Author Archives: ajebe

Tina Cousins – Pray

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Tina Cousins – Pray

What a miracle is life
the fields are high and the fruit is ripe
so hold out your hands
yeah, hold out your hands
and you’re the same as me
you breathe the air I breathe
and we don’t understand, yeah
we don’t understand

We all see the same sun
each day a golden praise is sung
to the wonder of man
yeah, to the wonder of man
and when we look why can’t we see
all the riches that are free
oh we don’t understand, yeah
we don’t understand

And if you don’t ask questions you won’t know why
so say a prayer for the time while there’s still time
so pray for good and pray for love
pray for peace and pray it’s enough
pray for salvation
pray that we’re right
pray one day we’ll open our eyes, and
pray for them and pray for us
pray one day we can live as one
pray for the children whose time is to come
just pray they forgive us for the stupid things we’ve done

The clip

Visit to the botanical garden

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Alex in the car - Jardin Canaria!
It is weekend, so we try to do enjoy ourselves and do nice things. Today we visited the botanical gardens. Alex was looking around and saw a lot of plants. He did not seem very enthusiastic.

After our visit Alex took the opportunity and posed for a photo in the car. Of course we moved his to his proper seat inside the car just after the photo.

Bankia runs into problems

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Bankia!The Spanish bank Bankia has gotten into some problems. Just one week ago the bank has been taken over by the state and it has become public that since then more then a billion euros has been transferred by clients of Bankia to somewhere else.

I used to have a Bankia account (it used to be called Caja de Canarias), but I closed the account due to an extremely unfriendly attitude towards their clients. Now the rest of Spain is also closing their accounts. Probably not because of their attitude towards their clients but more likely because of the huge amount of properties that the bank owns. Properties that are almost impossible to sell and that keep dropping in value.

According to the bank there is (of course) no reason to worry. These are seasonal fluctuations in the amount of capital they have. Sure, what else are they going to say. Where is all the money going? Other banks, other European banks outside of Spain, or even farther away to different currencies or even valuables like gold? I just don’t know so I’ll just keep observing the situation from a safe distance. First see what happens and then I’ll figure out what to do.

Away with the heating

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Heating tube Ibiza!It is a very strange sensation. Our car breaks down every couple of months. I always take the car to the same mechanic, because I believe I’ll be less likely to be cheated being a loyal customer. As a foreigner I run an even bigger risk of receiving highly inflated bills.

Sometimes I receive very little benefit from my loyalty to our mechanic, who sometimes likes to be creative calculating the hours he spends on our car but ever since I returned his screwdriver to him I notice a difference. Our most recent problem was a warm liquid that was dripping on the passengers feet. A liquid with a very obnoxious smell.

We quickly realized something was wrong about a wet car and pulled over. After a quick checkup I found out it was the cooling liquid, Quickly I added almost 3 liters of water to the cooling reserve and we continued our drive home.

According to the mechanic the problem was with the heating. The cheap solution was the disable the entire heating system. Result: 30 euro. A very nice price.

Our car turning into a sad story all the time. The alarm was dismantled, he heating does not work anymore, the paint job was destroyed because I cleaned the car with a very tough sponge and at some spots rust is appearing. How much longer will she survive?

Don’t underestimate the baby

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Alex and Chisca!In this picture we see little Alex quietly observing a nearby animal. A little later Alex decided to connect with the cat in a strange manner. He pulled her little leg quite hard. The cat decided it would be better to avoid little babies for a while and did not show himself the rest of the evening.

Selling colored coins

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oranjegeluksdubbeltjeColored coins are appearing in quick succession, and it seems the Royal Dutch Mint has found a need goose with golden eggs. His time they are selling 10 eurocent coins for 5 euros. Very easy money. The coins are sold as lucky dimes and have the number 10 on the front of the coin painted in orange. The entire set comes packages in a piece of cardboard, ready to be collected. Of course the person collecting this coin will be expected to pay 5000% more than the face value of the coin.

How long will it take this time for a cheaper alternative to arise to the colored coins. It is perfectly legal and with a potential markup of 5000% it seems to be very much worthwhile. It can even get better, you can paint your own coin! Just imagine, a little bit of creativity and a little bit of paint and all of a sudden a 10 cent coins is worth a lot more. Using the KNM markup you could even sell a home painted 2 euro coin for 100 euros.

Needed:

  • Colored Enamel Paint
  • Metallic Enamel Paint
  • Tiny Soft-Bristle Paintbrush

Instructions for painting or coloring an existing coin
1 – Quickly wash existing coin in warm water and mild soap. Use a soft-bristled toothbrush to gently scrub dirt from crevices of the coin’s surface. Pat coin dry with a soft cloth.
2 – Mix enamel paints to a smooth consistency by adding small drops of warm water. If using different colored paints, determine what the finished painted coin will look like. Practice with the paints by drawing a coin on a piece of paper.
3 – Lay the coin backside down on some paper. Carefully paint over the areas of the coin’s face. Let the front side of the coin dry naturally for 3-4 hours before turning it over to paint the backside. If using metallic paints such gold or silver, paint several layers of paint onto the coins. Let one paint layer dry before painting on the next layer.

The Wise Man’s Fear

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The Wise Mans FearIn the beginning of this year I read the first part of the Kingkiller trilogy, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. The first part was a pretty thick book counting 662 pages and the second book even contained 994 pages. Still I read this book almost without pause.

The main character is telling us about his life for which he needs three days. Book one contains the first day in which he is telling us about his life. The second book contains the second day. Again it is a very engaging story that is absolutely worthwhile. The hero of the book starts as a poor student who slowly develops into a very powerful character with a heavy purse.

Part three promises to be a very interesting book, because it will contain the last day where we will read the rest of the heroes life. The book is already written, but sadly we will have to wait. The book is expected to be published in may next year. Quite a wait…

First Mothers day in Spain

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Alex - First mothers-day!Today it is mothers-day in Spain and Alex only needed a little help from his father to make a very creative present for his mother.

Ana was ecstatic about such a fantastic present.

Cheese in oil

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Cheese in olive oil!Recently I went on and treated myself to something new. I purchased a jar containing pieces of cheese in oil. The cheese has a delicious strong taste like somehow the oil had enhanced the taste. A jar of cheese in oil was quite expensive and I don’t understand why. It´s very easy to prepare yourself.

Take a large glass jar. Fill the jar for about three-quarters with squares (of about 2 cm) of a mature tasty cheese. Add a layer of good olive oil so that all the cheese ends up covered in oil. Now leave the cheese in the oil for at least two months, but preferably bit longer. To add even more flavor I’ll experiment a little and add a little pepper. Maybe the cheese will turn extra spicy.

It is a really long wait but in the end you will finally be able to eat the delicious cheese accompanied by a nice glass of wine. Enjoy!