I had to go into Stockholm today. My car haven’t passed inspection, so I had to take the bus. On my way home I could hear that there was a problem with the bus. You could almost feel that the brakes where still breaking, or something serious with the gearbox. I first thought that I should go tell the driver, but I was in the middle of an audio book, and besides, Isn’t this stuff he should know? Anyway, I knew that the bus wouldn’t make it. And sure enough, the wheel below my chair started to give of a smell of burnt clutch. So I go up to the driver and asked him if he knew that the brakes on the back wheels are locked up? He just looked stupidly at me, so I just went back to my seat. When I passed a couple of nervous looking passengers, they asked me what was wrong. So I told them that I thought that the back brakes has been locked up since we started. But here comes the mistake. I also mentioned that they probably will start to burn in a while. A second after I said that, smoke started to fill the bus. STAMPEDE! Everyone was running for the exits. When I finally got off the bus, all the ladies had to have a post traumatic discussion with the guy who knew what was about to happen. And all I wanted was to listen to Stephen Kings new audiobook. To make the story even more weird, the bus driver took off running! Don’t ask me where. Probably somewhere to start a beautiful new career doing something else.

So my wonderful wife gave me a new Powerbook G4 15″. And it’s a a nice machine. A lot of people will probably laugh at me when the new Intel Powerbooks will be available in early 2006, but she could only get hold of one now. And I’m not complaining. I’m currently so poor that dogs compulsory take a piss on my leg.

The screen has the same resolution as the last 17″ screen. So now I have to change the font size in Xcode and NetNewsWire to be able to read. And I keep finding new specs on the machine. I had to go into the audio settings and found that the machine now supports 24-bit 96khz audio. There’s also digital I/O.

It’s a joy to do programming when I have some screen real estate. My old 12″ screen was a bit cramped when using Xcode with all the windows. And I have started to play games again. I have gone through Battlefield 1942 again. But now in high resolution. It’s a great game.

I haven’t updated the blog as often as I should, but I’ve been busy. Looking for a job, programming on my new IAX softphone program. But I’m really going to need a good graphics designer to design the icon and the UI. So if someone feels up for it, send me a mail at jacken@jackenhack.com

While watching some old stuff I recorded on my Dreambox, I found an old episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the guest was Donald Trump. Leno is auctioning out a motorcycle for charity. A guest (a blond bimbo who’s name eludes me) sold a kiss to the audience for $500 for charity, which Jay Leno quickly doubled. During which one of richest persons in the US sat silent, doing nothing. His publicist must have teared his hair out. You really have to work hard to make yourself look cheaper. Being a cheap bastard is probably one of the many things you need to get that rich, but I rather stay poor than let me become anything like that man.

We had our annual gentlemen’s dinner this weekend. Herman and Kalix had really worked hard this time. Due to Hermans old connections they where able to borrow a restaurant kitchen to prepare the food. They worked for two days preparing the different dishes. People started to drop in at noon on saturday, helping out with the last preparations, drinking wine and shot the shit. The dining room was something else. It’s one of the finest wine cellars in the world (yes, guinness world record five years in a row) with complete sets of wine from 1900 to date from the best houses.

Here’s the menu:

Soup of chantarelle and shitakki mushroom.

Grilled lobster with salsa and lightly salted cod.

Lamb and kidney with pumkin filled pasta and pickled tomatoes.

Veil entrecôte with pommes fondant and ginger/orange gravy, artichoke and small vegetables.

Small granite of tea and lime.

Vanilla panacotta and cherry cooked sherries in redwine with gelé of Kopi Luwak Coffee. Kopi Luwak Coffee

So, yes, we drank coffee that came out of the ass of a small animal. And it was tha shit!

There was different wines served for each dish.

Best meal I ever had. Period.

During the preparation of the lobsters, Herman showed us a trick. How to get a lobster to go to sleep. Instantly. He just stroked the back of the lobster with the back of his knife. Funny stuff. (Click lobster picture for mp4 film)

During the meal some people chose to go out for a smoke. I was standing around and talking film with two of the dinner guests. I told them to look out for a new Swedish film called Storm that will be out this christmas. I told them that I’ve seen the first half of it, and that it looks fantastic! My friend Kalix is doing the soundtrack for it, so I took a look-see over his shoulder one day. One of the guys looked a bit confused, but I didn’t take more notice of it. Later during the dinner I asked him what he worked with. He said that he was a director/producer, so naturally I asked if I’ve seen any of his work. And he told me a lot of stuff he’s done, including Storm. Isn’t that typical me? Trying to sell a film to the director? I laughed so hard part of my pancreas dropped on the table. He told me he was a bit confused, because he thought I knew. I continued the evening doing a Ricky Gervais impersonation, trying to get a talking part. I also waited until he was good and drunk and then reminded him of the film pitch I had given him. I hadn’t but he’s probably going to wonder what it was the next time I remind him.

So, thanks to Herman & Kalix, and all the people attending this fabulous dinner.

I’ve told earlier about my dentist adventures, and what a man I am, pulling out part of my tooth with a plyer myself. Here’s an update how my dentist appointment unfolded today. Today I had to pull out the rest of my tooth. So I got the anesthetic, and then started to puke in the dentist wastebasket. They then had to drill the tooth in two pieces and pull out the pieces separately. So she pulls the first part, and I puked in the wastebasket. They continued to pull the second part out, and I almost puked again. Seems I got a new hobby. vomiting when riding a bus or going to the dentist.

(message to Bitta. Say it loud: hobby. HOBBY!)