Something About Me

Hey, I'm a Father!

Well, before he gets his own server, at least he deserves his own page. Read more about Robin, the kid Michelle and I have, here.

Things I like, Things I Do

Photos

I have taken a lot of photos over the years, some artistic, most of them rather documentary. Now that I have server space and time, they find their way onto my web page, bit by bit. Check out my photo section. (That link should give you a complete, bookmarkable window, in contrast to the link in the navigation bar).

Juggling

Juggling was my major hobby before I moved to Hamburg and may return to this status now that I have come back. The Berlin jugglers form a jolly, creative group of friends. Many of them gather completely informally in Statthaus Böcklerpark every Tuesday past 7.30 pm. (It's located here.) Some of them even juggle before they drink a beer! You can just drop in and watch, learn 3 balls or take part in the regular 5 clubs endurance if you feel like it (I don't).

The Berlin jugglers have organized a couple of conventions so far, each one attracting several hundred people. They are always great fun. The location is a dream, the FEZ gives us permission to use the beach at the bathing lake exclusively for 4 days. Exclusive access is important because it allows people to leave their stuff unattended.

The last convention was 2006 shortly after Robin was born, and we only attended the Gala show which was even better than usual.
There is also a (not so) formal club called "Circulum". On their page, you can find more training opportunities and contact infos. By the way, one of the jugglers, Michelle, is the reason I've come back to Berlin! A good decision. :-).

Doppelkopf

Another location in Berlin which I like a lot is the Café Cralle in my Berlin home district Wedding, a small, charming place being run by a group of women, one of the reasons why it's so attractive. I play the German card game of Doppelkopf there regularly, but with the pure aim of socializing (that's different from backgammon, which I play a little bit more ambitious). You can find the specific rules of our little group here. In Hamburg I used to play in a more competitive group called Hanse-Doko, very nice and friendly people (hi Michael, hi Rainer, hi all!). If you play Doko and are in Hamburg on a Tuesday night, check out the link and join them as a guest.

Backgammon

Backgammon was my major hobby during the last years, right after making my tax declaration. I'm playing mostly online on the First International Backgammon Server FIBS as the juggler. FIBS started as early as 1992, in the pre-web era. It's an interesting place for anyone interested in backgammon, have a look. There are players of all skills up to world class (the server is funded mainly by Kit Woolsey and his wife). Although one would probably find more strong players on GamesGrid, there is some serious backgammon played on FIBS. I like that it is a free, pretty anarchist, working community (the sysop Patti only bans the most abusive characters). Btw, this reminded me that I stole the "Playground" title from Patti's page! I liked it.

I have analyzed and archived some matches, among them many that I have played in the league and tournament set up by Franck del Rio, FibsLeaGammon.

Sometimes I also participate in life tournaments in Berlin.

Thinking

I have recently added a page with my opinions about different matters, that I thought (see, again!) could interest people who want to know something about me.

Last updated Nov 2nd, 2007