billg on channel 9

microsofties around the world will be gowing soft indeed over the coming days: billg, ms_head_puppetmaster, features in the most recent channel 9 video..

together with mini, channel 9 is doing what the software developer's hr department couldn't establish for years and years: change the atmosphere, create and stimulate communication within the geeky ms world, run a lively debate and get open and honest feedback.. every company of respectable size knows these kinds of problems, even those with a lot of cash at hand.. channel 9 and mini try their best at showing why they love their employer.. how bloggers and websites can make a difference...
(fyi: i was the 1640th person to watch the interview, only 13 people had commented)

denjames

quote - steve

a quote i found on thankyousteve, under wednesday, January 18, 2006

"You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new." - Steve Jobs

enjoy daily quotes from the apple crew..

disclaimer for my muslim friends

never will i make fun of or insult (sounds a bit like 'sultan' inversed, doesn't it?) my northern-african or middle-eastern friends.. in fact, i will never make fun of anyone or anything at all, because i'm not capable of producing funny or ironic reading material, let alone insulting jokes.. which reminds me: why does mrs henin-hardenne always wear a cap? (my sick jokes-making and insulting-type colleague would continue as follows: and why does she still not have kids?, but i would never do that, off course!)

three nuns are going to heaven.. arriving at the gate, peter says: 'before you can enter paradise, you all have to answer a question'.. ok, so there goes non number one..
'which of these gazillion ladies here in heaven is eve'.. 'hmmm, that one' she says, 'because she doesn't have a belly button'.. 'very well' continues peter, thunder and lightning, angels sing, and hup-paaah the non goes in.
peter questions the second non: 'which of these quadrubillion men here is adam'..'that's not so difficult, it must be that man there' nonber two says, 'because he doesn't have a belly button either!'.. jackpot again, angels sing, thunder, lightning, enter non.
a little more afraid than the second non, the third one approaches peter.. 'what did eve first say when she met adam?' he asks.. 'oooh, that's a hard one', she says.. thunder, lightning, ....

another month gone by

didn't blog for a month, what a relief i can still do that without feeling too guilty..
ongoing negotiations with an orchestra coordinator, with a construction worker, with some architects, with some auditors, with my bosses and some project leaders have kept me awake over the past few weeks.. (look ma, no adjectives in the previous sentence! my god, i could have qualified these people very, well,... creatively!) and, oh yes, the growing FranzFerdinand and non-sleeping daughter with an everlasting cold take up their fair share of daddy-attention as well (day ànd night)..

many things made me very unhappy over the past few days, so here's some good things to encourage the positive thinking on 'ze internets':
so happy that my kids are not begging in the street like i saw the turkish/romanian(?) kids do today in the brussels shopping streets around my work.. my babygirl makes the best air-pancakes miles around, with lots and lots of imaginary sugar on top that doesn't damage your teeth!! one of my colleagues finally got that position in hr he was aiming at for years, and i will soon get a coach-ee to do some of my surplus tasks..
great that my toddler stopped running last week, when i cried my lungs out in the parking lot where she almost examined the effects of a head on collision with an suv .. a colleague got a premature kid 'ella', but only six weeks early.. i remember the panic around when things started to go wrong months and months ago.. great that ella only came now, and not october last year.. all the suffering from mom and dad paid off - their kid is ok..
after a year and two months, i am now officially the person with the most experience in my group - and i still often wonder what i'm doing.. i love it when going to work doesn't mean falling into a routine..
i'm so proud that i got an email saying i wasn't really a frequent contributor to the city blog of my hometown - for me that means i got my priorities right.. also, it made me feel wanted as a contributor..
i still don't use capitals, too many brackets (such as here, where in fact i didn't really need them), and, yes, sooo many comma's (again!)..

back to the bad news: is already a quarter to twelve, and i still need to do the dishes for a week.. so long..
denjames