Posts Tagged work

Sunday Column (49)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column on 31/01/2010

What a busy week lays behind me. After a weekend, which wasn’t a relaxing weekend, I found myself being off sick on Monday. Some virus got me down and I worked from home with more breaks and naps than I would normally have. I wasn’t well.

I felt better over the next few days, partly because I had to. I had a lot of social engagements and meetings at work. Networking parties, a trip to Leeds and Manchester and more meetings, emails etc. You know the drill. So work is very busy at the moment and things are going well. I cannot believe it is February already and I have been in my new job for a month. Time flies.

Colin, who I saw little of this week, is growing up. I believe he develops his own character, slowly but surely. He is playing by himself whilst I watch him. However, we believe it is due to his teething, he seems to have a bit of diarrhoea. Shall see and hope it is nothing serious.

Tai chi this week was good, and it will be one year next week. I believe that this is the first activity in a long time I have stuck to for as long as a year. Still I enjoy it and it is good to have a day a week to complete relax and wind down.

Saturday night we took our wee man to friends’ house for supper: Burns Supper. I had my first vegetarian Haggis which gave me heartburn but tasted really nice. It was a great night but unfortunately our baby wouldn’t settle at all. Too much noise, different smells etc. So we had to call it a night at 10 pm and he fell asleep not even seconds after we put him in his own bed. Bless him!

On Saturday we looked for car seats and came to terms that our car just cannot fit the car seat we think is appropriate for Colin. So it is either a compromise on safety, no car or a new car. We spent most of Sunday looking at cars and the results are quite simple:
- Jen and I are both tall and need a car which fits potentially 2 car seats and us plus a pram.
- We don’t want to spend too much money but need to go through a car dealer for our conscious of buying quality and because they offer finance deals.
- Whilst I don’t care less about status, brand or looks, my wife is thinking more about the latter.

The choice will come down to either a big 4×4 (and by big I mean Shogun or Land Cruiser, potentially XC90, Sorento or Outlander), or a people carrier – here it comes down to price….

Anyway, enough thoughts about cars. The more I look at it the less I am interested. I would like to spend little, get much, have enough space, enough security and still have a reliable car. No need for design and looks, just pure functionality – to be continued.

Enjoy your week, enjoy February!

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Sunday Column (48)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column on 24/01/2010

Sunday. Hurray.
What a week, I don’t really know where to start.

I am very excited about a few things. One is my job which I really enjoy. And, I am not only saying that. I am convinced we currently have one of the best display media optimisation offerings out there to utilise ad exchanges. People are responding very well to it, so I am very happy with my choice of job.

Anyhow, besides that I am very excited about my son Colin who started saying DADA and I am now sure he means me :-) However, he was quite sick this week, including a big accident on Friday night after which we had to dispose some cushions :-( The joy of having a baby I suppose. My wife didn’t feel well either but so far I have been ok.

Then I am excited about my new regime – I have been up every morning at 5:45 am to go swimming and to go to the gym. Hopefully I keep doing that for the next while. My knee still hurts but with Ibuprofen and hopefully slow progression I am confident it will only be temporary. Fingers crossed.

And then I am excited about Schimanski :-) Not only did I order his jacket, the M65 Jacket I had for years in his stone/beige colour, but I also got the first four DVDs that were available of Tatort with Schimanski. It is great!

So this week has been very exciting. And, re-reading my post I didn’t necessarily put work before my son but I still spend more time at work than at home, that is why.

What else? I met with a good friend of mine on Monday night which was great. Haven’t had a chance to catch up with him for a while. Then I had a workshop about taxes and how to do my tax return which was quite helpful. I managed to have two early nights too to be able to help my wife with our son. I enjoy having less of a commute in order to be home a bit earlier. Of course if often happens that I have to go back to my emails afterwards, but it works well for us.

Next week I am looking forward to download the new Peter Maffay CD. Hopefully it will be a good one. Old songs newly recorded…. – I am touching base with my German roots quite a bit lately and I really enjoy it. It is as if I find myself and my history and slowly but surely know where I stand. Surely, I will write more about that shortly, but I can now let go of it. It took 9 years!

That’s all for today. I am tired. Taking care of the boy all weekend, long afternoon walks, not 100% myself, laundry….I have a lot of respect for my wife who does that every day. She enjoys it, as I enjoy what I do. That is fair I guess ;-)

You have a good week. Mine looks very busy and exciting, so fingers crossed.

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Sunday Column (47)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column on 17/01/2010

Hello together,

You might have noticed that I haven’t written a blog post this week. The reason is fairly simple. It was my first week in my new job, and there is lots and lots of work todo. But I am loving it, and guess that is the main thing :-)

But of course there is more to life than work. Colin started turning himself back on his back after being on his front. He hasn’t quite mastered it yet but he is improving. Also, he started grabbing everything and gets more and more curious. He is sitting up now too and only sometimes falls over. I cannot believe he is over 7 months already!

Hansel, our lovely ginger cat, cut his foot and had to get stitches. Hence we had to keep both cats inside and they figured out how to open the living room door to get upstairs. So every night we got two visitors that (sometimes) quietly just sneak in and sleep on our bed. How sweet :-) As a result we put a proper door handle and lock on the door so that the cats cannot sneak upstairs anymore. DIY skills par excellence :-)

So a real family life is going on. I worked from home on Wednesday because of the snow. SouthEastern cancelled most trains to London and it was a nightmare. A friend got stuck for 2 hours on the train, so I am glad I stayed home. I still don’t believe that in the year of 2010 5 inches of snow (or less in this case) bring a country to a standstill.

It is melting now. I wouldn’t go as far that spring is coming but we had a few days above zero, with today even being around 10 degrees. I don’t mind the cold if I could do what I normally do, e.g. go to work or go shopping. Shopping delivery slots have been booked out all week :-(

The weekend was great. I had to catch up on some work related stuff but managed to get Hansel to the vet. We also had our neighbours around for coffee and biscuits. We managed to replace a few glasses we broke (I broke ;-) ), and I fixed the above mentioned door handle to the living room door.

Just a normal week with the family and work.

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Sunday Column (33)

Posted by Volker in Sunday Column, personal on 11/10/2009

Here we go again. Another week, another Sunday. I like writing these columns as it gives me some time to reflect on the week.

Monday: a client meeting, it was raining and I arrived there soaked. Met an ex-colleague and got some good gossip, and some good insight from a different perspective. Sometimes it is really good to just sit down and talk openly.

Tuesday: we had a workshop at work which worked out very well and I think we made a lot of progress, followed by a Wednesday where we had a great team night out. I really like the guys I am working with and it is great to see everyone working so hard to make things happen.

Thursday I went back to Tai Chi after a week’s break and enjoyed it a lot. And, before I knew it, it was Friday. Some positive comments from my boss which made me feel great. So the whole week ended on a positive note.

Saturday was divided into two – on the one hand I enjoyed myself and went for a massage. Stopped at McDonalds for a dirty breakfast, Starbucks for a coffee and read my FT. Me time, very enjoyable. Then, on the other hand, it was family day. I spent most of the day with the boy, went to Homebase to buy some plants and paint for the fence, and we had our neighbours over for a few drinks.

However, I am coming down with a cold AGAIN. Wonder if my immune system just decided to walk, or if it is the boy. They keep saying that you get ill more often having a baby, but he seems to be fine. I am off for 3 days next week, and don’t want to spend them all in bed.

Also, this week a friend’s nephew was killed in a car accident. It was one of those moments when you sit down and think “why am I going through all these things in life, hassle, work and stress when it can be over so quickly”. One of those moments when your life comes to a full stop and you reflect.

On Sunday my mother in law arrived. I haven’t seen her for a long time, so looking forward to spending a week with her.

There are many other things going on, which I don’t need to speak about: things like coaching and personal development. Also I am working on my cb consulting website. Would like to integrate some of the sites on this URL and also get some of the balamadana blog content here too.

I reviewed two more wines, so you will get a taste over the next 2 weeks. Will try to write more often, but seem to be busy with my job and the family. Both of which is enjoyable, but I need to work on a routine to fit things like my blog in again too.

Have a fantastic week!

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