Car tyres changed

In Switzerland, most people who own cars have two sets of wheels - or at least two sets of tyres - "Summer" and "Winter". The winter tyres are made of a different compound that works best at temperatures around and below freezing, massively increasing stopping power relative to summer tyres. However the tread compound wears a lot faster and is not made to withstand the summer heat as resiliently, so summer tyres are used in the warmer month(s). There are also all-weather-tyres available ... jack of all trades, master of none solution.
I keep a set of winter wheels+tyres (steel rims, narrower than the summer ones) and summer wheels (stock aluminium mags that came with the car).

So, when I went to have my summer wheels mounted about 10 days ago, I went to collect my car a few hours later and the old wheels were still on ... the mechanic pointed out how totally worn my tyres were, and said I needed a new set (to be fair, I've never bought new summer tyres in the time I've had the car). So I ordered a set of Bridgestone Potenzas (lowest price of the highest rated tyres) and had them fitted yesterday.
What is it with mechanic workshops and pics of skanky women on the walls? It seems a universal trend.
So, new wheels are now mounted with the new tyres in place, and we can drive around safely once more...

I loooooooooooooooove puzzles

Leading up to the launch of The Da Vinci Code movie, Google ran a series of related puzzles and riddles - which I thoroughly enjoyed. As many others did too, and informed Google so, they are now running an on-going puzzle section, led by Wei-Hwa Huang, a soon-to-be-fellow-colleague and four-time world puzzle champion.

The most recent puzzle was a good one.
Here it is, for your enjoyment:

Using the numbers 3, 3, 8, 8 (in any order), make a mathematical expression that equals 24. You can use only addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (and parentheses), but in any order you wish. Note that you have to use all four numbers; otherwise 3 times 8 would be valid -- and that wouldn't be much of a puzzle, would it?

I wrote a little perl script to brute-force the answer, available at http://colmans.net/blog/puzzle24. Help yourself to the code, but acknowledge me if you pass it on please (or just send them the link to my code directly) - comments are encouraged.

Home preparation for our foreign sojourn

Made a decision to get up early yesterday, and head out to Ikea to buy a much-needed storage solution for the study. Landed up getting a double-height set of shelves, with aluminium/glass doors, which I'll wall-mount above the desk.
I still plan to buy a set of shelves for the main wall, and will bring some books and papers up from the cellar, as well as my Roland electronic piano.
As anyone who has been to Ikea is aware, one cannot leave empty-handed, or even with just the intended purchases. We also bought a wooden toy for Aron (magnetic crane on wheels, with trailer and cargo), a packet of serviettes, two contour foam pillows, and a bicycle helmet for Dvora.

We then popped up the road to Carrefour, where I looked for a new drill (the battery on mine is dead, and it's cheaper to buy a new drill) but they were out of stock of the smaller model and the larger is more expensive and unnecessary. Did a decent-sized shop considering we're here for only another 5 weeks, and included a packet of cable ties for our suitcases, so we don't have to sacrifice padlocks to the TSA mafia during our airport runs.

Stopped by our local supermarket on the way home to pick up the fresh rolls we like, so I could make garlic bread ... and while Dvora stayed in the car, I bought not only rolls, but a litre of Macadamia & Pecan ice cream too, which I hid in the freezer on arriving home. So much for the surprise for my wife, though - not only did she discover the ice cream, but she took it out of the freezer to get access to something behind it, and forgot to replace it again... so I arrived at the scene of the crime at lunchtime today, mouth watering, espousing the virtues of good ice cream, only to find it was neither ice nor cream, but more of a curdled mush in a still-sealed container ...
We therefore had vegetable burgers, potato croquettes, and fried onions, with a pickle ... sans dessert.

I'm being watched ... but not enough

Every now and then I Google myself. I used to be the top-ranked Gary Colman (without quotes) link, until Gary Coleman's IMDB entry overtook it. Hrmph!
Can't people spell?!!
I am not Gary Coleman (ha - see, I linked to myself to give the engines a boost for my profile).

Let's put things into perspective:

Me: Not Me:

While we may have an enormous amount in common, we're just not the same person. For one thing, I'm African ;-)


Anyway, moving on to my point. So, I Google myself. And usually there's nothing new and exciting to report, but just over a month ago, I found this. Not only did I find it, but I found it quite amusing, too... Speculation is rife out there. *I* don't even know what I'm going to be doing at the Big G, so it's inconceivable that the folks who misspelled wireless have some sort of concrete idea.

ps. link to my blog with the tag "Gary Colman" to help me regain my position at the top of the Google food chain. It's important. :)

Hurray for South African humour

This Leon Schuster "RDP toll road" skit brings back memories, and is hilarious!

Buy the video if you can - it's an hour of all-out laughs.

Aron's first tooth

Aron has cut his first tooth... It's not yet properly visible, but running ones finger over his lower gum, one can quite clearly feel the new toothy material poking through finally. YAY!
It'll be a while before he can chomp on biltong, though.

On Saturday, we went for a cycle with a friend - D on her mountain bike, friend on mine, and I took my roadbike with kiddie trailer. Both our son, and friends' son were strapped into the trailer, along with toys, blankets, bottles, snacks, camera, etc.. I felt like a pack-horse, and could certainly notice the load considerably more than when I had one kid and was on my mountainbike. Had a great cycle - we were out for an hour. Stopped to buy some fruitjuice on the way - another 13kg for me to carry (12 litres of applejuice plus packaging). I still whipped the competition though ;-P


This week is National Skin Cancer Awareness week in Switzerland. As I have a black spot behind my ear, I figure this week would be a good time to have it checked out, at no charge.
Just had this conversation over instant messenger with my wife:

[11:18] Dvora: is the black spot still behind your ear?
[11:19] Gary: lemme check..
[11:19] Gary: nrgghhhhhhhhhhhhh
[11:19] Gary: ghrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
[11:19] Gary: uggggggggggggrmphhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
[11:19] Gary: damn. can't see


I took my car to the garage up the road from work today to have my summer wheels mounted. (I have two sets of wheels - one for winter with winter tyres, one for summer with summer tyres. Saves having to change tyres every season, and the profiles and widths are different too).

Tomorrow I have a half-day off. We're taking Aron to the US Embassy to get him a visa for our trip. Tomorrow evening is the Lag Ba'Omer barbeque & schwarma evening, organised by Swiss Chabad. Hope it doesn't rain.

Do the airlines think we're stupid?

If you've read my rant about United Airlines, you'll get an idea of my affinity for the companies (I have stories to tell you about SAA frequent flyer program too, but I'll save you the bore).

Someone on a mailing list said they found cheap RyanAir flights from Friedrichshafen to London Stansted ... I figured I'd see what all the fuss is about - just for fun - as we have a public holiday approaching in early June.. I figured if it's one of those 10 euro deals, perhaps it's worth looking into..
I found the departure airport listed in the "specials" frame, and duly clicked..
Then I read the conditions (you *DO* always read the conditions, right?), which stated:

Travel Period: Sat 01st Jul - Thu 31st Aug
Blackout Period: 01st Jul '06 - 31st Aug '06


Now seriously ... who throws a shoe?? what do they take us for??
Some special, indeed.

Our dishwasher has been repaired

On Saturday, we started receiving an error "F70" displayed by our dishwasher, which indicates an error with the waterproof system. Needless to say, the dishwasher wasn't working. A Mielé representative arrived today to fix it, and after removing the entire unit and fiddling a bit (I don't know what the problem was - I wasn't home to probe), it's once again working.
YAY.

Joke of the day: preach to the bear

A priest, a Pentecostal preacher and a Rabbi all served as chaplains to the students of University of Colorado's Denver and Health Sciences Center campus.

They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk shop. One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn't really all that hard. A real challenge would be to preach to a bear in the Colorado wilderness.

One thing led to another and they decided to do an experiment They would all go out into the Colorado woods, find a bear, preach to it, and attempt to convert it. Seven days later, they're all together to discuss their experience.

Father Flannery, who has his arm in a sling, is on crutches, and has various bandages, goes first."Well," he says, "I went into the woods to find me a bear. And when I found him I began to read to him from the Catechism. Well, that bear wanted nothing to do with me and began to slap me around. So I quickly grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and, Holy Mary Mother of God, he became as gentle a lamb. The bishop is coming out next week to give him first communion and confirmation."

Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, with an arm and both legs in casts, and an IV drip. In his best fire and brimstone oratory he claimed, " WELL brothers, you KNOW that we don't sprinkle! I went out and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to read to my bear from God's HOLY WORD!
But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. So I took HOLD of him and we began to wrestle. We wrestled down one hill, UP another and DOWN another until we came to a creek. So I quick DUNKED him and BAPTIZED his hairy soul.
And just like you said, he became as gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the time praising Jesus."

They both looked down at the rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed. He was in a body cast and traction with IV's and monitors running in and out of him. He was in bad shape.

The rabbi looks up and says, "Looking back on it, circumcision may not have been the best way to start."

Our dishwasher is on the blink

Came home today to find our dishwasher showing an error message F70.
It's a Miele G2220 SCi model, and the error message indicates that the "Waterproof System" was activated. ie, there may be moisture in the circuitry or some water-release valve has ruptured, or ... well, you get the idea.
Needless to say, I called the retailers from whom we bought it, and they told me to call on Monday morning to inform the right people (no tech support folk there on Saturdays). We bought it last year January, so it's still under warranty [2 years], and someone from Miele Switzerland will hopefully come over sometime this week to fix it ...

Heard a funny joke ...

Q: What's the capital of Zimbabwe?

A: $2.75