Oktober 2002

Almost there

Wednesday already. I've taken friday off, spending the day shopping in Amsterdam. So only one more day and it's practically weekend. Sigh. Because of the wintertime thing, it's already dark when I go home now. Though I don't mind the dark, or the increasing cold, but it's getting more difficult to stay in a good mood. I find certain thing annoy me a lot more. Like walkmans that are on too loud a volume. And it's always playing some ghastly R&B album. Or people who don't give up their seat for the blind guy, who always gets on the same bus as I do. I just don't get that.

Other stuff » The Sex Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols" was released 25 years ago today. Yahoo! is switching to PHP. Photoshop Phriday is really hilarious. Don't think I've ever seen the movie The Dead Zone, which I'm reading at the moment. Maybe I can rent it after I've finished the book. See how it compaires.

Misc

It's hard. My internal clock is still on summertime. I awoke too early this morning, after which my brain concluded that it must have been weekend and I could sleep in. When the alarmclock finally started doing it's job, it was too late and I was in a deep sleep. It then took to long to return to normal. I hate wintertime.

The Register has an interesting article about Banks and Browsers. Here's a link to the beta version of the new W3C HTML Validation Service. And I rather enjoyed this article about an Englishman's Difficulties with the Dutch

Storm

Check out a number of past online hypes at Nerd cult. Wintertime has begun last night, meaning the clock went back one hour at 03:00. Also, a storm is currently raging on our coast. Gusts of wind at 130 km/h, wind-force 11, and rain ofcourse. Oh, did I mention how impressed I am with the B2 PHP/MySQL blogging tool? Well, I really am. Seriously thinking of switching.

The horror

Just when you think things can't get any worse, they make a sequel to Analyze This, called Analyze That. Sigh. One was more than enough. Dear god.

Hacked?

I fear Blogger has been hacked, some of my settings have changed. Hmm. Not good.

Update: I was right. There's more on Slashdot.

Friday. Sigh.

After months of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queens of the Stone Age, Cake and other 'alternative' music, we've now added Bach to the playlist, here at work. It's actually quite soothing. Why o why didn't we think of this any sooner. Anyhow, today has been rather hectic, working on a few different projects, most of which have urgent deadlines. Not exactly what I prefer on a friday. Sigh. But it's almost weekend, so I have plenty of time to recuperate.

How much?

Throughout the ages, man has pondered the question, "How Much Is Inside?" And did you realise we're celebrating the official date for Biblical creation of the world today. Really. Archbishop Ussher (1581-1656) said so.

Software

I'm catching up on my reading, and found a number of interesting links. Cloudmark SpamNet is a freeware spam filter for Outlook. Fresh UI, allows you to configure and optimize your Windows system. And my favourite is RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, which is now available.

Cale

I just dug up Naturally, after not having played it for a number of years. J. J. Cale is so laid back. Perfect for a bit of reading on a slow sunday evening.

Also, I got a call earlier, to let me know that Anathema are playing Tivoli (Utrecht) on December 12th. If I wanted to come. How could I not. So after a too long a time of hardly any concerts, I now have 2 lined up.

Shopping

Here's a collection of cover scans, where I found the Pixies, which I was looking for. Thought you might like it.

I just got back from Leiden, with a new pair of army boots. It's strange. They don't bend in the places I expect them to. But the leather has to soften first. It'll take time. Must be patient... I also bought Pizza Connection 2, which was only € 4,99. So I think I'm going to install that now. Oh, almost forgot. I bought Satriani's new DVD, Live in San Francisco, shared 50-50 with my brother.

Natte voeten

Had ik al verteld dat het rechter exemplaar van mijn kist lekt? Ik wist dat het er ooit van moest komen, maar het is toch erg treurig. Ze zijn iets meer dan 6 jaar oud, want ik heb ze september van 1996 gekocht. Ik weet het nog, want ik zat toen in het eerste jaar van mijn HBO opleiding. Jeetje, wat gaat de tijd toch hard. En nu zijn ze dus eindelijk lekker gelopen. Veters strikken gaat mega-smooth, dat was in het begin namelijk wel anders. En nu moet ik nieuwe. Want je kunt beter niet riskeren te lang door te lopen met natte voeten. Dat is niet goed, wist mijn moeder mij namelijk te vertellen. Dus moet ik er toch aan beginnen. Zaterdag dan maar even naar Labrujere (de plaatselijke legerdump). Hopen dat het niet te druk is. Alhoewel, het is natuurlijk wel een zaterdag. Zucht.

Contact

Quite a busy day today. A long list of minor things to do on a number of different projects. Found out yesterday my brother's found a place in Leiden to live. He can move in next month. So he'll be moving out. Strange. We've all lived in this same house most of my life, you see. My parents moved here when I was just a few months old.

But change can be good, and we're getting too old for living with 'the parental unit', as we tend to call them. I'm going to set things in motion for finding my own place soon too. Don't even want to think how we'll divide our DVD collection. Sigh. I did get an e-mail from an old friend (Hi Bart!) from whom I hadn't heard in ages. Nice to catch up. I'm lousy at staying in touch. Maybe it'll get better with time. Or maybe not.

Kabinet Balkenende gevallen

Formeel wordt de situatie woensdagmiddag nog in de ministerraad besproken, maar door de uitspraken van Zalm en het vertrek van Bomhoff is het al duidelijk wat de uitkomst van dat beraad zal zijn. Balkenende zal het ontslag van zijn kabinet, dat 22 juli aantrad, aanbieden aan de koningin. (bron Nu.nl) Kunnen we fijn weer met z'n allen naar de stembus. Zucht.

Update: more info on CNN and Volkskrant.

Into the lens

Leiden on camera. Sometimes I see a photoblog, that makes me wish I had a camera. And a talent to use it. Sigh.

Friday misc

There's an interesting article called Spam Solutions on the WebReference website. Glad it's friday, getting out of bed this morning was almost too much to handle. I need more sleep! I believe we're going to our favourite Greek restaurant tonight. Which I'm looking forward to, because we haven't been there in ages. And I also believe that I have to drive us back after dinner. I haven't driven in almost two weeks, you see, and that's not good when you've just gotten your license. Hope all goes well.

Fresh

Phiffer.com is pretty. And quite refreshing after thousands of lineair blogs.

Reading

I made a start on Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. But that's not really suited for short reads in public transport, so I've been looking for something else. I'll save the Guide for a later date. I started on Anatoli Rybako's Deti Arbata, but that too wasn't quite what I was looking for. Another one for the long list of stuff I still want to read. So I did another round through the house and stumbled upon Stephen King's The Dead Zone. For reasons unknown to me, King is perfect for public transport.

Winter!

It was only 3.7°C when I left for work this morning! I could see my breath. I can feel winter coming. I can smell it. I love it!

Anyhow, here's a review of the Phoenix 0.2 Web Browser, which is a Lean, Mean Mozilla. I haven't tried it out yet, but I sure am going to.

QotSA

When I first found out about Naar voren, I thought it was going to be a cheap A List Apart rip-off. But the archive is growing and it's actually quite good. Oh, did I mention I bought the Queens Of The Stone Age latest album, Songs for the Deaf? I downloaded it, but since it's really good, and a few of my MP3s were crappy, I decided to do the right thing and buy it.

Danzig & Opeth

Danzig is to play the Melkweg on November 20th. Something to keep in mind. And I'm really excited to read the following. The release date for Opeth's new album "Deliverance" is confirmed for the 4th of November! Can't wait. It's the first part of the upcoming double release. Part two will be called "Damnation" and will follow with a March 2003 release.

In memoriam

Prins Claus is zondag op 76-jarige leeftijd overleden in het Academisch Medisch Centrum in Amsterdam. Hij stierf om zeven uur 's avonds in het bijzijn van koningin Beatrix en zijn drie zonen Willem-Alexander, Johan Friso en Contantijn. Claus overleed aan de ziekte van Parkinson in combinatie met een longontsteking. (bron: de Volkskrant)

Meer info op nu.nl/claus, koninklijkhuis.nl en CNN.com

Song of the moment

Del Amitri - Nothing ever happens

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all

The needle returns to the start of the song

And we all sing along like before

And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

Friday

Friday already. Pleased to see the busses were driving as they should, this morning. Wednesday was pure horror. It took me ages to get home, because of Leidens Ontzet. I daren't risk it yesterday, so I decided to take my bike. It's only 9 km. Ofcourse it had to rain most of the day. Isn't that always the case?

Chaos

Found another interesting CF article, entitled Using Inheritance and Composition in ColdFusion Components. We've had some switching of offices yesterday, so everybody is still trying to adjust to the new situation. Strange. Also, public transport is chaos at the moment, because of Leidens ontzet. On the third of October 1574, after months of hunger, illness and starvation, Leiden was finally released by the Dutch rebel army. The third of October (Leidens Ontzet) is still a day that is celebrated by the inhabitants of Leiden by an enormous fair in the centre.