Lunch break

Beautiful weather  outside, relaxing on a long chair in my break ;-)

Awkward moments

After a break with white sausages, bretzels and  beer, I can relax for a bit before I have to get back to work. But before I do that I just want to share some thoughts about some thigns happening at work.

If you work in a bigger company it’s quite possible that there are people you don’t know at all or not enough. For example, where I work now the room is at the end of a really long hallway, I have to walk it every time I need to go out, to the kitchen, toilet, etc. So here I am, getting out and heading down the hallway. As it happens, most of the time someone does the same on the other end, walking towards you.

Now the thought process starts. Will he/she enter an office before we meet ? What if he doesn’t ? Do I know the dude ? What do I say ? Do I say Hello ? What if I already said that before, what then ? A second “Hello” would look stupid, the dude might think I am a retard who forgets shit. So you see, this is a complicated issue. Basically you have several options you can take:

• if he/she gets into an office, then you’re off the hook, no need to say anything (best option).
• if it’s the first time today, a “Hello” will do fine.
• sometimes you can just smile and nod, something like a “How’s it going?” but without needing an answer.
• if it’s in the morning and it’s one of the persons you shake hands with, then do that. Does not work so well in case of a woman though.
• if you know the guy and you happen to remember some common activity you can actually stop and ask “Hey, how did it go with bla bla bla?“. That works too.
• sometime people say “Mahlzeit” (especially in Bavaria), which would translate to some like “Enjoy your meal” or something but they use it here from 9am all the way in the afternoon, like a “Hello“.  I keep thinking: “WTF ? What meal ? It’s morning!“. I never got used to this but I know it’s just a saying so I usually just reply with Hello, since that’s what they mean anyway.
• you could just focus your eyes somewhere on the wall and not say anything.
• you can develop a sudden interest in the paper you hold in your hands.
• or in your mobile.
• you could call your voicemail and listen intently to the “You have no new messages!” message while he passes you.
• if it’s at the end of the day, you can just say “Good bye!“
• if the dude has a cup in his hand you could say some like “You can never have enough coffee, eh ?“. Of course, that will sound kinda dumb if they guy has tea in his cup but sometime you gotta take the chance.
• you can punch his shoulder in a friendly manner. This has a limited applicability though, quite low on the list. And never do this if the guy has a cup in his hand because then the “friendly” part might disappear rapidly.

That’s as much I can think of right now but I am sure there are other options as well.

Life update

I am still around and I did not forget the blog, it’s just that I’ve been a bit busy with other things lately. During the week not much special is happening, it’s just work as usual. Most of the time in München, some of the time in this shithole small town called Rheinbach on the other side of Germany. Which is where I will be next week, actually. I can hardly wait, I am trembling in anticipation. Umm .. no, not really. In any case, not much I can do about that right now so I have to go.

Otherwise we’ve been working on our house, which we nicknamed “The Cave”, don’t ask why. The Cave is starting to look better now. We are also trying to do something about what we call “city rats”. They are not actually rats, just pigeons. We don’t like them, they are all over the roof, they make weird sounds and they shit everywhere. Luckily Freya might’ve found a solution:

Yes, that’s a pump-action water gun with a pretty good range. We hunt them down now and I think they are learning that it’s not so safe anymore to sit anywhere they please.

At the beginning of June I finally have a week of vacation, which should be kinda nice. As it happens, my parents will also be visiting and they will also bring a very special little somebody, which I will very happy to see again. That’s also the reason we have accelerated a bit the renovation inside The Cave. It’s not yet ready to receive too many guests but hopefully we’ll get it ready in time ;-)

Professionally I am still kinda working towards my CCSP, I have two more exams left in which the Cisco ASA firewall plays a major part. That’s one thing I can’t practice with at home so I don’t have many choices. Either classes or I just get whatever books I can for self study and I do the practice online. Which is what I will do actually. Internetwork Expert is a well-known site for the candidates to the CCIE, the Holy Grail of the Cisco certifications. They also have rack rentals and I noticed that the security rack has all the equipment I need to practice for my ASA exam: 2 ASA’s, IPS sensor, ACS server and so on, just perfect.

So I just rented rack slots for one week and at the end of June and I will just stay home and practice. It’s actually not that expensive either, about $15 for a 5.5 hour slot. My boss agreed with the plan, probably the $90 price for one week  plus some books as opposed to many thousands of euros for a 4-day Cisco course plus travel expenses might’ve had something to do with it.

Last but not least, I am still trying to convince Freya to do a guest post on the blog but so far no success. I am still working on it, she has some funny stories to tell from her daily trips to work ;-) I even offered to translate it into romanian but I guess I need to offer more incentive. We’ll see.

Bad weather is back

Weather was a little bit warmer for a while (and by that I only mean couple of degrees above zero) but then it all went to hell again. This is what I was seeing yesterday from my office window:

Bad. Today it calmed down a bit and it looks like this:

I am tired of winter. I am tired of snow. I am tired of cold, wet, ice and cold wind. I am tired of negative temperatures. I don’t want much, just couple of degrees above zero.

Tonight I get home after 20:00h so there is no time to do anything. Tomorrow we have to go to all kind of places, shopping, etc. On sunday we have a bit of relax time but starting with monday, we’re at it again. I am still home for that day but it’s going to be a busy day.

In the morning I have to go to the old apartment, we arranged with a company to come and pick up the last of the heavy furniture pieces. Then I have to drive to the capital city of this Kreis where I will apply for my new driving license, because I can’t do it in my own village. Of course, it’s not free: 41 €. Then back to Hertz, where I rented again a van for a day. Then back home, pick up the mountain of trash bags, old electric equipment, old wood and so on. To the dumpsite place, back to Hertz and then finally at home. The day is probably over by then ;-) Great.