4 deg, sleet and commuting to work...

...is just a few of the things I won't be missing when were in the Philippines :) As I write this, I'm taking a break from picking out my shorts and other summer clothes to pack it in my suitcase. It feels a bit absurd, but also makes me excited about the trip.


This picture shows how it looks outside of our place now, a big contrast from the picture in this post. Below you see the weather report for our place and for Manila on Sunday. I know where I prefer to be :)

            

It will take us 24 hrs from we leave our place tomorrow morning till we arrive in Manila and meet up with Val, my sister-in-law. It will be a long and tiring trip, but totally worth it. I have traveled to the Philippines several times before, but this will actually be the first time I'll do this trip together with Minnie. That will of course make the trip a whole lot more fun :)

Stay tuned here on the blog, I will try to post from the trip as often as possible :)

Philippines here we come!

Norwegian comedy on youtube

The Norwegian public broadcasting coorperation, NRK, has a very liberal policy on sharing material online. This includes their own channel on youtube, youtube.com/nrk. Most, or all, of the videos on this channel is in Norwegian, but a few includes english subtitles. From these I picked two videos I like very much to show here on my blog.

The first video I picked to include debates the question "Is buffering a problem?". This is done by a panel consisting of computer expert Rolf Tangen and the man who currently holds the patent on buffering. The video features the three Norwegian comedians Harald Eia, Bård Tufte Johansen and Atle Antonsen, the team behind several very successful comedy shows in Norway the last couple of years. I love them :)



The second video I picked is named "Medieval helpdesk". Another great example of Norwegian comedy, featuring the comedians Øystein Backe (helper) and Rune Gokstad (desperate monk). New technology always poses a challenge for the users...

30 degs, perfect beaches and sweet mangos...

... is just a few of the many, many things I'm looking forward to on our vacation to the Philippines coming up very soon. With warm and sunny weather, white sandy beaches, cheap food and lodging, modern metropolitan life with great shopping, and a people that, in addition to always smiling and being friendly, speaks english, the Philippines is a great tourist destination for frost-bitten Norwegians.

Minnie has been away from her home-country, family and friends for just over one year now, and is looking a lot forward to going home, meeting the family and the friends she has missed this year. I'm looking forward to what I think will the best vacation of my life. It will be the longest time we've spent together in the Phils, making me able to enjoy the Filipino life more fully :)

Our plans for the vacation so far is:

• - 11 days in Manila, including a golf session with Lloyd.
• - 5 days on Boracay, including shakes at Jonah's, muffins at Real Coffee, water-jets, parasailing, snorkling and sunbathing.
• - 9 days in Minnie's hometown Bacolod, including lots of sweet, fresh mangos, the pride of my mother-in-law.
• - 2 days in Subic, outside of Manila, for the wedding of a friend of Minnie.
  

I will be sharing pictures and stories from our trip here on this blog, showing how wonderful it is in the Philippines :)

My life in three's

Today I spent some time reading through various blogs, including the "Blindsided"-blog of Lloyd, a friend and ex-colleague of my wife. This post on his blog caught my interest, as it was a nice way to sum up one's interests and experiences. Ill do as he suggests in the bottom of his post, post it on my blog with my answers:

Three jobs I have had in my life

• - Salmon slaughter - I spent a couple of months gutting salmon. Do you know how long a salmon heart beats after its removed from the salmon? Up to 20 minutes. That is one of the useful (or maybe creepy is a better word) things I learned in that job...
• - Electronic gadgets salesperson - I had a good hang of selling digicams for some reason.
• - IT Consultant - Building IT systems for the Norwegian state. My favourite job so far.

Three movies I would watch over and over

• - American Beauty - Still my all-time favourite movie
• - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - Yiihaaa!!
• - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Three of my favorite foods

• - Lutefisk - very traditional Norwegian fish-dish.
• - Pinnekjøtt - sheep rips made in traditional Norwegian style.
• - Chicken Inasal - My favorite filipino dish.

Three places I have lived

• - Midsund - Where I grew up
• - Ålesund - Norway's most beautiful town?
• - Sandvika, Bærum - Currently living here.

Three shows that I watch

• - The Wire - my new favorite. Another great show from HBO.
• - Oprah - Minnie "always" watches Oprah in the evening, meaning I watch it as well...
• - Heroes - can't wait for new episodes...

Three places I have been

• - Manila, Bacolod, Boracay - wonderful Philippines :)
• - Chicago
• - Paris

Three places I'd rather be right now

• - Boracay.
• - An African country, on safari.
• - A vineyard in France

Three things I am looking forward to this year

• - Going to the Philippines in 6 days! - going to spend 4 whole weeks there this time, can't wait :)
• - Minnie continuing to settle down in Norway (learning the language especially)
• - Experience Minnie on skis for the first time in her life :)

Now, here's what you're supposed to do... And please do not spoil the fun. Copy this entire post and repost on your blog or site, delete my answers and type in your answers. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about those who know you.

The real reason Wii didn't go HD?

Minnie and I bought a Nintendo Wii last November. We, well honestly mostly me, enjoy that machine a lot, especially games like Super Mario Galaxy and Guitar Hero III.

Nintendo got a lot of attention for not following along with Microsoft and Sony on the tech-specs ride. Nintendo claimed that they wanted to focus on innovative games, instead of providing higher performance with HD-graphics. However, looking at the picture below, maybe the real reason was how Mario would look in HD?...

The guy who made this picture also made one with Homer Simpson. That is maybe even more spooky...

Ezmo - R.I.P.

Today I received an email with this message:

"Dear Ezmo user,
After a long but unsuccessful struggle to secure further financing for Ezmo, it was decided by the owners to shut the service down last week. This is a sad day for all of us here at Ezmo and for those of you who have started to use Ezmo on a regular basis."

Ezmo is, sorry, it was (sigh), a really clever online service for music, and I put it on my favorite apps list in www.rakvag.org. Through this service my complete mp3 collection was available for me, and my friends, anywhere there was an broadband internet connection.

In the Ezmo-blog, the Ezmo-team tells of competitors that the users of Ezmo can move to: Anywhere.fm and Mediamaster.com. I have checked these out briefly, and I still feel that Ezmo is the best of them. Anyhow, I still hope that this kind of application will be successful in the future. I think more and more people will embrace it.