Last night I had a nice movie evening with my dad. It had been ages since we had a dad/son evening and I loved it. Some time ago he installed a modest home cinema set and we decided that it needed testing. Adn after last night I think it's pretty safe to say that the system works just fine ;-)

Do you have that same problem sometimes? All day while you're at work the house heats up because of the warmth not going anywhere and when you're finally home after a days work you just can't leave the doors and windows open long enough for it to cool down to a comfortable level. This is the case with my small appartment also and I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about it really. I'm just too long away from home for work so I cannot get the place to a nice cool temperature again. Every year I try to keep it cool as long as possible but when the heat finally makes it into my home it's there to stay. As soon as I close a door or window I can feel the warmth creeping up on me because everything inside is still warm. I should be able to cool the entire place down for a couple of days in a row for it to stay cool I guess, but that's not very likely to happen.

I'd like to share a little secret with you guys. As some of you may know Yoda is one of my favorite movie characters and one of the specific things is the friendly sounding way he speaks. Talking like Jedi Master Yoda is a fun and easy way to make a joke amongst fellow Star Wars fans. His unique style of reversing the words in a sentence are easily recognized. And here's how to do so yourself: 1. Take the first two or three words of a sentence, and just add them to the end. For example: 'You will find what you are looking for' turns into 'Find what you are looking for, you will.' 2. Rearranging the negative in a sentences works very well. For example: 'I will not help you' turns into 'I will help you not.' Avoiding contractions will help in this -- 'I can't go there' turns into 'Go there, I can not.' 3. Adding a 'hmmmm...' at the end of an altered question. For example, 'Do you know what I am talking about?' turns into 'Know what I am talking about, do you? Hmmm...?' 4. Adding a 'yes' to an altered statement. For example: 'You are here for my help' turns into 'Here for my help, you are... yes...?' This should get you through your every days work, make sure you use it in a wise and helpfull way like the Master Himself ;-)

Yes this morning I did woke up, but not the way I usually do; by alarm clock. No Sir, this was different. First of al it was too early, as in about three quarters of an hour to soon. The there was this strange sound, almost like water running. No that can't be! Water? I must still be half asleep I guess. But as curiosity normally wins over common sense I got up and walked around. It was then where I made the astounding discovery: it was raining! No way! Rain! I must have been whishing for rain just about four to five times a day for the past weeks during the warmer days we've been having here and all of a sudden there it was. Cool. Literally ;-) But the fun wasn't there for long because when I got in the car and started driving to work, the closer I got there the fewer rain I saw coming down. Eventually when I arrived at my destination there wasn't any rain at all any more. I mean come on, this just isn't fair. Time passed, which by the way is it's job as the brilliant Terry Pratched once wrote, but the heat stayed. Well let's say at least until the beginning of the afternoon that was because around lunchtime it started to cool down noticeably. At the time I'm writing this piece of work it's so nice and cool in my house, I just can't believe how warm it was the past couple of days. When I left the house this morning it was still twenty nine degrees in there, even though both the bedroom window and the balcony door had been open all night. Right now it's already down to twenty two degrees ... and counting ;-)

Well you've probably noticed but it's really hot overhere. And overthere as well I reckon. I mean it's been some time since I woke up because of the heat and yet here I am typing this ... In a few hours I can go to work again and luckily for us we have airconditioning there. But still ... it's hot. I really hope it's going to cool down soon as this is getting to me. I just can't stand this kind of weather very good to say the least. It's just no fun at all.

I'm sorry for the radio silence over the past couple of days, but I do have a pretty good excuse. Not that I actually need an excuse of course, but still: I've got one: I'm at war *grin* To prevent people in general (and my mother in particular ;-) to all of a sudden get more worried than strictly necessary, please let me quickly explain the situation. As you all know I love PC gaming, specially sim racing, and when I'm home spend just about every single hour of free time behind one of the PC's. Usually I'm either racing (a lot actually) or reading stuff on the internet, both take up an more or less equal amount of time. But lately that has changed somewhat due to a new kid on the block: Battlefield 2. Yeah that's right folks: Uncle Biek is gearing up and ready to take on the world, which, as I swiftly found out the hard way, seems more than ready to take me on as well ... Normally I'm not too big a fan of first person shooters, or FPS as we 'insiders' are allowed to call it, but in this case I'll gladly make an exception. So what's happened? What is this game you're so enthusiastic about? It's the latest one in the series and called Battlefield 2. And a battlefield it is, believe me. Now I'm not going to argue with any of you whether or not it's morally okay to be playing war games in this day and age, or if doing so effects me as a person in any way. You'll just have to trust in the fact that I'm mentally sane and not about to go mad and go on a rampage. First of all the obvious: yes it's battle. With fighting and bullets and stuff. Sure we shoot other players, we blow stuff up, we have big guns and tanks and helicopters and so on. But all of this is not as bad as it sounds. The main reason why this game for me is so much fun is the need for teamwork, the fact that I can play this with my friends on-line and talk to them while playing and the immense fun I have doing so. Picture this: I'm nearby a giant battleship, a aircraft carrier to be exact, piloting a cool attack helicopter. My friend is already on the beach, trying to get into a enemy camp and capturing their flag. The baddies are trying to stop him of course and got him cornered. Suddenly he remembers his old pall Biek and calls for help. I turn the chopper, go over there, give the poor guy some covering fire so he can get through to the flag and then I go on to the next person in need of help. Bottom line is that it's major fun and sure is pretty addictive too, something you've noticed because of the lack of posts lately. I'll try to better my life but I'm having a couple of very busy days ahead of me so I'm not sure when I'll be able to post something useful again. And that's not even taking the hot weather in account ... bleh ...

The test results came in and apart from the still present virus Eva is fine and could go home this morning to get rid of the rest at home which is way better than having to stay in the hospital with nowhere to go. Great! :-)

I visited Eva in the hospital tonight and she's looking a bit better already, which is a good sign and to be honest makes me feel a lot better too. Yesterday she was almost looking as pale as I usually am and for a girl her age that's not too good a sign I reckon. And on the other hand she wasn't in the hospital for nothing of course so it all adds up. Anyway like I said she's looking much better tonight and she was even able to cast the occasional smile our way, which is such a pretty sign. You have to believe me that when this lady smiles nothing else matters. (Wow, I just managed to get two great song titles into one sentence ;-) You just have to fall like a brick for that smile of hers, there's nothing you can do about it :-)

Oh man, it's such a sad sight to see that sweet little Eva back in the hospital again so soon. Though she's so very brave, you've got to give her that much, she looks a bit pale and is a bit sleepy. But that could very well be from the anti biotic she's getting. When I just visited her she was still casting the occasional smile my way which is heartbreaking to say the least. It looked as if she was trying to let us know not to worry. Kind of cool actually. Apparently she has somehow got a kind of bacterial infection and, as if just one incident isn't enough, a small virus inside too. They've taken some of her blood to test that for the right bacteria so they can give her the right stuff to get rid of it. These results should come in Saturday evening, so they'll probably be in the hospital until Monday or so. Of course this is the best place to be when it comes to knowledge and doctors and so on, but she can't go out of the room because of the infection and the windows can't open. So in terms of comfort it's clearly not as desired, hopefully she's getting stronger and well soon so she can go home to get rid of the rest of her illness there.

Yes we played snooker, no it didn't go that well ... at all. End of message ...

You'll have to trust me on this one: yesterday was a good day for Le Mans. Boy I whish you were there, that Lister was flying (literally sometimes *grin*) over the track. It began during practice where I did some laps pretty close to my personal laptime record which means that they were good laps. Simple as that. When the race began I had qualified second position and was obviously pretty pleased with that. Unfortunately my start was not that great and I lost my second place before turn one. No worries yes, I knew that I was about a second a lap faster than that guy so sometime, somehow I should be able to pass him. Patience is a virtue when racing and I have loads of it when needed, although I sometimes forget that I do and make some newbie mistake. I really hate it when that happens though usually it effects no one but myself. But this time I did remember (smart me, I know :-) and stayed right on his tail. Being faster is one thing, passing someone however is a completely different story. I have to say that it was a fair battle and he defended his line good but not wild so in a way I was having great fun. But the leader was getting away with the race and I wanted to have a shot at him too so something needed to happen. When blasting down the Mulsanne straight heading for the second chicane I decided that this was it: I was going to outbreak that Ferrari, stay on the inside and have a clear path out of there. Well part one went okay, only he was not giving up that easily (he later said he knew I was faster but too enjoyed the fight so I can't really blame him :-) and tried to shut the door on the way out of the chicane. And unfortunately that just didn't work out the way he hoped ... He just clipped my rear end and off I went, nearly keeping the Lister free from guard rail contact. He also had some trouble keeping the Ferrari in line but managed better and speeded off. Since the car was still in tact I immediately went into pursuit modes and stepped on it. Within a lap or two I was back on his tail and this time he let me by very generously, feeling a little guilty about the previous affair. Good man, I like that kind of spirit. Makes racing all the more fun if you ask me. No hard feelings att al here. But then the big chase began. The guy in front was about fifteen seconds away and I knew he was going to win the race, nothing I could do about that. Simply too much time had gone into my meet and greet with the other Ferrari on the back of the circuit. But I wasn't going to let him get away with the win that easy, no Sir. He'd better keep pushing ;-) On my first free lap chasing the guy I did a faster lap than my previous personal best. Talking about flying laps ... This was a quite amazing experience as that ex-'record' took me quite some time in achieving. And now it was done, over with, replaced with a brand new record. And during a race, no qually setups or anything, just good old me, pushing like crazy. Cool. The lap after that one had a even bigger surprise in store for me: no less than a full second faster than the lap before! I mean come on, the car is getting lighter I'm sure but a full second!? Good heavens! In the distance I began to see some dust every once and a while and when I turned onto the straight I could see brake smoke in the distance. This made me feel happy, obviously the guy in front had seen the distance decreasing fast too and he was 'pushing like crazy' as he called it afterwards. Right. I grind my teeth, straightened my back while doing the straight and prepared for another blistering lap. You're mine buddy, you better believe it ;-) The dust almost stayed in the air for the entire lap and at every chicane he was burning up his tires faster than I can write it here. Man he had a truly horrible lap. And mine was good, really really good. When we eventually came out of the Porsche curves (which I think is my favorite part of the whole track) I was right on his tail and when we crossed the start finish line there was no more than four tenths of a second between us. 'What a great battle' I said when we returned to the pits and he could only agree. He said it had been some time since he had felt that much pressure to go over the limit on Le Mans and he truly enjoyed it. It was kind of a wake up call for him. *grin* Well even though I didn't win a race I now know I could haven, it still was a cool compliment. Uncle Biek, thirty three years of age, is all of a sudden waking up people ... strange how things go sometimes, isn't it? When crossing the start / finish line after my fastest lap the clock stopped at a (for me) amazing three minute fifty seconds and nine hundred and thirteen thousands. Yes folks, that's a 03:50.913. And that's indeed pretty cool :-)

I presume that, when looking at the title, you would have thought I was LAN-racing again this weekend and if you did, you'd be partially right. And I was racing (quite a lot actually, I might add :-) but I wasn't having one of those 'official' race weekends. But that didn't stop me from making a lot of miles with the Lister Storm which is feeling better and better as time passes. My GT Rank with the Lister is also quite a bit lower now than the one I had with the Viper at first so the numbers speak more or less for themselves. Next 'up' is the Saleen with which I should be able to put down some good times also, as for me it's one of the easier cars to drive. I'm missing lap times on seven of the ten tracks needed to have a GT Ranking so my work is laid out for me. And when that one is done I'm going back to my Viper and give that Snake some stick *grin* After all it's one of the most powerful GT cars on the grid and should be able to perform pretty well, even though the classic shape of the car isn't helping me that much. Other people can go quite fast with the Viper and although I'm not that fast, I should still be able to go faster than I was before. As is the case with more racing cars you just need to have the patience to get to know that beast and work on that relationship one step at a time :-)

Man I had a good time the past two evenings and it's mainly because they were filled with only good things. For example: Star Wars - Episode III The revenge of the Sith was still running in the theaters. Well that's good. And my good friend and brother in law Stefan wanted to see it too. Which again is good. Then my dearest sister wanted to see the movie too. A good thing again. And the best thing was that they both wanted to see it with me :-) Multi-good! This of course made things a little more complicated then before the lovely Eva was born but hey, we would be us if we weren't able to find a way around this so called 'problem'. The only bad thing I can think of when considering the whole deal was that I had to see Star Wars two times. Once with Stefan and once with Karlijn ... which is ... GOOD! Both the parents-in-training had such a good time and each really liked to be a night off for a change. And I had such a great time taking them both to the theater, chatting about all kinds of things, the movie and more. If it were up to me I'd do this a lot more often as it is just bliss. Oh and very, very good of course :-)

Yup, still alive and ready for part two :-)