E: Pasta express ready to launch

In a little bit the Italian adventure will commence.

It is currently midnight. On the dot. In about five hours I must wake up. About 5:30 AM Kjetil and I will heading for the first subway. About 5:55 we should arrive by the central station, with less than five minutes to catch the first bus to the airport of Torp (140 kilometers south of Oslo). From there the Ryanair flight will head for Pisa around 9:25 AM.

According to plan we will arrive in Italy 12:20 PM. The content of our days are not yet set, but will mainly consist of walking about, looking, enjoying and taking pictures. The locations are still similar to the initial plans.

Thursday: Arrival in Pisa, and the night in Florence
Friday: Florence and Vinci
Saturday: San Marino (and sleep in Rimini)
Sunday: Venice
Monday: Venice (and sleep in Bergamo)
Tuesday: Return from Bergamo

Updates will most likely come if time and internet cafe access are willing. Enjoy your weekend.

X: One word from buying apartment/Ett ord unna leilighetskjøp

I was one word from buying an apartment Monday. Sunday I spent less than 10 minutes at the house inspection for the just renovated 29 square meters (without bedroom). That is less than I use for items I really like at flee markets. This time the estimated value was not 50 cents, but rather 181000 US dollars (NOK 1100000).

I ended up faxing my first bidding form while shaking as my first bid was over a million Norwegian kroner (about 178000 dollars). Surprisingly enough, there was only one more bidder, and after a few rounds with the real estate agent, and calling my parents in between, I won the bidding round with 189000 dollars (NOK 1150000). But the owner wanted about 5000 dollars more, and I had till the night to decide.

At first I was eager to increase the relatively little sum to assure a purchase. But after chatting with people more experienced in the game, my shoes got cooler. The old wooden constrution, the not following the ”wet room norm” (regulations for how to build bathrooms etc), storage space, the hight price per square meter, the lack of bedroom, the neigborhood, the ground floor placement and the lack of growth potentional (hard to do much with the value for a newly renovated place). Later the larger consequences got to me; I do not know where I will be next year. Nor do I know what I will or want to be doing. To own a place, I am not supposed to be placed here is not all that convenient.

I could have said yes when I dialed the estate agent the last time. Instead I said no and walked away, still renting. The price was good, maybe even right, but the timing was off. There will be other chances, and when I have more things in order, I will act with more certainty. But it sure was an thrilling and interesting experience. The apartment was sold today for 189000 dollars.

--

Mandag var jeg ett eneste ord fra å kjøpe en leilighet. Søndag var jeg på visning i Brinken 23 på sentrumsnære Kampen i Oslo. Den 29 kvadratmeter store leiligheten i førsteetasjen på et fint lite trehus i skjønne begyggelsesomgivelser er den første ettromsleiligheten jeg har sett nok på til å besøke på visning. Det skjedde i underkant av 10 minutter midtveis på søndag. Det er mindre tid enn jeg bruker å studere en gjenstand jeg er interessert i på loppemarked.

Resultatet ble i alle fall at jeg skjelvende fakset avgårde min første budskjema rundt klokken 15:30. Kjøpesummen lød på 1080000 kroner. Jeg telte over to-tre ganger for å forsikre meg om at siffermengden var riktig. Det er mange nuller i en million altså. Budet var 30.000 over åpningsbudet. Jeg fikk god forståelse fra megler som sikkert stadig vekk hører ferskheten i førstegangsetablereres stemme. Ikke lenge etter kom kontra igjen med 1,1 million som også var takst. Med erfaring fra nettauksjoner og pokerspill, tenkte jeg at man måtte ta i litt for å se hva motstanden satt inne med. Overaskende nok var det kun en annen person med på budrunden. 1,15 millioner var mitt neste forslag. Og ble det høy kontra, ville jeg trekke meg i ut. Etter visningen tenkte jeg at jeg kanskje ville gå opp mot 1,25, mens jeg mandag følte 1,75 var et passelig sted å slutte. Før hver av budene var jeg i korte eller lengre samtaler med min far og mor, for å høre litt hva de tenkte. Pulsen, adrenalinnivået og skjelvefaktoren var hele tiden høye, og skolerabeidet mellom samtalene minimalt effektive.

Megleren ringte til slutt tilbake og fortalte at jeg hadde vunnet budrunden. Alle bud er bindene, og så lenge eier sa ok, ville alt vært i boks. I stedet kom eier med et motbud på 1,18 millioner. Det betød jeg ville få leiligheten til en million og åtti tusen, samtidig som jeg var løst fra mitt nåværende bud om jeg ville takke nei. Jeg fikk til klokken 21 til å tenke på om jeg ville gå opp de 30.000 kronene, som er relativt lite forskjell når vi snakker om så store summer.

I utgangspunktet var jeg innstilt og kjøpeklar. Jeg tenkte at i dag blir jeg plutselig huseier. I stedet for å jobbe videre med studiene, chattet jeg en del med ulike bekjente med erfaring fra kjøpeprosessen. Etter at de hadde tittet på annonsen, kom spørsmålene om våtromsnormen, trekonstruksjonen, førsteetasjeplasseringen, størrelse (uten soverom), lagringsplass (bod), kvadratmeterpris (over 40.000 kroner!), uro i nabolaget, vektspotensiale (er alt oppusset, er det lite verdistigning å vente i ett marked som kanskje vil flate ut). Selv om jeg var klar over en del, var det mye jeg ikke kunne svare på. Og selv om megleren kunne, kom uroen over meg. Som en konsekvens kom etter hvert tankene på framtida: jeg vet faktisk ikke hvor jeg skal være og hva jeg skal gjøre til høsten. Om jeg får en jobb utenfor Oslo, er det ikke barer bare å plutselig skulle selge eller leie ut. Og jeg har jo hele tiden egentlig tenkt to-roms (eget soverom). Sist, og kanskje viktigst for tida, er det faktum at jeg er i en hektisk innspurt på oppgaven, og trenger å konsenterer meg fullt og helt om denne til innleveringsfristen 10. mai.

Kvelden kom, og jeg gjorde meg klar til å gi dommen. Først ringte jeg for å spørre om de praktiske spørsmålene skissert over. Men i realiteten var jeg bestemt. Etter en siste samtale med familien, takket jeg nei.

I dag kom to bydere inn i budkampen. Leiligheten ble solgt. For 1180000 kroner. Nøyaktig det beløpet jeg ble tilbudt i går. Prisen er god og leiligheten flott. Men det vil alltid finnes noenlunde ”rimelige” tilbud der ute, og jeg kjenner meg greit tilpass med enn så lenge ennå være lånetaker. Opplevelsen var i alle fall et kick.

E: Online clips 21

The history and the past entries of this series, is quite interesting and/or laughable too.

As Christians can be fun, church can be a place for humorous events – both planned and unintentional.

Candid/hidden camera is often a great way of capturing real expressions for set up situations, some which are rally funny. Like this one, with people being set up to look like they steal tyres from a police car.

What you shall not film or set up in public, is breaking up with your girlfriend through a choir song in front of an entire mass of people just for the humiliation. Preferably do not break up, but if you must - never this way.

Rather, start singing for the joy of singing, from early on. See an stunning example from this 5-year-old rapper. Pretty impressive is also this beatboxing bird.

If music is not your thing, badminton might be, although few have the talent to outdo these guys.

Lastly talent can be displayed in technical editing skills too, or just a lot of patience and a bit of creativity. See the human skate to understand what I am talking about.

X: Divine drip 7/Himmeldrypp 7

Explanation and other drops here


Platform of Grace

What: Sermon in Norkiken, March 3, 2007
Who: Svein Høysæter (pastor)
Scripture (part of the Bible): Ephesians 2,8-9, John 3:16, Romans 8


* ”Grace” is a word, with which most are not familiar. It means unexpected, undserved goodness.
- The story from ”Les Miserable” is about the change of the main character after his ecounter with the grace of a bishop.
- ”The platform of Grace” is the place or condition where regardless of what we do, all punishment will harm Jesus – who is accused by God. The devil/the accurer himself does not have acces onto this platform.

* The Holy Spirit is also called the spokesman, which can also mean the one called to be on the the side. An image of the Sprit is a solicitor which will confirm and remind you that you are saved because of Jesus.

* Forgiveness
- ”as we forgive those who trespasses against us” cites a bit of the Lord’s Prayer. And Matthew chapter 18 writes about how (endlesly) many times we are to forgive. These are samples of vereses we would like to avoid at times. God cannot stand that we accuse when we have been forgiven ourselves.
- There are however, situations where you are NOT to forgive: When you take the blame upon yourself of wrongdoings others have caused. Rule one is to establish the truth, before blame can be given.
- In other situastions there is extremely tough to forive, if something is exeptionally large or bad, you do not wan the wrongdoer or anyone else to completely forget or neglect the incident.
In that regard, a little exercise can be exectuted: Ask the following two questions and rate yourself on a scale from 1-10 (ten being highest): How well are you at listening...
a) to others?
b) to a person who just did you wrong?

We are to be reminded or enligheten that forgiveness is not synonomous to forgive. It is not a feeling, but a choise to give away one’s right to accuse. Feelings and memories will not dissapear, but one can still live on the platform of grace if one has forgiven. Keep in mind, taht to get anywhere with a wound, there is removal of the alien items in the body before cleaning it up and applying bandage.

* We have the ”right to accuse” (when entering the service, everyone was given a red not with the inscription), but as soon as we do, we leave the platform of grace. The world ”outside” is a regime of accusation, with revente and eye for an eye.
- There are two dangers with stepping of the platform
a) the growth potential of bitterness (Hebrew 12,15), which grows downwards
b) one has to handle others’ accusations and accuse others to stay floating


Jesus was murdered on the cross for our sins. As sin free, this is the
ultimate piece of injustice. Still, even on the cross Jesus said ”Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23,34). Also Stephanus, who was stoned to death as the first Christian marthyr, also said ”Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7,60)

Maybe Stephens’ mission was to trig Saul (who was on the site, and make him Paul)? Biblically standing is a sign of honouring someone else. In Stephen's vision before he passes out, Jesus is standing by God’s throne – maybe even clapping? the pastor asked.

During the following communion, after the sermon, people could bring and throw the note in a basket at the feet of a cross at ”the platform of grace.” The basket filled up quickly.


---

Forklaring og andre dråper fås her.


Nådens plattform

Hva: Preken i Norkirken, 3. mars 2007
Hvem: Sveing Høysæter (prest)
Bibeltekster: Efeserne 2,8-9, Johannes 3,16 og Romerne 8 (om anklaging)

* Nåde er et et fremmedord; ufortjent, uventea godhet
- Les Miserables er om endringa til hovedpersonen etter et møte med en biskop, eller ettere; biskopens nåde.
- Nådens plattform er stedet/tilstanden der uansett hva det er vi har gjort, vil all straff ramme Jesus – som vil anklages av Gud. Djevelen/anklageren, som ellers stjeler, ødelegger og anklager, har ingen adgang til plattformen.

* Den hellige ånd kalles også talsmennen, som kan bety den som er kalt til å være på siden. DHÅ er din advokat som bekrefter og påminner og forsvarer at du er frelst på grunn av Jesus.

* Tilgivelse.
- En bit av Fader Vår lyder ”som vi forlater våre skyldnere.” Og Matteus’
kapittel 18 tar for seg hvor (uendelig) mange ganger vi skal tilgi. Dette er eksempler på vers man kunne tenke seg å komme utenom. Gud tåler ikke at vi anklager da vi selv har blitt tilgitt.
- Det finnes dog situasjoner der man IKKE skal tilgi: Når du anklager deg selv/tar skylden for noe andre har gjort (mot deg eller andre). Først må sannhet etableres (og så skyld fordeles)
- I andre situasjoner er det ekstra vanskelig å tilgi er hvis noe eksepsjonelt stort er det vanskelig å tilgi, for å unngå at forbryteren eller andre neglisjerer ugjerningen.

En øvelse som illustrere utfodringen: Hvor god er du (på en skala fra 1-10) til å lytte
a) ... til andre generelt?
b) ... til en gjerningsmann som har gjort deg imot

- Men tilgivelse er ikke synonymt med å glemme. Det er ikke en følelse, men et valg eller beslutning om å gi fra seg retten til å anklage. Følelser og minner vil ikke forsvinne, men man kan likevel leve på nådens plattform.

For å komme noen vei med sår, må man først fjerne fremmedlegemet før man forbinder, renser og leger.


* Vi har ”rett til å anklage” (før Gudstjenesten fikk alle en rød lapp utdelt med tekstne på), men da forlater vi også nådens plattform. I verdens anklager-regime er det øye for øye, hevn, fritt frem.

* To farlige ting utenfor nådens plattform;
- framvekst av bitterhet (Heb 12,15). Bitterhet vokser nedover.
- Man må håndtere andres anklager og anklage for å holdes oppe.

Jesus ble drept for våre synder på korset – som syndfri er dette den ultimate urettferdighet. Likevel, selv på korset før Jesus ebbet ut, sa han ”Far, tilgi dem, for de vet ikke hva de gjør” (Luk 23,34). De siste ordene til Stefanus, steinet som den første kristne martyr, var ” Herre, tilregn dem ikke denne synden!” (Apg 7,60).

Kanskje Stefanus’ oppdrag var å løse ut Saulus (til Paulus)? Bibelsk er at den som hyller noen reiser seg. I Stefanus’ syn står Jesus ved Guds trone – kanskje han klapper i hendene også?

Under nattverden var det mulig å ta med seg og legge fra seg lappen med retten til å anklage i en kurv foran et kors på ”nådens alter”. Det ble mange lappper i kurven til slutt.

X: Missing links 2/Lenkesurfing 2

With this sequal, the series has been properly established. The aim is, as before, to share some of the good links I have located on the Internet for various topics. Today’s issue is telecommunication, and then cellular phone messages in particular.

For the non-Norwegian readers (and users) I must say the options and my knowledge is rather limited an unexplored. Many countries have options similar to the Norwegian ones, with many free SMS per day in exchange for a little tag at the bottom advertising for the site. If you are not aware of these services, and do wish to save time typing messages and money not paying for them, have a go for your country and see what is out there.

For now, these are some links I have stored or heard about with an international perspective. I have not tried many of these, so do let me know if they work (for you), or others that do or don’t:

* We love freebies: Of course I am not the first person with an idea of gathering several SMS options at one site. This site has done a good job.
* World XS has also made a list, for companies in some countries. I have tried none of these.
* Email2SMS This site seems promising and free, but I don’t think I ever made it work when I tried a few years back.
* SMSeverywhere has supposedly a free option to sende messages to US mobile phones.
* Gofreesms seems great if it does what is says it will.
* For Australian mobile subsribers, I have personally used SMSpup.com. The way to get messages, is by clicking ads you get through your e-mail (remember to register with a less important one).

One service I have tried, and do NOT recommend, is SMS.ac. The message service works, but only has limited free SMS and is really tough unsubsribing from.

By the way, if you have not used Skype www.skype.com or simliar talking service, I strongly urge you to. With this you can speak freely to other users online, and call for very cheap rates to any phone around the world (Skypte out). If you do not call landlines (home phones), the prices are a bit higher, though, for your information.


---

Med denne oppfølgeren, er lenkesurfing stadfestet som en blogserie. Som sist, er målet å dele noe av nettets godbiter og hjelpemidler. Denne gang er det telefoni, og særlig gratis mobilmeldinger som står for tur.

For norske mobilbrukere, finnes en drøss av muligheter for gratis å sende meldinger over Internett. De fleste som får meldinger fra meg, har skjønt dette. Jeg er nok relativt forbruksbevisst, men hovedmotivasjonen er at når jeg likevel bruker mye av hverdagen (skole, jobb, kommunikasjon) foran en dataskjerm, er det raskere å skrive touch på et vanlige tastatur enn å tomle seg gjennom en lengre melding på en signalsender i lommeformat. Ulemper med tjenestene er at mange har reklamebiter i slutten av meldingene, og/eller begrensede antall meldinger. For enkelte kommer ikke eget avsendernummer i forsendelsen, men dette er svært få aktører som ikke har i dag. En kjapp registrering er obligatorisk. For noen innebærer det at man godtar å få en og annen reklame-SMS fra selskapet en sjelden gang. Noen ganger kan det være treghet i systemet, som forsinker leveringstiden av meldingene, men dette er unntaksvis.

Her er utvalg muligheter, med beskrivelser.
* Ung1881: Ubegrenset SMS med kjapp levering, og avsenderen er deg selv. 130 tegn per melding, med reklametekst på slutten.
* VGpass: 10 gratis SMS per dag (eller færre ”samlemeldinger”), med VG-reklame på slutten. En god kontaktbok-tjeneste. Å melde seg inn her innebærer ikke reklame, men en nyhetsoppdatering per SMS for store nyheter.
* Gule Sider/Telefonkatalogen: har også 10 meldinger daglig. Fordelen er at det ikke er noe reklame i meldingen, og man kan sende flere meldinger samlet.
* Uweb.no: 300 gratis meldinger per måned, der alle meldinger informerer om det hippe, unge nettstedet det sendes fra :) For å få sende meldinger herfra, må man registrere litt data om seg på uwebs profil.
* Andre alternativer
- Inpoc: Her var det engang begrenset antall SMS per dag (mellom 3 og 5). Dette kan ha blitt utvidet.
- FreeSMS: Dette er den enkleste siden i utvalget, og har kun muligheten for tre meldinger per dag.
- Eurobate: Her er det et tak på 90 sms per måned. Fordelen er at man kan sende meldinger til mobiler i hele Norden. Eurobate sender ut en del reklame-SMS.

For meldinger til/i andre land, se den engelske delen.

Et stort apropos er DinSides mobilkalkulator, som har samtlige norske abonnementer i en kalkulator som gjør at du kan finne ut nøyaktig hvilket abonnement som er billigst for deg og ditt forbruk. Det er for øvrig min jobb og ansvar at denne er oppdatert.

Og for deg som ennå ikke bruker Skype til å ringe, da særlig til utlandet, er dette et must. Å ringe til andre datamskiner er gratis. Det å ringe andre (fast)telefoner (fra din datamskin) koster nesten ingenting det heller. Skype finnes både til PC og Mac.

X: Play odd tag/En tikkende raring

In a recent comment one of my entries, I was ”ticked” (online version of playing tag) by my good friend Maia. On her blog, the origin of the game and its consequences is spelled out in Norwegian. In short, it is all about sharing six rarities about yourself or facts unknown to everyone else. You are supposed to keep playing, but I stick to an open invitation for anyone eager to share about their unique- and/or oddness.

As I was challenged on sharing 3 x 5 curiosities about myself and my habits last year, I will try to come up with six different ones here. Because there is close to nothing about me I have not shared to anyone (other than God).

An attempt:
1) I have collecting mania. As I was younger I collected everything from soccer cards (primarily World Cup of 1990 and Premier Leaugue, 1993-1994) to
confetti paper. The remaining hunt trophies today are coins from around the world and key rings (although I do not really use any myself).

2) I had what we call a rat tale (thin bundle of hair down almost underneath your shoulder blades, with a circumference of a grape (standing)). This was removed at the age of 11-12.

3) I have always used, but never bought knee pads, even though I have played volleyball for almost 15 years. I do not recall the usage or number of pads the first few years, and in the US (2000-2001) the team was given a certain pair. But for all of this Millennium, and possibly longer, I have used one pair of blue knee pads. My sister and brother-in-law to be could not stand it anymore, and bought me a new pair I received yesterday (similar to the ones in the picture).

4) I have ridden both an elephant and a camel, but never a horse (other than, as a child, sitting on one being held in the straps by someone else).

5) My brother is a beatboxer. I compose and perform a bit of rap now and then, mainly to myself.

6) Maybe not everyone knew that I have orange belt in tae kwon do, after one year of trying martial arts.

---

I en fersk kommentar på en av mine oppføringer
, ble jeg tikket (fikk sisten, som jeg sier det) av mine gode venninne Maia. På hennes blog står bakgrunnen for leken og hennes konsekvenser av å bli tatt. Jeg nøyer meg med en åpen invitasjon til hvem som skulle ønske å skrive seks rariteter om seg selv, eller utlevere data ingen andre kjenner til.

Da jeg i fjor ble utfordret til å dele 3 x 5 rariteter om meg selv og mine vaner, skal jeg her forsøke å komme opp med seks nye. For det er ytterst lite data om meg selv ingen andre vet (i tillegg til at Gud vet alt).

Et forsøk
1) Jeg har litt samlemani. Tidligere samlet jeg både på klistremerker og twist-papir. Av gjenværende objekter er utenlandske mynter, der jeg har album med metall fra hele verden. Jeg samler også sånn smått på nøkkelringer, men bruker knapt noen selv.

2) Jeg hadde rottehale (hår ned forbi skulderbladene med omkrets som en femti-øring, se illustrasjonsbildet). Denne ble jeg kvitt i en alder av 11-12, men skal finnes i en konvolutt på et kott i familiehjemmet.

3) Jeg har alltid brukt, men aldri kjøpt knebeskyttere, selv om jeg har spilt volleyball siden jeg ar 10 år. De første årene har jeg ikke helt oversikt over, og i USA hadde laget felles leverandør og utstyr, men ellers har jeg brukt det samme settet de siste fem til ti årene. I går fikk jeg et nytt par hos min søster og kommende svigerbror som ikke holdte ut lenger.

4) Jeg har ridd på både elefant og kamel, men aldri på hest (annet enn å bli leiet i sirkel på 17. mai som barn).

5) Min bror er beatboxer. Selv skriver og rapper jeg litt i smug.

6) Kanskje ikke alle visste at jeg har gått et år på tae kwon do (oransje belte).

E: Unfortunate outcome of exciting Schibsted interview

UPDATE MARCH 19th: I received an e-mail today, apologizing for not bringing me further in the application process to Schibsted's management trainee positions. My profile while be forwarded to other sister/daughter firms of Schibsted, but for now I am out. There is naturally a bit of disappointment, as I have gradually gotten more and more eager about this job the more I have thought of it. But at the same time it does not surprise me, and if I was not going to make it all the way, I prefer to take my farewells now. The rest of the entry is what I wrote Saturday after the interview.

---

Yesterday I had my professional job interview debute with 34 other bright minds for the 5-8 management trainee positions at Schibsted. About the same number of contestant was challenged Thursday, also picked from total of about 600 applicants.

While on the train from Bergen Monday, a SMS ticked in from an unstored number. The receiptant was Schibsted, the media concern, which found me eligible for an interview Friday.

Thursday I visited the career center at uni, sitting in for almost an hour with one of the professional employees who gave me a challenging, but very interesting and fun, time practicing tough questions and my ability to defend or explain myself of why I wrote what I wrote in the application, or why I had anything to to in the company.

Friday came, and began about 5:30 AM, as I woke up thinking it was way later. I did not sleep properly after that. 10 AM I was one of the first five given a 20 minute individual interview on my background, self and why I why I applied for Schibsted. Compared to the preperation, I was almost dissapointed on how easy of a time I was given. Other interviews, I found out later, had been a tad more pressuring – which would also open up for giving a more reflected and broader view on who I am and what I stand for.

Then there was waiting time till 1 PM. All trainee candidates got their lunch covered by Schibsted, and a group of us headed for a cafe (Bacchus) in cental Oslo. People had been flown in from around Norway, and nearly half from various locations in Sweden.

At 1 PM everyone gathered to present themselves. The background, education and skills of the various members standing up were impressive. As all had to possess at least a master degree, the accumulated knowledge/ability in the meeting room was high. We then split into roughly five groups to work with two case studies for half an hour each. After given the topic question, we had 20 minutes to discuss and 10 to present the result to the observers. How to do, present and organize ourselves had to be figured out within the group. The scene is demanding as you want to complete the task, not bossing other people around, nor going mute in terms of putting yourself on display for the observers. In my group I felt we worked fairly well together. The questions were “Is foreign media ownership a problem?” and “Should Schibsted buy TV Norge (“TV Norway”, the nation’s third largest TV channel).

After a brief sum-up with everyone around 1,5 hours later, we were free to take off. The “judges” have a tough task of determining who will carry on till the next round. As none of the applicants will know before Monday, we parted with a humurous “see you next week” comment. I am personally eager as anything to proceed, this seems like such an exciting job, but will not be majorily crushed if I get a negative answer next week. Without any form of marketing and economics on a higher level, I think I would have needed more time/tougher questions to convince the panel. And even if I did proceed there is still two more rounds to “win”. And there are always more options out there.

I will update this entry as soon as I know the outcome.

E: Great hostess during rainy volleyball finish

My Friday to Monday took place on Norway’s west coast, in the cosy, yet rain-drizzling city of Bergen.

The weekend contained more than volleyball, but the voyage was booked to represent OSI’s first men’s team in the very last matches of the season. The ranking tournament was a chance, at least in theory, of capturing the top trophy in the division. Instead we blew it against an opponent we would beat 9 out of 10 times (or more) in the pre-quarter final match. After leading 12-4 in the first game, an injury on the last outside hitter and a very odd starting line up are not reasons good enough to explain how we could lose 2-0. Something in our machinery shut out, and we failed to do anything right. A complete report of the tournament, where we finished seventh (after winning our two matches on Sunday 2-0), can be found here (in Norwegian): Best når det ikke gjelder. I do not care to be reminded of the sad completion and mediocre placement in a season, which started out really well, actually leading the whole thing through most of 2006.

Personally I am content with my own performance, and extremely happy with not feeling pain in my back. The treatment on Monday, the exercises and the bandage all probably contributed, in addition to thanking the Lord.

What I will remember is good times with my wonderful hostess Ingvill Aa. The girl is oddly enough a good friend although I had only met her once before this weekend – in a wedding two years ago (!). I was the best man of Marit, who Ingvill knows through Bible college. We spoke a bit that day, and have been in touch via e-mail ever since. When I mentioned I was coming, she offered me a place to stay. Few other people inspire me so much to reflection, philosophy and deep conversations, and these things endorse much of our communication. The topics ranged from everything to discussion meaning of life to personality analysis. Talking, walking, cooking, attending church and watching a movie was a fun contrast to the volleyball misery what results concern.

Gratis internsamtaler er ikke billigst

Mandag ble en ny sak om mobiltelefoni publisert på DinSide.no. Denne omhandler ”trenden” med å gi gratis eller reduserte ringepriser for å ringe andre med samme abonnement. Les den, og/eller få et innblikk i hva som rører seg på mobilmarkedet her til lands.

Nordnorske setninger, del 2 - med fasit

Forrige bidrag med nordnorske setninger slo an. Jeg har derfor ti nye sentinger til forlystelse eller forergelse, alt etter som. Som sist er noen uttrykk vanskeligere enn andre. Fasit legges til om noen dager.

* Mølja e gammel. Drefse du ho ut?
* Eg kjenne dæ lekt å ta en kaffe te.
* Eg hadde fådd hætta om dettan óg går gaiken
* Båtn gjekk suinn på suindet.
* Ikkje bjælme meir brus no, e du snill.
* Trivelig å prate litt skit. Vi råkes.
* Eg ensa ikkje at du fór i går
* Eg kainn ikkje komme, har sånn sinnsyk gongspærra
* Artig førr ungan å spælle fotbaill mæ laidda og klumpa.
* Ellers, bærre Allers?

FASIT, fra 13. mars
* En matrett stekt i en panne, nord i Norge ofte med fisk, er gammel. Kaster du den?
* Jeg kjenner på at det ville vært godt med enda en kaffe
* Jeg vet ikke hva jeg skulle gjort, om også dette falt sammen
* Båten ble ødelagt på sundet
* Vær så snill å ikke drikk mer brus.
* Det var hyggelig å ha denne vennskapelige samtalen. Vi sees.
* Jeg la ikke merke til at du dro i går
* Jeg kan ikke komme, på grunn av en betydelig stivhet i kroppen
* Det er gøy å spille fotball med en viss type tøfler og tresko
* Ellers er alt som vanlig?

E: Samples of future clarity

After a long haul of uncertainty, career opportunities are gradually passing by. I have pretty much settled on pursuing a full time job for now. That is, if I get any of the ones I wind up applying for.

So far there are currently two I have handed in an application for, in addition to the summer job options in Dagbladet, Aftenposten and Dagsavisen. The first is s half year contract as feature journalist for the national paper first and foremost for rural areas; Nationen. The second, and far more appealing, is a shot at a position to be a two-year management trainee (description in Norwegian here) for one of the largest media corporation in Europe, the Norwegian Schibsted. Chances of getting one of the openings are like 1 to 100 though. But I do not have anything to loose by applying.

Other upcoming opportunities is as web editor and communication counselor at the vet institute of Norway (ad in Norwegian) and travel journalist options in the magazine Zine travel (Ad in Norwegian).

I do not know if any of the abovementioned opportunities are anywhere close to what I will be doing in about half a year, as many of these jobs commence before I am properly done with my degree + weddings for my sister (July 7) and best man (June 24), but I do like seeing that alternatives are crystallizing gradually as time goes by. I guess they have always been there, but do not really surface in my consciousness before it time to start looking – which is now.

Billigerere mobiltelefoni

Selv om det er lenge siden sist, er jeg ikke helt ferdig med å skrive for DinSide ennå. I går publisertes en oppsummering av bevegelsene på det norske mobilmarkedet så langt i 2007.

Her er en oversikt over de andre artiklene med min byline.

E: My back in business

This is a follow-up on the ache that has been puffing in my lower back for the last 5-6 weeks. Sunday’s match reassured my that it was time to seek professional help. I made a phone call around 9:30 AM Monday, and a couple of minutes later I had an manual therapist (like a master in physiotherapy) appointment set for 6:30 PM at NIMI (links to a page in Norwegian); Norwegian institute for sportsmedicine.

My therapist is professional. After the hour I already felt a little better, although no magic was performed. The treatment consistent of general consultation, some stretching and bending, a few drills, a bit of massage and my debut with electrocuted needles on trigger points to ease some constraints – which did happen. I was told I have/had overload in activity in the lower back region which had made the inner stabilizing muscles take a break, while the outer ones overcompensated - causing the muscular pain.

I will still play the final tournament this weekend, but have to test my physics on practice tonight, to evaluate how much and what position I should take. After the weekend, I might reduce the amount and frequency of back-pressuring training. Nonetheless, I left the therapy last night with some bandage on my back to remind me of having the right posture (see picture), and the knowledge that I will be all right again if I do my exercises right and consistently.

X: Aching loss/Tigerbalsamert tap i seriefinalen

Finishing fourth in our group this season was not the plan, nor goal. The regular volleyball season finished today with a 1-3 (20-25, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25) loss against Mosjøen (see match report in Norwegian). We can still theoretically officially win the overall table with a great result in the final ranking tournament next weekend in Bergen.

For now my primary concern will be getting a physio terapist. I have been beating the pain with lots of excercises and warming up after getting a crick in the back earlier this year. Today however, not even excessive usage of heating cream/balsam eased an immense back ache in the first two and the fourth game. As libero one cannot be replaced either, and I sadly could not avoid focusing more on my body than the ball.

---


Å bli nummer fire i gruppa var ikke planen og målet for årets sesong, og prospektene var så mye lysere – like til kampstart i dag. Det ble 3-1 tap mot Mosjøen, som kapret fjerdeplassen. Les kampreferatet her.

Ryggkinken jeg pådro meg tidligere i år har jeg stort sett klart å lure med god oppvarming og mange øvelser. Men i dag var det smerte fra ende til annen, med et behagelig unntak i tredje sett. Som libero er det dessverre vanskelig å bli byttet ut. Nå venter telefon til første ledige fysio- eller manuellterapeut i morgen tidlig.

X: Golden spike/gyllen smash?

We won 3-0 last night, in a week match against the team Spirit Lørenskog. This still enables us to possibly take home the number one position trophy for the first division of men’s volleyball in this country. First though, we must win our final match this Sunday and the crucial ranking tournament in Bergen next weekend. Then the season is through.

Yesterday I played as outside in the first and the last half of the third game, and performed satisfactory. A while back my lower back got some pull, stretch or another form of injury, which has caused me pain for much of the volleyball active time since. Also in the final game of last night, I felt it and it grew worse after coming home. If it does not improve soon, I will seek a physiotherapist – possibly not until the end of the season though.

Consult your Norwegian dictionary for the following match report: “Sirkus i tre akter”

---

Vi vant igjen i går, i ukekampen mot Spirit hjemme i Domus Athletica. En 3-0 seier gjør at vi fortsatt har en sjanse til å kunne vinne førstedivisjonen sammenlagt. Det forutsetter at vi setter Mosjøen tydelig på plass i siste seriekamp (Domus Athletica, søndag klokka 13 for deg som er interessert), og at vi havner øverst i den avgjørende rankingturneringa neste helg i Bergen.

I gårdagens kamp, spilte jeg kant i hele første og siste halvdel av tredje sett. Ryggen min fikk seg en kink mange uker tilbake, men jeg har slitt med smerter i området rundt korsryggen siden. Dette slo også hardt inn i tredjesettet, etter at kroppen stivnet litt mens jeg satt på benken. Om ting ikke forsvinner av seg selv om kort tid, vil jeg nok oppsøke fysioterapeut snart – men trolig ikke før etter sesongen (etter turneringa).

Totalt sett er jeg fornøyd med egen innsats. Kampreferatet, skrevet fort og "gæli" navnga jeg ”Sirkus i tre akter”.