vzuijlekom blog

Klif 1, Texel

2006-12-19T20:54:00.000+01:00

My in-laws are starting a Bed & Breakfast on Holland's biggest wadden island, Texel. It's a roughly four times the size of Manhattan and has beautifull dunes and woods.

The B&B is called klif 1 and is located in the town Den Hoorn.

They have a website which I designed and coded (thanx CSSplay). The content and layout was co-created with my in-laws and Lauris Beets.

You can find the site @ klif1.nl

Jean luce's coming home

2006-06-26T00:22:00.000+02:00

We've just heared Jean luce is coming home after 3 months. Luckilly the most excitement he's had was almost falling from the roof and being taped to a chair by his mates.

In two day's time he will be back on Dutch soil. So will the Duch footbal team after losing to Portugal in a game with 16 yellow and 4 red cards! Not a record to be proud of

Nephew to Afghanistan

2006-04-18T18:50:00.000+02:00

My nephew Jean Luce is part of the Deployment Task Force in the Dutch Army. He's was sent out to Uruzgan in Afghanistan today. They're part of a ISAF peacekeeping mission to help rebuild the region. The DTF will be building 3 basecamps for the 1200 Dutch troops that will be stationed there for 2 years. Dutch special forces will be assisting in clearing the roads of any explosives. He will stay there for 3 to 11 weeks. A serious situation and our thoughts and prayers are with him.

His sister maintains a Dutch blog about his mission.

After reading a blog from Colonel Henk Morsink, the commander of the DTF, who was sent out with the first batch of DTF personnel a month ago, I was astonished about Halliburton's subsidiary KBR, which was building a mall right next to the Dutch camp, complete with Burger King and Pizza Hut! He was describing how they were taking shelter from a rocket attack in a bunker right next to the Burger King! And in 6 day's time they had 4 Ramp ceremonies (photo). Needless to say, the contrasts are big.

Erperheide

2006-04-05T13:00:00.000+02:00

Last week we were in a state of happiness, Centerpacs Erperheide in Peer (BE). It was a relaxing week, although some of us were not feeling so well. I learned to play Canasta and a few Leffe Bruin's. We had a coussy cottage with the usual fireplace.

Click & drag!
MarketDome

Aqua Mundo

We allso went to Hasselt. I've been there before and knew there was a huge scale model store there. There I bought a scale model of my favorite car, the Nissan Skyline R34 GTR for just 12 euros.

30

2006-03-09T09:25:00.000+01:00

This last Tuesday, march 7th, I had my birthday. I'm now a 30-er :)

Last Saturday we had a party at my in laws, because they have more space for all the guests and for the food we prepared.

New floor is in

2006-02-27T00:02:00.000+01:00

This weekend we put the new laminated floor in. It's the Berry Floor Residence Elysee Oak. It looks gorgeous. The hard part was putting it under the stairs, but we did it.

Nice!

Replaced watermain!

2006-02-21T21:44:00.000+01:00

I'm tired, have a back pain.... but we did it. The lead watermain is replaced by a Polyethylene (PE-40) tube. Replacing the lead tube wasn't easy because there wasn't a clear path from front to back. I had to open up the floor in three places. We used a spring line and the lead tube itself to pull the PE tube through. I'm glad my brother in law was there to help me, I couldn't have done it without him.

A high density version of PE (HDPE) is also used for the watermain here in the street. It's inert to most chemicals, acids etc.

Below is a picture of the tube we used. I'll post some pictures of the couplings in a few days.

Ruptured water main

2006-02-04T20:59:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we returned from De Eemhof where we had a vacation for a week. We had such a great week. There was a tropical swim paradise including a wild river, Anna loved that and wanted to go again and again and again :)

But... last night when I went to bed and turned everything off I heard a whoosh sound. It was hard to locate at first. But after I got down on the floor and put my ear against the ground Indian style I heard it was coming from beneath the floor. The only thing I knew it could be was the water main. After shutting of the water the noise stopped.

This morning we phoned the insurance company which then contacted a plumber. Before the plumber arrived I had to open up the floor cause that was the only way to get to the leak. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to take the laminaat out without damaging it because it was the glue type instead of the click type. After opening the floor we soon found the leak, but we also discovered that the water main was made of lead. Because it's an old house they still used lead back then (pre 1960). It would be best to completely replace it with either a copper or plastic main because it's possible it'll leak again.

In the afternoon the plumber came and had to cut the leaky piece out and replace it with a copper tube. This involved some advanced soldering, you can see the result below. Other pictures can, as usual, be found at fotos.vzuijlekom.com (stuff->waterlekkage)

Thamar

2006-01-12T12:19:00.000+01:00

My brother David and his wife Kim had a beautiful baby girl named Thamar. My parent number of grandchildren doubled in less then a month.

Welcome home Tim

2006-01-09T11:39:00.000+01:00

Coming home

2006-01-08T20:59:00.000+01:00

This afternoon the feeding probe was removed as well. If he stays stable he can come home tomorrow!

Update 2

2006-01-08T09:03:00.000+01:00

This morning, the oxygen tubes where gone! His oxygen saturation was around 95% which is really good.

Update

2006-01-07T15:24:00.000+01:00

Tim is doing better. He's almost drinking enough with the bottle so he doesn't always need the feeding probe. The doctor said the lungs sounded clean so that's a good thing and also his cough is not as bad is it used to be. He's alert and smiling.

It'll be a few more days before he's fully over the virus.

Oxygen

2006-01-05T13:47:00.000+01:00

We just came from the hospital. He's drinking more now, but he's still vomiting. When we got there his oxygen levels started to drop every time he dosed of. So now he has an oxygen 'moustache'.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RS-virus)

2006-01-05T00:13:00.000+01:00

Tim has contracted the RS-virus and because he is so young he had to be hospitalized. The virus produces slime in the lungs, throat and nose so breathing can be a bit difficult. Luckily his breathing is still up to par and he's being monitored 24/7. This includes respiratory rate, hart rate and oxygen levels in his blood.
But the problem is he's not drinking enough milk. He needs > 640 cc's of milk per day, but only takes in about 400-450 cc's a day and he's also vomiting after about each meal...
He lost some weight due to malnutrition so now he's getting a feeding probe. This will help him get enough nutrition and get his weight back up. Then it's just waiting it out, there is no vaccine for the virus (yet).

New photo's

2005-12-28T22:25:00.000+01:00

I've posted some new photo's of Tim. Check them out at http://fotos.vzuijlekom.com (Familie->Tim).

A child is born

2005-12-22T15:51:00.000+01:00

On 20-12-2005 our son Tim David Jelle van Zuijlekom was born. It all went really fast, just 4 hours of contractions. And my wife only had to push for 7 minutes! He weighed 4450 grams, is rather tall and has blond hair like me :)

Well I'm gone give him his bottle now, he a hungry fellow. As always you can check out the pictures at http://fotos.vzuijlekom.com

I'm gonna be a dad, again!

2005-12-19T22:33:00.000+01:00

Yesterday during a christmas service at our church my wive's water broke. We rushed home so my wive could lay down. After the obstetrician came and checked if everything was ok she could walk about.
After a few hours the contractions started comming regularly, but then they suddenly stopped. Since then there have been a few contractions, but nothing wich would help speed up the process. In the Netherlands is common for women to give birth at home, but seeing as it's now more then 24 hours since the water broke, she has to deliver the baby in the hospital.

Tomorrow morning we have to go to the hospital for a CTG. This will register the hart tones for about 45 minutes to give a clear image of the condition the baby is in. If after another day, the contractions haven't started or comming regularly we have to go back to the hostital. Then they will start giving her contraction stimulators.

I'll keep you posted!

XBOX360 pricing and packages revealed.

2005-08-18T08:13:00.000+02:00

Today at the Microsoft's Games Convention 2005 the prices of the two Xbox360 packages was announced.

For $/€ 299, you will get a Core System, which includes:

Xbox360
Wired Controller
Faceplace
Standard AV cable

The $/€ 399 version includes:

Xbox360
20GB HD
64MB memory card (to take you're save games/extra's to a friend)
Wireless Controller
Play & Charge Kit
Rechargeable battery pack
Headset
Universal Media Remote
S-Video (US) or RGB Scart (EU) AV Cable
VGA HD AV Cable.

'Welcome home, U2'

2005-07-15T10:41:00.000+02:00

This is what Bono ended the show with this wednesday in to the Amsterdam ArenA. U2 was on fire that night and Bono's voice was as crisp as ever. The show was amazing, with it's huge videowall made by Barco and 4 'smaller' screens.

Bono's little speeches were about the make poverty history campaign, the G8 and fude between muslins, jews and christians, 'we're all sons of Abraham', 'we mustn't become the monster to defeat the monster'.

As allways, U2 is rock & roll with a message.

The set list:
Vertigo
I Will Follow
The Electric Co. / Bullet With Butterfly Wings (Snippet) / I Can See For Miles (Snippet)
Elevation
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Snippet)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
All I Want Is You
City Of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (Snippet) / The Hands That Built America (Snippet)
Running To Stand StillPride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore:
Zoo Station
The Fly
With Or Without You
All Because Of You
Yahweh
Vertigo

Bono and Adam in The Hague

2005-05-31T00:10:00.000+02:00

Last sunday Anton Corbijn, a famous dutch photographer/artist and U2's regular photographer, celebrated his 50th birthday in his new home in The Hague. Bono and Adam arrived in the Anna Paulownastraat at 20:45. They pulled up in two big German plated cars. A party guest welcomed the band members on a recumbent bike (zitfiets) from Gazelle, which made Bono grab his own camera to take a picture. "How typically Dutch", he said smiling.

Later in the evening Bono sang the brilliant song from the Golden Earring, Radar Love. I remember The Edge singing this at the 1997 Pop Mart concert in The Kuip in Rotterdam. He did this via a karaoke machine hooked to the massive videoscreen.

Other people that attended where Francis Healy (Travis's lead singer) Lars Ulrich (Metallica's drummer) and dutch writer and U2 fan Bart Chabot.

All about radar love, including a full cover version list: http://www.radar-love.net/
Link to originating artikel: http://www.haagschecourant.nl/regioportal/HC/1,1478,1553-Voorpagina__2725574_,00.html

The circle is now complete

2005-05-19T09:47:00.000+02:00

Last night was the premiere of the last movie in the star wars saga. Episode III Revenge of the Sith (ROTS). And all I can say is WOW. It was action from beginning to end and the CG was the best ever in a movie. But it did not distract from the acting, which was brilliant. I loved the dialogs between Anakin/Obi-Wan and Palpatine/Anakin. Allso we see Yoda fighting again (I won't say to whome) and R2D2 is steeling the show at the beginning.

All the pieces of the puzzle fell into place in Episode III. I'm gonna see it again in a theater.

New XBOX 360 video

2005-05-14T12:48:00.000+02:00

This video from kikizo games features new information about the wireless controllers and external connectors of the XBOX 360. The format is much like the Colony video release yesterday, wich is a must see like this video. Much more interesting then the MTV show.

Click image to goto the article

XBOX 360 unveiled!!

2005-05-13T11:22:00.000+02:00

Last night on MTV the xbox360 was unveiled. The specs are trully amazing. A 3 core PowerPC CPU @ 3.2GHz. A 500m triangles/s GPU with 48 billion shaderops/s and 10MB of embedded dram. Unified shader architecture, 16 gigasamples per second fill rate using 4x MSAA. For the full specs: Xbox 360 System Specifications

And the best is that ALL xbox360 games will be in HDTV (1280x720p and 1920x1080i) and realtime DD.

Links:

Queensday

2005-04-29T14:49:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow it will be the 30th of April, queensday or "koninginnedag" in dutch. This is the birthday of the queen-mom, Juliana, who past away last year at the age of 94. On this day people are free from work. There's allways a lot to do everywhere in the cities. Free-markets where anybody is free to sell there stuff on the street. Known and unknown bands and musicians perform on the streets and podiums in parks. Everywhere you look there's orange, the colour of the royal family.
This year it's the silver jubilee of Queen Beatrix, as it's here 25th year as queen.

DJ Armin van Buuren, along with some other DJ's has organised the Queensday Party Leiden 2005. This is as you might know is my birth- and hometown and I will most definately check this party out with some friends! If I take the camera with me I'll post some picture tomorrow or sunday.

Especially Amsterdam is flooded with people on Queensday
Events Calendar Queensday Leiden
Events Calendar Queensday other cities