A blog by any other name..

I humped your hummer.

2006-08-17T07:37:00.000+02:00

I guess the people who came up with this were either heavily medicated or should be. There is a website called I Humped Your Hummer where people can submit videos of themselves humping, you guessed it, someone's Hummer.
In other important ~~nose~~ news, a leading lung specialist endorses picking your nose and consuming what you find. So next time you get told off for digging in your nasal cavity, tell them the doctor told you to. It is vital you make sure your nails are cut and have no sharp edges or you may end up like this.

You're not Superman, you know.

2006-08-16T07:08:00.000+02:00

I stumbled upon this little video about a few Russian kids doing free running (a.k.a. Parkour). The stuff they pull off is quite amazing. First two minutes of the video are a little slow.

I'd hate to be a cop in pursuit of these ones, assuming you're not going to use your gun.

Looks like vacation time is over

2006-08-14T07:46:00.000+02:00

Judging by the amount of traffic this morning, vacation time is over. The volume of cars was at least double that of last week. According to some of my colleagues that will only get worse next week when more people come back from vacation. I still managed to get into work in about 30 minutes.

If you like reading blogs, then I suggest you check out the blog of Mahmood Ahmadinejad (that's the president of Iran). If you look in the top right corner below the banner, there's a translation button. You can even leave a comment. Of course, the chances of any negative comments being posted on there are slim to none. You'll like the poll too:

"Do you think that the US and Israeli intention and goal by attacking Lebanon is pulling the trigger for another word war?"

If words were the only thing being thrown around, I doubt there would be such a mess in the ME. Reading all of his post will take some time, it's a little long-winded. However, he recognises this and promises us the following:

"I will continue this topic later on as it took long in the beginning. From now onwards, I will try to make it shorter and simpler.
With hope in God, I intend to wholeheartedly complete my talk in future with allotted fifteen minutes."

It's just the usual rhetoric from a big leader, not much different from any of Bush's speeches, mind you. All you need to do for that is replace all occurrences of Allah with God. It's a good thing the Crusades are a thing of the past because now they don't even bother asking the pope. I wonder what he'd say though?

"Fine, whatever... As long as you're not using condoms."

Yeah, it's been a while

2006-08-10T07:13:00.000+02:00

I know it's been a very, very long time since I wrote anything on this blog. I'd blame it on lack of anything interesting happening, but then I'd be lying. Many things have changed in the past 2 months or so. As you may have surmised from Tammy's blog, the following events have taken place:

Got a new boss, I am still at the same customer, however.

Got a car, a very nice Renault Clio.

Got a nice new-ish laptop: a Dell Latitude D810 with 128MB vid RAM, 1GB RAM, 60GB hdd, DVD RWR-R+/CDRW combo drive and a 1920x1200 screen.

It's great now that we have car. We can go anywhere we want, whenever we want. I can hear Tammy saying it: "I told you you'd like having a car". I can say this because she's actually used those exact words. A few times.

The transition between my old and new boss wasn't as smooth as I would've liked but that was mainly due to the customer not being too keen on loosing me and my old boss not wanting to release me from my non-competition clause. My new boss, the customer and my old boss fought for about 6-7 weeks or so. I've been working within Shell for more than 4.5 years now, in one project or another. It takes 3-4 months before someone has been fully "assimilated" into the organization, so finding a replacement for me, would have been a major pain in the butt for the customer. I love the work I get to do here. Some of it is pretty cutting edge and there's always new toys.

Over the next few years I intend to move away from pure Linux/Unix system engineering to a more architectural role. Ordina, my new company, is very happy to support me in that through courses and seminars. I'll actually be going to an advanced Dutch class to see if we can't improve my written Dutch a little. I never went to secondary school in the Netherlands (I was living in Ireland at the time), so my vocabulary and grammar are somewhat lacking. Now that I am working for a Dutch company, I should be able to produce reports and other types of documentation in Dutch. It'll be interesting to go back to school.

I am going to try to be better at keeping my blog up to date now. I can't promise anything, of course.

Strewth, mate!

2005-10-19T08:19:00.000+02:00

Waltzing Matilda
You are 75% True Blue!

How much can a koala bear? Strewth. Krikey you're doing well. Go make a Vegemite sandwich, put on your trackie dacks, and spin a few yarns with your mates. Be sure to check out the Aussie Slang Dictionary
Please be sure to rate this test!

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 11% on True Blueness

Link: The Spot The Aussie Test written by aussieinpitt on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Cool (new) stuff from Google Labs

2005-10-12T07:20:00.000+02:00

I am not sure who still reads my blog, but I recently (yesterday) came across a new thing that Google is developing. It's called Google Reader and it allows you to read all your blogs and other news feeds online, from one single website. Now there is no need for a separate client. The best thing of all is that it can read your current client's list of feeds if it can be exported as an OPML file. The interface is still a little clunky, but I am sure it'll get better as time goes on. It works well under Linux and Windows, both with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Give it a try, you may even like it! Another nice thing that Google has is the customizable search/portal page. I know Yahoo! have it, too. If you're using GMail anyway, then this may be a nice alternative to My Yahoo!.

Mothballs

2005-10-03T07:40:00.000+02:00

This morning as I got off the train, I noticed a very distinct smell. It was the odour of mothballs. Now, I understand that it's autumn and the coat you've had packed away in your closet has to come out to deal with the change in temperature. However, please be sure to read this before you take it outside. It's almost as bad as BO.
The office is really cold this morning and my fingers are freezing off. I am not sure who is in charge of the heating system here but I think he (or she, of course) should lay off the crack and start reading weather reports. Yes, I know that one's for Rotterdam and not Rijswijk, but it's pretty close. If it rains in Rijswijk, there's a good chance it's raining in Rotterdam, too.

Not very useful

2005-09-27T10:39:00.000+02:00

nlxso0@someserver $ ^D
Use `exit' to leave ksh
nlxso0@someserver $ exit
Connection to someserver.thisdomain.com closed.

You know what I want, so just do it already.

Wtf were you thinking?

2005-09-23T07:08:00.000+02:00

This morning as I got out of the train I was faced by something that should've never been allowed to see the light of day. It wasn't the elephant man, Quasimodo or Michael Jackson. It was a tie so bright, shiny and above all, pink, that it blinded anyone in a 10 mile radius who even looked in the general direction of the offender. I have no idea what this person was thinking when he got it. My guess is that some of his friends bought it for him as a joke and he just didn't get it and wore it anyway. "Hey, this tie makes me look funky and hip!" For the love of God, humanity and everything else that's good in this World, burn it! Then put the ashes on a rocket and blast them into space. He couldn't be funky if they replaced all his DNA with that of the Father of Funk himself, James Brown. Papa's got a brand new tie! Now get rid of it!

Crisis situations around the world

2005-09-16T07:15:00.000+02:00

While the US is being pounded by hurricanes as it tries to clean up the mess the previous one left behind and while Iran deals with more carnage, mayhem and destruction, the North-West of Europe is dealing with its own crisis. Yes, folks, our worst nightmare has finally come true: the harvest of big potatoes is 10-15% less than previous years and this means only one thing: fewer fries. Next time you go to the fast food chain of your choice, don't be surprised if you get the question: "Would you like rice with that, Sir?"

Rumours of my demise...

2005-08-30T09:27:00.000+02:00

Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I have not been struck by lightning or eaten by a giant school of piranhas. During the week before my vacation I was too busy with work and during the week of my vacation I was too busy playing World of Warcraft.
Not much has happened in the two weeks of my blog-absence, the toilet is done and the bathroom is practically finished. It looks really nice now.
Tammy's back is getting better, finally. It still hurts when she lifts too much but overall it's greatly improved.
I don't have a lot of stuff to report, as I said before, I didn't do a whole lot other than play WoW over the past week, so unless you want to hear about my exploits as a gnome mage, I'll leave it at this.

Must...not...play...WoW...

2005-08-16T06:59:00.000+02:00

Well, it seems to be clear; the evidence is undeniable: I am somewhat of a WoW addict. It was bound to happen, really. I am good at rationalizing it though; how is playing WoW any worse than vegging out in front of the TV when I come back from work? Oh well, I am having fun, that's all I really care about.
I've been slacking with my blog for the same reason. I have fewer moments where I am not doing anything significant so I don't write new blogs as frequently. Not much has happened though; Tammy's back is still sore; the bathroom is still under construction and Bailey got very sick yesterday. The bathroom is nearing completion, though. Today he'll be putting in the shower doors and grouting the floor tiles. In about 3 weeks, the cabinet/sink/mirror thing will arrive and he'll come back to put that in. After he's done with the floor tiles today, he's going to get cracking on the toilet. Tammy got a new bowl and cistern yesterday and various other bits and bobs.
As I mentioned earlier, Bailey was quite sick yesterday. I came home and noticed a smell but I wasn't sure what it was. When I had him out, I noticed he had a slight case of the runs. Later that evening I thought the smell was a bit too pungent for just kitty litter so I started to scout around. Well, it wasn't a pretty sight. He'd puked in the bedroom on the floor, not just a little either. I also found a poo there. My guess is he had severe cramps and just had to let it all out. Boy, did he ever look guilty. It wasn't really his fault; we'd left a flour tortilla out on the table and he'd eaten it while Tammy was out looking for those bathroom parts. He was right as rain again this morning, so all is well.

Everyone's weird like me

2005-08-08T07:08:00.000+02:00

Walking to work from the train station this morning, I noticed something funny. While walking across a path covered with unevenly shaped and spaced flat stones, people will lengthen or shorten their step in order to avoid stepping on a crack. I thought I was the only weirdo who partook in such behaviour. Now that I have seen others do this I don't feel so odd anymore.
This weekend I played an enormous amount of World of Warcraft, largely together with Tammy. It's an awesome game and it looks like I am hooked.
Tammy's back is still quite screwed up, that really sucks, I sure hope it gets better soon.
The bathroom is really starting to look great, I even had a shower in it yesterday. It's not finished yet but the tiler guy said that should any of the tiles come down, it was his fault because he hadn't put them on right. Nothing but water came down and the new shower head is great! I can't wait for it to be done. He'll be tiling the toilet as well, using the same kind of tiles.

Shower @ work

2005-08-02T06:59:00.000+02:00

Since our shower is being ripped to bits and put back together in a much nicer way, hopefully, there is no way for us to shower at home. Luckily, there are showering facilities for me to use at work. Almost every floor has them and they're basically part of the normal bathroom/toilet areas. A lot of people use them, not together of course, mainly those who bike or run into work or have no shower at home, like me. The shower head seems to be a little broken though, as most of the water was going sideways, rather than straight down. Oh well, it's better than not showering at all. Tammy can make use of the neighbours' shower, so it won't be a total stinkfest at home while our bathroom is being redone.

Enough with the rain already!

2005-08-01T07:40:00.000+02:00

It rained pretty much non-stop since Saturday evening until probably sometime early this morning. While the south of Europe is being baked, we're being drowned. Something's not right, here.
Today, the guy also known to Tammy and I as Willie Nelson is starting with our bathroom. That's bathroom in the non-toilet sense of the word, for all you non-queen's English speaking folk. We picked the tiles for the wall on Saturday, it would be just our luck or Tammy's habit of picking things they no longer hold in stock; the tiles she (and by that I mean we, of course) wanted wouldn't be back in the shop for another 2 weeks or so. The people in the shop weren't terribly helpful, so perhaps we'll go scout around at another branch of the same chain to see if they have it there.
Bailey, who is looking more like a very small Chewbacca every day, is going to have a hair cut tomorrow. He really needs it; he's starting to get small dreads around his ears and by his neck, the parts we scratch the most when we pet him.

Whatchudoing?

2005-07-28T05:43:00.000+02:00

Where have I been? What have I been doing? And most importantly, why haven't I been blogging? Because I've been lazy, that's why. If you read Tammy's Blog you will, no doubt, have been aware of the fact that I am home alone this week. This has made me somewhat lazy and do very little besides watching TV and walking the dog. I did make a very nice red Thai curry the other day with beef and a bunch of other stuff. It was very spicy but above all, very tasty!
I've been having to get up a lot earlier this week so I can walk the dog before I go to work. Normally this is something that Tammy does, but since she's not here, I can't very well just leave the dog the keys to the house and tell him to walk himself. Getting up at 05:00 has its advantages, I just haven't figured out what they are yet. Getting into the office at 07:00 is nice though; it's really quiet since there's usually no one there yet. I have the whole floor to myself, at least for about half an hour to an hour.
Anyways, as much as I'd love to stay and chat, it's almost 05:45 and the dog still needs to be walked before I go the train station and make my way to work.

What Classic Movie Are You?

2005-07-25T09:42:00.000+02:00

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

It's a sunny Sunday

2005-07-24T10:01:00.000+02:00

It looks like it might turn out to be a very nice sunny day after all. It's been cloudy and cool for the past week now. A little sunshine makes everything look nicer.
Tammy is pet sitting again this week. That means we're apart for most of this week unless I can work from home at some point during the coming week.
I've been snapping lots of pictures with my PDA. It's nice to be able to take pictures and upload them like that.
I've been really getting into World of Warcraft. I can only play it on Tammy's computer since my one isn't nearly powerful enough to handle that kind of thing. It's a very fun game with awesome graphics. It's actually one of the few games I didn't give up on after 30 minutes. Hmmmm, am I a n online gamer and just didn't know?

What's that smell?

2005-07-20T19:01:00.000+02:00

You know what's so great about being on a train travelling through the country side with freshly manure-sprayed fields? You can fart and no one will notice!

Wow, monsoon season!

2005-07-20T05:43:00.000+02:00

Shortly after taking this picture, it started to pour in Rotterdam. Not just a little bit either. It was as if a hundred million buckets of water were tipped over at once. I came home almost soaked to the bone. Of course, 15 minutes later it's bright and sunny again. Bloody typical.
In totally unrelated news, I got myself a better case for my PDA. The one that came with it was more like a soft pouch-like thing from which it had to be completely removed in order to take a picture. I almost dropped it while fumbling with it when I tried to take the above mentioned picture. So, rather than losing another PDA to fate, I thought I'd get some better protection. This case is really sleek looking, made from aluminium and has a little sliding cover on the back for the camera lens.
At work they were serving a free breakfast this morning. It started at 08:30 until 09:15. The occasion was the merger with another company with a big speech by the head of the board of directors at 08:45. Rather than sticking around for it, my colleague and I quickly had our coffee, danish(es) and orange juice and got out of there before it all started. So you see, there may not be such a thing as a free lunch, but breakfasts are another thing altogether.

Batman begins

2005-07-19T21:57:00.000+02:00

We went to see Batman Begins this evening. Wow! That movie is really awesome. It got a very high rating at IMDb and for a good reason, too. I had wanted to see this movie for a while now but I was having some trouble convincing Tammy. She didn't like the previous ones much and thought that this would be just another one like that. Well, it's not. It's not even close to any of the other movies. The story revolves around Bruce Wayne's journey to becoming Batman. If you haven't seen it yet, please hurry before it's not in theatres anymore. This is a big screen movie that needs a LOT of sound and no matter how big your TV is, it'll never do this movie justice.
Oh, I have added a new post on my Photo Blog. You may find the pictures lacking in quality sometimes but that's because they're made with my PDA and not edited in any way. I snap 'em, add some comments and then upload them when I get home. What you see is pretty much what I saw. Did I forget to mention that Bluetooth is great?

Bluetooth is great

2005-07-17T21:54:00.000+02:00

I've been playing a lot with applications on my new PDA that can or need to go online to do their thing. One of them is SplashBlog, with it I can upload pictures with additional comments to my photo blog. I can snap a picture of something that catches my eye, write a quick little note and then upload them when I get home. If only I had a phone with Bluetooth.
I've been listening to Coldplay a lot lately. I like most of their songs, although some of them can get a little overdramatic sometimes. I guess life of a rock star can be that way...
My laptop has been having a hard time coping with the heat. Its fan is going a little more than I'd like but at least I am sitting at a desk, rather than with that thing on my lap. I am sure my scrotum would be well on its way to being well-done by now. Of course, the PDA, MP3 player and my mobile phone are doing their part towards mutating my DNA. With technology becomes more and more pervasive, we'll mutate into creatures that look like the Swamp Thing.
I haven't had a nose piercing for a while because I lost it a few weeks ago. I have to repierce it every now and again, to make sure it doesn't grow over too much before I get a new one. It doesn't feel very nice to do this though. The worst bit is when I hit the inside of the skin inside my nostril. I have to search around a little to find the exit hole, so to speak. I've had that with my ear too, in the end I ended up piercing myself another hole. It hurt a little. It probably didn't feel as bad as you're feeling right now as you read this, I'm sure.

GMail is awesome

2005-07-16T22:47:00.000+02:00

I am sure a lot of people have heard of GMail by now. If you haven't, shame on you. I love how fast it is, I love the labeling mechanism they have and above all, the mount of storage space at your disposal. It's grown from about 1GB to 2.4GB since it first started. I am using about 10% of it with almost 33,000 mails. Searching for a particular mail is quicker than you can blink. The reason for being so fast is that is doesn't fetch all the HTML code from the server but renders all the code on the client. The mail data is fetched as a big XML file and parsed by a big JavaScript. This makes it a LOT faster when compared with other Web mail clients such as HoTMaiL or Yahoo!.
I am not sure if you still need to be invited to get an account, but if you're interested leave a message on this blog and I'll send you one. Be sure to obfuscate your email address a little, otherwise you'll end up being spammed to death.

Noisy bastards

2005-07-15T07:06:00.000+02:00

They're drilling holes and removing walls in the wing across from my window. They're not using one of those little pneumatic ones either. It's a big one mounted on a mini caterpillar vehicle. The noise is driving me nuts. I don't want to turn my MP3 player up too loudly, I'm deaf enough already. If it weren't for a meeting after lunch, I'd be working from home today.

Just because I can!

2005-07-13T21:23:00.000+02:00

A very kind colleague of mine has allowed me to borrow his Bluetooth USB dongle to try out on my Linux laptop. Well, after about 5 minutes of fiddling about on my Windows laptop I managed to get it working with Softick PPP. It was a fairly painless procedure. The next challenge was to make it work on my main laptop which is running Mandriva Linux. This took about 3 minutes with the help of the following page. The only thing I needed to configure was the PPP-peers bit and the contents of the /etc/sysconfig/dund file. After that it was up and at them! I downloaded and installed an IRC client, to see if I could do anything else besides syncronise my Avantgo. Well, it works! It's a bit of a pain in the butt to type anything since you have to use the Zire's Graffiti 2 writing.

 [21:22] /*/ [In] mighty-zire (~upirc@xammy.demon.nl) has joined #foobaz
 [21:22] < mighty-zire> hello world

Pretty nifty, eh? If you're not a total geek, there's no way you can ever fully appreciate the coolness factor that comes with making things like this work. Don't worry about it too much. The only drawback of using Bluetooth constantly is that it drains your battery like crazy. I suppose you could hook up the power supply, but then you're not really wireless anymore, are you? I can't wait for small nuclear fusion power packs that can fit inside these devices.

The PDA is dead, long live the PDA!

2005-07-12T09:20:00.000+02:00

Well, it was bound to happen some day. My trusty Clie TJ27 was mortally wounded this weekend during an incident involving a very tall carved wooden statue of a cat, a cup of hot coffee and most probably a gremlin. Knowing that I'd be lost without a PDA to keep track of my daily duties and mind numbingly boring meetings, Tammy suggested we use the emergency fund to buy me a new one. I chose the PalmOne Zire 72S. It was the closest to what I had before and in the same price range. It kind of sucked having to buy a new one because of something like this. I must say, it's a very, very nice PDA. It's just like the one on the picture to the left. It has a 1.2 MegaPixel camera that is also capable of taking small videos, so expect some of those soon. It can also do audio, which is something the Sony couldn't. It can play MP3s and such like. One of the nicest features is Bluetooth. I can't wait to configure it so that I can sit on my couch and talk to my laptop on my desk. I love wireless stuff. So, although I am sad to have seen my TJ27 meet such a terrible demise, I am more than happy with my new toy. It's good to be a geek with a wife who knows what's really important!

foam@kitchen

2005-07-09T17:36:00.000+02:00

I took this picture yesterday when I was doing the washing up. Before I actually ran into the living room to grab my PDA (with camera) it was perfectly circular, looking more like a target practice thing. However, when I came back it had shifted a little and turned into an @ sign. It actually looks much cooler like that. Perhaps I can sell the picture on E-Bay, it's a whole lot more obvious than the Virgin Mary in a piece of toast.

You'll never amount to anything

2005-07-06T22:09:00.000+02:00

Ever feel like your life isn't going anywhere? Do you ever think you haven't accomplished anything remotely interesting in your life? Well, here's a site to confirm those feelings: Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age. If you're in the Netherlands, you're in luck, for everyone else, you're on your own.

So exciting!!!

2005-07-05T09:03:00.000+02:00

I found this garbage in my company inbox this morning:

Dear Colleagues,

A special pop-up message will greet you on your GI machines on 20th July 2005. This is to commemorate the historic first day of trading for <COMPANY NAME> shares; a unification of <COMPANY A> and <COMPANY B>. It is designed to create excitement on the day and to draw attention to this important change for <COMPANY NAME>. To be able to run this pop-up message, a program will be installed on your machine on Friday 8th July 2005 as follows:

Europe/AF/ME/VSAT : 10:00 am BST/UK Time - 11:00 am LDM/The Hague time [GMT+2]

I am just wondering how the hell a pop is supposed to create excitement, perhaps it has pictures of naked gogo dancers on it. We get bombarded with this kind of garbage all the time. I actually have a mail filter that throws most of this crap into the trash as it comes in. Once a week I have a look at what has amassed there, it's usually not nearly as exciting as this though.

Busy weekend

2005-07-04T08:07:00.000+02:00

Our good friend Erwin came over this weekend. Tammy had said he was coming to the Netherlands a while back but both of us had forgotten again. Then on Saturday morning we both got an SMS saying he'd like to come over after he'd gotten some sleep. Naturally we panicked because the house was in a bit of a state. The house was spic and span after not too much effort though.
We thought we'd go see Batman Begins since trying to get into War of the Worlds would probably be impossible since it only went into premiere earlier that week. Well, how wrong were we? Batman Begins was packed! Of course, so was War of the Worlds but our plans for a night's entertainment were foiled. Instead, we decided to go have a nice bite to eat at the American Dream Cafe. The food was great, as always.
Yesterday was spent just lazing around and playing the Game Cube. I bought a new game on Saturday. I've wanted an arcade style, player versus player beat-em up. I spent about an hour or so going through 3 shops, trying to find a game like this. I was about to give up when I came across X-Men: Next Dimension in the For Sale section. It's a really great game and some of the special moves are awesome looking. By the end of the day, all of us had sore thumbs from playing so much. I also bought another game called Pro Rally 2002, also in the bargain bin but in a different shop. Neither of these games seem to have gotten a great review but I think they're fun and that's what matters in the end.

News

2005-06-28T21:54:00.000+02:00

Well, I don't have a lot of news. Tammy is back from her 8 day house and pet sitting gig. It's nice to have her back again. It was weird being by myself for such a long time. We hate being apart for any length of time.
Tomorrow I have to work from home to complete a mind numbingly boring web based training for the company I work for. It takes about 5-6 hours to complete and is apparently extremely repetitive. I can't wait...
I had written a post yesterday, a nice big long one in fact. My browser crashed and I lost my post. I am not sure why but my workstation at work has been very bitchy lately; I managed to crash the video card this afternoon by running some really nice screen savers on it. You can check 'em out here. The reason it crashed was probably because I set up my desktop to use the screensaver as a background image. It looked very cool to have a moving plasma on my desktop background, until it crashed of course. I didn't try again after that.
The weather has been very nice, apart from Saturday. It's a much milder 22-25C, which makes work behind a desk a little more bearable. Saturday morning there was some serious lightning and thunder. It woke me right up at about 3AM. I had to rush out of bed to close all the doors and windows.
This story cracked me up when I read it. I am not sure why a naked woman would appear intimidating, unless of course, she's carrying a very large gun. It must be a culture thing. Got wood?

Bad luck

2005-06-24T09:46:00.000+02:00

This morning I read that a 62 year old man carrying a metal cross at a funeral march got struck by lightning. This reminded me of another story a week or so ago about a van full of people attending another funeral plummeting down a ravine. This is either really bad luck or proof that God has a very weird sense of humour.
It's going to be a tropically hot day in the Netherlands. They predicting temperatures in excess of 30C with high humidity. So we get tropical weather but not the scenery, something's not right. Proof yet again? I'm planning to plot the temperature in the office. I started a little late with it, about 09:30. It was 28.1C then and now, 15 minutes later, it has gone up by 0.4C, so things are looking up! When I got into the office at 07:20 it was a mere 26.7C. I can't wait for the rain tomorrow. Perhaps we can pass a law to make all temperatures of above 25C illegal. We already have laws for everything else, so why not this as well?

The never ending summer

2005-06-22T14:47:00.000+02:00

It sounds almost unbelievable, but it's actually still sunny and warm, just not as hot as on Monday. I am working from the house Tammy is doing her pet/house sitting thing. I guess being apart for more than 3 days in a row just isn't an option.
Yesterday was the longest day, it sure felt that way at work. Speaking of which, my contract has been extended for yet another 6 months, so I'm good until the end of this year. I guess it's true what they say about contractors in this company; they check in, but they don't check out. As long as the work is still interesting I'll go along with it.

I'm melting, I'm melting!!!

2005-06-20T12:53:00.000+02:00

It's so hot in the office, we're at about 28-29C in here and it's only getting warmer...

Attack of the Red Lobster People

2005-06-20T08:17:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, as I made my way through The Hague central station, I was almost overrun by the Red Lobster People. "Who are they and where did they come from?" you might be asking yourself. It's been a very warm and sunny last couple of days with temperatures of up to 30C, so a lot of people have been going to the beaches to catch a few rays. As with most pasty white people of the Caucasian persuasion, rather than doing the sensible thing and slapping on SPF 2000, they bake all day in the sun. I am betting there are a lot of people who had trouble sleeping last night with their skin on fire. With global warming on the increase and the ozone hole growing by the day, perhaps it is time to invest in a pharmaceutical company that specializes in melanoma removal? You'd think that most people would know better, I guess not.
This week I'll be home alone as Tammy does her 8-day house and pet sitting thing. It's weird being in the house by myself, especially for this long. I'm going to try to work from home on Wednesday and then basically work from the house she's staying at. It'll depend on my work load, I guess.

Look ma! No Trains!

2005-06-17T15:53:00.000+02:00

It's strike day today. Not for me, unfortunately, but for the train traffic control company. They're not happy with their pay rise (I know how that feels) and they're not letting any trains pass through the Netherlands. That means that many people can't get to work. That's not such a big deal for me, since I can work from home.
It's supposed to be a scorcher this weekend with predicted temperatures of up to 26C on Saturday and 30C on Sunday. That's pretty hot, considering the we're in the Netherlands.
We went to the gyno again today and we're both going to be subjected to more testing, except my tests don't involve painful procedures. Poor Tammy.
Tammy is going to be dog/house sitting for about 8 days. It's a pretty lucrative job but it sucks that I will probably not see her much that week since we have our own dog that needs taking care of. It would simply take too long for me to get out of work, go see her then come back. Bailey would piss himself before I got home.
I now have almost 1700 mp3s on my Creative Zen Touch, most of them are rips of my own cds, in fact, so don't start calling the MPAA or RIAA or Brein (their Dutch brothers in crime) just yet. I love my mp3 player. I am currently listening to all of my Oasis and Coldplay mp3s (about 130 of them or so). I have a pretty good mix of stuff on it. Everything ranging from Altern8, Rammstein, Prodigy to Van Morrisson. The random play feature is awesome, with 1700 tunes to pick from, you're not likely to hear one you heard a few hours ago. I'm still going to have to create a few more play lists, right now I only have one but I forget what I put in it.
I spoke to my little brother Merijn last night. He's been in South Africa for the past couple of months teaching kids on some ranch. He's decided to stay for another 2.5 months instead of coming back at the end of this month. It looks like he's having a great time there. I hope he doesn't get eaten by a hungry cheetah because I don't think he can outrun one of those.

Working from home!

2005-06-14T09:19:00.000+02:00

I am working from home today. I have to do a bunch of testing but since the machines I am testing are in a very remote site anyway, I may as well test from the comfort of my own house.
This evening we're going to Cirque Du Soleil. I can't wait to see them. I have heard so many wonderful things about them. The show starts at 20:00.
Yesterday I had another driving lesson. That went extremely well, the instructor said that apart from driving a little bit too slowly and not doing enough engine braking when entering a bend, I'm pretty much done. I have to do my theoretical exam before I can do my practical. I can do the theoretical exam across the road from where I work though, so that's great.
After so many days of shitty, cloudy and rainy days, the sun is finally shining full blast. Sure, there are still a few clouds here and there but the weather forecast says it'll be a whopping 18C this afternoon. I know that doesn't sound like much but you take what you can.
In other news, Tammy has done extremely well in her last Dutch exams, despite the fact that she didn't go to pretty much any of the classes. That either means she's very good at learning Dutch or the tests are very simple. I'd like to think the former, of course.
Yesterday, the company we ordered the hutch and coffee table from on Saturday left a voice mail on my mobile to let us know that the top part of the hutch was not going to be available until 8 July. This was after the sales person assured us that we could pick everything up on Monday(yesterday). Tammy didn't think that this was in any way acceptable and called up to complain about it. The lady she had on the phone was quite rude and refused to put someone on the phone who could speak English and assured her that no one in the shop was able to speak English. She wouldn't give her name of put her manager on. After a call to the headquarters, Tammy received a call from the store manager who was very apologetic and promised to make phone calls across the region to see if this part was in storage somewhere. He also gave us free delivery of the part to our home. The squeaky wheel gets the grease! The new coffee table looks very good but Tammy is still a little paranoid about damaging it. I had to have my dinner plate on a towel (for the stains) and a thick book (for the heat from the plate). We're going to have to get some place mats, asbestos covered, I'm sure. I have to admit, though, I'm a pretty messy eater and have been known to spill a glass or two, or three.

Sick sense of humour

2005-06-10T21:46:00.000+02:00

If you like bunny rabbits and have a serious lack of a sick sense of humour, then don't click here.
I've been using the Firefox plugin called StumbleUpon. In a nut shell, StumbleUpon is a community driven website sharing tool. You can hit the Stumble button and it will redirect you to a website that belongs to a category which you selected during the setup. You can add your own websites, too. For more information, be sure to check this It's an awesome way to waste^H^H^H^H^Hspend your time.

I am not a morning person (at least not today)

2005-06-07T08:42:00.000+02:00

Oi! Turn that shit off!

2005-06-07T07:42:00.000+02:00

This morning, the mostly tranquil atmosphere of the train carriage was brutally disturbed by some teenage punk with an obvious lack of concern for other people. He had one of those new fangled mp3 mobiles that can be used as a mini ghetto blaster. As he sat down in the part next to the doors, we could still hear his music very loudly in the rest of the compartment. As my frustrations grew with his music being louder than the music I was listening to on my head phones, I noticed that I was no the only one that was getting somewhat agitated. You must understand that if you travel the same route every day, at the same time, you get to know some of the people you travel with. By getting to know, I mean recognise and know how they behave. No one actually talks to each other. Anyway, as this little prick seemed to be unaffected by the glares my fellow passengers were sending his way, I thought it was my turn to do something. I turned around, looked straight at him and shouted at the top of my lungs: "Oi! Turn that shit off or put your fucking headphones on!" I said it in English so he wouldn't have anything smart to say in return but would be perfectly able to understand what I meant. I am glad to say that it had the desired effect. The music was promtly turned off and peace and quiet returned to the carriage once more.

Nee, No, Non, Nein, I don't think so!

2005-06-02T08:29:00.000+02:00

For those who have been following the ratification process of the European Constitution (misnomer of the century) will have noted that the Dutch have said no. A very large number of people, more than 60%, turned up and almost two thirds of those people voted against it and I was one of them.
The coverage on CNN was kind of funny. They had some "expert" on the phone from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. The reason it was funny was because they must have pulled out the only map of the Netherlands they had. It just so happened to be the same map as the one used when the politician Pim Fortuyn was shot and killed in the town of Hilversum because that seemed to be only town marked on the map. Rotterdam, which has to be at least 10 times bigger, if not more, wasn't even marked.
The funny thing is that this so called constitution isn't really a constitution and that the referendum wasn't much more than an government sponsored opinion poll. Unfortunately it wasn't the opinion most political parties were hoping for. Our prime minister, the Harry Potter look-alike Jan-Peter Balkenende, was very disappointed of course. I bet he's kicking himself in the shins now for submitting this treaty to the general public for approval. Now he has to deal with the consequences and so will we. Democracy is great; it's nice to think you have some power over what's going on in your life, even if it's only pretend. Just remember; if voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.

Nearly voting time

2005-05-31T09:08:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow it's up to the Dutch to decide whether they want the European constitution. I did a test online and despite the fact that I am still very unsure whether I want to vote yes, it told me that I agreed 62% with the ideas behind it. I am not sure which I am going to vote. I wonder if there is even any point to vote yes if France has already said Non. Perhaps if the European parliament didn't seem like such a waste of money, I'd be more inclined to vote yes. I resent the fact that they work from two different seats of parliament, one in Strasbourg and one in Brussels. I am also pissed off with the fact that since the introduction of the Euro, most, if not all prices have gone up between 20 and 50%. Until recently the minister of finances in the Netherlands said that was all our imagination and that it was all just natural inflation. Now they've come back on that and said that perhaps the guilder was sold at too low a price. The politicians in the pro-camp are trying to deluge people with scare tactics, telling them if we vote no, the Netherlands will end up being isolated. The politicians in the anti-camp are coming up with rather weak and even irrelevant arguments for voting no. Can't I do a conditional vote? A "Yes, but only if..." or a "No, unless...".

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2005-05-30T20:54:00.000+02:00

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Darth Benedictus

2005-05-30T11:34:00.000+02:00

Whilst surfing the web on my lunch break, I came across a very interesting post on the The Four Ninja Food Groups blog.
I got a lot of chilling out done this weekend. After the usual Saturday morning grocery shopping, I had a great two hour nap, followed by some very serious Discovery Channel watching. I managed to sand the last few remaining door posts. Tammy started painting them and will finish them some time this week.
My allergies have really been bothering me lately. It seems there are a few trees out there hell-bent on making my life miserable. I reckon the plane trees are blooming again. Bastards! Perhaps it is time to move into a bubble for the summer. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, we have wireless network in the house. All we'd have to sort out is getting some power outlets in there and I'd be set. I just have to stay away from onions, pea soup and anything that's likely to make you fart.

Dark side...

2005-05-27T07:44:00.000+02:00

This morning I truly wished I had some kind of throat crushing powers like Darth Vader. On my daily train journey to work I am often accompanied involuntarily by loud, obnoxious, overly cheery and annoying people. This morning seems to have been my lucky day; there were no less than two groups of this kind. Whilst listening to my MP3s to drown out their stupid banter and loud laughter I was quietly killing them in my head using anything from the news papers they were reading out loud or the water bottles they were spilling from. I have a very vivid imagination but often lack the will to follow through with it. Just as well, I guess.

Luke, I am your father.

2005-05-26T13:37:00.000+02:00

Idiocy levels are high

2005-05-26T07:57:00.000+02:00

There seems to be no shortage of idiots on this planet. Yesterday and today, the newspaper had 2 articles that caught my eye. I went to see the new Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith. I really enjoyed it, as did Tammy and our two friends Christy and Paul. Some people take Star Wars very seriously and it I think some people just a little more than others. A good example of why an IQ test should be taken before going to see a movie like Star Wars is the two guys in the UK that hurt themselves pretty badly attempting to have a light sabre fight with home made sabres. If you're curious about what they are, have a look here. Now these idiots thought it would be a really good idea to get two neon light tubes and fill them up with petrol. Upon activation, one of the tubes exploded and set them both on fire. Let's hope they will not procreate, although I am sure there are many more morons just waiting in line to take over from them.
Move it or lose it took another meaning when an impatient man stabbed his mover after a fight. The 37 year old Englishman got somewhat agitated when the moving van was taking to long to deliver his articles. When the mover finally did arrive, a fight broke out and the moving guy got stabbed. I sure hope the English guy is going to like his new apartment in the Bijlmer Bajes. For those who are not sure what that is, that's a big gaol in Amsterdam.
Today and tomorrow it's going to be hot, hot, hot! The expected midday temperature for today is about 24C and about 26-30C tomorrow. The only trouble is, is that it'll be muggy as well. That's great if you're a mosquito, not so great if you're human.

Odds and ends

2005-05-23T20:13:00.000+02:00

As reported by Tammy in her blog, my mum was here last week. We got soooo much done and the living room and hall are looking awesome. We only have a few door frames left to do and then the last bits of pink are gone. We had a great time when she was here. It'll be great to see her again.
Today was the first day of going back to work. It didn't suck quite as bad as I thought it would and I only had 84 unread emails. Not bad for 2.5 weeks off.
I have surprisingly little to say, there were no funny articles in the newspaper this morning. I hope my friend Chris, who got married on Friday, is having a great time on his honeymoon, congrats, man! It was a great day to get married, too, the date was 20/05/2005, how cool is that? Speaking of marriage; Tammy and I have now been married for 5 years. It was on 12 May 2000 that we tied the knot. 5 years have flown by and I can't wait for the next 5.

Life is rough

2005-05-10T23:46:00.000+02:00

I am really enjoying the time off from work. Don't get me wrong, I like my job, but I like my free time better. Yesterday I managed to get quite a bit of sanding done. My right wrist hurts a bit, probably because of the vibrations. They're a real killer, for about an hour or so after you're done, your hands are still numb. Today I just lazed around a little. While Tammy was at school, I took Bailey to the hair dresser. Apart from that I just had a really easy day. I try to have a nap at least once a day. This might seem like a waste of time off, but seeing as sleeping is one of my favourite past time, I can't nap enough.
Tomorrow is the day before our anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's been almost 5 years since we stood in the city hall in Enschede and sealed our life together with a kiss.
I'll try to post some updates during my time off, but no guarantees. I am trying to limit my time at the computer to as little as possible. If I want to play with computers, I may as well be at work and get paid for it, right?

Oh my God, I'm on leave!

2005-05-07T08:15:00.000+02:00

It's been a while since I posted something, so here it is. I'm on leave now, as of last Thursday. I'll be off work for the next 2 weeks. I don't intend to spend an awful lot of time at the computer during this period, so I there probably won't be that many posts. I am sure you're thinking: "So what else is new?".

Yesterday, I installed a very funny plugin for Thunderbird called Bork Bork Bork! It turns ordinary spam mails into something a little more entertaining to read.

This:
Get a new date for tonight.
Hook up with fun babes just for the night or
search for your next wife.
Many members just want casual no strings hookups
Get some luuvin from a new date now.

Becomes this:
Get a noo dete-a fur tuneeght.
Bork Bork Bork!
Huuk up veet foon bebes joost fur zee neeght oor
seerch fur yuoor next veeffe-a.
Bork Bork Bork!
Muny members joost vunt cesooel nu streengs huukoops
Get sume-a loooofeen frum a noo dete-a noo.
Bork Bork Bork!

Some of you may not recognise this, but that's how the Swedish Chef speaks on the Muppet Show. If you're interested in some of his recipes, be sure to check out this page.

I still get anywhere between 150 and 350 spam messages a day. It seems that most spam arrives on the weekdays. I suppose even spammers need some time off from all their hard work.

I've started taking my driving lessons again. Yesterday and the Friday before I drove around the south of Rotterdam. It takes some getting used to again but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My instructor is great, the school I'm at is Blad. They're a pretty big driving school and have a good passing average for their students. Here in the Netherlands you're not allowed to be instructed to drive by just anyone who has a license. You need to take lessons from an accredited instructor in a specially modified car with pedals. Before you can take the practical exam, you need to pass the theoretical exam. That consists of 50 questions of which you need to correctly answer 44. Once this is done, you can proceed to take the practical exam within 6 months. After 6 months the theoretical exam expires and you need to take it again, unless you've already got your license by then, of course. The practical exam is 20 minutes of heart pounding, teeth grinding, nerve testing agony while the examiner sits next to you, judging every move you make. They don't actually tell you how you've done until you're back at the examination place. Your instructor is NOT the guy who takes your exam (which makes sense, I guess). If you've passed, you get a little piece of paper with which you can go to the city hall to pick up your license. It'll be great once I've got that piece of paper because I'll get a company car!

I vant to suck yor blood!

2005-05-03T07:39:00.000+02:00

Despite today's blog title, I can assure I have not turned into a blood sucking vampire. However, the same can't be said for some others. Cambodia's jails are not known for their excellent hospitality and general humaneness. To relieve his boredom one inmate savagely beat his roomy to death during a power outage. That may not sound too out of the ordinary, but he then proceeded to drink his victim's blood. The guards rushed to the cell with torches but were too late to help the victim. The guy is still in the same cell, together with 31 other prisoners because there is no space anywhere else for him. The man also said that he was unhappy about not getting any visitors. I guess idle hands really are the devil's tools.

Speaking of butchers, the number of butcher shops in the Netherlands has been reduced by half in the past 10 years. I am not sure that this a good development. You're talking about more than 2500 pissed off, out of work people who really know how to turn your sorry ass into a nice rump steak. I bet they don't get a lot of hassle at the dole queue.

What a day

2005-05-01T09:48:00.000+02:00

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day today. The forecast says it'll be up to 23C this afternoon. Yesterday Tammy planted a whole bunch of flowers in the pots that hang off the balcony on the front of the apartment. They look great now, but they'll look even better once they start growing a little.

We barbecued again yesterday evening. I made a very nice chicken marinade, quite simple actually and left the chicken to soak in it for about 30 minutes or so. It turned out amazing! Almost half of the chicken was eaten before it got a chance to be put in the salad.

Xander's super simple chicken marinade
Ingredients
Half a cup of sweet soy sauce
4 cloves of freshly pressed garlic
Half a cup of sweet chilly sauce
Tea spoon of Laos [en](ground Galanga root)
Tea spoon of Boemboe Sate [en] (mix of different kinds of Sate spices)
Double chicken breast

Preparation:
Take the chicken breast and put them on the cutting board with the smooth side up. Using a very sharp knife, slice into the chicken in a cross-hatch pattern, making sure not to cut right through the breasts.
Mix up the garlic, spices, sweet chilly sauce and soy sauce in a bowl large enough to contain the chicken. Add the chicken and leave in a cool place for as long as you like, but no less than 30 minutes.
Once this is done, put the chicken in one of those fold-over-meat-holding things and place it on the barbecue. Using a brush, baste the chicken regularly with the left-over marinade, this will ensure that the chicken stays very soft and moist and very flavourful. After about 20 minutes or so, the chicken should be done, be sure to check there are no pink bits left inside.

Apart from the chicken salad, we also had two very nice steaks which I marinated in a sweet chilly and barbecue sauce mix. I love barbecuing!

Today we're going into town to see if we can pick out Tammy's birthday present. Next Sunday she'll be 30. I can't trade her in anymore since I lost the receipt a year ago. I tried to return her, but her parents wouldn't hear of it. They were more than glad to be rid of her, especially her dad. I guess I got her at a bargain; a pig, a cow and two chickens (long story) and you get what you pay for.

May is a really celebratory month. It's Tammy's birthday, our anniversary (five whopping years this year!) and Mother's Day. I am sure there is a conspiracy in there somewhere. For our anniversary we'll be going to see the Cirque du Soleil when they come to Rotterdam in June. We got really good seats, in the front section of the ring, I can't wait to see them.

Angry commuters

2005-04-27T08:12:00.000+02:00

This morning as I sat in the train, minding my own business, a man sat across from me. Judging by his rather haggard look and tired eyes he was homeless. I recognized him from a previous encounter at the train station in The Hague when he asked me for a light (this was about 3 years ago when I still smoked). He gave me this story about how he was a homeless American and how he wanted some money so he could go to a shelter. I told him I knew who he was and that I'd met him before but that, unfortunately, I had no loose change to give to him. He got very angry with me, not that he shouted or anything, but he proceeded to stare at me for the next 10 minutes it took for me to get to my destination. He had real fire in his eyes, if looks could kill...
I should've sent the IND (the Dutch INS) people who were sitting a few seats away after him. If you travel at about the same time every day you start figuring out what everybody does, even if you don't speak to them. I don't think they would've done much about him, they have thousands of other illegals to deal with.
If you're looking for camel meat, I suggest you check out the south of Australia. Apparently about 60,000 camels are turning into a bit of a plague. They cause local farmers a lot of damage to their crops and drinking all the water which is supposed to be for the cattle. The department in charge of this kind of thing is planning to cull the number by several thousand. Some older articles about the subject can be found here and here.

My Inner European

2005-04-20T08:51:00.000+02:00

This is obviously a test for non-Europeans, but I took it anyway.

Your Inner European is Dutch!

Open minded and tolerant.
You're up for just about anything.

Who's Your Inner European?

Hump day

2005-04-20T08:10:00.000+02:00

It's Wednesday and I'm more than ready for the weekend. In fact, I'm more than ready for my 2.5 weeks off coming up in a little over two weeks. There was nothing in the news papers that could be construed as funny or off beat. The weather is also not helping right now, either. It's over cast and about 6C. When can we start the summer, please?

Reach out and touch

2005-04-19T07:47:00.000+02:00

I meant to write a post yesterday, however, this pesky thing called work kept cropping up, bah! We probably had one of the most social weekends we've had in a long, long time. On Saturday we went to visit a class mate of Tammy's and his girlfriend. They had us over for dinner and we ended up staying there until about 11pm or so. On Sunday we no less than two different sets of people over! Crazy! First we had another one of Tammy's class mates and her husband and son over. They didn't stay very long. We thought they were going to stay for dinner but I am not sure that they knew that. I am not surprised there was at least some miscommunication, they're both Chinese and speak very little English and she only speaks a little Dutch. Their son speaks very good Dutch though. I spent most of the time playing Mario Kart on the Game Cube with him. We had counted on them staying, so we had a lot of extra food. This was easily remedied by inviting the upstairs neighbours over. We watched White Noise as well, which was good.

I've noticed some strange ads in the news papers for the past two days. It makes sense for them to be in the news papers that are read by commuters but their purpose eludes me, for now. One full sized one saying something along the lines of "Isn't it annoying that people continue to read while you're trying to make a phone call?" This morning's one was quite funny, too: "Isn't phoning in the train nice? This way everyone in your carriage gets to you know a little bit better."
Speaking of phones... In Saudi Arabia, they've proposed a law that will make spreading pornographic material through mobile phones illegal. Nothing new, you might think, New Zealand just proposed a law that makes that illegal too. There's a small difference, though. In New Zealand you can get up to three years in jail, in Saudi Arabia you can get up to 200 whip lashes, 12 months in jail and an 80,000 riyal (almost $27,000) fine. A bill to ban phones with Internet access didn't make it.

No less than two funny stories about Belgians made it into the papers yesterday. One was about a guy who set his balcony on fire when he tried to cremate his dog on the barbecue. The petrol he used to ignite the dog, spilled all over the balcony and caught fire. The man got burns on his arms and the dog was somewhat crispy according to the police. The other funny Belgian story involves a large bulldozer, a petrol station and a bottle of chocolate milk. "What do these have in common?&uot; you might ask. The unknown perps used the bulldozer to ram through the windows of a petrol station and all they took with them was a bottle of chocolate milk. The bulldozer was later found abandoned. Seems a little excessive but hey, chocolate has been known to be addictive. Shouldn't be too long until they start restricting the sale of it.

Miserable and cold

2005-04-14T11:05:00.000+02:00

Looks like the nice warm spring days are gone again. It's been raining for the past two days. Not the hard torrential downpours, but the misty, cold rain that gets into all of your clothes.
I am, once again, in Data Center 1. It's not exactly rocket surgery today. I have to reinstall a server with CDs that pretty much do the whole thing automatically and insert another CD into another server so that someone from Houston can fiddle with it. Sounds exciting? Well, it's not. The thing that annoys me about going to DC1 is the fact that it can take me anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on trains and metros. I won't have to spend a lot of time on the computer floor, though, thank God.
Tiny Tim, the smaller of the two kittens upstairs, is doing well. He's been drinking from his mum with additional formula from a small syringe. I sure hope his back legs are going to be OK by the time he's ready to walk. They don't look nearly as swollen and blue as before. I guess we'll just have to wait and see until he's a little older. Right now both kittens still have their eyes closed and are little more than slightly furry worms.
It's almost weekend again. I am not sure what we'll be doing this weekend. Perhaps a little more work on the house. Things have been at a stand-still lately. We started off with great gusto but it sort of died down. The upstairs neighbour and I did put up a big piece of plywood on the part of the wall where the mirrors used to be the other evening. The screws wouldn't hold it down properly so he slapped a whole bunch of glue on the thing. This stuff can be used to glue a house together, almost.
I think I might take down the tiles in the bathroom this weekend. The tiler guy will be able to retile the whole place in about 4 weeks or so. In the mean time I can cover the wall with some pastic or something. I'd rather that than a tile smashing onto the floor and slicing our legs open while we shower. Some of them came off a week ago and the edges looked very sharp.

No funny business

2005-04-12T08:05:00.000+02:00

This morning was yet another pretty unfunny newspaper article day. It seems as though there is no humour left in the world. Well at least I still have my music and my MP3 Player. I am sure I've said it before, but I love this new gadget of mine. I have it playing all day at work and when I am sitting at my computer at home. The best feature is of course the fact that it has a 24 hour battery life, in ideal circumstances. Needless to say that chances are pretty slim it will actually last that long in Real Life™.
I've been looking into getting my retirement stuff sorted out. It turns out it's not nearly as expensive as I originally feared it would be. The best thing is of course that there are sorts of nice tax rebates you can get on the money you put into the fund. There is still a lot of things I need to figure out, but at least I've made a head start. The first advisor came by the other evening. He explained to me all the ins and outs of the various investment and insurance plans there are and how, if we both die before the age of 65, no money will be paid out. He mentioned that at the age of 64.5 you have to decide how you want your retirement money paid out. He then jokingly warned me not to drink the coffee should they offer me some. I guess I'll bring my own. Sneaky buggers, those banks. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my own bank, perhaps they have a similar offer and plan as the guy I saw last Thursday. The nice thing about this appointment is that they have a branch office in the building of the company I am currently contracted out to. How great is that? It's a whopping 3 minute walk from my desk and I don't have to go outside.

Google has the answer to everything

2005-04-08T08:46:00.000+02:00

For centuries wise men have pondered the one question that holds the key to all there is to know. Finally, after years of developing excellent search technology, Google has come up with the answer to the eternal question "What is the answer to life, the universe and everything?"
If you don't get this little joke, you've obviously not read Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. To find out more, click here.

Fowl play

2005-04-07T07:53:00.000+02:00

There is not a whole lot of new stuff since last night, apart from a few little news paper stories. There hasn't been a whole lot of news not related to the Pope or Price Rainier.

No goddamn cursing here!
In a small town called Staphorst the local town council has decided to go against the constitution and implement a local law that forbids cursing in public. Of course there is no way to actually enforce it since it is an illegal law. It serves as a symbolic means to attempt to halt the crudening of the language. This is the second such town that has implemented a local law like this.

13 year old student strangles boy over cigarette
A 13 year old boy was taken into custody by the police after attempting to strangle another student. The boy demanded a cigarette and when he was refused he pushed a hot lighter into the victim's face and attempted to strangle him. The next day the victim also received a death threat from his assailant. Just goes to show that denying someone a smoke is bad for your health.

Dangerous pheasant terrorizes village
The sleepy hollow of Bishopstone is under siege by Birdzilla. A Reeves pheasant named Prezza has repeatedly attacked the inhabitants and its pets. With its sharp beak and claws it has wounded quite a few people already. Why haven't they people turned this menace into a menu item? It seems that this bird is very rare and protected by law. No one, so far, has been brave enough to defy the law. Perhaps we can send that disgruntled 13 year old there, he can work off some of that pent-up aggression.

Been a while

2005-04-06T21:45:00.000+02:00

Forgive me reader, for I have slacked, it's been almost two weeks since my last confession. A lot has happened since then. I got a raise and turned down two job offers. So job wise, not much has changed since but at least I'll finally have a little more money left at the end of the month, rather than the other way around.
Last week and the week before I spent entirely too much time in the data center. What's a data center you might be asking yourself. Well, picture a building, a very large building (about the size of 3 football fields next to each other). Remove almost anything resembling a window and other ergonomic features you might expect of a pleasant place to work in. Now add several hundred, if not a thousand servers, tape robots, switches, routers, UPSs (Uninterruptable Power Supplies) and air conditioning. Just for shits and giggles, take away anything you might think you could use as a chair, except perhaps a bin. Over the past two weeks I must have spent at least 60% of my time in there. The noise alone would be enough to make anyone insane, but standing at the back of two 19" racks with a 61 node cluster with over 200 fans blasting hot air into your face as you stand behind the terminal cart for 11 hours really does one's head in. I took some pictures of the cluster in question but the regulations say that I need to get clearance to publish them first, so I guess that's a no-go then. Don't get me wrong, playing with this kind of cutting edge technology is nice, but not if you have to be in the same room as it. Remote management is great, but only if it has been configured to work, which in our case, it wasn't.
Needless to say I have been a little reluctant to sit in front of my laptop after several long days in noise-ville.
On the bright side, I got a new toy. It's a Creative Zen Touch. It's got 20GB of hard disc space, so that's plenty for my current collection of MP3s and WMAs. I now have it filled up about 30% or so. The sound quality is awesome, compared to what comes out of my laptop or my little MP3 player. I can now also listen to more than just the same 20 MP3s over and over.
I've been thinking really hard about perhaps going back to Windows XP. I've been using Mandrakelinux 10.1 for a while now, but there's a few things that have been pissing me off. I upgraded the kernel to the latest version for 10.1 but now my USB devices are acting funny. I had to upgrade because of a security advisory but this stinks. I can connect to my laptop with my Clie but after a little while the connection just seems to hang. No more data is transferred and everything just times out. It's a major annoyance but I hesitate to go back to the old kernel. Now in a month or so, the latest version of Mandrakelinux is coming out. They have changed the numbering and naming standard used for their distribution and instead of going to the next logical version, 10.2, they've renamed the next release to LE2005. LE stands for "Limited Edition". Sounds like a shit marketing ploy that will only confuse people. The boot-up screen displays a blue penguin that looks stoned or drunk. It's a real shame that they've headed this way. I sure hope that LE2006 is going to look a little more professional.

Nice picture of... me

2005-03-26T19:06:00.000+01:00

Tammy took a nice picture of me this morning.

Redecoration my blog

2005-03-26T17:59:00.000+01:00

Well, as you may have noticed, my blog now looks quite different. I took a template from noipo.org and modified it to my liking. There are some really nice templates on that website, worth checking out. The main changes I made to it were the drop down menu for the archives and the width of the blog text area. I increased it by 150 pixels.
We bought some more stuff from the DIY store today. Tammy wants the ceiling painted white, so we got a whole load of latex paint to do that. We also bought a curtain and rail for the shower to keep the water from going all over the place between now and when we get the tiles done.

Bob the Builder

2005-03-26T07:42:00.000+01:00

We got a tremendous amount of work done yesterday thanks to our upstairs neighbours Wendy and Jan. Jan and I ripped the door frame out of from between the kitchen and the bathroom and put a wall in it. This leaves us with a single door to the bathroom, the one from the dining room area. Tammy and Wendy did a lot of sanding and painting. We started at about 10AM and didn't stop until about 5PM. We had some breaks of course and we did pop into the DIY store a few times to get supplies, but other than that we worked pretty much non-stop. The sanding has caused a very thing film of dust to settle on all the things in the house. The sander does have a thing to allow it to connect to a hoover but that only works when you can hold it flat.
Today we'll pop into the DIY store to pick up some hardboard to cover the kitchen side of the ex-door and the area that held all the mirrors in the living room. Then we'll get someone in to cover it with plaster. We also need a temporary curtain up in the bathroom to keep the water from the shower from going all over the place.
I will post the link as soon as Tammy puts up the pictures of the renovation activities, she took a whole bunch of pictures yesterday.

What's that smell?

2005-03-22T10:40:00.000+01:00

With a bit of luck I'll be able to post this blog entry when I get into the office. I am on the train to the other office in The Hague. It takes a little longer so I can actually write my blog entry while I am on the train instead of in the office.
I don't have many stories this morning, I guess not every day is a good news day.

Party drug sold as air freshener
On the label it says that it can make the room smell better, but drug users also know that you can mix it up in your drink. The 'air freshener' Explosion is the latest party drug in The Netherlands according to the Trimbos Institute. The test tubes are sold with a vanilla scented liquid in the smart shop for about 12 euro each. According to the Trimbos Institute the active ingredient is methylone, which creates an extacy-like high. Due to the fact that is not on the opium list, a list of banned drugs, it is not illegal yet. The main problem, they say, is the fact that is sold under false pretences and people are not advised about the dosage. Another danger is that the effects on human health are as yet unknown. An air freshener that doesn't just smell good, it makes you feel good!

Escort service
A 31 year old policeman was convicted to a year in jail and a fine for running an escort service during office hours. Adds a whole new meaning to 'protect and serve', doesn't it?

Stone throwers out of jail for exams
Two kids who are currently on trial for throwing rocks off a viaduct onto oncoming traffic will be allowed to sit their exams. They'll be released from jail into house arrest and will be allowed out of the house only for the duration of the exams. At the end of the exams they'll have to go back to jail. I think these kids shouldn't be allowed out of jail at all. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. Make them bungy jump off the viaduct into oncoming traffic, see how they like that.

Saudi man beheaded for murder and witchcraft
A Saudi man was beheaded on Monday in the city of Taif for the murder of one man and allegedly bewitching women and having sex with them against their will. I can understand punishing someone for rape, but to call it witchcraft is a little passe, wouldn't you say? This guy is the 29th this year to be beheaded. This one took place in public, on a square, with the help of a sword. Quite a statement.

Long time no type

2005-03-22T06:10:00.000+01:00

This weekend we've started sanding and painting the frames around the doors and windows. My neighbour was kind enough to lend me his mini sander. It's one of those Black 'n Decker Mouse ones. Sanding is hard work. The vibrations give you a dead arm in no time at all. The end result is awesome though. The pink is no longer to be seen on two frames. It's amazing how much difference that makes to the entire room.
On Saturday we had a look in the pet store. They have some really nice corner aquaria. Now that we have a big empty corner in the living room, we thought it might be nice to put one there. The one we've been looking at is a 190 liter one. It comes complete with heating system and a filter pump system.
Yesterday evening we went to the hardware store with our upstairs neighbours (Jan and Wendy) to go buy some more paint and other stuff we'll need for the house. I bought myself a nice big tool box for my, well, tools. On Thursday evening Jan and I are going to take out the door frame between the kitchen and bathroom to turn it into a wall. Apparently, he's done this before, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem for him. He is a carpenter/construction guy, after all.
I've been at a workshop yesterday and will be today as well. It's for a new upcoming project in which I will hopefully play a prominent role, at least in the engineering part. I can't give you any details since it's all hush-hush right now. Needless to say it'll be pretty interesting once we get it all started up, hopefully.

A mind is a terrible thing to taste

2005-03-17T09:36:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was far too hectic to do any kind of posting. I tend to do these posts first thing in the morning but I've been starting 30 mins later than usual, so I have less time to myself in the morning to write anything. The train was actually on time today and it wasn't too packed. These were the two main reasons why I tended to take an earlier train before.
Today is my annual review, I sure it turns out the way I'd like it to, there's a fair bit at stake here. I've reached a point where it's costing my money to stay where I'm at unless things change.
Speaking of going hungry...

Life imprisonment for British cannibal
A British court has sentenced 35 year old Peter Bryan to life in mandatory psychiatric care. In February of 2004 he had gone into the house of Brian Cherry and savagely beat him to death in the head with a hammer. Then he proceeded to cut of his arms and the left leg. Neighbours heard the victim's screams and alerted the police. Upon their arrival they found some of Cherry's brain in a frying pan with some butter. Bryan had eaten some of it already. He has been put in a maximum security psychiatric hospital due to the fact he beat one of his fellow patients so badly that he died 2 months later. This sounds more like a movie than a real-life thing.

Sex doll cause for alarm in post office
A sex doll caused a bit of a panic in a German post office. The doll was a package that was yet to be delivered when it suddenly began to vibrate. It made very strange noises and the employees suspected it was a bomb.

Sed Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custudios

2005-03-15T08:06:00.000+01:00

Who watches the watchers? There were no less than three articles dealing with inappropriate police behaviour in the news this morning.
Did you ever wake up and know that the rest of the day is going to go downhill from there on? I am having one of those days today. I slept like crap, woke up more times than you can shake a stick at and some really weird dreams. It's a good thing I have yoga at lunch time, or I might end up stick a pencil in someone's nose. Anyway, without further ado, here are the artciles.

Police patrols red light district unnecessarily
A group representing the prostitutes in the northern town of Groningen (don't try to pronounce this if you're not Dutch, you will rupture something) have registered a complaint with the mayor of the city. Their complaint is that the police cars tend to patrol the area a little too much when nothing is going on and can't be found anywhere when the shit really hits the fan. According to the group the cops are there to do some bird watching and nothing more. The police of course deny this and say that their presence is due to the high number of criminals that frequent the area. Sure, uh huh...

We'll always have Paris
The nightly escapades of a group of cops of the Amsterdam district were part of a much larger race between several national police precincts. The cops from various cities would drive as far as they dared during their shift and then take a picture of their patrol car at the destination. The ultimate goal was Paris, which had been calculated to be achievable in one night's shift. However, their plan was thwarted when one of the cop cars got photographed speeding down a motorway last December during one of their little escapades. A wide-scale investigation is currently underway.

Anti corruption team indicted
The nine members of the Thai anti corruption team are being held on corruption charges. Their accused of enriching themselves illegally. Who can you trust? I'm sure the team will do an internal investigation and the guilty will be punished...

UAE beheads four murderers
Four Philipino men, convicted of murdering another Philipino man, were beheaded yesterday in Saudi Arabia with a sword. This kind of execution is usually public. I wonder if this kind of punishment is more effective than the way the US executes its prisoners. I am sure many will think it is not very humane to kill someone with a sword, but then again, capital punishment isn't a very humane thing to do anyway, no matter what the method, so let's not nitpick about how it's done.

Survivors holocaust reunited after 61 years
On a cheerier note, two brothers (67 and 63) were finally reunited after 61 years. They were both convinced the other had died in the war. They were separated in 1944, the older brother moving to Israel and the other staying in Budapest. The older brother got wind of his brother's whereabouts when going through documentation to get compensation from the German government.

Achtung baby

2005-03-14T08:43:00.000+01:00

On a slightly less depressing note, the German town of Lindau had a bit of an embarrassing situation when it went through its list of honourary citizens. It turns out that Adolf Hitler was still listed and had been since 1933. The city council's decision for the removal of Hitler from the list was unanimous. In a country so well known for its excellent administrative skills, it's funny that it took them no less than 60 years since the end of the war to go discover this slight oversight.

New week, new tragedy

2005-03-14T08:12:00.000+01:00

Apart from the usual stuff in the news papers this morning, there seemed to be a lot of tragedies. One in particular caught my eye. It was a story about a four year old kid who shot his two year old brother. He took the gun from his mother's purse, put it to his little brother's head and pulled the trigger. He did this after he got mad at his sibling. The mother said she had the gun after a spate of burglaries in the neighbourhood. Now this kid is screwed for life. Guns don't kill people? Parents with guns should have their children taken away from them. I am glad I live in Europe where things like this don't happen. While we're at it, can we all gather around and bitch slap these people?

If I were a serial killer I would be Jeffrey Dahmer

2005-03-13T18:06:00.000+01:00

The psycho killer of the 90's, Jeffery Dahmer abducted, drugged, sodomized, tortured, murdered and devoured his young male victims one at a time. After receiving calls of a rancid stench emanating from Dahmers apartment, investigators found the decomposing remains of over 12 young men.

Dahmer would drug his victims, then proceed to drill a hole in their head, inserting acid into the brain, keeping the body alive but killing all other functions. he called them his "sex zombies". After the body would die, he would then proceed to mutilate and pose the body, taking pictures, and cooking and eating what was left over.

Kill count: 12-13

Find what serial killer you would be, Take the Serial Killer Quiz now!

So...Anyone want to come over to visit? I'm cooking!

Two strings

2005-03-13T08:57:00.000+01:00

Currently listening to: Altern 8 - Everybody

Since there are no Sunday newspapers available to me within a 10 minute walking range, there will be no editorials today. However, I do have a little joke. I must warn you that it is a very geeky joke.

Two strings walk into a bar. The bartender says, "What'll it be?".
The first string says, "I'll have a gin and tonic#MV*()>SDk+!^&@P&]JEA".
The second string says, "You'll have to excuse my friend, he's not null-terminated."

If you're not a programmer or a geek you will not get this joke. That's your loss, I'm afraid.

I'm still trying to figure out a better look for my blog. My creative skills, however, do not range into the artistic side of things. I am more of a functionality person. That is also the reason why Tammy does most of the interior design of the apartment and I do the "executive" part, i.e., filling holes in walls, moving heavy stuff from one side of the room to the other. I am quite happy with this arrangement, it carries a lot less responsibility. Tammy loves to go on about how this room will be done this way and the other room will be done that way. Just tell me what to put where. I can't paint either, this became evident in our last apartment. Even a flat wall with a flat paint is something I haven't mastered. I have no problems with put ting things together, though. Give me a cupboard, desk, kitchen, whatever, I'll assemble it in no time. That's probably why I loved Technic Lego so much as a kid and why I still haven't got rid of it. Some day when I have a little more time, I might start playing with it again. There's nothing childish about Technic Lego, not when you're making robotic arms and computer controller plotters with it.

I finished reading both The Davinci Code and Angels and Demons. These books were really awesome and very hard to put down. I am currently making my way though Digital Fortress which is also a very good read. I've only read the first few chapter and it's already got me in its grip. I have found some similarities in his books, common threads, which I hope are not repeated throughout all his books. I am not talking about character names, but more like plot lines and character types. I guess I'll just have to read the damn books and see. I don't want to read "formula" stories, God knows there are enough of those. Just look at most Hollywood movies today.

Tammy and I just had a funny conversation:
Tammy: " Did you like those Fajitas I made last night? They were good, huh?"
Me: "Umm...I suppose you want me to make breakfast, then?"
Tammy: "Yes."
I guess you had to be there.

Nerd Quiz

2005-03-11T12:27:00.000+01:00

I just took the Nerd Quiz and found out that I am nerdier than 96% of all people. Then I asked myself: "There are other people?"

Thank God it's Friday

2005-03-11T07:40:00.000+01:00

Today is POETS day. For those who are not familiar with the acronym, that means "Piss Off Early, Tomorrow's Saturday". I am sure glad it's Friday. It's been a long week at work and I haven't been sleeping as well as I'd like. There wasn't a whole lot of funny stuff in the papers this morning, just some stupid things and some things that make you think. Tammy has the first part of her Dutch exams today, so be sure to send out some good vibes. I'm sure she'll do fine, though.

Doctors to investigate death toll in Iraq
A group of 24 experts in the area of public health are going to conduct an investigation into the number of dead since the invasion of Iraq. The medics find it unacceptable that neither the British nor the American government have made any kind of serious effort to establish the exact number of dead. The British government only counts the dead that are reported by the ministry of health in Iraq, which only registers the dead as reported by the medical services. I am sure that neither the British nor the American governments will be waiting with great anticipation for the investigation's results. I am sure they've done more to reduce the Iraqi population that the evil despotic rules they deposed. At least back then, they had houses to live in.

Protein retrieved from Neanderthal bones
Scientists have succeeded in retrieving a protein from a 75.000 year old Neanderthal bone. The accomplishment is hoped to give more insight into the eating habits and physiology of the Neanderthal. I feel yet another very bad sequel to Jurassic Park coming on.

Ikea discriminates against women in manuals
It seems the Norwegian prime minister has nothing constructive to do. The PM stated yesterday that there are no women wielding alan keys in any of the instruction manuals that come with the Ikea products. Ikea says it's done this for a reason, mainly that it is offensive to some of its customers, Muslims, to picture women doing handiwork, wearing short sleeved shirts and short skirts. The PM added that "I myself have great problems with screwing together such furniture.". So basically he's just a big pussy that can't even put together a cupboard. I bet his wife takes out the rubbish too.

Dog called to the witness stand
The DA in the state of Arkansas accidentally called a dog called Murphy to the stand. The mistake happened when the state subpoenaed everyone the suspect had ever communicated with during his time in jail. Unfortunately for the prosecution, the dog's testimony was not admissible since dogs are not allowed into the building. I sure hope they have something more solid on this guy.

Organ donors should get preference
More than half the Dutch population is of the opinion that people who carry a donor card should get preferential treatment should they ever need an organ themselves. 25% of the people questioned in the survey also said that they want their organs to be given to donor card carriers only. This was in response to a cabinet's rejection of an opt-out system for organ donations, making all people donors but allowing people to have a non-donor status if they apply for it. I think this would be preferential to an opt-in system. A lot of people die unnecessarily because of a severe shortage of donor organs.

Rotterdam most popular shopping city in Netherlands
This is a bit of a shameless plug for the city I live in. It seems that according to research done by the Intomart agency, Rotterdam heads the list of cities that are great for shopping. Next in line is Utrecht. Not only do they think that Rotterdam is the best city for shopping but they also spend the most money there. So you see, Rotterdam may have lost the title of biggest port in the world but at least the shops are good.

If only they had GPS

2005-03-10T07:44:00.000+01:00

This morning's newspapers yielded a whopping 9 stories that I found interesting for a variety of reasons. I am sure if I were to actually get a subscription to one of the larger Dutch newspapers, I'd have more to write about, but I'm cheap.

China has plans to review death sentence
In a country plagued by over population, the government is reviewing its death sentence policy. All death sentences have to go through the highest court instead of just the provincial ones. It has to be noted though that most Chinese provinces are larger than most countries. The next thing that will be reviewed are China's policy of re-education through hard labour. Last year more than 810.000 people were arrested for state undermining or terrorist activities. I am not sure the big corporations are going to want to see such a cheap and plentiful source of labour go though. Perhaps China can off-shore to Germany, there seems to be a bit of a surplus labour there at the moment.

Minister promotes watching TV
The minister of education in Malaysia has started a campaign to get young people to spend more time in front of the TV. This sounds crazy to most people but there's a good reason for it. He wants people to watch more English programs to further their proficiency of the language. I am sure this will go down with the ministry of sports.

A detonator a day...
A Vietnamese man who was adamant to prove that detonators do not, well, detonate, was proven to be in error. After inserting the device in his mouth and asking his friend to insert the rusty power leads into a wall socket, it exploded. His yaws were removed and he died on his way to the hospital. This is proof that Darwin was right.

South Park rules
The South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut has the dubious record of having the largest number of cuss words in it. No less than 399 of them, in fact. Not bad for an 80 minute movie. That's four bad words a minute. Not even Terrence Tarantino movies come close to that. It doesn't get the record for most frequently sold movie, though. That goes to "Home Alone". It's a pity the tape and DVD boxes were not equipped with homing devices. No one should be subjected to that tripe and those who watch it voluntarily, well, don't even get me started on them.

Blame Canada
Approximately 320,000 baby seals are expected to be bludgeoned to death this year in Canada. This might explain the relative lack of gun violence in Canada. They just take their frustrations out on helpless seal puppies. Fur is for animals.

Polygamy could save government money
To prove that higher education does indeed produce enlightened individuals a professor of psychology at the Dutch university of Tilburg has come to the conclusion that polygamy could save the government money. His reasoning behind the statement is that the women could share their household duties with other women, allowing them to also have a job outside the house. That's real 21st century thinking.

Kill people and get away with it
Vietnam is not the only country that lets people get away with murder. In the Netherlands there's a trial going on against a man who ran full speed into a stationary car, killing 2 occupants instantly and a third on his way to the hospital. The attorney only asked for a mere four months conditional with two years probation, a 180 hour community service and two years driving ban. The defendant showed no emotion when the surviving family members of the victims poured their hearts out in court. The guy will probably only get about half of what the attorney asked for.

My kingdom for a GPS
17 Cuban refugees tried to reach the Florida coast on barely floating rafts and ended up in Mexico instead. Due to the currents and winds they floated off-course and onto the peninsula of Yucatan. If only they'd had a GPS and an outboard engine...

Bad luck

2005-03-09T07:43:00.000+01:00

This morning's train carriage was anything but the warm and toasty place it usually is. They must've forgotten to turn the heating on because with every breath I exhaled, a nice plume of condensation formed in front of me. Bad breath was not the cause of it.
Speaking of bad luck, I came across some funny stories again this morning. Now, when I say funny, I don't necessarily mean funny, haha. I have a very weird sense of humour and often find things funny when others don't. Well, without further ado, here they are.

Drinking bet
A 21 year old Dominican won a bet by slamming more than 50 shots of tequila. He didn't live to celebrate his amazing victory, however. That reminds me of the two Chinese men who had a race to see who could smoke the most cigarettes. The winner smoked more than hundred or so in a row and won. He later died of cardiac arrest. Idiots.

Break down during protest against bad equipment
If this isn't proof there is a God with a funny sense of humour, I am not sure what is. On the very day that the Belgian bus drivers decided to go down to their head quarters to protest the very bad state of their equipment, they had a break down. The fuel gauge in their bus indicated a full tank despite being empty. It wasn't until the tank had been refilled that they could continue to the venue. Talk about putting more fuel on their fire.

Acting lessons good for the doctor
According to the JAMA, a medical journal, empathy from their doctor can help a patient heal. However, not all doctors are capable of mustering empathy for their patients. No fear, says the article, it can be faked with some acting lessons. They recommend method acting where the doctor will actually attempt to live the same kind of pain and suffering the patient is going through. Next time your doctor looks at you with an understanding face, beware! He's probably just faking it and thinking you're just being a big baby.

It's good to be in the army

2005-03-08T09:35:00.000+01:00

In Bankok, three of Thailand's military officers have been suspended from duty after having been found responsible for the death of 78 demonstrators last October. They'll most likely receive an advisory role in the army and may get their old jobs back in the near future. It's good to see the guilty are getting what they deserve.

Monday morning...

2005-03-07T07:49:00.000+01:00

It's Monday morning again, that dreaded beginning of the week when you know that you have 5 days of hard work ahead of you. Needless to say, today is not going to be an easy day for me, I think. My arms and legs still hurt from the work we did in the house. I lugged countless stacks of planks, rubbish bags and other assorted items down 3 flights of stairs Saturday and Sunday. Who needs a stair master when you can redecorate?
This morning whilst reading my two morning papers, Spits and Metro, I came across a few funny articles.

Loud music can lead to collapsed lung
apparently loud music such as techno and heavy metal can lead to damage to the lungs, possibly leading to a collapsed lung. One in five collapsed lung patients aged between 15 and 25 were previously subjected to high decibels at concerts. I am still waiting for the results of the study that point out that exposure to R 'n B and pop music will lead to brain aneurysms.

Chinese government to deal with lip syncing
Seems that the Chinese government wants to put an end to the wide spread practice of lip syncing. An important advisory committee is investigating a possible law that is the result of a campaign of Chinese rocker Cui Jian. He's trying to convince his fans to boycott lip syncing artists. If we can pass a law that prohibits politicians from lying as well, the world would be almost perfect.

Malaysia's immigration issues
Now that the Malaysian government has expelled several tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, the building industry has been suffering from a severe shortage of cheap labour. Politicians are so wise...

Kidnapping appears to be kinky sex game
Around 20 cops came into action (no pun intended) when they got a report of a woman who was being kidnapped by three men. Witnesses had seen the woman in a van with her hands tied behind her back and a hand in front of her mouth. After a lengthy search the three suspects were found and arrested. It was all for naught though when it became clear that this was nothing more than a little sex game. Better notify the neighbours next time!

Puppet show with prostitutes cancelled
Imagine the disappointed faces of all those children when they found out the scheduled puppet show featuring the prostitutes of the Keileweg (very sleazy red light area in Rotterdam) had been cancelled. The show was supposed to educate the children about the drug addicted ladies of the night and to rally the neighbourhood against the proposed shelter for these women in the area. A catchy title for the play would've been "Little Red Riding Hood". Oh wait...

Work In Progress

2005-03-06T08:51:00.000+01:00

We finally got cracking on redecorating the house. We ripped down all the god-awful wall paper on one side of the living room and took down the horrible tiled mirrors. It looks much, much better now, even though the wall is just bare plastered concrete right now. Today we'll be moving onto the spare room to take down the closet in there and rip down all the wall paper in there. The plan is to put up glass-fiber wall paper stuff that can cover any and all little bumps on the wall which we can then paint or re-paper. I am sure Tammy has this all figured out already, including the colour-scheme. I can't wait for all the horrible pink in the house to be gone. For a straight guy (well, he did have a girl friend), the previous tenant sure liked his pink, mirrors and gold trims. Perhaps we just missed his collection of hand bags when we came to view the place all those years ago.
In other news: it is no longer snowing here. Yesterday, a lot of the snow melted once the sun came out but most of the melting water froze again once it started to drop below zero (that's Celcius, not Fahrenheit), so now, I am sure, the pavement will look like an ice rink with bumps.
This morning Bailey was feeling much better than yesterday. He puked again yesterday morning and was a little bit off most of the day. He's very alert this morning and ate all his food in no time at all. We still give him his anti-nausea pills and some other pill that he's supposed to finish in about day or so. The food he's getting now is special stuff for dogs with sensitive bowels. I wish I knew what was going on, the vet's not 100% sure either. He was eating his normal food for almost two years and nothing was wrong, he rarely got sick and now he's been on and off for the past 2-3 weeks or so. I sure hope it passes.

Little things in life

2005-03-03T06:26:00.000+01:00

My apologies for once again neglecting my blog. I've just been completely uninspired to write anything. I've been super busy at work so it usually boils down to me coming home and not wanting to spend any more time at the computer.
Yesterday I was thinking about some of the things that put a smile to my face, other than Tammy, of course.
A snow covered landscape
An early train with no one in the compartment but myself
The entire wing in the building I am in to myself
Bailey cuddling up to me when I watch TV
Spencer cuddling up to me when I watch TV

To me, coming into the office in the morning and finding all the fire partitioning doors still closed and all the lights off is always a very happy moment. It means I am in the first in the department to come in and it usually means some peace and quiet, for a while at least. I usually start my work at about 7:15AM and end my day at about 4PM. The reason for this is that the train delays don't usually start until about 7:30AM and very few people are daft enough to go to work at that time which means that the compartments are nice and deserted. I guess that makes me a little anti-social and if that's indeed what I am then I am not really going to care much what anyone else things, am I?
As Tammy already mentioned in her blog, I have been looking around to see if there are other prospective employers that are willing to give me the salary and perks that I want. So far I have done 3 interviews with 2 employers. I have another possible one coming up very soon, I'll know more about that early next week.
As some of you may or may not know, it's been snowing a LOT in the Netherlands in the past two days and the KNMI (The Royal Weather Institute) says there's lots more where that came from. I took a crappy picture from behind the glass of the little court yard at our office building. When I took the dog for a walk this morning all the snow was still there, I sure hope we get a little more. Right now it's about 5cms with more in some places. Up in the north of the Netherlands they have up to 50cms of snow in some places. For some of you this may not seem like a lot but aparently it hasn't snowed like this since 1959. Let's see if we can make it even better!

Total blog slacker

2005-02-19T17:55:00.000+01:00

Currently listening to: Fatboy Slim - First down

I've been a bad, bad blogger lately. I haven't really been in much of a blogging mood lately. It seems that when I get home from work, the last thing on my mind is computers. I've been thinking about redesigning the layout of my blog. I am not sure what I want it to look like, but something less black, I guess. I don't just want to change the colours though, it needs to be a little more radical than that.
I've been playing a little with RedHat Enterprise Linux 4, RedHat's latest version of their Enterprise-ready Linux distribution. On the outside, it still looks pretty much the same way it did in release 3. The real changes are on a much lower level than the GUI. The biggest difference is that 2.6.9 is now the default kernel, instead of their heavily modified 2.4.21 kernel. RHEL4 also supports NFSv4, apparently. NFSv4 has very tightly integrated Kerberos functionality, finally allowing authenticated networked file IO (other than using scp and ftp, of course). I'll have to play around some more with RHEL4, but it looks quite nice.
Yesterday our ADSL modem came in. Looks like we're getting closer to our switch from cable to ADSL. I can't wait to ditch our sucky cable connection. Well, to be fair the connection itself is OK. It's the ridiculous 40GB/month "fair" use policy that has us pissed off. For years we struggled with shit network connections and now that we finally get to use what we pay for, we use up our bandwidth usage in 8 days. Anyway, our new provider, Demon, should be a lot better. I've heard a lot of good things about them. The other upside of switching to this new provider is that we can get rid of our hosting plans we have now. Demon allows people to run their own web servers at home, hurray for Demon.
This blog entry is starting to turn out to be a little longer than the "I am sorry I didn't blog more" apology. Today or yesterday we got the official document stating that the apartment is ours. I say today or yesterday because I didn't check the mail yesterday. I should make a copy of it, keep the copy at home and stick the original in a safe in the bank or something. Aparently it's bad news when you lose that document. Not that they can take the house off you or anything, it's just a pain in the arse to get a new one.
Bailey was sick last week, poor thing. He had some kind of tummy bug, so he was getting sick a lot. He didn't eat or drink for a few days so we took him to the vet. He got a shot and we have to give him a pill twice a day. He's feeling a lot better now, although he still has the shits a bit.
On that note, I will go help Tammy setup W.Bloggar on her laptop so she can post to her blog with it. If she were using Linux, I couldn've set her up with PyQLogger, which is much better, of course.

Happy ending

2005-02-14T08:22:00.000+01:00

Last week I posted about the terrible typos in the story about the baby whose identity was unknown. It seems that they have finally managed to reunite him with his biological parents. For the full story, click here. It's nice to see that not all stories have to end badly.

Whose baby is it anyway?

2005-02-03T14:56:00.000+01:00

I sent an email to the editor of the CNN website regarding the typo this morning. Lo and behold! A few hours later, the text has been corrected.
Another plumber is dropping by this afternoon at 16:00 to give us a pricing on the water and gas pipe job that needs to be done in the house. On Monday we have yet another one, this one at the early hour of 6:30AM. That's a great time; I'll only be about 30 mins later in work than usual.

The english language is going to hell

2005-02-03T06:12:00.000+01:00

The picture on the left is a tiny snippet from an article on CNN about a baby claimed by no less than 9 women. This blog entry is not about that, though. It's about the terrible typo in the actual picture. Some of you will spot it, some of you will not. It's the grammar nazi in me that makes most typos and grammar mistakes stand out like a bright flashing light. I am sure that I am not without my grammar mistakes, I am by no means perfect. However, someone who is paid to churn out articles for a living should know better. It's like people mixing up their, they're and there or it's and its. Now, could someone tell me who is baby?

Three rodents with defective visual perception

2005-01-26T10:01:00.000+01:00

I saw a rather funny poem here.

Three rodents with defective visual perception
(sung to the tune of Three Blind Mice)

Three rodents with defective visual perception,
Three rodents with defective visual perception.

Visualize how they perambulate,
Visualize how they perambulate.

They all perambulated after the agriculturalist's spouse,
She severed their spinal columns with a kitchen utensil.

Have you ever seen such a spectacle in your existence,
As three rodents with defective visual perception?

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

2005-01-24T11:57:00.000+01:00

It snowed this morning and it looks really nice! It's 11:25AM now and some of it is still there. That's quite amazing considering the usual amount of time snow lasts is about 2 minutes after which it turns into sludge. I wish we'd had this at Christmas, but this is good enough. I am sure it has wreaked havoc with all the traffic.
In unrelated news, I've come across a very nice website by Unit-e. They make techno/electronic/trance stuff, using Open Source software on Linux only. The albums are available online for your downloading pleasure. The first album is a little rough on the edges. It's called "Inside the Atrium". Their second album, "Subharmonics of thought" is much more refined with some nice analogue sounds to it. "Looking back into the future", their 3rd album is smooth trance with some nice analogue sounds and nice beats. Worth checking out!
I am working from home today seeing as there's a plumber dropping by just after lunch to see how much it would be to get the pipes and drains moved to the dining room. The guy who came around on Wednesday was supposed to have a quote for us on Friday. I called him this morning and he assured me that he'd have it ready by this evening.
Lately, I've been playing a lot of Bejeweled2 on my Clie. This latest version is by far one of the most addictive games I have ever played. The graphics are stunning as I am sure the sound effects are. I don't have a proper sound chip on this PDA so I can't tell, but I've been told it's pretty amazing. There is only one draw-back to this game and that's power consumption. I get about 1.5 hours play out of a full battery. That said, I do have all of the fancy effects enabled but that's still not a whole lot of time. The game play is just totally awesome, though.

Assorted nudity stories

2005-01-19T11:18:00.000+01:00

Currently listening to: Altern 8 - Real Time Status

Recently (yesterday), there was an interesting story in the news paper regarding a nipple piercing shaped basketball ring. This has caused quite a bit of a stir in the local municipality. It's actually a billboard for a local piercing shop. I can think of much worse things they could've shown a pierced picture of. The advertising company has no intentions of taking the thing down unless they get told off by the advertising commission.
Meanwhile in Mexico it is now required for women wishing to migrate to Canada to become strippers to submit "action" photos of themselves. They have to pass the nudity test before their visa request is even processed.

Immigration officers are having to pore over naked pictures of hundreds of exotic dancers to keep impostors out of Canada.

Oh, what a terrible job! Where do I sign up? For the full story, click here.

You got nail!

2005-01-17T18:57:00.000+01:00

The picture you see on the left is of a guy in the US who managed to get a nail embedded in his skull without noticing it. He was using a nailgun and it backfired, shooting one nail into the wood behind him and the other one apparently into his head. He didn't notice anything for a few days, apart from a slight ache in his jaw. He thought it was a tooth ache. Imagine the surprise his dentist got when they took the X-ray. For the complete story, check here.

"The doctors said, 'If you're going to have a nail in the brain, that's the way you want it to be,"' she said. "He's the luckiest guy, ever."

I bet the guy feels really lucky. If luck consists of having a nail shoved in your brain, then I'd rather be jinxed.

Found: 5 euro note

2005-01-14T22:34:00.000+01:00

I found a 5 euro note while walking the dog this evening and I was wondering if perhaps one my readers lost it earlier today. If you know the serial number, don't hesitate to drop me a note and I'll be happy to return it to you.
In other news... We took Spencer to the vet this evening to see if we could perhaps do something about the incessant meowing. The vet gave us a thing that diffuses a phermone that's supposed to calm cats down. She also ordered some medication for him that will settle him down a little. It helps against anxiety and is primarely used for dogs with separation anxiety, things like that. If that won't help, we can try valium or something, but we'd rather not. We've been getting almost no sleep at night. Spencer insists on being a big cry baby the minute we head for bed. He's allowed to go anywhere he wants, including the bedroom where he has a nice comfy bed to sleep in. I really hope this works.
I've really been slacking a lot with work on PyQLogger. Sir Reflog has not been standing still though. He's made some nice progress with the next version which will have many new and wonderful features. For more info, check this article. I'm going to try this weekend to get some work done on it. With all the lack of sleep in the last week or so, it's just been too hard to sit down behind my laptop after spending an enture day at the computer. This also explains why there have been so few updates on my blog lately. My apologies for the inconvenience.

Big Bother is Watching you!

2005-01-10T19:06:00.000+01:00

Ever wonder about those network connected cameras you see everywhere? Seems like not everyone takes care to keep unauthorized viewers from looking at them. To prove my point, click the following link, this will start a Google search for unsecured webcams. It's kind of cool to see what others are doing.

Watching movies

2005-01-07T22:47:00.000+01:00

Last night I went to the video store and rented Shaun of the Dead, "A romantic comedy. With Zombies." It was totally hilarious. It's a british movie, not very high budget at all, but I laughed my ass off. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good healthy dose of British humour. Upon my return to the video store I suddenly got a craving for American Psycho, a pretty good horror movie. I've been told that the book is actually a lot gorier than the movie, so I can only imagine how bad that must be. I've seen this movie before but there's just something so great about the guy who plays the psycho, Christian Bale. He acts very convincingly. There are quite a few famous actors in this movie, I would go see it if I were you. If you get sick at the sight of blood, perhaps this one is not for you.
On another note, today I've been put on another project. We're going to develop a new standard for the clusters. We'll have to define the hardware and software, based on the users' requirements. Then the next time more CPU power is needed, they must build the cluster according to our guidelines. Should be fun since none of us have any experience building them. Luckily we have a good guy in the support team who has built a whole bunch of clusters who will assist us. This will look good on my CV, cluster technology is a hot item at the moment.

You smell like butt!

2005-01-05T10:11:00.000+01:00

Congratulations. you are the "you smell like
butt" bunny. You're brutally honest and
always say what's on your mind.

which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Huggy Jesus

2005-01-04T13:56:00.000+01:00

Can you believe someone is actually selling a Huggy Jesus? If you want a truly heart-wrenching story about how this whole idea came about, I refer you to the about page.

"That loving embrace inspired Sean to go out into the world and make a huggable doll in His image so (with a little help from his friends) the whole world could receive a hug from Jesus."

By friends does he mean the folks in the Chinese political re-education camps or the Puerto Ricans in the sweat-shops? I wonder... Well, Praise the Lord for E-Commerce.

It's cold outside

2004-12-27T12:40:00.000+01:00

When I took the dog out this morning I took some pictures of things I thought were interesting looking. Click on the pictures below for a bigger version (800x600).

Papa's got a brand new logo

2004-12-26T16:15:00.000+01:00

After some fiddling with Photoshop I've come up with a simple logo for PyQLogger. It's works quite well and it looks OK even at 16x16 pixels when sitting in the system tray.
I've been using Photoshop 6.x under Linux with the help of a brilliant piece of software called Crossover Office. It is based on a project called Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator). This allows me to run a variety of Windows programs without the need for Windows itself. I can now use Office XP under Linux. QuickTime player also works flawlessly inside my FireFox window. Pretty nifty, I must say. It was only $39, which is only 25 euro.
As predicted, we have a ton of left-overs from last night. I guess it's going to be turkey sandwiches for the next week or so. Oh well, I don't mind, I love turkey sandwiches.
For some reason I keep thinking it is Monday and that I have to go back to work tomorrow. Normally this would be the case, but I have tomorrow off. Tammy's ankle is still pretty sore, she has real trouble bending it up and it's still multi-coloured. Perhaps we'll go see a doc about it. It may be nothing, but it's better to know for sure.

Christmas at the Soldaats'

2004-12-25T14:14:00.000+01:00

Currently listening to: Baby Bird - Jesus is my girlfriend (I think I'll go to Hell for having that on at Christmas)

T'is Christmas time and the turkey is...getting a massage?!!? No, not really. Tammy is seen here rubbing the butter with herbs under the skin of the turkey. That way it will melt underneath the skin and keep all the juices in. Yummy! It's pretty big bird we got this year, too. Turkeyzilla weighs in at 4.8KGs, that's 10.5Lbs for you non-metric weirdos out there. It's full of home made stuffing, too. It's going to be beautiful, I'm sure of it.

This morning was parcel opening time. We got some nice things from friends and family. However, the present that lasted the least amount of time was Bailey's new squeaky french fries toy, which was professionally destroyed by Bailey's alternate personality, Captain Destructo, in less than 5 minutes. A big thanks to everyone for their wonderful presents.
This year we also got a whole bunch of Christmas cards, 11 of them in all. That's an all time record for us. This might also be due to the fact that we actually sent cards ourselves this year. Two years ago we bought a batch and never got around to sending them, so we thought we'd send them last Christmas. That never happened either so actually biffed them this summer during a clean-out. So for those who received a card, you can rest assured that it was bought this year, so it's fresh!

New branch, new possibilties

2004-12-22T19:44:00.000+01:00

Today Sir Reflog created a new branch for PyQLogger so we can now get on with adding brand new features. We're planning to do some major rewrites of all the code. The new branch is for the current stable release. We intend to make bug fixes for that only. All new development will happen in the trunk.
In other-less-geeky-news, the weather has gone from -2C and dry to about +6C and rainy. I prefer the dry cold, it seems less, well, cold. The damp just really gets into your clothes.
I worked my butt off today and managed to get all the things done I had set out to do. It feels good to complete your targets on time. Tomorrow I'm going home at about 2pm to get the turkey and go to the post office. The postman has mangled our postbox flappy thing when he tried to shove a large object through it. It dislodged the hinges and now it's completely buggered. I want a new flappy thing and I want them to pay for it. I doubt very much that they will, but if I don't bitch about it, nothing will come of it.

Company car

2004-12-19T21:44:00.000+01:00

The company Christmas party was fun. The boss gave everyone a new company car. Yes, that's right, a brand-new race car like in the movie The Fast and the Furious. One small detail, though; it's remote controlled and it's a 1:6 scale model. It can do up to 40km/h which is 10 kms faster than the speed limit in this area. The food at the party was very good. Andy (my boss) cooked three different curry dishes, one with prawns, one with chicken and the other with beef. The beef one was quite spicy, it had two huge chilies in it and one Madame Janet pepper. For those unfamiliar with the Madama Janet; think of the hottest chili pepper you have ever tasted. Now multiply that by 100 or so. It was very tasty though. For dessert we had fresh fruits with curry and chili pepper powder on it. It was somewhat strange, the hot with the cool, very tasty though.
Sir Reflog has released a bug fix version of PyQLogger. We released it a little prematurely with a few too many bugs left in it. Oh well, it happens :) More QC next time, I guess.
Tomorrow, Tammy finds out how she did in her test. We're going there together since we need to do some Christmas shopping afterwards. I am sure she's done really well, she's really progressing very well. We speak Dutch quite a bit together now. I love that she's making such and effort to learn it now. Not only that, but she seems to be enjoying it, too. If she has passed this test, she'll be progressing to the next level. Each level is 9 weeks long. If you fail, however, you need to redo the current one. I am very hopeful though.

Life is not too shabby

2004-12-18T21:45:00.000+01:00

It's Saturday evening and I am sitting in front of the TV with my laptop on my lap. I have to keep it on something of course, otherwise my nuts would burn off.Tammy just informed me that I have to write nice stuff about her, how I couldn't live without her, all that general suck-up stuff. So here it goes: I love Tammy and I couldn't live without her. I sure hope she's happy now.
Anyway, I am still working on the PyQLogger project but the TODO list grows day by day as we come up with more ideas. We'll probably never have an empty TODO list, which is just as well.
I have a company Christmas meeting tomorrow. I am not sure what they've organized but I am sure it'll be fun. Last year we went bowling which was a lot of fun. I'll be sure to keep you, whoever you are, posted.

We're property owners now

2004-12-14T21:17:00.000+01:00

Currently listening to: Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Yesterday we signed for our apartment. It's ours now. It doesn't feel very different though. It's still the same place we've been living in for the past couple of years. It'll be better once we start working on it and moulding it more to our liking. We've got quite a few plans, admittedly they're mostly Tammy's plans, she's in charge of decorating the place. I get to drill holes, which is fine by me.
Did some very minor work on PyQLogger, I added the ability for the URL dialog window to remember its previous state and to restore it when it is reopened or when the program is restarted. I'm going to tweak the rest of the dialog boxes to do the same thing, where it makes sense, of course. A really nice feature would be automatically substitute certain key words with preconfigured values. If I type "PyQLogger", it should turn that into a link: PyQLogger. I think that would be very nice. I have no idea how to do that yet, though.