Work

Working from home

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Proper standing desk at home

I’m not really sure where we’re at on the working from home debate these days. Earlier there was uproar about having to return to the office, but it seems to have died down a bit now. Some people have grudgingly accepted the return, some have purposefully quit and found work that suited them better, while others are more than happy that things are somewhat back to normal.

I’m a huge fan of working from home. My job requires me to be at a computer with an internet connection – that’s all. And with my boss based in the UK, and most of my meetings online anyway, there is little point in me travelling an hour to get to an office. Prior to the pandemic I was quite often not doing it.

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Travelling for work – it’s great… but….

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I remember the first time I flew for work. It involved a day trip from Melbourne to Sydney. I was super excited. I felt professional and oh-so glamourous. I wore business-attire (even though it wasn’t at all necessary) and I carried only a handbag.

And the bubble popped.

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Sitting… standing… or both?

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First standing desk
The first standing desk

We all know that sitting all day is bad for us. After I slipped discs in my back, I was under strict instructions: from here on I would need to balance out time spent sitting with movement, be it walking or standing.

At the time, because I couldn’t drive, I created a standing desk at our dining room table – two cardboard boxes created the perfect height for my laptop. I’d stand for half an hour and then I’d sit for half an hour, and so on. Soon after, we installed a standing desk in my home office, and thankfully my company provided me with a standing desk at work. So I was set.

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A change in pace – working only four days a week – but why should I justify it?

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Now tell me, would you do it if you had the opportunity? Would you really?

Would you happily trade less money for more time? And if you did, how would you feel? Would it make you feel lazy? How would you react when everyone else was groaning about the long, last day of the workweek? Would you feel like you weren’t contributing to society and being selfish?

Working 4 days a week
My Friday workstation

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Why my new car is awesome – meet the Snow Tiger

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When I finally (just in time) got a job in Austria, I didn’t have much time to buy a car. Though with a 45 minute commute to contend with, it was a necessary evil.

New car_awesome
Meet the Snow Tiger

Thomas doesn’t like car shopping, and I’m not much help. To me, it’s a car – I want to be able to drive it without breaking down and I want to listen to music… if it was a cool colour that would be ok, too. But that’s it. We checked out a few cars and found some models I liked (in truth, I would have been happy with any of them… I just wanted a good deal) and I ended up with a Ford Focus. I’ve never been a Ford girl, but it was the best one we found. And here’s why: Continue reading →

My first Austrian Christmas Party – what was I thinking not wearing a dress?

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Are Austrian work Christmas parties any different to Australian ones? I found out last year – and rest assured I’ll do a better job this year!

I was full of nervous excitement about my first Austrian work Christmas party. Excited because it was a night of eating good food, drinking and dancing, nervous because I’d only been with the company a month, and my German was not quite ready for drunken conversations.

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The wonderful world of visa applications – Take 2 – Rot-Weiss-Rot

debbiekaye19802 Comments

Around the middle of 2014, job seeking became my main focus. To be honest, I wasn’t overly motivated, and I wasn’t really expecting to find a job in Austria. I sent off a letter maybe every few weeks, and very few of those job ads were actually in English, so consequently, the return rate was very low. Actually, it was pretty much non-existent. I had the skills, but without the German language, I was pretty much useless to most companies. Continue reading →

Why my new job is awesome

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Lucky as I was to actually land myself a bona fide job here in Austria before my visa ran out, I have been extra lucky that the company I am working for has a culture that not only fits in with my working philosophy and personality but also provides a number of perks.

If you’re going to read on… be prepared for some major job-envy.

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Typing – whz would thez move the y?

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That’s right… this post is going to be about typing… as in on a keyboard. And even just typing that one word – typing – has caused me some consternation, because… well the keyboards over here are different.

German keyboard
QwertZ? WTF

Not too different, not different enough that you have to relearn to type, but enough that it messes with your head and frustrates you just enough to be annoying. Continue reading →