If the rain wasn't wet enough...
The first thing we did when we arrived in Spa was... to swim and to linger in the Spa - which is a very modern complex. So modern that Ingo had an agrument with the electronic lockers ;-)
The WET way down
Together with Ingo I went of to a long weekend riding our bikes in The Belgium Ardennes. It was pooring with rain all the way down to Belgium. Luckily we were wearing our Rukka Motor suits - which are terrific and we were completely dry and warm ourselves. It took us - through a special tour almost 7 hours to reach Spa (the orginal one).
I would be good for 6 households I guess...
It sounds like something you'd only see on the Discovery Channel:
people pedaling ferociously to create enough energy to power the
television, stereo and lights. Launched last week, his "human-powered" gym (The Green Micro Gym) is one of few fitness
centers in the world that runs on power generated by people working out. The goal is to generate 100% of the electricity used in the Gym. With my workout routine that would be peanuts...
people pedaling ferociously to create enough energy to power the
television, stereo and lights. Launched last week, his "human-powered" gym (The Green Micro Gym) is one of few fitness
centers in the world that runs on power generated by people working out. The goal is to generate 100% of the electricity used in the Gym. With my workout routine that would be peanuts...
Rudi van Dantzig 75
I was with Noelle and eddie at the special ballet performance for Rudi van Dantzig commemorating his 75 birthday. It was a unbalanced evening with some highlight and some downsides.
The house of Barack
I did see it at the moment but good old Thijs sent me this analysis of NYT - the stage of the democratic convention was a copy of... the White House setting!
Sundays' best: top ten zinio magazines
Zinio is a great way to read magazines everywhere and to get to know new magazines at a reasonable price.
This is my current top ten:
1) MacWorld
2) Amercian Photo
3) Motorcycle
4) Cycle world
5) Motorcyclist
6) Photoshop user
7) The Advocate
8) FitnessRx
9) Science
10) Avantoure
This is my current top ten:
1) MacWorld
2) Amercian Photo
3) Motorcycle
4) Cycle world
5) Motorcyclist
6) Photoshop user
7) The Advocate
8) FitnessRx
9) Science
10) Avantoure
Toscanini revisited
It was a long time ago when I last had dinner at Toscanini. Yesterday because of Noelles' birthday we revisited the place and it was excellent. I had Pumkin soup, Tuna & Mackerel Pasta and Limousin Beef with lemon: yummy!
Photoshop is useless in this case...
Is it me or is the face of Sarah Palin completely ruined by photoshop on this official photo of the woman... ?
Look at the glasses, the cheeks, the teeth, the skin tone and texture: this is a really crappy photoshop job.
Look at the glasses, the cheeks, the teeth, the skin tone and texture: this is a really crappy photoshop job.
The sad Tattoo of Levi Johnson
How sad can you be: Stupid Levi Johnson (Bristol Palins' "boyfriend") not only made her pregnant (ever heard of condoms?!) but has a ring finger tattoo of her as well... Dressed up like a monkey he was attending the GOP convention. How long will this last? two more weeks? ;-)
A rainy day with Milk
I was at my alma mater Nijenrode today with my bike and could finaly do what I wanted to do since I studied there: to drive the "Middle Path" of the park with my bike :-) Although it was raining cats and dogs: it was fun.
Frau ohne Schatten
A brilliant but heavy performace in the Amsterdam Opera: Richard Straus Frau ohne Schatten. Rarely the women screamed so muchand was the orchestra at full force - it was not easy to fall asleep ;-)
The director was Homoki (what's in a name...)
The director was Homoki (what's in a name...)
Sundays Best: Best 10k ever (make that first 10k ever...)
Today I joined the Nike global 10k challenge and run 10k - it was my first. Normally I run 5k on saturday and sunday morning. Of the hunderd thousands of runners it turned ou that I came in as number 7131 - in the Netherlands as number 206 :-)) I am more then happy - but will try to run this distance next time under the 60 minutes...
Gay Money
Credit Suisse has become the first major bank to
target gays with a bespoke private banking service provided
by gay advisers. The Swiss banking giant’s new
service will cover all the traditional aspects of private banking,
alongside tailored services to deal with events such as civil
partnership and even adoption. Credit Suisse says that
"gay role models - such as Boris Johnson’s chief of staff Nicholas Boles
- have helped boost the confidence of the younger gay community -
leading to an increased desire to be dealt with by those that
understand their lifestyle.
Stephen
Connolly (the CEO of the unit) and his colleague Toby FitzGerald’s are openly advertised as gay.
What's next? Gay banknotes?
John McCain is absolutely right about this
And it is the only video that I will ever like from John ;-)
Best Speech on Democratic Convention: Beau Biden
Beau Biden, son of Sen. Joe Biden, talks about the trials and heartbreak that his father has had to overcome. This is honest, moving and powerfull.
Pecha Kucha night in Rotterdam
Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each -
giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up.
This is Pecha Kucha - a Japanese invention now in hundreds of cities all over the globe. Yesterday night it was in Rotterdam and it was a great experience.
Golden Boy
MATTHEW MITCHAM was brave enough to dive from a 10-metre platform
for Olympic gold and courageous enough to do what no Australian
athlete has done: he was
the first Australian to go to the Olympics declaring his
homosexuality
When Mitcham balanced on the Beijing diving tower last week the one person who was by his side for the entire tumultuous
journey was his partner, Lachlan.
He won GOLD for Australia.
How did he get away with it? The story of Frederic Bourdin
A balding 31-year-old Frenchman nicknamed the Chameleon fooled
social workers and fellow pupils into believing he was a teenage orphan
and spent weeks at a school before being unmasked. Frédéric
Bourdin passed himself off as an imaginary 15-year-old Spaniard,
Francisco Hernandez-Fernandez. He is said to have previously assumed 39
other false identities. This time he dyed his greying
hair blond, meticulously shaved his beard, applied facial hair remover
and covered his bald patch with a baseball cap to achieve the desired
effect.He was taken into care after a local resident
believed his account that he had run away when both his parents were
killed in a car crash.
Bourdin spent a month in a children's home and secondary school in Pau, south-western France, without raising suspicions... He spend a couple of months in Arizona before pretending to be a lost son of a familiy who took him as their own son... even with a terrible french accent :-) I found a youtube video of Frederic here.
Sundays' best: top 10 Magazines
It is getting darker already here in Amsterdam. Time to read (even) more. More books, more online and more magazines too. I am a magazine junkie - reading at least 20 each week. Most of them in print, but more and more digital through Zinio.
1. New Yorker
2. Economist
3. National Geographic
4. Time
5. Motorrad
6. Mens' Health
7. Sothebys Preview
8. Photoshop User
9. MacWorld
10. Scientific American
1. New Yorker
2. Economist
3. National Geographic
4. Time
5. Motorrad
6. Mens' Health
7. Sothebys Preview
8. Photoshop User
9. MacWorld
10. Scientific American
More bicycles then people
It is official: The Netherlands is the only country in the world where there are more bikes then people...
Tallest building
Almost 700 meters high: The Burj is almost reached its highest point. Wow: its really tall!
Sundays' Best 10 iPhone apps
I cannot imagine that I ever lived without my iPhone... It feels great to be connected to the internet 24/7. The apps make it even better. These are my favs:
1. Things
2. Recorder
3. Picoli
4. Exposure
5. Remote
6. Google
7. Twitterific
8. VisuaRadio
9. Send Contact
10. Converter
Next to these apps lots of websites have their own iphone version (Amazon, Vox, NYtimes).
1. Things
2. Recorder
3. Picoli
4. Exposure
5. Remote
6. Google
7. Twitterific
8. VisuaRadio
9. Send Contact
10. Converter
Next to these apps lots of websites have their own iphone version (Amazon, Vox, NYtimes).
Microsoft Surface
I really liked the Microsoft surface when I first tried it years ago. But now with the iPhone it seems like something of the museum of ancient computing. Today Microsoft Labs showed it again and I didn't like it. The surface is rough and the interface ackward. The possibilies very limited. I hope that Microsoft will develop this further but have my doubts...
Sweet iPhone app: exposure
While I was sitting in the lobby of hotel Rex I tried my new iPhone app: Exposure which connects flickr with your iPhone. A nice feature is: photo's of your location which uses the GPS part of the iPhone to find flickr pictures of the area where you are at that moment. Funny enough the first picture that pop-uped was the one of the chair in which I was sitting.... :-)
An unhealthy hotel?
Sign at the enterance of our hotel... I wonder what cemicals they are talking about...
The day I became a sticky Ninja
The conference of UXweek started today and we had some interesting and some less interesting key note speakers. In the afternoon we followed a Ninja Sticky workshop in which we learned that sticky notes (post its) can be effectively used to set up a brainstorm, design a click trough path, organize processes etc.
On our way to Mountain View
We went to Mountain View to have a meeting with Vlane a car website quite similar as zomoto.nl. The guys from vlane and we shared our vision on the automotive internet market and it was funny to discover that their company is called mozomoto inc. (which is mo zomoto...) :-)
Their concept is based about car owner discussions. After being in beta for more then over a year they expect to go live any moment. It is nice to know that we have far more visitors and revenue then vlane does. We must be doign somethings right.
Their concept is based about car owner discussions. After being in beta for more then over a year they expect to go live any moment. It is nice to know that we have far more visitors and revenue then vlane does. We must be doign somethings right.
Our usual SF biking trip
What else could we do on a sunny Sunday then biking the Bridge? We got new racing Treks from Bike & Roll and set a new record time to ride to Tibron and from there took the ferry back to Pier 41.
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