It was a long, long wait; but it was worth it... after 8 weeks my new bag finally arrived from the USA.
It's a black Maxpedition Jumbo Versipack S-type, which is the left-handed model. I'm actually right-handed, but I prefer to wear my bag on my left-hand side. I chose this bag because it can hold a lot of stuff, keeps the stuff dry and it's just a very comfy yet solid bag. It's made out of sturdy and thick Teflon coated ballistic nylon, and it's very well thought out.
I have the bag on me, or within arm's reach, pretty much 24/7. So what do I keep in this bag ? More than you might think! You can find the complete list here.
A while back, I got a new pocket knife: the Victorinox Workchamp. I love this knife, and I keep it on me at all times. However, this knife isn't really a typical bushcraft knife, and I don't want to break it. So I decided to look for a nice fixed blade knife for bushcraft/outdoor use.
Enter the Helle Fjellkniven (mountain knife). It features a 3 7/8" blade with a "scandi" grind; which basically means that the edge has no secondary bevel. The blade is made with a laminated steel. The cutting edge is a high carbon steel, which keeps an edge very well; and the sides and top are stainless steel, which makes the knife nice and hard. The knife has a nice curly birch handle, that is not only very pretty to look at, but it is also very comfy and solid.
I really like this knife. It's comfy, ridiculously sharp and very pretty. 
During one of my Sunday hikes, I ran across a caterpillar that was rather large and hairy. A bit of investigation told me that it was a caterpillar for a gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar).
It was about 6cm long.. I'm sure glad that it didn't drop in my neck; brrrr! 
I love my knife, and I keep it on me at all times, except when I'm in the shower or in bed, obviously... though it is always in the same room as me, and within arm's reach; so to speak.
Because of all the features my knife has, it's a little on the bulky side. I don't mind it, because it makes for a nice solid handle. A big knife, however, also means a big sheath. And that's where my pickle was. Because the sheath was so big, there was a little comfort issue when driving my car. When I sat down, the bottom of the sheath would latch on to the chair and poke the knife in my hip. I decided to go for a horizontal sheath, which would make it a lot more comfy.
Of course horizontal sheaths aren't "mainstream", so finding one was next to impossible. Eventually I came to conclusion that a custom made one would be the only option. I got in contact with a fellow bushcrafter who had a bit of experience with leatherwork, and we worked some stuff out.
The result was a nice horizontal sheath that fits both my knife, and a little bundle of about 6 meters of 550 paracord. The sheath is very comfy to wear, has a truckload of space and above all, it doesn't poke my in the hip when I sit down in a car, yay!
On a thin strip of land that divides the Maas and Waal rivers, there is a small nature reserve called "de Hogewaard". It's a couple of ponds with swans and geese and some whitebred shorthorn cattle roams the grassy bit.
It's a nice and calm place and I like going there. There's a road nearby, but you don't hear it; and the boats in the Maas river don't make much sound either. But above all, it's not a mainstream area, so you really have some space for yourself. It's a real good place for relaxation and (of course) enjoying a nice cup of hot chocolate.
Mmhmm! Nothing like a little hike in nice weather, followed by some hot chocolate.
Of course, at a random restaurant that will cost you € 2,50 or more. Since I have a little gas stove in my car at all times, all it costs me is 11 cents for a bottle of water, 8 cents for the cocoa mix and about 20 cents worth of butane gas. Saving money is always good, and home-made stuff always tastes better.
*slurp*
Ooh lala, who's that pretty girl ?! Well, actually... it's me! Last Monday, the game All Points Bulletin: Reloaded started it's open beta; and I'm totally digging it! The game play is awesome, and the graphics are just amazing!
APB: Reloaded is a "Massive Multiplayer Online" game where players are either criminals or enforcers (sort of a freelance cop, I guess). You're given missions to complete, which pretty much always involves PVP with someone from the opposing faction. For example, a group of criminals could get a mission to steal some cars; and at the same time a group of enforcers gets a mission to prevent just that.
The game is free to play, but optional subscription gives perks like a bigger variety of weaponry, a slight bonus in gains and more decoration space for your characters and vehicles.
7:42... what does it mean? Well if it's Luke 7:42 in the American bible, it would mean "When they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?". Well.. perhaps.. but that's not exactly the 7:42 I'm referring to here.
For some reason I keep waking up at exactly 7:42 for the last few weeks without any logical explanation. I've scrutinized my entire lair for old watches or old alarm clocks that might be set at 7:42, but I couldn't find any. Yet for some reason... every day I suddenly wake up, look to my left at my iPod touch and it says 7:42.
Weird...
As i said in a previous post, there would be another open house day at dairy farms in my area. I decided to go to another farm, which was even closer by than the last one. Most of the big cows were already outside, but fortunately they had a lot of calves which are even cooler.
Click here for the full album.
A little bit down the road there was a strawberry farm that also opened its doors to visitors for the occasion. I took a quick peek there, and enjoyed some free snacks and drinks.
Click here for the full album.
Next open house for the dairy farms is on June 13th... on which I will visit yet another farm.
It took some blood, sweat, tears and a lot of gasoline; but we're back on the air, and we're cruising on FreeBSD
After postponing, delaying and deferring the issue for quite a bit of time; it was getting kind of embarrassing to put off the migration, and the worst part was that I didn't have an excuse not to do it. I had picked a date in my agenda to do the actual migration; which was on a Friday. But on Thursday I was bored, and decided to do it one day earlier. That decision may or may not have been rushed by the fact that my server was having yet another issue with the virus scanning software.
I downloaded FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso, made a final backup of my server data and got ready to make my way to the datacenter where the server is hosted. You can enter the datacenter 24/7, but they do require you to register on a website so they know who is coming. While trying to register I got an error on the website. I emailed the hosting company that I was unable to register on the website, but that I was en-route and would need access to the datacenter.
When I got to the datacenter and tried to log in, the system said there was no registration for me and therefore it could not let me in. I called the hosting company's helpdesk to ask why they hadn't arranged for access. The guy on the phone said that they had fixed the problem that was preventing me from registering, and that I should be able to register now. I told him that I was already at the datacenter, and asked if he could register access for me. He told me that they're not allowed to do that, and suggested that I use my smart phone to register. I told him that I had already tried that, but the website didn't work because it redirected to some kind of status page as soon as it detected that I was using a smart phone instead of a desktop pc. After some arguing with the helpdesk about how I would get access to the server without having to drive back to my home or harass Daniel at work, the security guard of the datacenter offered me use of his private laptop to register for access. Some bro-fists were exchanged and I was finally able to go inside.
I hooked up my USB CD-ROM player to the server, and made it boot from CD... or so I thought! While trying to boot, it got stuck halfway in loading the kernel. Switching USB ports, rubbing the CD; none of it seemed to help. Man, I was pissed! But I also facepalmed, because I neglected to check if the CD was working before driving off to the datacenter. I bro-fisted the security guard again, told him I would be back in a bit, and drove back home grumpy and hungry.Back home I downloaded FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-amd64-bootonly.iso to save some time. I double and triple checked that the CD was booting and working properly. A quick bite later I was on my way back to the datacenter. I hooked up the CD-ROM player to the server again and... it got stuck halfway in loading the kernel again! Needless to say, a small mushroom cloud would have manifested itself above the datacenter. I looked around the datacenter to see if someone else was there. I got lucky; some American guy was working on a couple of servers and had a CD-ROM with him that I was able to lend for a few minutes. Unfortunately, it gave the same result as with my own CD-ROM.
After cooling down a bit, I decided to bring the server home to figure out what the deal was. the brand of CD-R's, a driver issue, a BIOS configuration issue, the ISO's being broken... It could be a lot of different things. Back at home I decided to download FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img and try to boot from an USB memory stick instead; which worked perfect the first time; man I was relieved! Since it was already late I decided to continue the next morning.
The next day, everything went as planned. I installed FreeBSD on the server, did some minimal configuration so that I would at least be able to receive some email, compiled a custom kernel and drove back to the datacenter to shove the server back in the rack. The rest of the weekend I spent tweaking the configuration and debugging some PHP scripts to fix case sensitive pathnames, etc..
Over the next few days or weeks I will probably need to do some minor tweaks, but right now I have everything running pretty much the way I wanted, and couldn't be more happy with it. It's so nice when everything works out the way you had it in mind.