The People's Republic of Fub
The People's Republic of Fub |
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| May. 19th, 2013 @ 12:13 pm Nijmegen Metro Network | |||
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 This weekend, I created a map of the (very much non-existent) Nijmegen metro network. ( Playing around with cartographyCollapse ) |
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| May. 18th, 2013 @ 05:32 pm Legal implications of using magic | |||
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This past week, I pondered the legal implications of using magic in my Streamdales campaign. pensive |
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| May. 17th, 2013 @ 09:35 pm Final pin | |||
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 amused The 'end boss' of pins: my pin of Gundam Front Tokyo. They're only available from two gashapon (capsule toy) machines that stand behind the life-sized Gundam statue in front of Diver City Odaiba in Tokyo. This being a gashapon machine, you never know which one you're going to get -- and of course the numbers of the pins vary... I got lucky: I got the rare pin on my first (and only) try! This is easily the most nerdy, specialised pin I have (along with the NERV-pin I got three years ago). And so I chose it as the 'end boss' of my pin week! Right when I got into the elevator from the parking deck to the reception, I got asked by a random worker what I was wearing. I started to explain, but then she realised I was not a colleague, and she was a bit embarassed by her surprised reaction. ;) This week, I learned that if you have a reputation for being a bit eccentric, you can get away with wearing weird pins and everyone will see them and politely ignore them. I think I'll make use of that later on! |
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| May. 16th, 2013 @ 08:58 pm Finally a comment on a pin | |||
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During lunch, finally someone commented on my pin. "Hey, is that a little devil?" Posted via LiveJournal app for Android. |
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| May. 15th, 2013 @ 07:12 pm Second PIN day | |||
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 Today was the second day I wore one of my pins to the client where I was on Monday. I'm sure they saw it, but no-one commented on it. Tomorrow, we'll up the ante! |
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| May. 14th, 2013 @ 09:02 pm Kickstarter RPGs | |||
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I've backed two RPG projects on Kickstarter today. excitedOne is OVA, the Anime Roleplaying Game. It's been around for quite a few years, and this kickstarter will see a new and revised edition produced. Apparently  nikogeyer (who drew our wedding card, part of which is my default user pic on LJ!) is doing/updating the artwork, and it's going to be a full-color book. The reviews of the system are interesting.The other is Golden Sky Stories, by nekoewen. I'd love to see more Japanese RPGs translated, and for $10 I'm getting a PDF of the game (along with the many, many stretch goal rewards) which I'll gladly bind into a handsome book. And this is an interesting one, where you play an animal spirit with magical powers that lives in a rural Japanese town. |
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| May. 13th, 2013 @ 09:03 pm Pin | |||
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 determined Today I went to a client that I have done quite a few things for. I have a really good (working-)relationship with my contact there, and we know quite a bit about each other's private lives. He had expressed interest in visiting Japan before, so when we went again, I asked him if he wanted to be on the mailing list for the travel reports. He did, so he got the mails every day. I try to get a pin from every (remotely) touristy thing we visit, so they featured quite a lot in my reports. So today I wore my Lee Ufan pin on my lapel. No-one saw it. Or, if they noticed, they didn't comment on it. True, the pin is a bit understated. Let's see them ignore the 400th anniversairy pin for the Tokugawa Shrine on Wednesday, when I visit them again! |
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| May. 13th, 2013 @ 08:59 pm (no subject) | |||
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Happy birthday,  festiveisabelgou! |
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| May. 6th, 2013 @ 08:10 am Adventures in pickling | |||
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One of the 'souvenirs' I brought back from Japan is a pickle press. I've improvised a pickle press before, by using a large bowl and a slightly smaller bowl on top of it, but that is far from practical. So when I found a pickle press in a store in Yufuin that sold household items, I immediately bought it. hungry( How I make quick cucumber picklesCollapse ) |
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| May. 4th, 2013 @ 09:59 pm New anime | |||
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What with that pesky vacation in the way, I haven't had time to watch the first episodes of the new season and write down my thoughts! So here goes: mellowHyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride: A sequel to the the not very good Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls. This first episode lasted all of thirty seconds -- then we recognised it and turned it off. Date A Live: There's this thing called 'spacequakes' now, where a section of the planet simply blows up and ceases to be. Itsuka finds out that these are caused by so-called 'Spirits', who enter this dimension. Some of his classmates are part of a unit that fights these Spirits, and his sister is their commander. And she gives Itsuka a mission: make the Spirits (who are, of course, all invariably female) fall in love with him so he can banish them. It's kinda stupid and fanservicey, but it reminds me of 'The World God Only Knows', which amused me a lot. Might check out the second episode of this to see if it's a keeper or not. Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru: This overly long title means so much as "As I thought, my teenage romantic comedy is mistaken". Our male protagonist is a bit of a misantrope, and doesn't have much patience for the idea that he should be 'celebrating his youth'. His teacher doesn't seem to think that will do, and forces him to join the Volunteering Club, which has a popular girl as its single member. She isn't impressed by him, but doesn't have much friends either herself... It reminded me a lot of Boku Ha Tomodachi Ga Sukunai, which we liked, but it seems a little less edgy, which might be good. Aku no Hana: Takao is kind of a loner, a nobody. He broods a lot, mainly about the school idol Nanako, whom he hasn't even spoken to. The series has a totally unique visual look, and manages to produce a dark, brooding atmosphere. (more later) |
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| May. 3rd, 2013 @ 09:11 pm Our vacation to Japan, and the pins I bought there | |||
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On Monday, we returned from our vacation to Japan. On Thursday we went back to work, which wasn't easy... okayDuring our trip, I kept an eye out for pin badges of the places we've been to, as a souvenir. I got quite a haul this time!  Top left is a pin I got from a gashapon-machine outside the trailer-shop of Gundam Front Tokyo, just behind the 'life-sized' Gundam model at Diver City Odaiba in Tokyo. I got only one, and I got the rare pin: a gold-foil version of a design of some sort of transport platform. Below is the text 'Gundam Front Tokyo'. Left below that is a pin to show support for the candidacy of Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics. I bought this on top of the Metropolitan Government Office. There's another pin like this, but it's rectangular -- I saw lots of civil servants wearing that type, it didn't seem to be for sale. Next to that is a pin of the Metropolitan Government Office, with it's cathedral-like two towers. I got this from a gashapon-machine on one of the observation decks on top of that building. Under the Tokyo 2020 pin is a pin of the mascot of Studio Uamou, eating an icecream. I bought it from the designer herself. Next to that is a pin of a sparrow, made by the Japanese bird protection society which I bought in Shinjuku Gyoen. Under the Uamou pin is a pin I bought in the Lee Ufan museum on Naoshima, depicting one of the shaded forms painted on the walls of the meditation room in the museum. There were different colors available, but I chose the grey, just like it is on the walls. (Also: most expensive pin ever: 1000 yen!) Next to that is a pin celebrating 400 years of the Tokugawa shrine in Nikko (deservedly a World Heritage site) in 2015. The 'mon' on the pin are the three hollyhock leaves of the Tokugawa clan. Underneath that is a large pin of Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavillion in Kyoto. The two pins underneath depict Nijo Castle, the shogun's castle in Kyoto. On the right, at the top, is a pin showing the floating torii of Miyajima. Curiously enough, it has a little bell attached to it -- haven't seen that in a pin before! Underneath that, to the left, is a pin I got from a gashapon machine in Yufuin, depicting an oni (Japanese devil) at one of the more sulfuric hot springs of the area. Next to that is Kumomon, the mascot of the Kumoto prefecture, which I bought in Aso which is in that prefecture. Kumomon was also on the packaging of the damp towels we got before dinner... Underneath that, to the left, is a pin of the Nippon Maru, a sail ship of the Japanese merchant marine school. We saw this ship in Nagasaki, where it was for the Tall Ship Festival. Next to that is a pin of the mascot of Nagasaki city, which I bought at Dejima. Unfortunately, there were no pins of Dejima itself. Underneath that, to the left, is a pin of the Glover Gardens, a kind of theme park where all Western-style houses are gathered. The gardens are lovely, but the buildings themselves are being neglected, which is a pity. The pin was only sold as a set with a bookmark, too. Next to that is a pin I got from a gashapon machine in Fukuoka. It depicts the pickled cod roe that Fukuoka is famous for. Luckily, I managed to avoid eating that. ;) Last is a pin of a Daruma doll which I bought on Fukuoka airport. I don't know what it is, but I like Daruma dolls, so I couldn't pass this one up. I will need to make a new box to keep these pins in, as well! |
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| Apr. 16th, 2013 @ 12:48 am Some pics from Japan | |||
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Some of these have already appeared on Twitter, some not. ( PicspamCollapse ) |
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| Apr. 10th, 2013 @ 02:51 pm Life-sized Gundam 'model' | |||
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Yesterday we went to Odaiba, to see the 1:1 scale Gundam 'model' that's in front of Diver City Odaiba. You have to see this thing up close to appreciate the size of the thing. Here's two shots that I made from up close -- using my camera's panorama setting.  |
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| Apr. 6th, 2013 @ 08:45 pm (no subject) | |||
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The hardest part of preparing for a vacation is leaving the cats behind at the kitty boarding house. Yuzu was terrified, but we got a mail about half an hour after we dropped them off that they were exploring already. There's two of them, they'll be fine. And the folks there really love the cats and take excellent care of them, so there's no reason to be as distressed as we are. anxious |
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| Apr. 4th, 2013 @ 09:53 pm 24 hour relay race | |||
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A colleague of ours is the youth-trainer for an athletics club. His charges had gotten the idea to do something for charity: a 24-hour relay race. It had been done before, and they wanted to do it again. The charity in question is 'Spieren voor Spieren' ("Muscles for Muscles", a charity that sponsors research into muscle diseases). He had convinced TNJ to pay EUR 25 for every employee who would join in. We doubled that ourselves. accomplishedIt sounded like fun, so we signed up for 12:00 to 13:00. And it was indeed fun: there weren't too many people in our time-slot, so we got to run quite a bit. Some of the runners had been at it since the beginning and were running on only 1.5 hours of sleep... In the end, we ran 2400 meters. Not much, but running and then waiting every 200m is quite hard because you just can't get into a rythm... And it was quite cold, but luckily it didn't snow like it had done the day before... ( Pics or it didn't happen!Collapse ) |
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| Apr. 3rd, 2013 @ 07:54 am (no subject) | |||
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Happy birthday, festivestarkodama! |
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| Apr. 1st, 2013 @ 08:38 am Defrosting a warehouse | |||
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And here I thought that the freezer compartment in our fridge was a nightmare. Instead, take a look at a meat storage facility that had been at the same location for 90 years... Epic defrost indeed! impressed |
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| Mar. 18th, 2013 @ 07:06 pm Vacation folders | |||
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Saturday, we got the big envelope with our vacation papers from the post office. It had been sent by registered mail -- and of course we both work so we had it delivered at the post office instead so we could get it at our leisure.excitedIt's mostly folders of the places we'll be visiting. We're really looking forward to it. And we have been 'infected' by Japanese tourism: we're already planning on what to eat when we get there. :P |
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| Mar. 15th, 2013 @ 08:58 pm Cat status report | |||
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The cats are doing fine. Getting sterilised was stressfull for them -- especially for Yuzu, who spent three days avoiding us after she got home. Mikan was her sociable self at the end of the day again. But now Yuzu has completely turned around, and they're even more adorable than before. loved(One thing that Yuzu does is go to the bathroom with us when we brush our teeth. She gets very friendly then, wanting to be petted and purring like a lawnmower. We guess she was a dentist in a previous life.) ( Here, have some picturesCollapse ) I still don't understand how someone could dump these kitties. I'm so glad they chose me as their new boss. |
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| Mar. 12th, 2013 @ 10:59 pm Going live | |||
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Tomorrow, I'm visiting a client site to be on stand-by during a go-live of their new infrastructure platform for our product. In the past months, I've been re-installing their stuff on new server VMs and consolidating their platform -- not very sexy, but the savings in hosting costs are tremendous, and the people are quite OK to work with. nerdyYesterday, the project manager mailed me: "We don't expect any problems when going live. In fact, two months ago someone accidentally activated the new production environment. It happily chugged along in Production for a month before we noticed it." ....right. I'm bringing a book! |
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relaxed