Cocktail Thieves

Another great weekend gone by, lots of interesting situations that I most definitely won't forget but I will tell about this peculiar one that happened to me on Vitor's party last Saturday @ The Mansion, a place that is supposed to be all posh!

Edward, a colleague from the office kindly offered me a nice long or colorful cocktail, very sweet in taste, I couldn't have asked for a nicer one at the time.

After a while, with my glass clearly more than half, this "dude" working at the bar collecting empty glasses puts my cocktail on his tray and leaves!
I was indignated so I followed the man until he stopped in the corner of the room and starts drinking from my glass!
Is this normal?! Maybe in The Netherlands but for me this is an outrage! You should have seen the face of this young man when I confronted him with the situation. He didn't know what to say which frankly he couldn't say anything.

Anyway it all got sorted after a while and I got another cocktail but I did find out later that it was his first night at the job!!! Now, who the hell does thing kind of thing (in his/her first day on the job)?

I learned my lesson this weekend, never leave your glass out of sight! I usually have my eyes opened to this situation (that's why I caught him) but now I know I gotta just a little bit extra careful otherwise it will end up being a really expensive night out ;-)

Great party by the way Vitor, congrats!

Home Sweet Home

It's official, today I signed the contract of the apartment I want to buy!
It's the initial step, still lots of paperwork and mortgage deals to wrap up but only if something goes very wrong then I won't be able to keep this apartment.

As any person that have already bought a house knows it's not an easy decision and my case wasn't any different. There's lots of variables like to choose a house in the center or not, old building or new (not so common in Amsterdam) etc., so I've found one, one that I thought it was meant for me!



It's a house in a nice and quiet neighborhood in Amsterdam (Omval) just in front of the Amstel river in Amsterdam, behind the Amstel Station. So it's not in the heart of the city... so what? It's also not that far away and it has great connections via trams and trains so that's not a big problem for me. Believe me, I've been living in the center of Amsterdam for too long and it's a great danger for your health and your wallet so in the end it's a wise decision :-)



And the most important of all, it's a new building (1997) it actually has concrete separating the apartments unlike the common thin wooden walls we find in buildings in the center of Amsterdam were you can even hear the neighbors farting and more...



I would also call Omval "Little Manhattan". It's one of the areas in Amsterdam that have buildings compared to skyscrapers in Manhattan. There are two huge towers coming out of the ground and they just sit just a few meters from where I live.

So, like someone once said. "Start spreading the news..."

My Almost Niece

It happened, I'm an almost uncle. David Lopes, my almost brother, and Raquel my almost sister in law are now very happy parents.
Margarida Cardoso Lopes was born on the 4th of May and if it depends on me she will be the most spoiled baby on Earth :-)


Gotta go buy some nice presents for her, in June I'll be in Portugal and I'll have the chance to see them together for the first time!

Once again, congratulations David and Raquel!

Bye bye Sun...

I've been pretty quiet but that doesn't mirror what actually has been happening around me, I don't even know where to start.

I got myself a new Nokia N95! What a monster device it is, I love the GPS features but the battery... pfff, it's a real pain but I can live with that.
There was Queen's Day of course and what a party it was this year!
My Vespa was stolen once again, this time right in front of my house!
David called the other day in total ecstasy, his daughter was born (on 4th of May I believe) so that makes me an (almost) uncle. I'm still waiting for some pictures, I'm sure I'll have them soon!

And today I'm not feeling very good! The weather is changing again, the rain has come to stay! It not only leaves me a little bit depressed but the sudden change in the atmospheric pressure leaves me with giant headaches (aka migraines).
It's a little bit like what happens when you fly and your ears feel funny, gives you that uncomfortable feeling and sometimes just snap! I feel a little but like that but in my head (!?!) so I think I'm going to relax the rest of the day.

Catch you guys later