Guus Bosman

I came home late last night.

I couldn't get a plane ticket to Washington Dulles for Friday evening, to I took the flight to Baltimore instead. BWI, the airport there, is a lot further from Arlington and I was home around midnight.

When I left the office yesterday it was a chaos on the streets: everywhere there were huge lines in front of (empty) gas stations. There was some rumours that the ATMs would stop working in the weekend as well, so there were large lines in front of cash machines also. This morning I read that the strike ended and gas deliveries are getting back to normal. Good news for my colleagues who are there this weekend.

I've been several times at the airport in San Juan now, and I usually get a cup of coffee before we leave. One of the moving sidewalks to get to the terminal were Starbucks is has been out of service for over three months.

When I came home there were some really nice surprises. A Volksrant, caramel wafers (stroopwafels) and a large supply of Grimbergen Triple. Thanks a lot guys! Jerry and Marjolein left Arlington two days ago and are on their way to Lafayette in Indiana.

This morning I went out for breakfast, I had nothing at home to eat. Had a bagel and coffee at Cosi's. I felt tired, and it's great to get some real rest at home -- it's been a very busy week. Today there was the annual 99 tournament in Amsterdam. Zoltan won the cup again.

Yesterday afternoon two close friends arrived in the U.S. -- Jerry and Marjolein are here for a long vacation. They'll make a journey through the U.S. in the next month.

Unfortunately I can't see them this week as I am in Puerto Rico, but we'll meet when they return in a few weeks.

Jerry and Marjolein have a website of their adventures in the United States.

Yeah, that wasn't such a good idea to buy my ticket last minute: when I arrived at the airport very early in the morning I was selected for extra security checks.

I've had suh checks before. Especially if you're a guy traveling alone, with a one-way ticket, bought very early before the flight departs, they always catch you and print a "SSSS" ticket: extra checks. I've had such checks before, but not at 5.45 o'clock and it didn't make me very happy. First I couldn't check in at the curb, second my bag had to be scanned. Turns out the scanning machine was broken so they did a manual check of my bag that took ages.

So when I arrived at the gate I had no time to get either Starbucks or breakfast... not good. I had a middle seat, sandwiched between two friendly but large people... not the best flight I've ever had.

It's good to be here, making much better progress than ever possible remotely. Tomorrow there is a deadline for my document, so there's quite some work to be done.

Another bright note: the tropical storm Emily is not affecting the island and is passing it far south. The Dutch islands of Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba will be affected though.

Tomorrow morning I am traveling to Puerto Rico. A while ago we finished the requirements for the project I am working on, but now I will discuss the high-level design documents with the customer.

I booked my flight this morning -- quite close to departure time and I was happy that there seats left. When I went to get my seat on the website it turned out that I had the last seat (in my price category).

Sasha called me this morning and everything is going well in Nice; she's speaking French all the time. I have started to eat more healthy than in the weekend, and I've cooked macaroni twice. Tonight even with a salad.