Q1 2009 report

January: Back at the office. They gave me an offer I couldn't refuse and then told me I had to reduce my rate/hour due to the financial crisis. Lost the final 3,5 kg so reached the goal of -10kg in total.

February: Worked (well, tried to as new project manager joined and all seemed a bit chaotic but should be sorted quickly). Met with friends, enjoyed my family, exercised, got a new smaller car.

March: Realised the chaotic period at work was not calming down. Stopped seeing friends, stopped regular exercise, started eating crappy food and realised this is what I've been doing for the last 6 years. Still enjoying my family and I'm really happy I've now realised what I'm like. This time I'm not going to stay unless changes are made to the project.

It's been a while...

Been cooking tonight and while stiring the chocolate fudge and frying the tiny xmas meatballs I realised I haven't posted in ages! So here's a brief update:

August: Got back with ex-boyfriend. Works well as we've decided not to move in together for a very long time. I figure we might do so if we stay together for another five years. Works for us at the moment.

September: Worked. Sort of. Didn't put my heart in to any of the work I did. Basically I just sat my hours, had lunch with the nice people and surfed a lot! Never billed more than 30 hrs/week. Was OK. Glad when it was over.

October: Slept. Every other week I got up to see my kids off to school. But the other weeks I could sleep until 2.30 PM. When I got up I grabbed some coffee, icecream and watched telly. Saw more movies in four weeks than during the entire year.

November: Turned 40. Did a health check which was an excellent wake-up call. High blood pressure, overweight and terrible scores on blood test. Decided to sort that out and spent the rest of november on a strict diet, cut down on my nicotine and took walks that lasted from 1 to 3 hours a day.

December: Still on the diet and haven't had a drink for over a month. Which I thought would be tough, but has been easy. I've lost 6,5 kilos and aim at losing another 6 within the next year. Not in any rush now as I'm not "overweight" in kilos (BMI) or waist. Also my blood pressure is normal and my new blood test result show I've done really really well in November. All values are perfect.
On Saturday we'll be celebrating Christmas with my kids and my side of the family as the kids will be with their dad on the realy Christmas this year.
On Sunday me and Ed are off to Tenerife. Hopefully there will be lots of walks, nice weather and a very relaxed week away.

To anyone reading: Merry Xmas!

dotmug389 is born

Was sitting around doing no good and remembered I never checked out how to blog from my phone. Tried it out and decided I want a pure picture site so another blog is now up and running.

Silly thing is I can't post while in the 3G network but GSM works fine. Not sure who's to blame though - blogger, my operator or my phone. Integrations! Hate them. And made me think of work.

Running dry

I feel more and more I have nothing or very little to post. The stuff going on in my life is mostly good but not very exciting. Stuff going on i my head is not very happy. I need to re-boot I think. I hope I'll spend more time outdoors and less time infront of the glowing screens.

I've got two weeks off now. Then there'll be roughly six weeks of work before my real time off will start.

Tomorrow I'll put air in my bike tires and take it for a ride. It'll be the first in over a year. Might stop in a forrest and look for some early chantarelles or just pick some blueberries and eat them right there. I might bring a blanket and a book and sit under a tree reading. Typing this makes me want to do all that now so will probably be just what I need.

Sick of work

I now wake up every morning trying to find an easy solution to an impossible problem. I've been here before and I know there is no easy fix, still my mind seem to try finding one - every night. I wish I knew how to stop it.

It is now July 22. At the end of September my contract ends and I will not renew it. Been with the same client for over 5 years and been doing this boring job for 10+ years. It never gets any better. Same problems in every project. Same agressive time plans and lack of understanding when we run late.

Come October I've promised myself to have at least 6 months off. I am going to do nothing. Or at least I won't make any special plans to do anything. I hope to wake up every morning and wonder what I'll be doing that day. I might get sick of doing nothing. I might start looking for new careers or things to do but I think it will take a long time before I do.

I am soooooo looking forward to this fall!

I should be packing

Don't know why I end up here instead of getting going. So much to do, and so little time. Birthday party for my youngest tomorrow and leaving for Greece on Tuesday morning. I have no idea what to pack.

The first birthday party

Digging around in my picture archive I found this one. The perfect look for a mother organising the first birthday party for her daughter. The party was grand.

Pictures from the past

Found these when poking around today. I look like I'm twelve years old! I so miss my mohawk. And yes... for the hawkeyed viewers, that IS a waistbag. My only defence is that I'm at the Roskilde festival and all valuables had to be carried at all times.

Pictures on my computer

I've got loads of pictures on my PC. Or my PCs to be honest. I've realised recently that I lack structure to almost everything I do. I might change that eventually but not today. Today the sun is gone, the temperature has dropped to only 15 degrees and I'm still on a weeks vacation. I think I've almost had all the sleep I badly needed and today I'll give my pictures a go. So I've logged on to Flickr (managed to log on after only failing to find the right user ID 5 times) in order to upload a bunch of stuff there and then post pics from the reunionen held May 10 with my old punk friends. They've given up hope seeing my pics I think...

When I logged on to Flickr I found this picture which was the only one I managed to upload months ago. I love it. Makes Becca look like a doll in a toystore.

Balance missing

Had a nice coffee and walk today with an ex from ages ago. He knows me well eventhough it's been almost 20 years since we split up. After the normal how's it going, what are you doing, how's the kids and family we spoke of what we occupy our lives with. I have kids and I work. Every now and then I manage to squeeze in some hours with friends but overall I realize more and more that my balance is off.

He, involved in some magic community, claimed he'd go insane if it wasn't for belonging to that group. He's sure there are several groups he could have joined but he strongly feels the group he chose is the one for him. Good for him. I can tell it is good for him. And I wish I could feel even the teeniest bit of real interest in the group but I can't. Not now. Too much mumbo-jumbo going on there that I can't relate to.

After nice foods and a fantastic coffee I think we agreed that I would benefit from picking up something non-work related. Something I really would like to do.

Easy to say. Could be easy to find. If I took the time.

Now back to finalizing (boring) work artifacts.