About Me
I am a 31 year old Dutchman, born an bred in Zaanstad, just north of Amsterdam.
I was born in Wormerveer and lived in Krommenie and Assendelft
until I went to university. Before I went to university, I did my primary and secondary school in Krommenie in 'De Bron' and 'Bertrand Russell'
respectively. I have one sister, Krista, who is 3 years younger than I am. She currently lives in
Assendelft with her husband, Oscar. My father also lives in Assendelft
and my mother closeby in Koog aan de Zaan.
I went to the Amsterdam Academy, now called InHolland, where I studied business administration for the financial sector. This prepares you for a career in the banking or insurance sector and is more practical than the average university study.
As part of the study, I did a London City Course in 1995, which took me to financial institutions in London. I decided after that I wanted to live in London, at least for a while. So I sought a work placement at an English insurer, where I was picked up by an English IT company.In 1998, I moved to England with a friend of mine, who went back to Amsterdam after 5 months as he could not take root. Not surprising, as it was in Barking (no offence).
I worked for the IT company, Rebus, for 2 years before I decided I wanted something different and asked to be transferred to the US office. I went to the US in 2000 and worked for customers in New York, Pennsylvania and Alabama, visiting neighbouring states in between. It was living out of a suitcase and in hotel rooms.
That was the period this site was most useful. I posted the hotel details, contact details and time zone on the site, so that I could be called and (more important) called at a normal time. The phenomenon of time zones is difficult to understand for some people. You can find pictures of my time in the US in the 'pictures' section of the site.
After a couple of months in the US, I went back to the UK for a week and met up with an old housemate of mine,
Janice.
To make a long story short, we fell in love and I decided to move back to the UK.
In 2001, 3 months before the WTC attacks, I moved back to the UK and in with Janice. Since then, we have moved from renting a studio in Islington to living in Loughton. I have changed jobs from Rebus and am currently contracting as business analyst.
As you can see in the pictures, we got married in June 2006...
Hobbies
I have a number of hobbies and interests. Some more healthy than others. Some more embarrassing than others.
I like to cycle and do so to the station and in Epping Forest. I play tennis, table tennis and badminton.
I love music, especially rock. Pearl Jam, Live, Stone Temple Pilots, that sort of stuff.
And my latest obsession is quizzes. Since Gavin and myself created Gav & Arno's pop quiz in 2003, we've been steadily getting more involved. I am currently building a dedicated quiz site to take the load off this site.