Strobaek Blog

Working from home from time to time is one of the benefits I really enjoy. My daily commute is around an hour each way, and even though I can fill this time with podcasts and audio books, it is nice to be without it.

You should be careful not to over do it, though, as it can spoil the good synergies you have with your colleagues. However, let’s be honest: working from home is a good thing. You save the transportation, you can spend the morning with your kids and open the door for the plumber, should she decide to swing by.

I came across the following guidelines of what to do and what to avoid, if you are so lucky that you can work from home:

1. Do not leave your cell phone at home if you leave the house to go shopping or eat lunch.
2. Pick up your phone – also if you are in the bathroom.
3. Arrange some short phone meetings with people at work. They hate your guts because you are working from home and this will show them your commitment to your work – also when you are working from home.
4. Avoid long and complex mail threads with your boss to early in the day as this may result in a call where you have to answer the question of where you are (even if you have been granted permission to work from home, then do not remind your boss of this).
5. Do not drink alcohol early in the day, just because you are home. This also includes beer for lunch.
6. Remember to send the long e-mail with lots of attached spreadsheets that your colleagues have been waiting several weeks for. This serves two purposes: 1) It demonstrates that you are in fact doing something and 2) You can be sure no one will react to what you have sent. It is far to complex and takes to much time to read so you get some peace and quiet.
7. Do not leave your Elvis Costello album playing on the stereo with the volume turned to full throttle when you talk on the phone to your colleagues.
8. Do not take the phone when you sleep. Let it wake you up. Splash then some cold water in your face. Then call back and say you were in the middle of something important. It may well be your colleagues are looking straight through you, but it was worth the try.
9. Try to reach your boss very late in the day, but be absolutely sure he has left the office. This is the kind of attitude a boss likes. You are so engaged in your work, that you did not consider your boss might have left for the day when you called.
10. Dress properly – do not work in your underwear. People will know. No one knows why, but people know if you are talking to them only wearing your undies or g-string.

I love music. Unfortunately I do not play an instrument  myself, but I enjoy listening (contrary to football/socker, music is not like sex: fun to participate in, but dull to look at).

For many years the family collection has been fully digitalized. We buy music on iTunes or rip the CDs we buy and place them on the shared net disc.

To get the full use of all these music files, without having to use a computer, I bought a Sonos Multi-Room Music System last year. It is one of the best investments I have made in a long time. Apart from being able to hear all your music wireless in any room, control it all from either the Controller or you iPhone/Touch, it also interfaces with tons of internet services and other input devices, such as your DAB radio. You can, of course, play different music in the different “zones” or you can play the same in all of them, if you throw a party. You can even turn down the volume in your kids rooms, if you think they are playing to loud. Excellent feature

The form-factor is also really nice. If you have a pair of active speakers, like some of the cool ones from Scandyna, the size of the unit is only 13x14x10 cm. And because you don’t need line-of-sight to control it, you can store in an a cupboard or draw or behind the books on a shelve.

Initially you would choose one of two versions of the ZonePlayer, depending of wether or not is had a build in amplifier or not. In other words you had to “add” speakers or maybe hook it up to your existing stereo system. Sonos has just announced a new unit, the S5, where everything is included, so you just plug it into the power socket and you are ready to rock and roll. So cool for e.g. the kitchen or mudroom, where you don’t need the full power of external speakers.

I have always had a passion for good food or rather gourmet food and the cooking of such. Ever since high school, where I was able to seduce my female classmates with dishes like Coniglio alla Provenzale, Osso Buco or if time was scarce Pizza Gorgenzola, I have enjoyed the tranquility of preparing a gourmet meal for my friends and loved ones.

During my time studying economics at the University of Copenhagen, I have spend many evenings producing ‘physical stuff’ after spending the day with more or less abstract subjects within the fields of micro economics or game theory.

I will never reach the level of my good friend Mark – who actually cares if you should use blood oranges for sauce Maltaise or not – and these days, with screaming kids demanding ever increasing amounts of food, it is seldom that I actually have the time to engage in big gourmet productions. Once in a while, we do make time to cook and fill up the freezer with everything from spring rolls over lasagna to pirogues and frikadeller (Danish meat balls).

Bone Appétit.

I am going to attend Dev Days in Århus tomorrow, organized by Århus .NET User Group (www.anug.dk).

Enough praise cannot go to the people from aung who put these events together.

Come over and say ‘hi’ if you are around; it would be nice to put a live face to some of the “virtual” people in ones life