 in Norway.
This is the only way to go to get people to drive more fuel efficient cars. Now, the extra €53000 (that's approx. $80000 on top of the car's MSRP) may be a bit excessive but the US would do a very good thing in employing a similar strategy, or at least do away with these silly rules that don't consider some SUVs as passenger vehicles (even though they are only used as such) because they are too big. I love the fact that the European countries act now instead of pushing some far-way goal of improving average fuel-economy by 2020.

I am currently visiting Europe and I have to say, I very much like the fact that you can feel safe in a small car because almost all cars around you are pretty small as well. A gallon of gas is roughly $8 in Germany, I can't imagine driving a big SUV over here.

Biodiesel cheaper than regular Diesel

I knew the move to Biodiesel would eventually pay off. For the first time last week, Biodiesel was less expensive than regular Diesel, $4.129 versus $4.219. Not hge savings, but it can stay like this if it were up to me. If things get more expensive, and I am sure they will, may be it is time to think about a fully electric or plugin-hybrid, like the Aptera.

I've got mail ...

... at IBM!! A friend of mine who still works there sent me this picture today. They still seem to deliver mail to my mailbox even though I had left that company almost 2 and a half years ago. I wonder if it's anything important ...

Fastest Commute through London ?

Is it on a bike, with a boat, in a car or using public transportation?
Watch these 3 Top gear videos and you will find out. Pretty funny.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:

Largest (real) banana I have ever seen

I just got up from my desk to get a banana and oh my, this is one of the largest bananas I have ever held in my hand. For your reference, the laptop in the picture is a 15" MacBook Pro.

Do you know Europe?

Try this:


It's a great way to kill some time ...

Seaworld

Nice game, but ...

... they are still no world champions. Even though American Football is not my favorite sport, I watched Superbowl XLII yesterday. Very good game and interesting 'til the last minute. So there you go, we have a new NFL champion. Yup, here we go again, I won't call them world champions because they are not, they won the title in the NFL, which stands for National Football League if I recall correctly. That would make them a national champion. I know, the American Football lovers (especially Americans) will argue that noone in the world would be able to beat them. While that may be right it can also backfire. Remember the last few so-called basketball dream teams that the US sent to world championships and Olympic games. They embarrased themselves. We don't really want that to happen to American football, do we? Oh wait, there aren't any world championships for this sport and it is not an olympic event either. So there we have it, the best case the NFL could make is for "North American Champion" is they beat up on the best Canadian football team. So let's do it, congratulations to the new "North American champion, the New York Giants of New Jersey!!

No more posts about coffee and names?

A friend recently mentioned that my blog doesn't come up with any new name stories from coffee shops or other establishments where one is forced to surrender his or her name to get some food or drink. Well, to make a long story short. I gave up. When I go to a coffee shop now I use my son's name. It has only three letters and you pretty much write it as it sounds. What's the name you want to know? It's Ben. No, not short for Benjamin, just Ben. Not surprisingly, I have yet to encounter a Barista or burrito shop employee that cannot spell the name Ben. Maybe I will give my name another try here and there and if I encounter an original spelling I will post it here, I promise. Now, back to work.

It's been a while ...

... since I last posted but times are busy. Trying to keep the kids healthy during winter time is no easy task and I am enjoying work as well, so sometimes there isn't a lot of time for other things. However, I did find this amazing version of "Lie in our Graves" by the Dave Matthews Band with a special appearance of Trey Anastasio. Take a look and listen:



On a different note, with the presidential primaries in full swing it's hard not to notice a thing here and there. When reading a bit about Mike (or is it Mick, eh, who cares) Huckabee, I came across some Chuck Norris facts. Pretty funny, Mick (or Mike) Huckabee not so much, more scary than funny. Very much like the whole republican field of candidates, with one notable exception and that would have to be Ron Paul. Anyway, enough politics. Let's just hope we don't get another religious nut in the white house.

Go Sharks, we are perfect at home!!!

My friends Dan, Chris and Jan and I purchased a 10-game plan for the San Jose Sharks. We went again last night and for the fourth time in 4 games, the Sharks won at home. Which means, we have a perfect home record. Unfortunately, it does not look as rosy for the Sharks in general. They have one of the worst home ice records. In light of this, we came up with a grand plan. We talk to the Sharks management and ask them to upgrade us to full season tickets ... for free. And while they are at it they should throw in some beers. I think that plan is fantastic. Let's see what the Sharks have to say about that.

Are you an idiot or do you park like an idiot?

Not sure? Well then, there is help for you, just check out the I park like an idiot web page" with easy to understand pictures to check. And while you are at it, check if you are also a complete idiot by looking at the "I am an idiot" pictures.

Halloween

$-0.95

Weird title for a post, you think? You are probably right, but I had to write about the amount we owe to PG&E for our first electricity bill after installation of our photovoltaic solar system.



Got the first bill and it did what it was supposed to: Eliminate our electricity bill. Unfortunately, PG&E won't cut us a check but the balance carries over and will be reset after the year is over (when negative). If it's positive we will have to pay some money but hopefully it will be very close to $0.

Innovate or Die Contest

Specialized Bikes and Google are sponsoring a contest called Innovate or Die. Invent something cool involving pedal power and you could win. I have a few ideas but I can't participate because I am a Google employee. Not creative? Well, at least take a look at the web site. I especially like the crankset driving planet earth. You can also check out videos of the entries. We need more like that.