Lux Live

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited by Media Center Show host Ian Dixon to share the technology side of my Africa trip with him on his show.  We had a great conversation and hit on a lot of topics including Media Center, Zune, Home Server, Movies, Windows 7 and much more.  The show was published today so go have a listen!  My thanks go to Ian for having me on the show.

Click the logo above to link to the show.

I recently discovered that my public library system in Indianapolis is now using a service called OverDrive to distribute digital audio books (as are many other libraries).  After downloading a small Media Console you log onto your local library page and search for books.  Some are available immediately and some you can add to your queue and receive when it’s available. 

The console is clean and self explanatory.  Books are downloaded in parts and stored on your machine.  I chose to store the files on my home server which can be selected in the preferences.  From the console, you can transfer the books to your portable audio device (a Zune in my case).  Some titles can even be burned to CD from the console.

As you can see, I checked out a copy of The Call of the Wild by Jack London and was able to transfer it in under a minute.  I synced my Zune and was off on my bike ride to work listening to a great audio book.  I have 3 weeks to listen to it before I have to renew the item with my library. 

I listen to several podcasts that have Audible.com as an advertiser.  I tried it once as a promotion, but didn’t want to pay for a long term subscription.  OverDrive is a fantastic FREE alternative that may not have the same selection of books, but will certainly keep me occupied for quite some time.    

A couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend Liz and I met up with my friends John and Karen Hudek at the Newport Aquarium in Kentucky.  Newport is right across from Cincinnati on the opposite bank of the Ohio River.  They have a huge shopping center and aquarium.  This was our first time visiting the new exhibit.  The Newport Aquarium has a wide variety of tanks including a jellyfish exhibit, alligators, a room with exotic birds, shark petting and penguins.  There are several clear tunnels that run through the tanks so you can walk among the fish.  I’ll admit, that made me a bit dizzy since the tubes somewhat distort the image.  The $20 ticket is a bit steep, but it’s well worth the price.  Check out pictures below to see a few of the sights.  (A camera does not do the aquarium justice).

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Wildon, Austria - While in Africa, my mother reminded me that my cousin Patrick Fazioli was conducting a research project in Austria.  He is currently working on his archeology thesis project and told me that not only could I visit, but he would put me to work.  I spent a night in a sleeper car on a train from Utrecht to Vienna and then headed south to the town of Wildon near Graz where I was met by Patrick and his friend Gerhard.  Patrick received an NSF grant to conduct his research in Wildon and is currently joined by several assistants (Greg, Dustin and Darren).  After stopping by the house to drop off my bags, we set out for work taking soil samples in the Austrian countryside.  Patrick carried his maps and a GPS device and directed the rest of us to take core samples in a grid covering a local farm.  The farmer, along with just about everyone else we met, brought us shot glasses of home brewed schnapps.  Patrick tells me that a significant amount of his time is spent gaining permission to explore private lands over glasses of local liquor.  The evening was spent testing the soil samples for phosphate levels which can indicate that the area was populated in the past.

Excavation – Early the next morning, we set out to a neighboring property that had particularly high phosphate levels for an exploratory excavation.  Patrick selected a small region behind the main house adjacent to the rows of pear trees planted by the farmer and his wife.  No sooner had the sod been removed that the skies opened up as a flash storm swept into the valley.  Patrick took his team over the ridge to retrieve a tent to cover their dig site. 

The crew painstakingly scraped thin layers of earth away from the surface with trowels and shoveled the pieces into a large sifting screen they had setup on a large tarp.  Tiny fragments of ceramic pottery, bone and metal were collected by hand and placed in plastic bags for further analysis.  Every ten centimeters or so, new measurements were taken and the soil was analyzed.  The farmer watched over the excavation with great interest and left only long enough to bring out a tray of home made peach schnapps.  The digging took the better part of the day until a layer of limestone was reached.  Nothing of great significance showed up at this particular site.  The hole was refilled, the sod replaced, and the team moved on to consider where next to dig.  I had a nice couple of days reconnecting with Patrick and gaining a better understanding of his work in Austria.  Next stop… INDIANA!!

People who know me well know that I have a pension for out of the ordinary adventures.  This story is certainly one of those.  For years I have heard my family talk of our origins in the Alsace valley between France and Germany.  We have an old family photo of the first Lux to arrive in America named Mathias (pronounced mu-tee-us) with the town of Baden-Baden listed on the back.  On a suggestion from another family member, my cousin Thomas Hays (his mother is a Lux) traveled the towns of Schirrhein and Schirrhoffen in the Alsace region of France and found a cemetery full of graves with the name Lux.  Knowing that I would have some time in Europe on the way home from Africa, I started a bit of research of my own.  My approach was rather unconventional.  I searched Facebook for “Lux, Alsace” and found about 40 people.  From those, I searched the faces for people that looked remotely related to my family.  I sent messages to 10 candidates in French telling them who I was and that I was searching for family members.  I got a response from a young man named Silvère Lux who lives in Schirrhein and is currently completing a masters degree in medical imaging in Strasbourg.  We continued a friendly correspondence for around a month and planned to meet up in Strasbourg when I arrived.  Days before my arrival in the EU, I sent a message asking Silvère for suggestions of good hostels in the Strasbourg area.  He responded that his parents would be happy to host me in their home.  I jumped at the opportunity.

Schirrhein - I arrived at the train station to find Silvère and his father Marcelle waiting for me on the platform.  We awkwardly introduced ourselves on what was unusual first encounter for us all.  A quick drive in the family’s Renault Twingo and we arrived in the town of Schirrhein where Silvère’s mother Monique was waiting for us.  Her welcome revealed the same curious excitement I was experiencing.  Monique and Marcelle speak French, German and Alsatian but little English.  My 10 year old French was failing me when I first arrived, so Silvère acted as our translator.  I was shown to my recently renovated room on the second floor and calling the accommodations 4 star is no exaggeration.  

We drove to a local restaurant for Alsatian Riesling and a local dish called tarte flambe where we were joined by Monique’s brother Robert and his wife.  They explained that Robert had recently retired and spent much of his free time researching the genealogy of his family.  Silvère told me that Robert had spent an afternoon at the local town hall looking for the name Mathias Lux in the public records.  He had found a few leads, but nothing concrete.  Robert invited me to spend two days later in the week with him; one to tour the wine road of Alsace and another to conduct a more detailed investigation into Lux family roots.

Strasbourg - The next morning, Silvère, Marcelle, Monique and I loaded into the car for a day exploring the city of Strasbourg.  Our first stop was a newly constructed pedestrian bridge connecting France and Germany.  Built to promote friendship between the countries, it has recently been in the news as both countries argue over who should cover the over-budget costs.  We next visited the Notre Dame cathedral which was ornately decorated with statues of biblical scenes and countless amusing gargoyles.  In one wing of the church stood a massive ancient computer that was used to track time, the position of the planets, the phases of the moon, and the location of the sun on the horizon.  The scale and detail of the vast machine is awe inspiring today and apparently made enough of an impression on the people of Strasbourg to burn out the eyes of the creator to prevent him from creating a similar machine elsewhere.

The Food – In addition to offering me wonderful place to stay, the Lux family introduced me to a wonderful variety of Alsatian foods and drinks.  Most evening meals were preceded by a local drink called Picon which is a mixture of an orange liqueur, beer, and lemon juice.  One evening, we began dinner with foi gras (fattened duck liver) followed by honey roasted duck breast.  Bread fresh from the boulangerie is always a central part of any French meal and ranged from simple baguettes to dark breads studded with seeds.  We often ate brie or camembert and I even found I have a taste for anis seed encrusted Munster as well.  A special treat one evening was a sizzling pan of frog legs in a tomato and garlic sauce.  Meals were almost always followed with a small glass of schnapps called l’eau de vie (water of life).  Monique found a wonderful book of Alsatian recipes in English for me so I can make some of the many dishes we sampled back in Indiana.

Time with Robert – Monique’s brother Robert came to collect me early one morning accompanied by his English teacher Annie.  Our first trip was to Haut Koenigsbourg Castle.  The castle sits atop a mountain along the wine road and was rebuilt from ruins by Wilhelm II of Germany.  At the peak of the mountain, the castle offers a terrific view of the valley and vineyards below.  The rest of the day was spent hopping from town to town along the wine road.  We stopped at a quiet hotel for lunch and a glass of Riesling.  I helped Annie with her English and she worked on improving my French.  Annie told me that her husband is the editor of the local newspaper (called DNA) and that he would be writing a story about my visit to Schirrhein and my search for family members.  She promised to send me a copy of the article when it is published.

The next morning was spent with Robert searching the local town hall records for evidence that my family came from the area.  We searched birth, death, and marriage records back through 1800.  While we found many similar names (Mathias, Antoine, Johan) we failed to find a direct link to the Indiana Lux family.  The final place we wanted to search was the town hall in Baden-Baden Germany, but the were not open during my time in Alsace.  Robert and Monique told me that they would make a trip there in the future and see what they could learn.

Final Days in Schirrhein – Monique Lux had part of her week off from work (I later learned that she took part of her vacation to spend time with me) and we had a very nice couple of days together.  On Thursday, we took a bicycle ride to the nearby town of Soufflenheim which is well known for it’s pottery.  In the corner of a small shop I spotted a ceramic cake mold in the shape of a lamb.  My grandfather has had a tradition for years of making a lamb cake at Easter in Indiana.  I told Monique the significance of the mold and she told me that it is an old Alsatian tradition.  She insisted on buying a lamb mold for me to take back to Indiana for my family.  The next morning, Monique and I took a drive through the Black Forest in Germany.  While there, Silvère was in Strasbourg defending his masters thesis.  We got word that he had not only done well, but received the highest mark in his class.  We celebrated his success that evening with a glass of champagne.
 

Thank You – I need to take a moment and thank all of the wonderful people of Schirrhein.  I came to Alsace to hoping to have a quick coffee with someone named Lux and snap a few pictures of the region.  Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the tremendous outpouring of hospitality that would be offered to me.  We shared a name and despite never having met, I was welcomed as a member of the family.  I hope to one day repay Silvère and his family for the gifts they have given to me.