Two Weeks Left

When I look back at my time off it's hard to imagine the reluctant sentiment I felt in the end of February. It was still officially winter and I felt pretty much like the old palm trees outside our house: gray and scrubby.

These very same trees are now standing straight and proud; letting their green leaves sway in the spring wind and hosting flowers bursting to blom. I'm in the same joyful state. I feel rested, relaxed and reborn. I'm looking forward with excitement to rejoin my collegues and slay the evil dragons wherever they might be.

- So you have learned nothing?, my inner voice echoes in my head. Well, I do but we'll see if we can go from theory to practice, I answer the voice.

To find happiness through the balance between work and family is no lesser than art. It takes integrity to dare, ambition to want and strength to carry through. But you reach a point where it becomes crucial for everyone that you do, especially in a wired / wireless world where your PDA is your office and always on. It's also a challenge when your work is your hobby and your curiosity and eagerness to learn is not following the industrial 9-to-5 schedule. Innovations or ideas are hard to schedule.

The technological breakthroughs should liberate and not confine but seldom do - at least not in a world where testosterone is the fuel. And I have to admit that also my tanks are full.