Another great departed...

Yesterday word got out: Rik Mayall passed away...

Rik Mayall was just 56 years of age and left behind 3 children and a wife.

No more Rick of the "Young Ones", no more Rich of "Filthy, Rich and Catflap", no more cameos in "Blackadder", no more Alan B'Stard of "The New Statesman", no more Fred of the movie "Drop Dead Fred" and no more narrator of the "Grim Tales"... To name but a few!

A great comedian, a great man! Richard will be missed!

More on Rik can be found HERE!

Happy Easter

Everybody's off, hoping for nice weather...

Here's a little sumthing to make you smile!

HAPPY EASTER!!

HBO Go or No Go?

Anyone been trying to watch the season's premiere of "Game Of Thrones" on HBO GO?
And? Saw anything? Or where you one of the many that suffered from the outage that hit HBO-GO?
If one provides a service like this, don't you think that one might have one's business in order...

How many HBO-GO people does it take to screw in a light-bulb? The answer could be: Not too many! Otherwise the light-bulb might POP.

I know this is a weird comparison, but the same thing happened March 31st in the Netherlands at the Tax Department: April 1st is the deadline to hand in your papers for income taxes. As a whole lotta people waited for that deadline (me included), the website of the Tax Department went down! JUST LIKE THAT!

As this is my field of work, I keep wondering if there isn't anyone anymore that has eye for systems vulnerability like overload or load-balancing?

As for season 4 episode 1 of  "Game Of Thrones"...
Honey, we'll be watching it on Channel One on Apple TV. ASAP. 

I just checked: It's here already!!!

Harry Potter

We got one happy kid...

Colin scored maximum on his CITO (test for Middle School) and wants to go to College Hageveld in Heemstede, which is just a couple of miles further ahead.

Ever seen one of those Harry Potter movies? Remember the wizard school he is attending? Hogwart (Zweinstein)? Hageveld is generally compared to that school.

As it is a rather pretentious school, it is normal that there are more applications than there are places for the kids. This means that there usually is a raffle to get admitted.

This year there are just about as much applications as there are places, so he got accepted without the raffle!

ONE HAPPY KID!!!

So now we need to start practice runs (by bike) to get him used to getting to school; he needs to learn the route as he needs to be aware of the distance and the time to get there. And now I hear you: "Isn't there any public transport?" Yes, there is, but when the weather is OK, there is no need to take the bus... Did you get to ride the bus to school when you could walk or ride your bike??? I didn't and it didn't kill me!

Auction!

The Dutch government is transferring the elderly care to the local governments; e.g. the local government needs to provide care for the elderly with a budget that the Dutch government has set...

With this budget, local governments are "buying" care with the care providers. But since the budgets do not suffice, the local governments need to make most of what they got.

The solution they came up with... AUCTION!!!
(read this piece in the Dutch newspaper)

The care provider that is the cheapest can get the contract... That is the way the Dutch done it all along: The VOC mentality... (VOC is the Company that sailed around the world in the golden age to get herbs from India and slaves from Africa)

Welcome to the 21st century care system. 

Word to the wise: If you tend to get old, please stay healthy...

Just a lil sumpthin for tha weekend!

No big post, just something to get you through the weekend SMILING!!!

So SAD!

Ever had a dream of becoming this huge rock star or awesome performer?

THINK AGAIN!!!

It's all nice when you are on national TV or having a big gig... But when you have to earn a living with the money you get from the songs you (co-)wrote...

Read on...

Needles & more needles

OK,

Went to see another doctor to get a second opinion. This doctor does acupuncture to relieve the pain, or in my case get the ol' elbow going...
So you might call it Performance Enhancement Needle (PEN) therapy???

A-Rod eat your heart out: this is not banned by MLB, Selig or USADA...


And I can take more needles a time, without being accused of substance abuse!

It's Superbowl Time!

Whenever January is about to end, I'm always reminising on the "missed" Super Bowl XXXV...

January 29th, 2001(because we are 6 hours ahead of you Americans)

The date is engraved in my memory, not because of the missing out on the Super Bowl XXXV, but on the birth of my eldest son Michael!

My wife and I were upstairs in our bedroom, she with a huge belly, me with the remote control.

We were counting the time in between contractions, meanwhile watching the pregame ceremonies... Calling the midwife to be told that it might take another couple of hours! So on with the Super Bowl...

When only half an hour later, the time between contractions was getting really smaller, we called again: the response was that it was not yet time, impossible that it was this short between contractions. But she would be on her way to come check it...

15 minutes later, she arrived wondering how it was possible that my wife was so far that she was in labour already. Thank God my mother-in-law was already here to help out, 'cause there was no more time to call on the maternity assistant.

I never got to watch that Super Bowl, but it was OK. I was enjoying my new found Fatherhood (and still am) with my son: Michael Rubin.

Michael because... She said so. Rubin because of a man we both respected and should be respected by everyone: Rubin "Hurricane" Carter!

Today, just days before Super Bowl XLVIII, Michael turns 13... Today he became a real Teenager... So today I want to say: Happy Birthday Dude!

Nuts about Vinyl

A lot of you know that I cannot withstand the smell and look of vinyl records... I got a couple of records myself!

No matter where we go to, I always need to bring something. I even check on-line to look for record store in the vicinity...

To show our appreciation for the real deal, there is a Record Store Day!!! This year it the 5th in a row...

So... You can find me in a local record store on April 19th. as that is the day we celebrate!!! Spending my birthday money wisely!

Anyone up for 18 holes?

I ain't got the skills... I ain't got the gear... 
But I sure as hell got the elbow!

And it got nothing to do with baseball!!!

Then how comes I got it? I ain't playing no golf.
I ain't no pitcher! I throw lots of BP (batting practice for you illiterates).

The remedy? 

 
 "Keep doing what you do". "Take some drugs against the pain"...

I don't see myself getting a Tommy John at age 45!

So I will go with the meds!!!
 

Dear major of Amsterdam

Dear mayor van der Laan,

This morning the news reported that you say the police can stop preventive, extensive strip-search of the clubbing people in the centre of Amsterdam as less and less weapons are found...

So I would imagine that the cops no longer needed to frisk people will be freed up to arrest assh*les that gang up on innocent clubbers and beat the hell outta them. Even when they are down still kicking them in the head with all the injuries that you imagine as a result.

I assume that you will free up the money, to place more cameras to document the incidents? We all have seen the footage on TV & heard the outcome of the trial... Sentences are lower than normal, because of the use of these images that might have "damaged" the suspects!!! 

I am not saying that those cameras do not help, but men in blue (typical Dutch name for cops) do give a certain sense of safety when seen out there!

So, dear major van der Laan, if you do stop the frisking, please do not also take the policemen of the street...

Kind regards.

What is important?

So... How did Sinterklaas and/or Santa Claus treat you??? That of course depends on your behaviour over the past year...

But to get back to the title of this post... What is important?
What is important to me can be completely unimportant to you!
So you might think what is he going on about? WELL! 


Someone close got admitted to the hospital. He was not feeling well for a couple of weeks. He was poked at and tested for several things, but the end result was not what we all had hoped for...

He's going to be checked out even more over the next couple of days.
 

So to answer my own question: What is important?

To me... Now... My friend's health!