...is a printer: a HP LaserJet 6L in working condition. It's not even empty. It's a nicely compact printer, too... not one of those huge monsters for use in offices (not that we'd mind).
We found it at the corner of the street near a dumpster for household garbage, and strapped it to the back of my bicycle and took it home.
I've long ago given up being amazed at the stuff people throw away. I guess I could be amazed at the fact that someone was too lazy to carry it across the street to the charity shop. But I can't be bothered really.
Never mind, it's in good hands now and it will eventually find a loving home and be useful to someone.

We had another meeting today. We, in this case, means the small group of BookCrossers who are conspiring to bring the 2010 BookCrossing Convention to the Netherlands.
Present were: Fotomiep, LuieLezer, pvanoort, Phoenix-Flight and me. Joanazinha, boekenxnl and chris147 could not make it, the first two because they'd both come down with terrible colds.

It's all going really well. The information that futurecatnz gave me has been sent on to the other conspirators, and we find it very valuable. We'd still like to get the written part of your presentation, by the way! It's worked once, it may well work again.  ;-)

Here's what we've got so far: Phoenix-Flight came up with a venue. It's a theatre, and we can actually afford it. It has all the room and facilities we need, including wireless internet for our guests.
I'm not telling you the location yet, but it's in a place that you furriners will love.
There's plenty of things to see and do nearby, it's easily reached by public transport, and there's free parking space for those who come by car. There's a fancy hotel close to the venue, and better yet: a camping/hostel combination for the outdoorsy types and those who travel on a limited budget! You can bring your tent, but you can also rent a bed in a hut if you prefer.
The city center is very easily reached (public transport) and offers something for everyone. You may well want to book your flight in such a way that you can spend some extra days. You won't regret it.

Another nice thing: it won't break the bank. No hard figures yet, but I can safely say that admission to the 2010 Convention may turn out even cheaper than it is for the 2008 Convention Londen (which I find quite reasonable).

We'll keep the location secret for a while, so as not to spoil the surprise. You can all start saving up now, because I feel quite certain that we have a good chance of winning the bid!

I think my aquarium is finished. It's starting to look really good (in fact, so good that you'll often find me, stoneshop or Tigger sitting in front of it to watch the pretty fishies) and I think I should not add any more species to it.
Here's a list of who's living in it at the moment:

• About ten cardinal tetras, they won't keep still to be counted
  
• Five silver tipped tetras, four of them have tails
  
• Two three spotted gouramis (Cosby variety), female
  
• Two gold gouramis, female and male
  
• five kuhlii loaches, all named Mike. And here is why.
  
• five African clawed frogs, all named Mike as well
• four fish of a species that goes by many names, one of them being Beaufortia. We'll just call them Butterfly Loaches.
  

The last mentioned fish are in charge of cleaning the windows (while the kuhliis take care of any rubbish that's on the bottom). When I bought three of them yesterday the salesman told me they don't actually eat a lot of algae, but my experience differs. And they look cute, too:

No, not fish for eating, fish for looking at.
Today, a good friend of mine came over, and while he was here, he looked at my fish tank and declared that it's now looking quite healthy. He's good with fish tanks, so I regard him as a bit of an expert. That's why if he says the tank is in good shape I believe him.
I'd promised myself to get some nice new fish as soon as things seemed to be going well, so today was fish buying day!

We spent some time looking at all the pretty fish, and contemplating how suitable they'd be for our tank, regarding the fact that it's got a crayfish as well. Obviously, we were looking for some fast swimmers, and preferably for inhabitants of the top half of the tank, since crayfish can't go there.
One of the salespeople came over to help us and started to talk fish with us. This lady clearly knew her fish, and her crayfish too.

We ended up getting some gourami fish: I already had a lone three spot gourami lady, widowed a few months ago, and blind on one side, which makes her swim in a peculiar slanted way. But she still manages to avoid the crayfish quite well, so she deserved some sympathetic company. We got her a female friend of the same species, and a male and female of the 'gold' variety. The color variety doesn't seem to bother the fish, they make friends just the same, so the male now effectively has a harem of three ladies, which is said to be a good ratio. (I'm glad I'm not a gourami!)
In fact, it reminds me a bit of a BookCrossing meeting.
The new gouramis are much smaller than the older one, which made them much cheaper, and they'll grow soon enough.

We just had a very nice BookCrossing meeting in my city yesterday.
I was the organiser, and since we have two OBCZs here, I thought it would be nice if we could visit both of them. They're within walking distance from each other, so that shouldn't be a problem. But couldn't we make that short walk a bit more interesting by releasing books along the way?
This is what we ended up doing:

First of all, some BookCrossers came to my house to pick up some boxes of books for registering and releasing. They had a jolly good time digging around in the Book Room, and it wasn't easy to get them out by the time we had to leave in order to meet the others. I practically had to grab their feet and pull!

We all met at two o'clock at OBCZ Manu.

We were welcomed by the two owners, who are very BookCrossing-friendly, and who had started their OBCZ themselves.
Even though it was quite crowded, we somehow managed to fit in (there were about 15 or 20 of us). Each of us had something nice to drink and chatted for a while. I handed out some small maps of the city center so no one would get lost, and I had marked my favourite release spots on them.
People formed small groups and started their walk through the city centre, most of them were carrying books to release.
It was great fun thinking of good release spots, and then finding some of them already taken by other people's books! Over a hundred books were released all in all.
We all met again in OBCZ Bazoeka around four o'clock.


By the time I got there (about ten past four) some BookCrossers were huddling on the doorstep because the place opened a bit late, but as soon as we were inside that was forgotten. We settled to exchange release stories and leftover books, one of our most appreciated members (nrrdgrrl) showed up from South-Africa and a good time was had by all.
Finally we decided to go for a meal together. Some of us had gone home, but there were twelve BookCrossers left, including Stoneshop who met us at the restaurant.
After a very pleasant meal, everyone went their separate ways again.

You'll find some pictures of this meeting here, on BookCrosser LuieLezer's website.

I co-manage an OBCZ in a nearby city, which is why I don't often go there. It's not far, but I hardly ever have anything else to do there during the opening hours of the OBCZ, so I can't often combine it with other errands.
But the Go Hunting page showed that there hadn't been any books released there in three or four months, so it was high time someone did something. Stoneshop and I decided to go down there with a bag of books.

Today is market day, so Stoneshop and I went into town (by bicycle, as usual) to get some nice fresh veggies.

I just love markets. The fresh fruits and vegetables look so damn tasty, the way they're laid out, forming a colourful painting. And they smell so good! I think people who eat too much junk food and produced foods should be encouraged to shop at local markets, the smells and sight of all that tasty goodness would seduce anyone.
Well, maybe not.
But it certainly works for me. I always end up buying more than we need. Especially fruits.
Not that some extra fresh fruit ever hurt anyone... except maybe if you were hit over the head with one of the pineapples I bought.
What can I say, they were two for a euro.
By the time we left the market our bikes were well loaded. It's a good thing we have bags on them.
We rewarded ourselves by getting Vietnamese spring rolls at the Vietnamese spring roll stand. With hot sauce. Lovely.

I couldn't simply start eating all of the lovely stuff we bought without taking a picture first. I even went so far as to arrange it on an old curtain and make a proper still life. As always, click for a bigger version. Eet smakelijk!



I remember going to markets in Africa, and seeing how people had the habit of stacking things like tomatoes and bell peppers into neat little pyramid-shaped heaps. You were supposed to pick a heap that you liked, and buy all of it. Often, if you'd buy a certain amount or if the stall holder felt like it, you'd get a little extra as a bonus: a pepper, a handful of peanuts or a tomato.
Even the potatoes they sold there were stacked, which made them look very neat. They were all the same size, too. I wonder what they did with different-sized potatoes?
From all the time people spent on making their merchandise look nice, it was clear to see that time and manpower are readily available in Africa, and therefore cheap. You could even buy your garlic peeled, if you wanted.
I have some African market pictures. I might post them here, too.

I drew it myself, based on an idea from 'The Little Prince' by De Saint-Exupéry. It says 'a year is over before you know it', which is true, especially if you live on a very small planet. Now that I think about it, that would only make your days go faster... oh well, shorter days probably result in shorter years, too.
Anyway, I wish you all a very happy, healthy, lazy and active 2008. May some of your most cherished dreams come true. But not all of them, because then you'd have none left.
Happy New Year!

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Look what I got.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Or actually, I was entered into a prize drawing because I filled in a survey.
Or in fact I filled in the survey because it said you could win a watch, and then I was never asked for my e-mail address or any other personal data, so how could anyone ever win it? That's what I asked them in an e-mail, and they answered me, saying: Hmm, you may have a point there.
(Sounds familiar? Check this older blog entry. Am I the only one that notices these things?)
And so they decided that they'd let me win the watch. Either that or I'm the only one they had an e-mail address for.
Today it arrived! And they haven't been cheap about it. The watch looks great.


Yes, I know that it's a men's watch. I don't care. I'm going to have the strap shortened and wear it with pride.
Go, Läkerol!

(Originally posted on MySpace)
...as I went for a short walk in a city park.
There was really just enough snow to give that nice 'powdered sugar' look, and to turn the trees into white lace. Actually the freezing mist did that.
It all looked really pretty, and made me think of Christmas, but in a nice way. We'll be spending Christmas on one of the islands to the north of the Netherlands, I do hope it won't rain!

You can see the pics in my PhotoBucket album by clicking the thumbnail. They're not all that great, but they will give you an impression.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Here's another animation. It's quite different from the previous one. In fact it's weird, rude and I love it to bits. If you don't like puns, singing meerkats, sexual innuendo or bad language, don't bother clicking on the pic. If you do, go ahead and enjoy!

(Originally posted on MySpace)
I've just gotten myself a Christmas tree, but since it looks much the same as last year's tree did, I'm not going to bore you with a picture. Instead, I'll post a wonderful Christmas themed video of the Little Mole.
The Little Mole is the brain child of Zdenek Miler from the Chzech Republic, and I've known him since my childhood. Short films like this one were and are shown on German television in the 'Program with the Mouse'.
Without further ado, here he is: the Little Mole and the Christmas Tree. Enjoy.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Here's a bit about Saint Nicholas traditons, the way I know them:

In the period before the festivity, children are encouraged to leave their shoe in front of the open fire (nowadays, central heating works, too. Those Black Peters are smart!) with something for Sinterklaas' horse: a carrot or some hay.
It's best if they sing a song or two, so Zwarte Piet can hear them through the chimney, and tell Sinterklaas that these are good kids who have sung him a nice song. In the morning, there will be a tiny gift or a piece of candy in the shoe.


Bigger gifts are given on the evening of the 5th or 6th of December. The gifts are all supposed to come from Saint Nicholas and are often packed in a big cloth bag.
They are left on the doorstep by a friendly neigbour who rings the bell or knocks on a window, pretending to be Black Peter, and then hurries off before the kids get to see him. Sometimes, he'll throw some candy into the room first, making sure all the children get to see is a gloved hand!
If there are no neighbours, all of this happens while father or mother just had to pop out for a small errand, and when (s)he comes back Black Peter has just left again so they have miraculously missed each other!

The mysterious bag is respectfully brought inside, and usually people will take turns unwrapping a present. There are gifts for the grown-ups, too. Most of the gifts will be accompanied by a poem or rhyme, signed by either Sinterklaas or Black Peter; the poems often make fun of the receipient of the gift, but in a friendly way. They are all read out loud.
Some of the gifts are packed in such a way that they resemble an animal, an object or even a person; your gift may be wrapped in cotton wool and covered in something sticky, like syrup; or the package may be very hard to open, or contain nothing but a note telling you to go and look in the fridge where your present will be hidden. These 'trick packages' are called Surprises, pronounced Surpreezes, and making them is one of the most fun traditions surrounding Sinterklaas.

As soon as children don't believe in Sinterklaas anymore, they become a Hulpsinterklaas, or Sint Nick's Helper: they make or buy presents for the other members of the family. So during november and early december, it's not uncommon that a parent will not be allowed into a kid's room, because 'surprises' are being made inside, and no one should see them before the big event.
It's often a bit sad to find out that Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet aren't real, but on the other hand, being a Hulpsinterklaas makes you feel really grown-up!

If the group of participants is too large to make a gift for each, names will be drawn, so each person has to get a gift for just one of the others. Sometimes, groups of grownups celebrate Sinterklaas this way with no children present at all. Usually, there's a set (and low) budget: Sinterklaas isn't about getting expensive stuff, it's about creativity, silly rhymes and fun.

To me, celebrating Saint Nicholas Day is one of the nicest traditions we have here, and it's a shame that many people drop it in favour of putting presents under the Christmas tree.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
This is a Very Good kind of day. My big project, that I've been working on since April, is finished!
As you may remember, it consists of four murals in Amsterdam.
For now, I'll just post a pic of the last one, that was finished just yesterday, and then I'm off to celebrate  :-D


You can probably understand why I'm proud of this!

(Originally posted on MySpace)
My boyfriend just bought himself another motorcycle. It's a little 350 cc Jawa, type 634, much like this one:


It's all the bike one could hope to buy for 80 euros. A nice project for next winter. Of course, at a price like that, it's not much of a surprise if some odds and ends are missing. In this case, the front end of one of the exhaust pipes.

So I thought: didn't I have something like that stowed away somewhere? Given to me by a friend, the way it often happens with Jawa parts, while mumbling 'you never know, you may find a use for it some day'?
I started digging in my supplies. And found:
- a nice set of pipes for my own Jawa, that I'd forgotten all about, in decent condition!
- a muffler for my Jawa, to replace the one that was ruined by battery acid this summer on the way to Finowfurt! This one's in decent condition, too.
- and last but not least... the pipe I was looking for. Not only did it turn out to be for the right type of bike, it's the right side as well. And it looks brand new. *does the happy dance*

OK, so being a packrat makes you surround yourself with a lot of rubbish... but every now and then, among the rubbish you'll find just what you need!

(Originally posted on MySpace)
I don't have a lot of time right now so I'll just say that my cat Tigger has had an operation two days ago. He had trouble walking, which got worse and worse, so we took him to a vet, who found (after keeping him for some days) that he had developed bone cancer in one of his toes.
The toe has been amputated and it's needless to say that I'm feeling very relieved. Tigger's chances of survival are now good and he's clearly feeling much better. The toe caused him a lot of pain. He looks a bit silly but it's great to have him back!

(Originally posted on MySpace)
*does the happy dance*
Tigger is back. One of my housemates found him.
In fact, he and his little boy heard a pitiful meowing in a barn or storage building down the street. They rushed over and told us about it, and we rushed right out to listen.
My boyfriend heard it too, but wasn't sure whether or not it was Tigger. Nevertheless, he was certain he'd heard a cat, and he found an air vent that would permit a cat to get out of the building after the grid was removed.

So he took the grid off and we lied down on the floor and peeked inside to see if we could catch a glimpse of a cat, but no. All was still inside.
I figured it was best to go in there, even though that made this a case of breaking and entering. He removed some stacked-up tiles so I could crawl inside.
It took me a while to find any trace of a cat in the large space inside, but as soon as I heard a meow I was sure it had to be Tigger!
He called for me, and I answered him, but he was too scared or too confused to come to me. It took him a while to realise it was really me, and then he came to me and let me pick him up.

When we came out my boyfriend brought him some food and water immediately, he seemed much more hungry than thirsty. After he'd eaten a bit we all went home.

Tigger is now happily resting on his favourite chair, purring away, with a belly full of food. He's lost a lot of weight, but he seems healthy enough. It feels so good to have him back. I love a happy ending.
*grateful sigh*

(Originally posted on My Space)
You won't see me blogging much during the next few weeks or even months (not that anyone's looking). I've started working on my biggest project yet: the four big murals in Amsterdam I mentioned earlier (not that anyone listened).
It's going well and I'm enjoying it, too. There's some commuting involved, but only every other day because I'm borrowing an apartment right in the center of Amsterdam. (How cool is that? Well, pretty damned cool if you ask me.)
Here's a pic, and if you'd like to see more, see my homepage (yes, it's in Dutch) or see a whole lotta pics on Photobucket.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Spring is definitely here! Not only is today the seventeenth anniversary of my company (as you should know by now, I'm a self-employed sign writer / decorator), but my business is springing right back into bloom.
I just got an official 'go ahead' on the biggest job I've (n)ever done. It's a series of four (count them: F-O-U-R) large murals about nautical history. The biggest one will be over twelve metres high!
So it's back in business, and back on the boom lift for me!
Here's a pic of me on top of the world, four years ago: