"D" for doctor, that is. Today I came to work early, so that I can leave at 3 PM to go home and accompany Shelby to her doctor's appointment. I don't expect that the orthopedist will provide us with a miracle insta-cure, but hopefully he'll provide her with the first steps (ha ha) to being able to walk comfortably again. When all of Europe is spread out before you, you don't want to stay back in the apartment or hotel room because it hurts to walk!
By office standards, I came to work really, incredibly early -- it's 8:15 AM, and except for a cleaning lady, I'm the only person here. I had to use my security key to "unlock" the elevator; it's too early for it to operate normally ...
The first time that I came to Hamburg, I was impressed by how my colleagues would work late into the night. But then I realized that once you take into account the fact that most of them clock in anywhere between 10 AM and 11:30 (and a few later than that), and that many take generous lunch breaks, they're roughly on par with American 9-to-5ers. (I'll say here that I've pretty much settled into the German norm, except that I try not to stay too late. If nobody's here to see you when you arrive at 9, you look like a slacker when you leave at 5 ...)
The harbor looks like an impressionist painting this early in the morning -- there's still a pretty thick fog, so you can only vaguely make out the shapes of ships and cranes across the channel, with a hazy orange sun rising behind. I'll have to come with my camera on some other morning, since my pictures are usually more eloquent than my words ...
Posted by Kevin at March 18, 2004 08:22 AM