2008-07-31 17:43:00
Woohoo! Marlijne is back home from the hospital again.
Luckily there were no dangers to mommy or the baby. The bleeding had stopped yesterday and all the tests looked okay as well. The doctors suspect that it was the uterus' mucous membrane (slijmvlies in dutch) which had gotten slightly damaged. Mom tells me that this isn't that uncommon with pregnant women and that bleeding may happen with heavy lifting or intercourse.
We're just damn glad that there's no danger and that Marli's back at home again. She felt quite alone at the hospital, even though she had a friendly roommate yesterday (hi Ilona and Juul! take care!).
I learnt one thing about hospitals: time management for the attending staff is completely different from time management in IT.
In IT priority gets assigned as follows: crises, incidents, projects and problems. We deal with the big shit first, then quickly deal with the short and small requests and only then do we get to spend time on our projects and such.
What I noticed in the hospital is that (obviously!) crises get priority, followed by projects only then ending up with incidents. Case in point: the preparation of a whole bunch of beds (taking up at least an hour) gets priority over paperwork that takes five minutes. This is quite annoying to us civies, who're used to different methods... But hey, when in Rome, do as the Romans. :/
kilala.nl tags: baby,
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2008-07-30 22:53:00
So far things look alright. The bleeding has gone down to a trickle and this morning's test with the heart monitor also proved that the baby was alright. The doc had a rather intrusive test planned for this afternoon, which got rescheduled to this evening and then till tomorrow.
Since Marli really hates the test and since she's feeling awfully alone in the hospital I've taken tomorrow off from work. Instead I'll be with her in the hospital, helping her through the day. With any luck she can come home tomorrow. *crosses fingers*
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2008-07-29 14:06:00
Wow, we had a bit of a scare there today!
This morning at the office, Marli noticed an amount of blood loss. As one can imagine, this isn't supposed to happen during a pregnancy. Don't worry too much, for now it doesn't seem to be anything awful.
The doc/gyno confirmed:
* The baby is alright.
* The placenta is alright.
* Yes, there is some bleeding.
Marli's being kept at the hospital (in Nieuwegein, since our local hospital is completely full) for observation, so she'll have to spend one or two nights there. I'm just at home to pick up some of her stuff and then I'll go back again.
As I said: don't worry too much... For now, things don't look too bad.
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2008-07-28 10:08:00
It seems that this is a week of childhood nostalgia! Aside from the DVDs I recently bought there's even more stuff coming up from my childhood. I just read that Fabulous Films (from the UK) will be releasing Starfleet on DVD. Squee!
Starfleet, in this case, is the European name given to the Japanese puppetry series X-Bomber. If you will, think Thunderbirds + Star Wars + Giant Japanese mecha. The show ran for 24 episodes and as kids we used to watch it on Super Channel in the early eighties. It really is one of the shows that got me and Mistoffelees started on Japanese sci-fi :)
And now it's coming out on DVD. Beautifully remastered and possibly with a few extras! I'm really looking forward to this! To whet my appetite, here are two (good quality) clips from YouTube: The first episode and a battle sequence (with a hilarious ending).
kilala.nl tags: anime, japan, tv,
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2008-07-27 19:50:00
I'm liking this stuff! I've ran into the Cyanide and happiness comics a few times, but I've finally subbed to their RSS feed.
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2008-07-27 11:49:00
It's no secret that I'm a big fan of the Franco/Japanese anime Ulysses 31. I thought about adding a section about the show to my website, but found that there are already enough resources available on the web. So instead, let me just link to two of the coolest things that I've found :)
The french band Parallax has modernised the Ulysses 31 soundtrack. They're looking into publishing their CD, but you can already download a few tracks for free from their website.
Another cool find that's recently appeared on the web is the discovery of a pilot episode that was only aired in Japan. The character designs and "acting" are decidedly typical of 80's anime and are thus very different from the real series. The pilot can be found as a .MKV file through torrent networks. Here's a link (IMDB.com).
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2008-07-26 12:25:00
O. M. F. G.
I just took a test drive in the Honda Civic Hybrid and sweet Jeebus is that a great car! It's good looking, it's spacious and it's very feature-complete.
Things that I noticed:
* It's very quiet.
* It's very easy to accidentally drive faster than you were planning to.
* The controls are quite sensitive, much more so than those in our VW's.
* The dashboard may seem very deep/huge, but it doesn't bother you one bit while driving.
* All-round visibility is excellent, although the side mirrors could be a bit wider.
* Even though it's a 1.3l hybrid, it's got energy to spare. This thing wants to go!
And all of this can/will be ours to drive in a few months :) My new employer will get one of these for me as part of my benefits package. Nice! ^_^
kilala.nl tags: car,
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2008-07-23 10:25:00
For my birthday, my sister got me one of the awesomest books I've read in the past few years: A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson. It'd been on my wishlist for quite a while now thanks to the folks at Ars and now it's finally mine :D
If you've ever been even remotely interested in physics, astronomy, chemistry, the earth, the human race or our weird scientists, then this is the book for you! Bill takes a lighthearted look at how -everything- came into existance. How did the universe form? What -is- the universe? What is gravity? How does it work? Why does it work? And the best part is that all of this is done in a rather humorous fashion. Bill not only focuses on the science itself, but also on the scientists themselves who can be -really- odd at times.
Aside from reading the book for the entertainment value I actually learn a lot as well. For example, there's the fact that atoms and such really aren't solid objects and that thus solidity itself (of objects) is merely an illusion. To quote the book:
When two objects come together in the real world - billiard balls are most often used for illustration - they don't actually strike each other. 'Rather,' as Timothy Ferris explains, 'the negatively charged fields of the two balls repel each other ... [W]ere it not for their electrical charges they could, like galaxies, pass right through each other unscathed.' when you sit in a chair, you are not actually sitting there, but levitating above it at a height of one angstrom (a hundred millionth of a centimetre), your electrons and its electrons implacably opposed to any closer intimacy.
kilala.nl tags: reading, geeky,
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2008-07-22 17:45:00
I still had a little bit of birthday money left and with it I bought a few DVDs on the cheap. Why they were so cheap I will never know, but for me they're of great value. You see, I'm very nostalgic about the series that I've bought, the first of which is pictured to the left. Anyone who's watched the BBC during the eighties will probably know it: The trap door.
It's a silly claymation show about monsters living in the dungeon of a castle, trying to take care of a bigger monster while trying to keep other monsters at bay. Yes, that's a lot of monsters ^_^ Each episode only lasts for a few minutes and it's all very light hearted. I used to love it as a kid and I'm sure that our future offspring will be at least amused by all the bright colours :D I've included the show's opening at the bottom of this post.
The other two shows are Ulysses 31 and the classic anime Nils Holgersson. The first being a French/Japanese retelling of the Greek epos in a sci-fi setting. We -loved- this show as kids and I've been on the lookout for good DVDs for at least ten years now. And it only cost me ten pounds for the whole box! The latter is a Swedish folk tale that ran on Dutch TV when I was very young. Some folks may remember it for the young boy who got shrunken by magic to travel with a flock of geese.
kilala.nl tags: childhood, tv, anime,
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2008-07-22 15:55:00
In light of my departure from Snow I've had a few chats here and there, not all of them brimming with positivity. Of course some of my colleagues aren't happy to see me go, but there's also some other stuff that I hadn't given thought.
When asked for a reason why I chose to leave for another company (where I'd essentialy be doing the same work), my knee-jerk reply was that I was missing personal contact. The company has grown rather large over the past two years and I was supposedly missing the personal touch. The reproach that I received was that I myself am responsible for this situation. My lack of motivation for IT, coupled with my ambition of teaching have led to my isolation within the company. Apparently some colleagues even avoid me because of this. Of course, that's a bitter pill to swallow.
Now that I've mulled over this a little bit, I agree with the senior who expressed these thoughts. I agree that I've secluded myself from my colleagues and that I've shown little interest in the company as a whole. I also don't particularly care for all the IT/Linux conversations that happen at each compulsory meeting. Due to my changing ambitions I feel alienated from my colleagues, yet I also feel little drive to connect with them. I guess it's safe to say that Snow isn't the company for me anymore.
I've always been a bit of a recluse, choosing close contact with a tightly knit group of friends over casual and abundant contact with acquaintances and colleagues. Does this make me anti-social? Maybe. But I've also shown on many occasions that I can fit right into any social undertaking and that I can even -lead- on such an occasions (Anime 200x anyone?).
So... Do I feel safe switching from one IT company to another? Of course not! I'd much rather be teaching :) But in this case I think I'm making a rather safe switch, because i will be working with a close friend of mine. Someone I -do- definitely care about :)
Raimond, thanks for making me think. I needed the nudge to wake me up ;)
EDIT:
Let me add my personal conclusion. No, I am not anti-social. If I were, why the heck would I choose to become a teacher?! Teaching, in high school, IT or otherwise, requires social involvement and I am all too happy to give it. It's just that I will now need to re-find the delicate balance at work.
kilala.nl tags: life, work, snow,
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2008-07-21 18:31:00
Today's been a big and busy day. Not just because of my mom's visit and all the baby stuff, but more.
Today I submitted my letter of resignation to the directors at Snow. I had decided a few weeks ago that I wanted a new job to fit this new era in our life as a family. Not only should this job offer something new wrt work, but it should also offer enough money for me to take care of my wife and child.
After a few weeks of e-mails, phone calls, interviews and secrecy, I've chosen my new employer. Earlier this month I already dropped some hints, about boning up on virtualization and on a possible business deal with a friend. The latter is the option that I've gone with: starting in a few weeks I'll be a consultant for Unixerius.
Exciting times!
kilala.nl tags: work, life, career,
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2008-07-21 18:18:00
My mother-in-law Janny has always been a creative person. She's completely nuts about sewing, knitting and always has at least two projects in the works. A few years back she'd decided to venture into the baby fashion market, selling clothing through the Internet and at local markets. Janneke's zelfmaak babymode the undertaking was dubbed.
Yesterday, visiting Janny and Dirk in Friesland, we were gifted a whole bunch of these lovely clothes! Glee! Some of this stuff is just too precious! ^_^
kilala.nl tags: creative, baby, family,
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2008-07-21 18:04:00
Today my mom and her husband came over to Utrecht so we could go shopping for more baby stuff. She'd very graciously offered to help us out in the acquisition of the bigger/expensive stuff, which we are -really- grateful for! It goes without saying that we greatly appreciate the help of all the (grand)parents as well! Without them, we'd be having a hard time getting everything set up. Thank you Janny&Dirk, Anu&Erik, Fred&Dymphie and both grandmas! ^_^
Anywho, thanks to their donations we bought some more great stuff today, including a sturdy playpen and a bunch of bathing things. One of the stores we visited was Ikea and it's always hard for us to leave without buying a little too much. In this case we left with a whole bunch of new bed covers, to replace the aging ones.
A very tiring yet greatly rewarding day :)
kilala.nl tags: baby,
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2008-07-19 21:38:00
A few weeks back I bought Marli the Step up 2 DVD. We'd seen the first part in the cinemas and are both rather fond of dancing+music movies.
Just like last time I really enjoyed the dancing scenes, with the music pumping. It's just that for me the story got in the way of the good stuff. Yet again they felt obligated to force a cliche-filled plot in between the dancing.
Seriously! If they gave me a DVD with just these cool dancing scenes and the great music, I'd be a happy camper!
kilala.nl tags: movies, music,
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2008-07-17 09:10:00
Back in february I was a bit homesick for Japan, if one can be "homesick" for a country that one hasn't spent more than three weeks in. Since then I'd gotten over it, mostly just being excited about ideas for a next trip should the day ever come.
However, this week I'm filled with the desire "to be there" again. The guys from Shiranai are getting ready for their August trip and their enthousiasm is infectuous :) I helped my good friend Kaijuu with the editing process of the travel guide, making sure that there weren't any bugs left in there.
When i came to the page that describes our apartment building in Osaka the homesickness struck ^_^; Upon reading the subway station names that line the way home, I could hear those names resounding in my head again. Shin-Osaka, Hommachi, the Chuo-line and of course Tanimachi 4-Chome. *sigh*
I hope all of you will have a great time in Japan. Come back safely! I'll make a small shopping list of crap that you'll need to pick up for me :)
kilala.nl tags: japan, meh, japan 2007,
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2008-07-17 08:46:00
Bwahah, this is priceless :D
Yesterday I'd spent an hour or two writing a PHP+SQL script for one of my colleagues, so he could get his hands on the report he needed. We have this big database with statistics (gathered over the course of a year) and now it was a matter of getting the right info out of there. Let's say that what we wanted was the following:
For four quarters, per host, the total sum of the reported sizes of file systems.
Now, because my SQL skills aren't stellar what I did was create a FOR-loop on a "select distinct" of the hostnames from the table. Then, for each loop instance I'd "select sum(size)" to get the totals for one date. But because we wanted to know the totals for four quarters, said query was run four times with a different date. This means that to get my hands on said information I was running 168 * 4 = 672 queries in a row. All in all, it took our box fifteen minutes to come up with the final answer.
On my way to work this morning a thought struck me: I really ought to be able to do this with four queries, or even with -one-! What I want isn't that hard! And in a flash of insight it came to me!
SELECT hostname, date, SUM(size) AS total FROM vdisks WHERE (date="2007-10-03" OR date="2008-01-01" OR date="2008-04-01" OR date="2008-07-01") GROUP BY hostname, date;
The runtime of the total query has gone from 15 minutes, to 1 second. o_O
Holy shit :D I guess it -does- pay to optimize your queries and applications!
kilala.nl tags: work, unix, sysadmin,
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2008-07-14 19:20:00
Business etiquette has changed a lot through the years. One thing that seems to have disappeared completely is the notion of having one's boss over for dinner.
I remember from the eighties that occasionally we would have guests over for dinner. Us kids were expected to be on our best behaviour, or upstairs asleep, IIRC. These guests would be from my dad's firm and IIRC they were higher-ups. I also remember the same thing occurring in many of the cartoons of the time.
In Jan, Jans en de kinderen (Jan, Jans and the kids, pictured above) Jan would occasionally have to entertain his bosses or directors to stay on their good sides. You see the same thing happening in series like The Flintstones, where Fred has to appease Mr. Slate after some cock-up.
I'm wondering if anyone else remembers this stuff from back then. I reckon it stopped being "a thing" sometime late in the eighties, because I don't seem to recall anything like that happening in the nineties. I wonder why we stopped doing this. I wonder why we actually -started- doing this :)
Anyone a bit older than me willing to shed some light?
kilala.nl tags: work, career, childhood,
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2008-07-14 17:35:00
For about two years now we've owned a wonderful laster printer, made by Lexmark. It's really great and has served us well so far. About a third of the stuff printed pertains to work, school work and such, while the rest is spent on Marli's biggest hobby: fan fiction. So far, we've gone through about 22.000 pages.
o_O Ouch...
Seeing how Marli will probably not stop reading fan fiction any time soon, I'm thinking of saving both us and the environment a lot of hassle. I'm thinking of purchasing an eBook reader for Marli. By now the Hanlin V3 (made in China by Jinke) is starting to look pretty good. I could buy it locally for E299, or import it from China for E239 which is quite a difference.
That's still a pretty steep price, but when compared to other eBook readers it's actually not that bad. The dutch Iliad is fscking expensive at around E500 :(
Of course, the biggest question would be if Marli would even like using the device. Would it be easy enough for her to put new books and chapters on? Would she like reading from electronic paper? (Remember, these aren't LCD screens!) Would she get used to the buttons and such? It's a shame that there isn't a shop in the Netherlands where we could try a few different models out in person.
Maybe later... Maybe later...
kilala.nl tags: other tech, reading,
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2008-07-14 15:09:00
Mondays used to be the days that I had off for school. Now that I've finished my first year in college they're blissfully quiet. The great thing about this is that I now have loads of free time to spend around the house. So now I not only have enough time for all kinds of household chores, but also to prepare for the baby.
I woke up around 0730 this morning and I've been awfully productive since then. I'm loving this rhythm. ^_^
kilala.nl tags: school, house,
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2008-07-13 09:47:00
This week I'll be boning up on "virtualization", in the computing sense. I have a few very interesting prospects on the horizon, one of which includes this particular field in IT.
As part of the application process for this opportunity, I've been asked to prepare a short, technical presentation on any part of virtualization. Because I do not have that much experience with it yet, I reckoned I might as well make it a learning experience for myself as well :) Today and tomorrow will be spent reading dozens of documents and sifting the useful material. The rest of the week, I'll prepare for the presentation, which'll happen on Friday.
Exciting! ^_^
kilala.nl tags: studying, career,
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2008-07-13 09:02:00
It's not often that I bump a web comic from my bookmarks. There's a set of fifteen comics that I read on a daily basis and sometimes I add a new one to the list. However, now's the first time in almost a year that I'm taking one out: Megatokyo.
I'm sorry Fred, but your story's grown boring and has always been very slow. I liked it when it still bordered on the realistic, but now that Largo's fantasies seem to have taken over all of the comic, I can't be bothered with it anymore. *click*
kilala.nl tags: comics,
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2008-07-07 21:55:00
A few years ago I learnt a hard lesson, a very hard one, which led me to the following principle: do not do business with friends or relatives. (I'm surprised I didn't list it in my list of beliefs) If anything should ever go wrong, it can only end in tears and heartbreak, which is not something I particularly enjoy.
To take the earlier proverb to an extreme: Who has been scalded with hot soup blows on cold water.
These days this principle's grown into a caricature of its original form. I've grown so weary of making deals with loved and trusted ones that it took me a few days to ask my father for a loan (which happened a few months back).
Tonight though, I'm being put to a test. My friend Dirk has made me an offer which is good. Very good. But in spite of that, a very large part of my reason is saying that it's too risky, even though there is no real risk to us. I will have to mull over this for a while... Maybe sleep will bring the answer.
kilala.nl tags: work, friends, career,
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2008-07-07 07:37:00
Over the past few weeks I've been updating my resume, just to make sure it makes a good impression. I'd been using the same resume for three years now and have never changed much about the format, nor the layout. I guess I'd gotten so used to doing it this way, that in my eyes it was The Right Way(tm). Just to be sure, I asked the guys in the Ars Technica boardroom subforum for their opinions. Let's just say that I had a lot of work to do! ^_^;
In the version 3.x format of my resume I'd posted all of my technical skills at the jobs where they'd been used. Ie, Solaris was to be found with every client, Nagions was listed with client X and Tivoli was listed with client Y. And so forth. The job descriptions that came with each of these jobs were also rather bland.
With version 4.x I moved all the technical skills into a section of their own, thus removing clutter and making things more legible. I also changed the job descriptions in such a way that they didn't just list the basic/obvious stuff. Rather, each description would focus on some of the achievements I made at each client.
This prompted an interesting question from one of the Ars subscribers:
Your second period (top of second page) is exceptionally content free. Apparently you were in a lot of meetings with some other people. Compare this section to the next. It almost looks as if you took a demotion, or were on vacation.
In this case, LordFrith is comparing the work that I do at $CLIENT with the work at $PREVIOUS-CLIENT. He remarks that it seems that I'm doing much less ambitious work and wonders whether I was demoted; and rightly so!
Yes, the work I'm doing at $CLIENT is little more than basic systems administration. I go through our daily routine and don't have many "exciting" projects. This isn't a matter of demotion, but a matter of consulting (detachering in dutch): sometimes you get an exciting job and sometimes you just do normal, dull work.
So why did I stick with this unchallenging work? Why didn't I ask for a heavier project which'd shine on my resume? Because at the time I was still going to school :) For the past year I've held two full-time jobs (2x 30h a week) simultaneously: one during the day and one during the night. By staying with a client where the workload is light I've allowed myself the room I needed to work on my second BSc degree.
Anywho... I'm really happy with all the feedback given by the Ars folks. With their help, my resume's improved a lot.
kilala.nl tags: career, work, writing,
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2008-07-06 15:43:00
*sigh* Why Ikea, why? Why would you choose a weird construction made out of cheap plastic to keep a shelf on its place in our bookcase? Why forego the tried and tested wooden or metal plugs? Why force me to screw and tinker for three minutes, just to install a shelf?
Or more importantly: why choose a material that will fail catastrophically in a few years time?
I just entered our basement storage room to take out the garbage and the floor was covered in all my DIY materials. Tools, nails, parts: all strewn across the floor :( As I said: the plastic keeping up the shelves in said bookcase had failed and thus all four toolboxes got deposited on the floor. Le sigh I'd better go and get some real plugs RSN(tm).
kilala.nl tags: meh, snafu, house,
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2008-07-06 15:13:00
*phew!* It took me a few days, but the baby's bedroom is finally ready for decoration and the furniture.
As I said, it took a few days, mostly because I had to make a few runs to the city dump. There was all kinds of crap that we needed to get rid of, before we could even think about cleaning the room up. The storage room in the basement needed to be cleared out as well, in order to make room for the things that we were going to keep.
Some furniture went to welfare, a lot of stuff (among them old belongings of their father) went to Marli's brother and two car loads of "stuff" went to the dump and welfare.
Now that we're done, all we need to do is wait for the furniture to arrive. Well, that and order loads more furniture and other things for the kid, since we're not even half done yet. *panic* Ah well, one step at a time :)
In the meantime I spent most of the day cleaning the house and doing all kinds of household chores. I think a well-deserved shower is in order ^_^
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2008-07-05 17:43:00
The doors are locked, the phone's off the hook, the curtains are drawn: tonight we are home to noone.
Doctor Who season 4 finale. Tonight!
kilala.nl tags: doctor who, tv,
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2008-07-05 08:57:00
As I mentioned earlier this week, I'm thinking of picking up golf. I'd start off with the aforementioned 5 voor 50 courses and proceed from thereon.
In anticipation of said schooling, Menno and I paid a visit to Utrecht's local golf course Amelisweerd last night. We walked around the greens for over an hour, taking in the sights and scents. It really is a lovely place, if not for the din of the A12 and A28 which are close by. As Menno remarked: this is something we could enjoy and probably even get moderately good at :)
We finished the evening with a long bout of bowling, tennis and golf on Wii Sports. It really is a remarkable game :)
kilala.nl tags: sports, wii, friends, games,
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2008-07-01 18:45:00
As I mentioned earlier, yesterday we had an appointment for our the baby's third ultrasound. Yet again, everything seems fine though she was being very difficult and decided to hide her heart behind Marli's navel. $DEITY, she is -so- our child! ^_^
Anywho... The good news is that we caught a glimpse of her face, even though she was hiding most of it behind her arms again. But yea, she has her mother's lips :D
kilala.nl tags: baby,
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2008-07-01 12:09:00
Back in November of 2005, I took part in a golf clinic that was arranged for $PREV-CLIENT. I enjoyed that afternoon tremendously and have since kept golf in the back of my head as something that I'd like to play more often. Of course that had sunk to the back of my head over the years, but there's always been that little voice :)
Now, thanks to the golfing thread at Gathering of Tweakers this small voice has turned into a pestering loudmouth ^_^
The fact that the lads in said thread are passing around tips for cheap sets of clubs isn't making it easier for me to say "no". (A decent set for E200, or a lower quality set for E100). Nor is the fact that the GMG group is offering a sweet five lessons for E50 deal. *sigh*
Of course I realize that it's folly to start playing right now. With the baby on its way there's no way that I can think of spending such money. But one can dream, que no?
kilala.nl tags: sports, money,
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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.