Farah, an adorable ferret with a biting problem.
Hi everyone,
I don't have a lot of news, but just wanted to say howdy, keep in touch, that sort of thing. I told some of you that I was going to Brussels for three months - well, that's cancelled, under weird circumstances - a consultancy underbid us for the work, but they're super friendly and have been emailing my coworkers, and also are interested in hiring me to support them for two weeks. So I'd be a consultant...to consultants. This is just getting silly.
Now I'm off to Rome for two weeks, on a different project. You'd think I'd be excited about it, but I'm tired of travel. Plus, it's business travel. These days, I enjoy thoughts of staying in the same place for a few years, not having to take planes, being at home, etc. I'd like to be back in my house in Lacey, WA, with a fire going in the fireplace. In fact I look forward to being settled in one place for a long while and reveling in domesticity, so I can get back my enthusiasm for travel someday.
Agilent has announced a second round of layoffs; I survived the first one, I have every reason to think I'll survive this one, but even if I was canned, it wouldn't happen right away, and I'd have lots of time to make future plans. So I'm not worried.
Things are great with Jurjen; he's pleased that the Brussels thing is cancelled. We have been together for over a year now, and it's his birthday on 18 November - send birthday greetings to smiesj@visto.com if you'd like to. He has a new job at Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, running their document archive, and he's very pleased at being back in the land of private enterprise. After the way things worked at the UN Tribunal, he is thrilled by such things as: cabinets full of office supplies! Fax machines that it's okay to use! Company laptop and mobile phone! Relaxed working hours! Dutch labor laws being applicable again! Plus, the tram line runs near his favorite pub, De Bok, so he can stop in for a couple of pints of Old Speckled Hen on his way home.
Also, we are both in a British pantomime, Sleeping Beauty. Serious big cheesy fun! Jurjen has a great part as the egotistical Prince Ivan C.Y.Zelph (aka I Fancy Myself), and I'm in the chorus (which means I'll be singing and dancing in _every_number_). It goes up at the end of January; pantos are normally done at Christmas, but the Brit expat crowd is usually back home for the holidays, so the theatre group puts this on when they get back. It's the big annual moneymaker, and helps pay for the rest of the year's productions. http://www.aatg.nl/
The other big news is that we got some ferrets! I'll let the photos speak for themselves: http://geocities.datacellar.net/minsq/ferrets.html
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone - I'll be in Rome, but Jurjen and some friends are going to a buffet at the Holiday Inn in Leiden. So we'll see what they think of the traditional turkey feast.
Cheers, C a r o l y n
=====
"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you
care." - John C. Maxwell
On to the Next One
Back to the First One
To the Index of Letters from Home
Back to Home