December 31, 2007

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!

December 28, 2007

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...

steffen.jpg

steffen portrait.jpg

roof to panorama.jpg

plants in waterBW.jpg

martyr shrine  003.jpg

martyr shrine  002.jpg

martyr shrine  001.jpg

headlight.jpg

dobber.jpg

Rolls Royce.jpg

December 26, 2007

progress...

Well, actually it was earlier this month that I made the progress.
I worked hard on my house and downstairs is finally getting close to being finished!
Below are some pics of what it now looks like... What an improvement compaired to what it was before!!! There is actually harmony in there!

home1.jpg

home2.jpg

home3.jpg

home4.jpg

I have to say, I made some small additions since these photos were taken. I added 2 cupboards in the dining room. I still need to do some doors for the cupboards, and I also need to do teh skirting boards, but that shouldn't take more than a few days.

However, it will have to wait because I managed to get my first cold in 7 years!!! Boy, I forgot how much I hated having a cold...

October 23, 2007

High speed chase

Tonight I was caught in a high speed chase, and I lived to tell the tale!!!

I was driving home on the M5 after having done some last minute shopping after work, when suddenly I was taken over by an old Ford Escort. For a fraction of a second I was thinking :boy, he's anxious to get home", when a second later there were 6 police cars in high pursuit chasing this guy! Then 30 seconds another 3 or 4 police cars followed. Interesting was the mix of cars the police used. It wasn't just the blue/yellow marked cars, but also quite a few civilian cars with sirens and lights.
From their pursuit pattern you could see they were preparing for a standard box-block. And that is also how they caught him. As it happens they caught him next to the exit I usually use to get off the motor way.
I don't understand these guys (speeders). I know they have something going on otherwise they wouldn't run from the police, but seriously, you don't enter th emotor way! It's a free ticket go to jail! Entering the motor way will make it so easy for the police to grab you. They can call in a helicopter to track the offender, and they can easily block off the motor way. Th epolice usually tries to captur ethe speeder very safely. What they do is, they try to get one car behind the offender, one car in front and one car (or two, depending where on which lane the guy is). They drive really close so the guy has no exit, and then they slow to a stop. Works like a charm. Getting someone in front is the difficult part though...


Something completely different (though in some twisted way remotely related to idiots, like most subjects, heheh), I read an article about women in Holland. Apparently women in Holland are not very ambitious, but they are very satisfied about their life, unlike other European countries. On average women in Holland give a 7.8 (out of 10) to their life, but on average only 37% thinks a career is important. The survey was done by 2 women's magazines. One is for house wifes, the other for feminists. And ofcourse the numbers vary between the two magazins. The chief editor of the feminist magazin said in an interview that she considers such women "brain farts"! She was actually slacking off her own readers!!!!! How dumb is that??
Interesting is that teh dutch government seems to have its mind set on equalising th eposition of the woman compared to the man in business life and career wise. Strange that they didn't realise that only 37% of the women actually cares about such plans. So Feminist editors don't care about their own readers, and the government doesn't know what their people want (which is actually pretty much standard for any modern government...)

October 02, 2007

Space, the final frontier....

A mate of mine pointed me to these photos. Needles to say (for those who know me) they are not mine, so all credits go to the original photographer (That's NASA I guess...). However, I found them rather beautifull, and thought I should share them with the world...

NASApix11.jpg


NASApix10.jpg


NASApix08.jpg


NASApix06.jpg


NASApix05.jpg


NASApix04.jpg