Today we worked like crazy on the site and getting things ready for the launch.  Tomorrow morning it will be decided if we will go 'live' tomorrow or next week.  I'll keep you posted. :)

The Big Bang Theory was on TV today.  It was awesome.  I don't spend too much of my time here watching TV because I don't want to waste a minute enjoying Europe, but I couldn't help it.

Funny event of the day: Being Thursday, there is free coffee at the 10:30-11:15 coffee break, so we had no need to go to other parts of the building.  There was cake this time too and it was delicious.  As you can read below from the e-mail we received, here is the reasoning for it:

 Hi All,
There will be cake at coffee, but not because it's my birthday. The cake
is a small token of appreciation from a man with a slightly different,
maybe crazy, view on the theory of gravity. You can read the story below.

As some of you might know, our department has a committee who's task it is
to answer all the questions from the general public. Crazy, funny,
sometimes completely insane, but every now and then, we get something
special. This was not one of them. The person in question had a brilliant
idea that explained, as always, everything astronomy was struggling with.
In his universe, there were only two types of particles, one that we are
made of, or "normal" particles, and gravity particles. The latter could
explain why the universe keeps expanding, and that he came to this
conclusion long before astronomers realized that this was happening. With
seven extra, hand written, pages he could explain even more of the
mysteries of the universe.

We kindly replied that his hypothesis was impossible to confirm with any
known observations or experiments, and that therefore his theory did not
have a place within "modern" science.

Normally, we do not get any response. This time, however, we got a two
page handwritten letter. Not about his theory, but that we were the first
scientific institute in 20 years that replied to his theory, and that gave
an explanation why we thought it was bogus. As it turned out, he was so
impressed by our reply, that he included a small gift with his letter. The
gift was to be used "for your own pleasure, or for something extra at
coffee with your collegeas."

So when you enjoy some of the cake, please do tell your collegeas about
all the crackpots you have encountered in your life. At the same time
realize that we, as scientists, have a duty to share our passion and
knowledge of the universe with the general public, no matter how crazy
they are.

Best regards,

Jesse
Oh the awesomeness of being in science!
 
I'm still finding sand in my hair too from going to the beach.  It was so windy that everything we set down was caked in sand and just standing on the beach you could feel it pelt your legs.  If the weather holds this weekend, I'd like to go back because there is going to be a sand sculpture display which should be cool.

 This weekend should be fun as there are many things going on.  Besides the sand sculptures, tomorrow we are attending a seminar at ESA (European Space Agency) and depending on the time, we might stay and visit the Space Expo - which I take to be like NASA's Space Center Houston (so basically awesome).  Otherwise I will be going back sometime of course.

Tomorrow night we are going to Amsterdam with some of our friends.  Saturday we will go to the market as usual.  Just for the record, I do get vegetables and other food besides stroopwafels!  Sunday there is a free concert in a park in Hague, which is about a 15-20 minute train ride from here.

Next week the weather is supposed to actually be 'summer' weather, but I don't want to jinx it!  It is crazy though, as I write this at 9:30pm, looking outside it is so bright you would think it was only 5 or 6!