Elvis has left the building!

D-day has arrived.
Today was my last day working for Airbus.
The past week was very hectic. I was working my ass off to sort out the last bits of work, and prepare data for hand over.
Then on tuesday afternoon, I was told I had to go to Toulouse to do some testing with the supplier.
So I was struggling sorting out my trip. Actually it was quite a horrible day when I went over. As always I had to get up before 5 to get the flight to TLS, then I was waiting for the supplier to arrive. He didn't listen to my instructions and was at the wrong gate after getting lost. It took quite a while and lots of misunderstandings before we found each other. Anyway, we could finally do some testing. We tested on 2 aircraft, but the schedule was soo busy, that we hardly had time for lunch, and didn't even have dinner! Both "meals" comprised a sandwich from the wall, stuffed down our throats in 5 minutes time.
All in all it took until midnight to perform all the testing we needed to do.
Luckily I was able to fly back on the Corvette. The corvette is a small business plane with about 8 seats. It flies from TLS to Bristol in the morning. Since I wanted to be back in Filton in the morning because of the shit load of work I still had to do, I was very happy I managed to get a spot on the Corvette. It turns out that usually it is only for executives, and Airbus UK people usually don't get to fly it.

Today was hectic as well. I had soo much to finish off and hand over, and all these people kept walking bye to say hi and goodbye etc (well, they had to have an excuse to get some cakes that I brought in, heheh...).
Of course there was the traditional goodbye speech, card, etc.
Its funny, it's like it hasn't sunk into me yet. I'm looking forward to starting my new job, But I am also sad to leave Airbus.
It's been my home for 7,5 years, and I will miss all my colleagues a lot:
The crazy talks with Mark G, always reminding me of "german helmets".
The adventures Andy and I have had in Belgium and in Toulouse: Going to obscure dodgy clubs in Brussels, chasing phantom turtlers in hotels, observing Messier's finest climbing onto landing gears in rather arousing positions...
The conversations I had with Mark B over a cup of coffee,
The chats with Martin H about cars and DIY (He mentored me in my first year at Airbus)
And all the others of course.

I will miss that place, and all its people. I wish them all the best, and I hope we will meet again!

Go-Large please...

Last week I decided I wanted a professional Large Format printer. Having looked at Ebay, the cheap contender would be the Epson Pro 4000. Any other options would be too nw and therefore unaffordable. An advantage (yes, I call it an advantage, because I can clean it and others cannot, so I can drop the price and get a bargain!), is that some amateurs don't use the printer often enough, with the resukt that the print hads get clogged. Heads won't get clogged as quickly when you constantly use this particular printer, but if it sits still for a while, the heads get blogged up pretty good. The printer is basically the bigger brother of the Epson 2100. However, it is comparing a dingy with a mammoth tanker!
Anyway, i found one on the internet, with all its flaws described. Seeing that others were going for over 400, an dthis just started at 1 GBP, but had the blogged heads in the description, I decided to put in an offer and the guy accepted.
Problem; The guy lives in London. Well, only 2 hours drive from Bristol, right? Wrng! The guy lives just north of Canary Warf, so an extra hour through the city!
Still doable. However, the guy works hard and therefore late. So in teh end I ended up there around 23:00! I had to borrow a friend's satnav (don't bother going to london without unless you know the way at heart!). I called my friend to tell her I would be back very late (or early) so I would drop the satnav off in the morning. In the end I was back home at 3 am in the morning. My friend panicked as she needed the satnav for her relocation to Ipswich. I promised to have it back in time, so after a few hours sleep I get up, and go to her house... She wasn't there... So I call her, and she says she is waking up. So I ask her where the hell her car is, and she says taht she is with her boyfriend. Apparently she stayed the night there. Interestingly, she didn't have a boyfriend!!! Well, now she does apparently... I was a little pissed off because she made me come over and it seemed all for nothing. The whole thing (lack of sleep) left me with a splitting headache. As it turned out, she came back at 8 and she left at around 8.30, so not totally wasted...

Back to the printer... I was looking for cleaning fluid to clean the heads; isopropyl alcohol... Used for cleaning electronics amongst others. This stuff is very strong but also very neutral. It seems to be chemically neutral, meaning it won't affect paint too much, and certainly not electronics. Ideal for cleaning printer heads. Apparently you are supposed to be able to get it at any chemist... Except that you can't! Chemists just don't seem to have the stuff at all! Screwed!! until I found a flask of lens cleaner. I was thinking lens cleaner-printer cleaner-lens cleaner- printer cleaner... Lenses have coatings... coatings are sensitive... so any lens cleaners have to be neutral as hell... So should do the trick... After that murmering of the mind I spotted the back; "caution: contains isopropyl alcohol!"... Well... need I say more...? So I went to Jessops and bought all their lens cleaning fluid (2 flasks... so not that much...)

Anyways, I'll be cleaning my printer soon and afterwards I will try some 17" high panoramas!!!

Illni and viri

What does that mean? Well, illni is plural for illness, and same for viri (coming from virus).
It seems tobe a world wide epidemic. Maybe another terrorist attack from Al-Qaeda; Give people the flu or teh common cold! Maybe they will cough themselves to death!!!
Starnge though. They tried anthrax withhout success... Well, i guess common cold does work, but doubt many people will die because of it...
Anyway. I too have been struck by teh common cold. I don't think I mentioned it in my previous post, but a few days before x-mas, I managed to get knocked of my socket by the common cold. Took until after new years eve to recover (I'm still coughing). So, I couldn't go home, was ill, and had no friends in a 500 mile radius to help me out!!!
Well, THAT year is now over. New year, new chances.
Its funny though that this time everyone is hit so hard by the common cold and flu. Just about every colleague and friend had it or is in the process of having it. It's also interesting that it going abroad as well!
At least I can say I spend the whole x-mas holiday horizontal, hot and sweaty! Unfortunately not in the right way...!!!

End of the beginning or the beginning of the end?

2007 has only got a few hours of life left in it. Some of my friends reflected on their year, and some of them seemed to have had a very good year. I wish I could say the same. Unfortunately 2007 has not exactly been my favorite year. It had its moments, but not many.

Good things:
* A380 into service! Definite positive milestone. It has been a challenging project, and I am glad I was able to do my share to this behemoth of a project. No doubt many will remember the occasion for a long time to come.
* New car. Sounds strange but it has been the most reliable car I have had here in england. Ofcourse it is japanese. Its fast, its furious, and strangely, it's also the oldest of all cars I have had so far! hahaha!!! I guess they just don't make cars like they used to, heheh.
* Re-acquainted myself with some friends long lost, back in Holland.
* My dad's retirement. The man deserves it!

Bad things:
* Lost some friends. Always sad.
* The prospect of having to sell my house.
* Constant DIY
* On the last week of 2007 I managed to get the first cold I had in a decade! And with a vengeance!!!!
* ... >>censored for legal reasons<<
* ... >>censored for legal reasons<<
* ... >>censored for legal reasons<<
* ... >>censored for legal reasons<<
* ... >>censored for legal reasons<<

Most, if not all the bad things are all stress related. Stress that affects me personally (so not "high work loads" or "challenging deadlines". Those don't cause me stress, they just make me work harder...)
Well, in a few hours time the record will be wiped clean, and at least half, if not all of the bad things of 2007 will be solved in 2008. I have no doubts about that!
2007 may have been a very bad year for Tigers (I'm not the only tiger who had a bad 2007), but 2008 has got a very promising view! And I think all Tigers can expect a very prosperous 2008.

In any case, 2007 is now done and dusted. After midnight I will sleep soundly with the thought that 2008 has begun, and new chances await me!

Finally, I'd like to wish all my friends and family, and colleagues all the best for the new year!

Black 'n white mayhem

Another update...
Seems like my updates always come in groups rather than one every week or every two weeks or so.
This time I have included some B&W pics. 2 are of my idiot brother, the rest is pretty much travel related.
Since I make my photos in RAW, it gives me more control over the conversion process. Sometimes I do set the camera to B&W, but if you only take RAW, this is pretty much useless, as the RAW image will take literally the RAW data from the camera, uncompressed and unprocessed. This means that when you upload the image to your PC, all the settings you used, will have been discarded. A little annoying, which is why I prefer to make JPEGs with the RAW. Especially since I prefer a minimum amount of post processing, this method gives me the option of choosing an unprocessed JPEG or a RAW that I then process in Photoshop.
Anyway, enjoy these new entries...