T STands For iT Works!

 

 

My bit for Elizabeth´s T - when home-sickness strikes... This is a non-alcoholic summer-drink  waiting for warm weather and a holiday "Down Under"...

If you like, the journal again, sorting my boggled mind:

Monday: Dreamed two men came into our condo, stating they have the right to and they are to check - didn´t say WHAT, though. Suddenly a woman was there, too. Ingo was off to work.

Scary. Why does my mind do that, again and again? (We live ground floor but should be safe).

I got up, didn´t want to fall into that dream again!

THEN (this is no Pseudo code)

HA! I am so proud of myself! MS Word did what I want!!! HA! EUREKA!!!

No need to bother anyone!

Maybe I´m a (mini-) Manager for sure by now. I manage things! 

People, really. They altered not only Pseudo Code but also Variables!!! They torture me!

1heure > 1hour - who CARES?! It´s no REAL variable! (I hope!!!)

 

The Prince of Zamunda visited me soon after!!!

Colleague/customer A finally turned 30 and I sent some money via Paypal as I see no chance to get to Salzgitter.

Admin: I put your money in the envolope and add your name, ok?

On me asking, "no pressie, ah, money is always better" he sent me this:

We´re some team, huh? They are priceless!!

AAAND!!!! Another Street-Find!!!

See Wednesday at Tom´s Signs2!

 

Tuesday: Proofreader called me. Woah, I really had to take it all, he is "not amused".

Hectic, hectic hectic.

I asked if we need the meeting with the translation company "later". 

My mind was on Wednesday-mode.

11+ hours again, yet Teamleader and I found time (whilst waiting for Excel) to talk about Peanut and his cat.

Really. I cannot imagine anymore how we worked in one office! Being really physically in one room!

I remember my other T. When there was time he asked me to come into his office, we closed the door, sat side by side and he taught me JavaScript-tricks.

(Glas-door, don´t get wrong thoughts 🤣)

 

Wednesday: (Too much) work. Icky weather.

Thursday: (Too much) work. Icky weather.

ESE called and I got a BIG buhuu.  I am NOT to work more than 10 hours and that only from time to time. 

Funny. Instead of a thank you I get told off.

How would we have managed if people worked like this?!

Yes, not our fault the Spanish colleagues don´t deliver in time, but the job has to get done!

And we are a TEAM!

I said, I wrote down 8 hours always, count the rest I did this in my free-time then.

Not allowed.

Germans. Rules. My ALSTOM-Teamleader said thank you and sent a virtual glass of sparkling wine when our "baby" went on the rail for real on December 13th!

I was disappointed of ESE.

Being told off cause you work for and with the team...

I understand. They have to take care, but...

How is it in your world?

 

Friday: Dreamed we were in a Greek restaurant. My brain is a bugger! The Greek olives are way past "Best before"-date and we have an opened pack of Feta in the fridge. The prosciutto... let´s not talk about that.

I live to tell you, it was yummy.

FINALLY - only 7 1/2 hours of work, followed by doing the laundry and dishes. cleaning up, yippeee, my life is soooo cool. (Irony, right?)

 

 

Weekend:

Saturday: My brain boggles. I saw a series where a woman hopped into her car and just drove away. Away.. is my company car since 2018 and I´ve never driven since.

And suddenly I feel like I want to drive a car.

I don´t need to!!! LUCKILY!!!

 

I am NOT kidding you - and it IS scary!

 

I.Drove.A.Car!!! After 5 years!

 

A guy asked me to set Ingo´s car back a bit, so he fits in when I got the groceries out.

It took so long in the pitch-dark so when I came home Ingo was fully dressed (it´s cold) and even had a loaded weapon (non-lethal/blank gun, of course) to look where I am.

I drove!!!  I still can do it!! Yippeyahyeah, Schweinebacke!

Grocery-shopping and cooking: Ingo´s job AGAIN.

Indian Pacific on TV.

Trains, trains, trains all the time ;-)

Sunday: Slept in again like a dead one, but hopefully come March the mega-stress is over.

As explained here why I always write down but 8 hours despite working much longer, I will hopefully have some free time on my hands!

 

Food-wise:

 

To a happy T-Day!

 

And a sad good bye to Erika´s Red- thank you, it was fun (and I have some more I´ll just share here and there).

 

This is the last cat from my tissues...  which does not mean I still need them...

Henry 🦁

Tomorrow, Son (maybe)....

Let´s Play Again?

We´re back at WACA.

 

 

I sadly have no idea... is this  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry visiting the games in his plane?

Was The little Prince there as well? 

And who is the person in next shot, I have no idea, but it´s a great mural, taken 2019 in Perth.

 

This is for Sami´s COLOURFULWORLD Monday Murals.   

 

Yesterday my Brother asked me to write an e-mail to his wife who lost her Mum  a short while ago.

Was tough, and made me certainly think of my Mum who had to leave us due due cancer 2011.

With this I also join Erika´s Red - my Mum always took care my Brother and I got "the same but different".

His salt and peppers were black and white and that´s the name of their cat, Pepper.

Mine...

 

I didn´t know my Brother´s MIL that well, but always ran into open arms.

Cancer got her quick. 

She was too young to be taken away.

But then... who is not.

 

Henry 🦁

Life often is not fair.

Late Or Early?

 

Very sweet  - Ingo seeing this lille sketch said my red crayon is like really very short now, we need to buy a new one 🥰

I am so dumb it hurts but brings back what I lost!

Friday my to-be-teamleader agreed I take "hours" off and my teamleader agreed, too.

Yadda. 30 minutes, cause I had so much to do!

7 1/2 hours.

 

What does Miss Dumbness do? 

Dishes, laundry, cleaning.

Versa sitting and reading HUMMEL DUMM (such a fun book!).

I never learn.

 

Anyhows!

Clearly before Christmas I got medicine for Ingo at "our" pharmacy and since they know me I was asked if we have a bathtub. (Nope)

"This is also good for a HOT foot-bath in cold winter!", she said and gave the sachet together with light to me 😋

Now. We are down to 2C/35F and..... do I wait till Christmas or to I treat my tired self NOW?

It.Is Snowing!!!

 

Ack, I say... Merry (RED) Christmas to you!

If I fall asleep and off my Spock-chair you hear from me from the hospital (kidding!!!).

Ingo did all the grocery shopping (thank you BIG) but this HAS TO STOP.

I hope to take two weeks off soon and come back to normal.

This work-overload gets too much and to the question why I write down 8 hours only:

Germans!

We work on a trust-basis at ALSTOM instead of shifting hours "on paper".

I will either take a real holiday or pop in 06:00 am, see if I am needed, next time before lunch and other, as Homer from The Simpsons says ... "visit me in the evening!" (hope I got that right - here it was translated to "Sie können mich mal am Aaaaabend besuchen!")

For none-The Simpsons-fans fans: "Kiss my As#".

Two more hectic work-days (maybe) and then.... then... a time-out!

Last holiday was November 2021.  And I feel it.

With Santa and his dear Deer I join Erika´s Red again.

 

Henry 🦁

 

It´s snowing, so maybe Santa really came back - you´ve been good, eh?

(...)

 

Back In The (To)Day

 

I still have to learn a lot. 

The paper is beige and I thought the white would come out OK.

Black paper would not have worked for the other tools/colors - bare with me. 

And/or help me!

 

Well, what is this about?

There was a short docu on a sweet no one who got asked knew the name of but we as kids got it offered plain EVERYWHERE!!!!

 

Even at the dentist!!!

Because it was so cheap.

 

"Fruchtkaramellen", hmmm, dunno.

They were produced in West-Germany, very, very cheap and then production went to "East-Germany" - sorry,  I think it will take generations to overcome this, despite some of my best teamleaders were from "over there" and with one I still am in daily contact.

How about you?

Do you see a united "one" Germany or also still East and West?

 

Anyhows, who ever knew, you can still buy these sweets, along with Halloren-Kugeln, a very well known and loved sweet from GDR , if you care have a look here (brrrr, sweet tooth went into hibernation just seeing them online. Ingo loves them...).

Anyhows, these sweets were terrible and lead you soon to the next visit at the dentist, but.... you fell for them EVERY.TIME!!! 

Even sleepy-sweet-tooth-me, I remember them!!!

With this I join Erika´s Red again.

 

Henry 🦁

 

Baby Henry, yes, we also called these "Kau-Bonbon" , sweets to chew, and I wonder.. is it from the French word "bon" for "good"?

Especially dentists would be like really mean then! 

Speaking of... Ingo promised ours I´ll pop in in March... 😨

 

 

Only From 4-99!! Smile & Red & FFO

 

 

I came to my home-pc-place and found.... (I took him to the kitchen for a better pic):

(You are allowed to "play" with him only from ages 4-99 it says here...)

I have more than one Spock-T-Shirt, so this was a wonderful surprise after another 10+ work-day! I was so knackered in fact, it took me a while to find Spock on the blue table!

Ingo sure had another idea than I leave it like that, of course!

(Too precious to use from my POV).

 

So... FREE MR. SPOCK!!!

 

 That thing in front?

Spock was child-safe, though, and Ingo had to use another tool.

Sadly his hand does not give the Vulcan Salute 🖖, so I left the arm as it was - otherwise he would look like Hit#er!

 

Double tricky as in... did you know Jewish Spock-actor Leonard Nimoy "based it on the Priestly Blessing performed by Jewish Kohanim with both hands, thumb to thumb in this same position, representing the Hebrew letter Shin", which stands for "Almighty (God)" - Also "U.S. President Barack Obama referenced the Vulcan salutation in his statement on Nimoy's death, calling it "the universal sign for 'Live long and prosper'".(Wiki).

He was some clever and "mighty" man, this Mr Spock Nimoy, don´t you think?

 

My work place is getting full, I re-organized, as I want Spock for some logic right there!

 

(The palm-"thingy" is a usb-humidifier for my eyes.)

 

This pressie gave me a HUGE SMILE, with which I join Annie´s Smiles.

 

And... how did Spock arrive here, anyways?

A chance to join Nicole´s FFO and also Erika´s Red:

 

 To all those with the red shirts... Stick to Scotty!!

Henry 🦁

To a happy Friday!

To Love And Care

 

"Back"? OK, let´s start at the beginning (the actual entry-pic is just so crappy I didn´t want to shoo you straight away!).

 

Last Saturday Ingo brought me these babies for, as he repeated all the time, the best €0,99 invested!:

 

 These babies had to move every work-day, of course!

 

 

And, well, see first pic, back home 🥰

Thank you Ingo!!! 😘

 

The "story"  for Erika´s Red continues.

Yesterday I showed you Bart and Lisa with their toy-vehicles.

(The Simpsons, as The Muppet Show is not for kids, btw)

Well, Lisa was only 2-3 years old in this episode and lost control over her red car! 

Big Brother Bart last sec grabbed her and we find a surprised Lisa safely on her feet:

I had such a trike and I had to take care of my lille Brother.

I am BART!!!!

 

Henry 🦁

To all big Siblings... guess we mostly did a good job, huh?

And to the smaller ones... Say thank you maybe one time. We were your co-parents.

And now we simply help each other and age does not matter no more!

Summary: To flowers and love.

The Freo Doctor

 

 

From horse racing on Monday in Perth how about cricket?

I admit I only know it from The Simpsons (and think the game is boring, but anyone enjoy what does not harm others, right). 

 

The title? Well, the WACA (Western Australian Cricket Association) is also known as the "Fremante Doctor"  due to "the afternoon sea-breezes which regularly pass the ground" (wiki).

 

This is for Tom´s Signs2 - don´t we all look forward to a nice sea-breeze?

 

And for Erika´s Red I join you with this:

 

 

I never had such a car, you?

I´m more like Bart, more to come 😀

Henry 🦁

Just walk faster, Son.

T STands For Sleep a LoT

 

Let´s start Elizabeth´s T-Day with a refreshing drink, shall we?

A hint of Spring, kinda, against the ever-grey days!

And if you care again... the journal and I try to not exhaust you ;-)

Monday: Teamleader and I checked out how something in MS Word works.

Everyone knows only bits and pieces and we share knowledge... 

After a (longer) while I got like really hungry (got up shortly before 05:00 am and it was way past 09:00 am) and mumbled, "oh, put the butter on the heating..." - he interrupted: "QUICK!!!! Get it OFF!!! NOW!!!"

 

When he was into flat sharing (we´re one age) this happened to one of his mates. At first it smelled yummy, but like very soon... not so much.

Here it was truffle-butter, too! 

Gosh, that must´ve been a very bad experience, LOL!!!

Exhausted yet?😂

Later tenant S called me. 6 times (exhausting!). 

She is so sweet. Next time she comes to Braunschweig we´ll meet. Her stove broke and she expects guests in 2 weeks - this is urgent!!! It is!!!! And she tries to get best price, too - the coffee will be on me then (and certainly the stove). All the rest her "partner" will do. Is there an age from which on you skip the word "boyfriend"? I talked to him, too. Twice. Whilst being at work.

She repeated how nice my Mum was and, after Mum´d passed we somehow were in the place and my Brother talked to Mrs S, pointing at me, that I took the role. I can´t remember, I was beside myself still (and likely at the car already)... My Brother is like really strong...

Bakery... Cutest handwriting, see:

And "the other lady" was there. She is sick and told me her story.

Sometimes I wonder if something is written on my head saying, "worries? Talk to me!".

I hope I could cheer her up a bit, she smiled when I left.

Actually she should be retired, but cannot afford it. Poor Germany. But I don´t wanna get political now...

 

Tuesday: After 12+ work-hours and Ingo asking me 3 times to stop I quit work for the day.

Not finished. Gack!

What do I write down officially? 8 hours. Aw, well we all run nuts. Team, did I ever mention?

To-be-Teamleader said "Thank you" - more motivation 😀

And very happy I can work from home and not drive 40 km on top, looking endlessly for a space to park my (now non-existing) car!

No training, but Ingo let me know "Lost Places" is on TV and I got a Valentine´s kiss 😘

Wednesday: I may copy The Padre, I have "ice berg clients"! Who, WHO THE HECK translates "pseudo code" and variables??? 

AGAIN!!!!

Documents straight from hell!!!!

BUT - I now have TWO Excel-magicians!!!! "The new one" said, "we learn on the job", and hell, do I learn a lot!!! It is great and satisfying!!

Best job in my life!!! Hell or heaven it´s wonderful.

But first time (since April) I used the function "do not disturb me" in MS Teams!

And no one cared, LOL. 12+ hours again, but I got the job done without help, yipeeee.

 

Thursday: 10+ hours, but the rest was rather chit-chat. Teamleader showed me an iso-drawing of a bogie. 

P.S. reckon my sketch is real bad. This is a bogie, "a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle - a modular subassembly of wheels and axles." (Wiki)

I said, Ingo and I were at InnoTrans Berlin and the bogie on display was "closed". Why don´t they show the details?!!! Teamleader: "No one cares!" - "I do!!!" - "Yes, you!..."

How can you not be interested in the things you work with?!

 

We also talked about diversity. It´s kindy, how people behave!

Excel-magician #1 speaks rather... unclear. Teamleader revealed he wears hearing aids, that´s why and colleagues don´t care, they refuse to take the headset and speak LOUD over the speaker, when in the office together.

Reasons???? They "sweat" under the headset, it itches etc, etc. That.is.worse.than.kindy!!!

 

Friday: We still run nuts. Our Spanish P said, it now is "ALSTOM VS ALSTOM - who wins?"

As a The Simpsons-fan I certainly without thinking blurted out "who thinks of the CHILDREN?!!!!"

You could identify the other The Simpsons-fans on the dot 🤣

9 hours. On a Friday.

Weekend:  

Saturday: Ingo did the grocery and cooking. I am... knackered.

I got the sweetest "unborn" flowers!

 

Food, see here hence:

 

Sunday: Woke up, Ingo by my side, breathing softly, cuddling up, bliss (we both can snore like devils). I looked up at our clock - 6:00AM???????

I forgot to take a shower and Ingo should be gone to work since over an hour, me at the work PC NOW!!!!

And then I got it... it´s SUNDAY, not MONDAY. The stress really gets me. And even if. I could´ve jumped and ran to the work PC and start getting "the delta".

Reckon Teamleader said for a reason I´m a manager.

Yet.

The project is at stake.

Documents we cannot translate to German cause Spain  didn´t deliver in English we will just pass them on that way. No,I´m not drunk we have this mess for real.

Some we have in Chinese, French, we have people in India, Poland, Switzerland, Austria and... I think that´s it.

German suppliers translated to English for the Spanish guys and now re-translate to German for Frankfurt.

We hope for the best.

Wish us luck!

Had a nice chat with J. on Friday btw. He said the tram is safe, just the documents are chaos.

And why I greet pantos... he really laughed. (He near to never laughs and is like very young).

What a week. I slept a long deal.

Art-wise I´m in for Erika´s Red with...

 

 

Henry 🦁

Happy T-Day!!