Tickets U2 Brussels 2010

Today on my 42nd birthday I got up early to try and score some tickets to next year's U2 concert on Wednesday September 23rd in Brussels. I had already created an account on Proximus Go For Music because that was the only official site that Live Nation allowed to sell tickets. But as you can imagine I was not the only one on the net and logging in took ages. After struggling with passwords, usernames and Visa Card codes, I didn't even manage to get the front stage tickets which I wanted. In the end I settled for the "cheaper" tickets in the back, but they are promising a 360° show and from the pictures I saw it looks like you will even get a good view from behind the stage. Let's hope so.

I saw U2 live many many years ago, when they just scored their first big hits (Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day).

The U2 360° Tour is an ongoing worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, the tour will visit stadiums from 2009 through 2010, whereas the previous two tours, the Elevation Tour and the Vertigo Tour, featured indoor arenas. The U2 360° Tour is named after the 360-degree staging and audience configuration it uses for shows, which U2 claims is "the first time a band has toured in stadiums with such a unique and original structure." In an era of declining CD sales, the tour is expected to be a major source of income for the band

Source: Wikipedia.
Picture: CC-BY-2.5 by Wikipedia Brown

Thanks Olivier!

A couple of days ago I wrote about my HP Pavilion that crashed on me, and the bad deal the people at HP had given me. But today my colleague Olivier managed to restore my hard drive and copy it to the server. I immediately transfered the data to a Lacie external hard drive and installed my favourite programmes like Paint Shop Pro X2 and Canon's Digital Photo Professional.

And what is even more important: we managed to save the three great shoots I had recently with Anik, Valerie and Doina. Thanks again, Olivier, I owe you one. Without you some great pictures like the one above would have been lost forever.

My HP Pavillion just died on me

About 2 years ago I bought a HP Pavilion 6000 series. It was a brand new model, competitively priced and with lots of good specifications. However, very soon small problems started to creep in (like battery problems and poor Wifi reception). The problems went and came back, but were mostly just small nuisances. Then a couple of days before the warranty ran out, my wireless connection completely refused to work.

I contacted HP and they send me a BOIS Update. This did not help me, so they replaced the motherboard. At that moment (one year ago) I was impressed by their support. But no longer, since I found out the truth about what really happened. Because last week my laptop broke down completely. After switching it on, there are three loud beeps and the computer just fails to boot up. HP refuse to help me without first buying an extended warranty (the warranty ran out about 2 months ago). They offer to replace the motherboard, but it will cost about 350 euro.

I surfed a bit around on the internet, and found out what is really the problem. The Pavilion 6000 and 9000 series apparently suffer from an overheating problem, which often affects the wireless adapter first, but if you keep on using it, also attacks other parts of your computer. The BIOS fix that they first suggested, only changes the way the fan cools the computer.

HP has been getting loads of complaints from customers, but instead of admitting that the overheating is the reason why the mother boards are getting fried, they try to keep us happy with offering BIOS fixes.

I hope there is still a way to recuperate all the data on my hard drive, because it contains some of the nicest pictures I took recently.

So now I'm also looking for a new laptop, preferably one that won't die on me after 2 years. Any suggestions?

Martathon 'Of Flesh and Blood'

Once a year Antwerp gets ready for the "Bollekensfeesten", a food-happening where local products are put into the limelight. Antwerp is famous for its De Koninck beer, their candy, Elexir D'Anvers, Filet d'Anvers and much much more.

This year they organized also a marathon session of "Van Vlees and Bloed", a popular TV mini series about life in a butcher's family. 7 hours of top quality acting, from 10 pm to 5 am. During the breaks we received local products and fresh coffee to keep as awake. I think we started the marathon with about 200 people, and maybe 70 managed to make it till the end.

Starbucks coming to Antwerp

I read the news today, oh boy, Starbucks will open only its second branch in Belgium. Just like for so many other chains, Belgium has been a void. Think about Burger King. Or Wendy's. Or Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Even for McDonalds Belgium used to be a big black spot on the World Map. Blacker than Red China. But now another chain is making its way (slowly) into Belgium: the Coffee chains. When you look abroad, the place is swarming with Nero's and other coffe chains. But not in Belgium. Yes, we have Panos. And that's it :) But you can hardly call that a coffee chain, more a sandwich bar that has also some coffee.

There are many rumours why it has taken Starbucks so long to get a place in Antwerp Central Station. One of the most believable rumours talks about lobby work by a big competitor.

Money for a Tree

In the town of Grimbergen where we live, they have an interesting birth incentive: every child that is born in this community, gets a choice of two gifts. Either 50 euro, or 25 euro and a tree. The tree is planted once a year (together with the trees of other babies) in a big gree area.

We choice of course for the second option. Money is something you can find everywhere, but a tree with your child's name on, that is much more special. The next tree-planting session will be in September

Tattoo Me, Tattoo You

I had the shock of my life yesterday when i went to a tattoo parlour for three (3) simple stars near my left ear. Unfortunately I was sooooo tired that I fell asleep while the tattoo artist went to work.

3 hours later I woke up, with 56 stars on my face! What a shock. Apparently I'm not the only one, since another girl from Belgium had a similar problem. What should I do now?