2025-09-18

This is a now page. If you have a blog, you should make one too.

It’s been a while that I wrote about things that are ongoing. Not because nothing is going on. Mainly because I’ve been busy with work and life. I’m married now. I bought a house. Busy times!

House 🏡

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Last year, we moved into a house near Hanover, the place my wife and I have chosen as our home. While I’ve so far only experienced living in a flat I can say: it’s another quality of life. We are really happy with our decision.

Joining the local fire brigade 🧑‍🚒

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In Germany, more than 95% of firefighters are volunteers. That’s something I neither knew nor cared about when I lived in a big city like Hannover. But your perspective changes once you own property and start wondering who would show up if things really went wrong. Therefore, I joined my local fire brigade and completed the basic training needed to actually be of help. It’s been an exciting way to get involved as a volunteer: I like contributing to the local community, and I’ve come to really appreciate the camaraderie, which I honestly underestimated at first.

Sports 🏃‍♂️

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After a nine-month break and a tough time getting back into it, I’ve finally managed to rebuild a bit of a running routine. The real challenge will be sticking with it through the winter. In past years, things like sickness, work stress, and bad (cold!) weather often made me stop. Let’s see how it goes this time!

Work 👨🏼‍💻

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After more than six years I decided to quit Reply. While I definitely enjoyed the consulting business, I actually never wanted to stay there forever. I missed being part of an actual product. Create something and see it developing over years. As a consultant, you create a lot, but you rarely see things grow and mature, as project contracts are ultimately always finite. Which can be great, given the fact you have access to so many different organisations, teams, and system architectures. I will certainly miss a lot of aspects of working for Reply, but also I’m looking forward to my new challenges.

Reading SciFi 📚

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I’ve recently started reading novels again. While I’ve always enjoyed books, most of my reading in recent years has been limited to work-related technical material. It feels great to read purely for pleasure. I recently finished “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir, which I really enjoyed. Therefore I started another one of his books: “Artemis”.

Playing “Elden Ring Nightreign” 🎮

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I’ve been excited about this game since its announcement and have been playing it ever since release. It’s a clever blend of Soulslike, Battle Royale, and Co-Op mechanics, which makes it both challenging and unique. The biggest hurdle is finding a capable group, as the entry level is quite high - new players struggle, even those coming from Elden Ring, since there are many new paths and boss patterns to learn. What I love most is the playtime: a single run takes about 40 minutes to an hour, which feels just right - enough for one satisfying session, but still leaving room for another if I want. Even though I’ve already finished every boss, I can easily see myself enjoying the game for a long time to come.