Mythical Creatures

I am not kidding about this. The Dutch are only part human. My guess is 50%. The other half is bicycle.

The Dutch are so ridiculously comfortable and secure on their bikes; and they assume everybody else is, too. Doesn't bother me as much as it cracks me up.
If you ride your bike during rush hour, you better be prepared to go with the flow...Cyclists are going fast and biking with a purpose. Some of my colleagues find it a little dangerous to venture out during 'peak biking times'...

But the Dutch don't just go fast, they multi-task on their bikes: I've seen people on bikes talking on their cell phone, eating frites (French fries) and smoking. No big deal, you say? They do it all at the same time! Haha. Yes, I am exaggerating a little...
Taking the cake so far: A young woman with a big textbook propped up between the handlebars, studying while biking. Now that's too much even for my taste...Sheesh.

At any rate, here are some pictures from the land of bikes:

Bike 'parking' at Den Haag Central Station.

Yes, they have guarded, underground bike parking. Awesome.


Additional info: After I typed this up, I has a smallish bike accident on my way home. Too much bike-craziness apparently. Two dudes overtaking two other dudes on a two-lane-bikepath. In the dark. Going too fast.
I was able to brake and avoid the first biker. Second one, not so much. Found myself sitting on the ground. Boo. We were both fine, and he seemed a lot more shaken up than me. Dumbass. Your mistake and I couldn't even yell at you because you were so shocked. Great.

This Is Your Life

Just a quick follow-up to the last post about the new year, new goals and such.

It's (hopefully) too early to ponder my lifetime achievements, but here's one thing that's on my list for 2009 and beyond:
No, not having my own show (even though that sounds good, too), but:

• to be a guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation (Best. Show. Ever.) and chat with Neal Conan. In person, if at all possible.

To be invited to the show would be awesome enough, quite frankly, but if I'm coming up with outrageous lifetime goals, might as well go all out:
Neal and I would either chat about my groundbreaking and highly hilarious research (something worthy of an Ig Nobel Award) or my (both best-selling and critically acclaimed) novel.

Ah, Neal. Nice, educated, articulate, listening. Neal.
Call me.

Are We There Yet?

A little more than three weeks left in this year...
For some reason I'm not too thrilled with 2008. Not sure why. Nothing bad happened to me, I've been amazingly healthy, and the same goes for the ones I care for. Still, somehow feel a little 'meh' about 2008.

It's been pointed out to me by numerous (annoyingly upbeat) people that 2008 was the year I met somebody I can finally really care about and imagine a future with (Yea yea, but I never get to see him. Grr.). Plus, 2008 was the year I completed my first marathon (Yea yea, but I was so slow. Grr.). I also ran four half-marathons, an excellent 10-miler in Paris, biked a cool race with Dad, and traveled to the States twice. I moved to a new place, and somehow held on to my job, while managing to spend countless hours on random useful (and not so useful) websites. Whoppee.

It's true, it wasn't a bad year by any stretch of the imagination. Still, I'm looking forward to a fresh start, new beginnings and adventures. A brandnew, unspoiled year.

Christmas and New Year's have always been my favorite holidays (In addition to birthdays, but that's a completely different story for some other time...). Christmas mainly because of the family aspect of it. Oh, and the cookies, of course.
New Year's Eve is just fantastic because it gives me reason to reflect on my life and its direction. Is this who I want to be? Is this where I want to be headed?

Like I said, not so sure right now. Three more weeks to think about this and come up with a strategy and some goals for 2009. Or just resove to be more like Calvin.
That could work.

Excuse Me While I Bitch And Moan

I have been thinking about this ever since I moved here and have not been able to find a satisfactory answer to the fundamental question:
Why? Why in the name of all that's holy can a country that gets an exorbitant amount of precipitation (see old entry for evidence) not devise a decent drainage system? Why?

Let me explain: I bike to and from work; around 8 miles each way. Almost all the way on awesome bike paths and I love my commute. Thank you, Dutch tax payers. Really.
But: From September through April, there are basically puddles everywhere. Sometimes they stretch all the way across the bike path and stay there for days. Even if it hasn't rained in a while. How does this happen?

I guess I feel a little bit like Homer, when he got frustrated with academics and brainiacs:

Uuuh, a graduate student, huh? How come you guys can go to the moon but can't make my shoes smell good?

I mean, really. The Dutch came up with this (admittedly pretty awesome) dam-system: Deltaworks.
Look, cool stormbarrier:

And I have to ride through this:

That's just not right.