Got one today. My boss came in from his vacation just to make sure I got the letter showing I have moved another notch up the pay scale. He’s a good man, my boss. He tries to make sure we all feel rewarded, both emotionally and financially, for our work. He wanted to give me […]
Today was a do-nothing day, and nothing much inspired me to write. But I got nostalgic. I slept in and could hear the gentle rain falling on the ground outside. Rain against window is a storm; rain falling straight down to the ground is a farmer’s rain. That last reminded me of the wet summers […]
There is much to be tickled and awed by on the web and if you read sites like Neatorama or Boing Boing or even Cute Overload, you’ve already seen a lot of the stuff. Thanks to link curiosity via something else Neatorama posted, I came across this little video on machine mimicking nature. http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/1348306/robots_inspired_by_animals.swf Robots […]
This may look like a somewhat nerdy wet dream, but it is in fact the reality of my office, with my graphics quality LaCie screen and the Mac’s white keyboard on the left and the ThinkPad with an external, black keyboard on the right. (It’s true; Apple does design right.) You’re looking at my bread-and-butter, […]
“White nights” are what the Russians call the pale summer nights of midsummer according to the movie by the same name. In Norwegian, the term is “blond nights” but most people just say “long, light summer night”. Because that’s what is. I am talking about this because Jon asked me a question in a comment: […]
Wordless Wednesday *) Custom built low and flat because of Bergen’s (recently vacated) low-clearance fire house.
Today at work was a repeat of yesterday (sans masseur). My head is woozy, too filled with so many details, and deadlines and things to do and fix and follow up on. And yet… And yet, I am having a blast. A couple of weeks ago (or maybe a month ago – time keeps breaking […]
It’s been one of those days. One of those days where everything insisted on arriving at once and being done at once. Partly because one co-worker has gone on vacation and I seem to be his second-in-command (gee, nobody told me). My boss did realize that I had a lot on my plate and told […]
It’s been a long time since I last had a book I wrote in. Oprah and my hairdresser talking about notes and Post-its littering their Eckhart Tolle books made me think about the last time I had a book that so delighted me or inspired me that I underlined whole passages. I do have several […]
Another haircut, another Saturday in town. I am short-haired and loaded with money because of the generosity of the Norwegian government and so I buy that jewelry box they first displayed last year. It’s back and it’s available. Wait, let me back up. First, let me thank the people who are made my cash flow […]
It may be silly, but I like believing in “signs”. Especially if they fit an already existing pattern. Last night I attended a sort of summer party with my department in spite of a bad weather forecast. We had some delicious seafood and wine and then went outdoors for a game of darts (for the […]
The US is facing a possible agricultural disaster. Honey bees are vital to fruit crops because they pollinate the flowers of fruits and vegetables. But in 2006, hives were suddenly being abandoned. The bees themselves disappeared without a trace, leaving no clues behind, and no other bees came to take over the hives. The phenomenon […]
An adult black coot with one of its children – a smaller, grayer version of its parent. Wordless Wednesday
Midsummer’s Eve is on a Monday this year, so it’ll be a short evening. But it’ll be a big bonfire. I walked by the spot where five neighboring co-ops build their bonfire and they’ve collected a heap of wire spools. Basically, it’s light a fire and eat a hot dog. As a kid, finding the […]
My job interview went very well. The job was actually far more demanding and interesting than I thought. In other words, it is a very hard job to turn down – if I get an offer. I’ll know by the end of the week. In the mean time, I went and talked to my boss […]
One of my co-workers told me about some of the questions that come up during an interview. Like where you see yourself in 5 years. (I’ve never known how to answer that.) So I took a walk around the pond to do some thinking. Why do I want this job? [I’m not sure I do. […]
I keep telling people that one of the nice things about living in Norway is the country’s ban on genetically modified (GM) food. I don’t want to eat the stuff, and I don’t want to encourage others to grow it or eat it, either. I have seen reports that suggest that the corn crops modified […]
June’s been rather whacky so far. It’s my boss’s boss’s last month at work before he goes off to his new job, and there are a number of informal gatherings, farewell parties and summer-vacation get-togethers. We’ve been informed of the end of an era, while being treated to some darn good tapas made by our […]
We finally got the news: Our in-house printing department will be disbanded in “circa three years”. I assume that that means we have until the end of 2010, unless something else happens in the meantime My own reaction is sadness. Several times as our boss’s boss and a woman from our Human Resources department talked […]
For Alice: A bit of rain captured on a pansy. Wordless Wednesday
A Roll in the Universe 