I cannot believe I somehow managed to struggle through all 762 pages of the book Shadowmarch by Tad Williams.

This fantasy saga is not terribly exciting but there was something about it that kept me reading on and on to the end for some reason.

To be honest, a book must be really bad if I do not finish it after having read the first couple of hundred pages.

It's the first part of a trilogy, and before I'd started the first book I'd already purchased the second book Shadowplay (761 PAGES) in anticipation, having read so many positive reviews.

"A sublime piece of storytelling!"

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm not what you'd call an overly avid fan of fantasy. Hopefully the second and third books are better.

When I called Thea to tell her about the gruesome bike accident I had this morning in which I received a bloody gash to my left knee as well as a steering column which nearly pierced my spleen and a bruised rib cage, she was only worried if her nice bike was alright (yes, not a single dent) and whether my pants didn't get ripped (sorry, long slash above the knee beyond repair).

Today was a bad luck day because of the following reasons:

• This morning when I was in a hurry to get to work, I hastily tied my shoes with too much strength and both of my shoelaces snapped;

• This afternoon on my way back home from work, I fell asleep in the train and missed my last stop, so I had to get out at the next stop and come back, wasting about an hour; and,

• This evening when I finally arrived at my destination, I went to my bike which should have been parked at the back of the train station where I always leave it. That's when I realized I had inadvertently left my key chain in the lock in the morning, meaning that someone had stolen my bike along with my keys (bike, home, car and work cabinet) and my nice rain gear snugly packed in the side bag.
  

Just as the weather man predicted on the news yesterday evening, the first snow flurry has hit the area at three o'clock this afternoon.

Mathematical precision completed with just the right mix of chaos, coming down from Greenland, crossing over Iceland and then past England, moving across the North Sea and curving up from the south, the cold front has pushed its way to Gouda.

After a good work out at the fitness center, followed by a nice warm sauna, it's always a nice refreshing feeling cycling back in the snow as the soothing snowflakes fall on my face. I don't want to forget to bring my gloves.

That's what I plan to do in about ten minutes. See you later.

I'd call that a bargain
The best I ever had.

who (1971)

At this rate it will soon be too dark for me to play golf in the afternoons anymore.

Just a few weeks ago, I could make it to the ninth hole although the low-setting sun made my approach to the green slightly difficult.

Last week, the sun had just set behind the trees but I could see the ball on the fairway just enough to whack a nice approach to the green.

Today after the seventh hole it became hopelessly dark, and my drive off of the ninth tee felt like it went down the middle of the fairway, but I was never able to find it.

Tonight at two in the morning winter time will take effect, so perhaps next week I'll have a slight extra crack of light before the winter darkness ruins altogether my late afternoon golf sessions.

Driving home again on the highway, that big billboard on the side of the road always catches my attention. There it is as always with those big bold black letters superimposed on a perfectly white background:

GOD IS LIEFDE.

Nothing more and nothing less. This is a very powerful statement and always causes me to gulp slightly and think things over. How should I deal with this eternal truth and what can I do to improve my life?

Who could have ever imagined that these three simple words could have such an impact on my thinking?

(Taken from Dutch, God is Liefde can be translated to God is Love)

My father passed away exactly eight years ago today. Eight years may seem like a long time ago, but lately these huge chunks of time can fly by in no time.

So let's see then, since my father was always exactly forty years older than I was, that would have made him ninety-one years old had he survived to this day. Ninety-one, that sounds pretty darn old I'd say.

Although I did not feel that way at the time, in the long run it's probably better that he passed away when he did. Nature had planned it that way.

That torch he had passed over to me way back then is still being held high, and because of this meaningful gift, I am able to carry on to this very day.

When Another Player is addressing the ball. There are only two things that every other player should be doing when a player is addressing the ball: standing absolutely still and watching the player hit. Movement is unacceptable. Talking is unacceptable. Fussing with equipment is unacceptable. Looking around is unacceptable. Stand still and watch the shot. If you can't render this simple courtesy, then you do not belong on a golf course.

You'd be very surprised how many people forget about this very basic rule.

I installed VirtualBox on my Ubuntu laptop and now can run Windows XP as a virtual operating system within its own window. This is much better than having a dual boot system and on startup always having to choose one or the other.



I was hoping to do the same with favorite good old FreeBSD. However, it will not install correctly because it cannot find the boot loader for some weird reason. I tried it with FreeBSD 6.4, 7.0 and 7.1 beta but none of the worked.