2008-05-31 20:17:00
It's no secret that I'm completely and utterly happy with the digital TV setup we have at home. I was overjoyed at the thought of getting DTV when we moved into our new house in 2006. It hasn't let us down since!
But all this wonderful, goody digital-tv-ness has gotten me spoiled ^_^;
Whenever we visit my dad's place and watch the old, analogue TV I'm struck by how grainy and... well... crappy the image looks. And I miss my EPG and other doodads when I'm using a normal TV.
But there's also a downside to our current setup: making recordings. At the mo, Marli's at work and she'll return home around 2200. Because of this, she's had to miss out on I'd do anything and Doctor Who, both shows that we've been following religiously. So to make up for that, I'm recording it all in a thumbtack-and-cello-tape fashion: DTV -> Scart switch box -> Firewire DV converter -> Macbook, running iMovie.
Yes... I really, really wish we had a hard disk recorder like the Samsung that Casema/Ziggo offered in their webshop. It's just that they're prohibitively expensive, ringing in at around 350 euros. Yeah, that's just not worth it to me. So here I am, recording TV at 13GB an hour onto my Macbook =_=;
kilala.nl tags: tv, other tech,
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2008-05-31 10:53:00
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Isn't it weird how sometimes you get cravings for the oddest things? In my case, I'd been craving panfried spam of all things! o_O
I'd been following this thread on the rising sales of spam in the US at Ars Technica, which had quickly derailed into less serious discussion. Oddly though, instead of dozens of people ragging on this lowest of meat-by-products (Goody! Meat-by-products! (this one's for you Menno)), a lot of folks waxed lyrically on their love of spam. People were quick to reminisce the spam-meals cooked in their childhood, or to start drooling about Spam-ghetti, Spam-miches and Spam-fried-rice.
So I just had to make some spam and eggs this morning :)
kilala.nl tags: cooking,
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2008-05-30 20:56:00
Today (or for the USAdians: tonight) my website was down for at least ten hours. The webserver itself was up and running, but the comms with the MySQL backend weren't working at all. Originally I'd assumed that the Dreamhost box my database runs on was dead, but oddly enough it was alive all day.
After some troubleshooting together with the DH team (who took their sweet time in answering my first e-mail), we found out that there were DNS issues. Apparently the requests regarding my database server were -very- slow, causing MySQL and such to time-out. Maybe it was related to the SIDN snafu last night?
Anywho... I'm up and running again, with a few improvements under the hood. This downtime has forced me to add some error reporting and few other niceties that ought to make my site a little more secure.
Now... Homework... ^_^
kilala.nl tags: website,
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2008-05-29 06:30:00
* On the 24th, we'd been married for four years.
* On the 28th, we'd been together for eight years.
* On the 28th, Marli officially got her one-year contract at the NS.
\o\ Hooray! /o/
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2008-05-23 19:20:00
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It took me long enough! |
Now that the movie's done, I feel relaxed and touched (emotionally, that is). I feel happy :) That's a good start to an evening filled with homework!
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2008-05-23 11:18:00
Due to a few administrative bork-ups at a higher level, it's been decided that my team at the office needs to move to another building. That's a real shame, because the building we've been in for years is absolutely wonderful. Not only in an architectural and culinary sense, but also in the sense that there's a lot of cool people over there.
Due to some more bork-ups in the delivery of the new/old building we were asked to temporarily move to yet another building. After a lot of hassle and moaning and groaning today's finally the day. We moved to a lovely art deco building in The Hague, whose interior faintly reminds me of my dad's office buildings from the early eighties :)
There's been some griping among the veterans who really, really wanted to stay at the old building. I understand where they're coming from, but personally I don't really mind. I go where the customer wants me to; that's what they pay me for anyway. And $DEITY knows where I'll be in a month or two ^_^
My new desk + chair suck though ;_; They're decrepit and falling apart.
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2008-05-22 21:49:00
Today I took a few hours off from work, so I could go out for an interview at Oosterlicht College high school. I'd seen on their website that they were looking for math teachers and thought I ought to give it a whirl.
Their school is quite large, with around 1800 students at their main location, but I've heard good stuff about them. Besides, the school's been divided into two virtual departments, meaning that I'll only interact with about half of that number of students. In this case the job I'm shooting for is part of the VMBO track (the bottom of three ranks in the dutch high school system).
I had a nice talk with the section chief and the head of the maths team, which lasted for about 75 minutes. I think they were at least moderately interested in having me on their team and we agreed that I'd come and observe the school in full swing RSN(tm). If, after those few hours, I'd still like to work at the OC, then we'll have our official talk about the terms and such. So far, things are looking good :)
I was also reassured that, as a teacher, I wouldn't have to earn a lot less than what I'm getting right now. In the dutch educational system (primary and high school), personnel is divided into four salary groups: LA, LB, LC and LD. As a high school teacher I'd rank in LB, meaning that I'd start out at 2250 euros a month. However, since most schools are willing to match your current paycheck if you're leaving another field, I'd be making more. This would put me over halfway of the salary playing field in the LB class. In the end, this means that I won't be taking a pay cut, but that there is definitely less space for me to grow in the future.
Anywho... I'm quite excited about my first interview in the educational system! I was a bit anxious before we got started, but I soon felt at ease. It was just like any other interview I'd been too. Just a bit friendlier and for once I wasn't the stronger party :)
kilala.nl tags: school, teaching, career,
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2008-05-22 21:11:00
Between our mortgage, my tuition and books in college and my 20% pay cut, things are looking rather good for us. After shuffling things around a little bit we got a E 1900 tax return! o_O
Now -that- will help us fill us the savings account again! That, and it'll partially pay for next year's tuition of course. And with Marli's paycheck thrown in, we might even be able to afford a few days off, somewhere nice :)
kilala.nl tags: money,
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2008-05-19 07:47:00
There are so many reasons for me to be proud of Marli, but these are the chief ones among them.
She -really- loves her new job at the national railways. She shines whenever she talks about the job and it's really up her alley. She enjoys working with people, helping people out and she's also rather proud to be a part of NS.
Between her job and additional exercise that she's getting, she's already lost a whopping 26 pounds! Now, she's still a way off from her ideal weight, but she's already managed to knock down at least a third of the way! Fscking awesome!
Way to go baby! I'm very proud of you! :)
kilala.nl tags: family, health, body, ns,
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2008-05-18 09:01:00
So yeah, I played hooky a bit this weekend. I'm behind on my homework, but we decided to spend a lot of time with friends this weekend anyway. A good thing we did too!
On Friday we went to have dinner with Kaijuu at a wok restaurant in Amersfoort. Since the restaurant is in the same building as the railway station, we took the train (which was a nice change). The food was good, the company was better and I'm glad we got to talk to Kaijuu again. Sure, the last time was only a few weeks ago but it's good to keep your friend close :)
Saturday was rife with household tasks and I even managed to get some homework done before Peter and Wendy turned up. While they played Mario Party 8 with Marli, I fixed us all dinner (which was well-received; yay!). I finally showed them all my photographs from the trip to Japan and we ended the evening with some Wii Sports. The folks in the Ars gaming forum weren't lying when they said that casual or even non-gamers love those games! ^_^
Oddly enough, this morning I woke up hyperventilating. The last time was around four months ago, so my track record is improving ^_^; I guess this time it was due to my realization that I was way behind on my homework again. Instead of grabbing for the plastic bag, this time I mentally told the hyperventilation to go fsck itself and I fell back asleep. Nice!
Now... To wake up a little and then to tackle my big reading list for tomorrow!
EDIT (29/05):
Ironically, not two weeks later I woke up with that nasty, burning sensation again. This time it might've been due to me sleeping under my winter covers in summer though... *shrug*
kilala.nl tags: friends, hyperventilation,
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2008-05-14 21:08:00
Wow, I am -beat-! =_=
The 1.5 hours I spent at the Banenmarkt at college really took it's toll on me :) It was a great gathering and I managed to speak to everyone I wanted to just barely within the time limit.
I dropped off a total of eight resumes, spoke to reps of eleven schools and have a few very good prospects. I also spoke with folks from three other educational organisations and their information was rather valuable as well (such as the perfectly swank Het Utrechts VO in kaart booklet).
A few reps seemed moderately positive about my suggestion of combining a teaching position/internship, with a full-time supporting role at their school. So that's a good sign :)
Right now, while I am still able of forming coherent sentences, I'm making sure I get all their contact info into my address book, so I can't lose it. After that I'm off to bed... I need some sleep...
kilala.nl tags: school, career, teaching,
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2008-05-14 09:27:00
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An ironed shirt, a stack of resumes and a pouch of calling cards... This can only mean one thing! We're going networking again! ^_^ |
As I mentioned earlier, I'm on the lookout for a real teaching position. I need the experience and I'm anxious to try my hand at a steady teacher's job. So, while I will definitely grasp any internships I can get, I will be on the prowl for fulltime jobs. Or at least to get my name out there.
This is going to be interesting! :)
kilala.nl tags: school, career,
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2008-05-12 15:27:00
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We still had a small bag of candy left from our visit to the cinema on Saturday evening. This bag was left on the backseat of our car, while we were visiting Marli's mom'n'stepdad on Sunday. Upon arriving home last night, the above is what we found ^_^
That's what you get when you leave a bag of candy frogs, candy cherries and jellybeans in a hot car :D It looks fscked up, but it's actually quite tasty! Yes, of course we tried some!
Here's another view of the contraption.
I've learnt one thing from all of this! No matter how candy frogs are aligned in a bag, when they melt all the white stuff floats to the top and the green stuff floats to the bottom. Now -that- is science! /o/
kilala.nl tags: art, cooking, weird, photos,
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2008-05-12 08:40:00
Just so you guys don't think we've been playing with our new Wii all weekend: we haven't :)
On Saturday I did the usual groceries and then spent most of my time -waiting- for the Wii to arrive :p Setting it up was rather easy, though I had to spend at least an hour fighting the Wifi settings. In the end it turns out that I forgot that I had MAC address filtering turned on, on our Airport Express base station. So all my struggling with the Wii were caused by me forgetting one simple setting ^_^;
The Wii itself is great. Just like everyone else, we've been having loads of fun just making new Miis. It's silly how much fun that is. We've also been playing Mario Party 8, which IMHO is one of the better installments of the series. At least it's better than MP5, or MP6 :D Also, the Wii Shopping Channel is a bit too addictive for me... So far I've bought two classic games that my mom used to like as well: Bubble Bobble and Kirby's Adventure.
Saturday evening was well spent with our bestest friend Menno :) We had a quick dinner at Burger King and then proceeded to our favourite cinema, Cinemec to see Iron Man. I'd been looking forward to this movie for ages and luckily it came through on its promis! Robert Downey Jr is a great Tony Stark and the special effects were great. The design of Iron Man looks great and the CGI looks damn near realistic!
On Sunday we went to visit my in-laws in Friesland. We did nothing special; just a nice hot afternoon in the yard. Dirk had the greatest barbecue meats though, as we're used to from him :)
Now that it's Monday I really ought to get my ass in gear and get started on that pile of homework. I haven't done anything in the past two weeks and it's starting to show D:
kilala.nl tags: family, wii, friends,
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2008-05-10 11:25:00
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*squeel* |
Soooon, my precious... Ssssoooon!
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2008-05-09 14:04:00
Well, I'm sick to my stomach after confirming our purchase, but it's done: I've ordered a Nintendo Wii, plus some accessories. That always happens to me! Whenever we purchase something that we've wanted for a while, but it's bloody expensive, I get sick to my stomach of guilt. Guilt, guilt, guilt... :/
Anywho, let's thank Marli's big, fat paycheck for this! /o/
Without it, we couldn't do this AND pay our debts...
kilala.nl tags: wii, games, money,
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2008-05-09 06:51:00
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A few days ago I mentioned last season's series Dennou Coil (Wikipedia) in my Ak8 report. As I wrote in said report, I'm absolutely in love with the anime and it's clearly worked its way into my Top 5 of favourite shows. It's endearing, it's full of adventure, it's exciting and now it even has sadness. |
If you haven't seen it yet, here's the show's opening and the trailer.
DennouCoil.flv
kilala.nl tags: anime, tv, japan,
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2008-05-06 22:27:00
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For a few years now I've been using Technorati tags on my website. |
kilala.nl tags: internet, geeky, website,
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2008-05-06 21:51:00
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A few weeks ago I wrote about my research on Euclid, the ancient Greek mathematician. Said research wasn't anything noteworthy, just something to form a basis for a biography written for a school assignment. |
Mr Fitzpatrick's book can be downloaded for free as a PDF, but you can also buy a printed version from Lulu.com. Lulu.com allows you to publish your own books at a very low price, which many academics and aspiring authors put to good use. $27 (including S&H) bought me a beautiful, hard cover book with an accessible translation of Euclid's Elements. The sleek, black cover looks quite nice and the fact that the book is printed on A4 paper makes it very easy to read.
Now... I shot some video while leafing through the book, just to give you an impression. The video came out a bit blurry, but that's what I get for using my compact camera under fluorescent lighting ^_^;
Euclid.mov
kilala.nl tags: school, awesome, internet, maths,
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2008-05-05 11:17:00
Oh darn... I forgot that today all the shops in town would be closed, due to a national holiday. And I didn't get any groceries before we headed off to Anime 2008 either. This is going to be troublesome, 'cause tomorrow I'm expected at the office... How're we gonna do this? *ponders*
EDIT @1240:
My bad... Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day) isn't a day off -every- year. I got our groceries :)
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2008-05-05 10:55:00
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Well, we're back! We slept for ten hours straight after coming home from our exhausting weekend. Anime 2008 ended about eighteen hours ago and as far as I know everyone's safely at home again. |
Convention report for Anime 2008.
My photo gallery for Anime 2008.
kilala.nl tags: anime 2008, anime 200x,
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All content, with exception of "borrowed" blogpost images, or unless otherwise indicated, is copyright Thomas Sluyter.
