The weather was picture perfect: blue sky, sunny and no wind. The 37st Amsterdam Marathon had excellent conditions. For the second year I ran the 8K and was happy with a 3 minute improvement.

Ingmar Bergman klassik film Smultronställe är mycket förvarande, sömnigare och icke bra regisserat...
Jag hade svårt att titta den film till slut - Om Smultronställe är Bergman mest lät film jag tror det var min sista...
(Varför är engelsk översättning"Wild Strawberries"? Smultronställe är något helt annars...)

Ship your volumes to 1DollarScan and they will slice off the spine use high-speed Canon scanners with OCR software and turn them into PDF files. All for just $1 for every 100 pages scanned. One catch though - your books are gone forever and will be destroyed, recycled and NOT returned... Hmmm - not sure if I want that...

Thanks to my dear friends Karen and Tom from Lafayette CA I managed to get this Barack Obama 2012 Campaign T-shirt. (actually I got two just in case...). Now nothing can stop Obama to easily win his (rightfully) next term. (Oh: maybe we still need a Republican candidate to beat)

Jag studerar svenska och direkt tilldelades man en svensk poet, Transströmer Nobelpriset i litteratur... Hans dikter är kanske för svar för mig nu, men jag ska försöka läsa den här.
Här en av hans enkellera dikter:

Storm
Plötsligt möter vandraren här den gamla
jätteeken, lik en förstenad älg med
milsvid krona framför septemberhavets
svartgröna fästning.
Nordlig storm. Det är i den tid när rönnbärs-
klasar mognar. Vaken i mörkret hör man
stjärnbilderna stampa i sina spiltor
högt över träden.
(debutsamlingen ”17 dikter” (1954)

From todays' Volkkrant:

Even ruiken aan de kentekenplaat

PETER VAN AMMELROOY − 06/10/11, 00:00

Marijn Pijnenborg van Zomoto, een website voor tweedehandsauto's, rijdt rond in een BMW Touring 325i, met een nieuwwaarde van 52 duizend euro. Zomoto-medebedenker Marque Josten toert in een Audi A6 allroad 2.7 tdi, die in de catalogus staat voor 16 duizend euro meer.

Hoe we dat weten? Pijnenburg en Josten verklapten ons hun kentekennummer. Daarmee kun je op Zomoto nagaan wat een auto nieuw en tweedehands moet kosten. Maar iedereen met een Apple-mobieltje of een Google-telefoon (Android) kan ook ongevraagd de waarde van andermans bolide natrekken, met de gratis Zomoto-app. Die maakt het intoetsen van een kenteken overbodig. De gebruiker hoeft alleen zijn camera op de kentekenplaat te richten, waarna de software de rijkdom (of armoe) in luttele momenten blootlegt.

De waardebepalingen van Zomoto, en dus ook van de Zomoto Kenteken App, hebben zo wel hun beperkingen. Soms moet je zelf het juiste model achterhalen. En Zomoto kan niet ruiken hoe oud een auto al is en hoeveel kilometer die er al op heeft zitten. App en site geven een indicatie, niet meer dan dat.

Zit je eenmaal met de smoor in je occassion omdat je er te veel voor hebt neergeteld, dan wil je waarschijnlijk zo snel mogelijk naar je bestemming. Navigatiespecialist TomTom helpt daar een handje bij met Places (voor iPhone, gratis, Android-versie is onderweg).

De software biedt een legale sluipweg naar de database van TomTom met nuttige plaatsen, zoals hotels, restaurants, supermarkten, pinautomaten of toeristische attracties. Places heeft aan een woord genoeg. De term 'restaurant' toont de dichtstbijzijnde eetgelegenheden, inclusief adressen en telefoonnummers, openingstijden en de routes er naar toe.

Ook merken of productnamen leveren treffers op. Places werkt al in vijf landen (Nederland, Duitsland, België, Portugal en Denemarken). Het handige is dat je in die landen in je eigen taal kunt zoeken en dus niet 'paò' voor 'brood' hoeft in te voeren. TomTom voegt zelfs de actuele file-informatie toe. Voor routeaanwijzingen ('Na 150 meter links') verwijst het bedrijf naar zijn betaalde mobiele applicaties.

Kabelgrootmacht Ziggo mag zijn klanten ook graag de juiste weg wijzen - in dit geval naar tv-programma's en films op zijn videoverhuurkanaal. Het bedrijf heeft een gratis gids laten bouwen voor iPhone en iPad, Apple's tablet.

De elektronische programmagids kijkt tot een week vooruit, voor liefst 160 zenders. Per programma valt een alarm in te stellen, om te herinneren aan je favoriete tv-serie. Elke dag brengt Ziggo TV actueel nieuws en kijktips.

De app kan nog niet je harddisk-recorder op afstand programmeren (die van rivaal UPC kan dat wel). Maar Ziggo TV maakt wel dat abonnement op de tv-bode overbodig. Zo houd je meer geld over om die Audi van Josten over te nemen.

The unavoidable has happened: Steve Jobs died. It makes me very sad on one hand, but on the other hand I am happy that Steve touched my live as he did with billion others. There is not a single day when I am happy with and using my iMac, Macbook Air, iPhone, iPad, iTunes and running with my iPod Nano.
Imagine how our day would look like without him (still using carp PC's, nokia bricks, paper en CD's)...
Many times me and my team at work thought when we run into trouble or had to take a difficult decision at work: How would Steve go ahead? Focus with passion and drive and dare to be bold.
So it is fair to say that he really changed my live for the best.

Thanks

In our never ending battle to win the BMI fight I now have a new weapon: the Withings WiFi scale. With a fully integrated iphone/ipad app it is very easy to monitor your weight, body/musscle fat% and BMI. If I want I can even share this with JohnJohn - but I am not sure if I want to do that... :-)

Ett spektakulärt mord mitt på Öresundsbron tvingar den svenska och danska polisen till ett nära samarbete. Del 1 av nya Svensk/Dansk polisserier var jätte spannände och jag kan inte vänta på del 2 :-)

Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre has been made into a TV movie or film many times before, so it is extraordinary that director Cary Fukunaga can create a compelling new version of this 1847 novel. (Originally written under the pseudonym of Currer Bell).

The acting by both Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender is stunning (Oscar material?) and Lady Dench is always nice to watch. This version has a murky, haunted feeling about it and at the viewing nobody could withhold their tears at the ending...

A dynasty in danger, tussles below stairs, and a gay kiss, what more could you ask for ingredients for a drama series? Downton Abbey was a sensation last year when it was first aired on ITV and now the second series is on its way - and again is awesome! A must see really...

Maggie Smith plays a frumpy countess with a heart of gold and with brilliant quotes:

Lady Grantham: "What Is a Weekend?"

Lord Grantham: "We better go in soon or it isn't fair to Mrs. Padmore."
Lady Grantham: "Oh, is her cooking so precisely timed? You couldn't tell."

And this weeks best:
Isobel Crawley: "I take that as a compliment"
Lady Grantham: "I must have said it wrong"

I bought the new Nike+ and am running happily with it - BUT...
The nike+ forum is overflowing with complaints of owners whos wathes stopped working. Sure Nike will replace them - but isn't time they admit that is watch is a faulty product and a disaster?
just an example of a desparate post on the forum:

I posted in this thread way back at the beginning, I bought my watch at the beginning of May and used it a total of 13 times before it no longer connected to my computer (basically same issue everyone else is having). I have been patiently awaiting a fix, any fix that works. I've talked with Nike support, I've followed this thread, I've tried all the tricks and fixes and the watch still doesn't work.

At this point I am feed up and would simply like my money back.
Not holding out much hope...

Ny i min svenska bokklubb: Agnes Cecilia:
När föräldralösa Nora flyttar till en gammal lägenhet med sin nya familj, börjar märkliga saker att hända. Någon verkar söka kontakt med henne från andra sidan ... Nora dras in i ett magiskt äventyr, som hjälper henne att slutföra sorgearbetet efter föräldrarna och finna sin egen identitet.

After the highly successful auto.nl keyrings we now have something new to give away: A authentic auto.nl T-shirt. The first couple will be given away when you like our brand new facebook pages which will be launched next week...

David Sedaris was for the very first time life in The Netherlands. Sure we attended a reading by him earlier last year but it was great to see (and meet!) him in Carré. As always the moment he started reading the whole place was upside down and laughing out loud - and that only stopped one and half hour later...

Förra året klarade över 10 000 personer jägarexamen i Sverige – en ökning med nära tio procent från året innan. Den som vill bli jägare behöver ha ett vapen och för det behöver man en vapenlicens. En sådan kan beviljas av polisen om man fyllt 18 år och tagit jägarexamen. Det finns även skogsbolag som söker jägare och det annonseras om platser i jaktlag.

You can clearly see that their coach is Peter de Jong, better known as 'Maxi' of Mini & Maxi. But their performance also has influences from Tommy Cooper, Jackass or even Monty Phython. And that makes - although the guys are good in what they are doing - the show predictable. I didn't see something new...

OK: and with a cappuccino for Marijn...

Running with thousands of people can be a bit annoying and in the beginning is was hardly running at all but when the final results came in I realized that my time actually wasn't so bad. In total 7.000 people ran the 4M. Place 201 gets me in the top 3% :-)
Official result:

Startnummer	54107
Naam	Marque Joosten
Woonplaats/Team	Amsterdam
5,3 km	30:07
Netto eindtijd	35:48
Bruto eindtijd	40:08
Snelheid	10,788 km/uur
Afstand	4 Engelse Mijl trimloop
Plaats	201e

When I wrote about Louie Zamperini earlier this year I used a photo which I found at a Bookreview website. It turned out that the picture was from photographer Tom Sanders who asked me, rightly so, to either remove the picture or give him credit. I removed the picture and put the cover of the book of Laura Hillenbrand in it instead. But when I had a closer look at the pictures Tom makes I knew I had to use at least on of them... :-)
The picture of Louie was taken for a book Tom made about The Faces and Voices of the Last "Good" War. It full of moving stories and the stunning photo's are really prove of that stories.
Have a look for yourself at Tom's website or see (and buy) the book at Amazon. I did (at amazon uk - at which the book is much cheaper and with free shipping...)

At the last moment I decided to run just 4M at the Dam to Dam - so actually is was a Dam to Dam, but then in Zaandam. I was very lucky because we only had a few drops during the run and I ran a smooth 35 minutes.

Roland - not super happy

High level discussions...

A nice tour through Northern Holland with the Guys today - It was pouring rain - but that didn't stop us :-)

Ousama Itani of Al Jazeera told a very interesting story about the role of social media during the Arabic Spring Uprising at Eday 2011. To bad that the food at this lunch was to awefull for words - some apricot jelly with couscous... To make it not to bad for you guys, I will present it only in Black&White...

I am still shell-shocked by the sudden death of Richard Sommers. I have known him for 10 years and just last week while on his journey through Europe we were planning for a dinner in Amsterdam. The first date was cancelled and we were texting and calling about a new date later that week. He never returned my last call – now I know why…

I first met Richard at the Homestore office at Westlake Village when I just set up a Real Estate Classified website. We clicked immediately – both very passionate and ambitious about our work. He was tremendous intelligent and gave me al those years crucial advise. You could feel his presents and when he laughed (which he did a lot) it was a real laugh, a thunder :-)

Over the years we keep on seeing each other all around the globe at different events a couple of times a year. Next to that he was coming over to Amsterdam and I to San Francisco at least once a year. Always having dinner at the very best restaurants, drinking the best wines and he most of the times ordering a double main course. At Acquarello, Michael Mina, La Rive, Le Ciel Blue.

During his tenure at Classifieds Ventures he ask me to join the Board of Advisors which I did gladly and after I was fired by my board at my own company years later he directly offered me a job at Zip – which I declined – but not after contemplating how much fun and interesting that would have been: being in a team with Richard.

The following years we keep on making plans of starting a business together somehow. Last time about a web based Health Company. It a pity that we never could make that happen Richard – it would have been a blast!

So full of sweet memories I think of you Richard, I will never forget you – you really changed my life. Thanks.

This weekend was WWII movie teletron weekend. Thanks to the nice people of De Telegraaf we had a box containing these great movies:
Von Ryan’s Express
Battle of Britain
A Bridge too Far
The Dessert Fox
The Longest Day
Patton
Sink The Bismarck
Tora Tora Tora

All very good films, highly watchable - even after so many years.
Extra nice was that in The Battle of Britain the score "The Battle in the Air" from William Walton is played with no sound effects of aircraft engines or gunfire, giving the "Battle" sequence a transcendent, lyrical quality.

Today was the last chance I had to prepare for the Dam to Dam 2011. I have two start tickets - one for the 4 mile and one for the 10 mile run, courtesy of Nike+ running. Since I never ran a 10 mile before I guess I will go for the 4 ... ;-)

Banana Rupublic introduced a special MadMen collection - a great idea! Unfortunately the mens' collection is very tiny - let's hop it is a huge success and they bring more of this stuff.

Baron Rupert Du Sigikid III was so kind to celebrate his 6th birthday with us this morning. After all these years he is still a loyal friend who always gives me wise advise and comes up with solutions. Rupert has been round the world many times and he always is the darling of airport security personnel and stewardesses.
We seem to agree on everything - the only thing is that he only speaks French, which sometimes makes it hard to understand his jokes...

Känner du dig trött och icke-kreativ på eftermiddagarna? Prova att byta ut lunchmackan mot en timmes intensiv diskodans. Fenomenet Lunchbeat sprider sig nu över Sverige.
Först i Stockholm, Malmö och Goteborg och snart i Amsterdam?

Hurray: Doris has a new album - is it her 200th? Well at least she has sold millions. The nice thing is that "My Heart"contains some new songs too. Can'y wait to hear how a 87 year old Doris sounds like.

Today marks the fifth aniversary of the death of Steve Irwin - the inventor of reality nature documentaries. Steve: you are still an inspiration for all of us!

Ali was @Nyenrode for the lustrum party and we had a great time talking to him and seeing him perform. He is really a nice guy :-)

Although the original castle is from 1275 - Nyenrode University was only established in 1946 - so 65 years ago. Time for a (BIG!) party. More then 1400 alumni, staff and students turned up and we had a blast. Thanks to all my fellow members of the organizing committee to make this possible.

Han var Sveriges snyggaste kvinna och nu finns det boken ”Allt eller inget” Vi följer hans karriär – via After Darks hyllade shower och Melodifestivalens glamour, till sammanbrottet i Globens källarkorridorer och nu om är han är en snygg killa - med sin panikångest...
Jag är jätte nyfiken :-)

Henry Cavill is the new Super Man in the new movie "Man of Steel" - his suit looks a bit sluggy - maybe they need more Computer Animation to make it work?

Why do I not meet guys like Christopher Villa @my gym?

Even ruiken aan de kentekenplaat

A dynasty in danger, tussles below stairs, and a gay kiss, what more could you ask for ingredients for a drama series? Downton Abbey was a sensation last year when it was first aired on ITV and now the second series is on its way - and again is awesome! A must see really...

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