A few months ago, I bought a Helle Fjellkniven to be my bushcrafting/outdoor knife. Over the past few months, however, I found out that the scandi grind on the knife isn't really my thing, which results in me pushing the knife harder than it is supposed to. Because it is a very pretty knife, I don't want to abuse it too much, so I decided to look for another knife for outdoor use, and keep the Helle for special occasions.
My criteria were simple... the knife had to have a convex grind, a full-tang construction and about the same size as the Helle. Browsing the web showed me many wonderful knives that matched the criteria, but they were all way over my budget. After some searching I finally found a good knife that, with its € 100,- price tag, fits decently within my budget and matches all my criteria: The Fällkniven F1
Fällkniven is a Swedish company, but the steel for their knives is manufactured in Japan by a company called Takefu Special Steel. Just like the Helle, this knife also has a laminated steel. The majority of the knife is made from 420J2, which is a relatively soft but very tough steel, and the cutting portion of the knife is made from a very hard, but relatively brittle, steel called VG10. So by combining the VG10 and 420J2, the knife is very durable and keeps an edge very well.
The knife has a full-tang construction, which basically means that the metal of the knife retains its full thickness through the whole length of the handle, which makes the knife very tough. The knife has a convex grind with a secondary micro-bevel with a V-edge. If you don't know what it all means, don't worry; it means that the knife is very sharp and will cut very smoothly.
The blade is about 97mm (or 3,8") long and the steel is 4mm thick; so it's nice and beefy, but not too beefy. It weighs about 150 grams, which is actually a good bit lighter than my Victorinox Workchamp. The handle is made from some kind of synthetic material. It feels a bit rubbery, but it's very solid and appears very durable too. The knife comes with a simple, slim and functional sheath which is made from a synthetic material called "Zytel", and fits absolutely perfectly in my EDC bag.
In conclusion, the Fällkniven F1 seems to be a very nice knife and gets very good reviews; and I can't wait to use it outdoor 
My "Every Day Carry" bag, a Maxpedition Jumbo Versipack S-type, has a nice spacious bottle holder on the side. I always used to carry some small plastic bottles with various drinks in there: Cola, Aloe-vera drinks, fruit drinks and sometimes even a bottle of water. This worked perfectly, but it was a bit costly.
Sure, a bottle of water costs "only" € 0,25 or so, but a bottle of Aloe-vera drink is € 1,- to € 1,50 (depending on where you buy them). It doesn't take a whole lot of time or effort to empty one of those 0.5L bottles, and the stuff is usually loaded with sugars. It was time for a change of pace. I was looking for a water bottle, but something decent... something that will last a long time, has a decent size and won't "adopt" flavor from the liquids inside.
After a bit of browsing and comparing, I read about Klean Kanteen. They are a USA-based company that manufactures 100% stainless steel water bottles in an environmentally-friendly way. Regardless of my opinion on the whole "sustainability" mumbo-jumbo, their bottles fit my criteria perfectly. I went online to see if there was maybe a dealer in The Netherlands, which there was; good news! So after browsing their selection of bottles a little bit, I decided to go for the 40 fluid ounce, or 1182ml "wide mouth" bottle, which arrived today.
Now then, it is by no means a cheap (€ 29,95) or small ( about 23.5cm tall and 9cm wide) water bottle; but it is a very, very nice bottle. It fits the bottle holder of my bag perfectly, and because the bag is so dark and the bottle is stainless steel; it keeps the beverage inside nice and cool. It holds 1182ml, which is more than plenty to get through the day, and because it is made of stainless steel, it won't adopt any flavors from the contents. Also, because it is stainless steel and has no coatings or whatever on the inside, you could technically speaking use the bottle as a cooking pot as well; but I don't plan on using it for that.
So what do I use it for then ? Well... one of my goals for 2012 is losing a bit of weight (Yes, I know... it sounds very cliché 
), so I will be drinking less Cola, fruit drinks and other drinks that hold a lot of sugar. I will be drinking a lot of water and sugar-free beverages. One beverage in particular seems very interesting, and that is Bolero.
Bolero makes sugar-free, low-calorie instant drink mixes in 22 different flavors. A packet of instant drink mix costs € 0,35 at the local Asian supermarket , and combined with some plain tap water it will fill that 1182ml bottle with a very cheap and tasty beverage; which is very suitable for dieting too, because it has only 176kcal for the whole 1182ml. I've tested the apple, white-grape and almond ones, and they were absolutely delicious; so I will definitely be drinking more of them in the future.
I didn't feel like cooking today, so I decided to try something new...
The Germany brand Erasco sells canned "Ready to go" meals. One of them is this spaghetti with tomato sauce; Though I personally think that "Spaghetti in tomato soup" would be a more appropriate term 
The flavor is good, it's Bolognese sauce without doubt... But it's just a bit thinner than I'm used to. I've also got a can of Erasco's "Ready to go" Chili con carne in my pantry... suddenly I am very curious about that one 
A couple of days ago I ran into this song by chance, while randomly browsing YouTube. I listened to it once, and had the song stuck in my head for days.
I really, really like this kind of music! I think I've been instantly converted into a dub-step lover 
It was 7:00 in the morning, and my alarm goes off; time to get up for work! As I lay in my bed, still somewhat dazed, I suddenly heard some ticking just outside my window. I peeked through my window shutters and was rather surprised to be staring right in the face of a young Jackdaw!
When I came back from the shower about 20 minutes later, it was still there! I opened the shutters and said to the bird "So, what do you want ?". All I got back was a little "caw"-like sound. The bird jumped onto the handle of my window and sat there watching me.
It was a rather awkward, but awesome way to start my day.
For a few weeks now, the radio at work had been playing a song that I got curious about, but somehow each time they played it I missed the title of the song. This morning, while I was getting dressed for work, I was zapping television channels a bit and suddenly came across the song; yay!
Allow me to present to you: The Naked and Famous - Punching in a dream
I'm really liking this song
"Two is one, and one is none; but three is better" is a popular motto amongst survival enthusiasts; So I was thinking... On my keychain I have my small kit: a Victorinox Classic SD knife and Fenix E05 flashlight, on my belt I've got my medium kit: a Victorinox Workchamp knife and Fenix PD20 flashlight; but in my bag I only had a larger knife: the Helle Fjellkniven. Time to go shopping!
My criteria were clear: I wanted a flashlight that could do 18650 as well as two CR123a batteries, it had to do at least 380 lumens (double that of the PD20) and it had to be a "tactical" light; which basically means that the on/off switch also has a momentary on position. Many flashlights caught my eye, but eventually my selection narrowed down to a choice between the to the Fenix TK21 U2 and the Olight M21 "warrior".
The Fenix TK21 U2 puts out 468 lumens and is priced around the € 95,- where the Olight M21 puts out 500 lumens and is priced around € 110,-. The prices are those of web shops in the Netherlands, and as most people in the Netherlands know; stuff is usually cheaper in Germany; so I decided to browse a bit on the German EBay site. I saw a Danish web shop that sold a brand new (sealed package) Olight M21 for € 35,- plus € 25,- for shipping. Their explanation for the low price was that they were clearing out the warehouse for a new collection. I don't care what the reason is... this was my chance to get the Olight M21 for half the price! My choice was made on the spot. About a week later (today), the postman came knocking on my door
As mentioned before, this bad boy put a whopping 500 lumens maximum with just one 18650 battery (or two CR123 batteries), and can do that for about 75 minutes nonstop; which is quite impressive. It's a very high-end flashlight, and you can really tell; it's built like a tank! It comes into play with small details like double O-rings, long threads for the screw-on caps, etc... the fit and finish is just perfect.
The user-interface is pretty straightforward: the switch on the back turns the light on and off. Pressing the switch halfway means momentary on, and clicking it means the light will stay on. By twisting the head about 1/8th you cycle between output modes: low (20 lumens), medium (80 lumens), high (500 lumens) and strobe (500 lumens at 15 Hz interval). The light remembers the last mode it was in. So if you put the flashlight in strobe mode and turn it off, it will come back on in strobe mode; even with the momentary switch.
One of the reasons I wanted a flashlight that could also run on two CR123 batteries, is the fact that my Fenix PD20 also uses CR123 batteries. So by keeping three spare CR123 batteries in my bag, I have flexibility in my lights: At full capacity I can run the Olight M21 at full output for 2.5 hours (2x 75 minutes) and the Fenix PD20 for 4.5 hours (2x 140 minutes); or I could run the Olight M21 for 75 minutes and then have the Fenix PD20 run for 9.3 hours (4 x 140 minutes).
Alternatively, if I don't need a lot of output but want sustainability, then the numbers become somewhat ridiculous... I could run the Olight M21 at 20 lumens for 30 hours till the 18650 is empty, then have the Fenix PD20 run at 10 lumens for a whopping 264 hours (66 hours per CR123), and then squeeze another 6 hours of 30 lumens out of the Fenix E05 on my keychain (3 hours per AAA battery). That's a grand total of 300 hours (or 12.5 days) of non-stop light out of my EDC kit
As some of you may or may not know, I'm quite fond of Lady Gaga. Not only does she have a killer body and makes very nice music, but she's also very aware of her audience and actually communicates with her fans. Oh, and the kinky outfit... yea... the outfits... mmm*purr*
Recently I came across a very refreshing, and 100% kick-ass video-mash up of Lady Gaga's "Judas" and Judas Priest's "Painkiller", made by a small company from Australia called Wax Audio.
This remix is just beyond awesome
After being unemployed for a year, the time was right to get a job again. I applied for a job as 1st line support engineer and was invited for an interview.
My preparation wasnt as good as it could have been, and in my opinion the interview wasnt the best and longest interview I've had. I was pretty sure that I would either get rejected, or would never hear from them again; as was the case with many other companies. I wont go into too much ranting or detail, but out of the 100 job applications that you send out, maybe 2 or 3 reply. Either my resume is complete shit and not even worth a rejection, or so many people replied to the add that they don't even bother to send rejection letters anymore; I don't know and quite frankly, stopped caring.
Anyway, it was not the case with this company. Even though I thought they would not call me back, they actually did and I was invited to a second interview! The Second Interview was quite short as well, but I went home with a big smile on my face; I had a new job
So today I started my new job at Netpoint, a small company in the city of Waalwijk, that is specialized in IT stuff for orthodontists. The company makes special software for orthodontists that covers the whole range of tasks, so that the orthodontist doesn't have to worry about computer stuff and can just worry about doing his/her own thing. For some of the customers the company also does remote desktop management, but that part is handled by 2nd line support.
My first impressions are quite good, so we'll see how it evolves. One thing I really, really like: the company pays for our lunch. One of the girls from the administration department does groceries for the company every morning before coming to work. She always brings fresh milk, bread and a large selection spreads (various meats, cheese, peanut butter, etc..) to put on the bread; and the boss pays for it. Now and then she also brings some candy for us.
Free food is always good
It's Monday morning 01:00 and my sleep is rudely interrupted by some shouting somewhere in the neighborhood. I stuck my head outside my bedroom window, but there was nothing to be seen or heard. Did I imagine it ? Was the shouting part of my dream, and it woke me up; thinking it was in real life ? I shrugged and returned to my bed.
A few minutes later, the shouting returned and became a bit more intense and fierce. It almost sounded like a pack of rabid baboons was invading the neighborhood which, later on turned out to be not that far off. The shouting continued, followed by some slamming on (or so I thought) some wooden gate. My first guess was that some neighbors were having a quarrel and were bonking on each other's gate. I decided to put on some panties and a t-shirt, grabbed my PD20 flashlight, and went outside to check out what the ruckus was all about.
When I arrived at the parking lot on the other side of the housing block, some of my neighbors were already there and were arguing with some youngsters that were quite noisy and appeared to be somewhat intoxicated. One of my neighbors told me that they had been jumping on the cars, and that was the slamming that I heard. I did a quick inspection of my car, and was relieved that it seemed to be unharmed. The arguing between my neighbors and one of the kids quickly evolved into some pushing, cursing and slapping; and finally someone called the police.
I was genuinely impressed! No less than 3 minutes later the police arrived and approached the group. Apparently the kid that was arguing with my neighbor made some bad remark at one of the police officers, because a minute later I saw him running inside with two police officers rushing after him. It didn't surprise me at all, because in the few minutes before the police arrived, the youngsters put up quite some language against my neighbors; though it was probably the alcohol that was doing all the talking... A few minutes after the first police car was on the scene, 3 more arrived.
A bit later, when half the neighborhood was standing on the parking lot in their Pajamas, the kid that was fighting was shoved into a police car handcuffed and taken away. I decided to move my car to another parking lot, in case the other youngsters decided to take revenge. When the other police officers walked back to their car, one of them said "Have a good night's rest", to which I replied "Can you guarantee that ?"; but the police officer did not bother to respond.
Ah well... I shrugged and returned to my bed. Damn kids and their alcohol...