Oblique Strategies Everywhere 2006 is out

It took some time, but i finally "published" my compilation cd with some of my favorite songs and a lot of songs I discovered last year. It took me almost a year to complete the job (well, I didn't work the whole year on just that off course). The compilation consists of songs that I find one way or another original, without being too weird to listen to. Otherwise I could fill a compilation every month :)
So if you think you want the cd too (and you're not a stranger to me), just ask me. the cover will be lo-res though. I re-installed my Windows and saved everything except the Photoshop-documents for printing the jewel case cover :(

the picture of the cover was shot by me in Liege by the way.

My first exposition!

Last weekend I exposed for the first time some pictures some pictures of mine! The photoclub in Schaijk had their yearly exhibition during a village-festival (braderie). It wasn't a large exhibition, but I still found myself thrilled to see my pictures hanging there, while people were watching them. It sure is something I'd like to try do some other time again.

I was already making plans to gather pictures to expose them somewhere sometime. Maybe I can hang some pictures of mine on the walls in the local hospital or whatever. At least I know now that I like to see my pictures hang in a public place. So if there's someone who needs to fill some public space: let me know! :)

Visitors could vote for what they thought was the best picture. I don't know who's the winner yet, but if it would be me, I'd know it by now.

I'd almost forget: there was also one picture of Ester hanging there! She voted on one of my pictures and I voted on hers.

Baby room in progress

Pfff! It was some effort, but the work on the baby room is progressing. My parents were back in Holland for just 3 weeks and since my father is good at placing wallpaper, we waited to hear his advise on the room. Ester thought that we could glue the new wallpaper over the old one, but my father helped her and me out of that dream: the old wallpaper had a grainy structure and had to be taken off.

So we did although not very efficient. And after that we painted the doors and window and while I was ill I even painted the ceiling. Well, it's all not that hard to do, but we don't like it DIY, so this is a victory for us. And we did it without (much) complaining! Now we only have to let some people in that will put a floor on the planks and screw the IKEA-stuff into recognizable furniture.

My parents are off again to South Africa to warm up. They haven't really experienced a Dutch winter for some time, so they had a hard time getting used to the cold again.

Palm in coma

Well, everybody knows that I like my Palm PDA. And I'm still happy with it after a year of intensive use, but now it'll have to be repaired. It won't switch on again. My Palm can do almost everything except sing and dance. It is my agenda, contact list, notepad, newspaper, mp3 player and even my remote control to control the shutter of my digital camera. I also read books on my Palm, but that was less of an success. The best thing to read a book is still a paper book. I hate to say it but it's true.

Anyway. I read the warranty conditions of my Palm and I saw something peculiar.

Exclusions
[...]
3. damage caused by accident, fire, power changes, other hazards or acts of God

What the hell do they mean with "acts of God"? I guess natural disasters, but then they could just write that down. I mean: I'm an atheist. Will I get a telephone call back from PalmOne where somebody on the other end of the line says: "Well mister Bos. We checked your warranty claim and ...ehrm... well, how will I bring this to you... We checked the divine database and it seems that you pissed God off. So the malfunctioning of your Palm E2 is no technical problem. God just hates you. I'm sorry."

Well one thing's for sure: God is everywhere. Even in a limited warranty statement.

Link dump #2

Pfff! I am now tremendously busy with school, but I found the time to do a little link dump.

• Google Quick Reference
  Let's face it: we use it everyday. Why not delve into search techniques for just 5 minutes. I assure you that you will from time to time use other techniques than just cramming that text field with all the words you can think of to narrow a search down.
  To assure you: It may be a large list of tips, but you'll only need the first ones mentioned.
• Babynamewizard.com
  Not only just interesting when you're looking for baby names. The names you find and the developments or declines they make through the years are both interesting and amusing. Now I know why I don't like the name "Walter": It's so old-fashioned.
  Anyway: just click in the text field and start typing a name or just a few letters. A graph will appear immediately.
  You need the Java virtual machine to see it.
  

Taking zen to the next level

Zen meditation is all about being able to be in the here and now, without being distracted by jumping from one thought to another. The latter is what your brain is doing most of the time. If you don't believe that, try to stop your thinking for half an hour. And that's without sleeping off course!

Stopping the thinking, or at least tempering the mind is a daunting task and progress is made with baby steps. No, make that rabbit steps. At most.

Since our house is more than 50 years old, we still experience the fact that (sound) isolation was a low priority after WWII. That's not handy while meditating. I once heard a complete episode of the GTST soap opera from the floor below, while I was doing zazen (sitting zen)!

So then I'd start yelling "I'M GOING TO MEDITATE NOW!" to Ester on the floor below. Not a tranquil way to start a meditation session. So I tried the official way. I bought a (very) small zen bell. Well, it's more a kind of a bowl. And a small one too. I couldn't get enough noise out of that little thing, so I had to hit on it several times before ester heard me. Most of the time I hit it that hard that fell from its cushion. But then I discovered a new technique to hit it in such a way that it gives so much noise that you won't believe it's coming from that little thing.

Larger bowls are even harder to hit right. It's so easy to hit it too hard or too soft that you have to be concentrated when hitting a large bowl gently. Since you have to hit it 2 or three times you also have to make sure that the volume is each time the same. As you see: you can meditate with everything. Even with a very small brass bowl.

Photographic adventures in Belgium

I'm not a very adventurous person, but since I've taken already a lot of pictures of Oss and the surrounding area, that I wanted to make a real photographic adventure now and then. This month I had my first in Liege, Belgium. And although it was a lot of driving and was bored after 4 hours of walking and shooting pictures, it was a success. Most of the pictures that I shot there and passed the quality check are now online on either flickr.com or istockphoto.com.

Strange thing that happened that day: After I parked my car, I went to a shopping mall to go to the toilet. When I was on the toilet in the basement of the shopping mall, the alarm went off and everyone was asked to go outside right away, preferably through the emergency exit. But nobody used the emergency exit, but went quietly to the main exit. When I was finally outside, while not even have buttoned all buttons of my trousers, I saw that there were already people going in again! So much for an alarm.