Almost!

My vacation almost starts. Next Monday, my stand-by duty ends at 08:00 and my vacation starts. We have a quite good fringe benefit package so I will be able to take off for four weeks, with extra days to spare. I value this very much. Although I like my job, I like the free time even more. In The Netherlands we have a complicated scheme in which employers and employees came to a mutual agreement about 20 years ago. The weekly working hours were reduced, both parties took their share of the costs, and the resulting spare hours were to be used to employ more people. This is called ATV and can be translated to 'Labour Time Reduction'. In some industries, like the one I'm working in, this was impossible to put into practice so that time has been put back. That means that effectively, I'm using a part of my pay to buy extra free time. Resulting in 52 days a year. Oh yeah!

Take care,

The Quartermaster.

Yep

The new domain name is a fact! www.hangar4.nl as of now. And just two days more before my vacation starts. I'm trying to wrap things up but it seems that new work keeps coming. But that work will be done, even while I'm gone.

To my joy, the iPhone will finally become available in my country and what's even better, my current provider will become the dealer. I won't have to switch, hooray! And the price will be lowered to 199 Euro. So, who wants to buy a brand new, unlocked LG Viewty :-)

Take care,

The Quartermaster.

www.hangar4.nl

Soon, my site will receive a real domain name. I've filled out the paperwork last week and hope that www.hangar4.nl will be up and running this week. The only snag is that due to the fact I'm on cable for my internet access, my router receives a dynamic IP address. So if I have to switch it off for a prolonged time, it will get a new address and thus will break the link to the domain name.

By hosting myself, I've gained a lot of freedom and what's more important, a lot of disc space! 680 GB net. I use a RAID 1 configuration so my data is pretty safe. I also make regular back-ups to another location.

I have a couple of ideas for the site I want to try out, all in the graphics department. But we're experiencing a spell of very nice weather over here so that I'm reluctant to spend too much time tinkering with Hangar-Four. I'd rather sit on a terrace, enjoying a glass of wine!

Take care,

The Quartermaster.

Vacation

This year will be our first venture into the world of cruises. We went to Indonesia last year and to Portugal the year before that but this year we really had no clue. So Anne picked a Mediterranean cruise. We will leave from Nice and visit many countries 'round the Mediterranean sea. Tunisia, Egypt, Italy and Malta to name but a few. Sailing at night and visiting the cities during the day.

I'm very much looking forward to it. We like to visit foreign cities to enjoy the local atmosphere. You have to take the tourist traps for granted and never buy things at first sight. Also have a meal before you venture into town, otherwise you'll go to the very first eatery you'll see. And that often is an expensive tourist trap as well :-)

Take care,

The Quartermaster.