Archive for the ‘work’ Category
Protected: More fun at work
Thursday, November 5th, 2009Protected: From Presales to QA Engineer
Sunday, October 25th, 2009Indian Lunch in the office
Friday, September 4th, 2009I had the pleasure of organizing an event in my company today. The idea came up when I heard of the movie “outsourced” and thought that might actually be fun to watch that with a couple of colleagues since it covers pretty much the scenarios that many of the companies in the US including mine are going through. My original plan was to have some lunch/dinner in the office and then watch the movie in a small group afterwards. But my boss liked the idea so much that we extended it to be a company event for the whole NY office for this Friday including lunch, beers and movie.
And looking back now I have to say the event was very well received. The lunch we ordered from Baluchis (Malai Kabab, Seekh Kebab, Chicken Tikka Masala, Saag Panir, Panir Bhurjee, Naan, Rice) was excellent and just the right “appetizer” for the movie.
Some people might have been scared that it would be offensive and exactly the wrong kind of movie to watch especially during though times like now but I think the mood in the office has not been that good for the last couple of month as it was after the movie. Agreed, the beer might have helped a little bit but I think it is also helpful to watch such a comedy with the right sense of humor. Yeah, it is a comedy and therefore of course exaggerating most of the times but I think it is entertaining and also shows in a funny way how cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings from both sides. Overall a very successful event.
Protected: Challenges ahead
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009Welcome to Hollywood
Saturday, January 31st, 2009I already mentioned it in my previous post. After spending 2 days in the city I had to go to Los Angeles for business. It’s a very busy job since the client wants us to take care of a lot of requirements in a very short time frame. But you got to do what you got to do to make a deal. That means that I haven’t seen much than the office (which is a really nice and new one) and the hotel room. But beside the nice climate – it’s got around 70 F/20 C during the day and I love to sit outside for lunch in that season 
– I already recognized a couple of differences to NYC. People seem more laid back here. For example pedestrians stop at red light here which is not really common in NYC. Then they got that fast food chain called “Wienerschnitzel” on the west coast. But they only sell hot dogs. I wonder why the Austrian “Governator” hasn’t taken care of this one so far. Anyways, got to work this weekend so I’m not sure if I will able to post any pictures any time soon…
It’s a small world
Thursday, October 9th, 2008Yesterday I met someone at the client here in Dublin which is currently visiting from their Munich office. After we were introduced in English, I figured we can talk in German to each other and then we found out that he was born in the same town as I was. It is a small world.
Protected: At the client again
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008Rain, rain, rain (Dublin)
Monday, August 11th, 2008Today I was flying over to Dublin where I am scheduled to be at a client site for the next couple of weeks. The weather here sucks! It’s raining the whole day long and the weather forecast predicts rain for the whole week 
But also the flight to here turned out to be a nightmare. When you are on a business trip you defenitely don’t want to go with Ryanair. After being charged a high airfare as I booked the flight on short notice and already paying high fees for changing my flight twice they charged me another 130 pounds today for overweight luggage. What I didn’t know is that you have to pay 12 pounds for every kilo your luggage is over 15 kilos overall. So my flight turned out to be over 400 pounds which is way more expensive than if I would have chosen another airline. And last but not least my flight was delayed for over an hour which is really unusual for Ryanair as they promote to have 95% of their flights on time. Never ever again.
And to make things worse: I checked into the hotel here tonight that was suggested by the client and they only had smoker’s rooms available. I feel like sitting in an ash tray and really hope that they are able to move me to a nonsmoker room tomorrow.
Working in London
Friday, August 8th, 2008So my first working really busy week here in London is already over. Have been at a client here in the city center for the last couple of day and worked on several issues in their system there. On Monday I’m supposed to fly to their office in Dublin and work there for the next couple of weeks.
This weekend was planned to be my big bday weekend in Manhattan. We had already a big party in a club in the city arranged but now I’m on the rainy island instead. Tomorrow some friends and I might visit the London Beer Festival. I’m sure we can get some drinks to celebrate my bday and forget about the bad weather there
One thing why I would not be able to live here beside the weather is defenitely the food here. After being spoiled in NYC by various choices of good food it feels really like a completely different place over here eating sandwiches nearly every day. Tonight at least Roman and I had some nice Japanese food which was quite alright.
Prices here though for living are really high compare to New York (other than rent). Everything has the same price tag here in London as in NYC but the problem is that it is in English pounds….
being flexible
Monday, August 4th, 2008Working as a consultant means also being flexible. I had to experience this weekend what that exactly means. My plans for the month of August were the following: moving on the first weekend into my new place, having a big bday party on the second weekend and go on vacation on the third one. Now everything is different.
I got a call on last Friday that I have to go to a client in Dublin for 3 weeks and that I have to be in London for meetings on Monday and Tuesday. Since I was moving this weekend I could push the flight to the Monday (instead of Sunday) and at the point of time when I’m writing this blog entry I’m already in London. The plan was to have some meetings tomorrow in the London office and then fly to Dublin and be at the client on Wednesday. But now after I got here the schedule changed again and I will be here in London until end of this week and then fly to Dublin and be there for another 4 weeks. I’m pretty sure this schedule might change again and I will keep you posted 
Would you be flexible enough for that job? I have to say that it is really hitting the limit this time as the moving was really exhausting and before I was packing for my trip to the EU I was still assembling curtains in my new apartment at midnight just to go to the airport at 5am on the next morning.
Anyways, the flight with American Airlines was really smooth and I got here safe and hope that the meetings tomorrow will go well. Fingers crossed.