Op vakantie heb ik tijd genoeg om te breien in het zonneke (of de TGV).
En nu is het eindelijk zover! Mijn allereerste sok is een feit. En dat zonder ogen uit te steken in de TGV
Al denk ik dat ik iemand heb weggejaagd door te breien in de trein...

Zoals iemand in de trein Parijs - Nantes me erop wees, is mijn sok gebreid in de het kleurenpatroon van het interieur van de TGV waar we in zaten, al was dat niet mijn intentie.

De sok zelf is gebaseerd op het patroon van de sandaalsok van Regia, met een jojo-hiel (of boemeranghiel) en een aparte dikke teen. Het motiefje is dat van een andere sok uit dezelfde pdf.
bron: Regia - De techniek van het sokken breien.

Of ik nog een tweede paar sokken begin met die jojo-hiel weet ik niet goed. Ik heb een hekel aan dubbele steken samenbreien ondertussen. Ik vind dat het wat onhandig breit. Misschien ga ik me een "gewone" hiel laten ontdekken. Met name de hiel die mijn mama van haar mama heeft geleerd en die naar 't schijnt wat simpeler is om te breien. Ik ben benieuwd

Meer foto's :

Mom told me that I really, really, really should bring along all my camping gear to Belgium even if I haven't got a bike that fits into the TGV (don't question it ). And you know, you have to listen to your mom

So I spent my day shopping for the last few pieces of camping gear that had to be replaced after having served me several times. Like my Tefal cooking set, which has served me well for camping and during weekends @ the foyer but unfortunately has lost it's quite essential Tefal layer (it's one big cancerous pot now).

I don't know about you guys but when I'm browsing through sports/camping gear I always leave with something I didn't intend to buy
So I bought a new bike backpack... the plan was to buy a helmet actually, but I kinda didn't know what to choose at Decathlon (and I don't see myself biking with a baby pink woman's helmet, thank you very much). So I left without one and will get myself one @ Belgium.
The backpack however is marvelous. It is even equiped to strap your helmet onto it when you're not biking. Although I don't think I'll be doing that in the middle of the city...

Anyhow, if you know me well enough you know that packing up all my camping gear, makes me want to just attach it all to my bike and gooooooooooooo!!!!!!! (you can safely imagine me biking like a nut with all those red bags in the photo attached to my bike, oh and don't forget the huge happy grin on my face while doing so).

So right now I've got everything or almost everything packed and ready to go... but I can't leave yet... and worst of all, I'm not even leaving by bike!

I have to wait until Monday to take the train to Belgium. I did that on purpose actually, because it would force me to clean up the apartment and make sure I've got my plants taken care of and things like that. Aka some time to meditate over what I'll be doing @ Belgium when I arrive and stuff like that. I really feel like doing those 1000 km, despite having no bike of my own.

Mom told me I could borrow hers, but I'm a little affraid of it getting stolen since it's a new bike as well... I think I'll only accept to drive it when I've got like twenty locks to tie it down with.

In that line of thinking... Several people have told me that I even might see my stolen bike again when the police happens to stumble upon it... But I'm kinda hesitant about willing to see it again. I mean, if I absolutely positively know that they've half torn apart the bike, I think I'll just cry. I think it's better that I don't know what they're doing with it.

I think I'm just going to content myself with ordering a new one next month. I actually don't care about the money, I care about the bike. In mean while I'm back to driving the "old" Batavus whom actually should get some replacement parts but I'm kinda affraid that @ Culture Vélo they will have a waiting list of several months before they'll get to that. So I'm making due. It still drives very well, back and forth the shopping centre @ St-Herblain.

Stalplaats zoekt een wit paard van 2 maand oud dat luistert naar de naam 'trouw ros'.
Laatst gezien omstreeks 13u onderaan het gebouw Tilia 03.

De eerlijke vinder krijgt op zijn minste een goeie Belgische pint.
De door omstandigheden gewijzigde vakantieplanning volgt...

@work

Last week, we've had to resurrect the database of one our bigger clients. One of the tables had no auto-indexes available anymore and that's a big problem when you need to be able to write thousands of records in that table every day.
It took us a while to come to that diagnosis since MySQL was telling us that his index was corrupt...
Luckily, the client already knew this would happen some day. Because we had predicted this would happen around September, but the inevitable happened a little earlier.
After fixing the table (archiving records and removing the unnecessary auto-index) and the smallest refactoring of code I've done for the project so far, we launched the website again.
The client was very happy when it was all fixed and back online and even claims the database works faster now than it did before. *hurray*

We're also finally ready to launch We've launched one of our bigger websites (the Magento one). It's a big event but it has been dragging on for weeks. So we're all starting to feel a little tired about the project. But it's finally going to happen this Monday! it finally happened today yesterday
Let's hope it doesn't come back to spit in my face, because we really did all we could for the project.
The project hasn't spit back yet. But as it turns out real clients are a better test platform than the usual platform testers.

I saw one case where someone tried but did not succeed to inject bad things into the 'commande rapide'. And as far as dummieproofing goes, we've had one client already whom tried to add items to his cart using the manufacturer reference instead of the sku. And about 20 to 50 clients (depends on whether we're counting unique clients or not) so far whom have tried to use their email address as login, which doesn't work either. That's one of the disadvantages of changing websites, the client account stored into the client's browser on domain a.com doesn't quite get proposed as login for the new domain b.a.com...

Anyway, I've been having loads of fun doing emergency maintenance for multiple websites
But at least I feel less annoyed by the project today than I felt yesterday morning.
The downside is that the hosting company urgently needs to add more memory to the virtual machine to prevent the machine from going down once a day. Which they haven't done yet, but they should get to it right about now...

What the client didn't get yet is that they have to call themselves to the hosting company to resolve problems about the virtual machine because they have the contract with the hosting company and we don't. On top of that once the machine is frozen, I really can't do anything...

Anyway, it's time to get back to work

Hi all, I've got lots of things to tell, so I'm splitting things up in several posts so I don't mix subjects... hey, I'll even try to tell things chronologically

As you all know, I'm never really doing nothing. So when you don't hear from me I'm probably writing, programming, knitting, biking or doing some other hobby I've come up with. But sometimes I also meet up with my Belgian friends when you're not hearing from me

Two weeks ago (already! time flies...), M. and I met up in Paris to chitchat and visit the "Musée d'Orsay". It was really wonderful. I really like hanging out with him and even though I only managed to catch my TGV back to Nantes with two seconds to spare I am still enjoying the memory.

Btw, I don't think I've ever ran this hard to catch my train! I ran from the subway all the way to the international trainstation like the nutjob that I am. It made me realize that maybe I should start running again in my spare time. Anyway, I was sweating and entirely out of breath when I reached my seat. And I am seriously sorry for the person whom had to sit next to me
But I caught the train with only a few seconds to spare! The doors closed and the train left as soon as I had found my seat (don't make yourself the illusion that the train was waiting for me).
Do you know what's really amusing to find out? That your train is leaving in an instant and your coach is on the other end of the train If you ever took the TGV to Nantes from Paris, you know that's an incredibly long train when you're out of time...

IMG221

The person that sat next to me was a woman about the same age as my mother and together with her husband is in charge of a IT-related company in a nearby village.
But we didn't start talking about that, actually. We started talking because after I was done catching my breath and drinking the last of the water I had on me, I had started knitting.

Knitting is my latest pass time in the TGV since I do not depend on batteries or electricity to be able to make the time pass quicker.
What made it funnier was that I was knitting in the same colour scheme as the one of the inside of the TGV. I swear it was not intentionally. Whom would've guessed they would make a pink and purple TGV?

Anyway, the woman next to me started talking about knitting and how she discovered an actual knitting technique when she had been in a similar situation. There had been this woman in the waiting hall for the TGV one day, she told me, whom had seen her knitting. The woman had come up to her and had taught her an actual technique in which you do not let go off your needles when you're knitting.

And off course she had to ask whether I used another technique when knitting. Realizing full well that I do not have any technique whatsoever when knitting I showed her and she came to the same conclusion. I'm a n00b.
But I was interested in the technique she told me about, so I handed her my needles and she showed me. And while it seemed easy, it wasn't as much as I tried it the first few stitches... Old habits die hard... on top of that, I was knitting something I had never done before in my life which made it even more difficult. But I didn't let the challenge pass.

The heel of the sock I was knitting was doomed, especially when I tried to return on my steps and the whole thing just went to a disarray of threads...
But I tried the technique again on my own for an hour to see whether I could get used to it. And honestly I think I could. It's hard getting passed old habits though, but all I need is practice.

The test I knitted with the Lang Wool I bought at Leuven (BE):
IMG222

So a few days later, still feeling bad about my doomed sock whom had cost me several hours to make and now had returned to practically nothing, I was surfing the web. After clicking some links on my mothers blog, I found out that someone on the internet whom had bought the same book I had bought to knit the sock I had wanted to knit, had succeeded where I had failed. If that doesn't make you feel any more stupid, I don't know what does. Anyway, I looked at the book again only to frown more profoundly and then left it alone to search the description on the internet. Maybe someone else had a more clear description?
As it turns out, Regia (the brand of wool), had a very similar description, but with a paragraph or two more on how to actually knit the heel!
There you go, I thought, that's more like it

But lazy me hasn't put the description to the test yet. Because last weekend I felt so courageous that I have spent all my time cleaning up the apartment, constructing furniture, cleaning up again and admiring the new plant I had bought. Honestly, I didn't spend two days doing that, I off course had to go riding on Sunday, which was very lovely as well.

For the Dutch speaking community:
De bewuste link : http://linesfrummelhoekje.web-log.nl/lines_frummelhoekje/2007/12/boemerang_hiel.html en helaas vind ik de link naar de beschrijving van Regia niet meer ...

English this time, so everyone understands - without using googletranslate .

There is this nice writer in the US, whom I bought a book from not too long ago (we're counting years tho'). At the time he selfpublished it @ Lulu.com. But since then he's been writing the sequal and looking at how to republish his first book, to be able to get his second book out there as well.

Given some bad news he decided to look at real pubishers and not just selfpublishers to get his books out there but needs a kickstart to get there.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/toddkeisling/a-life-transparent-second-edition-and-beyond

All information about the book and the project you can find on the kickstart page or on his blog.
Please help the man to get his book published I really would like to read the sequel - The Liminal Man. The first book - A Life Transparent - was fantastic to read.

I am posting this some days after I learned about this kickstart thing, since I was the first donator and anonymity on the website (despite the profile) is great, but when you're the first donator, it's painfully obvious how much you donated

Omdat het begint hoog tijd te worden dat ik mijn treintickets boek voor mijn trek naar .be ben ik aan het reis-plannen geslagen.
Mijn grote probleem is TGV/Thalis/Eurostar + fiets.
Ik kan de eerste etappe Nantes - Lille met de TGV + fiets doen (al moet ik dat nog eens natrekken aan het loket voor buitenlandse reizen) en daarna is het in het duister tasten.

Dus dacht ik... ge kent mij... waarom niet de rest gewoon met de fiets?
Een kampeerplaatsje in Lille en nog eentje onderweg en hopla we zitten al ver door België:

Agrandir le plan

Ik stop daar zo ergens in Strombeek (C), omdat ik daar iemand weet wonen die dat waarschijnlijk niet te erg zal vinden dat ik kom opdagen. Al zal het bij mijn huidige berekeningen een maandag avond worden als ik daar - mits toestemming - kom binnengerold.

Mijn dilemma echter is Aalst - ergens zo in het midden van (B) en (C). Het lijkt mij dat het in die streek geweldig schoon is om te fietsen en waarschijnlijk als ik een fietsknoopppunten boekje te pakken krijg, dat ik met een brede grijns door het Vlaamse land zal zoeven. Dus ik ben wel geneigd om daar even te blijven hangen. Maar slaapplaatsen zijn niet zo gemakkelijk te vinden... of wel neemt google mij in het ootje, dat kan ook.
Maar misschien wil iemand in .be mij wel even wegwijs maken?

Het andere idee is de fietsroute volgen die ik zo'n beetje geschetst heb hierboven en langs Mechelen om naar Leuven/Rotselaar (omdat ik daar ook een paar mensen weet wonen) om dan van daaruit het ommetje Vlaanderen te doen: Limburgs-Haspengauw, Maasland, Limburgse Kempen, Antwerpese Kempen, Neteland, Rivierenland, Scheldeland, Kanalenland, Kustpolders, Westhoek, West-Vlaams heuvelland en in de Leiestreek steken we dan ergens de grens over naar .fr om naar Lille af te zakken, misschien nog even overnachten op de kamping daar en dan baf de TGV op naar .fr.

Al is dat waarschijnlijk wat te veel van het goede... Er valt alleszins over te mijmeren.
Iemand een suggestie voor de fiets-invulling van 3 weken .be? Iemand zin om een stukje mee te zoeven over het Vlaamse landschap?

Ik ben een beetje de tel kwijt, maar ik denk dat we ondertussen aan de 6^e week Magento zitten. Dat kraakt een mens een beetje... toch als we het hebben over 6 weken hetzelfde project.

Hop naar week 7... Wanneer is het nu weer vakantie?

Ik wacht al menige weken op een woord van mijn Agence Immobilier (AI) omtrent een verzekeringspapiertje dat ik aangetekend had opgestuurd.

Dat papiertje had heel wat in zijn werk omdat mijn verzekeringsagent zo lomp was mijn adres niet te veranderen toen ik verhuisde, terwijl ik dat wel had gevraagd.

Natuurlijk was het papiertje bij in de Foyer terecht gekomen en dus niet bij mij. De Foyer had natuurlijk dat document niet verscheept naar mij. En ik wist van niets, uiteraard.

Een telefoontje naar mijn verzekeringsagent later, op een vrije dag want anders krijg je niemand aan de lijn en sta je uren te wachten met de telefoon in de hand (zo'n luidspreker toets zou best handig zijn zelfs al is het zo'n draadloos exemplaar), gingen ze dat documentje versturen naar het juiste adres. So far so good.

Alleen was het weer wachten geblazen. Ik weet niet van waar het papiertje kwam maar het duurde twee weken eer ik het had. Vervolgens stuurde ik het aangetekend op naar mijn AI. Het bewijsje dat ze het papiertje ontvangen hadden kwam gelijktijdig toe met mijn waarschuwingsbrief, straffer nog, mijn aangetekende brief was ontvangen de dag voor de waarschuwingsbrief was opgesteld. Nu ja, misschien hadden ze veel post die dag en duurt het misschien wat langer eer ze het stom papiertje bij mijn dossier hebben gevoegd, maar ik had dus desalniettemin een waarschuwingsbrief in de bus.

Wat dus de gebruikelijke 'Mais, j'ai envoyé ce p*tain truc, machin, bidule!' uitlokte.

Ik weet niet hoe het bij jullie zit, maar hoe langer ik niets hoor van dat AI, hoe meer zorgen ik mij begin te maken. Dus na ettelijke weken stomen (en vergeten te bellen omdat ze altijd open zijn nadat ik op mijn werk toekom en gesloten zijn voor ik op mijn werk vertrek en vergeet maar dat ze 's zaterdags werken), hoopte ik enkel nog op een factuurtje dat me zou vragen om de huur van deze maand.

Gewoonlijk komt dat factuurtje zo ergens rond de 24e bij mij toe en moet het betaald zijn op de 1e van de volgende maand.
Maar de brief was er niet vorige week. En ook niet deze maandag. De nieuwe maand begon vandaag en ik had zo'n beetje schrik dat er echt iets niet pluis was.

Dat vertaalt zich ruwweg in het feit dat ik appartementen aan 't bekijken was op het internet om desnoods in allerijl te kunnen verhuizen
(soms hé)

Dus na opnieuw vergeten te bellen gisteren, zat er deze middag een brief in de bus.

Geen waarschuwing, geen aangetekend schrijven om mij uit het appartement te kunnen zetten, enkel een factuurtje

Fieeuw, dat was een opluchting. Al vraag ik me af waarom La Poste me zeven dagen in spanning heeft laten wachten terwijl de brief amper 4km moet afleggen van Nantes Centrum naar St-Herblain. Ik doe dat met de fiets op een kwartiertje

En nu nog zien R. vast te krijgen want die mysterieuze stilte, dat zint me niks.