Gezundheit!

Winter has come to Brussels, sort of. It's definitely colder, but it's still really mild relative to this time of year, and it really hasn't been raining that much at all. Don't know if this is global warming in action, but if so, I'm all for it! Gore, shmore!

Finished the first full week of work, and what a week it was. Worked 8-7 or 8-8 every day, forgot what that was like, haven't had to do that since I first started in the mortgage biz, but then it was of my own accord because I had to work that long to try and sell as much as possible. Nice not to have to sell anymore, but I'm also going to miss being able to just pick up and go to the driving range or go for a run when I wanted.

My company is an open environment, meaning there are just desks everywhere, and you have these little trollies that you can conceivably roll up to any desk for that day. The reality in my department though is that you have your desk, and you just leave the trolley by your desk most nights ready for the next day. Of course the CEO, CFO, any managing directors, have their own office, so it's just us cogs that get to enjoy the open floorplan.

I've made a few observations in my first week of work: 1. People in general, and especially high-powered execs, really LOVE to get their writing corrected. I'm a shoe-in for the Most Popular Newbie award. The CFO came down for this little champagne "meet-the-new-people" thing they had for me and this woman who started the same day as me, and when I introduced myself, he said, "Ah, so you're the one who's wasting all our time!" I just said thank you. Profound I know, but I didn't really want to get into it with the CFO my first week. Then he proceeded to tell a story to me and a bunch of other people about the former chief of Sony who said he never spoke English in the US even though he knew how to because people in the US don't speak English. It was a really stupid story, don't really care that he was trying to insult me or my compatriots for a laugh, but if you're going to rip on someone, make sure it's funny. Of course everyone gave a polite chuckle because he's the CFO (and is rumored to be our next CEO). That is, everyone chuckled except him, he was practically on the floor laughing. Those finance types, what a riot. Anyway, good to know I've already made an impression on our future CEO.

2. Office politics are the same in the US, EU, anywhere you have more than a few people working in one place. People just can't help playing games, being passive aggressive, etc. It's really funny and really annoying at the same time. What did Sartre say, "L'enfer, c'est les autres" - Hell is others. He may have been onto something that old Frenchie.

3. Last observation - people in offices sneeze a lot. I don't think it's the healthiest environment, especially this time of year when the climate is changing and everyone's immune systems are weakened. Anyway, the first day I started, there was someone sneezing quite a bit, and I sneezed a couple of times, and I didn't say bless you for some reason, and vice versa, so I thought OK, this is a good precedent to set because normally I'm a relgious bless you'er to everyone who sneezes in my presence, and it gets a bit annoying sometimes, especially if it's not reciprocated. So I've made a conscious decision to NOT say bless you, at least not in the office, and I'm pretty happy with the decision so far (though I'm sure my fascistly-polite (or is it politely fascist) mother would not be impressed). It is weird though when one grows up as a bless-you'er to suddenly stop. My Pavlovian reaction is to say bless you, so I have to consciously stop myself when I hear someone sneeze, and in fact did falter once, and the woman was very surprised of course because I had spent a week of not saying bless you and suddenly did. I hope she doesn't think I like her or something. I think it's the right choice though. Anyway, we'll see how long it lasts and if I give in and go back to my god-blessing ways. Maybe I'll just limit my blessing to America, a la W.

That's all from Brussels. Ahh-choo!

Halloween, job and Movie Hero

Couple of photos from Halloween when Claire, Dom and Ellie came to visit. Good times, as it always is when we're with those guys. Jo's visiting now, went out in Antwerp last night until 3am, feeling a little rough today. Photos to follow, haven't downloaded yet.

Halloween. Ethan and Ellie were pumpkins, Sonia a cat.




















Got that job, started last Thursday, working in the legal department, writing/editing the documents for the board and committee meetings. It's pretty dry material, but it's the first job where I'm writing and editing for a living, so I think I'm really going to like it. It's definitely going to keep me busy as there are a total of about 80 committees between the hq in Bxl and the offices in Amsterdam, Paris, London with more expansion expected.

Some other good news, this time re the Movie Hero , that movie I was involved with a few years back. It came out on DVD November 7th and is available at Netflix, Amazon, etc. I won't see a penny of any profits unless we sell about a million copies, but it's still a cool feeling. All the credit goes to Brad, I haven't lifted a finger on the film for probably 3 years. A lifetime ago.