Monday, December 24th, 2007
Today a (traditional) Christmas Beer hunt is on the program. A friend of me is going to pick me and Bram up to go to a big beer shop near Gent. It's his favorite beer shop. I have never been there, so I'm pretty curious of what I will find. My friend will be here any moment..
Have a Merry Christmas!
-------------------------------
my Japanese website my Japanese Blog
Sunday, December 23rd, 2007
Friday I finally collected my U.S.L.A. Gulfman. I was very excited. I couldn't wait until I was finished at work. It was as dead as dead can be. Even catching daylight for 20 minutes was not enough to keep it awake (after 1 or 2 minutes it automatically went in sleep mode). After a donation of 30 hours light (by my famous IKEA halogen desk lamp) it completely revived (although I first was a bit afraid it would stay dead).
I was also hunting for a new camera. Although I told my self I would go for an SLR this time, I decided to go for a "normal" digital camera again. Canon has the Powershot S5 that matches my expectations of a camera. If I would buy a digital SLR, it should have live action display. The cheapest I could find was a €1040.- body. Including a lens this would be too much for me now.
I went to my Photo Shop in Vlissingen, but unfortunately they didn't have the S5 in stock. I ordered one, which probably will arrive on January 2nd... It will probably be my first purchase next year. I couldn't wait that long for a page for my so wanted U.S.L.A. I already took a lot of pictures, have a look and enjoy. It's a very special watch for me!
-------------------------------
Tuesday, December 18th, 2007
Finally the G-Kool models are in the house. I got them yesterday. I had no time to take pictures yet, because I got a visitor coming over, bringing a very nice special Chimay beer. Today I took some pictures and I am working on the pages for them. It hope to finish the page soon. Maybe it's even finished when you read this... I should try to get at least the white one. Also I like the yellow analogue model (I believe it is an AW-582 model).
Yesterday I spotted some nice G-Shocks on a shopping corner on the net. It was from a good friend, so I decided to buy three of his G-Shock's. Then he offered me such a good price, I bought all 4 his G-Shock's. Well, you might think that's good news for the updates.... Yes and no... Because of the Christmas and New Year holidays I asked him to post the package after January 1st. That way it can't get lost between the load of holiday mail. I expect the USLA Gulfman to arrive this week, though it might come later after Christmas. You'll never know if and how long it might be at the customs. Then you can easily add two weeks....
Lexxorcist posted a Tough Test of the Gulfman G-9100 that was broadcasted on the British "The Gadget Show" on YouTube (Thanks a lot Lexx!). It was compared with an MTM Special Ops watch. I think the Gulfman showed it's amazing toughness. In the final it's shown that there are limits to toughness, but don't ask how. Just watch it...
-------------------------------
Saturday, December 15th, 2007
If there is one thing annoying, it is waiting. I bought the two S-Kool GW-5500's two weeks ago, but they still are on the way. I am also waiting on the U.S.L.A. Gulfman, but that one is posted last Monday in Australia. My experience is that it can take another week before it arrives. With the coming holidays and accompanying mail worldwide, I'm afraid I will see them after Christmas or maybe in the worst case in 2008.
I am changing the G-Peopleland's contact e-mail address. Every day I have to dig into loads of spam. I cleaned my mailbox yesterday evening and this morning I already had 20 junk mails. I'll try to keep my new address hidden on the net as good as I can, but you can find it in my Profile and Contact link in the menu.
-------------------------------
Thursday, December 6th, 2007
Yesterday we celebrated "Sinterklaas" in the Netherlands. I probably have been a good boy, because the Good Saint had a lot of presents for me. No, no G-Shock's of course. A big cheese and mustard makes me very happy and the comic book "Burka Babes" was very funny, but the best part was the LEGO Star Wars AT-ST, the two legged walking tank... Thank you Sinterklaas! If you like to see and learn more about the 5 December celebration in the Netherlands, watch my web log (English translation at the bottom).
Sometimes people who find my website think I am able to find any G-Shock. Well, this is actually not true. I often stumble upon strange G-Shock's and buy them. A search to a certain model can be very frustrating. You will always find what you are not looking for...
When I was not long collecting I found the very beautiful U.S.L.A. Gulfman on eBay. I think it was somewhere in the first half of 2002. I learned to know the seller, who had one of those watches on auction each month. He didn't sell outside the US, so I tried to convince him I was a reputable buyer with a Paypal account. The prices these watch changed owner were very low. An U.S.L.A. could easily been obtained with a bid over $125.- (at that time around €125.-, nowadays around $185). Unfortunately it took a little too long to convince him. He just sold his last and the U.S.L.A. Gulfman remained for me a holy grail.
Lately several U.S.L.A'.s dived up. First DragonJade got one. Then several other members of the G-Shock forum proudly showed their U.S.L.A. This could not be true. Everyone had my holy grail, except me. Finally it's over now. A few moments ago I won an auction of a brand new one on eBay. It will take a while I think before it's here. It probably will have to pass the customs too (yet another week). But what what are two weeks after 5 years searching...
I sometimes suffer from youth sentiment... I loved synthesizer music when I was a kid (mostly pretty experimental). I once bought the first album of YMO. Tonight at dinner, I ran upstairs and looked through my vinyl's. Non dance music I have always ordered alphabet sized so it didn't took long to find it. I couldn't resist. I ordered the CD too.
-------------------------------
Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
Friday my I.C.E.R.C. Gulfman 2007 arrived at the door. Luckily I already had left quite an amount of money at home, because there was a customs bill of €32.50 with it. Once straps around my wrist I was forgotten about it totally. What a great watch is this. Of course I forgot to sync it, so I was somehow confused when Eva said I should start cooking dinner, while it was 01:30 in the night... A quick change to GMT+2 was done. I now have the watch on for three days and it has synced perfectly to the Mainflingen transmitter. I have seen an attempt to sync to the Anthorn (UK) transmitter, but it changed back to the German transmitter. I think, in spite of the Dawn Black models, this is the best G-Shock released this year.
Also an envelope with a special edition of the recently released movie "Electroma" arrived. Finally I can see it in high quality. I had only seen parts in You Tube quality. I love the music used in this mostly silent movie with no dialogue at all. I haven't tried syncing it up with "Human after all". I think the movie is great with it's original soundtrack. I was a bit confused about the 15 years and older pictogram on it. I have watched the movie with me (7 year old) son, and I have not seen any offending. I read that at some part there is a small scene that the robots walk from rocks toward the camera. With some (adult) imagination, you can see a women's vulvae in the rock formation, but I think this would never occur on a child brain. Actually I didn't see it too, until I read about it.
Now it's waiting for the S-Kool G-Shock's. I have asked to ship them without boxes. I think I will wear these great models when I get them. In the mean time we prepare for the Sinterklaas feast on December 5th. I have also seen a long wanted G-Shock model on auction right now. It will be hard to win I think, but I hope I'll make it. If I'm correct I tried to get this watch several times around 2002. When I convinced the seller I was trustworthy, he already sold out his stock. I'll keep my fingers crossed...Friday my
-------------------------------
my Japanese website my Japanese Blog
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
I wanted an Atomic Gulfman to wear for a long time. I haven't bought from Mr. Seiya-San for a long time and I saw the beautiful GW-9100K-7JR I.C.E.R.C. Gulfman 2007 still on his website. I saw on the Track and Trace page of the Japanese Postal Service that the package is already in the customs officer room.
An other series that triggered my mind is the S-Kool series. I ordered the green and red G-5500 model a few days ago. It could be an interesting week next week. Also next week is the feast of Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas). I am very curious which presents I will get...
As a huge admirer of Daft Punk I was happy the CD "Alive" was released on November 19th. Although I have heard illegal recordings, the cd is awesome. I found the ltd ed. double CD with a 10 minute version of the classic Thomas Bangalter and DJ Falcon song "Toghether" and a 40 page book...
On the way is also the UK ltd. ed. version "Electroma" DVD with a picture book. It still has to arrive, I have high expectations.
I managed to attach a kind of popularity link on my Japanese G-Shock web log. Somehow I manages to storm into the top 25 ranking of the jeweler and watches blog category.
I went to a theatre live concert of the Dutch cult phenomenon "Spinvis". It was an awesome 3 hour show. You might say you get a lot of bang for the buck. He came with the complete 7 mans ensemble and he played several songs you wouldn't expect to hear live. Also the support act, Chris Chameleon (South Africa) was awesome. His performance of "Volkeursmannetjie" was unforgettable. His ability to easily stretch his voice over 4 octaves was at least remarkable. Since we are into the a space topic, check out his performance of this song he did earlier this year in London. Specially watch the break half way!
-------------------------------
my Japanese website my Japanese Blog
Sunday, November 18th, 2007
He's back in town again. Yesterday Sinterklaas arrived in a small village near my house. Eva was working, which meant I had to walk with Bram for about an hour on my neck. Again it was a great feast for young and old. For more pictures, check my blog.
It was also feast for me. Thursday I got a message that I had to pay for a package on the door. I could not make much sense of it. I had ordered a T-Shirt at KIKS TYO, but I could not imagine I had to pay €30.- duties for a T-Shirt (although... you never know here with the customs). So I gave Eva the money and Friday I saw a package from Japan. When I opened the bag, I found a small shoe box with the yellow Midnight Darkness G-Shock from KIKS TYO. How was that possible? I ordered it Wednesday. I know that EMS Japan is fast, but this was faster than light.
Saturday I found an e-mail of KIKS TYO Head Office. They knew I loved this model and wanted it bad. They sent me this model as a gift about a week ago for my positive support of KIKS TYO and G-Shock! They also let me know there is going to be another G-Shock collaboration model, again with a great sneaker model! Thank you very much KIKS TYO, you guys rock!!!
-------------------------------
my Japanese website my Japanese Blog
Monday, November 12th, 2007
My friend Neil in Chicago mailed me Wednesday morning about an eBay auction of a G-Shock. From the picture it looked like a DW-9000 model. I already guessed it was a DW-9050. It had a B.I.N. option with a very low price (and in US$). The watch was located in Tilburg, 130 km from my hometown. Unbelievable. I immediately pressed the B.I.N. button and a few hours later the watch was already sent out.
When the watch arrived I was very happy surprised. It was brand new in box. A DW-9050 in woodland colors. I already expected this model, this model was sold in Europe about 8 years ago, together with the navy camouflage model. It was never used and still in the demo mode (the way these watches were sent off from the factory, showing all the functions scrolling by). Today I took some pictures of it and created a page for it on G-Peopleland.
I am so happy with this basic model! The expensive December month is coming and I have to turn every Euro twice before spending it. I am happy there is a salary raise of around 8% in the air for my profession group. The salaries were not changed since around 2002, while our health care insurances have been risen sky high. Still I hope to get some money free for the yellow KIKS TYO G-Shock.
-------------------------------
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
I got a nice yellow black Jam'in Color G-5500 in. Now I have 8 of the 10 Jam'in Color models I like to have. There are too many new G's coming out to choose from, but I hope to get the black/white and blue/white DW-6900MC models once too.
I ordered some nice gadgets for night time riding on my bike too. The Sigma Evo (see October 18) is working great, but I also ordered the 10W version and a helmet mount. I also ordered an helmet rear light, which looks very futuristic, just for fun. I went for a ride with Bleephead yesterday night. It was great, until we entered a forest. There were a lot of hares jumping up and down the paths. At a moment a hare ran about 5 inches from our front wheels, while we were riding around 30 km/h. The rest of the ride we slowed down a bit, to give the animals the time to get out of the way. It somehow reminds me to Canadian mountain bikers, who shout "Hi Bear" at every curve in the tracks to avoid to fright a bear. Luckily hares are rabbits (which we saw a lot in the dunes) are less dangerous.... Well, if you don't count in the little white rabbit of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
-------------------------------
Sunday, October 28th, 2007
It's getting older outside and the streets are covered with leaves. The autumn is not complete with a good Dutch Bock beer. This dark brown bitter sweet beer is the first beer of the new harvest.
We went to a butterfly garden last week. It is always amazing when you pass the special doors. This time transparent butterflies were the real eye catchers. To see a lot more and bigger pictures, check out my web log on Geocities Japan..
Back to G-Shocks... I have a G-8100 in a box on my desk for a long time. Actually I thought I already made a page for it, but somehow I forgot it. I received it in a period I got a lot of G-Shock's in the house. Finally I made the pictures and made a nice page for it. I am not sure what to think about this watch. It looks very refreshing. I was enthusiastic about the G-8000, because of the great different look. In my opinion the G-8100 has been a bit designed over the top. Maybe I'm getting old
There is probably a very nice other watch on the way. I'll keep you updated.
-------------------------------
Friday, October 19th, 2007
Bryan Andersen told me a long time ago about wabi-sabi and it's relationship with G-Shock and other Japanese watches. I asked him to write me an article about it. He loved to write me a story, but through various reasons it took a long time. In the mean while Bryan started his Japanese watches articles website GMT+9, with great background stories of all Japanese watch brands. A few weeks back Bryan came back to my question. I don't know who suggested what, but I think we both suggested to make this a collaborate article. So now it's here (and on GMT+9),
by Bryan Andersen. Thanks Bryan!
-------------------------------
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
I found nice package from the US today on my desk today. I found two boxes with the new Dawn Black Mudman (G-9025A) and Dawn Black Gulfman (G-9100) it. Now I have again the Dawn Black series complete. It feels great to have all 7 of them, although I hope Casio will not expand this series more.
I bought a great SIGMA light set for my mountain bike of my birthday money today. Now I can ride through the dark period of the year. It has a strong NiMH Battery, that gives a strong light for about 4 hours. I'm looking forward to use it in the terrain. I already ordered a helmet mount.
-------------------------------
Saturday, October 13th, 2007
Finally it's weekend. It was one of the busiest weeks I had ever on school. As an extra the road I live on (a pretty important connection from Middelburg to Flushing) is getting a new top layer, which is done at night. I know it only has to happen once in about 25 years, but it kept me awake a lot the past days too. Well, the good thing is I finally got my KIKS TYO G-Flash Pack "Burning Red". It took me several phone calls to find out where it was. It happened to sit on a very full customs desk, but the customs agent was friendly enough for me to give my package a priority treatment. Within 20 minutes it assed, without fees.
The watch is awesome! The package is a miniature shoe box, as a link to the community of sneaker nuts. KIKS TYO told me they would try to hold a yellow version for me, so I could get it at the end of the month.
-------------------------------
Friday, October 5th, 2007
Yesterday I received a white DW-5600L-7JF. It is beautiful, but I already was drewling by the thought I finally had another wide cuff G-Shock for days. It is slightly worn, but in great condition. Very comfortable and....very white.
I also received a second Samui Moon Binary watch, but now with blue LED's. The brand name has changed to 01 1he 0ne I will make a page for that one soon too.
-------------------------------
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
Some weeks ago I acquired a Buchstabe K (DW-6695-K). It needed a fresh battery, which I gave it yesterday evening. I had to re-arrange the Buchstabe page, but now they are up both. The Buchstabe series is in Japan known as the A/Z Gangsters. Sometimes I see them on auction and they can be had cheap sometimes. I hope I will get some more of them in the future.
I got a great message from KIKS TYO. They were very impressed by my website and showed it to the G-Shock staff in Tokyo. I feel myself very honored. The Flash Pack "Burning Red" KIKS TYO G-Shock (try to say that in one breath) I ordered has been shipped yesterday. Lets hope the watch will not be delayed by the customs (and be added with an extreme high customs bill). The KIKS TYO International shop staff try to hold a Midnight Darkness model for me until the end of the month.
-------------------------------
Friday, September 28th, 2007
When I got home yesterday I found a big cardboard envelope on the table. Finally the third 12" of Uffie arrived, with also an old single of Justice. When I was hanging up my coat in the hall I found a small nore. a package had been delivered at the neighbors. Before I could reach the doorbell, my neighbor had opened the door and passed me my package. I couldn't believe it. Lightning fast. My Gulfman arrived. Since it was released I wanted to have it, but I had my eye on other watches also. Finally I could miss some spare money for this one. I'm really impressed. Since people wrote it was smaller than the G-9000 Mudman and someone complained about the watchband, I was looking at it very critical. To be very honest. It doesn't appear small to me. Also I have no problem with the strap after wearing it for about 15 hours now. It feels actually very comfortable around my wrist, although I tend to wear my watches pretty snug. Well, we see how it holds up, but I think I won't have problems with this one... Or maybe one, it looks I can't take it off anymore! Check out the page I made for my new Gulfman!
-------------------------------
Wednesday, September 26th,2007
Well, some late night work made it possible. The Rising White models are on-Line!!! Now I need Sleeeeeepppp!
-------------------------------
Tuesday, September 25th,2007
Finally, finally finally.... My three Rising White models are in the house. I got them yesterday. I had to wait long to have them in my hands, but now I see them, they are great. Specially the DW-5725B. Finally I have a 5700 model in my collection. They are all three super. I will put them on line soon.
I also got the Gundam T-Shirt today. It is exactly what I expected. It's also super. The Gundam Robot looks great. A bit a pity it's printed on the back, but the front print is cool too. Check it out, I already have put it on line.
I also ordered the KIKS TYO x G-SHOCK 25TH ANNIVERSARY - BURNING RED model. I mailed KIKS TYO if it was possible to hold the yellow version too. Both version look great. Gonta told me I must be lucky. It's a limited edition of 1000 pieces.
-------------------------------
Sunday, September 23rd,2007
I have taken loads of pictures of my new G-Shock T-Shirts and reserved a space for my 2 upcoming T-Shirts. Check out my new HTML- and KIKS TYO T-Shirts. I hope to have the HTML Gundam shirt soon. The KIKS TYO x G-Shock x New Balance T-Shirt is scheduled for the end of October.
-------------------------------
Saturday, September 22nd,2007
Katsu Higuchi San sent me a package with Rising With models on September 5th. As expected the parcel arrived on September 7th on Schiphol Airport Amsterdam. Although a proof of payment was sent with the package, I had to sent an invoice or proof of payment. Well, I sent it back on September 10th. So Thursday I became a little impatience and phoned to the Schiphol TNT office. The man of the TNT told me it passed the first customs post, but that the customs have asked for a visitation of the package. A call in the afternoon learned more. I could expect the package on Friday, with a bill of €42.40 (including €16.50 customs fee).
Well, I arranged a lot of things to have someone in the house the whole Friday. I "sneaked out" school, to bring Bram to Judo. When I got home at 17:15 there was still no sign of the package. Damn. We had to go out for dinner at my mother in law. It was yesterday 2 years ago my father in law passed away. When we got home, I found this note in the mailbox...
Well, the note says the parcel service will try again the next day, but I haven't seen the parcel service whole day. I hope it will be possible to collect the package Monday. Hmmm, 16 days from Japan to me. I wish the customs understand the meaning of the word "Express Mail Service"...
I ordered a G-9100 Gulfman. Finally. I'm looking forward of getting it. In a few weeks I will be the accompany the last runner on the Coastal Marathon (the heaviest Dutch marathon). I think I will wear this watch, so I can see what the tide is doing on the course. I hope that the second beach passage (7km long) will be more reachable than last year.
-------------------------------
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
More T-Shirt news. Early this morning I won an auction of the HTML Gundam T-Shirt in my size (XL) for an unbelievable price. The shipping from Japan via EMS cost almost three times what I had to pay for the shirt. Also I got a good deal from the KIKS TYO customers service. I paid for three T-Shirts with separate shipping two months ago. I got a special offer for the new New Balance T-Shirt, minus the money I paid too much for the other three shirts. Anyway, The new New Balance x KIKS TYO x G-Shock T-Shirt is ordered. It should be here around the end of October. A great shout out to KIKS TYO for helping me out fast.
Also I'm very interested in the G-Shock x KIKS TYO Flash Pack models. I'm still not sure which model, but I think I will go for the red one. Actually they both look good, but I can't afford both models. Since I now have quite a nice collection of KIKS TYO shirts, I think it would be great to have one of their G-Shock collaboration models too. Check out the wonderful EL logo design.
My Rising White Package is still hold up at the customs. I don't know what they are doing with it. I sent my papers in Friday to the customs, but still haven't seen any sign of it. I have set apart quite some money, there I suspect a very high customs fee. Well, The White Rise story will be continued.
Meanwhile I walk around the lab in my new HTML PARTY T.I.M.E. Frogman shirt and my red jelly GW-203K-4JR I.C.E.R.C. Frogman.
-------------------------------
Sunday , September 16th, 2007
Wow, it looks like it is my birthday again, ha ha. Well, this wasn't the reason to write something in my news update. I got Friday a nice package of T-Shirts from KIKS TYO. I should make some space here for them. They are terrific. I also want the Aki in NB-G-Shock Bikini shirt. I hope I have some funds left, because they are on sale until the 19th.
I got a very nice Buchstabe "K" in the mail. I expected it actually coming week, but probably the seller decided to sent the watch upfront. The watch appears barely worn.
A package from Japan with White Rise content has hold up by the customs. Somehow the proof of payment wasn't enough to make a bill, so I had to fill in a lot of papers and sent it back. I think that my documents will arrive tomorrow and I get the package and a fat bill later this week (and that all for ¥12,000).
Bloging in Japan is a pretty funny thing. It is strange how translators make your text completely different. I input English text, get Japanese text and input this Japanese text again to double check.
I often end my messages with Cheers. This double translates to "Mud in your Eye".
" Friendly Greetings from the Netherlands, Sjors" Double translates to Greeting where friendship from the Netherlands and Sjors shut oneself up". The worst translation was "The old chef cook wore a very special watch" (and it was in a very serious text!), which turned into "The cock of an aged chef acquired a very special wristwatch."...
-------------------------------
Wednesday , September 5th, 2007
Last Sunday I took part on the provincial Beer Taste championship. The list of beers (8 categories, 5 beers to choose from per category) was extreme heavy this year and since I almost forgot it, I registered Saturday late in the afternoon. I just joined for the fun and networking. Since I didn't publish the outcome yet on my Geocities Blog (posted there in parts) , I will keep it a secret for a while where I ended.
Bram also finally after three years of lessons got his first swimming diploma last Saturday. Of course he was very excited happy, and of course we were too. Bram wanted a very special present. He even wanted to pay with his saved money too. It was the Lego Starwars X-Wing Fighter with a R2-D2, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo Chewbaka and Princes Leia. Yes, he really knows all those names... After driving to both Flushing (Vlissingen) and Middelburg toy stores, we couldn't find this set anymore. Finally we went to the biggest store we tried earlier. Bram wanted to look at all the other Starwars sets. When he had almost seen them all, I took the last model out of the racks. To our big surprise, the set we were looking for was hidden behind these boxes. I think we got the last set from Zeeland. Pfhew!
KIKS TYO and HTML are punishing me by releasing one after the other great G-Shock Collaboration T-Shirts. What to think of this Bob Marley T-Shirt with Bob wearing a DW-002BM... .
..and this shirt featuring the DW-6400 Gundam model.
Well I have finally set up a section for these T-Shirts in my G-Promotion and T-Shirts section. Find here my KIKS TYO T-Shirts and here my HTML shirts. I have got the HTML Party T-Shirt with the Frogman too, but haven't taken pictures yet. There are also 3 KIKS TYO shirts on the way to me. I hope to have them soon.
I got news earlier this week my White Rise G-Shock has arrived and I got a very nice offer for other models of the series. Looks like there are going to be more than one of these on my website...
-------------------------------
Wednesday , August 29th, 2007
A month ago I got a Xaymaca DWM-100RX from Paul A. Although I had the pictures ready to be published, I had actually forgotten to make a page for it. I think I have made a nice page for it.
-------------------------------
Monday, August 27th, 2007
I got the HTML Frogman shirt in, and also a great white G'Mix GM-100 of the Resist of Rock series (June 2000).
I left it in the bedroom this weekend with the hourly chime on. It was loud enough to wake up Eva every hour... She was not happy with that watch. Well, I have turned of the hourly chime now.
I haven't heard from the Rising White models yet. They must be out any day now I guess.
I rearranged the Special Series section a bit. I flipped out the Music category, there it was more getting a bunch of collected models that were not all related to each other. Also people couldn't find beauties like the DW-002RS Rolling Stones model.
-------------------------------
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
School has begun again. I still have to get used to getting up early and having very early breakfast. Tomorrow we start with the first class experiments. For me then the school really has begun. Tonight a student came here for her last practical phase of her profile experiment. She has made three beers, that we have tasted with a select group of beer tasters. They tasted very promising and also the hypothesis worked. By using different temperatures in the process of releasing the sugars from the starch, we obtained three different beers by using the same blend of malts.
I got the Jason shirt from HTML in. It's great, very vivid colors and a nice cameo of Jason behind the Red Eye DW-001. The Frogman is also on the way now (I got it via a friend, who got it yesterday). Around this time I expect a mail of KIKS TYO that they have the shipment for three G-Shock Collaboration T-Shirts ready.
I couldn't resist seeing the overseas packaging of the Toyota Land Cruiser Mudman. I wanted a second model to wear too, so I ordered one in the US a few days ago. Also a GM-100 is on it's way to me. This one is a white model and has the original straps. I already have a black version. It's with no doubt the loudest G around.
I found Jarhead at a local supermarket today (see August 2nd). Pretty impressive movie. The DW-5600 was spotted throughout the whole movie.
-------------------------------
Sunday, August 12th, 2007
Bram and Eva returned save from Uganda last Thursday. They told a lot of adventure stories, about driving with my sister in law's Toyota Land Cruiser through the wilderness and getting stuck in holes in roads that have been flushed away by floods. Anyhow, I'm glad that they are back. It was getting very quiet here.
Yesterday we went to a family park in Belgium near the French border (Plopsa Land, de Panne). While walking over over there I spotted several G-Shock's out there, a DW-003S, a GL-150, a DW-004 and a MTG-930. It seems that G-Shock is still very popular in Belgium.
I added two pages today. No G-Shock's this time, but both Casio models that have been waiting for a spot on G-Peopleland. The first one is the DW-402 Surfing Timer, the second one the somewhat infamous F-91W model.
Finally there are some G-Shock related stuff coming up. First of all, I won a great G-Shock x HTML Collaboration T-Shirt, featuring the DW-001 Jason model and a reference to Jason in Friday the 13th.
I also bought a G'Mix GM-100. It is the model in white and this time it has the original double straps. Also I have ordered the black HTML T-Shirt via a friend with a print of the GW-225A Dawn Black Frogman. I hope I get that one too.
-------------------------------
Friday, August 3rd, 2007
I got a wild plan to go to Brabant (45 minute drive) with my mountain bike with friends and drive a little around there. We used my Garmin eTrex Legend to find the way back to the car, because we had it left in the middle of nowhere and we all didn't knew were we actually were. It was great fun. We got lost in a forest, but got out somewhere near the Belgian border. At a moment we passed a border pole. Acid Jack passed it on the right side and was actually riding for a sec in Belgium. I think we should do this more often.
I took some new photo's of my Street Arts model and updated the page. There is still one old picture left. If you look on the page I think it's not hard to spot it. I forgot to take a picture of the whole watch. I still don't know what Street Arts is actually.
-------------------------------
Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
I made a little mistake when I was going to renew the Movie section. I accidentally bought a 2nd copy of Tears from the Sun instead of Jarhead. I had seen Tears of the sun and I believe I should have some pictures of that movie somewhere..... I believe I have already added the other movies I have. I will try to find a copy of Jarhead soon.
I finally updated the page of my Silver Collection DJ Spooky model. It's such a beautiful model. I think the pictures came out great. Because of the mirror reflections and the silver color it's not an easy watch to get good on picture.
Bram and Eva are away a week now. These are my only companions in our house. Bram's gold fishes and my G's. Look how happy they look. I just refreshed the water in the aquarium.
-------------------------------
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007
Bram and Eva are in Uganda now for about a week. It's very quiet here. No need to say that I would be glad if they are back Wednesday next week. I have plans for updating pages, but I can't set my mind for 100% on it. Also I got myself in resurrecting all Bram's Lego constructions, that were destroyed on his birthday... It took me 4 days to build: one police station, 21 cars, 3 helicopters, 2 planes, 2 motorcycles, a boat, a spaceship and a snowmobile.
In the meanwhile I started looking movies that I had lying here for some time, but never had the time to watch. Yesterday I watched Dogma, a movie I bought by accident (as I thought it was a Dogme film), which was surprisingly very abusive, specially the appearance of Alanis Morisette in the roll of God, the 13th apostle and the swearing and joint smoking prophets Jay and Silent Bob.
At the moment I'm working on adding more movies in the movie section. If the links work, I have made the page, is there no link, the page will appear soon (maybe tomorrow I have them all on-line). My movie stills are in .BMP format and are transported to a different part of the hard drive. I still have to watch Tears from the Sun soon. Somehow I managed to buy a copy last week, not knowing I had the movie already for a long time.
I will take some new pictures soon of models on old pages. Maybe I need to hustle the sections a bit too, since Movies is not a Special Series...
-------------------------------
Saturday, July 21st, 2007
It's Bram's 7th Birthday today. Lot of family and friends came. Further not much news. Bram and Eva will be going to Uganda for two weeks next Wednesday, so I will update the website after then. I have 2 KIKS TYO shirts (one G-Shock promoting, one for the T-Shirt craze) and I have at least a Xaymaca and a G-8100 G-Shock to add to the website. I might also update some old pages. One of them is the DJ Spooky model of the Silver Collection. It was one of the first pages made. The pictures were taken under an orange sunscreen, so the colors are not representative any more. There might be so much more to update.
-------------------------------
Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
It took me a long while with a lot of translations, but I made it. Since last Sunday G-Peopleland has a Japanese sister website on Geocities Japan, with an accompanying G-Shock Sjors weblog. I have already contributed several entries (in Japanese!). I even managed to write an entry on Saturday the 7th... I hope to get in contact with other Japanese G-Shock collectors this way. I also added a statistics counter on the homepage and where do you think my visitors come from......
Thank God for the invention of on-line translation tools. I think for people outside Japan my blog won't be to hard to ad with these tools, like Babel Fish or Google Translate.
I renewed the links of Kim Patterson's vintage Casio's website. His server crashed, so he took the opportunity to register casiovintage.org and moved his web pages to his new web space. He told me not all photo's are on-line yet and all his wrist shots are gone...A crash of my hard drive, or one of my (photo-) websites is one of my worst nightmares.
New arrivals: Monday I found a note of the parcel service that they tried to deliver a package. Damned, I was only out for 15 minutes for some shopping and just missed it. There was no further tag or note on it, so I assumed it would be delivered on Tuesday again.
A friend and his 7 year old son were visiting in that evening. Bram went outside, showing the boy his salamanders and they were climbing in some trees in our and the neighbour's garden. Suddenly Bram hold a parcel under my nose: "Here daddy, a package". Those are the nice surprises. The postman had forgotten to note the package was delivered at my neighbours.
The package contained a DWM-100RX-3BT, a special G'Mix model of the Xaymaca series. It was released in July 1999. I t belonged to Paul A.'s wife. The watch is in great condition (you can't see it's worn), but the package had been opened by some clumsy customs agent and the unique box is pretty much damaged...
Yesterday another package was delivered. It contained a recently serviced GW-300FJ-9JR. The yellow version of the "Ultimate Force" series. The previous owner, a friend of me from Chicago had it serviced in Japan, because the GW-300 are known for their defective CLT1616 batteries.
In 2003 and 2004 there were quite a lot GW-300's and G-5600's reported on the G-Shock forum with the infamous "recover" sign flashing on the display. I had myself 2 GW-300's with this problem. A new CLT1616 replacement á €14,- each (so long no battery replacement) solved my problems. A G-5600 owner reported he had the same "Recover" bug for the second time in a short time (he had also the module replaced) on the G-Shock forum.
The Ultimate Force will be the last for a while. Of course I have set my eyes on the new Gulfman models (the black versions). Maybe I have left a little money for one of them next month.
Bram went to
the cinema yesterday with the neighbours
and their nephew.
He saw "Shrek 3". A part where the "Puss in Boots" was set out of a window by
Shrek has probably given a bit deep impression. It seems that Puss had given his
big eyes. Bram felt so much pity for him, that he said he had to cry in bed... I
think the effect has affected him more than Shrek
You might think, Sjors, you are writing quite a large news bulletin. Actually I'm in an indoor playground with Eva's colleagues and their kids. I'm in company with 6 women on the table the 8 kids are blend among the hundreds of kids playing and screaming here on the playground. I have all the time to write ;-) Hé, here comes the food!
-------------------------------
Sunday, July 8th,
The naval even was very impressive. I told Bram there was a Submarine open for public. A man told us around 10 o'clock that tickets will be distributed for the submarine tour at 11:00. We had to wait for Eva , who had just arrived at home after another night shift. Bram and I visited the HMS De Ruyter, while Eva hopped on her bike to the harbours. Around 10:40 after Eva joined us, a long cue was already formed along the quay. No big surprise only about a third of the que got an entrance ticket. The next round would be at 13:00. Since the weather was very good , actually the only good summer day we had until now this summer, I decided to wait for the next round. Meanwhile I also met a colleague of me, who found the submarine also very interesting. I defended my place in front of the cue while Eva, Bram and my colleague visited the HRM Farham (yes indeed, the British have humor, it was located brotherly next to De Ruyter). Finally the wait of more than 2 hours was awarded. We all got tickets and we also didn't have to wait very long.
The tour on De Bruinvis was very impressive and totally worth the wait. Although it was strictly forbidden to take pictures, my colleague and I managed to take some pictures on board. Bram got a nice big poster of the submarine for above his bed (bye bye Donald Duck).
the officers mess
The periscope fist even the smallest people...
Me on the rudder. What, no windows????
I thought skirts were not allowed on board...
We visited about 3 or 4 other navy ships (from all over the world) I managed to get a nice big portion of "kibbeling" (pieces of fried white fish with herbs and fish sauce) at a fish restaurant.
I spotted quite
some G-Shocks in the harbours, at least a DW-003S, a G-2100 and a Cockpit model
on resin strap. I'm getting older, but nothing wrong with my eyes
-------------------------------
Saturday July 7th 2007
Yesterday I got the sad news beer hunter John White of White Beer Travels has passed away at the age of 62. Some years ago he lived in my hometown and was a frequent visitor of my favourite beer pub, de Mug, where he also joined the monthly beer tasting evenings. Rest in peace John.
Thursday I got two packages. The first had my 2nd Precious Heart DW-6900 and the orange/black Jam'in Color G-5500JC