A trail of my procrastination

My god, this has been one of the most boring weeks for me at work. I haven't had all that much to do since Tuesday and today I've really not done anything work-related. I actually thought that the beginning of the week would be hectic because we had a big pitch to prepare for this week. I was prepared to work like crazy and stay late on Tuesday, the last day the pitch team was in the office, but in the end they didn't really need my help, so I guiltily didn't work much and left a bit early. The pitch went really well though, according to one guy who came back to the office this morning, so we're very confident about getting this work. The only problem now is finding the staff to actually do the work...

I've cycled through the usual websites I read to procrastinate and have now been reading various blogs I came across links to. In one, I saw the blogger took part in something called Bloggers in Amsterdam, which was a gathering here in February of this year. I browsed through her Flickr photos of the trip which had some cool and unique shots. They were different than the typical tourist photos and included a lot of graffiti and close-ups of fresh things for sale in the Albert Cuyp and animals at the zoo. But then there were a few photos from one night where some of the bloggers did a panel at the American Book Center Treehouse along with members of Democrats Abroad. And in one of the photos, there's a guy I know, Brian, the one sort of bent over in the middle. Before I got to this photo, his name was mentioned in the caption of another photo and I was freaked out at first, but then I remembered that he's involved with Democrats Abroad, so it makes sense that he was there. Still, a bit random to see someone I know amongst these photos taken by someone who doesn't even live in Amsterdam.

And if anyone can tell me what cheese shop is pictured near the beginning of the set of photos, I'd be happy. I see some stuff in those photos that looks very yummy. All the caption says is that it's near the Dam.

The other day I got the acceptgiro from the IND for my permanent residence permit, attached to a vaguely threatening letter saying, basically, "Pay this or face the chance of losing your permit." I mean, I know that is what would happen if I didn't pay, and that likely the sooner I pay, the sooner they move along with processing my application, but as O said, they could have worded it a bit better. But what is the IND for if not for instilling fear into all of us buitenlanders? Oh, the cost of the permit came out to 201 euros. Which is about what I expected, but still damn expensive.

I came across this cool meme on coco_keesses' site where you can list the logos of subways in which you've ridden. Here's mine (mouse over to find out the city the logo is from, a good guessing game...)

Got at b3co.com!

If you go to the main page of the site where I got this, it's fun to look through the logos, especially at how many variations of an M there are. Some get a bit modern and stylistic. In a couple of months, I'd likely be able to add the MUNI and/or BART logos to the list. Though I've been to San Francisco before, the last time I was there we mostly used a car, so I don't think we ever took public transport, apart from the ferry to Alcatraz and the obligatory ride on a cable car.