Odd

Sometimes you know something will happen, but seeing it confirmed still leaves you feeling odd...

[ ... ]

What day is it?

Arrived back safely after a sleepless flight from Detroit to Amsterdam...

Dark at take-off, light when we landed...

Have the feeling that today it's yesterday, that's what jetlag does to you. Now all I have to do is convince my body that today really is today, and tomorrow tomorrow...

Batting cages mania

I still have a big grin on my face. Yesterday evening we went to Rollandia (sorry for the music) for the social event. There we were allowed to make unlimited use of the batting cages, minature golf and the arcade games.

[ I spend most of the time in the cages... ]

Magic castles are everywhere in Rollandia...

At the end of the afternoon we'll be flying back. Before we left we had lunch with some colleagues (Thai!) and had our last visit to Cublicle world.

[ normally we only get to see these in the movies, but they are real... ]

Is this your cube or mine..?

Mongolian Grill

Yesterday we had dinner at the Mongolian Grill. Today we have a whole day of meetings ahead of us. I'll be attending most of them, so I'm missing the nice weather outside.

[ and the squirrels, I haven't seen that many yet... ]

Mongolian grill: it's just a hotplate, but then much bigger...

After the grill (and two desserts) I visited the Cub Food Market. Wow, you just do not know where to start shopping for food here...

[ row upon row upon row upon row of food... ]

Toilet mystery

Two Televisions in your room, OK, but two toilet rolls..? I wouldn't be me if I didn't investigate. But no matter what I tried I couldn't find any differences.

[ not in texture, color, humidity, size of sheets, softness, taste..? ]

Why two..? They spin the same ways, both hang on the same side (so no left and right handedness). Why..?

Why two, do you see a difference..?

During breakfast, people thought it might have to do with one of them being the spare roll, but that explanation is too simple (I mean, which one is the spare..?!). Maybe they're there to be able to wipe with two hands at the same time...

[ or with two persons, if someone else also has to go really bad..?! ]

The meeting agenda has been changed quite a bit already. A meeting that was originally planned on wednesday has suddenly been moved to today. And I still needed to finish a presentation for that meeting. So I needed to find some time and space to complete it. The only available room with an internet connection and power socket required me to work fast; it would be used by another group soon.

[ and I didn't want to get into an argument with those guys... ]

10:45, I had exactly 45 minutes, better hurry up...

Dayton, Ohio

This week I will be busy with a lot of business meetings in Amerika with some of my Elsevier colleagues. I packed my suitcase, added a laptop and headed to Schiphol airport.

[ and then through Detroit, to Dayton, Ohio... ]

These items I carried around the whole day...

Upon arrival in Dayton we took a rented car and drove along the highway to the hotel. At this moment I'm typing this messafe in a ridiculously luxurious suite...

[ free internet and a welcom cookie..! ]

Double bed, couch, two TV's, own fridge and a -by comparison- small bathroom...

He said "yes", she did too... (2)

Yesterday I again had a wedding of one of my colleagues (a different colleague of course!). The wedding location was near where I live, the party was abroad (buitenland in Dutch).

[ so both were within cycle distance... ]

The weddingcake was delicious..!

The wedding was beautiful and the party afterwards was great: good food, music and a trampoline!

Hardrock karaoke

Our own office rocker was having his birthday and threw a party. We were all invited to Pakhuis Wilhelmina to witness some honest Hardrock karaoke.

[ I didn't go on stage, did loose something of my voice... ]

The birthday boy was given a guitar, which was used to enhance our experience of Black Betty...

No stamp required

Sometimes they drive me mad. Special offer here, switch to this, make use of this... All kinds of incitements to buy new products and services. Beside the glossy leaflet with smiling models that are trying to sell something, there often is a return envelope included.

[ to make it extra easy, no need to use a stamp... ]

I've realized you can also use that envelope for something else. I use to just threw it in the old paper bin, together with the leaflet, but I stopped doing that last year. Thanks to the free postcards you can find in bars, you can easily sent someone a nice card. Completely free of charge!

[ add a cheerful text, put in the free return envelop and you're ready... ]

This one I posted in December 2006...

So if you also want to sent someone in a random mailroom some nice mail, you know what to do now...

Function keys

Every keyboard has them: Function keys. You know, F1, F2, F3 through F12. A neat row above all other keys. Very nice, but do you ever use them..?

[ and if you use them, you probably don't use them all... ]

That's why I found it time to really start using those extra keys. After experimenting for some time, I think I've found the ideal use.

M&M holder, for every key a sweet treat...

Music

It always amazes me how good it is to hear music. Lately I've been hearing and discovering some music that made me so happy and sad, it almost made me quiet...

[ thank you last.fm for playing all those wonderful tunes... ]

Try it, you'll like last.fm...

On the site of last.fm there is the option 'Listen'. You can enter a favourite band or artist and it will play songs from that artist and similar bands.

[ a great way to discover new bands... ]