A month gone by

A month gone by, a bill come by.

Since it's been a long time this space was updated with some fresh ramblings, I thought I'd be a good idea to give my virtual and imaginary readers something new to devour (no success guaranteed however because I might as well dwell and totally deviate, ending up writing about everything and nothing). But Like Habib (check his crazy but hilarious blog here (please mind it's in Dutch)), I don't want to just turn on my computer and start typing away but instead actually write a nice text around some vague/concrete idea(s) that popped in my head, eventually working it all out as you key in the outlines. Habib however probably has more and more brilliant ideas than I do, hence his numerous blog entries. Or maybe I'm just not that much of a writing/typing person.

Anyway. Another month has passed and what happens at the end of the month? You receive bills. Oh and you get paid. Well, you get paid if you're employed of course ... and now that I think of it, if you're unemployed you may get payed as well ... it's called well-fare over here. In my case, I don't get a lot of bills (for the record: I'm also employed). Actually, there's mostly only one bill. The bill I'm talking about is my VISA card bill.
I got my VISA card somewhere in 2004 when me and a friend were planning our trip to Canada and a credit card seemed like a handy piece of plastic to take along. It's proven its value. Not only on that vacation, but ever since too: ordering this and that and whatnot online, using it when you happen to forget your normal bank card's 4-digit code (it could happen to you!), another trip to the USA last year (read more about that here (dutch)), etc...
You pay whatever it is you have to pay by entering your credit card number and/or security code (when paying online that is) "et voila" you're done. You only actually see the amount you're due drawn from your account at the end of the month. Easy no? I think it is and if you use it wisely, it quickly becomes a good "friend", tucked away for easy access in your wallet.

But back to my bill. It always comes with a detailed overview of the past month's spending. The overview in my case mostly,if not always, is pretty boring since I'm not a big spender (contrarily to what some people might think actually.) and when I do buy things, in 99% of the cases it's spend over at play.com on games, movies and series. Be it for myself or for a birthday or so. This month's overview for example had 4 play.com entries for about 150 euros worth: that would be 3 games (S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Test Drive Unlimited and Command & Conquer 3) and one TV series box set, being the second season of The Wire. That bill does in fact reveal, to some extend, what it is keep myself occupied with (my "hobbies") in my free/spare time. So, among others, that would be gaming (mostly PC) and TV-series. I'm a bit of a movie-buff too but that doesn't show on this month's VISA card bill. You wouldn't ever be able to tell that from my VISA card bills actually. Let's just keep it at the fact that they are acquired through "other channels".
As for TV series: I've only recently "discovered" The Wire after reading a review in Focus Knack, a weekly Belgian magazine (a combination of TV guide with movie/series/games/music reviews, specials & interviews). For those who've never heard of this series, The Wire is basically a police series that equally covers both sides of the law, offering real-life characters in evolving story lines set against the city of Baltimore. The Wire isn't glossy and superficial but raw and very down to earth. It actually only took the very first episode get me hooked and that usually is a good sign (as far as I'm concerned of course). I had the exact same feeling when I saw my first episode of House MD a couple of weeks back (I'm now halfway the second season) and I think that, among people with good taste and "connoisseurs" alike, you can't but agree that House MD is simply great. Let me also take the occasion to thank ChrisG (of Faux pas) and Habib ben-Achim (of The Clochard Times) for reminding me time and again that I should really watch House someday. Well, you guys know I have and now I'm hooked as well. Damn you! ;)

Did you see how I've just come from telling you about my VISA card bill over a nutshell review of The Wire to mentioning House MD? One thing just leads to another I guess. Like if you jump in front of a riding train, you probably die and your folks get a bill for the damage to the train. Anyway, let's continue on a happier note and forget about the train.
People always tend to say that change is good. Unlike the old man in the cafe telling Léon that change ain't good, I believe that you should sometimes embrace change when it presents itself. So I've recently changed something and it turned out to be good. I finally switched to another ISP (ADSL), saving money and getting a better deal. No more worrying about reaching /crossing the monthly download limit and as a result being thrown back to stone-age-like transfer speeds. I now have a healthy 50 gigs (5 times more than before) that I can spend and no more upload limit. If this sounds like a sweet deal to you, go check out Dommel.

To continue with another saying, you've probably heard the one "There's a first time for everything" too. Well, about a month back I purchased my very first item on eBay after having created my eBay-account about two or so years back already. It's nothing big (literally) really, but all the more usefull: a 4 gig Sony memory stick pro duo for 50 euro. That is in fact very cheap and there's a big chance it could be a fake card, but the seller is a power-seller with nothing but positive reactions from his buyers so I didn't hesitate and so far I can't complain: it arrived by mail in one piece and it has performed like it should. Oh, it's for my PSP by the way. My PSP came with a 1 gig memory stick when I first got it, but since I recently made up my mind and finally decided to "hack" it (really easy too), it now allows me to play games that I didn't buy (don't tell anyone ok? :p ). And since there's pretty big games out there, a 1 gig memory stick no longer did the trick. Add some music and maybe a movie or some episodes of a TV series and you'll be wanting all the space you can get.

Maybe some sad news to end this blog entry. Yesterday evening I sort of tripped over the USB cable that connects my PSP to my computer. My PSP fell about 2 1/2 feet down. I thought: "No big deal, it's covered in it's ArmorLite case anyhow." I was right, but it turned out that my Test Drive Unlimited DVD was on top of my PSP before it fell. After the "incident" however, the DVD was under my PSP. Oh no! If it were only that, who would care? However it seems that my PSP managed to break my DVD :(



Luckily I already found a way to still be able to play TDU.

Over and out.

Californication

No, this entry won't be about the identically named cd from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
I chose this title because California is where I'm heading to with my brother this august. Why California and why (only) with my brother? Well, let's see.

Two years ago I went to visit Canada with one of my best friends (we travelled through British Columbia and Alberta). It was this sort of vacation where the hotels/motels are already booked, you get to rent a car (payed for as well, just needs picking up at the airport) and then do whatever you want to in between your stops at the said hotels/motels. This formula really pleased me so I then decided that I would certainly do it again. At that time we picked Canada for a couple of reasons: Another friend of mine went there a few years ago and from what he told me, although he visited the eastern part of Canada, I got interested and that information somehow got stuck in my mind. Apart from that I also loved the idea to be really far away from al the day-to-day problems, issues and nagging here at home/work. And seen from where I live, Canada is far away. Anyway, I'm deviating. I might get into details on my Canada-trip some other day and share some of the pictures I took as well.

So, the idea for this summer's trip is actually twofold. Although my brother may not see it that way (although I believe he does), I see this vacation partly as a celebration. This july he should succesfully finish his studies at the Ghent University, leaving him with a Master in Law degree, and I really think that after 5 years of studying, writing papers and attending classes he deserves something like this. Not that it's free (nothing in this world comes for free!), but it's something he'll pay with a smile. (As do I).

The other reason that we decided to pick the USA and moreover California is because to us, Europeans, first of all the USA is something we read about on the internet(s) ;) and in magazines and get to know through television and movies. Something like the land of opportunities you know. What we learn from said sources not only makes us laugh (the Tonight Show, the Daily Show and many more funny shows and comedians), leaves us in disbelief (9/11, war in Iraq) or simply say "waw" (everything is just bigger & better(?), jaw-dropping nature, NBA, ...), makes us think "only in America" (Houston, the 'fattest' city in the USA), brings us great movies and series (Lost, Alias, E.R. and 24 to just name some) but it also makes us want to go there to see it with our own eyes. And why of all states California? Well, there were lots of options, but we had to make up our mind and pick something. California seemed like a pretty good place to start. There's Hollywood, Universal City, sun (something we not always see here during the summer), beaches, San Francisco, Los Angeles, free HBO in most hotels :). Anyway, we'll also be crossing a part of Nevada to get to Las Vegas, the gamblers paradise, a city in the middle of the desert, where you'll find a pyramid next to a fairy-castle and the Eiffle tower and where the massive hotels have cool names like Caesar's Palace, Luxor Las Vegas, Excalibur and MGM Grand.

So if you're reading this and live there or at least have been there and would like to share some (useful) information, you're very welcome of course.

We're not leaving until august 10, but I'm already gathering some information about the various motels/hotels, have ordered a couple of new games for my DS (you've got to do something during the flight and waiting time at the airports right?) and I'm waiting for a new bag to arrive to conveniently house all the equipement I'll be taking along (digital SLR, miniDV camera, tapes, memory sticks, etc.).

I actually have a nice bag at the moment (see it in the pic to the right; it shows me in Canada on the Athabasca Glacier), but it's too small to hold the new digital camera (Nikon D50) and it's two lenses I recently bought.

That's why I got me this bag. Same brand, but bigger and it's easily operated (at least that's what the site learns me)

Ah, it's still about three and a half months untill we leave, but I'm so looking forward to this trip. Me and my brother get along well, we'll certainly have a lot of fun and I could really do with a long (ok, only three weeks) break from work. Anyway, in my line of work and given the current situation, time often flies by. So I'm sure it'll be august in no time for me after all.

Welcome!

Hi and welcome to "Behind The Blue Nowhere" (more on that name further down).

I actually started this blog months ago (I think it was even 2005 at the time) but didn't post anything until now. I think I created it in the first place because my brother told me about his blog and also because it is something everyone does these days. ("I blog therefor I am?") Not that I'm the kind of person that does or tries something because everyone else does too, but it seemed real easy and I thought it would be cool to share thoughts, ideas, stories and what not with the "world" this way and maybe get in touch with other (like-minded) people. Given the fact that I have an IT-related job, I'm behind a computer quite a lot anyway, so why not spend a couple of spare minutes a day/week to keep up a blog? It's like a diary (one that everyone can read of course) and you write something new when you feel like it. No obligations. That's more or less the reasoning behind signing up and creating this blog.

As to why it took me so long to actually post? Well, I remember that one of the reasons is that I just totally forgot about it. It's not that I have a bad memory or so, but it happens that when I put something unimportant off for a day or two or so, it just slips into this shady part of my memory. Sounds familiar? No? Anyway, when I then remembered that I created this blog, of course, I forgot about my login details. But now that I have those again (write them down!), I'm all set for this blogging-thing.

Oh yes, the name. "Behind The Blue Nowhere". It sort of was the first thing that popped in my mind when I had to pick a name. Mainly because, at that time, I had just finished "The Blue Nowhere" a thriller written by Jeffrey Deaver (more info here). Since "Blue Nowhere" is the term used by one of the main characters to indicate the Internet, I thought "Behind The Blue Nowhere" would be a fitting name for this blog.

Well, I think this can count for a first post. I might return later tonight, but I'm off for some entertainment first.