Casa Buitoni

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We went on a team building retreat at Casa Buitoni last week. It was brilliant. Not only did we get a lot of good work done, but we also gelled as a team. We defined a mission statement, core values, a project roadmap and also worked out decision-making processes, org charts, team agreements and best practices. We also ate a cubic buttload of food.

   

   

More pictures here: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/casa_buitoni_sep_2013/

Casa Buitoni is located up in the hills of Tuscany along with the fields of tomatoes, wheat, vegetables, herbs, and olives. It serves as the symbol of Buitoni’s symbol of quality, commitment, and tradition. It was the house of Giulia’s grandson, Giuseppe, and it now serves as a company product development center. This is the place where products are created and sampled.

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Who the fuck steals deodorant?

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I’m in Italy for a work strategic retreat. When I packed my suitcase on Sunday night,  I packed some toiletteries, my phone charger and my camera charger in the front of my suitcase. I didn’t really give it much thought and checked my bag in at Geneva. I took lots of pictures the first day and tried to recharge my camera,  but couldn’t find my charger.  OK,  thought I,  I must’ve left it at home.  Later that night,  when I went to brush my teeth, I realised that my toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and cologne had also gone awol. Now I could believe forgetting one item,  but not the whole kit. A bent baggage handler must’ve scooped out my front pocket at the airport. Yay.

In brighter news though,  the Italians are trying to kill me with mountains of delicious food.

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WTF Orange?

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I’m in Italy at the moment and my shiny shiny new cell phone is as useless as a brick because my new contract doesn’t have roaming activated.  I just spoke with customer services and they can’t enable that option until 6 months have passed on the contract “to avoid huge roaming bills”

What’s insane is that my contract includes 30 minutes of talk time when I travel anywhere in Europe. Except I can’t use it.  Because my roaming is blocked.

Fucktards.

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Random music moment

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I’m in Italy,  at the Nestlé R&D center in Casa Buitoni, for a team building / brainstorming session with my group. I’ve just had a very good Italian dinner (3 hour affair)  and I’m in my room getting ready for bed.  Amusingly, somewhere down the hill in the village is a Pink Floyd tribute concert that’s been belting out some pretty good renditions of the classics all evening. I can still hear it through my bedroom windows. Random.  Also,  kick ass :-)

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The simple acts of kindness…

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We haven’t found our kettle yet from the bombsite that is our house. I grabbed a coffee in town after dropping Ben off to school but Katy didn’t have any because she was still at gome. On my way back to the flat, I stopped at Le Petit Manoir, a hotel near the building, and asked them if they did take away. They didn’t, but when I looked dejected and told them we just moved and hadn’t found our coffee maker yet, she made me a tray and told me yo just bring it back. When I tried to pay for it, she just gave it to me.

Bless that kind woman.

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Running on stress, caffeine and nicotine

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Soo tired.

Child woke up at 4:30am on moving day and would not settle back.

Movers who should have been there first thing in the morning arrived at 3pm.

Furniture that had been dismantled by one crew of movers in the understanding that it would be reassembled by another crew not rebuilt.

Finished building Ben’s bed at 8:45pm.

Child woke up at 4:30 this morning.

Looong day ahead.

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