I just received confirmation from Craig Childers, my old friend and Lord of Language Courses at the Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC, for my 8-week intensive German-language course in Berlin-Mitte that’s starting on 8 March and going through the end of April, from 8:30 AM through 1 PM, Monday-Thursday and 8:30 AM-Noon, Friday.

And since the the Goethe-Institut is affiliated with the German Government and also Deutsche Bahn AG, I also get health care, discounted rail tickets, and all sorts of other social program sort of “we spoil students” stuff, which I will be sure to enjoy thoroughly.

I am so giddy that I have already purchased and permanent-marker-labeled a red quadrille-graphed Moleskine notebook and all the other sort of “school nerd” sort of stuff. My next step is finding the perfect pencil case and backpack.

• Three books set in Berlin

I am a huge fan of both Richard Laermer and his RLMpr.  He’s something that not enough people in PR are: bombastic.  He really should have been in Advertising because he “that guy” — he’s the Donny Deutsch of PR — and he’s a lot more shameless and aggressive and bold than most of the PR nerds I know.  Well, I don’t know how a man like Richard can be so generative but he recently has been able to distill what has made him what he is into a new product called How To Fame:  The Pragmatic Notoriety Project — check it out!

Tomorrow marks the first day of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver, BC.  Years of training, hard work, discipline and relentless dedication have given the great athletes of Team USA the right edge to grab that gold.  To make sure you keep track of who is skiing the fastest and skating the hardest, register with TeamUSA.org where fans get chance to take part in all of the action.  GO USA!

Register at TeamUSA.org and you will:

• Receive exclusive updates during the Winter Games
• Get the inside scoop, event by event
• Hear directly from our Olympic athletes as they chase their dream
• Be able to download photo and video highlights, right to your desktop

There is more than one way to get involved with this year’s Olympics.  Show your support by making a donation or becoming a member the Sixth Ring.  Check out TeamUSAnews.org and get ready to rally behind the great USA!

• From Frank Luntz/The Word Doctors

Start rockin’ your red white and blue because this Friday marks the beginning of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver, BC. The city will welcome all of the worthy competitors and their diehard fans who are lucky enough to see these world-class athletes live. For those of us who cannot make it to Vancouver and witness the excitement first-hand, TeamUSA.org is giving fans a chance to take part in all the action.

Register at TeamUSA.org and you will:

• Receive exclusive updates during the Winter Games
• Get the inside scoop, event by event
• Hear directly from our Olympic athletes as they chase their dream
• Be able to download photo and video highlights, right to your desktop

Team USA has been training hard. We must recognize their admirable accomplishments and cheer our hearts out to help the great USA take home some sweet gold. Register now to be ready for Olympic fever!

• German Language Podcasts | Chris Abraham
• I am connected to the world through Squeezebox Radio — Chris Abraham

• PR Communications: Agency Transparency On Client Social Media Channels

My friend Elisabeth King isn’t the only person in Berlin who heats her flat exclusively with burning coal. A real coal burning stove. A real coal stove!

Here’s the front of the coal-fired stove that Elisabeth uses to heat her Berlin apartment. The vent at the top,

I assume, feeds the flame and the metal boxes below are where one puts the coal. I need to do some more research on this.

While Berliners now commonly use gas and electric heating, quite a few of the flats in the East of Berlin — the former DDR — still thrive like the old days.

Coal is delivered into the basement or schlepped from a vendor and then, every few days, Elisabeth needs to bundle up and head down to the basement where she stacks up as many pressed bricks of coal as she can carry — more if I am helping out.

She then keeps both her living room’s ornate and beautiful heating stove and the cooking stove in her kitchen lit and stoked.

It is really quite amazing, rather charming, and I am told, very annoying when she needs to get up super-early in the AM in order to light her stove so that the apartment will be warm and happy by the time she gets up for the second time.

Here’s a little, adorable, coal-powered, cooking stove. I wonder what the rocks are for? Are they a way of testing the heat of the stove or some way of radiating the heat into the room? If anyone knows, please let me know.

She’s an amazing sport and the apartment is gorgeous and very affordable, so all is well.

And, she does have electrical outlets, so she does have a heating pad in her bed to help with the warmth and an electric kettle in her kitchen to make sure she has ready water for her tea.

These are pressed-coal bricks used to heat apartments and homes in Berlin and in greater germany — many still have wood and coal-fed heaters and ovens and many people prefer it that way.

I think it is very charming and doing it this ways makes one very aware of how much and how many resources we use instead of just running the gas or the electricity.