How Not To Kill A Mouse

This morning I expected to come downstairs to a nice surprise. Well, I guess if it were what I wanted to see, it wouldn't be a surprise now, would it? No, what I wanted and what I got were two very different things. What did I get??? Nothin' McMuffin! Bupkis.

So the other night, I went down into the kitchen to get an apple and I had a surprise visitor there. Growing up, these surprise visitors took the form of ants and palmetto bugs. They were everywhere and the little ant and roach traps were also everywhere. You had to set them up in places where the ants would go, but the dog would not. It was always quite a challenge. The traps would fill up, but there were always plenty more to cover any food that wasn't protected.

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I Now Live Just One Kilometer From A UNESCO World Heritage Site

About four years ago, I pointed to the UNESCO World Heritage Site as a way to pick some of the most amazing places to visit in the world. Back then I had visited 34 of the places on the list. I really should update that since I know I have seen a lot more in the last four years. And now I can add the fact that I live in the same town as one. In fact, I am just 1 Km away from it.

This past weekend, the Amsterdam city center was added to the list. Thats all the stuff inside the Singelgracht. Unfortunately, my apartment is just outside of that boundary. But my first apartment was inside...on the corner of Prinsengracht and Utrechtsestraat. If you aren't sure where the Singelgracht is, I created this Google Map showing the border. Well, I did, then I realized that I didn't know where the canal was either.

Its pretty exciting being this close to a UNESCO site. But I wonder what it means to those on the inside. Will property values go up? Will they try even harder to get rid of the last of the coffee shops and red light windows? Will the waiting list for a parking permit go above the current 7 year wait??? I wonder.

Back online again...

Although it wasn't supposed to be hooked up until next week, I tried my internet connection today...woohoo...it worked!!! Its lower than the advertised speed, but I am still getting 10 Mb/s....awesome.

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Amsterdam Renovation nearly complete

Ahhh, its nearly finally done. The floors are in, the painting in done, and the kitchen comes today. I can't wait for it to all be done, but looking at this video, you can see its getting VERY close.

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How I did on my vacation checklist

Its over!!! My month long vacation ends tomorrow when I have to wake up before 10 for the first time. 30 days ago, I created a list of things I was going to do. Time to go through that list and see what I actually did. I think it worked out even better than I planned and I'll tell you why afterwards:

• Tweak this site - come up with a blog design that I really like and that isn't broken in some spots. Make it easier to update and friendlier to you - Well, I tweaked it a bit, but not a whole lot. I had some fun with it.
• Read some books I have bought in the last few months (and put them into action)
• CSS Anthology - Yeah, I flipped through it a bit
• Principles of Beautiful Web Design - I read it, but didn't really take it to heart
• Windows Powershell in Action - Didn't even touch it
• Pragmatic Unit Testing in C# - Touched it, but didn't crack the cover
• Organize my life -
• Get rid of some of this extra crap in my apartment - I bought some more crap instead
• Get rid of the extra feeds I don't really read in Google Reader - They are all too important
• Get rid of the extra crap on all my PCs, etc. - Nope, didn't do that either
• Every time I have seen something interesting on the net, I added them to my del.icio.us account. Now I can actually look at them. - OK, good in theory, but didn't quite get around to it
• Prepare for my new apartment - Be a bit more involved in the renovations as they come closer to completion. - It was certainly easier to do when work didn't get in the way, but I wasn't any more involved than before
• Write up some reviews of amazing software I use everyday and that I can't live without
• Dash - No, but I still love it
• ClearContext - A review would have given me a free license, but I just paid up instead to upgrade
• SpinVox - Did that one
• Trog Bar - No, but its really cool...did that count?
• Learn about new and interesting technologies that I haven't had a chance to really focus on yet (I could probably spend a month alone on each of these):
  • Sharepoint 2007 - I am still riding on the memory of my time as a Sharepoint PM at Microsoft...didn't touch it this month
  • Facebook and Facebook development - Nope, but I played plenty of Scrabulous on Facebook
  • Windows Vista Sidebar development - Nothing here
  • Firefox and Thunderbird addon development - I briefly looked into Chrome dev
  • The new stuff in Visual Studio 2008 - Never even launched VS
  • LINQ - I can now spell it correctly
  • Windows Presentation Foundation - No
  • Windows Communication Foundation - Nada

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Another video on YouTube: End of Week 5 of the Amsterdam Renovation

For some reason, I have been sitting on this for a week without posting...well here it is now.

I am heading over to the place to do week 6 in an hour or so.

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Do you know of a parking garage in OudWest Amsterdam?

OK, this is not likely to get results, but I have to try. I live in Amsterdam and I just bought a place in Oud West. I signed up for street parking 2 months ago and have only another 22 months to wait. Until then I need a place to park. I know I can do Europark or whatever that is called on Marnixstraat, but I was hoping for something closer. I currently park in a garage on Govert Flinkstraat that you would never find normally because it is unmarked. I am hoping one of you know of something like that in my area. So if you know of a garage in Oud West, preferably in the red zone below, but also in the blue zone, please let me know. If you know how to get a monthly pass at Staringplein, I would be interested in that too.

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Four weeks down....a few more to go

Here is the video for week four. The big changes are the electrics, and the walls are mostly plastered. Enjoy!

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Taking on a new challenge after next week

At the end of next week I am taking on a new challenge. Its something I have never tried before. That's right, I have to move on. Wait...no....not that....I am talking about how I take vacations. Every time I have taken time off in the past, I have gone somewhere. My last few vacations I have spent in Vietnam, Cambodia, New Zealand, Croatia, and other great spots around the world. But this time I am going to try something new. I am going nowhere!!! I am just going to stay in Amsterdam. I am going to be able to do all the things I have been wanting to do here. But I don't want to just sit on my ass and stare at a wall. So I am trying to come up with a list of things I want to do. I will have plenty of time since I have pretty much the entire month of December. So here is my list so far. Its in no particular order other than the order they came out of my head. Now some of this may look like work, but it isn't. I just happen to have a job that covers the topics I genuinely enjoy working on.

• Tweak this site - come up with a blog design that I really like and that isn't broken in some spots. Make it easier to update and friendlier to you.
• Read some books I have bought in the last few months (and put them into action) - CSS Anthology, Principles of Beautiful Web Design, Windows Powershell in Action, Pragmatic Unit Testing in C#, etc.
• Organize my life - Get rid of some of this extra crap in my apartment, get rid of the extra feeds I don't really read in Google Reader, get rid of the extra crap on all my PCs, etc.
• Every time I have seen something interesting on the net, I added them to my del.icio.us account. Now I can actually look at them.
• Prepare for my new apartment - Be a bit more involved in the renovations as they come closer to completion.
• Write up some reviews of amazing software I use everyday and that I can't live without - Dash, ClearContext, SpinVox, Trog Bar, etc
• Learn about new and interesting technologies that I haven't had a chance to really focus on yet (I could probably spend a month alone on each of these):
• Sharepoint 2007
• Facebook and Facebook development
• Windows Vista Sidebar development
• Firefox and Thunderbird addon development
• The new stuff in Visual Studio 2008
• LINQ
• Windows Presentation Foundation
• Windows Communication Foundation
• Windows Workflow Foundation
• Silverlight
• YUI
• Everything else in .NET 3.5
• System Center
• Actually start to use Powershell more often so that I don't have to relearn it every time.
• Maybe see a little bit of Amsterdam and the Netherlands. There is so little I have seen of this place. This guide might help.
• Sleep - I plan to sleep a lot. I haven't been getting much of that for a while.

OK, so I think I may have a bit more to do that a single month will allow. But that may be a good problem to have.

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Ahhh....the apartment is no longer a scary mess...

I have posted another video showing the progress of my apartment renovation. The piles of rubble are gone and now the beginnings of some walls are in. Its VERY exciting for me. There is still lots for them to do...

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