Our prayers have been answered!!! *smile*.
Both Cleveland and Canton now have gasprices of under $2.00. Found $1.95 in Cleveland and $1.97 in Canton. Interesting how this sounds to my European friends, especially since they pay about $7.00 per gallon.
Have a great day!
A happy (long-distance) driver...
Monday, September 25, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
US Open 2006
One of my buddies from work - Kaushal - was telling me he was planning on going to the US Open 2006 in Flusing, NY. I always wanted to see a Grand-Slam match, so consider the exitement when we were able to secure tickets to the Mens Semi-Final matches on Saturday. Leaving from Akron-Canton Airport on a direct 1hr flight to La Guardia we were in Queens around 9.30am. We took a cab to the USTA Tennis Center and got onto the grounds at around 10am. After grabbing some brunch (not often you can get a good Greek-style Gyros with garlic-sauce in the morning) and listing in on an interview with Nick Bolleterri (owner of the Tennis Academy which produced players like Sharapova, Seles, Agassi, etc...) I bought a polo-shirt from the Arthur Ashe foundation to support the cure for Aids. I thought it was fitting after having tickets to the games at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Plus, I wasn't willing to spend almost $100 for a Ralph Lauren polo. Sorry, but my money goes to the ones needing it more...
The two games where Federer - Davidenko and Roddick - Youshny. The Federer match was a bit of roll-over, but the 2nd match was a real match leaving Roddick with the right strategy to appear victorious in 4 sets. The weather was again awesome and I picked-up a nice tan. Me, the blond white guy from Holland now finally has a tan. Oh, of course I ran into some Coggies living in NY... After freshing-up at the Hotel we went to the East Village on Manhattan to get tickets to the Blue Man Group and some food. We ended-up in a nice Chinese Restaurant a few blocks down from the Astoria Theater on Lafayette Street, setting outside enjoying a dish listed as 'Chefs-mom special'. Well, gotta have that..;-)
The Blue Man Group was awesome. Very impressive use of every day objects in a musical and comedic setting. Add some twinkies, toilet paper and a lot of audience participation and you can imagine we had a great time. I can strongly recommend seeing the show. Its worth the ticket-price. For those in NE Ohio: Oct 7, 2006 they will perfrom in the Quicken Loans Arena at 8pm.
The Sunday was a real relaxing day with getting up in time only to get breakfast and then a free shuttle back to the airport. Hopefully to be back in Cleveland in time to catch the Finals of the US Open. Result: Federer won that match and his 9th career Grand Slam. He only has 5 players ahead of him on the all-time Grand-Slam list and he's only 25 years old. History in the making...
Good night!
The two games where Federer - Davidenko and Roddick - Youshny. The Federer match was a bit of roll-over, but the 2nd match was a real match leaving Roddick with the right strategy to appear victorious in 4 sets. The weather was again awesome and I picked-up a nice tan. Me, the blond white guy from Holland now finally has a tan. Oh, of course I ran into some Coggies living in NY... After freshing-up at the Hotel we went to the East Village on Manhattan to get tickets to the Blue Man Group and some food. We ended-up in a nice Chinese Restaurant a few blocks down from the Astoria Theater on Lafayette Street, setting outside enjoying a dish listed as 'Chefs-mom special'. Well, gotta have that..;-)
The Blue Man Group was awesome. Very impressive use of every day objects in a musical and comedic setting. Add some twinkies, toilet paper and a lot of audience participation and you can imagine we had a great time. I can strongly recommend seeing the show. Its worth the ticket-price. For those in NE Ohio: Oct 7, 2006 they will perfrom in the Quicken Loans Arena at 8pm.
The Sunday was a real relaxing day with getting up in time only to get breakfast and then a free shuttle back to the airport. Hopefully to be back in Cleveland in time to catch the Finals of the US Open. Result: Federer won that match and his 9th career Grand Slam. He only has 5 players ahead of him on the all-time Grand-Slam list and he's only 25 years old. History in the making...
Good night!
Summer of '06
The clog-files have been MIA for the Summer of '06, so I feel its time for a short recap:
July:
My good friends Joel and Carolyn Vriend came to visit me from Canada in a rare moment where they both had time to come down from beautiful Ontario. It was Joels second time visiting me, but his lovely wife made her first trip to Cleveland. We visited Amish Country and had a lovely drive through this beautiful part of NE Ohio. And treats to die for...;-). Also the drive through University Circle, Fairmount and the Chagrin River valley was a nice way of showing how great this beautiful city can be.
When they left my buddy Chris Leaney came down for the Sammy Hagar concert at the Tower City Amphitheater. After two false-starts and some oscar-winning performance getting rid of some excess tickets we enjoyed ourselves with a great show by an almost 60-year old performer. If you ever get a chance to go see him... you will not be dissapointed!
After the devastating blow delt to us in the World Cup it was time to get some good 'ol camaraderie going again at the ceremony at the USS Cod in downtime Cleveland. This sub was responsible for the only international submarine-to-submarine rescue in history rescueing the Dutch submarine O-19. The commencement ceremony at the harbour involved the Dutch Honorary Consul and a very special privilige to stand on-deck while the fired the aft-cannon in salute to this historic occasion. It does re-iterates the word 'deaffening'...;-). After the ceremony I met up with some fellow cloggies and we visited the Tall Ships Fest next to where the USS-Cod is docked.
August:
We hosted a party to some Dutch exchange students from Neyenrode University, majoring in International Law. We had the good fortune of having a beautiful evening and had the luxery of sitting outside on the patio of the Great Lakes Brewery in Ohio City. It was midnight before we knew it and closed the evening in the Warehouse District on West 6th until closing.
The yearly company picknick was at the Geauga Lake amusement park in Aurora, OH. Free lunch and free entrance to the park. Well, we Cloggies are known to be a bit cheap, so this was one oppertunity we had to take advantage off...;-). Another gorgeous day and great success.
The last weekend...:
Save the best for last, so I took the Friday off for an even longer weekend. It turned-out that after working a long week with odd hours I was able to leave at 10.30am on Thursday, so this was quickly turning into a nice mini-vacation. I took off for Ontario. First meeting up with my cousin Chad to deliver some part for his '83 Honda Shadow bike he's restoring and then on to Joel and Carolyn since we would go camping the next day. After a relaxing night with a movie we loaded up the car the next day and left for Port Burwell Provincial Park on Friday. We knew that it would rain on Saturday (remnents of Hurricane Ernesto), but the rest of the weekend was there to make up for that.
On the Saturday we did some fishing before the rain got real heavy. When the rain and the wind picked-up we all got together in the dining tent and played some board-games. Catan, Rumus and cards were available, but the real blessing was the fellowship and... here it comes... an ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS authentic Chinese dinner prepared by our Chinese Canadian friends who came along. By far the best campsite-dinner I ever had... Sorry Mom, sorry Dad!!. Dumplings, Chinese soup, noodels, sweet-and-sour pork, spicy sauces and all of that prepared in the pouring rain! Thank you, Gao Family!
The Sunday - after a church-service on the campground - we played bodgy-ball until we had to stop to prepare dinner. Maybe the Seniors have a point there...;-) Of course all the campfires where a nice icing on the camping-cake. Hope to see you all next year!
July:
My good friends Joel and Carolyn Vriend came to visit me from Canada in a rare moment where they both had time to come down from beautiful Ontario. It was Joels second time visiting me, but his lovely wife made her first trip to Cleveland. We visited Amish Country and had a lovely drive through this beautiful part of NE Ohio. And treats to die for...;-). Also the drive through University Circle, Fairmount and the Chagrin River valley was a nice way of showing how great this beautiful city can be.
When they left my buddy Chris Leaney came down for the Sammy Hagar concert at the Tower City Amphitheater. After two false-starts and some oscar-winning performance getting rid of some excess tickets we enjoyed ourselves with a great show by an almost 60-year old performer. If you ever get a chance to go see him... you will not be dissapointed!
After the devastating blow delt to us in the World Cup it was time to get some good 'ol camaraderie going again at the ceremony at the USS Cod in downtime Cleveland. This sub was responsible for the only international submarine-to-submarine rescue in history rescueing the Dutch submarine O-19. The commencement ceremony at the harbour involved the Dutch Honorary Consul and a very special privilige to stand on-deck while the fired the aft-cannon in salute to this historic occasion. It does re-iterates the word 'deaffening'...;-). After the ceremony I met up with some fellow cloggies and we visited the Tall Ships Fest next to where the USS-Cod is docked.
August:
We hosted a party to some Dutch exchange students from Neyenrode University, majoring in International Law. We had the good fortune of having a beautiful evening and had the luxery of sitting outside on the patio of the Great Lakes Brewery in Ohio City. It was midnight before we knew it and closed the evening in the Warehouse District on West 6th until closing.
The yearly company picknick was at the Geauga Lake amusement park in Aurora, OH. Free lunch and free entrance to the park. Well, we Cloggies are known to be a bit cheap, so this was one oppertunity we had to take advantage off...;-). Another gorgeous day and great success.
The last weekend...:
Save the best for last, so I took the Friday off for an even longer weekend. It turned-out that after working a long week with odd hours I was able to leave at 10.30am on Thursday, so this was quickly turning into a nice mini-vacation. I took off for Ontario. First meeting up with my cousin Chad to deliver some part for his '83 Honda Shadow bike he's restoring and then on to Joel and Carolyn since we would go camping the next day. After a relaxing night with a movie we loaded up the car the next day and left for Port Burwell Provincial Park on Friday. We knew that it would rain on Saturday (remnents of Hurricane Ernesto), but the rest of the weekend was there to make up for that.
On the Saturday we did some fishing before the rain got real heavy. When the rain and the wind picked-up we all got together in the dining tent and played some board-games. Catan, Rumus and cards were available, but the real blessing was the fellowship and... here it comes... an ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS authentic Chinese dinner prepared by our Chinese Canadian friends who came along. By far the best campsite-dinner I ever had... Sorry Mom, sorry Dad!!. Dumplings, Chinese soup, noodels, sweet-and-sour pork, spicy sauces and all of that prepared in the pouring rain! Thank you, Gao Family!
The Sunday - after a church-service on the campground - we played bodgy-ball until we had to stop to prepare dinner. Maybe the Seniors have a point there...;-) Of course all the campfires where a nice icing on the camping-cake. Hope to see you all next year!
Sunday, June 25, 2006
We're done...
Its a sad day in the Netherlands. We've just lost a war... Yes, a war. Really I hear you asking? Yes, really. A soccer/football-war. Both sides sustained heavy injuries with in total 4 fatalities. All of it under the command of a mad Russian.
For those of you who tuned in to CNN instead of ESPN to see the war-coverage, Holland lost 0-1 to Portugal in a brutal match with 12 yellow cards and 4 red cards. For the statistically inlcined among us, yes, that's a record...
Holland was the better team, but Portugal was better at deceiving the referee and killing the game. Since - as the saying goes - all is fair in love and war, it doesn't matter anymore. The result stands and Holland is done. The classic under-archievers have not been able to break free as the Euro '88 team - with a center-forward called Marco van Basten - was able to do.
Since that squad - with besides van Basten, also having Ronald Koeman, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Arnold Muhren - beat the then Soviet Union in the final I guess there was a rather frustrated Russian watching that game. Payback's a bitch...
Better luck next time.
For those of you who tuned in to CNN instead of ESPN to see the war-coverage, Holland lost 0-1 to Portugal in a brutal match with 12 yellow cards and 4 red cards. For the statistically inlcined among us, yes, that's a record...
Holland was the better team, but Portugal was better at deceiving the referee and killing the game. Since - as the saying goes - all is fair in love and war, it doesn't matter anymore. The result stands and Holland is done. The classic under-archievers have not been able to break free as the Euro '88 team - with a center-forward called Marco van Basten - was able to do.
Since that squad - with besides van Basten, also having Ronald Koeman, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Arnold Muhren - beat the then Soviet Union in the final I guess there was a rather frustrated Russian watching that game. Payback's a bitch...
Better luck next time.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
A trip to the Motherland - Working days
Wednesday and Thursday were working days at the office in Roosendaal, NL. Nothing exiting happened, besides that I sold my Digital Rebel that day. One of the co-workers who bought my first Digital Rebel had a brother who was looking for a Digital SLR. Since I wasn't using it all that much since I bought my Powershot S70 I was able to get a good deal on it. Since one of the co-workers from the Netherlands is in the States this week, transport to the Netherlands is taken care of.
Tuesday-night after work we had dinner with some co-workers in downtown Roosendaal. Again outside, since the weather was only getting better. After dinner we met a few more people for drinks on the patio of a local bar on the main square in Roosendaal. Around midnight we moved to another bar for some Darts (and some more beer). Thanks Jeffery, Mat, Ingrid, Frank, John and Steven. We had a blast!!
Wednesday-night I met with Mesut and Johan for dinner at an Indonesian (or Balinees) restaurant. Those restaurants give you great food, lots of it and it's more than you can handle. Garuanteed!! Afterwards I went back to Helmond where Grandma and one of my aunts were waiting to say goodbye. Tomorrow we're flying back again!!
Tuesday-night after work we had dinner with some co-workers in downtown Roosendaal. Again outside, since the weather was only getting better. After dinner we met a few more people for drinks on the patio of a local bar on the main square in Roosendaal. Around midnight we moved to another bar for some Darts (and some more beer). Thanks Jeffery, Mat, Ingrid, Frank, John and Steven. We had a blast!!
Wednesday-night I met with Mesut and Johan for dinner at an Indonesian (or Balinees) restaurant. Those restaurants give you great food, lots of it and it's more than you can handle. Garuanteed!! Afterwards I went back to Helmond where Grandma and one of my aunts were waiting to say goodbye. Tomorrow we're flying back again!!
A trip to the Motherland - Monday / Tuesday
Monday was a day to finish-up my affairs in Belgium. Closed the bank-account in Lanaken and withdrew the money. Went to Maastricht to transfer the Dutch bank-account from there to Helmond and deposited the money from Belgium. Afterwards we had lunch on one of the most beautiful squares in the Netherlands in my favorite city in the Netherlands; the Vrijthof in Maastricht. Outside in the sun enjoying a beer and a good soup. Gotta love that!!
When I'm in Southern Limburg there is one stop you just HAVE to make. Just outside a very small village in a valley called 'Epen' on the way to Vaals there is an ice-cream stand where you get the most and best ice-cream. It doesn't have a name and it's just a gravel parking lot and a market-stand, but for $3 / EUR 2.50 you get an ice-cream cone that's big enough to kill any appetite you might have. Even a US appetite!! You have a choice of 15 different flavors, fresh fruit and whipcream and more... Ask any resident of the area and they will direct you to it. Word of caution: if you're there on a weekend or holiday, prepare to wait and walk. The parking lot will be full so you'll have to park elsewhere and get in line for your treat. Trust me, its more than worth the wait!!
We took the scenic route back to Helmond through the Limburg and German country-side. Dad bought some shoes in Venlo (where I studied and worked before joining Penske) and after dinner we went back to my parents place.
Tuesday we played the tourist and visited the Royal Palace 'Het Loo' in Apeldoorn. Beautiful grounds, nice Palace, but you're going for the back-yard. Gorgeous. I've got plenty of pictures on my website DutchCanuck.com. Again, took the scenic route back and had dinner outside in downtown Helmond which came with movie-tickets so we got to see M-I-III for free. Very decent movie, but what a terrible and disapointing ending.
When I'm in Southern Limburg there is one stop you just HAVE to make. Just outside a very small village in a valley called 'Epen' on the way to Vaals there is an ice-cream stand where you get the most and best ice-cream. It doesn't have a name and it's just a gravel parking lot and a market-stand, but for $3 / EUR 2.50 you get an ice-cream cone that's big enough to kill any appetite you might have. Even a US appetite!! You have a choice of 15 different flavors, fresh fruit and whipcream and more... Ask any resident of the area and they will direct you to it. Word of caution: if you're there on a weekend or holiday, prepare to wait and walk. The parking lot will be full so you'll have to park elsewhere and get in line for your treat. Trust me, its more than worth the wait!!
We took the scenic route back to Helmond through the Limburg and German country-side. Dad bought some shoes in Venlo (where I studied and worked before joining Penske) and after dinner we went back to my parents place.
Tuesday we played the tourist and visited the Royal Palace 'Het Loo' in Apeldoorn. Beautiful grounds, nice Palace, but you're going for the back-yard. Gorgeous. I've got plenty of pictures on my website DutchCanuck.com. Again, took the scenic route back and had dinner outside in downtown Helmond which came with movie-tickets so we got to see M-I-III for free. Very decent movie, but what a terrible and disapointing ending.
A trip to the Motherland - Weekend
On Saturday - after dropping Dad off at the store - I ran some errands for myself. I went to see the new Piazza Center and the Media Markt in Eindhoven. The Media Markt is the Dutch equivalent of a Best Buy or Circuit City. I just browsed around a bit and was able to score some Dutch music CDs which are very hard to get (or expensive to get) in the States. You got to be able to pop-in some Rowwen Heze when you're in the mood to party!!
After picking Dad up at the store we had dinner - yes, outside again - and got the place ready for the big B-Day party. Since the whole backyard is now redone and over 50% covered we held the party ouside. A good 30 people showed up and the beer flowed happily from bottle to stomach. The last people left at about 2.30am....
Sunday was a nice quiet day. I watched the Formule One race and some other sports which are rare on US TV. You need to have at least one relaxing day, just kicking back and relaxing.
After picking Dad up at the store we had dinner - yes, outside again - and got the place ready for the big B-Day party. Since the whole backyard is now redone and over 50% covered we held the party ouside. A good 30 people showed up and the beer flowed happily from bottle to stomach. The last people left at about 2.30am....
Sunday was a nice quiet day. I watched the Formule One race and some other sports which are rare on US TV. You need to have at least one relaxing day, just kicking back and relaxing.
Happy Birthday Mom and Dad
Last week - during the trip - May 7: Birthday of my mom.
Today - May 13: Birthday of my dad.
Happy birthday to you both and may we have many more!!
Cheers,
Niels
Today - May 13: Birthday of my dad.
Happy birthday to you both and may we have many more!!
Cheers,
Niels
A trip to the Motherland - First day
In honor of my parents birthday I took a quick trip to the Motherland from May 6 to May 12. Flew in to Brussels since Amsterdam was either booked, too expensive or via a rediculous route. The whole gang was supposed to pick me up, but due to an illness of the help in my parents shop my mom had to work, so only Dad and my sister where there. No issues with the flight, eventough it turned out that there was a fire in a hanger on the Airport in Brussels.
To combat any jetleg I drove from the airport to the shop to meet Mom. I also went on a little shopping spree to a local Sams Club to look for a bigger suitcase since Mom and Dad had some things for me to take on the way back.
Shopping done, time to see the remodelling of my parents house. They completely re-did the backyard and... to pick-up Grandma for dinner. While my sister, supervised by Grandma prepared dinner, Dad and I quickly went to downtown Helmond to look for some new shoes for me. Somehow that's something I always do in Holland. Found them after a good hour and went back home. Mom was done in the shop as well, so we had a good dinner outside on the patio.
Outside? Yes, outside. The weather is cooporating very nicely! 80F / 25C and sunny!
To combat any jetleg I drove from the airport to the shop to meet Mom. I also went on a little shopping spree to a local Sams Club to look for a bigger suitcase since Mom and Dad had some things for me to take on the way back.
Shopping done, time to see the remodelling of my parents house. They completely re-did the backyard and... to pick-up Grandma for dinner. While my sister, supervised by Grandma prepared dinner, Dad and I quickly went to downtown Helmond to look for some new shoes for me. Somehow that's something I always do in Holland. Found them after a good hour and went back home. Mom was done in the shop as well, so we had a good dinner outside on the patio.
Outside? Yes, outside. The weather is cooporating very nicely! 80F / 25C and sunny!
The Queens Birthday
In the Netherlands the Queens Birthday is celebrated on 'Koninginnendag'. This is not only celebrated in the Netherlands, but also by the Dutch communities abroad and oversees. I had the pleasure of attending the Queen's Birthday celebration 2006 in Ohio organised by the Netherlands Ohio Chamber of Commerce. For more info on 'Koninginnendag', please visit the Holland Ring site on Koninginnedag.
It was a fun evening with familiar food and drinks. Eventough Heineken is available pretty much everywhere, other Dutch delights such as Bami Pangang and Kroketten are more rare in the States than a native American in downtown Manhattan. Funny, when we left that place to the Britsh there were plenty of them... Ah well, back to the party.
After the food and drinks we had the pleasure of singing both the American and Dutch national anthem to kick-off the musical part of the evening with two bands and a DJ. The bands were from Ohio and ... Bavaria. Interesting, a German band on a party for the Dutch Queen. Well, the bands were great. Especially the one from Bavaria.
The DJ was an American from the Akron/Canton-region who studied in Groningen for two years so was able to speak and understand Dutch and, more importantly, had a whole range of Dutch music to choose from. Which we did with pleasure until the whee morning hours.
Hip Hip Hurray for the Queen !!
It was a fun evening with familiar food and drinks. Eventough Heineken is available pretty much everywhere, other Dutch delights such as Bami Pangang and Kroketten are more rare in the States than a native American in downtown Manhattan. Funny, when we left that place to the Britsh there were plenty of them... Ah well, back to the party.
After the food and drinks we had the pleasure of singing both the American and Dutch national anthem to kick-off the musical part of the evening with two bands and a DJ. The bands were from Ohio and ... Bavaria. Interesting, a German band on a party for the Dutch Queen. Well, the bands were great. Especially the one from Bavaria.
The DJ was an American from the Akron/Canton-region who studied in Groningen for two years so was able to speak and understand Dutch and, more importantly, had a whole range of Dutch music to choose from. Which we did with pleasure until the whee morning hours.
Hip Hip Hurray for the Queen !!
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