Been down in Winchester all week. The work has been going quite well and the project team spirit high, but that all ended today with the announcement that Siemens is selling us. Total bombshell! I'm pissed off. It's always been my plan to develop my career within the orgainisation but now it seems that will never happen. So what choice now? Why travel to Coventry every day when I could do similar work closer to home? I guess big change is coming then. Oh well.
Back from the last stint in Germany and haven't had much time to blog so here's a quick post before I dash off down to Winchester for yet another week away. I'm not looking forward to the coming week much, purely because I'm sick of the hotel lifestyle. I just get used to the pleasure of having my stuff around me at the weekend and then I'm off again to the bland suitcase life.
Last weekend I built up my new CD shelves, and this weekend I got them filled. Not completely organised to my liking yet, but getting there. Wire on the top obviously, followed by a general alphabetical order with grouping for bands and solo projects. I should post a picture here but the camera's been playing up for ages. The good news is we ordered a new one this weekend cos we're feeling a bit flush and we need one before the summer arrives. Ordered a Canon A620 from Jessops for 195GBP which is a 100 quid off their store price! Quite a bargain I reckon. Looking forward to having a play next weekend and maybe I'll post a piccy then. Must get the CD's orgainised too.
All in all a lovely weekend, which made up for last weekend's limp Mothers Day. The kids have been a delight. Occasionally annoying and stroppy as all kids are, but delightful all the same. Hints of sunshine have me looking forward to weekends spent a bit more 'out and about' soon. Hopefully catching the moments with our new camera.
Changed the links area again on the blog. Trying out the Google Reader sharing function. Now any stories I 'star' in my reader should appear here in a list box. If anyone notices a problem with it, give me a shout.
I'll try and keep online during the coming week but as for the 'interestingness' of any blog posts, I can't promise anything. Apparently there will be a big meeting on Thursday about the company's future so if you're interested in that sort of thing, I might post a report.
Horrible flight over this week. Oppressed by a sweating fat man sat next to me and surrounded by the Moldova womens soccer squad. It certainly wasn't the standard business flight I've been used to. A scarey patch of turbulence added the final flavour. Definitely the worst flight I've had. I'm so glad this is the last week of here in Germany. No more flying for me for a while.
Very, very interesting to see Mindfulness popping up on the 43 Folders site. I can see the link. At a certain level, it's about clearing mental space. Wether the reason is to get more stuff done or to combat stress, it all involves 'being in the moment' more. I'll be checking on the progress of this thread on the site.
Things are back on track. Knocked out the Test Spec last night in my room, it's a bit pants but it'll do. Tried to go online this morning with my PLC and it worked first time. So I guess last night I simply needed a reboot. The old 'switch it off and switch it on again' trick. Funny how I forget to do that nowadays since so much stuff works without reboots now.
It feels like spring has sprung over here in Karlsruhe today. I flew over with a case full of warm clothes and I don't think I'll be needing them. The sun has been out and so are the people in pavement cafes.
Starting software testing today and the first challenge is just to get online with the system! No fix at the moment and most colleagues have now gone home. So, I'll park that problem up till tomorrow and get on with some test spec writing which I'll have to carry on with this evening in the hotel.
After recent days spent building up Ikea shelving units, today provided hopefully the last of the flat-pack hell. It seems like we're starting to get straight with some books coming out of boxes and onto shelves for the first time since the move. Jacq's been trying to get me to dump some vinyl as part of the sort-out. It's a really tough call. Should an LP be dumped if you now own the CD? I don't know. These are tough philosophical questions. I'm not sure I'm qualified to provide answers.
Another busy 'working from home' Friday in which lots of things happened and I managed to fit some project work into the gaps in between.
Dropped the kids off at school and went to see my doctor for another blood pressure check. This check was at the end of a month on the tablets he prescribed me. The good news was that my BP was down to just about the right numbers for my age. I've now got the go ahead to start getting into some exercise and get my act together lifestyle-wise.
Put the car into the garage for an engine service. While waiting to drop it off I stood for a long while chatting with a mechanic and admiring the 1965 Mini he was working on. It was in superb condition and made me smile just to look at it. Just a year younger than me and still going strong.
Back home for a few hours at the project work then another session with Linda. We practised quite a lot of Chi Kung which felt really good this time and I was complimented on my stance. I'm seeing her again in two weeks so I need to work at integrating the practise into the coming weeks in Karlsruhe.
Took our old two-seater sofa round to Mikes with his help. It was easy enough to carry round to the house, but a bit of a bugger to get through to the back room. Now they've got two sofas in there it's a bit full but I reckon they'll be real comfy in there. I hope so anyway.
Parents came over in the evening. Dad glad to be back from Ireland.
Finally got around to putting some German language lessons on my iPod. I've been really slack about this, Adrian and Phil have been studying it for ages now. I had a go with lesson 1 on the drive to work. As I got to the office the only phrase I could recall was 'I understand no German'. I tried my phrase out on a German guy working in the office and at least he understood me!
Back from Germany late last night and up bright and early for quite a busy 'working from home' type day. We took Dylan to school and then hung around, Jacq did the refreshments prior to the year 2 assembly, and I nipped out and got my hair cut. After Dylans cute assembly we picked up some supplies and headed home for the last bit of the morning. At midday the coach arrived bringing Harriet home from Ingestre Hall. Sounds like she had a great time there with stories of 'eating tuck after light's out', absolutely classic.
Jacq helped out with year 1 kids in the afternoon while I had another session with Linda. The practise didn't go so smoothly over in Germany. The hotel environment proved to be a distraction and we discussed some strategies for dealing with that. Sitting practise was good and the body-scan practise tried for the first time. Must try to maintain a consistent approach in this coming week to really fix it into my routines.
The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some actual work. Design decisions made while in Germany are now being questioned. If only these issues had been addressed by the original design process then we would not have been forced into making decisions at this late stage. Sometimes, despite what the customer says, we have to trust that we know a thing or two about designing control systems. It's the only way to go forward at this point.
Went over to visit Mum tonight as Dad is over in Ireland catching up with people. Sounds like he's having a good time there and I'm glad he's finally making the space for himself to do this sort of thing. Long overdue.
Typing this from bed. Blogging in bed rocks! It's the future.
A bit of snow, a warm hat, lots of walking, public transport, iPod soundtrack, PCS7 programming, hotel breakfast, canteen salad, Subway sandwich and mumbling the occasional words in German.
Working in a Karlsuhe stylee.
I think there's worse places to be sent to work in than Karlsruhe. I'd rather be working at home of course but this place is better than being stuck in Winchester which is where I'll be in a few weeks no doubt.
Jacq and Dyl sound like they're having a fine time while Harriet is away at Ingestre Hall for the week. Looking forward to friday when we're all back together.
Worked at home yesterday and had my second session with Linda. We did sitting and standing meditations and I think I'm getting into it more. No revelations as such but a tangible sense of relaxation and peace. Will be interesting to see how I can integrate the practise into next weeks visit to Karlsruhe.
Swimming today and Dylan still wasn't happy swimming from the deep end even though we'd practised it loads last Sunday. Harriet swam superbly and passed her level 8 test!
Quick phone chat with Mike while making lunch. We agreed that Sally Phillips was a godess last night on 8 Out Of 10 Cats.
Went over to Marys in the afternoon. I haven't seen the Steves since christmas I think. General agreement on the greatness of My Name Is Earl. Theresa still not committing to the June holiday yet. Just what does she need? I'm gonna have to force the issue next time I see her.
Came home and watched Curse Of The Were-Rabbit which looked great on the telly after I played around with the connections. Ran the DVD through the RGB input and it made an amazing difference to the picture quality. Also, the annoying crackle in the left speaker seems to have gone, so that must have been a connection thing.
March already. The met office are calling it spring but it doesn't feel like it right now. It's been cold, but no snow to speak of. Enjoying the blinding glare of the sun through the windscreen on these clear mornings soundtracked by Boards Of Canada.
Feeling ok with work stuff which seems unusually under control. Can it last? I dunno. Trying to keep taking my tablets and practising the meditations. Drinking less coffee. Am I feeling any different yet? No. But, early days yet.
Tinkered a bit with the blog today. I've wanted to organise my links for a while but didn't want to have to get into any sort of coding. Finally I found the combination of services that appears to give me what I want. First off, I created a Bloglines account to scan through the rss feeds of the usual suspects of news sites and publish the good stuff on a blog. This blog also provides an rss feed which gets converted by Feed Digest into some javascript dropped into my Blogger template. Job done. Check my links.
Swimming in the morning. Shopping in the afternoon. Party for Harriet later and Mitchell came over to play. Noticed that our old house is up for sale. Checked it out online and there were a number of photos of it inside. It was weird to see pictures of somewhere you know so well, changed by others redecoration.
Much musing in the evening over holiday choices. Center Parcs is looking favourite. Probably in thhe UK even though it's way more expensive than over in Europe. The booking will be made soon.
Friday at home again. A covering of snow made the walk to school fun. Harriet carried her snowball all the way to the playground. I saw a number of kids carrying huge chunks of snow in their arms towards school. Too precious to throw around, this rare material called snow. I wish the kids could enjoy a proper downfall of the white stuff.
Back at home I settled down for my first solo meditation. Had about a 20 minute session in total and it seemed ok. Calming. Got me in a good place ready for the work session. Getting into my sequence logic. Nice when a plan comes together.
Got the car back. Still needs an engine service but I'll book that next week. Just glad to have my 'wheels' back. Watched Kingdom Of Heaven tonight and really enjoyed it. Unusual film for me to like but I guess I was just in the right placce for it.
Thursday I worked from home. Car in the garage for MOT work. Spent a lot of time on the phone to various colleagues. At last the pieces are coming together and some coding can take place.
Broke off at 1:30PM for my first meditation session with Linda. An interesting hour or so. Not sure what I got from it but I've decided to follow it through for a few more sessions to give it a fair chance.
Didn't get the car back as some work needs doing on the brakes so I guess no office action tomorrow either.
Mike came over in the evening and we went out for a beer or four. Attempts to go down the Hagley Road were aborted and we ended up in the local which turned out to be just right. T'was real good to see him and hear his enthusiasm for his current creative outputs. Go for it fella!
Saw my doctor today and thankfully my BP has gone down a bit. I need to do a month on the tablets to confirm that they really are working. My blood tests haven't shown up anything to worry about so that's another bit of good news.
