Hipsters and Clogs

Day 927, Clogs: Sarah got a free magnet from a vendor and didn’t have anything in her lab she could stick it to, so now it lives on our whiteboard. It’s a surprising lack of positive emotions there, no? How many times have you seen this tool? Did you ever think about the company that made it? I hadn’t until just now, when I saw the copyright notice on the edge. 

Day 871, Clogs: Yes, it’s another twoforthepriceofone day! I’ll try bringing those back on.. particularly.. interesting… Tuesdays. Leaving the office this evening, I happened to notice the vending machine had a bittersweet situation in it. Somebody didn’t get the Maltesers they’d paid for. I would’ve scrounged together some change to pay for a pack myself, but I was in a rush to get home. I’d been letting some bread dough rise since last night and it was time to put my thing down, flip it, and reverse it. Also, it was time to add some flax and sesame seeds, as Pantry Cleanout 2013 continues. It’s been a while since I’ve made bread. This never quite looked right while rising. Time will tell. (You’re excited to find out, aren’t you?)

Day 831, Clogs: In an effort to get my main bike in for repair, I ended up with a flat front tire on my spare bike, leading to both bikes at the shop for the day… and a lot of walking. Here is the flat front tire. Both bikes are now out of the shop and healthy. 

Day 697, Clogs: I suppose it was inevitable. My dear, (cheap) bike was stolen from in front of my apartment building late Thursday night/early Friday morning. They seem to have just ripped the lock apart. Or maybe there was some cutting involved. Fantastic. Thanks for leaving the lock for me, fellas. I suppose I’m glad I hadn’t gotten around to purchasing any kind of basket for it. Nor had I yet installed my new snelbinder set. Cheeseburger bell, I think I’ll miss you most of all. When I visited the police station to report it, they told me to fill out a form online. I’ve also started shopping around for a new fiets. Sigh.

Day 632, Clogs: On tonight’s walk, we went past the Dutch War Graves Cemetery, which includes a number of members of the Dutch Resistance, like Jan van Hoof who played a critical role in local efforts to save bridges from destruction. I’m still wrapping my head around all the WWII history here, and it often feels rather fresh in the minds of the natives.

Day 493, Clogs: For years, I’ve wanted to do a photo project of lost gloves in the wintertime: sidewalks, parking lots, you name it.. Here’s my very first, in my building’s elevator.

Day 442, Clogs: I tried to make this chocolate cake, for a lab event on Tuesday. Short version of the story: I failed. Longer story: I followed the directions. I waited til the top barely jiggled and crackled. I let it sit. I tried to “revert” it (back to what, I wasn’t sure) and this is how the Universe repaid me. Note the batter on the fridge door. 

Day 391, Clogs: I got soaked on my way into the office. You can’t tell, because my pantfronts are 100% wet. I keep spare shorts at the office for occasions such as this. The pants dried by the end of the day. Sorry, yeah, this is another Oc-Tie-Ber crosspost/cheat.

Day 315, Clogs: Didn’t get a picture today. This is the third, MAYBE fourth, time this has happened in nearly a year? Not bad, I think, all things considered. I ganked leftover Domino’s pizza from a PhD students event, then played Black Stories and Confusion, with the former being translated from German to English. Also, the colors on the Confusion dice were in German. We had 2 native German speakers, a Dutch speaker, and me playing. It was permissible to shout out color names in any language you spoke. 

Day 199, Clogs: When Saturday started at the Berlin Zoo, four polar bears were alive. We saw three of them just before noon, as shown here. It’s hard to tell if one of these is Knut, hours before his untimely death. They’re not wearing nametags and we didn’t get close enough to determine their sexes. We spent the rest of the afternoon touring, and so we didn’t hear the sad news until late evening.