Ahhh the joys of dealing with Hong Kong e-bay dealers....
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Dear Customer,

Thanks fo your purchase and prompt payment,

Your order have been shipped on 08/07

please allow 7-10 business days for international delivery.

We genuine to follow up all the case.

If you order can't arrive within 15 days, please contact me to let us report your case ASAP
*** Refund or Resend must be issed for all purchase which can't arrive in 30 days ***

What a day. Drove to the therapist after work so he could examine my knee and come up with a battleplan. He compared both my knees, did some pulling and pushing, lifting and kneading.

"Well Rob, you still have quite some fluid in your bad knee. And yeah, your anterior cruciate ligament is definitely torn. Here, feel while I pull your good knee *tug, tug, tug*. Your leg sends a message to your brain going 'OK, that's far enough, now pull back!'. And now I pull your bad knee *tuuug, tuuuug, tuuuug*. Feels like an old rubber band, right? That's because your ligament doesn't send any messages right now, allowing your knee to stretch further than it should.

But here's the deal: we're going to work on your stability and security. Our goal is to get your knee back into shape so that you can run, jump and even play squash again without fear. We can do this in three months, with two supervised one-hour sessions a week. So ideally we'd like to have a total of 24 sessions with you, but it depends on your health care provider if they're all covered. You'd better check with them first and if it's less than 24 we can either cut down on the number of session and have you go to the gym instead, unsupervised. Or, you could pay for a couple of sessions yourself. In any case, we'll start on monday and here's a list of exercises you can do over the weekend."

I return home, go online, check my coverage, slightly anxious because I only have the basic coverage. "Physical therapy: in case of chronic pain/injury: all sessions after the first ten. If cause not chronic: zero." Oh shit. I keep on reading, also checking the more expensive add-on packages. One covers four sessions, one covers 18, and the super-duper-ultra-mega-sparkly package coveres any number of sessions. I decide to call the provider.

"Yeah, so here's my problem. I have the basic coverage, I got injured, I need therapy but there's no therapy in my current coverage. Can I upgrade?"
"Sure you can! Starts next month and by the end of the year you can cancel the extra package again if you want."
"Eh... seriously? ORLY?"
"YARLY!"
"*does a little math* Let's see, so I either stick with the basic coverage and have to pay 24 sessions out of my own pocket, or I take the middle package for 5 months and get 18 sessions covered for the price of 5... Lemme think for a moment. Well, DUH! Sign me up!"

So all I need to do now is tell the therapist that he's been booked for 18 sessions (we'll see about those last six when we get there). And we need to do some .. err ... creative bookkeeping so that I can train from July to September while he bills my insurer from August to October. If I can manage that, I think I've got myself a good deal out of it all.

Tomorrow, everyone's invited to join in and write their mails, posts, blogs and letters in Comic Sans to celebrate the mostly overused type font in the world.

Feel free to redistribute.

As said, last saturday I managed to twist my knee again in a theme park. Not as horrible as the previous two times (during squash in September and on stage in a bar in December), but it was enough to keep me home for the past three days, cancelling my radio show, working from home and skipping a meeting at the office to go see the physio therapist.

And so I walked hobbled into the gym where the therapist was having his weekly Q&A session. I explained my situation to him, told him about the three times my knee went WHOOPSIE! and gave him a note I'd received from the doctor who examined me in december after I fell for the second time. The note basically summed up his findings (one knee ligament torn, one ligament partially torn) and an advice to give me a set of workouts to strengthen my quadriceps.

The therapist (who works for a place called the Sports Medical Center) shook his head and gave me the low-down.
"I've seen lots of people tear those ligaments. One group uses their leg in the same movement over and over again, like runners, cyclists, triathletes, rowers, etcetera. Then there's a group who sticks their legs out in every direction, twisting and turning; people who play tennis, football, hockey, squash... Now, the first group can be helped with lots of training and exercise. The second group - if they want to get back to their old level of mobility and stability, they usually need surgery. When I hear your story and your fears that you feel that your leg just isn't stable anymore and that you think you might twist it at any given moment, I'd say that surgery might be the only way to fix things."

That's where my heart sank and I pictured all kinds of doomscenario's about having to learn to walk all over again. The truth might not be as bleak, but I was genuinely scared. What if I wasn't fit enough in time for my trip to Africa? Luckily, the therapist gave me another option.

"Now, seeing that you're a little overweight and guessing that you probably haven't worked out for a while because of the leg trouble, I think that there's a lot of room for improvement, maybe even room enough to be able to avoid surgery. But I have to warn you. It's only 4 months until November, so if you want to go to Africa and be able to do manual labor without fear of collapsing, we're gonna put you through a rigorous training program. And believe me: it's gonna be hard work, and lots of it."

And so I walked out of there with a business card and the promise that I would get a call tomorrow for an intake-chat a.s.a.p. I'll be poked, prodded, measured, weighed, the knee will get a thorough examination and from then on I'll probably be in the gym a LOT. Two details help ease the mind. One: this Sport Medical Center is affiliated with a local hospital, which makes me believe that these people actually want to help you and not just see you as a source of income. Two: everything is covered by health insurance.

So there you have it. Either I get into shape, improve my health, lose my gut and go to Africa or I end up on the operating table and might have to postpone the trip I've always wanted to make.

I'm not the most spiritual type, but if this isn't a wake-up call from a higher power, I don't know what is. But the road ahead of me is clear. And I feel both determined and scared.

This weekend.... It was both good and terrible. Read and shiver.

Friday: I'd asked the day off, but boss left the request in her inbox for a week and a half, only finding it the day before. She looked at me with puppy eyes and asked if I could please work the morning. I agreed under the condition that I could work from home. And so, around noon I turned my PC off, put a suit on and started the drive to Maastricht to attend the wedding of two good friends: Johnny and Nynke. The drive takes 2,5 hours under normal circumstances. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. I managed to avoid two traffic jams, but got stuck in three others and in the end it took me 4,5 hours to get there. As a result, I was so late for the wedding ceremony that I decided to head to the reception location instead of the chapel. Needless to say I was rather frustrated at that point. Luckily, my mood improved when all the wedding guests started to arrive. I hugged, kissed and congratulated the bride and groom, then spent the rest of the evening catching up with REALLY old friends that I lost contact with when they moved out of town, while I still studied in Maastricht. One of them moved to Finland, another to Spain, I met the latter's wife and kid, heard that another friend also got married a few weeks ago... It was a night full of shocks and discoveries :) After the reception, there was a small group of 15 left, including the happy couple, and we decided to end the night in our old, favorite watering hole: Irish Pub The Shamrock. Ahh, more good memories, talking to the owner, having a drink back in the place that was like a second (third?) home to me during my student years.

Everyone went their seperate ways around 1am, I drove to my parents in Eindhoven, hit the pillow and was out like a light.

Saturday: no time to sleep in, since I was expected at the Walibi World theme park around 11am for the company's annual field trip. Having never been there myself, I was rather excited to rekindle my old love for rollercoasters. I wasn't disappointed. The park was small enough to see everything in half a day, yet spacious enough to not feel crowded. In addition, it wasn't really busy so I never had to stand in line for more than half an hour. I took on all the big rides: The X-press (formerly: The Superman ride), Goliath, Robin Hood, El Condor, El Rio Grande and the crazy logs. And in the process, while getting out of the river rapid boat, I managed to twist my knee once again. Not completely, but it was painful enough to hamper me for the rest of the day. I tried to walk as little as possible, sat at a strategic location in the main square to shoot many colleagues as the unofficial company photographer. The day ended with a BBQ, then I crawled to the car and drove home. There, I put my leg up, turned on the XBOX and finished Prototype, effectively going to bed at 3.30am.

So now it's sunday, my leg still hurts, I cancelled my radio show tonight and I'm just gonna lie here, surf web, take it easy and hopefully be somewhat fit enough to go to work. After work (if I can manage to walk), I'm gonna drop by the gym and have a chat with the resident physio-therapist. Three twists (and two semi twists) in the past 9 months is more than enough for me. That knee MUST get stronger or it'll seriously hamper me during my time in Africa.

This one's for Damanique. Our NASA fangirl ;)

Is it selfish to be more worried about the situation in North-Korea than the situation in Iran?

We all know our Disney fairytales. With Disneyfied modifications and happy endings. Now look what happens if the stories had followed the REAL storyline and ending?..... Click the photo to find out.



Thanks to Michiel Veenstra.

Whoah, 3 weeks without a proper update. Blame it on Twitter

Anyway, 140 characters only get you so far, hence this post. Hey Rob, how 'ya doing? Not too bad, actually.

- Three zoo trips in the course of two weeks. Fun. Lots of practice with my camera. Two weeks from now I have to practice on totally different moving objects: all company employees on their trip to Walibi World (formerly Six Flags Holland). Prague was lots of fun too, though all the hustlers trying to pull you into stripclubs, nightclubs and bars were rather annoying.

- Work is keeping me busy, not in the least by current boss and my company haggling over fees and costs. Good news: assignment is extended to Aug 1st, bad news: I'm going back from 40 to 32 hours. Which means I'll probably be put to work at the office one day a week, doing chores to keep you busy. Hopefully they find something useful for me to do or they don't find anything at all and decide I can say home that one day. But I'm not counting on the latter. Oh well, at least I have a steady contract, so this doesn't influence my paycheck too much.

- Healthwise I'm still struggling with a strange rash on my lower leg. Doc first thought it was Erisypelas but after two sets of anti-biotics it's still here. So now I'm waiting for my healthinsurance company to find me a hospital where I can see a dermatologist (I called one hospital myself, they said 'come by in 6 weeks!', so now I let the experts in the 'waiting list mediation' department handle it). Wanna get rid of it. About twice a day I get the Itch From Hell attack.

- Tomorrow is the family's annual deluxe fancy restaurant trip. This year it's Restaurant Cordial in Oss. Really looking forward to that.

- Less than 5 months until Namibia. Laurie Marker visited The Netherlands last month and she was anxious to show me everything at the Cheetah Conservation Fund once I get there. Heck, even if they let me collect poo all month, I'll still enjoy myself.

- Dad struck a deal at work and as of this week, he's officially retired. Bless him. Now mom and him can have some peace of mind and settle down. All the work-related stress really got to him, and thus affected her just as much. Soon, a very, very old and very rare bottle of Scotch whisky will be opened to celebrate the fact. He's had that bottle for as long as I can remember.....

- Nokia N97. 3 weeks and counting. Want. Ordered.

- Within a month I'll be sending off an official demo-tape as radio-DJ to 3FM, with the help of Roger from Monsterhit Music. In the 'it's now of never' category, 3FM has put out a competition where they'll pick one lucky guy or girl to join the regular DJ's for a jingle-production workshop. The winner will get their own official 3FM jingle, a thorough evaluation of their demo and possibly a weekly spot on national radio. It'll be a graveyard-shift, but that's where all the big names started.

That's all I can think of right now. Questions, anyone?

Hey dutchies, if you feel the need to take a train one of these days, I have a code to make it comfortable and cheap.

Full day ticket for 1st class for only 22,50 instead of 72,80.
Order before June 30th, valid all summer.
Go to http://www.ns.nl/eersteklas and use code 2905S

You're welcome ;)

With a bit of poking by thaily, I opened my own online photo gallery. If you like architecture and lots of zoo pictures, feel free to visit! Click the cute otter and leave a comment ;)



Now with an actual photo (albeit from my LJ stash)

So I'm browsing the iTunes store, looking for a podcast or two, I go to the 'music' section and ... uh.... hey, something here looks familiar!

After 3 days of culture, food, drink and partying I'm back in NL again. Left Prague at 6am this morning and entered the studio just before 4pm (after dropping off my colleagues in Amsterdam and Rotterdam). Now time to relax for a few hours. I go live at 8pm CET with the biggest 80s hits for over 2 hours. Spread the word and listen in! We're gonna make it our little party. http://www.monsterhitmusic.nl

More on Prague and many zoo pics will follow at some point. Let me state once again: Prague Zoo. OMGWTFbeautiful!

I want this guy to decorate my house. Check out his catalog here.

Have a bunch of zoo pics from Rotterdam Zoo, taken last thursday.



( More zoo cuteness behind this cut! )

Yesterday:

Bank holiday, went to Rotterdam Zoo together with thaily and hiryu, shot over 300 pictures. Still sorting, I think about 25 will make the cut. Making good shots is harder than you think. Thaily knows that and shot over 1000 pics, giving her something to do over the weekend ;) After the zoo, we met up with jonesybunny and bander for an early dinner at Sushi Qube in Rotterdam, where I had my first genuine COLD Sake (served with a square wooden box as drinking 'cup'. Odd.) and I had my first ever taste of Fugu (grilled, so no chance of poisoning). I still have no idea what the fish is supposed to taste like (very bland, so they say) because it was grilled with soy sauce and garlic. Strange texture though, as if chewing on beef jerky. After that, ANOTHER first: Sukiyaki. And all I can say is: Dayumn, that stuff's sweet. I'll probably opt for the Shabu-shabu next time. It was a lovely dinner, dropped Hiryu and Thaily off, had a coffee at Bander's and went on home again, entertaining myself with The Chronicles of Spellborn until it was time to get some sleep.

Today:

I'm the only one in the office. I'm slacking off. The fact that the application builders aren't very helpful in fixing my issues doesn't do much for my productivity either. Which gives me time to update my LJ again.

Tomorrow:

Haircut, chores, BBQ at a friend.

Sunday:

Paying the parents a visit, do radio show.

Mon/tue/wed: work. Only half a day on wednesday so I can visit Amersfoort Zoo in the afternoon, followed by a lecture from Dr. Laurie Marker, the CEO from the Cheetah Conservation Fund.

Thursday: work, then straight on to Magdenburg (Germany), crash there at a cheap hotel. Next day: onward to Prague for three full days of culture, beer and good times with 5 colleagues. Want to visit Prague Zoo.

Mon, June 1st: Drive from Prague to the radio studio, present two hours of the Double Top 80s, the annual highlight of monsterhitmusic. Oh, I'll be knackered.....