Gary Colman - Zurich, Switzerland

It's been a whirlwind year...

2007-07-21T23:42:00.000+02:00

It's been almost a year since I last posted -- time really flies. I've been extremely busy at work (more about that soon), and have managed a little bit of travel in the last 12 months too.

Where do I start - we have much ground to cover:

So, as you know, I started working for Google last year. We spent 3-and-a-half months in Mountain View, California where I learned the culture, the tools of the trade, and the names of a handful of my colleagues, afterwhich we returned to Zurich; not, however, before we managed a short trip up to Calgary to spend some time with my brother and his family.

Getting back to Zurich was quite welcome - D loved living in California but I find the American way of life somewhat superficial (then again, she's currently ready People magazine, I'm reading Bill Bryson's book about his European travels -- kinda says it all, eh?). Things worked out well for us, as I'd rented out our apartment while we were away, but the tenants didn't take occupation -- the protagonist of the clan was dispatched to Frankfurt instead of Zurich -- so we received a bit of income for "free". I started working in our Zurich office in late October, 2006.

Cue December, and D fell pregnant with kid #2. February I attended a Google even in Courmayeur, Italy (1 day of presentations, 1 night of late-night revelling, 1 day of skiing). Fast forward to March, when she and A flew to Cape Town. I embarked the day after she left, on a business trip to Nairobi (Kenya) and Kigali (Rwanda), returning to Zurich in time for attendance of the Google European Engineering summit in Davos (once again 1 day of presentations [I presented twice] and 1 day of skiing), and then joined them towards the end of March to attend my cousin's wedding. We stayed for Passover, and returned to Zurich in mid-April.

By this time, I had some results to present on one of my projects, and was summarily despatched to deliver them to some of the head honchos at work (Founder, CEO, 2 VPs etc), so I once again packed my bags and travelled back to Mountain View where I spent days at work, and weekends crossing off shopping lists for D.

End of May was time for a much-needed vacation, so we spent 10 sunny days in Israel - a welcome break from my daily routine. We visited most of the major cities in the northern half of the country, and went only as far south as Masada (went up the cable car) and the Dead Sea (A and I splashed about a bit, I floated). Other destinations included Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Netanya, Ra'anana, Rechovot, and Jerusalem (old and new cities).

Beginning July, my manager informed me that my request to manage a group has been acknowledged, and in addition to my daily tasks, I'll now be managing a small group of engineers working on local projects. I've always said that people make their own fate and that my employer offers good career prospects if one is self-propelled ...

Also, since we're soon going to be four instead of three in our home, we bought a bigger place earlier this year -- new build, and only ready in May 2008, but it can't come soon enough. We need to sell our current apartment before we move, but it remains to be seen whether we'll be able to move directly into the new place, or whether we'll have to move twice. I'm hoping for the former, even though space will be an issue for a few months (we have only two bedrooms here).

I've been cycling a bit this season (sometimes to work and back, sometimes just out for a spin on a weekend with Aron in his kiddie trailer, sometimes alone) and can feel my body yearning for me to return it to its former state of fitness ... that which it experienced in my late teens when I was cycling reasonable distances 3-times a week ... I need some peer motivation to get myself "out there" -- so if anyone reading this is in Zurich and wants to go cycling, *PLEASE* contact me :-)

And so we're running on cruise-control until the end of September when baby #2 pops out to greet us, afterwhich it will once again be turmoil and chaos in the Colman family ...

California Dreamin'

2006-08-07T07:06:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the silence ... It's been quite a ride.

So, I left you last in Vegas.
We had a wonderful meal at Bouchon restaurant in our hotel - not cheap, but definitely better than the foodcourt or fastfood we'd been eating. Dvora had chicken, I had trout. Delicious!

The night before we left, I popped down to the casino to do the necessary. I played the 25c slots (means my money lasts longer before the inevitable)... Turns out, the inevitable, isn't.
I walked away around $40 richer, leaving as soon as I struck the windfall.

We left Vegas really early Wednesday morning, and flew to Los Angeles, where we got a car. Drove to our downtown hotel, and dropped off our luggage. During our stay, we saw Beverly Hills, Bel Air (magnificent homes!), Santa Monica (we walked along the beach, and had lunch at the pier), Venice Beach, Hollywood (photographed the sign, visited Mann's Chinese Theater) and Malibu. We wanted to visit a studio, so stopped at Sony Studios but they don't permit children under 12 so we were turned away.
We also tried Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits, as recommended by a few friends ... unanimous (amongst Dvora and I, anyway ;) ) is that KFC wins *hands down*, no contest!

After 3 nights in LA, we drove down to San Diego, where we spent the afternoon at Sea World. Wholesome family fun - highly recommended. That night we went to dinner with Searle, a school friend of mine, and his girlfriend.

Sunday morning we departed with much time to spare, heading for the airport. Of course, using my uncanny sense of direction we got hopelessly lost and I raced into the terminal to be told we'd missed our flight. I then unpacked all our luggage, took the rental car to its depot, and returned, only to find out that there was an earlier flight into San Jose - we were on time for ours. Yay!

Arrived at San Jose, got a lift with another passenger to the rental car depot (was going to take a cab, but she offered...). And we've been in Mountain View for 4 weeks now.

Life here is pretty good - the weather is great, and work is really good. Learning loads, and the content is nicely challenging. I'm working with some really smart people.

I bought a bicycle (Marin - aluminium frame, carbon forks/seatstays, tiagra components) after a week, and have been a two-wheel commuter since. It's great. For the past three weekends, I've joined colleagues on a leisure-cycle in the local hills. Last weekend we tackled a stretch called "Redwood Gulch", which rises at over 18% incline in parts. Yesterday I did "Old LaHonda" during our 3+hour stretch, which while much longer than the Gulch, is much easier on the knees (and the lungs ;) ). I definitely want to do both again before we leave.

We've had take-aways from Subway and KFC a number of times [yum], had lunch at Olive Garden (mediocre) and joined a colleague and his wife yesterday for lunch at an Italian restaurant on Castro Street (quite tasty).

D joined a friend's wife and her kids for a trip to Gymboree, and to the beach. They meet once or twice a week for playtime. She also joined up with a few local mums in a park one afternoon.

I opened a local bank account with Wells Fargo, and received a debit card. This makes local purchases much easier, as we don't need to use our Swiss cards nor carry around wads of cash.

I'll upload some pics to our Flickr account in the next day or two, and hopefully will keep it a little more up to date, so be sure to check back there frequently.

We made it... eventually

2006-07-04T15:46:00.000+02:00

Beaming live from The Venetian hotel foodcourt (casino level) in Las Vegas from my Nokia Communicator (thanks Monzoon) over free hotel wifi.
Where do I even start - so much has happened.

We finished packing just in time on Saturday, and sat ready at 09h45 for our arranged taxi.
09h55 we were still waiting, so I phoned the company (private chap who advertised in our municipal paper, and on flyers at the post office), and he FORGOT... said he'd be at us in 10mins.

So, stirred but not shaken, we headed for the airport 30min later than planned.
We were dropped off at Terminal 1 where the Star Alliance flags were flying, to be told that United leaves from Terminal 2.
No problem - off we go. Stand in line, get to the counter, and we were charged $25 for a suitcase that weighed 24kg where the allowed weight is 23kg (even though another bag was only 7kg) - a bit unfair.
With no time to argue, we ran to get to midfield Terminal E.
All sweaty and smelly we arrived to board last, and the flight departed quite surprisingly at exactly the scheduled time.

We got to Dulles (Washington DC) airport, grabbed our cabin baggage, picked up stroller (now somehow minus the chocolates and sweets we had in it on loading) and headed to immigration... realised we had left a thermos flask in our seat... no time to get it. Got to the front of the LONG immigration line for non-US citizens only to be told that we were missing some forms (United misinformed us on the plane). so, step back, complete the forms, and pass through.
We collected our luggage, and raced to customs. passed through pretty quickly (not counting all our luggage toppling off the trolley), dropped off our bags at transfers, and hot-tailed it to our gate, to see the airbridge moving away from the plane.
Very calmly, we arranged to get to Vegas via Denver instead, and walked down to our gate (again, sweaty and of course smelly :-) ).
We boarded the flight, and uneventfully tranferred at Denver, finally arriving in Las Vegas after 10pm. We headed down to get our luggage, but of course it wasn't there... turns out, our bags were still in DC and the car seat went to Los Angeles?!

So, we left the terminal buildings and found a shuttle to our hotel (The Venetian), arriving closer to midnight than we originally had planned. Checked in, and we were assigned a room on the 3rd floor overlooking a loud air-conditioning compressor. Aron by this time was ready for breakfast (9am Zurich time) and had trouble adjusting to our new timezone. It was a wonderful 2 hours when he finally did sleep.
6am local time Sunday morning, and we went for a stroll around the hotel and attached shopping mall (all but a coffee shop was closed). Later, we found a food court and had a pecan-topped cinnamon bun and a bottle of apple juice.
I wanted to call to check on my baggage, but this phone had switched on in my pocket, and too many invalid PIN entries had locked the SIM card. Thank you Andrea for saving us - I got the PUK number and unlocked the SIM.
Then we headed out to walk the strip...

It was warm in Zurich when we left, sweaty and smelly in the 25-30 degree summer sunshine.. but nothing prepared us for the 40+ temperatures that we were to enjoy here in the Nevada desert. Inside, it's cool if not somewhat frigid. Outside, it's blazingly dry, and the ground radiates the latent heat back upwards. We walked past the Wynn hotel, and stopped in at the Fashion Show shopping mall for lunch (steak burrito and large root beer for me, a chicken dish with rice for D, and Aron ate his usual "mush from a jar" :-) ). The portions here are huge, and neither D nor I finished our food. It's no surprise that Americans are, by and large (hehe) overweight. We then continued onwards up the strip to a Walgreen's, where we bought some snacks, toiletries and drinks, before heading back to the hotel to rest. Dinner was from the foodcourt in our hotel - D had a chicken burger, I had beef with broccoli and steamed rice which we took to our room.

This time Aron was on a better schedule, and after a bath went straight to sleep, while we ate. Our luggage arrived just as we were falling asleep, at about 10pm. Aron awoke once in the night, and slept till 06h40 local time, which was great - we all felt very rested. The fax/printer in our room sprang to life too, for no apparent reason (sounded like printer head alignment or cartridge cleaning) sometime in the wee hours so I unplugged it.
I took Aron for a walk to the lobby where I got information from the Concierge, then informed check-in about the printer issue and the airconditioning compressor outside, and we were given a new room - nicer than our 3rd floor suite (all the rooms here are suites) on the 32nd floor. Now we have a great view of the strip, the pool deck, and can see the airport and mountains in the distance.

Yesterday we walked the North strip, so today we headed South. Passing each hotel, we'd pop in for a quick look around (and a chance to cool down), before meandering onwards. In every hotel entrance, one is greeted by the ringing & chiming of slot machines, and the air of hope (or perhaps it's despair) hangs over each player. We haven't yet made our donation to the casino lords yet, but I anticipate being a handful of coins lighter before we leave. No high rollers in this family, fortunately.

One of the highlights today (other than a refreshing Italian ice cream - Pina Colada, and Mango flavours) was seeing the fountains at the Bellagio. Check it at at www.youtube.com - it's brilliant... much bigger than I had expected (then again, here everything is massive!) and brilliantly choreographed to classical music.

Contemplating dinner at either Planet Hollywood (unlikely), Outback grill next door (more likely) or a restaurant in our hotel (most likely). More once we know.

40kms of rolling terrain....

2006-06-20T21:16:00.000+02:00

Arranged with our neighbour a while ago to go cycling together, and have been threatening for a while to arrange something. Finally yesterday we went out - and we're a good match for one another. He's pretty strong on the flats and downhills compared to me, and definitely much much fitter (windsurfs a *lot*, cycles on avg 10000km per year although this year has been slow, etc..). Being 20kg lighter (and 20 years younger), I'm quite a bit faster on the hills - but he kept his heart rate below 150 the whole time [I should mention at this point that he has a triple chainwheel], whereas mine was - as usual - hovering around the 170-180 mark on the hills (granted, I was going about 50% faster than him on the uphills). I really need to work on my fitness.

So, thanks to my trusty Polar Heart Rate Monitor which is also my cycling computer, I have nice stats about altitude, speed, cadence (pedal rpm), etc...

Our route took us from home (Binz is *just* above Zumikon on the top-left of the map linked here) through Zumikon, and parallel to the highway heading east towards Egg. Just after Egg we turned southwards, and over the Zollikerberg down towards the Zurich lake, joining it somewhere between Obermeilen and Männedorf. Then head north-west along the lake to Meilen, and back up the hill to Egg, and track back to home. 40km in all, with around 600m of climbing (I started my clock a little way into the ride because I was fiddling with my wireless chest strap for heart rate pickup).

Here's a PDF ouput of the ride, all nicely graphed

As you can see, I'm not the fittest cat on the block, but I can "comfortably" maintain 180bpm for quite a while going uphill so I suspect my lactate threshhold is at least at a decent level compared to my heartrate. A couple of these rides a week and I'd have no trouble with it at all, and could probably increase my pace considerably.

As Greg LeMond said: "(It) doesn't get easier. You just get faster".
True words.

10 days left in Zürich

2006-06-20T13:02:00.000+02:00

10 days left in Zurich ... 8 working days... then we're off to USA.

It's looking reasonably positive workwise, in that I'll get all my major projects completed before I leave (the reason I stayed on until the end of June rather than leaving mid-May as per notice period).

Going out for dinner with colleagues on Tuesday night - I know it's going to be a sentimental time for me [as will Friday next week, my last working day].

Weather here is a bit dodgy - really hot recently, rain and thunder last night, and probably again tonight ... I'm supposed to be cycling with my neighbour this evening, so it'll be interesting whether that transpires or not. Either way, if it's not raining I need to get out and do a lap of my local loop ... I haven't cycled since Thursday!

We're in the process of packing up some of our stuff, and will have to make a concerted effort this weekend to purge our drawers, cupboards and shelves of things we need to pack away before we leave (either to take with us, or to leave in the cellar until we get back, as we're renting out our apartment during our absence). Still need to organise with a neighbour or a friend to mow our lawn while we're away... And send out details to companies that we'll be away... I plan to prepay all bills (health insurance, mobile phone, Cable TV/Internet, and so on...), but if I miss something glaring it would be nice that they're preinformed and can just drop me an email as necessary.

Google Puzzle Solver (1-14 in shape of a G)

2006-06-17T12:11:00.000+02:00

Wei-Hwa's latest puzzle follows, along with - once again - a solver written in Perl.
The puzzle is as follows:

The image on the right shows 18 available positions for placement of the numbers from 1 to 14. Of course, 4 positions will remain unused. The trick is to place the numbers incrementally such that the distance between each successive increasing pair is larger than its predecessor.

ie, the distance between 1 and 2 must be smaller than the distance between 2 and 3, which must be smaller than the distance between 3 and 4, and so on, until you've used up all the numbers.

I won't give the solution out here (unless you ask for it), but I will attach a piece of code I wrote in Perl (as always? :) ) that solves the puzzle through recursive brute-force attempts. A puzzle like this is perfectly suited for using recursion, and lets face it - these days so few people even remember recursive programming (LISP / Scheme, anyone? :) ).

Download my code here

Have fun!!!

Cycling

2006-06-17T00:02:00.000+02:00

Considering the great weather we've been having, I had to get out in the saddle a few times this week again.
Monday I commuted to/from work by bike - it was quite enjoyable, and definitely a much more pleasant way to get to work than sitting in traffic on the highway.
Thursday, with the pending rain forecast for Friday, I went on my standard loop around the Greifensee - anticlockwise (I seem to alternate directions each successive ride).

Here's the output from my Polar heart rate monitor:

As you can see, I'm not the fittest cat around (my heartrate is an indication of the exertion, and I'm in my top zones a little too often), but my speed is reasonable and I'll improve as time goes by.

One thing I do notice, quite markedly, is how much more comfortable I feel going up our local (roughly 7% gradient) hill. It's 3km of man-vs-machine, and after a very long time off the bike I certainly feel its effects.. but ride a few times within a couple of weeks, and it's no longer such a meanie. Yay progress! Yay me!

Now I just need to ~~force~~ motivate myself to get out there more often and spend time in the saddle, where it counts.

Population + 1, Tour de Suisse cycle tour, baby carseat

2006-06-12T11:06:00.000+02:00

Last week my sister-in-law (brother's wife) gave birth to a girl -- Zahava Ariella.
I'm now an uncle three-times over.

I'm slowly managing to get back in the saddle - went for a ride on Thursday night and Saturday morning, around the Greifensee, and cycled to work today... The weather being what it is, it's too-good an opportunity to pass up. I'm still looking for a commuter to use in California - not wanting to pay more than a few hundred dollars, but I don't want a rust-bucket either. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll be riding something with far less lustre than what I have now - which is fine ... but I definitely want to get something that I'll still enjoy taking out for the extra hour a few times a week, if for no other reason than to burn off the calories I'll be consuming in extra food while we're there (staff canteen, eating out, etc). That, and a bicycle is such a brilliant way of discovering an area.

snip snip

2006-06-08T10:40:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we went to the Bris - a Jewish circumcision - of the son of our Rabbi. We're finding more and more that the community here is a good one, and people are inclusive and quite friendly... moreover, everyone speaks English (pretty well, if not natively) .
The weather played along nicely, and it was warm and sunny. We had to park about 700m away though, and were running late on arrival (I missed the turnoff to the right road), so we were a little warm on arrival ... soon remedied though.

Today marks 16 working days left at Monzoon :-o
I will complete the last pieces of code in my software development upgrade, and over the next couple of days I need to migrate a server or two... Then I'll have reached my target before I leave.

Remembered recently that another school friend now lives in San Francisco. I dropped him an email, and we'll meet up when we're over there ... Seems we may have ourselves a mini reunion of sorts ... or at least, I'll catch up with lost friends if nothing else.

Chicken, Meat Pie and Donuts ...

2006-06-05T22:15:00.000+02:00

Time for some food pics ...

A couple of weeks ago, I made a meat, potato and veggie pie that turned out to be delicious. It was wholesome and filling and truly delicious.

Here's the recipe:

Coarsely chop two large onions, and fry in non-stick pan without oil
Add beef (just to seal the meat, not to cook through)
Transfer into pressure cooker (meat comes out *SO* tender)
Add peas, mixed ratatouille veggies, large cubes of potato and mushroom, and large slices of carrots

Always ensure that there's a small amount of water in the base of the pressure cooker, as it's the steam that generates the pressure

Cook in the pressure cooker for ~25-30 minutes

Line base of casserole dish with a thin layer of peach chutney and tomato sauce
Add stew mix
Cover with puff pastry, and brush with egg
Bake for 30 minutes

Chicken, vegetables and cous-cous from last week:

Once again, I made use of the pressure cooker, where meat is cooked healthily and comes out *SO* tender and soft.

I simply covered the bottom of the pot with a thin layer of water (the chicken was frozen, so it will release quite a bit of moisture itself). Add a large onion cut into halves, green beans (I used frozen - you can use fresh vegetables too), and top with assorted mixed vegetables with spice/sauce.
The pressure cooker takes care of the rest.

Prior to this, I had peeled potatoes and sliced them into halves, and cooked them in the pressure cooker to save some time. I then placed them in a grilling pan in some oil, and into the oven to crisp and brown.

While all the above was taking place, I boiled up some hot water with a dash of olive oil, and cooked the cous-cous accompaniment.

The results are visible on the right.

Finally - I just made a batch of donuts. Recipe is as follows (note - I used a QUARTER of the recipe, as the full recipe makes far too many donuts for two people to eat comfortably):

1kg flour
1teaspoon salt
60g live yeast (Instead, I use 14g of dry active yeast from a sachet)
120g sugar
50g oil
4 eggs
50g Vodka (3-4 tablespoons)
350g warm water (1½ cups)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, and let froth. This should take no more than a few minutes.

Mix all the ingredients (including the yeast) in the mixer (it kneads far better than doing it by hand). The result is pictured on the left.

Leave the dough to rise (I preheat the oven to 50°c, switch it off, and place the bowl inside the oven ...this provides a warm cosy place for the yeast to do its thing. On the left you can see how the dough mixture has increased substantially in volume.

Roll the dough onto a floured surface to no less than 1½cm thick, and using a cup punch out circles. Repeat with the remaining dough until it's all used up. Set aside for a further 15 minutes to rise a little more.

Warm oil in a deep pot - temperature between medium and high (but not too hot or the donuts will burn). Lower the donuts into the oil, and turn when the underside is a honey colour. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain the oil.
I rolled mine in sugar, as you can see, but if you prefer you can let them cool and fill with jam or custard, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

All that sparkles ...

2006-06-05T22:04:00.000+02:00

A few days ago, Dvora found a small diamond lodged in a hole in the grouting of our tiles... Turns out a friend was over a few days before, and it fell out of her ring. Lucky find. They were over for lunch yesterday, and we returned the sparkly..

We were all supposed to go cycling, but weather put a damper [hehe] on that idea. Made lunch - garlic bread, fried fish, baked fish, grilled rösti croquettes, spinach, and mixed veggies; cornet ice creams (chocolate in a wafer cone) for dessert, along with freshly baked apple strudel.

We also watched Ice Age 2 - pretty funny, but preferred the first one.

Car tyres changed

2006-05-31T10:49:00.000+02:00

In Switzerland, most people who own cars have two sets of wheels - or at least two sets of tyres - "Summer" and "Winter". The winter tyres are made of a different compound that works best at temperatures around and below freezing, massively increasing stopping power relative to summer tyres. However the tread compound wears a lot faster and is not made to withstand the summer heat as resiliently, so summer tyres are used in the warmer month(s). There are also all-weather-tyres available ... jack of all trades, master of none solution.
I keep a set of winter wheels+tyres (steel rims, narrower than the summer ones) and summer wheels (stock aluminium mags that came with the car).

So, when I went to have my summer wheels mounted about 10 days ago, I went to collect my car a few hours later and the old wheels were still on ... the mechanic pointed out how totally worn my tyres were, and said I needed a new set (to be fair, I've never bought new summer tyres in the time I've had the car). So I ordered a set of Bridgestone Potenzas (lowest price of the highest rated tyres) and had them fitted yesterday.
What is it with mechanic workshops and pics of skanky women on the walls? It seems a universal trend.
So, new wheels are now mounted with the new tyres in place, and we can drive around safely once more...

I loooooooooooooooove puzzles

2006-05-28T18:51:00.000+02:00

Leading up to the launch of The Da Vinci Code movie, Google ran a series of related puzzles and riddles - which I thoroughly enjoyed. As many others did too, and informed Google so, they are now running an on-going puzzle section, led by Wei-Hwa Huang, a soon-to-be-fellow-colleague and four-time world puzzle champion.

The most recent puzzle was a good one.
Here it is, for your enjoyment:

Using the numbers 3, 3, 8, 8 (in any order), make a mathematical expression that equals 24. You can use only addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (and parentheses), but in any order you wish. Note that you have to use all four numbers; otherwise 3 times 8 would be valid -- and that wouldn't be much of a puzzle, would it?

I wrote a little perl script to brute-force the answer, available at http://colmans.net/blog/puzzle24. Help yourself to the code, but acknowledge me if you pass it on please (or just send them the link to my code directly) - comments are encouraged.

Home preparation for our foreign sojourn

2006-05-28T12:41:00.000+02:00

Made a decision to get up early yesterday, and head out to Ikea to buy a much-needed storage solution for the study. Landed up getting a double-height set of shelves, with aluminium/glass doors, which I'll wall-mount above the desk.
I still plan to buy a set of shelves for the main wall, and will bring some books and papers up from the cellar, as well as my Roland electronic piano.
As anyone who has been to Ikea is aware, one cannot leave empty-handed, or even with just the intended purchases. We also bought a wooden toy for Aron (magnetic crane on wheels, with trailer and cargo), a packet of serviettes, two contour foam pillows, and a bicycle helmet for Dvora.

We then popped up the road to Carrefour, where I looked for a new drill (the battery on mine is dead, and it's cheaper to buy a new drill) but they were out of stock of the smaller model and the larger is more expensive and unnecessary. Did a decent-sized shop considering we're here for only another 5 weeks, and included a packet of cable ties for our suitcases, so we don't have to sacrifice padlocks to the TSA mafia during our airport runs.

Stopped by our local supermarket on the way home to pick up the fresh rolls we like, so I could make garlic bread ... and while Dvora stayed in the car, I bought not only rolls, but a litre of Macadamia & Pecan ice cream too, which I hid in the freezer on arriving home. So much for the surprise for my wife, though - not only did she discover the ice cream, but she took it out of the freezer to get access to something behind it, and forgot to replace it again... so I arrived at the scene of the crime at lunchtime today, mouth watering, espousing the virtues of good ice cream, only to find it was neither ice nor cream, but more of a curdled mush in a still-sealed container ...
We therefore had vegetable burgers, potato croquettes, and fried onions, with a pickle ... sans dessert.

I'm being watched ... but not enough

2006-05-22T13:05:00.000+02:00

Every now and then I Google myself. I used to be the top-ranked Gary Colman (without quotes) link, until Gary Coleman's IMDB entry overtook it. Hrmph!
Can't people spell?!!
I am not Gary Coleman (ha - see, I linked to myself to give the engines a boost for my profile).

Let's put things into perspective:

Me: Not Me:

While we may have an enormous amount in common, we're just not the same person. For one thing, I'm African ;-)

Anyway, moving on to my point. So, I Google myself. And usually there's nothing new and exciting to report, but just over a month ago, I found this. Not only did I find it, but I found it quite amusing, too... Speculation is rife out there. *I* don't even know what I'm going to be doing at the Big G, so it's inconceivable that the folks who misspelled wireless have some sort of concrete idea.

ps. link to my blog with the tag "Gary Colman" to help me regain my position at the top of the Google food chain. It's important. :)

Hurray for South African humour

2006-05-18T14:20:00.000+02:00

This Leon Schuster "RDP toll road" skit brings back memories, and is hilarious!

Buy the video if you can - it's an hour of all-out laughs.

Aron's first tooth

2006-05-15T11:24:00.000+02:00

Aron has cut his first tooth... It's not yet properly visible, but running ones finger over his lower gum, one can quite clearly feel the new toothy material poking through finally. YAY!
It'll be a while before he can chomp on biltong, though.

On Saturday, we went for a cycle with a friend - D on her mountain bike, friend on mine, and I took my roadbike with kiddie trailer. Both our son, and friends' son were strapped into the trailer, along with toys, blankets, bottles, snacks, camera, etc.. I felt like a pack-horse, and could certainly notice the load considerably more than when I had one kid and was on my mountainbike. Had a great cycle - we were out for an hour. Stopped to buy some fruitjuice on the way - another 13kg for me to carry (12 litres of applejuice plus packaging). I still whipped the competition though ;-P

This week is National Skin Cancer Awareness week in Switzerland. As I have a black spot behind my ear, I figure this week would be a good time to have it checked out, at no charge.
Just had this conversation over instant messenger with my wife:

[11:18] Dvora: is the black spot still behind your ear?
[11:19] Gary: lemme check..
[11:19] Gary: nrgghhhhhhhhhhhhh
[11:19] Gary: ghrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
[11:19] Gary: uggggggggggggrmphhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
[11:19] Gary: damn. can't see

I took my car to the garage up the road from work today to have my summer wheels mounted. (I have two sets of wheels - one for winter with winter tyres, one for summer with summer tyres. Saves having to change tyres every season, and the profiles and widths are different too).

Tomorrow I have a half-day off. We're taking Aron to the US Embassy to get him a visa for our trip. Tomorrow evening is the Lag Ba'Omer barbeque & schwarma evening, organised by Swiss Chabad. Hope it doesn't rain.

Do the airlines think we're stupid?

2006-05-13T11:33:00.000+02:00

If you've read my rant about United Airlines, you'll get an idea of my affinity for the companies (I have stories to tell you about SAA frequent flyer program too, but I'll save you the bore).

Someone on a mailing list said they found cheap RyanAir flights from Friedrichshafen to London Stansted ... I figured I'd see what all the fuss is about - just for fun - as we have a public holiday approaching in early June.. I figured if it's one of those 10 euro deals, perhaps it's worth looking into..
I found the departure airport listed in the "specials" frame, and duly clicked..
Then I read the conditions (you *DO* always read the conditions, right?), which stated:

Travel Period: Sat 01st Jul - Thu 31st Aug
Blackout Period: 01st Jul '06 - 31st Aug '06

Now seriously ... ~~who throws a shoe??~~ what do they take us for??
Some special, indeed.

Our dishwasher has been repaired

2006-05-11T14:36:00.000+02:00

On Saturday, we started receiving an error "F70" displayed by our dishwasher, which indicates an error with the waterproof system. Needless to say, the dishwasher wasn't working. A Mielé representative arrived today to fix it, and after removing the entire unit and fiddling a bit (I don't know what the problem was - I wasn't home to probe), it's once again working.
YAY.

Joke of the day: preach to the bear

2006-05-11T09:16:00.000+02:00

A priest, a Pentecostal preacher and a Rabbi all served as chaplains to the students of University of Colorado's Denver and Health Sciences Center campus.

They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk shop. One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn't really all that hard. A real challenge would be to preach to a bear in the Colorado wilderness.

One thing led to another and they decided to do an experiment They would all go out into the Colorado woods, find a bear, preach to it, and attempt to convert it. Seven days later, they're all together to discuss their experience.

Father Flannery, who has his arm in a sling, is on crutches, and has various bandages, goes first."Well," he says, "I went into the woods to find me a bear. And when I found him I began to read to him from the Catechism. Well, that bear wanted nothing to do with me and began to slap me around. So I quickly grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and, Holy Mary Mother of God, he became as gentle a lamb. The bishop is coming out next week to give him first communion and confirmation."

Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, with an arm and both legs in casts, and an IV drip. In his best fire and brimstone oratory he claimed, " WELL brothers, you KNOW that we don't sprinkle! I went out and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to read to my bear from God's HOLY WORD!
But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. So I took HOLD of him and we began to wrestle. We wrestled down one hill, UP another and DOWN another until we came to a creek. So I quick DUNKED him and BAPTIZED his hairy soul.
And just like you said, he became as gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the time praising Jesus."

They both looked down at the rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed. He was in a body cast and traction with IV's and monitors running in and out of him. He was in bad shape.

The rabbi looks up and says, "Looking back on it, circumcision may not have been the best way to start."

Our dishwasher is on the blink

2006-05-06T15:20:00.000+02:00

Came home today to find our dishwasher showing an error message F70.
It's a Miele G2220 SCi model, and the error message indicates that the "Waterproof System" was activated. ie, there may be moisture in the circuitry or some water-release valve has ruptured, or ... well, you get the idea.
Needless to say, I called the retailers from whom we bought it, and they told me to call on Monday morning to inform the right people (no tech support folk there on Saturdays). We bought it last year January, so it's still under warranty [2 years], and someone from Miele Switzerland will hopefully come over sometime this week to fix it ...

Heard a funny joke ...

2006-05-05T10:11:00.000+02:00

Q: What's the capital of Zimbabwe?

A: $2.75

Sex Toy or Baby Toy

2006-04-27T09:13:00.000+02:00

A friend sent me this, figuring I'd know the difference between a sex toy and a baby toy.
I scored 9/15 ... can you do better?

Take the quiz

Bike Tube Vending Machine and Yiddish

2006-04-26T10:09:00.000+02:00

Been meaning to note for a while - there's a bike store in Fällanden, at the bottom of the hill where we live. Recently (about a month and a half ago), they installed an spare-tube vending-machine outside the shop. This means, any time of day or night, one can mosy on down to the store and buy spare tubes. Nifty!

Also, it transpired that Google Search doesn't yet know about the Yiddish phrase:

ווס וייס איין חזר פון לוקשן - Vos veis ein chazer fun lokshin? / What does a pig know about lokshen ...

ie. Pork is the stereotypical non-kosher food. Lokshen is a typical Jewish food. Thus, the rhetoric implying "what does a non-Jew know about Jewish matters"?

There - now the Goog can index it for posterity.

Our hotels are booked

2006-04-26T00:14:00.000+02:00

Our hotels are now booked.

Las Vegas:

The Venetian

Los Angeles:

The Westin Bonaventure Hotel

San Diego:

Sheraton Suites San Diego

and we'll be settling in for just over 3 months at the Residence Inn in Mountain View, California:

I didn't book a car for Vegas, but we'll get one in LA, drive to SD, and then get another in San Jose for our stay there. Things are finally coming together.