Hiking North half of Danube Island...

Today I had planned to hike the northern Part of Vienna's Danube Island. Of course we didn't get as early started as I wanted to. I had planned on starting as early as around noon. But we didn't get there till about 1 pm. The weather was great for a fall hike. Partially overcast at times and temps in the law 70's. We started out at Floridsdorfer Bridge and hiked north.
It was a fun hike just along the shore of Danube Island. Best of it was that there weren't too many people around since it was a weekday. We did meet lots of dogs though. Small ones and big ones. Any Gina had a

blast socializing with them. What acutally is a little surprising, since she is very picky when it comes to dogs. But of course it's always different when it's not in her neighborhood. After about 2 hours we finally made it to the North end of Danube Island. And what that Gina to do...of course she had to drink right out of the Danube. Sometimes I do question why I even bother to carry a bag of drinking water for her with me.
Since it was already later in the afternoon. We couldn't spend mucht time at the North End and had to start heading back down. After all we didn't want to have to hake back in the dark. That wouoldn't have been much fun. Hiking back we made about the same time, but it somehow felt a lot

quicker. No idea why. Gina did get several oportunities to go into the Danube. And we did get to see certain area's what the Danube must have looked like before the started regulating it to death in order to prevent flooding. So about 40 minutes before we were back at the S-Train Station I really started feeling my legs and they were quite exhausted. But we finally made it back to the S-Train and 15 minutes later we were on hour way back. Gina started to relax right away. I was still exhausted when walking back home, but Gina was completely rested. Somestimes I really would love to have the recovery speed of my dog.

Canyon Hike - Tormäuer...

Today I had planned to do the Canyon Hike of Tormäuer and the plan was to start out at Gösing. So I got up at 4 am. Took Gina for her morning walk. Then I did some last minute preparations. But the doggy packback on Gina. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I somhow had the feeling she was unsure if she would come along or if she thought the packback was some form of punishment. But as soon as I put the leash on her, she knew that she was coming alon and she was happy. We than headed out. But the tram just wasn't going to come. So we walked to Vienna's Central Station and we missed the train by 2 minutes. And that should become a recurring theme for the day.
So we had to wait for about 1 hour at the train station. And this was really boring. The train finally arrived and we went to St. Pölten with no further issues. Boarded a local train called the Himmelstreppe to Gösing. This is a very slow local train and usually it takes forever. But this time I thought that the 1 1/2 hours went by fairly quickly. It's always fun watching the landscape pass by. And eventually made it to Gösing.
We left the train and started or hike past the Hotel Gösing down to the bottom of the Canyon. Yes you do have to hike down about 200 meters in evlavation. But having Gina on leash and Gina being overly excited meant that I couldn't usy my hiking poles. So I was sweating like a pig when doing the steep descend into the cnayon. Didn't take too long though and within 1 hour we made it to

Erlaufboden. Form there the Canyon Hike would begin. At first it's a nice hike along a river and than the path gets more and more narrow and you've to hike on walkways, paths and over bridges. That wasn't too much of a challange for Gina and she actually did enjoy herself a lot. Yes, she did have to carry her drinking water, but oit didn't seem to bother her. Finally we reached that one bridge that I was afraid of. It's one of those bridges that's just mide up of metal grids and I know that Gina doesn't particularly like those. But I figured she would walk across if I put her on it and started walking beside her. Not so much. Gina just laid down on the bridge and wasn't doing any step. So I picked her up by the handle of the doggy backpack and carried her across the bridge. And than we continued on our way through the canyon. Between Stierwaschboden Reservoir and Ötscherhias there were quite a number of tourists, who didn't have any trail etiquette at all. It's un unspoken law among hikers that the slower ones pick the next possible chance to let faster hikers pass. But with these tourists it was almost as being in a race. But eventually we managed to pass them.

That was the reason why we didn't stop at Ötscherhias and hiked all the way to Mirafall. There we took our first real break. Gina to to relax and I got to drink something. And after we had cooled down and relaxed for a bit we continued on our hike towards the junction with the trail that leads up to Vorerötscher. Regardless how often I hike that canyon there are 2 things that are always amazing: On the one hand it's the natural beaty of the canyon itself and it's the fact that it seems to take much, much longer to get to the junction.
We finally made it and started the 200 meter elevation climb out of the canyon. After the first incline we sat down at the trail to cool down a little. Gina found herself a nice spot on a wet part of the trail. After we had cooled down, we continued with the climb, until we reached the point where the creek is easily accessible. I found myself a nice place on a log and Gina was cooling off and the creek and

quentched her thurst right from the creek. And she did enjoy that a lot. After that we started the last climb out of the canyon. And suddenly, with no prior warning at all, the muscles of my thighs just started to cramp. And this is no fun at all. But we finally made it to Vorderötscher. But ofcourse we had to pass through a pasture. But the cattle was on the opposite part of where we were hiking through and we were  jsut hiking about 10 meters to the cattle fence. That was one of the reason I chose this hike. We relaxed at Vorderötscher. Gina got to drink and got a couple of doggy snacks. I had a very well tasting soup and something to drink. After about 1/2 hour we started the final part of our hike and I knew that it was about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. This hike was jsut a hike in a forest road.
But I did mention that Gina was slowing considerably down and she didn't seem to enjoy herself. First I thought she might have hurt her pads, since some of the rocks in the canyon can rather sharp. So I took a look at her pads, but they seemed to be fine. It wasn't really that hot either and lot's of the hiking on the forest road took place on the shade. So I decided to put the packback off Gina and put it into my packback and carry it for her. We did take a short break and Gina got something to drink. And without having to carry the weight of the drinking water Gina was back to her usual self in no time and was pretty much hiking right next to me.

We finally made it to Hagengut and shortly thereafter we approached the dam of Erlauf Reservoir. From there we heard the train, I had planned to take leave the station. So there was no need to get upset about that. We continued at our pace to the train station. There we relaxed. Gina got something to drink and she just chilled. I got out of my hiking boots and it felt amazing. And we did have about 1 1/2 till the next train and with that the last train of the day was going to arrive. On the positive side I did get the chance of taking a couple of pix and video of on train going in the wrong direction.
So all in all it was a great hike. And a very long hike actually. All in all we hiked for 9 hours and covered a distance of about 18 miles.

The healing process...

Well, well, well.... to make a very, very long and quite painsful story short. It took much, much longer than I had expected. I thought I would be OK after about 1 wook.
Not so much. I was in constant pain for the first 2 weeks. Either from the contusions or from the superficial cuts. And the itching when the cuts are starting to heal up isn't much fun either. And the constant pulling on your skin, due to the cuts isn't really annoying at the least. But can be painful as well.
All in all it took me 4 weeks until everything was healed up good enough that I could take Gina again to a longer hike at donube island. Walking up or down hills wasn't still much fun. This took another 2 weeks.

Control Appointment at Lorenz-Böhler UKH...

Today I was having my control appointment at Lorenz-Böhler UKH. So I called at work that I would be coming in late. Then I headed to the S-Train station and...surprise, surprise...No S-Trains were going that day due to some construction work. So after thinking things trough and figuring out that there's no way that I can make it to appointment in time...I decided to take a cab instead. So I was only 5 minutes behind schedule, what wasn't too bad.
Again I didn't have to wait long and it turns out that everything is looking good and that I am not developing an compartmen hemorrhage. And I was very relieved about that. After my control appointment I took the bus and the subway to work.
But of course sitting all day with an recently insured leg wasn't exactly fun either. But you do what you have to. Bitting your teeth together and making it through the work day.
After work I went to the local police precinct and filed criminal charges against the owner of those farm animals. Later that evening I emailed my laywer a copy of the police report and ordered him to sue the famer for punitive damages.

Recovering from the Bull Attack...

When Gina and I got back from our hike. I just got out of my clothes and fed Gina. I cleaned my wounds up as good as I could. It was a little to early to put Bepanten on the cuts, since they weren't entire dry yet. But I did put Traumeel on the contusions.
I then ussed 2 of the pillows of my couch to rest my leg and that was actually quite comfy. I later ordered pizza, since I was in need of some comfort food. And after a couple of beer and some Star Trek I was feeling OK. Didn't think that it would be mucch of a problem. Of course I knew that these injuries would be hurting for a week at least. But other than that I thought it was OK. Boy, was I wrong.
I slept the night with my leg elevated on the couch. And when I looked the next morning my calf was quite swollen. But not too bad since I still could take Gina for a walk around the block. So I continued to relax. I did iron my business shirts. But as longer as the day went on the worse my calf got. In the afternoon it was about twice the size of my other calf and I had a hard time walking.

So a called a cab and went into the ER of Lorenz-Böhler hospital. Luckily I didn't have to wait long. Less than 20 minutes. They took x-rays. And turns out that nothing was broken. Just superficial scratches and some heavy contusions. And the only thing you can do is put ice on the swollen claf and put Bepanthen on the cuts to support the healing process. But they told me to come in the next moring for a check-up, just to make sure that I wasn't going to develp an compartment hemorrhage. This time I did take the S-Train back to my apartment.

Hiking Rax...

Today I was going to take Gina for a hike to Rax. When we got up in the morning the weather wasn't exactly good. It was really overcast and still wet from last nights rain. But it was supposed to clear up in the morning. So w were still hopeful.
After taking Gina for a quick morning stroll and having a quick bite to eat. We head to Vienna's central station and catch the train Wiener Neustadt. From there we took a local train to Payerbach and the bus to the staation of the Rax gondola. We didn't catch the first gondola. But were taking the second one. With their new ticket system everything took longer than usual. While heading up it started to rain again. Not heavy though. When we got out it was overcast and windy and actually anything but warm. But it had stopped raining. When headed out towards Ottohaus and the temps where around 14 C (55 F). But it was actually a great temperature for hiking. This was until we reached Ottohaus.
There it satrted to rain. But I wasn't going to give up that easily. So I put on my rain gear and we started hiking up Jakobskogel. But with the rain comming down and a the wind blowing with gusts up to 60 km/h (45 miles) you really get the rain hard in your face. Definitely nothing for weenies. Gina wan't particularly fond of the rain either. After we passed Jakoskogel about 1/2 hour after Ottohaus the rain stopped and we got some great views since the wind was driving the clouds over the edge of the mountain plateau. Yes of course we did get wet and dirty at the same time. But on the other hand we did see some mountain goeats very close buy and Gina got quite excited and really
wanted to chase after them. But that was not going to happen. So I let the mountain goeats pass and we continued on our hike at Preinerwandsteig. It's a great hiking trail that takes you all the time along the edge of the mountain plateau.

This was the first time in a very long time that I kept my rain jacket on during the entire hike, since the wind was blowing hard and it was quite chilly actually.
After about 2 hours we reached the "summit" of Preinerwand. After taking some pix and having a little snack we headed down to Neue Seehütte. We didn't stop there. At the intersection I debated about how to continue. The original plan was the hike down Göbel-Kühn Steig. But since it was only 11 am, I figured we could easly hike over to Ludwighaus and down to Preiner Gscheid.
Turns is this would proove to be a very big mistake. Hiking up Trinksteinsattel in the sun and without any breeze was hot and exhausting as usual. Once we had finished the ascend we headed towards Ludwighaus. That only went well for a very short time. There we our way got blocked by a herd of cattle. That usually isn't an issue. Except for that one bull who went after me a couple of times. I yelled a couple of times at him and it seemes that he was going to back off. I had already planned to remove myself from the situation and take an alternate route.

When the bull came back and tried to attack Gina. I protected her with my body and confronted the bull again. Again it looked like as if he were backing down and I slowly started to remove myself, when without any warning he attcked me trampled me down. Good thing that Gina was cowering in a one of the many tiny gullies. So nothing happened to her. I just got trampled really good. But it actually didn't hurt at that time. I yelled again at the bull and threw a few bolders at him. That made him back off for a short time. This gave me time enough to walk straight into a couple of outcroppings of maintain pines. And I know that cattle doesn't walk into them. After that I continued straight into the rocks. And with that we were pretty much out of danger.
I decided to head back down to Neue Seehütte and while hiking down I realized that stepping down was getting hard on harder on my claves, where the bull had trampled me. But we made it slowly down. I did have a beer at Neue Seehütte and Gina got to relax in the shade.
While heading back to the gondola we got to see a chopper ruscue life. Turns out that the had to pull a woman out with the chopper after she had gotten unconcious after having been attacked by the same bull, that Gina and I had been attacked. That was the point when I decided that I would be filing criminal charges against the owner of those animals. But watching a chopper rescue in the mountains is always amazing to watch.
After that we headed back to the gondola and took the gondola back down and headed back home. So this hike didn't quite turn out the way I had planned.

Monthly Tax Season....

It's time of the month again...that makes us accountants busy and sometimes stressed out. Especially when we have to prepare to send the report of the VAT (value added tax) to the government. It's always a partially stressfuld day when I have to do that. And having to deal with a new software didn't exactly help either.
I started with my check of all the accounts in question. After all you want to make certain that everything has been recorded properly. YOu don't look at every invoice, but you look over the accounts and do your cample tests. The point is to weed everything out that looks out of order. I found 2 such items and corrected them right away. And than there are those things that look out of order, but are actually correct.
Then I did a second pass over the accounts together with our tax guy through an online video conference. And everything seemd to be fine. Than I submitted the report online to the government. The only thing left to do was to record the payment in the online banking App. Once that was done I was quite relieved and the fact taht I was done by 11 am made me happy.
NExt up had to do the closing work of the cash register from yesterday, since I had gone home without doing that. Usually I wouldn't be doing that, but since I'm the only one who knows how to use that thing it wasn't a big deal. I did the closing work and everything went without a problem. Seems slowly I'm getting a hang of this new piece of software, but I'm still not an actual fan of having to do it that way. And my opinion about the whole policy of the government regard to cash registers is very known. I think that policy is a lot of administrative work and won't bring much, at least niot as much as the government is hoping for.
After that I recorded a couple of invoices that still have to be recorded in June. That was pretty much a fun work to do and you don't have to think too much, when doing that.
Next up was something that has to do with the year-end tax work in December. But we want to have done before we sill be switching our accounting software by Mid-July. So I had to go trough a buch on invoices and decide if that is a new product or an existing one. If it was a new product it needs to be "activated" and it will be written off over the actual life cycle of the product. Of course that can be a pain in the ass, but on the other hand it's something you don't get to do that often and for an accountant that can actually be a fun calculation. And yes, I do kinda enjoy that. The reason is mostly that you really have to use your brain and your knowledge and think things through on how that effects the expense to casho flow ratio.
And of course doing complicated work like that you can be pretty much certain that nobody is going to bother you. And at times I really enjoy doing complicated stuff like that. So all in all it was a fairly successful day and much different from yesterday.

A full, rich day...

That's the only way I can desribe today's day at work. I knew that we would have to prepare the cash register for real-live use. But before that could happen we had to help my co-worker who had fallen behind with the merchandise orders. Having to do it in a new system takes of course substantially longer, at least in the beginning. And she was with us in the business meeting with us and that didn't exactly help either.
So of course I offered to help her. The first couple of orders weree all standard and there were no problems with them. But as soon as it came to orders with mechandise discounts, I screwed up royally. The sales representative called me up and told me about the mistake. I immedialely realized my mistake. I was still with my head in the way we used to do it in the old syste, and the new system just workds differently. Since the orders had already gone to your logistics centre I tried to fix it with a shrot email. Than I realized that wasn't gonna solve the issue. So I canceld those 4 orders. Right in the middle when I was doing that, the logistic center called. the CFO gave the call to me and I told them, not to send out the merchandise and that that would be receiving a cancelation of the delivery notes and that they would be getting new delivery notes.
After that I cancelled all the delivery notes and redid them completely again. It goes without saying that this really increased my stress level substantially, although none of my co-worker would have been able to tell that. But in the end I succeeded fixing my screw-up.
Next I had to deal with paying outstanding vendor invoices. That was pretty much straingt forward. At least so I thought. But my old software just decided to quit on me while I was doing that and it took me about 15 minutes to get back to where I was. And than I had to do the entire thing of course over again. Didn't make me a happy camper. But in the end I succeeded. The entire thing had to be done today, since the CFO was going on a 2-day vacation the next day.
Up next was the cash register. The CFO had delegated the responsibility for all things regard the cash register itself and the implementation the new software to me. Not that I mind additional responsibilities, but having to do that within a couple hours...can be a little stressful. At first I recorded the previous month in the old software and it worked without a hitch. And I had accounted for the 1 cent difference in no time.
Next up was the opening balance in the new software. This was pretty much straingt forward. I entered it and saved the information. If the date should be flawed for some reason , I don't have the slightest clue on how to fix that. I was ready to lean back and go home. But the devil never sleeps, does he? Nope, he doesn't. What you know, a customer showes up at 5.10 pm and want's to buy merchandise. So we have to enter it in the new system. And nobody has even done a real-live test with it so far. And the support-hotline of the software has already gone home. I thought, great...just what I need. So I fire up the software and start entering the date. Luckily I had tested that during the test phase. But of course I didn't work the way I planned it. Than I realized that with that customer the price-list that has to be used hasn't been saved. But that was a very easy fix. From that point on it was pretty much straigtr forward. Until to the point where the payment had been recorded in the software. The most important thing is, that an invoice comes out of the printer, because that's a must-requirement of the government and the punishment for not doing so can be quite expensive. But nothing happens...at least at first. I thought...oh fuck, what I'm gonna do now...but than the printer started to print out the invoice. And than I remembered, that it took a little longer to print the invoice from the cash register over the WIFI connection. In the end it worked out without problems.
But that time I juset packed up and went home. I really didn't want to deal with any new problems that could be arising. While I was on my way home, Something about the opening balance of the cash register kept bothering me. Yes I did enter the value I was given my the CFO, but for some reason I dodn't think that was right. But I was mentally so dead at that time, that I couldn't think logically anymore. And there wouldn't have been anything I could have done anyways. So I tried to put it out of my hand...with rather less success. So I picked up a good bottle of red wine on my way home. That should definitely get me down from my stress level and should help me relax.

A day-long business meeting...

Well, today was our last business meeting with the guy from BMD. The system is already running live since July 1st. So far with fairly little trouble. But on the ohter hand right now only the side of the merchandise management is running live. The switch from our old accounting system to BMD will start in about 3 weeks from now.
But there still were quite a number of minor issues to address. And of course having worked live on the system, there had been quite some question as well. Most of the question were easyily onswered by the guy from BMD. But other issues that are a little more complex couldn't be solved right away. Especially when it comes to administration of inventory and how any change there will affect values in accounting that is quite difficult, since you have to think it trough on the side on the side of the merchandise administration, and than think it trough on the side of accounting. And only after that you can make the appropriate corrections. And it takes usually 2 or 3 guys to think that trough, since that is a very complex subject. And when doing a correction it's very often that it turns out that you made the correction in the wrong direction, then you've to reverse the change and make the appropriate change. And it was no different in that situation. But in the end we managed that make everything right.
In the end I did have a couple of minor issues with the system. It had mostly to do with software permissions. Of course there would have been a workaround, but that's not very effictive and can be a pain in the ass. But in the end I got the appropriate permission, except one. That will have to be addressed at a later point.
Next up were some questions about the electronic cash register, since that will be required by law. We had to change around the layout of the printout form. Than I had some questions about certain implications. The BMD guy answered most of my questions. But of course none of us had tried the cash register in real live. I did familiarize myself with it during the test phase, and it really isn't that difficult. But of course the test phase is no real-live testing. It will be interesting when we have to use that thing for the first time in real live. And most likely it will be up to me to deal with the cash register. The one thing that is certain, due to government regulations you can only make the opening balance in the cash register once. If anything should go wrong there, well there's no easy way to fix that. It's definitely gonna be interesting.

BMD is going live...

Well, today was the day that we'd be making the switch to BMD. And the new software was going live for the first time. We were omly 3 people in the office today. The CFO, my co-worker who deals usually with merchandiese orders and myself. Having been trough several software changes in my professional life, I was prepared for some rough time.
At first it was no problem at all and we bounced knowledge off each other to come to the reight solution. But the positive vibe didn't last for long. My coworker came ofer that she couldn't print out an inoice. When we checked her laptop it appeared that your software had crashed. So we restarted that thing again. To no avail. We still couldn't print the invocie. So we called tech support...and after going trough several calles, we learned that if something like that happens, the software puts into this order a lock-information, so that the whole process involved can't "run down" twice. That is quite essential actually. But of course having something like that happen to you, is a pain in the ass. But we learned that there was a very quick way to remove that lock-information and continue working on the order. We were very happy about that. And from that point on the mercahndise adminstration worked pretty much without any problems.

Stuff for the Sommer Hiking Season...

During the last 3 1/2 weeks Gina has been an examplory dog. She wasn't demanding at all. She knew that I had to study and that she had to take a backseat. And she was doing great every day. Without being more crazy than she usually is or destroying stuff to let all that pinned up energy out.
Of course I knew, that as soon as the exam in business law is over I will have to spend much, much more time with her and let all that energy out.
Of course I did that the very next day after the exam. But for a 3-year old Aussie Shepherd and Border Collie Mix that's not enough. The best way to do that is to go hiking with her. There she can let the energy out being on the "towrope" and letting her use her brain to figure out where the path is leading, without showing her the diretion right away.
So for this weekend we have planned  hike in the mountains near Vienna. But somehow I couldn't find the map anymore. So I had to order a new one. I#m sure the map will turn up sooner or later. But in addition I ordered to hiking guidebooks as well. Giving me a lot of ideas more what hiking trails we can do during the summer and in fall. I know a lot of hiking trails, but you just go the same ones over and over again. And I really want to mix it up this summer. And those guide books feature quite a number of trails that are very rarely hiked and that are off the beaten "tourist path". And that's something I really enjoy. Nothing is more annoying that a migration of tourists in front of you, who don't know how to behave in the mountains.
Of course some of the trails will depend on the weather and the temperature we will be getting this summer. And it will as well depend on how good my knee will be holding up. Since a slightly misaligned kneecap can be quite painful. But I will be wearing my supporting bandage for my knee. OK, in summer that is not exactly super fun, but it can be done. In the past this thing could do the trick. You're not entirely free of pain, but it'ts manageable.

Taking my Exam in Business Law...

Today was the day that I had to take my exam in Business Law. On Firday I gotten an email from the comission that will be conducting the exam that my appointment to take my exam would be at 4.25 pm.
I had taken the day off work, since I really didn't want to work all day long and than have to take an exam. Taht's just a little too stressful for my taste. You don't deliver your best performance at work and it's not exactly helping with your performance during the exam either.
I spent all day working around in my apartment and cleaning the place. Due to all the studying the place had become quite something of a mess and cleaning was urgently needed. After that was done I took Gina for a long walk. And after getting back I just relaxed in front of the TV watching a couple episodes of Star Trek Enterprise.
At 3.30 pm I left the house and made my way to the WIFI main complex. Found the exam room without any troubles. And still had about 15 minutes left before I was scheduled to take the exam. Up till that point I was absolutely not nervous. And I was convinced that I'm prepared properly to at least get a passing grade.
Of course the comission was running late and I had to wait another 20 minutes. And the waiting is the worst part. And you start getting slightly nervous. I and another student got called in. And out of all those parts of the law you get 2 questions.
My first question was: "Notice of Defect". And that's really a great question. I could explain it without any problems. I even knew the exact section of the legal codex it was in. The the comission went into further details. At first I wasn't sure what they were getting at. But as soon as I realized where they were going I could answer that questions without any problems.
My second question was: "Definition and Specs of the LLC". Another question you can talk much about. And for my that was a really easy questions. I told the comission actually more than they needed to hear. They even didn't go into any further details.
By that time I was pretty much certain, that I did have at least a passing grade. Didn't take long for the president of the commission to tell me that I currently was halfway between an A and a B. So they did give me a third question: "Order Papers and Draft Papers". Neither of those questions is particular difficult. And I did know quite a lot about Draft Papers. I hadn't even gotten to the specific features of draft papers, when the president of the comission stopped me.
Shortly thereafter the comission announced that I had passed Business Law with an A.
I was suoer excited. And of course I was going to celebrate that awesome result. And, yes I was very relieved that I had passed that exam.

Studying, studying and more studying...

Well, June so far can be summed up one quote. Studying, studying and more studying. And studying for my exam in Business Law takes up tons of times. Much more than you expect it to take. It's not that it is that difficult to understand, but there are many topics that you have to cover. And it's not exactly the easiest subject to learn. And I do have to admit that it can be quite a dry matter at times, but on the other hand it's quite interesting as well. And if you're going for Certification as Public Accountant you do need to have an good understanding of Business Law.
Some of the subjects I had to cover: Code of Civil Justice, Law on material things, Law of Obligations, Insolvency Law, Law on legal biding Contracts, Regulations regarding to monetary compensations, Property Law, Labor Laws and finally Corporate Law.
This is how my days went down: Getting up at 5 am. Studying for 30 minutes to 3/4 of an hour, taking Gina out, having breakfast, going to work for at least 8 hours, getting back & taking Gina out and than studying for another 2 1/2 to 3 hours, grabbing a quick bite for dinner, relaxing for 1/2 hour and going to bed around midnight.
And if you think he weekend was any different. Think again. Saturday I had a 5 hour class in business law and after getting home I had to study for the exam. And Sunday I spent most of the day studying for my exam. And of course I had to take the time to do laundry and some household chores as well.
And holy moly, this can get really exhausting. And it takes lots of effort and determination to study hard every day. Usually from September to April spending most of my time off with studying for an exam, doesn't bother me. But when the summer semester slowly goes towards the end and the weather is really nice, it's just hard to study for an exam. But for my upcoming exam in Business Law I have been really good in focusing on studying.
And today was the last day for studying and I finished around noon. After that I didn't look at the stuff anymore. I just relaxed and hung out with Gina. I figured I've gone through the entire matter at hand 4 times. What I haven't memorized now...well that's something I won't be memorizing in the next couple of hours.
Tomorrow evening I will know if I passed the exam or not.

People are just mssing the basic understand of law...

When I read that HuffPost article I really couldn't believe what load of crap they were writing. Not that this is an big issue, but it just comes to show you that people really miss the basic understand of the law.
Here are a number at issues at work. First of all it is a breach of contract. The supplier (Aldi) was supposed to deliver a box of chocolte covered cookies. They didn't come through with the condition of the merchandise in question. Therefore we have here a clear case of breach of contract on the side of the supplier. Due to that fact we have here case of compensation of damages. Repleacing the box of cookies through the supplier is not PR action or the attempt of the supplier to show what for a nice company they are. They're required by law to do so. This is always a 2-step process. First the supplier has remove the flaw. In the cas of the box of cookies this means they have to replace the box. Only if the should no longer be applicable or to complicated for one of the 2 parties involved, than it would be legal to offer financial compensation instead.
The other thing I find a little troubeling is the reaction of the supplier on FB. Yes it might sound funny to a lot of people, but considering the legal ramifications I don't think it is funny at all. First of all I miss the real sincerity on the suppliers side to appologize for the breach of contract. Secondly they chose a terrible way to do that. Not only din't they acknowledge their breach of contract in a serious enough matter, but they pretty much made fun of their customer. That could easily be construed as an attempt to attack the customers personal inegrity. And that is just inviting a law suit. If I it were my responsibility I would have fired the guy who wrote the FB response right away. I would have appologizred publically to the customer for the breach of contract, explained on how I intend to rectify the flaw at hand and to proof that I'm really serious I would him offered 5 bucks off his next purchase.
But the stunt Aldi pulled here is most questionalbe business practice. But it does show how little average Joe and even companies know actually know about the legal requirements when it comes to breaches of contract.

Doctor's appointment...

Today I had a appointment with my general phsician. I had to go there enyways, because I needed a refill for of my prescriptions. But for the I don't have to see my doctor, but only the nurse practioneer. Since It doesn't cost me extra I was going to see my doctor as well. There had been 2 things that had been bothering me. On the one had I was having kind of a rash on my fingers and the hand lotion wasn't just doing the trick and on teh other hand I had relaized in the past couple of weeks that I had a diminished movenment in my neck. It's worse after getting up and gets better during the day, but It never is completely OK.
For the rash I go an ointment right away. For my neck issues my doctor sent me to a spine x-ray. Teh place I went to is just 5 minutes from my doctors office and usually I doesn't take long. But today I had to wait for over 1 hour. And that didn't make me exactly happy. But there was nothing I could do about it. Finally I got called into the examination room. The exam was pretty quick. And than it meant to have to wait for the x-rays and the report.
Turns out it's nothing terrible, just the ususal wear and tear for a guy who's in his mid 40's and has a desk job. With the x-rays and the report I went back to my doctor's office. And had to wait again. Guess doctors appointments really test your patience. Once I got called in we talked about the x-rays and he worte me prescritions for a 4 week long physical therapy about once a week. Good think, it doesn't cost me a dime since it's being paid for by my health insurance.
By the time I got to work it was 11.30 am and I really had hoped that this docotor's appointment wouldn't last longer than 10 am at the latest. But there's nothing you can do about it. At a certain age you just can't afford to play with your health.

The Contingency Plan is on Ice...

The contingency plan has been put on hold...at least for now. Since this isn't as selfexplanatory I need to explain that a little.

The first vote for Austria's Federal President ended with a tie. And 2 candidates went into the 2nd round. And on those candidates is not only a fascist piece of trash, but a Nazi as well. And there was a good chance that he would become Austria's next president. 

These are troubling times indeed. And I really have no intention of living in a country that has a Nazi as president. So there were several option as contingency plan on the table. Germany was the first logical option. It has the same language and a similar culture and due to the fact of it being part of the EU it would be easy to move there. But the fact that Germany is having big issues with right wing groups and the AfD especially didn't exactly making it my first choice.

The next logical choice was Great Britain. Most people might be thinking that Englands weather would have been a deciding factor. It was not. Since Great Britain will be having it's Brexit election soon and nobody tries to venture an educated guess if it is going to stay in the EU or not, that didn't make it prime target either.

This left pretty much 3 options. Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Each of those tragets have their benefits and their downsides. Australia is an interesting choice with an interesting job market, but the partial inequality with LGBT rights doesn't put it in first place. 

Between Canada an New Zealand it's a toss. Both have interesting job markets and I could see myself living in either country. When it comes to Canada I was only going for jobs in Birtish Columbia to begin with. But on the other hand Canada is quite in quite a number of apsects similar to US, at least when it comes to lifestyle. And I've already had that experience. So when I was going to take such a big step I was going to an for me interesting experience. And that is definitely New Zealand. 

It's different form what I'm currently used to and lots of it's fronteer spirit is still alive. So I did make my first choice in case the unthingable should happen. And yes of course I did do my homework and looked into all facts that relate to me, including the fact that I hope to retire at some point for my job and that's what made New Zealand the top pic. I brought my english resume up to date and did have my first email correspondence with finding a couple of head hunters that I was willing to work with. It is still the preliminary phase, but the process had to be started at some point. 

When I was talking to my friends about that, they understand the reasoning behind it and they were thinking of something similar. But they did have a much harder time making that kind of a decission. Maybe for me it's just different. I've left Austria before and lived for almost 10 years in the US. And in my opinion there is no point an getting mad about somehting you can't change or make yourself feel bad. If you don't like something it's up to oneself to step up and change it.

Now that Van der Bellen beat the Nazi scumbag by 32.000 votes that contingency plan has been put on ice...at least for now. The fact remains that 49,7% of the population voted for a fascist candidate could mean that at some point in the future this contingency plan will require some rethinking. But at least for the moment there is no need to continue on that contigeny path.

Monthly VAT Report

Today the montly VAT-Tax Report had to be filed. Being late wiht that is never a good idea, since the government has absolutely no understanding for that. 

Well. it's not that difficult. But you still need your time. Good thing I had done my control of the accounts involved previously. That's always an good idea. It really saves you a ton of work at the due date. But vefore you're going to submit the report I always look the accounts over one more time. This sepeerates an experienced accountant from an amateur. But without 1 change that still had to be made it was all fine.

Next I looked at the online Account with the Austrian Tax Authority. Turns out that we had to prepare the Coprporate Tax payment for June. But with me having access to all that information it was pretty much a piece of cake and I did know exactly what we were owing the government... VAT, import tax and corporate tax. 

After about 1 hour work I submitted the tax report to the authorities and even entered the amount owed in the online banking app. But I wasn't going to pay the government earlier. That would be paid exactly when the debt was due. 

While doing VAT reports can be a pain in the ass for young accountants, I really don't mind it. On the one hand it is an important part of my job and on the other hand it gives you the opportunity to look your accounts over one more time and sometimes you find entries that need to be questioned for a second time. So I really don't consider that a time wasted. 

Chatting with former Co-Workers...

This evening I was chatting with 2 former co-workers of mine. First up with my former co-werker Klarissa. She's currently attending a basic accounting class. All in all she is doing very well, but certain subjects in accounting are giving her troubles. Especially the correct way on dealing an recording with discounts and how to handle and record deposit payments correctly. I know for personal experience that this can somewhat of a bitch. Good thing she has Gabi and I to talk to.

Later I was chating with my former superior and co-worker, Gabi. Since I had left the company the accounting department has been going downhill very quickly. That doesn't really come as a surprise to me. After all when 1 full time accountant is missing, it only can end badly. To my knowledge they still haven't found a suitable replacement and it is my considered opinion that they will have a hard time finding a replacement. There are currently 800 opening for qualified accountants in Vienna. And if you talk to headhunters they will tell you, that companies have to pay more to qualified accountant these days that is the current standard in the industry. On top of that accountants are looking for other things as well, when chosing a position, such like partial tele-commuting, more time off and other benefits the company has to offer.
She told me that she had a meeting with the company and tried to negotiate a severance package, what would have been the cheaper way for the company. But of course the 2 CEO's of my former employer don't do that. The let someone go, have to pay them for the next 2 month and tel them to stay at home, since they are afraid they could be doing something bad to the company. But the CEO's do that with each employee and that doesn't make any sense economically. I guess it's just a way of showing power to compensate for some huge inferiority complex.
I got to talk with my former co-worker Gabi about my current job. I still love my job and I have awesome fun going there each and every day. It really keeps me on my toes and I do have to use my knowledge each and every day. On top of that I have the ability to shape the way the accounting deopartment should be run. At least partially and the input in such matters of the main-accountant is always wanted and appreciated. I now know that it means working in a positive working environment and when everyone is working as a team and pulling the company in the right direction. I'm really so happy about my choice to leave my former employer. Apparently you have to be in the right place at the right time.
And I#m happy for my former co-worker as well that the Nowotny problem has finally come to a conclusion for her as well. The bottom line is, my former employer is just a company that is impossible to work for.
Not that I want to gloat but now my ex employer is looking to replace a fill time accountant and they will to have to replace the CFO as well.

Skeleton Crew at work...

Today was an interesting day at work, since we were only going to be a skeleton crew. A lot of the employees had taken the day off since Tursday is a public holiday in Austria. And about the same will be true for Friday.
Usually we're about 8 to 10 people in the office. But today we were only 3. That mad for an interesting feeling, since everyone is their office alone. Nobody walking in the hallways or dropping by to ask you certain questions. It was a very quiet but very prodcutive working as well. I did some basic accounting work. Recording the the bank and recording the cash register. And I had to do the payments of the outstanding vendor invoices before 11 am and transmit the data to the bank. All in all pretty much standard stuff.
But I did get in some time on working on some more interesting things in accounting like doing prep-work for doing reconciliation of certain accounts, that you have to look at on a regualr basis in order not to have to do the whole reconciliation work by the end of the tax year.
An of course inbetween I had to answer the phone and take down customer orders. But it defintely did make day go by quickly.

Replacing my CamCorder...

Well, my old Sony CamCorder has been broken for a while and I never could get myself to replace. On the one hand I didn't really need it that urgently and on the other hand I still had my GoPro4 that I usually take on hikes with me. As much as I do like my GoPro it has one disadvantage that had really been bothering for some time. It's missing the zoom Funktion and hat's something I do use very often while documenting a hiking trail. With a zoom function of the FoPro I wouldn't even had replaced my CamCorder. I knew what price range I was going for. In the end it was a toss between a Canon model and a Panasonic model. The price was not a factor since they were just about the same. But in the end the Canon model just had features I eventually might use and I was recording the footage in MP4's and that makes video editing a lot easier.
An since time was somewhat of a factor I opted for 24 hour delivery with no added costs and had it delivered directly to my office at work.

Here are some of main features:

• Photo: 3,28 Mio Pixel
• Video: 1920x1080 Full HD
• 32x optical zoom
• 57x digital zoom
• Weight: 236 grams

I thing that cam will work quite well on the trail for me and the total cam in a little under my budget and that made me quite happy as well.

Planning on getting back on the Trail...

Well, since me knee injury last year and than attending a very demanding course in advanced accounting, I haven't been as much on the trail as I would want to. And I'm sure Gina misses our outings on hiking and long distance hiking trails. So this weekend I really just had it and decided something had to change. Due to the fact that I usually attend a class on Saturday, hitting more demanding trails isn't quite easy. And I really wanted  didn't want aggrivate my knee too much in the beginning. So the plan was to either start with the Eisenwurzen or North-South long distance hiking trail. Geh starting point of both trails is in northern Lower Austria and this region has rather moderate ascends and decends and that would have been a great choice. Beides that this region of Lower Austria is fun to hike in Spring or Fall.
Well, but no good deed ever goes unpunished...so to speak. When I checket on how to get to the starting point and then by the end of the weekend back to Vienna, it turned out that this was going to be a futile endeavour. Using public transportation would require a travel time of about 4 hours  for a distance of about 100 miles and of course the connections for public transporations are bad on Weekends. The best way to do Eiter one of those trails using public transportation, is by doing a section hike for a week or 10 days. But since I've just changed my job recently, that wasn't really an option either.
But I really wasn't willing to give up. Since the Voralpen long distance hiking trail starts about 40 minutes from my apartment. And even the parts after leaving the Vienna's city borders are much easier to get to and within a reasonable amount of time. So I opted for that trail. And since this coming Thursday is a public holiday in Austria I plan on hiking the first section of this long distance hiking trail and it's about a distance of 15 miles with very moderate ascents and easy desents. That will be good for Gina and I. I really need to go hiking as this really gets me relaxed and I've seen that Gina is becoming a little restless herself. So that will be good for to get all that energy out of her.

A regular Accounting Day...

Those of you guys who read my blog regularly probably know that I have been having issues with discrepancies in the cash register. That was the reason I never got around to record the expenses properly. And that pretty much meant that I would have to do that work today. Of course it was no problem. The majority of the work involved assigning the right accounts and the right cost location the each single expense. After that was done I just recorded the entire month and that went actually fairly quick. When I was done the electronic account and the printout of the cash register matched exactly. that was something that made me a very happy accountant. Since that was my first time assigning accounts to expenses it took me way longer that it would take me under normal circumstances. I still have to get used to the chart of accounts my new employer is using. Of course most companies use the right account classes according to Austria's RLG, but every company uses it's own personalized account numbers and that's something your just have to get used to. And I was done with the recording of the cash register before noon.
Next up were quite a bunch of invoices of creditors. After all that's an important task as well or we won't be able to pay the due creditor invoices out of the system if they don't have been recorded. So I selected first all the invoices that would be due within the next 7 days. And like it was with the cash register expenses I did take it's time assigning the appropriate accounts to the invoices. And you just can't take the way those invoices have been recorded previously as given. After all you have to question if they have been recorded correctly in the first place. After all the woman who used to help out with that isn't certified accountant. And yes there were a couple of instances where I didn't agree with the way those invoices had been recorded. So additionally I had to print out the the balance sheet of those invoices and I will have to talk it over with the tax guy how we're going to proceed in order to have those invoices rerecorded properly without making ourselves more work than we have to. And of course there were instances where I was pretty much sure the tax code that has to be assigned to certain invoices, but to be on the safe side I had to double check with Austria's Tax Codex...and of course that takes some time. After all there are almost always a "million" exceptions from the general rule. But in the end it turned out that my account decisions matched perfectly up with the rules and regulations of the Tax Codex. After that it was a piece of cake recording invoices into the accounting software.
Under normal circumstances I would have sent an email to the tax guy to inform him that I intend to correct the the assignment of the tax code with certain invoices. But this time there was no point to it, since the tax guy would be visiting  the office tomorrow anyways.
So I definitely call that another successful accounting day at my new job.

Discrepancies in the cash register...

Today was my first real full day at my new job. I started by 8.30 am and that makes for a nice change compared to my old job where I started at 6.30 am. So I got to my office and started up up my computer and it still hadn't finished up installing office completely...an installation that we had started on Friday. And since my workstation was incredibly slow I decided just to restart the machine completely. And after it had restarted Office was completely installed and working. I did synchronized the cloud to my laptop and that took some time, since this was the first time it had been done. But at least my Outlook and the DVO accounting software worked without any problems.
My first task was to record invoices from creditors that still belonged to the month of March. Since this was the first time me doing that for my new company it took longer than it would have usually have. But on the bright side if you have to look lots of things up you get an good impression of the way accounting had been done previously. After that had been done I was about to record all entries of the cash register for March. That's usually a very easy task and you basically can just lean back and enter it into the accounting software.
Well, it wasn't quite that easy. Every good accountant makes a cross check if the end balance on the account of the last month and the beginning balance of the month you plan on recording in the printout of the cash register corresponds. Well, that was not the case. So that meant, no recording of the cash register for March, but instead I had to check, when did that difference occur and is it a single entry error or do multiple errors make up the difference. That's a work I'm pretty much used do. It's basic stuff for an experienced accountant and I have to say it's something I actually enjoy doing. But of course there was another thing that I had to take into consideration, and that was the way on how to correct the error in case it should have already occurred earlier in the year, especially if it's in a period when the "old" accounting year is already closed up.
So I started comparing  the accounts according to the software with the printout of the cash register and that starting in January 2015. But after a couple of hours I found the difference. IT consisted of 2 errors. The first error didn't really bother me. It was a recording error of 1 cent and that was easily corrected. But there was still quite a difference and I finally found it at the beginning of October 2015. There was an error at the beginning balance. While the September end balance of the cash register and the software account matched, the beginning balance on the cash register did not match. But that was an quite easy fix as well. But it did tell me an important thing. The girl that did helped out with accounting before me hadn't cross checked the balances according to cash register and accordion to software account. If she had done that she would have seen the discrepancy right away. But it's always a great feeling when you figure out the difference and how to correct it without making yourself even more work.
When I told the CFO he was happy about that as well. And he thought that it was great that this discrepancy occurred to me right away. Told him that I do have the necessary experience in my job and that it doesn't bother me to locate differences. And that was part of the reason the hired me, since it is part of my job to go through the entire accounting data an see if everything is according to rules and regulations or if there are things that I would do differently. And it's part of my job to point things like that out.

First Day at my new Job...

Today was my first day at my new Job. Yes, of course I was aware of the fact that this was April Fools Day. But since I had already signed my working contract previously, that fact didn't bother me at all.
I was supposed to show up at work at 9 am. So I got up at 6 took Gina for her morning walk and had breakfast. I had calculated some extra time since having to wear a suit to work takes more prep time than I needed when getting at my old job. And of course I wanted to be in time. Nothing makes a worse impression than showing up for your first work day way too late or way too early. I had planned it that I would be there about 10 minutes before 9 am. And my planning worked just fine.
I got to work met up with the CFO and the CEO and we did have a nice little chat. After that the CFO showed me the office and introduced me to those co-workers that were working on that particular day.
Next followed a long presentation about what the company exactly does and what the philosophy of the company is all about. It was very nice to know that the company believes that the first asset are the employees and those who are the ones that make a company successful. The second thing that was really impressive, is that teamwork is the companies asset number two. And that this is just not a loose term, but being lived on a daily basis. Then come the products, sales, marketing, administration and so on. This is absolutely different compared to my previous employer. And I really like the concept.
Another thing that is great is, since the administrative team is rather small, everyone is on a first name basis...even the CFO and the CEO. That makes for a much easier working climate. Next up was an introduction to the organization charts. It's actually not that complex. It has a logical workflow. And I have two superiors...the CFO and the CEO and that's it. And of course I will have to work in closely with the companies auditor.
After that the CFO and I set up together my laptop. I do have an external monitor as well. I got my own email address. Something that I've been missing during the last 4 years. We setup basic stuff like MS-Office, PDF Reader and stuff like that. Next up was the setup of the VPN access to the BMD cloud, the program we will be working with from the beginning of July on. Then we had to setup the CRM system the company is currently working with. Then followed the access to the companies cloud services, that way I will have access to all the company documents, contracts and stuff like that, that are important for me being able to do my job properly. That is something that had been missing at my last job as well. With my new company I have access to all the accounting data without any exception. And finally we did the setup of the accounting software.
After that I got a first introduction into the accounting filing system. It's a little different than at my old job. Not entirely sure if I'm happy with that filing system. There is definitely room for improvement. But since this accounting year has already started it will stay the way it is. And such a change can only be done if the CFO agrees to it. And I'm sure we will come to a solution that works for everyone.
But before that I have to check out the current accounting software and see what is fact and check if everything has been recorded properly or if certain things need to be changed and/or corrected. And I've been told by the CEO and the CFO if I should encounter something that has not been recorded properly I shall not hesitate to just correct it and record it properly. This is definitely gonna be fun. And it definitely will be challenge. But I'm really looking forward to that.
By about 1 pm the CFO and I were pretty much done. Since he had some deadlines that day and since it was a Friday anyways he sent me home for that day.