Sometimes I need to write about more technical stuff. Things that involve my day to day work. From now on that will be here: http://hautecode.com

Last thursday I had my last day at the company that brought me to Denmark two years ago, Hello Group. Thanks to them I have a really big network of friends here, obviously an important thing when you’re a foreigner on his own From now on I’ll be working as a freelancer again on the international market of frontend and mobile development. I’d love to do some theater/installation stuff too, but that might be a bit too much to start with. Maybe later.

I also have a new phone number, and I’ll be moving soon, so update your address books accordingly

2 years in Denmark, 2 years at Hello. Time for champagne

• ARS Electronica in Linz, Austria
• Sónar in Barcelona, Spain
• SXSW in Austin, Texas, USA
• Glastonbury in the UK
• Airwaves, in Reykjavik, Iceland
• Coachella Music and Arts festival, in Indio, California, USA
• The Eden Sessions, Cornwall, UK
• Burning Man, Nevada, USA

Dear friends,

Because I’m being screwed by Danish laws again, I’m looking for a new place to stay in Copenhagen. Some wishes:

• Budget up to 8000dkk
• København K, (the nice part of) Østerbro, Vesterbro, or Frederiksberg
• Around 70m2
• Available from half May
• A decent sized kitchen and shower would be nice

I might also consider Nørrebro, but in that case the apartment needs to have bulletproof windows and a lifeguard.

Let me know if you know someone who knows someone, etc! I’ll bake you a pie if you give me a good lead.

Rico

It’s been a while, so let’s start with a good rant about the danish holiday act.

Facts:
- I started working in Denmark April 1st 2007
- My contract clearly states I get 25 paid holidays per year

My issue:
Up til May 2009 I have only been able to take 18.75 paid holidays instead of 52 (2*25, plus 2 from April 2007).

Why:
Well, the accountant says: you get 2.08 days for each month you work. In 2007 I worked 9 months (2.08 * 9 = 18.75). But, the danish holiday year runs from May to May. Fine, you’d think the calculation shifts a bit, so that from May 2007 til May 2008 you’d get the 18.75 days. But noooo, you apparently don’t get the 18.75 days until May 2008 til May 2009, and not until May 2009 to 2010 you get the full 25!

Now, my company says that I can just take the other days unpaid. But that’s a lot of money we’re cutting here. If you take a week off, that means 25% less salary that month, which resolves in that I can’t pay my rent. So because I can’t afford financially to take these days off, the whole “25 paid holidays” is just a big myth the first 2 years. Companies can’t state in their contracts that you get those holidays, because that just means plain lying!

Disclaimer:
I know that you American friends must be happy if you only get 10 days, but that’s up to you to rant about

• Working at Hello is like reliving your teenage years sometimes
• The concept of lillejuleaften (little x-mas eve) is yet another Danish reason to get drunk and misbehave (“de bloemetjes buiten zetten” as we say in Holland)
• The purser on my flight had a rather interesting twitch of explaining the safety procedures: “Stop screaming before you put on the oxygen mask. Seriously, STOP SCREAMING!”
• Flying into Amsterdam Schiphol airport is still one of my favorite approaches of the world. Holland can indeed be pretty!
• I have to agree with my foreign friends that Dutch toilet design is really weird
• Dutch television content hasn’t changed over the last years
• I don’t like Teletubbies
• Holland is flat.. really flat!
• Amsterdam is still a nice city
• But, I miss Copenhagen and consider it as my home

Because cycling on my bike was now becoming slower than plain walking, I cut the knot (dutch saying) and bought a new Stalen Ros (dutch name for bike).

It’s retro and perdy

I parked my old bicycle unlocked at CBS (Fasanvej), if you need a crapy bike!

I’m not very positive about Post Danmark usually (slower than pigeons!), but I have to say that they have something really cool now: døgnposten.

Because I have a normal job, I’m at work every weekday between 9 and 5 (yawn). Of course this is also the time frame in which the postman delivers any packages, causing the packages to return to the post office where I need to collect them on Saturday (closes at 2pm.. so even that is sometimes hard to manage).

With døgnposten I can send my packages to:

Rico Tijsen
ID 51372521
Døgnposten 623
2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark

And they will send an sms (containing a pincode) when I receive a new package after which I can pick it up at whatever time! Just brilliant!

I love to get packages btw.. so keep them coming

Right… so my bike (11 y/o) is really falling apart right now. The chain is skipping on the gears, so I can’t really put any pressure on it, which leads to annoying situations at traffic lights, and even more dangerously in front of cars.

As I can’t afford a new bike right now (mostly because of half-year-under-the-table-part-of-rent) I am looking for ways of transforming a KitchenAid mixer into a way of transport. Any ideas?