Apparently 5 hours of sleep just isn't enough for me, spent most of the day in a somewhat zombie-ish state at work and popped by at girlfriend's place to say goodbye seeing as she's going on holiday tomorrow. May have appeared somewhat unresponsive.

Gave the house rental people a call, they sounded relieved that this time my ceiling wasn't leaking and somehow they managed to get a plumber to call me the same day. (They're getting better and better plumber wise)

At night girlfriend and I visited girlfriend's sister and looked at the puppy she just got. Also managed to got caught in a tropical rainstorm on the way back home (had to do do 50 km/h on a stretch of highway you usually do 120 or more)

Had girlfriend pop by and watched "welcome to the jungle" (which isn't too great). Also did laundry, after which my neighbour downstairs knocked on my door to tell me that while my leaking ceiling problem has been solved, I've now got a leaking floor problem. Water was pouring down the walls, into her bathroom at a pretty alarming rate.

Packed my boyhood, an extension cord and my uncle's grinder and hopped in the tube to my girlfriend's place to tackle the grinding-job. Dragged girlfriend downstairs to watch me perform this manly task and then found my bicycle keys hidden in a plastic bag on my luggage carrier. Apparently somebody had spotted the keys and had been friendly enough to hide them from view for everybody. Right!

For some reason I had registered for the free "vehicle control"-course Arinso offered us, which sadly enough was on the same day as the ParkPop festival. Apparently free expensive stuff rates above guaranteed fun in my book. Obviously I forgot to factor in that this course meant getting up at 6:45 and driving 130 km to Lelystad.

And while 6:45 am is early on weekdays (actually, usually I get up at 6:30), it feels somehow even worse on Sundays. Then commuting on Sundays is easier, I'd love to be able to blast my way to work at 140 km/h every day of the week. (Then this would probably get somewhat expensive traffic-fine wise).

Because of this I managed to appear in Lelystad in 1 hour and 10 minutes and be there half an hour early. *gaah!*. The training day turned out to be half fun and useful, the other half was fun as well but due to new cars nowadays having ABS not as useful IMHO. In the old days they'd teach you how to avoid crashing into a brick wall, by showing you that it's impossibly to brake and steer at the same time. So you'd have to brake, release the brake, avoid object, and brake again. Nowadays it's just "break hard and steer". Still, nice to have tried it once or twice in a controlled environment.

At night had a barbecue at my aunts place with father, mother and girlfriend. Borrowed a grinder to tackle the bicycle lock problem.

Somehow I only locked my bicycle with the new bicycle lock I bought yesterday. This because I had decided that the old lock was too easy to pick. Managed to forget to lock this old lock and leave the key in it yesterday night. Now somebody has been friendly enough to lock this one for me and now obviously I don't have a clue how to pick it. Guess I'll either have to rugby-tackle a homeless person to do it for me or think up some other brilliant plan.

Took girlfriend and the tube to my place and spent the evening watching videos (Stealing Harvard and Bubble Boy) before going to bed.

After Cindy called out for cocktails in Rotterdam, we did just that, together with girlfriend, Nicktor, Annemarie, McR and Martina and some of Cindy's friends. Had food, and may have had one cocktail too many.Still loads of fun.

Had an Arinso-meeting at night (combined with an indoor-climbing event). Decided that going indoor climbing while it's 40 degrees celsius in the climbing hall probably isn't the brightest idea ever. Spent evening chatting with colleagues.

While taking out the thrash, I accidentally kept on biking and ended up in "de Oude Haven" drinking beer with girlfriend. Not the worst choice ever, seeing as the weather is brilliant.

Got my hair cut. Instructed all my colleagues to tell me the next day that my hair looked different.

Also gave the parking permit people a call, they claimed that they had been a bit busy and that 8 weeks was currently the waiting time for handing out permits. Which probably explains why after 4 weeks I'm still without. I fear that this means it will take them 8 weeks to send back a letter telling me I forgot to tick a box somewhere on the form.

But... with a bit of luck I'll be completely settled in Rotterdam after only 4 or 5 months.

Hot! After work I drove straight to Rotterdam, where I put on my rollerskates and attempted to skate towards girlfriend. Managed to fall flat on my face in the process and hurt my elbow. Booh!

Girlfriend refused to comfort my pain but instead took me on a picnick in "het park" in Rotterdam. Yay girlfriend! Had apple-pie icecream afterwards. Wooh! My elbow still hurts though.

Father's day in the Netherlands. Rushed past the shops to buy dad a beard trimmer and then raced to Ridderkerk to pick up Nicktor, who somehow managed to miss the lunch-part in my:"Are you coming to Arjan's lunch-barbecue"-question. Eventually drove on to McR's place, where the "Find out where Arjan lives"-game started. (Both McR and I had only seen a photograph of the place and more or less knew where the house was supposed to be).

Eventually Nicktor and I managed to spot Arjan's place and 15 minutes later Martina called in to tell us that McR was willing to give up the search. Spent the afternoon playing football, tripping in Arjan's kiddie-pool and lighting up the barbecue.

Eventually had to take off before dinner even started for father's day celebrations at home. (And more barbecue). Weeee!

Got picked up by McR and set off for a walk in the forests. Managed to create a theme for the day by spotting: "de piramide van Austerlitz" on the roadmap. (A 35 meter high piramid built by Napoleon's soldiers in 1804 to commemmorate the battle of Austerlitz (which is in the Czech republic).

Staid in at night with girlfriend and watched groundhog day.

Teamed up with some colleagues in a beach-club in Rotterdam. Found out on my way there that it's not smart having 2 girls named Esther under the sameentry in your phone (don't ask). Got very puzzled replies to my:"Please order me a beer, I'm coming in"-text.

Nice to catch up with all the colleagues, at the same time I think I may have found one of Lorraine's new favourite hangout-spots in .nl. :-)

Had girlfriend pop by, lounged.

Stayed in Amsterdam and watched the Dutch premiere of "the Hithchhiker's guide to the galaxy". Had Thai food beforehand. *yay!*.

Managed to get into a 3 km traffic jam on the way back home, where did that one come from??

Did I do anything on Tuesday? Must have, but I fear there's nothing that really stands out. Note to self:"Update more often"

Visited girlfriend's grandparents for dinner. Lots of fun, fun.

Set off into town to watch the Red Bull Air Race in Rotterdam with Nicktor, Sabrina, Arjan and apparently McR and Martina, even though they didn't show up till the end, claiming that they had overslept (at 1 in the afternoon). Loads of planes, 700.000 people and lots of fun.

Finished off with drinks in Rotown and more Indian food at girlfriend's place (yesterday we had Indian food as well). All were very merry.

Girlfriend took off for Utrecht and left me to ermmm... play with my PS2. (And sleep a little) At night went out for dinner with girlfriend, Nicktor and Annemarie.

In the past couple of years, I've been (sometimes partly) responsible for some cool birthday-stunts for Lorraine or so I'd like to believe. She once got thrown a kiddies birthday party at my parents' place, we once did a photo session when she was in Australia and last year I got loads of cult members to hold up signs wishing her a happy birthday. Seeing as neither me or my friends has been able to think up something on par with these stunts this year, I'll just stick to this flashback to the good old days and a more minimal way to mark this happy day. *yay Lorraine!*

Celebrated Lorraine's birthday at night by taking part in a 2 hour go-kart race with my ING-colleague Ron and 2 of his friends. Got elected to be the starter-person and spent 15 minutes wondering:"Why the fuck does everybody appear to be going twice as fast as me?" Found out that when I swapped places that I was "only" 5 seconds a lap slower than the fastest person. Gaaah! Then found out that those jerks showing off with walkie talkies were actually no 1 in the current indoor go-kart competition. Right! And some of the others were pretty good as well.

Managed to take a second and a half of my fastest lap-time on the second stint and my team gloriously managed to finish 10 (out of 15).

Unbelievable, today, after more than a week and a half, the plumber called. He'll be visiting tomorrow. I still can't believe it! Will I live to see a dry livingroom? :-)

Felt dead tired for some reason. Somehow passed out in bed at 10pm. Booh!

Watched "Kill bill" with girlfriend. Still a cool film.

Attended an Arinso meeting at night, got to chat with loads of colleagues I hadn't seen for a while. Big fun.

Bought a keyboard stand at Feedback (a music store in Rotterdam which was having a sale). Unexpectedly managed not to buy any other exciting gadgets and had to cheer myself up by buying Grand theft auto-Vice City for my PS2.

Spent remainder of the day playing GTA, with a short stop for racing back home to fetch my keyboard.

Watched Sin City with girlfriend in the afternoon. Really cool. Found out that girlfriend dislikes 95% of my car. Or at least she doesn't like its colour, she doesn't like its looks and she doesn't like the colour of the interior (beige). The only things that appear to be passable are the driver and the stereo. Boo! Hiss! May have to consider finding a more car friendly girlfriend.

On the other hand, at least girlfriend aparently knows that stereos and drivers are at least as important as looks. And seeing as girlfriend and I are together for 9 months now (also the first anniversary (well, if anybody would dare to call 9 months an anniversary) I manage not to forget *grin*), I think I'll let this one go. But she'd better like the next pink and yellow hawaiian shirt I buy!

Set out to watch stand-up comedy at night with Nicktor but got joined by the rest of the gang and completely failed to leave "de Consul". Better luck next time.

Spent most of the day somewhat half asleep. Apparently I'm too old now for going to bed at 1:30 and waking up again at 7. Either that or I may be getting ill.

Completely forgot to mention that Crissy is publishing shot of her wedding now on an almost daily basis. I even show up on 2 of them.

Managed to pass out after getting back home and didn't wake up till girlfriend skipped in and wondered what on earth I was doing.

Went to see "Marilyn Manson" in Amsterdam with McR. Seeing as I was already working all day in Amsterdam, I just decided to stick around and wait till McR would show up. Got a pretty distressing phonecall after a while:"I'm coming in and I'm wearing make-up". Gave running away some thought but then decided that mates should remain mates even when they're covered in mascara, lipgloss and whatever else.

In the end the damage wasn't too bad, black nailpolish, some lipgloss, and some eyeliner on his face. At least my kid sister had made sure it was all done somewhat tastefully. Even better, this camouflage made him look almost normal with the rest of the concert visitors, varying from full on goths to 14 year old boys wearing:"I am the god of fuck" t-shirts, while waiting for their balls to drop. Much fun was had by all.

Gave the housing people another phone-call to tell them that my roof was still leaking. Didn't manage to get much more of a reaction than:"Well, we already called the people upstream, there's not much more we can do about it".

Mentioning they were clueless twits fucking up (possibly in a somewhat raised voice) did manage to get some sort of a reaction (if a lady screaming abuse at me on the other side of the phone counts). Roof is still leaking though. *sigh*

Voted for the European constitution.

Visited the Audi dealer in the morning to have my fuel pump checked. (Factory recall). Isn't life exciting.

Had girlfriend visit at night.