Bike trip

We made a bike trip today to Epe, with the kids in the Roady Roller. It was really hot, but with a few picknick stops it was also enjoyable! Following the signs was a bit difficult, because some of the signs were missing, but we found our way home again, along beautiful German country roads.

Groin Rupture (Hernia)

Myrthe was treated for a groin rupture last week. She recovered surprisingly quick. Just an hour after the operation she was playing again. Still she suffered some pain during the week, and worst of all, was not allowed to cycle on her bike. But today, during a visit to the doctor, everything proved to be ok and she can use her bike again! More picture are available at Myrthe's site in her photo book.

Tax on bikes

In the beginning of the 20th century the Dutch government collected tax on bikes. Each bike had to have a little tax plate. Sometimes I find suc a tax plate with the metal detector. This time one of 1927 while searching together with Sipke.

Sonrise Twente

Glanerbrug participates in Sonrise Twente, a good initiative to reach young people with the message of Jesus via sports. Two of the sports men, Peter and Jesse, are enjoying our hospitality this week. At least I hope they enjoy it. Their programme is really packed, so they spent their time here mostly sleeping. ;-)

Gods creativity

Today was my turn to do the sermon in church. I was led to teach about God's creativity. The powerpoint presentation is available, so you can read more about it. It happened that Holland was struck by a heavy storm yesterday. It was very impressive with the clouds and lightning, and since Psalms 29 and Job 38 were central in my sermon, I included some pictures of yesterday's storm, made by neighbour Fred.

5 cents

We are back! Although the weather was not really supportive, we enjoyed camping in Drenthe. Also found some time to do some metal detecting in the neighborhood. The top find was a zinc 5 cents piece of 1941: the German occupation. The Germans needed all the metals for their warfare, so they replaced our bronze and silver coins with zinc versions.

Bronzen Emmer (Bronze Bucket)

Got a notification of our agenda that says that our holidays have started. We stay at a camping named " de Bronzen Emmer" in Drenthe, literally translated as bronze bucket. We planned to go by bike, but the rainy weather and the fact that Caspian has a high temperature make that we end up with going by car. I hope we have better weather than is currently forecasted!

MSN birth announcement

Today I received the first birth announcement in my life that went via MSN. The proud father has added "is PAPA" to his MSN nick name. Welcome Marinka to this world! You will probably grow up in a digital era, but remember that joy and love are of all times, and definitely more important!

GSM cells

Me and some of my colleagues have been busy with mapping GSM cell IDs to actual locations in terms of GPS coordinates (latitude, longitude). Currently, we have spotted a little more than 1000 cells, the top of the iceberg (see the database with maps), but the infrastructure is in place to do much more! The fun is of course that with this information you can supply a mobile caller with an estimate of his location, based on cell ID only. If you are willing to contribute to the data collection, you are welcome, you only need a Symbian phone (e.g. P800) and an Emtac GPS receiver.