Amsterdam at Midnight

Amsterdam has at least two, often three entirely different cities sharing each place on any given day. Some places that are full of hardware stores and elementary schools suddenly spring restaurants in the evening. Bars dominate some of these same areas at night. The never-empty streets are later occupied by people you'd never want near your neighbourhood school. Until the light of morning when the last of the misanthropes move out and giggling children again return to school.

And midnight is the most dramatic of all the shifts. The trams and buses take their last rides to the edges of town as the (respectable) night clubs are opening their doors. (Sure some might have been open at 10pm. But no one shows up until 1:00.) Restaurants close their kitchens by 10:30 and by 11:30 the well fed customers are grabbing their aforementioned last bus. So midnight is a brief, brilliant mix of two portions of the city. A moment of chaos transitioning from the respectable to the unspoken.

There isn't a specific time in the morning when the last partier goes home. There is no time such as 5:15pm when the all the office workers become cafe sitters. The various stages of the city transition slowly. But at midnight... ah midnight in Amsterdam.

Congratulations Rogier!

Rogier is my roommate. And over the past couple of years he's been a pretty good one. No where near as clean as I am, he's not messy. Often out late, he tries to be quiet when he comes in. We've gotten along over the years mostly by keeping opposite schedules and time-sharing the living room as much as coexisting in it.

So it's with real happiness and excitement that I congratulate Ro on his new acquisition. He's bought a house! Come December he's moving! Out of here! Yeah! Oh, and into a new home with his girlfriend and co-house-owner.

Over the years I've grown used to sometimes having to wash his dishes to make space so that I could cook dinner. Darn, in the future all the dishes I wash will have to be my own.

Hehe! *dance*

Plans, why make 'em?

The one univeral truth about my weekends in Amsterdam is that there's no sense making plans. I always have nice weekends but they're never what I was intending. For a few weekends this summer this meant that I didn't dive when I planned to. This weekend, I am diving when I didn't plan to. Dancing isn't going to happen. So plan B is to follow Adam and Tobias who both insisted that with or without me, they were going.

After many missed Saturday nights the goals for this weekend included: getting drunk, going dancing, staying up all night, and not diving. Last night was short. Sleep was long. The day has been slow. But I don't have the energy for dancing.

Tobias and I picked up his gear from the dive shop today. And we got three tanks, in case I wanted to come along. Well now my gear is packed, my evening is restful, and the tank awaits. So to heck with plans, tomorrow I'm (surprise) going diving!

I'm back

Rarely do I nap if not sick. But I have plans to enjoy myself as much as possible this weekend and while the mattress at the hotel was quite soft and the pillows were huge, the bed still wasn't entirely comfortable. It was a hotel. Again. So I'm going to take a quick nap before truly meaning it when I say," Woohoo, I'm home!"

I'm sorry to report there are no pics of Copenhagen because I never made it into the city. While downtown was only a short bus ride away, the 11-hour long show caused physical discomfort and low energy for all the staff.

Two of the Danes left last night while the other one and I had dinner back at the hotel. After a couple hours of Harry Potter it was bed time.

*phone rings*

Damn, I'm being guilted out. I forgot I told a friend we'd consider plans for dinner Friday, and due to a precipitation of events in their schedule, I'm now being waited for.

Okay, this still leaves time for a nice warm shower, a shave, and a change into fresh clothes. What I think of as "de-airlining" my person.

It's just as well, since I probably wouldn't have slept well had I tried to nap. And I'm probably really not that sleepy in that once home I checked my email and wrote this blog post. *grins* Okay, it's Friday night and woohoo! I'm home!

Now it's time to go out.

Trade Show

Trade shows are boring. Deeply deeply boring. And "working" the show is even worse. Still, I'm in Denmark eating real Danish food and hearing crazy languages all around me. And the people I'm working with (just met) seem really nice.

Any way, the point of this post is not about how boring the show is. I was getting demands for pics from Denmark. As this show is the only thing in Denmark I've seen, suffer through these.

These are the guys I'm working with. That's my laptop on the right! Yippee!

The lunch was really quite nice!

For those bored enough to ask... it's a broadband network convention. So people are selling software (that's me!), tools, and the actual materials to make things like fiber-optic networks.

*yawn*

Greetings from Copenhagen!

With only four hours sleep behind me, I managed to get my plane this morning. Thank goodness for auto-pilot. Not on the plane, but the one inside my head that makes it possible to shower and dress before my eyes are fully open.

Alas, there's nothing here in Copenhagen for me to see. Once again, my hotel is in a business park close to the airport and no where really near the downtown. But apparently I'm close to the trade show I'll be attending tomorrow. 11 hours of manning a booth and "trying" to sell software.

I say "trying" and not trying because I don't sell. I have no idea why I was invited to attend and I'm here with semi-functional software demos that are completely unrelated to the new software my company is releasing in 2 weeks. Futile? Oh yeah!

Oh well, at least now I can add Denmark to the "been there, done that" list. Well, "been there" at least.

Happy... Tuesday

I'm sure the TV news won't let us forget, and we should all take a moment to remember that today is September 11th. But in the overal, I hope today is best remembered as "just another Tuesday". May our world be uneventful and your day quiet.

Peace.

Music

Over the past year You Tube (and Google Videos and the rest) have started to become a legitimate form of entertainment for me. I've had nights where the online videos were more interesting than anything on TV and even once when I shunned one of my all time favourite shows in favour of the online offerings.

Some of the most common searches I make involve music. An old song is in my head... 30 seconds later its playing on my computer. Woohoo! I see a song title on TV, moments later, I'm watching the video. Here's an example of three I've visited often.

Bob Marley is classic. But this particular video uses a techno'd-up, Euro-beat remix. After back-to-back listening with the original, I chose to post this one. Toe tapping. Titled "Sun is Shining" you might know it better by the lyrics "I'm a rainbow too." This song makes me happy.


Fatboy Slim is also techno. But good luck pinning his work down more than that. I like everything Fatboy Slim has done. But I'm too lazy to buy more albums. All the best stuff is available on You Tube!

While slightly dark, I love this video because of the airplane and the pilot who goes nuts. Lucky bugger.


Watskeburt? It's hard to explain, but this Dutch slang means "what's happening?" in the way that "s'up?" means "good evening gentlemen, what news is there to share?" De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig are a local Amsterdam band. I recognize most of the backgrounds in this video. Make no mistake, the song is complete crap! But it has a certain catch to it that made Mambo #5 and works of similar quality into hits.

[Bad language alert... not Mom friendly.]


Standing back and looking at this collection I notice a trend. While from different countries (Jamaica, UK, and Holland) and spanning 40 years (70's, 90's and 00's) they're all dance songs. Perhaps I should take next weekend and spend a few hours on a dance floor?

A quick update

The head cold is over, and like any one would, I immediately started over-doing everything the moment I felt human again.

I taught in the pool last night. Got home from work at 5:50 and was back out at 6:00 again. My two students and I had dinner, reviewed their academic work, briefed and explained the skills for the upcoming dive, then got all the gear needed from the shop and helped load it into the van. After a fun time in the pool we went back to the shop, helped with the unloading, then went out for a beer and debriefing. It was 1:45am when I got home.

This morning I woke up and spent an hour on the phone arranging logistics. Then three of us met up at the dive shop and compiled and loaded all the gear for the 6 of us diving this Sunday. 4 sets of gear rentals, 9 tanks of air and various sundry bits and pieces. And I'm renting is all. Wow, I just got 9 tanks of air!

Tomorrow I'm trying to fit three dives into an afternoon. Starting from 2pm, I plan to quickly hit the water with the OW students and do their first ever "real" dive. Then I'm taking Tobias and Ingrid out for their first training dive for their Advanced OW certificate. We'll be practicing underwater navigation. As soon as they're done, I'll be back in the water for the second dive with the OW students... and by then everyone will be tired and I'll be exhausted.

If you dive so regularly that your gear never completely dries, smells can result. That, my friends, is the smell of success! ;-)

Next weekend, I'm booking off from diving. I know by then I'll probably need a sleep-in.

Sweat it out!

Damn this feels good; soaked in sweat, every part tired, hands so weak they're shaking. After a June, July and August without the gym, I'm finally back.

My body is addicted to exercise. It's a true physical addiction, because when I stop, the symptoms are unbearable. Every pulled muscle and old injury I've ever hard will creep back and start to bother me... unless I exercise. Then it just all goes away.

Done properly, 2 or 3 trips a week keeps everything running smoothly. Physically, mentally, I benefit from (hard) physical activity in so many ways. It's holistic. And without it, like the past month or two, everything hurts. Nights become more for TV than for me. And that's not good.

But this is the best addiction I've heard of. And it takes so little to get me back into it. Exercise makes me want to eat well; not lots, but nutritiously. And of course it forces good sleep. Eleven o'clock doesn't magically become one o'clock in the morning without sleep. When I put my head down, I sleep better, and thus feel better the next day. Full of energy and highly motivated to return to the gym.

It can't all be good

It's not been a bad day. But I'm going nuts, quietly. Sick lately, I worked from home today. I got my work done, but didn't have enough to do to use up even my limited energy.

Currently every project at work is awaiting further information via email. Until then, any effort applied is likely wasted effort.

And it seems many facets of my personal life are awaiting emails. For example, after patiently waiting I have found that PADI has lost part of my paperwork. I'm not yet certified to teach CPR, per the course I took and passed last May. I have to contact my instructor, but to find out his email address I've had to contact the resort manager in Bonaire. But I think everyone in Bonaire is busy right now.

Three days at home is all it takes to make me stir crazy. Although it takes more strength and energy than I currently have to get me out the door.

Happy Labour Day, Canada!

Here in Holland, people usually take most of their 4, 5, or 6 weeks of vacation time during the summer months. Europe in general tends to take "the summer off". As a result, there are few (no) public holidays at this time of year.

In Canada, however, life centres around summer long weekends. People hibernate all winter in their homes dreaming of finally being able to enjoy the summer sun and a bit of free time. This hibernation is officially ended on May 24th, the Victoria Day weekend. Known as Memorial Day in the U.S., more commonly known as the May Two-Four in Canada, this is the unofficial start of summer. And Labour Day (shared in both countries) marks the unofficial end.

If you have a summer home in Canada, this is the weekend that the boat came out of the water, the heater got it's winter service, and all your friends stayed over for the weekend to help with the work and to drink your beer. Today people with hangovers will pack the highways with cars and campers and boat trailers as they wearily drive home to their daily worries, jobs, and eventually to their winter hibernation.

Sorry to hear your summer is over. I hope no one tells the weather.

Aside: Ironically I've been sick this weekend and called in sick for work today. It wasn't my intention to not work on Canada's most important summer holiday, but that was the result. I'm with you in spirit... even if I don't have a hangover or sunburn or stories of water skiing.

Felix, you maniac!

My old coworker and brother in crazy, Felix, is coming to Amsterdam in a few weeks. But the title isn't for him. It's for hurricane Felix who had to nerve to scare people in the Dutch Antilles!

These two photos are stolen from CNN. The radar shows Felix in the Caribbean Sea very shortly after passing the ABC's (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao).

I think everyone will remember that Bonaire has stolen a place in my heart. You can still see small areas of reef damaged in 1997. Only tiny bits of coral and the occasional anemone inhabit the areas of broken, bleached coral. So thank you Felix for not hitting the island again, but gosh, that was a bit close.

Flooding, winds, and rains did their worst but the destruction is by no means hurricane level.

I can learn a lot from CNN. The storms just missed, streets flooded, no one died. But where do I go for up to the minute coral news??? I'm going to have to email people there directly to find out.

Damn this frail human body!

I'm not going diving today. I'm going to follow my friends along to the dive site, and watch and help while they go. But there's no way I can put my head in the water without blowing out my ear drums.

Just yesterday I told a friend that I would keep up my current pace of work and travel and play and diving until it made me sick. At the time, a small allergy attack was affecting me, but I thought it would be temporary. It didn't abate last night, and I awoke this morning with a fully stuffed head.

When diving it's important to equalize the pressure in your sinuses and inner ear with the ambient pressure at depth. Snot prevents this. Meaning that on the way down you experience pain as the pressure builds until eventually something breaks. I've met a diver who could blow bubbles out his ear. While an amazing party trick, this is by no means a desirable thing.

Sure nature didn't design us to live underwater. But our glorious intelligence and technology has overcome these mere physical limitations. Hasn't it? Mostly. *sigh* Some days I'm reminded I'm still only human and have physical limits. No matter how much I don't like it.

Update: Two hours later, and I've bailed entirely. I sent Tobias on without me. I'm going to take advantage of my stuffed head, do the heavy dusting, and then consider an afternoon nap.

How to start a car with a dead battery

We've all been there. You arrive to your car, turn the key, and hear nothing. Perhaps a clicking sound if you're lucky. Either way, your car battery is dead and this is wholly bad for what ever plans you had to drive some where.

Last night, as we were leaving the pool, two young guys had just this problem. I thought they had it handled, pushing the car apparently to get it started. But moments later they were opening the hood and staring blankly at the engine.

So I walked over and offered "help getting it started" to which they said "we don't have cables". I asked if the car had a manual or automatic transmission and they said automatic. Yep, they were DOA and going no where fast.

But wait, I looked inside the car and pointed out to the owner that it was actually a manual transmission. He looked at me like I was an engine... blankly. I asked why we don't just use the five guys still there and push it started? More blank. Finally his friend caught on, asked if I knew how to do that, then handed me the keys and opened the driver's door for me.

On the second attempt the engine sputtered. On the third try it coughed, sputtered, wheezed then slowly woke up and came to life. Problem solved.

The confusion over the type of transmission I take as a Dutch-English language thing. But not only did the car owner not know how to start his car, no one else did either. My students were shocked and asked me how I learned "so much about cars". LOL! This ignorance must end.

So, for your future use, I present the steps to starting a car without a battery.

1. You'll need one car with a manual transmission, one driver, and two strong people.
2. You'll also need a straight, short (50 yards) space to push the car through. Any parking lot or side street will do.
3. Have the driver sit in the car with the key turned to "run", the gearbox in first gear, and the clutch pushed in.
4. Have the human battery substitutes push the car forward to a jogging pace.
5. The driver should yell for the pushers to stand clear and then drop the clutch while giving a small bit of throttle. As soon as the engine catches, put the clutch back in and give it the gas. It's started and will begin charging the battery immediately.

There are variations on the technique. If you can only push the car backwards, put the gearbox in reverse rather than first. If you have a hill, this can be done as a solo project. Pushing the dead car with a running one isn't recommended. Leave this for drunken rednecks.

If your battery was dead and started by cables or push starting, take it for a 30 minute drive to charge the battery back up. Idling for 30 minutes does not do the same thing.

Sadly, automatic transmissions, manu-matics and other variations don't work. But hopefully the next time you or a friend has a dead battery, you'll be able to help by using the push start technique.

Busy Busy Home and Happy!

If tonight's pool dive had been recreational, I would not have gone. Tonight, however, I had students expecting training and no amount of lack of sleep, train lag, or headache was going to stop me. And five minutes after I was in the water, I was happy. Five minutes after.

We used the outdoor pool. A balmy 23C calls for a slightly thicker wetsuit than I own. So moments after I demonstrated a giant-stride entry my face expressed way more than I wanted to. "Flibbity gibbits that's cold!" or something similar quickly left my mouth.

But true to form, just as a wetsuit should, within five minutes the cold water in my suit warmed up, my breathing slowed, and I relaxed, happy to be underwater.

I'm pleased to report that the lesson went well! We used every moment of the allotted hour but managed to cover all the requirements for confined water dive 2 and while we didn't have have for play, we all had fun. My students impressed me, working smoothly through some of the most difficult skills.

I'm also pleased, but surprised to report that work today went well too! It started so really poorly.

I awoke at 06:15 this morning inside a freezing cold medieval stable. The thick brick and stone walls (with thick wooden beams) along with the modern appointments and renovations made for an incredibly beautiful hotel room! But it was 10C when I awoke and crawled out of bed. It felt much like the giant stride later.






(Centuries old construction and vaulted ceilings blended with antique lamps and modern touches.)

I really thought work was going poorly when we finally made it to the meeting 40 minutes late. And when the security guard told me I couldn't take my laptop computer into the building to do my software sales presentation, I was pretty sure I had made yet another international (barely) trip for naught.

And yet it went really well. It left me time to talk with the customers about what they had and what they wanted. I could describe what our software was supposed to do without it being there to contradict me. (Nice!) I honestly came away with a positive feeling.

We'll be back in the water tomorrow. The warm water, indoors. And I'm off to bed now. My own warm bed. So it's been busy, really busy, but right now I'm home and happy!

Busy Busy Busy

*panting* Oh hi there! Good to see you, but I can't stop for long. I'm literally running amok trying to get it all done. As you know, it never all gets done. But I'm trying.

So yeah, tons of diving, thanks. It's been awesome. Friday, Sunday last week, Thursday, Friday, Sunday next.

Belgium. Yup, just for a night, but I leave tomorrow.

Oh really? Great to hear you stopped by. Sorry, yea, that was an old post. New ones are taking backseat to the 3 projects at work and my new passion for emailing lately. Oh don't worry, I'll be blogging as soon as I feel my mind has returned. Been running around so much I've left it behind somewhere.

Oh good to hear. Yeah, I'm sorry I missed that {birthday, wedding, graduation, party} but I'll make it up to you, some how.

Well yeah, it was great to see you again! Okay, until then.

*runs off into the distance* (Quietly repeating," amok amok amok.")

Students! I've taught my first students!

I've got a lot of emails to write. I've been planning this for a couple of months but the time is upon us when I finally feel like a scuba instructor. And now I want to send emails to all my past instructors to let them know that I'm thankful for all they've taught me.

Last night I took my first two Open Water students to their first pool session. In a few weeks they'll be certified as PADI Open Water (OW) Scuba Divers. And they'll be my first "certs", a major step in my diving career.

I've been a bit nervous this week. I didn't have the time I wanted to prepare but did read a review quite a bit. I think no amount or preparation would have made me feel truly calm and prepared. But the moment we hit the pool, I felt like an instructor. We went through the processes that are now familiar to me. The skills we covered were the first and simplest and we all did a good job with them. Underwater I was comfortable and truly enjoying everything.

But it was the teaching and briefing that shocked me. The words flowed out and they were mine. But the voice that said them was the sum total of the voices of my instructors. The people who trained me were all right there last night, and in the echos of the indoor pool my voice was precisely theirs.

There has always been an incredible confidence and sense of authority in every lesson my instructors have ever given. And dive students, especially brand new (still dry behind the ears) dive students stand and listen like sponges ready to absorb the whole pool. They're too afraid to miss important information, and desperately excited to get into the water at the same time. And last night, after a lot of help from a lot of great people, two students stood at the pool and listened to me. And I took them diving.

I finally feel like an instructor. And I really enjoy it!

Sidewalk Chalk

This past weekend was a flurry of.... surreal activity. So it was only fitting that I should stumble across a 3D chalk painting as I moved about the city. Julian Beever is world famous for his sidewalk chalk drawings. Or more accurately, the photos of his work are world famous.

By Sunday afternoon, the ground in Amsterdam's Beursplein was covered with a beautiful image of tulips and the stereotypical bowl-of-fruit.

But it was the process that created this image that was the interesting part. Starting Friday, Julian worked for three days. He used a small table with some tulips and a bowl of fruit. This was his model. And he had a digital camera on a tripod. This was his view of the "canvas". He chalks a little, inspects the work in the camera's view screen, then chalks a little more. He works right from the very start of his project to ensure that the finished art (photographs) will match his precise desire.

One of the most interesting parts of such work is how the actual image on the sidewalk needs to be completely distorted in order for the camera lens to see the finished product properly.

Looked at from the side opposite the camera you'd be hard pressed to say what it was. But from just the right angle, Wow!

Pics for Mom

My new glasses have arrived! I took advantage of working from home today and used my "lunch hour" to go down the street to get them. (And a few bags of groceries.)

I'm also happy to report that the new phone is fabulously fun! Here's a picture of the phone browsing the blog post about the phone. (Does anyone here suffer from vertigo?)

The new screen is so bright is was difficult to photograph this picture.

Yesterday I had a great time on the train reading and posting comments to blogs. You can see the whole thing, although slowly. I don't think I'm missing any functionality other than a full keyboard... and as an SMS master this isn't a big problem for me.

And RSS tells me when a blog has been updated. It isn't instant, but the phone scans the RSS feed every hour and reports back with a tiny bing sound and a screen icon if new posts have arrived.

For days I couldn't figure out how to set up the RSS. But I put the browser to my own blog and suddenly the option to capture the RSS feed was presented to me automatically. Too easy!

And for those curious about the phone's camera features... well they're a hit too! The FaceWarp software is super silly. But you can take any bad photo of someone and turn it into a terrible photo of what they would look like as an alien or an insect. Good times!

What I think is the main feature is the convenience. I got a last moment invite to a coworkers wedding reception recently. I didn't have time to think about a camera, and didn't need it. When shedding backpacks and baggage to look appropriate for such a nice event, a phone is about the only accessory you're likely to keep with you. And when the camera built in is as good as all the digital cameras around and as quick and simple to use... well this is just a marvelous age we live in. :-)

Congratulations to Rudi and Min!

Other people's stuff...

Something strange happened this weekend. I was playing with You Tube when one of my favourite shows came on TV. For the first time ever, I continued on with You Tube which I actually found more entertaining.

This series of videos needs to be shared with the world! WillItBlend.com is a commercial website selling boring old kitchen blenders by posting hillarious examples of things you can and cannot put into a blender. With production values as high as any local TV or cable programming you'll spend hours amazed at what can be put into a blender... and successfully blended. Oh, but be careful, as you may feel very strong urges to actually buy one of their whirling chipping chopping blending crushing monsters!

Don't do this to your iPod... or your home blender!

Sunday's Dive

For the second weekend in a row, the weather in Holland was perfect! Summer is upon us, and this past Sunday I and 3 friends took advantage of it and blew bubbles.

Adam, Carlos, Tobias and I arrived at the parking lot at Vinkeveense Plas at 2pm. Perfect timing to find a spot left empty by early morning divers. By 3pm the spots were all gone again as a second wave of divers and sunbathers moved in. But by then we were almost suited up and in the water.

My computer recorded 15:35 as the time we finally dunked our heads and stayed down. Adam had already been cooling in the water for 20 minutes. Tobi was busy arranging his equipment until that last moment. And Carlos was just happy he made it into the rented wetsuit. It was a tight squeeze, but it kept it warm (and almost dry) throughout our dive.

We started by walking down the stairs into the water and dawning masks and fins. From that point, it's 330 degrees magnetic to meet up with the first rope that leads around the dive park. We paired up and I watched the compass as well as Carlos and Tobias while we swam to the sunken bus.

I love the bus. It's great training for becoming comfortable with small spaces and confined openings. The windows and doors have been removed, and three large holes take half the roof. Inside, seats have been removed, except for the drivers seat which is occupied by a manikin. Beside the "driver" stands a large garden gnome, looking unusually cheery for such a dark dirty place. In case the gnome isn't incongruent enough, on the dash sits an old VHS VCR.

We left the bus and went east to the skiff. Half barge, half boat, this sunken treasure is a step darker and tighter inside than the bus. A step more fun to be inside. Although as the leader of our group I didn't think it was appropriate to duck inside.

A specific goal of our dive was to spend a bit of time in the colder, darker waters below the thermocline. So I turned away from the ropes and sunken toys and brought the group into deeper water. At about 11m the thermocline, a stratified division between water at different temperatures, became visible. A ghostly line of silt hovers just above the line that divides the two layers of water. During summer months, the denser cold water doesn't rise and mix with the sun-heated water above it.

Not only can you see it, but the moment you pass below a thermocline you can feel it on every bit of exposed skin. For me that was my hands, my face beyond the mask, and my entire head. In seconds the temperature changed from 19C to 13C.

We hung out and enjoyed the refreshing darkness. For both Carlos and Tobi is was the first time they'd dove in properly "cold" water. It's a shock at first. But you quickly realize that while some bits of skin are cold, your body is kept warm by the suit. Intrepid divers are rewarded for their tolerance of the cold by clearer waters and better visibility. The diminished daylight, due to all the silt in the warmer water above, adds an interesting touch. My light was useful, although not necessary.

Two minutes was about all it took for the "experience". We turned around and swam upwards and towards the ropes again. Passing back through the thermocline is like stepping into a shower. The water feels so warm it instantly relaxes and comforts. And above the suspended line of silt the sun returns. It is a definite point above you in the sky, rather than a diffuse glow.

We ended up near the giant drain pipe. Nearly 2m wide, round, and 5m long, the concrete sewer pipe is a great "swim through cave". No entanglement worries or true dangers, it helps divers build their confidence and skills by swimming the length of it without touching the sides.

Carlos and I enjoyed swimming through the giant pipe.

But then it was time to head back. We weren't far from the exit and following the ropes back past the skiff and bus makes it so easy to pop up in just the right place. Navigation is one of the skills I hope to soon teach to Tobias and Ingrid for their Advanced OW Course. At this dive site students can not only practice compass work, but clearly and immediate see it's value in becoming a better diver.

Popping up at the stairs, we'd spent 41 minutes in the water and had been to a depth of 13.5m. Our summer weather was fading quickly, being replaced by clouds and rain, but our spirits were sunny! Packing was surprisingly organized (given the logistics of 4 divers, two cars, and wet gear) and then we headed up the road to Het Duikerje (the little diver) cafe were we ate heartily and signed each others' log books.

An incredible way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Titanium Eyesight

Coming soon, to a Morgan's face near you, titanium eyesight!

I just got back from the eye doctor where I had my perscription checked for the first time in... oh perhaps five years. As it turns out, my eyes are getting better. I'm now at a L 1.00 and R 1.25 which is amazing considering my last perscription was 1.25 & 1.25 and was 1.5 & 1.5 before that!

Even cooler, my new glasses (ready in about a week) have frames made from titanium!

Titanium is my all time favourite metal. It's the most beautiful metal I know. Not as shiny as gold but is as resistant to corrosion. And it's so much stronger than the best steals. Titanium gives under pressure, but always bounces back to its original shape. And it's super light! The whole pair of glasses weighs 5 grams (less than 1/5th of an ounce) including the lenses.

The ironic part, however, is that I've gotten used to not wearing my glasses. So once I've got my new titanium beauties, I'll probably rarely wear them.

Shiny New Toy

A blog phone! SonyEricsson has a model (810i) that is specifically designed to work with Blogger(tm). You can take pics (3.2 megapixel camera) and upload them with comments and text in full real time.

So when the lady at the phone company told me this was her favourite phone it didn't take much arm-twisting for me to say yes to it. I know that "her favourite phone" means "has the best bonus if you sell it" but it really does seem to have/do what I want my next phone to do. So I'm getting it.

The only trouble is, this glorious new device is only entering my life because my trusty old Nokia is sick. Let's not mince words. My phone is dying. I have to reboot it 2-5 times a day. Any time I set it down I risk scrambling its brains and causing it to freak out. It's a mobile phone that no longer likes moving.

I've always enjoyed the label "retro grouch" as it applies to rejecting new technology that is simply and only "new". If the old stuff works, why change? But the phone company just dangled a carrot before me that includes a phone (I need a new one), MP3 player (I'll have music on the train), two cameras (I love my digital picture achrives), 3G high-speed data (after all I did help build the networks), and it is aimed to work specifically with Blogger(tm) blogs! Like this one!

All this and more, for free. Excluding the year commitment and whatever portions of my soul I'm giving up by moving back into tech-geek territory.

I think I'll go wait downstairs by the mailbox.

The Tragically Hip

I've been busy lately. Really really busy. So how have I chosen to deal with this? Why I've bought concert tickets of course! Why slow down when going this fast is so much fun?!?

I'm going to see the Tragically Hip!!! "The Hip" are a sensation in Canada. They've been one of the top bands for two decades... the decades that most influenced my tastes in music. So when I heard (read) they were coming to my favourite intimate (~1,500 people) concert venue in Amsterdam I had to immediately buy two tickets. Even funnier, I just told a coworker with a Canadian boyfriend about the concert. One phone call to the Canadian and 3 minutes more and they have two tickets too! It was an old colleague of mine from another job who emailed me about the concert to begin with, so that's six of us so far.

But that's not until September 25th. In the mean time the craziness continues. I've got 3 dates / social appointments with friends this week. It might be a bit crazy before I can settle into a nice "quiet" rock concert. :-P

A weekend with divers!

This is way too early to be awake on a Saturday. Thankfully there's good reason to be up! I just got back from the dive shop were I helped Tobias get all the rental gear he needs to join Adam and me for a dive tomorrow. And tonight I'll be meeting up with Adam and Ingrid and her boyfriend at a food festival in Haarlem. It'll be my first meeting with the boyfriend, who will hopefully take up diving this summer as my student.

So it's a weekend with divers, starting early Saturday morning at the dive shop, proceeding to social events with divers, then on to actual diving Sunday. Woohoo!

Last week Adam and I cancelled our dive plans. This weekend we've got Toby in tow, with all his accumulated rental equipment, so there won't be any temptation to cancel. Indeed, the weather forecast is for a glorious warm and sunny weekend!

Alas, for now, cancelling all Saturday afternoon plans and returning to sleep is temping. Will it be sleep now, so that I can better enjoy tonight? Or will I choose to do my grocery shopping so that I can be well fed before tomorrow's dive? Hmmmmm.

Rabbit Rabbit

Rabbit rabbit it's August first!

That's all I wanted to say right now. I've just never done "rabbit rabbit" properly before. Just work up and realized it wasn't the 31st. :-)

Writing

The dragon slept. For eons he had slept. All around, a glowing-red blackness engulfed him and warmed his scales. Currents of molten rock swirled around his body and gently supported him deep deep inside the mountain.

It is true that dragon's lairs are often large chambers deep inside volcanic mountains. But dragons don't sleep in large caves atop piles of gold coins. Dragons sleep in the warmest reservoirs of magma. The fact that molten gold plates to their scales while they sleep is simply a trivial point of interest. The dragon rarely cares how it appears to mortals and is neither helped nor hindered by the extra layer. (Dragons have also awoken to find themselves plated with cooper, platinum, diamonds and more.)

Garshm had chosen his most recent hibernation spot for the warmth and the peace. He had had to punch through a particularly thick crust of rock to reach his liquid bed chamber. And he knew that it would be a long while before the volcano finally told him his welcome had worn thin. Eventually the mountain would spit him out in a flow of lava, or perhaps more spectacularly an explosion of rocks and soil and ash. Either way, waking up was a rude experience at best.

By and large, dragons are happiest when they sleep. Or looked at from the other perspective, dragons are terribly nasty creatures when they've just woken up.

As it turns out, Garshm would be soon awaking in a very nasty mood. And his ire will be all the worse when he discovers that Unicorns, his primary source of nourishment, have been wiped from the Earth by something called people.

Indeed unicorns and nearly all magical creatures had been gone from the Earth's surface for quite some time. The platypus and dolphin remained, but they had evolved and become as "real" as animals and fish and even people. No longer creatures of energy, they lived only in the world of the physical and material.

Dragons are "real". But they exist in more than a single reality. They are creatures of both mass and energy. The mass of their bodies, as yours, is simply condensed energy. But unlike you and I, dragons retain control of that energy and can direct it with a mere thought.

This leads to some pretty spectacular feats of power. For example, Pangaea, the planet's one and only continent was fragmented and sent adrift one night during an argument between two dominant dragons. A similar incident a few million years later left a crater in the Earth worthy of a giant meteor strike. Ninety-eight percent of the species alive at the time were lost.

I'm Home

I love coming home. Travelling, the actual airport stuff, is now just a lot like time spent in a dentist's chair. Just concentrate on happy thoughts and eventually it'll all be over. Time spent away is, pardon the pun, neither here nor there to me. I've spent so much time in so many hotels that my routine, laying out the clothes from the suitcase, etc., is now followed subconsciously. But after travelling I always feel happy to be home!

I've spent the day unpacking and packing, with ample vaccuuming in between. My travel suitcase was emptied and clothes were washed. I then I took advantage of the temporarily free floor space to pull out of the scuba gear and vaccuum in forgotten places. Then I packed my gear from the suitcase it stores in to the gear bag. I talc'd the seals on my drysuit and waxed the waterproof zipper. Lastly everything (save for the two bags of dive gear) got returned to storage under the bed.

No matter how nice away was, I enjoy just being, at home. Except for tomorrow afternoon when I'll be enjoying being underwater. Oh, and tonight, when I'll be out enjoying a full-moon Saturday night. *evil grin* But this is all just part of "home". Where I am.

Update: Must have been the moon. The warmth of home is preferable to the cold of a stormy day so today's dive has been called.

I Had a Curry!

I don't know whether to title this post "I'm Home", "The UK was Okay", or "I Had a Curry!"

My coworkers and I enjoyed two days of training at our company's office in Horsham, England. About half way between London and Brighton. Our nights were spent at the lovely Wimblehurst Hotel.

That said, I'm not convinced that the Wimblehurst was really a hotel... as much as just some old house. And while the sign on the front proclaims its a two star "small hotel" I think what that means is its a one star bed and breakfast.

A strange point... of the 6 people involved in the course, 4 flew in from Holland, 1 from Germany, and 1 from the U.S. So uhm, why were we in England? I've got no idea!

While logistics might not have been "spot on", I am pleased to report I still managed to learn things. Stuff I can actually apply directly to my job! That shouldn't normally be exclamation "worthy" but honestly, it is.

Thankfully some fun happened too! We went as a group to the New Curry Restaurant in the sleepy centre of Horsham and I think it was great. And that's a strange thing, since I despise the taste (and especially the after-taste) of curry. Heck, even the smell of it can curl my toe nails, but this experience was completely different. I told the waiter to make something so spicy hot that I simply wouldn't be able to taste the curry. They did a great job!

One of my Dutch colleagues tried a micro-dab (that's a scientific term) of my hot sauce. That was hilarious! I ate it like ketchup. And I heard about it all the next day. I've made spaghetti sauce hotter... albeit by mistake. But people were shocked by (surprised by, scared by?) what I considered medium spicey.

But the moral of the storey is that I can enjoy "a curry". And for more than just the Kingfisher beer.

The trip home was mildly uneventful. Downright boring actually. Due to reasons of taxi-sharing and different flight times I was at the airport at 3:15pm but didn't fly out until 8:20. Nasty! Although I did take this opportunity to buy my copy of the new Harry Potter and had a proper Fish & Chips.

I also saw a Gatwick sign that I thought sent all the wrong messages. Attempting to tell escalator riders to watch their step, instead I think it perpetuates nasty stereotypes about penguins. By no means a clumsy or foolish animal, I think penguins deserve a little more respect than this sign (and the one in the background) gives them.

Doubling my England time...

Officially I'm working from home this morning. Really I'm packing and preparing to head to the airport after lunch and hop on a plane for the UK. Wow travel! It's been... weeks!

This will double the total amount of time I've spent in England, having previously spent a weekend and a lot of separate airplane connections. I'm looking forward to fish & chips in a good pub, trying all kinds of different beers and ales, and maybe learning something in my training course.

Cool temperatures, light rain, and a bit of sun are all in the forecast. I hope that means "flooding" is not. It's ironic leaving the Netherlands, way down here below sea level, and going some where with terrible flooding problems! I'll make sure they don't give me a ground floor room at the hotel.

Missing - One lead belt

Sunday's diving was great, and nothing can change that. But... we did have a few glitches. Equipment problems and rain were normal. But what I find shocking is the weight belt theft!

Okay, I think it probably wasn't a real theft. Just a mix up. So I'm hoping that this poster, which I shall post at the dive site, will help my weight belt find its way home.

In the mean while, I read an article from a Dutch newspaper which reported that researchers found the Dutch to be some of the least honest people in the world. The article describes a test involving leaving cell phones on the sidewalk and recording how many of them are returned. (Calling either of the two numbers in the phone's memory would reach the "owner".) It turns out of 31 countries tested, Holland ranked 29th. Most people pocketted the lead, erm, phone and walked away.

Quotes

I discovered a website today called quotationspage.com. Here's a few selections of their's that I liked:

Happiness

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory. Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it. C. P. Snow (1905 - 1980)

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city. George Burns (1896 - 1996)

Drinking

Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you have been drinking. Dave Barry

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961)

Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water. W. C. Fields (1880 - 1946)

Sex

I can remember when the air was clean and sex was dirty. George Burns (1896 - 1996)

In America sex is an obsession, in other parts of the world it is a fact. Marlene Dietrich (1901 - 1992)

Life is a sexually transmitted disease. R. D. Laing

Seduction isn’t making someone do what they don’t want to do. Seduction is enticing someone into doing what they secretly want to do already. Waiter Rant

Students and Buddies and Diving and WOW!

This has been an incredible day! We went diving! Real diving, in open water, a lake, right here in Holland!

Ingrid and Adam and I, after a brilliant Thursday in the pool, got to blow bubbles in Vinkeveense Plas today. A little divers park in a "lake" in Holland. Park-like in that it is buoyed to warn away boats and surface dangers, and filled with sunken "stuff" placed there for diving fun. (My favourite is the bus with the seats and windows removed.) Lake-like in that its a piece of land that didn't get drained. The lake is visibily metres higher than some of the houses around it. Hats off to the Dutch!

We spent a whole day for 40 minutes underwater. Seemingly nutters! But it was amazing! The anticipation before a dive is worth paying for... and the high that comes afterwards just makes everything fall into perspective... as in, nothing's too wrong if I can spend my weekends doing this.

What's mildly ironic is I've just used my Divemaster credentials to "build" two new buddies. Ironic in that I needed to be an instructor to get these guys in the water, but actually didn't have to be. Divemasters can do the Scuba Review course they agreed to. What we ended up with was three friends enjoying diving. (They're both already certified, but out of the water a while.) Technically, no course or credentials were needed at all for us to go diving.

That said, I think being an instructor, and running through some basics made a difference in whether my buddies got wet or not. So in a very real way I've just built two buddies whom I can go diving with and who feel comfortable diving with me. Perfect!

Now I have to find out if they want to write the test and visit the pool once more to get the "official sticker" (oh!) for the course. At one point, Ingrid, looking through her log book, realized she had her decorative PADI certificate which had never been signed. It was heart breaking that I couldn't actually fill it in and sign it for her. Hopefully I'll be able to sign lots of other, better certificates for her in the future!

And there are still a few courses I can teach Adam. (He has more than 3X as many dives as me.) In the end, today was an incredible start! Students, buddies, and diving... Wow!

All signs point to mayhem.

Mayhem and silliness are serious dangers in tonight's activities. Mike, who's been gone way too long, is finally back and free for a beer. And Joby is also in town and joining.

I'd make guesses about what might transpire but right now I've got to get ready and get out. There's fun to be had!

Update:

In the end... *sigh* ... I must report my friends are far too old. Mike called it quits at 9pm and Joby agreed to stay for one more beer. *yawn* At least I got my sleep for diving Sunday. And there in was the real storey.

We Blew Bubbles!

Woohoo! A month and a half after returning from my Instructor course, I finally spent some time diving with students! Almost.

As hoped and promised, Ingrid and Adam did indeed join me yesterday at the pool. A crazy bit of logistics (work to scuba shop to pool) was involved and we were in the end too late to hold proper training. But we blew bubbles and it was great! My students are both certified... the plan was for reviewing their skills and rebuilding confidence before Sunday's planned dive in a local lake. When all the equipment problems were done we only spent 30 minutes in the pool. But oh what fun those minutes were!

I can't explain it; it's an addiction. Hours of rushing and preparation are completely worth the hassles just to get minutes underwater. And I'm sure we'd, all three, agree. We practiced a few skills, we swam, we hovered carefully in the shallow water, and we had tons of fun!

I believe Ingrid is mentally ready for her first ever "cold water" dive. And after months and years of stalling, I think I've got Adam hooked on scuba again.

So I've finally been in the water with my first two students. And soon I'll have them so addicted to diving I'll have regular buddy's for weekends. *evil laugh* I love it!

Working from home...

In the past I've had many days working from home. And I always felt a strong sense of professionalism and worked really hard. But today I'm doing my normal office work from home and of course my "normal" office workload is very low. It's tempting to give up trying and head to the gym or the scuba shop. My lunch of pasta and homemade sauce was much better than the cafeteria average. That's a plus. But even hovering over my email, I can't will people to send me the information I need to do some serious work.

And thus, I'm blogging.

Today being July 17th, I would be remiss if I didn't say Happy Birthday Minka!!! I imagine she's in the air now on her way home. Hopefully with lots of time tonight to enjoy her special day. (She might also be on the late flight which arrives after midnight.)

Other exciting things include plans for diving. Adam and Ingrid are two friends of mine, niether of whom have been diving for years now. We're doing a PADI Scuba Review course this Thursday (pool) and Sunday (Vinkeveense plas). The logistics will be a challenge, but it's certain to be a lot of fun!

Last but not least, I'd also like to say "Welcome home Mike!" My friend who took over work in Boston from me last year has only just now returned himself. Way too long away.

With both Mike and Joby in town I can imagine upcoming silliness.

Gas Lamps

Royal Visit to Amsterdam

Amsterdam - WC News - Dutch royalty, local media, bloggers and generally knowledgeable people gathered today at Amsterdam's Centraal Station to welcome the Ice Queen as her royal coach arrived.

Delayed by German rail workers, Hollywood analysts report the Queen's delay falls precisely on "fashionably late". Beatrix, queen of the Netherlands, reported her understanding that Germany was reluctant to part with their all-too-seldomly enjoyed visitor.

The visit included a canal-based parade through the central part of the city as waving onlookers lined the banks to view the passing procession. Onlookers were heard to exclaim that the animated and energetic Ice Queen was indeed far more beautiful than her pictures capture. Later on, the Ice Queen took a walking tour and revisited some of the same locations. Most appreciated was the fine art of sitting in a cafe watching others walk to and from other cafes.

Officially deemed a sight-seeing tour, think-tank researchers report that telecommunications vendors and Icelandic scuba shops could end up the big winners if connections between the two kingdoms are strengthened.

The royal visit, part of a European tour, boosted the local economy. The overly generous Icelandic tourist purchased ample souvenirs for herself, her friends and family, and in one case for an anonymous person in a washroom. Swedish authorities pledge to match the contributions.

Train Stikes in Germany?!?

Do you ever feel that plans just aren't worth making some times? I've currently got plans to host a tour of Amsterdam. And I'm really looking forward to meeting my guest. But apparently union workers in Germany had plans to stop the trains there.

Also apparently, the German courts have ordered the workers back and the trains to run. So right now it's any one's call.

Thankfully I made plans that didn't involve times, such as a canal boat tour. They leave every 15 minutes or so. Now we'll have to see if the train delays affect my flexible planning or not. They will if they cancel the trip all together. But hopefully, tomorrow I'll have a much more interesting set of stories to blog about.

So Busy

There's been precious little time to blog this weekend. Two social events for work, and meeting up with friends, has kept me out all weekend and the pace is slowing as I move into Sunday evening. Nice. But tiring.

Borrels means drinks in Dutch. It's common for employers to host borrels after work from time to time. And for my employer that's the first Friday or each month. Shut the computer down, leave your desk early, and get your weekend started, before ever leaving the office.

Saturday was a once in a long-while type event. We went to the beach! While attendance was way off the numbers who said they would show, a good time was had by the more than 2 dozen sun burned and sand blasted coworkers.

The North Sea coast of Holland is mainly sandy dunes. Many many miles of sand. So it's only natural, given the beautiful beach and vast vistas that people flock to the coast. Unless you also factor in the weather. Then the totality of the sea-side industry becomes incomprehensible. It's cold! The water is cold, the sand is cold, the wind blowing with gale force intensity is really cold. Where on other beaches people lay nearly naked and turn brown, in Holland groups in sweaters, jackets and long pants huddle together to avoid turning blue.

The intrepid attitude at least makes a "season" possible. As without a tolerance for cold, the beach would only be appropriate on about 3 days a year. And that wouldn't support the extensive areas of restaurants, surfing schools, bars and night clubs. So my colleagues and I did our job yesterday in the wind and cold and supported the modern maritime economy. And in just a few more days, we'll no long be picking sand out of ears and from between toes.

A walk in the rain

There are times when walking in the rain is simply the right thing to do. Times when pathos has more value than comfort and warmth. An obviously enjoyable thing, to children (rain is for getting wet), adults tend to shun rain as if, like the unfriendly coven member of the west, we would melt.

I've seen recent news footage of floods and some truly terrible aquious-based disasters. But none of these has involved people actually melting. Drowning, sure. The occasional washed away scenerio. But rarely, if ever, spontanious liquifaction due to hydrogen dioxide contamination.

Today my body is trapped inside a flourescent prison of desks and papers. But my mind is out wandering in the rain. I wish I could follow it right now, as later I will surely have better things to do. And I will surely prefer to do those things in a state of dry comfort. But right now, this would be a great time to go for a walk in the rain.

I never bought a TV before

Before yesterday, I didn't own a TV. Instead I had a roommate with a TV and a TV tuner card in my computer. However last month, said roommate broke my monitor. So yesterday I went out and replaced it... with a 32 inch LCD flat screen. A little crazy big for a monitor, but it allows me to read the fine print in my WinAmp playlist from across the room! And of course it's a TV. Aside from a combination boom-box, cassette player, TV I bought when I was 14, this is my first.
In the mean time, I'm happy to announce that Sneaky has arrived and has fully recovered from an ailment he had in transit. He sits now on the right speaker, enjoying a wide view of the room.

He keeps asking me if we're moving to the Caribbean soon. I keep telling him to enjoy being here and in one piece and that it won't be very long before it's time to get packed up again.

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.