After a brief, and busy three weeks back on the rock, my employer has sent me to Norway. After an overnight flight Saturday night, in the early afternoon (Norway time) feeling like crap. I really have to learn how to sleep on planes. After getting somewhat straightened away and a chat with Lori over Google Talk (btw… both it and Skype rock), I headed out for supper. Not feeling to adventurous, I decide to go to The Hard Rock Cafe for familiar food. The ribs were a good choice.

After a great nights sleep (albeit 2hrs too long), I was picked by Bjorn, one my Norwegian counterparts and we headed to the office. I will spear you the details of work, I’ll just say the office, people and day was good. After work Bjorn drove me up to Holmenkollen, the Ski Jump from the 1952 Winter Olympics. It is situated at one of the higher elevation (if not the highest) in Oslo, so the view is great. As for the ski jump itself, quite impressive, however there is not enough money in the world to get me to try.

I said I would post regularly, but to save time, I am working with Lori on her blog. So you can check out what’s happing with us there.

Let’s start with an update to my resolutions:

1) Be more organized.
Still trying to squeeze out those few extra wasted ours in the day. I have a new laptop these days (from work) and I am able to use Outlook as a secondary to my planner (I still working the “old fashion” paper route). I don’t really have a good way of measuring this on, but I think I am getting better.

2) Get into shape.
I have lost a further 3 pounds in the last two months. This is a little slower than I had hoped, but I am feeling much better these days. Two weekends ago, I finally finished my scuba certification and had no troubles with my dives. Last November when I tried, the first dive almost killed me.

3) Finish my thesis.
Still working on this, it just coming really slowly.

4) Improve my cooking skill.
Cooking is going well. I have started playing with breads and curry powder, no major mistakes yet. This is another hard to measure goal, but I am pleased (and Lori hasn’t complained yet).

I have also decided that the reason I don’t update my blog is because I am always writing rants, none of which ever seem to be short. I am going to try and start writing more personal blurbs, maybe then I will write more. Lori and I leave for Sydney on Friday for a two week vacation. Since we will have internet access, I am hoping to keep family and friends up-to-date via my blog. So be sure to check for updates.

Last year I posted my resolutions and then promptly forgot them, getting me nowhere. So this year, I have decided to give semi-regular (close to the beginning of each month) regular updates. So here we go:

1) Be more organized.
I have been keeping my day planner up-to-date, and it has helped me stay on top of some things. It is an ever evolving part of my life, but thus far, I have not missed anything really important this year. There are however a couple more hours I could squeeze out of each day, but I am trying.

2) Get into shape.
I have been going to the gym somewhat regularly. Over Christmas I had some problems with my back, which turned out to be related to a worn out disk. This has mode things a little difficult, but with the help of my Chiropractor, it is getting better. I am happy to say that thus far this year, I have lost 14lbs.

3) Finish my thesis.
Believe it or not, I have been working on this (Dave saw me in the university if anyone needs proof . I am hoping to complete a chapter this week.

4) Improve my cooking skill.
This is ongoing but working out well thus far. I seem to be good and things that are bad for me: chocolates, cakes (especially cheesecake), cookies and other desserts. I am working on improving in other areas and have added about 10 new recipes to my rotation of meals, a couple of which are Brian Kidney originals.

It happened, my first spam comment on my blog. What surprises me though is it was not from a bot, it was a real person. And worse, it was from a politician trying to further his cause. Last night Stephen Eli Harris made his was around the intricate web of interlinked blogs of my friends and family (as well as their friends and family), commenting on the most recent posting and in doing so, left a link to his Green Party blog.

If you know me, you know that I have many opinions, and most of them are political. For many years, following politics has been a favorite hobby of mine. Early on though, I made a decision not to make my blog a politician forum (well not in the party politics sense). I did not think I had the time or the energy to write and defend my many political views. It seems though that politics has found its way to my blog.

I’m am not sure the purpose of Mr. Harris’ comment spamming, maybe it was just to drum up traffic to his site, or maybe to up his page rank on search sites. What I am sure of is that I do not approve of the scheme. I have no problem with anyone adding a comment to my blog (as long as it is not offensive). I am especially happy when I found I have reached someone new in the world. However, using my blog (or that of anyone else) to forward a cause without the owners permission is not acceptable.

(Note: I believe that this was the purposes of the comments, as logs show that Mr. Harris visited many sites and only left comments on ones of those in Newfoundland.)

As soon as I finish this entry, I will be emailing Mr. Harris to ask him to refrain from continuing this practice, and remove the link to my blog that now resides on his site (as to me it implies an endorsement of sorts). Unfortunately, I am now forced to turn on the approval of all comments to end this practice on my site. And from now on, or at least until the time I see fit to change my policy, I will try to keep this site free of party politics.