Yes yes, I know. Its been a month since my last post here. I am well aware that one of the cardinal sins of blogging is inconsistent writing. And I am guilty of it again. I won’t apologize, coz I have barely had time to breathe, let alone surf the net. I am quite proud of the fact that I managed to delete most of my comment spam within a reasonable timeframe, and saved any remaining readers from objectionable materials. But I do know and understand how annoying it must have been for any remaining regulars here. So, I will really try to be more consistent - things are getting a bit less hectic, and I will aim for two posts a week (putting a frequency down, hopefully, will make me stick to it). For all those blogs I haven’t visited for ages, I’ll dedicate this weekend for some serious catching up! And lastly, if you are getting sick of irregular updates, yet wouldn’t like to miss anything, do consider subscribing to the rss feeds (its on the right side bar). And I am really in a customer-service mode today - if you don’t have rss feeds, you can sign up for email updates everytime I write a new post - just drop me an email (also on the right side bar).

So, whats kept me busy so far? hmm..lets see. I started a new job. I must have met close to a hundred new faces in the last one month, many of whose names I can’t even begin to remember. Spent some quality time in Paris and Belgium for my work. Finally moved all my stuff to Amsterdam and set up my apartment here - picture frames, curtains, plants et al are all in the right place . And heres the bit I am most proud of - cooked and served a house warming dinner for 18 people!(i am never accepting any snide comments about my cooking anymore).

Bought myself a second hand bike, which looks like a second hand bike (a very important criteria in Amsterdam, or its going to get stolen before you can say “Ikakanabikaboo”) and did a fair amount of ‘bika-vanting’ and added to the confusion and chaos of Amsterdam roads with total ignorance of biking etiquette. As if that wasn’t enough, I further add to that whenever I exercise my non-existent driving skills, because I completely don’t know how to watch out for bikes when I am in the car (Its not as simple as it seems, really!). Bikes and cars should belong to parallel universes, definitely not on the same roads! Reading the Netherlands traffic rules book is definitely on the top of my to-do list (and has been there for a while now!) I signed up for skiing lessons and will spend the next few weekends on the slopes, in preparation for a grand ski trip in March somewhere close to Geneva (the destination is still a well-kept secret, which I am not privy to). If any of my insurers are reading this, maybe its a good time to temporarily suspend my insurance.

Despite all the external distractions, work (the usual suspect, isn’t it!) is really what is keeping me busy. Its quite different from what I used to do, and I am still in the adjusting-to-everything-around-me phase. But I am completely ‘lurrving’ it, which means I end up spending more time than I should at my work. Aha, and did I forget to mention learing dutch. Whoever told me that I don’t need to speak Dutch in Amsterdam (there were many of such people), is a complete moron! Yes, maybe to buy groceries at the supermarket, you can get away with English, but to work in an office which is predominantly Dutch, speaking the language is a definite bonus.

So, now I hope you can begin to forgive me for my MIA (that’s Missing In Action, if you have never done military time before) phase, and lets all make merry and have a great weekend.