... and this is after. (Don't know what I'm talking about? Read yesterday's post!)
To pick up on the PeopleSoft story: The introduction of the Peoplesoft system was a disaster. Students could not sign up for classes, others did not receive their financial aid packages in time, my co-author in this blog even got un-registered from university without being told about it!
Back to the photo: Spot the difference to yesterday's shot that was taken in the same place (easy). Also someone please explain to me what's going in with that semi-transparent flare of light between tree and building (hard).
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 Today and tomorrow we will have a spot-the-difference set of two pictures. Here is number one. It shows Duffield Hall on Cornell campus. This building is named after Mr. Duffield who gave enough money to build - you guessed it - Duffield Hall. Mr. Duffield is the founder of a company called Peoplesoft and when he gave all this money the university decided to switch their admin computer system to - you guessed it - a Peoplesoft system. Here is an article about the introduction of this system this fall semester.
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 Not sure what these guys are up to but they looked rather funny while they were playing in front of a coach (that they were probably about to board).
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 Compared to many other countries in the world, the taxes are pretty low in the US and therefore services, which are provided free in other countries have to be paid for in the US. For example, our previous homes Germany and the UK provide their roads for "free" but use taxes to maintain them. In contrast, some roads over here require you to pay a toll to use them. A more prominent example is health care but I really don't want to get into the details of that. What's much more interesting is, that in most states (including New York where we take our pictures) air has to be paid for on a pay per use basis. Outlets of free air like this one are extremely rare.
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 S is for Stop war against... While really supporting the message in general, we were taken aback by the multi-use functionality of this sign. It is sad that such a sign is needed, as it reminds us that there is constantly a war somewhere with American involvement. Also we hope that this might change with the new president. Of course there are many other wars fought at the same time, none of which should be. To put it in a concise message: S is for Stop War!
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 It has stopped snowing and in downtown Ithaca all traces of snow have gone. Our new Walmart thermometer shows the truth, temperature have risen above freezing point again. Walmart simply amazes us, already in mid November they started playing Christmas songs and had replaced the entire gardening section with Christmas accessories. For me the Christmas season is soon to start, but for Walmart it has started two weeks ago.
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 After all this work on the weekend we needed to relax a little and took a stroll around campus before returning home last night. The snow is melting but there is more to come for sure this winter. Some bushes still carry green leaves that are coated with white snow flakes. During dusk and in the light of the moon I find the atmosphere created very calming, which also shows in the picture (I hope).
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 Although this picture is a little blurry, we wanted to share the moment of the 2:0 goal with you. Especially since all the important features are clearly visible: 1. A cheering crowd 2. A very happy Big Red player jumping on ice 3. A goali that looks over is shoulder (bad sign in itself) in the not so empty goal
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 Thanks to the generosity of a stranger working in the Department of Molecular Biology of Cornell we got two tickets for the Cornell vs. Dartmouth hockey game tonight. Apparently all the blocks on the left are populated by students whereas we were sitting amongst academia and faculty. Already in the first period the Big Reds scored by catching a rebound and jamming into the goal. Also the second goal resulted from a rebound in the second period. Cornell settled its score with 3 at the end of the second period. In the third period Dartmouth out-shot the Big Red but only managed to put one in the goal. This was our first Cornell hockey game and it was a great experience! Many thanks again to the person who donated the tickets.
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 So it's been snowing every day since we first wrote about it. Apparently this is due to the Lake Effect. Jeff told us yesterday that driving out of Ithaca towards the north the snowfall gets a lot heavier (and driving conditions much worse). So far I am enjoying the snow. As a European I am used to the Gulf Stream keeping it nicely warm during winters and only having snow a few times per year. In London snow hardly ever stayed on the ground because the temperatures never went below zero. Let's see how much white we will see in Ithaca this winter. And what's up with the title? The title is a cheesy German phrase that rhymes nicely and says "Children, children, it's getting winter out there!"
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 In our neighborhood there are many churches from various different religious groups. Compared to many churches in Europe, these can be considered recent buildings. The advantage being that most of them look very beautiful while requiring less maintenance work. To me this one is the most beautiful, especially against the blue sky, it looks like its reaching out...
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R is for "Road to Repeat"! Following up from yesterday's post, here is the schedule for to win the ivy league basketball championchip again (mind you for men and women!) printed on the back of an innocent bystander who coincidentially looks like my former housemate Andras.
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 Let me introduce you to the male half of the 2007/8 season Ivy League double champions - the Cornell male basketball team. Both these (tall) guys and their female counterpart won the Ivy League championship last year (the first double championship in history) and are now on the "Road to Repeat". They started the Repeat last Friday with a game against South Dakota which they won quite easily 79-69.
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There is a lot of information contained in this rather boring picture taken today.
First: If you click the image for a bigger version you might be able to see the sign in our across-the-street neighbor's garden: They are selling their house. In case you always wanted to live in Ithaca - here's your chance.
Second: In case our house catches fire (probably due to my cooking) there is a hydrant right across the street. Very convenient.
Third: The first snow.
It has already snowed a couple of times in Ithaca this year but the snow always melted right when it touched the ground. Today was the first day for us to wake up to some snow. Coincidentally, my co-blogger Conny went to a talk about road safety during winter yesterday. Some of the points mentioned were, that when driving during winter you should always take a shovel, a chocolate bar and some hot drink with you. When the lows hits -20F in January apparently chances are that one might get snowed in - sounds like fun...
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 This afternoon the moon was out very early but still being very well visible during dusk. This time of the day gives you the possibility to see many different colors in nature. That is specifically true for Cayuga Lake and its surrounding trees that still carry leaves. It is definitely not winter yet and we are eagerly waiting for snow.
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This is the silhoute of the Johnson Musuem which is part of Cornell Univeristy. Thanks to gifts from alumni (and others I guess) the museum has created a broad collection of all sorts of art starting from mideval pictures to a very modernistic sculptures. They even have an original Picasso (not a painting though, but a sculpture). And as a bonus you have the most amazing view over Lake Cayuga from the top floor. During summers the wall of the museum is used for outdoor cinema evenings.
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 To much distress of my co-poster I am a cat lover. I met this one on the street and by "blocking" my way and miauing it was pretty clear what she wanted. Although I have to admit the grey color is a pretty good camouflage especially in the shadow.
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Things have gotten a little artsy over the past few days with two pictures of grafitis in the past week. So let's move back to nature. This is a picture taken in Buttermilk falls state park. No, there is no butter milk running in the little stream that feeds the falls. But even with it just being water the falls are quite stunning. Thanks to the geology the water has created some interesting formations in the creek bed as well as a very deep gorge from whose top this photo is taken. You can be assure that more photos of Buttermilk falls (and all the other state parks around Ithaca) will be following. Are there similar hikes around your daily photo town?
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 That is the result when entomologists get artsy. I probably couldn't have drawn a nicer one.
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 Unlike yesterday this is not a picture of Cayuga Lake but from a graffiti around town.
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 The days are getting short so we had to leave early for our run to see Cayuga Lake in the beautiful dusk colors. Most of the time the lake is populated by vast numbers of ducks, so it is never very quite out there, nevertheless we love this place due to its calm atmosphere.
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 These are the guys they hire when the Ithaca downtown area is empty to bring back the buzzing liveliness of a big city.
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 One day over a year ago I decided to get on my bike and cycle up West Hill to take a series of photos of Cornell in the evening sun from over there. This is one of them.
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 After 1 day and 16 hours the company we booked to pimp our walls finally arrived. Considering ourselves as minor celebrities we just cannot do without the Hollywood flair!
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 No comment.
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 During the summer time a life guard is on duty at the base of the Treman State Park falls and many people drive down from Ithaca (and pay the $6 per car parking fee) to go for a swim in this beautiful natural pool. Now the weather is cold, the water is let out and the life guard is (probably) unemployed. Click the image to get to a bigger version where you can see all the tiny people who are probably hikers who enjoy the beautiful autumn weather.
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 Both authors of this blog are Germans (and drive). One of the first challenges met by German drivers in America is to find the traffic lights. In Germany traffic lights are always placed close to the stop line, i.e. the line on the road where you are supposed to stop when the light shows red. If the lights were hanging somewhere above the road, the car at the front of the line would not see them, that's why the traffic lights in Germany are commonly on the side of the road (for the cars further back there is often a secondary set of lights above the road out of the line of sight of the first car's driver). Things are a little different over here in America. On most crossings a set of four lights - one for each direction - is placed hanging in mid air above the middle of the crossing roads. That's a little confusing at first for us German drivers because we expect to be able to roll up all the way to the lights. The light shown in the picture does a better job, it's right above the stop line. Generally traffic is much more relaxed in America than in Germany and there is more space on the roads for less cars so driving is really easy for anyone used to racing along the Autobahn.
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 This little house can be found at the end of "Bear Trail" at the top of Buttermilk Falls State Park (about 3 miles south of Ithaca). Most tourists and weekend hikers don't go so far. Who wants to risk a guess what is inside?
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 ... we had to reject the idea of a staircase because there was nothing left to attach it to. So that's the current state of the building, not very photogenic, but we hope that this is changing soon. We will keep you updated on this issue.
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 Recently one of Cornell's roads was closed and heavy machines started working on the hotel school. We thought they are going to build an elevator or a staircase or some kind of extension. After a few days however... (next picture will continue the story)
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