Personal
New job
On April 1st, I started my new job as a software developer at Syntess Software. It’s a pretty big company (at least compared to my previous one) with its software department in Zierikzee.
I will be working on our “newest” application, written in Delphi and with a Firebird database, both of which are new to me. These first few days, I have mainly been busy getting to know the software (and my colleagues of course), but I am very anxious to start programming and do some “real” work!
Leonie Manon
Yesterday, November 29, Irene gave birth to a beautiful little girl: Leonie Manon.
Of course, we are very proud of this little baby and happy that all is well with both mother and daughter. Also Marijn is very proud to be a big brother now and all he wants is to hold and cuddle his little sister and to cover her in kisses.
Check out some more photos on Picasaweb.
We’ve moved
Yesterday, we moved to our new house. We had to get up really early because the movers would be at our house around 7:30. They arrived with 2 (yes, that’s two) lorries, which, as it turned out later, was A Good Thing ™. Both of them would be filled to the brim.
While Irene stayed at the old place, I already went to our new house, because the very same day, the kitchen would be installed. A case of Bad Planning ™, I fear, although not entirely our own fault.
We got the keys!
This afternoon, we received the keys to our new house!
Ten months after construction was started it’s finally finished now. Although, it’s not quite finished yet, there are still some things that have to be done, but that will have to wait till after the holidays. But at least, in the mean time, we can start painting, cleaning, et cetera. We plan to move on September 17th.
New laptop
Last week, I finally ordered a new laptop! This is it, a Dell Studio 15.
My old laptop had become soooo slow. Even after completely reinstalling Windows XP, but hardly any other software (yes, a browser, office suite, and a few more), it still seemed ten times as slow as when I bought it. I blame Windows for that; obviously XP is not what it was five years ago.
Anyway, I searched around, mainly at laptopshop.nl, and was about to order an Acer (Aspire 5738G, to be precise), when I saw that Dell had a discount on the Studio 15. The specs were similar to the Acer and now the price was almost the same as well. I chose the Dell.
New house almost finished
A lot has happened since my previous post about our new house. Last week we heard that we will get the keys by the end of July!
On the outside, the house is almost finished. The scaffolding has already been removed. Part of the windows and the doors still have to be put in, but it’s really starting to look like the pictures we fell in love with.
On the inside, some of the walls have been plastered, most of the wiring is finished, and they’re busy installing the bathroom. In the mean time, we have been planning what has to be done after we get the keys, i.e. the walls, the floors and the kitchen. This will still take a couple of weeks, so probably, we will be moving sometime around September 15.
Appendicectomy
Two weeks ago, on Thursday, I woke up with a stomach ache. I didn’t think much of it and I just went to work, although it was, of course, annoying. I thought it might be constipation, but nothing serious. The next day was the same, still annoying, but again I went to work. Then on Friday night, I did have a lot of pain, but luckily that went away after about half an hour.
On Saturday, we had agreed to help a friend move home, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to help at all. I could hardly walk, let alone carry boxes. In the afternoon, Irene said I felt warm, and we decided to go to the hospital.
To make a long story short: from the blood test it appeared I probably had an appendicitis, so I was scheduled for operation that evening. Normally, this would have meant I could have gone home the next day, but during the operation, they found that my appendix had burst. Instead of leaving the next day, I had to stay in hospital for five days with intravenous antibiotics.
I have been home for a week now, and I’m getting better and better. I am up and about, although standing or walking still hurts after a few minutes. My appetite in hospital was really terrible, I hardly ate at all, but luckily that’s (almost) back to normal now. I’ve also started working for a couple of hours a day, and hopefully next week I’ll be able to work full days again.
Winter scenes
It’s been pretty cold in the past weeks. When it’s been freezing for such a long time, the Dutch get a special type of disease: ice fever. Within days, ice skates were sold out everywhere, because for the first time in 12 years, it was possible to skate on natural ice in The Netherlands. There was even talk about a new Elfstedentocht, but the ice didn’t get strong enough for that.
So, we too wanted to go ice skating, but I too had to buy new skates first. We finally went this Saturday.
Apart from the fun of ice skating, the cold weather also provides some beautiful natural winter scenes, and the opportunity to try to make a few nice photos.
New kitchen
Last monday, we went to the notary to sign for the mortgage for our new house!
It took a lot of time to get the mortgage and, especially, the life insurance, but it’s all settled now. And finally, the ground is officially ours now!
Construction of the house was started almost three weeks ago. The first piles were rammed into the ground (what is “heien” in English?) on October 10, and since then, the concrete foundation has been poured, the water outlets have been set up and the ground floor has been laid.
In the mean time, we have bought ourselves a new kitchen! We’re still thinking about all the changes and optional extras: where to place the sockets and light switches, do we want an outside tap or an electrical garage door, do we want hardwood stairs, et cetera. We will have to decide about a lot of these things next week. And after that: project bathroom! I’ll keep you posted…
Newbury
Yesterday, we returned from a short trip to England, to my brother and sister-in-law, and our little nephew Willem.
This time, we went by car and ferry: we drove to Dunkerque, took the ferry to Dover, and drove the last part, to their new house in Newbury. “What? Where? Didn’t they live in Bristol?” Yes, they did, but not anymore. They moved earlier this year. We hadn’t been there yet. In fact, we hadn’t seen them since December! Back then, Willem was 7 months and Marijn only 2 months old! So, it was very nice seeing each other again.
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