Internet Outage

Today, the Internet in our office went down.
It made me realize, you don't know how "connected" you are, until the Internet goes down;
No ability to search for some quick information
(including when the semi finals start)
No skypecall to colleagues, friends or family
No access to company data
No emails (as it uses an online mailclient)
No mental support via FB
No news sites, blogs or twitters
No nothing!
How did people survive before "The Internet"????

Lunch time!

Just wanted to share a look at my lunch location, right behind my office; my "kantine":



So, what do you think about it?

There and back again

I'm back in the U S of A.
Yes, I've been gone for a little. Back to the Netherlands for 4 weeks around Christmas and New Years'. Just a short trip.
Catching up the family, and with the colleagues at work.
And while the snow was 8inches/20cm back in NL, here, the sun is shining over the green grass. (Okey, the trees are leafless here too). It has become a small world.

And you know, the world gets smaller, the more you travel; The flights weren't as tiresome as they used to be, but, they weren't the great and exciting Events they used to be either.
One time, the scent of kerosene mixed in with the chill of the morning would remind me of adventure, of travel to wonderful places, of meeting new and interesting people...
Maybe the difference now too, is that I'm returning here for work. No new people, no expectations of travel, no plans for new adventures...
Or are there...?
;-)

It takes a car to get one

2 weeks in, and you won't believe the hassles I need to get through.
You know, the plan was simple enough, get a phone, open a bank account, get a car with insurance, find a place to stay, build up some credit score.
But well, things don't always go as you plan them.

It all started with getting a cellphone, the first item on the list, how hard can it be to get a number, right? Well: First question: What's you're Georgia driving license #? Err, I don't have one... can I use my dutch one? Well, no. but, actually, that wasn't a real issue, they could do without. They'd just check my credit score, or, well, try to,... as I don't have a credit score! But that was easy to fix,... with a $500 deposit!!! For like a $50/month contract! :-S

Next thing on the list: Open a bank account.
Well, without a permanent US residency, they need you to fill out this form,... which ofcourse they didn't have available at the branch office. So they'll send it to me, which means: that it will take at least another 2 weeks before I can open an account...
The account which I intended to use to make it easy to pay for the car.

Anyway, I still went online to look for a car (as I don't have a credit score, insurance on a new car would be terrible expensive, so I'm looking to buy from a private party). But, all the interesting cars, by the time I can find someone to drive me there, the cars have been sold already! It really takes a car to get one, by having the freedom to go there the moment it comes online.

Anyway, with a rental, I think I might have solved that this weekend. I think I might have found a car, but about that, more later.

PS. as you might have guessed, I haven't even really pursued housing yet.

1 week until departure

It's one week left.
One more week, and yet another adventure starts.
It's finally starting to feel real. Only since like the beginning of this week I've started to feel some tension of: I still need to do this, and I shouldn't forget about that...
You would expect at one point I'd get my act together on that, right?
Actually, right now, I'm only wondering about which clothes to bring.
Oh, and not to forget about appliances, and all that while keeping within the weight limits!

Just a little longer, and then... Off to the USA again :D

New years, new adventures

Luckily, Life's full of adventures!
And a new big one is on he brink of starting!

Finally, 4 years after graduation, I'm heading to the USA for business from my current company, VDD IQware. Long term business. not just a week or so.

We'll see what new stories, experiences and adventures it will bring, but it's a sure thing that it will bring them :-)