Google Gets It Wrong

I regularly search for the words "context management" on google.
The concept of "content management" is well known and prolific, and as a result, google always asks me "Did you mean: content management?", and then proceeds to assume that I did, by just showing me hits from the "content management" query. I didn't even click the link that suggested I may have made a mistake. Sure, in most cases this works well, but in my case it makes it impossible to actually search for "context management".
The should have a link that lets you say "No, I actually want to search for this".
They could just provide you with a link to what they thought you were searching for, and leave the original query in the original results, but no.
Sometimes they do, when I misspell other things for instance, but in this case, it never happens.
It is incredibly infuriating, as my whole thesis hangs on me being able to get information about this particular topic.

I'm a Switcher

Those of you who are somewhat tech savvy might have heard that expression before in connection to something else. You can rest assured, I'm not switching to Apple (although I had two delicious granny smith apples yesterday, with only a mild allergic reaction).
What I'm switching is my internet platform. As I have mentioned before, I have always been a staunch supported of Netscape. It was my first browser (there might have been some mosaic before, I don't remember), and for the rest of my life it has been my only browser. I have sometimes been forced to use Internet Explorer, and I have tried on my own accord to use Opera, but the conclusion has always been that Netscape is the king of the hill.
Unfortunately, Netscape hasn't come out with a good browser since Netscape 7.2, which was several of years ago. That, coupled with the fact that Netscape has now kicked the bucket has left me little choice. While I could keep the Netscape I know and love, I have run across Thunderbird here at work, and I've also gone over to using Firefox here, and I must say that my previous reservations about Firefox have all but disappeared. Thunderbird is even, dare I say it, a better email client than the one built-in to Netscape 7.2.
As a result, I have decided to switch my internet platform at home to a combination of Firefox for browsing and Thunderbird for email. It is with a heavy heart that I lay the legacy of Netscape to rest. We have had some good times. We've shared laughter, we've shared sorrow. Netscape has been my companion as I have explored the internet from its relative infancy in the early 90ies all the way up to today.

So good bye Netscape! You have served me well. You will always have a special place in my heart, and I will never forget you.

I'm Ready

I'm ready for my life to go on.
I'm ready for the life I'm living now to be complete so that I can move on to the next phase of my life (whatever that turns out to be). Right now it only feels like I'm going through the motions. There's no real joy in what I do (even though it is fun), and I feel like it's all just a means to an end. It's a very annoying state to be in. Motivation is low, and the sense of accomplishment when something actually happens is met with, at most, a "meh"...
I don't know what life holds for me on the other side of my M.Sc. degree, but I feel like I need to get there. I've been in school since 2001, and it's about fucking time I got out. I need to start living the real life, making money, having freedoms, rather than just waiting to be judged by people who can choose to hold up my life at their whim.
There's no doubt in my mind that I'll make my deadline (more or less, anyway), and that I will actually get out, but it feels like if that day could come sooner rather than later, I would be a happy Markus.
Here in Holland, more than anywhere else, I get the feeling that one day is just exactly like the other. Nothing ever changes. The hamster wheel is ever present, and nothing I do or say will make the view from inside the mental cage that is my reality change. Having been on the other fence, having had a job and things to do, I know that all life isn't like this. I know that it is actually possible for it to be different. In fact it is possible for it to be very different, but "different" isn't a word that is very common here in the Netherlands. I think people here are afraid to stand out. They think that if they do, they will be rejected by society, and their life will turn to utter shit. In a way, I think they are right. When you live in a society where you are afraid that people will judge you for a certain thing, then you are bound to judge people for that very same thing yourself. As a result, there is very little spice and color in everyday life in my current world, and I think it is dragging me down with it. It makes me sad, but most of all it makes me apathetic.

Weird Work Week

I seriously can't wait for this week to be over.
It hasn't necessarily been bad, it's just been very weird.
I can't seem to focus, I have no motivation, and I can't come up with a single creative though.
It also feels like the hours are just dragging along here at the office, which normally isn't the case. On any normal day I'll sit down at my computer in the morning. Before I know it it's lunch time, and after that, the end of office hours comes almost instantly. No such luck this week I'm afraid.
I don't know why either. Granted, I was sick last weekend and the beginning of this week, but I came out of that pretty quickly, so I didn't think it would affect me. Maybe it's something else, I don't know. Maybe it's nothing.

On a lighter note, I got a new toy the other day. I have migrated away from my Samsung d900 into the warm welcome, almost pornographically enticing arms of the Nokia E51. This is an absolutely wonderful little machine. It does everything you can possibly think of. Since I'm still in the toy stage I'm playing with all sorts of things (this is my first smart phone), but I'm sure the novelty will die down in a couple of weeks. Event without the coolness of all the features (it has WiFi people, WiFi! How cool is that?!) I really like it. It's got an incredibly good look and feel. It's a solid piece of industrial machinery, yet nimble, light-weight and elegant. I have so far only found one flaw, and that is that I can't seem to find an egg timer on it (which my d900 had), but other than that it is completely without blemish. Subtle yet powerful. A master piece, really.