Posts Tagged colin

Sunday Column (79)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column, personal on 29/08/2010

This week, once again, passed very quickly. It was a very rainy week, miserable but successful. My boss from Germany was up in London and we had some important meetings and made good headway with some of our endeavours. So work wise, I am very happy at the moment.

Now, there is private life, which this week once again was too short. I didn’t even get a chance to practise Tai Chi or study Mandarin/Chinese. I just didn’t have time for anything. All I managed is another book about a something I cannot reveal yet. Very interesting though :-)

However, I really enjoyed the early mornings with Colin, building towers with some blocks that he smashes to pieces again. On Saturday we went to Godstone Farm, a place with animals and a big play area. I loved it ;-) And Colin did too. We spend at least an hour chasing each other, and daddy was very exhausted afterwards. But I wasn’t the only one.

Also my mother in law arrived on Thursday, helping out a bit as Jen needs to do less due to her pregnancy. It is great to have her, but of course it puts strain on her as well as us to live in one household. So far (I know it has only been a few days) things are working out. We make it work, for the children….
Of course I love to get pampered too, e.g. not having to do the ironing and dishes makes me very happy her being here :-)

I also managed to get some shopping done this weekend, some treats of nicer wine, nice cheese and olives, a new jeans and granny bought a few bits and pieces for the wee man. Overall, a very successful weekend. The weather is a bit wet/damp but we were lucky going to Godstone on Saturday as it was lovely weather, sunny and all.

Luckily there is a bank holiday tomorrow which means we have a long weekend. Also some friends from Winchester are coming up to see us, so we are looking forward to that. They expecting a child at the same time we expecting our 2nd. How fabulous that is going to be?

I will try to write more non personal stuff, more about personal development and some coaching and other ideas shortly. Believe me, there is plenty I can write about, just don’t find the time and energy at the moment.

Keep well,
Volker

, ,

No Comments

Sunday Column (78)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column, personal on 22/08/2010

Hello,

I shouldn’t complain about work, I love it actually but it is getting quite a lot lately. So I am sitting here at the weekend, thinking that I should write another two proposals that need to be finalised on Monday. We shall see how the rest of the weekend goes.

Overall I am very pleased how things are progressing, both work wise and privately.

So no need to complain about anything really. Jen had another scan this week and things are ok. Her mum is coming down to stay with us and looking after her, the household and Colin. It will be tough but good, so I can continue to work as normal and Jen will have someone who gives her a hand.

Not much else happened this week. I spent the weekend de-cluttering the house and putting things in the loft that we currently don’t use. Also, I put our Kuckucks clock up again which we had laying about for over a year since we last decorated.

In all honesty this might be it that I can talk about this weekend. I spend most of the week working and then helping out my wife at night. Often I am sitting until late trying to get through my CD collection, ripping it into MP3s. Quite a boring life at the moment, but a good life.

I fertilised the lawn this weekend, hoping that it recovers from the hot summer. The weather is more like autumn than summer, and I expect it getting colder soon. I couldn’t even say whether summer was here, but I guess it was. Short and very hot, but maybe the winter is a bit milder than the last 2 years, we shall see.

Colin and I went swimming again, and I (and hopefully he too) enjoy this great time together.

Have a fantastic week,
Volker

, ,

No Comments

Loving your family

Posted by Volker in personal on 19/08/2010

Now, I thought this is worth sharing.

Today, in the middle of a very busy day, I got “tagged” in a picture on Facebook. Hence I looked and found the one below.

I personally find this a treat. Like getting a surprise present. Like someone sending you a handwritten love letter.

, ,

2 Comments

Sunday Column (76)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column, personal on 08/08/2010

This weeks flew past with many many meetings. All good though and we are making progress. I now have to be careful what I write here, as my boss has discovered the blog and seems to have added it to his RSS feed :-) Just teasing ;-) I like my boss!

Luckily this week was less eventful than last week. However, we made preparations of handling Colin easier, without my wife lifting him. Quite a few adjustments, including a very cute duvet and duvet cover of the hungry caterpillar. Colin has had his ups and downs this week, and I managed to spend about an hour in the morning with him. His teeth still seem to bother him, but overall he is jolly good.

Another few things I wanted to mention. I tried out another Tai Chi class which I believe goes beyond what I am willing and ready to invest in regards to time and practise. But never say never. I will have to give up my Tai Chi class in Beckenham due to time restraints from my work. It is just not feasible to make it home by 7:30 pm, particularly on a Thursday. Currently, I think I go back to the practical class, e.g. pushing hands, on Tuesdays across the road from my work.

Then I was impressed with some customer service this week. One was with Blackberry Help via Twitter. After I installed the latest software update which had some problems, they talked me through todos on twitter to restore the old settings. Very helpful. The other one was BT Business. Our broadband seemed to drop every now and then in the office, so they first investigated via Twitter, called and seemed to have sorted the problem.

I remember a few years ago when I was at university, e.g. almost 10 years ago, and the first blogs came up. I mentioned to a few people that “companies should have a customer service real time response on their website” – here we go. Twitter makes it possible and if I had thought through my idea, I could sit on a full bank account now. What will the future hold….????

To be honest these are the key developments at the moment. I am recovering from a (mild) man-flu, and have a very busy week ahead. The weekend therefore was quite relaxing. We want to do some improvements on the house, and my wife finally agreed to a TV in the bedroom. More out of necessity as she needs to rest more. Ach well, should be a problem for me having a telly in the bedroom ;-)

Have a good week.
Volker

, , , , ,

No Comments

Sunday Column (72)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column, personal on 11/07/2010

Nothing like….a week where you get lots of things done. This week clearly was one of them.

After we finally moved into our new office, we managed to sort out all or most of the admin staff that needed sorted. Insurance, server, registrations…. Now being settled, we can work “just as normal” and continue to grow the business. And, we have done the latter this week also.

It was also very hot last week. Up to 40 degrees if you ask me, if not hotter. Sitting in a 4th floor office doesn’t make it more bearable, however we luckily have an air conditioning.

Of course it wasn’t all work. My mother in law was down and gave my wife a hand with things. That was very helpful, and they enjoyed a great time together. So did I. But foremost, Colin enjoys seeing his grand parents too. He is shy at the beginning but then quickly warms up to them, enjoying them spoiling him :-)

Colin: he is so cute. Whilst I keep saying that every parent would say that, I think it is true. Of course I would ;-) He has very cute brown eyes from his mother, and very cheeky looks from his dad. He successfully gets attention from young and old when we are taking him to any place, e.g. shopping or restaurants.

At the weekend, we were up North with a good friend of mine. It had to be then that Colin took his first proper steps. I’d say about 15 steps. It won’t be long until our wee man is grown up and walking. It fills me with so much joy to see how is interacting, doing things and exploring. He doesn’t like the sharp “NEIN” but it works fine. He particularly enjoys the mornings after he and I get up to play together and talk. I just manage to write this blog post whilst he is trying to press all kinds of buttons on my keyboard.

This weekend, we enjoyed company in Skye where we went to see the famous Talisker Whisky distillery. A good drum or two and catching up with some good friends. Family & friends time, unbeatable weekend.

Have a good week. I will try to find some time this week to write a piece about social media marketing. Shall see.

Volker

, , ,

No Comments

Sunday Column (71)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column on 04/07/2010

I don’t believe it’s Sunday. Whilst this phrase sounds so familiar, and yes I did have a stressful week, I also made it through probably one of the hottest weeks I had in the UK since I arrived here not short of 9 years ago.

What a heat! This week I travelled to Ipswich for a meeting, I moved offices and sweated the last drop of fluid out of my body carrying boxes, furniture and myself up and down our new office, 4th floor in Windmill Street. You can find the new location by just putting “mexad UK” into Google maps:


View Larger Map

Now that this is done, we can grow our team even further. I am very excited about the opportunities.

On the family side of things there was some movement. I write that before having the final discussion with my wife, but I allowed Colin to climb the chest in our living room last week. I admit I even encouraged him a bit, but really, I think that is fine. I didn’t know my wife tried to tell him off for that, and I think Colin used “climbing the chest” to play my wife against me. Glad we noticed it and sorted it. Now we are a united front to bring up our son….which is very important from a educational point of view. And that is meant very seriously, as you don’t want to have one parent allowing something that the other forbids.

Today is the 4th of July. America will be having BBQs all over the place, celebrating Independence Day. How nice, just hope they have the same nice weather we had all week. Happy Independence Day!

Then there was another Germany game in the world cup. I believe, after beating Argentina, we can now go all the way. Remember, you heard it here first. From what I have seen, the Spaniards (sorry O) won’t stop us, so it seems we might be playing our other arch rival, the Netherlands, in the final. Fingers crossed.

Maybe one more word. Last night we sat down. Nice food: baguette, olives, cheese, a very good wine etc. I really enjoyed that, and we haven’t done that for a long time. We also went swimming with Colin which he truly enjoyed. It is great to see him grow up and noticing how he develops. He often looks to me for approval and his little character is changing daily. My wife just said that she noticed him putting things away, e.g. sorting things. I guess it is typical for his age, but still a very much fascinating fact for us.

Last but not least I made history this weekend – or I destroyed it. I burned my diaries from when I was 10-13, which after reading them again, didn’t have too much content in there. It shows, from a pure personal development point of view, certain behaviours that I have struggled with, and it is interesting where some of them began. So a part of my own life, another chapter I closed to better live in the now.

Let next week be a bit less stressful, and having a good time with the boy.

Yours,
Volker

, , , ,

No Comments

Sunday Column (68)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column, personal on 13/06/2010

Another Sunday, another week. I updated my URLs, I made huge progress at work, and I managed to get myself in order for personal development. Nope, I won’t go into detail but I am making progress across the board. Striving for perfection :-)

This week was busy, no doubt. Monday started with a proper day back in the office after being out and about for over a week. So after a good catch up and sorting out some admin stuff, I managed to see our new office on Tuesday. I am very excited to move into the new place. My new staff and I measured the place and made plans, still not being able to decide on the right “coffee maker” – difficult decisions ahead. We are moving on the 1st of July ;-)

Now, I guess the highlight of the week was yesterday. Colin’s first birthday. We were hoping to get everyone together in the park for a picnic, but the weather was miserable. My wife managed to entertain all mums & babies on Friday, and we did the “rest” together on Saturday. It was good to see the godparents and friends being there. Colin now waves, laughs, claps his hands and of course gets stubborn too. Oh dear, the joys of being a parent. Unfortunately I don’t see him every night but trying to make an effort to see him at least two nights a week, bath him and put him to bed.

His first birthday, which was overshadowed by him having a rash, also marked the 2nd anniversary of us moving into Allen Road. Today I bought our 3rd toilet seat, I think the only thing that I have replaced on a regular basis since we moved in. The last one only lasted 6 weeks :-( Maybe there is something….. – nope, I won’t go into that at all.

Now, I have another busy week ahead, just finished off some unfinished business, and hope to spend the rest of the afternoon watching Germany win the football. I cannot support England after such a poor performance yesterday, can I? Then again, I don’t really care.

Have a good one,
Volker

, , ,

No Comments

Sunday Column (65)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column, personal on 23/05/2010

Wow, what a week. Hardly saw the office this week, or home. But absolutely loved this week too…

Dear work diary,

I spent all Monday in meetings and late into the evening to do work in the office, whilst on Tuesday it didn’t look much better. However, I made it home for Colin’s bath. Wednesday, whilst my boss was over from Germany, we spend most of the day in meetings, decided on a new office and I made it to Manchester and back before having a great time with clients in a Thai restaurant and club called Bam Bou. After a short night we had more meetings, and the week was finished with a day in the office.

Dear life diary,

I had a fabulous week, seeing my son grow up, clapping his hands. He also almost walks and is very cute to watch in the bath. At the weekend we met a lot of his friends. Friday night my wife convinced me to go for an Indian which was a fantastic idea. I was met at the train and we took Colin along. On Saturday we actually managed to spend the day away at the sea. We went to Whistable.

What shall I say. This week really flew past. Whilst writing part of this our Saturday diner is in the oven. An experiment of cheese crusty chicken with asparagus and tatties. Cigar maybe :-) Movie maybe. I am exhausted and think that all the ideas I had to do alongside work just don’t get enough attention.

By the way attention. I now get poked by my wife more often through facebook as she got herself an i-phone. I know, I am the old geek now with a blackberry whilst she is the cool lady with the white i-phone. Not much to add, lol.

That should be all for today. Apologies for another short post, but I try to improve next week….

Love & Kindness to you all,
Volker

, , , ,

No Comments

Sunday Column (64)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column, personal on 16/05/2010

Another week: this one passed very quickly.

On the one hand I don’t remember seeing my office as I have been in meetings most of the week, networking events, catch ups etc. So overall a very good week.

On the other hand Colin was a really grumpy bugger. However, although I was away two nights, I managed two nights to bath him and put him to bed. That was nice and gave my wife a bit of a break as she mostly had to deal with our very grumpy baby this week.

Tuesday night was a networking event of our part of the industry that focuses on ad exchange optimisation. A small part of a small industry, the geeks of the geeks ;-) Seriously, it was a great event and good to see so many people that work so closely with me – one way or another.

Thursday was the leaving night of a business partner, however I had to cancel it last minute as I was just to shattered. So this week was 99% work, so I don’t want to bore you with it.

Saturday we managed to re-book some flights for holidays and family trips. We also ended up buying Colin a mini pool and plastic balls to fill it with. That is for his birthday. Maybe we get him something else closer the time. We also had to shop for many birthdays and baby events, including a Christening we went to today.

Colin speaks “DAD”, “CAT” and “JA”, so he soon will speak “MUM” and “NEIN” that is for sure. His granny also got him a birthday present, a wheely bug ride on toy that looks like a ladybird. I would put some pictures on if I wasn’t so tired. I didn’t sleep much this week nor the weekend, too many things going through my head.

Anyway, let me keep it short. I cooked a lovely pork fillet meal on Saturday and we had a good bottle of wine. We enjoyed ourselves because we felt like we should. No special occasion.

Have a good week,
Volker

, , ,

No Comments

Mana Mana

Posted by Volker in personal on 14/04/2010

This is Colin’s most favourite video at the moment:

,

No Comments