Archive for January, 2012

Back pain and hip problems

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

It seems to become a yearly returning ‘tradition’: a terrible back pain in January…I realized this weekend that I have had this almost every year in the past years. Is it due to too much partying during the Xmas season, me realizing that there is a new year to do everything I didn’t fulfill the year before, an easy excuse not to go skiing, the January winter coldness, or having a mental reason…? Fact is that for the past weeks I have not been able to move myself the way I want to, while the back pain moved from my middle back to my lower back and is now mostly in my left hip, making it even hard to walk ‘normal’.

Luckily there is book ‘You Can Heal Your Life‘ by Louise Hay which contains a list of different physical disorders or illnesses and their probable metaphysical causes. This is what Louise says about back pain and hip problems:

Back pain can be related to many emotions in your life. A pain in your middle back may be connected to your guilt, lower back pain may reflect your fear of money or lack of financial support.

Hip problems relate to a fear of going forward in major decisions. Fear to not reach you goal, nothing to move forward to.

Hmm, there is definitely something there…thanks Louise!

Google is evil

Monday, January 30th, 2012

I have said it many times before; ‘Google is evil’.

The original idea “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” transformed into “use the world’s information to make shitloads of money with it” after they ‘Adsense’d’ and ‘AdWords’ed’ their business model and started to mix people’s hunger for information with their own hunger for cash and world domination.

Google‘s latest move is the Privacy Policy change, which makes all information ‘approved’ interconnected, and…will for example give you too personalized search results (and advertisements btw.). Dave Winer points it out in his blogpost ‘We need an exit from Google’ last week, read it to understand the consequences.

I am ok to get personalized search results, but…on my own request, PLEASE!

Besides that, you have to realize that all information you have in the Google systems can and will be handed over to anyone, more or less, who asks for it (read authorities). Oh, and do realize that Google’s Chrome web browser is, together with the Android mobile Operating System, their ‘best’ and most easy way to grab all your info…

So, while Google started out on the right path, they became evil (despite their initial unofficial slogan “Don’t be evil“).

I will give DuckDuckGo.com a try the coming weeks…this search engine brings back memories of old skool Google; simple, good results and no tracking (privacy!)…

Btw. check out the short movies, EPIC 2014 and EPIC 2015…interesting stuff!

Misha 4 months

Sunday, January 29th, 2012

It ain’t all that easy being away from Misha during these weeks, despite seeing and cuddling him all last weekend in NL…another week has past and the big little wonder turned four months today, time flies!!

This is the most recent picture that I received, taken this morning…isn’t he cute?? 😉

(click to enlarge)

QOTD January 28 2012

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

Margaret Fuller: “Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But in fact they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman.”

New header graphic

Friday, January 27th, 2012

Winter is slowly getting there where one would expect it to be (for Norway at least): after a false start having the first snow falling only in December instead of October/November (and then disappearing completely before Xmas!!), there was ‘some’ snow early January and a little bit more last weekend.

But, that will all change as the weather forecast predicts a snowy weekend and temperatures going from -2C tomorrow to -20C (!) by the end of this week…bbrrrrrrr!! 😉

A good time to change the blog header graphic from the foggy autumn picture, to these *beautiful* ice crystals…HA, let it freeze, let it freeze, let it freeze! 😉

Lost generation

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

You might have seen this Youtube clip before, it has been on the Net for some years (it ended 2nd in the AARP U@50 Challenge on Youtube in 2008).

‘Lost Generation’ is a poem written by Jonathan Reed, just watch it and ask yourself: ‘which generation do you belong in?’

BE inspired!

 

 

The full text:

I am part of a lost generation
and I refuse to believe that
I can change the world
I realize this may be a shock but
“Happiness comes from within.”
is a lie, and
“Money will make me happy.”
So in 30 years I will tell my children
they are not the most important thing in my life
My employer will know that
I have my priorities straight because
work
is more important than
family
I tell you this
Once upon a time
Families stayed together
but this will not be true in my era
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce
I do not concede that
I will live in a country of my own making
In the future
Environmental destruction will be the norm
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this earth
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic
It is foolish to presume that
There is hope.

And all of this will come true unless we choose to reverse it.

Just read this text and then, read it again in reverse.

QOTD January 25 2012

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

Dr. Ana M Guzman: “I decided not to let my past rule my future so I decided to change my present in order to open up my future.”

Happy Birthday Sis…AND Tygo!

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Martine has her Birthday today, which for the past four years automatically means that there are TWO Birthdays to celebrate: Happy Birthday to both my sister and my nephew Tygo!!

They celebrated both Birthdays last Sunday and I was glad to be in NL and able to personally give hugs, kisses and presents! 😉

How things have changed

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

OK, topic of 2012 is obviously change, a continuing process that never stops and only accelerates…

One does not need to think hard to realize this, here are some eye-opening funny pictures that illustrate it:

(click to enlarge)






Back ‘home’

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

It has been an intense weekend in NL, and while it was fantastic to see and hold Misha again, leaving him and Kissy behind does more to me than I expected…there is a part of me still there…

It was VERY nice to feed Misha his first ‘solid’ food, an apple (of course, Apple fan as I am!! 😉 ), or at least we *tried* to feed him an apple; he didn’t eat too much of it as the apple was probably a bit too sour judging from his face…oops! 😉

(you don’t notice that on the picture below though, sweet angel that he is!!)

Song of the Day: Just Breathe

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

Welcome back NL!! Duh…it is pretty stormy outside, yet quiet ‘inside’ on this Saturday evening…the realization that life IS and sometimes you need to ‘Just Breathe‘ and continue on the path of Life.

Take a moment to listen to the music and lyrics of this great Song of the Day; Pearl Jam with Just Breathe!

Back in NL

Friday, January 20th, 2012

I am in NL this weekend…GREAT to see Misha!! He is doing good; still the same, yet SO different…the big little wonder grew a lot in just 11 days, he is trying to speak, although all that comes out is babbling (I am sure that is gonna change!) and he still no hair. (and yes, I am sure that is gonna change too 😉 …a LOT of changes these days…)

QOTD January 19 2012

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Neale Donald Walsch: “What you hope, you will eventually believe. What you believe you will eventually know. What you know, you will eventually create. What you create, you will eventually experience. What you experience, you will eventually express. What you express, you will eventually become. This is the formula for all of life.”

QOTD January 18 2012

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Max Frisch: “Time does not change us. It just unfolds us.”

Fun on Sunny Tuesday

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

After Blue Monday comes…Sunny Tuesday!! 😉

And indeed, the sun shined today and when the sun shines, people tend to laugh more!

Some colleagues at work where having fun with ‘Bubba J‘ (biography) today, ‘he’ is one of the characters played by ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. He is a beer-drinking redneck that is often described as ‘white trash trailer park’.

Bubba Junior has two things he loves: his country, his beer, and NASCAR. When asked what he does all day, his response is “Watching NASCAR and drinkin’ BEER!”, and also; “Do you have a drinking problem” is responded with: “Nah, I have it pretty much figured out!”, or; “What is your favorite beer?”…”An open one!”. 😉

So, BE prepared for some simple straightforward Southern US humor that will definitely make you laugh, thanks to the craftsmanship of Jeff Dunham!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA572hAHuOY

Btw. most will know Jeff as the guy behind Achmed the Dead Terrorist. Check ‘m out as those clips are fantastic too! (and a good follow-up after watching Bubba J)

Blue Monday

Monday, January 16th, 2012

Today I saw many messages (Facebook and elsewhere) mentioning ‘Blue Monday’…I wasn’t familiar with this concept, but am now (thx Wikipedia 😉 ).

So, Blue Monday is a date declared to be the most depressing day of the year and has its own formula:

frac{[W + D-d] T^Q}{M N_a}

W = weather, d=debt, T=time since Christmas, Q=time since failing our new year’s resolutions, M=low motivational levels, Na=the feeling of a need to take action and ‘D’ is not defined.

Hmm, as the weather ‘W’ is pretty ok for the time of year, my dept ‘d’…well, no comment 😉 , the time since Xmas ‘T’ is out of my control anyway (and steadily growing by one day everyday!),  I don’t ‘do’ New Years resolutions ‘Q’, motivation level ‘M’ could be better, but the need to take action ‘Na‘ is very high, the formula would come close to zero for me!! 😉

Blue Monday originally started as the Monday of the last full week in January, but has now shifted to be the third Monday of January being today.

Thought you might wanted to know a bit more about this ‘Blue Monday’ thingy. 😉

bluemonday.org is a site dedicated to this phenomenon and they suggest to make someone happy on a Monday in January. They’ll be highlighting many of your happy moments on their site, so if you are feeling blue, check it out!

Alternatively, you can wait until for the happiest day of the year. The same person who calculated Blue Monday, also did the ‘math’ for the Happiest Day of the Year which has been close to Midsummer so far.

And obviously, since we are all creators of our own happiness, so forget everything ‘earthy’ that is occupying and bothering you…SMILE…and feel the happiness coming in!! (even if it is ‘just’ for one moment, that moment counts!!)

Njoy!

PS. Please note that some links in this blogpost link to Wikipedia and if you are reading this on January 18 2012, those links will not work; Wikipedia is going black that day to protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act.

QOTD January 15 2012

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

Willa Cather: “There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.”

Books to read

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

I came back from NL with some very interesting books.

My reading list for the coming period:

Neale Donald WalschWhen Everything Changes, Change Everything

Paulo CoelhoAleph

Steve JobsThe Biography

Paulo CoelhoThe Alchemist: A Graphic Novel

 

In total close to 1500 pages (200 in cartoons)…those and the numerous pages of the Book of Life as it unfolds give me enough to read for now!

Song of the Day: Chasing Cars

Friday, January 13th, 2012

It is Friday night and I have a quiet weekend coming up; time to rest, reflect, get stuff done and let things be.

The Song of the Day relates to my mood and is a perfect kick-off for this weekend: Snow Patrol with Chasing Cars…FANTASTIC, enjoy!!

The LEAF is in!

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

I came back to Norway today and picked up the electric car…YES, the Nissan LEAF is IN the garage!

It was the first time I bought a new car myself, so I didn’t know what to expect…I was surprised how much attention was given to complete the buying process (well, it should as it is a big purchase!). All in all a very nice experience which took over two hours! Ha, it turns out that not all car salesman are brutal! 😉

It is pretty nice to drive the car literally out of the showroom with only 10 km on the meter, and so far it is a fantastic experience to drive the car. It will be interesting to see how the car behaves in Norwegian winter weather. 😉

I will blog more in the coming weeks, for now check out leafplan.nl (in dutch) for some interesting stories.

 

It has been a very intense day today for many reasons, and while the LEAF is charging (I just verified that with the iPhone App! 😉 ), I am off to bed…TIRED!!