Searching for Tao

My grandfather fought in the second world war. I hesitate to call him a "hero" as that word is used all to often, but he was a good man, a young man who answered his nation's call to fight in a war on the other side of the world. This post isn't really about him, but his story helps me frame what I want to talk about.

Gerard Quinn, my father's father, was initially sent to Sicily to run with the infantry for the Allied push into the so-called "soft underbelly of Europe". His tour, like so many others in the region, was far from "soft", and at some point along the way, a canon that hadn't been secured properly, fired and rolled backward and onto my grandfather, crushing his legs.

Fortunately for him (and his future grandchildren I suppose), the Allied position held and he was evacuated to the UK where he, once recovered in hospital, was returned to his company, as they prepared to invade the Netherlands. As a newly injured soldier, this did not favour his chances of returning alive, but Fortune intervened again: he was reassigned... to radio duty. As it turns out, my grandfather's penmanship was so exceptional, the Brass felt his skill would be more useful to the war effort receiving and transcribing messages from inside a helpless tank with a wooden gun barrel.

And so it is that my grandfather survived the War and helped, in his own small way, to liberate this place I now call home. I just learnt today that he was given a medal for his efforts in liberating the Netherlands -- just months before he died.

Today is Dodenherdenking, the Dutch day of remembrance for the war dead. It precedes Bevrijdingsdag, or Liberation Day and consists of an 8pm ceremony much like what you'd find in Canada on November 11th at 11:11. There's the two minutes silence, Taps (though it sounds slightly different), and laying of wreaths... even the Queen is there. I attended the services here in Amsterdam along with thousands of others and let me tell you: those 3minutes of silence: not a sound. Not cell phones, not even undisciplined children or dogs barking. The whole of Dam Square collectively remembered and observed for a full three minutes.

In those moments, as I do every November 11th, I thought of my grandfather, a young, dumb kid, doing what he thought was right at first, and ultimately doing what he could to survive. I'll think of him tomorrow too, while the country celebrates its liberation. I think he would have liked to see that.

So I've been building a list over this past year of All the Things the Netherlands Does Well and Those Not So Much. The original intention was to write one Really Big Post on the whole thing, but it occurs to me that there's no reason I have to do that. Instead, I'm going to break it into a series. Today I'll start with one of the things the Dutch do well (sort of): Transit.

In comparison to Canada, the Netherlands is tiny. It's about half the size of New Brunswick and can be traversed by car in a matter of hours. In terms of geographic obstructions, we're talking more about streams and tiny lakes than mountain ranges or rivers. In other words, it's more-or-less perfect terrain for the trains that criss-cross the country and lead into Belgium, Luxenburg and Germany.

The trains are largely commuter rail, but the tracks double for freight outside of rush hour as well. The station across the street from my apartment regularly sees freight trains rip through the station. This can be quite loud, but homes like mine have been constructed with this in mind: close the window and you barely notice.

The commuter trains aren't particularly high-comfort (with the exception of the newest Sprinter trains) but they're a ltitle cleaner than the average SkyTrain or TTC subway. The exception here though is the graffiti. For some reason there are a few assholes that insist on tagging the occasional train car (inside or out). This is cleaned eventually, but most trains have at least a few marks.

The quality of stations ranges from sketchy (like Diemen Zuid), to Shiny and New (like Bijlmer ArenA), but in terms of safety it's all about the same: super safe. The Netherlands is (well -- feels, and based on my own limited research, appears) super-safe... but that's another blog post.

The service, like most things in this country, appears to be at the whim of the workers and their interest in your welfare. I've been late to the airport twice now because my train decided that stopping at Weesp just wasn't in the cards that day. Weesp is a major transfer point to Schiphol airport, roughly between my home and Amsterdam. I've been abandonned at a station well after midnight least once (they don't run after about 1am) and for New Years, rather than running later to handle the late-night traffic, they stopped running as early as 2030h. When I mentioned this to a Dutch coworker, his response was: "Well the train workers need to celebrate too!" -- it's a wonder the police and fire departments don't just go on holiday on Easter... but that's another blog post too.

They use a system here called the OV Chipkaart, an NFC card that you keep in your wallet and swipe at the station before getting on the train and again as you're leaving the station. It carries a balance that is debitted every time you swipe out based on the distance travelled. It's a smart way to run a transit system that both Vancouver and Toronto are likely to see in the near future. London, Seoul and Tokyo have been using such a system for a long time now to considerable success.

But the Dutch are dicks about it. In order to ride the train, your card must have a minimum of €20 on it, a ridiculous sum when you consisder the single-digit minumums required for the aforementioned cities. In addition to that, most of the stations don't use fare gates so it's all too easy to pass right by them without checking out. Suddenly, your €4 journey just cost you €20: you're welcome. Also, as far as I can tell, they actually store the credit balance on the card, so someone with an NFC writer and a little patience can game the system. For a second attempt at such a system, the Dutch get a C- on this one.

But for all the gripes I have with the service and shoddy fare system, the network is just too awesome. I can literally cross the street, step onto a train, and be in Berlin in a few hours. Commuter rail to Amsterdam Centraal, and then hop onto a 400kph ICE express train that shoots across the country and into the next. I can be in the Hague by commuter rail in about an hour and half, or be in Paris by Thalys in 3 hours. Have a craving for Belgian waffles one morning? You can be there in about 2hours.

Just make sure that you go on Saturday... nothing is open on Sunday. But that's another blog post.

I suppose blogging in general took a big hit in 2011 eh? I mean, everywhere you look now, people are using tumblr, Facebook, or even Google+ for blogging these days, and the old-fashioned site-as-blog has more or less evaporated. But I've always been part futurist and part luddite, so I've no intention on following suit. This blog may have become sparse over this past year, but it's still the one place where I can post anything I want, on any topic I want, and still retain control over my content. I'll likely keep this up and running right until Diaspora becomes more portable/accessible, or some other similar project comes along and does a better job.

But this post, I couldn't skip out on this one. It's the annual recap post. It's like the Christmas Card I never sent to anyone that recaps what's happened in my life this past year. Like all of its predecessors, it's a long one, so you might want to grab a beverage ;-)

An Unhappy Start

2011 started out pretty down for me. I'd been laid off from my less-than-enjoyable gig at Work [at] Play and had, on the advice of my good friend Chris Rhodes, decided to take the opportunity to look for work in Europe. I had moved out of my $1300/mo apartment in Vancouver's West End, and into my grandparent's basement in Delta, and was actively looking for work overseas: France, Germany, and the Netherlands were all candidates, and Japan & Korea were both pie-in-the-sky hopeful locations. I got three interviews in Europe, two in Munich and one in Amsterdam, and from them, two offers. Unfortunately, I didn't much like the prospect of those offers, and the 3rd company wasn't interested (I wasn't sufficiently enthusiastic about Perl). I was unemployed, in debt, and living in my grandparent's basement. I was 31.

But then Shit Got Real

Things started to look up though after I had an interview with a Dutch company who offered me a gig literally 15minutes after the phone interview. They offered to handle my visa and arrangements for my initial lodging, and wrapped this in a six month contract for a rate that seemed reasonable. I was set. I was moving to Europe.

I said my goodbyes to my friends, and then to my family, packed all of my worldly belongings into three bags, and got on a plane. It wasn't scary, rather I had gone into that "autopilot" mode I have, where the future is committed, there's no sense in worrying about it. In retrospect though, I'm still surprised that I managed it with so little stress.

Money!

Just when I thought that money was going to get super-tight, I stumbled into two $5k cheques: one from the Canadian government, a tax refund for the six years I'd been putting off doing my taxes, and the other for my involvement with TheChange. Together, these two helped pay off my growing credit card balance and finance my move into a new, unfurnished place here in Bussum. Kids, never let it be said that money is the problem. It's not. If you line up everything else, it always seems to work out.

Five Weddings in Five Cities

Then there were the weddings. Jesus Christ people, did you all have to get married all in the same year??? I'd missed Annie & Desmond's nuptials back in 2007 and will regret it forever, I wasn't going to let that happen again with some of the closest people in my life. Shawna & Michael had their ceremony in Yeosu, Stephen & Irena had theirs in Toronto, Chrystal & TJ had a reception in Vancouver, while my brother & Shawna got married in Kelowna, and Noreen & Craig rounded out the year with their wedding in Honolulu. If you're curious, that works out to roughly 35,653kilometres (about 1/10th of the distance to the Moon), about $5507CAD (before carbon credits, Mother Earth hates me) and 26 days off work (105% of my vacation)... and I'd do it again. Each wedding was an exciting experience and a milestone in the lives of people I love. I can think of no better way to have spent my time and resources this past year.

Politics and Missed Opportunities

Somewhere in there, Canada got a new King government, a new NDP Official Opposition (yay!), and the Green Party saw it's first MP elected (more yay!). Politically, it was a HUGE year in Canada and I really felt left out of it all. There are days, on this side of the Atlantic, that I feel like I gave up on a life I could/should have had when I left Toronto, or Vancouver, and I wonder if it was the Right thing to do. What would it have been like to work with Adriane Carr on her campaign? Could I have helped enough to see her take a second seat? If I'd stayed in Toronto, could I have helped keep Ford out, or even just helped another candidate take a council seat? Would I be running for a council seat in the next election? I suppose that the biggest lesson learnt from this year so far has been that each decision commits you to walking through one door to the exclusion of others, and that commitment requires a certain acceptance of this fact.

Rounding it all Out

I ended the year with a trip home for Christmas with the family, paying off my student loans, and closing my account at CIBC. I entered 2012 100% debt-Free and unsupportive of big banks. I even managed to ditch Facebook.

The bulk of the rest of the year was filled with weekend trips to different cities and towns around the Netherlands, a pair of trips to London and Paris, a short romantic relationship with a lovely girl that turned into a wonderful friendship, and a few more friends on top of that -- all of this wrapped in a cloud of shell shock, excitement, and frustration that comes with living in a new city, new country, new continent, and new culture. It's been good for me I think, and I'm glad I've made the decisions that brought me to this time and place in my life.

I know that it's been a while since my last update, and I'm sorry about that. I think that Twitter is slowly killing my appetite for blogging, but I promise to keep this one open for good, updating from time to time.

I thought that I might take a minute to talk about branding. It may not be obvious to those of you who haven't tried to build a life in a foreign country, but product brands play a big role in how your life works.

I'm one of millions of men who literally spent years looking for the one right stick of deoderant, and the toothpaste that tasted like it was doing a good job. I know the best stores in which to buy everything from towels to shoes to underwear, to hard drives, and this knowledge took A Very Long Time to accumulate.

None of that information is useful here.

Suddenly I'm faced with a myriad of dermatological choices: deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, hair gel, soap and shaving cream: you buy one for €5 and it dries your skin, another makes everything oily. It's trial and error of everything I've ever purchased, and it's all in a foreign language too.

It gets especially exciting when you introduce pharmaceuticals (the leagal-in-Canada, over-the-counter kind). That pill you used for hayfever? Nope. The only brand of cough syrup that works for you? No one here has even heard of it. Sometimes you get lucky and the brand names are the same on one or two boxes, but the logo is different, and there's a good chance that the dosage/effect is different too. Differing legislation and markets means that products you love in one country might be unavailable in another, or worse, they're available, but taste/act different.

For example, Oreos exist here, but they taste like dust, and Reese's Peanutbutter cups are unheard of. Kellog's Corn Flakes pretty much taste the same, but the variety of cereals I can find in the local grocery stores is limited to 6 choices.

Some days it feels as if no one here has ever heard the cautionary tales of what would happen if the Big Scary Communists ever took over: abolition of consumer choice, one supplier for everything... it's not quite that bad, but let me tell you, Albert Heijn completely dominates the grocery market here, and strangely, the locals seem to think it's the Best Store in the World. Contradicting them on this point of view is not advised.

But yesterday, was a Great Day. Yesterday, I was introduced to a tiny little shop in Amsterdam called Eichholtz. It's a privately-owned store that sells imported brands of food... the stuff unavailable in the Netherlands for whatever reason. There must have been twenty kinds of breakfast cereal there, and another twenty brands of chocolate bars. Peanutbutter, popcorn, and all sorts of stuff. It was glorious. I bought a tiny box of Golden Grahams (American), two cans of A&W root beer (Canadian), and one 3-cup package of Reese's peanutbutter cups (UK). Total cost: €15! Yes, I was that desperate.

Christina, my Greek/British friend who introduced me to this wonderful little shop, tried some of all three purchases and approved. Now if only I can get more people on board, maybe, just maybe I can create demand... that'd work right?

I'm learning Dutch! And I suck at it. Strangely enough there are days when I feel as though Korean is easier, though I know considerably less about their language than Dutch. I often feel as though Korean just came easier to me than Dutch does... but I'm getting it, ever so slowly.

The title of this post, literally translated means "one large fries please", something I've had to say a few times here. The sticky bit though is that all four of these words are pronounced differently from how a Canadian might read them. Try to sound it out in your head, and when you think you've got it, read on.

It's pronounced: ayne kchroat freets al-stew-blayeft, and the kch in there is that phlegmy sound you hear common in languages like Hebrew and Arabic. Pretty brutal eh? The stickiest part I've found so far has been the combined vowel sounds. For example, the region of Amsterdam I currently live in is called Zuidoost which is not pronounced zoo-ee-doost, but rather a subtle mangling of the sound ah, oh, and oo to make a sort of Zauydohst, not to be confused with zout which is Dutch for salt.

Let me tell you, it's rough, and it makes my brain hurt, but that's part of the reason I came out here right? I like this feeling of my brain learning how to learn again, there's nothing quite like it. Dutch may not have been my first choice (or even my tenth really), but I think that at this point in my life it's more the experience than the function that matters.

And in unrelated news, I thought that I might share this lovely quote I found the other day with you all:

For those of you who follow my life on Twitter or Facebook, I apologise for taking so long to post the details of the recent changes to my employment status. Stuff's been kinda crazy these past few weeks, so I've had other priorities that I'll talk about in other posts.

So here's the full story: On January 18th, I responded to a job ad for a web developer at MarketSims that I found on an online job posting board, possibly monster, but frankly, I don't remember. The application included my usual fun-sounding cover letter and a PDF copy of my CV along with a link to this site.

That same night, I received a response asking about my preferences for CMSs and/or frameworks and we had some good dialogue about why one CMS might be chosen over another, and why I prefer frameworks in general etc. etc. We also talked about my salary expectations, volunteer work, and outside interests as well, all over email. He thanked me for the info and said he'd get back to me.

Then he got sick for about a week so I didn't hear from him for a while. When we reconnected on the 31st, we talked about doing a Skype interview and settled on a midnight gig on the evening of the 4th.

The interview was with the CEO, CTO, and COO and covered in greater detail what they're looking for. Basically, they're looking to unify the many sites they have into a single managed solution as well as build a portal site for people in their industry. We talked about options and preferences and I made no secret regarding my preferences for Python/Django -- something I was happy to hear was positively received. The interview was largely non-technical, and when it was finished, the CEO said that they'd like to talk about me privately for a while and get back to me... in about 20minutes. A little surprised, I said thank you and we ended the call.

About 15minutes later, the CTO called me back and offered me the job. I'll start March 1st.

The pay sounds good, though it's tough to tell when you don't really know the cost of living over there. Regardless, it works out to a lot of money in Canada, so that doesn't suck. There's lots of vacation time, as European standards more or less require it, and they're accessible by transit. The CTO may even be able to hook me up with some inexpensive temporary housing with some friends while I look for a place of my own once I know the neighbourhoods better.

All-in-all, things are looking pretty good, though I try not to get too excited. Contracts etc. don't get signed until I come in for my first day and somehow, all of this doesn't feel like it will be "real" until then. I'm definitely leaving though. I've already bought my flights:

Vancouver » Kelowna	Feb 21
Kelowna » Vancouver	Feb 23
Vancouver » Amsterdam	Feb 23

If the temporary housing doesn't work out, I'll look into Couch Surfing, then hostels, then hotels, in that order. Obviously, that's a rough route to take, but I'm not sure how else to do it. I will however endeavour to blog the process, if for no other reason to chronicle how very painful this kind of thing is.

I've had a very nice time in this city, but it's time to move onto Berlin. Since my train leaves early tomorrow (10am) I'm going to try to make this short (fat chance).

Buddhists and Red Lights

Yesterday morning I headed out in search of the Guan Yin Shrine, a Buddhist temple erected in the downtown core around 2000. I was prepared this time: this time, I had a map... it only helped a little. The big problem with Amsterdam is that the roads aren't straight. You turn left, then left again, and you've gone in a circle, and the laneways are so narrow that they're easy to miss. I'd been wandering for about an hour when I found myself in an alley with half-naked women behind glass banging on the door to get my attention... I'd ended up in the Red Light district.

Obviously, I'd intended to visit the area (it'd be a shame not to) but it's one thing to go there expecting it, it's another to be propositioned by a chick in a bikini on your way to a Buddhist temple. I kept on walking and found the temple: it was on the edge of the district -- would have been nice to know that before I left :-)

There wasn't much to the place though as much of it appears to be undergoing maintenance. A few bits of art were encased in glass, there was incense, a donation box, and a place for prayer. A very pretty, peaceful place, right in the middle of crazy downtown.

Red Lights and Nieuwmarkt

With the temple visited, the next item on my list was the Sex Museum. In the heart of the Red Light District, the sex museum doesn't so much chronicle the act of sex throughout history, but is rather a collection of sex art along with a sex history lesson. It was fascinating. From the John Lennon originals on the first floor, to the really creepy Snow White and Tarzan cartoons on the 3rd floor, to the female Mannequin urinating on the ceiling in bondage gear, to the graphic pictures of why you should use a condom, it was the best €5 I've ever spent.

New Room

As we'd discussed on the phone when I booked the place, the hotel had to move me to another room for the final two days of my stay. What I didn't know was (a) the view from this spot wasn't nearly as pretty, (b) the bathroom was private, but was in the hall, and (c) the internet connection was unavailable in this spot. All of this, coupled with the stark realisation that I still did not have a place to stay in Berlin (or anywhere else for that matter), made for a stressful evening. I collected my laptop stuff and headed downstairs to the garden where I could surf and get some bookings and... make a phone call from my laptop.

Fed up with the lack of ability to test my stuff with Vbuzzer, (why can't they at least have a test number before they ask me for money?), I threw $20CAD at Skype which I knew I could get to work with some tweaking. Then, when I had it all going, I placed a couple calls and realised how nice it was to hear friendly (English-speaking) voices again. It's only 4days in and I'm already homesick.

My Last Day in Amsterdam

I started today off with some "business". I sat down and plotted out where I should stay for the remainder of my trip and made some scary realisations (more on that later), then went back down to the garden to book some more time in Berlin. I now have a place to sleep in Berlin from the 16th to the 17th at the Radisson, and from the 18th to the 21st at a hotel I found online which I hope doesn't suck. Then I hopped the tram (light rail, streetcar) to the main train station where I chatted up some American professors while in line for train ticket reservations. For €9, I now have a seat from Amsterdam to Berlin with a transfer in some German city I don't care to look up at the moment :-)

After leaving the station, I headed West, looking for something less touristy. There's no sense in wandering through a city if all you see is the same stuff on everyone's postcards. Jordaan is a pretty area, formerly working-class, but it's been gentrified for the rich folk now. I found a cool smoke shop where I bought a cannabis lollipop and some cannabis tea, then found my way to a local grocery store for lunch.

One thing I had to do while I was here though was rent a bike and go for a ride. For €5, you can rent a "Yellow Bike" and ride for 2hours, and for €10, you can have it all day. I chose the former and went for a quick ride around town. The bike was a rickety old thing, but in pretty good shape (like most of the bikes around Amsterdam), but had a few quirks like no gears to change, and a backpedal break. It took me a while to get used to it while I rolled up and down laneways and alleys. Lots of fun I tell you, every city should look like this one.

When I returned the bike I asked the rental guy why so many bikes around town were "not expensive" was the terminology I used. I'll paraphrase his response from memory: "Bike theft is really common here. Mostly the junks. They steal from the students, then sell the bike for €10. You can almost always find a junk selling €10 bikes... this is why everyone rides these shitty bikes.". I assumed he meant "junkie" but since I didn't ask for clarification, I guess I'll never know. Needless to say, that while the city is made for bikes, 99% of them are rickety old things.

The last big deal of the day was a touristy boat tour. They have these long, slow motor boats here that wind through the canals of the city with a quad-lingual recorded voice telling you what you're looking at. I got some OK pictures and enjoyed the trip. It's kinda neat to see the city from beneath the sidewalk.

I headed back to my hotel and stopped at McDonald's for "dinner". I thought it might be neat to visit McDonald's in every country I visit, but the food was so bad, I couldn't finish it. What's worse, I lost my credit card while I was there (tucked it into what I thought was my money belt, turned out to be my actual belt, and it fell on the ground). I recovered it after about 5minutes of panicking (it was on the ground outside the restaurant) but it was pretty scary. I mean, I can it in as stolen and live off my debit card, but I only have the one credit card here. Very bad.

Anyway, I thought I'd close out this post with two lists. I might just use these lists for all my big posts... we'll see.

Things I've Learned

• There's no General Mills here, but there is Kellogs.
• Special K has a chocolate flavour
• According to one woman I spoke to, while there are no recycling bins in the city, all the city garbage is sorted in a plant in the suburbs and then recycled. I find this hard to believe since extracting glass from that process can't be easy, but without any additional information I just don't know.
• When taking a shower in the hallway bathroom, remember to bring a towel before taking off your clothes and getting wet.
• Ordering food is downright scary when you don't understand a word of what's on the menu.
• The Dutch can't cook American foods very well. Stay away from hamburgers, and the ketchup here is nasty.
• The longer you travel in a non-English country, the fewer signs you read and/or ads you notice. It's both relaxing and disturbing.
• Getting drinking water is a bitch. Restaurants don't serve tap water for free and a small bottle is likely to run you €2. The best plan is always to hit a grocery store and buy a 2L bottle.
• The default language here is English. That is to say, people open conversations with strangers with English even though that may not be their first language. The assumption is that if you don't know Dutch, you probably know English.

Things I've Seen

• Women riding bicycles in high heels
• The world's largest bicycle parkade. Right next to the train station.
• Half-naked women banging on glass doors to get my attention.

Next Steps

I'm off to Berlin tomorrow and thanks to some last-minute mad-booking, I have a place to sleep there for at least six days. After that the new, new, new route I have in mind is: Prague » Salzburg » Geneva » Florence » Venice » Rome » Seoul. I had to redirect to Salzburg despite it not being covered by my Eurail ticket because staying in Munich would be impossible at that time due to Oktoberfest (sigh). I'm only in Salzburg for 3 days though, and then I'm back on the original track.

The bookings I've made over the past couple days have made me suddenly realise how long this trip is going to be. It's only day 4 and I'm already exhausted. I miss English and more importantly, food that I'm not afraid of. I miss my friends, my family, my country... and it's only day 4. By the time I get to Korea I will well be beyond frazzled.

For now though, I must book rooms in Prague. I also have to check with a train station ticketing person to see if my routing is realistic. You never know, I might have more re-routing to do. I'll keep you posted.

Check out my view:

I'm staying at the Fantasia Hotel, a cow-themed (you read that right) converted house on the south end of the city. My room is tiny, but it has everything I need: a bed, a shower, a toilet and a really nice view. My window looks down onto a series of backyards and courtyards and all I hear is birds, running water and the occasional car going by in the distance. Also, there is the sound of an older man on a cellphone below and what appears to be a kitchen since I'm getting the sound of clamouring dishes as well.

But why, you might ask am I fiddling with the internet and not out enjoying the city? The short answer, is that I'm freakin' tired. I took the train in from Frankfurt this morning (awesome, I'll talk about it later) and then tried to find my way through Amsterdam... I found the hotel after nearly 3 hours of walking with my giganimous pack on my back.

Three things I've learned from this experience:

1. Travel books (and their little maps) are no substitute for a good mapbook. Blow the extra cash and know where you're going before you get lost in a foreign city with 150lbs on your back.
2. Locals are not always the best source of information. The 10yearold kid I met early in my walk was more helpful than the old woman who didn't understand where I was trying to go. Ask lots of people just to be sure.
3. Amsterdam locals don't seem to know how to navigate their own city (at least through the eyes of a non-local). Every set of directions I received was akin to: "go down x, turn left on y, then ask someone". I do not know why this is the case.

Amsterdam is a city of alleys and laneways. In the downtown core, bikes far outweigh cars by at least 7:1. It's amazing. The stop lights have separate lights for cyclists, pedestrians, streetcars, and cars, and everything feels very small town... despite the fact that you know that there's roughly 1million people living here. It's very quiet, there's lots of patios, and as I walked from street to street, I found myself strolling through schoolyards and riverbanks without running into any barriers. I could spend a lot more time here than just a few days... I might still. My hotel can only keep me for 3 days but I'll look around to see if there's anywhere else I might be able to stay.

I'm going to get some food in a bit, but I wanted to post now as it's unlikely I'll be posting any time later tonight. I wanna fiddle with Bluetooth to get my headset working so I can call some of you before I leave here.