Author Archives: Robbert Bloem

New Year’s Day

Tuesday 01/01/2013:

  • 9:00: I guess I fell asleep yesterday
  • 9:15: 2013 doesn’t bring bring the ability to sleep longer
  • 10:00: downloading the last part of Phish New Year’s Eve concerts. Really quick, considering that New York is six time zones away and the concert probably finished only hours ago.
  • 11:00: it seems as if it was a relatively quiet New Year’s Eve in the Netherlands. That is a problem for the police commanders who traditionally abuse the fact that 16 million people have a party to complain about the increased number of incidents and demand more power and harsher punishments.
  • 11:15: violence against emergency workers is of course very wrong, but so is trashing civil liberties
  • 13:00: pizza lunch
  • 14:00: watching the traditional New Year’s Eve cabaret show. Not very enthusiastic about it.
  • 15:30: unsurprisingly, people found some incidents to complain about.
  • 15:45: the indignation of some politicians would carry more weight if they were equally tough about corruption of political friends (there were some incidents recently)
  • 16:00: I put the photos of the fireworks yesterday and of the Christmas Lecture online. Unfortunately the photo site is barely usable on iPads, so I spend most of the day making a new website. It is work in progress (not done yet).

    • New Year’s Eve day

    Monday 31/12/2012:

  • 9:30: already had more sun in Zurich this morning than in a week in the Netherlands
  • 10:00: downloading the Phish Madison Square Garden concert
  • 10:15: “gotta blank space where my mind should be” tralalala…
  • 10:30: had to Google to find out how the things on the artwork are called: tape cassette
  • 11:00: updated the 0th Christmas Day post with a photo of the food
  • 12:00: doing stuff on my computer
  • 13:00: still doing stuff on my computer
  • 14:00: maybe I should go to a shop before they close
  • 14:30: back at my computer
  • 17:00: is it already lunchtime?
  • 20:15: making pizza with friends
  • 20:30: opening a bottle of wine with friends
  • 20:45: eating pizza with friends
  • 21:00: opening a bottle of vodka with friends
  • 21:30: finishing the wine… Wait, there was still some?
  • 22:00: finishing the pizza
  • 22:30: finishing a bottle of vodka
  • 23:30: readying my photo camera
  • 0:00: happy new year!
  • 0:15: fireworks!
  • 0:30: oh yeah! There is a centrally organized fireworks display and I have a pretty good view of it!
  • 0:45: took 365 pictures, probably there are a few good ones between them
  • 1:00: looking at the pictures, not disappointed yet. Also: not completely sober yet.
  • 1:15: just remembered that I should have started a new blog post for the new day… Screw it! Bed time!
  • 1:30: …but not before I take another look at the pictures
  • 2:00: I wanted to upload one, but it doesn’t work. Damn it!
  • 2:30: bed time!
  • 2:45: damn, going to bed on time is the first resolution that I break this new year… Twice!
  • 2:50: “I’m floating in the blimp a lot” tralalala
  • 2:55: lying in bed, not sleeping



    • This blog will be updated as the day unfolds/when I have time/when I have Internet connectivity

    December 30th – no name day

    Sunday 30/12/2012:

  • 9:00: two minutes of very intense rain
  • 9:15: is this sixth Christmas Day? Or -1 New Year’s Eve? Or New Year’s Eve Eve?
  • 9:30: anyway, I’m traveling back to Zurich today, in the evening. Maybe 2nd moving day?
  • 11:00: there is an iPhone-shaped hole in my pant pocket. I don’t mean my wallet, I mean actual holes from wear and tear.
  • 14:00: what the heck, after visiting Leiden, Amsterdam, Wageningen, Rotterdam why not a quick visit to The Hague.
  • 16:00: packing my stuff
  • 17:30: early dinner
  • 18:00: did I really pack my passport?
  • 18:05: did I really pack my iPad charger?
  • 18:10: I’m a bit of a nervous traveller. Not as bad as it used to be though…
  • 18:15: did I really pack my keys?
  • 18:45: at the airport
  • 18:50: glad to be a bit early, massive queue for checking in luggage.
  • 19:15: queue for security is luckily shorter
  • 19:30: which booze to buy?
  • 19:45: last time I was at the airport a lady was looking at a broken floor tile. Four weeks later it is still clearly marked as broken.
  • 20:00: am I really at the correct gate? So many tv-screens, such a lack of information
  • 20:15: the stupid hairdo of the guy sitting in front of me tells me this is the right gate. Why is Grease (the movie) hairstyle fashionable in Switzerland?
  • 20:25: time to board the plane
  • 20:30: how difficult is it to find the correct seat?
  • 20:45: if the guy next to me takes off his jacket we would both have more space
  • 20:50: oh great, a delay
  • 21:00: haha, the inflight map (which still positions us at the gate) places Tripoli near Beirut. Apparently, there is a small village with that name there. I do hope that they fly me to the correct Zurich (i.e. not the small town in the northern part of the Netherlands).
  • 21:20: in the air
  • 21:30: aren’t waffles Belgian national food? What do they do on a KLM airplane?
  • 21:50: hello Luxembourg
  • 21:52: bye Luxembourg
  • 22:00: if the flight track on the monitors is to be believed the pilot is drunk.
  • 22:15: final approach. Just to make clear, I’m not live-typing this
  • 22:25: plane is parked on platform, have to use busses to go to gate.
  • 22:40: almost have to run to pick up my luggage from the baggage belt. What a difference with last week. Not even time to go to the bathroom.
  • 22:55: in tram home.
  • 23:00: texting my parents that I arrived safely, but statistically the trip from the airport to home is more dangerous than the flight. Should I wait until I’m home?
  • 23:05: oops, I left my Dutch (second) cell phone on during the flight and my iPad was not on flight-mode.



    • Tia blog will be continued here

    5th Christmas Day

    Saturday 29/12/2012:

  • 2:00: Can’t sleep
  • 2:30: still can’t sleep
  • 3:00: no progress yet
  • 3:30: I normally only carry my laptop and when I’m too lazy for that, I only take my iPad. Carrying all those boxes yesterday gives me some muscle pain (is that the right word?).
  • 3:45: also, still can’t sleep
  • 4:00: boo!
  • 9:30: I did fall asleep I guess
  • 12:30: on my way to Rotterdam
  • 12:55: walked into a glass separation wall… One covered with black dots to prevent people to walk into them. No worries, nothing is broken
  • 13:15: the Netherlands is definitely more windy than Switzerland.
  • 13:30: almost hit by another piece of hardware of the Dutch railways: a door handle
  • 13:45: hit my head on the ceiling of the train. That makes it a hat trick!
  • 14:30: eating a humus-cheese-avocado sandwich at my sisters place
  • 15:30: walking down the street for the next appointment
  • 16:30: yay Grolsch
  • 22:00: walking to the train station with the wind in my back
  • 22:15: do I dare to again sit on the top floor of the train or will I hit my head again?
  • 22:30: checking in for tomorrow’s flight.
  • 22:45: I did indeed hit my head again
  • 0:00: looking at some adorable childhood pictures.



    • This blog is continued here

    Moving day

    Friday 28/12/2012:

  • 7:00: today my dad + partner are going to move from the old house to the new house (the boerderette). I’m here to carry boxes and make cynical remarks. I’m not going to post them all, otherwise I’ll look like a grumpy old man, while in reality I’m just a grumpy man.
  • 7:30: nobody killed yet
  • 7:45: the Phillips screwdriver almost did the trick
  • 10:00: first truck is done
  • 12:30: second truck is done
  • 13:00: fire alarm is working too good, it already goes off when the bread is just about done, not when it is already too far.
  • 13:30: the sandwiches taste good
  • 14:00: see if we can get all books on the book shelves
  • 14:15: uh-oh another box with books
  • 14:30: and yet another one. This will not work out.
  • 14:45: arranging the chairs and tv, now we only need wine and we are set.
  • 15:00: the house is next to the street and people can just look inside. Maybe rearrange the curtains?
  • 15:15: when we are done this early I can just as well go a bit earlier as well.
  • 15:41: just made it to the train station on time, but now the train is late.
  • 15:45: oh yes, a train with wifi
  • 16:00: the weather was good today during the move, but it is raining again
  • 17:00: back in Leiden
  • 18:30: eating some left-overs from a Christmas dinner
  • 21:00: my sister and one of my best friends live in the same street in Rotterdam. What a joke, it feels like a small village



    • This blog is continued here