What's a vegetarian meat dumpling?

We were at the Asian grocery store in Amsterdam this weekend and saw something called a Vegetarian Meat Dumpling. We were puzzled as the ingredient list revealed no meat.

After thinking for a minute we figured it was like "tofurky" in that the vegetables were made to resemble the texture and flavor of meat - but I think their translations could use a little refinement :-)

I see the front tire...but where's the rest of the bike?

Bike theft is pretty rampant here in Amsterdam. You need a strong lock, and you need to remember to lock the back wheel, and then lock the frame AND front wheel to something solid.

If you don't, you could end up like this poor person. You get back from the train station and notice that your front wheel is still locked up...but the rest of the bike is missing!




Or you could be like our new friend Kevin, who came outside one morning to find a different bicycle locked up with his chain. Apparently someone liked his bike better than theirs, so they "upgraded," leaving him their cruddy bike. Kevin has since purchased a better lock.

A new professional first

Today I spoke at a conference in Amsterdam about Social Networking and how Kodak is participating in the space. I was pretty nervous as it was my first presentation at a conference, and I was a stand-in for a colleague that couldn't attend - but I was well prepped and it seemed to go well overall. People were nodding their heads in agreement and asked a lot of questions, so I guess they were engaged. I misspoke at one point though, calling the Beijing Games the "Kodak Olympics!" Oops! Luckily I caught myself and we all had a good laugh about it! The conference organizers still invited me back for the second day to participate in the discussion, so overall I'd say it was a success.

I was also amazed when I got back to my house after speaking, and my US colleagues had already e-mailed me a few positive twitter posts about the content of my speech! One tweet even said we had the best quote of the day :-) I can't take credit for the quote as I was re-using a colleague's deck - but it was still rewarding to see how positively Kodak was received.

When I responded to this person's "tweet" he replied yet again saying how much he enjoyed our story and how impressed he was with our work in the space. That alone made it worth all the preparation and stress it took to present.

I can honestly say that I'm glad I did it. I wasn't perfect, but I wasn't too horrible either and it will make me a stronger presenter in the future. Still, I'm relieved. The adrenaline of the afternoon has worn off - and I'm going to bed.

I love Wagamama

Wagamama is an "Asian fast food" noodle and soup chain that I discovered when I was living in London back in 1997. The food is tasty, the service is quick and the prices aren't bad. This week Brett and I discovered that there are 2 locations in Amsterdam! We've been mostly disappointed with the restaurants here, but Wagamama is the exception. We've been twice in the past week. Yum!

Great prices on tulips!

If you can handle the cold weather here in Amsterdam, you can get flowers pretty cheaply. While walking by the flower markets we saw 50 tulips for 7.50 Euro (around $10). Good deal!

Fall leaves or fireworks fallout?

On New Years in Amsterdam there was the fireworks display put on by the government, but more striking to me were the displays put on by the people. It seemed every Dutch family bought fireworks and set them off in the streets. They started setting off firecrackers around 2PM, but by midnight they were in full force.

I would say that there were professional quality displays going off every 2 or 3 houses down my entire street. The only difference is that with professional displays, the fireworks go UP. Dutch family fireworks hit cars, roofs, and burn in the street like a bonfire when they malfunction. I've never seen anything quite like it but I'm glad I did - especially from the safety of my apartment.

The streets have been covered with paper ever since! It looks kind of like fall leaves to me!

From tulips to palm tree seeds - they're for sale in Amsterdam

At the flower markets here they sell everything from beautiful tulips to seeds for palm trees. I'm not sure why they have the palms as it's surely too cold here for them to grow, but it's cool to see what palm tree seeds look like.