Decision

Last night we were looking for a car. It’s a long time ago, we had one. There was no need for it. Most of the time we do our stuff by bike or on foot. But sometimes we realize, that having a car can simplify things.
For going to work I really don’t need a car. Parking is expensive and by bike I’m quicker…
This morning I started thinking. A car is a nice idea, but there is more. Taxes, insurance, petrol… It’s not just a car in front of my home.
I realized that a week smoking cigarettes is a very full tank, or almost two months insurance…. There is only one thing to do: Quit Smoking.
So, alone, I made my decision… And smoked my last cigarette.

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2012-01-02

First of all, the best wishes for 2012. May this year be a fabulous one with good health and luck.

So, at the beginning of a new year, you like to think back and forward at the same time. Thinking about what went wrong and about how you want to do it this year.

I stopped doing this a long time ago, I take it as it comes. One day at the time is better. Even… no day is the same, so why planning ahead.

The only thing I plan are my free days and my summer holiday. The rest will come as they come, day by day.

December 24, 1 day before Christmas

One day before Christmas, it’s quite early. I have to work today, early shift, so when I write this down, I’m still a little sleepy. Looking outside doesn’t make me happy, it is raining. And so to hear, big raindrops and a stormy wind.
Last year snow was falling, but this Christmas is going to be wet, very wet. I don’t like rain, certainly not when it has to be winter. So I hate those lovely pictures of people, who are sledding or walking in thick snow, laughing, having fun. Just because we can’t have a normal winter, but have to do it with a rainy one.

But this is the time to be full of joy, full of happiness. Christmas has to be a happy time, so I forget my pessimism and try to see it from an another side. Tomorrow it’s Christmas Day, and because I have to work tomorrow, we decided to open the presents tomorrow evening. This will look strange to my English followers, they do this on Boxing Day. We call this the second Christmas Day, but we are to eager about all the presents, we can’t wait that long.

Today my wife and daughters will go out to get the last present, the last groceries for dinner tomorrow. And I …. well, I go to work,  creating a nice Christmas feeling in the homeless shelter, where I work. At least, I hope …

December 21, Nearly Christmas

It’s already four days before Christmas. It is early, and that on the shortest day of the year. But that does not matter, it is normal for me to wake up around 6:45 AM, making bread for those who go to school or work and  than relax the rest of the morning.
Now listening to the radio in the background, behind the PC to prepare myself for a nice day. Because that it will be today….

Today, the Christmas celebrations of the Day and Night shelter are held. Every year the team organize, together with people from the organization Het Kruispunt, a Christmas meal for the homeless in Haarlem. This year I am asked to speak at the end of the meal, and although I am not afraid to speak groups of people, today I have to prepare myself. Not too long, not too short, that is the motto …  so, that’s what it will be.

Getting up early has its advantages, today I finally got around to pimp my English and Dutch “Daily Blogs” . Or rather, the sidebar of both blogs have the same look. The blogs themselves will sometimes differ here and there, but the appearance remains the same. A nice job to do, with sleep in my eyes

Four days before Christmas … what is  time going fast. Realized that my wife will get myChristmas (and birthday) present today. Usually I have a suspicion what I’ll get, but this year I’m in dark clouds. I really have no idea …. oh, just have to wait a few days.

December 9, 2011

What a nice feeling. A day off after a busy week. OK, I have to work again tomorrow, but it’s nice just to be at home and do less.
Just one day, going easy. One day no work.
Tonight watching the second edition of The Voice of Holland Live. They have had their blind auditions, the battles and now we can watch the live shows.
Tomorrow at 5 AM my alarmclock will wake me again, but tonight I celebrate my day off.

December 1, 2011 – Busy day

First day of the month, knowing that @decemberblogger will start again. But do I have the time to start, it’s going to be a long, busy day.
At work we are getting a new program for our daily work. A totally new piece of software, especially developed for the Dutch Salvation Army.
And lucky me … I represent our team in one of the workgroups.
Today I had my first presention in Den Helder. About 80 kilometers from my hometown, but now that I’m home, it feels like 200 more.

The presentation went well, and now, late at night, I’m glad the first one is done. This month there are still two to do, this try-out at an another team learned me enough to do those two better.

Nov. 12, 2011 – Groomer’s day

It is the nicest day for our oldest dog. A nice lady is going to wash him, giving him a nice haircut. Bowie isn’t the nicest dog, when you want to groom, but now we have finally found one who can handle it.
So I had to walk for twenty minutes with my dog, leave him at the groomer’s, walk back home and about an hour later doing the same ritual again.
But the only winner in this game is Bowie…. looking smooth again.

English version almost daily blog

It took some time, but finally I decided to make an English mirror of my Dutch weblog Gewoon Paul. Started as an almost daily blog, but work and other things did stop this attempt.
Nowadays with an Android phone and tablet, accompanied with the WordPress application, it must be possible to fullfil this idea.

So just follow this new blog