Bernhards Random Ramblings BACKUP

One crane was not enough, so the crew brought in the steam crane to help with the unloading ... This picture didn't really fit in that well with the actual layout of Emsingen station, nor can you see the truck the Marzipan is loaded on. It's a bit overkill to call in the steam crane for unloading a car when there is a gantry crane on the other side of the station, so the photo with the gantry crane won out. Nevertheless, I do like this picture, and it gave me an opportunity to play with the smoke effect at the crane. So here it is as a bonus.

The sweet freight has reached its destination: The  big stage on the Emsingen market square. It's time for the big celebration and everybody gets some Marzipan to share. I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! [ Bonus ]

"... and you all have been good this year." [ part 6 ]

The loading crane makes easy work of the heavy load. [ part 5 ]

The freight house also got a delivery. Looks like they will need at least a pallet jack or maybe a fork lift. [ part 4 ]

The treats arrived at the loading ramp in Emsingen. "How are we going to fit them into the van?" [ part 3 ]

I woke up early today and caught this special delivery arriving at Emsingen station. Looks like the town is getting ready for yummy treats. [ part 2 ]

Seen on the way home tonight. Uhm, ...

I was given this lovely butter cookie in sun flower look stuck in a clay pot. A cute idea, but the cookie didn't look that delicious in it's plastic wrap. So I decided to turn this into an experiment inspired by one of the DVD extras from Morgan Spurlock's " Super Size Me " movie. I was curious to see when the cookie was going to become moldy. I placed it on a shelf at my desk in the office, and waited, and waited, ... I moved buildings and teams within the company and the cookie-in-a-pot came along as a fixture at or near my desk. When I was cleaning up after the last move, I found it in an unopened moving box. 12 years later with no mold I finally aborted the experiment. As you can see in this shot of the rear, the cookie was produced in 2007.

I had a great home cooked dinner tonight before heading down to the Silicon Valley Lines Business Meeting, where Bill provided fantastic dessert in form of smoked pulled pork. Delicious.

For a work event we went Go-Kart racing today. Lots of fun with a great group of people. To my utter surprise I finished the final race in 4th place out of 11 racers.

The fridge at work is stocked with season-appropriate beverage.

Niederegger Marzipan is hands-down the best marzipan on the planet. It's no surprise that in early December there are lots of freight trains bringing the good stuff everywhere. The Marzibahn trains of course get priority over any other traffic. There's even a video.

Something is different in the lobby today.