A factory that builds houses

May 122012
 
Wall segments are hung vertically for the windows to be fitted and other work to be done.

On Friday we visited a factory in southern Germany to see the place where the components for our house will be built. I plan to start writing more about our house building project here soon but for now I wanted to share some details and pictures from our visit.

The purpose of our trip to the Schwörer Headquarters was for us to undertake a process called “pre-sampling” where we would get the opportunity to see the many options that we have for the details of the house both exterior and interior. As part of this visit we were given a tour of the factory in Oberstetten where eventually the components of our house will be constructed.

We learned that the factory can build 800 houses a year and that each one is custom made and no two houses are the same and that in normal operation 4-5 houses leave the factory per week. The factory is also producing wood products in addition to houses, but we found out that the huge stock of wood in the photos was only enough to last the factory for 4 weeks.

First we got to see the incredible amount of wood that they have to hold in stock, this was all held outside firstly as tree trunks that slowly became planks of wood and other wood products.

The biomass from the plant is all kept and there is a power station on the site that burns all of the biomass and creates enough energy for 60,000 houses, another impressive number!

Next we went to see the factory floor where our house walls, roof and other components will be manufactured, this was a real surprise for me to see how much of the work is manually done.

After this we saw the loading area:

I found the whole process really fascinating especially the level of detail that is done in the factory. It would be really great if we could visit the factory when they are building the walls for our house. We have a lot work to do until then!

This gallery contains 13 photos

How to achieve and maintain an empty Inbox

May 102012
 

I have had times during my working life where email has become a nightmare. The number of emails in my inbox would get higher and higher through the day, but I was unable to manage all these emails because of the distractions of new emails.

From Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/russandlori/3529685444

http://www.flickr.com/photos/russandlori/3529685444

I have read plenty of articles on how to deal with this problem but I so far have only found one reliable method of dealing with the problem. This method is called Getting Things Done which I have in turn adapted to best suit exactly how I work.

Side Note: Getting Things Done (or GTD), a google search for GTD will find you plenty of articles on it, although the definitive read is that of GTD creator, David Allen.

The key ideas of GTD are:

  • Maintain an empty (or zero) inbox – your inbox should only contain unread email.
  • Visit your inbox only periodically through the day, say once every hour or two, the less often you visit it the less you will be distracted from other tasks.
  • Triage your emails – categorise them as you read them:
  • If it takes less than 5 mins to action and reply to the email do it immediately and remove from inbox.
  • If it is something that you will do today, then move it to a folder for today’s work.
  • If it is something that you want to get done this week, then move it to a folder for this weeks tasks.
  • If the email contains useful reference information store it in a folder for reference.
  • If needed, reply to those emails that you will not action today and explain when you will move things forward
  • When you have finished the Triage your inbox should be empty. Now work through the tasks for today before moving on to the folder for this week.

    • Does it sound too good to be true?

    Sounds simple? Too simple? It really does work, the only problem I have found is that it is often hard not to drop back into the inbox every so often especially when you are using folders in you mail app to review today’s tasks and this weeks tasks.

    This is why I have altered GTD slightly to work with external tools that allow me to close my email for a couple of hours whilst working on the stuff I need to do.

    My changes to GTD are simple: when I have emails that I can’t work on immediately I forward them to Toodeldo.com – a task management system – thus removing them from my inbox. If the email contains things I need for reference then I forward the email to Evernote.com.

    Both of these services offer an individual email address that can be used to load data into your account e.g. Username123.454545@evernote.com. I have these emails setup in my address book as “Convert to Task” (toodeldo) and ”Send to Evernote” (evernote).

    Doing this enables me to empty my inbox first thing in the morning and then close my email until later in the day.

    What do I get from this process?

    I have managed to make my working day much more productive by controlling my email and not letting my email dominate my working day. I think this is something that everyone can do and get great benefits from.

    I would encourage people to try this out for at least a week – accounts with Evernote and Toodeldo are free with only a couple of restrictions and

    Do you think GTD could help you? Why or why not?

    Back to my blog

    May 092012
     

    I’ve just updated the design and the look of the site and realised it has been a long time since the last posting onhere! December 2009 – just after Lily was was born.

    I have found recently that I have so many ideas (too many ideas) for what I want to do with the site that I have had a bit of a paralysis of actually doing things. I have been tweaking this new look and feel for 6 months now, but this week decided enough is enough lets get back to posting stuff.

    I hope to visit here a bit more often and use the blog as a place to record and expand on some of the things I do and see on twitter and around the web. I also have plans to include a couple of micro-blogs but more on that once I actually get around to doing it!

    I must restore all of the old travel stuff because next year it will be ten years since the trip that changed so much in my life, but that is a big project that will be to tackled in lots of smaller increments.

    So hello again from Al, let’s see what happens next.

    Having a baby in Germany and praise for St Franziskus hospital in Saarburg

    Dec 162009
     

    Just in case you haven’t been told by me directly or picked it up on twitter or Facebook or email etc Nicole has just delivered a wonderful baby girl to us called Lily.

    As I keep updating my status on Facebook or talking to people in the UK or elsewhere they are getting very confused by the German health system and about the experience we have had – which I can only say has been perfect so far! This post is to explain in a bit more detail (for those that have asked) exactly what we have experienced here.

    Firstly I should point out that Saarburg hospital is a rural hospital in a town that has a population of about 6000 and serves many local villages in addition to Saarburg. I point this out because everything that we have experienced should not be taken for granted across all of Germany, some of what we have experienced is down to use using a rural hospital too.

    Before the birth:

    Nicole has (like all women in Germany) always visited a Gynaecologist or Women’s doctor since she was 15 for any “women’s issues”. This doctor exists purely for women as in addition to a normal doctor.

    So when we found out Nicole was pregnant from a test kit we went straight to her Frauenarzt (Women’s doctor) who immediately gave her an ultrasound scan and at 6 weeks we got our first picture of Lily and could already hear her heart beating. Visits to the Frauenarzt continued every 2 weeks until we passed the 12 week milestone – each time we got an ultrasound scan. From week 12 to week 30 we went to the Frauenarzt every 4 weeks for a scan and from week 30 there was a visit every week for a CTG and every second week we wold get another scan. Our (mandatory) health insurance would only pay for 3 scans so we had to pay €100 to get all the rest of the scans, but this has been the only additional payment we have had to make.

    The Frauenarzt was also the doctor in the delivery room who helped bring Lily into the world.

    Nicole met our Midwife (Maria) at about week 22 when she attended a class on pregnancy exercises in a swimming pool. At this point we already knew she would be our midwife. Maria met us both at about week 33 and gave us a tour of the delivery room and other facilities and explained exactly how things would work. She gave us her home number and mobile number and told us to phone her when the waters broke and then pack our bag and come to the hospital.

    Nicole also met our health visitor / breast feeding advisor (Doris) at about week 26 who gave the antenatal classes. Just like with Maria we already knew at this point Doris would be our breast feeding advisor.

    The Frauenarzt, midwife and breast feeding advisor all work as a team and look after Nicole and Lily at different stages of the pregnancy, but are all in contact about how things are progressing.

    Once the waters broke:

    We were out celebrating Nicole’s mum’s 60th birthday when Nicole’s waters broke and we then phoned Maria who agreed to meet us at the hospital 40 minutes later. We travelled home packed a fairly light bag mostly clothes for Lily and Nicole for when they leave the hospital. The bag didn’t need much because the hospital told us they would provide everything during our stay.

    When we got to the delivery area Lily and Nicole were immediately monitored by Maria who said that it would be a while yet and told us to walk around for an hour to try and kick things off. Once we were back from our walk and it was clear nothing was going to happen that night Maria sent us to bed. I should explain that in the delivery area there are two bedrooms one for the midwife and one for the parents. The parents room has a double bed so that we can sleep together and wait until something more starts to happen.

    The delivery area has enough rooms to deal with 3 births at the same time, but there was no one else in there – in fact the last baby had been born 3 days before.

    We got up at 5am and after another walk Nicole took a bath in the birthing pool to try and relax – still nothing.

    After a while things started to kick off and the contractions started getting a bit bigger the Frauenarzt was called and consulted about what course of action to take with Nicole and she was put on some medication to increase the contractions. Eventually the pain was too much for Nicole and she had to have an epidural anaesthetic. This happened quite quickly (not quick enough for Nicole) and was done a team of two doctors and at this point the Frauenarzt had turned up. This was the only point I was asked to leave the delivery room.

    Delivery happened quite quickly after the epidural and the Frauenarzt, and midwife worked almost without words. I got to cut the umbilical cord :D.

    Once Lily had made her way out and Nicole had picked her up and laid her on her chest the doctor and midwife melted away and left us on our own together for about 90 minutes. Eventually Maria came back to help get Lily breast feeding.

    After the birth:

    Once Lily was born Nicole and Lily were moved to a care ward in a room of their own, and it was offered that I could stay with them for €25 a night. Nicole could have left the hospital 2 hours after the birth – but she was entitled to stay there for at least 7 days (more if the doctors decided).

    We have so far stayed in the hospital 4 nights – but think we will stay at least one more.

    In the care area we were one of 3 babies on the first night, the only baby on the 2nd and 3rd nights and are one of 2 babies tonight. We always have a sister around to help with everything and they have changed and washed the baby etc until we have been ready to take on these duties. Also we get 3 meals a day made for us which is work we would have to do if we were back at home. The hospital has also been a better place to receive our first visitors as we don’t have to worry much about keeping it tidy etc.

    Every morning we get visited by first Maria, then our Frauenarzt and then Doris is here for the whole morning to help with breast feeding issues. Clothes, nappies, babywipes etc are all provided for the lengt of our stay and we really did need to bring nothing extra. They will even lend us a few things for a week or two after we are here.

    All in all the experience has been fantastic – perfect even. I can’t imagine how anything could be improved. I have had to be out buying things etc during the days and doing a few other tasks, if I hadn’t been able to stay at the hospital I’d have been kicked out at 9pm and hardly seen as much of my daughter as I have been able to. The help we have been given in becoming parents and the fact we have been able to slowly get used to it is something I can’t imagine having any other way. I have always been fascinated when friends have had a child and asked them what it was like the moment they got home with their child and closed the front door. This moment for me was when you really had to work out what to do with the baby next and it was now all up to you. For us I no longer fear closing the door behind us when we get home I feel quite prepared for the first weeks of  us looking after Lily.

    It’s been a while….

    Jul 182009
     

    Well it has been a while since I last updated this blog – and I guess a lot has happened.

    Firstly we sucessfully moved to Germany and we have moved in to a great flat in a quiet part of a small town about 5 Kilometers from Nicole’s family. It took a while for us to settle in as we have been doing quite a lot of travelling for work and social reasons.

    In May we found out that Nicole was pregnant which was great news – but has obviously changed our out-llok on life and encouraged us to think about settling down in one place for a while. The baby is due on the 31st of December which should bring 2009 to a fantastic close.

    At the start of July I asked Nicole to marry me and she luckily has said yes.

    I think that brings everything up to date.

    One of my reasons for coming and living in Germany was that I would like my German to improve rapidly. My goal is that I can sit down for dinner with all of Nicole’s family and follow the conversation without needing any help from Nicole. I am still a long way from this and get very frustrated with my pace of learning – especially as I am also very busy with work which cuts the amount of time I have for studying.

    Anyway that covers everything new – hope to find more time to write about living in Germany soon.

    Moving on……

    Feb 232009
     

    So last month we made another one of those decisions. After living in Valencia since last May we have decided we are going to have to move to Germany from April this year.

    The reasons are not simple to outline but they roughly break down as:

    • Nicole is travelling a lot with her job and currently a 2 hour meeting in Frankfurt takes 3 days with irregular and badly connecting flights
    • When I have to meet in the UK I lose a lot time on travelling to the UK – it is not cheap either since Ryanair left the airport here after an argument with the city government.
    • We have been here 8 months yet still know very few people
    • There is more to life than fantastic weather and a wonderful city

    We have yet to find a flat in Germany but we don’t expect things to be quite as complex there – we will move to a town which is about 5km from where Nicole grew up.

    Thats the news for now  - sorry it has been a while – but maybe you want to follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/grouchal

    30p per day internet from Virgin Mobile

    Dec 052008
     

    I was very happy to read yesterday that Virgin Mobile are now offering 30p per day internet access to their pay as you go and contract customers.

    This is fantastic news and I hope that this is the start of all the networks adjusting their pricing to something more realistic for consumers.

    OK for those who use the internet everyday this is not as cheap as £7.50 per month from T-mobile and Vodafone or £5 per month from 3. However it is much better for the occasional user who currently has to pay about £1 per day though – and it is the occasional user that we want to attract to the internet.

    The Nielsen Online report showed a 25% increase in mobile internet usage in the UK between Q2 and Q3 – perhaps news like this might continue that trend.

    Our research has shown us that unpredictable internet charges are a main fear of consumers about using anything connected to the internet on their phone.

    UPDATE From Virgin Mobile: It is amazing what 30 peas can do!

    N97 Conclusions: Simon Cowell style

    Dec 052008
     

    Based on feedback that the N97 post was too long here is my Simon Cowell style review of the performance of the N97 so far.

    Is it a great phone? yes.

    Does it have all the input methods a user could ask for? yes

    Is this a great phone for media caputure? yes

    Is this a phone priced / aimed at the majority of students? no

    Is having a keyboard more important than a large set of applications? no

    Are Nokia moving in the right direction? yes

    Is it easier for Nokia to add an App Store equivalent to the iPhone, than it is for Apple to add a keyboard? no

    Is the iPhone still the best example of a platform to deliver educational applications and content on? yes

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