From the other side of the pond

2011-06-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

so, I do remember how to log on ! .. let's se where this leads us.

Pride and prejudice

2011-01-22T16:10:00.000-08:00

... every few years I get completely obsessed by this book. I don't know what it is. I know very well how it ends! Last time I went through the Darcy series as well, if you read P&P fan fiction at all, I highly recommend Pamela Aidan's Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman Series
- now I'm on to two other books based on P&P, the most recent obsession was fueled by my latest gadget, iPhone! First thing I did with it was to download Kindle for iPhone, the second, StitchMinder! And it just so happened that P&P came free with my Kindle download. So I had to read it, and the weird part was that I was already reading selected chapters of it before going to bed ever night.

Side note - I've got iPad fever! Seriously, how cool is that!!
And the tons of paper I would save on printing, and all the books that would just be stored there and not on my bookshelves! - like I said iPad FEVER! /Sidenote

You can see two more pictures from the wedding photographer on our photographers website, http://icelandweddingphotography.com/weddings - brows through the pictures there, two are of Daniel and myself.

My two big kids

2011-01-14T10:32:00.000-08:00

Snorri is 5 years old. He's now allowed to fly with the domestic airlines by himself. He's been waiting for this since he turned 4. So, naturally ever since his birthday he's been asking when he gets to go visit his grandparents by himself. And today is the day.
We went to the airport and he got a little badge around his neck and was all ready to go. We went home and about 20 minutes later we get a call - the plane has some issues and they won't leave for another hour! ... way to make the parents nervous!

Vacation!

2011-01-07T16:13:00.000-08:00

I've been off of work since Monday morning when I finished the night shift.
Just about then the weather forecast turned quite bad and I've had the luck to sit on my couch and knit while other meteorologists at work have been working they're ears of during the storms. Granted, I worked the storms before Christmas so it's all quite even by now.
But the thing I've missed quite alot since I became an obsessive knitter is reading. I don't read - other than school books and work related stuff I don't read anymore. But then, this past week I had a stroke of genius. Well, not -but almost. I remembered a website I'd seen while nursing Trausti for long long hours in the night when he was newborn, it's a site where books in the public domain are read by volunteers and you can download them or stream! So, now I've been sitting on my couch, knitting my boys t-shirts and listening to Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, and I just started another one, Jane Austen's Persuasion. Too bad my school books aren't available as audio books.
I really did need the week of after working almost non-stop since August. It's a welcome relief. But I do look forward to going back to work, and that is something to be grateful for - looking forward to work. I think there aren't a lot of people that can say that. Anyway. I'll leave you with pictures!

New year, new plans but the old blog

2011-01-03T01:03:00.001-08:00

Welcome 2011. You'll be a busy busy year!

I'm nothing if not practical. But I'm not that consistent, especially when I feel like the things I'm skipping on seem to be important to only me.
So, now this blog will serve as one of my New Years resolutions. Be consistent in something that has to do with only me. Me me me.

But not really. I try to think of all the things that went on last year. Or even the year before and I can't remember. Sure, most of 2009 was devoted to the boys, Trausti being in his first year and all. August to December was all school, and exams and a near-nervous break down on my part I think. Most of 2010. Volcanoes and work and wedding. Let's not forget the wedding. If I keep this up, I might end up with a journal of 2011. Like I've got for a few years here

This year. School, work, thesis. Mostly thesis. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll have finished my masters. That'll be something worth celebrating. finishing a masters degree in meteorology, while working full time in a different country raising two kids and being a wife. Not that that is a job, that's more of a privilege. Not much knitting I'm afraid.

I have a plan though, involving knitting. I want to stop eating stuff that's bad for me. Mostly that is sugar. Candy and cake, and food with added sugar. So. For each month I go without sugar I'll allow my self to spend 5000 Icelandic kronur on luxury yarn, knitting book or patterns. This is about $50 or so. It's a big prize, but it's a difficult task. So let's see. Chocolates or yarn... it's not as easy an answer as you might think!

Then there are things like being the best mother in the world, keeping the house in decent shape, sew more of my own clothes safe up for the world's most wonderful shoes... like I said. Big plans, busy year.

.. the shoes??, I'm glad you asked :)

Fluevog Operetta

... and giving this a second try

2010-09-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

- work blog? - mom blog? -knitting blog? - grad school blog?
All of the above??

Probably.
Mostly knitting, and mom. And a little bit of the crazy that is a full time job at the Icelandic Meteorological Forecasting Department and a Masters Thesis in cloud dynamics.

The big news? The wedding.
The Wedding is a month from today. - 1 day actually.
And I fell like almost nothing is done. But it will get done - and if not well, we'll get married anyway!

Breaking the Silence

2009-04-26T03:13:00.000-07:00

So things over here are good.
I had to work for two and a half months during my maternity leave in March and April and a part of May - and when you've got a few month old baby and a toddler on your hands as well, you don't really have time for anything else!

But we had general elections here yesterday.
Our democratic parties won big which is good - a new party got in with 4 men in the parliament (we've got 63 total) and women count a total of 27, 43% of electives. Which is great news!

As for family - things are going well. Everbody is healthy and has been all winter.
Trausti is getting so big - he's a long and slender type just like his dad, but he slept through the night last night which is wonderful!

Snorri is getting so big.
I asked him if he wanted a banana the other day and got the answer "yes dude" - and no I'm not paraphrasing or translating. He actually used the words yes dude.
And then he informed me what yellow means in Icelandic!

Alive and well

2009-01-29T06:42:00.000-08:00

In spite of the silence over here, things are going well with everybody.
Trausti doesn't much like sleeping during the night, but we are hopefully getting past that fairly soon.
Snorri is doing so well. I really expected more drama from him, not that he has to share the attention with a brother - but he's really good with the baby and is very concerned that he drink enough milk and sleep enough so that he can grow big and strong.

Things change when you have child #2. Things you were worried sick about last time seem not so important now - and things you didn't even know about last time, but you have now and wonder how you could ever be without.

Example of the latter - clothing diapers and the Moby Wrap. (or any kind of baby-wearing gear I assume).

Lets start with the diapers.
It's so easy. It really is very easy, very cost efficient, very environmental and very comfortable for Trausti. We love it.
- and as a proof I'll offer a pic.

The Moby Wrap. What a genius invention. - as I suspect all wraps are. We did have a sort of a baby carrier with Snorri, but he didn't like it until he was about 8 months. After all the sleepless nights and the crying because of stomach cramps I knew this was IT when I saw it!

- and one of Snorri who is so big by now that it scares me. We'll have to start thinking about which school to send him to soon!!

- oh and I'm putting up pics on my smugmug again,

2008-12-28T11:40:00.000-08:00

Trausti Daníelsson
So the little one got his name today, and his name is Trausti.
It is a very solid icelandic name and we are very happy with it.

It means trustworthy, solid or strong. So- no pressure!

Pictures to come.

Brothers

2008-12-12T06:31:00.001-08:00

Christmas cards are a big tradition in Iceland, and we were attempting to get a good picture of them together. We were able to snap a few - most of them are fairly good. But look at them! Aren't they adorable ??

2008-12-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

A baby boy is born

December 1st, at 3:19 am - after about 7,5 hours of labor. We were at the hospital at midnight, and I was already dialated 6cm at 00:30. After an hour or so I went into the glory that is the birthing pool and at around 3 am I was fully dialated and he was born at 3:19
This went so much better than expected, I didn't suffer any complications at all - and neither did the baby. He was measured 3575 grams and 54 cm - not as heavy as his brother but 2 cm longer. So- just like his dad, long and thin.

We came home last night and things are going well. Snorri doesn't seem too interested in this little bundle already but he's very busy just being himself as usual, so as of now we haven't gotten any pictures of them together! -Big brother is way too busy for photoshoots!!

2008-11-29T16:09:00.001-08:00

40 week picture

... really we are at 41 weeks right now... that picture will have to wait a bit!

40 weeks 3 days - and more to come

2008-11-25T06:31:00.000-08:00

So, I had a checkup with my midwife yesterday and there really isn't anything worth reporting. She even gave me a new appointment next Monday! - Which, in fact is the day I've always said that I would deliver. December 1st is a big day in Icelandic history, used to be a national holiday- and it would be excellent to add to the December birthday calendar.

No pics today. My trusty PowerBook is about to kick it, and with the Icelandic economy- the virtually non existent value of the Icelandic krona computers don't come cheap these days. Not that macs ever did, but ... now. MAN, I don't think I'll ever purchase a new mac... I'm currently working on Daniel's linux computer, which is fine. But I don't put my pics on here...

I'm knitting Christmas presents for the family and then baking Christmas cookies - as well as sleeping when ever I feel like it. Not a bad life at all!

39 weeks - and counting

2008-11-17T18:54:00.000-08:00

And no, no baby yet. But to no enjoyment of my own I seem to have attracted Snorri's stomach flu, or food poisoning this evening and am now up - having returned everything I ate and drank this evening to the toilet, and have contractions which are somewhat painful but not at a organized frequency... so basically they are doing nothing. Except for keeping me awake.

Right now, I really don't feel like being pregnant!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T13:03:00.000-07:00

To you Americans. Here it's my sisters (baby sister) birthday, she's 17 and got her drivers license today... Iceland doesn't really have Halloween, you'll have to wait until Ash Wednesday to get costume pictures!

But Clara clearly looks ravishing as a blonde!

35 weeks and 2 days

2008-10-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Things are going well. I'm actually feeling better now than I was a few weeks back. I found that taking a short walk in the evenings helps with my nights sleep - and with a better nights sleep, I'm better equipped to handle life. This is not a surprise - but a a very welcome surprise for me at this time, I thought things only went down hill this last month of pregnancy. The piglet is due November 22nd. I'm aiming for December 1st. I think that will probably bar me and others from the disappointment of not having a baby on the actually due date. Snorri was 10 days late- lets just assume the 10 extra days already!

I've knitted most of the homecoming outfit, with the hat to go. I'll finish that when I stop working, which should be rather soon, I was thinking November 1st, but my boss and I myself am now thinking a little later. Perhaps Nov. 15th. We'll see.

Anyway, we are alive and well, inspite being on the verge of a national bankrupcy and a financial hurricane - and in fact, we're not really involved, having not stock and all our savings in safe accounts and not the high risk - (well, they were supposedly low risk accoring to the banks, note to self, -never trust what the bank tells you!) savings accounts but the low risk, secure, government insured account...

2008-10-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

Snorri told his teacher today that we were moving. To the moon. Well, the next planet to the moon anyway. And we are going to live there and eat avocados.

9 weeks and counting

2008-09-22T16:30:00.001-07:00

So, only 9 weeks - actually 8 weeks and 5 days if you want to be precise to go with this pregnancy. It's fine by me. I really am not the "I absolutly adore being pregnant" kind of girl. It's not that things aren't going well, they are but it just slows me down. And makes me sleep a little less - and makes it harder for me to keep up with Snorri. Which he doesn't like so much either.

Anyway

30 weeks and a few days I think!

We are starting to get things ready. We've picked up most of the baby stuff that's been out on loan ever since Snorri stopped using them (no storage space here!) and I have to figure out how much of the clothes I can reuse (I'm nothing if not practical, should be almost all since we've got another boy!) And I've been knitting quite a bit, if you are a knitter or a yarn person of any type check out Ravelry it's kind of facebook for knitters and other yarn people!

The big bang theory

2008-09-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been watching this show, you should start. Not sure which network it's on in the US - but it's easy to find out.

Seriously, the best comedy to come about since Scrubs first aired. Which has been a long time. - and it's about physics geeks!!

I, myself is not so much a physics geek. Not anymore anyway. Was supposed to hand in first dynamics homework today. Got the first problem solved... but not the next two. Not entirely anyway. I guess this is to be expected when one hasn't been looking at dynamics problems for about four years. (That's what I tell myself anyway) - wish me luck!!

Silver medal for Iceland - we're counting all 15!!

2008-08-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

So, France beat us pretty by 5 goals in the final game of men's Handball. - That doesn't diminish the fact that the boys "our boys" brought home the silver medal and yesterday 50 thousand people greeted them in down town Reykjavik, just before the president awarded them the honorary medal of the president.

Apparently Iceland is the smallest nation in the world to win an Olympic medal in a team sport - a fact we won't let anybody forget soon :-)

I've got updates on work, grad school and pregnancy coming soon. They have one thing in common.. NOT ENOUGH TIME !

on the front page of the New York Times

2008-08-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

..I'm not kidding.

Just see for yourself.

I'm fairly sure this is the first time ever that handball is featured on the NY Times front page! Cool cool cool.

There is also a big story inside

you should read it.

On our way to GOLD!!!

2008-08-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

The Icelandic Men's Handball team just won the semifinals against Spain and will be playing for the GOLD on Sunday!

If you don't know what handball is, tune in to the final game, you'll see the best of the best- France v.s. Iceland.

We've been on a great roll, started out in the first two games by winning Russia and Germany, Germany incidently just won the European Championship a few months ago.

I'm in Copenhagen but watched the game with some Icelandic friends. On Sunday some more of our friends will join up and there will be a full on party - at 10:15 am!!

Just because I know you've been waiting...

2008-08-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

26 weeks and some days.

Things are going well, except for that chronic pain in my hip. But with one leg shorter than the other that is to be expected. I'm going to ask by boss to let me work from home for two days every week - that will help since we've got long halls and stairs and no lift.

But now I'm packing and doing some last minute stuff before I leave for Oslo tomorrow morning. I have to take the bus at 5 am. That's in the middle of the night!

But, never the less. I'm starting grad school tomorrow. If I don't let "mommy guilt" stop me from actually boarding the plane!

A breakthrough

2008-08-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

I think I may have gotten through to my boss about how we need a working Oracle database to actually be able to create a carbon account database when he said -"well, I guess the thing to realize is that excel doesn't count as a database tool..."

You'd think...

Heat wave!

2008-07-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

Literally, a heat wave, today might be the day when the temp record in Iceland, from 1939 will be challenged.

So, the Reykjavik temp record is from August 13th 2004, 24.3 deg. C - today and yesterday we've been flirting with the 24 degrees so I'm excited to see what the high fro today ends up being. The official weather station showed 23

.... and while I was typing both records were broken.

Right now Reykjavik is showing 24.6 - all though the station next to me (the Reykjavik domestic airport) shows 25.6!

The Iceland all time max, has also been broken, 31.6 is now the high in the southern part of the country.

The reason for this are jet winds coming from the Mediterranean coming all the way up here with all this warm air. The 500mb thickness which usually never exceeds 560dm is now 564dm ...

Another update July 31st.

The Iceland record was not broken - but several others were including Storhofdi, in the Vestman Islands, an island south of Iceland where the T rarely goes above 15 deg. - with strong winds on all sides - but yesterday the temp went up to 21.6
The false report of an Icelandic record broken came from a tourist in the south, looking at a thermometer not issued by the Icelandic Meteorological Office... so, the record from 1939 still stands. - For now

And now, The News

2008-07-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

Time flies. All of a sudden it's July and I'm on summer vacation from work. Snorri is on summer vacation from day care and Daniel is also in summer vacation. We were in the east visiting family the last few days and tomorrow we leave fro a trip to the wonderful northern exposure of the Vest fjords of Iceland. We'll stay in an old farm hose far from civilization and we are all looking forward to it. All four of us.

So yes. I'm pregnant. I have been for 20 weeks now and things are going well. I could tell you there are so many things different when you are expecting a second baby as opposed to a first baby. But the main thing is lack of time. Let me repeat.. lack of time. So I have no "belly shots" - no interesting stories, except for the news we got today, we are expecting another boy!! I sometimes forget that I'm pregnant and when people ask me how far along I am I have to count back from my last midwife's appointment... or give a ballpark figure, somewhere around say... 16?? weeks. And then realize that I just told a big big lie. I'm actually 20 weeks. 20 weeks and 3 days.

I do have a picture from the sonogram and I will leave you with that. Oh, and the due date.. November 22nd. With prior experience I'm shooting for December 1st. But no Christmas baby this time. Not even a remote chance.

My closest friends are most likely getting the news for the first time through the fairly impersonal medium of the internet. But this is a personal blog, who nobody reads except for the people I know. So it's a little more personal for me. (If you don't know me and are reading please leave a comment!)

2008-06-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

Role models

I was hoping Hillary Clinton would run for presidency in the USA. Not because I'm such a huge Clinton fan as far as her policies go but when I lived in Oklahoma I realized how badly young American women need a public role model. - Somebody that is very successful, educated, confident and so on. Madeleine Albright is one very good role model but it seemed to me the young American women I was thinking needed the role model the most didn't know who she was, or didn't really identify with her.

Let me tell you why this is so important to me. Icelandic women have had great role models - but first and foremost we have had the perfect role model - her name is Vigdis Finnbogadottir and in 1980 she was a single mom, a director of the city theater and she won the presidential elections that year. She survived breast cancer in 1977 and was president for 16 years. She is well educated, speaks multiple languages. And she was the first female EVER to be elected president in the world. Speaking of a role model.

From a CV on the Icelandic Presidency's website -
The fourth President of the Republic, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, was born on 15 April 1930.

Vigdís was elected President on 29 June 1980, returned without opposition in 1984, in an election in 1988 and again without opposition in 1992. She stepped down in 1996.

Vigdís matriculated in 1949 and pursued studies in French and French Literature from 1949 to 1953 in Grenoble and in Paris at the Sorbonne and studies in the history of the theatre at the University of Copenhagen in 1957-1958. She took a BA degree in French at the University of Iceland and a teaching diploma in 1968.
Honorary doctorates have been conferred on her by the following universities: Grenoble (1985), Bordeaux (1987), Smith College, USA (1988), Luther College, USA (1989), Manitoba (1989), Nottingham (1990), Tampere (1990), Gothenburg (1990), Gashuin, Tokyo (1991), Miami (1993), St. Mary´s University, Halifax (1996), Leeds (1996), Memorial University, St John, Newfoundland (1997), Guelph, Canada (1998) and the University of Iceland (2000). (Notice the first name basis, an Icelandic tradition).

This woman is somebody I grew up with being TV and in the papers, and everywhere she goes she keeps reminding women, everywhere, that we can do everything we want - and our sex - is never an obstacle, unless we allow it to be. This goes for the women in the free world. - For a while we had a female mayor of the capital (Reykjavik), female president and female president of congress. Talk about strong women.
- Now the deans of the two biggest universities (Uni.Iceland and Uni. Reykjavik) are women. Things seem to be going a little backwards right now, since women seem to be retreating from the big positions - but things are looking up, the next mayor will be female and we have three very good women ministers in the current government.

I apparently got a reputation of being "independent" in Oklahoma. With these women, especially Vigdis (and then my two grandmothers, I'll get to that later) who can blame me?

.. or should I say another dead polar bear...

2008-06-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

so, after three days of carful planing, a whole 747 cargo plane with a polar bear "safe" cage, a polar bear expert - a helicopter ride for the expert and some excitment the rescue plan didn't work. The first tranq shot missed, the shooter was too far away and the bear moved a bit... then, startled by the shot it charged at some media people observing the salvage... and was shot. Turns out it was severly hurt on it's feet so the tranqualizer would have most likely have killed it anyway. And the injuries were the reason for why it was so "relaxed" the whole time. Poor thing. It would really have been better if it would have been shot right away.

- in other polarbear news the first polar bear was apparently infected with some horrible worm that could easily infect other mamals and cause a lot of pain. So, good thing it didn't get to roam around the country and die without people being able to take care of the carcas right away..

- And just to calm Clara down, they aren't running out of space, not just yet anyway. The edge of the Greenland Straight Ice is now larger than usual and extending into the Icelandic 200 mile naval juristiction - that hasn't happened in about 12 years. So, they currents are moving single ice bergs closer to the north coast but somewhere on the way they melt... so a poor polar bear has two choices, swim back to the ice or swim to land. Apparently they are choosing the latter...

- and another

2008-06-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map
Polar bear that is. This time around the people who spotted it - about 300 ft away from they're farm alerted the authorities first, not the media... so the police was able to close the roads toward the site, secure the people that live there and monitor the bear. -Last time there was a crowd of about 50 people some 100ft away from the bear when the police FIRST arrived...

So, now we are awaiting Danish Polar Bear experts to come and see if it can be transported. There is no sea ice anywhere close to the shore where it came on land so it must have swam a long long way- it will have to be transported back to the Greenland Strait, no use scaring it away.

Let's hope this bear doesn't come any closer to the closest town in the course of the next two days. If it does it becomes a threat and will need to be killed.

My dad and his syblings just got custody of a farm formerly belonging to my grandfather and his brothers, the farm house is about 20km away from the action. Pretty cool and pretty scary both at the same time!t

2008-06-12T04:38:00.001-07:00

Just to show you how fast time flies...

2008-06-06T04:01:00.001-07:00

A visit from a Polar Bear

Last Tuesday a polar bear showed up in Skagafjordur, north Iceland. There was now sea ice near land so he must have swam quite a while before getting on land.

There was very heavy fog in the fjord and all around this part of the country that day, and with only a few hours to make decisions the minister for the environment and the police decided to kill the bear.

A lot of critique has been heard about this, both from Iceland and from other countries. - Polar Bears are protected and shouldn't be killed - all of that.

But, what would you do? A polar bear is very close to a fairly big village and is on it's way to the mountains during a very foggy period. - and could easily be lost.

So, loose a polar bear in the highlands - kill a polar bear before it kills anything or anyone.

Seriously - in spite of the very cute pictures we've seen in National Geographic and on TV where polar bear families dance around and are very adorable these are among the most dangerous species in the Northern Hemisphere. They kill and eat. - and then kill some more. To shoot it with a tranqualizer and airlift him or ship him back to Greenland was not really an option - do you realize how much tranqualizing meds you need to keep an adult polar bear under for perhabs 24 hours or so?? From what and Icelandic polar bear researcher in Greenland says, you would have to drug the bear every 40 minutes. Thats a lot of drugs. And no guarantie that it would not go straight to the next village in Greenland and attempt to kill sombody there.

Seriously!

6,3 Richter

2008-05-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, while you Oklahoma people are chasing tornadoes I'm standing in my back yard hearing cracking in my house and then feel the earth move beneath my feet.

An earthquake - 6,3 Richter shook Iceland today - had it's origin very close to Selfoss in south Iceland but was felt all over the country. Nobody got seriously hurt but houses got damaged and books and things from shelves went diving to the ground.
(Apperently the American Geological Survey mesured it 6,7)

This is not the first earthquake at this size shakes Iceland in the recent years in 2000 two even bigger earthquakes originated in a very similar place - measuring 6,5 Richter (Rembember, the Ricther scale is exponential not linear...)

(Size of earthquake edited - from 6,1 to 6,3 )

Traitor?

2008-05-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

So I'm googling Data analysis in community and landscape ecology and after about two pages I find a a link that might be helpful. Better yet, on the site there is another link very specific to what I really am lokking for, An ordination webpage. But here's what comes next. This, possibly very helpful web... comes from OSU

Do I fell a little like a traitor?

yep, a little bit...

American Idol

2008-05-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

We've got American Idol over here - the same one you do. And right now I'm watching the finale. I have to say, David Archuleta is very predictable to me. I feel like he keeps singing the same song... but David Cook... now. Here is somebody I like. I've liked him all season, and anybody who can sing a song from a musical - The Music of the Night - non less like he can gets me respect no questions asked.

What ever happens in this contest, he's the only Idol contestant I've ever listed to and thought - hey I would buy this guys album.

I'm a sucker for musicals. And anyone who can actually pull of a musical get's my admiration. This is why Hugh Jackman is my all time favorite. (Well, and Gene Kelly...)

(I should probably do the statistics on how many blog posts here and on my other blog are about musicals... I think I may need to get some other hobbies)

Time management

2008-05-10T15:25:00.000-07:00

Time management is truly an artform. One I've been trying to excel at for many years. During college I was very productive, being a foreigner having to work about twice as hard on anything with regards to reading and such, I was a double major student for most of the four years and worked 20 hours a week or so at the History of Science Collections. I achieved a GPA of 3,4 or 3,5 which I think is quite good considering- and had the time of my life.

After becoming a mother I find that my time management has faulted quite a bit. And with (hopefully) upcoming grad school this fall along with my 42 hours per week job I'm wondering how I will survive.

One morning this winter I was home with Snorri who was sick at the time and watched Oprah on TV - her show was about dying - or living with a fatal desieses - among the guests was a CS professor at Carnegie Mellon University, dr. Randy Pauch
His story is quite remarkable and I think his Last Lecture has been his most famous - but I personally think that his lecture on Time Management is the best I've ever seen.

Watch it! I promise you'll making good use of your time!

Mac'n'Cheese

2008-04-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

So I went to the store today, buying fresh fish for my seafood soup that was dinner tonight and as I made my way to the register I came across an oddly familiar blue box. Not just any blue box, but Kraft's Family Dinner Sized - Original flavor- Macaroni & Cheese.

The seafood soup was great, but tomorrow night it will be American dinner. Yes, here at Þjórsárgata 6, Reykjavík we will be eating blue box mac'n'cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches. I know that's a lot of cheese... I'm contemplating apple pie for desert. Well see.

Now. I have never made grilled cheese, so I need some help. Basic instructions... Brian are you out there??? - Clara can you get your dad's input??

In stead I'm willing to give you some Icelandic food instructions if you so desire.
(The Seafood soup was very good, so was the last one I made and the last one before that...)

Daniel and I are "home alone now", my mother doesn't seem to be able to come visit us without taking Snorri with her back to the farm. When I talked to him last night he had seen two brand new baby cows being born and gave them names, perhaps not what the cows in your neck of the woods would be named, but those two are now Barbabelle and Barbazoo. I expect there will be the whole Barbapapa family extravaganza very soon.

2008-04-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Computer God, specifically creator of ArcGIS.

Can't you make it work any faster?

Your devoted.

Icelander.

2008-04-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

Jerilyn tagged me to the What Ifs... so here goes.

What if I could meet someone in the art world to chat with?

Well. I'm cross between Jane Austen and Schuman. But I'd probably do better chatting in english so I'll go with Austen.

What if I could have one wish granted for the benefit of all mankind?

World peace. Specifically no religious wars. I'm sure we could all figure out a way to get everybody clean water, and plenty of food if we weren't fighting war in almost every other country.

What if I could travel anywhere in the world?
I will go just about anywhere anytime, but once in a lifetime would be Antartica.

What if I could live in a period other than the present, for 24 hours?
This is tough. I'd really like to be back in the viking age in Iceland. Very important time in our history, but it might be a little violent. I'd probably want to go back to the 1930's. Preferably to London or New York, I think jazz, dixie music and Charleston period would be interesting.

What if I could become an animal for 24 hours?

A fly on the wall!

What if I could bring someone back to life for 24 hours?

My grandmother, Elín Jónasdóttir. She died in 1986 after a fight with cancer, but even by that time she was my best friend in the world and not a day goes by without me thinking of her. I know you might be thinking, why not your grandfather too.. Off course I would, if I got two people, but I got 18 more years with him than I did with my grandmother.

I want to ask her questions, hug her, tell her how much I miss her and hear how proud she is of me.

If you are not tagged already, Clara, Jimmie and well, Daníel!

Tenure

2008-04-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

So Daniel just got tenure at Reykjavik University.
So basically that makes him a genius. Tenure may work a little differen over here, but it is still quite the accomplishment being voted the best teacher for four years running, - five over all and get tenure before you ever enter grad school.

I'm really blessed with two geniuses, Snorri is way ahead of the curve in maturity so good news all over.

We don't get twisters or hurricanes...but we do get this:

2008-03-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

SOM class of '04 Reunion 2009?

2008-02-29T07:49:00.000-08:00

So, after Aaron's post I got this idea... would people like to have a School of Meteorology Reunion in the summer of 2009??

I know I would love to see everybody again, and if I'm partly responsible for a reunion you can bet that I'll be there myself!

soo... your thoughts?

(if you're reading this and have nothing to do with the meteorology class.. think of it as a visit to the States!)

Pipi Langsturmph

2008-02-21T13:26:00.000-08:00

Snorri has recently taken a huge interest in Astrid Lindgren's Pipi Longstocking in Icelandic she's Lína Langsokkur. She as a very long name - Snorri hasn't learned the whole thing yet, but loves the movies. I mean what's not to like, a strong funny red headed girl who has a pet monkey named Herr Niels and a big horse "Lille man" Whom she can hold up high. I would really like him to watch them in Swedish - but our DVD only has Icelandic and Danish dubb - which I find extremely weird. Why dubb a swedish movie in to danish for the Icelandic market. Anyway. Another Astrid Lindgren video he loves is Emil i Lönneberga
Snorri relates to Emil who is very inventive and active boy with good intentions but usually bad results. Seeing as my son is now hiding under tables and inside clothing closets for a long while each day I'm preparing my self for the years to come. You thought "The terrible two's" was bad... I'm pretty sure the 5-10 year old is probaby going to be somewhat of a challenge!

This is Snorri's favorite song Ida Emil's sisters sings "Lille kat" - "Little kat"

2008-02-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

At my desk at work today I realized that I'm one of those moms.
One of those moms who has a picture of the baby on the cubicule separator, has a day planer - and an online calendar of which she just incorporated Rembember the milk to do list function.

The mom that comes home just to be there right before dinner - during dinner and the night time.

The mom that wakes up a little early to watch her baby in it's bed before she has sto wake him up to go to daycare.

I'm a working mom. Working too much, constantly bitten by guilt that I'm not doing everything I can to shorten his days at the daycare. Saving money so that I don't have to work this much.

But every night when I get home, the joy of hearing "MAMMMMMMA" called from the living room as soon as he hears the house keys on the other side of the door, make me forget all of that for a moment and just enjoy that I have somebody that is so glad so see me every day.

934 mb going once....

2008-02-08T10:42:00.001-08:00

going twice... gone To the crazy republic of Iceland.

Iceland is under the big mess of iosobars and fronts...

9 pm tonight - and there is high tide.

Yes, I believe this is something close to the weather in Hell.

More beautiful imagery

2008-02-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

February 1st 2008!

2008-02-01T03:51:00.000-08:00

I love google image search just punch in what ever I'm teaching that week and :

This week was low pressure systems.

It's been quite a week.

2008-01-25T04:21:00.000-08:00

First, Bobby Fisher - who was an Icelandic citizen died, the handball team lost all but two games, Heath Ledger died, the handball coach quit, and the city of Reykjavik got it's third mayor in three months. I hate the new majority and the new mayor. Loath is better word. Tuesday there was a storm with gusts up to 50 m/s, last night and this morning there has been a snow storm and most roads around the city and in the south closed.

And it´s noon and I'm still at home. I'm supposed to work little over 40 hours a week. Yesterday I had already put in 60 hours. I'm thinking I need the break.

This is Snorri palying with the greatest toy of all times. Endlessly fun to turn it around and look at the pallets move, and it makes almost no noise!

2008-01-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

I'm working about 18 hours a day these days. Well, not all days, but most. I'm teaching a intro to meteorology course at the Agricultureal University which means working all day doing my database stuff, and then nights making lectures. To go to teach I have to drive an hour in most weathers. Anyway. I always knew it was going to be a tough couple of months- and so did my best friend who got me a coffee mill and a large frech press coffee maker - I only had the two cup one. Six cups is a definite minimum during times like these!!!

In other news our camera is busted so now all pictures are film again. So we wait until the film is done and developed before we get to see the pictures! How did we ever survie! And only take on shot of the object, to save film!!

So you get older pics. Snorri is 2 months old in the Emmaljunga pram we used every day for long walks. And then he's about 8 months old by Dettifoss waterfall, the most powerful waterfall in Europe.

Here we go again

2008-01-21T02:26:00.000-08:00

sung in the blues style of Ray Charles and Norah Jones

This is the forecast for tomorrow morning. What do I need to be doing? Well. I need to be driving in a car by from Reykjavik along the west coast toward Hvanneyri.

-sung in the same blues tones as

2008-01-17T12:31:00.001-08:00

The European Handball Championship

For tow hours every other night for the next few days there will be few if any cars on the streets of Iceland. We are talking the main sport of Iceland, something we are actually really good at. Well, we like to believe so, but right now we are loosing terribly to Sweden. We hate the Sweeds. They are what Texas Longhorns are to Sooners.
And we are loosing. LOOSING!

2008-01-16T08:13:00.000-08:00

So, how's that for a white Christmas?

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T16:34:00.000-08:00

Back to the surface

2007-12-13T15:33:00.000-08:00

We've been busy around here lately. Sick, working too much, and then the weather.
My job on TV becomes increasingly hard when we've got weather like we've had the last few weeks. Since November 28th we have had five deep low pressure systems from the Atlantic. These systems have all landed on the southwest and west coast, bringing hurricane force winds almost every other day. We had a storm - gale force wind warning on monday night, then again yesterda (Wednesday). There is another one coming tomorrow. A good 940mb and then there is the Sunday low - very deep but very small. We don't get freezing rain (Thanks for the pics Derek!) but we get a lot of precip.. in this order; Rain, sleet, snow, sleet, rain, sleet... and so on. Temps are just above feezing so we have roads packed with ice. We are talking gusts up to 120 knots, and then the 10 minute average about 60-70 knots. This is happening every other day,and 18wheel trucks are getting blown off of the road. BBQ-grills and trampolines are flying across the streest, and my inlaws got a part of a roof flying into theyr house last night. My friends at Channel 2 have some been up all night fighting to keep they're trash cans from flying over the neighborhood. I'm loving it! But people are starting to hate me, the barer of bad news and bad weather forecasts.

Boys

2007-11-27T14:57:00.000-08:00

Snorri was unusually difficult to get to bed tonight. Which is ironic, since I just wrote Susan a long post regarding sleeping problems, and said something along the lines of how good Snorri is at going to bed these days.
Anyway. He went to bed around 7:30 and after about 40 minutes of speaking to himself and calling for his dad he finally asked me to come in to his room. I called from the living room "go to sleep" - This is done so that he doesn't get used to us walking into his room all night long. My plan of NOT going in didn't work, because soon he was calling louder, and it seemed like something might be wrong. Daniel and I went in, and this is what we saw:

Apparently, when you are very tired, and very stubborn. Take off your PJ's.

2007-11-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

Snorri's interest seem to all revolve around music. In the car he sings, in the bathtub, while in daycare out side... Sometimes he will even stop talking to sing. Which I find to be adorable.

I think that what a mother dose while pregnant has an enormous effect on a baby. I played in a string quartet most of the time. Schubert. I also played with a symphony orchestra all sorts of music. Daniel plays the guitar often, sings too and there is usually music in the car. All of this, and my not even 2 year old knows over 10 songs, and some of the songs have multiple lyrics - which he knows too. He likes to play instruments. His dad's guitar, his granddad's organ and he has some kid instruments he likes.

Today I downloaded a kids album mostly with songs and the same people singing as when Daniel and I were kids. Snorri knows some of the songs on the album, but he only wants to listen to one of them. The theme song from Postman Pat
There is a link sort of in the middle of the page, Pósturinn Páll, and a "play" button in front of it. You can hear a preview.

Tomorrow I'll record Snorri and Daniel singing and put it up tomorrow night. Stay tuned :-)

English verision:

Norweigan

And Czech if you desire...

2007-11-03T06:28:00.000-07:00

The October pics made it on to smugmug

Snorri is getting so big. I'm running into trouble finding clothes for him. He's using 3-4 year old clothes and growing so much every month I try to cheap clothes and few at a time because he grows out of them in a week or so!
He is also talking and singing. He's also learning long difficult lyrics and singing along with us every chance he gets.

He loves airplanes, big trucks and tractors. And now he talks constantly about the time this summer when he got to go with grandpa in his tractor and touch the steering wheel! Funny how he remembers, and as soon as he got the words he's telling us. I never realized how mcuh kids remember, because they don't talk about it - offcourse they can't talk. That's the reason, not that they don't remember or want to.

I hear about stay at home moms all the time. The "stay at home mom" class here in Iceland dissapeard a decade ago or so. It's expensive to live around here and most households need two incomes. I've got student loans and financial commitments and I need to work. Thankfully Snorri is very happy at the playschool, sometimes he doesn't want to come home. And he's always happy and smiling, and the few times he's fuzzy the women who work with him tell us, because it's so uncommon, and he's usually sick when it happens.

He also loves being outside and playing, preferably where there are swings.
And that's where we're going now. Outside to play.

This is a video from this summer, when there is 24 hour daylight and Snorri didn't quite understand why he couldn't be outside all the time!

oops

2007-10-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

There seems to have been a picture monster eating all my smugmug pictures. -Well, at least I thought that I had put them up, but apparently not. The galleries are empty and all I can direct you to now is my knitting stuff

But, if you really want to see some cute pictures the older ones are just as cute as the new ones, so fell free to browse: elinbjork.smugmug.com

Update: Apparently the August 2007 pictures went into the August 2006 album - so please look at August.
I still don't know what happened to Sept/Oct 2007...

2007-10-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

It's been too long.
The thing about the months of September and October is that they just seem to fly by. I feel like it was yesterday that I said, well what happened september!! And it's already middle of October. I hope time slowes down come November or Christmas will be here way too soon. I'm not ready for the Holidays.

Things are good overe here. Snorri is talking more and more, and just today he managed three new words. He's doing all sort of stuff himself now, and is getting very good about keeping him self occupied. Building blocks are his favorite right now.

I'm in knitting mode these days. I'm making myself something now, but with four friends getting ready to give birth in the next weeks I really should start their baby gifts. Well I should start my deciding. I get too ambitious and alwasy want to knit something big, cardigans, blankets... and it never gets done in time.

I'm going to upload some pictures onto my smugmug tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Eric Nguyen

2007-09-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

was a remarkably talented and smart young man and his death is a tragedy I just don't understand.

I hope his many friends and his family find the strength to get through this awful time ahead.

My thoughts are with you.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

2007-09-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this movie? If not, well. I can't say I highly recomnend it, but if you do want to see it I recoment the following youtube videos. This is from a panel discussion in Australian TV, and you just might know the lead author of the fourth assesment report of the IPCC, dr. David Karoly. This panel, and his performance makes me awfully proud to be able to say I was his student, and that I was advised by him on two major projects of mine.

Just bragging about my beautiful baby...

2007-08-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Look at all my teeth!!!

How does a scientist look?

2007-08-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

well.. something along the line of this...

After an 8 hour hike in the southern plains of Iceland collecting soil samples and other things... this was day one. Day two was even more interesting...

2007-08-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

Well, long time no post. This happens.
The last few weeks have been eventful. First off, on July 27th there were three reported tornadoes spotted in the southern part of Iceland. I suspect one of the "tornadoes" was a dust devel, but at least one of them was a real cold core case. - As far as we can see for now at least. I don't have any pictures of my own, and I want the permission of the photographers of the pictures I've got before I post them here. Untill then you will get pictures of a recent trip of ours to the farm where Daniel was raised.

Other things that have happened, is that I have eaten a spectacular amount of chocolate these past few days. I think tomorrow will be day one of no sugar. - And until I've lost 12lbs... there will be no more chocolate.

I never told you excatly what was going on at the met office that made me leave.

Bullying. The boss bullying the staff. The female boss bullying the female staff, preferably the better educated, happily married - or almos married women. Much like the sitation at the National Hurricane Center a few months ago. But this went on for years and years. Ever since I've been back from OU things have been getting worse. But after all giving the administration, and the Director Generale of the met office all the chances possible to fix the problem It got to the media. And I've been interviewed twice and other victims multiple times. Things are hopefully getting better over there, but I'm very glad I'm not working in the sick environment anymore. I have high hopes of becoming Director Generale one day. - Just wait and see!

In other news. Jerilyn is coming to visit!!! Yay!! September 1st. I can't wait...

satellite fun...

2007-07-10T07:58:00.001-07:00

There is so much coolness to this picture that I don't know where to start...

See the sea ice off of the coast of Greenland? - thats ice not clouds. See the low sweaping up to the southwestern coast of Iceland, it will produce some much needed precipitation. See the fog surrounding the east and southeastern part of the country.. it's been there for days!

Image from MODIS TERRA. http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/realtime/single.php?T071911325

Missing you...

2007-07-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been thinking about a post, and composing a post in my head but time flies, and it becomes longer and longer since the last one. I haven't quit, I've just been busy.
The past three days Snorri and I have been having fun being together the whole day. My crammed 14 days of two jobs are over for now, and Snorri's playschool has gone on summer vacation. Daniel will spend a few weeks with him too, and hopefully we will spend a week all together. I really don't have much of a summer vacation since I just started the new job with the agricultural university. But they are very flexible, and are willing to let me work when I want too, so when the weather is good - I don't work. And when it's not so good... well, then I work!

Things around here have been good. We have had unbelievable weather in Reykjavik, sunshine and temps around 65- 70. Which is very unusual, and very very unusual to get those days many in a row.

Last weekend there was a Sunset Festival in Garður, my home town. Snorri and I went and met up with my dad and stepmom. The weather there was also magnificent. I got a sunburn there, for the first time in my life, I actually got sunburned in Garður.
Anway, I met a lof of people again after too many years of no contact, and it made me think how long it has been since I saw all of you. I feel like Eric and Becky were just here to visit, but since then they became parents, and Ella is now getting so big! Since Steve was here he's gotten married and moved to a house in up in the mountains, and since I left Norman I missed three weddings, babies and numerous graduations. And that makes me sad.
I'm actually dreaming of visiting all of you. And not dreaming, like "I have a dream" dream but the"go to sleep, close my eyes and dream" dream.

So.

I have now officially established a travel fund, and am saving up money to come visit!

2007-05-29T06:37:00.001-07:00

This comes highly reccomended from yours truly...

2007-05-16T18:12:00.000-07:00

The best surprise in a long while!

So, Josh Groban has been in Iceland these past few days.
He held a concert today, and yesterday. The ticket price was, I thought, very very high. Almost $200 for the cheap seats.
Anyway. I've been a fan since he first showed up as sort of a "make up" character in Ally McBeal´s fourth season, after Robert Downey Jr. (of who'm I'm also a huge fan) was thrown into jail for his less then appealing dru habit. Anyway. Josh sang You're still you and I was hooked. And finally he was here, with the expensive tickets. So after a lot of thought I decided that I wasn't going to spend more money than I get for a whole day on TV on a ticket. I'd rather just save up the money, go abroad somewhere and catch him there.
So. I didn't really think about it. Well I did, but accepted my decision. It was a practical one.

So. Yesterday, I come home from work very late, just before dinner (I should be finnished around 4 pm). When I start getting Snorri's dinner ready Daniel tells me I need to start gettin myslef ready, because I'm going to a concert! And not just any concert, but the Josh Groban concert!! He, had secretly bought a ticked for me, and even got a seat two seats away from Lovisa my good friend, who also had gotten her ticket as a gift!

So, I'm telling you - the best surprise ever!

The concert was great. Josh and every member of his band were at the top of their game. They are awsome.
The repetoair was mostly songs from his new album Awake. But also, he did a song from Sondheim's Sweeny Todd, Not while I'm around. And a few others that I love.
And he played the piano and drums. And good grief, the boy can play the drums. I think it's official. He can do anything!

In other news, I'm two weeks away from finnishing up at the met office, and what a relief.

Snorri is now in playschool. Our daycare parent was forced to quit her job after the most horrible tragedy in her family. It's horrible to watch somebody suffer so much and not being able to do anything about it.

But Snorri loves playschool, and he has made tremendous progress since starting. He is now eating with a fork and spoon, like he's never done anything elses. He's talking constantly. We don't really understand much of what he's saying. But he emphazises by pointing one finger. Sort of like the sooner #1. Funny.
And every day he doesn't go to his playschool he wanders around the apartment calling "gakka", "gakka" which translates to the icelandic "krakka" "krakka" which again translates as kids kids. He's very confused that he doesn't meet his friends every day of the week!

2007-04-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

Copenhagen
I´m in Copenhagen. On a five day semniar in forecasting meteorology. Funny. Especially since I decided to quit at the Met Office and go to work for the agriclutural university. And - the met office is paying for my stay here now. I'm allright with that, after all I've been put through there.
I'm staying in Nørrebro at my best friend's house. Having a great time.
When I get a call. Snorris babysitter has a family emergency. And was off from work yesterday too. Daniel is so busy with work that he can not possibly do this. Both his parents are sick. My dad and his wife are busy with work. Daniel's sisters are busy and so is his brother. The babysitter is not reliable. What to do????
You buy a airplain ticket for your sister who lives with your mom's family on the other side of the island. You (or the baby's dad) pack a bag for the baby and buy a toddlers ticket for him. And an hour after your sister gets there you put her back on the plane. To go back home, and you also put the toddler on the plane wither. At the airport on the other side, grandma is waiting for Snorri who will be visiting - alone - untill Sunday. That's when I get back and can go and pick him up.

The easy way of life.
No

...not so much my style anyway!

Ella's sweather part II

2007-04-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

First off, the horrible tragedy in VA Tech has shocked Iceland. I can only pretend to imagine what you are going through. Our thoughts are with you.

But, here is the finnished product.Ella's sweater. I thought I would post a picture so Becky and Ella could see with their own eyes! And I hope it's big enough, I think it would fit Snorri, so surly it will fit Ella!

I have the final interview with the Dean of the Agricultural University. I will probably make a final desicion on Thursday or Friday, I'll keep you posted!

2007-04-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Existance crisis
Brian mentioned to me the other day that most of his friends were suffering from existance crisis. Brian first heard of it when I mentioned the state of mind to him years ago, and now, I'v caught the existance crisis again. What to do-what to do...
I recently got fed up with my job at the met office, after having very often mentioned to my boss, my bosses boss and then finally the director generale of the Icelandic Met Office that my work conditions were less than perfect, my projects nowehere in the vicinity of my work description and the overall moreale in the office horrible, mostly due to overworked people and bad decisions. - So, I go and apply for a new job at the Agricultural Univesity. Which I then, to my amazement and probably most of those around me, was offered. Now, the whole of IMO seems to get a nervous breakdown and ever since I explained to my boss that I'm thinking about leaving I've been called in to the boss's office, the second and third boss. And the first and the last "boss" practically offered me anything I wanted. - Choice of Scandinavian working groups and which department I wanted to actually practice meteorology. - What to do... what to do... Do I say good bye to the people that wouldn't listen and go work for the nice people that offered me the nice job? Or do I take advantage of my position and get what I want, -- not looking too much further down the road for more trouble in the ever-so-troubled old workplace?

Forecast bust...

2007-03-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

I think it's safe to say that yesterday's forecast for today is a total bust. Not just with me, but the official forecast, as well as both TV stations. Don't get it. This has happened once before. All the models predict a south to southwest storm and nothing really happens. The 925mb analysis and models give even stronger winds and rediculously warm airmass (10-12 deg.C)
I guess the through wasn't as strong after all. - The setup is kind of weird. A high over Scandinavia and Britain, and a low south of Greenland both moving east, but the low moving faster, so we were supposed to get squashed in the middle. With stable modes telling us that for days (and very high resolution models too... 3km and 9km resolution can be found here)
Bottom line, not a good day to be a meteorologist in Iceland!

2007-03-30T01:45:00.000-07:00

Outdoor activities
Snorri and I have recently taken up "going out to play" after I get home from work, around 5pm. Sometimes I can be home around 4 and then we get more time. This week we went to the playground one day, where Snorri ran around, tried the swings and ate some gravel. Then on Wednesday we went to the beach. Yes folks, this is how an Icelandic beach looks like. And the fleece trousers and wool sweater are the appropriate attire for such an event as a beach trip is.
Snorri loved it. He ran around, both on the pavement, and then he discovered how he cuold go onto the sand and invent stuff such as blue shells and sand.

As for me I've been enjoying some new outdoor activities myslef. I've been going out jogging fo rthe last few days. I'm not very good at it yet, but better than I was last month, or week for that matter. Also, I'm making progress in my skating lessons, last night I attembted a salkow. Attempted is the key word here, because with my horrible horrible turly horrific skates, I can hardly finnish the first move into the jump, let alone jump!

Anyway, some pictures from the beach. - And thw wool sweather Snorri is wearing is one of my old ones.

2007-03-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

Ella's sweater

You can see one sleve done, another one half done, the main body of the sweater done...
Only about six months late, but I'm finally making some progress on Ella's sweater. Becky had a stuffed animal, and a hat-shoes-mitten set all ready and sent accross the pond about a month before Snorri was due. I'm so not being a proper friend.
But I promise, as soon as the sweather is ready (wich I really hope is at the end of the week) I will send it over, along with chockolate, herbs, and other small things !! I promise!

-And while I'm being the awful friend, Nicole, I've received the package and the necklace is beautiful! I can't wait for an oportunity to ware it.

Other from that. We have been having some interestingi weather around here. About a month ago a research group made of meteorologists from Iceland, Norway, USA and Britain were here with a FEMMA aircraft and they were flying into low pressure systems. Their flight plan varied from 18000 ft to about 50ft above sea surface!. And infact the pilots broke a new record in one of the flights, 3 hours of flying in and around the center of a 970mb low pressure system just off of the coast of Greenland, at 50 feet above wave tops. Yes, I didn't miss a zero there, 50 feet.

These past two weekends we have had two pretty deep systems come up to the west coast, depending on where the center of the low is, we either get north and northeast winds, or south and southwest. With the extensive high pressure system over Scandinavia the center usually stays over on the Denmark Strait, but when the high goes further east, and especially when the 300mb jet is positioned so that it just drives all the surface systems right to our back yard we get these deep lows, with centers just along the west coast or over the island itself. Anyway the past two lows have been quite deep, with winds in the interior of the islands goint upto 120 kts. In the coastal region the gusts in pure south winds got upto 80kts, so being a forecast meteorologist - on TV has been quite the thrill. - And dissapointing when you realize people don't listen and go about taking the cross country trips anyway..

Snorri is now climbing on everything in sight. He can now climb on to the kitchen chairs, and from there, if we aren't fast enough to put him back on the floor, he can go on top of the kitchen table. From there, the window... Sometimes I thing about making him a safe area, a square play pin, with bars he can't juggle loose. I'm not sure that would go over well, but at least I wouldn't fear for his life practically every second of every day!

- and Susan, I promise I'll write that email I promised last weekend tomorrow!!

2007-03-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

This morning, at the awful hour of 6am I went to the gym. Which in it self isn't so unusual. But today I started a new weight lifting program... and this evening I was hardly able to brush my teeth. Until I figured out that I could just move my head in stead of my arm...

Snorri goes to daycare during the day while his parents work. One of the girls got a little agressive and left him with this red mark on his cheek. It's still there, 2 months later. Just not as red.

Some very nice clouds over Reykjavik, february 28th.

My mom got married again in the begining of January. We went up north to where she lives, and got an apartment in the town of Akureyri, which isn't far from her farm. Snorri was tired after the flight and all the people he met during the first few hours. When we finally got to the apartment the key to the dor had some weird trick to it, and we couldn't figure it out. While Daniel was trying to get the door to open Snorri decided enough was enough and went to sleep!

An iglue Daniel built in our back yard in January

Apperently Sooners blog...

2007-03-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

I recently got back in touch with Ben and Susan Baranowski. - And from there I found Laura, Jerilyn (who I did keep in touch with, but never knew blogged), Aaron and Jimmie ... are there more of you out there?

I figured out while living in Oklahoma that the best way to keep in touch with my friends and family spread around Europe was through blog. And my elinbjork.blogspot.com has lived through junior year of meteorology, graduation, job hunts, ups and downs, meeting the man in my life, pregenancy and birth, motherhood and now hopefully graduate school.
If any of you want to read about my life, I would be more than happy to blog. So that the few of you that I know look at my icelandic blog don't have to find a translater. Or make due with pictures.

An update on me?

I live in Reykjavik, Iceland. With my someday to be husband Daniel and our 14 month old boy Snorri. He was born on Christmas day 2005, and now, nothing compares to him. Nothing.
I work at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, the research and development department. And I also do the weather at Chanel 2, about 1-2 weekends pr. month and odd days here and there.

I started a graduate program in Environmental Sciences at the University of Iceland, but found it extremely boring. More boring than I found Dynamics 3. Which was quite horrible. So after a semster I went back to work and now, I've finally got a great interesting, practical, and payed masters project conntected with the International Polar Year, and supported by the Nordic Counsil of Ministers. It is a part of a big project called Climate and Energy, overseen by an Icelandic hydrologist.
I'll start the 6 months of research and writing in the fall and hopefully I'll just finnish, without complications. After that I want to go to Oslo maybe, or East Anglia and do a PhD in dynamical meteorology. But we shall see.