Darthy.net

Archive for December, 2007

The first week of vacation was pretty good. First up there was Christmas evening of course. Katrien had to work so I was home alone. I spent the evening watching Stargate Atlantis episodes (sounds bad I know, but it really isn’t, I love Stargate ).
On Christmas day Katrien had to sleep because she had to work during the night again. However, we did manage to open presents. I got Stargate DVDs (yay !) and I gave her a CD she wanted. Unfortunately the other present I wanted to give here hasn’t arrived yet So she’ll be getting that one next week (I hope !). When Katrien went back to bed at around 1pm I went to the movies with Arwen and Bouw. We saw ‘I am legend’ with Will Smith (minor spoiler ahead !). It wasn’t an awesome movie but still good. A bit too scary at times though. Also they killed off the dog, I mean, that is just NOT done, it was a cute doggy. Afterwards Arwen and I just hung out at my place playing games. After he left I concluded the evening by watching yet another Stargate episode

On Friday we worked in the house. Everything had to be made ready to put in the electricity cables. We had a lot of help from Kristof’s dad who did the cutting in the walls before we smashed them open with a hammer and chisel. I had cramps in my fingers for 2 days or something But most of that work is done now, so that is excellent. Next week we’ll drill the holes to put in the spotlights. Unfortunately I have no pictures for you, I’ll try to make some next time.

On Saturday Katrien and I went shopping. I needed pants badly. For some reason I can never find anything that fits comfortable when sitting in most stores, yet in the WE (clothes store here, not sure if they have it everywhere) they always have something that is perfect. I walked out with 2 pair of whole-day-of-desk-sitting-proof pants, yay We also hopped into the Fnac for which we had gotten a big gift certificate from Katrien’s parents when we went to eat there on Thursday evening (thank you for that !). We managed to spent half of it on books, which is great since I’m almost done with the book I’m reading
After all the shopping we met up with Kristel, I hadn’t seen her in ages and she was in the city also. We went for a drink to catch up (and receive my Toblerone chocolate !). Mmmmm chocolate …. yummy ! *evil laugh*

To finish up the week the guys and I had another LAN party. Unlike last time we actually managed to play some games (mainly because we started on Saturday evening to set everything up). Previously I was a bit disappointed with the multiplayer aspect of Crysis but I changed my mind. Last time we only played the standard maps and those are really bad compared to the other ones that are out there on the internet. So we downloaded some and it was awesome. I’m anxious to see what the game will be like on the Queaso LAN party in February when we’ll play it with 16 or more players.

Well, I have to stop here, time to do chores (boo !) and get ready for tonight’s new year celebration. To everyone; have a splendid party !

Finally no more work for 2 weeks. It will be nice to not have to fix other people’s crap all the time for a while. Although doesn’t look like I’ll be hanging on the couch much during that time. Since the first layer of the roof is now finished, we can start cutting up the walls to put in the electricity. See the latest pictures here.

It was a busy weekend again. On Saturday evening we drove to Brussels for Tom1′s surprise birthday dinner. Traffic was hell. It took me about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there, normally it should have taken no more than 45 minutes. I was very tense by the time we arrived at the restaurant. Next time I’ll take the train
I have to say, the restaurant was pretty good, even though the menu card was only available in French. We gave Tom1 a puzzle he had to put together in order to read the message that his present would be a bit late. It was quite entertaining to see him trying to solve the puzzle and then attempt to flip it over to read the message. He failed It was also good to see Tom2 again, it had been ages since I had talked to him face to face. Pictures of the evening can be found here.

On Sunday we had another LAN party. To be honest it wasn’t as big a success as last time. By the time we could play it was 4pm. Also we wanted to play the expansion of Company of Heroes and couldn’t get it working. Better luck/organization next time

About the house, as promised, pictures can be found here. We also have a dilemma about the bathroom sinks. We have 2 options, the dark one or the light one. The dark one costs about 200 Euro more but it is our favorite. Compared to others these are still pretty cheap though, bathroom stuff is expensive !

Here are the 2 options. Feel free to tell us which one you like best

This week I got back in touch with 2 people I hadn’t been in contact with for quite a while, Sumona and Sheila. It had been ages since I talked to both of them, so it was good to hear from them again There are always so many people one loses contact with over the years, and it’s a shame really, but we do what we can Will be fun catching up. Sumona got me into Facebook, which I had before but never used. So if you have it, don’t hesitate to add me.

I saw The Golden Compass on Tuesday together with Katrien, Bouw and Arwen. Bouw had free tickets so that was cool. To be honest, I wasn’t very impressed with the movie. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good movie, but I was expecting more. I think fairytale wise Stardust was still better. Still, I’ll be seeing the second movie of this series.

On Wednesday evening Katrien had to work. Tom4 came over to check out the new games I have, like Crysis, Company of Heroes and Call of Duty 4. He is organizing a LAN party for his work and wanted to check out if these were any good (which they are ).

I went to eat at my dad’s on Friday. He made soup with meatballs (yummy) and giant prawns as a main course. The prawns were VERY spicy. Along with those we had Tutjespap, which I’m quite sure most of you don’t know. It’s mashed potatoes with buttermilk instead of regular milk. I know it sounds gross, but it’s actually quite good.

Remember my post about the Chinese guy who sort of deceived us with those graphic cards coming from China instead of the UK so we had to pay import taxes ? Well it’s come to the point where we filed a complaint with Paypal. So we’ll see how that turns out.

On the house front things are again progressing. They did the wooden skeleton of the roof this week and normally they’ll do the layer of the roof that comes under the roofing tiles next week, that is if the weather is cooperative. Kristof’s dad did the preparation for the lighting in the front part of the house today since that needed to be finished before next week when they’ll put another layer on the flat part of the roof. I’ll post pictures soon.

On Tuesday I swapped out my old computer for my new one, so far so good. It’s nice being on a silent and performant pc. Arwen’s seems to be a tad quieter but it’s not that big a difference

Other than that, it’s been rather quiet since I last posted. Just an uneventful workweek. We did have to fill in some pre-evaluation papers with how we feel work has been last year. We’ll see how that goes.

Today I bought a new pair of shoes after the previous pair died at the construction site. Also we went looking for some furniture for in our future bathroom. That stuff is expensive !

On the house front everything is a bit quiet. The weather has been awful, and there are other people who need to come for the roof, so there’s always some time in between.

That’s it I’m afraid. Till next week, with hopefully some more exciting news

A short post today. The LAN party was awesome. Vanguard performed flawlessly so that was reassuring, no crashes or anything Arwen’s pc had some hick ups, even though it’s exactly the same as mine … but then again, Arwen has been using it already for a few days so it was to be expected

Also I uploaded some pictures of the latest progress on the house here. As you can see, it’s still moving along nicely. Next up should be the roof.

Here are some pictures of the LAN party as well: