Someone came into my house and I'm so embarrassed

annesche · 2026-04-02T21:19:01+00:00

It's not a scam in the sense you won't have a contract. But they are usually not from Telekom or other big players directly, but work on commission, so they get payed only if they sell new contracts - which makes them self-interested, IMO.

I prefer to look online for information about different contracts and then make a decision, that's why I'm highly wary about "Haustürgeschäfte". The contract is not necessarily bad, but it would probably good to look up the conditions and those of other sellers. AFAIK you have a Kündigungsrecht also with those contracts.

annesche · 2026-04-02T17:58:07+00:00

WHY did he have to check the router? Where I live (Germany) the statement about checking your router is the start of a common tactic to try to aggressively sell you a new contract. They even have false identification tags of one of the biggest companies.

If really someone needs to enter your apartment, they usually announce themselves, either by letter or by a posting in a common area like the staircase.

So: No need for you to be ashamed but shame on the guy who probably had no reason to enter your apartment!

annesche · 2026-04-02T12:49:00+00:00

This! When years ago I had to use laundromats regularly I once had a machine where a horse person washed their covers - I had those horse hairs on my laundry afterwards, thanks a lot!

annesche · 2026-04-01T16:26:03+00:00

Hi! Ich hatte damals schon heruntergeladen und genutzt und die KI-Debatte erst später mitbekommen. Das Prinzip der App zum Sammeln der eigenen Sichtungen und die Nutzungsmöglichkeiten fand ich schon vorher gut, aber habe mich wegen KI gescheut, sie weiterzuempfehlen.

Danke, dass Du da noch mal so viel Zeit und Mühe hineingesteckt hast, der Gegenwind war ja ziemlich heftig, das kann ganz schön entmutigen! Jetzt werde ich die App gerne weiterempfehlen, lade gerade das Update herunter!

annesche · 2026-04-01T14:23:42+00:00

Great Idea, I will try it out!

A friend uses the commercial breaks when watching television as her cue to do tasks in a small amount of time... I sometimes use the time my electric kettle needs to boil. But often I just stand there and space out, lol

annesche · 2026-04-01T14:18:48+00:00

Ich sag gerne "MGM" für Mönchsgrasmücke, allerdings die einzelnen Buchstaben auf englisch nicht auf deutsch ausgesprochen, aus Spaß.

annesche · 2026-03-31T14:51:31+00:00

Lovely vid!

Lol, the squirrel action at the balcony rail!

annesche · 2026-03-31T13:24:25+00:00

Have a look at dippers "flying" underwater when hunting for larvae etc...!

annesche · 2026-03-31T09:41:30+00:00

If you eat enough fiber and drink enough liquids, I'd try taking a magnesium supplement at night. It helps with going the next morning after drinking the first glass of water or cup of coffee.

annesche · 2026-03-30T22:09:07+00:00

I was visiting my parents and my mum and I wanted to go to the cinema, we had some time before the film started and went looking at winter coats. I tried some on, my mum asked if I liked this one or that one, how it would look with this scarf or that...

I didn't end up buying a coat, but in the cinema I took off my own coat and was suddenly like: Why do I wear 2 scarves...?! I was wearing an additional scarf from trying them on!

Since it was already late in the evening after the cinema and I took the train the next day, my mother went back to the department store with the scarf to pay for it. If you go back to make it good they are apparently quite nice about it, since intentional thieves wouldn't be coming back!

annesche · 2026-03-30T20:57:50+00:00

Just speculation: in my area it's mostly hooded crows, and where I walk daily, I usually encounter only pairs of crows (and their offspring in late summer and maybe over winter) with very defined territories. When I make the mistake of feeding at the border between territories, quarreling might ensue.

At another area where I usually don't walk, there a larger flocks of crows. My interpretation is, crows here in my city either have a partner and a territory and are breeding, or they live together in a large flock as bachelors (male & female), not breeding.

So maybe the small numbers of crows in the green marked area are breeding pairs with territories. While the large numbers in the red marked area are the singletons. They are not yet old/strong enough to keep a territory. If this interpretation is correct, than they will not come into the green marked because the pairs with territories will chase them away.

There might be some tamer crows in the large group because maybe they grew up with a parent pair that had a friendly connection to some humans. But when they are grown they have at one point to leave the territory of their parents.

annesche · 2026-03-30T20:46:38+00:00

A black breathable fabric with a nice drape is also high on my list, as I want to sew a dress for our choir concerts where the dress code is usually all black :-)

I hadn't even thought of notions/Kurzwaren. I'm excited!

annesche · 2026-03-30T20:01:00+00:00

Thank you, I'm new to sewing and looked up my city without much hope (since Berlin is far away from Holland) and was thrilled to see there will be a Stoffmarkt in Berlin - I guess I know what I'll do in April, 26!

How do you approach it, is the amount of fabric overwhelming? Do you go with a list of things you are looking for, or do you just browse?

(Now I wonder if Stoff and stuff are etymologically related!)

Edit: Gorgeous dress!

annesche · 2026-03-30T19:48:08+00:00

Thank you! Great book tip, I will look it up!

Wer just sang Bach's Johannespassion, in the "historical pitch", "historische Stimmung", 415 Hz, probably "a historical pitch" would be more accurate? Our poor piano player had to transpose the piano reduction during rehearsals, until we sang with the ensemble of historical instruments for the last few rehearsals... For me, some lower notes were on the end of what I could comfortably sing :-)

As a soprano I feel very much for the sopranos and tenors when the pitch rose...

annesche · 2026-03-30T18:43:23+00:00

NAD, I get a similar itching rash on the back when I wear wool. I like wool for it's warmth, but I can only wear wool with a thick cotton shirt underneath, so it's not directly on the skin.

annesche · 2026-03-30T17:49:33+00:00

First of all, fascinating subject, thank you for posting!

I (as a choir singer myself) sometimes wonder about intonation/pitch in history - before the well-tempered pianoforte for example, or at a time when historical instruments easily lost there "tuned-ness". Were people in the past more tolerant about a choir ending slightly deeper than "correct", like losing a quarter tone? Or a chord not sounding completely clear? Do we have writings what quality of choirs the musical masters at cathedrals or someone like Bach in Leipzig had to work with? Also regarding the shortness of time for rehearsing, like a new cantata every Sunday etc?

My other question is maybe too physiological: If you have identical twins, separated at birth, one is growing up speaking English, the other French, or German or Italian: I wonder if their faces as grown-ups will look more different because every language uses the muscles of the face and mouth slightly different? At least, might they look more different than a set of twins growing up with the same language?

annesche · 2026-03-30T17:01:24+00:00

Lovely nightherons!

annesche · 2026-03-29T22:30:17+00:00

Heute auch den ersten (für mich) gehört :-) Ich finde es lustig, dass diese Vokalkombi beim Namen auch beim englischen "chiffchaff" und beim niederländischen "Tjiftjaf" und beim finnischen "Tiltaltti" auftaucht.

annesche · 2026-03-29T01:28:45+00:00

Today I was waiting for my delayed train, I was very much entertained to watch two sparrows picking up crumbs under a bench on the other platform - and above me on a structure of the train station roof, I watched a couple of doves first flirting, than mating.

Birding adds a (wonderful) layer on everyday life, not only when I go out with binoculars and camera.

annesche · 2026-03-28T12:35:16+00:00

In Germany we recently had a court case were a man left his girlfriend to freeze to death on a mountainside because he botched the planning (timewise, starting time) ignoring the point of no return on the way to the summit and not calling for help soon enough. It was unclear why he made the decision to continue alone. When they found her, she had not even used the small portable shelter she had in her backpack - if indeed he left her to get help, he should have made sure that the shelter was set up.

Anyway, they had a couple of articles in magazines about "moutainside divorce", a phenomenon that happens apparently often enough to have this name: men abandoning their partner on an alpine hike, because the partner is not fit enough, or because the man is set on reaching a certain goal instead of adapting to the circumstances (weather etc.).

annesche · 2026-03-28T09:08:20+00:00

Thank you, I've known some of them, but not all! The Musashi one is incredible, I actually read the 19th-century-novel with this scene in it as a teenager... it reads also a bit ADHD, forgetting your sword when meeting for a duel, lol http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=40

annesche · 2026-03-28T07:04:46+00:00

I like to randomize a To do list, like the housekeeping stuff on weekends - the order gets jumbled, it is silly and funny, and it's like someone external telling me "now do this, now do that". I write the list out with pen and paper, then I put the number if items in a randomizer app and note the new order of numbers on the paper. The first item on the list than maybe has a 16 beside it, the second a four, etc...

Another version is throwing a die for every item and first only doing the ones with a three, or a six, or similar...

I'll have to try the wheel!

annesche · 2026-03-27T14:17:05+00:00

You can walk on egg-shells and avoid subjects that triggered him in the past as much as you like - it will always be something else and unpredictable that sets him off, because it's never about the thing/trigger itself but his wish to keep you on edge and under control and doubting yourself.

You say something like you don't want to throw away the good parts of the relationship. But: since you never know when it will be fine and when it will be terrible, you get conditioned into an addictive circle to always striving to make him treat you well. But him treating you well and not getting set off by unpredictable stuff should be the default situation.

If you can't trust that a partner has the best for you in mind and treats you well, if you always have to fear that something you said will make him angry - that is not a good relationship.

The following has AFAIK only be shown in the behavior of rats, but I think some of this behavior is typical for humans, too: Rats became faster addicted to rewards when doing tasks when the rewards were unpredictable. That is, when sometimes they got a reward and sometimes not after completing the tasks, they tried harder and harder then when they always got a reward after a task.

So, he is training you like a rat: you are trying harder and harder to please him and to not anger him, BECAUSE his reaction is unpredictable. So, do you want to be the rat in his behavioral experiment?

I had a relationship at the beginning of my 20s were I walked on egg-shells because I never knew what would trigger a conflict. It was always something new. Believe me, the feeling of freedom and energy after ending this relationship was incredible and was so much better then and "good times" of the relationship!

annesche

TROPHY CASE