depeche mode in concert - still cant get enough

I am back in my hotel room and my ears are still ringing. What a great night!


Nitzer Ebb opened for them, and that in itself was incredibly cool, since I hadn`t heard them since the early 80´s.
Depeche opened up with some of their newest stuff, including Wrong, and then went into a string of favorites.
When we thought they were done, they came back to give us more. Martin Gore gave us a couple of his slow songs, and they did an incredibly cool verion of Barrel of a Gun.
I can`t think straight anymore. Need to get some rest and write some more tomorrow.
Thank you Ken for the ticket!! :-))

getting ready for depeche - just can´t get enough!

Thanks to my brother Ken, I got a free ticket to tonight`s Depeche Mode concert in Bergen!!
This will be the 3rd time I get to see them. Last time was in 2006, when Tim and I saw them here in Oslo. And the first time was in Houston, Texas during their Violator tour (or was it Songs of Faith and Devotion?). Oh well... either way, I get to see them again, and I really didn`t think I would get to see them this time since they are in Bergen.
The grabbing hands, grab all they can. Everything counts in large amounts! ... just practicing ;-)

ski-swim double-feature wednesday!

Yesterday was a nice flashback to about 3-4 years ago when we used to meet up before swim practice to either run or swim for an hour, depending on the season.
Yesterday, Morten and I headed out from Sognsvann on our skiis and went to Ullevålseter. It`s only a 5.3 km trip, but it is almost completely uphill. The advantage is the downhills on the way back ;-)
It`s really cool, skiing at night. It`s like a whole new world. Only the small areas directly under the lamps are visible, except for the occasional skier wearing a headlamp. And it seems to be less noisy too.
Anyway, we made it up in 35 minutes, and made it back down in about 25. Perfect timing.
At 8:30 pm we were in the pool for 45 minutes.
Hopefully this will become a regular Wednesday routine.
And hopefully, more people from the club will join us before swim practice, just like we used to do in the old days :)
Geeez, I`m old.

video: skiing by Nøklevann at night

Fourth and final video in this series. I am now back at the Nøklevann and it is 5 pm and you can tell how quickly it gets dark right now. And the lighting is incredible!

video: skiing Mariholtet

The 3rd video in this series from Saturdays skiing. I am now at the halfway point, 6.4 km in. There`s a cafe here at Mariholtet which serves waffles and hot cocoa+coffee. It is 4:30 pm and you can tell it`s already getting dark. But the weather is perfect!

video: skiing by Nøklevann

From Skullerud to Nøklevann lake is a short distance, and it is my favorite part of the trip. It is always so beautiful here!
There is a "fog" or mist rolling over the lake, but you cant really tell in this compressed video.
This is the lake that we swim across in the summer, so it still fascinates me that we now can walk over it.

video: skiing at Skullerudstua

First test uploading a video... It worked!
So this is just from the Skullerudstua before I started. Lots of kids here and lots of fun. But I was headed further in.

Updated 26.01! The video below is now a larger format! :-)

cross country skiing - first trip this year

I finally took out my skis from the basement and prepped them for this years first little outing. The conditions were perfect! Minus 4 Celsius, and blue wax for the skis. The trip went from Skullerudstua (which is only a few minutes from my house, up to Mariholtet, which is about 6.3 km each way.
It`s pretty much only uphill on the way there, but that only means lots o fun downhills on the way home. The pace was comfortable, and I took a few pitstops in order to take some photos and videos. I am still in love with the snow covered landscapes and can`t help taking photos.
Having used a ton of new muscles, I expect to be pretty sore tomorrow. My total time was 1:26, but take away the 7 minutes at Mariholtet and a few more minutes taking pictures, I can probably log in 1:15 to my training log.
I will try to download some of the videos, but I`m not sure I can do that in this blog. In the meantime here are some photos :-)

Skullerudstua - about 4pm.

Nøklevann - the lake that we swim across during the summer.

Mariholtet - my halfway mark. There is a cafe here where you can get hot cocoa, coffee and waffles.

wednesday swim

I think signing up for the wednesday swim is the smartest thing I`ve done so far this year (not bad just 20 days in). We worked alot on technique this time, and the trainer found a couple more things that I should work on.
Strange, I`ve been swimming actively since high school, but then you start picking up bad habits.
I didnt really swim far, but I would rather prioritize technique right now.

jogging in the snow

This is starting to look good. I swam on Wednesday, and then today I went jogging :)
It was a totally impromptu thing again, and since I was not sure about my pace I was hesitant in calling anyone to join me. The weather has warmed up to a balmy -5 Celsius, and it was overcast and snowing just a little. But the ground/snow was firm and nice to jog on.
My body was not as bad as I had feared so I ended up with 45 minutes. But the pace was slow and heart rate was high.
Next week will be better :)

back on the horse... or rather: in the pool

So I finally did it!
I signed up for the wednesday swim practice with the triathlon group.
I hate to admit it, but I don`t think I´ve swam since the Norseman Crew Race in August last year. After that  I just didn`t have any spark left. There was no joy in training anymore. There were several reasons for this, and I`ve pretty much spent the majority of 2009 to figure this out.
But it´s time to leave 2009 behind and enter 2010!
So my first step is to start swimming again. And it really was great to be in the pool again, and to see my old friends in the club.
Of course, after only 35 minutes my foot started cramping up... but I will work on this for next week and stretch out more.
So... what else? Skiing maybe?

winter view

It may be freezing cold and slippery to walk and drive, but the snow covered landscape still leaves me breathless. Another view from my office, looking down towards the subway station.
Taken with my brand spankin new Canon PowerShot SD78 IS with 12.1 MB (Homer drool), which I got for xmas. These are 2 shots blended together in Photoshop.

medieval helpdesk

do you raed ervey lteter?

winter sunset

The view from my office window at 4 pm today. The cars lined up to get home.

mind your font

Found this link regarding the use of Papyrus in Mr Camerons latest movie. I have to agree.
http://prttyshttydesign.blogspot.com/2010/01/open-letter-to-james-cameron-from.html

new igm catalog

I designed the cover to this years IGM course catalog. It turned out really good, with a glossy cover and the ticket having a matte finish.
Go to www.igm.no to download the pdf of the whole catalog.

back to the real world

It was tough leaving my family and friends in Houston again. Especially tough saying goodbye to my niece and nephew. Pretty tough to hear your 9 year old nephew say "dont go Uncle Guy, move in with us".
But vacation time is over, and hopefully I will see them again this summer.
The trip back was long and boring, as usual. But for once there were no delays or lost luggage!
Oslo is covered in a beautiful white blanket of snow. But oh.. my.. god.. how is it possible to be this cold??
My apt was incredibly cold so I turned on every furnace and fired up the fireplace. It's been 24 hours now and the apt is just barely getting warm.
So I think I'll snuggle back under the blanket for a while longer.

Here are 2 shots I took from the plane as we came in over Oslo.

future cyclists!

Stian and Annika on their bikes. I wish I could be here more often to play with them.

new years day

Rusty's friend, George, invited us over for New Years dinner.
We had just met George New Years Eve, so it was incredibly nice of him to invite us over for dinner. He made a great meal consisting of a meat and vegetable soup that had simmered in a crock pot, plus the traditional black-eyed peas (for prosperity in the new year) and cabbage (for good luck) with pork and home made cornbread.
It was a really nice evening and a great way to start the new year.
Photo: George, Chris, Jenn, Rusty, and Ken in the back.

merry new year!

Enter 2010. Another year flies by.
Not so sure 2009 is my favorite year, but more on that later.
New Years Eve proved to be a really fun night, together with Ken, Rusty and his friend George. I haven't been out "clubbing" in years, but it was fun getting out again.
We went to a place called Jet Lounge in downtown Houston. The Dj played electronic music, and I think it was just the same song, or beat, all night long. But it was cool.
The decor was fun, as you can see in one of the shots of the mannequin decorated with xmas lights.