Selling

It's been a stressful period getting the game finished.But now SOCOM:Confrontation has finally been released. It had it's share of troubles in the first week, with many unhappy gamers. But both the servers and the game are being improved, which should make them happy again.

But it was a pretty proud moment to finally see my game on display at Wall Mart. And guess what... it turns out we are the biggest selling ps/3 game at the moment. Hoorah!

I still have to make some nice pictures of my new apartment, to share with the people back home. Hopefully this weekend I can make some. I moved in last saturday, and unfortunately missed my ground school that day. Tomorrow another ground school though. The first postcard I received at my new address was from Oma Stolk. On the phone she told me to say hello to Amy, from the Oma she has never met.

Housing Bubble, Credit Crunch

The housing bubble explained. Damn, this guy is good. Be sure to watch all 4 parts of this video on youtube. He makes some very valid points. And the facts back him up. I used to think that an Amsterdam house at the canals would have been the best investment ever. Yet, if you look at it over the long run, it's different. From the 17th century until now, guess what the price development was of these houses? It's exactly equal to the inflation rate.

Also, I learned what Negative Amortization is: very scary!

Aernonautical Navigation

Yesterday I had my second day of ground school. I learned to navigate and plan a flight. In aviation, the emphasis is on safety. This means that protocols are pretty sacred. It also means that the people in aviation are pretty conservative. They are unwilling to abandon their tried and proven methods.

That is why I am currently educated in the use of obsolete technology. And I am expected to demonstrate my affinity with technology that is so old, it predates world war II.

For example, consider Automatic Direction Finder, or ADF. It allows you to determine the relative direction between a radio transmitter and yourself. This technology is so old, only in the most remote parts of the world it is still used.

The successor to this technology is called VHF Omnidirectional Range or VOR. It stems from the 1950s.

Of course, all this technology has long been superseeded by a system that is far more advanced, far more accurate, cheaper and easier to use: GNNS. Everybody is familiar with the US implementation of this, called GPS.

Why burden young pilots with this ADF and VOR stuff? Surely, GPS is the tool to use.

Beach Avenue

Amy and I have found an apartment to house me, her and two cats. So my bachelor days of a single-household are over. I'm looking forward to living with Amy. Finding the apartment was tricky, because 9 out of 10 apartment buildings downtown have a no-pet policy. Yet, we managed to find something really nice. We'll be having the yuppie lifestyles with our new apartment. It is again on Beach Avenue, but this time on the other side. It is close to the Burrard bridge, and has a gorgeous view. Amenities are pretty special too, as there is a pool, a gym, a squash-court, a sauna and a hot tub, all in our building and free for us to use. We will be moving into 907 Beach Avenue pretty soon. And with two bed rooms, we will be able to house a guest as well. Parking will be pretty good too, as we get two parking spots, and a third one for visitors.