For some reason I couldn't sleep tonight (I think I slept only 2 1/2 hours) which gave me plenty of time to do various things. One of them: yeees, I finally managed to complete a second part of my work report.

So, the boss is about to write the second volume on Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz-Rietberg, starting with the accession of Joseph II in the monarchy in 1780 until Kaunitz’s death in 1794. My job is to help preparing the sources concerning the Council of State (Staatsrat) which are of central importance for understanding Kaunitz’s opinion about and influence on domestic matters.

The Counsel of State, of which Kaunitz was a leading member, was the highest advisory body in the monarchy. as far as I understand it whenever a matter was to decide, the members of the Counsel of State were asked to submit their opinion (so called Voten) one after the other on a single document and finally the monarch considered all the arguments and made his decision.

Unfortunately these crucial documents have been destroyed during the Second World War. What is left is firstly, the protocols of the Council of State (Staatsratsprotokolle) which include a summary of the discussed matter (the so called Circulandum that was sent around) and the monarch’s decision (Resolutio); secondly, in Kaunitz’s case fortunately at least the drafts of his Voten; and thirdly a two volume work on the Council of State from the 19th century whose author could still draw from the complete sources.

According to these three sources my work consists of three steps as well. The first one has been to type the protocols, which I did until the end of 1790 (so all of Joseph’s and the first months of Leopold II’s reign). The already completed workload amounts to about 530 pieces and there are about another 150 for the following three years.

The second one I’ve just begun with right now is to insert Kaunitz’s Voten into the protocol file between the subject and the decision. Right now I’m almost through 1781; if the inventory is correct the total is about 100 pieces until 1794. (Actially I've started this step already before Christmas by typing Voten the boss had already transcribed or summarised in handwriting.)

The third one will be to browse through the mentioned books, filter all information the author gives about the Voten of the other members of the Counsil of State and insert it into my file as well. This is important because Kaunitz gave his Votum at the end of the process, so a lot of times he merely wrote that he agrees with one or the other members (e.g. “Ich bin mit dem Voto des H. Grafen von Hatzfeld vollkommen verstanden.”) and, therefore, the only way to find out Kaunitz’s opinion is through the Votum of the respective member.

So my work is a little bit of a historical puzzle; unfortunately I’m working on just a tiny bit of the whole picture - but that is another story.

To be continued... (Maybe!)

Tja, am Freitag hat's wieder nicht geklappt. 3 Minuten vor Schluss gelang zwar der Ausgleich, aber in der Verlaengerung erzielte Vancouver dann doch das 3:2. Wieder nur ein Punkt - waehrend Calgary gestern mit zwei Toren in den letzten 3 Minuten einen 4:2 Sieg (gegen Dallas) einfuhr und auch Colorado siegte (2:1 gegen Minnesota, naja immerhin auf die wurde der Rueckstand um einen Zaehler verringert).

Das erfreulichste des Abends war noch, dass, als ich zur Bar ging um mein Bier zu zahlen, der Barkeeper sagte: "It's paid. Your friend has already paid it." Ich antwortete leicht verwirrt: "I've never seen him before.." Die einzigen Worte die ich mit dem Typen an meinem (eigentlich seinem) Tisch gewechselt hatte, war die Frage, ob ich mich setzen koenne. Das war's auch schon. Der Rest war schweigendes auf den Bildschirm starren. Insofern bezweifle ich, dass er mir ein Bier zahlte, weil ich ihm so sympatisch war. Tja er hat wohl nicht nachgerechnet, wie viel sein Essen und sein(e) Bier(e) ausmachen haetten sollen. Der Barkeeper meinte: "It seems it's your lucky day today," aber als aufrechter Lokalpatriot entgegnete natuerlich "Well I would have preffered to pay my beer and see the Oilers win.."

Bezueglich Deines Kommentars Florian: Also wirklich, wie kannst Du nur an meinem Nationalstolz zweifeln?! Selbstverstaendlich verfolge ich mit groesstem Interesse die Resultate der Buffalo Sabres (auch wenn das ein bisserl fad ist, weil die ja sowieso immer gewinnen). Ich haette also nichts gegen ein Stanley Cup Finale Buffalo gegen Edmonton einzuwenden. (Obwohl ich vermutlich kaum was davon hab, weil ich nicht mehr hier sein werde.) Thomas Vanek ist ja in der +/- Wertung sogar an 3. Stelle, ich bin gespannt, ob er den Sprung ins All Star Team letztlich noch geschafft hat.

Was die von Dir angesprochene Haerte betrifft, nun ja, ich muss zugeben, die ist fuer mich immer noch gewoehnungsbeduerftig. Vor allem die Folgen. Wenn man interviewte Spieler wieder mal in Grossaufnahme sieht, sind die Folgen unuebersehbar. Helm hin oder her. Die Mundpartie bei manchen Spielern schaut aus wie einem alten Opa wenn er's Gebiss heraussen hat (ein Anblick den wir beide aus dem Altersheim nur zu gut kennen oder..? :-)

[edit, 8.1. 10:19] Ach ja was ich bezüglich der Härte noch sagen wollte: Meine diesbezügliche Zurückhaltung scheint wohl eine weitverbreitete kulturelle Schädigung zu sein. Während der "Schlacht um Alberta" machten sich Calgary Fans neben uns immer über die Tschechen bei Edmonton (insbesondere Hemsky), über "diese Europäer" lustig. Zusammengefasst bedeutet das: Technisch sehr gut (das sagten die Boys aus Cowtown, wie wir das Dörfchen im Süden liebevoll nennen, natürlich nicht, gehört jedoch mit zur Schubladisierung), aber von der benötigten Härte keine Spur. Die Beckhams des Eishockey. Weibische Weicheier, sozusagen. Während hier im rauhen Wilden Westen natürlich nur richtige Männer an den Puck gelassen werden. "Yihaa!", um es im Cowboy-Sprech auszudrücken.

Sorry girls, the season is still going on... :-)

You know what's pretty cool about that sport? Games can change so quickly. In comparison to soccer US (and Canadian) sports are more dynamic, there are more goals (points) scored, and thus more possibility to turn games. To me this aspect of the American dream that no matter how bad a situation looks there's always a chance also manifests in their sports.

Furthermore, it's noteworthy that these sports all have an absolutely precise time measuring. Everybody - players and spectators - know how much time is left at any time in the game, which of course adds additional suspense to the final phase of a close game. A countdown down to zero.

I'm sure everybody knows one of those (more or less cheesy) American sport movies with that typical happy end: In the game of games and of course always only with two seconds left the hero scores the crucial point for his team. Of course films like to exaggerate but the point is that such turns can happen and do happen (and in my opinion more frequently than for example in soccer).

Yesterday's game between the Edmonton Oilers versus the Dallas Stars is a good example:

In the middle of the game the Oilers had a 4-1 lead. Comfortable you may think (and so did I). But the second period ended 4-2, and in the third period Dallas scored three goals within 3:20 minutes. (Which is still a thing that in my opinion a good team must not let happen.) So watch these video, these are the last 30 seconds of the game with the Oilers down 4:5 and desperately trying to score.

An explanatory comment for hockey rookies: In the final phase of the game the team in danger to lose usually plays all or nothing: They exchange the goal tender for a field player, which increases their offensive power but it also leaves their goal empty and the leading team can score very easily. Or not so easily, as this clip shows..



"Can You. Believe. What We. Just Saw." :-) I think that explains everything...

Unfortunately, because this is real life, there was no happy end. The Oilers lost the penalty shootout and, therefore, also the game 5:6 (and it should be noted that unlike to a movie plot Ales Hemsky who heroically scored the 5:5 missed his penalty). Fortunately this was not the crucial game of games and there are more to come. At least it's one point (if a team loses after overtime it still earns one point) and every point is dearly needed.

Just to sum up the situation: it's not very pleasant at the moment. Before New Years day we lost four games in a row thus dropping from first to fifth (and last) place and at the moment we wouldn't even make it to the play-offs. But our division - the Western Division - is incredibly close (closer than any other), all teams are within five points (see standings at NHL.com). The next two weeks (until 20 January) could prove crucial because out of the 8 games until then 5 are against direct rivals in the division (Vancouver Canucks, Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames).The first one - versus Vancouver - is on already tonight. I hope Ales Hemsky is ready to score (and I wouldn't mind if it was more than once and earlier than with only 2 seconds left in the game)!

Leeets gooo Oooilers! :-)