Today, January 17, 2016, the nature has made an unexpected move. Last night a very thin layer of snow lay on the ground, for the first time in this winter.
The first snow!
The Aristocrats at De Boerderij
My personal concert season open by the Nightwish fellas is at its climax.
I was fortunate to see a very popular (yet kind of underground) band called The Aristocrats on December 9th. The band is playing some mindbogglingly complex tunes ranged from Jazz Fusion to Heavy Prog.
On the subject of running
The year is coming to an end again, with so much left to run. I can’t repeat my 2013’s record of 800 km this year—in 2015 I’ve only run some 600 km. Not because I’m lazy, but due to being more active in aikido.
Houten’s “bike avenues” are great to run on, also because there are not so many bikes using them at the time when I’m running, that is in the evening and during the weekend.
Nest Protect 2 review
Intro
There was a moment when my smoke detector, which is as old as the house it’s in, had to be replaced.
And I did that with pleasure, because at that moment it started chirping regularly in a very annoying way. First once every five minutes, a bit later once a minute. And that would not be a big issue had this not been happening at 5:00 AM. And, of course, the chirping was so loud that no human being could ignore it. Just like in that scene from “Friends”.
Nightwish, Arch Enemy, Amorphis at Heineken Music Hall
The monument of Elfstedentocht
Every winter an average Dutch casts glances at the thermometer, hoping for a real cold to come.
The cause for such a strange wish is called Elfstedentocht, or the Eleven cities tour.
yktoo.com 2.0
It cost me quite an effort to make myself migrate my website to Yii 2.
And now, after about one and a half months of evening work (with breaks for workouts, birthday celebrations, recovering from insomnia and things like that) I can proudly present yktoo.com version 2.0.
The website has been built on Yii framework 2.0 and Bootstrap 3, with a handful of extensions. Thanks to Bootstrap the website is built on the principles of responsive web design. This should make the pages look reasonably well on a broad range of devices, from mobile phones to desktops.
The structure of the website has also been revisited: the blog feed is now right on the home page, and other sections have been moved around too. Due to that your RSS reader might show the last posts once again, sorry for that.
Dodgy kiwi
A year ago I posted about fruit groves in Houten. Last summer brought a sudden news on that topic.
A decade ago our neighbour has planted a kiwi tree. The plant has been growing into our two gardens, but has never given a single kiwi fruit. Until the last summer, that is, because mid-August we’ve spotted the first fruit ever! Too bad for our neighbours, it was a dodgy one, as it’s growing on our side of the fence.
SAIL Amsterdam 2015
Between the 19 and the 23 of August Amsterdam hosted a huge marine event called SAIL Amsterdam. It’s held once every five years, and is most known for its tall ships (apart from hundreds of other ships). During the event they sail in loops around the IJ lake, giving the area a totally different look and attracting millions (yes, millions) of visitors.
For these days bridges over the IJ are open or even get dismantled to let the tall ships sail in.
Getting a Russian visa
In my last post I offered you some insight into the Hell’s Kitchen, usually labelled with a sign Почта России (Russian Post).
This story is about a quest called “getting a Russian visa”. I have to warn you it won’t be as dramatic as the previous one. Partly because the main burden is usually on the shoulders of the receiving person.
As I had ho experience with a Russian visa, I decided to get a private one, which means you need an invitation from someone living in Russia. It might be a better idea to get a tourist visa instead. Because even getting an invitation is a task for a smart, swift, brave, patient and lucky.
Russian Post, or Welcome to Hell
I have to admit that the Russian Post has well earned its popular nickname “Hell’s Office”. It’s a very good example of the importance of The Rule to the life in the country, as opposed to the common sense. The Rule, one of many, established by those mentals sitting in Russian Duma.
Up in the air
Summertime is the high time for flying.
One of my colleagues has got a Private Pilot Licence (PPL) and his own share of a light aircraft Diamond Star DA40-TDI. Which he offered us to fly.
It’s been my first, but hopefully not last, experience with this type of aircraft.