Guus Bosman

software executive and technologist

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dailylife

First day in the Netherlands

Wed, 10/03/2007 - 5:56pm

Gerben and Ettie's new house. I saw so many people today, it was great.

In the morning I visited Alrik and saw their home for the first time. Jaap and I went for a walk to my mother's school, and when we came back home the three of us went to Heerenveen.

We went to my grandmother's home where I met Ettie and Gerben, and we had a good time. We went for dinner (Chino-Indonesian cuisine), I saw Ettie & Gerben's new home and we closed the day with a cup of tea at their apartment in Leeuwarden.

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dailylife

Vacation in Middenmeer

Tue, 10/02/2007 - 5:58pm

In the train to Heathrow.I am now in Middenmeer!

I left our office at 3.30 pm today and took a cab to Paddington train station. Traffic was fairly heavy already (it must be really bad during rush hour) and it took more than 30 minutes to get to the station.

From there I took the Heathrow Express and it was less than 20 minutes to the airport. It took a while to check in: there were long lanes and there was some hassle because my bags were 10 pounds heavier than the allowance. In the end I didn't have to pay a surcharge and around 6.45 pm we left for Amsterdam!

I am taking a few days off and I'm staying with my parents in Middenmeer. Jaap and Mieke came to pick me up from the airport and it was great to see them again. For dinner I had sandwich with Dutch cheese and a Grimbergen beer.

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Work NC

To the London office

Tue, 10/02/2007 - 1:34am

London in the morning.Yesterday I went to our office in the London City, the central area of town.

The weather was as it should be in London: gray and rainy. I left the hotel and quickly went inside again to pick up my jacket. A colleague told me later that the weather had been like this all summer.

I took a red double decker bus to work and got there in 25 minutes. The working day was very productive. I went for dinner with a colleague, and after I got back to the hotel I went for a run to the river, crossing the Thames over the Millennium bridge, very cool.

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travelling

London in one afternoon

Sun, 09/30/2007 - 4:42pm

London.In the afternoon I went for a long walk along the Thames. I saw the London Eye for the first time, the big Ferris wheel near the parliament buildings.

I've been in London before, but that's many years ago (some great memories, including my first vacation with friends). I read a lot about the Millenium projects and it was nice to see it.

After dinner I prepared some things for work and now I'm going to sleep.

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dailylife

English breakfast

Sun, 09/30/2007 - 9:44am

A London cab.I went for a walk in the area around the hotel, and had a terribly unhealthy but authentic lunch. I had an "English breakfast" which includes beans, bacon, sausage, eggs and something fried that tasted good but I don't know the name of.

I checked into the hotel -- a cute room with a tiny bed. I plan to go out for walk along the river in a while and I realize that I don't have a large selection of clothes to wear for this weather. I brought shorts and sandals...

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travelling

In London

Sun, 09/30/2007 - 6:56am

Farrington train station.It's 11.45 am local time now and I'm in the lobby of my hotel in London. Around 8.30 am we landed at Gatwick airport, and after journey by train and cab I'm now waiting for check-in to start.

I guess in theory I could have rented a car, but I'm quite happy with the train... it's pretty strange to see cars on the left side of the road, especially at crossings. I've been in the U.K. a few times before but I didn't drive yet then so I never really paid it attention. I had to consciously think about where to stand so a cab could stop and pick me up.

The flight was nice. The seat next to me was empty and I slept quite a bit. I had a great hamburger at the airport for dinner, sort of a good-bye to American food for a week.

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travelling

On my way to London

Sat, 09/29/2007 - 5:40pm

To Newark.I am on my way to London today. On Monday and Tuesday I have meetings for my work in our London office. I'm really looking forward to it -- we're talking about some exciting things.

Travel wise, I am as ready as can be. I'm scheduled to arrive at Gatwick Sunday morning local time, 24 hours earlier than I really have to. Should something make me miss my flight from Newark tonight, I can take the next one a day later and still be nicely on time. All the same, my flight from Newark isn't until 8 pm and I'm scheduled to arrive around 5 pm so there's plenty of room for delays.

An example of unexpected incidents is that when we went to the supermarket to pick up some fresh bread, an hour before I was scheduled to leave the house, a police car stopped in front of us and blocked the road. There was a parade just around the supermarket, and all 3 crossings from our house under freeway 147 were blocked by the police. We tried all 3 crossings (in vain), and at the third one we parked and walked and ran towards to supermarket. We quickly picked up the bread and went to pay. When you're in such a hurry everybody seems to be slow, but due to the parade Whole Foods was almost empty so we were done quickly. We ran back to the car and we arrived 10 minutes before the cab picked me up.

At first the flight to Newark seemed to have a short delay, "I just wanna board very leisurely" said the flight attendant, but in the end we arrived on time.

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dailylife

Andrej's birthday

Sat, 09/29/2007 - 5:29pm

At Duke.Yesterday evening we went to Andrej's birthday party that he celebrated on a parking lot at Duke.

This may sound like an usual location but this weekend is the weekend that the season tickets for the Duke basketball team are on sale. The basket ball team is Duke's most successful sports team and tickets are in high demand. Students who want those tickets have to "stay in line" for over 48 hours, and on Sunday evening the tickets are distributed. Over the years this weekend has become a big party weekend, and in addition to students staying in tents there are many who choose to rent a big truck or even a RV to spend the weekend as comfortable as possible.

Andrej, a Ukrain national, had brought many Ukrainian snacks and drinks (vodka, of course) and celebrated his birthday in style. We didn't stay until very late but it was fun. When we left he gave of some Ukrainian sweets for in the car.

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dailylife

High school memories

Thu, 09/27/2007 - 9:05pm

Vending machine.There's an article on Economist.com about a black market in candy bars in a school where candy bars are no longer sold by the school.

Reading that article brought back some really nice high school memories. When a vending machine for candy was placed in the hallway where we used to sit in the breaks, we decided to undercut it and made a nice profit for about two weeks.

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internet

Digitally Imported Radio

Sat, 09/22/2007 - 10:43pm

Digitally Imported.For years I have been listening to web radio. When I worked in the Netherlands I found http://www.shoutcast.com, a collection with free MP3 streams with a wide variety of music styles. Most of the streams I listen to are broadcasted by DI.fm or Sky.fm, its partner company.

Instead of going through Shoutcast.com, I found myself listening to Sky.fm pretty much all the time. The music selection is excellent and their servers are so reliable that it's as good as listening to an MP3 collection on your hard disk.

A few months ago I upgraded to the premium service. Partly to get rid of the advertisements, and partly because I want to support the company in the hope they'll stay alive in the wake of the new royalty fee scheme for internet broadcasting. I don't know who's wrong or right in that conflict between the RIAA and internet broadcasters, but I do know that I would really miss web radio if they have to take their service down.

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