Anything noteworthy happen to you today?

Pages: 1 .. 3 4 5 6 7 .. 76

DED - 21-2-2009 at 23:32

It is on the opposite of the building in the last picture.
The one on the last picture is the town hall and the one you mean is the town office.
Originally the town hall of the last picture has an office tower. A few years ago the council stated that it was unsafe and unpleasant to work in the tower. Restauration was more expensive as building a new one, so the stadskantoor (cityoffice) was build. ........the tower is restaurated and is now a office for a health organization.

BBP - 22-2-2009 at 20:31

Ah... I was wondering why there were two buildings...
Why was it unsafe to work in the tower? Was it swinging in the wind?

DED - 22-2-2009 at 22:13

Bad airco, windows and plates could fall down.

BBP - 23-2-2009 at 09:41

Windows falling... hmmm... I sense some far-fetched analogy here...

Anyway today I was woken up by a phonecall at 5:30 AM. Apparently I should've been at work.
However my boss said she'd call me in the weekend, and as I didn't hear anything, well, I assumed she didn't. But apparently she phoned someone, and a woman picked up and agreed to come to work on Monday. :pissed:

I'll just have to check out, see if it was my sister. She sounds more like me than I do. Or the other way round, I forgot.

BBP - 1-3-2009 at 12:04

Anyway my sister didn't know about the call. So my boss rang the wrong number and whoever was on the other end said she could come in to work tomorrow.

Sneezing my brains out right now.

scallopino - 1-3-2009 at 13:02

Hmm. So in trying to dial your number he got one or a couple of digits wrong and by an incredible coincidence rang somebody else who's boss sounds like your boss, and who's voice sounded like your voice, who said they can come in to work?

BBP - 2-3-2009 at 10:02

It's a she btw, my boss... she's a 64-year-old great-grandmother. She noticed something odd about the conversation, but as "I" said yes so quickly, she remarked to her hubby how nice it is that that Bonny-girl always shows up when they're in need.

aquagoat - 17-3-2009 at 20:01

Today I adopted a cat.

BBP - 17-3-2009 at 20:37

Congratulations! Do you have any photos? I love kitties!

aquagoat - 17-3-2009 at 21:29

Two pics of my new cat (my girlfriend's new cat, actually), just after being washed and a bit later. He's very nice, hums all the time, wants to get caressed all the time. He's 7 years old, named Capucin and gets easily afraid of the sounds he doesn't know or when you move too fast, he must have been mistreated when younger, we got him from a pet refuge.

BBP - 18-3-2009 at 11:05

He's got beautiful eyes. Sweet!

punknaynowned - 18-3-2009 at 18:51

good lookin cat.
It'll take him a couple weeks/months to get used to the new surroundings.

I found this video of some Gary Lucas work from a recent single
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_Xa82ZysVw

Huck_Phlem - 19-3-2009 at 04:59

Here it was a beautiful day in sunny California (easily 70 degrees f) and what did I do?

I sat home all day long and listened to old records and tapes on my vintage stereo!:guitar2:

BBP - 19-3-2009 at 10:01

Oh, but that's fun! Besides, isn't California usually sunny? I mean, here I have no problems with my sun allergy. I haven't seen the golden ball in days.

I'm getting increasingly annoyed by the birds on the chimney. I'm scared one may fall in again.

scallopino - 19-3-2009 at 12:19

Haha. Oh yeah. I remember that episode.

BBP - 19-3-2009 at 18:06

Me too. My heart hurts when I think back of that event.

Anyway... not much going on here...

BBP - 21-3-2009 at 18:10

I'm now on a painting identifying spree. Gabriel Knight 3 has about 50 impressionist paintings in it, and I thought it would be fun to make a GK3 Gallery.

One of the paintings they used is this one:

Federico Zandomeneghi (1841 Venice - 1917 Paris)
Signora nel prato (Woman in the field), 1893
Oil on canvas, 46 by 38 cm. From private collection.

It caused a lot of problems with the GK FanForum Members. One posed the question in a quiz on who painted it, leading to a large and varied amount of answers, none of them correct. And the person who asked it, didn't know either. It lead to some members searching frantically on the net for a painting of a woman with a red umbrella; and getting nowhere.

I got nowhere on the Internet either, so I looked it up in the library. I browsed 4 real big impressionist art books before I found it. I was about to give up hope, and then I turned the page and saw it! Magnificent!

punknaynowned - 22-3-2009 at 08:45

nice to find what your looking for when you have all but given up hope in ever finding it.

Some may know, the news often makes me a chain-smoking ranter wallowing in bitter delusions.
"Why can't people just learn the facts and take simple steps to get along?"

So this year, as dumb as it may sound I've been trying to entertain myself otherwise. I started watching tv again, but online. This is significant because I haven't watched any in 15 years. That's right, no American Idol, no Family Guy, South Park, Friends or Seinfeld. No reality tv, no Mtv, no HBO.
No local TV.
Yeah, I needed a break from the news which I still get but on a much more limited field: the internet.
So I watch 30 Rock on hulu and the animated starwars clone wars shorts on starwars.com
I'm also following some youtube 'stations':
-- travelfilmarchives
-- TheRealNews
-- communitychanne

yeah, I'm being cautious, taking baby steps

I run into people on the street and they want to talk about politics or 'philosophy' and I couldn't care less. The more the conversation is about using certain language framed inside certain viewpoints, the less interested I become.
Of course, I can talk about my interests all day, but they're specialized and most people don't care about it at all. So I don't bring it up.

On the other hand, I can sit and look at pretty pictures all day. Or learn how to use my new camera. Because pretty pictures happen all the time. It's just a matter in capturing them and knowing how. Like Fido's gorgeous snaps. He was there at the right time and got the light and frame-in-time, but knew how to do that and which filter or lens or shutter speed etc might work.
But rarely do you find pictures that are that good.

I've also begun to be a fan of big art books. Because the internet isn't there yet, though books can't feature video, they still have a leg up on quality in my book.

BBP - 22-3-2009 at 10:28

Whoa! NO TV for 15 years? Sounds perfect... unfortunately I'm a bit of a Simpsons addict

You're definitely right about the pictures thing... sometimes I wonder if people think I'm crazy whenever I stand for minutes gazing at a beautiful sky...

punknaynowned - 22-3-2009 at 12:23

Bonny, don't second guess yourself out of doing something solely because of what other people *might* think. It usually doesn't help them any and may keep you from doing what you want or need to.

I have seen a fair amount of the simpson's at other people's houses across the years. And a few episodes of Seinfeld on video tape at someone's house. In 2000 I did see a number of the first year Survivor shows again at somebody else's house.
So, you could say I've seen enough to be able to later recognize big 'phenomenon' types of shows.
Oh yeah! I watch The Daily Show on hulu this year, but I sure don't watch 25% of his episodes.

Yeah, I got sick of it then. Random stuff on youtube now is better than I remember most tv being then.

[Edited on 22-3-09 by punknaynowned]

punknaynowned - 22-3-2009 at 12:31

I can watch shadows creep across the side of a building, all day.
Watch the breeze turn leaves from green to gold and back again in the sudden warm gusts of moist spring air.
Daffodils are up all over here.

BBP - 22-3-2009 at 14:00

Dad bought me a Casio keyboard. It's awesome, but dirty! So I'm scrubbing it now.

punknaynowned - 23-3-2009 at 16:19

found this today:
http://www.thru-you.com/
pretty neat
wish I had the electronics to do that:
extract videos from youtube and re-edit them
I don't even know where to begin as far as equipment is concerned
looks like a lot of fun though

[Edited on 23-3-09 by punknaynowned]

[Edited on 23-3-09 by punknaynowned]

[Edited on 24-3-09 by BBP]

BBP - 23-3-2009 at 16:22

IVC (Internet Video Converter) should get you going...

punknaynowned - 23-3-2009 at 16:25

I'm still trying to get the link here working
,,,
I think it doesn't like the hyphen?

IVC
I'll look at it
thanx!
have you seen this, I think it's amazing

[Edited on 23-3-09 by punknaynowned]

punknaynowned - 23-3-2009 at 16:27

how's your keyboard?

BBP - 24-3-2009 at 09:01

The automatic link parser doesn't like the hyphen, no. It's programmed to activate at the use of http:// or www. , but it stops at the sight of a hyphen.

My keyboard is great! It has 4 octaves, which does sort of limit my music scope, but it has so many sounds! Unfortunately it's not that well-programmed. Sometimes intervals that should sound consonant (like octaves) sound dissonant. Not sure what causes that.

MTF - 24-3-2009 at 09:23

This wasn't today, but over the weekend I made the switch from DSL to cable internet. I didn't like the idea of moving to the EVIL CABLE COMPANY, but it was easier to do once it got to the point where it was twice the speed for half the price.

I spent Saturday designing the network and procuring all the stuff. The EVIL CABLE COMPANY supplied a nice install kit for free, and the only things I had to buy were an $80 ethernet cable and one of those double-size power strips. Not bad, considering that my network is fairly complex (2 laptops, 2 desktops, a PlayStation, wireless router, a print server, 2 printers, and 2 shared external drives on a RAID controller). It's all spread across three rooms.

Our house is 105 years old. It probably didn't have electricity when it was built. But the design is remarkably adaptable. It's one story, and there's a four-foot crawl space under the floor. The house is built of redwood, so I could easily drill a hole in the floor and run a cable between any two points in the house. Only problem is, it's pretty creepy down there. Lots of spiders and lizards and other vermin.

The biggest problem, of course, was configuring everything. The old system had fixed IP addresses for everything except the laptops, and the new system uses dynamic IPs all around. It's a lot simpler now. Now we can all share files, like... viruses.

Hmmm......

Huck_Phlem - 24-3-2009 at 15:52

hmmmm I tried the evil cable company and went back to dsl. I have 2 laps and 2 desk but I am on wireless for all but one that is hard wired through the apple hub.

BBP - 25-3-2009 at 07:15

Got soaked on my newspaper round again. Now I'm freezing.

We're having bad PC problems here right now. Vista will shut down and restart instead of going into sleep mode, or off. I'm fearing my game has something to do with that.

BBP - 26-3-2009 at 20:31

We're back! Spread the word!

scallopino - 27-3-2009 at 01:04

Quote:

Originally posted by punknaynowned
nice to find what your looking for when you have all but given up hope in ever finding it.

Some may know, the news often makes me a chain-smoking ranter wallowing in bitter delusions.
"Why can't people just learn the facts and take simple steps to get along?"

So this year, as dumb as it may sound I've been trying to entertain myself otherwise. I started watching tv again, but online. This is significant because I haven't watched any in 15 years. That's right, no American Idol, no Family Guy, South Park, Friends or Seinfeld. No reality tv, no Mtv, no HBO.
No local TV.
Yeah, I needed a break from the news which I still get but on a much more limited field: the internet.
So I watch 30 Rock on hulu and the animated starwars clone wars shorts on starwars.com
I'm also following some youtube 'stations':
-- travelfilmarchives
-- TheRealNews
-- communitychanne

yeah, I'm being cautious, taking baby steps

I run into people on the street and they want to talk about politics or 'philosophy' and I couldn't care less. The more the conversation is about using certain language framed inside certain viewpoints, the less interested I become.
Of course, I can talk about my interests all day, but they're specialized and most people don't care about it at all. So I don't bring it up.

On the other hand, I can sit and look at pretty pictures all day. Or learn how to use my new camera. Because pretty pictures happen all the time. It's just a matter in capturing them and knowing how. Like Fido's gorgeous snaps. He was there at the right time and got the light and frame-in-time, but knew how to do that and which filter or lens or shutter speed etc might work.
But rarely do you find pictures that are that good.

I've also begun to be a fan of big art books. Because the internet isn't there yet, though books can't feature video, they still have a leg up on quality in my book.

There's a great moment in "Annie Hall" when Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are standing a queue for the movies (i think)...and all the people are having the most terrible politico-philisophical discussions which makes Woody Allen uncontrollably angry. They are not talking about IDEAS. They are just using the language conventions that surround certain ideas. The goal is not to SAY anything or learn anything, just to show the other person how fluent you are in the jargon. And you can tell they are doing this because they don't really respond to what the other is saying, and just go ahead with their own thing, taking it in turns.

BBP - 28-3-2009 at 08:11

I uploaded the first version of my Gabriel Knight Gallery yesterday. It can be found at:
http://bonny.ploeg.ws/gabriel/gkgal1.html
http://bonny.ploeg.ws/gabriel/gkgal2.html

BBP - 29-3-2009 at 18:38

Went to 2 bookfairs, and I now have a very big reading list.

punknaynowned - 30-3-2009 at 04:19

Friday I took a Greyhound bus out of Wichita Kansas, in a snowstorm and rode the 3.5 hours back home.
All the while talking and listening to this guy in front of me who just had to have company.
Just released the day before from a local prison (attempted breaking and entering he said), but he was nervous and kept swigging on a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew.
We talked about all sorts of things and I didn't mind because if he was puttin his attention toward me that meant he wasn't buggin somebody else with his paranoia and apparent need to escalate everything.
The thing was, there was another that fit the model of the ex-tweaker or recently withdrawn from intense mania or supervision on the bus. A great big tall guy with a cowboy hat that had a military ribbon on the front, a cheap red eagle above that pinned on it and a 30 cm faux raccoon tail tacked at the back end of the hat. He would never stop talking and I was afraid that if the two of them started, they'd go after each other eventually.
The two women behind me seemed to sense it and engaged the freaky tweaky tall one and some where across the Flint Hills I realized we were all having in depth conversations basically about nothing just to keep the agitated one's distracted from their own psychoses.
Everything turned out fine.
I got back home and my buddy picked me up and we went a number of different places including dropping off the shivering cold kid wearing short pants and a ripped up hoodie and a tshirt that had rid with me up from Wichita. I couldn't believe the kid thought he was gonna walk across town in that kind of weather: stoopid.

Well, as it turned out I told my buddy I was looking for a bigger computer to process video, something I've been wanting to do for some years.
He had one he had found in the trash. He found it full of viruses and wiped it and put enough back on itto function.
He already has three computers!

So now I have to figure out what I need on it to make and process the stuff I want to...

As you can tell, I'm pretty excited

BBP - 30-3-2009 at 08:49

Good job your friend did! He saved a PC!

I imagine that on the bus... I've met some weird people on the bus. Even got molested once. But I had my sweet revenge.

MTF - 30-3-2009 at 09:11

Wow.

What the fuck were you doing in Wichita (besides looking for a way out)?

punknaynowned - 30-3-2009 at 10:07

It was a crazy escape even on commercial transport.
I was there to visit with family and help put up my brother's roof for his porch. He had quadruple bypass surgery last week and needed this fixed b4 spring rains hit. Dripping water in the house wasn't somethin he wants to worry about while recovering, puttering around the house with his wife at work.
Every time it rains, after awhile the plaster ceiling in his kitchen (next to the porch) starts a steady drip until long after the rain quits. The old porch had a roof but this was taken down some time ago and now, without a new roof to cover the holes there was the ceiling area of the kitchen that seemed open to the elements.
Fact of the matter is, it's not like you could see through from one side to the other and there had been attempts to put plastic over the 'exposed' portions where the roof had been.
It is kinda hard to explain, but we put a roof over the new existing porch AND these holes (for the most part) thursday and wednesday. What we built is sound on the support and rafters given us.
Whether it keeps out the rain is another story.

It's been awhile I guess since I've laid down with my head at a decline and tried to hammer at something farther down the slope. The urge to just shift and tumble off is within grasp. So you place your nail with your fingers and staring at the nail and not the ground which is what's behind it and you try to hit the nail and not your fingers. And then do it again and again. Pretty sure that wooden ladder was older than me too./
:P

The friend who found the computer IS a wonder.
When I figure out how it works I will be able to do video chat

punknaynowned - 30-3-2009 at 10:14

Quote:

Originally posted by BBP
Good job your friend did! He saved a PC!

I imagine that on the bus... I've met some weird people on the bus. Even got molested once. But I had my sweet revenge.

what'd happened?

scallopino - 30-3-2009 at 15:01

Quote:

Originally posted by punknaynowned
Friday I took a Greyhound bus out of Wichita Kansas, in a snowstorm and rode the 3.5 hours back home.
All the while talking and listening to this guy in front of me who just had to have company.
Just released the day before from a local prison (attempted breaking and entering he said), but he was nervous and kept swigging on a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew.
We talked about all sorts of things and I didn't mind because if he was puttin his attention toward me that meant he wasn't buggin somebody else with his paranoia and apparent need to escalate everything.
The thing was, there was another that fit the model of the ex-tweaker or recently withdrawn from intense mania or supervision on the bus. A great big tall guy with a cowboy hat that had a military ribbon on the front, a cheap red eagle above that pinned on it and a 30 cm faux raccoon tail tacked at the back end of the hat. He would never stop talking and I was afraid that if the two of them started, they'd go after each other eventually.
The two women behind me seemed to sense it and engaged the freaky tweaky tall one and some where across the Flint Hills I realized we were all having in depth conversations basically about nothing just to keep the agitated one's distracted from their own psychoses.
Everything turned out fine.
I got back home and my buddy picked me up and we went a number of different places including dropping off the shivering cold kid wearing short pants and a ripped up hoodie and a tshirt that had rid with me up from Wichita. I couldn't believe the kid thought he was gonna walk across town in that kind of weather: stoopid.

Well, as it turned out I told my buddy I was looking for a bigger computer to process video, something I've been wanting to do for some years.
He had one he had found in the trash. He found it full of viruses and wiped it and put enough back on itto function.
He already has three computers!

So now I have to figure out what I need on it to make and process the stuff I want to...

As you can tell, I'm pretty excited

That sounds like a tale fit for an FZ song, if not a whole album! Especially the military cowboy 'coontail hat.

punknaynowned - 30-3-2009 at 18:09

I wasn't really going for that, just tellin a story.
But that seems like a high compliment.
Thanx!

We live in pretty strange times

MTF - 30-3-2009 at 19:55

I was thinking more like Bob Dylan, or mebbe Johnny Cash.

In any case, that was a good thing you did, Punky. Your brother really needed your help. You earned your karma card on that one.

My father had bypass surgery twice. It's amazing that it's almost routine these days, considering that they basically have to flay you open in order to do it. I hope your brother makes the necessary changes to prevent this from happening again.

punknaynowned - 31-3-2009 at 01:31

it was a good thing mtf.
My brother's wife's brother also came up to help.
He got saddled by debt last year and tried to off himself at the age of 62.
So him coming up to help his sister while Ron was in the hospital and again
to help with the roof was also real good for his own sense of value and purpose.

Both of their recovery's are nothing short of miraculous.
They both look like Frankenstein.
It will continue as daily regimen are worked out
thanx fer the good words!

BBP - 31-3-2009 at 07:26

Quote:

Originally posted by punknaynowned

Quote:

Originally posted by BBP
Good job your friend did! He saved a PC!

I imagine that on the bus... I've met some weird people on the bus. Even got molested once. But I had my sweet revenge.

what'd happened?

Well... my sister and I were coming back from my mother. I had the window seat. At one point, this guy came sitting behind us, which I found rather odd as he had a different spot in the bus initially.
Shortly after I felt he had sticked his hand through the gap between seat and window. I grabbed a little bit of skin on his hand and squeezed it real hard with my nails. He quickly drew back his hand.
I laid back a little so he wouldn't be able to reach me anymore. My sister asked what happened, and when I told her, we proceeded to write our conversation.

Anyway she had her Swiss Army Knife with her. I turned myself 90 degs and started cleaning my nails with the blade in such a way that he had to see it.

He grew scared, went to take the seat in front of us and was continuously checking over his shoulder. As soon as another seat across the isle became available, he moved there. Long before his stop he went to stand at the exit. And when the bus arrived at the station, he ran like hell!

Anyway, two weeks later, my sister and I related the story to a friend. When Sas said that "they should keep their hands off my sister", I realised I'd been molested. Before I thought that guy was after my wallet.

BBP - 31-3-2009 at 07:28

Hope your brother is better now Punky...

[Edited on 31-3-09 by BBP]

BBP - 3-4-2009 at 11:33

Well... I'll be old tomorrow...

aquagoat - 3-4-2009 at 17:04

what, 56 ? 57?

punknaynowned - 4-4-2009 at 08:07

you're not old,
only better, right?
:P

Happy Birthday!!

Tell you what, seeing as how people are bummed that Aaron or Ray won't seem to make it to this upcoming leg of shows... I humbly offer to all the regulars here any ONE of the following zpz shows that I'll happily burn on cd from flac to wav and send to you any regular respondents here.
That much I can do. Don't tell the others at the other place please.
regulars:scallop, aquabot, poly (where is he), yoko, George, Jon, Paul or BB
list:
2007 08 10 Norfolk, VA, good sound, average set
2007 10 02 Dusseldorf, good sound
2007 11 10 Kansas City, good sound, lifeless audience, like they play to an empty room
2007 11 13 Austin, 192 min long, great sound, pretty much everything played on the 2007 leg is on this tape

2008 07 29 Charlotte, NC cut bass by half from bass midpoint on here, good crowd so the band shines as show progresses, notable joe's garage run of songs
2008 08 07 Buffalo short but sweet, outside rig

2009 01 05 Victoria, a tad boomy, Billy the Mountain, ID, Outside Now
2009 01 06 Vancouver, not bad, but 'boxy' like an FM radio broadcast from the '70's... somehow
2009 02 26 Phoenix, bass needs cut by more than half from bass midpoint, maybe 75%, and suffers from distortion of such overpowering bass but otherwise real good ;-)

2009 03 07 Santa Rosa, Outside Now, Cleetus, Scott Thunes on Willie , Why Don't You Do Me Right

lemme know
(:

aquagoat - 4-4-2009 at 09:04

Happy birthday bonny! :roll:

BBP - 4-4-2009 at 11:46

Thank you Punky and Aqua! It's very fun so far... haven't got my presents yet but we went to the second-hand store where we scored, yes, another keyboard, a Yamaha. A very nice one, but it's not working yet.

I also did my newspaper round, played Gabriel Knight 3 and burnt my hand while making tea.

DED - 4-4-2009 at 13:03

Quote:

Originally posted by BBP
Thank you Punky and Aqua! It's very fun so far... haven't got my presents yet but we went to the second-hand store where we scored, yes, another keyboard, a Yamaha. A very nice one, but it's not working yet.

I also did my newspaper round, played Gabriel Knight 3 and burnt my hand while making tea.

Seems that the YAMAHA only has a minor power problem. A capacitor is blown, I hope that is the only one.

scallopino - 5-4-2009 at 12:20

Very generous of you Punkster. Unfortunately i don't think it would be appropriate for my internet connection. Scott Thunes has played with them?

punknaynowned - 5-4-2009 at 20:31

oh no!
No internet involved.
I'll burn ONE show for each of you onto ceedees and snail mail it wherever you are.
No problem. My pleasure.
Thunes played one show, about 1.5 songs, you can just about hear him.

MTF - 6-4-2009 at 06:16

Just got home from seeing Arlo Guthrie, at the same theater where we saw ZPZ a few weeks ago.... three blocks from our house.

BBP - 6-4-2009 at 14:36

Related to Woody?

I went to a second-hand store and found a VHS of Oscar (that's another Curry thing.) And the official manual of the 7th Guest.

Unfortunately I needed to get a new thingy for the keyboard, but the guy at the desk couldn't help.

punknaynowned - 6-4-2009 at 16:14

Quote:

Originally posted by MTF
Just got home from seeing Arlo Guthrie, at the same theater where we saw ZPZ a few weeks ago.... three blocks from our house.

did he sing his new bailout song?

(oh yeh, MTF, if you want one of those zpz shows I listed above, the offer goes for you too -- I figgered you already had one of them bittorrent links)

BBP - 9-4-2009 at 13:14

Not today, no. But yesterday I got 2 fantastic late birthday presents: the Donald Duck Chronicles 2 and the Duckman Season 3 & 4 DVD sets! Duckman spans 7 DVDs and has nearly 18 hours worth of entertainment. :shocked:

scallopino - 10-4-2009 at 10:29

Quote:

Originally posted by BBP
Related to Woody?

I went to a second-hand store and found a VHS of Oscar (that's another Curry thing.) And the official manual of the 7th Guest.

Unfortunately I needed to get a new thingy for the keyboard, but the guy at the desk couldn't help.

Yup, Arlo is Woody's son. He performed at Woodstock.

BBP - 10-4-2009 at 12:24

Ah ok.

Today I finished my birthday project:

aquagoat - 12-4-2009 at 08:12

bought myself a brand new computer cause i'm tired of the old one shutting down all the time, etc...

BBP - 12-4-2009 at 08:56

Hey! PackardBell! We have one too. It's a bit of a PC for those who aren't technically minded...

aquagoat - 12-4-2009 at 10:02

suits me just fine.

scallopino - 14-4-2009 at 13:20

I was awake for approximately 50 hours writing an essay on a Vietnamese war novel.

BBP - 14-4-2009 at 18:13

Goodness! Hope you got some sleep in the mean time... I don't think I ever lasted that long. My record is 26 hours... and I was mentally broken by then.

Not much happening lately... started doing the yardwork again. Pulling weeds, moving the strawberry plants... stuff like that. Yesterday Dad cropped down two of our acacia trees (they're still young and we really don't want them). I understand the name derives from the Greek word Akis, meaning sharp point. They're very thorny.

Unfortunately dad wasn't too caring about disposing properly of the thorny branches. Well, the container was full of removed dandelions. So he left them on the lawn...

...And of course I moved my bicycle over these early morning on my round, puncturing the rear tire. :duh:

Cycled back home during my round. Grabbed my sister's bicycle. Its pedals were all wobbly so I quickly turned back. Grabbed my dad's bike. Had to inflate the rear tire first. I could hear the air flowing out again, so I put it back.
Took my own bicycle. Inflated the rear tire. The air came flowing out too fast to continue, so I had to settle for my sister's wobbly pedaled two-tired wreck.

Repaired the tire today. It seems OK.

BBP - 18-4-2009 at 19:57

Had a nice Saturday for it...
Next Monday I hope to be training a new deliverer. Problem is, he's from Morocco, and thus speaks French. I have a hard time listening to French, it's very difficult and especially in an accent I'm not familiar with. He does speak English too, but I'm not sure how well. It may be problematic with the papers and stuff.

scallopino - 19-4-2009 at 04:53

Hmm. They say music is a universal language, maybe try that?

BBP - 19-4-2009 at 13:24

Nah... it's not universal... you also have to "speak it."

MTF - 20-4-2009 at 04:48

Just tell him " Hey Champ, my fists speak Dutch!"

BBP - 20-4-2009 at 06:34

Nah. Besides he's quite the looker. Anyway I managed this morning. Except with the French, god has that gone downhill since school.

BBP - 22-4-2009 at 20:14

Fortunately it's going a little bit better with the French tomorrow. I'll have to use it to the max tomorrow when I have to explain to the trainee why I have to do the work. Some paperwork issue.

aquagoat - 22-4-2009 at 20:41

If you've got trouble with that french thing, tell me, perhaps I can help you. ;-)

BBP - 23-4-2009 at 06:26

He wasn't around today... hope I can see him again, he was a good worker. And cute.

On the other hand, while I was out on my own doing the delivery, I found 120 euros which I'll take to the police later today.

scallopino - 23-4-2009 at 09:54

No! I would just take it! And then, if the cops come to investigate you, just use some of the money to bribe them!

aquagoat - 23-4-2009 at 17:08

that's what I would do to.

BBP - 23-4-2009 at 18:48

Ha! No, I'm honest... now. When I was 10 or so I found 50 guilders (back then it would be 25 $) at the supermarket, and I confiscated them. And that gave me so much torment in true Crime & Punishment style. So this time I was a good girl and took it to the cops.

BBP - 24-4-2009 at 18:00

Baked bread. And burnt my hand in the process.

Gah, now I understand why bakers used to use their feet to prepare the dough... you REALLY don't want anyone to call you when you're busy with it. I think half the dough finished in the sink, it's so sticky!

BBP - 25-4-2009 at 14:51

Got another belated birthday gift: the Special Edition DVD of Legend (that's a film with Tim Curry. Yes I'm going nuts here.)

And another birthday present was at the second-hand store, the Roberta Williams Anthology. 4 CDs of quality games (King's Quest 1 thru 7, the Laura Bow series, Mixed-Up Mother Goose, first chapter of Phantasmagoria, and of course the first graphic adventure ever: Mystery House.)

scallopino - 25-4-2009 at 17:13

I think belated birthday presents are way more satisfying than early birthday presents.

BBP - 25-4-2009 at 22:08

Oh yeah! Especially with the ones I got, three DVDs that were all worth waiting for!

BBP - 27-4-2009 at 14:14

It sure has been my lucky week! Today I went scrounging at another second-hand store, and I found 2 boxed games at a euro each. Not to mention they had that cookbook I have too, but that I lost and I really needed a recipe that was in it. At 2,50 I thought it was too expensive to buy again, but luckily I had a pencil with me, and I found a Mona Lisa postcard in the bargain bin, so I copied it and bought the card.

And then I didn't buy the card. The lady at the register didn't know how much they cost, so she just said that "it was in the book" and so gave it to me.

scallopino - 28-4-2009 at 07:43

:grin: That is lucky! Hopefully you don't have a downturn of luck soon to make up for it. It always seems to go that way.

BBP - 28-4-2009 at 09:54

Oh yeah! Well, I was surprised by a downpour when I had just returned from the supermarket... but that's never been too big a problem for me.

BBP - 29-4-2009 at 15:07

And another lucky day today when I found 2 or 3 more of the paintings in the GK Gallery.

BBP - 30-4-2009 at 15:54

Today's been bizarre... It's our national holiday when the birthday of the queen is celebrated. The queen and her following visit some town where they have some celebration kinda, and in most cities there's an open market where everyone can put down a tablecloth and sell their possessions.

I had a nice day for it, bought 2 Curry-related videos and 3 comic books. And when we got home, we heard that the queen had been attacked during her parade. Some man drove into the crowd with his car. This far there are 4 casualties and 13 injuries. The royal family got away in their bus unharmed.

punknaynowned - 1-5-2009 at 09:28

odd how there was at least a 12 hour gap between when I saw you talk about this and when the national news here broadcast it, thru the bbc!
Surprised because it seems they can't stop talking about it when something similar happens here.
Do they know why?
was the driver dutch, an immigrant, a tourist?

BBP - 1-5-2009 at 14:11

Dutch 38 year old male. Karst T. * He was not unfriendly but not very social either. He had just lost his job and had also ended his rent and was moving stuff around in boxes. We may never know his motive now, because he passed away from his injuries last night.

*In Netherlands it's not allowed to name criminals by their last name. (As in Belgium and Germany it is permitted, it's never hard to find out the name of a criminal.) It can turn quite bizarre. One day a man escaped from a penitentiary psychiatric department, and the police warned us to look out for Wim Schippers. When he was caught and he had murdered a man during his escapade, he was apprehended and in the media he was suddenly called Wilhelm S. Or take that boxing champ, Regilio Tuur. Everyone knew his name, but when he beat up his girlfriend and was apprehended he became Regilio T. in the newspapers.

Edit: Tates! His last name was Tates!
There are now 7 casualties including Tates.

[Edited on 1-5-09 by BBP]

MTF - 2-5-2009 at 06:20

By printing his name, that makes you a criminal. Doesn't it, Bonny P?

BBP - 2-5-2009 at 11:57

Nah... really no. I think this website is American. Also Dutch bloggers will just use his last name. The only ones who may have issues are TV shows when they forget to bleep away his name.

Anyway I'm off to visit my blind friend today. Maybe I can record another song.

scallopino - 2-5-2009 at 14:40

Do it!

Today i went to a birthday party/get-together in honour of my former music teacher at my old high school. She turned 64! So we sang 'When I'm 64' instead of happy birthday. I had a wonderful time.

BBP - 2-5-2009 at 20:29

Aw that's nice!

Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to record her, we hadn't spoken in such a long time, so we talked a lot and the other guests didn't arrive much later...

One of the other guests was a nice young lady from Apeldoorn. That's the city (it has the largest area and the largest amount of train stations of The Netherlands) where that guy drove in the parade. Not just that: she also works at a police call centre where she takes in all the non-urgent phone calls. You know, of people who complain about the neighbor's geraniums.

Anyway she had a lot of distraught phone calls, and tips and the like... but even with all the chaos, she even got a phonecall like"I locked myself out, can you come and help?"

MTF - 3-5-2009 at 09:04

Quote:

Originally posted by BBPI think this website is American.

I was wondering what .ws means, so I looked it up. It's the country code for Samoa, which is a territory of the US. So you're right: technically, it's American.

The site could be hosted anywhere, but the domain is registered out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean...

BBP - 3-5-2009 at 16:56

And today we went to some Belgian friends. They're awfully nice and stuffed us. I made a lot of nice pictures again, will upload them soon.

BBP - 5-5-2009 at 11:59

Havin another national holiday today... bored sick.

punknaynowned - 5-5-2009 at 12:51

why do YOU sell-ebrate with a fifth of may?
(-;

BBP - 5-5-2009 at 16:29

Liberation Day. On May 5th 1945 the German troops in The Netherlands capitulated.

punknaynowned - 5-5-2009 at 17:33

OH! that's good.
I also learned about 'Children's Day' in Japan for this day.
Honors children and by extension mothers.
They used to call it Boy's Day because they're like that but changed it to be less discriminating.
Curiously I could only find Hydroc (or Hydoc) as the saint for this day.
I never heard of him, a Cornish hermit, either.

BBP - 5-5-2009 at 18:58

I learned about Mexico Day for this day. Isn't it bizarre? OK, not nearly as bizarre as November 11, but anyway...

punknaynowned - 5-5-2009 at 21:17

what's 11November?

BBP - 6-5-2009 at 11:15

Saint Martin.
It's when the Brits remember the end of WW1. In the weeks before they wear those red poppys on their chests, and on the day itself there's a parade with veterans.

It's also the day when children in the middle section (not near me) of The Netherlands make their own lampoons and knock on doors and sing off-key, trying to collect candy.

But it's also the 11th of the 11th, and as 11 is the number of madness, it's when Prins Carnaval is elected. This prince will lead the town during the pre-Lent festivities. This happens in the south of The Netherlands, and in Germany.

So if you watch the television, there's nothing but long faces on the BBC, and nothing but drunk partygoers at WDR.

punknaynowned - 6-5-2009 at 16:24

wow!
now that you explain, we do have Nov 11 as a holiday and I should have remembered. While technically a national and state holiday it is not widely observed as such by most people unless you work for the state or gov and even then it depends on what you do. In the regular world, businesses stay open and people do what they normally do. Some go to the park or the cemetery, some towns will have patriotic shindigs
I had never heard of a pre-Lent Prince designated the year before (doublethanx!) but recognize that most people use holidays as an excuse to socialize and drink.

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