raymondpoort.com

I always thought the word iPod was just a catchy name that Apple chose for their mp3-player…found out this week that the term POD stands for Portable On Demand!

The 'i' in front of it fits in Apples branding strategy (iMac, iBook, iTunes, iLife, iMovie, etc.)

We played our first game yesterday and lost 1-3…sjeez, it has been quite some time since we last lost a game! Have to try harder next time (starting with the training!).

nu.nl (dutch): Jos Verstappen will *not* to race during this weekends A1GP race in Zandvoort, The Netherlands. The team replaced him with Jeroen Bleekemolen following a dispute between Jos and the dutch A1GP team management. The discussion is all about money (isn't it always); the team apparently has had problems last year to pay Verstappen in time, so he wanted guarentees that his salary would be paid in due time during the coming season. The team was not able to provide these guarentees resulting in this clash…oh well, there are only about 70,000 fans who purchased tickets for coming weekends race, mainly to see Jos in action…who cares, ah?

Not always easy, but actually it feels great to experience the vacuum between what has been and what is to come…it's called the NOW…never waste a moment…live it, feel it, enjoy it!

Despite the great result on my GMAT, I will not enter the TIAS Part-Time MBA program this year :(…my employer decided (quite unexpectedly) to give me NO SUPPORT for this study. The motivation given was not that constuctive, my conclusion from it is that the company apparently has no need for MBA-qualified personell. Fair enough…pity however that they were not able to bring me this message in an earlier stage.

I'm on my own on this one…unfortunately the time left before the class of 2006 starts (September 29th) is not enough to work out alternatives…

Yes, I *am* very disappointed; the MBA (specifically the Tias PTMBA program) would have been a great first step in achieving my (professional) ambitions and, in my humble opinion, could have been part of an important step the company needs to take (invest today for the success of tomorrow). Then again, MBA is not the magic word that makes all things better by itself, a lot of hard work is still required…not being able to start this year is not the best motivator, especially not considering the history behind it…but, it will not stop me to work on my future!

On the geeky part; bought a new external harddrive yesterday, only 320Gb am filling it up as we speak….zzzzz

Just came back from Robbert & Suzanne who returned from their honeymoon to the Maldives…aaahhhhh, WHAT an amazing place (at least, that's what their pictures and stories tell me)!

If I ever…I'm sure to go there!

We've been training for the past weeks, coming week the volleyball competition starts.

The ball is round as we say, first year in the regional competition, 2nd Class…wonder what it wil bring us. You can follow the score via the NeVoBo-site!

Had a GREAT weekend, loads of sun, good company and wedding preps. Pictures will come if Axel is able to send them from Tripoli, Libya

Following the Texel-weekend earlier this year, I'll again visit one of the dutch 'northern' islands this weekend.

Schiermonnikoog this time, which is the fifth island when counted from West to East; at least, in the way children are thaught to memorize the islands via 'TV TAS' (meaning something silly as 'tv-bag').

From West to East we have: Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog.

Reason to go to 'Schier' is Axel and Beike's wedding end October which we are asked to organize with them. Already second time this year…guess I should consider changing jobs and become a wedding planner, eh?