flow

Time flies

2010-09-12T21:43:00.001+02:00

Just sitting and thinking and can't help but conclude yet once again that time flies. Yesterday I went to pick up the mail and found a letter saying we were invited to enroll our son in school. He is supposed to start next year. Well that is a normal thing of course, he is five and yeah the next year he should start wih school. What was shocking to me is actually that I was once again reminded that he is not a baby anymore. I just keep on thinking of him as my baby boy even though he grows and changes almost visibly on a daily basis. Every now and then I forget that because I still clearly remember the moment of his birth.

The new me

2010-08-25T10:41:00.001+02:00

It's been a while since the last post here and the most important thing that has happened is me starting to workout on a regular basis. The last ten to fifteen years I have been exercising on an off. For the most part it's been pushups and ab workouts with a little or no cardio at all. This summer everything changed.
First of all I am not a gym kind of guy. I like to workout at home. The second thing is that I am not really into pumping iron either. Light weights are ok and every weight that doesn't allow at least ten reps is a no-no for me. So to cut the long story short, calisthenics is how I roll. That being said the core workout consists of the exercises where the resistance is generated by my own body weight. Basically, it boils down to pushups, pull-ups, squats, lunges and similar. The cardio part added a bit more variety and value to my workouts. I started with the elliptical and I must say I love it. I've realized that my body responds nicely to high rep and cardio routines.
The best thing is that I feel real good and much more energetic than before.

Confessions of an android convert

2010-05-05T15:08:00.002+02:00

Its been a month since I made that swap from my Nokia 5800 to the Nexus one. At first I was pretty annoyed with everything on the Nexus one, but have gradually grown to like it a lot. Coming from symbian I was used to pretty much endless customization options that are native to the OS. The first time I went through the Nexus One's menus I was shocked how much less customizable it was compared to the 5800. I am not a power user by any stretch of imagination but am used to be able to control some things on my phones. The major annoyances have been and still are the lack of a native task manager and the inability to switch off data connection when not needed. There are third party solutions for both issues but I wish those options were bulit in the OS. What I really miss is something like destinations in symbian. I would like to have a list of access point that is prioretizied. Well, as it turns out I have gotten used to those things. As a matter of fact all the other goodness that the phone offers has made me quickly forget the initial problems I had with the Nexus one.
What do I really like with my current main phone? To begin with it is the speed. This phone is fast doing whatever you throw at it. It's actually super fast. What I really look into a phone is the browser ( I mostly browse the internet on my phones and barely make any calls) and text input.
The browser is just awesome. It is quick and renders pages very accurately. It's got the famous pinch to zoom feature and I must admit I barely use it and totally don't understand all the hype around it. Yeah it can be usefully but the lack of it is no show stopper for me. Honestly I am not sure if I would miss it if it weren't there.
Text input is again one of the things I had issues with at the beginning but have really become good at it meanwhile. For the most part I actually use it in portrait mode and with a bit of practice it works really well. It's so good that I don't miss a hardware keyboard at all. The capacitive screen tech really rocks and helps with text input after some getting used to time. Now typing on my 5800 feels really slow. I never thought I was gonna say this since I have been so good at typing on the 5800.
Every now and then I still think I should have opted for a cheaper midrange option like Samsung i5700 Spica that still offers a processor that is on the faster end of the scale but lacks all the pixels and size of the Nexus one's screen. This is my first android phone and I totally think not the last one. I still love symbian and would love to have the Nokia X6 even though it already looks a bit obsolete after just a couple of months after the release. Anyway just wanted to share with you all my thoughts on my new phone. Oh yes, the 5800 is here to stay, kinda. I am not selling it any time soon. A new firmware that brings some improvements has just been released so the good old 5800 is not looking for a new home.

Marketing fail no 2

2010-02-20T14:14:00.000+01:00

Awh, how naive was I thinking it couldn't get any worse. You remember the facial hair and yogurt post? Well, check this out. An old lady smile with a mouthful of golden teeth (grillz is what they're called nowdays) is now accompanying the old and not so well groomed dude. Wowzer, marketing fail no 2 is, strangely enough, coming from the same creative team.

2010-02-06T18:46:00.000+01:00

So, just look at the picture, look at it and tell me what you think the marketing people were thinking when deciding on the design for this yogurt tub. As a matter of fact the taste of this yogurt is not bad at all, but it took me some time and courage before deciding to buy it for the very first time. I actually just did it out of shear curiosity. While eating the yogurt though, I couldn't help but thought that a hair, or a bunch of them, might be hidden somewhere towards the bottom of the tub. No seriously, what were they thinking?

My living room on Jan 31 '10

2010-01-31T13:53:00.001+01:00

This is what our living room looks like on this January 31, when the temperature outside is like -12c. The kids are trapped inside, and this is an obvious consequence.

Food in public restrooms-FAIL!!!

2009-11-20T16:42:00.000+01:00

This is somethig that never ceases to gross me out. I always wonder what drives people to bring food to public restrooms. I took this picture at work. All right, had it been something in a sealed container I probably wouldn't have bothered even noticing but this is like a piece of calzone on a paper plate sitting next to the urinals. Ok, like 2m away from the closest one, but still. I'm never going to be able to understand this.

Reypenaer

2009-11-12T21:07:00.000+01:00

These two fellows come straight outta Amsterdam. A friend of mine, who's half Dutch half Norwegian introduced this cheese to me a while back then. After trying it once there was no way back for me! This is probably one of the best cheeses I'v ever had in my life. It's got a very very nutty taste to it and it's very intense so it's almost imposible to eat large amounts in one sitting. I love it with the Wasa oats crisp bread and salted butter. Whenever I eat it I try to slice it as thin as it gets. Yeah it's that intense. All right, I'm off now to treat myself to some of this goodness.

Push-ups, crunches and now chin-ups

2009-11-07T13:20:00.000+01:00

Just got home from the store. I bought myself a chin-up bar. It'a been a while since I did some pull ups the last time. I kinda missed it and now I'v got it. The mount is a bit weird so it remains to be seen how this is going to work with my doorways. Yeah it's one of those bars that are meant to be mounted in the door frame. Anyway, I like it, Isidor likes it too and it's gonna be fun to use it again. I need a bit of variation in my only push-ups and crunches routine.

Five days left

2009-11-02T09:09:00.001+01:00

Today is the last Monday I'm with my current employer, the University of Oslo. It doesn't mean I won't be here next Monday though. What it means is that the next Monday I'm here I won't be paid for that. My ultimate goal this year has been the thesis submission by the last day of my contract. As far as I can tell right now that goal is destined to failure. I am not sure I'll make it by November 8, 2009 unless something really miraculous happens by then. What is good though is that I'm almost there. There is some administrative work to be done too, which additionally puts the submission off. Whatever the case might be I'll be off by approximately a week or two, which is not bad at all. Ok, now I'm off polishing the introductory part of my thesis and then later I'll try to start the administrative part of the thesis submission work.

One week: The countdown

2009-10-30T17:28:00.000+01:00

There is just one week left before my contract expires and I'm officially out of the university. My goal has been the thesis submission by that date, but it doesn't seem like it's going to happen. That won't be a problem since there is not much work left writingwise. The administration part of the submission has to be done too, but that doesn't require my physical presence on the university premisses. Anyway, I've started to countdown. It feels a bit weird, but at the same time it's awesome that I'm soon done with my Ph.D.

My new toy

2009-10-28T19:53:00.001+01:00

A week ago I took the plunge and bought myself a Nokia 5800. I'm kinda late to this touch screen game given that I've always been suspicious about the touch screen technology. On the same note I must say that I have never wanted an iPhone. I played with the first version once and wasn't blown away. I did like how smooth everything on the iPhone worked but it just wasn't my thing and it's still not. This is my second full touchscreen device though. Marion bought me a Nokia N800 internet tablet as a birthday gift a couple years ago and I absolutely love it. As much as I liked it I wasn't really ready to use an all touch phone.
Once I decided I wanted a touch screen phone the 5800 seemd to be a good choice. Originally after playing with Øydis' Nokia N97 I wanted one myself. Given the price and my reluctance to get into the touch thing I decided to go with a much cheaper option. Besides the price the 5800 has been around for a year now, which means the software is pretty mature and most of the problems with the release firmware have been ironed out. After a week with the device I must say that I'm more than satisfied. The phone looks cool, the screen is pretty responsive and most importantly the software keyboards/keyad work pretty well. The other things that are very important to me are te screen resolution and the browser. Both of them are real good. The browser is much faster than the versions I've got on my other Nokias. As to the screen resolution, there are very few devices with such a high resolution. Anyway I'm pretty happy with my latest purchase and I just wanted to share that. Oh yes, I've almost forgotten to mention that this post is written on my brand new 5800! ;)

What's in your shoe-closet?

2009-10-28T10:08:00.004+01:00

I've wanted to do a series of blogposts about things I have in my bags, pockets, closets and so on, you get the picture. This time I'm bringing you the content of my shoe-closet. This time exceptionally the blogpost is not written on one of my cellphones while commuting to work due to a bit more technical work needed to make things look like I wanted them. Anyway, just click on the photo and you'll learn a bit more about my shoe buying habbits.

Zappos.com: A tale about the unbeatable customer service

2009-10-06T09:33:00.003+02:00

This summer while visiting my sister we ordered a pair of Keen shoes for Isidor from Zappos.com. Keens are really difficult to get here in Norway and we love them because they can take a lot of abuse from Isidor before getting totally unusable. So we ordered a pair and got them and happilly went home. With first days of fall Isidor stared using them and to our surprise they got torn after less than two months. I immediately emailed Zappos.com asking what to do. I knew that they have awesome return policy and assumed they were gonna handle this with style too. By the way they have a 365 days return policy with free ground return shipping in the US. Before I even got an email back from them there was another pair of Truckee Kids Keens in size 11 flying out of Louisville, KY to my sister's in Boulder, CO. They just asked me in what was a series of emails with instructions to send the old pair back. The return label was also sent to me so I didn't even have to print it out myself. I followed the instructions and dropped the old pair at the UPS office here in Oslo. After a couple days I got a call from the UPS people saying that they couldn't process the package since it was meant to be shipped ground domestic but in the US and I'm in Norway. Again I emailed Zappos.com and got , check this out, an answer in no time saying something like we are good, since we don't pay for the international shipping and since the shoes are torn just throw them away and forget about them. So, not only that they saved me time but also money and even threw in VIP membership on their web site, which means each time I order something from them it will be shipped overnight for free (in the US of course). On the same note, I do order from them a lot either for me or my sister and her husband for they birthdays. So, at the end of the day I was shocked. I had never received such a good service and I doubt I ever will. All that being said I also have the worst experience to share and I will some of these days. Zappos.com rocks and they've won me for good!

Saturday evening

2009-09-19T18:20:00.000+02:00

Chilling out with friends.

Let's hug it out bitch!

2009-09-16T17:16:00.002+02:00

On Sunday we visited our friends Dag Tore and Øydis and had dinner with them. At some point I had to go to the bathroom and change Milla. On the way out I noticed a shelf with Entourage DVD's. When I got down to continue chatting with the others I had to compliment their taste in Tv shows. Being a HUGE Entourage fan myself I couldn't help but kick of a convo about the Tv show. It turns out they are big on Entourage too. I mean so big that Dag Tore got a hoodie with an Ari Gold quote from Øydis's mom (update: Øydis's mom just bought it for Øydis so she could then give it to Dag Tore). Lucky guy you would think! That's exactly what I thought. Well unfortunately for him and luckily for me, the hoodie had too short sleeves. Since he couldn't wear it he generously passed it on to me. So, I've been rocking this awesome 'let's huh it out bitch' hoodie for three days in a row now. Thanks @dagta, that was a real cool gift!

Working hard today, kinda

2009-09-09T13:32:00.001+02:00

So this is my working environment. Don't be fooled and think that the number of active screens implies that I'm breaking my back here. What you of course can't see is the number of open tabs in the browser. Well, I'm not breaking my back, but am pretty happy with the amount of work done today.

Sand

2009-09-06T22:04:00.000+02:00

I look forward to my kids becoming older, or let me put it this way, old enough so they think playing in sand boxes is boring! That friggin' thing, sand, is all over the house. We just can't get rid off it! The funniest thing is that if you think it's just to wash the clothing they had on while playing in the sand box immediately after they are in, then you are totally wrong. No matter how carefully you shake the sand off the clothing and even if you immediately put the clothing in the washing machine, sand is always gonna find its way to your sofa, your bed, and every imaginable and unimaginable corner of your house! I just hate sand!

Summer 2009: The quick summary

2009-08-18T09:07:00.001+02:00

This summer I'll definitely remember by not taking any vacation but taking my paternity leave. So, the summer is over (or its fun part), at least for me. Yesterday I officially finished my paternity leave and started working again. It felt pretty good, though I could have stayed a bit longer at home with Milla. She's a real easy kid and as far as she's fed and changed everything is fine. The thing is, that I activelly spent only two out of six weeks with her. The first four weeks I had my family helping me and that was cool. Those first four weeks Isidor, Milla, Marion and I actually spent with my sister and brother in law in Boulder, CO. My dad was also there. While in the States we also did a week long trip to San Francisco. That was my third time there and the first time I visited Alcatraz and walked across the Golden Gate bridge. San Francisco was fabulous as usual. That's one of the places I never get enough of and I always have to come back again. This time around being the designated driver I didn't get to taste any wine in the Sonoma wineries we visited either. There is yet another reason then I should go back there again! This summer I also, surprisingly took a lot of pictures. I'm usually not realy into taking a photo of everything I see but this time I made an exception. The photos are still not sorted out, but once they are I'll probably have a couple of posts here showing my favorites and writing why they ended up as my favorite. Now when I think about it, there will probably be more than a couple posts since there is really a lot of photos and I'll have a hard time deciding which ones I like best. By the way, Marion is our family photographer and she's real good at it. To wrap it up, this was an awesome summer. Not only did we have a great time traveling but I also managed to see some old friends from Alaska and spend some time with my sister and dad. We all live in different corners of the world and each time I get to see either of them or even better both of them at the same time it makes me feel good. Now I have to focuse and finish my dissertation. That's the ultimate goal for the rest of this year.

Paternity leave: The real thing.

2009-08-05T14:36:00.001+02:00

So, let's get real. The first four weeks of my paternity leave were actually vacation. Literally we all were on a trip in those fist four weeks. Not to mention that my sister helped a great deal too. Now, I'm on my real paternity leave meaning that I actively take care of my 11 months old daughter. I gotta say, it.s working out pretty well. Originaly there were some doubts that this was gonna play out ok, but now after 2.5days things seem to be going ok. On the same token it's kinda early to draw some final conclusions. This last statement is particularly true because it seems like Milla hasn't yet shaken the jet lag off. Whatever the case might be, I'm enjoying this time with here more than I could possibly imagine. Gotta go now she's waiting on me to take her for a little stroll! Later :-)

UA 750 and CO38 servicing from Denver to Newark and then to Oslo, respectively

2009-07-31T16:43:00.002+02:00

Given that I was dead tired on our way back from the states there will be no real diary notes from the east bound flights UA750 and CO38. Well, even though there were no real time notes I can tell here that the most interesting thing I saw on our last flight from Newark to Oslo was a full blown combover in the same row we were seated in. Yeah, the flight attendants were real nice too. This time it was mostly male crew but they did a good job nevertheless. It's good to be home but I could have definitely stayed a bit longer. I love Boulder, CO! :-)

Osl- ewr flight co39

2009-07-02T21:47:00.001+02:00

9.48am We are at the airport. Marion is droping me and Isidor off at the check in and leaves with Milla to park the car.
10.44am we are still in the line to check in. As usually my passport draws a lot of attention. They can't figure out the code for my nationality. Eventually they have it sorted out and it's CS, totally counter intuitive for a country that's called Serbia. On the same token, we've changed the name of the country a number of times over the course of several years so it's no wonder they've ran out of intuitive acronimes. We are supposed to take off at 11.25am.
11.00am finally at the gate.
12 .21pm Milla is being nursed. Isidor is watching a movie. I'm writing this.
1.33pm everyone is fed. Hoping that Milla is going to take a longer nap. Isidor's been pretty good so far. The guy in the row next to the door looks sorta scary. He's like short and chubby, got long blonde hair and a bit shorter beard, long nails. The remaining teeth are in a pretty bad condition (I suspect due to excessive snus consumption). He's kinda like one of those rock n roll dudes, at least looks like one with his led zeppelin bag and the ramones t-shirt.
2.34pm Milla is in the basket attached to the bulkhead, not sleeping. Isidor is watching the same movie for the second time.
3.04pm Milla is asleep. Isidor is bored. I would love to take a nap but chances for something like that are very slim. Finally getting a chance to chat a bit with Marion.
3.25pm this time we've got male flight attendants. Personally I prefere female but these guys are nice too. The shorter dude is actually real nice.
3.58pm Isidor is entertained with the stowaway table that pops out the arm rests. He manages to pop it out himself.
4.58pm just banged out an email to Rudolfo, gotta send it when we land in Newark.
5.43pm for all the linux geeks out there, the onboard entertainment system runs on red hat linux!
5.47pm Marion just read what I had written. Milla pinched her finger, poor girl!
6.45pm I'm tired!

Saturday morning

2009-06-20T09:47:00.001+02:00

...this just a typical Saturday morning.

2009-06-17T09:20:00.001+02:00

The other day I accidentally came across the nordiccab bike trailer/stroller/ jogger combo. i was on my way to the on campus pharmacy store when I ran into a woman rolling around one of these. Given that we are about to travel and that we have two kids and only one stroller I thought that a stroller that can take two kids and that's fully foldable would do. At the same time I didn't want something that can be used only once or very occasionally. I needed something that's got a multipurpose nature. When I saw this woman I knew I found what I needed. Not the woman but the stroller she carted her kid in. What I got sold on is the reclining seat. This means that Milla can take her nap when we are on the go. What I particularly liked about is the sturdy plastic cab floor. The weight is also very acceptable so it will definitely make a great traveling companion. When folded its size is comparable to the size of a larger suitcase. I mean we don't travel light to begin with. That being said if I already have to carry a stroller than it better be one that can take both kids yet not as big as a full blown twin stroller. More over now we can bike around Boulder. Yeah, I just hope Marion attaches the trailer to her bike since she's a more experienced cyclist. :)
After a bit of research we found out where they were sold and we got one. Last night we assembled it and voila there it is in its full glory.

I totally recommend

2009-06-15T09:26:00.001+02:00

Though I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination I can't help it and have to recommend this one. I've got a couple words for this white: fruity yet dry. That is a perfect combo for me when it comes to white wine. This comes at a price that's not on the cheaper end but I'm ready to pay it again and again...

Lunch

2009-06-13T12:12:00.001+02:00

This is our very first lunch on the balcony this year. For some reason we haven't done it yet. We've done some dinners but not lunches.

I wonder how long...

2009-05-29T08:53:00.000+02:00

...it's going to take before the pair to the right is in the same, almost unusable, condition as the pair to the left. Yesterday I bought a pair of new shoes for Isidor. The last pair (the one to the left) is only three months old.

Queen's court

2009-05-28T10:16:00.002+02:00

Ten days ago we were on a four day , an extended weekend, trip to Budapest, Hungary. This trip was sort of an important one since that was Milla's first time to travel abroad. All of us really enjoyed it big time. The kids had fun and that was really important too. The city itself is beautiful and there is always a lot to see over there. Though traveled with the kids we still managed to do a bit of everything. We had some walks around, chilled in coffee shops, ate at nice restaurants, had some quality time at the pool, hopped on a river cruise, you know regular tourist things. My main impression though was the hotel. It was just superb! I'm not talking here some fancy schmancy and extravagant things, I'm talking simple cleanness and the level of service we got there. You know, after a long day outside running after kids, yet still trying to see something and have some nice time on a hot day (30 something C), the last thing I needed when finally at the hotel is rude staff and a dirty and run down hotel. I'm saying, when at the end of the day back at my room I wanted to kick it and let the kids crawl around and do whatever they wanted without worrying they were gonna get some infection or eat something crazy off the floor. I've been to relatively many different hotels but don't remember any of them being this clean and nice and I'm one of those weird guys who would never ever consider sitting on a public toilet without padding it thoroughly with paper towels, not the toilet paper! In this hotel I had no problems using the toilet from the very first moment (in the room though, not the lobby). Ironically, the hotel is situated in a pretty shady and not so tidy street. So the point here is, I really enjoyed my stay there for many different reasons but this last one is the crown jewel since it gave me peace of mind at the end of the day when I needed it the most. Price wise, it was on the more expensive side but it was so worth it! So, dear reader, if you ever find yourself in Budapest look for the Queen's court hotel (queenscourt.hu), you won't regret!

before

a couple hours later

Well spent 3000NOK

2009-05-10T00:25:00.000+02:00

A week ago Marion came home with a trampoline. We had talked of getting one so she got it. Isidor spent a great deal of time jumping on our neighbor's trampoline last year and really enjoyed it so we decided to get him his own. As soon as we got it mounted the kids from the immediate and not so immediate neighborhoods started lining up to check it out and have some quality time jumping around and burning calories . Personally I don't mind, but can imagine myself being pissed off hearing the noise just in front of my window or even worse answering the door every now and then at any time of the day telling kids to f'off or eventually letting them jump on that thing, depending on my mood and other circumstances. That being said after the first excitement of assembling it we started being worried a bit. How were we gonna deal with all those requests or kids just sneaking into our backyard without our permission to use the trampoline? More over I don't feel like watching the kids jumping at all times and I can't let them do that without having an adult looking after them. I don't want anyone to hurt themselves. We really started questioning our decision to buy it. Finally we decided that purchase wasn't the smartest thing to do.
Well, I'm telling all this because I just wanted to point out that the trampoline all of a sudden felt like a burden. Having all those thoughts in mind I reluctantly decided to actually use it this morning for the first time. It was first Marion and Isidor jumping, then me and Isidor, them Milla crawled in and finally it was all four of us just hanging around, fooling and laughing. Well, having an 8mo. old in that thing wasn't really smart, but at that point we were not jumping but more like playing inside. Well, I felt really great and that's the reason I'm writing all this. I kinda had a zen moment there and felt amazingly good, or for the lack of better word, fantastic. Watching Isidor having fun was really priceless. I felt so good that I'm actually gonna go so far to tell it was well spent 3000, even if we decide not to put it up next year . The next door neighbors didn't put up theirs this year and I think I know why!

I love to talk!

2009-04-23T09:44:00.000+02:00

I just love it. Yesterday I had a presentation of my work in the group informal seminar and I really felt well after the talk. I felt like I did a good job and the most importantly I enjoyed doing it big time. What's interesting though is that I actualy enjoyed even preparing the presentation and could have made it better had I had enough time. I guess I'm just passionate about things I work on right now. Now the funny thing is that I can get passionate just about anything that even slightly coincides with my general interests in life. Maybe I should consider some kind of job that involves a lot of taking in my future career. Anyone needs a spokesperson???...

Feels like spring

2009-04-02T08:45:00.000+02:00

Spring is officially here. Given that I live in Norway this might sound as a bold and premature statement. Whatever the case might be I'm dressed lightly on this sunny and crisp morning and am ridin' the subway on the way to work while the Irish drinking songs are blaring from my headphones. Even if it's not spring yet it certainly feels like it is.

This is how..

2009-03-27T20:24:00.001+01:00

...the working part of my friday started.

Lion mittens

2009-03-23T20:32:00.000+01:00

Each time Isidor gets a new thing be that a book, a toy or in this very case a garment he takes it to bed with him that evening. This next story is as bizarre as it only gets. On saturday we bought him a pair of mittens that are actually one of those sock puppet like kinds. It's like a lion's head where the thumb goes into the lower jaw and the rest of the fingers go into the head part. This time he made no exception and demanded the mittens on his way to bed. We met his requirement and as it turns out that was a bad move. What happens now is if he wakes up in the night and figures out that the mitts are not on the hands he starts calling us to come and help him put them back on. Yes that much he likes them! Hopefully he gets bored with them quickly. :-)

My x-mas gift

2009-03-20T10:18:00.000+01:00

This year christmas came early, or better said the last year's christmas came late for me (check the date on the newspaper shown on the top picture). What happened was that when asked what I wanted as a gift I didn't have any answers. I really didn't know what I wanted so we left it open. Two months later after discarding many of Marion's suggestion (I know, I know and nobody here has to remind me of how spoiled and difficult I am when it comes to presents, hi Isidora!) I finally settled with getting what I initially thought would be a season of Entourage. As it turned out it wasn't only one but all four available seasons. The package came in yesterday and I could hardly wait to get the kids in bed so I could start watching them. By the way Entourage is my all time favorite TV show. I'm also a huge fan of the Soppranos but nothing tops Entourage. What I like about the show is that it doesn't feature the A-listers, rather less known actors who I had never heard of. On the same token there is pretty much no episode without a celeb cameo. The only celebrity tightly affiliated with the show I knew of was one of the producers, Mark Wahlberg, aka Marky Mark for those who remember the music of the early nineties. Some also might remember him from the Kelvin Clein's men's underwear ads from the very same period. Anyway, the show rocks and I just cannot get enough of it. Initially I thought getting a set of dvd's was not a good idea since it's generally less likely one will watch them over and over again. This is so not true when it comes to me and Entourage. Marion actually might regret getting me this awesome gift since I plan investing hours (many of them) in watching the show. Thanks Marion, I love you! :-)

NGI treated us well

2009-03-17T14:35:00.003+01:00

This last weekend we spent in Geilo. The trip, accommodation and food was courtesy of NGI. NGI traditionaly takes its employees on a spring mountain trip every two years. The last time it was Beitoststølen and it was awesome so I looked forward to this one and I'm not disappointed. Now I can tell it was a successful adventure. The weather was real nice, the food was great and we just had a great time over there. We opted for not having any kind of childcare meaning that all activities had to include all of us. That also meant that I had to drop my snowboarding plans and I had on regrets, whatsoever. On saturday we went for a joint ski trip initialy. Isidor turned out to be more skilful than we thought he could be and that was a nice surprise. This was his second time to go skiing. After having a chocolate break Marion took of for a 12km trip with Milla sitting in the sled and I went back to the hotel with Isidor. This first trip is recorded and can be seen here. In the afternoon, after eating lunch I got to do a bit of skiing myself and did the same route Marion did. This trip is also mapped and can be found here. On Sunday we didn't get to do much since going places with kids takes a lot of planning and we didn't have too much time after taking our time eating breakfast and drinking coffee. Anyway, this was a beautiful family trip and I look forward to the next one in two years.

I got a netbook

2009-03-13T10:48:00.001+01:00

So I'm like sitting at work trying to focus and do some job and the phone rings. It's my dad and he's like hey what's up, what do you think about that little asus pc that I have? I'm like, wow you caught me off guard, I don't know, I think it's pretty good. Then he goes, all right it's all yours now I'm in a store and about to get myself a new one. Well, I was raised not to say 'No' to my parents and what could I do apart from saying 'Ok':-)! I mean what were my choices!? This is how I actually became a proud owner of a netbook. Yes, that's what are they called these days, the little computers that have pretty much only a few purposes, web surfing/e-mail/instant messaging/light multimedia. I had thought of getting myself one of those but realized that I hadn't had a real use for it so I just dropped the whole idea. I did secretly continue to want one and all of a sudden there it was, my dad's netbook looking for a new home. That was a real nice surprise, thanks dad! :-)

If you think your life sucks check fmylife.com

2009-03-05T17:44:00.002+01:00

A couple weeks ago I discovered fmylife.com and started visiting it on a semi-regular basis. It's about other people's mishaps that they willingly share with others. I can tell there is a lot of fake posts but it doesn't really matter as far as they are funny. It's not that a great deal of them is funny either but the good ones really crack me up. I really appreciate a good joke be it a real event or just imagination. Anyway, the site worth of visiting every now and then.

Lost and found

2009-03-04T10:08:00.005+01:00

Yesterday on the way to Isidor's kindergarten I found an ipod buried in the snow. I picked it up and the first thought I had was of my now long lost and never forgotten Sony mylo media player and communicator. So I picked up the thing and just stored it in my pocket wanting to investigate it when Isidor is dropped off. Given that the ipod was found in the proximity of our house it was reasonable to assume it belonged to some of our neighbors. It turned out it wasn't that difficult to figure out who it belonged to since it had the name of the owner on it. There was no doubt it would be returned but having the name of the owner on it made me think. If I didn't know whom to return it I would have informed the neighbors about my findings and waited until someone claims it. If nobody showed up I would have kept it of course. Now I just wonder what would have happened had I had my name and let's say address or the phone number on my mylo!? Maybe the founder would have returned it? I know that I would not be comfortable having something that belongs to someone else if there is a way of returning it. As a matter of fact I am not really comfortable using stuff others have already used to begin with, but that's a whole another story. Anyway yesterday's episode made me think I should start tagging my stuff. And yes, when I delivered it back I just asked the owner when he lost it out of sheer curiosity. As it turns out the ipod had spent at least 36 hours in a relatively cold and definitively wet environment and was fully functional when found. It seems that Apple makes some sturdy stuff. I have never neither owned nor wanted any of their products but apparently that there is at least one reason for this Apple craze going on. Well, now I'm going into something else that would be a topic for a totally different post and for that reason I'll stop here. The funniest thing is that I felt good returning it as much is I would have if someone returned the mylo to me.

COD, No thanks: the saga continues

2009-03-03T08:58:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I wrote about the guy who wanted to buy a cellphone from me and then told me I shouldn't worry because he was going to pick it up from the post office for sure but couldn't immediately because he didn't have enough dough and had to wait for the velfare check to come in. Well, somewhere along the line he decided he didn't want it at all and never picked it up. Strangely enough, this outcome kinda makes me happy. As it turned out he is in a mental institution and what I see as a possible scenario is following. He gets the phone, likes it one day and maybe doesn't like it another so he decides that he wants his money back or even worse starts asking questions about the phone calling me at any imaginable time of the day, you get the picture. Anyway, the phone is back in my hands. While waiting for it to come back in I missed like three buyers, but even that's ok. What I was surprised though was an envelope with 200 NOK arriving the other day. The dude that sorta bought the phone asked me for the address so he could send me the money that covers the expenses I had to send the phone to him. Honestly I didn't believe he was gonna follow through when I sent him the address. He actualy did and I really appreciate it. Meanwhile someone else called asking about the phone and if it was still available and that guy is coming to check it out the upcoming Friday. We'll see how this pans out but at least if there's going to be any transaction it's going to be in cash. I've learned my lesson with COD!

Skiing for the first time this season

2009-02-25T09:58:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I had a quite unusual lunch break. Instead of going to the break room where I usually eat lunch I went on a little ski trip with Marion and we ate our sandwiches outside near a lake. The weather wasn't really perfect but the snow conditions were just right. The temperature was also very ok, though I wish it would have been just a tad colder. The only thing missing was a bit of sunshine. This was also my first ski trip this winter, which just added a dash of excitement to the whole thing. So yes, to cut the long story short I had a beautiful afternoon, or better said its first part. The rest of the day I spent at work. As usually the trip details are here for all the stat-geeks (hello Marion :-)..) like myself. The battery on the cellphone died somewhere along the line so the GPS data is not full and there are some inaccuracies but it still gives a pretty good overview of the trip. Now I have just lightly sore muscles to remind me of an awesome afternoon too.

Sunday trip

2009-02-23T10:52:00.005+01:00

Here is a quick rundown of a beautiful day out in the nearby woods. We got up ate breakfast and fooled around the house until lunch. Originally we thought of making waffles and eating them for lunch somewhere along the line in the woods but that idea was quickly abandoned and the idea of a proper lunch at home was adopted and realized. After eating lunch we relatively quickly packed (there is no such a thing as quick packing when having two kids therefore "relatively"). The waffles were replaced with some chocolate goodness and some cocoa was onboard too. The rest of this post is to be seen and not read. That can be done HERE.

Grapes: Februrary 14, around 9 AM

2009-02-16T08:47:00.001+01:00

Getting to know my wife is a joyful ride and an adventure too. Every now and then she surprises me with something like this. Every time I think there's nothing she can do and surprise me anymore she does something like this and prove me wrong. She just set the plate with the grapes in front of me on saturday morning while I was reading news and drinking my first coffee. That was a very nice start of a beautiful day.

Yet another cellphone is finding its way to my hands

2009-02-12T18:00:00.000+01:00

The other day I bought a new cellphone again. Yeah I know, I could have used money in a much better way but I just love those little communication devices. Here the word phone is intentionaly omitted because a great deal of today's phones are much more than sms and voice calls. I use my phones for all kinds of things. They serve as cameras, email devices, browsing machines, mobile blogging tools...you name it. It just always keeps me connected.
Whatever the case might be my Nokia n96 is on its way from Tromsø and I can hardly wait to get it.

C.O.D?! No thanks I'll pass!

2009-02-09T09:37:00.002+01:00

Here is a little experience of mine that I want to share. A week ago I put one of my cellphones up for sale on finn.no. Five days later and two mark downs I finally get a message saying that someone was interested in buying it. A couple emails later I realized that the person wasn't really into buying it even though I met his requests and went down with price a bit. It's like Friday midnight and I get that call from the guy saying that he's coming on Saturday to get the phone after all. I happily go to bed and even more eager get up next morning waiting for the call and the buyer. Somewhere along the line I check my cell and find a message from another dude who wants to buy the phone too and am sort of ignoring it since I've got the first dude buying it. A couple hours later since the first dude doesn't show any interest in calling me I message the second dude asking him for a bit patience and telling him that someone is interested in doing business with me but that there are slim chances the first buyer is going to come back to me. The second dude engages us in a bit of sms extravaganza and after 10 or so sms's I get a call from him. He seemed seriously interested and I'm like all right the first dude is blowing me off I'll go with this fellow. More over he's not even negotiating the price. To cut the long story short I pack the phone go to the post office and send it so he can pay for it and pick it up once the phone is in. I also send the tracking number and all that so he can track the shipment. Everything looks ok, right? Well it wasn't before Sunday morning that I learned from yet another sms that he actually didn't have any money but he promised he was gonna get the package on February 20 since the welfare comes in then. I'm like shocked but still don't understand someone can do something like that. At the same time I'm not angry I just feel nothing about the whole situation. I'm actually left without any choices.
The thing is that he sends me a couple messages saying that he's going through some rough times fighting depression and so on. For some reason I actually trust him and think he's going to pay and get the phone at the end of the day. Truth being told, I actually don't care if he's going to get it because if he doesn't the phone comes back to me and finds its way to finn again. I'm not happy with the whole delay thing since I'm actively looking to buy another phone but that's what it's like right now.
So why am I writing all this? Well it's because of you dear reader! If you ever thought of selling something on finn and accepting COD (postoppkrav) as a method of payment reconsider it!! I know that from now on I want either cold hard cash or to see the numbers on my account before I send any of my things off!! I'm about to see how this transaction ends up and I'm definitely having a follow up post sometime after the 20th. :-)

My sanctuary

2009-02-05T17:24:00.001+01:00

Out of all places around the house this is my favorite. For some inexplicable reason kitchens have always been my faves and I always feel good being there. This is the scenario that always cheers me up. I just got up and am in the kitchen to brew some coffee. While waiting for the coffee I'm eating grapes taken from the fridge and checking my emails and reading random news on the internet. This is just one of my favorite ways to start a new day. The reality is that in the morning I usually just storm in the kitchen, prepare Isidor's food box, struggle to get him eat his breakfast, eat my grapes on the fly and the next thing I remember is me riding the subway on the way to work like I'm now.

Da hat is in da house

2009-01-28T10:05:00.001+01:00

Yeah, after two long weeks (almost) the Brixton Castor stingy brim fedora is in the house. The transaction was not as smooth as I'm used to when it comes to the Ebay purchases but wasn't a bad one either. I just got a bit frustrated not getting the right tracking number from the seller but that's not a biggie. The only thing left is to wait until summer to start rocking my new hat. That ain't gonna be easy since I like it a lot and wanna wear it now. It woul look ridiculous to have a straw hat on when it's like -8c and snowy outside so I definitely HAVE to wait. Anyway I'm happy with the purchase and the seller is going to get a positive feedback though I really didn't like not getting any answer after requesting a check and eventualy a new tracking number. After all, two weeks waiting time is more like a common thing than an exception. It's just me getting spoiled by some sellers I recently dealt with and having deliveries in a week or so.

Det det snør

2009-01-26T20:24:00.000+01:00

This is how much snow we got on our balconies in about 36h. I'm dreading something we are desperately going to need is in the 3rd. floor storage that happilly sits on the balcony and is absolutely unavailable. I guess there was some thinking behind the idea that the balcony doors should open to the outside since our doors open exactly that way. Anyway, hopefully we don't need anything from there, any time soon, otherwise there will be a lot of shovelling going on.

Pizza (for the lack of a better title)

2009-01-26T09:12:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I did a pizza for dinner after a long while. I'd been experimenting for a long time with different ways to do the crust and it might be that I found the magic formula last night. It must be a bit more moisture dough, a bit more olive oil than usually and the new way to bake it. I had it at 225c for the first 8' or so and then the temperature was reduced to approximalely 190c. Anyway I have to do more testing and by then I'm reporting that the inner part of the crust was thin whereas the edges (my favorite part by the way) were puffy and nicely baked with a thin crust around. I strongly believe this was the best pizza I have ever made. Well it could be that I was just super-hungry too. Whatever the case might be I enjoyed it big time. Ok, let me put it this way, Isidor ate it and that doesn't happen often.

Grand Teton, Wyoming

2009-01-23T17:41:00.000+01:00

Awh,... I love the photo to begin with and like it even better now when Marion gave it a bit of her touch. This is a photo from our trip to Yellowstone National Park. That was an awesome trip.

Yet another online service I like

2009-01-23T08:47:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I subscribed to the last.fm premium service. Last.fm is a combination of a social network and an online radio station that lets yot play selected tracks, make your personalized playlists and so on. This is my first online subscription ever. The last time I subscribed to something was the GQ magazine back in Alaska. I have always had my doubts about those online services but somewhere along the line have decided to give it a try. Last.fm allows for a lot of customization so I thought $3 per month wasn't that bad. The best thing was that I wasn't forced to buy 3, 6 or 12 month subscription as it usually goes like. Another good thing is that I have a mobile client running on my cell phone and a cheap cellular data plan so I am not tied to a PC and can stream the music on the go. Anyway I thing this was a good move since I'm a bit bored with my now aging collection of mp3's. As a matter of fact I'm writing this while riding the subway on the way to work and listening to my faves on last.fm.

Black Brixton Castor hat rocks

2009-01-14T21:27:00.000+01:00

This is my latest ebay purchase. Earlier today I ordered this stingy brim Brixton Castor hat and am looking forward to rocking it. Unfortunately since it's not the straw hat season I'll probablly have to wait a bit longer.
I became a hat devotee a while back then. The hats with a brim have never been high up on my list of favorite hats. The main reason was that I considered them to be exclusively meant for old people. I never had guts to wear one in public. Now when I'm a bit older it's time to make that leap and get myself a hat with a brim. The boonie hat I wear on hikes doesn't count. Anyway I'm excited to get my Brixton and to take it for a ride. I think it was well spent $38. It better be! :-)

Zoo

2009-01-09T08:28:00.000+01:00

Last night, as usually, I went to check on Isidor before going to bed and this is what I saw. I couldn't help it and had to take a picture risking to wake him up. It's usually the funky monkey out of the all other stuffed animals keeping him company in bed but last night I could tell there had been a party going on.

Happy bum gamer

2009-01-06T17:33:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I witnessed something totally surreal. I got off the subway at the National theater station and was on my way out when the scene above drew my attention. What you see there is a bum enjoying some video game action right at the station. If there were no picture this would not make a news given that there are so many portable gaming platforms. What is the news though is the fact he played the game on a fully blown pc. I couldn't see well but the alleged pc could have been also an xbox 360 since there was an xbox cardboard box laying around . The power was generously provided by the city of Oslo. The sight was so bizare I couldn't believe it so I had to take a photo. The problem was that Isidor was with me and I didn't know how the dude would react to me taking pictures so everything had to be done from a decent distance. The picture is not so clear but still portrays what I witnessed. The green thing to the left is the grocery store cart full of crap (so stereotypical yet I can imagine a usefull tool in a hobo's life) and covered with a sleeping bag. You can even see the power cord extension approximately above his head. To the right of the guy you can see the screen. I wish I could have taken a more detailed photo but didn't want to risk disturbing him. So, to conclude this scene totally beats my previous experience of seeing hobos chatting away on the cellphones while begging for money on the streets.

New cereal on the block

2008-12-30T22:16:00.000+01:00

Just trying a new brand (for me) of cereal and gotta admit, delicious! It's Tau Mølle 7 korn. They are a bit on the pricey side but definitely worth the money. I'm really big on cereal and have gotten bored with the stuff I've been buying at Rema 1000. This is definitely some good stuff and I'll continue with this. Looking forward to my tomorrow morning's feast!

Fram

2008-12-29T11:50:00.001+01:00

The holidays are over and I'm back to the real life. More accurately, I'm on my way to work. One of the, not so many, things we did during the holidays was a trip to the Fram museum on Sunday followed by a short walk around Bygdøy. I used the built in GPS, the camera and a very cool application (Nokiavine) on my cellphone to document the trip. The results are here and you, dear reader, are more than welcome to check them out.

Ice skating in downtown Oslo

2008-12-22T17:07:00.000+01:00

On Sunday after lunch we decided to go on a little trip to downtown Oslo. The main idea was to go to the little ice skating rink in the city center and to get Isidor try ice skating. It went pretty ok. He made his first strides and seemed to like it. Well, saying that he made the strides is a bit of parental exaggeration. Anyway, I'm mostly satisfied with the fact he actually did try to begin with. My real goal is to get him into inline skating next spring and this seemed like a good start.

Chilli and Cherry

2008-12-19T17:52:00.000+01:00

Dear Frigor chocolate,
I have to say good bye to you since there is another chocolate in my life. You've been the best chocolate I've ever tasted but that is about to change. Yeah, my new favorite as of yesterday is Chocolove xoxox. It's not any Chocolove but the chilli and cherry flavored one. Yes, that's right. It's not a typo, I just wrote chilli. I couldn't believe my ears when my sister told what she got me. To my surprise the chilli/cherry combo turns out to be a very good one. Well, good is not a proper word since I'm probably better off saying awesom. What I appreciated the most was how balanced different flavors were. So, I'm talking here a piece of dark chocolate that when put in the mouth tastes just like ordinary dark chocolate. Then, there comes that very discrete sweetness of dried cherries and everything ends up wraped in initialy subtle but then a very intense yet not burning chilli aftertaste. I just can't belive that cherries and chilli can taste so good when put together in a 55% cocoa chocolate bar. This was a very overwhelming experience and I have alread ordered a new batch.
PS. The ginger flavored chocolate on the pictures is yet to be tasted on.

New coffee machine

2008-12-18T17:41:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday we got a brand new coffee machine at work. I gotta say, this time around I'm very impressed. Not only the new one looks much better than the old one(s) but also much more sturdy.
The complementary set of 4 espresso cups is also a real nice touch. I definitely have no reasons for stopping at the nearby 7-11 on my way to work anymore.

Gimp revisited

2008-12-15T21:07:00.001+01:00

Here is just a small example of what my wife is capable of. This photo is one of the first ones she played with. It took just a couple of hours, though not in one sitting to make this manipulation. She did it between breastfeedings, house cleaning,dinner cooking and many other chores. Good job Marion!

Copstache

2008-12-15T10:01:00.002+01:00

Everything kicked off as a joke actually, On Saturday morning I was in the bathroom shaving my head and beard. What I usually do is to cut my hear first and then I move to the sideburns and finalize the shaving in the moustache area. This time I wanted to do something different and I just left out the moustache. The original idea was to have it for a couple hours, eventualy do a couple pix and then to shave it off and continue with a normal life. Well, as much as I was entertained with the result I also kinda liked it and wanted to see the reaction of the people that know me. The next thought was to keep it for the day and get rid of it on Sunday. On sunday I decided to actualy have it for the entire day because I sorta had grown used to it. So check this out, the Sunday evening rolls around I'm about to shave when Marion is like challenging me to sport the moustache at work! I couldn't say no to that one. So here I am, rocking an awesome copstache for the third day in a row. Amazing ha? What I realized though is that the copstache acts as an invisible shield enhancing my self-esteem making me a bit aggressive. I'm begining to feel like one of the detective characters from the Beastie Boys' Sabotage video. Anyway, I assume this madness is coming to an end this evening. As of tomorrow I'm gonna be the old me. Hopefully this copstache episode didn't inflict a permanent damage to my brain.

PS: COPSTACHE definition

GIMP junkie

2008-12-10T22:43:00.000+01:00

So, Marion has talked a lot of photo manipulation and how she wants to try herself at it. It has finally happened. She has started playing with Gimp and she's progressing very fast. I must say I'm very impressed how good she is at doing all kinds of tricks. She is so much into the whole thing that these days she prefers playing with photos over going out for a walk. How is this affecting me? Well, it's affecting me in the best imaginable way, it just feels good seeing her enjoying what she's doing. I love to see her happy.

Hey YA!!!

2008-12-01T10:18:00.001+01:00

Just came across the Hey YA track by Outkast and remembered me sitting in my dorm room at UAF some day mid January in 2004 and watching the video on tv. I liked it a lot. I remember it was just when I came back from the visit to my parents in Belgrade, Serbia. So, there was me sitting, listening to it, feeling good, I mean real good, and thinking that something awesome is about to happen. Anyway, this track always reminds me of that day.

First time alone with Milla

2008-11-29T13:47:00.000+01:00

This is the very first time I am staying at home totally alone with Milla. Isidor and Marion are off to the movies, which means I will be a good three hours here with her. So far it's been great but it's too early to draw some final conclusions. The only serious concern I've got is the feeding. She has never taken the bottle and that might be a problem though I believe everything will go smoothly.

Be aware of the flash light on your cell phone and avoid the embarrassment

2008-11-28T14:24:00.004+01:00

Yeah, that would be my message to all of you mullet-hunters. So here is what happened last night. I was happily riding the subway on the way home when I spotted a subject I desperately had wanted to take a picture of. The subject was a middle aged women that I actually had no interest in, but she sported a full blown mullet which I did want to take picture of. I had noticed her before and never managed to be close enough to get a good shot. Yesterday night I finally got a good chance, or at least I thought so.

To cut the long story short, she was getting on the subway I had the phone already in my hands ready to go in action and finally immortalize the mullet I had been so obsessed with. I moved a bit to get a better angle while the shivering finger was lightly pressing the shutter button and the camera was focusing. I waited a bit for the subject to be perfectly still and fully pressed the button. To my great surprise the flash went off and there was I, standing totally embarrassed.
The next thing I did was even more stupid. I started fumbling with the phone shooting a couple more random self portraits pretending to explore the endless features of my cell phone. I did feel extremely embarrassed.
Why did I want to take that photo to begin with? I do think mullets are funny but do I have to make fun of people sporting them? No I don't think so. I will take this as a warning sign. I can only imagine what would have happened if instead of that women it had been that maintenance dude (2m/120kg), from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, with an extremely curly mullet.
Anyway, I have to find another, less dangerous hobby and I also have to stop being mean.

A must have item in your browser's bookmarks

2008-11-19T12:47:00.003+01:00

So I was riding the subway on my way to work and (as usually) browsing the google reader feeds on my cell when this one popped up before my eyes: http://www.sitorsquat.com. Actually I was reading one of my favorite feeds, geardiary.com, and they posted a little story about the SitorSquat web site. Man, was I excited!!! In my opinion one of the most valuable information one can ask for/need when out and about is the proximity of the nearest toilet. This site does exactly that, it maps public (bars, restaurants, theaters,..) toilets all over the world. The site is all about public toilets. Yes, you heard it well.

The thing works like this, people from all over the world submit the addresses of public toilets they come across along with the ratings (SIT and SQUAT, and as you can imagine sit being: yeah, you can comfortably sit on the toilet seat and squat being: dude, just do your business and get the hell out of there as soon as possible) and sometimes photos of the toilets. Needless to say that each submission is being immediately pinned on the google maps and available at any time. The best part, there is an application downloadable to your iphone or blackberry so you can always figure out the nearest toilet and mentally prepare for sitting or squatting. What I learned after contacting the owner of the site is that the windows mobile and symbian versions are definitely on their agenda but should not be expected before the end of this year.

I really like the idea of having an easily accessible list of public toilets while being around the city, especially now when having two small kids that need a change every now and then.

Yeah, a bit of bragging at the end, I was the first one to contribute from the Oslo area and probably the second person in Norway. There is another submission from Trondheim.

First smiles

2008-11-11T11:18:00.001+01:00

Milla (2.5 mo) has started smiling a couple days ago. I am not quite sure when I saw her smiling for the very first time though. It's been actually a while since I saw signs of a smile on her face but it was very difficult to say she was smiling. It is still impossible to capture that on a camera since she does it pretty randomly. What we have noticed though is that she smiles after waking up an seeing Marion. Yeah, she always smiles after a poopy diaper is removed. As opposed to Isidor at that age, she is pretty annoyed with full diapers. It feels great to finally have some interaction with her.

Timbuk2 XL

2008-09-19T10:50:00.001+02:00

As it usually works with me I get an item start using it, start liking it a lot and boom I am hooked on. Recently I got a small Timbuk2 bag off Backcountry.com on some super sale. The bag is awesome and I use it on a daily base. My wife liked it a lot too and asked me to get her one. Of course it did not take me too long before I was on a quest for another Timbuk2 bag. The place I always start with is Ebay. Searching on Ebay I came across this XL Timbuk2 in chestnut/copper color scheme and immediately fell in love with it. The only problem was the size, she wanted S and this one was XL!! Well there is always a solution so I decided to get this one and to use it for our daily trips/traveling with kids, to give her my old one, to get my sister a new one so I can take her dark brown/tan/white in size S. Complicated? Yeah it is but now everybody is happy, especially me. I had to fork out money for two instead of only one bag though. I still think that was a good investment since these bags seem to be pretty solidly built and durable. That being said, I expect to use mine for many years to come or until I come across a color scheme I cannot resist!!!

This is a picture of the bag I bought off Ebay yesterday.

Permanet residence permit

2008-09-18T10:43:00.001+02:00

Today I am applying for permanent residence here in Norway. Surprisingly enough the paperwork part was not hard at all. Actually there were just four forms that needed to be filled out. What's bothering me though is just this endless line that I am standing in. Well this is the last time that I have to renew my working and residence permit which makes waiting a bit easier.

In the movies

2008-09-04T22:35:00.001+02:00

Today I took my 2.5 yr old to the movies for the very first time. It was a real cool experience. We got some candy as it should be, bought the tickets and went to see a movie. I gotta say that I was bored to death with the movie but Isidor enjoyed it big time. It is really rewarding to see your kids being happy and enjoying those small things though.

6 years

2008-09-02T16:01:00.000+02:00

On this day six years ago I started with my what was meant to be PhD degree in atmospheric sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Summer 2008

2008-09-01T23:30:00.002+02:00

This last summer is going to be remembered by these events :
1. The most recent and the most important event is the birth of our daughter Milla. She was born on August 27, at 2:48 in the morning, six days after the due date. The birth went pretty well and as a matter of fact I almost missed it. By the time I was done with parking the car and buying some snacks the water broke. I made it back in time to witness the birth though. So, there are four members of the Boerresen-Jankov family. It feels so special to be a dad. It feels even more special to be a dad to Isidor and Milla.

2. The second most important event was our road trip to Yellowstone National park. That was an extraordinary experience. A rather small selection of the photos from the trip is posted on picasaweb.google.com/mihailojankov. The Yellowstone adventure took place in the second half of June, Isidor and I spent two weeks in Boulder at my sister's whereas Marion took off for a conference almost immediately after the road trip. This vacation was also very important for me because I managed to bond even more with Isidor. It was really cool to be with him for a longer period of time without Marion. That was not the first time I stayed alone with him but was the longest. More over, my dad was also at my sister's so they got to hang out with Isidor. They really appreciate the time spent with him since we all live in different corners of the world now.

3. We also did a semi-successful trip to Droebak. I really like Droebak and I looked forward going there. What I did not like though was the place we stayed. We expected to live in a cozy cabin with built in running water. Well, it did not happen. We ended up in a pretty run-down cabin with no running water and no bathroom. We knew that there was not gonna be a bathroom but we did expect running water. Anyway, we stayed there over the weekend and the bad weather just helped us making a leap and returning home after just two days.

4. I had a totally unsuccessful attempt to reduce the number of cell phones that I own. Firstly I got a Samsung i620 in June and decided that my thrusty HTC Vox needed a new home. That way I would have ended up having the T-Mobile dash (birthday gift from my sister) and the newly acquired i620. I also got an old NOKIA 6233 that my wife had used. That being said, the Vox was bound to be sold. Yeah, eventually I did sell it and realized that the money from the sale won't go anywhere else but towards the purchase of a Nokia N78. Yeah I felt that incredible desire to own the N78. Even though that purchase was totally unnecessary I could not help it. To make a long story short I got it and I am more than pleased by its looks and performace.

5. Freeline skates became my new passion. I saw a video in June and immediately ordered a pair of freelines. They are so difficult to get the hang of them. I still cannot go uphill.

To conclude, yes this was an awesome and warm summer and I had a great time. There were some downfalls and disappointments that I have almost forgotten and that I won't be writing about.

Kickscooter

2008-08-20T11:25:00.001+02:00

Yesterday my wife surprised me with a real nice gift, a kick scooter. I had been thinking of buying one for ages but never gotten around to get it. I think this is a nice and fun way to commute from home to the subway and then from the subway stop to work. Those distances are pretty short but hey why not make them even shorter (timewise at least)? So, I went to bed last night thinking of how cool it was going to be to try the new scooter on my regular morning commute to work. Needless to say , that I woke up this morning to the sound of raindrops banging against the window. Seems like I will have to wait a bit before getting a chance to enjoy my new ride!. Thanks Marion this gift really made my day yesterday.

Oslo City Hall

2008-04-10T11:51:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, as usually, I was really reluctant to go to the mandatory Norsk Samfunkunskap class. The course is a part of the language training and is mandatory in terms of renewing the working and residence permit. In any case, at this point in my life I consider the class a pure waste of time and would prefer either to be with my family or to work. Yesterday I actually really enjoyed it, in part due to the substitute lecturer and in part due to the visit to the Oslo City Council (City Hall). The teacher was just too funny, and I will not be writing about him here.
To begin with, the building is one of my favorite in Oslo, even though it is sometimes referred as to 'Brun Ost' which means brown cheese (a sort of cheese, diary product very common in Norway). The City Hall is built of red brick and looks particularly nice when seen from the see on a sunny day. At least I love red brick buildings, which is the reason I like the university complex a lot too.
Apart from the beautiful facade, the interior is nice too. The whole building is basically built of Norwegian material and by Norwegian construction workers. It is, needless to say, also decorated by famous Norwegian artists (glassblowers, painters, sculptors). The only thing I disliked interior wise was a sort of discontinuity or a lack of good composition on the frescoes inside. To be more precise it happens only once in the main hall where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held. On the wall to the right from the entrance there is a fresco depicting the patron saint of the city that sort of seemed to be out of the context. If it had been just placed somewhere else or somehow integrated in the existing frescoes it would have been awesome. The thing I liked the most was basically the pattern on the walls.
The visit itself was nice not only due to the aesthetically pleasing scenery but also due to the fact that I have learned a bit more about Norwegian history in general and the history of the city. Anyhow, I have no regrets going to the class and It was actually nice to do something else for a change.

In Memoriam

2008-03-31T21:40:00.001+02:00

Mileva Jankov

1946-2005

we truly miss you

XX

2008-03-28T21:36:00.001+01:00

Today we got a message from the Ullevål hospital saying that Marion is expecting a baby girl. We are pretty excited, especially me since now I will probably have somebody to take to the malls. Isidor already shows a strong inclination towards outdoors activities, which is totally Marion's thing so maybe there is still some chance that I will get a companion for wandering in the malls. Anyway, we are very excited about the news and very happy that Isidor is going to have a sister.

My social networking

2008-03-02T08:08:00.004+01:00

I got really interested in so called social networking after reading an article about Twitter in The New York Times a year or so ago. I had never thought about it but that article got me really excited about the whole soc.net idea. I love email and love to keep in touch with all my friends but there is no way I can devote so much time to writing to and reading all the emails. That said, the idea of being able to get the latest lowdown on what my friends are up to whenever I have time and want it and all that without being obliged to react to it in any way sounded fantastic.

The websites I really like are of course Twitter which I use to update my Facebook status. I have also subscribed to Jaiku, Plazes, Tumblr and Pownce. Basically all of them are very similar to each other. Twitter is definitively the most simple one, therefore my favorite. I just love the simplicity and plainness of the interface and the idea behind it.
As to the others that I use, they allow for file sharing, comments and so on. My next favorite social network is Tumblr. Tumblr is more on the mini-blogging side, meaning somewhere between the full blown blogging embodied in Blogger and micro-blogging as seen on the Twitter pages.
I am particularly inclined toward the possibilities to do all my blogging off my cell phone or the Nokia n800. This is due to the fact that I am neither much of a writer nor is there always much to be said and most importantly I love to share those moments/thoughts/photos as soon as they are experienced instead of waiting for another opportunity to be next to a computer . A nice addition to all this makes Shozu which is a cell phone application for sending and posting photos to different web sites.
The network I like the least is actually Facebook and I don't wanna give up on it since all my friends are unfortunatelly there. I wish actually that all the people I'm friends with on Facebook were on the aforementioned networks instead. I did try, not very hard though, to get them in the Twitter thing but it did not work out. Well, I hope I have more success once the whole Facebook hysteria is over.
It seems like I am being active on many social networks and that is just what it looks like right now. The truth is that I am on all of them for the sole reason of curiosity. I do also wanna test all of them and see which one feels best. At the end of the day it will probably narrow it down to one or two I am gonna stick with. From this point seems like I will be going with my blog here, Twitter and Tumblr. The other ones have a lot of potential in many ways but somehow I like best the latest three.
Anyway, sleeping time I better go and catch some z's.

the ultimate ride

2008-02-16T11:30:00.001+01:00

...one of my favorites..

aapent bakeri again

2008-02-12T12:31:00.001+01:00

...having lunch quite early today we managed to avoid waiting in endlessly long lines at aapen bakeri...

Dad for the 2nd time

2008-02-08T20:34:00.000+01:00

This is an ultrasound picture of our new baby. Yay!!! He or she is 5.11 cm long (from the top of the head to the buns) and around 11 weeks old. We are on the way to become parents for the second time. It was pretty exciting earlier today to see the little one moving. It was particularly exciting for me since I was not here to see the ultra sound pictures of the first one.

Working from home...

2008-01-30T12:37:00.000+01:00

...is not really my thing but every now and then it is good. Today I actually had to stay and wait for a handy man to come and fix some things around the house. Initially I thought it was gonna be a 1/2h kind of work but it turned out I was terribly wrong. It took like 3h, so at the end it did not make any sense going anywhere. Well I canot complain since I am actually enjoying working from home today.

classes

2008-01-29T17:37:00.000+01:00

The frustration with the classes I am taking this semester builds up on a daily basis. It is not that I am bored or something, rather a lack of time to really go through what's been lectured and to do more reading. I actually I wish I would have taken the percolation class when I arrieved here since it gives answers to many questions I have been asking all this time. The main problem right now is that I am in the middle of writing of an article and am not managing to divide my attention between the classes and the writing. Hopefully everything gets a little easier when I have a new draft of the paper done.

The music of the day: Sly and the stone. Life is awesome after all!!!

...nah

2008-01-26T10:03:00.000+01:00

Too early...still haven't finished my morning coffe!

New Years resolution

2008-01-22T21:22:00.001+01:00

I should have probably written about this before January 1, 2008, but at that point I did not have anything that could be considered a resolution. To be honest I had never thought (srsly) about it. Meanwhile I have gotten a couple of ideas that can actually qualify for new years resolutions.
The first thing is to start drinking more water. Sounds weird, but I barely drink water through out a regular day. This is particularly true on weekdays. Having that awesome coffee machine in the break room at work just makes me drink immense ammounts of coffee instead. There is no problem with it, or better said there would be no problem with it if it wasn't for my very low consumption of water. I find the only solution to be drinking two glasses of H2O for each cup of coffee drunk. An additional motivation is going to be my newly acquired grayish nalgene bottle.
The other thing that might be suitable as a goal for this year is learning more about programming. More specifically I am interested in learning Python. I sort of never get a chance for bettering self in terms of new intelectual challenges and learning new things appart from what I need to learn to get my work done. This is fine and my work is fun but still have to do something like a hobby. This one is gonna be a tough one since there is a serious lack of time in my life but will do my best.
I guess I am better off not setting too many goals. That being said, I am gonna stick with these two and see how it works. It'll be fun!

The 1st post from my n800

2008-01-13T00:03:00.000+01:00

This is the very first post from my nokia n800. Yeah, that's my new toy anf I gotta say, I am pretty happy with this purchase. Actually, it was a christmas gift from my wife.

The n800 offers a browsing experience pretty close to the PC/lap top one. First, I had the sony mylo, which I thought was decent. It had sort of a small screen (2.4 inch as same as my smartphones) and a slide-out keyboard (which was the main reason I bought it) and just did right what sony promised it would. Like many others I had a lot of complaints on the lack of backlit keyboard, its inability to play youtube videos (lack of flash support) but overal I was happy with it. I still think it was a decent device even though it had some drawbacks. If it just had a browser like the opera mini 4 it would be an awesome gadget in my opinion. The purpose of the mylo was to get me online when I was at home and didn't feel like firing the pc just to check my emails or skim through the latest news. At the time I had already started using smartphones but the mylo's battery life was so much better than that of my cell. Unfortunately I lost it some time ago and am still missing it. One more thing, skype on the mylo worked like a charm.

The n800 has a better screen and a browser than the mylo, but is bigger in size and not as pocketable as the mylo was. When I think about the mylo now, it really looked like a toy as compared to the n800. The n800 doesn't have a physical keyboard but the on screen thumboard just does the work. Actually I am getting very used to it and am sorta able to type relatively fast on it. Overall I really enjoy it a lot. :)

Thanks Marion, that was an awesome gift!

cartoons

2008-01-05T16:20:00.001+01:00

...watching cartoons with Isidor :)

LH 481

2007-12-27T11:11:00.000+01:00

Here I am again with my little in flight journal. This time I am flying back from Denver, CO to Munich in Germany. As usually leaving the States always feels sad, especially when saying goodbuye to my family. So as same as I did it the last time this journal is gonna be updated as soon as something worth of mentioning it occurs. Meanwhile here is a little update on my trip to DIA( Denver Int'l Airport). Technically I drove myself to the airport but also had Nebojsa to navigate and my dad to drive them back to Boulder. After taking a wrong turn and not finding the exit to tollway we had a little sightseeing tour. It was not bad but sort of dissturbing since I really wanted to get to the airport little ahead of time to try to check in and get an isle seat. Yes after the last trip to San Francisco I have changed my policy and don't ask for windows seats anymore. Anyway, we got kinda at the time I wanted to be there but could not get the desired seat so I decided to try at the gate, which worked our real fine. Now I am sitting on 31D and am enjoying my white wine. This time the alcoholic beverages are courtesy of Lufthansa (yaaaaaaay!).

01:20 the choices are turkey and pasta. I am thinking of turkey and white wine. That should be a combo that's gonna make me sleepy. I gotta catch some z's and get ready for my daily duties back home. I am always more jet-lagged flying to Europe.

01:54 the white one is real good so I am going for my third glass right now. It's all good, I am fed and am watching some crappy videos, waiting for the movie. The first one is gonna be Hair spray. I plan on beginning to watch that one and taking a nap somewhere along the line.

02:46 bayleeeeeeeeeezzzzzzz on the rocks...let's see how that's gonna feel. I have only one concern. I am afraid that too much of the free alcohol is going to seriously affect my premeditated sleep. The flight attendants on this flight are A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I am so not used to having Lufthansa crew being so nice. Gotta check the names of these two ladies and give them credits. Unfortunatelly their bosses don't read my blog.

09:56 landed safely to Munich. Even though the seats, especially when reclined, on Airbus A-340s are not the most comfortable ones the flight was just awesome due to an excellent onboard service. Ms Gardenitsch and Ms Baen did an excellent job. Now I am sitting on my flight home to Oslo. In about 5 minutes we are supposed to take off. Looking forward to see Isidor and Marion. :)

Sfo-den

2007-12-15T04:05:00.001+01:00

I am approximatelly halfway through my trip to the US now. I just landed from San Francisco and am sitting at the airport in Denver and waiting for Isidora to pick me up. She is stuck in the traffic so actually it might be my dad who I am gonna see first. He's coming today too! Yay that's gonna be a little family reunion. Like always, being in the US feels great. I feel totally at home here, espeically in Boulder, CO. As of tomorrow we are gonna be on the mission looking for the best deal possible on snowboarding gear. I am getting two sets of gear, for me and Marion. I really lok forward to learning to snowboard with here. Since I don't feel like writing, this post is gonna end right here. ;)

UA 901

2007-12-10T20:25:00.001+01:00

This is gonna be my little journal from the UA 901 flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco on Dec 9, 2007. I am gonna forget about the actual time and say that the flight departed at 00:00 and will be updating the journal whenever there is a thought or a situation that prompts me to wright it down. So here we go ladies and gentlemen!

00:55 just spotted an old man having a funny baseball hat with the 'old fart' print on it. I mean the guy is just hilarious walking around and proudly boasting his pink print on the black background hat. My ears are kinda on fire. I've got that inexplicable burning sensation. One more thing, i have just learned that the alcoholic beverages are gonna be served at $ 5 charge. Already have made up my mind and will be getting a glass of white before and a glass of red with lunch.

01:29 i am not sure if it is the sound that's very crappy or something else but the movie seems to be immensely boring. I see that lunch is being served. Right on time, since I am pretty hungry now! Wonder what's offered!

01:41 the chardonnay has actually kicked in. Even though I am like utterly bored I sorta feel good. Did I mention how much I missed my family back in Oslo? Shit, I wish Isidor and Marion tagged along. I actually asked ,Marion if she wanted to come along and she said no. I mean I do understand, it is like a short overseas trip and it would have been a lot of hassle if she had decided to come along since Isidor would have had a hard time to aclimate to the time difference in such a short period. Listening to some urban music on channel 8.

2:24 just finished chicken/salad/bread and butter/strawberry ice cream/another glass of white wine (chardonnay again but this time american one instead of australian...yeah that was a change of plan but I thought that white would go better with chicken than red). I think I am gonna try to take a nap. Yeah, one more thing, even though I am not really watching the movie ( no reserve ) I have realized that one of my favorite actresses is in.. Patricia Clarkson) .

06:05 back from a mini coma. I have actually managed to to take a couple of tied power naps, which could have counted as a 4h sleep if it hadn't been a little bit cold every now and then and I hadn't woken up. Anyway, seat 58G has been pretty good so far. ;-)

06:57 seriously thinking to grab the copy of my manuscript from the bag.

07:32 a lady that's sitting nearby just finished her stretching routine. It looked more like she had seazures. Still haven't started reading the manuscript.

09:31 watching a hilarious episode of the simpsons, the one when lisa helps moe publish his poetry. Awesome! :)

10:30 the yoga lady is performing another round of stretching. No seazure-like moves this time.

11:15 heading towards the immigration inspection!

11:45 of course a double check at the immigrations. Come on, I am a holder of a Serbian passport. The guy just got confused a couple of times trying to find the country code in his register. Well, now I am on a shuttle happily riding toward my hotel. Need a shower , food and some rest. ;)

No title today

2007-12-09T08:19:00.001+01:00

I just had no idea how hard it was going to be to say goodbuye to my 2yr old son Isidor earlier this morning when I was leaving to the airport. This is the first time I am leaving him for a longer period of time. It is only 11 or 12 days that we are not gonna see each other but it is still pretty damn difficult especially after getting that HUGE hug and 'HA DEEET' FROM HIM. I am so gonna mis him and my old lady!

whaddaday

2007-12-07T13:13:00.001+01:00

This is one of those days when you just know something awkward is about to happen. So this morning I am doing a regular check of my messenger bag and everything is just fine. The wallet, the mp3 player everything is there. Well me being me meaning being always late and me having a large workload usually ends up with me running to catch the subway (runs every 15 min). So here I am running to catch the subway and thinking if it is really worth it. I mean I have sore muscles from running in my engineer boots (not crafted for any kind of fast walking/running but surprisingly comfortable for everyday use and walking at a normal pace) after the same subway I ran the day before and I am like fuck it man, those 15 minutes that i have to wait to get on the next one won't make any difference but hey I am not listening my own brain telling me things. The funniest thing is that I know that those moments when I keep on doing something I am not fully comfortable with never ever end up well. Never! Anyway I am running that last stretch and all of the sudden there is that muffled 'thunk' sound that I am registering and totally ignoring. I am like it cannot be me (not a single person around me in like 5m perimeter, what a great thought ha?) all my possesions are secured in the bag and the pockets. Well as it turns out 30' later I was totally wrong since I am just witnessing the mp3 headphones hanging out of the bag and the mp3 player is nowhere to be seen. So that's it. I am totally deteriorated by the loss of my precious gadget.

love to start my day with...

2007-12-01T09:47:00.001+01:00

...something like this ;)

Co-ownership

2007-11-20T18:01:00.000+01:00

It's less than 24 hours before I am gonna become a co-owner of a town house. The fact that this is actially gonna be the very first time I am in possesion of a real estate adds to the spectacularity of the thing. I am already very excited and yes, anxious to finally move into our new place. ;) Well like always in life there are ups and downs, and currently our major down is that the apartment we currently live in is kinda difficult to sell. It's been a while since the sale was anounced and there has been a lot of the open house events but we still haven't gotten any offer. That's little worrying but I am pretty sure that's gonna resolve shortly. ;)

Inspection

2007-11-07T09:34:00.000+01:00

It is only 14 days before we can officially move in. Today (in about an hour) we gotta be in our new house to inspect how everything has been done so far and eventually address all the issues we've got with it so they can work them all out. It's very exciting.

Rob Corddry

2007-10-19T09:04:00.000+02:00

The name itself probably does not mean anything to most of you who happen to read my scribbling and is actually related to an actor that I have come to admire big time. I sort of got the same feeling about him as I had about Steve Buscemi when I saw him for the very first time. Steve had a minor role in an early nineties movie titled Zandalee (starring Nicolas Cage and Judge Reinhold ). He played a very funny garbage-man and now he has become pretty famous directing and acting in many movies. I spotted Rob first in John Stewart's Daily show on comedy central. He was as hilarious as John himself if not even funnier. Then, all of the sudden he just disappeared from the show and I really wondered what happened to him. Not only did I wonder but also stopped watching the show. It just wasn't funny enough anymore. Meanwhile I have moved from the U.S. and have nearly lost touch with American TV and have forgotten on Rob too. That all changed recently when I stumbled across his name a couple of months ago. So, I was fooling around browsing profiles on myspace and clicking links which eventually led me to suicidegirls.com. The site features tattooed pin-up girls, kinda soft-porn pix (the Wired magazine referes to it as "a punk-rock vogue", but also has a tech, cultural, news and the celebrity/gossip section and guess what, one of the editors and columnists in the cultural section was Rob Corddry himself. That was a pretty refreshing experience and some good old memories just came back to me. Needless to say as of that day Rob's name just has kept on popping up from everywhere. It is kinda like one of those situations when you loose touch with some old friend and out of the blue something reminds you of the person and then immediately after that you find yourself in the middle of an avalnche of all kinds of information related to that very person. Anyway I just wanted to share my fascination with that in my opinion very talented actor/comedian. Check him out in The hearbreak kid, he really rocks. All right gotta go now, time to do some work.

juice

2007-10-10T13:28:00.001+02:00

this is my newly acquired best friend, the juicer in the recently opened organic store here on campus. i've already spent a fortune in this cosy little shop!

elkschnaps (moose brandy)

2007-10-08T10:22:00.001+02:00

this is some kind of sweedish liquor that i have no intention of trying for the sole reason of its more than ridiculous packing. these babies were spotted at vinmonopolet at tveita mall on saturday while i was shopping for our weekend wine supply. i mean this scenery really made me laugh!... cheers ;)

the view

2007-10-02T18:13:00.001+02:00

..this is what I am looking at while eating an orange in the break room @ work....

calendar

2007-09-27T12:51:00.001+02:00

Well, I've really been thinking for a while now to start using a calendar. For me being born and raised in Serbia where time means next to nothing calendars have never had any purpose in life. All that has changed since my son was born. All of the sudden I have experienced a chronic lack of time. With my relaxed attitude towards time I have started to feel more and more frustrated about things that lined up and my inability to juggle multiple tasks and to get them done. At some point I just have realized that more of organization in my everyday life has to to be present. The solution seems to be a calendar and to-do list, so now I am using both and actually it feels great. To be honest I am becoming a calendar-freak but that doesn't matter as far as I manage to keep up with my day to day duties! ;)

my gym buddy!

2007-09-22T17:18:00.001+02:00

..with a kid like Isidor who would ever need a gym!

The advert

2007-09-18T10:07:00.001+02:00

So the word is out (http://finn.no/finn/realestate/object?finnkode=11162481&sid=7abco05nw955931&pos=10&tot=47&WT.svl=Link) and the first open house event is taking place on thursday from 5pm through 6pm. We are becoming little anxious to see how that's gonna play out.