Fri Feb 2 2024, 7:50:44 pm CET As you can see, I started writing this post yesterday, but then things came in between and I never got around to publish it. But I decided to keep what I wrote in the entry here below.
The youths are back home from the trip to Narvik and Tromsö (Norway). Safe and sound. We, the four of us, have just enjoyed dinner with all the stories from the past week. It's a great feeling to have them back from their adventures and see how they enjoy life! I am sure they are enjoying life a little bit extra, both of them received their results from their past exams and they have passed everything!
Yesterday we really enjoyed a dinner with our neighbour ladies. We ordered out from our favourite Asian restaurant, talked, laughed and played a dice game (called "keer op keer"). And laughed some more. It was just a fantastic time...
It was a crazy week for the rest. The TV installation is working, the solar panels are also OK and then we had a strange power outage. A long story short; the electrician had to pass by and it was discovered that one damaged connection was the issue causing an isolated power outage in the bedroom and my office (obviously an critical issue for my work). It is just madness how it all happened the same day (have I ever said that before?) when both our cleaning woman A and the window washer Y are here, I also received a lot of deliveries and some of my calls I had to use my cellular phone... just to mention a few things that went on. Oh and yes, we had to replace our TV decoder as well during this ordeal...Anyway, all ended good.
Thu Feb 1 2024, 10:22:04 am CET January is history and we entered February of 2024. A lot happened the last days, it was really like a lot of stuff were squeezed in and scheduled to happen in the first month of 2024. I tell you right away...
Did you know that today in ... is when ... Randomly picked historical events that occurred on this day. Fri Feb 2 2024, 9:54:46 pm CET Did you know that today in 1709 is when Alexander Selkirk Read more about him on Wikipedia. is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe's adventure book Robinson Crusoe.
Mon Jan 29 2024, 11:56:36 am CET ...And another workweek has started. The cosier the weekends are, the heavier Mondays gets. Today was a very heavy Monday.
I have started taking daily walks when time and weather allows. Fortunately I have a lot of opportunities as we live close to nature and parks for walking. Within 5 minutes walk I am in nature To give you an idea, this picture is from this weekend.! Today the weather is nice and I have some time during my lunch break to go for a little walk (right after this post). It is especially important to do for anyone with "an administrative office job"
OK, now I have to get something to eat and then into the first of many calls this afternoon.
Did you know that today in ... is when ... Randomly picked historical events that occurred on this day. Mon Jan 29 2024, 11:51:12 am CET Did you know that today in 1886 is when Karl Benz Read more about him on Wikipedia. patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
Sat Jan 27 2024, 5:41:05 pm CET Today I had a rather relaxed day, a bit slow and tired from yesterday's party night. We were invited to friends - friend M and B were the hosts - last night. It was a very nice party, the theme of the evening was wrong. Everything was wrong; wrong gifts were handed out, wrong food was served and we all wore wrong clothes.
It was nice with the distraction last night as the youths were travelling to Sweden (a flight to Stockholm) and Norway (the train from Stockholm to Narvik) yesterday. They had a flight from Charleroi airport in the morning and I drove them there. It was a drive that took almost 2 hours one way with the morning peak traffic. I was in the car for 3.5 hours. The drive back was much smoother and it was good that I could do some work (I attended two work related calls) as well.
I have actually kept this site updated of more technical nature. Some stuff were updated here to better support mobile devices and I also kept the Bookmark links Here is my Bookmarks page - stuffed with interesting links! page updated - both some new links and a new function (top-of-page navigation).
Tonight we have friends over - friends M and W with their daughter M - for dinner. We expect them any second now, I will try to do some more posts here tomorrow (pics from Narvik etc).
Did you know that today in ... is when ... Randomly picked historical events that occurred on this day. Sat Jan 27 2024, 5:11:17 pm CET Did you know that today is the National Geographic Day Read more about it here.
Mon Jan 22 2024, 9:19:53 pm CET Another start of a workweek done, more than that, family dinner done as well. A lot of calls and lots to do in between as well today with mixed feelings. I discovered a rather disturbing work related email that I, for obvious reasons, can not discuss here. I just get upset when I discover such disconnect and unwillingness (or stupidity) to collaborate from certain teams. But it comes with the work I guess.
...so the text above was actually written yesterday, but I didn't have the time/energy to complete the whole post and left it for today. Thus, here we are. I have just updated the "did you know that ..." post below.
We had a late celebration dinner at home for J's birthday on Saturday. It was a really, really evening/night with the family. The atmosphere was really joyful and everyone enjoyed it It was such a nice night!, we all felt like coming together and celebrate.
On Sunday J was studying for the German exams he had one on Monday and one today. I went to an event that Lauwers The homepage of Lauwers. arranged to celebrate their 50 years in business. Friend K. asked if we couldn't join him, I went alone as H. was busy helping J. out with some German. It was actually really nice to see K. and hang out with, let us just say, an older crowd. The presentation about travelling in Bosnia Herzegovina was really interesting. It certainly gave me some ideas for future travels. The country Read more about it on Wikipedia. seems to be beautiful and it certainly has an interesting history!
Yesterday and today J had exams and, from what we can see in pictures from friends, he is now enjoying some time out kicking back . Hopefully it went fine, we didn't hear too much from him. In the meantime, I endured a late heavy work related call... Puhh, it was heavy and a discussion on an intense level. I think I made my point clear in the end and that I designed an acceptable approach of the specific problem. Yet another solution that I never will get any gratitude for. It comes with the job, I guess.
Did you know that today in ... is when ... Randomly picked historical events that occurred on this day. Tue Jan 23 2024, 7:23:07 pm CET Did you know that today in 1941 is when Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
Fri Jan 19 2024, 7:45:39 pm CET It was a cold but very nice winter day today. A few sub-zero centigrade, full sun, blue skies in the afternoon. I could not resist but to take one of my many calls today during a long-walk to make the best of the situation enjoying the beautiful scenery Check out the beautiful scenery I enjoyed during my walk earlier today!.
Stupid TV...well, it is not really the issue of the TV. We are just unlucky, I guess. A broken component, same as in any TV these days, can always happen. I am more getting annoyed at the service. Today it was proven that it really depends on who you talk to, who is handling your specific case. Twice we have been lucky, proven today thus, as we had another experience today. H. was on the phone with an - and let me formulate this in a polite way - a true idiot! Luckily it was H. on the phone, I would have caused a minor meltdown. At this my wife and I, and probably 99% of the population, are lightyears apart. I would have started attacking the idiot on the other side rather than staying cool and play the game. In most cases I can keep it together and be clever about it, but if I have to start all over again explaining what happened and justifying that indeed it is covered by warranty and that we bought the "bloody TV 1.5 month ago...I am the freaking customer you idiot"! Yeah, it takes a certain intelligence that I have been spared of. Luckily, my better half is Einstein on that level...
OK, I believe that would be the update for today. Oh, wait, that is not the complete truth. I took my drone out for a flight today as well. I wanted to check-up on how the solar panels are doing (after the storms some time ago and the recent cold weather with snow and ice) and recorded the coolest videoclip! There is some snow and ice on them but they are all in good health. All looks fine!
Tomorrow we have a celebration dinner for J's birthday planned. I can not say too much, but it will be nice for sure! On Sunday J has to study for the German exam A typical study setup in the veranda where J study... so we'll see how things will play out...
Did you know that today in ... is when ... Randomly picked historical events that occurred on this day. Fri Jan 19 2024, 7:34:55 pm CET Did you know that today in 1983 is when the Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.
Wed Jan 17 2024, 7:35:46 pm CET Two days of snow, it snowed especially yesterday, and the forecast promised more snow today and colder later in the week. It did not fall any snow so far, but it feels like it can start any minute. It is cold enough to keep the thin layer of snow and ice that we have currently.
We had an appointment today with the solar panel company Balti Solar The solar panel provider company who installed our solar panel installation., we agreed that they were going to check-up on recent error messages we have seen in the last weeks. They errors are always automatically resolved, but we wanted it to be checked. At around 10 am a person arrived already with a spare part - I believe it was a new inverter - ready to be changed. He explained that some of these parts had issues after a software update. After about an hour of work and 20 minutes without electricity, it was all done. If I check the model number I can see it was a "downgrade" - from 3124 to 3104. Probably to a more reliable version..? Time will tell if it was for the better...
Another interesting development was the case we have with the broken TV. Since we heard nothing from the repair company - the reseller is subletting it out to an external party - we contacted the shop and asked how to proceed. It was a very nice person who dealt with it again and he even remembered us and the issue. The conclusion after the call is that now we have a new plan. Apparently they are giving the repair company 10 days to have it fixed, if they are not able to do it we will get a new TV from the shop.
The extremely funny thing - well, more interesting I'd say - is that after we had the service person from Balti Solar over and when the electricity was back on again, we all of a sudden had the picture back on the TV. Just like magic . The problem is not resolved, it is very much visible, but we can now watch a program at least. Isn't that weird???
Did you know that today in ... is when ... Randomly picked historical events that occurred on this day. Wed Jan 17 2024, 3:15:53 pm CET Did you know that today in 1773 is when Captain James Cook leads the first expedition Read more about it on Wikipedia. to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.
Mon Jan 15 2024, 6:18:48 pm CET Another work week started - J should be doing exams now (keeping fingers crossed) and H drove to her work early this morning in the snow. Yes, the snow started falling yesterday night and then some more this morning. The whole week will be cold:ish - the forecast says between 0 centigrade down to about -5 and snow. We will see about that...
Yesterday was J's birthday I can not believe that he is already 20!; we celebrated him with a traditional birthday breakfast. Of course. But then it was right back to a complete day of studying for the exams that he is doing today. People called and messaged him throughout the whole day, probably a welcomed break in most cases. To give make it more of a proper birthday, we had booked a restaurant in the evening - just him, K and us. It was a fantastic evening - the best company and great food Have a look here and read more about this great place. I can really recommend Delrobah - Afghani food was new to me, but pleasantly surprised. I can see the resemblance to the Syrian cuisine though..
With inner happiness - after hugging J goodbye - we strolled through the streets to the car in beautiful Antwerp. The city had a relaxed feeling, not a lot of people out and the atmospheric decoration lights were still on. We took in everything while slowly walking hand-in-hand in the cold night.
Did you know that today in ... is when ... Randomly picked historical events that occurred on this day. Mon Jan 15 2024, 10:28:59 am CET Did you know that today in 1759 is when The British Museum Read more about it on Wikipedia. opens to the public.
Sat Jan 13 2024, 3:32:55 pm CET A week full of activities again. It's been birthdays, finalizing traveling arrangements (both holiday and for work), the TV broke All of a sudden, from one day to the other, the new TV stopped working. Audio works but no picture, just the vertical lines... How can it be that it's broken after 6 weeks?!, potential issues with the solar panel installation... and like that it keeps going.
We - J and K also joined for a while - were invited by our neighbour ladies yesterday for a Raclette evening. It was wonderful to connect again - a complete evening with nice food and drinks, interesting talks and laughter's!
J and K travel to Sweden/Norway is getting closer and we better align with their plans - what clothes to bring, transportations and other practical stuff. Practical stuff like what kind of winter-/ski clothes do we still have that fits and how they get to the airport of Charleroi...
January have a lot of birthdays in my family; my mom, nephew M and my son J's all have birthdays within 9 days. Tomorrow it is J's birthday! It is unfortunately during a very busy time of exams, but we will take a break in the evening to take him and K out for restaurant at least. There will be more celebrating later on. Be sure...
Did you know that today in ... is when ... Randomly picked historical events that occurred on this day. Sat Jan 13 2024, 12:45:48 pm CET Did you know that today in 1942 is when the first use of an aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.
Mon Jan 8 2024, 4:22:51 pm CET A couple of days have passed since my last update. It's just crazy how time passes these days. Christmas and New Year celebrations passed and we are charging up for school (students and everyone employed by schools alike) start. Most of us also enjoyed some time off to recharge our batteries.
Talking about holidays, I have taken today off to arrange some stuff. I thought that I would have plenty of time and could really plan out my day to maximize the day. But all of a sudden, believing I will have enough time, it's already passed 16 o'clock...Crazy ! I am starting to panicking about lack of time.
When I was back from my holiday last week, it started all at once. Everything - work and life - started on all valves. My plans on a slow start was wishful thinking. At work; projects and plans came to life. There are discussions about travelling and planning out resources, deadlines, priorities etc. Of course this comes at a time when life is busy as well. "Murphy's law" ...to use another infamous epigram.
I have not been able to 3D print at all lately, it was way too long ago. I grabbed the bull by the horns and simply started a 5+ hours print So far so good. I do not want to jinx it, but it looks promising so far. But I am still in the early stages and a lot can happen... Can you see what it is? earlier today. It simply was a necessity.
Maybe the most exciting news I can share, is that we finally found our holiday destination for the summer. We booked our holiday to Madeira Madeira looks really nice and I have only heard good about it. I am really looking forward to spend 10 days there in July! - the flight, accommodation and a rental car - in July. We are super excited about it.
Did you know that today in ... is when ... Randomly picked historical events that occurred on this day. Mon Jan 8 2024, 3:03:32 pm CET Did you know that today in 1877 is when Crazy Horse and his warriors Read more about him on Wikipedia. fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
Tue Jan 2 2024, 7:15:59 pm CET 2023 is history and 2024 has just started. What will happen in this year? Hopefully there will be more good things on our path than bad. We can only hope. 2023 was certainly a great year, we shared a lot of nice moments and I was fortunate to do some great travels with my loved ones. We were blessed to be included and share life with our son who's transforming into a fantastic young man. It is amazing to be able to share those wonderful and important moments in life.
The last couple of days were great (but we missed our neighbour ladies) and to close 2023 with a bang, the New Year celebration was especially great! Strangely enough, it feels like it happened weeks ago, probably because of everything that happened. The first workday after such a nice time off doesn't make it any easier.
In between I took some time to do some, and I would call it doing some "relaxed research", in web development, layout and design. It is mostly oriented around Hugo, GitHub, Netlify, Cloudflare and also what is possible with service providers like Namecheap etc. I also checked out the writing platform Medium again. It's changed a little bit, but I like it. I published a little article My article about the movie "Leave the world Behind" in my place at Medium. mostly to try out all the new functionalities. You might have noticed the small updates here and there here at my website, just some small improvements discovered while I was working on the new site. It is getting closer and closer, it will be a small improvement in early 2024...
Did you know that today in ... is when ... Randomly picked historical events that occurred on this day. Tue Jan 2 2024, 2:07:28 pm CET Did you know that today in 1967 is when Ronald Reagan Read more about it on Wikipedia., past movie actor and future President of the United States, is sworn in as Governor of California.
