Good old days

2 years after he moved back to Italy, Manuel finally found a business reason to come to Brussels and the his team got back together for a dinner. Manuel, Guillaume, Stefanie and myself spent a really good evening catching up on everybody's life and remembering old stories.
Manuel was my very first manager when I joined the company and he will always have a special place as such. For sure this evening brought back all the great memories from when we were working altogether, the crazy business trips or rubber band battles in the open space... those were the good all days :)

A traditional German parade

We happened to be there right at the opening week-end of the 164th Cannstatt Festival (some kind of Oktober Feist). The kick-off was a parade with “Traditional Festival Costume” which would run through the city and ends up at the fairground. I could not say no to that! Despite Wolfram (and his dad) trying to make it sound as boring, dull, etc. as possible, I couldn't resist a German parade with traditional costumes.
And it was really worth it. Imagine a parade of all the local traditional costumes with dirndl (for girls) and lederhosen (for boys) everywhere with plenty of fanfares playing traditional music... Absolutely fantastic!

Have a look here.

After 1 hour of it, we were starting to get bored and headed back to Wolfram's parents house.

Still, it was "sehr schon" and definitely a must see (at least once in your life) :)
Special thanks to Wolfram's mother for telling us about it and to Wolfram who actually joined and did his best to enjoy it (at least a bit).

Pumpkin

To finish the day we went to the castle of Ludwigsburg to see the exhibition of pumpkin. Apparently it’s a yearly event and the theme this year was “fairy tales”.

Basically imagine plenty of pumpkins of all sizes, shapes and colors displayed and some of them built into big structures of characters from fairy tales. As much as the houses, animals and other coaches were quite impressive, the characters themselves had scary faces. Honestly the princesses were not that pretty (neither were the princes).





Overall a nice exhibition to see, ideal to put you in the spirit of fall and get ready for Halloween.

Frustrating

Having had no time to visit a pet store during the week I asked Wolfram if we could go to one while in Germany to buy necklaces, anti-flees product and other cat food.
He took me to Fressnapf and we quickly found what we needed. Comes the moment to pay: “no credit cards”! No panic I give my Maestro card. No chance either because it’s a foreign card. Luckily the place was next to a bank so we could go get some cash and pay.
Still, this is Germany, a modern developed country in principle and I cannot pay with my credit card!
Poor Wolfram he tried to explain that because there are commissions when you use credit cards, and shops are trying to get their prices as low as possible, bla bla bla… they don’t accept credit card. I’m not convinced…
Later that day Wolfram was buying a shirt in an outlet shop and guess what… no credit card either. This time still he could use his Belgian Maestro but not without hearing all about the fact that the commission will be higher because it’s a foreign card. Do people want to sell, I wonder? Maybe yes, but not to foreigners obviously.
After lunch we visited the local mall and stopped by Mediamarkt to buy a couple of things (I now have a Wii bag for my Wii so it can safely travel from my place to others). Of course, no credit cards accepted. I can very well picture myself buying a flat screen or a washing machine cash… Anyway this time on top I had to show my ID to prove I hadn’t stolen the card.
Next time, I’ll go spend my money in another country, one that accept credit cards :)

Clin d'oeil

Joy, thinking of you when passing by Valeo in Bietigheim :)

After 3 days in Belgium

Mokka and Muffin have
- Understood that after the alarm rings there will be milk (not quite got yet that it comes from the fridge but Pavlov tells me it will come)
- Masterized the art of flying around the room when jumping from too high
- Decided that when one goes somewhere the other one should follow (even when it’s under furniture)
- Killed their first spider (now I can sleep in peace, I have 2 spider exterminators on watch… just need to teach them to eat it after killing)
Adaptation to Belgium is going well.

Playing

Nothing better than playing with your sister

M & M

On our way back to Belgium we stopped in Serent by David & Melina’s place to pick up Mokka and Muffin.

After a quick introduction to the kittens we stepped in for a drink. When we came out, ready to leave, Muffin was missing. Mokka was there but no sign of Muffin. We nearly left with only one cat but the oldest trick of the world worked: at the sound of dry food she came out of her hiding spot.
We placed the kittens in the basket and left.
Amazingly, there was no panic mode. Just a little bit of crying and then they slept. Almost 7 hours in the car and 6 of them sleeping. The most stressed in the car was the driver who was asking for a “kitten update” every 5-10min. Someone was worried the kittens would pee in his car…
Kitten update #1: "let me out of it"

Kitten update #2: Sleeping

Kitten update #3: Still sleeping

Creperie Tout le Monde

Today for lunch we had planned for crepes. My brother has a friend who owns a creperie in Douarnenez. He just opened it in June with his girlfriend.
Let's face it, everybody can make crepes, not everybody can make good ones. And those were really good. They've managed to make the "ble noir" crepes (the one for salty mix) extremely light. Sadly in most cases you can eat only one of those as afterwards you really feel heavy. This time, completely different, very light and very tasty.
On top, they are being creative in the way they present the crepe, moving away from the traditional square shape to rolls (the crepe wraps the hot banana with chocolate sauce covering it) or to Bigouden (a crepe that is half standing up replicating one of the most famous "coiffe" from Brittany). Not only it's a pleasure for your mouth but also for your eyes.
Conclusion, if you are in the area, Creperie Tout le Monde is the place you should go to for excellent crepes.

Crêperie Tout le Monde
42 r Anatole France 29100 DOUARNENEZ
02 98 92 68 60

A day trip in South Finistere

Today we left the house after a good breakfast for the south Finistere. On our way to Douarnenez, we stopped at Pointe de Trefeuntec to enjoy the view over the bay and the Saint-Anne La Palud beach.





After that we went to Douarnenez for some crepes and visited the "boat" museum. In a part of the harbour, they have old boats floating that you can visit and see what's inside the boats.
Douarnenez - Harbour

One of the boats on its good side...

... while the other side is still work in progress

Wolfram climbing up and down in the boats very easily despite he's probably twice the size of the guys back then and everything is very narrow or down on the boats.

The "cabines" where sailors would sleep.
You can still see some of the pictures they would put on the wall: pretty girls of course :)

Last stop of the day: Locronan.
Who's the idiot who parked his red car right in front of the church?

Ile Vierge

After a great lunch with my aunt and grand-mother, we went for a walk in the north of Finistere to see the lighthouse of Ile Vierge.
Unfortunately the sky was grey (but no rain!!!) so not ideal for pictures. Still I took some of the lighthouse while walking along the coast.
The lighthouse with the grey sky

The bay - Typical landscape from Brittany


Wolfram finding his steps on the rocks

Wolfram looking for a crab (by the way he wanted one alive, the small to tiny dead ones we found were not ok - next time we go to the aquarium or the fish market)

Finally the sun came out for one last view on the lighthouse.

It's a long way from Brussels to Brest

But we made it in roughly 9 hours including breaks, a bit of traffic and the milk producers who were demonstrating today in Normandy and Brittany. I had never seen so many tank trucks in one time.
Great fish awaited us at home and after an excellent dinner I'm going to sleep :) Tomorrow I have the challenging task of showing Brittany (at least some highlights) to Wolfram. Now we're do we start?

I'm going home

We're leaving soon for Brittany! It's been too long I have not been home.

Servant leader

While reading a report on how to manage global organizations and how to make them successful I came across the following expression "servant leader"
Erg. I have to confess neither me or the colleague with me knew what it was about. So what do you do in such cases? we googled it :)
Here is what I found...

What is servant leadership?
Servant leadership is one of the most popular leadership models around today. The concept was developed by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970. The servant leader serves the people he/she leads which implies that they are an end in themselves rather than a means to an organizational purpose or bottom line.

What do servant leaders do?
- devote themselves to serving the needs of organization members.
- focus on meeting the needs of those they lead.
- develop employees to bring out the best in them.
- coach others and encourage their self expression.
- facilitate personal growth in all who work with them.
- listen and build a sense of community.

Now I know what I need to work on as a manager...

What happened to video clips?

When I go to the gym at work while exercising I watch musical TV channels to ease the pain. I gave up on news channel a long time again as they don't really entertain you.
Let’s face it there are only 2 channels available: Jim TV and TMF, and we can say it there are far from being the best music channels existing. But again, all that matter is to get some good music and videos to distract you when you exercise.
I’m afraid to say it is not that simple.

First good music: it seems those channels can only show a limited selection of songs. If you go 2-3 times a week it is very likely that you will hear the same songs within 1 hour. Order might be different, but inevitably the same songs will come again. You could argue that as long as there are good songs that would be fine but it’s not. You get the chance to hear one crappy song after the other. Again, if the video is good you could somehow manage.

But sadly I have to ask: what happened to the great videos that you want to know what will happen in the story? They are gone apparently and for sure those that are left are not played on Jim TV or TMF. More than half of the videos are showing half-naked women, preferably dancing around men. It seems the less clothes you wear the better.
Hard to believe some of these snapshots are from video clips that are played all day long on TV…
Now I understand why men don't really care about the quality of the music or the video, as long as those girls are dancing around, they're distracted from the exercise :)

This way please :)

When I go shopping on Chaussee d'Ixelles I have 3 options for parking.
#1: find a spot on the street - Forget it on Saturday afternoon or any other day of the week
#2: Underground parking Toison d'Or fully automated, always space there
#3: Underground parking on the side of the street semi-automated as they still have guys there to show you were to park and to pay.
I realized today that I prefer to go to #3 where I get someone saying hello when I get there, with a smile, chatting when I pay and saying good bye when I leave. It's so much better than just a machine and costs the same. Sometime it's a pretty old man very old school, some other times it's a huge black guy (looking like a American football player) and sometime a Indian guy like today. All of them are very funny and make your parking experience never boring.

Why Tall People Are Happier Than Short People?

"According to a paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, both men and women who are above average height — 5 ft. 10 in. for males, 5 ft. 4 in. for females — report higher levels of happiness than smaller people."
And why is that? Because of education and income...
"The study found that taller people tend to have more education, and thus higher income levels, than shorter people. It follows that the smarter, richer tall people would be sunnier than their vertically challenged compatriots."
i'm guessing the tallest man in the world I once saw during a flight must be the happiest man in the world...

This is another example of weird studies that are conducted in the world.

Read the full article here.

2 months

It’s been 2 months that Rajah is missing :(

Welcome to Newcastle

Renewing with the past, i.e. before China, I flew tonight to Newcastle. As usual there were plenty of people of the company in the aircraft.
My flight being a bit delayed I met the team directly after landing for dinner at Piccolino. As says the name it was an Italian restaurant which I found put too much garlic and oil in the dishes. But once again what matters is company and we had great fun.
Shortly before midnight I reached the hotel and was welcome in my room by drinks and a card :)

Surely this little attention makes a difference :)

The Belgian cost at sunset

From the aircraft flying to Newcastle

Sadly the picture does not render the real shades of colors. But can you expect from a picture taken from the aircraft.

Pixar cards

Delhaize supermarket have a special offer going on throughout the summer: the Pixar cards. It's very simple, each time you spend 20euros you get a sachet with 5 cards. On top they have special offers on some products giving you more sachets when you buy them. There are 216 cards from 9 Pixar movies.
They have created a website where you can see all the cards that exist, register your own collection and even trade with others.

Needless to say that all the children in Belgium are trying to get the full collection. Some grown ups, including Wolfram, are also collecting them.
The offer will finish on September 16th and as we are going through the last days, everybody is going crazy about those cards. Whoever goes shopping at Delhaize takes the sachets and either add the cards to his/her own collection or give it to those collecting. You can see children waiting at the cashier and asking people who are not collecting to give them their cards. Colleagues are exchanging cards for their children (and some for themselves).
To make it even more exciting, they have added 5 golden cards to the collection available as of September 1st.
Today, no Colruyt for Wolfram but Delhaize. We went grocery shopping at Delhaize and browse through the aisle to find those products giving you extra sachets. And we were not the only one doing so. Still we managed to get 25 sachets today and in one of them Wolfram found the Golden Cards!!!!

No matter how old he gets, a boy is always a boy :)

In case you wonder, next Saturday we'll repeat the operation and might visit the exchange fair on Sept 9th or 16th.

PS: I am amazed by the whole Marketing operation behind. As not only they get people to go to Delhaize when they would go somewhere else usually, but on top they get people to buy more and different products to get the cards.

It does work

A few days ago it rained (I know, so what?). I noticed that my wipers were not wiping so good and thought maybe it's time to change them.
Today while driving I noticed some yellow spot on my wiper and wondered what kind of stain that was. Actually it's just the sensor that turned from black to yellow with a "Danger" triangle, obviously telling me that I have to change them.

I have to confess that I never really believed in those sensors that I supposed to tell you when to change your wipers, but it seems it does work. Maybe the previous times, I was just faster at changing them than was required.

Sweet surprise

After a night that was definitely to short, I rushed back to the office for further preparation before joining the review. Around lunch time I came back to my desk to get samples and found this:

Wolfram had left some sugar bread for me this morning. That was a very sweet surprise!

2in1

Wednesday and Thursday we have a review with our Marketing VP. As a consequence the whole Marketing team came over from Geneva and you can feel the stress in the building while everybody is running around getting ready. Traditionally these days before a review are long days as no matter how early you start preparing for it, we always end up doing a lot of things last minute.
It's now 1am, I worked 17 hours today to get the presentation complete and "sexy" enough so the Value brands team looks as premium as the Premium brands teams.
I'm exhausted and going to bed thinking I managed to work 2 days in 1.
In 5 hours I have to get up as I have to be earlier than usual in the office to keep preparing. Wish me luck.
I wonder, can I take a day off in compensation???