Tickets.

For 20 odd years the city of Oslo has been working their way towards an electronic ticket system much like the Transport of London’s Oyster card. So far they have used about 600 million Norwegian kroner (roughly one hundred and ten million US dollars with today’s exchange rate) on the ticket system that they call Flexus. About two years ago, the first ticket machines and card validators were installed, and a month or so ago they started a limited public trial of the system. I’ve been one of the lucky ones to test the system and I’m sorry to say that after 20 years of planning, designing, more planning and then some redesigning there is still a long way to go before everything is ready for the masses. Continue reading "Tickets."

NTP Anyone?

This is what happens when you’re not in sync. Seen on Oslo Airport Gardermoen.

Winter Wonderland.

Finally, a little bit of snow. Good because that’s the way it’s suppsed to be, bad because it makes traveling by bike harder.

Jingle Bells.

Yes, it’s Christmas Eve, people. If you haven’t bought your Christmas gifts yet, you’re seriously running out of time! Personally, I bought all of them in early December.

The last few days I’ve mainly been doing three things; sleeping, working and playing EVE Online. The game is challenging but without a too steep learning curve and it feels very rewarding every time you learn a new skill or when you finally get enough money for that Badger. The social aspect of EVE is also very appealing and most of the people playing it is behaving and helpful. Of course you find the occasional troll or encounter a rat who nicks the content of your jetcan while your mining.

When I eventually get a large enough ship and is capable of actually hitting stuff when firing, I’ll of course hunt them down and kill them all, so it’s all good. Continue reading "Jingle Bells."

Late Night Calls.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been the victim of late night calls. For some reason people I don’t know who live in countries I don’t live in have built up an urge to call me in the middle of the night to wake me up.

First, it was the woman who only spoke Spanish. She didn’t speak English, I don’t speak Spanish, so as you can probably imagine, we had a communication problem. It was a short conversation. She called at four in the night, so she probably didn’t call from Spain, but some Latin American country. Unfortunately, the number was withheld, so there is no way to find out.

Then it was a Chinese business associate, who called and wanted to speak with Wendy. At least that’s what I think he wanted, because all he said was “Wendy? Wendy? Wendy? Wendy?” before I was able to say anything. Then he hung up. A moment later he called again, I let the call transfer to my voice mail. He left an empty message. I don’t really think he ever realized he had called the wrong number.

Then I got three far more interesting calls. Continue reading "Late Night Calls."