diff --git a/content/blog/wk7day4.md b/content/blog/wk7day4.md index 14ed174..587380a 100644 --- a/content/blog/wk7day4.md +++ b/content/blog/wk7day4.md @@ -1,7 +1,127 @@ --- -title: "Week 7, Thursday:" -date: 2024-09-12T21:55:00+02:00 -draft: true +title: "Week 7, Thursday: Eindhoven de Gekste" +date: 2024-09-12T12:55:00+02:00 --- -{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/todo.png" alt="Credit: " >}} +{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/sti.png" alt="Credit: Sound That Illuminates, YouTube" >}} + +I grew up in a small town called Best near Eindhoven in the Netherlands. My parental home, and +therefore both of my parents, are still in the same house they bought after we returned from our US +and UK sidequest in the late eighties. This sleepy town of Best is well situated on the busy train +link from Eindhoven to Den Bosch (of which the original name is 's Hertogenbosch -- _the Forest +that belongs to the Duke_). The good news is, there's a 9 minute train to Eindhoven and a 16 minute +train to Den Bosch, and my parents live about eighty meters away from the train station. + +Best has changed and morphed quite a bit in the twentyfive years that I've been out in the big world +on my own. About ten years ago, the main street that goes through the village center has been +renovated and turned into a pedestrian-friendly zone. These last two years, our parents' street has +been renovated, with the same objective. Personally, I think it's a huge improvement for livability, +but of course the cars that used to drive through this street are also now driving through this +street at roughly the same speed as before -- which is now significantly too fast both legally (it's +a 30kmh/20mph street), but also physics-wise, as it's full of twisty turny chicanes and speed bumps +and so on. I like it. Mom could not hate it more. Dad could not care less. Fun times :) + +In the morning, we have a nice breakfast together, and after the meal we do our first round of +shopping for goods and groceries that are only found (or only properly found) in the Netherlands. +Mom, Marina and I walk over to the village center and I take a good look around to see things that +are the same, and things that have changed. Mostly the same - which I think is good. At _Albert +Heijn_ we do groceries, but we carefully leave out a few vegetables, so that we can go to the +_Groenteboer_ (local vegetable green-grocer), who knows my Mom by name, asks how my Dad is going and +if these two people with you are the long lost Son+Daughter in Switzerland. Awwww, I love the small +town society so much! + +My buddy WEiRD and I have this game that if we are on a roadtrip and not in the Benelux, and we see +a logistics truck from a company called _Vos_, and (this important) the cabin of said truck has a +Dutch license plate, that we scream at the top of our lungs: "HARRRYYYYYYY!!!!" - as you do. It's +hilarious mostly if the other guy is sleeping (at the wheel, or otherwise). Believe it or not, it +took like - forever - to fine one (1) measily Harry Vos transport truck in Germany, but look here in +the smack dead center of Best! One is driving **RIGHT HERE**!!1 Unfortunately, I cannot scream here, +because we are inside of the _Benelux_ :( + +We ran some errands for the Parents, got some tailored pants and orthopedic shoes for my Dad. We +also got all the ingredients for a four course meal that I am facilitating tonight at my parents +place. It gives us both something to _do_ and something to _enjoy_, as it's a good time for me to +subtly introduce ingredients and dishes that they'd normally not really eat. Even though, as I see +later today, they both really really enjoyed, or perhaps they're just really good actors. + +I have really only three things to do today: + +1. The groceries for both (a) what to take home to Switzerland, and (b) what to put into the four +courses tonight in our family food festivities. + +1. Go to Eindhoven city by train, take a picture of the bowling pins, and then walk through the +'old' town from the _Oude Markt_ to the far end of _Stratum's Eind_. Compare notes from my memory +(as I went to school and university in these parts), and see how the city has changed. If you visit +infrequently - the last time I was here may have been 10 years ago - the progression can really +stand out. + +1. Cook a four course meal for my parents, consisting of: + 1. Rocket salad, sliced beef tomatoes, Buratta and balsamic vinaigrette + 1. Chickpea soup with green curry + 1. Salmon, green beans with bacon bits and mashed potatoes with creamy herbs + 1. Clotted cream with Monchou cheese, Bastogne and cherries + +After lunch, Marina and I take off at leet o'clock (13:37) and catch the train to Deurne after +Marina has a small struggle with the vending machine / payment checkin. She will happily say it was +all the fault of stoopid Dutch banks - and actually: I totally agree because I don't want a +divorce. + +We take a selfie on the platform and get into this rather nice train (called a Sprinter), and make +our way to Eindhoven CS. There, we first exit the station on the South side and I take my picture of +the bowling pins which are a landmark at the TU/Eindhoven where I used to study (and mostly fail +classes) in the 90s. Then, we walk back around and through the station tunnel to the City side, and +I really enjoy the walk over _Stratum's Eind_, a street in town which has bars and clubs on both +sides from start at St. Catherine's Church, all the way to the back - perfect for a pubcrawl. I'm +amazed at how clean it is, and also I'm amazed at how my _passive memory_ reminds me "oh right, I +used to go _Blikkenslikken_ (Dutch: swallowing cans) here at the Kix, who are celebrating their 40 +year anniversary this year. And with that, mission #2 was accomplished. + +On the way back into town, we shared a _Smos Americain_ from _Bakker Bart_, and we took a seat on +the market square for a drink at the _Grand Cafe Centraal_. We took the train back home at 14:45 or +so, and hung out at home for a bit. I finished my loadtests of Neil's latest changes to the `sflow` +VPP plugin, and sent some thoughts to the list and GitHub repo. The mail thread in the mean time is +getting a bit complex with lots of new questions and thoughts. It's good to keep each individual +engineering topic in its own github issue. It's going very well with the plugin. + +Marins has been complaining that our car is gross, and she's not wrong. The last time we've washed +it was in 1872, and it's really in need of some deep cleaning. So I take it to the _Prowash_ car +wash station, and drop €13,- on society for a thorough scrub of the outside. Wait, my car is +blue!? Then I attack it with the industrial vacuum cleaner, and manage to remove a few kilograms of +sand, grit, pebbles, and various dried up jellybeans which somehow made their way onto the carpet +and under the seats. Hearing each one of these jellybeans bounce around in the vaccuum cleaner's +long hose was kind of rewarding. + +Back home, the reason for the cleaning became clear - the vinyl logo's -- in grey -- are to be +applied on the doors. We make good work of it, and accept for a few small bubbles of air under the +foil, we do a pretty decent job of it. + +Now all that's left to do is create the dinner, which we do all together in the kitchen, while +chatting away and comparing notes on the steam oven, the cuisson of the fish, the beafiness of the +tomatoes and the creaminess of the burrata. I'm surprised (in a good way) how long this meal takes, +we start at around 18:30 and are finished with desert at 21:30, after which we're suitably stuffed. + +Marina pretty quickly decides to retire and I promise I'll be "right with her", except I finish my +journal for yesterday and now it's 23:00. Still a pretty decent time for me, so I go upstairs and +brush my teeth, contuing on to bed and I am 💤 about three seconds after my head hits the pillow. +There's something about Uhi, I don't know how he does it, but I'm immediately out like a light. + +## Pictures of the Day + +{{< gallery-category >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1213.JPG" caption="The Odulphus Church in Best, the Netherlands" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1214.JPG" caption="We see a Harryyyyyyy Vos, except I can't yell at it because that would break the rules" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1215.JPG" caption="Marina and I take a selfie at the Best train station" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1216.JPG" caption="The trains in the Netherlands sure are better (Sprinter) than they used to be (Hondekop)" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/bowling.png" caption="The bowling pin statues at the corner of the TU/Eindhoven campus" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1218.JPG" caption="Sint Katerijne Church in Stratum's Eind, Eindhoven." >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1221.JPG" caption="The beginning of Stratum's Eind, Eindhoven. I have spent many a night in this street as a youngling." >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1222.JPG" caption="We share a beautiful broodje filet americain from Bakker Bart" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1223.JPG" caption="Although it's raining, we still humor ourselves with a selfie on the Grote Markt of Eindhoven" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1226.JPG" caption="I am attacking our car with a vaccuum wand. It's a very powerful wand. I wonder what else I could do with it ..." >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1228.JPG" caption="We have stuck an IPng logo onto the side of the car. That Cameo v5 is cool :-)" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1229.JPG" caption="The opening salvo for our family feast: Burrata!" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-12/IMG_1232.JPG" caption="I am performing my loadtests for the VPP sflow plugins to give feedback on this iterattion to Neil and colleagues" >}} +{{< /gallery-category >}} + +{{< gallery-modal >}} +{{< gallery-script >}}