scribo ergo sum

Kati’s 2011

2011-12-25T06:26:00.000-08:00

In January, I spent 2 weeks in the US. First, I went on a business trip to Las Vegas to the Consumer Electronics Show. I attended the Mashable Awards, met Chris and Gianni, the founders of The Hotlist and Nick and Tuan, the founders of Tivli. Andrew from Milo and I jumped from the Stratosphere Tower (855 feet).

After Vegas, I spent a week in San Francisco and the Valley trend scouting and networking. Opposed to when I was only focused on social media research in the summer of 2010, I now realized that SF really is the startup paradise. I also instantly felt at home and was happy to meet my friends and some interesting new people. Thank you, Michael, for having me stay in Russian Hill – quite a change from my old TL hood.

I came back to freezing Germany and broke my arm when walking out of the office one night. I never broke any bones before but I immediately knew something was wrong. I was totally knocked out for 2 months, 2 weeks in the hospital, with a lot of pain, and not being able to do anything. I went back to live with my parents for 6 weeks which was a funny experience after having lived on my own for 5 years…

I returned to work in April and was very excited to do something useful again. New colleagues had been hired during my absence and I enjoyed meeting them and being back to busy mode. I was then offered the opportunity to join our Munich startup in May and spend some time in the south to meet the team and start working. Although I really wanted to take that challenge and would have loved to work and live in Munich, suddenly, the share holders changed their minds and there was no space for me anymore. I decided to quit my job and searched for a new venture. Those were exciting two weeks in which I met very inspiring founders, investors, incubators and angels from all over Germany. The highlight was definitely the European Pirate Summit in Cologne where a lot of down to earth and authentic investors presented and a lot of true founders mingled.

However, I ran into the new German Airbnb team and these guys convinced me to join them. They offered me to become part of the management team doing Business Development for Airbnb Germany. So I jumped right into it in July being one of their first ten employees. It has been a fun ride ever since. There was almost no time to take a deep breath as we were running against our clones wimdu and 9flats, overtaking them quickly and kept running, running and running. The team grew, I started to talk to exciting partners and there will be great partnerships announced at the beginning of next year. I totally feel I am in the right time and place.

My good friend and cousin married in July and I was very proud of her. It was a beautiful wedding. I wish you all the best, Anja and Phil! According to our annual tradition, Christoph and I went to the Naumann ball - this time we spent a great weekend in Heidelberg with Ola and Niels and many other fellows.

In October, I went back to Munich for a couple of days to celebrate the Oktoberfest with my friends and colleagues. Thank you, for having me, Jule! Those were fun days. Being a celiac I must admit: Oktoberfest can still be fun! There are some tents like the Hippodrom where they serve wine.

In November, I returned to San Francisco for 2.5 weeks. I met very talented and lovely people at the Airbnb headquarter. I was also very happy to be back in the city, to check in with my friends, eat at all my favorite restaurants, dance in my favorite clubs and spend my first Thanksgiving with my friend Tuan’s Vietnamese family.

I totally discovered the concept of collaborative consumption. I cancelled my apartment contract, I am about to sell or give away my furniture and most of my belongings and it feels right and relieving. I will move to a friend’s apartment right in the city center very close to the office, the harbor and the Reeperbahn for 3 months and will look for fancy Airbnb sublets from April on and discover various areas in Hamburg. I am very excited about this upcoming adventure.

I am very thankful for my friends and family who helped me through my broken arm boredom, who listened when I was talking about my Munich venture and later Airbnb almost 24hours. I met some new friends who I hope to see again next year and also promise to see my friends in Brussels, London and Spain who I did not manage to visit in 2011. I totally miss you!

Please, keep in touch!

Love,
-Kati x

Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review

2011-12-24T05:18:00.001-08:00

Connect with Airbnb

2011-12-03T10:49:00.001-08:00

Glutenfreier Adventskalender Reloaded

2011-12-01T10:52:00.000-08:00

Auch dieses Jahr gibt es wieder einen Adventskalender bei Glutenfreiheit, bei dem es jeden Tag etwas zu gewinnen gibt. Sag uns deine Meinung und du kannst eines von 24 Produkten von FoodOase gewinnen! http://glutenfreiheit.org/adventskalender-2011

WASH Festival in Hamburg!

2011-11-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

Find more infos here: http://www.washfestival.com/

Freigeister gesucht!

2011-10-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

Meldet euch gerne, wenn ihr Fragen zum Stipendium habt!

Glutenfrei genießen!

2011-10-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

Der erste TV-Beitrag von http://glutenfreiheit.org/

Arr - the European Pirate Summit is THE Start-up conference.

2011-09-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Auf zum Oktoberfest!

2011-08-31T00:55:00.000-07:00

Reply all

2011-08-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Facebook is the new MySpace... NOT

2011-08-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

.hiv

2011-08-08T06:56:00.000-07:00

I like Gin

2011-08-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

Pregnant?

2011-08-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

How to Airbnb

2011-07-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

Check out my employer!

Best of John Smith

2011-06-29T01:47:00.001-07:00

Drinking beer helps

2011-06-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

introducing glutenfreiheit.org

2011-06-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

More info on http://glutenfreiheit.org/

I will follow you

2011-06-14T06:09:00.000-07:00

Watch out

2011-06-13T06:11:00.000-07:00

May the force be with you

2011-05-27T05:35:00.000-07:00

Das Internet ist groß

2011-05-24T00:13:00.001-07:00

Planet der Affen

2011-05-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

Cooler Reisebericht

2011-04-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

Ich wünsch euch viel Spaß in Schweden, Jungs!

Jetzt für glutenfreiheit abstimmen

2011-04-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hier abstimmen: http://elevator.nextconf.eu/

Einfach auf up im Thread von glutenfreiheit klicken. Danke!

More info on http://glutenfreiheit.org/

Selbstironie

2011-04-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

It will go viral

2011-02-01T10:50:00.001-08:00

Merry digital Christmas

2010-12-24T06:41:00.001-08:00

Die besten Einfälle kriegt er nicht im Meeting Raum sondern in der Badewanne...

2010-11-18T02:01:00.000-08:00

Mein Kollege Timo im Interview.

Beginnersmind Timo Heuer from Beginners-mind.de on Vimeo.

The Social Inbox

2010-11-16T01:35:00.000-08:00

Log into Facebook and request your Facebook e-mail invite here: http://www.facebook.com/about/messages/

You would have invented Facebook.

2010-10-20T14:02:00.001-07:00

Being Famous

2010-10-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

Kaum im neuen Job, schon in der Presse...

- w&v: Hanse Ventures baut Team aus

- new business: Hanse Ventures verstärkt Team

- Kress: Hartwig übernimmt Kommunikation

- Welt online: Frauen an die Macht

- Hamburg Media School Interview: Neuland betreten ohne Angst

Missing SF

2010-09-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Home is where the heart is.

I love you, San Francisco. And yet I have to leave for now.

I remember my first days here. Finally back in the land of the free and the happy. Europeans are crazy about you. Honestly, I was disappointed at first. I thought you'd be more beautiful. The charm of the TL does not strike the eyes of the stranger. But the more you open up to it, the more you get in return.

I will miss you, Angel's Café. We watched the World Cup soccer match against Argentina together at 6 in the morning. I drank 88 small lattes, one a day - I only had to order them in my first week though. Later, all of you knew what I wanted the minute I walked in. Same at Star Market liquor store. You could keep track of my drinking habits. I hope you didn't. Sometimes, you even opened up late for us to buy apple cider or joined us for a smoke on the roof.

SFSU - thanks a lot. I loved being FACULTY! The offices you provided me with really helped me focus on my thesis. I liked to joke around with all of you, no matter if it was the Security guys or the MBA program directors. And Yuli, you always made me crave Sushi. I will never forget that I tried my first Uni with you.

And here we are: San Francisco - you are my Sushi capitol! I have never eaten anything like this. Tekka - I will miss you especially. Also, the gluten-free frozen Pizza at Wholefoods and the ice-cream sandwiches, the beer tasting that Gluten Free Gluttons organized, the Tapioka buns I got separately toasted at Chez Maman, the best bacon in the whole world at Mission Beach Café and all the ciders I drank in the many bars on Polk Street and in the Mission.

Hayes Street, you remind me of my favorite area in Hamburg: die Schanze. Tenderloin, you are like Hamburg's Kiez. Doloroes Park - I will miss your swings at night and sunny spots with music during the days. I had a good time with Eric's friends at July 4. Lower and Upper Haight - I love your Hippie origin. You are so colorful. I loved walking through your streets although I almost never made it to Golden Gate Park before sunrise.

Blackheart. It all started with a drink at Hemlock - seeing all these beautifully decorated ppl. And the thought of getting my own personal SF memory stitched into my left side. Thanks Jörg and Cody, for the great design. Those were 2.5 intense hours that will last forever.

SF, you would not be home without the people (in anti-alphabetical order - cause there shouldn’t be an order):
Zach - thank you for showing me around that much. I enjoyed all the trips to Palo Alto, Berkeley and Half Moon Bay. Thanks for being gluten-free and forcing a couple of cultural hours into my uneducated European brain. I hope my thesis won't bore you.
Tuan - you are a social butterfly. Thanks for hooking me up with all these ppl and driving me around. I will miss my shotgun spot in your car, the cold and old coffees and the great music (and Eminem). But even more I will miss analyzing with you what's going on with everyone.
The guy - I will miss you. Thanks for being patient, posh and real. Thanks for the pizza, the rides, the songs, teaching me C and G on the guitar, and letting me bedhog. Weird that you left before me...
Sebastian - you have definitely been a crazy German and fun to go out with. I will see you anytime, anyplace...
Nate - hun, you are crazy and I am loving it. Glad to see you are ahead of things again and sorry for invading your place for so long. It has been a great home.
Michael - normal is boring, isn't it? We had a couple of fun night outs. However, sorry, for messing up that night. I have a hunch we will live in the same city again at some point.
Matt Drake - good luck with the campaign. I am sure you make a great supervisor of my district. I would vote for you if I could.
Keyatta - great events you hosted. I liked the combination of art and music with a little spice of craziness. I wish I knew someone like you in Hamburg - we could definitely need a little Key style over there.
Keiko and Ray - I love your studio and hope you keep going. You have an amazing taste! All the openings and events were inspiring. I think Tiny Inventions were my favorite. Take care of Einstein or feed him to your cat.
Kate - I am so happy I met you at the gluten-free beer tasting. Your website is amazing - keep going! Thanks for showing me all these gluten-free places and swamping waitresses together.
Julio - thanks for showing me the Gates of Hell at Stanford Campus. I got inspired and enjoyed studying with you.
Jörg - we had exciting eight days. Thanks for the butterfly design and reading my thesis. Hope you had as much fun at Alcatraz, Twitter and the Something Corporate concert as I did.
Johnny - Go abroad and pursue your dreams!
John, Peter, Vidya and the whole Tuantourage - yo, yo, yo!
Holy Jed - Thank you for fixing my computer and hooking me up with Silvio. You are a reliable friend. Good luck with your career - I am sure something exciting will show up soon!
Holly and Michael - you are an awesome couple. Thanks for all the fun nights at Kokoro’s and Holly for teaching me how to Dougie.
Google David - why sports? I would so join your social network start-up if it was focused on something more exciting... I am curious how it will go. Thanks for making me try the magical berries and showing me Nob Hill. You have a great taste. Magners is better than Strongbow though…
Flo - great place you work at. I liked our German Tatort sessions, the faith you had in the gluten-free Pizza we ordered and thanks again for taking me to the Giants game. Now that we know the rules, we should go more.
Eric - do you really exist? :) I loved spending time with you and wish the timing would have been a little better. When I move back here, I hope you will have found a daytime job so we could hang out more. In the meantime I am waiting for typewritten letters.
David - you are amazingly talented. I do not know you well but we definitely had a moment in your kitchen that was drowning in booze. I wish I could run into you in Germany as well as often as I do here.
Christoph - my ol' husband. I had a lot of fun driving through California with you. I hope you enjoyed your stay. Thanks for your patience with me (and the bedbugs). Hope you will be my ball date soon!
Calisto - you owe me a ride. I will be back as soon as you get your license! Thanks for making the nights more crazy.
Ben - you should go out more, man! Always good to have you around. Good luck with your sump.
Barry - great movie. I will watched it whenever I will miss San Francisco and then probably miss it even more... See you in London whenever you go!
Antje - thank you for being so refreshingly straight forward. Cheers for showing me the SF spots we both like. And for all the honest conversations that went far beyond small talk. I am curious to see where you end up and hope it's somewhere close.

It was also good to meet you, too, Jacob, Facebook Ben, Gustaf, Jason, Jordamn, Angela, Leika, Cassie, Ryan, Nat, Music for Animals, Dylan, Ryan, Ken, Asian Kat, Clarence, Carla, Silvio, Paul, Jessica, Justin, Futch, Marina, Thalea, Nikhil, Liz, Kent...

Flummi, Rosi. R.I.P.

Playlist:
Cee Lo Green - Fuck you
Eminem and Rihanna - Love the way you lie
Katy Perry - California Gurls (only if you listen to it all day in the radio during a California Road trip)
Plain White T's - Rhythm of Love and of course: Hey there Delialah
Rad Omen- Rad Anthem (YouTube video clip)
Something Corporate - Konstantine live
Timbaland - If we ever meet again
Train - Hey, Soul Sister

Watchlist:
7 Samurai
Inception
Medicine for Melancholy
Nichts bereuen
Something left, something taken
Southpark Season 14, Episode 4: You have Zero Friends
Tatort
The Social Network (theaters October 1)
Trueblood
Vertigo

I will miss you SF, California

2010-09-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

The game layer

2010-08-31T10:36:00.001-07:00

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

2010-08-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

Jörg was visiting me last week...

2010-08-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

...and he took some nice pics. Check them out here.

The Empathic Civilisation

2010-08-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

There is no such thing as Germany - it's fiction.

I want an iPhone 4

2010-08-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

Shelter

2010-08-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

The Tenderloin where I live is a great place to be. Why? Because it is centrally located, there is so much going on: many galleries, pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants..., many of my friends live just around the corner... and it is real. Compared to the story book reality that you get when you only stroll around other parts of San Francisco and towns like Stanford or Palo Alto life happens here.

What also makes it real are the crazy, prostitutes and homeless in the streets. I remember that I noticed the high amount of crazy and drugged people when I was living in DC but San Francisco is the Mekka of the homeless because of its mild weather conditions. They are hard to ignore due to the smell and their constant begging. When I was looking for an aquarium store last week I was actually so much in my own world that I actually handed a dollar to a girl. She looked older than she probably was, worn out, maybe a Prostitute, definitely on drugs and I just handed her a dollar... Oops.

Some beggars try to be funny by creating signs like "Why lie? I need a drink". At first it makes you smile. But then...? Tourist guide books advise you not to give any money to the homeless but rather donate it to organisations. Big organisations with a huge overhead that seem not to be able to handle the situation in San Francisco. I don't know if that's the right answer. I sometimes give away doggy bags whenever I am not able to finish my food in the restaurants.

I had a weird encounter at Walgreens (= German DM or Budni) a couple of weeks ago. A guy came to talk to me while I was looking for toiletteries. He complimented my braided hair from the other end of the aisle. I thanked him friendlily. He also came over to ask me if he could introduce himself to me. Well, I am trying not to be German here, so why not go with the flow? His hands were pretty dirty and I was about to learn why. He was apparently a famous DJ from Vegas who came to San Francisco and ended up camping in the parks. He continued to complain about the American Dream for a minute before he changed the topic abruptly. He told me was interested in Adult Dancing and Sex and then asked for my phone number. WTF. I shook my head and turned to the check-out. Crazy things can happen on a Saturday morning in the Tenderloin.

Medicine for Melancholy

2010-08-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I watched my friend Barry's movie. And you should, too. It's about the real San Francisco. And it's about boy meets girl - so whoever liked Garden State or 500 days of Summer should watch it, too.

Dear German Government,...

2010-08-18T20:01:00.000-07:00

...you could do something useful for once and issue another ID for me. There are a couple of bars and clubs in San Francisco that would not accept it. First of all, do not laminate the thing - this makes it even more suspicious. Actually, a plastic card would be nice. This way, I would not have to argue with bouncers all the time.

Thank you and Prost, yours sincerely,

Kati

Dear Bouncers,

"we do not accept those because it is a law" is no valid argument. Do I really look under 21? And no, I did not laminate my ID. That's just the way it looks like. Are you sure that you do not want to make some money selling drinks to me and my friends?

Maybe think about it next time.

Cheers,

Kati

Being Faculty...

2010-08-18T18:52:00.001-07:00

...as a master's student is great. I have my own office and have a Faculty card. I also use it to get student discounts.

Rosi and Einstein

2010-08-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

and suddenly they were 3.

LOST Spoiler: explained with post-its

2010-08-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

Random Interview

2010-08-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Das Internet hat mich interviewt.

The Twit Network

2010-08-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

San Francisco weather

2010-08-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.
--Mark Twain

It is the coldest July in SF since 1971.

-- Tuan

It is sunny - it is just so freaking cold. But hey, I lived in London last summer...

Flummi

2010-08-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

Tuan had a surprise for me today: Flummi - my new flatmate.

He is tiny and really shy. I guess he is just not used to my taste in music, yet. The poor thing was starving for the first 24 hours because I did not have any fishfood. But he is a tough guy, he survived. The food I bought is apparently not gluten free, but I hope he will be fine. I am raising him bilingually, so he will be very smart when I have to give him away in two months. I am not sure what to do with him then. Nate does not want him - so anyone interested, please, let me know.

Wrong place. Right time.

2010-08-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

So on Sunday at 8 pm I went to Jack in the Box on Geary @ Mason to get some fries. And one day later, I read this: "Five held in connection with tourist's death". Read more.

The Video Website

2010-08-08T16:55:00.000-07:00

Networking

2010-08-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

Networking in the US works differently than in Europe. It's a little bit like speed dating. You meet random people, talk to them for 2 minutes, exchange business cards and then talk to the next person. The next day you have a lot of these business cards and don't remember all the matching faces... So you log into LinkedIn and investigate their background and add them to your network.

I went to a Young Professional Networking event shortly after I arrived in San Francisco. The hosts could not really tell us why they were hosting this event and what kind of clients they were looking for. Also, I kind of had the feeling that most of the guys were here for two non-professional reasons: drinks and girls.

A week later I went to the launch party of a German research institute. The location was really beautiful and people enjoyed food and drinks. And then a power point marathon started that gave fun insights into consumers' psyches but was rather tiring for the mainly American audience. I happened to meet a girl from Berlin who I immediately liked cause she had this refreshingly straightforward humor.

Yesterday I went to another event in Stanford. The host was a new Stanford professor who invited his friends for wine and cheese and gave out magical African berries that affect your taste buds and make everything taste sweet. The first person I met was from my hometown, Münster. His fiancée is writing her phd on my master's thesis' topic. People were mostly teccies. When I told one of the guys who was working for a VC that I am living in the Tenderloin, he told me that he got beaten up one night at a bar in the TL and had to get four stitches...

Glutenfrei in San Francisco

2010-08-03T15:32:00.000-07:00

Nach ein paar Erkundungsspaziergängen, habe ich meine glutenfreien Futternäpfe gefunden. In San Francisco weiß jeder (Kellner), was Gluten ist und ist in der Lage, einen gut zu beraten. Ein Grund, hier zu bleiben...

Mehr koennt ihr auf glutenfreiheit.org lesen.

Golden Gate Bridge Panorama

2010-08-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Wer rettet meinen Laptop?

2010-07-30T13:42:00.001-07:00

Vor einer Woche hat sich mein Laptop verabschiedet. Ich wusste, dass es hier passiert, immerhin ist Toshiba schon 5 Jahre alt, läuft schnell heiß und ist manchmal auch sehr langsam. Meine Masterarbeit habe ich deswegen im Büro auf dem Rechner geschrieben und mehrfach gespeichert. Trotzdem: ein Virus? WTF.

Zur Situation. Ich habe mir also trotz Avast Antivir einen Virus („Windows Security Center“) und ein trojanisches Pferd eingefangen.

1. Ich habe Avast, Spybot etc. mehrfach laufen lassen, die Viren gefunden, entfernt und sie waren beim nächsten Anschalten wieder da.

2. Das gleiche habe ich im Sicherheitsmodus wiederholt. Und sie waren immer noch da.

3. Wir – Computexperte Flo und ich – haben sämtliche Programme ausgeschaltet, die sonst beim Start geöffnet werden, um zu verhindern, dass der Virus aktiv ist. Er hat trotzdem alle Programme inkl. MSN Chat, ICQ etc. – Programme, die ich seit Jahren nicht genutzt habe – gestartet. Diese Programme ließen sich auch nicht löschen.

4. Wir haben versucht, das System zu einem früheren Zeitpunkt wiederherzustellen. Ging nicht.

5. Letzter Schritt: Windows runter – Linux drauf. Aber nein, er will nicht einmal mehr Obuntu installieren. Selbst wenn man das CD-Laufwerk als Erstes startet.

Hat irgendwer noch eine Idee? Ansonsten fliegt Toshi bald von der Golden Gate Bridge. Das werden zwar bestimmt wahnsinnig schöne Bilder, aber mir wäre es trotzdem lieber, zu hause wieder Internet zu haben und mit euch kommunizieren zu können. Alle Ideen sind willkommen!

Tiny Inventions @ Kokoro Studio

2010-07-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

Something Left, Something Taken- Full Version from Tiny Inventions on Vimeo.

Watch this video - it is awesome. The artists were at my friend Keiko's studio - Kokoro Studio - yesterday and gave us insight on the making of their film.

Katistrophen

2010-07-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

1. Kein Netz
Einige von Euch wundern sich vielleicht, warum ICH kaum ONLINE bin. Mein Laptop hat sich letzte Woche verabschiedet, also hab ich nur noch Internet in der Uni oder wenn mich jemand an seinen Laptop oder sein iPhone lässt.

2. Masterarbeitsanfangsschwierigkeiten
Mit meiner Masterarbeit hatte ich ein paar Anfangsschwierigkeiten. Ich musste mein Exposee mehrmals überarbeiten und konnte erst letzte Woche anfangen, zu schreiben. Jetzt läuft's aber rund und ich habe die ersten beiden richtigen Kapitel schon fast fertig geschrieben.

3. Zahlungen gestoppt
Paypal hat mir ein paar Schwierigkeiten bereitet, weil eine Zahlung gestoppt wurde. Offensichtlich ist es verdächtig, $700 von den USA nach China, wo sich mein Vermieter aufgehalten hat, zu verschicken. Irgendwann ging das Geld aber dann durch. Jetzt weiß ich, wie PayPal Geld verdient...

4. Wohnungssituation unsicher
Ich habe erfahren, dass mein Vermieter, im letzten Jahr die Miete nicht gezahlt hat, weil er die Eigentümer verklagt hat, weil diverse Dinge (Aufzug, Heizung, etc.) kaputt waren. Er hat also Arbeitslosengeld - ja, das gibt es hier und nicht zu wenig - kassiert und ist von meiner Miete nach China geflogen. Allerdings ist er jetzt wieder da; China war doch nicht so sein Ding und seine Oma ist gestorben. Jedenfalls haben die Hauseigentümer gewechselt und seine Anwälte haben ihm geraten, nun doch Miete zu zahlen. Er ist also gerade auf Jobsuche und will nach Chicago ziehen. Ich kann erst mal in der Wohnung bleiben, muss aber darauf hoffen, dass er auch brav die Miete überweist und ich nicht auf der Straße lande... alles ein bisschen chaotisch gerade.

San Francisco ist nicht europäisch

2010-07-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Fälschlich geschmeichelte Europäer glauben wegen dieser Freigeistigkeit und angesichts pedantischer Mülltrennung, kohlendioxydfreier Trolleybusse, genereller Waffenverbote und liberaler Einwanderungspraktiken, dass San Francisco die europäischste Stadt Amerikas sei. Doch in Wahrheit ist sie etwas ganz anderes: Sie ist der unamerikanischste Ort Amerikas, ein exterritoriales Anti-Amerika, eine Trutzburg gegen die Tyrannei des Mainstreams und die Verlogenheit des amerikanischen Individualismusideals. Mehr in der FAZ.

Berkeley and Palo Alto

2010-07-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

As soon as you leave the city, you can enjoy the Californian summer. My friend Zach use to work for a start up. He also lived in the office building in Palo Alto. I guess you can see why...

Another weekend we drove to Berkeley and walked across the campus. Unfortunately most uni buildings were closed apart from the Tower... So we got some take out and sat down on the grass and got a little sunburned. Later, that night we wanted to watch a really old black and white Japanese movie. But it was sold out, so we changed plans and watched Inception instead.

Let me know what you think of it. Does the top drop or not...?

Sightseeing

2010-07-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

My new friend Tuan came back from his holiday in Costa Rica and took me to see the most beautiful spots in the City.

Pier 39

Alcatraz

Lombard Street

Watching the World Cup early in the morning

2010-07-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

There is a nine hours time shift to Germany. So, when Germany played against Argentina I had to watch game at seven in the morning. But I kind of had the feeling it would be worth it. I went out with Nate and Eric but then decided to go to bed at 4am to sleep for two hours. I got up and went to meet Alex who I wanted to watch the match with. She did not show up, so I went back to bed for another 30min. When I woke up again I almost stayed in bed but then quite patriotically went down and across the street to Angel's Cafe where only the two owners and their friends were watching the game - all of them supporting Argentina. I missed the first goal because I was five minutes late. But there were more to come, so that was fine. I cheered silently for Germany sipping my coffee - no drinks that early - because the atmosphere was quite depressing... Well, getting up was worth it but afterwards I went straight to bed again... So it's Spain now...

Germany against Uruguay

Welcome to San Francisco

2010-07-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

I will spend this summer in San Francisco writing my MBA thesis at San Francisco State University. I chose to come to SF because the Bay Area is famous for being a social media hub and that is what my thesis is going to be about: monetizing social networking sites.

It is my second time in the States but I have never been to California before. I have heard a lot of stories about SF being the most "European" and probably the most liberal city in the US. So let's find out...

I managed to find an apartment last minute through some friends' friend's friend via Facebook and it happens to be a pretty cool apartment in the Tenderloin. The Tenderloin is pretty central - 10 minutes walking distance to uni, it is an ethnic neighborhood and some ppl say it's scary at night. I find it pretty okay.

My apartment def has its own character and style. There is punch hole in my apartment door - apparently because my landlord's neighbor did not like his music. The bedroom mirror is crushed, too, Nate fell into it dancing - we def have some things in common... Also the bathroom door does not have a handle anymore, so I should not close it, which is pretty funny whenever I have ppl over... I do have a large bedroom with a small balcony and a great sound system for my iPod.

Sarkasmus-Detektor

2010-06-17T03:07:00.000-07:00

WM-Song aus Münster: Uwu Lena - Schland oh Schland

2010-06-15T00:38:00.000-07:00

Waka Waka

2010-06-14T03:05:00.000-07:00

Gimme Hope Joachim

2010-06-14T02:59:00.000-07:00

The surprising truth about what motivates us

2010-06-02T00:54:00.000-07:00

WM 2010: Wir gehen nur zurück, um Anlauf zu nehmen

2010-05-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

facebook in reality

2010-05-09T14:06:00.001-07:00

Looking for a flat in SF this summer

2010-04-14T10:34:00.001-07:00

Hi,

I am a 26year-old media management student from Hamburg, Germany. This summer, I'll be writing my master's thesis at the San Francisco State University.

I am looking for a furnished place to stay (e.g. shared apartment/small studio) from July 1st to September 27th. My budget is limited but I still hope to find something quite central. As I have heard areas like Mission or Haight Ashbury would be perfect but I am thankful for any other suggestions.

Thank you very much for your help,

best,

Kati.

PS: Please, contact me at katrinschmidt84 (at) gmail.com or add me on Facebook (Kati Schmidt).

The history of pretty much everything

2010-04-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

Avatar II Trailer - Hungry Beast

2010-03-28T09:20:00.001-07:00

Mein erstes Podcast: Social Media für Online Fundraising

2010-03-25T14:56:00.001-07:00

Social Media für Online Fundraising

View more presentations from betterplace-lab.

Chatroulette live in concert

2010-03-21T05:36:00.000-07:00

Google Home View

2010-03-19T15:31:00.001-07:00

And the Razzie goes to...

2010-03-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

We are Google and we can kill you!

2010-02-24T05:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's!

2010-02-14T03:59:00.000-08:00

Digital Nation: Sir Patrick Stewart

2010-02-13T11:26:00.000-08:00

this is no facebook login

2010-02-12T15:38:00.000-08:00

comic found @xkcd

read the whole story:

Facebook Wants to Be Your One True Login

...and don't miss out on the comments!

The guy in the back should have been working...

2010-02-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

10-20-30 presentation rule

2010-01-28T12:23:00.000-08:00

For all fans of 80:20, 90-60-90, 360°...

Thank you, Jörg, for digging this up! Everyody: Feel free to send me any fun stuff you come across and think might fit this blog.

wie gut, dass die Politiker schon einen Job haben...

2010-01-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

...und nicht den Anforderungen des Arbeitsmarktes entsprechen müssen.

everything else might seem a little backward

2010-01-13T08:10:00.001-08:00

the best handheld?

2010-01-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T13:21:00.000-08:00

A Happy New Year to all of you!

All the best for 2010!

xx Kati

For all of you who do not know what Germans do on New Year's Eve.

2009 us pop song mashup

2009-12-27T00:09:00.000-08:00

never a year like 2009

2009-12-26T00:12:00.000-08:00

2009 - this is it!

2009-12-25T11:29:00.000-08:00

2009 has been a busy year with many adventures, ups and downs, new aquaintances... cannot believe it's already been a year.

January, February and March

New Year's Eve - I didn't know by then
that I was going to move into the house we celebrated in

After recovering from New Year's, uni routine caught up quite quickly... as a freshly reborn Naumann stipendiary, I organised two seminars for the foundation: one on social networking sites and another one on the populist left wing party "Die Linke". Apart from studying and working, there has been plenty of room for pleasure: I went to the Oasis concert in Hamburg and also took some days off to visit the Berlin Film Festival "Berlinale". In February and March, my sister Nina moved in with me because she was interning at the photo mag Stern VIEW.

April, May and June

The second quarter of 2009 started with becoming film makers. With 3 of my classmates I managed to write a screenplay, cast actors, shoot the film and edit it within 5 days. Let me know, if you are interested in watching "Abschied nehmen" and I will send you a link.

During the shooting

After the stressful film production I took a week off and went to visit my friend Gabi in Granada. After two trimesters of studying together, I had to say goodbye to my dearest classmate Mia, who was an exchange student from Copenhagen. She has become one of my closest friends in Hamburg and I already knew back then how much I was going to miss her. Turning 25, I decided to celebrate my birthday in Hamburg for the first time. With the help of my friends and classmates, I managed to bake glutenfree pizza for everyone and even organised a huge TV to show the local football derby between Hamburg and Bremen.

dancing with Ben

In May, I went to the traditional Naumann Spring Ball, my first Naumann event being a stipendiary again. This years location: Magdeburg. Except for the pretty cliché gay bar "Gummibärchen" the city was not as ugly as I expected, the venue was beautiful and the weather was pretty nice... With the great support of two fellow Naumann stipendiaries Doro and Astrid, I organised another panel discussion for the Naumann foundation on developmental politics. We introduced our successful deveopmental project "Lebenschancen Malawi" to the audience and discussed the ups and downs of developmental aid.

glutenfree beer and meat = perfect barbecue at the river Elbe

In June, summer arrived and we were only little motivated to study. Instead, we organised some spontaneous barbecue sessions on Elbe beach or in the Stadtpark. I attended my first Alumni Summit and got to know a lot of nice Alumni from my 5-year-old uni. I also volunteered to organise "Thank God it's Friday" - a monthly meeting at which an Alumnus tells the students about his or her job and how he or she got there.

July, August and September

Summer in London. I spent three months in London interning at the Digital Department of Random House UK. I helped monetising a pub community called the good pub guide and learnt a lot about online and mobile marketing. Two of my DC friends, Anis and Diana, happened to be in London at the same time so we had a little reunion. Apart from that I made a lot of new friends among my colleagues, classmates and facebook.

celebrating Katharina's birthday with my flatmates K and Ash

The size of the city, the metropolitan atmosphere and the variety of different areas and ppl within London made me wish to stay longer than three months. During my stay, a lot of friends came to visit me and I could show them around and discover London with them. I went on a day-trip to Brighton, and spent a couple of days in Paris and Madrid - you get quite good deals from and to London airports. It has been four years since Germany's last national election and again I was in the UK trying to catch up with the news, polls and election campaigns. Together with my flatmate we followed the debates via livestream as if it was football. The only acceptable combination of parties won and I decided to fly back home at last...

October, November and December

After three months of working, I was quite anxious to go back to uni and study more. I was lucky because I was chosen for the only online project for this trimester.

Along with three classmates, I got the task to give an overview on the current online fundraising market and to develop a concept for social organisations to improve their profile on betterplace.org and hence make the most of their fundraising. The project has been quite challenging but also really great whenever we talked to organisations and realised how much they needed our help with digital and social media. Also, betterplace.org has been really helpful and provided us with any information we needed and a room to work within their office. So it actually felt like going to work. In the meantime, I moved to a new flat: I live in Winterhude now - quite posh, but I get finally used to it - and have the best flatmates and neighbours I could imagine. Even though uni eats up my life, Christoph and Söan ensure that I still have a social life and drag me to the Kiez and places like this. On the 23rd, I went home for Christmas and New Year's.

I wish you a Merry X-Mas 2009 and a Happy New Year 2010. Keep in touch and keep me posted. See you soon, xx Kati.

Merry X-Mas Jack Bauer

2009-12-25T00:17:00.000-08:00

Merry X-Mas everybody

2009-12-24T11:38:00.000-08:00

It’s the little things that make big dreams happen

2009-12-23T05:10:00.000-08:00

500 days of summer

2009-12-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

"Author's Note: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch."

Best film I have seen in a while...

Pinkelpause

2009-12-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

Irgendwie sympathisch...

How to make Viral Videos!

2009-12-10T01:39:00.000-08:00

Copenhagen 2009 opening film

2009-12-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

Fröhlichen Nikolaus

2009-12-06T13:24:00.001-08:00

Merry X-Mas Jack Bauer

2009-12-05T00:17:00.000-08:00

Mensch ärgere Dich nicht

2009-12-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

Weltaidstag 2009

2009-12-01T13:34:00.000-08:00