october 2001 archives

Tuesday, October 30, 2001

I will attend the meeting of the working group on routeplanners of the Netherlands Cartographic Society in Enschede on the 22nd of November. I am a corresponding member, but it becomes more and more important to have a scientific background for the work I am doing at Multimap.com. An interesting development is the release of the online cycle planner at Holland - Official website of the Netherlands Board of Tourism. Twice a month in the Netherlands!

Sunday, October 28, 2001

Long time no see! Yesterday we saw the film “The Man Who Wasn't There” by the Coen brothers, like the film Fargo I saw at the NFT a few months ago. Frances McDormand, who plays Marge Gunderson, the the police woman from Brainerd in “Fargo”, now plays the role of Doris Crane. Took me a long while to figure out where I saw here before, but then it suddenly dawned upon me. Very good film: hurray for the Coen brothers! Next weekend I'll be in the Netherlands! I am very much looking forward to see my friends and family. It has been a very long time, but I'll be going to Enschede as well. Have been thinking about the place a lot lately. These days I get out of London a lot more. Driving around the countryside, the landscape reminds me a lot of Twente somehow, especially the area east and north of Enschede, towards Oldenzaal. Maybe the area to settle eventually? No idea...

Friday, October 19, 2001

The usability guru Jakob Nielsen published an interesting report a few months ago on Store Finder applications on the Internet: “usability guidelines for store finders and location finders” and wrote an article about this as well. In his latest article “The End of Homemade Websites” he writes:

There are already many examples of site-enhancing services that are hosted offsite. The first example was probably the affiliate program, which lets any site use Amazon or B&N to fulfill orders for books it reviews or recommends. Other examples include: mailing lists hosted on third-party servers; offsite search engines, which free the webmaster from having to install and maintain the specialized software; and syndicated content, such as live stock-quote tickers. Another classic example of a hosted Web service is providing maps and directions: A company can link to a third-party mapping service to give users directions to company locations from any address. Unfortunately, such generalized maps often don't follow the usability guidelines for store finders and location finders, so it is usually best for a company to have its own graphic designers draw the static maps showing each branch location. However, arbitrary directions cannot be pre-drawn and must be outsourced to a generic mapping service.

Well, this really gives some foo for thought, I would say! Have a nice weekend!

Sober again. Actually intended to write some more interesting things last time, but I thought it better not to. Last weekend I met up again with Tal and Gilat. They were visiting family in London. We went for a nice lunch in Hampstead and had a nice walk over the Heath. Very beautiful views over London. Definitely worth another visit! Last night I went to see the film “Amores Perros” at last. The film has been out for such a long time, but never got to see it. It was freezing cold in the cinema and the film took ages. Maybe because of the cold it seemed to, but it was very nice. It reminded me very much of my time in Mexico City: “Ricos tamales, oaxaquenos”. “Hollandse nieuwe! Gerookte, gekookte, gebakken vis...!”

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

AbsInsth, Absinth, absinth, absinth, absinst, Abstinth. I reckon I am too much induced at the mo. One of the very few mind-intoxicating drugs (well, aren't they all?) illegal in the Netherlands. Just drank my first one tonight in Covent Garden after an evening meal with one of our clients (talking shop here!). Yep, it's gonna be archived and yes indeed it can be held against me, I know. Who cares? Fortunately there is an edit function in Blogger so I might take it off when I will be in a more sensible state eventually. So get the scoop now before it disappears...

Tuesday, October 09, 2001

First anniversary @ Multimap! Already for one year I am a working person. Incredible. Learned a lot this year. In my presentation this morning I have finally been able to touch on a GIS topic. One day I might even move into cartography? We'll see. Having a good time here with them with lots of exciting opportunities and challenges... Sounds like a cheap TV ad. Sorry about that.

Had such a weird experience. On my way home I took up a copy of the Guardian. The TV guide had a small review about tonight's TV film "Gas attack" at Channel 4. Just after this programme had finished I switched to BBC1 10 o'clock news: Antrax attack in Boca Raton, Florida. What is reality? Reminds me... Two weeks ago I met Sybille at Tottenham Court Road. What coincidence! We first met in Mazunte, Mexico. She's a Swiss girl studying Architecture. At the time she was not sure about persuing her education in the UK. As I left Mazunte very early on Monday morning, I did not want to wake her up to ask her e-mail address. Hey, and life just goes on. So in this multi-million city of all people I met her again. And you think this was all? Well, Sunday morning I buy tickets at Clapham South tube station. All of a sudden I see a familiar face, but I think to myself: "This can't be true!". It was, though. There he was: Andy. Met him in Mazunte as well. He stayed at the same "hostel" at the beach where I also met Sybille. He's a laywer practicing at Gray's Inn. He lives in Hampstead, but was at a party in Clapham on Saturday night. Is there a deeper meaning to this as Rachel, my new flat mate, wants me to believe?

Monday, October 08, 2001

Had my old folks over for the weekend. Was really good to see them again. We had a great time together. On Friday they went to see Chelsea by themselves without getting lost! Had a great meal together at "Auberge" just off Oxford Street. On Saturday we went to Windsor and visited the Castle there. Was very beautiful. Went for a pub lunch at 3.30pm and then headed back to Clapham. They left Sunday morning after I served them a "Mexican-style" breakfast.

"It's the end of the world as we know it." Many people must have thought the same thing recently. The "Current Situation" is just something no one in my generation has experienced before. It is all just so surreal. I have tried to keep up my map reviews with the news. However, I still cannot access my Web site. It's up after the server got hacked a few weeks ago... Just keep writing anyway and hope to publish them all in one go. Trouw added some new graphics about Afganistan... That's the new theatre of war. Just cannot believe it. There is just nothing to bomb there. The Russians already took care of that!

Thursday, October 04, 2001

Well, it's my first anniversary today: I am one year in the UK! A moment to reflect upon it? Not really. Life goes on... If you are really interested in what has changed in the last year, have a look at my weblog entries for october last year. This afternoon my parents are arriving in London. Looking forward to the weekend. Today and tomorrow they will have to explore London by themselves. Saturday to Windsor, Oxford or Bath? We'll see. Would like to show them a bit more than London.

Wednesday, October 03, 2001

The Washington Post has a gallery containing all the graphics relevant to the "Current Situation". The graphics can be accessed through the pull-down menus. The other day I went for a meal at Dibbens Restaurant. Apparently the owner worked for the Queen and was caterer to 3 PMs! Anyway, the food was nice indeed.