Daigu Ryokan

one more element

2012-01-15T13:05:00.001-08:00

just added one more element to Elements: life! (well, okay, a plant)

website of Elements

dirty dozen

2012-01-09T04:29:00.000-08:00

Just subscribed a dozen (yes! 12!) Yushinkan iaidoka for the open Dutch iaido championships.

I am so proud to be a part of such active dojo.

Happiness

2011-12-29T00:24:00.000-08:00

sometimes you do not need a picture...

My uncle is in Holland and seeing family is something that can make me happy. Even if it just means drinking coffee on Schiphol airport.

a day in Brussels

2011-12-19T02:50:00.001-08:00

I am so proud and happy!

Bowmore

2011-12-19T02:02:00.000-08:00

Cannot wait to taste it!

izanagi mokume jewelry

2011-12-16T04:16:00.000-08:00

'Izanagi mokume jewelry' is working hard for us.

Smell of iaido

2011-12-14T03:00:00.001-08:00

Memory, smell and feeling are strange things.
This morning in the subway I smelled the same aftershave as my iaido sensei always uses. Immediately I felt as I was in a iaido training and having the feeling as if I already drove my car for 5 hours to France.

Very weird sensation, it the subway somewhere around 8 o'clock in the morning in normal clothing....

worst

2011-12-06T00:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry, this time in Dutch:

Of ik worst lust? Zeker, helemaal als die van marsepein is!

That's hot!

2011-10-18T01:31:00.000-07:00

Now, that is some hot coffee!

1 potato diet

2011-10-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

1 potato diet....

Outdoor

2011-10-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

Prept the garden for the winter and went to the forest to find us some chestnuts... Now... what to do with the chestnuts?

Went to Andorra and all I got was this .....

2011-10-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

Again, thank you coach, thank you teamies, for all the great memories.

Free Saturday

2011-05-07T22:26:00.000-07:00

what do you do on a free Saturday? Yes! You go out for lunch with good free friends. (and some keiko)

Fight!

2011-03-31T05:19:00.000-07:00

Good memories of a fight long time ago.

work in the living room...

2011-03-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

work in the living room...

wine...

2011-03-17T01:19:00.000-07:00

A little wine experiment. Red wine in the tomato-sauce and white wine in the bread, not bad if I say so myself.

To do list:
- use real yeast.
- Build my own oven.
- find a pizza sensei.

not fair!

2011-03-16T01:03:00.001-07:00

It's just not fair! Mine's smaller.
:(

For all your sexists out there, don't even think about writing your comment.

bomboni, Puccini

2011-03-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

Just bought one... yes! One.

For more information click: here

Bicycle

2011-03-15T03:31:00.000-07:00

Went to Utrecht by bicycle, learned a bit of Japanese and had a passenger back to Nieuwegein.

Blindfold?

2011-03-07T02:01:00.000-08:00

Blindfold? Or is this real budo? Always and everywhere training!

work is a piece of cake

2011-03-04T03:05:00.000-08:00

work is a piece of cake

New books

2011-03-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

New books

Mesken

2011-02-15T00:50:00.000-08:00

What is better than go to a restaurant with Tulips in their logo? With friends from the land of the Tulip?
I don't know what is better, but this dinner was great!

Website

Wild Life

2011-02-14T01:08:00.000-08:00

We went to the forest and encountered some wildlife.

more nice meals

2011-02-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

another nice meal

mental coaching

2011-02-07T08:15:00.000-08:00

Coming Friday the last day of the course "mental coaching".

Orange in Paris

2011-02-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

More good memories from Paris.
And "no!" I am not asleep.

Getting out of hand euh.. pan!

2011-02-02T00:07:00.000-08:00

Getting out of hand euh.. pan!
Working on some home made bread.

Exchange-rate for a Toyota Yaris

2011-02-01T00:39:00.000-08:00

Exchange-rate for a Toyota Yaris, I brought my car to the garage and this is what I got in exchange...

This is how Wednesday tastes

2011-01-31T04:17:00.000-08:00

This is how Wednesday tastes

great time

2011-01-20T02:32:00.000-08:00

I had a great time, before, during and after the matches.
(Ishido-cup 2011)

new toy

2011-01-15T03:54:00.000-08:00

My newest toy.

Sneeuwballen

2010-12-31T02:32:00.000-08:00

Today at work we had 'sneeuwballen', roughly translated: Snowballs.

Winter in Holland

2010-12-22T00:34:00.000-08:00

Winter in Holland, unfortunately today no central heating in our building, but we will manage! (using good spirit and coffee)

Divinatio

2010-12-13T05:48:00.000-08:00

Had a perfect dinner at Divinatio in Utrecht.
Some headlines:
- 6 courses
- No menu card needed, the chef made an exclusive diner for us.
- A nice view over the city of Utrecht in a beautiful building.
- Wine explanation by the Portuguese representative
- "Smoked mayonnaise"

For more information on this restaurant click here.

Nice meal

2010-11-30T05:38:00.001-08:00

already a while ago, but we had a great meal!

Lentil soup, Börek, Köfte and baklava.

Hacıvelioğlu's, thank you very much!

There are more people working.

2010-06-28T02:08:00.000-07:00

There are more people working!

For more information on this nice project, please consult:
this website

Hard work

2010-06-15T05:27:00.000-07:00

It is hard work, but we have great help!

a floorplan

2010-05-14T04:16:00.000-07:00

Making plans...

Weekend

2010-04-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

photo by A van Es

This is what kept me busy during last weekend.
Organising, judging and competing, a great weekend!

ready for Battle

2010-01-16T03:40:00.000-08:00

We are ready for battle.
Soon more on the Japan-trip and shinza.

Quality

2009-12-14T01:37:00.000-08:00

Just read this great text written by a college at the Bank. So no text written by me but something written about quality from someone else.

Quality

Company quality can be achieved throughout the whole organization. Imagine for example a company that has a stable and solid base for a long period of time, good saved knowledge due to lack of staff turnover and a strong positive brand that almost hasn’t changed over the years, but which is still very popular with young people.
On second hand the production is ran with a military precision; always on time, even if the circumstances are not ideal. Also peak production periods and last-minute orders will not throw them off their game; their time schedule is always met.
In this organization there is personal attention for the client as well. Despite you’re one of the few million customers, the big boss still knows you and creates a set of products that is especially put together to your personal needs. It wouldn’t surprise you to hear that there are almost no customers dissatisfied and all clients are looking forward to the next meeting.
Last but not least, in such an organization there would be excellent secondary terms of employment; working hard for just a small part of the year and the rest can be spent in a nice warm climate, relaxing, plenty of food, specially designed clothing and housing.
Utopia? I don’t think so. Sinterklaas is running this company for more than 450 years now!
Happy holidays!

Regards,
M

Impression Ubuntu party

2009-12-09T13:06:00.000-08:00

Impression Ubuntu party, no I was not there, but who knows me will recognize the person who inspired me to work with IT and computers.
Yes, I feel a bit nerdy by posting this, but that's also me.
:)

'Succes gaat altijd ten koste van iets'

2009-11-23T00:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, following is a copy paste action from the NU.nl website. Not my own text, sorry. But it makes you wonder in what area do we/I want to have success... but maybe more important: What area do we ignore to get this succes?
For the English readers, sorry, Dutch only, maybe you can put a babelfish in your ear?
WIki on what Babelfish is.

In een vloeiend betoog - helaas per video - hield de van oorsprong Zwiterse schrijver het publiek op de TEDx-conferentie in Amsterdam voor dat iedereen krampachtig bezig is met succes. "Mensen willen overal tegelijk succes in hebben. Dat gaat niet. Als je in het ene domein succes hebt, gaat dat altijd ten koste van iets anders." Op humoristische wijze borduurde De Botton losjes voort op de voor hem bekende thema's als statusangst. Al eerder beschreef de filosoof dat mensen zich veel te veel laten bepalen door wat anderen van hen vinden. Mensen zijn verslaafd aan status, gedefinieerd door de omgeving.

The road to Japan (part 1, some thoughts before the trip)

2009-11-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

The road to Japan, started a while ago, not sure when we took of, but I am pretty sure we are on our way now.

First something about us, me and my training buddy. We started doing iaido at the same day and are coaching each other for a few years and we did all our examans together. Although our iai looks quite different I think we are still on the same track.
This might also be the most difficult thing to handle, if one of us will fail or delay an exam. Not because of the prestige of the exam and grade. But it might loose the feeling of growing and training together.

Budo is a difficult path to walk on, I am confronted with my personal life and friends that became a part of my budo family who parted from our path. Starting and learning some new movements is/was easy, but now I am confronted with the fact that my body does not always do what I want it or I find myself in a situation that I don't understand why this week I'm not training on the level of last week.

Well, it started almost three years ago, we decided we wanted to try to pass for our fourth Dan exam in Japan and now around 9 months ago our Japanese sensei told us it is okay to come to Japan for exams and he is willing to receive us for training.

On the subject of informing or asking people if you can do shinza. This can be quit difficult because of the cultural differences, I don't necessarily mean the Dutch-Japanese relation but also within Holland. I have to admit sometimes my small ego is getting a bit enthusiastic and starts to run without realizing the situation of the people around me.
I guess working in harmony with the other practitioners is one of the most difficult thing to get in budo. All I can say, to to people around me, my sensei and sempai, I'm sorry for the last years. I'm sorry for my arrogance and thank you for all your patience, I'm learning to keep myself in check and even becoming more aware that harmony and respect starts from my inner being. I am not a perfect person yet, and nowadays I am becoming aware of my 'old' behavior and consciously trying to improve it.

Bad Coffee

2009-07-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

I thought I liked coffee....

I am not pink!

2009-07-04T03:32:00.000-07:00

Maybe you see me wearing pink...
But trust me, I am not pink!

Singapore

2009-06-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Singapore for a presentation....

is this me?

2009-06-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

Is this how people see me? because it doesn't feel like well, me...

Nice Lunch

2009-06-21T13:19:00.001-07:00

Had a great lunch, thanks Teddy!

Choices

2009-06-15T12:33:00.001-07:00

Life is about making choices.

Some people rather stay,...
Some people rather run away,...
Some rather ignore everything around them,...

It all doesn't matter, as long as we make choices.

Tourist

2009-05-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

Tourist in my own country.
Walked around with a colleague and found out that there still are sooo many places I haven't seen yet. Maybe I should take some more time to study my own country or the city I work.

family

2009-05-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

Not family by blood, well, maybe a bit....
Family by the Japanese sword.

A part of the good memories of last Orly seminar.

A story by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

2009-05-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we all feel like Alice in Wonderland...

Anyway, I like the image of the white rabbit, "follow the white rabbit".
The story starts with Alice seeing a white rabbit walking by her, telling he is going to be late, checking his watch nervously. Alice (as curious as she is?) follows it and tumbles down the hole and finds herself in Wonderland.

"follow the white rabbit" or following the white rabbit signals a start of a adventure. (question to myself, am I tumbling down the hole?, am I already in Wonderland? Or just realized I found my white rabbit and the adventure is just getting started?)

One of my favourite passages in the book:
"`Cheshire Puss,' [Alice] began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
`I don't much care where--' said Alice.
`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
`--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.
`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'"

sake sake, love you long time...

2009-05-13T13:02:00.001-07:00

sake sake, love you long time, well this joke doesn't work for the Dutch..
So to them I say: Hupsaké!

There is a new Dutch website on sake you can find it here. Cos maybe in the future I would like to know a bit more about this drink, have a nice taste of Japan.

own house

2009-05-12T13:48:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't want to have his own place?

We let's start to give one to the birds...
(a gift filled with memories)

Even biggger this year

2009-05-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

He/she/it? Is getting bigger every year.

A quote from the movie Leon:
Léon: [referring to his plant] It's my best friend. Always happy. No questions.

More info on Leon: here

Ben Harper - Waiting for you (lyrics)

2009-05-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

I somehow felt like posting the lyrics.
(please don't read them, listen to them, only then you know what it is about.)

------------------------------
I’ve been waiting for you
I’ve been waiting for you
Never found anything else to do
But waiting for you

I’ve been calling your name
I’ve been calling your name
Never found anything else to say
Nothing to say

You can kill a lot of time if you really wanna put your mind to it
Leave it all behind if you never want to go through it

I keep hearing your name
I keep hearing your name
Nothing else sounds the same
As hearing your name

You can kill a lot of time if you really put your mind to it
Or leave it all behind if and never ever go through it

I keep hoping for you
Keep hoping for you
What else can I do
But keep hoping for you?

You can kill a lot of time if you really wanna put your mind to it.
Or leave it all behind and never really have to go through it
We can kill a lot of time and never really have to go through it

What else can I do
But keep waiting for you ?

I found a home-made video on youtube, you can listen to it here.

Dutch championships 2009

2009-05-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

Dutch championships 2009, I really liked the matches.
I enjoyed the day, next year we will do it bigger and better!

I would like to thank everybody who helped us out on this big day.

Sorry for the picture of myself, but this might be the first iaido picture of me that is not really bad...

away, Belgium?

2009-05-03T06:13:00.000-07:00

I want to get away, forget everything here...

Already a while ago, but we really had a good time in Belgium, the path we walked was not as planned, so maybe we have to go back soon.
:)

green or purple heart

2009-05-03T06:05:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the green heart, or should I call it the purple heart?
Well, I know it is a heart filled with all kind of emotions.
The world is changing around us, do we change with it or do we choose our own path?

Hard working girls

2009-05-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hard working girls...
both of you, thank you.

poster

2009-05-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

A poster voor the Dutch Championship Yushinkan organised.

Post-it

2008-12-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

A little reminder.

sender: me
receiver: me

Shopping in The Hague is nice, but next time, don't go by bicycle, use a car or public transport!

thank you

2008-12-07T02:52:00.000-08:00

thank you...

soup

2008-12-07T02:44:00.000-08:00

Would it be enough? It's not much... only 6.5 L

Kiekje

2008-11-16T22:55:00.000-08:00

A monument for Israël David Kiek, something we found during a walk in the city of Leiden.

Wiki on mr. Kiek

kamon

2008-11-14T01:23:00.000-08:00

a new kamon (Japanese family crest style logo) for our dojo.
special thanks to Webalistic!

Everybody knows us from the Dakkimyoga, this kamon will still be used for our ryu.

Job hunting

2008-11-14T00:44:00.000-08:00

Job hunting with mr. T.

Fire

2008-11-09T14:08:00.001-08:00

We had a small fire in our house, don't worry, everything was under control.

Bread

2008-11-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

Home baked bread stuffed with chocolate and banana.

Ursula

2008-11-09T14:01:00.000-08:00

Today we did Ursula.
(A short hiking-trip in "Het Groene Hart".)

a gift

2008-10-29T14:44:00.001-07:00

A small gift, we could choose something we'd like. This is it, the one thing she was planning to buy for a long time...

Sultan

2008-10-27T05:37:00.000-07:00

A nice restaurant in Rotterdam with good food and a nice atmoshphere. Lounch Restaurant Sultan has got a Turkish and Arab kitchen.
website of Sultan

We went here after a nice day with my parents.

B&E G-style

2008-10-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

As all TV-stars they wanted to make a music-clip...

The piano has been drinking

2008-10-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

Just listened to the song....
If I only could have a piano that I could blame...

-----
The piano has been drinking
my necktie is asleep
and the combo went back to New York
the jukebox has to take a leak
and the carpet needs a haircut
and the spotlight looks like a prison break
cause the telephone's out of cigarettes
and the balcony's on the make
and the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking...

and the menus are all freezing
and the lightman's blind in one eye
and he can't see out of the other
and the piano-tuner's got a hearing aid
and he showed up with his mother
and the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking

cause the bouncer is a Sumo wrestler
cream puff casper milk toast
and the owner is a mental midget
with the I.Q. of a fencepost
cause the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking...

and you can't find your waitress
with a Geiger counter
And she hates you and your friends
and you just can't get served
without her
and the box-office is drooling
and the bar stools are on fire
and the newspapers were fooling
and the ash-trays have retired
the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking
not me, not me, not me, not me, not me

A baby is born, flowers...

2008-10-03T02:05:00.000-07:00

Somewhere a baby is born and we get flowers.... it's a strange world.

Please don't think we are expecting....

Planning

2008-09-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

Big plans start on small sheets of paper
:)

Oopz

2008-09-24T11:42:00.001-07:00

Oopz, just deleted all my old posts...
:(