Downgrades some more
Downgrades some more
So, Vista is out, hoop dee doo. A piece of news that would have excited me no end a few months back, excites a ho-hum from the ol’ yawn-hole now. A number of words come to mind, least of which – Bloatware, cr*pware, etc. etc. Did you happen to watch ol’ Willie present Vista in NYC? It was a choke-fest, I just wanted someone to tell him, “Hey dude, step down dude, you embarassin’ yoself dude”. Of course M$ fanbois were out in swing.
A kind of poignant cartoon sheds better light to this whole saga, (CARTOON – thanks for the link Markus!) Just goes to show, the whole mess that’s Veesta. Ugh, ugly taste in mouth… it’s like that poem we used to recite as children, don’t quite remember the words to it, but went somehow like, repeat the name 3 times and the wicked witch appears!
On to more serious matters now, 
am doing much better now, and now more conscious of my embarrassing Monday night jaunt (pix of which the Drachslaah has threatened to publish lol). BEAT you to it m8! I put some on my flickr page already!
And coming to the mysterious title for today’s blog – I am stepping down my Internet Bandwidth. For months my lines have been screaming through the “internets” at 20 mbps, but for that I have no use anymore. So I am stepping down to the lowest speed they allow – 4 mbps. Hoop dee do!
1:54:30 PM
Back in Heerlen, Day of Recuperation
Day of Recuperation
Emiliana Torrini would sing “Today’s been OK”.. Well my dear I could not disagree more. A horrid day has it been. Have spent the whole day in-and-out of bed, taking various forms of medication, and trying to keep my eyes open. My friend from the US, recommends visiting a doctor, and I couldn’t agree more, however, it is just too cold outside, and needless to say, the minute i step out in the cold, the whole problem starts all over again (shortness of breath, uncontrollable bouts of coughing etc), so I shall ride it out and see what happens.
Have been eating a lot of fruit and drinking plenty of fluids. An indicator of my unhealthy diet – for the first time in nearly 7 months in the Netherlands, I bought some fruits at the Albert Heijn, instead of my usual bag of chips and bottles of pop. Ach, as good ol Scrooge put it, and I rephrase “I shall always know Healthy in my heart”.
Time for dinner and turning in, soon after. Cheers!
9:52:41 PM
Ill Health, just great!
Ill Health, just great!
Just returned from Austria, Innsbruck after a brief 4 day visit and a 9 hour journey by Van. Kept coughing en route and what’s more, have run up a fever. Hubert handed me some medication that eased the unease, but here I am, back in the warm confines of home, still reeling from the journey and the toll that it has taken on poor old me. Ach, absolutely horrible. Keep shivering, even though the temperature inside the house is a warm and cosy 25 Degrees C, and keep coughing. I really need a good night’s rest. Nuff for tonight. More backdated logs with pix coming up soon!
Stadtrundfahrt
Stadtrundfahrt
In hale and hearty spirits did I start this day. The promise of a Stadtrundfahrt (city tour) of Innsbruck. Milos would be leading this march into the city unknown. While the rest went skiing, I had decided the previous night that this endeavor would be rather too adventurous for me, hence the city tour.
Departed at 09:00 from the Grillhof, fresh snow all around us. It really was a winter wonderland. I had unfortunately miscalculated just how cold it would get. The Bus Line J took us to Museumstrasse and there on, we went on to the Franciscan Church or Hofkirche. It was just too cold there, and De Jong and I found ourselves jumping to keep warm. The church was quite interesting and the life-size bronze statues had us in awe. The monumental tomb of Maximilian (empty) was a sight to behold. Unfortunately there was incense and a strong hint of myrrah in the air, due to which I just couldn’t breath properly (owing to my ill health the day before).
We left the Hofkirche and walked to the Goldenes Dachl, a beautiful sight indeed, had we not been freezing in our pants! Rocio and I decided that indeed we had had enough, and would search for a cafe, to relax and unwind and generally warm up! And here it was, Cafe Munding! Loved the place. Some of the people had the right idea and took a Hot Chocolate (more on that a little later) while I chose a normal Latte.
The Hot Chocolate was served in a most remarkable manner. They served a cup of milk and a bar of chocolate which you dip in, and dissolve in the milk yourself. A most unique way of serving, and the end results? Belissimo! I never have tasted a Hot Chocolate more delish than this delight! Rocio snapped pictures of the same and I hope she will upload them.
Back at the Grillhof, the Skiing team hadn’t arrived back yet, so we took the time off and relaxed at the Grillhof, going for walks and enjoying our time. At 17:00 Yongwu arrived and he and I held an IMS LD Level B & C workshop together. The amount of interest generated was very encouraging indeed. Yongwu demonstrated CoSMoS and it was generally agreed upon to follow up this session with another, the very next day.
It was around this time that my health took a nosedive, and I started feeling == crap. Dinner at 19:00 I barely scraped through the horrible fare. The saving grace once again was the honor of dining with Dr. Klamma and his lovely wife, and Markus. The Bulgarian delegation promised drinks at the end of the evening, and we decided to head there after a wee walk through the woods with Milos, a girl from Tallin U in Estonia and Tim De Jong. Milos regaled us with tales from his army days, as we trudged through the woods, in the cold cold weather (in retrospect, a very bad choice indeed!). Nearly got lost a number of times, but found our way back following Milos! Viva el Milos!
A snow-angel later, got back to the Bulgarian Evening and had a couple of wine shots. They were serving home made stuff, which Markus told me was 53% alcy, brr! After the tryst with Weizen on Monday, I steered clear of this, despite repeated urging by Markus and the others. Instead, struck up a conversation with Susanne Heyer from Vienna, who, incidentally is pursuing a very similar endeavor with regard to development of an IMS LD Design Environment using graphical notations. She has had some measure of success with Level A and B constructs, and it shall indeed be very interesting to see the results of this project. I think there could be room for some collaboration betwitxt the OU and UoV in this regard. They have an advanced project and we have the know-how and a deep understanding of the spec. I shall follow this up as soon as I am feeling a wee better. Their project runs till May 2007.
I had to bid everyone a hasty farewell then, for I was really feeling under the weather, and as I cut across the courtyard to my room, I could seriously feel the effects of my bravados earlier this day.
More pictures? Find them on my Flickr page!
Pardon my galoshes!
Pardon my galoshes!
Weizen o Weizen, nectar of the gods, scourge of the non-alcoholics, savior of the thirst-challenged… wherefore hast thou forsaken me?
The very words I woke up to, this morning, after the rather rambunctious celebration the previous evening, during which I had a merry ol’ time, gulping down nice pints of Weissbier and getting me ol bum groped by various Tirolian women! Incredible Austria! Awesome indeed.
But for that one must pay, and the morning was spent repenting the previous night’s “sins”. Couldn’t sit through the breakfast and spent it in me room, recuperating. On the brighter side, there was snow! It snowed in Innsbruck, everything was covered with a fine layer of pure white goodness! I loved it. The opportunity presented itself in the evening for us to go down the driveway and take a walk in the night, after the sessions and classes were done. It was really very interesting indeed! I immediately realized that I needed either a) a thicker jacket, or b) different, Tirolian genes. No chance of b, and no money for a. Stymied eh!
Joined Markus for a couple of Cokes later that evening and we thrashed around ideas regarding IMS LD, and the future of Learning design, using abstractions of real world experiences, as recorded using ubiquitous devices. The promises seem very interesting nay, challenging indeed.
It was probably a symptom of the kind of night one had had on the 22nd, that not many people showed up in the Grillhof bar this evening. Just a handful of people, including the Altran group, the Spanish, and the OU “Kewldudes” showed up. We made it an early evening, retiring to our respective beds at 12:30 AM.
