Click here to view the embedded video.

One other composition I just love is the Bolero by Ravel. Around the age of 10 I saw an orchestra playing this version on TV and the conductor made such an impact with me, I could never forget his face and body language. And now thanks to the Internet I found the exact same version as I saw 23 years ago. It appeared it was the version played by the national Danish Symphony Orchestra and orchestrated by the famous Sergiu Celibidache. During the almost 20 minute video you only see Sergiu doing his thing, but you won’t get bored at all! What an expression! Amazing. This composition is probably the most erotic and energized classical piece I’ve ever heard.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So why this post today about classical music? Well, thanks to my sister who gave us the entry cards, we got to visit the Brabants Orchestra in the Frits Philips music hall, which is a piece of art by itself. The orchestra had organized a family concert where they would play the percussion concerto Veni Veni Emmanuel from the Scottish composer James MacMillan, which made a big impact on my son Rody. The second piece was the day and nightingale by Theo Loevendie where a story teller was telling the whole story to the children while being accompanied by the orchestra with the sounds. Amazing and very good musical translation of the fairy tale. Below a Dutch video about how Theo Loevendie created the music that goes with the story.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyway, I can’t say that I really got rested from this little afternoon out; While we had a table and some chairs reserved for our stuff and to sit and rest, I got a total of 3 minutes in the chair (in 3 series that is…). When you’re a dad, you have to play! Kids are a good excuse to behave like a child yourself. If I would be alone in the swimming pool enjoying all the slides, swimming underwater and enjoying the streaming river, I would for sure get some strange faces. But now… nobody cares when you’re with kids! So it was playtime for Jorg as well… Whoo hoo! Can’t wait until we visit the beach again, so that I can start digging some sand castles again.

Yesterday I got a call from an IT company that was interested in hiring Mr X. First of they introduced themselves to me and if I was aware that I was written down as a reference for Mr X. Of course! If someone doesn’t ask me to be their reference beforehand and just writes my name down, I refuse to cooperate with the company calling. Around two years back this happened to me for the first time and I was caught off guard. Somehow the person who had written me down didn’t speak the human language, because during my time as his manager I had demoted him and given him several official warnings. And now he expected me to be his reference? At that point of time I told the HR lady that it wouldn’t probably be a good idea to ask me to be a reference for him. Which was of course the end for his job application at that company.

From now on, and I had one 4 weeks ago, if someone calls to ask questions about a person, for which I didn’t agree upfront to be a reference, I just say that I didn’t agree to be a reference for the person and I don’t have time at the moment. Three months ago I got a call from someone who was fired 6 months after I left that company as his manager. He asked me to be a reference and I had to decline. At least he had the courage to ask, but not the intelligence to know that my own name is also on the line if I give a reference and it turns out he sucks at what he’s going to do. So, no I could not give him a reference.

Back to Mr X from yesterday. So after the mandatory introduction they started asking questions. It went something like this

HR – I see he’s a hard worker who can get things done by himself?

Me – Yes, definitely a very hard worker indeed.

HR – So, he’s not a team player?

Me – No, I didn’t say that. He can work alone very well, but at the same time if you put him in a project group he will perform equally as well

HR – Okay, but what will be a better place for him? Individual work or team work?

… sigh …

HR – What points are improvement points for Mr X?

Me – Well, I think that Mr X is not yet senior enough to be talking directly with higher management, but what I’ve seen he’s one of those people who could become one of those guys that can.

HR – So, he has communication issues? Is he a tech person without communication skills?

… sigh …

HR – So, dear sir, would you give a positive reference about Mr X in the end to us?

Me – Yes, that’s why I’m talking to you know…

HR – So, when we hire him and it turns out to be a mistake…

Me – Then what?

HR – Well, let’s just say that it’s a small world…

Me – Is that a threat? Why are you stupid to think that I would put my name on the line for this guy if it was an asshole? Don’t you think my reputation would hurt enough if he didn’t deliver? He was one of the top people in my previous team and that’s the only reason why I’m giving this reference. Don’t think I do this for everybody! And instead of asking all these negative questions, it would be much better if you focused on the stuff that he did well and how you can get him even better in that department instead of only trying to fix his shortcomings and making a generalist out of him, which would be damn shame. Oh, I why is the future manager of him not calling? Is he not interested himself in what kind of meat he gets?

HR – Thank you sir, I think that’s all we need.

… sigh …

Once again, I was pretty pissed afterwards and asked myself why I would agree to these phone calls. To be honest, I get these kind of calls most of the time while giving a reference. The times that I remember I got the actual new manager on the line and asking about how to build on the guy from the positive side of things can be counted on just two fingers. Amazing!

Oh, and I just received a phone call from Mr X that he got the job! So, congrats to him. I guess I’m over my anger now… let the next phone call ring…

• My Children
• Girlfriend
• Sports
• People
• Entrepreneurship
• Technology
• Meeting new people
• Snowboarding
• Freediving
• Fitness
• Running
• Swimming
• Good Restaurants
• Sushi
• Watching a movie
• Reading
• Silence
• Events
• Competitions
• Making Music
• Listening to Music
• Water
• Travel
• Experiences
• Diving
• Our Cats
• Being Free
• Writing
• Finishing a project
• Having Fun
• Laughing

Time is up…

Thinking about why some projects failed in the last months and why some where successful. Understanding about what IT is that drives me. It didn’t take long to come to a conclusion: Some things aren’t just for me.

I finally came to terms with some stuff. Sometimes it’s hard to quit something, but the energy burst that comes free with throwing stuff away is amazing. I was juggling with to many balls. Working with backup plans and other stuff. Now it’s time to go all out. No backup plans. Failure is not an option!

Sanne has made a new Snowboard only blog about his trainings and stuff. Real cool stuff to read and amazing progress by Sanne with his tricks.

I remember only 3 months ago, when I told Sanne I would never be a park-boy and just enjoy the POW and the off piste riding. But after hitting a few small jumps on the slope at Montana, I wanted more.

Now I’m at a point where I’m getting in the comfort zone with riding switch, doing 180′s in all it’s 16 different ways on the ground and small kickers. Riding boxes 50/50 and 180′s both side of the box is getting easier every training. And last training I finally did the big kicker. What a rush!

The Wednesday sessions are great stuff! Some real adrenaline (and sweat) streaming and the rush when a trick works is great. Doing something that scares you at first is great mental training. Wondering what I’ll be doing on my board in 3 months time.

It makes me want to step back on to my skateboard and in my skates… Good times!

It’s time again to focus on what has to be done from a day to day, week to week, year to year period. I will dedicated the rest of today to this to make sure I don’t loose it again.

Friday was my mothers birthday and she took the family to a Mongolian restaurant. It was an all inclusive price, so unlimited meat, fish and drinks. I’m still full. It was fun to see my son Rody prepare his own meat on the grill and eat like there was no tomorrow. The 2,5 hour eating window was too much for my daughter Indy, so after around 45 minutes at the table she had enough and went exploring. The owner brought a big bag of toys, paper and pencils to play with and even emptied a restaurant table for her to sit at. Great restaurant, great service!

Saturday morning it was skateboarding time. My son, who is now completely hooked on snowboarding, is just not satisfied with 1 or 2 weekly visits to the slope. He wants to be on a board everyday of the week. While it is impossible for me to drive him to the snow everyday, it is possible to step on the next best thing: a skateboard. We have a great skate-park 100 meters from our house and an very big indoor skate-park called Area 51, a mere 5k away, where they also teach skateboarding in a very chilled manner. So he had his first lesson and is stoked and already wants to go again.

Saturday afternoon and evening was spend with my girlfriend and we had some tapas in a restaurant and watched the movie ‘Chloe’, which I give a 6,5. It was a nice evening out. These days I leave my celllphone at home at such occasions, and it gives a lot more rest. No checking emails or news, just enjoying the moment! Good times.

Sunday morning was snowboarding time. My son is busy with his final (gold) course, so I could do some snowboarding by myself with some friends. After Rody his course we stayed an hour longer and had some fun on the slopes. The completely redid the slope, jumps and boxes last week, so we enjoyed ourselves a lot.

As Helle, my girlfriend, was away this day and the kids with their mothers for till Monday I had a few hours of private time in the afternoon. Did some much needed reading, because I’ve read just a few books this year. Read ‘the monk and the riddle‘ in one sitting. Great book on setting priorities in life and going for it. Recommend it!

Helle returned at the beginning of the evening and it was time for food. I prepared my first mussel meal for this year and it was great food. I really enjoy a good meal that takes a long time to eat. In the evening we relaxed some more by some writing and reading. The end of a very good weekend!

Second there was my office that had become a real mess after not looking at it for the last few weeks. It’s pretty obvious what kind of negative impact this had on my way of working! It’s been far from optimal in the last two weeks.

And last, I digitized all the papers that were still on my desk, so that I don’t have anything lying around anymore that can distract me. A new habit has been born: as soon as I’ve received mail (the paper version), I digitize it and store it in my dropbox folder.

It’s funny to notice that the more you clean the more clear you become in your head! In the last few days I had more clear ideas and visions than in 2010 as a whole. Only don’t let my girlfriend know this, because she will use this cleaning thing against me…

Besides the little weightlifting problem I also had trouble with running. Not due to injury or something else, but due to all the snow and ice on the road. It was just to dangerous to do some outside running.

01 mo fitness

March will be filled mostly getting back in running and preparing for my competition run beginning of April. And of course the snowboarding vacation will give me some good sports moment!

April will be start of the second 12 weeks of training, where some things will for sure be different.