Old New Turf.

It’s hot outside. It’s even hotter inside my apartment where the air is not moving at all, even if all the windows are open. During the day the sun heats up the brick walls of the apartment building I live in and the it doesn’t really cool down until some time in the middle of the night.

But I’m not here to talk to you about the heat, you all probably know what it feels like when it’s 30 degrees Celsius outside. I’m writing this to tell you all about an interesting change in my life: I’m heading back to the rat race for real.

For a few months now I’ve been working half time-ish for my previous employer. The hours and the money were both good, but we all knew it was only temporary. There was a reason why I quit in the first place, and to be honest that reason is just as valid today as it was half a year ago.

So on Monday August 17 I’m having my first day at the company where I started my computer science career back in 2003, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, or NRK as we like to call it in the land where polar bears are roaming the streets during winter. Continue reading "Old New Turf."

Civilization.

I’ll be rambling on about a computer game, Sid Meier’s Civilization IV to be more specific, for a couple of minutes now. So if man’s greatest invention – computer games – is not your cup of tea, this entry will probably just make you sleepy. Unless you plan to sleep soon, Unless you are me, you can probably find something that’s more interesting for you here.

Every now and then I get the urge to play certain games. During a power failure at work I watched Stian play the remake of Sid Meier’s Colonization, Civilization IV: Colonization, on his laptop and after that I’ve really, really wanted to play Civilization IV. But I don’t want to buy the game without testing it first. Even though I don’t condone software piracy, I like to try a game before I buy it, so I don’t really see any harm in finding a pirated game (or CD or movie or whatever) on the interweb to be able to test it properly before I buy it.

No, I wouldn’t steal a car, but I wouldn’t buy it before taking the car for a test drive either.

Continue reading "Civilization."

I Made This.

Some time last year I bought Logic 8 Express with the goal of becoming a famous musician. I have to admit that I’m not quite there yet, but that’s mainly because I didn’t get around to pick up my electric guitar from Hans Olav until two weeks ago. Or at least that’s the reason I’d like to use.

Anyway. Yesterday I sat down and played around a little with Logic and my guitar. After a couple of hours, my fingers hurt and it was about time to go to bed. You can download the untitled result here. The drums are some that came with Logic, it’s all drag and drop magic. But I play the three two guitars you hear. It’s really not as tight as it should be, I’m imagining a band with 10 year olds, but let’s face it: I don’t really know how to play the guitar.

Enjoy it While You Can.

Ladies and gentlemen, our future looks grim. Just take a quick glance at the current events around the globe: North Korea has declared that they will weaponise their plutonium. In Iran, people are going nuts because of the election results. In Pakistan, a bombing of Peshawar Pearl Continental Hotel in Pakistan kills 18. In Venezuela they ban Coke Zero over unspecified health problems (I kid you not). And in the rest of the world, we’ll all die from the swine flu.

North Korea is in a unusually bad mood because of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874. The resolution imposes further economic and commercial sanctions on the country. As if we didn’t give them a hard enough time already, eh? I’ve never read through a UN resolution before, and didn’t do it this time either, but I did read through the Wikipedia article about the resolution and came across something I found extremely interesting (given that what is written on Wikipedia is actually correct):

Extending the arms embargo on North Korea by banning all weapons exports from the country and most imports, with an exception to small arms, light weapons and related material – though member states must notify the Security Council five days prior to selling the weapons.

Continue reading "Enjoy it While You Can."

In Limbo.

Yesterday I spent most of the day at Musikkfest Oslo with LM, her boyfriend and a buddy of his. The weather was great, the music was relaxing and I’ve got to say that the concept of a 12 hour music marathon on 30 different outdoor venues in downtown Oslo is a great idea. And everything for free as well.

It’s all inspired by the French Fête de la Musique, a music festival that began in France. So I guess we have at least that to thank the French for. I brought my camera with me, but it was LM who used it the most. Among others, she got these three pictures of two young music lovers.

In the afternoon I met a friend for beers and drinks and had a very, very good time. Again the recipe of having two beers and then drinks with funny colors for the rest of the night proved to be the cure for a nasty hangover. All right, so I didn’t manage to get to the gym today, but I didn’t spend the day curled up on the coach either. Instead I watched this weekend’s Formula 1 race (another boring one, unfortunately) and ran around a bit in the post apocalyptic world of Fallout 3.