Tag: fun

Sunday Column (518)

Posted on by

Last Sunday my fish tank was sold. After 6 years I gave up on my hobby. When you buy a fish tank, the value you spend on it is high, yet the value you get for it is low. Just like a car it depreciates. You could sell the fish and the equipment separately but I decided to shift it together and make it a quicker sale. Hopefully the new owner, an “older” lady, will get much joy out of the tank and enjoys my fish. It is with a bit of regret to shift those fish, but neither the boys or the wife really enjoyed my hobby. And I didn’t enjoy it enough to invest more in it. Time to move on. When speaking about it to a mate who has three tanks, I already started thinking what kind of tank I could get next….no, it is time to move on and simplify my life. Another thing done. What is next? Going out of your comfort zone is one thing. Whether that is training for a sports event and completing it, or just learning a new skill. My new job is full of those, sitting more over Excel sheets

Continue reading

Sunday Column (516)

Posted on by

Would you believe what I did this week? I spend my evenings, or I shall say my wife and I spend our evenings, filling a basketball hoop stand with 150 kg of sand! Through a 3 cm hole with a funnel and spoon!!!! This was the early Christmas present, not only my youngest was looking forward to, but also myself. It takes me back years, and reminds me how well I played and how much I enjoyed it back in the days. Yet, I never took it forward, or was pushed out of my comfort zone to do it. No regrets, a lot of learning for how to bring up my kids though. Hence, no compromises, and we got a proper basketball hoop 🙂 Christmas is coming around quickly. I have a few business trips coming up, loads of projects to finish and lots of planning to do. I am settled in the job and being busy, drinks are flowing pre Xmas already and it gets more difficult to fit things in. Blimey, how did I miss that season. With the marathon over, the post marathon blues over, I am trying to get back into a routine. I said I

Continue reading

Sunday Column (513)

Posted on by

Berlin. Taking the family to Berlin for half term would always be an adventure. A 7 and a 9 year old on a city trip with lots of history? This wasn’t to meet family, it was about showing my family a Germany away from the grand parents, it was to experience Berlin and a couple days in Hamburg. So before we set off, we talked about German history, about the war and how this resulted in Germany being split in four parts; and it resulted in Berlin being split in four parts. For me, Berlin has always been the capital. From Prussia to the modern ages. I never, probably similar to most Germans, saw Bonn as a real capital city. Berlin just has this charm, this feeling of being able to host big statesmen and to have the space to parade in front of presidents. It is that flair and history that attracts me to Berlin. However, and I want to be as honest as I can be, yet not being rude, Berlin in parts looks tired. My sons pointed out the massive amounts of graffiti and when you started to look under the hood, what we saw at least,

Continue reading

Principles of Success – Luck and Serendipity (4)

Posted on by

SUCCESS has to do with luck and serendipity; the right place, right time is almost as important as the right idea, right support. The fourth principle is about luck and serendepity. Being at the right place right time. Of course, and we discussed that in the first principle, the idea and the environment for the idea, as well as resources, are key of becoming successful. However, and most podcast guests mentioned that they never set off to be successful. Life just happened to them as it happens to you and me. What I mean by that is that you make a decision in your life to join a start up. Or to take some time off to go back to university. Or you read the paper in your local take away and find a job ad. Whatever it is, you end up somewhere due to a portion of luck that catapults your rocket in a slightly different direction, to a higher orbit. This could be anything from meeting the right mentors, being pushed in the right direction, finding that one job, or making one choice over another. And sometimes we don’t even realise it until we reflect on it years

Continue reading

Sunday Column (504)

Posted on by

There have been a few topics on my mind this week. My wife, including kids, went to visit the MIL and left me alone for the bank holiday weekend. That is fair enough, as I usually organise a cracking weekend with the lads. However, this time around, people are busy, non committal and are still on holidays themselves. Hence the appetite wasn’t there. I ended up working a lot on my podcasts and some content I will publish over the forthcoming weeks and did some training to improve my long distance running. What I wanted to note was the bachelor life. Similar to above’s reason, I wasn’t out every night, just instead binge watched Amazon’s Bosch every night, and enjoyed good food, great sleep and my own routine. I noticed that dishwashers aren’t made for single households and that shopping delivery seems almost useless given the amount I need. My drinking went right back, as drinking on your own just isn’t the same anymore. I would even go as far as I was lonely. But of course I wasn’t, having had calls from my son, the above podcast recordings, three cats etc., I was busier than I was hoping for

Continue reading

Sunday Column (502)

Posted on by

This is my holiday post. So a bit more personal, less topical. I am sure I wrote it the other day – apologies but I have a few articles sitting at the ready, so I don’t remember where the wording is – that I am not much of a holiday person. I find it difficult to switch off, so this time I tried to force myself to switch off, which of course doesn’t work either. Having said all that I had a relaxing time, and the amount of sleep I got was amazing. Plus, thanks for the feedback regarding my topical posts, I am glad you are enjoying them. Having finished my contract work and got my first few days at the new job, having a two week break should be easy. And actually, it was. I was yet thinking a lot about the job, but I refrained from checking emails etc., as I am too fresh into the job as someone really needs to rely on me. Hence, this was probably my only chance for a while for a “work detox”. And I am keen to get busy for one job only too. On the other hand, I cannot

Continue reading

Sunday Column (498)

Posted on by

Often, when I am asking for feedback about my blog post, the answer is ‘it’s the same, it’s ok’. What I would really like to hear is ‘it’s great, it is inspiring’. But I guess I am not inspiring to the readers that I ask 🙁 However, please provide me feedback on what you would like to see and read on here. I feel like it is a weekly summary, with some thought-excursion based on my weekly experience, and then some. It is less topical, more personal. And the blog definitely provides myself with an opportunity to digest my experience. Also, I hope it provides you with a snippet of personal entertainment 🙂 So this week, as usual recently, I started a new contract, the one that leads to my new full time position. That makes it interesting, as essentially I am getting my introduction over the forthcoming weeks, then start fully later on. It’s a good way of doing it, because you get all the administrative things out of the way, and can focus on the task in hand the moment you start fully. In the meantime I went to Dusseldorf again, a slightly shorter trip which seemed convenient

Continue reading

Sunday Column (496)

Posted on by

I don’t believe it’s the 1st of July already. Half ways point. The days are getting shorter and we are closer to Christmas now. The weather is spoiling us. This has been a very busy week. Admittedly, I started out with a day off on Monday. Funny how when you not contract for a day, you take the day off. But isn’t it a mental thing to mentally shut down and off? We, the wife and I, went down to the beach, got a bit sun burned and enjoyed an ice cream. I am storing energy, producing some great content around my podcast and getting ready for what lies ahead of me. The days in the office were busy this week. I love the company I am contracting with at the moment, and love the product offering they have. My main role is in Germany, so Thursday and Friday I spend in Munich, next week Duesseldorf and then Hamburg. It is good to be able to help and to reconnect with friends across Germany. Life is good, busy, or as Darren Hardy says ‘we strive on stress’. To a certain extend I agree, we are by default used to flight/fight

Continue reading

Sunday Column (494)

Posted on by

Experiences. Given I write this blog a week in arrear just before the weekend, the reflections are almost a week old. Never mind, the story last weekend was more experience. We rented some kayaks and went onto a small lake. Needless to say the boys are in an age now where they love it. We got wetter than anticipated, yet not totally soaked, and enjoyed the new experience. Following on from that we of course had some ice cream and time to play in the park; finishing the weekend with a BBQ in the evening sun in the garden. What else to wish for? We might never get a summer like this again, so we must make the most of it whilst it lasts. I very much appreciate what we have, what we enjoy. Every moment matters. Now, 10 years ago this week we moved into our first house. That was back in Beckenham, just after the house prices came down. We probably overpaid, were naive and inexperienced but loved the experience. Exactly to the day a year on, we had our first son. I cannot believe he turned 9 this week. Watching the smaller kids on the playground last

Continue reading

Sunday Column (490)

Posted on by

I remember this girl in school who everytime it was summer, she had hay fever. It never affected my friends or myself and whilst on the one hand we felt sorry, on the other hand we never understood. Whilst being over 40, you don’t expect to develop new allergies, and looking at my exercise diaries over the past four years, there is a pattern emerging. Going back to a conference in 2015 in Berlin where I had a bad night’s sleep, some booze and had to get some antihistamine tablets, blaming the beer. Today I know it was and is hay fever. Being tired, sluggish almost, itchy eyes and irritation. Who would have guessed all those years back that I will suffer from hay fever, and consistently around mid to end of May. Whatever trees are blossoming – oak, birch, pine or ash. Life is changing. Nothing in life is a constant but maybe your family. I drafted another article which I hope will be published next week, where I discuss the consulting role vs. the permanent role in adtech. We all had to get GDPR ready for the past 2 years, yet companies still aren’t ready. The deadline is

Continue reading