Archive for July, 2011

Breaking the ‘two-year-moving-cycle’

Sunday, July 31st, 2011

July 31 2011, the day where I should have moved into a new house! Uhh, hahaha…well, at least *if* I would follow the two year moving cycle that I have had the past four years. 😉 I moved into the first house in Norway on July 31 2007 , a beautiful red painted house close to the forest. It was a rental house and since we liked living in Norway so much, we decided to buy a house when the owners came back to Norway. Coincidence or not (I personally don’t believe in it 😉 ), we moved into our *own* house exactly two years later, on July 31 2009. And we still love living here…today was a great example; enjoying the sun on the veranda, go for a swim in the nearby lake (400m) to cool down and then drive within 25 minutes to Oslo city center…NICE!!

Oh, and to put things into perspective; a house is mostly just four walls with a roof…the size and location don’t really matter, since you can make any place feel like home, as long as you put your heart in it!

QOTD July 30 2011

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

Marcel Proust: “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy: They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

TGIF, Song of the Day: Have I Told You Lately…

Friday, July 29th, 2011

TGIF y’all! 😉

Today’s Song of the Day brings back memories from way back…WHAT a great song: Van Morrison with ‘Have I Told You Lately”!
So, sit back, relax and listen…let the song come in, close your eyes and feel what it does to you!

This one is for all the people I LOVE!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6k9zzhav90

…no words…just roses and candles

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

The city of  Oslo is FILLED with flowers and candles…intense…

 









 

Rock, paper, scissors…choose ROCK!

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Some of you might know (and occasionally play) the game Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Wikipedia: “Paper-rock-scissors is a hand game played by two or more people…The game is often used as a selection method in a way similar to coin flipping, drawing straws, or throwing dice. However, unlike truly random selection methods, rock-paper-scissors can be played with a degree of skill, especially if the game extends over many sessions with the same players; it is often possible to recognize and exploit the non-random behavior of an opponent.”

Well, as you can see from the picture below, there is a way to always win the game…ha, I choose ROCK! 😉

 

Bergrosa at the Rose ceremony

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Alexander Rybak played Sven Nyhus’ “Bergrosa” last night at the Rose March ceremony in Oslo center. The original broadcasted sound was off (it sounded as if he played out of tune), but I now found an alternative version…it is beautiful, and emotional…

A day filled with silence and roses

Monday, July 25th, 2011

There were several moments today when whole of Norway (and beyond) stood still to remember the victims of last Friday’s attacks in Oslo and at Utøya. Stood still in complete silence at 12:00h today, and during a ‘Rose March‘ with 200,000 people attending…roses spread love through out the city, Norway united.

Another great initiative is Hold together – Hold hands‘ where over 750,000 people are virtually holding hands, creating a chain to protest against violence and in sympathy with those affected.
Join us!

 

A german newspaper article said: “Even in their deepest sorrow the norwegians don’t get hysterical. They resist the hate. It is amazing to see how politicians and the whole country reacts. They are sad to the deepest thread of their souls. They cry in dignity. But nobody swears to take revenge. Instead they want even more humanity and democracy. That is one of the most remarkable strengths of that little country.”


The Rådhus square was PACKED with people

QOTD July 24 2011

Sunday, July 24th, 2011

Sophocles: “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.”

Prince concert cancelled

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

Today’s Prince concert has been postponed until August 2 which is a GOOD thing! The venue, Oslo Spektrum, is very close to where the bomb exploded and it might be impacted, but more importantly; I/we don’t feel like partying nor dancing on ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ after yesterdays events at all…

We and the whole of Norway are numb and silent…

Terror attacks in Norway

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

I was planning to post a happy TGIF Song of the Day, but obviously none of that after today’s terror attacks in Oslo and Utøya.

At least seven people died and many got injured after a bomb explosion in the government area in the city center, and at least ten young people were killed at a shooting attack on a political youth camp…TERRIBLE!!

I was at work when I heard (and felt) a huge BOOOOMMMM around 15:20h…thought initially that it was thunder striking close by although it seemed too loud…who would have thought it would be as bad as it turns out to be…updates still come in every minute (check tv2.no, aftenposten.no, nu.nl or bbc.co.uk), the latest news tells us that the shooter on the Utøya island is Norwegian and can also linked to the car bomb in the city center, CRAZY!!

…this ain’t Norway, it all feels so unreal…

The Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg just said: “No one will bomb us to silence. No one wil shoot us to silence. No one will ever scare us away from being Norway”.

My heart and love goes out to the family and friends of the victims and we are burning a candle for the victims.

Keep off the grass?!

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Telegraph.co.uk: “Merton, England, officials declined to say how much it had spent on trying to protect this minute patch of green. The council also declined to say which officer had made the decision to send a workman – or team of workmen – to hammer in the sign. “The sign was put up to remind motorists that it is illegal to park on the footway, and is designed to deter indiscriminate parking,” a spokesman said.”

Hahahaha…OMG!!! 😉

An Apple day

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

Yesterday Apple announced their Q3 results having all time quarterly revenue and profit records: $28.57 billion in revenue (up 82 percent from Q3 last year) and $7.31 billion in net profit (up 125 (!) percent)…one could buy countries with that amount of cash, crrrazy!

Today they launched new goodies that will generate even more cash: the latest and greatest of the Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) and…a great update of the MacBook Air with next generation processors, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology, a backlit keyboard and, obviously, Mac OS X Lion pre-installed.

The marketing tagline for it: ‘Everyone should have a notebook this advanced. And now everyone can.’

Nice! 😉

The Artic Light

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

There is only one word to describe this video: WOW!!

The video was filmed on Lofoten by Terje Sørgjerd, read more about ‘the making of’ on his Vimeo page or check out his Facebook page…good stuff!

Lofoten is a group of islands between the 67th and 68th parallel North (just inside the Artic Circle), I was there last year, but unfortunately didn’t get to see the midnight sun. My parents on the other hand are there at this moment and enjoy similar views as in this video!

Once again…WOW!

Finally, in my hands!

Monday, July 18th, 2011

It took a little over four months, but YESSSS, I have my driver’s license back in my possession!

As I mentioned last week, the license was still in Norway even after I got back my right to drive…I actually should already have it in NL by then: I made all the arrangements with the police, my friend Katka would pick it up at the police station and bring it to NL for me, I arranged a ‘power of attorney’ signed by the dutch community to authorize her, send the police an email one day before to re-confirm the previously made arrangement and then, when she was at the police station…the friggin’ policeman told her that he was o-so surprised for her to show up, since he mailed the driver’s license to my home address the day before!!! Oof, that really was the last trick they could pull on me in being non-cooperative, pffffff!!!

Anyway, I drove my first miles last week, as well as the big trip back to Norway, without the license in my hands (luckily without being stopped by the police!) and I picked up the license at the post office this morning…me happy, and I can finally put an end to this story!! 😉

QOTD July 17 2011

Sunday, July 17th, 2011

Henry Miller: “One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.”

Back home – enough driving for one week

Saturday, July 16th, 2011

GREAT, the third major road trip in a one week time is completed, in other words: I arrived at home, sweet home!!

Hmm, I realize it only now, but I have been almost *living* in a car the past week, being on the road for approximately 5000km in just ten days, ha, a nice average! 😉

I took the steering wheel for the last 1500km (!), since I am allowed to and love it so much…the NL to Norway trip proved to be a great way to get familiar with driving the X5, hehe I’m Lovin’ It! (c) McDonalds 😉

Funeral and the trip home

Friday, July 15th, 2011

Today we will pay the last respect to Kissy’s grandma who passed away last Friday.

Yesterday’s rain faded away, and today the sun started to shine…it is as if the crying can be over now and we can let the sun warm our faces and light us up.

Directly after the funeral we will start my second roadtrip in a week time; a 1500km trip from NL to Norway. As I have been gone for five (!) weeks, it will be good to be home again.

‘Make love, not war’ – 2011 version

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

Dave Grohl stopped a Foo Fighters concert two days ago when he saw a guy fighting in the crowd and gave him the 2011 alternative of ‘make love, not war‘! Check out the YouTube clip below…hehe, ‘You dance, don’t fight’, or ‘You fight, you’re OUT!’ 😉

 

‘You don’t fucking fight at my show you asshole. Let me see him, who’s fighting right now? It’s that fucking guy in the stripped shirt. Hey motherfucker look at me, get the fuck out of my show right now. You don’t come to my show and fight. You come to my show and dance you asshole. I don’t put up with that bullshit – you people come here to have a good time and that guy can fuck off.’

First miles in the new car!

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

YESSSSS!! It took 3,5 months, but I *finally* could drive the new car today! I already had some practice runs behind the wheel last Monday (on the german highway with a french ‘bimmer-wannabe’, which actually managed a surprisingly good speed, uhhh, downhill and with tailwind 😉 ), and all went well (or, no blue lights around makes driving easy! 😉 ). The real test will be coming Friday/Saturday; the 1500km trip from NL to Norway, NICE!!

The X5 is a great car and a splendid drive, but honestly it is just a car…the feeling of freedom now that I am allowed to drive a car again is what really puts a BIG smile on my face…

 

Generation ‘Y’

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

And now you know why our generation is called Generation Y! 😉

(uhhh, not sure why our parents’ generation is called Generation X though!)