My daily journal
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2026-01-22
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Sick day, because of mental health. Yesterday, I was informed by a
colleague that my boss made him "check on" my corrected exams to see if
I did everything like I am supposed to do. A ridiculously toxic act:
the colleague is a PhD student more than ten years younger than me and
this feels like a massive betrayal. Given my experiences last year, I
decided to stop and distance myself early, plus, I actually don't feel
able to work under these conditions.
2026-01-21
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Home office, also structuring other tasks we have to accomplish, like
finding new practice rooms for my wife, various bureaucratic stuff,
etc.
2026-01-20
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Calm office day, worked largely alone in my office as noone else was
there.
2026-01-19
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A lot of meetings at work today, one with my PhD student, who has
trouble getting anything done for some time now. Since I left his
university, I advise him remotely, which didn't work that well. The
other two students are progressing well though. Also, very difficult
meeting with my boss in the afternoon, discussing our conflict. Her
strategy is usually to pass the buck and leave the responsibility to
her subordinates, while at the same time insisting that she is the boss
and therefore responsible for everything. Annoying!
2026-01-18
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Today, we rearranged our appartement. Instead of separating our rooms
by person ("room of kid 1, room of kid 2, parent's bedroom"), we now
use them by function: there is a play room, a sitting/living room, an
office room and a bedroom. And yes, that means we all sleep in the same
room now, but it works great.
2026-01-17
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Weekend! And my daughter started her swimming class today in our very
beautiful old pool (built in 1890). I stayed with the little one
(???) hough and went to the playground.
2026-01-16
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Giving the final day of my block seminar today. This time, in person.
I really like this group. The one in November consisted largely of
"cool kids" who weren't really motivated and cared more about appearing
cool in front of their coeds.
2026-01-15
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Another day of staying at home for child care. I took her to the
doctor to pick up a note for my employer. In Germany, I can use this
note to get reimbursed for unpaid leave (which is what you are on if
you care for a sick child).
2026-01-14
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iWhile the younger one didn't throw up all night and stayed at home
itoday, she started again in the evening, possibly because she ate some
ichocolade after dinner.
2026-01-13
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Met a colleague on my way to the mensa and discussed my recent work.
That was quite rewarding. Then, my wife called and told me that our
younger daughter started puking during childcare, so I had to rush to
leave office in order to pick up the older daughter.
2026-01-12
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I took a day off today, which was quite relaxing until we had to go
to a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. It was insane. A routine
check of the younger and a single vaccine shot for the older kid
took them two hours. Luckily, I went with my wife and we were two
adults.
2026-01-11
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Sunday, but it feels like a saturday after a really long working
week. We chose a trip to a nearby indoors playground, which turned
out to be insanely expensive, but fun for the kids.
2026-01-10
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Another seminar day. Also, my Fairphone 6 arrived finally. I will
write a longer post soon.
2026-01-09
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Yesterday there was a severe weather warning, so the dean's office
allowed us to work from home. So I held my block seminar digitally,
just like I did during the pandemic. Tomorrow, I will do the same
thing, which is nice because I find spending weekend days in the
office quite depressing.
A crazy thing I have discovered: near Leipzig, 4000 metric tons of
potatos are stored, but nobody wants to have them. Too cheap to sell
for profit.
(HTM) 4000 Tonnen
2026-01-08
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Team meeting was okay, feeling quite alright.
2026-01-07
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My home office day, which I spend preparing for teaching a block
seminar this weekend. I also helped my wife with some technical
issues on her Linux laptop (Linux on Apple hardware is WILD sometimes)
and made a very delicious chicken soup.
2026-01-06
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Second day in office and things are still quiet. Ordered a Fairphone
today that will replace my iPhone. Another entry into my yeeting
oligarch tech journal!
2026-01-05
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Being back at work felt weird for about an hour. It's still very quiet
here. In Zehlendorf, electricity and district heating is currently out
due to a terrorist attack (apparently from the anarchist
"Vulkangruppe") and my in-laws are affected, too, as are some of my
co-workers. Also, it could be that many are still on holiday.
2026-01-04
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Last day of the Christmas holidays. I am a bit anxious to go back to
work, but to be honest, two weeks of intense family time has its own
ups and downs. In the coming year, several challenges lie ahead and I
am awaiting response for different job applications this month.
2026-01-03
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It was very snowy today and we went out with the kids. The little one
did not really like snow blowing into her face. In the afternoon, the
in-laws visited. In their part of Berlin there is currently no
electricity due to arson. I suspect Russian sabotage to be honest.
Scary that there is so vulnerable critical infrastructure.
2026-01-02
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Went to the bouldering hall with the kids today. They had a kids area
and it was pretty fun. The afternoon was spent inside, I built a
programmable robot with my older daughter.
2026-01-01
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Here we go! Yesterday, we had a little new year's party with some
friends from nearby who have kids at the same age. We all didn't get a
lot of sleep, but in the morning we went to the Spandauer Forst to
feed the wild boars. It was extremely cold and windy, but it was the
first time a wild boar ate directly out of my hand.
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