Tammy fell in the bath tub yesterday and she's got a sore hip and neck. Don't worry, it's nothing to that won't go away in a few days. I've cleared it with my boss to stay here in Amsterdam today and tomorrow. I can work upstairs, where I am right now, and walk the dog she's looking after when she needs out. I have only sporadic Internet access due to the fact the occupants of this house do not have ADSL or cable. That's where this handy dandy blog client comes in very, well, handy. That also explains the "Unknown Artist" at the top of this blog entry. It's actually a Fat Boy Slim tune, not sure which one, it's on an album I don't have myself. Normally WinAmp checks some CDDB website out there to fetch all the info of the cd you're listening to. It's funny when you don't have permanent Net access, you tend to plan your online-time a lot better. I have made a little list of things I need to do as soon as I get online and connected to the office network. I need to fetch a few files, I just hope they're not too big.
Today there is an all-out strike of the tram, bus, metro and ferry drivers/captains in Amsterdam. I sure am glad I don't need to go anywhere today. With all the extra cars it'll be completely chocked with cars. As some of you may or may not know, public transport is a very big thing in The Netherlands. This is especially true of the bigger cities like Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Utrecht. A lot of people won't be able to get to work and a lot of children are going to have a tough time getting to school. A lot of folks in Amstedam don't own a car because it is just too impractical and expensive. You need to fork over a lot of money to get a permanent parking spot here. With all the canals running through the middle of the streets, there's little space for parking your car.
Working from home is not that common in The Netherlands yet. Most bosses don't trust their employees to not spend all their time writing blog entries. Oh wait, umm. The company I am contracted out to has excellent remote working facilities and some departments encourage people to work from home if it does not have a negative impact. Obviously people who are in the operational part of the IT department won't be able to work from home as their work is mainly hands-on. I am trying to get all this documentation written for work and so it helps to not be interrupted all the time. People have my mobile number, so I am not completely cut off from the work. When I have very active development work going on, I have to be in the office, I can hardly expect my colleagues to walk to the test room to reboot or check on the workstations every time I test a new kernel or something.
We'll be heading back to Rotterdam tomorrow evening, after dinner or sometime around then. The cats have been alone for a few days now, but they should be fine. I gave them well over 4 liters of water and more food than you can shake a stick at. Even if they did finish it all on Sunday and are going hungry now, it probably won't hurt them to go without food for a day or so. Both cats are a little, umm, hefty, despite the fact they're on indoor cat, read: less active, food.
Anyway, I ought to get myself online and get some stuff done and then get back to writing documentation.