Orleans - Day 3

Today was not bad, we feel almost finished with as much as we can for tomorrow.
It rained all day, and we did not leave early - as in the afternoon, but early enough for me to get a little run before it became to dark.
We went to the restaurant at 8 and there were only one guest besides us.
It took about one hour before we got the starters - poached eggs on a green frisée salad.. after that another ½ hour before the main dish and about the same for dessert. The food was good though and perhaps I was just a little to impatient.

And the even though we were only us in the restaurant the waiter managed to mix up our orders - I have desided that he is an arrogant french 'asole'. The last two times we ate there, he gave us french menues, even though we asked if he happend to have them in english or german. But today my collegue spoke to the one other guest that were there before us, and he told us that they did have english menues, and got one for us. - as I said 'Asole' waiter!

Orleans - day 2

I am pissed off! - and slightly pissed, as well.

After more than 10 hous of working on a saturday (and that is on "Job salery", no overpaym no diets, no compensation, no nothing)! - We get to the hotel have a beer, and go to the hotel's restaurant. The only restaurant within walking distance, only to have them refuse us because all is booked..

So all I have had is two handfulls of chips and 3 pints of beer for my 'supper' - Im in a Baad mood. I know that compared to people elsewhere in the world its not a big thing; me not having supper once in a while, and in a way I feel that I should be ashamed, But none the less I also feel that I have been cheated, Eff the arrogant french waiter who blew us off, and eff the hotel for not telling us that we had to book a table even when we are guests. And I could probably find a couple more to hate. Grrrrr - Try me....

The day started well though, we slept in and didn't leave for the job until 8:30. We mosied on intil 8 in the evening or so only interrupted by a short lunch (a light lunch for me, because I were not that hungry, and planned to eat a 3 course meat at dinner...)and we feel that the worst is behind us on this site.

Tomorrow we will roll over a few pc's, see if we can fix the Juniper traffic shaping thingy, and then perhaps have the afternoon off for once.

Orleans - Day 1

We arrived at the hotel a little late last evening, there were a car accident on the periferique around Paris, so the drive took a little longer than planned, but we had a very skilled driver, which I found interesting considering her very pointy and higheeled shoes.

Today started crappy like always. the server back home acted up, and there were a couple of other issues in other places than here, which forced us to work on something completly different than we had planned.

On the plus side things look pretty good so far, we all have good, or at least not a bad feeling about the job at hand so far.

We have been put up at a hotel in a golf resort, food is nice and the rooms are good or the other way around.

Last night when we checked in, the pretty and wery gernerously built receptionesse gave us our keys along with a bottle of wine each! - The wine may be crap, I havent tasted it yet, but it does make you feel a little more welcome somehow.


Here is a picture of me actually working - or at least talking to one of the girls at the office here.

My hero

He'll give you a good woopin allright!

Barcelona day 6

The last day of our stay. After a couple of hours we finally got the PXE boot to work, the one thing that bothered us the whole week. And THEN we got busy configuring the last 3 computers. And we almost got everything fixed in the end. Still a few loose ends, but in the light of the problems we saw a few days ago. I asked the boss If we could leave so the taxi driver could make a quick stop at the F1 Track of Catalonia, because one of my collegues who is here too, really wanted to see that. So the boss suggested that he took us to dinner and that we mad a pitstop there first.

So we DID get a little sight seeing during our stay, even if it were only 15 minutes.
And not that im not a guy who enjoys horsepower and gasoline like any other guy, but I couldnt help but noticing and enjoy this as well

Here is the slightly more upbeat video than the last one, of our drive to the factory one day.

Next is the two companies in France..

Barcelona day 5

Beautiful weather today. To bad we didnt get a chance to enjoy it...

I had promised myself that I would find time to go for a run in each of the countries that we get to. But we have not had the time for much sightseeing.

working 12 to 13 hours a day does not leave time for much more than finding places to eat and waiting for the diner to get ready.
We eat well, most of the time, and we get a few beers or wine. But its a pity we don't really get to see anything.

Job is bla bla finished. There is a few loose ends as usual. And off cause the big one that wont let us install new OS on the Pc's - but there might be a chance tomorrow, we'll see. - I have made a driving video that I will upload tomorrow, so you'll see the difference between here and Poland.

Barcelona day 4

Less suckyness today. Not that things have changed much as to what works, but we have cought up with lost time and have come to terms with the situation. A kind of giddyness occured amongst us late afternoon. I am pretty sure some phsyck student would be able to identify us as being at "that" stage in the "process" but hey! as long as people don't gather round to see us break down, im ok with that.

We worked from 8 to 9 and apparently since its Sunday, most restaurants are closed.
So we walked a bit and finally found that the one where we ate the first evening were open. Apart from a few mixups with the orders (my collegue got a rare steak when we all agreed he said 'well done' - and i got a 'salad' of raw fish with salsa when i believed to have ordered a salad Niçoise (the waiter was quick to replace mine, but my collegue were to slow)).

So here at a quarter to twelve I'm happy to report that Im tipsy from half a botle of the house wine (which is billiant). And feling relaxed and ready for tomorow.

Not least because i found some earplugs at the factory. Last night I didnt sleep a wink because of the noise from the street. At 3 i got up and fabricated some earplugs from toiletpaper, that finally bought me a couple of hours of sleep.

I hope this post isn't to incoherent, if so blame it on the Rioca :-D

Barcelona, day 3

Today sucked slightly less than yesterday.
The server is still not delivering packages for PXE boot, but ordinary packages seem to get through, allthoug the DSF is using up all the bandwidth. We started at 8 and drove home at 8. Were all very tierd and chose a cheap pizza place just to get something to eat quickly, so that we could get back and get som rest for tomorrow.

Barcelona day 2

The day started good, I had fresh orange juice with my breakfast.

We discovered that the new server did not perform as it should, far from it actually.

Part of the problem were solved around 6 this evening, the whole day spent waiting thinking, worrying.
It is still not up to 100% but we hope to get some work done tomorrow.

Went to a small restaurant and had a really nice meal and a couple of cervesa's
On the way back we saw this typical example of parking.

This is normal, around 40 cm at each end of the car - apparently no problem for the average driver here.

Barcelona, day 1

Arrived a little after 6, funny to get out of the airport to 13 degrees c. after having left -4 degrees back home, it was snowing this morning back home.
Tonight leaving the restaurant and walking back to the hotel, it was with open jacket at 11 degrees c. here at 10 in the evening. - NICE!

It beats the hell out of Kutno so far.

Looking forward to seing what tomorrow brings, hope we have most of it figured out and that the surprises are not to big.

Obamas Elf

Heheh

For my Valentines

Be sure to visit the site, it takes a while to load, but is full of good fun - also for adults.

The Open Doors...

(about 9 minutes)

127.0.0.1 sweet 127.0.0.1

Got home at 11 last night, Cat was happy to see me I think, he's kept close all day.
I made it easy for him, was'nt feeling well all morning, so I mostly spent the day sleeping on the sofa, with him as a warming blanket.

Im feeling better now and its so good to be home again.

Here's a short film of the trip from the Hotel to the factory, from yesterday morning. Just thought I'd show that it really is as boring as I told you.

last day

Im finally at the airport waiting for the bording call.
as usual the last day is a bit hectic. final tasks. and people who arrive with things in the last minute, when asked why they did'nt ask about earlier. oh but you were so busy... yes - and im not here w hours before i should leave... oh well. ill be home in a few hours..

Day 8

Im pretty mutch finished. Just wants to leave. Kutno is gray, dirty and boring.

Tomorrow at this time ill be home.

Next time its Spain.

day 7

My collegues left today, and Im left with a few tasks, such as setting up printers, answering questions, and making sure things are in shape.
I still flinch when people come up to me and says "problem!" - but generally the problems are small - I guess im just a little worn out.
Cant wait to get back home, I miss my own bed and i miss Cat.
I went to Carrafour today and bought 2 kilos of chocolate for my catsitters.

Day 6

A day of fixings, just correcting bits and ends. No major issues. A little tension as we told the manager that some data that people had saved on their desktops were lost. But tomorrow at the status meeting at 8 we'll see how serious it gets...

Still stressing at times, its incredible that i cant seem to relax. I tense up and my stomac hurts, its very hard to relax those muscles.



Went for a short walk in Kutno center tonight when we came home to the hotel. That also felt a little strange - some people here look pretty dangerous when oyu meet them in the street on a cold and dark, windy evening, you kind of feel that it's important that you look tough and inaprochable when you walk here.

Day 5

Our Polish frind Piotr had translated a note for all the offices explaining how to log on to the new system and what to do.
A few problems, some minor some bigger and things got pretty busy for a while there in the beginning of the day. but as it progressed things calmed down and stuff got fixed. Still a couple of things I would have liked were different, but all in all not so bad.
Still not entirely calm, but I dont think i really will be for another 6 months until all the companies are transferred.
We finished at 5 or so, and went to chauffour or what ever the local supermarket minimall is called here. Stuff is dirt cheap (Ange!) my collegue bought a pair of shoes for less than 1/3 of the price at home.
I'll probably go back there during the week, to by something for my Cat-sitters.

day 4

"Nie ma problemu"! we were tought by the barman at the hotel - Supposedly it means "no problem", although it could mean "not my problem". We will see tomorrow when the users start arriving with tasks for us.
The day has been long, transferring computers from the old to the new domain, trying to preserve most of the data that people save on the desktop, allthough they should know better.
Slightly tipsy after a couple of beers, not minding to much that I know of a few items that Will be a problem/challenge tomorrow. We just calculated that in the four days we have had 35 hours of overtime.. to bad we dont get paied for overtime..
.