Barboomba, queen of the jungle /// get funky!

8 years ago...

2012-01-09T11:58:00.000+01:00

Janauary 9, 2004, at a party I'm starting to talk with the complete stranger next to me. The rest is history...

which makes me wonder: how many couples can say that they have a photo of their first encounter ever?

A year in review: 2011

2012-01-02T01:22:00.000+01:00

30 april 2011 - a wonderful day, with wonderful people and a wonderful wife!

2011-04-30T21:29:00.000+02:00

2011-01-02T21:29:00.000+01:00

By popular demand : time to look back at 2010. Here's an overview of the most funny, touchy, memorable moments for us. For those who were with us: thank you for the love and company, for those we missed last year: CU in 2011!

Love,

Katty & Koen

www.barboomba.com/2010

USA trip 2010

2010-09-13T14:51:00.000+02:00

So how was our 2.800 miles trip in the USA? Great! Expect more visual coverage later on but if you're dead curious: take a sneak peek here!

more pics here

Let's get married!

2010-05-10T16:25:00.000+02:00

Yes.

It's true.

After all those years Curly Goddess and I are going to get married.

Where?

When?

How?

Is she pregnant?

As for the last question: no. For all the other questions: wait and see :-)

Curly and I the morning after we celebrated our engagement, puffy eyes :-)

Chanel is in da (hen)house

2010-04-30T08:34:00.001+02:00

our chicken Chanel
Originally uploaded by koen barboomba

Remember the late Thelma & Louise? Today we welcome a new sister for our chicken Bertha: meet Chanel (don't ask about her name - long story). Sorry for the background noise, our gardener was cutting the hedges.

Listen to the Radio

2010-04-27T16:18:00.004+02:00

me on Radio 1 talking about the Eyjafjallajokull and all the troubles this Lady gave me (in Dutch)

Italy ski-trip vs. the vulcano Eyjafjallajokull

2010-04-20T13:53:00.001+02:00

P1000929
Originally uploaded by koen barboomba

Exactly a couple of hours after we left from Brussels to Bergamo in Italy the Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland started to erupt. Conclusion: no planes flying back, the next four days I had to find:

- transport for a colleague back to Belgium with a broken ankle after being 1 hour on the slopes
- transport for a colleague back to The Netherlands because his wife was hospitalized for urgent surgery
- transport for 3 colleagues who had to leave early on Saturday
- bring back home 16 colleagues before Monday morning.
- organizing a complete incentive for 3 groups: people who can ski, those who had take lessons and then those who weren't able to ski.

Conclusion: I've found solutions for all of those problems, and it seems that people enjoyed their trip, only one back drawn... my body gave up to me so now I'm in sick leave until some vital parameters are back to normal :-(

Thelma left us...

2010-04-05T20:20:00.005+02:00

April 5th, 2010. Thelma, the one half of the legendary duo Thelma & Louise died and joined Louise in the Big Chicken Heaven. These chickens amused ten-thousands of viewers during their web cam career. We will always remember her as a funny animal, who despite her weak health still made it to almost 5 years. We're now looking as fast as possible for a new sister for her buddy Bertha.

Our Gambia trip 2010

2010-02-21T19:15:00.001+01:00

Tanji Fish Market
Originally uploaded by koen barboomba

The second week of February we escaped the cold and snowy Europe for a week long vacation in Africa's finest: The Gambia.

2010-01-02T11:24:00.002+01:00

A new year has started, time to look back at 2009. Out of the thousands of photo's we took last year here's an overview of the most funny, touchy, memorable for us. For those who were with us: thank you for the love and company, for those we missed in 2009: time to catch up in 2010!

Love,

Katty & Koen

www.barboomba.com/2009

Hotel Marqués de Riscal

2009-09-16T10:55:00.003+02:00

P1260675
Originally uploaded by koen barboomba

Click on the pic for a photographic overview or our trip to North Spain in September 2009.

Mijn droomanalyse op Radio Nostalgie

2009-09-16T10:40:00.002+02:00

droomanalyses of hoe de waarheid soms veel simpeler is dan de uitleg: net terug van een 1100 km autorijden in de Pyrenese bergen met een té lichte Citroën C3, gevolgd door een dinner bij Lizzy uit Geraardsbergen wat zowieso spannend is op meerdere vlakken, nog recupereren van de zona/gordelroos én mijn lief 4 dagen in de week moeten missen. En mens zou van minder badend in het zweet wakker worden. Toch nog een kleine tip aan wie vrienden heeft die in de media werken: pas op met wat je zegt tussen glas en knabbel want voor je het weet krijg je redacteurs aan de lijn. En ja Karoline, ik ben sexy, alleen kan ik het verdomd goed verbergen

Summer 2009

2009-07-28T13:44:00.002+02:00

What's up? Still no intention to blog more Mr. Barboomba? The answer is no. Facebook is my primary network (for the moment) so if you're interested in what I'm doing, click on the facebook badge on the right. For the non-facebook people the following update: Curly Goddess and I spend 3 weeks traveling through Thailand earlier this year and we're just back from a city trip in London. Later this year we're traveling down the Rioja winery route in Spain and we start looking at 2010 (Jordania/Canada not during the same trip of course).

It's a wonder that Curly even wants to travel since she is on a 4 day per week base in Holland and every other week in France. Not always fun but a woman has to do what a woman has to do :-)

“Flamingo’s in de Polder” van Begijn Le Bleu

2009-02-16T16:03:00.010+01:00

Soms komen we na een film-, theater-, of cabaretvoorstelling buiten, elkaar in de zij pokend van “goed(e) stuk/film/voorstelling” waarna we tot de orde van de avond overgaan en ons laveloos zuipen. Soms zit je al halverwege een voorstelling te denken van “heb ik de deur in het slot gedaan toen we thuis vertrokken?” en heel af en toe mag je al tijdens de voorstelling rochelend, spuwend en boe roepend de zaal uitvluchten bijvoorbeeld bij "August, August, August" van de Paardenkathedraal. Maar heel af toe kom je uit een zaal, en weet je het niet. Echt niet, je hebt net iets gezien dat peutert, duwt, trekt, schuurt en misschien vooral intrigeert. “Flamingo’s in de Polder” van Begijn Le Bleu is zo’n voorstelling waar ons gezelschap zich niet echt meteen raad mee wist. Wie nu zegt “Begijn wie?” raad ik aan man’s bio te lezen op www.begijnlebleu.be alwaar vooral de Nederlandse appreciatie opvalt.

Maar Begijn Le Bleu gaat dus binnenkort Vlaanderen rondtrekken met een verhaal over personages uit de zelfkant van het leven. De post rekwisieten zal niet echt een fiscaal voordeel opleveren voor Le Bleu want naast sober licht moet de man het doen met een lege bierbak en een bandana. Neen. Fout, Le Bleu heeft vooral zichzelf als rekwisiet. Hij acteert op een hoog niveau en elke morsige schlemiel die hij opvoert staat ook daadwerkelijk op het podium. Dit is geen stand-up comedy, dit is geen Helsen, dit is niet de grote schaterlach noch het kleine monkelen dit was vooral een reis door het absurde universum van Le Bleu.

De gevreesde try-out-itis maakte helaas dat de balans tekst/acteur/publiek niet altijd even sterk stond. Nu is het cultureel centrum van Merelbeke (dat om één of andere bizarre reden in the middle of nowhere tussen velden ligt) met zijn abonnees nu ook niet meteen de ideale biotoop voor Le Bleu’s absurdistan en het moment dat hijzelf dit doorprikt was een hoogtepunt in de voorstelling. Of die abonnees daar hetzelfde van dachten blijft de vraag maar wat zeker is: de dag na de voorstelling liep de discussie tussen ons gezelschap verder en da’s meestal een goede graadmeter voor de kwaliteit.

Kortom, van alles wat ik laatste jaren op een podium heb zien staan onder de noemer “humor” is Begijn Le Bleu het buitenbeentje. Niet te catalogeren en bij deze dus een uitdaging voor u en mij. Neem ze aan en rep u naar “Flamingo’s in de Polder” het zal u niet spijten, echt niet. Tenzij u gisteren naar "August, August, August" bent gaan zien, dan begrijp ik dat u de eerste jaren niet meteen terug in een theater wil. U bent bij deze verontschuldigd.

Best wishes for 2009

2009-01-05T10:45:00.003+01:00

In a yearly tradition we have tried to capture last year highlights in our yearly overview: http://www.barboomba.com/2008

Enjoy!

Katty & Koen

Madrid Baby!

2008-11-27T13:34:00.002+01:00

P1180381.JPG
Originally uploaded by koen barboomba

as a late birthday present Curly Goddess dragged me to Madrid, and yes, it's a beautiful city!

Today's travelguides

2008-11-27T11:35:00.004+01:00

Strange how new media and user generated content is flocking all over us. The interactive travelguide Schmap asked me out of the blue the permission to use one of my photos hosted on Flickr (The National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque). Why not?

wie heeft mij ooit onder "Belgische kippenexperten" gecatalogeerd?

2008-10-11T13:22:00.002+02:00

Tot 2 keer toe telefoon gekregen van Radio 2 of ik niets zinnig te vertellen had rond de "Wereld eierdag". Antwoord: eigenlijk niet, voor alle duidelijkheid: de kippencam is ooit als een grap begonnen en in alle eerlijkheid, toen ik zelf een week geleden nog eens naar www.ophokplicht.be ging gaan kijken merkte ik dat hij gehacked was door islamitische fundamentalisten (geen grap). Bij deze vervangt mijn blog van www.barboomba.com op dit ogenblik www.ophokplicht.be en zo zal het wel blijven. In return beloof ik voor de 1000ste keer om hier wat meer updates te posten.

How lazy can you be?

2008-08-12T17:29:00.005+02:00

Shame on me for not posting here some new stuff but hey, I'm getting old and there's also facebook/plaxo/linkedin to maintain and above all: I have a life! In short: Katty and I had a great trip on Route 66 (the whole shebang from Chicago to LA) and ended with a cruise to the Bahamas. Yes, life can be very beautiful! Check out the pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/barboomba/sets/72157605153044156/

Last week this boy became 40 with a swell party on 08-08-08, more info at http://www.08-08-08.be , there's some visual stuff at the KoenTube page.

In two weeks we'll be heading for Saint Tropez, France and later this year Madrid in Spain. Oh, and some business news: my Curly Goddess is going to lead a second team in The Netherlands, so more lonely nights for us but I'm sure she's going to kick *ss over there.

ons jaaroverzicht in beeld

2007-12-28T15:08:00.001+01:00

onze prentjes over 2007 te zien op www.barboomba.com/2007, even wachten voor het inladen maar het loont de moeite.

beste wensen voor het nieuwe jaar,

Katty & Koen

Meet Apple's marketing genius: Joe

2007-11-20T14:56:00.000+01:00

So this software developer asks me: "and what do you do for a living?" I could tell him that I'm a tattoo artist with a strange affection for HIV infected needles, but that is lying and my mother told me not to do. "Marketing". 'Boom', the word drops between us on the floor and I see myself filled in the other person's mental cabinet, somewhere between "Dogpoo collectors" and "Blind trapeze artists". If you're into marketing you know his answer: "Oh, marketing!" with an emphasis on the "Oh" as in "Oh, you're an Al Queda member. Sorry, but I have to leave now, I got to ... uh ... pick up my old granny, she's a former blind trapeze artist who needs assistance."

What have we done to deserve this? We were once the kings of the world, we drove in Porches with stunning Italian models on our side. OK, it was a Ford and I divorced the wife sitting next to me, but at least we all knew that we were part of the most sexy floor of any company. You could work for an Albanian ball bearings manufacturer, the fact that you worked on marketing made women flock around you, whispering things in your ears of which you didn't even knew that is was physically possible between two adults. Our first loss was the millennium bug. Oh dear, did we scare the hell out of everyone until January 1, 00:00 hour. Not only your computer would go berserk, also the earth was going to stop spinning, catapulting us in an orbit of the planet Barzwurpia 7, know for its hostile environment. In fact, every IT person told me that it wouldn't be so dramatic, but somewhere between IT and marketing the message got lost and suddenly all of us were taking Barzwurpian language courses.

But what about marketing in 2007? Boy, does it go fast outside our office doors. It seems that you have to scan the internet constantly or you miss the latest hype. "Oh, Dan, you shouldn't have sneezed, WEB 2.0 was born during that time." It's a trend to be on top of the latest trend, so we're all clothed by blogs, news feeds, communities and email alerts "Little Benny has finished his toilet visit and he needs paper, NOW! - this message was brought to you live by T-Mobile, your partner in home communication". So marketers have 2 options which I call the Sony way or the Apple way. Take first Sony: one day they decided to make a commercial and all of a sudden we were youtube-wise staring at jumping ping pong balls and we sighted: "I want a new television". So we come home after work, kiss our wife, kids and Brutus the dog (in no particular order) and say: "we need a new Sony Bravia set". Your wife, who is the Alan Greenspan of da house answers: "ours is only 2 years old, why should we have a new one?" And the only reasonable reply you can think of is "...uh... Ping pong balls?" Anyway, great marketing from our Japanese friends but let me reveal you one of the greatest marketing secrets in the history of the world: "how does Apple makes such a success without the use of Web 2.0?" You don't see funny movies of Steve Jobs on youtube, even worse, the last time Steve Jobs was funny is somewhere in 1974 when he told that joke about a nun, a hot dog and a skydiver. In fact it seams that Apple doesn't even like the Web 2.0: remember that neat replica of Apple's Fifth Avenue shop in Second Life? It was not the work of Steve Jobs, Inc but made by apple enthusiastic from a company called AxisVR. Two milliseconds after they released their concept, the SAF (Special Apple Force) bombed their office with two nuclear warheads (the second one was just to be sure). The message was clear: you simple humans don't mess with Apple's marketing.

So how does Apple marketing works in this Web 2.0 world? I know the secret, even more, I know the head of Apple's marketing department personally... - drum roll -... I can reveal that the whole marketing department of Apple IS this one person. Yup, forget all those fancy diagrams on Apple's website: it got only names of dead people on it, I'm telling you: the whole department is one guy and his name is Joe. I've met Joe during a boat trip in South Africa and since I was the only person who laughed with his joke about a nun, a hot dog and a skydiver we became buddies. So he explained me the whole marketing concept of Apple. Joe enters his office at Infinite Loop 1 on Monday morning at 09:00h sharp. At 09:01 he picks up his phone and calls Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal: "Yo, Walter, we got ourselves a shiny new product over here at Apple." Thousands of miles and a couple of timezones further Walter sits straight in his bed and yells: "tell me, oh please tell me what it is!" Joe answers: "It's a phone Walty, you can use it to call someone." At 09:02h Joe hangs up, Walter Mossberg yells through the Wall Street Journal pneumatic tube system "STOP THE PRESS!" while typing a twelve page article praising this new Apple device. At 09:05h Joe starts his lawnmower and keeps himself busy at the Apple premises for the rest of the week.

I do envy Joe. He makes marketing look as something that can be done on a Monday morning between 09:00h and 09:02h. But I'm not Joe, and the fact that you are reading this instead of sitting on a lawnmower in Cupertino tells me that you're not Joe either. So we carry on, we plunge in the whole Web 2.0, subscribe to blogs, enter communities, hook up virtually with men and women, even women with moustaches, but I don't care, because once I will discover that Walter Mossberg is only 3 zillion links away from me and boy, will he be in a surprise when I get my hands on his phone number. And if I call before 09:00h I beat Joe and Apple and ...

BOOM!

This blog was interrupted by an action of the SAF, please come back later or in the meanwhile you can leave your salary at www.apple.com/store

Tom Peters told me not to come.

2007-10-25T22:54:00.000+02:00

Business guru Tom Peters is in town and boy, I knew it. The flood of mails and invitations on my desk grew day by day, each last one with even more exclamation points than the one before. So what started with "we kindly invite you to pay a quadzillion euros to attend Tom Peters" ended with "Sign in NOW or we let a wild herd of gnus stampede through your garden". Considering the fact that my broccoli's and carrots are at they finest I even thought about attending this event. After all, Mister Peters' visit was the number one topic at cocktail-parties and business chit chat: "What? You're not going to see Tom Peters? Oh boy, I feel pity for your broccoli's".

The problem with these events is not the lack of sympathy or admiration for business gurus like Tom Peters, Jim Collins, Steven D. Levitt or Christiane Northrup. OK, not exactly Christiane Northrup, since she's the author of "The Wisdom of Menopause: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing During the Change, 2nd Edition", but hey, what an intriguing title: we can only guess what was wrong with the 1st Edition. The reason that you won't see me at these kind of symposia is that the scenario is always the same. You start in a traffic jam from hell because urbanists have decided that convention centers in my country are located at the less accessible part of town and you always end up in a fight till death for the last free parking spot. After you step over your defeated opponent you're in for something that looks like tasteless brown water but the girl at the counter ensures me that it was once coffee. No time to waste, into the auditorium where a never-ending horror starts: the local speakers. Last year I went to see Mister Gates, little did I knew that almost everyone of the local Microsoft management felt the urge to take the stage. First we saw movie-clips with a lot of people who definitely were on drugs considering the way they gazed at their computer-screens with a stupid grin on their face. Then a local Pointy-Haired Boss started to speak some kind of English but don't ask me the subject since I was solving world problems like how to keep herds of gnus out of my garden. The state secretary for economic affairs, who happened to sit on my row, felt asleep, which was good for us because his snoring kept us all awake. So after we had seen even more movie-clips of people on drugs, pointing at excel sheets with the winning lotto-numbers of next Saturday, Mister Gates took the stage and I left. Really, I left. Trust me, listening to Bill Gates after that your brains have evacuated your body was one step to far. And it gave me the change to wake up the state secretary so that he didn't missed Bill's speech.

But how about Mister Tom Peters? At least he didn't gave me an operation system which forces me to click on start to stop something. And who can resist a quote like: "Wouldn't you like to think that a quiet leader will lead you to the promised land? I think it's total utter bull, because I consider this to be a time of chaos." The Peters Principles have great value and I'm glad to see that at least the "Women roar" manifesto is taken by heart by my company, but no, I'm not going to see the man himself. I'm excused, really, by Mister Peters himself since he talked to me and said: "my best part is my enthusiasm, all my theories have a restricted value." OK, he didn't talked to me directly, I read his words in a newspaper interview but it sounded as he assured me:"your broccoli's are safe with me."

This week I received a final mail: "Dear Mister Bogaert, the Tom Peters event is sold out, but you can still order his book HERE". I would have clicked on the link but unfortunately I was not in the office, I was sitting in front of a police officer who looked at me with a puzzled face: "...what stampeded through your garden?". Damn Tom Peters, never trust an angry old man.

Louise has passed away

2007-10-11T19:56:00.001+02:00

In the night of October 9, Louise has passed away... Last weekend she was already a bit less active but we've seen this before without any harm. Unfortunately it was something serious. We have cleaned the coop and refreshed all food and straw but Thelma doesn't seem to be infected by whatever caused Louise's death.

She will be remembered as a nice, friendly animal who gave ten thousands of viewers some joy. We are looking for a new sister for Thelma, stay tuned.