Sure it's been a hectic week. I expected that. Amazingly enough, though, enough things clicked together at the last minute that we actually got the notebook repair program started.
Rocky? Sure.
Frantic? Absolutely.
Am I more calm? Nope.
But it's all relative, isn't it?
The day before St Patrick's Day, I arrived home to find a friendly letter from my local government office indicating that I wasn't actually a legal resident of Germany.
I did what I think anyone would have done, and basically stuffed the letter in my backpack and made a mental note to talk to my manager about it on the following Monday.
Well, we discovered that indeed, I needed to complete this step in the process, but it was merely a formality more so than anything.
Now, the residence visa process in Spain (if you need a refresher, go back to one of my stories from last year) is not particularly easy and fun, but it is rather straightforward: they send you a list of all the stuff you need, you put it all together, then you go down to the office and file all of the stuff with the civil servant, who takes your fingerprint, then tells you to come back in 6 weeks and pick up your ID.
Not in Germany.
I've been running around with a stamped piece of paper clipped to my passport that basically says I can live in this country. Despite the repeated questions I've asked to those responsible for organizing my paperwork, I was always told the same thing: it's all taken care of. However, I never submitted any photos of myself, or some of the things that were required in Spain. (I realize that the two countries are different, but the residence visa requirements tend to be very similar).
My biggest clue that something might not be quite right was the last time I came back into Germany from the UK; the passport control officer spent about 10 minutes with my passport (and attached sheet of paper), then let me through. (note - I asked more questions of my management about this and received the same answer as before: Alles klar)
So, after noting that letter I'd received mentioned that I had to have all of this done by April 1, I got a little jumpy. A colleague here completed a good bit of the documentation, and in one week, everything was compiled. I had my completed forms, proof of employment, housing, health insurance, and two passport photos (left over from when I did this in Spain).
Next step, find a day to go to the office in Frankfurt. I initially wanted to grab a friend to accompany me, but then I reconsidered. Perhaps it would be better to take my colleague who had initially been informed that I hadn't needed to complete this process in the first place. In the event additional discussions would be required, I needed language support.
Thus, Frau Frickel and I planned to go to Frankfurt Wednesday morning to get everything finalized once and for all.
At 8am, we were standing in line at the office, then were given a number and told to wait on the 3rd floor until my number was called.
After 20 minutes or so, we were instructed to go to room 302, so down the hall we walked to the office of the civil servant I was assigned to. Well, it turns out she's cute cute cute. That was an unexpected plus.
The negative came about 30 seconds later when she mentioned that I wasn't legally able to work in Germany, and it wasn't a good thing that I'd been working for, oh, the last 3 months.
Since the conversation was all in German, I missed most of it, but clearly understood the gist of what was being said, so I was immediately freaking out. Claudia, my colleague, was even more panicked. She immediately called the HR manager at Teleplan, and then we contacted the government office in Darmstadt, who had set everything up initially. Then, that clerk spoke with my cute clerk in the Frankfurt office, and ultimately, Darmstadt needed to fax something over to Frankfurt.
Brief as it was, I was still shaky for a few minutes. Then, of all things, the woman indicated that my passport photos weren't sufficient for my German visa, and I'd have to go have new pix taken somewhere. Fortunately, she was pretty nice and suggested that we get the photos at the kiosk next door while she waited for the fax.
Claudia and I headed to the little shop next door, I had my photo taken, we had a couple of ciggy, then returned to the office.
By 10.30, we were all set. All in all, not the worst experience, with the exception being the nervous moments initially.
So, for the second time this year, I'm saying, "At last, I have my German visa."
Back we went to Weiterstadt; I had units arriving for the first time, and my customer was going to visit later in the afternoon.
OK, we only received 5 units on Wednesday, but it was a start. I had the UK on the mobile walking us through everything to ensure that we were on the right track.
I've since spent lots of hours on the mobile with Duncan as we tweak the process, modify system access, etc. Somehow, we continue to joke and laugh as we push through.
My customers arrived and spent Wednesday and Thursday helping, supporting, and encouraging. It's a difficult customer to manage, but they've impressed me in the past couple of days as they spent time on the line with the technicians.
Thursday, we shipped our first three units, and today, we shipped 4 more.
We've officially made the program happen, and I'm pleased.
Sure, my manager already indicated he wanted to extend my contract for a year. He told me that Monday.
Sure, Tuesday evening my estate agent called to tell me that my landlord is planning to sell my apartment in August, so I'm going to have to find someplace else to live.
Sure, there are still silly questions coming from everyone, and my IT support guy was sick again today.
But, I've accomplished what I was hired to do, and I'm just getting started.
My buddy Goran plays a Simonout show tonight, and Arsenal are away to Liverpool on Saturday. The 40+ hours of work that I need to do before Monday will have to wait until later in the weekend.
keep the faith
bryan
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Close To The Edge
It's not every day that I get an opportunity to use a St Elmo's Fire reference, so I'll make the most of it. Though I can't exactly remember how the song goes in the movie, I do recall the title: stressed out (close to the edge), which seems fitting at the present moment based on the fact that I'm about two clicks away from absolute insanity.
I believe the song was played during the latter portion of the film when all of the conflicts were coming to a head; again, perfectly fitting for my current situation.
Monday night was the last time I had some peaceful sleep, and I'm attributing that to a nice few hours I spent chatting to a friend of mine who I've been trying to get to know better. The smile on my face Tuesday morning ended quickly, and it's been an absolute bugger of a week ever since.
Everything that could possibly be going wrong for the start of this project has managed to go wrong...to the maximum level. True, I recognize the language and culture barrier, but basic business logic is still, er, basic business logic. What I've discovered this week is that the team I've put together to do this job doesn't have all the right skill set.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert in all areas of my job, but I'm certainly no slouch. Furthermore, I've got the good sense to stand up and raise my hand and say, "um, I don't think I understand what it is we're trying to do here," in the event I find myself in that situation.
My team supposedly consists of tenured employees that have some experience in their position. For example, the stock room team understands parts management and all the various processes involved with good and defective materials. How these people managed to do it without ANY idea at all about XCEL and other applications is beyond me. I'm not talking about the clerk; I'm talking about the warehouse manager. And should they really need to ask me how to create new bar code labels for their shelves?
Repair logistics becomes only as complicated as you want to make it, and as a rule, my company has tended to make it as complicated as they can. Fortunately, I've been around long enough to know that, so I've always found ways to simplify the processes for the team so that they really only have to do the job that they supposedly know how to do in the first place. Thus, I can get the results I'm looking for.
That's why I'm so out of sorts. I've got people asking me basic questions about their jobs that lead me to believe that perhaps they shouldn't be in their roles. Not good, Bob. Not good.
I always look for potential in situations and people. In fact, my pleasant Monday evening was spent with someone who really has potential to make a difference in this world. That's special to me, and I'm attracted to people like that. I like to spend time with them and have the opportunity to not only learn a thing or two, but also share a bit, too.
In repair operations, I've had relatively good success judging people that were new to the industry, but demonstrated all the right soft skills that would lead to their success. Decision making ability, logic, and confidence are three things that you can easily identify in somebody if you ask the right questions.
I've been asking the right questions, but am getting too many blank stares, confusing answers, and lack of common sense responses. For example, if I were to tell you that you would receive a cash bonus in the event the project was profitable by the end of the month, and for whatever reason, the project was NOT profitable by the end of the month, should you expect a bonus?
That's not a trick question.
I'll jump off the ranting, because I really just needed to give myself a reality check and get this off my chest. My colleague in the UK and I have been joking about our frustrations (if we weren't joking, we'd be crying); if between the two of us we can make this a successful program across two sites, we've done great things. It's not about the personal fame and recognition; I'm talking about keeping 300 some odd employees employed. I'm talking about returning a company to profitability. I'm talking about providing a good service to a really demanding customer.
Easy? Nope. That's why I'm doing it.
But it would be a lot more fun if my team here were running their butts off in effort to make this success, too.
We go live on Monday, March 26th. The electric screwdrivers haven't arrived yet, the freight carrier just now confirmed that they're sort of ready, the first few technicians don't have much experience with the shop floor control system, I have NO materials planner, we've got almost 700 different types of restoration CDs to manage, and to top it all off, I think the milk I put in my coffee earlier this morning was a bit off.
wish me luck, and keep the faith.
cheers
bryan
Soundtrack:
Stressed Out (Close to the Edge) - Airplay (ie..David Foster)
The Clash - Death or Glory
Bruce Springsteen -Born to Run
Front 242 - Never Stop!
I believe the song was played during the latter portion of the film when all of the conflicts were coming to a head; again, perfectly fitting for my current situation.
Monday night was the last time I had some peaceful sleep, and I'm attributing that to a nice few hours I spent chatting to a friend of mine who I've been trying to get to know better. The smile on my face Tuesday morning ended quickly, and it's been an absolute bugger of a week ever since.
Everything that could possibly be going wrong for the start of this project has managed to go wrong...to the maximum level. True, I recognize the language and culture barrier, but basic business logic is still, er, basic business logic. What I've discovered this week is that the team I've put together to do this job doesn't have all the right skill set.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert in all areas of my job, but I'm certainly no slouch. Furthermore, I've got the good sense to stand up and raise my hand and say, "um, I don't think I understand what it is we're trying to do here," in the event I find myself in that situation.
My team supposedly consists of tenured employees that have some experience in their position. For example, the stock room team understands parts management and all the various processes involved with good and defective materials. How these people managed to do it without ANY idea at all about XCEL and other applications is beyond me. I'm not talking about the clerk; I'm talking about the warehouse manager. And should they really need to ask me how to create new bar code labels for their shelves?
Repair logistics becomes only as complicated as you want to make it, and as a rule, my company has tended to make it as complicated as they can. Fortunately, I've been around long enough to know that, so I've always found ways to simplify the processes for the team so that they really only have to do the job that they supposedly know how to do in the first place. Thus, I can get the results I'm looking for.
That's why I'm so out of sorts. I've got people asking me basic questions about their jobs that lead me to believe that perhaps they shouldn't be in their roles. Not good, Bob. Not good.
I always look for potential in situations and people. In fact, my pleasant Monday evening was spent with someone who really has potential to make a difference in this world. That's special to me, and I'm attracted to people like that. I like to spend time with them and have the opportunity to not only learn a thing or two, but also share a bit, too.
In repair operations, I've had relatively good success judging people that were new to the industry, but demonstrated all the right soft skills that would lead to their success. Decision making ability, logic, and confidence are three things that you can easily identify in somebody if you ask the right questions.
I've been asking the right questions, but am getting too many blank stares, confusing answers, and lack of common sense responses. For example, if I were to tell you that you would receive a cash bonus in the event the project was profitable by the end of the month, and for whatever reason, the project was NOT profitable by the end of the month, should you expect a bonus?
That's not a trick question.
I'll jump off the ranting, because I really just needed to give myself a reality check and get this off my chest. My colleague in the UK and I have been joking about our frustrations (if we weren't joking, we'd be crying); if between the two of us we can make this a successful program across two sites, we've done great things. It's not about the personal fame and recognition; I'm talking about keeping 300 some odd employees employed. I'm talking about returning a company to profitability. I'm talking about providing a good service to a really demanding customer.
Easy? Nope. That's why I'm doing it.
But it would be a lot more fun if my team here were running their butts off in effort to make this success, too.
We go live on Monday, March 26th. The electric screwdrivers haven't arrived yet, the freight carrier just now confirmed that they're sort of ready, the first few technicians don't have much experience with the shop floor control system, I have NO materials planner, we've got almost 700 different types of restoration CDs to manage, and to top it all off, I think the milk I put in my coffee earlier this morning was a bit off.
wish me luck, and keep the faith.
cheers
bryan
Soundtrack:
Stressed Out (Close to the Edge) - Airplay (ie..David Foster)
The Clash - Death or Glory
Bruce Springsteen -Born to Run
Front 242 - Never Stop!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Cool Things That Make Me Smile
People frequently ask me how I like Germany, and I always respond with positive remarks, and they've almost always been true. I say "almost always" because from time to time one has to recognize the audience. You'll see from the list just what I mean. I've been working on this list for a few months, but have managed to forget to include it in previous posts. In no particular order, here's what I like about being in Frankfurt:
1) Everyone is interested in where you're from, and apart from a little obligatory razzing on the American (a Texan no less), almost everyone moves on to other conversation topics instead of getting hung up on the nationality without any further comment.
2) Women of all ages tend to wear their hair in pony tails. If this is your thing, you're in trouble. It is my thing, and I'm in trouble.
3) Boots are also quite popular with the female population. It adds an element of style that makes for a pretty enjoyable scene.
4) Very small kids take the public transportation to (and presumably from) school each morning. My bus stop is in a small neighborhood, and as I get off, there are about 5 kids that seem to be between the ages of 4 and 7 that all get on the bus, usually looking somewhat top heavy with the size of their back packs. I'm quite touched that the bus driver and most of the passengers take care to ensure the safety of the children.
5) I frequently see blind people getting assistance on and off the train platforms, as well as to and from the U-Bahn lines. Frankfurt Main Hauptbahnhof is extremely hectic during the AM and PM commute, yet no matter how late someone might be, they will always take the time to help someone in need get safely to where they need to go.
6) I've developed a bit of a rapport with the security guards at my repair facility. I usually try to say a few things in German to them throughout the day, and while they were a bit frosty a couple of months ago, they now tend to be a bit more cheery, and more than once one of the guys has actually responded "Good Morning," after I wished him a "Guten Morgen."
7) I have not met a German yet who hasn't apologized to me for the level of their English. This, while touching, is a rather humbling experience for me. I frequently mention that I'm learning the language (and to some extent I am) when I speak with someone auf Deutsch, but try not to apologize.
8) In the spirit of behaving like the people in my neighborhood, I tend to look both ways before jaywalking across the street, and at least five times now I've almost been hit by a bicyclist who has to ring their little bell and swerve out of the way as I inadvertently walk in front of them. "I've got a motorcycle jacket but I'm walking all the time..." sang Joe Strummer. (I wonder if he ever had my problem)
9) Much the way we endured junior high and high school dances (ok, mostly junior high) where the boys stood on one side of the room in a group, listening and singing loudly to songs by the Scorpions, Journey, and various other seemingly rock and roll songs (boy did that comment sound like I grew up in a suburb that had very little racial diversity...) while the girls stood in their own groups on the other side of the gymnasium or whatever, singing and dancing to the more seemingly dancy type songs (ie...Cyndi Lauper, Men Without Hats, etc).
That's not far off from the scene in some of the bars around Frankfurt, only there's a bit more heein and sheein, and everyone sings the songs together. I must admit I've been right in the thick of that once or twice, which is why I've started taking a few CDs with me round to the pub at night so at least I can sing what I want.
10) I've now had my back waxed in three different major cities of the world. Dallas was the most expensive, Valencia was the most friendly, and the first Frankfurt experience is still open for discussion. It wasn't horrible, it wasn't great, and it wasn't too expensive. It was all in German, though there's not a great deal to talk about when you're on the table and some girl is ripping your cats off. Extra points for the fact that the salon is right next door to my flat.
So that's the short list so far. As time passes, I'm sure I'll will have more exposure to plenty of other things.
The weekend was a basic success, as the goal was simply to imbibe enough beers to impress Shane MacGowan. I started Friday evening, carried over til the wee hours on Saturday, basically slept all day, and then had a relatively early night on Saturday: I started the celebrations around 8ish, and finished around 1am.
Sunday was rather productive for me, surprisingly enough. A few hours banging out some songs on the guitar, followed by a good visit to the gym, followed by a couple of salads and a bit more guitar. Later, I wandered over to the pub to catch the Arsenal match, which went very poorly on the match front. However, it was the first opportunity that Sonja and Barbara got to sit on either side of me, which made for a slightly interesting experience. Hell, I could almost make it number 11 on my list...
keep the faith
bryan
soundtrack:
The Church - Under the Milky Way
Oasis - Wonderwall
Therapy - Screamager
The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Sesame Street - People In Your Neighborhood
1) Everyone is interested in where you're from, and apart from a little obligatory razzing on the American (a Texan no less), almost everyone moves on to other conversation topics instead of getting hung up on the nationality without any further comment.
2) Women of all ages tend to wear their hair in pony tails. If this is your thing, you're in trouble. It is my thing, and I'm in trouble.
3) Boots are also quite popular with the female population. It adds an element of style that makes for a pretty enjoyable scene.
4) Very small kids take the public transportation to (and presumably from) school each morning. My bus stop is in a small neighborhood, and as I get off, there are about 5 kids that seem to be between the ages of 4 and 7 that all get on the bus, usually looking somewhat top heavy with the size of their back packs. I'm quite touched that the bus driver and most of the passengers take care to ensure the safety of the children.
5) I frequently see blind people getting assistance on and off the train platforms, as well as to and from the U-Bahn lines. Frankfurt Main Hauptbahnhof is extremely hectic during the AM and PM commute, yet no matter how late someone might be, they will always take the time to help someone in need get safely to where they need to go.
6) I've developed a bit of a rapport with the security guards at my repair facility. I usually try to say a few things in German to them throughout the day, and while they were a bit frosty a couple of months ago, they now tend to be a bit more cheery, and more than once one of the guys has actually responded "Good Morning," after I wished him a "Guten Morgen."
7) I have not met a German yet who hasn't apologized to me for the level of their English. This, while touching, is a rather humbling experience for me. I frequently mention that I'm learning the language (and to some extent I am) when I speak with someone auf Deutsch, but try not to apologize.
8) In the spirit of behaving like the people in my neighborhood, I tend to look both ways before jaywalking across the street, and at least five times now I've almost been hit by a bicyclist who has to ring their little bell and swerve out of the way as I inadvertently walk in front of them. "I've got a motorcycle jacket but I'm walking all the time..." sang Joe Strummer. (I wonder if he ever had my problem)
9) Much the way we endured junior high and high school dances (ok, mostly junior high) where the boys stood on one side of the room in a group, listening and singing loudly to songs by the Scorpions, Journey, and various other seemingly rock and roll songs (boy did that comment sound like I grew up in a suburb that had very little racial diversity...) while the girls stood in their own groups on the other side of the gymnasium or whatever, singing and dancing to the more seemingly dancy type songs (ie...Cyndi Lauper, Men Without Hats, etc).
That's not far off from the scene in some of the bars around Frankfurt, only there's a bit more heein and sheein, and everyone sings the songs together. I must admit I've been right in the thick of that once or twice, which is why I've started taking a few CDs with me round to the pub at night so at least I can sing what I want.
10) I've now had my back waxed in three different major cities of the world. Dallas was the most expensive, Valencia was the most friendly, and the first Frankfurt experience is still open for discussion. It wasn't horrible, it wasn't great, and it wasn't too expensive. It was all in German, though there's not a great deal to talk about when you're on the table and some girl is ripping your cats off. Extra points for the fact that the salon is right next door to my flat.
So that's the short list so far. As time passes, I'm sure I'll will have more exposure to plenty of other things.
The weekend was a basic success, as the goal was simply to imbibe enough beers to impress Shane MacGowan. I started Friday evening, carried over til the wee hours on Saturday, basically slept all day, and then had a relatively early night on Saturday: I started the celebrations around 8ish, and finished around 1am.
Sunday was rather productive for me, surprisingly enough. A few hours banging out some songs on the guitar, followed by a good visit to the gym, followed by a couple of salads and a bit more guitar. Later, I wandered over to the pub to catch the Arsenal match, which went very poorly on the match front. However, it was the first opportunity that Sonja and Barbara got to sit on either side of me, which made for a slightly interesting experience. Hell, I could almost make it number 11 on my list...
keep the faith
bryan
soundtrack:
The Church - Under the Milky Way
Oasis - Wonderwall
Therapy - Screamager
The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Sesame Street - People In Your Neighborhood
Friday, March 16, 2007
Weebles Might be Wobbling But Bryan Isn't Falling Down
Last Friday, I typed up a little piece, then skipped out for the weekend, which started in fantastic style as I hit the pub for another Friday night of action (having laughs with Stefan, chatting up Susi, having one too many chupitos, etc), and left somewhere around 4am.
Because the week had ended on such a positive, I felt pretty chipper on Saturday morning, and despite the late hour I'd been out the night before, by 9.30am was enjoying a nice morning having a coffee and listening to a Chick Corea/Bobby McFerrin Mozart Sessions CD, which happens to be bloody brilliant. I'm not a particular fan of either of those two, but this little disc put me in a nice mood.
That mood continued through the rest of the weekend, which did not include any further trips to the local; one has to remain sensible about these things, eh?
Monday morning, I had to meet my local chimney sweep, who doesn't actually come to sweep the chimney (I don't have one), but instead checks the emissions from the fixtures in my apartment. I wish I could explain this better, but basically from 7.30 to 7.40am I let some guy dressed in black into my place, he stood next to the hot water heater for the entire 10 minutes, gave me an "Alles klar," then left, allowing me to head off to work.
Things didn't go so wonderfully at work, as two key members of my team were off sick. This was to be a week of heavy preparation for the project which starts the 26th of March. My technicians were in the UK for some intensive training. Meanwhile, I was hoping to get the materials ordered, the warehouse set up, the systems installed, and also host the customer for a brief inspection of the facility later in the week.
I had one of those really busy days where nothing really got done, which obviously creates an amount of frustration. Thus, I found myself back in the pub Monday evening, where I got to excitedly, perhaps dynamically, tell my buddy John how much I enjoyed the Mozart sessions disc he'd made for me. During the conversation, the barmaid Nadie took my Rock Again Bush compilation and popped it in the pub's CD player. John and I proceeded to listen to both discs over the next couple of hours, and though it was a pretty quiet night, I ended staying rather late chatting with Nadie.
Tuesday, I spent most of the day with a colleague from the UK, hammering out the financial process for the program. I was expecting the return of my materials manager and my IT guy, but both were apparently still sick and unable to come to work. I appreciate health and wellness, but a problem we tend to have in this repair facility is a 15% sickness rate. Those are almost bubonic plague numbers, and it makes it incredibly frustrating to accomplish anything, let alone a notebook computer repair program. The significance of these two guys was tremendous; we had to have our initial stocking order placed to allow for delivery and put away. The IT guy had to set up all the systems and hardware before my English co-manager showed up on Wednesday to help set up the shop floor control system.
By 6pm Tuesday evening, I had no idea if we had parts on order, systems in house or anything. I was so mentally exhausted (and physically, for that matter), that I left the office, told myself I'd go clear my head and hope like hell things were better on Wednesday morning. My customer was coming on Thursday, so if Wednesday didn't go well, I'd be absolutely fucked for their visit.
After briefly contemplating what it would feel like to jump in front of the U-Bahn, I wisely elected to actually board the train, and got myself back to Bornheim. I stopped off in the pub to have a little dinner, and ended up watching part of a cricket match. I know almost nothing about cricket, but at least it took my mind off all the pressing concerns I had.
Wednesday morning came quickly, but I felt somewhat better. My mood improved when I saw the IT guy out on the line installing systems, swearing the whole time. Things improved again when the materials manager showed up, and we got the initial stocking order placed with the vendor. In a period of two hours, I had parts on order, packaging headed my way, and a set up to show my customer.
Duncan showed up around 1pm. He's the program manager for the same account, but out of the UK. He also developed the control system that we use for the operation. With his arrival, I finally felt like we were going to be able to make this happen. Perhaps it's not going quite the way I'd like it to, but that's pretty much the story of my life anyway.
We grabbed a couple of beers together at his hotel after work, where we met our customers, who had just arrived from Brussels. The engineer is Spanish, and my counterpart (who I've already mentioned has a techno band and loads of earrings) is Flemmish. We had another quick beer together, then I hooked it back to Frankfurt; it was karaoke night at my pub.
(Pause while you all have time to ask yourselves, "did Bryan just write it's karaoke night?")
Nah. Wednesday night is indeed karaoke night, and it's a complete joke. But, it's my local. My kebap guy got up and absolutely butchered a Robbie Williams song. Another man did a reasonable job with "My Way," but it's just all part of it, really. I joked with Tom the barman about how ridiculous it really was, and we agreed that soon we'd have to get together and hammer out a couple of tunes on the guitar. Or, perhaps we'd lock the MC into the men's toilet and prevent the event from happening.
It probably wasn't the best idea to have a couple of whiskeys on top of the pints, but "oops, oh well." I said to myself as I woke up an hour late Thursday morning. I barely made my train, and got into the office 15 minutes before my customers showed up. I was nervous, but knew that if they were unhappy, they'd certainly let me know straight away, the engineer particularly.
"We're impressed," was the statement both of them made 20 minutes later after we'd walked through the repair area. True, it was only floor space, some esd mat covered benches, and an empty stock room, but the customer was pleased. Result. Relief.
The engineer was somewhat bored for the next 6 hours, but Manuella and I had loads to discuss. SOW, invoicing process, materials returns, call centers, etc. Most of this is hanging together by a thread, so I've got a long long way to go, but at least it's going in the right direction. I'm getting it done, even if it's taking just about everything I've got to make it so.
I was pretty psyched up by mid afternoon, only to get a bit of bad news minutes after the customer left to drive back home. Manuella co-manages the program with a colleague who was still in Belgium. He informed me of a process change that had financial consequences, tons of risk, and gave me the impression that he was going to have to delay the start of the program once again.
My nicotine and caffeine intake at the present moment is just shy of "see you in the hospital in a few days," and with the jolting information I'd received, I was suddenly thinking that I'd be in the emergency room within hours. But, I consulted with my colleague, and the account exec (who also happened to be in Weiterstadt) and with some quick thinking, we've got some solutions, and furthermore, are still set to go live on March 26th for notebook repair in this facility.
Today has been a flash of frantic calls, quick decisions, and about 40 cups of coffee. In fact, everything that you've just read took me about 10 minutes to type up.
Once again, it's Friday afternoon, and the weekend beckons. For the second year in a row, I will miss the Greenville Ave celebrations of St Patrick's in Dallas, and for the second year in a row, that's going to be ok. I'll miss the cutting up, the burgers, the ping pong tourney (a new tradition in the making) and the kilt, but my own local has plenty of debauchery planned, and I'm certainly counting myself in.
Enjoy your own celebrations, whether it be Fallas or St Pat's.
Keep the faith
bryan
sountrack
The Alarm - Declaration
Nitzer Ebb - Join in the Chant
Carter USM - Lean On Me I Won't Fall Over
Cameo - Word Up
Because the week had ended on such a positive, I felt pretty chipper on Saturday morning, and despite the late hour I'd been out the night before, by 9.30am was enjoying a nice morning having a coffee and listening to a Chick Corea/Bobby McFerrin Mozart Sessions CD, which happens to be bloody brilliant. I'm not a particular fan of either of those two, but this little disc put me in a nice mood.
That mood continued through the rest of the weekend, which did not include any further trips to the local; one has to remain sensible about these things, eh?
Monday morning, I had to meet my local chimney sweep, who doesn't actually come to sweep the chimney (I don't have one), but instead checks the emissions from the fixtures in my apartment. I wish I could explain this better, but basically from 7.30 to 7.40am I let some guy dressed in black into my place, he stood next to the hot water heater for the entire 10 minutes, gave me an "Alles klar," then left, allowing me to head off to work.
Things didn't go so wonderfully at work, as two key members of my team were off sick. This was to be a week of heavy preparation for the project which starts the 26th of March. My technicians were in the UK for some intensive training. Meanwhile, I was hoping to get the materials ordered, the warehouse set up, the systems installed, and also host the customer for a brief inspection of the facility later in the week.
I had one of those really busy days where nothing really got done, which obviously creates an amount of frustration. Thus, I found myself back in the pub Monday evening, where I got to excitedly, perhaps dynamically, tell my buddy John how much I enjoyed the Mozart sessions disc he'd made for me. During the conversation, the barmaid Nadie took my Rock Again Bush compilation and popped it in the pub's CD player. John and I proceeded to listen to both discs over the next couple of hours, and though it was a pretty quiet night, I ended staying rather late chatting with Nadie.
Tuesday, I spent most of the day with a colleague from the UK, hammering out the financial process for the program. I was expecting the return of my materials manager and my IT guy, but both were apparently still sick and unable to come to work. I appreciate health and wellness, but a problem we tend to have in this repair facility is a 15% sickness rate. Those are almost bubonic plague numbers, and it makes it incredibly frustrating to accomplish anything, let alone a notebook computer repair program. The significance of these two guys was tremendous; we had to have our initial stocking order placed to allow for delivery and put away. The IT guy had to set up all the systems and hardware before my English co-manager showed up on Wednesday to help set up the shop floor control system.
By 6pm Tuesday evening, I had no idea if we had parts on order, systems in house or anything. I was so mentally exhausted (and physically, for that matter), that I left the office, told myself I'd go clear my head and hope like hell things were better on Wednesday morning. My customer was coming on Thursday, so if Wednesday didn't go well, I'd be absolutely fucked for their visit.
After briefly contemplating what it would feel like to jump in front of the U-Bahn, I wisely elected to actually board the train, and got myself back to Bornheim. I stopped off in the pub to have a little dinner, and ended up watching part of a cricket match. I know almost nothing about cricket, but at least it took my mind off all the pressing concerns I had.
Wednesday morning came quickly, but I felt somewhat better. My mood improved when I saw the IT guy out on the line installing systems, swearing the whole time. Things improved again when the materials manager showed up, and we got the initial stocking order placed with the vendor. In a period of two hours, I had parts on order, packaging headed my way, and a set up to show my customer.
Duncan showed up around 1pm. He's the program manager for the same account, but out of the UK. He also developed the control system that we use for the operation. With his arrival, I finally felt like we were going to be able to make this happen. Perhaps it's not going quite the way I'd like it to, but that's pretty much the story of my life anyway.
We grabbed a couple of beers together at his hotel after work, where we met our customers, who had just arrived from Brussels. The engineer is Spanish, and my counterpart (who I've already mentioned has a techno band and loads of earrings) is Flemmish. We had another quick beer together, then I hooked it back to Frankfurt; it was karaoke night at my pub.
(Pause while you all have time to ask yourselves, "did Bryan just write it's karaoke night?")
Nah. Wednesday night is indeed karaoke night, and it's a complete joke. But, it's my local. My kebap guy got up and absolutely butchered a Robbie Williams song. Another man did a reasonable job with "My Way," but it's just all part of it, really. I joked with Tom the barman about how ridiculous it really was, and we agreed that soon we'd have to get together and hammer out a couple of tunes on the guitar. Or, perhaps we'd lock the MC into the men's toilet and prevent the event from happening.
It probably wasn't the best idea to have a couple of whiskeys on top of the pints, but "oops, oh well." I said to myself as I woke up an hour late Thursday morning. I barely made my train, and got into the office 15 minutes before my customers showed up. I was nervous, but knew that if they were unhappy, they'd certainly let me know straight away, the engineer particularly.
"We're impressed," was the statement both of them made 20 minutes later after we'd walked through the repair area. True, it was only floor space, some esd mat covered benches, and an empty stock room, but the customer was pleased. Result. Relief.
The engineer was somewhat bored for the next 6 hours, but Manuella and I had loads to discuss. SOW, invoicing process, materials returns, call centers, etc. Most of this is hanging together by a thread, so I've got a long long way to go, but at least it's going in the right direction. I'm getting it done, even if it's taking just about everything I've got to make it so.
I was pretty psyched up by mid afternoon, only to get a bit of bad news minutes after the customer left to drive back home. Manuella co-manages the program with a colleague who was still in Belgium. He informed me of a process change that had financial consequences, tons of risk, and gave me the impression that he was going to have to delay the start of the program once again.
My nicotine and caffeine intake at the present moment is just shy of "see you in the hospital in a few days," and with the jolting information I'd received, I was suddenly thinking that I'd be in the emergency room within hours. But, I consulted with my colleague, and the account exec (who also happened to be in Weiterstadt) and with some quick thinking, we've got some solutions, and furthermore, are still set to go live on March 26th for notebook repair in this facility.
Today has been a flash of frantic calls, quick decisions, and about 40 cups of coffee. In fact, everything that you've just read took me about 10 minutes to type up.
Once again, it's Friday afternoon, and the weekend beckons. For the second year in a row, I will miss the Greenville Ave celebrations of St Patrick's in Dallas, and for the second year in a row, that's going to be ok. I'll miss the cutting up, the burgers, the ping pong tourney (a new tradition in the making) and the kilt, but my own local has plenty of debauchery planned, and I'm certainly counting myself in.
Enjoy your own celebrations, whether it be Fallas or St Pat's.
Keep the faith
bryan
sountrack
The Alarm - Declaration
Nitzer Ebb - Join in the Chant
Carter USM - Lean On Me I Won't Fall Over
Cameo - Word Up
Thursday, March 08, 2007
I've Been Trapped Under the Program Management Rock and Couldn't Get Up!
Wow, it's only been two weeks since my last post, but it seems like several months. I've received more than a few emails about my last post; most of them expressed concern and support for my personal situation.
Initially, I didn't reflect too much about that post, but during a conversation with my sister last week, where she asked for the real story (along with updates) about the "brush off" event, I realized that my post might have come across as a little depressive and wallowy.
Let me take a moment to clarify things. I was more intrigued by the incident than anything else. When you meet a new friend, you go through the frequent hanging out stage, and I was just surprised that she did an abrupt back pedal; things had never progressed past the "heyhowyadoinletshavesomepintsandmaybeseearockshowtogetheroh
yourelockedoutofyourapartmentwellyoudbetterstayatmyplacetonight
sinceIhaveasparebed" stage. In short, this isn't all that different than the times I hung out in Dallas, had too much to drink, and had to stay at someones apartment. Of course, my situation was slightly unusual cos' if I got too drunk at McKee's, I was, er, already home. And more than once I locked myself out of my flat, too...
Yes, there was an awkward couple of days where Sonja felt uncomfortable, feeling that she'd hurt me, where in fact, she was misunderstanding my distorted facial expressions: I was being cautious, but also living a life with a mind filled to the brim with thoughts about the project I'm doing, learning a new language, and Arsenal football. I've since had a look in the mirror and better understand why she was thinking what she was.
Fortunately, the awkwardness from two weeks ago passed within a couple of days. By the end of the week, the comfort level was there and there you have it. In fact, she sat through several Arsenal matches with me: the FA Cup, the Carling Cup final, and the FA Cup replay. I'm not holding anything against her even though Arsenal failed to win any of those games.
This past week, she's become a little more uncomfortable again. She's been hanging out a lot with some new guy, and it seems that she gets a little nervous when I come into the pub and see them. I'm not completely sure why, but I'm not concerned. I've got too many other things going on. Besides, I have Heike, Susi, Barbara, and Helen right where they want me...
Now, on to more exciting things.
The job has blown wide open. The lack of posts in the past two weeks comes down to the amount of time I've had to spend fighting the political battles, overcoming production obstacles, dealing with a demanding customer, and "babysitting." I knew when I returned to this company that I'd be going right back into the same old crap that made me leave the job in the first place. All that aside, though, it's totally the right element for me. Swashbuckling program management, you know. Be. Like. No.Other.
I'll spare further boring professional details, for now. On to the updates on things like domestic appliances and DSL.
Laundry was a problem for me back in January. With a little patience and some extra spin cycles, I finally mastered the finer points of my washing machine. I'm used to drying my clothes on a rack that I set up in my bathroom. Sure, I'd love to dry my clothes out on a clothesline off my balcony, but no one else does it, so I can't either. Sometimes being the first on your block isn't the right thing to do, especially in Germany. I'd rather pick those battles, anyway.
A couple of Saturdays ago, I decided that I would run the dishwasher, since I'd accumulated a sink load of dirty plates and silverware and didn't feel like hand washing them. So, I loaded the machine (der Geschirrspüler, and yep, that word didn't just roll off my tongue the first 50 times I tried to say it), made a cup of coffee, then went into the living room to watch a bit of TV.
30 minutes later, I entered the kitchen to find a floor covered in soapsuds. Just so you'll have the comfort of knowing that I'm still on the positive mindset, I immediately thought of how clean my floor was going to be after I mopped up. After all, I needed to clean the kitchen that day anyway.
True, I realized my mistake: too much soap in an undersized machine, one that has only icons around the dial. I had merely pressed buttons and hoped for the best. What I got was hot soapy plates, a machine that hadn't drained, and a floor resembling a bubble bath.
I eventually sorted things out, and had to clean the dishes by hand anyway. I don't expect to use that machine again in future.
Last Friday afternoon, I took the afternoon off to sit at home and wait for the phone technician. Since mid-January, I've "had" DSL, only my box sat on permanent blinking green, which means that I don't have a DSL signal. The process of getting support from the help desk proved a bit tedious, because I wasn't able to call them up personally and explain the situation. Thus, my estate agent was doing the go between. Ultimately, after about three line checks with a response, "Alles klar," each time, I pointed out that, "Nein, Alles is NICHT klar."
From there, I got an appointment for last Friday afternoon between the hours of 2 and 8 for a guy to come out to the house and see what was up.
I made it to my apartment about 3, hoping that the telecom guy wouldn't be punctual. Sure enough, no one had tried to reach me, so I opened the mail, folded some clothes, and then answered the phone at 3.30 to someone who said, "Jetzt gehts." Now it works.
I looked down to see a constant green on my box, and smiled.
5 minutes later I was on line and checking up on the latest sports scores and weather reports. (feel free to interpret this as surfing porn...I don't care)
So, with a little patience, you, too, can obtain DSL service in Frankfurt.
I celebrated Friday evening by heading to my local, where I proceeded to get well and truly hammered with Stefan and Sonja. This actually led to me leaving the bar prematurely (not before one too many Baby Guinness, and please, don't even ask) and staggering home for a little nighty huuff! night.
Saturday began with a bit of toast and coffee and some internet. Ahh. Finally an opportunity to read the match previews before kickoff. From there, a trip to the gym, a haircut, and a bit of shopping. I skipped any opportunity for additional beers and made it a very early night, made slightly more comfortable by an Arsenal victory against Reading.
Sunday was pretty much like Saturday, except there was no haircut and no shopping. I did manage a trip to the pub later in the afternoon, but that was driven mainly by the opportunity to pick up a guitar. One of the barmen, Tom, has kindly loaned me his acoustic 6 string for a couple of weeks as I shop around. It's pretty nice, feels great, and sounds quite bright in my apartment. Unfortunately, my fingers have not been able to do all of things that my mind tells them to, so the first time I played sounded a bit like it sounds when you accidentally step on a cat. What a difference a year's layoff can make.
Back to the work thing. I'm impressed with the sense of humor of my colleagues in England. We have a very challenging program, with a very demanding customer. We've had more than our share of hiccups and obstacles, yet we keep pounding through, and we keep laughing. My German colleagues are finally getting the true picture of what a basket case truly looks like, but they're also beginning to realize and respect just what I bring to the team. Personally, I'm a little tired of having to offer up my first born child in order to get a CAPEX approved with the CFO, and this past Monday evening, I had to put my job on the line: if we're not profitable on this program, I'm out of the job.
After a statement like that, it's no surprise that I headed straight to the pub for a little relaxation. I found English John there and we had an excellent chat about music. John is closer to 50, and has slightly different music tastes from me, but he impressively knows about quite a few bands that I'm currently grooving to. I realized that I was carrying a nice tasty compilation that Trina had sent me a long time ago, so I asked Tom (who has quite the excellent taste in music himself; a Serbian Smiths fan - who'd have guessed?) to pop it in the CD player. Suddenly, the pub went from the Happy Mondays to a rousing Anti-Flag song. There was an immediate buzz among the other patrons, and John and I sat and listened for close to an hour, chatting merrily about the various songs from the Dropkick Murphys, Bouncing Souls, and Street Dogs. (for Jose Miguel - Tu nececitas comprar el disco de Street Dogs. El lider estaba en Dropkick Murphys hace diez años. Es fenomenal!)
Eventually, Goran (other Serbian barman) arrived with some friends, and I had to join him in a whiskey to celebrate his third anniversary in Germany. I certainly didn't need the shot, but you might argue that I probably didn't need the four Guinness I'd already had, either. After the drink and the greetings, I headed for home for some needed sleep. The week was going to be extra busy.
My problem with Champs League is that I cannot stay away from the matches. That pretty much means that I've got to go to the pub since I've no satellite TV. Two nights a week, just about every two weeks, for most of the football season. Springtime is pretty busy in European football, but during the week, it makes for a bit of a challenge; quite a few late nights in a row.
Liverpool - Barca was a good match. I wanted Liverpool to go through mostly so that Arsenal, assuming they advanced to the next round, wouldn't have to play Barcelona. I have a fondness for Liverpool in their traditions, both old and new. Besides, Rafa Benitez coached Valencia before moving to the UK. Congrats to Sean and Muzzy; maybe the final will be AC Milan and Liverpool one more time.
The other matches were predictable: Chelsea and Roma both got through. Valencia held on for a goalless draw which enabled them to advance (from the away goals rule; they tied 2-2 against Inter in the first leg). Right on.
I went right home after the match to try and get a bit more than 5 hours a sleep, which has been the steady average over the past months. Wednesday was the day for Arsenal's match, and they were faced with a sizable challenge.
The Wednesday workday was a blur of meetings, conference calls, and panic. I left work an hour later than I wanted, but that was probably a good thing. Champs League matches start around 8.45pm. Like I said, it can make for a late night.
My local really only has one TV that is reliable, so I had already elected to watch the match in another pub. A few years ago, there were several MacGowan's pubs in Frankfurt, all under one owner. They were referred to as MacGowan's Zeil (as it's on Zeil street) and MacGowan's Bornheim (my local). Actually, my pub is no longer owned by MacGowan's, and there is some confusion as to what the actual name is. Simply calling it the pub works for me, though.
This particular evening was my first time in MacGowan's Zeil. It's nice, and is actually a bit smaller than my local. But, it feels a bit more snug. The barman was from Australia, and he let me know which television would show the Arsenal match. Three TVs in the pub, and ultimately the smaller two would show ManU-Lille, and the big one would show Arsenal-PSV. Bayern Munich was playing Real Madrid, but the pub elected not to show that match.
I arrived an hour early, had a nice sandwich, then did my normal Arsenal match watching routine where I couldn't decide whether to stand or sit, constantly twitched, and gulped Guinness. That was all before kick-off.
Well, Arsenal scored off an own goal from PSV, and that was going to enable us to go to extra time. They needed another goal, but failed to convert their chances. After a rather silly foul deep in Arsenal's end, PSV sent the free kick into the box, and the same villain from PSV responsible for the Arsenal goal rose high above any Arsenal player and headed a brilliant goal. Score 1-1. Since PSV won the first leg, Arsenal needed to win the second leg, without allowing any goals. This didn't happen, and at full time, Arsenal was out of Champs League.
In two weeks, Arsenal have crashed out of everything. Finishing 3rd in the domestic league is their target now. Disappointing, but oh well, life goes on.
A German Arsenal fan named Richard has watched several matches at our local, and we frequently talk football when we meet. He'd indicated to me the night before during Liverpool's match that he had to work Wednesday, so I was actually surprised when he joined me to watch Arsenal's exit. I normally like to suffer these defeats by myself, but he was just as down as I was. The comfort was there, and all of us who support the Gunners can be proud of their accomplishments this season, even without silverware.
The U-Bahn ride home was solemn, but I've been an Arsenal fan long enough to know that this is just part of it. A night's sleep would put a fresh outlook on things. One positive would be that I wouldn't have to be a nervous wreck during the remaining matches.
Thursday I endured a little razzing from some colleagues at work, but that stopped when I poured a cup of coffee on a Bayern fan who was a little too cocky. (note - that sentence was completely fictitious; it was only water)
Part of my fresh outlook on the day was to hit the gym on the way home. By noon, however, that plan went down in flames as challenge number 946 hit me right between the eyes. Implementing and managing this project has been no easy task, but it seems for the past two weeks especially, everything that could go wrong has managed to do so with colossal magnitude.
Fortunately, I actually get off on these types of challenges, even though it takes a great deal out of me. I finally got out of the office around 8, and beelined to the pub for a pint. The intent was to have two beers, then a kebap, then off to bed, hopefully by 11.
Sonja and her new friend were already sitting at the bar, and after a quick greeting, I moved down to the end, where I met a man named Charles, who was sending an sms to his sister.
We started talking, and it turns out he's a Dubliner, but has lived in Germany for close to 17 years. He was in good spirits, and helped to improve my mood. A bit later, another friend of his showed up, and a bit after that, Stefan arrived. The four of us continued to cut up and enjoy the rounds of pints. Sonja came up to say a quick goodbye, and after she left, Charles made a comment that he hadn't seen anyone who showed so much tragedy in their face. I was surprised at his comment, but knew he was dead on.
It's true that Sonja has a few personal issues, but I know very little about them. Yes, there is some pain in her face, and one might conclude that she drinks quite a bit, but I'm absolutely in no position to pass judgement on either of those two issues. I've been a bit concerned about her more than once, and hope that she works out her life to her satisfaction.
So, Charles' friend left Stefan, Charles and I to have a few more pints, and obviously I'd exceeded my two pint limit by three possibly four. Stefan and I caught up a bit, then Charles explained a bit more about his work: he runs a small publishing company. That led to some additional conversation, and long story short, it's possible that I've got a way to stay in Germany should I screw up this program. Three months in and I've already got a contingency plan. Super. At the very least, I may get some consulting work out of it. And best of all, I made another friend who is willing to help explain the finer points of settling in Frankfurt. That assistance is greatly appreciated. The chimney sweep comes to my house Monday morning for an inspection, so I may need Charles' help sooner than expected.
It's time for the weekend, so I'll wrap this up with a few quickies:
Brandon, Karla, and Isabella - many congratulations - this world will be a better place with another Adams.
Jeff - congrats on the house - good luck with the move
Moe - thanks for the Indian Guides pics from summer. Very cool.
Heather - hope you're still hitting the gym. feel free to hit Kevin too.
To the Greenville Ave St Pat's block party skippers this year - it's not often you get to celebrate on the actual day, but the PingPong action sounds fun. However, I've not met a single German who is looking for a game of table tennis. I'll keep looking, but not on Saturday the 17th.
Trina - feel free to send me another compilation of punk songs that I'm probably too old to listen to - it's helping to create some additional excitement at my local.
To everyone thanks for the support, the emails, the happy thoughts. Special thanks to Goliad and the B-man.
Pablo, Vielen Dank für Alles. Airlift 1 ist hier! What a perfect way to arrive home at 2.30am.
I've been smiling all day.
keep the faith
bryan
Soundtrack
Front 242 - Tragedy For You
Street Dogs - Savin Hill
La Ley - El Duelo
Dropkick Murphys - Time To Go
Big Audio Dynamite - Rush
Initially, I didn't reflect too much about that post, but during a conversation with my sister last week, where she asked for the real story (along with updates) about the "brush off" event, I realized that my post might have come across as a little depressive and wallowy.
Let me take a moment to clarify things. I was more intrigued by the incident than anything else. When you meet a new friend, you go through the frequent hanging out stage, and I was just surprised that she did an abrupt back pedal; things had never progressed past the "heyhowyadoinletshavesomepintsandmaybeseearockshowtogetheroh
yourelockedoutofyourapartmentwellyoudbetterstayatmyplacetonight
sinceIhaveasparebed" stage. In short, this isn't all that different than the times I hung out in Dallas, had too much to drink, and had to stay at someones apartment. Of course, my situation was slightly unusual cos' if I got too drunk at McKee's, I was, er, already home. And more than once I locked myself out of my flat, too...
Yes, there was an awkward couple of days where Sonja felt uncomfortable, feeling that she'd hurt me, where in fact, she was misunderstanding my distorted facial expressions: I was being cautious, but also living a life with a mind filled to the brim with thoughts about the project I'm doing, learning a new language, and Arsenal football. I've since had a look in the mirror and better understand why she was thinking what she was.
Fortunately, the awkwardness from two weeks ago passed within a couple of days. By the end of the week, the comfort level was there and there you have it. In fact, she sat through several Arsenal matches with me: the FA Cup, the Carling Cup final, and the FA Cup replay. I'm not holding anything against her even though Arsenal failed to win any of those games.
This past week, she's become a little more uncomfortable again. She's been hanging out a lot with some new guy, and it seems that she gets a little nervous when I come into the pub and see them. I'm not completely sure why, but I'm not concerned. I've got too many other things going on. Besides, I have Heike, Susi, Barbara, and Helen right where they want me...
Now, on to more exciting things.
The job has blown wide open. The lack of posts in the past two weeks comes down to the amount of time I've had to spend fighting the political battles, overcoming production obstacles, dealing with a demanding customer, and "babysitting." I knew when I returned to this company that I'd be going right back into the same old crap that made me leave the job in the first place. All that aside, though, it's totally the right element for me. Swashbuckling program management, you know. Be. Like. No.Other.
I'll spare further boring professional details, for now. On to the updates on things like domestic appliances and DSL.
Laundry was a problem for me back in January. With a little patience and some extra spin cycles, I finally mastered the finer points of my washing machine. I'm used to drying my clothes on a rack that I set up in my bathroom. Sure, I'd love to dry my clothes out on a clothesline off my balcony, but no one else does it, so I can't either. Sometimes being the first on your block isn't the right thing to do, especially in Germany. I'd rather pick those battles, anyway.
A couple of Saturdays ago, I decided that I would run the dishwasher, since I'd accumulated a sink load of dirty plates and silverware and didn't feel like hand washing them. So, I loaded the machine (der Geschirrspüler, and yep, that word didn't just roll off my tongue the first 50 times I tried to say it), made a cup of coffee, then went into the living room to watch a bit of TV.
30 minutes later, I entered the kitchen to find a floor covered in soapsuds. Just so you'll have the comfort of knowing that I'm still on the positive mindset, I immediately thought of how clean my floor was going to be after I mopped up. After all, I needed to clean the kitchen that day anyway.
True, I realized my mistake: too much soap in an undersized machine, one that has only icons around the dial. I had merely pressed buttons and hoped for the best. What I got was hot soapy plates, a machine that hadn't drained, and a floor resembling a bubble bath.
I eventually sorted things out, and had to clean the dishes by hand anyway. I don't expect to use that machine again in future.
Last Friday afternoon, I took the afternoon off to sit at home and wait for the phone technician. Since mid-January, I've "had" DSL, only my box sat on permanent blinking green, which means that I don't have a DSL signal. The process of getting support from the help desk proved a bit tedious, because I wasn't able to call them up personally and explain the situation. Thus, my estate agent was doing the go between. Ultimately, after about three line checks with a response, "Alles klar," each time, I pointed out that, "Nein, Alles is NICHT klar."
From there, I got an appointment for last Friday afternoon between the hours of 2 and 8 for a guy to come out to the house and see what was up.
I made it to my apartment about 3, hoping that the telecom guy wouldn't be punctual. Sure enough, no one had tried to reach me, so I opened the mail, folded some clothes, and then answered the phone at 3.30 to someone who said, "Jetzt gehts." Now it works.
I looked down to see a constant green on my box, and smiled.
5 minutes later I was on line and checking up on the latest sports scores and weather reports. (feel free to interpret this as surfing porn...I don't care)
So, with a little patience, you, too, can obtain DSL service in Frankfurt.
I celebrated Friday evening by heading to my local, where I proceeded to get well and truly hammered with Stefan and Sonja. This actually led to me leaving the bar prematurely (not before one too many Baby Guinness, and please, don't even ask) and staggering home for a little nighty huuff! night.
Saturday began with a bit of toast and coffee and some internet. Ahh. Finally an opportunity to read the match previews before kickoff. From there, a trip to the gym, a haircut, and a bit of shopping. I skipped any opportunity for additional beers and made it a very early night, made slightly more comfortable by an Arsenal victory against Reading.
Sunday was pretty much like Saturday, except there was no haircut and no shopping. I did manage a trip to the pub later in the afternoon, but that was driven mainly by the opportunity to pick up a guitar. One of the barmen, Tom, has kindly loaned me his acoustic 6 string for a couple of weeks as I shop around. It's pretty nice, feels great, and sounds quite bright in my apartment. Unfortunately, my fingers have not been able to do all of things that my mind tells them to, so the first time I played sounded a bit like it sounds when you accidentally step on a cat. What a difference a year's layoff can make.
Back to the work thing. I'm impressed with the sense of humor of my colleagues in England. We have a very challenging program, with a very demanding customer. We've had more than our share of hiccups and obstacles, yet we keep pounding through, and we keep laughing. My German colleagues are finally getting the true picture of what a basket case truly looks like, but they're also beginning to realize and respect just what I bring to the team. Personally, I'm a little tired of having to offer up my first born child in order to get a CAPEX approved with the CFO, and this past Monday evening, I had to put my job on the line: if we're not profitable on this program, I'm out of the job.
After a statement like that, it's no surprise that I headed straight to the pub for a little relaxation. I found English John there and we had an excellent chat about music. John is closer to 50, and has slightly different music tastes from me, but he impressively knows about quite a few bands that I'm currently grooving to. I realized that I was carrying a nice tasty compilation that Trina had sent me a long time ago, so I asked Tom (who has quite the excellent taste in music himself; a Serbian Smiths fan - who'd have guessed?) to pop it in the CD player. Suddenly, the pub went from the Happy Mondays to a rousing Anti-Flag song. There was an immediate buzz among the other patrons, and John and I sat and listened for close to an hour, chatting merrily about the various songs from the Dropkick Murphys, Bouncing Souls, and Street Dogs. (for Jose Miguel - Tu nececitas comprar el disco de Street Dogs. El lider estaba en Dropkick Murphys hace diez años. Es fenomenal!)
Eventually, Goran (other Serbian barman) arrived with some friends, and I had to join him in a whiskey to celebrate his third anniversary in Germany. I certainly didn't need the shot, but you might argue that I probably didn't need the four Guinness I'd already had, either. After the drink and the greetings, I headed for home for some needed sleep. The week was going to be extra busy.
My problem with Champs League is that I cannot stay away from the matches. That pretty much means that I've got to go to the pub since I've no satellite TV. Two nights a week, just about every two weeks, for most of the football season. Springtime is pretty busy in European football, but during the week, it makes for a bit of a challenge; quite a few late nights in a row.
Liverpool - Barca was a good match. I wanted Liverpool to go through mostly so that Arsenal, assuming they advanced to the next round, wouldn't have to play Barcelona. I have a fondness for Liverpool in their traditions, both old and new. Besides, Rafa Benitez coached Valencia before moving to the UK. Congrats to Sean and Muzzy; maybe the final will be AC Milan and Liverpool one more time.
The other matches were predictable: Chelsea and Roma both got through. Valencia held on for a goalless draw which enabled them to advance (from the away goals rule; they tied 2-2 against Inter in the first leg). Right on.
I went right home after the match to try and get a bit more than 5 hours a sleep, which has been the steady average over the past months. Wednesday was the day for Arsenal's match, and they were faced with a sizable challenge.
The Wednesday workday was a blur of meetings, conference calls, and panic. I left work an hour later than I wanted, but that was probably a good thing. Champs League matches start around 8.45pm. Like I said, it can make for a late night.
My local really only has one TV that is reliable, so I had already elected to watch the match in another pub. A few years ago, there were several MacGowan's pubs in Frankfurt, all under one owner. They were referred to as MacGowan's Zeil (as it's on Zeil street) and MacGowan's Bornheim (my local). Actually, my pub is no longer owned by MacGowan's, and there is some confusion as to what the actual name is. Simply calling it the pub works for me, though.
This particular evening was my first time in MacGowan's Zeil. It's nice, and is actually a bit smaller than my local. But, it feels a bit more snug. The barman was from Australia, and he let me know which television would show the Arsenal match. Three TVs in the pub, and ultimately the smaller two would show ManU-Lille, and the big one would show Arsenal-PSV. Bayern Munich was playing Real Madrid, but the pub elected not to show that match.
I arrived an hour early, had a nice sandwich, then did my normal Arsenal match watching routine where I couldn't decide whether to stand or sit, constantly twitched, and gulped Guinness. That was all before kick-off.
Well, Arsenal scored off an own goal from PSV, and that was going to enable us to go to extra time. They needed another goal, but failed to convert their chances. After a rather silly foul deep in Arsenal's end, PSV sent the free kick into the box, and the same villain from PSV responsible for the Arsenal goal rose high above any Arsenal player and headed a brilliant goal. Score 1-1. Since PSV won the first leg, Arsenal needed to win the second leg, without allowing any goals. This didn't happen, and at full time, Arsenal was out of Champs League.
In two weeks, Arsenal have crashed out of everything. Finishing 3rd in the domestic league is their target now. Disappointing, but oh well, life goes on.
A German Arsenal fan named Richard has watched several matches at our local, and we frequently talk football when we meet. He'd indicated to me the night before during Liverpool's match that he had to work Wednesday, so I was actually surprised when he joined me to watch Arsenal's exit. I normally like to suffer these defeats by myself, but he was just as down as I was. The comfort was there, and all of us who support the Gunners can be proud of their accomplishments this season, even without silverware.
The U-Bahn ride home was solemn, but I've been an Arsenal fan long enough to know that this is just part of it. A night's sleep would put a fresh outlook on things. One positive would be that I wouldn't have to be a nervous wreck during the remaining matches.
Thursday I endured a little razzing from some colleagues at work, but that stopped when I poured a cup of coffee on a Bayern fan who was a little too cocky. (note - that sentence was completely fictitious; it was only water)
Part of my fresh outlook on the day was to hit the gym on the way home. By noon, however, that plan went down in flames as challenge number 946 hit me right between the eyes. Implementing and managing this project has been no easy task, but it seems for the past two weeks especially, everything that could go wrong has managed to do so with colossal magnitude.
Fortunately, I actually get off on these types of challenges, even though it takes a great deal out of me. I finally got out of the office around 8, and beelined to the pub for a pint. The intent was to have two beers, then a kebap, then off to bed, hopefully by 11.
Sonja and her new friend were already sitting at the bar, and after a quick greeting, I moved down to the end, where I met a man named Charles, who was sending an sms to his sister.
We started talking, and it turns out he's a Dubliner, but has lived in Germany for close to 17 years. He was in good spirits, and helped to improve my mood. A bit later, another friend of his showed up, and a bit after that, Stefan arrived. The four of us continued to cut up and enjoy the rounds of pints. Sonja came up to say a quick goodbye, and after she left, Charles made a comment that he hadn't seen anyone who showed so much tragedy in their face. I was surprised at his comment, but knew he was dead on.
It's true that Sonja has a few personal issues, but I know very little about them. Yes, there is some pain in her face, and one might conclude that she drinks quite a bit, but I'm absolutely in no position to pass judgement on either of those two issues. I've been a bit concerned about her more than once, and hope that she works out her life to her satisfaction.
So, Charles' friend left Stefan, Charles and I to have a few more pints, and obviously I'd exceeded my two pint limit by three possibly four. Stefan and I caught up a bit, then Charles explained a bit more about his work: he runs a small publishing company. That led to some additional conversation, and long story short, it's possible that I've got a way to stay in Germany should I screw up this program. Three months in and I've already got a contingency plan. Super. At the very least, I may get some consulting work out of it. And best of all, I made another friend who is willing to help explain the finer points of settling in Frankfurt. That assistance is greatly appreciated. The chimney sweep comes to my house Monday morning for an inspection, so I may need Charles' help sooner than expected.
It's time for the weekend, so I'll wrap this up with a few quickies:
Brandon, Karla, and Isabella - many congratulations - this world will be a better place with another Adams.
Jeff - congrats on the house - good luck with the move
Moe - thanks for the Indian Guides pics from summer. Very cool.
Heather - hope you're still hitting the gym. feel free to hit Kevin too.
To the Greenville Ave St Pat's block party skippers this year - it's not often you get to celebrate on the actual day, but the PingPong action sounds fun. However, I've not met a single German who is looking for a game of table tennis. I'll keep looking, but not on Saturday the 17th.
Trina - feel free to send me another compilation of punk songs that I'm probably too old to listen to - it's helping to create some additional excitement at my local.
To everyone thanks for the support, the emails, the happy thoughts. Special thanks to Goliad and the B-man.
Pablo, Vielen Dank für Alles. Airlift 1 ist hier! What a perfect way to arrive home at 2.30am.
I've been smiling all day.
keep the faith
bryan
Soundtrack
Front 242 - Tragedy For You
Street Dogs - Savin Hill
La Ley - El Duelo
Dropkick Murphys - Time To Go
Big Audio Dynamite - Rush
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