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Diary, March 2000


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    26  27  28  29  30  31


Friday, March 3, 2000

Moving at the speed of light

While shaving, I suddenly though that maybe it is the case that everything is always moving at the speed of light, or at least at the same speed. Strange thought.

But later that day, I realized it was a stupid idea.


Sunday, March 5, 2000

Snow

When I looked out of the window this morning there was a small layer of snow on the ground. Yesterday, there were big snow clouds in the sky. We had alternating showers of snow and an almost clear sky overhead and large clouds at the horizon. (But as usual, it was to warm for the snow to stay at all.) Today's snow was virtually gone before noon.

FreeCell

Lately, Li-Xia and I often play FreeCell. It is quite an addictive game. So far, we haven't come across hands that we could not solve, although for some we did need more than one try.


Saturday, March 11, 2000

DSCH

Some years ago, I used to listen to the 10th of Dimitri Shostakovich almost every day. Whenever I listen to a piece of music repeatedly, there always comes a moment that I start to dislike it, even to the point of abhoring. I take is as a measure for the quality of a piece how often I can play it before this is reached. Although I hoped that the point of abhoring would never come with the 10th it did come, and even my attempt to delay it by not listening to it so often anymore failed in the end.

To night, after not having listened to it for at least more than I year, I decided to give it a try. I was happily surprised to find out that I could listen to it, and enjoy it. I even felt that I understood the piece better than before. At the same time, I also sense that the point of abhoring might return quickly, if I would listen to it again too soon.

Isn't this true for many things in life, that you can only enjoy them, if you do not give in too often.

(follow-up)


Monday, March 13, 2000

Adalia Bipunctata

Someone of Customer Support noticed that there was a Adalia Bipunctata walking on our desk when I came to ask some questions. This little insect is also known as a ladybug. This one did not have two spots as the name would suggest, but that is often the case with the Adalia Bipunctata, that the spots become much larger, and are no longer recognizable as spots. He told us that there are also Ladybugs with seven and twentytwo spots.

Power failure

Arround 20:30 the light went off in our home. First I thought we had a short circuit. But when I looked out of the window, I they were dark as well. And everywhere in the homes, I saw beams of flash-lights going round. Around 21:15 the light flashed on again, but only to go off again. It was only after 22:20 that the light went on, and remained on.

(follow-up)


Wednesday, March 15, 2000

Going to the sea

The weather was very nice this morning, which made me think about going on
holiday when I was a small child. I was getting the wild idea of instead of going to my office, take Annabel and Andy to the beach, and spend the rest of the day there. They never have been to the beach again.

A sprouting chestnut

When walking to the canteen at lunch time, I saw a shining chestnut, and when I picked it up, I noticed that it had a small root coming out. Of course, I took it home, and put it a pot with earth. I did not know if the root should grow up or down. I though it was best to let it grow up.

(follow-up)


Thursday, March 16, 2000

more sprouted chestnuts

I asked a colleague if he had any experience with grown a chestnut tree from a chestnut. He told me that the root should grow down, and not up as I had thought.

I could not help myself from checking if there were some more sprouted chestnuts under the tree where I found one yesterday. And yes, I found three more. I put these in the garden, roots down, of course. (I also turned the other one upside-down.) I hope that at least one of the four chestnuts will grow into a tree.


Friday, March 24, 2000

It's growing

The root of the sprouting chestnut that I found last week, has grown to at least three times its original size. I hope it will continue growing like this. But, if I really want to let grow it into a tree, I have to think about where I want to put it in the garden. The problem is, that my garden is not very big, and I am afraid that my neighbours will not like the idea of tree taking away all the sun light.

(follow-up)


Saturday, March 25, 2000

New pair of glasses

This morning in the public library, I accidently dropped my pair of glasses. I hear the sound of a glass rolling away, and I immediately knew that the frame must have been broken. When I picked up the pieces, I found out that my observation was correct. The frame was broken on the left side near my nose. Luckily, I could still put in the glass and walk around with it, otherwise, I would have been severily handicapped.

We decided to immediately buy a new pair of glasses, although I still might be able to fix it with a piece of tape and walk around with for another half year. But the chances that the glass would drop out again and be destroyed, or that the frame would break at another spot, are simply to high.

First my eyes were checked. As a still can see perfectly with my current set of glasses, it came to no surprise to me that the strength was still the same:

After some hour looking around, we picked a frame by Jeep, model Drummond 3 08x0485-140. Looking at the price of the frame (not too expensive), I thought that the glasses would be cheaper than the frame. I was wrong. For a strenght of -11.5 (sum of -8.75 and -2.75), I had to go for the highest quality Zeiss lenses, the Clarlet 1.67 AS Ø65 Carat Hard, which have a refraction index of 1.67. It turned out that each of the glasses costed more than the frame.

(follow-up)


Monday, March 27, 2000

10:04

I was there, at the historical moment when for the first time
SuperQ application connected with a PW1480 XRF spectrometer.

Growing from 4 to 6 cm

In just one day the
chestnut grew from 4 to 6 cm. In the morning it was 4 cm high, and in the evening it measured 6 cm.

(follow-up)


Wednesday, March 29, 2000

Andy crying

Tonight, we were all sitting at the table, when Andy dropped his plate on the ground. Luckly, it was a plastic plate, so nothing broke, but still this is not behaviour we want to encourage. So, Li-Xia beated him softly in the palm of his hand. Beating is really a too strong word for what she did. But the messages was clear, the corners of his mouth dropped, and he looked very sad, a big tear rolled down his cheek. Tears come very easily with him. It broke my heart see him like this. So, we quickly comforted him.


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