Home Sweet Home! (Again)

I'm back! Morocco was a little better the second time. Fewer surprises and disappointments. And this time my computer stayed together and the software demo went off as planned. Even hear we did a better demo for lower cost software than the demo earlier in the day. Cool!

But now, even though it's a bit before 3 in the afternoon, I'm going to bed. Woke up at 4:30 this morning to pack, checkout, catch the 30 minute taxi to the airport and make my 7:50 flight. Make it I did, and now I feel as though I've already had a full day. I need a rest before heading into town for a full night.

Hurry hurry, here we go again!

I don't have time to blog right now as I'm about to race off to the airport. Just finished packing and monthly bill paying and now I'm off to Morocco for another 3-days / 2-night stay.

I can't believe I'm enjoying this video so much!

I'm watching the DVD training video for the PADI Open Water Scuba Diver course. And I'm hooked! Instead of one of my new Hollywood blockbusters, or favourite comedies, I spent Saturday night eating tiramisu, sipping red wine, and watching diving videos. Hehe.

I bought two copies of this video yesterday. One is my Dad's. It will be his belated birthday gift. (68 years old and he's taking up diving again!) The other copy I hope to leave with Yann, my first perspective scuba student.

I won't be rereading the complete student manual. But these videos are great! I have an overwhelming desire to go out and take a beginner scuba course! Although perhaps I should teach it instead; given all the time, money and effort invested to that end.

Home, praise the LORD I'm home!

My flight, after multiple details (you saw them posted 'live' from the Vienna airport) got cancelled.

I returned from dinner and they told me at the (completely empty) gate that the flight was cancelled and that I'd have to go to the ticket sales window to perhaps rebook onto the 8:30 flight that was also delayed and perhaps not flying.

I walked through the airport, found the ticket sales window, and beheld the 200 other passengers in line in front of me. I stepped to the end and began to wait, when I suddenly remembered I had a number to call to reach the corporate travel agent!

I called and immediately booked onto one of the last seats of the 8:30 flight. But I was told by the agent that I had to go to the ticket sales counter in the airport. The one I was in line for at 8:20 which hadn't moved since 8:00. So I bolted. I went straight to the check-in counter and stood there in the much shorter line.

At the end of a long wait, I managed to be one of the last persons to pass the gate and board the bus to the plane. The plane with tons of empty seats. The airline didn't even bother to fill the plane with their stranded passengers, it took off as soon as the weather allowed. And I and about 6 other passengers from the cancelled flight were on it.

How do I know there was seven of us? Simple, none of us got our luggage and we all met up at the luggage claims off together. We'd spent hours in the airport(s) together, and none of us were happy... except for the little grin from the knowledge that we were some of the few who made it. Roughly 190 others are staying in Vienna tonight and for most that won't be good.

The luggage will probably return by tomorrow. Sunday at the latest. So I'll have my shoes and pants and shirts back soon. In the mean time, I'm home. And that is more than enough for a small grin.

Vienna has Starbucks!

Greetings from Vienna. It's just an airport. Just a typical flight delay. But unusually, there are two things here I wasn't expecting. Obviously (?) one is free wireless internet! Cool. The other is Starbucks! Very cool!

I don't have anything more to say about the airport. But since constant travel is becoming a recurring theme on this blog... might as well ennumerate the places I be at.

By the way, that's a Venti Cafe Mocha with half-fat and low-whip. It's been years and years since I've lived with Starbucks, but the classics never die.

Update: Thunderstorms, delayed arrivals, and power failures at Vienna airport are making life... slow. Thank goodness for real-time blogging and digital photography! As the board suggests, the flight may take off with one hour delay. But the attendants are actually telling us to return to the gate at 18:30 to get the latest info. Note the '?' after the time.

Updated update:
Uppitist date:
Fun fun fun!!!!

I'm tired and I wanna go home

I haven't been in good health since Casablanca. Last weekend it was nasty. Now, well I'm getting better but I'm still not feeling well.

I should have slept in this morning. But I had a meeting scheduled for 8:30. I was in the shower at 8:00 when that got cancelled.

So I wasn't impressed when today's afternoon meeting went totally inside out. For starters, I was told my hotel was a ten minute walk from the meeting. Out the door, left, right, straight, left, left. Forty minutes of walking (dressed for business) in a humid 35C and I eventually found out it should have been right, right, straight, left, left.

Then in the meeting I discovered that the potential customer in question had not a single question related to things I know. He had questions on stuff other people handle and after I explained the process of how such things are handled we parted ways. 40 minutes of walking (and a 15 minute drive) to go to a 10 minute meeting. With a 15 minute walk back to the hotel after that.

I came in, ate a very late lunch, then slept for at least two hours.

Now I've just finished dinner and it's time for sleep again. Although it's not really time to sleep, I certainly could... and probably should. I've got The Wedding Crashers on DVD. I've seen it before, so if I choose I can simply click the remote and drift off.

At least I did have time to do last week's expense report (I need the money back!) and catch up on some (not all) of my emails. And I editted one of my pictures from yesterday. Check it out, the old upper city in Zagreb still uses gas lights to light the streets. And just around sunset yesterday I caught a picture of a man armed with a long pole running (jogging) through the streets; the gas lighter. Or is he the gas man? I don't know, his job hasn't existed any where I've ever been before. Still... cool job!

Now if you'll excuse me, they're about to launch the live music here in the hotel bar. I normally love live jazz, but my nose is running and my head hurts, so I'm about to flee.

Croatia

Croatia is beautiful! Not 5 minutes from the airport I decided I like this place. It's green and lush, with old Mediterranean architecture, warm and sunny, and when I really need, everyone knows a bit of English.

And clearly any place with a licensed drinking establishment entirely devoted to J.R.R. and his writings has be to cool!

Not sure why. I just like the look of the streets. This ones a little dark as the sun was near setting.

And believe it or not, I was walking down the street (taking pictures of graffiti) when I spotted Sneaky the dragon! What are the odds???

A Beautiful Weekend

This was a really nice weekend. It started with a chat to an exciting new friend, and ended with a dragon!Born at the Franklin Mint, and originally adopted by Quilly, he's going to come live in Europe for a while. His magic blue crystal seems to inspire people pondering moves to magical tropical blue places.

Alas, I still have packing, and prep for packing to do. But I instead fit in a weekend with friends and errands and shopping and cleaning and lots and lots of laundry. So packing feels like something that can still wait.

I hope I've got internet access through the week in Croatia. I'm looking forward to more chats.

Allergies makes for better home care.

It's sad but true. I keep my home clean because too much dust kills me. I would happily use dust piles to leave notes for my roommate (like," Clean Me") but I can't. I can't wait.

In Morocco something hit my allergies harder than I expected. And I wasn't taking the daily medicine that takes 3 days to fully work. So by the time I had spent some time at home, in the dust that has built up in the past month of travel, my head was completely blocked. I looked sick, yesterday at work. And I was going to get sicker if I didn't attack the dust bunny army.

And I was going to get sicker if I did attack the dust.

But today I braved it. It takes a long time to get all the window blinds. Twenty three million tiny horizontal slats; each laughing with the certainty I wouldn't have the patience to clean them all. They laugh no longer.

The army of dust morphed into an air force, and certainly did it's best to attack from all directions. But today was a cool humid stormy day, with strong windows. The brief rays of sunshine showed my enemies being lifted up to and out the window with remarkable efficiency.

But with hardship comes reward. My place is shiny! (Largely due to the roommates absence, but...) And I can intermittently hear through my left ear. Lovely! My head is clearing. Clearing through my nose; but clearing.

I'll wake up tomorrow and be thankfully for the price paid today.

Home Sweet Home

And once again, the best part of the trip is, coming home.

Seeing all my friends (Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night) is a bonus. Although sleep would be good too. (Joby isn't in town, so it hasn't been that late.)

FYI, the food in Morocco was so good, I lost more than one kilogram in just 3 days. I was exploring the new culture by fasting?

Alas, now I have to tend to the laundry inorder to be packed Sunday night.

Casablanca! Fun like a root canal.

Greetings from Casablanca! An ancient oasis in northern Africa's deserts; this is a land rich with history, culture, ancient buildings, modern luxuries and so much more. Which makes me wonder why my time here so far has been about fighting with computer software.

While still in the airport in Amsterdam I started to get "bad vibes" about this trip. It might have been the flight attendant who emphatically told me to watch my wallet and where I was after dark. Or perhaps it was the dutch lady working security at the airport who, in response to "I'm going to Casablanca", laughed and said "Better you than me!" It probably had nothing to do with my roommate's story of how two Dutch tourists were murdered here last week.

Of all the things I was told to expect (having my passport confiscated, having customs officers demand bribes, and more) my only real problem was getting charged dramatically over the usual taxi fare from the airport to the hotel. The moment the man in the airport walked up and said "You need taxi?" I knew what was going to happen.

Strangely enough, the customer I'm here to work with was also standing at the airport waiting to drive me to the hotel. He emailed as such about the time my plane was taking off.
Within minutes of arriving at the hotel, the customer did to. I literally had no time at all before I was in their small office working away through the evening.

But while I'm happy to work nights, my laptop apparently is not.

I'm here to demonstrate software. We sat down, discussed how the demonstration should go, and I started working. But something was funny with the software. So I started again. Then things got really weird with the software. So I started again, and then the software don't run AT ALL! Hmmm, not a good sales demo if I can only produce error messages.

I returned to their offices this morning and tried again. No better. A flurry of mobile phone calls from Morocco to Holland and England produced no happy results. Our software troubleshooters simply recognized the problems I was describing as "serious".

We had a three hour demonstration/meeting scheduled for 2pm this afternoon. We cancelled the meeting around 1pm.

And it gets worse. I have exactly one working day in Holland to have my laptop hard drive backed-up, re-imaged, install Oracle, have the software reloaded, and so much more before I catch a plane Monday morning to do "another" customer demo in Croatia. Yeah flippin right!!! Any one of those steps is a half day to a day.

But while the business purpose of this trip has been a TOTAL write off, it hasn't been a total loss. For example, I've now been to Africa, I've experienced a bit of French (a long lost language to me), and have tried a wide variety of truly terrible foods. (At least I tried.)

Tonight (it's around 5pm now) I think I'll watch CNN all night. I can't justify an expensive dinner out, or a long taxi trip to the centre of the old city. Not when the business purpose was such a failure. And frankly, after riding a few local taxi cabs, I'm not sure the idea of a one-hour trip into town would be physically tolerable. My cab this morning had windows that didn't roll down, and no seat belts. On the bright side, the 15 minute trip cost roughly $1.40 for which I paid the driver $2 out of pity. (The ride from the airport cost me $30... oops.)

Oh, and perhaps a bit of email and blogging tonight? This blog has been pre-written offline to save time on my 60 minutes of WiFi access.

How is it that $20 worth of taxi costs $1.40 but normally-free hotel internet is over $10 per hour?

Thankfully, in about 12 hours, it's time to wake up (5am) and head to the airport for my 7:50am flight home. Sure, I have to go into the office and start "fixing" my laptop, but right now any where in Holland would feel like home. Wish me luck.

One last note: From my current vantage (through my hotel room window) I've been watching people get on and off the city buses. But I haven't seen a bus come to a stop yet. The bus slows to a crawl and people run along and jump into the bus while it's moving. This observation feels some how analogous to my whole experience in Morocco.

All booked!

The weather in Casablanca, Morocco:

Uhm, what? I thought I was going to a north African desert in the summer time. Apparently not? I know Casablanca is right on the coast, but wow. 90210 weather. And by the time the rain arrives on Friday, I'll be back home and well rested.

It turns out my reason for going is a 2pm meeting on Wednesday. So definitely not more than 3 hours, and probably 2 hours long or less. I've got Tuesday evening and Wednesday to explore. And while I have to be up early Thursday for my flight, at least I'll be home (and done work for the day) early.

Oh, and the Croatia flights are now booked too!

In both cases the hotels are efficient for business, not tourist pleasure. But it'll be nice to at least have been to two exciting new destinations. Camels probably won't figure prominently. Neither will diving. But if nothing else, it's about 7 working days out of 10 that I won't have to be in the office!

The Joby Story Part 2 and the Birthday Weekend

That was a lovely weekend! It started hectic, and a few times I just wanted to give up all plans and sleep, but I'm glad I didn't.

Friday I went to the Scuba Center's swimming pool (Floraparkbad) and had a great time! It took the whole evening to logistically fit in 55 minutes in the pool. But I think I'll be doing that a lot of Thursday/Friday nights over the summer and fall. The pool is really nice and big, and fully 3.5m deep. There's room for more than one class at a time and still some left over for people to practice and play.

I've already got it planned out that I'm going to teach a refresher course to my friend Adam, and a bouyancy course to Carlos from work. Then they are both interested in a Rescue Diver course which I can teach including the CPR. Even if that takes the whole summer, afterwards I'll have two enthusiastic divers who may make good divemaster candidates. They'll thus be able to help out with courses I teach in the fall.

And I met some nice divers, at least one of whom was positively thrilled by the skills practices we did underwater. He hasn't had dive gear on for three years and now feels way more confident about taking up the sport again.

So after a lot of walking around town lugging my dive gear Friday night, it was easy to sleep in Saturday. And good thing too, since I ended up not getting home until 4am Saturday night.

I met up with Joby about 9pm Saturday. I waited at Centraal Station while his train came in from the airport then we went down the street (just a little) to his new apartment in Dam square. The heart of Amsterdam!

As we walked, I couldn't get a clear understanding of how close his apartment was to the square. Was it one street away? Two? Down which side alley? But when I saw it I understood. His living room is looking directly out onto the square. He's RIGHT there.

A few years ago such a place (fully furnished) would have bankrupted small countries. Some how his wife (C.) managed to negotiate a rent only a bit higher than what I'm paying out in the 'burbs. Their place small, but not tiny. The ceilings are high, the moldings are all finely detailed and the finishes (paint, wallpaper, marble surfaces) are all excellent. Nice!

So I met up with Joby and C. in their new place. C.'s resume was on her laptop. She's currently looking for work to avoid going crazy sitting in a small apartment waiting for Joby to come back. We went out (along with my friend Humaira) and drank for what became hours. We closed a patio at 2am, and a bar at 3am. I think C. was happy to get out, talk to people, and get a feel for her new town. And I *think* Joby was chomping at the bit to party. But C. holds his leash well. Hopefully this means no more earth shaking hangovers just 'cause Joby's in town.

Sunday was more mellow. I didn't really even start my day until 5pm. I met up with friends in town (they twisted my arm) and had a much more mellow and slower evening than Saturday night. Gezellig.

I didn't feel the energy to do anything, when I got a call Sunday afternoon to go out, but I'm glad I got up and went. Sometimes special moments can make your whole weekend, and this weekend I had three such examples.

The Joby Story (part 1)

Joby is an enigma. Someone beyond full describability. And suddenly, he's practically a neighbour too! What, who, how?!? This is going to be fun!

I've known Joby as long as I've been working in telecommunications. He was there on my first day of work, and I've worked with him on a number of contracts since then, including many months in the U.S. last year. We have a tendency to work too hard then relax over drinks.

Some time ago I blogged about the weekend Joby came by for the weekend. I remember the wild weekend and the intense hangover afterwards. I don't think that Russian vodka was right.

So while away on vacation for two weeks, I find out that Joby has not only picked the country he's moving to, but he now has an apartment in Dam Square... the heart of tourist Amsterdam. It'll be his home base from which he travels and explores other countries. Joby does business trips almost to the same level most people do dinner. Almost every day.

But tonight he's flying in to "home" and he and I will go out and have a few drinks.

At first I had no idea if his wife was with him or not. She had just been offered a new job elsewhere and they were considering keeping two households, as they have done often thus far. But an SMS earlier today mentioned that she's in town already. I can't wait to find out the rest of the story. Are they both here? Part-time here? What is my friend up to and what are his plans? And better still, what's this new place he's living in???

Tonight we get drunk and hear the details. Those will have to wait for The Joby Story part 2.

Kus me, ik ben jarig!

In Holland the birthday celebrant is expected to organize their own birthday. You throw the party and invite everyone. You bring your coworkers cake and treats on your birthday, etc.. So unlike in North America, I think its acceptable here to say," It's my birthday!"

In fact, a popular Dutch phrase is "Kus me, ik ben jarig." "Kiss me, it's my birthday." I'll have to try this tonight. >:-)

I must admit though, I'm actually feeling a year older today. I took my complete dive gear (including lead weights) on a one-hour public transit mystery tour to the pool. The pool was awesome and the people I met were fun! But the muscles I pulled getting there will haunt me for days.

Thanks to Anonymous (yeah right) and Irene who had birthday wishes posted before I myself was awake and posting. Very kind! And I should thank FaceBook too, as it automatically notified a ton of other people who also sent wishes.

Thanks all!

Okay, June is full.

Wow, it didn't take too long for life to get busy again. I'm still waking up jetlagged and tired each morning, but that hasn't stopped my schedule from filling up.

Tonight I'm off to the pool. My first outing with Scuba Center Amsterdam. They'll bring a tank, I'll bring all my equipment, and for one hour tonight I'll be playing in the rented pool. Very cool! The only trouble is, I should just barely have enough time to get home from work, get my gear packed, and get on a bus for the 45 minute trip to the pool.

But that's not busy. Real busy is the business travelling that my employer wants me to do. London's trip is cancelled. For me. The boss will be there next week, but I was to stay in Holland. Now suddenly (Thursday night after 5pm) a customer *needs* someone there Tuesday for a meeting.

So suddenly I'm flying to Casablanca next Tuesday, returning Wednesday night or Thursday.

The week after I will be three days in Zagreb Croatia. I thought the Croatia trip, planned earlier this week, was a short notice thing. But I guess we're trying to explore new definitions for "last minute". Who plans international business meetings with two working days notice?!?

Worst of all, I'd love to have time to dive and relax in these places. But with short 2-3 day trips, and my credit cards still being warm from Bonaire, diving isn't practical. *sigh*

So I think I should enjoy my weekend at home. Because I'm going to be travelling most of the next month.

Scuba Center Amsterdam

This is going very nicely! When I landed in Amsterdam with my new PADI certification in hand, I didn't just sit back and stare at it in wonder. I managed to hit the ground running (or at least, rolling quickly enough as to keep some speed up.)

So Monday I wrote my "diving CV". A chopped up version of my normal resume, the heading "Diving Experience" takes precidence over my education and my past jobs. And the last 7 jobs have been grouped into a heading called "engineening career".

I don't actually have a lot of diving experience. Or very high credentials. So personal sales will be the thing here.

That's why Tuesday I emailed my new CV to my nearest PADI dive shop and then last night dropped in there to meet and talk. I arrived at 6:40. The shop closes at 7pm. We talked until 8:30 or so. Very cool!

Laszlo, the owner, seemed almost negative because he doesn't have need for any more instructors until (get this) July. LOL! July sounds like "right away" to me.

But even better, Laszlo deals a lot of independant instructors who use his shop resources to teach students they find themselves. And this is something I was looking for. He has price lists all drawn up, showing pool times, equipment rental prices, prices for books and DVDs and PADI paperwork and applications.

So if I want to take a friend diving in the pool some Wednesday or Friday night, all I have to do is call the shop that afternoon. If I want to teach people an entire course, I can plan pool sessions weeks in advance. And when someone needs a book to study from, they're sitting in the shop. No ordering over a website required!

So perhaps I can start right away?!? I just need my first victim to sign up and we can do a private class between now and the end of June. Then hopefully, if I can certify an average of four divers a month for 6 months, I'll be a speciality instructor by the end of the year.

My classmates from the Bonaire course will have their first 25 certified students in no time flat. I'll have to work all year and perhaps longer. But 25 is significant as this is the number required to "self-certify" in certain specialities. For example, deep diving, night diving, navigation, dry suit diving and perhaps one or two others are specialities I can already qualify for... save for the lack of 25 certifications. Once I have 5 such specialities I can move past speciality instructor and reach master scuba diver instructor (MSDT). This is the median point.

Just about every instructor out there is an MSDT. It's an easy level to reach. It doesn't pay any better than a humble OWSI, but it makes it easier to get the preferred job. They can teach more and thus are more marketable.

So that's the next step. Get as many students certified as possible.

And now that I've been to Scuba Center, I'm thinking this isn't such an impossible dream.

Handicapped Scuba Association

The HSA is focused on helping handicapped divers to enjoy scuba. One way to deal with all the disabled people in society would be to line them up along the river and dump them in. And apparently they love it! (Provided we fit them with scuba equipment first.)

Like all good organizations, there are multiple levels. "Normal" divers are trained to handle special needs and are classed by how much they've learned. In some cases, a handicap on land is no handicap at all in the water. In other cases, two trained HSA diving assistants tend every need of a handicapped (e.g. quadriplegic) diver.

Last week I went diving with a German man named Honas. He is a polio victim and on land he needs two crutches to slowly move himself along. Underwater, however, Honas has no handicap. Instead of fins on his feet, he uses gloves with webbed fingers and swims with his arms. And believe it or not, he can get up to quite a pace! While enjoying a recreational dive, he actually moved along more quickly than I would on my own.

Honas can't walk with scuba gear on his back. So like many divers he enters the water then dons his gear; doffing it before he exits again. The only help he required was getting the equipment up and down the stairs from the dock.

Now that I've been diving with Honas I understand the full extent of his diving handicap. He can't get an off-the-rack wetsuit to fit. The size differences between his legs, for example, are such that no wetsuit will keep him as warm or protected as a custom fit would. But other than that, I just couldn't see any disability or handicap. At least not once underwater!

Where else can a challenging adventure sport bring so many different people together, and make them all equals?

Instructor's Creed

As written on the back of my shiny new PADI Instructor's Certificate, the Instructor's Creed:

As a scuba instructor I have the opportunity to see:

• Fear changed to courage.
• Faint-heartedness converted into accomplishment.
• Timidity transformed into confidence.
• Anticipation turned into a passion.

As a scuba instructor I can:

• Open hearts and minds to the hidden beauty of nature's creation and our obligation to protect it.
• Foster self-esteem in another person.
• Teach the value of character and integrity.
• Tranform another human being and change a life for the better and forever.

I'm Back!!!

I arrived in this morning at 4:45am. Due to a fairly late 7am arrival home I've decided to fight the impending jet lag by simply (?) staying awake to a normal schedule. I'll be wiped out by the time I go to bed tonight. It's been a really busy two weeks, but I've had so much fun, learned so much, done so many exciting things, underwater, that I don't expect to do much today any how. Rest is the only order of business. Perhaps unpacking, which I've already started. The laundry is disgusting! Everything smells of a mix of salt water, sweat, bug spray, suntan lotion and aloe.

But that hardly matters! I passed the 8-day course and the 2-day exam, and got my OWSI certificate! (Open Water Scuba Instructor) I got in a few days of beautiful relaxing diving on Bonaire and a lot of rigidly regimented, physically-challenging, always-stressful instrutor's training and testing dives.
We made the local paper! My class, Jinny, Zsuzsanna and I were presented with certifcates from the resort (Capt Don's of course) as well as from PADI. The local language is Papiamento. Appearing is Jack Chalk (GM at Habitat) and Kyle my Course Director (our trainer). The article describes how Jinny is only the second Antillean woman to become an instructor. The bottom left photo is Jenny (the first instructor) and Jinny.

A lot of people worked hard just to make sure the course went forth. Three is a really small number for an instructor examiner to fly in for two days. Thanks Jack! Habitat is by far my first pick/choice on Bonaire.

At the end of it all, foremost on my mind are the purely recreational dives I made after graduation*. (*Graduation was a drinking festival of tropical island proportions.) I don't think even my best dives in November and December compared to how little air I used and how smooth and easy everything felt when underwater. Unlike the training dives, where I was accustomed to returning either a completely full or empty tank. One day involved 5 hours of training geared up and in the water. We spent so much time bobbing around my whole face was burned (just dark now) inspite of waterproof 30 sunblock. But it was all so much fun!

I didn't meet as many divers as I did on the last trip, of course due to all the class time, but the people I did meet are now my friends. I know most if not all of us will meet agian. That makes it easier to say good-bye to paradise.

It's nice to be home.

So Weird

The moment of anticipation. Last night was the best of it, with that sense of having time to relax and yet imminently about to leave for an adventure.

Today is different. My flight leaves late... almost midnight. I've got tons of time to relax still, but can't. Today is the day I fly! I've got to leave from here to the airport. And even though the leaving part is many many (like 8) hours away, I can't relax the day I have to fly.

I'm making lists and checking them thrice. All the important stuff got packed days ago but what of the little things? Should I bring a spare X? How much do I want to carry on my back to avoid overweight charges? Is everything packed so it's safe from drops and breakage?

My mind is buzzing at a time I should be sleeping. I hoped to sleep late and "store up" as much sleep as possible before the nightmare flight. (The flight is almost 10 hrs long and drops me there at 4am.) But I'm awake. Wide awake. And with hours to go before my flight. Uhg.

See you in June!

Paradigm Shift

Things have been unusual lately. I'm moving through the world just slight (ever so very slightly) out of phase with the universe around me. What had appeared to be stable is changing. I'm experiencing a paradigm shift in my reality.

And I'm very excited!

About a year and a half ago, I set some goals for myself, and I started taking little steps. Now, I look behind me and realize I've come so far, I'm in completely uncharted territory. It's scary, but mostly exciting. I feel a sense of disjointedness from the world around me because I'm no longer taking steps. It's more like I'm being carried by a current. A current that is flowing more swiftly all the time.

In October 2005 I took my open water scuba diving course. Yesterday I went to the local dive shop and replaced the wetsuit booties I bought during that course. They have worn out insoles, "just" 127 dives later.

I need the booties for my Instructor course, which I'm leaving for on Saturday. Of course the goal is to instruct! And before ever leaving for the course I have my first job opportunity. The manager of the local dive shop wants me to drop by after my course to talk about work. So my summer could easily be filled with weekend after weekend of underwater fun!

And that's just exactly what I need to get me through office life during the week. Two more friends leave the company this week. People are quitting and changing jobs all around. It's a fun place with nice people, but the people are changing so quickly that I realize my "joie de travail" is itself an unstable and temporary thing.

And yet if I'm going to be spending my weekends working as a professional diver, building experience for my eventual transition to a tropical abode, it will all be good. So I drift by strangely unaffected by things around me.

All that I know is every thing is changing. I'm not sure where it will end up. But I feel good about the direction it's going.

Home Sweet Home!

This is becoming a recurring theme in this blog. I'm home!!!

Yesterday was a long one! The foundations started Thursday after work. One of my students took me out onto the town after our day of teaching. I had just wrapped up the last formal day of training, and within ten minutes of the intended time. So a weight felt as though it had been lifted. I'd delivered all the training material, and while there were glitches and bugs and flaws and problems throughout, it was done.

So when offered a third and final look at Stockholm (the centre of) I simply said," I'm buying the first round!"

And thus we ended up sharing 4 rounds in four different (and all excellent) places in the city. From a crowded cafe bathed in warm sun and cold breezes, to an incredible lookout over the city from an ancient fortified hill, on to places with the most trendy and beautiful; it was a great tour!

But it left me back at the hotel in the mood to blog and email, but not pack. This meant that Friday morning started with a slightly dry mouth and a hotel room full of stuff to pack. I raced around, skipped breakfast, checked out, and made it to the office only a bit late.

Our Friday went well. We had a list of problems from the previous days, and on Friday we played with updates, configurations, etc. and got all three students' computers working to the same standards. A series of successes all day long. Engineering, rather than teaching.

There wasn't a rush to the airport. I had plenty of time and took the train. Nice. Alas, I got there and checked my ticket. I wasn't leaving at 8pm. I was leaving at 8:40. Even after a rather long wait in the check-in I still had two hours and it turns out Gate 11 was the first gate on the other side of security. Dinner, a beer, a lot of reading. The bar tenders at the airport kept practicing their bottle throwing techniques. One was learning, the other a zen glass-throwing master. He would do things like grab a glass with his right hand, throw it in the air behind his back, catch it with the left hand then pour from a bottle which has just done a triple back-flip on it's way into his free hand.

All airport "excitement" aside, flights are never exciting. Mine started with a 20 minute delay (while we sat in the plane) and a cabin seemingly filled with infants. But the flight went quickly, the children didn't scream, and in spite of the fact that the guy beside me was Dutch, he didn't keep fighting to control the armrest.

So it was not so bad. I entered Schiphol like a zombie, but it already felt good to be "home". A train and cab from there got me in late... around 1am. But I was home, and slept like a rock. Nice nice nice!

I'm sorry I don't really have an end to this story. I woke up and started blogging right away. And that brings me to here. No ending at all, but a pretty decent present.

Blogging in Swedish?

You may or may not know, but recently Blogger updated their service so that their toolbars show up in the language appropriate for the country you're in. Meaning to start this post I had to figure out what "New Post" looks like in Swedish. (It's "Nytt inlägg".)

I don't mind. Obviously it's very much cooler (no pun intended) for those living in Sweden. But it is a bit of an issue for travellers. Not that there's a lot of us on indefinite trips.

I wonder what happens when you log in from Switzerland? Are the toolbars in four languages?

I'm also curious to know how many more years it will be before U.S. I.P. addresses just automatically get served in Spanish? :-P I like the idea of Americans embracing Spanish. In the long run it will certainly take some wind out of the sails of French separatists in Canada. Not so special any more, eh?

Sorry, it's going stream of consciousness for me right now. I intended to blog about my day, but honestly, it wasn't so hot a day. Tons 'o technical problems. And I had the joy of teaching a man of didn't understand the phrase," I don't know." Should I have just started making up answers? (No, I'm not a salesman.)

I started physio last week and my doctor told me to lay off the weight lifting for a while. But today there was just no way! Firstly, the hotel gym is spectacular (for a hotel). Secondly, the gym is my primary source of major stress relief. When the cortisol levels get high I like to move large masses of steal around for a while. Endorphins make life okay again.

The food court at the local mall has food from Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon. Am I the only person who understands that these three cultures share 90% of their "traditional ethnic dishes"? Apparently. Pick the one with the shortest line. "I'll take a plate of the shaved meat with garlic sauce please... however you choose to name it."

The greatest problem with the technology of the blog sphere... you can't make comments in a deep "radio announcer" type voice to provide emphasis.

I feel comfortable in Sweden. I mean, for a place where nothing is familiar, I don't understand the language, and I've never been before, I feel really surprisingly comfy here. There's just something about it. A lot like Canada, but without the "we're not Americans" attitude. I haven't heard a single person complain about taxes yet. Surprising!

And that's about it. Like lifting heavy bits of steal up and down, I feel like I just had to ... well ... vomit all my stupid ideas into today's blog. It couldn't be helped. There is no structure or direction in my world today. Just a bitter memory of having to rise this morning when my alarm sounded, and an overwhelming desire to return to sleep.

What's a whelm? Honestly, I don't know.

Hey!!!! Interactive bog activity!!!! Quickly, run to the comments section (yeah, like any one read this far) and post a definition for "whelm" or "being whelmed". (Please, no actual answers.)

Oh, lastly, regarding the Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show... "hundy spurndy bourndon" isn't actually Swedish. I was SO disappointed!

Stockholm

Cool! I'm in Sweden! Stockholm to be specific. I had no idea it had so much water.

A palace of some sort. Not sure who's, but it's impressive!

And lots of old stuff. There's some really great views amongst the city center!

I also had no idea my new laptop had an SD card reader compatible with my camera. So this is the first time I've ever posted pics during a trip.

Packed

After a lovely few months of 9-5 at the office, I'm beginning a flurry of travel starting tomorrow. I leave home at 9am Sunday to head off to Stockholm for a week of teaching. I return for a week and then leave for my vacation in Bonaire. Two weeks (and hopefully one instructor's certification later) I return home for a week then leave on my birthday, the following weekend, for a week working in London.

That takes me through to mid-June, by which point I should have arranged a trip to Georgia to meet my boss, for the first time.

And right now, after an evening and day of laundry, I'm packed and relatively ready. The toiletries get packed tomorrow morning. Sunday's clothes are laid out and ready to go. I've even remembered the camera with charged batteries. Now hopefully I "remember" to go to bed early tonight and get lots of rest.


A doodle a friend made on a bar coaster one day recently. Finally got round to digitizing and posting it.

Queen's Day Pics

Just a few pics I downloaded from a friend:

The canal boats fit under the bridge. The guitarists and drummer didn't.

This was a quiet street. The BIG crowds started one block further down the road.

Orange is the colour of the Dutch royal family. (Also the name.)

Koninginnedag!

Wow, it's finally come round. It's Queen's Day (Koninginnedag) weekend and this is the biggest party of the year in Holland. In fact, this party is SO big, it's impossible to really describe.

Picture 50km of streets and alleyways in the centre Amsterdam becoming one writhing squirming mass of people. Bars move their taps outside, stages dot the length of streets and intersections so live bands can compete against the music blasting from everywhere. Whole streets become dance floors such that to move through them you must bounce your way slowly amongst the crush of bodies. If you come across a "mosh pit" pick another direction (or destination).

There will be places on the canals where a pedestrian will literally be able to walk across by stepping from boat to boat.

The actual holiday is Monday April 30th. That's Koninginnedag. Then there's the night before known as Koninginnenacht. The party starts late in the afternoon and proceeds through the night and into the late evening the next day. Although this year the weekend will incite earlier and harder partying than most years. Add in the amazing summer weather and the impending full moon and I think we've got one hell heck of a party!

Par - tay!

Politically Accurate v. Politically Correct

Q: What do you call a mentally retarded person in a fancy suit?
A: Mr. President.

Chicken Soup for the Stomach

...is, chicken soup. And stomachs love it!

Why all this talk about how to get chicken soup into your soul? That's just silly, since of course you'd have to convert the soup to energy and send it to a different dimension of reality. And if we could do that, would soup be the first thing we send? No. Chances are rich people will line up for the way to really "take it with them."

But chicken soup for the stomach, the long overlooked and super obvious use for chicken soup, shouldn't be under-rated. It warms, it fills, it tastes good, and (why isn't this on the label?) it stocks you up with salts which are desperately needed after a good session of sickness.

In the immortal words of some great person at some past time," I like soup."

Less Sick (an update)

It's Monday and it's a sick day, no doubt. I went to the doctor's this morning and came straight home afterwards to rest. My stomach still hurts on and off but not to the point of being physically ill. I'm getting better. But I'm not having fun yet.

I'm Sick.

No matter how old you get, when you're really sick you really miss your Mom!

I've just spent the evening walking to bed, running to the toilet, walking to bed, running back. I've solved the problems involved with a lot of sleep and a bucket. That's life. What I'm worried about / troubled over is that I'm supposed to be in Stockholm Sweden right now. I'm not there.

I was scheduled to be teaching tomorrow and all next week. That's going to be postponed and rescheduling it won't be easy.

Oh well. I've just eaten a bit of fruit. It doesn't feel nice. Time to go back to bed.

Bonaire Here I Come!

Woohoo! Enough of introspective ramblings! I've just booked my flight to Bonaire and that is very very cool!

I leave in one month and two days. Arriving in Bonaire, I'll spend 14 days on my PADI IDC. That's a goofy way of saying "Scuba Diving Instructor Course".

"I'd like to be, under the sea, in an octopus' garden, in the shade."

How much can a heart hold?

A question without an answer. How much can the human heart hold? How much love and how much pain can be inside at once? How much is too much?

As I've gone through life I've found my capacity for pain grows. What I couldn't handle years ago I can now safely navigate through. Perhaps also the capacity for love grows? But I don't think either grow from time. They grow with experience.

Some people in this world, a special few, have the ability to make my heart grow. They bring feelings of love and caring and surprise me each time I realize my capacity to love has yet again increased.

If you know someone with pain in their heart, try to alleviate some of that for them. You may just find that what was a bit of pain for one person transforms into a bit of love carried by two. If we had more of this in the world, we would all have fewer pains.

Someday this will be part of a short story

She stood up and declared," I'm going outside for a cigarette." Then added," May I?" as she picked up his pack and took one.

Spinning her head from side to side there was a mumble about a lighter, then she picked up a red one from the table and went to move outside. "That lighter doesn't work," he said.

A short moment later she returned and took a blue lighter from his offering hand.

She stepped outside again. He sighed.

Worries filled her head. What would she do about the situation at work? The man she was obsessed with at work was precisely the wrong person to be messing with. Her boss, a leader in the company and a husband at home, was all she thought about any more. If she tried to get closer to him they could loose their jobs, he could loose his marriage. She knew the possible consequences. And yet there must be some way to avoid the consequences. She's always gotten what she wants. Why should this be different?

She put out her cigarette and stepped back inside.

"I saw him with his wife today at work, so I went up and made sure to be extra nice to his wife. I don't want her to suspect anything. But it was strange. Tense some how."

He rolled his eyes and sighed again. "That's because she already suspects you're after her husband. By paying extra attention to her you're just looking guilty."

"But we haven't done anything yet!"

"And so isn't it obvious that if you did do something, it wouldn't stay secret?"

She reached for the cigarette pack and took another one. Standing, she grabbed the red lighter and stepped outside again.

Pancakes!

Today I made pancakes for breakfast! Golden brown, fluffy, butter soaked and covered in syrup.

It's been at least 8 and perhaps 10 years since I last made myself pancakes. I have no idea why it's taken so long. But this morning I awoke and headed straight to the grocery store; returning with butter, syrup, pancake (pannenkoek) mix, and eggs. The eggs I normally buy. The rest was bought for today's breakfast extravaganza.

Next week I think I'll do this again. The butter won't be touched for any other reason until then. And I have the syrup now. I'll try adding some fruit. Cooked in, Dutch style, rather than just on top.

In the mean time, here's a video on pancakes. My favourite independant pancake documentary, to be precise.

Ohio Tourists Plan To Enjoy Europe

A group of Ohio tourists was relieved to hear that their planned trip to Europe will indeed take place. Up to now, residents of Blue Ball Ohio were highly frustrated by problems with their initial travel arrangements. Initially confused by the itinerary for the trip, the local council, two ministers and the local PTA tried to ban the trip.

The group plans to first visit Germany, touring the towns of Kissing, Petting, and Wank. From there some members will take a side trip to Wedding, after which the tour will proceed to the village of Fucking in Austria.

According to the travel agents arranging this coed trip, if things go well they may plan separate men's and women's trips next year. Women will travel to Dildo Newfoundland while many men are anxious to visit the U.K., going past Thong and making their way into Twatt Scotland.

Bulimic Lunches Served Via the Web

Ross Island, Antartica - A new Internet service was launched Monday, bringing lunch service directly to bulimia and anorexia suffers via the World Wide Web. Based on HSTP (Hyper Smell Transport Protocols) the system uses a high-speed Internet connection, a standard web browser, and a small USB peripheral device that generates smells.

Hyper Smells Inc., a Tibetan based hardware manufacturer, originally developed their WhaStinx 2.0 smell simulation device to boost sales for online retailers. Pizza delivery companies, bulk food services, and others originally hoped that smelling the food they offered would improve business. Instead, customers were slow to buy the hardware which was priced at 12,600 Albania Lekes (roughly 5,700 Inidan Rupees). Those who did purchase the device found that the smells emitted actually reduced their desire to purchase, especially when ordering anchovies on a pizza or bulk pigs feet.

But researches did quickly discover that the WhaStinx smell simulator did produce a realistic enough smell to make those with eating disorders loose their lunch. Even when they hadn't yet eaten!

"In our first week marketting to those with eating disorders, we've made more sales than the first year of not-for-vomitting food sales," says Muhammad Goldstein, CEO of HSInc. "Young ladies in colleges and universities are always pushed for time. There isn't time to eat and purge between classes. But with the WhaStinx 2.0 they can enjoy the smells of a meal from their laptop leaving plenty of time for vomitting later."

Lin Yung Smith, a student of nanopsychology, helped to test prototypes of the device before it was marketted. "The price seems like a lot at first, but when compared to the amount of food I waste, it doesn't make sense not to buy this product!" She added," I can go to class and smell a hamburger - with or without onions - then stop by the toilet and empty my stomach just as if I had actually eaten it."

Hyper Smells Inc. is also reporting they are close to a new standard for a Hyper Taste Transport Protocol. A peripheral device in the shape of a popsicle sends signals to a person's tastebuds when licked. For now, bandwidth requirements and processing power limit the device to a single flavour; brussel sprouts. According to a company spokesman, researches are close to a breakthrough with flavour potentials including spam, vinager, spam, cod liver oil, spam and vanilla.

Saturday

Somehow it's Saturday again. Another week has flown past, leaving today as the day to get done those dozens of little things there wasn't time for in the week. Toothpaste, shampoo, a new frying pan, or perhaps two. A pair of shoes needs laces, another pair needs a spot of glue.

I've got a stored up amount of undirected energy. Perhaps I can direct to all those tasks. To the grocery store, and to the drug store, and later to the store with the kitchen products. Maybe new cutlery too. I broke another spoon this week. Cheap Ikea plastic isn't designed to last for years.

Each town in Holland has a shopping night. Thursday, for example, here in Amsterdam. On these night you can expect many stores to be open until 8pm or perhaps even 9. But generally I catch the 6:05pm train home from work, and most shops close at 6:00pm. (The rest close at 5.) So my shopping day has rolled around again. Leaving the fridge empty until someone does something about it.

Shopping needs to be prioritised, however, with other things. Exercise, cleaning, friends, and chasing women all demand large shares of my energy. And I don't want to leave any part of that list (especially the last part) unfulfilled. Weekends are so complex!

Sunshine Where It Shouldn't Be

Today is a glorious and sunny day! This is a rarity in Holland, and especially wonderful at this time of year. What should normally be a wet and rainy spring is dry, sunny and warm instead.

But there are times when sunshine isn't welcome. While you're sleeping is a good example. And there are some places the sun shouldn't shine. If you're unmentionables are burning, I hope you're sitting on a stove, and not sunbathing within my field of view.

So, given that sunshine can be (at certain times and places) unwelcome, why does my employer insist on trying to shove so much sunshine where it isn't wanted?

I'm watching a video. Part of a world-wide corporate presentation. And (pardon my language but...) the point of this video seems to be to provide UV light to my lowest sphincter.

"Yeah, yippee, go go go!" "Good hard work." "Shareholder accountability." "Grow our value!"

The goal of the video is to share information with all the employees so we can all be "on the same page" and "working as a single team". In reality, it's telling me we aren't working in the same place.

So much beautiful sunshine outside. And yet here at my desk, I feel like I'm sitting on the stove.

Science - The Gap

The other day I had a nice conversation with a fellow physics graduate. A rare experience, and always nice. Jane, the science graduate in question, had studied mathematics and physics. When I asked what her speciality was (optics, dynamics, particle, etc.) she replied "teaching". But then explained that her training wasn't intended for her to teach science to students. It is instead intended to teach science to science teachers.

So what? Well in case you were unaware modern science has progressed to a level that no individual can study and learn it all. No group of individuals can do so. And thus we're left with a gaping hole between the experts at the cutting edge the whole rest of society.

If you were to believe Hollywood, you might think that genius scientists still come up with ground breaking discoveries. Dr. Emmett Brown from "Back to the Future" is a great example. The crazy physicist in his lab coat, wild hair everywhere, and brains too big to function normally in society. In reality, major breakthroughs are collaborations of work. Hundreds of people work for years on a project. And if a breakthrough comes, the lead researcher or project director will be credited by name for the discovery. But in reality it would take that person and dozens more from their team to fully document, analyse, and publish the work.

Indeed, Jane hoped to be the person who would learn from those scientists what it is they have done or learned. Then she in turn would relay that knowledge (at a lower level) to the people who need to teach it, who in turn relay it to students.

Each step along the way the interface "dumbs down" the information a bit. Making it digestible for a larger and larger audience. But also making it less useful.

The end result is that each of us is relying every day on technologies we don't understand. Even worse, these are things that no one you know understands. No individual could build from scratch the computer you're reading this on. Even just the millions of lines of software on your computer are beyond any one person's abilities.

The point? The point I'm hoping to make is that this situation should be respected. It should scare more people than it does. And yet it seems to go virtually unnoticed.

Society seems to be teetering high upon a pedestal it has made for itself. Held up by composite materials, high-speed data connections, lasers, silicon wafers, and super glue.

Is anyone else worried?

Straight from my desk

Go-karts and laser tag, according to the Dutch, go together like cookies and cream, or eggs and bacon. I'm not sure why, but where ever there's a go-kart track in Holland, there's a laser tag game to go with it.

Actually, I do think I know why. Since here almost all go-karting is done indoors, these two space-intensive indoor activities compliment each other nicely.

Last night a group of about 8 of us from the office went go-karting and laser-tagging. The event was to celebrate the freedom of a cow-orker who's just quit to persue something (anything) else. Smart guy. And the best karter and laser shooter out of the whole group also.

I found the events fun, but tiring. As the only english speaker, non-dutch, in the group I was tasked with trying to follow a 7-way conversation between excited people. It was impossible. So thank goodness that the activities were fun.

Tonight I'm looking forward to hanging out with my expat friends and only enjoying english. Sad, but communicating in Dutch is still so much work that it takes the fun and joy out of simple social situations. Thankfully, with the karting lasering obsession here, when you get tired of speaking Dutch, you can take your frustrations out in physical ways.

Ramblings while I walk (part 1?)

I often lament that I can't take my blog with me as I'm walking around Amsterdam. Every detail seems worth a story in itself. And there are so many details. Night and day people are always walking or biking along with you. I don't think you can be alone while any where in the centre of town.

I usually take my own neighbourhood for granted as I walk through it. I'm usually rushing off some where and - as I'm oft likely to do - probably thinking of other things. Which is why its nice to have people drop by, so I can see it through their eyes. Like this rather long stretch as we head into town from home. The houses on the right are all rather homogeneous. Doors sprout 2 or 3 to a house. Tiny gardens with little 6 inch picket fences take up the bits of space not used for doors.

The intersection is a good place to point out the various paths: walking, biking, driving. Stand on the bike path and the cyclists will ring their bells frantically, right before they bowl you over. It's funny to watch, but let's not let it happen to us.

The big attraction is the park on the left. Over the street and over the canal that parallels the street is Westerpark. Long and narrow like everything else in Holland, Westerpark follows the road all the way down to the end at the plein. It's beautiful in the summer time. In the winter you can see the train line that takes me to work. I like the view I get from both sides of the park each day.

The plein is clearly dominated by its huge Roman arch. Perhaps only half the size of the Arc de Triomphe you none-the-less begin to wonder what city you're in. No worries. From here a bunch of the trams and buses meet. It's the edge of the oldest part of town and the "newer" bits. Newness being relative of course.

As you would see, the street we would take from the plein carries a straight line from where we've been. It's full of things to see! So full, perhaps we should stop writing here, lest we never make our final destination.

At least, that's probably maybe I think perhaps the kind of stuff I would write if I could write while I walked.

Saving Daylight

The European Union began its annual plan of saving daylight at approximately 2am last night. While many people save money, and some save little bits of string, members of the EU can now save daylight as well.

The system, which consists of a constellation of ESA satellites blanketing the sky over Europe, works by trapping incoming daylight, storing the light energy in nanoscopic quantum light cells, and then releasing the daylight at a later time, directing it towards the land areas that were previously shaded.

Flaws in the system have drawn into question the usefulness of the project. Primarily, the nanoscopic quantum light cells are currently only capable of holding 1 hour's worth of daylight before it must be released. Thus instead of truly being able to save daylight - for a rainy day for example - the system is only capable of postponing sunrise and sunset by one hour.

Unhappy with the government tampering with their light - a natural resource previously unregulated - a large number of European citizens have decided to react. Throughout the 27 EU countries, citizens protested the shift in the daylight hours and chose instead to adjust their clocks ahead one hour to compensate.

Originally designed as a system intended to bring the entire EU into a single time zone, it was hoped that start of business in London, Milan, and Warsaw would all one day coincide. Others believe that saving daylight will one day allow the EU to compete more favourably for position in the growing Chinese economy, by moving all of Europe into the same timezone as Beijing. Critics point out that the entire idea is complete idiocy and have reset their watches to compensate.

Let's get this party started...

Okay, not a real party. Not any kind of party. But it's time to get started. Laundry, shower, groceries, perhaps the gym, cook a good dinner, and visit with friends tonight. Busy.

The question is, after an 11 hour sleep and waking to feel tired and weak, will forcing myself into action produce energy I can use later? Or will a busy day of chores and errands result in feeling too tired to go out tonight?

One point of interest. My favourite local hangout is CLOSING next Saturday. So if nothing else happens, I need to stop in and say hi. Hopefully that will be after all the other things are done and just as friends are arriving there too. We'll see.

Still alive

So much to say, so little energy to say it with. It's Friday again, and I'm still not recovered from last weekend.

Joby came to visit and it was a blast! Alas, by Sunday I thought I was dealing with one of the worst hangovers I've had in a while. By Wednesday I realized that it wasn't (entirely) a hangover. I've had the flu the whole week, even though I've been trying to ignore it.

Some how I've managed to spend the week doing fun things and going fun places inspite of the fact that, if left to myself, I wouldn't have left my bed. But at no time this week was I left to myself. Work's been busy and Joby needed to be shown the town, friends have called to "demand" my time. So I've been going like the energizer bunny. And going. And going. And ....

Too Much Energy!

I'm back from work and have lots of cleaning and prep for my weekend guest. Good thing I've got lots of energy. Too much energy. In fact, I've gone through the day with WAY too much energy!

I was a butterfly today at work. I fluttered about the office (in a relaxed masculine way) going from conversation to conversation; and occassionally email to email. I even made an effort to ease off on my usual coffee consumption. It didn't help, since today's energy wasn't physical but was instead a nervous mental chaos that just couldn't be satiated.

So thank goodness it was a happy energy! I had a big (nearly maniacal) smile on my face the whole day. And as a result I got met by smiles all day. Shucks darn I was in the new office with all the beautiful young women.

Come to think of it, it's bloody amazing any work got done. And yet a good bit did.

Tomorrow I suspect the energy will still be there. All the greater for the knowledge that the weekend will be just hours away. And then no work will go well.

PARTY this weekend!

Many moons ago I made reference in this blog to Joby and Mike. Both world wanderers, both crazy party-type (when they were younger) people, both friends of mine almost since the start of my professional career, and both coming to town THIS WEEKEND!

Mike lives here but has been working in the states for months now. (He took over my work in Boston.) Joby is Joby. Apparently he's working all over and living no where in particular. He and his wife are preparing for a move (mostly likely) to Europe and he'll be crashing on my couch this weekend.

The couch isn't comfy. It's okay. It won't cause any kind of terminal back problems. But it isn't comfy. THUS, it's my responsibility to make sure my old friend is sufficiently wrecked before tucking him in each night, lest he complains about the "bed".

So to all, I appologize in advance. The party this weekend will be loud enough to keep everyone everywhere awake a little later than desired. Sorry! >:-)

It's Spring. So sayith I.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boyz and Girlz, I declare that spring has arrived in Amsterdam!

This is definitely a spring weathered weekend. The sun has shone all day, and is forecast to do so tomorrow too. The weather is warm, but windy, and only the thinnest whisps of cloud have highlighted the sky.

And with this bright sunny day, came the sudden realization that spring cleaning was needed. The bright rays of light highlighted every dust covered surface. And so out came the soft yellow rags until matte grey stereo equipment was replaced with shiny black. Each surface, patch by patch, got it's portion of T.L.C.

Tomorrow will be for the floor. Mountains of dust continue resettling into corners and behind doors. But they won't escape. Not so long as the spring sun shows me their secret spots.

Ramblings from my desk...

One day along a lonely desert highway, a penguin noticed his air conditioning wasn't working as well as it should. Being a penguin, and appreciating cold, he decided to pull into a garage at the next town and asked the mechanic to look at the car.

The mechanic said he'd be 30 minutes making a diagnosis so the penguin waited across the road at the local diner. When he returned to the garage, the mechanic said to him," You've got some serious problems. Looks like you've blown a seal."

The penguin immediately wiped his beak, blushed slightly, and said," No, I was eating vanilla ice cream."

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The pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of pleasure are not the same things. Still, I'm willing to use my imagination and ignore the contradictions.

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My office chair has a little lever that allows you to raise its height. If you want to lower it, just bounce a bit or sit and wait patiently. I think it's a designed feature intended to maximize the value of the up lever.

---

I'm extremely motivated to exercise, eat well, and keep fit. It's not so I can look better; it's so that I can keep abusing myself into old age!

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From an article at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17349066/

The researchers describe their study as the largest ever of its type and say students’ NPI scores have risen steadily since the current test was introduced in 1982. By 2006, they said, two-thirds of the students had above-average scores, 30 percent more than in 1982.

Two-thirds are above average? Statements like that piss me off 117% more than is possible.

My First Dutch Class

Gisteravond heb ik mijn eerste nederlands les gehad. Af zes jaar ben ik eindelijk nederlands leren. En dat vind ik leuk. Goedzo omdat als thuiswerk moet ik iets over "wat vind ik leuk" schrijven. Ik vind het leuk om te nederlands schrijven. Dus mag ik nu wat ik wil?

De les was ook leuk. 5 studenten en de doecent. Allemaal collegas van mij. En vrienden van mij maar niet mijn vrienden. Ik heb dat geleerd.

Mijn huisgenoot (de huisgenoot van mij?) is vanavond weg. Dat vind ik wel leuk. Het werd een rustig avond.

Wat meer vind ik leuk? Eerst is duidelijk SCUBA duiken. Ik ben gek op duiken! En daarom Bonaire ook. Bonaire is hemel voor duikers.

Ik vind Amsterdam wel leuk and ik hou van stadsleven. Zoveel leuk plekken en vreemde maar leuke mensen. Billiards is zo wel leuk en "nog een beerje?" is altijd leuk om te horen.

En dus ver zonder de woordenboek. :-)

Maar heb ik wel een vraag gehad. Wat bedoel "netjes"? Danks de woordenboek weet ik dat netjes verzorgd en schoon bedoeld. Ik vind dat ook leuk. Vandag een vrouw op mijn werkplek hebt over me netjes geheten. Leuk!

Even leuker, nu ben ik klaar met mijn thuiswerk.

To Gym Or Not To Gym

It's Sunday! And a wonderfully relaxed day it seems to be. Lots of time, little to do. The laundry is almost done and the fridge is full of food, including left-overs that just need heating. So I really have plenty of time to get to the gym today.

I'm just not sure I want to. I haven't been for about 8-9 days due to a few pulled muscles. And there's so little to do today I would hate to ruin that with stressful activity. But then again, I know I need to stretch out and use those pulled muscles. And I know I'll feel great tomorrow thanks to the exercise. And I'm always thankful I exercised afterwards, regardless of my mood before hand.

So to work through the "I don't wanna" blahs I'm using a tricky morning ritual of caffiene overdose and motivation.

This technique doesn't always work. But it usually does. Firstly, I've had a ton of coffee. More than I was "thirsty" for. I forced toast down my throat as early as possible, and now I'm backing that with a whey protein and fruit shake. I've got the TV muted and dance music playing. My "workout music". It makes it hard to sit still.

Next, once the food settles, down will go a single Red Bull. That will hit my brain like fire and for about 20-30 minutes going to the gym will feel like the obvious way to rid myself of the excess energy. But it's a narrow window. If I overdo the Red Bull I may just as likely start vacuuming or folding laundry. And then I'll ultimately end up missing the gym, as they close early on Sundays. (And I'm ignoring many hours worth of cleaning.)

There's also the "danger" of something really interesting coming on TV. With my mood right now (it's Sunday!) that could mean "something I didn't just see in the last week." I'm not feeling picky.

Down goes the last of the smoothy milkshake. More coffee awaits as does some loud and fast music. Will it take me where I want to go?

I Forgot to Mention...

I'm legal again! Not that I've ever been here (Holland) illegally, but my last residence permit took nearly a year-and-a-half to arrive. But arrive it has!

In We've Gotten Through To A Human I expressed great hope that things between me and the IND (dutch imigration authority) had improved... dramatically. As it turns out, it was all true! Unbelievably, I'm now a valid resident through to the year 2011!

Until now, this has been an annual process. Months worth of paperwork, lining up, waiting, each and every year. But no more! Or at least, not so much more.

What really makes this incredible news is that this last permit was originally denied. Apparently years ago I filed a form past a deadline. So my residence permit was denied and the one before that was retroactively nulified. Pardon? Yes, that's correct.

So I'm pretty excited. Not only was I granted my permit, but it's the "semi-permanent" 5- year version. Next step... inburgering!

Bob Ross

Do you know the painting show with Bob Ross? Originally a PBS show I think, now it means you're the only one watching TV.

I think Bob is nuts. He's at a minimum, unique. (He's also deceased I believe.) But in his time he seems to have lived a "happy little" life, painting his "happy little trees" along the "happy little path". Remember that when you're painting there are no mistakes, just "happy little accidents".

Just once I'd love to see the real Bob. Could you imagine the outtakes from his painting show and the ways they could be hilarious?!?

Firstly, I would expect a lot of questionable smoking on the set. I picture Bob's bong was probably a hookah of some sort. And that must have caused lots of outtake potential!

Take 1
[Bob stands at his easel painting] Okay so just take a little brown and black and mix 'em up real good. Now ... now just ... shit. [faces stage left and yells] What the hell was I painting here guys?

Take 2
Okay so take your good old friend mister fan-brush, and just put a few birds here, and here, and maybe one over there [Bob steps back and looks at his painting] Damn! That last bird looks like it's flying through the F&#^%# tree. What the hell was that?

Take 3
If you want to make a change, no worries. Let's just mix up a little more green and white and paint a happy little tree over these birds. A few branches here, and few more here. There. [Bob starts to laugh uncontrollably. Eventually he regains control and faces the camera.] I just painted the tree over the damn mountain and not the birds. Wow I'm f*$%ed!

Five Countries In One Day

Yep, that's right, five. With six border crossings. I awoke in Munich (after last night's flight) at 6am and left quickly for my 9:30 meeting. Only had to drive from Germany, to Austria, to Switzerland, and into Liechtenstein. Then at noon it was Liechtenstein to Austria - we took the other road - to Germany and then finally a flight from Munich to Amsterdam.

And I never showed my passport once! Even though into and out of Switzerland there is a "normal" border... the car with German plates just got waved through.

Despite the TOTAL lack of border security, the security guard at Munich Flughafen (airport) got rather close and personal. What's the etiquette for that? Do I need to call him tomorrow? Are we dating now?

I hope not.

Now if you'll excuse me; I really like this 5th country as my friends are here and waiting for me in town. Time to loose the "airplane" smell then get out and enjoy!

Liechtenstein

I've never been to Liechtenstein before, but I'll be there (for a few hours) tomorrow. I'm packing now for my flight to Munich tonight. That will be followed tomorrow morning by a long drive, short meeting, long drive, and another flight from Munich back to Amsterdam. Ah business travel. The fun of it.

Strangely enough, with all this "exciting" travelling, the bulk of my focus is on the short meeting. I get to demonstrate the software product that up until a few weeks ago I hadn't seen. Now that's exciting!

Picture a mine field and a sleezy realestate agent. Knowing where all the mines are buried, the sleezy agent takes a casual-looking stroll through the field telling his customer about what a lovely piece of land they're on and how good a deal it is. Tomorrow I'll be taking a casual-looking stroll through a software demonstration, trying extremely hard to remember where all the mines are and avoid them.

We can't use the term "bug". It's a company wide policy. So we have "mines". I don't care. "Undocumented features"? No, that implies documentation.

How ever it's called, for me it meens work is once again challenging and exciting. Even if I do have to take a bus to a train to a plane to a subway to a car to Liechtenstein just to get to that point.

Year of the Golden Pig

Happy Chinese New Year! Tonight at midnight billions will celebrate the coming of the year of the golden pig (aka Fire Boar). Apparently a much more exciting thing than all those normal pig years.

I was born in the year of the pig (on the third last time it swung by) and so I think that this will be a golden year for me. One can hope at least.

While you rush out of the house to stock up on fireworks and paper laterns, don't forget to take a moment and say Hi to the golden pig. He's playful, and golden.

Happy Singles Awareness Day!

Yes, today is SAD. And I think I'm okay with that.

According to Wikipedia, Singles Awareness Day (aka Valentine's Day) is a chance to rebel against the conformity of boxes of chocolates, glossy cards, and suddenly-expensive roses.

So if you have someone special to snuggle with today, congratulations to you. We don't want to hear about it! For the rest of us, there's SAD.

Sex sells!

While not truly "sex" I have definitely seen, in my blog and those of others, that topics on "love", "romance", etc. do sell better than normal daily posts. More traffic, more comments, more.

Understandable. There is a stereotype related to spending too much time on the 'net versus going out and meeting people. Thankfully my life has allowed ample of both, and when I have to decide between the two blogging looses. I haven't had nearly the time since starting the new job, and the number of blog posts reflects that.

In my - mildly twisted - world, time socializing often takes priority over sleep! Forget about emails and blogs. I've spent a lot of late nights choosing to be with friends in town or on the phone instead of getting a proper night's rest. It's a personal trait, not a flaw! There will be plenty of time to sleep once my body gives out and I'm forced to rest.

So given all that, why is it the only non-fiction blog entries I could write about romance would all be tales of woe?

I think the concept of "not looking" to find someone is over-rated tripe!!! I've been actively not looking for so long now that I think I'm becoming oblivious to opportunity. In some cultures, a man happy and content in his life appears attractive and women approach him. In Holland, a man smiling and looking about as he walks down the street is an enigma. Women don't seem to approach men here at all. (Girls, engaging in a polite conversation is not flirting!) To the best of my knowledge and research, locals meet each other through friends and family. An intro from grandma is golden! A reference as a friend's friend is a minimum. After all, why would you stop and talk to someone you don't know???

Huh?

I don't know. It doesn't matter. I think the best perscription is a few dozen games of pool and a couple beers. Tomorrow I'll have other things to worry about and better ways to fill my time. But given it's Sunday, wouldn't it be really cool to have someone special to spend a quiet rainy day with? Or is that too much to ask for when life is otherwise going well?

Love is in the air??? Where!?!

Damn horoscopes! Excerts from mine today read, "Love is in the air, the trees, and the people around you. Whatever you do today, make sure that you spend the evening with someone special." It goes on to chide that I should, "Experience the full-body sensation of being immersed in love with the world around."

That's much like reading, "You should be a millionaire by now. Quit your job and start enjoying life today."

Gee thanks.

So apparently if I return home out-of-love tonight it's simply my fault. The stars are saying everything is right there in front of me. Strangely enough, I can't see the woman in question, and honestly, don't expect to meet her tonight. Hell, I've been under the influence of the full moon all weekend, so any woman meeting me now is VERY likely to think, "Asshole." The reality is, "Full of energy from time to time." (I'm not clinically bipolar... just very gemini.)

"Whatever you do today, make sure that you spend the evening with someone special."

And if I thought I had someone special to spend my evening with... I would never have browsed to my horoscope or questioned what I should be doing tonight!!!

I just wish it wasn't a free horoscope because I'm so bloody ticked off by what it said I want to run amok demanding my money back!

As a public service, here are a few "Morganized" Horrorscopes for some of the signs I know:

Jim-and-I
Falling in love today is a good idea. So is receiving large amounts of money. If in doubt, do both.

Caprikorn
That which does not kill you, or leave you seriously wounded, only makes you stronger. Try to keep living all day. It will be easier tomorrow. Or not.

Fishie Fish Fish
You're so perfect people will follow you any where. Thus make sure to check around you before closing the bathroom door. Check inside the shower, for example.

Crabs
Think long and hard about what you've done! Practice making very sad and appologetic expressions to avoid being slapped by other people.

Stinging Vermom
If you actually started something you might actually get something finished too. But in reality you might also just give up part way through.

"Virgins" *cough*
Today will be packed full of energy all around you. Perhaps explosions, perhaps fire, good luck avoiding the resulting damage.

That-Group-of-Stars-That-Looks-Like-That-Thing
Approx. 3% of the population is mashocistic... enjoying pain. Thus today about 3% of people under this star-sign are going to have a remarkably pleasurable day. The other 97%... not so much.