ICH HEISSE MEG
We decided that a...





...suitable combo present for Mother's Day (belatedly, as I was in Spain then) and the upcoming Father's Day would be a second digital camera for la familia Ehman. I have been using a Canon PowerShot A70 since shortly after it came out a couple years ago. While it is still among the highest rated digicams, especially among the cheap and cheerful three-megapixel types, it doesn't quite do the job when you start cropping and enlarging (e.g., for the EFB).

So after an hour or so of research on the web, it became clear that you could go thin and light (though not inexpensive, and with relatively few features), or considerably more expensive and get a digital SLR with 8 megapixels and interchangeable lenses, etc. (the new Canon Digital Rebel XT is getting rave reviews and can be had for well under $1,000), or you could go somewhere in between.

"In between" was an easy choice given that the top-rated model is the latest generation of the A70, the PowerShot A95. Batteries and chargers, cables, memory (SD cards), operating menus, etc. are essentially the same for both cameras, and the A95 can be had for US$299 or so, about the same in Euros here in Europe.

So Meg and I went technology shopping this afternoon and brought home a new A95, and after playing with it for a bit we can say that it definitely lives up to its "Editor's Choice" billing.



Meg unpacked and set up the A95 in about five
minutes, then took this pic -- point and shoot.



Then I took this one of Meg with the old A70
in hand.

We even shot a little video with the A95 for our first-ever video post to the EFB. If you have a broadband connection and QuickTime installed (most PCs and Macs do), click on the link below; after 15-20 seconds (depending upon the speed of your connection), a QuickTime viewer should pop up and play the brief "Ich Heisse Meg" video (5mb).

MEG'S FIRST GIG
Tuesday evening was...

...performing arts night at the International School Hamburg. There were a half-dozen or so musical and dramatic performances over two hours -- a surprisingly enjoyable evening for the SRO crowd. The musically-inclined seventh graders played a pop piece; while they won't win a Grammy, it was a respectable performance. Meg was on the keyboards. Grandma Jan would have gotten a big kick out it all.

QUOTE - UNQUOTE
Courage...



...is not the lack of fear. It is acting in spite of it. -- Mark Twain

SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET
Don't get fried, but a little sun...


...is turning out to be a very good thing. We always said that anything that feels so good (a little sun on the skin) can't be all bad, and turns out it probably is very good for you. Excerpt from an Associated Press wire story today:

Scientists are excited about a vitamin again.

But unlike fads that sizzled and fizzled, the evidence this time is strong and keeps growing.

If it bears out, it will challenge one of medicine's most fundamental beliefs: that people need to coat themselves with sunscreen whenever they're in the sun. Doing that may actually contribute to far more cancer deaths than it prevents, some researchers think.

The vitamin is D, nicknamed the "sunshine vitamin" because the skin makes it from ultraviolet rays. Because sunscreen blocks vitamin D's production, some scientists are questioning the long-standing advice to always use it.

Full article is available here. Sunny Spain, here we come!

SHE SCORES!
The same search engine...



...that picked up the Paul Ehman story in the Saipan Tribune returned this "hit" today, from the Ann Arbor News about Brother Martin's elder daughter, Kaitlin....

GIRLS SOCCER
Chelsea 2, Tecumseh 1 - Tecumseh (6-7-2, 1-6-1 SEC) needed 1 minute, 38 seconds to strike first on a goal by Marcella Brys, but Chelsea (8-4-4, 5-2-1 SEC) came back late in the second half on a goal by Kaitlin Ehman. Kellyn Pagliarini scored three minutes later on a chip shot from 20 yards out for the game-winner.

I also found this article from the 28 April Chelsea Standard, and this article in the 12 May edition.

Nice going, Kate!



Cousins Kaitlin and Meg in Michigan, summer of 2004.

[updated 21 May 05]

NEW BMW 1 SERIES
Okay, so I am a bit...



...biased given that BMW is the principal partner of BMW ORACLE Racing, our America's Cup team, but the new BMW 1 Series is the cat's meow. Don't take my word for it -- ask Leslie or Meg.

Have been trying to work out what cars to drive when we move to Valencia. I have access to a team car as we are supplied a number of cars by BMW. But Leslie and Meg need something, and we have looked at a number of options:

Mini
Ford Focus
Renault Clio
VW Golf
VW Touran
BMW 1 Series
BMW 3 Series (wagon)
Mercedes C-Klasses (wagon)

Renault Clio is cheap to obtain in Spain, but, ugh, no thanks -- life is too short. Ford Focus is okay, but no great bargain, especially in terms of quality and re-sale value. VW Golf is a great little car, but muy commun and not a good re-sale value in Spain. Touran is a perfekt family car, but, alas, too big for Valencia. Mercedes C-Klasse is a fine wagon and Leslie has had one for years, but it also is large for Valencia, not very sportif, and, well, it does not seem correkt to drive one with BMW as our sponsor.

So this week Meg and I stopped at the big BMW dealership near her school and checked out the remaining choices: Mini, the 1 Series and the 3 Series. The 3 is fine, but like the C-Klasse is a bit big for tooling around the cramped streets -- to say nothing of parking garages -- of Valencia and Puzol.

The Mini is, well, cute, and well-suited to a single person or young couple living in the Big City. But the backseat space is cramped; even Meg said she felt claustrophobic sitting in it.



Actually, the Mini might be a good car for me to have for the commute back and forth from Puzol to the team base (25 mins), and for zipping around to meetings during the day in Valencia, where parking is at best hard to find. They say the Mini is a go-kart for adults; or a motorbike with a roof and sides (don't even ask -- I would kill myself on a motorbike). The dealer is having a Mini breakfast tomorrow; I think we will attend. But back to Leslie and Meg....

So that leaves the 1 Series.



The dealer's sales rep, Herr Malte ("call me Quick-Chicken") Krickhuhn has kindly lent us a 1 Series for a few days; and to make a short story even shorter, all three of us love it. Has enough room four four adults, including backseat leg room, or two adults with three kids in the back. The hatchback has ample space for groceries, and the rear seats fold down flat and level with the back making a surprisingly large cargo space should you need to haul a new TV, etc., home. Yet is is smallish and much easier to park than a wagon.

The car is sporty to drive, and even Meg has pronounced it a "head-turner" and "very cool." In the showroom almost immediately she preferred the 1 Series over the Mini and the 3. Now that we know what we want, have to figure out how and where to get the best deal....


Leslie heading to the store today -- out with the old (black
C-Klasse wagon) and in with the new (silver BMW 1 Series).
And, yes, it certainly is greener here than in Valencia.



Checking out the Mini with Herr Krickhuhn at the
BMW Niederlassung Hamburg this (Saturday) morning.

HOPE NO ONE WAS HURT
A well-named boat if ever there was....

MUST READ
Rupert Murdoch says...



..."I was wrong about the internet." Fascinating article posted by our friends on the excellent Aussie sailing site Sail World.

AC 32 Challenger Commission: CC MEETING (MAY) -- Media Statement



This is another test of the "BlogThis!" function, specific to a page of another blog, as opposed to the home page of the blog.

AC 32 Challenger Commission

This is a test of the "BlogThis!" function.

HIGH BROW
"A highbrow is...

...a person educated beyond his intelligence."
-Brander Matthews

TIME FLIES [updated 18 May 05]
Leslie came across this photo...



...while starting to pack up the Hamburg house for the move to Valencia next month. It was taken April 11, 1995 in San Diego at the Team Dennis Conner base one morning as we were about to dock out for racing in the Defender Selection Series. We went on to win the DSS in a hotly contested battle with Bill Koch's America Cubed and John Marshall's Young America, and then got spanked 5-0 by the Kiwis in the AC Match.

Yikes -- ten years ago!

Who could have imagined then that most of the next ten years we would be based in Germany, that we would spend so much time living in and enjoying New Zealand, and that after all that we would find ourselves moving to Spain for the first-ever Cup defense in Europe.

As they say, seems like only yesterday.

Speaking of time flying by, Peter Huston reminded me in an email response to this post that in those ten years one has flown an average of more than 200,000 miles per year, or more than 2,000,000 miles -- that's to the moon and back about four times. Ugh! No wonder my neck is stiff. Click on the image below for a cool NASA site about the Moon.

THE BAVARIAN POPE
The pic below must be...

...making the email rounds, because I have now received it from a number of regular contributors to the EFB, including Leslie and Tom "Dr Duck" Saladin. You gotta at least smile....

"ONLY IN..."

[Revised 14 May 05 -- Received a nice note from Pierre Orphanidis, owner/editor of the excellent Valencia Sailing website, who writes:

"Although it might surprise you, I occasionally read your personal blog, since you have stories that I find interesting, such as the one on Thomas Edison. Allow me to make a correction regarding the very first picture. This crowded water park is not in China but in Tokyo. It's the famous Tokyo Water Park, the only decent opportunity locals have in order to bathe (forget about beaches in Japan's capital)."

Thanks, Pierre! I am sure Kimberly Jones (who forwarded the piece to me) received it with "China" on that pic, and we appreciate your contribution to truth in blogging. ;)




...Japan



...Mexico



...Hawaii



...Thailand



...India



...Texas



...California!


In fact, I believe the last picture is in Point Loma (San Diego), not far from where we lived 87-93.

(Photos forwarded by of our good friend in Newport, and regular EFB contributor, Kimberly Jones.)

"SOMEBODY"
A nice photo-essay...

...forwarded by Grandma Jan, apropos the upcoming Mothers' Day holiday in many parts of the world, has been reformatted by the EFB staff and is available here for downloading and forwarding to your favorite mother. Or just email her the link to this EFB post:

http://www.tfehman.com/2005/05/somebody-nice-photo-essay.html

POST-DEADLINE CHALLENGER UPDATE
A nice, succint article...




...in the NZ Herald summarizing the challenger situation following the 16:00 (CET) deadline last Friday....


"China ready to raise sail"

China became the latest debutant America's Cup country when it registered its guarantee of 1 million euros hours before the Friday deadline.

China, South Africa and a new German syndicate - United Team internet Germany - have never competed for the Cup before and join nine other syndicates challenging for the global symbol of yachting supremacy and riches in Valencia in 2007.

The Chinese entry will be assessed by lawyers in the next few days but they are expected to approve the joint venture between France's former syndicate, Le Delfi, and China's China equity Investment Corporation.

'We have 12 teams from five different continents, full of colour and culture,' Michel Bonnefous, the organisation's chief executive, said from Valencia. 'It will be a fantastic event and a fantastic party.'

Defending champions Alinghi, bankrolled by biotechnology billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli and sponsors including Europe's biggest bank UBS AG, is spending 100 million euros in pursuit of the trophy. Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing is likely to exceed the $130 million it spent last time.

China Team, as it will be known, is joining forces with Xavier de Lesquen, who led Le Defi's unsuccessful challenge in 2000 and 2003 and will be the co-director with Wang Chao Yong, and the challenge will be based at Qingdao - the site for the sailing events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The other teams signed up to challenge Alinghi for the 2007 event include the German team, known as Fresh 17, BMW Oracle, Team New Zealand, Team Shosholoza (South Africa), 39 Challenge, Luna Rossa, Victory, K-Challenge, and El Reto. There is only one US entry and no Australian syndicate with the OzBoyz syndicate not registering its challenge, running out of time to raise money and logistics arrangements required to mount a bid for the Cup.

'This is not just one of the biggest, but it is by far the most diverse America's Cup in history. We have three countries participating for the first time - South Africa, Germany and China - and five continents are represented, reinforcing the global appeal of the America's Cup,' said an excited Bonnefous. 'This is exactly what we wanted for the first America's Cup in Europe. '

The total number of challengers falls just two short of the all time record, which was achieved in Australia in 1987 when 13 challengers from six countries took part.

China has a long history as a seafaring nation; in 1421 it sent four fleets of large ships to discover the new world. It had little history in competitive sailing until recently, and then only in the Olympic classes. The first major Chinese success was the silver medal won by Jian Yin in the Mistral sailboards in Athens last year. However, after their recent economic boom, the single-minded Chinese have set their minds at performing well in yachting and, while they may not be expecting instant gratification at Valencia, are known to be looking to train Chinese sailors up for international competition well beyond the 2007 Cup.

--NZ Herald , Sunday 1 May 2005