Dreams Unlimited©

Diary

archives

A list of recent thoughts, things I saw or things I spotted on the Net, things that excite me (Uuh, baby!) or upset me, stuff I hate or love or in any other way find worth the trouble of blogging right here for your entertainment or interest and my archive. ;)

	Friday, December 31 Happy New Year! #Posted by Dreams on 21:13 Happy New Year to you all! We're off to a New Year's party at Martin in Utrecht. it promises to be as cool as last year! Pictures later... have fun, stay cool and be careful! See ya!
	Thursday, December 30 Washer and drier but no 'net access #Posted by Dreams on 06:20 It's too bad we don't have net access yet, we've got pretty pictures... But we do have washer and drier now!
	Sunday, December 26 Moving has succeeded #Posted by Dreams on 13:35 :yawn: All is well. All our stuff is over except things from my current room. We're off to fetch them now...
	Saturday, December 25 Merry Christmas! #Posted by Dreams on 08:11 The moving has begun, people. Merry Christmas! LOL
	Friday, December 24 The eye of the storm #Posted by Dreams on 22:59 It is now t minus 8 hrs before we move. Moving on xmas, that's gotta be some kind of first. We'll see... (Actually, friends of mine in Amsterdam told me that people in their street we also moving on this day, so nothing special. Oh well.)
	Wednesday, December 22 Snowbombing! #Posted by Dreams on 23:11 Looking for a cool place to go and super cool things to do this winter? Check out Snowbombing 2005. Snowboarding, house music, cool people, snowbunnies, drinks, snow and more... Where's the bus?! :D
	Tuesday, December 21 Net worm using Google to spread #Posted by Dreams on 23:59 ZDNet reports a worm that is using Google to gain access to phpBB forums. If you are subscribed to one, you maybe next. About 40,000 sites may already be infected. You can check if your site is infected by searching for the string "NeverEverNoSanity" and some keys from your forum. There are about 6 million sites running phpBB but not all versions are affected...
	Sunday, December 19 Bubblelicious #Posted by Dreams on 14:09 The Bubblelicious party by Try-Out was absolutely excellent!!! My friend Martin went to Innercity, and he and the others were dearly missed, but it was a great night. Lots of pink ladies, treats and cool music and outstanding atmosphere! Petra will have pictures soon... There are pictures already at www.party-picture.com en www.partyfotografie.nl, but they're not nearly as nice as Petra's photos! ;) You'll see!
	Saturday, December 18 TRY Out Presents: Bubbelicious ! #Posted by Dreams on 21:08 Tonight, after a day of churning and working in a coal mine ;) Petra and I are going to Bubbelicious!. She was invited to make pictures and got us in for free. Excellent!
	Friday, December 17 Laminaat #Posted by Dreams on 20:16 The final countdown has started for Petra and me. 8 more days 'til we move... Today, I cleaned the house. I rented a special vacuumcleaner for construction debris and dust, and did the whole house in a couple of hours. All the floors were also done with a wet towel and everything was removed from all the floors. The virginly clean, OR-like rooms are now ready for Laminaat. Saturday, 6 friends will come to help us out. Together, we can hopefully finish all rooms but one. Next week Tuesday, one final wall (in the kitchen) will be replastered and fortified. It has been greatly deteriorated over the years. Once that is done, the last room (our master bedroom, of all the rooms!) can be wallpapered, painted and finished!
	Wednesday, December 15 Panasonic announces 3MP mobile phone sensor #Posted by Dreams on 17:15 After LG, Panasonic now also announces 3 Mpx mobile phone sensor, DPReview told me. "In order to achieve the compact camera module, PSCDS integrated the sensor, an imaging digital signal processor (DSP), and the lens unit with an infra-red (IR) filter, in a three-dimensional electronic circuit board using Molded Interconnect Device (MID) technology. This integration allows high quality pictures with reduced ghosts and flares in the industry's thinnest camera module."
	Christmas Dinner with Richard in Scallywags the Restaurant #Posted by Dreams on 15:44 Last night, Richard invited us for an early Christmas dinner in his restaurant Scallywags in Den Haag. He'll leave for Beirut again soon, where he will open his new restaurant: Scallywags Beirut. Petra and I hauled ourselves over there, after a long day of working in the house, and took our friends Karin & Richard with us. It was absolutely lovely and very cozy and intimate. Richard's friend Adrian was there too, to make us cocktails... very nice, indeed! Thanks Richard, Adrian and Karin & Richard for a night to remember!
	Tuesday, December 14 House is in final approach #Posted by Dreams on 15:14 Our house is nearing completion. There is still quite a bit to do, but if all goes well and our help won't fail us, we can move in on Christmas Day. That'll be weird! Before then, Petra and I will try to get all the walls painted and ready. Last week, we put up glassfiber and "rauhfaser" wallpaper and painted all window sills, closets and radiators. This week, the bathroom and toilet will be completed. So we can enjoy our own toilet again (thanks to the neighbors for the occasional hospitality!). The tiles and ceramic look very nice. It's good to see something done in the house. There is no end to the mess... But until then, I have to take the old plaster down from a deteriorated wall and dump all the garbage from the house. My dad will help on Thursday with it. They'll also deliver our laminate floor. On Friday, we'll clean up the house and get ready for the weekend. On Saturday, Sjoerd, Marc, Isa, Rob, Michiel and Natalie will come and help us put in the floors. Keeping my fingers crossed. Then, next week, it's to finish off all left overs. Perhaps some painting here and there. Some final sheets of wooden laminate. Window cleaning... all that.
	Monday, December 13 My grandfather's birthday #Posted by Dreams on 14:49 Today, my grandfather turns 90 years old. He's still going strong but the body is showing signs of old age more and more clearly. Recently, he's had terrible pains due to congestion, a life-long trouble he's been living with. Now his intestines are narrowing and an operation at this age is probably more bad than good. So he will try and control it with medication. But things like this show up more often now. Little things, harmless to you and me, are suddenly nerve-wrecking at his age. I hope it will all go well and settle before New Year's.
	Sunday, December 12 LinkedIn looks to premium services for profit #Posted by Dreams on 15:59 LinkedIn looks to premium services for profit: "Possible premium options include a better tool for finding job candidates and a more efficient way to find people who can comment on a potential hire or business partner, according to the company. [...] Job seekers at LinkedIn can find both openings and insiders who may be able to help them land a position. And recruiters can discover promising job candidates along with people who might be able to provide an assessment of the candidate. "I think all business should happen through trusted referral," LinkedIn Chief Executive Reid Hoffman said."
	Saturday, December 11 Thir13en Ghosts (2001) #Posted by Dreams on 23:11 Just waiting for Petra to get home, sipping a cocktail and watching Thir13en Ghosts (2001)... sooo cool! Reminds me a bit of Cube, but less far-fetched. Instead of a hypercube somewhere out there, this is in a house that somebody inherits. Coool! Saw Hocus Pocus earlier this evening. Awesome movie with great actors, amazing make-up and wardrobe. Soo much Halloween fun, a true kids'story (by Disney, of course).
	Women Online Have New Tech Attitude: More Grrrls #Posted by Dreams on 16:59 An Intel study reports that more women that expected tend to go towards technology afterall, contratry to some popular belives out there. These TIFs (Technology Involved Females) :) will also lead to young girls with that favor, they say. So it will all work out! :) "As women, we want our computers to be like that favorite 'little black dress' - reliable and functional, there when you need it, and readily accessorized to be as individual as you are." ROFL Heck, I don't mind, I love my Grrl! (She still has to earn the 3rd 'r' though! ;) And I always drool over the little black dresses. The more, the better!
	Performance and Stress test of Seagate ST1 1-Inch Hard Disk #Posted by Dreams on 16:51 Curious about the performance of the new ultra-small hard disks aka MicroDrives? Read the Seagate ST1 1-Inch Hard Disk Drive Review. Conclusion? "We have just seen that [the ST1] successfully outperforms its No.1 competitor ? Microdrive storage solution from Hitachi, not to mention the GS Magicstor." :respect:
	Thursday, December 9 Victoria's Secret #Posted by Dreams on 23:08 Victoria's Secret... hmm, very nice indeed, but it's still a bit cheap somehow. I don't know why. Like DKNY vs H&M. That's like Victoria's Secret vs Wolford... or is that just me? But I love both their models!!! My god! Give my strength! ;)
	More dinners at Scallywags #Posted by Dreams on 14:55 Since Richard came back from Beirut, where he is opening the new restaurant "Scallywags Beirut", I find myself in Scallywags the Restaurant more often than not. No big deal, the place is still cool, the atmosphere is still great, the food is still outstanding and Richard brought back some new flavors and ideas from Beirut. Hmmm, yummie for my tummie! The spices go well with fish but also chicken! You must try it!
	Siemens has 1 Gbit/s "WiFi" #Posted by Dreams on 11:16 "Siemens today announced that researchers at the Siemens Communications Group department have developed wireless technology capabale of speeds up to 1 Gbit/sec", MobileTracker reports. They do this by using three transmitting and four receiving antennas, instead of just one for both sending and receiving in current designs. Siemens also uses the OFDM protocol to send data of the wireless links.
	PalmSource announces Linux support for Palm OS #Posted by Dreams on 10:48 PalmSource announced they're going to extend Palm OS to run on top of Linux. Why? Because they believe Linux will power more and more handheld devices (PDAs, phones, microwaves, DVD recorders, HiFi sets, Media Centers, etc.) and Palm can benefit from this simple and easy to understand User Interface (UI). Linux has a special version for low resource platforms and they believe that the presence of a robust, stable, easy to use interface will only increase the platform's popularity and accelerate the process. Note that this does not mean that Palm OS will become open source...!
	Peper Removal #Posted by Dreams on 00:18 It seems that an underground movement is attempting to remove Peper from this world... I must say that I am not amused! Let me tell to whomever is running this guerrilla movement that any attempt to do so is futile and will be met with fitting responses by me or my family!!!
	Wednesday, December 8 Thunderbird v1.0 has been released #Posted by Dreams on 23:37 Thunderbirds are go! Last monday (jeez, I'm so slow!) Thunderbird 1.0 has been released! This extremely good Email and News (nntp) reader (like Outlook Express but safer) has reached production stage. It features an RSS reader, Baysian trainable spam filter, common inbox for all your Email accounts (very cool) and there's even a cross-platform calendar for all those Outlook junkies at work! ;) If you're thinking about ditching Outlook on your home PC or laptop, be sure to give it a try. Installation automatically adpots your settings, so you're up and running in a jiffy! (At least, I was...)
	Parents visit Den Haag #Posted by Dreams on 23:04 Today, my parents, just back from France, came over to Den Haag to visit our new house. They loved it! My mom also wanted to go Scallywags the Restaurant, to see why I spend so much time there and cooking with Richard
	Europe: Maps, Countries, Landforms, Rivers and Information pages #Posted by Dreams on 22:21 How many people live in Europe? How many in France? Germany? Netherlands!? What's that country's area? Ever need to know something like that, check WorldAtlas
	Monday, December 6 Pictures from Anniversary Dinner @ Scallywags the Restaurant #Posted by Dreams on 23:04 I finally edited the pictures I took at the Anniversary Dinner @ Scallywags the Restaurant, last wednesday. The quality of the pictures was very low because I was busy cooking, making sure everyone had drinks or water and talked to everyone. Goes to show you should always concentrate on what you're doing! :) But I'm glad I have at least soem photos :) I had a great time and enjoyed seeing everyone again after quite some time.
	Weather Data Available in XML #Posted by Dreams on 20:55 Finally, someone with some sense in there heads... I've always been interested and fascinated about weather. I've even kept charts 3x a day of temperature, pressure and humidity. I wanted to beceome a meteorologist for years (until computers came around: CMB64!). Now, "the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week began providing weather data in an open access XML format. Previously, the data was technically available to the public, but in a format that's not easily deciphered." Why is this significant? Well, for most people it won't. But many people use weather charts on their web pages or check weather info on TV, mobile phone or the web. However, you are always stuck to the data they provide you with. With this XML service you can create you're own chart, graph, even maintain your own local data store for weather near you... not them. :) B) Cool!
	FireFox... to go! #Posted by Dreams on 20:40 If you frequently use Forefox but often from different computers and have a difficult time keeping settings and extensions the same in all places, look no further! PortableFirefox is a custom package that installs well on USB drives, mp3 players, CompactFlash cards and CD-RWs (using the infamous Packet Mode). Just install the ZIP file onto your favorite portable device and you're done. There is even a Portable Thunderbird! This let's you take your Email program anywhere you go, including all settings, accounts, passwords (caution!) and local folders. Extremely highly recommended!
	Sunday, December 5 Sinterklaas! #Posted by Dreams on 11:54 5th of December is the celebration of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands. A saint who used to give presents to poor children. A tradition that still holds although Xmas is taking over a little bit here and there. :) This year, I'm celebrating it at Petra's house in Leiden and everyone is coming there instead of we going to them...
	Wallpaper #Posted by Dreams on 11:51 Today, we finally started putting up wallpaper. At least, kind off. Glassfiber wallpaper can be used to fortify loose walls or plaster. So all our ceilings that aren't freshly plastered (all except the livingroom) will be done with glasfiber wallpaper. All the other rooms will be given a fresh layer of Rauwfaser wallpaper. Both will then be covered with latex paint. So there is still plenty to do... Big thanks to Marianne and Petula for lending a hand! :applause:
	Friday, December 3 Sofie wins Elite Model Look #Posted by Dreams on 20:22 Just found out that Sofie won the Elite Model Look. She is a 14 year young albeit gorgeous girl from Harderwijk. Wow, I am really getting older...
	Wednesday, December 1 Academy 2 year Anniversary #Posted by Dreams on 23:52 Today is the 2 year anniversary of my EPO training academy. On that day, 35 complete strangers were thrown into a classroom and thought legal and technical aspects of Patent Law. We were 2 Duch guys, 17 nationalities and 35 individuals. It was hard, it was long but we had so much fun too! To celebrate their 2 year survival period in the Netherlands (not all are still here), I organised a dinner in Scallywags - The Restaurant in Den Haag. Richard, just back from his new Beirut restaurant, and I cooked for the group and we talked, laughed and filled the gap since my departure from the EPO. I also invited Marc, who was confirmed today at the EPO too. I encouraged him to apply the EPO and be an Examier, because I thought he'd better at it than I am...
	Bathroom #Posted by Dreams on 15:27 Today, people took the first steps to getting our bathroom straight. All the mess was already out, and the "stuccadoors" evened out the walls so that the titles can easily be applied. Two stressy things turned up, though. One, I had left in the old radiator. I figured they'd take it out when the new one came. But of course, they needed access to the wall behind it now. D'oh! A few quick calls to the plumber straightend me out: I vented the whole system again, took the radiator down, added some plugs and filled the heating system up again. We needed the heat to dry the walls and later the floor... The other thing was a thight spot for the shower drain... in this old house everything was kinda put somewhere without too much planning effort, so cables, electricity, drains, watersupplies all are mangled underneath the floor in seemingly random manners. There was no room for the new drain. Solution? Put it in anyway and raise the floor 5 cm extra...