Guus Bosman

software executive and technologist


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dailylife

Shopping

It has been a while since I've spent the whole weekend in Haarlem. Last week I was in New York, the weeks before that Leeuwarden, Frankfurt, Broekhuizen, Center Parcs... quite some traveling!

This weekend there is time to do some of the small things that I wanted to do for a while. I spent the afternoon in the city, buying smaller stuff like new soil for the plants in the house.

I also bought three books! One for my work: Designing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen, an expert in website usability and design. I hope that I can apply some of the knowledge to my new website design. I bought the book second-hand, which I'm quite satisfied with. It's the original (English) edition, and it was € 25,00. Later I saw the Dutch translation in a bookshop for over € 55,00.

The two other books that I bought are related to the German language course that starts Monday. The first is a book to train German vocabulary that I've used in high school, "Duits examenidioom voor 4, 5, 6 vwo". The second German book is a novel: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, one of the German writers I liked the best.

When I came home the computers were off (including this website's server), there must have been a short power outage.

Books: Duits examenidioom, Siddhartha and Designing Web Usability.

dailylife

Two pictures

Haarlem and New York.It has been cold the last week here in Haarlem, even snowing.

Still, it was a surprise to see that river Spaarne was frozen this morning.

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To Juma

Tonight I went to Juma, to prepare the making up of the annual account and balance sheet of the shop's inventory. Years ago I wrote the software that is running on the cash register machines.

I think it's fair to say that this is the software that I'm most proud of, of all the software that I have ever made.

I had dinner in the shop with everybody, which was very cosy. I also had a haircut at the hairdressers next door.

dailylife

Back home; going to work

The plane landed at 8:30 o'clock, and I had the bus only 45 minutes later. Traveling without checked in luggage is really speedy.

Yesterday Sasha and I said goodbye at Madison Square, in the heart of New York, where she took a bus to Washington and I took a train to the airport. Obviously it wasn't pleasant to have to say goodbye again. However, I am very happy I went there this weekend: we had a lot of fun and it was great to be together on Sasha's birthday.

The plane was full; so this time I couldn't stretch out on multiple chairs. That was fine though -- I got one of these travel-pillows at the airport, and that was really useful. I think I slept around five hours.

Originally I planned to stay home today, to get some rest, but I feel pretty good now and after I take a shower I'll go to my work. It saves a day off, after all.

travelling

In the City

Sunday we went to New York all day. We did some shopping, I bought a jacket and new shoes. We walked around Times Square and Madison Garden. In the evening we went out the two of us.

The weather Monday was really very good; it was almost like spring. We had coffee at the Promenade at Battery Park, looking out to the Statue of Liberty. We were taking our luggage with us.

We also saw Ground Zero, and the reconstruction that was going on there. It was the first time since September 11th that I was in New York. The very first thing I did when I was the first in New York in 1998, was going to the World Trade Center to the observation deck. It is really sad.

Sasha's bus to Washington was at 16:30 o'clock, my train to the airport (Newark) as well.

theater

Hairspray

Hairspray.We went to see Hairspray, a Broadway musical, to celebrate Sasha's birthday. Hairspray is a new musical; it started in 2002 and it has had very good reviews.

It was a extremely entertaining and funny show, with a lot of spectacular dancing and costumes. I absolute loved Edna Turnblad, one of the two main characters. Ms. Turnblad is a house-wife turning into a TV star during the musical. Her role is played by a male actor, Harvey Fierstein, who received a Tony Award for his performance. The climax was the duet of Wilbur and Edna Turnblad: absolutely hilarious.

travelling

Arrived

I had a very pleasant flight. After an hour flying or so the person next to me asked me: "excuse me, are you perhaps a programmer?" He saw me reading the book Cryptonomicon, which is a big hit among computer people. He was a programmer too, so we talked quite a bit. He and his girlfriend were flying back from a holiday in Europe, in Paris they actually got engaged. Cute.

The plane landed on schedule in Newark Airport. There was a big line before Immigrations so that took some time. I didn't have any problems with my passport.

When I went past the customs the first thing I saw was a Starbucks shop. This was too tempting to resist, so I had a double espresso to compensate for the six hours time difference. Then I called Sasha on her mobile, she was in the bus from Washington to New York.

The airport in Newark consists of a couple of terminals that are connected through a monorail. I have very nice memories of both the airport and the monorail. In 1998 Sasha and I stayed in a motel near the airport, and we always transferred at the airport when we were going to and from New York.

The traintrip to Secaucus went smoothly, except for the fact that at first I pronounced the name of the place completely wrong so nobody knew where I wanted to go.

travelling

In Secaucus!

In Secaucus.

So it's "se-CAU-cus", not "SE-Cau-cus".

travelling

Leaving

My luggage.Oh yes -- this time I want to be on time, so I'm leaving now. My plane is at 13:30, so plenty of time to wait in lines, get coffee, a magazine perhaps...

I'm trying something rather revolutionary: I'll travel light.

Because I'm going back on Monday, I would have felt quite silly to bring my large backpack or the huge huge suitcase I used in Bulgaria. So, I'm bringing only hand luggage.

travelling

Preparing

Tomorrow I'm flying to the States! I'm very happy I can be there for Sasha's birthday. We'll stay with Irena and Jonathan, in Secaucus, NJ.

This time I don't have a lot of things to pack, so I hope I can go to bed earlier than the previous time I was preparing for a long trip.

I'll go into the city now for some small things.

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