Themes

Guided tours through a decade of writing — each theme connects dozens of posts into one coherent journey.

Over the years, certain threads have grown across this blog: watches, cycling, self-hosting, health sensors, digital minimalism, and more. Each theme page traces one of these threads — contextualising the posts, connecting the dots, and offering a guided entry point for newcomers.

Amsterdam Stories — Life, Cycling and Moving On

Thirty-four posts from the city and beyond — commuting, car-free living, and eventually leaving.

Willem lived in Amsterdam for years — cycling its streets, raising children in its neighbourhoods, running servers from its apartments. These posts are the Amsterdam chapter: how the city shaped his thinking about mobility, technology, and eventually why he left.

Android Without Google — Smartphones on Your Own Terms

Budget hardware, degoogled software, and the ongoing search for a phone that respects its owner.

While most of the tech world debates iPhone versus Android, Willem asks a different question entirely: what if your phone didn't spy on you? These posts trace a journey from budget Androids to Google-free operating systems, from photo gallery apps to the philosophy of durable hardware.

Building a Tablet OS — What Happens When You Reject the Mainstream

A multi-year experiment: Linux on a Surface Go, custom interfaces, and the question of what a tablet should actually be.

Most people choose between an iPad and an Android tablet. Willem chose neither. Instead, he installed Linux on a Microsoft Surface Go and spent years building his own tablet experience from scratch — documenting every step, every failure, and every breakthrough.

Built to Last — Against Disposable Software and Half-Baked Products

Hand-crafted websites, offline-first software, and the belief that fewer things done well beats many things done badly.

In a world of WordPress templates, shared hosting, subscription apps, and products designed to be replaced — Willem builds the opposite. Hand-coded websites that load in milliseconds. Software that works without the internet. Servers configured line by line. These posts are a quiet argument for craft in a disposable industry.

Cycling as Craft — Building, Riding and Repairing Bikes

From restoring a 1978 Batavus to building a cargo bike from scratch — thirty-three posts about bicycles as machines, tools and philosophy.

Willem doesn't just ride bikes — he builds them, tears them down, replaces every cable, and writes about what he learns. These thirty-three posts trace a journey from a rusted 1978 frame to a hand-built cargo bike, from commuting philosophy to power meter data.

Designing and Making — The Joy of Building Things Yourself

Watches, bikes, websites, apps — the common thread is making things with your own hands and mind.

Across Willem's blog, one theme surfaces again and again: the act of making. Not consuming, not reviewing, not comparing — but sitting down and building something that didn't exist before. These posts span physical objects, software, and the creative process itself.

Digital Minimalism — Doing More with Less Technology

Offline-first computing, escaping the cloud, small devices, and the art of enough.

In a world that pushes bigger screens, more storage, and constant connectivity, Willem consistently moves in the opposite direction. These posts document a philosophy: the best technology is the least technology that still does the job.

Fatherhood — The Personal Thread Behind the Technology

Between the server logs and bicycle builds, there's a father writing about what actually matters.

Most of Willem's blog is about technology, bikes, and building things. But the posts that people remember longest are the personal ones — the ones where fatherhood, health, and family break through the surface. These are fewer in number but deeper in impact.

Inside and Outside Apple — Using, Questioning and Escaping the Ecosystem

From Vision Pro to escaping iCloud Photos — the tension between Apple's design excellence and digital independence.

Willem is both an Apple user and an Apple skeptic. He owns their hardware, admires their design, and systematically dismantles their lock-in. These posts explore what happens when someone who truly understands technology decides to use Apple on his own terms.

Leaving the City — What Happens When You Actually Make the Move

From Amsterdam apartment to countryside — the before, the during, and the after.

Everyone who lives in a city has thought about it. Fewer people do it. Willem did — left Amsterdam after years of urban life and moved to the countryside with his family. These posts document the thinking before, the experience during, and what changed after. For anyone still on the fence: this is what it's actually like.

Less Screen, More Life — Dumb Phones, Watch Phones and Digital Boundaries

What happens when you deliberately downgrade your phone — or replace it with a watch.

The smartphone is designed to hold your attention. Willem's response has been a multi-year experiment in using less of it: budget phones with fewer features, an Apple Watch as a complete phone replacement, small screens by choice, and the simple act of blocking blue light before bed. These posts are for anyone who suspects their phone is taking more than it gives.

Life Without a Car — Mobility on Your Own Terms

From petrol head to car-free — bikes, electric vehicles, and the freedom of choosing how you move.

Willem once drove a Smart Roadster. Then he sold it and never looked back. These posts trace the complete arc: from driving an impractical sports car to building cargo bikes, testing electric vehicles, and discovering that the best way to move through a city is the one that was invented two hundred years ago.

Long-Term Reviews — What Happens After the Honeymoon

Not first impressions, but years-of-use reviews. Forty-five products tested until the truth comes out.

Most reviews are written in the first week. Willem's are written after the first year — or the third. A Tudor watch after three years of daily wear. A commuter bike after 6,000 km. A Whoop Strap across two generations. These are the reviews you can't find anywhere else.

Repair Culture — Fixing Things Instead of Replacing Them

Robot vacuums, bike frames, helmets, laptops, vintage watches — a growing collection of hands-on repair guides.

These are the posts people find at 2 AM when something breaks. No theory, no philosophy — just photographs, steps, and the honest account of what happened when Willem opened something up and tried to fix it. Some of the most bookmarked pages on the site.

Retro Computing and the ThinkPad Philosophy

Old hardware, terminal workflows, and the case for machines that last.

While the industry chases thinner, faster, newer, Willem keeps returning to a question: what if the best laptop was the one you already have? The ThinkPad X200, vim over SSH, programming on an Apple Watch — these posts celebrate machines and workflows that refuse to become obsolete.

Self-Hosting — Running Your Own Infrastructure on Linux

Mail servers, DNS, backups, and the quiet satisfaction of running everything yourself.

Willem runs his own mail server, his own DNS, his own cloud. Not because it's easy, but because he believes in understanding and owning the infrastructure you depend on. These posts are the field notes from that ongoing project.

Sport and the Body — Training, Tracking, and Learning to Listen

Cycling, running, swimming — and the evolving question of whether to measure it all or just feel it.

Willem cycles, runs, and swims — and writes about all of it. But the sport posts aren't training logs. They're explorations of the relationship between body and data: when a power meter helps you ride better, when a heart rate strap lies to you, and when the wisest thing is to leave the sensors at home and just move.

The Heart — Where Technology Meets the Body

MCADD, heart rate data, running, and the deeply personal thread that connects Willem's most intimate writing.

Beneath the technology posts and the cycling guides, there's a quieter thread in Willem's writing. It starts with a rare metabolic condition called MCADD, runs through years of heart rate monitoring, and surfaces in the most philosophical posts about what data can and cannot tell us about our own bodies.

The Maker Behind Snake '97 — Code, Craft and Curiosity

The person who built a game with 40 million downloads also designs watches, builds bikes, and runs his own servers.

You probably got here through Snake '97. Welcome. What you may not know is that the game is just one corner of a much larger picture — decades of writing, building, and questioning how technology fits into a life well lived.

Watches and Time — A Decade of Horology, Technology and Craft

From mechanical movements to wrist-worn computers — what we wear on our wrists and why it matters.

Twenty-four posts spanning eight years. What began with strapping an Apple Watch to one wrist and a mechanical watch to the other became a broader inquiry into time, craft, and the objects we choose to carry.

Wearable Sensors — Measuring the Body, Questioning the Data

Heart rate monitors, sleep trackers, and the thin line between insight and obsession.

Willem has worn sensors on his body almost continuously since 2017 — Biostrap, Apple Watch, Whoop Strap, chest straps, optical monitors. The posts trace what happens when an engineer starts measuring himself: useful knowledge, surprising limits, and the philosophical question of when data helps and when it hurts.

Whoop Strap Review — Years of Wearing a 24/7 Body Sensor

Not a first-week review. Two generations tested over years, compared against clinical equipment.

Willem has worn a Whoop Strap almost continuously since 2019 — through two hardware generations, thousands of workouts, and tens of thousands of hours of sleep data. These aren't first impressions. They're the reviews you get when someone actually lives with a product long enough to know the truth.

Writing Code — From Snake '97 to Modern Web Development

Thirty posts about programming, web development, and building software that lasts.

Willem has been writing code for decades — from a retro game that reached 40 million downloads to hand-crafted websites that load in under a second. These posts span the full range: from vibe coding philosophy to server-side engineering, from native app development to the champions league of lean web design.

Your Whole Office in a Backpack — Mobile Computing and Working from Anywhere

One backpack, one laptop, full independence — the posts about fitting a company into a bag.

Willem has run his company from a single backpack. Not as a digital nomad gimmick, but as a working philosophy: everything you need to build software, manage servers, and communicate with clients should fit in one bag. These posts document the hardware, the software, and the mindset that makes it possible.