F is for Flapdoodle

I really floundered when it came to finding something to post about this week. I considered fabricating a fantastic fable, but came up empty.

I asked Martijn for help and his solution was to start adding F to the beginning of every word instead of what it really begins with. I'm a little embarrassed to feature how completely immature we can be sometimes... but we started to get the giggles when many of the words started sounding like "fart" at the beginning.

Since that obviously wasn't a good solution, I turned to the dictionary and found a few fascinating words to share today. Some of these I was already familiar with but there are some good new ones too!


flabbergast: to overwhelm with shock, surprise, or wonder

flotsam: floating wreckage from a ship OR useless or discarded objects

foreboding: an omen, prediction, or presentiment especially of coming evil

frangible: readily or easily broken

frowst: stifling warmth in a room

fubsy: chubby and somewhat squat

fuddy-duddy: one that is old-fashioned

and my favorite-

flapdoodle: nonsense

Well that's it for this week. Mrs. Matlock, I hope you won't FAIL me for this foolish flapdoodle.

*****

This week F is for... uh... F words? But good F words... not the bad ones, this is a family friendly post afterall! Make sure to go check out the other participants by clicking on the picture below.

Friday Fragments- October 22, 2010

A few weeks ago the new Professor Layton game came out and it sucked me in and I spent too many hours playing it so I could pass it. The ending was horrible and I was left feeling unfulfilled. I needed something to fill the void, so I thought maybe a re-play of Advance Wars: Dual Strike would be in order. Again, it sucked me in and I spent way too many hours playing it. Now I'm sucked into playing Advance Wars: Days of Depression Ruin. HOURS AND HOURS OF MY DAYS PEOPLE! I'm telling you all this because I've reached a conclusion. That conclusion is: Video games will rot your brain... and you will never get anything done... ever.... again... Now I already sorta knew this because of Paper Mario on the Wii but I can't stick the Wii in my pocket and take it with me places. That being said, my DS is still pretty much the best wedding present I received!

*****

Everytime Martijn and I go somewhere on holiday in Europe we have really weird sleeping arrangements. We've had bunk beds (twice!!) and several one person beds that we unsuccessfully push together and end up with something like this in the middle of the night:

We're headed up north for a couple nights and I'm just wondering what our sleeping arrangements are going to be this time. I'll document it and let you know!

*****

Since video games have rotted my brain, that's all the fragments I have for this week!

Enjoy your weekend and make sure to swing by Half Past Kissin' Time and tell our wonderful Mrs 4444 how awesome she is for hosting us scoundrels every week!

Eindhoven

I suppose that since I live in a city that starts with the letter E, it is rather fitting to do a post about Eindhoven for my AlphabeThursday E post!

Eindhoven is the 5th largest city in The Netherlands (behind Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and Den Haag). It was granted city rights in 1232 but didn't start growing wildly in population until the 19th century when the industrial revolution began. Up until 1920, Eindhoven was also rather teeny. The city limits ended where the midieval moat was. With the population explosion, the five surrounding municipalities were incorporated into Eindhoven. The current "districts" in the cities are still named what the original municipalities were (one has since been split into North and South).

Cool little factoid: Martijn's grandmother was born in one of the surrounding municipalities that were incorporated into Eindhoven, so the place of birth on her passport says "Gestel" which technically doesn't exist as a city anymore!

Eindhoven is also the birthplace of Philips, which started out as a light bulb factory in the city. De Lichttorren (The Light Tower), one of the main Philips factories, has been converted into apartments and office buildings but it stands as a reminder of one of the most influential things that made the city what it is today.

Another nod to the technical background of the city is the Railway Station, which looks like a radio!

There are some really beautiful cities here in The Netherlands. Eindhoven isn't really one of them. Many places in the city were destroyed during WWII and instead of rebuilding to match the historical things that weren't destroyed, they just went for a "Let's demolish everything awesome and start over again*." A lot of really neat buildings were lost and replaced with things that I find much less aesthetically pleasing. *They did restore one of the lovely churches in the city center that was completely bombed and destroyed, but I wish they'd decided to do more of the city center.

Speaking of buildings that I'm not sure are aesthetically pleasing, I present to you De Blob (yes, that's really what it's called). I'm not in love with it, but I think it's growing on me. I really should've gotten a picture from the other side because the glass panes there are all transparent, and that is sorta snazzy.

One of the more recent construction projects in the city center has been an underground bike garage. You go into the weird white tunnel and take the moving walkway down where you can store your bike for free. In a country where you can't even use the toilet for free, a free guarded parking space for your bike is something to take advantage of!

There are TONS of weird random sculptures throughout the city. One of the most notable is The Flying Pins, near the Technical University (TU/e). I always want to go sit in the bowling ball holes and Martijn says no. I just think it looks like a nice cozy seat to put your bottom in. I should've gone and done it when I took this picture but dang it was COLD outside!

We even have a UFO! Since I was too lazy to go take a picture of the bowling pins AND the UFO today, you instead get to see the 1:25 scale version that lives at Madurodam. The Evoluon was a science museum that opened in 1966 to celebrate the 75th birthday of Philips. It closed in 1989, and due to structural issues it can't handle the kind of traffic it would need to sustain a museum. It's now used as a conference center... and a really good landmark when you're giving directions. "Yah, just drive past the UFO..." You can read a little more about the Evoluon in it's heyday here.

In terms of land, the city really isn't that huge so the amount of green space around is surprising. We have hidden gems such as De Vergeten Tuin and not so hidden gems like De Genneper Watermolen which sits in the enormous Genneper Park. The green areas on the map below show only some of the parks.

I hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse into my new "home" city.

*****

This week E is for... Eindhoven! Make sure to go check out the other participants by clicking on the picture below.

Friday Fragments- October 15, 2010

It's Friday! I've had a pretty uneventful week, so this may be the most boring post you'll read today.

• If you host your photos with Photobucket, I can't see them on your RSS feeds anymore. I usually can't see them on your main blog either. I'm not sure what's up but I think it's just another reason nobody should use Photobucket... ever...


• I'm still doing my volunteer job. I had a bad attitude for a few weeks but things have gotten better and I don't dread going anymore.


• Did you realize that there are only 10 weeks until Christmas?! I might have lots of space for a tree this year since our couch is going on a road trip to Germany for repair and we don't actually know how long it will be gone. Knowing how speedy the manufacturer was in building the couch has me a little wary about the timeframe. We shall see!


• The weather is getting cold and wet and dreary. We had some really nice days over the past few weeks, but I fear that fall and winter are taking their hold and I may not see the sun for another 6 months. I need to haul out my light box and get back in the habit of using it.


• I made the worlds most amazing sandwiches the other day. They were croissants (fresh from the bakery!) with brie, apple, rosemary and a drizzle of honey that I then put in the oven to melt the cheese to an ooey gooey consistency. I decided I'd be happy eating that sandwich everyday for the rest of my life probably.

Just to make this post ever so slightly less boring, I shall give you Mr Jummy riding the magic blue sheep!

*****

Be sure to go visit Mrs 4444 to check out the other Fragmenters this week!

Dead Horse Point State Park

Utah is crammed full of National Parks, Monuments and Forests. It's also crammed full of a lot of really cool state parks that I had no idea even existed until recently! I posted about Antelope Island (which also happens to be a state park) a couple weeks ago and today I will share with you Dead Horse Point!

I didn't even know where Dead Horse Point WAS until I was looking for a place to camp. The name intrigued me so I did some searching and decided if the pictures online were anything to go by, it was a MUST SEE!

According to legend, in the late 1800s the point was used as a corral for wild mustangs. Cowboys rounded up the horses and herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point.. Since the neck was so narrow, it was then easy to fence things off and cull out the "good" horses. For some unknown reason, after a roundup, the horses were left on the point and they died of thirst... leaving the very morbid name of Dead Horse Point.

Dead Horse Point sits on top of a high plateau that overlooks the Colorado River. It's really interesting to look out and see all of the layers of rock that were deposited over thousands of years.

There are about 11 miles of trails (some paved, but most not) in the park.

We did about 5 inches of them because Martijn was trying to die of heat stroke. I decided sitting in the shade at our campsite was a better idea than traipsing through the desert at that point. This also made me feel slightly better about the campground fee, which I thought was a little steep. Twenty bucks doesn't seem like much, but then they recommend you reserve online... which is fine, except they charge another EIGHT DOLLARS to do a reservation! I know, I'm a cheapskate. I think the problem is partially psychological. I'd totally have paid $28, but they tell you it's only going to be 20 and then you have an almost 50% booking fee on top of it. Lame move Utah State Parks. Lame! I can't lie though, the view was totally worth it. And we had electricity so I could charge my camera battery.

If you don't want to camp, there are also quite a few picnic pavilions scattered around.

If you are in Utah and you're going to Arches or Canyonlands, you NEED to make sure that you take time in your trip to stop here. In fact, even if you aren't going to Arches or Canyonlands, you should still go here. The entry fee is $10, but if you are extorted and pay extra money to camp, the entry fee is included.

*****

This week D is for... Dead! Erm, Dead Horse Point State Park! Go visit Mrs. Matlock by clicking on the link below to see more AlphabeThursday!

Friday Fragments- October 8, 2010

On Tuesday I picked up this:

So today I went and applied for my Dutch citizenship. Once they run a check with the police and make sure I'm not a terrorist with unpaid traffic tickets they'll forward it to the IND (the immigration department in NL). The IND will then take their sweet precious time in processing it, but by this time next year, I should also be Dutch!

***

Have you ever noticed how free food usually tastes better than it would have if you'd paid for it? Martijn and I both got a coupon for free pizzas so that's what we ate for dinner tonight and it tasted goooood.

***

I switched my comments over to DISQUS a few weeks ago because I kept trying to reply via e-mail and getting stupid blogger no reply addresses. It is nice that the DISQUS comments thread and you can reply and hopefully the person you're replying to will get an e-mail! Plus it makes following along conversations a little easier.

***

I gave Martijn a haircut last weekend. I think I'm probably not a stylist for a reason. It's a good thing hair grows sorta fast.

***

Do you ever go through the bookmarks on your computer and wonder what your motivation for saving it was? I started using Delicious to I could add notes to my bookmarks but sometimes I don't have time and then when I go back I feel like a dufus for not remembering! Are you a serial bookmarker too?

***

Have a fun weekend everyone, and go check out more Friday Fragments by clicking on the link below. Thanks as always to our lovely hostess Mrs. 4444!

Crassula

I am a plant murderer. If it requires water more than once a year month, I'll probably manage to cause it irreversible harm. Except, I somehow have managed to not kill our jade plant in the 3.5 years I've lived here. With that knowledge in our brains, Martijn and I have been looking for new victims succulents to add to our windowsill. Since these plants don't require a lot of water, they are ideal for me!

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, Crassula is a large genus of succulent plants, containing many species, including the popular Jade Plant, Crassula ovata.

The "Gollum" jade has scary little tubular fingers that sorta look like they're reaching out to get you.

The Crassula undulatifolia has wavy leaves and is a little more like a bush than the tree shape of the Jade Plant.

We have a few spider plants and sansevieria that I've not quite managed to off, but I think I prefer the Crassula. I KNOW they don't like a lot of water so I don't feel too guilty neglecting them! Plus, how fun is it to say crassula over and over again until it loses all meaning? Ok maybe not fun, but it is sortof a cool word.

*****

This week C is for... Crassula! Go visit Mrs. Matlock by clicking on the link below to see more AlphabeThursday!