Last month in the US

Notes from a jock

There are exciting times ahead...

I feel the need to express some thoughts on how the English Premier League has started, the coming NFL season, and the NCAA football season.

I must admit that even though we lost our first match of the season against Burnley, Manchester United still have started the season well. The win, deserved or not, against Arsenal was big and we need to keep winning matches like that if we are to get four in a row. Chelsea look strong and must be considered the most intimidating and biggest challenger. Liverpool are as always disappointing every fan wearing the wrong shade of red, but things might turn around for them as the season progresses. I do not believe that Tottenham and Manchester Shitty will be able to keep winning, but they might give Liverpool and Arsenal a run for the Champions League spots for next season.

Speaking of the Champions League I am not too happy about this years group stage draw. We have a poor history against Besiktas, it is always hard playing away in Russia against teams like CSKA and the german champs Wolfsburg have a fierce strikeforce. We should go through, but it might not let us rest players in 'easier' CL-matches...

On to the NFL. Am I exited? Oh, yes. From this paragraph I will only talk about football (the american style) so to all you Norwegians that are completely uninterested... go on to the Hawaii post.

So... Brett Farve in purple! Can the Vikings be a Superbowl contender? Most experts think the Green Bay Packers will challenge the Vikings in the NFC North, and most experts believe the Eagles will win the NFC Championship game. I believe that if Farve can stay healthy and not get the type of injury he had in New Jersey last year the Vikings have a great shot at not only going to the playoffs, but making it to the Superbowl.

Vikings have one of the best run defenses in the NFL, they have one of the best pass defenses in the NFL, they have the best individual offensive player in Adrian Peterson (who will get more room this year since the Vikings will have a real QB), they have an intimidating defensive line with Williams, Williams, Windfield and Allen. I believe Favre will not have the same implosion against the Eagles that Jackson had last year...

There is no doubt that the NFC North is strong this year. Jay Cutler and Matt Forte in Chicago, Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay and a young and exiting QB in Matt Stafford (first pick in last years draft) in Detroit. Hopefully the Vikings can win 12 games and get homefield in playoffs.

The AFC features a bunch of tough teams, but I believe that the Vikings (if they get there) will meet either the San Diego Chargers or New England Patriots in the SB. Both teams get great players back from injuries, Tomlinson in San Diego and Tom Brady in New England, and both have easy conferences that will give them lots of wins and homefield advantage through the AFC playoff.

On the the NCAA. For the followers of College Football that reads this, if any, it is a really exciting season this year. Most of the top ranked teams won pretty easily in their first game, except the Sooners heartbreaking loss against BYU, and both Florida, Texas, USC and Alabama are all looking strong.

I still want to make people aware of my new school, University of California - Berkeley. The Cal Bears are coming of a decent season last year and with their amazing tailback Jahved Best leading the team and being a Heisman candidate they might stir some things up in the PAC10. Are they going to be able to stop Tim Tebow and Florida... not likely... but they might get to the BCS game, or at least a BCS bowl game. It might come down to their homegame in Berkeley against USC later this fall.

A short last comment. I believe the Vikings should draft Tim Tebow next spring. If the Vikings do as good as I expect this season they will only have a late first round pick, but Tebow will not go early. I believe he could be the perfect QB to lead an Adrian Peterson based offense...

A month worth of blogging

I barely remember writing a blogpost.. that is how long it's been. But I will try to capture the last month in the US in not too many words.

Last time I wrote, August 17., I was just a couple of away from going to Hawaii.

Hawaii is the kind of place that is really fun to visit once, but I don't really think I'll be going back there anytime soon. It is kind of like going to Rhodos, Cyprus or Mallorca. The weather was perfect and I did lots of fun stuff, but it did not really live of to the illusions created by movies. The food was good, but expensive.. like everything on Hawaii...

Enough whining, I did to do a couple of things I have always wanted to do. Skydiving and surfing. Skydiving was a pretty unreal experience, but I recommend everybody to try it once. A crazy feeling to jump out the open door of a plane. The 35 seconds of free fall was awesome, but it was over way to quickly. Surfing was also great fun and I did at least manage to get up on the board and catch a good bunch of waves (which was pretty easy considering the size of the board). All in all Hawaii was good relaxation and did get a little bit of a tan, even though I don't really have the patience to stay on the beach for hour after hour.

After Hawaii I spent the last weekend in San Francisco going to the Outside Lands Festival with David, Kim Joar, Per Kjetil and Anita. The festival was for me a big letdown. Beastie Boys was replaced with Tenacious D (who sucked) - what a joke! Pearl Jam was decent, Incubus was decent, Modest Mouse was decent and the only really good (or weird) concert I went to was MIA. A strange display of weird dancing and bad singing, but fun.

At the moment I am in Northfield, Minnesota after a visit with my american family in Duluth last week. i got to see the whole family again and it was good times. First time I've seen little Braeden and the little bugger is huge.

I am staying at Tyler's house and are looking forward to a couple of days with a really american small town festival, Defeat of Jesse James Days.

Another week gone by

And then came Monday...

So another weekend is over... not that many left now. On Thursday I will be leaving sunny California and go to even more sunny Hawaii. Funkyzeit!

I am no longer as exhausted as I were after the exam, but it was a long weekend.

Friday we went to a football game and saw the 49ers marginally beat the Broncos. It was fun, but a little bit cold. Fun to see a game live again, been a long time.

After coming back from the game I expected to get a good night sleep before getting up early to see the first couple of games from the EPL. But alas, someone decided to come sneaking in and waking us all at 2.30am. Thank you Kim Åge and Diep, it was much appreciated. That said, something good came out of it. I got most of my Berkeley exam paper done between 4am and 7am that morning. And I watched Wigan bean Aston Villa and Arsenals thrashing of poor Everton.

Saturday a bunch of us went in to town to see the Richard Avedon exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It was interesting, but I actually enjoyed the Robert Frank photos they also displayed. After the exhibit we went out for a few drinks and sushi - I am getting really hooked on sushi. Went to a great place called Tsunami Sushi downtown. We might have been a little noisy, but it was all good. After dinner I was a little tired and took the train home while the others partied on. The cost of getting old :)

I just love that the Premier League is up and running again. A decent start for United. 1-0 over Birmingham is not that impressive, but compared to the start we had last season... Along with most of the other favorites, Chelsea/Arsenal/Manchester City, we got the first win. Arsenal was impressive, but pretty much scored on every chance. Chelsea got lucky with Drogbas pass going in.... and Liverpool lost away against Spurs. Najs!

Last night my room (Kim Åge, Dan Robert, Pål Bjarne and I) were invited to lasagne at one of the girls' room (Janicke, Heidi, Benedikte and Diep) and we now know that about 50% of all girls are bitter most of the time. The lasagna was awesome though. The night was finished off with us guys watching Rocky 4 on tele. Ivan Drago rocks!

Tune back next week for a hawaiian update!

Exhausted...

So much for trying to be better at this stuff...

Well, to excuse myself, I have had sooo much to do the last couple of weeks. Since my last update I have been tied up with work and more importantly the business plan for school..

Lack of sleep is a key word here and I pretty much went into a coma after our presentation last night.

I'll come back to that stuff, but more importantly. I've become an uncle again! That is right, my brother Jostein and his wife Lene got a son this morning. Little August was born on the 13. of August... Fortunately they live in Bergen, so I will be able to see the little rascal right from the get go (at least when I get back to Bergen in a months time)

Back to the exam. For the last 10 days or so we have pretty much spent every evening working on the business plan for our fictional product HavFrisk. It was more work than expected and I am pretty much running on empty at the moment. Fortunately we presented it yesterday and are done with it. So the next couple of days will be nothing more than relaxation...

The only fun thing I have done the last couple of weeks were the Rock the Bells concert last Sunday. It was pretty awesome. A perfect venue for a one day festival, and we were all pretty much just laying on the grass listening to hiphop. The line-up included Nas, Damian Marley, Busta Rhymes, BigBoi, The Roots, House of Pain, Krs One, Talib Kweli, Raekwon and MOP. But, I must admit that the surprise artist were my favorit. It might be the fact that I am a little old school, but when Slick Rick entered the stage I got stoked. 'La di da di' and 'Mona Lisa' are awesome songs.

So what else is worth mentioning. Not much. I am going to the movie theater tonight to see Funny People and tomorrow a bunch of us are going to see a preseason game between San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos (Football). The weekend will mostly be set aside to write a couple of papers for school, but I'll be going up to San Francisco on Saturday....

Rock on!

Time fly

Hmm...I am getting worse and worse at this blogging stuff...

So much has happened since last time I blogged and I'll try not to make this into a novel.

Last weekend was crazyness. Almost all the Norwegians at the entrepreneurship program went to Las Vegas for a weekend of fun. And even though I know that everything that happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas I'll try you guys a brief summary of the event. No pictures yet, but I'll try to find some decent ones and post later this week.

Seven of us left SFO on friday afternoon and amazingly, due to misunderstandings, we lost Peder at the airport. Kind of a bad omen for the weekend, but fortunately he got himself on the next plane and joined the rest of the crew some hours later.

I have a friend from high school in Minnesota, Chris, that works as a teacher in Vegas and another friend from Minnesota, Tyler, that flew down there as well. Tyler was there for one night only and Friday we went down to downtown Las Vegas. This is seperate from the more wll known strip and you can get a lot more for your money. I can truly recommend the penny slots at Le Bayou. As long as you play and tip you can pretty much get as many free drinks you can handle. In fewer words Norwegians and free alcohol is not always the best combination.

Later we went to two different night clubs, Rok and XS, and the latter was by far the most fun one. A huge club over at Wynn Encore that really rocked. Got a little tired towards the end and stumbled into bed at around 4.30ish.

I was as usual up way before the others on Saturday morning and, as the g33k I am, spent a couple of hours doing some schoolwork before Pål and I went to play poker. It was just a small 22-player $35 freeze out at the Luxor and I finished on the bubble (4th) but at least it was a couple of hours of great fun and I got unlucky at the end. Lost with full house against straight flush.

At around six most of the guys met to have dinner and we followed that up with a stretch hummer ride up and down the strip. The hummer ride ended at Ceasar's Palace where we clubbing at Pure. Somehow we got fooled doing table service, which pretty much means that you pay an amount up front to get in front of the line, get three bottles of liquer+mixers and get a VIP table. It seemed expensive to pay $150 to get into a club, but since you didn't spend much money after that the night was cheaper than the first one.

The coolest thing about Pure was the fact that DMX was hosting and did a full set of old classics. He might have been drunk or high, but it was an awesome concert at the whole club was bouncing. I was dead tired after the concert and went home early at around 3am still singing DMX songs....

Next morning was poker again, we did the same tournie, and I finished 3rd this time. At least I cashed and can brag about doing that in Vegas. This time I was a little lucky during the tournement and hit both four of a kind and straight flush along the way.

In total Vegas was a little expensive, but a whole lotta fun. I think most of the crew had lots and lots of fun, and so did I. The next couple of weeks will include a lot of schoolwork, the business plan we're doing is due august 12th....

Pictures will be posted later...

Can't wait for the season to start

August 9th seem so far away...

The pre-season/silly season is a little bit nerve wrecking. There is the excitement of signing players you expected to get (Valencia), the excitement of the surprise signing of players you would never guess would wear the right red jersey (Owen), and the utter disappointment of players signing with other clubs then your own (Benzema, Ibrahimovic, and on and on and on). But what it all boils down to is the increasing anxiety of the upcoming season: Will the team perform like last year? Will the loss of Ronaldo haunt us forever (like Beardsley haunts the scousers)?

The first pre-season matches have led me to believe we will be as strong as ever. History has shown that when the biggest names have left Old Trafford others have excelled (Cantona/Beckham/van Nistelrooy) and I have absolutely no that in the abilities of Sir Alex to create another winning team and bringing number 19 back to Old Trafford.

I know 3-2 and 2-0 over a composition of Malaysias best 11 aren't the most impressive results ever, but we are winning matches (compared to teams which names will not be mentioned) and our strikes are scoring goals. The fact that Rooney, Macheda and Owen (2) have all opened their scoring accounts is significant. What is even more important is the fact that they are scoring scrappy goals. After van Nistelrooy left us we have struggled to get a pouncher in the area that can get the rebounds and tap in the easy goals. Owen is that kind of a striker, Rooney is getting better and better at it, and it seem like Macheda might have learned a thing or two from Solskjaer last year at the reserves.

So hopes are high for the coming season. I do not really feel that the other top teams have strenghtened their teams. Liverpool has signed Glen Johnson - which kind of surprised me considering the season Arbeloa had last year - but he will have an impact and create more width for the scousers. Chelsea has signed Yuri Zhirkov - the phenom from Euro '08 - but I am unsure if his impact will really bring the blues closer to the title. He might give them another option on the left side, but I will argue that both Ashley Cole and Joe Cole gives them better options on left back and left winger. Arsenal - if they can be considered a top team based on last year - has signed Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax. The 23 year old defender might an unknown entity for many has proven to be a steady central defender and should give Arsenal another alternative and might give them a little more confidence in defence (Arsenal (37) let in a high number of goals last season compared to United (24), Liverpool (27) and Chelsea (24)) .

While Chelsea and Liverpool have not sold any significant players, both Arsenal and United have. Even though Adebayor did not have the best of seasons for the gunners last season he had an impact and presence in every game he played. The questions is if Arshavin can keep up the form he had at the end of last season when more pressure will be put on him. Bendtner, van Persie and Vela should also be able to produce goals so my prediction is that Arsenal will not kick themselves for selling him when the season starts.

United on the other hand has had significant losses without really filling the needs so far. The sale of Ronaldo might come back and haunt us, but it was the right thing to do. He was not happy at the club and nobody wants players that want to leave (Beckham/van Nistelrooy). Just as significant is the loss of Tevez to City. It is typical for Ferguson though. No player is bigger than the team and we are not willing to pay players insane amounts in wages. I believe that if Tevez had really wanted to stay at United he could have. When the negotiations fell down earlier this year it was because Tevez wanted the same wage as Ronaldo....

To complete my analysis I do not think the other teams in the Premier League are stronger than they were a year ago, but United might be weaker. I do not believe the gap between number one and number four will be 18 points this season. I do not believe the gap between number one and number seven will be 37 points this season. But I do believe the top four will be United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.... in that order...

Sailing, eating and beer pong

Almost monday and I have had another interesting weekend in the Bay Area.

Friday was a totally relaxing evening. A little BBQ and a little poker. Fredrik lucked out and won, but it was great fun and we were to tired to go out.

On Saturday Innovation Norway hooked us up with sailing in the San Francisco Bay and it was a great day for it (besides the fact that it was too sunny and we all got sunburned - again). We sailed for three ours and got great views of both Golden Gate Bridge, Sausolito, Tiburon and San Francisco. I must admit that I am usually not that big of an boat person, but the whole sailing experience was totally relaxing and is highly recommended.

After the boat trip we had a few hours of relaxing before dinner at a small italian restaurant on Green Street, Vicoletto. The restaurant in itself didn't look that impressive from the outside, but the food was pretty decent. If anybody ever visit the place, however unlikely, I can recommend the Gorgonzola salad and the Veal Vicoletto.

As the truly model student that I am I had decided not to drink during our boat trip and the restaurant visit (I was driving), but somehow we ended up having a party at our apartment. It didn't start until close to 11 pm, but the party really rocked. A perfect college party with lots of music, people and beer pong.

The party ended, an hour after the old man (me) went to bed, when the cops came and threw the remaining partyers out of the jacuzzi. The total tally for the party was more than a 100 cans of beer, some Jägermeister (Go Daniel Go), some Baccardi, some Whiskey, two complaints by George the local security guard and one relocation (from our place to Fredrik, Andreas, Ole M and Kjetils place). Lots of fun, but must admit I was a little tired this morning.

Today I have pretty much been lying on the coach watching movies and sports on television and working on the marketing part of our business plan. A pretty ineffective day, but at least I got some work done.

and one more thing...
Go watch Brüno!
That man has no limits what so ever - Run to the movies...



Fredrik losing in beer pong...

San Francisco by the sea..

A bunch of Norwegians at Vicoletto

Vikings on a boat...

Pictures from the last weeks...

Our great office! I am in the cubicle back left....

Wine tasting in Sonoma County with our boss Maher and his family.. Chardonney grapes at one of the winerys.

Maher and his daughter. This is from the early stage of the wine tasting...got a little boring for the little girl after a while.

Me as a Berkeley tree hugger...

We are trying to teach our co-workers the basic Norwegian words....

Jazz hands..

The half-blood prince

Just came back from the movie theater and felt like giving a short review of Harry Potter and the Half-blood prince. It was a worthy intermediate film before the two last films - but the wait will be boring. The next movie isn't schedualed until next summer and there is bound to be some sort of a delay along the way...

I must say that it is impressive keeping up the good standard of the movies in the series so late in the series. The books are of course by far better, but I get kind of a Lord of the Rings feel to the franchise...

Wine-tasting in Sebastopol

And then is was Wednesday again....

Since last time I wrote there has been quite a lot going on and I have been keeping busy. I will try to summarize some of it...

The days leading up to last Saturday was filled with a lot of work in regards to the group project we are doing here at Berkeley. We had to present a preliminary business plan for our company on Saturday and we had to prepare (more or less) for that. It went OK, but we kind of realize that we will have to continue to work (more than we want to) on the plan in the weeks to come.

This last weekend (+ Monday) Anita (my co-worker) and I went with my boss Maher and his family up to their house in Sebastopol. It was a really nice, relaxing weekend with a little bit of wine and champagne tasting on Sunday. If anyone ever visits the Sonoma area I can recommend going tasting. First of all it is a really fun experience to check out some of the many hundred winerys in the area, and second of all many of them are free....

Yesterday and today has been all work so far, but at least I am going to check out the latest Harry Potter movie tonight...

Tomorrow is another day of school and I have way to much to read before then....

Another week of work

So it's Wednesday and half the week is gone... so fast...

Last weekend was a blast. When I wrote my last post I didn't really have that much planned for the weekend, but it was a certainly an eventful one...

Friday the few of us that were left in Mountain View spent the evening pretending to be Bruno in the jacuzzi and scaring of both Ukrainians and Hawaiians. The evening was rounded up with about an hour at tiny bar downtown Mountain View that us Norwegians have named "the hole in the wall" - I don't think anybody really knows what it is called... And Ole doesn't really remember much at all...

On the 4th of July we, Fredrik, Kim Aage, Ole and I went to this crazy houseboat party organized at some local Norwegian fireman's place. It was pretty sweet to be able to stand on the roof of the boat watching the fireworks go of while there where thousands of people cramming together on the pier.... Kind of a surrealistic experience... I'll try to steal some pictures from the others to post... We were all kind of tired from fridays Mountain View adventures so the night didn't last that long - Ole drove us home sometime between 1 and 2 am.

Sunday was pretty uneventful with tennis during the day and a trip to the movie theater during the afternoon. We saw Public Enemies which turned out to be a pretty crappy movie, but at least Fredrik got to eat a large popcorn with extra butter. Some consolation for the total trashing he got in tennis I guess...

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week has been going fast. Work is really good at the moment and I am given a lot of responsebility. Finally I some of the fruits of all my boring research is showing and I am starting to get some grasp on the partnership/affiliation program Faculte is going to run.

It is also great news that Notodden finally got three points in the Norwegian 1. division and that they are clear of relegation again.

Manchester United have also signed their third player (unless you count youngsters) this week. Bordaux's 20-year old striker Gabriel Obertan is ready for the reds and hopefully he will be a great addition to the squad. My expectations for him this first season are not that high, but he is a great prospect and could hopefully be developed by Fergie into a future star.

A weekend of relaxation

As most of the other norwegians travel south towards Los Angeles, Joshua Tree and St. Barbara I am finding my self in a total state of relaxation here in Mountain View. While the others probably are stuck in 10 hours of traffic I will bee playing tennis and lying poolside...

It is of course 4th of July weekend and I do not really know what I will be doing tomorrow, but I do not worry... I am pretty chill at the moment.

So what else is new? Yesterday was school and that was pretty ordinary... although I have found my favorite place in California. It is calles Yoghurtland and the sell yoghurt icecreams buffet style.

Last night I went to Blockbuster and rented five movies: Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, Gran Torino and Fired Up (I needed a light crappy high school movie as well). I have seen the two first so far and Slumdog is a really feel good kind of movie. It also contains one of my new favorite songs: M.I.A. - Paper Planes.

On another note I am a little stunned and a little excited of the signing of Michael Owen. Nothing would be more fun than him scoring the winner against the scousers on Anfield in October....

Word out

Antonio Valencia

Antonio Valencia signs for Manchester United

Very nice!

Week update

Wow!

It's been way to long since I last updated my blog. Sorry to all my faithful followers (all three of you). I promise to do better.

So what has happened since last update? A little bit of everything I guess. I'll do a short, or maybe long, chronological update.

So last update was exactly a week ago. Most of last week was pretty much the same every day. Work - Tennis - TV - Bed....

But work wise it is becoming more and more fun. Last week I worked on making recommendation towards what type of affiliates system Faculte should work on and what actors we should contact. And I have gotten myself a title: Business Development Manager - sure will look good on my resume...

On wednesday we went and saw Transformers 2 - Rise of the fallen, and it was a decent movie. Not as good as the Hangover or the first Transformers movie, but worth watching. (

My tooth was still hurting last week so on Thursday I got myself a root canal. Did not hurt at all and the dentist was really good, but expensive. Close to $1300 and then I'll need to get a crown after that...very najs

After my trip to the dentist we all went to Berkeley for school. I found (or was shown to) the best Yoghurt/Icecream place I have ever been to... sooooo goood. Lots of fresh fruits and stuff... (http://www.yogurt-land.com/) If you're ever close to one of these - buy one...

School was also pretty fun. I was knocked up on lots of vicodin so I found myself being pretty active in class. Do not remeber if I where saying anything productive, but at least I was there.

Friday was another workday and we went out in Mountain View afterwards. A pretty fun night out at a small bar. I will try to get hold of some pictures (my camera is still broken - I must consider buying a new cheap one) and show you all.

Saturday we (Paal, Peder, Brit, Haowen and I) went and saw Oakland A's lose to the Colorado Rockies, but for most of us going it was a new experience and pretty fun.

That was everything I guess - oh, wait - I got sunburned like a ... yesterday at the beach in Santa Cruz... For some reason I though sunscreen on the back of my legs where overrated... No pictures - and that might be a good thing..

So long and thanks for all the fish

The Hangover

Good morning America (and Good afternoon Norway)

Just wanted to you all a quick note this morning. Go and see a movie called The Hangover (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119646/). It is well worth the watch and an easy and entertaining movie.

A weekend of work

It hasn't really been a eventfull weekend, but I will try to update everyone on the few things I have been doing.

Yesterday started of pretty boring with school from 12-16. Had to drive from Mountain View at around 10 am and we weren't back until close to six. The afternoon was spent eating Taco Bell, which didn't suck as bad as my coworker Miki told me, and working on my Masters thesis. I know I can be a g33k sometime, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...

When I went to bed at around 11.30 pm I had planned to sleep until morning, but the guys I live with had other plans for me. At 1.30 am they woke me up and told me that my buddy Jack (Daniels) missed me. So instead of waking up early to continue my writing I didn't get to bed until 5.30 am.

I am a little tired today, but at least I got up and are sitting in the common rooms at the apartment complex working on my paper along with Jannicke. A pretty boring weekend, but at least Pål and I are going to see The Hangover at the movie theater later tonight...

For some reason I have really started to eat a lot of sushi. The local grocery store sells ready made california rol, salmon rolls and tuna rolls and they are pretty good... Just thought people would like to know that.

And we are planning a trip to Las Vegas towards the end of next month.... Awesome!

TGIF!

Almost done at work for the weekend at today has been a fun day at work. Writing a blog post for the companies site (if the boss approves it) and doing some research on possible speakers at an online conference we are hosting... Times flies fast when you are having fun.

So what else is new in Cali?

As I whined about earlier I had to go to the dentist yesterday. No clear conclusion, but he did at least give me a vicodin type of drug - so at least I can dope myself if it starts to hurt again. The dentist gave me a referral to a specialist, but I will have to wait and see what NAV says regarding coverage...

Yesterday was also the first day of classes at Berkeley and I thought it was fun. Everything was case based and we were all pretty much discussing what strategic decisions the entire class. Tomorrow is more classes - which sucks - because it would be nice to have the weekend of, but you can't always get want you want.

Another thing that sucks is that my camera broke yesterday. I kind of got broke at St. Cruz last weekend but started working again, but this time it seems more serious. A little worried that some sand got into the camera at the beach. A buddy here, David, is a engineer wannabe and is trying to fix it... let's hope he is better at that than playing tennis.

Tonight promises some tennis and BBQ - so hope to enjoy the evening without toothache or breaking anything...

Ansa Travel Insurance

Just a short comment after my talk with Gouda. They are generous enough to cover up to 1000 kr ($150) in dental costs... Wow! That really helps if I need a root canal.

So to all you Norwegians reading this and considering getting Ansa (Gouda) Travel Insurance when going abroad - don't.

One more day in the sun...

The clock is 11.30 pm in California and I am staying up just to call Gouda, my travel insurance company not the cheese, to check if dental care is a part of my insurance. Let's hope so, I am going to the dentist to check my tooth and get a quota tomorrow....

Other than toothache the day has been pretty boring. A long day at work followed by a little schoolwork and a couple of bbq'ed burgers. We have all been getting ready for our first day at Berkeley tomorrow )and some of us are worrying about pop quizzes and angry professors). Fortunately the guys at Faculte are letting us work from home tomorrow so I will try to do a little work before going to dentist - and hopefully a little after. Work is a little boring at the moment - I am pretty much just reading up on the competition and their partners and evaluating what type of partners and affiliates Faculte should contact. It involves a hell of a lot of googling and watcing online business presentations and demos. If anyone are interested in hearing about anything that relates to online presentations (content or production) just let me know...

Signing off from Mountain View, California...

Just another day at work

The clock strikes 7 pm and I am still at work.... and oh so tired.

On Thursday I have a class at Berkeley that starts at 5 pm and I would have to leave work at around 2 pm to be able to drive over there, eat and review the articles and case for class. And that is the reason why I am still at work - gotta make up those three hours somehow....

On top of that my tooth hurts. Some months ago I had a tooth fixed, but unfortunately not well enough. I gotta find an American dentist and get a root canal. Woho. Can't hardy wait.

That's enough whining for one day. There is less than one hour until I can go home, go to the gym, work out, and then jump in the jacuzzi afterward... Maybe even open a bottle of Dos Equis or Shiner and totally relax....

Santa Cruz

Welcome to Santa Cruz!

Santa Cruz is famous for skateboards, surfing and being one of the spots on the Californian coast with the most shark attacks. Fortunately we did not get attacked in our short five minute pacific ocean swim. Today Dan Robert, David and I decided to go for a short road trip to one of the most famous spots on the Californian coast. It was a short 40 minute drive in our little white Kia and we rocked our way over with Beastie Boys playing loudly on the radio.

It was a awesome beach with not to many people and more than enough space for us to throw our hackysack around. The water was really cold at first, but we couldn't let a chance to take a dip in the pacific pass us by. The wind was blowing, which resulted in me not feeling how well the sun overtanned by body and my arms are as red as boiled lobster. Right now I am sitting lying on the sofa chilling and being pretty determined to stay here for the rest of the evening.

Yesterday was another pretty chill day. I got in a little work-out with a little tennis and basketball, but mostly I was being a g33k and spent most of the day reading articles for class, working on a report for work on monday and doing a little work on my masters thesis.

Friday was my second day at work and it was pretty similar to thursday. Out boss, Maher, is pretty cool and did yet again by us lunch. This time at a great little french cafe that served awesome crepes. Other than that they told me to work on some suggestions for strategic partners and I did pretty much do that all day. If anybody want to know anything about stock photo sites be sure to let me know.

I hope everybody is updated and enjoying my typing frenzy.

David (on the left) and Dan Robert enjoying the beach at Santa Cruz.

A cool old Herbie at the pier. Look closely at the colored guitar in the back window.

I do not have a role in the remake of "honey, I shrunk the kids" the truck is just huge...

Apartment complex

A couple of quick pictures from the apartment complex. I know we are spoiled rotten. The pool just below is one big jacuuzi... Najs!

First day at work

Yesterday was my first day at work and it was pretty exciting. The company I work for only have four employees in the US (Some more in Romania and India) and yesterday I got to meet them all (Maher, Miki, Mark and Karim). I will mostly work on corporate development and creation of strategic partnerships. Pretty nifty :)

Under you can see the front of our building, but I will try to remember to take some more pictures at work today, and some more at my apartment complex during the weekend.

I work with Anita, but it doesn't look like we will work on the same things. She will mostly work on content on the website and the development of the interface of Faculte.

Where we would we be without GPS? Nobody really knows...

On wednesday we were up at Berkeley again and got some stuff sorted out in regards to school. It seems like it will be quite a bit of work, but fortunately Faculte seems to be really flexible in regards to working hours and so on - so I am sure that if school gets hectic they will let us take a day off or leave early..

Other than that the days so far has been pretty similar. Eating burgers/prawns from the BBQ and jumping into the jacuzi with a beer when it gets chilly in the evening.

I also sent a couple of messages with Leah (Matt's wife) and I will be flying out to Colorado sometime this summer. I just have to check with school and work what time will be most suitable. Really looking forward to seeing Matt, Leah and little Braedon...

That's all folks...

I've got a job!

Then the jobinterviews were over and I ended with a company called Faculte - http://www.faculte.com/ - and I am pretty excited. It is a small company (only four employees in the us - and now two interns) that works with a broadcast solution for online creation of video presentation... exciting!

Other than that we moved into our new apartment - and it looks insane. I took some pictures of the apartment I live in, but I will post some more from the area as soon as I get around to doing it. Tomorrow I have the day of and might go up to San Francisco to chill or I might stay at our apartment and work with my master - not decided yet....

What else is new? Not much, but it is sunny and warm and everyone is enjoying themselves at our new apartment. A bunch of us played a little tennis and basketball today - before we went out and celebrated our new jobs - although we got hustled at a thai restaurant..

Now I am a little tired and pretty much ready for bed...

Finally I promised Jannicke - a fellow student - to post a picture of her on my blog. I took the best one I could find....

San Francisco - Day 3

Good morning world. Today is a big day. We are all moving in at Mountain View and getting our nice apartments. http://www.oakwood.com/furnished-apartments/furnished/US/CA/Mountain-View/prop17.html#propDetail

Yesterday was pretty much all about sightseeing and a little shopping. Some more norwegians participating in the program arrived and we went all out to eat in the evening. A nice day on which I managed to get a little sunburned by the Californian sun...

The picture above is from when Pål and I did a little sightseeing in the morning. Visiting the San Francisco Bay Aquarium and the Norwegian Seaman's Church (Do not worry it was all for the waffles). I got to admit that San Francisco is a pretty cool town, especiall if you get away from the downtown area and all the touristy places - although you can get quite tired from walking up and down all the steep hills.

San Francisco - Day 2

Picture 1 - Alcatraz

Picture 2 - Golden Gate Bridge

Picture 3 - Very steep streets in SF

Picture 4 - Pål and I at the entrance to Chinatown

Picture 5 - Some collegy trail at Berkley

Well another early morning and another update from "the land of the free and home of the brave".


Yesterday was another touristy day were we pretty much just tried to get to know the city a little. It started of with a trip out to Berkelet to check the school out witch of course ended with all of us buying plenty of Berkeley clothes and other stuff... but it was all good... nice and old and big school...

Then we to the BART-train back into downtown and walked around for some hours.

I am still jetlagged and had to go to bed at nine - it might be that I am getting older - who knows.

Not much more exciting to tell you all about day two - but we got to see most of the main sights from afar and had fun at an ancient arcade with lots of old videogames and similar stuff..

That's all for now

Sverre

Jetlagged in San Francisco

Good morning - Good day - Good afternoon. It's not always easy to let the body know what time it really is. Right now the clock is 4.25 am in San Francisco and I am sitting at the charming Lori's Diner because there was no way in hell that my body wanted to sleep any longer....

But as you all understand I have gotten myself to San Francisco, I have checked in at the hotel and right now I am trying to get the time to pass...

It was a long and pretty boring flight - I did enjoy the great inflight entertainment though (Confession of a shopaholic, pink panther 2, and some other shitty flick about a mall cop (played by kevin james)... but hey - I made it - still more or less sane...

I am posting my first impressions of SF, I know I do not take enough pictures - and a lot of them are of poor quality - but I am doing as well as I can..

Oops

Let's hope this doesn't happen again :)

Out of Bergen

So my journey has begun. Left Bergen yesterday and have arrived at Notodden for a short first stop. It is of course a little sad to leave everybody in Bergen behind for the summer, but I am hoping that the experience from the states will be crucial getting the job I want...

The next days will consist of nothing pretty much just more packing and more goodbyes. And hopefully a little shopping with my mom on tuesday. Yes, I know I am spoiled...

When in Rome....

Lose is the first word that comes to my mind...As most enlightened people already know Manchester United lost yesterdays final in the Champions League to Barcelone. 0-2. And it is not like we can blame the referee - cry for ungiven penalties - be outraged of all the missed chances....no Barcelona won fair and square.

I guess you can learn a little about people while watching soccergames. Some people have compassion and some get nothing by joy out of other peoples misery. Simon for example is no big Barcelona fan - never has been or never will be - but since most of the people watching the game at his place were United-supporters he had to yell high and loud in joy as Bercelona crushed a weak United-team. Sometimes it should be allowed to hit people across the head with 2x4s..

Today is also the last full day in Bergen for a while. Tomorrow morning I am driving home to Notodden with Stian. A small Road Trip - perhaps a short preview of the road trip we might take this fall.

3rd of June suddenly doesn't seem so far away and I must admit I always get a little anctious of leaving. I am the kind of guy that packs his bags a week before leaving and double checks everything at least twice - I still usually forget something....

I just saw a movie that I didn't like

Stay away from the movie Angels & Demons... it is pretty much the worse movie I have payed to see in a long while...

I have no idea what Ron Howard was thinking while making this movie - but he must have been high on something. I might have had to high expectations from reading the book and actually enjoying the first movie (The Da Vinci Code), but this was not 100 kroner ($15) well spent...

I just saw a movie I liked

I have never really been a big fan of the whole Star Trek thing, but I might just become one. After watching the latest Star Trek movie last night I just got an urge to see the rest of them. I must admit that I haven't watched any of the old movies or any episodes of the TV-series -and I am starting to sense that I am missing out....

Oh well - back to the movie. Why not use my former journalist skills (if I ever had any) and give you all a short review (that is if anyone is still reading).

First of all the movie is directed by J.J. Abrams - the guy that created Lost and Cloverfield. That might not be a good thing some of you might say, well I beg to differ. Neither Lost nor Cloverfield may be sensational, but for me they are both great fun. And so is the latest Star Trek flick. A surprisingly well casted movie with the likes of Zachary Quinto (Sylar in Heroes), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings) and Eric Bana (Munich, Troy).

I will not bother you all with a lot of talk about the plot in the movie - I am sure there are lots of well articulated plot summaries out on the web - but I would like to say that the movie has managed to hit the spot right on in regards to making a movie with enough references to the old movies along with enough action, up to date special effects and one-liners to capture the interest of people like me.

Off I go - ordering Star Trek on play.com

Accepted!

Wow, amazingly enough the american embassy decided that I was qualified to enter their country once again. So now it's only a questions of time before I once again set my feet on american soil.

Things are pretty hectic in Bergen these days - and I had my worst migrene attack ever just the other days. Lost the ability to focus completely for a couple of hours - which of course was pretty scary. I ended up at the hospital, after my mom started talking about tumours and yelled me into going. The doctor just smiled, said it was nothing and billed me 300 kroner ($50). Money well spent!

Well that is it for now - not that much exciting going on. Well back to making lasagna.

Back in Bergen

After a short visit to Oslo to get my visa for the states and go to Pernilles bapthism I am back in Bergen...

I must admit that the idea of having to go to Oslo to say hi to a visaofficer and answer a couple of questions that they already have the answer to is a little bit of a waste. At least I had already planned to go east this weekend, but I feel sorry for all those that have to spend thousands of kroners just to show their face at the embassy...

Sunday I finally got to see my sisters little daughter Pernille Anne to which I am Godfather (For the third time - almost feel like Marlon Brando). Of course I gave the little child a Manchester United-body and song some great United-lullabyes. She fell right asleep dreaming of Ryan Giggs running down the wing....a future norwegian national team player for sure. It was a nice bapthism and great food afterwards - so all in all a pretty good day...

The weekend was not made worse by Uniteds 2-0 trashing of our rivals Manchester Shitty... Only two more wins needed.

Less than four weeks to liftoff... Ordered my travel insurance today - even more money flying out the window...

Ecstacy

There it is - 3-1 victory away at Arsenal and 4-1 on aggregate. Rome here we come.

A classic display of effeciency gave Manchester United a second consecutive berth to the final of the Champions League were we will meet the winner of todays game between Chelsea and Barcelona. Although Barcelona might be seen as the hardest team to play I would have to admit that I much rather meet them in the final than Chelsea.

Time passing by

So now it's only 4 weeks until departure. Starting to get a little travel itch, but it's all good. I am the kind of person that hos to have everything ready days in advance. So yesterday I checked if I knew where all the cords for my camera, viedocamera and everything were. Fortunately I found them all - at least the ones that came to mind.

While looking for the cords I came over some of the videos from when I spent some months in Egypt. Pretty fun watching a drunk Simon jumping around in his boxers hitting the angry german Anders with a pillow. Good times.

At the moment nobody knows that I am writing a blogg, so it's actually more of a diary for myself. Guess I gotta let people know sooner rather than later.

Today is going to be another exciting day. Just got up and I am meeting Simon, Jøran and Magnus at the gym to fit inn a little workout in an otherwise busy day. At least there will be some fun tonight with poker and the second semifinal in the Champions League. Hopefully United will follow up there 1-0 win at home with at least a draw at Emirates, but you never know. I'll be crossing my fingers.

Guess that's it for now

June 3. - Time of departure

Still under construction. I still don't know how good I will be at this blogging stuff, but I will try to keep everyone interested updates at least a couple of times a week. Just so you know what is going on and how I am doing.

Short synopsis:
June 3. I will be flying out of Oslo to yet again go to the land of the free and home of the brave... or so they say. San Francisco is the destination this time around and I will be spending a little under three months in the city by the bay. After that a roadtrip is in the planning phase, but we will se what comes of it.

In San Fran I will be doing a half&half intership and school. One afternoon per week I will be attending the Center of Entrepeneurship and Techonolgy at the University of California, Berkeley and the rest of the week I will be working full time for a newly established technology firm in the Silicon Valley area (the company is yet to be decided). Everything is put together by something called Gründerskolen here in Norway and is a cooperation between several norwegian universities and the norwegian government.

As for now I am going to Oslo next week to get my visa, but other than that I am looking forward to some hectic months in California.