andthennothing.net: Tag diary

Fighting DST

2005-11-02T21:27:00+00:00

The night between Saturday and Sunday DST worked his magic to make the evenings darker and the mornings brighter. But I and DST are not on speaking terms, as a matter of fact I wish that DST would take out an early retirement and stop bothering me. In Sweden DST was inspired by grandpa DST’s experiment back in 1916, and started his own career in 1980 (the year I was born so I ought to have a say in the matter). I think 25 years is enough. Most people (in the West) work indoors—we prefer light when we return from work over light when we’re at work. I might be wrong about that, but I doubt it.

So Mr. DST. I leave you two options:

use your magic to keep the sun up longer during the winter, or
take the retirement package and be content with having influenced the clock for 25 full years (that’s more of an achievement than what most others manage).

I’m not annoyed. I just ignore the change and go to bed earlier and go to work earlier, which is a GoodThing®.

Weekend in Gothenburg

2005-10-19T23:20:00+00:00

This weekend I went to Gothenburg. The weather was beautiful—the way it’s supposed to be in the fall. Nothing extraordinary happened, but I had a really good time.

I tried out sushi for the first time (not entirely correct since I had some sushi in Jerusalem a few months ago, but it wasn’t a whole meal). The miso soup was so-so, but most of the sushi was quite tasty. However, after a while the pieces felt a bit large and got less tasty. I guess sushi is something you have to learn to really appreciate.

I also went to the Göteborg Museum of Art. I normally don’t go to museums since I’ve found them quite boring in the past to be honest. But I actually had a good time. Most of the portraits were still boring, but most of the contemporary stuff (primarily the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art exhibition) and some of the old paintings (the Marie & P.S. Krøyer exhibition among others) were quite fascinating. I’d like to be allowed to photograph inside the museum and I think they should have more painters painting live, though.

Btw. apple peelers/lathes are super fun!

Autumn

2005-10-09T22:58:00+00:00

There are a few things I don’t like about the autumn, like the humidity, darkness, and temperature. But the colors, and to some degree, the smells are great.

Yesterday was one of those wonderful autumn days with a clear blue sky and reasonable temperature. And since my plans for the weekend didn’t materialize I took my bike out for a spin—it was great biking on small roads through the woods. Since I started quite early I had the time to go for a long ride. There are not a whole lot of attention grabbers out in the middle of nowhere which makes all small things stick out—like all the litter (beer cans, a pizza box, a gas tank cap etc) or the boy trying to impress by skidding all over the lawn with his ATV. After 40 km I finally found a nice little lake with a landing stage where I could eat my sandwiches and take a break. As time passed by it got darker and eventually all I could see were things lit up by my bike’s front light. When I got home I was tired and happy after a 72 km long ride (the longest so far). A good way to spend a Saturday!

Having the right tools

2005-09-15T01:55:00+00:00

Tonight I went out on a bike ride down to the sea. The same trip I’ve done quite a few times now, but this time I discovered a cute little trail running a few hundered meters closer to the sea which is a lot more interesting. Unfortunately the rough(er) terrain made the handlebars come loose (I had nothing to do with it, honestly). It wasn’t the first time that happened, actually the same thing happened two weeks ago. That time I found a few guys after a few kilometers who were moving into a house who had a screwdriver that was good enough to fasten the handlebars to take me home (but evidently not enough to last). This time I had no such luck, so I ended up walking 15 kilometers to get home. Fortunately I had a bike torch (the woods were pitch black) and a mp3-player with good music and podcasts. Note to self: bring the tools the next time.

Just as it’s important to have the right tools when you’re out biking, it’s important to have the right tools when developing software… Sorry, just kidding. I won’t go there now, that would be cheesy :-)

The end is drawing near

2005-08-31T23:02:00+00:00

It feels like the summer is over so each day when it’s nice weather it feels like the last hours of sun and it’s a shame to not take the opportunity when it’s given. So today I left work early (or at least earlier than usual) and went for a bike ride. I’ve checked out most places within 10-20 km so it takes a while before I get to see something new. Today’s ride became a little longer than expected, 55 km, and a bit chilly at the end. And I’ll surely think it was a bad idea tomorrow during the ju-jitsu, but in two months when it’s all dark I’ll think differently.

25

2005-08-04T13:30:00+00:00

Today I turned 25. 25 years, 300 months, 9131 days, 219144 hours, 13148640 minutes, or 788918400 seconds depending on which resolution you prefer. It takes surprisingly little effort to become 25, time seems to wait for no one.These n×5 birthdays call for some kind of contemplation, reevaluation of goals and priorities, retrospectives of the past and adjust the course for the future. However, I’ve fortunately been ill quite a few times the last weeks, which have provided plenty of time for those heavy things. So I think I’ve done my fair share and may do other things today with a clear conscience.

Oh, and happy new year, whenever you have yours!

Abruption

2005-07-29T21:42:00+00:00

I was sitting there on the rock, by the sea, reading a book. It was quite a nice day, but rather cloudy. All of a sudden I heard the sound of thunder, the last sound in the world I wanted to hear, far away. I read one more chapter (fortunately a short one) and then I headed home on my bike. Legs tired, back tyre three quarters full, seventeen long kilometers from home. After a few kilometers the first drops of rain hit my face, but I got almost halfway home until it started raining. But when it rained, it poured. It’s been a while since I’ve rain-cycling, and now I know why I’ve stayed away from it. It took just a few minutes until I was wet, through and through.

(Ok, so I exaggerated a bit, it wasn’t “the last sound in the word”, but it sure came close.)

Head not working

2005-06-29T20:21:00+00:00

Last week I started to get a little head ache every afternoon, but it wasn’t too bad. Then on Friday I got something migrainish when I was 200 km from home. Always such a hoot to get sick away from home. But I got better after a few hours. Then on Monday I got something migrainish at work and had to go home. It got better on Tuesday so I could work without any problem, but today I had to go home again. And this time I’m staying home at least tomorrow as well.

It’s really annoying to not be able to use the head. And it’s really hard to know what’s wrong and what to do to improve the situation. Now I just sleep as much as possible (or should I say laying in the bed with closed eyes and feverishly rolling back and forth), avoid using the head, refrain from Bloglines, eating (mmm, pizza) and watching movies. Hopefully this is just a temporary thing, but it’s always hard to know with these things.

Backup is good

2005-06-22T23:16:00+00:00

I tried out shuffler today while talking in the phone. Bad idea! Good idea to backup though, since I was able to restore all (I think) MP3s I accidentally deleted due to wrong settings. Oups!

Something is completely wrong in my universe (is it just my universe or does any other universe malfunction in the same way?). First I nearly burnt down my kitchen two days ago (the smell is starting to dissappear), then my server died yesterday (doesn’t boot anymore, but I had no essential data on it), and today I almost deleted all my MP3s (horror). I can hardly wait for what tomorrow will bring. Exciting times!

Toasted

2005-06-20T22:31:00+00:00

I’ve been wanting a new toaster for a while now, but my current toaster is working quite fine so there’s no need. Or perhaps “working quite fine” is a little truth bending. I dropped it on the floor a few says back, but I didn’t think of it when I started it today. While my toasts were getting ready I went to the living room and spaced out. A few minutes later the fire detector was kindly enough to remind me that some time had passed and the toasts were unejected. The smoke that filled the kitchen and basically the whole apartment made it hard to breath so I aborted the toasting process. I normally don’t do that, but instead I wait for the process to come to an end. In today’s society we’re too stressed to let things take their time. But when I saw the glowing pieces of coal in the toaster through the smoke, I assessed that there might be something wrong with my toaster. Not wrong as in not getting warm enough (I have two slices of coal to prove it), but something is slightly defective with the timer or ejection mechanism, but IANAM. Perhaps I’ll refrain from using that particular toaster again.

Oh, btw, nice to know I have neighbors who checks up on you when smoke is coming out of every window.