A hard days work

Tomorrow I try to be earlier to write, because I had something beautiful on the screen when the sytem failed posting it.

Goodnight,
Jan

Never return

Running isn't easy when you start. It's hard to take the first step.
The American James Fix said that only the first step counts. The rest will follow.
Today I had the first training of my 12-weeks scedule which hopefully leads me to run 1 hour continiously. (last Saturday I just tried my shoes)
Today I started with 40 minutes run, divided in blocks of 20, 10 and 10 minutes. Between the blocks I walked 1 minute.
I did it, I made it and now I can hardly walk 5 meters.
This week I got at least 2 more runs. (my heartbeat was 118 bpm immediately after the run. It's a hard life in the mountains.)

Now several questions and facts raise in my mind.
- Do I have also such a heartbeat on my bike?
- Is running healthy?
- How did I run 42.195 kilometer in 1995?
- 10 Years ago I had a heartbeat just after running of 80 bpm.

My conclusion of today
- Biking isn't an extreme sport.
- My running-condition isn't very good.
- 10 years ago I used my time well.
- the last 10 years are are fysically not my best years.
- I can change direction of my life but I won't return.

Saturday

This weekend got to buy runningshoes and a "spoiler" for my bike.
I bought my runningshoes and they fit immediately, the mudspoiler is for a next time, Santa Claus or Christmas.

I didn't run for a year now and when I ran in those days it was on my old shoes from the mid nineties. I had Saucony Shadow (I believe the number was 6000). Now I bought Saucony again however a different lighter type, ic Trigon 2. I hope/think the price (120 Euro) is worth it.
At 17.00 I did some running through the city, after only 30 minutes I felt my muscles, those I never use with cycling.

Hopefully the injury in my left knee stays away for a while so the knee can grow stronger.

Something else, when I was browsing I came on the Douwe Egberts site with a typical Dutch habit, saving points when buying coffee of the Dutch brand. It still exists, spaarpunten, it's like airmiles when you travel by air. Only one has to save the points from the coffee package.

Weekend again

I have been the family weatherman and now I'm living through these weeks again, again and again. Yes it's groundhogDay.

Outside maximum temperatures were on the 23rd just below freezingpoint. It was a foggy day. Cause there was no wind, temperatures didn't rise. But the day after the sun was back though it cold wasn't gone. Today temp have rissen till 8 degrees C. I'll be cycling tomorrow.

What's happening?

What's happening where? At home? In the Oekraine? In Iraq?
I don't know. Sometimes the best thing one can do is turn off radio, television and internet, read mo papers and magazines, don't speak with people and prevent hearing conversations of others.
To prevent knowing something one could get himself locked up in a prisoncell.

This is what happens to the killer of Van Gogh and the other terrorists who were arrested. Okay, bully them guards!

Wednesday

Woke up, went to work, came home, brought my cycle to the store for a first service, cooked, watched PSV reaching the 2nd round Championsleague and went to bed.

troubles, quarrels, fights

The last 5 years are relatively quiet in my personal surroundings.
There was nothing to bother about in the last 6 months. Really nothing. (?)
Of course there was. I left my mothers birthday party 6 months ago and since then I'm not on speaking terms with my brother anymore. The relationship with my mother has weakened. This all has to do with money my father owes my mother due to their divorce 25 years ago.
After going up and down again I left my father too. He met a woman with whom he started a bed & breakfast, a kind of hotel and a cafe for some years. And in July time came to repay the dept. He had to sell all on legal santion.

To tell it the short way, my mother is a millionaire, my father a clochard.
I hate it in some ways and that's what the argument is about.

911 hours, 911 days, rufen sie neun eins eins an!!

In the Netherlands we're working too much, aren't we?.
According to the Minister of Economic Affairs the workload isn't enough. We only work an average of 911 hours a year per employee! (It's funny that figure.
Notice, there are also 911 days between the murder on Pim Fortuyn (May 6 2002) and Theo van Gogh (November 2 2004).
There are many parttimers and 460,000 unemployed people. If this is a sign of the state of our country, I say Minister do something!

But for individuals the solution can't be to work longer because there is no extra work. With my 36 hours a week I've a full time job. Every extra hour may be wasted. (In a normal year I make 1692 hours.)
The average figure (911) can be increased by creating work or reducing the number of people who live in the Netherlands.

After the assault on Theo van Gogh many people want to flee the country. This is the solution of the problem of the Minister.
I think that his public servants should do some research again. Then our Minister can make his comments on a basis of new figures.

I don't mind who is leaving but I'll be relieved if a lot will go away. Maybe 8 million people is enough. 50% Can leave this small enclave at the northsea.
I'm thinking about emigrating too, not in the near future though. When I'm 60 or so, plenty of time.

New blog and running shoes

Well, I created myself a new blog. It can be found on achternamiddag, which means late in the afternoon. The site is in Dutch and I won't write as often as on Jansblog. I still will improve my English.

This morning was very cold. the first time this autumn we had some ripe on the roofs.
A colleague of mine is 1,500 Kilometers north to visit her grandmother in Sweden. I heard it is snowy out there with temp about 0 degrees celsius.

I 'm off to buy some running shoes to try it again after years of not running. My colleague mand the site of Oliver invites me to get running again. Mind that my first marathon was 3.53 hours.

Heating?

Saturday, it's dark already, the evening has fallen. It's a cozy at home. The central heater does it's work. The flames light up every now and then when the heater is triggered. It's much more cozy than the central heating were used to. What's in my house is old fashion.
But
But it's cold outside and the hail, snow and rainshowers make it uncomfortable to transport oneself on a bike through the city. Coming home, soaked or cold to the bones makes the heater very usefull.

I wonder what you all use, coales, briquetes, gaz, oil or even wood?

Not at home

I only know by now that I can use blogger at other places to blog my thoughts. At work?

Maybe at lunchtime. I have to create one blog in Dutch so OI can write quicker and express my thoughts easier.

But it's an experience to write in English.

A quote from the blogosphere

"
Hello soldier of God,

Ain't it good to go home, instead staying alive in Iraq?
In the US and elsewhere in the world you are needed, really needed. In the Iraqi turmoil you are the sitting duck which creates the terrorists (beyond the imported terrorism).

No, you can better go home and prevent abortion, prevent killing the unborn child. Wake up and kill the useless doctors, the abortionists. Become a radical christian, instead of being a wise guy in a place where you don't belong. Use the bible as your weapon and kill ritually with your own hands.

Yeah, you want more killings of the unrighteous in the streets, unchristian people, with a different believe or no believe at all.
Pray that it won't be you who is going to die because there is so much to accomplish for your dear god. Praise the orthodoxy.
Keep on worshipping, the last days might be upon you.

Proboscis monkey
"

Surprizes?

The week is full of surprizes. Name one? Uhhh?
Well, for instance Hnk has a sister who has a blog too. Remember they are only 15 and 16 years old.
My sadness of yesterday was no real surprize if one considers this blog as a job too. But a night sleep and doing some other work also helped. Though the underlying cause is still there.

The fact that Margereth Hassan was murdered makes Iraq look like a country at war... boing!!! Yes, that's an understatement!
But I hope those murderers don't gain support from her bruteless execution.

When I looked at where my pageviews came from I noticed this - Lockheed-Martin Corporation, United States.

Lockheed and the Netherlands that can't go together. Lockheed bribeb prince Bernard of the Netherlands. With other words the now 93 years old Bernard wasn't as reliable as we thaught he was. And now she reached the final stage in life. He has cancer and won't be helped.

World, don't suffer and have a calm night.

Depressed

I felt very uncomfortable in my job the last couple of days. It weren't off-days but I felt a little depressed. I feel a lack of concentration. Did I sleep too little? I think so, according to this log the weekends were not full of sleep and to get enough sleep vitamins I got to use the weekends.
Yes I know I am boring.

Size matters

The 7.5 gigabyte photograph of TNO Delft might be the largest digital panoramic view in the world.
It might take some time to upload. Size matters.

Things you do when you're free

The weekend was good for me.
I read some newspapers, a book, cooked delicious meals, bought some pants, made a showercurtain in my small badroom, did some household tasks (I should get a wife or a housekeeper ;) ), repaired the light on my bike and cycled a short distance with beautiful weather.

And today nothing really happened.

History

In land we gained from the sea (the Flevopolder) a canon was found last week.
The canon is in a very rusty shape and old (16th century). When it'll be restorated, the canon is another example of life before creating a lake from a sea.
In those days when it was the bottom of the sea ships sailed there to go from Amsterdam to Frisia (Friesland), Kampen, Hardewich (Harderwijk).
At the shore near the findingplace of the remains of the ship there were 2 castles and maybe there was warfare too to control the seaway and the trade between the villages, cities of the Republic of the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands.

Update:
cycle stats:
about 26 k
about 1 hr
(counter didn't work)

Yassar Arafat

Wendy signals the media used the passive tense about the bad condition of Y. Arafat. In the USA it maybe came without a warning. But Arafat went to Paris Percy military hospital. And there were the rumours as if he slipped into a coma. After days the world knew Arafat was in coma and that the medics were almost planning the day he could die. That's the day of Yassar Arafats dead.
Arafat had many enemies, less true friends. The only friend he had were his brothers in arms. Arafat was a terrorist who became a dictator and in between he was best possible option to gain peace in the middle east.
From the spokesman of the French hospital I heard this:
"Mesdames et messieurs, ce matin a trois heure et demi Yassar Arafat a décédé."

A décédé, has died, Arafat dead, it's all the same but the tone is somehow different. Don't wonder why.

I gonna read my book, Hotel Honolulu.

As Samawa

Also at the playground, but most important is that children have enough food. The pity of the UN embargo achieved that Saddam Hussein didn't feed the Iraqi children.
the dude was here too

repairing childrens playground

Happy children in As Samawa.
the dude was here too

Pulling out our troops

In Iraq the Dutch have a contingent of about 1450 soldiers.
The Dutch were ambivalent about staying or leaving when we've done our term.
Well, the ministers have decided to withdraw the Dutch military in the second half of March. All according to plan.

It might be sad for the people of the provinde of Al Muthanna. Anyway we are occupiers and got to go as soon as possible.

A disgusting and sick chairman.

The Dutch political party LPF has a chairman in Rotterdam who tells real f*cking lies. He told the police of threatenings of himself, his party and its members by an Islamic group.
Police investigated the statement and concluded that the chairman himself made the threatenings under the name of an Islamic group.

Well, it's -Sint Maarten- here. A kind of Halloween. Trick or treat.
It's tricky nowadays.

What is going on?

Tonight there was a shooting in The Hague. 3 Persons barricaded a house when the police wanted to arrest them. They threw a grenade at the cops. Followed by gunfire.
3 Policemen were injured. After another shooting police negogiated with the men. Where they come from isn't clear. But the media says they are North Africans. In the late afternoon police overwhelmed the unknown gunners. At least one was wounded.
The Dutch National Criminal Investigation possibly had interest in the people in the house. They were linked with the murderer of Van Gogh.
In the evening 2 arrests were made.

Yesterday an Islamic school was attacked and set on fire. It burned down . This has a link to the Van Gogh murder and the White Power-thing. So this is racism too. And what do we do? We only worry because we can express ourself. In fact we don't say what we want to say to the Dutch authorities. Only on October 2 there were 300,000 people screaming when our rights were at stake. But now the right to feel secure is in danger and we just do nothing.... Whose schools are set on fire? Don't we have to support them?

In my province there has been one arrest related to the The Hague incident.
There are networks in The Netherlands relating fundamental Islamic groups, at least police think there are. Shown the things happened, one must bear that in mind. The Islamic people are afraid too, as many confessional and non-confessional Dutch are. An assault of a certain brigarde doesn't discriminate.
These cells are the sick minds, filled with hate and anger.

At work there was a discussion between our chef and the oldest employee. They had different opinions. That was a funny thing to see. A boss who has to admit she can't agree, but also I agreed with my boss.

Work was a piece of cake again.
I'm also working on the reinvestment. (bankingstuff)

So I'm off duty now at 23.15 pm.
Goodnight, have a nice day.

Commuting and more

In a newspaper I read today was an article about unemployment, finding a job and being prepared to remove for a job.

In The Netherlands people aren't prepared to move 200 kilometers West to accept a new job for which they're overqualified. Of course there are exceptions. My downstairs neighbor is from the east and came to Utrecht some 30 years ago. (certainly not common in the mid seventies)

My family went south cause my father followed the employer. (early seventies) But later on we went north again.
My brother accepted a job via a jobagency at the westcoast of the country in the late nineties. And I found a job after being unemployed for a year in the mid of The Netherlands. (August 2002)
To stay in this job of me I had to travel 400 k, 5 hours a day. There aren't many people who do that voluntary. But in the USA there are lots of them, aren't there?

I just heard that the Italian mr. Buttiglioni, one of the possible European Union commissioners, was the right hand man of pope John Paul II.
If the Commission was put forward and being chosen by the EU parliament then the possibility existed that catholic influences would slip into the decisionmaking process of the European Union.
That means the end of a secular society.

One has to be so cautious by electing final decisionmakers. The various cultures in the EU are a big problem if they all wanna have a big slice of the pizza. Small nations living in a subculture which doesn't fit in anywhere have to take or leave the EU. It depends on if the EU is valuable for them or not.

Pogrom?
What means the Russian word pogrom?
It happened to the jews in Nazi Germany.
Now it happens in The Netherlands on the Muslim community.
One school burned down to the ground, other attempts are made.
Hopefully police can dam this flow of agression. (I must say I was also a little fucked up in the beginning) It's wrong.
On the other side there might be a Muslim brigade called Al Tawheed brigade who says that they will revenge the attacks on people and authorities.

Wooooh I'm trilled ;-)
Fuck Christian and Islam fundamentalism!!!

last 10 visits
1. 9 November 09:42 Department of Veterans Affairs, United States
2. 9 November 15:52 Qwest Communications Int., United States
3. 9 November 18:14 Wanadoo Nederland B.V., Netherlands, The
4. 9 November 18:17 United States (nfor.com)
5. 9 November 18:32 America Online, United States
6. 9 November 18:34 Allegiance Telecom Inc., United States
7. 9 November 18:35 AT&T, United States
8. 9 November 18:46 State of Tennessee, United States
9. 9 November 20:59 Wanadoo Nederland B.V., Netherlands, The
10. 9 November 21:05 State of Tennessee, United States

I wonder who they are. Anyway thanks passing by.

The weekend was worth it

Monday... A workingday.... It's done.... I didn't feel well... Didn't sleep enough. Fridaynight 5 hours, Saturday 7 hours and Sunday 6.5 hours.
This weekend was worth it, though I cycled too little.

The news was hot this weekend. There were many opinionmakers to talk about the Van Gogh slaughter.
Personally I'm afraid that the neighborhood won't be safe at night anymore. We must be aware of pogroms on possessions of Moroc-Dutch citizens.
I appreciate the fact that the Moroc people have absolutely rejected and disapproved the murder. They disgust it as much as the Dutch do.

To quote Wendy..

"So, for now at least, I am going to give up blogging. Maybe this will be temporary, maybe it will be permanent, I don't know yet. ...." according to Wendy. Wonder how long she enjoys life without blogging.

Today at noon I watched a political programm, after that I cycled an hour (beautiful autumn-like weather).
In the next months I hope to start reading again. For a start I bought a novel of Paul Theroux.

Stats
26.29 k
28.96 k/hr
54:30 min
40 k/hr (max)
483 k (total on new bike)

first pictures -exploring the track-

The cycling team Ledig Erf.
The third rider with the red helmet is me.
You can find more on http://www.ledigerf.nl/fietsclub/ choose foto's 2004 and scroll to the bottom of the page.

from hnk's blog of November 6 I learned this
"tuesday:
Here I am, write to you again, in spite of the bad situation around me...yesterday when I heard that boush won and the American soldiers will began to attack al_faluja, I began to cry and I couldn't stop, and my head ache me, So I went to bed without finishing my homework as should I do,in the morning when we went to school there was check point, That give me a little moment to look to the book and check my information, When we were in the road to school, One of the girls who is with us in this taxi shout" oooh look at our school, it is not there"We look to her and wonder" what she is talking about?" that is not our school, That is one of many building that Americans destroyed it in the war.some times you feel that you are not in the same area that you lived all yor life."

I think this is an alarmous symptom of the war on terrorism.
Remind Hnk is a 15/16 year old girl.

the dude was here too

Do you Care?

It was a wonderful day. After work I went to the city center to buy clothes and as I am a typical male I don't do that often and I actually don't like it. But tonight the city center was crowded because of the weekly Thursday shoppingevenings. Also much police was on the street. Maybe it had to do with the international football game between FC Utrecht and Djnepropetrovk from Russia.

In town I had a short talk with a fundraiser of Care Netherlands a branch of Care international. They don't advertise, maybe the reason why I didn't know the name as a humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. However the are known globally because Margareth Hassan is taken hostage in Iraq.
As I do have many visitors from all over the world (especially USA at the moment), visit Care too.

update: October 16 2004 Margareth Hassan is shot by her hostagetakers.

At the moment the police arrested 8 people in the assault on Van Gogh.
They seem to be very radical Islamic according to the notes on Van Goghs body. The sheepsuckers (Van Gogh called them sheepfuckers) from the Rif area in Morocco against the free western world. (the Madrid and Casablanca assault was the work of Moroc attackers)
It tends to be a fight between religions.
Maybe this is a war of the gods. The Islamic God hurt the Christian world on Tuesday and now the Islamic God is almost down one with Yassar Arafat's dead.
Let me just watch the ballgame between the gods. The war on both worlds.
You can find me on a hill with the most spectacular view.

Speak English lads,

......Jan is coming, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
When I pass by my colleagues they often say these words. It must be because of my blog. I have to smile about that.
Yes, the future is less bright, democratic America lost. Kerry accepted his defeat.
It's a pity for the world, it's a pity for America.
But let's keep our heads up. Be proud to defend your values and morals as a democrate. I'm proud to be European-Dutch.
(Oops, I becoming more and more a nationalist)

It must be the murder of Theo Van Gogh which my changed my attitude to the world, Muslim fundamentalism and the need of freedom of speech.
Van Gogh was our opinionmaker, he spit out what wasn't allowed to be said. He was a revolutionary, but nobody dare to follow. He was the fool in the village, everyone knew him and no one would harm.
He did his work to come up for our rights of freedom of speech by the art work Submission part-1.

This day was not a day of laughter. Sadness came over me.
Yeah, but I won a trophy for rider with most bad luck.

Don't grieve too long over there...
We don't too.

Theo van Gogh murdered on November 2

This is important very bad news. I heard at work there was a shooting in Amsterdam. One person died, a policeman was wounded.

I couldn't imagine it was Theo van Gogh. Right, he has his own opinion about fascism, left democrats, islam and movies.
Shot by a Muslim Moroc guy of 26, religious slaughtered with a knife, 2 knives in his brest and belly with a written pamphlet, another shots.
This is intolerable revenge likely because Van Gogh said trivial things about the Islam.
He was writer, producer, moviemaker, opninionleader/maker, the Dutch Michael Moore.
One of his latest protest, a movies of 15 minutes called submission-part 1 was really an anti-Islamic pamphlet. It's a movie in which the negative consequences of Islam for many women are visible in the with sentences from the Koran calligraphed body of a female. Submission is a protest.
Maybe that is the reason he's killed, murdered, slaughtered by an anonym islamofascist.

What can we do?
We don't alter our moral because of the islamofascist. Anyway we don't change. We shall not give in because of terror.
Our enfant terrible is our enfant terrible, what the murderer did is unforgivable.
In what kind of world are we living? In one tolerance is dying?
I don't wanna be a right wing adept, but I don't tolerate much right now.

Stupid people got no reason......to live?

a reaction on someone's weblog

Jesus Christ have you ever been abroad? Europe is not very happy with your Dumbya..Okay that's not your opinion. Your attitude is "Of course we know the Last Days are upon us,....". That's the worst I ever heard.

A doomsday scenario...what will you do to prevent it? Praying to God as hard as you can? You think to simplistic.
What you should do is paying respect to the world. To those Iraqi and Afgan people.
Respect people who think different and don't believe in any God.
Last days scenario, I think that you fogs in America who have this thought don't know history (America has no history like Europe has).

In Europe we got to go back to the middle ages when there where terrible diseases, bad harvests, cold winters, wars, thieves, criminals and people like you believing in the end of the days.Well Europe came out of it and how. It discovered the world and indeed America.
Europe had golden era, ages and The Netherlands ruled the seas.
And now you're talking about a last days scenario. Yeah sure, Dumbya is one of your saints.

Stupid! Sign the Kyoto protocol. Do whatever you can to save the world and leave it a little better for future generations.

Back to normal!

* It is said that America will gain respect of the world again when Kerry wins;
* It is said that prime minister Balkenende of The Netherlands owes his position to the worldpolici of Bush;
* It is said that there will be a massive chance in attitude to the world if Bush remains in power;
* It is said that Bush will appologize for the things he said to the European people;
* It is said that these election will be mean when voting and counting the votes;
* It is said that losing elections Bush will drink again.....

Americans Bon Chance in voting your president!

I've got a photograph of a drive-in movie theatre. Chevrolets, Cadillacs, Buicks, etcetera are parked in front of a screenplay; An airplane and beneath the plaines of waving grass. Maybe a testflight, you know the cold war, at the end of the 50's.
On the background, limiting the area of the drive-in cinema, a huge locomotive (nr 1242) with wagons, all of Norfolk and Western.

What did I do today.... uhhh checking invoices, checking maintenance cost of yet another creditor. They got a lot of wrong posts in their invoice.
Many of the clients who have a wheelchair are dead and buried a long time ago. Why do they still invoice the cost of maintenance? Because we don't do our work correctly? Partly, these checks should have been implemented long ago. But also the creditor didn't take the right action when the reveiced a letter to pick up the wheelchair from the clients address and termininate the contract. That includes terminating the maintenance cost.

It's getting dark at 5.30 pm. Summertime is over. Back to normal!