Hear ye, hear ye !

Big news … which is also a bit of old news since I think most people already know this. But I’m going to be a dad ! Yes me, geeky Jorn, is going to be a dad. I’ll let that sink in for a little while

Didn’t fall off your chair ? Excellent So far we don’t know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl, but we MIGHT know on Monday. We have an appointment with a new gynecologist then. We are probably changing hospitals because we aren’t very happy with UZ Gent and their impersonal approach. Hopefully the one we are going to on Monday will be better

Also good to know: the baby is expected in the beginning of February.

Talking about babies, Tom2 & Kaat had their baby boy last month, Titus. Awesome name. It’s really a baby boom with a lot of my friends, I guess that’s what you get when going on 30

On to other news and where I left off last time, my home server. Tranquil has it in their possession for over 2 months already and they still don’t have a fix. They claim that they have the problem with all of their home servers and are trying to find a replacement for the internal PCI SATA card. It keeps dragging on. Yesterday I was frustrated by it and made a post on WeGotServed, a well known site about home servers. This morning the owner and Microsoft MVP posted that he would contact Tranquil and see what’s going on. Maybe that will help speed things along. If that doesn’t help, I’m going to demand a full refund (chances are they’ll refuse though) and just get an HP. I’m really fed up with this.

So on to the good news: it’s vacation time ! 2 weeks of no stress, well maybe a little bit of stress I did manage to already do most of my chores though. Treated all the wood that still needed to be treated, so we’re good for a few years. Tomorrow I’m leaving for Holland for 3 days and next week I’m going to Limburg (province here in Belgium) with Katrien for 2 days. So yeah, good times I’m also fully enjoying the release of Starcraft 2. That game was sooo worth the wait ! We’re having regular LAN parties and I’m sure we’ll have them for a long time to come

Last Saturday we also had a party here in the neighborhood just like last year. A great barbecue and for once the weather was actually ok. We were having a champion barbecuing over and it really was very yummy

Well I’m off to eat, till next time !

Let’s continue where we left off last time. Hardware. In the end I sent my homeserver back to Tranquil to get it fixed. They’ve had the unit for over 2 weeks now, so far nothing has happened. I’m seriously starting to lose faith in their customer support. Tomorrow I’ll contact them again (again) to push a bit. It’s starting to get on my nerves.

Moving on to happier thoughts. I went to Valery’s and she got me hooked on Avatar - The Last Airbender cartoon series. In the meantime I’ve watched all 3 seasons, it was pretty good. It’s a shame it’s over. Going to go see the movie when it comes out, I’ve not really heard anything good about it but I still want to check it out. We also went to see the Prince of Persia movie which was also not bad, quite an accomplishment for a movie that comes from a computer game. I’m going back to visit her next weekend. We’re going to a Japanese restaurant of a friend of hers. It’s been ages since I went to one of those, so should be good Let’s practice those chopstick skills !

I’ve also done something that no one who knows me would expect from me. I went especially to the Netherlands to watch the final match of the soccer world championship. I’m really not a soccer fan (a bit of the opposite actually), but it seemed to fun to go cheer along with the Dutch. Unfortunately they lost else I’m sure there would have been a big party afterward. Of course there were some jerky Belgians there who came especially to Holland to support the other team.

Last weekend we went shopping for TV furniture. The stand we have now can’t really bear the weight of our TV. I was expecting to pay maybe 500 euros max for a new one but the ones that have the room we need for gadgets all cost above 1000. So that kinda sucks. We might go for Ikea again, but I’m a bit afraid it won’t be able to hold the weight as well (our current one is from Ikea also). So there’s some debate on that

That’s it for now

I’ll start of with a rant about my hardware. In the past couple of weeks I’ve had several failures. The disk on my laptop was acting up, Katrien’s graphics card died and my home server got corruption issues. Not fun, if there’s anything that can really work on my nerves then it’s computer stuff not working. In the meantime Katrien’s pc and my laptop are fixed. My home server on the other hand is not doing so great. It started up with corrupt backups (why Microsoft doesn’t check their integrity is beyond me) and moved on to disk error messages. My ticket that I opened at Tranquil (where I bought the server) has been open for a week and a half now without a reply. Apparently I provided “too much information” according to their live chat … Strange thing that is, providing too much information about a problem. Anyways, I hope to have it all up and running again in a few weeks.

Talking about hardware, I’ll end that chapter on a positive note. I got my iPad ! Great device for surfing on the couch. I got tired of waiting for the Notion Ink Adam, I wonder when it’ll see the light of day. The only disadvantage of the iPad is of course that it comes with iTunes. I could go on a big rant on how iTunes sucks but I’ll end up with enough rants in this post already

I will start my next one: I have neighbor issues. 2 weeks ago our neighbor decided to trim his hedge. Sure no problem, but please clean up your mess unlike the past 2 years. We went to ask him this nicely, but he started a big rant on how he would get the town council to widen the path next to our house again to 3 meters and that obviously I had no idea who I was talking to. He got really pissed off, no idea why. In the end he did decide to clean up his mess, so what did he do ? Just drove into our back yard with his jeep & trailer. I don’t know, but that really doesn’t sound normal to me ! At least our fence is in place now, we’ll see what happens next year.

Last weekend was a busy one. On Saturday Kirsten, Bouw and myself went to a historical reenactment event. I have pictures somewhere, I’ll upload them some other time. It was a fun event but a lot smaller than I expected. I had thought there would be some actual LARP-ing going on but that wasn’t the case unfortunately. We did however see some guys attacking each other with medieval weapons so that was cool. One of them got a blow to the head and had to crawl towards the first aid tent bloodied, but he didn’t seem to mind much. We also were impressed with a cannon. In the distance we could hear it blasting away only to find out later that it was extremely tiny. But what a noise it made !

On Sunday Arwen, Katrien, Milan, Quinten and myself left for Euro Disney for 2 days. We had a good time, but the weather could have been better though. We did the Studio park the first day and the Disney park itself on the second. We were allowed in 2 hours early because we were staying at a Disney hotel so that saved us quite some queue time at Space Mountain The kids had a great time and I got to ride the Rock & Roll Rollercoaster again, that one is really awesome

And now … I’m very, very tired

The weekend at Valery’s I was talking about last post was pretty cool, we got to see Iron Man 2 in Imax ! Awesome movie ! Loved the humor We also did some looking around for a new cell phone for Val, she wants an Android one (good choice !). So a bit of gadget shopping by proxy, which is always cool She hasn’t made a final decision yet though, but the HTC Desire is making a fair chance. And she made me brownies for my bday ! They were reaaaaaaaaaaally yummy

Saw a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a while. Kristel (who now lives in England) came to Belgium for a few days so I went to visit her. She had brought me a big bar of chocolate, Toblerone … which is sooooooo good.
I also met up up with Ilse & Nick, had been almost a year since we last saw them. We went to a restaurant here in Ghent to catch up. Was pretty nice, excep that the restaurant got my order wrong: instead of mushroom sauce with my steak they gave me pepper sauce … which consists out of small round things (pepper balls) and for those of you who know me, that’s a big no no !
Also went to have lunch with Tom1 in Kortrijk when I was in the neighborhood and met up with some of my old colleagues at Korfina. I don’t think the big boss even recognized me anymore

Yesterday I had a day off and did a LAN party with the guys, some Starcraft 2 and Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. Not the best LAN, in the end we only played 1 or 2 games. Lots of setting up and we started pretty late. At least the tip from Benny about the custom AI paid off, games weren’t too easy or too hard like last time. After the LAN we went to the late evening showing of Robin Hood. What an awful movie. Without giving away too much of the plot, this really wasn’t Robin Hood at all, they could have named it something completely different and no one would have made the connection.

Got some trips on the agenda as well. On Monday I leave for the Ukraine for 4 days together with Kristof. Going to meet up with the guys there and do some team building. I hope that ashcloud doesn’t come back while I’m there though, don’t want to be stuck there because in the weekend it’s the Queaso LAN which I’d love to go to The weather was looking good until a few days ago, now they predict the same as here in Belgium, which is rain and coldness.

Got another trip lined up as well, but this one isn’t for business. I’m going to Disney Land Paris baby ! It’s booked for the 20th of June. Arwen had always said he wanted to take his kid Milan there once and now that I work at Thomas Cook again I get the occasional discount. This one was an over 50% off one so well worth it. Going with Katrien, Arwen, Milan and Quinten (Milan’s half brother). This time we even got a decent hotel, the one we had last time I was there wasn’t very clean. I’m looking forward to it, Space Mountain here we come !

The time is upon us ! Starcraft 2 ! The game I’ve been anticipating for the past 2 years or something is finally in my hands, I got into beta. So did Arwen, Kirsten & Bouw but they don’t have their account yet. My first impressions are a bit mixed. It definitely has the Starcraft feeling, but not much else has changed. Sure we have some new units, but otherwise it feels like exactly the same game. Which is both good and bad. Good in the sense that Starcraft 1 was awesome, bad that a lot of things are a bit standard in RTS games these days. Zooming out so you can see more then 5 buildings would have been great. I’m sure the opinions will be divided on this one though In any case I’m looking forward to the rest of the gang having their keys so we can do some multiplayer.

We did have a LAN last weekend though, Supreme Commander mostly. For the first time a colleague from work joined us; Benny. He’s a bit of a geek like the rest of us so I think he’ll be joining more in the future

Yesterday I went to see Kick Ass. And to make a lame joke, it was … kick ass :p Pretty much what we were expecting of it, funny and over the top Good movie ! (if you like that sort of thing though, it won’t be for everyone)

On the medical front there’s some good news, my ears have gone back to almost normal. Got a slight loss in the very high pitches but that was most likely there before as well. Doesn’t bother me. I can listen to music again without it sounding weird and can understand conversations, woohoo !

Next weekend I’m going over the Valery, it has been a while. We’ll most likely go to see Iron Man 2. Really looking forward to that one, the trailers look awesome. Talking about weekend, I’m glad it’s Friday evening ! This week was hectic at work, it flew by really fast. This weekend should be relatively quiet, just chilling. Tomorrow is Katrien’s 30th birthday though, so there are some plans there She’s not the big partier, so we’ll keep it small. We’re just going out to dinner. Katrien wanted to go to a vegetarian restaurant. Unfortunately it’s fully booked so we’re going to do something oriental instead, should still be good

That’s it !

2 major things to talk about in this post.

We’ll start with the bad news so we can end in a positive way. I’m more than half deaf on one ear. Apparantly I had a cold that stuffed the connection between my throat and my ear which caused a pressure buildup in the inner ear, damaging the eardrum. First the doctor thought it was ruptured which luckily was denied later by a specialist at the hospital. It’s just damaged (not tight anymore). It might heal in time, it might not, in which case surgery will be required. I should know more in about a month. It’s really strange being half deaf at one side. My ear picks up things such as surrounding sound but not voices, making it really difficult to understand a conversation. Let’s hope that I have a bit of luck in the medical department this time and that it’ll heal out of itself …

As promised, let’s end with a positive note. I had my 30th birthday party ! I organized it together with Kristof. He wanted it to be a surprise party for Els. And surprised she was ! She wasn’t very happy though at the beginning, a bit shocked even. Thankfully she turned around as soon as people started to arrive It was a super party, had a great time. Oh yeah and one minor detail, you had to come dressed up themed about movies & tv series ! Everyone had a great outfit except Els her brother, his loss Here are the pictures, enjoy !

Wow a month has gone by already. Time sure flies

As I mentioned in my previous post, Kristof and I had to go over to the Ukraine for work. It was a nice trip and luckily not as cold as I feared. It was also extremely busy but we did manage to see some sights in the evening 2 in particular come to mind. The first being a pub where you are greeted by a guy carrying a Kalashnikov, then you have to say in Ukrainian “Long Live Ukraine”. If correct he opens a book case with a secret way into an underground pub, themed in resistance style, it’s quite ingenious. The second one was an SM themed pub (not an actual SM club for the record ) where they tie you up and give you some whip lashes all for a couple of good laughs. They do slash hard though, I could feel it in the shower the next morning. Maybe I shouldn’t have dared the waitress carrying the whip though. But it was all in good fun

Last weekend we had another game of Descent, we are almost at the next level in our campaign. Then the heroes can stop whining they don’t get any cool weapons Arwen overate himself though (so recent after his surgery) that he had to go to the hospital the next day for observation. In the end everything turned out fine, phew.

And then we come to the biggest thing that happened in the past month. I became 30 ! Yup, the big 3 - 0. Everyone claims I have to start acting responsible and grown up now, but I will remain to let my inner child roam free I’m having a party next week. It’s a movie/TV series oriented event so everyone has to dress up. Should be fun, got my costumes all prepped Even Katrien is dressing up, didn’t expect that, yay ! Pictures soon no doubt !

Oops … been far too long again. I guess I’m not even going to make the bi weekly blog post I set myself out to do.

So what have I been upto ? First some follow up on my last post

I finished Dragon Age, what an awesome game. The storyline is the best I’ve ever had in any game, the twists in the plot are phenomenal. Can’t wait for the expansion. I now bought Mass Effect, which is similar in RPG style (but SciFi setting). The action is first person shooter though. I started playing it and it’s kinda cool, however I got sucked into another game so it’s a bit on hold. The game in question is Star Trek Online. I didn’t expect much of it as I was thinking it would just be another WoW clone but it’s actually quite different. It consists out of 2 parts, space and ground exploration. The space part is awesome, the ground not so much. Still, Arwen, Kirsten and Bouw got it also so that makes it more fun, we’ll see how long I’ll keep playing it. At least until I get a bigger ship ! Shields to maximum, fire all phasers !

Also cool is the fact that I got my new car. The USS Darthy G ! I have a feeling that at this rate I’ll run out of letters in the alphabet before I’m 50 I’m actually really liking this one though. Sure it’s not a Mazda 6 looks wise, but it drives just as nicely and has a cooler GPS (me = gadget freak). Only downside is that there’s not much space in the back, but since I won’t be sitting there that’s not really a biggie I also love the low CO2 emission since that’s what they are taxing on now. Will save me a couple of 100 euro / year compared to the Mazda !

My surround system finally arrived. Oh boy that took a while ! In the end I had to change the color from black to silver or it would have taken 2 more months. Not great service at Redcoon who didn’t have a clue what was going on, I had to call the distributor of the speakers myself to get some answers. But I got it, setting it up this weekend ! Watch out neighbors !

We recently had another poker evening. Kristof had bought brown Leffe’s especially for me so I couldn’t refuse. To make a long story short, I broke my own personal record and drank 6 Leffe’s. I was feeling a bit funny but everyone was surprised I wasn’t sick afterward. It’s not my problem they can’t stand their alcohol I said Didn’t win at poker though, but that was to be expected

Last week there were some people from the Ukraine over for work. We went on training together to a partner’s headquarters to get ourselves familiar with the platform they’ve been building for us. Soon Kristof and I have to go to Ukraine ourselves. I’m really hoping it won’t be -20 Celcius over there then though ! I think I’ll be packing my ski pants Still should be fun to see that side of Europe even if it’s only for 3 days.

The last bit of news I have is about Arwen. He went through a major (planned) surgery yesterday. Gave me a bit of a scare when I didn’t get an “I’m ok” in the evening. But this morning he texted me to let me know everything went fine. I’ll pass by there this weekend to give him a visit.

I think that’s about it, you’re all up to speed again

First post of 2010 ! I’d say my new year resolution is to post more often on the blog but then that would have already failed

In any case, happy new year !

So what have I been up to so far ? Did the usual new year celebrations. This year it was at Chan & Dimitry’s. We were with 10 people, the usual 6 (the other 2 being Kristof & Els) and then 4 neighbors of Dimi. Food was great just like previous years

New year traditionally comes with lots of eating, and it didn’t just stop at old year’s eve itself. We also went to visit Katrien’s parents and exchanged gifts. I got a new 16GB USB stick, which was nice because my old one was about to die. We also went twice to my dad’s. The first time because Kristel was there. She recently moved to the UK so it was nice to catch up. My grandparents from my mother’s side also came by there so more food was served. January isn’t a great month for people who try to watch their weight I’d say

I can tell you about a new year resolution that the guys and myself made though: to play Descent (boardgame) more often. So we had a game last week. Took a while for all the rules to come back, that game sure is complicated. Next week we’re having another game, taking advantage now that everything is still fresh in our minds

Johan & Gwendoline came by yesterday. It had been ages since I last saw them. I kept saying I’d invite them but it always got postponed. Glad that we finally managed to catch up though. Turns out that they are thinking of making a fairly similar trip as us to California and surroundings. Gave them a few pointers Will tell them to swing by Dana & Thomas if they ever need a solid breakfast with lots of eggs and stuff

A new year also means new gadgets ! Unfortunately my new surround system has yet to arrive (why is Redcoon always so sloooooooooow ??). I hope to receive it this week though. However one thing that I’m definitely getting this week is the USS Darthy G (my new car). It’s a Renault Megane new model. I can pick it up on Friday, excitement !

So what will be the gadget of the year for me ? I’m not entirely sure, but I think one of those new tablet computers they showed off at CES will have a big chance. Or maybe the rumored Apple tablet if it actually comes out and is not too expensive … time will tell An SSD for my computer is also high on the list.

Oh and just for your information: Dragon Age Origins is absolutely awesome (still) ! I can recommend this game to everyone, I even got Valery addicted, hehe *proud*.

Let me start by wishing everyone Merry Christmas (a bit too late) and a Happy New Year. I hope you are all having a wonderful time

Myself, I have a little vacation. Week and a half (which is almost over actually) to be precise. I celebrated Christmas evening at my dad’s house, which was packed with relatives. Food was good but we left before dessert. Katrien had to work during the day and she was really tired. It was also very loud

My main entertainment during this vacation has been Dragon Age Origins, an old fashioned RPG. I love the story line, it sucks you right in. So that’s been filling most of my vacation. You should check it out if you have the chance.

Other than that I went to Valery’s for 2 days. We went to see Avatar again, it’s really an awesome movie. If you haven’t seen it yet you should. And go see it in 3D, people keep telling me how good it is (darn them ! ). I introduced Val to Dragon Age and I have a feeling she’ll continue playing it. However that wasn’t the game that got us captivated. We spent a lot of time playing Trine, a simple platform game on the PS3 that you can buy online for less than 10 Euro. It’s very beautiful and has a nice puzzle element to it. I think we’re close to finishing it.

Now for another yearly tradition, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if I didn’t buy a huge present for myself now would it ? I wasn’t planning on it really, I swear ! Normally I would get my dad’s old surround system to use at Castle Jorn. Unfortunately they didn’t work with my setup (as they are originally PC speakers). So I ordered a whole new surround system which set me back quite a bit (but not in the ridiculous expensive category though as some people wanted to convince me to do ). I’ll be using my dad’s old system for my pc, so it’s not a total loss. I just hope the neighbors don’t complain