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New Year's Eve 2008: [Wednesday 31st December 2008]

And so it was, the last day of the year arrived at last. Before I indulge in the usual "checkout" for the year that finished shopping at the supermarket of my life, I will enter the hard facts of what happened tonight!

Well, not much. Cooked a lot during the afternoon, our contribution to the dinner were two very English pies, a Shepherd's Pie and a Chicken and Mushroom pie of my invention. It took a lot to cook them but they came out pretty well.

The rest of the evening was spent making jokes and eating as usual, even if we tried to stay low with the quantities this year we managed not to finish quite a lot of things... Oh well...

Then after midnight we stayed in to play games (cards and Risk), I guess noone was in the mood to go out and do something else...

As for the checkout 2008 could have been a better year for me, mostly because I injured my right knee again and I will need surgery to fix it once more. Also from the work point of view the beginning was awful, and things got better only around September. Family is doing fine and love life is "stable" I guess, so all in all it could have been worse but from 2009 I look for some stability at least on the job part (that considering the times that we are facing would be a great achievement). We will see, as usual.

For sure I'd love to have a different New Year Eve next year. I cannot stop thinking that although I love these dinners, it is a setup that I have seen through and through over the last years, and maybe, together with the same people, we could organize something different...

For sure the feasts that we threw when we were younger are gone, with people bringing in kids, virtually no alcohol present at the dinner table, very little craziness joining us for the night. But in another way I guess that this is the way things are, after all we are all growing up...

Ok better keep that thought for 2009 checkouts, the new client has just arrived and needs to be served properly, I do not want the new year to start having a go at me!!
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Christmas Holidays: [Wednesday 24th - Friday 26th December 2008]

Ok I will skip the usual story that I do not like Christmas all that much. Probably because I despise the false "let's all be nice to each other" feeling, probably because most of the memories of my Christmas do not follow the standard cliché that it's given us for these festivities.

Anyways, this time the parties and eating marathon have been quite nice, as one would expect.

On the 24th we didn't do much, I had to run around Florence to get the last presents, especially the one for Chiara.
Incidentally it turned out that I made a very similar present to her as her parents did which meant that mine had to be changed later (with a HUGE AMOUNT of time wasted in the jewellery trying out a gazillion of earrings, rings, necklaces and so on), but apart from that incident there was nothing major to report.
I have got a very nice black trench-coat, and some money that was hastily employed in buying a very expensive duvet. Apart from that no other presents are worth mentioning...

Of course the whole thing involved a lot of food and drinks, but that is quite mandatory, especially on the 25th, where I took place at my relatives Christmas lunch, Chiara's birthday party mid afternoon cake and finally Chiara's Aunt Pre-dinner present opening (and eating) occasion.

We were back home around 10ish.

As I said on the 26th we were still trying to digest the immense amount of food that we had the day before, but we found some time to make some bread, clean the house and generally chilled out at home watching the Aristocats in the evening (one of my favourite Disney movies).

All in all a good Christmas I have to say!
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Last Working Day of 2008: [Tuesday 23rd December 2008]

I blatantly copy John's idea and write up a post with a similar title! :D

The working year has been quite eventful, under the working point of view. I have changed job in September after a quite terrible experience in the previous company. Generally speaking I love what I am doing now, I like the place and colleagues, so I can only hope that the company can survive the crisis storm that we are about to face in 2009.
The prospect of loosing my job because the company actually closes is something that would have killed me in previous years, I can see me not sleeping at night worrying about everything, but I have to say that since I left that other company, I have changed a little and I have learnt not to worry about things that I cannot control.

If it has to happen it will happen, I will be left on the street completely distraught and unemployed, but there is no point in thinking about it now.

I am tired, the last 3 months have been very eventful, not to mention stressful.

So in a way I am really looking forward to some rest during the holidays, a good recharge for the upcoming year.

Let's hope that 2009 will not be as bad as everyone is saying. It seems that the media are pushing the crisis story a lot, but on the other side in Italy at least, we are getting department stores reporting record sales. Oh well.

[No comments]
Tales from a lost PDA - We need to be a Team: [Tuesday 16th December 2009]

Interesting stories are sometimes short experiences.
Mr.X, in the following piece, talks about a little talk that a colleague had, but it seems that he also has had similar issues in the past.

--

We need to be a Team

Team building, man management seem to be a prominent feature of my superiors. I think that I need to be glad that I have such inspired bosses!

Yesterday, talking to a colleague (Mr.Pill) of mine he told me of a very interesting conversation had with the Head of the Commercial Department, Mr.Wine.

I have had so many encounters like these, but today it's Mr.Pill turn to tell his story...

Mr.Wine office - 10,33 AM - Rainy day, pretty slow morning.

W - ".. Because I finally managed to speak to the President and I made him understand that the only way forward is to go back to what we were!" (need to mention the extremely pungent breath, a mix of wine, liquers and beer)

P - " Yes, but you told me that this is what the President told you more or less 2 weeks ago."

W - "mmmmmm. YES!", 10 seconds pause ". but. WE NEED TO BE A TEAM!"

Follows 20 seconds of total silence, Mr.Pill evidently puzzled.

W - "In any case sice it's in my power to manage great resources at this company, I have decided to use part of it to give you a raise"

P - "Ah, that's good news!"

W - "Yes, because we appreciate your work. Do you remember that I promised you a sum at the end of this year as well?"

P - "Yes" in a tentative voice as to say "and.?"

W - "Well, the company is facing difficult times, so that sum is going to be put inside the raise too, but since at the moment I have no more money in my budget I have decided to add it to next year bonus so that at the end of next year you can have both!"

P - "ah." now completely gutted

W - "You see how much the company trust your skills, I mean such a huge bonus must be a great incentive for you to do your work!"

P - "Yeahhhh, but I was promised the bonus at the end of this year, and I mean doing like this is hardly a raise."

W - "You look too much at the small details, WE NEED TO BE A TEAM, we need to overcome this difficult period and fight together! I am sure that you understand. Now I have a couple of calls to make, I'll speak to you later."

Nuff said...

[5 comments]
Credit Card: [Saturday 13th December 2008]

Well there isn't much to say apart from the fact that this evening some fucker cloned my Credit Card and started spending money somewhere in the US (a place called Natick in Massachusetts).

The whole experience has been quite bad, fortunately my bank sends me an SMS for every transaction that I make, so I could spot that something was not going well immediately.
I managed to block the card in time, but unfortunately I have lost more than 800 euros in the middle.
Funnily (if there is something funny in this story), these 800 euros were spent in an APPLE STORE!! Oh well...

After having reported this to the authorities and to the bank the reply was that they will start all the usual checks but the sum will come out of my account even if it's clear (I have sent them the photocopy of my full passport) that I have not been in the states in the last year (there are no visas on the passport)... Then after 60 days they will credit that amount back.

It's a real pain in the arse because I have no credit card for Christmas shopping, I have to pay to obtain a new card and I do not know when I will get the money back!

Oh well, I guess it could be worse, but between 2 burglaries in England, 1 in Italy when I was a kid, 1 stolen car and now 1 cloned credit card, I think that I paid my "debt" with crime and frankly speaking I'd love for it to stop! It's such a bad feeling when something like this happens, you really feel "violated".

Now I can only hope all the worse for the people who did it, not just for them but also for their future 5 generations, hoping that they will never get to breed in any case.. THERE!

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Tales from a Lost PDA - Good Times: [Wednesday 10th December 2008]

I have received several comments (not on the actual blog I am afraid) from the people that I know and that read the blog occasionally. A lot of enquiries have been about the actual PDA, what model it is, how did I take it apart and so on.
Frankly speaking I think that these are quite boring questions, I am finding these files much more interesting that the actual "box" that held them, but I will not indulge further and give some information about the PDA itself.
The culprit is a Palm Pilot M500 model, from what I could see from the net it's a quite old piece of hardware. The external casing was quite scratched and looked pretty worn out, but it has a sort of fake leather "purse" so that's why I think that it was lost rather than thrown away.

Password locked, there was little that I could do, I have tried to reset the Cmos battery (required opening it), but to no avail. I have tried other systems that I have found on the net to no avail. Fortunately the user saved his data on the SD card (512 MB = pretty old too), so at least the documents were saved. SDs are still pretty usable and it didn't take long before I had the contents of the memory stick on my hard drive.

All the stories have names of companies and people, but those are better not to be disclosed in public I guess.

The sure thing is that all the tales that I am going to be posting are "real life" episodes. It's so evident looking at how Mr.X (you remember, the unknown writer) is writing.

--

Good Times

I remember when I started working for Bigfashioncompany, it was all bells and whistles, all spanky and fashionable (well, what do you expect)? Life smelt like a million dollar, and certainly the company was doing extremely well.

I remember that the first day I arrived ONE and HALF hours ahead of time to the office, I was so scared to get lost or to be delayed for some reason. The result was pretty disappointing, because the lady at the reception made me wait standing there for almost all the time, since she never saw me before and of course my principal was not in the office yet.

I remember the moment he walked through the door and said ". Ooooo Mr.X finally you are here, I hope you didn't wait for a long time!", to which I replied, half happy for his arrival and half captured in total bliss by the new experience and the new world before me, "Oh no problem Mr.Slaver, I really just arrived (please walk all over me, did you cleaned your shoes with my tie?).".

I remember that he didn't have a clue to what I had to do the first day. Of course my entrance was not very well planned.

I remember that I didn't even have a computer to work on!

I remember the first phone call with my agents, it was all so new!!

I remember that Mr.Slaver was always right, he always had the right ideas!

I remember that eating at the canteen was difficult at the start because I wasn't part of any group of people.

I remember the day I entered one of those groups and food was so much better!

Well. food was crap, but the company made it nice!

I remember the design meetings where I didn't understand a word of what was said.

I remember my colleague explaining the collection to me. ME, I didn't even know what COTTON was!!

I remember that time was going so fast that 8 hours never seemed enough.

I remember my first trip, with a huge suitcase and absolutely no knowledge of what I was selling.

I remember that clients would add up that "little bit more" that helped production without having to fight too much.

I remember numbers in the "black" and bonuses.

Those were good times! Well, ok, I am getting old, and soon things changed for the worse.

[6 comments]
Bread Experiments: [Monday 8th December 2008]

After the endeavours toward the PDA that I have found, thanks to a bank holiday, I managed to focus my attention to making some bread.

I know that to the inhabitants of the mighty 2, Radstock Road in Reading the previous phrase might sound scary as hell... I remember that during my university days I tried to bake some bread but the recipe was completely wrong and instead of some fluffy loaf I produced a very good BRICK.

After more than 10 years my bread baking skills have improved a little and today I am trying to make a nuts and pine nuts loaf, made with two different types of flour.

The latest experiments have been quite promising, but I need to fine tune the recipe a little because it's not perfect yet!
I love making bread, it feels like if I am saving a lot of money (not true) but more than everything I like to make things by myself, especially a basic aliment like bread, that usually we are forced to buy in the supermarket (hence industrial made...).

Apart from that nothing special to report, next week it's going to be a tough one at work, we are gearing up to the end of the year usually a very hectic period for Italian companies.

I'll post more PDA stories in the future, they are quite interesting! :D
[6 comments]
Tales from a lost PDA - The lesser damage: [Thursday 4th December 2008]

Today I have found a PDA lying on the ground near my place. Being extremely curious and moreover wanting to return it to the proprietor.
After several hours, trials with wrong passwords and several exploits I decided that it was time to get brutal and I took the thing apart.

Finally after an afternoon spent on this thing I managed to access its memory but unfortunately there aren't any details about the person that was supposed to own the PDA.

What I found instead, was a huge amount of word files, apparently full with stories that this person must have written about his work related life.
Some of the stories are quite sad, some are simply a great laugh, so I have decided to publish them on my blog!

I will call the writer Mr.X, and remove any names or anything that might be deemed as an infringement of privacy or company secrets. Better be on the safe side.

--

The Lesser Damage

..[Word file all garbled at the beginning, might have been an image or something..]...So it happens that I manage to get in touch with some employees of the previous evil company where I used to work.

It seems that things are going completely pear shaped, with decreasing turnover and increasing unrest among the workers. The unrest is mostly caused by the incapability of Mr.EnolaGay (EN) to have a decent management style.
He's too instinctive, too gross, too uneducated to run a company.

He keeps on breaking any work-related law that he possibly can, treating people like beasts, in truth showing that he's an animal.

I remember when I was there, mobbing was the normality in that company, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife, and of the same knife you had to be extremely wary, because it was rather easy to find it protruding from your back thanks to some colleague that had to unload some shit on you...

I remember very well the day I made a big project that I supervised personally, and that bought at the creation of around 10000 shopping windows signs for the POP and POS that we used to have.
Apparently they were not capable of producing them for years, albeit the Commercial Directors (yes 2 directors) were asking for them.

Well I remember having to rush delivery of these board that were absolutely essential to the life of the company, I remember that someone had to make a decision on the picture that we had to use.
Of course as a mere mid-manager figure I could not make that call and I asked one of the two directors (Mr.Degree (DG)) how he wanted this board to be made and he approved design and picture. Technically Mr.Spud (SP), the "Art Director", had to take care of this aspect, but he was nowhere to be seen for days so we proceeded as it was approved.

Three weeks afterwards, Mrs.Snitch (SN)calls:

Phone: ....riiiiiinnngggg...
X: Yes, X speaking
SN: X, can you come a sec here to the meeting room?
X: Sure

walkity-walk....

X:Yes?
Ok I did not notice that EG, DG, SP and SN were in the room looking like if someone had died.
SN: Sit down a second.
EG: Listen, who told you to put this picture here on these boards?
X: (feeling more relaxed because I had it approved from the director)Oh, well it was Mr.Degree that approved it. I poroposed some opti..
DG: No, I never approved it.
X: WHAT?!
DG: Yes I told you that I needed a board for the shops but then it's up to you marketing guy to make it.
SP: (in a chirpy, but sad voice) Yes I never saw this board before, it's shit. Who ever approved this cut, it's crap. And all the lettering it's wrong!
EG: So X you did it!! You made the mistake. Why didn't you asked SP about it!?
X: Well, he was nowhere to be seen, he didn't come in WEEKS...
EG: You should have called him, he's always available on his mobile!
X: Sorry? How can I get a picture approved on the mobile?
EG: (getting red, I think that he understood that an Art Director that doesn't come to the company clashes with the "director" bit of the title, but...)Well, you could have sent the picture on the computer!
SP: Yes, I always check my mail every day! (false as a two Euro banknote)
X: Well, I could have done that, but we did not have a lot of time, DG, who approved the project and was informed of every step, told me that the stuff had to be in in a week!
EG: Stop blaming the other people for your mistakes, you must learn to relate to the superiors in a different way. Consider this a warning!
SP: Yes it's a "youth-mistake" I am not angry with him, but this thing is shite...

Follows a complete re-design of the board, with a different picture, a different size and of course double the cost for something that was already there but did not express the "true image of the company".
Incidentally this board was too big for the boxes that we had in the shipping department, so when we sent the material it was normally added to the shipment outside the box, and arrived to the customers and shops completely broken.

But they had a go at me for that and therefore nobody noticed...

The lesser damage, yes I moved to a different situation, in a very shaky context, but the damage to myself of having to endure those type of treatments would have been much higher. Lesson learnt?
Get people to sign things that they approve. Never rely on words. Unless you trust them a lot.

[4 comments]
Pictures: [Sunday 29th November 2008]

The trip is long gone now, but I took a very long time to process all the pictures. I am sure that you all will forgive me and enjoy them, I was quite inspired during this trip and I really hope that you will like them...

[5 comments]
Newcomer and Weekly roundup: [Monday 17th-24th November 2008]

The previous week has been quite eventful, I was back at work again and of course I had to catch up with three weeks of gossips, happening and so on. The weather turned bitterly cold last Thursday, I don't like cold weather all that much but is seems that this year we are in for a cold winter (last winter was rather mild in my opinion).

Work situation is not easy, the company is suffering the global crisis, and even though this is quite common for all the other players and industries, it is not something that we alleviates the pain. I think that this recession is going to reap a lot of victims, and the only hope is that we are not going to be among them.

In Italy the situation is fine under the banking point of view, but it's terrible under the political side, and the general economy is crap thanks to our enlightened political class. The feeling that we have is that we are completely powerless, it's a great shame because we deserve so much better. But that's the problem with Italians, the "not in my backyard" policy is too extreme, people cannot care less UNLESS it touches their interests.
Only then people go in the streets, start protesting and so on.

Anyways since I am not activist, I think that I should not venture further, in the end I see my country with a little different mind due to the years spent abroad, and although I never liked what I saw, I stopped trying to change people around me. It's just impossible.

Going back to the week, I have to report the new technological arrival at home. My very own backup server!! An Ubuntu micro server, fanless, 2 500GB HD for parallel backups, all components bought to save as much energy as possible (the whole system consumes around 40W with 90W peaks at startup and maximum usage). Finally I have backed up seriously all my pictures and mp3 and now I can proceed with the re-installation of Leopard on my Mac (Leopard is not that great as I thought, it gave my macbook several problems and kernel-panic attacks).

Of course the new computer forces me to learn at least the basics of Linux, which is good of course, so it will take a little time before it is properly configured (cronjobs and the likes), but I am confident that I can do it. The ideal will be that it switches on when computers linked to it go online, then it should rsync whatever he needs to, and then if computers are not online and it has been idle for some time it should power off by itself, making sure that it rsynced all files to the other HD. It can be done I think..

As for the rest nothing much to say, Christmas is approaching and we are already working on the presents list.

[2 comments]
400.000 Euro: [Monday 10th November 2008]

Travelling is a good thing. You meet really interesting people for sure!

So let me ask you.... What is the most expensive item that you have ever held in your hands (save from "family jewels" and the like...)?

Today I have gone to the office of the owner of our distributor, he is into the watches business and as I said in the previous post he's into the expensive sort of watches.

Today I have had the chance to actually hold his personal, unique watch...

A 400.000 Euro is not something that you normally hold in your hand, and I feel quite privileged to have had the chance to see their products, something that normal people do not even dream of seeing (until 2 days ago I didn't even think it existed)...

The whole watch is made in white gold, with a storm of diamonds cast on it, it must have been more than 20 carats for sure, with a total weight that was quite high considering the precious materials that it's made of!
The whole thing is a masterpiece of mechanical engineering and of jewellery, they supply people like the King of Thailand, and several middle eastern Emirs.

Apparently they have customers that carry even 40/50 of these watches (the "cheaper" 50.000 Euro ones)...

Well I guess that there are people out there with an incredible amount of cash, for them 50K euro is like 50 euros for me...

Oh well, an interesting experience!

Incredible!

[3 comments]
Singaporean Watches: [Sunday 9th November 2008]

I am tired. I need rest.

I have been working continuously for the past three weeks travelling on Saturdays and Sundays to save time form the normal week when we need to see the clients.

I arrived yesterday night at 23:00 in Singapore after a working day in Taipei, and I dropped dead on the bed.

Today working Sunday around the shops, and I even found some time to buy a mobile phone as my personal one has one lost in Hong Kong at the beginning of the trip. I have to say that I know very little about mobile phones and infact I managed to buy a phone that in Italy I could have get for a cheaper price... Italy apparently is very competitive on that sort of technology. This even left me a bit bitter as I always think that Asia is cheaper on everything, but apparently it is not true on everything... (I checked on the internet the price after I got it...).

In the evening we had a very nice Teppayaki dinner with the owner of the distributor that we have here, his main business are watches from Switzerland, and once again I thought that he was dealing in the cheap ranges.

Well, I was sadly mistaken, he does VERY expensive watches, some ranges are worth 700.000 EUROS!!! The watches are obviously full of diamonds and every expensive things, the top engineer is a guy from Italy that is an expert of nano technologies!!

Oh well, you meet very interesting people going around the world, that is sure!

Singapore is a place where I guess I could live quite happily. It's very European, but the mix of three ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese and Indian) make this place very interesting and various.

Tomorrow another full day here and then off to Kuala Lumpur for the last part of the trip, then finally on Tuesday night I will be packing to go back home, I really look forward to it, as you can imagine...
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Airports for people not taking planes...: [Saturday 8th November 2008]

"Hotels are like airports, people come and go, minding his/her own business and of you go...". This is a quote from my boss, ho's travelled all around the world in more than 80 countries (almost half of the countries that we have on earth)...

I find this thought quite illuminating when it comes to hotels like the ones where I normally go.. I step on a plane to find myself cast into another airport where you are not there to catch a flight, but normally a taxi to the client's place...

I have stopped in Taipei 1 night, I have a beautiful room that it's almost half of my house in Florence, but I couldn't really enjoy anything of it because I stayed for such a short time.

Today, quick visit to the marketplace, then on a plane again to go to Singapore where I am meant to be until Tuesday morning when I will make a new experience, travelling to Malaysia.

Ipod back to normality (fortunately), though I expect yet more troubles from the battery, maybe he overheard that I want to buy a new Ipod Touch and started to act strangely in retaliation for its early retire. (I am sure that computers understand what we say, write etc etc... They are just playing dumb... It could be a nice script for a new Pixar movie along the lines of Toy Story...)!!
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I woke up in Taipei: [Friday 7th November 2008]

..... and I woke up in Taipei!

Yes I left Japan very early this morning, at 5 o'clock I was already dressing up to go down south to yet another island in Asia.

Taiwan must be a nice island, shame that I only saw Taipei, a classic busy and terribly crowded city, pretty much like other cities on this side of the world.

Nothing much to say, apart from the early morning call, the first appointment with a client by myself, the lovely dinner at a Xiao Bao place (dumplings), and now the well deserved rest in the hotel.

One negative note is that my Ipod is looking dodgy... The battery completely empty even if I hardly used it in the last two weeks (and recharged it once already), it started rebooting at the apple sign coming up on the screen. Fortunately after leaving so SOME HOURS to recharge eventually it decided to boot and now looks fine, but I suspect that the battery pack might be in need of a refresh, and for what I see on the net it's not an easy task... :(

Tomorrow check of the market and at 15:00 other 4 hours of trip to Singapore!

I feel the trip coming to an end, and I must say that I really look forward to my bed in Florence next week on Thursday...
[No comments]
Lucky or Insane?: [Tuesday 4th November 2008]

Both probably. I was both lucky and insane when I started working seriously with Japan, almost 8 years ago.

Now I see things in a different way, I feel things in a different way, and incidentally I am doing new experiences.

One of them has been the situation that I found myself cast into this afternoon. It was me, our agent and my supervisor at the shop of a client of ours. Since I have just started the new job it's quite hard for me to have a clear idea of the new business, the numbers, the orders, the clients themselves.

Well my boss today completely overturned the rules to which I aided for a long time in dealing business here. He got upset at a request of this client that is clearly a minor player for us (but in my head he's still A client)... In the end we walked out of the door, possibly not to return anymore. No rude words or screaming took place, but the tension was clearly going around the place, and in the end we had to play fireman on the flames of anger to quench the whole thing in a decent manner.

So far, even in front to stupid claims (though this time I think that the client had grounds to complain), we have always tried to accommodate the requests of the client with the position of the company. After all future business is always something that you need and I am not really keen in throwing it away. In Japan it takes a lot of time and explanations to get the quality issue working, sometimes I even discussed about quality matters for months.
In this case it all ended up with a dry "no" and we left.

In a way it's good that he had such a strong position, because I am offloaded of all responsibilities, and maybe we can salvage the relationship. On the other side the whole thing was a bit "weird" and me and the agent felt quite uneasy about the whole story. Maybe I am behaving too much "Japanese", my strength becomes my weakness?

In the evening another client told us that that guy is loosing support from a lot of distributors because he's too strict with quality issues, so in a way he corroborated my boss's action. But still I feel something is wrong underneath, and I cannot stop thinking that maybe there are deeper feelings to what he did (he doesn't like Japan very much).

Oh well, today I have learnt that I can be an asshole with a client and get away with it! Interesting...
[No comments]
Once upon a time...: [Monday 3rd November 2008]

Life is strange. Coming back to Japan always makes me feel at home from one side and quite alone on the other. Especially when I meet new people there is much talks on the whys and hows of my Japanese language.

I cannot hide a lot of pride in telling what I have done, on the other side remembering those years is also quite painful because they were rather magnificent and they went away.

On the other side I am in a new job, new company, new colleagues and new problems to face. I look at the challenges that are ahead with a bit more experience, and I can see that unless the company is willing to invest heavily in this market there will be little chances to make things better.

But in a moment like this, who sane of mind will risk a lot of money in a strange market like Japan? A place where companies ask for custom made products, a level of quality that is virtually impossible, low prices and more than anything small quantities?

It used to be a similar problem in the previous experiences, I start thinking that all other sectors of business in Japan are the same!

Well, I should not bash the Japanese system all that much, China and other places have their own peculiarities too. But here I feel that I have to make a difference, and I am a bit puzzled on what can I do to get better figures. Pressure from expectations? Probably. I am not the cocky guy that thinks that can do it all. Not the usual salesman, uh?

I still remember that when I was around 15 I started developing this thing that I was sure that whatever life had planned for me I would never travel by myself.

Look at me now. I mean the EXACT CONTRARY!! Not just plain "different", from black to white! This teaches that whatever you want to do or plan to is completely useless because the path that we walk is too unpredictable to plan it ahead.

Do I like the job? Yes, it has a lot of positive sides, I am not denying it. I probably would miss my nights at the Century Hyatt in Tokyo (now Regency Hyatt after a huge refurbishment), but I also miss Florence and a normal life, less by myself and more together with the people I want.

And then I think that when I am there I feel bored, so in a way I am never happy! It's really a shit feeling this one, I wonder if it's just me or if it's society that thought us about that you DESERVE "better, faster, more" in any given situation...

And so I think back when life was simpler indeed, when my Japanese mum was taking me out for groceries shopping and the problem was to understand what she meant by "rinjin" when she asked me to pick things for her (by the way it's "carrots"), or when the Kanji test was about to arrive and I didn't know any of those! Or when a girl refused you, or when you had to think where to take the one that accepted your date...
[No comments]
China and Korea: [Wednesday 22nd October - Sunday 2nd November 2008]

The first leg of this quite long business trip saw me respectively in Hong Kong, Zhongshen, Guangzhou, Shangai, Beinjing and Seoul.

China was the most interesting part so far, mostly because the last time I was there was 3 years ago and of course it has much changed, although some parts are still the same.

Zhonshen is a "small" city of "only" 1 million people, mostly build around the factories that surround it. When we arrived it was already night, after a short boat ride from Hong Kong, and it looked extremely deserted. Watching people driving mopeds and bikes, almost no cars visible, but with streets that have five or six lanes for each direction, gave me a bit of a desolate feeling. We stopped just one day to see a client there, so there is little to tell about it.

Guangzhoug on the contrary is the third city in China, and it's HUGE. We did not stop in the city as we had to go to the airport, we just went to the fair there, a place that is twice as big as the biggest fair hall that I have ever seen in Paris (Parc des Espositions). China has a scale that we cannot really imagine, and even when you are thrown it in your face it seems incredible!

Shangai and Beijing could be like Tokyo and New York. There isn't a lot of difference. I managed to spend some time by myself roaming through little streets, and it was quite great because outside from the sparkling centre of the city you get the feeling of what China is really like, or at least what it used to be.
There was a point where we were in the taxi and the street was crowded with people, bikes, kids... It's like I imagine China must have been a long time ago... Marvellous!
It makes me want to discover this great nation even more.

Korea is still Korea, I am not too fond of Seoul, too crowded and with far too many cars. It's really out of God's grace to drive 30 minutes to make 4 kilometers! Apart from that food is great as usual, and Korean people are very nice to foreigners, and they do their best to be as welcoming as possible. Here we went for a traditional Korean sauna, which was a great experience, and an Italian restaurant, which was quite the opposite in terms of experiences...(not to say CRAP).

Then Japan. I am writing from Shinjuku, the hotel that saw me for the past 8 years coming to this marvellous place that I dearly love. But that deserves another post...

Pictures have been made by the bucketloads, especially in China, so I will post them when I go back (or earlier if I get the time), some of them are really great, this time I am focusing on "people in Asia" and I went through difficult ways to steal shots of real life without upsetting the people! :D
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Back in Business (Class): [Tuesday 21st - Saturday 25th October 2008]

I think that some time ago I had a go at the business lounges in international airports... Well after 2 years of Economy purgatory (or shall we say hell), crammed like a beast carried in those trucks that we see on the highway, finally I make my way back to the business class and enter the new season of travels with the new company in a completely different way. I missed it after all, and I think that whomever works as an employee and is required to travel long distances like I do, should at least fly business on the way in and out of the trip...

First leg of the trip was the mandatory Frankfurt, and then Hong Kong. We stopped a couple of days there, and then moved to Zhongshen. Zhongshen is a new entry for me, an industrial city that here is classified as "second tier city", although it nets a staggering 1 million residents... The place left me a sense of desolation, huge streets (9 lanes sometimes) with no cars, lots of factories, and the usual Chiese madness (like 3 people riding improbable bikes, mopeds and strange means of transportation).

Then it was the day of Guanzhoug, another new entry, the third city in China. Here we went to the exhibition center, absolutely the biggest that I have ever seen in my life. Apparently due to my "being handsome" a lot of Chinese ladies that were taking care registration asked me to take a picture with them... Oh well...

After we moved to Shangai... the city has changed so much after I saw it 3 years ago, it's now like New York or Tokyo, traffic, people, pollution and a crappy weather are not making the first day very nice, but I quite like it. We managed to visit the usual fake goods market, a very interesting CD and DVD shop (all copies) and some restaurants and general shops.

All in all the trip has been very demanding so far, we had so many appointments and at night I get to work until 3 AM to reply to all the mails coming from all the other countries that I am following... This trip is going to be a whopper, in terms of physical and mental strain, but it's necessary because I need to be introduced to all the clients.

My boss is with me, he's a great person (for a change, my other bosses were all quite bad if you remember), and I feel that I am learning a lot from him, which is good of course...

I wanted to post pictures, but I really haven't taken any interesting shots so far.

In Hong Kong I also lost my mobile phone, it was my personal one. So now I have lost also ALL bloody numbers and contacts. This is quite a pain in the arse and will teach me to backup those numbers when I get the chance... :P

Oh well it was old so it's just the inconvenience of having to get a new card and re-establish the numbers directory... But still if I hadn't lost it would have been better... :P
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Preparations to a big Trip: [Saturday 18th October 2008]

The first business trip at the new company is about to get underway. I will be traveling with my direct superior for a massive introduction of all the clients that we have in Asia, part of the trip will be done by myself, but I am not too concerned about it. I think I got to the point where these sorts of trips cannot bear any serious novelty, ok the product that I sell is different but the "system" is always the same.

Recently I have concentrated much of my action towards the setup and opening of a store in Beijing, the creation of some tools that should help me presenting the goods that we have in stock and that we want to sell out, and of course trying to understand as much as possible what is going on in my markets. It is going to be an interesting trip that should give me more insight about the new job, so I am looking forward to it.

I will also be visiting some new places such as Canton in China and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Apart from that it will be a 3 weeks trip (extremely tough trust me) that will see me going to (in the order):

Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur...

And still there are some places that I should have gone but that is phisically impossible for me to do... An even longer trip would be really devastating...

So in the next few weeks I hope to post pictures from all over Asia!!!

The rest of life is ok I guess. I am happy abut the job, so far, and we have told our landlady that we want to leave the house. Of course she said that we have to pay for all the notice period (6 months), so technically we are not in a rush to change house, I can see that happening next March, more or less...
My knee is still playing funny, I just hope that I can get down with this surgery story quickly and painlessly, but I have to organize this thing with the people at work too, so I think I have to wait at least until I go back.

That's it really, let's hope that the trip ahead is not too hard and is positive under the job point of view! :P
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Weekend in Rome: Friday 10th October - Sunday 12th October 2008]

It must have been at least 4 years since I last set my foot in Rome, on that occasion there was my favourite cousin's wedding, this time it was for a "normal" weekend off. We organized the whole thing quickly, and the plan was to stop at Cristina and Federico's house, and then see one of my best friends ever, Tito.

Tito deserves a special note. It must have been more than 10 years since I last met him, we spent so much time together when we were younger, during the summer holidays in Alghero. The holidays back when we were students were quite long, and Alghero is a very busy place in the summer, but I didn't have anyone to hang around with. I think that with Tito everything started in a great way from the beginning, we had the same interests and problems. We soon built up a great friendship, that has not decreased ever since. Even after not hearing from each other in a long time, seeing him again was like if we never really parted.

Anyways the weekend saw us arriving quite late in Rome, driving through the streets of the city is quite difficult if you don't know where you are going and both me and Chiara did not think about bringing some maps with us. Eventually we arrived to Cristina's palce and we had a lovely dinner, after which we went to bed quite quickly.

The morning after, we arrived in the centre of Rome, truly beautiful city, for lunch. After meeting Tito we stopped at a place that he knows, where the owners are from Sardinia (the island where Alghero is set). Tito seems to know all the "useful" Sardinians in Rome, the meal was quite great as a matter of fact!

After the meal we moved to Tito's mother home, a beautiful place right in the nice part of the city! Some drinks, some rest and then once again we were strolling around the squares and historic buildings that I haven't seen in ages. The last time I went there was probably something line 20 years ago!!!

The evening finished at Cristina's place, where my other cousin Riccardo, joined us for a great barbecue and some more drinking, pool tournament and of course mandatory chatting!

I think that we called it a night around 3 AM, when Riccardo and Tito went back home.

The day after saw a marvellous meal at my aunt's place with Cristina, Federico and Riccardo. We used to go to that house every New Year's Eve, me and my family together, so it's a place that holds quite a lot of memories!

All in all a great weekend, seeing people that I really care for and that I'd love to have closer to me. But I guess that this is the destiny of a family that lives all around the Italian peninsula, probably if we were living all together in a place we would be arguing or something. And as for Tito, I really hope to see more of him, now that we hooked up again...

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Lox, Lorenzo... ME!!: A little introduction about the author and the blog itself. Plus contacts and CVs... You never know!
Pictures: A Selection of the best pictures that I have taken all over the world during the years, all nicely indexed by year and geographical area. Jolly good!
History of this Blog: A collection of all the articles that I have wrote so far, divided by month/year.