How to create a simple app with MapPoint web services

We will create a simple Windows form that displays a map image utilizing MapPoint web services. Of course, you can find most of this information on the web, but starting with MapPoint Web Services can be a bit overwhelming. So, we will start out with the basics by establishing a developer account first. Click on this link to get an account. You will need a Windows Live account to sign up.

Sign-in with your Windows Live account and fill out the required information.

Once you receive the email, click on the provided link and you should receive an “Account Creation Successful” message. It will require you to change your password. After changing your password, you will be redirected to the Bing Maps Customer Services site.

Click on Verify Credentials to test you user ID and password.

Then Click on Developer Resources to get the MapPoint Web Service WSDL url. Developer accounts can only using staging.

Here you can access the MapPoint Web Service SDK information and examples.

Now that we have established a developer account and received the WSDL, we can begin to implement the Windows form.

You can find most of the information for displaying a map in your Windows form here.

We will only have 2 controls on the form . First, Drag a picture box and button control on your form.

Now add a Web Reference by
Add Service Reference -> Advanced -> Add Web Reference ( Enter the WSDL url)

Now we will add a class to establish a connection to four services.

MapPoint Web Service consists of four constituent services: common, find, render, and route.

• Common Service – contains utility functions for find, route and render services.
• Find Service – locate addresses, geographic entities, and latitude and longitude coordinates.
• Render Service – used for drawing maps of routes and locations, placing pushpins, etc. Think of this service as the visual service including getting map images.
• Route Service- Generate directions, etc.

To receive more details on these services. Click here

If you want to add in your own information, there is the Customer Data Service.
Customer Data Service is a XML Web Service that allows you to upload, download, and manage custom data sources.

I have created a class, MapPointServices, to establish the connections to all the services.

System.Net.NetworkCredential ourCredentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(
“Bing Maps Developer Account ID”,
“Bing Maps Developer Account password”); 

// Create the render service
renderService = new RenderServiceSoap();
renderService.Credentials = ourCredentials;
renderService.PreAuthenticate = true;

// Create the find service
findService = new FindServiceSoap();
findService.Credentials = ourCredentials;
findService.PreAuthenticate = true;

// Create the route service

routeService = new RouteServiceSoap();
routeService.Credentials = ourCredentials;
routeService.PreAuthenticate = true;

// Create the common service
commonService = new CommonServiceSoap();
commonService.Credentials = ourCredentials;
commonService.PreAuthenticate = true;

In the same class, create properties to access all the service objects: commonService, routeService, findService, and renderService. Make sure you change the credentials with your credentials that you established above.

Now, go to your form and add a button click event. In the button click event add the following code.

MapPointServices services = new MapPointServices();
FindServiceSoap findService = services.FindService;
FindSpecification findSpec = new FindSpecification();
findSpec.DataSourceName = “MapPoint.NA”;
findSpec.InputPlace = “Seattle, WA”;FindResults foundResults = findService.Find(findSpec);

ViewByHeightWidth[] myViews = new ViewByHeightWidth[1];
myViews[0] = foundResults.Results[0].FoundLocation.BestMapView.ByHeightWidth;

RenderServiceSoap renderService = services.RenderService;
MapSpecification mapSpec = new MapSpecification();
mapSpec.DataSourceName = “MapPoint.NA”;
mapSpec.Views = myViews;

MapImage[] mapImages = renderService.GetMap(mapSpec);

if (mapImages != null)
{
// Display the map:
Bitmap bmapImg = new Bitmap(new MemoryStream(mapImages[0].MimeData.Bits));
this.pictureBox1.Image = bmapImg;
}

The services.FindService is a property to access the find service object from the MapPointServices class. The picturebox1 is the picture box control we added previously.

We are done! Now press F5 to run and you should see your map.

 

Max Heart Rate and Zones

I try to share exercise or nutrition information for the spinaholics in my class. Here is a great website about finding your max heart rate. http://www.fitzones.com/members/Fitness/heartrate_zones.asp Of course, this isn’t an exact science. From the calculation, your actual maximum heart rate could be off by 10-12 bpm plus or minus. The best bet is to listen to your body, such as light-headedness, or wear a heart-rate monitor, if your heart rate stays elevated this could be an indication that you are overtraining.

One of the many benefits of spinning is that you can choose what zone you would like to exercise in. Zone 1& 2 are perfect for beginners or newcomers. Even if you are fit, it is good to exercise in Zone 1 & 2 when starting out. Zone 3 is a great way to maintain. If you prefer to improve performance, then Zone 4 is for you.

It’s true, when you exercise in Zone 1 & Zone 2, you burn more fat while exercising. Of course there is a catch, you actually burn more fat overall in Zone 4. This process happens after the workout. Fat is not burned during exercise unless you are doing a relatively light workout. During Zone 4 and Zone 5, you are using carbohydrates for fuel, which causes more fat to be burned after exercise for lactate conversion and glycogen storage. Also, your metabolism will stay elevated for a longer period of time. So what is the best way to exercise in Zone 4? Intervals! Instead of running at a constant pace for 30mins, sprint for 30 secs and fast, medium, or slow  jog for 1min and add more time to your sprints every 3 weeks to reach your goal.

Also, remember to rest! You body does most of its work during the resting stage. The muscles break down during exercise and the rebuilding process begins in the resting stage. If you don’t rest, then your body is not able to rebuild.

Keep on Spinning!

Silverlight drag-n-drop behaviors and custom controls

Behaviors, Triggers, and Actions don’t seem to have the spotlight yet, which in my opinion I would rather work with these then wire up serveral mouse events in the XAML. Not only is it more intuitive, but cleaner and modular. I’m going to show you how easy it is to create a Behavior for custom controls in Silverlight. You don’t need to know how to make a custom control to create a Behavior, but if you had the experience of creating a custom control, you understand how and where to wire up the events.

I have multiple FrameworkElements in my custom control. So, I would need to wire up the events to the entire control. First create your custom control or you can use a simple FrameworkElement. Here is a great post on how to create a custom control. After you create the custom control. Create a new Silverlight Class Library for the behavior. Create a new class that extends Behavior<UIElement>.

public class DragInDropBehavior : Behavior<UIElement>

The next step in our DragInDropBehavior class is to attach and detach event handlers. Override these methods.

protected override void OnAttached()
{
base.OnAttached();
this.AssociatedObject.MouseLeftButtonDown += new MouseButtonEventHandler(AssociatedObject_MouseLeftButtonDown);
this.AssociatedObject.MouseLeftButtonUp += new MouseButtonEventHandler(AssociatedObject_MouseLeftButtonUp);
this.AssociatedObject.MouseMove += new MouseButtonEventHandler(AssociatedObject_MouseMove);
}
protected override void OnDetaching()
{
base.OnAttached();
this.AssociatedObject.MouseLeftButtonDown -= AssociatedObject_MouseLeftButtonDown;
this.AssociatedObject.MouseLeftButtonUp -= AssociatedObject_MouseLeftButtonUp;
this.AssociatedObject.MouseMove -= AssociatedObject_MouseMove;
}

Notice the syntax is different for attaching and detaching events. Both will work. The syntax for attaching the events in the OnAttached() method is generated by Visual Studio and the methods are automatically generated. The AssociatedObject is the custom control, but you will see how this works later. Next we will implement the methods.

First create 2 private variables.

private Point mouseClickPosition;
private bool _isDragging;

The mouseClickPosition is the current position where the left mouse button was clicked.

void AssociatedObject_MouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
if (_isDragging)
{
this.AssociatedObject.ReleaseMouseCapture();
this._isDragging = false;
}
}

void AssociatedObject_MouseLeftButtonDown( object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
this._isDragging = true;
this.mouseClickPosition = e.GetPosition(this.AssociatedObject);
this.AssociatedObject.CaptureMouse();
}



void AssociatedObject_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if (_isDragging)
{
Point point = e.GetPosition(null);
AssociatedObject.SetValue(Canvas.TopProperty, point.Y - this.mouseClickPosition.Y);
AssociatedObject.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, point.X - this.mouseClickPosition.X);
{
}


Notice we passed in null in the GetPosition method. This will find the mouse’s position relative to the canvas.

Now all we need to do is add our custom control and behavior to the XAML. Make sure you update your references to the new SilverLight Class library containing the Behavior. Also, install the Expression Blend SDK and add a reference to the System.Windows.Interactivity assembly.

In the XAML, add this code and namespaces.
xmlns:i=”clr-namespace:System.Windows.Interactivity;assembly=System.Windows.Interactivity”

xmlns:behavior=”clr-namespace:CustomBehaviors;assembly=CustomBehaviors”

xmlns:custom=”clr-namespace:CustomControl;assembly=CustomControl”

Now we can use our custom behavior and control.

<custom:MyControl x:Name="myControl">
<i:Interaction.Behaviors>
<behavior:DragInDropBehavior>
</behavior:DragInSnapBehavior>
</i:Interaction.Behaviors>
</custom:MyControl>


As you can see the AssociateObject is the custom:MyControl. If there is a tight coupling between the action and the behavior, use behaviors. Otherwise, use Triggers and Actions.

Triberg Weihnachtszauber

Happy New Year!  When living in Europe, where to spend New Year’s Eve is always a difficult decision, so many places to visit. Last year we spent New Year’s Eve in Dusseldorf, Germany, which was a scary and exciting adventure. We had a 360-degree view of fireworks plus we were dodging fireworks on the ground. It is evident that Germany does not have the safety regulation like we have in the United States.

This year we decided to take a chance and spend New Year’s Eve in a small, but touristy town, instead of a big city.  We spent only one night there, New Year’s Eve. As we drove into the town, we expected to find a huge crowd and traffic jams. Instead we found a parking spot right in front of the Triberger Weihnachtszauber entrance and maybe only a few 100 people.  We knew something wasn’t quite right, but we decided to proceed further. From the website, we thought we could hike the largest waterfall in Germany before the Triberger Weihnachtszauber opened at 2pm, but we had no luck. All the entrances to the waterfall were blocked.  So we waited for the Triberger Weihnachtszauber to open.  There wasn’t much going on during the day, so we paid our  8 Euro fee and decided to return when it was dark.

So we did what any tourist would do, go shopping! The shops in Triberg are unique. After all, Triberg is where the cuckoo clock originated from. My favorite store is Haus der 1000 Uhren. Of course, this store is a chain throughout this area, but this shop is unique. The entrance has a huge cuckoo clock with a family of bears, one is climbing up and down the building. The thing I find unique about this store is the vast array of clocks they have to offer from modern to the typical, old German style. You can spend at least an hour in this store.  Here are a few other places of interest:

• Hubert Herr cuckoo clock factory
• A wood carving shop a few stores from the Sparkasse bank. Look for “Holz”. The detail in the wood carvings is amazing, but be prepared to spend a substantial amount of money. One small Christmas tree ornament can run anywhere from 3 Euro to 100 euro.
• Heller Cafe Conditorei, a few stores down from Sparkasse bank. Their drink menu is impressive with Irish Coffee, a plethora of teas to choose from, hot chocolate( lecker!), cappuccino, etc. The raspberry tort and cappuccino cheesecake are scrumptious. Don’t forget the Black Forest cake.
• Landgasthof zur Lilie – great atmosphere, fast service, and wonderful desserts. They only serve German food. Sorry kids, no hot dogs or hamburgers. The food was good . The menu was small, but the desserts certainly made up for it. We had the apfel strudel, wasserfalle becher, and the crème brule,  which so far beat any German dessert I have had so far.
• Other places of interest in or near Triberg.

After a day of shopping, we returned to the Weinachtszauber, which consisted of the most impressive Christmas lights in Germany. There were 750,000 lights and fire show to add to the glow of this small town. There are 5 shows a night next to the waterfall. You can take some spectacular photos of the Fire Glory show, waterfall, and Christmas lights. Although this is wonderful sight to see, I would not recommend coming here on New Year’s Eve.  The last show ended at 9pm and then Triberg became a ghost town.

If I had to do this all over again. I would show up on the last day of the Weihnachtszauber when you can view the Grand Finale Fireworks show, the Alphornblaser, and the Fire Glory all in one day. New Year’s Day probably would work too since everything is open. It was busier New Year’s Day than  New Year’s Eve.  Who would have thunk it!

Also near Triberg in Schonachbach, is home to the largest cuckoo clock in the world at Eble Uhren-Park.  On New Year’s day, we spent hours in the store looking at the various cuckoo and grandfather clocks.  Here you will be able to customize and order  your grandfather clock.

What about the fireworks, you ask. Not to worry. Fireworks are not regulated like they are in the United States and everyone is buying fireworks and celebrating the New Year. Anywhere you go in Germany, you are bound to see fireworks. In fact, we had our very own personal  fireworks show right outside our window. The family that owned the guest house that we were staying at were setting off fireworks in the middle of the street. It wasn’t Dusseldorf, but it was still a blast!

Creating a simple online subversion repository

There are various options for creating an online subversion repository, but we want something affordable. There is a substantial amount of companies that offer this service, such as CVSDude or BeanStalk, at a reasonable price, but free sounds more reasonable to me. Of course, you get what you pay for, but sometimes we don’t need all the bells and whistles they have to offer. So, I will give you an overview of how to set up a simple repository on your home pc and to be able to access it anywhere on the internet. I researched two options: Apache Server and svnserve. I opt for svnserve since it is easier to set up. There are more features with Apache Server. If you have more time I would definitely recommend Apache Server over svnserve, but svnserve will suffice for now. I will give you an overview, but if you need more details refer to tortoisesvn.net. First download and install the subversion client. I’m using TortoiseSVN for Windows.

• Then download and install the svnserve service. http://www.open.collab.net/downloads/subversion/. When you are installing, make sure the install svnserve to run as Windows service is selected. I didn’t download CollabNet Desktops integrate subversion and TeamForge with the Eclipse and Visual Studio IDE’s, but you are more than welcome to download these. I should forewarn you that TeamForge is not free.
• Create the repository in c:\svn_repository. After the install, right-click the “svn_repository” folder to bring up the context menu and select TortoiseSVN –> create repository here.
• To add in specific user, edit the svnserve.conf file in the conf directory to use the default password-db file and authz-db file by uncommenting these two lines. I also uncommented the line indicating an anonymous user will not have read and write access, “none”. So, all users have to be authenticated before accessing the repository.
• Next add in your user names and passwords to the authz and passwd file. Make sure user names and group names are unique. For the authz, passwd, and svnserve.conf files, make sure there are no spaces in front of the line that you uncommented or added. Give the user read and/or write privileges in the authz file. I gave my user read and write privileges to the root directory. For example,
  [/]
  user1 = rw
• If you want a specific user to start-up the svnserve service, you can either modify these settings by the command line or search for CollabNet Subversion svnserve service under Computer management –> Services. Right click the computer in the start menu and select manage to access computer management. From here you can also start the service or use the DOS command svnserve.exe” –service -r “c:\svn_repository” –listen-port “3690″ .

That’s it for setting up the repository. Next we need to make the repository accessible from the internet. Depending on your router, it may or may not support port forwarding. If the router supports port forwarding, then configure your router to port forward from port 3690 to your machine IP address where the repository resides.

I have one more tidbit to share with you about dynamic IP addressing. If your ISP issued you a static IP address, then you are done and should be able to access the repository from anywhere, home, work, etc. If not, then you have to deal with the annoying dynamic IP address issue. I used DynDNS.com to solve this issue and what is the cost you ask. Of course, it is free. You can register up to 5 host names for free. After you register your IP address, then download the DynDNS Update client, the software version. If the installation process went as expected, now you can start using your repository.

First we need to test whether we can access the repository Right-click any folder on your desktop where you want to checkout your repository. Select TortoiseSVN –>Repo-browser. Type svn://<your-ip-address>:3690. <your-ip-address> is either the router IP address or the host name you established through DynDNS.com. Log in with the credentials that you specified in the authz and passwd file. If you encounter no errors, then you have succeeded in creating a simple online subversion repository. Choose a folder on your desktop and right-click the folder to checkout. You can now import and add files as you wish.

The next step is to download and install AnkhSVN for Visual Studio. 

More subversion goodies.

Arts and Crafts stores near Geilenkirchen

We are throwing a promotion party, but we haven’t found any place that rents party supplies located in Germany. So, we have decided to make our own decorations.

So far, I haven’t found Germany’s equivalent to our Hobby Lobby or Micheals in the US.  With that said you may need to make more than one trip to find all your arts & craft supplies. Here are few stores that are within 45 mins of Geilenkirchen.

Pipoos is a chain in the Netherlands.  There are numerous locations in the Netherlands, and a few in Belgium, but Heerlen is the closest store to Geilenkirchen. The store in Heerlen is really small, but  they do have a great selection on acrylic paints, decorative paper and envelopes including vellum, stencils,  gold leaf foil, large textured paper, and some styrofoam shapes. Click here for more information about the products they carry. Also a little side note, they do not carry mat board.

Pipoos Heerlen Bongerd Passage 10 6411 JM Heerlen Tel: 045-571 51 11 Directions

Mom Di Wed Do Fri Sat So closed 10.00 to 17.30 hours 10.00 to 17.30 hours 10.00 to 17.30 hours 10.00 to 17.30 hours 10.00 to 17.00 hours closed

In Geilenkirchen, look for Buchandlung to find art and craft supplies. Buchandlung is the German word for book store, but most of them carry art supplies.  There are two in Geilenkirchen:

Lyne Bon De Berg, across from Rewe – I really like this store. they have a large selection of different types of media: charcoal, ink, pen,  and paint.

Marlene Mühlbauer Buchandlung – has a very small selection of art supplies, but they did carry unique wrapping paper and many types of writing utensils.

Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 128
52511 Geilenkirchen

In Birgden, there is a great place for art and craft supplies. Pelzer has wide range of items: kids toys, large selection of paper, notebooks, graphing paper, contact paper, crepe paper (waterproof),  and large sheets of decorative paper. They even carry white-out. You can also find Halloween decorations, paper and a few costumes.  Don’t forget to look behind the counter to find other supplies such as, wooden handle stamps.  The other end of the store has a few houseware items like the command strips, paint, and wallpaper.

Mo – Fr:		08.00 – 12.30
		14.30 – 18.30
Sa:		08.00 – 13.00

Hornbach, our Home Depot, in the Netherlands carries large vases, stones, fake flowers and leaves, and picture frames. Another good place to look is IKEA in Herleen. This store is enormous. The location for all the decorations is downstairs. If you pick up  a large item from the warehouse, make sure you write down the number of your item. Use this number to check-out and for pickup.

Here are a few other stores that I haven’t been to yet, but maybe they will have what you need.

Hobby Center
Trierer Straße 720
52078 Aachen

‘t Hobbyschuurtje
Dorpstraat 103
6441 CD Brunssum

La Mano Creatief:‎

Hoofdstraat 11 6431 LA Hoensbroek, Netherlands

Here is a list of hobby shops in the Netherlands.

If you are looking for fabric or sewing items. The fabric market held every Thursday in Sittard until noon is your best bet. They carry a vast array of fabrics and sewing supplies for a cheap price, around 1-2 Euro a meter for fabric. You will also find the following: food, fresh-baked bread, cheese (try Hollandse Gaten kaas), fruits and vegetables, dog treats, purses, fake mink, fur, sequence, art supplies( limited), formal dresses, CDs, baskets, bike supplies, and more.

Of course, you can also try the JFC Brunssum Arts and Crafts Center.

APO Shipping Deadlines by Christmas

He listed below the major dates recommended for mail to be delivered by Dec. 25.

• Nov. 13 —Parcel Post to military APO/FPO addresses.
• Dec. 4 —First-Class cards and letters or Priority Mail to military APO AE ZIP 093 addresses.
• Dec. 11 —First-Class cards and letters or Priority Mail to all other military APO/FPO addresses.
• Dec. 18—Express Mail Military Service to all military APO/FPO addresses except APO ZIP 093.
• Dec. 4 —Priority Mail and First-Class Mail to Africa and Central or South America International Mail locations.
•  Dec. 11 —Priority Mail and First-Class Mail to all other International Mail locations.
• Dec. 12—Express Mail International to Africa and Central and South America.
• Dec. 17 —Express Mail International to all other countries (except Canada, Dec. 18).
• Dec. 19—Global Express Guaranteed to all countries (except Canada, Dec. 20).

Update for 2010:

	EMMS	First-Class Letters/Cards	Priority	PAL	SAM	Parcel Post
APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092	18-Dec	10-Dec	10-Dec	3-Dec	26-Nov	12-Nov
APO/FPO AE ZIP 093	NA	4-Dec	4-Dec	1-Dec	20-Nov	12-Nov
APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098	18-Dec	10-Dec	10-Dec	3-Dec	26-Nov	12-Nov
APO/FPO AA ZIP 340	18-Dec	10-Dec	10-Dec	3-Dec	26-Nov	12-Nov
APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966	18-Dec	10-Dec	10-Dec	3-Dec	26-Nov	12-Nov

European Christmas Markets

It is getting that time of the year for the festive season. Christmas Markets are unique and fascinating to see during the holiday season. Here you will be able to find hand crafted toys, fresh-baked bread, wood carvings, marionettes, candles and lambskin shoes. The sky is lite up at night with Christmas lights displaying “Weihnachtsmarkt”, meaning Christmas market. Most of the Christmas markets start around the end of November. Here are a few popular Christmas markets within an hour drive from Geilenkirchen.

Brussels, Belgium in the Grand Palace. - including an ice skating rink. Opening periods:

• from Friday 27 November 2009 to Sunday 3 January 2010
  • monday-thursday : 12:00-21:00
  • friday-sunday : 11:00-22:00

The Christmas Market in Brussels is very disappointing with only a few tents, but the light show is definitely worth seeing in the Grand Place.

Aachener Christmas Market – from Friday 20 November 2009 to Wednesday 23 December 2009
11am-9pm daily
Sunday 22.11.: 6pm-9pm

Cologne Christmas Market – Offers a total of 7 Christmas Markets. Most Christmas Markets in Cologne will start on the November 23. The Floating Christmas Market and the Christmas Market am Stadtgarten starts on the November 26, whilst the Cologne Medieval Christmas Market will open a day later on the November 27.

Dusseldorf Christmas Market- from Thursday 19 November 2009 to Wednesday 23 December 2009

Sun-Thu 11am-8pm
Fri-Sat 11am-9pm
Closed on Sun 22 Nov

Monchau Christmas Market – from Friday 27 November 2009 to Sunday 20 December 2009
Fri-Sun 11am-8pm

More German Christmas Markets.

From my experience, I found that German Markets have a wider range of unique and handmade items. Although, the Valkenburg Christmas Market in Holland is unique in itself. The Christmas Market is held under the town in old caves that have existed since the Romans quarried the local yellow stone.

Maastricht, Netherlands – The Winterland Maastricht will start on the 1st of December 2007 and takes 5 weeks until the 6th of January 2008. The Vrijthof in Maastricht will change in a winter square with a Christmas Market, an ice-rink, a big wheel, christmas-train and a grand carousel. Of course there is glühwein (warm red wine) and a lot of other drinks and food.The market is open daily (including Sundays) from 11.00h until 22.00h located in Vrijthof.

I found that the Winterland Maastricht Christmas Market is a wonderful place for kids because of the various roller coasters.

Grand Place Light Show

I wasn’t impressed with the merchandise. In my opinion, the Aachener and Dusseldorf Christmas markets are the best places to go for unique and hand-crafted items. Although they did have most of their merchandise indoors, which is great when you want to get away from the cold. The Winterland Maastricht also had a better selection of food except for chocolates. They even had escargot.

25th Lambertus Jubilee Market 2009 in Selfkant

The 25th Lambertus Jubilee Market 2009

will be held on 7th and 8th November 2009 in Selfkant-Höngen.

One thing I love about Germany is that there is never a shortage of things to do. Festivals, Christmas Markets,etc are a great way to get out and experience the German culture. Ok, maybe drink some glühwein too.  Here is the schedule for this weekend.

Saturday, 07.11.2009

15.00 Clock	Meeting of the honored guests in the marquee pastors-Meising Street, Opening of the 25th Lambert’s market and a section of the longest Selfkänter apple strudel by the patrons, Klaus-Dieter Kroll, Board Member and Bank Director of Raiffeisenbank eG Heinsberg
from 15.00 clock	colorful market life, street Saate harmony, organ play, stage show
15.15 Clock	Tour guests of honor on the market
15.45 Clock	Marching Havert stage Kirchstraße
From 16.30 clock	Marquee: official welcoming ceremony with the distinguished guests, welcome speeches and cultural framework, 16.30 clock appearances dialect choir and band from 17.15 clock ado
16.30 Clock	Arrival of Saint Martin
16.45 Clock	St. Martin playing on the stage Kirchstraße
17.30 Clock	DHF Band Stage Kirchstraße
18.00 Clock	St. Martin Fire
18.00-19.00 Clock	Youth Band Cunt Daggers from Bocket on stage Kirchstraße (sponsored by Meat Vossen Selfkant-Höngen)

Sunday, 08.11.2009

Market
10.00 Clock	Beginning of the colorful bustle of the market, children’s flea market
from 11.00 clock	Street theater, Saate harmony, organ playing, musical entertainment on the stage,
	Stilt walkers, magicians, Walkacts, children’s carousel, face painting, weather permitting Oldtimershow
Marquee
from 11.00 clock	“Yummy Selfkant” with the longest Selfkänter apple strudel, and local and international delicacies
11.30 – 15.00 clock	Cafe piano music
15.00 – 16.00 clock	Vocal Duo
16.00 – 17.00 clock	Screening of different dance styles
Stage Kirchstraße
11.30 Clock	Drum corps Höngen
12.30 – 15.00 clock	Life Teen
15.30 Clock	Mem schoes
16.15 Clock	Fife Band

If you would like to check out more events in Selfkant-Höngen, Germany, check out the Selfkant blog (in German).

If you would like to know when the big festivals are going on, like the karneval in Dusseldorf on November 11th, check out this listing.

Hopefully, I will see you there!

If you have any favorite karnevals, please share with us.

APO Shipping and Online Purchases

When living overseas, there is alway this question “If I order online, will my items arrive on time”. Here are some of my experiences with APO shipping while living in Geilenkirchen, Germany and the companies that I have ordered from.

Amazon.com – If shipped directly from Amazon, then you should receive your items within a week. Sometimes I had packages delivered in 5 days.  There are a few companies that you have to watch out for when ordering from Amazon, but for the most part they are extremely fast when it comes to delivering. Here a list of my experiences with the following companies:

Adorama Camera – Reasonable. Within 2 weeks.
JR Mushrooms & Specialties – Reasonable. – Within 2 weeks.
M Z Photo – Reasonable. – Within 2 weeks.
Brands on Sale - Extremely Fast. Within 1 week, but  high shipping rates.
Things You Never Knew Existed – Fast. Less than a week.
BlueProton – Amazingly Fast. Received items within 4 days.

Halloween & Costume Shopping
Tribeca Blue – Fast. Within a 1.5 weeks.
BuyCostumes- Amazingly Fast. Within a week. Even received a package in 5 days when order directly from their site.
Jekyll and Hyde – Fast. Within a week.
Grim Reapers – It took it two months to receive the package. The package was sent to Hawaii and back to Grim Reapers. I’m not sure why. They company was great at contacting me about the problem, but it still took them a month to ship it priority, which should only take 5-7 days.
So, these are some of the companies that I have dealt with on Amazon. Here are some other companies that I have ordered from directly.

Oriental Trading – It has been 6 weeks and I’m still waiting from my packages. I will probably never order from this company again. Although, I did use a 20% off coupon on the site and this could have slowed down the process, but it took them 2 weeks to ship out the door.  Update:  It has been 2 months and I haven’t receive my packages.  So I contacted the company by email and they refunded my money within 2 days. They have great customer service!

Buy costumes - if you need costumes or decorations in a pinch, this is the place to go. I have ordered at least 3 times from this company and every time I received the items within a week.

If you are really in a pinch, I would suggest ordering from Amazon.de. You will receive your items within 2 days. It is relatively easy to navigate around if you are familiar with Amazon.com. Also,your information from Amazon.com  is readily available.

Halloween
Here are some more great Halloween, costume, and decoration shopping sites and have received all their orders within a week: InCostumes.com, Horrorlink.de(received in 3 days), RevengeShop.de( Party Supplies), and HauntedProps.

FrightCatalog – website does not accept APO addresses.

Standard Transit (Days)	Priority Mail	SAM Parcels	Surface Parcels	Parcels
Iraq	10-13	10-12	20-24	N/A
Kuwait	11-13	11-13	20-24	N/A
Afghanistan	10-12	11-13	20-24	N/A
Germany	7- 9	5-7	18-22	30-45
Japan	8-10	9-11	18-21	30-45
Korea	8-10	18-21	18-21	30-45

Also, make sure when you order online, choose priority for the shipping options. Priority mail is the fastest delivery method. When it is shipped priority, it comes over on a plane and takes less time. If it is standard shipping, it comes over by ship and who knows how long it will take. Here is a table for delivery times overseas. ( More information about shipping overseas)

I use ShipItAPO for purchases that cannot be shipped to APO addresses. For example, Amazon does not ship electronics to APO addresses. ShipItAPO delivers the same day and I never had any problems with their services.