July 2003

I went to Amsterdam this evening, I had to do some shopping.

Ettie called, and in between she told me that the public transport travelcard isn't valid now. Between July 16th and August 16th my student card only gives a discount, no free traveling. I'm glad nobody checked my ticket.

Some of the air-conditioning parts are too big for the stairs or elevators, so there's a big crane working now.

The last few days have been really warm, around 30 degrees. Yesterday evening the weather changed: a small thunderstorm cleared the sky. It was fresh in the evening, so I opened all the windows in the house to get the hot air out.

When I came here at Chess you could notice the difference. In the elevator it was still very warm, whereas in the rest of the building (where windows have been opened as well) it was much colder.

Although I really enjoyed the beautiful weather of the last days I must say that working is easier when it's not so hot.

We'll get an airconditioning system here at Chess, and they're working on it now. The power was off in the building between 12:00 and 1:00.

Therefore I decided to get my haircut today. The guy I usually go to was on holiday, so I had to find another hairdresser... took me a while. I wanted a hairdresser where I could just walk in (without appointment), and that wasn't extremely expensive. Found one near the Botermarkt, so I'm with shorter hair now.

It's the 3rd big fire in that area within a few months.

My teacher just e-mailed, and told me I've past the course Formal Methods. That means I'm ready with all my courses!

The only thing I have to do now is finish my internship paper, and then I'll be ready. That will be a marvellous feeling, I'm sure.

I did the real test of Formal Methods in October last year, but due to my internship, Internet Programming and of course working at Chess, I never had enough time to start with the homework assignment that was required to pass the course. Now, finally done, and with a good mark, an 8.

It's a simple test designed to indicate whether people have too much stress in their life.

It's a picture of two dolphins. The two dolphins appear normal when viewed by a stress-free individual. This test is not accurate enough to pick up mild stress levels.

It's quite simple. If there is anything that appears different about the dolphins (ignore the fact of the slight color differences) it is often an indication of potential stress related problems. Differences, if any, may also indicate the source of your stress.

(thanks Willy Dobbe)

I went for a walk along the river. The weather is really very good today, and there are many boats on the Spaarne.

I've put my mind straight about the things to be done for the internship paper. I have basically two weeks to finish it. This is a short period, but if I plan it well it should definitely be sufficient; the paper's almost ready anyway. Just that the mark, submitting, final remarks etc will take some time. I'm now making a list with all the things, big and small, that have to be done before it's really ready.

I've just submitted my last homework assignment, the one for Formal Methods. It's a great relief that I've finally finished it; it had been nagging me for a long time. Now I can solely focus on my internship paper, I have been looking forward to that for a long time.

The weather is really nice outside (how is it in Washington?), but I'm kind of getting used to having to stay inside in the weekends.

I just came back from Jennie's birthday, in Heerhugowaard. It was a nice evening; met some interesting people.

Too bad the trains don't go all night. I had the last connection, but I still had to leave at 23:30 o'clock.