tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31229927588244543232024-03-13T07:23:17.145+01:00Nick's blogNick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-88543098204407301672009-07-18T16:03:00.005+01:002009-07-18T19:09:21.254+01:00XForms status updateOn the 4th June of 2009 the <a href="http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/">XForms working group</a> requested the advancement of <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xforms11/">XForms 1.1</a> to <a href="http://www.w3.org/2005/10/Process-20051014/tr.html#maturity-levels">W3C Proposed Recommendation</a>. We have sufficient <a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-forms/2009Jun/att-0015/results.html">interoperable implementation experience</a> according to our exit criteria. As you can see in the implementation report, there are XForms 1.1 implementations that run natively in the browser (<a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xforms/">Mozilla XForms</a>), can be run in the browser by using JavaScript (<a href="http://code.google.com/p/ubiquity-xforms/">Ubiquity</a> and <a href="https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-3391%3Bjsessionid=829E94BA632870B3264F15C23C2B2C6A">EMC XForms</a>) or run on the server by using AJAX (<a href="http://www.chiba-project.org:8080/chiba/">Chiba</a>). There is of course <a href="http://www.orbeon.com/">Orbeon</a> another server side implementation that implements a lot of the new features from XForms 1.1. This gives you a lot of different possibilities, to use the power of XForms 1.1, when creating web applications in todays web browsers.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/">XForms working group</a> is also working hard on the future version(s) of the XForms recommendation. Some of the 'smaller' new features are a dialog control, a data driven switch, a case function (retrieve the selected case using an XPath function), Node 'create' XPath functions and passing event 'context' information to the dispatch and dispatch related actions. These features will increase the power and the ease of authoring even more.<br /><br />One of the bigger new features is the optional support of <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20/">XPath 2.0</a> as an expression language in XForms. As most of my colleagues know, I'm a big fan of XPath 2.0, so it isn't too surprising that this is one of my favorite new features for XForms.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.orbeon.com">Orbeon</a> already supports XPath 2.0 for quite some time. I recently added support for XPath 2.0 to <a href="http://www.chiba-project.org:8080/chiba/">Chiba 3.0</a> . So there is already quite some experience about how <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20/">XPath 2.0</a> could be added as an expression language in XForms. Nevertheless there is still quite some work to do. There are still some things that need further thinking and we need to come to an agreement about some other things too. You may expect updates on the progress of this feature from me on this blog. I'm also thinking about doing some posts about exciting things you can do with <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20/">XPath 2.0</a> in XForms.<br /><br />Another exciting new feature is 'reusable components'. This will allow the form author to create 'complex' components or sub-forms that may contain their own instance and/or model <b>and</b> can be (re-)used in forms, possibly in different places in the form.An XForms implementer, or even a form author, can create libraries of components that can be used by form authors across all different XForms implementations. Examples of components are a map component, a Social Security Number component, an address component, ... This feature still needs a lot of work, and the chance of it being ready for XForms 1.2 is quite small in my opinion. So this feature is probably a good candidate for XForms 2.0.<br /><br />If you are interested in following what the <a href="http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/">XForms Working Group</a> is doing, your can follow the <a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-forms/feed.rss">public mailing list</a>, our <a href="http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/wiki/">wiki</a> (or more specific for <a href="http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/wiki/CategoryXForms12">possible XForms 1.2 features</a>) or wait for our first Working drafts of XForms 1.2 and XForms 2.0.<br /><br />These were just some examples of new features the XForms WG is working on. All the features are still 'work in progress' and there is no guarantee that they will be available in the next version of XForms or the version after that. The availability depends on the progress we make on the feature <b>and</b> how important the community, the Working Group and the implementers ranks the feature.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-86969630148756693742008-02-03T12:27:00.000+01:002008-02-03T12:28:42.042+01:00XForms meeting at the Research Triangle Park: Getting thereYesterday morning my day started 45 minutes later than expected. My alarm supposed to go off at 7u30am; but I wrongly set the alarm at 8u30am. After a quick shower we jumped in the car to catch the next train, one later than planned. When we got at the train station we decided to park the car, allowing me to buy some food while Peggy was getting my train ticket. Parking the car and using my credit card to get on the parking lot turned out not to be a bad idea. You didn’t get a parking ticket, and after checking it with the info desk, our suspicion got confirmed, you needed to use the same card to get off the parking lot. There was no other option than running back to parking lot and using my card to drive the car off the parking. This took again more time than expected because the car in front of Peggy’s car had trouble using his credit card. At last I could put in my credit card and run back to the railway. And there the worst thing that could have happened, happened. When I got at the railway my train left, if I wanted I could have touched the train. Damn, I missed the train again. After missing my second train, what a start of a full day traveling, we decided to drive to the airport.<br /><br />My luck turned when we arrived at the airport, checking in my bag and going through the passport check only took 7 minutes. There was only one person in front of me at the luggage drop off and no one at the passport check. The plain from Amsterdam to Detroit arrived on schedule, my next flight will depart after 1h20 and boarding should start in less than an hour. It is hard to believe, but there was no one in front at border control, and my bag was the first one on the belt. Can you believe that, what is the chance of not having to wait at border control and that your bag is the first one that is unloaded.<br />The second flight to Raleigh/Durham was also on time, and after calling the hotel my shuttle arrived after 10 minutes. My day started a bit hectic but after arriving at Amsterdam everything went even better than expected; hopefully this is a sign for a super XForms WG meeting.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-62874630041564093972008-02-01T17:56:00.000+01:002008-02-01T21:19:48.967+01:00XForms Virtual Meeting 2008Today we had our first XForms WG virtual meeting day ever. We used our regular W3C Zakim teleconferencing bridge in combination with <a href="https://www.yugma.com/">Yugma</a> a free desktop sharing application. We mainly talked about XForms 1.2 requirements and new features.<br /><br />Tomorrow I will leave for <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Durham,+NC&ie=UTF8&z=12&iwloc=addr&om=0">Durham</a> for the three day face to face meeting of the XForms WG at the <a href="http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/briefingcenter/rtpbc/">IBM Research Triangle Park Executive Briefing Center</a>. During those three days we hope to create the outline for the XForms 1.2 requirements document, discuss some of those new features, and do some work on XForms 2.0. More news on this will follow.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-76573442313752455782007-11-09T17:36:00.000+01:002007-11-09T22:20:12.533+01:00XForms 1.1 ready to go to Candidate Recommendation?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/nick.vandenbleeken/Ry8SbDn69lI/AAAAAAAABNs/YtdVdeocfOM/P1030663.JPG?imgmax=1024"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/nick.vandenbleeken/Ry8SbDn69lI/AAAAAAAABNs/YtdVdeocfOM/P1030663.JPG?imgmax=1024" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The <a href="http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/">XForms WG</a> had a meeting last Monday and Tuesday at the <a href="http://www.w3.org/2007/11/TPAC/">W3C Technical Plenary / Advisory Committee Meetings Week</a> in Boston. On the first day <a href="http://www.w3.org/People/cmsmcq/">Michael Sperberg-McQueen</a> explained the different ways an <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-1/">XML Schema processor</a> could be invoked and how a validating works when the processor is started in LAX vs Strict 'mode'. It was very enlightening for me, and it was the first time I wasn't bored with a half day XML schema discussion. I learned a lot about how a schema processor works and how applications can use a schema processor to validate XML. I will spare you from the details, because this is probably too boring for the few people who read my blog...<br /><br />After the 'tutorial/walk through' we got, we were able to handle the last open Last Call issue. Yes you read this correct, XForms 1.1 is going to advance to a Candidate Recommendation really soon.<br /><br />I'm looking forward to start working on XForms 1.2 and XForms 2.0. Adding neat new futures and making the authoring and transition from HTML forms much easier.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-51901442804088167712007-11-05T15:14:00.000+01:002007-11-05T15:48:36.390+01:00Boston Freedom Trail<a href="http://lh6.google.com/nick.vandenbleeken/Ry8SZDn69iI/AAAAAAAABNU/ChKBbEOS5xA/P1030535.JPG?imgmax=720"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://lh6.google.com/nick.vandenbleeken/Ry8SZDn69iI/AAAAAAAABNU/ChKBbEOS5xA/P1030535.JPG?imgmax=720" border="0" /></a><br />Yesterday <a href="http://bals.be/">Klaas</a> and I started walking from our <a href="http://www.cambridge.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp">hotel</a> to the center of Boston using a small free map. When we arrived in the center of Boston we decided to walk the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Trail">Freedom Trail</a>.<br /><br />We extended the walk a bit by visiting the <a href="http://www.mos.org/">Museum of science</a>. It turned out to be really interesting, definitely worth visiting it.<br /><br />You can find some photo's I took yesterday at <a href="http://images.bleeken.eu/boston2007">this</a> gallery.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-42824477813052427822007-09-14T18:07:00.000+01:002007-09-16T08:48:28.939+01:00Forms face-to-face Madrid 2007Last week I went to Madrid for the <a href="http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/">Forms</a> face-to-face at SATEC. The main purpose of this three day meeting was to handle the last call issues for XForms 1.1. We managed to handle most of the remaining issues that were reported during the last call period. The next stage in the W3C specification track is Proposed Recommendation. And it looks like we will be able to move XForms 1.1 to Proposed Recommendation soon. Especially because we managed to process the more complex issues at the meeting and only need to handle the easier ones on the upcoming phone calls.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-40162671613045661792007-07-16T18:18:00.000+01:002007-07-16T18:23:06.933+01:00Just another T-storm?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyp4JsS9DU9WVbCURlIiVdwVZ46i_JGXFfUveTxhdQBDw2_TJ_yqNuH7WhAdR3niYhyphenhyphenPs_KGMMEZ-X7VwEEFmCCB8H-bvnVb5J3d3TWeB-KwhaIHzHGnUj__0uF05zcJpALsV7-d3Llq7n/s1600-h/radar.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyp4JsS9DU9WVbCURlIiVdwVZ46i_JGXFfUveTxhdQBDw2_TJ_yqNuH7WhAdR3niYhyphenhyphenPs_KGMMEZ-X7VwEEFmCCB8H-bvnVb5J3d3TWeB-KwhaIHzHGnUj__0uF05zcJpALsV7-d3Llq7n/s320/radar.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087846148802098722" /></a><br />This morning when I drove to work around 7 a.m. the sun was shining. After a few miles I noticed a thunder flash, a few minutes later it started to become dark and very windy. It became even darker then on a regular night and it started raining like I never saw before, the sight was very bad and big hail stones where falling down. The Highway was one big pool. At one spot I was even worried that the water would flow inside the car. A few miles later the sun was back and it seemed like nothing has ever happened. It was just a local <a href="http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article445370.ece/Storm_en_wateroverlast_in_Vlaanderen_en_Brabant">thunderstorm</a>...Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-27176886059007473192007-06-27T04:10:00.000+01:002007-06-27T04:12:02.367+01:00Photo's Grand Canyon North RimYou can find some photo's of our hike on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon <a href="http://images.bleeken.eu/GrandCanyonNorthRim">here</a>.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-59895734998973299892007-06-27T03:31:00.000+01:002007-06-27T04:08:40.998+01:00Valley off Fire<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/nick.vandenbleeken/RoHMCAklA-I/AAAAAAAAA8E/VUYYGHIYiwA/s144/P1020539.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/nick.vandenbleeken/RoHMCAklA-I/AAAAAAAAA8E/VUYYGHIYiwA/s144/P1020539.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Today we visited the "<a href="http://parks.nv.gov/vf.htm">Valley of Fire</a>" in Nevada. As you can see <a href="http://images.bleeken.eu/ValleyOffFire">here</a>, there were some nice color differences. We were a bit late around 7.30, but the red rocks still looked like they were on "fire". Or maybe that was my optimistic view...Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-1831092706079654082007-06-26T02:42:00.000+01:002007-06-26T05:36:08.942+01:00We made itThis morning the alarm of my phone went off at 4u45 a.m. You might thing that is 13u45 Belgian time, but after a bit more then two weeks I'm totally adjusted this time zone.<br />When we drove to the trail head we saw a lot animals more then 20 deer, one wild turkey, and one URA (Unidentified Running Animal)<br />We began our descent at 6u15 a.m. to Roaring Springs. That is a descent of 3050 ft (1066m) and back up, and that in 9.4 mi (15km). We arrived at Roaring Springs two hours later. We stayed there for half an hour resting/eating/drinking a bit. After that half an hour we started the climb, hoping to be back up three to four hoers later. It was a 7-8 hours walk they said. But two and a half hours later we arrived back at the parking. A bit burned out but not too tiered ;)<br />After the hike we visited the visitors center and drove to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Overton,+Clark,+Nevada,+United+States&sll=40.746401,-73.983711&sspn=0.006738,0.016909&ie=UTF8&cd=3&z=10&iwloc=addr&om=1">Overton</a>, close to the next destination <a href="http://parks.nv.gov/vf.htm">Valley of fire</a>.<br />After that we will be heading to <a href="http://www.nps.gov/deva/">Death Valley</a>.<br />Today we reached a new temperature record 108°F(42.2°C), I can ensure you that 108 °F is hot.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-10198315659552133932007-06-25T01:01:00.000+01:002007-06-25T01:03:44.635+01:00Luxor here we come ;)We just booked a room in the <a href="http://www.luxor.com/">Luxor </a>hotel for the last two nights in Las Vegas.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-89219696420402354902007-06-25T00:47:00.000+01:002007-06-25T01:01:36.299+01:00Grand Canyon, South RimToday we visited the South Rim 'the American way' not too much hiking but just taking the car and the shuttle. Not that we really wanted it, but I sun burned my feet yesterday at Powel Lake :(<br />It was less impressive then I expected, maybe because we didn't do any hiking, but I found Zion much more impressive. Maybe my expectations were too high.<br />We left the South Rim around noon and drove to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Jacob+Lake,+AZ&ie=UTF8&ll=36.361587,-112.175903&spn=1.822487,4.328613&z=9&om=1">Jacob Lake</a> (the North Rim) that was a really nice drive definitely the views when driving on the 89A highway.<br />Tomorrow we will try to hike down on the <a href="http://www.bobspixels.com/kaibab.org/bc/gc_tr_nk.htm">North Kaibab Trail</a> we are not sure how far we will go, this will depend on my feet and how well we manage to survive the heat and hight difference.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-12613938978676424452007-06-24T00:45:00.000+01:002007-06-25T01:04:10.928+01:00Page, AZToday we went to the Antilope Canyon. We took a 1 ½ hour tour together with 8 other people which started at 8u30, so the famous light beam wasn’t there yet, but the colors and the shapes of the canyon wall were awesome. We definitely have no regrets that we visited it, the only downside was that you are no longer permitted to visit the canyon on your own and that it was a bit crowdie.<br />After visiting the Antilope Canyon we went for a swim to the Powel Lake at Lone rock. Of course the weather was really nice and water was warm. After two hours we left for Grand Canyon South Rim. We stayed at the Quality Inn at Tusayan.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-39259711636615613762007-06-23T14:21:00.000+01:002007-06-23T14:34:18.115+01:00Bryce Canyon to PageYesterday we visited <a href="http://www.nps.gov/brca/">Bryce Canyon National Park</a>. We did two hikes, the first one to the Queens Garden at the <a href="http://home.nps.gov/applications/hafe/hfc/carto-detail.cfm?Alpha=BRCA#">sunrise point</a> was an easy one. For the second one we hiked 1h1/2 down on the Riggs Spring loops trail and back. This one was quite hard, we were really tiered when we arrived back at the car. The main reason was the temperature (32°C and burning sun) and the difference in hight (500m).<br />Today we wanted to take a day off, but due to the recommendation of both Klaas (a colleague of mine) and my brother, we are going to visit the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antelope_Canyon">Antelope Canyon</a> today. I hope it is worth it ;) You are no longer allowed to drive or hike to that canyon by your self. There are some local agencies that have permits and those are the only ones that can take you in the Antelope Canyon and its area.<br />This evening we will be driving towards the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/grca/">Grand Canyon</a>.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-11395385786764558122007-06-22T02:09:00.000+01:002007-06-22T03:56:36.474+01:00Damn recharger!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/nick.vandenbleeken/Rnsp05t3ZAI/AAAAAAAAAz0/HzSrh8C4TGQ/P1010639.JPG?imgmax=912"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/nick.vandenbleeken/Rnsp05t3ZAI/AAAAAAAAAz0/HzSrh8C4TGQ/P1010639.JPG?imgmax=912" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This morning around 7 a.m we left Cedar City and drove to <a href="http://www.nps.gov/zion">Zion National Park</a>. Correction 50 minutes later, when we wanted to take our first picture we discovered that there was no battery in our camera. And it was then when I realized that it was still in the charger at the motel. Oh my god, we just drove 50 minutes for nothing, in fact 2 times 50 minutes because now we needed to drive back also.<br />Two hours later then planned we arrived 'happily' at Zion National Park. We parked our car at the visitors center, and took the shuttle into the Canyon (no cars are allowed in the Canyon). We got out of the bus at Zion lodge and did the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/upload/Zion%20Map%20&%20Guide%20summer%202007_6-16-07.pdf">Emerald Pools trail to 'The Grotto'</a>. After that we took the bus to Weeping Rock and did the hike to the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/upload/Zion%20Map%20&%20Guide%20summer%202007_6-16-07.pdf">Hidden Canyon</a>. That hike was really nice, a bit difficult but rewarding, there were not a lot hikers on this trail and the narrow Hidden Canyon was really beautiful. You can find the photo's that we took today <a href="http://images.bleeken.eu/ZionNationalPark">here</a> (not yet complete due to bad internet connection at the motel).<br />Tomorrow we will visit Bryce Canyon National Park.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-46887858282721057392007-06-21T13:08:00.000+01:002007-06-22T03:44:01.233+01:00Photo's Yellowstone National Park<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/nick.vandenbleeken/Rnnz4Jt3XtI/AAAAAAAAApU/Z1q4djeT2gU/P1010098.JPG?imgmax=144"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/nick.vandenbleeken/Rnnz4Jt3XtI/AAAAAAAAApU/Z1q4djeT2gU/P1010098.JPG?imgmax=144" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />A selection (164 out of 955) of the photo's we took in <a href="http://www.nps.gov/yell/">Yellowstone National Park</a> are available at <a href="http://images.bleeken.eu/Yellowstone">http://images.bleeken.eu/Yellowstone</a>.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-60568929229807346242007-06-21T02:39:00.000+01:002007-06-21T13:12:25.692+01:00The Great Salt Lake areaToday we visited the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Great+Salt+Lake&sll=41.174519,-112.180023&sspn=0.905507,2.164307&ie=UTF8&amp;z=9&iwloc=addr&om=1">Great Salt Lake</a> area, unfortunately we only had time to visit <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Salt+Lake+City,+UT&ie=UTF8&amp;z=11&iwloc=addr&om=1">Salt Lake City</a> and the <a href="http://www.utah.com/attractions/kennecott.htm">Kennecott Copper Mine</a>.<br />In Salt Lake City we visited <a href="http://www.visittemplesquare.com/">Temple Square</a> and the Olympic Legacy Plaza. <a href="http://images.bleeken.eu/GreatSaltLakeArea">Here</a> are some pictures that we took.<br />Kennecott Copper Mine, is the world's largest man-made excavation and is the second largest copper producer in the United States. After visiting this amazing site we managed to drive to Cedar City. Tomorrow we will visit <a href="http://www.nps.gov/zion/">Zion National Park</a>.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-40815199613270319182007-06-20T14:17:00.000+01:002007-06-21T13:12:39.687+01:00Safely arrived at OgdenYesterday evening we arrived safely at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Ogden,+UT,+USA&ie=UTF8&ll=41.219986,-111.972656&spn=3.619383,8.657227&amp;z=8&iwloc=addr&om=1">Ogden </a>after 3 awesome days in Yellow Stone National Park. You may expect a lengthy report of those 3 days, but our schedule is so busy that I hadn't had time to filter the more then 1000 pictures and write something down about it.<br />Today we are going to visit Salt lake City and the Salt lake area, and hope to arrive at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&amp;q=Cedar+City,+UT&ie=UTF8&ll=37.679473,-113.060303&spn=3.808148,8.657227&amp;z=8&iwloc=addr&om=1">Cedar City</a>.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-5093827184396062662007-06-17T03:15:00.000+01:002007-06-17T03:18:55.097+01:00Yellow Stone here we come!<p class="MsoNormal">This morning the alarm of my cellphone went off at 3u25 a.m. We needed to get out so we could be on time at the Newark International airport (New York) to catch our flight to Denver. When I booked the flight to Denver of 6u55 I didn’t realized that we needed to be at Newark 2 hours before the flight (yes even for a domestic flight) due to the crazy security rules, and that it is a one hour drive from our hotel in Hawthorne.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The plane arrived in Denver at 9u00 Mountain Time, 40 minutes before schedule. After that we collected our luggage we took the bus to the Avis car rental place. We got a nice Chevrolet, but with some tire pressure problems. First we got an alert that we lost the pressure of the front right tire. But after a check this turned out to be a bad sensor. And after that we got a message that the pressure of the left rear tire was too high, this we will check tomorrow. <span style=""> </span>Nevertheless we arrived at the Super 8 motel in Dubois after a ride of almost 8 hours. It was a nice drive, see <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=Denver+Intl+Airport&daddr=Warm+Springs+Dr,+Dubois,+WY+82513,+USA&sll=40.746401,-73.983711&sspn=0.006698,0.016909&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&z=7&om=1">map </a>(photo’s will follow but not today, we are going for an early sleep, we are already 19 hours awake).</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Early tomorrow morning we will leave for Yellow Stone. This will imply a three day internet stop. But you can expect a lengthy report of what we did in Yellow Stone when we return back to civilization.</p>Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-23344604744832833942007-06-13T00:34:00.000+01:002007-06-17T03:19:17.002+01:00Photo's New York 2007Some photo's of our New York trip are available at <a href="http://images.bleeken.eu/NewYork2007">http://images.bleeken.eu/NewYork2007</a> .Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-12525491999826095262007-06-13T00:20:00.000+01:002007-06-17T03:19:36.283+01:00Chapter two : Hawthorne<p class="MsoNormal">Today we arrived at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&amp;q=Hawthorne,+NY+10532&ie=UTF8&ll=41.102315,-73.804393&spn=1.705382,4.328613&z=9&om=1">Hawthorne</a>, the second chapter of our trip, the work part… Tomorrow I’ll start working at the <a href="http://www.watson.ibm.com/general_info_haw.shtml">IBM Watson Research Center</a> together with other the members of <a href="http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/">W3C’s Forms working group</a>. And try to tackle most of the last call comments of the <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xforms11/">XForms 1.1 specification</a>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We took the train from <a href="http://grandcentralterminal.com/">Grand Central Terminal</a> (New York) to Hawthorne because a taxi was a bit more expensive ($165 + tip) compared to the $14.50 (two train tickets) plus the $15 for the cab from the station to the hotel. Taking the train was also much faster, getting in and out Manhattan is hell, it is one big traffic jam…</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The last two days were so filled that I didn’t had the chance to blog about it, and therefore I’ll just give you a small résumé. On Sunday we went to the UN headquarter, the <a href="http://www.nationalpuertoricandayparade.org/index.html">Puerto Rican parade</a>, walked through <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Central+Park,+New+York,+NY,+USA&sll=40.746401,-73.983711&sspn=0.006698,0.016909&amp;ie=UTF8&z=14&om=1">Central Park</a> (starting at Central Park South to Central Park North). On Monday we took the subway downtown and vested Little Italy, China Town, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Bridge">Brooklyn Bridge</a>, the financial district (including Ground Zero), <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/masstran/ferries/statfery.html">Staten Island Ferry</a>… Today we went back to the UN headquarter to take a guided tour inside and visited the <a href="http://www.nypl.org/">New York Public Library</a>. </p>Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-56522870447302056332007-06-10T10:59:00.000+01:002007-06-10T12:12:45.975+01:00New York day 1<p class="MsoNormal">Yesterday we arrived at <a href="http://www.newarkairport.com/">Newark</a> at 1u45 pm (local time) and took a shuttle to our <a href="http://www.grandunionhotelnewyork.com/">hotel</a>. We arrived at the hotel around 3u30 pm. Man I like the New Yorker taxi drivers' driving style. Our taxi driver managed to cross more than 8 lanes in only a couple of hundred meters. It was even more impressive because all the lanes where mostly filled with other crazy taxi drivers doing the same thing. After a wild ride of a bit more then an hour we arrived at hour hotel.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">We decided to go for a short walk. We were so impressed that the short walk turned out in a walk of 4 hours. We saw some interesting places, namely the Empire State Building, New York Public Library, Bryant Park, Central Park, Rockefeller Center... (see <a href="http://maps.google.be/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=nl&msa=0&msid=101806014572519074054.00000113153f51ea20a61&z=15&om=1">map</a>).<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">We also went in some really big shops. If you never been to an M&M's world you probably won’t believe it, it is an <a href="http://www.mymms.com/service/locations.asp">M&M shop</a> of three story high (+23.000 m²) where they sell everything with the M&M logo on it. They have more the 4.000 different gifts and souvenirs, starting from funny collard M&M’s, shorts, towels, cups to clothing for dogs.<br /></p>Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3122992758824454323.post-23523060872369847072007-04-15T18:35:00.000+01:002007-04-15T21:00:51.251+01:00Wedding<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWnXHzg2dyXh-nfElITJdTaDe3koMVsvR7P_Gem69oF0sz-7zGkNVYFaTm4tQNYOnApzt5PDvEXCr1KfHwVm7snNYpTTNOZxsoX_T26HD6sId-pHe_zzJXl-mlOql2A-All_5EAwod1k5/s1600-h/IMG_3107.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWnXHzg2dyXh-nfElITJdTaDe3koMVsvR7P_Gem69oF0sz-7zGkNVYFaTm4tQNYOnApzt5PDvEXCr1KfHwVm7snNYpTTNOZxsoX_T26HD6sId-pHe_zzJXl-mlOql2A-All_5EAwod1k5/s320/IMG_3107.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053724024437928338" border="0" /></a><br />Yesterday a new chapter of my live started, I married Peggy. The day started with a <a href="http://images.bleeken.eu/wedding">photo shoot, </a>followed a ceremony at the city hall.<br /><br />The day continued at the <a href="http://www.denieuwekloof.nl/">De Nieuwe Kloof</a>, a party center in the 'woods' of Bergen Op Zoom. Here we started with a glass of champagne followed by brunch. At 2.30 pm the rest of the guests arrived for the reception. It was really nice, having so much good friends together on such a special day. But after three hours we realized that it wasn't possible to chat with all of them. If you are one of the ones we couldn't talk too, we're really sorry about that, and hope to talk to you soon.<br /><br />Last but not least, I want to thank everybody for making it an unforgettable day. It may sound like a cliché, but it was the nicest day of my life. There was only one bad side, it also felt like the shortest day of my live, the day (and... night) was over before I realized.Nick Van den bleekenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01071742144356601987noreply@blogger.com0