Archive for October, 2011

Trick or treat…this is Halloween

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Brrrrrr, it is Halloween today…are you ready for some tricks, or treats??

” ‘Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems in a place perhaps you’ve seen in your dreams. For the story you’re about to be told began with the holiday worlds of auld. Now you’ve probably wondered where holidays come from. If you haven’t I’d say it’s time you begun…”

(quote from the movie: The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Ain’t this a FANTASTIC Halloween house??

There are many more great clips shot there, check’m out:

 

Or this one (old skool alert! 😉 ):

 

Very new skool is the iPad trick shown below:

(yes, we love Apples as much as pumpkins! 😉 )

 

Hehe, all of these are not as scary as the creature below…I met him at last year’s Halloween party! 😉

QOTD October 30 2011

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

Steve Jobs: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Digging for a new entrance

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

Today’s main activity was all about digging; the main entrance to the house is gonna be ‘upgraded’ and some soil needed to vanish. 😉

It’s great to have helpful neighbors, especially when they work with digging machines (actually, a Caterpillar excavator) as a profession, yihaa!!

Well, the soil is gone now, but the job ain’t finished…far from it! 😉

…to be continued in the coming weeks…

 

The start…

…and done!

 

TGIF: Song of the Day РD̩senchant̩e

Friday, October 28th, 2011

A perfect Song of the Day to kick-start the weekend: Kate Ryan with Désenchantée!!

SO, TGIF everrrryyyybodyyyyy, put on your dancing shoes and dance the night away!!!! 😉

 

Btw. the original version is from Mylène Farmer, obviously also available on YouTube, I just happen to like Kate Ryan’s version better for a Friday! 😉

Learn Chinese

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Now that China might be buying European debt, the #OccupyEuropebyChina scenario is getting closer and closer. Since they already own parts of Africa and Australia, it seems a good moment for ‘us’ Europeans to learn Chinese. Below you’ll find a 5 minute crash course! 😉 😉

Kissy’s 37th!

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

My baby is having her Birthday today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!

Ha, that calls for a Birthday Cake, hhmmmm!!

QOTD October 25 2011

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Jean-Luc Picard: “Things are only impossible until they’re not.”

This is your life!

Monday, October 24th, 2011

Today Misha got the ‘This is Your Life’ manifesto, full of handy tips for a newborn, and for EVERYBODY…LOVE LIFE, it is FANTASTIC!!

 

Thanks a million Andrea, you are the BEST…we LOVE you!! X

Occupy…Sesame Street or Coke?

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

I read two Occupy related items this weekend:

First there was Adam Curry‘s message to #OccupyWallStreet after his latest initiative: Occupy Coke!!

In short; Corporations own the Politicians. Wall Street is the pimp. If the 99% want to really show their power, then you have to get their attention. If the “99%” can make markets move, if only on one major stock, the Corporations, Politicians and most certainly Wall Street will listen.

So, are you in?????

Secondly, ‘Cookie Monster’ has written one of the most clear explanations for the Occupy movement that I have seen so far, read it for yourself:

“Yes, there always going to be rich and poor. But we used to live in country where rich owned factory and make 30 times what factory worker make. Now we live in country where rich make money by lying about value of derivative bonds and make 3000 times what factory worker would make if factories hadn’t all moved to China.

Capitalism great system. We won Cold War because people behind Iron Curtain look over wall, and see how much more plentiful and delicious cookies are in West, and how we have choice of different bakeries, not just state-owned one. It great system. It got us out of Depression, won WWII, built middle class, built country’s infrastructure from highways to Hoover Dam to Oreo factory to electrifying rural South. It system that reward hard work and fair play, and everyone do fair share and everyone benefit. Rich get richer, poor get richer, everyone happy. It great system.

Then after Reagan, Republicans decide to make number one priority destroying that system. Now we have system where richest Americans ones who find ways to game system — your friends on Wall Street — and poorest Americans ones who thought working hard would get them American dream, when in fact it get them pink slip when job outsourced to 10-year-old in Mumbai slum. And corporations have more influence over government than people (or monsters).

It not about rich people having more money. It about how they got money. It about how they take opportunity away from rest of us, for sake of having more money. It how they willing to take risks that destroy economy — knowing full well that what could and would happen — putting millions out of work, while creating nothing of value, and all the while crowing that they John Galt, creating wealth for everyone.

That what the soul-searching about. When Liberals run country for 30 years following New Deal, American economy double in size, and wages double along with it. That fair. When Conservatives run country for 30 years following Reagan, American economy double again, and wages stay flat. What happen to our share of money? All of it go to richest 1%. That not “there always going to be rich people”. That unfair system. That why we upset. That what Occupy Sesame Street about.”

The poort.com domain is mine!

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

Yayyy, I managed to obtain the poort.com domain!!!

I have been after this domain since the mid 90’s, a time when the web was about to become ‘mainstream’ an domain names were still expensive (too expensive for a student 😉 ). Some years later the poort.com domain was taken and remained unavailable until this year September.

I tried to get in touch with the domain administrative contact for months, but was unsuccessful as all contact details were apparently wrong. That meant that I had to wait until the registration expired (which was last month) and then hope that it would not be renewed…well, it luckily did not, and I was able to obtain the domain after some serious bidding in an auction! 😉

Ha, expect this blog to move to the new poort.com domain and my future email address to  be raymond(at)poort(dot)com!! (after I transferred the domain from Network Solutions to Go Daddy! 😉 )

If any family members are interested in a poort.com email address, let me know…I’ll set up Google Apps and can configure your ‘own’ @poort.com email address for you!

Draw a Stickman

Friday, October 21st, 2011

Woohoo, everybody draw a Stickman (wiki)!!

Ha, it’s just a fun thing to do, so do it tonight, and tomorrow, and…oh well, BE creative every day!

No Agenda Karma for Misha

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

Misha is off to a great start in this world: just before his birth he got ‘No Agenda Karma‘ in show #342 (September 25) of the ‘No Agenda‘ podcast!!

I only found out today as I am some shows behind, but still: well APPRECIATED John & Adam, Misha *loves* the Karma and uhhh, says thanks a LOT! 😉

Have a listen for yourself (and subscribe to the No Agenda podcast in iTunes to find out all about the real news behind the news!! 😉 )

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QOTD October 19 2011

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

J.K. Rowling: “We touch other peoples lives simply by existing.”

You know that winter is on it’s way when…

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

…you changed the tires on your car to winter tires! Ha, ain’t that a nice job for a mid October Tuesday evening?? 😉

There are still two weeks to go before winter tires are mandatory (at least, if you want to be covered by your insurance!), but one never knows when the first snow falls…this *is* Norway after all and last year’s first snow ‘arrived’ on October 21, while it came on October 29 in 2008…winter wonderland days are coming close!!

 

Inburgerings Curs

Monday, October 17th, 2011

This one is probably best understood by the dutch speaking blog readers, but is actually intended for the non-dutch speaking…enjoy this ‘inburgerings curs’ (= integration course)…it is FABULOUSSSS!!! 😉

 

There is a part two and three too, click on the links and LYAO!

Time flies being a father with two weeks off

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

Becoming father gave me two weeks off from work (I love that!) and mánnnnn, have these past two weeks have been FLYINGGGG…it was great to be taken care of in the first week by our parents, and also this second week with ‘just the three of us’ was fantastic! Misha kept us busy (but far from too busy, and only in a good way 😉 ), and it was nice to be home for a week with him, *and* an ’empty’ agenda…which I think was the first time in my life; my time off is normally filled with visits, vacation or other trips…hehe, I could get used to this! 😉

QOTD October 15 2011

Saturday, October 15th, 2011

Emily Dickinson: “Forever is composed of nows.”

Fun-for-Friday cartoon

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Hehe, a funny cartoon for the Friday…I know, I know, it’s an easy score, and FUNNYYY!! 😉

Have a good weekend y’all!! 😉

The MacBook Air is IN!!

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

Wow, THAT went fast!! After holding off buying Apple’s MacBook Air for a long time (basically since the it was released in 2008, and especially after the latest update this summer, I decided to order it yesterday (Misha asked for it 😉 ) and was anticipating a 3-4 weeks delivery time (they are quite popular apparently 😉 ). To my surprise I received an SMS from the Apple Store this morning, informing me that ‘my’ MacBook Air was IN, w00t!!!

So, I have been a happy geek today, unpacking and playing with my new toy…and yes, this was my first blogpost from the Air!! 😉

(for my fellow geeks, it is the 13″model with 256GB flash storage and an upgrade 1.8Ghz i7 processor…iLoveIt! 😉 )

The Botanical Garden in Oslo

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

It was a beautiful sunny day today and we decided to go to the Botanical Garden in Oslo. This was Misha’s first ‘real’ trip out and actually our first time to go to the Botanical Garden (quite amazing considering that we love nature and have lived here for four years now, shame on us!)…

Well, the Botanical Garden is absolutely a *beautiful* green oasis in the city of Oslo as you can see from the pics below…haha, our little angel didn’t really notice as he slept for the entire walk, humpf!

Well, he will get more opportunities as there is still much we didn’t see…we’ll be back! 😉