.. London calling ...

it's not going to clash, but this week-end London is on the menu. Finally doing the shopping with the gift voucher from my Sony Ericsson farewell present... it will bring back a lot of memories ..... Paul Smith here i come :-) ...

I'm trying to follow up all the changes in the other end, but i must admit: I'm lost .. but i guess aren't we all in one way or the other. .... We are trying to find a next destination, so if any of you have an idea: you know where to find me ...

... the holiday blues ...

As I told in my quick posting last week I'm suffering a bit of holiday blues. July was a fantastic month in Belgium with very sunny weather and temperature around 30 degrees, I brought also the long expected present I was hoping to get: my bike. The first step towards the trip to Morocco has materialized.

Agnes and I already enjoyed some very nice trips in Belgium as an appetizer for hopefully a longer trip in the coming period.

Although we hesitated for taking the bike on holiday with the kids in France we decided finally to leave on the 12th of August with the 4 of us in the car. Mainly to make sure that at least we had the time to talk as a little family about bits and bots. The trip down was very nice and went very smooth. We were lodged in a beautifully country house in the middle of a vineyard. It was marvelous to have a house like that .. nice bedrooms , very big kitchen (which of course I loved after I brought my own food processor and the coffee machine, which makes Agnes always laugh)

The highlight of the holiday was of course the fishing. I never considered myself a person who would love fishing , but at the end of the day Riens and I loved the fact of being till our middle in the water and just waiting for the fish to take bait. We were so proud of him when he caught his first ever big fish, without any help of anyone .. The kids are getting older and with every day it is getting for both Agnes and myself so much nicer. We praise ourselves to have such nice kids with whom you can talk in a very adult way.



The house we shared with friends of ours with some nice evening talk around some, or even too many glasses of wine. The second week we took an easy way back with stop overs in Il de Re, Mont Saint Michel and Normandy. The end of the holiday was less pleasant due the illness of both Agnes and me ... it felt as if they wanted to make clear to us that we had to take care of our bodies ...

Back to work was rather heavy, feels like I'm in an environment which is not really mine and although I'm convinced it should be possible it seems that all efforts of making a change to not rub off to the rest of the organization. This combined with the physical distance there sometimes is between Agnes and myself one starts to put the personal and family harmony on a higher level. This has of course the necessary consequences on the professional life, one cannot forget that about 60% of our awake life we spend doing a job, in other words happiness in the job is from big importance to make sure that the family life does not suffer under it ....

The questions that fly through my head in connection to this all are the basis of the summer blues, but as you all know me, it will not get me down, but will fuel my energy to find the best solution for all of us ... but as the song said: With a little help of my friends ...

.. after summer blues ...

hi there all, just to let you know i have put on my to do list a posting on my blog for this week-end. All has been delayed because of holiday and i must admit post summer blues .. but i will keep youposted this week-end with the full story ...

... A father and son tradition ...

.. It has been hectic weeks at work. A lot of preparation for different rather important meetings made me feel the buzz again from the days at Sony Ericsson. Late hours and very short deadlines are what make me going. In the end the work paid off since we presented very good projects at the management and are getting the permission to work further on them ...

this week-end has been a thrill in all aspects. I was to go to the MotoGP races in Holland (Assen) this week-end with some could contacts and some customers. I already dragged and convinced my girlfriend to come along to also taste the vibe of worldclass motorcycle racing but much to my surprise my son came along. Last Thursday I called the kids and he although he never mentioned it he asked if he could join.

Since Assen is quite up in the north we planned a first stop Friday night in Amsterdam meeting up with Brenda, Olly and the gang. Unfortunately we could not go for the very very long hours since Riens (my son) had to go to bed rather early , but anyhow there was still plenty of time to be updated on the latest gossip and trends .... The wine, the Greek food and the stories were in abundance ....

The next brought however some sobering up: how to threat a scale in the bathroom. For the record I do not have a scale in my bathroom mainly because of the fact I do not want to be reminded of my weight. Well I could not resist the call of the scale, but I could not oversee the consequences. I will not mention the figure that appeared but it left us both in shock. As you can imagine the diet fever already kicked in :-) .

The next morning we left rather early for the races and it was a glorious day. The weather was superb and all my guests were so excited and impressed. Riens his highlight of the day was the autograph he received from James Ellison and Carlos Checa and the fact he could thanks to the Jeremy Ferguson (My colleague who is running the International Motorsports division) get a look at the bike from up close .


After the race we were amazed again by the Dutch. Along the highway people were putting up their little barbecue and chairs to watch the bikers pass by. It was just hilarious (I will be uploading an image later this week). On every exit people from the neighborhood were sitting on the bridge and the side, they had their sun chairs even their barbecue with them. A phenomena that continued to well 100km outside Assen...

back home and today Sunday it was so nice to see my sun with his signed cap and t-shirt, guess he is bitten by the same virus as me : the virus of speed and bikes, let's hope this all turns out to be harmless ...

Happy travels my friends and hope to hear from you all soon


Toon

.. when is the last time you let your hear speak ....

.. it has been a bit of a rumble lately. The emotional rollercoaster took our little family to all ends of the spectrum, but now it seems all is calming down again and we are looking forward to the holiday.... oepsss .... we were planning the holiday for July 31st till August 15th, but i just found out today that this was a bit of a mistake. Mieke - the kids mother - had booked the same week , so we are moved back to 13th of August till 27th now .. not really a problem, but now everybody has to adjust the schedule to my little mistake ....

on the title now: we had dinner with Serge, Onno and Lotte from Luon. They have become very good friends and we enjoy a bit the similar things in life: good food and very good wine. During the dinner we came to the different projects they were involved in. Well they have a brilliant and unique concept which made me feel good about working in this business. On Tuesday they will launch a unique mobile operator. Ello Mobile (website will go live tuesday on www.ello-mobile.be) is a totally webbased operator with a heart of gold. All profits will be going to social projects selected by the King Boudewijn foundation (very famous belgian foundation of our former king) www.kbs-frb.be

in the same area i had a quick summer lunch with another friend who just came back from a mindblowing experience: taking a step back in life and asking yourself what you really want. Not the 5 second question that you ask yourself when rushing into two meeting, but genuinely asking yourself the question and confronting yourself with it and only with that for one week ... when is the last time you did that ....

The same day i could not help me dropping by Dare Digital ... the sight of Flo Heiss and James Cooper hanging out of the window put a smile on my face the lasted all day long .... not talking about the good old days but just catching up on how life is and the small things that make us happy .. when is the last time you did that ...

Saturday evening: bbq at my dads place with the whole family (my brother and 3 sisters). sitting there with all of us and listening to the joyful conversations about our lives ..... when is the last time you did that ...

I guess that we all do these things from time to time, but sometimes we forget to make the time to really enjoy them ... this last week we needed to have this kind of things in our lives to look back and say: we are lucky.

recommendations:

Life after the 30 sec spot of Joseph Jaffe, a brilliant piece of literature that puts the work of current TV advertising marketers in the spotlight as being a species under threat of extinction. I loved the booked enormously, especially since I read it on the way to the ad agency for a creative and budget meeting :-) ...

Matchpoint: the latest movie from Woody Allen, not really a recommendation during this lovely weather but anyhow. It was one of those movies that still today's spooks in my mind. A story about luck, what it means and how destiny can play such a predominant role in where you end up and have to lead the rest of your life ....


Happy travels friends and hope to see more of you all in the coming months

Toon

PS: the Africa trip is becoming more and more serious. Can you imagine we bought the maps and we are already figuring out where all the gas stations are for the trip in the deserted area's :-)

... same same but different ....

this week-end I had the pleasure of spending the day at the MotoGP at Le Mans. The crowd was immense, around 80.000 people around the circuit, 140.000 over the two days. And I have now proof: you do not need to be a freak to enjoy the motorcycle circuit.

The race itself was very exciting and full of tension. My idol Carlos Checa did very well, but the battle for the top spot in all classes was just amazing with a very unfortunate Valentino Rossi withdrawing with mechanical problems. I felt just like 14 again , that was the time out family was visiting motocross very week-end. Of course I had some privileges thanks to my current job. Was able to come very close to the riders after the warm-up, see and touch the bikes (the one next to the bike is my colleague resp for sales) ... The most exciting thing however was the fact we were able to go in the safety car and do one round around the circuit before the race ...

after this amazing experience I must say I do admire even more the speed at which those guys go around, this is not only a question of putting the mind to zero and the looks to the horizon, but above all of ability to control the bike in each condition ...

Of course the memory of my visit to the tennis tournament of Stanford was just around the corner and I had to come to the conclusion that at the end of the day it's same same but different. Top athletes that do everything for their sports, but at the end of the day are only human. One thing is for sure: I'm thrilled being there now and then ..

Happy travels

Toon

.. a difference in culture ....

Imagine this: put into one room a diversity of people: Japanese, American, French, Italian, English and to top it off a crazy Belgian :-0 .... result: quite an experience. Just had my first global meeting at the new job and i had the be the master of ceremony. With this diversity you can imagine it was a big challenge to keep the meeting into the right time and mindframe. But we managed .... especially with the help of the some more experienced people in the meeting. Bob helped me out very nice and was trying with me to steer the meeting in a very gentle but firm way in the right direction .... tomorrow we are off at 5.45 to the circuit to Le Mans to see the MotoGP race. It is going to be so thrilling to see th bikes and the riders with super dooper VIP passes :-) ...

but i just realized i've been away all week long and and i haven't heard the kids and or hardly any of my family. Sitting here in my hotel room after a very long week it sneaks up on you how important small things can be in life .... i wished i had more time to spend with them and for me and my girlfriend to think about the future ....

but fours days of holiday are just around the corner .. i'm lookign forward to some time with all of them and just come to the senses .....

happy travels

Toon

.... Regrets and the future ...

When I was 14 years old I decided to stop my classical education in high school and go for a more practical education of cook school school. When I announced this at school the principal asked a meeting with my dad, give him sermon about wasting a valuable education and all option for a descent future, warning him that in future I would regret the choice I made.



(try to recognize me in the blurry picture of my last year cook school :-), the winner gets a free dinner at my place)

I was very much impressed by what they guy said and started to doubt a little, till the moment my dad said: in life you should never regret things that you have done, only the things that you did not do. Still today I do not regret my choice of that moment, yes of course it made my path to university very difficult and rather cumbersome, but till today I feel happy I took the decision at that moment to go for an education as chef.

it has thought me in many different ways so much about life, still today, that regretting it would be denial of the beauty of the experience. It is the same way I feel to day about decision I took in my life. Yes I sometimes make the mistake like Graham Bell said: When one door closes another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.

Because the door I closed is not really closed, the friendships I still have are keeping them open and make me look for doors beyond the ones that have opened. I know I will be able in the near future to open up these doors with the helps of my friends.

people all around ....

it has been so nice lately spending some time with a the most diverse people you could imagine. From a swedish guy in who ended up in Barcelona with a passion for Porsche to some dear colleageu digital marketeers moving back to their home country ... but most of all meeting up with the old gang of my team was such a blessing.

during my last visit to London i took the opportunity to meet up with some relations from the industry and we start discussing the future of digital marketing. With Ashley Friedlin from the e-consultancy group i had a very nice discussion on the shift that is taking place within marketing. We discussed that Sir Martin Sorell was right when he said that the traditional marketeers are in no position to react properly to digital marketing, but they are desperately trying. This results in digital marketing being concquered by the old habits without regarding the specificity of digital.

We must keep in mind and never forget that digital marketing is the marriage between technology and marketing. This marriage needs to be based on mutual understanding and respects for each limitations and possibilities. It is now in that balance that lies the challenge for the marketeers. Contrary to the traditional forms of marketing, digital requires a certain skill set that goes beyond putting a good idea and some creative people together and at the same time goes beyond having some whizz kids that can do magic with technology.

Digital is not an advertizing medium that has a passive audience sitting there and absorbing the message, but put the user in control on how they want to interact with your brand. Digital consumers want to have the choice and they judge with the mousse by clicking onto information they can relate to or engage with.

Digital needs to be and remain a center of excellence that services and initiates marketing programs and campaigns from out it's own specificity: the marriage between creativity, usability and technology.

Anyhow it leaves us with the never ending challenge to convince marketeers around us that bringing digital under marcoms or advertizing is not a step towards a better integration, on the contrary since it is underestimating the need for a digital marketing approach in all customer facing layers of a company. Thus the struggle and fight for a truley integrated digital marketing departement (technology and marketing) on the same level as marcoms and brand continues.

Happy travels

.... a thought ...

Memories come down and me once again
caught without an umbrella
memories come down and me once again
caught without an umbrella

... in London today and that is how i felt .....

... The big thrill and the big chill ...

well, it's been a while that I took the time to write something for which I feel guilty I must say ... it feels good to stay in touch with all of you that read the blog and it gives me the feeling that I'm still amongst a group of friends that I do not see that often anymore ...

so many things have happened the last month. I finally had the house warming party and sorry James, but the bottle of whisky was opened. I will buy a new one for the day you come over to Belgium. The party was complete madness :-) 50 people in the house and a swinging party till 5 o'clock in the morning. It was good to have some many people around that enjoyed themselves. A complete wonder that the cops did not pass buy since we were playing the music loud with the windows open ...

The week after everything needed to be prepared to go on the ski holiday with the family ... .... Riens and Lauran even took up snowboarding, something that we did not do before. It was a week to cherish as a treasure .. everything was really relaxed and all troubles seemed so far away .... It is in that period that you suddenly realize that the time you spend with the people who you love and the ones that make you happy is way to short ....

It was also nice to talk about other business with our friends. We were three couples with kids there. One of them Jan has his own company in the world of design. You should check out www.domani.be .. I like the website. although I have known Jan for already quite some time it was fascinating to hear him talk about his business and especially his clients. I know people who would be jealous to know the he has a very famous client list featuring Will Smith, Melanie Griffith, Nicole Kidman, .... and has been selected to decorate Ground Zero in the new project .... And that when in a sense he is still just Jan to us .... by the way you should try the trick with the spoon at the office ... I know somebody who manages very well ....

Also Bart another friend is doing really cool stuff.... building factories, warehouses and industrial buildings around the globe. Not to mention Catherine (Jan's wife) and Nathalie (Bart's wife), both working for the Museum of Art History. They just opened a new Museum for Japanese art ... maybe time to invite Sasaki-san and Kawagoi-san ....

From the Swedish Japanese front I hear that there is a lot of motion and commotion. On the one hand there is the tremendous succes of the results , on the other hand a number of people are moving on. Next week I have the pleasure to be in London for some days, so I'm trying to meet up with some of the old gang.

In the rubber world all is moving along in a steady pace. It is a very tough business that is transforming completely. From an car supplier to a marketing organization, sometimes you don't realize, but it feels like being on a ship in the middle of a storm ..... It is sometimes difficult to convince people of new ideas and new ways of working, but it is in that that lies the challenge .... I guess future will tell ..

happy travels

Toon

.. The mind travels from reality to dream and back ...

... It has been such a strange but inspiring week-end. On Thursday and Friday is was speeding like a mad man through France, going back and forth between Paris and Montlucon (about 350km south of Paris) on Thursday and Friday risking my life to get in time to catch a train to London. I doubted long and hard, but finally I decided I needed and wanted to attend the revolution awards on Friday evening, hence the mad hatters race those two days. ...

It was all going to be so interesting and professional the start of the week-end, meeting up with all the colleagues in the digital space, applauding for some stunning work and less stunning awards, networking with all important people ... And in a way I did.

it was good to see all the people, seeing people being proud of their work and to catch up with Dare gang. But the further the night progressed there was a something changing ... This years presenters made it clear: too us it all sounds all very interesting and important, but he really took the piss out of digital and put it a bit more in perspective ...
talking to a number of people made me realize that being successful in business is not about the being a genius in your field of expertise, but the capability of being a team. The capability to communicate, talk, discuss and jointly reach higher ground ... Talking to Flo and Gavin made it clear that we reached the results not because we were genius or experts but the fact we could talk and exchange opinions in an open way , reaching the level of kindred spirits towards a common goal ..... If only some people we all know would understand this ....

... Saturday London was calling: a wake up call brought me back to living. The philosophy of the day before combined with too much alcohol made my body scream for the shock therapy of a really full blown blood Mary, a good steak and eggs and potatoes .... At least I owed it to Jo to be awake when I had to look at the pictures of a beautiful wedding .... There was in a way something strange about the talk, although it was almost 6 months I saw Jo it felt as if it was only yesterday , the contacts with all of you remains a vivid memory, or even better a continuing story .. A story that continued with Danielle In the afternoon shop walking and exchanging thoughts. It was interesting to listen to somebody who decided to leave the rat race for what it is and just take the time to find a new path without having a road laid out already ..... In a sense it became more and more clear that sometimes it does not matter if there is for a short moment nothing. It was also too nice to just chit chat all afternoon about everything that was passing through..... Only one missing was Gavin :-) .... But I forgive him I guess he needed some time to recover. But anyhow Gav: you missed a very nice walk along the Kings Cross and Chelsea shops .... The evening was topped off with a mixture of a real Italian dinner served in the lovely new nest of super Salv, an Italian Karaoke show, an analysis of the human psyche and of course the most delicious Italian wines and limoncelo ....

going back to the hotel I was so much looking forward to the journey home: a 7 hour train trip since I had to go home over Paris to Brussels due to my late decision. Since the dreams about the bike I get more and more drawn towards books about Africa and the book from the Long way Round from Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. .... The book was calling me, but I wanted to keep it as a little secret like I did when I was a kid, keeping my candy for a quiet moment out in the yard. The journey would give me ample time to let me drift away in my dream of driving of towards a deserted place .... Putting behind the buzz of the modern city life ....

tucked away in a half empty train I started reading the dream journey of two friends going the Long Way Round. I was living the same anxiety as he described to get away from it all and the almost endless routine of work/plane/hotel/bed/work/home... Getting deeper and deeper in the world of visiting deserted places, facing the hardness of nature and going deep emotionally and physically, I was no longer in the train, I was riding along them through Mongolia up to Siberia. It set my mind so free and connected so much to the discussion I had before on the fact that the business is all about people who are capable of thinking things through in a team and consistently arriving at the right shared answer .... My god I was eating the pages like somebody who had not been on bread and water for 20 years, it was setting me free in my mind at least! Just when I finished the chapters that took them from London over Ukraine, Russia, Mongolia , finally the Road of Bones close the the Bering Strait the train rolled into the station of Paris Nord ...

Paris a wake-up call: and what a wake up call it was . Suddenly was immersed in the big city life of people running hecticley even on a Sunday, homeless left an right asking for a little change, searching the dustbin for left overs .... My god I felt suddenly sick. I ran out the station for a place to hide, but could not find anywhere to go. I looked up a corner of a little bistro and wanted to dive in the book again .... Finding back the magic ...

strangely enough the book lost also at moment all the magic. The last chapters started with: " Arriving in Alaska was a complete shock. " I refused to read further. Instead I paid , got outside, put on my sunglasses, looked up a bench and just closed my eyes and trying hard to close down all the noises and sounds. And off I was again, traveling the great dessert of Mongolia, in my mind. Keeping on to the thought till I got home I started already planning my trip, because you know: one day ...

happy travels

... To all the places that I love to stay ....

it is time I start to give you little warm-up for the house warming party. My neighborhood is carefully chosen since it is in walking, excuse me tip tooing, stumbling even crawling distance from my favorite bars. It was therefore a calculated risk for us to take to buy the flat with only literally less than 50 steps from the door to the first my two favorite bars.

It me be a surprise but the owners are pretty pleased with my move, especially Alain from De Cirque (The circus). A strange name for a rather nice pub bistro like place, but maybe that all changes when I enter and tend to love the flavor of my golden drink of gods: Vedette.

In De Cirque I always try to sit at the bar so I can look at all the people coming in and sitting at the tables, and of course to look at myself in the mirror and asking myself the most deep philosophical questions at 4 am into he morning after having drowned myself in to Vedette, toped off with a nice 25 year old highland Park (yes James I'm still waiting for you to come to Brussels to have a sip from our bottle). If it ever happens that I do not really see the difference anymore between fantasy and reality I tend to start to fight like a true Don Quichote with the demons on the wall .

The bar being my Rosinante, in a gallop to protect my lovely Dulcinea. In many occasions the owner tends to behave like a true Sancho Pancha trying to convince me of my delusions.

one of the last visits we had there was with Brenda and Olly, not taking a too deep dive into the drinks, but anyhow .. my god what a feeling it was again. They world is short of people with whom you can have a lenghty discussions and debates about essentially everything. From the reason why finally Karl Marx is right in his book Das Kapital to the reason why a hole in a sock is a sign of independence ....

My god do i miss it: from usability to IA and back . I remember as if it was yesterday that we discussed the concepts of the product homepages, the my phone area .... Again my dear old colleagues back to reality: you should be proud of what you achieve on the level of digital, the industry is watching and liking very much what they see.

i need to leave you for today, but more to come. So for today i wish you peace love and understanding


Toon

The story of branding

my god, it was such a long time that i had such a laugh in the office. I have been watching one of the best viral video's on branding ever . See for yourself and have a look at : Windows re-branding of Ipod

Reminds me so much of the discussion i have had with so many people during my time at Dell and Sony Ericsson and most of all it made me think back at the period i had the opportunity to work with Tak Kawagoi , the man behind the Sony Ericsson logo ...

i love so much the stylish and very clean design we had in the beginning, but i must admit looking back at the current site Sony Ericsson is doing: they look smashing as well are the e-mails i feel are like gems in my inbox ...

this evening i'm having the kiwi and olly over for a litte drink or two ... will report back on the damages this week-end. There is basically only one challenge: how can we make sure will be on the train back to Amsterdam tomorrow morning at 8 :-)

a late new years present ...

although I could not really enjoy it anymore in real hard cash I was really thrilled to hear from the ex-colleagues that we managed to hit the targets ... as a little reward I bought myself two new pair of glasses as you can see in the pictures . A nice treat is always welcome, one should it do more often ....


ok also on the house warming party: the date is set: Friday 24th of March. Everybody who wants is more than welcome, just drop me a note one week in advance that I know how many people will be coming ... There will be some very nice whiskey, nice Belgian beer and of course a lot of music .....

for the rest things are going their flow ... I have a new thing to look forward to: I'm being fascinated by a new bike: the new BMW R1200GS .. I see myself as some sort of modern Laurence of Arabia going on an adventure from Morocco to Egypt ... I'm still doubting to buy it and bugging everybody close to me with the idea ... i promise to upload all pictures on the blog .. if ever it happens :-) ...



a friend of mine said that planning, dreaming, hoping is the most important .. not the actual living it ... I got a book as a gift from my girlfriend some time ago: The art of Travel by Alain de Botton .... it has been one of the few books I have been reading in such a short time span .. why : because it was so true to my personal view on traveling: it is all about anticipation of what you think you will find in that distant place ..... people have described it to you in all colors and flavors ... when i'm now thinking about the dust I will taste in my mouth when I cruise through the Moroccan Atlas mountains and the welcome of the Berbers in the mountains offering me sweetened goat milk .....maybe the anticipation of my dream is enough not to spoil it with a reality that might be different ....

but you never know: sometimes reality surpasses without any problem all the pictures you saw, the stories you heard : that is why I will always go after that dream without forgetting to enjoy the anticipation as much as I enjoy the adventure itself ...

well it was a pleasure again to have written something on my blog and hope to hear from all of you soon ... back to our daily jungle :-)

it's been a while

that i took the time to write something in my blog... i don't know really because in a sense it makes me feel connected to the world i left behind .... for me things are going it's own way, slowly but surely getting in the treadmill of the new life, maybe spending to much time wondering what all is going on in a world that i can no longer call my own ... I'm surprised how much it impacts the way one looks at things in life ....

sometimes i wished i could just be a fly or a bird that comes over to see how all of you are doing, but one once told me that it is not possible .... My past will remain my past although it is trying it's best to play catch up with me .... But I keep saying to me hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies ... Therefore i hope that once my past will leave me alone to keep the road for the future i had in mind ....

i know i sound a bit bitter, but maybe it is because winter is wrapping me up in cold blanket and the night are too dark , it's time springs comes .....

the kids are doing great and i enjoy the time i can spend with them, help them and see them grow into little persons with their own character and mind ... Sometimes even reminding me how i once was , especially Riens then ... he played basketball again this week-end and scored 10 points , he was so proud. I could see so much the twinkle in his eyes .... We had a little victory dinner with his favorite food ...

by the way had a very funny call from Brenda asking if i knew any nice hotels in Mechelen for last week-end .. of course i gave some tips, but finally it became clear, apparently she was trying to get invited to the house warming party ... the note had an effect i guess, but to assure everybody: i will send a formal invitation to all of you so that at least it's official .. i guess it will be somewhere around end of February that i will organize this ....

anyhow , going to sit back now a little bit making myself the promise to update the blog more regular, for now i leave it and return to a new comic book i bought .... a little fantasy world showing a lot of resemblance with the real world ...

a new day has come ...

it took some time to get in the mood, but finally the new year has started with a splash .... My son went down a black slope during our short ski holiday . Yes indeed, you hear this correctly from the guy who said he did not like skiing.

We decided rather last minute to get away from all the busy new years activities and wanted to energize ourselves on the slopes of the French Vogezen. After having received the keys of my studio in Luxemburg, or what I call my hotel without roomservice (for those who don't know: I work in Luxemburg and have rented there a studio for during the week), we drove down to the snow with the kids.

It is amazing to realize that my son and daughter are becoming better skiers than myself, in other words: maybe I'm getting older :-P . It felt so good to just relax, no conference calls, no late night e-mail checking: just the family. Or how a man can change.

I really enjoy all the things I still receive from all of you: from the figures on Fun and downloads, the new designs of the homepages, the little presents from suppliers, the occasional phone call and e-mail ... It feels still as if I'm a little bit part of the family.

Here the projects are going well. Before march 26th we need to renovate the attic to create Riens his bedroom. A birthday present for Lauran so the little girl can finally have her own room with a princess bed. The plans for the kitchen are still in full development since there is some discussion on how to actually organize it. So everybody who comes to visit is shown the plan and requested to provide input.

Also just realized I still have a nice bottle of whisky waiting for some friends out of London : Highland Park 25 years Old. James it will be served , so everybody who is in Belgium on Friday the 20th is more than welcome ... just let me know ...

and as usual: for all of you I wish you all the peace love and understanding you can dream of for the years ahead

T.

... I feel Christmas coming closer ..

as you can see on the images, Christmas is coming closer for us. It feels so strange not to travel to China, RTP or Miami jus before Christmas. I remember last year I had a crazy time flying first to Beijing and than to RTP and Miami just before Christmas, when I finally got home then it was... mmm is it Christmas now, are you really sure ...

today it was Christmas shopping in town, and we just relaxed out time away, looking outside the window and reading some comic strips (our new favorite hobby) ... Only thing i did not count on is the fact my car is being thowed away for the second time. The picture says you are not allowed to park here between 7 and 18 on workdays.... so i went to the police station for a nice and lengthy discussion. Result: a typical belgian situation: saturday are workdays .... no kidding

My god will I be happy when my week of holiday is there, I feel really exhausted. Changing job is not something you have to do to have a relaxing time, on the contrary ... it will be still very busy days and months since the new business is mainly active in January, February, march and April, after which it starts to slow down to practically nothing in December. As said: a new world with a whole new set of rules ... I'm very much amazed how much time it really takes to find your way around a new place, every company's culture is so different and you really need time as an advisor on how to play the cards. But as you all know me: i have a difficult time being patient, but this time i will try to take that time ...

I see the awards for our digital work streaming in: Dare Digital agency of the year with a lot of mentioning of the Sony Ericsson work, K750 getting honors, W800 still in the press ... I must admit: I secretly still feel a part of it , but way to go ... It's so nice to have Gavin and Martin keeping me informed.

Going tomorrow to London, but this time by train. On my way i will try to meet up with some colleagues, but we'll see if the schedule allows it ... i hope it does, because it is during this time of year you look back to what has happened the last 12 months .....

I wish you all love peace and understanding ...


Toon

.... A place called home ...

ok .. i know it has been a long time that i have updated the blog, but moving house has some disadvantges: no internet connection at home, even not today. So had to make a little hack in the system here to get to my update page. All in all our move went just fine: what do you expect we were helped by the whole family. Can you imagine my brother and sisters, my dad and my stepmom and my mom as one team: guaranteed efficiency :-) ....

it really feels like a home .. my little nest in the middle of the city. I call it my little New York since i'm in the middle of the city city center .... Just around the corner is my favorite pub and in my street i have the bakkery, the fresh market and the fish market ... all fresh things. So basically there are two option if you see me next time: or i have slimmed thanks to healthy food or i'm a real elephant since i eat too much ...

with Xmas just around the corner i hope all of you will find the time to do the necessary shopping .. our holiday will bring us another move: i'm moving into my studio in Luxemburg beginning of Jan, so still need to get some stuff for that place. Also the things like electricity, residents permit , .. will need to be fixed in the first of Jan, but we still hope to get the time to go skiing 4 days in the first week of January....

Next week i hope to update the blog with some picture. Talk soon :-)

Time is moving fast

.... I just realized that next week-end we move top my new apartment. Today the kids and I called for help from mother and sister to start the packing . Next week the team will be complete for the moving of one end of Mechelen to the center. ... I think I will throw a house warming part, but we still need to decide on the date ...

last Friday I was out on town with Jan from Jip and Janneke the producers/directors of the WorldQuest adventure. He met up to celebrate the award Sony Ericsson WorldQuest received at the Night of tea advertising in Belgium. We won the award for best Interactive campaign and best return on investment .... a pithy we can not go for the 06 version because after Friday we are sure: it was a one of our best experiences ...

Talking about work: it is not only getting used to new colleagues, but also to new agencies :-0 ... it is when you leave a job after 4 to 5 years and then start over again that you realize how deeply interwoven your thinking is with that of the lead agencies you work with ... It feels like in the good relationships I had with the lead agencies there was a common way of thinking and creating which made life so easy on one hand ... Today I have to start the process with the agencies again to come to that common ground from which the best projects are delivered ... But who from the agencies does not remember the first meeting with me :-) .. History repeats itself ...

talk soon - love peace and understanding my friends