NYC Ramblings

Just a quick update on the whole NYC move business...

• Got a mail today stating that the L1B (or whatever it is) visa request got approved;
• Had to call the embassy to set up an appointment. Can you believe I had to pay 15 euros for that "privilege'?
• At best, I'll have the visa by the 23rd of January.

So it's really going to happen. Bye bye champions league football, I'll have to watch the replays ;-)

Man. U 3 - Benfica 1

Man, that hurts.

If we were down 3-0 and 2 minutes before the end we scored a goal, it would feel different. But that's not what we've done, no. We were 1-0 up at 27 minutes of play, and it was starting to look like they could spend 2 weeks trying and would never get a goal.

Well, they did. 3 times they did. And well diserved it was as well.

Today most Benfica fans are tearfull because we couldn't beat Man U at the theater of dreams, but I'm not, because I know it wasnt't today we lost.
We didn't qualify by drawing 0-0 at Copenhagen, loosing 3-0 in Scotland and loosing 1-0 in Lisbon against Man U. In the end, we were the only team not to lose in Copenhagen, but that's something nobody could guess at the beginning.

Anyway, we go through to the Uefa cup, we can still beat Spurs at same point in time (yes Will, we can beat YOU) and it's not shameful to lose to Man U (this season anyway).

N

Breaking the silence

Well, I think I can post again by now. I've been in some sort of pre-traumatic shock state for the past month, and it finally seems I'm starting to emerge from it.

I guess that in about a month's time I'll be fully into post-traumatic shock.

Anyway, the move to New York is finally going to happen, and this is what's been filling up my mind. Realising that it is going to happen, that I will indeed move away from my family for an unknown period of time (best estimates place that period's duration in just 7 months) and understanding that at times you _really_ must be careful with what you wish.

The current state of affairs is that I'm waiting for my Visa application to be accepted by the US authorities. Tridion applied for the accelerated application, which basically means we can officially bribe the US Government into accepting my application in 3 weeks time instead of the 6 months it might take using the "normal" route. Hurray for capitalism! Amazing what 1,000$ can do.

If everything works out as planned, I'll be flying into NY on the first week of 2007, and will be staying in a colleague's ex-appartment for the first month. Timing was perfect, as this colleague is scheduled to come back to Holland in 2 weeks and will not go back to NY (if at all) before the end of January.

We're hosting a few drinks in The Hague this saturday, so contact me if you want to be there.