This weekend has been great, I hope you had a great one, too.
From the realms of our awesome living room (honestly, I so love our new apartment!), I “found” Tom Peters, Author, Trainer, “Management-Thinker”. The website is full of content - not just stuff, content! - and he is giving away a lot of things for free, amongst that: His complete Powerpoint-Decks and many PDFs, almost small books/essays. Right now I am diving in this stream of new information, adding books to my amazon wishlist and thinking of ways to integrate those ideas into my daily work. For example: How can I make the Institute (the place inside Capgemini I am working for during my first three months) a PSF - a professional service firm - that makes its customers go “wow”? I am currently working on a new internal print ad, so I might be able to integrate the new idea right now. Read this (also free, also from Tom Peters) for an idea of what he means with PSF. Don’t be put off by the writing style - it is very much like listening to a very energetic speaker, rather than reading a book. But the content, as I said, CONTENT, the flood of ideas, is worth a second look/read. Possibly a third.
I am gonna iron some shirts, then go for a quick weekly review, and then all is set for another great week.
Archive for January, 2008
Another two-week assignment delivered to the customer - this is fun! Honestly, although it is tough hours and demanding work, it really makes me happy. A good chunk of it is the environment - the colleagues mostly. Boy, I know that every recruiting website says that their people are the nicest and brightest and ladida… but here, they are not only nice and bright, they are people I like and some of them could well turn into friends over time. That’s a big deal for me, and I really appreciate it.
Adding to the good mood: Yesterday we went on a team event - my five colleagues and the two leads. We did a three hour introduction to improvisational theatre - that was awesome! The course was conducted by a professional actor who is playing impro for years now, and he got us to do all kinds of things - mostly being spontaneous, developing and continuing a train of thought, finding associations… we went through all kinds of exercises, all of them really fun. We worked really well together - the coach did not want to believe that we all know each other just from a few weeks to a few days. I am happy to be in an environment where, when it comes to play, hierachy really is not played, and I had terrible fun with my folks here.
Looking into the weekend: This is gonna be gooood! Tine came back from Marokko yesterday, so there will be lots of stories to tell and pictures to see. Oh, and of course: Serious relaxing to do! Maybe I’ll even get to go for a run - I was a good boy this week and spend the lunch break on Tuesday and Thursday running through the Tiergarten here in Berlin, so this might expand to the weekend 
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On Saturday, the best news reached my: Say hello to Finn, the child of Dani and Felix! He was born on the 12th, and looks as sweet as just a new born can. Congratulations to the parents! Finn is a lucky guy - born into a great family, including an “older” brother who I am sure will be a very proud brother as well!
In the light of these events, my day at work was the most trivial thing of the world - but it was a fun day nontheless, and I got myself a nice Junior Suite in our regular hotel… which has a downside: I cannot see the TV from the shower! I know, I know, first-world problems they are
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It is Saturday folks, time to relax, enjoy time with friends and family, and to
- listen to great music: Listen to Tubular Bells from Mike Oldfield. It is a historic piece, and you should listen to it on a real stereo, without having any distractions, in your living room. Get comfy, put it on, and get happy. I am not kidding - listening to this record actually makes me smile (and dance through the room, but that is a different story). I got this record as a gift from my father, which makes me realize that maybe I have grown up - at least partly - because isn’t it growing up to do something although your parents said it was right?
- Write a real letter: Yep, the one with paper and pencil. But do it right - use a blank sheet of high quality paper (take one out of your printer if you have nothing else around), don’t use paper with lines and holes and whatever else on it. Don’t use the block of paper with a company logo on it you got at your last conference. And get your old fountain pen back to work: Using it does not only improve your handwriting that has been crippled by ballpoint pens, but the blue ink also looks classy.
If you have trouble writing in straight lines, put a lined sheet of paper underneath. Write a letter to a friend, to your parents, to your grandparents - whoever you think of who has not heard from you in a while. Send it next thing Monday. I guarantee you, they will be amazed. Why do I know? Well, because of the letter I received yesterday that amazed me, and that now caused me to get paper and ink out again.
What matters right now?
Getting some sleep. Definitely. I am pretty tired, yesterday was long. All in all the week in Berlin was good: Three new people on the team, two new leads (=coaches/bosses), new assignments, lots of fun. But work is work, and work sometimes is quite time consuming
What else matters? The small good moments. Laughing with my colleagues. Receiving a letter from my godfather in the mail when I came home today. Finding great ideas on how to present data (Edward Tufte). Watching the sun set over Berlin from the 10th floor.
As Tine is in Marokko, it is a work/xbox/books weekend for me - I have quite a long list of books to read here, and while I am at it, I could finally finish organizing the library (just in case that boredom REALLY hits)