March 2002 Archives
I was so busy writing about chocolate, that I completely forgot to tell the most important event of this easter.
WARNING: There is an highly increased chance of meeting me in Harmelen during easter!!
It is almost easter, and easter is a wonderful time for chocolate lovers like me. I always eat a lot of these small chocolate easter eggs. Also here in Lleida they know the tradition of chocolate. Besides the traditional eggs, small sculptures are very popular. The most popular at this moment is Harry Potter, completely with a castle.
But the biggest sculpture is the one of Prats. Prats is local patisseria and chocolate maker, who creats every year a life size statue of a famous Catalan person out of chocolate. This year, Pau Gasol has the honor. Pau Gasol????? I have to admid that I don't know him well, but sport-lovers might know this famous basket player of the Memphis Grizzly's.
By the way, for people wondering what I am doing at my work, the web site of Prats is hosted on our servers and created by us...
I have to admit it: the main reason to move to the south is the weather! And last week I got what I wanted. The sky was clear blue and the temperature went up far into the twenties. On Thursday the thermometer reached even up to 31°C!!!
And did I take profit of it? Well.... note really. When I finish work, the sun has long gone. And we have to use the weekends to visit shops, because it is about time that we select our new kitchen, bathroom and floor. OK, Saturday we took some time to drink a beer on a terras.
Yesterday was the day of Saint Joseph. Normaly I wouldn't have noticed this, but the fact is that my girlfriend is called MJ; and thus is named after Saint Joseph.
Here in Spain, people celebrate their saint as a second birthday, with a nice meal and presents from their family and friends.
Unfortunately, a lot of people name their children after the saint of the day the baby was born, thus denying their child an extra wonderfull day with presents and attention!
One of this victims is MJ. Though her birthday was last Friday, it was close enough to her saint to celebrate it all together. Poor girl...
And even worse, her boyfriend didn't give her any present at all!
Anyway, for all the people who missed my birthday: my saint will be on September 30. So if you want a small party....
Yesterday I was talking with my father. He was standing outside a barn at 5°C, I was outside on the balcony with 21°C. Even though the weather here was better, my father was the one in the best situation, and I really wished that I could be there too.
Today my father turned 65, and therefore my sister and my mother had organised a surprise party in this barn. Everybody was there, his family, his friends, the neighbours... everybody except for his son.
I really like living here, but sometimes I wish I could be in Holland.
This weekend I planned to do a lot of thing with my little computer. Work on the Fimcap site, install freeBSD, find myself a new internet provider... But when I woke up this morning I realized that I would have to change my plans. You simply can't spend the day behind the computer when the sky is blue, the first trees blossom in beautiful pink and it's 18 degrees outside!
This morning we visited our future house again, tryig to decide how we are going to reconstruct it. And every time we talk with somebody else, we are changing our plans again. Sometimes a little big frustating, but I am sure that in the end we'l get there.
And because we were thinking about our house anyway, we decided to continue this afternoon. So we walked through the streets of Lleida, visiting every kitchen and bathroom shop we found. And we realized that there are a thousand more decisions to be made...
Due to problems at my provider, I am not able to send e-mail at this moment. However, I am still able to read mail sent to me (they only have problems with their SMTP server).
At this moment I am looking for other providers, and maybe I am going to have to pay for an account. Because you can't complain about the things you get for free, isn't it?
On the long term I will be running my own mail server over xDSL, but to accomplish that I first need to finish our new house.
Anyway, I hope to write you soon again.
Life is hard when you're getting old. I just turned 31 last Saturday, and I already feel like I am over 90. The last two day I've spent in bed; leaving it only to go to the toillet. It has been a long time ago since I was so ill. Anyway, at this moment I am feeling better again, and am able to go to work.
Yes, yes, I'm becoming an old man... 31 years old today!
The typical way of celebrating something ovver here is eating and drinking. So tonight some friends will come over for supper. I don't know yet what to prepare, but I still have a lot of time to think about that. And after that we will go for a drink in Lleida. Not a bad way to celebrate your birthday, is it?
