jesse+kindra long

Champery, Switzerland

2009-04-12T12:56:00.001+02:00

Champery, Switzerland
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

Kindra, Sophie and I went to Champery for Easter weekend with our
friends David, Lyndsay, Andrew and Olivia.

This is a shot of David and I at the top of the gondola.

More to come.

Sent from my Dad's old iPhone.

Going Bananas

2009-03-30T22:34:00.000+02:00

Going Bananas from Jesse Long on Vimeo.

Sophie Portrait

2009-03-30T22:31:00.001+02:00

Sopie Portrait from Jesse Long on Vimeo.

Sandy Sophie

2009-03-22T16:42:00.001+01:00

Sandy Sophie
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

Sent from my Dad's old iPhone.

Mexico/South Africa/More...

2009-02-22T17:47:00.010+01:00

It has been far too long since the last post in December. It's now February 22nd and a fair bit has happened.

For the holidays we went to Mazatlan to be with Jim, Deb, Ben, Kelly, Kate, Matt and a smattering of aunts and uncles. We flew through LA which gave us some time to hang out with our good friends Chris, Jean and Maddie Raih.

Maddie and Sophie are about the same age so it was great to get to see them hang out.

The time in Mazatlan was great and the weather was perfect. I'd share a video but YouTube (and James Taylor) have taken issue with my soundtrack choice leaving us with a muted holiday video. I'm looking at some other sites and will post it if I find a way around the empire of the Google.

We traveled back to Amsterdam in January which turned out to be a good month as I got promoted and Kindra safely celebrated her 39th birthday.

If much else happened in January I don't really remember it.

In February I turned 27 and made everyone celebrate for two weeks.

Partially because I do this every year and partially because I thought I had to leave for work the week before my birthday. When my travel pushed a week I was able to keep on celebrating myself and endeavor to make everyone else keep celebrating me as well.

The day after my birthday I flew to South Africa for the first Honda TV shoot since WK won the business back in November. I hadn't been to South Africa and it was an amazing country. People say it's dangerous but I must have been in the right spots.

South Africans are massively into biltong which is jerked meat made from all kinds of different animals. I was a big fan of this.

I also got a bit of free time to check out the local vineyards, beaches and mountains. All were fantastic and I'd recommend visiting Cape Town to anyone that can make it down there.

This picture was taken on the top of Table Mountain which is in the center of the city of Cape Town. We climbed it one morning and even though we started at 7.40am we should have started earlier as it was about 90 degrees when we go to the top two hours later.

I don't know if you can see how sweaty I am in this picture. Although I was tired, it's rare that I'm too tired to act like an idiot.

Aside from helping Pierce Brosnan move a table (randomly at our hotel), I also got a chance to ride in my first helicopter which was amazing.

It's now nearing the end of Feb and we're all in Amsterdam with no travel plans until April but we'll see.

Hope this finds everyone well and if you'd like to see some shots from Mexico, South Africa and Amsterdam then JUST CLICK HERE.

To end on a fun note, here's a picture of Sophie going crazy in a silly hat...

Memphis Trip

2008-12-07T21:01:00.004+01:00

Kindra, Sophie and I went to Memphis for Thanksgiving. Amanda and Josh were able to come up from Mississippi for a couple days and hang at Jan's house. Was good to see everyone.

Some quick shots below and more can be seen by CLICKING HERE.

Sophia Blake Long VI

2008-11-21T14:23:00.001+01:00

Sophie's First Birthday and more!

2008-10-05T18:51:00.009+02:00

If you read this then you probably are already aware that Sophie turned one on October 1st. We did a little family dinner on Wednesday and then had a party for her Saturday. We had about 30 people and five babies over and it was a blast. CLICK HERE TO SEE JUST PICTURES FROM SOPHIE'S BIRTHDAY.

I've also realized that I didn't post any shots from our trip to Bristol, Ben's bachelor party back in April, my FIFA shoots in Germany, Spain, France and the UK, Chris, Jean and Madeline's visit and David Miller's Bachelor party. CLICK HERE TO SEE SHOTS OF EVERYTHING LISTED ABOVE INCLUDING SOPHIE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY.

Oregon Trip

2008-09-03T00:12:00.008+02:00

It's been a pretty insane couple months. Kinrdra, Sophie and I just got back from a two week trip to Oregon and prior to that I had been traveling for three weeks for work. It's nice to be home.

We all went to Oregon for Ben and Kelly's wedding which was amazing. As Kindra hadn't been back in two and a half years and it was Sophie's first trip stateside we had a ton of people to see.

Although it was crazy we managed to see just about everyone and log some serious miles across Oregon. We spent time in Portland, Salem, Eugene and Sisters with multiple trips to a couple cities. For all the movement and strange beds, Sophie did amazingly.

We also went back to the GGD and little girl just keeps getting bigger...

Height: 73 CM
Weight: 9.095 KG

Hope everyone is good. Here are some shots from the trip and more shots can be seen on our FLICKR PAGE (CLICK HERE).

Sophia Blake Long V - The Movie

2008-07-27T15:21:00.002+02:00

EURO 08 Video and Sophie Stats

2008-07-06T17:37:00.005+02:00

Sophie Stats
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

Went to the GGD this morning...

Height: 71 CM (30 IN)

Weight: 8.575 KG (19.3 LBS)

She's gettin' big!

Also, not sure if everyone is aware but the Netherlands played phenomenally in the group stages of the EURO 08 tournament.

Unfortunately, they were knocked out by Russia in the quarter-finals but it was enough for Sophie to get excited...

The Long's Are Moving!

2008-06-19T10:37:00.002+02:00

We are moving to a new spot in Amsterdam on June 27th. The new place has a lot more room (to be filled with Sophie's toys), a much larger nursery and a little backyard. Best part is it is ground floor so we no longer have to do the two part trip required to get our stroller up the stairs.

Address is belos and you can click here to see it on a map: THE LONG'S CHURCHILLAAN DIGS

Churchilllaan 266HS
1078GA Amsterdam
Netherlands

Look forward to visits.

Sophia's Measurements

2008-05-15T09:13:00.003+02:00

Went to the GGD this morning and got the latest stats on Sophie...

Sophia's Measurements
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

Height: 26.8 IN (68.3 CM)

Weight: 18.066 LBS (8.195 KG)

Some Recent Shots...

2008-05-12T12:57:00.005+02:00

See below for some recent shots of the family including a nice little Mother's Day at the park.

CLICK HERE TO SEE 'EM ALL

SBL IV and Queen's Day

2008-05-01T22:16:00.003+02:00

The latest in the never ending saga that will be Sophie's life on video. Not a lot going on here in Amsterdam. Recently back from Puerto Rico where I had the pleasure of hanging out with Ben and his buddies for a few days.

Queen's Day was yesterday but due to weather it was a bit less eventful than year's past. Our friends Kristin and Nicole are over visiting from Portland and we were able to show them a good time despite the cold.

Hope everyone is well. Enjoy the video and CLICK HERE to see some recent photos.

Buda-Pest, Hungary and the soon to be Millers

2008-04-03T09:02:00.011+02:00

I was asked shortly before we went to Budapest if I was staying on the Buda side or the Pest side. I thought it was a joke but when we got there it is in fact Buda on the west side of the Danube and Pest on the east side. Coincidentally, we stayed in a hotel on the Buda side for the first two nights and a hotel on the Pest side on the third.

Although it rained like a son of a gun, we had a great time and Budapest is a beautiful city. A highlight of the trip was a five hour Easter brunch at the Four Seasons with a couple of our friends from Amsterdam that happened to in town.

This last weekend David and Lyndsay came to Amsterdam for a visit. It was great to see them and it was the first time David and I had seen each other since Egypt back in 06. Since then they have gotten engaged and we've had a baby. Next visit we'll be discussing pacemakers and broken hips.

Some shots from both weekends are below and you can CLICK HERE to see some more...

Sunshine

2008-04-02T18:21:00.002+02:00

Sunshine
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

Taking advantage of a short bit of sun, Sophie moved quickly and immediately went to sleep.

Sophie's First Flight

2008-03-21T14:56:00.001+01:00

Sophie's First Flight
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

So far so good. Writing this over Germany after a smooth no crying takeoff and a decent length nap.

Sophia Blake Long Part III

2008-03-04T21:03:00.005+01:00

Firstly, the latest video featuring the little princess...

We've been a bit remiss in our updating of the blog but the quick version is as follows...

Sophie is about the cutest thing that's ever happened. Jan visited with her friend Greg in mid-Febrary. We had a great visit and Soph got lots of cuddles from her Mimi. Kindra's mini-army of new moms continues to grow which results in some pretty dang cute multi-baby photo ops. Other than that, we both work too much and the weather just won't kick over to spring. Hope everyone is well. To see a lot of recent photos CLICK HERE to see a few...scroll down...

FIFA Street III Project

2008-02-24T22:55:00.001+01:00

This is a project my team worked on here in the Amsterdam office...

Sophia Height and Weight Update

2008-02-21T11:03:00.004+01:00

Sophia Update
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

Hit the GGD today for some measurements and shots. Latest stats...

Weight: 6.715 Kg/14.8 Lbs
Length: 64.9 Cm 25.5 In

Jesse Turns 30 and Dutch Babysitters

2008-02-09T15:38:00.000+01:00

Been a busy month. Work has begun to ramp up a bit on the travel front with me going to Geneva, Munich, Cologne and Canada in the space of 4 weeks. Should be slowing down for a bit now though...

On Feb 2nd, I turned 30. A lot of people asked if it felt like a big change but frankly, Sophie puts most things in perspective. IE. I freaked out when we had her instead of when I turned 30. :)

Kindra is back at work and enjoying it. It's challenging to manage schedules but we are getting the hang of it.

Sophie continues to be cuter than anything else...ever. Other than that, not a lot to report. Hope everyone is good.

CLICK HERE to see some shots from the last couple months or peruse the below...

Sophia Stats

2008-01-18T11:30:00.001+01:00

Sophia Stats
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

We took Sophie to the GGD (Dutch equivalent of state sponsored pediatician). She had her second round of innoculations, which she really doesn't enjoy but they also weigh and measure her so we can send out her latest stats...

Weight - 6.2KG (13.6Lbs)

Height - 62CM (24.4IN)

Sophia Blake Long Part II...and other news...

2007-12-14T11:14:00.000+01:00

Hello blog. Sorry it's been a couple months. Firstly, the latest stats on the little one. As of December 9th Sophie is...

Weight - 5.18 Kg (11.4 Lbs)

Height - 58.7 Cm (23.1 In)

Given that these are now a month old she is probably about twice these.

Secondly, there are even more babies on the scene here in Amsterdam. Another friend/coworker of Kindra's, Helen, just had a little girl named Edie. That makes three babies within two months of each other at Kindra's agency. Pretty cool as they are going to put in a pump room for the gals to get all topless and hang out in. :)

In early December, Deb and Jim arrived for their first visit with Sophie. We had a great time cruising around the city and luckily Dad was over for his birthday so we were able to celebrate with a great dinner at Restaurant Incanto. We've eaten there once before with Kindra's Aunt Daryl and Aunt Pat and her family. It's a great spot and is up there with De Kas (De Kas remains our favorite but we were able to go there as well).

While Jim and Deb were here we also went to the Hard Rock cafe to see Sophie's first Santa. Santa was some American guy that was randomly saying "Go Ducks" to the little Dutch kids which I thought was pretty funny. Turns out he's from the Oregon coast but his 'elves' got mad at him when we started talking about where he lived and it wasn't the North Pole. When I handed Sophie to him for a photo he said, "Wow. I haven't held a baby in years." I didn't find that funny but he did a fine job as you can see from the shots below...

Later in December Henne, Nikky, Amanda and Josh came for a visit. Henne and Nikky ended up spending Christmas in the UK but it was great to have Amanda and Josh here for the big day. We also threw an early Christmas Eve dinner while everyone was here which was great. Due to our tiny kitchen we ordered out for the turkey...again.

After Henne and Nikky headed to the UK we went with Sophie, Amanda and Josh over to Leiden to have Christmas dinner with Kindra's uncle Nick. It was a nice day with great food, great wine and even a nap on the floor during a 'Christmas Story'.

On the 28th we are rented a car and headed to Belgium. We stayed a couple days in Brussels and a couple days in Brugge but unfortunately packed a stomach flu and spent most of our time in the hotel room. Luckily Sophie didn't catch anything which is probably due to the anti-bodies in breast milk. Amazing stuff.

For some more recent photos CLICK HERE and for the latest video please see below.

Hope everyone is good and stay in touch.

Sophie and Tristan

2007-11-24T21:49:00.001+01:00

Last Friday Kindra and I went to her friend Jana's house. Jana just gave birth to her son Tristan 9 days ago. Sophie has met one other baby before (Molly and Gregg's son Gus), but she was asleep the whole time...kind of like Tristan this time. Kindra and Jana's friend Helen was also there. Helen is expecting her first baby two weeks from now, so soon we won't have any friends without kids.

Although Tristan is much younger, seeing Sophie next to another baby makes her look massive...

See the whole set by CLICKING HERE.

A Family Visit

2007-11-22T19:44:00.000+01:00

Last Sunday Nick (Henne's Brother), Lisbet, Brit, Lizzie, Donnie, Rick and Jeffrey came to visit. Sophie was in good form and we had a great time hanging out with the family.

Sophie's also starting to chub up a bit. Nice and healthy...

Some more recent shots can be seen by CLICKING HERE.

Katie's Visit and Footprints

2007-11-15T09:34:00.001+01:00

It was great having Kate here to help with Sophie. She was the ultimate doting Aunt and spent a ton of time with her new niece. One thing we decided to do while she was here was to get Sophie's footprints. It was a dirty affair but Sophie didn't seem to mind and in the end we got some good ones.

Kindra pointed out the large size of her feet. It would appear that young Sophie has inherited the curse of large Norwegian extremities. She is above the curve in height and weight but really above the curve in head size. Kindra attributes this to my massive cranium as her's is rather small. Interesting as she is very smart.

Despite our confidence after successfully capturing the feet, we gave up on the handprints after a couple attempts. Sophie just wasn't having it so this alien looking one is the best that we got. Probably just as well as baby handprints remind me of the Blaire Witch Project and scare me.

We also made it out with some friends of mine from work and a couple of their friends that were visiting from Spain. This is us with Jab, Ferran and Marcos. Unfortunately, Jose is not featured.

Visits and the One Month Mark

2007-11-07T14:01:00.000+01:00

We had Sophie's one month check up with the GGD on November 1st. The GGD is a government agency that monitors the growth of all babies in the Netherlands and makes sure that they are growing at a good pace and getting their vaccinations, etc. The first visit is just weight and height. No needles till next time when I'm sure Sophie won't have as much of a good time.

The vital stats from this visit were as follows...

Weight: 4.33 Kg or 9.5 Lbs

Height: 56 cm or 22 in

Outside of that the visits have begun. Starting with Jan who came for a couple weeks shortly after Sophie was born. We weren't the liveliest bunch but it was great having Jan here. She helped a ton with keeping us in more food than we could eat...

In other news we've had three visitors in the last week and a half. My mom Glenda and her friend Kate were here for about a week before heading back to California. They got some good Sophie time in and managed to take in a few tours as well.

The day after they left Sophie's aunt Kate arrived. She said she didn't want to put Sophie down while she was here and we are doing our best to hold her to it.

More shots from the past few weeks can be seen by CLICKING HERE.

What's a Grandma? Fudge. More Photos...

2007-10-26T13:05:00.001+02:00

According to Wikipedia, Grandparents are family members, the father or mother of a person's own father or mother, being respectively grandfather and grandmother. Grandparents form an important element of the extended family.

In traditional East Asian cultures influenced by Confucianism, filial piety is one of the highest moral values. Grandparents usually exercise their authority on family matters, and their descendants should obey their seniors. This kind of structure has eased with the increasing influence of western culture and the increasing number of nuclear families.

We found this interesting but more interesting is the differences in what Sophie's four grandmothers want to be called. So far we are three for four...

Jan wants to be called Mimi. This is a southern term for Grandma.

Deb wants to be called TaTa. This is short for the Spanish term for Grandma, Abuelita.

Nikky likes Oma. This is the Dutch term for Grandma.

Glenda wants to be called Grammy. This means Grammy in many languages.

In other new, I gave Fudge a bath and filmed it...

Lastly, some more shots of the pretty lady can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Sophia Blake Long...The Film!

2007-10-15T16:40:00.000+02:00

You won't believe this...

2007-10-13T18:54:00.000+02:00

More shots of Sophie...

CLICK HERE

Kindra and Sophia Come Home

2007-10-05T22:51:00.000+02:00

Well, we are all finally home.

It was a miraculous ordeal. A true miracle. One with which we could bore you with details of life, pain, sleeplessness, industrial espionage, lack of ice water, etc.

However, we'd rather bore you with more pictures of Sophia because she's just so dang cute.

Click HERE.

Sophia Blake Long

2007-10-01T09:49:00.001+02:00

Sophia Blake Long was born October 1st, 2007 at 8:45am and weighed 3.228 KG (8.08 LBS).

See more shots: HERE

Leiden - Schoemaker Get Together

2007-09-27T09:07:00.001+02:00

Kindra, Henne and I went to Leiden on the 15th for a family get together. It was the first time in years that all the Schoemaker kids had been in one place.

Click HERE to see some photos form the day...

CanYouFIFA08.com Is Live

2007-09-27T08:39:00.000+02:00

The project we have been working on since last December is finally live. Check out CanYouFIFA08.com and the below videos. There are a lot more on YouTube as well...

Prague Shoot

Manchester Shoot

Porto Alegre Shoot

Kindra+Jesse Buttons

2007-09-03T17:31:00.001+02:00

A lady in our office named Gwen make drawings of people and then makes them into buttons. In her words...

drawings of you
is a little people's plan to use little pins to hold people all over the world together to raise money to
make a children's book for charity.
It starts at W+K Amsterdam where there are 150 people 25 nationalities.

Here are the drawings she did of Kindra and I...

These are the buttons she made...

This is what happened when people tried to draw her: International Draw Gwen Day

Kindra Biking

2007-09-02T09:10:00.001+02:00

This is actually from 2006. Enjoy it...until Kindra makes me take it down...

Greece

2007-08-19T21:37:00.000+02:00

Took a bit to edit but here it is...

Brazil in Slo-Mo

2007-07-26T01:47:00.000+02:00

Back from Brazil. This video is what 6 days of terrible weather and a new camera gets you.

PHBLOG - Porto Alegre, Brazil

2007-07-09T16:36:00.001+02:00

PHBLOG - Porto Alegre, Brazil
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

The cool thing about traveling halfway around the world to Brazil to shoot an outdoor TV commercial when it is basically a monsoon is...oh wait, there's nothing cool about it.

This is the view from my hotel room. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show how ridiculously cold it is.

A Visit, Greece Trip and EA Travels

2007-07-08T23:15:00.000+02:00

We started out early June with a visit from four of our good friends from Oregon. Nate and Kate Snow and Ryan and Sarah Pitman came for a long weekend on the back end of a trip to England.

We had a great time showing them around Amsterdam and heading out to a park that we had never been to called Hoge Veluwe National Park. When you get to the park you have to take one of the free bikes and ride a couple of kilometers to the Kröller-Müller Museum. The museum has a huge sculpture garden on the outside and a ton of famous Van Gogh and other works on the inside. Well worth the trip although the bikes are crap.

During the trip the group rented bikes and got around Amsterdam like proper locals. Among other places we biked to a great dinner at De Kass and up the Amstel river for some wine and a snack. It was a great visit and good to see close friends.

Two days after Nate, Kate, Ryan and Sarah took off Kindra and I went to Greece for our last 'pre-parenthood' trip (as Kindra has a 10 pound ball for a stomach she might argue that this was my last 'pre-parenthood' trip). We flew into Athens and then took a boat to the island of Mykonos.

Athens wasn't that impressive but we only spent a little over a day there. This was either the perfect amount of time or not enough time to realize the inherent beauty of the massive somewhat rundown city. If you do find yourself in Athens I would highly recommend visiting the Plaka neighborhood and checking out the Acropolis. Luckily these are right next to each other so both can be done in one day.

Once on the island of Mykonos you will be hard pressed to find anything cultural to do aside from a day trip to Delos. This lack of activity was exactly what we were looking for.

After eight amazing days on Mykonos we headed back to Athens for a night before heading back to Amsterdam. On our last night we found a great rooftop theater playing Ocean's 13. Probably not the most cultural of evening plans but we figure since we got a Starbucks before the movie we were practically natives.

Since our return to Amsterdam we had a brief visit from Jan, who helped us pick out some soon to be needed baby gear. We also had another great meal at De Kass during her visit, which if you can't tell, is our favorite restaurant in Amsterdam.

After Jan's visit Kindra and I have gotten back into work mode. I've been traveling pretty much since with a shoot in Prague, then Manchester and now Porto Alegre, Brazil, where I'm writing this from. Although being in Brazil sounds sexy it took over 24-hours of travel to get here (including the scariest landing of my life last night) and is basically monsoon-like weather conditions. Fingers crossed this clears by Wednesday or we are going to have a tricky shoot.

For some more shots from 'A Visit, Greece Trip and EA Travels' click here.

W+K vs. 180

2007-07-06T14:09:00.000+02:00

This is a bit outdated but I just realized I hadn't posted it.

My agencey (W+K) played Kindra's agencey (180) at a game of B-ball back in May. We stomped them.

For a full write up check out the W+K blog entry written by yours truly.

FAPL Trophy

2007-07-03T11:25:00.000+02:00

FAPL Trophy - Jesse.jpg
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

This is me with the FAPL Trophy. It was at a shoot with Wayne Rooney who plays for Manchester United, which happened to win the trophy last season.

I grabbed a shot during some down time and referred to it as a cup. This actually makes the security staff that travel with the "trophy" angry. It is a 'trophy' not a 'cup' despite having what I consider to be a 'cup-like' appearance.

Since I had to look up what it actually was I thought I'd try and look quizzical. I think I ended up looking just kind of dumb instead.

Phblog - Mykonos Island, Greece

2007-06-10T10:07:00.001+02:00

Phblog - Mykonos Island, Greece
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

This is the view from our hotel room on Mykonos Island. We are feet from the Platis Gialos beach and a short boat ride from Paradise, Super Paradise and Elias beaches to name a few.

We have spent the first few days on the Platis Gialos and Super Paradise beaches. We are sunburned for our efforts.

Today we are going to rent a four wheeler and go explore a bit with plans for a snorkeling trip and a tour of Delos Island later in the week.

We are loving it.

Jesse almost died...

2007-06-04T13:22:00.000+02:00

The shelf above my desk, which has about 100 lbs worth of books, folders, DVDs, hole punchers, etc. on it, collapsed last week.

Luckily, with my cat like reflexes and propensity to get scared I was able to push off and roll my chair (and myself) to safety.

It was a close call and gave the phrase "EA is going to kill me" a lot of credence.The largest thing to fall (and the closest thing to land on me) was a book entitled "The Next Ten Years of Electronic Arts". It weighs about 25 lbs.

The incident made it on the WK blog as well. Shelf Disaster.

Rita's Day at the Beach

2007-05-28T16:07:00.000+02:00

Our friends Stephen and Tara have a dreadfully smelly Basset Hound named Rita. When Stephen invited Kindra and I to a day at the beach what he meant was "will you drive us to a Basset hound convention cause I don't have a driver's license?"

Here's the video...

Mike, Ryan and Norway

2007-05-22T12:13:00.000+02:00

Been a busy month already. It started with the arrival of our good friend Mike Kleps. Mike had been in Thailand for a few months before sailing toward the EU. After getting stuck behind some US warships in the Suez Canal and getting sick in Egypt he decided to jump ship and fly to Amsterdam to spend a few days with us.

While in Amsterdam he prepared for a bike trip, borrowed my bike and left for three weeks. More to come on that trip after he gets back in late May.

Days later saw the arrival of my good friend and college roommate, Ryan Keith. Ryan did a tour of France and a brief stop in Brussels before coming to see us in Amsterdam. Ryan has lived in Napa for the last few years and has turned into a bit of a wine connoisseur. In addition to drinking a lot of our wine we ran around Amsterdam and took in a glorious windmill...

After Ryan's departure we made ready for a quick trip of to Norway. We traveled at the crack of dawn on Thursday May 17th and arrived in Oslo around 10am on Norway's National Constitution Day. The streets were packed and we had to cross a massive parade to get to our hotel. The rest of the day we walked all over the city which was crowded with people in traditional Norwegian clothes. Apparently you dress in the clothing that is specific to the city or area you were born in. You are only allowed to wear these outfits if you are less than one generation removed. IE. your grandparents have to have physically lived in the area in question for you to wear the outfit. I'm not sure how they prove this but I bet it results in a lot of arm wrestling.

The following day Kindra and I left on the Royal Fjord tour. The trip takes a day and goes from Oslo to Myrdal by train, from Myrdal to Flam on the Flam Railway, from Flam to Bergen by boat and then from Bergen to Norway by train again. It's a crazy long day and if we'd had more time we would have stayed in one of the smaller cities along the way. The route is outlined on the map below and passes through snow, mountains and the longest Fjord in Norway, the Sognefjord...

Our train returned to Oslo at about 6.30am and after trucking to our hotel we were lucky to get an early check-in and take a nap. The rest of the weekend was spent tooling around Oslo, taking ferries to islands and finding places to spend millions of dollars eating. Oslo is so expensive it is insane.

We checked out the Akershus Fortress, the Vigeland Sculpture Park and the Fram museum which houses the Fram and the Gjoa. Learning about these things was very special for me as I'm pretty sure I'm related to everyone in Norway.

All in all a great longerude weekend and it sucks being back at work. We have friends visiting in early June and are headed to Greece for vacation on June 7th. We are happy to have more lazing about to look forward to.

More Flickr action...LINK TO SWEET NORWAY PHOTOS

PHBLOG - Norway

2007-05-17T09:44:00.001+02:00

Norway
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

We have returned to the Mother land (assuming that great grand parents being born here makes me Norweigen).

This is Kindra gazing from the train on our way to Oslo.

Queen's Day...THE MOVIE!!!

2007-05-14T21:59:00.000+02:00

You've seen the photos, now see the excitement.

Trips, Tavel, Queen's Day and Baby News...

2007-05-04T09:51:00.000+02:00

Again, it has been a long time since our last post. Things have been really crazy and we have been traveling a fair bit in Europe and in the US. We've also done some local trips around Holland as well but the big news is we are pregnant.

We are a little over four months along and have an expected due date of late September although we have been told that your first is generally a bit late. However, we have really been told just about everything on the topic of babies in addition to hours online and about thirty books and counting. So far the one truth we have found is that none of it is consistent. Regardless, we are very excited. We will be staying in Amsterdam for the birth, so the baby will have dual nationality which is pretty cool. Although we have the option of finding out the gender in a couple of weeks, we have decided to refrain, and instead, to keep this a surprise until the big day. True to form, I will keep you posted with pics as Kindra gets bigger and we get closer to the due date.

In other news, back in March our friends Stephen and Tara invited us to the coast for the day. What was going to be a day at the beach turned out being Basset Madness, a Basset gathering of about 50 Dutch Basset Hounds. This was actually a pretty funny/smelly site. I'm working on the video...

Kindra and I have both been traveling a crazy amount. I ended up in Vancouver, Canada, Geneva, the UK, LA and Portland in the span of about 3 weeks and Kindra went to Tucson to visit her mom.

A few of these were boring work trips but LA was a mix as I flew there for a commercial shoot but was able to visit our good friends Chris and Jean. They are currently living in Venice not too far from the beach and craziness of the Venice pier. We cruised around Venice and up the coast to Santa Monica on their beach cruiser bikes. It was a great couple days and I'm completely jealous of their set up. After a couple days in Venice I went over to Hollywood for work. It's not that far from Venice but with traffic you might as well be in a different state. The shoot was for the latest Harry Potter video game and went very well. I'll share the spots when they get online.

After LA I flew up to Portland to see some friends and family. I was surprised in the airport baggage claim by Ben who had flown up for the weekend. Deb picked us up and after driving to Lake Oswego for Matt's track meet we drove over to Sister's, Oregon to spend a couple days at the Lazy Z ranch. Pretty relaxed couple of days with the a trip to Bend and somewhere else to see a soccer game of Matt's.

We also played with the dogs a fair bit. I love this shot of Kate and Tess because Tess is completely off the ground...

After the ranch Matt and I took Ben to the airport so he could fly back to SF and then headed back to Salem. The rest of the week was spent catching up with buddies, heading down to Eugene to see my sister and Nate and Kate Snow and getting by butt kicked by my dad and his buddies at racket-ball. My welts have healed by now...

On Saturday I headed back to Amsterdam which Kindra had done the day before. It was a great two weeks but felt really good to get back to the Nederlands and finally see Kindra again.

Kindra's Tucson trip was great as well. Jan moved to Arizona going on a year and half ago (a few months before we moved to Amsterdam), so this was Kindra's first opportunity to see her mom's house, meet all of her Arizona buddies and see the sights around town. Jan and her hiked through the canyons in Arizona, went to a wildlife refuge, lounged in the sun and had some great meals in and out (Kindra is now homesick for US cuisine) Kindra also used the trip to see some US doctors about the pregnancy which all went very well. She also took advantage of the time in the US to get some maternity clothes as she is rapidly growing out of her wardrobe.

Holland has a great medical system but it can be a bit daunting when you speak a different language. I also think they practice a bit of a Darwinian form of medical care in that if your leg isn't falling off you shouldn't be waisting their time. Whatever the case it seems to be working as Holland is the only nationality that continues to get taller per capita.

Since being back it has been work as usual with a couple of highlights. We rented a car with Loz, Jen and their baby Sam and headed about an hour southwest of Amsterdam to see the Keukenhof Gardens. This is the Disneyland of tulips and all though it was a bit tourist it was fun and pretty amazing.

We've also recently had the 25th anniversary party for Wieden+Kennedy which was a two day long party that has left half of the agency sick with "flu like symptoms." I also played in a basketball game that was arranged between my agency (WK) and Kindra's agency (180). There is a rivalry here that has a long history that I won't get into but they handle Adidas and we handle Nike. It was a fun match up and didn't get too out of control...except for some prison ball moves by our team that were more a lack of experience than anything malicious. It was also made more pleasant by the fact that WK kicked the crap out of 180 3 games to 1. Kindra has not heard the end of my bragging about the game and complaining about how sore I am. There will be a movie coming soon but until then you can check out the WK Blog posting here.

Monday was Queen's Day so the city fell into complete insanity and closed down for the day. We took it fairly easy and just walked around the city with friends. There are some good photos on the Flickr link below and one here.

In other news I set up a map at work using Google Maps. On this map people in the Amsterdam office can login and post where they are from. Pretty cool and gives a good visual of how diverse the office is. You can take a look here if you want.

Lastly, we switched up our photo sharing as we are now using a Flickr account. Should be pretty easy to figure out and it is a lot easier to upload to so hope you like it...LINK TO SWEET PHOTOS

PHBLOG - Queen's Day Stephen

2007-04-30T12:21:00.001+02:00

PHBLOG - Queen's Day Stephen
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

Stephen's glasses make him look like Robert Evans...only not as cool.

PHBLOG - Kindra on Queen's Day

2007-04-29T20:44:00.001+02:00

Kindra on Queen's Day
Originally uploaded by jessegordonlong.

I found out how to post photos from my phone directly to the blog. I have named this practice phblogging.

My first phblog was taken at the local Greek restaurant. It was our first time eating there and they had put all their chairs on the sidewalk. It was awesome except that the service was terrible and they messed up my order.

Kah Ra Shin...

2007-03-28T10:28:00.001+02:00

Work has been crazy with an EA digital project over the last four months. Below video is a taste and if you want the full experience go here to check it out...

www.kahrashin.com

Comings and Goings...

2007-03-23T00:07:00.000+01:00

If you want to know where we are planning to be or when people are visiting you can subscribe to our Google Calendar's below...

Jesse's Travel

Kindra's Travel

People Visiting

XMas Photo/Germany/Visit/Germany

2007-02-28T21:50:00.000+01:00

A bit outdated but Kindra's Dad put this together from his Christmas photos. It is amazing...

It has been a busy first couple months of 2007. Unfortunately it has been mostly work related so far. In January I traveled to Munich for something called the IPMMM. This is a massive marketing conference held annually by EA. It's all secretive but imagine a dark room where everyone is hungover for eight hours a day, three days in a row. That's what it is but you have to take notes.

These are some of the 250 people I was there with. Jonas, Loz, Stephen and me with the facial hair of a young boy.

We've also been working on our first digital campaign for EA and that has been really interesting. By interesting I mean horrible but the site should be very cool when it's done. I'll be spamming everyone to check it out in the next week or so.

Things have also been crazy with Kindra's work as they are in the middle of a massive campaign for (a client that she won't let me say because she is a super secretive lawyer). Anyway, you'll see the spots soon.

Early Feb found me repeatedly attempting to get people to celebrate my birthday. I succeeded twice with a few drinks after work on the big day and a smaller dinner with friends the following day. We went to a Japanese restaurant which was great. Teppanyaki style so they cook in front of you. The chef threw a piece of cooked egg at me and I caught it in my mouth, which was pretty amazing.

This last week we had Gina and Joe visiting. Gina and Kindra have been friends for about forever and Joe is pretty dang cool so it was a good time. We went to Berlin for a weekend to site see and look around. I attempted to take the same photo I did when Kindra and I were there last March but messed up the angle.

Then...

Now...

See all the shots here... LINK TO SWEET PHOTOS

So that's about it. Hope this finds everyone well and drop a line if you get the urge...

Late Wedding Video

2007-01-22T22:44:00.000+01:00

While our memories of this day are wonderful, the footage is not. In addition to being filmed without sound, it was filmed by a 17 year old with a shaky hand.

This is the sum total of five hours of audio free footage supplemented by one hour of footage with audio...

Prague

2007-01-08T22:06:00.000+01:00

Prague was beautiful and we celebrated Kindra's birthday with nice meals and plenty of Pilsners.

See all the shots here... LINK TO SWEET PRAGUE PHOTOS

Christmas, New Years and a little USA

2007-01-01T22:37:00.000+01:00

It has been forever since our last posting...but aside from work we've been relatively tame in our endeavors.

We did host a Thanksgiving dinner at our place in which Kindra did a phenomenal job of cooking a tasty meal for 13. Not a bad first effort and you couldn't have fit another body in our apartment.

In early December I ended up stateside for some work meetings in Vancouver, BC and Portland, Or. Was able to ski for a day in Whistler before my meetings and the timings made it so I could surprise my dad for his birthday. Was also great to see the rest of the family and a bunch of friends. My flight back to Amsterdam went through SF so I was able to have dinner with my mom and Ben on a 24 hour layover. Was great to see everyone and just get acclimated to US time again before having to go back.

After returning Kindra and I made it through a couple of hectic weeks at work before heading to England for Christmas. We stayed with Nikky's family in a small town called Litton Cheney. Was great to meet everyone but I'll let the video show the trip...

Christmas in Litton Cheney Video

After returning from England we made a quick trip to Leiden to get dinner with Henne's brother Nick and his family before New Years.

For the New Year Kindra and I went to a friends house for dinner and ended up staying there to see the fireworks. Amsterdam is insane on New Years. Again, video will do a better job of showing this...

New Year's Eve (Live from Baghdad)

That's about it. This weekend we are going to Prague for Kindra's birthday. So we'll post some photos again soon. Here are some photos from the last few months...

LINK TO SWEET PHOTOS

Hope everyone is well.

Shaving Private Fudge

2006-11-19T19:52:00.000+01:00

Back on the web after a brief legal battle with Kindra...

Egypt...the movie...

2006-11-14T17:28:00.000+01:00

London, Egypt and other bits and bobs

2006-10-29T20:43:00.000+01:00

Another couple months have passed and find us happy and in good health (this is a lie, I'm incredibly obese). The weather in Amsterdam is starting to turn so we are in for 6 months of rain and potentially some snow. Not all that different from Portland.

Not too much happening on the home front. The Netherlands saw the brief return of Gerben for a week or so in September. Was good to see him and finally get some Biter Balijn in with the master.

Kindra and I went to London to visit her cousin Katie and had a great time. We had dinner Friday with Katie and her brother (our cousin) Mathew and his girlfriend. Saturday we drove to Bristol to see Nikky and her mother. Was good to see Nikky as we hadn't seen her since we moved. We returned to London that evening and saw Spamalot, Monty Python's Holy Grail on Broadway. A bit over the top but fun to see.

Of recent news, I just returned from Egypt where I had been for a week with David Miller. We traveled from Saturday to Saturday and we saw a lot of the country. We flew into Cairo on Saturday, spent Sunday in Giza and Cairo seeing the great pyramids and the Spynx and then took an overnight train to Aswan. From Aswan we traveled up the Nile by boat to Luxor. This took three days and we were able to stop in Esna and Edfu along the way finally arriving in Luxor on Thursday. From Luxor we took another overnight train back to Cairo arriving Friday am. David flew out that afternoon and I flew out at 6am Saturday morning.

I could write pages about the trip but that might get a bit boring. See the photos below if you are interested and the movie is in the works.

For a brief clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3mZw7DFjfA

LINK TO LONDON AND EGYPT PICS

Hope this finds everyone well.

Paris, Spain and visits...

2006-08-01T12:41:00.000+02:00

Another couple of months have passed since our last update and there hase been a lot going on.

In late July Jan came over for a visit. After spending a few days in Amsterdam we visited Paris for a long weekend. Was great to see all the sites including the Lourve, Chateau de Versailles, Musée d'Orsay and my personal favorite the Musée national d'Art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou.

August was a busy month for week and I ended up spending another week in Barcelona shooting FIFA. We finally shot the talent so I've now met some of the biggest names in Football, despite not having a clue who they were a few months ago.

During the week the weather in Barcelona was terrible. It was overcast and rainy. However, on Friday the sun came out and it was in the 90's for the whole weekend. This happened to coincide with the arrival of Kindra who flew down for the weekend. We had a great time and were able to check out the Gaudi desiged Parque Guell and a giant neighborhood party. We also spent plenty of time on the beach as this August was the wettest August in the Netherlands in the last 100 years. Not cool.

This last weekend we were visited by Kindra's Londoner cousin Katie. We had a great time showing her around and ended up at the Dutch air guitar championships on Saturday at a venue called the Paradiso. It was a crazy night made perfect by the fact that the winner performed all of his air guitarring in nothing but a spedo.

LINK TO SPAIN, VISITS AND AMSTERDAM PICS

RANDOM DUTCH TRIVIA...

The coat of arms of Amsterdam is composed of three St Andrew's crosses, aligned vertically, but rotated 90 degrees for the flag. Historians believe they represent the three dangers which have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence. The city's official motto, Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig ("Valiant, Resolute, Merciful") which is displayed on the coat of arms, was bestowed on it by Queen Wilhelmina in 1947 in recognition of the city's bravery during World War II. The lions were added in the sixteenth century.

The Imperial Crown of Austria was awarded to the city in 1489 by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, out of gratitude for services and loans. The crown was a sign of imperial protection and acted as a seal of approval for Amsterdam merchants abroad. The Westertoren also features the imperial crown.

That's all for now. Hope this finds everyone well.

Jesse+Kindra

Work, play and visitors…

2006-07-14T11:48:00.000+02:00

So it has been another couple of months and things are still going great in Amsterdam.

Since May we have had a lot happen so I’m not sure where to start. Amanda (Kindra’s sister) game to visit in early June. Kindra and Amanda had EuroRail passes through Amanda’s work and were able to take a great vacation through Switzerland and Italy. Timing worked out well as their trip happened to fall at the same time that I was in Barcelona for a week of work.

Barcelona is an amazing city. In addition to having a ton of great things to see and do there are fantastic beaches 5 minutes from the middle of town. Over the week we were able to get a couple of days to tool around the city. One at the beginning of the trip when the director we were working with got food poisoning and one at the end before we left. I ended up touring the Sagrada Familia which is also know as the Goudi or Bacelona Cathedral. It’s pretty amazing as it has been under construction since 1880 and still continues… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Familia

After Barcelona and Italy we had a visit from Scott and Megan (friends from college). They were here for a weekend and are returning for a couple of more nights after a two weeks in France.

Another very exciting aspect of life over here has been the World Cup. It was really great to be in Europe for this. Everywhere people are going Bananas for their country. Kindra, Megan, Scott and I watched Holland lose to Portugal in a local Dutchy bar. They were going crazy during the game and after Holland lost they were miserable.

I was also lucky enough to get over to Germany for a couple of games. I got tickets to the USA vs. Ghana game in Nuremburg through work and then got tickets for the France vs. Brazil game in Frankfurt from Ben. It was great getting to see the US play but the France vs. Brazil was truly amazing to watch.

Ben was over here for a little over a week. The first part of his trip he was traveling all over Germany with a couple of his friends, Mike and Chris. After a couple World Cup games, including Italy vs. Germany, they came over to Amsterdam for a couple of days. We had a great time cruising around Amsterdam and were able to get a game of golf in on Ben’s last day here. Great trip.

Well, that’s the short as sweet version. Check out the pics if you get a chance and we hope to see you all soon.

LINK TO SPAIN, VISITS AND WORLD CUP PHOTOS

LINK TO KINDRA AND AMANDA TRIP PHOTOS

Jesse+Kindra

Spain, Queen’s Day and other shenanigans…

2006-05-24T20:58:00.000+02:00

It’s been a couple months since our last update so it’s a bit of a long one. Things have been going great on this side of the Atlantic. We are really starting to acclimate now that we have been here for a few months. We have the basics down like where to get groceries and have found some restaurants we love…even if the service is terrible. Work is also going well for both of us.

Some other highlights from the last couple months have been a trip to Geneva where my EA clients are now based out of, a trip to Antwerp for Kindra and I with a friend from her work, a visit from the Long family, a quick trip for me back to Portland and LA and a visit from Henne to meet family including his father in Spain.

Geneva was brief and work related so not too exciting. The city itself is beautiful and exudes money as there is a lot of it there. Everything is very nice and clean with a lot of Gucci type stores. The new EA offices are located in the center of town on a beautiful square with several restaurants and pubs. Not a bad place for an office.

Our Antwerp trip was a quick train ride into Belgium, only about two hours. Once there we had a great lunch and walked around the city intermittently stopping for different types of Belgium beer and random food. On our way out we did a bit of food shopping as Belgium is known for good food and Holland is not. I randomly purchased a jar of Duck Comfit and I have no idea what to do with it. Kindra finds this disgusting but I’m sure it will be good.

Towards the end of April Jim, Deb, Kate and Matt came over. It was the first visit to Amsterdam from family or friends and it was really nice to see some familiar faces (just so Ben doesn’t complain I should mention he did visit us first but in Dublin not in Amsterdam). Also a lot of fun to show friends/family the city and life you have been trying to describe for the last three months.

I’m not sure how to describe Queen’s Day but it is like a bigger happier Mardi Gras without the nakedness. Literally every street in the entire city of Amsterdam is packed to the gills with people celebrating and singing and drinking and wearing tons of orange. It is utter mayhem but an extremely jovial form of it. The Dutch manage to stay safe (relatively) and happy (for the most part) despite hours and hours of drinking and having canals everywhere without safety rails (we did see come swimmers…which is gross). See the photos for a better idea of this day as it is hard to describe.

Overall the visit from the family was great and everyone, including Kindra and I loved Queen’s Day. Another bonus was David Miller, a great friend of ours that is studying in Spain, came up for Queen’s Day as well. It was great to see him and if you are interested in an update on him he has a blog as well (http://www.catalonic.blogspot.com/).

Just a few days after the family visit and Queen’s Day I traveled back to the US for E3, a giant video games expo in LA. I was able to leave four days early and spend sometime in Portland. It was great to see a bunch of old friends and just being back in the city for a few days was great. Unfortunately, Kindra couldn’t come which would have made it perfect. I’d like to say a huge thanks to Chris and Jean Raih for putting me up for four days.

After Portland I flew to LA for three days to go to E3. It’s a bit overwhelming with lots of neon and geeks but an interesting thing to see if you work in gaming. I, being a rather large geek myself, fit right in and loved the game demos.

When I got back from the US we had four days before we left for Spain with Henne. We flew into Alicante and then headed to Torrevieja with Henne’s father Nico and his wife Silvana. Torrevieja is a beach front town that is almost entirely made up of people that are either on holiday or retired. For the most part people are either from England, Germany or Holland with very few Spanish people. As such it doesn't feel very Spanish.

The weather in Torrevieja was beautiful and it was great to meet both Silvana and Nico. Before retiring to Spain Nico was a boxer and bar owner in Amsterdam that has been attacked with an axe, shot at people, won 101 of 104 boxing matches and will readily admit that he generally only needs one punch to win a fight. He is 78 and would be quit possibly the tannest person I have ever seen if it weren’t for his even tanner wife Silvana.

After two days in Torrevieja Nico and Silvana drove us to Denia where we had booked a boat to Ibiza the following day. We had hoped to switch our boat tickets to a day earlier but it was too expensive so we decided to stay in Denia. We ended up at a hotel which turned out to be amazing. The hotel was called Las Rotes and it was located just outside of the city but had free four wheelers, bikes and scooters for guests so it was very easy to get around. The night of our stay the hotel was hosting a high school graduation that looked something like a Spanish version of The OC. We somehow managed to drink on the free tab of the high school kids so that worked out well.

The following day the three of us headed to the island of Ibiza. We spent the first couple nights and days in San Antoni (a town on the West side of Ibiza) which was great. We rented mountain bikes during the day and road down the coast to check out a few beaches. We ended up spending the day at an incredible beach called Cala Basa.

The following day we traveled back to Ibiza Town to look around for a hotel. We ended up being told about a random place in Old Town. Old Town is the original walled city of Ibiza. Back in the day everyone lived behind the walls of Old Town and were attacked every fifty years or so. Now it is a walled city within a city. The place we stayed was very low key. There was no concierge, front desk, phone or sign indicating that it was a hotel or hostel of any sort. Basically, I think we might have stayed in someone’s apartment but it was great and had a patio and pool with an amazing view of the city.

The next day we traveled back to Alicante where we flew out from the following morning. We arrived in Amsterdam to pouring rain and wind. Much like returning to Oregon from somewhere nice. We were lucky to have both Thursday and Friday off for Ascension so we have four days to get back into the swing of things before we go back to work.

Since it’s been awhile I’ve posted a few pages of photos. Take a gander at what interests you…or don’t. Hope things are well with everyone and we can see you soon.

LINK TO ANTWERP AND GENEVA PHOTOS

LINK TO QUEEN'S DAY AND LONG VISIT PHOTOS

LINK TO SPAIN AND HENNE VISIT PHOTOS

Enjoy,

Jesse+Kindra

Dublin and a local number...

2006-03-28T23:45:00.000+02:00

So we finally spent a weekend in the new apartment. We hadn't had a full weekend in the place yet. Was nice to get some little stuff done like getting a broom.

Our ground shipment, which is most of our stuff, is sitting with customs in the Dutch Harbor. This is frustrating as we have been drinking out of plastic cups and eating with plastic silverware. Anyone that has been to our house since our marriage knows that I miss our silverware.

In other news, we have registered a Skype number. This means we have a number that is actually registered in Oregon so it isn't long distance for anyone to call. The catch is it dials our computer so it will be hit or miss if you are able to reach us. However, it does have voicemail so leave a message and we can call you back for next to nothing.

Anyone interested in downloading Skype should check out www.skype.com. It's a free program and if you have this on your machine then it is free for us to talk as well. You just have to get one of those headsets with the microphones which looks stupid.

If anyone wants to try calling your best bet is to try around 11am or noon PST. The number is 503/616-3083.

Aside from that things are good. The weather keeps getting nicer and we've been told that the sun will actually be up until 11pm at some points in the summer. It's already light until about 8pm now.

Here are some shots from Ireland...

LINK TO SWEET PHOTOS

Back in Amsterdam...

2006-03-16T21:44:00.000+01:00

...briefly.

Kindra and I are back. She was able to fly to Berlin Friday so we could spend the weekend together.

The trip overall was great. Some points of note...

LONDON
Very cold but sunny. I got my haircut in London by a guy from Kenya. It was the most professional haircut I have ever received followed by the strangest headrub I've ever had...I liked it.

PARIS
Our days were shorter in Paris so we had time to do a bit more. We went to the Eiffel Tower, got some great food and watched the Barcelona vs. Chelsey game one of the nights.

ROME
One of the guys I was traveling with liked to point out that almost everything is older than America. Everything from the Trevi Fountain on down to the light poles.

BERLIN
Was freezing and snowy and great. As a city Berlin is really interesting. Even though the wall came down in '89 both halves of the city have incredibly different feels. Apparently this is because the West tried to modernize everything to show how prosperous democracy was. The irony is the East, by not doing this, is now cooler cause it's retro.

We are leaving Friday to go to Dublin to see Ben and Kelly for the weekend. St. Patrick's day in Dublin should be interesting.

Here are some shots from the trip and the new apartment. Enjoy...

We'll post some more photos soon but in the interim here are some shots from the last month or so...

LINK TO SWEET PHOTOS

Photos, Contact Info, etc...

2006-03-05T20:30:00.000+01:00

Internet access has been hit or miss but I was finally able to post some photos. They are from a couple weeks prior to our move and go through a week or so after. The shots of our apartment are actually outdated as we moved into our new place last Wednesday. It's great to finally be where we will be living for the next couple years instead of a temporary place.

Our new Address
Ceintuurbaan 251-1
1074 CZ Amsterdam
Nederlands

Our new Landline
+31 20 421 4790

Kindra's new Cell Number
+31 (6) 4622 8034 (+31 is international access code to Netherlands)
From a landline in the states you would dial (011) 31 6 4622 8034

Kindra's job is going well and she is crazy good at riding her bike around Amsterdam. She recently informed me she is going to be a BMX biker. I'm currently on a week long TV shoot that is taking me through London, Paris (here now), Rome and Berlin. Interesting way to see Europe.

We'll post some more photos soon but in the interim here are some shots from the last month or so...

LINK TO SWEET PHOTOS

_

Kindra got a job, Jesse went to London and we found an apartment...

2006-02-19T20:59:00.000+01:00

Big news for us from Amsterdam. Kindra got a job at 180 Amsterdam (http://www.180bv.nl/). 180 is an amazing ad agency here in Amsterdam that works on a lot of big accounts including Adidas, Amnesty International, Motorola, Omega, etc.. She'll be starting Monday in their business/legal affairs department which is in charge of a wide range of contractual and legal areas of advertising.

In other news, I went to London for the first time on Thursday to meet the people I'll be working with. Everyone was super nice and it was a great trip. After flying over Thursday afternoon, some agency folks and I met up with the clients, went to see the Blue Man Group and then went to Hakasan, a super nice Asian restaurant down a back alley in London. Friday we had some meetings at the EA UK office in Chertsey. All very cool and not a bad first trip to England.

Lastly, we found an apartment. It's in a neighborhood called De Pijp which is in a great part of Amsterdam not too far from the center. Lot's of little pubs and random places to eat.

We still don't have the Mac hooked up so I can't post too many photos but here are a couple of us around town. Kindra being cute in the snow and me being an idiot, as per usual.

Getting Settled...

2006-02-10T16:02:00.000+01:00

We've had some time to get over jet lag and are starting to take care of some of the smaller things. We set up our cell phones, got a bike, figured out where the grocery store is, etc.

We are currently living in corporate housing on a street called Utrechtsestraat. It is between the Keizersgracht and Prinzengracht canals. It's decent but right on a tram line which makes if fairly noisy. As I sleep through fire alarms this doesn't bother me but Kindra is wearing earplugs at night. Cute but dorky looking. :)

We are excited to find a place and have a house hunter that has been helping us look. We went out for about 3 hours last Wednesday and saw a range of apartments. We are interested in one and are going back to see it again on Monday. One concern we have is the Dutch people we tell about it say it's too expensive. However, we have been told that expats should expect to pay more and other expats seem to think it's reasonable.

The first few days here our internal clocks were all messed up so we spent our evenings trying not to fall asleep before 7p. As we're getting acclimated we've started to go out a bit more. The last couple nights we've spent out with folks from W+K. Two nights ago we went to a bar called O'Reiley's near the Dam square and last night we went to a dinner at a co-worker's apartment. Aside from Kindra's wallet and cell phone getting stolen at O'Reiley's both nights were fantastic.

Everyone we've met so far has been incredibly nice. It's also very interesting to hear the backgrounds of everyone. Amsterdam has a ton of expats so everyone is from somewhere else. For example at the dinner party there were three people from England, on from Australia and one from Holland...not including us yanks.

Overall things are great and our new cell numbers are below. We are nine hours ahead of the West Coast and six ahead of the East Coast so account for that when you call.

Jesse Cell: (011) 31 6 2060 8607

Kindra Cell: (011) 31 6 2146 6444

If anyone wants to mail anything to us you should use the W+K address as our home address will be changing. If you are mailing something specifically for Kindra put her name in parenthesis after mine but be sure to include mine as they won't recognize her name alone.

Jesse Long (Kindra Long)
Wieden+Kennedy
Keizersgracht 125-127
1015CJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Arrival in Amsterdam...

2006-02-06T10:31:00.000+01:00

We're safe and we've already lost five pounds carrying our luggage up the insanely steep stairs to the door of our temporary apartment. The apartment itself is pretty nice although the upstairs feels a bit like a tree house as we have to duck when we go up and down.

Fudge arrived unscathed and seems to be enjoying himself. For all the hurdles we had to go through in the US to get him here we assumed it would be a pain on this end but no one seemed to care in customs.

Aside from sleeping, we've ventured out a couple of times to find some food and look around. We went out to run some errands Monday morning to find that most shops open around 1p on Mondays. It was explained to us that the Dutch need some time to get over the weekend.

We'll post some pics of the place when we have a our computer set up.

Two Weeks Out

2006-01-18T06:00:00.000+01:00

Things are getting a bit crazy as we prep to leave. We've been selling what we can and throwing away the rest to slim up for the move.

We did a test run to the airport with Fudge yesterday. We did this because the vet wanted us to test his sedative and we wanted to take the carrier to the airport. All went well and according to Jimmie Clipper, of PDX fame, we are good to go.

Fudge was super messed up and running into walls and doors.

Test...

2006-01-09T09:20:00.000+01:00

Every great blog should start with a test. We are 22 days from our move from Portland to Amsterdam.

Starting to feel a bit real.