If anything, this movie clearly shows that there is no absolute good or bad but more a line you walk where good and evil are so close together. Probably best illustrated by this quote: "…die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain" I couldn’t have said it any better.

Anyway, it’s one of those few must-see movies of this year

This was the original glitch on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08…

And here is how EA responded…

How about that for customer dialogue!

There basically are 2 distinct modes, and a hybrid 3rd, in which I handle a pc. First of all, there’s mouse mode. It basically means I’m browsing the web, catching up on some feeds, occasionally typing a few words but most of my time is spent mousing around. It’s a relaxed clicking atmosphere.

The second is where I use my keyboard, but very often switch to my mouse. Even for very trivial tasks like switching applications I’ll use my mouse. 

The last mode is nearly exclusive keyboard usage. My entire pc is steered through my keyboard. Even trivial tasks like changing the track on winamp are done through keyboard shortcuts

As you could have guessed: these 3 modes are tightly coupled to my position to the zone. The closer I get to the zone, the less I use my mouse. When I’m really in the zone, my mouse is merely a piece of decoration on my desktop.

We all understand the importance of the zone and we tailor our environment in such a way that the zone is always within reach (even though we don’t always get there).

Going back to what I said earlier, the way I use my computer, and the way my zone works define heavily how I want tools to work and how my machine is set up. So coming up are some zone-enabling-tools that I couldn’t live without when shooting for highest productivity.

*Launchy
A rather recent discovery, but I’m totally in love with this tool. Just hit alt+space from any application and start typing the name of the tool you want to launch. On its own this is already far better than clicking a shortcut (or the windows+r and typing the full name).
One of the nicest features is that it remembers which tool you fired up last time, so the first option will always be the tool you fired latest. In my cases this results in f = firefox, v = visual studio, g = gvim, o = outlook, q = sql developer. Try to beat me in launching an application by: taking your hand from the keyboard, get hold of the mouse, navigate to the right shortcut, doubleclick it.

*Winamp
No zone without music! This has been my loyal companion for ages. I prefer the MMD3 skin on winamp 5. Preferably minimalized to the wide/small version snapped to the top of my screen, in the center, always on top of any other window. Just lifting my eyes tells me what track is playing and how far along it is. Winamp has global hotkeys, which is just a fancy name for: whenever I hit ctrl+alt+W/X/C/V/B/J resulting in previous song/play/pause/next song/stop/jump to song.

*Headphones
Preferably noise blocking, but normal headphones can do.

*Dual screen
When writing code this means: edit code on one screen, debug, project explorer, im, firefox arranged on the other. For most tasks my main screen (internal laptop) is used for the activity that I have to have a lot of keyboard interaction with, my second screen (external 19") is used for reference material and various mind-break software.

*Vim
Or any good text editor for that matter. I like vim a lot since it can be steered entirely without mouse interaction and supports a wide range of functionality (I love those regex based search/replace tricks).

*an in-memory list of OS and tool shortcuts
You may get the point by now, the zone and excessive keyboard action are tightly coupled for me. So knowing the shortcuts for most common tasks (switching apps, copy-paste, context menu, auto complete code, build solution run project in debug, switching between agenda and inbox in outlook, …) are just soooo time saving. I don’t know every shortcut but for most common tasks I don’t have to take my hands off the keyboard.

First of all, it’s got a very unique style to it. It’s not trying to be one of those realistic animation movies even though every detail is worked out gloriously. From the facial expressions to the details of the backdrops (gorgeous backdrops I might add). And it keeps its very own style, not slipping into cartoon land. The color setting is wonderful yet with a very dual tone to it. It almost feels like the dead are more alive than the living, based on the colorschemes.

When it comes to music I think it can compete with some of the Disney classics, even though the lyrics are a bit more meaningful and probably less child friendly from time to time. There’s a few magical piano solos in it also, pleasing me off course

The story itself is decent, yet not really spectacular. A guy before his wedding practices his vowels in a forest, and ends up (unintentionally) marrying a corpse. The way the mental struggle between the living and the dead, both looking for relief of some kind is worked out is truly wonderful.

All I can say is that I will probably watch this movie a couple more times and if you haven’t seen it…install yourself in front of the TV with all you need and get ready to be swept away.

All European club competition are playing their last games of the season, hard title battles are still fought out. It’s been an extremely exciting year to be honest. In the major competitions the title is/was still up for grabs until the very last one or two games.

There’s also the EUFA cup final (played yesterday evening) which by definition is interesting, simply because it’s all about the excitement of winning that final game and lifting that trophy. Next week the Champions League final is coming up, which is exciting for the same reason every other final is exciting, and even more because it’s the top of the world (ok, Europe) battling for the trophy with the big ears (and big bucks).

And the wonderful news this year, as of June 7 the European championship for countries starts in Austria and Switzerland. So that means an extra month of high quality football on my TV.

So up front, I wish to apologize to everybody who may think they want to get a drink or go out with me. I’ll probably be unavailable following all this wonderful action. Those of you who do not understand why I (or anybody for that matter) can be like that…well, I guess you don’t have my love for sports. The joy of pushing your limits, the determination to improve, the bliss of winning. But don’t bother telling me all that, just have a drink while I’m focused on this….

C ya later

One of the biggest factors is competition, the sheer enjoyment being better than your opponent is pure bliss. I love winning, in everything I do. Over time I learned to cope with losing, but it never feels good. Not even if you are totally outclassed by an opponent. It hurts, no matter what! I may try to hide it, rationalize it, look for reasons why there was no logical way I could win but deep down I will always feel bad.

Somewhat related to winning is personal challenges. Slowly pushing your limits, trying to get better all the time, overcoming obstacles, … it makes me feel happy. It also helps on my confidence level. Every time I overcome a challenge I prove myself that "I can do it" and that I can take on another challenge and there’s no reason to be afraid. And I’m not talking about world records or Olympic medals here. Doing good at sports and getting small personal victories helps me in taking on the world as a whole (slightly overstated, but you get the drift). In that light I also believe that people who never did any sports and horrible condition will benefit from doing it (next to the "health" factor).Getting personal victories, no matter how small they are, is nice.

"Mens sana in corpore sano" (a healthy mind in a healthy body). It is a saying ever so true. I have a job that requires very little physical activity and a lot of brainpower (well, a lot is relative I guess ). Bottom line, when I get home I often feel mentally tired and empty. That mental tiredness also reflects on my body, the more intense I’ve been going during the day, the harder I find it to drag myself to the gym or football field. And still, everytime I’ve done sports I actually feel good. Yes, my muscles are tired and it aches every now and again, but strange as it may seem, I am actually full of energy. An hour of sports recharges my mind more than an entire evening as a couch potato.

The "health" factor. For some reason, when I frequently play sports, I tend to maintain a more healthy lifestyle. I tend to pay some attention to what I eat, drink more water during the day, will prefer walking to work over driving my car (sidenote: it’s a 20min. walk vs a 5min. car ride). I don’t have a clear reason as to why I do it and it’s not something I do on purpose. It goes a bit like this in my mind: I just did some sports, I feel good.  Because I feel so good, I want to do the healthy thing and keep feeling good. Hey, I feel so great I want to do more sports. It’s hard to start and maintain that cycle, but it’s great when I can keep it up for some time.

Sports has learned me to maintain focus, fight, and not give up. When playing sports, I play to win (see point 1). Playing to win means I dedicate myself to the task at hand until the game is over. And (in football) it’s not over until the referee blows the final whistle. Even in the very last minute with 2 goals down, I will still fight every duel on the field as if it was 0-0 and all to play for (obviously it won’t be exactly like that because I will be tired from actually playing a full game). My mind won’t accept the fact that I lost until it’s completely certain (I believe in miracles at times like that).

Conclusion: sports is great, for many reasons. People actually notice a difference in me, also in my professional life, when I go and do some sports frequently.

*with sports I don’t mean playing pool or darts or drinking games in a bar. They are equally enjoyable, but for entirely different reasons.

Wat er food-wise uiteindelijk ineen gestampt is draagt als officiele naam risotto con pepperoni (vandaar ook de titel, te gek é) en wordt min of meer als volgt ineen gebokst.

Ge hebt nodig (voor 3 a 4 man)…
* een ajuintjen
* een teentjen knoflook
* een bliksken tomatenblokskes van een 400g (liefst met al wa basiclicum en andere kruiden in, voor tgemak) of 4 tomaten (=meer werk) en bijhorende kruiden (peper, zout, basilicum, beetje olijfolie en wat knoflook)
* 50g parmesan, fijn geraspt
* 3 rode paprikas (of andere kleurtjes, maar tis best met rode)
* nen goeie liter water met een bouillon bloksken voor groenten (of echte groentenbouillon als ge tijd teveel hebt)
* olijfolie
* 300g normale witte rijst, geen snelkook toestanden (of 3 zakskes van 125, zo nauw steekt het nu ook weer nie)
…en nen pot waar dat allemaal in past (en een kleinere voor uw water/groentenbouillon)

Ge gaat als volgt te werk…
Ge doet de liter water (groentenbouillon) in nen pot en zorgt ervoor dat da heet is (en blijft).
Ge snijdt uw ajuintjen en knoflook gezellig fijn.
In de grote pot giet ge olijfolie (4 eetlepels naar officiele maatstaven, of gewoon tot de bodem goe bedekt is naar Ardonio maten) en ge zet da op een hete plaat. Als de olie warm is doet ge er de ajuin en knoflook in en ge laat da ff bruinen (zo’n minuutje of 5).

In de 5 minuten dat uw ajuinen aan de gang zijn doet ge de pitjes en andere vuilte uit uw paprikas weg en snijdt ge ze in nie al te kleine blokskes. De bedoeling is dat ze zowa blokkerig in het geheel zitten, en ze krimpen wel een beetje tijdens het koken. Eens da klaar is en uw ajuintjes beginnen wa bruin te zien dan gooit ge die paprikas ook in de pot. Tegelijk daarmee doet ge ook het blik tomatenblokjes volledig in de pot. Ge roert de boel eens gezellig om en ge wacht tot het boeltje zowa begint te koken.

[[snip voor de mensen die echte tomaten willen gebruiken]]
Als ge echte tomaten gebruikt dan moet je eerst het vel eraf halen. Daarna snijdt ge ze in 4 en haalt ge het binnenste met de pitjes enzo eruit. Het resterende vlees van de tomaten snijdt ge in nie al te grote blokskes. Tijdens het koken gaan die blokskes helemaal verdwijnen, dus zit nie in met vorm enzo. Enkel de blokskes gaan in de pot, de rest hebde nie van doen
[[end snip]]

Ge laat dat kort even koken (de mensen met echte tomaten laten het langer even koken totdat de tomatenbrokskes zacht zijn) en dan doet ge er alle rijst bij. Om te vermijden dat uw rijst straks aan de bodem van uw kom plakt is’t handig om nog rap een beetje olijfolie over die rijst te gieten voor dat ge hem in de pot doet (of als hij net in de pot is). Ge roert heel dat goedje ff om zodat ge een min of meer egale mix krijgt van rijst/paprika/tomaten. Dan doe je er geleidelijk (als in pollepel per pollepel) groentenbouillon bij zodanig dat de rijst altijd in kokend vocht zit. Goed blijven roeren is de boodschap zodat uw rijst zeker nie aan de bodem blijft kleven. Uw rijst + koken zal groentenbouillon opnemen/verdampen, dus als het te droog wordt opnieuw een lepelke bij doen. Altijd blijven roeren. In totaal moet uw rijst zo’n 20 minuten koken, proef af en toe eens om te zien of uw rijst al zacht genoeg is (ik heb hem liever iets harder, andere mensen liever iets zachter, kwestie van smaak). Belangrijkste is maken dat het nooit droog is en dat ge goed blijft omroeren. Tegen dat uw rijst klaar is mag het geheel min of meer droog worden (als in: de laatste minuten geen bouillon meer bij gieten).

Voor de afwerking roer je de parmesan door het mengsel, dat zorgt ervoor dat je (naast de lekkere smaak) een soort van half kleverige massa krijgt. Voor de rest kan je ook nog peper/zout toevoegen als je wil. Afwerken op een bord met witte vis (kabeljauw, pangasius filet, … ), een paar kerstomaatjes en eventueel iets fris groen voor de kleur (zoals een blaadje verse basilicum op een risotto torentje).

En ondanks de beschrijving hierboven, smaakt het best wel lekker

Status 1: "Blackberry werkt vanuit Roemenië. Zo achtergesteld zijn ze dan toch niet."

Direct gevolgd door status 2: "Et dire que mon Blackberry ne fonctionnait pas en Wallonie!"

Ik kan daar alleen maar uit afleiden dat Yves Leterme denkt dat Wallonië een hoopje achtergestelden is…

Yvez Haz Da Powah!

It all starts out with some olive oil (a few spoons, even though I never measured it), an onion, 3-4 fresh tomatoes and a clove of garlic. Finishing off with basil (preferably fresh leaves), pepper and a touch of sugar to sweeten the rather sharp tomato taste (optional).

The preparation is extremely easy (as in: even I can do it without screwing up).

Start by heating the olive oil in a saucepot. Chop the onion really fine, peel the garlic and crush it*. Put the onion and garlic together in the hot olive oil. Give it a minute so that the onion starts looking a bit shiny to the gold/brown side (stirr occasionally so that all of the onion is covered by the oil).
Cut the tomato in 4 parts (remove the green bit on top first, some people also like it peeled beforehand).
Once the onions have this sort of shiny gold look, put in the tomato chunks. Stirr frequently. After a few minutes your tomatos will become softer, push them (preferably with a wooden spoon) against the side of your pot so they fall apart in smaller parts without destroying them completely. You want them to be a tiny bit chunky in the end result.
Leave this on the fire for about 15 minutes. You’ll notice that most of the water from the tomatos is vaporating and you’ll get something that resembles a thick substance. At this point remove the garlic and bring to taste with (my preferences) a bit of cayenne pepper, a couple of fresh basil leaves (torn into not so small pieces). Make sure the pepper and basil are nicely stirred in the sauce so the taste is equally spread.

Time the cooking of your pasta so that is done pretty much at the same time of the sauce. For cooking pasta, I generally put a bit of olive oil and some oregano in the water. Cook your pasta to your liking and drain the water once you’re done.

Get your sauce from the fire while sauce & pot are still hot. Immediately stirr your pasta through the sauce (preferably in the sauce pot). This will prevent the pasta from sticking together, and will allow it to suck up some of the taste of the sauce. Serve directly from the pot on a (hot) plate. And most of all, eat with just a fork (and a spoon if you really have to) but don’t cut it. Cutting spaghetti is a sin!

Since this is such a basic tomato sauce, you can make a lot of variations and combine with not just pasta. I’m interested in hearing yours

*Crushing garlic is done with the flat of a knife. Just put your knife flat on the garlic and push untill you hear the garlic cracking. The intent is to make a few cracks in the garlic so the taste can flow out, don’t break it.
In general, if you want a very low garlic taste, just put in the peeled clove. For a mild taste, peel&crush it. For a hard garlic taste, peel & slice it really fine and don’t remove it afterwards.