Personal
Anouk
Another post in my favorite music category: Anouk, a Dutch singer.
Between 1998 and 2008, Anouk left The Netherlands and moved to US to escape the pressures of fame, only to return a few years later.
I embedded two of my favorite songs in this blog post. The first song (Nobody's wife) was recorded in 1998 before she left, the second song (Michel) ten years later in 2008 after she had returned from the US. In the first song, she is getting eggs smashed at her t-shirt and simply takes of her t-shirt to continue in her bra. In the second song, she performs live in front of 60.000 people, and is visibly more relax.
I've been a big fan of Anouk from day one, for more than 10 years, and still think she is one of the best European singers.
Linux Foundation using Drupal
In 1996, Linux kernel development is what first attracted me to Open Source, and what led me to contribute to the Linux WLAN project in 1999. Ever since, I've worked on or with Open Source projects pretty much full-time.
Last month at the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco, I met Mike Woster, Director of Business Development at the Linux Foundation, the non-profit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Turns out they are avid users of Drupal.
In 2008, they switched the Linux Developer Network to Drupal, earlier this year they launched a video site on Drupal, and most recently, LinuxFoundation.org itself switched to Drupal! And rumor has it there might be more to come ...
Thirty
When I was 20, my favorite quote was: "Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss" (Douglas Adams).
Today, I turn 30, and while I'm still new to this whole thirties thing, so far I continue to really like that quote: let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's continue to learn, and let's not take ourselves too serious.
With that in mind, let's end my twenties in style ...
Pearl Jam - Black
I must have listened to this Pearl Jam song a million times. This video chills up my spine and makes me want to be a rock star. Eddie Vedder's raw passion comes straight from his heart and his soul and can bring a grown man to its knees. Powerful stuff!
Houffalize
We just got back from a one week family vacation in Houffalize, a small town in the Belgian province of Luxembourg.
No e-mail, no RSS feeds, no eyeballing on Drupal discussions, and no way to stay in touch with work for one week. No e-life. It's great to be able to spend all your time with your family: we hiked, we walked, we swam and more. Pictures of our vacation are available in my Houffalize photo gallery.
Now I'm back, the mail/work backlog seems to be as bad as I expected it to be. I'll be easing back into work over the weekend, but it might take several more days before I get on top of things. Stay tuned!
