By Guus , 8 September 2009

Brave New World

A beautiful science fiction book, well written, original and with an interesting angle. Such a relief after reading Slaughterhouse-Five. Enjoyed it.

The copy of the book I read had a quote by the predecessor of our local newspaper, which used to be the Raleigh News & Observer.

By Guus , 7 September 2009

Rainy run in Umstead

Did my favorite course in Umstead for the first time after coming back from vacation. It went well.

45 minutes before the finish it started raining -- pouring with rain. There was no thunder or lightning so it wasn't dangerous, and I really enjoyed it. My shoes got quite heavy after 15 or 20 minutes but there's something great about running in the rain.

By Guus , 7 September 2009

Slaughterhouse-Five

I was quite disappointed with this book. It was on my list of 'famous books I never had time for in high school' so I figured it would be interesting, in one way or another, but it really wasn't.

This book must have been become famous for its political impact -- not for its literary impact. It was boring. Luckily it's very small so I finished it in a few hours.

By Guus , 6 September 2009

Inglourious Basterds

Inglourious Basterds.We saw Inglourious Basterds yesterday, the new movie by Tarantino. A great film!

Very violent, as most his movies are, but very well made and a terrific story line. The acting by Christoph Waltz was phenomenal. Going into the theater I had no idea what the film was about, and that was a great way to see it.

If you liked his previous films, you'll love this one.

Topic
movies
By Guus , 6 September 2009

Maria Beatriz Fasolo

Maria Beatriz FasoloMaria Beatriz Fasolo was born this morning!

Bia is the daughter of our friends Chris and Angelo and was born at 1.39 am in Durham, NC. Mother and daughter are doing fine.

Congratulations!

Topic
dailylife
By Guus , 5 September 2009

Upgraded to Drupal 6

Today I upgraded the website to Drupal 6.

The upgrade went smooth and most parts of the website have been converted. The only thing remaining is the address book. This requires some extra work and hopefully I'll get to that Sunday or Monday, which is a day off, Labor Day.

The visible changes between Drupal 5 and Drupal 6 are pretty small, but things have improved behind the scenes. If you see anything that doesn't work right, or something is missing, please let me know.

Topic
guusbosmannl
By Guus , 5 September 2009

Dutch/Indonesian in North Carolina

Dutch/Indonesian in North Carolina.This is an overview of Dutch and Indonesian ingredients that Guus, one of our correspondents, has found in the Triangle area in North Carolina. He moved to the United States five years ago and there are certain flavors that he just cannot go without. This overview may also help you if you live in other parts of the country.

As a regular rule, you can get pretty much everything via mail order, and of course you can get things shipped from Holland. But it's nice to know that many products are available locally as well. The list below is about the ingredients. There are many good books & websites about dishes such as boerenkool and stamppot -- what we're trying to do is give you suggestions on where to find the right rookworst to accompany it!

If you have suggestions or questions please add a comment and we'll be glad to update it. At the end of the article you'll find details of the stores mentioned.

By Guus , 4 September 2009

Friday evening, full of energy

So yesterday I was completely wiped out and I skipped the Thursday run with NCRC. The gym on Sunday, 6 miles on Monday, gym again on Wednesday -- it would have been fine normally but just two weeks after the vacation it's a bit much.

Today I felt good again and I went for a strong run. My watch is still MIA but that's okay, I'm just rebuilding endurance. Maybe a long run this weekend.

By Guus , 4 September 2009

Dutch pronunciation

Breuckelen."'Ve-le-is-sing-nen.' (Or so it sounded to us.) That was definitely a V sound in the beginning, but then it got lost in a slosh of vowels and S’s."

The New York Times has an interview with Ms. Jones-Bos, the Dutch ambassador to the United States to talk about the Dutch pronunciation of names in NYC.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/dutch-pronounciations/?hp

Another quote:

"'Bowery? In the original Dutch, it was was “bouwerij,” which had an intimidating ending for an English speaker."

The interviews also links to this funny article: Breuckelen Express (Breuckelen is the original name for Brooklyn).

Topic
dutchusa