Where has the time gone?
Wow, has it really been three months since my last real update? I guess it has. Maybe Twitter ( @rdriessen) is partially to blame for it, but on the other hand I've been busy. Really busy.
So, where to start? I guess you guys have heard enough about my trip to Namibia and the knee surgery. I spent six weeks with my parents, recovering and getting physical therapy. I spent a few hours here and there behind a laptop to keep some projects going that were developing at work. Eventually in the second week of February I was allowed to drive a car again and walk without crutches. And I was happy. Happy to go home and happy to be away from my parents. Now don't get me wrong, I love my parents and they went out of their way to get me to and from therapy, cooking my favorite food and all that. Yet you'll always be a child in your parents' eyes, so the well-meant questions and comments began to get on my nerves after a while. "Did you manage to get some work done? Have you been on the home trainer yet? Isn't it time for your walk?" It made me realize I wouldn't be able to live with my parents anymore. Which I suppose is a good thing. I'd get strange looks if I said I was still living with my parents....
So in February and March I've been mostly busy with work assignments at the main office, helping the training people from the Academy with their backlog updating courses and making new ones. Also finished the Hotelgame and eventually managed to write a text for an accompanying flyer. They want me to write an official article about it as well, but I feel very insecure about that. I didn't sign up for that when I agreed to finish the game.
Aaaanyway, eventually work managed to find me a new assignment at Boskalis, the world's leading company in dredging. Their Asset Management division needed help building a new central database for all their equipment and spare parts and that's what I'm doing right now, turning 20 separate databases (from the 20 biggest ships) into one central database where one screw or o-ring only has one ordernumber instead of 20 different ones. Eventually that central database will have 250.000 items. Needless to say I'll be stationed there for a while. And in the mean time I'm also training colleagues in the fine art of Functional Management one night a week. So next to the daytime job, I have two therapy sessions a week, one night of training and two (sometimes three) radioshows to host. Because I'm not a machine, I knew I had to cut down a little and so I'll be stopping with my shows at Monsterhit Music after next month's 80s-day.
The new assignment has also rekindled my search for a home. I've visited a few apartments in Schiedam but it seems as if everything that looks interesting has a skeleton hiding in a closet. Either the apartment is still in its 'original state', complete with seventies wallpaper and kitchen, or the backside of the apartment borders a huge blind wall 4 stories high which kills any chance of daylight coming in. Furthermore, half of Schiedam is at risk of slowly sinking due to the old foundations being dragged down by hardened clay. As you can guess, I'd like to avoid the risk that one year after buying an apartment I have to take out an additional loan or mortgage to pay for foundation renewal. Oh, and the fact that the government's subsidy-fund for new buyers has dried up doesn't help much either. With new National Elections on the way, every party has something to say about cutting tax-benefits for home-owners. All in all, a very uncertain time to buy property. Luckily I'm in no hurry leaving Katwijk.
What else is new? Uhm, gonna visit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in June (thanks to an aunt winning plane tickets and her husband's fear of flying), and next weekend I'll be playing host to Nick - one of the other volunteers at CCF. And next saturday the family is coming together at grandma's place to clear out the house of everything non-essential with regards to her coming move to a nursing home. It's going to be awkward emptying grandpa's rooms....
But first.... party tonight! Won a free ticket to go see a Jazz-concert followed by Kraak & Smaak spinning the wheels of steel. I'll be dragging jonesybunny along, since bander had to go accept a job in the UK ;)
P.S. If I ever *do* manage to find a new house and move there, (and after an allergy test) I'm am so going to get me two ferrets....
So, where to start? I guess you guys have heard enough about my trip to Namibia and the knee surgery. I spent six weeks with my parents, recovering and getting physical therapy. I spent a few hours here and there behind a laptop to keep some projects going that were developing at work. Eventually in the second week of February I was allowed to drive a car again and walk without crutches. And I was happy. Happy to go home and happy to be away from my parents. Now don't get me wrong, I love my parents and they went out of their way to get me to and from therapy, cooking my favorite food and all that. Yet you'll always be a child in your parents' eyes, so the well-meant questions and comments began to get on my nerves after a while. "Did you manage to get some work done? Have you been on the home trainer yet? Isn't it time for your walk?" It made me realize I wouldn't be able to live with my parents anymore. Which I suppose is a good thing. I'd get strange looks if I said I was still living with my parents....
So in February and March I've been mostly busy with work assignments at the main office, helping the training people from the Academy with their backlog updating courses and making new ones. Also finished the Hotelgame and eventually managed to write a text for an accompanying flyer. They want me to write an official article about it as well, but I feel very insecure about that. I didn't sign up for that when I agreed to finish the game.
Aaaanyway, eventually work managed to find me a new assignment at Boskalis, the world's leading company in dredging. Their Asset Management division needed help building a new central database for all their equipment and spare parts and that's what I'm doing right now, turning 20 separate databases (from the 20 biggest ships) into one central database where one screw or o-ring only has one ordernumber instead of 20 different ones. Eventually that central database will have 250.000 items. Needless to say I'll be stationed there for a while. And in the mean time I'm also training colleagues in the fine art of Functional Management one night a week. So next to the daytime job, I have two therapy sessions a week, one night of training and two (sometimes three) radioshows to host. Because I'm not a machine, I knew I had to cut down a little and so I'll be stopping with my shows at Monsterhit Music after next month's 80s-day.
The new assignment has also rekindled my search for a home. I've visited a few apartments in Schiedam but it seems as if everything that looks interesting has a skeleton hiding in a closet. Either the apartment is still in its 'original state', complete with seventies wallpaper and kitchen, or the backside of the apartment borders a huge blind wall 4 stories high which kills any chance of daylight coming in. Furthermore, half of Schiedam is at risk of slowly sinking due to the old foundations being dragged down by hardened clay. As you can guess, I'd like to avoid the risk that one year after buying an apartment I have to take out an additional loan or mortgage to pay for foundation renewal. Oh, and the fact that the government's subsidy-fund for new buyers has dried up doesn't help much either. With new National Elections on the way, every party has something to say about cutting tax-benefits for home-owners. All in all, a very uncertain time to buy property. Luckily I'm in no hurry leaving Katwijk.
What else is new? Uhm, gonna visit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in June (thanks to an aunt winning plane tickets and her husband's fear of flying), and next weekend I'll be playing host to Nick - one of the other volunteers at CCF. And next saturday the family is coming together at grandma's place to clear out the house of everything non-essential with regards to her coming move to a nursing home. It's going to be awkward emptying grandpa's rooms....
But first.... party tonight! Won a free ticket to go see a Jazz-concert followed by Kraak & Smaak spinning the wheels of steel. I'll be dragging jonesybunny along, since bander had to go accept a job in the UK ;)
P.S. If I ever *do* manage to find a new house and move there, (and after an allergy test) I'm am so going to get me two ferrets....