Eurotrip 2006 - The Proposal

Trying to sum up the past few days in a post is tough. They are some of the most amazing days of my life (and I think Amanda's too). I could write a novel about them.

Most importantly, I'm ENGAGED! I've been planning this event since before Christmas and it's finally come together perfectly. How did it happen you ask? It started when I bought tickets to Europe for Amanda and I and presented them to her for Christimas 2005. I arrived in Europe a week early and she's been trying to move her flight up a bit so that we have more time to spend here together. Tuesday morning (2am here in the Netherlands) I got the call from Amanda that she made it on the early plane. That morning I was up at 7am planning a surprise trip to Paris for Amanda and I. When she landed (Tuesday night) I told her we'd be off to Paris the next morning. A few, emphasize few, hours of sleep later and we were off in a shiny new five speed Opal for La Ville D'Amour. 6 hours, 3 countries, and many coffee later we arrived in Paris and promptly got lost. My french paid off and I got directions to the Rue St. Cler district where we were staying. On the way I got to drive, more like battle, around the Arc de Triomph and along the Champs D'Elysee. We checked into our small but swanky hotel and took advantage of the electric blinds to catch a nap. At 5pm we were up getting ready for the night. Amanda wore a simple but elegant black dress and I doned a black suit and tie. She looked amazing! A taxi wisked us a couple of blocks away (it was raining) and we arrived at the restaurant. Dinner was fabulous and not too expensive. I impressed Amanda with my french by ordering the wine and our food in style. We ate our fabulous three course meal slowly and talked with the couple next to us in french. They are from Switzerland but own a villa in Paris! After dinner the real fun began. I hailed a cab and we began a tour of 'Paris at Night' by taxi. If you want a copy it's in the 'Rick Steves Paris 2006' guide-book. Our driver gave us a private tour in French as Amanda understands it fairly well and I speak it fluently. We viewed breathtaking sights such as the Notre-Dame, Napoleon's tomb, and La Louvre. I had him drop us off in Trocadero square and we had tea and freshened up a bit. At five to 11 we walked across the square and beheld a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower! Next you can imagine what happened. I'd be happy to tell you in person. Most importantly she said yes! We're super happy and are looking forward to celebrating with everyone.

With an amazing night behind us and breakfast in bed we decided to take advantage of a sunny day in Paris. First of all we went up the Eiffel tower for some amazing views of the city. After that we took the metro over to La Louvre and had lunch in the Carousel shopping mall. We toured the museum and saw many things including the Victory and Venus de Milo statues, and, of course, the Mona Lisa. We were impressed by much of the art in the museum and it was very educational. After the museum we grabbed the car and drove all the way back to Utrecht. The most fun part was another battle through the Arc de Triomph and along the insane streets of Paris.

The next few days have been almost as amazing. Friday we toured Utrecht (my second home). We climbed the tallest church tower in the Netherlands (486 steps), ate in a beautiful street-side cafe, walked amongst the canals, and did some shopping. Saturday we took the train to Amsterdam and walked over a hundred bridges. Amanda's brother Tristan and wife Jen flew over from the UK to spend the weekend in Amsterdam and meet up with us. We viewed the Van Gogh collection, drank at the Heineken brewery tour, visited the Dam Square, saw a million street-side cafes, and walked through the famous "red-light district". At the end of the day we took a pizza and ice-cream cruise tour along the canals and had a few brews. FYI, the train back goes until 4am and the 'intercity' snelltrain only takes 30 minutes. We got home around midnight and passed out in exhaustion.

Today was our first day to sleep in together. We relaxed and Oma, Amanda and I visited my cousin once-removed Hank and his wife Elke. Their whole family got together to meet Amanda and we had a few hours of good discussion and excellent snacks. Tonight we'll head into downtown Utrecht for a few drinks and to see the old-city at night. Tomorrow is our second to last day here and we're taking a tour of the Netherlands by car. Tuesday we'll visit my Oma's brother, Leo, and his wife, Grete and spend some more time with my Oma. Wednesday we're off to Canada. Interestingly, our flight leaves at 3pm from Copenhagen and arrives in Seattle at exactly the same time! That's gonna be a loooong day. Tot siens!

Eurotrip 2006 - Utrecht, NL

Before I start talking about my trip here are some updates on my friends. Shawn and Loni are back from Cabo. There pictures look fantastic. I think we would all enjoy some time on the beach right now.

Also, Dan responded to my recent post 'Capitalist Scum Strikes Back' with a well written piece explaining how left-wing environmentalists and other people (such as Microsoft haters) attack the other side with repetitive and weak arguments. I have to agree that a lot of the stuff I read from the left is pretty weak. We need more educated and well researched democrats and proponents of the environment. Thanks for clarifying Dan! TBC...

Here in Utrecht, NL things are going great. I visited my Oma's sister's daughter's family Sunday night. I just looked up some interesting definitions and this makes her my first cousin, once removed. Their kids are my second cousins. Today (Monday) I went shopping with my Oma in preparation for Amanda's arrival. My Oma is getting pretty aged but she's still able to spoil me rotten. I have to remember if I say I like it that she'll buy it. We came home with a stockpile of deserts and wonderful breads/cheeses and meats. The independantly owned shops here have some of the best deli, produce, and confectionaries I've ever seen. I'm going to gain some weight this trip!

After shopping we ate (again) and the sun came out! It's warming up a bit here and I decided to ride downtown on the pedal-bike. I headed downtown along the canal past the "red-brige" (a street of moored house-boats forming the red light district of Utrect) and took some pictures along the way (not of the ladies). There was the usual crowd of locals and tourists sitting outside cafes drinking and eating. I recognized a few people from the clubs and went for a walk to pass the time. It was a nice day for a stroll.

Tomorrow I'm invited to play soccer in a 'cage' with a friend named Fedor. The NL is apparently #1 at cage soccer in the EU. From what I hear it's like street basketball... I'll find out. Also, I hope Amanda is able to move her flight up to tonight. If so I'll be picking her up from Schipol in the evening. Keep your fingers crossed!

Eurotrip 2006 Begins

Things have been pretty crazy since I arrived at the Schipol aiport in Amsterdam Thursday. I rented a car and drove through the rush-hour exodus from Amsterdam around 6pm. Arriving in Utrecht a bit over an hour later I headed for my Oma's and she made me a big meal before I chatted with her for a while and passed out.

Friday I got up around 8am rested and did a little shopping after a big breakfast. I love having roast-beef, cheese and ham on bread for breakfast. I slept a bit in the afternoon to get ready for the night. Oma and I had dinner with Indra (recently graduated as an MD and waiting to start work) here at the place and then Indra and I headed out to her friend Corrina's place on the bicycles. It's literally freezing here though. I've never seen it so cold in March! We headed out to a couple of bars downtown and then hit the club Poema and partied until 6am. We rode the bicycles home and I passed out until mid-afternoon. The party was good, I met a ton of friendly interesting dutch people and was invited out again the next night VIP by a bouncer-by-weekend psycotherapist by week named Rourri.

I have to say that the dutch people are very hospitable and genuine. There isn't as much snobby behavior. Most people at the club ride bicycles or take a bus to get there instead of driving their porche or escalade. There are no fights and if you bump into someone or talk to their girlfriend they buy you a drink instead of getting all pissed off. I like the good vibe. You can also drink here all day/night and the legal age is 18 for most clubs. Most everyone speaks English and is interested in why I'm here.

Saturday Indra and Corina headed off to the alps snowboarding so I was left to my own devices. I realized my time clock had slipped back to Pacific time as I stayed up all night. Determined to get home to sleep before 4am I decided to head out again anyway. I took the bus downtown and had a couple beer with the locals in my favorite pub "the flaten". Then headed to 'De Winkel Van Sinkel' which is a super old and artistic building turned into a cafe by day, club by night. The entrance underground is down by the canal and is an old storage tunnel. Very cool! Rourri got me through the line and in for free and I headed upstairs. The club had about 300ish people probably and the music was well mixed and mostly house. I have a video of the interior of the main hall to post when I get home. I met some german girls who were celebrating a birthday (Kara I think was her name). I left pretty early, around 4am, and jumped in a Mercedes cab for the ride home. Today I got up before noon and feel like I'm finally getting adjusted to the time-zone. Now I'm checking my work email and relaxing with my Oma.

Amanda's trying to move her flight up from Wednesday to Monday. Hopefully it'll work and she arrives soon. I'm really just relaxing and saving most of the sightseeing for when she arrives. "It's a vacation and I can do what I want" as my Oma says. It's pretty much like my second home here.

As for my Oma she's recovered really well from her bypass surgery and I'm so happy it worked out well. She's spoiling me rotten by feeding me constantly but I try and help where I can. Tonight we're visiting some family and today I'll probably head out for a while to do some shopping and maybe go for a swim in the sports complex across the street.

That's all for now! I'd post pics but I write this offline on my laptop and upload it over dialup (which is expensive in the Netherlands). What's next? Amanda arrives soon and we'll go sightseeing... plus Amsterdam!

Capitalist scum strikes back

Dan responded to my recent post on global warming with this flaming post: Stop it with the hippy propoganda. I should probably be packing right now but I feel the need to respond to his unwavering faith that the government is doing a 'stellar job' protecting our environment from big-oil.

My recent posts have been written to stir some thought and research into the effectiveness of the Energy Policy Act of July 2005. In this I have been successfull. Dan did some research and came up with some new information which I was unfamiliar with. One thing I didn't know is that the $2.8 billion in tax breaks for fossil fuel companies does not all go to petroleum companies. However he says that none of it goes to petroleum fuel companies. The Washington Post says otherwise:

The petroleum industry got new incentives to drill in the Gulf of Mexico -- as if $60-a-barrel oil wasn't enough of an incentive. The already-subsidized ethanol industry got a federal mandate that will nearly double its output by 2012 -- as well as new subsidies to develop ethanol from other sources.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) also managed to insert at least $500 million in subsidies over a 10-year period -- with the option to double the amount -- for research into deep-water oil and gas drilling, a grant that many lawmakers expect to go to the Texas Energy Center in DeLay's home town of Sugar Land.

In fact, only $200 million of the $2.8 billion in tax breaks for fossil fuels actually goes to clean-coal burning companies. The same article continues to explain how the Act reduces environmental restrictions on the petroleum companies:

[The act] exempts oil and gas companies from Safe Drinking Water Act requirements when they inject fluids -- including some carcinogens -- into the earth at high pressure, a process known as hydraulic fracturing.
Lawmakers also authorized seismic blasting in sensitive marine areas to gauge offshore oil reserves -- despite a moratorium on drilling in many of those areas. And the bill will exempt petroleum well pads from storm-water regulations under the Clean Water Act.

Dan continues by pointing out that congress is doing something. The state of California is imposing their own restrictions on vehicle emmisions. However, I am talking about federal regulations on efficiency, not emmisions.

Dan brings up the concessions the act makes to alternative fuel sources, and maybe I wasn't fair to exclude them from my rant. However, I feel that these sections of the act are not robust enough to sufficiently reduce our oil dependance. You can read the original doc here.

Where the act really fails is that it doesn't increase the restrictions on fuel efficiency in motor vehicles. Increasing our fuel efficiency is the simplest way to reduce the amount we use. I mention this issue in my last post: Help curb oil addiction. Once again I urge congress to increase standards of fuel efficiency for cars, light trucks and to investigate enforcing similar restrictions on heavy trucks. This is the most immediate, effective and long-term way to use existing and emerging technology to reduce our use of fossil fuels.

Help curb oil addiction

I wrote a couple of days ago about the need to reduce our dependancy on fossil fuels. One way would be to get congress to improve fuel economy standards which enforce a minimum miles-per gallon (mpg) standards on light trucks and cars. The corporate average fuel economy is currently 27.5 mpg for cars and 20.3 mpg for light trucks (doesn't include heavy SUVs and trucks). Wikipedia has some interesting facts that in 2002 the following manufacturers decided not to meet the standard and instead paid penalties. BMW, DaimlerChrysler (import fleet only), Fiat, Lotus and Porsche failed the automobile CAFE requirement, while BMW and Volkswagen failed to meet the light truck requirement. (source Wikipedia).

Please take a moment to send Bush a letter which urges him to improve our standards on vehicle fuel-economy. All you need to do is provide your name and email address at this site.

When your done browse through this site to learn more about America's oil-dependancy with such facts as:
- Cars and trucks consume 40 percent of the oil America uses and light trucks account for half of that.
- The technology for achieving better gas mileage is available now, and polls show that the vast majority of Americans favor increasing fuel efficiency.
- Most/Least efficient cars
- drill deeper into cost effective CAFE targets

Best blonde joke

I'm usually pretty PC but here's a blonde joke I think everyone can enjoy.

4 days till Europe

Quick post this Saturday night... it was a busy week at work due to another ship date approaching. I'm taking it easy on the cash outflow since Eurotrip 2006 is approaching fast. I've been in touch with some friends and we're going out to party the day after I arrive in Utrecht. It's a college town with lots of nightlife and Indra is going to invite all her friends, some of which I've met before, out to party. I'm also starting to plan some day-trips for Amanda and I. I would like to show her the Dyks and Amsterdam, as well as some of the smaller towns. We might even spend a day at the Eftelijn, one of the best theme parks I've ever visited. Checkout the interactive map here.

Today Cam and I got to experience our first real Roda at the hardcore Capoeira class in Capitol Hill. The beginner class is wrapping up and we'll be starting to attend the real-deal. I was pretty intimidated by the level of difficulty but the advanced students are super helpful. I've stretched the crap out of my lower body and my balance is improving. It was pretty fun and Mottie has posted some videos from Brazil of a traditional Roda for you to see for yourself what it looks like.

Global Warming quiz

Here's an educational quiz that only takes 5 minutes. Give it a shot, I got 7/10 correct. Click here for the Global Warming Quiz.

On a related note in the 109th congress drilling advocates have made several attempts to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to drilling. Luckily they were not yet successful. Proponents of drilling in the ANWR say we cannot rely on unstable international energy sources. I agree with them but this is not a good reason to open up the ANWR to drilling. We should reduce our dependancy on fossil fuels by looking at renewable energy sources and conservation. Furthermore, studies have shown that if the ANWR is opened for drilling that it will take 10 years before the gas hits the pumps.

It's ridiculous that in a time of energy crisis that congress is not pushing for legislation to reduce our dependance on petroleum. The Energy Policy Act of July 2005 did little to help with this effort. Instead it gave tax breaks to nuclear and fossil fuel companies. Last year petroleum companies made more money than ever before and we're still giving them tax write-offs!?! Why doesn't congress pass an act that will actually make a difference? We should enact strict limits on the energy efficiency of vehicles. Start with the light-trucks and passenger vehicles. Why does someone need a Ford Excursion to drive to work? From Wikipedia:

Overall fuel economy for cars and light trucks in the U.S. market reached its highest level in 1987, when manufacturers managed 22.1 mpg (10.6 L/100 km). The average in 2004 was 20.8mpg.

And here's another interesting quote from Patty Murray, US senator:

Meeting a corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard of 39 miles per gallon over the next decade, for example, would save 51 billion barrels of oil over the next 50 years - more than 15 times the likely yield from ANWR over the same period.

The push to drill in Alaska is yet another example of how Bush and his Texan buddies in congress are in bed with the oil companies. If you're interested in helping to support the conservation of the ANWR and the use of renewable energy sources then there are plenty of sites online which will help you send our congress emails. Here are my favorite links:
http://www.nrdc.org/action/
http://www.environmentaldefense.org

One week till Europe

I'm getting excited about our trip to Europe! I leave next Wednesday and Amanda follows one week later to visit the Netherlands and area. I'm taking 2 weeks off work and Amanda is using reading break for her visit. We purchased the tickets with the 'days of Christmas' sale from SAS. Our flights on the Airbus 340-300 will include optional internet! I'm going to be able to msn, e-mail and, if I'm really bored, work from a mile up in the sky. My Oma is doing well and we'll be spending a lot of time hanging out with her. We'll be there for my second cousin's birthday and it'll be a good chance to catch up with a bunch of people I have not seen since I was 15. Some stuff I want to do while we're there is rent a motorcycle or car and tour around the Netherlands, visit France, hang-out in Amsterdam and my favority little dutch city: Utrecht. I'm already starting to remember how great it is to get a different perspective on life from another country. This should be the best trip yet!

Send money with your cell-phone

My friend Derek sent me a referal to a new service similar to PayPal but for your cellular phone which I think will be very popular. TextPayMe is a new service which allows you to send money to a friend using just your cellular phone and a text-message. It works by sending a text-message from your cell to TextPayMe with the recipient's phone number and the amount you want to transfer. You then receive a call asking you to verify the transaction and input your PIN number. Once that is done the money is transferred from your TextPayMe account to theirs instantly. You can either carry a balance with TextPayMe or have it hooked up to your credit-card for a fee.

I think this will be super helpful for splitting up a bill at a restaurant or for gas on road-trips etc. One person can pay and the others simply transfer the money to their TextPayMe account with a simple text-message. I hate carrying bills so this will help me out if it is widely adopted. You also get $5 credit when you sign-up (and I might win an xbox if enough people click the banner to the right or the link above).

Adventure Crusaders

This post links to two incredible groups of people who are taking on adventure that most of us didn't know existed.

The first is a group of five Americans who will compete in a race across the Atlantic. The amazing part is that they will be rowing the entire 3,100 nautical miles from New York Harbor to Falmouth, UK. Checkout the OAR Northwest website for updates on their crossing which begins June 10th. The guidelines for such a race are outlined on the Ocean Rowing Society webpage.

The second is a bunch of mountaineers from the Pacific Northwest. Members of this group have climbed and skied down most of the peaks in the Cascade range. Their trip reports have some amazing pictures and many great stories to browse through. If you're interested checkout both Cascade Classics and Cascade Crusades. One example of an incredible trip is the 50+ degree slope of Mount Fury. Checkout the second page for their decent on skis. These dudes are NUTS.

Hamilton ruins your productivity

Hamilton recently mentioned that I haven't been posting enough things to keep him busy. Now everyone's productivity is going to suffer! I searched around and found zefrank.com. This guy's blog has so much useless yet entertaining stuff that we can all waste our entire day. Checkout one of my favs which is similar to the myspace video Tom posted the other week. And if that isn't mindless enough for you then click on this... I dare you.