raymondpoort.com

Yayyy!! I’m the happy owner of *the* Apple iPad (64Gb *with* 3G 😉 )!! My best of best of friends Robbert ( 😉 ) bought it for me in NL! A bunch of fresh iPads arrived at the store today and they were FLYING out (same as some weeks ago) so I was lucky that Robbert was at the right spot at the right time! 😉

Hehe, and now starts a longggg wait until end next week…only then will I be in NL to pick it up…aaarrggghhhh! 😉

I love beauty…beauty in people, beauty in nature, beauty in things, beauty in experiences. I truly believe that there is something beautiful in everything around us, as long as you open yourself to look for it and allow yourself to find it.

As words do matter, I was pleased to read more about words for ‘beautiful’ on the Words You Don’t Know blog. Yesterdays blogpost is titled ‘10 Beautiful Words You Don’t Know‘ and besides a long list of ‘known’ words that mean or imply “beautiful”, there are ten more obscure words listed that also relate to beauty:

1. Orchidaceous

2. Amaranthine

3. Kalopsia

4. Colposinquanonia

5. Kalokagathia

6. Euonym

7. Callipygous

8. Calligyniaphobia

9. Callomania

10. Callisteia

…did *you* know them?? 😉 Read all about them in the blogpost.

Wayne Dyer: “Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you.”

George Carlin nails it again! At least, if you are in need of an excuse why *not* to have cats or dogs…I’m definitely not in that box! 😉

We’re enjoying terrific August summer weather in Oslo city today. It’s a cultural experience too, since the Mela festival takes place this weekend!
The festival is considered to be the biggest international celebration of culture and creativity in Norway, with artists from more than twenty countries performing with their bands, alone or together. Coolll!!

We’re having friends visiting us from NL this weekend; Miranda and Axel arrived today! It’s great to have the two of them visiting us, especially this year; Kristel and I are together 20 years this year and Miranda, being Kristel’s oldest friend, and Axel who is my oldest friend, were the ones who almost ‘made’ it happen. Each of them told us (separately) what Kris and I felt for each other (highschool lovers 😉 )…the sparks were there then and never disappeared!

Michael Patrick King: “Seasons change, so do cities. People come into your life and people go, but it’s comforting to know: the ones you love are always in your heart and if you’re very lucky, a plane ride away.”

Adam Curry did it again; making an unique service, available for all, by combining existing components into something new and exciting.

Roughly six years ago he and Dave Winer gave us podcasting (jeez, Adam, that means that the 6 year anniversary of our ‘Studio A8′ meeting on the dutch A4 is coming up soon! 😉 ).

This time Adam is presenting ‘The Big App Show‘, a daily interactive show broadcast to iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches around the globe. Each ‘appisode’ 😉 features a full screen demo of the latest and hottest must have apps.

I see many of Adam’s talents, including the ‘famous’ MTV-day ones, all coming together in The Big App Show, keywords: internet based, geek-time, entrepreneurial, creative, show presentation / DJ-ing/VJ-ing, interactive, and mostly having FUN!

The USA Today says: “On The Big App Show, Curry delivers breezy two- to four-minute features on “really cool” apps. He plays with the app on an iPhone so users can see how it works, rather than forcing them to stare at static screenshots.“

And it doesn’t stop there…the next phase is that celebs will be presenting their favorite iDevice Apps on The Big App Show. Ha, ain’t that old skool MTV-vibes goin’ round?? Great!

The first guest is David Hasselhoff…so 80’s, a perfect fit! Hehe, The Big App Show will be Hoffed!! 😉

I can’t wait! And you shouldn’t either, so go get the App!

Oh, the process of developing his first iPhone app wasn’t all that easy as you can read from Adam’s ‘My First iPhone App – A N00b’s Story‘ blogpost. 😉

Japanese proverb: “One kind word can warm three winter months.”

So, I cleaned my mountain bike some weeks ago (and yes, that was about time…it was still dirty from last years Birkebeiner, jeez! 🙁 ) and I was determined to give it a go today. Uhhmm, I plan to have my preparations for this years Birkebeiner a bit better than last year (when I didn’t touch the bike for a year!). The race takes place on August 28, so there is still 3.5 weeks to get some miles in my legs. 😉

Everything went as planned for some serious training today: I came home before 7pm, got dressed (*and* had no problem finding all my gear; clothes, cycling computer, glasses, helmet and shoes, unlike last year… 😉 ), got the bike out, pumped up the tires and was ready to go…I test the brakes, shifters and gears a bit before I’d push the pedals. Gear up, gear down, gear up, CLUNKKK…the chain broke!!! 🙁 🙁

So much for a work-out today, gotta bring the mountain bike to the shop tomorrow, I’d better have it fully checked before the race later this month!

It’s one year ago that we moved in to our own Norwegian home. I remember the week before  ‘the’ move being extremely busy; we only had that one week to make all adjustments in the house, pack, move and unpack, we made it happen with the help of our best friends coming over from NL, thx again!

Being here for a year means that we’ve now experienced the house and its environment in all seasons and you know what? We still *love* it here, everyday, and are gonna stay much longer!!