It's over.

Matt before the Canada-Russia QUARTER-final (sorry Clayton) game:


Matt at the conclusion of the Canada-Russia QUARTER-final game:

I'll try to write more - if I can ever stop crying.

Panoramas!

So I've decided not to let the dead computer get in my way. I guess I'll just have to use trusty work laptop for my music and photos for now. Ah well, it's a much better computer anyway!

I have a new hobby. Okay, well 'new' isn't completely correct; perhaps 'renewed' is a more appropriate word. Because the weather today was so fantastic, I decided to try my hand at taking some panormic photos of the Stavanger harbour. I'm still working on getting the horizon right (and if you have any suggestions let me know; when I stitch the images together it messes the horizon up), but I figure I'll get there eventually.

My lovely laptop... of death

I swear, if my laptop had a detached keyboard and monitor I'd have shoved those thing so far up its...

...oh, right, this is still a PG website. Sorry about that kids. Anyways, if I weren't so fantastic at restraining my emotions (ha!), my laptop would look something like this:

Ok, so I realize the picture is not of a laptop, but you get the idea, right?

Today my laptop decided that it no longer wanted to boot Windows because of a missing DLL file. When I went to re-install the missing DLL file, I received an error telling me that the transfer of the specific file was impossible. This lovely message was followed by an error that essentially made my computer about as usable as a Chia Pet. Chia pets may be cute, but let's be honest: they're not very useful.

Tomorrow will be judgment day: the day when I discover whether this is a minor inconvenience, or a major hassle and catastrophe. All of my pictures from Norway, most of my music files, and many many other documents are all stuck in that infernal machine. And whose fault is it for not backing up these files? Me! Wooo!!

Kari Traa and boobs

Ladies and Gentlemen, your Olympic silver medalist in women's freestyle skiing, Kari Traa.

Apparently skiing isn't her only hobby. This advertisement is brought to you by the letter 'N' and the country that proudly displays ads in public places that proclaim "We Love Boobs!" (I kid you not).

"Funny," I remarked upon seeing the ad, "so do I!"

Three winter Olympics and much hilarity

It occurred to me the other day that I have been in three different cities for the past three winter Olympic games. There's no particular significance to this, other than the way it gives me an ability to gauge how much things in my life have changed in the past few years.

Nagano, 1998: I was in Vancouver, still in highschool, and likely with no idea of what to do next: probably still wearing a chain on my jeans and dying my hair bright colours. Oh boy.

Salt Lake City, 2002: At Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. My Queen's escape plan was well under way after I discovered that I infact did not love Sociology the way I thought I did. Me leaving the field was cited by some as "the single greatest loss in Sociological history"; in fact, I don't think the academic discipline has ever quite recovered from the loss. Ha. Next step: Business School.

Torino, 2006: Somehow I've ended up in Stavanger, Norway. It's amazing how things change; if you'd asked me 6 months ago where I though I would be now, Stavanger would not likely have been one of the answers. That said, me ending up here is the result of several of the decision during the phases mentioned above. If I hadn't gone to Queen's I wouldn't have studied sociology; if I hadn't studied sociology, I wouldn't decided I needed to leave Queen's; if I hadn't gone to Ivey, I probably wouldn't have gotten the job that has inevitably lead to me living in Stavanger.

Anyways, enough rambling. The Olympics have been pretty entertaining so far. Well, except for the fact that I haven't been able to watch my much beloved hockey games (except for a period here and there when the skiing events finish. *sigh*).

In terms of pure entertainment, let's take Lindsey Jacobellis as an example:

Jacobellis: Woo! I'm gonna WIIINNNNN!!! Yeah! Just one more jump...

Jacobellis: Ah, shit.

Jacobellis: Well, that sucked.
Other Girl: Woo!

Okay, so in a way I feel sorry for her; she wanted to put on a show for the crowd, I get that. But really, this is the Olympics, not the X-Games or some random annual competition. You don't celebrate winning until you've actually won.

As a second and final example of Olympic entertainment, I would like to present by far the most ridiculous looking sport to have ever graced the games: the two-man luge.

I can imagine the coversation that went on when the sport was first conceived:

Guy 1: Okay, so I'm going to slide down the hill first. You wait 15 seconds then go, okay? We don't want to run into each other.
Guy 2: Nah, let's slide down together!
Guy 1: Uh, how come? I mean, we have two sleds; I'll just go first, and you'll go second.
Guy 2: No really, it'll be fun! Here, hop on.
Guy 1: Uh, okay, I guess we can try it that way. I guess.

And the rest is history...

Bitter End... but not really

No, of course it's not really that bad; I just found a hilarious picture that I realized was never posted. It's from my visit to the Navion Hispania (a Teekay suezmax class shuttle tanker that operates in the North Sea) in early November. The vessel was moored just outside of Stavanger, so I went for a little visit.

So, what do I find on this large, technically advanced vessel? This:

Now, I must mention that I ran into this little gem about a week after arriving in Stavanger. This is seriously painted on one of the panels. I swear. I was convinced that it was a sign from above informing me of what was in store during my stay in this lovely country. Luckily it hasn't quite turned out that way ;) Does anyone know what it actually means/stands for?

Now go rent 'American Splendor'. Seriously.

Cooking and Music

I managed to survive the group cooking lesson in one piece; no fingers, toes, or other appendages were lost in the process, thank god. I really like cooking if I have both adequate time and company. That said, I rarely cook (although I do so more often in Norway than I ever did in Vancouver, mostly due to the fact that take-away food here costs at least $35 CDN for a basic meal. Not so bad? Well, add in the $12 beer... Uh, no thanks.

But as I mentioned before, if you are ever looking for a cool team building event, look into group cooking lessons. It was a lot of fun.






Some tunes to check out:
James Blunt - Goodbye my lover
Metric - Empty; Combat Baby
City and Colour - Save Your Scissors
Death Cab for Cutie - I will Follow You Into the Dark; Transatlanticism
Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek (yes, cliche, but still fantastic)
Yellowcard - Rough Landing, Holly
Bob Sinclar - Love Generation (happy-go-lucky top 40 choice)

Oh, it's been a while!

I know, I know, I've been lazy. I've been meaning to update my blog for about a month now, but you know, life gets in the way.

"So Matt, what have you been up to?," you ask. Quite a bit actually; it's been a busy two months.

Quick recap:

1. Trip to BC for Christmas. Visited Penticton, Vancouver, and Whistler. Saw friends, drank beer, watched the Canucks beat lowly opponents. Ironically, the weather in Vancouver has been a lot worse than Stavanger.

2. Arrived back in Stavanger for many more months of Norwegian living. Confirm that, regrettably, Norwegians still speak Norwegian in social settings.

3. Went on a ski trip to a mountain area called Røldal. Good times, but not enough snow. Beer makes up for lack of snow.

4. On the way to Røldal I discover three important things about Norway:

a. Norway has more highway tunnels than anywhere I've ever seen... including Italy. Some of the tunnels were up to 8 KM long, and one more than 250 meters below the sea floor.

b. Norway also has freaky one lane winding highways that are more treatcherous than a snowy, crowded night on the Sea to Sky highway. Safety be damned!

c. Norway runs ferries in rougher weather than BC ferries ever would. I experienced the roughest ferry ride I have ever been on. The image below, taken from my trusty cell phone, shows a wave crashing over the bow of the rather large ferry (two level car ferry). This wave then proceeded to cover me in salt water. I went back inside after this.

















5. Attended a company team building event that involved group cooking lessons. I can safely say that it was a pretty damn cool team building event. I can also say that I ate so much garlic that no one will go near me for weeks.

I promise to update more often in the future. Really, I swear! ;)