Archive for March, 2008

Rubik’s Cube, in 25 moves max

Monday, March 31st, 2008

I found my old Rubik’s Cube lately, dusted it off and got hooked again…MAN, solving this thing drove me up the walls in the mid 80’s! 🙂

Last week a mathematician called Tomas Rokicki proved the new upper-limit for solving any scrambled cube, in 25 just moves. It’s a theoretical limit, the how-to is not given. Guess I’ve still got some training to do to actually solve my cube in 25 moves, let alone solving it in the recent speed record of 9.18s…;)

Upgrading blogging tools

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

Am still running separate weblog tools on the .com and .nl domains, WordPress and Pivot…I’ll change this sooner or later (getting nuts of cross-posting). Recently both tools made updated versions available; WordPress to version 2.5, Pivot to version 1.40.5.

I just finished installing both upgrades…both sites seem to run smooth, so I guess the upgrades were successful.

At first sight there are no major differences…except of course for WordPress’ complete redesign of the Admin pages, it took some time (not too much though) to get used to the new interface, but I have to say I like it already

QOTD March 30 2008

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

Eleanor Roosevelt: “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

Back from Trysil

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

Holiday is over…came back today from snowy Trysil into rainy Oslo, felt as a culture shock. Anyway, it was great, definitely something to look back to!

Another great thing to look back to is the amazing trip to Tripoli, Libya…we left today exactly one year ago.

Sjeez, a lot has happened in the past year!

On our way out!

Monday, March 24th, 2008

Finally, my first holiday since I moved to Norway last year June! Gonna do some serious skiing/snowboarding in Trysil, yay!

Keep an eye on my twitter box on the right in case I can’t find WiFi to post on the weblog.

Happy Easter

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

Shopping Spree

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

Money is flying out of my wallet these days; I bought cross-country skis today, the sauna was a great deal but certainly not free, the Tempur bed finally got delivered this week (well, sort of, the delivery company had a week off, so the store got us a replacement matras for now, until they’re able to deliver again)…oh, and last but not least; we’ll go skiing coming week!
Some might say I’m earning too much, others know I deserve it! 😉

Me? I just thank the Easter Bunny; LOOK, there he is!! Oh, now he’s gone, you just missed it!

Spring, and snow?

Friday, March 21st, 2008

March 21, the day that normally marks the start of the Spring season…well, not in Norway! After weeks without, snow came falling down from last night, 15cm and counting, wow!

Arthur C. Clarke’s last trip into space

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

BBC News: “Writer Arthur C Clarke dies at 90…Sir Arthur’s detailed descriptions of space shuttles, super-computers and rapid communications systems inspired millions of readers.”

I am working in the satellite communications industry, so this news is very relevant…his idea for communication satellites eventually became a multi-billion dollar industry. Today, many peoples life depend on the ability to communicate from the harsh environments they are in, environments where satellite is the only option.

To me, satellite communication is one of the ways used to bring people in the world closer together, ultimately becoming one again.

QOTD March 19 2008

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Barbara Hall: “You’re alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.”

Out with customers

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

Our biggest customer is coming over to Norway today and tomorrow. I have been working with them for years, from the dutch office, so it’s nice that I now can be their host in ‘that country up North’. The days will be filled with meetings obviously, but we’ll have enough time to show them Oslo…be sure we’ll give ‘m the full treatment! 😉

iPhone updated!

Monday, March 17th, 2008

I just succesfully updated my iPhone software to the latest and greatest, v1.1.4! Overall the process was really, really EASY! I connected the iPhone to my pc running iTunes, upgraded via iTunes to v1.1.4 and then ran ZiPhone v2.6b and checked the ‘Do it all!’ option. It took me 19 minutes…15 for updating the software via iTunes and 4 for the ZiPhone Unlock, Jailbreak and Activate.

Let’s see if the problem with remembering passwords in Safari is solved…

Back home, Pluis is OK

Sunday, March 16th, 2008

Just got back home and Pluis was waiting at the doorstep for food…all seems to be OK!

Will enjoy a nice a relaxing evening as couch potato, I LOVE those evenings!!

Pluis’ bladder infection

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

Our ‘walkabout-cat’ Pluis managed to get a bladder infection that got spread into his kidney; the high fever and non eating/drinking behaviour got suspicious and a quick trip to the vet set the diagnose.

Some anti-biotic should resolve it…however, we’re not home at the moment?!? Hope everything is safe and sound by the time I come back tomorrow and so I can play nurse for him. 😉

Weekend, finally

Friday, March 14th, 2008

Damn, this was a hectic week! It still feels far from completed, there is just too much that needs to be done. Will do my best to unwind and take some distance…charge the battery and kick ass on Monday!

Or at least, I hope…the mouse arm seems to get slightly better and for me that’s exactly when I need to pay attention! It’s just too easy to return to old habbits, too early…

Delaying 1.1.4 update

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

Decided to wait with updating my iPhone to 1.1.4 till I’m back home, I’d rather have a decent backup just in case (can’t risk loosing my contacts while I’m on the road!), and besides that; the hotel WiFi/internet is ssssloooowwww tonight. The same thing happened to me, also on the Thursday, three weeks ago…uhhh, huh?!?

QOTD March 12 2008

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

Benjamin Franklin: “If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.”

iPhone 1.1.4 update

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

I have been holding off to install the 1.1.4 software update for my iPhone for the past weeks mainly since there were no exciting new features in it. Then tonight I got fed up with the Safari mobile browser not remembering my passwords while browsing (Google Reader, Twitter, etc.), searched around on the net and guess what? It’s a know bug in v1.1.3 and should be solved in 1.1.4…guess what? Am upgrading tomorrow when I have the WiFi available!!

SPAM, SPAM, SPAM

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Am seeing a huge increase in spam-tagged emails over the last two weeks. Don’t know if there is any specific reason for this (I thought that spam was dying these days?), but my spam-folder used to have roughly 300 emails (in 30 days), but currently holds 1800+ spam-mails?!?

My Gmail (or actually Google Apps) is doing a great filtering job since I hardly receive any spam in my Inbox, they go directly where they belong…in the spam-folder!

Holmenkollen Ski Jump

Sunday, March 9th, 2008

The Holmenkollen Ski Jump is a place we often go to with visitors; besides a spectacular view over Oslo and the Oslo fjord, it is quite special to see a real Ski Jump from so close by.

Willem-Jan and Patricia (my brother and his girlfriend) were the true lucky ones; this weekend was to be even more special since the Ski Jumping competition took place at Holmenkollen! Truly amazing to actually see people jumping from the Ski Jump, eh?

Well, we were unlucky; went there yesterday afternoon to find out that the jumping planned for later in the afternoon was rescheduled due to weather conditions…no more jumping on Saturday! 🙁

We still had a nice time, sightseeing and watching the finish of the Nordic Combined cross-country…as for jumping; better luck next year!