Well, it has no been over two weeks since the big "scandal" at work. Still no meeting and not even an e-mail with a potential meeting time.
The controversy is going a bit stale, eh? I guess I'm forgiven?
-RP-
Saturday, May 29
Monday, May 17
Some sad news today. One of our family pets had to be put to sleep today. Prince, has always had health problems. He is the typical example of an overbred dog-breed that you buy in a mall pet store. We knew very early on that he had hip problems. As he got older, more and more problems appeared: skin rashes, ear infections, vision impairment, and hearing problems. His condition had deteriorated quickly over the last few months until he was ultimately deaf, partially blind, and could hardly walk. So, the decision finally had to be made. Unfortunately, my mother had to make that decision herself because no one else is around. He was a great dog, such a good boy. A hell of a big-hearted dog, so we're sad to lose him. But we all feel relieved that his pitiful condition has come to an end.
Goodbye Prince...
-RP-
Goodbye Prince...
-RP-
Friday, May 14
When I got to work this morning there was an e-mail from the HR Manager. She said that they will not be able to meet with me today because the Call-Center Operations manager is leaving early for a holiday. The assistant manager will "deal with it" next week. So, dodged the bullet for another day!
-RP-
-RP-
Thursday, May 13
Look who got in trouble at work!
Well, through this blog, we've been keeping you up to date on the machinations of our life over here in Belgium. Everything from our daily activities to future plans to the things going on at work. To help give you a good idea of things, we've been putting up pictures and files, as you know.
One of those files was suddenly discovered by my employer. No one knows about the blog, but for some reason, the file that I had put up when I was explaining the way that our daily activity is measured (a PowerPoint file) came up on a google search. Still not clear on how that came about, but it came up when someone searched my Team Leader's name.
When I got to work this morning, my Team Leader asked me over to his desk. I had yet to turn on my computer, but he showed me an e-mail that the HR Manager had sent to everyone. Then he typed in his name in google and opened the powerpoint file. And he said, "Well, I think it is you because look at this", as he opened another file that had come up as well (a spreadsheet comparing the two universities). He knew that I had applied to schools in England, so he just put two and two together. Of course, I told him that I would take it down right away.
The e-mail:
"It came to our attention that internal Bo-ny information is being
published on the internet, accessible to everybody. This operational
PAIO Sink report is strictly confidential and its publication
is considered as a serious professional mistake.
We demand the responsible to remove this information with immediate
effect & to contact HR ASAP."
So, I quickly turned on my computer and called Kristen to remove the "confidential" material. Then I e-mailed the HR manager and fessed up to the "crime". I explained that I did not do it maliciously and had just put it up there to give my family a little better idea of my job.
Later in the day, when she was having HR meetings with people in the call-center she came to my desk and thanked me for the e-mail. She said that the manager of the call-center operations wants to speak with me about the impact that this could have had on the whole operation. They would like to meet with me tomorrow about this.
I just called her on the phone from home to ask if we can hold the meeting in the morning tomorrow because I would rather not have it weighing on me all day long. She told me not to worry about it, they just want to explain the ramifications to me. I asked her if I would get fired over this and she told me that they had decided not to fire me. If they were going to do that, she would have done it earlier today.
Whew! Relief!
I just can't believe that I actually "got in trouble" at work. My colleagues are on my side though. They all agree that while it might not have been a great idea to put that up, it wasn't really anything damaging to the company. A bit silly for them to get all worked up about it.
-RP-
P.S.- You'll notice in this post, and in all of the previous posts that mention the name of the company that employs me, that I have changed the name to Bo-Ny. Well, that's just a bit of a precaution so this blog isn't found like the powerpoint file.
Well, through this blog, we've been keeping you up to date on the machinations of our life over here in Belgium. Everything from our daily activities to future plans to the things going on at work. To help give you a good idea of things, we've been putting up pictures and files, as you know.
One of those files was suddenly discovered by my employer. No one knows about the blog, but for some reason, the file that I had put up when I was explaining the way that our daily activity is measured (a PowerPoint file) came up on a google search. Still not clear on how that came about, but it came up when someone searched my Team Leader's name.
When I got to work this morning, my Team Leader asked me over to his desk. I had yet to turn on my computer, but he showed me an e-mail that the HR Manager had sent to everyone. Then he typed in his name in google and opened the powerpoint file. And he said, "Well, I think it is you because look at this", as he opened another file that had come up as well (a spreadsheet comparing the two universities). He knew that I had applied to schools in England, so he just put two and two together. Of course, I told him that I would take it down right away.
The e-mail:
"It came to our attention that internal Bo-ny information is being
published on the internet, accessible to everybody. This operational
PAIO Sink report is strictly confidential and its publication
is considered as a serious professional mistake.
We demand the responsible to remove this information with immediate
effect & to contact HR ASAP."
So, I quickly turned on my computer and called Kristen to remove the "confidential" material. Then I e-mailed the HR manager and fessed up to the "crime". I explained that I did not do it maliciously and had just put it up there to give my family a little better idea of my job.
Later in the day, when she was having HR meetings with people in the call-center she came to my desk and thanked me for the e-mail. She said that the manager of the call-center operations wants to speak with me about the impact that this could have had on the whole operation. They would like to meet with me tomorrow about this.
I just called her on the phone from home to ask if we can hold the meeting in the morning tomorrow because I would rather not have it weighing on me all day long. She told me not to worry about it, they just want to explain the ramifications to me. I asked her if I would get fired over this and she told me that they had decided not to fire me. If they were going to do that, she would have done it earlier today.
Whew! Relief!
I just can't believe that I actually "got in trouble" at work. My colleagues are on my side though. They all agree that while it might not have been a great idea to put that up, it wasn't really anything damaging to the company. A bit silly for them to get all worked up about it.
-RP-
P.S.- You'll notice in this post, and in all of the previous posts that mention the name of the company that employs me, that I have changed the name to Bo-Ny. Well, that's just a bit of a precaution so this blog isn't found like the powerpoint file.
Saturday, May 8
Sunday, May 2
Belgian Road-Trip - Part II
We had planned to leave a little earlier today, but it didn't really happen. We had wanted to drive around in Brussels a little bit before heading out to the western part of Belgium. However, we needed to be out near the coast by 1:30 at the latest, so we ended up heading straight out to the highway (after first getting a little lost).
The only time-dependent stop for today was the brewery tour at De Dolle Brouwers in Esen. This was scheduled to start at 2pm, so we drove straight out to Oostende on the coast of Belgium. The idea was to: a) see the Belgian coast; and b) have a quick lunch at some road-side seafood stand. We crossed Point A off the list, but never found the quaint little seafood stand that I had yearned for. Didn't find anything like it, actually. Oostende looked a bit like the Jersey shore... a bit "fabricated" and over-run with high-rise condominiums. And the water was sort of a semi-scary brown color.
It was getting close to the time we needed to be in Esen, so we headed straight there through some winding roads out in the farmland. After scoping out the exact location of the brewery, we headed back to a frituur we had passed to get some lunch. Ordered a "grote" portion of fritjes, a frickadellen (a machine-made sausage), and a cajun chicken brochette - all of which were cooked in the frier. Artery-clogging goodness!
The De Dolle Brouwers tour was great. We were the only ones there for the tour in English, but we were a bit early, so they had us wait in the brewery's "pub". A good way to pass the time because there were some great paintings by the brewmaster on every wall. The design of the place was a bit eccentric.
The tour was conducted by the brewers' mother who lead us around and described the various stages of their brewing process. She was clearly very proud of her sons' accomplishments and the artful success of the brewery. They have been fortunate enough to brew creatively inspired beers and make enough money to stay open without getting "absorbed" by one of the brewing giants. Of course, I had to taste one of the beers after the tour and buy a case of beers to bring home (I've started stock-piling beer to bring to the UK).
After the brewery tour, we drove to Wijnendale to see a castle. It was a bit difficult to find because we didn't have an address for it and our map is not very detailed with the small roads. When we finally found it, it turned out to not be much of a castle. It was more like a big, fancy house made of stones. Plus, there was some kind of function going on there. Tons of people of all ages. We figured it was some kind of family reunion. So, we walked around the property for a bit and then headed back on the road.
Next task was to find a place to have dinner. I had in mind a place called De Gans which was another one that was hard to find. We had an address and a bit of a description for getting there. It was a rustic little place out in the middle of the fields. This place is a bit of a destination for beer enthusiasts because the owner is very passionate about Belgian beer and keeps a collection of about 400 different beers. However, I had used the last of our cash to buy my case of beer at the brewery. Knowing that a lot of the little restaurants and pubs in Belgium only take cash, we asked before placing our order. Sure, enough... back on the road for us!
Fortunately, I had another place in mind. This one was quite close to Brussels, so we had a little driving to do before getting there. With Kristen's navigation and my sheer determination, we made it to De Heeren Van Liedekerke... another beer enthusiasts destination. Plus, they take plastic! This place is also known for really great food. The beer selection was quite large and the food menu was filled with lots of tantalizing dishes. Too bad the service was absolutely atrocious! We're used to taking it a bit slower over here, but this was ridiculous! We were there for almost three hours and all we had were three drinks (total between the two of us), two entrees, and a dessert. Good thing the food was so good! Kristen had a shrimp dish and I had an enormous ham-hock with vegetables (a "nostalgic" Belgian favorite).
Satiated and relieved to be done with dinner, we headed back to Brussels and got there by night-fall. We even found a parking space close to our apartment. Then we crashed like a ton of bricks in our bed... with our new mattress from Ikea!
-RP-
We had planned to leave a little earlier today, but it didn't really happen. We had wanted to drive around in Brussels a little bit before heading out to the western part of Belgium. However, we needed to be out near the coast by 1:30 at the latest, so we ended up heading straight out to the highway (after first getting a little lost).
The only time-dependent stop for today was the brewery tour at De Dolle Brouwers in Esen. This was scheduled to start at 2pm, so we drove straight out to Oostende on the coast of Belgium. The idea was to: a) see the Belgian coast; and b) have a quick lunch at some road-side seafood stand. We crossed Point A off the list, but never found the quaint little seafood stand that I had yearned for. Didn't find anything like it, actually. Oostende looked a bit like the Jersey shore... a bit "fabricated" and over-run with high-rise condominiums. And the water was sort of a semi-scary brown color.
It was getting close to the time we needed to be in Esen, so we headed straight there through some winding roads out in the farmland. After scoping out the exact location of the brewery, we headed back to a frituur we had passed to get some lunch. Ordered a "grote" portion of fritjes, a frickadellen (a machine-made sausage), and a cajun chicken brochette - all of which were cooked in the frier. Artery-clogging goodness!
The De Dolle Brouwers tour was great. We were the only ones there for the tour in English, but we were a bit early, so they had us wait in the brewery's "pub". A good way to pass the time because there were some great paintings by the brewmaster on every wall. The design of the place was a bit eccentric.
The tour was conducted by the brewers' mother who lead us around and described the various stages of their brewing process. She was clearly very proud of her sons' accomplishments and the artful success of the brewery. They have been fortunate enough to brew creatively inspired beers and make enough money to stay open without getting "absorbed" by one of the brewing giants. Of course, I had to taste one of the beers after the tour and buy a case of beers to bring home (I've started stock-piling beer to bring to the UK).
After the brewery tour, we drove to Wijnendale to see a castle. It was a bit difficult to find because we didn't have an address for it and our map is not very detailed with the small roads. When we finally found it, it turned out to not be much of a castle. It was more like a big, fancy house made of stones. Plus, there was some kind of function going on there. Tons of people of all ages. We figured it was some kind of family reunion. So, we walked around the property for a bit and then headed back on the road.
Next task was to find a place to have dinner. I had in mind a place called De Gans which was another one that was hard to find. We had an address and a bit of a description for getting there. It was a rustic little place out in the middle of the fields. This place is a bit of a destination for beer enthusiasts because the owner is very passionate about Belgian beer and keeps a collection of about 400 different beers. However, I had used the last of our cash to buy my case of beer at the brewery. Knowing that a lot of the little restaurants and pubs in Belgium only take cash, we asked before placing our order. Sure, enough... back on the road for us!
Fortunately, I had another place in mind. This one was quite close to Brussels, so we had a little driving to do before getting there. With Kristen's navigation and my sheer determination, we made it to De Heeren Van Liedekerke... another beer enthusiasts destination. Plus, they take plastic! This place is also known for really great food. The beer selection was quite large and the food menu was filled with lots of tantalizing dishes. Too bad the service was absolutely atrocious! We're used to taking it a bit slower over here, but this was ridiculous! We were there for almost three hours and all we had were three drinks (total between the two of us), two entrees, and a dessert. Good thing the food was so good! Kristen had a shrimp dish and I had an enormous ham-hock with vegetables (a "nostalgic" Belgian favorite).
Satiated and relieved to be done with dinner, we headed back to Brussels and got there by night-fall. We even found a parking space close to our apartment. Then we crashed like a ton of bricks in our bed... with our new mattress from Ikea!
-RP-
Saturday, May 1
Belgian Road-Trip - Part I
Since today turned out to be Belgium's version of labor day, the brewery that I had wanted to visit (Orval... in Wallonia) was closed. Pretty much anything that required employees was closed. It seemed that the only things still in business were the public transport companies and some restaurants. This made our site-seeing a little more limited.
We started out the day by driving from our neighborhood to Tervuren (where Kristen's fam will be staying). Just wanted to practice getting there from Brussels. Wasn't too difficult... pretty much stay on the same road the whole time. This took all of 20 minutes.
Then we decided to drive to Luxembourg. Don't really know much about this little country. What do they speak there? What does it look like? If we look down at the map while driving, will we miss the entire country?
We drove directly East out of the Brussels/Tervuren area, then through Liege before turning south towards Luxembourg. Really nice drive through the country. The map we had was pretty much only Flemmish Belgium (the upper half), so at one point we were off the map and had to rely on street signs. This can be a bit tricky over here. The border between northern Luxembourg and Belgium must be quite jagged because we kept seeing signs indicating that we were either leaving Belgium and entering Luxembourg or leaving Luxembourd and entering Belgium. This prompted us to make a stop to buy a map at a strange road-side alcohol and tobacco emporium. It was here that we discovered the Luxembourgians speak French, Dutch, and German (big surprise).
Back on the road with a map, we drove down through the middle of Luxembourg passing lots of sloping farmland and field after field covered with bright yellow dandelions. You'd almost think they were a crop, there were so many. Made us wonder what it will be like when they all go to seed... a snow storm?
We stopped for lunch in a little town called Ettelbruck. There must have been some crucial WWII events in this area because there was a "General Patton War Museum" in the town. Most places were closed and the town was almost abondoned, but we found a little out-door cafe that was serving lunch. Both of us had interesting salads. Mine, a manly salad with seared beef on it; and Kristen's with little toast points topped with a blob of broiled goat cheese. Good stuff!
After this, we decided to veer back west into Belgium again, rather than driving down into the "METROPOLIS", Luxembourg City. We considered stopping in either of two breweries that we would drive near or to a castle. The breweries were a bit too far off the highway to commit to when they would most likely not be open. And our directions for the castle were too indescript to make that a reality. So, we decided to head back to Brussels.
After all, there was all this stuff going on to commemorate the expansion of the European Union. We were a bit curious about the festivities. It was about 5:30 when we made it back to Brussels. Unfortunately, all the people who were at "our park" had taken up all of the parking spots within 10 blocks of our apartment. So, we had to park pretty far away.
At this point, we were a bit exhausted. Not sure why. Just felt really beat. But we went out anyway. Walked through the park and saw all of the the people milling about. Then we headed down to the Grand Place where we thought the "samples of food and beer from the new member countries" were supposed to be. All we found there were tourist pamphlets and a concert of musicians from these same new countries. Grabbed a bunch of brochures from places like Latvia, Turkey, Estonia, Malta and Cyprus. Then we walked back to our neighborhood rather than taking the metro. Needed to get our car-seat-flattened butts to re-inflate.
Upon re-entering "our" park, we saw that the food and spirits from the EU countries were here the whole time. We had walked right past them the first time because there were too many people crowding around (we shy away from that kind of stuff). I tried to press my way through to the booths of Estonia, the Czech Republic, and Malta, but it was like being at the front row of a standing-room only Abba concert (i.e.- lots of people who aren't moving out of the way). I'm sure the food and beer on the other side of those people was pretty good though. We'll have to try it by physically going to each country instead.
Oh well... we went home and stayed in for the rest of the evening. And we just brought our car back to our own neighborhood. Tomorrow is another day!
-RP-
Since today turned out to be Belgium's version of labor day, the brewery that I had wanted to visit (Orval... in Wallonia) was closed. Pretty much anything that required employees was closed. It seemed that the only things still in business were the public transport companies and some restaurants. This made our site-seeing a little more limited.
We started out the day by driving from our neighborhood to Tervuren (where Kristen's fam will be staying). Just wanted to practice getting there from Brussels. Wasn't too difficult... pretty much stay on the same road the whole time. This took all of 20 minutes.
Then we decided to drive to Luxembourg. Don't really know much about this little country. What do they speak there? What does it look like? If we look down at the map while driving, will we miss the entire country?
We drove directly East out of the Brussels/Tervuren area, then through Liege before turning south towards Luxembourg. Really nice drive through the country. The map we had was pretty much only Flemmish Belgium (the upper half), so at one point we were off the map and had to rely on street signs. This can be a bit tricky over here. The border between northern Luxembourg and Belgium must be quite jagged because we kept seeing signs indicating that we were either leaving Belgium and entering Luxembourg or leaving Luxembourd and entering Belgium. This prompted us to make a stop to buy a map at a strange road-side alcohol and tobacco emporium. It was here that we discovered the Luxembourgians speak French, Dutch, and German (big surprise).
Back on the road with a map, we drove down through the middle of Luxembourg passing lots of sloping farmland and field after field covered with bright yellow dandelions. You'd almost think they were a crop, there were so many. Made us wonder what it will be like when they all go to seed... a snow storm?
We stopped for lunch in a little town called Ettelbruck. There must have been some crucial WWII events in this area because there was a "General Patton War Museum" in the town. Most places were closed and the town was almost abondoned, but we found a little out-door cafe that was serving lunch. Both of us had interesting salads. Mine, a manly salad with seared beef on it; and Kristen's with little toast points topped with a blob of broiled goat cheese. Good stuff!
After this, we decided to veer back west into Belgium again, rather than driving down into the "METROPOLIS", Luxembourg City. We considered stopping in either of two breweries that we would drive near or to a castle. The breweries were a bit too far off the highway to commit to when they would most likely not be open. And our directions for the castle were too indescript to make that a reality. So, we decided to head back to Brussels.
After all, there was all this stuff going on to commemorate the expansion of the European Union. We were a bit curious about the festivities. It was about 5:30 when we made it back to Brussels. Unfortunately, all the people who were at "our park" had taken up all of the parking spots within 10 blocks of our apartment. So, we had to park pretty far away.
At this point, we were a bit exhausted. Not sure why. Just felt really beat. But we went out anyway. Walked through the park and saw all of the the people milling about. Then we headed down to the Grand Place where we thought the "samples of food and beer from the new member countries" were supposed to be. All we found there were tourist pamphlets and a concert of musicians from these same new countries. Grabbed a bunch of brochures from places like Latvia, Turkey, Estonia, Malta and Cyprus. Then we walked back to our neighborhood rather than taking the metro. Needed to get our car-seat-flattened butts to re-inflate.
Upon re-entering "our" park, we saw that the food and spirits from the EU countries were here the whole time. We had walked right past them the first time because there were too many people crowding around (we shy away from that kind of stuff). I tried to press my way through to the booths of Estonia, the Czech Republic, and Malta, but it was like being at the front row of a standing-room only Abba concert (i.e.- lots of people who aren't moving out of the way). I'm sure the food and beer on the other side of those people was pretty good though. We'll have to try it by physically going to each country instead.
Oh well... we went home and stayed in for the rest of the evening. And we just brought our car back to our own neighborhood. Tomorrow is another day!
-RP-
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