NetBeans …and all that Jazz!
Last week I spent some days in Amsterdam. I went there with Geertjan to give a free training at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. When I arrived I first went for a stroll, to find strange things like walls that feed you, real conductors on trams and coffeshops that don’t actually sell coffee. Weather was excellent, food was deep fried, and hadn’t it been for the hotel staff it would have almost been too perfect. Later I found out that Oliver Wihler from Aqris (company behind refactorit) was in town and contacted him to meet for a beer or two.
The training was organized by a student named Ralph Benjamin Ruijs, who also joined us to give a presentation on refactorings he has developed for the NetBeans Platform. Kudos to him for the great organization! The group consisted of teachers and students, some of them really into refactoring. It was a really nice atmosphere and I bet it’s a great place to study.
In the evening Ralph’s girlfriend invited us to visit the city on her boat, which was great. Later we went to a restaurant. Since teacher Richard van Koning and his student refactoring gang had analyzed refactorit in great detail I called Oliver to join us and we had a nice evening discussing refactorings, Java and the place to get the best cervelat (Zurich, Vorderer Sternen, obviously).
On the weekend we went to Bimhuis to see Sex Mob, a great Jazz band from New York. It was a fantastic Jazz Club and we got to know guest star Hermine Deurloo (here’s a video of her playing with Candy Dulfer) whose harmonica play really blew my mind. On sunday we found a street market with some pottery (my second obsession besides NetBeans). I was talking to an amazing Raku artist and she told me that one of my favorite potters, Job Heykamp was there too. Great to see that Geertjan liked him as well, he even bought more works than I did. Welcome to the world of ceramics, gj! After that we met Hermine again at a nice Jazz club hidden in a side street (Kapitein Zeppos) where I was introduced to the art of borellen. We had a great time talking about Jazz, movies and cheerfully hating some overrated actors.
I had a fantastic time in Amsterdam meeting old friends and making new ones, can’t wait to go there again soon…