Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas


Christmas Tree HDR
Originally uploaded by theowl84
Merry Christmas 2007 to all of you and your loved ones.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Mango Lassi Recipe

My girlfriend and I have a favorite drink: Mango Lassi. Maybe you want to try it as well, so here is the recipe.

First, all you need is to pour these ingredients into a glass:

  • Natural Yogurt (without sugar and flavor)
  • Mango Juice
  • Brown Sugar
  • Milk
  • Brown rum (you can skip it if you don't like alcohol)
Fill the glass up to 1/3 with yogurt, 1/3 of milk and 1/3 Mango juice. Then just add a spoon full of sugar and a little rum. You can vary the amounts of each ingredient if you wish. Now stir until everything is mixed together.
It's best when still cold and freshly prepared. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Dead Body Forecast

The weather on Sunday will be clouded in some areas, with 9 degree in the morning and up to 30 degree in the afternoon.
A message like this doesn't really catch anyone's attention. Unfortunately this kind of news won't either:
A parked car bomb exploded in a crowded area near a medical complex in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 30, officials said. [Newsvine]
I heard this news today on the radio just before the weather report. The reporter used the same voice tone for the forecast as for the killings.
It struck me quite a bit: we've become so used to people dying in Iraq that it's nothing special anymore. Like the monthly car bomb - a never ending series. I guess when a bomb kills only one person in my country, there will be reports about it all day long.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Phone Review

I have been using my new Nokia 5310 XpressMusic for a week now. Enough to tell you what I have found out:

Audio
The sound quality is really good. I dare say better than my old iPod Mini. You can listen to music with your headphones or through the internal speakers. There is a larger speaker on the back of the phone, so it is loud enough.
Battery
The battery lifetime is really good. It lasts half a week with moderate calls and GPRS/EDGE usage. The screen goes black after a few minutes of inactivity - thus saving a lot of energy.
Camera
The camera is quite good in terms of dynamics and sharpness. You can take a look at a sample shot. Unfortunately the camera shows a lot of pixel errors in all colors. I've heard from other people that they have the same problem with the camera.
Dimensions
It is a very slim phone and fits perfectly in any pocket.
Headphone
The phone comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack. This port is used for the headset or for any other headphone.
Internet
The phone comes with an integrated browser and Opera Mini. I didn't have any problems surfing the net so far.
Java
The phone comes with many Java applications and most files you download work instantly.
Keys
The keys are quite small but easy to press. Writing texts works quite fast.
Organizer
You'll find the standard set of calendar, notes and tasks. I successfully synchronized with my Google calender by using GCalSync 2.
Radio
The integrated radio has everything you need. RDS, automatic and manual seeking. The best thing about it is that you don't need a special headphone for it. Any headphone will do the trick as long as it is plugged into to 3.5mm jack. You can also make the radio use the internal speaker, but still need to attach a headphone which is used as the antenna.
Screen
A 320x240 screen has enough resolution for my needs.
Volume
A very practical feature is the volume control on the right side. You can also use it while making calls or while listening to your music.
Weight
You almost don't notice the phone when you hold it in your hands. It's really light weight.

Friday, November 9, 2007

My new Nokia 5310 Phone

After 4 years of use, my old Siemens M55 has died. Well, it does work, but the keys work crappy and the charger needs a little "fine tuning" when plugging it in. So the decision to buy a new phone was rather easy.

This week I got myself the new Nokia 5310. It has everything from Internet, MP3 player, camera, large screen and so on. With only 9.9 mm thickness, it fits perfectly in every pocket. I'm a little concerned about breaking it, that's why I handle it with extra care.

It comes with a 2GB micro-SD card, so there is enough place to store MP3s and pictures. The camera isn't really that good. I only tested it in low-light scenes so far. But without flash no camera will give good results.

One of the features I really like is the 3.5mm standard audio jack. You can attach any audio cable to the phone. So it can really replace an MP3 player. The headset is also quite nice, it has a button that allows to accept calls or switch through the playlist or select frequencies in radio mode.

So far I have encountered only one major failure: I couldn't load Java files. It simply didn't work. Not even for the files already on the phone. The service team told me to visit the store again, to let them check the software. They replaced it instantly the next week.

Apart from this initial problem, I'm quite happy with my new phone. Let's see what other advantages or disadvantages it has. I'll keep you updated.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

HDR Tutorial for Canon EOS 400D


Schlossberg Stiege in Graz
Originally uploaded by theowl84
In the last weeks I had some time to experiment with my new camera. One of the reasons for buying it was the possibility to use the Auto Exposure Bracketing function (AEB). This setting can be used to let the camera shot three pictures with different exposure settings.

I use a mini tripod and the timer function to avoid any shake of the camera, especially for night-time-HDRs. I'll give you a small tutorial about how I do it:
  • Mount the camera on a mini tripod
  • Set the camera into Aperture-Priority (Av)
  • Get into the menu "Camera 2" and set the AEB to -2/0/+2
  • Change the shoot mode to self-timer to delay the shutter by 10 seconds (press the button below the AV+/- button to do this)
  • Find a nice place for the camera where it can stand on it's own. You must not touch the camera when the shutter is open.
  • For some scenes it's good to manually change the basic exposure to an adequate level (This is necessary when the brightest picture is too bright or the darkest picture is too dark)
  • Then press the shutter button and wait 10 seconds for the camera to start shooting. It will make 3 successive shots automatically.
  • Setup for HDR
  • The setup should now look like the screenshot on the right.
  • After the pictures have been taken you should review all pictures and assure that all details are at least visible in one picture (for example very bright objects should be clearly visible in the darkest picture)
  • If you are not content with your picture series, manually change the basic exposure and re-shoot the entire series.
  • Now you can load the pictures to your PC and use your favorite HDR software to create magic pictures.

A few examples
Schlossberg Tunnel HDR
You can see many other HDR pictures on my flickr page.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

My new Canon EOS 400D

I am now an owner of the Canon EOS 400D digital SLR camera - and proud of it. Initially I wanted to get myself the previous model - the 350D. But before I orderd it I found out that Canon has a cash back promotion now. This means they return 70€ to your bank account if you send them a proof of purchase. So the new camera model wasn't that expensive compared to the 350D.
The last days didn't leave a lot of time to try it and the weather wasn't nice either. So I only have made a few pictures so far.
The camera is really great. It has all the functions I wanted to have like AEB, up to 30 seconds shutter times and great image quality. I will write a little bit more about my camera as I have more experience with it.
You can have a look at some of the pictures on my flickr page:




Thursday, October 11, 2007

Photography is becoming a new hobby


University Glass House in Graz
Originally uploaded by theowl84
I'm becoming better at HDR photography and I decided to buy a new camera. Once you start playing with advanced techniques, a normal camera like my Sanjo J4 is not sufficient anymore. That's why I'm going to buy myself a Canon 350D SLR camera.

Friday, October 5, 2007

And finally they turn Red

It's been more than 5 months since my chilies have been planted. They started as tiny green leafs. A few weeks ago I harvested 25 of them and tied them up on a string. Now they started to turn red. But even those still on the plant started to change their colors.

I tried one of them today. They are hot, hot, hot. So all my efforts in growing them have succeeded. If you know any good recipes or want to try some of my chilies, just drop me a comment.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I'm On YouTube


This video was taken while the four of us were playing around with beer bottles.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Dinner Jazz Excursion Radio

I've been listening to an internet radio station a lot recently it's called Dinner Jazz Excursion. They have good music in great quality, no ads and it's free. Now I've become a real Jazz addict.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Experiments with HDR

Herz Jesu Organ with HDR While using flickr I stumbled upon a new method to shoot pictures. It's called HDR (high dynamic range) that merges pictures with various exposure settings into one. This way dark and light areas of the picture will be displayed with many more detail.

The picture above is one of my best pictures with HDR so far. I went to a church nearby and took some picture. It is a composition of three pictures to make the walls bright as well as the window visible. A single shot would either be under- or overexposed. You can see more of my HDR pictures on my flickr page.

Friday, September 14, 2007

The Dead Rabbit

Today my mum told me a very funny story (it may be real):

A family had a very bad dog who kept running away all the time. Their neighbors didn't like the dog therefore.

One day the neighbors were on vacation and the dog was gone once again. So the lady owning the dog called her dog. No answer. After a while she saw the dog running around in their neighbor's garden. It was playing with some fluffy white thing. She walked to her dog shouting. When she came closer she realized that the white thing was the neighbor's pet rabbit. The cage was open.

"Damn!" she thought. This incident will definitely make the relationship with them worse. She took the rabbit which was dead and looked at it. It didn't have any obvious bite marks but was quite dirty. So she had an idea: She cleaned the rabbit with some water and blow dried it. Then she put it back into the cage and closed the door. It almost looked like the rabbit had died on its own.

A few days later the neighbors came back. They didn't say anything. While the lady was walking her dog on the street another neighbor told her: "Did you hear the latest story? Our neighbor's rabbit had died before they went on vacation. So they buried it. But after they returned the rabbit was back in it's cage and it looked cleaner than before."


I actually found the same story on the internet later.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

A Poem against Suicide

This is a poem I wrote to a girl I learned to know on the Internet about a year ago. I learned to know her in a time of depression and she was talking about suicide a lot. I decided to publish part of the poem I wrote to her at that time. I cut the first part to maintain her anonymity.

Talking for hours without a break,
I cannot imagine this is fake.
So it didn't take long to realize,
This is becoming friends without looking into the other's eyes.

There are so many things we share,
But one difference that makes me care:
While in my life I try everything I haven't tried,
You embrace death and suicide.

I don't know anyone with such an obsession
And please don't blame it on depression!
This thing is really spooking in my head:
I don't want you to be dead!

I think you are creative and smart,
I love your poems which is your way of art.
I read some of them and sensed your cry:
This world does not want me, so just let my die.

There is still one thing I don't understand:
You want to see the world on the other hand.
You are interested in many things including Spanish,
So death cannot be your eternal wish.

Sometimes life is good, sometimes it's bad,
Sometimes you're happy, sometimes you're sad.
There is so much this life is giving,
So promise me, you will stay among the living.

I met the girl a few month after I wrote this poem and she is fine.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Countries I have been to

I found a nice site that allows you to create a map of all your visited countries. Check out mine...

click to enlarge

create your own visited countries map or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

I signed up to flickr

As I have some photos I want to share with the world, I decided to sign up to flickr. You're welcome to view my pictures.

Also take a look at my new widget on the blog that shows my pictures!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

196,324,232

This is the first position where my birthday occurs in consecutive order in the digits of π (according to Pi-Searcher)

Friday, August 31, 2007

Great Midi Site

I stumbled upon a great site offering MIDI downloads and a MIDI to MP3 converter. I was looking for such a feature for a long time as my old SoundBlaster gave up after almost 9 years of working.

Now I have only my internal soundcard with crappy MIDI playback. Now I can make use of the 1000s of MIDIs again that I have somewhere on my computer. I started converting some of the songs I wrote myself some years ago and put them on my iPod.

Monday, August 27, 2007

My Chilis keep growing

It's been a while since my last post about my chilis. It's been amazing how fast they have been growing. The trick is simple: give them a good earth to grow in and they will surprise you every day.

I've stopped counting the fruits as their number has become uncountable.

If anyone out there has some hints of how to grow them into even more tasty chilis, please drop me a comment. I sure will post my experiences.

Monday, August 6, 2007

My New Bike

My new race bike

I got my new bike a few days ago. The day I got it, I did a 22km trip followed by a 35km one the next day. I love it. It's fast, it's light weighted and it makes your back hurt. That's what everyone will experience when using a race bike for the first time I guess. I wasn't used to this kind of sitting style. But on my third trip there was no pain anymore, just fun.

My third trip took me to my girlfriend's place - some 44km away from home. And I was almost as fast as the train to the same destination: only 1:30 hours for one way.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

My New Bike

I finally did it! I bought my new bike - a Genesis Corsa 6600 racebike. I can't wait to finally ride it - which will be on Wednesday next week. I'm definitely gonna post a picture on my blog then!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Fuer Elise Jazzed Up

Today a friend posted me a youtube link about how Fuer Elise can be played - jazz style.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

My Chili Plant

It's been a while that my chili plants have been growing. Today I donated them a new flower pot as they have grown really big. The small one already shows some buds. I hope the big ones will follow soon.

As temperatures are currently in the 100°F range, I expect them to grow perfectly. Keep looking for updates on my blog site.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Fuer Elise

Today I was in the Haus der Musik in Vienna. The best thing was the Grand Piano standing in the hallway of the museum. Everyone was allowed to play.

I sat down and started playing Fuer Elise. Suddenly a little girl came to the piano and smiled. It didn't take long until several other children were around. They all were listening to me playing. I didn't even dare to look up because I didn't except that much audience. After I finished playing they applauded for me. My girlfriend who was sitting behind me was really proud of me at that moment. It's been a while that my piano playing skills have been honored that much.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Where is the fourth Little Kitten?

For a few weeks the small cats are running around in front of my window. Last week some neighbors caught the mother cat and brought her to the vet for sterilization. The young kittens had to survive for a few days by themselves.

After the mother was released back into the garden, I didn't see the small ones anymore. Yesterday evening they were there again, but only 3 of them. The mother car keeps running around the garden, seeking for her lost child. She even sneaked into my room, crying loudly. But there was no answer.

I still hope she'll find the little kitten. I'm glad that at least three of them are still alive. Let's all hope they grow into beautiful cats one day!

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Origami with $$$


I found a nice site that shows how to do origami with dollar bills. Try it out yourself here.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Little Kittens in my room

While sitting at my computer today, I had the door to the terrace open. The 4 little cats were running around outside. Once in a while they peeked into my room but as soon as I looked at them, they got scared and ran away.

After a while they didn't run away anymore and one of them dared to set a foot into my room. Very, very cautiously. The mother cat was watching it all the time. Then suddenly the small one entered my room completely and started exploring. I sat quietly in my chair because I didn't want to scare it.

Once the most daring kitten was inside, all the others followed. I had all four of them running around, hiding under my bed and checking out all parts of my room. I sneaked away to get my camera. In the end I got some very cute pictures of them.

Unfortunately I had to go soon, so I needed them to leave my room again. The mother cat was a little scared all the time anyway. She kept sitting outside, watching every move I made. Even after all the kittens were outside, she hissed at me while I put a cup of water outside.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Little Kittens

A few days ago I was standing on my terrace talking to my neighbor while he was feeding a cat. He told me that the cat currently had 4 little kitten running around in the back yard.
It didn't take long until the little ones came running to their mother and started eating from the little plate my neighbor had put on the floor for them.
A day later I put a little cup of water with milk in front of my door. It didn't take long until the cats came closer to my flat, too. They are the cutest things I've seen in a long time.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

A Dream about Real Virtuality

This night I had an interesting dream. I visited a friend and he showed me a website with some kind of virtual world. Basically it was like a computer game where you could walk around in a 3D world.
It all started in a room where some people were walking around. I could move around with the mouse in my hand. I zoomed out and suddenly flew through the roof of the building. Then I saw something interesting: the building was a temple, but it was small, some kind of model. It was about 20cm in height in terms of "outer-world" measures. The outer world was a whole city. You could fly around in it, watching people, cars and of course buildings.
So I navigated a little through that world and zoomed into another house. There was a little girl looking at some kind of fish tank. On the water surface there was a little boat. I zoomed into that boat because I was curious how many details there were. And to my surprise, I could zoom into that boat and there were people in it. They were alive. I saw a mother with her little baby. I could click on them and they would talk. I left the boat and was out in the "big world" again. So I tried clicking on the little girl watching the boat and she talked, too.
I kept flying around in that world for hours (in dream time). The details were amazing. Thousands of buildings and even more people and cars. It was a mega city. I kept asking myself, since this was a computer program: who created all this. Maybe it was some kind of second life 10.0 . I never played that game in real life, yet that dream was so amazing that I would love to see such a game - or simulation in real life.
After waking up I imagined how it would be possible to create such a simulation in real life. It would be an amazing project, a whole civilization simulated on a computer. And most of all: I do not doubt that this will be reality one day.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Drugs and Coincidences

It's amazing how many coincidences happen in daily life. I was just sitting in the park reading in my new book about neurons. A guy cycled by with his bike slowly quietly saying something I interpreted as Graz. As a matter of fact, I was sitting in the town Graz, but why did he tell me this. So I repeated in a questioning voice: Graz? He turned around and said: "grass, weeds..."

Now it got clear to me, he was selling drugs there. I just shook my head and he went off. I thought that I should have given him a stupid answer like "I'm satisfied with how the neurotransmitters in my brain work" because that is what I was just reading about - neurotransmitters.

I read on in my book. And the second next sentence I was reading was:

Many drugs work by affecting the rate and quantity of particular neurotransmitters released and the speed at which they are broken down and reabsorbed.
I was thinking: what kind of coincidence was that? Why did this guy have to cycle by at exactly this moment. It really gave me a big smile. So you could say, my mood was elevated by drugs - but as you see you don't have to smoke weed to make yourself happy :)

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Swim Across The Atlantic Ocean

That's what you would have to do when you ask Google Maps for directions considering the starting point is in the USA and you want to go to an European city, for example.

  • Go to the website
  • select Get directions
  • enter NYC into the Start address
  • enter London into the End address
  • press the Get directions button
That will tell you to "Swim across the Atlantic Ocean, 3462mi". I'm going to London, who is coming with me ;-)

[2007/08/06] Unfortunately this "feature" does not work anymore :-(

Intercultural Social Competence

I'm currently attending a seminar at my university called Intercultural Social Competence. This course is quite interesting by itself. But for me it's just the thing I have been looking for - or better, it has found me.

It's like all my thoughts and experiences of the past half year coming together. I can relate to many intercultural differences because I have seen them in India myself this winter.

I started to love this seminar right from the beginning. It started with a quote from Sound Of Music. That shows how people from all over the world might perceive Austria, while most don't know how old that movie is or that not all Austria is that way.

Also, today we started the course with the first 15 minutes of Lost In Translation, a great movie about people traveling to Tokyo by themselves. I saw the whole movie about a month ago and it I loved it due to my Indian memories. But even more than that, today I learned to realize all the small details the movie offers. In the first 15 minutes Bill Murray arrives in a totally strange country. He has no idea what the local behaviors are.

This course teaches us all these little differences. For example, it's amazing how cultures differ in simple things such as greeting. While in southern countries you are almost hugged an kissed by everyone, in Asian countries a handshake is all that is accepted. If you are not aware of these things, you might screw up right at the beginning of a visit to another country.

I probably will post more impressions about this course during the week or next weekend, when the second half will take place.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Get Me Out Of Here

I finished reading my latest book: Get Me Out Of Here by Rachel Reiland. A wonderful account of borderline personality disorder (BPD), how she suffered through it and most of all how she recovered. I especially liked the role of her therapist, who - while keeping himself totally distanced emotionally - was more of a father for her than her own.

Reading this kind of book gives you a lot of understanding in psychological illnesses. I do not know anyone with BPD personally, but it's pretty certain that many people you encounter in daily life show similarities but don't even notice.

One thing I have read about in this book is a very important one: many people do not want to be helped in the first place, but then are more than thankful that someone really cares for their problems. Most people only show understanding on a surface level - the real causes remain hidden even for the person dealing with them. Opening yourself up requires a lot of trust and time. And this is something that can hardly be found today.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Brain Scan


I had my brain scanned again. For all of you who don't know yet, I like to take part in psychological experiments. They do take some time and don't get me money, but you can learn a lot from them and sometimes you get pictures like this fMRI one - for free!

This experiment actually consisted of two parts. First I had to do three tasks (visually, cognitive and motion) in the fMRI scanner, two weeks later I had to do the same set of tests in a NIRS scanner. While the fMRI is the big magnet tube you have to lie in, NIRS is just like EEG but without sticky pastes and hours of setup time. It's only light beams going in your head and going out again.

As far as I know, the results of both tests will be compared later. I don't really care what they do with my thoughts now, as long as I have this wonderful pic.
Actually this is only one picture of many others. I have a 3D view of my head on my computer now that allows me to slice and dice it in whatever way I want to.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Dogs find their way home

Yesterday I went for a walk with my two dogs. The older one doesn't really like long walks anymore. She constantly keeps sitting down and turning in the other direction clearly saying: "I want to go home"

After I had reached my destination yesterday, my dog again pulled in the direction of our house. So I decided to let her find the way. But instead of going the same way back, she took different roads and I dare say she has never taken this way home before. But in retrospect, she decided for the shortest way - without any hesitation.

I think this is an amazing behavior. You may say that maybe I would have given the dog subtle directions where I wanted to go, but as I would have liked to walk another way, I don't think that this is true. Have you ever let your dog decide where to go?

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Globalization vs Localization

Recently I made two purchases on the internet. The first thing that I bought were two books. A typical globalized transaction:

  1. I found these books while commenting an article from an Austrian guy
  2. I did a search which brought me to an American website: Mind Hacks
  3. So I logged in on the Austrian portal of Amazon
  4. As you know, this site is only a modified version of the German Amazon
  5. I found out that these books were cheaper by an alternative seller in the UK
  6. A week later the books arrived and on the envelope it said:
  7. Paperbackshop.co.uk from the UK
  8. But the address was from Illinois USA
  9. Interestingly the stamp said: sent from Niederaula in Germany (written in French)
  10. and then i was sent all the way to Austria
On the other hand, last Sunday I bought two packs of chili seeds on eBay. As I found out after the purchase, the seller lives about 10 walking minutes from my home. So today I just walked over there to buy them and save the shipping money.

So one transaction involved 4 countries from half around the globe and 3 languages, while the other was done within less than 2 kilometers from my home. Now that is globalization vs. localization

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Strange people in the park

Thanks to the marvelous weather I'm spending as much time as possible in the park. Today I sat again on the place as yesterday. And again most people were drinking alcohol there - at 4 pm.
But today I also had some funny experiences. A girl sat down on the bench next to me and said: "Excuse me, is my nose bleeding?" First I didn't even understand the question because it was so out of context. But it seems like she has that problem very often and of course had no mirror.
She went away shortly after and after a few more minutes an older guy walked by every bench and tried to sell self-made candles for EUR 1.50 each. Well... I don't think he'll sell many candles in the direct sunshine. Maybe he should have tried a few hours later.

Where is our youth going?

Yesterday I was reading in the city park of my town. Even though it was still afternoon many young people sitting on the other benches were already drinking beer. Too bad there is no ban on drinking in public places in Austria.
But compared to what I have seen later in the evening, this was nothing. I came across the park again in the late evening. It was filled with hundreds of young people, many of them below the age of 16. But everyone was drunk. I wish drinking would have been the only drug consume there.
In addition to that the paths were littered with empty or full beer bottles and other things. Compared to afternoon, this place looked completely different. And nobody is gonna do anything against it. The police was driving by but didn't even bother to get out of the car. Like society lets down our youth on purpose.
We must not forget that our children will be the ones who will be the adults in the future. They will have children of their own. Where is this all going? Maybe their parents are already drunk on some evenings, too. A great example for them.
But instead of seeking a better life, the children embrace alcohol and drugs in ever increasing numbers. Looks like there is nothing else to do for them. Or if there is, they all have only one thing in common: getting drunk on a regular basis. What more do they need. It's fun, it's probably cheaper than going to the movies and you have lots and lots of people who do the same.
There are some ad campaigns against alcohol. But instead of telling them that it's bad, we should show our youth how to have fun without it. And we should do it fast before those who know how die out.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Life on Mars

In yesterday's Philosophy lecture the professor somehow mentioned a possible trip to Mars in 20 years time. The interesting thing was how the crew might change during the trip - which will take 2 years for each way and possibly includes a 2 year long stay on Mars.

Well, during this long time time some crew members may die but also there is a chance that a baby will be born. Don't ask me about ethics for an inspace-pregnancy, but I like the idea. The child might get born on Mars and not see earth before being 4 years old. And when it does, it's a natural born alien.

A very funny question that will arise is: what city of birth do you write into the child's passport?

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Being more friendly to strangers

About a week ago I was walking my dogs in the morning. Many people pass by every time. But this time was different. A girl passed me. Well, there's nothing special about that - but shortly after she said "Hello" and went on. I turned around. No one else was there but she kept on walking in the opposite direction. It got me all a little confused.

Having seen the movie Waking Life I remembered the ant scene where the narrator passes a woman and she starts talking to him:

I mean, it’s like we go through life with our antennas bouncing off one another, continuously on ant auto-pilot with nothing really human required of us.
I've thought about it after seeing the movie and I'm thinking about it again: why do we ignore most people on the streets? Can't we all be a little bit more friendly or at least notice the people we pass?

In the future I want to be more friendly to strangers. For example, today a girl wanted to cross the streets and was unsure whether I'd stop my bike. Instead of going on, I stopped and gave her a smile to let her know it's safe to cross. She smiled back.

It doesn't take much - but when everyone does it, life can be a lot more enjoyable.

Welcome to my blog

Hello everyone!

I've been wondering... do I need a blog, do I want to write one and most of all, do I have time to write one? I've decided to give it a try.

What is my motivation for blogging? I'm thinking about many things from my every day life. Some times these thoughts are so interesting that I share them with friends and other people. But in the end they will be forgotten sooner or later. This blog will therefore be a collection of my thought about life, a journey through it and it will give you an insight who I am.

I hope I can make this an interesting blog, so keep coming back!