Cheryl on the Web

Time to say goodbye

Cheryl — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:07:28 +0000

Sad but true: I just don’t usually feel like updating my blog in my free time any more. I thought maybe that I would get back in the swing once I got into more of a regular working-hours routine, but instead I have even less interest in sitting behind a computer after work. Some friends of mine are starting a photo blog - that’s an interesting idea that I’m considering - or maybe I’ll just have to make a less-frequently-updated site here … about something. A website just about me is boring - maybe I can come up with a different, fresh idea - like an interior redecoration! :) Any ideas for a new, renovated, cherylontheweb?

signing off,
Cheryl

Germany, What middle class?

Cheryl — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:53:42 +0000

Unlike the American conservatives, German conservatives love taxes. As luck would have it, guess who’s in charge of Germany at the moment - the conservatives. And not only do they love taxes, but they seem intent on eliminating what’s left of a middle class here in Germany. Have a look at this Wikipedia entry that shows how the tax brackets have changed in the last 30 years:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einkommensteuer_(Deutschland) Whereas in 1975 the top tax bracket started at EUR 66,000 (converted from 130,000 German Mark) and taxed people at 56%, today the top tax bracket starts at EUR 52,152 and taxes people at 42%. And let me tell you, 66000 Euro was a lot more back then than it is now! Germany thinks it’s making real progression in the tax scale area: starting in 2007, it implemented a “rich people” tax that taxes income above EUR 250,000 per year at 45%. A whopping 3% more than the highest tax bracket. By way of comparison, have a look at the US tax brackets for 2007. There, the tax bracket just under the “rich people” bracket doesn’t start until about EUR 125,000.

I couldn’t figure out when we came to Germany why the supermarkets all compete on price and not on quality, atmosphere, or selection. But I’m beginning to form a theory that there is just not a significant middle class out there that is willing “en mass” to spend that additional amount for better selection or quality. And there’s no reason for that middle class to be ambitious about their salary either: a raise will probably just put them into a tax bracket 5-10% higher than the one they’re already in; it’s more advantageous to stay in a lower bracket and get tax cuts and subsidies.

The German economy is facing dropping consumption, and the government has promised .. that it will not lower taxes. Ever. Can you believe it? Of course, the people making the laws are all well above middle class - they’ve got no reason to change anything, they’re getting a break. I guess what I’m driving at is: there should be higher taxes in the top brackets, and the current top bracket here in Germany should be split up.

Apple.. I want to love it

Cheryl — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:41:26 +0000

When I started this blog just over a year ago, I was raving about my new MacBook. It looked good, it performed well, it was cute and sexy and intelligent all in one package! 15 months later though, I’m beginning to feel like a slightly disgruntled customer. I so want to love Apple, as much for their ideology as for their products, but they are making it tough. (more…)

Nested SSIS Packages

Cheryl — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:58:38 +0000

Disclaimer: If you are not familiar with the SQL Server 2005 equivalent of SQL Server 2000 packages - SSIS packages - then you need not read further.

For the rest of you: beware of the limitations you will face when using the Execute Integration Services Package task in SSIS workflow for SQL Server 2005. Under other circumstances, when running such a package as a job or manually, you can pass in configuration settings using XML configuration files or using command line parameters. Unfortunately, when running a package as a nested (”child”) package using this SSIS package task, you can’t pass in any configuration options (more…)

Freedom

Cheryl — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:40:04 +0000

I grew up in the USA. Believe me, I have an idea of what freedom means. At least I thought I did, until I came to Europe. Then I began to miss a lot of the freedoms I had always taken for granted, like the freedom to drive a car; the freedom to go grocery shopping at any hour of the day or night; the freedom to leave the country or get married; the freedom to work where I want. And then I understood even more what freedom means.

I lost most of these freedoms only temporarily - and in some senses voluntarily, since I was a foreigner living under the rules of a host country - but the point here is not why I lost the freedoms but the effect it had on me. In particular, it wasn’t until this month that I exercised the one freedom I’d lost for over 5 years: (more…)

Idols show “too critical”

Cheryl — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:03:54 +0000

The German government’s media watchdog is criticizing the song competition “Germany Looks for the Superstar” (in other countries known as “Pop Idols” or “Idols”) as “a conscious portrayal” of “antisocial behavior” as “cool” and “promising” (Spiegel.de). According to the leader of the Commission for Youth Media Protection, the popular TV show chooses which candidates are shown to the public and how they are portrayed in such a way that a quota of humiliation and mortification is met. “It is everything but normal, to overrun a candidate with descriptors of the foulest category, to make him look ridiculous due to supposed outward deficits, and to portray this as socially preferable [behavior]”. A leftist member of the Parlament in Germany has called the show “disruptive to the life dreams and self-confidence of rejected candidates”.

Interesting, is my first standard reaction on reading this news article. The criticism isn’t without a basis. (more…)

Tax evasion scandal Germany

Cheryl — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 09:49:41 +0000

I thought I’d heard it all when, on Thursday of this week, the CEO of the German postal service was taken in for questioning on a warrant for tax evasion: tax evasion to a sum of more than 10 million euro. The man, named Klaus Zumwinkel, had (until this week) a prestigious reputation in the business world, and he is (or was until this week) member of the Board of many large companies such as German Telecom, Lufthansa and Morgan Stanley. Apparently he grounded foundations in Liechtenstein and used them to hide money from German tax authorities. It has come as a huge shock to most of Germany that this man would commit tax fraud to such an extent, not to mention the resentment felt by many that someone with so much money would find it necessary to avoid paying taxes, so that the less well-to-do can pick up the slack.

Yesterday the story took a new turn worthy of consideration: it seems that the information which lead to the case against Zumwinkel (and against many others German tax “sinners”, not yet named) was turned over to the German government by a secret informant in Liechtenstein for the sum of between 4 and 5 million euro, paid by the German secret intelligence service. The information included memo’s, details of financial transactions, and Liechtenstein bank account numbers that were involved in the tax evasion schemes. Two large Liechtenstein banks are implicated by the information, and the press as well as the banks have yet to establish how the information was obtained by the informant. Tax evasion is not officially a crime in Liechtenstein; foundations incorporated there are allowed to benefit the founder; and Liechtenstein banks have a strong policy of secrecy and confidentiality - so the value of this information to German tax authorities and the embarrassment it presents to Liechtenstein should not be underestimated.

This entire saga brings to mind a number of fascinating moral questions. (more…)

Top 10 signs I am integrating

Cheryl — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:38:18 +0000

Signs I am integrating into German culture, that is.

Can tell you about the most ridiculous contestants on the German Idols (Deutschland Sucht den Superstar) TV-show from last week.
Didn’t break out in tears of culture-shock frustration on Sunday even though the stores were closed and we desperately needed light bulbs for our new lamp.
Know more about the status of the Hessen provincial elections than the US primaries.
Decided to watch Tim play Wii Chess but secretly missed watching my Monday-night CSI show in German.
Expect to get my new German drivers license this week, which will mean relinquishing my only piece of Dutch legal identity.
Can no longer touch type on a US keyboard because the keys aren’t in the same place as the German keyboard at the office.
Can get a Milchhörnchen (”milk horn” croissant) from the baker without having to re-pronounce the word at least three times.
Took a walk after lunch two workdays in a row without feeling guilty.
No longer start sweating at the sight of all my favorite software on my work computer being entirely in German.
Have bought and eaten 3 loaves of German bread in the last week, the authenticity of which was proven by the weight: 1000g (2.2lb) per loaf.

Did you activate the Connectivity Doctor?

Cheryl — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:01:29 +0000

Those were Tim’s somewhat aggravated words to me tonight, as we both sat on the couch and he was surfing the net on the Toshiba Vista laptop - or trying to, until when the Doctor entered the scene. Though the suspect Doctor application turned out to be from Toshiba and not Windows, it is symbolic of the mass of minor annoyances that Vista can cause at first for experienced XP techies. We’ve gotten to the point now with Vista that every new window that pops up brings out a sigh of, “not the User Account Control again” or “what now?”. Of course, there are those rare times when Vista doesn’t say enough: you’d think, for instance, Vista would have said something to me about the wireless network connection being disabled while I was trying for ages to search for available wireless networks?

p.s. Yes, of course I know I can turn off the User Account Control - but in the Business-as-Usual state, that’s a feature I want. It’s just not a practical feature for the first 24 hours of using Vista, when everything you want to configure involves that control feature popping up at least twice in the process.

5.5% of 2008 already gone, what?

Cheryl — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:21:10 +0000

It’s almost like I woke up today and someone said to me, Cheryl, wake up, it’s 2008! And I’d go, really, are you serious? When did that happen? Hold on a moment… I remember having a great Christmas with the US family and celebrating the year change in Toronto with Tim and two special friends .. but after that everything is a blur.

Ah, wait, it’s coming back to me: After returning to Germany at the end of the first week in January, it took a record 4 days to recover from the jet lag. Then I spent the next two weeks traveling on business, with a couple days in the weekend in between to do wash and grocery shopping. Then, on my way back from England at the end of the second week, I must have managed to contract the notorious London flu that’s going around up there, because exactly 12 hours later: wham, I’m laying down sick. As I write this two days later, I’m still laying down sick. And that concludes the first 5.5% of the year 2008!

I have to say, I had other plans for 2008 that will have to be realised in the remaining 94.5% of the time. (If only I could get rid of this flu and actually get something done; I hate laying around doing nothing, and I’m not ever usually sick this long so it is driving me crazy.) Tim and I want to do some interior re-organising, converting the old office into a bedroom and making a hobby room out of the bedroom. I’ve got to press ahead learning German, and then we’ve got great ambitions to exercise, submit our tax returns, and vacation to Italy. Not to mention I really want to stay in touch more with friends and family and try out some new recipes. And I have got to learn how to drive our manual shift car better when starting on an incline, sigh. We are also working to get ourselves better organised on the technology front; we recently managed to get ourselves set up on IMAP e-mail on the old XP computer, my Mac, and a traveling Vista laptop - that was a quite satisfying achievement. And I managed to export my Mac address book to the Vista laptop using Bluetooth (a file export didn’t work because the format wasn’t Windows-compatible), which was quite exciting.

So yeah, perhaps not the most ambitious resolutions for 2008 - but even so, the clock is already ticking and the progress meter is still at 1%…