New years eve 2009.

There was a poker tournament at my work. Rolf "Ace" Slotboom, a famous Dutch professional poker player was organizing the event. There were 37 players spread over four tables.

My table with Rolf as the dealer. I had a crappy seat right next to him and the table was very full so I couldn't see too well.

The table where one of the directors is dealing.

The table where Elvira, another professional poker player and I -think- Rolfs girlfriend is dealing.

I was kicked out by a player holding Kx against my QQ. I went all in and had all the odds but he got another K on the river so I lost. I got to leave work an hour early which was nice. The sub was covered in snow while I waited for the ferry back. It was strangely quiet before all hell would break loose a few hours later.

I walked home first to drop off stuff and later walked in to town past the American Hotel fountain.

I met friends for dinner at a Thai restaurant. Here are Gerrit, Mic and Nantko. Mic isn't really deranged, he just acts like it... I wish he'd keep his hands above the table in photos *grin*

Nantko, Danny, Torsten, Renate and Marjolein. Kees was sitting between me and Marjolein but he's not pictured.

Lambik.

By the time we walked to the pub, Rembrandt square had started filling up.

10 past midnight. People get on the streets to see the fireworks.

Which are always very good.

Somehow many people seem to be able to get their hands on professional stuff which I don't mind.

We always share the sidewalk with people from the gay bar next door. Very happy people :-)

I went for a quick walk around the block with Mic. But they had organised something on Rembrandt square and there was tons of coppers so it wasn't very adventurous like previous years. Amsterdam seems to be getting a little bit more boring every year. Thanks city council!

Laser light.

Nantko and Alex back in Mulligans.

Dick and Gerrit.

View towards the back around 2:30 just before they announced the last round.

ICs

There was a small line-up at Cibo this morning. I don't like that because my milk gets warm while I wait...

I took this photo at Victoria Square. Quite a nice building that I hadn't really noticed before.

On my way home I stopped by Dick Smith where I bought a few Integrated Circuits (ICs). The guy there told me Dick Smith is stopping sales of electronic components. They're clearing out already. Sad. Especially because Dick Smith started his chain of shops with idea of providing electronic components to ordinary people for hobby use. They don't sell much these though. If you hear a kid say his hobby is electronics, these days that means he owns a play station...

I designed this small circuit but I'm not sure if it will work. The idea is that if IC1's (=D flip flop) Q goes high, transistor T2 will conduct for a small amount of time until the complete voltage from Q stands over C1 which shuts down T1. When Q goes 'low', C1 would discharge.

Would this work? Feedback welcome.

The piano man

In the morning I walked back and found a very nice and very tasty surprise on my desk: My colleague Luke had bought me my favourite doughnut! Good karma for him and nice caramel for me! :-)

During lunch I went to Dick Smith again. It's probably not good to work so close to this place hehe. I bought chemicals to etch my own print boards. I'm sure you will see the results of that on my blog soon.

After work I met Nicole to do some late night shopping. We thought it would be nice but due to:
A) Shit quality kitchen equipment at Harris Scarfe and
B) Hundreds of very ugly teenagers that looked like they were just pulled out a swamp running around everywhere
it was a crappy experience. Not going shopping in Rundle mall at that time of day anymore...

Fortunately we also walked past this guy who put his piano on a little car and now he was playing it in the mall. It was very nice to see and hear. Judging by the amount of money people had given him we were not the only people who liked him.