Györ and Budapest

so, this weekend I took a couple of trips to Hungary to meet up with a friend. it was supposed to be only one trip, but let's just say, the Györ train station is confusing, my friend doesn't have a phone, and my phone's web access doesn't work in Hungary, so I went back home.

we both thought the other just didn't show, but comes to find out we were just on opposite ends of the station waiting for each other stubbornly. we decided to try again choosing a distinct landmark inside the Budapest train station and success!

Budapest is cool, it's not quite east-europe and not quite west. I think I coined the phrase yesterday of "being a happy amalgam of east and west that some might want to refer to as central-esque in nature"... okay, so, sometimes I make things too complicated, what can I say, I am an engineer.

A taste of Ljubljana

Okay, a quickly done and simple set of shots from walking around in Ljubljana.

Greetings from Slovenia!

Writing to you from the Hostel Celica (pronounced: cell-eat-za) which is a converted military prison fromYugoslavia times. I have stayed here each year for the festival and find it very comfortable. The festival this year is more spread-out and a much easier pace than last year. This year is only one show a night instead of the two or three madness from last year. Still another week and a half to go and tonight is a show with local Ljubljana High-Schoolers.

Useful Slovene words and phrases:

Dober Jutro - Good Morning
Dober Dan - Good Day
Dober Večer - Good Evening
Živjo - Hello
Adijo - Bye
Ena Pivo Prosim - One Beer Please

anyhoo, that's all for now!

Adijo!

SSDD

Getting ready for a pub quiz tonight, and preparing for a film shoot on Saturday. Other than that I am soooo looking forward to vacation in about a week.

Maybe I am asking the wrong questions...

So, the saga continues on my employment status. Today I got somewhat of a response and I read it as: someone dropped the ball somewhere but is trying to cover it up by saying no decision has been made yet, nor any ETA given. My response to that was a very professional statement and set of questions in response, but cleverly hidden in the sub-text was the following sentiment:

I'm kind of pissed, but not really, but somehow not surprised. so much for loyalty, i suppose.

Some ask why I am so committed to this idea, this team, and this company, and it's hard to explain. The team I work with is amazing, and I enjoy working with the systems we have created. Yes, it would be easier in the short term to just say screw it and find another job, but I don't want to leave, I don't want to do that to the team, and frankly in the long term that would not be a good move.

Life is a game of chess... and I almost have my pieces where they need to be... for 10 moves ahead. What? What's that light at the end of the tunnel? A freight train you say... hmm... where's my TBM.

Yearly inspections...

every year, every vehicle that wishes to drive in austria, nay, europe for that matter, has to have a safety inspection. today is that day for the corrado, where I join a queue of other people at the testing station and wait to have my car poked, prodded and probed until they are satisfied.

People watching in the Vienna Airport at 22:30 at night...

...I should be sleeping. I was doing a favour for a friend of mine coming back from Munich, but damn, the place gets entertaining when a plane-load of Russians lands 10 minutes before you get there.

One transmission to rule them all...

Okay, so the project Corrado now has 400hp, but whenever you add significant amounts of power, you have to take into consideration your drive train. I had it in the back of my mind, but apparently the stock one with 200,000km on the clock wasn't quite prepared for it... so, I have ordered a redesigned one from Germany that should be good to 600hp. The 4,000EUR I spent on it kinda hurts though... I never thought I would spend that much on a transmission. Well, in fact, I didn't, I only spent, 2,500 on it, but the installation charges and government inspection fees have to be planned for... *sigh*

Things made more difficult than they should be...

So, a few months ago, you may or may have not noticed that the company I work for was assimilated purchased by Microsoft. I used to work for the empire as a contractor back in 1999/2000 and while working for them isn't bad, the side effects as a contractor I wasn't expecting nor did I relish. A good relationship ruined and no personal life were just a couple of the problems it caused, and no amount of money I was raking in doing it was worth it in retrospect.

Now, let's fast forward to a few years ago when I made the decision to pursue artistic roads in Vienna while still working for a company that I had grown to love and nurtured my artistic and international ambitions by making a concession towards me and allowing me to continue working for them, with the trade-off of making me into an independent contractor. To this point, it has worked out pretty good for both of us.

Back to today. I have no desire to remain a contractor under the jurisdiction of my new parent company and the only reason I agreed to the contractor status in the first place was that my original company did not have an office in Austria. Microsoft does, so I see no reason not to make me a full-time employee again. Not only would it save the company money in overtime and currency exchange fees, but it would save me money in having to manage my taxes on my own and would make me feel more included in an already disconnected work environment. (working out of one's home is nice for the first year or so, but I miss seeing and working with people face to face.)

So, for now I will continue the fight, and I have given myself a time-frame. End of the year. That's when I have to have a decision either way. Failing that, there is a labour crunch here in Austria for Highly Experienced Database Architects/Admins and I am sure there is someone else that would love to have my dedication. All things equal, however, I would rather not go anywhere.