A Roll in the Universe

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 a raise earlier, but I had a bad autumn so he didn't feel it was right. Then things (meaning I) took a turn for the better in early winter and he saw that I deserved my raise but that ship had sailed. That's when he gave me a one-time bonus and a promise to revisit the matter in April. I heard nothing in April, but I knew he couldn't press the point until the matter of our department's existence was settled. Now that it is, and my boss is still pleased with my performance, I got the raise. I asked him if he was desperately trying to keep me from quitting, which made him laugh. Made me laugh, too. If that other department still wants me (haven't heard yet), they're going to have to ...

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 of childhood, and although a rainy summer is the pits, it was nice to hear a familiar sound from way back. The gentle sound of steady rain transported me back to childhood: To a friend's barn, sitting in the hay as the drops hit the ground and the roof at the same time; to another friend's treehouse, carefully assembled used planks and plywood keeping us dry; to the carport and our car, dashing from one shelter to another to keep dry; to our outhouse and woodshed, where our pet cat had six kittens, her purrs blending in with the rain on the roof; to my bedroom in the attic, sitting under a slanted ceiling, either drawing or reading, the gray light through my window cheered up by m...

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. Robots Inspired by Animals - video powered by Metacafe Seeing robots instantly made me think of electronics (robotics being a combination of electronics, mechanics and programming) and got me thinking. In my first full-time job out of high school, I was introduced to computers, or more accurately: Data entry operating. It was a keyboard and a screen with green letters on black. I was terrified at using the thing but after learning how to correct mistakes during my first afternoon with it, I was in love. My second full-time job was as a secretary in the branch office of a mini-computer corporation (a mini-computer back then being the size of a washing machine). I was a whiz at programmin...

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, and at what is Command Central for the next couple of weeks. For the next two weeks, I will be the only one in Customer Reception, as we call it. Our department is currently eight people: Four work downstairs in what is basically the basement (but with windows facing a parking lot), with printing presses, binding, finishing and photocopying, and four work upstairs on the top floor doing graphic design, photocopying, ordering and billing - and receiving the customers. I was a bit shocked to discover that I was going to be completely alone upstairs for the next two weeks, while my co-workers take their vacations. The shock wore off. I am not worried. I figure I wil...

"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: Do the wonderfully long days help [my good mood]? And I answered truthfully that I was actually getting a bit sleep-deprived because the lack of true darkness messes with the circadian rhythm. But in general, yes, more daylight does brighten the mood as well as the world. The long pastel evenings of summer are gorgeous. Being able to sit out in the sun until well past 10 pm is wonderful. But the lack of proper darkness throws off one's inner clock, so lately my usual in-bed-by-10 routine has become in-bed-by-11:30 (which leaves me tired in the morning because 8 hours of sleep is needed all year round). Case in point: Last night I was ge...

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 the sound barrier), I was thinking about the perennial advice of being what I want, of giving to others what I appreciate getting from them. Not easy. But I told myself that I wanted to be more social, more hospitable towards my in-house clients, my co-workers. Not quite sure what I did, but it's happening. And I'm enjoying it. I am willing to be a good hostess in my little cubicle. What I usually treated as my own version of Sleeping Beauty's castle complete with an aura of surrounding thorn bush, is now the exact same office but with people constantly going in and out of it, and me not minding. I find myself smiling more, gesturing visitors to my guest chair more. I'm the same way on the phone. I don...

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 me to delegate to my other co-worker. So I did. And it was a good thing. I spent the better part of the afternoon chasing down someone who could help me with an unexpected problem. But I did say during my job interview last week (nothing heard back yet, by the way) that I love solving problems. So here was mine: Somehow, the ordering system for business cards for our Danish co-workers was no longer working. Or rather, it still was, but now a number of people were simply e-mailing my department's group e-mail with messages like "I want to order business cards" or the order itself. Not an acceptable situation, especially when I go on vacation and have to leave business cards to someone...

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 books that have umpteen bookmarks in them (most are by Joseph Murphy), a bread crumb trail I can follow back to the passages that meant most to me. But I no longer write in my own books. That's because I leant one of my inspiring books to a classmate who complained about how distracting my scribbles in the margin were. I shouldn't do that, she said. So I stopped. But now that I think back, and when I think about the unexpected doorway that discovering other people's notes in books is, why should someone else dictate what I do to my own books? I guess I could lend them with the warning that they're getting more than just the author's thoughts or emphasis. What I really want, is a b...

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 possible: Workers who demonstrated for various rights back in the 1930's (primarily). Thanks to them and workers before and after them, the Norwegian government ended up adapting several measures, inspired by the labor unions. Part of the labor law is the vacation law. Several countries in Europe have this law. In Norway, we basically get four weeks plus one day (an extra week for those of us affected by labor unions and on top of all of this, regardless, another week for those over 60). We aren't technically paid for the time off, so the employer is required to set aside a minimum of 10,2% of our gross pay. This is paid out in May or June and is roughly two net...

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 first time in my life, every dart I threw hit the dart board but that's not the sign) when I noticed the rain had stopped. We were done and went back indoors just as the weather turned bad again for the rest of the games (ring toss). Later, we went back out to walk down to the shore and see our host's boat house (the summer party was in his cabin a mere 20 minutes from Bergen). Clouds and wind and sunshine and rain came and went in quick succession, but every time we ventured out on one of the rainiest days of the week, we had a break in the weather. As we returned from the boathouse, we saw a double rainbow. "Rain will start soon," said one of my co-workers since that...

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 is called colony collapse disorder . The mystery repeated itself in 2007, and now almond growers in California are very worried about their 2008 crop, since almond trees rely solely on honey bees for pollination. Other countries are reporting similar colony collapses. The theories about why honey bees are suddenly disappearing are several: New pesticides, a more virulent virus and even disorientation from wireless networks and cell phones. This last is illustrated by the comic "Mythtickle" : The cell phone explanation seems to be based on a misunderstanding . I am relieved about that because I just got a wireless connection for my computer ...

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 right length stick to use to roast a hot dog was paramount since those fires are hot. (We don't do marshmallows in Norway.) As a teenager, I and some friends got used tires from my grandma and rolled them down to the shore. After much struggle, we got them lit. A thick, ugly black smoke rose up on what must have been the rainiest day that summer, and we spent a while huddled under umbrellas, hoping no police boat would come by. As an adult I once dressed up as a witch to light the neighborhood bonfire. In the old days one sometimes would hang the figure of a witch over the fire. I was spared that fate and instead offered a free hot dog. Another charming tradition is the one wh...

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 about the job and he asked me if I really wanted it. I said that honestly, I'm just not ready to leave where I am. He said that he'd been given the impression that anything could happen in three years , including rebuilding the department rather than disbanding it. His strategy was to use external companies for anything we couldn't manage ourselves, but fight to keep an in-house printers/prepress. The point is to prove the board of directors wrong. We had a long talk, and when it was over, I realized that I'm one of the key people for our department. We really need to maintain the graphics design/prepress part. And not only that, when I heard my boss's thoughts and his strategy, I felt like staying and ...

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. Can I think about this some more?] Because it combines a familiar task with the opportunity to learn something new and valuable for the company. What can I offer this job? Good secretarial skills, cheerful disposition and team spirit. Name three strengths: [I'm cute, I'm funny and I make good scrambled eggs. Too bad I can't use that in an interview.] I am good with computers, love solving problems, and am responsible. Name three weaknesses: I have trouble getting to work on time (a problem lessened if I take the bus), I tend to get irritable when stressed, and my EQ could be higher. Where do I see myself in five years? [After some thinking, I actually have an answer.] I want to learn more abou...

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 are destroying natural cousins and making corn risk extinction like the banana . Norway is the world's third largest importer of soy and imports 90% of its non-modified soy from Brazil. The soy is used primarily as animal feed. Unfortunately, Brazil is using more and more cleared land to meet the ever-increasing demand on soy. According to my local newspaper, Bergens Tidende, Brazil has increased its soy production by 157% from 1990 to 2005. Since last year, rising demand on soy has increased the price 84%. The related increased demand on already cleared land means Brazilian cattle farmers have to clear more land for grazing. And what they are clearing is rain forest. Part of the in...

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 own employee cafeteria's staff. One of our get-togethers will be a departmental picnic next week, at the cabin of our oldest co-worker who will be retiring in November. So many endings. And yet, life and the routines of work go on as if nothing has happened, but a part of me keeps wanting to cry. I can't believe how many endings this month has brought. Yes, we have been expecting some of them, but they seem to be bunching up. Much like the last month of school, there are so many "lasts". I know that the only constant is change, but it still bugs me. Yet, this time around I'm not as depressed as I was the first time. In fact, I'm n...

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 during the meeting we had yesterday after lunch, I teared up. I'm not worried about losing my job. It's the loss that bothers me - the loss of a really fun department with great co-workers and constantly interesting work, and the loss of being part of a division of three dozen wonderful people. I've worked here for over 10 years and the last couple of years have been wonderful. We were told that since the company was cynical enough to cut a department that does its job well and efficiently and with a quality and cost that is as good as or better than comparable services, we must be cynical, too, and think of our own personal needs and wants an...

For Alice : A bit of rain captured on a pansy. Wordless Wednesday

One of my daily reads is Ralph Marsden's Daily Motivator . Today's said this: Changing conditions When conditions change for the worse, there is no need to despair. For you have the ability to respond. With every new problem there are plenty of new opportunities. Every setback represents a new starting point from which you can raise yourself to higher levels of purposeful achievement. Just because things have changed is no reason to give up. In fact, that makes your worthwhile goal even more valuable. There is always a way to get where you have chosen to go. Each challenge gives you new ways to add value to your dream. Always, life is overwhelmingly abundant. When conditions change, you have the chance to see aspects of that abundance that you did not previously know were there. Pause for a moment, take a deep breath, assess the situation, and re-focus yourself on the path you have chosen. Then step boldly and enthusiastically forward with more positive determinat...

I rarely talk about the computer and operating system that make my life on the world wide web possible, but unless you're brand spanking new to this blog, you know I use a Mac. I just don't talk about it much. There are a couple of reasons for that: One is that there are plenty of blogs and web sites that will tell you about the Mac and any user experience with it. Another is that I get my dose of "Mac writing" when I post to the Norwegian Mac Usenet group. It's weird that a brand of computer leads one into what almost seems like an exclusive country club, but it's been an entirely enjoyable experience: I have found a bunch of Norwegians who are non-conformists in a country that swears by Microsoft and Windows, and who are also extremely helpful to anyone who happens to have a Mac. I use a Mac because after several years of printers not talking to DOS 2.x - and my job consisting of running around setting DIP-switches for other users, I was amazed that so...

Today the rain came - with somewhat cooler temps but increased humidity (sheesh) - and I got the get-up-and-go to swap a couple of shelf units so I could get my microwave oven off my kitchen table. That project took me about 3 hours, including a couple of coffee breaks, during which I registered with I Can Has Cheezburger , and committed, among other things… …starring my former calico cat and current IKEA sofa. My goal in life is to be as funny as the other ICHC contributors. And finish reorganizing the shelf units.

What with the weather being what it has been for the past couple of weeks, the bedroom window is constantly open. Sometimes I'll catch a whiff of cigarette smoke in my bedroom. It drifts in if a smoker pauses by my window. Well, I thought it was smoke. I kept catching a whiff of something a bit smokey. No, a bit after-shavey. And every time I shifted in bed, I'd smell it again. Oh. It's me. Or rather, my new liquid shower soap scented with patchouli and sandalwood. That last is just musky enough to confuse my nose. And it is also one reason I got a really good laugh from this tongue-in-cheek exploration in gender differences in personal hygiene:

Norway's channel NRK2 ran a couple of documentaries on UFOs followed by "Close Encounter of the Third Kind" . I taped it and finally sat down to watch it. I was delighted with the movie when it first came out. Now, the ending seems too cute and too easy. More importantly, though, I've discovered that my own fascination with UFOs has faded. It was a somewhat cynical Keera who watched (a very young) Richard Dreyfuss try to sculpt with mashed potatoes. What really got me, though, as a former New Age buff and heavily into the mystique of UFOs at one time, was that I no longer could remember what the heck the first two close encounters were. It's almost like losing one's religion. An entire area of interest and belief had faded away and stuff I used to know and discuss regularly is not even a clear memory any more. I still have the fascination. I'd still like to see something like the plot in Carl Sagan's "Contact" come true. I'd love for...

This week has been a very good week at work for me. I've been doing something I love to do (the layout of a 48-page magazine all by myself), and the sun's been shining. My department is still waiting to hear the final outcome , but in the mean time, two co-workers went ahead and applied for other jobs in-house. That's when I realized that loyalty be damned - look out for number 1! So I applied for a job, too. I'm going to spend the weekend re-learning how to write a resumé, because it's been ages since I last had to, and I've forgotten how. But the very act of applying for a job did something: It proved to me that I could take action, it removed some inertia, and it created a desire to do even a job application well. Today, my company threw a summer party. Over 500 employees in the employee cafeteria, treated to a buffet dinner and free bar (wine and beer), and a big band to dance to. And in the midst of wondering if anyone cares and do I really want to ...

Wordless Wednesday

It's nice to have lovely weather. We've now had such a long stretch of dry, sunny weather that the fire departments in all of western Norway are on special alert. It won't take much to start a fire with everything as dry as it is. Unlike my native California, everything's green and lush and we're not yet required to conserve water. And there's humidity. I can't remember Bergen being humid before, but with these odd weather patterns (or glitches - can't really say there's a pattern), Bergen has acquired that new quality when it's hot. Used to be it was hot and the sky was clear and that was that. Now it's hot and cloudy at the same time. And the clouds shut the heat in and humidity rises. Of course we are all enjoying the sunshine. After bundling up all winter, it is wonderfully liberating to be barefoot in sandals and never need a jacket. That is the advantage. The disadvantage is that it's too hot to move around in. At least for me...

This ad I happened to come across gives a peculiar but oddly appropriate description of presidential candidate Barack Obama (except, perhaps, for the size). (It's an ad for a magnet.)

Lately, all my reading and listening to the webcasts from Oprah's shows on "A New Earth" with Eckhart Tolle, keeps pointing out that we are essentially whole. The body is essentially healthy; disease is layered on top of the health. Our souls are also well, seeming not to be only because of a clutter of pain and fear layered on top. And all my reading and listening says that if you stop dwelling on the thoughts of pain and fear, you will automatically become whole - or more correctly, rediscover your wholeness. The habitual backdrop of pain and fear in your thinking can be stopped using several methods, but they all have one similarity: Replace an undesirable thought with a better one. When I attended a local course on the Law of Attraction, the habitual bad thoughts were identified as those that often contain the word "not". When you start speaking in negatives - "I can't lose weight" or "I don't like my job" - the way to take cont...