Amat victoria curam!

We hired a speedboat to spend a day on the lake. And while we were there we could see the places were composers like Brahms, Webern, Berg, Wolf and Mahler(!) had their little places in the mountain hills on the shore to compose in quiet surroundings some of the most beautiful music ever created. No wonder because the lake is very inspiring - maybe when I am back I will try to make some Wörthersee music track myself...

Here is a area were stunning nature combines with castles, modern engineering wonders (like tunnels and bridges). No wonder it is so much fun to ride here. There is always to place to stop and to be awed about the view.

It seemed that every European Motor rider had the same idea today - to tour around the area were Austria, Slovenia and Italy meet. Here high up in the alps the roads have a zillion curves go up and down and are in very good condition. The "motor brotherhood" requires us to greet every other rider and is it hard to keep our two hands on the handlebar while waving all the time. But is great to see so many people smiling and having the time of their lives.

So this is were we will spend the coming days - it could be worse... The Wörthersee (lake) is the biggest lake in Austria and ideal situated on the corner of Italy, Slovenia and Austria. It has pristine clear water surrounded by huge mountains. Now wonder now-a-days the rich and famous want to spend some time here (and we!). The weather is motorbike prefect so we will certainly have some serious fun.

It is not so nice to ride our bikes only on the german Autobahn (however: sometimes it is fun though to hit a new speed record...) - so we wander off through little towns which in Germany almost always seem to have an ancient history and some beautiful buildings and such.

Last October we were in Idstein in he Taunus Germany. We liked it so much that we decided to stay the night here again on out way to the south of Austria. The place was again perfect !

I cannot wait to finally watch the (TV)movie guys ("jongens" in Dutch - about Sieger and Marc...

Tim Cook is watching while apple is preparing my new Mac Pro. Watch the iMacs in the back running on...Windows?!

New reference monitor speakers: KRK Rokit 8 - sweet. Little worried what the (new) neighbors will think of them... ;-)

The new LG 34 inch 21*9 (!) Ultra HD monitor - should be fun :-). Expected in a couple of weeks.

Eddie - Jimmy and me

We were not allowed to smile - so we look dead serious :-)

We went for a cultural trip to Leiden and visited 4 museums: Lakenhal, boerhaave, Oudheden en Volkenkunde. So we saw very nice paintings by Gerrit Dou, Jan Steen, Rembrandt, gruesome medical devices and the first microscope, very interesting Greek and Roman vases and the cultural history of people from all around the world. While walking through the Volkenkunde Museum we met the famous photographer Jimmy Nelson who has an exhibition at the museum with his "Before They Pass Away" series about tribes who are on the brink of extinction. He immediately offered to make a picture of us in his studio right there - but only if we took of our T-shirts. Well: we were a little afraid that we would become part of this "tribes which are dying series" - but that is NOT the case :-)
So here we are: on the Museum Poster...

We were very lucky to get tickets for the unique concert Gregory Porter gave in Tivoli Utrecht with the Metropole Orchestra. Gregory must be the best - or at least one of the best Jazz Singers of the world. The charm, the easy, the voice: wow! The Metropole orchestra was terrific as always - so this was truly a night to never forget.

(French) Garlic in Olive Oil with Provence Herbs...

Found this old pic of me standing in the lift of my advertising agency in Prague. It was a fun office with weird arty design, like car mirrors in the lift and old irons as door handles :-)

The Steinberg UR 22 USB Audio Interface - sweet!

Today was the first and last possibility to walk a part of the "NoordZuid lijn" underground tube connecting Amserdam Centre and Amsterdam Noord underneath "Het IJ". It was very impressive and now I more understand why this project has to cost more then $5 billion and takes untill 2017 to complete.

At Bubb Kuyper Book auctions I was able to finally get a copy of "Le Livre Blanc" - the famous book written en illustrated by Jean Cocteau. It is a 1949 copy (#100 of 475) signed by Cocteau.

Nice timing: on Harvey Milk Day the U.S. Postal Service unveiled today the image for its new stamp honoring Harvey Milk. Looks great - almost tempted to sent a hard copy piece of mail...

So after some consideration for the best configuration I ordered my new Mac Pro today. I hope that that will erase messages like "you computer is to slow for playback" which I now sometimes get. Even as my current Mac Pro is a quad core 64Gb monster. I guess I have to much audiotracks and devices... It will now be made in the US, shipped and then in a month or so the big migration will start. Fingers crossed.

Back in 1985, Wubbo was the first Dutch guy in Space. And no he died. I admire Wubbo highly. He was a very intelligent and most creative person. Always pursuing new ideas. (And probably the only human ever with woolen socks in space...) He will be forever in our history and that is a remarkable achievement.

Again I was member of the jury for the Dutch Interactive Awards 2014. It was a great line up with innovative ideas, beautifully designed and realized. My favorites this year were the "Vaarwater app" and "De Correspondent". We had a fun dinner at Krasnapolsky with surprising good food and (less surprising) awesome company.

At the Houston Nasa Space Command Center - earlier this year.

A fun test on time: how popular will your name be in 25 years? Not so much it seems...

Now that the weather is still a bit gloomy what better time to re-watch some of the best Michael Caine movies? We started with the Harry Palmer series and see where we will end up. And even after 50 years or so - these movies are quite enjoyable and Michael Caine is great as ever :-)

Cute new idea from the BMW design center: a solar powered car port for the BMW i3 made from bamboo and solar panels . It is useless here in Amsterdam so I better stick to parking inside our garage...

Doesn't surprise me: Drawing on in-depth interviews with forty student-athletes at a British university, it was found that thirty-seven participants have cuddled with another male.
I am willing to help to expand this research to - let's say - 1000 more students...

Le1f (pronounced: leaf) a.k.a. Khalif Diouf makes some interesting tracks. Listen to Soda e.g. it has some very different vocals. Not sure if I could compose this - or listen continuously to it for that matter...

Strange name - but clearly the best song at this year's Eurovison. A mix of Olive's "You are not alone" and at the end a Skrillex dub-step. He wrote it him self - so that is a change from other countries (like Russia and Ukraine) who ordered their songs in Sweden.

I am not a fan of smartphone cases - but with my unfortunate experiences with my Nexus 5s - I had to take precaution measures: in comes the Ringke Fushion bumper. That will provide my hopefully with more grip and some protection when my phone drops the next time. (it also give me back my red rim)

Today after exactly 10.000 days Eddie and I returned to (almost) the place where we first met. The opera was closed - so we had to settle with café l'Opera - next door. Wow those days went really fast which is very logical when you're having fun :-)
Hopefully we can make it all the way through the next 10.000 days together in good health and with our ongoing love.

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