Guy loses French "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" on easy question. The question is "What rotates around the Earth?" The audience votes for The Sun.
Now try this: go ask some of your colleagues at work this question. I was amazed at how long people had to think to come up with the wrong answer! Do your colleagues know the answer or do you work with dumb asses as well?
watch the video | digg story
There's a problem with commenting on the site... hope to fix it later today.
update: the only way that I was able to fix this is to restore all my MT templates. That broke my lay-out. So I restored the lay-out and in the process broke the comments again.....
Listened to Adam Curry's new radio show (Curry's Wake Up Call) on Arrow Classic Rock. And now I remember why I like podcasting so much.
First, during my 40 minute commute I was fed traffic information twice. That's a waste of time for me. I ride the same way to work every day, with the same traffic. I'm not interested in roadwork or a accident on a highway I never travel on. I think people who really want or need up-to-date traffic reports either have a TomTom like device or just check the web before they leave. They could even call one of the traffic information numbers on a moment they want to.
Second, I really missed the fast forward function of my iPod. Some of the songs I just didn't like, so I wanted to skip them and go the next section.
And last I missed all the savants, the NyLon, CSB...... but I hope it's just a matter of time before new, Dutch savants will report for duty.
Nadine told you she was 'probably fine', well I'm glad to tell you that the initial diagnose has been confirmed. She has a 2.8 inch dermoid cyst in one of her ovaries. It's no threat to her or the baby so the doctors decided to leave it where it is until after the baby is born. We're very relieved. Though I never really worried it would be cancer, a small part of me feared it might.
So now we'll try to have stress-free pregnancy for the remaining 20 weeks or so.
There are two ways to start blogging again: I could do a lengthy post bringing you up to date with what's been going on in my life, or I could just start posting stuff.... I choose the second. For all the important stuff since April: read my wife's blog :)
Obviously the most import thing is our second pregnancy. We're expecting a baby girl in January.
Today, we've been married 6 months. I can only say my life is so perfect right now. Married to the love of my life, father to the sweetest little boy on earth. I'm very gratefull.
Excuse my language.....
In High School I was no friends with any of the teachers. Except one. Today I learned that the only teacher I truly liked died in a plane crash this weekend..... He was a pilot and for some reason I've known for years that he would die in a plane crash one day. I'm not surprised but it's just not fair. He made economics a fun subject and students respected him deeply. R.I.P.
Today is my 30th birtday! Whoohooo.....
I celebrated yesterday with a lunch with just some family. We didn't want to organize anything to big with a 10 week old baby :) My mom, one of my brothers and Sweety's mom took care of all the food. Ths only thing I did was provide them with a theme: 1976. They came up with some great recipies from the seventies and my mom found some orange and brown tableware.... it was great! Thanks everybody!
Sweety had told me not to make any plans for Sunday night, and not to read her e-mail.... as if I ever!
Anyhow... I tried to figure out what it was we would be doing since TJ is to small to take to a restaurant. And I don't think we could leave TJ with a baby sitter, even family, just yet. When Sweety told me we had to leave at 6pm, and we would have a 15 minute walk to where we were going, I knew we would either go to our friends K&M or to my brothers house. We started walking toward K&M and Sweety started preparing me to leave TJ there. To be honest,
I did not like the idea.... I'm not ready to leave TJ with anybody. But I also didn't want to ruin her plans...
When we arrived at K&M's place they let us in and I walked into their livingroom to be greeted by a "SURPISE!!!!".
Sweety had organized a spuprise party with a great selection of friends.... THANKS SWEETY! I had a great evening, again with wonderful food. The best burgers and a superb Texas Chocolate Walnut pecan Cake... hmmmm
Since the baby still isn't here yet I'm now in the progress of moving my website and upgrading to a new MovableType version, so expect so downtime or slow performance :)
update: this post has been updated from the new loaction using the new MovableType.... seems to be working!
update 2: Done! (I think) Thank you DREAMHOST for making this a very smooth domain transition, I've been a happy customer since January 2000. Thank you Six Apart for making MovableType.
Thank you for the new strip of pictures you made for my site :)
My parents surprised us Saturday with diner at a Spanish Restaurant (Qué Pasa), just around the corner from where we live. It was a great surprise and we had a fun evening with good food.
Earlier on Saturday we went to a few car dealerships. With the new job that's coming I wont be able to commute by bus. There simple is no bus or train that comes close to where I'll work. For those of you who travelled in The Netherlands using public transport that might be hard to believe, but it's true. None of the car dealers we visited had any cars older that two or three years and we are looking for something we can afford without financing. So no deal. We'll have to go out again.
It was funny to see the reaction to Sweety's noticeable belly. Car dealer: "Look at this car, it's very SAFE. I'm sure SAFETY is of great importance for you." all while staring and winking at Sweety's belly. Or "This car doesn't have a passenger airbag, that's GREAT because you can put the baby's car seat in front!" It was interesting how none of them asked WHY we were buying a car or what it would be used for. They all just assumed it had to be because of the baby :)
You no longer have to wonder if you can go a day without chocolate, eat all you want!
So Sweety told that we've been so busy getting married and preparing for the new arrival. But let me tell you the truth about why we haven't done updates on our weblogs..... Lost, Surface, Invasion, Prison break, Dutch Idols, Dutch Big Brother.... and we haven't even started watching Threshold yet.
I recieved a comment to one of my previous Katrina posts that I'd like to address. Let's start with what Barkley had to say:
"Do you still want to emigrate to the US, even after Katrina? the Dutch would have weathered that storm and had everything prepared for the fix-up...the US is a "make it on your own or die" type of place, but this time it's a little too harsh for me"
Now, I'm sure mistakes where made and the images of people on rooftops, waiting days to get help made me mad as well. But to say that the Dutch (or anybody else) would have done a better job? I seriously doubt it. Here's why...
I started writing this yesterday, but then decided to give our Dutch Government an extra day. But now I'm really wondering why there is so little help offered to the US after the tragedy of hurricane Katrina. We had our biggest flood in 1953. Only a day after the flood the US (among many other countries) offered their help. But now, 2005, it's already been 3 days and all that was offered was a 'dike inspection team'.... how about money, food, water, pumps, tents etc etc.
A lot of people in The Netherlands seem to argue that, first of all, the US is a rich country and therefore should take care of itself. Second they say as long as the US spends billions on a war they don't deserve our help. I strongly disagree with that. When the Dutch recieved Marshal plan help, we where fighting a Colonial war in Indonesia at the same time. That was our biggest, most expensive and probalby wrongest war ever. But that did not stop the US from helping us financially. That might in some part have been out of self interest. Probably a combination of that and the Golden Rule. And that's what we should do. We should offer help, just like we would help to be offered when we need it.
If you want, donate some money to the American Red Cross now.
Paul Verhoeven is directing a new movie. After directing some Dutch movies he moved to the US and made movies like Robocop, Total Recall en Basic Instinct. But now he's back in The Netherlands to direct 'Zwartboek' . Paul Verhoeven was born in Amsterdam but moved to The Hague (where we live) during WWII. This week they are shooting for the movie in our neighbourhood. Check out these EXCLUSIVE pictures...
Ok, maybe this guy was working too long, or has some problems at home. Maybe he was just very excited to tell people about hurricane Katrina, but felt he didn't get a honest change. Anyway, he loses his cool and acts like a baby.... very funny to see his face when he realizes he almost cried on live television.
A young women (friendly_chic407, whats in a name?) was riding on the subway when a man exposed and began molesting himself on the train. She took a picture of him with her phone and posted it on Flickr. A reporter from the Daily News stumbled on this story and contacted her. They printed the story and the image in the Daily News. And now you are reading it! And I'm asking you to forward these links to anybody you know in New York. A great example of the power of weblogs :)
The secret is out. We are having a baby!
Most of you guessed it right. Well done :)
Kim suggested something fun to do: "Guess what the news is"
As some of you noticed, Sweety's been very quiet lately on her weblog. I promised you I'd tell you why that is, but will wait a few more days. Don't worry, it's A L L G O O D :)
So what do you think the news is that Sweety and I are hiding from you?
Today I received an interesting e-mail from Amber Waves Pygmy Goats. A reciprocal link invite. Here's the e-mail with some coments in bold....
Hello,
My web site is all about goats and is very popular with goat people.
Goat people? Like this guy?
We just opened our new improved Amber Waves site. We have a new section in our photo gallery for historical goats and would like to invite you to be one of the first to add your goats to our historical section.
Yeah, my goats will love that!
Before we took the old site down we were getting about 3000-7000 hits a day and growing.
To Link to our site please visit the below link. If you need another
categorie let me know.
--http://amberwavespygmygoats.com/links.php
If you have any articles on your farm we would love to add them in our article section under Breeder Profiles.
I'll start writing one this weekend! Gee, I'm exited about getting my farm listed under Breeder Profiles. I never considered myself a Breeder (the owner of a female at the time of conception).
We are looking for authors to add to our increasing library of
information if you might be interested or know of anyone.
Anyone? If you're interested just drop me an e-mail and I'll forward it to Debby. This is chance!
We include full linking information for each article back to the authors web site.
Our Link Information
Web Site: http://amberwavespygmygoats.com
Email: aes@linkline.com
Description: One of the top goat resources on the web. Goats from
around the world – breeders, producers, farm hobbyists, goat lovers of all ages will find it here. Includes over 640+ articles, links,
classified, shopping, forums, books, web hosting, magazines and much
more!
Category Suggestions: 1) Goat Resources 2) Eductation 3) Pygmy Goats
Thank you for your time
Debbie
Amber Waves
1320 Mountain Avenue
Norco, California 92860-2852
Ph (951) 736-1076
Fax (951) 371-4440
E-mail: aes@linkline.com
Web: http://amberwavespygmygoats.com
Do you think she'll return a link to my site?
Here's a funny video of the Dutch armed forces in Afghanistan having fun...
We're back from our trip to Rome. A great city to visit! I could never live there with so many tourists :)
We had a great time!
Happy Dutch-American Friendship Day!
Did you know The Netherlands is the United States' longest unbroken, peaceful relationship with any foreign country. The Netherlands was also the first foreign nation to salute the American flag on November 16, 1776.
A year older, and wiser? Well, I’m 29 now. Just 52 weeks before the big 30. Just 12 months before I definitely say goodbye to my twenties. A weird sense of urgency is creeping in. Almost 30 and not married, no children, no bachelor degree and still living in the city I was born in. Time for change. And something tells me things are about to change the coming year. So stay tuned :)
I received an interesting e-mail today. A new Home Sweet Home Audio Show coming up?
Dear FreezeM,
My name is S, I'm a producer working for the English service of Radio Netherlands.
I'm putting together a feature about why an increasing number of Dutch people want to emigrate and my research has led me to your weblog. I see that you yourself have emigrated from Holland and seem to have quite strong views about your country and why you left. As such I'd be really interested in interviewing you on the subject (by telephone or ISDN). Would this be possible?
I'd be very grateful if you could let me know whether or not this would be possible.
Many Thanks, & Best Regards
S
Ok, so she thinks we're already living in the US. I wish! I sent her an e-mail back to schedule the interview.
After being mentioned in the New York Times, this is a new milestone :)
Finally some real weather in The Netherlands. SNOW!
Between 20 and 30cm of snow has fallen in the past 24 hours in parts of the provinces of Friesland and Drenthe, with meteorology bureau KNMI describing the snowfalls as moderate to heavy.
"This does not happen very often," a KNMI spokesman said.
The snowstorm is forecast to spread across almost the entire country on Wednesday. (Expatica)
Sweety is taking pictures so check out her site later today.
Anouk dreamt about a Moose blocking the road.
“The moose in question drums up a little riddle that gives you an internet site where you can contact 'the people' who can come and pick it up, so it no longer blocks the road. And by the way, it knows the IP address to that website as well.”
And she’s asking for our help to figure out what that could mean. So I use Google Suggest to search for “dreams of a moose”. It didn’t give me a straight answer but this really made me laugh:
“If you dreamed of a moose in its natural habitat, you can expect a beneficial change of circumstances, unless you shot it, in which case you can expect some family trouble.”
- Swoon
There you have it. When you dream of a Moose, don't shoot it!
It's working...
http://www.dutchcheeseandamericanpie.com/
If the new URL isn't working yet, your ISP hasn't updated their DNS Server, they should do so within 24 hours. Thanks again Dreamhost for this Free domain ;)
Outraged Dutch actress Georgina Verbaan is to publish x-rays of her assets online after speculation that she underwent a breast augmentation in advance of a €200,000 appearance in the December issue of Dutch Playboy. The implant-free mams will reportedly appear sometime this week on her website.
Update:
To watch all the photo's and the video you have to pay. Georgina Verbaan will donate that money to Pink Ribbon NL.
Again, it has been a while since my last post.... I notice a lot of my posts start thit way. Anyhow, I the meantime I did start working at... oops, not allowed to tell you where I work anymore. September first TheJob made me sign a secrecy agreement.ssssst.
The retard Handyman just called to say he’d be here tomorrow at 9 am to fix the toilet. Finally. Other than that, no news today :)
I'm no soccer fan, but boy am I excited for tonight’s game!
The Dutch play Portugal (the Euro2004 host) in the semi-final.... wow. Statistically the hosting country often does not make the final, so that would mean we can be in Sunday’s final.
I'll upload some pictures of one of my colleagues dressed for the game..... the things i have to deal with :)
Update: Here are the pictures of my colleague...
The Dutch Ministry of Justice started a XTC campaign. Instead of arresting XTC producers or dealers, they made a poster discouraging you to take your XTC outside The Netherlands.
The poster shows the jail sentence for possessing XTC in the USA (9 years), Spain (11), Thailand (6) and Germany (14). The poster refers to a website where important questions are answered like: Does smuggling XTC make you rich?
Nowhere on the site does it tell the sentence for possessing XTC in The Netherlands. So I asked a police officer. “Just a few pills won’t get you arrested.” The official policy appears to be that anything up to 0.5 gram of any hard drug won’t get you arrested. The drugs will be confiscated by the police. And probably they’ll resell it or use it them self. This is the policy though the law says you should get a 1 year sentence. Low priority, they say. More that 0.5 grams is not considered for your own use and has a maximum of 4 years in jail.
I think we should make up our minds in The Netherlands. Either it’s legal and we should stop spending money on posters and fake law enforcement, or it’s illegal and we should take the law seriously. But now it’s illegal and we allow it. That’s just weird. My guess? A majority of Dutch want drugs legalized but we are afraid for the rest of the World.
For the record, i've never used XTC.
Tonight Sweety and i enjoyed a very tasty barbecue at her parents place. I had fun playing with my camera and enjoyed the nice weather :)
This are Sweet's mom and dad. Her mom always takes real good care of us and her dad is one of the best cooks i know. He makes the best Greek BBQ!
As you can see, Sweety is really looking forward to eating her Domaldes. On the photo they look a bit like shit, it tasted a lot better :) I just love Retsina - wine of the Greek Gods. I don't believe in them but i believe their wine :)
This is almost turning into a photo blog, but i just like playing with my camera phone...
Ok, i know... it's been a while since my last post..... thanks for pointing it out Goodsnake, makes me feel like people actually like reading my humble little blog :)
Today it was time to go the vet for a checkup. We always take the whole farm at once. So there we went with our two cats and two rabbits.
We have a really nice vet. We had a real problem rabbit once, that got sick all the time. The vet really took time for us, didn't charge us all the visits and even did some studying to better help our rabbit. I asked him if it was ok if i took pictures. He got a bit excited. "Sure! Here i'll wait with taking this needle out of your rabbit untill you take the photo. You can even see the fluid."
I don't know Pluis liked it but the picture is nice.
Adam Curry has a contest on his radio show. Adam is an ordained minister and will be marrying 10 prizewinners live on the air. In Las Vegas!!!
Please send Adam an e-mail (mailto:adam@radioveronica.nl) saying he should take Sweety and FreezeM so they can marry in Las Vegas. Be sure to point him in the direction of our Weblogs, otherwise he won't be able to find us.... you know Sweety and FreezeM are not our real names don't you?
I already send in the form on the Radio Veronica website, send an sms text message and we'll return the form in Veronica Magazine. We've done our part!
We want to marry in Las Vegas, we've talked about it a lot over the past year! We both agreed we don't want a typical Dutch wedding. Either on a beach in our shorts or in Las Vegas.
So help us out :)
Fridaynight we went to a cabaret/comedy show by Arie & Sylvester. Dutch cabaret is unique in the world. It's kinda like stand-up comedy, but different. Just one comedian (or a duo/trio) is on stage all night. There's often a story being told or a message somewhere. You have to see it to really understand the difference i think. And you'd have to learn Dutch :)
The show was in the completely renovated Diligentia Theater, originally build around 1650.
Before the show we had pizza at the Pizza Hut Noordeinde with D@n. That's right next to the Palace.
After the show we went for a couple of drinks at cafe Berger. When the doorman had to go fight at another bar I took his place at the door. Maybe I found myself a new career?
To wrap it up: we had a Fun Friday.
May 4 is a special day in The Netherlands. Sweety and I took some time today to join our nation in commemorating the Second World War (more here and here).
When we went to Limburg this weekend we visited the American Cemetery and Memorial. Here rest 8,301 American soldiers, most of whom lost their lives nearby in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. As you can read in Sweety's post, it touched us. We're thankfull for al those people that where willing to risk their lives for the freedom of total strangers.
Total strangers to them. But my grandparents and parents.
I just can't help comparing the liberation of Europe with the ongoing war in Iraq. I really hope that one day the Iraqi people will be celebrating their freedom, just as we are in The Netherlands on may 5th. We drove into Germany this weekend and saw that they too are celebrating the end of WWII as a liberation. So i believe it's possible.
yeay!!!! i got a new phone today! I couldn't find my charger and decided to get a new phone :) I got a Samsung E700 with camera in it. So expect more pictures of my life from now on. I'm no longer depending on Sweety's camera-phone. She has a much older model, my pictures will be sharper :) But i'll have to be honest, her's will work on US mobile networks and mine won't. So i'll have to get a new one when we move to the USA.
From the Samsung site:
"Your enjoyment of using a mobile phone will soar....."
"You may not believe what you are seeing."
"We were amazed when we created it. You will be amazed when you see it!"
Wow! And now it's mine!!!!
Sweety and i adopted a monkey at Monkey World. Maybe you've seen their Monkey Business show on Discovery Channel.
I think she looks a bit like me :)
Her name is Hsiao Ning: peaceful sunrise.
Anouk from Wooden shoes abroad send me some questions. The idea is that I answer his questions in my blog and then pose three new questions to two other folks in the blogger community, who in turn answer etc. etc...
So first i hold the stick....
1. What skill would you like to learn and why do you think it might be useful to you in the future?
I'd like to be able to understand Arabic and Moroccan. In Dutch cities like The Hague and Rotterdam you hear that all the time. It's the same with Spanish in some parts of the States. Often i'm so curious what those guys are talking about in the tram. If you've ever lived in The Hague you know why it can be very usefull to know what they are up to sometimes :)
2. Suppose you got talked into going out on a blind date, but you are having second thoughts that day. What excuse would you come up with so that you can skip this date?
USCIS called, i've got my Greencard, i'm moving to the States today!
3. Birthday dilemma. Do you send real postcards; do you pick up the phone, or rather use the computer to get your wishes across?
Well, it was Patricia's birthday last week. First i tried to call her, but apparently the phone was disconnected, so i send her a Hallmark e-mail.
Now it's time to pass it on the Sweety and Anastasia.
Here are the questions i'm passing to you:
1. If you had to live in The Netherlands the rest of your life, what would you like and dislike most about the Country.
2. Let's say you are eating an apple and you loose one of your teeth, what's your first reaction.
3. Queen Beatrix or President Bush?
I don't think so, she's dead. But they are actually placing old-looking light poles for the princess' funeral next week. Tomorrow they'll officially move her body from the palace that she lived to the one across the street from me. The move will be broadcasted live on tv. Why? Who's watching that? Anyway, i'll let you in on a secret. I saw them bring in a coffin yesterday. She's probably already here. Or it was just a practice coffin....
how many cityworkers does it take to straigthen a pole?
I've never seen so much activities in the street. Police towing cars and placing fences, Sodexo Party catering delevering two trucks with food, window cleaners polishing the windows of the stables, streetworkers making sure the pavement is straight, cityworkers checking al the streetlights, trucks delevering horses, a car delivering a corps, tv crews setting up camera's, Royal family members coming and going. All those people must be happy the sun is shining :)
Sweety didn't want to do groceries friday, because of the rain, so we went together on saturday. Great move: Weather warning issued as storm picks up.
The weather is great! I really enjoyed my 20 minutes walk to work this morning. But nobody seems to be able to turn of the heating in the office building. It's been just a bit to warm ever since i started working here in january, but now it really is to hot and stale. It almost makes me fall asleep :)
Recently one of our friends, who is an American living in The Netherlands, got a letter form the IND (immigration services) that he has to leave. Basicly it went something like this.... you've been here for about 8 years, first you had a job. Then you founded a company and made a lot of money, paid a lot of taxes. Thank you for that. You requested a permit based on that company more then two years ago. It took as a while to process your application and during that time you recently started working on a job again. So, you're not aloud to stay based on the business you own (it's not active enough) and you haven't filed an application for a stay based on employmend. So, you have four weeks to leave. He got that letter on the same day he recieved, yet another, tax bill for his company. So he's welcome to pay, then leave.
But, one of our wise leaders: Dutch Economic Affairs Minister Laurens Jan Brinkhorst also noticed that Holland is 'too restrictive on skilled expat migration'.
It turns out there are 'many complaints about the Dutch attitude towards expats and skilled labour migration.'
Almost everybody has had that dream of going to school or work with no cloths on. I hope nobody ever really DID wake up halfway through work just to realise why you but had been so cold all day. Well, i had a lighter variation happen today. I was walking to my work when i tram passed me by. Normally i walk to work but i figured i'd take the tram so i started to run to catch it. While i was running i looked down and saw that i was wearing my brown/yellow shoes that really don't work well with my darkbrown pants and my socks where inside out, both. I decided to go home and put on my jeans. Yes, i know, i'm vain :)
What happend? We moved, again... But i'm happy to tell you that most boxes are unpacked and the ADSL connection is working so i'll be posting again. I do hope that our next move will be to the US.
Finally we'll be moving to a place of our own again! The cats sense that something is about to happen and don't like it at all. But we're sure they'll like the extra space in our new house :)
Wow, i need to travel more! I've visited just 4% of the countries in the world! Take a look at my map and make your own map at World66.
Rise of the Nations is distracting me from my Windows 2000 MCP study.... I need to get seriuos, Rise of the Nations will never get me a job in the US, being fully MCSE might help :)
CNN and Money have an online test to determine what the best place for you to live is. Check it out here...
Everytime i take the test it comes with a list of places in New Jersey. So is New Jersey the best place to live? And is that just for me of in general? Take the test and let me know where you're supposed to live.....
I love Sweety (great site!) and not just for making my site look so great :) She spend all day working on the new look for my site and the result is beautiful! Thanks Sweety!
My site was down... and now it's up again. Oops, i forgot to renew the domain registration....
It all started out great friday. Sweety and I went to Boom Chicago, it was great! The show we saw was Best of Boom Chicago 2004. The show was hilarious and dinner was very tasty.
Then came the night after the evening.... it started at 2 o'clock, i woke up feeling nauseous. To make a long story short, i threw up twice every hour for almost the whole saturday.... No, i did not drink to much, just four beers. I just sometimes overreact to alcohol i guess. We had planned to go to the Expat shop but that was delayed.
Dutch tv showed a nice program on the Bilderberg conferences. There was an interview with Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and they played some taped conversations from the first meeting in 1954. When asked if the Bilderberg group is a secret shadow government Prince Bernhard awnsered "no, it's a discussion group where people are free te say what they want", and then started to laugh out loud. He then went on to say that every government that was represented at the meeting, or at least every secret service got a copy of the tape. Hmmm... why was that? A free discussion group that tapes everything and then sends copies to secret services?
More information at these sites:
www.bilderberg.org
Bilderberg Blog
