Div: October 2007 Archives

I could simply write here that I am too busy to write on Brain Tags, but I guess it is more interesting for you to read what I am doing currently. So this is a short list of my most interesting current projects:

New web site for Fimcap
This is a project on which I have been working for a long time (not always as active as now) and which should have been finished a long time ago. I am now finishing off the new design, after which we can finally show the world the work we have been doing. Working on a graphical design is quite an adventure for a technical person like me. I can easily tell whether I like a design or not, but to make one yourself is a whole different thing.

Renewed site for Brytenet
Hopping along with the Fimcap redesign, I am also reworking the site where I station my side-business. Both sites are built on eZ Publish, so I use the experiences on ons site to advance on another. I am also working to leverage some of the karma I got with blogging to new profitable projects under the Brytenet umbrella. You will read more about that when these plans have crystallized a little bit more. Anyway, currently the Brytenet site is off-line while I restructure the content, but before next week I hope to be open for business again.

There is still one room in our house where we didn't do anything since we moved in, the room where our visitors sleep. Those who have visited us can confirm that the beds in that room have had their time. So we are going to use our holiday in November to get rid of the current furniture and paint the room. In the mean time we are already looking for two new beds and a wardrobe to provide our guests with better rest and ourselves with more storage room.

Teaching sells
And finally I started an on-line course about making on-line courses (?) called Teaching Sells, which will probably help me getting all that information I have been absorbing over the past years out of my head and into my wallet. I am sure some very interesting new projects will arise from that course.

Blogging
The blogs are still there, and will stay, though I am considering stopping to write on the Wizard of POS.

Note: This post is my contribution to Blog Action Day, joining thousands of other bloggers to write about one topic for a single day. This year’s topic is the environment.

Camping is my favourite holiday activity. In our tent I feel free and I feel at home as I use my own stuff and sleep in my own sack. Furthermore, it is very easy for a shy person like me to have contact with others on a camping. I feel a lot more comfortable on a camping than in hotel and apartments.

However, lately I noticed a trend of people camping more and more luxury: huge caravans with satellite television, microwave ovens, washing machine, skottelbraai, and even a motor to move around on the camping. While I like some comfort, one of the things I like about camping is its simpleness: less things around you means less  cleaning and less worrying and thus more relaxing. And it still is possible:

When I still lived in the Netherlands, I was a member of the NTKC, a club of people who love camping in a simple and quiet way. The NTKC owns 22 campings in natural areas, and all the maintenance and administration is done by club members. On the NTKC terrains, people camp with tents up to 1.90 meters high and always in natural colours. When staying for a longer period, members move their tent to prevent dead grass.

Most of the time there is plenty of room on the campings; in spring and autumn it might happen that you won't see anybody else from your tent!

For me, being in the middle of nature is a very relaxing experience. If you live in the Netherlands and enjoy camping and nature, be sure to check out the NTKC. There are similar organisations elsewhere, such as the Camping and Caravanning  Club in the U.K..