Friday, March 30, 2007

Ready to go home again!



So, the measurement system is working ok, the people are happy with it and know how to use it.
On the side I had to solve many other problems (like always) with many other machines. But at the end everything is allright again.
This evening we pack up and tomorrow we leave for Warsaw airport by car.

Nice view outside the hotel in the morning




This is the view outside the hotelroom in the morning.....

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Polish construction workers' canteen



This very old truck (I think it came from the eastern front after the 2nd worldwar) is already standing for years at the factory. It is the movable construction workers canteen.









Same truck from behind, you even see the cable for the electrical power and they also fitted an chimney so that they can burn the brown coal or wood in their stove

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Walking back from the factory to hotel Dworek





This is the train crossing next to the factory.








I always pass this house, to me it is like a "ghosthouse".










And them I'm back "home" again in hotel Dworek, good hotel with also a very good restaurant.

Measurement system ready and working


So, finally the new measurement system in Poland is ready and working ok.
It already measured the first production batch

Trip to Skierniewice



So, arrived on Warsaw airport again. It is very nice weather here!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

This is the couple that won the Dutch Latin Championship 2007

Preparing for the trip to Skierniewice Poland


So, preparing many things for the trip to Skierniewice next week. I'm also very busy implementing the latest desired software changes. In Skierniewice I will start the measurement system up that I tested during the last weeks and make final release measurements.
Here you see it still under test. At this moment it is in a small truck on it's way to Poland.

Find your old classmates!

Look at www.schoolbank.nl to find your old classmates (at least, if you want to.......)

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Dutch national title latin dancing couple

This couple is going for the Dutch national title latin dancing next weekend

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

New measurement system ready for shipment


So, another measurement system ready! Took a long time to build, had to change many electric parts inside, had to debug it thoroughly, but at the end it works well and is one of the best I ever built!

Here you see it still under test.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Red Lighting!!


My car is in the workshop for some regular service. So this is my chance to ride "Red Lighting" again!

Monday, March 12, 2007

Every programmer should read this!

The Parable of the Two Programmers

Neil W. Rickert
Dept. of Math, Stat., and Computer Science,
University of Illinois at Chicago.

Once upon a time, unbeknownst to each other, the "Automated Accounting Applications Association" and the "Consolidated Computerized Capital Corporation" decided that they needed the identical program to perform a certain service.

Automated hired a programmer-analyst, Alan, to solve their problem. Meanwhile, Consolidated decided to ask a newly hired entry-level programmer, Charles, to tackle the job, to see if he was as good as he pretended.

Alan, having had experience in difficult programming projects, decided to use the PQR structured design methodology. With this in mind he asked his department manager to assign another three programmers as a programming team.

Then the team went to work, churning out preliminary reports and problem analyses.

Back at Consolidated, Charles spent some time thinking about the problem. His fellow employees noticed that Charles often sat with his feet on the desk, drinking coffee. He was occasionally seen at his computer terminal, but his office mate could tell from the rhythmic striking of keys that he was actually playing Space Invaders.

By now, the team at Automated was starting to write code. The programmers were spending about half their time writing and compiling code, and the rest of their time in conference, discussing the interfaces between the various modules.

His office mate noticed that Charles had finally given up on Space Invaders. Instead he now divided his time between drinking coffee with his feet on the table, and scribbling on little scraps of paper. His scribbling didn't seem to be Tic Tac Toe, but it didn't exactly make much sense, either.

Two months have gone by. The team at Automated finally releases an implementation timetable. In another two months they will have a test version of the program. Then a two month period of testing and enhancing should yield a completed version.

The manager of Charles has by now tired of seeing him goof off. He decides to confront him. But as he walks into Charles's office, he is surprised to see Charles busy entering code at his terminal. He decides to postpone the confrontation, so makes some small talk then leaves. However, he begins to keep a closer watch on Charles, so that when the opportunity presents itself he can confront him. Not looking forward to an unpleasant conversation, he is pleased to notice that Charles seems to be busy most of the time. He has even been see to delay his lunch, and to stay after work two or three days a week.

At the end of three months, Charles announces he has completed the project. He submits a 500 line program. The program appears to be clearly written, and when tested it does everything required in the specifications. In fact it even has a few additional convenience features which might significantly improve the usability of the program. The program is put into test, and, except for one quickly corrected oversight, performs well.

The team at Automated has by now completed two of the four major modules required for their program. These modules are now undergoing testing while the other modules are completed.

After another three weeks, Alan announces that the preliminary version is ready one week ahead of schedule. He supplies a list of the deficiencies that he expects to correct. The program is placed under test. The users find a number of bugs and deficiencies, other than those listed. As Alan explains, this is no surprise. After all this is a preliminary version in which bugs were expected.

After about two more months, the team has completed its production version of the program. It consists of about 2,500 lines of code. When tested it seems to satisfy most of the original specifications. It has omitted one or two features, and is very fussy about the format of its input data. However the company decides to install the program. They can always train their data-entry staff to enter data in the strict format required. The program is handed over to some maintenance programmers to eventually incorporate the missing features.

Sequel:
At first Charles's supervisor was impressed. But as he read through the source code, he realized that the project was really much simpler than he had originally though. It now seemed apparent that this was not much of a challenge even for a beginning programmer.

Charles did produce about 5 lines of code per day. This is perhaps a little above average. However, considering the simplicity of the program, it was nothing exceptional. Also his supervisor remembered his two months of goofing off.

At his next salary review Charles was given a raise which was about half the inflation over the period. He was not given a promotion. After about a year he became discouraged and left Consolidated.

At Automated, Alan was complimented for completing his project on schedule. His supervisor looked over the program. With a few minutes of thumbing through he saw that the company standards about structured programming were being observed. He quickly gave up attempting to read the program however; it seemed quite incomprehensible. He realized by now that the project was really much more complex than he had originally assumed, and he congratulated Alan again on his achievement.

The team had produced over 3 lines of code per programmer per day. This was about average, but, considering the complexity of the problem, could be considered to be exceptional. Alan was given a hefty pay raise, and promoted to Systems Analyst as a reward for his achievement.

The One: Gig in "De Kemphaan" Middelbeers


And finally, after 2 hours, everything is in place. This time we got the light and sound for free (!) because the soundguy wanted to promote his new stage light set and his new PA system.
.....Of course, we didn't care, saved us 350 euro's!

The gig went fine and we got many people dancing at the end.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Many things to arrange for the marriage


Arranged many things for the marriage, went to the wedding-suit shop for the final corrections on Marions and my suit. New glasses for Marion, flowers for the car and bride........pfff. Still many things to do, but already many things ready.

The One rehearsing for next sunday!

Here we are rehearsing soms songs for our gig in "The Kemphaan"Middelbeers, next sunday. We start at about 1530hrs.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Boerenkool met worst!


Winter is almost over in Holland, so this was one of the last chances to make one of my favorite typically Dutch winter dishes: "boerenkool met worst" (farmers cabbage with sausage).









It like it most with (really typically Dutch) mayonaise on top (not shown in picture because most people don't like it like that).

Monday, March 05, 2007

Nice weather for a ride.




Here we are sipping coffee at "Kerkzicht" in Diessen after a nice ride through Belgium and Holland. This to warm up our feet a little bit.









Marion is getting more and more used to her Diversion......









We decided to stay outside (was not so cold) because inside there was a group of drunken farmerboys that had a "boerenovertrek". It was like carnaval inside.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Superfreak!

The One rehearsing Superfreak