Adventurer – Groningen Rain

December 18, 2019

And Now For A Fitness Update!

I know, I know, I wrote all those secrets and now I’m talking cardio?

WTF, Leander.

But, see, this is on my mind, TOO, y’all.

Since I killed my back, when I’m at home, I hit the gym every single day for at least ten minutes of cardio.

Why ten minutes?

Ten minutes is the warm up I do before strength training. On Tuesdays and Fridays. If I’m not doing that, I do FORTY FIVE MINUTES of CARDIO.

If you KNOW me, you totally know I’m not a cardio girl. Nothing wrong with cardio girls, I just get bored way way too easily and my brain is way way too mean when it gets bored.

And you know what motivates me when I run around outside? Running fast enough that no one’s staring at my ass for too long.

That’s not motivation, that’s terror.

Which, sure, is its own motivation, but that’s not HEALTHY.

And we’re making healthy choices here, damnit.

November 20, 2019November 20, 2019

Common Pitfalls & Labyrinths: A DevRel Choose Your Own Adventure

You’ve arrived at a crossroads. Do you turn left or right? Just like the classic “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, in this talk, the audience will decide which path to take through the jungle of common DevRel pitfalls and labyrinths, led by their experienced tour guides: Jeremy Meiss, Mary Thengvall, and yours truly!

Kicking off DevRelCon London’s Unconference, this talk offers an opportunity for audience members to choose the topics of discussion – letting attendees and online guests guide the presentation. The topics will include a round-up of the most popular DevRel questions of the day, addressing everything from metrics to org charts to budget. The conversation will be led by a trio of DevRel professionals who have 40+ years of combined experience.

June 17, 2019

I Seriously Cannot WAIT To Get THERE

Dear Ifat:

I suppose that I should make an introduction of you before simply sending you a blog post, but THAT’S HOW I ROLL. To cut through introductions, I’ll just link to your personal trainer website. And can I also totally recommend a makeover on that thing? Like, the content is solid, but let’s get rid of all the adobe flash, yeah? Also, I take back what I said about the content – it’s static. You NEED a blog on there. AND your latest social media content COUGH INSTAGRAM COUGH displayed on the home page.

And can we talk about how there are NONE pictures of me on there?

Pfffft.

But, of course, you know exactly what I’m doing right now.

I’m procrastinating.

Yes, I packed for the gym today. Yes, I’m going to go to the gym. Yes, here’s what I plan on doing.

January 29, 2019January 24, 2019

No Headaches, Yet, But

Shaka sign / hang loose hand gesture — Photo by Sebastián León Prado on Unsplash

When at home, we speak English, but in public, as much as possible, I try to speak Dutch which just means that I’m damn good at ordering a cup of coffee and buying my train ticket at the kiosk – when I travel the use of Dutch explodes quite a bit between the hotel / commute / airport.

When we first moved to the Netherlands seven years ago I used to get headaches because my brain would try to serve up Japanese as my second language instead of going straight to Dutch. Every time I’d try to practice, my brain would translate Dutch to Japanese to English and back again.

For about six months.

One day I woke up and the Japanese was gone.

Like, GONE gone.

Whenever I’d try to think of some common phrase, my brain gave me Dutch.

FINE.

But then we had kids and I really want them to be familiar with some Japanese, so I started re-learning via Duolingo. And also, because my partner and our three children are Swedish, I thought now would be a great time to fold in Swedish as well.

So every day I complete at least one module of all three languages within the app, never imagining there would be a situation when I used more than two languages within a short period of time.

And then.

December 21, 2018December 21, 2018

What Day Is It, Anyway?

Tuesday, THURSDAY, Leander.

Not Tuesday, Whenever The Fuck You Get Around To It.

But sometimes we miss a deadline and it’s shockingly not the end of the world, eh?

This is one of those moments.

I’ve managed this morning schedule for a few weeks now:

Up at 06:45, make two bottles, prop the twins, set up the four year old, S, with filmpjes, brush teeth, shower, and dress myself in three point four two seconds, dress S and get him downstairs eating breakfast, grab a twin, dress them and buckle them into a carseat with a cookie, repeat with the second twin, make S’ lunch, pack his backpack, get shoes and coats on everyone, and pile into the car.

S and I get dropped off at school – P takes the twins to daycare and continues with his day – I trick S into embracing his fate and then walk to a local cafe for breakfast, entirely too much caffeine and a couple of hours of writing.

And THEN?

THE PERFECT WORLD.