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House troubles (and other updates)

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

Recently, several people told me they read this blog. *BLUSH*! Anyway, here is a short update to keep all you faithful readers up to date on current affairs. Apologies for the layout, don’t have time to do this in a nice fashion.

House:

Hot plates removed, day later wooden board placed to cover the gap (door was left open)
bought new hot plates, am cooking again
people are trying to complain all together to the University about this. This is an interesting balancing trick, because on the one hand people want this to be official (signatures and everything) and on the other hand, if it is official, it should be correct.
after several failed attempts (vexing some co-residents), one of the law students in the house came up with a 2-page letter in French, citing several articles of Luxembourgian law. Despite the official tone and my less-than-perfect understanding of normal French, my legalese is apparently sufficient to ameliorate this somewhat.
In any case, I discovered several errors, both insubstantial (missing ‘.’) and quite grave (incorrect date — date in the past for a future deadline).
Aah well, at least they’re trying. Gotta give them credit for that. Still, I will try to get the message across that next time, I’d like to comment on this sort of thing in advance.
Oh, for those wondering: yes, I am quite surprised that I could read a legalish text in French and find it less then perfect, but I could. There were phrases in there which I would qualify as questionable, and therefore not suited to such a document.
Heating problems are piping up again!
This would be a hilarious pun if not for the incessant pumping sound emitted from the pipes every time the heating acts up again. It was checked (checked only) diligently, apparently by the president of the heating company, last Thursday, and apparently this week the heating company is going to come by to fix the situation once and for all. For some weird reason, the noises were intermittent on Sunday and have all but disappeared from the audible contents of my room since then. Let us hope this pleasant state continues or even improves.

Furthermore:
I just spend the weekend in Cologne (with M., it was a very pleasant weekend). Learned one important thing: book train tickets for Germany at least 3 days in advance. Savings can run up to 50% — 62.5% if you have a discount card. And, that sort of savings is needed for reasonably priced train travel in Germany.

Also weird: in Cologne we ran once again into this German juggler, who has pink highlights in his dark hair (Ward: do you know this guy? Will try to get a better description). Last time we had seen him was in Trier (nice city, Baptiste is living there now), where he was doing his show. Once again, his show involved a lot of noise and little juggling.

Okay, enough updates, back to the 2 deadlines this week (Nuovo (done) and DRM reviews (done)) and the three deadlines next week (proposal: work, BFR report: work work, WOTE2008: WORK WORK WORK).

Posted in holidays, luxembourg, work | Comments Off on House troubles (and other updates)

Frustrated… (but only slightly)

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

For the love of God: WHY is the world inhabited by so many incompetent people?! You know, it is not that hard to achieve mediocrity. Millions of people do it daily, so why am I confronted with people who can’t?!?!

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Room ransacked!

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Oh. My. God.

Not that I am very religious, but imagine returning home to find signs that someone entered your room and violated it. And when I say violated, I mean they went into your kitchen, and removed the heating plates.

Rumours of this had been flying around. I suspected my landlord (the University of Luxembourg) to act responsible and with care. No notice whatsoever. I return home and find myself without cooking equipment. Not only did someone(s) enter my room without my consent or even my awareness, but also something was forcibly taken from my room. To the reasons for this I can only guess — seeing as I have yet to receive any notification whatsoever.

I have been and still am contemplating notifying the police. Given the rumours, I suspect that this is a well-thought-out action by my landlord. But I don’t know. For all I know, someone might have found a way into my room and removed the heating plates. For what purposes, only the gods can guess.

Hmms. I was typing this from an unattached laptop, when I realised the danger in that — or should I say the luck that this was not taken? Yes, abstractly this might be panicking. Then again: an unauthorised person entered my room and took something — something that was quite well-attached and not easy to take. Of course I should worry about other things.

Well, I will sleep on this. For now, I am tired and quite pissed.

PS: In unrelated news: pics / movies from Hoopje weekend are online!

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1 year of Bourg

Sunday, February 3rd, 2008

I have already been living here a full year… so much has happened, and yet time seems to have passed so quickly. It has been a wonderful year, start-to-finish (and nicely coinciding with Chinese New Year). Some things have still to be taken care of (kitchen cabinets…), some other things went so smoothly I don’t even remember spending time on them. I have enjoyed visits by many, and hope that in the coming year more of you will stop by. I’ve been learning quite a bit here, and enjoyed the work, the environment and the change of scenery. I will not say “it was all for the best”, for that would imply a ranking between the previous situation and the current one, but I have no regrets.

If you are interested to see what has transpired the last year, you can check the archive of course. There are too many highlights to start to list, and every time I reminisce a different set of memories stand out. I am looking forward to the new year with anticipation. If it is anything like last year, it’ll be gooooood.

Slight reminder to all of you vaguely planning to visit: countdown has started! I will be in Luxembourg for another 11 months. After that, currently all bets are off (as in: dunno how things go and where I will be living then).

Thanks to all for making last year so great and the transition to Luxembourg so pleasant.

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Auchan credit

Friday, January 18th, 2008

Close to my work in Luxembourg, there is a supermarket — well, more a French hypermarchÃƒÂ©. Big does not begin to describe it; it’s gigantic. Humongous. And, in true Dutch fashion, they have a bonus-card-like system. You scan the card, and for some selected products, you get 5% of the price as a debit on the card. On Tuesdays, this is 10% (for most, but not all, products that grant you this). And sometimes there are special offers where you get more money or a larger percentage for a special product.

Over time, with careful planning (shop on Tuesdays! Buy into the hype, buy the products that come with money!), you can accumulate eventually some money.Enough to purchase Zelda: Phantom Hourglass at least :) :) :)

I’ll be trying that out in 3 hrs in the train, most probably :)

Posted in gaming, luxembourg, travelling | Comments Off on Auchan credit

Now you have it, now you don’t…

Sunday, December 9th, 2007

Sinterklaas was a blast! Too bad I couldn’t bring all my siinterklaasgiifts back with me… Had to take some Sinterklaas candy of course, to spread the joy of the fest in Luxembourg (feeling a bit like a Sinterklaas ambassador here :). So, in the morning, about 5 minutes before we needed to go, I did the final check and decided to check for my Luxembourgian keys. No… such… luck.

WHAT?!?! AAARGH! I needed to get my train, and keys and and … ow shit.
We searched for a bit, no trace of them. Weird thing: I could also not find any trace of a (very) specific cable I put aside to take to Luxembourg. So they might be close together, but where? I turned my laptop bag inside out, turned my normal bag inside out, no clue. Not in my room at my parents, no time to check at my brother’s place… shit.

Well, decided to go and fix things in Luxembourg. That took a bit of doing, but in the end things worked out, I got to the sinterklaas celebration at work, having spare keys to go around. And three days later, I actually found my keys. In my laundry — where I put them because I had to take that to Luxembourg, so I was definitely not forgetting that.

Le duh.

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Empowering the uni, part deux

Saturday, October 20th, 2007

It was — nay, it is and remains! — beyond credibility. There has to exist a bound upon the amount of de-facilitisations that can occur within any given time frame. The incessant continuity of the deprivations stretches the mind that attempts to encompass its totality. Taken individually, the events masquerade as mere inconveniences. However, upon investigation their mundanity is as elusive as an ivory-billed woodpecker. The only conclusion remaining is that these events rely upon a steady expenditure of black magic, fueled by Dark Forces, no doubt as parts of an overarching plan involving multiple layers, if not several dimensions, of Hell itself.

What commences as a seemingly innocent power outage, rapidly outgrows this nomenclature as it develops into an incredulity. The henchman of the Dark Forces, who in English goes under the misnomer guise of Super, fulfills his Master’s dark desires and compounds the situation — by his non-presence. Where this in a brighter world would have been cause for joy, if not outright celebration, in the confines of our convent, undoubtedly built using cold-riveted girders with selenium cores, the impact of this plays on a different level altogether.

His ability to ignore pleas for help from various damsels in distress (and may I remind you, attentive reader, that I am describing an abode whose populace is virtually solely comprised of youthful, female students — the word luscious needsÃ‚Â to be redefined to capture the merest hint of seductive allure present), after the progressive stages of the disease that plagues the residents had to lead to a breaking point. No mere landlord-alike occupying functionary sufficed — the issue at hand (an unabating fire alarm, going strongly (very strongly) for already over an hour) was taken to the penultimate overarching lordness of lords: the rector magnificus. The response of the Dark Ones was as predictable as it was perfectly timed: no sooner had the delegates left the region subject to the ever-protruding, hateful tones of the alarm, or the alarm ceased.

Nevertheless, admiration is due to any force able to squeeze two full-night power outages, a weekend of no connectivity, a breakdown in hot water and the previous mentions pleasure within a period lasting a mere seven days. While the situation seems to have settled in a state previously described as “normal”, I will take my leave of this and wonder what I shall find upon my return, a fortnight and then some hence.

Posted in feeling tycho-y, luxembourg | Comments Off on Empowering the uni, part deux

Empowering the uni

Friday, October 12th, 2007

Came home yesterday evening, with Ton and Sasa, planning to have a nice cheese fondue at my place. There was a conspicuous absence of light emanating ominously from my building, offset by the cold, harsh light radiating from the fire escape, where a small group of smokers had sought refuge.

Upon further investigation, we became aware that there was a lack of current prevalent in the northwestern wing of the dwelling. This would definitely put a spoke through our cheese fondue, so to say. We do enjoy the luxury of having not merely one, but several alternatives to circumvent the current crisis (unintentional pun there). Hence, we opted to ignore the problems, on the tried and tested adage that if we ignore it long enough, eventually the problem will disappear.

The fondue turned out delicious for most, although those who do not share a fondness or even a liking for cheese found out to their dismay, that the flavours in a fondue are not, by any means, less intense than those of cheese in a more solid state. The conversation and company were pleasant as well, and except for a minor mishap involving unbaked pie (minor, but serious enough to never develop its full potential as baked pie), the evening was once again profoundly enjoyable.

Upon returning to my domicile, to my surprise I discovered the selfsame grouping of young students outside on the fire escape. As the fire escape is adjacent to the front door of the location I, with a flair of overstatement, may call my residence, the natural and courteous choice of action was to acquaint myself with the aforementioned group. They kindly informed me of the nature of the problems. Since 17:00, the flow of electricity had ceased. The concierge had been notified, but evidently had failed to produce the so-desired result of re-establishing the flow, despite repeated and insistent prompting. Apparently, the fact that some 31 persons were without power is not a main concern of our landlord, the university.

There was no recourse for it. The use of candles enabled applying the evening’s toilette before retiring for the night. In the morning, the situation was unchanged. But, lo and behold, at 7:15 equipment came to life! Digital clocks started flashing, the timer on the over lighted up, and it seemed that showering in the dark was not needed. Fast-forward to 7:21, and disappointment prevailed once again. The use of candles was once more an enabling factor in rousing myself to a state of coherent cognizance.

Upon parting to voyage to the lieu of my employ, I encountered an able fellow, who has at previous occasions applied many a fix in our building. Grasping the opportunity and the brakes of my bike with equal ferocity, I halted next to him and conversed about the abundant lack of electricity. We spent some time tracking the source of this profound inconvenience, and when the issue had been determined not to be a local phenomena occurring solely in my chambers, I parted company.

As the predicament had not been resolved when I left, I am partially curious to encounter the state of affairs when I arrive. Nevertheless, previous exposure to the efficiency and attitude prevalent here puts me at ease.
that is to say: if it is easy, it will be solved by the evening. If it’s slightly difficult, I will be needing candles all weekend.

Posted in cooking, feeling tycho-y, friends, luxembourg | Comments Off on Empowering the uni

Away from the ‘Bourg

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

So, at WISSec I met a couple of old friends and made some new ones. I was invited to visit Twente and perhaps give a talk there. That prospect sounded quite nice, since there are quite a number of people living in Enschede that I hadn’t seen in ages. However, first things first: I was off to Zurich for the weekend, meeting up with some friends (and having a much-needed conversation in the train with a friend).

So, as if me going to Zurich and planning to go to Twente wasn’t enough, Mihai and Raluca stopped by on their way moving back from Zurich to Twente :) We had a nice weekend here, talked quite a bit about stuff (well, WISSec was still fresh in memory) and then they were already leaving. Since they were going to shop at the Auchan first, I offered to show them the way. Well, I do know where the Auchan is… but getting there by car is slightly less easy than I thought. We first missed the parking garage entry — well, not really a problem. We then came close to the roundabout. Okay, so turn around and redo from start. Since we were turning around, we took the leftmost lane… which put us below the roundabout, on the highway to Trier. Le oops!

Well, after a fun drive through Luxembourg, we arrived back at the Auchan, and this time we did manage to enter the parking garage :)

After that, I started preparing for VOTE-ID — joechei, a paper got accepted somewhere! On Thursday, I’d be presenting the paper in Bochum (Germany), and right now it was Monday and the presentation was far from ready…

Fastforward, VOTE-ID was very nice, and meeting the familiar and not-yet-familiar faces was once again the highlight of the event (for me at least). Berry Schoenmakers gave a keynote address on “the evoting crisis” (inspired by “the software crisis”); there were interesting talks and more interesting people (as said). I’ve been back in Luxembourg now for 3 days and still need to digest most of what happened.

Then again, that is also partially due to the overload of other things happening. I found out that Bochum was really close to Enschede (closer than either Eindhoven or Luxembourg), so I went to visit Enschede. That weekend was wonderful, so no time to let VOTE-ID sink in slowly. And then, back here in Bourg, the intermediate report for my BFR grant was due, so that was the primary focus until now. Having finished those things, I just need to update my Bochum paper & slides, start preparing this talk I will be giving in Twente (I promised, so now I have to go there again (;-)), wrap up some WISSec stuff, and then I can actually get back to checking what happened there!

Pfffft, hope that’ll happen around next week.
Recent noteworthiness: Happy Birthday Aleksander!

Posted in friends, luxembourg, travelling, work | Comments Off on Away from the ‘Bourg

WISSec 2007

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

WISSec 2007 was a resounding succes! I spent some time organising this workshop, but all in all it went of very nicely. We had over 40 participants, many nice talks, perfect weather, food was good, company better, all in all: perfect!

Thursday we started off relatively late. Some people came from far-off Netherlands, and thus were a bit late. Lunch was in a local Italian restaurant (we tried booking the University, but they were too busy). Talks were okay, and in the evening, before dinner, there were nice tours — the organised one by Deike and the personal one by me, where I got to chat with some friends who visited. Woohoo!

Dinner was nice, and after dinner I said goodbye for the night and enjoyed a final cup of tea with Jing in “Hotel Hugo” — her hotel reservation didn’t happen, but there was a communication problem so Jing didn’t know about it.

Friday was even more fun, just a bit of apprehension about my talk and about leaving quickly after the things to get to Zurich that day. Well, managed all of it, with style but not much more than that. It was a very nice workshop, it was good to meet all the people and I am looking forward to next year’s meeting!

Posted in luxembourg, work | Comments Off on WISSec 2007

Hugo Jonker