Saturday, August 9, 2008

Lighting the flame

The first pictures of today were actually taken right before going to bed. The flame barer on his way to light the Olympic flame.

His posture seems to say "OK, is this ever gonna happen?".

But then... IGNITION!

After having slept and being woken up by hailstorms and slept again we got up and went to the post office to pay some bills. Bloody Andre Rieu is still haunting us. When will it stop?!

Then it was off to the central market. On the way there I was traffic-offended in the worst way ever during my driving career by an absolute CNUT who was 4 metres behind me in the lane left of me while approaching a merge and then decided to quickly take me over and push me out. I was ready to drag him out of his car but unfortunately we couldn't stop. Very, VERY aggravating...

Outside the bus station where we eventually parked a group of guys was playing basket ball.

Nicole in her favourite asian shop.

Red and blue crabs at a fish shop.

When we walked back to the car it started pouring down again. We are getting exceptional amounts of rain here these days. South Australia needs it more than ever so we can't complain really.

At home I could see the cocky in her cage from within my own cage.

I basically spent the rest of the day (and still am) reading up on digital railroad systems. A pricey and technical (what else?!) business required for my coffee table model railroad track that will some day come to existence.

(photo ripped from Ilse's blog)
My dad and my sister, Ilse. They picked him up last night at 2AM after having done volunteer work in Moldavia for three weeks. He went there with a group of other people (about 25 of them) to build an extension to an old folks home. There was also some renovation involved. The people there lived in shocking conditions. They did a LOT of good work.

I phoned him and we talked for almost 30 minutes. Apart from the good things he's also seen a lot of crap there. That was to be expected in a third world country. Crossing the border at Ukraine and Poland was outrageous. At the Ukraine they made them wait five hours because three people went home by themselves and were therefore not in the bus. They were on the passenger list though. Big issue. And because you are transporting three people LESS then stated on your papers, we fine you 300 euro! (they forgot to mention that they just made that rule up and that the money would be split between Pjotr, Dimitri and Vladimir who happened to be the lucky border patrollers that hour). After paying the 300 they were allowed to enter the Ukraine. One country off of my to-visit list.

The passport chick in Poland also still lived in her own pre-EU world. She took her time and then said that it would go a lot faster if she could get 2 packets of coffee. Poland is a member of the EU, profiting in many ways. I guess she thought this was one of them. They should have driven over that cow and reversed. Actually, reverse all the way back to Ukraine and do the same with Pjotr, Dimitri and Vladimir.

Anyway, my dad is back home again in good condition so we're all happy :-)

More photo's of this at Ilse's blog.

Friday, August 8, 2008

All alone.

A day alone at the office, step one: Check for cold beer.

A day alone at the office, step two: Turn on radio to prevent from going nuts in silence. (Thanks for the radio Karin ;-)

My plant is doing well.

Coffee during the morning.

For lunch I made a fruit salad with the fruit that was left.

In the morning I got a phonecall: "We're delivering the desks you ordered today"..... OK.

Naturally they were delivered while I was having lunch. Delivery guy phoned first to ask for help. Sure let me fetch you one of my colleagues. Oh, right, I'm alone.

At least it only took us 15 minutes to get the stuff up to our office.

Hmmmmmmm.

Really I only ate two chocolate bars today. In the evening it was Thai time at Lemon Grass.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Our friends from Mars

On our way to work we had to take a detour because someone had smashed into a electricity pole and it fell on the road blocking traffic in both lanes. Someone had to spend the day without powerrrrrrrr. Or actually I think it was a pole like the one you see here. Just for street lighting. The broken one is in the distance.

My manager, Justin, spent the past two days at the Mars plant in Ballarat. We make software for them and they pay us in chocolate bars of all kinds ;-)

They gave Justin a box full of chocolate bars when he left.

Lunch was difficult. Beef long bean or Snickers, Malteser's and Milkyways?

Tomorrow is going to be heaven. All my colleagues will be gone to a company meeting in Perth (where I unfortunately can't attend because I'm house-sitting) and I will be alone in an office with (STEPHEN M, are you paying attention?) 500+ candy bars and m&m's etc. Not to mention 2 6-packs of beer. Must put beer in the fridge when I come in...

It was sunny during lunch. The girls at the Thai place know me now and they predict my order pretty accurate. If only they would stop calling me 'sir'. Very Thai...

In the evening I cooked crumbed fish.

And I watched another episode of Family Guy.

Family guy and his mates won a look-a-like contest by dressing up as the A-team.

Nicole started making a cake when I was starting my blog. Plenty of opportunity to try out our new blender.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Crap

The weather outside was crap. Thankfully I could work late again in my dry office.

Fun with a beer and a webcam in the evening...

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Imaginary fire

In the morning the fire brigade responded to an imaginary fire alarm. Well, actually the alarm was real but you had to imagine the fire if you were looking for some action. It was next door by the way.

I was adventurous and got Indian for lunch. It was OK but not more. (Sorry Luke ;-P )

I worked hard and long today. From 8:15 till 19:30. Working after most people have gone home is actually rather pleasant.
Nicole picked me up and we drove to Cafe de Vili's where the floor just received a scrub.

Monday, August 4, 2008

New Amsterdam

Monday night - PJ-time!

When I came home I read Craig's blog and got interested in some Dutch history involving New York. We all know that it was once Dutch but how did we loose it? Many people believe the Dutch sold it but that's not true... The English just walked in and took over. Without a single shot ever fired. Holland should've invaded the bloody UK for that! But then again, the Dutch deserved it for being incredibly apathetic. They still are. And in a way, the English are conquering Amsterdam again with all their disgraceful hen parties and stag nights.
Anyway, here's an interesting link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Netherlands.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Finished at last

The day started just beautiful. It was sunny all day long and it even got a bit warm. I sat outside on the veranda for a while and read my Ludlum of this moment.

Nicole picked mandarins from the tree and we discovered a great way to use them: Juice! The new blender is a little uneasy to handle still because of the rough edges but it does work very well. It will get better after it's been used a bit more. The mandarin juice was absolutely fantastic.

I decided to drive back to the big shopping mall we went to yesterday. I bought a few loose Warhammer figures. Only loose ones because I thought the starter kit cost $300. This morning I found out that it was actually only $85 so I swapped part of yesterdays purchases and got the starter kit after all.

For the uninitiated: Warhammer is a table-top strategy game played with little figurines that you have to paint yourself. I used to have this in Amsterdam and Nicole and I painted a fair bit but never finished it. I sold it when we moved. Painting the figurines is very calming and relaxing. Eventually I hope to play the game as well but we'll see.

I was set to finish my power supply this weekend. I just needed to fix one more thing for it.

Some wires needed to be connected inside. I made a little semicircle out of plexi-glass to put the contact points on.

After putting it in and inhaling solder smoke for an hour I took it outside to test it for the first time.

It worked well (haven't tested max. current though) and the project is now considered 'closed'. YAY!