catching up ...

Geeze,
We'd like to say that so much has been going on,
that we can't keep up with the blog.

The truth is just the opposite, not too much of note as been happening.

We are both just getting settled, well settled in Amsterdam!
Is it cold enough for you suckers in the midwest?

Just a quick list of the what what (in no order):

- I had a interview at W+K, went well, they want me to freelance.
One slight (BIG) problem, I'm not legal, and can't...

- Maureen is now legal, to live and work in The Netherlands.

- Celebrated Australia Day, on Friday the 27th, at Coco's Outback.
Not exactly sure what the celebration was all about, its Aussie's "Fourth of July".
Ran into our pal, Douglas, who we met at or favorite pub, Cafe Zool.
Small town...

Check out the place: http://www.cocosoutback.com/

Cafe Zool: http://www.cafezool.nl/

- Every restaurant or bar, has a cat. Guess why?

- Did our first "tourist" activity, went on a canal boat tour.
It was actually really great, well except for the annoying French couple, across from us.
We floated right by our "straat" and Maureen's work. What a feeling, this is where we live!

- We go to the market every Saturday. I hope for rain otherwise its packed.

- Watched the "Super Bowl" on Sunday, yes it is shown here, but on German TV.
Our thoughts go out to all the friends in Chicago. To our friends in Indiana, ah, who
has friends in Indiana?

- Have had some great food, and lousy service. Everything in the travel books is correct.
We've had Italian, Indonesian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, and yes, Dutch.

- Went to a coworker's birthday party, it was complete with a male stripper.
Stayed out until 5, these people know how to party.

- Today we saw our first snow fall, it melts instantly.

- Stores we've gone to:
Vroom & Dreesman (Called "V&D" by locals), which is like a Target I suppose.
De Bijenkorf (Called "The Beehive" by locals), which is Bloomingdale's,
meets Create+Barrel, meets Room+Board. With plenty of Design Within Reach thrown in.
So, basically it's Awesome!

- We have a washer/dryer, that I can't figure out, we have a Dutch manual, yeah that's helpful.
The operation, of the grill/microwave/oven "combi" unit, has been figured out, by Maureen,
English manuals are a good thing.

- Last Saturday was beautiful, in the 10's, for you back home, that would be the 50s.
Everyone, was out ...

- We've had absinthe, nice stuff, lets chop off an ear.

- There are great design shops everywhere.

- Dutch banking, is an experience.
We have bank cards, that you slide into a little reader.
You log in, online, type your pin in the card reader, then the website gives a code.
This code is then entered into the card reader, which gives you another code.
That code is then used on the website, and finally, the account can be viewed.
What fun!

- I know, I know, but what about all the museums, and culture?
There are too many damn tourists, on the weekends, and I'm afraid to go places alone.
Kidding, well sort of, the next entry should be filled with that culture stuff.

So there you have it, a bit of what's been going on, I guess maybe a lot is going on.

-Matthew, Maureen says hi, she's cooking, I'm lucky.