Category: my life

February 2, 2009

Seven Things – Tagged by Michelangelo van Dam

Ok I was tagged by Michelangelo van Dam and thus let me share 7 things you do not know about me.

Although it is not necessary to comply with this tagging game, I will use this tagging game linked to the seven deadly sins.
So be prepared to enter my mind. And a beautiful mind it is. (Jeps guilty on pride)

Lust

Giving into lust can lead to sexual or sociological compulsions and or transgressions. But what about my lust for writing good PHP?
There is nothing sexual about that? Or is it?!! It can boost my ego whenever I have that ahaa-moment when writing code.
Adrenaline rushes through my body and I want to code some more. Feeling very energetic after that piece of code has been written.
Ready to do some happy dancing, and as we all know dancing is sexual.

Gluttony

Meaning to gulp down, swallow. Gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste.
I never experienced this. I am hungry, very hungry to learn more on a non-stop basis. I gulp down, swallow information like you
wouldn’t believe. Sometimes I think my nickname should be the human sponge as my brain tends to pick up everything it finds
interesting and rarely lets go.

Greed

I love money, I love lots of it. But not from a greedy point of view but from a giving point of view. The more I have the more
I can share with the world. Greed is something I cannot know. My life philosophy just doesn’t allow this. I give away ten percent Of what I earn to good
causes. Try to help out as much as I can. Greed is linked to competition and fear, both of which I lack. If you passion is in coding
and you do a good job at it, as is with everybody who is passionate about something, you do not have to be afraid of competition.
You create something, something beautiful and you will be awarded for it. Every time. Now please donate 5 euro on my PayPal account.

Sloth

The modern view of sloth is the failure of utilizing one’s talent and gifts. As I do not consider my coding as a gift, members of my family and
friends all perceive is that way. What I do perceive it to be, is that it is my passion. And I am doing it even while sleeping. So excess is maybe a better
sin for me. Luckily it does not exist. 😉

Wrath

Anger or rage. This is a difficult one. Not that I become enraged but when people ask my help and I offer it to them freely and without any return value I expect them
to follow the advice I gave them. If they do not follow it, I think it is a pity but it’s like that. Yet if they come for that same advice again or start blaming other external factors instead of themselves in failing to comply with the advice,
I feel it as a waste of mine and their time and thus a certain disrespect. That is when I feel a bit of anger. I also feel a bit of anger when I am counting on somebody, something and it fails me. Yet
the anger is not towards the person, thing who failed me but towards myself for putting my trust in it. So I am guilty on this one. But only in a mild version 🙂 And if you do not believe me you can test me, but don’t
try it while I am holding a Chainsaw.

Envy

I also have a bit of envy, but it is a healthy portion. When I see someone having the thing I want, I might want it too. I will talk to that person, if possible, congratulate him/her and ask him/her how they
did it. Then I will plan to acquire it also. The moment I envy something I go for it, otherwise I really do not envy it and I am not guilty. The mantra I follow is, if you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hands.
At the moment I envy authors of best seller books. But I am working on that. 😉

Pride

Definitely guilty on that one. But I have to disagree with the definition of pride where it is linked to competition. I see pride as a healthy love for yourself and you wanting the best for yourself. You can have, be and do anything
you set your mind to. And you should love yourself enough to achieve it with respect and love for others. Take ownership of your faults but take even more ownership in your accomplishments as the world and soon yourself will forget all
the mistakes you made in favor of the good you do. Also please as an absolute minimum in self respect: brush your teeth, wash your armpits and clip your nails. 🙂

I think that’s about it.

Some other facts about me:

1) I live with my wonderful girl Chanie who I met on a boat party called Cruises to pleasure.
2) We have two cats, Google (sphinx) and Nero (Siamese). And a fourth member of our family will soon arive: Moody a Peruvian hairless dog
3) When I was 17 I could hold my breath for 3 minutes 30 seconds. Today it is only half of that.
4) The first real coding I did was a hack for the two great giana sisters on my Amiga 500, followed by a hack on Lemmings. I was around 13.
5) Yes I wear non formal clothing outside work
6) I am attending http://www.phpconference.co.uk
7) I cannot wiggle my right foot clockwise and write a big six in the air without twitching that same foot!

My time to tag 7 people: Mathieu Laurent, Mathieu Kooiman, Christophe Gesché, Zeev Suraski, Jensen Hunter, Langerak Berry, Ruud Alberts

Now it is your turn, happy tagging,
Nick Belhomme
Ps. want to see who tagged who in the PHP Community? WhoTaggedWho

December 7, 2008

Using FaceBook as a marketing tool

Dear readers,

After playing a while on facebook I have started my very own fanpage. Yeps you can now besides, Flickr, Twitter, this blog and many more follow my adventures also on facebook. 🙂

Some fans already started the Nick Belhomme Facts. You ought to check it out, it is a great laugh.

I will be adding some great games as Facebook applications mostly written in Action Script 3. You can check out my very first. http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Nick-Belhomme/35013689614

I will market them all under the label : Simple Mad Productions.

Hope you have fun playing them.

Warm winter greetings from Belgium,
Nick Belhomme

July 6, 2008

Let’s Connect!

Yesterday I was strolling the Fundays at Aarschot. The result was a new pair of pants and a great book written by Jan Vermeiren titled: “Let’s Connect!”. After relaxing with a drink or two in the sun it was ready to go home. I hanged the pair of pants in my closet and made my self comfortable on my couch. I picked up the book and started reading.

Hello there, this is Nick Belhomme and today I am writing my 50 cents on “Let’s Connect!” written by Jan Vermeiren and published by Prenctice Hall.

Maybe you have heard about networking. Maybe you didn’t.

Answers.com has this to say about networking: “An extended group of people with similar interests or concerns who interact and remain in informal contact for mutual assistance or support.”

Please observe that no egoism or selling is involved in this definition. It has nothing to do with hard-selling. But everything about “mutual” assistance and or support. People can achieve great results, fantastic results, but we are only a men or a woman. Isn’t it obvious that you can not be the know all, be all?! It is only when people work together towards a bigger goal that big things can be achieved.

Doesn’t it make sense to contact people who maybe have the answer to your specific need or question? And in return you give them access to your resources.

Receiving is one part of networking, but the other part is even more important: Giving!

By giving without expecting something in return you build trust and a relationship. This is your most valuable resource. It creates opportunities and possibilities. Giving to your network makes you grow individually, spiritually and gives your career wing.

The book of Jan Vermeiren is all about networking. What it is, what it isn’t and how to successfully create or expand your (existing) network. You will read about the traditional networking methods like events, seminars, letters etc. But also about the newer ones like LinkedIn, Ecademy, Xing and Ryze. It will also tell you how to do follow-ups and how to successfully introduce your networking base to each other.

The entire book has some very valuable information and is clearly written. Everybody that is already or would like to begin with networking should read this book.

It took me a couple of hours to read the book sitting on my couch, but it will save me months of doing things the “wrong” way. Because like everything in life there is a certain way you can do things to get them done more effectively. Reading this book is a good start.

Sunny greetings from Belgium
Nick Belhomme

Ps. You can visit: http://www.letsconnect.be for free courses and a free light version of the book.

June 22, 2008

Florida United States

After a lot of hard work, me and my girl decided to go on vacation to Florida.

Now we’re back! God what a super vacation…
Let me tell you all about it.

First stop, the weather.
Florida is called the sunshine state. During the entire month May we had temperatures between 80° – 93° Fahrenheit (27°C – 34°C). It is hot, but you can easily bare it because of the winds and air conditioning that is installed everywhere you go.

Compare this weather to Belgium and Florida wins this round.

Second stop, the parks.
We begin at the magical parks of Disney World which includes Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and last but not least Hollywood Studios. This last park has an attraction called the Tower of Terror. And it is a ride you have to do! The scenery in the tower is mind blowing. It really is a state of the art attraction. The visual effects are really astonishing and the drops are pure adrenaline shots.

The Disney cast members are truly wonderful. On a rate of 1 to 10 they really deserve a 10. I never in my life encountered such friendliness and eagerness to help. You are at a magic place. Where every one of your wishes is granted. Your vacation feels complete when strolling through those Disney streets.

At Seaworld you should try to visit the stingray pool. You have the opportunity to feed and pat them.
This is a unique experience and has a high addictive factor. If you have any questions about any of the animals feel free to ask.
As in Disney the employees at Seaworld are eager to give you all the information you want.

Universal Studios has great attractions of which I highly recommend Terminator 2 3D and Spiderman 3D.

Third stop, Miami vs CSI Miami.
Reality is a whole different story.
Don’t get me wrong I saw a great city. Super architecture and I really felt small driving those city streets.
But I did not really see any of the glamour and riches portrayed on TV. Me and my girl enjoyed a drink or ten at Gloria Estefans Hotel located at South beach. We watched people pass by for 4 hours. During this time we saw Hispanics, but mainly Afro Americans. The afro American men were really huge and fit. At 90° Fahrenheit they were doing push and sit ups on the beach…

Fourth Stop, the gulf coast.
The beach at Fort Meyers was great. White beaches as far as the eye could see. A gentle breeze stroked our hair and cooled our skin. A cocktail or two, reading a book or three. Live can’t be sweeter. Yet after a week we wanted adventure again and so we left for the next stop.

Fifth stop, the Everglades and Key West.
Everglades were hell! If you want to be eaten alive, please visit the everglades. And then I ain’t talking about the wonderful gators you see lying around. But the bugs. You can spray all the insect repellent in the world on your skin. Those bugs only think of one thing and that is to eat you alive. 5 Minutes and you had to flee a certain 20 times and resulted in 10 ugly big red bite bumps on your skin. Lovely.
The water in Key west was clear. It really was tropical. The people, consisting of 99% tourists, were a whole different breed than the ones visiting the Disney parks. The Disney parks were full of people with white shirts, shorts and socks. All ready to go golfing. In Key west they were all ready to go drinking in the local pubs, of which were many.

The Hotels:

I can highly recommend the Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites at Orlando and the Sea View hotel at the Miami Bal Harbour area. Both were great hotels.
The Outrigger beach resort at Fort Meyers was not what I expect from a good hotel. The staff was friendly, the location and beach was excellent, but the rooms tend to be less clean than what I am used to. They were not dirty, but they lacked the hygiene you find at the upper hotels.

Florida End Score:
12/10

conclusion:

Being a highly qualified PHP 5 Zend certified Engineer the world is my playground so mail me my green card, propose me a job and I move today.

Bye Bye see you at my next blog entry.

Sunny greetings from Belgium

Nick Belhomme