Jason's Daily Notes

Saturday, I got up relatively early and did my food shopping. I made sure to buy some probiotic yogurts to prepare my stomach for India :). Went to Francesco's, chilling in his flat for some time, and we walked around to buy spices. We walked back to his place, then Mike joined. Cesco stayed to do his laundry. Mike and I biked to Toom Baumarkt (near REWE on Ulmenstr), because he wanted to buy curtains for his flat. Along the way, Mike told me how he slept with Julia twice this week, on Monday and Thursday. I knew it would happen, but I didn't feel very upset as I thought I would be (and why should I anyway?). We didn't find decent curtains at toom, so we stopped by my place to rest for a little bit before we biked all the way to Obi to continue our shopping. At Obi, there were curtains but not roll-up curtains in the right size. So we left, trying Bauhaus. There was not much selection there, but at least curtain rods in the right size, so Mike got those. We biked to his place on Bismarckstr. and dropped them off there. He also installed a new port for his internet. We biked to my place and got to cooking Thai green curry for dinner. It was done pretty quickly (we make a good cooking team) and then we both fell asleep in my room :) The party at the company flat was going on, but we didn't make it there until past midnight. People were already leaving, but we just chilled there with Cesco, Nicky, Yuti, Oscar, Anna, and Andreea. Funny conversation ensued. Biked home around 2:30am.

Sunday, I was pretty productive. Something smelled really bad in the kitchen, so I cleaned out the entire fridge, and the unplugged freezer (which was covered in mold)! I went to the office in the afternoon, getting some work done on our academy presentation. Mike took his mom, stepdad, and sister around the office too. (They were visiting, and his stepdad helped with installing his curtain rods.) I went to the company flat and joined Carla, Matze, Julia, Eliz, and Rob for a little toke. Actually several not-so-small hits :) We used plastic bottles. It was cool to chill with everyone. Sabrina and Matilde returned from a trip to Amsterdam. Julia left to get her bike from her ex-boyfriend. I tried to get Mike to join, but he was writing his thesis. So I went home around 11pm and Mike came over again to get his thesis corrected. I was cozy in bed by 2am. Mike biked home - poor guy is sleeping on an air mattress still.

1 week until I leave for India!

The weather is chilly.

Stressful day full of FAILs.

Had to mail in my form for travel health insurance. Printed them out and went to the post office and mailed them in. I had to buy a bike bell and small toiletries for my trip, so I went to Nordstraße. Didn't find what I wanted at Woolworth's. My bike broke (the rear tire shield). So I went home to fix it. My solution? Duct tape. But my neighbor helped me by applying twist ties instead.

I made lunch at home. I got in the mail the official health insurance form, with a free return envelope! FAIL.

Stayed working until 8pm. So much to do (sending new deals, etc.)

Matze and Anna returned to visit for the weekend! I stayed and had a drink with Matze and Carla and then just went home.

Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Work. Thomas is still out of the office (for the rest of the week)
Mike: "I have something to confess to you." So we briefly meet. He has been offered a traineeship! But for less money than he wants.
Lunch: Leftover veggie cordon bleu and pasta.
Salsa dancing. My partner was Marina. It was a bit more challenging; we combined all the steps from previous weeks.


Thursday, 7 November 2013
Full day of work.
Lunch: Mensa (No NA Meeting)
It was raining the whole day.
Stressed. Over setting up the email campaigns.
I stayed in the office until 9pm, with Didem. Tried to create the slides for my academy presentation, but only got through 1.

It's cold. I packed my backpack for work, preparing for Badminton (but I decided not to play today).

We had a team meeting/breakfast again today. It was pretty chill. Thomas is away from the office so everything is ok.

I went to the bank and sorted out (1) my address, (2) my new TAN list, and (3) my travel plans for India.

Lunch was the leftover breakfast foods, with Nick and Mike and Toby.

Met with the new interns (Rob and Miika) to introduce myself and Toby.

I work better when it's quiet.

Mike lost his wallet, and he felt pretty upset about it. He went home around 4:30. I looked in the bathrooms and around the office for the wallet. He found it eventually inside his couch cushions.

It was raining the whole afternoon, so I stayed inside the office.

Dinner was penne with sun dried tomatoes, and a vegetarian cordon bleu.

I posted a job posting on Reddit and got over 50 responses in a few hours. I spent the evening responding to them before going to bed.

Thursday, 31 October 2013
It's Halloween. I wear my Inigo Montoya costume to work. Mike is Woody. He pulls off the costume well.
Interviewed a girl in my costume. Hilarious.
It's also the kickoff of Movember at the office. We all take a group picture.
Not much work gets done.
Stayed at the office drinking, with Nick the American. We (Lisa and I) bike to the Altstadt and meet with everyone else. Katie is rocking the Elektra/sexy skeleton, and Toby pulls off the Mad Hatter really well. We went to Sigrid's and saw everyone there. Danny and Betty were really good as the smurfs, and Yati was a cool F1 driver.

Friday, 1 November
Day off! I didn't end up going to Hamburg, Amsterdam, or Belgium at all. Just stayed in the whole weekend. I am starting to watch videos to prepare myself for India.
In the afternoon, I helped Mike move in. Well, actually: Mike arrived with his dad (driving a van with a trailer full of furniture and everything for the new apartment), and then "bad news - I forgot my key." So they had to drive all the way back to pick up the key! I waited at the office and actually got some work done :). Then, around 9-10pm I helped moving everything into the apartment.
It rained. I didn't go out. I just slept. (I have been sleeping a lot lately, probably because of the lack of sunlight these days.)

Saturday, 2 November
Went shopping with Anton. He wanted to get some weights. We went to Real, where we met Francesco. Bought stuff for the flat (baking tray) and a bunch of chicken to cook for dinner. I decided to go to Bonn the next day.
Trammed back home and baked the chicken in a lime-cumin marinade. Also made homemade guac and tortilla chips.
Ended up drinking with Anton and Badi in the flat. We then went out to the bar where Badi works (Zogel) for a couple more beers, then to the Altstadt (Schaukelstühlchen) for more drinks. We were admiring the crowd. Phil and Jennifer M were there. I was quite tipsy at the end. Anton and I didn't join Badi and his friend who went to Mauer. Instead, we walked to the Nordstraße station and caught the U-Bahn just in time!

Sunday, 3 November
Day trip to Bonn! I went with Anton, and met Valentin, Marina, and Marina's friend Leona (who was visiting from London - she also went to LSE and is now doing economic consulting!). We took the train there. Along the way, Anton was impressed with Cologne's cathedral so we decided to stop there on the way back. I was also making my usual semi-offensive jokes; Marina loved that her car key was now a brick.
Bonn was nice; small, but pleasant to walk around. We wandered quickly around the park, then the river, and in the city. Saw Beethoven's birthplace (but didn't want to pay to go in) and had a delicious filling meal and beers at the brewery Zum Stiefel (the Boot). Surprisingly, stores were open this Sunday!
Already bored and wanting to check out more, we hopped on the (slow) train to Cologne. We explored the city, walking through the cathedral and the city. We wandered all the way to Zülpicherstraße and got another drink at a bar there. Leona had to return in time for her flight, so we returned to Düsseldorf (I slept on the train).
Anton and I cooked some more chicken (the cutlets that weren't spoiled).

Monday, 4 November
The 2 new interns started: Rob from England, and Miika from Finland. I went to lunch with Carl, Toby, and Miika at Vapiano.
Mike had the day off, but he nevertheless stopped by the office to sort out ordering his Internet and finding a mattress for his apartment (he was sleeping on an air mattress).
After work, I walked Miika to his new flat. He moved into Mike's room. What a coincidence! I then went home and cooked some eggs. Then I went to the other company flat to see Yuti. Chilled with her and Nicky and Annalia and Kate (and Carlos). Chatting about their trip to Amsterdam, India, nakedness in Finland, and Breezerslets (new Dutch word, lol). I then stopped by downstairs to say hi to Sabrina and see how her trip to Belgium was. Matilde was also there, and so was Rob (the new British intern). He was feeling a bit ill so I offered him some lemon ginger tea.
It was really cold at night. Close to freezing. Got home and slept around midnight.

I was awake before 08:00, but I took my time getting ready, browsing the internet, and cleaning up, so I didn't get to the office until around 09:15.

Work is very routine now. Nothing too interesting happening. I don't have much motivation to push creative ideas or take much initiative. I'm occupied just keeping things going at the status quo.

There is still no answer from my intern, Kila. She needs to decide. I'm already interviewing other people.

For lunch, I biked to What's Beef burgers. I figured, why not? I had wanted to go there for a long time, and I was really annoyed that everyone else had gone there without me. I was also feeling particularly jealous of Mike again, for going to Mongo's restaurant last night and saying that there's no way he would go there again because it's too expensive.

I'm slowly getting prepared for my trip to India in less than 3 weeks! But first, halloween. People don't know my costume, except for the Americans. Nick is really excited for it.

We celebrated Jon's birthday by surrounding him at his desk in an ambush. There was delicious cake and "Windbeutel" (cream puffs). Mike couldn't remember the Dutch name for them (soesje).

Also, what am I going to do this weekend? I.e. where am I going to travel? There are no available hostels in Amsterdam or in Hamburg.

I went to Badminton after work. It was raining a bit on my way over. There were just 3 of us - me, Yuti, and Chusin ("Ohm") who is from Thailand and new at the company. They were both better at badminton than I was. But it was fun nonetheless.

Back at the apartment, Badi had two friends over for dinner. They left as I showered. Anton and I had dinner (I just fried up some veggie frikadelles) and lit up a dooooooobie. Watched an episode of Archer which is pretty interesting. I could get into it.

I need to get a new bike bell. Maybe I'll go to the store.