For those of you who didn't see what that last post was about: be happy ... This is not that bad, I can live with the way it looks ... for now. Mind you this won't be the sites' final look but at least it's a bit better looking than it was a couple of hours ago. Consider my site kind of under construction from now on, meaning that it'll be changing somewhat every now and then. I'll let you know when I think it's finished (again), I promise.

Yeah I know, my site looks boring as it can possibly get (well for my usually standards anyway) but while I was messing with my template (unfortunately that was (again) literally the case) I completely screwed up my former Uncle Biek looks & feels. And of course I didn’t make a quick backup copy of it even though that’s what I always tell other people to do so I’m going to have to get me a new base and personalize it as soon as possible. That will probably take place somewhere this week so hopefully the regularly visiting folks won’t even notice how it looks now. This is just … well not me, I’ll leave it at that …

This has been one of the very best Xmas's I've had since years. Usually it was one day with one parent and the other day vise versa but this year my sister had the brilliant idea to invite both of them to their home, one Xmas day each. And at first she and Stefan invited me to both days. Then they came up with the idea to expand my visiting tour to three days by asking me to come over the entire Saturday as well. It's always nice to over there and I'm not nearly as much there as I'd like so this was the perfect Xmas gift for me. Being three days with my sister and Stefan, playing around with Eva, meeting all the family's and just generally having great fun is the best way to end a year. Period. We got to do this more often ;-)

With all the new technologies there is available for cars nowadays, you’d think that car manufacturers would try and make them as safe as possible. And, credit where credit’s due, generally I think they are doing a very good job at it. I mean God knows I’ve been in a few seriously breathtaking car accidents (some literally) and until now have always been able to walk away with nothing more than a severe headache and gibberish legs. But every now and then I wonder who comes up with a certain idea and why nobody stops that person from getting it into the final model. It’s just strange. Example? Today when I was going home and walked to the car I saw a couple of cars driving away without their headlights on. Mind you that this was at about a quarter past five and in this time of year it’s already dark outside. When I spotted the first one I just thought ‘he’ll probably turn them on when he’s a few feet on his way’ but it took the man a serious light signal from another car to realize that he was driving without his lights on. Then I crossed the road just in time to see another one leaving the parking lot and this car didn’t have the headlights on either. I noticed that they were both Opel cars (Vauxhall for the Britt’s among the readers) and when the car passed me (while ignoring my signs completely) I saw that the dashboard lightning actually was on. And that’s when I all of a sudden remembered that the Seat I got from the company I work for has the exact same system: when you turn on the engine the dashboard turns on, whether you have your headlights on or not. Problem is that when you’re driving away from a well lit spot you don’t immediately need the headlights to see the road ahead and when your dashboard lights up like a Xmas tree I can imagine you don’t directly realize that your headlights didn’t. While driving home I spend about the entire trip thinking about what could be the reason or advantage of having the dash light up directly instead of together with the headlights but I just can’t think of anything. Nothing at all, not even something that might remotely explain it. Weird.

Whoohoo, I made it. Survived another year. On one of the racing forums I've read about a guy who stated that by waking up every day he was braking his personal record of time he'd been alive so far. So with that in mind my personal record now is now at it's all time high!

And counting ;-)

Damnit, this sucks. When I got home Otto was not in his usual happy mode but sitting quite calmly inside his home on the highest sport, just looking around. I took him out like I do always and sat him on my shoulder but still there was little action coming from my little friend. Normally he jumps, or flies rather, off me before I’m even close to the kitchen and lands on the sink. He liked it there and knew that when I had something extra for him I’d put it into the sink so he can make all the mess he wants. This time however he just sat there and made a bit soft noises like he did often when he was half asleep and half awake. So I just figured he was a bit tired or something and sat him on top of his home. Then the race was about to begin and Otto jumped from behind on my shoulder again. Normally when he was pretty wild sometimes I’d lock him inside so he wouldn’t fly into my view and mess up my race but he was so calm that this time I didn’t. After a couple of laps I thought he probably got bored when went back inside the home and stayed there for the remaining of my race. When I just finished the race and turned around to check on my feathered friend I saw him lying on his back on the bottom of his home. Somehow during the race he must have passed away. Just like that. Right now I feel guilty as hell for not giving him a bit more time this evening to find out if there was something wrong with him. In a way i think he was even trying to let me know.I can be such a asshole at some times, it’s just unbelievable. God I loved that bird and I know that I always will. Because of him being my first own pet he was something very special. And he was of course crazy as a doorknob so the two of us made quite a team. Rest in peace my little green friend, and thanks for all the fun we had over the past couple of years.

The weekend was fun and exhausting at the same time. Bas and I went to a old-timer parts and accessories market and walked around that place for the entire afternoon. Even though we had a good time we were so glad we were back in the car, sitting in a decent seat. Yesterday evening was a little better but when I (finally) woke up this morning I could still feel it in just about my entire body. I guess we should either do this more often or never again ;-) In the end we came home with some books on Formula One and I couldn't resist buying a metal magnetic calendar featuring a pink nineteen fifty nine Cadillac and a gas station in one to eighteen scale which matches the various scale models I have. Since I have yet to find a nice place for them to be put on display I've put it next to a couple of Bas' scale models. At least this way I can see it every now and then. I really need to get my own place cleaned out quickly so I can get the other furniture in. So much to do, so little time ...

Don't know about your week folks but this one hasn't been my most sharp week of the last couple of months. Including today I've not been at work in time, I'm feeling exhausted all day and I think I could sleep at just about any moment. Just need a pillow and a dark place and I'm gone. It's not that I don't sleep well, for as far as I know that's going well, but waking up is a huge task each day again. Not getting out of bed mind you, just the waking up itself is a problem. The main trouble is that my ears produce more ear smear then they usually do so my ears tend to close up during the night. When now for example, my right ear is shut and I'm sleeping on my left you can ignite a cannon beside my bed and I wouldn't wake up. So now I wake up by the time I usually want to be at work, like this morning at about eight o clock. This means that I'm ready and driving at about half past and an hour after that I'm finally at work. And this has been repeating itself for the entire week so far. It's getting pretty irritating, and not only to myself. I mean calling work that you've overslept once is bad enough as it is, but each day for a whole week ... no fun at all.

That's what a colleague wished me when I left work yesterday and that's also exactly what I did: having a nice evening. I visited mom and her friend again and it was nice. We all had a nice and relaxing evening, without having to think about all kinds of computer troubles as it seemed so often the case lately. Nope, we simply had a good time. Perfect.

I feel I've been away from this place for a pretty long time but it seems it has only been little over a week. Not that I need one but my excuse is that I've been ill and simply didn't feel like writing anything. Simple. The weekend was a nice one again, and not in the least because I felt a lot better then. Friday was pretty good already but when I woke up on Saturday I felt even better. A good start is half the work, or so they say, so I was half done just by waking up :-) At work (and I know that sounds way too serious for a normal Saturday) I had a easy day with not too much stuff waiting for me. My dad and me messed around with his website a bit because he has all kinds of plans for updates and that's always nice to do. In the evening I went over to Bas' place for yet another one of our infamous race weekends. Like usual we had loads of fun and not in the least because we got our favorite flight sim, IL2 - Sturmovik, working again. That meant we simply had to get those old planes dusted off and we made quite a number of flight hours over the weekend, it was very cool to be 'up there' again and this definitely tastes like flying some more. And we will, you can count on that.