Amsterdam: Part 1 of 2

I’m back from Amsterdam! It was beautiful and dirty and weird and exhausting.

In early April, I traveled there with my friend Colin. He had been to Amsterdam a few years ago, encouraged me to travel abroad ever since and was interested in going back. Around Christmas 2024, he convinced me to make the journey and we decided to travel in the spring. In January 2025, we booked our flights and hostel.

We flew out of PHX. To make things easier - mostly to avoid the stress of unforeseen traffic on I-10 - I drove to Phoenix the night before the flight. I think I was too excited, so I didn’t sleep that night. The hotel had a basketball court. Weird and random.

The basketball court at Homewood Suites in Phoenix.

Over the Atlantic Ocean at sunrise.

The flight from Arizona to France was about 10 hours. I realize people endure much longer flights, but it was the longest flight I’ve ever taken. The rows were tight, the seat was uncomfortable and I couldn’t fall asleep. (This is now two days without sleep.) The food was bad, except for the egg breakfast pastry. And no alcohol. We arrived in Paris and scrambled to make our connecting flight.

A stairwell at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

A stairwell at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

After the most ridiculous maze through the entire airport (with guidance from a guardian angel airport employee who helped us cut the security line), then a bus ride back around the entire airport to a make-shift parking lot tarmac, we flew to Amsterdam. After a couple trains to get from the airport to Centraal Station, we rode the free ferry to Amsterdam Noord and walked to the hostel.

Bunk was a pod-style hostel in a converted church - St. Rita’s. Imagine “Hollywood Squares” sleeping quarters with colorful lighting and dramatic curtains. Colin stayed at Bunk on his previous trip and I read enough reviews on Trip Advisor to realize it would be fine.

Pod 34 was my home for the week.

My biggest complaint with the pod area in Bunk: there wasn’t much space to put anything. A storage locker under the bed fit one carryon piece of luggage. Three pegs inside each pod held shirts and pants. A net catch-all stored my phone, wallet and eyeglasses while I slept. There were two bathroom areas: one with toilet closets and sinks, the other with shower closets and sinks. Very little counter space for toiletries and poor lighting when you’re trying to pluck your ear hairs and unibrow. The doors of the toilet and shower closets had very cool but strange wallpaper murals: a Rococo-meets-flapper-meets-pinup woman - underwater? The toilets were clean enough and the showers had excellent water pressure.

The public areas were just as dark and moody but cool. A T-Rex greeted you at the entrance. There was a library that I’m convinced no one used. The cafe was usually crowded for breakfast and dinner. But I snapped these photos on my first morning there. I didn’t sleep well the entire trip. I think I got three to four hours of sleep a night. The bed and pillow were comfortable but I simply couldn’t sleep. So I’d get out of bed, take advantage of the empty spaces and solitude, and read a book until the cafe opened (at 7:30 a.m.). It was “vacation,” so I indulged in two lattes each morning: oat milk (almond milk wasn’t readily available) with raw sugar. Each mug and saucer came with an almond cookie. I read and sipped and waited for Colin before ordering food. The food was excellent but the service was terrible. So many people said, “Tipping isn’t a thing in Europe!” Oh, it was.

Morning reading.

Each morning I ordered eggs Benedict, either with salmon or avocado. (I was pretty adventurous - for me - with seafood on this trip: I ate cod, salmon and shrimp.) One morning, I waited an hour between getting my latte and placing a food order because the servers seemed to ignore everyone. I purposely made eye contact and smiled, but they rushed by to do something else. I finally waved at one who seemed shocked and confused as to why I needed her attention. Servers - at Bunk and at other restaurants - never checked back in to make sure the order was correct or to ask if anything else was needed. And they never brought the bill. We had to walk up to the server stand with a credit card and say, “I’d like to pay now.” or else we’d sit forever. And before tapping the card or inserting the chip? Always a tip screen. It made me appreciate the overly-involved servers in bars and restaurants in America.

Bunk in relation to the city center.

Amsterdam had a lot of beautiful architecture. It reminded me of Philadelphia. Really old mixed with new. Tight spaces with front doors and living room windows so close to the sidewalk. Narrows streets and charming arches. But Amsterdam was dirty. Garbage and cigarette butts strewn across the pavement. Trash floated in the otherwise picturesque canals. Too much bad graffiti. More on all that later.

Behind-the-scenes photo by Colin.

There were a lot of bicycles. And traffic was nuts. I didn’t see any traffic lights, only crosswalk-type lights. There were two crosswalk symbols that illuminated: a bike or a pedestrian. Cyclists appeared to have the right-of-way, then pedestrians, then vehicles. Taxis were either Mercedes or Tesla. Everyone on a bike looked the same: no smile, furrowed brow, trench coat and over-ear headphones. Instead of texting while driving a car, the Dutch texted while cycling.

The sexiest bike I saw: VanMoof. 🤩

Never chained up because it had an anti-theft feature.

How would you find your bike?!

Sketches

For Christmas, a friend gave me a sketchbook - and the encouragement to draw and make art more often. Here are a few pages.

Poolside Reading (Another Book Review)

It’s been awhile since I read a good book. This month I read The Cat and the City by Nick Bradley. It was excellent!

Each chapter detailed a different slice of life in present-day Tokyo - and a stray, calico cat wandered from scene to scene. The most charming aspect was the “aha” moment when I realized how the human character in one chapter was connected to the human character in a previous chapter. Coworkers, strangers seated at separate tables in the same cafe, fellow riders on public transit, a convenience store cashier who gives expiring food to a homeless man, different passengers in the same man’s taxi, a detective working on various cases.

My favorite chapter was about a thirty-something recluse who temporarily fostered the stray cat. The recluse and cat were befriended by a young boy. Most of the chapter was a comic book illustrated by the young boy for his school assignment. It was funny and innocent and well-drawn.

As for my favorite character, that was an American translator working for the 2020 Olympics. Her mentor taught her how to simplify Chinese characters when learning the language.

The only aspect I didn’t like in the book was the reference (twice, I think) to the cat’s mystical powers. In Japanese folklore, a special cat can shapeshift into a woman. (I learned this from the book! I didn’t know it previously.) While I understood the cultural connection, the references to a cat woman added unrealistic fantasy to an otherwise hyper-realistic story.

Now back to the library for another book…

Winter

Sights from January and February.

Both pools at my apartment were closed on my birthday, so I did yoga at a park down the street. The prickly pear cacti were very vibrant there:

Catching the late afternoon sun and shadows in my kitchen nook:

The view from the grocery store parking lot:

After getting a drink at the Safeway Starbucks, I visited B&B Cactus Nursery:

Luckily, only a few grey days this winter:

Hallway styling:

Sunset happy hour. A blurry hummingbird and a half moon:

Last week, I drove up Mt. Lemmon. It had been almost two years since I had been up there. Always impressive views:

The End of December

A few random sights and notes from the end of the year.

I realized I enjoy an Oaxaca Old Fashioned, especially from Good Oak Bar on Congress:

Spotify Wrapped made me smile with its made-up genres for my spring and summer listening:

I found this online and decided it was a good list for 2025:

This was my second year viewing the Winterhaven Christmas lights. My favorite displays:

Christmas 2024 Greeting Cards

The theme: Arizona Fair Isle.

Some random sweater anecdotes:

Many years ago, I copped out of illustrating Christmas cards and instead bought a “Make Your Own Ugly Sweater Greeting Card” kit from Paper Source. It contained photo postcards of sweaters with sheets of stickers to adorn each sweater.

In December 2005, during my freshman year of college, my friends and I went to RiverTown Crossings Mall. At Gap, I bought the coolest grandpa/Mr. Rogers cardigan - 100% wool, grey, large buttons, perfect fit. Nineteen years later, I still wear that sweater. But it’s pilling a lot…

This autumn, I attempted to replace that Gap cardigan. No luck, but I browsed through a lot of sweaters online, including Fair Isle styles. The online browsing inspired this year’s Christmas card.

Read about the history of the Fair Isle sweater here.

For a southwest/Arizona twist, I thought about replacing the wintery Fair Isle symbols of pine trees, snowflakes and deer with cacti, flowers and javelinas. But during an initial sketch, I remembered how ugly and shapeless (and unidentifiable) javelinas were and scrapped that idea. So instead: cacti, cacti flowers and lots of stars.

Fall Colors

A few weeks ago, I decided to take an afternoon drive and explore southern Arizona. I chose Patagonia, about an hour and fifteen minutes from my apartment. The drive — mountains all around — was prettier than the destination, but there weren’t many places to stop or even pull off along Route 82/83. The fall colors were lovely and unexpected.

Patagonia was tiny and touristy, so I drove up a few random neighborhood streets to see the view.

Back down on the main road…

And my Ford Focus is still kicking. It has new sound effects every few weeks.

Valspar Forge

I finally painted my room - and I love how it turned out. But the color is difficult to capture accurately. First, I photographed the makeover process with my digital SLR. But in every photograph, the walls looked grey or Crayola Purple. So all of these shots are from my phone.

Some before images:

The walls were marked and strangely patched when I moved into my apartment. This monsoon season, the roof leaked and damaged the walls even more. That leak led to a worse patch job. I knew the paint wouldn’t hide everything.

A reminder of the inspiration:

The shadows on the mountains.

Initially, I selected two paint chips from Ace Hardware - two purples with brown/grey undertones. But I decided they weren’t dark enough, so I went to Lowe’s and found the darkest brown/grey purple: Forge by Valspar.

In an effort to save money, I turned my Discover credit card cash back bonus into a $200 Lowe’s gift card. The paint and supplies (and a few extras like plant stands) totaled $150.

I had an unrealistic goal that I could paint my four bedroom walls in two hours. It took seven hours.

The Color of the Shadows on the Mountains

When I renewed my lease in Tucson for the first time, I vowed I would paint my bedroom walls. That was January 2023. It’s August 2024 and the walls are still off-white.

In all my years of renting, I never painted my apartment walls (except for stenciling above my fireplace in Kentwood). I want something dramatic and I’ve settled on the color of the shadows on the mountains — or something close to it.

So what color is “the color of the shadows on the mountains” exactly? It’s a dark violet-grey with a hint of brown. Some inspiration:

The view from my balcony.

* not my image

Looking east at sunset colors reflecting in the clouds after a monsoon.

An affirmation card I liked.

Sunset over the Tucson mountains.

* not my image

Foster Plants

My friend is moving and he’s doing it in stages. For now, I’m plant-sitting for him but in my own apartment. Even though the additional plants are temporary, I decided to style them into my space.

The Sky

A random collection of sky photos. The first vantage point is from the courtyard at Nightjar, my favorite bar — so far — in Tucson:

The soaring palm trees surrounding the pool at my apartment:

Those same palm trees, as seen from my balcony:

A clear sky during happy hour:

The fake sky at Casino Del Sol:

Grey and Dreary

Winter 2024 in Tucson has been grey and dreary. (I thought I left that behind in Michigan.) And it has rained more this winter than last year’s monsoon season. Whenever I need a mood booster, I make a new playlist or go to the cactus nursery. So last week, on a drizzly day off, I went to B&B Cactus. I didn’t buy anything, but I spent over an hour looking at all the new growth. Cacti are pretty crazy.

A different view of the dreariness — from the rooftop at work:

Palimpsest (and a Book Review)

One of my favorite college professors was Susanna Engbers and she taught Humanities courses at KCAD. In Dr. Engbers’ Places in Literature class, we read and discussed stories with dystopian societies. We came across an unusual word in one of the stories. None of the students knew the meaning, so Dr. Engbers described the exterior of buildings in Downtown Grand Rapids that had painted advertisements on them. But that paint had worn away over time, been painted over or built over, then exposed again years later. I thought it was an interesting term but forgot the word over the years. That was 2007 or 2008.

Fast forward to December 2023. In need of a new book to read poolside, I visited my local library. I browsed the special “Lucky Day” section near the entrance. When searching for a new book, my initial search is based off of the cover design or the title on the spine. If my interest is piqued by the cover or title, I read the book blurb. If the story sounds good, I flip through the pages to see the font size and make sure it’s not too small. Short chapters help too.

On this random day in December, I picked up Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. The cover design featured Under the Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai overlaid with 1990s video game typeface.

The book blurb described friends, video games, different cities and love and loss, all spanning thirty years. I didn’t care about video games, but I gave the book a try. The first bit was wordy and a little boring, but then the author began making connections between different time periods - tiny, charming moments that made me smile. I wanted to keep reading.

When I’m reading and come across new-to-me vocabulary, I write the words down on scrap paper. One of the many words I wrote down from Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was “palimpsest.” After finishing the chapter, I typed the word into the Merriam-Webster app on my phone.

1: writing material (such as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased
2: something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface

And from a blog I Googled:

“The word palimpsest descends from the Latin palimpsestus, which in turn comes from the Greek palimpsēstos, meaning ‘scraped again.’ This refers to the ancient practice of scraping the writing off a piece of parchment or vellum so that it might be reused. Likewise, the remains of old painted advertisements are referred to as palimpsests because of their resemblance to old, scraped manuscripts that here and there, beneath their surfaces, reveal traces of earlier words.”

Wait. What?!?! That was the word I had forgotten all those years ago in Places in Literature! Immediately, I Googled the stories we read in that class, along with “palimpsest” and connected the dots. The word was used in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. “The billboards had been whited out with thin coats of paint in order to write on them and through the paint could be seen a pale palimpsest of advertisements for goods which no longer existed.” I had come full circle by accident.

Back to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Overall, I recommend it. It was pleasant and fun and kept my attention. I wanted to know which relationships lasted. I cried a few times while reading it. If a story (book, TV show, movie) has me emotionally invested in characters, that’s a good sign. Was it the best book I’ve ever read? No. Did I know there was so much hype around this book? Nope.

I’m a slow reader. I’ve grown accustomed to the library generously auto-renewing each book I checkout. I never start and finish a book in two weeks. With this book, the first reminder email arrived from the library. “We are unable to renew this title.” (I didn’t understand the concept of “Lucky Day.”) The story was good but I still had a couple hundred pages left, so I decided to keep the book and pay the late fees. At work on overnight shifts, I read a lot. Two guests commented separately. “Oh! You’re reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Great book. Amazon’s book of the year.” News to me. I Googled the hype and learned rights were purchased to make the story into a movie before the novel was even published.

Waymo, Tempe, Christmas Sights

In the autumn, I visited a cousin in Scottsdale. While driving around, I noticed a lot of futuristic, pimped-out, black and white electric cars with strange spinners mounted on their roofs and sides — but without drivers. I was confused. Later, I asked my cousin about them and she explained they were driverless taxis. She hadn’t ridden in one. In mid-December, I returned to the Phoenix area to visit an uncle. While walking from dinner back to my hotel, I watched three men exit another hotel and hop into a Waymo, the driverless taxi. I was intrigued.

I returned to my hotel and began researching. Waymo only existed in greater Phoenix and greater San Francisco. Ideal weather and driving conditions. Large enough populations to justify the technology and costs. The vehicles only traveled on main roads, not highways. The futuristic, pimped-out car was actually a Jaguar. Comparable pricing to Uber and Lyft but without a driver to tip. I vowed to experience Waymo for myself.

After a nightcap at the hotel bar, I installed the Waymo app and watched a few videos. I was geeked.

The plan was to Waymo to and from my uncle’s apartment the following evening. I could avoid driving in rush hour in Tempe/Scottsdale/Phoenix. I could look out the window and enjoy the views.

Well, some views were less than desirable. Instead of cruising along on the highway, my not-driver and I zigzagged through the ghettos of Phoenix. Initially called the Google Self-Driving Car Project, Waymo used Google Maps. You know in Google Maps when you want to drag the little person to a Street View but can’t? Waymo can only drive in places that the Google Maps car has photographed for Street View. For example, Waymo couldn’t enter the parking lot of my uncle’s apartment complex. (The parking lot doesn’t light up blue on Google Maps, indicating the ability to drop the little person there for a Street View.) So instead, my not-driver dropped me off in the alley behind the dry cleaner’s next to my uncle’s complex and picked me up in the neighborhood across the street. Definitely not an inconvenience. I mean, c’mon. The car DRIVES ITSELF. It can have a pass for getting confused by a parking lot.

But for the actual ride… wowza. The technology was crazy cool. My initials were illuminated atop the Jaguar, so I would know which Waymo was mine, should there be a throng of them near my pickup spot. To thwart anyone else from stealing my ride, I unlocked the car doors from the Waymo app on my phone. The flush handles popped out, I pulled and got in. “Welcome, Mike!” the computer voice greeted me. Similar to riding on an airplane, there was a recorded safety message. The spinning sensors mounted on the outside of the car were constantly scanning our surroundings. Two large screens inside showed an illustrated, real-time aerial view of the Waymo, White, rounded rectangles represented all the vehicles and cyclists on the road around us. The not-driver couldn’t drive faster than the speed limit (which would make passing on the highway challenging).

Riding in a Waymo was awesome. I felt like I was living in the future or an episode of “Westworld.” I laughed a lot - out of pure amazement - but I was never in fear of getting into an accident. The next time I’m in the Phoenix area, I’ll be riding in Waymos again.

Here are some other sights from Tempe/Phoenix/Scottsdale: the ASU campus, the balcony view from my hotel room, night spotlights and a gothic Christmas display at Nordstrom.

Christmas 2023 Greeting Cards

2023 was the year of pink for me. I noticed hues of pink - natural or unnatural - in my everyday life. The abundance of pink led me to purchase a pink iPhone and unsurprisingly, guided me to design pink Christmas cards. I chose the color long before I knew what to draw. But the colors, imagery and theme all fell into place perfectly. Love when that happens.

I wanted to make it easy for myself, so I decided I would draw one illustration, then photocopy the image onto card stock. I could color each card separately without needing to draw and ink the illustration over and over again. To thwart my usual procrastination, I ordered paper supplies from Paper Source in November with a goal to send out my Christmas cards December 1. Pffff! I didn’t start the illustration until December 9.

This year’s color palette - official names from Paper Source - is rose, opal and brown paper bag. Rose card stock for the printed illustration, iridescent opal flat cards for the backing and brown paper bag for the envelope. (If you received a different color envelope, it’s because I was using up past years’ envelopes. Sorry.)

For the illustration, I wanted to depict Arizona/the Southwest/Christmas, but wasn’t sure how to do it. I scrolled through photos on my laptop of my first visit to Tucson (before I decided to move here). I stopped on these images of San Xavier del Bac Mission and a home in Barrio Viejo:

Sunset happy hour on my balcony has become an integral part of my days off. I knew I wanted to capture some aspect of that small window of time when the sky and mountains are pink and purple. But this was a Christmas card, so I had to reference the rare snow-topped mountains too.

Now how to wrap all these elements into a contained landscape with a Christmas reference? Where does it always snow even if the climate is warm? Inside a snow globe.

Here’s my workspace. The larger snow globe drawing on white was the original illustration. I scaled it down.

Arizona Plants, Following Lines, Rooftop Yoga

This post started as a random photo dump, but then I noticed the recurring motifs.

My closest Starbucks is inside Safeway. It’s about a mile from my apartment. Sometimes I walk there, cutting through one of the neighborhoods near my apartment complex. The other day I walked past this barrel cactus with its fruit. I’m still in awe of Arizona’s strange plants and blue sky.

Most of my plants are still doing well. I move them around my apartment throughout the day so they get just the right kind of light.

Pink Moon is a store around the corner from work. A very bohemian-hipster general store. I’ve purchased a few planters there.

Seeing lines, shadows and symmetry makes me miss the original days of Instagram.

In hopes of drumming up more business for my monthly rooftop yoga class at work, I decided to capture videos and photos for the marketing department to use. After working an overnight shift, I took my tripod and phone up to the rooftop, then improvised some flows. Once I had the images ready, I emailed marketing. No response, no reaction. I emailed again and tried texting. Still nothing. View the entire gallery here.

Autumn Sights and Plans

I take advantage of my balcony on days when I’m home for sunset. If I’ve spent the afternoon at the pool or doing yoga, I aim to be showered and starting happy hour before sunset so I can sit on my balcony and watch the mountains and sky change color. The birds flock away and the bats come out.

At work, I covered a few overnight shifts. Getting out of work at 6:30 in the morning gives me a push to explore downtown in daylight hours.

Rooftop yoga at Graduate began indoors in the winter, but moved outside for spring, summer and now fall. Class sizes fluctuate, but I’m hoping promotional images can entice more students.

Here’s a sneak peek test shot. More to come soon.

The End of Apple Watch Selfies

This blog post is long overdue. I bought my new phone in February 2023, so I should’ve written this back then. I’m lazy.

I knew my #AppleWatchSelfie series would end once I got a new phone. My Apple Watch - Series 0 - hasn’t been updatable since watchOS 4 and it dropped off Apple’s list of compatible devices in September 2018. (It worked with my iPhone 7. The current Series 8 watch runs on watchOS 9.) My watch’s face earned several battle scars over the years: scrapes, scratches and chips from moving boxes at a grocery store, failed attempts at rock climbing and drunken late nights.

I used Marriott points - earned on Ferris State University’s dime - to get that watch back in 2016. I decided that when the watch became obsolete, I wouldn’t spend my own money to replace it. The selfies were fun, moving furniture around and positioning my phone atop stacks of books to get the perfect vantage point. Fitness tracking was interesting and often times surprising. But, I can still capture selfies with just my phone and I roughly know how many calories I burn doing poolside yoga.

It has been a lovely journey from mostly-dark brown hair in Michigan (and various forms of facial hair) to mostly-grey hair in Arizona. Thanks for following along!

Blooming

Random sights from the past month.

The cacti flowers are blooming like crazy.

Sometimes the sunlight hits something so perfectly: the steps of the Arizona History Museum and the Graduate Hotel lobby bikes.

I drive past this building twice a day. It looks like a bar but I think it’s a home. Finally I was spontaneous enough to stop my car, get out and snap a photo.

This David planter is so cool, but there must be something toxic in the resin because three plants have died in it. I gave up and filled it with creosote branches.

Put down your phone. Organize your space. Stretch. Preach!

Selfie in a Moonstone restroom before June’s rooftop yoga class.

Balcony Views

Various colors of the sky and mountains.

February 2022

June 2022

August 2022

August 2022

September 2022

September 2022

November 2022

November 2022

December 2022

December 2022

January 2023

March 2023