A Berlin Engineer

Introducing: Me

Author: Lutz Pietschker
Version: 2011-03-01

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Me
Born 1953 in Berlin
Studied mechanical engineering there, at the Technische Universität Berlin
Height 166 cm (no more, no less), weight 64 kg (slowly rising, alas).
If one of the English-speaking readers has the ambition to pronounciate my name correctly, try Luts (short "u" as in "bush", sharp "ts" like in "Tsushima") Peatshker for a start.
 
LOCATION
Born and raised in the district of Kreuzberg, but now living in Steglitz. Which is all in Berlin. In Germany.
 
FAMILY
I am married to Jutta Albrecht. We met in a folk dancing seminar and needed very little time to decide that we were made for each other, a state that, fortunately, continues to the present.
 
WORK
Engineering (drafting board and CAD).
Software Engineering, working for gedas, a company now owned by T-Systems and working in the genaral area of software development and business process optimization. I planned and wrote CAD-Database interface solutions and Product Lifecycle Management solutions.
 
WRITING
Privately, modelling- or games-related stuff most of the time. I also do some translation work on game rules and (long time ago) on parachuting material (manuals, advertisements).
I use an Apple Macintosh for most of my work, and because of my professional experience with MS-Windows 3.x/95/NT/2000/XP/Vista/Win7-based systems I am very convinced that I will continue to do so. No "Evil Empire" OS for me, thank you! My mainstay tools are FileMaker, FreeHandIllustrator (curse you, Adobe!), BBEdit, FreeMind, Photoshop Elements, GoLiveDreamweaver (ditto!), and the Graphics Converter. Occasionally Amadeus Pro to edit dance music.
 
READING
Nearly everything, and 80% of it in English language. Authors that impressed me most are (in no particular order):
Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes and others), Hugh Lofting, Jules Verne, Doug Adams (all his books), Herman Melville, Christian Morgenstern, Peter Fleming, Ian Fleming (Peter's younger brother, "James Bond" and the non-fiction books; I like them for the writing, not for Ian's view of the world), Ian MacCauley's technical books for children, Mark Twain, Trevanian, Peter O'Donnell (Modesty Blaise), Philip Pullman, Tim Severin, Robert Burns, J.R.R. Tolkien, Walter Moers, Michael Crichton, Holling Clancy Holling, Alexander Spoerl, Roald Dahl, Stephen Biesty (his Cross-Section Books), Jules Verne, Wolf Schneider, Egon Erwin Kisch, Frederick Forsyth, John Keegan, Barbara Tuchmann, Isaac Asimov, J.K. Rowling, Jonathan Stroud, Bernard Cornwell, Herbert Rittlinger, Hendrik Willem van Loon, Gary Jennings (only his "Roadshow" series).
Of course this list does injustice to many others whose books I also read with joy.
My book for the proverbial "lonely island": Moby Dick.
 
GAMES
Yes, and lots of them (see list), which means boardgames- I very seldom play computer games.
What I play are mostly complicated tactical games (many of them wargames), role-playing, and intelligent family games.
I have also done rules translations and written some rules variants and extensions on a non-professional base.
My game for the proverbial "lonely island": Advanced Civilization (the Avalon Hill boardgame, original design by Francis Tresham, UK). The game. Well, you can't really play it alone, so a wiser choice would probably be Raid on Saint Nazaire.
 
SPORTS
Dabbled in rowing, sailing and handball a long time ago, did some skydiving (about 2500 jumps) from 1980 to 2002.
Today, only paddling, (kayaking, that is), mostly on the beautiful rivers and lakes around Berlin. Dancing, too, if that qualifies as a sport. And hiking.
 
MUSIC
Again, in no particular order: Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits or solo), 17 Hippies, Yello, Alice, Angelo Branduardi, Carl Orff (Carmina Burana), Carl-Michael Bellmann, The Chieftains, La Marmotte, Dead Can Dance, Enya, Loreena Mckennit, Giora Feidmann, Hubert von Goisern, Kate Bush, Kitaro, The Lecuona Cuban Boys, Lydie Auvray, Mike Batt (his instrumentals), Mike Oldfield, Patrick O'Hearn, Pete Seeger, Tom Petty, Tri Yann, Vaja Con Dios, Hevia, Mugar, Wolfgang Meyering, Effi Netzer.
My CD for the proverbial "lonely island": Brothers in Arms. Or maybe Shangri La, both by Mark Knopfler. If a CD makes sense in such a place.
 
DANCING
Folk dances and others, and trying to get a feel for Tango Argentino. I also did "standard" dancing some time ago, but folk dancing is what I like best.
 
OTHER
I help Jutta to build a toy theater (paper theater), but owing to many other interests this work makes very slow progress indeed.
I dabble in photography, but do too little to really call it my hobby.
I like to build paper and cardboard models, but seldom have the time to do so, which means that many models are on the shelf waiting to be assembled later.
I liked to ride my motorbike, a nice (if heavy) BMW K75RT. No longer, alas, but good memories remain.
 

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Written and published by Lutz Pietschker. Please send comments about technical problems to the site master.
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, last change 2011-03-12