Wasabi and Mount Fuji

I swung past Tokyo on the way back from Seoul last week, and a few interesting things happened. I walked with baggge from Hotel New Otani to Imperial Hotel, and that took 1.5 hours. But since you don't want to see what I look like drenched in sweat, let's move on...

Here I am holding a wasabi root. They grow in only the purest of water, the top, and small roots are cut of, and eventually you end up with something like this. In a proper Sushi restaurant the raw Wasabi is used, and it is grated on sharkskin. It has never tasted so good.

Mount Fuji in daylight and sunset, from Hotel New Otani.

Evelyn and Sonja

Fun at the farm in October

Picture of seven legged spider worth more than overdue account

Saw on Bits and Pieces the following, and I ROFL'd.
Subsequently, the picture was sold on eBay for USD10000. Guess it should have been accepted as payment after all...

Omni-directional vehicle

Cirrus G3 EVS Infrared Vision System

What a great idea!

Onion News Network

Serious news, brought to you as it happens. See this clip as an example:


Economists Warn Anti-Bush Merchandise Market Close To Collapse

My debut album

Didn't know I had one, did you? Here is how it works:

1 - Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random.The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 - Go to Random quotations: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3.The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. If you want to do this again, hit refresh to generate new quotes, because clicking the quotes link again will just give you the same quotes over and over again.
3 - Go to Flickr’s ‘explore the last seven days’:http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/.Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. Put it all together, that’s your debut album.

Via

Waterfall chart creation in Excel

Waterfall chart creation is something I always battle with. Had do develop a system for one of my clients, and a lot of coding, plus the information in the link below, did the trick.

Waterfall chart creation - from Peltier Technical Services

If the world could vote

Great concept. Cast your vote in the USA election, and be sure to view the results. Interesting...

If the world could vote.

Skidding into disintegration

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Create free ringtones for your iPhone

Found this a few minutes ago, and it works. Using iTunes 8, you can also create ringtones from non-iTunes Store purchased songs. Which is great, because I have beeen using my own composition on my Nokia for as long as I can remember. At last I can use it on my iPhone.

http://www.techmixer.com/how-to-create-free-iphone-ringtone-with-itunes-8-video-tutorial/

School concert and dress-up

Dress-up a few weeks ago.

Last night's school concert. Katja is on the left.

Model development

After a long hiatus Excel VBA and I have met again. Not to mention meeting thermodynamics and balancing chemical equations! I thought I knew most things about hot metal pre-treatment, but after extensive research and coding it myself, I now know more. It has been revealing.

Another project I am working on involves a concept design of a steel plant, and this body of work has refined my views on how things should be done.

So how do you perform dephosphorisation, vanadium recovery, desulphurisation and silicon removal in the most profitable way? I think I am beginning to understand.

Perth Zoo friends

During the last school holidays we became Perth Zoo Friends, meaning that for a small fee we can visit an unlimited amount of times in the next year. The children love it, and I wish I had done it sooner.

This pelican was almost touchable, and leter on there were three pelicans for everyone's enjoyment.


Could have been taken in Vietnam. Truly a magnificent effort to recreate all these habitats.
By the way, this was our second visit already. One more to go, and we break even. Perhaps this afternoon?...

Everyone enjoys holding Sonja

A high res pic for grand parents to download and print (2Mb):


First up, the de Klerk family: Glou, Pieter, Glou's mom, and Marno.










The Berends











The Hanrettys

The family grows

Sonja was born on 4 August 2008, 19h59 Perth time, weighing 2.498kg (5 lbs 8 oz), 47cm. Both mother and daughter are well.

Here is a picture of all my children together: Katja (Pure), Arnold (Strong as an eagle), and Sonja (Wise).

TV Dinner

With a cat. Very well captured.



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Bad day at the bank drive through...

http://view.break.com/534959 - Watch more free videos

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Arnold Climbing at Katja's school

Talking cat

This cat was talking to three Willy Wagtails on the lawn. Sound at end is more clear.

Katja Fitness Dancing

Out for the count

What happens in 60 days?

Quite a lot, it seems. It has been two months since my last post, and I have been busy. I have started taking formal music classes, and a little bit of theory goes a long way. Our third child's birth is nearing, and we have started discussing names. We have decided on "wise", making the meaning of the three childrens' names then pure, strong and wise.

Work is pretty intense, with lots of travel (again), international customers, and thoroughly enjoyable. One New Zealand based project in particular occupies a lot of my time, and I even get to use some of my aeronautical knowledge in the old-fashioned nautical sense.

Ships are slightly different than planes (VFR), because once you can no longer see the shore, what do you use to navigate with? Same as planes, of course - you plot your progress based on speed, known currents, etc. I have learned that the ocean is a huge place, and like the sky, it has gained my respect.

Cornstarch, water and Ellen

Woolworths Australia introduces self-serve checkouts

Way cool. Leave more work for the shopper, at the expense of labour costs. Pity, though, as interacting with sales staff is something I enjoy a lot. Trying to bring a smile to their face at the end of a long shift is a nice game to play. The service industry should never be the means to the end, interacting with people should be the end, and the purchase incidental, in my opinion.

Humans are social beings - something I am acutely aware of this week. My family is on holiday, and I am alone at home. Difficult to work, concentrate, and sometimes just plain lonely.

Don't get me wrong, I sometimes struggle to remember the above. But I will keep on trying.

My son walks

And so the journey continues...

Climbing the corporate ladder to the top

I like to move it

Archery skills

Archery skills - Metacafe is a click away
Apologies for the ads at the end. But I agree with the judge, I have never seen anything like this before. Very impressive.

Tree felling gone wrong

Ouch. Trigonometry refresher required, I think...

Resources for small businesses

Blog entries have been sparce, mostly because I have been working my proverbial off. And moved house.

Back to the topic. I have found frequently since November 2007 that when I was sitting at a client's site, I could receive email via Microsoft Outlook, but I was unable to send any email. To do that I had to wait until returning home the evening - very unproductive.

This, together with the need for centralised data, email, and a higher capacity backup system led me to take the plunge earlier the week - I purchased a Dell server, with Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 R2 and Symantec Backup Exec pre-installed.

What will this do for me?
Make available remote access via VPN.
Data storage
Data backups.
Set up the IT side of Vulcan Technologies Pty Ltd for further growth.

Whilst waiting for the box of goodies to arrive, I have been doing reserach on many things server-related. This site is quite useful.

Three front teeth and more coming

Two upper, one lower, and lots of white gums.

Software programming errors galore

Found this link via Steve Lacey's site. The site deals with "Curious perversions in Information Technology". My article of choice concerns a piece of code, commented out, with a header saying "Don't run this piece of code". Or don't touch the wet paint. The last comment on the page states that such headers should be phrased in the positive, not the negative. "Run this code if life no longer has meaning to you. And others. Brilliant!

Feel loved for a change

Enter your name in the first box. Enter your surname in the second box. Click on the Visualiser button. Enjoy.

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Keyboard shortcut to create a new folder

This is something that has frustrated me for a very long time. I am very much old-school when it comes to using the dreaded mouse. Give me a keyboard only, and I will be happy. Why use the mouse to go select word, right click, copy, select new location, paste - when you can just go CTRL-C and CTRL-V?

Well, today I typed in the correct search string into Google Group Search, and hey presto, two easy solutions:
1) In any folder other than on the Desktop: Alt-F W F
2) On the Desktop: Alt-F10 W F

And also, the Alt-F10 shortcut is quite useful for other functions on the Desktop.

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The type (and size) of blast furnace I would like to have at home

I have always dreamt of this. And now I see that someone has beaten me to it. Not to worry, mine will still be unique. I will paint mine green. Anyway, I will also have a sinter plant. Still have to convince my wife that we really need all this stuff, though...

Arnold birthday party 5 Jan 2008

Where to place new empoyees?

http://bitsandpieces1.blogspot.com/2008/01/where-to-properly-place-new-employees.html

Scrapbooking features Katja

Been meaning to post about this for some time now, but kept on forgetting, or without a scanner, etc.

Short story is that Cathy photographed Katja, gave the picture to Maxine to use (with our permission), and Maxine scrapbooked and sent it in to be published. When we showed Katja the magazine, she could not stop looking at the page with her picture on. She was featured in a magazine! Very proud. And so she should be.

Enjoy.

Domain name registration granted

Our own domain name! www.vulcantech.com.au, registered to the business. I just put up a construction page. Expect some content shortly, as soon as cashflow improves.

I can do it myself, but why do that when there are people in the world much better qualified than me?

Theme will be about steel making, with some mining thrown in. If only my picture archives were of better quality. I remember my first digital camera had a resolution of 320x200. That was in 1996. The model of my Nokia phone at the time eludes me now, but it was a brick as well. Memories, what would we do without them?

All the best for 2008 to all my faithful readers. I can now go to bed. Kids are still asleep, as the neighbourhood was very quiet. Just like I prayed.

Arnold crawling

Arnold crawling. Just days before he turns one. And what better motivator to crawl than dad's phone...

Christmas 2007

Two long days behind us. Katja was a sheep in the Christmas production at Riverview. Four services later, and tomorrow I have to do Cockburn Central. Since I have to leave early tomorrow, presents were opened tonight. Here are some pics from both events:

Unfortunately we had Arnold open his firefighting truck first. Sorry, Hanretti family, he came close, but never opened your present (though he loves his turtle pillow now).

But to make up for it, watch Katja's face with her present. Makes it all worth it. By the way, makeup still from the Christmas pageant as a sheep.

Number three on the way

Seems that I have fathered another child. Makes me happy. Slowly nearing my goal of a large family.

Will have to reconsider my aeroplane purchase strategy, though. Now need an extra seat...

Impressive pool skills

Arnold clapping hands

Martial arts exhibition - with bloopers

Watch some great athletes in action.

Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Acro - the concert

26 November 2007 - a day I will remember for a long time. My daughter has had previous concerts, previous stage performances. But this one was special. The whole mood was special. She did very well.

Here is a picture of the Junior tap group.

Support Footprintz Dance Academy. They did a great job ths year. Again.

Ducks in a row

I have been wanting to share this experience with the world for some time now. It happened in August 2003, and you too will be amazed when you see these two wild ducks interact with me.

Footgirl to the rescue!

Footgirl is a new superhero in town. Her dexterity is incredible, and her foot powers are increasing daily. Watch her in action here.



But sometimes things don't go so well, even for Footgirl...

She's a lady. Lady Stephanie, that is.

Lazytown Stephanie Impersonator

My daughter dressed up as Stephanie. The real Lazytown is great.

Vulcan Technologies is open for business

Today marks the start of a new chapter in my life. Yesterday was my last working day at Rio Tinto. Today I am Director of Vulcan Technologies Pty. Ltd. Vulcan Technologies will provide consulting services to the world steel industry, and its supporting industries.

Vulcan was the Roman god of the beneficial and hindering fire, and became associated with the constructive use of fire in metalworing. So with my background in steel making, the name was very appropriate.

Website is here.