Removing the valve cover

Just when you think all the construction around me had ended... The only good thing is that all the noise is during the day, when I'm at work.

My garden however, is now covered in brick-dust... My plants better not die from this.

In the afternoon I went to my car to do something scary.

I lifted the valve cover because I need to replace the hose connector on it that I fucked up. Since it's made of rock hard plastic it can't be removed without having little bits falling down and since I don't want anything to drop in to the engine, I have to remove it. So I opened up my engine for the first time.

And then I ran out of time :-/

The day out with colleagues

Today my team (actually a collection of all financial teams) from work went on to town for a fun arvo and then dinner. We assembled at the ferry.

We were divided in four groups and had to fulfill a few assignments and do a few games which were all fun to do. Everything was outside and in the centre of Amsterdam, the weather was great.

Here my colleagues Nicolette and Lennard are tied together and need to figure out how to un-tie themselves.

Walking through town you see lovely houses at times.

We had dinner at restaurant "Lieve", a Belgian restaurant.

We were way early so we sat outside on their terrace at the canal for a while sipping on beer and vino.
And yeah, that happy guy, that's Lennard ;-)

All of us having dinner. The restaurant was a lot fancier than I suspected!

"Whitefish and salmon salami with coarse piccalilli" - Delicious!

"Chickpea burger with toast and smoked BBQ sauce" - Very nice!

"White stew of pork cheeks with broad beans" - again: delicious!

"Honey and rosemary parfait with crispy honeycomb". This was not impressive. I've had MUCH better parfait...

Walking home in the twilight afterwards.

Beautiful light.

Wester church.

Awesome ice cream

I bought ice cream after work. Yes I did. Not just ice cream, this is dark chocolate ice cream and it's unreal!

I played squash with Mic in the evening.

The cd

Our camping is booked! Two weeks of sun at the Mediteranean sea in the South of France. I'm ready!

Leaving for work on the slow boat.

Nice views this morning.

The Psycho Cowboy still hasn't sunk. I'm counting the days...

I took a selfie to use on Facebook. I actually took 3 and I used another one :-P

This is the Ben Miller Band's cd that I bought last night. I found it in my jacket.

Real nice cd. I had it signed by all three band members.

The ZZ Top concert

Tonight I went to see ZZ Top in the Heineken Music Hall with Mic, Ruud and Gerrit. We had dinner together first at some Turkish place. Their service was a bit messed up which caused a bit of a laugh for the customers. At some point we were even applauding for waiters to finally bring some folks their pizzas.

The Ben Miller Band opened for ZZ Top.

They were fantastic!

The drummer also played the washboard, the trombone and....

... electric spoons! Pretty awesome too! Great band!

And then it was Star-Time!

Cool as ever.

It was fun seeing them again.

I just thought that the sound quality was pretty shit from where we were standing.

The end.

In all fairness I have to admit that I enjoyed Ben Miller more. Better, clearer sound. Simple as that.

Holland vs Chile

Netherlands played Chile in the soccer world cup tonight.

Robben is on his way here...

Depay scores.

Holland - Chile : 2 - 0

The run and the movie

This morning Simone and I went out in to a small nature reserve close by. I ran and she was on skates. I had a great run of 6.5 kilometers which was a new record for me :-)

In the afternoon we went to see a movie with the kids. It was fun and I didn't fall asleep ;-)