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I planned to close this years ski-season in style (=on skis 😉 ) today, but the very nice evening spring weather, and related (/expected) snow conditions decided otherwise. 😉

Instead we went for a short walk in the Holmenkollen area where I was able to ‘touch’ the ski jump that was used in the World Championship Ski Jumping last February (hehe, due to the fog we never saw the jump then! 😉 )

The Story of Stuff is a highly interesting film about ‘stuff’ (don’t we all have way too much ‘stuff’??).

It covers the Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption and Disposal…of Stuff, and more. Take the 20 minutes and watch this short film, it is worth it!!!

Find more information on the Story of Stuff Project website, where there are also some other ‘Story of’-films (I’ll write on those in a future blogpost).

A really funny mime of the Natalie Imbruglia song ‘Torn’, with two unexpected moments (at 1m25s and 2m48s in the clip). 😉

My feelings on living in Norway were not really positive after my recent experience with the Norwegian police/legal system. So, I wanted to focus myself on some the good things of this country, and find back the reasons why I have chosen to live here. 😉

…I found the perfect answer: a promotion of Norway using Social Media, what else could I ask for? 😉

VisitNorway.com launched ‘Norway. Your Way‘ (Facebook page), a social media campaign to promote Norway as a desirable travel destination in Europe by using the creative powers of five competition winners. Check out the outcome of this campaign, you’ll find a lot of rich, positive content promoting Norway as a destination, yay! 😉

I went to the District Court today to see what would happen to my driver’s license that was taken after my accident almost a month ago. I was told that the meeting would give me the opportunity to tell my side of the event, so that the case could be further looked into.

Well, it was slightly different; I was asked to enter a court room where a judge would handle the case. The first thing I received was the actual fine from the police, which I didn’t see before: 6000kr (appr. 750EUR) and losing my license for 4 months, WTF!!!! I could choose to agree with it or not, where only in the lather case I would get the chance to tell my side of the unfortunate event…I choose not to agree.

The judge took my statement and luckily helped me going through it, since it ain’t all that easy to do this in 100% correct Norwegian. He also stated that he would not be in the position to do the final judgement, this will be done during a (civil) court case later, not sure when…

The only thing that today’s judge could decide, was whether or not I can have my driver’s license back now, until the court case takes place…he decided that I CANNOT have my license back now!!! I can ask it back after June 1 only if the court case is not settled before that date (and I will loose it again, if the court decides so afterwards)…

Acceptance and waiting, then wait some more and hope for the best.

I got some legal advice later today, and they told me that I was just unlucky…hmm, that does not feel right at all, not as if justice is being done…and as it seems, I can’t do anything about it, it’s easy to feel as if I were a criminal…

Well, at least I know myself and WHO I am, all the rest is just an illusion! 😉

I went skiing yesterday and really thought it would be the last time this year (temperatures went up and spring started over a week ago, eh?)…well, it might very well be that there will be some more chances to fly down the slopes this year; it friggin’ started snowing again today (!!), a sweet 10cm layer of fresh white snow no less!!!

Hmm, something tells me that I should have waited with cleaning the veranda… 😉

Hehe, I took this picture late this afternoon, and the big flakes have been falling the entire evening…it’s magical, I LOVE it!

Exactly three weeks after I crashed our ‘old’ bimmer, we picked up the new one… 😉 YESSS!

As I wrote earlier, we bought a superb 2002 BMW X5 3.0D…hehe, when shit hits the fan, it’s best to turn things around and use it as an opportunity! 😉

Hmm, the only thing that I am missing now is my driver’s license…I hope to hear more still this week, fingers crossed!!

Today four years I left for a short vacation to Libya, a country full of surprising, though not really the place to go these days, eh? 😉
We went there to visit Axel & Beike, who lived there for over two years. An amazing trip filled with lots of culture, old architecture, the Great Leader, his green book, and…a huge farewell party with the theme ‘Pimps & Prostitutes’…haha, I have never seen more alcohol at a party! 😉

How different is the situation in Libya today; as everyone knows, UN resolution 1973 is in effect, what many probably don’t realize is that the resolution seems to be misused to take ‘the Great Leader’ out: I cannot understand that virtually no one questions the bombing of Libyan ground forces, air defenses, one of Gadhafi’s command centers, etc., etc. The resolution clearly describes its mandate: Protection of civilians, establishing a No-fly zone, Enforcement of the arms embargo, and an Asset freeze…be your own judge and read the resolution for yourself. It’s amazing when you realize how ‘easy’ and accepted it apparently is to go to war, covered by a false flag UN resolution using a ‘humanitarian’ reason, while the actual truth is that the Western world is trying to protect its oil interests after Gadhafi decided to go to bed with the Russians and Chinese to exploit his oil…

Wired.com: “The Oxford English Dictionary has announced the latest batch of words and phrases deemed worthy of etymological conservation. From the encyclopedia’s just-released 2011 edition, you’ll see cream crackered, wag and tinfoil hat, as well as internet-era initialisms like LOL and OMG… …“They help to say more in media where there is a limit to a number of characters one may use in a single message,” says principal editor Graeme Diamond on the dictionary’s website. With the rise of concise text messages and 140-character tweets, sometimes less is more. But there’s more to OMG and LOL than just textbox frugality, though, explains Diamond.”

I guess it is too early to add ‘WTF‘, perhaps it is a bit too harsh and not proper ‘queens English’. 😉

At least  the heart symbol (not the <3 emoticon, the actual ♥ graphic) did make it into the latest Oxford English Dictionary edition!

Weather has been absolutely terrific today, and while the snow around the house *is* melting because of that, I decided to help nature a bit and ‘snow-clean’ the veranda.

A bigger job than I anticipated, but after a couple of hours of plowing through the snow/ice (*in* the sun!), the veranda was snow free…and by that it is ready for spring/summer/bbq, yayyy!!

Hehe, that calls for a beer!! 😉

Installing Love on the Human Computer…

The past two days have been almost a repeat of the Tuesday and Wednesday two weeks ago…*almost* a repeat: the same topics (new life, house and car), yet different…

Two weeks ago we had the first ultrasound scan, we received a verbal agreement on the sale of our house and I crashed my car, all in 32 hours. This week, we bought a new car (a superb BMW X5!), the sales contract for the house was signed (now waiting for the buyers to get their mortgage approved!) and we had an amazing second ultrasound scan!

Things are moving in the right direction! 😉

Kissy was in NL today for her second ultrasound scan (obstetric ultrasonography) which is part of the prenatal diagnosis. 12.5 weeks into the pregnancy and the little one was extremely lively and passed all the tests with perfect ‘scores’, yay!

Her mother joined her and got the first hand experience too; it is truly amazing how much they can see and measure in this still early stage…all was good, so our Ode to Life is well on schedule, sweet!

Spring is in the air, yayyy!

Besides the sunny weather these days that add up to the ‘spring fever’ feeling, it is also March 21, so yes, spring *did* really start today! And that in itself turns out to be quite special…

Spring starts at the moment that the sun ‘exactly’ reached the equator while ‘moving’ further North, making the day and night both even in length worldwide. This phenomenon is called Vernal equinox.

Even though we all grew up knowing that spring starts on March 21, that ‘fact’ is nowadays more exception than rule…you might think: ‘Huh?’, but it is true: in the past 100 years, a start of spring on March 21 occurred only 1/3 of the years (roughly) while it mostly started on March 20!

The reason for this has to do with the (slight) inaccuracy of the Gregorian Calendar that we have chosen to use, as well as the fact that the Earth’s elliptical orbit is changing its orientation relative to the Sun. Space.com has a more in depth analysis from some years ago.

For Europe it means that the actual start of spring will be on March 20 for decades to come (in 2044 it will even be on March 19!)…so it would make sense to change the start of spring from March 21 to March 20, ah? 😉

Hmm, I didn’t know this, did you?

Wow, this is one of the most original and ‘up to 2011 standards’ ways to impress your future girlfriend (haha, no way she will say ‘no’ after a Chatroullete speed-date like this!! 😉 )

We had terrific time ‘on the mountain’ today; weather was amazing, snow like powder, no queue at the lifts, both downhill and cross-country…life is great!!
Oh, and since there are enough woman in da house, there is a solid stock of chocolate!! Me like… 😉

We planned a ski weekend with friends already months ago, and it now turns out that coming weekend comes exactly at the right moment (don’t you love how the cosmos works? 😉 ): after the past weeks I’m really looking forward to a weekend of relaxing, skiing, enjoying good food and drinks, some more relaxing and having a great time with friends in the cozy atmosphere of the cottage below!

Skeikampen it is, and it is gonna be good!! 😉

ScienceDaily: “Cheer up. Stop worrying. Don’t work so hard. Good advice for a long life? As it turns out, no. In a groundbreaking study of personality as a predictor of longevity, University of California, Riverside researchers found just the opposite… …One of the findings that really astounds people, including us, is that the Longevity Project participants who were the most cheerful and had the best sense of humor as kids lived shorter lives, on average, than those who were less cheerful and joking. It was the most prudent and persistent individuals who stayed healthiest and lived the longest.”

Uhh, well I don’t really believe this and just so you know; I’m not letting this ‘research’ impact my happiness…I’d rather live a tad shorter and enjoy life to the max, then a little longer yet cutting down on having FUN in life! 😉

My ‘second mom’ has her 62nd Birthday today, so: HAPPY BIRTHDAY mom!

I’ll take a piece of the virtual cake tonight (actually I might change that to a piece of Kissy’s homemade ‘Dutch style’ apple-pie, yummm! 😉 )

OK, I’ve had it…traveling to work using public transport is not for me!! It’s one of the (actually the only!) downside of living just out of North East Oslo (some say Sweden 😉 ) and working West of Oslo: took me nearly 2 hours this morning to get to work and again nearly 2 hours this evening to get back home. 🙁 The commute-time itself is not my biggest issue…no, it’s more that I don’t know where to put my legs, that I overheat because of a ‘heater-gone-crazy’ and that I can’t use my laptop, so I can’t use the time as ‘workday-in-commute’.

Oh well, being ‘forced’ to sit still, think about nothing and listen music (actually the No Agenda podcast, most on that later this week) ain’t all that bad actually. It’s pity that I have to switch buses in Oslo center, otherwise I could get some extra sleep! 😉

I have to get used to it, and by now have already accepted it: the police took my driver’s license, pending their investigation, after last weeks accident (a standard procedure which can take up to three weeks!)…AND uhh, we don’t have a car anyway! (searching for one though!! 😉 )