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Last Wednesday I said that I wasn't going to do anything that day after being in the same place at the same time with a car :S... However, I went out for diner and a movie with a friend, since we first planned to go to a concert that evening. The concert didn't seem like a good idea with stitches, so a movie (the A-team) it was!


(Click on the image for the trailer)

This was a good end of a frustrating day, this movie has a lot of scenes that are over the top (which you expect from the A-team) and of course a lot of action. In other words a perfect non-brainer with action from the beginning till the end :D.

Cheers!

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Today is just one of those days that I should have stayed in bed :S. It already started at work. Some things didn't go as planned with the project, so I went to get a good cup of coffee. Once I got the coffee, someone bumped into me and I had coffee (the good coffee!!!) all over me.

I decided to go home and change clothes. When I was on my way back to work me and a car tried to be on the same place at exactly the same time. I know that I the car will beat me everytime, but I still tried... Verdict, damage to the car, my bike and me :S... The good thing was that the car's owner was a general practitioner, so he could patch me up right away :S... Result 2 stitches in the chin :S...

After that I decided I stayed home for the rest of the day... Hope it's true that all bad things come in threes, then I'm done with that today :D...

Cheers!]]> http://www.drentsemoi.nl/index.php?entry=entry100617-184040
Lately I’ve been to two movies:


The first movie I’ve been to is “Robin Hood”. This movie was a very good movie, there was action from the beginning till the end! Usually there are always some periods within the movie that I feel a bit bored, because the storyline is not quick enough, but this movie has a very good pace! Although I have to say that I was a bit surprised that this movie was not the part of Robin Hood I expected. I didn’t know that this was the story how he became Robin Hood! Nevertheless, this was a very good movie and definitely worthwhile to see in the theatres!



The second movie I’ve seen in the theatres was ”The Killers”. This was a fun Saturday evening movie or a nice movie for a Sunday afternoon, but I have to say that I don’t think it’s worthwhile to go to the theatres for this movie. It’s a nice movie where you don’t have to think, but it’s a bit like every other girl marries spy movie…


Next movie will most likely be Shrek4 (3D) :D.

Cheers!
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I wanted to tell you about two concerts, unfortunately they are both of Dutch artists though :S.


The first artist I’ve been to was Daniël Lohues, he’s a singer/songwriter who is born and still living in the area of the Netherlands where I’m also born, so there are a lot of songs that I can still relate to! For example when he sings about the differences about the east and the west of the Netherlands :D. This was his fourth theatre show and I really enjoyed this concert as was as number 1 and 3! I just found out that he comes back next year with a new show, so the next tickets are already booked :D!



The second concert was by Guus Meeuwis, called “Groots met een zachte G” in Heerenveen. A friend and me had some problems to get to Heerenveen, because there were no extra buses from Groningen to Heerenveen :S! So we couldn’t get in the first bus, because that one was full. We asked if there would be an extra bus, but the busdriver didn’t know. After waiting for an half an hour we went to get something to eat. In those 5 minutes, an extra bus had shown up… Even though we were just in time, we had were standing in the front in the field :D. The show was great, and the supporting acts ( Rowen Heze and Marco Borsato) where also great! I never saw Rowen Heze before, but I have to say there music is great!!! Maybe it’s a band for another concert! The entire evening we had a blast!

Here are some pictures we made:


Support act on the stage


Guus up close


Guus again


Stage later that evening (in the dark)


At night with lots of confetti :)


Cheers!
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So what has happened since the end of March. Of course there was my birthday in April, a good reason for a party at my place. Some friends and some colleagues came over to celebrate my birthday. During that party I also received some wonderful gifts, like some new CD’s, some whisky. I really enjoyed the party, although it was a bit late that I returned back home…

Some of the CD’s I got are:
- Echo Mountain - K’s Choice: After a couple of years, K’s Choice is back. Sarah and brother Gert went solo for a couple of years, and these CD’s were also pretty good. The new is a bit slower than the previous CD’s, however still a very nice CD to listen to!
- Beans & Fatback – Beans & Fatback: I already told you in my last blog that I liked their music. The CD comes in a great book, which contains the recipes of the main musician. Two of his hobbies are cooking and playing music and for this CD he combined the two. He invited friends and fellow musicians to his place to play a (couple of) song(s). At the end of the day he would serve them dinner. So the book contains the recipes they ate at the end of the day the finished recording :D. So I have some new recipes I can try out and some good relaxing music to play during diner :).
- A curious thing – Amy MacDonald, her second album. This is a great album again of the Scottish singer-songwriter which is recorded in the Paul Weller’s Black Barn Studios, which can also be heard on the opening-track (Don’t tell me that it’s over). Another beauty by Amy MacDonald

Since March the weather also improved a bit. For me the weather is perfect, but it’s still not a real summer yet. The temperature is mostly between 15 and 25 degrees, which is a bit cold for this time of year. To play tennis, the weather is really good though, so that is something I’ve been doing quite a lot lately! Just a shame that I couldn’t play competition this year, there were too many people that wanted to play competition this year, and unfortunately I was one of the unlucky guys that didn’t make it :(…

But since I didn’t have to play tennis every weekend, I had time to go on holiday with my family for a weekend last weekend. It was very nearby (only a 30 mins ride), but it was a very relaxing weekend with little sleep (thanks to my niece (my sisters daughter) whom I shared the room with...). One thing that I really liked on this weekend was the book I brought with me (Rapture of the deep by Michael Zinsley). This is a great book and there are some good quotes in this book, like “I like being hangover because it means I’ve done something that I absolutely love!” :).

Well that’s it for now.
Cheers!
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It's been too long (again) since I put something on my blog. But lately it's been busy again with music (as usual). Not that I already know how to play the guitar, but I bought some great CD's lately. So here some fast written words about some of the CD's/Artists:

A very good new Dutch singer/songwriter is Tim Knol. I bought the CD and I thought it was a great album, and I was very happy when I saw that he would give a small concert here in Groningen. It was a bit stragne to see a 20 year old guy on the stage playing great guitar, especially during the encore where he played without a band, which was great!

During that concert, Beans and Fatback was the support act. They just were two people on the stage, both with a guitar and one of them was singing. Their music was great, I can't wait for their CD, but I will have to wait untill April 16th :S.

Another great Dutch singer/songwriter would be Daniël Lohues. Most Dutch people will know him from the band 'SKIK'. But after SKIK he toured with Louisiana blues band and the last couple of years he has a solo tour through The Netherlands, called 'Allennig', which means 'Alone'. He just made 'Allennig IV', this is the fourth and last part. Because every album contains songs that are linked to certain seasons. He started with the winter and Allennig IV is the fall. Daniël is from the same part of the Netherlands as I am, and since a lot of his songs are about that area, I can relate to a lot of things he sings about. Not only the lyrics, but also the music is great! So the day his last CD 'Allennig IV' came out, I bought the CD. It's not the best album, but it contains definitely some great songs!

Another CD I just bought is 'Acoustic Extravaganza' by KT Tunstall. I think everybody would know her hit "Black horses and the cherry tree lane", but this CD is also very good! On the DVD of that album she says that "An evening with the skye album would be, sat in on an evening with a storm outside, with a glass of whisky and some friends", so I think I will have to try that sometime. I just hope that the storm won't come for some time, because the spring has just arrived!

Cheers!



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My last vacation of 2009 went to Egypt. I traveled there with 11 other people from diving club Piranha .

Piranha written on the briefing board



We had to leave from Enschede quite early, but for a vacation it's most likely not a problem. And the good thing was that we could sleep in the bus to Brussels Airport, I say could, because I don’t sleep very well in a bus :S. Flying was fun again, but for me it was a new experience, since I wasn't flying on my own this time :D.
Once in Egypt, we met the first guy that was still there from the week before and we went to our boat (the Greenforce I) where we would live for the rest of the week. Once we arrived on the Greenforce, we would meet the rest of the people from Piranha that were there for the 2nd week. Of course we also met the crew. One of the first things I found out on the ship was that the food was great, not only the first evening, since I was hungry from traveling, but the entire week! The good thing was that I didn't get sick from the food as well, so that is also a very big plus!
But why go to Egypt for a week and stay on a boat? Diving of course! Of course the view from the boat on top of the water is also great.


Sunset


An even nicer sunset


But of course we went there to see the views under water. One of the nicest dive wrecks, in my opinion, is the Thistlegorm. That is a huge ship (128m (419 ft) long) and a wonderful wreck to dive on. This wasn't the only wreck I loved, there were also the Chrisola Ka, Kingston and Rosalie Moller to name a few. Here some pictures from some of the dives:


Nice clam of some kind (forgot the name :S) (Picture by RB)


One of the best views (Picture by RB)


Spot the two Stonefishes (Picture by RB)


Fishing for big fish…(Picture by RB)


He even caught one ;o) (Picture by RB)


Blue spotted stingray(Picture by RB)


Blowing rings (Picture by XV)


Which he could do a lot better than I can!(Picture by XV)


Wrecks weren't the only things we saw during diving (also shown on the pictures above, but. Of course there was also a lot of coral, sometime we didn't see anything. Not seeing something in Egypt has totally different reasons in Egypt than it has in the Netherlands. When I don't see anything under water in the Netherlands, it's most likely because of all the sand/dust in the water. When I didn't see anything under water, it was because something happened again that made me laugh so hard that my mask filled up with water :D. I have to say that it happened quite often! But the best time was when 2 other divers (of our group) came out of a wreck (Abu Nuhas) covered with oil. There is an air pocket in the engine room of that wreck, but after some years there is a possibility that there is oil leaving the engine, so there's oil on the water :D. But it was great fun seeing them getting out of the wreck all covered in oil and to see them being cleaned when we arrived back to the boat :D.


Kimo (one of our guides) giving a briefing


Us getting ready to jump (picture by GS)


Great picture of a Lionfish (picture by AB)


Dolphins, dolphins!!! (picture by JS)


Ohh, nice a turtle, but pretty close though… (picture by JS)


Ohh, bubbles!!(picture by RB)


Yikes, it's me :S
i]


Nemo!!!(picture by AB)


Another giant clam(picture by AB)


Spanish dancer(picture by AB)


I have to say that this vacation was just a week, but the week was over before I knew it. I think that I'll definitely go diving again (hopefully this year).


Last day in a bar(picture by AB)

It's been a while since I put something on here, hopefully the next blog will be a lot sooner!

Cheers!
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January 11th this year I read that Miep Gies had died. She was one of the people who hid Anne Frank from the Nazis during World War II. She discovered and preserved the diary of Anne Frank when she the Franks were arrested to give it back to the father when he returned.
When I read this news, I first wondered why I have never been to the house of Anne Frank. The second thing I thought of was the movie called "The Freedom Writers" (Trailer). Although it is not the real Miep Gies, it is a wonderful scene where she tells the kids that they are the heroes.



I just want to say that if you haven't seen that movie yet, I want to recommend that movie to you, it's a great movie to watch!
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A very short blog, but yesterday I'ven been to the movie "a law abiding citizen".

This movie was a good movie and definitely not a good movie for a Sunday afternoon. This is finally a movie again with a very good storyline with some nice twists which you don't expect.

Short, if you want to see a good thriller with a good storyline, this is a movie you would want to see.

Cheers!]]> http://www.drentsemoi.nl/index.php?entry=entry091010-152819 high-school reunion, it was a bit later than planned, but I still managed to drag myself to work.

After the presentation on Monday I had to prepare for another presentation on Friday. I still had to read some articles and put together the presentation (of about 1 hour :S).

The presentation ended up pretty well, I got some nice new ideas during the discussion afterwards, so I can continue with work.

For now, I'm going to enjoy my weekend, relaxing today and celebrating my mom's birthday tomorrow.

Cheers!]]>