Words from the Netherlands

Preparing for my dive trip in November - A review of Dive Locator.

2009-10-13T11:42:00.001+02:00

So it's coming closer now. My dive trip with Lorenz and Marc to South Africa.

With our vacation to Hurghada, Egypt, now being a mere memory (more on this in a future post), I'm looking forward to what the near future has in store. Apart from a trip to Cairo tomorrow and some days with my wife to celebrate our anniversary, the big trip will be November 19th to South Africa. And I've decided that I want a new camera and a new watch.

New Gear
The camera will probably be a Canon Powershot G10 as I read great reviews on it and it's affordable. The watch is probably going to be a Suunto X10, which sports a GPS (which is useless underwater, but great to track my travels). Since I already have a Suunto Vyper2 as dive computer I'm all set. Although I'm tempted to get me the new Vyper AIR, which integrated the air pressure into the dive computer. Maybe next trip as I'm already overspending a bit... But that's only good for the economy, isn't it.

New Apps
On a slightly different node, I've been looking into applications to track my dive log and stumbled upon a few that also have some sort of counterpart on my Touch. I bought Dive Log from moremobilesoftware as it integrates, supposedly, nice with a log application for Windows that can read from my Suunto.

Dive Locator
While browsing in the Apple AppStore I stumbled upon Dive Locator, an application that lists dive sites around the world, which currently is limited to 4 regions (Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, USA and Western Carribean, but nothing in the Red Sea or Asia). Although there are 900 sites according to the documentation, it doesn't feel that much. But there are means to update the database by email and through the web. Adding new locations in the application itself is not possible, so you need one way or another internet access.
The tool is very simple, which is excellent by the way, as its purpose is simple: List a multitude of dive sites and provide relevant information on your selected site. That information by the way is very limited, any thing else than a simple address and longitude and latitude coordinates. Something I'm missing is information regarding the site itself. Is there a wreck, at what depth, how long is the transfer to the site when it is in open sea. Is the site a regular for live-aboard trips etc. And very important, what kind of dive can you do at that location and what is there to see, like special marine life.
It doesn't tell you that. On the other hand, there is an interface with Google Maps, so you can see the site and its surroundings on GoogleMaps, but the sites in its vicinity are not shown. Which is unfortunate because in most cases I know where I've been, but don't know the name. Or I know where I want to go, but don't know the name. Also very handy is the possibility to show current weather conditions.
Considering the price this is an application that you should consider. It works well, has interesting and handy information regarding geographic location (Google Maps) and weather conditions, but insufficient information regarding the dive site itself. I'm looking for updated information on the sites, and hopefully there will be a way to add these additional information as well in a future release.
Find iPhone apps at AppStoreHQ

Iwan

What happened in 2008 (part three in a series...)

2009-07-22T12:24:00.003+02:00

Hi,

Not too long ago, I blogged about our family vacation in 2008. That was in September.

Right after that vacation I went to see our doctor because I was feeling dead tired all the time. I was sleeping 16+ hours a night and still I was exhausted. According to the doctor this was due to a lack of adrenaline. I was underworked! She suggested I should go sporting, so I picked up swimming and things went better.

In November 2008 I went to Egypt with two buddies of mine, scuba diving in the red sea. The high lights were seeing a group of turtles grazing underwater and a little fight between two of them as well as spotting Hamer head shark. The trip in general was just great and relaxing.

The end of 2008 was marked by a Christmas in bed. I had an ear infection that resulted in nausea and dizziness. Every single move of my head resulted in throwing up. After a couple of days all was fine again, but it was scary. So I spend Christmas alone in bed instead of with the loved ones.

New Years eve was great though and the kids loved the fireworks. Jay was all up-n-go with the fireworks, and Ray, well Ray was just Ray; all into it.

That more or less concludes 2008. This year has been a year of excellent stuff so far... well it would've been if I wrote this a week ago, which I didn't so next time I'll tell you what happened a few days ago, that wasn't excellent.

Iwan

What happened in 2008 (part two in a series...)

2009-06-16T12:26:00.002+02:00

Hi,

So last time I blogged, I could still call it 'What happened the last 12 months...' but let's call it 2008, shall we?

So what did happen after I was released from the hospital? Obviously Jay turned 3 and I went just before that to San Francisco for a slightly over a week... JavaOne 2008.

The summer didn't have a lot in store for me, mainly because my MR2 had a small problem with its transmission. The problem being that I couldn't use it. And of course those very few sunny days in 2008 I didn't have a convertible. Anyway, they fixed it and it cost me a lot less than initially thought. That was good.

The summer of 2008 was also the first time the four of us went on vacation all together. We went for a whole week to Asten-Ommel, a small town in Brabant. The park's name is Prinsenmeer. I've got to say that the week was great, to be with the family and all without the daily routines from around the house. But th little bungelow we thought we had booked was a big caravan without wheels and it was kind of like not really well cleaned.
On the uptake, the pool they had was nice with two nice water slides, that Jay dared to do all by himself. Jay and I also went for a trip on the waterbikes. That was fun. One of the nicer trips we took that week was to a zoo nearby, which was just big enough to walk all day and see everything. But it was also very well maintained. And the Cheetah's were great. Also our daytrip to Toverland was great. Jay was barely big enough to be allowed in one of the many rollercoasters and he loved the bobsled and the wild-water ride. Unfortunately Ray was too little for most rides. Well, being only a year and a half old... this was to be expected.

More on the proceedings in 2008 of me and my family later (this year).

Iwan

Movie Review: The Wrestler

2009-03-06T08:02:00.001+01:00

Does Mickey Rourke deserve an Oscar based on this performance? I don't know, although his acting is quite good, it's not great. Well maybe it is, because during the movie you're starting to feel for his character. The story is quite predictable. There are no surprises or twists in the story. But that's not a problem, since the story doesn't require any mysteries or suspense to be involving.

The story though is about a man who's lost contact with his daughter, who's in love with a stripper and considers a paycheck with more than 10 bucks on it a good day. And when you're asking me if I can relate I'ld have to say 'No', but still the acting is such that you understand why things are going the way they are, and you'll be finding yourself against better judgement, hoping for events to take different turns.

The Wrestler is a slow moving story. The action scenes in it are there only to underpin the story, not to blow you away. But on top of it all, the movie captivates at times, and is interesting overall. And not to forget Marissa Tomei, who shows some wrinkles, but is still damn cute.

Iwan

What happened the last 12 months (part one in a series...)

2009-02-24T15:00:00.006+01:00

Hi,

As promised in an earlier post (I'm too lazy to figure out which one) I'm going to tell about what happened the last 12 months or so. Since quite a bit happened, I'll be posting a few blogposts to cover the period. This is part one in the series.

Last year as you might have read, my brother and his wife lost their pre-maturely born daughter Bindi. That pretty much marked the last blogpost of me in 2008.

In April right before Easter I got really sick. Sick enough to be hospitalized. Yup I spend a few days in the hospital. But no operation or anything else, only a very strict diet. I could only drink apple juice and eat some shakes. And I had an IV in my hand, probably just to keep me from running away. Now I have to say that those shakes weren't too bad. Especially the banana flavored were rather good, and efficient. Only 5 or 6 shakes a day and I had all nutrition of the day. No chewing involved.

Ok, I had to spend like 4 hours in the ER, and suffering from really intense pains in my abdomen. As it turned out I had a problem with my intestines. Hence the diet. After 2 days all pain was gone and I was allowed to drink coffee again. That's right, I wasn't allowed to drink any coffee, or an espresso. So that sucked.

Easter Sunday I was back home, which was good. Hospitals aren't too nice a places, so I intend not to go there too often.

Iwan

PS: I was told that I should eat whole wheat bread and lots-n-lots of fruit by my doctor. So nowadays I have whole wheat bread and eat lots-n-lots of fruit. Do you?

Back from the Maldives

2009-02-10T10:20:00.003+01:00

Hi,

So I'm back in the Netherlands and already missing the serenity and quietness of Kandooma. But obviously I'm really happy to be with the boys again. And so is Olcay, who's suffering from a flu at the moment. I guess it's best to be sick when you're at home.

Jay and Ray had a great time at my parents who made sure that they wouldn't be thinking about anything else than doing fun stuff.

The flight back was not too good as Air Berlin appearantly doesn't care about leg-room, which is really not much more than a few cm I estimate. And 10.5 hours folded in a chair is not cool... and not to mention the fact that they don't have adjustable headrests on their seats. That sucks.

Last Sunday was Ray's birthday (8th of feb) and we had a great day. Although he's suffering from a serious ear infection. The goo is literally dripping from his ear, no kidding.

Yesterday was my first day back at my main customer at the moment and the last 2 weeks some interesting things had happened. And a lot of realization took place as well.

Iwan

Words from the Maldives (7)

2009-02-03T18:23:00.004+01:00

Hi,

So this is going to be a mixed feelings blog... Today was our last day on Kandooma :'( but also the last day we have to miss Jay and Ray.

So what was done today? Not much, or maybe quite a bit. We went snorkeling this morning on two sites, both not as impressive as our snorkeling trip yesterday, but we saw a turtle and there was a nice current, that allowed for a nice drift. Still the fish weren't as bright and numerous as yesterday.

This afternoon we spend soaking up more sun, and we had some nice talks with some of the guys working here. This night we had diner at The Kitchen, where Olcay had 2 deserts. Yup and both times the Almond Fried Ice. And we got the promise that we would receive the recipe by mail.

All-in-all this vacation has been tremendously cool and relaxing and Kandooma is really a great place to spend your time when you just want to relax and want to be amongst the friendliest of people. Although everybody is trying their best in serving you as good as they can, it doesn't feel as if they're trying... it feels as if it all comes naturally. This added to the experience and whenever you are thinking about the Maldives, but don't know which of the islands is the best place to spend your time... go to Kandooma.

Well that is about it, for now the last Words from the Maldives. Maybe in a couple of years we'll be setting foot on the island again, for now, we're longing to see the boys again.

Next time, Words from the Netherlands and I'll try to get you up to speed about what happened in 2008.

Iwan

Words from the Maldives (6)

2009-02-02T15:58:00.003+01:00

Hi,

Today we actually did something significant... we went on a Catamaran trip to another island close by to snorkel. It was great. Olcay saw a turtle and we also saw a Gruper and a Morene.

The rest is pretty much the same... soaking up the sun, although yesterday and today the sun was really burning during the hours around noon.

When we got back we were pleasantly surprised by Rasheed (we think) who had our bed decorated with red flowers... a true romantic. That was really nice, he's been very forthcoming all week, which added to the whole experience.

So tomorrow is our last day here. Wednesday we're probably off really early as our flight is at about 11 AM. We're going to miss Kandooma, but we still have a day to enjoy life here on the island. Tomorrow more snorkeling on the menu and good food at The Kitchen, the a-la-carte restaurant on the island.

Until the next blog...

Iwan

Words from the Maldives (5)

2009-02-01T18:46:00.003+01:00

Hi,

Another post from the Maldives. It's Sunday and that means a quiet day... well just because we're at the Maldives where it is more or less a quiet day everyday. Not much happened since we're here to relax, but I went on a night dive, my last dive here this time. As you might expect, it was dark, and fortunately I had two torches, since my primary went out after 24 minutes.
We saw two octopussies, octopuses, octopy (?), anyway, we saw two of those fighting. I think about territories, but that doesn't matter, it looked great. Never saw it for real.

Tonight we had a nice diner, although the duck wasn't really good. I left it where it was. We did see a Chinese movie (Curse of the Golden Flower), which seems to be a nice movie (soon to be found in my collection I guess).
Later on we went for fried ice with almonds for Olcay (her favorite desert as it turns out) and some lounging with an espresso (Illy) and a cognac (Hennesy VSOP) and a Shisha. That turned out to be a nice finalle of the day. Monday and Tuesday are left for us before we're leaving paradise and getting back to the real world, where there are Jay and Ray, who we really miss.

Iwan

Words from the Maldives (4)

2009-01-31T13:43:00.002+01:00

Hi,

Another day on this paradise like island. Today not much happened apart from the fact that I went diving this morning and we saw sharks, Whitetip Reef Sharks to be exact. Like six of them. Which was really cool. First time I saw so many sharks. We also saw a fairly big Napoleon fish. After the sharks (deco time at 5 minutes) we took a current and drifted for a while, which was also really cool. Unfortunately we couldn't spend that much time drifting. And on top of this all, while drifting, we heard dolphins. Yup, we heard the squirking (I really have no clue as to this is really called) by the dolphins. Unfortunately they were to far away, and we only saw them while back on the boat. But cool it was, some of them made some nice jumps. My guess is that these are trained dolphins, set out to entertain divers, and to make them feel bad that they didn't encounter the dolphins while diving :).

Nothing much else happened, although not to me anyway. Olcay on the other hand saw a turtle while snorkling. And considering that Kandooma doesn't have much of a reef, that truely is a sight to behold.

Until the next post...

Iwan

Words from the Maldives (3)

2009-01-30T16:13:00.002+01:00

Hi,

Today I've got something to tell, as promised yesterday, because today and last night stuff actually happened in this paradise of total relaxation.

So what happened? First of all last night we had quite the rainstorm here on Kandooma. Well maybe it was just your average everyday tropical rainstorm, but we woke up from the rain, which especially in my case means something as I don't wake up usually until it is time according to the alarm clock (or Ray). But rest assured, the Water Villa we're staying in is build very well, and apart from the bathroom (which is partly open) no water came in.

Today I also went diving. First dive here with Euro Divers, which means you're not allowed deeper than 20 meters, which is cool. The diving site had a wreck at 30 meters, but the top of the wreck was at 20 meters deep. From what we could see, there was no way you could actually get in the wreck so not much lost here. After the wreck we saw an Octopus hiding its little cave and later on a turtle. Which in fact was small compared to the turtles we saw in Marsa Alam last November, about which I need to blog... still. That turtles crossed our path later on, but that was also because we went around a big rock a second time and that turtle was at more or less the same spot.
A bit later we saw some Morenes. Two to be exact, which weren't that big compared to the one that swam right in front of me in Oman last year, or rather 2007.
After hitting the 50 bar mark we went up and started our return to the boat. We now were over the rock we circled twice and Jerry, my buddy for the occasion pointed behind me. I looked behind me and saw a Triggerfish (see also Wikipedia) trying to bite me. Yup, it wanted to get a piece of my fins (I like to think that it wasn't after my butt). It was a bit intimidated by me and my mask as it hesitated everytime I turned around. After some distance it gave up, or maybe I left its territory or something. Anyway, I am still me, 100% and nothing was left of me in the belly of this terrible monster of the sea :) haha. Although I must say that its teeth were somewhat big and sharp, I have to admit.

So that was today on the Maldives. Soon there will be more.

Iwan

Words form the Maldives (2)

2009-01-29T17:22:00.003+01:00

Hi,

Another day on Kandooma which started of with sort of a disappointment. I overslept, so I was too late to enter for the afternoon Scuba trip. Tomorrow another try. Everything else was really great and every day we enjoy the resort even more.

Since not much happened today because we've been sunbathing and snorkeling and having lunch and diner and stuff, there's not much to blog. So hopefully (for you as well) I'll be diving tomorrow, and I'm planning on going deep the day after as well. I'll then have something more to tell you.

Until then...

Iwan

Words from the Maldives (1)

2009-01-28T18:45:00.003+01:00

Hi,

It has been a while, a real long while since I blogged last. A lot has happened in since then and I plan on getting you up to speed sometime. But the coming period I'll be blogging about our stay on the Maldives. Kandooma Island to be exact. That's why these words are from the Maldives instead of the Netherlands.

So today we arrived, after a rather uneventful flight from Dusseldorf (Germany) International Airport, which requires explicit mentioning, since my dad programmed the NavSat to get us to Dusseldorf Regional Airport, which is about 60 km away from Dusseldorf International Airport. Not to blame him, since I did something very similar the first time I had to program my TomTom to direct me.
The flight was okay, although LTU has rather small seats, and the couple sitting behind us was very chatty all night.

We were quite fast outside of Male International Airport. The passport control and the customs check was fast and we got our backs really fast as well. Nice done Maldivians!
But then we got our first scare. Nobody from Kandooma to pick us up from the airport. Fortunately there was a nice lady from TUI who knew we were looking for, and as it turned out, we were expected to arrive on the 31st instead of today. No harm done, and the Water Villa we booked was available. It just had to be readied.
After a boattrip of about 40 minutes we arrived on this really beautiful island. The website is really a great representation of the island, no lies there. We're enyoing our stay sofar to the fullest. Weather is excellent (28C, a bit humidity and sea water is excellent) and so are the two restaurants we had lunch and diner. Sofar everything is going great and besides sleeping and relaxing in the sun we didn't do anything yet.

So more tomorrow, when we've undertaken one or two things (like scuba or hanging around the pool soaking up more sun). Just to keep our minds of the boys (who are staying with my parents) and on the relaxing part of the trip.

Iwan

How everything instantly started to suck! REALLY SUCK

2008-03-26T08:20:00.000+01:00

So yeah, it all can really, REALLY, suck. Why I believe this to be true, well I know this to be true.

About a week and a half ago, my sister in law went into labor, 2 months early. Bindi, the baby girl's name, was born with the knowledge that she wouldn't survive. Deprived of oxygen while in the womb for too long did too much damage.
But however you go about it, whatever you try to rationalize this tragedy, which it really is, there is just no way to wrap your mind around it. The only explanation for what happened is 'fluke'. There is nothing that could've been done to prevent it from happening and I think, at least for me, that is the only reason why I can more or less accept it. The fact that she lived for almost a day. The fact that I've been put in the position to say my goodbyes to her, and not just me, but all around her. Makes it bearable, if such a thing can be bearable.
The next thing that really sucked was the immense grieve my brother and my sister in law where experiencing, as were the grandparents. All of them. Seeing their grieve is unbearable, especially since there is nothing one can do about it. There is no way to help them get around it. There is no way to help them wrap their heads around it. That, now, REALLY SUCKS.

Last week we cremated Bindi, in if there is such a thing, the cremation was wonderful. It was small and intimate as it should have been.

Bindi: In just a single moment, You earned a place in all our hearts.

Iwan

December, the month of holidays and illnesses

2008-01-09T12:48:00.000+01:00

Hi,

Like I blogged last time, it would be after our trip to the US before I would blog again, and as it turns out, I was right and it is even 'next year'.

So what happened lately. Well first of all we went to our friends Ravi and Mamatha in the Boston area. This was on December 7th, the Friday after Sinterklaas. By the way, Sinterklaas, the Dutch equivalent to Christmas' Santa, was very generous this year, especially for the kids.

We flew at around 3 PM from Amsterdam airport, Schiphol, and because it was in the boy's prime time, they didn't sleep... for the whole flight that is. Fortunately they're both really well behaving boys when it comes to not sleeping, so hardly any crying and a lot of flirting with the North West Airlines stewardesses. It is always a really big benefit when your kids aren't pestering the rest of the plane and the in flight personal loves them. Trust me, it is. Ray needed his diaper changed pretty much right after we took of the ground and believe me, his diaper wasn't the only thing that needed changing. He'd overspend as much as Olcay and I were planning to do in the outlet stores. Fortunately Olcay had been so smart to take additional clothes along in our carry-on luggage, it was needed. Apart from the kids not sleeping, the flight was rather uneventful. We were picked up from the airport by Ravi and his family and drove to their place. As it had snowed, Jay and I played in the snow for a bit and because he didn't want to wear his gloves he found out the hard way that snow is indeed cold.
It was good to see our friends again, as it had been almost two years since the last time we visited them. Scary fact: Jay was 10 months old when we came to Boston with him, and Ray just turned 10 months when we flew there this time. Coincidence? I don't know.
That Monday or Tuesday Mamatha found out that she had pneumonia and needed to take antibiotics and stay inside. As it was really cold and everybody, especially Jay and Ray, needed to rest and get into a new rhythm we stayed around the house. Ravi had to work anyway. Tuesday and Wednesday Ray and Jay both were feeling not to well, probably because of the lack of sleep, the new daily patterns and the fact that the temperature outside was well below freezing point and inside it was nice and warm. That probably left enough opportunity for a cold-bug to strike. Ravi became ill as well during the week, same cold-bug kicked his butt and on Friday we all felt like we were good enough again to drive to his brother in Berlin, CT. Only Mahika, their daughter had a serious infection in both ears and we had to turn around. Since the weather was going to be really bad (again) it was probably a good thing, and we convinced Ravi's brother to stay at their place. Although that took a lot of convincing skills. Man did they really badly want to see us. That was really heart warming. During the car ride, Olcay became ill. Yup, that pretty much leaves me as the only person not catching anything during those 10 days. But on a different note, Olcay stayed flu'ish untill after Christmas.
The flight back was good enough as both Ray and Jay slept for a while. Fortunately they showed Cars on the inflight entertainment system so Jay was happy. Olcay didn't sleep at all, since she had to make sure that Ray wouldn't wake up. It all turned out to be a decent return home, but for the minor detail that the battery of our care was dead. Jay, probably, had turned on the little light in the back and that had drained the battery to a full stop. It took the ANWB, the Dutch roadside assistence, slightly under an hour to help us out and that was our cue to drive home and have closure for this vacation.

This time around I won't bore you with the rest of the proceedings in december. Well maybe I should as it isn't much, so here it goes.

As I said, Olcay caught the flu in the States and that only turned worse in the days after our vacation. Up to a point where she went to see the doctor. She had to try some steambaths etc for three days or else get some antibiotics. This because her whole head was congested and inflamed. This was right before Christmas. Good thing we bought some medicine in the US so there were enough pain relief goodies in the house. The day right after Christmas she called the doctor's office and got her antibiotics. Three pills and all was done. Right before New Years Eve she was up and ready to... comfort Jay while he was a bit scared of the firecrackers and other fireworks that 'made loud bangs'. Leaving me with 200+ firecrackers in the house...

On Christmas day Santa came along and surprised us all with loads of presents. Amina and her daughter where there as well. Christmas diner was really nice and the next day (2nd Christmas day as we call it in Holland) was as good, at my parents with the whole family. Apart from the illnesses and all we had a great December. Most of the time I was off and got to spend with the family.

Iwan

Through Spain, Oman and Texel towards Boston

2007-11-27T11:03:00.000+01:00

Hi,

It has been a while since I blogged and a lot has happened in the few... months I guess is the right word.

So what happened? Well Olcay and the kids went to Spain with my in-laws to meet my parents in Torremolinos, Spain. My parents had planned a two week vacation in Spain and as they do all the time, they went traveling for a week and spending the last week at the beach. They suggested that Olcay and the kids and her parents would visit them over there as well. So they did. I stayed behind, mostly because I had already planned a trip to Oman early October, but also because I had to do my verbal exam for the NVBI. Which I passed by the way.
Ray learned to crawl in Spain, and currently he walks while holding on to whatever he can. Oh, and he's damn fast as well. Putting everything into his mouth and trying to get his hands on anything forbidden. A little rascal, that's what he is. Jay had a great time in Spain, while Ray was keeping everybody awake during those 2 weeks.
A week after they came back home, I left for a diving trip to Oman. The weather was excellent, the water was warm, but murky. So there wasn't a lot of visibility. The fish we did see were bigger than those in the Red Sea and not so shy. By the way, I went with Lorenz and Ronald, and we had a great time. The hotel was really excellent, Oman Diving Center, and their food was extremely good.
Right after I came back from Oman, Olcay and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. On Texel, one of the Dutch islands in the Waddenzee. We stayed at the Texel Suites, a really good design B&B. It was a great weekend without the kids. We enjoyed it very much, but to be honest, we were also glad to see the boys again, who stayed at my parents.

And now the waiting is for our flight to the US on December 7th, when we fly to Ravi and Mamatha and see their little Mahika again. It's been way too long since we were there. Almost 2 years. Last year we planned to fly over, but Olcay got her hernia, so now it is going to work out, I'm sure.

Maybe I'll post another blog between now and then, but I'm pretty confident I won't

See you after Boston,
Iwan

Movie Review: The Simpsons

2007-08-24T13:56:00.000+02:00

Hi,

This week I saw the Simpsons movie, and I liked it. But mainly because it was just the Simpsons. Nothing fancy, nothing new, just an episode as any other episode, only taking 90 minutes.
All the characters you know are there and they're all playing their role. Excellent.

I can tell you what the story is about, but it is as absurd as any other Simpsons story, so it won't help you to decide whether or not you should see this one. But I can tell you, if you like the Simpsons, you'll like the movie. Although going to see it on the big screen is maybe not worth the effort, but then again, when you're a fan, you probably want to get the experience anyway.

Iwan

Body flying... that was soooo cool

2007-07-11T10:05:00.000+02:00

Hi,

Last Sunday was fun. I went body flying in Hueckenhoven, Germany. It was our birthday present to Ashley. Every year we do something adventurous. Last year we went powerboating this year body flying.
For those of you who don't know what body flying is, here's a short description. There's this huge turbine from an airplane set into the ground blowing a wind of 180 km/h upwards and wearing a special coverall you're flying in this air stream. When you see people doing this, it seems very easy, but let me tell you, it isn't.

Ashley was a natural, she rode the winds like she'd done it all her life. Mark and I were mediocre compared to her, although we were doing fairly well ourselves.
The good thing about this all, is that Olcay could do it as well and she enjoyed her ride on the wind a lot.

Each session lasted for about 5 minutes a person, which seems very short, but believe me, it isn't in fact after two sessions we were all rather dead beat.

Jay and Ray were spending the weekend with my parents and they took them back Sunday night. So all in all we had a great weekend.

Iwan

Movie Review: White Noise 2: The Light

2007-07-02T13:45:00.000+02:00

Here's another movie review: White Noise 2: The Light. It's the sequel to White Noise, which I haven't seen but do own on DVD... but after seeing the sequel I'm not really looking forward to the original movie. On the other hand, sequels are typically not as good as the original and since this one is not too bad, I might watch White Noise sometime soon.

So after this philosophical introduction, here's the review: White Noise 2: The Light is a thriller with paranormal aspects. It's by no means a horror and all scary moments in the movie are done by "showing all of a sudden a decaying dead person". Trust me, it's scarier to just all of a sudden scream at the person next to you than watching these scenes.
The story is interesting and the movie starts of with some statistics that are supposedly there to make the story more believable. But in the end it matters if you belief in near-death-experiences or not to make this movie believable.

With the current slant of horrors, psycho thrillers and paranormal thrillers at the movies, there are more alternatives. All in all: Rent the DVD.

Iwan

Movie Review: Bordertown

2007-06-27T13:04:00.000+02:00

Two weeks ago I saw the movie 'Bordertown' staring Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas.
The movie is about a journalist (Lopez) who is covering a series of rapes/murders in the Mexican border town Juarez. (Movie Trivia: The dice in Ocean's 13 are produced in Juarez.)
Local news paper publisher Banderas is helping here with the story, which becomes her biggest story ever. Meanwhile J'Lo is also trying to uncover the serial rapist/murderer and starts a romance with one of the local industrialists.

I saw the movie in the sneakpreview, otherwise I would probably never see this movie as it doesn't appeal to me. Not seeing the movie would've been a waste, as this is a nice and interesting story and both main characters are well acted.
This is not a movie for the big screen and I can very well envision you seeing the movie at home on DVD.

Iwan

Whatever happened to me... the story with Jay.

2007-06-04T15:59:00.000+02:00

Just a couple of days ago I blogged about Ray and what happened the last couple of months in our lives. Today is Jay's turn.
As you might know, Jay turned 2 weeks ago, May 24th to be precise.

In the past couple of months he started talking really well, and you can now pretty well understand what he's saying, even when you hear him talking for the first time. His sentences spawn about 3 to 4 words. He picks up on words really fast as well. I remember from friends that as soon as they said something out loud that wasn't intended for children to hear, they pick it up and start repeating it. Well Jay's no exception. So I'm careful about what I'm saying. And it's not only bad words, but also when you say something about someone, you don't want them to repeat it in front of that someone.
What is quite interesting is that he, out of the blue, said 'Gezondheid' after somebody was sneezing. And he's saying 'Dankjewel' (Thank you) when you give something and apologizes when you're angry with him.
Recently he's really mad about his Lego Duplo train, he got more parts at his birthday, so now he's got one big rail-track in his room, with a police station and zoo. And he loves to play with it. This is when he isn't playing outside. With the excellent month of April weatherwise, he had a great spring '07, playing in our garden and in the street in front of our house all the time. Swings and slides are his favorite on the playground.

Oh, and then there is the big water slide in the swimmingpool we're going every week. When is was like 10 months old or so, we took that slide when he was sleepy and ever since he associated that slide with something awful. So he never wanted to go down that slide again. Somewhere in March he saw kids go up the slide and he wanted to go up as well. Although he didn't want to go down the slide, he still wanted to be at the top. One time he wanted to go down the slide and ever since, he's crazy about it and only wants to go down the slide. The faster the more fun, although I believe last Thursday I overdid it a bit. Nowadays we go swimming with the four of us. Jay's splashes with Olcay when Ray and I are taking a swimming lesson.

Since a few weeks, Jay hates it to be left at daycare, and cries heartbreakingly when you leave him there. Although appearantly after a minute he's okay with it. I've seen the same behavior a couple of times at home as well and I believe it is due to the fact that he is now at an age where he understands the concept of being left alone.

All-in-all, Jay's still the happy little fella that brightens your day big time.

Iwan

Whatever happened to me... the story with Ray.

2007-05-29T15:17:00.000+02:00

Hi,

Yes, I know it has been several months since the last time I blogged, and if I am not mistaken at the time I made sort of a promise to blog more frequently. And so far I haven't lived up to that promise. Well, there are good reasons for this.

So what happened since February 26th, the date of the last blog? Quite a bit. I can do this chronologically, but I prefer a more elaborate, chaotic approach.

For one, Ray is growing really fast. He's now around 60 cm tall and weighs 6 kg, which is quite an achievement when you're starting from about 2800 grams and 50 cm. Especially considering he throws up big time. And I mean it in the sense that we change clothes every time we feed him, not his clothes but our clothes. This has to do with reflux, the little valve in between his throat and his stomach is not fully developed. According to the pediatrician this is quite common for babies. Since a while now he's getting some medicine to relief his throat from acid-burn, and some medicine to ease his stomach. That helped.
We also started to wrap him in sheets before taking him to bed. His arms were uncontrollable and he was accidentally hitting himself while he was asleep. It's quite a sight seeing him wrapped in what seems a cocoon. And best of all, he sleeps a lot sounder ever since.
Maybe most importantly to mention about Ray is that his 'bad' kidney is not doing anything at all, so nothing bad either. A little recap on the subject; early March we were supposed to have him examined to find out how much each of his kidneys was still functioning. But the doctors had a little trouble applying the IV. After 6 trials they gave up and we were supposed to come back in a month, so we did. At that time it all worked out nicely at the first go and with the IV they injected some radio active stuff that later showed up on the scanner. Only one kidney showed up, the other, the bad one, didn't show up at all. This is actually a good thing, since a poorly functioning kidney causes high blood pressure and infections. So we're quite happy about this one.
Meanwhile, as I stated earlier in this blog, he's doing great. At 6 weeks old we took him swimming and have the photo's to proof this. Last week I took him for a second time, 8 weeks later, and he enjoyed it a lot.

What is rather interesting is that he's very different from Jay. For one, Ray likes the ease and quiet. He's very sensitive to crowds and noises. But he's also very verbal, makes a lot of baby noises and starts to smile and even laugh when you talk to him. As a matter of fact, when he feels like crying, you can start talking to him and it is very likely he'll be laughing instead. He sleeps more than Jay did at his age. On the other hand, Ray can play all by himself for a far longer time than Jay could.
Something that is really great to see is that Jay accepts Ray completely and it's really heartening to see him explain to Ray what it is all out there in the great wide open. And when Ray cries, and we're not acting upon it, Jay's telling us to go see Ray.

Iwan

PS: Check out Ray's website on http://ray.tripleminds.com I try to keep it as up-to-date as possible.

So much for an up to date blog on the proceedings at home

2007-02-26T09:30:00.000+01:00

So here I am with my good intentions to blog about Jay, Ray and Olcay and my well being in their company on a very regular basis now that Ray is born. But it has been more than 2 weeks since my previous blog. I'll make it an effort to blog more often from now on.

What's been happening lately? Not too much I must say. Let's see, last time I blogged, Olcay and Ray came home and we're one happy family at home again.
Ray is doing fine, although breastfeeding was a bit of a problem, resulting in Ray not getting enough nutrition we moved to the bottle approach and that is going really well. Although he's one little sleepy boy, so typically somewhere halfway the bottle he's vast asleep and we have a hard time waking him up.
Olcay's hernia is retreating, ever since the burden of the big belly (BBB) is gone, she's healing quite fast. That is something to cheer about, so here comes; HURRAY.
Jay is being the big brother all over and he's doing really well. One of the things to keep in mind is that he was already used to not getting all the attention from Olcay because of her illness. So that's not much of a change. And he's accepting me to hold Ray more or less. The fact that Ray is only 3 kg or something like that allows me to practically move around with him in my hands without noticing this. So I can still play with Jay. But it is really comforting to see Jay walking up to Ray giving him a kiss when he's crying.

Bit of a downside is that Ray still doesn't understand that he needs to sleep all night, well one bottle of milk is ok, but after that he's crying... big time. Such a little fellow, such a big mouth. At least it was like that the last two nights, which is killing. But my friend Ravi told me it can be worse. His daughter woke up hungry every 2 hours, Ray at least sticks with 3-4 hours in between bottles.

That's about it. As I've said in the beginning, not much happened the past 2 weeks or so. But from now on I'll try to blog more regularly.

Iwan

Brotherhood of the unexpected

2007-02-10T20:52:00.000+01:00

Hi,

Last night was Ray's first night at home, and with that my first night with him. I'd already forgotten that when they wake up it takes roughly an hour before they're fed and put back to sleep... really sleeping. So that was an eye opener. But all-in-all it was an okay night. Jay woke up but after putting him back to bed, that was nothing more than an incident. This morning at 6:30 he came back to us and we took him in bed. After some baby-watching he slept for a while and we woke up around 7:15. Sesamestreet bought us another 30 minutes.

Today we had the nicest and sweetest experience with Jay giving Ray kisses and wanting to help Ray when he was crying, because according to Jay, Ray was in pain. That was really great. So we're happy that he in fact is very big brother like already. One pitfall we don't want to find ourselves in, is expecting Jay to be older than he is. That is hard, because all of a sudden he really is a 'big boy'. But we'll manage.

It's gonna be a week of happy family the next week, so little sleep and loads of diaper cleaning.

Iwan

Back home

2007-02-09T22:17:00.000+01:00

Hi,

Today Olcay and Ray came home. It was Ray's first trip in a car, and his land speed record to date is 140 km/hr. Not too bad for a 2 day old.
All is fine. Ray's kidney is something we will be checking up on in the next few weeks. We need to keep an I on his peeing practices, and in about 4 weeks he'll be checked in Amsterdam, to see how much his kidney is taking part in the whole process.
Well, Jay is doing great as well, doesn't care too much about Ray at the moment, although he's okay with his brother and gives him kisses. But since Ray is still a bit inanimate, especially in Jay's eyes, there's not much interest in that area.

Iwan

How once there were 3 and now 4 of us...

2007-02-08T15:21:00.000+01:00

Hi,

Let me just put out the word straight out: Ray was born yesterday. Who Ray is? He's our son and his full name is: Raiden Sidar Eising. He was 2915 grams at birth and is doing great.
When you've subscribed to my blog and kept yourself up to date, you know that Olcay was suffering from a hernia and that she was onto morphine for quite a while. Although she's not using it for about 3 weeks now, we are still a bit concerned about Ray's health and the impact of Olcay's medication on it. So they're staying in the hospital until tomorrow afternoon and the pediatrician will do a full check-up on Ray. As of yet, there's nothing to worry about though.

The story is that yesterday around 3 PM Olcay called me in the office to tell me that 'it had started', her water broke (if that is how to put it). But she wasn't in labor yet, contractions what so ever. Because of her hernia this actually might be a sign of a serious regression of it and instant surgery might be imminent. So when I got home, we called the hospital and drove over there. As it turned out, labor had started, and she was supposed to stay in the hospital which was fine with us. At 11 PM she called me that the contractions had started and at 12:30 AM today she called me to get to the hospital. Things were getting serious. I called Desiree and Olaf to come and watch Jay while I was in the hospital and when Desiree arrived I went to Olcay. At 1 AM I got to the hospital and 2:51 Ray was born. It was a smooth easy job, were it not for the fact that Olcay was scared as hell for the pain and the impact of the contractions on her hernia. She focussed more on the pain, than on relief of the contractions. Under normal conditions it would've been a breeze, but it was tough nonetheless.

I came home at 5:15 this morning and at noon I was back with Olcay and Ray. Jay was taken there by Desiree already and for him this is still something hard to grasp. Well what is there to expect from a 19 months old great little fella? He's doing great as is his little baby brother. We're all happy and consider this as an end to a couple of months of misfortune.

Iwan

Long time no blog

2007-01-23T08:43:00.000+01:00

Last time I blogged is already 3 weeks ago, well almost. And in these last couple of weeks, Olcay got rid of the morphine all together and we're on half the dose of Paracetamol. So that's all good news. Although the hernia is still there but the 'pain' is bearable... In the meantime we've seen the gynecologist and the neurologist and both were happy to see that she's walking by herself again. Mind that the time before she was rolled in with a wheelchair and taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Update on the baby; it is doing great. Thursday we're seeing the gynecologist again, that's more regularly now. The baby's kidney is doing relatively well also. One good thing about getting rid of the morphine is of course that the baby doesn't have to go into detox. That's taken care of in the womb, meaning that all related complications during its birth have more or less vanished.

Jay's doing good also. Since a couple of weeks he's sleeping in his new bed and that went great. Lately he comes out of bed himself and sneaks into our bedroom asking for us because he wants to sleep in our bed. That's really a great experience, and typically he sleeps until 730 AM. When he wakes up at night he needs a diaper change and I take him to his own bed again and he falls asleep until 7 AM or so.
He's talking more and more and really tries to find out what his place in the picking order around the house is. Unfortunately for him, he's still at the bottom of the food chain.

I guess that's about it for this time. I'll try to blog more often, blogging should be like eating; Often little bits is better than incidentally a lot.

Iwan

Today's cookie: Sometimes It Is Important To Notice, Yet Ignoring Is Always An Option

2007 starts better than 2006 ended

2007-01-03T08:35:00.000+01:00

Hi,

This is my first blog of 2007 and as the title suggests, 2007 has started better than 2006 ended. But to be honest, that wasn't a major achievement.
The reason for this title is that Olcay has stopped the morphine injections since January 1st and she's doing pretty good. There seem to be some withdrawal symptoms surfacing, but compared to the pain a month ago those are nothing. So in other words, she's doing relatively great. Our goal now is to be medication free by the end of the month. So we'll have about a month without painkillers before the baby is born.

So what else? Jay has a new bed and loves it. Best thing of all, he didn't mind sleeping in it and sleeps through the night nicely. Although sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night but that is because he needs a diaper change.
About the holidays I can say that they went by in a blur. I was too busy emptying the study, moving all stuff to the guest room and painting the study to become the baby room. This time its theme is 'universe' so I painted our solar system on the wall. Sometime at the end of the month the new curtains and carpet will be delivered and then we're all set. Until then, Jay will have two sets of beds and closets in his room.
Btw, yesterday I finished the baby room, although there's still a lot of stuff in it that needs to be taken care of... i.e. thrown away.
The new study is a complete mess. That will take some time and effort, but with the new Ikea closets and drawers it'll look fabulous. Best of all, it'll mean that a lot of the mess currently in the lounge is gone as well.

I think that's about it for what happened over the holidays. Of course we had a great X-Mas, although I was feeling a bit ill that day. Our X-Mas was celebrated on the 23rd with the whole family around. Gifts for everyone, but mainly for the little ones. They where spoiled so badly, Jay didn't know what to play with because there were more gifts to be opened. Since a very long time I did the cooking again it everybody liked it, so that was a success. We had a great time. The 31st my parents were over at our place, and my dad brought some fireworks... which was the first time for Jay to experience. He loved it. Hearing the BANGs all day and seeing the rockets explode all night. He didn't want to go to bed, so we kept him up until 10 in the evening. At that time he was wasted so slept soundly through the main fireworks.

That's really about it.

Iwan

Today's cookie: When The Food Is Good, The Party Is Great.

It's been a while, but no news is good news...

2006-12-22T13:30:00.000+01:00

Yes, it has been a while since my last blog. I just checked and that was last month. Weird how fast time goes by. To be honest, I consider myself fortunate with this realization since it means that Olcay's progress in getting rid of that hernia was not very eventful. And it was, well somehow. Her progress has been very eventful especially in the last week. She's now walking more and more, and since yesterday she's cutting down on the morphine.
Yesterday we went to the neurologist and everything was really good under the circumstances. Two weeks earlier we were at the hospital for a check-up on the baby and everything was really fine with it. That day she had to be taken by ambulance, yesterday we went by car. Our own car. I was driving... cautiously. So yes, things are getting better by the day.

So what else happened? Not too much. Sinterklaas obviously, the Dutch version of Santa Clause, and I've been told that Santa Clause is actually Sinterklaas, but since the English couldn't pronounce Sinterklaas, they turned it into Santa Clause and relocated him to the North Pole although he was living in Spain, where he migrated to from Turkey. Kind of cruel to relocate somebody from hot Spain to cold North Pole, but in those days people were cruel. And probably since the travel from the North Pole to everywhere takes more time he hands out gifts around X-mas instead of December 5th.
Anyway, gift season has started, lovely tradition, and coming weekend is X-mas time, meaning more gifts... more hapiness.

E-One

Today's cookie: A Story Untold Is Probably Not Worth Hearing

Home Sweet Olcay Home (Extended)

2006-11-29T22:56:00.000+01:00

Hi,

As promised a more detailed story regarding what's going on since last Thursday.

Well last Thursday Jay and I went for a swim and that was great. We had a lot of fun, and for the first time since Olcay's been 'ill' Jay was okay with joining swimming class. At the end we went for the big water slide, but that turned out to be not too much fun. For some reason Jay doesn't like the slide. My idea about this is that at one point several months ago, we went for that slide when Jay was very tired, and he didn't enjoy it. Ever since he remembers not liking it, and thus he doesn't like that slide. It's not the height, since we went on far higher slides at the Avifauna play-park. Anyway, Thursday afternoon was supposed to be fun as well, going to get Jay a haircut and visit Olcay in the hospital. But we got a call from Olcay, telling us that she was being kicked out of the hospital.
Due to a lack of beds and too much operations on Friday, she was going to be transferred to the Neurology dept. but they didn't want her around, since patients with a hernia are supposed to recover at home. So far for hospitality.
So Friday morning we were going to pick her up but travel proved to be a challenge. The nurses took care of that and the ambulance was taking her. In the afternoon Olcay's dad went to get the morphine and other painkillers and that was it. 'Neighborhood nursing' were going to take care of her, injecting morphine twice a day, with an option for a third shot.
Friday night it turned out that the pharmacy had made a mistake and instead of 9 shots of morphine we only got 6. No problem since we were going for 2 a day and 3 x 2 = 6.
But Saturday it became evident that we had to switch to 3 shots. The nurse that helped us Saturday called the weekend-pharmacy and I was going to pick up an additional set of 3 shots on Sunday and we went for the 3 shots a day routine. Saturday night I administered my first shot of morphine to Olcay and everything went really well. Supposedly it was either beginner's luck or I'm a natural. Ever since the shots are going fine, so I guess I'm a natural .
Everymorning now, at 6 o'clock, I am giving Olcay a shot, and at 1400 and 2200 a nurse is coming over to shoot the remaining morphine.
This makes the pain bearable for Olcay and she can start recovering... although I think that it'll last until she gives birth.

So that's the extended version of yesterday's blog.

E-One

Today's cookie: Long Stories Do Not Always Tell More Than Their Summaries

Home Sweet Olcay Home

2006-11-28T23:07:00.000+01:00

Hi,

Here's just a quick bloggy for today. It has been a while, but I'm a bit tired, so I'm gonna keep it short.

Last Friday Olcay came home from the hospital. She was more or less forced to come home, but more on that later in a blog. She's now at home and still gets morphine. Three shots a day, and at least one of them I administer. Quite possibly that will be two. And although I've just begun, I'm doing pretty well in the needle department.

Well that's it for today, next time more later on.

Iwan

Today's cookie: Sometimes Things Need To Get Really Bad To Realize What Is Really Good

Are things getting better, or is it just another twisted joke off faith?

2006-11-21T14:50:00.000+01:00

Today I got a very cheerful Olcay on the phone, she'd had a great night of sleep and was feeling very good. The new and bigger band aid was working it seems. The general idea now is that it keeps on working like a charm and to be sure of that, she's got to stay in the hospital for a few more days, by the end of the week she's probably coming home... if things workout well.

Meanwhile Jay was examined today for his 18 months check-up (a normal affair in the Netherlands) and all was fine. He's 11.3 Kg and 83 cm tall. Both numbers are estimates, since he wasn't too happy being measured, crying like a baby. But the rest of the checkup was going very well. He was cheerful and playful. I think he's bouncing back from the set backs we experienced lately. The week at my parents definitely helped.

So what else? Not much, I fixed a little bug in the drawing routines of IFF, our mobile game. It's shaping up nicely. And tonight, I think, I will be working on some additional functionality. I'm not sure whether or not we're on track for the big event in March next year, but it definitely is a lot of fun.

That's it for today,

E-One

Today's cookie: The Road To Success Is Paved With Achievements

Let's stack all disappointments and reach for the moon

2006-11-20T09:38:00.000+01:00

This weekend was supposed to be Olcay's last weekend in the hospital. It turned out to be something completely different.
Last Friday they started with a new treatment of her pain, using band aids. Initially the idea was that she would be home sometime this week. 'Home Care' was going to deliver a hospital bed. Even better, Friday late afternoon she was supposed to be home on Monday, so Home Care was called again and today they deliver all the goods. Meanwhile the morphine patches are not quite doing what everybody thought they would, so Olcay was in a great deal of pain Sunday night again. Yesterday morning she was back on morphine shots and she stays on them for the foreseeable future.
Something for the positive side of this blog. Jay's back home. He's had a great time at my parents, and he was really happy to see Olcay and me again, yesterday.

Something completely different: This weekend I received Gears of War for my Xbox 360, and gee, is this a great game. Looks really astonishing, sound's superb and the overall atmosphere is really gripping you at the throat. Interesting is the fact that it is a shooter, but you just can't barge in and start blamming away. Nope, you have to use tactics to survive. It's almost a crossover of Halo and Splinter Cell.

E-One

Today's cookie: If You Can't Have Fun, Find Something To Play With

A light at the end of the tunnel? Guess I still have a long way to go :(

2006-11-13T22:06:00.000+01:00

Things are not getting really brighter in my family. As you know Olcay is in the hospital for about a week now, and since yesterday they've increased the dose of morphine as she's still in a lot of pain and still didn't get a really good night of sleep. This is truly mind-killing. Since 3 weeks she didn't get a full night of sleep, which is bad, really bad, considering the fact that she needs at least 8 hours and now with the pregnancy 10 hours of sleep a night.
Today she got here MRI, which introduced her to the feeling of claustrophobia. I saw once on a TV show that many people that have an MRI get claustrophobic inside the scanner. I can't imagine how that feels, but Olcay was scared big time. Tomorrow we should get the results, and quite possibly it is going to be the case that she's going to get operated. I'm not sure whether or not to be thrilled, but as long as she's going to be okay after that, and the baby is doing fine, I guess I'm okay with it.
For you to know; the baby is doing great. His big brother on the other hand is ill. Running a fever of 39.3 Celcius he's not doing too well. Thankfully the Paracetamol I'm giving him is doing a great job, and he's getting also some nasal-drops. Hopefully he'll be okay soon. Seeing him like this (when the Paracetamol didn't kick in yet) is sooo bad. He's always such a happy little fella and now he just sits with you on the couch watching TV. Trying desparately to keep his eyes open.
Tomorrow my parents will pick him up and he'll spend some nights at their place. Hopefully that will also take his mind of mommy, who he still misses a lot. He asks for her at least once every minute, and it pains me to have to repeat that she's not here, but in the hospital. He just doesn't understand.

So how about me? Well I'm recharging. The in-laws are back since yesterday night, to take care of Jay, while I'm at work. Having them around helps a lot getting some relaxation-time. But I think I'm on 70% recharge now, and it won't be a lot more the next few weeks.
Interestingly enough, I realized tonight how much time people are wasting sleeping. Nowadays I go to bed at around 10:30 PM, not uncommon for many of you, but I'm loosing out on at least 2 and a half hours a day.

E-One

Today's cookie: Every Minute Can Only Be Lived Once, You Better Not Sleep Through It

Thursday is daddy-day, especially nowadays

2006-11-09T22:02:00.000+01:00

Hi,

Today I spend the whole day with Jay, I left him for my in-laws to be taken to bed, while I was with Olcay in the hospital. She'd had a bad night last night, but tonight was good again.
Coming Monday 14:30 (or 13:30) the MRI is planned, so about a week later we should know more details regarding what the heck is actually going on. Considering that there was only a regular opening at November 29th for the MRI, this is a case of good luck. And on that note, the baby is doing well. Growing as can be expected for a 24 week baby, so that was great to hear. Things seem to be progressing, although I have to add that about a week ago, we were in that same state of mind.
Jay is doing better, still missing his mommy big time, but he's the cheerful little guy we all know and love. We had a great time at the swimming pool today, although he didn't want to join the class. Clung to me every second while we were trying to do the little dances and singing. But after we left the class and started playing around ourselves, it was great. He can now 'dive' into the water. And loves it when I throw him away. This afternoon we went for a bicycle-ride for about 2 hours and after that I prepared dinner. Which he didn't eat. I guess he's gotten used to the Turkish food Olcay's mother prepared for the last couple of weeks.
It's just great to see and hear him laugh again.

That's it for today.

E-One

Today's cookie: You Can Think Things Are Bad, But They Only Are When You Know They Are Bad

Olcay's admitted to the hospital, things are rough at the moment

2006-11-08T12:52:00.000+01:00

It has been a while since my last couple of words from the Netherlands. A lot has happened. Most importantly and with a shitload of impact on our family life is the fact that Olcay has been admitted to the hospital. Last weekend was hell on eath, for her, but also for the rest of us.
Last week it seemed that she was doing better everyday, but on Thursday her left foot started to hurt, big time. Up to a point where she couldn't bear anything touching it.
On Friday it seemed to be okay, more or less, but late afternoon she was back to the state of two weeks back. Pain, pain and yet more pain. After consulting our docter we decided to switch back to morphine. Things brightened up at that point and we refrained from morphine for the time being.
Saturday night the pain was back to a level where we decided to open up the bottle of morphine and hope that things would be better. They weren't.
Sunday I had arranged a day of Power Boating with Mark and Ashley on Ameland. So I was away for the full day. We had a great time, and I can recommend it to anybody who loves rollercoasters. This was so much more fun. Until I got a call from Olcay's mother urging me to get back, she was again in a lot of pain. That night was hell on earth and Monday morning our docter arranged for an ambulance and she was admitted to the hospital.
She's now on morphine again, 3 times as much of the dose I administered and it seems to help just enough to make the pain and therefore life bearable again. In the meantime they keep a close watch on the baby, which is doing great. Still, literally, alive and kicking.

Jay is now really sensing the seriousness of the whole situation now that mummy is not even at home. It's terrible to see him this way, asking for mummy pointing upstairs. It was tough on him while she was upstairs all the time, but now she's not even there any more. He misses Olcay big time. So do we all. But for me it's great to see her the way she is right now, compared to last weekend.

So what positive happened lately besides the powerboating? To be honest? I haven't got a clue. At the moment I'm just happy to be surviving and seeming to have enough energy to be there for Jay. Thankfully Olcay's parents are around, they're a big help. And next week my parents'll take care of Jay for a few days, which will do him a lot of good. He'll be at a place where he's used to not have Olcay and me around. I think that is going to be helpfull for him. We're gonna miss him, but this is for the best.

E-One

Today's cookie: You Are Only There After Passing The Finish Line

Things look good, relatively speaking

2006-10-29T11:05:00.000+01:00

It's Sunday and we had a pretty good night last night. Jay slept almost through the night, unfortunately for him, the clock was set back for an hour so it was still 6 in the morning when he woke up.
I think everybody here slept okay, which is good. Olcay is doing okay, but is still in quite some pain.

E-One

Today's cookie: You Can Turn Back The Clock But Not Time Itself

Lumbago is the party-pooper

2006-10-28T21:42:00.000+02:00

Hi,

It's been a tough week this week. Monday started out great, and work was fine as well. You've read about last weekend in Rotterdam.
Then the bad stuff started. The night from Monday to Tuesday Jay woke up at around 445 AM and Olcay brought him his pacifier. While putting him back to bed, she got a really bad case of Lumbago, and the excruciating pain started. She couldn't move and was stuck between Jay's bed and the chair. I was barely able to get her onto the chair since every move she made was accompanied with so much pain, you just can't imagine. All this time, Jay was really great. He some way understood that something terrible was going on and was just lying there in his bed, quietly. After Olcay was back to bad, crying of pain, Jay didn't want to be left alone, so I took him with us, and he stayed at my side of the back all night, which is very uncommon. Typically he moves to Olcay's side and starts playing with her face (stomping on and pulling at her nose etc).
Tuesday was really bad. I didn't go to work. Fortunately Jay was at the day-care, and didn't have to see his mom like the way she was. In pain all the time. The only bearable position she could lie in was on her stomach. The paracetamol was not really the pain relief it should be and since she's pregnant, it was the only medicine she was allowed to take.
Tuesday afternoon the doctor came by and she was doing fairly well, compared to that morning. He'd heard her cry thru the phone while I was calling him. He knew how bad it was and if things would stay that way, or got even worse we should call again and he would prescribe some morphine. Wednesday it was this bad, and we called the doctor again. Late in the afternoon the prescription was ready and she had some tiny dose. After that there was some pain relief and she could get some sleep. Thursday she could move a bit and turn onto her back. Now do mind, that she'd been lying more or less in the same position for over 48 hrs.
Thankfully my in-laws came over on Wednesday and took care of Jay and helped me with Olcay, making sure I could at least get some sleep at night. Wednesday night my parents came over which was great. It was a great mental help having them around for just a little while.
Things are getting better now, but still aren't great. Yesterday the doctor visited again, and Olcay has to stay of the morphine. It's just not good for the baby.
All the time Jay was really the one that cheered us up big time. He was giving Olcay kisses and small pads on her back. He just knows that something bad is going on and he knows he has to be careful around his mother at this time.

On a more positive note, yesterday Jay and I attended Olaf and Desiree's wedding. Olaf is my youngest brother and the last of the three of us to get married. It was a great day. I was driving them so witnessed most of it from close by. Jay was during that time with my parents. He was great. Fairly quiet during the ceremony and really great during the party at night. He was up all night and didn't get cranky or whatever. We had a great party and everybody was really feeling bad Olcay wasn't there. She was supposed to be the MC of the night, but we now all know why that didn't happen.

E-One

Today's cookie: Split seconds can have a lifetime's impact

How to spend a weekend to make it a great weekend

2006-10-23T11:59:00.000+02:00

Hi,

Back from an incredible weekend. Yesterday was our 4th aniversary and since it's an even number, it was Olcay's turn to set up the surprise. And some surprise it was.
Let's recap the weekend. Friday we had our second-opinion for the sonograph, and as it turned out, one of the kidneys of the baby is healthy and working properly. Which is GREAT. So that was good news, and after a quick stop at the AMC in Amsterdam, where we had some blood samples taken, we took Jay to my parents and left him there. By the way, he had a great weekend at his grandparents.
We then took of to what eventually turned out to be Rotterdam without any significant traffic jams, and the navigator took us to 'Stroom', a designer hotel which is in one word 'Absolutely fabulous'. We were going to stay in one of the Vide Studio, a two level room. The whole room was one big designer-statement. Really extremely cool. Friday night we watched 'Lucky Number Slevin'. We took that DVD with us, and played it on the beamer. Yup, this is a hotel where they've got beamers installed in your room. By the way, its a great movie.
Saturday we spend most of the day in Rotterdam downtown, looking for some boots for Olcay, she 'needed' a new pair for Olaf's wedding. The evening was spend watching 'Syriana'. Interesting plot, well acted, good fun to watch.
Sunday we had breakfast in bed, while watching Discovery Channel, some show on Oceans and the fish living in them. Good fun and as it would turn out, we were going to Blijdorp, Rotterdam Zoo, and saw a lot of fish that all of a sudden looked very familiar.
Last night we had dinner at 'De Bokkedoors', a very chique restaurant in Overveen (neer Zandvoort) which appearantly has two Michelin stars. Well all I can say is that we had a great dinner. Most notable of that dinner, besides being with Olcay, was the tea she had. It was some flower that she had to put in the hot water and would then bloom. The tea was lovely, the sight awesome.
And finally, Jay slept through the night and woke up at 6 in the morning. Thanks Jay, that made our weekend truely perfect.

So that's for my weekend. Full of surprise.

E-One

Today's cookie: Even When Something Is Inevitable, It Is Still Unknown If You Will See It Happen.

2006-10-18T08:08:00.000+02:00

Thank god for foggy eyes in the morning. Why? Because the misses thought it was 6 o'clock while it was 5 o'clock. She took care of Jay, allowing me another 45 minutes of sleep, which turned out to be an hour and 45 minutes :) But then again, her new way of calming down Jay when he wakes up, a cheerfull "Go back to sleep Jay!" somewhere in the middle of the night is not helping to get a nights worth of sleep either.

Traffic was good this morning, didn't have to slow down to a crawl that often. Maybe the police car waiting to ticket somebody at the intersection of the A1 and A6 had something to do with it. I don't know. Anyhow, it took me slightly over 30 minutes, which is a respectable time.

Have a great day,
E-One

Today's cookie: For The Ambitious The Best Is Not Good Enough

2006-10-17T08:36:00.000+02:00

Good morning. It's 836 in Amsterdam and it has been a great night... NOT. Jay's been keeping us awake all night. It started somewhere around 345 and around 430 he seemed to be asleep again. That was when I thought "Hmmm, 2 hours of sleep left", but 5 minutes later he proved me wrong. At 530 I gave up being hopefull of more sleep and just tried to sleep. Now I'm still wondering what was going on.
On the bright side, he woke me up with a kiss at 630. After all he's a great kid and seeing his smile in the morning makes up for a lot of the night. I just hope that tomorrow morning there is nothing for him to make up to.

E-One

Today's cookie: Sometimes Not Sleeping Does Not Mean You Are Awake

2006-10-16T13:11:00.000+02:00

The weekend is over, its Monday. How the weekend was? Not very eventfull. Worst of all is that Jay's still not completely recovered from the flu. Saturday his temperature was at 39.7 Celsius, which for all you Fahrenheit people is too high, but not extreme. Altough it seemed that he was doing fine, earlier that day, good night of rest. But in the evening we had a great time together carpenting. Yup, it was a father-son experience of the best kind and we built a Lego-crate. 80x40x30 cm big, and plenty of room left for more Lego. It was great to see him march around and trying to handle the power-screwdriver. It didn't take him long to understand how it's operated.

Saturday night was a night of Sticktailing and quite some progress was made. IFF (Identified: Friend or Foe) is coming along just nicely. But as usual when developing is going smoothly, time moves on swiftly.

Yesterday was a day of relaxing and playing with Jay. Great fun as you may expect. He was still not 100% and still isn't. The night started off horrible with Jay waking up every 10 minutes looking for a familiair face. At last we took him with us in bed and that was an improvement, at least for me. Thankfully I'm blessed with a wonderfull sleep.

That's my weekend for you, as I said, not very eventfull. Oh before I forget, I had a traumatic experience, but I don't want to detail about that too much. I don't want to spoil this blog with such horrors, try 'The Fingers' instead. It's less horrific.

E-One

Today's cookie: True Believers Never Need Proof

2006-10-13T07:44:00.000+02:00

Friday, end of the week. Although this week has been a short week workwise.

Last Wednesday has been a tough day. Jay was and still is ill. Probably the flu or something. He's running a fever, but fortunately the Paracetamol is doing miracles. Still it is very sad to see him like this, especially when the medicine is not kicking in yet.
Another reason why Wednesday was tough is because we went to the hospital to get a sonograph of our baby. The level of protein found during the amniocentesis was a bit high and had to be investigated further. On the sonograph we saw that one of the baby's kidneys has not developed properly, and initially the doctor thought that both kidneys were suffering from this. That was some devastating news, it would mean dialysis right from the moment it would be born. Later on, after more than an hour of looking and checking the other kidney was diagnosed healthy and working properly. We were so relieved, I can tell you that much.

After the sonograph I went to the NLJUG's J-Fall. Fortunately I was arrived right before lunch, so no standing in line here and food a plenty. It was a great and interesting day. You can read more on my NetBeans related blog 'The NetBeans Experience'.

Yesterday was daddy's day. Usually Jay and I go for a swim in the morning and have some good time together in the afternoon. Lately Olcay's not working on Thursdays, so we spend the afternoons as a family. But yesterday was different in that Jay was ill, and Olcay had to go to work. But still Jay and I had a great day, thanks to the Paracetamol. I had a business conference call in the morning, while Jay was asleep. The afternoon was just son-and-dad. Playing with Lego, his cars and just having fun together. He's the best.

So that is about it. Don't forget to also read a new episode of 'The Fingers' that I'll publish in a few minutes.

Enjoy your day,
E-One

Today's cookie: One Has To Know In Order To Prepare

2006-10-10T09:07:00.000+02:00

Hi all,

(There will be a baby-spoiler at the end of this blog)

I'm back from my trip to Chicago. I had a great time meeting my friends again. It had been over 2 years since the last time we met. I had a great time, thanks guys. The flight to the US was uneventfull, although the United Airlines provided headset sucked big time. The movies were okay, but not really enjoyable since the sound was 'one ear only', thankfully I had a good book (Splinter Cell - Operation Baracuda) and for a big part I slept thru the flight. I flew via Dulles (Washington DC) and it was there where I learned that I needed to place all fluids in a basket. I was halfway there in that I put it all in a Ziplock.

So what did I do? For one we went to see some movies; The Guardian, the first Kevin Costner movie I really liked since No way out. It's about the US Coast Guard. We also went to see The Departed the latest Scorcese movie staring Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert de Niro. This is a great movie, you should go see it. Interestingly enough, everytime I'm in Chicago I see a movie staring Matt Damon. Saturday we went to see School for Scoundrels which is a comedy and we had quite a few laughs. All three movies are worth seeing.
Besides going to the movies, we went shopping. Big time. Those outlets are great, but downtown Chicago has some great stores as well. For example the Lego store is excellent, you can buy lego by the bucket. Borders made some money on me as well, I got some books from there and enjoyed an Espresso dopio. I had to shop for an additional bag since I bought more than anticipated.

E-One

Today's cookie: An Untold Story Is A Story Unheard Of.

Baby-spoiler: I was right all the time, Jay will have a little brother.

2006-10-04T09:03:00.000+02:00

Another day in blogosphere.

Things are happening these days. To start of with the hottest news from the press: The Fingers went back online again. The story will be told at: The Fingers, the place where I will be publishing my Psycho Thriller novel.

Yesterday Olcay and I expected a call from the AMC Amsterdam regarding the amniocentesis Olcay had 3 weeks ago. We're anxious to find out whether Jay's going to have a little brother (my money is on this result) or a sister (Olcay's money is on that result). And more importantly, the reason we had the amniocentesis is that we'll find out if everything is okay with the fetus. As you may have guessed, we didn't get that call.

Then there is yesterday, we had an online conference using Skype. We in this case are the partners of jForay, a new partnership of free minds that roam the IT universe. Seriously, about 9 months ago, Marcel, Ezra, Frank and myself started thinking about joining forces. At that time we were all independent contractors and had to deal with a lot of hassle with the Dutch tax agency, the UWV, and agencies. We started talking with people from Accon about what we could do best to circumvent the various pitfalls and traps a contractor in Holland faces these days. These talks resulted in setting up jForay, a partnership of the 4 of us. We meet online using Skype every 2 weeks and yesterday was one of those meetings.
Probably the most important subject of discussion was the fact that the final partnership contract was received by me and is now to be signed by all partners. Probably the most discussed about subject was setting up the email server. Everybody started sending out there IP addresses to Marcel to configure the firewall, Marcel was sending out URLs to configure Outlook and he spammed me with MX records. Yesterday at this very time I didn't have a clue what an MX record is, now I have some clue.

That's about it for today.

E-One

Today's cookie: A Solved Mysterie Is Not A Mysterie At All

2006-10-03T09:27:00.000+02:00

So this is my second blog, not the daily routine that I envisioned it to be... yet. But I'll try to better myself.

So what's going on? Well for one, traffic's been a killer today and yesterday. Guess the rainy season has started and people are all confused about it. I just hope it'll be better soon. Anyway, I'll be flying to Chicago in two days, so that's going to be fun. It has been a long time since I went there, visiting friends.

Nothing more for today, maybe tomorrow it'll be more interesting to read this blog.

E-One

Today's cookie: Knowing What Is Right Means Nothing When You Are Not Doing What Is Right.

Yes, I'm blogging as well

2006-09-19T08:53:00.000+02:00

So this is my first step into the world of blogging. It is always hard to start something like this, especially when you're actually thinking that this will be more or less a daily thing. So why don't I start with telling a bit about myself.

Well I'm Iwan and live in the Netherlands, so that is where the words will come from. I'm married to the loveliest wife in the world, and we have a great son, Jay. Another kid is on its way. I'm betting its going to be another son, but my wife wants it to be a daughter... I'll let you know, once we know.
I'm self employed, actually I'm one of the two directors of IT Titans BV, a privately owned company. We're in IT and I contract as Enterprise Application and Integration Architect and IT Architecture auditor. Currently my business partner and I are setting up a partnership with two other privately held companies called jForay. That should be finalized 1st of October. And then there is more, I'm working with 3 friends on setting up a games company that specializes in developing games for mobile phones. The company is called Sticktail Games and hopefully we're publishing our 1st three games soon on our website. These won't be state of the art games, but mere study-projects.
Anyway, that is more or less who I am in a nuttshel... which for now also means the end of this blog entry.

Hope to see you back real soon.

Iwan