2008-06-30 19:46:00
Wow, today was hectic! I had planned way too many things in one day, which could only lead to my own frustration. This led to me not paying the proper attention to appointment we had for the baby's third echo, which in turn culminated in a huge row. Hooray for the volatile mix of miscommunication, frustration and hormones. *sigh*
Everything was sorted after a few hours though... Nothing to worry about and we're guessing this'll happen at least a few more times in the next few months. Fun times! ^_^;
kilala.nl tags: family, baby, health,
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2008-06-30 19:40:00
Yesterday was a rather nice and new approach to my birthday gathering. It used to be that we invited the whole bunch to come 'round at the same time as seems to be the tradition in the Netherlands. Family and friends, all together at the same time in the same house.
This time around though, we hadn't planned anything real for my birthday; we were actually planning on either ignoring it or postponing it for a few weeks. Our family had other plans though, so a few folks invited themselves ^_^ Since things were underway anyway, I just told the others to come when it suited them. So instead of having a house chockfull of guests, we now had a stream of people taking turns. That was actually quite nice! :)
It gave us the time to have a chat with Menno and his new girlfriend. It gave us the time to talk the whole baby-deal over with my and Marli's parents. We were able to discuss some important stuff with Marli's brother and I was able to finish off the evening with a showing of Clerks II with some of my good friends.
Thanks everyone! We had a great day :)
kilala.nl tags: birthday, friends, family,
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2008-06-29 00:00:00
Our little girl's expected to "arrive" at the end of September, so time is of the essence here. We only have three months left to get everything in order, which at times can become a little panic-inducing.
Yesterday we went on our first shopping trip, to order things that will take a lot of time in arriving. We headed over to Baby Dump (yes, it's a truly odd name if you think about it) who're very close by, in Utrecht. To get our bearings we made our rounds through the store, not focussing on anything in particular. Funnily enough I immediately stumbled upon a cot that would be ideal for us and Marli agreed. So that's one down!
The cot is part of a rather beautiful bedroom set, called Turijn. Matte white, mixed with mahogany accents and silver handles. Were it not for the silver handles, it would fit perfectly in with the rest of our deco :) Anywho, the whole set costs a whopping 1100 euros (down from 1600 on a sale! WTF!) and we refuse to get the whole set. For starters, we'll be getting a comode for free, since it's the old one that Marli and her brother were changed on 28 years ago. Aside from that we also refuse to pay close to 500 euros for a cabinet, which can be had at Ikea for a fifth of the price!
Now, I mentioned "panic-inducing" before didn't I? The sheer amount of prams, pushseats and carseats is exactly what did Marli in. I have to admit that it all looked quite confusing and none of them looked the same. How on earth would we find the right one?! Well, it turns out that each row actually consisted of only one specific model, with different cots on them ^_^ That takes care of the confusion!
Given Marli's height we immediately settled on a pram by Mutsy, since their handlebars are very easily extendable and they reach to the proper height. In the end we went for a 4-Rider, which in my eyes is a marvelous piece of technology. These days a tech-geek won't have to be bored in a baby shop! There's so much cool stuff in there and it's almost unbelievable how much things have changed in the past twenty years! :)
Anywho... We ordered the cot and Mutsy and they'll arrive in a week or four. In a few weeks my mother will be visiting the Netherlands again and we'd love to take her on another shopping trip! I gather that she's looking forward to that very much and I would really appreciate her input ^_^ I also can't wait to show the Mutsy to her, so can tell if our judgement was alright.
kilala.nl tags: baby,
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2008-06-28 08:20:00
I just read about this at Dark Mirage's blog. I love this idea!
Many of us were in our late teens, early twenties when Nintendo first burst onto the scene with Pokemon in the nineties. Many of us loved the games and some of us (like me and my brother Mistoffelees) also rather enjoyed the TV series and movies. These days we tend to look back on those days with a hint of nostalgia, longing for the days when there were only 151 Pokemon. I had the same with Magic: the Gathering: at one point in time things get too popular and all of a sudden there's a bajillion different cards/characters and the original romance has been lost.
For people like us, Nintendo's come out with a line of t-shirts for the game geek in his twenties/thirties, called Pokemon 151. For now, there's four different shirts but I'm hoping that they'll come out with a few more. I'd really love to get my hands of a few of these shirts though! Maybe I'll commission them from Kaijuu or Niels-sama on their next trip to Japan.
EDIT:
Darn... As Kaijuu points out, even the measurements of the XL shirt are way too small for most Eurofolk and USAdians...
kilala.nl tags: childhood, clothes, geeky, games,
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2008-06-26 19:11:00
Heheh... Ever since we found out that we're pregnant, Marli's been showing more and more of the cliche symptoms. It's odd how those only started now that we actually know about the baby in there :)
A few days ago we experienced the first official hormonal/emotional outburst, which was all sorts of fun. A general confused feeling led to crying, anger and desperation, which I guess is all part of pregnancy. Poor Marli... I can't even begin to fathom what women go through...
kilala.nl tags: baby, body, health, family,
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2008-06-26 19:04:00
Today I got the results of the exams I took on Monday. Geometry 1 came back as an 80%, which is much higher than I'd expected. History 2 came in lower though, at 60%. Ah, I don't care that much since the other grades I got for the course means that I'm still at a solid 70%.
So... There's only one grade that I still need to wait for, the didactical part of Geometry 1. I'm sure that'll come in at 70% or higher, so I reckon it's safe to assume that I've successfully finished my first year in college. These grades will remain valid for seven years, so I can start my second year at any time I'd like.
*sigh* So that's it... :)
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2008-06-26 18:54:00
A few days ago our very good buddy Kaijuu came over for a quiet evening in. He'd brought along Super Mario Galaxy, so we could play a little on the Wii. The first thing that I saw when he came up the stairs though, was the tray of Kopparberg's cider that she he shoved into my hands. ^_^
The guy's such a sweetie! He knows how much I love this stuff, so he went ahead and got a whole tray of the stuff at Ikea :) I really should bring back an assortment of the alco-ciders the next time I go to Finland.
kilala.nl tags: friends, awesome,
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2008-06-23 20:54:00
*sigh* That was it...
Today I had my last two exams of this school year and, barring any mishaps, I won't have to redo them. Meaning that now my college career is officially over... For now. *sniffle* I'll definitely miss it.
Ah... *stretch* I'll be back in a few years; no doubt about that. Now! Off to do some work around the house!
kilala.nl tags: school, career,
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2008-06-22 17:26:00
Meh, this is what I don't like about living in an old appartment! >[
The electric wiring is decrepit because it's never been renewed since the nineteen-sixties. Most of the outlets are without earthing, the housing for the outlets in the walls are coming apart and most of the wiring is old and has gone crooked through all of its use. Some of the switching material is also ancient and is probably from the eighties.
Case in point: the switchbox that connects our washer and dryer to the mains power. It's one of those old dealies, where you pull on a wire to flip the switch. I don't know what happened, but while I was away to pick up Marlijne it seems the thing burnt through D: EEK! I'm glad we didn't come home to a burning appartment!
I reckon I'll replace it on Monday with a simple connection box. We have no need for a switch there and I assume that it's better to have as little moving/open parts in a bathroom as possible.
*sigh* The thing is, I'd love to give the whole house an overhaul, but there's three things keeping me from it.
1. I don't have the required skills to do it myself.
2. Hiring someone to do it costs money that we don't have.
3. The overhaul will require hacking up the walls, which means we'd have to redeco the house as well. More costs that we cannot afford.
I guess we'll have to try and do a few touch-ups here and there in the next few years.
kilala.nl tags: house, problem, other tech,
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2008-06-22 11:47:00
During my stints as a midnight taxi service for Marli, I sometimes run into interesting radio shows. The oddest stuff comes up on the radion after midnight, you know?
One of the more awesome things I've found is the Bommel radio play, which takes me back years and years and is of great nostalgic value to me. You see, my father has always loved the Tom Puss and Oliver B. Bumble ("Olivier B. Bommel" in dutch) stories, written by Marten Toonder. Hence, as a kid I came into frequent contact with Bumble novels and artwork.
While the first Puss & Bumble stories may've been targeted at kids, later episodes were written for adults. These stories usually contain some message of morale, or a hidden social commentary and are quite pleasant to read. I love the way dialogue is worded and how most of the stories exude a leisurely atmosphere.
And now, through the magic of teh Intarwebs and Podcasting I can listen to all of the 100+ radio play episodes, for free :) Now that I'm no longer required to study during my trainrides to work, I can relax with this stuff ^_^
kilala.nl tags: awesome, reading,
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2008-06-21 16:13:00
Today, instead of spending most of my time learning for my geometry test, I read through most of the Least I could do archives. I don't remember where I originally saw their banner, but it was interesting enough to check out :)
LICD so far seems like a damn good webcomic. The pacing is good, the artwork is consistent and the writing is such that just about every comic has a joke inserted in it. The subject matter helps too, given that the authors usually limit themselves to story lines about sex, getting drunk, geeky pursuits and more sex. So if you're not into any of those, steer clear ^_^
I'll definitely be reading this one on a daily basis. Good stuff and it's a worthy addition to the growing list of daily comics I read.
Here's another strip, though it's parked behind a link 'cause it's a bit more... shall we say, R-rated?
kilala.nl tags: comics,
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2008-06-19 06:57:00
Wow, last night's attack was way stronger than the previous ones! I'm very glad that Marli was still awake at the time, so she could talk me through it. Unlike last time I was unable to shrug it off and go back to sleep. I'm actually still feeling the ill effects of the hyperventilation: my muscles are wobbly and my stomach is an utter mess :/
It's obvious that this was brought on by everything that's going on at the moment. My final exams are coming up on Monday, I'm leaving college and I'm going through a lot of hassle with my job(s). In a few days I can tell you more about that last bit, but let's say that not all is "roses and moonlight".
kilala.nl tags: hyperventilation,
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2008-06-16 13:20:00
Wow! These modern ultrasound gizmos are amazing! It's a miracle what you can see with these things! ^_^
Friday we had our first ultrasound at the gyno at the Oudenrijn hospital. She could confirm a lot of good things :)
* We are indeed 26 weeks along.
* The baby's complete: two arms, two legs, a body and a head.
* The organs seems to be developing fine.
* She's got her mother's mouth.
* And as the previous line suggests: it's a girl! /o/
EDIT:
I realise that the above picture is quite abstract :D Let's see how far everyone'll get in decyphering it. First hint: she's lying on her back and the head's on the right side.
kilala.nl tags: baby,
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2008-06-16 08:55:00
Last week we bought something new for Blackie, our cat. Ever since she moved in with us, we've been feeding her water from dishes and bowls. Said water would get refreshed every two to three days, which of course is sub-optimal. We also thought Blackie could and should drink more water, for her own health.
Because she used to love drinking from a running tap and still loves to drink water from "odd" places (like the pitcher I use to water the plants), I bought her a Drinkwell Pet Fountain. This nifty gizmo combines a traditional drinking bowl with a small aquarium pump and an additional reservoir to create a small fountain that resembles a running tap.
Blackie was rather fascinated by her new bowl and spent at least five minutes drinking and sniffing and playing with it. The next morning I also heard sneezes coming from the kitchen, meaning that she's still getting used to the stream of water ^_^
kilala.nl tags: cat,
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2008-06-16 08:07:00
This weekend, our ISP Ziggo (formerly known as Casema) had a catastrophal failure in their infrastructure. It seems that around 300k of their customers were without Internet and VOIP for the duration of the weekend. Ouch! Sucks to be them, especially given all the problems and complaints they've been getting since the merger to become Ziggo.
For us, it was an interesting experience not having Internet access. A few weeks ago I realised how much we rely on web access and we felt it this weekend. No e-mail, no Google Maps, no fan fiction for Marli, etc. For now it seems they're good to go though /o/
kilala.nl tags: internet, problem, geeky,
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2008-06-10 15:34:00
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2008-06-10 12:07:00
It's official, the baby's got a head! /o/
We just had a quick visit to the local maternity clinic to get a first echo of our kid. Since the pregnancy had gone unnoticed up to now, we really needed to know how far along we were.
According to the first, admittedly slightly inaccurate, measurements using the echoscope (that's "ultrasound" for you USAdians) the baby's head measures around 23cm. According to the computer's estimates this coincides with the 25th week of pregnancy.
25 weeks! o_O WTH? So we've been pregnant for about five to six months, without knowing about it :D Later this week we'll get the official measurements and echos, so details will follows.
kilala.nl tags: baby, other tech,
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2008-06-10 10:16:00
Yes, it's true... We're pregnant o_O We just found out this morning and it's a huge surprise. Nevertheless we're -very- happy with it.
Breaking news! Film at eleven!
kilala.nl tags: baby, holy shit, awesome,
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2008-06-08 22:20:00
In general I'm rather indifferent when it comes to football, aka soccer. I really don't care about it and find it a rather boring sport. The fact that all the vedettas are grossly overpaid doesn't help either.
However, from this year on I believe I'm sincerely going to -hate- football. Hate it to my very core. >[
Two floors up from us (with an empty appartment in between for added echo and amplification) lives a family of soccer fans. A family who bring over their eight friends for each match. A family who make use of noise makers, loud stamping and mucho shouting to make sure their Legion (aka the Oranje football team) know that they're supporting them. I think it's great that people enjoy their hobby and that they're really enthused by something... But this? No... Not so happy about it.
I'm praying that none of these football matches in the Euro Cup (or is it World Cup? I really can't be arsed to know!) last until after 2230/2300. If they do, I'm not going to get any fscking sleep ;_;
I'd better go and see how long all this will last. What is it? Two weeks? Three? Five? o_O Fsck!..
EDIT:
In the famous words of Captain Slow: "Oh cock!"
Yes, it's the Euro Cup and the final day coincides with my birthday, the 29th. Great. So these lunatics upstairs will keep it up with their noise makers for three fscking weeks. And it's not that they just make loads of noise when the dutchies made a goal... No, it's during the whole friggin' match and for at least an hour afterwards.
*groan*
kilala.nl tags: annoying, house,
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2008-06-08 16:04:00
"AIEE! Why in the name of all that is holy would women do this to themselves?!", exclaimed my dear wife this afternoon. :D Yes, today she's had her first encounter with an epilator.
As requested, I'd recently bought her a ladyshave/epilady combination. Before, we used to use those chemical depilatories but frankly they're too much of a hassle.
After reading the manual of her new gizmo, Marli'd gotten a little anxious though. Always willing to lend a hand, I provided a demonstration using my own arm. Unfortunately it didn't do much to take away the anxiety ^_^ "Ouch! Ow, ow, ow, fsck, fsck, ow!" Followed by frantic laughter on both our parts. A few strokes of the contraption against her legs made her decide that this is really something better left to the beauty queens. The normal shaving head will do nicely! :)
kilala.nl tags: body,
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2008-06-08 13:51:00
Late last night, after our round of detective series had finished we ran into Ken Russel's Gothic (1986) on the MGM Movie Channel. The hacked movie poster on the left says it all: this must be what an acid trip could be like. o_O
Whimsical WTF-city Batman!
The idea behind the movie is quite interesting though. We all know Mary Shelley and her Frankenstein book, right? What a lot of people don't know is that this book was written after a weird night of ghost stories with Lord Byron, Shelley's husband and a few others. What Gothic does, is take this night, turn it into a movie and twist it into a weird-ass hallucination with conjuring, blasphemy and women with eyeballs for nipples... >_< Yes, it's -that- weird...
I won't be buying this flick on DVD because it really wasn't that good. However, if you're ever looking for a WTF-filled night, this is the movie to turn to. :)
kilala.nl tags: weird, movies,
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2008-06-07 14:34:00
I've had to cancel my attendance at the annual company outing.
For starters Marli wouldn't be coming along, given her work schedule next week. To accomodate for this I would've had to do groceries on Friday and rushed to Texel on Saturday morning. It would've also meant that I'd spend at least three to four hours of my weekend in the car driving back and forth.
Now, all of that wouldn't normally deter me from a road trip. My huge pile of homework however, would. ;_; This is one time that I'd have to let efficiency take the upper hand over fun. Ah, but in three weeks the school year will be over and I'll have a little less to worry about! /o/
EDIT:
I hope my colleagues have a lot of fun though. What with today's weather, it must be lovely on the islands this weekend. I also got to miss Mona's last day at Snow, which sucks. :( Good luck with your new job Monay! o/
kilala.nl tags: holiday, snow,
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2008-06-05 21:39:00
In an unguarded moment I looked up from my homework and browsed a little around the Gathering of tweakers fora, to stumble upon the Cigars topic. Leafing through those pages reminded me of something that I just -had- to dig up ^_^
Somewhere in my old desk drawer lay my old pipe, which has gone unused for years. And to think that once pipe smoking was actually some form of hobby to me! Because that's what it is: a passtime and not an addiction per-se. I actually enjoyed it a lot, tried a few tobaccos and even got a nice, swanky lighter for my birthday (thanks dad!).
Our house has been smoke-free for years now, ever since Marli gave up her cigarettes. I believe that was sometime back in 2004. I also promised her to never light up my pipe as well, choosing solidarity and health over a minor hobby.
It's just funny how sometimes you're reminded of stuff that you used to do and now you don't. Makes me wonder what else is hidden away in that desk drawer!
kilala.nl tags: health, geeky,
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2008-06-05 12:14:00
Wow! Between yesterday's interviews and my allergies, I'm completely worn out. Stupid allergies D: The interviews went quite nicely though!
In the morning I paid a visit to the Via Nova College in Utrecht. They're quite modest in size (the current student body weighs in at around 450 and next year's will be around 600) and they're very progressive in their didactics. I had a great talk with one of their team leaders and we're going to try and find a position that would be suitable for me. We're also exploring the SOS (Samen op Scholen) project, which would offer me the opportunity to work and study at the same time. I'm really enthused about the Via Nova!
My chat with Remco Verhoef of Red Five was rather fruitful! He's going to compile a list of tasks that they've had for a long while and that they'd like to hand over to a freelance admin. This ought to give me a few interesting jobs to fill any holes I'll have in my income. Besides, it'll be nice to at least stay involved with IT a -little- bit.
Finally, my chat at the SG Maarsbergen was short but sweet. Unfortunately the person I was meeting had to cancel our interview, due to personal circumstances. He did have about fifteen minutes to show me around the school though. Seriously, this is the kind of school that I wanted to go to as a kid: all kinds of beautiful machinery that reeks of diesel, large kitchens and bakeries and a few nicely stocked workshops. I'd love to teach maths over there, but unfortunately all they can offer me are one or two internships. I'm not going to write them off though, simply because their school seems awesome :D
kilala.nl tags: health, career, school, rhythm,
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2008-06-03 15:05:00
As the title of this post says: it's great to know that at least there's -someone- out there who appreciates the work you do :)
Case in point: I've been putting all my college term papers and summaries online and I've been keeping an extensive Wiki with class notes. From time to time a teacher or classmate will suggest that they've had some use for these sites, which is of course quite nice. But last night the aforementioned guidance counselor told me something that made me really happy ^_^
Next year she'll be teaching the second year's General didactics course. Because the course is currently given by one of our somewhat wishy-washy teachers, she was told that she'd have to hunt around and ask people for all the materials. I guess that most of the stuff was never really put to paper. Luckily Lisette knew about my site, found my summary and class notes and was done within a day. Her supervisor was perplexed! :D
So yeah, it's great to know that you're appreciated ^_^
kilala.nl tags: work, school, writing,
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2008-06-01 20:16:00
Man o man, is this week going to be exciting and busy! ^_^
For starters, tomorrow will be completely jam-packed! I'll start off with a morning at one of the schools I'm interviewing with, to get a taste of their atmosphere. After our very pleasant meeting two weeks ago, we wanted to make sure that I like the school well enough before getting down to real business.
I'll then head off to school, which lasts from 1200 until 2000, mixing three different courses with a small project that we're working on. After that I'll meet up with my ever-so lovely guidance counselor, to have a chat about my progress at school. She's been of great help to me this year and I think we can both be pleased with the progress I've made. :)
Tuesday, thursday and friday will be spent at the office, doing what we always do :) I'm working on a rather important project, which consists mostly of paperwork, to ensure the SOX compliancy of $CLIENT.
Wednesday will be a rather special day... I've taken the full day off from work (man, school is really cutting into my vacation hours!), to tackle no less than three interviews!
In the morning I'll visit a school here in Utrecht. They're pretty big on that New Learning thing and I'm quite interested to see how their school works. My classmate Badegul has told me a little about their school and they seem like a rather interesting lot! They're on the up-and-up when it comes to modern teaching methods.
Around lunch I'll pay a visit to Red Five in Woerden. They're the software developers and hosting company behind most of Ephorus' products. I spoke to Ephorus' director a few weeks ago and he set up a meeting for me at Red Five. Maybe I'll be able to provide some consulting on the side for these guys, while I'm working in education. Who knows? ^_^
Finally, in the late afternoon, I'll have a second job interview at a school in Maarsbergen. They only focus on the VMBO level of high school education, meaning that they're focused on getting kids ready for blue collar jobs and the service industry. Their school seems very nice, insofar that it's a bit small and everyone's acquainted. Also, their school's located in an old monastery in the middle of the woods. How cool is that?!
Finally, finally, next weekend will be Snow's annual summer get-together. This year, the whole company will gather on Texel (one of the islands on the dutch coast) to have some fun in the sun and sand. A whole bunch of them are going skydiving, but I opted to take along my homework and to ride my bike around a little bit.
So! Busybusybusy! But I'm actually feeling quite well under all the stress! ^_^
kilala.nl tags: school, career,
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All content, with exception of "borrowed" blogpost images, or unless otherwise indicated, is copyright of Thomas Sluyter. The character Kilala the cat-demon is copyright of Rumiko Takahashi and used here without permission.
