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)

Out of the silence

I’ve been silent for a while, for various reasons. It’s a long time since I was writing anything at all, except technical stuff at work of course.

Before the summer, I filled the last page of my notebook. Like Hemmingway, I buy these small Moleskine notebooks. I immediately bought a new one, because I always want to have one in my bag or in my pocket.

I must admit the I haven’t written a single word in it yet. I didn’t feel like writing, and summer has been busy doing all kind of things:

Vacation in Greece. When summers in the north are cold and rainy, we escape to the south for a while.
Vacation in the mountains. Gone fishing for about a week.

Painting the house. That’s a Hell of a job when you live in a 100 year old house. Hours and days scraping off old paint (of various vintages), before we even get to start the painting. Actually, we hired the kids to do most of the heavy work, in particular the highest parts. I don’t like climbing high anymore, so I sent the kids to the top. That’s what kids are for.

Summer Olympics. Spent too much time watching TV.

Working a lot. July is a great time to work, because everybody else is on vacation. No bosses around, not much mail to reply to. Time to do some science. Great fun.

Reorganization at work. Very good boss replaced by not-so-good boss. Fortunately the next reorganization will come in only 1-2 years (according to statistics).

Now the bosses are back bossing, and I’m writing e-mails and status reports rather than doing science. 

Anyway, I’m out of the silence. Time to find my new notebook

(I took the picture above some time ago when we were painting the house. It’s older boy and one of his buddies working on the uppermost level of the scaffold. Fortunately, they enjoy climbing, because I don’t)

Top ten TV shows

I’m not watching much TV anymore, but since Alex J. Cavanaugh hosts this cool blogfest I’ll try to twist my brain and come up with a list of favorites.

Sometimes I watch a movie, but never TV series. I watch the news and my favorite sports, and thats it, basically. Number one on my list, no doubt, is Soccer World Cup, not a regular TV show maybe, but it feels like a very intense one, every 4th year when the ball is rolling.

The first (and last) soap I saw was Dynasty. Not sure if I liked it, but it has to be on my list. When I grew up in the 1970s, we had only one TV channel, state-controlled public broadcasting. Commercial TV, cable TV and satellite was illegal. There were incredible discussions and big concerns, in the parliament and in media; TV soaps would destroy the moral of the country and damage the fragile souls of the people. In 1981, the sensation happened; Dynasty was approved by the authorities and the public broadcasting company! The entire nation was watching.

Today we have hundreds of channels on cable and satellite, like most other countries. More junk, less quality, that's the trend.

Anyway, here’s my top 10 list:
1. Soccer World Cup
2. Alpine skiing World Cup
3. Winter Olympics
4. Summer Olympics
5. South Park
6. Stingers (Australian crime)
7. Headbanger’s Ball (heavy metal on MTV)
8. M*A*S*H
9. Twin Peaks (boring after 4-5 parts)
10. Dynasty