THE JOURNEY

Not exactly an early adapter...

OK, I have (finally) joined the craziness too - I have started a facebook account. I had to: a client of mine gave me access to a couple of picture albums for pictures I needed for a website. The only way I could see them was to sign on and register. Anyway, it looks like a cool thing. Look for me online: Rogier Bos, Rotterdam. Email: rogierbos@gmail.com.

So many places to go, people to meet...

Here is a link to an interesting website: Hillman wonders of the world. It is a list with the 100 most beautiful places in the world.

How many have you seen?
I have seen:
6.   Grand Canyon
30. Colloseum of Rome
32. St Peter's in Rome
37. Sistine chapel
39. Louvre Museum
52. Prague old Town
60. Uffizi Gallery
67. Florence Cityscape
78. Stonehenge
83. Matterhorn
86. Eifel tower
88. Niagara falls
89. British Museum
92. Yosemite National Park
99. San Francisco.

Each of these places brings back wonderful memories. It's one of the great things of growing old: there are more and more wonderful memories to ponder over in quiet moments.

I am a bit surprised by some of the things on this list. And there are some that I miss. Prague old town was very nice, but the Grote Markt in Brussels should be on the list. And where are the Scottish Highlands and the Alps? I know it has the Matterhorn, but surely the Jungfrau and Interlaken should be on this list!

Places I definitely still want to see (armed with a camera): The Fjords of Norway, and the Himalayas (Everest, Tibet).

Where have you been, and what do you still want to see?

Blogging for two years

I have been blogging for two years today. Here is the page of articles I started blogging first... My first blog was called "driving through the fog." Somehow that still seems like an appropiate post for my life.
Before that, I was blogging on our old website, The Journey.

Two really cool websites...

A friend alerted me a week ago to really cool websites he had just come across. I checked them out today, and I can already tell I am going to spend way too much time on these sites... In order to share the joy (of the addiction):

• www.tenbyten.org
• www.phylotaxis.com

Let me know what you think. Thanks to Cees van der Wilden!

Violent crime?

Here is a very funny video I came across this morning. Make sure you can hear the audio.

Are you a gossip?

We all know what gossips are, right? People who love to talk about other people and air their dirty little secrets, right? Wrong! A british recruitment organization called Office Angels, has redefined Gossips as 'Gadget Obsessed Status Symbol Infatuated Professionals' (source). They are the new yuppies. Their status symbols include: Ipods, Blackberry's, memory sticks and small flat cell phones. They drink lots of coffee and prefer sushi over a hamburger.

I am sure such a little publicity stunt merits Office Angels lots of attention. Its the thing to do, isn't it: come out with a new name for a new group of people you descern to be out there. I like their tagline: 'heaven knows you deserve the best...' That's not good theology (I happen to think heaven would like to give you the best though it is probably a far cry from what you deserve), but its creative, and I can appreciate that.

Are you a gossip? I don't have an Ipod (don't fancy one, really); do not have a Blackberry (don't want one either); I have a memory stick (but at 64 Megs its laughably small); and my phone is nice and fairly small, but anything but flat. I don't drink coffee, and will take a hamburger over sushi any day. Also, your dirty little secrets are safe with me and I will not talk about you behind your back. So, by either standard, I am not a gossip. That's good to know.

But it is a bummer also. When some creative organization came up with the term 'yuppies' I was clearly not in that category; I did not have anough 'stuff' and I wasn't a professional by any standard (and by the time I became a professional I wasn't young anymore, and I still didn't have enough stuff!).
Then someone came up with a category called 'metrosexual' (guys who look like David Beckham but there's real doubt as to their sexual orientation [Wiki-link]). Obviously that wasn't me either (I suppose coz I don't look like David Beckham). And now I am not a gossip either.

Next time someone comes up with a term to describe the latest and the hippest and the coolest, can you please include me?

I'm on TV!

OK - I am not really on TV. But 8 ads I have filmed and edited are on TV - and that's the first time that anything I have produced is on TV. And I think that is so cool!

The CDA (Christian Democrats) asked me to produce these ads for their campaign for the local March 7 elections. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet all kinds of interesting people, like alderman Leonard Geluk and Lucas Bolsius, former prime minister and chief commissioner for the UNHCR Ruud Lubbers, former secretary of health Mrs Gardeniers, and a number of people from different ethnicities in Rotterdam.

I am in the process of closing down my business. But it was so much fun to be able to get something on TV (even if it was just regional). Download CDA_Mathilde_22-02.wmv (1,5 Mb). The ads start running tonight!

Shooting video

A little while ago my friend Henning asked me if I was willing to shoot some promo videos for the Christian political party (CDA) for the upcoming city elections. They had hardly budget available, he explained, but it would get me in the room with some really interesting people.

I said yes. The money was really not much of an incentive, but I have had a number of meetings now with ‘wethouders’ (alderman, city governors). I will not admit my own political sympathy (don’t think a pastor should), but it has been a privilige to shoot a wide variety of people: a pretty girl with an exotic name; the former Dutch prime minister, and High commissioner for the UNHCR, Mr. Lubbers, former secretary of health, Mrs. Gardeniers (age 82, and sharp as ever); a black lady, Mavis, and a muslim Turk, Ibrahim, who was ever so nice and warm to me, and two city governors.

I have also ceized the opportunity to talk to some of these people about our upcoming Serve The City project, and I am hoping to obtain some commendation from these people.

SKYPE - how cool is that!

Last night I talked to a friend in Southern California through Skype - while I was at home in Rotterdam. We used Skype - a small program that turns your computer into a phone! I just sit there, and talk to my computer. My words are picked up by the small mic on the PC, and sent to you over the internet, so you can hear them - and you talk back to me. And all of that happens without noticable delay! So cool!
My friend, Phil Graf, in this case, prayed a really great prayer for me while we were skyping. I'm sold on this technology now!

Anyway, my skype address is rogiersophiebos. Skype me sometime!

Helpdesk frustration

I have a deep distrust of helpdesks. They seem to be things that companies put up to avoid giving you real solutions. This hilarious video does nothing to alleviate my suspicion... but it's very funny! (Quicktime).