It was almost three years ago ...

... that I opened my eyes and looked out of my American Airlines Boeing 777, waking up to a new day. Outside, was a landscape I'd only seen in pictures.: the beautiful Flanders countryside, almost like a carefully manicured garden ... growing in radial patterns out of cities that--as I later learned--serve as the cores for almost all of these Europeans' activities.

As the plane landed and the flight attendant announced our arrival--of course--meticulously in four languages, I told myself, "Welcome to Europe!"

Cup'oCofi?

"525,600 minutes, 525,600 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes - How do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee? In inches, in miles, in laughters, in strife? In 525,600 minutes -- How do you measure a year in the life?"

I adopted the nickname Cup'oCofi from a phrase in the theme song "Seasons of Love" from the popular musical "The Rent" which I saw back in 1999. I guess I like the phrase because it keeps reminding me to ask "how have you been measuring a year in your life?" As Mel Gibson's William Wallace puts it: "Every man dies. But not every man really lives."

So I started this Blog to log all the ways to measure a year in my life. I hope it can be a source of inspirations and motivations for me, and for all who care enough to read my postings.

(This is a splinter blog out of my main site http://cupocofi.blogspot.com ... mostly to highlight more of my personal side and my little "aventures" in Belgium.)