Digital TV (1)

Last year I received an offer from UPC (cable company) to try out a digital boxset for free.

[ I was willing to try it out... ]

Not much later UPC sent me a nice big box.

I really tried to make it work...

Whatever I tried with this box, it just didn't fit my interior. Not much later I shoved it in a dark corner and forgot I ever received it.

[ until I got a bill for its digital services... ]

Now I want to get rid of the box. Since I don't have much faith in the abilities of UPC, I'll keep you posted on this adventure...

Tray upgrade

Today I crashed -as promised- the Coffee klatsch. A little bird had told me that today there would be a chocolate fontain feast in the coffee corner.

[ how can I stay away from something like that... ]

I also still had a gift for the UCD group. Recent expansions gave need for a serious upgrade of the tray used in tea- and coffee runs...

This one was getting a bit small...

Unfortunately I couldn't find one with a fancy Scotish tartan motive. I hope the merry bird-design will cover up any spills.

King finished

I had to plow through seven volumes, but I can now say I read Stephen King's complete the 'Dark Tower' series.

[ unfortunately I cannot say I really enjoyed the experience... ]

Thank goodness this was the last part...

Now I can look for something new to read. Luckily my bookcase still contains a number of unread books...

Home of the future

The general member meeting of Chi the Netherlands was held yesterday in the home of the future in Amsterdam. After the meeting there was time for drinks and a brief tour.

No future home without fancy neon lighting...

We encountered a talking mirror and a fridge that kept track of its content and your diet.

[ the drinks afterwards luckily had old fashioned beer... ]

Thermos tea

Today I was stunned by the beauty of the inside of the thermos flask. I hope the teabags do not mind being inside it.

[ must look like a big round distorting mirror... ]

Two single serving teabags are enough for a whole flask...

I didn't take too much time looking at it. Add boiling water, screw the top back on and start the day with a nice cup of tea...

Missing a towel..?

If you cannot find a (dish) towel, you might want to check behind one of the radiators in our office. Today I discovered two towels that were stuck there.

[ so yours could end up there as well... ]

Is this the place where towels go to hide..?

Black and blue

This weekend I followed a special course. It went a bit rougher than in other practise.

[ and that was necessary to really understand the training... ]

Protection was needed...

In two days I've done and learned a lot. My rigth arm and hand are a bit bruised, but nothing I won't survive.

Charged or empty..?

Found a nine volts battery today in the office, would it still have any charge left..?

[ I only knew one way to quickly test it... ]

Beware: this battery is still charged..!

I have a very strange sensation in the tip of my tongue for well over an hour now...

Never leave your phone...

I find a mobile phone unattended on a desk, so I couldn't resist. This time I didn't take any wierd photo's (sound familiar Andrew?), but I tried something new...

[ wasted some creative energy with a post-its and a pen... ]

What..?! My phone isn't yellow...

New book!

A book arrived addressed to the metal company that has moved some 10 years ago. Since nobody wanted it and it was too thick to be of any use to stabelize an offset cabinet, I was allowed to take it home: a real Alfa Aesar Research Chemicals, Metals and Materials catalogue 2008-09!

[ I wonder what happened to the 2007-08 catalogue... ]

There are 2714 other pages just like this one...

I'm now practising really hard to fluently pronounce all of the elements, such as:

• Methylanilinium trifluoroacetate (99%)
• Cyanomethylphosphoninic acid diisopropyl ester (see diisopropyl cyanomethylphosphonate)
• 4-(1H-Tetrazol-5-ylmethyl)2H-1,4-benzothiazin-3(4H)-one
• Allytriphenylphosphonium bromide (available in 50 or 250 gram quantities)

Be warned, I'll try so slip some of these names casually into conversations from now on.

[ what's that smell, reminds me of dihydrogen hexabromoplatinate nonahdrate... ]

Blue foot

Yes, I know it isn't really smart to drop a sword on your foot...

[ so why do I do it..? ]

Blue foot sounds like a nasty sheeps disease...

Working on a spaceship

Today I conducted a test in a classic usability lab, complete with a big one-way mirror and multiple (remote controlled) camera's.

[ and I was allowed to press all the buttons... ]

I really felt like a tough captain on the bridge of a spaceship you see in seventies science fiction movies...

Although I missed the 'pling.., pling.., pling..,' background noices...

Old office spot...

I still have to get used to not working behind 'mine' computer at UCD anymore. Someone else is now watching over my spot. I hope she'll take good care of it...

[ please keep an eye out for great sunsets... ]

Today I got the request from someone that wanted to have my rearview mirror.

My extended wallpaper and the 'what's happening behind my back' device...

So that's how it goes: you leave and the pillage your whole desk...

[ I wonder who'll have the guts to use my wallpaper... ]

Statistics time

A whole year of blogging, time to crunch some numbers...

• 442 visits


• 148 unique visitors


• 15 countries


• 837 page views


• average of 1:26 on site


• 8,82% found site using a search engine


• Stranges search terms:
  "hungry gnomes" and eat yellow m&m's before a test


• Most viewed page (besides homepage): king of spam-mails

Numbers and grafics...

[ thanks everyone that helped create these figures... ]

Lazy and repeating

Been there, done that... I'm too lazy to write this down again...

Why tell the same story twice..?

SMS mystery

Somewhere around 3:00 AM I guess network was restored on new years morning. All of a sudden I got four text-messages.

[ three of people I know, but the fourth one..? ]

Who o who is wishing me a happy newyear..?

Happy 2008

Hurray, it's 2008! And just in time, 2007 was already past it's sell-by date...

Whoehoe: 2008!