West US Road Trip – Our ride

Geplaatst op 4 september 2011 door PhysX

As the title might have already told, I was on a road trip in the West of the US from the 18th to the 24th of June. The idea originated while some colleagues and I were talking about and looking forward to the Sakai Conference the week before the road trip.

Our ride

The first prerequisite for any road trip would be a vehicle that’s capable of driving the road that’ll be taken during the trip. Since we were looking for as much freedom and flexibility as possible we decided to go with an RV (Recreational Vehicle). Cruise Amercia was the best choice for us since it provided what we needed and had a convenient discount for the extra miles we were going to drive.

We had the choice between a couple of campers that held 3, 5 or even 8 people. Although we were only 3 people, we thought a 5 people camper would be best to have some breathing room and extra torque to go up the mountains. The camper was booked before we left to make sure we had the agreed price and we didn’t have to drive around in a 8 person camper when only needing room for 3.

Our trip

Before hitting the road, when we were back in the UK, we started thinking about what we were able to visit in the amount of time we had (about a week). Here’s what we initially came up with:

  • Grand Canyon
  • Last Vegas
  • Yosemite National Park
  • Sequoia National Park

The way it ended up was:

  • Hollywood, CA
  • Grand Canyon, AZ
  • Hoover Dam, AZ
  • Las Vegas< NV
  • Baker, CA
  • Yosemite National Park, CA
  • Sequoia National Park, CA

Lately, I don’t find enough time to write blog posts like this (proof: did this trip a couple of months ago:-)) so I’ll start writing smaller posts and tell the story piece by piece. Next up: on the road!

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Canon EOS Utility, handy!

Geplaatst op 27 april 2011 door PhysX

I once bought a Canon EOS 350D but somewhere down the line I forgot where I placed the installation disc. When you’re trying to install the EOS Utility to the Mac you need the disc since only updaters are available on the net. Luckily, there’s a way to get the updater to actually install a full version. I included a video and link to the original blog post by Auston Wilson at the bottom of this post.

Original blog post: http://www.nextwavedv.com/canon-eos-utility-download-and-install-for-mac/

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Cambridge students on strike!

Geplaatst op 27 november 2010 door PhysX

When getting some food at marks and spencer we encountered a bunch of students and enthousiasts that were on strike. You might have seen or read somewhere that the the government is planning on raising the tuition fees.

Read more about it on BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-11827660

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Do I look like a gangster to you?

Geplaatst op 11 oktober 2010 door PhysX

Since I’m working in the UK I’ve traveled back to Belgium a few times. I tried out the different scenarios that would get me across the puddle of water that separates the UK from the main land and I discovered a quality I have. Eurostar, Eurotunnel, Seafrance and P&O were all happy to help me.

Apparently, every single time I go through the passport checks they think I’m a gangster and check my car and luggage for malicious contents. The guys from immigration and customs must notice some kind of gangster quality in me. Maybe I should use that quality to rob banks and stuff, care to join me? I’ll only select you if you seem as suspicious as I do though…

Since those guys already suspect me for all sorts of stuff I bought some stickers for my headlights. Those stickers make sure you don’t blind oncoming traffic. European vehicles have different angles in which the light is spread and, if not corrected, you can’t drive in the UK (well, you can but it’s illegal). I don’t want to piss the British customs off any more so I spent 7 quid to be legal on the road.

Cheers!
Bert

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Almost at Cambridge

Geplaatst op 29 juli 2010 door PhysX

It’s been a week now since I started working for CARET. I’m not in Cambridge at the moment as I’m working at home but I’ve booked my ferry ticket today. My car is coming with me to Cambridge so the ferry is the way to go I guess. I’m looking forward to move into my new home.

The biggest disadvantage is that I’ll miss my girlfriend and family though :-( . I will be coming back to Belgium on regular basis to visit everybody.

Cheers,
Bert

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Typical Gamer Part 4

Geplaatst op 13 juli 2010 door PhysX

The new one is out! :D

http://www.recklesstortuga.com/online-gamer/online-gamer-ep-4/

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Game nostalgia for the win!

Geplaatst op 30 juni 2010 door PhysX

Sweet, I found some old games I had laying around in an even older closet. Railroad Tycoon, Sega Rally, Rally Championship,… A decade ago I loved to play these on an old Windows ’98 powered computer. I think I’m going to install them again and relive the moment :-D .

Railroad TycoonSega RallyRally Championship

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job@CARET

Geplaatst op 30 juni 2010 door PhysX

I’ve been in Belgium for a couple of weeks now and I’m still getting used to it. It’s definitely good to be back but I’m looking forward to return again too. From August on I’m going to be working at the University of Cambridge at CARET. I’ve completed my internship there and I’m happy to be able to go back and work in Cambridge. I’ve met a lot of interesting people during my internship so it should definitely be a good experience again :-) .

Visit CARET

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All good things come to an end

Geplaatst op 2 juni 2010 door PhysX

We’re closing in on the last week at CARET. I’ve received my final project last week. It’s a design project for the American Academy of Religion (AAR) to be implemented in Sakai. I’ve been doing some design work for a few days now and I really like this project. ‘Designing stuff’ is something that’s often looked at as ‘not that hard to do’ but there is so much wrong with that statement. To make a design you have to be able to get in the skin of the one that will end up using the site. User testing will help too but you still need that ‘Fingerspitzengefühl’. If I’m not sure if something is decent in a design the chances are big that the end user most certainly won’t like it. I usually just rethink or throw it away in that case.

I sometimes refer to a good design as love. It’s hard to get it, easy to be thought of as obvious and frustrating if it never feels right. People often forget that behind a great website goes a lot of thinking, throwing away ideas and starting all over again. It’s one of the downsides of being a designer; but getting it absolutely right makes you forget about all downsides. Just my two cents.

I’ll end this post by giving you an example from Clients From Hell.

Client: “The cost is very high, we can save costs by getting our guy to design it.”

Web designer: “That’s possible, would save some amount of money.”

Client: “Yeah, he’s an illustrator but I am sure he can do web-design, it’s all the same art stuff anyway.”

AAR: http://www.aarweb.org/

Clients From Hell: http://clientsfromhell.net

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Punting around the world

Geplaatst op 29 mei 2010 door PhysX

Last week we went punting in the Cam. The weather was excellent to do it that day and it was very relaxing. Punting seems easier than it is and you should definitely try it if you get the chance.

Yesterday we visited the 37th Cambridge Beer Festival. The atmosphere was brilliant I must say and I got a cool balloon hat! I gave it to another guy when we left and he seemed very happy with it :-D . Some beers where better than the other but ‘Funky Monkey’ was definitely the best I got.

Work has been cool too, I’m working on an AIR application that let’s users log in to Sakai from their desktop and do everything they can do on the website itself. I’ve been cooperating on the Cambridge University Library widgets project, BERA project and now starting the AAR project too. You can read about them in the links below. The rest of my time is divided between writing my thesis and enjoying the good weather (not today :-( ).

I’m getting my first job offers too. That’s a big confidence boost :-) . Check out Meebo!

http://www.bera.ac.uk/

http://www.aarcorp.com/

http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/

http://www.meebo.com/

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