Week 817

What’s this? I’m blogging about my work on a weekly basis – a simple way to track and archive whatever it is I spend my time on.

Last week I spent two and a half days at NOS op 3. Still a bit overwhelmed, but also starting to recognize faces, as well as processes. I tried to help out here and there, researching topics and checking items. On Friday, I pulled my notes together, looked into potentially useful tools and even sketched out an idea.

On Monday, my Xbox One review was published in NRC Handelsblad and nrc.next, and on business site NRC Q: Zonder de Xbox One was de gamewereld beter af geweest. I got into some Twitter debate over it; aside from some ignorant stuff I heard two good counter-arguments: yes it’s big, but it handles heat better than the PlayStation 4 (though time will tell whether this is actually a problem for Sony), and Xbox Live beats Sony’s online services. Mostly, I was surprised by how many people agreed with me.

On Tuesday, I edited a bunch of short Xbox One game reviews for nrc.next: Forza Motorsport 5 by Harry Hol, and Dead Rising 3 and Kinect Sports Rivals by Rogier Kahlmann. These were pushed forward a bit. Over the week, I also edited medium size reviews on The Sims 4 by Harry (in the paper on Friday) and Destiny by Rogier (in the paper today).

Tuesday night, I tried to watch the latest Apple PR spectacle. But the stream was so bad, it made me more angry than evangelical. I’m not convinced about the announced products either. I want to upgrade my iPhone, but I doubt my pockets will accept an even bigger device; at least the iPhone 6’s corners are rounded. Next year’s Apple Watch seems too thick to actually wear, and it feels lame that I still have to carry my phone, too, at this price point.

Wednesday night, I visited the Sherlocked escape room in Amsterdam. Great location, great atmosphere, and a great group too: I was joined by Zuraida Buter, Sander van der Vegte, Geert Nellen, Dirk Vis and my lovely wife Annemieke. We may be getting too good at this thing, as we solved it in record time. I even felt slightly underwhelmed by the amount of content. My favorite part: more social dynamics thanks to the space and puzzle design. (If that sounds vague, it’s because I promised the room’s creators I wouldn’t spoil any details.)

Later in the week, I played a ton of Peggle 2 on Xbox One, after which I wrote about it. What I don’t mention in the short review is that the game keeps crashing… and that my daughters managed to turn off the console simply by standing next to it, twice!

Finally, on Friday night, I was visited by Philip Fokker, who interviewed me for a pilot of the radio column he wants to make, about people who make things.