Been Almost a Week

Last week I rode to work every day. The weather has been amazing- borderline Minnesota summer weather, although rumor has it that the heat is killing people around the world. It has been hot here. I have been using the mountain bike to ride to work. Most of the route I take is off road. I usually bike through a forest preserve on my way home to add to the miles-- the route is simply too short as is. Last Thursday I made an epic ride to Bersagel and back. That might be an exaggeration, but it is quite hilly over there and I was almost there when I remembered I had a webex meeting with a company in the USA scheduled for 8pm. As it is ridiculously light out- still- I had lost track of time. I was thinking I was past the point of no return, and decided to continue the loop. I was much further from home, and was racing against the clock. By the time I made it home, I discovered my meeting needed to be rescheduled.

Saturday I took an easy ride. The weather promoted mountain biking- overcast and waiting for rain that never arrived. I ended up flatting in a wild raspberry patch. There are raspberries everywhere. I need to watch out for hikers collecting berries that just pop out of nowhere. They literally grow wild around here. Anyway, I couldn't find the leak, so I just replaced the tube and kept riding. I arrived home and patched the tube. Sunday I took a similar ride in the morning before we headed out to Kvitsøy for some sun, sea, and grilling on some random island. I actually caught some more UV rays, so I will look like a normal swarthy person by the time we make in back to the US in late August. This morning I was ready to ride to work, despite the rainy forecast. My rear tire was flat again. I just didn't have time to deal with it, so I drove to work.

After work we needed to paint. But before painting I trimmed our hedge- which is like a fence, and had to take a quick ride. The weather was just too perfect--- again, it did not rain and was sunny, hot, and humid. These days are a treat for me in Norway. I decided to take a little time trial up to a big hill on the other side of the fjord, then to Dale, and home. I made the first seven miles at almost a 22 mph average, although in all fairness, I was riding in traffic and drafting cars. As soon as the road turned upward my average dropped significantly. Still, I made great time-- just over an hour for a quick, hilly workout.

I returned home to paint. Seriously, any couple that can paint together can stay together for eternity. Then again, we haven't decided on what color we are painting the upstairs. Right now we are taking care of the hideous greenish blue wallpaper that is all over the downstairs and stairwell. We accomplished a lot of painting tonight, but we are running out of the off-white paint, and will need to pull the trigger on the rest of the colors.

I had another webex scheduled for 9pm tonight, but it was canceled due to technical problems. It is with a potential partner from New Zealand-- and it is 7am tomorrow already. Anyway, I now need to fix the flat. My favorite TV show starts soon. It is on NRK, but is a Swedish show, titled Skjergardsdokteren. It is a mixed blessing that it is Swedish. The good news it that it is captioned in Norwegian. Unfortunately, it is captioned in nynorsk. This means everything is spelled funny. I need to read it aloud in my head, since much of nymorsk is like a phonetic spelling of the west coast dialect. Still it drives me buggy. I regard it as the Norwegian esperanto- a fake language. But most Norwegians are quick to point out that most of written Norwegian is really Danish anyway. TV is mandated to caption a certain percentage of shows in this written nynorsk dialect. Too bad they use it for the best show on TV.