Sometimes I think this is more home than even I realize because when I see things like this, I get extremely agitated.  I don’t know if it’s just the pure ignorance that gets to me or the fact that they are generalizing and making this place I call home look like the devil’s playground.  Which it’s NOT.

Someone from Amsterdam made this video in response…

Yeah, The NETHERLANDS is the cesspool, right.  Give me a break… and Americans wonder why people in other cou… well, pretty much the rest of the planet, cannot stand them as a whole?   This is a prime example.  Their government spends all it’s time sticking it’s nose where it doesn’t belong, and their media spends more time judging and making ignorant and idiotic statements about other countries than either of them do worrying about their own problems at home.

Also, it’s not the DUTCH who give Amsterdam a bad name by getting high and acting out of control.   It’s the AMERICAN tourists who do it!!  If you’ve ever lived here or been here for any length of time you’d know that the Dutch hardly, if ever, hang out in the coffee shops in Amsterdam.  They are wall to wall tourists, most of whom are young American males, acting like morons.  The Dutch just walk by them on their way to work or out with friends, shake their head and laugh at those silly Americans.

So, Bill O’Reilly, Fox News and any halfwitted Americans who believe this crap.  FUCK. OFF. AND. DIE.

Related posts:

1. Fox News Trashes The Netherlands
2. FOAD Thursday – Eneco
3. FOAD Thursday – My Empty House

Growing up the child of a musician, I know how much their instruments mean to them.   When I was younger I would never have dreamed of taking out my father’s guitar and playing with it, although I’m sure he would have loved if I’d wanted to later on.   It’s their creative outlet and they choose their instruments with great care to ensure that they get the precise sound they are looking for.   My father just bought a new guitar in the past few months that he has been looking for for YEARS, looking again and again in music shops for that specific make and model with the perfect sound he wanted.

When mom told me today about a local musician back home who is currently in the middle of a fight with United Airlines in regards to their breaking his prized possession, a Taylor guitar, I just had to use my blog to help get the word out for him.  After trying to reason with United Airlines to be reimbursed for the $1200 he spent out of his own pocket to get the guitar back in working condition, he was turned down and blown off.

That is when he came up with the ingenious idea to write three songs about his experience, put them on YouTube and share them with the world.   Pretty clever, huh?

According to my mother, Dave Carroll was on a local morning show this morning telling his story and said that United Airlines has contacted him since the first video was released but there still has been no resolution.  The second song has been written and they are in the process of putting the video together now, and the third will probably rely on what further actions United Airlines take in order to rectify the situation.

You can read the full story here on Dave’s website, and if you want to help his cause, send your friends to his video.

I think we’ve all (especially those of us in NL, am I right?)  suffered bad customer service and found ourselves helpless and unable to do anything about it.  It’s not often someone comes up with a way to get the word out there and fight back, so lets do what we can to help him out!

Related posts:

1. Foad Thursday – Spitters
2. Foad Thursday – The British
3. Foad Thursday – Idol Voters

Why?  – Because of the firecrackers, bangers, fireworks and everything else that went off causing my dogs to spin circles.  It’s not just that they wake me up and make me nearly jump out of my skin every five minutes, but they have my dogs totally behind themselves the entire time.   That gets to me because I can’t figure out how to sooth their nervousness without giving into it and feeding it.  It’s frustrating and unnecessary!

I wouldn’t mind if it was just like everywhere else, fireworks going off at midnight.  That is fun and exciting!   A week (or more!) of constant banging is an entirely different kettle of fish.

I was just reading an interesting article on Expatica in regards to this very topic.  Here are a few snippits.

Incidents and accidents
From 10am New Year’s Eve until 2am on New Year’s Day, the Dutch streets could be mistaken for a military zone. This is the only time of the year that Dutch law allows the public to use fireworks.
According to figures from the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK), reported in Elsevier Nieuws on 2 January 2009, there were 7,641 reported firework related ‘incidents’ across the Netherlands over New Year.

The celebrations to see 2009 in resulted in:
•    2,753 reported crimes relating to violence, mishandling, arson and vandalism
•    1,370 cases of arson,
•    800 arrests,
•    more than 325 people admitted to hospitals with firework injuries,
•    216 vehicles set alight,
•    97 incidences of violent behaviour against emergency services personnel,
•    four schools burning,
•    two people losing an eye,
•    one fatality.

Dutch tradition
Fireworks at New Year are a long-standing Dutch tradition, and signify chasing the spirits of the old year away.
Similarly, the custom of the vreugdevuur, (usually fuelled by burning Christmas trees) is a symbol of purging the old for the new.
However, many Dutch are considering the evolution of New Year’s Eve activities and questioning whether the fires and fireworks now have any real ties to the traditions of old.

According to an investigation undertaken by the Police Academy in 2007, it has become ingrained into Dutch culture that at New Year, anything goes. The report concluded that the Netherlands has a fundamental problem with violence and vandalism at this time of year.

Ok – Seriously?!!  When do you decide to put tradition aside for the sake of the safety of everyone involved?

We didn’t go out on New Years this year because we couldn’t stand the thought of leaving the dogs alone.  We did go for a walk around the neighbourhood though and after about 10 minutes we legged it back to the house because we just didn’t feel safe.   At one point this dude with a mohawk was setting fireworks off in front of our building, and he seemed to get great enjoyment out of the fact that they went every direction other than UP!

We even stood slackjawed as he and his friends laughed their heads off as a fireworks smashed into the window and balcony of the senior’s complex across from us.

If people could be responsible I would be ok with it.   If they stuck to the LEGAL period of time when the fireworks can be set off, found safer places to do it and took better care of where the fireworks were going – fine.  Fill yer boots, I say.   They don’t though.  They stand right in front of apartment buildings, in the middle of full parking lots and in playgrounds and shoot them every which way.

When I first moved here, and until just a few years ago, I loved the fireworks… but I don’t think I’m imagining it when I think it’s getting way out of hand in the last 2-3 years.   Apparently last year they took preventative measures which did lead to a decrease in vandalism this year, but going from a shitload to a whole lot doesn’t make for a nice evening really.  It’s still bad.

Here is a quote from the same article about what has been done and the difference this year.

Prevention
Government departments, councils, emergency services and local groups co-operated during 2008 to implement measures to minimise the damage following the widespread rioting and destruction at the end of 2007.
Local councils, as a matter of course, take action to protect or remove public property; rubbish bins disappear from the streets around Christmas and post box openings are narrowed to stop vandals throwing fireworks in.
In addition, this time around, the police set up an anonymous tip line for citizens to report troublemakers for anything from handling illegal fireworks to arson and vandalism.

The BZK launched a national campaign to combat violence against emergency services personnel after 14 percent of those arrested the previous year committed violent acts against ambulance, police and fire service staff.
The four big cities of the Randstad introduced supersnelrecht to ensure swift prosecutions for those arrested over the New Year with courts already open on 2 January to hear cases.

Six times as many reinforcements were available from the national police service, Korps landelijke politiediensten (KLPD), than last year to support regional forces, and police made home visits to talk to known troublemakers.
In the Haaglanden region, special ‘car fire’ teams were set up as a preventive measure as more than 100 cars were set alight a year ago in the Hague area.

Happy 2009
The consensus seems to be that the celebrations this time around were quieter than last.

Arsonists set fire to ‘only’ four schools this year, compared to 23 last year.  In Zuid-Holland, there were ten percent fewer calls to the emergency services this year than last, and in The Hague vandals set fire to 50 cars, half of the damage done in 2007/8.

However, whilst the damage is less, there is still justified consternation from different parts of Dutch society following incidents across the country.
It was necessary to deploy riot police (ME) in Haarlem to protect fire officers, 150 people threw bottles and stones at police in Rotterdam and in Nijmegen a group bombarded police and fire officers with Molotov cocktails.

In Wijchen, a police station was the target of a firebomb and in Uddel emergency service crews had bottles thrown at them. Police made 52 arrests in Friesland for obstructing the emergency services.

Oh, only four schools on fire – problem solved!   I’m completely gobsmacked at the fact that people are attacking firemen and other emergency service workers.   What kind of people do that?    You know, even as I said it I saw random faces of the lower class “Rotterdammers” and knew exactly what kind of people would do it.

Thankfully, the last part of the article discusses that there actually are people pushing for change here in the Netherlands.  People who want to ban the legal sale of fireworks completely and have large firework shows put on by each of the cities.  They do have one here in Rotterdam, but that doesn’t stop everyone from lighting their own too.   The problem is that I’m guessing most people in Rotterdam wouldn’t dare venture out in the city center to SEE this big fireworks show, because they are too afraid of what else is out there.

I know I am.

It will be interesting to see how this changes over the coming years.   At some point they will have to make a change.  New Years should be for everyone, not just the hooligans who own the currently own the streets at that time of year.

What are your thoughts?

Related posts:

1. Project 365 (Day 1) A Pitiful Year for Fireworks
2. New Year With A New Camera
3. New Years Wishes

I SO wish I felt that way again right now.

My parents left this morning and if I’m honest, I thought I’d be ok when they left.  There were points during their visit where I felt like I was going to go off my rocker if I didn’t get a minute alone to breathe.  After all the hustle and bustle with the renovations and Xander working from home so much over the last few months, having two extra people here who were ‘all up in my business’ was stressful at times.  I’d give anything to have them here again though.

We got up at 4:15am this morning to drive them to the airport and within a few short hours, they were gone.   Our goodbye at the airport seemed rushed and a part of me wanted to go back and hug and kiss them both a few more times and tell them how much I love them, but I didn’t because I’m almost 34 years old dammit!  I should be able to have these comings and goings without turning into a total baby.

I cried through the airport and most of the way home, and that wasn’t the worst bit.  When I got home I felt lost.   My house feels so empty.   I’m tired, I’m emotional and I hate that they are gone.   My new bedroom doesn’t feel like our bedroom.  We renovated it, slept in it for 2-3 nights and since then it’s been my parents’ room.   I’ve gone in there a few times but I felt sort of like when I was 13 and would go into my parents bedroom, it doesn’t have that MINE feel.  Now my bedroom still feels like the blow up bed in the spare room.

I know this is normal and that I even said myself a few weeks ago that it’s one of the stages expats go through when family visit and then leave again, but goddamn it… it really sucks.   My husband is being a total sweetheart, but there’s nothing even he can do to change this loneliness I feel right now.

Nobody other than another expat can understand the feelings and thoughts that we have when our loved ones go away again.  Wondering when we’ll meet up again and hoping they stay safe and healthy until then.   Not to mention the feeling that comes with getting a small reminder of what COULD be if you lived closer to your family.  It was so nice to have my mother here where I could show her things, get her opinion on thoughts I had for the house and all the things other women take for granted and get to do on a daily basis with their mothers.

I’ll be fine tomorrow, or maybe the next day.  Things will get back to normal in the house, the dogs will stop looking for them, and I’ll stop looking over at my empty sofa and wishing they were there… I know this.

I just wish that knowledge would make TODAY a little easier.

Related posts:

1. FOAD Thursday – My Friends AKA The BITCHEZ
2. FOAD Thursday – Fox News
3. Foad Thursday – Spitters

We were able to resolve your website without any latency. We suggest you to try with other browsers like Flock, Mozilla or even IE, other computer/ ISP for that matter. You may also try by deleting the temporary files and clear cookies of your browser. If this issue persists, please let us know if you experience this issue at specific time of day. We appreciate your patience.

Uhhh, vague much?!   Obviously, since I’ve had readers from all over the world experiencing problems, it wasn’t an ISP thing (we had already told them this on the phone) and it wasn’t a browser thing because we tried it in various browsers as well.

This didn’t sit well with my husband, because he has experience in these sort of working environments and knew that because it was not easy to pin down, they were hoping they could blow us off easily instead.  So he replied:

I am sorry but I don’t agree with this.  A database connection error has nothing to do with the browser.  Even the tech we spoke to initially was having intermittent problems with this website while we were in the call.  Are you going to tell him to change his browser, too?  We’ve tested this with MSIE and Firefox, on multiple computers on various OSes.

On Sept 1 9:03AM CEST we got the following error:
Error Establishing Database Connection

This is an intermittent problem and I know they’re a real pain to track down, but the suggestion below isn’t going to fly.  We’ve had complaints from readers from other parts of the world as well, so that rules out the ISP theory as well.

What exactly are you monitoring?  I am not afraid of technical details and have quite extensive Linux knowledge and data center experience, so please don’t spare me any details.

After receiving his mail we got the following reply:

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. We were experiencing some delay on the database server your website is hosted on, due to some websites consuming abrupt resources on the database server.

However, our systems team were immediately informed and they have taken the appropriate actions to cut down the load on the Database server.

Now the issue has been completely resolved and the database server is functioning seamlessly. We checked the functionality of the database server for your website and it seems to be working fine.

Kindly verify the same at your end.

Gee, amazing how they happened to find the problem after my husband calling ‘bullshit’ on them.   It amazes me how companies like this will try to feed you some crap to get you to go away before really putting serious effort into finding the problem.   Frustrating…

I can’t even bitch about Dutch customer service on this one, it’s an American company!

It must be even more frustrating for regular Joe Blow without any real technical knowledge who has no choice other than to believe what they say.  Thank god I had hubby around to deal with this.

So, please let me know if the site is working better for you now.  If not, I’ll have to sick my husband on them again.   It seems to be working ok on my end… hopefully it is on yours as well!

Related posts:

1. Website Issues
2. Gadget Geek
3. Abandonment Issues

At the moment the walkway in front of our building is like a minefield of dog shit.   When we are going to the car or walking the dogs we have to watch every step we take because there is dog shit everywhere… and we can’t catch the people who are doing it.

It’s gotta be the same dog, because all the shits look the same, but who’s dog is it?!   We know most of the people who live around us with dogs because we meet up with them in our walks, and we’re pretty sure none of them would be that antisocial.   We do have an idea of who is doing it but we just can’t catch them in the act.  They are quick and quiet, like ninjas!

There’s a couple who moved into our building about 2 years ago.  They have some beagle type dog and a young daughter.   They are one of those people who never have their dog on a leash, and what’s worse is that the woman doesn’t even bother to walk with the dog.   She goes downstairs to the main doorway and stands there while her dog runs up the road and walks itself.

I think that the dog is shitting everywhere willy nilly but I can’t catch it.   When the dog takes off to the end of the road and you are in our living room you can hear the noise of the dogs nails on the sidewalk.   So when I hear that I go out on the balcony to watch, but try to hide a the same time because I don’t want to be one of THOSE neighbours.

Whenever I watch though, I never see it shitting on the sidewalk.  Maybe it’s not that dog at all but some other dog that gets walked quietly while we are in bed.   Like a shit fairy leaving presents for us in the morning.

I’m considering going on a stakeout and spending an evening in our car in the parking lot.  I’m pretty sure I’d fall asleep and miss it though, then all our neighbours would think Xander put me out and I had to spend the night in the car.   We wouldn’t want that.

We’ve also gone the geeky route and considered setting up a webcam to monitor the walkway.   This is still a possibility.

It’s just so disgusting.  I mean there are endless amounts of grassy patches around here to let your dog go out on.   Our dog WON’T shit on the sidewalk, he’ll turn around and back into a bush if he has to.   It’s just so completely antisocial nowadays to have your dog shit all over a sidewalk and not clean it up.  I really wonder what kind of people they are.

I know what kind of person I am though, and if we do catch them and they don’t clean up their act, we’ll be depositing every piece of shit we find after that straight into their mailbox.

Related posts:

1. Country Wide Shit Ninjas
2. Shit Ninja Busted!
3. FOAD Thursday – Stupidass Smoker Jokes

This is me.

This is me counting to ten.

This is me killing everyone in my immediate surroundings in a PMS Rage.

Today I am home having my turn to be with the plumbers and welders that are working on the pipes in the building.   What started out as a leak in our bathroom has turned into a leak in our bathroom, a ruined wall in the downstairs neighbor’s bathroom and a pipe that needed to be fixed between all three floors below us.

Good jesus… why can’t anything ever be simple?  Pipe breaks, fix pipe, wave and GTFO.

Like it wasn’t bad enough having this big fat white (painted) pipe going down the corner of my bathroom, now I have this…

Omigod someone hold me down!  Look at my tiles!!

Look at that PIPE!!

My new bathroom -  *CRY*

Now I am going to have to wait to make sure the pipe is actually water tight (which it wasn’t after they welded it yesterday, the reason they have returned today), then wait for the summer when nobody is using their heaters so the pipe is cooled down, then paint it.  So until then I have to look at this ugly thing in my shiny new bathroom.

Pisses me off.  Pisses me off to no freakin’ end because I’m so easily pissed off today.  Yes, I’m hormonal.  Don’t mess with a hormonal woman’s new shiny bathroom!!

This is the part that scares me.  They’ve taken our sink away.   The sink that was so fiddly to get sorted out in the first place and took three visits from another plumber to get the pipes just right so it wouldn’t leak into the cupboard below.

Do I have any faith that these guys are going to do anything more than put it back up as quickly as possible and hightail it out of here, uh nah.

So, lets calculate.  After the pipe is fixed I’ll have to deal with the ugliness until the summer before I can paint it, probably have to have those scorched tiles replaced AND have someone come fix the plumbing under the sink again.

Have I mentioned that I’d like to move?

Related posts:

1. Another Day in the Life
2. Bad Body Timing
3. Tile Trouble

Technically the sun was still up at that time but as usual the clouds were seeing to it that we didn’t get to see it much.

Ok, enough nicey nicey, this is where the FOADing begins.  Yesterday I made such an ass of myself at work.  Well, not at work technically, just in front of the receptionist.   I had plans to meet up with my girlfriends for lunch at our usual spot, just I asked if they minded meeting a little later as I could only go on my lunch break.    So I asked our receptionist if she wanted to join me, seeing as she is British and I thought she might like to meet some of the girls.

On and on I went about all the different people she’d be meeting.   How much she’d like them and so on.   She was thrilled because she doesn’t really know a lot of people outside of her boyfriends friends and family.    How cool I felt being the one who actually knew people!

So we get to the meeting spot and THERE IS NOBODY THERE!!  Oh god, I felt like such a moron.   I’m sure the girl must think I have imaginary friends or something!   I was sure at least a few of them were going to be there, I mean it wasn’t even MY idea to meet up in the first place!

I mumbled something about the rain and people not wanting to come out with babies, but I knew I’d just been stood up, period.   It sucked.   We still had a nice lunch but man, what a way to make an impression.

When I came home I promptly mailed the bitches and told them how much I hate them all (jokingly of course, kinda).   Then I realized that one of them had mailed me 1.5 hours after I was already at work and told me that the plans were off.  Fat load of good that did me!

We have plans to meet up on Friday, whether I’ll take the risk and invite any work friends remains to be seen.  If I show up twice to no friends they’ll definitely think I’m a wacko lesbian trying to lure them out for lunch dates under false pretenses.

I so wish I had a lock of their hair so I could make weird voodoo dolls and stick pins in all their boobies.

haha I just had this hilarious mental image of what would happen if I did that, cuz all of my friends are either knocked up or just had a kid.  I just saw them in my mind sitting at the table at the restaurant we all meet at with milk spraying all over the place.

Shit, maybe I really AM a wacko, but I’m not a lesbian, I swear.

err… not that there is anything wrong with lesbians, I happen to really dig Shane from The L Word… and now that makes me sound like a lesbian again. Great!

Related posts:

1. FOAD Thursday – My Empty House
2. FOAD Thursday – Fox News
3. FOAD Thursday – Stupidass Smoker Jokes

Ok, I’m not totally unsympathetic to their cause.  I think the writers are very important, I mean without them our shows wouldn’t even exist, but come onnnnnnn!!  Why won’t someone settle with them?  End it already! Give them whatever they want, then give them a pencil and some loose leaf and tell them to get their asses back to work!

I’ve even downloaded the first two episodes of American Idol.  Yeah, even after I said I wouldn’t, just for something to watch, and I don’t even enjoy it!   Neither does my friend Matt, so we have hatched a plan.

Breigh says (10:53):
I fucking hate the days and days of auditions but a lot of people really enjoy watching the people make a fool of themselves so they milk it
Matt says (10:53):
and then a Hollywood show where they all fight for a spot
Breigh says (10:55):
I like the hollywood shows
Breigh says (10:55):
but I hate the auditions
Matt says (10:55):
i like them too
Matt says (10:56):
i don’t mind some of the audtions…but four days is a bit much
Matt says (10:56):
like I said two…and I would record them so I could fast forward
Matt says (10:56):
they should let us produce AI
Matt says (10:56):
haha
Breigh says (10:56):
I think so too
Breigh says (10:56):
and be the judges
Matt says (10:56):
forsure
Breigh says (10:56):
I think me you and randy would be awesome
Matt says (10:56):
and let us beat Paulas ass
Matt says (10:56):
on tv
Breigh says (10:56):
hahaha
Matt says (10:57):
we could be the dawg pound
Breigh says (10:57):
lock her and simon in a room together
Breigh says (10:57):
and check on them before commercials
Breigh says (10:57):
for like the whole season
Matt says (10:57):
well keep him from his cigs and her from her pills
Matt says (10:57):
someone would get hurt
Breigh says (10:57):
I’d put my money on Paula, that woman is batshit crazy

I think we may be onto something!

Related posts:

1. Foad Thursday – Idol Voters
2. FOAD Thursday – Bye Bye Idol
3. Disappointment Idol (American Idol Spoilers!!)

When we got back from Canada we got a huge bill from them that we weren’t expecting, and the entire amount was taken out of our account in one huge lump.   It left things really tight before Christmas and caused us both a lot of stress.   We had been on the phone with them four different times, of course, getting four different stories.  We kept cancelling the payments and making arrangements, just to have the wrong amounts come out again.   Then each time we spoke to someone they said that the person before them had made a mistake and then new arrangements were made.

… and more incorrect payments were removed from our account!

I think January is a rough month for everyone, either from end of year bills, spending too much on the kids, too much holiday partying, trips home or whatever it was that drained their bank accounts.   Ours was a mixture of a trip home and a massive bill and we are still recovering from it.

Today, we saw that once AGAIN Eneco has taken money out of our account.  Twice as much as they were supposed to!  When we called we got the usual bullshit excuses of the person we spoke to before them making a mistake… blah blah blah.   This time we didn’t correct the payment and allowed the larger amount to be taken out, but we made it clear to them that we want the automatic withdrawals to stop and we’d rather they send us bills instead that we can pay ourselves.   We’re sick and tired of paying for their miscalculations!   I know it is our bill and we did earn it, but when you expect a certain amount to come out, you budget yourself accordingly.. bah.

Yeah, I hate them and we are in the process of switching to Eon as our energy provider.  I don’t know much about them but Xander says they are cheaper.  I don’t care about that, I just hope to GOD they have better, more well trained, non-imbecile customer service representatives!

Related posts:

1. FOAD Thursday – Fox News
2. FOAD Thursday – My Friends AKA The BITCHEZ
3. Foad Thursday – Spitters