Van Gils Blogs

Unfortunately I’ve been a bit stressed lately. Not exactly sure why and that bugs me. To relieve some of the stress I went to get a haircut, close shave, and facial massage at the barber shop last weekend. This got me thinking: what is the best way to relax?

Given my recent experiences, I think the answer is relatively simpel. Let’s consider a weekend, going to the market to get fresh ingredients for a lovely dinner. Perhaps pick up a nice bottle of Italian white wine. Then a few hours of cooking, playing loud music (in my current mood: Ry Cooder’s Paris Texas will do). A nice dinner in the early evening with Eva and the kids and then… no tv! More nice music and a good book (in my current mood: Tolkien).

Next day: bring the kids to friends and hit the sauna! Perhaps a visit to a nice hammam will work, but so far the sauna in Bussloo is absolutely perfect. Great place to be, very relaxing, nice resteaurant and great massages are available. Stay until they close (enjoy a good whisky) and take a taxi home

Last but not least, sleep late and enjoy the morning newspaper with coffee and doughnuts. Then make my way to the barber for a close shave and another massage. Sounds like heaven! Hopefully we’ll make it happen soon

Photo exhibition of Bill Wyman in Apeldoorn! Check out this flyer (in PDF)!

A while ago I taught a class called “Enterprise Architecture in Practice” at the Hogeschool Utrecht (see also this blogpost). Last week I finally did the formal evaluation with the staff from the Hogeschool. Given what I had heard from my students I expected a pretty good evaluation. The real results, however, blew my mind. Some highlights:

• I received a 9.2 grade for the course as a whole and the same grade for the relation between my course and other courses
• I received a 10 for relevance, a 10 for didactic skills, and a 10 for being knowledgable
• The students left me lots of great remarks too, despite the fact that I pushed them to the limit at times

I have learned a lot from this course as well, as I put a lot of myself into it. Several aspects seemed crucial to the success of this course. First of all: prepare, prepare, prepare, and then prepare some more. Secondly: never under or over estimate your students; it is absolutely crucial to keep everyone on board as well as interested in what’s going on. Last but not least: chemistry with the group makes it a lot easier.

This was a great group to teach to. I’ve had fun, and hope to be teaching the course again.