David's Journal

Happy Constitution Day

2008-05-19T02:34:58+08:00

Up until a few days ago, the weather was excellent. Warm, summery, clouds painting the sky in beautiful, interesting ways. Not unlike in the picture below.

But now it's gone completely schizophrenic. I went for a walk today, left the apartment with the sun shining and then got caught in a hail storm half way through.

Yesterday was Norway's constitution day, a national celebration where many people dress in their traditional regional costume and head downtown for a big parade. Norwegian flags are everywhere and the spirit is really patriotic. It's a cool day. This one was the coldest in fifty years, four degrees and it snowed down to three hundred metres. A little more extreme that a New Zealand spring but no less unpredictable.

To be honest I didn't actually make it in for the parade, I was too busy sipping champagne and having a delicious breakfast in true Norwegian tradition. So thank you David (a Norwegian who visited us in NZ) for an excellent party. Then I met up with Tobias (another Norwegian who visited us in NZ) and we had a look around the city where there were huge crowds milling about in drinking establishments. Having decided it was really too cold to keep wandering round we headed back for a BBQ, which is another traditional seventeenth of may activity I believe. So thank you Tobias for another excellent party.

I've been out and about doing other things in the past few weeks also. They have just finished building an opera house here, a cool design incorporating angles, glass and white marble into an impressive structure that can be treated like a giant park. My pictures don't do it justice but you can see how the angles are slight enough that people can walk all over it.

I haven't actually gone to the opera there, or ever come to think of it, but I am assured that it's very nice inside also.

The next big adventure was my first outdoor rock climbing experience. I've been indoor climbing before but as I found out it is entirely different. Here you can see me attacking the first climb.

These pictures illustrate the bit that I found the hardest to get used to, which is trusting the friction between the almost vertical rock face and the rubber on the sole of the climbing show to support your whole weight as you push yourself up. Till I got that I was just tiring my arms and hands out trying to do everything with them. In the end though I was able to get up places that I seriously thought would be impossible for me, which is a good feeling.

Meanwhile, on Endor's forest moon...

It was a great day, gorgeous weather, amazing scenery and for days afterward I felt like I'd been beaten mercilessly with sticks. But in a good way.

I've been here now for a month, with two to go and it feels like the time is really flying by. I've finally figured out the bus ticket system, to my dismay as it turns out - I was saving heaps by using it wrong. Still, walking has its perks, like the picture below I took taking the long way home one day.

I'm here!

2008-04-29T04:50:52+08:00

It's been a week now since I arrived in Oslo, Norway, and high time for an update. I landed last Saturday on a beautiful spring day after the obligatory thirty six hours of travel. The travel itself was fairly uneventful except for LAX of all places where I had a brain freeze for the security check. Normally I'm totally organised going into the security screening - I've got liquids in bags, water bottle empty, and everything remotely metal unceremoniously shoved into my backpack. Perhaps it was the warm, laid back atmosphere of California or the lack of sleep but this time I did none of it, calmly waltzing up and chucking my backpack on the conveyor. When they pulled my bag away for a security check I was slightly nervous about big brother America, mostly because I'd just been listening to Thom Yorke. But it all ended well, except for my half full pump bottle which totally got tasered. They obviously believed my apologetic, bewildered tourist story though and let me through. Most interestingly they missed my bladed Tandberg multitool which caused me grief going through Frankfurt.

So arriving in Oslo after the long journey was great, it was warm, sunny, and my Kiwi friends Pete and Kane were there to meet me at the airport. They also took me shopping which was a huge help to get started. As I was lying on the couch chilling later on, I took this pic of the view out my window:

And this is the couch:

The next day Pete took me for a drive to get me acquainted with my surroundings which was really helpful. We also went to the beach (pretty good effort for the northern hemisphere I have to say):

There's not many people because despite how nice it looks it's still a bit chilly, especially the water. I didn't swim but thats only cause I didn't have a towel.

So then it was Monday, and my first day of work. It was fairly uneventful, just getting setup, meeting people and so on. Then off to a party with some guys who were over from the U.S./Hong Kong/Japan. The theme was being some weird snack from your point of origin and we had some good ones. I was pretty sure the guys from Hong Kong had it sewn up with some typically weird tasting stuff, but then Andreas, one of the Norwegians (an R&D manager at work) came in with an entire vacuum sealed dried sheep leg. A knife was found, pieces were hacked off, and I have to say that he totally won. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely the most visceral treat on offer.

As I was walking home that night, about eleven thirty, dark and still as anything, a young wild deer crossed my path. It was a small buck with little antlers, obviously very lost. In case you're now imagining I live in some kind of Hans Christian Andersen forest in a log cabin, connected to civilisation by dirt paths, let me explain where I live. The nearest forest is miles away, and on the other side of a large highway, which it must have gotten under somehow, as I have to do every day on the way to work. It's not unheard of, but pretty rare and was a cool experience. I tried to take a photo on my work cellphone camera, but night vision isn't it's strong point.

Tuesday night was soccer, as I've joined up with the Tandberg Leisure Football team. Don't be fooled, there's nothing leisurely about it, it's serious stuff. Particularly as it's played on gravel. That's right, gravel. It seems to be the social soccer pitch covering of choice over here, and it's every bit as dusty and abrasive as it sounds. It's not as gravelly as, say, a country road, it's more like a fine grit. Still, falling over on it isn't advised as my knee can testify. Fun game though, probably more so once I can understand the Norwegian for...well, anything.

So after the game I'm wandering through Oslo to the bus with blood dripping down my leg, still in my soccer gear, hoping desperately that I can find an open Apotek. During thing time two different people approached me asking for directions. This is my fourth day being in the country, and I'm sure I didn't look that decisive so I can only conclude that people think soccer players generally know where things are. I let the side down unfortunately. My gory bleeding injury also served as a conversation starter with a random Swedish guy at the bus stop who wanted to join the team. For the record the Apotek had just closed and and I had to make do with scrubbing the grit out as hard as I could and slapping on some disinfectant cream I brought with me. I'll spare you from a photo for this one.

The best news of the week for me probably comes on Saturday, on which I ventured into town in search of a guitar. I'm lucky enough to be working in a team with some musos, and one of them pointed me to the right area of town. The first shop I went to was Norway's version of the rock shop, there were some nice guitars, but pricey for what they were and the one I liked had a weird action. So the guy there pointed me down the road and I went to this great instrument shop. It was crowded, cluttered, and smelled like wood. In addition to guitars they had mandolins, lutes, harps and all sorts of weird and wonderful instruments. There were many guitars there of differing qualities but one stood out straight away. It was a cutaway classical guitar, the exact sort I was looking for. I picked it up and it was beautiful to play, great action, great tone. I found out it was a handmade spanish guitar, solid top cedar, the same as my Maton CW80 back home which gives it a really sweet characteristic which will keep opening up the more I play it. Long story short, it is now mine. It's a beautiful instrument, solid but delicate, tonally gorgeous and just such a sweet thing to play. Lest my other guitars get jealous let me say I love you all, there's room in my heart for everyone. The pic doesn't really do it justice but here you go:

Another cool weekend find was a long walk that took me out onto the peninsula where I live. There is miles of track along the coast with great views of the Oslo fjord. A few fishermen were out braving the wet weather (oh yeah, after a few gorgeous days the weather packed in a bit).

So that was my week, it was a good one.

Trips and houses

2007-04-01T18:40:48+08:00

January was spent entirely overseas. For work we went to Oslo and Lillehammer for about a week, then a bunch of us took annual leave and tripped around. I ended up going to Sweden, France, Switzerland, Italy and England. It was a fantastic, amazing experience. I both saw and ate some memorable things, one of the best being a chocolate éclair from a bakery in the back streets of Lyon.

February was spent moving into a new place. I'm renting an awesome two bedroom house in the country, about ten minutes out of town. It suits me great right now as I like to make music at strange times, and the peace and quiet and greenness of it are very relaxing. This is the view from the lounge/kitchen/deck bit (its rather open plan):

And the house itself:

So I'm very happy about that. There's even a small garden around the back where pumpkins have self seeded and are taking everything over. So come over for pumpkin soup sometime.

Reading:

Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury
The October Country, Ray Bradbury
Judas Unchained, Peter F Hamilton
The Best New Zealand Fiction Volume 3, Ed. Fiona Kidman

Playing:

Final Fantasy XII

Movies:

Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright
Ghost Rider, Mark Steven Johnson

Spring

2007-04-01T18:17:38+08:00

Spring has firmly entrenched itself in New Zealand and there are is some foreshadowing in the warm afternoons and broad blue days that summer approaches. The water is still a bit cold, as we found out gathering mussels at the whangamata estuary but the payoff was well worth it, especially the grilled chili and garlic variety. Many thanks to the Dewstow/Wright's for the hospitality.

Spent the day yesterday in Auckland at my nephew Reily's second birthday. Both him and his little bro Asher are ridiculously cute and its always a joy to hang out with them. From talking to him at the playdoh table I was able to ascertain that Reily is fond of buses.

Been playing Tomb Raider Legend which aside from some camera and control issues is excellent. Its hard not to fall in love with Lara Croft to be honest, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not actually that much into archaeology, so it would never work. Also she's completely fictional. The next gen technology setting is gorgeous, it improves almost everything, but particularly the lighting, shadows, curves and textures. It really is a whole next level in real time rendering and its good to know that future games will be looking as good.

I haven't been watching many movies lately, largely because nothing has taken my fancy and my moviegoing buddies are mostly overseas. However, for those who haven't tried it, I suggest taking yourself to the movies sometime, it is actually a very liberating experience. Screw the stigma, the convention that a movie is a social thing only. Sometimes your own company is the most enjoyable.

Reading:

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
Galapagos, Kurt Vonnegut
Grimm's Fairy Tales, Brothers Grimm

Music equipment and adventures

2006-07-24T13:18:00+08:00

Tonight I am excited because tomorrow if all my nefarious plans come to fruition I will be in possession of a djembe and a Presonus Firepod. Since I also recently aquired a bass I should be able to construct some rather smooth sounds. So thats what I've been doing lately, aquiring musical equipment - a process I hope I wont get addicted to. It could be VERY easy to do...

I've also been working a whole lot, but things seem to be going well so its quite satisfying. To blow off steam after working so hard one week we headed down to rotorua for some adventure tourism and ended up doing the swoop and the freefall simulator down near the agrodome. Lots of fun, I'd recommend either of them, heres a pic of me in action on the freefall.

I look quite stable in the photo but that must have been taken in the split second before I tumbled out of the airstream and fell to the side. It's hard to maintain your balance as the slightest movement can send you spinning off. The massive airflow also does hilarious things to a persons face, we got some good photos. To finish off we went for a soak in the Polynesian Spa which was great as always.

Reading:

Enchantment, Orson Scott Card
Enders Shadow, Orson Scott Card
Most of The Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis
Hocus Pocus, Kurt Vonnegut

Movies:

Superman Returns, Bryan Singer
Land Of The Dead, George A. Romero
Man On Fire, Tony Scott
Starship Troopers 2, Not Paul Verhoeven
Mirrormask, Dave McKean (& Neil Gaiman)

Back from Norway

2006-02-19T09:50:00+08:00

I’ve been back home from Norway for a couple of weeks now and its high time I recorded my impressions. Norway, much like its women, is achingly, impossibly beautiful. We arrived to a city covered in snow which we trudged around aimlessly for a while, having forgotten to print out directions to the hotel. A short visit to a mexican restaurant that was oddly enough also an internet cafe sorted that out and we arrived safely, though exhausted. During a final walk which was an effort to stay awake till a reasonable bedtime it snowed. The biting cold, ice falling from the sky and beautifully lit main street was perhaps one of my most romantic experiences ever. Well it would have been had I actually been with a girl and not been with my colleague Jesse, who didn’t really want to hold hands. One can’t have everything I guess.

Workwise it was great, we got to put faces to a lot of names and in general learned a great deal about the new company that we are working for. Tell you what though - those Norwegians sure know how to drink. Thursday night was a huge company wide party at which I confess I got rather toasted and payed dearly for it the next day. Unfortunately a camera was on hand the whole night - the contents of which has provided my workmates with hours of mirth upon our return.

The times we ventured out of the city were amazing. The countryside was incredibly beautiful. Imagine driving through the rolling New Zealand countryside, except its covered in white, complete with cottages buried up to their hips and trees groaning with snow. One of these trips was to Hemsedal, where we staying in cabins on the mountain and snowboarded all weekend. Afterski on saturday night was another demonstration of the Norwegian drinking ability I mentioned earlier and involved drinks on the company and a bar that must have violated the fire safety code for maximum occupants by at least four times. It was awesome. Snowboarding was an exercise in balance, skill and pain tolerance and was a great deal of fun. The views from some of the high runs were breathtaking.

Other highlights involved seeing the viking ship and kon-tiki museums, falling into deep snow unexpectedly while walking down the 1952 bobsled track, seeing how all the stuff our company makes is put together and just hanging out with all the lovely Norwegians that we met. In short we had a great time and I definitely hope to visit again sometime. Perhaps I’ll go easier on the aquavit next time though…

Norway

2006-01-20T09:50:00+08:00

In about forty five minutes I am getting picked up to go to the airport to fly for thirty hours to a land bathed in ice and darkness. For those who don’t know, the company I work for was bought by a Norwegian company, and some of us are heading over there for training, meetings and other important things. Such as drinking and snowboarding. I am just starting to feel the excitement now although I seem to have misplaced my sunglasses among other things. Note to self: pack the night before. I’ll try and post updates if I get a chance, which seems unlikely as the schedule is very busy. There will definitely be stories when I get back though.

Reading:

Cats Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut