Another Working Week In Winchester

The meeting with Juergen went well, but remains a pointless exercise. If he was still going to be my boss in a few weeks, then it would have done me some good. Oh well, whatever. Very little work news this week which is very fustrating as June gets ever nearer.

Phil and others on an evening shift in the workshop this week. This meant more company while working late plus an alternative meal opportunity. A pleasant change to eating in Winchester pubs and drinking beer.

Managed to fit in a few runs this week. This mornings was glorious. Instead of the park, I jogged into town and around the cathederal. It was a lovely sunny morning. When I got back to the hotel I felt great. I could get into this.

Managed to keep up with E3 news this week despite being with clients all day. Sony stealing Nintendos motion detection in controller idea really stank. I wouldn't mind a PS3 though.

Down & Back Up

Down to Winchester this morning and back up tonight as tomorrow is my meeting with Juergen. Mightily puzzled about this meeting. I'm hoping he will have something interesting to say but in reality I'm expecting a bland statement of the obvious. There are a number of people waiting to hear what he has to say to me so there will be plenty of chat when I get back down to Winchester after the meeting. This is bad timing as I'll have customers in tomorrow. Hopefully Lars can stall them for a while.

Phil is on the evening shift, just spoke on Google Chat. I like the sound of pizzas in the workshop. I'd rather eat my evening meal there. Earning money while eating pizza and no temptation of booze. That works for me.

Shorts

Lovely sun this morning. Shorts on, first time this year. I love wearing shorts. Longish, baggy and loads of pockets are my favourites. So, we did swimming lessons and then came back home for relaxation and house/garden tasks. In the afternoon it got cloudy and rainy. We went out to our local balti house, Raja, for our evening meal. Unfortunately I had to swap my shorts for trousers. Too cold for shorts.

What an interesting post about weather and trousers!

The View From The Workshop

The view from the workshop is an uninspiring tangle of computer gear, cabling, monitors and panels. The days pass by on my hard plastic chair. Trying to get the occasional bit of project work done while constantly listening out for the latest bit of gossip. Any scrap of news that might hint at our future fate. Suprisingly, I'm still in quite a bouyant mood and am managing to take pleasure in the here and now. Wether this is an outcome from Mindfulness, I don't know.

Lost series 2 started last night. First episode was top notch. The second was a bit of a letdown and didn't progress the story much. Stayed up till midnight to watch them which was a bit late really. I was tired when I woke this morning but at least I wasn't having to cope with any hangover issues. I think I need to give the beer more of a miss. Went out for a jog in the park. I didn't run for miles but whatever, something is better than nothing. I just need to keep doing it on a more regular basis.

Dan chucked in his notice yesterday. Respect to him for that. First one out of the door at Coventry. Who will be next?

Spring Cleaning

Despite muddled thoughts it has been a practical and productive couple of days off. Saturday afternoon in the garden was glorious. First grass cut. Overgrown access route hacked backed back. The kids playing in the garden in the best weather of the weekend.

Watched 'The Island', started on Friday night and finished on Saturday night. Can't explain why it was so rubbish. It looked great but it simply didn't hold my interest.

Sunday morning at the mall getting the groceries then some jobs around the house. A bit of drilling always fosters a sense of achievement. Went round the woods to play tennis and catch with the kids. Occasional interruptions from inquisitive dogs reminded us of our pup who we'll have with us soon. Well, in about 6 weeks, after our holiday. Can't wait. We'll be round the woods a lot more often then.

Sunday night telly good at the moment with Derren and Jack. Lost series 2 starts tomorrow I think and I'm away back down in Winchester, boo.

Valleyschwag

I ordered Valleyschwag. I was very excited. Then I got a mail saying that they couldn't send me my schwag for the price on the website. I was very dissapointed, but not totally suprised. They said they hadn't expected so much international interest. So, they said, we have updated the website, go back and re-order. So I did. I ordered Valleyschwag. I am very excited.

Out Of The Blue

I need to blog some stuff purely to get the thoughts out of my head. My head has been quite a calm place of late despite the ammount of uncertainty around. For me, this has been a real achievement. But I think things have reverted slightly. I'm back in my old ways. Sitting practise isn't helping. I hope this blog post does.

I can pinpoint things to a phonecall from Seb my ex-boss I got on Friday night. Completely out of the blue. It has brought into focus choices I've been considering recently. The time to decide is coming sooner than I thought.

Hard Plastic Chair

Another week in Winchester. 12-hour days on a hard plastic chair. The job trundles along. At least Phil is down here too. A chance to catch up on all things geeky, creative, gtd, contracting plans, work gossip, etc. Dave H down here also and good to have a beer with him at last. Information about the company future has slowed to a trickle which is a bit fustrating.

Not Completely In The Dark

Went to Hatton Farm Village on Saturday which was ok if a bit pricey for what it is. Why do these places always charge so much for adults when there is only stuff for kids? It's pure extortion and I do resent it. Anyway, the sun shone a bit and the kids had fun and that's the main thing. Bumped into Paul from the Wire list and we rode on a VERY bumpy tractor. Nice to see him. The jammy bugger has tickets to one of the upcoming Radiohead gigs. Grr.

I took some more snaps with the new camera and I'm still pleased with it. In general, it's helping me take a much better picture. The indication of the focus point is a godsend.

Installed new hard disk into our pooter and setup Windows XP afresh. Once I was happy with that, I connected up the previous disk and proceeded to recover the data and made numerous backups. Soon I'll reformat the old disk and I'll have acres of room for data and backups, hurrah.

All in all a very enjoyable extended weekend and now I'm looking down the barrel of another week away down in fun old Winchester. Not really looking forward that much, I'll miss everyone but I'll be earning some extra cash. As I remarked to t'wife earlier today, being in Winchester is probably the best place to be with all the current company shenanigans. If I was still in Coventry I'm sure I'd be feeling completely in the dark/

A Couple Of Days Off

Only did a couple of days down in Winchester following the Easter weekend and I'm back up home for two more days off with the kids. No fresh news work-wise. Seems like they're still trying trying to sell us even though the rumour is that no-one will touch us.

Weather weren't so good today. We went over to Coventry to the Transport Museum, which was pretty good. Popped into Micom to pick up a new hard drive for our PC.

Jacq got more Enid Collins bags in the post today. Her collection has now grown to four. At some point I need to put up some shelves to display them.

A Fine Weekend

The weather was unusually kind for an Easter weekend. The Sunday was spent over at Theresa's mostly in the garden all day. I took a load of shots with the new camera and am pretty pleased with the results. Steve, who has just bought a Nikon D50, the git, was quite impressed with it too. Got some nice effects shooting into the sun with the flash forced on. Also macro shots with flash had a cool unreal feel. Look out for some examples on flickr.

A Brighter Outlook

Much talk during the week of future work plans. I've started coming around to the idea of going down the contracting route. The positions currently advertised are double my current hourly rate. It's got to be worth a try, and if it's not for me then I'll just get another staff job. Quite fancy the idea of working for myself.

Very last thing on Thursday before driving back up, Trapper had a chat that indicated things may not be done and dusted with regard the sale of the business. Juergen is down for a meeting on Tuesday and it needs to be made clear to him what the opinion of the staff is regarding recent management performance. I'm looking forward to that meeting, it should be very interesting if he gets a rough ride.

The thought of positive future work plans and a possible 11th hour change of plans has meant that I've got a stress-free outlook on work stuff going into this Easter holiday weekend. Not stressing at all like I was last weekend. That's got to be good news health and family-wise. In fact I don't really mind what the outcome is now. Maybe a slight preference for staying within Siemens for all the technical interest, training, travel, etc. But if that don't happen, then I'll take the contractor wages thank you very much.

Back To Business

Back down in Winchester again this week. No new info about the sell-off so it was pretty much 'back to business'. It works for a while. Time passes and the job moves forward. Then I remember the current situation and the full sense of the BETRAYAL hits home. It takes a while then to gather my thoughts and get back to the task in hand.

Seems from a quick jobsearch on t'web that Pete's crew, ADI are recruiting. Very tempted to call and get the head's up. Took a call from an agency fishing for info about the sale. I told them I might be in touch in a few weeks.

Back up home this afternoon for dentist visit and a night in my own bed. Bliss compared to last nights hotel room. The hotel heating and ventilation plant was directly below me and had the room vibrating all night.

Goat Kids Bouncing

In-between classic April showers, we managed to get out this afternoon and visted Rays Farm. It was very nice to be out and about together in 'holiday mode'. The sight of some little goat kids bouncing around had us all in hysterics. Completely diverted my mind from dull work matters. In fact I can't even think straight about work stuff anymore. Spent too much energy going over things in my mind and have simply exhausted the subject. Until more is known, there's simply nothing to be said, decided or acted upon.

Aftershocks From The Bombshell

Many beers last night at the irish bar. Helped a bit. Didn't bother going into the Winchester office this morning. Straight into the car and up the motorway after some breakfast with my German colleagues. Back home and feeling more down than yesterday. Can't get straight in my head quite what I should be doing now. Nothing I guess, just wait and see what the next few weeks hold. Struggling to control the urges to make the jump to another company. I just want out right now. Is there any chance that there will be any opportunities arising to stay in Siemens? Conversations with colleagues aren't helping me to make sense of any of this now. How I'm going to have any shred of work ethic left for next week I really don't know.

In other, non-work related news, the hard drive I ordered from Micom for Dad's PC came in the week so I fitted that this afternoon and setup it up for him to take away tonight. Had a little go with our new camera that also came this week. Looks sweet. Need to take some photos now. Picked up the kids from school. They broke up today for the two week Easter holidays. Lucky things.

Big Change Is Coming

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.

Post Pre Another Week Away

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

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.

Minds Think Alike

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.

Switch It Off And Switch It On Again

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.