I am at Chess again, after being two weeks on holiday. I had a wonderful time in Washington and a great day Wednesday; now it's back to normal life.

Yesterday I submitted the last paperwork to the VU. The only thing left is signing up for the alumni newsletters.

After being away from the office I had to re-conquer many parts of my docking
station: the monitor, mouse and most cables were 'borrowed' by other projects and temporary computers. Now I'm back in business. Today I'm working on small improvements to the main project I have been working on since March.

There are a number of pictures online of my graduation yesterday. No longer a student, but with a M.Sc. title and a memory of a great day!

In the morning I tried to get up at 9:30 o'clock, but I still felt a little sleepy from the time-difference so I stayed in bed till 10:30. Then I hardly had enough time: I had to prepare quite a few things, buy some fresh bread etc... and my parents would be there at 13:00 o'clock. In fact
they came earlier (surprise!), which was nice because they helped me out with the shopping while I quickly took a shower and dressed. Unfortunately the coffee machine was broken (now fixed), so we were craving for some coffee.

We arrived at the VU around 13:45 and met Alrik in the main building. The graduation was in the Computer Science building and there also were many familiar faces!

It was a very pleasant surprise to see so many people: Alrik, Ankie, Bianca, Ettie, Gerben, Harm, Jaap, Jennie, Jerry, Joost, Len, Marjolein, Mieke, Oma, Paula, Petra, Ralf, Richard, Rob, Steven,
Wouter... I took some caffeine shots. It was funny that quite some people had read my remark on the website in the morning that I was having difficulties getting up.

I am going to the VU, the day after my graduation. There's still some paperwork to be done, and this time I do have a certified copy of my diplom available.

It
feels a bit pointless, to travel 2 hours just make a single certified
copy, but I'm bringing one the (many) books I got yesterday so I won't
bored.

Wow... what a day. Yesterday I received my doctoraal exam, and I'm officially a Master of Science!

It was a wonderful day, with a nice ceremony and a great party. I loved it that so many friends, family members and colleagues were there. I got a lot of presents, flowers, phone calls, nice cards, a very nice voice-mail and I really enjoyed it all.

Later more on the party and the ceremony, first some coffee now. I hope I can get the coffee machine working -- Tuesday it didn't work.

My suit is ready, the beer is cold, music works nicely... ready for my graduation! It still feels like 5:00 in the morning for me, but I slept
very well.

I'll go into the city for a few small things and my parents will be here around 13:00 o'clock.

Yesterday at 17:00 o'clock we were at the Reagan National Airport in Washington. I took a plane to Philadelphia, where I would take the plane to Amsterdam. The trip to Philadelphia took only half hour; it's basically getting into the air and then landing again.

I had a very good flight to Amsterdam. The plane wasn't very busy, and I could stretch out on three chairs next to each other. It's the first time I really slept on a plane. The time difference made the night very short -- at the moment I'm writing this I'm pretty tired.

Jaap picked me up from the airport (thanks!). My suitcase was extremely heavy (with books). Today Jaap and I prepared tomorrow's graduation party. We picked up an extra stereo tower from Weesp, and we went to the supermarket. The beer came at 17:00 o'clock, and everything's pretty much ready now. Just some light cleaning.

Yesterday was the last day of my stay in the States and we spent it well. In the morning Rosa took us for a ride and I met Susan, a friend. She lives in a very beautiful house in a quiet neighborhood. We had lunch at a new Thai place, near the World Bank. It was delicious.

Later we went for a short trip to the harbor of Annapolis, a small town outside Washington. There was a boat-sale going on, so the whole harbor was closed for non-paying visitors (like us). But just around the corner was the US Naval Academy, where we could walk around freely and see the harbor from the other side. The town and harbor is remarkably similar to Medemblik, a Dutch harbor town close to Opperdoes (where I was born).

Sunday we took it very easy, a relaxing day. We went out for brunch in Georgetown. We arrived there around 13:00 o'clock, so we're getting hungry.

We found a nice real American restaurant where there was a brunch-buffet being served: all-you-can-eat. There were many different types of food, and a lot of American things I hadn't tried in years. Very delicious!

We noticed that the personnel looked non-American; in fact, one of the girls looked like a Bulgarian. When we left we asked her, and she was indeed from Stara-Zagora, Bulgaria. She and her colleagues were working on the same type of program as Sasha and I did five years ago. Perhaps they will be coming back to the States once, and have waitresses and waiters who work the same program, too...

Friday evening we met a friend from a long time ago: Anthony. He used to work with us in Antonio's, the restaurant where Sasha and I met each other, in upstate New York.

It was great to see him again, after five years! We weren't even sure if we would recognize him but that turned out to be no problem.
We went from dinner and had a fun evening. Next time shouldn't be in 5 years! :)