Archive for October, 2007
shipping everything off and saying goodbye
I finished the socks yesterday, then decided to take risky step of washing them (just wetting, really, I didn’t use soap). I did this because they tended to bunch up a lot and didn’t look nearly as good as when worn. Fortunately they are dry now, aided and abetted by sitting on the heater. They [...]
can’t sleep, fretting
Argh. Can’t sleep, which I guess is not so surprising. The movers have packed most of our stuff; they’ll finish tomorrow (today, I guess) then load it into the container Wednesday. We’re sleeping under our own comforter and on our own pillows tonight, but the covers have been stripped from both and stacked on the [...]
Dramatic last minute knitting; also, rational reproductive care
I’ve just finished fingerless gloves for my mom (Knitty’s Fetching pattern) – with the movers in the house, and of course they packed my yarn stash first thing so the needles it was on had to go in a suitcase. And I finished it with about 8″ of yarn left over, literally, so it was [...]
chili for Nederlanders
Today’s schedule was: 10AM Me to drugstore and post office. (Didn’t work; I didn’t leave until a bit later and had forgotten the drugstore is closed on Saturdays, damnit. I’m nostalgic about it anyway becayse this is possibly the last time I’ll be inconvenienced by European shopping hours. Stopped in the mall to check out [...]
like Samson, beguiled
I kind of like that song “Hey There, Delilah” but I’ve been getting a little tired of lately, mostly because the tune is so catchy that the guys in this oitffice have been whistling it all week. Just snippets, but over and over and *over*. But today in the car I actually listened to the [...]
the good, the bad, and the spendy
The good news is I get to go home tomorrow night instead of staying here until Friday. The bad news is Rudder sounded a bit unready for me to be back when I told him about it, which means his packing up (in his usual inimitably anal way of being convinced that whatever long-winded way [...]
reporting from over the border
I am in Belgium at the moment, though still not convinced I really need to be here. At least it looks like we’ll get to come home early enough on Friday for me to tend to errands. I can report, however, that Leuven (Louvain to Francophones; it’s Flemish speaking but only 20 km from French-speaking [...]
training and racing
The cultural training in Amsterdam was OK – useful, but not as focused as we’d have liked. That is, there was a lot about living in Taiwan, but not a lot of in-depth material about working there, which we really do need. (Questions like, “In a culture where it’s difficult for people to say no, [...]
I’ll miss you most when Autumn leaves start to fall
It’s just a year since I got to the Netherlands. This is actually a prettier autumn than last year; it’s been crisp and clear, so the leaves are staying on the trees and changing colors beautifully instead of simultaneously turning brown and all falling off, whump. Yesterday I went out rowing on a narrow Dutch [...]
a spot of imagination required
I went out rowing today in a quad, for what’s probably my last practice with this crew. We have our last race together Saturday. The weather was glorious, smelling like fall, with golden leaves blazing from the trees overhead and carpeting the river. I would’ve been sniffly about it, but you can’t cry and row [...]