A bit unexpected our new bunny had baby bunnies last week! OK, we did know there was a chance she was pregnant, as my dad took her to see a male bunny about a month before. She looked a bit bigger then normal, but wasn’t showing a huge tummy that would expect a big litter! Because a big litter it was!!! Last Thursday we did a head count and came to 9 (!!!!) baby bunnies!!! 9 very tiny cute little bunnies! :-)

Soon they will be roaming the garden! I can’t wait to see those 9 little ones run around! Made a little movie this morning of the 9 little ones, have a look and see if you can count till 9! :-)

You can also watch the baby bunnies feeding! Look carefully though! ;-)

One important tip… don’t try and pet the mother bunny while the children are feeding! She don’t like that!!! :-) I wasn’t aware I was actually making a movie, so it was pretty funny to see the following movie! And yes, she got me, and yes, it did hurt!! :-)

Posted in Animals | 1 Comment »

So after all the hassle with my right eye, I was set to write on the blog again on my birthday. How wrong was I…

Didn’t plan anything for the day. Getting 30 years old didn’t bother me, but it didn’t excite me either. Like all years in the last decade, I couldn’t be bothered to throw a party. Planned on having a quiet day. Just one necessity: picking up my new drivers licence at the town hall. But not before 1100 of course! ;-)

I was barely awake and still hiding under the blankets when the phone rang around 0800… A smile. It was Sally. Very sleepy I answered the phone and listened to her excited voice. After the birthday wishes she kept asking what I wanted most for my birthday. The first couple of times I was still thinking *I don’t know…* but after the third time she asked, and I was still looking for an answer I started to wonder… *I should say ‘you’ of course…* but the answer didn’t leave my lips. To stunned to believe that could actually be true… She was in Australia, I was in Holland. She couldn’t be here… Or could she… My thoughts were stopped by the sound of the doorbell… OH MY! She is here!!! Moments later I was holding the greatest birthday present ever in my arms! :-)

I still couldn’t believe it… it was like seeing a ghost again… So strange… How could she be here? I knew she was in Sydney for the weekend to go to the ballet with her family, and thought it was weird she didn’t reply to the SMSes I had send her, but I never expected anything like this! So still very stunned I sat downstairs at the table, with my girlfriend, family and Bastiaan; Who had been so sweet to pick Sally up from the airport and bring her to my parents place.

The next two weeks after my birthday were lots of fun! Luckily I was able to get some days off from work so we were able to spend some more time together. With my extra days off we even had the possibility to go away for the weekend. And after not that much thought we did. We would spend a long weekend in Paris! Why not? Incredibly relax! We took the Thalys and were in down town Paris just 3 and a half hours later! Lovely hotel very close to the Arc de Triomphe, some shopping on Saturday, some sightseeing on Sunday, and to top it off, dinner and a show at the Moulin Rouge! Definitely a “must do” if you are going to Paris and haven’t been at the “Moulin” yet!

Last week we stayed in Bastiaan and Judith’s place in Amsterdam. They were on holiday to Tenerife and were so sweet to let us stay in their apartment, so Sally could check out Amsterdam very easily while I was at work. Amazingly sweet gesture and for us an opportunity to have some fun days in Amsterdam before Sally had to go home last Saturday. Departure is always a very sad moment. Especially as she is going so far away. But luckily I will see her soon again, as I am flying to Australia again on the 15th of December! I can’t wait! :-)

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Watched Shrek again last weekend. Such a fun movie! Gotta love that big green ogre and crazy donkey! Cracks me up every time! :-)

One of my favorite scenes, in the end when Shrek and Donkey crash the wedding. Donkey sitting on top of the Dragon:
“All right. Nobody move. I got a dragon here, and I’m not afraid to use it. I’m a donkey on the edge! Celebrity marriages. They never last, do they? Go ahead, Shrek.”
:-)

Heard from Johanna there is a special karaoke section at the extra’s on the DVD! Oh my! I have to get my hands on that one! Ever since Robbies “Angels” in a to drunken state in Malmö I haven’t been performing anymore! *HAHAHA* Maybe it’s time to get back on the horse! ;-)

Also saw Fahrenheit 9/11 this weekend. Interesting movie. Bit of a one sided view maybe, but definitely an interesting one. It sure makes you wonder. It ain’t a particularly funny documentary, but it did make me smile when a gentleman who was comparing his empty, worn out neighborhood somewhere in the USA with a similar neighborhood in Baghdad and stating that Bush knew all about it and didn’t do anything for his neighborhood. Probably highlighting the problems in the USA that are ignored, as fighting a war elsewhere on the planet has priority over your helping your own people. Either way, the man spoke legendary words: “He (Bush, red.) knows all about it!”…”He does??” … “Yes, I send him an email!”.
Good boy! Hope it helps! :-)

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I had noticed it before, but it was never as long and disturbing as yesterday morning… the loud talker sitting next to me was on a role. She was out there. At Olympic level. She was doing some teaching through the telephone thing and talking so loud… You wouldn’t believe it!

Funny enough I had told Bastiaan about her a couple of days earlier and I had promised him that I would call him when she was on the phone again, so he could be the judge about the volume. So I did, and his reaction left no room for discussion. He was stunned! :-)

I don’t mind it so much if people are on the phone around me. I usually can just block out the noise, hear it’s there, but don’t listen and just ignore it as noise in the background. But not with her… Her volume is so loud, it’s impossible to block it out. And even if you succeed, it’s takes to much energy to do so.

After she had been on the phone for more then an hour, it finally stopped… relief… Then she thanked me for getting her a cup of coffee when she was on the phone. I couldn’t accept… I was blunt and went straight to the point. “Sorry, don’t get me wrong, I only went to get coffee because I couldn’t concentrate on my work with you talking so loud.” Her excuse was simple: “Yes, the headset is so good, it’s blocking most of the sound so I can’t hear myself and therefore have to speak very loud.” …

Weird… because when she was on the phone I asked my other colleagues about the loud volume, they said it was normal. Even borrowed a similar headset while she was on the phone, put it on, but it didn’t block a thing for me! Strange…

Today, when the noise was back, I used the headset from my phone to listen to the radio while she was on the phone. What pleasure! This weekend I will look up my old Formula 1 earplugs, to make good use of them again next week! Grandprix or not! :-)

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So far cycling to work is proving to be somewhat of a mixed success. In the morning it’s just great! It’s quite a short ride, just about 15km or 40 minutes, easy and safe parking of the bike and I can shower at work, so no problem at all. I do start quite early, but that’s mainly because I like to finish early. Especially when cycling home and afterwards having to shower, do grocery shopping and cook, it just takes up a lot of time and it’s nice to leave for home a bit early.

But that’s the morning… in the afternoon it’s a different story. I take a little detour on the way back, through the dunes and that makes the ride about 10km longer. Still, cycling 25km shouldn’t be any problem. It’s just a bit more then 50 minutes, but every single day I start to feel quite “empty” after about 35 minutes…

Don’t exactly know why, but my best guess would be a simple lack of energy… true, around 1700 I do get a bit hungry, but it’s quite rough on the bike. I have breakfast just before I leave in the morning, and a normal lunch at noon, so that should prove to be a problem… even introduced a couple of “snacks” (apple or Liga EverGreen) before I leave, but that hasn’t helped much so far…

Not sure what to do now. Probably will just try to keep cycling and see what works best. Maybe a bigger lunch, a later breakfast, more nasty snacks? Or maybe it’s just getting used to the fact I am on the bike so often now. OK, the rides are a bit shorter then normal, but still get a good 1 and a half hour of exercise every day.

And normally I would always praise and follow the classic “one day on, one day off” tactic, especially as numerous times that has proven it’s success… or actually I should say, not following that philosophy led to problems, so that might be the case now as well… I guess time will tell. Maybe it’s just because I am only moderate and am expecting to much! ;-)

Posted in Work, Cycling | 1 Comment »

I was shocked today when I got an SMS very early this morning from Sally. The crocodile hunter had died. I couldn’t believe it. Surfed to nu.nl (a Dutch news website), nothing yet… phef… abc.net.au (an Australian news website)… Headline: Steve Irvine died. Silence. It’s not that I didn’t trust Sally’s SMS, I just didn’t wanne believe it. How could the crocodile hunter be dead?

But he was. Sad, ever so sad. And it’s very weird to think that just 2 months ago we were snorkeling quite close to where he died. Very strange. Especially because that place is such a special memory for me. Strange that something like this could happen in such a wonderful and special place… Sad… so sad…

As I read on one of the Australian websites, he died doing what he loved best. I loved his show. Not always because what he was doing, but mainly because of the great enthusiasm and passion he showed in what he was doing. It’s a great thing to see in people, and he sure showed it around.

What stay are the memories… The funny shows, how he inspired me to catch a goat and all the fun we had in Stockholm making Ozzie Kim talk like the crocodile hunter.

Shocked…

Posted in News & media, Movies & TV | 1 Comment »

Introduced to my world some years ago by my good friend Bastiaan. “Afsmsen” or “Cancel by SMS” in English. That was the historic and legendary way he cancelled his appointment for a massage on the last moment. By SMS. For me, that’s were it started. Never heard about it before that, so all credits to Bastiaan. But yesterday I discovered time has progressed things quite a bit. Not just massage appointments are cancelled by SMS, people now also report not coming into work by SMS!

Amazing… not calling to the office anymore, no more pretending to sound more sick then you really are to justify staying at home, not having other people calling for you because you are to sick to call, non of that! A simple SMS will do! :-)

I do wonder what he wrote in his text message though… He was probably still giving an explanation… I wonder how long it will take before we just send “WORK OFF” or “SICK ON” to our employer to report in sick! :-)

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Yes, cycling to work for me must be cursed. Well, at least a little… tried 3 times, failed 3 times. First time last Friday. Got up early, but from my bed I could already hear I wasn’t going to cycle that day. Very heavy rain, thunder and lighting… I really wanted to cycle to work, but not that bad I considered going through that kind of weather! I would try again on Monday.

Well, yesterday I did try. But didn’t get further then about 200 meter on the bike. After that distance I noticed my rear tire was surprisingly soft. Or at least not as hard as it was the day before, when I rode my bike on a little ride after fixing the unexpected puncture on my front tire and pumped up both tires in the process. So when checking the rear tire before pumping it up again, I could hear a little sizzling sound… F#ck… another puncture… And at 0645 in the morning not something you wanne fix right there and then. So I left the bike for what it was, and took the bus/train to work again…

After fixing the tire that night, I got up early again this morning for the next attempt! Quite motivated I got on the bike on 0630 (!!) and took off. And then disaster struck again… after 4km I heard something funny… psst.. psst.. psst.. psst.. psst.. Oh no! And indeed… another puncture… Just my luck… Only problem now was that the distance to work (probably at least another 13 or more km) was a bit to far to walk with the bike… so there was no other option to return home again… *Aarggg* So after cycling for 15 minutes I had to walk back with the bike for 45…

Well, I guess there is no other option then to just keep trying! Some day the curse will be gone and I should get there without any problems! :-)

Posted in Work, Cycling | 2 Comments »

Ok, yesterday I was just a bit surprised when I went to the supermarket to buy some groceries and saw a man in pink pants. Strange people are everywhere, so why not close to the supermarket I do my shopping. But this morning I saw another guy wearing pink pants! Seriously, what’s up with those pink pants?!

I mean, at some point in time those men walked into a clothes store, looking to buy pants. There must have been hundreds (well, at least a lot) of different pants. Jeans, black pants, grey pants, blue pants, white pants, any pants you can think of. Yes, even pink pants!!! I am surprised they apparently sell them, but even more surprised that any well thinking man would spend money to buy them!!!

And it’s not that I mind pink clothes, just pink pants. On a man that is. They could look very good on a woman! But hey, I am not that narrow minded, so I could maybe even get over the “man in pink pants”-idea, but what I could never get over is the brown shoes both men were wearing with them! Pink pants with brown shoes… Seriously, what are they thinking?!?! Not that I am the one to make fashion statements, but even my untrained fashion eye can see that that just looks ridiculous! :-)

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment »

Time to catch up with the blog again. And so much to write… had a truly wonderful time in Australia. Absolutely amazing!!! Will post the “new” stories on or around their original dates, so please follow these links to read them:

- My first play [What can I say - 27-07-2006]
- A taste of Africa [Ethiopian food; one big pleasant surprise! - 26-07-2006]
- Tossing the coin [How we ended up in Mallacoota - 14-07-2006]
- Amazing bushwalking [Tidbinbilla and Orroral valley - 03-07-2006]
- Not a hole at all [Canberra, the bush capital - 30-06-2006]
- Keep left, keep left, keep left, keep left! [Cycling in Australia - 28-06-2006]
- Snorkelling with the turtles and fishies [So much fun!!! - 23-06-2006]
- Breath in, breath out… [Diving in the Great Barrier Reef - 21-06-2006]

Posted in Personal, Australia | 6 Comments »

Today was a dark day… The darkest day in the MinusOne history. I am trying to get some new contract work in Holland and was not allowed to send invoices from my company, like I normally do. For 2 long weeks I fought like a tiger to make it work and be able to invoice somebody. Together with Bastiaan we figured out a bit dubious scheme of payment methods to get around the rules, but in the end it all turned out pointless… Only thing left was to get pay rolled in order to get the work…

In theory there is nothing wrong with that of course, but still… after 4 rather good years with MinusOne it hurts more then I expected to let the company sit on the sideline for this project. We have been through a lot together. So with pain in my heart I agreed on the pay rolling solution today and for the next 6 months will be working on a project again. So be it. I guess there need to be dark days in all histories.

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The last weekend before going back to Holland Sally and I stayed in a hotel on Manly Beach in Sydney. A lovely location and with the ferry from Manly just a short and nice “ride” to the city centre, ending at Circular Quay, right between the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house. Easy as anything.

On Friday evening we ended up having dinner at a grill restaurant (can’t remember the name… “Something” Grill…) at the waterside with a view on the Harbour Bridge on the left and the Opera house on the right. Lovely spot for a nice dinner. And a nice dinner it was! I finally got to try some Kangaroo and Crocodile! After trying a barramundi in Port Douglas (really, really nice fish!!) those to were left on the list to try and didn’t think I would do so before leaving but when the opportunity came by at the grill restaurant I had to make a stand! Kangaroo and Crocodile it would be! :-)

And I did not get disappointed at all! They were both jammie. The Kangaroo very nice and tender, the croc … well… like a weird tasted chicken… :-) but nice as well! Still enjoying the moment a guy appeared on the terrace we were sitting, with a little flute and started playing a birthday song for the table next to us. We just smiled and thought the guy belonged to the restaurant and was just being funny on request… little did we know! Moments later he appeared at our table playing some annoying song! Leaving us feeling quite uncomfortable, but luckily after he played a bit a waiter came and asked the man to please leave the restaurant terrace…

And little we knew indeed! Because when the guy left and we saw that there were people with camera’s, Sal figured out the guy was from a ABC TV show called “The chaser’s war on everything“, and was just recording a little bit for next weeks show… And yes! We made the show! *LOL* well… made it… click here to see our 7 seconds of fame! (7.9 MB, © ABC TV). And you have to look carefully, because I am hard to spot, but Sal is quite obviously looking away in disgust! ;-)

[Ok, I will help a bit… it’s us between 0:57 and 1:04!]

Posted in Movies & TV, Restaurants, Australia | No Comments »

Under Milk Wood. My first play ever. Never been to a play in Holland, so going to one in Canberra was quite exciting! Had no clue what to expect. Just knew that the play “Under Milk Wood” would portray the life in a Welsh fishing village.

Well, it didn’t take long before I understood it would be a long evening. It was just to difficult. Not the story, as there wasn’t a real one, more a view into the life of the people in the fishing village. But the language. It was in English, but some strange version of English and together with a funky accent I didn’t understand it at all… For a painful 2 hours I was lost. Lost and annoyed by the man sitting next to me who kept laughing very loudly and as I failed to understand any of the jokes it wasn’t helping…

I could get some things of what the play was about, but most of it was pure hocus pocus. And I always thought my English was pretty ok… How wrong was I! Next time I will have to try a play that matches my English language skills a bit better, maybe one for children, as this one was definitely out of my league…

Play: Under Milk Wood
The Canberra Theatre Centre, July 27

Written by: Dylan Thomas
Directed by: Don Mackay
Staring: Michael Craig, Kristy Child, Dion Mills & Allison Byrne

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A couple of days ago the news reached me that my birdy had flown away. Out the front door into the wide world. After about 17 years of taken the best care we could of the little birdy, he is no more… Flown out of our lives by accident, unable to find his way back… It’s such a strange, sad and empty feeling I will be going home next week and he won’t be there to greet me anymore…

I can only pray somebody out there will find him, take him in, bring him back to us or take care of him like we did… Worst feeling is that he must be so scared out there. Not used to flying great distances, hiding from danger, finding food and water…

The picture of my birdy my brother send me a couple of weeks ago all of a sudden is not just a sweet view from home anymore… it’s the last picture taken I will ever see of him…

I will miss you… *snif*

Posted in Personal, Animals | No Comments »

Oi… One week down, one week to go. This bunnysitting is not proving to be easy. Kevin A is the sweetest little bunny, but he has quite a mind of his own. For some reason he likes to get bunny candy… in the middle of the night! :-) Yes, a smiley, because it’s quite an experience to wake up in the middle of the night and see a bunny 2 cm from your face! Begging for candy! You can’t be mad, even at that hour! ;-) Ok, I could lock the bunny in the cage at night, but I just can’t set myself to do that… I tried it the second night, but after less then 30 minutes I moved back to the living room to make sure that Kevin could roam the room at night. My compassion wins it over my need for sleep! :-)

Besides that, there is the worry. The worry about the bunny. Ever since my brother tried to be “funny” and point out all the bad things that could happen to the bunny while I was bunnysitting, I worry quite a bit… I know there is no reason what so ever to worry about the bunny as he is in tip-top shape, but I still do. Strange in a way, because I never worry about my own bunnies, but knowing how much Mette loves Kevin A, I just check up on him much more then necessary to put my mind at ease.

Finally there is his cage. Any bunny kept as a pet would be so happy and lucky to have such a big cage as Kevin A does, but to me it still feels much better when he can run through the whole room. Not that he does, as he sits under a chair most of the time, but just the idea “that he can” feels much better. When leaving the apartment he needs to go in the cage, and even though he is perfectly used to that, it still feels sad to see him behind bars… So even when I am out, I think about him being in the cage at home, and that he should be out…

Well, just one more week of worries for me. After that it’s time for Mette to worry again! ;-)

Trademark	So cute

Posted in Travel, Animals | 2 Comments »