Taxis in Amsterdam

According to this website, some new taxis are going to surface in Amsterdam this summer.
Finally some good changes in this city! My biggest criticism to the current taxis is the fact that taxi drivers in Amsterdam can refuse to give you a ride if the distance is too short!
OK, so I admit that sometimes I can be a bit lazy but that's my problem! If I want to go from Central Station to my house (Wetering Circuit) by taxi - which is about 10 EUR - I should be able to do it because I'm paying and the client is always right, but in Amsterdam they just tell you to bugger off and choose another taxi, only in this city I've seen this!

The new taxis will also have a clearer pricing and are supposed to be more environment friendly which are for me also important points and hopefully all the other taxis will follow the good example!

Better only if all taxi became like the Disco Taxi in Amsterdam!
Disco Taxi is like a moving disco, it has all you need inside, a ball of mirrors, great sound system, light effects and even karaoke with a microphone for you to show your singing skills and if you are too shy to do it the taxi driver will do it for you :-)
Can you imagine Amsterdam packed with Disco Taxis? :-)

My Sweet Vespa is Back

Finally after 3 months I have my Vespa back!

It all started when Vitor borrowed my Vespa to go to his girlfriend's place and it was stolen.

A few weeks later I received a letter saying that the police found it.
After that the problems started, too many complications followed to the point that I personally went to the police station to pick it up and according to the police officer my Vespa wasn't in there anymore because I had already picked it up (!?) although no one could say when or even prove it. The only thing they said was "according to the system you have already picked it up, are you sure you didn't come here before?" - duhhh!!

Anyway, after everything was sorted with the police I asked the store where I bought the Vespa to go an get it and fix while they are at it! And so it was, this Friday I got a phone call from the Vespa store saying that the Vespa was ready to go!

It was a good feeling to ride it again, I missed that (not so nice) smell while cutting traffic in the middle of the traffic jam and the wind blowing on by head although it can be quite cold at this time of the year but now that the Spring is here there's hope that the weather will get a bit better and then I can give my Vespa the proper use!

Oops... We did it again!

Ebuddy.com keeps being recognized and sometimes even wins some prizes.
This time made it to the Red Herring's top 100 European companies, and only 5 from The Netherlands were nominated next to Joost, Hyves, I-Wood and Polymer Vision. (click here for more info on the Red Herring Magazine)

After the article on July 2006 about ebuddy, we were finally recognized as one of the top companies in Europe.

Now, if you'd tell me a few years ago that I would be the co-founder of a company I'd probably laugh at you! Now ebuddy keeps growing and keeps winning prizes and for me it's still an overwhelming experience.

Of course that all this would never be achieved without my partners, our loyal employees and of course our (30+ million) users because without them ebuddy would be just another website. Thank you all!

Back to reality

Oh my God... still recovering from this last week!
The first week after vacations is always the most complicated but it was actually a pretty good week, lots of catching up to do, lots of things got done in the office as well and it ended with a night out with the ebuddy.com team Friday night which ended in total lost of control in some cases :-)

It was nice to see everybody together outside the office, since the last time it happened the team grew a lot so that was definitely something positive.

The rest of the weekend was a total waste. What I mean is that it wasn't a very productive one. I stayed home all weekend, although the sun was shinning all the time it was damn cold outside and I'm still not ready for that, not after my vacations in Brazil.
But at least I got my jet-lag sorted, I had lots of rest and I should be ready for another week at full steam!
I wonder how the rest of the ebuddy.com team feels though, I'm not sure if all of them will be fit to work on Monday :-)

A day @ the farm

I have to say that I'm pretty much a city guy, always have been and probably always will be. Ok, so I don't mind the sea and the beach but countryside is not for me - not to live there anyway!
The funny thing is that my father is the total opposite of me but not only about this - I'm not even white! :-)
When we were in Portugal my parents moved from the big city (Lisbon) to the countryside where he had his little farm while I moved in with a friend of mine and kept living in the city.

Now living in Brazil my father also managed to get himself a farm - this one a little bigger - and today we went to my see the farm, not that I was very excited about it but in the end it was great!
It's amazing to see the difference between the landscape only after half an hour from the beach house.
All of a sudden it's like I'm in the middle of a rain forest, the roads are quite narrow and au naturel (forget about asphalt) and when we got there I had a funny feeling that I can't quite explain.

Surrounded by all that nature all kind of thoughts come in to your mind, specially the fact that to keep the cities (that I so much like) up and running, thousands (if not millions) of acres of vegetation like the one I had just in front of me are being destroyed all the time, specially in Brazil and the Amazonia.

Sometimes you just need to experience and live to actually think about, so when you have the time in your busy and active city life, just for once, stop and think about it...

Back to Salvador

I've been to Natal and Fortaleza for the last week and it was amazing!!!
Natal was just amazing! I always have fun with Roland and Tinne, we all had a great time between going to the beach, partying all night or simply relaxing in their swimming pool.
By the way, Roland and Tinne thanks for the unforgetable birthday present!!! (no, I'm not gonna tell you what it was!!! :-P)

Fortaleza was also great! I met with Tarcy there and we turned that city upside-down! Lots of situations happened there including partying hard with her mother and uncle, what a crazy family she has!

Now I'm back in Salvador, I'll have to take the most out of it because I have only 3 days left before I go back to the rainy Amsterdam awaiting me :-(