The donkey and the well

Lovely evening in Copenhagen Nyhavn, the sun in your face, the crowded lovely harbour area and Copenhagen from its best. I had stopped by for some lighter food and a beer with my old old manager since i was in town for a two days meeting.

As I am a very talkative girl and he knows it, he asked me to tell me my story since lately. I did... this was last summer and at that time a lot had happened to me... or lets say, I had gave myself, allowed the life to give me opportunities and challenges to deal with, decisions to make and love to live. As a spoke, I just realized it had been great moments, but also deep sorrows and challenges you would have kind of ... get burned out for.

As I spoke I just could see tears in his eyes and a face that I had never seen before, but since he was not my manger at this time... he did not hold back. At the same time, he smiled and smiled but I think in one way he cried inside.

As I was ready, and it took some time, he asked if he could tell me a story and of course I said yes.

Then he told me the donkey and the well story. Here it is in my version.

Two men passed a well and they heard something barking down there. They looked down and they saw a donkey very far down. The donkey looked at them and his eyes told them .... " take me up from here, I want to live, help me!!! ".

The two men looked at each other, what could they do. Impossible to get the donkey up, no way that they could do that because then they should probably fall down themselves. So... no matter how they should do, the donkey would probably die anyway. Heard but true. The decided to give the donkey at least a quick death so they start to dig from the outside to fill the well with soil and bury the donkey. They digged and digged. And they looked the donkey straight in the eyes as the soil went down... but they saw him all the time... strange. The face came closer and closer. And after even more digging and burying ... the donkey was standing aside them at the top of the well.

The two men looked surprised at each other, what happened?

Smiling, greatful and so full of living energy, standing alive. The eyes of the donkey were happily smiling, " thank you ! and the donkey walked away.

The donkey shook the soil of each time it hit him in the well out and off and ..Alive.

As my Manager had finalized his story, I cried. In silence as I just realized I was the donkey he talked about and I was alive.

I love this story and I have told it to some of my friends that can understand what I am talking about, and the ones who knows that I am full of energy, choose love and happiness and love to live as much as the donkey.

At the moment, now ... I cant shake, damn... I can shake and I just feel the soil coming. I just keep my eyes and my mouth open to breath .. and I am alive.

Celine Dion is on of my favourite singer, This Alive is fantastic in Vegas... It could have been me.. performing and singing... well... I cant sing as good as her but I can dance and my legs look as great as hers in high heels shoes ... :-)

Maybe I go to Vegas, I need a trip... and also buy me another pair of shoes... that might help some .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS2mav63VkI


/Anna

Golden mornings and good days...

Woke up in this lovely apartment, old, cold but warm in a way that is just wonderful. I look into the cityhall clock and just enjoy this old beautiful view and environment.

Went out of bed carefully, trying not to wake up my youngest son, insisting to get some minutes of my own with a coffee and the book I start reading yesterday.

Golden morning, alone with the radio and a cup of coffee in my sofa, just enjoying my own company and it was not to bad.

Finalize the book with tears and laughs in combination.. I am kind of sensitive at the moment.. true.

My son woke up, wondering why I was crying but laughing at the same time... ? Once he will know what I am talking about.. now he just looked at me and hugged me. Lovely...

Went down to the local bakery in the same house as mine, dressed in pyjamis with my coat and a NASA cap, trying not to be recognized... bought some lovely fresh bread... and I did not say a word to the cashier girl to who I normally say some words to... no no,,, this morning, the hotel director did want to be just Anna the girl and mom and not a professional... I dont know if it is poosible in this little town, filled with gossips and talk.... puh.

Breakfast in sofa, a great time with my son who is in seven heaven to be close to me every minute, and of course very close to his cars and trucks as well that was our company in the sofa.

A phonecall... .unexpected, lovely and great.

Out in the lovely cold snowy town, trying to get my 70.s dressed fixed by my old classmate.....
but no... sorry ,,,, you have kind of changed to much to be able to change the dress as much as you like... damn. I like that dress and it had been perfect.

Check in at the hotel, good to be back and see that my staff is doing fine and everything is in order as it should be.

Picked up my mum for some coffee and socialising, great as well.

Check in the very kind guests

Close down for the evening and then back to the apartment.

Tomorrow it is breakfast time here and then back to Stockholm.

This was a good Saturday.... but in one and other ways it could have been better, that is the honest evaluation.


/ A

Happiness and sharing... two lovely words

The other day my lovely girlfriend Gunilla visited me here in the apartment and it was great happiness to welcome her as it was first time and some time since we were together like the real friends we are.

So great to see each other and chit chat about what has happened since last time in September.

Heavy laughs that we have both been very busy in different ways but in one way the same.

She had met the man of her life, got engaged, bought a summerhouse, moved together and made love like a rabbit the whole autumn. I dont know which one we talked most about .. but I can tell that the topic of the evening was kind of fluctuating between teenagers, orgasm and business etc . True...

Two girls sharing is the best therapi ever.. and I can tell we are openspeaken about everything .. and everything. I shared my thoughts, considerations and great happiness of the man I have met ... and she was lucky... she got a glimps of him and a talk during the evening and that was super..

Her comment about the happiness to experience passion at the age of 40 + was crystal clear perfect and fit to both of us. ... and truly, what goes around, comes around...

Her story about partying her a..s off during the weekend in the Swedish Alps was also so super.
I dont doubt a single second about her magnetism on the dancefloor.. making the whole place moving and dancing and just live the enjoy. .. and the good thing is that she is very well aware of it.. and also aware that you dont have to 25 + to be attractive and happy. I love her for her selfconfident and the power of a mature woman which she lives almost every day.


Her stories about the great love to J and there exercises all around the house was of course interesting as well.. and anyone would be jealous... true....and I was reminded about what to accomplish with my man as well...:-) going for the wantings.. how hard can it be..?

Her story about that her love J has something against me is course someting we have to fix...
the problem is that he is so afraidto loose her to me so he kind of protect her from me... well hello..!! he must really overestimate my capability and my intentions for my lovely girlfriend. Is she happy I am of course happy....and I will respect and like him too. no problem at all, and sometimes I think.. if you are so afraid to loose something.. you have probably almost lost it in some ways already.

Strange..... but it is about choices and I hope that we will never spoil this lovely friendship due to some stupid, childish thoughts At least I will do my best to make sure that love conquer it all.. always.

After too many glasses of wine we both kind of fell asleep in the middle of our talk.... satisfied about a great evening and great friendship.

Sharing... has got a new content and meaning this autumn to me and I guess also to a person i truly love. To me sharing is a great positive word always. No matter what you are sharing .. the sharing itself is something that you do together and brings you even closer.

Happiness and sharing is two lovely words and i live them as much as I can and I will never stop.

Love and energy to BP, my lovely children, friends and family around. You deserve it, absolutely whole life.

A

Top models for a day....

What a lovely Monday and start of the week. Today we had requested the best fotographer of Ekero to come and document us for Teamclinic website and it was kind of a nervous but lovely feeling this morning.

To be honest, the expectations were both high in one way and low in another... due to the fact that we are no real models.... ? It can be quiet hard to get some good photos just like that without any practising, feeling comfortable and relaxed.

But hello.. how hard can it be? During some hours we managed to pose and re-dress a couple of times and get some nice shots in different positions, and situations.

You will se more of the great result on teamclinic.se later on.. now we do have a challenge to choose among all houndreds of photos taken.... so mostly.. now when looking at the result... Great.

I am impressed by the result, and it was a great feeling to be a model for one day including heavy laughing and great committment.

One of the success factors was the fotographer of course..., who was a hansom, and I would gladly take him out for a date.

Enjoy our first photo of the day, more to come.

Love and happiness from

A

Original RAD Race -- Always deliveries , always good value

I truly recommend all IT organisations to make some activities that will boost and encourage their motivation and even more performance.

A great example of this kind of event is the Original RAD RACE. It is held frequently in Holland and Belgium by the excellent skilled Ivan Verbourgh.

RAD Race is an independent programming competition focused on:
--delivering a working business program,
--in controlled and verifiable conditions

I had the great pleasure to join the last public RAD Race held in Hasselt Belgium and I have to admit it was a great success in many ways.

First of all, all the participants, the teams, were so engaged, energetic and very enthusiastic about the very difficult case given. 14 skilled teams, 2 in each team, from different IT companies around the area, bringing their company banners and promotion material to their given place in the facility, on of the university halls in Hasselt. The high workperformance and committment in each team .. yes I was impressed and happy to se it myself.

Second, the encouraging, skilled and very professional jury members were fantastic. To join this jury group for some hours was an honour and a pleasure, and I will never forget it.

Third, the workresult solutions presented from each of the teams. Impressive. For such a short period of time, the deliveries were great and interesting. Within 48 hours. Different solutions and interfaces and all the results were good in their way.

I had the pleasure to join the jury work of the RAD RACE and I promised myself and the Task force manager of the race, Ivan Verbourgh to make sure he will come to Scandinavia with this kind of event.

Not only fun, Its extremely good value in many ways, internal organisation way of working, encouraging skilled people to increase even more, strengthen the skilles and motivate for even further better work, and of course also promotion.

Read more about it and contact Ivan, I promise, the result and value is worth every spent dime.

http://www.radrace.org/en/index.html

In the photo, me standing with the great jury members, getting the presentation from one of the teams solution.

/A

Divorce.... a failure or a success?

So back to some personal writings here, very personal.

I dont know if it is the time of the year, beginning of the new year or what, but a lot of things are going around out there in many families. In my "neighborhoud" things are happening, that is for sure.

Christimas and holidays reminds about the sad situation in families with bad relations, but also strengthen some others.

One of my very good friend will soon be divorced at the end of January and I know what this mean in many ways. A year filled with challenges due to the fact of selfish and x partner jealousy of the situation to be able to choose happiness and go on. No support to each other at all. The driver of the divorce, has become a new person and is as happy as ever. I have never heard a person talk about happiness in such words after a divorce.... more then myself. His x-partner is probably even more unhappy due to the bad giving and non giving. On top of the cream he met the woman of his life quiet early after splitting and they are in heaven for their new life and all their children together, and as an extra bonus.. they got a lovely little son in December. I just go crazy happy for them.

A great girl here in town, has finally after 13 years of consideration..puuh..... ( oldest child is 18) moved away from a man that did not bring any happiness at all into their relationsship, and neither did she. She did not dare to tell her boys about it so she let it go... I can tell .. the boys today are chocked and more sad about that they have stayed together then the divorce itself. I am happy for her. I know she will start living now.

Another friend is in such a shitty relationsship that it is not worth to call a relationsship. It just proves that some man are really big assholes. But is it more simple to split it up with an asshole? Well.. depends who you ask. To stand aside and guide is very easy... to be in the middle of the hurricane eye.. you just try to survive. I will be her publisher for releasing a book.. i promise it will be a bestseller.

To divorce and separate is not very simple in one way, on the other it is. Its about people and a life and you have to make your choices. You can never cover up any situation as sadness or any other reactions to yourself or your children. The logic parts must not be the guiding ones, it is the living life thoughts of the future.

I promised myself that I will always look back at the good part of the marriage I had and make those to great memories for my children, that does not cost me anything, it gives me strenthen to show that what the past lovely time gave us. I also promised to tell my children to be sure that I will always will do my best to fix the situation and everything for them, and I feel great about that mindset and ambition.

Its not a perfect world we are living in, and no-one is perfect. To show your children that you choose happiness and a good future for them will guide them to believe in something good.
Consider it will be even better then before... that is a huge thought?

So, it depends on how you see it. It is ok to fail if we choose to call a divorce a failure and it is also ok to make your failure to your best future and success.

Its about the choices again.

I choose love and happiness and go for celebrating both failures and succesess in life. And honestly.. i dare to believe in love, heavy and faithful undconditionally even after divorce. I just do.

/ A

End of holidays .. drive to achieve...

In one way I am happy that Christmas, New year and the other celebration days are over for this time. This year was strange in the sence that I put myself in a Stand By position both privately and businesswise, and now I realize it was a good decision to do so.

I am a person that can´t be to long in the stand by mood, but with the right motivation, everything is possible. This year I had ( have) and still stay kind of stand by.

Some mixes from today thoughts.. in stupid combinations short cuts... ..

Today I put some energy and action into myself again and I have made some great purchase offers that I look forward to see where it goes. It can be good and it can be bad and in worse case it can be nothing. Nothing is not what I prefer, it is better to go for any of the others,at least there is something to negotiate about.

Today.. my mother for the first time discussed leadership with me.. since she obviously had a talk about my leadership and management skills with one of the guests outside the hotel while smoking..eh. .. she is kind of incredible.. but anyway.. We had a talk about it, me and her, and she all of a sudden reflected about her manager at the hospital and the way she was managing people and situations.

I decided to listen with new ears to my mother as I have never ever discussed this kind of things before since management is not her skill or have never been her interest ever... and I did.

I decided also just to listen to the feedback and dont give any comments back at all, just thanks for the reflection and advices. She wanted me to react and so on.. but I decided not to. Strange according to her... but not strange according to me. For heaven sake... it is kind of nice to stay silent now and then.... and since almost talk all the time... it was just great. Two ear and one mouth.... hehe... my best lover reminded me about it the other day.. and thanks for that too.

"Drive to Achieve" was one of the managment skills amongs other pointed out as critical in the management and leadership in my old company. Thank good.. it can also be a headline here in my blog.

Actually this skill needs to be used heavily here for the comings in both a lovely, smart and strategic way.

Today I did some real on the job training in this skills by managing purchase documents and offers with the clear goal what ot achieve. Puh... it is not to easy, and I wish I had my very best mentor to ask and support me, but unfortunately he is busy.. so.. I have to manage on my own.

Then you have to put your own fuel into the engine and start to drive... put yourself into the driver seat. No one else can do that but yourself.

At the moment, I am into something that I will make my best days and drive for the rest of my life. I am convinced, I am confident and I am happy about it.

Regarding cars... I have just experienced a brand new car together with a brand lovely person.

So I dedicate this Roxette song to the very best driver of that car.

Drive on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDjdMxHHmF4

Back to work...

So, finally back to work..... Have to admit it was some strange to have a must this morning and the alarm since I have had a great break for two weeks, but I guess it was needed.

I have promised to make this week very good, be proactive, effective but also very calm. I just have to stay cool at the moment.

Good to be back at the hotel and meet all the lovely guests that are so very friendly here. I guess its about how you act and treat others, so.. what goes around, comes around.

The tempo here this week is kind of low but I guess it is normal and also a good start.

Also time to leave all the financial stuff for December to my bookkeeper and that is always a little nerv. On the other hand I feel comfortable with the hotel progress and profit.. .but I always want to make sure to do good business. Something else is not good enough.

One of the employee is sick as well and it makes me crazy happy that I have gathered a great team to call if needed. And it is.

Talking about team, Teamclinic is up and running and the real hard work is about to be proven now, how fun.

Also, I am so enthusiastic about RSDC 2009 and the sessions down there. I want to make sure that we have at least one session this year and hopefully also be invited to a panel discussion also this year. I still remember the thrill and great fun.

So.... this 5th of January was kind of a good Monday and it is a smaller evening celebration in the calender , so happy ´celebration.

Love
A