Carota

me and MY girlfriend/Ich und meine Freundin

2008-07-25T18:59:00.009+02:00

Hamburg!

2008-03-28T17:16:00.010+01:00

Juistem..Hamburg City!

Das Staatswappen

Mönkebergstraße

Rathausmarkt

Binnenalster & Jungfernstieg

Die Alsterarcaden

Das Rathaus

Das Chilehaus

De Hollandsche Partysquad :D

Frühling in Lübeck

2008-02-13T09:27:00.008+01:00

Mein Zukunftige Wohnung

Ich :)

Mühlenteich

Bauhof

Krähenteich

Marienkirche

Burgtor

Heilige Geist Hospital

Goud & Nieuw @ NL

2008-02-13T08:56:00.010+01:00

Onder het motto `Let yourself go` werd 2007 feestelijk uitgeluidt:

No comment :p

Voel die beat!

:D :D

Wie ben ik ook weer...wat doe ik hier...en waar heb ik deze flexe feestmuts vandaan?

Alles prima!

Ook die gouwe ouwe kinderhits passeerden de revue...Zie ginds komt de stoomboot...

Yes...weer een streep erbij in het Off the pitch Klassement

Gelukkig waren er ook nog normale mensen...:)

Check!

:D :D

Kakel!

Niet het enige glas dat gedronken is op 2008!

Met zijn alle!!

Lovely Hotterdamn!

2008-02-13T08:12:00.017+01:00

Hofvijver - Den Haag

Map of Hotterdamn

Delftshaven

Typically Dutch

More of Delftshaven

Historical Delftshaven

Laurentius Church

Skyline of Roffadam at night

Noordereiland

Old Harbour with view on the Willemsbrug

Historical Old Harbour

Cubehouses

Hotel New York, formerly Holland-Amerika Lijn

Eyecatcher of Hotterdamn...Erasmusbrug

Nieuwe Luxor Theather

Erasmusbrug

Casa mia...mein Haus :)

2007-11-20T17:00:00.000+01:00

Wir beiden

Böttcherstraße, eine der schönsten straßen unserer Heimat :)

Wieder die Böttcherstraße, jetzt vom anfang

Das ganz nette himmelblaue Haus, die nummer 19a

Das wohnzimmer

Noch ein mal

Und wieder, von einen anderen Standpunkt

Die Küche

Das Badezimmer

Und ein hübsches Schlafzimmer

Lübeck

2007-11-16T17:19:00.001+01:00

Ich in Lübeck

Holstentor

alte häuser

Überblick über St. Petri kirche

Überblick über St. Marienkirche

Lübeck

Lübeck an der Trave

das Niederegger geschäft...bekannt von die Marzipan :)

Das Rathaus

Das strand von Travemunde

Travemunde

Das Wald in Kiel

Strand von Laboe

La Paz y Peru

2007-11-16T16:03:00.000+01:00

Un rio en el camino de Ollantaytambo a Aguas Calientes

Lo mismo

El tren mismo

Machu Picchu entre las nubes

Mas de Machu Picchu

La vista de Huayna Picchu

La scala para llegar a Huayna Picchu

Machu Picchu

Vista panoramica

Aguas Calientes

Cuzco

Tambien

Un pueblo en Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon

Tambien

Arequipa a noche

Parroquia de Yanahuara

Vista panoramica del mirador

Iglesia en Arequipa

Plaza das Armas - Arequipa, la cuidad blanca

La Paz...chaos por la calle..

Floripa & Rio de Janeiro..cidades maravilhosas

2007-07-23T19:26:00.000+02:00

Copacabana

Ipanema y Leblon

The partycrew at escalaria selaron

Lapa

Rio de Janeiro

Christo Redentador

Lagoa..Botafogo..Jardim Botanico..Ipanema y Leblon

las casitas en la favela

La vista da en cima

Da a bajo

La favela mas grande en el mundo..Rocinha

Cerca a la Fortaleza de Ilha S.C.

Otra playa en Ilha Santa Catharina con una buque brasileira

Ilha Santa Catharina

Floripa..Florianopolis

À PROCURA DA FOTO PERFEITA!!

2007-07-13T23:47:00.000+02:00

Hogar es donde vive el corazón! ...home is where the heart lives! Buenos Aires and Uruguay

2007-07-06T23:15:00.000+02:00

Montevideo en Uruguay.. plaza Independencia

Los autos que se usan todavia en Colonia..Uruguay :)

Colonia

Colonia

Todavia Colonia

Puerto Madero al dia

El traffico de Buenos Aires

Metal flower...which closes it`s pettals at night

Puerto Madero a la noche

Architectura moderna

Más de Puerto Madero

El obelisco

Short trip to Peru (Tacna) and Parque National Lauca (Chile)...BA here i come!!

2007-06-27T23:13:00.001+02:00

Putre (3.500 meters high) at sunset

Typical chuch in an altiplano small town village

The looming volcano (6.300 meters) and the lake

kicking back @ Lago Chungara...the highest lake in the world, 4.500 meters above sea level!

National Parc Lauca

The two main volcanoes in the National Parc

Putre from above.

Me @ this handicrafts´ shop buying a wicked hat :D

Going up...above the clouds

Main Square of Tacna

Tacna - Peru

Tafi del Valle, Amaicha, Quilmes, Cafayate, Salta & Cachi

2007-06-17T23:55:00.000+02:00

Okay..it´s been a while..reason was that i kind of got sick of visiting just another city...therefore decided to go a bit of the beaten path (read: the middle of nowhere) and venture off into the wild nature and stunning beauty of the small town life :D
What a good choice that prooved to be, see for yourselves!

Okay..estaba un rato que subí imagens..pero el razón fue que fui aburrido de visitar una cuidad despues la otra..es por eso que decidí de dejar el camino turistico (lee: in media a ninguna parte) y me aventuraba en la naturaleza salvaje y la impressionante belleza de la vida en los pueblitos chichetitos :D
Que buen elección fue, mira para tú mismo!

Cuesta del Obispo...on the way to Cachi
Cuesta del Obispo..en el camino por Cachi

also
tambien

Salta and it´s chairlift
Salta y su teleférico

Cafayate´s Gorge at sunset
Quebrada de Cafayate al atardecer

oxidated copper and sulphur colloring the rocks
cobre y azufre oxidado dan los colores particulares a las piedras

Me on a cliff
yo en un acantilado

another view of the gorge
un otra vista de la quebrada

Quilmes, ancient indian ruines
Quilmes, antiguas ruinas de las indianas

Quilmes up front
Quilmes por delante

A butcher´s shop in Amaicha

Una carnicería en Amaicha

Team Quilmes!! A French/Argentinian/Israelian/Dutch combo...unbeatable!
Equipo Quilmes!! Una combinacíon Françes/Argentino/Israelí/Holandes...invencible!

Tafí del Valle
Tafí del Valle

The view after climbing a mountain of 3.600 meters
La vista luego haber subisto una montaña de 3.600 metros

View from the other side over Tafí
La vista al otro lado..Tafí

Arica..Isla Negra...Mendoza

2007-06-04T21:43:00.000+02:00

Friends...i´ve said Marnix and the lovely country of Chili farewell and at the moment i´m in Mendoza (arg)...though tonight i´ll leave for Cordoba..all is still well, although getting robbed did come close a couple of times...In general i´m amazed by the friendliness and helpfullness of al the people i already met, in particul the locals...some of which i´ll never forget! :) Just look at the pictures, more follow later!

Amigos..da ahora tambien en español :)
He salutado Marnix y el pais encantador de Chile y in eso momento soy en Mendoza (arg)..pero esta noche tomare el bus que me lleva a Cordoba..todo estas bien aun, pero casi me fui robado algunas vezes..in general me asombra la simpatia y la amabilidad de la gente que he ya incontrado durante mi viaje, in particular la gente de alli.. non me olvidare jamas de algunas personas :) Mira los imagens...otras seguin despues!

A statue for me...San Martin in Mendoza....thank you, thank you!! :)
La estatua para me...San Martin a Mendoza...muchas gracias, muchas gracias!!

A fountain in Mendoza...situated in Parque San Martin of course!
Una fuente a Mendoza..situado en el Parque de San Martin, obvio!

Valaparaiso by night
La noche a Valparaiso

as well...
tambien...

and again..
y un otra vez..

The beach @ Isla Negra
La playa de Isla Negra

Also..
Tambien..

The house of Pablo Neruda...a famous Chilean poet
La casa de Pablo Neruda...una famosa poeta Chilena.

me at the beach called La Lisera

yo a la playa que se llama La Lisera

Marnix, Mat & me..sniffing up some culture at the church of San Marcos

Marnix, Mat y yo..tomemos un poco de cultura a la iglesia de San Marcos

The view over Arica
La bella vista sobre Arica

my two partners in crime...Mat and Marnix
mis dos amigos frescos...Mat y Marnix

Arica´s main square

La plaza principal de Arica

Valparaiso & San Pedro de Atacama

2007-05-26T02:12:00.000+02:00

View over a gorge close to San Pedro de Atacama

gateway to....heaven?¿?

Me and Marnix with some volcanoes on the background

Ruines of an old fortress next to a gorge

Wonderful village of Caspana

As well...

Taking a bath in the hot spring...around 30 degrees

Some geysers after sunrise

Sunrise @ El Tatio Geysers....15 degrees below 0

The altiplanos surrounding the Atacama Dessert

Laguna Miscanti...same as below

Lagos Altiplanicos....beautiful lakes @ 4000m altitude

Valle de la Luna - Atacama Dessert

Seriously kickin´ back in a hammack

View over Valparaiso

Funny mural in Valpo

Valparaiso....back in time

Santiago

2007-05-18T15:45:00.000+02:00

Santiago, at the feet of the Andes

View from Cerro San Cristobal

Rio de Janeiro...eh no...still Santiago

The way up to Cerro San Cristobal

Barrio Brasil, the area where Marnix lives

Plaza de Armas

Cerro Santa Lucia

Santa Lucia as well

rather quickly updated heh!?! so cherish this moment...it'll be rare

2007-05-17T00:13:00.000+02:00

Yo maestri!

Yes this is the correct blog...only coz of an international audience all of this will be in english..hope that's no problem for you guys :p

anyways, very short update...i've finished my thesis and graduated on my birthday..yes what a timing and what a party! thanx to everyone who was at one of the parties that i held lately, you made it some unforgetable evenings!

as for the trip: lift off was yesterday the 15th of may...today i arrived safely in Santiago de Chile and started wandering around...pic's will follow shortly....need to run now otherwise i'll be late to meet marnix!

Strickly forbidden!!!

2007-01-23T11:31:00.000+01:00

This time another absurdity from Holland....the picture displayed above has been marked as strickly forbidden due to it's offensive character...wearing it on your jacket, cap or shirt will result in the item being confiscated and lateron to be destroyed...however, when talking to a police officer it is perfectly ok to address him with a well ment "Fuck You!"

Why everybody keeps having these predjudices about Holland being o so liberal and tollerant??

I wonder what they would think of this nice creation...

(says hoer, which is whore in Dutch)

Another treat

2007-01-19T14:52:00.000+01:00

ooh..i'm on a roll...my second post today...damn i'm really back!

I recently participated in some spurges...of which luckily for you some records have been kept on harddisk...and i didn't want to withold you from one of my finest moments and one of serious embarrassment. Judge for yourselves =>

this was me at the company gala...all suited up in a nice tux..drinking beers..looking sharp.

this was the same "guy"a few weeks before...

partying my ass of somewhere in a vacation appartment on the Veluwe...a well protected Dutch wildlife reserve which is know to be the home to some "strange and rare" species...nuff said!

...almost time for the friday afternoon drinks....weekend waiting...can't wait! Cheers!!

Wintersports!

2007-01-19T14:12:00.000+01:00

Well guys and girls...seems that the phoenix has risen from the ashes...that i've came back from the death...anyways, finally another post signifying that this blog still isn't finished!!

here some of the stories i've had the joy of experiencing last months..

First of all the ski-trip to Avoriaz (as announced) for christmas. Due to an overdose of sun and warm weather there wasn't enough snow to board all over the area..we were confined to our village and a little piece of Switserland coz we were close to the border.

The immense amount of sun is well depicted on this photo, showing a view in the direction of mont blanc.

We went with a group of 7, guys as well as girls...and the fun started already in the first kilometers on the dutch highway with Bart getting pulled over by a copper for speeding...(just 137k where 120k was allowed so nothing serious) After an all-nighter, with walkie-talkie conversations keeping me and Hans awake, we arived early in the moring on top of the hill...and started kicking back and drinking the vin chaud in the sun!

Next day on the piste the obligatory group shot

Overall, perfect trip...lots of sun, not so many people, quite some rocks/icy spots/even plants peeking their branches through the snow...but a nice experience in all! Especially the big christmas firework show was appreciated, as was Hans and mine adventure on the snowscooter, see proof below!

Back in holland there was no time to rest...newyears was approaching fast..and plans were to go to Breda and celebrate till late! And we did..what a wonderfull evening that was, everybody was filled with stories the next morning..it was so crazy that some details are still being unravelled at get-togethers 2 weeks after the event! Definitly one evening i won't forget anytime soon!

as four your information, each year is labeled with a certain motto...and this years theme is: "Let yourself go!" So stick by it and experience the fortune it will bring you, gluck!

Maart

Math!??!

2006-11-13T10:10:00.000+01:00

Dany was trying to define succes in her blog entry last friday(http://dnylementi.blogspot.com/2006/11/equation-for-success-bravery-smartness.html) however in my opinion not completely attaining a satisfactory outcome...the problem in itself was set up as follows:

success= f (Bravery (B), Smartness (S), Luck (L))

fisrt, let's get clear what we are trying to capute with this mathematical excise: Succes is the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.

* Then question 1 that arises is: Are Bravery, Smartness and Luck all variables that affect succes??

an important missing variable that struck my mind was Connections (C) , your social network. Knowing the 'right' people, talking to the 'right person' can get you somewhere...without being brave, smart or lucky...just because you are yourself and you, or one of your friends/relatives, happen to know this 'important' guy in the right place..could bring you succes.

Another one that i think should definitely be in this equation is Motivation (M). This is a basic condition forming the foundation for succes, since a rocketscientist might be really really smart, even lucky, brave and have the right connections...however, if the guy is not motivated to do something with his blessings, no succes will be achieved or no previous succes will be sustained.

A third one i would like to add is Talent (T). This is unmistakably a key variable to achieve succes, since without being good at something just pure Luck or some Connections could get you somewhere.

* question 2 that arises: How to set up a correct equation that respects all considered variables in the right way??

Answering this question is not easy at all...among the first things that should be assumed are the values that each variable can assume, starting with succes itself.

Assumptions:

Succes by itself should have unlimited upside potential, evenas unlimited downside risk, where negative values represent failure. However, in this model all influentiable determinants are bound between -1 (representing the antonym of the variable) and +1. So, Succes is measured on a scale that varies from -N to +N (where N is the number of influentiable variables considered, in my case 4)

A second assumption is that not all variables are influentiable by your personal actions, Luck and Talent are random, exogenous, factors that you have no control over, but do affect the final outcome.

A third assumption is about correlations among variables, to what extent and in what way do the variables interact with each other...this is the most influential assumption, basically determining the shape of the whole equation. Let's say that the values of the four variables that can be influenced by personal actions (Bravery, Smartness, Connections and Motivation) could be affected by coefficients for Luck, Talent. These coefficients (α and β) are random numbers on a 0 to +1 scale. (if they also would be allowed to be negative the unrealistic situation of a negative variable multiplied by a negative coefficient resulting in a positive succes could occur, this should not be the case)

Bravery (B) is affected by both Luck and Motivation, since you need to be at least a bit lucky and motivated to exploit your bravery. Just by itself it wouldn't get you anywhere.

Smartness (S) is affected by Talent and Motivation, since you need to be talented and motivated to not to let your smartness go to waste. Also, the more talented/motivated you are, the easier you could pick things up and the smarter you could become.

Connections (C) are affectd by Luck, Talent and Motivation. The reasoning is that you could luckily meet the right people, or if you are a talented person people would like to associate themselves with you, or being motivated and actively searching for the right people might increase your connections.

Motivation (M) is affected by Talent, since the more talented you are in a certain area, the more motivated you will be to achieve succes therein.

A final assumption is that Motivation also could affect the other three influentiable variables by means of a coefficient (δ). This coefficient is related to the variable Motivation in this way: δ = 0,5 + 0,5M, this equation just expresses that the -1 to +1 scale of the variable Motivation is converted in a 0 to 1 scale of the coefficient motivation.

This brings us to the result, the equation:

Succes = δ[αB + β(S + αC)] + βM

Well i hope it is kinda clear what i wanted to explain...comments or different viewpoints are welcome!!

# 1812

2006-10-27T10:18:00.000+02:00

Well guys and girls, this is something you will never believe...this morning i decided to check my investment game again since i haven't been able to pay much attention to it in the last couple of days...and guess what...last week i was number 13.000 something (out of almost 100.000 contenders) ... but today my star has risen until lucky number 1812!!!! the figures are really impressive...see for yourself.

yesterday generated me a return of 40,5 %...increasing my monthly return to 70,7%....yep...it's a pitty that it's not real money we're playing with!

Interviews

2006-10-26T16:58:00.000+02:00

As oposed to lots of stories i hear i never ever had problems during a job interview...they used to ask me a bit about my cv and about myself...varying from a swot analysis of your personal behaviour, my aptitude with languages, the lack of math B on my highschool course list to my future job expectancies...but never really difficult questions to which i didn't know the answer (or could invent it in a split second)

However after two easy earlier interview sessions (general interview and a case assesment) this one didn't worry me at all...they asked me to prepare a small presentation about a subject of your choice...(i choose Private Equity..coz it's showing up in the newspapers every day now)...but then there never was the time to actually do it! the first hour still was easy...some motivational questions about my strenghts and weaknesses etc. It went as smooth as a walk in the park...then however the second hour began...i was there with the director and he was (finally!) asking me some though stuff...

He didn't pull the brainteasers out of the big hat..but guesstimates were being fired at me at will...let me ask you some the ones they asked me...see how you would react if you had to answer in a split second! :)

1) How would you value a trademark? shortly elaborate on the different methods and what is the origin of their different results. (hint, there are three valuation methods....p.s. me they didn't give this hint!)

2) If you had to come up with a fee for painting all the white stripes on all the Dutch highways, what would be the variables that you take into account to calculate this fee?

3) How would you calculate the annual turnover of packages of Douwe Egberts coffee in the Netherlands? make a list of variables and assumptions, lateron underline one assumption that is most critical to your final value.

4) Suppose you were put on this project to value the Amsterdam ArenA (the football stadium of Ajax) how would you approach this project (what information do you want) and what value drivers could you identify? What would your estimate for the perpetual value be?? (especially this last one proved to be tricky!)

well, let me see that you're smart! let's see if you are able to answer them!

I'll hear from them tomorrow, i'll let you know the result....but overall i'm quite optimistic about my chances...we'll see!

good luck, you'll need it!

Lucky # 13880

2006-10-17T09:35:00.000+02:00

A little while ago I told you about this investment game which is run by Investopedia...well, i didn't give you an insight yet into my hidden asset management skills! :)

In the beginning I decided to have a look at their site and some tutorials that they offer...paying special attention to the moving average introduction. Then the difficult part started...selecting the right stocks to invest in. The difference with real life is that here I would like to have highly volatile stocks, risky investments with quick and high payoffs. That's why options (expiring 21st of october) seemed the way to go!

Knowing that the price of petrol had recently dropped by an enormous ammount (strange for such a scarse good which will run out over a couple of decades) and the fact that the worlds population is growing older and richer, i decided to go for Exxon Mobil (petrol) and Merck (health care). This, combined with some technology stocks (highly volatile and about to recover from the post 9/11 crash) has proven to be a winning strategy so far!

The only big loss until now has been a "tip" from Warren Buffet: Red Hat (computer systems). Just before I bought them they experienced a huge correction...I expected them to make up...but they won't...at least not in the short run. Only thing left to do was buy some puts to cancel out the possition, and short some stock to try and turn the loss into a profit! :) My guess is that now they will drop till around € 15 ,- ...ah we'll see!

Another major star in my portfolio has been Comcast (cable/internetprovider), coz at least in Holland (and obviously also in the US) cheap internetproviders who own the cable-networks are gaining terrain on the regular phone companies...stealing all their customers with their lower rates...this has been appreciated by investors..resulting in a huge increase in stock price over the last few months.

Ah well, once you're winning everything is nice...options bring about a huge part of the succes, or downfall...it's amazing..in just two weeks time my options generated a 23% return...compared to this my stocks just score a meager 1,5% return. And then, all could change tomorrow again...but that's what keeps it interesting! i'll keep you posted! till next time, good luck!

Thesis Time

2006-10-16T10:47:00.000+02:00

Finally i found the guts to restart my thesis for a bit..you can see the progress/result in the upper right corner of the sidebar, which finally after two months got updated again...time passed (vacation, projects, etc.) without much pages getting added. well, after speaking to my thesissupervisor last wednesday i came to the conclusion that still everything is going perfect...but that i'm starting to lagg a bit behind schedual. He was hardly having any coments on my work so far, but is always eager to hear what i want to do in the next part. So i cut this post short, just to try and keep the flow of writing going....

Here's a little teaser which might give you more questions then answers...the tiltepage of my thesis!

Achmed Halal...The Biggest Dutch Supermarket

2006-10-13T10:50:00.000+02:00

To remain in the political spectrum, following all the fuss about the new Danish cartoons of the profet Mohammed and recent Dutch discussions about the possibility of the enactment of the Sharia (the Muslim laws according to the Koran) as a part of the lawfull Dutch constitution, a nice photoshopped commercial for Holland's biggest and most expensive supermarked (Albert Heijn)....(yes, it belongs to Ahold, quite recently involved in a huge accounting scandal like Parmalat, Worldcom and Enron)

In Generally Civilised Turkish/Dutch there's written that it are the Ramadan-weeks again at Achmed Halal (AH). This due to the recent news about Albert Heijn that started to sell halal meat (meat slaughterd according to Muslim traditions and rules).

Well, after reading this post and the one below, one really starts to wonder...who is actually in charge here in the Netherlands...the Islamic minority that tries to re-create little Turkey/Marocco within the Netherlands who at the first signs of disagreement of the general public start screaming and shouting discrimination and grabbing to arms, or is it the working people striking and coming up for their ideals (see the whores with their subsidies, employees of the public transport companies that don't want to be privatised, unions that want to prevent the wishes of stockowners in a large dutch company (stork) to split it up in three parts, or maybe it's a bunch of politicians that lost their minds and speak up for the legalisation of sex with minors (from 12 years onward)

Ah well, at least it promisses to be a tumultuous election round...let's see what happens this time...and just hope that the possible prime minister doesn't get killed this time (as some of you might have heard, in 2002 Pim Fortuyn got shot because of his right-winged political ideas when everything was pointing at him becoming prime minister)

Till sofar the anti-propaganda about Holland....but to counter this, as another Dutch political party said, (CDA, the christen democrats) Holland is still a country to be proud of!! they even launched a feel-good campaign with a website (go check it out at http://ikbentrotsopnederland.nl) filled with typical Dutch memorabilia, folklore, stupid typical Dutch children songs and comments of proud asswipes from all around the country.

What a nice country we have!! Whoohooo!

The Dutch Police Forces (Of Evil!)

2006-10-13T10:18:00.000+02:00

Lately the news in the Netherlands is buzzing with reports concerning the Dutch police forces...they're the ones that are supposed to keep our country safe at night, be respectable and representable rolemodels for the rest of the society and catch criminals....but there's one minor problem...of all occupations they exhibit the highest rate of people sacked due to criminal offenses. So instead of making Holland a better and safer place, they have become largely corrupt (there have been cases of rape and abuse, streetracing, drugabuse, violence etc. etc.) The tip of the iceberg is becoming public as we speak, however, since nepotism is probably widespread practise as well, the true criminality rate can be expected to be even higher...

A magnificent dutch blog (www.geenstijl.nl) wrote out a competition concerning this topic...the assignment was to create a recruitment poster for the police, helping upcoming students to choose for a carreer in the police forces. Here a short selection of some good results!

Nuff said...speaks for itself! :) Parental Advisory: explicit content...sex, violence, police, drugs and breaking the speedlimit!

Want to screw your colleagues? Fine, but: do it safe!

Whore...henceforth subsidised by a Dutch (social environmental) political party.

That's another point of general discussion...with elections coming up in November (since the Dutch kabinet fell a couple of months ago) there has been a lot of news about the ideas of certain political parties. Of which the pedofile party has been considered most controversial (which luckily in the end is not allowed to participate in the elections), as well as in correspondence with the poster here above, the argument of one political party to subsidise whores, provide them with decent housing and introduce a qualitymark for this "line of business".

...What does this all have to say about Holland...did we really go crazy??? When did we lose our minds??

Avoriaz! Watch Out..Here We Come!

2006-10-06T17:28:00.000+02:00

- This will be me in about 2 1/2 months :p -

Finally, after lots of organising, emailing, calling and stalking, we managed to book our annual trip to the snow again! This year we're going to check out Avoriaz (Fr), which is located in the area of Les Portes du Soleil..on the French-Swiss border. We managed to get 7 friends excited enough to spend their christmas days in the snow, skiing, boarding, sledding...whatever it will be...enjoying it for sure! Ainsi, dorénavant ce blog contiendra aussi un peu de français!

Regarde ces photo de Avoriaz a nuit avec le mont blanc dans le fond!

I'll keep you guys updated, and when it's finally time to go boarding i'll bring my camera with me, so all adventures will be carefully documented for your viewing pleasure!

Fokke & Sukke Rule!

2006-10-06T17:20:00.000+02:00

:) some dutch cartoons about two "birds" (and yes the stuff between their legs should be their tale fethers..not that other thing that you are all thinking of!)that you can find everyday in the newspaper...this time a really funny one! One is asking the other if there are some hot chicks around...the other answers by stating that they're out of luck...that they ended up in Temptation Weiland (meadow) instead of Temptation Island! :D

Games!

2006-09-27T14:58:00.000+02:00

As you all will know by now, i'm great at spending precious time on doing lots and lots of other stuff instead of working...as was also the case yesterday. After a tip from a friend of mine I started to prepare for a new career move and joined this online trading simulation at:

http://simulator.investopedia.com/join.aspx

The idea behind it is that you get 100.000 US dollars, and you can invest it in whatever US company you want...options and stocks...only disappointment is that shorting of stock and options is not allowed..so lots of neat strategies can't be applied.

Just started yesterday, tried one trade before callin it a day...and lost 2000,- already...so for now i'm happy it's just arteficial!

You're all invited to come and join the competition, show your skills and kick my ass!

Time For Some Music!

2006-09-22T14:34:00.000+02:00

Two of the best pieces of music ever to be featured in a film....the first one being The Animals - House of the Rising Sun, the second one is Astor Piazzolla - Oblivion. Both pieces of music are featured in La Meglio Gioventu...a film that i can't shut up about.

This impressive six–hour Italian drama spans nearly 40 years in the life of one family and channels half a century in the life of a nation. Roman brothers Nicola and Matteo are our heroes whose life adventures kick off in 1966 as they help a young girl confined in an asylum. Then after the devastating flood of Firenze, Nicola meets Giulia, a talented piano player with a dangerous political sympathies, and Matteo meets optimistic photographer Mirella in this intimate epic of Italian life.

GO AND SEE IT!

I apologize

2006-09-14T10:20:00.000+02:00

I apologize for the lack of any updates....it's not that there's nothing to tell..it's just due to a general lack of motivation/enthousiasm from me. Though, today I can't continue the work on the nice assignment they gave me here at work (analysing the dutch healthcare sector for investment opportunities) I need to wait for tomorrow when i can go to the Amsterdam office to acces certain databases to retrieve some data. So, i should get back to working on my thesis...but you guessed it right...i'd rather write some bullshit overhere than start my thesis again...

well, when talking about some bullshit...here's a nice picture i took of my mind at this moment...a bit clouded...(a bit like the dustcloud after a big bomb exploded) with all different tones of light and dark...though still very nice and fluffy...and clear skies coming up at the horizon!

Lately I've been quite busy actually, first with a trip to Antwerp with the hockeyteam..partying our asses of @ Cafe d'Anvers and the Laundryday party...working hard every day on the cool assignment that they gave me at work (so at least i'm a bit distracted from my thesis for a while)...seeing some good movies (la meglio gioventù, amores perros)...having dinner and partying with friends in rotterdam (big up to hans and matthijs for being excellent partners in crime!)...playing hockey three times a week...going to a jobinterview @ PWC in Amsterdam...meeting up with the foreign friends that came back to rotterdam to graduate...and the occasional trip back to Best to check upon my family and friends overthere...

well...i don't know what more to write...i'm still a bit wasted from the dinner with flatmates yesterday and the birthdayparty followed by drinks on the rooftop...that in combination with getting up really early is kind of destroying...a well, whatever...another day today..another party tonight!

cheers!

p.s. ah there's one thing you should check out if you have some spare minutes to waste...http://www.erosie.net/ ...it's a cool site of this dutch graffiti artist/designer...here's a teaser!

This one is a dutch riddle....saying: who reads this is crazy! :p

Vacation pt 2

2006-09-01T11:06:00.000+02:00

Ah sorry, completely forgot to tell you about some other cool adventures i experienced during the summer months..cause i did a lot, saw even more, and was busy but enjoying all the time! Here's an executive summary of my adventures, accompanied by some illustrative photo's! :)

Cause, did i tell you yet about the time i went scubadiving with this friend of mine...no? Here's the proof! And cause we were taking into consideration all imminent dangers and hazards that are related to deepsea diving in the ocean, and cause we wanted to prevent us from having to call Baywatch, we had our life belts always at an arm's length!

To show you that it was a hazardous environment that we were in...here's a picture of one of the aggressive seacreatures that we encountered on our voyage in the deep. Notice how he's studying his prey before deciding to attack...luckily we managed to escape just in time...or i wouldn't have been here telling you this story!

luckily at the end of the day we were able to retreat to our luxury 5 star resort, chillin and kicking back in the jacuzzi, while enjoying a nice cold beer and some chips. What a day that was!

After the 5 course haute cuisine meal, of which the remnants can still be seen on the left, i was tired!

Did i already told you that i was tired?? Well, nothing measures up to what i experienced during another cool adventure. While taking the transiberian express on my way home after having climbed the Mount Everest, i was in serious need of a powernap!

Or maybe more than one! :p

Ah...what can i say...i'm just grateful that i'm so gifted...gifted with the ability to fall asleep instantly...everywhere...so actually i'm like a superhero with supernatural capabilities!! I think that makes me at least a good competitor for Daniela's GPoW candidacy! (see http://dnylementi.blogspot.com for further details) So beware Dany!! The world will vote Carota!!

Quotes!

2006-09-01T10:52:00.000+02:00

To continue improving & innovating on my blog i've added this feature in the sidebar which will show you four new quotations every day...so for the moments in which you feel uninspired or in need of some entertainment..it's just a mouseclick away! :p

Anyway...one of my personal favourites is already portrayed in the orange banner at the top of the page...but there's another, which i think applies to everyone in each situation..one i can't keep from you...enjoy!

Back At The Office :(

2006-08-29T15:24:00.000+02:00

As i already wrote you before, i came back from holidays...which means...yeah you guessed it..working hard again :(

For the moment not on my thesis, since they gave me this project for which i have to analyse the dutch health care sector. Implying that i come up with a general overview whereof this sector consists, what the recent trends and developments are...and finally giving a suggestion on where investment opportunities lay. Quite a broad assignment, but a very interesting one!

So it's about time that i give you a look at where i spend all my time, pretending to do intelligent stuff or write my thesis...but actually scratsching my stomach and picking my nose! :)

There you are, my office..my chair is the one on the right...simple and quite empty...also cause most of the time i'm there just by myself! However, starting from next week there will be another intern joining the forces of evil here! i'll tell you more on that later.

First, another important pass time of every day (besides going to the coffee machine, going to the bathroom, checking my email etc. etc.) is looking out the window :p and as you can see, since i'm on the 15th floor, the view is not bad at all!

Ok, now i'll continue again...wasted already too much time today!

Out On Vacation

2006-08-20T12:16:00.000+02:00

You'll have to be a little bit more patient..afer partying like hell at the FFWD Danceparade, in the pooring rain!!!!, i decided to look for some sunshine again. That's why i'm out on holiday at the moment (where else then italy :p )just one more week then i'll be back with stories, entertainment and other useless stuff to keep y'all busy while you should be working!!

At the moment i'm in Teramo (close to the adriatic coast, some 400 kilometers south of bologna) as from tomorrow i'll be on my way to have a look at the world champion's capital..Roma!!

Stay good, till soon!

Congrats!

2006-08-11T09:18:00.000+02:00

Well, that created quite some interest!! It's nice to see that people are reading what i'm writing here :)

all riddles got solved in the end, if you can't solve them yourself check the comments for the answers. Anonimous (which must be Hans), got also the last one right..no tricks here, it was the german that has the fish.

since for me it's just another day at the office, i have plenty of time to give you some new brain training...let's see who solves these one's first!

Bulbs
Imagine you are in a room with 3 switches. In an adjacent room there are 3 bulbs (all are off at the moment), each switch belongs to one bulb. It is impossible to see from one room to another. How can you find out which switch belongs to which bulb, if you may enter the room with the bulbs only once?

Hats
The two losing masters wanted a riposte, so the grand master showed them 5 hats, two white and three black. Then he said: "I will turn off the light and put a hat on each of your heads and hide the other hats. When I turn on the light you will have equal chances to win. Each of you will see the hats of the two others, however not his own. The first one saying the colour of his hat will win." Then before he could turn off the light, one of the masters (the same one again) guessed, what the colour of his hat will be.
What hat was it and how did he know?

Head Bands
Three white men were taken captive by a hostile Indian tribe. The chieftain was willing to let them go so he took them to a tepee, where there was no light. He put one head band on each of their heads (he had 3 white and 2 red - so 2 head bands were not used). Then they went out in a queue so that each man saw the head-band of those standing in front of himself (the first one did not see any head band, the second one saw the first one's head band, and the third one saw the head bands of the two others). If somebody said the colour of his head-band, they all would be free. After a quiet while one of them said: "My head-band is ...".
What colour was his head band? And how would you reason it?

good luck!

Brain teasers

2006-08-09T09:56:00.000+02:00

Considering the fact that some of you are (like me) about to graduate, or even already applying for jobs...this could come in handy...a couple of brain teasers, nifty little riddles that can be solved mathematically or logically and are often asked to you during a job interview. and looking at them here gives us a chance to see who's really intelligent and who's not! :) when you think you found the solution just post it as a comment!

ok, here we go!

Ship Ladder

A ship anchored in a port has a ladder (beginning and ending with a tave), where the bottom tave touches the water. The distance between taves is 20 cm and the length of the ladder is 180 cm. The tide is rising at the speed of 15 cm each hour. When will the water be on the third tave from the top??

Pouring Water

How can you measure 6 litres of water using only 4 and 9-litre bowls?

Weighing

Having 27 table tennis balls, one is heavier than the others. How many times (minimum) do you need to use a pair of scales to identify it??

Sand Glass

Having 2 sand-glasses: one 7-minute and a second one 4-minute. How can you correctly time 9 minutes??

and a final one for today:

Neighbours
This quiz was made up by Albert Einstein and according to him 98% will not solve it. There is a row of five houses, each having a different colour. In these houses live five people of various nationalities. Each of them nurtures a different beast, likes different drinks and smokes different brand of cigars.

The Brit lives in the Red house.
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane drinks tea.
The Green house is on the left of the White house.
The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives next to the Blue house.
The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.

Who has fish at home? (are you one of the 2%).

Good luck solving them!

FFWD Dance Parade

2006-08-03T11:16:00.000+02:00

Hey guys!

It's that time of year again..yes, you guessed it right...it's PARTYTIME!! Next saturday (the 12th of august) the biggest dance event in europe is touching down in Rotterdam, the FFWD Dance Parade!

A parade of 40 trucks with banging soundsystems will drive through the city centre during the late afternoon while everywhere people are dancing, screaming, shouting and going crazy! And also this is comepletely for free!! All various kinds of dance music will be represented by their own truck, beautifully decorated and populated by the hottest chicks in town! The route of the parade is as follows:

I strongly advise you to go and see the parade on the erasmus bridge, this beautiful decor fits perfectly with the immens crowd that usually turns out to party their ass of..with the consequence that the bridge "swings" up and down on the beat...a feeling you must not miss!!

Afterwards, where the parade ends a big afterparty is held...though, here you have to pay...so best is to give your leggs and feet a moment of rest, eat something and continue from late in the evening through early in the morning in one of the many clubs, bars, disco's or whatever you prefer, where there're having the after-afterparty!

if you still not enthousiastic..have a look at this movie to get your partymood started!

http://www.ffwdheinekendanceparade.nl/video/index.html

enjoy!!

Another beautiful day...another bbq!

2006-07-24T12:04:00.000+02:00

Since the beautiful weather in holland keeps on persisting, we keep on enjoying!! :) It's really amazing, for about two weeks now it has been incredibly nice and warm...not even a thunderstorm in sight to end this heat wave...and that's another peculiarity..for the first time since 1946 holland can enjoy a second heat wave in 1 summer!! isn't that incredible!!

Barbeque Meister Hans is gettin tha fire started!! GNAMGNAM...deeply roasted hamburgers....

well, and what place is better to enjoy this high temperatures than the rooftop of my own house...(yeah ok i can think of tropiocal paradises filled with beautiful women...or just relocating thomas's newly acquired 'swimming pool' to my roof) but besides from that...you're feeling like a god when sitting there!just check the pictures for yourself...and make sure you'll be invited next time!

The lucky ones that were there to live this experience with me!

Fisheye effect!

Pleinbioscoop

2006-07-21T10:35:00.000+02:00

Finally, the waiting is almost over! Just three more weeks and it's time to kick back and enjoy a good movie in the outdoor cinema here in Rotterdam. This annual treat is one of the many things the city organises during the summer months, but for sure one of the best! Considering that i'm quite a filmfanatic this is something i can't miss (well, at least if i'm not in Italy kissing the beautiful girl i'm missing even more!) The programme, timetable and location can be found on the following website: http://www.pleinbioscoop.nl/
so go and check it out for yourself! It's completely free...so being broke is no excuse!!!!!

Calciopoli

2006-07-17T11:24:00.000+02:00

As probably everybody will have heard by now, the four big Italian soccer clubs have been sentenced in the Calciopoli scandal. Results are as follows:

* Juventus is demoted to Serie B and given a 30-point penalty, meaning that it will be probably impossible to climb back to the top league in 1 season. Besides that it has to give back its last two Serie A titles.

* Fiorentina also is demoted to the Serie B, and received a 12-point penalty to start with next season.

* Lazio is demoted to the Serie B as well and received a seven-point penalty for next season.

* AC Milan can stay in Serie A, but they will get a 15-point penalty for next season. Also 44 points have been taken off its total from last season, so they won't play in any European tournaments this season.

This decision came five days after Italy won its fourth World Cup title by beating France in the final. Thirteen of the 23 players on the Italian squad that won the World Cup play for one of the four penalized teams, so its impact is huge…it is still unsure which players will stay loyal to their club..and which will transfer somewhere else….

The whole Calciopoli has been caused by Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi and former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo. They were accused of creating a network of contacts with federation officials to influence refereeing assignments and get the right players booked so they would be suspended for the right matches...

As for their sentences….well…they got banned from soccer for 5 years, whereas other important people in this scandal like Franco Carraro (former head of the Italian soccer league), Diego Della (Fiorentina owner) and Claudio Lotito (Lazio president) got banned for a fewer number of years….oh my god!!…what a punishment!…5 years of vacation as a sentence…i’m really sorry about this, but it’s not the way things should be taken care of….the tip of the iceberg that really committed the crimes just gets a five year sabbatical (or if they want they just continue their working in their other areas of interest…and increase their power there..) whereas the soccer team and its fans are the real ones getting punished. They’ll miss advertisement income, television rights, supporters that stay away, players that leave, etc. etc. What is going on…why don’t the guilty get punished? Why everybody with some money and power can always get away with murder…??

Another thing… of the 26 referees involved in the scandal, 19 received punishments ranging from the maximum five-year ban to a warning; five were found not guilty; and two were banned for life without prosecution because they resigned before being charged. But how can you justify this…referees involved in bribery and fraud being let of with a warning..or not even being prosecuted since they resigned before they got charged with the crime….what is wrong here!?

A final example and I rest my case…in 2002, Fiorentina was declared bankrupt and forced to play in the fourth division Serie C2. It was promoted on sporting merits into Serie B in 2003 and returned to the top division the following year…. sporting merits…what the hell did they do then to defend this sudden promotion of two divisions….

It’s such a pitty, since as you all know Italy really stole my heart, but when looking further then the average tourist…there are some things that simply don’t make sense…which I, and with me many many Italians regret….

Having Fun

2006-07-14T13:36:00.000+02:00

A common dutch proverb says that the bow can not always be kept tight...sometimes it's time to seriously sit back and enjoy instead of working on your thesis....well, you all know me (probably) so then you know that i exactly like to do that, as was also the case yesterday. Two friends of mine, Maurits

and Thomas

came over so we could go to the beach together...and we did! But after being sanded we agreed that enough was enough and we decided to go back and enjoy the rooftop terrace at my place, have some dinner (a lovely italian pizza!), some drinks..etc. :)

the only minor disadvantage was that i went to bed at 2.30 am but SOMEONE was snoring so deeply that i was only capable to fall asleep around 3.30 am...and since the alarmclock rang just three hours later...well, you can imagine my state today!

Do I Make You Horney Baby.....

2006-07-12T14:25:00.000+02:00

What do you think of this heh!?!! It are two toilets in the men's room of the McDonalds somewhere in the south of Holland shaped like the mouth of a woman! To bad for all those fans that would like to take a piss there...after complaints of a short sighted american the toilets had to be removed...what a pitty... :(

Funny thing was that the owner of that McDonalds franchise, and thus of those cool mouth shaped toilets, is called Mr Pijpers....which is in the same category as the card Daniela had in her room in Rotterdam with written: "bef je?" only that now the roles of the woman and man are reversed... :p

Supreme Beings of Leisure

2006-07-12T09:17:00.000+02:00

In fact most people are supreme beings of leisure...even though there are some people better at it then others..but tell me, who doesn't like to take it easy, sit back, relax, and simply do nothing for a while...well, considering the fact that it's summer with its nice weather and all...here's a little treat just to get you in the right mood..put it on repeat, kick back and enjoy!!

thanks to hans and hugo for introducing me to this kick ass music! click the link and watch the video!

http://music.yahoo.com/video/default.asp?vid=2152138

Supreme Beings of Leisure - Never The Same

Editing

2006-07-11T01:25:00.000+02:00

Well, in certain things i'm really a perfectionist...there are simply some little flaws that i can't stand, that have to be corrected before i can find rest....just because i have this certain desire within myself to try and create an exact clone of the perfect image that i have in my head..often however i lack the skills, time or will to make it reality. The most frustrating however is when you spend your time and effort on acquiring the skills to get the result you want, but not succeeding in getting it right..and not knowing where it goes wrong...

I guess this goes in general for me, yesterday..today..and tomorrow. But today i encountered it while trying to come up with this cool layout for this blog...and because when i do something, i want to do it good..that took me quite a while...especially since i know sh*t about html programming...

But as you all can see, with good help, support and a push in the right direction every once in a while, in the end i succeeded (more or less) in producing what i had in mind...it's nice to see the result of a hard days work, also considering the fact that i learned quite some new stuff which i never ever thought to be able to understand.

As of today i'll be keeping you up to date on the progress of my thesis with the page counter..hopefully you'll be able to listen to some of the music i'm listening to recently...and i'll try to manage the "links" to other sites that i think are cool!

that's all for now...i'm going to bed

Campioni del mondo

2006-07-10T00:09:00.000+02:00

Auguri a tutti i miei amici italiani...siete bravi campioni del mondo e finalmente potete dimenticare questo incubo dei rigori!! Adesso tutti quanti: Chi non salta un francese `e!!!

Well, everybody that knows me a bit also knows that for more then a year now my heart has been stolen by italy....or rather one italian girl in particular...and therefore is slowly switching from pumping the orange blood of holland to the blue blood of gli azzuri....and in days like this, when "La Macchina Arancione" seems rusty..partially thanks to this bast*rd of a referee..it's always nice to have a second country, that feels like home, to cheer for.

there are many similarities between the dutch and the italians...too many to name them here, but one of these is/was their fear for penalty shoot-outs...historically seen the dutch and the italians had never ever won a penalty shoot-out during the world cup (italy lost all three they ever participated in!)...also during the european cup both teams have horrible statistics...however during the european cup of 2000 (in Holland & Belgium) the italians liberated themselves already a bit of this trauma by kicking out the Dutch after a spectacular match (that we should have won but we didn't thanks to missing 5 out of 6 penalties!) and obviously now there's no reason for the italians to be afraid of penalties anymore, since today they won the world cup by beating france with...yes...penalties!

Ambigrams

2006-07-08T00:46:00.000+02:00

Communication..language...words, they are at the centre of all human interaction....manipulating them, putting them to your hand, creating illusions with them can be very dangerous....or actually, maybe not...

before going to the Da Vinci Code i was looking a bit on the internet to refresh my mind (since i read the book almost as soon as it came out) and came across this mindblowing site about ambigrams. ( http://www.johnlangdon.net ) No, for all the critics out there, it's not being part of the Da Vinci Code but another book (maybe even more intriguing) of the same author, Angels & Demons.

Ambigrams are an ancient artform of words written in such a way that they're legible both rightside-up and upside-down...They're ambiguous, there are two sides to the same story...as in life...some days you feel like a hero...the next moment your back to zero. Some days you'll read these posts and have a blast, whereas sometimes the will simply be missing...

i'll keep this one short, though there's lots of inspiration left...we'll save that for a next episode!

Many many thanks to Daniela for pushing me to start my own...have a look at her's as well: Me, my life in Rotterdam, my buddies! http://dnylementi.blogspot.com/ - I miei pensieri e le mie foto...

one last advice, thereby lifting a tip of the curtain....carpe diem!