Dagboek.

Hopelijk helpt deze site een beetje om vrienden en kennissen op de hoogte te houden van hoe het met mij gaat in Seattle.
Ik ben van plan hier ongeveer elke week iets neer te schrijven.  En dan zien we wel hoe het gaat.

July 2nd

2 days before Americans celebrate their independence (I'm trying to remember when Belgium has its national holiday - is that July 11th?  Oops!) ... and four months since I last updated this page.  How time flies ...

At the end of February, when I last posted my whereabouts on this page, I decided to move out of my old apartment on 12th.  There were several reasons for that - I hated the street noise (fire trucks!  police cars!), I wanted a prettier location, and a house, not an apartment, to enjoy the brightness of Spring after Seattle's legendarily dark, gloomy winter - but most of all, things weren't working out so well anymore with my housemates.  I still loved the kids, Zephyr and Pallas, but my contact with Vanessa and Francois, the French, eh, artists, had turned kind of sour.  Fortunately, I was on a month-to-month lease.

March - my last month on Capitol Hill - went by rather quickly.  I spent a few days in Baltimore at the ACS March Meeting, by far the largest conference I've ever attended - 5000 or so physicists in one location, isn't that incredible?  I gave a short talk, attended some talks (including some on biophysics and evolvability), and experienced the most terrible flight ever (storm in Chicago -> really bad delays).
I spent most of my weekends at Erin's house - in the little cabin, remember? - as the situation at my house got worse every day.  It's bizarre how people change when they've gotten the last month's rent out of your pockets ...

I spent most of April in Europe, as you probably know.  Here's a picture or two of my last day in Washington (I stayed at Erin's house, after having moved all my belongings into storage - a real pain, and fortunately my friend Andy helped me move out - thanks so much!), before leaving my loved one for three weeks on a trip to Belgium and Austria.
I was happy to meet all my relatives again in Belgium - my Mom and Dad, my sister Liesbeth, my brother Sven - but someday I hope I'll be there for a longer time and be able to spend more than just half a day or a day with each of them.  My Mom tracked down some organic veggies in Mol and treated me to a nice vegetarian dinner (much appreciated!), and I got to see her house again, this time fully equipped and decorated.  She and Paul are probably coming to the States again this Fall, but it looks like we won't get to see each other.
I met Janneke again (finally!  A year is too long!), and I also spent half a day in Antwerp with my good friend Peter, whose marriage I witnessed half a year ago (see below) and who is going to be a dad pretty soon !!  Congratulations!
I made a lot of time (at least in relative terms) for my friend Wojciech, whom I hadn't seen in a year and had missed a lot, and we did what we do best : hike.  We explored the region around Bertrix for a long weekend and had a good time there.    Now if only he'll move to the US, too, we'll have more opportunities for hiking - there's so much to see in this beautiful country!

Pretty soon, I had to say goodbye to Belgium and travel on to Austria.  I was there to organize and enjoy the DFTEM2006 conference, a crossover between the electron microscopy community (TEM for transmission electron microscopy) and the field of ab initio calculations (DFT for density functional theory, which many people (including I) use for their simulations).  This was my first time as organizer of a conference, and I enjoyed it a lot.  I got to talk to many more people than usual, was more in touch with what was going on ...  Also, the theme of the conference fits my Ph.D. work perfectly, which made it an interesting and intense experience.  I got to go from one dinner to another  (Ah, decadence!) but more importantly, I felt a lot more scientific stimulation than I ever have.  From talking to other attendants, I think I can say the conference was a success.  (Hey, we even had a choir and our own theme song!)
I spent more time in Vienna than just the five days of the conference.  I stayed at Joachim's and Cecile's house in Gablitz as a guest (yes, colleagues can be friends, too !!) to continue some scientific collaboration.  And as a bonus I got to play with Joseph-Andre and Anne-Sophie (the kids), watch Harry Potter in German for the very first time, and go for runs in the Wiener Wald at 6 am with Jorge, another visitor, from Penn State.  I even managed to get together with girls whom Erin and I met on our trip to Guatemala, and exchange pictures and so ...
It was a great trip, but as much as I enjoyed it, I was also happy to be heading back home ...  Erin picked me up at the airport - the sweet ritual of homecoming!

After that (we're late April now) I spent about a month at Erin's house.  She and her housemates were very kind to accomodate me while I went through the painful process of finding a new home.  We were really happy in our cute little cabin surrounded by trees ...  But the commute was terrible (70 miles to Seattle!), and by the end of May, I rented a small room in Lauren's house in Seattle (he's a friend I met while looking for houses), which made getting to work and visiting places a lot easier, and finally I found what I'd been looking for.
First, though, I want to show you a few pictures of the parade of the species in Olympia.

So : June 1st I moved into my new home.  I live quite close to work now - 1 mile from home to my office, and that's really a blessing : I can walk to work.  It's a cute house on a quiet street (well, except that it's on the border of the university district, and there are two student houses in my block where people sometimes get confused over the concept of day and night - but it's certainly a lot more quiet than my old place!)   The house was in a rather messy state when I moved in - all but one of the former inhabitants had moved out, and noone had bother to clean up after themselves.  So I embarked on a crazy cleaning mission, cleaned, painted, attacked the wilderness in the (I admit, quite small) back yard. All that with Erin's help, who did her very best to help me get a new home where I can feel comfortable and be happy.  We pulled out miles of ivy - filled up the back of the truck with it and had to drive it to the dump.
My room is nice - it's actually the real living room of the house ( a smaller room now fulfills that function), and it has a lot of windows, hardwood floors, and a fireplace.  I've put up curtains in such a way that one part, with most of the windows, is a bright place to read or work, and the other half is more of a traditional bedroom.
I have two roommates now : there's Alison, who's lived here for a while, and just last weekend one of her friends moved in.  That leaves two empty rooms, which will probably be rented out by Fall, when lots of students will be looking for housing.   For now, it's nice to have some extra space.

Erin finished school a few weeks ago, and she immediately started working her summer job as a firefighter with the forest service.  Honestly, it's a bit scary, and she may be away for longer periods of time if she's sent out on big fires, but it'll pay off, and she gets to live in a really pretty location, and she'll be spending a lot of time outdoors (not in a big city like me).  Plus it's an admirable job, saving forests.

We don't have travel plans this Summer because of work, but we're going to New Hampshire in the Fall  to visit Erin's family, and we'll do small things on the side.  Ten days ago, we spent the weekend exploring my new neighbourhood.  Ravenna Park is really nearby and pretty, and by bike it's an easy ride to Magnuson Park or Matthew's Beach (that's right, a beach on the lake, right in the middle of town!).
This weekend, we spent two days in North Cascades National Park.  We camped close to Ross Lake, hiked, swam in the lake (cold!) ...  It was really wonderful.  I need to immerse myself in the beauty of nature from time to time.  It was so quiet, so pretty.  I woke up yesterday morning and the first thing I saw was a deer watching me leave my tent just a few yards away from me.

I'm generally quite happy.  Most of my friends are Doctors in Science by now, Lex and Bregje are getting married (congratulations!!), others are buying houses, and so on.  If life is measured by such a metric, I guess I'm lagging behind.  But I feel that I am where I need to be, and that what's happening in my life is good for me.  I think I've made good choices.  I'm in love with a woman who I love very much, and who brings me a lot of happiness, and I'm very confident in how our relationship is developing.  I live in a pretty place, a one hour drive from the mountains.  I work with a good supervisor.  I may graduate in a year, too, and after that, all kinds of exciting things may happen.  I'd say things are going well.

Alright, that's enough for today!  You may not hear from me for a week or two, because I'm going to San Francisco for a conference, and to Yosemite afterwards, but I'm sure you've gotten used to that!

Happy birthday to my brother Sven!

February 27th

Hello everyone!  I know - it's been a very long time ...  Over the past month or so several things have happened that are worth mentioning on this page.

End of January, my Mom and Paul flew over from Belgium.  I think it's really great that they came all the way here just to come visit me!  Thanks very much !!  They stayed for only four days, but it seems they put their time to good use.  Of course I showed them the place where I live, and the UW where I work.  We also took the Underground Tour together - a funny guided tour, and my first exposure (shame on me, I know) to Seattle's history.  We learned more in the Klondike Goldrush museum and the Seattle History and Art Museum.  It's a bit of a shock for me to realize how young this part of the world is - a century and a half ago, there was nothing here, most people would say (which is of course nonsense : there were lots of natives here, and they'd been around for a long long time - but 150 years ago is when the first white settlers arrived and founded Seattle).  I was even more shocked by the implication of that - how much this state has changed in such a short time.  How a handful of settlers, backed by the then already powerful U.S. army, could take so much land away from so many natives.  How quickly settlements grew and a whole society was built.  Then the crazy, crazy goldrush of the 1880's with its incredible economic boost - increasing Seattle's "GDP" by a factor of 50 in less than a year time.  The fire that devastated much of the city, and the rebuilding process afterwards.  The booming salmon industry and its wave of immigration.  We like to think of our time as oh so dynamic and fast, but I can't help thinking things went quicker back then.
Back to my Mom's visit.  She brought gifts for Erin's birthday, and some of my old belongings (and a lamp which unfortunately got broken on the plane).  We had a nice dinner together to celebrate Paul's birthday.  The visit was too short, but I'm glad that we got to spend some time together, and glad that I got to share my new home with my Mom.  I hope she won't be the last relative to visit me!

A week or two later, February 12th, was Erin's birthday.  We had a fun weekend together, and for the occasion of her birthday, we went to see a ballet performance downtown.  (For those of you who didn't know : Erin has been taking ballet classes all year, and seeing ballet is something we've both wanted to do for a long time.)  I liked most of the dancing.  There was some more classical, romantic ballet that I appreciated, and something more experimental with dancers hanging from bungee ropes, moving all over the stage together, which was surprisingly emotional.  Then some more modern dancing, and finally (my least favourite) some parody of ballet on a mix of Sinatra songs.  The sun was shining, and it was a great day.  Ah, and that weekend I bought a blender.  Since then we have been making smoothies all the time!

We've also done a few short excursions : we hiked at the Staircase one day (that's in the Olympic National Park).  Two weeks ago, we went for a bike ride and rode out to the Marina, bought smoked salmon there and picknicked in the sun (in the past few weeks, we've been getting some sun again, after a bleak month or two).  We drove up to Port Townsend together, walked around town, bought delicious bread and cheese and seaweed salad and ate listening to live music, lost track of time in bookstores, and found a booklet describing how to build your own outdoor bathtub - something we'll do one day, I swear.

Last Friday, we went to a student play at Erin's college (The Clouds, by Aristophanes - it was only so-so, frankly) and something terrible happened.  When we got back to Erin's house, a huge firetruck was blocking the driveway.  While we were away, her matress had caught fire (it had touched the heater) and her room burned out completely.  Fortunately, her housemate Anna called 911 in time.  The rest of the house is intact - of course it stank terribly and there's some smoke damage to the ceiling and walls.  So we slept up in the cabin that night, and spent the next day cleaning, taking out trash, sorting her belongings, trying to wash her clothes (some melted, others got molten hangers in them, most are stained and stink, and we'll try to save as many as we can), talking to the house owner, taking pictures, mopping the floors ...  Fortunately, we made good progress, and I'm glad I had a chance to help.  We spent Sunday in Seattle, mostly relaxing from the intense two days before.

Today I got some work done (of course there's always more!).  Working on papers, mostly, and sending out e-mails, bah.  I've also decided to make some changes.  I'd started out with some new hobbies a while ago, and now I've decided to continue with yoga and meditation, but postpone flute and roleplaying to a later time.  The hardest decision is that I've decided to move.  I'll stay in my current house until the end of March.  In April I'll be homeless (I'll be travelling almost all month anyway), and I'll find a new place by May.

For those who don't know yet : I'm coming to Belgium!  I'll be there from April 6th until April 10th.  That's not very long, but those who'd like to see me are more than welcome to let me know, and we'll try to work something out.  I'll spend the two weeks or so after that in Vienna with my friends and colleagues Joachim and Cecile, working, having fun, and setting up our DFTEM2006 conference.

Okay, more news soon!  And an early happy birthday to Gert, Lisa, and Susana !!!

January 6th

Hi there, I hope everyone had a nice holiday and enjoyed celebrating Christmas and the new year.  My own holidays were mostly spent on two short but intense trips.

For Christmas, Erin treated me to a visit to New Hampshire (on the East Coast).  The flight there was terrible - Erin's ears hurt very badly, and somehow our luggage missed one of the two connections we had to make.  The rest of the week, fortunately, everything worked out quite well.  We stayed at her father's house - the only person in a pet loving family who has a room (a nice little studio, in fact) free of allergenes.  The house is located on a quiet little hill on the outskirts of Concord NH, so we borrowed Erin's sisters car to go around.
I got to meet all of Erin's direct family over the next days - nightly conversations with her dad, breakfast with her younger sister Devinne, several Christmas events with her other sisters and her mom - and felt kindly received by everyone.  Erin also showed me around Concord - old houses, schools, places she used to work or hang out, ...  It's been great for me to get a feel of where she grew up before she moved to Olympia.  There's even an "Erin Drive" named after her (her father builds houses and got to name that street, so she's really "the" Erin).
New Hampshire definitely has a different feeling from Washington.  Winter is really winter there - snowy, icy, cold.  The state's motto is 'Live free or die' (on every car's license plates) - compare to WA's 'The evergreen state'.  It's the state of the maple trees, so we brought home some maple syrup.  I experienced a bit of a culture shock when Erin's mother's husband and another guest (whose relation to Erin is beyond the comprehension of one so ignorant in family matters as I) went out into the yard on Christmas day to shoot a new gun.
We spent two days in Boston (that's Massachussets, if I'm not mistaken - so many states ...),  visited some of the popular squares and parks, spent a few hours in the Museum of Fine Arts, did some last minute Christmas shopping (Teapots!  Ask me about teapots!  I know all about them ...), explored the world of pastries, ...  While we were there, we took the opportunity to visit some of my old friends from Belgium - Anne, Jerry, Karin and Michael - who live very close to Boston and whom I hadn't seen for several years.  That turned out to be a very nice evening (and morning).  Although I think I prefer Seattle's more relaxed and laid back nature, Boston immediately made me feel at home - there's probably something European about it that feels natural to me (it's in New England, after all).
On Christmas Eve, we went to the coast.  Amazingly, NH's coastline is even shorter than Belgium's - a very modest 18 miles -, but it does have some things going for itself : the absence of a 'brick wall' of apartment buildings, for example.  We walked on some of the beaches, held a pebble throwing contest (won overwhelmingly by Erin), and even took off our clothes to bathe in the cold winter waves.  (Really!  I have proof.)  We ended that nice day with a sumptuous dinner in Portsmouth (a small and very comfortable town near the ocean).
Christmas bounty : a down blanket excelling both in size and in softness, new soundtracks (The red violin and Shine - both very good), and a new hat, handmade by, of course, my one and only, and this trip to New Hampshire.
Oh, and on the flight back, our luggage decided to do some sight seeing in Chicago.  Silly United.
I'm sure it's ridiculously optimistic to hope that everyone I met in New England will read this, but let me take the opportunity anyway to thank you for your hospitality and kindness.

Only a few days later, we set out again.  Our plan was to go on a hiking trip and disappear in the woods for several days.  We chose to go to the Redwood National Park - magnificent trees, and in (North) California, where the weather ought to be milder, warmer, drier.
Well, we were in for a surprise.  The night we left (we wanted to do the 500 miles to the park during the night and arrive there early morning) it rained so badly that driving on the interstate felt really dangerous, and we pulled over - got checked out by a suspicious cop - and waited until morning.  By the time we made it to CA, it had rained so much there (and it was still very rainy and windy) that most of the park was closed, camping was dangerous (falling branches and trees), and the whole region was starting to flood.  So we drove on, crossed a river hours before it flooded and blocked the highway, and spent the night on the edge of another forest, in the tiniest town ever.  (The back of Erin's little truck is just large enough to make a cozy bed for two.)  The next morning we learned that highways in all directions were closed due to flooding or mudslides, including the interstate.  We drove up North again, meaning to pass the Redwoods once more, do a dayhike, and leave the region for Oregon (for my Belgian audience : on the West Coast you have, from North to South : Washington, Oregon, California).  But not only was the condition of the only remaining road out of the county very uncertain, storm interrupted power that day, forcing all gas stations to close, and leaving us without fuel to follow up on our plans.  So that night - New Year's Eve - we found ourselves stuck in small Arcata, CA.  The town was very dark (no street lights), practically all businesses were closed.  We even locked ourselves out of our car for a while, but fortunately AAA helped us out : with shocking ease and what seems like very basic tools, they pried open the door in a minute or so and retrieved our keys.  Anyway, we made a lovely dinner that night, and, admittedly, we went to bed shortly before midnight, but the next morning, we started the new year with love and enthousiasm that I hope will last all of 2006.  In a more practical sense, New Year meant new gas, and we made it to the Redwoods : some pictures here.  By far the most majestic trees I've ever seen, and that short experience alone is well worth all the driving.
The next morning, we went to Crater Lake in Oregon - a huge mountain once sunk into the earth there, leaving a deep crater in the Southern Cascades that over time got filled with water from rainfall and snowfall.  The drive there was slow and beautiful (the visitor's center had several meters of snow ...).  Of course, on this trip nothing worked out as planned : the way around the lake was totally blocked by snow, and amazingly, renting snowshoes or skis was impossible - closest "town" : 90 minute drive.  So we did go there, and rented cross country skis at the stunningly beautiful Diamond Lake.  Erin tried her best to teach me how to use them, but I had a hard time and got very frustrated (sorry).  Oh, we also had a snowball fight there.  And I learnt to dislike snowmobiles - noisy machines!
Later that night, we drove on - very carefully - to the Umpqua Hot Springs.  As you may know, Erin and I fell in love in the hot springs near Olympia, so they are extra special and romantic to us.  That spring was really hot and steamy, and we stayed in it for hours.  The day after, we visited the Cougar Hot Springs.  Perfect temperature, starlit sky, wonderful company.
On the last day, we walked up to the Multnomah Falls (over 500ft high).  We checked out the College for Naturopathic Medicine in Portland - Erin is interested in going there after she graduates from Evergreen - and it looks good.  We walked around Portland a little more ; it looks like a smaller and slightly cleaner and more charming version of Seattle.  I can see myself live there.
That night, we drove back to Seattle (Portland is right on the border of Oregon and Washington).
Although part of this story may sound like a total disaster, I enjoyed the trip : it's been quite an experience, and we've done a lot of fun things.  I'm happy.

And after that : back to work.  I'm trying to write up some of my recent work this weekend, so that it will hopefully go into a review paper.  I also intend to install my curtains (bought them on sale in Concord).  But mostly : work!

December 13th

Whoops, a whole month went by without new entries to the diary ...  Sorry!  Several things have happened.

I went to Washington D.C. two weeks ago for a brief visit to colleagues working at NIST.  Although I was ill and felt miserable most of the time, I'd say it was still very interesting.  We'll be doing a project on MDFF's together, which seems interesting.  Also, my colleague Jo from Antwerp proposed to calculate cross-sections together that will serve as model spectra for his EELS quantification software.

The whole situation with the car has finally been resolved : last weekend, I bought another one.  It's also a 1994 Toyota Pickup truck, with slightly more miles on it (127k vs 85k) but very well taken care of.  The previous owner 'tuned' the car : very expensive wheels and tires, blue neon lights inside, powerful speakers behind the seat ...  But it drives fine, and we had it checked by a mechanic before we bought it.  After wasting so much energy looking into repairing the old car, we're just going to sell it as a parts car.

I'm trying to start up a new RPG (Role Playing Games) group, and we played our first session yesterday evening.  I had a lot of fun (I'm GM, by the way) and I hope things will work out with this group.  We're playing D&D, which is really the worst system ever developed - so I'm basically going to pretend I'm still playing DSA.

Erin and I have been doing lots of small things together.  This weekend, we went running in the Arboretum together.  We watched the Narnia movie (it's good), ate lots of garlic nan, visited a school that she's interested in attending after she graduates from Evergreen, spent a lot of time getting frustrated trying to buy curtains off the internet, cut paper snowflakes and stuck them to my window ...  She's on a long, long Christmas break now, which means I'm getting to see a lot of her!    And next week we're flying to New Hampshire, on the East Coast, to celebrate Christmas with her family.

More pictures will be online soon!

November 4th

Last weekend was 'interesting' : Erin and I went to the Olympia peninsula (pictures here) to go camping, but on the way there we had a car accident (more pictures here).  In a dangerous curve (called 'Dead man's curve' by the locals, we learned later) the car slipped, went off the road, almost into a ditch, and crashed into the end of a guardrail.  We were totally fine (which didn't stop an ambulance from being called in), but the car wasn't.  The most expensive tow truck in the world brought it to the nearest beacon of civilisation, where a very helpful local put the tires back on the wheels for us.  In the meantime, a police officer ( who had to do his thing before the car could be towed) wrote me a ticket ('if your car slipped off the road, you must have been driving too fast, so here's a ticket for speeding', and talking about the laws of physics all the time - I managed to restrain myself) ; I had the impression that he felt anything worth his time is also worthy of being ticketed.
At that point, the car was driving fine again (well, one door wrecked and the corresponding window missing ... but it drives!), so we went camping anyway.  We hiked along the Duckabush river and it was beautiful.  I really need that exposure to nature occasionally (in fact, the more the better).

Update : it looks like repair is going to be tricky and expensive.  Several professionals have described it as a total loss (apparently, a car that drives perfectly can be total loss), and our course of action will depend on the availability of cheap parts.

Apart from that, it's been a fairly quiet week.  I'm sleepier than ever; I bought some new items for my room (heater, extra desk, the largest mirror in recent history); I started writing a paper with Adam (another grad student in John's group at UW), and my visit to NIST in Washington D.C. end of this month is more or less planned now.  And I finally managed to call Wojciech and talk to him.

My roommate Monica is moving out, so we'll have to find someone else by the end of the month ...

October 27th

It's been a busy two weeks ...  I've just finished a delicious supper of blue corn tortillas, vegetables, and minute quantities of curry ('mild' is what the label says ; half a teaspoon is lethal, is what I think) - now I'm ready to give you an update on how things are going.

On Thursday Oct 13th, my new pc arrived.  (If you are not interested : move on to the next paragraph.)  I was a bit nervous about buying things through ebay (and got made fun of by Erin because of this - she even bought her car via ebay), but everything worked out just perfectly.  My new laptop is really great.  It's slower and less powerful than my 'old' laptop, but weighs only half as much or even less (about 2kg), and the battery lasts longer (more than three hours - and that's just the standard battery, which can be replaced by a double capacity battery).  Basically I'm trading a 'desktop replacement' for a real 'portable'.  Some stats : it's a Sony Vaio S460 with a 1.73 GHz M processor, 533 MHz FSB, 2 Gb RAM, 1280*800 13.3" screen, 128 Mb Nvidia graphics card, 80Gb HDD, 8x DVD RW (double layer), wireless keyboard and mouse, port replicator.  I think this is just the right size (smaller machines often have very uncomfortable keyboards or monitors).  I chose the Vaio over the latest Panasonic Toughbooks (amazing machines - but over $3000) and Dell (bad graphics on their 12" model, plus they're major Bush sponsors).

The following weekend I and some colleagues from UW (the University of Washington, where I work) flew to Chicago for a meeting on Saturday.  This turned out to be a great and useful conference.   I had an interesting conversation with a colleague of NIST (whom I'll probably be visiting in Washington D.C. end of November)  and was proud to hear some of my work mentioned in John's talk when he gave an overview of all the issues our group is working on.  The hotel was a little weird : you could see that a lot of money had been spent on it, but it still had the feel of a parking lot.  And the concept of a single bed seems not to have reached that part of the world yet (if you book a room for two and don't want to share a bed, you get two double beds ...).
After that blitz-visit to Chicago, Erin picked me up at Seatac (Seattle's airport); and even though I'd been gone for not much longer than 24 hours, it's always great to be welcomed home by someone.  We stayed at my place and on Sunday morning bought breakfast at The Globe and picknicked in the Arboretum.  Quality time!

Tuesday 18th we met again at Seatac (a contraction of Seattle - Tacoma, by the way - Washington state's two major cities) for our long-awaited trip to Belgium.  BA's service was fine : a smooth flight, we got good seats, no attempts made to keep me from stealing their headphones, and quite tasty  food.  Sven gave us a ride home from the airport (which Lisa and Erin spent in non stop conversation - in Spanish), and though of course we were tired and disoriented due to the time difference, this was by far the easiest Belgian-Seattle trip I've made so far.  For the next four days, the house in Kessel-Lo (with its newly finished guest room in the attic) would be our base camp.
Wednesday night, we simply chilled and relaxed at my brother's house, went for supper in Via Via, made an evening walk through Leuven (Grote Markt, Oude Markt, etc.), and unexpectedly met an old friend (hello, Wouter).  The next day I showed Erin around Antwerp, 'my town'.  We visited several chocolatiers, het Rubenshuis, de Kathedraal, de Grote Markt, de Pelgrom; had dinner in Exki, de Lantaarn, de Faites Simples; walked from the central train station over de Meir to de Schelde, looked out over the river for a while.  And we had some interesting experiences on the train back to Leuven.
Friday morning we went to Mol, where my Mom and Paul were waiting for us.  After some formalities in the town hall, we went out for lunch and afterwards visited their new house (you're moving this weekend, right?).  It looks great, and I think the location is wonderful, too.  Later on we drove to Antwerp (my mother borrowed us her car), where I bought a super fancy coat for the wedding, and spent a few moments in frustration trying to call several people in several ways, without the slightest hint of success.  So it was totally unanounced that we arrived at my grandmother's house not much later.  She took us out for supper, and in spite of the language barrier, my grandmother and Erin got along very well.  As with everyone we visited, we showed some pictures of our trip to Guatemala and gave away presents that we had bought at the market of Chichicastenango (see, it's not such a difficult name).  Later that night, we drove to Wilrijk.  After a short sightseeing detour (showing Erin where I've lived and studied) we visited my Dad and sister, who recently moved to an appartment in Wilrijk.  We were treated to cookies, looked at old pictures, selected some of my old belongings that we would take with us to Seattle.  And after that busy, busy day, we headed back to Leuven.
Saturday was the big day : the day of the wedding.  We first attended the wedding ceremony in the town hall of Stabroek, where Peter and Katrien got married that beautiful day.  I had the honor of being Peter's best man.   I was genuinely moved by the magic of the moment, and tried to share my emotions and ideas in a small speech - I hope it worked.  After the ceremony, Erin and I stopped at the bakery in Hoogboom for a second guided tour in the wonderful land of koffiekoeken and taartjes, which we ate at my old house in Kapellen.  (Another emotional moment for me, I have to say.)  From there we drove to some place in Ekeren for the reception.  I met most of my old ODM friends there (ODM is the role playing game we used to play for years).  I was very much surprised to discover that we still enjoyed talking to each other, and even had the pleasure of meeting another condensed matter physicist there.  After the reception, my mother ensnared Erin and me for a private photo session (she was the wedding photographer).  You can see some of the fruits of her labor on the Belgium pictures page.  Afterwards, we drove to den Uitlegger, a beautiful patch of forest in Kapellen.  We walked and talked (two words that summarize much of our time together :-) ), and enjoyed being outdoors in such a lovely place on such a nice fall day.  Later, we went back for the evening dinner and evening party in Kapellen.  Peter made a lot of time for talking with us, which we appreciate very much.  The food was nice, some of Peter's friend organized a small quizz, Katrien's sisters showed an entertaining slide show with tons of pictures (and Disney animations).  Time didn't stand still, sadly, so after an emotional farewell, we found ourselves on the way back to Leuven once more.
On Sunday, we slept in (did you guess we were getting slightly exhausted?) and shared brunch with Liesbeth, Gert and my father.  In the afternoon, Erin and I went on a little excursion to de Hoge Venen.  A long drive, but worth it.  To me, this is a unique place ; to Erin, it is reminiscent of the prairie in I forgot which states of the US; we both loved it.  The sun was warm, the air cool, the grass almost the colour of her hair.  After a refreshing walk we drove back to Zoersel to return my mother's car, and then took a bus and a train back to Leuven.
On Monday morning we travelled back to Seattle, another fairly comfortable flight.

The trip was too short, really : I feel that I have not been able to give any of my relatives the amount of time that they deserve, let alone the friends whom I haven't been able to meet at all (especially Wojciech and Anna).  And there are so many places in Belgium that I would have loved to visit.
But still I am very happy and satisfied.  The original purpose of my visit to Belgium was to be there when Peter and Katrien got married, and it was great to be with them on their wedding day.  Peter and I probably aren't your typical pair of friends, yet there is a bond of friendship that seems to run deep and strong.
Secondly, I wanted to show Erin the country where I'm from and the places where I've lived, and give my relatives and her a chance to meet.  I think that has worked very well, and I want to thank everyone for welcoming Erin so warmly.

Some time we'll come back for more!

Phew, I think that was enough for this time.  See you next week!

October 12th

I had a small breakthrough at work today - calculated the first magic angle with FEFF.  So I went home happy and prepared myself a nice supper.  Eh, that's all, really.  Sweet dreams!

October 11th

Last week was slightly chaotic but enjoyable.  I have collected information about tons of volunteer opportunities and charities, and I intend to choose one or two one of these days.  I'm still not sure whether I'll go for environmental or social work - ideally, I'd like to do both, but time, as we all know, is available in limited quantity only.  I've also attended a couple of lectures, most of which were boring or severely lacking in structure, but one (about intellectual property and global access to healthcare) was actually worth my time.

I've made some plans : this weekend I'll do a Blitz-visit to Chicago, and for Christmas, Erin and I will fly to New Hampshire and celebrate Christmas with her family.  I'll also try to visit Anne (Gechter) and her family when we're there, as New Hampshire is very close to Boston.  (For those of you who are rapidly losing track of where I am : I put out a small 'where am I?' page.)

One of the consequences of all that travel is that I am currently at war with three major airlines : I have made claims to Northwest/KLM (take my advice : stay away from KLM!), United, and Continental.  Plus booking tickets for Christmas was horrible.  Airline customer service seems to be steeply decreasing function of time - we're bound to hit zero soon.  Let's hope BA will prove more reliable.  (I could go on and on about all the administrative fuss I have to go through at the university, with other purchases, at the library ...  There is so much bullshit in the world - learn to work it and bend it your way, or go crazy over it, I guess.)

More Big News : I have bought a new computer - on ebay!  It's a Sony Vaio S460 laptop, and I'll write more about it as soon as I get it (Thursday).  I actually got a good deal on it - so my first ebay experience is very satisfactory.  I still have to sell the old one, though - and that turns out to be harder.  Successes so far : one Nigerian scammer, and one person who offered $250 less than my selling price ...

I have also learnt that shopping at B&N (by the way, Sven : yes, the vouchers were still valid - thanks for your timely intervention !) is interesting : as your vouchers cannot be used online (note : in this case), go to the shop, take the books and go to the checkout.  Don't buy the books there and then : have the salesman order them online for you, since online prices are lower and shipping on orders over $25 is free.  Pay (using the vouchers - this now works), leave the books there, and walk back home.  The books will follow a couple of days later by mail.  Congratulations - you just saved $10 on a $70 order.

I have a new office at UW (by the way : I have a UW working address now ; see the interaction page).  The office itself is fine (except that, like all other physics students, I now have one without a window), but the new colleagues are weird : they do not talk.  Perhaps they have a different way of communicating that I yet have to discover - through gestures?  by scent? -, but so far even the most basic interaction requires hard work.  Ah well.  I've started hardcore programming again, and I hope to make good progress this week.

I got a telephone call from Belgium this week : thanks Mom for calling!  Everyone else : ask her if you don't know how to ;-).

Furthermore, I had my handpalm read by a Sufi singer who recommends me to meditate, and went to a wedding celebration of people I don't know.

Last weekend, Erin drove up to Seattle to visit me.  We had a relaxed and nice time together.  On Friday, we went out for Turkish food and Belgian French Fries (yep, there's a place 2 blocks from my house that sells them - try the red pepper sauce and the rosemary mayonaise).  Saturday, Erin in a very girlfriendish mood took it upon her to take me shopping for clothes (I am invited to a wedding ten days from now, remember?), a fruitful venture - which, as my relatives will readily testify, is far from evident.  I think we'd depleted most of our good-luck-in-shopping then, but eventually we found Erin a desk and me a new fish (sadly, another one died a few days earlier).  We ended Saturday night watching a movie and babysitting, which turned out to be very fun indeed : Pallas is as inexhaustible as Lisa on her best day, and Zephyr is always playful (these days, we have taken to playing chess).  Culinary experiment : goat's cheese quiche is easy to make and oh so delicious.  Use lots of cheese!  On Sunday, Erin went home to study, and I had my little ebay adventure.  I'm still walking on air after those days together (but I got a good amount of work done today!), and I hope that we'll have some time together next week.

Oh, the Guatemala page will be ready soon!  I promise, once more ;-).

Congratulations to my dear colleague John, who is getting married in ten days.  I wish I could be there, John!  Very best wishes for you and your bride-to-be!  May it be a happy and blessed marriage!

October 4th

Not much news this time.  I've spent the weekend at Erin's new house (rideshare works!); we went out to a small BBQ party and on a small hike.  I want to buy a new computer.  Still looking for new projects and hobbies.  And yes, the Guatemala page still has to be constructed ...

For all of you who take the time to read this : I'll be in Belgium Oct. 19th - 24th.  Erin will be with me.  If you'd like to meet us (it may be a long time before I come to Belgium again), then please let me know soon so that I can try to make arrangements.

Thank you!

September 25th

I'm home again!  I've spent a whole month abroad (thanks to Zephyr for taking care of my fish in my absence!), which is why the website hasn't been updated in a while.  There'll be a big update now : mainly travel stories, plus smaller updates on all pages.

Aug. 26th till Sept. 16th, for about three weeks, Erin and I travelled to Guatemala.  We've visited several parts of the country, and even made a short excursion into Belize.  It was a great trip.  We enjoyed sharing so much time, so many experiences.  It's wonderful to travel with the one you love.  And Guatemala is definitely a superb place.  I refer you to a separate trip-to-Guatemala page for the whole story (hopefully up today, if not, check again later this week), but I'll give you a teaser here.  Erin and I travelled to the north of Guatemala first, where we visited the famous site of Tikal and saw our first Maya temples.  Impressed, we decided to see more, and we set out on a one week trekking into the Petén jungle, with guides and horses, and hiked to the 'el Mirador' site near the Mexican border, well off the beaten track.  Tired, reeking with the sweat of a 130 km trekking in a tropical climate, and covered with mosquito bites, but very happy after such a fulfilling adventure, we then travelled to Puerto Barrios in the east of the country, and took a boat to Belice.  There we spent two or three days at the beach of la Placencia, relaxing and experiencing Caribbean coast and culture.  Then it took us a couple of days to work our way back across Guatemala, over Guatemala city, to the famous lake of Atitlan.  We saw Panajachel, went for a hike, bought souvenirs at the famous market of Chichicastenango, and on our last day, made our way up the Pacaya volcano, where we listened to the rumbling of the lava-belching mountain as for the last time the sun set on us in Guatemala.

From there, Erin flew back to Washington.  She moved to Olympia, where she'll be studying this year.  I'm glad that she's found a nice place to live in Olympia, where I think she'll be very happy.

I naturally had to make things more complicated and flew straight to Germany, where, after a door-to-door journey of 30 hours, I arrived in the sleepy town Schwäbisch Gmünd to attend the psi-k conference, a four-yearly gathering of ab initio computational scientists from all of Europe and beyond.  Although my specific field of research (electron spectroscopy) wasn't really popular there, and although I've never been served such disgusting food before, I still enjoyed attending many of the talks and seeing again many colleagues and friends (especially my Belgian colleagues).

And then I flew back to Seattle.  Erin picked me up at the airport and we spent some time together this weekend - went out for Sushi, and generally enjoyed simply being together.  She's started working as a computer consultant and is getting training this weekend, and tomorrow Fall quarter starts at her school.

It's weird for me to be back in the States - as people have pointed out to me repeatedly, culture shock generally doesn't hit you when visiting another country, but when going back to the place where you live.  But I guess I'll get used to it again pretty quickly.  I'm also on the lookout for a couple of new hobbies or projects, and I will, of course, keep you informed!

That's all for today - see you!

26 augustus.

Oei, pas begonnen en ik sla al weken over ...  De laatste weken is het iets rustiger geweest.  Werken, examens opstellen, een uitstapje met Erin naar Mount Rainier, zo'n beetje de plaatselijke Lonely Mountain als je het mij vraagt.

Gisteravond is Erin naar Olympia verhuisd, en ik heb haar daarbij geholpen, natuurlijk.

Vanavond is het dan zover : we vertrekken naar Guatemala!  Daar gaan we een dag of 20 rondtrekken - wellicht de meest gekende plaatsen aandoen - Tikal, Atitlan, Livingstone - en wat ons verder op het moment het meeste aanspreekt.  Van daaruit ga ik dan alleen naar Duitsland voor de psi-k conferentie, en vandaar terug naar Seattle.  Op deze site zal het dus waarschijnlijk een maand heel stil zijn, maar daarna krijg je dan hopelijk een eindeloze reeks vakantiefoto's te zien ...  De reis was al een beetje spannend nog voor ze begonnen is (Sven weet er meer van).

Ah ja, een belangrijke traditie wordt voortgezet : ik laat Zephyr De hobbit lezen :-).

9 augustus.

Dit weekend was heel leuk : om mijn verjaardag te vieren, zijn Erin en ik naar Orcas Island gegaan (kijk eens naar de laatste foto's in dit album).  We hebben een nacht gekampeerd (de nieuwe tent is een succes), een nacht onder de open hemel geslapen, gewandeld, aan het strand gezeten ...

Sinds gisteren ben ik terug begonnen met fitness.  Het bleek nog redelijk mee te vallen met mijn conditie.

Op het werk probeer ik er nu even alle "zever" door te jagen : verslagen schrijven, paper corrigeren, examens opstellen ...  Tijd om terug echt aan het werk te kunnen gaan.

Ik heb een paar foto's gemaakt van mijn kamer.  Er is ook een schabouwelijk filmpje (mijn fototoestel kan filmen, maar helaas kan van mij niet hetzelfde gezegd worden ; a.u.b. eerst downloaden, dan bekijken).

Ah ja, en de site is dus geupdated.  De meeste suggesties heb ik kunnen inbouwen, laat maar horen als er nog problemen zijn.

Nu :    2 augustus.

Planten gekocht : eindelijk ziet de kamer er bewoond uit.  Ik heb mezelf ook op een tent (Venus II van Exped) getrakteerd - blij om er eindelijk eentje van mezelf te hebben, en ongeduldig om ze uit te proberen.  Verder was het een heel ontspannen weekend : op twintig meter van mijn voordeur werd er een lokaal festivalletje gehouden (Capitol Hill Block Party).  En gisteravond hebben Erin en ik het weekend afgesloten op Secret Beach : een piepklein strandje, eigenlijk midden in de stad maar toch een oase van rust, waar je 's avonds in het donker nog in het water kan duiken.  En daarna een avondlijke picknick in het gras.  (Voor de liefhebbers : en dat allemaal op een paar passen afstand van het huis waar Kurt Cobain zichzelf door de kop geschoten heeft.)

Vandaag gaat de site online - ik maak een van de dagen nog een nieuwe pagina met foto's van mijn woonst hier.  De huisgenoten kan je al bewonderen op de pagina met mensen (je ziet onder andere Zephyr, die zonet plastieken slangen en octopussen in mijn kamer heeft verstopt; en Pallas, die meent dat mijn kamer eigenlijk van haar is en dan ook ongegeneerd het bed als trampoline gebruikt).

De eer van eerste verjaardagspost gaat naar Janneke - bedankt voor je brief, en voor de chocolade!  Moge het anderen tot voorbeeld dienen ;-)

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