Mittwoch, 3. Dezember 2008

anonymous note at our office


would you trust this insurance company?

since i moved to my new apartment i thought i'd probably have to adjust my household insurance. i didn't have a clue how to proceed so i filled in my insurer's online form. they asked me how i would like to be contacted - "by email" i said. 
one day later i got this email: "unfortunately we don't have your phone number please call your contact person on xxxxxxxxx" - wow great. thanks for the email...

so i called. the first lady told me that i don't have a household insurance. according to her i was paying for some health insurance. right... why did it say household insurance on my policy then? rather confusing... in the end we agreed on the household insurance and i had to talk to my contact person. this guy then asked me whether a change in my policy was necessary... well, that was exactly what i wanted to know from him. whatever, in the end we had a plan what's to do :) and because they were very helpful and fast in processing stuff in the past i'm going to stick with them :)

my sister and me in zermatt :)


Mittwoch, 5. November 2008

"interested at your assignment"

last saturday i got the following email:
Hi Tanja,
I am a Macquarie University student. I am doing my security management assignment and while I am searching on the web I found your article

mis neue 5000-wort-assignment

with the exactly the same assignment question that I am having.

Assignment #2
Management of Information Security is a balancing act between the goal of perfect security and the boundaries to which budget and resources will stretch. Based on your experimental company’s TRA, SoA and Scope Statement:
Provide a detailed plan for implementing an information security project to implement baseline controls. The plan should show resources, timeframes and expected costs and may be in Word, Excel or MS Project formats. Include narrative statements is using the latter two formats.
Describe in detail how you would escalate a security breach for the following:
Exposure of financial information relating to the company’s internal accounts;
Exposure of client and/or internal credit card details to a third party;
Theft of computer hardware from your site and from a parked car at a motel; and
Suspected hacking of your email and finance server(s).
In the above breaches, refer to the policies and procedures that should be used, the internal/external parties that should be informed/involved and show how the information assets are protected by the control strategies adopted within the TRA. If your controls are inadequate, describe how you would modify the TRA to reflect the changes required. What would be the costs involved and how would you promote the cost/benefits?
Identify the extent to which your processing environment is open to attack. Assume that you are using Microsoft Windows 2003, Solaris 10 and HP/UX servers, with Linux and WindowsXP desktops. Determine what controls are necessary to minimise interruptions to services. What is the likely cost for the controls?

Could you send me your assignment ? I am not sure how 's that how to escalate the breaches. I have to hand it in with 20 hours. Please help.
Regards, Gabriel.

too bad i saw it too late...
gabriel, if you're still following my blog, i can give you only one advice: enjoy milton's class, you'll learn something for life ;) - and he's rather kind in rating the assignments :)

Sonntag, 28. September 2008

work can be sooo hard...

i had to go to portugal for a course. it was an extremely busy time with loads to do. waaaay to much to tell here, so just check out the pictures :D ->

Donnerstag, 3. Juli 2008

i guess i sometimes leave quite an impression...

this is what happened: today after work i went to look at another flat. there were also some other people there - nothing unusual. but then this one guy starts talking to me

guy: didn't you study economics at the university of zurich?
me: err... yes?
guy: right... i thought i remember you...
me: (shit, am i supposed to know him?) well... (maybe he participated in one of my tutorials?) i guess it was easier to remember faces for you guys, since there were less girls than guys...
guy: actually it was around 50%
me: *imaginary_blush*
guy: you did start 2002 too, didn't you?
me: yes (it feels like i've never seen him before...) but actually i studied business information systems
guy: oh that's why... i thought i only saw you the first two years...

considering that around 700 people started economics/business information systems in 2002 his memory must be really good :D

Montag, 30. Juni 2008

Visiting Rhein Falls (Rheinfall)

i had my parents over for the weekend and we went to see the rhein falls :) it's the largest falls in europe and soo close from here :) the views were really breathtaking - enjoy the pics :)

Samstag, 31. Mai 2008

whooohoooo - i made it :D

now i'm really really done with uni! :) last wednesday i had my diploma ceremony and finally got that paper telling that i'm a master of science in informatics with concentration in information systems (hey, it's the uni of zurich, so don't expect them to have a decent translation ;)))

enjoy the pics :)

Dienstag, 20. Mai 2008

restaurants in zurich

i was looking for a nice restaurant in zurich to have dinner after my diploma ceremony. so i asked my friends to recommend me their favorite restaurants. and since i got so many good recommendations i thought i could share them with you :)

Restaurant L'Entrecôte - they only serve entrecôte :)
Coco Grill & Bar - looks really cute
Restaurant Rosaly's - a zurich classic
Blue Monkey - good food & great location (rosenhof)
Restaurant Die Waid - a stunning view over the city
Restaurant Terroir - everything you eat and drink there is swiss origin
Restaurant Acqua - nice view of the lake
Restaurant Kahn - fine indian food
Restaurant Seerose - again a nice view of the lake (if the website doesn't work properly: keep trying, it suddenly does ;))

in the end i chose the blue monkey and reserved a table in the rosenhof :)

Freitag, 16. Mai 2008

my jogmap

a little while ago i found this really cool website where you can keep track about your running. you can mesure out the distance of your route, write down your time and pulse and get some nice statistics in the end. even more convenient, you can keep track of how much kilometres your shoes already run, so you know when to replace it (usually after about 2000 km :)) of course that's also how far i run, and from today on, you can follow it in my blog :) (see the little graphic on the right side below my profile)

Dienstag, 13. Mai 2008

don't even think about it!


i gave red bull cola a try - and it was a reeaaalllllyyyy bad idea...
i mean, it's cool that's all natural and i also like vanilla, lime, cinnamon, ginger, lemon, orange and almost all of the other stuff that's in there. but it just tastes pukey :(

Samstag, 26. April 2008

getting paid to drive a mini around...

this was my little dodu ;) and it was really fun driving around germany and switzerland (all in all it was 1440 km) - but the job wasn't that easy...

we had to get up early (no pictures here ;)) ...

...wash our cars...

...then erect a booth...

...wait for the students to show up...

...and entertain them.

at least we got decent hotel rooms (augsburg, konstanz, rapperswil, luzern) and a few hours of sleep every night ;)

in augsburg we even had time to do some few minutes of sight seeing :)


Samstag, 19. April 2008

yes, i did come back ;)

it's been a while since i gave you the last update.... it is partly because i was lazy when i came home, but mostly because my computer had to see a doctor. unfortunately these guys weren't very skilful, so i had to send it in twice :(

but now it's back and i'm working on answering emails, updating my blog (as you can see ;)) and of course on uploading the pictures from usa and canada. since i took about 1500 pictures (now i wish i've had an analoge camera with me ;)) it takes me a while to sort them out...

but keep checking in, it shouldn't be too long until they're online :)

Samstag, 29. März 2008

april 8th is the magic day ;)

since everyone keeps asking me, when i'll be back, i thought i might also write it down here :) so if the canadians are kind and won't make more trouble, i'll be back on the 8th of april, 9.20 am :) feel free to welcome me at the airport ;D

toronto and ottawa

they say you either like toronto or vancouver. i definitely opt for toronto. maybe it was because half of vancouver was either a car park or a construction site (they're getting ready for winter olympics 2010)? i don't know, but toronto seemed so much more fun to me :)
i went up the cn tower, looked around the city and also went to the world famous niagara falls :)

now i'm stuck in ottawa, the capital with beautiful buildings but not much to do. since i'm sick, it doesn't really matter ;) i'm enjoying my stay at the jail, sleep and try to get well again ;)
oh btw. i think they know very well that there's not much to do here: ususally you pay 3 dollars for one hour of internet access, whereas here you get 24 hours for the same price! ;D

Mittwoch, 26. März 2008

snowboarding in banff

whooohoooo - i really went snowboarding in banff! james took me to sunshine and it was just awesome! and it's true, the snow is really different over here. it's almost like wakeboarding and you pick up speed soo much faster!

unfortunately the image upload doesn't really work, but as soon as i get a chance i'll show you the picture :) (although i have to warn you: the photographer wasn't a genius at all!! ;))

Dienstag, 18. März 2008

entering canada

well, i thought the usa is hard to get in - but only until i had to enter canada... maybe it's because the whole flight didn't start off very well. when i checked in at san diego airport i totally forgot that my plane was to land in las vegas before heading to vancouver. then i asked for my miles to put on my swiss-milage-card (instead of us airways) and finally i wanted a window seat. this was obviously too much, because the guy at the check-in printed four fat "SSSS" on my boarding pass. when i entered the security check, they explained to me that the airline wanted me to be checked additionally. so this lady groped me all over and checked my shoes and my bag for traces of explosives (haha).

then, on the stopover in las vegas the flight attendant told me i can leave everything where it is, but when i came back, my healthy and rather expensive salad (as well as my cookies) were gone ("oh, that must have been the cleaners"). so i was starving the whole flight and when i got off in vancouver i just wanted to get through passport control and buy some food.

but it wasn't that easy. since the us immigration didn't want to see my e-ticket back home i didn't think of packing it this time in my on-board luggage. suspicious? check. then the lady saw the "SSSS" on my boarding pass. suspicious? check. and finally i really looked tired and annoyed (i was sooo hungry)... suspicious? check.
so i had to answer all these stupid questions, like "wouldn't you have to be at uni right now?" -"how can you afford to travel when you're a student?" - "so you studied and worked at the same time?" - "what kind of work did you do?" - "for how long did you work there?" - "how much cash do you have with you?" - "how do you know you will be able to get cash from the atm?" goooooooooooooossssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh. i almost asked her what reason i would have to sneak in canada since i'm from a rich country (SWITZERLAND) and i'm well educated (yes, i really did my MASTER). but i managed to stay calm...
finally she told me she wouldn't send me to immigration this time (haha) but it was crucial that i bring my flight ticket with me whenever i wasn't travelling in switzerland (haha).

at least the bus drivers were very friendly... they didn't charge me for the ride into the city, 'cause i didn't have any coins yet and they gave me good tips what to do in vancouver :) so i guess canada deserves a second chance ;)

l.a. and san diego

l.a. is just huge and it takes you forever to cross the city - no matter whether you're travelling by bus or by car. although traveling by car gives you the advantage not having to stop every other corner, 'cause someone wants to get on or off the bus...
i think we saw quite a few parts of the city, we've been to the touristy places like hollywood boulevard (walk of fame), the kodak theatre and melrose avenue - but we've also seen the beaches of santa monica and venice beach. and we even did a tour on blades on the beach, that was really cool :)

the last two days we spent in san diego. it's much smaller than l.a. but it also seems way cozier and laid-back. we went to tijuana (we even crossed the boarder by car, although this wasn't the plan. but after "just" 45 minutes of queuing up we were allowed to go back to the usa.) the last evening we had dinner at jrdn (you have to check out the pictures!) a really awesome place and worthy of celebrating our last evening (together).

Donnerstag, 13. März 2008

hello from santa monica

just a quick hello, telling you that we now arrived at santa monica :) the weather is beautiful and i already dipped my toes in the sea :) we're going to stay in l.a. for the next two days and then make our way down to san diego (from where i'll fly to vancouver on monday). it is really awesome here, and i'm not really looking forward to going into the cold again ;)

Mittwoch, 5. März 2008

hello san francisco

here i finally am :) i'm really happy to be here, to see rahel again and to enjoy the groove of the city (which is so totaly different to ny ;))
we got plenty to talk and see and do, but now she's at school so i took up the change to excessively use the internet to answer my emails and to write some stuff for you on my blog :)

i'll update later on and i hope to show you some pictures soon :) hf :)

some concluding remarks on new york ;)

first things first: i didn't fall in love with the city...
it's true, there are millions of things to do and see and explore, but you get that in almost every big city. times square was shrill and fancy, but to me it looked like a cheap copy of some random corner in tokyo. statue of liberty was cool to see, but since 9/11 you're not allowed to go up there any more, which sucked! there are heaps of people, but to be honest they weren't very friendly.

seems like i only see the negative aspects, but i think the real problem is that i automatically compared the city to my true love, sydney ;)

also i couldn't meet up with my personal guide (*gg*) chantal, cause her plain couldn't take off in zurich because of the strong winds (what's going on there? i heard there was quite some snow too?) - so i was rather disappointed :(
at least i had a huge list from grace, with all the things i had so see :) thank you so much grace! (i was too lazy to send you a postcard from over there, but i'll send you one from san francisco - promise!)

the one thing i found really awesome though was a show on broadway! i went to see grease and i really loved it!

i took quite a lot of pictures (also the "grand central station reloaded" for michi ;)) and as soon i get to download them i'll show you some :)

Sonntag, 2. März 2008

how to cross the street in new york

first, check whether the traffic light shows "go" or signals to hurry up. if so, walk (and be carefull of not being run over by cars turning - don't worry it hardly ever happens ;))

if the traffic light is "red" (which it isn't cause it shows a hand which signals to stop) walk as far out into the street as possible (usually there is a parking lane blocking your sight) - check from which side the cars are coming (most of the time it's one way only) - wait untill there is a gap between two cars - walk! :)

rather easy isn't it? :) if you wanna make sure people think your a newyorker, just walk and if you really have to turn around and let the cars pass :)

stop over in toronto

on my way to new york i had a short stop over in toronto. it was quite a disturbing experience... not only was the view from above weird (all the houses looked exactly (!) the same) but also did the crew show the emergency exits once again shortly before the landing :/

obviously everything went well (otherwise you wouldn't read this blog entry now ;)) and the only hurdle left was the immigration to the u.s. i had some understanding for them to ask me whether i was a terrorist, a spy or a nazi (well...) but the last question was really hard to answer: "are you seeking entry to engage in immoral actions?" well... i don't think so, but since there wasn't a list what the holy americans consider immoral, it was really hard to tell. to be on the safe side i just answered "no" and after leaving my fingerprints and picture i was allowed to immigrate. whoohooo!

Dienstag, 26. Februar 2008

how much luck can a fortune cookie bring?


i thought it might be a good idea to crack the fortune cookie i got for my birthday before i start travelling... and indeed, it was quite promising: "you can enjoy yourself and also include others" :)

i reckon this also counts for my stay in new york - just today i found out that chantal is going to be there for the weekend! :) woohoooo :) if anyone else is gonna be somewhere on my route, just tell me! i'm gonna share my enjoyment with you! :)

Dienstag, 19. Februar 2008

done with uni - and paying for economy class but flying business class ;)

i passed my last exam today - which means i'm done with uni!!! no more exams ever!! (at least for the next few months ;))

oh and the other good thing that happened: i got an email that my flight back home from canada changed: instead of flying from toronto directly to zurich, i'm gonna have another stop over in frankfurt... they didn't reply my email where i asked whether i'll get a discount for this inconvenience. but when i called them they upgraded my flight to business class - fair enough, i'd say :)
at first i even thought it would be especially cool, cause it's a night flight, but on second thought i fear i'm gonna miss all the cool things while sleeping... so maybe it's gonna be a busy night for me ;)

Sonntag, 17. Februar 2008

getting ready for my very last exam

i read 1200 pages...


i drew a mind map for each chapter and i subsumed all of them in one huge mind map (with additional notes as you can see in the picture)...


tomorrow i'll squeeze some important details in my head and then i guess i'm ready for tuesday :)

Mittwoch, 13. Februar 2008

woohooooo - my very last exam at uni!!

today i finally got the date for my very last exam at uni :D so keep your fingers crossed on tuesday at 10.35 :) thx!

Montag, 11. Februar 2008

snowboarding in laax - a picture story :)

snowboarding with michi (yes he really came snowboarding with me :))...


while enjoying the beautiful scenery


posing for a picture...


@ the après-ski bar "rock bar"


while watching michi's cheeky flatemate at work (or not ;))

Freitag, 8. Februar 2008

promotion jobs can be soo much fun :)

i had to ride a rickshaw decorated with flowers

and ask people to pose for a picture with it. the whole promotion was for blume3000 who is gonna give away a bunch of flowers and 100 francs for Valentine's Day (for the best picture of course :))

i met some err let's say - special - people: one of them was soooo happy he could participate, he thanked me about a hundred times and gave me the following:

well... i didn't eat the chocolate ;)

and another one wanted to give me a job to promote his flirtcourses - i didn't say anything yet... it's really gonna depend on how much he's gonna pay ;))

it wasn't only fun, but also some workout as you can see on the before and after pictures ;)

Sonntag, 27. Januar 2008

getting ready for holidays....

wooohoooooo i'm really going on holidays!!! with rahel i'm going on a road trip on the west coast of the usa and i'm gonna visit james in canada; i'm really really looking forward to it!! as you can see, i'm already counting the days until take-off :)


i booked all the flights (i even got a call from my bank, asking if it's me who's doing all these bookings on my credit card - aren't they sweet? ;)) and i also booked my hostel in new york

feel free to tell me your secret travel tips for - new york - san francisco - everything between san francisco and san diego - vancouver - calgary - toronto - quebec - montreal. if your tip is really hot you might even get a postcard from overseas ;)

Mittwoch, 9. Januar 2008

what to do with 300.- you get for christmas :)

well, first say thank you :) but then there are millions of things you could do... what i did was this:

first, i bought myself an external hard drive (yes, that's the one that's gonna make me die happy ;))

and then i went to the fritag shop and bought myself a bag :) what i got for free was the view from the truck spotting plattform :)

the stairs...

first glance

second glance


and the view from the top :)


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