Quick change of plans

Last Tuesday I went to bed at night thinking that in the morning I would start a road trip from Netherlands to Portugal (more than 2000 Km, a two day trip). On Wednesday I woke up at 6:30, open my computer I searched for flights from Amsterdam to Lisbon, bough the ticked from EasyJet and 10 hours after leaving home in Netherlands I was at my home in Portugal.

That's how quick things can change when one has the possibility of choice and one of the reasons why I feel that big companies fail to steer in the current market. Managers should have the power to take decisions to change targets and ways of doing things. Standardization works only if all the products are a copy of one another and in Software each project is a individual entity.

The problem seams to be that managers higher on the echelon of command decide on a way to do things, sometimes without having any real contact with software development (sometimes they remember a project they did some decades ago) and pass that command into the middle managers. This managers, on the other hand, not only have no real power of decision but also are rewards for being complacent. Initiative is something alien to middle managers - not of their fault but of the structure where they are integrated. They spend all of their energies focusing on the wrong problems: how to fill that spreadsheet, understanding the desires of the higher managers, attempting to apply plans and ideas that have no connection with reality. Ahh!… and higher manager felt in awe with this "agile" thing so everything has to become agile. Except when it come to dealing with the higher managers. Then it's still the old method of fulfilling deadlines with half baked products.

I wonder if a big company can avoid this trap to productivity…

Sometimes it just happens…

After a long wait the wind did come today. The forecast of 14 to 18 knots for the afternoon lead me to believe some fun was about to be unleashed. Well the forecast were wrong. After 16:00 the wind picked up and it got to 22 knots with gust pushing for 25.

Now I went to my playground to measure the wind speed at around 15:30 and at that time it was well within the forecast values (15 knots, gusts reaching 17 knots). I then went home to get my gear and, stupid me, I took only my 6.9m² sail with me. That proved to be a big mistake…

A 6.9m² sail is perfect for light winds (like the ones I measured before getting my gear) but for 22 knots I should use a 5.0m² sail. So I had a bit more sail than what I should…

I'm not a very week guy and I'm also a bit on the heavy side and with some struggle I managed to keep on sailing but, even if I was actually enjoying myself, the sail wasn't having any fun at all and eventually the third panel didn't resist one of the gusts and broke apart. It's actually looks like it exploded and some of the material is gone.

So, in resume, I had lots of fun but am now looking for either a new or second hand sail. Or a way to repair that old sail. Time to hit the local market.

Slow time

As the weather as turned back to winter mode here in North Holland I ended up spending more time inside walls. Never the less I still manage to take advantage of some moments when the rain stops and the temperature is above 5°C to go for some bicycle rides. Nothing very long (keeping it around the 40km target).

The leftmost photo is of the castle of Muiderslot and the other photo is of a place in Naarden where they keep some animals for kids to see (mostly farm animals).

One of my favourite places to ride, until now at least, is in the florets west of Huizen. The loose soil in the paths between the trees provide for a lot of sliding and small jumps, bringing back good memories of cycling in the mountains around Coimbra and Aveiro.

basic Maths skills?

I just read a post on Facebook with the poll: "50 + 50 x 0 + 1=?" and the available possible answers (votes results taken just now):

option	votes	%
0	3 870	1.88
1	75 529	36.70
50	1 276	0.62
51	116 153	56.44
100	1 183	0.57
101	7 788	3.78

So it seams to me that democracy still works. Even on such precise topics as basic arithmetic.

More wind

Oh it's another great day to be in the water (apart from freezing finger tips).

From 13:00 until 16:00 it was really good, constant wind from North. Later it started to sometimes falter and then it just dropped to 14 knots or so. The water temperature was at around 8°C as was the air. So… slightly on the cold side.

This time I took a 5.6m² sail and everything was so much easier. It's also because I was not so thirsty for action. Thursday session had cured my aching for sailing, with sore muscles and overall tiredness. Today session was a lot more relaxed. As if now I could actually take the time to appreciate the feeling of the board, the sound of the wind on the sail, the pressure in the harness lines. Even so my favourite action when getting home after a windsurf session: shower, eat and sleep.

If on Thursday I though there were lots of sailors, today it was a crowd, with some 30 kiters and another equal number of sailors. Way kool to see so many people enjoying the wind.

I'm a happy camper. Lets see if tomorrow I get to sail with some people with which I already sailed before (check it here and here).

100th post = first 2012 windsurf session

Hundredth post and what a good post subject it is: my first windsurf session this year. And what a session!

Yesterday, as the wind finally decided that Netherlands also needs to be aired, I went to my playground to acertain the conditions. I wasn't expecting much. The wind forecast was not bad (16 knots, gusts of 20) so I decided to take only my 6.9m² sail (that was a mistake, as you'll understand in a moment).

At noon the wind was coming from North-West, at 15 knots and the big sail gave the enough lift for me to be planning most of the time. At around 14:30 the wind started to change direction more to North and to get stronger, getting closet to a constant 20 knots with gusts of 22/23 knots. That for a 6.9m² sail is really heavy stuff and I was feeling way over-powered.

Since I didn't sail since last year (on the same spot actually) I am terrible unused to the effort required to windsurf. Every move was done a bit harder, spending more energy, requiring more from muscles that are not used to the effort. Specially in the beginning of the session when tiredness had not settled in yet. In the end of the day I felt like I had caught a bad case of flue - all my muscles hurt - but I would not have it any other way.

I didn't take many photos (too busy for that) so I can't show you how great Muiderberg looked. Even if it was a cloudy day it was filled with colour. The colour of some fourteen windsurfers and around eight kitesurfers.

This are just some photos I took before getting in the water. I was one of the first ones to arrive there (yes, that's thirst for action) but already some other guys were getting ready to go in.

Wonderful day.

Today the wind seams to have taken leave… let's hope tomorrow it comes back for more fun.

Marken village, the photos

Wednesday we took advantage of the now longer day to go and visit Marken. I went there by bicycle on Tuesday but this time we just took the car.

It's a wonderful place and I bet that in Summer it will be full of tourists and it will lose some of its appeal. Right now it was like going back in time. Small streets where a car can't even fit, wooden houses, flowers in pots, cats and farm animals on the side.

I took some nice photos that I you can see in this PicasaWeb album or on the following slide show (requires Adobe Flash plugin, sorry for that).

All in all a very nice place where to go and spend a couple of hours walking about. Keep in mind that visitors are not allowed to drive the car to most of the peninsula and the parking close to the village costs 4.50€. If you keep driving until the village you'll be "stuck" in the park where you'll have to pay. Better park before you actually get in the village and save the money for a pint when you're back.

I challenge you to find the word "Saudade" on a house within the village. It exists (you can check the photo) but it's not a easy find. I wonder what's the story behind a Portuguese word in a traditional Dutch village…