After watching the movie “the golden compass” for christmas (I was enchanted by the story/idea but a little disappointed by the movie) I did a little research… it is actually called “Northern Lights” and is the first part of a trilogy called “His Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman and it goes so much deeper than the movie.. I really don’t regret having banned television out of my life.. I think I might ban movies next.

This book has shaken me like few before.. partly because of the “steampunk” / fantasy setting but also because of Pullman’s way how he follows the protagonists – Lyra (and later Will) – and their “Daemons” through a fantastic adventure and (to quote wikipedia)

His Dark Materials, a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman, comprises Northern Lights (1995 — released as The Golden Compass in North America), The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000). The trilogy follows the coming of age of two children, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they wander through a series of parallel universes against a backdrop of epic events. The story involves fantasy elements such as witches and armoured polar bears, but alludes to a broad range of ideas from fields such as physics, philosophy, and theology.

Now that I have a child (and I hope more will come) that might one day request from me to read them stories: This one is definitely on the list!!!

Spoilers follow, if you plan to read the book, don’t read on…

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They say that it brings bad luck if you shave before an exam..

What they don’t say is how long before an exam ;)

I have scheduled my CCNA exam for February 21 and I have not shaven in a week now. I never looked that fuzzy in my life :)

If I only had had this motivation when I was a the university.. getting up at 5 in the morning in the weekend to have some silent hours.. studying the whole weekend.. All it took was the small guy :D

Thank you, Vincent.. I am doing all that for you!

Someone called “paulthewineguy” has created a collection “understanding art for geeks” where he fuses classic art with modern computer lingo and the latest memes.. resulting in something which I am not sure how to handle.. on the one hand it’s shameless on the other hand it’s just too funny (if you are of the geeky type, that is…)

some examples:

here is his page: paulthewineguy.com
and here his album: (flickr)

Finally I have been in the snow again… it has been.. years?
I don’t remember when I was walking through 1 meter snow for the last time but it feels (and looks) wonderful.

Above Sofia there is a low hanging layer of clouds, the only way to get away from it is to climb (or take the lift) up to Vitosha and look at it from above, which we did :)

Anna has two albums online, over there @Picasaweb. It also has pics of Vincent.
http://picasaweb.google.com/anna.m.georgieva/Winter2007Part1/
http://picasaweb.google.com/anna.m.georgieva/PurvaKoledaBg/

So, finally we went to see the “golden compass” movie, which turned out to be quite decent stuff. (if you forgive them for shamelessly copying from Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings)

For my personal feeling it was too fast-paced for a fantasy story, I mean, if you have read the Lord of the Rings and then watched the movie you probably know what I mean, it’s like watching a movie with the fast forward on all the time.

Afterwards I was thinking about the “Daemons” a lot.. call them Totems, call them your soul, call them whatever anthropomorphic personification of your personality, I loved the idea, being in the company of a cat spirit since I can think this really was a pleasure to watch.
However, they state on their website that you can “find” your own daemon by answering a couple of personality questions. Then others can confirm/change it if necessary by answering more questions.. why don’t you help me find my Daemon?

Link: http://goldencompassmovie.com/?801265

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I absolutely dislike neglecting this website.. but finally I found something beautiful to post again!

How to make a beautiful christmas decoration from paper, post-it and a stapler (making it perfect for the office!)

the whole thing looks like this:

and the instructions are very simple to follow for such an amazing piece of decoration. :)

I just created one in my lunchbreak in the office, it is hanging above the entrance now… Next I’ll use silver paper or multicoloured paper for home.

Source: WikiHow
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Today my grandfather passed away. The last of my grandparents and the one that we all saw as the head of the family.
All his life he was a teacher, in school but also out of school – especially when dealing with his grandchildren. We hated him for that but this is also what made him so special. The one that was always right. Even if he wasn’t right he at least knew it better :)

Günther, Gott hab Dich selig! Und mach dem grossen Boss das Leben nicht so schwer, bitte. Wir sehen Dich schon da oben sitzen wie Aloysius, wie Du den Engeln zeigst, wie sie besser singen können…

Der alte Rüdel hat in seinem Leben so viel erlebt, eigentlich sollte man ein Buch über ihn schreiben.. bin gespannt, wer das macht.

So traurig wie ich auch gerade bin, so sehr sehe ich doch ein dass der Tod zum Leben gehört und dass ich die Verantwortung für die nächste Generation in mir trage.. Vincent, Du bist jetzt die Hauptperson. :)

…are the two things that make my day at the moment.
Apart from Anna and my job, that is.

Every free minute goes either to the small guy or to my studies for the CCNA.
Both are making progress at breathtaking speed and keep amazing me.
Anna is making a big effort and tries to provide as many “silent” minutes for me as possible to study – although it is almost a sin not to watch him play and “sing” :)

For the rest, I am feeling suprisingly good (for this time of the year when I usually get depressed and/or moody). It seems to work out that I switch all lights in the house in the morning. At least till I get myself a “wake-up light” that sounds like a great way to wake up instead of a beeping noise. 100 Watt lightbulb that slowly raises to its full power within 30 minutes to simulate dawn.

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for the first time since I don’t know how long I had to call in sick today.. after all these years with “weekend-sickness” (meaning I get to work again on monday) this time we really cought something. Actually, we suspect Vincent having brought this home from the daycare (if you look at the children’s noses you should suspect that) ;)
Anyway, both Anna and me (and poor Vincent) have congested noses and can hardly breathe, cough a lot and have temperature. For Vincent this is even worse, as he can’t drink like this. (Try to drink a glass of water while you hold your nose closed… tricky!)