Social television

So, here I am surrounded by Scottish people (ah no, Armenian, German, English…) and..

The dutch team is playing for the EC on 17th june!

So where will I find dutch people to go crazy after we win? I’ve not had a specific need for dutch people yet, but now it’s there.

So, social television, there we go! What to do, tweetfeeds, videoconferencing? Some nudging system? Any ideas? Who wants to watch the match web 2.0 style with me? But, you must be dutch

Mhh, maybe better find some dutch bar here.

 

Backup systems

Now I get it. I was thinking why some things are so difficult here, am I going crazy? Might be, but still hard to believe

I think that when you move to a different country you lose a lot of your backup systems. When something goes wrong you do not have the alternatives in place to solve it. You have to be creative, or just accept it can’t be solved. Was thinking this when the trampoline on the boat got ripped this weekend (story might be posted on the internationalmoth blog). My backup systems for boat problems are all left in the Netherlands. Most of my repair kit is still there, (most of) my sailing friends are there, adresses of sailmakers are there, and all the stuff that usually hangs around cycle sheds is not here. So no backups!

Makes you extra proud when you still manage to solve the problem. So, after 1 hour of glorious sailing (foiling!), breaking a trampoline, then nursing the boat back in I found a bit of cloth in the garbage somehwere, cleaned it (it stinked!), asked the lady of the B&B of she had needle and thread, then spent sunday sowing the thing back together. Made it. But it might, or might not hold.

 

Japanese whisky

IMAG0104

Originally uploaded by Wilde Tukker

Hey Pieter,

Found Japanese whisky in a shop on Buchanan street (not cheap…)
But my colleagues say you should drink Scotch, the man in the shop said that the best Japanese ones are nearly as good as the Scottish ones…
So have your pick

 

I’ve got a thing in my pocket

And it’s not a Nokia N95 (for those of you who know the advertisement), but an O2 XDA Orbit 2. the one phone that is supposed to do it all. Makes coffee, and bakes your croissants.

Very happy with the phone. Touch screen, no keyboard (keyboard makes a phone too thick in my opinion), GPS, 3 megapixel camera, windows mobile (ppt, excel, word), Wifi. i’ve now installed Shozu (direct uploading of photos to Flickr, Facebook, Hyves integration), and Skype (free calls to NL, if it works…). Hope to get my calendar and now 508 outlook contacts back in it tonight.

Some downsides: the touchscreen isn’t as responsive as it used to be on my old Ericsson p800, the camera is not so good as I’d hope it would be. The shutter button needs a hard press, makes the images moved, and it needs a lot of light (very small lens)

Good: Small, you don’t notice it is in your pocket. It could do everything I’d want… and more (videocall anyone?).

This will cost me some nights fiddling…

 Finshing up some stuff at work now, then flying to NL tomorrow, bad timing for the buses to strike in NL!

 

Nice sail

Got a trip on a sailboat this weekend, Westerly 35, nice one! Winter on saturday (including a 20 knot wind), summer on sunday (including no wind). Great to be out there! Thanks Marylin and Alex!

Photos on Flickr.

Report from Largs sailing club here.

Ps just read my home club FC Twente made the Champions League qualifiers, by keeping Ajax out! Hihaaa!

 

Buses

Now this is interesting. Three different persons at the bus station were telling me to get on a different bus, including the coordinator. But still I got the bus I wanted. There’s a guy sitting in front of me in the bus where I write this. They’re all telling me I should have taken the McGills bus, but after checking the schedules and drop off points I’m sure that I’m right. The power of Information! Hah. Thanks to my wireless web dongle.

But, I’ve now missed my drop off point in Lochwinnoch, so I’ll go on to Saltcoats (as advised by the guy in front of me who keeps telling me the other bus would have been faster and cheaper). There I’ll get another bus to Largs.

I’ve tried taking this bus schedule before, but I ended up not going at all, as people kept telling me different stories. The problem is there’s so many different bus companies, and no integrated schedules (except on the travelines website, that I’m looking at right now).

Next time I just wont say that I’m going to Largs, but just ask to drop me off at the roundabout in Lochwinnoch, so I wont confuse anyone. But these people are just plain wrong! Pfff.

 

I’m official!

Got my NI number in the mail today, a credit card kind of thing with my number on it. That means I’m now official. As they say when doing karate: uuuus.

My sisters left today (great weekend near Fort William, pics later, this part of the world has got some nature!), and after Bert left again I’m now all alone again, oh no, I’ve got lots of colleagues. Felt a bit lonely this morning, leaving my sisters on the railway station.

But, a trip to my now local bar the Waterloo after work made things better, KinkFM is transmitting via the WWW, and I’ve got my desired identity card.
Time to get some decent work done this week, then on to a sailboat cruise up Holy Loch next weekend. I’m not bored!

 

Carson Summit – Audience

Carson Summit – Audience

Originally uploaded by Pete Lambert

Nice photo on Flickr, commented on the Edtechie blog (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheEdTechie/~3/281944006/making-connecti.html)
Are they doing active learning? Sharing? Or just annoying the speaker with their typing?

 

Competition

That’s it. It’s about competition. A big difference to the Netherlands is about competition, and showing you are able to do something. I tended to think many of the things I did in the Netherlands were competing, or competitive. They might have been, like competing for projects, or a job, but there is a big difference in the climate wherein you do things. I’m beginning to think in the Netherlands many people (including me) have been spoilt. There isn’t much need to compete, as we all have it quite good. So you get complacent.

I keep thinking about an architect friend of mine, who had a girlfriend from Middle America. She could not live in Holland and work as an architect. She felt everything was finished already, so what good is it to build there?

Over here there are bigger differences (class differences, and have a walk around in the city, and compare some of the shopping areas, and dress of the people). So, when you want to improve your situation, you better make sure that you up for it. I think that could inform thinking about competition. There is just more people willing to improve in the UK, whilst many people in the Netherlands are falling asleep, as we’ve got it too good!

 

Culture

So. I guess you all want to read semi-intellectual things about culture and all that. So here goes.

I did notice some things were different at work. But couldn’t lay my hands on what exactly this was. It seems to all boil down to the good old dutch ‘poldermodel’. When I work often you get an initial idea, and you know some people whom you think you can do this with. In the Netherlands you then go about and test this idea (could be clients whom you know well). Together you develop this further, which might mean it will take a different direction, key is the mutual agreement on where this should go.

In the UK (or is it Scotland? Or maybe only at the Academy?) you first develop the idea further, maybe write it up as a draft. It shouldn’t need much work after it is written up. You then take it out and see if your future partner likes it. Key (I think) is to come out with a really good idea.

So, what’s good bad? I must say I miss the Poldermodel (though I have never spent more then 2 seconds thinking about it!). Poldermodel is good when you know your partner, and you kindof know that you’ll work with them. It ensures buyin from all parties, amd more committment.

The UK model seems more professional, as you come up with a great idea straight away. You hope they buy in enough to go with it. Also, it seems to enable you to do things how you want them (but it needs a bit more work to bring the idea across).

Maybe I’ll get it later

So how’s that for culture? One more thing, really weird. People do not look at each other on the streets here, not at all! I’ve done some tests, and people just look away really quickly when you make eye contact. They must be watching each other very secretly though