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I've had my current bike for almost 5 years now and it's starting to rust. I hope it can last another wet autumn, it recently started creaking when I'm making my way across bridges and such. Never a good sign. So I'm thinking maybe it's time to get a new bike. My dad's working on a cool shelter so at least it can be stored free of rain.

Two reasons to be happy it's September: summer's pretty much over and it's time for the concert tours to come round this way. I've got some great shows lined-up already: Anathema and Demians in Tivoli Utrecht, Madrugada also in Tivoli Utrecht, Porcupine Tree in 013 Tilburg, Hermano in Patronaat Haarlem.
Shame all the tickets look the same these days, and don't get me started on the e-Tickets. What kind of memento is that?

Update: unfortunately the entire Madrugada tour has been cancelled, so I'll have to return those tickets. Some good news too: got Tickets for Haggard in Kasteel Alphen and Riverside in Paradiso Amsterdam.

I finally had my furnace replaced for a newer, smaller model. It's also a lot less noisy. The other one sometimes sounded like a WWI bomber about to take off. So I'm ready for winter to start! Unfortunately the plumber accidentally hit my lamp, which then needed to be replaced. I went to IKEA earlier today to do just that. Strange though, how even with a strict mission like the one at hand, you always end up buying more stuff. I do tell myself they're all things I actually really needed, but still.

I'm currently hooked on the first season of Mad Men. The show takes place in the early 1960s at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on New York City's Madison Avenue. After reading a bunch of great reviews for the show I decided to give it a try. I loved it pretty much from the start.

The attention to detail, the great style. Fabulous. Recommended!

Set in 1960s New York, the sexy, stylized and provocative AMC drama Mad Men follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell.

Here's the New York Times review.

Just wondering if there's a country with he as top level domain. Sadly there isn't. Otherwise I could have registered www.mirt.he. Here's the complete List of Internet top-level domains. I could do www.mir.th (with th for Thailand) or maybe backwards to form www.ehtr.im (with im for Isle of Man). Seems like I'm not the only one nerdy enough to be wondering about these possibilities, there's even a website for it, domain hacks.

I finally got round to doing what all the cool kids are doing, I've added tagging to this site. Bet you're impressed now. Now if only I can resist tagging all my previous posts. Maybe I'll just do a few..

Had a great day yesterday. Went to see Monster Magnet play Effenaar (Eindhoven). In the afternoon, because of the WK football. Which was quite strange, but in the end it turned out great, since it's quite a journey by train. The show itself was great, a bit shocking to see what age and rehab have done to Dave though. But he sounded great, and that's what matters. They played a lot of classic Monster Magnet songs and, to my surprise, no songs from the new album.

I can tell you this though, I'll be very happy when the smoking ban goes into effect next week. I've so had it with coming home smelling like an ashtray. And since I'm in old lady mode, why does every show I've attended recently have to be so damn loud. My ears still haven't recovered now, more than a day later. I don't remember that ever happening before and I've seen quite a few shows in my time. I'm now actually considering getting custom earplugs.

Finally released: the new Firefox. Though I'm not too impressed with the changes to the skin, I have noticed a big improvement in performance. Try this Field guide for a list of features or my Delicious for some more info.

Porcupine Tree will play 2 shows at 013, Tilburg, the Netherlands, on 15th and 16th October. The short run of European shows during October is in order to shoot a DVD based on the Fear of a Blank Planet album cycle, and the main body of the filming will take place at Tilburg, where the band will play as much different material as possible during the course of the 2 nights.

After a brief period of doubt (it'll be my 6th show of theirs in only 3 years), I will attend the show on October 16th.

Don't you just love it when you come home and there are goodies waiting on the doormat? I ordered bandshirts recently, a black one (what else..) with the Sisters of Mercy logo and another one for Alice in Chains.

I also ordered CDs, but that's a different experience. These I already found online, so the anticipation I usually had before the arrival of new material is gone. I do still buy the releases from a select list of bands though. To show support I guess, and because I just like to own the originals of my favourite bands. This round I got the new Opeth - Watershed (Special edition), Moonspell - Night Eternal and Tiamat - Amanethes.