The World, from my perspective

First things first; the snow is gone from the village! Sure, it's still up in the mountains all around, but at least it's gone from where I wander on a daily basis. Feels very good to finally have switched from hiking boots to sneakers, even though the sneakers need to be cleaned pretty much daily due to all the rock-dust that's on all the roads.... And ok, the snow actually went away maybe two weeks ago but I haven't really gotten around to writing this before now, so I'm sticking with my story. Second things second; it's still kinda cold. But since I'm getting used to the cold, I've decided to put my winter cap away for summer storage and just be a man about frozen ears. Also, I'm not going on very long hikes to be able to jump inside when the numbness gets to me. Third things third; I'm going for a one week vacay to Sweden in two weeks! Man, it's gonna be grand to get some real summer, heat and trees! Yes trees goshdarnit! I haven't se...

Yes, today is the Independence Day of Norway... WOHOOO! The day every Norwegian takes to the streets to wave flags and celebrate King and country with a mass-hysteria of nationalism. Kudos to them, I say! Iceland does the same thing (except for the King-part) on June 17.th and from what I recall it was a very nice day off that I personally mostly spent waking up late and drinking coffee with friends and family. Still, a nice day. Sweden's on June 6 for some unknown reason (I've heard several reasons for that date, but none make sense) and it's only been a day off for the last couple of years. Hence I've mostly spent it either at work or school... no fun there. But to round off these ramblings... Happy 17 Maj all you Norwegians!

At 83 degrees north in Greenland, a major mining company has set up a "recon camp" to see if there's Zinc in them hills (or rather, mountains). Heading out from Longyearbyen are the intrepid pilots of a Hercules plane, giving those poor souls up there all the supplies they need. And standing behind a bar there's me - supplying these gentlemen with all they require in the way of booze (and some food). So to go on with the story. At 7 AM this morning I was awoken from my slumber by the cell phone ringing. On the line was the night shift receptionist asking me if I wanted to go to Greenland? "Hell yeah!" I said "Well, be here in ten minutes then" "Ugh... ok" So I jump out of bed, into some clothes, grab a slice of bread and haul my ass up to the hotel where the flight crew is waiting for me to tag along on their first trip of the day. There really wasn't all that much to see at the landing strip on the fjord where we touched ground and ...

I've started looking for what to do, once I'm done up here and for the moment I'm leaning towards heading back to the office . At least for awhile until something else might happen.... To start of this search, I went to my usual job-related sites online and decided to give this recruitment firm I've applied to before another chance. I've never gotten an interview through them (mainly since I've never applied when living in mainland Norway). But it so happened their CEO happened to be trapped up here while Eyjafjallajökull had some hickups. One evening, he and I chatted for awhile, he gave me the e-mail and number to his no. 1 in O&G-recruitment and told me to say hi from him when I send her an e-mail. So I update my profile (not much office-related to update, but still), fill in two related applications and sent her an e-mail this last Friday evening. When I wake up on Monday I see that she's read it and already told two guys to get in touch me regarding...

Well, this song seems to have been one of my themes for the last couple of months. So why not share it? Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy! By Big & Rich and yes, it's country ;)

...or in this case, a simple Volcanic Eruption. Yeah, I'm staying at 78 degrees north, which should be way above any consideration since the current blast from Eyjafjallajökull is heading southwest from Iceland. Think again. Where do all those planes to us come from? Yup, you got it right. So we are at the moment stuck with the "guests" we had yesterady, which most of the time is pretty fine. Except for the fact that they've already spent all the money they were going to spend and get their continuous stays (and meals) at a very low rate (since SAS has pretty damn good rates up here, considering they're the only ones who do the trp). So (yes, I know I shouldn't start to paragraphs in a row with that, so sue me) what we have to play with is upping them on the wine (since the food is free) and trying to get them to do........ well, not much more. So (yes, for the third time in a row), I'm - for all sorts of reasons pretty much no one else has - hoping that m...

One of the best things about working as a bartender/waiter is all the interesting and fun people you meet while at work. While most customers (yes, I know I'm supposed to call them guests but a business degree apparently has its influences) are as forgettable as yesterday's lunch, a few do stand out from the crowd. The polar explorers : We've had a bunch of people heading up for the North Pole; most of them are regular joes who've forked over a big wad of dough and go there by snowscooter or helicopter, but a few of them are the real deal. One of them is here with his ten year old son (who will be the youngest ever on the NP); he's a nine time pole-visitor and this time he will be leading a group of crazy chinese on skis from the Russian base to the pole (his son will take the chopper). Another, who is preparing for an altogether crazier stunt is Mark Woods . This guy is going to take a solo-hike to the South Pole, then pretty much jump on a plane up north and do an...