I had planned to work from home today, since many co-workers are out of office and it's very quiet, work-wise. Yesterday evening I decided to come in to assist a customer with their pre-holiday shutdown of their lab. It's a power savings initiative and using our product they automatically shutdown a large number of servers, which is pretty cool.
The phone call with them this morning went smoothly and I left the office around 2.00 pm.
At home the postman delivered a package, with a big smile:
"A package for Mr. Bosman?"
"Eh, yeah, that would be me" -- I was expecting a package from our headquarters, to replace my laptop screen.
"So, are you going to sign it as 'The Man'?" he said with a grin.
This year our company celebrates it's 25th anniversary, and the holiday party was bigger than usual. The people from our office were invited to join the celebrations in Somerset, New Jersey, so we had a fun two day trip.
We left on Thursday. Because it was snowing, I left an hour earlier to the airport than I'd usually do. I saw several wrecks on 147 and I40, but made it to the airport fine, just like my colleagues. The plane had to wait for two hours for de-icing, since RDU doesn't have a lot of experience with snow, and we arrived in Philadelphia around 12:30 pm. We had a Philly cheese steak for lunch, and after a few meetings in the office we went to the party.
That was a lot of fun -- the highlight was the band out company employees who were playing music; very enjoyable. Lots of dancing.
Yesterday we went to the office, and after a celebration lunch we travel back to Philadelphia. We got stuck in traffic there for 45 minutes, and we would have missed our flight if it didn't have a delay. There were a few scary moments when the check-in lady said that the flight was already closed, but the gate agent got all of us seat assignments, the last ones on the plane.
I was happy to be back in Durham on time, since we celebrated our two year wedding anniversary yesterday. We went out for dinner in a favorite restaurant.
Last Thursday I decorated my cubicle and the next day we received an e-mail about a Holiday cubicle decorating contest.
Over the weekend one of my co-workers came in with a real Christmas tree for his cubicle, upping the ante, so I expanded mine as well. He then added a lighted penguin, which I think is cheating because it has nothing to do with the holidays.
On Thursday I was in Leeuwarden, visiting Ettie, Gerben and Jasper.
It was great to spend the day with little Jasper. He was experimenting with his feet, and had a lot of fun grabbing them.
In the afternoon we went for a walk through the city. We had warm chocolate (haha) in Bagels & Beans, and we went to an Indonesian store for some herbs.
I saw the new part of the house, and the new fence in the backyard. Gerben brought me home -- thank you!
In the late afternoon I went to Joost's new office. Joost and Alle Jan started a company earlier this year (they are architects) and it was fun to see their office in downtown Rotterdam. It looked really creative. We went out for drinks, where Ankie quickly joined us, and we had a excellent evening together.
I've been getting up early this week. Today I woke up at 6.00 am; clearly I'm still adjusting to the time difference.
I have a cold, and went to bed early yesterday after a great dinner. We went to Pho 9N9, a Vietnamese restaurant in the Research Triangle. I had pho, a dish I know well from our time in DC, and it was delicious.
When I'm in the Netherlands I like to organize a party; this year my parents offered to host it at their house in Middenmeer (thank you!).
The party on Friday was great. It always feel so short, there are so many people you want to talk with and so little time, but I believe everyone had a good time.
Lots of cake.
Arne taking a break, late in the evening.
Guests included: Arne, Carel, Christianne, Diny, Ettie, Eva, Fiona, Gea, Gerben, Guus, Harm, Ivanka, Jaap, Jasper, Jean-Paul, Jerry, Luca, Marijke, Marjolein, Mieke, Oma Bosman, Peter, Richard, Rob, Steven and Tibi.
Yesterday I traveled from the Netherlands back to Durham.
My flight was at 2.30 pm, so we didn't have to leave Middenmeer very early. After packing my bags we had coffee with a piece of pie from the party, and then left for Schiphol.
Checking in my bag took a little while, but when that was done we still had time for a visit to Starbucks. We said goodbye, and I went through security. I was a little worried if they'd check the weight of my hand luggage, but they didn't catch the fact that I was flying with so many books.
I resisted the urge to buy even more chocolate in duty-free, and had a quick sandwich while waiting for the gate to open. The security at the gate was more relaxed this time -- no interviews, only X-ray checks.
The flight to Atlanta was almost 9 hours, followed by a short 1 hour flight to Raleigh/Durham. The first flight was a code-share with KLM and the flight attendants where Dutch. I really liked the food they served -- modern versions of Dutch classics such as red cabbage, apple pie and speculaas ice cream.
My car was still there and the luggage arrived right away (although the bag suffered some damage).
It's great to be home and see Sasha; I've been away for 12 days. I missed the Zanes by a day -- they were at Amy's for Thanksgiving and visited Sasha on Saturday.
Today I'm taking a day off to unpack.
Leaving Middenmeer. In the doorway the chairs we didn't use for the party.
Rob left around noon, and a little later Ettie and Jasper came from Wieringerwerf. Gerben was helping to break down the kitchen in his parent's house.
It was so nice to see Jasper again. I read him a Nijntje book again. He doesn't understand quite yet what's going on but he definitely enjoys being read to.
In the afternoon Jaap and I brought back the tables to Wieringerwerf and we did some shopping. After saying goodbye to the Zijlstra's I took a short nap, that was great. I spent the rest of the evening with my parents.
Tomorrow it's back to the airport again -- my flight leaves around 2.30 pm.
I had planned to work from home today, since many co-workers are out of office and it's very quiet, work-wise. Yesterday evening I decided to come in to assist a customer with their pre-holiday shutdown of their lab. It's a power savings initiative and using our product they automatically shutdown a large number of servers, which is pretty cool. 
This year our company celebrates it's 25th anniversary, and the holiday party was bigger than usual. The people from our office were invited to join the celebrations in Somerset, New Jersey, so we had a fun two day trip.
Max Struik is born!
On Thursday I was in Leeuwarden, visiting Ettie, Gerben and Jasper. 
On Wednesday I spent the day in Rotterdam. I spent the morning in 
When I'm in the Netherlands I like to organize a party; this year my parents offered to host it at their house in Middenmeer (thank you!). 
Yesterday I traveled from the Netherlands back to Durham.
Rob left around noon, and a little later Ettie and Jasper came from Wieringerwerf. Gerben was helping to break down the kitchen in his parent's house.
