Archive for April, 2012

Misha’s first Queen’s Day

Monday, April 30th, 2012

It is always special to be in NL on Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag), after all it is THE day that the entire country is colored orange, celebrating its orange roots!
It is extra special to celebrate Misha’s first Q-day in NL, even though I am not sure if he understood what all this orange is all about…anyway, it was a lovely day and the fantastic weather made it complete! (actually his oversized hat made it complete! 😉 )

The Night before the Day

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

It is Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag) tomorrow, which means that we celebrate the ‘night before the day’ tonight (in dutch: ‘de Nach voor de Dag’). There are festivities in most major cities (and villages) and you can find me in The Hague tonight, enjoying live music (LIFE I LIVE festival) and drinking some uhhh colalalalas!! 😉

Cannot drink too much or be home too late though (responsible dad and so) as it is Misha’s first Queen’s Day tomorrow, on his 7 months + first day! 😉

Song of the Day: Morning Papers

Saturday, April 28th, 2012

Almost all Prince songs qualify as a Song of the Day, and with his HUGE discography I can fill the blog with his songs for the coming 10 years orso! (no worries, I am not gonna do that! 😉 ).

Today I picked the song Morning Papers, one of his best ballads!! …and, just listen to this line in the song, I *love* it: “If he poured his heart into a glass and offered it like wine, she could drink and be back in time for the morning papers”…you’re an absolute hero if you can write this!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVA0cFBneIo

In NL this week

Friday, April 27th, 2012

My third father-son week is about to begin and I decided to spend this week in NL, for various reasons; it is always good to see friends and family (giving mom and dad the chance to ‘really’ congratulate me with my 40th 😉 ), and also Misha told me he needed some extra dutch culture experience, I will go the dentist (way to expensive in Norway 😉 ), enjoy the Queensday celebrations (and the night before 😉 ), and am able to be here when my dad has his Birthday! Haha, it is gonna be busy…looking forward to a great week!!

Yearly tax ‘fun’

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

Nope, I still don’t see the fun of filing tax reports…not even after doing it for the fifth time here in Norway, and not even while most of the items are pre-filled by the Norwegian tax authorities. The lather might give you the idea that it is easy, and it provides you an easy way out; just acknowledge the pre-filled info and submit!

Well, as I am a dutch citizen residing in Norway, owning an house in NL for some part of last year, as I became father in 2011 and have natural urge to not trust the authorities pre-filled info (and therefore I am checking, updating and optimizing the info); this years tax report evening resulted in the traditional frustration, steep learning curve in the (tax)technical norwegian language, an uncontrolled wish to empty a bottle of wine and finally, YES, the eureka&victory moment when everything is done…humpfff, nearly there! (where is that wine? 😉 )

God is dead – Nietsche

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

It shows that one should be very careful when declaring God deadFriedrich Nietzsche tried and, did not succeed! 😉

(no one actually ever will…)

 

QOTD April 24 2012

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

Carol Matthau: “There is no old age. There is, as there always was, just you.”

The big 4-0

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

Yayyy today is my Birthday! A rather special one: I am turning 40, the big 4-0 marking the end of my 30’s!? …or does it? In hexadecimal I am turning just 28 today…as you see; age is just a number and most important is that I am still feeling young, cherishing the child in me!! 😉

As for Birthday traditions:

– Cake? Yes! I baked two apple pies (come and get some before my colleagues eat all of it!)

– Party? No big party planned as of now, I am thinking to throw a garden/grill party in the summer though

– Presents? Yesss, of course, many and big! 😉 Seriously, if want to give me a present, please make a donation to a good cause, my Global Village trip to Mozambique, as I wrote last Saturday!! Details are on the Global Village trip page (the green Donate Today button on the right side 😉 )

– and no, there is no Birthday hat, nor sitting on a special decorated Birthday chair! 😉

Ready for the game

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

Robbert came with a great outfit for Misha; an ADO Den Haag baby-survival kit consisting of a pacifier, a bib, and a mascot…hey, these colors suit him really well!! 😉

Today’s match: ADO-Feyenoord…with his outfit on Misha is totally ready for this important match, victory is near!!!

 

Support me in Mozambique

Saturday, April 21st, 2012

Wow, time flies; it is only 3 weeks (!) before I begin building an orphan home in Mozambique during my Global Village trip with Habitat for Humanity!

I am really looking forward to this experience, as said before; it will be great to physically contribute to a better world by DOING something rather than supporting from a distance.

This support from a distance is actually something that YOU can do and I have a great proposition:

Coming Monday, April 23, I will turn 40 years old (/young 😉 ) and I know that some of you (not all?!? 😉 ) would like to give me a Birthday present. Well, instead of a material something for me, myself and I, I would really appreciate your donation to the Global Village trip as a Birthday gift! (ha, you really cannot say no to that, eh?)

As I wrote two weeks ago, you can support me by making a donation via my Global Village trip page (the green Donate Today button on the right side)…if don’t ‘dare’ to do this online, let me know and we will work it out! 😉

 

THANK YOU!!

Song of the Day: Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)

Friday, April 20th, 2012

TGIF y’all! I realize it is more a Thank God for you than for me, as weekdays are very similar to weekend days during my father-son week! 😉

Still, the weekend has begun and that calls for a Song of the Day, ha! So c’mon and move along, this is Us3 with ‘Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)‘…great times those early 90’s!

 

Great Tit tree

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

Some weeks ago my neighbor decided to cut down all the trees between our houses. No apparent reason causing a less nature-rich view from the veranda, but the worst thing is that the ‘Great Tits’ don’t find the way to the house no more as there is no tree close enough to check out the bird house…and *that* is something that I can’t accept, obviously! 😉 😉

Some say: ‘Build a tree and get shade for free’…I changed that to ‘build a tree and get a Great Tit for free!’ 😉

A couple of branches fixed to the veranda make a pretty ok tree…and the best thing; it works! This morning I saw two Great Tits sitting on my fake tree, checking out the bird house!! Let them come, let them come…yay!! 😉

 

 

Misha’s 6-month checkup

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

I am halfway my second father-son week and went for the 6-month health checkup today (yeah, yeah, the little angel will be 29 weeks tomorrow, but they still call it the 6-month checkup). It was good to hear the doctor confirm that all is good with his royal cuteness; daddy is taking good care (and we have a great time!).

Obviously I already knew that everything would be fine, one look in his eyes tells you everything! 😉

 

QOTD April 17 2012

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

Dale Carnegie: “Many people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful. So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don’t put off being happy until some future date.”

Own free will

Monday, April 16th, 2012

Haha, this sea gull shows the way to live your life: be on top of things, be awake and be aware, and…well,  every once in a while do something that others tell you not to do! 😉

Live life according to your own free will…and don’t drop your shit on others!

Add some drama to life

Sunday, April 15th, 2012

Push to add drama: “Somewhere in a little town in Belgium…On a square where nothing really happens…We placed a button…And waited for someone to push it…”

It is quite a scene that follows the simple push of a red button. I noticed that at least 4-5 people pushing the button, but as this is TV (/drama) even those could be actors. 😉

 

Song of the Day: Father Figure

Saturday, April 14th, 2012

Haha, this Song of the Day was to be expected now that I am daddy, and today is the day to play it as I am having ‘father-son week, The Sequel’! 😉  Ten days quality time with Misha, until next week Sunday, what else can a father wish for?

I do know that George Michael‘s ‘Father Figure‘ is not about a father and his child, but still…it is beautiful, so fragile…I LOVE this song! (and much more appropriate than ‘No Son of Mine’ from Genesis! 😉 )

Friday the 13th

Friday, April 13th, 2012

Superstition tells us that today is supposed to be a day of bad luck. This believe originates from two separate fears related to Friday the 13th: the fear of the number 13 and the fear of Fridays. Both fears (also called friggatriskaidekaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia) have deep roots in Western culture, mostly from Christian theology.

Thirteen is significant to Christians because it is the number of people who were present at the Last Supper (Jesus and his 12 apostles). Judas, the apostle w­ho betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member of the party to arrive. The fear for Fridays is because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. And some theologians claim that Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on a Friday.

Well, I am not sure if you experienced any bad luck today, but since this superstition is so rooted in our society, it gives you at least an excuse in case anything bad has occurred. 😉 And that is also the main reason that this day is still believed to bring bad luck; no, the folklore of Friday the 13th doesn’t have much to do with people’s fears today, it has much more to do with personal experience. People learn at a young age that Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky (for whatever reason) and they then look for evidence that supports the legend. And evidence is never hard to find…If you have a car accident on one Friday the 13th, lose your wallet, break a leg, or even spill your coffee, that day will probably stay with you. But when you think about it, ‘bad’ things, big and small, happen all the time, so if you’re looking for bad luck on Friday the 13th, you’ll probably find it.

Just as an experiment (and to balance things): try to find some good things that happened to you today, trust me they *are* there…joy! 😉

No need for summer tires, yet

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

I learned something new today: I always thought that it was mandatory in Norway to change winter tires for summer tires before May 1 (just as it is mandatory to change to winter tires before November 1)…well, not true!

I was told today that one needs to change to summer tires the weekend after Easter, but *only* when you have winter tires with spikes…aha! Well, that means that I don’t have to change tires (x2) this weekend…also good since there is (again) some snow predicted coming week! (will this winter never end??)

iPod, iPhone, iPad…iPaid

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

These years will go down in history as the iFamily era! 😉