The interesting challenge at the company at which I work is that everything depends on keeping pace with the latest the greatest technology.

Developing really great software products means that one has to sit down with other top notch software engineers and figure out how to roll up one's sleeves and just get the job done, no matter what.

The latest the greatest technology changes all the time, even as we speak, so one has to aim slightly ahead of the moving target.

Ever so slightly, take aim, one, two three, fire.

This weekend they were having this big 25% computer sale at Media Markt, so I went there and decided to splurge on an ASUS X59SL-AP275C for my upcoming birthday.

Although it comes pre-installed with Windows Vista, the first thing I'm going to do is remove it and replace it with the latest version of my favorite operating system.

I'll go for the bleeding edge version FreeBSD 7.1-BETA and recompile the kernel with the new and vastly improved ULE scheduler.

cd /usr/src/sys/i386/conf
cp GENERIC LAPTOP
vi LAPTOP

There are two things to change in this file then we can move to compiling and installing the new and improved kernel.

ident      LAPTOP
options    SCHED_ULE

That's all there is to it. I certainly hope that it works.

Millions of poor souls are glued to the displays of their mobile telephones. Such unfortunate folks who cannot live a single minute of their lives without seeking refuge by staring into that small flat screen in search of who knows what.

Some of the younger victims are even worse off though they do not seem to realize it. They become entwined to these modern gadgets with thumbs nimbly tapping the minuscule keyboard, searching for answers, hoping to receive some meaningful reaction, new ways of reorganizing and improving their lives.

This all reminds me of nervousness all around, no one can look you straight in the eyes anymore, insecure aversion to glance back down at the display where all is neatly defined and safe again.

Some people brave the day by putting these gadgets in a pocket or purse or some other place of safe keeping. Until the ringing starts, first softly and then getting louder and louder. They cannot find the ringing gadget quickly enough, it's pure panic, groping around and hoping to answer before it is too late.

That's a good reason why I turn off my mobile phone in order to enjoy life as it was really meant to b e.

These are the TomTom runners (spot me if you can).

I knew I could do it, and that's exactly what I did. Just a steady pace for 16 kilometers keeping focussed and resolute. At almost exactly two o'clock I crossed the finish line, having run the whole way without stopping. That was a tremendous feeling.

05 km    0:29:06
10 km    1:00:25
15 km    1:32:20
-----    -------
16 km    1:38:53 <<<

So when I finally got home I took a nice long hot bath, and I haven't had such a nice bath like that in years.

The timing could not have been worse. Two days before the big race, I trip over the front door and slice a good-sized gash in my right big toe.

Ouch that hurts, blood all over the place, and it won't stop bleeding, what a bummer.

They tell me again that it's not a good idea to run in the marathon, and it now really looks like God does not want me to take part in that grueling sixteen kilometer run from Amsterdam to Zaandam.

I am not going to give up that easily (and I hope God forgives me for going against his will). In just ten minutes I'm going to take a trial thirty minute run in order to see how well I hold out. Wrap a tight tourniquet around my big toe to reduce the bleeding and hopefully keep it from falling off. 

For practice this time, I will carry with me one of those jogging belt pouches filled with extra tape, band-aids and so forth, in readiness for any emergency that might arise. Just to get used to that thing hanging from my waist.

My fingers remain crossed.

Near the end of his life, Thomas Aquinas had a revelation while celebrating mass in Naples.

He decided then and there to stop writing his Summa Theologica and let it be completed by another hand, whoever that might be.

This is what he had to say:

"My writing days are over for such things have been revealed to me that all I have written and taught seems of but small account to me, wherefore I hope in my God that even as the end has come to my teaching, so it may soon come in my life."

He died shortly afterwards at the ripe old age of forty-nine.

Here's something handy for vim power users.

:%s/.*/(&)/g

For those unfortunate souls out there who do not have a clue about what this might be, this regular expression global substitution command will enclose all lines in the current file within parentheses.

Or have even more fun by reversing all of the lines in a file by issuing the following succinct command:

:g/^/mo0

I'm just sawing swiftly through the book Learning the vi and Vim Editor and learning all kinds of nifty stuff to make my editing sessions even more efficient.

In a little more than two weeks (21 September to be more exact) I'll be taking part in the annual Amsterdam marathon called Dam tot Damloop as one of the team members for my company TomTom.

Currently I'm training intensely three to four times a week, running my usual loop of 6 kilometers, picking up the pace significantly, ending the thirty minute jog huffing and puffing and sweating all over the place.

Soon I'll have to increase the distance quite a bit, as the marathon is officially 16 kilometers long. I hope I'll be ready by then, but if not then I'll just have to take it slow and easy, the goal being simply just to complete the race.

I believe that I'll be one of the oldest members, but that should not matter, I hope. Just by completing this fine event I'll be another hero.

Perhaps it would make my life more enjoyable if I simply accepted the fact that my golf game just is not as good as it was during my more youthful days.

Otherwise I end up getting overly stressed when losing the ball or hacking my way from one side of the fairway to the other.

I used to come home and my wife would ask how it went, and I'd grumble by saying it went lousy. Maybe, she said, you should just accept the fact that you are simply not as good as you used to be.

I still hate slicing the ball into the water, three putting when hitting the green in regulation, whacking the ball too thinly from the sand trap and watching the ball fly clean over the green, losing yet another ball, etc.

However, by accepting the fact that I'm just another average bogey golfer, I enjoy my occasional pars (and birdies) with pleasure and satisfaction.

In two week I'll be playing in the next golf tournament, so let's see how it goes then.

The other day while minding my own business on the golf course, hacking around innocently from one side of the fairway to the other, I decided to take off my golfing cap. That way the warm sunshine would fall on my face as extra inspiration for better shots to come. I affixed it securely to my putter and continued on unsuspectingly.

After three holes I discovered that my favorite cap had fallen off. Much to my despair as I had gotten it during my USA visit last April, which was a nice souvenir. Now that's probably why I've been playing so lousy. Oh well, better luck next time.