Barack Obama in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008: A More Perfect Union (embedded). Watch the entire 37-minute speech. You won't regret it.

'Nuff said.

It's been a while since I said hello to the small world that reads my blog, so... Hello!

I recently acquired a mobile phone for use here in the Netherlands. Yes, I have been disconnected for almost three months. In many ways, it was nice. But I found several reasons to jump back on the bandwagon, so here I am.

Another thing I (re-)discovered was this wonderful song performed by the Muppets: Mahna mahna (whatever that means).

I looked up the video after reading comments on this shirt design (which I love). As I was listening and reading, I thought it would be nice to have this sound on my new phone. So, I pulled it out, looked around the menus, and learned that it has a recording ability. Then, I'm somewhat embarrassed to say, I attempted to record off of my MacBook speakers the sound from the YouTube video. It was difficult, especially since every snippet of laughter and applause became nasty white noise on the miniature phone speaker.

Well, there had to be a better way. Perhaps I could find an MP3? Of course! Google led me right to mahnamahna.mp3, a decent quality recording without audience interruptions. So, yes, I next attempted to record that off the speakers. I really shouldn't be telling you this, should I?

But wait, this seems silly. (I finally realized.) Doesn't my phone have Bluetooth? I wonder.... So, I opened up the Mac's Bluetooth preferences pane. Let's see if we can ping my phone. Searching... nothing, yet. Okay. Maybe I need to enable it on the phone. Digging through more menus. Aha! Bluetooth: on. Got it!

I wonder if I can transfer a file. I can! Let's download that MP3 and send it. Ta da! Set as ringtone... done.

Well, suffice it to say that this was an enlightening adventure. I'm not usually a ringtone kind of guy. I'm too cheap to pay to surf the web on my phone and download some $2/€2 ringtone. And I'm generally too lazy to care. But this song has a special place in my heart. It just makes me smile whenever I hear it. So that is why I went to all the trouble.

Now, I just want people to call me so I can hear my phone ring. Unfortunately for the caller, however, I may not answer before the call switches to voicemail.

I recently went on a trip organized by ING to see the Postel Abbey in Mol, Belgium. We also visited Eersel, a small town in the Netherlands. Here are the photos.

Here is a decent video (embedded) with scenes from Utrecht. The second half has some things that I walk by on a daily basis: the library (more video thanks to Mom) and The Basket.

Before you even get started: Yes, it's been a long time since I took this trip. Yes, I last posted pictures just about 2 months ago. I know, I'm slow. Oh well, deal with it.

Part of the reason is that I've been waiting to get a photo editing program. I used Photoshop Elements on Dad's computer when I was staying with my parents, and it's really (really) hard to go back to nothing (no offense meant, iPhoto) after that. So, I just recently installed Apple's brand spankin' new Aperture 2. It's quite nice, fairly easy to use, and has a lot of nifty little features.

The other reason for the delay is basically that there has been a heck of a lot going on. Life has been rather complicated of late. Perhaps one of these days I'll sit down and write about that. Maybe.

Well, enough meaningless dribble for now. You should go check out the photos from day 3 of the Costa Rica trip that Elizabeth and I took in November last year. For more background, Elizabeth wrote a bit about Arenal and Baldi. Be sure to check out the army ant demonstration, pictured to the right.

The Google map of Utrecht is fixed! Mostly. It still has:

Did you mean:
Utrecht Utrecht
Utrecht Utrecht, UT, The Netherlands

But at least it's not quite as absurd as I reported previously.

Perhaps it's hubris to think that it was due to my contribution. But, hey, why not? Why else would this have spontaneously changed? Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you and goodnight!

Roger Whittaker (Wikipedia, bio), I don't believe in if anymore (meaning, lyrics):

Note: Video is embedded.

Queen Beatrix (in Wikipedia) of the Netherlands celebrated her 70th birthday today, 31 Jan 2008. She has a commissioned a new photo gallery on her website with pictures from the past and present.

I actually didn't hear anything about it until I read the news tonight, so I gather it was fairly low-key. I do know that the big celebration comes on Queen's Day (Koninginnedag) on 30 April. This is carried over from the tradition of celebrating the birthday of Queen Juliana, Beatrix's mother. Wikipedia claims one reason for this is that "the weather on [Beatrix's] own birthday tends to prohibit the traditional outdoor festivities."

[Ed: The following is reproduced from a post to Google Maps Troubleshooting on bad map results in Utrecht. I've reformatted the post with links. Note that by mousing over the links to maps, you can see what the URL looks like at its simplest.]

This is absurd.

When I search for "Utrecht" in Maps, there should only be one location, not three. The initial location is wrong, and the other two are simple variations on the name and place. Yes, the city Utrecht is in the province of Utrecht, but that response doesn't work for the third option (a.k.a. second suggestion). In that one, why is "Utrecht" listed three times [1]? Please don't tell me you mean the agglomeration...

I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but it has become very annoying to look up a map, when I should only have to type in a single word. Just like New York, it's a city with the same name as the province. There is only one major Utrecht (The other Utrecht should get the same treatment as the other New Yorks (MO, TX), no offense to the locals in South Africa.); therefore, there should not be any other suggestions.

Well, I hope this has been somewhat educational. I'm sorry for taking out all of my pent-up mapping frustration on you. I just felt that a little emotion might help get my point across. I am looking forward to seeing this fixed as soon as is reasonable.

Thanks,
Sean

[1] Did you mean: "Utrecht Utrecht, UT, The Netherlands" with this link: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Utrecht+Utrecht,+Utrecht,+The+Netherlands

Update: It's fixed!

In case you missed it, I've embedded the entire 2008 State of the Union Address (sans applause, gracias a Dios!) by President Bush. It's funny how, after 7 years, it seems like nothing changed in his tone. Anyway, I think every American should watch it, whether s/he's a fan of this administration or not.

Update: Shhh! The President is speaking!