I like playing with technology, many genres of music, haute cuisine and was fortunate enough to experience a few interesting places.

Computer science has been a passion of mine ever since I got my first computer at age 4. I always got the best possible CS grade in school and participated in a workgroup at my school that won a nation-wide CS award (“Wasserschulgarten Jülich”, Schüler als ComputerLotsen – Ein gemeinsamer Wettbewerb des Bundesverbandes der Deutschen Industrie e.V. (BDI) und der Stiftung Industrieforschung in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln). My relationship to my field and profession goes way beyond just being a job.

Fun fact: Somehow I managed to get into the credits of the video game Dex (video) – big thank you to my colleague Jan Jirkovsky from Prague who unfortunately has passed away since then. May he rest in peace.

Music Collection

I curate N.U.M.B.A. Station (numbastation.com) [alluding to numbers stations], Under-Counter Freezer, Monte Carlo Club and Miami Night Crew.

N.U.M.B.A. Station is an exclusive blend of eclectic music for your secret agent lifestyle. It is my main music collection and has been significantly influenced by SomaFM’s superb Secret Agent station as well as the excellent KEXP 90.3 FM.

Under-Counter Freezer is one of my niche channels and provides your under-the-counter dose of well-tempered, lightly iced grooves to chillax. It was inspired by SomaFM’s amazing Groove Salad, but has a wider scope including not only ambient, but diving into genres like trip hop, postrock and electronica.

Monte Carlo Club is another one of my niche channels and collects the hottest beats from the most prestigious night clubs in the world. If you frequent Jimmy’z or the Billionaire clubs or were a regular at Club Рай in its heyday you will recognize what the inspiration was.

Miami Night Crew is probably my most niche channel. It is the perfect mixtape for driving your Lamborghini through neon-filled Miami nights. Beware that Miami nights are not only beautiful, but can also be dangerous and violent. If you like a genre mix of synthwave, 80s music and the occasional excursus into almost video-game-like tunes, owned a Power Glove for your NES or are fond of plastic flamingos, lip-shaped telephones and thunder-shaped electric guitars, you might enjoy Miami Night Crew as well.

In addition, I curate a few special interest playlists that will not be everybody’s taste – Shebeen Jukebox collects country, rock and metal music, Konkani Underground Radio plays goa, neurofunk and other electronica, Monday Morning Radio is a selection of pop music and Glatsehim is a collection of Skandinavian and viking-inspired music as well as nature tracks.

Haute Cuisine

Another one of my hobbies is cooking. Here are a few of the dishes I’ve prepared:

I also appreciate a good drink from time to time. A few of my favorites have been:

• Rémy Martin Louis XIII I had at The View in New York
• Hennessy Richard I had at the Top of the Hub in Boston
• Macallan M I had at the Lenox in Boston
• Havana Club Máximo I had at the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo in Monaco
• Roederer Cristal (which I prefer over both Armand de Brignac and even Dom Perignon)

Travel

Finally, I like traveling, even though I usually travel in a business context. Unfortunately for this section, I do not take many pictures on trips. I frequently visit New York City and the Bay Area [where I have attended multiple events at Berkeley and Stanford as well as visited the usual places like Menlo Park incl. Facebook HQ, Mountainview incl. Googleplex, Cupertino incl. Apple HQ, Palo Alto, San Mateo etc.], but my recent trip from Frankfurt over Stuttgart to Zurich, Cannes, Nice and Monaco clearly stood out.

While I love American atrium hotels such as the New York Marriott Marquis at Times Square or the Hyatt Regency San Francisco at Embarcadero Center, my favorite hotel is the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo in Monaco. The most luxurious hotel suite I ever had the pleasure to enjoy was the Presidential Suite at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich. The hotel features a rather unique indoor atrium as well with lots of plants and an artificial indoor creek that is worth seeing. Another hotel that I enjoyed very much is the Hôtel la Pérouse in Nice – looking over the promenade from their whirl pool at the top floor as well as being upgraded to a room with a giant balcony where I could enjoy my breakfast while looking over Nice was amazing.

As next trips I hope I can find an excuse to visit Geneva as well as travel from Milan over Florence and Rome down to the Amalfi coast. I have already visited the first three Italian cities via online tours which I appreciate as a cheap and environment-friendly alternative to see places. I have virtually visited many additional locations this way including London, Munich, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Venice, Singapore and Prague.

Monaco Christmas Market and Yacht Harbor

Hyatt Regency Greenwich Presidential Suite

Sweden

A friend of mine assigned a dedicated house to me so I could study machine learning undisturbed in the evenings. Thanks, Ingmar.

Pollok House & Country Park