A day for differentiation

The necessary holiday travels and visits are done. It wasn't much this year. Now I'm back home. That's good. I kind of like these corona times. There are fewer places I need to go, less people I need to visit. More time on my own. 

I have watched some football with the boys. Last night Leeds won 5-0 against West Bromwich. 

The winter has been crappy so far. Not much snow in my part of Winterland, and the borders are closed. No skiing.

The last couple of days I have been in the office to do some fun stuff, while everybody are gone, and the bosses don't send me mails. Today I finally found the time to do some math that I needed to work my way through. Just some straight forward differentiations. But I need to be focused, to get all the signs right.

(That's the summary of what I have produced today in the picture)

The darkest day

 

Today is the darkest day of the year, and the last day at work before Christmas. Maybe it’s the last day at work this year. It remains to see, depending on the weather during the holidays, which are not so holy for me.

This year has been special, with the COVID-19 stuff going on. Many days spent in home office, which is fine in many ways, but with too small computer screens, and somewhat monotonous surroundings. But sometimes it’s good to get out of the house. So today I’ve been sneaking into the office, to my big computer screens. That’s the good thing about having the boss in a different city, and even in a different country far away. He can’t see where I am and what I’m doing all the time.

Everything that needs to be done this year is finalized, so it’s time to do some clean-up, and some updates. Today I have updated Python, all the modules. The kind of things I don’t dare to do when I have urgent stuff going on. Don’t change things that works when there are deadlines coming up.

But now it’s done, and then it’s time to go home, on the darkest day, to prepare the Christmas celebrations that I dislike as much as I did last year and the year before.

Looking forward to January.

Back from the underground

We have been in lockdown due to COVID-19 for almost three months now. I've been working from home, from the basement, as an underground man. Today it's back to the office.

It's been weird times. I've been working in the basement, with my computer connected to the big TV that we normally use to watch Premier League football. I need two screens to get my work done efficiently. With no football games there hasn't been much  competition for the TV.

There hasn't been many places to go. No traveling at work, no weekend trips around Winterland. Just stay at home, work, eat, go for an evening walk in the almost empty streets. Fortunately the spring was late this year. It’s been good skiing conditions around town almost till the end of May. I’ve been up there cross-country skiing frequently.

The lockdown has had it’s advantages too. For an introvert the situation is quite easy to deal with. And just in case, to avoid infection, we had separate bedrooms. That’s what I have always wanted. Would be great to have it as a permanent solution, I think.

New times are starting today. Noting will be exactly like before, in many ways, I think and hope and fear. 

(Two pictures, taken recently, with only a week between)

Christmas

Yesterday was the last day of work before Christmas. I left the office around 6 pm. I immmediately wished that it was 2. January so that I could get back to my equations and computer codes.

Fuck Christmas. I’m not interested.

(Picture taken today, when I was out on a short walk. Days are short in Winterland on this time of the year. It's hardly possible to take a picture in day light. However, the darkness outside fits with the darkness of my mind.)

Long day

It's been a long day. I left home before 4am in the morning to catch an early plane, and came back home after 11 pm. I went to our office in the capital to attend a workshop starting at noon. I thought it was a good idea to have some other meetings and talk to people I work with in other projects while I was there.

I just got the time to grab a salomon wrap in the cantina before the workshop started. The topic was exploration for metals in the deep oceans. Very exciting, to plan the activities which maybe, and only maybe, will be a big source of income in the future.

I got to meet people in our company who I normally never meet. The guys on the upper floors, the guys doing business analytics and stuff like that. They talk about business drivers, value chains, scalability and revenues. I only talk about science. That's easy.

It was dark when I took the train to the airport at 6pm. I had a shrimp sandwich and a beer, while waiting for my plane. The sandwich was incrediby expensive ($20). I thought I should pocket the beer glass when I left, as a revenge.

My plane was delayed. Late incoming fight. More time to kill. I sat for a while thinking about my dear soulmate, who I miss.  Then I went to the bookstore to look at the new books. That's the only stores I like. I saw a cute lady in tights. I walked over to the sci-fi shelf, pretending to be interested in intergalactic-war-fantasy-novels, just to see her from behind. Thick thighs, big butt, very nice. That's not an offense, is it? I didn't say anything, didn't touch. I just watched, and she didn't notice.

Maybe I committed a crime, or a thought crime. I don't know. It's strange times ...  >:)

(Picture taken tonight, while waiting for the train to the airport)

Winter games

I have heard there are some Olympic Winter Games going on. But I haven’t seen it. Apparently, nobody have. The Koreans who are hosting the games aren’t interested, except in short-track speed skating.  In Europe most of the competitions are at inconvenient hours due to the time difference.

So, I’m either sleeping or at work when the ski competitions take place. This week I’m in the mountains for winter vacation. I'm out skiing myself, rather than watching TV. Today was such a great day; sunny and no wind, a perfect day for the outdoors.

Whatever, the Olympics are not that important. The most important sports events are later this year; the Soccer World Cup in June, and the Chess World Championship in November.

In the mean time I have my own winter games. I enjoy the skiing and the great weather in the mountains, and tonight it's Champions League on TV.

There's  not much to complain about, really.  Just missing my best friend.

(I took this picture of myself today. Maybe it's the best part of me, the part which is free, or maybe it's just the shadow of the man I should have been)

Thursday night

I was out eating tonight, and drinking beer. I was with good friends and colleagues, men and women. Some of them (maybe one or two) are sexy, most of them are not. That's another story. Maybe i will write more about this later.

We were in the old brewery. They've got rid of all the  bulk volume pale lager productions. It's been moved to a big modern brewery in the south. That's good. Now they're making more interesting craft beers. Test brews, some of them very good. I had four beers, enjoyed them all.

When we left, I decided to walk back home, It's not very far, maybe 1/2 hour. I walked through town, and I realized we're really living in a small town. It's advantageous in many ways, no traffic jam and short commutes. I also realized that the town center is quite dead at night on the week days.

I passed by empty restaurants and almost empty bars, just a few people drinking beer and watching the Europa League football in the sports bars. That's life. Not much happening, we're stuck in our caves. I need to do something about this, before it's too late. Get out. Get away.

(Picture taken while walking back home tonight. The cabin cruisers look a little bit weird next to the snow-covered streets, I think. Many things are weird tonight.)

A-Z Challenge 02: Baal

When I was a kid, my father taught me how to carve wooden men out of birch branches. They were  easy to carve, these small men with a rounded head and a long robe.  My father called them priests of Baal.

According to the Old Testament, Baal was a false God, an idol.

As far as I can remember, I learnt three things from my father: skiing, fishing trout, and worshipping a false God. Now, he’s teaching the same things to his grandchildren.

That’s life, for kids in Winterland >:)

Writing a blog post with cold fingers

I'm sitting on a rock in the mountains, writing my first blog post outdoor and above timberline. I had to search a little bit to find a spot with cellphone signal.

It's such a nice day, in this bowl where you can just ski everywhere. Mountain men (like me) know of course that this beautiful landscape can turn into an inferno when fog and blizzards come in. But today it's just paradise, with blue sky and white snow. 

Its the white gold.

My hands are getting a little bit cold while typing, cold as heaven. Time to get my gloves and my skis on and get back to the offpiste slopes >:)

(Picture taken 10 minutes ago with my cellphone camera. The pictures get a little bit random because it's hard to see the display in the strong sun. But if I take a  lot of pictures, I always get some good ones.)

Summertime in Winterland

There's something about staying up late. I like that, but it sometimes makes me tired the next day.

Yesterday, I had a great day of skiing. It was nice and sunny. It was the kind of spring-winter when you can feel the sun is warming, even above timber  line in the mountains.

I spent last night reading and writing in the cabin, and then chatting with a good friend on Internet, while enjoying a cold beer.

I didn't stay up very late, just about an hour past midnight.  But this was the night we changed the clocks to summer time, and lost one hour. So today I'm a little bit tired.

Time to finish my coffee and get out on the slopes again. Then I will wake up, for sure.

(Picture taken yesterday. Little boy was skiing with a buddy in the snow park, and I was enjoying the company of my shadow while skiing in the high zone )

Skimas

Vacation in the mountains. Skiing with the boys. That's nice. There's only one person I'm missing right now.

Christmas. Christ mass. I'm not into the religious part if it. I should call it something else.

Snowmass? No, that's a place in Colorado, close to Aspen. Nice place. I've been there many years ago, when we lived in Colorado

Skimass or Skimas?  That's a nice name for the holidays. I have to check on the Internet if it already exists.

Lunch break is over. Time for a couple of more runs on the slope before its getting dark. Days are short in the north at this time of the year. Sunset at 2pm.

Tomorrow is another day, I believe >:)

(Picture taken today, before lunch. Blogpost written on my cell phone)

Just walking around

I'm out walking, more or less at random. Just needed some fresh air, to clear my mind.

It's a nice summer night, but summer is soon gone now. It's getting dark around 10 pm. The long light summer nights belong to the past.

The students are back in town. They make s lot of noise. Get-to-know-eachother parties and stuff like that. Happy young people, new to the town. Those were the days.

There are still some tourists around. The Japanese climb on everything they want to picture; statues, monuments, the rail og the old town bridge. I took a picture too (below), like I was a tourist in my hometown.

I stopped by a bar. Bought a glass of beer, the local beer on tap. I don't like it very much, I prefer the dark beer. Just bought it to remind myself that I really like this town, I like to live here.

It's been a wonderful summer. Who knows what the fall will bring. I'm optimistic >:)

A-Z Challenge 07: Green card

Many years ago, when I was a graduate student, we (wife, older boy and I) lived in Colorado for about a year. When our neighbors (from Venezuela) heard that we were moving back to Europe, they asked me:

“Didn’t you get a Green Card?”

“No,” I said.

“Why not?”

“I didn’t apply for one.”

It was hard for my neighbor to understand, and I tried to explain:

We really liked living in Colorado, and enjoyed it a lot. We got to know some awesome people, we hiked some fantastic national parks, and we skied some great slopes. But one year was enough; perfect.

We didn’t like the American system. The rich are too rich, and the poor are too poor. It’s sometimes better (with Clinton and Obama), and sometimes worse (with Reagan and 2xBush). We don’t fit into a political fauna where the only options are right-wing and ultra-right-wing. I'm too liberal, and too radical. It's not my style.

We wanted to go back to Winterland, where we belong >:)

(Colorado is awesome. Picture taken in October some years ago along I-70 right outside Denver.)

A-Z Challenge 06: Freeskiing

I've been out traveling for 3 days. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to read nor write much on my blog. My posts for day 4 and 5 were prewritten, and just posted on the right day.

I've up in the mountains with my two boys for a freeskiing competition.  So it's a perfect match that the letter for to day is F.

You might have seen it freeskiing in the recent olympics. Slopestyle (on twin-tip skis) was on the olympic program for the first time in Sochi. It's all about jumping big jumps, and making flips and tricks in the air.

Freeskiing (or newschool freestyle) is one of the fastest growing sports, in particular among teenage boys. My sons are both totally brainwashed by this sport. For them it's the meaning of life. It gives them plenty of physical challenges and adrenaline kicks. They both have 100+ days on skis every winter.

The saddest time of the year is when spring comes and the snow extincts.

(The picture above was taken by a professional photographer this weekend. It shows older boy flying high in the big jump competition. If you wanna see what the live action looks like, check out this video, showing older boy and one of his buddies in the Austrian Alps two weeks ago.)

Summer in Winterland

It’s June, and there are signs of summer. The trees are dressed in green leaves. I have cut the grass once already.

Last Sunday, we had a nice and warm day. Little boy and I biked to town in shorts and T-shirt to buy ice cream.

Yesterday it was snowing.

Today I’m wearing wool socks.

It’s summer in Winterland.

Summer in the north doesn’t mean it’s warm. It just means it’s light all the time.

The light summers are addictive (and the dark winters too). When you’re used to living in the north, you won’t consider living anywhere else, at least not for a long time.

The nature of the north is like a chubby woman, shaved by the cold and harsh winters, and then in the spring her fur grows back, just as it should, just where it should, leaving the highest mountains bare >:)

 (I took the picture above on a late summer night about a year ago, when I walked across the old town bridge on the way back home from a late night in town.)

Draped in white

Winterland is draped in white. Cold and dry snow. It's great when your properly dressed for the outdoor. We spent the weekend skiing, both in groomed piste and off piste.

When skiing off piste, little boy lost his ski in the powder. I took off my skis and used one as a probe stick. Then I followed his track and probed for every foot until I hit his ski. It took us about half an hour to find it.

The days are short now. The sun comes above the horizon just for a few hours (south of the arctic circle). At 2pm it's dusk, with kind of pink-bluish colors. The lifts close at 3 pm when it's getting dark.

It was cold when we came to our cabin. The olive oil had turned to wax. We put the bottle in the fireplace for a few minutes to bring it back to liquid. Then we cooked dinner, chicken with Thai curry and rice. The kids were hungry. Then we watched a movie in TV (Narnia) and ate candy (we even tasted some before dinner, bad dad I am).

The two-hour drive back home yesterday was challenging with icy roads and drifting snow and darkness. No problem. We just take it easy >:)

Write Around the World guest post

Yesterday I was guest-blogging for Michele's Write Around the World series at Southern City Mysteries

I was a little bit nervous about this. It's my first time writing a guest post, and Michele has some really fabulous posts on her record. My favorite is the Literary Movement Series she wrote this summer.

Anyway, I'm doing my best. Please, take a look if you want >:)

Hometown tourists

Today was another nice and warm summer day. Little boy and I decided to be tourists in our hometown. We biked down to the quay, and took the public boat out to the little island in the middle of the fjord.

The island is full of interesting history, from versatile use throughout the centuries. Before year 1000, the vikings used it as an executions site. The cut-off heads of the executed were put on high poles, to be visible to visitors coming in the fjord, just as a gentle reminder.

In the 12th century, Benedictine monks built a monastery on the island. They were famous for the beer they brewed and notorious for their wild and noisy parties. The bishop complained that the monks were selling too little and drinking too much of the beer themselves. In the 1530’s, the monastery was shot to bits and pieces by war ships, when the catholics had to escape the reformation.

From 1650 to 1900, there was a fortress and state prison on the island. Among the prisoners were several noble men. The most enduring was on the island for 55 years, on a sentence for “unsatisfactory behaviour”, when he complained about his rich and powerful mother-in-law being mean.

During the 2nd world war, the Germans built an anti-aircraft cannon battery on the island, to defend the big submarine bunker on the harbor.

Today the island is a public recreation area, with a museum and a nice little beach. Little boy and I visited both the museum and the beach. We did of course agree that swimming was required to get ice cream.

And now we're gonna watch the World Cup final >:)

On the beach

Today was a nice and warm summer day, almost 25 degrees (75 Fahrenheit). We don't get too many days like this in our town. So I left work early, and then little boy and I went to the beach.

There are many small beaches along the fjord, close to town center. Little boy picked a beach that has an ice-cream shop. We agreed that swimming was required to get ice cream.

The water in the fjord was refreshing ... some would say cold. But the kids of Winterland don't care, they swim anyway. You just can't stay in the water for very long.

We both got ice cream, before we went home >:)

Perfect summer day for skiing

Today we had a perfect day at the glacier.

Last night temperatures fell below the freezing point in the mountains. So today the surface of the glacier was hard ans solid. Around noon the uppermost surface had softened a little bit, to make perfect skiing conditions.

Weather was nice, and no wind.

In the picture you can see the kids playground with the big jumps in the foreground and snowy mountains and other glaciers in the background. In fact, the landscape is entirely shaped by glacier through thousands and millions of years.

Most glaciers are not suited for skiing, due to dangerous crevasses. The glacier we're skiing on is special in that sense; it has almost no crevasses, just a few small ones in the upper part. The crevasses are less than a feet wide and only 10 feet deep, so they are no risk for the skiing.

Now we're back on the camping down in the valley. We have two cabins, with a total of eight beds. Little boy and I, and another ski-dad stay in one cabin. Six teenage boys sleeps in the other, in the most incredible mess. There are piles of cloths, helmets, back-protection plates, goggles and ski boots. In a mysterious way they are able to dig up the right stuff every morning before we drive up to the glacier.

We make the cooking very simple; there are two items on the dinner menu. If weather is bad, we eat pizza. If weather is good, we BBQ outside the cabin. Today, like yesterday, we BBQ'ed >:)