Well it’s Friday and I am in the office. I had a meeting this morning with my manager and my manager’s manager stopped by for brief word as well. In the section of the building I am sitting in, I think that there is room 160 people, but it is the summer holiday, so there is only 5 people around me. And one of those five keeps on running out.

This weekend is coming up and I have no idea how to spend my time. My friend Markus is away in Denmark, and most of my other friends are all occupied. I might spend this weekend trying to be productive. Or I just might go to the airport, stop by SAS and see what the lowest-priced ticket takes me. I’ve done it before and spend a really fun weekend in Mälmö/Copenhagen. I really just feel like I need a holiday. Some time off just to relax and do nothing. Like a trip to Rome or something to get my mind off of things. I will probably end up buying the new computer. And the Magnus can help me install everything and get all of that good stuff done that one is supposed to do with computers. I have no idea how they work, I just help others manage them.

I made a really nice dinner last night, but I feel like it went unappreciated. Which i really hate because these days, when i cook, I like to put time and effort into it. I skipped over the lobster, waldorf salad, and baby asparagus wrapped with parma ham and drizzled with lime butter, and went for something more basic: honey-glazed chicken, roasted potatoes, and ceasar salad. Maybe it was too much of a downgrade in the meal? Or maybe because there was no wine to the meal this time around (there was plenty of wine, but appropriate white wine chilled.

I just read what I wrote above. How much Martha Stewart can I get without ending up in prison? Meh.

I should be working hard the last hour of so before I head out of work for the day (I am making it an early day, because this week has been tough and they get lots of extra hours from me already). But instead, I am going to get ice cream. A Magnum 5 Senses ice cream bar to be precise. If you have not had one yet, man, aren’t you missing out. As close to heaven as you can get without sleeping with me.

And I must stop stealing other people’s icon here on LJ. Immediately.

I saw War of the Worlds yesterday. 3/4ths of the movie was bearable, but the last 1/4 was totally strange and crazy. I truly don’t believe that Spielberg, all things being equal, can make a bad epic movie. But this movie wasn’t his best. It’s good, but not great.

I guess I just jealous that I don’t have one of those tripods to call me very own…

And my tooth hurts. Ugh…time for booze!

It took me an hour in the store, but i found a pair of sunglasses that i liked and that were not too expensive. They are from D&G. I have to use them in public, but I know that I made the right choice and the other 2 guys in the store also asked to see a pair after I had made my choice….lol…i just might be fashionable.

EDITED: And yeah, I know the glasses are crooked, so I guess I am not all that fashionable after all, eh? lol….

Lights, Camera, Guest List…Just do your best darling…

So I kept a fairly well-documented series of travelogues documenting my adventures from when I was travelling globally as a consultant and an auditor. I was thinking about posting them into LiveJournal from their original dates, then creating a summary pages that would be added to my memories. I need some influencers (you all who read this however randomly), to help guide my decision.

What do you think?

Summer in the office is once again quite enjoyable, when I think about how uninterrupted one can be. I like the fact that many of the people are on vacation, and that you can actually hear yourself think and have a real conversation. I like the fact also that if I really wanted to, I could choose to work from home. Normally I would work from home, but I felt that lately when I work from home, I never leave the apartment so that it ends up being possible to spend 2-3 days without ever leaving the apartment for more than 30 minutes. And that is what I don’t like. On the other hand, there is something quite nice about being able to work in your undies in the middle of the day, and lunch is always exactly how I want it to be because I have prepared it myself (that’s different than bringing your lunch to work, but when you do that it is too late to change your mind once you have made it and packed it).

And I had a good talk with my manager this morning. She told me that I was very wanted at the company and that she sees a very strong role for me well into the future as I move from specific delivery management into even more of a coaching, business direction, and management role. Even my manager’s manager told me that in 3-4 months, he wanted to give me an offer to ensure that I am able to stay as a local employee in the country. Which means that I lose a lot of benefits I have being on assignment, but if I negotiate in the right way, I can ensure that I am lessening the impact of that significantly. So that is another interesting development.

And finally, with regards to a new computer, I have decided on the following computer from a no-name company:

http://www.officeone.se/special/derbj.htm

I am going to get the Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz version. It doesn’t even come with an operating system installed, but I really don’t care so much about that, as I am replacing my old computer so I will just take the old license there and put it on the new computer. What is going to be really nice about this new computer is the fact that it will have expanded memory capacity (the ability to hold 2000MB of memory instead of the existing 284MB), the 160GB hard drive far surpasses the my existing 30GB hard drive), and I can take the DVD burner, 250 MB zip drive, and original hard drive and make this new system even more powerful. At first I thought about a new laptop to replace my desktop, but I decided that since I have a work laptop, I didn’t need a home desktop.

Oh, and I am looking for a new pair of sunglasses today as well as some new black shoes…this is going to be an expensive week and i am not happy about it!

Those who know me know that I am no good at afternoon flights. I am always pushing my luck, I am usually spending more time negotiating a free upgrade instead of making my way to the gate and being a good little traveller, and they always have to page me because I am in the tax-free shops instead of at the boarding gate.

So I manage to work my way into business class on a comp upgrade, which is ALWAYS better when I am going home because I get drunk on the airline’s nickle/sheckle/kronor/whatever. The lounge is nice enough, but I almost miss my flight. I was too focused on nuts. Peanuts. They were really tasty. Of course, I was drunk within 10 minutes. On the flight I got more drunk. And now as I sit on the train writing this, I am surprised that I am this drunk. Well not really.

I have to say that Finland in the summer is growing on me. Last night I went out for drinks and dinner with my manager’s manager and his colleague. I realised that Finland is actually quite a nicely designed city, with the downtown areas quite well designed as a meeting point for friends, drinks, dinner, movies, shopping, etc. It also helps that my hotel is located right downtown and that I have easy access to everything.

In the past, I have never been able to make a summer trip to Helsinki. I usually have to come in the winter and that’s no fun. But visiting in the summer months has actually been quite nice in fact. I think that I shall plan to come back here on business again before September. Of course, it is already planned per order of my manager’s manager. It would be nice to get in a summer weekend here.

Oh yeah, and there was this mascot at breakfast with a smoker’s cough. All I could do was picture this kid-friendly mascot smoking a cigar. Breakfast was hilarious 😉

Of course, we all know that I am really bad at morning flights. I rarely make them on time and I always have to charm my way on to the next flight without getting charged and something to compensate me for being inconvenienced. So my flight to Finland this morning was no different. After threatening the taxi driver with something short of death if he didn’t maks it to the airport by 07.15 this morning (the trip normally takes 30 minutes which means he had to find a way to shave 11 minutes off the trip — and he did), it was airport security that would not cooperate. So the closed after I cleared security. So I got to the service center, and after a really nice conversation with the service center rep (both pleasant and good-looking), I managed to get onto the next flight for free and complimentary access to the lounge. So now I will make my 11.30 meeting just in time, but I hate that I intended to be early and did not succeed.

For those of you who do not live in Scandinavia, I wanted to offer you a bright perspective. During the winter, it is really dark and really cold. But during the summer, people are out, and the sun never really sets. Meaning it’s dusk or brighter…

Scandinavia Stumbles into Bad Lighting

Just because it has been a while. I am not photographing very well at the moment (I think I need to find a summer moisturizer which will reduce the level of oils in my skin…amongst other things), but these were 2 spur-of-the-moment pics…

pics behind the LJ-cut