Indian Summer, still

For the last week, the weather in Bochum has been beautiful and sunny. It hasn't rained, and at the moment there are even no clouds in the sky. I'm contemplating going out to town for a snack. We're also going to meet with the French guys for a few rounds of Mölkky and possibly Petanque.

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I bought in Leeds a book by Edward de Bono called "The Six Hats". Well, I actually bought three books by de Bono, but "The Six Hats" I've now read. It was a short introduction to the method of using different hats in meetings to find the best solution to a problem or a situation. The simple yet powerful idea of separating feelings from facts, negative judgment from positive judgment and judgment from movement or new ideas, is wonderful. With the method you can "let decisions make themselves". Nobody needs to make a decision, which is self-evident to all participants and the method helps lay out the facts, feelings, prejudices and creative ideas as a map that shows the best course of action to all. Highly recommended, especially if you experience currently difficult and everlasting meetings.

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Another book I just finished reading is called "Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour" by Kate Fox. The book is a little bit dry, but it is written by an English woman, so what do you expect. I did read the whole book, so it wasn't a total loss. There's a lot of repetition, which probably depends on the subject. The English do seem to operate according to a set of rules, which are relaxed only every now and then, and even then in moderation. The one thing I remember from the book is the saying that "instead of social skills the English have their homes". Interesting reading for any would-be sociologist or anthropologist.

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We'll live on the edge again! This is EXTREME! We might not be young but we can still rebel!
Against all common sense, we'll go and watch the original version (read: in English, no dubbing) of Miami Vice the movie in the late night show. the commercials start at 23:00 (11PM). I hope it is worth it.

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Yesterday evening I received a rejection on my article. The reviewers found almost nothing worth of value in the writing, and I think I might have to agree with them. There was no message in the article, as it has always worked as an introduction to the "Tick-The-Code" Inspection method. The length of the article made me cut the inspection method from it and there was nothing left. The only message is that "if you're busy, the quality of your work suffers, and quality control is important". But I used a few thousand words to say it.
At first I was slightly taken aback, but on the other hand I was expecting to be rejected. I have to remember that it is the article they rejected, not me. And not my book, although i have an ominous feeling, because of a comment from a reviewer. He or she wrote that "there's a lot of fluff. Almost every other sentence is a reiteration of the previous sentence." I have noticed that before and I thought it was a good style. To say the same thing twice but with different words. To repeat the message dissimilarly. Maybe in a condenced article with no message, the style seemed irritating. Repeating a lot of nothing, would make me angry, too.
I just hope that my book has a message, or two! Then I probably can stick to my style.

I learned that I need to spend more time on thinking about the message, before starting to crank out the words. The cranking out I seem to have in control, but the message department needs polishing. Excellent.

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Suomennos: Bochumissa hellettä, palan täällä parvekkeella. Sain luetuksi kirjan kuudesta hatusta ja englantilaisten erikoisuuksista. Ensimmäinen artikkeliehdotukseni tuli hylättynä takaisin. Aion ottaa siitä opikseni.