Friday, February 29, 2008

Missä miehet ratsastaa

No - I can't speak finnish (don't even really speak Norwegian although I should by now) and I just understood that this is something about riding(?). This is just a song of Teräsbetoni. (Warning if you open that you will have to play a crazy game and moving a sheep around trying to eat grass while there are knights coming from right and left and when the sheep is hit 3 times it will die). Anyway why I am writing about this is because we have such a nice word in German which is called 'Ohrwurm' and basically means catchy tune but a word to word translation would be ear worm. But I really love the German word because it is like a worm in your ear which is not going away - catchy tune just doesn't really describe it. And this song is really my 'Ohrwurm' at the moment.
And yeah I lost my mind ;).

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Inactivity due to sickness

Yeah - cold is going round and I wasn't spared. Although taking all the medication available I just could not get rid of the sore throat and coughing and the annoying headache. Well, maybe it would have been worse without taking anything - who knows.
That was not really a good week - two abstracts to be submitted and one talk to be prepared - the abstracts are luckily written the talk still has to be prepared but well it is just a student conference and I can take something from a presentation i have done before since the audience is not the same.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Feels like spring

But 3 weeks ago there was snow as can be seen here:







Seven reasons ...

... why I hate mobile phones. Usually I like technical devices although some might not really be needed. I am a computer junkie and I am also addicted to the internet. I love my digital camera and my usb radio. In addition I am thinking about getting a portable mp3 player. But one thing I really really hate: mobile phones. And that is not because I cannot handle them that is because those damn little things became more important than all the rest which is going on around the people using them.
- I hate sitting in a train or subway with 10 people around me screaming into their mobiles while I would like to read a book or just relax (and I don't feel like listening to music all the time).
- I hate it when you are talking to a person and that person is constantly busy with the phone because someone might have written an sms or might call just in that minute.
- I hate these things going off during a lecture or even during a PhD defense (happened here recently). People - can you not live without that damn thing for 45 minutes? And I regard it also extremely unpolite to play around with a mobile during a lecture even if it is not ringing.
- I hate it when I am in a supermarket and the shopping cart is pushed into me because the person behind me is (of course) on the phone. If you would not shout at the person he/she would not even realize that they push the cart into your ass.
- It is also extremely impolite to hang on the phone while paying at the counter and realizing that the wallet is on the bottom of the bag - it takes double the usual time but who cares about other people waiting behind you.
- Even worse is crossing the street while on the phone or standing in the middle of the road because the phone rings or stopping while going over a pedestrian crossing (I saw all this here).
- And what I think is really annoying - there you are out skiing and enjoying nature and silence just to realize that some people are standing somewhere and talking on a mobile phone.

And yeah I have a mobile phone ... I use it approximately twice a month - when my mum sends me an sms because she wants me to call her (we don't have a phone here).
My friends want me to get a Norwegian provider because they think it is hard to reach me - I tell them: it will not be better because the phone is at home and I will not bother taking it with me - period.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Suicidal ...

... to walk in Oslo just before 9 am. Usually I am not doing that because a day started at that time is lost for me but from time to time I have to because there are meetings and there is no choice. Anyway I tried to use a pedestrian crossing and even if one car going in one direction was stopping(which maybe happens every 50 cars) then the one going into the other direction is just passing through and almost running over your feet not even paying attention that you are crossing.
And: I checked both directions but they are driving so fast that this doesn't help. So it is either not crossing at all or taking the risk of being run over.
I start to wonder why they are so impatient here - they have this nice peaceful country with so much nature and even Oslo cannot be called big ciry and still they cannot even wait for a few seconds for somebody to cross the street? And that is not only during the rush hour in the morning - no at anytime. The longer I live here the less I understand the people.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Rofl



Maybe I should play the bass myself ;)

Whenever you see a band live, you probably feel a powerful connection with that one musician who's over to the side of the stage, not saying much. You'd never want the high-profile hassle of dating a singer or lead guitarist, so you'll be much happier with a calm, down-to-earth bassist. The stereotypical bassist is less attention crazed than his/her bandmates, but he/she still knows how to rock out. Bassists like their music loud, but on a personal level, they tend to be kind of quiet and mellow. Bass players are proof that dating a rock star doesn’t have to be about crowded after-parties… it can be about chilling out and listening to music together with headphones built for two.

I would have expected...

... the middle of the night but that is also quite true.



The afternoon rocks!!!

You are the moment when the last bell rings and school lets out for the day. You are resistant to schedules and obligations, so you love feeling like you're in control of your life again. You are the very moment when the second hand hits the 12, and the halls fill with noise and motion. Even if your after-school time is packed with activities, lessons, or a job, somehow, you just feel freer in the late afternoon than you do earlier in the day. Maybe it's all that blue sky and afternoon sunshine? Nah -- even on rainy days, 3:15 is always a beautiful time.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Maybe it was not a good idea...

... to plan a huge birthday party but on the other hand it will probably be great and I really felt like giving a party myself since I was always invited but my room in the student dorm was not really big enough for a decent party. It will just be a lot of work because I invited my whole institute and including partners I expect easily up to 30 people. I also want to provide food for all of them so we will see how this works out - especially since I have a meeting on thurday and friday. I guess I just have to be very organized and after thursday (when I have to give a short presentation) the main work of the week is done, so I can concentrate on the party ;)
Hopefully then you will see some pictures. Still have some skiing pictures somewhere. Maybe I should upload them.

Left stranded

Tomorrow, they will do some repair on the water tubes and shut off the water from 8 to 12. This puts me in a very critical position because it either means to get up before (which will result in a lost day for me since I cannot work before 12 am *g*) or getting up after 12 although I would doubt that they will be done at 12 sharp (kind of having in mind the Norwegian work attitude). Anyway 12 will also be too late since I really have to finish some work for a presentation on Thursday so I decided to fill a few pots and bowls with water which should get me through the morning with some tea and the shower will be shifted to the evening ;).

Annoying or the Sisyphus feeling ...

... these hundreds of postmaster and mailer daemon mails I get every day saying that some mails I obviously didn't send could not be delivered. I thought this catastrophic spam chapter was over but it seems not - at least if you expect your e-mail account to be for free. So every day I have the additional job of sending a few hundreds of mails to the spam folder - not that I really think that this will help but I always wanted to feel like Sisyphus. And for those of you who are too young to still have had Greek mythology in school (that is mean I know) here you can find something about that guy.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Bookshelf

She and he already gave an insight into some boring and interesting books surrounding them so I decided to also join: take the nearest book with more than 123 pages, open it on page 123, find the fith sentence and post the next 3 sentences.
Well ;)
Det lød fint selv om det egentlig kom fra nederlansk og betydde 'liten mann'. Petter hadde fortalt henne det. Slik han hadde fortalt henne det meste han mente hun burde vite.

Jo Nesbø - Marekors
Not that I really read that since I do too much reading at work, I hardly read at home.