A failing clutch pedal means our car will be away for some time (our car dealer has time for it in 2 weeks). Meanwhile they’ve lend us another.
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A pretty regular week, despite the government announcing a tightening of pandemic restrictions (after having seen most measures removed in September), in light of the rising case numbers heading into winter. It means face to face office meetings, the few we did, are again not taking place. Masks are mandatory in public places and shops again. I briefly contemplated going to a very large scale conference (10k people) in Barcelona later this month, but realised I felt uncomfortable about it, as well as seeing limited potential value in being there. I need and want to be more selective in opting to travel.
This week I
Had an extensive session with my business partners reviewing the 2020 and current year’s financials. I do the books for our company, and it was useful to provide the others a deeper insight into how things went and are going in this pandemic. We saw a slow down in activity this spring, in everything, probably general fatigue, visible on our side and with our customers. After the summer holiday we see a very different momentum, and the figures show a matching uptick.
Bought some cushions for the new couches in our office. We redid our office, removing a large part of the working desks, and adding two large couches. When I saw the couches this week, I realised they needed some colorful cushions.
Had a very useful day comparing the current results of the various work groups in the national digital twin for the built environment program. I’m part of the working group for a reference architecture, which intersects with the other working groups (e.g. on models and AI, on public values and ethics, on data, and on the state of play w.r.t. digital twins in the Netherlands). It was the first time that I saw the work in other groups in detail, and immediately different connections jumped out at me, to be followed up in the coming week.
Had a half day working session of the reference architecture group for the Dutch national digital twin
Spoke to a re-formed project team at a client we finished work for last spring, to discuss the progress we made and didn’t make until then, and our perpsective on what’s missing and next steps. It’s odd but sometimes as an external party you get to play the role of organisational memory for a client, and this was an example of that. Maybe next year we can do some more work for them when it comes to deploying data sharing as a policy instrument to enable and encourage others to act.
Went shopping with E, and now have all our Sinterklaas shopping done. Being this early, partly because of some signs of supply chain issues, creates an unexpected calm.
Did the monthly invoicing
Marked the 19th anniversary of this blog
Had our car towed, with a malfunctioning clutch pedal. Before our summer trip to Denmark I had added a component to our Volvo service subscription, extending car replacement from 3 to 30 days. Because if something happened in Denmark, I didn’t want to have to break off our stay there. This upgrade is valid for a year, and now comes in handy, as the repair of our car may take over 2 weeks before they have time for it. Meaning we now have a Volvo rental for that time without charge.
Wrote a proposal for a small additional component on my work on the EU data legislation, to compare it with existing Dutch government plans for potential public use of 3rd party (geographic) data.
Discussed with colleague J how to better visualise what our team is working on and how busy we really are(n’t)
With E put together Y’s new Ikea loft bed. By having Y sleep a bit higher up, she has an additional space in her room to play.
Went shopping again at the re-opened wholesale store I had to leave in a hurry last week because there was a fire.
Visited our teen-aged cousin M with E and Y, for his birthday party.
Waiting for a morning train at Vathorst station in the early low sunlight.
This week was the week that Corona breached our household perimeter.
From the weekend Y had vague complaints, and stayed home Monday. She seemed ok to go to school Tuesday but returned home before the end of school again with some complaints of head and belly aches. Wednesday she woke up with a fever and self-tested positive for Corona. Both E and I self-tested negative, but I did have an itchy throat. As E was symptom free, we quickly checked what supplies we needed and she arranged them. We mentally prepared ourselves for a 10 day stay at home, and made an appointment for a formal test for next Monday. That ‘5 day check’ would determine if we as vaccinated housemates of an infected person would be allowed to go outside. At that point, E because she isn’t showing symptoms could still go out. We also made inventory who Y and I had spent time with in the past days (almost nobody) to inform them, and have that info ready for the call by the track and trace team. Thursday morning I too self-tested positive. Sunday I had felt a bit cold and had taken an afternoon nap, which by now we were of course looking at as a first signal. During the day I felt pretty much ok, and worked normally although I was somewhat distracted because of the unknown.
Thursday evening my condition changed, nose and eyes leaking, sneezing and coughing, with my temp rising. I decided to pitch my bivouac at our top floor and sleep on the fold-out couch there, to not expose E to my sneezes and wheezes during the night. I’ve basically been upstairs all the time since then. E has been ensuring the normal operation of our household by herself meanwhile. By now things seem to be improving, temperature still raised but lower than earlier, less symptoms than in the past 2 days, and my appetite almost normal. At the same time the itchy throat has morfed into a somewhat painful one and I am easily tired after brief excursions downstairs. So not there yet.
Tomorrow Y will still be at home, although she is symptom free now and ok, and can then hopefully return to school on Tuesday. We’ll get our tests tomorrow, and if E still tests negatively that would be great. I’ll be indoors coming week as well I suspect, or at least until 24 hours after the last symptoms disappear. In lieu of a booster shot I get my booster the ‘natural’ way this time it seems. Oh goodies.
This week I
As described above spent half my time isolating upstairs feeling ill. This allowed me to read Chapter House Dune, the 6th Dune novel in the series I started re-reading again after seeing the Dune movie last month
Spent a large part of the other half preparing an important meeting for a client with their board and advisory council
Had the weekly client meetings
Booked a table at restaurant Groenland in Driebergen where a decade ago me and my business partners Paul, Frank and Marc (who since left) decided to start an open data consultancy company together. To celebrate we want to dine there again in the original line-up. You may notice that the name of the restaurant is similar to that of our company The Green Land, and that’s no coincidence. Our imagination w.r.t. names was limited, it shows.
Had a conversation with my business partners on tracking how busy our team is without it becoming a tool that is used to maximize how busy everyone is. We’re aiming for balance. I created some prototypes and a list of assumptions and principles we want to clear with our team before showing them the tool.
Received a phone call that our car had been fixed. We got it towed two weeks ago. As we are in quarantine we couldn’t drive out with our temporary replacement and retrieve our car, so our friendly mechanic drove out to us to exchange the cars, fetched the key fob from underneath the door mat and put ours through the mail box.
Followed the online meet-up of Dutch language Obsidian users, albeit without interacting, and just listening in.
My past few days brought to mind this painting: La chambre à Arles, by Vincent van Gogh, public domain image Musée d’Orsay / Wikipedia
It was an agreeable week for me. Visiting a conference and some longer meetings meant I had less time than I originally wanted to do focused work.
This week I
launched my ‘UnOffice‘ experiment, with a first conversation lined up for next week presented the EU legal framework for data and digital to the Edgeryders network, to see how this may aid their efforts. The conversation strengthened my urge to build network and community around these developments along the lines of how we did 12 years ago around open data. Took time to write out my thoughts on that later in the week.
Visited the Public Spaces conference, which I enjoyed, and where both POSSE and Habermas were name checked early on. In the afternoon there were sessions discussing the new EU legal framework, which was good, and showed how much it is needed to go out and explain the utility of these legal instruments.
Discussed a range of follow-up actions to conversations had earlier with the JRC
Generally felt good about the way I worked out notes this week. Really enjoyed and appreciated the ratcheting effect it has for me. Also this week it felt natural to use small bits of time to jot down a few thoughts here and there, that by the end of the week felt substantial amount of useful material.
Had our monthly all hands company meeting, at our offices. We also took some time for more photos (see below) of ourselves, and our work. For our website, and e.g. in slides etc.
Woke up one morning at 5:45 by a tremendous thunder and lightning strike nearby.
Had our car towed again, for what seems the same issue as last November
Had a meeting with the Ministry for Economic Affairs to explore the use cases that may be helped by the new EU data legislation
Took in some sessions, where they fitted timezone-wise, of Nick Milo’s PKM / Obsidian conference
With E finalised plans and arrangements for Y upcoming birthday party. Also with Y wrote the party invitations for her friends, and with her cycled around town to deliver them
Did some admin trivia that took a surprising amount of time
Created a script that now allows me to post material directly from my feed reader to my markdown notes
Took Y to her weekly swimming lesson
Photoshoot for our site in the staircase of our office building.
A pretty regular week, despite the government announcing a tightening of pandemic restrictions (after having seen most measures removed in September), in light of the rising case numbers heading into winter. It means face to face office meetings, the few we did, are again not taking place. Masks are mandatory in public places and shops again. I briefly contemplated going to a very large scale conference (10k people) in Barcelona later this month, but realised I felt uncomfortable about it, as well as seeing limited potential value in being there. I need and want to be more selective in opting to travel.
This week I
Had an extensive session with my business partners reviewing the 2020 and current year’s financials. I do the books for our company, and it was useful to provide the others a deeper insight into how things went and are going in this pandemic. We saw a slow down in activity this spring, in everything, probably general fatigue, visible on our side and with our customers. After the summer holiday we see a very different momentum, and the figures show a matching uptick.
Bought some cushions for the new couches in our office. We redid our office, removing a large part of the working desks, and adding two large couches. When I saw the couches this week, I realised they needed some colorful cushions.
Had a very useful day comparing the current results of the various work groups in the national digital twin for the built environment program. I’m part of the working group for a reference architecture, which intersects with the other working groups (e.g. on models and AI, on public values and ethics, on data, and on the state of play w.r.t. digital twins in the Netherlands). It was the first time that I saw the work in other groups in detail, and immediately different connections jumped out at me, to be followed up in the coming week.
Had a half day working session of the reference architecture group for the Dutch national digital twin
Spoke to a re-formed project team at a client we finished work for last spring, to discuss the progress we made and didn’t make until then, and our perpsective on what’s missing and next steps. It’s odd but sometimes as an external party you get to play the role of organisational memory for a client, and this was an example of that. Maybe next year we can do some more work for them when it comes to deploying data sharing as a policy instrument to enable and encourage others to act.
Went shopping with E, and now have all our Sinterklaas shopping done. Being this early, partly because of some signs of supply chain issues, creates an unexpected calm.
Did the monthly invoicing
Marked the 19th anniversary of this blog
Had our car towed, with a malfunctioning clutch pedal. Before our summer trip to Denmark I had added a component to our Volvo service subscription, extending car replacement from 3 to 30 days. Because if something happened in Denmark, I didn’t want to have to break off our stay there. This upgrade is valid for a year, and now comes in handy, as the repair of our car may take over 2 weeks before they have time for it. Meaning we now have a Volvo rental for that time without charge.
Wrote a proposal for a small additional component on my work on the EU data legislation, to compare it with existing Dutch government plans for potential public use of 3rd party (geographic) data.
Discussed with colleague J how to better visualise what our team is working on and how busy we really are(n’t)
With E put together Y’s new Ikea loft bed. By having Y sleep a bit higher up, she has an additional space in her room to play.
Went shopping again at the re-opened wholesale store I had to leave in a hurry last week because there was a fire.
Visited our teen-aged cousin M with E and Y, for his birthday party.
Waiting for a morning train at Vathorst station in the early low sunlight.
This week was the week that Corona breached our household perimeter.
From the weekend Y had vague complaints, and stayed home Monday. She seemed ok to go to school Tuesday but returned home before the end of school again with some complaints of head and belly aches. Wednesday she woke up with a fever and self-tested positive for Corona. Both E and I self-tested negative, but I did have an itchy throat. As E was symptom free, we quickly checked what supplies we needed and she arranged them. We mentally prepared ourselves for a 10 day stay at home, and made an appointment for a formal test for next Monday. That ‘5 day check’ would determine if we as vaccinated housemates of an infected person would be allowed to go outside. At that point, E because she isn’t showing symptoms could still go out. We also made inventory who Y and I had spent time with in the past days (almost nobody) to inform them, and have that info ready for the call by the track and trace team. Thursday morning I too self-tested positive. Sunday I had felt a bit cold and had taken an afternoon nap, which by now we were of course looking at as a first signal. During the day I felt pretty much ok, and worked normally although I was somewhat distracted because of the unknown.
Thursday evening my condition changed, nose and eyes leaking, sneezing and coughing, with my temp rising. I decided to pitch my bivouac at our top floor and sleep on the fold-out couch there, to not expose E to my sneezes and wheezes during the night. I’ve basically been upstairs all the time since then. E has been ensuring the normal operation of our household by herself meanwhile. By now things seem to be improving, temperature still raised but lower than earlier, less symptoms than in the past 2 days, and my appetite almost normal. At the same time the itchy throat has morfed into a somewhat painful one and I am easily tired after brief excursions downstairs. So not there yet.
Tomorrow Y will still be at home, although she is symptom free now and ok, and can then hopefully return to school on Tuesday. We’ll get our tests tomorrow, and if E still tests negatively that would be great. I’ll be indoors coming week as well I suspect, or at least until 24 hours after the last symptoms disappear. In lieu of a booster shot I get my booster the ‘natural’ way this time it seems. Oh goodies.
This week I
As described above spent half my time isolating upstairs feeling ill. This allowed me to read Chapter House Dune, the 6th Dune novel in the series I started re-reading again after seeing the Dune movie last month
Spent a large part of the other half preparing an important meeting for a client with their board and advisory council
Had the weekly client meetings
Booked a table at restaurant Groenland in Driebergen where a decade ago me and my business partners Paul, Frank and Marc (who since left) decided to start an open data consultancy company together. To celebrate we want to dine there again in the original line-up. You may notice that the name of the restaurant is similar to that of our company The Green Land, and that’s no coincidence. Our imagination w.r.t. names was limited, it shows.
Had a conversation with my business partners on tracking how busy our team is without it becoming a tool that is used to maximize how busy everyone is. We’re aiming for balance. I created some prototypes and a list of assumptions and principles we want to clear with our team before showing them the tool.
Received a phone call that our car had been fixed. We got it towed two weeks ago. As we are in quarantine we couldn’t drive out with our temporary replacement and retrieve our car, so our friendly mechanic drove out to us to exchange the cars, fetched the key fob from underneath the door mat and put ours through the mail box.
Followed the online meet-up of Dutch language Obsidian users, albeit without interacting, and just listening in.
My past few days brought to mind this painting: La chambre à Arles, by Vincent van Gogh, public domain image Musée d’Orsay / Wikipedia
It was an agreeable week for me. Visiting a conference and some longer meetings meant I had less time than I originally wanted to do focused work.
This week I
launched my ‘UnOffice‘ experiment, with a first conversation lined up for next week
presented the EU legal framework for data and digital to the Edgeryders network, to see how this may aid their efforts. The conversation strengthened my urge to build network and community around these developments along the lines of how we did 12 years ago around open data. Took time to write out my thoughts on that later in the week.
Visited the Public Spaces conference, which I enjoyed, and where both POSSE and Habermas were name checked early on. In the afternoon there were sessions discussing the new EU legal framework, which was good, and showed how much it is needed to go out and explain the utility of these legal instruments.
Discussed a range of follow-up actions to conversations had earlier with the JRC
Generally felt good about the way I worked out notes this week. Really enjoyed and appreciated the ratcheting effect it has for me. Also this week it felt natural to use small bits of time to jot down a few thoughts here and there, that by the end of the week felt substantial amount of useful material.
Had our monthly all hands company meeting, at our offices. We also took some time for more photos (see below) of ourselves, and our work. For our website, and e.g. in slides etc.
Woke up one morning at 5:45 by a tremendous thunder and lightning strike nearby.
Had our car towed again, for what seems the same issue as last November
Had a meeting with the Ministry for Economic Affairs to explore the use cases that may be helped by the new EU data legislation
Took in some sessions, where they fitted timezone-wise, of Nick Milo’s PKM / Obsidian conference
With E finalised plans and arrangements for Y upcoming birthday party. Also with Y wrote the party invitations for her friends, and with her cycled around town to deliver them
Did some admin trivia that took a surprising amount of time
Created a script that now allows me to post material directly from my feed reader to my markdown notes
Took Y to her weekly swimming lesson
Photoshoot for our site in the staircase of our office building.