Friends | A Zestful Quest

I think I’m addicted… to games and coffee… You see, I have this new game and I have to play it each and every day for an hour or more. It’s relaxing in a way although I still need to use my brain and think hard *hehe*. It’s Sudoku, well actually it’s Sudoku Master and it’s for my Nintendo DS. I just had my New Super Mario Bros. phase but I gave up on it because I can’t get to the next level. I’m stuck each time at the first four worlds and keep jumping into an abyss, so for the moment I can’t be bothered to eat mushrooms, kick Koopa shells or climb into clouds and jump through hoops. I’d rather use some brain power and logical thinking, it’s challenging and relaxing. I’ve finished 80 easy ones and 10 of the normal ones… I must say, the normal ones are hectic and at times it takes me 25 minutes to solve one. So if you ever need a mental challenge and you own a Nintendo DS I would say: go for it! 😎

So I ended up playing games because I really needed to relax a bit over the last week: I have been busy contacting recruitment agencies, writing emails and adjusting my CV. I also designed and built a separate online portfolio in Flash that I could show when needed. And in between jobs, I’m trying to help out Farfallina from ‘A Roam to Rome’ with some problems she ran into. Today I was called by one of the agencies and I have an appointment with them next Wednesday. They sound like a nice bunch of people so I’m happy that I can go there for a chat and register with them. I hope things will be picking up soon now and I have to admit it’s not as easy as I thought it was but I’m getting there. I guess my patience is tested once again but it feels good so I trust the process to work out just fine.

I also received a really cool gift from Christiaan and it’s sitting on my desk right next to me within reach. It’s another amazing gadget: an awesome USB cup warmer slash USB hub. I don’t know what made him think of this but I remember when I was still working at the Rietveld academy we had rules and one of them was that the students weren’t allowed to bring any kind of food or drink in. This was to avoid having to clean up the mess after them and to protect the IT facilities that we were managing. It also meant that we had to set an example so often I would have to leave my coffee at my desk, help out a student and by the time I was finished my coffee would be cold.

I have the same problem here because I just tend to forget that it’s there when I’m busy. I guess Christiaan knows me too well… 😛

Finally I can have hot coffee all day! *yay*

I’ve been hanging out with Stuart Friday last week and yesterday which was fun. Yesterday we spent half the day walking around Oxford Street, Regent Street, Covent Garden and China Town. We went to Turnkey a cool music shop where I bought a USB studio condenser microphone so I can start recording/singing again. My voice is in need of some serious practice. I also had to look for a headset and since I did my research online I found out that some of the cheap ones don’t seem to like my G5 or any Mac in particular which made me decide to check out the ones at the Apple Store in Regent Street.

Boy that place is crowded! and less interesting than the one near Central Station in Amsterdam which might be a small place but at least they have slightly better service. I heard all the bad stories about Regent Street but when we got there I instantly felt like leaving again. This place is so chaotic and the staff really seems to be busy doing nothing all the time, showing more interest in the fact that they can wear their Apple t-shirt and badge than providing great service to customers. Yes the service sucks, but no wonder, the place is more like a huge glass display than an actual store. I knew it was bad but I didn’t realise it was this bad and I decided to get my stuff online instead of going back there to place an order. Of course Stuart and I ended up having the same old Apple-PC battle of wits.

I’m a Mac user -ever since the Classic was released- and I will continue to buy Mac products no matter how bad their service is: it’s not about the store, it’s about the product and the operating system. I love these machines and I would never ever change to PC since I always end up having to help out PC users fixing their problems: it really put me off. Things that are simple on a Mac become a burden on a PC and those PC users that I had to deal with didn’t have a clue what they’re doing: getting themselves into trouble because of a lack of knowledge or plain ignorance. A Mac could be somewhat restricted but offers tons of options to those who know what they’re doing. I have been a system operator for both so I believe I can make this assumption based on some of my experience.

Each to their own; I won’t try to convince people to change their ways but I have converted a few to Mac and they do agree with me after giving it a try for some time. Stuart if you read this don’t worry I’m not gonna try to convince you nor convert you and I know I threatened to put your picture on here, but I’ve decided to spare you the humiliation *hehe*

Edit: I might change my mind since you seem to be begging for it… :p