Delft, Netherlands

New Church
Originally uploaded by radix999

So, my first day in Delft was fun.
Spent most of the day at Oqapi, checking out the offices, settling in and chatting with Joeri.
He showed me a couple of websites he was working on and we discussed my plans for my two sabbatical weeks with him.
I also had a chance to meet the ProcoliX guys who work next door (Oqapi and Procolix were once the same company,
but they split up at the start of the year as they wanted to head off in different ways)
We all had lunch at the nearby TU Delft cafeteria together and Koen, Bart and Ton from ProcoliX and we all had a chat about WebGUI: both its merits and it's weaknesses.
After that it was back to Oqapi again and I made a start on the planning stages of my WebGUI solution for our database sync issue.
I discussed the problem with Joeri and he agreed with my approach to write it as a workflow activity (which can be run as scheduled tasks
inside WebGUI) and I made a start on the basic structure in pseudo-code.

After that, Joeri drove me to my hotel so I could check-in and get settled. He offered to lend me a bike for the time I'm here - which I can use to ride to the office each day and also do a bit of touring around Delft with in my own time.
He said he'd bring it tomorrow and we could ride in together as that is how he normally gets to work also. We agreed to meet at 8.30am and get an early start.

The room at the Soul Inn is small and cozy, with a little sink in the room and two single beds. The toilet and showers are shared amongst the rooms and breakfast is provided each morning. Simple, but I don't really need much more than that.

It was going on 5pm by the time I'd settled in, but the sun was still shining outside and was looking like a lovely evening - I still had some energy left, so thought I'd go wander into the heart of Delft, grab some dinner and exhaust myself so I could get a good nights sleep.
So off I went with my camera on my back and jumper around my waist in case it got cold later.
Delft is a lovely place, with cobblestone paths everywhere, lots of cyclists and a cheery atmosphere to it. The heart of Delft seems to be based around three lovely churches.
After deviating briefly to take a few photos of the nearby train (which coincidentally will take me to Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam and other places easily) and the first Windmill I came across - I headed in to the heart of Delft.
Quaint little shops everywhere, selling everything from the classic blue Delftware pottery, wooden clogs, to medicine - Apotheek is the local name for a Pharmacist.
After wandering around for a while the shops started closing and I decided to stop for some dinner. I didn't feel too hungry, so just grabbed a light meal - but decided to go for something typically Dutch.
So I ordered a large glass of Heinekin, a ham and cheese tosti (toasted sandwich) - the tosti wasn't quite filling enough in the end tho - so I ordered a plate of Poffertjes (bite sized pancakes) with icecream and chocolate sauce on top. Yum!
I headed back to my room after that, had a nice warm shower and got an early night (about 8.30pm) - it was still very light outside.

Next morning, I awoke about 5am - after determining that there was no chance of me going back to sleep I decided to watch some tv for a bit then had a shower and had a wander outside. The owner of the Soul Inn was making breakfast, so I had a chance to ask her about the wireless connection to the room. She gave me the key, but said I might not get much reception in my room as the wireless was at he other end of the house, but I can always sit in the lounge if I need to.

She had prepared a lovely breakfast, and I filled myself with cereal, yoghurt, a warm chocolate filled pastry and a warm bun with ham and cheese in it.
Joeri arrived at 8.30am with a bike for me and we rode in to work - it's a beautiful sunny day today so I enjoyed the ride in.

I'm in Delft!

Well guys, I made it to Delft. Was a long flight from Singapore to London and then Amsterdam, but went pretty smoothly.
I managed to get some sleep on the flight to London, managed to sleep about 8 hours overall - uncomfortable sleeping in my seat, but I had a window seat so didn't get bothered too much. I don't feel too jet-lagged at the moment because of that :)

Joeri from Oqapi picked me up at the airport and drove me to his offices which is where I am now.

I've now been showed around the office and been given a desk to work on - I even have a window view!
The office is a bit quiet at the moment - just him and me - as his other full time staff member is on holiday and the other guys are part timers and in at various times. Procolix is right next door, so will get to meet them sometime too.

What I've seen so far of Holland on the drive here is that it's extremely flat. Joeri explained that the land we were driving through used to be a huge lake about a hundred years ago.

Got a couple of photos of the airports and things on the way - but not really had a chance to get the camera out yet, will post more pics another time.

Made it to Singapore

Well I made it to Singapore - the first stop in my trip.. fairly uneventful flight really. Watched a couple of movies on their 'Movies on Demand' system (and saw one crash - Windows CE, bleh). Watched 'History Boys' which wasn't too bad, and 'Sunshine', a sci-fi thriller that was pretty bad really - but that's movies these days for you.

Off to London next, then through to Amsterdam :)

Preparations

Preparations
Originally uploaded by radix999

So I leave in a week (and Yumi a couple of weeks later) and we've both been hard at work making preparations for the trip. Yumi picked up all the drugs we're ever likely to need on our trip (gastro-stop pills, multivitamins, band-aids, paracetamol, ibuprofen, acidophilus, hairy lemon and all sorts of other stuff we hopefully won't ever need)

I've got most of the planning done - the hotels organised, plane tickets booked, train tickets ordered, addresses and phone numbers of every place written down (in a small journal using a real pen!) - photocopies of passports and tickets, and colour copies of maps we might use.

My bags are packed - theoretically anyway.. I kinda know what's going in there and what I'm taking with me anyway - I have yet to see if it'll all fit tho ;)

We're going to be visiting a pretty large number of places in a short time, but I think we're as ready as we can be!

Fingers crossed!