Back on the web after a brief legal battle with Kindra...
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
London, Egypt and other bits and bobs
Another couple months have passed and find us happy and in good health (this is a lie, I'm incredibly obese). The weather in Amsterdam is starting to turn so we are in for 6 months of rain and potentially some snow. Not all that different from Portland.
Not too much happening on the home front. The Netherlands saw the brief return of Gerben for a week or so in September. Was good to see him and finally get some Biter Balijn in with the master.
Kindra and I went to London to visit her cousin Katie and had a great time. We had dinner Friday with Katie and her brother (our cousin) Mathew and his girlfriend. Saturday we drove to Bristol to see Nikky and her mother. Was good to see Nikky as we hadn't seen her since we moved. We returned to London that evening and saw Spamalot, Monty Python's Holy Grail on Broadway. A bit over the top but fun to see.Of recent news, I just returned from Egypt where I had been for a week with David Miller. We traveled from Saturday to Saturday and we saw a lot of the country. We flew into Cairo on Saturday, spent Sunday in Giza and Cairo seeing the great pyramids and the Spynx and then took an overnight train to Aswan. From Aswan we traveled up the Nile by boat to Luxor. This took three days and we were able to stop in Esna and Edfu along the way finally arriving in Luxor on Thursday. From Luxor we took another overnight train back to Cairo arriving Friday am. David flew out that afternoon and I flew out at 6am Saturday morning.
I could write pages about the trip but that might get a bit boring. See the photos below if you are interested and the movie is in the works.
For a brief clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3mZw7DFjfA
Hope this finds everyone well.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Paris, Spain and visits...
Another couple of months have passed since our last update and there hase been a lot going on.
In late July Jan came over for a visit. After spending a few days in Amsterdam we visited Paris for a long weekend. Was great to see all the sites including the Lourve, Chateau de Versailles, Musée d'Orsay and my personal favorite the Musée national d'Art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou.
August was a busy month for week and I ended up spending another week in Barcelona shooting FIFA. We finally shot the talent so I've now met some of the biggest names in Football, despite not having a clue who they were a few months ago.
During the week the weather in Barcelona was terrible. It was overcast and rainy. However, on Friday the sun came out and it was in the 90's for the whole weekend. This happened to coincide with the arrival of Kindra who flew down for the weekend. We had a great time and were able to check out the Gaudi desiged Parque Guell and a giant neighborhood party. We also spent plenty of time on the beach as this August was the wettest August in the Netherlands in the last 100 years. Not cool.
This last weekend we were visited by Kindra's Londoner cousin Katie. We had a great time showing her around and ended up at the Dutch air guitar championships on Saturday at a venue called the Paradiso. It was a crazy night made perfect by the fact that the winner performed all of his air guitarring in nothing but a spedo.
That's all for now. Hope this finds everyone well.
Jesse+Kindra
In late July Jan came over for a visit. After spending a few days in Amsterdam we visited Paris for a long weekend. Was great to see all the sites including the Lourve, Chateau de Versailles, Musée d'Orsay and my personal favorite the Musée national d'Art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou.
August was a busy month for week and I ended up spending another week in Barcelona shooting FIFA. We finally shot the talent so I've now met some of the biggest names in Football, despite not having a clue who they were a few months ago.
During the week the weather in Barcelona was terrible. It was overcast and rainy. However, on Friday the sun came out and it was in the 90's for the whole weekend. This happened to coincide with the arrival of Kindra who flew down for the weekend. We had a great time and were able to check out the Gaudi desiged Parque Guell and a giant neighborhood party. We also spent plenty of time on the beach as this August was the wettest August in the Netherlands in the last 100 years. Not cool.This last weekend we were visited by Kindra's Londoner cousin Katie. We had a great time showing her around and ended up at the Dutch air guitar championships on Saturday at a venue called the Paradiso. It was a crazy night made perfect by the fact that the winner performed all of his air guitarring in nothing but a spedo.
RANDOM DUTCH TRIVIA...
The coat of arms of Amsterdam is composed of three St Andrew's crosses, aligned vertically, but rotated 90 degrees for the flag. Historians believe they represent the three dangers which have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence. The city's official motto, Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig ("Valiant, Resolute, Merciful") which is displayed on the coat of arms, was bestowed on it by Queen Wilhelmina in 1947 in recognition of the city's bravery during World War II. The lions were added in the sixteenth century.
The Imperial Crown of Austria was awarded to the city in 1489 by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, out of gratitude for services and loans. The crown was a sign of imperial protection and acted as a seal of approval for Amsterdam merchants abroad. The Westertoren also features the imperial crown.
The coat of arms of Amsterdam is composed of three St Andrew's crosses, aligned vertically, but rotated 90 degrees for the flag. Historians believe they represent the three dangers which have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence. The city's official motto, Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig ("Valiant, Resolute, Merciful") which is displayed on the coat of arms, was bestowed on it by Queen Wilhelmina in 1947 in recognition of the city's bravery during World War II. The lions were added in the sixteenth century.
The Imperial Crown of Austria was awarded to the city in 1489 by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, out of gratitude for services and loans. The crown was a sign of imperial protection and acted as a seal of approval for Amsterdam merchants abroad. The Westertoren also features the imperial crown.
That's all for now. Hope this finds everyone well.
Jesse+Kindra
Friday, July 14, 2006
Work, play and visitors…
So it has been another couple of months and things are still going great in Amsterdam.
Since May we have had a lot happen so I’m not sure where to start. Amanda (Kindra’s sister) game to visit in early June. Kindra and Amanda had EuroRail passes through Amanda’s work and were able to take a great vacation through Switzerland and Italy. Timing worked out well as their trip happened to fall at the same time that I was in Barcelona for a week of work.
Barcelona is an amazing city. In addition to having a ton of great things to see and do there are fantastic beaches 5 minutes from the middle of town. Over the week we were able to get a couple of days to tool around the city. One at the beginning of the trip when the director we were working with got food poisoning and one at the end before we left. I ended up touring the Sagrada Familia which is also know as the Goudi or Bacelona Cathedral. It’s pretty amazing as it has been under construction since 1880 and still continues… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Familia
After Barcelona and Italy we had a visit from Scott and Megan (friends from college). They were here for a weekend and are returning for a couple of more nights after a two weeks in France.
Another very exciting aspect of life over here has been the World Cup. It was really great to be in Europe for this. Everywhere people are going Bananas for their country. Kindra, Megan, Scott and I watched Holland lose to Portugal in a local Dutchy bar. They were going crazy during the game and after Holland lost they were miserable.
I was also lucky enough to get over to Germany for a couple of games. I got tickets to the USA vs. Ghana game in Nuremburg through work and then got tickets for the France vs. Brazil game in Frankfurt from Ben. It was great getting to see the US play but the France vs. Brazil was truly amazing to watch.
Ben was over here for a little over a week. The first part of his trip he was traveling all over Germany with a couple of his friends, Mike and Chris. After a couple World Cup games, including Italy vs. Germany, they came over to Amsterdam for a couple of days. We had a great time cruising around Amsterdam and were able to get a game of golf in on Ben’s last day here. Great trip.
Well, that’s the short as sweet version. Check out the pics if you get a chance and we hope to see you all soon.
Jesse+Kindra
Since May we have had a lot happen so I’m not sure where to start. Amanda (Kindra’s sister) game to visit in early June. Kindra and Amanda had EuroRail passes through Amanda’s work and were able to take a great vacation through Switzerland and Italy. Timing worked out well as their trip happened to fall at the same time that I was in Barcelona for a week of work.Barcelona is an amazing city. In addition to having a ton of great things to see and do there are fantastic beaches 5 minutes from the middle of town. Over the week we were able to get a couple of days to tool around the city. One at the beginning of the trip when the director we were working with got food poisoning and one at the end before we left. I ended up touring the Sagrada Familia which is also know as the Goudi or Bacelona Cathedral. It’s pretty amazing as it has been under construction since 1880 and still continues… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Familia
After Barcelona and Italy we had a visit from Scott and Megan (friends from college). They were here for a weekend and are returning for a couple of more nights after a two weeks in France.
Another very exciting aspect of life over here has been the World Cup. It was really great to be in Europe for this. Everywhere people are going Bananas for their country. Kindra, Megan, Scott and I watched Holland lose to Portugal in a local Dutchy bar. They were going crazy during the game and after Holland lost they were miserable.
I was also lucky enough to get over to Germany for a couple of games. I got tickets to the USA vs. Ghana game in Nuremburg through work and then got tickets for the France vs. Brazil game in Frankfurt from Ben. It was great getting to see the US play but the France vs. Brazil was truly amazing to watch.Ben was over here for a little over a week. The first part of his trip he was traveling all over Germany with a couple of his friends, Mike and Chris. After a couple World Cup games, including Italy vs. Germany, they came over to Amsterdam for a couple of days. We had a great time cruising around Amsterdam and were able to get a game of golf in on Ben’s last day here. Great trip.
Well, that’s the short as sweet version. Check out the pics if you get a chance and we hope to see you all soon.
Jesse+Kindra
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Spain, Queen’s Day and other shenanigans…
It’s been a couple months since our last update so it’s a bit of a long one. Things have been going great on this side of the Atlantic. We are really starting to acclimate now that we have been here for a few months. We have the basics down like where to get groceries and have found some restaurants we love…even if the service is terrible. Work is also going well for both of us.
Some other highlights from the last couple months have been a trip to Geneva where my EA clients are now based out of, a trip to Antwerp for Kindra and I with a friend from her work, a visit from the Long family, a quick trip for me back to Portland and LA and a visit from Henne to meet family including his father in Spain.
Geneva was brief and work related so not too exciting. The city itself is beautiful and exudes money as there is a lot of it there. Everything is very nice and clean with a lot of Gucci type stores. The new EA offices are located in the center of town on a beautiful square with several restaurants and pubs. Not a bad place for an office.
Our Antwerp trip was a quick train ride into Belgium, only about two hours. Once there we had a great lunch and walked around the city intermittently stopping for different types of Belgium beer and random food. On our way out we did a bit of food shopping as Belgium is known for good food and Holland is not. I randomly purchased a jar of Duck Comfit and I have no idea what to do with it. Kindra finds this disgusting but I’m sure it will be good.
Towards the end of April Jim, Deb, Kate and Matt came over. It was the first visit to Amsterdam from family or friends and it was really nice to see some familiar faces (just so Ben doesn’t complain I should mention he did visit us first but in Dublin not in Amsterdam). Also a lot of fun to show friends/family the city and life you have been trying to describe for the last three months.
I’m not sure how to describe Queen’s Day but it is like a bigger happier Mardi Gras without the nakedness. Literally every street in the entire city of Amsterdam is packed to the gills with people celebrating and singing and drinking and wearing tons of orange. It is utter mayhem but an extremely jovial form of it. The Dutch manage to stay safe (relatively) and happy (for the most part) despite hours and hours of drinking and having canals everywhere without safety rails (we did see come swimmers…which is gross). See the photos for a better idea of this day as it is hard to describe.
Overall the visit from the family was great and everyone, including Kindra and I loved Queen’s Day. Another bonus was David Miller, a great friend of ours that is studying in Spain, came up for Queen’s Day as well. It was great to see him and if you are interested in an update on him he has a blog as well (http://www.catalonic.blogspot.com/).
Just a few days after the family visit and Queen’s Day I traveled back to the US for E3, a giant video games expo in LA. I was able to leave four days early and spend sometime in Portland. It was great to see a bunch of old friends and just being back in the city for a few days was great. Unfortunately, Kindra couldn’t come which would have made it perfect. I’d like to say a huge thanks to Chris and Jean Raih for putting me up for four days.
After Portland I flew to LA for three days to go to E3. It’s a bit overwhelming with lots of neon and geeks but an interesting thing to see if you work in gaming. I, being a rather large geek myself, fit right in and loved the game demos.
When I got back from the US we had four days before we left for Spain with Henne. We flew into Alicante and then headed to Torrevieja with Henne’s father Nico and his wife Silvana. Torrevieja is a beach front town that is almost entirely made up of people that are either on holiday or retired. For the most part people are either from England, Germany or Holland with very few Spanish people. As such it doesn't feel very Spanish.
The weather in Torrevieja was beautiful and it was great to meet both Silvana and Nico. Before retiring to Spain Nico was a boxer and bar owner in Amsterdam that has been attacked with an axe, shot at people, won 101 of 104 boxing matches and will readily admit that he generally only needs one punch to win a fight. He is 78 and would be quit possibly the tannest person I have ever seen if it weren’t for his even tanner wife Silvana.
After two days in Torrevieja Nico and Silvana drove us to Denia where we had booked a boat to Ibiza the following day. We had hoped to switch our boat tickets to a day earlier but it was too expensive so we decided to stay in Denia. We ended up at a hotel which turned out to be amazing. The hotel was called Las Rotes and it was located just outside of the city but had free four wheelers, bikes and scooters for guests so it was very easy to get around. The night of our stay the hotel was hosting a high school graduation that looked something like a Spanish version of The OC. We somehow managed to drink on the free tab of the high school kids so that worked out well.
The following day the three of us headed to the island of Ibiza. We spent the first couple nights and days in San Antoni (a town on the West side of Ibiza) which was great. We rented mountain bikes during the day and road down the coast to check out a few beaches. We ended up spending the day at an incredible beach called Cala Basa.
The following day we traveled back to Ibiza Town to look around for a hotel. We ended up being told about a random place in Old Town. Old Town is the original walled city of Ibiza. Back in the day everyone lived behind the walls of Old Town and were attacked every fifty years or so. Now it is a walled city within a city. The place we stayed was very low key. There was no concierge, front desk, phone or sign indicating that it was a hotel or hostel of any sort. Basically, I think we might have stayed in someone’s apartment but it was great and had a patio and pool with an amazing view of the city.
The next day we traveled back to Alicante where we flew out from the following morning. We arrived in Amsterdam to pouring rain and wind. Much like returning to Oregon from somewhere nice. We were lucky to have both Thursday and Friday off for Ascension so we have four days to get back into the swing of things before we go back to work.
Since it’s been awhile I’ve posted a few pages of photos. Take a gander at what interests you…or don’t. Hope things are well with everyone and we can see you soon.
Enjoy,
Jesse+Kindra
Some other highlights from the last couple months have been a trip to Geneva where my EA clients are now based out of, a trip to Antwerp for Kindra and I with a friend from her work, a visit from the Long family, a quick trip for me back to Portland and LA and a visit from Henne to meet family including his father in Spain.
Geneva was brief and work related so not too exciting. The city itself is beautiful and exudes money as there is a lot of it there. Everything is very nice and clean with a lot of Gucci type stores. The new EA offices are located in the center of town on a beautiful square with several restaurants and pubs. Not a bad place for an office.
Our Antwerp trip was a quick train ride into Belgium, only about two hours. Once there we had a great lunch and walked around the city intermittently stopping for different types of Belgium beer and random food. On our way out we did a bit of food shopping as Belgium is known for good food and Holland is not. I randomly purchased a jar of Duck Comfit and I have no idea what to do with it. Kindra finds this disgusting but I’m sure it will be good.
Towards the end of April Jim, Deb, Kate and Matt came over. It was the first visit to Amsterdam from family or friends and it was really nice to see some familiar faces (just so Ben doesn’t complain I should mention he did visit us first but in Dublin not in Amsterdam). Also a lot of fun to show friends/family the city and life you have been trying to describe for the last three months.
I’m not sure how to describe Queen’s Day but it is like a bigger happier Mardi Gras without the nakedness. Literally every street in the entire city of Amsterdam is packed to the gills with people celebrating and singing and drinking and wearing tons of orange. It is utter mayhem but an extremely jovial form of it. The Dutch manage to stay safe (relatively) and happy (for the most part) despite hours and hours of drinking and having canals everywhere without safety rails (we did see come swimmers…which is gross). See the photos for a better idea of this day as it is hard to describe.Overall the visit from the family was great and everyone, including Kindra and I loved Queen’s Day. Another bonus was David Miller, a great friend of ours that is studying in Spain, came up for Queen’s Day as well. It was great to see him and if you are interested in an update on him he has a blog as well (http://www.catalonic.blogspot.com/).
Just a few days after the family visit and Queen’s Day I traveled back to the US for E3, a giant video games expo in LA. I was able to leave four days early and spend sometime in Portland. It was great to see a bunch of old friends and just being back in the city for a few days was great. Unfortunately, Kindra couldn’t come which would have made it perfect. I’d like to say a huge thanks to Chris and Jean Raih for putting me up for four days.
After Portland I flew to LA for three days to go to E3. It’s a bit overwhelming with lots of neon and geeks but an interesting thing to see if you work in gaming. I, being a rather large geek myself, fit right in and loved the game demos.
When I got back from the US we had four days before we left for Spain with Henne. We flew into Alicante and then headed to Torrevieja with Henne’s father Nico and his wife Silvana. Torrevieja is a beach front town that is almost entirely made up of people that are either on holiday or retired. For the most part people are either from England, Germany or Holland with very few Spanish people. As such it doesn't feel very Spanish.
The weather in Torrevieja was beautiful and it was great to meet both Silvana and Nico. Before retiring to Spain Nico was a boxer and bar owner in Amsterdam that has been attacked with an axe, shot at people, won 101 of 104 boxing matches and will readily admit that he generally only needs one punch to win a fight. He is 78 and would be quit possibly the tannest person I have ever seen if it weren’t for his even tanner wife Silvana.After two days in Torrevieja Nico and Silvana drove us to Denia where we had booked a boat to Ibiza the following day. We had hoped to switch our boat tickets to a day earlier but it was too expensive so we decided to stay in Denia. We ended up at a hotel which turned out to be amazing. The hotel was called Las Rotes and it was located just outside of the city but had free four wheelers, bikes and scooters for guests so it was very easy to get around. The night of our stay the hotel was hosting a high school graduation that looked something like a Spanish version of The OC. We somehow managed to drink on the free tab of the high school kids so that worked out well.
The following day the three of us headed to the island of Ibiza. We spent the first couple nights and days in San Antoni (a town on the West side of Ibiza) which was great. We rented mountain bikes during the day and road down the coast to check out a few beaches. We ended up spending the day at an incredible beach called Cala Basa.
The following day we traveled back to Ibiza Town to look around for a hotel. We ended up being told about a random place in Old Town. Old Town is the original walled city of Ibiza. Back in the day everyone lived behind the walls of Old Town and were attacked every fifty years or so. Now it is a walled city within a city. The place we stayed was very low key. There was no concierge, front desk, phone or sign indicating that it was a hotel or hostel of any sort. Basically, I think we might have stayed in someone’s apartment but it was great and had a patio and pool with an amazing view of the city.
The next day we traveled back to Alicante where we flew out from the following morning. We arrived in Amsterdam to pouring rain and wind. Much like returning to Oregon from somewhere nice. We were lucky to have both Thursday and Friday off for Ascension so we have four days to get back into the swing of things before we go back to work.
Since it’s been awhile I’ve posted a few pages of photos. Take a gander at what interests you…or don’t. Hope things are well with everyone and we can see you soon.
Enjoy,
Jesse+Kindra
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Dublin and a local number...
So we finally spent a weekend in the new apartment. We hadn't had a full weekend in the place yet. Was nice to get some little stuff done like getting a broom.
Our ground shipment, which is most of our stuff, is sitting with customs in the Dutch Harbor. This is frustrating as we have been drinking out of plastic cups and eating with plastic silverware. Anyone that has been to our house since our marriage knows that I miss our silverware.
In other news, we have registered a Skype number. This means we have a number that is actually registered in Oregon so it isn't long distance for anyone to call. The catch is it dials our computer so it will be hit or miss if you are able to reach us. However, it does have voicemail so leave a message and we can call you back for next to nothing.
Anyone interested in downloading Skype should check out www.skype.com. It's a free program and if you have this on your machine then it is free for us to talk as well. You just have to get one of those headsets with the microphones which looks stupid.
If anyone wants to try calling your best bet is to try around 11am or noon PST. The number is 503/616-3083.
Aside from that things are good. The weather keeps getting nicer and we've been told that the sun will actually be up until 11pm at some points in the summer. It's already light until about 8pm now.
Here are some shots from Ireland...
Our ground shipment, which is most of our stuff, is sitting with customs in the Dutch Harbor. This is frustrating as we have been drinking out of plastic cups and eating with plastic silverware. Anyone that has been to our house since our marriage knows that I miss our silverware.
In other news, we have registered a Skype number. This means we have a number that is actually registered in Oregon so it isn't long distance for anyone to call. The catch is it dials our computer so it will be hit or miss if you are able to reach us. However, it does have voicemail so leave a message and we can call you back for next to nothing.
Anyone interested in downloading Skype should check out www.skype.com. It's a free program and if you have this on your machine then it is free for us to talk as well. You just have to get one of those headsets with the microphones which looks stupid.
If anyone wants to try calling your best bet is to try around 11am or noon PST. The number is 503/616-3083.
Aside from that things are good. The weather keeps getting nicer and we've been told that the sun will actually be up until 11pm at some points in the summer. It's already light until about 8pm now.
Here are some shots from Ireland...
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Back in Amsterdam...
...briefly.
Kindra and I are back. She was able to fly to Berlin Friday so we could spend the weekend together.
The trip overall was great. Some points of note...
LONDON
Very cold but sunny. I got my haircut in London by a guy from Kenya. It was the most professional haircut I have ever received followed by the strangest headrub I've ever had...I liked it.
PARIS
Our days were shorter in Paris so we had time to do a bit more. We went to the Eiffel Tower, got some great food and watched the Barcelona vs. Chelsey game one of the nights.
ROME
One of the guys I was traveling with liked to point out that almost everything is older than America. Everything from the Trevi Fountain on down to the light poles.
BERLIN
Was freezing and snowy and great. As a city Berlin is really interesting. Even though the wall came down in '89 both halves of the city have incredibly different feels. Apparently this is because the West tried to modernize everything to show how prosperous democracy was. The irony is the East, by not doing this, is now cooler cause it's retro.
We are leaving Friday to go to Dublin to see Ben and Kelly for the weekend. St. Patrick's day in Dublin should be interesting.
Here are some shots from the trip and the new apartment. Enjoy...
We'll post some more photos soon but in the interim here are some shots from the last month or so...
Kindra and I are back. She was able to fly to Berlin Friday so we could spend the weekend together.
The trip overall was great. Some points of note...
LONDON
Very cold but sunny. I got my haircut in London by a guy from Kenya. It was the most professional haircut I have ever received followed by the strangest headrub I've ever had...I liked it.
PARIS
Our days were shorter in Paris so we had time to do a bit more. We went to the Eiffel Tower, got some great food and watched the Barcelona vs. Chelsey game one of the nights.
ROME
One of the guys I was traveling with liked to point out that almost everything is older than America. Everything from the Trevi Fountain on down to the light poles.
BERLIN
Was freezing and snowy and great. As a city Berlin is really interesting. Even though the wall came down in '89 both halves of the city have incredibly different feels. Apparently this is because the West tried to modernize everything to show how prosperous democracy was. The irony is the East, by not doing this, is now cooler cause it's retro.
We are leaving Friday to go to Dublin to see Ben and Kelly for the weekend. St. Patrick's day in Dublin should be interesting.
Here are some shots from the trip and the new apartment. Enjoy...
We'll post some more photos soon but in the interim here are some shots from the last month or so...
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Photos, Contact Info, etc...
Internet access has been hit or miss but I was finally able to post some photos. They are from a couple weeks prior to our move and go through a week or so after. The shots of our apartment are actually outdated as we moved into our new place last Wednesday. It's great to finally be where we will be living for the next couple years instead of a temporary place.
Our new Address
Ceintuurbaan 251-1
1074 CZ
Nederlands
Our new Landline
+31 20 421 4790
+31 (6) 4622 8034 (+31 is international access code to
From a landline in the states you would dial (011) 31 6 4622 8034
Kindra's job is going well and she is crazy good at riding her bike around
We'll post some more photos soon but in the interim here are some shots from the last month or so...
_
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Kindra got a job, Jesse went to London and we found an apartment...
Big news for us from Amsterdam. Kindra got a job at 180 Amsterdam (http://www.180bv.nl/). 180 is an amazing ad agency here in Amsterdam that works on a lot of big accounts including Adidas, Amnesty International, Motorola, Omega, etc.. She'll be starting Monday in their business/legal affairs department which is in charge of a wide range of contractual and legal areas of advertising.
In other news, I went to London for the first time on Thursday to meet the people I'll be working with. Everyone was super nice and it was a great trip. After flying over Thursday afternoon, some agency folks and I met up with the clients, went to see the Blue Man Group and then went to Hakasan, a super nice Asian restaurant down a back alley in London. Friday we had some meetings at the EA UK office in Chertsey. All very cool and not a bad first trip to England.
Lastly, we found an apartment. It's in a neighborhood called De Pijp which is in a great part of Amsterdam not too far from the center. Lot's of little pubs and random places to eat.
We still don't have the Mac hooked up so I can't post too many photos but here are a couple of us around town. Kindra being cute in the snow and me being an idiot, as per usual.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Getting Settled...
We've had some time to get over jet lag and are starting to take care of some of the smaller things. We set up our cell phones, got a bike, figured out where the grocery store is, etc.
We are currently living in corporate housing on a street called Utrechtsestraat. It is between the Keizersgracht and Prinzengracht canals. It's decent but right on a tram line which makes if fairly noisy. As I sleep through fire alarms this doesn't bother me but Kindra is wearing earplugs at night. Cute but dorky looking. :)
We are excited to find a place and have a house hunter that has been helping us look. We went out for about 3 hours last Wednesday and saw a range of apartments. We are interested in one and are going back to see it again on Monday. One concern we have is the Dutch people we tell about it say it's too expensive. However, we have been told that expats should expect to pay more and other expats seem to think it's reasonable.
The first few days here our internal clocks were all messed up so we spent our evenings trying not to fall asleep before 7p. As we're getting acclimated we've started to go out a bit more. The last couple nights we've spent out with folks from W+K. Two nights ago we went to a bar called O'Reiley's near the Dam square and last night we went to a dinner at a co-worker's apartment. Aside from Kindra's wallet and cell phone getting stolen at O'Reiley's both nights were fantastic.
Everyone we've met so far has been incredibly nice. It's also very interesting to hear the backgrounds of everyone. Amsterdam has a ton of expats so everyone is from somewhere else. For example at the dinner party there were three people from England, on from Australia and one from Holland...not including us yanks.
Overall things are great and our new cell numbers are below. We are nine hours ahead of the West Coast and six ahead of the East Coast so account for that when you call.
Jesse Cell: (011) 31 6 2060 8607
Kindra Cell: (011) 31 6 2146 6444
If anyone wants to mail anything to us you should use the W+K address as our home address will be changing. If you are mailing something specifically for Kindra put her name in parenthesis after mine but be sure to include mine as they won't recognize her name alone.
Jesse Long (Kindra Long)
Wieden+Kennedy
Keizersgracht 125-127
1015CJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
We are currently living in corporate housing on a street called Utrechtsestraat. It is between the Keizersgracht and Prinzengracht canals. It's decent but right on a tram line which makes if fairly noisy. As I sleep through fire alarms this doesn't bother me but Kindra is wearing earplugs at night. Cute but dorky looking. :)
We are excited to find a place and have a house hunter that has been helping us look. We went out for about 3 hours last Wednesday and saw a range of apartments. We are interested in one and are going back to see it again on Monday. One concern we have is the Dutch people we tell about it say it's too expensive. However, we have been told that expats should expect to pay more and other expats seem to think it's reasonable.
The first few days here our internal clocks were all messed up so we spent our evenings trying not to fall asleep before 7p. As we're getting acclimated we've started to go out a bit more. The last couple nights we've spent out with folks from W+K. Two nights ago we went to a bar called O'Reiley's near the Dam square and last night we went to a dinner at a co-worker's apartment. Aside from Kindra's wallet and cell phone getting stolen at O'Reiley's both nights were fantastic.
Everyone we've met so far has been incredibly nice. It's also very interesting to hear the backgrounds of everyone. Amsterdam has a ton of expats so everyone is from somewhere else. For example at the dinner party there were three people from England, on from Australia and one from Holland...not including us yanks.
Overall things are great and our new cell numbers are below. We are nine hours ahead of the West Coast and six ahead of the East Coast so account for that when you call.
Jesse Cell: (011) 31 6 2060 8607
Kindra Cell: (011) 31 6 2146 6444
If anyone wants to mail anything to us you should use the W+K address as our home address will be changing. If you are mailing something specifically for Kindra put her name in parenthesis after mine but be sure to include mine as they won't recognize her name alone.
Jesse Long (Kindra Long)
Wieden+Kennedy
Keizersgracht 125-127
1015CJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Monday, February 06, 2006
Arrival in Amsterdam...
We're safe and we've already lost five pounds carrying our luggage up the insanely steep stairs to the door of our temporary apartment. The apartment itself is pretty nice although the upstairs feels a bit like a tree house as we have to duck when we go up and down.
Fudge arrived unscathed and seems to be enjoying himself. For all the hurdles we had to go through in the US to get him here we assumed it would be a pain on this end but no one seemed to care in customs.
Aside from sleeping, we've ventured out a couple of times to find some food and look around. We went out to run some errands Monday morning to find that most shops open around 1p on Mondays. It was explained to us that the Dutch need some time to get over the weekend.
We'll post some pics of the place when we have a our computer set up.
Fudge arrived unscathed and seems to be enjoying himself. For all the hurdles we had to go through in the US to get him here we assumed it would be a pain on this end but no one seemed to care in customs.
Aside from sleeping, we've ventured out a couple of times to find some food and look around. We went out to run some errands Monday morning to find that most shops open around 1p on Mondays. It was explained to us that the Dutch need some time to get over the weekend.
We'll post some pics of the place when we have a our computer set up.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Two Weeks Out
Things are getting a bit crazy as we prep to leave. We've been selling what we can and throwing away the rest to slim up for the move.
We did a test run to the airport with Fudge yesterday. We did this because the vet wanted us to test his sedative and we wanted to take the carrier to the airport. All went well and according to Jimmie Clipper, of PDX fame, we are good to go.
Fudge was super messed up and running into walls and doors.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Test...
Every great blog should start with a test. We are 22 days from our move from Portland to Amsterdam.
Starting to feel a bit real.
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