tirsdag, oktober 21, 2003
Welcome back
It's been almost two weeks since the last update on my blog, much due to a chronic lack of time which has seized the majority of my spare time. Anyhow, I'm back, and pleased to offer a generous helpings of links, plus a couple of splendid pregnancy news items!
Toddler growing quickly!
Our baby is now 17 weeks old and, according to my wife, starting to make himself noticed. Just last week she mentioned feeling something that felt like bubbles in her stomach, which our medic later confirmed as being definite signs of the little one kicking around with his little feet. The wee one has grown to 16-17 centimetres, and at this stage, we've even heard his heartbeat in what was the finest moment of both our lives. That happened last Friday during a medical checkup - the doctor put a stetoscope with speakers to Rachel's belly, and we immediately heard heartbeats at a rate of 140 a minute. I wore an enormous smile for the rest of the weekend!
The numbness of being Norwegian
Winter is coming. Actually, it has arrived already with today treating us to the first snow of the year. Little else to report from over here I'm afraid: Lillestrøm keep losing, we have six months of freezing hell to look forward to, but at least there's table hockey to enjoy.
The ultimate sport for all us nondescript ex-footballers approaching 30 and never had much talent to begin with, Stiga's fantastic board simulation of ice hockey is the perfect sport. Easily combined with beer and highly competitive, table hockey exists on an organised basis in large parts of Europe. In Norway there are between 100-120 active players, with 25 or 30 at an extremely high level. This June's World Cup in Switzerland saw Norway finish second in a team competition that attracted players from 20 countries on three continents (Oceania and Africa not represented). Individually, I am of course pleased to be able to say that my brother is among the very best in the world. He finished fourth in the World Cup, and is the hands-down best player in Norway.
This last weekend we played a tournament in Oslo. I am ranked 9th in Norway after having a splendid last season, when I managed to finish fourth in the Norwegian championships. At the time of writing, however, I am completely off form and could only muster a poor 11th place this weekend. My brother, no surprise, won the tournament. Our tournaments are arranged in three sections; firtst, the initial group stages where the thest 15 go on to the intermediate groups and the rest into placement groups. From there, each player plays one game against each other, with the top 8 going to the quarter finals (which are played in a best of seven, NHL style). Each game lasts for five minutes and can be incredibly intense.
The next tournament is coming up on 15th November, when Oslo Open is arranged. This will be an international tournament with upwards of 90-100 participants from all over Europe. I am going into training towards this tournament with the aim of squeezing myself into the 24 that make it into the final group stage. On current form that certainly seems out of the question, but I certainly can't hit any worse form than I am in now...
News from Norway and thereabouts!
**I said Moldova, not bloody Molde! Confusion was the order of the day for this Malese woman trying to attend a peace conference in the land of Dracula. Instead, she ended up in the land of Åge Hareide. Good grief!
**Rosenborg lose 1-6 at home in the most funny football match in Norwegian football for the last decade-and-a-half. Champions-elect Rosenborg get whacked, fully deservedly, in their own back yard and suffer their biggest ever home defeat.
**But this is just disgusting. Imagine: You're out on your regular morning jog, and something smells funny...
**TV fundraiser breaks records. A cool $22m was raised for Save the Children foundation on Sunday. Superb!
**Petter "Iron Balls" Solberg wins race in Corsica, two days after nearly plummeting 200 metres off a cliff and into a certain death with his car. Respect!
**Snow falls in Oslo. Damn.
**Dead moose attacks hunter, 68. Read for yourself...
**Warm-hearted woman cares for dogs. Again: Respect!
**Mobile phone subscriptions hit 4 million. And we only have 4.5 million inhabitants, would you believe it.
That sums it up for now! Cheerio.
It's been almost two weeks since the last update on my blog, much due to a chronic lack of time which has seized the majority of my spare time. Anyhow, I'm back, and pleased to offer a generous helpings of links, plus a couple of splendid pregnancy news items!
Toddler growing quickly!
Our baby is now 17 weeks old and, according to my wife, starting to make himself noticed. Just last week she mentioned feeling something that felt like bubbles in her stomach, which our medic later confirmed as being definite signs of the little one kicking around with his little feet. The wee one has grown to 16-17 centimetres, and at this stage, we've even heard his heartbeat in what was the finest moment of both our lives. That happened last Friday during a medical checkup - the doctor put a stetoscope with speakers to Rachel's belly, and we immediately heard heartbeats at a rate of 140 a minute. I wore an enormous smile for the rest of the weekend!
The numbness of being Norwegian
Winter is coming. Actually, it has arrived already with today treating us to the first snow of the year. Little else to report from over here I'm afraid: Lillestrøm keep losing, we have six months of freezing hell to look forward to, but at least there's table hockey to enjoy.
The ultimate sport for all us nondescript ex-footballers approaching 30 and never had much talent to begin with, Stiga's fantastic board simulation of ice hockey is the perfect sport. Easily combined with beer and highly competitive, table hockey exists on an organised basis in large parts of Europe. In Norway there are between 100-120 active players, with 25 or 30 at an extremely high level. This June's World Cup in Switzerland saw Norway finish second in a team competition that attracted players from 20 countries on three continents (Oceania and Africa not represented). Individually, I am of course pleased to be able to say that my brother is among the very best in the world. He finished fourth in the World Cup, and is the hands-down best player in Norway.
This last weekend we played a tournament in Oslo. I am ranked 9th in Norway after having a splendid last season, when I managed to finish fourth in the Norwegian championships. At the time of writing, however, I am completely off form and could only muster a poor 11th place this weekend. My brother, no surprise, won the tournament. Our tournaments are arranged in three sections; firtst, the initial group stages where the thest 15 go on to the intermediate groups and the rest into placement groups. From there, each player plays one game against each other, with the top 8 going to the quarter finals (which are played in a best of seven, NHL style). Each game lasts for five minutes and can be incredibly intense.
The next tournament is coming up on 15th November, when Oslo Open is arranged. This will be an international tournament with upwards of 90-100 participants from all over Europe. I am going into training towards this tournament with the aim of squeezing myself into the 24 that make it into the final group stage. On current form that certainly seems out of the question, but I certainly can't hit any worse form than I am in now...
News from Norway and thereabouts!
**I said Moldova, not bloody Molde! Confusion was the order of the day for this Malese woman trying to attend a peace conference in the land of Dracula. Instead, she ended up in the land of Åge Hareide. Good grief!
**Rosenborg lose 1-6 at home in the most funny football match in Norwegian football for the last decade-and-a-half. Champions-elect Rosenborg get whacked, fully deservedly, in their own back yard and suffer their biggest ever home defeat.
**But this is just disgusting. Imagine: You're out on your regular morning jog, and something smells funny...
**TV fundraiser breaks records. A cool $22m was raised for Save the Children foundation on Sunday. Superb!
**Petter "Iron Balls" Solberg wins race in Corsica, two days after nearly plummeting 200 metres off a cliff and into a certain death with his car. Respect!
**Snow falls in Oslo. Damn.
**Dead moose attacks hunter, 68. Read for yourself...
**Warm-hearted woman cares for dogs. Again: Respect!
**Mobile phone subscriptions hit 4 million. And we only have 4.5 million inhabitants, would you believe it.
That sums it up for now! Cheerio.
