A little word of warning

Hi guys,

Just thought it to be fair to warn you all. The next post has a different mindset. It's personal, about my feelings and the word I is in there quite a lot. I've considered not posting it here.

I do feel good about expressing this myself, but for people expecting the next lightweight ozoheapy, please skip and go to the Las Vegas story.

For whoever is interested, feel free to continue. And comment as you like.

Take care.

-W

P.s. for the title of the next post; take it as "No pain, no glory". I'm not intending on pulling anything crude without consulting you guys first, ok?

suicide is painless

Ok, got to take it back. I don't like Vegas. I don't.

I went to the US to find more experience. A more extreme environment.

I have been forewarned. My personal values are to be tested. I feel I've been reflecting my personal values on people I've met here. Have been unsure of how honoust that approach is and whether I want to continue. Or actually I had decided a while ago I shouldn't. And I won't.

Breaking my toe has turned me inwards. That and events that have happend including meeting the people I've written about. And the unholiness of Las Vegas. It didn't feel so good.

I feel like doing some personal reflection. I look forward to it. I'm sure I've only just started. I'm not sure how I'll go about doing it. I feel pressured and unexperienced, but the time for it sneaked up uppon me and is definately here.

Fear and anticipation.

I'll work on my patience.

Las Vegas

Gijs was here to visit. The first one to come over from Holland. He's arrived two weeks ago, stayed in my room for a week and then we went to see Las Vegas.

This guy is the best poker player I know by far. He's been playing for a couple of years and now he knows the trick. So when he invited me to join him to visit Vegas, I couldn't imagine someone better to go with.

Las Vegas is pretty cool. It's like a themepark for adults. The strip has 10s of huge 2000+ room hotels which all have a lot of slot machines, roulette tables and poker rooms.

We're going there to make the big bucks. Go there, play the tables and collect some cash. Not that it worked exactly. I must admit, when playing strickly by his rules, we seemed to be winning. But playing over the internet you can play a couple of hundreds of hands, playing in Vegas only allows for 25 hands per hour or so. And when it starts getting boring (because of the waiting on other players), that's when we started betting just for action. Especially after a couple of free beers. And that's when it starts becoming a dangerous game.



After a couple of days, we kinda decided the game was becoming too expensive and stopped playing the tables. Still going out to the nightclubs, saw a pool and a had some decent dinners. Went to see the Grand Canyon on a one day tour and finally went home again.

After I broke my toe on a suitcase lying in the room. I'll be limping for a couple of weeks. Gave me another interesting experience for going to a NY hospital though. (got to use my SSN/health insurace card for one).

Vegas is an interesting place, nice place to visit, don't know about living there. People here have been amazed by my intention of going there for more than 3 days. And now I recognize their impression. 5 days was more than enough for me. Anyone intending to go there: 3 days should easilly do the trick. But maybe for a 2 day trip to the Canyon. Definately recommend that.

Have my SSN!!!

Just wanted to let everybody know I now have received my SSN! This means I might finally be getting paid! (soon... ;))

Pfew.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44821&id=792695121

Some pictures from my journey in Australia; 2001. (See the one and only car I owned... :P)



Thanks Saskia.

Stuff happens

It's been a while since I last published a post. At least that's what it feels like. Stuff happens along the way and I've been wanting to let you guys know. Anyway, here's the summary:

Two people moved out. The most important one for me being Dave. He's the one with the larges room in the house and I've been the person moving over. The process is making me feel like an American in a way. Grabbing the room. Sure, I did as anybody else that might be interested, but in a different way.

Got a nice room twice the original size and 3 windows to show for it. NY Style. Its a lot warmer though. And noizier. But I'm really happy. And I guess it'll be winter soom (it's actually getting a bit colder I think. which is really a welcom change I have to add).



Gijs has come by. He's lived here since last Saturday. Which was kinda cramped before I moved to the new room. But now its excellent.

The new girl replacing Dave (or actually me) seems nice. Met her today.

Went to the Beastie Boys. With a friend of mine, Pamela. That was an intersting experience. One of my friends phoned me up to see what I was doing, come over and stuff happened that made Pamela upset. Weirdest thing is I didn't pick up on it. So we had a chat (unamerican) about it and now I think I'm starting to understand.

Work is getting more boring and more pressure is applied. Which is something to deal with and learn from as well.

Got into the PMP class. Happy about that. And what's better, got 2 people in from my current client.

I thinks the Social Security Number thing is going somewhere. Went to JFK and spoke to another 12 people about it I think. Another 8 hours and 4 times waking up real early well invested. I think I'll have it in about two weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Al in all I feel I'm exposed to the American (NY?) way of doing things a lot more. Which is very interesting. Learning a lot about the differences and the first natural response is one of denial. I'm trying to be open minded about it and it's definately working. Gotta love it guys.

I'l be going to Vegas in 3 days. I've got a week of vacation which I'm going to love for sure. I know I need it and I'll get it.

Met a lawyer through a friend. We'll have some beers tomorrow.

Had a crazy night the other day with colleagues from Sogeti. Good stuff but I was too drunk.

Went to eat in Chinatown. Saw some movies, showed Gijs around town.

Will go to an American birthday party Friday. Looking forward.

Went to the dangerlist party on the pier.

Sorry if this post was kinda all over the place, there's just so much I'm trying to tell I guess. Still in the waterfall of events. Still meeting lotsa new people and seeing lotsa different stuff. Getting tired and speaking some Dutch. I'd like to say more but I guess it'll have to wait.

Love you guys.

Ps. people that'd like to speak to me about anything, I'll be having my vacation next week so now is the time.

Social Security Nr

As you might or might not know, I haven't been paid in the states yet. They're not going to pay me until I have a Social Security Nr (Sofi nr).

Requesting a ssn is an interesting experience. Thisone only involves two government agencies in the US, I can only imagine what it would be like if there would be more involved.

My visa is a working visa. An L1, valid for 3 years. Now with the visa, my passport and the i94 entry card in my passport (the white card), I am able to apply for a card. The process seems fairly straighforward; I fill out ta form, they check whether my entry card is registered with customs and they provide me with a nr.

This may take up to six weeks.

Or so they tell me. If my application is rejected, the letter states, they'll inform me in writing as well. Seven and a half weeks after the application I feel it's about time and I decide to go by the SSA office to make an inquiry. My last time there taught me to be there early, so I set my allarm clock so that I'll be there at 8.15. Which was fine, there were only 2 people before me in line. 1.5 hours later it is my turn.

The Customs office has made a mistake. Two letters in the form were entered in the system incorrectly. Now the people at SSA can see al this. They have a copy of my entry card, a copy of my passport, my visa and the application. I'm informed they'll need to send a letter about this to customs (a hardcopy) and need to wait for their confirmation of the correction. This might take up to three weeks.

I can only imagine this is the way it happens around the world. Bureaucracy at its finest. I wouldn't mind getting paid (its been over 10 weeks in NY), but feel I can't really do anything but wait. And be amazed about how things work in some places.

I'll chase up the progress a bit more.

It's good to work

My day today ended feeling good. I went to a client pitch today with one of the Account Executives. MOSS implemetation at one of the biggest banks in the world (banking is pretty big in NY I must say).

The Sogeti guys here have been trying to get me to be a MOSS expert. I've read the book, done the training and heard all kinds of expert saying how wonderfull it is going to be. But today I saw it for myself.

Not only did I start to see the business case, I could even jump in and help with my knowledge. This feels good. Not only have I shown my added value in the proposition, I felt I was able to demonstrate my personality in doing so. I went in and had a go at wrinting an initial initiation report. Or maybe even a sales document.

Feels good.

Things are starting to slow down at my current engagement. I notice it, my boss does and step by step, new challanges are combing by. This is just a sign of my excitement about the future possibilities. Good stuff.