A nice sunny Sunday afternoon… A Fruit, trees and coffee in Ochten. Or to be more precise… The National Fruitpark Ochten! Although that sounds far bigger than it actually is (maybe that helped them get their European Union funds), it sure is nice to visit and doesn’t cost you anything.
September 7-13, 2010 I visited Silicon Valley, California USA. Together with over 10 other innovative companies from the Netherlands we went on a mission with the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. An extremely busy schedule with several appointments with companies and venture capital but also a one day Entrepeneur Bootcamp with several great speakers and nice networking events. And of course, tourist time in the weekend.
The word ‘swamp’ doesn’t sound very romantic, but the Weerribben are beautiful. And very Dutch! An area no smaller than 35 km² forming one of the biggest nature reserves in Europe.
Once upon a time… Founded in 910 by William I, Count of Auvergne, run by Abbot Berno and under the immediate authority of Pope Sergius III. Back then, everything went well. The power of Cluny soon went from a small abbey in France all the way from Scotland, Germany to Italy. But the decline went all to soon as well. Financial problems in the 12th century, further decline and the French Revolution, all that remained was sold in 1798 for 2,140,000 francs.
Visiting Cluny only makes you guess how times used to be…
A perfect story for a movie.
Trekkertrek is a very regional event where one has to pull heavy machinery with a tractor (or truck). You’ll have to pull as far as possible and as quick as possible in case two tractors get it to a “full pull”. Funny to attend 
One of the first tips I ever received when I started snowboarding, over ten years ago, was “don’t eat the yellow snow”. A well-know sentence and hard to forget. The last few weeks, it has been snowing in the Netherlands so the line popped up in my head again. I found this traffic light on Saturday which focusses on the very same topic, but from a different point of view… Don’t yellow the snow.
Don't yellow the snow...
Being a web developer, the word “cookie” I mostly use when referred to as ‘http cookie‘ which can be used to track a visitor while visiting a website. The English word ‘cookie’ comes from the Dutch word ‘koek’, or better the word for ‘small cookie’: koekje. But today, my girlfriend Imke and I made real and none-digital cookies.
It’s a nice way to spend a rainy Sunday and funny to have something that has become so digital, being transformed in something real.
Cookies
Cookies
Ruurlo. A small town in the east of the Netherlands where I lived about 7 years and left when I was 9. Today I went back, almost 19
years later, which was weird in a way. In my memory, everything was big, large, long and such. Our street was long, the house and garden
were huge and the ‘centre’ was big and very far from our house.
Well, we did everything by foot and the whole town seemed to have shrank. The street wasn’t that big, the house ‘normal’ and the centre
well… The word itself sounds a little exegurated.
It was a nice part of my life and nice to revisit the places where I more or less started my life.
Sometimes, you may need advice but once given, a decision seems even harder to make. The last few months have been pretty busy, hard, difficult and sometimes even depressing. Having worked on a new service the last 8 months, spoken to many enthusiastic clients, the last few months didn’t work they way I hoped they would. Clients are postponing decisions, waiting for an other company to go first and in the meantime, it seems I am not entitled to any luck anymore. Personally, I felt I didn’t know what I should do. Continue with what I am doing, even though it gets harder and harder? Just stop and drop everything I’ve worked for the last 2 years and apply for a regular job? Something else maybe? Choices are hard to make when the options are all as difficult.
This picture I took at a bit desserted spot near my house, on the way to the office. I first noticed these very useful arrows three years ago so they have been ‘directing’ people at least three years already. It kind of visualize what I am feeling these days… It answers a question without helping you to decide.
My qurified URL:
