2023-11-05
This summer, i fixed the leaking heater in my room with epoxy glue. It has been dripping for over a year. But i had to wait till the water tank was empty and the central heating system was not in use. I made a small box out of cardboard, lined it with plastic wrap, and filled it with the glue. I placed it against the heater fin with the hole and let it harden. It's not leaking anymore, and working well. The landlord replaced the old boiler in the basement a couple of days ago. It's smaller than before, and more efficient.
The kids from the neighbour were freezing, so i went down to turn up the temperature. He talked to the landlord, but it was easy for me to do. I wrote him a letter and stuck it at his door, to cancel his appointment with the technician.
In the past months, i read books. In the past weeks, i started doodling again. And in the past days, i played with my harmonica again too. I hope the noise isn't driving anyone crazy. One of my headphones failed last week, because of too much humidity. It's cold, and the condensation inside the metal case did something to the electronics. I used them a lot lately. I hope to find a replacement soon.
2023-08-03
Last month, someone broke into our compartment in the basement. The police have a photo of the suspect, but from another building around the same time. The weak point was the glass front door of the shop at street level. Our landlord changed most locks. The burglar left some chaos behind. But it seems nothing was stolen from us. The shop wasn't that lucky. The cash register was missing.
I have lost 18 kg body weight since December. Eating enough to not be hungry. And i have been walking at least 9 km regularly. Lately even 18 km. Mom has become very good at making egg tarts, also known as Daan Tat. They are perfect in my opinion. Probably because they are limited editions, made with care. And i tried them in Hong Kong, London, and Lisbon before.
2023-05-13
This year, my embeddable chat widget will be 15 years old. I have been developing and running it since 2008, based on insights i learned since 1998. This month, in May 2023, i folded another 1000 origami cranes. I did it within 5 days, again. Now i have folded at least 15069 origami cranes in my life. I made them in 186 days. And i did it in 22 cities, which is unchanged since 2019.
Numbers are just numbers, and things are just things, most of the time. But i try, try, try. I started to fold my trail of thousand origami cranes in October 2013, almost 10 years ago. Taylor Swift was 23 years old. The number 13 has a meaning for her. She was born on December 13, 1989. And her grandmother died when she was 13. October is the month i was born. So there you have the circle of life.
I have been listening to Taylor Swift since i was a university student. I liked country-pop music before. But she made me forget. I have 181 tracks from Taylor Swift on my drive, amounting to 12 hours of joy. I love her. She is creative, smart, talented, and hard working. And she is beautiful, kind, and caring too.
Almost 6 years ago, i wrote here that when i was younger, i liked country and pop music a lot. But i didn't mention any tracks of her. I listed sad pop songs instead, to reflect my feelings. Her voice has become mature and wise. She is girl power literally. I like her re-recorded albums. Thanks for your gift to the world, Taylor Swift.
2023-02-10
I like the idea of distributing the weight. It is the only way to make a lasting difference. The first time i got into embeddable community solutions was in 2003, in a web service of mine that ended in 2010, called "smallbox", all written in capital letters. Based on a modified version of my guestbook hosting service that i developed in 2000 and ran for 10 years, called "power-guestbook". Basically a instant messenger for your own website that allows guests to be a part of it, and have fun together.
Did you know that you can copy the unique HTML code of my chat widget and paste it into the source code of different websites and connect them this way? Not many make use of this, and keep them separate instead. A feature i haven't seen anywhere before. The messages are linked to the page where the message originated.
The first time i introduced this idea was in 2006, in a web service of mine that no longer exists, called "commentit", with the "it" part written in bold. Similar to today's widget, but more intrusive, because the tool kept being in the viewport, regardless of scrolling. You also had to sign up to embed and use it.
I see missing links everywhere and no reason for anyone to connect the loose pages to make it whole. I don't think that "girl power" is the reason for a possible collapse. One can be overconfident and not caring about others though. But i'm not seeing it here. All Spice Girls have children, and some are married too.
I like listening, if distortion and noise are low, and the mind is free. I can see a snapshot of a writer by the choice of words. People deserve change, so i'm not nailing anyone down. It is a moment in time, vocabularies can shrink and grow, depending on the mood. Sometimes i cringe reading older messages. But i'm still here. Her eyes were the birth of a universe indeed. A powerful energy source.
2023-01-25
Everyday i think about how i can improve the lives of others and mine. I ask myself constantly, where did i make a mistake? I don't want others to fail because of me. I try to detect and correct data corruption. I'm not following mainstream media, but they radiate their messages very effectively. There is a chance that their particles hit stored data, and it may become corrupted. Data recovery through backups is my strategy.
I enjoy people who understand their own history, their past, present, and future, so they can catch their own failures, and restore to a baseline. I keep looking for others who understand this too. These days, i don't have that many sources i like to keep up with. I prefer to have a complete picture. Who is the writer? If i don't know the person's background, the message is worthless to me, because the context is missing. This is why i contribute to other websites with my services.
Can you guess which member of the Spice Girls i like the most? These ladies are from a different time. Back then, they pioneered being provocative, by saying and wearing what they wanted. These days, opinions are getting amplified, and all those hammers are looking for a nail to hit. Anyway, make it last forever, Emma Bunton.
2023-01-13
At the end of the 10th grade, i organized a karaoke event for my classmates. 2003 was the last year i visited the Hauptschule in Pennenfeld. Everyone got to choose a song from a list of available tracks. And the teachers were our audience. Can you guess what i picked? It isn't very obvious from reading my blog. But there was a time when i believed that doing your thing gets you somewhere. I was a dreamer at an all-time high.
I picked Bon Jovi with "It's My Life", and surprised teachers with the depth involved, just by selecting and performing this song on the school stage. I could see how they looked at me differently. But don't get too excited, or as Emma Bunton would sing: "I know what i know, if you know what i mean". Her voice is special, and the real deal. She wasn't like that at the start. But she found her sweet spot. She aged well, is what i'm trying to say.
In my last 2 years at the Hauptschule, i was the "Klassensprecher", which translates to "class representative", but doesn't have the same ring to it. This was suggested by my teacher Mrs. Schneider and later by Mr. Meier. And no one was against it. I think they wanted me to grow in this role. 3 years later, in 2006, i received my Abitur from the Gesamtschule in Bad Godesberg, completing my secondary education.
2022-12-15
I developed a new tool in one single evening, 3 days ago. It has no short describing name to let you know what it does for you. So i'm just going to copy the title and the introduction from the first page: "Overview of your events and participants. Create events and invite friends to update their participation status."
You copy the unique URL, and start using it instantly, without the need to sign up. Create an event by entering the start and end time and giving it a name. You and your participants can update the status easily and get an overview over all changes: Who is available, considering, or too busy for the specific event?
Due to ATM failures at the Sparkasse Köln-Bonn Bank, dad sent the same amount three times to our landlord, resulting in transferring almost 400 Euros more than intended. Those machines work most of the time, but sometimes they fail, and if they do, there is not much you can do about it. Utility bills seem to be cursed. We just hope that the landlord will send us the excess back.
Our landlord increases the rent every year, so that he can continue to go on long winter vacations in Italy, keeping his standard of living. Dad retired in 2021 and we have less money. It's cold here in Germany and i'm not happy. We will just eat less, so the landlord can feed his dog.
2022-10-21
You could call me an audiophile, although i don't have the complete vocabulary to express myself in this particular field. I also took a long break from listening to anything. I prefer less distortion and noise. I also enjoy being able to separate the instruments, to hear them crisp, and not having it all blurry: I care about honest sound reproduction.
I updated my setup and replaced the built-in audio output with the Jcally Jm20 DAC. And music was never that clear before. Why did i get back? Tchaikovsky with the 1812 Overture. Maybe the world gets a similar gift again? A timeless piece from the past for the future. Someone should ask Putin after Russia's victory. What else did i like?
From Emma Bunton, A Girl Like Me, in 2001:
- What Took You So Long
- Take My Breath Away
- High on Love
- Spell It O.U.T.
From Texas, Red Book, in 2005:
- Getaway
- Can't Resist
- What About Us
I have had them on my hard drive for a very long time. I did enjoy them when i was young. It is not always about the text for me, but more about how all the parts interact with each other. I tried all kinds of headphones in the past. And the q-Jays from Sweden are the ones that made me stop looking, in November 2016. They are discontinued now. Lucky me, i guess.
Thirty-six, here i am. I'm another year older now. Eating less bread and cake, and more fish and fruits. It is not that cheap and easy to get full without flour. But it is a good way to trim some fat and be healthy. The body is the most important tool. You have to take care of it. It seems obvious, but it takes time to really get it.
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