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After a couple of exciting days last weekend, we have finally settled in. There’s still boxes to move around, or even, store, dump or put away.

Last weekend, I decided to get myself a cordless drill and the necessary drillset. Yes, I’ve joined the millions of ‘home improvers’, the kind you see on Northern American television. Quite a feat for a simple programmer like me.

I must admit that there’s a bit of ‘geekiness’ in drills: walking around the house with the drill in the hand reminded me of the incredible adventures of Kirk, Spock and Scottie. Beam up.

I‘ve never been impressed with nowadays virusses. They are all the same. Think of it: if a virus starts over and over again on your Windows computer where do you start to look? Maybe the bad thing about technology is that it makes people forget the basics. It’s the same with trying to get a fire going with two sticks of wood. We forget.

Anyways: this morning CNN was discussing the Sasser worm and the reporter mentioned the reasons for virus writers to write virusses. This one had me laughing:

   First of all, believe it or not, sometimes people create worms or viruses to try and get a job.

There was a case in Holland were a mayor offered a job to a virus writer (who apparently used a ‘virus kit’ to generate his virus). This had many programmers laughing. Carol Costello (the CNN anchor) apparently too:

   It’s just the getting a job thing just has me flamboozled (ph).

Cute.

Stats Canada’s finding that the divorce rate of couples decreases after the 5th wedding anniversary is intriguing as is the accompanying graph. Does marriage get better after 5 years?

Check for example the CDC’s finding (Google Cache only), which seems to suggest the same:

   The probability of a first marriage ending in separation or divorce within 5 years is 20 percent, but the probability of a premarital cohabitation breaking up within 5 years is 49 percent.

We didn’t have a landline for 3 days. We didn’t have high-speed for 5 days. We moved last Thursday. And naturally the Aliant workers were on strike.

Which was the main reason for the delay. Sure, we had to pack and unpack but it was pretty frustrating to not to be able to use the normal phone. Thanks to the Aliant managers, helpdeskers and servicemen out there: you’re the best. Particularly Terry (helpdesk/annex programmer).

I see that Alfons did finally receive his CD too. Good for him. Now, where were we again?

Apparently, SARS is once again popping up in China, as you may have read around. One of the articles covering that topic, sported the picture (click to view in seperate window) as shown in this entry. Pretty image of a pretty nasty virus.

Think of it:There are a lot of people around on the web that claim that certain phrases in any centuries old Holy Book can be used as facts. It’s like every Joyce expert claiming that their cue card holds the key to open the mystery of Finnegan’s Wake or Ulysses. Rational people know that the truth may be somewhere in the middle

Facts? Look close at those bugs.

I was browsing the Zellers flyer which had an annoucement that Zellers finally has started selling ‘Stuff by Duff’. I have no idea what that stuff might be, but apparently ms. Duff is really popular with the kids. Me: I can’t tell the difference between ms. Spears and ms. Duff.

Which reminds me of another thing that happened last week: Alfons discovered Nelly McKay (a discovery he likens to the day he was struck by a jazzy version of ‘Die Moritat’), but wasn’t able to get her CD as fast as he wanted over in Holland: after all ms. McKay is virtually unknown over in Europe (I hear she had some airplay over at the CBC Halifax). We finally managed to get the CD over here in Truro, and by this time it could be in a postal bag somewhere in a plane, destination Europe.

Maybe so once in a while there is something original coming from the music industry. Al those Duffs, Spears and wannabees, move over: Here’s Nellie.

I made hutspot the other night, which is a traditional Dutch meal (French). I’m used to use corned beef, instead of the traditional ‘speklap’, but then, the concept is practically the same: it’s all about mash-mash-mash.

Anyway, I was reminded of the day I made ‘boerenkool’ around Christmas, because the bro was here. I remember cutting up the kale, discovering the origin of that very kale bush: Texas. A kind of weird: there were two Dutch citizens in the kitchen. Kale? We associated that with cold weather (kale’s normally harvested when the ground starts to freeze. That’s because then it just tastes better. Supposedly.). Texan kale, two Dutch citizens and a Canadian kitchen.

I decided to buy the complete set of Matrix DVDs. It was Revolutions’ DVD release this week, and as an extra, someone gave me 4 or 5 genuine Revolutions wall posters. No really.

Watching them the last couple of days, I came to the following conclusions:

• I got lost around Reloaded.
• There’s nothing philosophical about the movies. Go read books.
• Trinity saved Neo’s butt more than a hundred times.
• ‘Bullet-time’ gets boring after a while.

Article over at CNN makes me laugh (actually, it comes from Reuters).

   “You have to be careful about jokes. They do not translate from culture to culture”

As if I never discovered. I don’t understand the Canadian, or rather, Northern American, tongue-in-cheek jokes. Most of them are beyond me. I think. The other way around, most Canadians (or rather Northern Americans) find my jokes rather rude. That’s because Dutch jokes are supposed to be rude, but not as rude as Northern Americans actually think. Just like Canadian jokes, I found out.