Sun, 28 Aug 2011
At Steve's, again
for the second time, I'm at Steve's for his yearly barbecue.
After I'd done my waffles back at Banja Luka, I off-hand suggested to do them again at the barbecue, which people replied to with an enthousiastic 'oh yes!' from multiple mouths. So that's what happened.
I did overdo it on the amounts, though since after I'd baked 750g flour worth of dough, everyone still awake had already had a waffle; and I still had 500g flour worth to go. Since the dough can't be conserved overnight, I had to finish all of them. Which meant that I was still making waffles at 2AM, and no-one was eating them anymore. Bummer. Oh well, some people (including myself) had waffles this morning instead.
Speaking of waffles, and by popular demand: A few years ago I blogged the recipe of my waffles (hidden in a blog post about a large number of other things).
The rest of the barbecue was fairly nice, too. I mean, obviously it is: good food, good beer, good people to talk to, what more would you want? Exactly.
Right now I'm waiting for food that is being prepared, after which I'll probably get in my car and start driving home again. But that's not for now just yet.
Sat, 30 Jul 2011
Food
if you're not at DebConf11 and don't get the joke, don't worry; that's expected
Sun, 17 Jul 2011
Mechlin to Banja Luka in statistics
I decided to go to DebConf11 by car. Not willing to do this alone, I asked for volunteers to join me in my car trip. One such volunteer showed up, and the car trip happened. Now, since I remembered to push the correct buttons on my dashboard after I completely fueled up the car and checked the tire tension and other things, I am now proud to be able to present you with the following statistics on this trip:
- Total distance travelled: 1466.8 km
- Average driving speed: 95.9 km/h [0]
- Total number of kilometers wasted on 'oh, crap, we forgot something': 10 (approx) [1][2]
- Total amount of fuel used: 81.3l
- Average fuel consumption rate: 5.5l/100km [3]
- Total amount of kilometers spent behind the wheel by Jeremy: 50 (approx)
- Total amount of kilometers spent behind the wheel by Wouter: the rest.[4]
- Time of departure: 2011-07-16 21:00
- Time of departure after point three and making sure we had everything: 2011-07-16 22:00
- Time of arrival: 2011-07-17 15:15 (approx) [5]
- Outside temperature at departure: 12 ° celcius
- Outside temperature at arrival: 35 ° celcius
- Longest (voluntary) break: 1 hour (approx; breakfast, tanking, bathroom visit, watching the sun rise)
- Longest (involuntary) break: 45 minutes (approx; customs check) [6]
- Last fueling stop: 4 AM.
- Amount of kilometers left to go before the car said bleep, you need to tank soon: less than one.
- Most tense moment: on crossing the slovenia->croatia border, confusing the border police officer ("no, I'm Wouter, that is Jeremy"—yes, we both had photo-ID), who then promptly holds on to our documents, asks the car's papers, and tells us to please park over there and wait a moment while he gets us to be handled by guy in a somewhat more military-looking uniform.[7]
- Biggest "uh-oh" moment: after crossing the croatia->bosnia and herzegovina border, watching the very, very, very, very, very[8] long line of trucks queueing to cross the border. In the other direction. And then realizing that you probably need to go through that very same queue on the way back
- Largest single toll fee: €15 [9]
- Last bit of time spent asleep before this trip: the minutes surrounding 2011-07-16 05:00:00 [10]
- Time wasted writing this blog post when I really should've gone to bed instead: 45 minutes
- Time now: 21:02:54
But it was fun. And that's all that matters.
Those who've shown up at debconf already, or who will arrive soon: see you tomorrow. Those who will arrive later: see you soon. And those who won't arrive: better luck next time, I hope.
[0] this includes times when the car isn't moving with the engine
running, but not times when the car is turned off, locked, alone and
forgotten, in the rain, while those idiots who were supposed to
be its drivers were inside having a drink.
[1] Which is surprisingly little. Usually I manage to need more.
[2] Jeremy forgot his^Wa Debian banner. I forgot something, I can't
recall what. I decided to bring some CD's to enjoy during the trip, and
a 3.5mm audio connection cable which we end up not using
[3] According to the dash. I'm too tired right now to check it. Also see
the next two points.
[4] This could incorrectly be interpreted as a criticism on Jeremy. It's
not his fault that I only told him a day before we left that I have a
manual transmission. And in fact, if anything, I'm unhappy with the fact
that I even had to hand him the wheel for those 50 km. I would've loved
to be able to say "I went all the way from Mechlin to Banja Luka, all by
myself".
[5] I forgot to check the clock, to be honest.
[6] What, you think I have a chronometer?
[7] The last four points could really have been written as two.
Figuring out which goes with which is left as an exercise to the
reader.
[8] very, very, very
[9] 7-day Slovenian road tax vignet
[10] Once I wake up, I hardly ever manage to fall asleep again.
Esecially if it's light outside.
Sun, 03 Apr 2011
DebConf11
Pondering to go to debconf11 by car. It'll be quite a ride, but Belgium -> Bosnia should be doable. That is, if I'm not doing it alone.
Anyone care to join me?
Sat, 31 Jul 2010
Wouter Verhelst, Tourist
So for one day a few days ago, I wasn't Wouter Verhelst, Debian Developer, but rather the above. I'm not usually very much interested in doing touristy things, but then on the other hand I'm of the opinion that you can't really claim to have been somewhere if all you've seen is the inside of a certain specific university campus.
So, well, touristy things. I took the subway to about 10 blocks away from the very south of Manhattan, and then walked. I passed by city hall and what used to be the world trade center, but there wasn't much to see there—construction sites are the same everywhere in the world. I moved on to "the battery", the south tip of Manhattan, and had an... interesting look at the Statue of Liberty in the distance. I thought about going there, but the tickets were sold out, so scratch that.
Instead, I walked on to the Brooklyn Bridge (passing by Wall Street on the way), spent some time looking for the pedestrian's entrance to that bridge (which was slightly harder than would've thought it to be), and walked partway up the bridge. I wasn't interested in crossing over to Brooklyn, but it's an interesting bridge to walk on, and I had an interesting time.
When I left the bridge again, it started raining. I don't mind a few drips on a warm day like that day, but this was more than that, and it started to bother me. So, rather than walking to the Empire State building, as I'd been planning, I decided to take the subway there. This did mean I missed out on the SOHO area, which I would've liked to see, but well, you can't have it all.
The Empire State building is something you grow up hearing about, and I'd seen pictures of it. It has a somewhat distinctive silhouette, shown on several comparative graphics of high-profile skyscrapers. But none of that is even close to the real thing. Not that it's higher than I expected; on the contrary. But it does look different; its color is much lighter than I thought, and the distinctive silhouette isn't as distinctive once you're standing right next to the building.
But, well, going up the building clearly shows that it is the tallest building of New York. There are other skyscrapers, but most of those seem to be little dwarves in comparison. The view is nice, up there, and I took some interesting pictures. The tickets aren't very cheap ($20), but not insanely expensive either. I don't regret doing this.
(in case you were wondering: yes, the above picture is in the point of view of the one above that, and vice versa)
By that time it was around 4 pm already, and I thought about going back to the Columbia campus. As I checked out my map for the most efficient route, I found that it probably would've been easier to walk to Times Square and take the number 1 train there which stops right in front of Columbia (but below the surface, obviously). So since I was going to have to go there, I figured I could just visit Times Square while I was at it.
I must say I'm not very impressed by it. For starters, Times Square isn't actually a square, at least not as I'm used to that word. Broadway and 7th avenue happen to cross at a, for Manhattan, uncharacteristically sharp angle, which results in more space between buildings than usual. But it's still fairly small as a "square". They've fenced off a part of that space and put a bunch of chairs and tables there. This would be a cosy and inviting, "gezellig" place, if not for the very audible noise of the traffic still going on all around it, and the fact that everywhere you see, there's three layers of brustling and visually noisy adverts. It could have been a relaxing oasis in the middle of the city, but instead it's just as busy as everywhere else in Manhattan.
But then, I guess that's what New York City is all about.
At any rate, after spending about half an hour or so there, I walked over to the subway to get back to the venue—just in time for dinner. The end of a nice, touristy, day.
Sun, 25 Jul 2010
There
Yesterday, I've arrived in New York City for the annual Debconf. Well, that is, today's the first day of Debcamp, and obviously not that many people have arrived yet. Since I arrived a day early, I'd also booked a hotel room for one night. But that's okay, it allowed me to sleep off my jetlag—not that I had much of it, but anyway.
Today, then, I signed in to the dormroom. Turned out I was the first non-organizer to do so, and that there wasn't even anyone in the hacklab yet. Well, that's what you get for being so early, I guess.
Not quite sure yet what to make of the weather. When the plane touched down yesterday, the captain announced over the PA that the outside temperature was 99 degrees Fahrenheit (some 37 degrees Celcius), which is hot, especially when added to the rather high humidity. You walk outside for five minutes, and you're sweating like a pig. Today started off on the same foot, but then about an hour ago or so it started raining, and it hasn't stopped yet; and it doesn't feel like what I would call a regular summer thunderstorm, either. Bit weird.
But then, who cares about rain at a computer conference, right? Right.
Wed, 17 Feb 2010
Booked flights
Whee.
As usual, I'll be there the whole time, both for debcamp and debconf. In addition, since I'll be halfway there anyway, I'll be paying my niece a visit after the conference; she lives in Portland, OR.
Should make for a good holiday, I would say.
Thu, 30 Jul 2009
The lying will stop
A few hours from now, this site will stop lying in its section of past events of the same type.
One might think I'd be happy about the end of lies; but given what it implies, not quite so.
I guess I can't wait until some other future site starts lying about past events.
We'll see.
Fri, 17 Jul 2009
Long Live Mass Travel (not)
I blogged a few days ago that I'd be leaving on the 14th to Cáceres, for a slated arrival on the 15th. However, as it turned out, I misread my tickets, and apparently they were valid for leaving on the 15th, arrival on the 16th.
So, my trip to DebConf was supposed to be:
- 2009-07-15 15:00 Mechelen - Brussels ~15:30
- 2009-07-15 16:13 Brussels - Paris Nord 17:36
- 2009-07-15 19:45 Paris Austerlitz - Madrid Chamartin 2009-07-16 09:10
- 2009-07-15 some time Madrid - Cáceres
Unfortunately, though, something in the neighbourhood of the Paris Nord trainstation caught fire, and the fire department required that, for safety reasons, the electricity be shut down in the Paris Nord trainstation (which is understandable). As such, my train was delayed for approximately two hours, and I missed my connecting train to Madrid. So they offered me another ticket to Irún, where I was to take the 8:25 (or some such) train to Madrid:
- 2009-07-15 15:00 Mechelen - Brussels ~15:30
- 2009-07-15 16:13 Brussels - Paris Nord 19:30
- 2009-07-15 19:50ish Paris Nord (subway) - Paris Austerlitz 20:05
- 2009-07-15 23:10 Paris Austerlitz - Irún 2009-07-16 07:32
- 2009-07-16 8:25 Irún - Madrid Chamartin
But then in Paris Austerlitz, the 23:10 train to Irún was delayed too, by about an hour. This meant that I just missed the train to Madrid as well. Additionally, I was smart enough to actually forget my Paris-Madrid ticket on the train at Irún station, so I had to go back to Habaye right across the French/Spanish border (a four minute tram ride) to fetch it. When I got back to Irún, I had 15 minutes left before the train to Pamplona:
- 2009-07-15 15:00 Mechelen - Brussels ~15:30
- 2009-07-15 16:13 Brussels - Paris Nord 19:30
- 2009-07-15 19:50ish Paris Nord - Paris Austerlitz 20:05
- 2009-07-16 00:10 Paris Austerlitz - Irún 08:30something
- 2009-07-16 09:17 Irún Colón - Hadaye 09:23
- 2009-07-16 10:03 Hadaye - Irún Colón 10:07
- 2009-07-16 10:30 Irún - Pamplona 13:...
- 2009-07-16 14:35 Pamplona - Madrid Puerta de Atocha 17:38
Originally, my arrival was to be 09:10 in Madrid Chamartin. With the train Madrid-Cáceres leaving at 16:something, I had not bothered to buy a ticket yet, instead planning to see whether a bus was leaving sooner than that (and if not, I was going to be buying a ticket in Madrid, rather than at home). But now, with all these delays, I couldn't even take that 16:something train. Goody.
Anyway, turned out that there was still a train from Puerta de Atocha at 19:09, which got me in Cáceres at 23:00. Plenty late, but at least I got here now.
Whee!
Mon, 13 Jul 2009
Debconf9
I'm a bit late in announcing this, I guess, but...
I'm leaving tomorrow evening, in fact. Still shitloads to do, but I'm sure I'll get there.
See you all there!
Some mail is welcome in /dev/null. Real mail, however, is welcome at my email address
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