A Roll in the Universe

OK, I finally got around to adding some blogs I've been reading regularly for a while. An introduction to the newbies: Boiled Dinner Jeff K's blog Knockin' On The Golden Door Mark's blog. I got to know Jeff and Mark via Paula ( Ultrablog ). There may be more coming from that crowd since I know several of them from the Usenet group misc.writing. A Tennessee Redneck in King Harald's Court Tim's blog. He's another American who lives here in Norway. Whitley Strieber's Unknown Country Not a blog so much as daily reports on regular and irregular news A Cat Named Jane Photoblog of, well, a cat named Jane PhotoTrial Photoblog specializing in macro photography Mighty Optical Illusions Just what it says Real Climate A blog on climate by climate scientists (I found it looking for some neutral source of information and this fits the bill) Cats Me If You Can Humor featuring cats Nature's Mighty Pictures Photoblog featuring nature as you may o

Southern Norway, and especially the western coast, i.e. my neck of the woods, has been experiencing a record-breaking warm September. It is September 26th and we are still experiencing summer temperatures. Today's high for Bergen was 19C/66F; tomorrow's forecast is for 17C/63F. The norm is a maximum of 15C/59F, with 12C/54F being typical. Heck, 12C is actually the typical temperature for around here, winter or summer. But not this year. Usually, there is one day in mid-August, where you go to bed to that smoky wood smell of autumn, and wake up to crisp air and go hunt for your gloves. Then it's back to normal, but that one moment of sharp drop in temperature heralds the change in season and reminds plants and trees to start pulling back and going to sleep. This year, we haven't had a single moment like that yet. Today, with my jacket wide open and dressed in thin, cool linen pants, I nevertheless managed to get a whiff of autumn, thanks to something else typical of

The stomach wants something so you search cupboards or hang on the open refridgerator door willing something good to appear. When my mind gets "hungry", I rifle through my bookcases and piles of magazines - or click on all the "just updated" links on Blogger or on all the homepage links in somebody's comment section. And just as there isn't that One Delicious Thing in the cupboard when you need it, sometimes the vast world of blogging is also just as void of the necessary fodder. It is rather fascinating to sit there, figurative blog door open, peering into the contents of someone else's life and mind, wondering if it's tasty. Tasty enough to keep reading, tasty enough to come back for more. Unfortunately, it mimics real life too well: Naw, nope, requires cooking, past its best-before date, good but not what I want. Oh, wait, what's that? Well, I read that whole post and liked it so I went ahead and read another and liked that, too. Mmm... Th

Mark asked me a question, and here is the answer: The really fun/freaky part is that these actually look good on me (sorry, no pic of that).

I'll blame my recently installed PandoraBoy for bothering to steal this one from Archer - whose writing style is totally unlike mine. I'm just sayin'. NAME UP TO THREE: Song(s) That I Loathe to the Core of My Being "Calendar Girl" by Neil Sedaka. Both tune and voice are nails on a chalkboard. "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks. It got overplayed on Radio Luxembourg because the DJ who loved it didn't have the sense to understand why nobody else liked it. "Die Another Day" (James Bond theme song) by Madonna. Ugly and totally un-Bond. Musical artist(s) That I Loathe to the Core of My Being Barry Manilow. Songs aren't too bad, but the voice is dead. Neil Sedaka would be preferred. Andrea Boccelli. Another dead voice. Frank Sinatra, but not (just) because of his voice. Rolling Stones Song(s) I Love "Jumpin' Jack Flash" "Sympathy For the Devil" "Brown Sugar" (Yes, I know it's poli

Nokia N73 photos 2006-09-14 - 8    —  Originally uploaded by thinkbigshrinktofit I haven't felt much like writing this past week. I'm basically PMS-ing. Life as a woman at my age is puberty in reverse, with hormones all over the place and affecting moods, sleep, food cravings, and, temporarily, the size of my rack (I could be a page 3 girl ). This time I was also feeling quite introverted (as in I Really Do Not Want To Interact With Another Human). So a little bit about what I've been up to this past week: A local flea markeet got a lot of books, some knick-knacks, an iron frying pan and Grandma's sewing machine, which I had borrowed years ago to sew curtains with. Never did. In clearing out my bookcase, I came across "The Messiah Stones" and decided to read it. I'm glad I read it, but it's not a keeper and will go to the next flea market. But one thing the author claimed in this religious novel was that God would not save the soul of anyone who

(Via Blog of Rand ) 1) When did you first start drinking coffee? When I started working full time. Anybody who spends a third of their lives in a place of work and never drinks coffee is - weird. Abnormal. (I do work with such a creature.) I used to use milk all the time in my coffee. Some time in the early 90's I acquired a taste for drinking without milk, but it still depends on the coffee. My current office-related intake is three cups a day. 2) Do you have any coffee-related incidents that you regret? Besides the occassional too-late-in-the day cup? Nope. 3) Have you ever tried to give up coffee altogether? Yes, but I quickly realized that it would be terribly inconvenient to do so in Norway. In Norway, if there is anything readily available besides water, it's coffee. For example, I have observed on several occassions that the only beverage available at a meeting is coffee. Even now, there's often a huge coffee urn filled to the brim, and one little therma

Nokia N73 photos 2006-09-14 - 5    —  Originally uploaded by thinkbigshrinktofit . Not sure what happened here. My first guess is that a hawk got to this pigeon. A trail of feathers laid strewn from a birch tree to where this headless carcass lay, just a few feet from the footpath. I noticed the crows munching away, then I noticed what they were munching on. They are such cagey birds that they took off (with much commenting) when I slowed down to get a better look (and take pictures). I guess an alternative title for this post could be "rubbernecking".

Nokia N73 photos 2006-09-14 - 3    —  Originally uploaded by thinkbigshrinktofit . This gorgeous example of a butterfly perched itself calmly on some flowers, long enough for me to whip out my cameraphone. A couple of boys came by, curious at the woman squating down with a cell phone in one hand and McDonald's what-not in the other. I gestured to said items when the boys wanted to know why I didn't catch the butterfly to get a better look at it. I told them my hands were full already, and I was happy just to get a picture of it. One of the boys took out his cameraphone, but the butterfly wasn't having that and fluttered by.

In reading The Salt Lake Tribune's Study shows America flocks to church , I came across the following descriptions of God: The highest percentage of Americans, 31.4 percent, believe in a Type A God, who is highly involved in their daily lives and world affairs, but also angry and capable of meting out punishment. Another 23 percent believe in a Type B God, who is likewise engaged, but less willing to condemn or punish individuals. Sixteen percent believe in a Type C God, who does not interact with the world and is unhappy about the current state of affairs. Another 24.4 percent believe in a Type D God, who is not active in the world and is more the disinterested cosmic force that set the laws of nature in motion. Uh, if I am forced to choose, I choose Type B. That's the closest I come to the type of God I have. Actually, mine is a combination of Type D and Type B. I.e. all things are set in motion by a creative force in the Universe, and this force can be used consciously

I have no clue where I was when Kennedy was shot . I was just days from turning 3 years old, but I have no idea where I was. I also don't remember it (I don't remember Robert or Martin Luther King jr. getting shot, either). But the moment I turned my web browser to CNN's web site to see the news about "that awful event happening in America" 5 years ago, is nailed to my memory. I see my desk, I see the sunshine streaming through the windows, I feel my body go hot with grief and rage. A co-worker who was a bit of a joker came up to my grandma at work around lunch time PST on November 22 1963, and started with, "Did you hear about the president being shot?" and my grandma expected a joke, and smiled and said, "No, what about him?" and got a disgusted look in return, then was informed that the president had really been shot. A co-worker who was a bit of a joker came by my desk around 4 pm CED on September 11 2001, and asked me if I'd heard

Nokia N73 - 1 Originally uploaded by thinkbigshrinktofit . Not only does my new cell phone purchase make a nice alliteration in the title of this post, but I made friends with it easily, meaning no reading the manual first. I immediately started playing around with it and in general like it. After reading a number of reviews, I chose this model because Nokia doesn't require proprietory earplugs, has both 3G and EDGE, a decent camera, and is known to synchronize with Macs. The key pad buttons are very small and seem more suited for use with long nails or a stylus rather than thumbs, but so far I've avoided huge errors. I like the joystick thingy. My new toy is still charging. Hopefully I'll get a chance to test it this weekend, including its camera. Maybe I'll even surf the web with it. Flickr also has a picture of the back, which is a pretty wine color.

I live 60 yards away from a grocery store. Small, convenient, cheap, but not my favorite since it doesn't have stuff like corn tortillas (only flour), assorted types of beans (like black) and a variety of other foods (like organic milk and Hellman's mayonnaise) that I prefer. The other store, a 10 minute walk away and on my way home from work, is therefore my preferred store. So when the online survey from my neighborhood store came in my e-mailbox today, asking, among other things, what percentage of my budget do I spend at said store, I was about to tick off the 0-25% box. Then I started wondering just how close to 25% I was. I shop using a debet card and so that and bill paying come out of what would be the equivalent of a checking account. I rarely pay with cash. I enter all movement in said "checking" account in separate software that I have. It lets me create filters, so I made one showing me all shopping done at my neighborhood store for 2006: 29 visits so fa

The world is in mourning this week, if I go by bloggers, newscasts and chat groups. A known TV personality and animal conservationist has died while making a new TV-series and many are talking/writing about it, mostly with much sadness and sense of loss. I do not share this sense of loss and, from what others say to me, that's wrong of me. Look: A lot of people liked this particular person; I didn't and so never watched his shows. I try not be a hypocrite, so I'm not going to say I'm sad when I'm not. It's not my tragedy - it's his loved ones' tragedy. Some other time, a celebrity I care about will die and I will be momentarily saddened by that person's passing, but nothing like what I feel when someone I actually know passes. And I think that's right of me.

You Have a Melancholic Temperament Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything. You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life. You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you. Given enough time alone, it's easy for you to find inner peace. You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life. Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times. At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you. You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others. You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult. What Temperment Are You? Yeah, I already knew this. The above description does fit. Of the four humours , I'm Melancholy. No surprise there, since there are a number of features in my astrological chart that would point to such a personality: Capricorn (and Saturn) are melancholic (is that a word?) and are a major influence, as well as

The Stones are coming to the boonies! Yes, tonight in Bergen, a hick town somewhere in Europe, a 1960's rock band will be performing for 20,000 Norwegians, hopefully not in the rain. The venue is an old fort , right behind Håkonshallen. This week our local radio station has interviewed a few local public figures about their relationship with the music of the Rolling Stones . Which had me thinking about what I think about them. I'm a little too young to truly appreciate the change in music the Stones represented at the time. They were rawer than the Beatles and weren't the sort of thing nice people listened to. My childhood awareness of them was mainly due to jokes involving them and the road sign "Falling Rocks" (the latter were apparantly performing all over California). I was reminded today of the first Stones song I heard, which was "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on Radio Luxembourg . I thought the song was kind of cool, but it never becam