Harry's Blog

Tommetje might be leaving me

2011-11-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

Since January of this year I have this wonderful roommate: Tommetje.

For those who haven’t been to my place over the last year, let me introduce you to Tommetje.
Tommetje used to live with a friend till the end of 2010. The friend unfortunately died in November 2010 and Tommetje stayed in the apartment by himself for two months (someone did take care of him). The family of my friend couldn’t adopt Tommetje; allergies and other issues prevented that. So I volunteered and adopted Tommetje.

Tommetje, at that time called Tom, is a 20-year plus old cat. When I adopted him he looked not that good and -no one knew- he was deaf. I discovered that deafness because Tommetje didn’t respond to sound and I, at times, scared him when he didn’t see me coming.
Him being deaf meant that he couldn’t go and play outside. The road in front of my house would have been too dangerous.

Oeps, almost forgot: the change of name from Tom to Tommetje (for non-Dutch readers). The name (Tommetje: a very Dutch name) means as much as ‘little Tom’. It also is a way to express affection.

So, Tommetje came to my place in January. I bought additional food, started combing his fur and soon I had a shiny cat. He never really gained much weight, no reason to turn back to calling him Tom.

Tommetje was the third cat in my life. As a child we had a cat at home, when I studied cat number 2 came along and now Tommetje. It is amazing how quickly he became part of my life, how happy it made me when he meowed when I got home (deaf cats can really be loud!).

As I told you earlier, I was told that Tommetje was already 20 years old when he moved in with me. That is old but not uncommon for an indoor cat (info found on the web). So if that info is correct, Tommetje is now about 21. Unfortunately, his age is now catching up with him.

About a week ago Tommetje’s eating pattern changed. Nothing seemed to be the right food anymore. His dry food is completely out, canned food brand A is no longer OK after eating some of it and neither is brand B. The first piece of chicken breast is great, the second less so and the third is never even touched.
Sometimes it helps when I sit next to Tommetje and feed him little bits of food or brush him while he is eating. It is also good to see that he continues to drink water.

Tommetje is a cat that loves attention and purrs loudly to express his approval of being tickled under his chin or behind his ear. Tommetje also found his way onto my bed almost immediately after he moved in. He loves sleeping on top of the bed and as close as he can get.

About a week ago Tommetje suddenly couldn’t make the jump onto the bed anymore. Helping him up to the bed created an unexpected dilemma: Having him there is fun and the purring a pleasure. But after hearing him jump of the bed and hitting the floor badly –his legs can’t support him anymore- I decided not to have him on there anymore.

Cats have this special thing with where they sleep. They just pick a place and use if for months and then suddenly, one day, they find a new spot. Tommetje started of by occupying a spot under my bed. I made it more comfortable by adding a fleece blanket to the spot. A gesture Tommetje appreciated.

After moving to another spot, the blanket wasn’t wanted anymore and his latest ‘private’ area was just a corner in the room. My attempts to add the blanket to the corner, it is suddenly winter here in Pittsburgh, only resulted in Tommetje moving two feet away.

Last Sunday Tommetje decided to move once again. He is now sleeping in his litter box. I had cleaned the thing and filled it with new litter. Oh and don’t get me wrong, he is not sleeping in his bathroom, he peed outside of the box before he moved in.

This morning (Monday), after I waked him up. He stumbled out of the box to ‘explore’ the food I gave him. Watching him ‘walk’ the 4 feet from the box to his food is breaking my heart. Especially his hinter legs seem no longer be controlled by him.
Hearing him purr when I tickled him brought tears to my eyes.

After sniffling his food last evening Tommetje retired to his new bedroom. I did the same, that is, I got into bed. Tommetje woke me up at midnight meowing (deaf cats make sounds at a volume and tone that is eerie). He was sitting in his food corner wanting food. So I gave him fresh water and some food. He actually licked off the gravy from the food. After that he just sat there and attempts to get on his legs failed.

I have always liked walking around with a cat on my arm. So I picked Tommetje up and had him on my arm. He softly purred while I just walked around for half an hour.

This morning (Tuesday) Tommetje woke up when I got into the kitchen. His attempt to leave his bedroom failed. So I brought his water bowl to him. He drank some. He didn’t give any attention to the teaspoon with food I presented him.

During the day I walked around the house with him on my arm a few times. Tommetje always liked that, it made him purr loudly, like it did today, only softly.

In the evening Tommetje wasn’t interested in drinking water anymore.

This morning (Wednesday) at 8:30 Tommetje woke up with meow that sounded ‘tired’. Again I walked around with him in my arms. He purred but was hard to hear. And then let him rest on my desk, his tiny head on my arm.

Suddenly his, now so thin body shook and he made a noise indicating distress. I laid him back in his ‘bed’. He was in a deep sleep, a coma.

By 9am Tommetje was gone.

What a Day!!

2008-11-04T21:34:00.000-08:00

It is a bit after midnight. Both candidates have spoken: John McCain acknowledged his defeat in a very gracious way, Barack Obama spoke to the US people –including all- about what the future might bring.

‘Yes, we can’, has been his slogan, and I feel proud to be part of that ‘we’.

History was made today.

Election Day

2008-11-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

Finally it is November 4: Election Day. On this Election Day more people then ever are expected to vote. An image that not only brings positive excitement but also worries: long waiting lines and what if the voting machines malfunction?

So after checking the news on Google –long waiting lines where reported!- I left to check ‘our’ polling station at a quarter to eight in the morning. I drove to the nearby school looking for an entrance with a line of people in front of it. There was no such thing. So I parked my car and had another look. Then I found a door with some banners next to it. Interestingly enough all banners were for Republican candidates.

I walked over and looked inside. Registration was possible at three tables, all managed by five or six people. In terms of officials, one could argue there was a crowd. The four people who were in there to vote passed through the system quickly.
In the corridor the school was selling coffee and cookies, the revenues would benefit the school.

At ten I made another attempt, this time I drove to a nearby fire station. Again there is no waiting line but just a group of people chatting.

It probably won’t get exciting till very late tonight.

Obama in Pittsburg

2008-10-27T18:40:00.001-07:00

Biking for Pittsburgh’s birthday

2008-10-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

Pittsburgh is celebrating its 250th birthday this year. Throughout the year many activities have been scheduled to mark this event and today it was bicycle day.
A group of over 80 people left Washington DC a week ago to ride along the C&O Canal Towpath and the Great Allegheny Passage, a 335-mile long bicycle and hiking path. At its highest point, the trail is 1900 feet above sea level; Pittsburgh is only 800 feet above. The group was scheduled to arrive in Pittsburgh at 2pm today.
A second group, professional bicyclists, left Washington only 24 hours before for a relay race to Pittsburgh.

All of this was enough reason for me to get onto my bicycle and ride into town as well. Riding a bicycle here, on the ‘regular’ roads is a bit of a challenge. The roads were not made to also accommodate bicycles and most car drivers are not expecting anyone on a bicycle. Most drivers will, when confronted with a biker, do everything to make sure the biker is OK. But every now and then, there is someone who is strong about the idea that ‘bicycles do not belong on the road’. Today one of those tried to use his car as a means to tell me this. Luckily he missed.

The real challenge for me is, even after a season of riding my bike here, to get up the hills. As I said, the roads were made for cars and it is amazing what cars can do in terms of climbing hills.
Once I was across the river –the city of Pittsburgh is built in the fork of two rivers- things became easier. From the on it was just a matter of flowing the river towards downtown.

Everyone who wanted to be part of the ‘official’ bicycling fun; could ride along with the two groups from Washington for the last mile. When I rode towards that starting point, the whole group of bicyclists came towards me, racing to be the first one to reach the finish line.

After spending some time in the park, there will be festivities there for the rest of the day, I rode back home. We must live several hundred feet above Pittsburgh level, here in the North Hills.

Fundraisers

2008-08-25T19:06:00.001-07:00

A common practice here is to organize, and attend, fundraisers. The many good causes are in constant need of money and neither government (at any level) nor the foundations can fund them all. Therefore there are fundraisers.

Although I haven’t asked anyone to do so, I have been added to many mailing lists and have been invited to attend many of these events. My lack of funds has prevented me from attaining too may but I did go to two events in the last few weeks: ‘A night at the Tropics’, the fundraiser of the Aviary and the party of the Sprout Fund called ‘Hothouse’. And I am involved in organizing the fundraiser for the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors (PCIV for short), an event called ‘The 2008 International Bridge awards’.

From this, limited, experience, I have learned that each fundraiser has its own character. The event at the Aviary was a pleasant summer evening gathering giving many people (grown-ups) an opportunity to enjoy the birds, taste some good food from well known restaurants in the city and enjoy some (what else could it be on a tropical night, reggae) music. A relaxed night, as one would expect.
The Sprout Fund’s Hothouse was a different game: a party with about two thousand, mainly young, people. And yes, it was hot (I mean the temperature was high but I would not be surprised if many of the other party-goers would call it the same but mean something different).

PCIV’s fundraiser will be of a different kind. The event is meant to connect local corporations with representatives of many countries around the world. These representatives are either working for the State of Pennsylvania or Embassies/Consulates. It will be a truly international event and mainly a great networking opportunity for all attending the evening.

Elections and Hockey

2008-06-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

When I arrived home last night and turned on the television –CNN-, I saw Obama give his speech after the results of the last Primaries became known. His speech was a remarkable one; he praised Clinton and McCain, emphasized that this country is not a country of Republicans and Democrats but of Americans. Of course he revisited the main Democratic topics (economy, health care, the image of the US outside the US, the war in Iraq and he emphasized his ‘the need for change’ issue.
He chose his words well and his timing was excellent.
All of that would make the speech good or even interesting. It became remarkable because he apparently has this ‘magic’ skill to make a speech more then just the speech.

The event last night took place in the venue where later this year the Republican Party will have its convention: a huge hall. The 17,000 people that filled the place last night were obviously thrilled by what they heard and saw: they repeated the Obama slogan ‘Yes we can!’ over and over again.
And according to CNN another 15,000 people had gathered outside of the building.

So since last night, according to everyone but one –Hillary-, the US now has a Democratic nominee for the Presidency of the country. Something that could just be seen as part of the process: the two main parties always have a nominee for the highest office. The nomination of Obama is different though: him being the first African-American nominee for one of the two main Parties

The importance of this became somewhat clear to me when I watched and listened to the people in the CNN studio commenting on the speech. All of them, Afro-American or not, seemed deeply touched by the fact that the ‘unthinkable’ happened: Obama, an African-American is the Democratic nominee.

All of this is happening while Pittsburgh is fully invested in something completely different: the Hockey finals. Tonight the sixth game against Detroit will be played. Pittsburgh won the last game in the third overtime and is therefore still in the race (they were 3-1 behind, now it is 3-2). So again they have to win to force these finals into the last and seventh game.
For all the Penguin fans, that is for everyone from the Pittsburgh area –not being a fan is not an option if you live here-, another night full of tension is coming up!

Black Nights, Penguins & Cicadas

2008-05-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

Just for those who haven’t found this hilarious column on the internet yet: Dana Milbank of the Washington Post compares Hilary Clinton’s campaign with sketches of Monty. Read the last column at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051902369.html

Back to the real important stuff: Penguins and Cicadas.

For those who do not live in the USA: the Penguins are the Pittsburgh Hockey Team. They, last week, won the play-offs in their League (defeating the Philadelphia team, their long time rivals), which means they will now play a last series of games for the national championship. The winner in the other league is the team of Detroit.
So, starting tomorrow, Sunday, the last series of seven games will start. That is if the series last that long (so far the Penguins didn’t need more then five games to win four (out of seven). For Penguin fans that can’t make it to Detroit (or more likely: who were not able to get a ticket), the stadium here in town will be open. For $5* they can watch the game on screen there (* I considered to write just or only $5, an American way to indicate it is a deal one can’t refuse ☺).

This weekend the temperature in this region will likely go up to 80 degrees or more (270 C). This, apparently, is a sign for an insect, a variety of the Cicadas, to emerge from the soil and have their two-week mating season.
Nothing special, one would think. But the males make a lot of noise (enough to be heard at a quarter mile (400m) distance) and they happen to be with millions.
But the really amazing thing is that the nymphs have been in the soil for 17 years and that, one wonders how this knowledge came about, this years Cicadas group, will be really huge.
For all you always wanted to know about Cicadas, but were aafraid to ask, please visit: http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/ or see Wikipedia.

One more thing! It is almost June, which means that the 2008 European Championships Soccer will start soon. With my friend Jean Pierre Collet, the Honorary Consul of France, I have organized a very European thing to do: watch the finals in a pub. All information can be found at: http://www.pitt2008soccer.com/.

Queen's Day

2008-05-01T12:18:00.001-07:00

The Orange-craziness, the celebration of Queen’s Day, has found its way to Pittsburgh. Last night a group of about 30 Dutch, and a few other internationals, gathered at the Church Brew (a former church turned into a brewery, bar and restaurant.

The Pittsburgh universities attract many foreigners, including Dutch. Especially the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and the Tepper Business School of the Carnegie Mellon University seem to be popular. As one of the Dutch students at UPMC told me, the research opportunities here are way beyond what is possible in the Netherlands.
But it is not only students who are connected to these schools. Yesterday we had researchers, a Visiting Professor and even administrative people attending.

The evening brought a lot of fun, discussions and good intensions to keep the Dutch community in Pittsburgh alive. Something, that really would help making that last thing happen, is if the Dutch would make it into the final of the European soccer championship this summer. It would help making the afternoon of Sunday, June 29 into another great party!

Bach and Peace

2008-03-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

Over the last week, or better ten days, I have witnessed two events here in Pittsburgh that make me smile and feel at home.

First, on Good Friday, I visited the Calvary Episcopal Church in the evening, to listen to J.S. Bach’s ‘Saint Matthew Passion’. Over the last decade listening to this extraordinary peace of music has become a tradition for me (like so many in the Netherlands). I was therefore surprised and happy when I saw an announcement in the local newspaper (I must have missed it last year).
The performance was really good; a great orchestra (the Chatham Baroque Orchestra) and the deliberate choice by he organizer to sing the passion in German (with the exception of some Chorales, so people could sing along) really helped making it into a success. Of course there was something to wish for (the pronunciation of German of some of the soloist good be better), but it never got in the way of being able to enjoy the evening (and to be quiet honest: if I listen to a perfect version of the Aria ‘Erbarme Dich’, I always cry. I don’t mind that didn’t happen that evening).

The second event took place yesterday: There was a real Peace Protest in a park here in town. A Peace Protest with a march, banners, many speeches and protest songs. Now before all of you get the wrong image: my last Peace Protest was a long time ago and the issue at the time was: ‘We don’t want Cruise Missiles’. That event brought thousands of people together in The Hague. Yesterday Peace Protest was of a smaller scale: the newspaper estimated that five hundred people were there.
But the smaller scale didn’t prevent it from being just as I remembered these events to be:
There were too many speeches (after the first one, nothing new was said, but still about another ten people spoke).
The suggested solutions to the problem are still as simple as they ever were: NO + STOP.
If the local singer-song-writer hadn’t explained what he was trying to express with his song, I would never have known (in the past I always thought it was my limited understanding of English that prevented me from understanding the song).
The gathered, mostly young people had no problem with what was presented as the official program, they entertained themselves. Once again the image of young men and women sitting on the grass, chatting, was one of great Peace. Or as an older participant mentioned: In our time the slogan was ‘Make Love, not War’.

A next time I will explain how I got in the park and what that has to do with ZaZen.

Pennsylvania Primaries

2008-03-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

Suddenly it is as if Pennsylvania is the center of the universe. Or at least it seems to be the center of the Democratic Primaries universe. Last Saturday the local newspaper, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette opened with a half page picture of Hillary Clinton accompanied by the Governor, the County Executive and the Mayor at a campaign meeting here in town the night before. At least it is clear that the Democratic establishment of this state is supporting Clinton as a candidate.

Obama hasn’t been as visible yet. Which does not mean his campaign organization isn’t active; my email box is filled with invitations to join his support team. Interestingly enough these invitations come, by large, from people I have met during the time I was involved in the mayoral election here in town. They, like me, were at that time on the Republican side. The common denominator then and now is change: getting away from politics as politics have been here for ages.

Of course the results of the primaries here will not change the outcome of this long and complicated process of electing a nominee for the Democrats. The outcome will be somewhere in the 60-40 range (for either of the candidates) which means that the current division of delegates won’t change much. Which means that in the end, at the convention, the so-called Super Delegates will be the ones making a decision.

But something has changed, an issue that was carefully left out of the campaigns suddenly is in the center of it all: race. It started with some remarks by a staff member in the Clinton camp. The lady made some un-clever remarks and had the leave the campaign team.
And then, over the last week, the –now retired- minister of the church of which Obama is a member became the center of attention on You-Tube and on all major news shows. This minister has made remarks –over the last decade or so- of a non-patriotic and sometimes even racist kind.
Which leads to questions like: ‘Why did Obama not leave this church if he knew about these remarks?’.

Obama answered these questions on March 18 in a speech called ‘A more perfect union’, held in Philadelphia. Earlier in the campaign Obama was accused of ‘just using words’, not having the experience to make decisions.
The press and others have received this speech as a very good one.

In the mean time something is happening for which the Dutch have this saying (there must be an American equivalent, I am sure): ‘When two dogs fight for a bone, the third dog will run off with it’. The Republican candidate, Mr. McCain, is now leading in national polls.

Caucuses in Iowa

2008-01-04T08:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was yet another special day for a newcomer like me: caucuses in Iowa.

Like most I knew this phenomenon has to do with both of the main political parties, Republicans (or the GOP=Grand Old Party) and Democrats, deciding who is going to be their candidate for the presidential elections in November of this year. A process involving all 50 states: each of these states organizes a form of elections resulting in an indication of how the delegates later this year will vote at the Conventions of both parties.

The key word in this last sentence is ‘indication’. The outcome of these elections does not allocate the delegates, the serve as indicators. But my guess is that the Iowa delegates will stay close to the results of yesterday: there will be 95 of them and on a population of only 3,5 million, it won’t be hard to find if they don’t.

Explained this way, the elections yesterday were, well, just elections. What made them special was the form of these elections: they were caucuses. Caucus is the Algonquin (a Native American People) word for council. So what happened yesterday is that at 8pm, at 3,560 locations (1,780 for each of the parties), people got together for the elections. And interestingly enough, what happened at these Caucuses was different for Republicans and Democrats.

The Republicans just voted. They voted just as one would expect it to be: each voter had a piece of paper, he or she ticked of the preferred candidate and the votes were counted. These numbers were then collected and the results were made public. And here he was, Mr. Huckabee, winner with 34% of the votes.

In the 1,780 Democratic locations a completely different process happened. CNN (I tried to watch both CNN and Fox News) had chosen to be in a school in Des Moines and in some ones living room in Persia. The Persia crowd was just 59 people big, which really made the whole thing clear.
This is how it works:
• Each candidate gets a corner (or other area) assigned in the room;
• The voters go to that part of the room representing their favorite candidate;
• The number of voters per candidate is counted;
• Those candidates who got less then 15% of the voters are then taken out;
• And their voters have to then give their vote to one of the remaining candidates;
• Again the votes are counted and percentages are calculated;
• The percentages are then collected and made public.

Given the complexity of the Democratic process I expected their results to be late in the evening. But no, even today’s newspaper publishes the results after 99% of the Democratic votes are counted for, while the Republican numbers only represent 86% of the voters. The more ‘straight forward’ Republican process makes that the counted votes plus the predictions from the polls, make the projected end results very reliable.

The Caucuses are a method only used in 14 of the 50 states. All other states organize their Primaries in a more conventional way: people go and vote during the day.

Watching the elections yesterday was really like watching to different universes: the Democratic and the Republican one. In the Democratic universe issues like healthcare, education, poverty-reduction (and ending the war) are the main topics. And the voters seem to judge the candidates by their ability to become the wanted change agent.
On the Republican side the first and foremost important issue is: is this candidate’s religious (Christian) signature close to mine. And secondly it is about issues like honesty, experience.

And the winners are Obama and Huckebee. Or is it democracy: almost twice as many people came out to participate in the Caucuses then ever before.

But all of this was yesterday. Today all focus has shifted to the next state, New Hampshire. Caucuses there will be held next Tuesday.

Jamboree Hills - The Philippines

2007-12-31T06:34:00.000-08:00

The last day of the year brought me some great news from the Philippines. In the last few weeks there I helped preparing an area where house would be built for families who, at that time, lived in illegal houses on the river in Carascal (a small town on Mindanao). It was hard work and it resulted in some real trouble for me: I couldn’t walk straight up for weeks.

After I left I learned that money, promised to the project, didn’t arrive (priorities in the months before the elections changes rapidly!). As a result of that, not much progress was made at the time.

Since then it has been quiet, but today I received photographs of the first 10 houses. Ten families have spent their first Christmas on Jamboree Hills. What a great project!

A little plastic card

2007-08-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

This morning it was there: a little card with the title “Permanent Resident Card”.

So we are now planning a visit to the Netherlands. There is so much to do: sorting out my belongings on that storage room, meeting with family and friends, enjoying Dutch rain.

It will be Annette’s second visit to the country, which makes her a bit nervous. But she will arrive prepared; she has found web sites that tell her everything there is to know about the Dutch.

Resident?

2007-07-30T12:15:00.001-07:00

This morning Annette and I went to the Homeland Security Office here in Pittsburgh. We were invited there to have our Official Interview as part of the process of me becoming a Legal Resident.

Our lawyer had prepared us for the worst: though questions to ‘prove’ we had deliberately broken the laws (getting into the US as a tourist with the intentions to stay, getting married without having an actual relationship). And she had given us a list of documents to bring along and ideas for how we could prepare ourselves (which dates to remember, what facts to get straight and so forth).

And all of this for a 30 minutes interview.

An interview that was that difficult but had its moments (who of the two of you approached the other first when you met 10 years ago, when did your relationship turn into a romantic one).
We feel the photographs of our marriage day, we brought along, really did it. The lady that interviewed us looked carefully at each picture, asked who other people in the pictures were.

And after 30 minutes it was done. So we asked about the next steps, how much time it would take. And she said she would pass the file over to her supervisor with remark that she thought the case was OK. And time wise, well she thinks it should be all done within six weeks.

So ate the latest in six weeks from now, I will have my Green Card!

And then, in three years from now (or even less because the start counting from the day I applied for the Green Card), I can apply for Citizenship.

A political campaign!

2007-07-20T06:15:00.000-07:00

In February I met someone called Mark DeSantis. He is one of the many people I spoke with because of my attempt to create my personal network here in town. This because the generally accepted rule is that a job can only be found through the network.

So I met Mark DeSantis on February 28. He is the CEO of a consulting firm called Angle Technologies. We spoke about his firm and if there might be opportunities for me to work for them. And, like with all others I have meet, I spoke with him about the reasons why I am here, what I thought about Pittsburgh and about Pittsburgh’s future

The next time I heard about Mark was when the local newspaper announced that the Republicans were considering him as their candidate to run for mayor in Pittsburgh. And, because that is what the networking rules tell me to do, I sent him an email. And again it was from the newspaper that I learned he did succeed in the primaries in May: Mark would run for mayor.

Pittsburgh has been a ‘Democratic City’ for many decades. It’s industrial history makes that easy to understand. And the last time someone form the Republicans actually made some sort of impact (which did not mean win) was forty years ago. And the results of the last mayoral elections showed that four to five times as many people voted Democrat then Republican. And among the registered voters the balance is more or less the same: it is a five to one situation.

The financial situation of the City is horrible, it has a huge debt and the city’s pension fund has a huge shortage. And year after year people and businesses have been leaving the city. Some say that happens because taxes in the suburban areas are lower. This trend of course leads to lower revenues for the city. In short, the city finances are in a downward spiral. The situation is so problematic that several years ago the state took control over the city’s finances.

A week ago, on Thursday, my phone rang. It was Mark and he told me he had a job for me. It was at least a half-time assignment, but maybe even full-time. ‘That was the good news’, he said. The bad news was: ‘there is no money to pay me’.
‘Would I be interested to be part of his campaign team?’, he asked me. ‘I need someone in the role of, lets say COO’.

Because I do have the time, it would change my networking activities (suddenly people come to me and I have access to people I would otherwise never meet), I said yes. And in the week that followed I learned a lot about local politics Pittsburgh style.

If you’re interested to learn about the campaign here in Pittsburgh, these are the websites of both candidates:
http://www.desantisformayor.com
http://lukeformayor.com
By the way, Mark’s opponent is Luke Ravenstahl, the current mayor.

A barbeque day

2007-07-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, July 4th, I will experience my first Independence Day here in the US. This day is, like other holidays, a day on which family gets together. The tradition within the Santella family rules that on the 4th of July, everyone will come and visit us.

Which brings me to one of the other ‘traditions’ in this country: outside cooking or the importance of the barbeque.
Annette has had this twenty-year-old barbeque standing under her porch, one that works on gas, like all others. The thing doesn’t do its job very well and certainly gives the impression it is better qualified as a bomb than as a barbeque.

So, Annette has been considering to replace the thing with a new one since she moved to this place. But it just never happened.
But last Saturday we got into a car to do some proper market research. We visited five or six stores to have a look at the barbeques they offer. Some of these things are as large as a professional kitchen. And there is no limit on how much money one can spent on this essential piece of equipment: essential to ‘entertain family and friends’ as all the adds say.

After about three hours of looking at barbeques we drove back home. We agreed that the next day we would either go to Target or to Wall Mart (both large department stores). We went to Wall Mart the next day.
The box filled with bits and pieces of the barbeque to be was about a third of the volume of the barbeque itself, and heavy. But with the help of the manual I managed to get the thing together in about two and a half hours.

So we are all set to participate in a proper celebration of the 4th of July.

Politics

2007-06-23T12:39:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday I will attend a meeting during which the Republican candidate for the position of mayor of Pittsburgh will start hi campaign. This is a late start, as my American readers will recognize. And yes it is; he became the official and only republican candidate only days before the elections in May. And by doing so prevented the elections in November to become a complete farce with only the Democratic candidate being in the race.

For many the Dutch political system with its many parties seems difficult. But having been away from it for a while made me realize it is simple. You either find the party that matches all of your own ideas, or you just start a party of your own. This over time resulted in currently having at least three parties calling themselves socialist parties, at least two that claim to be liberal, two being conservative (some stronger qualifications do come to my mind, but that’s isn’t the point here) and several parties base their politics on their particular form of (Christian) religion. And then there is this one party which main focus is on the wellbeing of animals. Enough choice, I would say. And if not, as said, anyone is free to start something new.

Here in the US the choice seems so much easier. You are either a Republican or a Democrat (it is really seen as a state of being!). Which leads to very hard times for candidates for the presidency; as is shown by Giuliani whenever the abortion topic surfaces or when Clinton explains why she voted in favor of the war in Iraq. To me, life seems to complex to just have two views on it. And the reality in all political bodies here seems to acknowledge that too: almost always, new legislation is a result of a coalition formed by members of both parties. It is a truly dynamic system.

On a smaller scale the same complexity seems to be true here in town. Early this year I met Mark DeSantis, the now Republican candidate. Not because of his being a Republican but because he manages the consulting branch of an international firm. And during our meeting we also spoke about Pittsburgh and its future. And his ideas sounded far more progressive then anything the local newspaper reports about the plans of the current, Democratic, mayor and candidate for a next term.

The etiquette of ‘networking’ says that you have to stay in touch with the people you have met. So when Mark’s name showed up in the paper, I sent him an email to congratulate him with his candidacy. Which resulted in being invited for this meeting on Tuesday. It will surely give an opportunity to meet people I haven’t met before.

Short messages

2007-06-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

The days and weeks go by at a speed that I just find unbelievable. The continuous stream of new people that I meet, the new insight that I get from them makes my quest to get to know this town –and in the process find a job- an intensive and wonderful experience.
The new impressions are far too many to keep track off and record here in my blog. And sometimes the topic deserves more then just being mentioned, but then I would end up being a writer. For now I will stick to just mentioning things.

Pittsburgh was, for many decades, the steel industry center of the world. And the people who started the businesses in that, and related, fields at the end of the 19th century became very, very rich. Many of them created foundations that still exist and continue to support organizations of various kinds, from arts to welfare, from sports to technology transfer.
As I understand it, the amount of dollars spent by foundations per capita in Pittsburgh, is among the highest in the USA. Which makes this city stand out as one of the theater and arts rich places. And the Carnegie libraries in the city and the region are just unbelievable: huge collections of books, access to lots and lots of information in all sorts of databases and everything is for free.

Since a few weeks the weather has changed. From snow and freezing we are now enjoying summer like days with temperatures in the eighties (about 30 degrees centigrade). And every week we have a thunderstorm; loud and with lots of rain.

In the last week the Dutch government finally solved a problem that had been around for many years: tens of thousands of immigrants without a status who have been in the country for many years can finally stay. At the same time the process to create a law to legalize the millions of illegal immigrants here in the US failed.

The price of gasoline always rises at the beginning of the summer in the US. By large because people use more gas because the vacation season has started. The price of a gallon is now just over $3,- per gallon. The general opinion is that this price is shockingly high. I wonder what would happen if the price would reach European levels (over $7,- per gallon).

The Pittsburgh Arts Festival started a week ago. Which means that all over downtown Pittsburgh there are places where you can see, hear or buy arts. And in the center of this is a pop-festival area.

Speech-Generating Devices

2007-05-18T17:06:00.001-07:00

In the last two weeks I had the pleasure to work for an organization called DynaVox Technologies. They are developing a next generation of a device that help people how can’t talk (physically can’t) to communicate. For more info on what their computer based system does, please have a look at:
http://www.dynavoxtech.com/
And go to the entry on that page that talks about augmentative communication.

I was asked to have a look at the Dutch translations of the software and manuals. Not because they thought the translations wouldn’t be good (they were) but because the translations were made on paper and not in conjunction with the application.

It was a ‘different’ experience. Reading manuals, looking at the program as systematically as I could. And in the mean time getting more and more impressed by what that machine does. And, as a result of that, by what not having the ability to speak means. I won’t say much about it, but it must be very hard. And therefore it is good that these systems, Speech-Generating Devices, exist.

Hospital Hamburger

2007-05-01T15:55:00.001-07:00

This morning (it is May 1st) I woke up at 5 and at 6 I just had to get up, the starting day was just too bright! And the moment I was out of bed the phone rang. I was irritated because 6 in the morning is not a time anyone should call. And when I took up, it was someone from the nursing home where aunt Lena lives.

Aunt Lena is an eighty-year old lady who has a bit of trouble with her memory. And she is the sister of Annette’s mother (the last one passed away a few years ago.
Aunt Lena is one of my favorites here. She is always cheerful and she is funny. And she is so good in asking the same questions over and over again whenever we meet. And at the same time she knows exactly who I am and where I fit in (married to Annette). But then again, she carefully stays away from the difficult issue of not remembering my name: she just calls me sweetheart or sweetie.

The phone call was to inform us that they had found aunt Lena on the floor of her bathroom. Apparently she had fallen en had a wound on her forehead. The wound needed a few stitches but apart from that Lena was fine. And, so I was told, Lena did know she had fallen but was very sure that it happened a week ago. I asked if she had broken anything, but no.
For me that was it. I just thought I would go and visit later during the day. But when I told Annette –she did wake up from the call- she explained to me that the nursing home had to sent aunt Lane to a hospital (liability issue!).
So Annette started making phone calls and finally called her sister, who is the CFO of the organization of which the nursing home is a part. Which very soon resulted in her sister calling back to tell that yes, aunt Lena was in the hospital but would be on her way back soon. So there was nothing to worry about. And with Annette, I returned to my plan to go and visit aunt Lena later during the day.

At about 10 Annette’s sister was on the phone again. This time she called to tell that aunt Lena had to stay in the hospital at least a couple of days. And that her condition was not as good as previously thought; aunt Lena had broken the bone under her left eye.

So I got into my car (I am the proud owner of a real Pontiac since last weekend) and drove to the hospital. I found aunt Lena somewhere in the emergency room. And she looked as if she had been in a boxing fight. The left side of her face, and especially her eye, was swollen and dark red. And her left knee was twice as thick as her right one.
But aunt Lena was cheerful as ever. And she was surprised about the whole situation: why was she on a bed in the ER where no one was interested in her. And no, her doctor had not come by.

It took another two hours before a bed was found somewhere in the hospital. But luckily enough someone brought her a lunch (it was not their fault she didn’t like it). And then someone came by with a wheelchair to bring her to the 8th floor. A young Chinese nurse helped her to get into a hospital pajama and then into bed. And she did a series of tests.

She left us only to return after five minutes to inform us that aunt Lena should have assigned to a room in which they have monitoring facilities. Aunt Lena didn’t understand what they would want to monitor and to be quite honest: I didn’t either. But I did start to feel very uncomfortable; apparently aunt Lena did have more trouble from her fall then I knew about and, even worse, then the friendly Chinese nurse Ling knew about.

So we were going through another waiting period and, surprise, another lunch. This time aunt Lena was served a real Hamburger! I was informed that she loves hamburgers, but not this one.

The new bed, the new room was finally available at 3 pm. By that time Annette had arrived; she became somewhat pale when she saw the face of her aunt.

The new room came with a new surprise: another patient who, for whatever reason, was screaming for help all the time. The staff promised to move aunt Lena again before the night.

Emio Greco

2007-04-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

Emio Greco, a Dutch dance company, performed in Pittsburgh last night. The title of the performance is Hell. Two hours of modern dance in which movement, sound and light came together in a wonderful and very well orchestrated way.

Hell is a beautiful performance, and it is frightening. Frightening because it is filed with images (emotions) of the sadness, the hopelessness and the endless repetition. All images one might have about Hell.

I had a great evening; enjoying this intense form of dance. I did miss the intimacy of the Dutch theaters I used to visit (like Theater a/h Spui or Korzo Theater). But the performance was just terrific.

And afterwards I had a chance to say hello to Pieter Scholten, one of the directors of the company. We spoke for a minute about the differences in audiences around the world. An example: the audience here had to be warned up front that the dance included nudity.

Inviting Emio Greco to Pittsburgh was therefore not something without a risk. Thus a hurray is in place for the Pittsburgh Dance Council!

Work Permit

2007-04-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I received four (4!) emails from the Department of Homeland Security. All of them contained the same message: my application for a Work Permit has been approved. The rest of the information in the emails is a bit confusing, it talks about plastic cards that need to be produced, letters that will tell me what to do next and so forth. But the essence is, I am allowed to work here (right away or in a while).

The Work Permit is not the same as the Green Card. The Green Card will make me an official resident here. If I remember well that document won’t arrive before the summer. And to obtain it Annette and I will have to go for an interview. That interview is, if I understand it correctly, aimed at determining if our relationship is genuine or just a trick to get me into the USA.

And, things do occasionally move fast here, in the mail I actually found my work permit; a plastic card with my picture and fingerprint on it. And with the necessary papers to make sure I can apply for a new one when this card expires (in 2008).

This means it is party time at 202 Sunnyfield Drive tonight!

Postcards from the Hoorneboeg

2007-03-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

About ten years ago a group of KPMG colleagues started to get together twice a year. The group did change a bit over time: two people dropped out early on, some others joined over time. And because people made career moves, the group was no longer a KPMG thing.

The set up of the meeting always have been simple: it starts on a Thursday at about 6 pm and it ends op Friday at 4 or 5 pm. There has not been an agenda (only the first time we had something like that), but just checking in on Thursday always resulted in one or two shared topics to reflect on during the Friday.

Over the years we had the opportunity to get to know each other, to become the witness of the lives of the others. And the meetings became like an oasis of warmth and trust, moments in time each one looked forward to.

My move to the USA made me leave this group. But because I knew when they were meeting (two weeks ago), my thoughts were with them at the time.
And yesterday I received mail from the Netherlands, an envelope with eight postcards from those who attended the meeting at the Hoorneboeg.

I translated what was written on the cards for Annette. And while I did so I felt happy and sad: happy to have such wonderful friends, sad to be so far away.
I love you guys!!

Bong Hits 4 Jesus

2007-03-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Court of the USA is engaged in a process in which a small sentence has the center stage:
“Bong Hits 4 Jesus”
Now don’t worry if this sentence doesn’t make any sense to you at all; no one knows (which probably even includes the person who wrote it.

The story behind must have escaped form a television comedy, it is just too bizarre to be true. In 2002 an 18n year old high school student showed this sentence on a banner standing on the street opposite of his school. The principal of the school (the principal must have special powers) immediately understood the importance and danger of this four-word sentence: he confiscated the banner and sent the student away for teen days. The principal’s argument: “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” is a pro-drug slogan that would disrupt the educational experience at the school.

The student took legal actions against thee school and the principal. And after some back and forth it is now up to the Supreme Court to make a decision. And believe it or not, this is a case about fundamentals of this country. It is about the freedom of speech (the freedom to express fundamental values) versus right of schools to pursue their educational mission.

But that leaves bystanders like me wondering what it means: “Bong Hits 4 Jesus”. And what if you change that into: “Bong Hits 4 Bush” or “Bush Hits 4 Pelosi”. It sounds weird, but I don’t think that will change after smoking some pot.