Browsing my blog - typing test

Haven't thought much about my blog lately. Though today I browsed it and came across the typing test. The website is updated and looks quite nice..

I re-took the test. Although my words per minute increased from 79 to 82 I dropped in the overall standing. Fun fact: top ranked WPM is 170! His/her fingers are flying accross the keyboard.

Visit the Typing Test and try!

With the smart phones becoming a larger part of our written communication tools a would a smart phone enabled typing test be fun?

What I read on reader

Trends on Google Reader, who checks them? I did recently and in doing so was pleasantly surprised. I found out that since September 27, 2007 I read close to 12.000 items.


Who do I read most? This is also provided in a neat schedule that can be filtered based on various indicators. Topping the charts in the last 30 days are Massively, TAGN, Bio Break, Tobold and Hardcore Casual.


What you is difficult to interpret reading behavior, apart from the %Read column. For example I hardly read the full article of Massively. Partly due to the fact these are snippets to attract attention. More so because a lot of the topics interest me less. Why do I keep Massively? It gives me a nice overview what is going on in Games land. Bio Break is a bit high on the chart then I would normally place it. I expect this is due to my current interest in RIFT information.

An odd duck in the Trend is Productive Flourishing. This is part of my Food for Thought category of Blogs that I read out of personal interest in the topics and professional development where I go through a batch every odd week. Another blog I follow on this category is People Skills Decoded.

So what does your Trend look like?

PBS.org - BP Oil Spill

Couple of feeds from pbs on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Gets you thinking if you didn't get the wake up call before.

How much spill is OK?

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

BP Twitter feed..

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Lost Generation found

Update: Amsterdam garden

Almost a year ago I showed our venture of local grass cultivation in our backyard. Little over a year ago I was happy to share that the terrass was finished. Yesterday and today the weather accros Europe is faboulous so I took some snapshots. Presto an update.

A welcoming bench to relax behind the palm tree:

The terrasse to enjoy breakfast in the sun and find shade at noon:

To be honest I am not a big fan of BBQs, but I do love sharing a meal. My girlfriend likes both though. I guess with summer finally showing itself a compromise wil soon be reached.

Getting back in the sadle - Words of Wisdom

I started a path decided upon some time ago, but am faltering. I realise I am in need of strenght and wisdowm, some down to earth truths. I often start my own mental search with some of my favorite (active and non-active) blogs to inspire me and gets my thinking process going and "inner-self feelers" warmed up. In search of my source to get back in the saddle and on the road I tell myself that:

I will not wait for other peoples reminders to take make a step. The only perception that is truly important is the on I have of myself. I am decisive. I take initiative. I think and get my feelings right. I honestly ask myself difficult questions and answer them truthfully. Revealing my inner-self will ultimitaly result in a life better lived and enjoyed. Then when decided I do it and do it now.

Labor and hard work finishes the path taken.

This may remind you of the story about the tortoise and the rabbit. This story tell us that the tortoise won because he had a goal and stuck with it, he was steadfast and believed in himself. The rabbit, although fast, lost because he was unfocussed and was an arrogant prick at it. He was careless and underestimated his opponent based on prejudice and misconception.

Some good thoughts on the meaning of the story beside the obvious can be found here. Besides teamwork and the power of knowing ones own and other competencies I am reminded by it that when you fail you may learn. From learning you becomes richer and can refocus and take another step.


A note to the unknown readers of this obscure blog. The shared experience and knowledge of everyone around us can be very powerful. If you read this and feel you can contribute, then I ask you to take a step and share.

Frogs by Productive Flourishing

Another excellent post by Productive Flourishing. Subscribe to their RSS feed.

Mark Twain: “If you know you have to swallow a frog, swallow it first thing in the morning. If there are two frogs, swallow the big one first.”

It does make so much sense. In your day to day dealings there are many "distractions" to forget the frogs.

Enjoy the read.

Amsterdam grass

Local cultivation of grass!

Gifts for the newborn

Worried about what to get for a friends newborn? No worries. Recent first hand experience has shown that a colorful item wrapped in lots of crunchy paper already does the trick.

Little bear have fun!

Terrass finished: ready for BBQ

The terrass is finished. This sunday my girlfriend and I finished the last section. We're ready for a BBQ now... waiting for a nice sunny day has commenced.

Thanks mum, dad, uncle and aunt! Without you're help it wouldn't be done for a while yet.

Next up is the garden for which we are deciding whether to do it entirely ourselves or have it done (we will likely end up somewhere in the middle). It is a black wasteland now, and really really deserves some attention.

Any ideas for a garden of 6x10 with a small cabana in the backleft corner are welcome. The objective is to have an easy to maintain garden (not many green fingers in our household) with some grass (mowing the lawn is not a problem). We are thinking of using flagstones to create a path from the house to the cabana. No other concrete ideas yet on our side.

Travel destinations

I was browsing my pictures to clean up my harddrive a little. I stumbled upon a treasure trove; Parties, friends, travel destinations and more. That gave me the idea to immortalise some of the travel destinations my girlfriend and I have visited. From time to time i'll add these as regulars to the blog.

First up is one of our most memorable trips we enjoyed quite early in our relationship. We travelled via Hong Kong to end up in New Zealand.

November 2005 - Hong Kong, stop-over:

We had a couple of hours before our connecting flight and decided to check out Hong Kong by day. HK was the first Asian city that I visited that inhabits millions of people. It felt as if HK dwarves cities like London and Paris.

We decided to take a tour into the city and split off once we got fed up. We got fed up pretty quickly. Demands of the tour-guide to "take picture" and "take picture now!" repeated mulitple times when we passed anything that she deemed picture worthy. It got tiring fast.

Once broken free of the herd we decided to go to higher grounds. One of the more impressive sights was the spectacular views. The by walk bridge connected towers lead to parks all spread over the inner city, something I had not seen before. In the business area a most peculier sight were the hundreds of women sitting on the floor, playing games, giving and receiving pedi/manicures, chatting or just eating . I later found out that Sunday is the day off for the mostly Philippino nannies working in HK.

December 2005 - New Zealand, being amazed:

Cruising

Skydiving

We started off on the north Island. I had prepared a tight schedule (in Excel ;p) that would bring us in three weeks from the Auckland on the Norht Island to Christchurch on the South Island and back to Auckland for the return trip. The weather was quite good, so we visited many places. We were not afraid for even the most touristic location (Hot Water Beach anyone?!) Brave souls we were. From there we moved to Taupo. Here we would meet with friends who migrated to NZ. They had some crazy stuff planned for us. Skydiving, Tangairo Crossing with views of Mount Ngauruhoe (aka as Orodruin or Mount Doom) and Kajacking was on the program.

Preperation

Helicopter drop off

The Kajacking was a great experience. Our friends had arranged to fly us to the Mohaka river in a mountanous area by helicopter. We were dropped on a stony riverbed. It would be a two day easy trip with a minimal amount of rapids. We would spend one night on the riverbank, so we had packed tents, sleaping bags and food in dry bags, which were rigged on the boats. It should have been an easy trip for all of us. It just didn't turn out like that. It was cold, rainy and the water was wild. We could somehow not find out where we were on the map. All orientation points we were expecting were not there. Approaching the end of the afternoon some of us were in danger of hypothermia. We had to stop and find a shelter warm up and stay the night. Luckily we found a fishermans house on a riverbed. There we were welcomed by a local fisherman, a hunter (aka John Darlington "the great white hunter", who gave his insulated socks to my girlfriend) and the wife of another fisherman who could return at any moment. They helped us with our gear, drying of cloth and given warm drinks and fresh fish (with kiwi!). Thanks again all, and a special thanks to John.

That evening we found out that the helicopter pilot had dropped us too high up in the mountains, at that moment we were not even close to the intended starting piont of our trip. We decided to end the trip and go for another pickup point he next day. However, our adventure didn't end there. Maybe a story for a next time if you'd like it.

Fresh fish with Kiwi

Sulfer lakes

After saying goodbye to our friends in Taupo (who now live in Wellington with a baby on the way! - congrats). We moved south towards Wellington to take a boat from there to Picton. In Picton we met with a friend from Europe, lets call him Mao, who was traveling in Australia and NZ. The three of us travelled further in a relaxed pace to enjoy a roadtrip from Picton to Nelson to visit the Abel Tasman National Park. From there we followed the west coast and moved south towards the glaciers.

Old MacDonald's farm

View on Fox

The glaciers were an awe inspiring sight. We shot many beautifull pictures there. Above you see our view on the glaciers. After the glaciers we moved further south to Milford Sound. Here we had our second dolphin sight (our first was at Mount Maunganui) on a 1 day cruise. My girlfriend was in the water when they were sighted. I saw the fins coming out of the water in a distance.. the sight remembered me of other fish. I checked my Lonely to see whether those swam in these waters. Nope.. phew. With camera ready I tried to take some nice shots from the boat. However, just seconds after the sighting the entire boat jumped in the water to "swim" with them. Ofcourse this scared the dolphins off... The evening the three of us spent playing a good game of Cluedo with another cruising couple.

Dolphins

Scenery

At Christchurch we had our last dinner together. We would fly back to Europe via Auckland, Mao would stay a bit longer. Our last money was spent on a fancy Hotel in the center of Auckland, where we recounted our adventures in Middle Earth.. eurhm New Zealand.

My journey has started and I am not alone

My life is in turmoil. I do not know who I am. I live by expectations which I believe others have of me, the who I should be.

My past, present and future are like a dark fog that slowly glides over the land. I am afraid.

In the fog I started seeing a light more clearly, only recently noticing it was ithere to help me find a way out. The light, It illuminates from her. With her love, her challenges, her being she nudges me back to reality, to now, to what is important.

Oh, I realise the journey out of the fog is still mine to take. That it will be slow and difficult. Fear still lingers and some days I am afraid I will fail. But first steps are taken and I am not alone. That encourages me, it fills me with strength.

My task is to keep this strength, to keep momentum by taking one step after the other. To defeat the fear. To find who I am, to find my goal.