I've only got time to jot down a few notes; I'm absolutely buried with work this week, which is unlike the previous weeks where I've just been sitting about reading magazines and playing solitaire.
Once again, I've managed to complete my taxes before the deadline. Thanks to online turbo tax, and the fact that I really didn't have any income for last year. (Cool that I could file on line; not so cool that my dad sent me everything but my w-2 a few weeks back. Fortunately he read me the numbers over the telephone, which made for a very nice Easter.)
I think it's great that friends of mine in the states are moving into new houses. I think it sucks that I've got to find a new apartment in a few months.
I think it's great that after a horrid day at work this past Tuesday, I had a super productive day on Wednesday, celebrated by having a few beers at a sidewalk cafe on Berger Strasse.
Spring has definitely hit Frankfurt; you need a jacket at night, but only for a few minutes. The streets tend to be quite full of people this time of year. I definitely live in a great neighborhood. Supercool.
I hope that I can overcome my fear of walking from the main train station in Frankfurt to the pub across the street. You basically have to pass a group of people (aka...heroin addicts) that all want to give you high fives. I constantly get hit up for smokes, too. A bit unnerving...kind of like all those kids' personal fears from Steven King's IT. (Actually, it's not nearly that bad, but there are more than several unfortunate souls walking around the streets that tend to say something to the effect of, "blow you for a dime..." Kind of creepy.)
Financial frustration of the week - I'm battling management on determining the number of resources I need to allocate to my program. They're using the "here's what our EBIT must be, so therefore, you can only have x people," approach, and it basically means that I either have to quickly get an MBA in managerial financial bullshit next weekend so I can beat them at their own game, or will have to fix 8 laptops each day in addition to all the other stuff that I've got to do.
Irony is being told that I have to do more each day at work (just in: fix 8 laptops each day), but am restricted to working less than 50 hours a week. If I exceed 50 hours a week, I might get in trouble with the Works Council (a group of representatives/employees in my facility that tries to argue that an employee who has worked at the same desk for the last 6 years should not have to move, even though the rest of his department has moved to another area of the repair facility. In one particular case, where the employee's department required him to be situated upstairs (where formerly he had been downstairs), the employee indicated that if he moved upstairs, he would never come downstairs again.)
Logic is something that eludes many people. In the example above, the employee who will never come downstairs again might be hard pressed to exit the building; the front door is downstairs). More frightening is that the Works Council seemed to believe that this was a sufficient compromise. Hmmm.
Yep. My apologies. This has been one hell of a crappy piece of writing. I just needed a quick "get this stuff off my chest moment".
Thanks for the Easter greetings and all that.
Hooray to the Halls for getting a new dog.
Hope the move went well Jeff, and that you're settling in nicely. Thanks for looking after the padres house.
Yolanda, I've got a colleague that used to work at that German camera company you told me about last year. Come to Frankfurt soon!
For Derrick - I've finally got a white board up; first thing I've written, like before: babysit.
Moe - doing the Spanish thing again! Super cool. I'll see if I can slip over while you're there.
Jose Miguel - have a Guinness for me (and yourself) at Finnegan's. Tell everyone hello from me, and also send recuerdos to Gemma.
Heather - hope the hula hut trip went well and you didn't blow the whole budget on something silly like wedding attire.
Kitzie - Happy belated birthday!
To Goliad - somehow I'm not getting the photo updates of the little ones. Thanks for the odd jpeg.
For those of you looking for commentary on Arsenal football, you'll have to wait until August. I was always taught that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
keep the faith
bryan
soundtrack:
Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
Starship - Knee Deep in the Hoopla
Stiff Little Fingers - Back to Front
Alkaline Trio - Back to Hell
Shelia E - The Glamorous Life
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