Out Sick

Today I have decided to stay home. I was getting the dizzy spells again last night, something I have been suffering from since birth. Usually it comes and goes with the seasons, so I just take a day off to recover and I am usually fine. Sort of sucks though if I am not prepared for it.

Here in Denmark you get an unlimited amount of sick time, now what that means in practice I do not know, but your job is not allowed to be given to someone else if you are away ill. I assume this is usually backed up with a serious ailment and a hospital visit for something longer than a few weeks. I usually do not take more than about three or four days a year, including my child sick days, so it is not be fully used yet.

I have 6 weeks of vacation each year. In the US, most CEOs don't even have it that good. So, I don't complain too much when I hand over 46 percent of my income each year. I am trying to plan out a vacation with my wife for the summer, but we have not come up with anything particular yet. I am thinking someplace in Europe, but we might have a stop over in the US late this year if the costs are right.

I have to pick up my son soon from daycare. After this I will go and pick up my wife for the first time, usually she bikes, but today is her last day at work. Maybe I will get a bottle of something special, as she is quite excited to be done with student work and bad pay.

Until next time...

Soccer with the boys

Part two to our Foosball tournament went quite well. Today, "The Stylist" and I took out the "Database" and my arch rival "The bicycle philosopher". It was sort of a battle of the titans.

I have to pick up my son today, he is 6 years old, and I have made a promise that we would try a game of "football", or soccer in the US. We have tried to play many times in the past, but without much success. Is is not too excited by the rules where he needs to take a ball from someone, as is has a rather short fuse when it comes to losing the ball. I think he likes to be with dad, so that is what is important.

I also got us a membership to the local science museum here in Copenhagen. It is you average Science palace, and as and engineer, I enjoy sharing Science with my son. They have a huge playground inside, with a complete water dam system for the kids to play with.

It will be a short one today, as I need to pick up the bike from the repair shop.

Hope you are enjoying the good weather wherever you are. It is quite sunny here at the moment, so I know we will be.

Twingos and Drawings

Hi again peep.

Well, today has been much better than yesterday. I took the car today, which I guess is the next topic of the blog and it works perfectly.

I do have one question about my car though. Why in the heck would I buy a purple, French, Twingo? I suppose it was because of the sun roof, which I thought could be nice in rainy, cold, Denmark. Or maybe it was its wonderful safety record:


(I love the part where the head hits the wheel. Trust me, after this video, I have been slowing down.) I have only replaced the breaks, muffler, engine mount, head gasket, manifold, countless rust spots, and a rocker panel. I guess the French are known for quality.

I loved the repair work so much, three weeks ago I decided to try it myself. So for the engine mount, I took the car over to the"Gør det selv værksted", which is a do it your self car repair shop in the city. It is actually a great business idea. Basically, the guys there rent out a space with all the tools and equipment you need to over hall an entire car, and you get a professional hydraulic lift and techno music. It has really allowed myself to get back into touch with my man side. Overall, I have spent about 20 hours in the shop doing various work on the car, and I have saved a fortune. Not to mention, I am nearly certified in all sorts of Renault car repairs [joke]. I was told by my mother that I was into uniforms as a child, and this must be the reason for purchasing a complete, black, mechanic's outfit. So, not only can I talk the talk, but I can walk the walk too. It is just too bad there are no uniforms for my current job. I just can't wait to get back to the ol' 1977 VW Bug I have at home.

The highlight of the day today was winning at Foosball against some powerhouse players at work. The bicycle philosopher (French guy) is usually quite competitive with me. I guess in France the game is called little foot. It is just too bad they do not call it little temper, cause that is all I see from him, at least when I am playing on the opposing side.

I also posted a picture I drew of the "stylist" on the wall. It is sort of neat, here is a copy (but for your eyes only):

I had a bunch of time in Finland for work, so I did this one up in the lab up there. The "stylist" responded with a grunt of acceptance. So, on the wall it goes.

We have another guy here who is about 15 years my senior. I call him the "Colonel". He was quite happy with the art.

Until next time, just remember the possibilities.

Bike problems

Hi peep!

I have started riding my bike each day from home to work, and most of the time this is a successful and enjoyable endeavor. In Denmark, many people ride bikes in the city. Many more than in the US, for sure. So, to fit in and stay in shape, I got a bike about three years ago.

Originally, about 6 years ago I got a french bike. But this was more speedy, and was a like a cross breed of a road and mountain bike. It sat very low and hurt my neck a lot, so I sold it to the Database (Indian guy). He still has it, I think.

So, I figured I would get something that was more my style and was a bit more comfortable. So I shopped around, which for me means driving and looking out the window. I saw this one, and liked it from the start, so I bought it:

It is(was) a dutch bike (Batavus) , and I didn't know what the brand was when I bought it, as they don't have them in the US. I picked it up for about 4500KR, which was almost 800-900 dollars US at the time. For about two weeks it was a total dream for me. I am quite lazy by nature, and this bike really fit my body style, as there was total comfort in the position I ride in naturally. I am not right for the tight spandex, crouching tiger, look. People said it looked like a grandpa bike, but I didn't care too much, as these bikes are very common in Denmark, so I blended in just fine.

The helmet on the other hand was not such a good fit. My head is about 7-8 inches in circumference, and I picked up a big blue Bell(tm) helmet that looked just as it sounded. Safety first though.

So as I was saying, the bike started off very nice for about two weeks. Then all hell broke loose, and I mean literally.

Within the year, the gear broke twice. One peddle snapped off. The front handle bars flew off, luckily I was not riding at the time. The handle pieces, not sure what the bike term is, came clean off, maybe from too much sweating. The tire popped, not punctured like normal, but a big hole formed, about the size of a finger.

Luckily in Denmark, everything you buy is covered by a two year warranty without any questions. So I just kept taking the bike in for repairs. Funny though, as the bike kept coming back to me, it looked very different as the parts were not original.

So, after all this hassle, I am just used to the dam thing breaking down. And it did it again this morning.

I was preparing the bike yesterday with oil. I took the gear changer part off for about a moment, and it appeared to be misaligned. Now, I am usually good at repairing things, but I will never do that again. The next morning the gears were frozen, and I was not able to change them. So I did about 7Km in high gear, and then it snapped. And, when I peddle now, it doesn't move at all. I looked really silly trying to get the beast going from each stop light, both in high and in no gear.

So I just dropped her off at the place near work. They said it would take two days, so I am preying my gears do not need to be replaced, as this is the killer of bikes. The last time this happened it was about 2000 Kr, or around 300 US, for them to fix it under warranty. I would rather avoid that now.

Anything is possible though.

Me, airline pilots and nick names

Welcome Peep!

A bit about myself:

I am new to blogging, as well as the whole idea of sharing yourself on the internet, but I am not new to technology. I was given my first computer at the age of 12, and I currently work as a software engineering manager.

I was a bit turned on to the idea of blogging about a year ago, but never got into it due to the lack of time. I was formally introduced to the whole idea of blogging through a couple of public blogs posted by airline pilots.

What, airline pilots?

As a child, I always wanted to be a pilot. So, reading blogs about pilot life what a good way to sort out the "why I am not a pilot" question. Unfortunately for me, this has not yet been sorted out, but has instead increased my old childhood fantasies a bit, leaving me to contemplating a pilot certification class. So I figure, if pilots can do that for software engineers, what can software engineers do for you.

Originally, I am from Seattle, Washington in the US. I was born in Chicago, but I relocated with my mother when I was about 11. I have always been an only child, and maybe a bit spoild. I am married, and I have one son. I moved to Copenhagen, Denmark with my wife about 6 years ago. She is Danish, and I am one lucky guy, as she is a good catch, and very beautiful.

I am a bit of an idea generator here at work, so therefore I have decided, after a touch of Google and a dash of thesaurus.com, that I would call myself Fountainhead. It will take sometime for me to adjust to the name, but we are sort of big on names here at work.

The guy next to me is consistently fine tuning my code, so I have dubbed him a "code stylist". This is like getting some sort of extreme makeover, which he thinks my code is always needing, so the name fits quite well to what he does. He is also a bit flamboyant and very confident in his work. Nice guy.

We also have a french buddy who is from Normandy, and his name is "the bicycle philosopher". He is always negative when driving into work, but seems to have a more positive outlook on life when he bikes into work.

We also have an Indian named "Database". He is a bit more unique, as he can recall about every bit of www.wikipedia.com knowlegde from memory. I am pretty sure a lot of his spare time is spent on wiki sites. He can be a bit anoying if you cannot remember the details of a story, as he always enjoys correcting your assumptions of fact. Nice guy though.

We all work together on major telecommunications projects for a very large company based in Denmark. I would love to go on and on, but I am sure this is a good post for a first timer.

Remember, anything is possible.