Monthly Archives: March 2008
Dinner with Cliff
I have been improving the work and processes at work. Fortunately I am pretty good with excel and creating formulaes. Looking at their work, I had to shake my head. It is all manual work and waste so much time. So, I rearranged the work, made some formulaes so it could be done automatically.
When I was stuck with a very difficult formulaes, I called up my former colleague a.k.a. my excel guru, Clif. Fortunately, he didn’t mind to help me with my dummy file. (No, I never send the original file to outside the company. They are confidential stuff.) With his help, I could proceed with the rest. My manager and colleagues were very impressed with what I have done since it reduce about 70% of their normal time. I’m glad.
I learned everything about excel and programming stuff from Clif and he was so patient with me during my first few years working with him at RA. Later, he and I were the only experts in the company. When we left RA in July 2006, the company had a huge problem. It was all upside down because the only experts with most of the work have left.
So, in order to thank him, I invited him to have a dinner in Rotterdam. We went to American Dream cafe/restaurant for a nice warm meal and had a chit-chat. It was our second meeting after leaving RA. The first one was in February 2007.
This was my appreciation for his help. Thanks Cliffie… hehe
Dinner in Gorinchem
Yesterday we went to Gorinchem for dinner, prepared by family PG. They came from Dendermonde in Belgium but had a house swap with the family in Gorinchem on that weekend. This house is situated in the centre of Gorinchem and very very huge. 5 or 6 floors, with special theater room and big kitchen when in another normal Dutch house, it’s for the whole living room and the kitchen, but this is really extra large. Yes, XX-L for a family of 4 (with 2 small twin-kids)
Anyway, it was an evening with other CS members. Was a nice evening. Thanks L and P for the hospitality and the delicious dinner.
Yummy, delicious pasta. Thanks Lieke.
Pasfoto
As a new employee, I didn’t have an employee pass/batch yet. This pass is used and is recognised in all ING offices in the Netherlands except the Board building (the shoes shape building in Amsterdam). We use it to have an access to the ING buildings. But for the new employees, we all have to go through to the guards to get a batch and return it every time we leave the access entrance in the building.
It was tiresome especially when during the lunch time, when we have to go outside for fresh air or to walk to the nearby shops, we have to ask the guards for a new pass for us to enter the offices.
So, my colleagues informed me last week that there will be a ‘fotobus’ scheduled for today. It was in the other big building, at INGRE. It took me like 7 – 10 minutes to walk to that building. It was not so nice to walk there when the roads are under construction everywhere and when it’s raining.
But I managed to get myself on the camera. It will reach my home address in about 10 days time from now according to the lady.
Hospital: Mammogram
I had 2 appointments today: one at the hospital and one at our family’s doctor.
After working for about 4 hours, I left The Hague to go to Spijkenisse. It was good that I left early because it seemed the metro to Spike city was delayed by more than half an hour. Fortunately, I reached the hospital on time and went straight ahead to the X-Ray’s dept.
This was my first time having a mammogram. My house doctor gave me a letter to make an appointment for this mammogram for me once I told him that I still hadn’t done it more than 10 years ago when a doctor felt a lump on one of my breasts. My doctor said, “10 years ago? It could be a terrible cancer by now.”
But this thing… argghhhhh… no wonder all the ladies showed me their sour face when I told them about this. Damn! It’s soo painful. Poor thing. I did it and I don’t think I will be happy to have it done yearly.
As for the meeting at my doctor, I finally had the stitches at my back removed. Yes! I know, apparently my skin/body has been friends with knives and needles nowadays. Thank God I don’t have any skin cancer. (touch wood!)
Report Duty
Today was my first day at ING IM as a Financial Analyst.
It was a terrible thing to wake up pretty early in the cold morning. Then leave home at 7.04am on the dot, to get the metro Callandlijn, otherwise I’ll have to reach office late and therefore to go home late as well. About 17 minutes travelled and I stopped in Schiedam. Bought train return-ticket for that day and then went to line 5 to wait for the fasttrain to Amsterdam. I took the train at 7.46am. Then I was in The Hague the Laan van NOI station about 15 minutes later. Then I had to walk for about 10 minutes to reach the big building/office. Wow! So many people going to this area.
The Hague is not a capital for the Netherlands but it is a residence for the government and the royalty family. So, you could see all the ministry buildings and other big companies buildings around here. As for ING, it is such a huge company that it has several buildings in that area, ING RE, ING IM, and also Nationale Nederlander. The Human Resourse main office is in Rotterdam, ING office for the group.
I am going to work for a team called Financial Accounting for IM as a ‘Senior’ Financial Analyst, and to be the right hand of the manager which I wonder what to expect in this financial institution. Will I get what I want? The challenge? The development? We shall see.
Shopping spree in England
Shopping with Vic in England
I had a grand time visiting my friend, Vicky, in Portsmouth, England. After 2 and a half days with Vic, we got to know each other well. We have known each other for a while but never that close. Now, we took time to learn about us.
I am so glad that Wim forced me to go away from the house for a while, after all the stress.
My main reason to go away is to go shopping, but of course beside shopping, I need to take time to rest and have my “therapy” 
before going back to work. Did I tell that Wim wanted me to go to Malaysia for these reasons? And for only about a week? But I didn’t. Too expensive and too short.
Vicky
On Thursday at V’s house, I slept until about 10.00 am. It was because V and I arrived very late at her home the night before, about 3.30am. We left home to go shopping after 2.00pm. So, we spent about a couple of hours going to the shops.
The next day, we left after 10.30am. After attending mass at the St. John’s Cathedral in Portsmouth in the afternoon, we left the city to Southhampton. Here we had a couple of hours to visit the big shopping complex.
I bought many new clothes for work, a handbag and shoes. I hope to be back to England for shopping. And to see my friends.
Now, I have to say good night because tomorrow, I need to get up early to go to work, yep, reporting duty.
Stormy weather – Flight cancelled
I was supposed to be in London by now but due to the bad weather, heavy storm here, my early morning flight has been cancelled. Woke up at 4.30am and then went to the airport very early this morning was not what I had the best in mind. But that’s the earliest flight I can get from Rotterdam Airport.
Wim drove me to Rotterdam Airport and then he went directly to work. So, after changing my flight to night flight, I left the airport in a stormy and rainy weather.
Reached home only to have myself tucked in bed again for the rest of half of the day. What a nice life.
Going Shopping in London
I received several phone calls today from my friends in Germany and Norway after trying to call a friend of mine in England. The plan was to go shopping in London and since I have promised to Vicky that I would visit her someday, I thought this was the day.
Everything was last minute decision, I was on the phone with the ladies in England and Norway and at the same time online. So, I bought the tickets online right away and printed out everything. I am going to England to shop. Yeayyyy….
Wim is happy that I finally will go away for a few days. He kept on telling me to go to Germany or to Paris or to London for a few days while I am still not working. I did go shopping to Amsterdam with my ex-colleague Fran but he thinks going out of the country will do me good. (Yes, I have been in a stressful situation the last few months.) It is just too bad I don’t have too many days off left and too bad it is too expensive to go back to Malaysia for less than seven days, otherwise I would have already been to the warm country and taste the local food again.
London, here I come back again…
