Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Couldn't believe my eyes....

in a good way. LOL

I was studying yesterday, and while on break, I did what I do, about once a week.... I googled Slot Schaesberg. Normally, I see our website come by, the weather, information on the town and what have you, but yesterday I saw something awesome.


I added the link here and hope you go watch it. It starts with a couple of pictures of the castle, followed by a 3D walkthrough. I have no idea if this gentleman has ever been to the castle, but I can imagine it looking like that again, within our lifetime...... I hope he makes a rendering of the castle part as well. We have no pictures of the interior, but it would be cool to "walk thru" it....

Well, it's time for me to hit the books. First class is Saturday, and I have about 60 hours to study..... I finished the first lesson within my schedule, and actually started on my second lesson a day early, but I'm having a whale of a time with it. All my computer knowledge, I learned in English, the class is in Dutch and I have to say, some of the translations on the terms they used make no sense to me. I know it is probably a "personal thing", but it does slow down the thinking process, quite a bit. LOL.

Stay warm, or cool, depending on which side of this marble you're on, and don't forget to hug a loved one?

Hugs,
Pauli

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

REQUEST........

Hi all,

I know, I've been telling you a lot about the castle, but today, I could use a little help.

Our national tourist board, ANWB is holding a poll as to the most "maatschappelijk uitje" project. Translated, this means the project that brings the most to the community, be it historical/fun/tourists etc.  The prize will be a year long advertising on their website. This is HUGE! We would be able to use part of the budget we have slated for advertising, and put it towards the building!  Plus there will be some advertising done in their stores, and I counted 76 stores on their website this morning..... THAT is a lot of exposure!!!

SOOOOOO..........
I want to ask, if you would look at the Castle site www.slotschaesberg.nl/
Than look at the ANWB site




I hope you vote for us, of course, but if you see something that you think better suited... Lets just say, vote with your heart :-) 

Well, I hope this found you in good health and spirit.... It's been raining here for near a week, so the days are a bit grey here, but the spirits keep being lifted by a fuzzy but on my lap, as soon as the other end of me hits the couch LOL!  

Don't forget to hug a loved one, stay warm, or cool depending what part of this marble you're on, and I will sit down and talk to you soon. PROMISE! 

Hugs,
Pauli

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

It's been quite a week!


I wish I could put this post in columns, so I wouldn't have to decide which news is more important to tell. LOL.

Oh what the heck! This is too big to do second.  
The Castle received almost 800 000Euro's from the lottery! Once a year the lottery assigns part of their proceeds to "good causes". Now every one at the castle knows that we are the best cause, but we weren't sure the committee divvying up the money would think the same way, THEY DID!!!!
this means so much! We can start building the Gatehouse and bridge this spring!! This one act, gives me project so much momentum. It will enhance the experience for our visitors, it will give the whole place a new look and WE WILL BE BUILDING!!! Well........ first we wil have to get going on the archeology, which means I will be digging in the dirt, as long as it is not before April 30th.... (second part of the news) After the archeology, and brainstorming/deciding on the best course of action on building the foundation, the building will start. There are plans in place, of simultaneously building the building and the tower roof. The roof will be built and dry-fitted on the square, taken apart and put beam by beam on top of the tower, when it's done...... If I wasn't hurting so bad I would be dancing right now...... 

What seemed so cool at the beginning of the week, seems kinda "ladeedah" after the news on the castle, but it's important and frustrating enough to let you know about it.
I was to do a professional web designer course in Eindhoven (1 hour by train) but I didn't hear anything and about 2 weeks ago, the first part of the information on the course dissappeared from my account, so I started emailing...... no answer, new email no answer, new email. Finally last Friday I heard back.... Course was cancelled due to not enough students signing up and I now had 3 options.
1) wait till september, and hope it would go thru      2) go to Utrecht on Saturday, instead of on a weekday   or 3) do the whole thing online.

I considered waiting till September, but I really want/need to get going on this, plus, if in September it turns out that there's not enough students, I'll end up going to Utrecht anyway, plus it will be winter. With a 3 hour one way travel schedule, I don't want to do it if there is the slightest chance that they'll cancel trains due to frost or snow on the tracks. The 3rd option wasn't really an option at all. I will need the face-to-face interaction on this one! So February 27, I'll be on the first train out of town at 6.40, an make class with about10 minutes to spare. I don't know who figured that having a class that has 3 different busses after you get off the train at the main station is a good idea, but when they said "accessible by public transit" that was not coming up as an option in my brain..... I thought about going by car, but they have 7 parking spaces in front of the building and 21 rules and regulations as to where not to park in the area with a footnote that there is a bigger parkinglot about 20 minute walk away...... (The nearest busstop is only 12 minutes....) But, all this means that I'll be leaving the house at 6AM, and re-enter at 10PM....... thank god it's only 6 classes!  
I checked today, and found another surprise...... The 6 month course, will take 4! YAY! I wonder if the 20 to 30 hour homework took in account that they're shortening the time, or if that was geared towards the 6 month timeframe.... We'll see. I'm still excited to do this, but I'm getting a whole new level of panic attacks!

It's 1.30AM here, so I think I'm going to see if my bed is as comfortable as I remember, but I wanted to share the good news with you.

Don't forget to hugs that loved one!  
Hugs,
Pauli