I finished in 33:26, putting me in the top 25% of the 40-45 age group and among the fastest 6th of the whole race. I knew I would beat 36 minutes. Also, two days before the race I ran two kilometers fast and, violating my promise to stop using a watch, I timed it. Since the two kilometers took me over eight minutes and I was certain I could not keep that pace, I realized that I could not break 30. Anyway, I'm very happy with the result.

In late July I signed up to run the "Tübinger Stadtlauf," the city's annual 7.5 kilometer race. Because of travel I couldn't start preparing until mid August, and got off to a slow start because of some stomach issues. But I'm in high gear now. I bought some really great shoes and have been running almost every day. Last week I ran a distance I estimated with google earth at about six kilometers and did it in 30 minutes, so it appeared that I was going to get the 7.5 mark in under 40 minutes. I then set myself the goal of running the 7.5 kilometers in the same time I ran 10 kilometers back in 1983 when I was on the cross country team: 36 minutes. A few days ago I ran about 9 or 10 kilometers and felt great. Today, I ran a distance I measured very closely with google earth to be exactly 7.5 kilometers and ran it in 36:24. I was ecstatic! I am already at my goal. The actual course for the race has a few hills, which my route today did not have, but with another 10 days to train and the crowd their watching, I'm certain I can at least hold that time.

When I started training a few weeks ago, I ran up the Rammert hill toward Kressbach and couldn't make it all the way up without walking part of the way. Now I run up to the Rammert including three uphill sections without stopping. I am fired up! I am not going to be timing myself any more before the official run, however. That's just a little bit too much work.

My grandmother, Sylvia Hatlie, died yesterday two days shy of her 96th birthday.

Here is the text of the obituary at the Jamestown Sun and the Fargo Forum:


Sylvia L. Hatlie, 95, of Fargo, ND, former long-time resident of Jamestown, ND, died Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 2:00AM at Elim Care Center, Fargo. Sylvia Louise Hauser was born on February 14, 1912 in Fargo, the daughter of John C. Hauser, Jr. and Hulda Isabel (Grohmann) Hauser. Her grandfather established the Hauser Pickling Co. in the 1880’s and, as a little girl, Sylvia picked cucumbers for her grandfather’s business. Later, while growing up in the Fargo/Moorhead area, her father and uncle, Charles Hauser, transitioned from pickle production to meat processing, establishing Hauser’s Market - Fargo’s oldest meat market on the corner of old Front St. and 8th Street So. Sylvia graduated from Moorhead High School in 1930, a member of the National Honor Society.

She attended Dakota Business College in Fargo and worked as a bookkeeper and stenographer for Ford Motor Co., Fargo Glass & Paint, and Fargo Motor Supply. Sylvia married Lyell N. “Speed” Hatlie on February 14, 1941 in Seattle, WA. They moved to Jamestown in 1946 where her husband was proprietor of Jamestown Motor Supply until his death on February 29, 1964 and Sylvia was the bookkeeper. Sylvia was the Ladies’ City Golf Champion in 1953 and the Jamestown Country Club Ladies’ Champion in 1964. She was a life member of the American Legion Auxiliary, and a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church and Sons of Norway.

Sylvia is survived by one son, Guy (Judy) Hatlie, Manhattan Beach, CA; one grandson, Mark (Susanne) Hatlie, Tuebingen, Germany; one granddaughter, Erica (Greg) Shankle, Redondo Beach, CA; four great grandchildren, Katharina & Niklas Hatlie, Tuebingen, Germany and Ivy & Bryn Shankle, Redondo Beach, CA. She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; and one sister, Carmen Johnson.

Memorial Service: To be held at a later date at Trinity Lutheran Church, Jamestown, ND.

Arrangements by Eddy Funeral Home, Jamestown. Share memories or sign online guestbook at www.eddyfuneralhome.com.


My earliest memories of her go back to our family visits to Jamestown, North Dakota in about 1970 and later and her visits to our home. Visit dates to Jamestown I am sure of start later: the summers of 1973 and 1975, winter 77, and the summers 79, 81, and 83. I also lived with her and my mom during 1967-1968 while my father was in Vietnam.

Sylvia travelled to visit relatives in Norway in 1939 and was in Europe when World War Two broke out, but returned to the United States before Norway was invaded. She visited again in the late 1960s. In 1976 or 1977 she took a tour of the Far East. Souvenirs from these trips decorated her small home in Jamestown for decades after.

I remember trips to the Country Club to play golf or swim in the pool, going up to see the "Buffalo" at Frontier Village, playing with my father's ancient toys in her basement, eating orange slices with sugar on them, riding a little scooter out on her driveway, getting money to walk down to the Blue Jay Inn for ice cream, visiting her friends the Murphys across the street, playing with the Grabinger kids who lived nearby and tried to teach me to ride a bike, planting a tree in her back yard (later moved to the front). Later, in 2000, her home on Fifth Ave SE is where Katharina took some of her first steps.

Until about three years ago, about the time she moved to the home in Fargo, she kept in touch regularly with type-written letters.

The last time I saw her was at the Elim Home in Fargo in June of 2006 and at my parent's summer home in nearby Detroit Lakes. She got to meet Niklas then as well.

Comments and memories are welcome here. Just click on "add comment" below this entry.

This morning I took a van full of old junk to the big garbage sorting depot (Abfallverwertungsanlage) in Dußlingen. It turned out to be the most meloncholy part of the whole moving experience so far - more so than spending the last night in the old apartment or the day of the move, when I suspected my daughter would cry (but she didn't show any signs of sadness after all). Some of the stuff we threw away is associated with some very intense times or with things that are long, long gone.



I threw away two boxes of old cassette tapes, including some I have had with me in all the places I have lived since my freshman year in high school (about 12 places in six cities by my count). When I consolidated them into the boxes a few weeks ago, I noted the artists and titles in case I would ever want to recover some of those memories on CD or mp3 or whatever the technology is when I am 60: Kansas, Alan Parsons, Fleetwood Mac, Mannheim Steamroller, lots of 1940s swing, the Danish group Shu-Bi-Dua, show tunes, radio dramas, Barbershop learning cassettes, Latvian folk songs, etc. I have found I can part with things much easier if I write them down. I did the same 10 years ago when I got rid of about half my files.

The wood container ended up with a lot of condensed memories...

This picture includes the rest of one of my wife's wardrobes which she has had since childhood. She got it when she was going through a rought teenage period in a new small town. It also shows the pieces of the cribs our children slept in when they were babies. I recall seemingly endless nights of tears and helpless frustration when our daughter was an infant and the rasping sound of my son's lungs at night while we lay wondering whether to wake him to apply the inhaler again. The happier moments of when they were small are also here: The beds recall the lullibies and bedtime stories, of course. The things we wore at our wedding, for work and for play hung for years in that wardrobe. The little clown, now broken beyond repair, got pushed all over the apartment while they were both first walking.

My wife is much more ruthless in throwing things away. I am getting better at it. Now, next week it is off to IKEA and several stores in Reutlingen to get some new stuff!

We moved into a new apartment yesterday. Our new address is available at hatlie.de. We have a lot more light and space than we used to. The kids each have their own room. I have an office - or most of one. We are spending our free time now putting up shelves and unpacking boxes.

Special thanks to the moving crew who made lunch, watched our kids, or carried all those boxes:

Petra G.
Tanja K.
Roland, Heidrun and Rahel B.
Gus. H.
Thomas H.
Christian H.

We are still nearby, in Derendingen. Same schools. Same bus line. Let's see if I can put up some pictures soon.

We signed a rental contract this past weekend. We will be moving out of Sieben-Höfe-Str. and into a larger apartment in Feuerhägle, about three blocks away, probably sometime in June.

Friends and neighbors who want to help with the move are welcome to give us a call!

Wir (ich und meine Frau und unsere zwei Kinder) suchen eine größere Bleibe in Tübingen, zu mieten oder zu kaufen. Wir suchen mindestens fünf Zimmer. Wir bitten hiermit alle Freunde und Bekannten für uns nach Möglichkeiten Ausschau zu halten. Danke!

This past weekend the local organizations had their annual children's Christmas parties. On Saturday afternoon, the local sporting club, the Turnverein Derendingen, filled the gym at Feuerhaegle with jumping, running, and summersaulting kids and proud parents.

My son's group of 3-5 year-olds dressed up as pirates for their show.

On Sunday, the Musikverein Derendingen, the local music association which runs a traveling brass band, a youth band, and offers lessons in various brass and woodwind instruments, had their youth Christmas concert. The photo shows my daughter's recorder team playing one of their Christmas songs for the audience of about 100 parents and siblings. Watch and listen at YouTube!

The performances varied greatly in quality. One feature I found especially intriguing is that students who have been playing for as little as three months get up in front of the crowd and play solos. I played saxophone for over six years before I got a solo.

Every year, the 11th of November "St. Martin's Day" is celebrated in Germany as "Laternenfest" or "Lantern Festival." Children create their own lanterns in nursery school or at home and then march with their parents or in small groups or as whole classes through the streets with their own candle lanterns. These processions can be seen throughout the first half of November. The pictures here are from last week's lantern march of the Saibenkindergarten in Derendingen/Tübingen, Germany.

	Here are some of the kids with their candle-fired lanterns.
	When the procession reached the playground, some kids just hung their lanterns on the tree and went for a nighttime stint on the swings or on the slide.