Augustus

Today is August 1st, in pagan times known as Lughnasadh. Falling midway between Summer Solstice and Autumnal Equinox is the cross-quarter holiday of Lughnasadh, which is the first in the trilogy of harvest festivals, Lughnasadh, Mabon and finally Samhain. It is at the time of Lughnasadh when the days suddenly seem to shorten and the nights grow longer. Weather has turned from warm and tropical into rainy and windy. But I don't really mind. Atleast I can think again. The intense warmth has passed and will, hopefully, not come back. Though summer is not officially over yet, I can feel autumn setting in.

I just heard that my site was on number 58 in the Nedstat Basic Top 1000, this morning. It's on 77 now. I wonder what happened? But cool I'm up to that level. Wow. And I never even knew.

Yep. You might have noticed, if you've been here before. The look has changed once again. A fresh design for this new weekend. It's poetically called Orangedrab, as that is the name of the greenish colour I used. The previous one can still be chosen at the Change Style page, though. It's the one from the Bluerobot gallery. Anyhow, I'm going to log off now. I can do it. I can...

I read the latest Suske en Wiske this morning. It's a Belgian comicstrip, I used to read growing up. My brother bought number 275 Heilig Bloed recently, to see how much it has changed since we we're young. Quite a bit actually. There are more English terms and Suske even wears a combatpants at some point. Very strange.

Anyhow, I'm actually quite annoyed at the moment. As you may know I'm supposed to start my driving lessons this friday. But when I looked for my letter of confirmation to see at what time I've got to be there, I noticed payment had to be done 4 weeks in advance. I haven't done this, as I wasn't aware of the rule. I don't even know the amount due. Sigh. I hate this. I tried calling, but ofcourse nobody's in on a sunday. I'll try to be patient and call first thing tomorrowmorning.

Houston Chronicle is doing a series on spam. They should take a look at my inbox. It just isn't funny anymore. Meanwhile, I'm trying to find out why MySQL is giving me an error 1067. I hate it when things suddenly stop functioning.

I just called the ANWB, about my driving lessons. I'll receive an invoice in the mail. I'm so glad. I had all kinds of worst-case-scenario's in my head.

In case you need to kill some time, here are 2 cool documents I've been browsing lately » Utilizing XML and XSLT in ColdFusion MX and Converging technologies for improving human performance.

I've had quite a busy day. Didn't get around to reading my zines untill now. But I have found some cool stuff, I wanted to share with you. Howabout

10 Reasons We Need Java 3.0 or Errorwear (embrace your computer problems). Well, it was raining when I left this morning, but the sun is shining now. Excellent timing, as I'm going homeward bound in about 15 minutes.

Bouterdart is darts with gnomes. A bit cruel, but hilarious. YesterdayLand, on the other hand, is nostalgia heaven.

Why didn't I think of looking for this sooner? I bumped into it by accident now » The ER Blog. I admit it, I'm an ER addict, which is probably why I shared this link.

Save Karyn versus Don't Save Karyn. Maybe Karyn should get a job.

The Young Ones Series 1 DVD is high on my wishlist. I've watched the first episode Demolition just last week on television. And even though I've seen it numerous time before, it still cracks me up.

I've finished The Fellowship of the Ring last night and have chosen Mario Puzo's The Godfather as the one I'm going to read next. My brother has bought it in Tunisia, fortunately in English not in French, and was quite enthusiatic about it. And since I love the movies, I thought Why not. When I'll finish it, I'll continue with the Lord of the Rings part 2 and part 3. And after that one, who knows. Oh, probably the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. That has been on my list for ages now.

We -Tjerk and I- just watched Austin Powers in Goldmember [IMDb]. I hadn't seen the previous Austin Powers movies, so I can't tell you if it's better or worse or the same, but I enjoyed it. It certainly wasn't the greatest comedy ever, but there are better ways to spend 1 hour and 45 minutes. Though, being Dutch, I regret the accent of the Dutch character, which switched from a bad German to a strange Russian accent. And why did he keep saying Scheise, which is obviously German and not Dutch. Oh well, I guess we're an easy target, being such a small country and all.

I just got back from my all-day driving lesson. Never knew that simply driving around in a car could be that exhausting. I'm absolutely shattered. Strange. Though I did enjoy myself, the track became quite boring after lap 1000. Glad today is over and done with. My back and legs are killing me, but I am still looking forward to driving in Leiden this monday. First, the bliss of weekend. Ahh.

Although I doubt I'll have much relaxation as my dad chose this weekend to put in the new laminate on my floor. So my room has been cleared out during the last few days and putting everything back on it's place will take up a lot of my energy. I think if I put my head down on something soft now, I'll simply drift of in a very deep sleep. But I was up at 6:10 this morning, and I am really NOT a morning person.

By the way, the new Winamp 3 has been released yesterday. I can't wait to see what's new.

A weird David Schwimmer theme night, last night, as I watched The Pallbearer and Since You've Been Gone, of which the latter was best. I spend most of today putting all my stuff back in my room. Cleaned out all my drawer's and spend quite some time going through a number of old letters and postcards. Sometimes clearing out stuff can take forever, but I got through it and now everything is back in it's place. Well, nearly everything. I did throw out some crap.

Oh, I fell on my back in the garden this morning. That wasn't very nice. I was wearing flip-flops and I placed my foot on an old piece of laminate. Which then glided across the floor, taking me on it's way south. At the end my knee was bleeding, and my legs and back are now quite sore. Not nice at all. So I watched A Walk on the Moon with my feet up, to relax. Hopefully my back is better by tomorrow, since I don't look forward to driving all day, with a bad back.

Oh well, have yourself a good night. I plan to. Think I'll throw some pillows on the couch, maybe watch Zomergasten or continue reading Mario Puzo's The Godfather.

I have been looking for a good online Dutch-English dictionary for ages, but haven't had much luck so far. I did however, just find an online Dutch course for native English speakers at Taalthuis. Cool. In case you have some time on your hands and are interested.

Driving is strange. Yesterday was hard. We drove from 9:00 till 18:30, so I was dead to the world when I got home. Yesterday's instructor went on vacation, so someone else took over today. I have to say, that things have improved. And the hours are better. From 8:00 till 17:00. I even drove home, instead of taking the bus from Leiden Central, so I was home at about 17:10. Much better. I have tomorrow of, to get some rest. I need it, believe me. And I have to catch up on my theory (signs and roadrules and all that), because it's been almost a year since I took my theory exam, so most of the info has disappeared from my brain. Which is a nuissance when you're on the road. Well, I'm going to check my mail and zines. Strange to be unable to do that during the day. I think I prefer going to the office, like I normally do, to this. But it's only another week. Just 5 more days. My exam is next friday at 8:55. But I don't want to think about that right now. Too scary.

Make your own virtual icecream at CyberCones.com. Which is really crappy, and should be a hint of my current mental state. Also I'm quite angry about the whole US versus Europe issue concerning the International Criminal Court in The Hague. But I'm not going to go into that right now. I'm to tired. I'm going to watch some ER. Bye for now.

And more of Life's Unanswered Questions can be found at bored.com. Shame there aren't any answers. Anyhow, no driving for me yesterday. Which was great. It was hard to get motivated again this morning, though. I did okay in the morning, but my afternoon went really bad. Nothing seemed to stick. My brain was full. Or maybe I was just tired. But after a short break, I drove the last hour of the day, and that went really well. Which pleased me, because it's good motivation to continue. But I'll be really happy when it's weekend. And even happier when it's next friday afternoon.

Nua Internet Surveys » For the first time ever, Europe has the highest number of people with access to the Internet. There are now 185.83 million Europeans online, compared to 182.3 million in the US and Canada and 167.86 million in Asia/Pacific.

Logjamming.com has some very good hosting rates. They're actually cheaper than my current host. Hmm. Maybe it's time to switch. Something to keep in mind. Did some more driving today, which is also the 25th anniversary of Elvis' death. Drove to the sea at Scheveningen, through The Hague centre and across the highway to Amsterdam. Through the suburbs and back to Leiden and Oegstgeest again. Can't look at another car. And somehow everything seems to revolve around cars and driving. Even re-runs of The Cosby Show have Denise taking driving lessons. Not to mention Yes' Drama, which we played during dinner, which features the song White Car. Sigh. I'm so glad it's weekend. I'm very tired. In fact, I'm going to stop typing and do something else.

One for my fellow bloggers » 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web over at A List Apart.

I just found out about the new version of phpMyAdmin (2.3.0), which has been released last week.

Can't wait for friday. Then it'll finally all be over. Can't even look at another car, without going mad. No, I'm kidding. But it is far harder then I ever could have imagined. But only 2 more full days of driving. I hope I'll make it. Sigh. It's not fair that getting your license is so much easier in the surrounding countries. Oh, I found an interesting article, about the possible ending of DVD region encoding. Hurah!

Record Labels Sue Internet Providers over Site. Sigh. It's like suing the government for building the road where you had a car accident. Where does this end? Anyhow, another day to relax tomorrow. Then one more day of driving and then my exam early on friday morning. Today went okay, by the way. I'm actually somewhat positive about the coming events.

There's an article on ZDnet about the soon to be released new version of Opera. Sounds great. They've rewritten the rendering engine, and the browser will apparently now be more compatible with the DOM. Can't wait for the release, because exactly those inconsistencies with the DOM kept me from using it more often.

I just found out through weatherpixie (or I could have looked through the window), that it's raining outside. But don't worry, you can still get a tan at CyberTan. And don't forget, free Davezilla!

It was not enough. I failed my drivingtest. Though I'm disappointed, very actually, I've deceided not to let it get to me. There have been far worse things going on in the past year, after all. But as I said, I'm still disappointed. Especially since I've been in the car with my mom, to pick something up, this afternoon. I noticed how many things she didn't do 'by the book'. I feel I also deserve my license. But I'm not going to let it ruin my weekend. Don't even want to think about the € 1.538 I spend on the course already. I know, I'll play something loud and eighties. That always helps clear my head.

Can't wait for the new Queens of the Stone Age album, which is called Songs for the Deaf. The reviews I have read, are all very positive.

All in all, a quiet weekend. Probably needed it after recent events. I did sell my old motherboard. Finally. Timing was great, since I've already spent the money on a number of items from the Large and Displeased catalogues. Maybe a bit of subconsious retail therapy. Who knows. Also watched Donnie Brasco on DVD, from the videostore. Starring 2 of my favourite actors, Johnny Depp and Al Pacino. Great. Oh, and this afternoon calls for another viewing of Lord Of The Rings. I have to get my hands on the DVD, because I have a DivX version, which isn't optimal. But that's okay, atleast I can enjoy the movie. I can't wait for the next on to be released this christmas!

Doing some browsing. Found information on using the Google API with ColdFusion MX and an Xforms tutorial, which are the next generation of HTML Forms. There's are 2 interesting new articles over at webmonkey, entitled Web Standards for Hard Times and ColdFusion MX Overview.

My blogging seems to be infectious » Deep down.

Back at work. Glad I don't have to drive today, I was getting pretty tired of it. My mailbox is full off links to a plethora of sites. Like this one about the Standard Galactic Alphabet from classic game Keen. Or one about an atempt to visit the KPN ADSL website with Mozilla. Don't. You'll get an awful message claiming you need Internet Explorer. A disgrace! And the one I'll leave you with, is the HTML Hell Page.

The new version of Mozilla, version 1.1, has been released just yesterday.

You might want to read The great charade by John Pilger.

I watched an episode of Space last night on Canvas. It was all about how we need to establish ourselves on other planets, through Terraforming. Terraforming is a process of planetary engineering, specifically directed at enhancing the capacity of an extraterrestrial planetary environment to support life. The ultimate in terraforming would be to create an uncontained planetary biosphere emulating all the functions of the biosphere of the Earth---one that would be fully habitable for human beings. There's loads to find about this online, like this Google directory, where I found Red Colony.com, which focusses on making Mars our new home.

One of a hundred things could happen that would make Earth uninhabitable at any moment, and our only sanctuary would be a terraformed Mars. An asteroid collision, volcano eruption, overpopulation explosion, natural resource depletion, ozone layer depletion, nuclear or biological warfare... just a few of the things that could happen leaving the human race with no way out. The survival of the human race is more important than preserving a planet. We must expand from Earth and begin terraforming as soon as possible.

I wonder what the human species will be like after having lived and evolved for generations on completely different planets. Or maybe it'll never happen. Maybe we'll destroy earth long before we get a chance to explore the universe. I wonder.

When despair for the world grows in me

I go and lie down where the wood-drake rests

In his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

That do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.

I come into the presence of still water,

And feel above me the day-blind stars

Waiting with their light.

And for a time I rest in the peace of the world

And am free.

For those seeking to get a new website » there's info on buying standards compliant Web sites at the W3C.

Just got a call from the ANWB, about my next driving experience. Apparently I have to send a few more documents, which I'll do when I get home today. But the good news is that I can take another test mid September. The exact schedule will be send sometime in the next few days. I'm so relieved, because this means I won't have to do another theory exam (if all goes well, that is).

I've never taken Latin (The Italic language of ancient Latium and of Rome and until modern times the dominant language of school, church, and state in western Europe.) at school, which I regret from time to time. But now I've found a site with an online Latin course.

I wonder how often I have to click on NextBlog (which takes you to a random Blogger-blog; cool feature by the way), before I'll get my own blog. Hmm.

De Volkskrant has launched it's new website. Still not valid though. Sigh. Anyhow, I just watched Goodfellas, which I hadn't seen for years. Glad I finally got the chance, because it's a classic.