The recent statements of the pope, speaking of violence and “bad things” coming from Islam have resulted in an uproar of the islamic world, calling for violent vengeance and the death/assassination of the pope.

Isn’t it sweet? ;)

after this infamous august with ±5 sunny days (if any) the summer seems to try to make one last stand against the coming autumn by giving us what millions of tourists in Amsterdam always wish for but rarely get: No clouds at all! :D

It’s been a wonderful day yesterday and today seems to be even nice!
We have been sitting at the lake behind the Rijksmuseum yesterday and just enjoyed the sun on our bodies. (well, I had to endure a shopping-session with Anna first but that’s another story ;)

Today we slept long and will now go to the city once more to absorb as much sunlight as possible.. maybe even take a ride to the beach later :P

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thursday – if nothing unforseen happens – I will sign my contract at verizon business.
even if this is not exactly the job I have been looking for, I am terribly happy to have found a job that fast. :)

As a matter of fact, it looks like the people there seem to be pretty relaxed. And I like the flair of the company :P
Apart from that they will eventually pay me education, meaning Cisco Tech certificates and such.

two more days and I am nervous as hell!

two things amazed me today.

the one thing is the rainbow that was forming in front of our house today, spanning Amsterdam.

the other is the amount of time and work people put into open source / GPL software..
The software that was used to make this stitch is Hugin enhanced by autopano and enblend. (the one choses “reference points” to orientate on and the other blends the images much nicer to each other while stitching)

Once again I have to bow before the open source movement.
People that do amazing things “just for fun”. (Read the book that is called like that!)

it’s unbelievable how much excitement and energy looking for a new job offers..
I have begun advertising myself on various job boards and have since gotten a couple of interviews and lots of telephone calls.
All in all I now have a job for 2000 per month which I can start mid september .. there are better paid jobs but it can also be much worse, because they usually want someone with more experience (and if possible a diploma. pfff…) – so I will do it.

Anyway: They told me they’d allow me to get some nifty certificates on their cost that will enable me to become a real techie :P
Right now my only strength is communication (which I shamelessly use in these interviews.. talking too much? me??? never!)
But having some “real” qualifications and Cisco/HP certificates will bring me another step closer to my goal: My own IT consulting company. ;)

After having survived the incredible rainfalls at the Lowlands festival (ok, only sunday was rainy. But then it was pouring!) we returned and decided to get free friday before and monday afterwards next time.
It was such a cool event, people of all ages around, music of (almost) all sorts and a very good feeling.

The motto of lowlands is “a campingflight to lowlands paradise” and that’s exactly what you have to do there. Have a good time.
And all other worries and such could be eliminated with some self-made good food and lots of relaxing and sleeping. (isn’t it, Anna? ;) )

For the rest, I immediately went back to business. Having decided to stop or quit my studies now (I’ll have to give this a thought in a couple of years again) I am now in the process of shifting my life to Amsterdam to live with Anna and “be pregnant with her” as “the book” says. You thought only women get pregnant? Ha! ;)

Concerning Catzee, this is not such a big problem because all our activities are online (or at least internet related) anyway. I will be able to conduct the one or another project from there aswell. Considering how much he has done for me and that he is “responsible” for this motivation of mine, I want to stay his partner as long as I can! Do you hear? I owe you big deal, man! :)

Concerning the other things that have come up recently it will either involve me “dancing at two weddings” (as we say in Germany, meaning Aachen and Amsterdam) or giving up some things that I really would have liked to do. Damn decisions all the time.

The trouble with freelance work is that you cannot just “stop” doing it. It becomes a part of you and you “are” your job, be it Monday morning or be it Saturday night, it’s always “on duty” for me. (and most ideas come at the craziest times.)
But the advantage is: I can work _whenever_ I want, _whatever_ I want and for _whomever_ I want. I am my own boss and I decide. That’s just perfect!

In Amsterdam, I’ve now been offered some positions in the technical customer service environment. Not really my thing but they offer good payment for a person that has no real education besides his “Abitur” and lots of skills and qualifications but no paper to state it.
Well.. following your own nose all the time has its price.

I will definitely continue doing freelance work and try to establish my “own thing” also in the Netherlands. But it’s not ready yet to live from it. As a student I could survice with this. But as a father I need some hard cash now. If I only think about all the stuff that we are going to need next year. My..

But who knows what I might be doing next year or in 5 years. Life usually plays so many tricks on me and so many things happen unexpectedly that I should not be too worried about where I will be next year or what my profession will be. I have proven to myself that I can survive everywhere.

No worries! (or: “Hakuna Matata!”) ;)

I will never forgive you for making me remember this, you know who you are!

it turned out that Anna wasn’t sick after all…
This is the reason for it:

It’s 4,1 mm in size, its heart is beating and I am very proud of it :D

We are off to lowlands now :)
Finally we managed to get out again, pack the tent and sleeping bags and do 3 days of music, theater, performances and crappy food :D

I’m so excited.