Yven -> Klavestadhaugen

 daily life, milestones  1 Response »
Nov 012011
 

Yup, another milestone in my life: We’ve moved from our humble house in Nøtteveien to a nice house in Bodals Vei.

Bodals Vei is a bit further away from ‘downtown Sarpsborg’, but still quite doable. When I get my Nissan LEAF next month, I’ll be zippin’ over the E6 to the office each morning!

We still have plenty of boxes to unpack. Since this house is considerably larger than our previous ‘casa’, we’ve only thrown out the real garbage, and will be storing the remainder in the basement here. That same floor will contain our big-ass TV (to be purchased…) and my man cave / computer room. No worries about cooling here below ground level!

Nissan LEAF… I want one!

 daily life, Tech  1 Response »
Sep 072011
 

Nissan LEAFEver since I finally passed my driver’s exam last month, every day the question comes up: Which of us gets to take the Prius?
So whether we want it or not, the time has come to start looking at a 2nd car. One that’s cheap in usage, safe and still big enough for 2 adults, 1 child and their cr*p.

A few months ago I first came across the Nissan LEAF. The more I read about it, the more it appeals to me. It’s safe: a NCAP rating of 5. It’s cheap: free charging for electric cars at my office, thanks to Fortum Charge & Drive. And it’s marketed as a 5-seater, so 2 adults + 1 child + cr*p should fit just nicely.

An electric car is the perfect means of transportation for simple home< ->office. Currently it’s only 2.5 kms one way, so a LEAF should get me to and from work every day with a single charge a week. Later this year I am probably moving into another home, increasing my distance to 10.5 kms, but even that is easily manageable by a single charge/week.
In Norway more than 98% of all electricity is generated in hydroelectric plants, so an electric car is truly environmentally friendly here. At least a lot more than in countries where the electricity used to charge the car batteries comes from some polluting coal-powered plant.

The remaining ‘problem’ is now getting my hands on a LEAF. The local Nissan dealer, Brennes Auto in Sarpsborg, does not have them yet and I have not been able to get a date on when they arrive.
I guess I will just keep on contacting them every now and then. Enough to keep my name as a more-than-just-potential customer on their minds, but not that often that I get blacklisted as annoying nagger. :wink:

To be continued, I hope :cool:

Done with LASIK

 'Personal', daily life  No Responses »
Aug 242011
 

Over a year ago I decided to check out laser eye surgery. What I initially heard and read about it was all very positive, so I went for it. On April 29th, 2010 I got my eyes lasered at Memira in Fredrikstad. This first treatment didn’t give me 100% sharp vision on both eyes, so in august and september 2010 I returned to have each eye lasered a 2nd time.
After all of this I still wasn’t at 100% sharp vision. Only right after an eye-drop in each eye I did experience ultra-sharp vision for a matter of seconds.

In november the cause of this all surfaced: some scarring in the eye.
It’s unclear to me whether they’d have given the ‘go-ahead’ to the procedure if they’d noticed the scarring during the initial examination. I’m also still a bit baffled why this scarring wasn’t noticed during the initial, and any of the subsequent check-ups.

Today I got the final word… Something I’d actually been expecting more or less already… ‘Your eyes are as good as they will get. We can’t make your eyesight any better than this‘.

In case you wonder:
Would I have done it, if I had known this all in advance? Yes… Even though I’m not at 100%, the treatment has definitely improved my ‘quality of life’ as it’s called.
If I could so it all over, would I have done it at Memira, or elsewhere? Memira! They’re a group of professional, friendly people. From the first welcoming smile from Svein Tindlind in april 2010 to the last charming smile from Benedicte Teien Jarem earlier today, the entire process has been relaxed, well-informed, and 100% pain free. (yes, it is true! You don’t feel a thing when that laser ‘pokes’ in your eye. However, you do smell it… :wink: )
Would I recommend it to others? Sure, but be sure the initial exam is a thorough one. Perhaps ask for a second opinion if there’s even the slightest doubt about the tiniest thing. Better safe than sorry… (to repeat: I am not sorry!)

Got my license!

 daily life, milestones  1 Response »
Jul 262011
 
Norwegian driver's license

(no, that's not me...)

Well, it has taken me a long, long time (as compared to the average person, who is less than half my age), but this morning I finally did it: I passed the driving test! :-)

When I started taking lessons, back in 2009, I already knew it was gonna take me a while. That it would take me almost 2.5 years was not what I had hoped for/expected though…

I think I’ll take our Prius for a spin tonight… All by myself! ;-)

Monkey tail beard!

 daily life, minor ramblings  2 Responses »
May 022011
 

Huh? What? Yes… you read it correctly! a Monkey tail beard!

Let me guess… The 1 question which rages through your head right now is: ‘What the [beep] is a Monkeytail beard?‘
Well, I had not heard of it before either. That is, until Adam Savage (one of the hosts of the successful Mythbusters show) brought it under my (and his other followers on Twitter) attention with the following tweet:

Please google “monkey tail beard”. You’re welcome. (trying to convince Jamie to try this one…)

I did what he suggested and Googled ‘monkey tail beard’. The #1 site in the search result guided me to www.themonkeytail.com, the ‘Official Home of the Monkeytail Beard’.
After running the idea by my personal stylist, @birgerweb, I decided the monkey tail beard has just the right amount of geekiness & style to give it a try.

Behold… the result!

Probably not as good as others out there (it’s harder for me, since my hair color does not give as much contrast as black/dark hair would do), but I hope that, over time, it turns into a respectable Monkeytail Beard!

(in case you wonder whether it’s monkeytail beard or monkey tail beard: I don’t know either… I have used both in this post, but will correct that as soon as the general consensus has chosen for a particular spelling of this phenomenon.

**********************
May 28th, 2011: Looks like my result was acceptable, as it is now listed as Dutchtails on the Monkeytail site.

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