I’ve started working for a recruitment company in the centre of  Eindhoven, in a HR position and I’m really enjoying it. The work is interesting and structured, the pay is OK, the people are a lovely mix of hardworking British and Dutch and it’s easy to fit in with the social aspect of the office- everyone likes a few drinks.

The stability and money also means that we can finally think about learning Dutch seriously. One of the account managers has a relative working in the Dutch language school that runs the integration courses for companies like ASML and Phillips here, and the prices are reasonable. Really looking forward to being able to communicate in the language of my second home and really benefit from living here.

The second thing I have to do is get my driving licence. It’s about time, but I won’t need a car just yet. It will be useful for us not to have to do everything that requires a car here together, for example grocery shopping and returning glass- I’m fairly stuck if Keith’s not here in that respect and aswell, we might get more done at the weekend if I don’t need a chaffeur.

I did allow myself one indulgence with my first wages. I’ve booked a weekend to see Iany Beany in Newcastle and for a bit of shopping. I’m hoping it won’t be too difficult to get from here to Schiphol, because I’ve planned the trip for the Queen’s Day weekend. Taking advantage of a free day off .

Going to go to George’s place this eve for some food and then hit the town and Dave is dropping in on his way back from the airport some time tomorrow afternoon.

I do miss Keith, but it’s nice to have people (and dog) to keep me company!

So i have a Nokia E71 and have been using mobile internet for years, way back when the first GSM phones came out, when you used dialup networking  with *99# for it to create a GRPS connection, and its come a small way since that.

From the early days of Dialup over GSM at 9600BPS to Current day with 3.5G (I can’t believe its broadband) there has been one failing with all connectivity, the 3G modem, or connecting your phone to your laptop.

Bluetooth was finicky and usually slow, unless both devices are Bluetooth EDR Enabled, even then it can be a pain to get the two devices to pair etc.

USB Cables are a joke as well, for one, they rarely charge the device at the same time, which i think they should do, plus you had to carry around another cable with you.

Dedicated 3g Modems are another disaster, why is it that the providers have to release the CRAPPIEST connection software ever, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, Three … I’m looking at you … I mean could you not have released nice minimalistic software that doesn’t have massive company logos emblazoned all over it.

Enter Joikuspot, which i found after getting completely racked off with the Vodafone software + my Huawei modem and I was after starting in Germany working, I’ve used various incarnations of 3g offerings from various different networks and they’re all rubbish. In fact I had a better experience using the Huawei modem on Ubuntu, which is saying something.

The idea with Joikuspot is simple, your have a Series 60 mobile that has Wi-Fi and 3g, so you download this Application and it turns your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot, simple ? Well yes it is that simple.

Download the application from:

http://www.joikushop.com/

You can enable encryption (just like you do with a normal Wi-Fi router)

Set a Network name

Then enable sharing ..

Search for the connection on your laptop, enter your network key and thats it.

More than one person can also use it.

The other option is to carry around a fullblown 

Linksys WRT54G3G

Which works just as well but I think carrying around a phone that does pretty much the same thing is much better.

It comes in two flavours, Light and Premium, Light being free and only allowing only port 80 and Premium allowing all traffic.  The Premium version was 19 Euros and well worth it.

Of course you could always run OpenVPN on port 80 on your home network and *ahem* not have to pay for the Premium version at all, but I think its worth purchasing

The Licensing is quite simple too, it sticks to your SIM and not your Phone, so if you get a new phone then its no problem changing over !

We made our first trip home last weekend. Spent Friday at Anto and Krista’s engagement party, Saturday with Keith’s family in Clonmel, Sunday with Jason, Alan, Susan, Trev and James and Monday having our flight cancelled in Cork Airport- the strangest thing is we felt homesick for the Hague….. Guess it’s because our new house is here but still a weird feeling.

Aoife is here at the moment doing some human rights- type things and I think she’s enjoying herself (!). We’re going to eat in a new Himalayan restaurant tonight with the Aliens and tomorrow is the big 1st anniversary dinner and party in Rootz.

Monday we are hosting the Paddy’s day festivities in the Shilleleagh (hope Thomas is ready for us!) and after that we will concentrate on the house for a couple of weeks.

Elinor and Richard are having a big murder- mystery dinner on the 28th of this month for Richard’s birthday. I’ve never been to one before and am both excited and nervous at the prospect. Keith is going as lady candy cane and I am her ex- footballer turned manager husband who is woman obsessed…. should be entertaining!!

Anyway, keep in touch and hurry up with the visiting! We now have a kindly donated spare bed!!

Una xxx

Now that Keith has put up the flickr account I better upload the rest of the photos.

Paddy came to visit for Keith’s birthday and I think he had a good time. So busy while he was here that I didn’t really see him until we got to Monday.

Had another interview this week, really want the job so I hope it goes well….. although knowing my luck…..

Got confirmation of Dara’s hen night aswell, I’ll have to make it home for that one! Also we’re thinking we might go on a diving holiday with some of our friends here- they’re going in May and I’d love some sun…

Will update this more often, its just been an uneventful month!

Una xxx