UPDATE (2008-04-22): Photo added.

Tonight I had dinner in Amsterdam, with some of the people I admire most. At the informal 1980-ish restaurant "Moeders", I shared the table with people who need no further introduction: Cal Evans (calevans), Ivo Jansch (oeli), Stefan Koopmanschap (skoop) and Michelangelo van Dam (DragonBe). It was fun, really fun, to say the least. And before we could even start with the spare-ribs, Cal decided to play Santa Claus, and grabbed his goodies-backpack. In there was the set of PHP-collectors cards for me. And, since he only brought one copy with him, later on, back at the hotel, also a personally signed copy of his book "Guide to Programming with Zend Framework". I love such gifts, especially when they're signed. I would've bought the book anyway, but having it signed by Cal himself just makes it invaluable.

Either way, after close to 4 hours of hanging out with these guys, we ended this wonderfull evening with one last drink at Cal's and Ivo's hotel. Before I could leave, they also invited, well, I think I should say: commanded ;), me to come to the congres tomorrow. Assuming my manager agrees, I will definately join them again. Anyway, even after all this fun, the evening ended, and the time came to head back home. I had the priviledge of being driven to my doorstep (thanks Mike!), and realized half an hour later that my bike was still at the train station. After a refreshing walk through the abandoned streets, I finally ended up home again. 4AM - Time for some sleep. Got a congres to attend tomorrow :P

Update: Stefan made a picture of us:

From the left to the right: Cal Evans, me, Michelangelo van Dam and Ivo Jansch. The reflection you see is from the famous goodie-backpack.

~RW