...and then got better again

An interesting mix of European and American over the counter medication, two boxes of tissues and about half a role of toiletpaper (after the tissues ran out) later, I'm sort of ready to go for it again.

Stuck with the flu

And then I got sick.

Just when I was starting to settle in yesterday, a headache started to come up. First as a headcold, then something nastier. I've holed up into my hotel room and try to sweat it out.
Brought all the chemical warfare to bear that is legally available over the counter.

So far, the flu is unimpressed. A hotel-provided ear thermometer shows 39.8 C (converted from an even more disturbing number in Fahrenheit).

Past experience suggests this will pas in two days at most - hopefully less. Fingers crossed...

Arriving in the States

Originally written on Monday, 14 november 2011:

Just a quick note to let you all know that all has been well so far. It's 5.30 in the morning now and I'm all ready to go.

Flight went without a hitch, had very pleasant conversations with my fellow passenger next to me. So pleasant, in fact, that I may have accidentally divulged many company secrets. So I killed him in the pre-customs restrooms to be sure. Nice guy. Worked for Philips.

Car hire also went without a hitch, from an organizational perspective, that is. My own gaffe was that I accidentally checked out the wrong car from the carpark, because the very nice lady at the desk wrote down the parking number a little illegible (and that's the story I stick by). Anyway, on checkout, this was pointed out to me and I had to reverse and put all my stuff in the very nice car that was actually assigned to me. Pity though, would have been nice to drive a BMW.

The drive to Concord went fine, except for the minor detail that someone who shall remain nameless for now set the instruction voice to 'Snoop Dog' on my otherwise exemplary prepared navigation device, the annoyance of which only became clear as I was negotiating the complex roads leading off the airport and into the city of Boston. I had to endure him until I was well out of the thick of it before I could pull over and change it to someone whose statements actually contributed to my navigation. I literally had no idea what he was saying half the time.

Resurrecting the blog

A long time ago, in a career far, far away, I was writing words for a living.

Some of those words ended up in a blog that I maintained for a Dutch popular science magazine, called 'KIJK', which still exists today and which every self-respecting geek from the Netherlands will have read at some point in his life.

To my mild surprise, the blog still exists after all these years, so I'm now resurrecting it as a repository to keep those who are interested updated on my exploits in the States.

In those days I took on the identity of 'Cyberend', which was a wordplay on the name of the monthly column that I would maintain in 'KIJK', called Cyberia, and the fact that my name is, well 'Berend'. Those unfamilar with my real name would tend to read the name as Cyber-End, which is also fine with me...

I'll start with a mildly edited version of my first email right after this.