journal

gone!

2010-12-17T17:17:00.002-05:00

I'm gone! Not entirely gone but moved on.  To here: MadebyFred.com

back!

2010-09-19T19:45:00.000-04:00

We're back from Europe (for almost a week now). But I'm not writing much these days. Let's just say I'm preoccupied.
Read (a little) more about our trip here.
Yesterday I went to Brooklyn Invitational which was awesome... More pictures here.

How clean can a functional motorcycle be?

JFK - BRU

2010-09-01T10:16:00.003-04:00

Tonight, we are going from here

to here

to see family

and friends

and eat mussels with fries and belgian beer!

summer in the city

2010-08-30T12:05:00.005-04:00

This weekend Laura and I biked around New York City enjoying the awesome weather and some of the great things the city has to offer...

For me the weekend started with a beautiful bike ride home from work. I stopped for a typical New York City dinner (hot dogs, french fries and a beer) along the water. The water being the Hudson River; most of my ride home from work is on the bike path along the Hudson. Part of this path is like a boardwalk, some of it is a regular bike path along the West Side Highway and my favorite section meanders through the park under the George Washington Bridge.

There's a little red lighthouse under the bridge. The famous children's book 'The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge' is based on this hidden gem.

Looking back in the direction of downtown it's hard to believe this is still Manhattan. My morning bike ride leads me through Times Square, which is a very different experience to say the least.

Saturday, Laura and I went down to Central Park to enjoy the gorgeous weather and meet up with our friend Anna. Central Park on a sunny summer afternoon is crazy busy so the people watching is great!

After some shopping on Lexington Avenue (which is was too busy and too touristy for our taste) we went back to the park for a sushi picnic and one of Woody Allen's best movies: Manhattan. New York is not a cheap place to live, but luckily there are a lot of free events to (partly) make up for that.

Sunday, we took an adventurous bike ride to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. Turns out, 90+ degree weather and biking down Fordham road don't mix too well. We made it there alive, albeit with high levels of adrenaline and a minor case of heatstroke. Arthur Avenue is the real Little Italy and thus we enjoyed some Italian ice cream and aranciata to bring us back down to acceptable temperatures.

After a quick stop at the bakery for some delicious bread and biscotti we were back on our way home.

Having spent most of our weekend outdoors and being active (yes, sitting outside and drinking soda is an outdoor 'activity'), we deserved some couch potato time, so we concluded the weekend with 2 episodes of True Blood. A hot summer evening, no AC and True Blood almost made us forget we were still in NYC. It was nice to enjoy our hometown so much before heading to Belgium for a visit later this week. We love it here, but we are also incredibly excited about our trip back 'home'.

we went camping

2010-08-12T13:55:00.000-04:00

... in the Catskills

view from Sunset Rock (not actually during sunset)

view from Newman's Ledge

me on the ledge

s'mores! ('slightly' blown out by the flash)

sunday morning

friends + art: lacey jane roberts

2010-08-05T10:45:00.005-04:00

installment one in a new series: friends that are artists and artists that are friends!
lacey just left NYC to go teach in Richmond, VA for a year. I'll miss her, but I know she's going to create amazing work there.
i'm not going to explain her work here, check out her website!

more here: laceyjaneroberts.com

color vs b&w

2010-07-28T14:50:00.004-04:00

it's so amazing to see these color photos of life in the 40's! after seeing so many b&w pictures from that era, you almost forget that life wasn't actually greyscale for people living back then.

more here

quiet lately

2010-07-27T12:40:00.000-04:00

It's been quiet here lately. In case you are wondering why: the last 4 weekends I went up to Vermont 3 times. You can see for yourself why I try to stay away from the computer while I'm up there.

it doesn't get much better than swimming in this lake

the view from the house

4.30am: wake up and go see the sunrise!

facebook 1984

2010-07-14T12:15:00.003-04:00

facebook found yet another way to erode privacy by publishing information that their users didn't know was going to be shared.

thanks facebook, for bringing me one more step closer to deleting my account all together.

BLU

2010-07-14T11:15:00.000-04:00

w-o-w

via woostercollective.com

vespa

2010-07-13T09:56:00.003-04:00

via blog.hardgraft.com from Saatchi & Saatchi NZ

happy friday!

2010-07-02T10:34:00.002-04:00

more eclectic method here

cards!

2010-07-01T13:50:00.003-04:00

apparently, there hasn't been that much worth sharing this week... maybe it's because i've been very busy and had little time to waste randomly clicking around the world wide web. since busy people need cards, laura made these business / note cards for me. they're so cool i'll keep them all to myself!

i apologize for the blurry picture courtesy of my camera phone.

the roots and jim james

2010-06-23T16:50:00.001-04:00

dear god 2.0

new york

2010-06-19T13:15:00.001-04:00

it's Friday!

2010-06-18T14:54:00.002-04:00

have a nice weekend

letterheady

2010-06-16T10:09:00.003-04:00

great collection of letterhead design [letterheady.com]

via lauramacchia

locals and tourists

2010-06-09T15:04:00.004-04:00

based on data from Flickr photo collections, Eric Fischer creates maps that show where tourists and locals take pictures. these maps are useful to show the difference between where tourists go and where locals hang out and if you are a maps geek like me, you might find them beautiful too. it's interesting to see where the tourist hot spots are, and judging by the New York map, the results are pretty accurate. The Cloisters museum, Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Zoo clearly stand out because they are located in otherwise virtually tourist-free neighborhoods.

via lifehacker

informal poll

2010-06-08T14:49:00.002-04:00

2 versions of 'buffalo stance'... which one is your favorite?
(vote in the comments)

straight outta compton

2010-06-06T11:38:00.000-04:00

ice cube and the roots play 'straight outta compton' on late night with jimmy fallon!

saturday morning

2010-06-05T11:57:00.000-04:00

at the barber shop...

video remix: up

2010-06-04T10:42:00.002-04:00

it's not entirely like 'eclectic method' but it still reminds me of them...

never heard of dj pogo before, but i should check out what else he did...

where i was

2010-06-01T14:26:00.002-04:00

this weekend

Lauren DiCioccio

2010-05-26T16:24:00.004-04:00

stitched news

letters of note

2010-05-20T10:38:00.004-04:00

Letters of Note, is website that showcases interesting letters, notes and postcards. As a fan of the written word in all it's forms, and an occasional letter writer myself, I immediately subscribed to the rss feed.

Here's a great example: a letter from Frank Sinatra. How awesome is that simple but stylish letterhead? And who 'copyrights' their letters? Maybe I should start doing that?

grandpa slays it!

2010-05-13T10:54:00.001-04:00

food for thought...

2010-05-12T13:34:00.004-04:00

read more about this graphic here

i'm already a cautious facebook user, but i'm still looking forward to diaspora (if it ever comes together)

heroes #2

2010-05-10T10:02:00.000-04:00

these guys are awesome! nothing is impossible!

diy in sweden

2010-05-08T11:57:00.000-04:00

nice work! nice wood working tools too!via wired

tools

2010-05-07T11:15:00.001-04:00

i love to write and draw. i try to write old school letters to friends regularly, it takes more time than email but i think it's worth the effort. letters are tangible and you can read them while sitting outside on the porch (if you have a porch that is). i know you can take your laptop out to the porch or print out an email. but wouldn't you rather find a letter in the mail than hear your computer go 'bing' alerting you that an email arrived?
i realize the carbon footprint of a letter is a lot bigger than that of an email, but it's not like i send 10 of them a day. i still send email far more often than i actually send out old fashion mail. the next project on the books is to design a stationery suite for men (letterhead, note card, envelope). this will be a collaboration with my wife of course and hopefully the suite will be available through her website soon!
meanwhile, like the office supplies geek i am, i'd like to share my preferred writing/drawing tools. from top to bottom: Pentel Graphgear HB mechanical pencil, BIC ballpoint fine, my trusty old Parker Jotter and Lamy fountain pen M (maybe i'll replace the Lamy with this one day).

heroes

2010-05-06T10:30:00.000-04:00

always do sober...

2010-05-05T11:33:00.001-04:00

Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk.
That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
[Ernest Hemingway]

the breeders

2010-05-03T16:53:00.001-04:00

GWB

2010-04-30T20:34:00.000-04:00

if you are looking for me...

2010-04-29T13:01:00.002-04:00

... i'll be outside

shady lane

2010-04-26T16:51:00.003-04:00

picture a warm summer evening, working on your motorcycle in the drive way, cold beer in hand...

one day...

2010-04-23T10:55:00.003-04:00

george costanza style guru

2010-04-23T10:50:00.002-04:00

via start&finish

guru 1966-2010

2010-04-20T16:27:00.001-04:00

be like a duck

2010-04-19T16:48:00.002-04:00

Be like a duck. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath.

Michael Caine

monae channeling james brown

2010-04-15T12:13:00.003-04:00

slow down

2010-04-14T10:34:00.004-04:00

OK, I'm not trying to enforce any stereotypes here. I actually think I lost weight since I moved to the States. The idea that all Americans are overweight is just as dumb as the idea that all the French do is drink wine, smoke cigarettes and wear berets while staying skinny, healthy and good looking.
But! I like the chart below because it encourages us to enjoy our food and company and take our time eating. That's why I'm sharing it. Since the season to eat outdoors is almost here, it's a good time to take this advise at heart. Fire up the grill!
Notice that Swedes are generally skinnier than Belgians but Belgians spend more time eating. I wonder if our beer, chocolate and waffles might have something to do with this?

Disclaimer: I don't know where this chart comes from so I can't vouch for it's accuracy. But even if it's made up, it's a great excuse to eat and drink well and hang out with friends and family! Who cares about accuracy anyway...

mr. olch

2010-04-13T10:54:00.002-04:00

a little creepy, but funny too...

fantastic mr. fox

2010-04-09T15:46:00.003-04:00

see it, trust me...

pixels

2010-04-08T12:22:00.003-04:00

on the boombox

2010-04-07T11:29:00.004-04:00

mos dub

the coincidental tourist

2010-04-04T21:05:00.010-04:00

After nearly 3 years in NYC (it's really been that long?!) this weekend was by far the most 'touristic' I've had so far. Friday, I had a day off of work, and since our friends Jeroen and Mara left us a tourist pass with one activity left on it we decided to go for a hop-on-hop-off downtown bus tour. It was a gorgeous spring day and it was a lot of fun to go around NYC on the top of the double deck bus with a guide. We got all the info on the landmarks we usually walk by without paying much attention. And since I'm an information junky and history buff I thought this was awesome!

Thanks Mara and Jeroen!

This was a lot of fun and technically the weekend hadn't even started! Saturday, my brother-in-law, Adam, was shooting some real estate photos (in case you didn't know, he's an amazing photographer). Nothing too get to excited about if it wasn't for the fact that this meant an hour long helicopter flight over NYC to shoot from the air! I guess the question if I wanted to come along, would qualify for being rhetoric. In one word, it was awesome! I could go on and on about it, but I'll leave it at awesome and share the proverbial picture that is worth a 1000 words.

Thanks Adam and Taylor!

Sunday Laura and I went for a nice bike ride along the Hudson river. To celebrate Easter and end this great weekend in an appropriate manor, we had the family over for a nice dinner party. I love spring!

drive like jehu

2010-04-01T13:20:00.001-04:00

dinosaur jr

2010-03-26T14:36:00.002-04:00

picture a skateboard, a long downhill street and a sunny afternoon...

lauramacchia

2010-03-25T12:42:00.003-04:00

my wife is so talented! here's one of her prints on an Aimee G dress:

read more about it at her blog and don't forget to subscribe to her rss feed!

the selvedge yard

2010-03-22T11:10:00.002-04:00

possibly the best blog on the internet

theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com

coffee

2010-03-15T16:07:00.005-04:00

nice illustration via the daily rhubarian

mr. byrne

2010-03-11T11:29:00.003-05:00

who would have believed that those independent-minded New Yorkers, with all their attitude, would stoop to picking up doggie shit in little baggies and carrying it steaming in their hands to the nearest trash can? No one. But they do. Pretty much all of them. So, people can change some old habits — it happens.
[david byrne]

mr. hopkins

2010-03-10T12:17:00.001-05:00

bye winter, hello spring!

2010-03-08T15:50:00.002-05:00

yesterday

today

deus ex machina

2010-03-02T15:29:00.003-05:00

more here

the cloisters

2010-02-27T17:46:00.002-05:00

morning commute

2010-02-26T10:15:00.002-05:00

one day...

2010-02-25T16:50:00.004-05:00

one day, i want to try this!

happy holidays!

2009-12-24T10:55:00.002-05:00

so far the holidays have been really great! office parties that were more fun than expected, hanukkah party with almost a foot of snow, a great christmas party with my in-laws and fresh italian food from arthur avenue, great gifts received (and given?),...
and that was just the beginning, today my parents arrive from Belgium! And tomorrow my sister and her boyfriend fly in too! More parties, more presents, more family time and just more in general!
't is the season and 't is a good one!
so happy holidays to all and may 2010 be the best year ever (and then some)

oh and if you are wondering what happened to the book reviews (not that anyone was reading them), I've moved to 'shelfari'. google it and look for me there!

fred's book review #3 (the J.M. Coetzee edition)

2009-10-20T18:01:00.003-04:00

J.M. Coetzee - Wachten op de Barbaren *straf, het boek heeft wel wat tijd nodig om op dreef te komen...

J.M. Coetzee - Slow Man *not bad, not very memorable either.

J.M. Coetzee - Disgrace *at first this annoyed me, the third Coetzee book I read and yet again there's an older man involved with a younger woman?! come on J.M. you can think of something else, no? luckily the book went on to become a lot more interesting. not very cheerful, but then again, none of Coetzee's books are.

reading right now:

- Dharma Bums, J. Kerouac (yes, still working on that one)

- The Bicycle Diaries, D. Byrne (just getting started)

- Ana Karenina, L. Tolstoy (yes, still working on this one too!)

- How We Are Hungry, D. Eggers

i know, i should be more focussed...

blogs that are worth your time

2009-10-19T12:13:00.006-04:00

artyoucanfart.blogspot.com

sarahzegthallo.blogspot.com (dutch)

is the music 'album' dying?

2009-09-30T16:50:00.005-04:00

i know we've been hearing about the music album dying since mp3 became popular, but for the first time i'm starting to think that full length albums might not be around much longer.

a lot of people already buy mostly individual songs through itunes or other mp3 stores. if you are not passionate about music or any specific band, you probably don't follow up on album release dates.

i used to have tons of cassette tapes to collect albums that my friends had bought and that i couldn't afford. when mp3's became popular i started downloading albums. not songs; albums! even today i miss the feeling of taking a CD of the shelf or - even better - an LP out of it's cover. i know, i'm a nostalgic sentimentalist but apparently i'm not the only one.

earlier this month, apple introduced 'itunes lp', an attempt to recreate album art and liner notes that supposedly died with the vinyl record. i don't think the vinyl record is dead or obsolete, it's just not a mass market product anymore. and honestly, i wonder if anyone is really waiting for something like itunes lp. remember when, a few years ago, a lot of bands tried to lure their fans into spending some money to become members of their website. in return you'd have access to premium content: unreleased songs, priority concert tickets, etc. as far as i can tell that never became a big success. itunes lp tries to make you sit in front of your computer to read song lyrics or look at pictures of the band. is that more exciting? maybe it is, for a while, but will it be an incentive to spend money? i wouldn't bet on it.

if you ask me (of course you didn't, but that's what this journal is for: unsolicited comments), i think the future of the music business is subscription based. last.fm is great, but i like to listen to music on the subway and not worry about hogging bandwidth while i'm at work. microsoft's zune pass is a subscription service that allows you to download and keep a limited amount of songs every month, that's nice. and napster has a similar service. so far the most promising and exciting initiative is spotify. unfortunately spotify is not available in the us (and probably won't be for a while). a lot of people are eagerly awaiting the day the itunes store releases a subscription based service, and i am one of them. is apple stupid or out of the loop? of course not, they are merely waiting until they think the old school way of selling music is less profitable than the subscription model. they know what they are doing and we follow like sheep; myself included. but if it takes much longer, i might give up the convenience of my itunes-ipod-mac combo and switch to a more painful but more rewarding subscription service. could i really become a napster user again?!

the 'resurrected or summer is over' entry

2009-09-24T12:18:00.009-04:00

dedicated to my most interactive reader, you know who you are

i once read somewhere that a blog that hasn't been updated in 3 months loses it's relevance. maybe i should take note of that and put up an out of business sign. or maybe i should just forget about any ambition of relevance i might have, and stick to the as-long-as-the-updates-are-more-frequent-then-christmas-i'm-doing-ok approach.

it's been a great summer. busy, because that's how summer should be, and warm, because that's how summer in nyc is. let me try to recap quickly. there were a lot of bike rides along the hudson river and elsewhere. there were some picnics in the park, some free concerts here and there (some paid ones too). there was a great trip to colorado (which i was going to write about earlier, but then never did). there was a really nice visit from my parents and there were some trips up north to vermont. some friends passed through nyc, and some even stayed for a while. and i guess that's the gist of it. oh, there was some tennis and web design too (one day i might even be able to present some of that to the world).

some of you might notice that there's no skateboarding in that list. since i've moved here i've maybe skated 5 times... that's 5 times in over 2 years! i guess i'm even less of a skateboarder than i am a writer! it's not that i'm too lazy, i've cut down on the amount of wheels and enjoy cycling more these days. it's - arguably - less hazardous and almost as much fun. i spent most of my childhood on a bmx bike and i still can't resist hopping on and of curbs and trying to 'wheelie' my folding bike. that's right: i have a folding bike. i know i look like a dork but for nyc cycling they are pretty darn convenient! especially when you live about 11 miles from downtown and can't avoid the occasional bike on the subway ride.

bicycling has been partly responsible for the lack of updates here. there's only so much internet time and it's spread thin between facebook, email, this journal and building a #bikenyc twitter following. if all goes well i'll be testing and reviewing a new type of city bike in a couple months and to be able to do a decent job at that i'm already creating some twitter buzz. after all it's almost 2010 and communication strategies have evolved since the centre for contemporary cultural studies wrote their mass media theories.

any time that's left is wasted on research for a 'from scratch' mountain bike build i'm working on and the occasional episode of true blood or in treatment.

one of my fellow cyclists here in nyc is david byrne. who doesn't let his bicycling conflict with writing, and wrote an entire book about it the bicycle diaries. he - and a few other interesting #bikenyc people - spoke at an event in a bookstore around the corner here (B&N union square). there are a lot of disadvantages of living in new york city, but what are the chances of david byrne dropping by 'de standaard' in tessenderlo to promote his new book? since this was a so-called opportunity, i attended the event and i must admit it was very interesting. i should really write an entire journal entry about it! maybe i will one day.

i haven't read the book yet, instead i'm reading dharma bums (kerouac), and how we are hungry by dave eggers - who also wrote the screenplay for where the wild things are! the new spike jones movie. Stay tuned for more book reviews!

so if you are wondering why it's so quiet here, i'm wasting time elsewhere. procrastination isn't just an amazing word it's a lifestyle.

fred's book review #2

2009-06-15T16:24:00.004-04:00

David A Vise + Mark Malseed - The Google Story *interesting but a little biased

Dimitri Verhulst - Mevrouw Verona daalt de heuvel af *schoon!

Ralph 'Sonny' Barger - Hells Angel *great to read back to back with HST's Hells Angels

Michel Houellebecq - Elementaire Deeltjes *plezant is anders, maar daarom niet minder essentieel

Daniel Defou - Robinson Crusoe *straf verhaal, wel een beetje te zwaar beladen met religieus schuldgevoel

balance

2009-05-18T17:09:00.002-04:00

what goes up, must come down...

laura and i had a great weekend! friday night: dinner and a concert, saturday: brunch, a bike ride and margaritas, and two parties on sunday! in four words: a nice birthday weekend.

the flemings here might not know the expression 'to jinx something'. let me explain: if you say something like, thank god the weather is nice, it will soon start to rain. that's because you 'jinxed it'! you can't point out anything extraordinary because the gods of karma will notice things are out of balance and they will balance them for you! so now the skeptics (and i like to count myself as one) will scream: superstition! but...

when we told our guests at our little house party yesterday: this is a great neighborhood! we love it here and we've had such an amazing weekend! we jinxed it...

this afternoon, when laura went to move our car (alternate side parking), she found our window smashed in, the dashboard ripped open and the car stereo gone. brussels style! bummer; balance restored. All in all not too big of a deal, just annoying because we have a 4 hour drive planned on friday and now we'll have to sing all the way there.

the irony is: at our party yesterday we heard about a friend who found her car on blocks one morning, all four wheels ($1500 each) gone! imagine how much fun she must have had the weekend before this happened to her...

quiet

2009-05-13T17:50:00.003-04:00

if you think it's quiet here after all those updates last week: the sun is shining in new york, so i'm outside! well, not right now, but soon!

and the internet? it's still a little broken, at home that is, not at work. but at work, i have work to do.

well, i hope the sun is shining where ever you are. if it is, you should not be reading this.

is the internet broken?

2009-05-06T16:36:00.004-04:00

no, it's not.

you are reading this online aren't you?

but the last 24 hours it's been about as reliable as a manic depressive teenager that ransacked the liquor cabinet.

internet down at home, internet back up at home, internet down at work, internet back up at work, etc.

it's a good thing that i don't rely on it... right?

fred's book review #1

2009-05-01T17:20:00.004-04:00

Hunter S. Thompson - The Rum Diary *great! fast paced, entertaining

Tom Wolfe - The Bonfire of the Vanities *must read

Josse De Pauw - Werk *ok, beetje wisselvallig

Dimitri Verhulst - De Helaasheid der Dingen *zeker lezen, en herlezen!

Jared Diamond - Guns, Germs and Steel *non-fiction, interesting, makes you smarter

Stay tuned for more

too much and too many

2009-04-30T12:33:00.004-04:00

most people, and that includes me, don't like monopolies. if one system or company dominates we get uneasy and start to feel trapped. we don't like microsoft to be the only player in the computer business, or -even worse- just one nationalized telephone company. it slows down innovation and jacks up the price.

but lets face it, monopolies can be convenient too. remember when you'd hook up a television antenna and watch tv? or when there was an electrical bill from the government owned electrical company? no worries about missing out on all those pay-per-view channels, or getting your electrical toothbrush charged cheaper. it was simple, easy and stress free.

these days if i want to be in touch i can email, facebook, twitter, call, visit or write a letter. so much choice! how convenient! but what should i choose? which medium do you prefer? should i communicate in public on your facebook wall, or write you a private email? i could be even more personal and get my pen and paper out, or just ignore all of that and broadcast our interaction to the entire world via twitter.

if you ask me, all of these choices are making it just a little too convenient and complicated for me. does that sound like a contradiction? well, too bad, it doesn't feel like a contradiction to me. i'm sure over time we'll narrow it down and get back to two or maybe three options to be in touch with each other. my guess is, facebook will not be one of those. of course, i could be wrong.

recession?

2009-04-29T12:33:00.002-04:00

i was thinking: what if this recession is like a forest fire? a necessary evil to revive the forest and allow for new growth. would that make it less tragic? and where do i run to hide from the flames?

words

2009-03-03T10:38:00.003-05:00

i like to know a lot. that's why i read. websites, blogs, books, magazines... i read a lot. i love words and the way they come together to tell a story. maybe that's why i have a blog? because i also want to contribute to the endless stream of words. as if there aren't enough of them out there yet!

open

2009-02-25T08:18:00.003-05:00

it seems to me that open is the new word of the month.
the president talks to the nation in an attempt to gain support and trust for the stimulus plan. He really tries to be open about what's going on (at least about the things they want us to know about, still no word on roswell) there's even a website that reports on how the money that goes in the stimulus plan is being spent.
meanwhile, consumers (that's us!) are asking for more open standards and products. even apple -the company that bases it's success on secrecy- sells unprotected music and allows limited development for their iphone.
soon enough we'll frown at copyright protection. not because we are all pirates, but because we want companies to trust us. hey, don't we trust them with our money? my guess is, the next word of the month will be trust! just kidding, we all know that recession will probably stay #1 for a while... oh well, at least it'll be summer soon!

good!

2009-02-24T11:14:00.002-05:00

the revival of the blog is already causing controversy! good!
meanwhile, i'm at work listening to bad brains and wondering how long i could last without checking my email.
isn't this internet, facebook, email thing almost as bad as 'den draad'?
[i apologize to my english readers for this flemish reference]

closing time?

2009-02-23T08:36:00.001-05:00

after living in the us for almost 2 years, and after - finally - visiting belgium again in january, the original purpose of this blog had become somewhat irrelevant. a few weeks ago i changed the name and subtitle. the plan was to write about more general subjects and less america vs. belgium stuff.
i started an entry about internet privacy. 1984 might be over 20 years ago, big brother is still getting more powerful every day. after keeping this unfinished entry in my drafts for a few weeks, and after watching an interview with the ceo of twitter, i realized it's better to get short meaningless entries out the door instead of having well written drafts just waiting to be published.
it's not closing time yet.

new era

2009-02-22T01:22:00.002-05:00

if you are a regular here, you must have noticed the radio silence. no, the fountain of inspiration hasn't run dry. it's just time for something new; a new approach.
stay tuned.

looking forward to...

2008-11-24T20:52:00.003-05:00

Since last week I am the proud owner of a 'Learner Permit'. This means I can now start learning how to drive a car!
Unlike most states, New York State does not allow international drivers licenses to be exchanged. This means that all immigrants have to go through all the steps to get a new license. I was expecting to be surrounded by 16 year olds at the DMV center, but this is New York so that was not the case. I guess most New York City teenagers don't care too much about driving... It's a hassle to have a car in the city anyway. It's a little silly that all these adults who have had drivers licenses for years have to go through the whole procedure of getting a license as if they've never driven a car before. But I guess it makes sense to verify if these 'new' drivers know what the rules are and how to operate an American Car. After all, they are about twice the size of European Cars!
The next step is to go and watch a 5 (!) hour long movie on defensive driving. Sounds exciting doesn't it? I can't tell you how much I look forward to that! I'd rather go see Taxi, the French movie on how to properly drive a car, but I guess that would be too much to ask for.

But first it's Thanksgiving, the start of the 'eating too much season' also know as the Holiday Season. Like most New Yorkers we are leaving the city to eat Turkey with the family and say thanks for whatever we are thankful for.
In our case, leaving the city means going up to Vermont and that's always something to be thankful for! A couple of days off and a trip to Vermont, now that's worth looking forward to!

An even better future event is our trip to Belgium at the end of the year! I hope I still know my way around there! And more importantly: I hope I still know how to drive a European car in European traffic! I know haven't forgotten how to drink Belgian beer, that's for sure, and I'm pretty confident I still know my European languages: Flemish, French and most importantly Loois.

Ik zal grellig content zen azzik noggis bij os ma en pa in de keuken kan zitte veur een sjat kaffie en e stuk vlaai! en azzik nievjoar kan vieren mee de lanners uit looi.

o-b-a-m-a !

2008-11-04T23:05:00.002-05:00

phew, what a relief!

takk, takk

2008-10-14T12:08:00.003-04:00

takk takk, is het geluid dat mijn papa maakt wanneer hij zijn sleutels vergeten is. hij tikt met zijn trouwring tegen het venster langs de voordeur. waarom hij de bel niet gebruikt, weet ik niet. misschien moet ik het hem eens vragen. in ieder geval weten we dat takk takk betekent dat hij en niemand anders voor de deur staat. dat geeft ons de vrijheid te doen alsof er niemand thuis is, maar natuurlijk doen we dat niet, het is tenslotte zijn huis.
dit is mijn blog en ik laat, takk takk, weten dat ik nog eens voor de deur sta.
ik heb klachten gekregen. dit keer niet over de - al dan niet 'te' - politieke inhoud van mijn blogs, maar wel over het gebrek aan kwantiteit. ik geef het toe, ik ben niet de meest actieve blogger en als ik dan al eens blog, heb ik het elke keer weer moeilijk mezelf te overtuigen van de relevantie. want geef toe, geweldig relevant is het hier allemaal niet.
maar goed, ik ben beleefd opgevoed (met zachte takk takk tikjes tegen het raam) en dus probeer ik klachten op gepaste manier te beantwoorden.
dus als jullie meer geblog willen, dan krijgen jullie dat. ik begin alvast met de mededeling dat ik een snotvalling heb. voila, dat komt ervan als je mij onder druk zet, dan verspreid ik onfrisse details over mijn gezondheid (en een hoop bacterien, maar daar hebben jullie daar in belgie geen last van, mijn collegas daarentegen...).
desondanks geniet ik van de herfst. mijn schoonouders hebben hun huis verkocht en dat betekent dat onze refuge niet veel langer beschikbaar zal zijn. jammer, oktober is zoveel leuker als je de bladeren van de bomen ziet vallen en de geur van de herfst kan opsnuiven. in new york ruikt de herfst zoals alle seizoenen, naar uitlaatgassen en andere stads aromas. afgelopen weekend heb ik dus in mount kisco in de tuin gezeten en naar de oranje bomen gekeken.
misschien is het de herfst, of misschien is het die fantastische sigur ros documentaire 'heima' die mij aan het denken gezet heeft, maar de laaste tijd begrijp ik de charmes van het noorden beter.
in belgie zijn ze bijna even talrijk als de italofielen ik heb het over de scandinavie-fans. ja, wuss, gijbels en jena, ik heb het over jullie! toen ik nog in het grijze belgie woonde begreep ik er niks van. ja, er wonen mooie meisjes in het noorden, en ja, saunas doen deugd. maar het is daar ook verschrikkelijk koud! en zijn noorderlingen niet erg afstandelijk? de eerste barsten in mijn vooroordelen vertoonden zich tijdens mijn eerste bezoek aan scandinavie. iedereen was geweldig vriendelijk! en de zon scheen! ok, het vroor dat het kraakte (letterlijk, je kon het horen!) maar de zon scheen! en het landschap was ook al niet zo lelijk, om niet te zeggen wonderschoon!
ondertussen heb ik familie in zweden. tenminste, als de ouders van je schoonzus tot de familie gerekend mogen worden? ik ben jaloers op hun huis aan het water (de zee in de tuin!) en op de wijde landschappen die hun omringen. pas op, ik apprecieer de charme van lintbebouwing en ook de canyons van new york hebben hun voordelen. maar ondertussen begrijp ik de scandinavie-fans beter en bij uitbreiding het hele noorden! ik heb hier al vaak genoeg de lofzang gezongen over vermont en al ben ik er nog niet geweest: de kust van maine ziet er op tv ook niet slecht uit! en oh, hopelijk kan ik op een dag mongolie eens bezoeken!
dus bij het begin van de herfst verklaar ik mezelf officieel genezen van mijn noordenfobie! zolang het maar niet regent...

Fahrenheit vs Celcius

2008-09-19T17:31:00.004-04:00

Today the high temperature was below F70 for the first time since May 28th

F70 is about 21 Celcius, as a Belgian I can appreciate warm, consistent summers.
Of course, humidity and 90+ days make for some sweaty, not so great days every now and then. But overall, summer is high on my list of things that I like about New York.

As you know there's a list of things I dislike about New York too. But today is Friday and the weekend looks promising, so we are focussing on the good!
Ok, one thing: i need more vacation days!

what's going on...

2008-09-09T16:42:00.000-04:00

Na het feest en 'de avonturen van de Belgen in Amerika' was het tijd voor ons om het wat kalmer aan te doen en te genieten van de zomer in New York.
Het park aan de overkant van de straat inspireert ons tot wandelingen, de consumptie van goedkoop softijs (yuk!) en 'take-out' picnic. Dat alles bij voorkeur bij valavond. De westkant van het park grenst aan de Hudson rivier en in New York gaat de zon net als in de rest van de wereld in het Westen slapen. Mooi!
Sinds we vlakbij de rivier wonen, ben ik een grote fan van de Greenway (het fiets/wandelpad langs de 'oever') en zoals het een goede 'fan' betaamt, probeer ik iedereen even enthousiast te maken.
Ondertussen zorgt de stad voor de nodige 'gratis evenementen' zodat ons budget niet te erg onder druk gezet wordt: 'The Goonies' in openlucht vanop een pier in de rivier! Of gratis concerten in Central Park of South Street Seaport. Alleen jammer dat je niet in het openbaar mag drinken. Gelukkig kan je meestal wel stiekem een glaasje wijn of een pintje drinken, als je niet te overmoedig bent en een beetje oplet voor New York's Finest.
Vorige week was het alweer Labor Day, een dag vrijaf en het officieuze einde van de zomer. Al was daar vorig jaar niet veel van te merken met 30+ graden celsius tot eind september! Een lang weekend dat betekent 'op naar Vermont' en hopen dat niet alle new yorkers hetzelfde idee hebben. Gelukkig viel dat goed mee en hadden we het meer voor ons alleen! Voor Oscar (de familie-hond) was het een minder goed weekend, na een geval van 'porcupine agression' (google porcupine vs dog voor meer info), heeft hij de rest van het weekend half verdoofd (lees: compleet stoned) doorgebracht. Ik heb het hem niet expliciet kunnen vragen, maar het zag ernaar uit dat hij het maar niks vond, die verdoving.
Ondertussen ben ik dus weer aan het werk (volgende vrije dag: thanksgiving!). Stilaan worden de plannen voor een eindejaars bezoek aan Belgie wat concreter. Meer daarover later.
Voila, een totaal willekeurige update vanuit NYC, hoe gaat het ondertussen met jullie?

Back to work

2008-07-15T11:18:00.002-04:00

I'm back at work, and feeling a bit melancholic. We had an amazing time in Vermont and the party was every bit as magical as I was hoping it would be. Thanks again to everyone who was there to make it happen!
I'll try to post pictures on Flickr soon, but since the Belgium posse is still in NYC now, the party is not over yet.
No sleep 'till next week...

nie wieder faschismus

2008-06-26T15:36:00.006-04:00

Misschien ligt het aan mij en mijn recente wedervaren, maar ik krijg het gevoel dat onze 'samenleving' (voor zover er nog sprake is van samen-leven) almaar rechtser wordt. Law and order, en wie niet zoals ons is, is verdacht en moet bestreden worden!

Laat me beginnen met een voorbeeld: afgelopen zaterdag probeerde ik in de supermarkt een 'six-pack' Stella te kopen. Vermits je in de VS daarvoor de gezegende leeftijd van 21 jaar moet hebben, werd ik verzocht mijn leeftijd te bewijzen. Geen probleem, de moeizaam verkregen green card bewijst hier haar nut! Mijn echtgenote echter, had haar driver license niet op zak en had dus geen manier om te bewijzen dat ook zij de bierdrink-gerechtigde-leeftijd bereikt heeft.
De wet is de wet, en als je er flexibel mee omspringt verzeil je voor je het weet in anarchie! Ik moest mijn bier achterlaten dus.
Ik zou echter geen trotse Belg zijn als ik niet probeer via een achterpoortje alsnog aan Stella te geraken. Terwijl Laura de boodschappen naar de auto bracht, dacht ik in mijn eentje (aan een andere kassa) de gewraakte 6 flesjes bier te kopen. Ik had immers mijn ID op zak en als er geen 'minderjarigen' in de buurt zijn, is er geen probleem, toch? Pech voor mij, want de supervisor van de kassa's - die waarschijnlijk niet geslaagd was voor het toelatingsexamen voor de politieschool - had mij in de gaten. Hij was zo vriendelijk mij te komen vertellen dat ik geen bier kon kopen tot ik de leeftijd van mijn echtgenote bewezen had. Mijn argument dat ik deze keer alleen in de winkel was, werd niet gehoord. Ik had waarschijnlijk wat meer tumult kunnen veroorzaken, maar het zijn uiteindelijk maar 6 flesjes bier en de snotneus die voor supervisor doorging was het echt niet waard. Ik denk dat ik volgende keer maar naar een andere supermarkt ga.

Maandag las ik in het nieuws hoe Filip Dewinter de voetbalmatch tussen Duitsland en Turkije gebruikte om zijn fascistische ideeen kracht bij te zetten. Een symbolische wedstrijd en de kans om de Turken met de staart tussen de poten weer naar huis te sturen! Ok, Filip, we weten dat in jouw ogen de Turken de nieuwe Joden zijn en dat je maar wat graag een nieuw soort Hitler wil zijn. Maar de oorlog is lang voorbij, jouw geliefde Antwerpenaren (en een boel VB kiezers) trekken elk jaar massaal naar Antalya en wanneer ze er uitzien als Hadise, dan zijn Turken ineens wel populair... Waar is de logica? Of is logica iets voor linkse hippies?
De Vlamingen hebben trouwens andere zorgen, Belgie doet niet eens mee aan het EK en de Walen verdrijven de arme Flaminganten uit de Brusselse rand! Tijd voor een optocht! Maar wacht eens even, zie ik daar een t-shirt dat fascisme promoot? Ja, als goede Vlaming is mijn kennis van het Nederlands ontwikkeld genoeg om een dubbele negatie te herkennen.

Ach ja, de Vlaamsche beweging heeft altijd een zwak gehad voor bruine hemden en rood-zwarte ideologie. Jammer dat er anno 2008 zo weinig veranderd is...

Gelukkig wordt er door moraal ridders wereldwijd gewaakt over ons fatsoen! Vandaag in de krant: Britse supermarkt censureert verjaardagstaart! Blijkbaar zijn de supermarkten de 'Big Brothers' van het jaar 2008. Vermits baby billetjes pervers zijn, kunnen ze niet getollereerd worden! Voor je het weet, worden we overspoeld door naakte babies die bier proberen te kopen!
Law and order!

the author cannot be held responsible for any acts of anarchism inspired by this blog post, but he does endorse them.

hot in the city

2008-06-10T10:23:00.003-04:00

Het is nog maar Juni en het is hier al volop zomer. Vandaag verwachten we temperaturen van 36 graden Celcius en met de vochtigheid zal de het eerder als 40 graden voelen. Das warm! Vooral als je er rekening mee houdt dat de warmste dagen pas binnen een maand of twee verwacht worden.
Ondertussen zit ik lekker koel op het werk. Zolang de electriciteit de AC kan blijven voeden tenminste want met de eerste warmte zijn ook de traditionele zomer-stroompannes van de partij. Niet getreurd, als Belg die het gematigd Vlaamsche klimaat gewoon is, probeer ik er het beste van te maken. Vanmorgen ben ik door de 'liquid air', zoals ze hier de dikke vochtige en hete lucht noemen, naar mijn werk gewandeld met de 70's bluesrock van El Guapo Stuntteam als soundtrack en parels van zweet op mijn voorhoofd. Als ik voorbij de hybride taxi's en andere moderne vervoersmiddelen keek, waande ik me in 1976 en wist ik dat een nieuwe Summer of Sam niet veraf is.

Memorial Day

2008-05-27T10:17:00.007-04:00

Time off from work is a whole different concept here in the US. Back in Belgium I had about 5 weeks of time off. Over here I have 5 days! Next year that get's upgraded to 10 days or 2 weeks. On top of holiday time there is 1 personal day every 3 months. Staying home from work because you are sick goes out of your personal days and the official holidays are limited to about 6.

This being said, you understand that whenever there is a national holiday, it's important to make the most of it. Last Monday was Memorial Day. Since that meant we had a long weekend, it was our call to jump into the car and drive up to Vermont.
Of course, living in Manhattan, jumping in the car is easier said than done. Since it's expensive to park and since we hardly use the car, we keep it at Laura's parents place in Mount Kisco. That's an hour long train ride away. To hop on the train after work and then get into the car on Friday night is not the best idea. Americans are notorious for 'long weekend' traveling which results in traffic jams and delays all over the place. Luckily the house in Kisco is a great place to make a first stop. Saturday morning we left early to be ahead of traffic and to have somewhat of a day left after the 3.5 hour drive to Vermont. It's funny, each time you drive it seems to be shorter. By now, I feel like the drive is no big deal at all... And it really isn't, only a year ago I drove home from Italy in one long haul and that was 15 hours. Now, that counts as a long drive!
We got to Vermont just in time for an early lunch and to hear Carmen's plans for the day. He feels bad for putting me to work when I am in Vermont. I on the other hand am more than happy to help him a little in return for his (and Susan's) hospitality. Since we are throwing a huge party this summer, there's some yard work to be done. The project of the day was clearing the area where the tent will go from rocks and brances, followed by lining the path with some boulders that had been delivered. The great thing about yard work is that it's outside and it provides a free work out. And boy did those boulders give us a workout! Stones (especially big ones) can be very heavy! Surprisingly enough we weren't too sore the next day. Check the picture below to see me as a real American yard worker.

Sunday was an exceptionally beautiful day, everybody was out. In May that includes the little black flies that have a nasty bite. Today, these itchy bites are a not-so-welcome reminder of the nice weekend. Kayaking on the lake is a good way to get away from the bugs. Apparently they don't like to fly over the water. Of course we weren't the only ones who thought of this, so the usual feeling of being all alone on the lake required a little more imagination. It was still really nice though, and each time I get annoyed with the sight of another boat in the distance, I think of "De Halve Maan" or a Belgian beach on a summer day and I feel a lot better about it. Living in the states sure has it's ups (nature and space) and downs (bugs and lack of time).
So far there's no clear answer to the question of which place is better to live in. After all, I've only been here a year now. That first year was so packed with new experiences and changes that it both feels like it flew by and it has been the longest year ever. Einstein made it clear that space and time are relative, and while I have a hard time understanding the scientific theory behind that, I have definitely experienced something similar over the past 12 months.

Belgium Ave, New York, NY

2008-05-15T16:36:00.002-04:00

How much longer before there is a Belgium Ave in New York? There's an Amsterdam Ave. And while the Dutch founded New Amsterdam (now known as New York) not many people know that some of the pioneers that settled New York where actually Walloons and Flemings.

Today it feels like 'Les Petits Belges' are more than ever present in the streets of New York. There's an abundance of Belgian restaurants and bars. La Petite Abeille serves very decent mussels with delicious homemade mayonnaise! Le Pain Quotidien is all over the place with more than 15 locations. One of which is part of the company I work for. Home-made belgian waffles with a discount! Inbev is marketing their products aggressively which results in a selection of about 7 or 8 Belgian beers at almost every grocery store. Duvel, Hoegaarden, Leffe and Stella all over the place!

The Flemish politicians worry about the image of Flanders in the world. And honestly, maybe they should. Belgium is a strong brand name and anything labeled with 'made in Belgium' is held in high regard over here. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about Flanders. It's not too well known. Most people know that there are 2 regions in Belgium, a flemish and a french one, and that Flanders was prosperous in the Middle Ages. Flemish painters, tapestries and Bruges are well know, but that's about it. Americans know and love Brussels, Belgian chocolates, Tintin and waffles. They don't know BHV, CD&V or VB. And frankly, they shouldn't.

Writers Block?

2008-05-07T21:12:00.005-04:00

For a few days I've been thinking about posting a blog entry. I even started writing one in my notebook while sitting in the park the other day. I wrote about springtime in New York (which is a nice time, like it is elsewhere in the world) and about the similarities between Americans and Europeans (in the end most Americans are Europeans, or at least their ancestors were). I knew while I was writing that I wouldn't post the blog. I guess I've just been a little uninspired and preoccupied.

I've been working (my daytime job), helping Laura a little with school work and I've redesigned our website (again). Sometimes it's good to force a certain activity into happening. That's why I'm writing this blurb today.
Last year I did a small (or should I say big) experiment/project where I forced myself to draw something everyday. Most of these drawings where nothing more than 1 minute doodles, but sometimes I actually sat down for a little longer to draw for real. It was an interesting experience, it really showed me that 'inspiration' can be forced sometimes. It also made it clear that there is a world of difference between art and drawing/doodling, as all my stuff clearly falls in the latter category. I never intended to do anything with the drawings other than 'making' them. It's very liberating to do something just for the sake of doing it. No need to worry about how embarrassing the result is. Maybe this blog should be approached like that. Wait, I guess it already is...

Primaries, Sodas and Lawsuits in the US

2008-03-02T21:00:00.006-05:00

Obama, dat was mijn antwoord op de vraag: "voor wie zou jij stemmen als je stemrecht had?" Dat was nog voor de primaries begonnen. Ik geef het toe; mijn voornaamste argument was niet-politiek. Na het rampzalige nepotisme dat na Bush Sr voor een Bush Jr gezorgd heeft, ben ik geen voorstander van Clinton de Tweede. Als Belg weet ik immers wat de gevolgen zijn van een dynastie of monarchie. Zijn er echt zo weinig bekwame politici in Amerika dat de president een familielid moet zijn van de Bushes of Clintons?
Bill heeft misschien veel goed gedaan, en het zou waarschijnlijk goed zijn voor het land en de wereld als er een vrouwelijke president aan het hoofd van de VS staat.
Maar Obama is 'nieuw' en gebeten om zich te bewijzen. Hij misschien wat onervaren en een beetje naief, maar blijkbaar gunnen veel Amerikanen hem het voordeel van de twijfel. Obama is nog niet zeker dat hij de Democratische presidentskandidaat is en na de primaries is er nog de echte campagne. Ik onderschat de kansen van McCain alvast niet. Tenslotte is dit het Amerika dat Bush een tweede termijn gunde.
Ik hoop van ganser harte dat er een einde komt aan de politics of fear. En wie weet, misschien kan de volgende president voor 'universal healthcare' zorgen! Ik zou mij alvast een pak beter 'thuis' voelen.
Ondertussen blijf ik mij verbazen over de labels die op vrijwel alle producten te vinden zijn en die je waarschuwen voor de gevaren van het product. "Caution HOT Beverage!" op koffiebekers, "Do not Refill" op PET flessen, "Do not pour in the direction of another person" op de koffiekan en mijn voorlopige favoriet: "Content under pressure, do not aim anyone's face" op frisdrank flesjes... En het zijn niet alleen de gevaren waarvoor je gewaarschuwd wordt. Er wordt ook gewezen op gevaren of eigenschappen die NIET van toepassing zijn: "Contains NO caffeine" op vrijwel alle frisdranken. Het leuke is ook dat de labels erg trendgevoelig zijn. De vermelding dat een product 'trans fat free' is, is uit de mode geraakt. Amper een jaar geleden werd dit op vrijwel alle voedingwaren vermeld en nu is het zo goed als verdwenen.
Ik wacht vol spanning op t-shirts die waarschuwen voor het feit dat ze niet beschermen tegen regen of sneeuw, of een anorak die waarschuwt voor het feit dat het geen reddingsvest is. Er valt nog veel geld te verdienen met rechtzaken hier in de US. Niemand waarschuwt voor het feit dat je kan struikelen over een wijnkurk die achteloos op de grond geworpen wordt! En wat als ik schoenen koop met gladde zolen en ik breek mijn arm? Mijn snowboard kwam met de raad altijd een helm te dragen en met de 'disclaimer' dat de producent niet verantwoordelijk is voor de gevolgen van het gebruik. De dag dat ik uit mijn bed val, hou ik alvast IKEA verantwoordelijk.
Begrijp me niet verkeerd, er zijn een hoop dingen die hier beter georganiseerd zijn. Maar ik hoef niet te wijzen op de dingen die de Amerikanen goed of beter doen, daar zullen ze zelf wel voor zorgen. Voor mij als 'alien' is het veel leuker te lachen met de absurde regels en met de 'bange Amerikanen'.

life is good

2008-03-02T10:38:00.008-05:00

After the previous 'bad news' post, I'm happy to share some great news with you. The apartment is really nice and we like our new neighboorhood. It's very 'mixed' in terms of the kind of people that live around here and it feels more like living in New York City than Brooklyn did. Don't get me wrong Brooklyn is great and I still love it, but it's a different city all together.
So the whole apartment thing is good news, but the great news is that I have a 'conditional' green card now! Officially, I'm a conditional permanent resident. Which means that I'm legal, I can work, and I'll get a green card in the mail soon!
So, if I can work, I need a job right? Well, that's something else that has been taken care of. Laura found this great job with ABC Carpet & Home for me. They were nice enough to wait for my immigration and social security troubles to get sorted out. So I'm almost on their payroll now, just a few more weeks until I have a social security number and I'll be all set!
In my long absence from this blog, I never got around to sharing the best thing that has happened to me since I came to the US. In January - a few days before I turned 30 - my nephew Leo Stranberg Macchia was born. This joyful event turned me into an uncle and made Adam and Jenny real parents! Not to mention my parents in law who are now 'bomma and bompa'. We all love the little guy. It's a pity that Laura and I don't get to see him that often (The Macchia-Strandberg family lives a few hours from here). But we think of them, talk to them and try to see them as much as possible.
Pictures below!

new apartment:

on my way to work:

View from my desk at work:
(for now, next month we move and I won't have a window anymore - bummer)

Latino Graphic Design is the best! (Check out the 'Hulk')

1 day old and very popular: Leo!

Save the best for last:

Hallo?

2008-02-15T10:17:00.003-05:00

Are you still here? I know I haven't been around. While I should have been writing about my adventures I was too busy dealing with the daily problems that came my way over the last few months. I'll give you a quick recap before I move on to writing more entertaining stories about life in the US.

So what happened? First I had some trouble with my immigration procedure. After they lost my first file and I refiled a second time, immigration came across the first file in December and decided to process it alongside the second one. This resulted in me getting charged twice for the filing fee and in having 2 parallell immigration procedures. That's annoying and expensive, but not the worst thing that happened. I recieved an e-mail notice in the beginning of December to inform me that my work permit was approved and the card would be sent to me. It never arrived and apparently went 'missing' in the mail. Bureaucracy dictates that in this case, instead of immigration sending a me new card, I have to 're-apply' for a workpermit (average processing time: 3 months!). Meanwhile, I can't officially work! Thanks to overlapping procedures on different files, this issue might be resolved a little earlier since I have my interview for my temporary Green Card later this month. The Green Card is also a workpermit, so I might get a social security number some time next month - fingers crossed. Immigration: always an exciting adventure!

Meanwhile, Laura and I were living in BedStuy. It sounded romantic and exciting for me to move into the neighboorhood that is so prominently featured in my favourite hiphop lyrics (Moss Def, Talib, ...). It turned out to be less exciting than initially expected. The biggest problem was that there was hardly anything around us. I mean, there are little deli's and barbershops on every corner. But to only have 1 restaurant and 1 coffeebar within walking distance is not very New York like. It gets worse when most food delivery services refuse to cross the 'BedStuy border' and when the local grocery stores only have the worst vegetable selection since WWII. OK, we did find a nice 'coop' that provided us with decent vegetables, but it was expensive and inconvenient. The fact that we kept having problems with our landlord (the heat kept failing, our mailbox broke - see above for the result that had for me) didn't help in motivating us to 'deal' with our neighborhood. Last, but for Laura certainly not least, we were in the middle of a 'turf war' between 2 gangs. This didn't affect us personally since we weren't 'targets' but I can tell you that hearing gunshots during dinner doesn't help the atmosphere for the remainder of the night.

So what does an unemployed, brand new immigrant and husband do in a situation like this? He gets into fights with the landlord, tries to improve things, and finally gives in and decides to move. That means breaking a contract and searching and paying for a new New York apartment: not easy in a country where people normally hire a lawyer for every little thing. If you can't afford a lawyer, you pretend to have one and you tell the landlord you'll take him to court. It's called 'bluf' and I learned some of it playing Poker at my former job. It worked and last weekend we moved into our new appartment. I'm a Manhattanite now. I'll miss Brooklyn, but one day I'll look back at it and smile about the turmoil my first 'home' in the US caused.

So that's briefly what I've been up to the last few months. There's more, but this will do for now.

Next time, some thoughts on presidential elections, soda and banking in the US.

Happy Holidays

2007-12-24T14:31:00.000-05:00

A merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all! Ho, ho, ho!

de parabel van de bevers en hun dam

2007-12-06T09:30:00.000-05:00

Er waren eens twee bevers die samen een dam gebouwd hadden. De dam liep van de zuidelijke naar de noordelijke oever van de rivier. Of omgekeerd, zo gaat dat met een dam, die loopt meestal in twee richtingen. De ene bever woonde op de zuidelijke oever en de andere op de noordelijke. Samen stonden ze in voor het onderhoud van de dam. Zo'n dam is veel werk, er spoelt voortdurend hout weg en dat moet natuurlijk snel vervangen worden!
Op de noordelijke oever stonden veel bomen. Op de zuidelijke oever hadden ooit ook veel bomen gestaan, maar daar bleef maar weinig van over. Hierdoor moest de bever van de noordelijke oever voortdurend hout naar de zuidkant van de dam brengen. Hij vond dat niet eerlijk en zei: 'mijn buurman is lui! als je maar hard genoeg zoekt vind je altijd hout!' Als de zuidelijke bever dat hoorde haalde hij zijn schouders op.
De ergernis bij de noordelijke bever werd alsmaar groter, vooral omdat de zuidelijke bever zich moeide bij de plaatsing van het hout. Hij deed dit niet alleen aan zijn kant van de dijk, maar ook aan de noordelijke kant, waar hij, volgens de bever van het Noorden, niks te zoeken had!
Op een dag besliste de bever van het Noorden dat hij geen hout meer naar het Zuiden zou brengen, hij legde een boomstam dwars over de dijk om de grens aan te geven en maakte een raar gezicht naar zijn buurman aan de overkant. Die begreep er niks van en haalde alweer zijn schouders op.
Enkele weken verstreken en elke keer als de bevers mekaar zagen, maakten ze rare gezichten naar mekaar. De noordelijke helft van de dam was ondertussen zichtbaar dikker en voller dan de zuidelijke helft. De zuidelijke bever vond zijn buurman arrogant en overdreven ijverig.
Op een morgen werden de bevers gewekt door een luid gekraak. De zuidelijke helft van de dam had het begeven en dreef langzaam weg! De bever van het Zuiden keek verbijsterd toe en begon te huilen. Net goed! Dacht de bever van het Noorden en hij lachte luid. Hij was trots op zijn helft van de dam en tevreden dat hij afstand had genomen van die luierik aan de overkant! Ondertussen begon zijn helft van de dam ook een beetje te kreunen. Een halve dam is immers maar half zo sterk!
Enkele uren later, net toen de noordelijke bever meer hout op de dam wou leggen, brak ook zijn helft. De dam was onherroepelijk verloren en beide bevers keken verslagen toe hoe de laatste tak stroomafwaarts dreef.

long time, no blog...

2007-12-01T10:31:00.000-05:00

It's been a while, I know. I've been a little preoccupied and blogging is the first activity to suffer from a lack of time.

Last week was thanksgiving. We went to Vermont to celebrate with the whole family. A first little sample of winter: a thin carpet of snow and a nice fire in the fireplace. My first thanksgiving in the States! I ate more turkey than ever before, but from an ex-veggie point of view it feels good to only kill one bird and feed a family with it for several days!
Back in New York it's business as usual. A little colder by now, which is a nice change after the months of humidity and heat. I came to New York and felt like I was on the set of Summer of Sam! By now, I start to feel like I can run into Travis Bickle, the feared Taxi Driver. Steam emerges from the underground, everybody's all bundled up and every day the city looks more and more like a Christmas tree. Soon enough it will all look like one big Christmas Disneyworld, Home Alone 2 is around the corner!
Yesterday I wasn't working, so I went on the roof of our building to shoot the skyline. The city looks so quiet and peaceful from up there. It's crazy to think of what it really is like when you look at it from a distance.
For the fans of Ghostdog, I've put in a picture of our neighboor's rooftop 'Duivenkot' (it's that green and orange shack in the second picture). At times, New York is almost as surreal as Belgium. It's beautiful to see hundreds of pigeons fly in patterns with the skyline in the background. Unfortunately it was too cold for them to fly out yesterday.

Perfection has it's price

2007-11-03T10:43:00.000-04:00

In 'Chronicles - volume one' vertelt Bob Dylan over zijn eerste maanden in New York. 's Nachts luistert hij naar de trein die voorbij rijdt. Het geluid van de trein klinkt vertrouwd, het is het enige wat overeenkomt met het platteland waar hij altijd gewoond heeft. New York heeft weinig of niets gemeen met Belgie. De metro in Brussel is met de beste wil van de wereld niet te vergelijken met de newyorkse versie. Winkels, mensen, auto's, huizen, ... Alles is anders. Zelfs de Stella smaakt niet helemaal zoals in Belgie. Bob Dylan voelt zich geborgen en veilig wanneer hij de trein hoort. Ik heb nog niets gevonden dat die functie vervult.
Gelukkig voel ik mij ook zonder dergelijke nostalgie voldoende 'thuis' en geborgen. Nu ik enkele dagen per week aan het werk ben, voel ik mij meer en meer op mijn plaats in Manhattan. Natuurlijk ben ik me bewust van mijn status als 'alien' (ik heb ondertussen zelfs een 'Alien Registration Number'). Maar ik ben niet de enige 'alien in New York'. Geboren en getogen New Yorkers zijn in de minderheid en dat vertaalt zich in het cosmopolitische karakter van de stad. Iedereen is op zoek naar zijn of haar treingeluid en de meeste aliens vinden het snel. Als de stad het zelf niet te bieden heeft, zijn er nog altijd omwegen. De chocolade die alle bezoekers meebrengen is mijn surrogaat voor Belgie. En ik moet toegeven: ondanks de prijs, drink ik bijna dagelijks 'een pintje'.

To miss or not to miss...

2007-10-21T09:27:00.000-04:00

Things I miss:
- Shifting gears while driving
- Sundaymorning market in Sint-Gilles
- Goedkoop bier
- Going out to a bar with friends without making plans for it first
- Service and tax included in the bill
- Lunchmeetings
- Summer nights at the pool
- Mosselen
- Social Security and 'gele briefkes voor de mutualiteit'
... and family and friends of course, but they're not 'things'

Things I don't miss:
- Everything closes at 6pm and on Sundays
- Summer is always a gamble
- EAT's back-up system (I'm traumatized and might one day sue HP for that)
- Going out on a Friday night late in October in a t-shirt is NOT an option (it is over here)
- BBQ's are for summer nights only (instead of food on the grill all year long)
- Lintbebouwing
- 100km is a big distance
- the dentist doesn't have a massage chair or LCD TV (but he doesn't charge a month wage either)

Global warming and the never ending summer

2007-10-05T15:11:00.000-04:00

I haven't seen the Al Gore movie yet, and I don't know if the big American cars and the recent temperatures are related, but this summer seems to last forever.
Yesterday, October 4 2007, it was 86 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 30 degrees Celcius). Of course we all blame global warming and if you see this there is reason to worry. But weather has always been crazy, yesterday's temperatures weren't breaking records, they came close to the 1941 record of 88 degrees Fahrenheit, but didn't break the record. In 1941, global warming was unheard of. And while it seems to have very obvious effects over here and at the North Pole, it doesn't seem to affect Belgium too much. Although, maybe the shifting of the seasons and the lack of a summer this year can be seen as less obvious evidence, but evidence nevertheless. It's hard for me to plea for action, since so far global warming seems to have nothing but advantages, but we're not that high above sea level here, and neither is Belgium, so I'm all for hybrid cars, subways, bicycles and other means of green transportation. I have to go move my car across the street now (street cleaning) but don't worry I plan to bike to the postal office later.

Pot Luck!

2007-10-01T09:09:00.000-04:00

Sunday we went to a pot luck. That's a dinner where everyone brings something to eat. You can bring whatever you want, a starter, main course or dessert. Everything becomes part of a walking buffet. This way you can throw a huge dinner party without worrying about expenses or what to cook. It's a fun concept that has been adopted by 'The Beursschouwburg' in Brussels. The pot luck we went to was just friends of friends of friends wich results in a fun mix of people you know and perfect strangers. Luckily there are Brooklynians that have big apartments with backyards who can afford to have a lot of people over. Americans are different from Europeans though... They go home shortly after dinner's over, Europeans would probably spend half the night getting drunk, something I miss a little. But hey, it's never too late to bring some European influence to the American table.

Vorige week

2007-10-01T08:29:00.000-04:00

Vorige week heb ik gewerkt: in 'de bouw' nog wel! Allemaal gratis natuurlijk, want ik heb nog geen papieren. Hehe...
Zoals jullie weten zijn mijn onderburen Belgen die in de 'interieurdesign' business zitten. Ze zijn op dit moment aan de slag in een appartement in Manhattan (69st Street, vlak aan Central Park - voor de NY kenners). Het is een leuk stekje, $10.000.000 voor het lege apartement, $14,000,000 als het eenmaal klaar zal zijn. Wat krijg je voor zoveel centen in NYC? Een groot duplex apartement, met alle faciliteiten: 'nanny-room', 5 badkamers, afwerking door 'Belgische vaklui' (incl. mezelf) en Central Park aan het eind van de straat. Wat heb je niet voor dit budget? Geen zicht op het park, slechts 1 venster dat uitziet op de 'skyline' en niet eens een spectaculair uitzicht, geen balkon, terras of andere 'buitenplaats', geen parkeerplaats of garage, en de voordeur komt uit in de keuken! Ik zou er alvast mijn dollars niet aan spenderen, zelfs niet nu dollars zo goedkoop zijn!
Maar goed, ik ben daar dus gaan helpen, maar met mijn beperkte expertise en vermits ze volop in de 'afwerkfase' zitten, ben ik vooral nuttig als loopjongen/verhuizer. Anders gezegd, 1 dag heb ik parket-overschot uit de kelder gesleurd (een halve camion vol, ik weet niet wie de berekeningen maakt), 1 dag heb ik met de U-HAUL verhuiscamion rondgereden (tof als het UN conventie is in Midtown en je 3 keer dwars door Manhattan moet) en de rest van mijn tijd heb ik vooral gewinkeld en opgeruimd. Niet slecht als tijdelijk werk, maar of ik mijn nieuwe roeping gevonden heb, valt nog af te wachten.
De laatste dagen van vorige week heb ik bij mijn schoonouders doorgebracht. Susan's voet is nog altijd gebroken (tenminste, er zit nog steeds een gips rond) en vermits Oscar, de hond, nogal veeleisend is en Carmen een druk leven als schooldirecteur heeft, was mijn hulp meer dan welkom. Tussen het wandelen met Oscar door, heb ik mezelf nuttig gemaakt met
schilderwerken en computeradvies. Mijn nieuwe en mijn oude stiel! Carmen heeft een nieuwe computer gekocht (Macbook Pro, voor de nerds) en dus moet OSX (Windows voor Mac, voor de niet-nerds) uitgelegd worden. Dat doe ik natuurlijk met plezier, want qua blinkend gadget gaat er niet veel boven een Macbook Pro. En blinkende gadgets zijn voor mij als chocolade cake voor Billie Turf.
Gisteren was het zondag en zijn Laura en ik terug naar Brooklyn gekomen, met Oscar. Hij logeert tot woensdag bij ons en vermits ik wat 'computer werk' te doen heb, kan ik instaan voor de 3(!) dagelijkse wandelingen.
Ondertussen begint het hier stilaan frisser te worden. Vandaag is het ongeveer 21 graden Celsius. Maar mij hoor je niet klagen na 3 maanden van bijna onafgebroken warm weer. Waarover ik wel te klagen heb, is het feit dat 'The Mets' ('mijn' baseball team) een heel seizoen aan de leiding staan en dan 12 van de laatse 17 laatste wedstrijden verliezen, waardoor ze niet eens naar de play-offs mogen! Hopelijk doet Anderlecht beter!

quick update

2007-09-23T10:46:00.000-04:00

While I was working on my immigration file last Wednesday night, the downstairs neighboor showed up asking for 'white spirit' or 'synthetic thinner'. I don't have that stuff but after he told me what he needed it for, I realized they might need my help anyway. His friend had 'poly-urethaned' his eyes closed! One might ask: how did that happen?
Easy! They were using the poly-urethane foam that comes out of a spray can to fill up some cracks and gaps in their apartment. When they finished they decided to play a little with the leftover foam and sprayed it into an empty pizzabox. Very funny and very smart! It blows up to become a huge ball of foam that wobbles when you push it! How amusing! Especially when the surface tension breaks and the whole thing blows up in your face. Luckily the guy had his eyes closed by the time it hit him. His eyes where fine, the only problem was that they were behind his closed eyelids that were now nicely insulated and stuck under a layer of quickly hardening foam. The can says 'wear safety glasses when using this product' , 'be carefull and plan ahead to avoid accidents'. Bummer, it didn't look like he could win a lawsuit after all these warnings. American warnings seem funny to us 'oh so smart belgians', therefore we don't even think of taking any precautions. After all, we're Europeans, we don't need to be treated like we're 5 year olds! Or do we?
After we tried the 'run water for 15 minutes' solution, and failed at it, we decided to get in the car and drive to the ER. The hospital in BedStuy sees a lot of crazyness I'm sure, but I don't think they had ever seen anything like this before. They were professional about it and gave it first priority. About 5 hours later, our guy was completely cleaned up and good to go again! No damage done, lesson learned the hard way. And a funny story to tell his grandchildren one day: 'Let me tell you about the day I nearly lost my eyes, and insulated my face....'
Meanwhile, this incident gave me another chance to 'bond' with the Belgians and in return that allows me to work for them. I guess the 'New York, No Work' title of my previous post got things rolling. More news soon!

New York, No Work?

2007-09-18T11:03:00.001-04:00

I keep track of what's happening in Belgium through the vrtnieuws and the standaard news sites. No government, no sunshine, it sounds like I got out just in time. Just kidding, after all, we have Bush and hurricanes and USPS. That's right, I'm equally frustrated with US postal services as I was with the 'Belgische Post'. They seem to have lost (!) the first part of my immigration file! I had an appointment with an immigration officer yesterday and she assured me that waiting almost 2 months for my 'reciept' is not normal. There was no reference to me to be found in their database. In other words, as far as immigrations is concerned, I haven't even started my green card process yet! {insert g*dverdoeme or f*ck - according to preference}
It's an annoying set back and it will cause a few months of delay for me to get my work permit. Worse things could happen, but better things could too... At least I'm healthy and alive, wise people would say.
Meanwhile, it looks like I can make myself useful as an independent computer doctor for the Belgians who've moved in downstairs. It's not much but at least I'll be active again. There's also some 'restauration work' to be done in Laura's parent's house before they sell it next year, so I'll be helping the parents out with that next week. That way, I avoid getting too used to my life as an unemployed bohemian, without violating my status as a 'visitor'.
By the end of the week, my 'ex-boss' will be in NY for a few days. Another great chance to practice my Dutch (as if speaking Petrick en Jehan's with the neighboors isn't enough). I look forward to hearing the gossip and more serious news about my previous job. After all, I've worked there for almost 6 years and despite not working for months now, I haven't forgotten about my colleagues yet.
Take care y'all and please keep Belgium together for me. My immigration procedure is complicated enough as it is. I don't know what would happen if I was from the republic of Flanders FKA Belgium but I'm sure it would not simplify things.