2010-06-29 23:13:00
So... 31, officially a year after the so-called "big three oh"... *shrug* Doesn't feel different or special or weird. And unlike the past years, this year we're letting it pass quietly.
Marli got me two beautiful gifts: a silver ring (which I've dubbed the pater familias ring) and a nurses' watch. I've been wanting one of those watches for years ^_^
kilala.nl tags: life,
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2010-06-29 23:04:00
30 minutes, 10.7 km, 21.4 km/h average.
Wasn't that great, mostly due to tiredness and lack of motivation. Next thursday I'll run again.
Why the switch of days? Because monday, wednesday and friday I have CISSP class through the Internet at night.
kilala.nl tags: sports,
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2010-06-29 22:56:00
Was watching an interesting documentary on NED3 tonight, Men according to women when along comes this lovely song. I love it. I guess I'm corny and old-fashioned because I appreciate both the music and the humor...
The lady in question is Corry Brokken and the song's from 1962.
kilala.nl tags: music,
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2010-06-26 23:11:00
30 minutes, 4300 meters, 8.6 km/h average.
kilala.nl tags: sports, running,
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2010-06-23 22:42:00
It's obvious that Dana's is going through a big transition this week. We don't know what it is that's changing in her body or mind, but she's showing all the signs that something big is happening.
She's very clingy, uncharacteristically so. She'll lie on Marli's belly for half an hour very quietly, or she'll crawl under the duvet with me on the couch. At times she wants to get off the couch again, but then the instant she hits the floor she starts sulking and whimpering and wants to go back. But she doesn't. It seems very conflicting!
And it's the same with other things! Eating, swimming, walking, playing: all things where she very clearly shows that she wants to do things by herself, but then she'll hesitate and want us to do it, while at the same time wanting us to -not- do it. Again, very conflicting and confusing.
Last night she would also fake crying for an hour after we put her to bed. I say "fake" because whenever she'd hear us downstairs or walking through the hallway, she'd get quiet to listen if we'd come for her (which we didn't). She was very clearly testing our reactions to her.
She must be going through a lot right now! Unfortunately it's also quite taxing on Marli, who gets to spend the whole week with her.
kilala.nl tags: baby,
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2010-06-23 22:39:00
30 minutes, 12.0 kilometers, 24 km/h average.
I thought I'd mix in some cycling, to break the monotony of running and to train my muscles in a different way. Great idea, sucky execution. Why? Not because of my results. No, I'll tell you that cycling over the marshes near sun down is one of the fscking grossest things you can do!
Know the sound of a shower of rain on your car's windshield? Yeah. My face is the windshield and the rain is an endless supply of flies and assorted, other bugs. Fscking gross! >_<
kilala.nl tags: sports,
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2010-06-22 23:43:00
I finally bit the bullet and decided on a training schedule for this year. I feel that I've neglected my studies, which has an adverse effect on both my level of knowledge and my value to my customers. Hence it's time to pick up some books and get some more certs!
First up is my CISSP certification, which in many ways is a "big deal". On the one hand the pile of books is huge. On the other hand the exam is huge (six hours!). And on another hand the effect on my resume will also be pretty big.
My CISSP exam is slated for November, with a one week's course planned sometime in September. Before that classroom session starts I'm expected to work my way through the books shown above and to also peruse many online and video training sessions. I'll need to put together a pretty strict training schedule if I want to complete the whole ordeal successfully.
Said training schedule should also be pretty strict if I ever want to get around all of the other stuff on my ToDo list / .plan file. I still have a bunch of open source BoKS scripts to write and fix. I've also got a bunch of articles and presentations lined up, as well as all of my undertakings for the BoKS Users Group. And by the way things look now Marli and I will also be re-joining the Anime 200x staff, as Dealer Room coordinators. Youch! :)
With regards to the pile of books: now I -really- wish I had an iPad! Most of that stuff is also included as PDF ebooks and an iPad can be carrief around much easier than a 3 pound book! :(
kilala.nl tags: work, sysadmin, school,
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2010-06-21 21:58:00
30 minutes, 4400 meters, 8.8 km/h average.
Today was the last day of my Couch to 5k training plan. Unfortunately I never actually managed to hit the 5 kilometers mark, but I can now comfortably run for thirty minutes straight. I get bored out of my skull, but I -can- run for that long ^_^;
Which brings me to the following... For now I will not aspire to run for longer periods of time than thirty minutes. I know it's a cliche, but I have a very busy schedule. And between my family, my job and my two volunteering gigs (Anime 200x and the BoKS Users Group) most of my time is already spoken for. I can manage three times an hour each week, but not more than that. And besides, as I said, I get really bored while running so there's not much pushing me onwards ;)
So instead of going for longer runs, I'll for now stick to thirty minutes each time and build up my average speed. I still want to hit the 10 km/h average and after that possibly increase to 12 km/h. Once I've done that we can see about expanding the amount of time for each run.
For now, tonight's run was great. As a reward for my nine weeks of practice I took the car and drove to the Oostvaarders Dyke. I -really- love it there. The run was very straight, but the view, the sun and the fresh wind were all awesome. Oh, and as you can see below I've started fiddling with Run Keeper. Looks pretty nice and the basic account is even free!
kilala.nl tags: sports, c25k, running,
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2010-06-19 21:55:00
30 minutes, 4000 meters, 8 km/h average.
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2010-06-19 21:51:00
Had an attack in the middle of the night, which oddly enough seemed self-induced. Woke up way past midnight because Dana was whining and whimpering in bed. Got back to bed, but in a foul/angsty mood. Combined with my stuffed and dry nose (hay fever) I guess that screwed up my breathing enough for me to start hyperventilating. It was a pretty bad one!
What's even weirder is that once Marli told me to "get a damn grip and go to sleep" I actually did. I guess that's confirmation that I like my women strong and willful.
kilala.nl tags: hyperventilation, health,
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2010-06-19 00:00:00
A few months ago FoxT made their official announcement regarding the EOL-ing of various BoKS versions within the next 1.5 years.
Per the 31st of December 2010, the following products will no longer receive support.
Also, per the 31st of December 2011, the following products will no longer receive support.
Per the aforementioned dates "no more maintenance updates or patches will be made available and no further development will take place for these particular components. In addition, the affected components will no longer be supported by FoxT Customer Support".
Please keep these dates in mind and plan your upgrade paths accordingly! You don't want to get stuck with an unsupported version of the software because you'll miss out on critical software updates and tech support costs will go through the roof. Then again, in this day and age, why are you still running a version < 6.0?!
Gentlemen, start your upgrades!
kilala.nl tags: boks, sysadmin,
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2010-06-16 21:36:00
30 minutes, 4.0 km, 8.0 km/h.
Only getting slower :/ Oh well, keep trudging on!
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2010-06-16 12:28:00
Based on my experiences from the previous years it seems like mother nature's clock is running two weeks slow. My hay fever kicked in this week, with my eyes feeling like sandpaper. Luckily my experience from last year means that I know exactly which meds to get and how to use them.
I got fexofenadine tablets at 120mg and take one and a half each morning. So basically I'm taking prescription strenght without the prescription. Sure I could go see my GP, but the time I'd need to take off for that is actually much more expensive than paying for the meds myself :)
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2010-06-15 19:23:00
My daughter the clown! Yell at her when she's touching something she shouldn't and she'll jump up and move away. Then she'll proceed to innocently sing "Lalala" and shuffle back to where she was, "Lalala" some more and then with one finger touch the same, damn thing. I'm pissed off, but I can't help but be in love <3
So, she's learning a lot!
She still doesn't speak a word of dutch, but she picks up on so many other things! For instance:
* She can eat using a fork or a spoon. Far from efficient, but she's getting there.
* She'll use anything (like big Lego blocks) as a phone and go "Hello?!"
* She likes to get changed into a new diaper standing up.
* She loves chasing the vacuum cleaner when I'm hoovering the room.
Ah, our little girl :)
kilala.nl tags: baby,
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2010-06-14 22:28:00
That was weird. Physically and mentally I was doing fine, but my distance is lacking.
28 minutes, 4.1 kilometers, 8.8 km/h average.
I made it to the dyke! One of my long term goals! I'd been wanting to run from my house to the dyke ever since I got started and now I've done it a little before schedule. So that's a win. But as I said: the distance was disappointing, at "only" 4.1 kilometers. Weird.
I also overdid it a little bit today. My walk back took me almost an hour, at 5.1 kilometers. This meant I only got back around 22:00, right before dark. I'm not going to repeat that joke for a while. Not a good idea.
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2010-06-12 22:04:00
28 minutes, 4100 meters, 8.8 km/h average.
Was feeling more tired than last time, actually thought I'd dropped back to around the 7 km/h mark. Pleasantly surprised that it's not -that- bad :)
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2010-06-11 18:25:00
I sincerely have the utmost faith in digital content delivery. Over the past year we've seen a huge rise in sales of e-readers, which is a great step forward. But we're not there yet! Call me an Apple fanboy if you will, but I do believe the iPad is the next step and who knows what the future will bring after that?! I hear good things about e-ink color screens!
Either way, those things are simply used to carry and present the important bit: content. And how does it get on there? Delivery through the Internet! So far it's working wonderfully on my iPhone.
I've been using Comixology's Comics to both purchase and consume comic books. The buying process couldn't be simpler and IMO pricing is very fair. Most comics ring in at 0.79 euros, with the more popular Marvel comics running 1.59 euros. Choose comic, enter password, download, read. It's wonderfully easy and the Comics app has opened my eyes to a lot of new comics. One of my new favorites is Fearless Dawn.
On a more serious note I'm loving PressReader, which gives you access to 1000+ international news papers. And I don't mean an aggregation of their online content, but the actual full PDFs of each news paper. The application itself is free and comes with seven free issues of any paper of your choosing. The economy subscription to PressReader runs $9.95 and gives you access to 31 issues each month, allowing you to mix and match any papers you would like. There are also more expensive subs, or you can pay as you go at $0.99 per paper.
The economy sub is actually cheaper than most of the online-only subscriptions to dutch news papers. PR gives access to the Volkskrant and the NRC, both of which have a more expensive online-only sub. Only NRC runs cheaper, but only if you pay per-year instead of per-month. Either way, I love reading the paper through PR and assume that it'll only be nicer on the much bigger iPad screen.
Personally I'm sold on on-demand content delivery through the Internet.
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2010-06-10 07:18:00
It's a commonly known fact that I'm a big fan of Haruki Murakami's writings. Recently I've read another two of his books.
What I talk about when I talk about running is a collection of personal memmoirs, written down while Murakami was preparing for the New York Marathon. Aside from delving into his running regime, the book is also a retrospective on his early writing career. It was very nice to get a behind-the-scenes look on his first two books. Obviously What I talk about was not as surreal as his other books ^_^
Dance dance dance is the final book of four dealing with the lives of The Writer and The Rat. I loved it, though it did not blow me away as much as Wild sheep chase did. It was fun, it was surreal, it was thought-provoking and it provided closure. But it was no WSC. Even Pinball 1973 made me cry at the end, but DDD didn't. It was a good book though and I'm happy with how the story ends.
kilala.nl tags: reading,
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2010-06-09 21:41:00
28 minutes, 4700 meters, 10,0 km/h average (FSCK YEA!).
After successfully completing my run and during my cool down my stomach/intestines went haywire. And with nowhere to go, because I was still fifteen minutes from home. I'd experienced the same thing over ten years ago and that didn't end pretty. My guts were messed up for almost five years! :(
So I took a chance and rang a stranger's doorbell. Thank $DEITY for helpful people! To him it might've been a minor inconvenience, but to me it was a major relief (both mental and physical).
*thank-you card sent* I think it's important to be polite and show your appreciation. Reminds me of the SIRE Warning: friendly! campaign.
kilala.nl tags: sports, c25k, body, anxiety,
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2010-06-07 22:20:00
A little over a week ago Marli went to the dentist 'cause one of her fillings'd come out. Since it was in one of her wisdom teeth and since the original cavity seems to be expanding the doc thought it better to take it out. The appointment was made for the 17th of June.
Unfortunately, last weekend Marli got an awful tooth ache... or jaw ache actually. It seems that the cavity and her jaw had attracted and inflamation. Today, while I was at the office, Marlijne arranged an emergency extraction of the bad tooth. I sped home and met them at the local hospital. Everything went much faster than when I had my wisdoom tooth dug out. A snap and a pull later Marli had one less molar. It hurts, but so far it seems manageable.
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2010-06-07 22:19:00
Wow, hard to imagine that today was my twentyfirst run. Seven weeks I've been running now... Nice :) It felt heavier today, don't know why. My average speed isn't bad at all though.
25 minutes, 3500 meters, 8.4 km/h average.
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2010-06-05 21:21:00
19 minutes, 2800 meter, 8.8 km/h average.
I overheated. As you can see from my average speed I -was- doing great, until I was halfway on the way up for my second bridge. All of a sudden I just knew I'd better slow down immediately, because my body wouldn't stand for it. Cooled down afterwards, then ran a further three minutes to total at 22, but I didn't finish today's 25 minutes. Oh well, better next time.
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2010-06-05 11:36:00
Hayaku: A Time Lapse Journey Through Japan from Brad Kremer on Vimeo.
Via: Edmond. Thanks for the tip Ed! No doubt you or Kaijuu will be able to tell me how this guy did some of those effects. Specifically I'm wondering about the panning where certain objects in view appear to be moving separately from the rest of the shot. Is mr. Kremer playing with the depth of view to achieve this?
kilala.nl tags: japan, internet,
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2010-06-05 11:32:00
Wow, what a fright! Earlier this week I received an email from the NLUUG conference staff which contained the evaluation of all presentations. Mine was listed with the lowest grade of all at a sucky 5.0. What an awful scare! O-O
I had no clue what'd gone wrong. Sure, I'd talked too fast cutting the presentation short. And yeah, one guy'd told me it was a borderline sales pitch. But overall I thought things'd gone pretty well and I'd gotten some positive reactions!
Eager to hear what went wrong I asked the staff for some more details. Had visitors provided any specific, written feedback? This would of course be a prime learning opportunity! Well, unfortunately such a thing was not available. But! It turns out that, out of fifty attendants, only two people had actually filled out the evaluation. So my 5.0 was down to 4% of the attendants. *phew* That's a bit of a relief :)
On the 22nd I'll be repeating my presentation at the USN monthly get-together. Sounds like fun :)
kilala.nl tags: work,
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2010-06-02 21:47:00
25 minutes, 3500 meters, 8.4 km/h average.
Getting better! I've also found two songs by The Sun that are a perfect match for my running pace. The beat of Love&Death and Pavement jive is exactly the same as the thumping of my feet on asphalt :)
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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.