Anything noteworthy happen to you today?

Pages: 1 .. 34 35 36 37 38 .. 76

BBP - 16-6-2015 at 10:13

About to go for Primus!

aquagoat - 16-6-2015 at 16:58

have a nice show!:bouncy:

BBP - 17-6-2015 at 00:37

I did! Also went to visit my blind friend who lives in Utrecht. Forgot to bring my camera though. Full report will come tomorrow as I'm exhausted.

BBP - 21-6-2015 at 23:30

Had met up with somebody from another forum yesterday, because of that I woke up extra early for my rounds and stayed up late for the Patatje Metal-concert. So I spent father's day exhausted.

BBP - 22-6-2015 at 12:26

The weekly door-to-door mag just quit, so now it's just advertising I deliver. Crap.

BBP - 22-6-2015 at 19:32

I keep finding black fiber under my fingernails and on sections of skin. Shoddy T-shirt quality from that free shirt.

BBP - 23-6-2015 at 22:40

Started clearing my room again... never ending story...

BBP - 25-6-2015 at 17:40

Still at the never ending story.

polydigm - 26-6-2015 at 06:42

Bonny, you should probably get out of that stupid thread at zappa.com. I knew Galoot was a bit of a dick and now I see he's totally obnoxious. And JPF, don't get me started on him ... I totally agree that Isaac was bullied by these guys. Slime was nearly as bad. I used to like him when I first joined the forum, but he's turned out to be a bit of a dick as well. The thing about Isaac though is that he didn't have any boundaries and could be extremely nasty. Read the last post he made at zappa.com, just before being banned.

I hope your never ending story is finished.

We have been having intermittent problems with our internet since we moved into this house in December 2007. Skipping the majority of those problems, last October we were having a pretty bad patch and finally in November a tech guy game out to a switch box in our area and said he'd found some dodgy wiring and after repairing it, our connection improved significantly. We've been getting a fairly consistent maximum speed of 8.2Mbps which, because it was better than before and was stable for some time, gave me no reason to complain.

Then, early this June, our ISP did some work in the area, supposedly to improve their service and since then our connection has become unstable again and the maximum speed dropped. I was told that it should be about 9.4Mbps, which it has never been close to. Another tech has just been out, and he did some tests on the link to the exchange and decided it was dodgy. Instead of waiting to find out what's wrong with it, he connected us to a new link. Stability has returned and now we're getting 9.3Mbps max. So we've been putting up with a basically dodgy connection for years now. You really have to push these people to get anything properly fixed.

BBP - 26-6-2015 at 09:43

We had the same thing. Because we lived too far from the antenna, we only got about half the oomph that we paid for. Now we have glass fiber. When I uploaded a video without shrinking it down, I was flabbergasted it only took 10 minutes.

BBP - 28-6-2015 at 23:33

Just got back from a blind guiding weekend in Leeuwarden - got a guided tour of the provincial TV/radio studios (got on TV), went to a pancake restaurant on a ship, took a yoga class on Saturday, and played minigolf and had a guided tour through town today.

aquagoat - 29-6-2015 at 18:15

^^quite an interesting week-end, it seems.

BBP - 29-6-2015 at 23:50

Yah. Particularly the minigolf.

polydigm - 30-6-2015 at 01:50

The introduction of broadband internet is a farce that's been going on since the early 1990s in Australia. The original plan was a cable network, with an upper limit of 100 Mbps, which was halted part way through because people weren't subscribing at the rate desired by Telstra in order to provide enough profit. So we've ended up with some areas where cable is available and they get very good internet, while everyone else has to put up with ADSL, which has a much lower upper speed limit than cable of 20 Mbps. Of course, you don't get the full 100 Mbps on cable as speeds are limited and the theoretical upper limit of ADSL is not achieved in most cases, ours currently being just over 9Mbps.

The current national plan for developing internet access in Australia is called the NBN. National Broadband Network. This time they're rolling out a network with a fibre back bone but it's implementation is seriously slow. There is yet only a small percentage of the total area of just the inner metropolitan area of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. We live right next to one of the main areas where it's been completed and who knows when they'll get to us, it's frustrating. Our daughter, who lives within Greater London is on the new fibre network there and it's fantastic.

Huck_Phlem - 30-6-2015 at 10:04

That is not much more than I get and I have the shitty comcast cable which is only one of two providers in my area. Yet I am a hop skip and a jump to silicon valley.

BBP - 30-6-2015 at 11:54

Those things get more annoying the longer it lasts since internet traffic is taking up more and more space. When I visit Tumblr the connection does have a hard time.

polydigm - 30-6-2015 at 13:12

Yes Bonny, that's the other side of the coin. Even you have a fast internet connection you have to deal with the cheap bastards on the internet who won't provide enough bandwidth for their entire customer base.

Hey Huck, long time no see. The modern world is riddled with irony.

Huck_Phlem - 30-6-2015 at 18:34

My son is on his way to Boston to start tour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGpnclOQWpg

watch it before it gets taken down.

BBP - 30-6-2015 at 21:51

Which is great, I'd appreciate the activity here. At the moment the big Z place has lost its appeal.

polydigm - 1-7-2015 at 01:24

The Z place is degenerating into pre Isaac banning ridiculousness.

Hey Huck, doesn't your son play guitar? Those Blue Devils are pretty impressive, though it's hard to hear a lot of the detail in the percussion in that recording.

Huck_Phlem - 1-7-2015 at 06:38

He plays 7 instruments. He teaches high school front ensembles (3 of them so far) Yet he graduated in 2013. He is the one furthest to the left behind the timpanist playing vibes and going mover to the concert bass drum and gong. He is the youngest one in the front ensemble. He just spent two years in the lower B corps who won their division last year. Now he is playing with the 16 time and defending world champion.

They sent a smaller unit of 97 members to Holland, Italy, Switzerland and UK to compete in their league. They compete a couple years longer till age 25 I believe.
Over a thousand people auditioned for those spots.

My son will be playing guitar in Individual competition with the combo they put together. They almost had him play this year but scrapped the idea due to logistics and could not figure out how to fit it in the show.

BBP - 1-7-2015 at 11:18

Very cool! How old's Connor now?

Huck_Phlem - 1-7-2015 at 22:18

He is 19. The youngest member of his section. (the pit)

I have not heard from him for almost two days so they must be practicing real hard for the Boston show tomorrow night.
They are staying in Rode Island now.

polydigm - 2-7-2015 at 11:25

Cool indeed, you must be very proud.

BBP - 3-7-2015 at 08:22

That's great! Maybe he gets to travel to Europe in a year or so...

Summer heat's taking its toll. I'm up way too early and my sun allergy has spread to my lower arms.

polydigm - 4-7-2015 at 02:44

BBP - 4-7-2015 at 13:43

Really? Never knew that...

It's really very hot out here now, 35 degs officially but a bit higher according to my thermometer... Today is also the start of the Tour de France in Utrecht.

Huck_Phlem - 5-7-2015 at 06:22

I can't wait for this day to be over! two holidays I never celebrate. christmas and 4th of july. I am neither religious or duped by this crappy country that sold it's people down the river 45 years ago!

BBP - 5-7-2015 at 14:32

Itching with sun allergy and the storm they promised us is nowhere in sight. Pfffffff...

polydigm - 6-7-2015 at 04:13

So, Huck, what was significant in the US about 1970?

BBP - 6-7-2015 at 22:25

Flares and Flo & Eddie.

Huck_Phlem - 7-7-2015 at 03:34

That was during the Nixon years.

It just goes downhill from there.

BBP - 7-7-2015 at 16:17

Found some fresh yeast, means I can bake baguettes again! :drool:

Huck_Phlem - 7-7-2015 at 22:37

They played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra yesterday and did 1812 overture. Here is their own music though. the first part is the drumline and hornline doing fun stuff then they start their actual show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW2QlHCxEAg

*fixed the link for you: - BBP*

Huck_Phlem - 8-7-2015 at 07:44

Oh boy! I had a friend totally go off about a breakfast eatery and if you have the patience to read her missive she pretty much answers why she got the treatment she did:

"Has anyone ever eaten at Bar Carlo on Foster in Portland? If so, what was your experience? I've been going there for four years, and Dann's been going since they opened seven years agao, and we've both noticed their service and food getting worse and worse, and the waitstaff getting less and less patient. We ask for a little special treatment here and there, but nothing too extreme. With me, it's always "dressing on the side; milk instead of half and half with the coffee." Coffee is self-serve so I always go to the bar and request a tiny cup of milk. They never had a problem with it, until yesterday. A few weeks ago we had to send our scrambled eggs back, because they were raw inside; the griddle was too hot, cooking only the outsides of the food, and did not cook them through; my pancake was raw throughout as well. Those are the only two complaints I've ever had about the food. Yesterday their manager pulled us both aside and said she felt like they couldn't do anything right, and said things like "We just don't feel that you're happy with us, and we're wondering if it's worth continuing this relationship..." Needless to say, we were surprised. I told her not to tell us how we felt, but to focus on how she was feeling about us. She said she was unhappy, because we were unhappy. We said we were NOT unhappy and again said "Stop telling us how WE feel and tell is if there is a problem with something we have done." We showed up as a party of two, saying we expected three more to join us eventually but that we were instructed by our friends to go ahead and start eating without us. They said they don't seat until the full party is there, so we opted to be seated only as two, taking a very small table outside. I pointed to the table and said I wanted to sit there, and the hostess said okay and seated us. Our friends did eventually show up, and we invited them to sit with with us, thinking this was pretty normal for restaurants. They were busy, so I grabbed two of the self-serve menus for my friends: normal, you're supposed to grab your own menus. The waitress, who's helped us for several years and -was- one of our favorites, practically short-circuited when she saw there were to more people at our table. She complained to the manager that we weren't "following protocol" or some such. Okay, no problem, next time we'll know, right? Don't invite people to sit at your table AFTER you order... wait for your friends or go somewhere else. Okay, we get it. That was never the rule before, but now that they're far more popular, they've chanced the rules. No problem? Not so fast. The friend who sat with me is extremely allergic to onions, and she and her husband requested a salad with no onions, explaining in a concise sentence that she cannot eat anything touched by onions: the plate, the salad, and other food must not come into contact with onions. Server said, "okay, no problem." Her salad arrives. She takes one bite of a cucumber and starts having an allergic reaction: her throat starts to close up and her breath becomes shallow. The knife used to cut the onions was used on the cucumbers, without having been washed, probably in early morning food prep, prior to the place opening. An honest mistake. Her salad was sent back, but because she was at my table, the manager of the restaurant lumped this "incident" in with my having sent food back for being raw two weeks before, claiming it was just somehow impossible to please ME... She also brought up another "incident" in which I requested a plain crepe (almost a year earlier) when they were out of the crepes I requested. I said "It's okay, I would love just a plain crepe without any filling." She said she wasn't sure the kitchen would do it. I asked if I could pay extra for one, and she agreed to put in the request. The kitchen agreed, and I didn't think it was a problem, yet, yesterday, the manager brought up "the crepe incident," which I thought wasn't an issue at all. She claimed I was pushy and insistent. Yet, I was nothing of the sort. All I did was ask if they could accommodate me, when they were out of something else. They normally offer substitutes (such as Havarti for Chevre, when they're out of Chevre). It wasn't busy that day, and I don't feel it was out of the ordinary. But because she pulled me aside and felt the need to "discuss the situation," I agreed never to make any more special requests. THEN--get this: she says, "And there was this one time you only tipped five percent." I said "I've been coming here for years, and I always tip well. Dann overtips. He tips between 20 and 30 percent. I typically tip 15 to 20 percent. If I EVER undertipped, and all you have to cite is ONE incident, you need to look at my history as a customer and tell me if you remember any of the huge tips we've left, as that seems to be getting left out of this conversation. Our server hasn't come back to our table with our change yet. We are waiting so we can tip her." Our change was then brought to us. I said to the manager, "My math skills suck so please let me know what 20 percent of $73.00 is and I'll leave at least that much as a tip." She calculated it to be $14.60. I tipped our waitress $20.00, which is 28 percent. My server / waitress refused to make eye contact the rest of my visit, and I did not even get a thank you. I am a "bad customer" now and obviously unwelcome at this place. The manager and I gave each other a hug and I thanked her for bringing our indiscretions to our attention, saying we would be more mindful in the future; I also asked that they keep their issues separated from ours: I don't want to feel like uncooked food can't be sent back, or like we're asking for special treatment when pay top dollar for food that's inadequate. We aren't that picky, but we're not the Sunday hung-over types on Foster, who're maybe happy to eat whatever they're given, because they're not quite as discerning. There's more. The manager claimed that we just took the table we were at without asking anyone. Another misunderstanding. We said we wanted a specific table, because it was in the shade, and the hostess said "Okay, sure." She seated us. After all of this, we feel unjustly treated, and though we (used to) love this place, we're tired of waiting two hours to be served, and we're tired of the wait staff getting progressively less and less patient. Maybe it is time we do move on."

So I just came out and told her that if I were a server I would not want to wait on her either and after 30 years in the business I have heard it all. I have dined out with her and I can see why this happened.

Then she flipped out on me!

"Fuck you. I used to love you, but I just need to be rid of you for a while. Just please stay the fuck away from me. Stay out of my life. Don't call me anymore. Don't even fucking talk to me. Be well, and be real, but do it somewhere else. I can't afford to have people in my life who think they know me, and make gross errors in judgement about me, my intentions, and who I am or what I do or, especially, how I treat others. The way I am speaking to you now is not typical. You fucking earned it.
"

Huck_Phlem - 8-7-2015 at 07:55

I also said that perhaps they should just stay home and cook. I really believe that if you have an allergy that bad then you should not eat out period.

She has since sent me a whole bunch of other stuff but I don't even want to wade through it.

BBP - 8-7-2015 at 09:55

Sorry Huck but I have to stop you there.
Everybody has the right to go to a restaurant. Nobody wants an allergy and that woman is the victim, not the perpetrator.

The customer clearly stated the severity of the allergy.
The waitress accepted the order. By doing that, she made an agreement with the customer that whatever food was served would be safe to eat for her. Did she check with the cook whether it was possible to have this to the extent

The restaurant is in the wrong, either for waitress error or the cook's error.

It's possible that you don't agree with the way she acts in restaurants, but from what you post here, it looks like you're making light of a life-threatening condition. Maybe just saying nothing would've been a better option.

Why do you literally quote everything she said, but only paraphrase what you say?

Somehow... I guess you don't have an allergy. I have no life-threatening food allergies that I'm aware of (there is one food that gives embarrassing red spots on my chin). I have sun allergy. Should I stay indoors all day in summer? Wear gloves, like I did last year but it didn't help much?

Huck_Phlem - 8-7-2015 at 11:57

a peanut allergy is one thing but something as severe as onion? That is something that is everywhere in a kitchen and needs to be dealt with with severity. Breakfast cooks are the least trained of them all. It is a type of cooking that requires speed not culinary knowledge.

I had to paraphrase because she deleted the posts but I had copied hers to ask a friend what they think of her missive.

BBP - 8-7-2015 at 13:18

If the cook can't, then the waitress shouldn't have offered it. The waitress should've asked the cook if it was possible, and if the answer's no, apologize to the woman that the restaurant can't comply (and offer a complimentary coffee).
By making the suggestion that she could eat it while she couldn't, the servers put her in a life-threatening situation. She has every right to sue, as far as I'm concerned.

This training should be normal within the serving industry: the way of dealing with dietary demands. As a customer you are the one entitled to state what you eat, whether this is about a food allergy or any other form of diet or something as simple as the way you drink your coffee.

Huck_Phlem - 8-7-2015 at 18:57

The thing is something like that you could have no idea weather just rinsing it off or a complete wash would do.

Read the initial rant. It is obvious that she has been antagonizing this restaurant for quite some time.

I dined out with her once and returned after we left to offer the waiter more tip money for the mess they left and showing up at the very end of the night.

My friend is the epitome of white privilege tech worker. Her final post to me shows her true colors.

"I'm still kind of mad... I do love you though. Maybe someday when you say something about not being able to understand a technical manual and I tell you you're just too stupid to understand user guides and you shouldn't even bother buying or trying to understand electronics or computer applications, we will be even, because it isn't the way tech manuals are written, it is just the stupid, uneducated, picky reader who has to be coddled and shown in baby pictures how to use software or new televisions. Just like the customer who has a bad experience in a restaurant is just too picky and too much of a difficult asshole to be taken seriously. Do you get my point?"

BBP - 8-7-2015 at 21:13

If she's agging on that restaurant, that's nasty. It has nothing to do with her friend with the allergic reaction, although she uses it as weapon. I was agitating against you saying that people with allergies shouldn't visit restaurants. Most restaurants here have veggie, gluten and nut indication on their menus here. If my sister asks if a dish is vegetarian and the waitress doesn't know, she'll say "I'll check it with the cook."

She also complains that she is being called out on being a bad tipper. Weren't tips supposed to be voluntary?

Sorry about lashing out on you on the allergies: I'm itchy all over with sun allergy.
(scratches)

Huck_Phlem - 8-7-2015 at 22:41

I don't know what is up with the allergy thing but I do know her very well and you don't just all of a sudden add people to your table and just grab a menu for them. She sounds so entitled and has no clue how much she has angered them over the years.

It is not the restaurants job to check if your allergy can be triggered by something so easily. a lot of people claim to have allergies just to make sure they get fresh cooked food.

I have went back and re read her original post and am baffled by how she can even think she is right! She treated them badly in my opinion without even knowing she did.

BBP - 9-7-2015 at 08:58

Let me break down her post as a person who doesn't know her at all would read it:

-Its up to you to tell a restaurant that you're allergic (and to what degree), and it's up to the restaurant to see if they can comply. Since she mentioned the severity of her allergy and the waitress said "OK", it's restaurant's fault.
-From what she says about tipping: a tip is not compulsory.
-You're fully entitled to send badly cooked food back, even on bullshit charges (remember that's how crisps/chips were invented, by a picky businessman who kept on sending his baked sliced potatoes back because the slices were too thick). Badly cooked food is a different story - it could give you severe food poisoning from eating it. She mentions an uncooked egg - salmonella-risk.
-Funny, when my father came to join us at a cafe after we'd already ordered, they were appreciative of his custom. You know, customer = money. It's not at all uncommon for parties to drop in in segments - if there's a table available there's no reason to give somebody a smaller seat.

It may be a cultural difference, but here customer is king, not a person who exists to give restaurants money. This sounds like a place I would not go back to.

The thing is: you know her, I don't. From what I read from what you post here, you are making yourself look like the bad guy now. She knows what to write to get sympathy. You don't. Especially that allergy remark was below the belt.
(pauses typing to scratch her fingers)

Huck_Phlem - 11-7-2015 at 02:56

I spoke with the restaurant. They all talked about it and no one remembers her "Allergy" statement.

they say they have been trying to get rid of her for years. Not something a restaurant would admit freely.

BBP - 11-7-2015 at 10:17

Who made the order? I can't believe that if anyone is that badly allergic, she would've mentioned it.
(scratches hands)

Off to work in a coupla minutes...

BBP - 11-7-2015 at 16:17

Back from work, exhausted. Man it's hot!

BBP - 12-7-2015 at 16:24

Baked baguettes again... yum!

polydigm - 13-7-2015 at 01:28

The reason I can't tell about that restaurant fiasco is that we only have her word for what happened. Like Bonny says, you know her Huck whereas we can only read her words. I have to say, just based on her words in that first post, that the restaurant are the assholes. There is nothing she mentions that I wouldn't complain about myself, not that I have ever had much to complain about with restaurants. Generally, if I think a restaurant is no good I just never go back.

And, the US culture of tipping is bullshit. People should get paid properly for the work they do and customers shouldn't be obliged to supplement anyone's income. Waiting is part and parcel of what a restaurant provides and they should be employing/training and paying people to give good service because that is part of the job.

BBP - 13-7-2015 at 09:08

Depends where you go: in Japan you pay a lot for a drink, but you don't tip at all.

BBP - 16-7-2015 at 16:45

Crap connection...

polydigm - 18-7-2015 at 03:16

Hello ... Hello ...

BBP - 18-7-2015 at 19:42

Worked today. It's very hot.

Huck_Phlem - 18-7-2015 at 21:32

I just had the pleasure of watching the worlds oldest drum and bugle corps. Jubal from Dordrect Netherlands. ( I hope I spelled that right)

They were great! They have come many times to the U.S. to compete in international drum corps. This is the first time I got to see them. (online but live)

This is the second very big regional competition of the season. My son's drum corps has started falling behind another corps from the East Coast called The Cadets. They are the defending world champions and have won 5 of the last 8 years and 3 silver medals and 4 of those championships have been undefeated seasons with 09,10 being consecutive.

There is a lot of pressure to win of course but I think this years show is better IMO than last years show which garnered the highest score ever. (99.65)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=846EwgG9reQ

BBP - 19-7-2015 at 09:33

You missed an H there, it's Dordrecht. Nice town.

polydigm - 20-7-2015 at 00:24

Just passing. I'm a week away from full time study after too long a break. I'm a wee bit apprehensive.

BBP - 20-7-2015 at 16:30

Enjoy those last few days, Poly... you'll miss them soon enough...

BBP - 25-7-2015 at 15:09

There's a superstrong storm here, trains aren't going in certain areas, the rides in theme park Duinrell are closed, and we're advised to stay off the roads.

Currently I am knitting a Victorian-age white cotton hat. For that I needed 1,5mm knitting needles, both for straight and for circular knitting. And matching white thin cotton. This was used a lot up until the 1980s for table cloths, window decoration, closet borders and such, but nowadays this is so out of fashion, you can't find any knitting needle with a size below 3.0 mm at the regular shops. Fortunately I'd located both yarn and needles at a second-hand shoppe in Geldrop. The cotton I brought home straight away, but to get the needles (had to double check on the size) I had to go out during the storm.

After work, which was wet, I decided to go to Geldrop. On the way there I noticed the windmill of Geldrop, het Nupke (www.hetnupke.nl), was working. "Right, it's Saturday, they're open!" So I went to have a look, which was pretty (but since it was spontaneous I didn't have my camera on me) and while I was there, the miller had to put the brakes on.

Anyway the knitting needles were free, could've brought them along earlier.

polydigm - 26-7-2015 at 01:23

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

Enjoy those last few days, Poly... you'll miss them soon enough...

I was tossing up between doing some reading in preparation for the last week or two and just having a proper break, before returning to study. I opted for the proper break and I've been mostly working on my music and having a pretty good time with it. I'm pretty sure it will all fall into place when I go back.

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

... since it was spontaneous I didn't have my camera ... the knitting needles were free, could've brought them along earlier.

Sounds like one of my normal days. How often does stuff like that happen?

BBP - 26-7-2015 at 15:43

The storm claimed one life. Wind blew at speeds of up to 120 km/h in IJmuiden and 110 km/h in Amsterdam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiE8lkFr6kU Tree in Amsterdam falling over
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02ddnGzxNZs Wobbly plane landing on Schiphol

BBP - 29-7-2015 at 15:57

A WWII bomb has just been found in the town centre of Eindhoven. Media differ on the weight, some say 500, some 1000; but it's probably a British one from the raid of 6 December 1942.

BBP - 29-7-2015 at 22:48

Hear ye hear ye. They're updating the Z-forum!

BBP - 30-7-2015 at 22:52

The Zappa-forum is still being updated. Major overhaul? Will Jimmie be found out?

I'm beginning to get withdrawal symptoms. Where do I post I just saw 7 Samurai or what I learnt about HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNLMS_Abraham_Crijnssen_(1936)

polydigm - 1-8-2015 at 03:28

I'm not sure what the difference is at zappa.com? Clicking on the "View your posts" link just gives the threads, not the posts, and orders them according to the latest post in that thread, not your posts, which is totally useless. A tip there is to either add &sr=posts to the end of that link or use search, type your user name in, leave the search field blank and select the display as posts option. And the "View active topics" link still doesn't work.

Any ideas what has changed?

What's the significance of that navy boat to you, Bonny?

BBP - 1-8-2015 at 14:15

It's a pretty amazing story!

Found my vision got blurry in my right eye. Since I'm left-eyed, visually it's not too much of a problem but I do wonder how this happened.

polydigm - 2-8-2015 at 05:31

What does left-eyed mean? I'm not sure I can really tell the difference when I use either of my eyes one at a time.

BBP - 2-8-2015 at 09:11

You're not just right- or left-handed, but also right- or left footed, eyed, and eared, and since we smell in stereo we might even be left- or right-nostrilled. A lot of people are right-side dominant throughout, but about 10% of people are crossdominant.

To determine which eye your dominant eye is:
Look at an object with both your eyes. Make a circle with thumb and forefinger and hold this in front of the object, so that you can see the object through it when you're looking with both your eyes.
Close one of your eyes. Is the object still in the circle? Then the eye you're looking with, is dominant.

polydigm - 3-8-2015 at 12:56

The first time I did that test I came out right eyed. But, the problem with the test is that because I'm focussing on a distant object, my hand interferes with that focus and I can move it two ways to clarify. Repeating the test several times I started getting the left eye a lot. Then I tried lowering my hand, focussing on my fingers and the object alternately, until I thought they lay in a line, and then lifted my hand and found I mostly got the right eye. I had a break and then started getting the left eye more often even with the modified test.

I am now walking away and going to do some much needed study.

BBP - 3-8-2015 at 18:25

Good luck Poly!

Eye's still blurry. I'm also busy determining of a necklace plus pendant where it comes from. I traced it to the makers and era by the mark on it: Bijkamp & Co in Steenwijk, in the 1943-1946 period. Thing is - that company didn't make jewellery, for as far as I could see. Maybe I should get it appraised.

BBP - 6-8-2015 at 08:09

I love these Area Maze puzzles!
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/03/alex-belllos-...

polydigm - 8-8-2015 at 03:05

Another deadly distraction for me. If you've solved area maze 4, the one with the 21,43 and 29 area rectangles, then click on the following link to see my solution, which is more elegant than the one in the Guardian.

area maze 4 solution

aquagoat - 8-8-2015 at 06:21

I'm on holiday for two weeks, it was about time.:bouncy:

aquagoat - 8-8-2015 at 06:24

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

I love these Area Maze puzzles!
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/03/alex-belllos-...

I'm gonna try that.

BBP - 8-8-2015 at 19:39

Where are you then Aqua?

aquagoat - 9-8-2015 at 07:47

I'm gonna stay in Amiens but perhaps I'll go the south for a few days to see a friend, if her schedule makes it possible.

BBP - 10-8-2015 at 07:55

Nice! Pretty place, Amiens, hope you have time to visit the cathedral...

Just made an appointment with the doctor for my eye...

aquagoat - 10-8-2015 at 18:46

Bonny, I've been living in Amiens since August 2007, lol.

Yes the cathedral is awesome, I even visited its highest tower that is about 60m high and it was great.

Now go cure that eye thing.

BBP - 10-8-2015 at 19:32

I know sweetie, I was joking... A book of mine (famous young adult novel here) relates of the plague running rampant there during the 100 Year War. Knowing how much research that author puts in her work... rather frightening. It relates of the house of a Jewish family being burnt down.

The GP looked at my eyes, then looked at them again using one of those special bright ligit plus looking glass things. On my right eye that really hurt. Then he made me do one of those chart tests with rings that get smaller. (looks it up) A Landolt C chart.

The good news is there's no damage to the retina and there's no increased pressure on the eyeball, so there's no glaucoma.
That leaves little option besides migraine. I've had my spells, but in general my symptoms are that I get terribly nervous and get bad nightmares (and my keyboard playing gets notably worse), never visual. Besides my eye has been seeing blurry for 10 days now.

BBP - 11-8-2015 at 10:59

This morning I woke up at 7AM with a major, pounding headache that spreads through various parts of the head, and nausea. Could barely open my eyes. For an hour I was feeling very sorry for myself, then the nausea came up so badly I decided to relocate myself to the bathroom, but nothing happened, went to bed again, fell asleep eventually and woke up at 11. Headache's still there but not as vile.
Eye still sees blurry, although it appears to be getting better.

aquagoat - 12-8-2015 at 06:29

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

I know sweetie, I was joking... A book of mine (famous young adult novel here) relates of the plague running rampant there during the 100 Year War. Knowing how much research that author puts in her work... rather frightening. It relates of the house of a Jewish family being burnt down.

The GP looked at my eyes, then looked at them again using one of those special bright ligit plus looking glass things. On my right eye that really hurt. Then he made me do one of those chart tests with rings that get smaller. (looks it up) A Landolt C chart.

The good news is there's no damage to the retina and there's no increased pressure on the eyeball, so there's no glaucoma.
That leaves little option besides migraine. I've had my spells, but in general my symptoms are that I get terribly nervous and get bad nightmares (and my keyboard playing gets notably worse), never visual. Besides my eye has been seeing blurry for 10 days now.

Sorry Bonny, I didn't get the joke.

Cool to know there's no damage to your eyes.

aquagoat - 12-8-2015 at 06:34

Started a new diet and a 1 hour to 1 and a half hours workout program yesterday, I'm gonna try to do this 4 to 5 days a week, there's too much fat on my body, the main purpose is to see my abs again, lol, but coffee without sugar is pretty "degueulasse"!

aquagoat - 12-8-2015 at 06:39

Quote: Originally posted by BBP

This morning I woke up at 7AM with a major, pounding headache that spreads through various parts of the head, and nausea. Could barely open my eyes. For an hour I was feeling very sorry for myself, then the nausea came up so badly I decided to relocate myself to the bathroom, but nothing happened, went to bed again, fell asleep eventually and woke up at 11. Headache's still there but not as vile.
Eye still sees blurry, although it appears to be getting better.

ha, headaches, it's really a pain in the ass... well it's more in the head, actually... lol... ok, I am out :forumsmiley395:

BBP - 12-8-2015 at 19:23

Went out today but am now regretting that.
I'm reading up on migraine now, well, as far as I can find it without my Sacks book since my sister is borrowing that. It's very creepy to me since I never had any serious visual discomfort or intense headaches.

BBP - 14-8-2015 at 01:35

Quote: Originally posted by aquagoat

Started a new diet and a 1 hour to 1 and a half hours workout program yesterday, I'm gonna try to do this 4 to 5 days a week, there's too much fat on my body, the main purpose is to see my abs again, lol, but coffee without sugar is pretty "degueulasse"!

Wow Aqua, hope you get there... Good luck!

It was hard for me to quit taking sugar in my tea. I came from the fizzy drinks corner when I started on tea - fizzy drinks have about 4 sugar cubes per glass. For adding sugar I used a shaker, so I didn't know how much I put in there. When I moved to sweetener to get me off sugar bit by bit, I found I did put the equivalent of 4 lumps in there. Went to 3 sweeteners, then 2, then 1... Getting rid of the last one was the hardest. I succeeded by accident when I dropped the sweetener container in my tea. I tried to finish it but... ewww...

Actually, if you're thirsty, coffee is not a good drink. It is a laxative meaning it'll make you more thirsty.

aquagoat - 14-8-2015 at 07:03

Yeah, definitely hard to get rid of sugar, I like them cookies and stuff, and I'm used to saying I drink Sugar with coffee and not the other way around, plus sugar is almost everywhere so it's hard to efficaciously cut down on it . Funny thing is I didn't drink coffee before moving to Amiens-I didn't drink alcohol either-I think I'm gonna quit after the holidays, it's gonna be easier since I generally don't have breakfast.

BBP - 14-8-2015 at 08:47

My grandmother told me it's very important to eat breakfast to get your system going, since it would've been half a day since your last meal. When I was at school I never had breakfast and I usually went without lunch as well. That would get me in embarrassing situations if I had a science test in the last hour and my stomach would be growling.

aquagoat - 15-8-2015 at 06:09

breakfast is no big deal for me, I'd never had it since very recently, and when I was in college and art school I didn't have lunch either, keeping the money to buy records, lol....Now with the work that I do it wouldn't be good to skip lunch. Problem is I should eat healthier food at lunch than I do, will probably start cooking something in the evening and take it with me the next day as my workmates do, but it's not a practice I like.

BBP - 15-8-2015 at 07:59

Cooking something the day before doesn't sound like the standard Dutch lunch - most people here just bring in their sandwiches. Our school canteen basically only had worstenbroodjes (sausage roll - a sort of sausage with the bread baked in close contact all the way around it) and apples in the canteen.

polydigm - 16-8-2015 at 16:16

I've been pretty busy. These courses are getting very serious. Sorry to hear about your migraine situation, Bonny. I've been a migraine sufferer since age thirteen, they're no fun. Luckily, I don't get them as often as some.

BBP - 16-8-2015 at 23:34

NOTE: Edited to take out headache-English. Which is going to be hard since I still have a headache.

Thanks Poly... it's not fun but I have faith it will get better soon.

Today was a bit action-packed: managed to build a plywood windmill and bake baguettes at the same time. Go multi-tasking!

In May I bought a windmill model building package at the book fair. They had one set up and they were so charming I couldn't resist. And I had staff discount.

When I finally decided to build it, I couldn't find the plate that had #1.
For good reason. There was a bit of a snafu when it was assembled, so I had 2 wooden plates twice and missed two others. Dad contacted the factory and sent the two missing plates.

So I thought. Then I compared the fresh plates to my kit and found I'd made a mistake in identifying the missing bits, so I got something else double as well, and still one plate missing.
We were too embarrassed to call the company again, so instead Dad dug up some old plywood and I got some figure saws, he printed the instruction manual's drawing life-size so I could use that as template.

I am absolutely no star at putting things together, whether woodwork or paper or clay. My craft projects at elementary school were usually poorer than the rest of the class's, and at the thought of sawing out something my mind reeled back to high school.
My teacher on the technics and crafts subjects, and later class mentor, was the lovely mr Van Kemenade, with whom I got along like a charm. It happened to me twice that he literally pulled a project out of my hands because I was failing miserably, then he set it together at an incredible speed, let me do the last bit and then give me 7/10. Sawing was particularly lousy. And soldering. And clay.

It wasn't easy, but I managed to saw out the octagon. Then I had to drill holes at the right places, so measured them out and made the holes bigger until it fitted.
Then I found there was another piece I needed: one that was much tinier and needed precise working. I sort of got a good shape and good depth, but somehow the result was too uneven - the plywood I used for the missing parts was thicker than the rest of the mill-to-be. Sanded that side down a bit but eventually my father got to help out on that, and on making it all fit since it was fiddly.
Fortunately the rest went smooth and some time later I had a lovely little wind mill that can rotate, and had some yummy baguette to enjoy!

BBP - 21-8-2015 at 12:15

Made an appointment with the eye doctor.

BBP - 22-8-2015 at 18:43

The connection is terrible again. I think the neighbors are streaming Heimat.

BBP - 24-8-2015 at 22:04

Went to Geldrop and got sick...

BBP - 27-8-2015 at 17:11

It's oh so quiet...

aquagoat - 28-8-2015 at 15:10

it'a oh. so still

BBP - 28-8-2015 at 20:07

you're all alone...

aquagoat - 29-8-2015 at 07:50

And so peaceful until...

BBP - 29-8-2015 at 20:03

PAAH Da Da DA!

Punky: not sure if you're reading this, but tomorrow is the Brabantsedag again. The topic is Brabantian heroes - among the depicted are Van Doorne, who built the DAF car/truck factory (and built the first car with automated gearshift), inventor and creator Peter Reijnders, who has built many of the early attractions in De Efteling, Ambiorix, Jacques Brel and Henri van Abbe.
www.omroepbrabant.nl

BBP - 30-8-2015 at 09:56

Here:
http://www.omroepbrabant.nl/brabantsedag
Starts in three hours!

BBP - 30-8-2015 at 20:40

Going to the eye doctor tomorrow...

aquagoat - 31-8-2015 at 18:58

Again?

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