New Year - New Gadgets

The Holidays are for several reasons perhaps not the time for spending late hours by the computer, and I have myself these past days been somewhat detached from the online communities I usually frequent. Last night and today I have however been more active, and look what I found on Jill's site! Like she says; snap.com offers an "über-cool see-the-site-before-you-click-the-link effect". Just my kind of toy, and what ever statistical information they can gather by tracking activities on my blog I don't mind. For now, anyway. I have no secrets, you know...

Self Medication

I think I've said on more than one occasion that writing works like therapy for me, but so far it has only been a side effect; I haven't previously forced myself to write to feel better. Never have I considered writing as a foul medicine that could be swallowed in spoonfuls for a quick remedy. Well, tonight I thought I should give it a try, have to get back in to writing mode anyway pretty soon, next semester is approaching faster than an avalanche.

Got back from Sweden yesterday after having spent Christmas there with my family. We had a wonderful time, but I don't believe I'm the only one who suffers from feeling a little bit blue after the holidays, so today I have been doing nothing really, just walking aimlessly around in the apartment. When the evening finally came I resigned and hit the couch like a overcooked vegetable soaked in melted butter.

I don't think a bottle of wine and three sloppy American movies (1, 2, 3) about true love and miracles ever have done anything good to anyone, and tonight wasn't an exception. A TV concert with James Blunt, with him singing even sloppier "Goodbye My Lover, Goodbye My Friend" kind of pushed me over the edge. After that obscene emotional marathon my eyes had the same color as Rudolph's nose, and my head felt both empty and in pain at the same time. (Much like having the flu...) The least thing I thought I'd do was writing, had no inspiration and I felt I had nothing to tell. And then why should I?

I thought of all the nice pictures I took this week, all the fun we had, and all the strange things that had happened, but nothing seemed to be relevant. At least I didn't know whom to address it to. I still don't, and if it helped at all writing this post I don't know, you'll have to ask me tomorrow. Until then you can have a look at a few of my Christmas pics. And yes, those Yellow Foots, were picked on Christmas Eve, which under normal circumstances wouldn't be possible.

Xmas

My daughter is decorating the tree

Statistics & Tendencies

If there is one thing I really would like to further look into it must be the dangers of categorizing, labeling, arranging and ranking. And how important it is to understand any method or mechanics behind such activities if one is to read anything useful out of them. To see the absolute bottom line as a verified truth could be very unfortunate if not even dangerous.

Anyway, why did I think of this now? Well, I wanted to tell you about this year's first Christmas gift. A friend of mine gave me a CD a few days ago, and when I sat down today to rip and transfer the music to my mp3 player I realized that Tom Waits is overrepresented, and therefor might imply that he is my favorite musician. Of course, in some regard he is, but I'm very careful not to range my likes and dislikes. To put it simple, I don't believe in a strict black and white view of the world. There are too many colors and nuances, and mood changes as well.

Another example is also very close, just look at the labels on this blog. Reading them you might think that all I do is ponder about being a human and a student. True to some extent, but other things are so important and natural to me I don't even have to do any elaborate thinking over them. Like music - totally necessary to me, along with air and water, but reading from the labels you wouldn't think so.

You too have probably read articles referring to research showing differences between groups of people depending on their level of education. You know, divorce rates, obesity, domestic violence et.c. But the tabloid versions usually give us very little background, they just present the "hard facts", some of them derived from statistics. Do they say anything about which kind of education? Could there be differences apart from the length of it? Is a well educated engineer as cooperative and willing to solve a conflict as someone with a degree within social studies or the humanities? By all means, I don't say that he (or she) isn't, I'm just curious.

It's getting late again, and I lost my train of thought here, so I just finish it in the middle of nothing. I might pick it up later. Good thing I can edit my posts...

Tomorrow (today, actually, I realize a little panicky) I'm off to Sweden to spend Christmas with my family. Another, hopefully inspiring, train ride is waiting for me, while the kids with the help of their father's bonus points are flying. But I'm not complaining though, I rather enjoy the train...

Diversion At Hyperspeed

How many steps are there from Corpus Linguistics to homemade furniture? I should be reading for my exam tomorrow, and I'm even trying to, but it's ever so easy to do one click too many, and then you're lost in cyberspace.

I started off quite alright with the web-based compendium, and began to read about different ways of presenting and adapting text that are digitalized on a symbolic level.

• The text can be displayed in different fonts and colors.
• Elements of texts can be linked to other texts or parts of texts (hyperlinks).
• Specific parts of the text (e.g. footnotes, hyperlinks) can be either visible or hidden.
• The text can be translated to another language.
• A summary of the text can be made (e.g. "SweSum")
• We can extract keywords etc. and find structures and relations within the text itself and with other texts.
• We can generate a text from a database, previous texts or other information. (e.g. "SciGen", "PoMo")
• We can create statistics over words and other textual characteristics (e.g. "Ord i dag")

Deliberately I chose not to keep the links from the original, otherwise you might get lost too, but the one that set me off was PoMo, a text generator that delivers nonsense academic papers. Quote from the creator: "The essay you have just seen is completely meaningless and was randomly generated by the Postmodernism Generator [...] using a system for generating random text from recursive grammars."

So, what did I find on PoMo, besides the fact that I absolutely love "silly" things like that? (And the fact that it's not silly, considering that actually a few generated papers like these have been accepted as real. That opens up for a series of important questions, I believe.) What I found else was a "Sites I Like" link list on the right, and from there I jumped to MAKE: Blog - hilarious! One of the posts drew my attention, and I clicked again. Then I decided to blog about it myself, after all, that's what's is all about, isn't it? Diversion At Hyperspeed ...

Old Habits

Just as thought I was cured from being narrow-minded, I find that it sneaks up from behind. But at least I recognize and reflect on it, so it can't be all that bad?

This morning I took the bus (what a relief not to drive, I really hate that, actually!), and a few stops after mine a man came on board. I didn't pay much attention, just caught a glimpse from the corner of my eye (I was busy playing on my phone). The man sat down next to me, and I turned off the game, the battery was low anyway. Instead I brought out a book from my bag, and started to read. After a little while the man turned on the light and I smiled to myself, I sort of knew he was doing it for me. He said: "Much better, right?" I agreed, and we started talking. I guess we chatted for 10-15 minutes before we arrived at our destination. Same stop, in fact. He thanked me for a nice morning ride with the bus, and then we left in different directions.

Have you guessed what my prejudices were? I'm really ashamed, but I couldn't help thinking the man must have been on something, or at least not being sober. Not that it were any indications of anything like that; in fact he seemed perfectly normal, quite a good-looking man... But why should he strike up a conversation with me if he weren't intoxicated? No need for answer, during the course of the day the possibility occurred to me that I might come out as quite normal and nice myself.

Countdown

Two more days of cramming and that's it, the exam on Friday is coming, whether I'm ready or not. But today actually felt good, much thanks to the friendly and stimulating environment where I'm sitting. I'm lucky enough to know Toril, a master student here at the university, and if I behave well, she'll let me sit in their room. Nice and quiet, and very inspirational; the lunch breaks are marked by extensive collaborative creative thinking, and lots of giggles.

Today was spent reading Laurillard, and I suddenly realized I knew this stuff after all. Absolutely not all of it, but hopefully enough to pass. If I feel as confident tomorrow after attacking "corpus" and "coding" I might pull this one off.

And then I went crazy. I have this wonderful little boutique I love to shop in, but as they don't have any students discount, I don't shop there too often. And then preferably on sale. I spotted these pants in the window and just went inside to ask for the prize. Wasn't surprised when I found out I could get 2 (and a leg) for the same prize at H&M. Sure, not as nice, but still. While I was in the shop, why not browse a little? (Just as I do on the net, when I'm supposed to study...) And there! A skirt! No, wait - a pair of pants? I still don't know what to call it/them, but I'll ask my family what they think. On Sunday, when I'm with them for Christmas dinner.

And that's not the worst part, it/they costed more than the pants in the window and I need new shoes and a top to match...

Last minute?

Read Or Not Read?

Today I handed in the second written assignment, and I'm only four days away from freedom. There's only one obstacle in the way, and that's a school exam in ICT&Learning. The question is - should I read or not? The answer is not as simple as it may sound. You see, I have a zillion pages to read and that it just not doable in such a short time. So if I start I'll just be nauseous from realizing I don't know squat. I think I rather stay ignorantly blissful from having delivered my papers on time, show up on Friday for the exam, and - HEY!!! - fail? Bad strategy, books it'll be then.

Being a student of Humanistic Informatics I absolutely love well functioning tools such as ebrary, and every time I find a book I need in this electronic form I feel like I've hit the jackpot. And what do you know? Diana Laurillard's Rethinking University Teaching: A conversational framework for the effective use of learning technologies was there too. Very convenient.

Fiction novels on the other hand I wouldn't dream of reading from the screen, and I really look forward to taking the train home to mummy this weekend, sit back and enjoy Donna Tart's The Little Friend or some other of the many novels that are waiting for me on my bookshelf. Reading while sipping hot coffee and take occasional glimpses of the mountains passing by.

I'm Not Lonely

I have a friend here. Golden brown, and smells like a horse. But yet sweet and with a full body. He inspires me and keeps me company while I'm hammering away on the keyboard...

Write Or Not Write?

I was just about to start this post with the sentence "I'm sitting here trying to write the analysis about Whom the Telling Changed...", but that would have been a lie. I'm not even trying. The only thing I'm doing, is doing nothing. Waiting for time to pass so I can get really stressed and anxious. Best motivator there is.

I realize this isn't the best strategy, and at some point I really have to change the way I work. Or rather not work. But as I'm writing a post anyway to loosen up my thoughts and fingers, why not at least try to relate it to my assignment?

Whom the Telling Changed is a piece of Interactive Fiction created by Aaron A. Reed, and it's written in Inform 6.3. Curious as I am, and also needy of substantial information I visited Inform's homepage. There's now a Inform 7 which I have just downloaded, but the question is - what on earth am I going to do with it? I would love to try it out, but when? And I also think a course would be helpful. And fun. But I strongly suspect there aren't that many on this side of the pond. Maybe Jill knows something.

Do I really need any more toys that I don't have time to play with? (Read in the paper the other day that Norwegian kids have like 500 toys in their rooms, now that's absolutely insane!) Or maybe this is the tool I've been searching for? The the perfect medium for exploring and expressing myself? Very well could be, considering what they say on their site:

With a small number of exceptions, though, the most important works of interactive fiction have never been "published" in the sense of being issued for sale by a for-profit company. [...] For the most part, IF has not been commercially valuable since about 1988.

That would be so typical me, finding something really fun and interesting, and not getting any money out of it...

One Down...

...two to go. And I still have time for my Daily Jigsaw before I head for the University.

Almost Giggly

This I don't understand. The time is 9.48 pm, and I'm not panic stricken, even though I probably should be. The final paper is due tomorrow by 1 pm with all of its 3500-4500 words, and I have just under 3300. And they're not that brilliant, at least not enough to weigh up for the shortness. So why am I in such a good mood? Because I know it just have to do; I'm slowly learning to relax.

And on my way I always stumble upon words of wisdom from writers and thinkers who lived long before me, and who make me almost ecstatic. Montaigne I got acquainted with last year, and I decided then, I'd like to read more of him. What an exquisite brain he had; so sharp and witty, and very precise. (And I just love that he shows that you can write sentences that are words 120 long, and still work! My kind of guy.) Just taste these words here:

'Tis the custom of pedagogues to be eternally thundering in their pupil's ears, as they were pouring into a funnel, while the business of the pupil is only to repeat what the others have said: now I would have a tutor to correct this error, and, that at the very first, he should, according to the capacity he has to deal with, put it to the test, permitting his pupil himself to taste things, and of himself to discern and choose them, sometimes opening the way to him, and sometimes leaving him to open it for himself; that is, I would not have him alone to invent and speak, but that he should also hear his pupil speak in turn. Montaigne 1575

So if nothing has changed for the last 500 years, I guess it would be too much to expect a change overnight?

A Philosphers Gettogether

How I wish I could bring them back, all these great thinkers. It would be interesting to throw a Christmas Party and have like twenty of them there. Just imagine the discussions! Today I give you a few words from one of them, words I seem to live by every day:


”…I shall try little by little to reach a better knowledge of and a more familiar acquaintanceship with myself. I am a thing that thinks, that is to say, that doubts, affirms, denies, that knows a few things, that is ignorant of many [that loves, that hates], that wills, that desires, that also imagines and perceives;…” René Descartes

Deathwish?

Then I recommend watching this presentation for ideas...

Could It Be More Fun?

In All Fairness

One of the essays I'm writing is an analysis of Aaron A. Reed's "Whom the Telling Changed", an Interactive fiction loosely based on the epic of Gilgamesh. In connection with that, trawling around the net for relevant information, I also came across Hammurabi and his code of laws, probably the oldest laws written down. Almost 4000 years ago they already know how to deal with thieves, adulterers and other low-lives. What applies to slaves I guess is not relevant today, but just hear what he had to say about marital life (just a few, random points; and bear in mind that the wife pretty much had to do what the man told her to):

128

• If a man take a woman to wife, but have no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him.

131

• If a man bring a charge against one's wife, but she is not surprised with another man, she must take an oath and then may return to her house.

133

• If a man is taken prisoner in war, and there is a sustenance in his house, but his wife leave house and court, and go to another house: because this wife did not keep her court, and went to another house, she shall be judicially condemned and thrown into the water.

134

• If any one be captured in war and there is not sustenance in his house, if then his wife go to another house this woman shall be held blameless.

135

• If a man be taken prisoner in war and there be no sustenance in his house and his wife go to another house and bear children; and if later her husband return and come to his home: then this wife shall return to her husband, but the children follow their father.

136

• If any one leave his house, run away, and then his wife go to another house, if then he return, and wishes to take his wife back: because he fled from his home and ran away, the wife of this runaway shall not return to her husband.

137

• If a man wish to separate from a woman who has borne him children, or from his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field, garden, and property, so that she can rear her children. When she has brought up her children, a portion of all that is given to the children, equal as that of one son, shall be given to her. She may then marry the man of her heart.

This sounds pretty good, but 139 sets me back again:

• If there was no purchase price he shall give her one mina of gold as a gift of release.

And 141 makes it clear you have no chance of making your mans life so miserable he'd take the first step and rather run away:

• If a man's wife, who lives in his house, wishes to leave it, plunges into debt, tries to ruin her house, neglects her husband, and is judicially convicted: if her husband offer her release, she may go on her way, and he gives her nothing as a gift of release. If her husband does not wish to release her, and if he take another wife, she shall remain as servant in her husband's house.

But you had to be pretty careful with accusations, just listen to 141 and 142:

• If a woman quarrel with her husband, and say: "You are not congenial to me," the reasons for her prejudice must be presented. If she is guiltless, and there is no fault on her part, but he leaves and neglects her, then no guilt attaches to this woman, she shall take her dowry and go back to her father's house.
  

• If she is not innocent, but leaves her husband, and ruins her house, neglecting her husband, this woman shall be cast into the water.

And 235, one about ships, is pure genius:

• If a shipbuilder build a boat for some one, and do not make it tight, if during that same year that boat is sent away and suffers injury, the shipbuilder shall take the boat apart and put it together tight at his own expense. The tight boat he shall give to the boat owner.

They sure know how to protect what was valuable to them; property, wifes, slaves, crop and ships. Or we could just say property to make it simple.

What Did You Learn In School Today?

I learned that history seems to repeat itself, ever so often. And that is quite comforting to know, I mean if the same thing happens every semester I will reach all the deadlines. Even if it doesn't feel like it.

I saw Jill for a guidance session today, and she truly is clever, staying focused on the positive parts of your work, and then carefully direct you towards what needs to be done. In this essay I'm writing about ICT&Learning, I'm going to use Bloom's taxonomy amongst other things (the 2001 revised one, by Anderson and Krathwohl), and yesterday I made my own PhotoShop version of that chart, as I wanted to have the text in Norwegian. And also because I needed to do something very practical, PhotoShop is therapy for me.

Anyway, as I studied this taxonomy a little closer, it suddenly dawned on me where my own learning problems lies.

I think it's easy to be misled by the visual hierarchy of the chart, 'cause the lines are very fine, and sometimes even blurred, between the levels. And I also get the feeling that it implies that you have to master one level before you're ready for the next one. So what has this to do with my learning problems? (Or should I rather say "challenges"? A much more optimistic and constructive way of expressing it.) It's simple really, I tend to skip the basic level of knowledge! I linger in between, think I understand everything, and then end up having huge problems in explaining why! I know I know, but can't back it up with facts.

But if it weren't for these exams and deadlines I wouldn't mind, 'cause I believe this actually is my (and most likely not only mine) way of learning, and I mean even getting the basic knowledge. Have never been any good at cramming, but by playing, assuming, guessing and construct I will eventually also have learned the basic facts. If it works, I must have got something right?

Also found this link today, lots of interesting stuff there... and a nice quote:

"Technological change is not additive, its ecological. A new technology does not change something, it changes everything"
[Neil Postman]

F¤I¤N¤A¤L¤L¤Y

As I said to Toril just a few hours ago - it's seems the only way I can work is with a knife at my throat. This time though I can almost feel the blood running down my neck as well. So, at least I've decided what to write about. Not a minute too late, eh? But you all know how incredibly fast I can work, when I need to...

So, matemania.no it is, and I also got some expert help on it, if I behave well.

Nothing To Do?

Maybe you'll get some ideas from this slideshow.

Reaching For The Stars?

Well, here's an excellent site which can bring the whole Universe, and the stars with it, into your own living room. Beautiful.

Building Blocks

I have this huge chest filled with Lego blocks. Some are really old, simple pieces from my childhood, and some are a lot newer. There are girlish pieces in pastel colors, and there are fearsome pirates, dragons and dinosaurs. There are spaceships and ponies. There are cars and wheels, big ones, and small ones. There are even cups and plates in "silver". And lots, and lots of plain building blocks.

When the kids were younger I tried to organize the pieces into colors, sizes, and themes. Tedious, and not very inspiring to play with. Now I have put them all in this big jumble in the chest, ready to build the most spectacular and unexpected things.

Anyone wants to play?

Convergence

I think it's about time to promote one of my favorite sites again, Blatte's Fractals. And why? Because it makes me happy, art and science in perfect harmony. This it's not a discussion about a definition of art, I could do that too if you want me to, but not now. It's a simple declaration of love for the poetry in science.

Collecting Contents

When it rains it pours, they say, and I couldn't agree more. It seems like I'm in the midst of a stream of odd events again. Or maybe I'm just more alert, I don't now. Let's see, where should I start? Yesterday evening? Well, that I can maybe talk about later.

But we can begin with my daughter's PC which she bought from Dell last May. It worked fine, until about a month ago. She suddenly couldn't access the computer anymore, all she got was the desktop, but no icons or tool-bar or anything. Her brother tried to start in safe-mode, but it didn't work. Then she had another friend over this weekend, but he came to the same conclusion, only now with the dreaded blue screen telling that the hard disk couldn't be found. Yesterday I helped her to get in contact with the support at Dell, and they arranged to call her up this morning. The plan was to guide her through a recovery of the system.

She called me at ten, and told me about what had happened. The Dell guy had instructed her, she'd followed, but same result. Blue screen, no hard disk. Next step was to open up the machine and see if maybe the hard disk for some strange reason was loose. It could happen. Surprise! There was no hard disk. And I mean, actually, it wasn't there. Think about that for a while. Any explanations? Two possibilities, as I see it. Either someone's stolen it (but why didn't they take her digital camera or other valuables?), or - she's a sleepwalker!

I have two daughters, and the other is living with me, and this morning we went to the doctor. She's got some terrible eczema, especially on her hands and arms, but also some around her eyes. The doctor did his exam and also asked her some vital questions. All but one were expected, and as he looked at her clothing he said: "Is this the way you usually dress?"

"Uh-huh" was all she said.

"You see," the doctor continued "if you're allergic you might also react to the dying pigment in your clothes, and black clothes have the most." So by doctor's orders I might not have to see my youngest dress up like Marilyn Manson anymore. Wonderful!

More strange things? A friend of mine who I haven't seen for a very long time suddenly walked right into me only hours after I thought of her. We have this kind of spooky connection, and even if we don't see each other for months, we know how we feel about each other. Good friends are like that, no need for pretending.

All I need now, and I have a feeling I might just get it, is a really good angling to my paper about "ICT & Learning". If I get out of this fog with a big smile, I think I've collected enough odd things to fill up a whole book...

Jon Hoem visits our class

An Ordinary Tuesday Afternoon

Sea, Stars & Salvation

"A long time ago there was this little sailor girl. She was desirous, she had her own ship and she ruled the seas. No storm was too fierce, no wave too high. As she got older she began sailing in company, and for decades they traveled great distances and guested many ports. The sea was sometimes rough, but nothing she couldn't handle. She was a redheaded viking, she was a Phoenician queen, she was a pirate of the seven seas .

One day the ship went under.

She was caught by a current; did almost drown. Hardly knowing what was up or down she managed to swim to the surface, and she grasped desperately for air. Now the night had fallen.

In the dim moonlight she could see floating debris all around her, but she was alone. Her company was nowhere to be seen. She gathered the remains of the ship, and made herself a simple raft. The night seemed to have no ending, and she drifted at sea for an eternity. All she could do was to watch the dark sky, and map the stars. Her mind was a mirror of the universe; endless, unexplored and incomprehensible. Lost.

Yes, she was lost. She watched the stars and recognized Ursa Minor, only to realize that she didn't know what to do with it. Her navigating skills were nothing more than a vague memory, impossible to retrieve. What had happened? Hadn't she been sailing for all her life? Exhausted she fell asleep, and she lay shivering in the cold night. As the sun rose next morning, and the first ray of light hit her eyes, she woke up again.

She stood up on the raft and turned around, slowly. In all directions there was nothing but water, water, water. That first day the weather was fine and the sea stayed calm. She had managed to salvage supplies from the boat, so for the moment she had both water to drink and food to eat.

This is a story, so how she could survive on the raft for so long is a mystery we don't have to explain, but true is that she was there. Some days were so glorious she almost forgot she was lost, and others so tempestuous she wished for the sharks to rip her flesh and end her sufferings. Days, weeks and months went by. Even years. And all the time she wondered how she had ended up drifting at sea. Sometimes she was close enough to see the shore, and birds came visiting her on the raft. And occasionally other boats passed by her, and she waved to the people on board. She shouted to them as well. Why didn't they pick her up, you may ask? This is a story, remember? Things don't work the same way here.

But anyway, she sat there on her raft and asked herself all these questions. Was it possible it was all a dream? Maybe the others didn't see what she knew? Maybe her raft was a mirage, looking like a full-rigged ship from a distance? And how could they know she had let someone else steer her ship for so long she'd forgotten how to sail? And the ocean was bottomless and dark."

Not to be taken too seriously, it's a story, alright?

Jill wanted a better picture

I'm not sure if she's happy with this one either, but she's doing a good job anyway

Jill talks about ICT and Learning

Almost Finished!

This handsome young viking is just about to wrap up his master thesis in humanistic informatics, although here he's only posing for the picture. I just had to show off my little gadget phone. Silly me...

Finger Biscuits

This is one of the things I find so intriguing with the net. The speed at which more or less interesting things spread through it. Like I guess this recipe for "Finger" Biscuits will do. Found it this morning reading Jill's blog. She had picked it up from Diane's, and Diane found the recipe at eGullet Forums.

This is the way it goes, be it cake recipes or personal photo's from a stolen cell phone. Or videos showing hostages pleading for their lives...

Another test

Still working?

Hands On Research

I'm not sure if I'm feverish or just plain brain dead, but these days I found the silliest things amusing. Like my new phone. It's red and almost, as Toril said: sexy. I wouldn't actually say that about such a prosaic thing as a mobile phone. But this one? It is. Kind of.

When I first read about it long before it was released I new I would like to have one, and I just figured I'd wait for it. But just shortly after, my son's phone was stolen, so I offered him mine and bought a cheap phone for myself. From then and until now I've been pretending I was over this kind of gadgetry and was perfectly happy with my very basic phone. No camera, no extras, no nothing really. I could make calls with it, though. Kind of the idea with a phone, isn't it? And why bother with all that extra stuff? The cameras are usually not that good, and if I want to take pictures I'll use a proper one. Music? Have my 6Gb Mp3 player, no need for that.

Lucky me, my son is a teenager, and a lot of them have some serious problems in differentiating between what's their's and not; so for the second time this year some kleptomaniac couldn't resist the temptation, while my son was playing basketball. Now I could stop pretending, and I ordered the SonyEricsson K610i which arrived today. This is when the fun starts, and the very reason I first noticed it:

It has a blogger function!

With just a few key strokes I can publish to my new mobile blog account, as for now only in old Blogger, but hopefully new Beta Blogger will catch up pretty soon. What I hope even more is that I somehow can find some inspiration in it too, regarding my field of studies. Blogger Mobile could be relative to both "Digital Culture & Digital Media" and "ICT & Learning", I guess. And I DESPERATELY need inspiration.

Have to remind me what I told myself when I first began this journey at the University. I said, that it's not only what I learn there and what stimulates me, but in finding out what's not stimulating I will get a clearer picture of what I want to do. And one thing for sure, I'm too old to be back in elementary school with reading aloud from a book. Pun intended.

New Toy?

Just testing out if my new phone can do what it promises. If you read this it can.

Baby Update

At 10.42 it arrived at DHL, Bergen. But this is how it works: the shipment is sent to its final destination, but the paperwork for customs is made in Oslo. And then I guess DHL gets clearance via some computer program connected to the customs office. Last update told me that it was delayed at clearance, but honestly, don't they have any respect for sick people? Take an early Friday, while I'm left here to perish? Totally out of the question, if you ask me.

Misery

I'm sitting here aching all over, waiting for my baby. My eyes are sore and I'm so cold you could put me straight into a cryogenic storage tube. Now and then, a sudden flush of heat tells me I'm still alive. I look through the window, that's all I can do. Any other work is simply too demanding, my head feels like cotton wool. Outside the wind carries away the last golden leaves from the giant maple tree. For a while I imagine myself sitting on a yellow leaf, whirling away, only to unhurriedly descend to the ground. There I would join the ones who shared my destiny, and we would slowly decompose and turn to soil.

"Is that the car now?" I think I see something coming this way. But no, not this time either. Impatiently I check the computer again. Splendid service that is, you can follow your shipment in detail from departure to arrival, but it hasn't been updated since it left DHL in Copenhagen at 07.20, so I'm figuring it surely must be in Bergen by now?

And I really hate having a cold...


The picture is from Pernicka Productions

This One Isn't Red...

...but it will hopefully capture that colour correctly. My new toy. Don't you just love it when work is fun?

I See Red Again

I have previously written about different red things in my life. Last year I bought an espresso machine which is red, and when I moved into this apartment I put a red sofa in my livingroom. I don't wear red clothes that often, difficult colour that way, but I had a pair of favourite sneakers, also red, which sadly were chewed up by the dog.

Sweet dreams in luxurious red pure silk sheets would be nice, wouldn't it? Today I'll settle for something as prosaic as a cell phone. And why? Because it's red, isn't that obvious?

No, the real reason is that my son got his phone stolen (again!), and I offered him mine.

So I could buy a new one...

Reduction

So, is this what it's coming down to? How disappointing. As it appears now, studying at the University is nothing more than trying to beat a deadline. What happened to my inspiration and desire to learn?

Don't worry, I'm sure I'll bounce back soon (and that better be very soon, another deadline is just around the corner...), it's not all that bad. I still love to learn, in fact I think I learn new things everyday. But perhaps not the right thing at the right time! In the end though, I'm pretty confident that it'll all make sense. I firmly believe that everything is connected in some way or the other, but sometimes you're just standing too close to see it. Sounds like I should take a break, and step back a little. Too bad I didn't win the lottery this weekend.

But I did finish that assignment last night, in the exact same manner as the last one. Start write when the sun sets and then finish an hour after midnight, only to hand in some inferior hackwork at lunchtime the following day. I'm not very proud of that, but seems it's the way I work nowadays. If speed was a trait I could produce a potboiler in three weeks.

180 Degrees Of Being

I'm exhausted after this weeks turmoil. The different emotional states I've been in since Tuesday, I'm sure could fit into any psychology curriculum. And now? I've just had a most delightful evening with a friend of mine, and I feel a whole lot better.

I had quickly whipped up something to eat; a veggie pie with broccoli, sundried tomatoes and onions. And cheese of course. All washed down with a litre of Italian plonk, which was surprisingly good. After that we checked out "boats for sale" on the internet. The Sambuca I brought from Sardinia went really well with that. I must admit I almost got a little bit tipsy, and that's probably also the reason why I'm sitting here writing, instead of jumping to bed. I will, in just a second.

Printer Problems

I have just bought me a new printer, so hopefully I don't have to turn to this solution.

What To Do When You Don't Know What To Do

One idea is to dive into something you know very little about, just for the fun of it.

Any of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that I have tried quite a few different layouts, and just recently I stripped it down to a very minimalistic style, with only a picture header as a personal touch. Except for the color choices, they are mine too. But I get very easily bored, and I want to fix the template all the time. Rather stupid, but I found a way to justify it this time. To really reflect the kind of person I am, I thought it would be cool to have a random picture in the header, and I was quite sure I could find something in my JavaScript book. Except for the fact I didn't want to use JavaScript. A Google search for "random picture header" sent me to PhotoMatt, and I immediately started some serious copying&pasting, while also preparing a few pictures for the folder which everything should go in. This is PHP we're talking about, which applies to my opening sentence, i.e. I know very little about it, so when it didn't work I really couldn't figure out why. I suspected it had something to do with Mozilla; I love Mozilla, but sometimes they're just handling things in their own way.

Sure enough, it had to do with how Mozilla handles image caching, and after reading comments on Weblog Tools Collection I found a very useful one from snuf, who directed me to A List Apart. Now why didn't I think of that? Should've remembered how good that site is. Anyway, more copy&paste, and then off with everything to my server, and the result is here. But like one of the comments said; it's not like the users are going to hit the reload button every fifteen seconds, it's more that they get a different picture each time they visit the site. Maybe not all that exciting, but at least I had some fun.

Now I just have to update the photos once in a while. But that's really one of the benefits with PHP compared to JavaScript, as you don't have to alter the code everytime you put new pics in your image folder. Neat. Just like programming should be.

Labelling

I know by now that's it's not advisable to wish for things without careful consideration, 'cause you might get it! And then usually in a way that makes you regret the wish in the first place. So when I for a second wished for a sick note, I took it back straight away. But I just wanted a little peace and quiet, and I have a friend who a couple of years ago broke a leg and said to me: "I recommend one of these! I have never relaxed so much in a long time. Now I can read all day, and everyone else is waiting up on me." After six weeks she was ready to go back to work, fully restored, both physically and mentally. There's a huge difference though. She had a job, and obviously got paid when she was on sick leave. And more important, she had a devoted husband and family in the house. I think I better stay whole.

So now as I have overcome this mornings crying, I'm sitting here at the University labelling old blog posts. It seems like I do a lot of pondering about being human, mainly using metaphors. There are not so many posts labelled odd things, but actually most posts could be, 'cause to me being human is quite an odd thing.

As with most things, there are more than one aspect to labelling ones posts. On one hand, both prospective readers and myself could find posts belonging to a certain theme or field of interest. But on the other hand, that only works if the posts are labelled correctly. And what is that anyway? The funny? label is usually quite an easy one, 'cause these posts are mainly silly jokes and stories I get via E-mail. But what about travel? That could be from a trip from abroad, or sometimes I just travel into my mind. That last one should probably be something else then; frustrations or dreams maybe. Or even an experiment.

You see what I mean? Still chaos, although it looks more organized.

Friends & Family

Just got back from another fantastic trip, and I'm sure it'll take some time to get back to reality. Or maybe just fifteen minutes, when the lecturer will be entereing the classroom.

Anyhow, my brother has walked the earth for 50 years now, and very reluctantly decided to throw a party on the occasion. The invitation even implied that he wouldn't attend himself; he would merely open up the bar and let his friends and family get acquainted. When we arrived shortly after seven my brother wasn't there, and I suggested he'd gone to Thailand. If he had, that would be typical him, but as long as the cocktails kept coming and we'd get some food, I just wished him a nice stay in the sun.

But he'd left us a note on the counter. We all read it, and we were dumbstruck! The shortversion of my brother's words:

"I'm not there. Have something to do first. I've had kept a secret for 6 month now which is about to be revealed soon. You have a guess! At 19.20 you're allowed to open up the rest of the note and see if anyone got it right."

The people in the room threw out guesses like mad - "He's cut his hair!" (My brother's had a ponytail for some 8 years now, which has been much discussed.) "He's sold his stamp collection!" (Not likely, but you'll never know) "He's got married" (He's been a bachelor for ever, but why not?) I figured he'd bought a horse, but that was as ridiculous as every other suggestion. 19.20 sharp we impatiently tore up the letter and here's next short version:

"As you're reading this, I'm on my way to the airport to pick up what hopefully is my future wife."

We were all flabbergasted, but at least someone had guessed it. My brother is full of surprises, I knew that, but this one surely took the cake. About ten minutes later he arrived at the party, and everyone turned their heads. "Where is she?"

"Gotcha!"

There he was, with ponytail and no wife. It was all a big joke from his side. But in the end everyone agreed that we love him just the way he is. Ponytail, or not.

Looonnggg Comment

It seems like it's not possible to leave very long comments here for the moment. If it's a beta related problem or not, I don't know. But my dear friend Toril put a lot of thought and time in a comment on the previous post "Hodgepodge", so I better publish it in another way.

Toril said:

"In the midst of personal misery or more intellectually approached as cognitive dissonance I would like to direct your attention to Aristotle and his famous doctrine about "The Golden Mean", in which he suggests a virtue is the midway point between two extremes, and perceived self-respect to be the golden mean between vanity and self-abasement, and modesty between shamelessness and shyness. The aim is to find the appropriate balance in your personality, and I therefore suggest that you don’t turn off all your heat or vent all your steam. You are, undoubtedly in dire need of a little of both!!

There are periods in our lives that are contemptuously dreadful, and when those periods have passed we look back at them as a typically dark period of our lives, and they were, but the thing is that we learn a lot about ourselves and others in the excruciating process. We never learn anything when life is happy, wonderful and content, that much I know. On numerous occasions, I’ve been abruptly and unwillingly ushered into the darkness and grief that I clearly remember from my divorce period, but thanks to my children and friends I have returned quickly and joyfully. I would insist that in order to succeed you must listen and act on the advice and comfort that is coming your way. We cannot romance the stone endlessly, and sometimes we have to take HUGE steps to conquer the smallest cognitive dissonance. The longer we hibernate in our sorrow the longer the convalescence.
I tend to indulge in my own sorrow simply because I believe certain things are strictly personal. I sit on it, literally brood on it for weeks on end, and in the process I hurt the people that love me the most. I don’t want to bother them with my anguish, other sometimes I’m embarrassed about issues and certainly don’t want to share it with anyone. In the end I have to share it anyways, it eventually hurts more than I can tolerate unaccompanied. When the bubble bursts I feel like a new human being, and I wonder why the heck I didn’t share the distress sooner!!!!
Karin, in your case I can give a lot of advice, and you can choose to listen to me or not. Unfortunately, you’re a grown woman and you’ll have to find your own way out of the misery, but please look around and include your friends, your children and your family. Don’t pretend that life is wonderful, talk about your grief and anxiety – friends will listen, reflect and give advice. Friends may talk about you when you’re not there, I know I have, but it isn’t meant to hurt you in any shape or form. Friends don’t stigmatize friends intentionally, and if they have said something that has hurt your feeling they should be confronted with it if it makes you feel better.

I believe I had a lot to say about this issue, and it’s up to you whether you want to publish this comment or not. Whatever you do, always remember that you are beautiful, intelligent and precious, and a friend that I truly value exceptionally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Derogative" end of comment

Thank you, Toril! I know you're a true friend, no doubt about that.

When it comes to Aristotle and his thinking I totally agree, and I actually linked to the very same article in a blog post some time ago. And if you stay in the middle you're much safer, beeing far from the edge.

Talk to you soon.

Hodgepodge

I sit down here, with every intention of writing a post. There's a lot I would like to discuss, and I even start out on a few. Write a sentence or two, only to delete them seconds later. "I'm off again. This time the occasion is my brothers birthday. He's all grown up now." shift+home, delete and the screen is blank again. Not that I don't want to tell you about my dear brother and the rest of my wonderful family, but then again, why should I? I can write about the party next week, if I'll survive it. "Please help me, I'm so frustrated." Sure, that one is deleted as well. I mean, what's the big news? 4 years, and I'm still a mess. Ups and downs coming so fast I don't have time to adjust, not to mention how my friends need to be around to watch the turmoil. And talking about friends. "How far does your rights stretch? Is it wrong to accidently listen in on a conversation, even if it is about you?" Deleted. I didn't know how to pursue that one. When it happened I got all these brilliant ideas about the self and the "ownership" of it, but as always it seems like I'm incapable of holding these thoughts together. They get all tangled up in the clutter that is constantly present in my brain. I am soo tired of it. It feels like I'm a pressure cooker, just about to explode. And the question is-

Should I turn off the heat, or try to vent out the steam?

Pic is "stolen", this time from Gary Pruner. Hope he doesn't mind.

The Green Monster

This one's only because I promised you, Toril. And besides, I seem to have lost my inspiration today, so why not write about this dream I had? Lately I have been dreaming a lot, and very strange things too, but I think this one excels.

In the dream I moved back and forth into two different parts, seemingly without connection. Right now, and especially since I'm not attempting any interpretation of the dream, I'll only tell you about the freaky part.

"I was somewhere. I say somewhere because I can't recall anything about where or when or how. But in this somewhere there was a cactus in a pot, about half a meter tall, light green with two stems, and it had a lot of small sharp spines. It could have been a Saguaro. I looked at the base of the cactus and was suddenly terrified. There was a part of the cactus sticking out and it was shaped like a foot! It didn't just resemble a foot, but it was exactly like a foot. Except it was a part of the cactus, green with spines and everything. I think I then moved into the other part of the dream, and when I "got back" again the cactus had produced an arm too! In this manner the dream continued for a while, back and forth, each time with a new part developed on the cactus. In the end the whole thing detached from the cactus, and I held in my arms a baby! Now the baby looked normal, not like a cactus anymore, but I knew otherwise. It had this creepy Chucky feeling to it. Evil, sinister, only waiting to do something bad. What precisely, I couldn't imagine, I only knew I had to play along not to annoy it. I prattled and babbled, taking good care not to do anything to evoke the devil inside. I put on a diaper and some cloth. Guessed what I dressed him in? A little brown monks robe, with hood and all; had this feeling that it might "tame" the viciousness. Before anything really bad happened the alarm went off, I woke up and was rescued from this beast in disguise."

Interpretation? No thanks, not today.

But take a look at the picture here, I found it when I Googled for images on "cactus". It came up as one of the first hits, and it immediately caught my attention for obvious reasons. I clicked on it, and was almost as spooked as in the dream, when I found out who the painter was. Odilon Redon, whom I basically know very little about, but it is the second time I unknowingly choose one of his works to accompany a blogpost. And these two are very different as well.

If nothing else, I know now that so many significant moments in my life have a deep connection with art. In some way or the other. Or is it that art is connected to everything anyway? In some way or the other?

Not Everything Is What It Looks Like

"There was this newlywed, young woman, who went to IKEA and bought a wardrobe. When she came home she immediately started to assemble the piece. Just as she finished the bus came along, and while passing the bus stop on the street outside, the wardrobe fell apart!

She reassembled the wardrobe, and the same thing happened again when the next bus came. She called IKEA, told them what happened, and they promised to send a guy to fix it.

He came, and managed to reassemble the wardrobe once more. But as soon as he'd done so, the bus came, and the whole thing fell apart again.

When this had happened twice, he decided to place himself inside the wardrobe in hope of understanding the course of events.

At same time the young womans husband came home. He was curious about the new furniture his wife had bought, and he entered the bedroom where the wardrobe was placed. Once he'd admired it from the outside, he opened the doors to have a look inside.

He stared at the guy from IKEA, who was standing in there saying:
-You probably won't believe me, but I'm actually waiting for the bus."

Thank you, Anna, for sending me this. Maybe I'll see you Friday then?

Dreamy Sleepyhead

I'm sitting in one of the computer rooms at the university, almost asleep. No one's here so I'm considering resting my head on the desk and take a quick nap. The university has some serious problems with the ventilation, and I know they're working on it, but clearly this room hasn't got their attention yet. My intentions her today quickly vanished like the dew on the windows, and I let my thoughts drift off with the vapour.

Through the windows I can hear the the worksmen talking, it's probably lunchtime, but the words make no sense, only a murmur. It doesn't matter anyway. When I look out, the only thing I see is the yellow building on the other side of the yard, and a thin stripe of cloudy sky over the roof. A magpie blithefully flutters by, and lands on the edge of the roof, where he so indifferently follows his nature. The once dark sill below him is now stained white after years of visits from this Pica pica and his friends. I then hear a plane, and very soon it's also visible in my frame. I place my mind inside the plane and travel further, imagine myself flying higher into the sky. We ascend above the cloud cover, and I float into a bright insentience.

Without warning I hit the ground. Still a bit drowsy I notice the lecturer is entering the door, and the break is over. The birds outside lift off and take to the sky again.

Objects In Mirror May Be Closer Than They Appear

I have an ongoing debate with myself about the purpose of this blog. Why, how, when, and questions alike. The conclusion is most of the time that it has no specific purpose, it changes and evolves like I do. In a way it functions as an internal mirror, a place where I can look and see the inside of myself, and not the exterior version. Blogging keeps me sane. Or is it the writing itself?

That leeds me to another issue I have in this debate, whether I really do need to put my inner self out in the open? If it's only the actual writing that is vital, why publish online when a simple, old-fashioned, diary would do? I think there might be something significant here, 'cause I have never been writing a diary in my entire life, could never hold it up even if I tried to. (Last attempt was probably in seventh grade, writing some silly notes about silly boys and silly love. Pretty much like I do now, come to think of it.) What I really would like to look into then, is whether the avarage blogger ever kept an ordinary diary. And people who have been writing diaries from early on, are they now bloggers? Have a feeling they not necessarily are.

So there must be a certain aspect to blogging that makes us do it. Let's go back to the mirror again. Maybe it's an intentional angle to the mirror? Maybe there's something that makes us wanting other people to look into it as well? "Hey, can you see me?"

This is quite confusing for me, 'cause on the one hand I don't want any focus at all, I'm not the type you'd find in the middle of every event. On the other hand I very much like recognition and attention, as least as long as I'm not caught off guard. Perhaps that's one element of blogging that appeals? Every single word can be considered, evaluated, reconsidered, withdrawn, and so on. Right until I'm satisfied and press PUBLISH. And even then there's the EDIT possibility. Like no one ever is going to notice that I changed an "it's" to "her", in a post a originally wrote days, or even weeks ago...

All this make me wish I had another way of expressing myself that wasn't so direct. Or maybe I should just learn to keep my mouth shot? And another question -

Who wins and who loses when you're arguing with yourself? I? We? No one?

Who Else...

...but me, would spend an entire afternoon republishing every singel post in her blog? Well, not everyone, I have only worked my way through 50 of them so far. If I continue at this pace I just might be finished before my exams. And why all this trouble? If anyone hasn't guessed it yet, I'm a controlfreak. (In a sort of complicated, unorganized way.) I simply like systems that work.

And with this new Beta Blogger I can label my posts, and I think that's a nice feature. But the old posts won't go tagging themselves, so I have to do it. Yes, that's right. Have to. All 192 of them.

Beta Blogger

I'm trying out this betaversion of Blogger, and it looks promising, though it also seems like I'll have some fiddling left to do with the template. It turns out the script for the Flickr album isn't wellformed and therefor won't parse. Hate fiddling, but once you've started you'll just have to go on. Until the end. And it must be some reason for this as well, 'cause incidently this fiddling has very much to do with what's in this years curriculum; character and text encoding, SGML, XML, HTML,... What a boring post! Just had to write something to see how it looked. I'll probably delete it tomorrow...

Permanent Makeup

Studying is like treating your brain with L'Oréal. It deep cleanses, and peels away prejudice. It hydrates, nourishes, and makes you feel younger and fresher. A good education makes you vibrant and colorful. And best of all -

you're worth it!

What To Write About?

Writing is an odd thing. Some days you have to write, even if you don't particularly feel like it. Your lecturer is expecting it, and there's not much else to do but start the thing. Slowly, slowly, the text progresses and by Monday morning you're all done. Another assignment again might be very inspiring though, and the writing goes on both rapidly and fluently, as well as inspired.

Then there are days you just have to write, like there's a mysterious force driving you to the pen. No lecturer behind, no assignment. Only a sudden insight that has to be shared.

And funny enough, like today, my fingers still itching after last nights writing, and I want to go on. ('Cause you were right, Toril - I couldn't stop. Too much to say when I first got going, and too small a frame.) But the paper, as modest as it is, is finished, and I don't know what to write about. I could write about Sardinia, that would under most circumstances be an obvious choice. But I don't think so, writing cheerful holiday reports is not my style. I probably have to stick what I do best, and being critical that is. (Don't forget that it's not the critique that is negative, only your personal perception of it.) I'd love to see "Patchwork Girl" fall apart at her seams.

(227 words of nothing)

Sunset In Alghero

Amazing Sardinia

This was just going to be an experiment, wanted to see if I could post a few pics to Flickr straight here from an Internetcafe in Alghero, Sardinia. But silly me brought the wrong cable, have to try another day. Or maybe not, I actually do have better things to do than sit at this cafe all day. Honestly, this was just half an hour while waiting for the rest to get ready for a night out.

I'll love it here, Sardinia i magnificent. I've been around in the world, but I don't think I've ever been so sure I would like to revisit a place like this time. Do you want to come with me?

Airport

Couldn't resist the temptation. I came across a Sidewalk Express and gladly paid 2 euro to connect to the online world. This won't be happening much later on though, this is just killing time waiting for the rest of the bunch to show up. Have a nice week, and I'll se you soon.

By the way: Thanks Toril for driving me home...

Sea And Sardinia

How I love when everything makes sense, even though it might be a temporary illusion. I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Tomorrow I'll be going away for a week, 'cause I have a fantastic mother who decided to treat her children with a holiday. Her children are now almost grown up at 40, 45 and 50, but we're doing our very best to stay young in mind. I think we're quite successful at that as well. Anyway, we're going to Sardinia, and I thought I'd post to the blog just once more before I'll leave.

As usual I have some ideas, or some sort of inspiration, on how and what about to write, but nothing is ever set from the beginning. Strange things and coincidenses happen all time, and are fantastic sources for my ponderings. This day has given me a few already, but the clue is to connect them all; ideas, thoughts, everyday events and peculiar incidents. If I'm able to do that, and moreover, put it in writing, I get this tremendous good feeling - ah, it fits!

So, searching the web for a suitable picture to accompany my Sardiniapost I came across this one, ready with the quote and everything:



It turns out D.H. Lawrence and his wife spent a week or so on Sardinia, and he then wrote a travelbook - Sea and Sardinia. The quote from this book hit me like a sudden wind, whirling up some forgotten desires. Liked that. "...Strong and wonderful chords awake in us, and vibrate again after many years of complete forgetfulness..." Yeah, really liked that.

Lost myself there for a moment, almost forgot what I was about to do here, and so there won't be a smart and effective closure to this post as I intended. Sardinia next! A week of relaxation, and expectations, nice food and wine, and long walks and talks in warm evenings. And let there be music; if nothing else, always the music.

The Good Citizen

When you're living in a society together, at least you should try your best to get along with other people. That's kind of basic, you do your bit, and everything works fine. And then, if you would want to extend your contributions you could engage yourself in those less fortunate, giving your time and money to help out.

Me? Am I doing anything? Well, I have for a few years now been doing some volunteer work as a support person, or milieu practitioner, for boys with minor behavior problems. Quite an inspiring job, though lousy paid. (Volunteer, duh!) I'm more than willing to share my insight and wisdom to help them finding their path through life; and it's so rewarding when I know I made a difference, making them realize something important about themselves. However, it's utterly frustrating watching them doing the same mistakes over and over again. You would think that they should have learned by the time they turned 45.

Priceless?

Do you have any idea how much it'll cost to have a charming man running down the street after you, calling your name? Mentioned it before, but again, I was caught speeding last week, and yesterday I got a letter from the polic-department where they kindly asked me to send a copy of my license, if I had one, otherwise they would pursue criminal proceedings against me. I knew it wasn't as alarming as it sounded, I was quite sure my Swedish license would do just fine. I was simply not in their records, that's all.

Anyways, instead of paying for a papercopy at the library, I thought I'd rather pay the Police Headquarters a visit in person. Behind the counter I found two nice officers, nothing but forthcoming and helpful, and I explained the matter to them. They got my license, copied it and told me they would pass it forward to the right place. Already when I left the building I thought about how charming they'd been and almost thought it was worth the speeding ticket. Suddenly I heard someone call my name, I turned around, and there came one of the officers running towards me. Was he going to arrest me? Tell me what a naughty girl I've been? Maybe handcuff me, take me into the interrogation room, and play bad cop for the rest of the day...

No, wait, that must be someone elses fantasy, I would have settled for a dinnerinvitation. But no, he only had a trivial question about some figures on my Swedish license. I explained and continued my walk to the University. Was this little flirt really worth 2900,- Norwegian Kronor? i.e. 446,57 Us dollars, or 235,14 British pounds, or 51 858,87 Japaneese yen, or 22 498,06 Philippine pesos, or 96 281,54 Hungarian forints, or...

Diversion

Last night I finished, if not exactly to my satisfaction, my latest project, and it will hopefully work sufficiently until I have more time to look at it. Last year during the webdesign-course here at the university I made a website for a friend of mine. As gallery owners and alikes constantly asks for his webadress, we thought it was about time to get his own domain. Fancy indeed, and I feel a strong pressure to fulfill the expactations. As long as this was sort of a studentproject, I could hide beneath that, but from now on there's just me. A disclaimer maybe, on the site itself?

Now I have to dash, got business to do at the policestation. I didn't loose my license, and accordingly to their records I don't even have one. I do, but it's Swedish, and it has worked perfectly fine for all these years. Better go down and show it to them...

And maybe a quick coffe, Toril, while I'm downtown?

Corpus Linguistics

I suspect it'll take me while to be fully back into reading/thinking/writing-mode again. Well, the thinking part is never really absent, but as a student you'll also have to organize your thoughts and reproduce them in writing as something clever and innovative. I feel the pressure, selfinflicted as it is, and only a week into the semester I actually believe I'm behind. Ridiculous, I know, and I'm learning to live with the fact that I'm a slightly obsessed control freak who sets standards for myself almost impossible to meet.

There's also another "problem". As I'm not particularly ambitious careerwise, I'm not sure I have enough drive to expand on my ideas and give them wellfounded support, and having found a logic answer or seen a clear connection in my mind is more than often a satisfying experience in itself, with no need for further confirmations. On the other hand I then often go on missioning, filled with the conviction I could get everyone else to see the light.

Todays calling is to spread the word (!) of dictionary.com. Again. This website has been my trusty companion for quite a while now, but it's only getting better and better, with so many useful functions. (And a new beautiful layout as well.) The latest addition is CleverKeys, a program which allows me with a simple keystroke to access the dictionary from within the browser. Let's say I'm reading an article and come across an unfamiliar word; I highlight the word, press "Ctrl+L" and dictionary.com opens up in a new tab with the explanation right there. Or if I'm blogging and feel my vocabulary is in need of an update "Ctrl+M" brings up a menu and I can choose thesaurus.com; in an instant I'll have 101 results for: "feel".

As a user of these fantastic applications I believe I should support their creators in a more substantial way than just talking nicely about them, and therefore I am, as from today on, a subscriber; which will give them $19.95 and me some extra functions.

It's getting late and I realize I still haven't come any closer to what the heading suggested, i.e. Corpus Linguistics, and it really doesn't matter anymore. Let's just say it's one of my subjects this fall, and it's going to be quite interesting although it's only a smaller part of HUIN102, "ICT in the Humanities". I'm sure there will be other postings emerging from that topic, in some quirky way or another.

Time for bed, if I'm to succeed in my aim at hitting the sack before midnight.

Speeding Away...

I've got a monster at home. Not under my bed, where they usually hide; no, this one's got her own bed. Which she rarely makes, by the way. Today she was about to go on a schooltrip, a bikeride on "Rallarvegen". She's not the most active teenager, and I guess she dreaded the uphills more than anything. Therefore, when she already a couple of days ago complained about a beginning sore throat, I actually suspected her of beeing so extremely calculating that she not only planned to be sick on the day of departure, but put on a play in advance as well. Obviously I feel ashamed of mistrusting her like that, but it only shows how bad it can get here sometimes, and what's more - it takes one to know one... did I mention I used to be 13 once? Anyhow, this morning she woke up in a terrible state, asking for a bucket; and from then on the morning evolved into something fit for a DrPhil-show. Nasty indeed.

When I eventually drove her to the trainstation I was, to put it mildly, slightly upset and agitated. Not an excuse, but merely an explanation for what happened next. I got caught in one of those bloody photo radars! Totally unnecessary, and it'll cost me a fortune, I'm pretty sure of that. I'll be lucky if they let me keep my license. On the other hand, it could actually be quite nice not to be driving that little monster around for a while. Amazing how some fresh air can do wonders for spoiled brats. And also, as our gender expert at the section, Hilde Corneliussen, suggested: "You just did your womanly duty in evening out the statistics." Cute.

On the bright side of things, I must say I look forward to this semester and the courses I'll be following. "Digital Media and Digital Cultures" with associate professor Scott Rettberg, I'm sure will be a pure treat for my mind. At least until I have to produce something. He too referred to monsters, reminding us of our final 5000 word-paper, which are due at the end of November. My hope is that all monsters haunting me can be tamed and transformed into something beautiful, something that makes me feel good and smile with pride.

As If Nothing Ever Happened

Nothing really surprises me anymore, too many odd things have occurred lately for that. And even as you never should say never, I honestly didn't believe we'd ever see our cat again when she disappeared nearly 10 months ago. But due to some strange (but uninteresting) coincidences, this week I located her and brought her home. The same night she returned I found myself watching her in disbelief; all this time had passed, and yet there she was, lying on the sofa, as if nothing ever happened. While she contentedly was licking her fur, I couldn't help but wonder about what she's been doing these months. Who had cuddled her? Where had she slept? Had she missed us? And also, how fast could I loose every recollections of her scratching the doorframes and throw up hairballs on the carpet? Old habits die hard they say, and I found it almost too easy to let her come close and stroke her soft coat. I even think she snuck her way into my bed that first night...

The Season is Just Around The Corner...

...and the preparations for "Beach 2006" has begun.

I thought I'd like to start out an ambitious workout-program in order to be able to show myself off much leaner and better looking for the summer.

First I thought I'd wait for warmer days, but I felt so inspired I'll get going this instant.

I sure hope there are more people who would like to join in. It feels so good with a little support once in a while.

We'll start out slowly and increase the intensity after a while, or what do you think?

Ok, hang on now...

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AND THEN WE SCROLL UP AGAIN!

Well, think that should do it for today.

Don't forget to stretch out afterwards!


Good luck and a nice summer to you all!!!

Good Empty Or Bad?

So, I did it again. Another semester is over and I sit here with a numb feeling. Completely empty. Is that good or bad then? My mind seem to have come to a halt, nothing's really happening in there. On the other hand, any emptiness, any void space, can be filled with amazing and wonderful things. And if we stick to the computer metaphor, everyone knows that it's not only the size of the harddisk that matters but also how much free space there's left. If the disk is too full it gets sluggish.

Picture from artist Charles E. Morrow