li

Work hard, Play hard... et un peu de déconne!

Quand il n'est pas occupé par son herbier, le petit P sème des pierres blanches dans la forêt... Adepte de vieilles séries policères allemandes, il n'est pas peu commun de le trouver en train de manger la choucroûte devant la télé!


26 février 2008

Ultimate consulting kick? Or kick in the nuts?

I am in Vienna... On a somewhat short notice! But let me tell you the tale of a consulting day abroad. To some, the ultimate consulting kick, to me right now much more of a pain...

So I just cancelled a few lunches, angry girls, sorry sorry sorry!

Then I got to wake up very early this morning and ...
.. .meet a colleage flying to Milano in order to get to Lugano
"I'm just as fast as with the train"
... greet a fellow consultant of another firm happy to get two flights for his Monday program
"I connect in Vienna towards Romania. Just got to love the lifestyle"
.. found myself next to some transcended colleague in the plane enjoying every second of it...
"I'll have another glass of orange juice... God I love this!"

"Big fat whatever..." I'm just thinking of my much needed sleep!


A day of work in the Vienna office later, I am in my hotel room: Radisson SAS Style ( high-class SAS)

Vois...
C'est moi ce soir qui fait le premier pas, on s'ennuyait un peu mon coeur et moi. Je reviens près de toi...

"Oh look the same soaps as at the Park Hyatt in Milano and the same Villeroy & Boch sinks as in my favorite restaurant in Luxembourg..."

No soap cup though, I guess I'll have to put in down on the back of a glass?


Is there a million dollar "customer discovery" project waiting to be sold, where the output would just be to convince the hotel director to sleep in his hotel just once?

At least the room's colors match my stuff. This for some reason makes me happy for a second...


... The minibar is on the house, or on hte company, or on the client... I don't really know.
I pop a bottle of sparkling and fire up the laptop, there's some more work to do. And networking or blogging or somesuch...

On tv, ARTE proves that leftists also get their share of nakedness, only not in club of any kind (too expensive), but in the sleazy outfits conceived by some "artistic genius": i.e. quasi-naked like in this piece Eldorado ARTE runs right now... I shortly hesitate to settle on Canale5: Indecent proposal in italian! But then I end up on an italian music festival... I.e. beautiful ladies aplenty and no need for sound... I cut the noise and listen to my newest fad instead. Bliss!

Je sais...
En amour, il faut toujours un perdant...

Thank you Julio!

As for me, back to work, I still have an hour of it...

The ultimate kick? The perks they hold us with? A kick in the nuts I'd rather say...

Signing off,
P

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19 février 2008

Fatality starts with affirmations...

Each and every inspirational or life-changing book will invariably tell you this one thing:

The first step to change is (i) admitting the facts as they stand and (ii) as such the need to change


Deep down


No concessions, no ifs, no buts...


The problem with this is that people have taken to the admitting facts (i), but not the need to change (ii). I call this the guilty smile method!

I am just like that...

I just can't resist peanuts...

I'm just not a morning person...

I just can't switch off a television set

Even in my job, some people just say
I just don't understand IT management, complicated excel or whatever with a guilty smile and that is effectively a beg for me to do this part of the work. Am I meant to feel good? Should it make me feel powerful? Is it a call for pity?

People openly admitting their faults think it absolves them. Well it's effective to make people tolerant to those faults, while one is working to change them... And that's just the point!

Today dear reader, you'll have a task:

You will pick up a fight with someone... and you'll lose!

No, much easier...

Spot fatality in your own speech and just reformulate it into a positive statement


I am resisting peanuts this time

I'll just switch off the tv

...

This is not about pretending to be a better person than you are, this is about - step I (ii) "admit the need to change" - actually becoming a better person!

Deep down


Seriously


See you tonight to watch the Champion's League!

P "usually I'm arrogant, but today I'll be humble"

PS: The author would like to thank Mr. Coué and all writers of coaching literature for the inspiration on that one...

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14 février 2008

Last week kinda socked...

Lately, dared by "Bedide Frau", I bought a pack of socks at H&M with the days of the week on them... I then proceeded to prove via MMS that I would them every single day!

And now lovely Yvonne from the office taunted me and told me: "Isn't that blog material?"

Yes, definitely... Contrary to popular belief, I remain a dork and I'll prove it to the world!

Saturday and proving it!

Sunday, walking by the lake

Tuesday, moving house... leaving Seehüsli!

Monday, back at work

Wednesday, jetting to London for the night...

Thursday, coffeine day!

Friday, a jacket, a scarf, a ticket to a party... and the socks of course...

And on Saturday, the socks kinda hang out with their peers, but always as a couple...


Well well, chill y'all, I wish I were eating something with someone, but that was not to be...

P

Bonus Link for the valentine haters

Libellés :

04 février 2008

Backlog - Mobile - January 2008

Sing to U2 tune The CFAs are coming...


Whisky degustation with the BCG boys... Amazing!


Nice and Cannes last week-end with Little Miss Sunshine...




Oh... And this one has been a tough week-end, but nonetheless:

"Happy birthday Dude!"

Signing off to go lunch,
P

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01 février 2008

Backlog - Mobile - end of 2007

I beg your pardon, if this is full of personal messages...

Romeo's CDC application


Barcelona, as Wayne Newton elegantly states it

"Though we go ooooohhh our separate ways, still the memory stays, for always, danke schoen"

Why I became fat in Luxembourg...


Paris, gare du Nord...


Hotel laundry... Boy do I miss this...


Ze MIS Modell... Dedicato a tutti quelli che... Thank you Stéphane!


I told you so... Adrien!


At the very moment of shooting this, it seemed like a good idea...


A party I went to in Geneva... Yeah, that was a real sausage party!


Let me quote Mike Myers "Silly is you in a natural state, and serious is something you have to do until you can get silly again." Sév & Luci!


The world is our playground? Extraordinary holidays... Merci MICK!!! (qui d'autre arrive à organiser des vacances et te fait rencontrer ton boss, sa copine qui est partner dans la même boîte, etc???)


That's me buying a bottle of water at the airport and having it sealed to drink at the gate (and by the way Tony: "yes, I only felt so so that morning in Vienna")


Those clown noses I put up in our office somehow keep disappearing...


Wild...


Dude in front of christmas tree... In Miami, they don't even know that fir trees exist for real...




Stay tuned for the first samples of 2008...
P

PS: I know I am the very very very last one, but I finally added Skye to my arsenal... A very special thank goes to Seb v/o Pint for that one!

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