Ryan J. Allen » office

Come On Everybody: Group Hug

Ryan J. Allen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:52:19 +0000

Have you noticed that I haven’t written much lately? I promise that it’s not due to a lack of things to write about, nor is it due to a lack of time to write–I just don’t want to. I don’t want to write about the thing that I would have to write about: leaving Germany.

I just composed a farewell e-mail to say goodbye to those who I could personally say goodbye to before leaving. After I added everyone to the “to” field I realized that there were 60 names in this list and I thought it unfair for me to not write something here about my leaving. 60 people who have personally affected my life in the past year. 60 people that I can put more than just a face to–people whom I have relate experiences and emotions to. Surely you must understand how it can be hard to leave.

Last night I shipped my personal affects to Canada which turned out to be a long, time-consuming process. After spending well over an hour at the UPS warehouse I was received at the Mihut household where we ate a delicious beer can chicken, with potatoes and a salad, and then watched a couple of recently-aired TV shows. It was really relaxing, but sad for me at the same time. I definitely had the thoughts that I did not want to leave.

***

I started writing this post hours ago, but could not finish with the trip to the Asian restaurant, checking-in for the flight, saying goodbye, going for a final run, etc. Unfortunately now I don’t have time to reflect further, as I have to go and get ready for dinner, plus pack this evening. But let it be known that the people here are awesome and I will miss them dearly.

Update: Feel free to track me on flight AC839 tomorrow. No stalkers please. Thanks.

E-mail at Work

Ryan J. Allen — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:57:18 +0000

Do you get a lot of e-mail at work? I have some tips to make it a little better to deal with.

1. remove the priority column from your e-mail client. Some people like to send e-mail marked with a high priority. The majority of these people are assholes. My experience is that people use the priority flag as a passive-aggressive way for them to push their interests on you. After you remove this column you don’t even see that the message is of “high priority” so you treat it just the same as every other. It is a very calming way to handle e-mail.

2. move automated e-mails out of your inbox. Set up a filter to automatically move automated e-mails to folders other than your inbox. Messages such as a “spam block summary” or “software build completed” that are generated by a computer should be moved to a folder. If you wouldn’t normally read the message than you can also have the filter mark the message as read, so it doesn’t disrupt you with a new mail notification.

3. move messages that don’t address you specifically to their own folder. At work we are usually on a bunch of e-mail lists: all staff, division list, all Ottawa employees, etc. These lists tend to result in a lot of notification e-mails being sent to you that aren’t particularly important for whatever you are working on at that very moment–or maybe at all. Messages that don’t list you in the “To” or “Cc” fields explicitly can be automatically moved to a filtered inbox and marked read; just remember to check it once or twice a day.

I don’t get a thousand e-mails a day, but I do get enough that the aforementioned techniques make e-mail a lot more manageable for me. I have a few other mail filters but these cover move of the mail that I don’t want to read. And really, I’ll take any opportunity that I can to publicly call high priority e-mail senders out for what they really are.

A Short Cycling Trip

Ryan J. Allen — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:01:02 +0000

A couple of years ago I wrote a lot about milk. Now I feel like I am writing a lot about cycling. But never am i writing anything useful about cycling, just “I went cycling” or “I like cycling”.

I went cycling last night after work. We did a trip to Dobel, followed by a a trip through the course for my portion of the naked run set for Saturday. (This run is an 80 km relay, 4x 20 km, with my part being the last.) In the end we cut our tour short, which I thought was fine, though when I got home I noticed that we had still been out for 3 hours. So, 3 hours of cycling feels like a short trip now. Crazy.

I am really looking forward to drinking a glass of milk this morning.

I haven’t written much about work lately, but it has been very busy which makes things exciting. I’m quite pleased with that. Though I could do with fewer trips to Ulm. There is a possibility of one other trip just before the Alpencross, but I hope this will be it for July.

Ryan Report

Ryan J. Allen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:03:59 +0000

Thursday, March 26, 2009.

It’s approximately 9 p.m. Less than one hour ago I was still at work. I’m hardcore like that.

The weather has been terrible all week. I think it has constantly rained. I am lucky I live on the first floor (second floor to you on the other side of the Atlantic), as I am less likely to suffer damages during a massive flood.

As a result of the terrible weather I have been incredibly inactive this week. I really wanted to start bicycling to work this week but don’t want to do so in the dark and damp. I did go for a short run today (7 km) but that’s it since the Sunday tour. I hope this weekend will be nicer.

Tomorrow I am going to a colleague’s for Linsen und Spätzle mit Saitenwürstchen. I am very excited for this. I will prepare some feta pate to bring along.

This weekend is the time change here in Europe. I am looking forward to this as well. I welcome more evening light.

I am moving offices at work. Well, actually, someone else is doing the actual moving but I will be going to a new place on Monday. Same address and phone number, just different building and office. Same floor number, so it’s not really an upgrade.

I have something like eight working days left before I am on vacation. Vacation is quite welcome now. And it will mark the beginning of my visitors to Europe. That’s pretty thrilling.

I’ve turned the heat down in my apartment. it now feels chilly in here. I should turn it up but I am hopeful that it is inviting the warmer weather.

I submitted all of my details for taxes to the KPMG International Executive Services team so that they can prepare my taxes in by two countries of residence of 2008. I have been learning a little bit about the differences in our tax systems and it is interesting. And all the same, really.

I enjoyed cucumber sandwiches just now. They were pretty delicious. Notice the plural.

Just Like Everybody Else

Ryan J. Allen — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:19:46 +0000

In Germany my office is…well, an office. The typical setup in Germany seems to be an office shared by 3-5 people; my office is a smaller one, so it is setup for two people, but I am the only one in here. There are certainly many great features to such a setup including: the convenient and comfortable host of guests, the quiet work environment, the ability to shut one’s door, and more. One of the useful and unapparent perks is that you can close the door to change before going for a run.

I just got back from an afternoon run (a short one: only 7 km) and was sitting here “cooling down” before going to the showers when I thought: I should have a private shower in my office. Then I thought that if I am someday an executive I may have a private shower in my office. But, if that does happen, I will explicitly use the employee shower to shower to show that I am Just Like Everybody Else.