2010-04-28 21:15:00
Done. It was like a combo between 1.2 and 2.1: same distance as 2.1, the lack of exuberance of 1.2. Feeling fine afterwards though.
On to 2.3 and then week 3!
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2010-04-28 19:11:00
Japan Airlines (JAL) will cut Amsterdam as one of its ports, per September. That means we're stuck with KLM, possibly Finnair... *ponders* Does ANA fly to Amsterdam or a nearby German airfield?
kilala.nl tags: japan,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2010-04-27 19:16:00
In 2007 I used the Ullreys C25k podcast both for music and for keeping track of my running schedule. However, seeing how I'd rather listen to my own music I bought one of the many C25k apps available for the iPhone. Quite imaginatively, the app is called C25k :)
While running I listen to a number of mixes by Herschell / Special*Dark. It's a shame, but it seems that DoggLounge took down his original MP3s, but luckily I still had a bunch of them stuck in my iTunes... The great thing about these kinds of mixes is that they'll give you non-stop music at roughly the same beat for 45-60 minutes. Makes for good running.
kilala.nl tags: sports, music,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2010-04-27 19:02:00
In preparation for her upcoming gastric bypass operation Marli has decided to toughen up her endurance and physical condition. Per this week she'll make two or three trips a week to the local gym. On the E25/mth subscription she gets access to both the gym and the communal swimming pool, so if she's tired of cycling/walking/training she can always go and have a swim.
Yesterday was her first shot and when she came home she looked positively radiant! ^_^ I'm proud of her <3
kilala.nl tags: health, body, sports,
View or add comments (curr. 3)
2010-04-26 21:30:00
Last Friday Marli and I went out for dinner at Sazanka in Amsterdam's Okura hotel. We had a lovely tepan yaki meal, splurging on some wagyu beef. Seeing how we cannot easily take Dana along to a three-hour dinner at a Japanese restaurant, she went for a sleepover at her uncle and aunt's place.
We dropped Dana off around four and picked her up the next day, at two in the afternoon. It was really weird leaving her like that and luckily she wasn't bothered one bit. She enjoyed herself tremendously, taking a walk in the park and playing in the living room. She slept like the proverbial baby and made absolutely no fuss at mealtime.
What a great kid :)
kilala.nl tags: baby,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2010-04-26 21:26:00
Pwned, as they say. Fscking pwned. ^_^
Today's run went great, adding almost an extra kilometer to the runs of week 1. Because I'd gotten a bit too far from home I threw in two extra, shorter runs in for good measure. Very nice :)
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2010-04-24 21:35:00
|
Day 1.3 done and dusted! I'm feeling surprisingly well and I expect my long cool down has everything to do with that. To the left you'll see a Google Maps shot of my running today. No need to go in real details, but there is something that the screenshot shows very plainly: I'm surrounded by woods and parks! This is a very good motivating factor in my running and thus my love for our "new" house has been renewed. |
Further north is the dyke and the IJsselmeer, with its accompanying nature reserves. Plenty of lovely running grounds to ensure that I don't go bored. Contrast that to Utrecht's postage stamp city park and you know why I'm having way more fun than before. Obviously the limitations in Utrecht were more a mental barrier than an actual one, because there was nothing preventing me from running through the city. But hey, whatever it takes.
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2010-04-24 11:58:00
|
|
At the end of May, we'll obviously be attending Anime 2010, the Netherlands' Numero Uno festival about Japan, anime, manga and video games. Like last year we'll both volunteer and be visitors, helping out where we can while relaxing at the same time.
For this year's convention I've designed some shirts and clothing for me and Dana, to get into the right mood. While Dana's clothes will remain a nice little surprise for our friends, the stuff above is what I'll be wearing. I'd been toying with the idea to make these for a long, long time.
So what are they? They're a shirt and a sports jacket inspired by 1970s anime Arrow Emblem - Grand Prix no taka ("Hawk of grand prix"). The show's story revolves around rookie driver Takaya Todoroki who is recruited by Katori Motors to join their F1 team. What can I say? I love that show :)
kilala.nl tags: anime 2010, anime 200x, geeky,
View or add comments (curr. 2)
2010-04-22 06:00:00
It went alright, halfway was a bit of a mental struggle to keep going. It's very clear that there's three (sets of) muscles that are going to need all the training the can get: my upper back, my thighs and that ankle muscle whose name I don't know. Breathing was fine though, no shortness of breath after getting started.
View or add comments (curr. 4)
2010-04-20 22:06:00
So, just as a short update: the trial of my BoKS presentation at Proxy went fine :)
I -love- their new office building, which is actually in a rather old, monumental building which has been restored and redecorated. Very nice! I was very anxious all day leading up to the talk, but when I was up there in front of the group everything came naturally. It really helps that I've already done the talk six or seven times, just by myself. It's made the story stick in my head.
Funnily enough I also met the gentleman who'll be gophering the room my talk at NLUUG will be in. :)
kilala.nl tags: work, sysadmin,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2010-04-19 22:28:00
|
Right after Dana was born mom bought her two lovely romper suits from Finish design brand Marimekko. They're really lovely but at the time they were waaaay too big. |
kilala.nl tags: baby,
View or add comments (curr. 3)
2010-04-19 21:29:00
Remember this? Three years ago I tried my hand at running and tonight I thought I'd try again. I did day 1.1 of the Couch to 5k schedule and I'm not too bad. Not too bad at all.
One thing I noticed about how I run is that I'm often -forcing- my toes upwards on the front-swing, meaning that I'm stressing the muscles on the front of my foot. Again, like last time, I realize that I just don't know the proper form. Time for some YouTube clips about running :)
But first, my last practice session before I give my trial presentation tomorrow.
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2010-04-19 21:24:00
|
|
I can get very grouchy at those kind of remarks ^_^;
Them: Hey, your hair line's receding...
Me: NO IT'S NOT!
Them: Hey, your hair's going grey...
Me: NO, I'M NOT GETTING OLD!
Them: Hey, that tree you planted's askew...
Me: NO, IT'S JUST OUT OF PLUMB!
What was that saying again? Denial is not a river in Egypt.
kilala.nl tags: life,
View or add comments (curr. 3)
2010-04-19 08:35:00
|
Really, what are the odds?! Little over a year ago, my friend Floor moved to Scotland for a job at IBM. Then this morning I came out of the Amstel Station, turned a corner and bumped into a perplexed and wide-eyed young lady! ^_^ |
kilala.nl tags: friends, life,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2010-04-16 05:52:00
... not because I'm going to work in Japan, but because even in the Netherlands it would be quite, quite helpful.
Quoting Hiko who is giving tips to survive in the Japanese workplace.
There are times in our lives that we have had the joy of letting rip with a phrase of self righteous condemnation like [this is bulls**t!]. Look back and remember those times. Savor them, and cherish them knowing that so long as you are in Japan and wish to remain employed and an unstigmatized non-social-outcast, you will never be able to have memories like ever that again, unless the story ends "and so then I was fired, and left Japan and overall I was a better person for the experience". Japan is a pathologically non-confrontational culture. All that bottled up indignation and rage tends to get released as passive aggression, or internalized into digestive-tract disorders. The best solution is to learn to undo your reflex to want to butt heads and learn how to resolve conflict the Japanese way.
View or add comments (curr. 4)
2010-04-15 08:48:00
Dana might not speak a word of dutch yet, but time and time again she proves that she understands it just fine thankyouverymuch. Case in point, this morning at the breakfast table.
Marli: *slurp* *drinks from juice box*
Dana: *makes a grab for the juice box*
Marli: Here you go, take one sip.
Dana: *takes one sip*
Marli: Now eat the rest of your bread and you'll get some more.
Dana: *takes one bite.* *grins*
Marli: No, finish your bread and -then- you'll get more.
Dana: *forces whole sandwhich in her mouth* *grins*
Marli: *sigh*
kilala.nl tags: baby,
View or add comments (curr. 2)
2010-04-12 21:56:00
The big presentation at NLUUG is three weeks away and I've been practicing my presentation. Next week I'll do a preview / trial run at Proxy Services, to get into the groove. To be honest I'm quite anxious about the whole deal. *shudder*
kilala.nl tags: work,
View or add comments (curr. 4)
2010-04-10 10:02:00
|
I've been keeping this under my hat for a long while, but finally I can speak openly about this. Pending one final discussion/checkup Marli has been approved for gastric bypass surgery. |
After a thorough screening and intake process she was approved for the operation last Thursday. The waiting list for the hospital of our choice is roughly six months, meaning that "it" will happen around October. Barring any complications she'll spend four to five days in the hospital, with a three to four weeks' recovery period at home (which I'll take off to take care of both Marli and Dana). If anything -does- go wrong the recovery period will be much longer, with her in the hospital for a month, plus two extra months at home.
Which brings us to the "down sides" of the whole proceedings.
Yes, something can go wrong during of after the op.
Yes, the uber-strict diet can have nasty psychological effect.
Yes, the post-op physical effects can be very annoying.
Yes, it could very well change things between me and Marli.
But all of that still weighs up to the fact that Marli will live a longer and healthier life and that she'll be capable of keeping up with Dana along the way :)
View or add comments (curr. 2)
2010-04-10 08:03:00
Last weekend I spent only two hours working on the gardens, but I got so much done! It seemed like I'd spent half a day! Here's a status update...
Most of the heath in front was DOA. I waited too long with putting it in, so I'll probably tear it out again. The azalea and magnolia in front appear to be doing just fine, as is the buxus.
The lawn, haunted by the fall and winter's fungal infection, looks a little bit better. I've started mowing it every week, fed it some manure last week and I aerated it as well. I'm hopeful that this will provide us with a nice lawn over summer. Unfortunately the gardeners who were -supposed- to do maintenance never called back, so I took matters into my own hands.
I've also planted the fruit trees in back: two cherry trees, three brambles and three raspberries. I got a bit of a scare with one of the cherries because the mound with its roots etc fell apart complete during planting: I was left with a root-less stick! I stuck everything in the ground as well as I could and provided it with plenty of water to stimulate root growth. So far it seems that it's actually survived the ordeal!
Today: more gardening! Mowing the lawn, watering the beds, removing the dead heath and brushing sand into the cracks of the terrace.
kilala.nl tags: house,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2010-04-10 07:49:00
As I mentioned two weeks ago I'm posting less these days, which has to do with the fact that I'm actually avoiding my laptop. About six weeks ago I'd decided that I'd been spending way too much time on fora like MacFreak or Ars Technica, which even started to show at the office. Now -that- is something you don't want.
In order to get rid of that, shall we say "addiction", I decided to just get rid of it all and focus 100% on other stuff: work, family and the garden. So far it's working out quite nicely and I've found that I can easily take small trips to the web, without going overboard. Good!
kilala.nl tags: life,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2010-04-01 22:38:00
|
|
Tonight I learnt of artist Vania 600 through a website which I shall not link here due to its highly NSFW content. Said gentleman (at least, I assume it's a guy) is part of the Sakuradima circle of artists and makes some awesome drawings. I love the design of the characters and the level of detail he puts in there. I'm also very pleased that he featured my favourite Japanese train in the piece seen above. I really wouldn't mind a large print of that one!
I'll definitely look into his work some more. Good stuff!
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2010-04-01 21:58:00
Earlier today my dad and sister got on a plane to Tokyo. It's my sister's first visit to Japan and she was ecstatic to finally visit the country. My brother made an earlier trip with my father and obviously I've been there as well, but finally it was her turn as well. And lucky her! It's sakura season!
Now let's hope that everything works out with their hotel, or they might end up as Internet cafe refugees ;)
Have fun you too and come back home safely! ^_^
kilala.nl tags: family,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
All content, with exception of "borrowed" blogpost images, or unless otherwise indicated, is copyright Thomas Sluyter.