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| Realm of the Incoherent the last 20 entries |
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Question 35d of the medical questionaire for the life insurance policy that is part of the mortgage, to be answered by the doctor: "Are there any abnormalities on or around the anus?" I'm so looking forward to tomorrow night!
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OK, so I don't do these 'survey' things a lot -- but this one is actually pretty fun. ( RPG survey-meme )
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Well, vacations always leave me exhausted (but in a good way), and this one was no exception. Wednesday afternoon and thursday morning I went to work -- we had been on a tight deadline for a project for one of our clients. We had been working very hard, but we had delivered the project on time (something that I didn't think was possible when I read the specifications). However, we still had to install it on the live-server(s) -- right in the middle of my vacation. So, I returned to help out with the installation, which went reasonably smooth. After work on thursday, we set out to Groningen. We had booked a hotel arrangement there, to see all those things we didn't get around to when we visited 'Grun' earlier with ![[info]](http://library.vu.edu.pk/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/000100A/http/web.archive.org/web/20041202150616im_/http:/=2fstat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ankie. I'm pretty sure ingiechan will give a more detailed report (with accompanying photos). I'll give a short list of highs a lows:Highs: - The hotel being reasonably close to an excellent parking garage; - The hotel being within the city centre proper; - Groningen having a quite compact city centre, you can walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes; - Having dinner in "'t Waeghstuck"; - Seeing "The Incredibles"; - The Groninger Museum; - The architectural walk; - The view from the Martini-toren; - Meeting ankie for a delicious Mexican dinner;- The friendly man in the evening-store close to the hotel; - Finding serial cables at the MediaMarkt; - The breakfast at the hotel; - Fun-shopping; - Spending days with ingiechan.Lows: - Shouting students in the streets at night; - The icy cold; - Climbing the Martini-toren; - The beds in the hotel. Overall, we had a great time, but it was rather tiring... We left Groningen on Saturday afternoon, and we swung by ingiechan's parents. Her mom was hosting a dinner party for my parents, and we were invited as well. The meal was delicious, the dinner conversation very enjoyable, and a great time was had by all. Previously, I had checked my email and seen that the Amber session that had been planned for Sunday had been postponed due to an injury of JP. Though I was (of course) sad to hear of his misfortune (and I hope he can get up and about soon!), this also meant that we could stay over at my in-laws.I'm glad I can get some rest at work tomorrow...
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Well, we went shopping for computer parts today! As I wrote earlier, I was asked to build a simple computer for my mom, so that she can video-conference with Joep. The system would have to be placed upstairs where there isn't much room -- a perfect application for that spare desktop case I still had! However, only Flex-ATX or Micro-ATX motherboards fit in that case. It turned out that the things we needed were all available at Orbit. I chose the Asrock K7S41GX, a highly integrated motherboard: LAN, sound, VGA all on-board -- for 50 euros. OK, so it's not top-of-the-bill, but it works. And if all you're doing is internet and video-conferencing, you don't need lots of fancy hardware. For memory, we used the PC2100 256 MB module that xaviar_nl had in surplus, that I still had lying around (because I had forgotten to return it when I found out that I had no use for it). We added a Sempron 2300, a second-hand floppy-drive and a cheap DVD-ROM, and that was that. When we stepped out of the shop, ingiechan reminded me of the fact that we'd also need a keyboard and mouse to go with the system, so one minute after having left, we were back again! We chose a Logitech optical wireless desktop-set, an older model that was discounted. Now the keyboard and mouse can easily be stowed away when the system is not in use.The system is now up and running. It runs smooth, but because there's little memory (and the VGA adapter also uses a chunk of that), there's a lot of swapping when running more than one process. Perhaps we need to invest in another 256 MB module, they're not that expensive... I also ordered ADSL from Demon, and I will need to mail the people from Routershop.nl about the hardware I will need to tie it all together wirelessly. The desktop case can only hold low-profile PCI-cards, so perhaps we'll need to get an USB-solution for that machine. Not ideal, but the desktop-case is too good a fit to compromise on that front. I'm also given free reign by my dad, which is pretty cool. I get to do it my way.
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We've finished watching Paranoia Agent yesterday. My review of the first episode is here. This series plays on the expectations of the viewer, in quite a clever way. The bizarre opening sequence sets the stage: the audience knows that this isn't a normal anime series, and that anything can be expected. Then, there are a few "coincidences" that are given too much airtime to actually be coincidences. At least, that's what you start to think. You get to be hypersensitive for little details that might help you make sense of the plot. However, making sense of the plot is an uphill battle. Shonen Bat attacks seemingly random people (starting with the designer of the popular Marumi mascot, young absent-minded Sagi Tsukiko), leaving them heavily wounded. His trademarks are the golden rollerblades and the dented, golden bat. Of course, a police investigation is immediately started, and as the number of cases start to pile up, the evidence just doesn't make sense. ( Unless... [heavy spoiler warning!] ) The series is quite psychological, in an un-obtrusive way. We get a few fun rides in the dark recesses of the human mind. It's about as bizarre as, say, Serial Experiments: Lain, but more accessible. And it shares the dark, brooding and supernatural atmosphere with Boogiepop Phantom. I almost feel like the creators wanted to experiment with a different type of storytelling in anime, and they have succeeded admirably. The designs are attractive and the animation is smooth -- visually, this series is a treat. The music is very nice as well: the ending theme, an understated melody on an organ is mostly used to accent certain scenes. I recomment this series to anyone who enjoys a good mystery now and then. I'll give it a 8.5.
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Happy birthday, breyten!
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Next time you get home, and think: "Hmmm, that's a peculiar smell...", it might be worthwhile to check behind the dishwasher to see if there aren't any forgotten cucumbers liquifying there... It's all cleaned up now. In fact, the house is cleaner than it has been in a few months...
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This is very cool: a doujinshi featuring pretty much every Cartoon Network cartoon ever aired! Beautifully drawn, and an very cool story (so far). Hunky Dexter & bishoujo Blossom! Squee!
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This weekend, we went to my parents to celebrate Sinterklaas with them. paultje and H. had come to the Netherlands again. Normally we see them with christmas, and we celebrate Sinterklaas then ("Sinterkerst"), but paultje and H. expect their second child during that time.After some last-minute panic, we arrived in Son just in time to see F. and P., friends of paultje, who had come to visit with their son Max, who is one year younger than Joep. They left soon after our arrival, and everyone took Joep to see the arrival of Sinterklaas in Beek & Donk. Living in Denmark, Joep misses those little cultural references, and I think it's great paultje makes sure he learns those typically Dutch things too. I stayed home to read my book (and I got to answer the phone -- it was some old lady who wanted to know "when mommy would be back"... WTF!?).When the whole group returned, Joep told me enthusiastically that he had shaken hands with Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet! It took little persuasion to convince him later on the day, that it was Sinterklaas who had banged on the door and rang the bell, leaving all those presents on the doorstep! The next few hours were spent with Joep unwrapping his gifts. Biggest hits were the hobbyhorse and the clothes to dress up (especially the knight-stuff like a sword and the shield -- which could, not quite coincidentally, be ideally combined with the hobbyhorse). When Joep had been put to bed, it was time for the 'grown-up' presents. It was fun, though tiring. I don't know what caused it, but I was completely devastated at the end of the evening. We all got great gifts and some great poems as well. I got 120 ping-pong balls, a headset, an external USB harddisk enclosure, Paranoia XP and a host of other great gifts! After breakfast today, paultje and H. were off again to visit more friends (their time in the Netherlands is always strictly divided between their family and friends -- like a whirlwind they travel through the country). My parents had given themselves and paultje a webcam, so that they can video-conference with Joep over the internet. I offered to install it (knowing that when my dad gets down with hardware, all sorts of disasters start happening) -- but I had to troubleshoot some other problems first... After a lengthy install, we had the camera up and working. I found ankie willing and able to demonstrate how to use the webcam in combination with MSN Messenger, which was a huge hit.My mom was very interested (because this would mean she would get to talk to Joep in a much more direct way than over the phone), and gradually the idea formed to give my mom her own computer. Only install what's needed, give a clear manual, and she'll be video-conferencing like there's no tomorrow. There was the problem of space, but I still have that desktop-case lying around: I have been charged with building a stable computer with it. We will also need to set up a wireless ADSL router, so that we don't have to worry about wires... My dad is pretty bad with spyware and stuff like that: when presented with a screen that offers 'help', he is prone to click 'Yes'. Result: lots of junk installed on his machine, which gives unpredictable results and loss of speed. I downloaded Spybot S&D; and did a sweep: lots and lots of stuff installed, as I had guessed. We left when the second sweep was in progress, and my dad called me in the evening to tell me that network traffic had been sped up considerably. I hope it'll be a lesson for him, but somehow I think it won't be. Perhaps we should give the normal account of my mom's new computer no administrator rights...
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We've watched Gakuen Alice. Mikan's best friend, Hotaru, has 'an Alice -- meaning she has some sort of special ability. When the government discovers Hotaru's Alice, she transfers to a school in Tokyo, leaving Mikan behind. Then, one day, Mikan decides to go look for Hotaru and this mysterious Gakuen Alice! OK, so Mikan is very genki. Hotaru, on the other hand, almost seems to suffer from Asperger's -- their 'friendship' sure seems to be a very one-sided affair. Anyway, the combination of Mikan's genkiness and Hotaru's intelligence, coupled with modern-day magic makes for an amusing combination. Designs are pretty good as well.
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Happy birthday, damanique!
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Sunday, we took a house-warming gift with us when we visited babarage: another binary LED clock. I had changed the hardware design slightly, so that the whole was much neater. As housing, we bought a cheap wooden case at the Xenos and drilled holes in it for the power-socket and the LEDs. We applied a layer of primer and three layers of white laquer, producing a nice shiny finish.I used blue, waterclear LEDs that I bought some time ago. Unfortunately, these LEDs break when they get too warm, and I fried several of the LEDs while soldering them to the board... In the end, I got it all done just in time. ( Pictures! ) Still, I'm quite pleased with the end-result! I also like the combination of the white case and the blue LEDs, it's literally a cool effect!
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Another round of new anime reviews! Meine Liebe is another Bee Train production. When the opening credits started, I knew it was another 'Kayijura anime', like velveteencat calls this particular brand of anime. However, it seems this one has an actual budget, and my initials fears of a repeat of the train-wreck that is Avenger were quickly soothed. Someone learned to mix the soundtrack in properly too!Anyway, Meine Liebe is set on the island country of 'Kuchen', just off the coast of France, in the 1920's. The country is ruled by a king who is assisted by a council of the elite -- and the Rosenstolz academy is where they got their education. We get to meet two young nobles who are both striving to be accepted into that illustrous council. It promises to be interesting, in an Utena-without-the-Yuri-kind-of-way. Fantastic Children is about a group of children who get re-incarnated every so many years -- or so. They get together as a group (why, I don't know), but one of them tries to dominate the other -- or so I gathered from the first half of the episode. The second half of the episode is set in 2012 and deals with a young boy who lives on a tropical island. He meets a boy and a girl who have both run away from this special 'school' (or is it the power-structure of the one kid who tries to dominate the others?) Designs are nice and the music is beautiful, but I couldn't understand the backstory at all -- but I'm sure that gets explained in the later episodes, as our protagonist gets involved with the kids from the school. Futakoi is set in the city of cute female twins! Nozomi returns to the city where he spent his childhood when his father goes to work overseas. He remembers his neighbours of the time: two cute twins whom he promised both to marry... The city is reknowned for its 'Shrine of the Twins' -- it is said that its influence causes many female twins to be born in the city! OK, so this is another slowmance, with younger kids (15 year olds) and the twins are an added twist. I guess the makers wanted to save on character designs, and so they made two of every female in the series. ;) We liked it: the story is reasonably fluffy and fun, and the girls are all very cute. A nice, relaxing anime.
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Don't get your underwear in a wrinkle just yet.
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Last week, I got a new computer at work -- some Dell P4 machine. They must have come pretty cheap to compare favourably with getting separate components. It's a black mini-tower, rather un-inspiring to look at. It took me the better part of the afternoon to get it all set up like I wanted, and still it doesn't do everything I want. Luckily, our sysadmins know what they're doing and they're often quick to fix any problems. I also got a new monitor, a beast of an LCD monitor. It runs at a resolution of 1600 x 1200, and the wallpaper that I've been using for the past 5 years is getting stretched too far to be anything but ugly. So I set forth on a quest to find a nice wallpaper at that size, but so far I haven't really succeeded. Does anyone have any hints? The headphones I had were broken as well (one side didn't work anymore), so I bought a new pair as well. I got the cheap Philips ones -- there was a Sony headphone which was twice as expensive, but which was better at the lower and higher tones. I'll be using those headphones to listen to MP3s, so audio quality isn't really a big issue anyway. And to my untrained ears, things tend to sound pretty OK to me while the connaisseurs are cringing. And so, I am once again listening to music at work again. I find that I missed that. However, once again people are asking me questions all the time -- comes with the territory, I guess. This means that I have to give focus to WinAmp and press the pause button (or press 'C' on the keyboard)... I might make me a snazzy WinAmp Port Control to pause it at the press of a button. And later on I might even add an LCD screen to get track information or something like that... Perhaps I'll drop by the Technica for some nice-looking buttons and a nice housing.
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Somehow, we ended up spending most of our weekend in Tilburg... Saturday morning we got up early and went into the city centre for some much-needed shopping. In a week, we'll be celebrating Sinterklaas with my family. With all the stuff going on with the house, we hadn't had time to do serious shopping. So we set forth, and managed to get lots of nice presents. We've ticked off quite a few things from the checklist! We were running a bit late: zolphia had reserved a spot in the Fubmobiel for a ride to Tilburg, for Geekfest VI at luna_puella's place. A bit after the appointed time (12:00) we arrived and once again we set forth.We encountered several setbacks on our way. First, the A2 had been closed off, so we spent quite a bit of time in a traffic jam from Den Bosch until way past Vught. Apart from the 'wave' with cars, traffic jams aren't much fun. Then, we arrived. After a bit of trouble we got to the correct street, and then discovered that we had the wrong house number written down... It took us another 15 minutes of frantic calling to get the right number -- by that time it was way past 13:30... Anyway, I learned some things from Geekfest VI: - Though isabelgou didn't strike me as the type to wear dresses and skirts, she seemed very comfortable in her beautiful skirt. For some reason I really like this photo of her (just ignore the left side of the picture). I guess it's the pose and the light.- luna_puella looks very much like her mother.- Tins can, under the right lighting conditions, look like real pocket watches. - luna_puella has a archetypical younger brother.- Interstella 555 is a cool movie/musical/animation. It's a pity the character designer can draw only three character designs, though -- but that scarcely detracted from the movie. The connection between the music and the movie was completely lost on me, though. - Even if you don't like soccer, you'll love Shaolin Soccer. - Even though they would have rather closed, the snackbar people were remarkably cheerful when taking our orders. They did close shop right after we left, though. - The XBox is a large machine. - I have very little interest in fighting games, though it was kind of fun to duke it out with usmu -- we were fairly evenly matched. (Read: we were both clueless as to what we were doing and proceeded to mash buttons like madmen...)- I suck at FPS games -- especially with convoluted controls like Halo on the XBox. Nico was going easy on me, but I did manage to 'get' him a few times, and that wasn't all just beginners luck. - fluffball and luna_puella weren't as mushy as some feared they would be.- In contrast with previous geekfests, there were more 'smaller' conversations instead of everybody shouting all at once. I find I enjoy the smaller conversations better. Perhaps my age. Anyway, luna_puella and her parents deserve a shout-out for daring to subject their house (and their brandnew couch!) to an invasion of geeks.The next day we went to Tilburg again, this time to visit babarage at her parents' house. She is living with them again, in a renovated monastery. I am completely awed by the house: the rooms are pretty spacious, and the original details that are still present gives the house a very authentic feel to it.xaviar_nl and gertvr were present as well, and after an extensive tour of the house (highlight: the library in the ex-chapel, complete with the table and chairs of the mayor of a neighbouring town) we got to the order of business: games. I had brought Tongiaki, which turned out a remarkably fun and strategic game. I really like the built-in "prisoner's dillemma": you need other players to get anywhere, but you don't want to take 'em all with you on your journey to high-scoring islands. We played it twice, one to learn the rules and once 'for real'. Next was 'Die sieben Siegel', a cardgame that xaviar_nl and gertvr had brought along. That was fun as well, and quite easy to learn.Then it was time for dinner. We were taking part in an experiment: babarage's mother wanted to test several recipes for meze, the Cyprian version of tapas. Most of it was delicious, but the opinions differed on several of the offerings. This worked out nicely: if you didn't like something very much, there was always someone else who would gladly finish that dish while you concentrated on the dish you liked.After dinner we had time for another game: babarage's mom joined us for a game of 'Engel & Bengel', a fast-paced dicing game. The rules are very simple, but allow for quite a bit of tactics. The fact that both rewards and penalties can be earned with a single dice throw is brilliant.We were home far too late, and this morning the alarm went off again... Back into the trenches!
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It is done. Today, the appraisal report came in -- that was the last thing that was needed for the mortgage. There are still two letters to write, but those aren't part of the mortgage approval process.
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A short addendum about my previous rant about the current situation with 'muslim extremism' in the Netherlands. Today on the news, there was an item about a Moroccan guy in the city council of Amsterdam. He said that a large group (Moroccans in the Netherlands) can't be held accountable for the actions of a deranged individual (the guy who popped Theo van Gogh). The de-evolution of our species has progressed so far, that common sense is news.
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Everyone with Dutch people in their friendslist knows that Theo van Gogh has been murdered last week, by a muslim extremist. I refrained from posting about it when it happened, because the reactions were all very predictable and I didn't have anything to add about it. For those of you playing along at home: Theo van Gogh was a Dutch director who was very critical of the Islam. He made some movies about it (that were, in the view of the islam, blasphemous), and he seemed to have pissed off some nutcase with a gun. His murder caused an outrage: basically, consensus seems to be that you are allowed to think and say anything in the Netherlands -- people shouldn't be killed or even prosecuted for their opinion. The pinnacle of free speech. Now, we're almost a week further along, and people are calling for better measures to combat islamic fundamentalism. The odd thing is, that the people who praised Van Gogh for his courage to stand up for his ideas are the same ones shouting for better control of religious fundamentalism. This just doesn't make sense. If you say that everyone should be able to have and voice their opinion, you will have to admit that religious fundamentalism is also an opinion -- an opinion people should be able to have and voice! If there is no such thing as a 'thought police' in the Netherlands, and that fact makes you proud, why would you want to install one? People tend to forget that we have our own brand of religious fundamentalists: the 'black stockings'-churches on the Veluwe. OK, so they are christian fundamentalists, but that doesn't make any difference. Given the chance, they would forbid you to use a bicycle on sundays. Children get told their mother will burn in hell because she wears trousers. These are not cuddly fundamentalists, these are people who would gladly dictate others what they can and can not do, how to behave and what to think. A few years back, a village on the Veluwe was about to get a christian fundamentalist majority in the city council. It was widely understood that if that happened, they would pass a law making it illegal to practice sports on a sunday. We tend to dismiss them, but they are there, in plain view. They participate in the political process (via the SGP, just don't try to reach that website on a sunday!). They think a woman's place is at home. They want their women to wear skirts, not trousers. They are still living in the middle ages. Apparently we think that religious fundamentalism is actually OK -- because hey, everyone is entitled their opinion, right? So why is muslim fundamentalism scary while christian fundamentalism is OK? I don't see the difference much: given half the chance, these people will dictate your way of life to you. And that's OK, because that is their opinion. And, like everyone has been shouting in the past week, opinions are free, there is no thought-police in the Netherlands.
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