Saturday, December 13. 2008A day in the life…☃
For the last two years, I have dedicated the arbitrary date of December 13th to recording a snapshot of my life. In what is quickly becoming an annual tradition after last year's repeat of much the same, I present to you this year's effort. To set the scene, you need to know that it's been unusually cold across Western Europe lately. Today was certainly no exception, and as the previous night was spent avoiding my company's Christmas Party in favour of another company's, you can understand that things were a little difficult… As with the last two years, all photos here have been taken hastily with my Nokia E70 and have not been modified. 
Time: 08:11 Ergh. Waking up in a relatively cheap hotel in Eindhoven after a heavy night on the grog isn't really my idea of a great start to the day. Sadly the end of breakfast and check-out time is approaching, so some motivation is necessary. 
Time: 08:26 Self motivation has failed so far. I'm stuck watching television, and it doesn't help that Euronews was boring and MythBusters is on Discovery Channel. Thanks to them, I now know that Mentos and Diet Coke fountains are caused by nucleation of carbon-dioxide on the surface of the Mentos which is accelerated somehow by the aspartame and caffeine in the Diet Coke. That might be useful information, if I were MacGyver, and if I weren't suffering from veisalgia. 
Time: 09:33 After a quick shower, it was time for some rather unappetising breakfast. I will never learn that hotel breakfasts are always terribly depressing buffets. Even the coffee was at a standard only airlines could get away with. 
Time: 10:05 Back to the room to pack the bags and get out of there. There's not a single cloud in the sky, but there's an icy wind that makes it feel like it's -20°C. 
Time: 10:28 After a quick visit to the car-park to move the car, it was time to investigate what's so special about Eindhoven, other than being an historic Philips R&D centre. 
Time: 11:15 Being a little too cold, it was time to head inside to try to look at some shops. With my head being not so forgiving, this wasn't a pleasant experience. This tilted photo says more about my state of mind that I can express here. 
Time: 11:42 Back in Melbourne, KFC's Zinger Burger was often used as a fantastic “after-drinks” meal, and since it doesn't exist in Belgium, it was time to have some Kentucky Fried Crap to help with the hang-over. By now, the KFC had kicked in and the seediness has been replaced with pure fatigue. 
Time: 13:04 After the decision was made that Eindhoven is boring, it was time to jump in the car and find something I had been told about in a conversation last night; there is a UFO shaped building — one of those pervasive 1960's buildings of tomorrow — right here in Eindhoven. We ended up having to beg TomTom for directions, as it wasn't exactly forthcoming. 
Time: 13:20 We arrived at Evoluon, what was once a science museum built by Philips as a concept of Mr. Frits'. Now the building is a conference centre, however it was closed. We quietly sneaked in the gate for a few photos. 
Time: 14:57 As per bloody usual, there's the requirement to head off to the supermarket for some food. Tonight needs to have something warm and meaty, I think. 
Time: 15:31 This is why I don't use self-checkout lines — IBM's self-checkout systems require a surly technician to be around all the time to fix the constant problems, and take ten times longer to process if you're on your own as you run back and forth from scanning and packing the bags two metres down the conveyor belt. It's worse than my ability to take a photo of the error screen. 
Time: 16:07 Heading home, I was hungry enough to need to eat some home cooked treats sent from my Mum in Australia (thanks for the mince tarts Mum)! 
Time: 17:17 With my energy levels depleted, it was time to procrastinate about making dinner by watching a bit of television. I can't believe they still air this show. 
Time: 17:40 Okay, okay; time to make dinner. I am the world's slowest cook, so this might take a while. 
Time: 18:01 Okay, chopped vegetables and minced meat with plenty of cheese. It's time to wrap it up and make a Pasty. 
Time: 18:41 Mmm, pasty. Don't worry, I didn't eat the whole thing — these things are always huge. 
Time: 21:47 Yeah, still at it. I have no energy for anything else beyond this. 
Time: 22:11 Time for bed then, since I can't cope with anything else today. 
Time: 22:13 Goodnight! It hasn't exactly been a long day, but mixing drinks last night was a little daft. That tends to happen when you're relying on other people to get your drinks. There's a lesson in here most of us already know and so few of us actually follow. Trackbacks
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