We’ve almost reached the end of the year again, and I thought I’d just sum up what’s been going on in my life this past month. It has been an eventful month, and I wish I’d made one post per event as they happened, but that’s just how time flies, I suppose.

About two weeks ago, I took part in a final app launch (behind the scenes), where I had to join in and be on stand-by for updating a content management system for the apps (both iOS and Android) on the fly. This meant that I had to be available in a phone meeting that lasted about 6 hours during the night, another 6 hours the next night (these were starting/ending arund 2 am for me). It was a hellish weekend and start of a new week, but as I was told by my boss later on, it showed our value and trust as a service provider, and I also showed my own value with the company I work for. Luckily, such weekends are rather rare, but they do happen (and especially when I’m in Norway, and the client is in California).

Most of you know that I’m in the process of losing weight, and at the last weigh-in of the year, I managed to bring my total weight loss to an even 41 kg (or a little over 90 pounds and 6 ounces for those of you who still use those types of measurements). It’s a nice way to round off the year, and I’ll keep on going next year as well. I still have about 50 kg more to lose before I reach a comfortable weight (given my heavy bone structure – that bit is a genetic thing, though). The next weigh-in will be on January 7, and given the current weight loss rate, I’ve calculated that I’ll reach my final goal just before Christmas next year. But even if I don’t, I expect to keep doing these courses until I’ve actuall reached my goal.

On the 20th, my grandmother passed away at the age of 87 after a short time of illness. It hurts a little more when it happened this close to Christmas, but we knew that she was close to her final breath, so it was an odd sense of relief that it happened so swiftly and painlessly (for her). She was also my last biological grandparent I had left, and the “oldest generation” of our family now includes my own mother (those were actually my mother’s words, not mine). There is a tiny bit of comfort that my “reserve grandmother” (ie. my stepfather’s mother) is still alive, though, even though it’s not quite the same. In any case, since my sister and her family is visiting the “in-laws” in Sweden for the holidays, we decided to set the funeral date to the first week of January, so they’ll have time to return by that time.

As you noticed, the world didn’t end on the 21st, making the so-called “Mayan calendar profecy” a total miss, as most of us rational folks suspected. I mean, just because the Mayan calendar ended doesn’t mean the world would, too. It just means that nobody was around or able to update and extend the calendar beyond this day.

And yesterday was the 24th, which is the main day of Christmas for us in Norway (and Scandinavia in general, as far as I know). For most of us, it means family togetherness, lots of good food, and the unwrapping of gifts. As far as actual gifts go, I got a comic strip book (of my favorite cartoon, Pondus), two shawls, a winter hat, two soap+perfume kits, two boxes of candy (with a note attached, which said that even though I’m losing weight, I should just enjoy myself a bit at Christmas), a 64 GB USB thumb drive (from work), and a bunch of gift certificates and a little bit of cash as well. The gift certificates were expected, as I had wished for most of them (especially those for the sporting goods stores – I’ve come to a place in my weight loss process where I’ll start hitting the gym pretty soon, so I need at least some comfy shoes and a proper pair of excercise pants).

But my main gift, though, which I’m granted every year so far, is to celebrate Christmas with my family. Even if it’s only part of the family, it’s especially great to be with family on this particular day of the year. I’ve come to a point in my life where gifts are no longer that important, as long as I at least get a little something from those I care about (which show that they at least thought of me). It doesn’t have to be big, but it should at least show that they put a little thought into it. Then again, those soap+perfume kits are probably just a waste of money, though, since I never use them.

Sometimes, my thoughts also go out to those who suffer in one way or another during the Christmas season, and who don’t have anything to look forward to at Christmas (rather the other way around). I sincerely hope you’ll hang in there, and find some way to escape the pain sooner rather than later. Again, my thoughts go out to you.

But anyway, on a lighter note, merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone!

I had a crappy start this week. Early Monday morning, I woke up with the stomach flu. I had a bad feeling in my stomach, and after a lengthy trip to the bathroom around 5 AM, I went back to bed. Since I still had a bad feeling in my stomach and at the back of my throat, I brought along a bucket to put next to my bed, just in case. A couple of hours later, during another trip to the bathroom, the “bad feeling” had another trip to the back of my throat, and made it more “serious” (to spare you the graphic details). Luckily, I was already on the bowl, so it was only a matter of “trading places”. This was the defining moment when I concluded that I had caught the stomach flu after all. First order of business then became to let the office and my weightloss advisor know that I wouldn’t make it today (or the next day either, for that matter).

As some of you know, having the stomach flu, even a minor one, drains the energy from you, so I spent most of Monday just zoned out on the living room couch (sitting on a big bathroom towel, to spare the furniture), half-way sleeping and spending my awake time for either more trips to the bathroom (thankfully missing out on another “upwards expulsion”, to put it bluntly), or trying to re-hydrate (drinking lots of water), or catching re-runs of Frasier and M*A*S*H.

Time off work can be nice, but not like this. It’s far from an enjoyable time off from work, as I don’t feel up for anything at all (not even enjoying myself anywhere). Thankfully, it was only one bad day, and the entirety of yesterday (Tuesday) was spent just plain recovering from the day before. I’m still not 100%, but I’m at least much better than the day before.

So… How has your week been so far?

Now this is a new way of doing things….

One, I realized I had been silent on my blog for over a month, so I thought I’d catch up a little. Two, I’m typing the entirety of this blog entry on my iPad at a local diner, and using a Logitech keyboard specifically designed for use with the iPad. I’ve been using my ‘pad quite often recently, as I also mentioned here earlier this year, and I have to admit, a tablet PC was definitely something I needed. It’s just perfect for those tasks that a regular smartphone can do in a pinch, but is not powerful enough to do that task very efficiently while I’m on the move, and where booting up my regular Windows laptop just takes too long. With the tablet, I just pull it out of the bag, unlock the screen, and it’s ready to do what I want.

Granted, the iPad wasn’t my first choice, but since I got one as a thank-you gift from work, I felt I might as well go for it. If I hadn’t gotten it at work, and had to use my own money to buy one, I would’ve most likely gone for an Android tablet. Not because Android is so much better (quality-wise, both Android-powered and iOS-powered devices measure up quite equally), but because Apple’s usage policies and tight lock-down of their devices and software are so rigid and twisted, Apple products in general are never part of my first choice for anything. Sure, Apple stuff have their strengths when it comes to graphics design and video editing, but aside from that, the price for what you get is simply too much to rank higher on my list of product choices.

Anyway, I’ll repeat what I said back in February: Next vacation, I’m leaving my laptop at home, and will be using my iPad paired with the external keyboard instead.

To change the subject, we have recently crossed the line into the month of May, and with that, summer is leaping closer. Even so, I woke up today to see that it was snowing outside, despite having warmer weather for the last month or so. I was not happy, to say the least. My optimism hasn’t been shattered, though, since the temperature is also at around 3-4 degrees Celsius (about 38 Fahrenheit, for you slackers who still use that 😉 ), so the snow had a chance to melt again the moment it hit the ground. With the temperature this “high” above the freezing point, it simply won’t last long. I just hope there won’t be any snow or rain on Constitution Day, which is May 17 (for you Americans, this is our July 4 – imagine this day raining away, and you get my slight pessimism).

Of course, there are also more important things in life. Back in late March, I became an uncle for the second time. My nephew Oliver is now a little over 1 month old, and my niece Ebba celebrates her second birthday this Sunday (her actual birthday is this coming Tuesday, but the we usually move the celebration party to the closest weekend). It’s amazing how productive my sister can be once she puts her mind to it! 🙂

Sure, the fact that my three years younger sister has gotten this far ahead in her life (boyfriend, children and a home for themselves, of course), keeps reminding my that I still haven’t gotten my own life properly started the way I want it to be. I’m annoyed that at the age of 32, I haven’t gotten my ass in gear to get things going (if “get (your) ass in gear” seems like an odd expression to you, I assure you it translates to an actual saying in Norway – “få ræva i gir”, or more delicately put, “get a move on!”).

I do have things moving properly in my life, though. The more perceptive of you might’ve realized I’m quite the heavy guy. Several hundred pounds worth, and I’m not talking about British money here. I said earlier that I had lost 8.5 kg in the first 8 weeks, and I just started a third course at Grete Roede earlier this week. At this point, I’ve lost a total of 17.1 kg (about 37.7 lbs) since I started my first course back in January. My first milestone of losing 25 kg (55 lbs) before the summer properly starts is well within reach, and based on my calculations (ie. worst-case scenario of losing “only” an average of 1 kg per week), I’ll reach a satisfying weight around September next year. It’s going to be a long and tough road ahead, but I’m confident I can make it, no matter how long it takes. It’s going to be expensive to reach that goal (using the Grete Roede method as a guide and motivator), but it’s well worth it in the long run.

On a more depressing note, some of you might’ve caught the news of the trial of the Norwegian terrorist started this past month. This was the asshole (to use a mild word for him) who performed the acts of terrorism back in July last year, and we’re now about to find out what his penalty will be. Thankfully, we don’t have a death sentence here in Norway, since that would be taking the easy way out. Besides, killing him off would only make him a martyr for those who strangely enough agree with him, and we just don’t need that. Also, the Norwegian maximum sentence of 21 years in jail is too mild on a crime such as this. To be honest, the proper sentence for this guy is an isolation cell for the rest of his life, and be forced to watch the Norwegian community’s solidarity towards eachother (as most of us have responded to these acts of terrorism and extremist views) and the way we continue to include people regardless of ethnic origin or religious background. This is something that this guy wanted to remove from our society, and we need to show him that we will not give in to his “demands” of adjusting our society to his views. I genuinely believe that our compassion towards our fellow human beings, including Muslims and those who follow other religions, is something that pains him, and this is the type of torture I feel I can condone with a good conscience.

I’m usually very accepting and patient with people who don’t share my opinions, even those who have the exact opposite opinion as myself, as it gives me more of a challenge to try to discuss my way into making them change their opinion. What I don’t accept, however, is when someone expresses their opinion by way of murder, violence, or severe damage of property, either by performing these types of acts themselves, or by condoning or suggesting such acts. I also have no respect for opinions that express hatred or discrimination towards fellow human beings purely based on ethnicity (“race”), gender, religion, disabilities (mental or physical) and/or sexual preference. Sure, people of today can attempt to avoid such hatred by converting to another religion, have gender reassignment treatment (I’m not talking about those who choose this path because they feel they are of a different gender in their hearts), or pretend to be someone they’re not (usually gay and bisexual people who try to act exclusively heterosexual and “normal”), but that does nothing change society around you to accept you as you are. People who express such hateful or discriminating opinions (even expressing them at a more unconscious level) are the ones who need to change, not the ones who are experiencing the hateful end of such opinions. There are an alarming increase of people in small groups who speak out about the so-called “Islamification” of our society, where even more Muslims are being accepted into our communities. Such people believe that Islam will “take over” society, and that we’ll lose our Christianity, and in all of these cases, I believe these opinions are both misguided and factually wrong. Look, if you consider yourself to be Christian, no level of presence from the Islamic community can convince you to convert to Islam, can it?

On a happier note, I plan to attend the Blue Man Group fan meet in Berlin this coming October. Sure, it will delay my summer vacation until after the summer has officially ended, but it is something to look forward to nonetheless. I haven’t made any specific plans yet, such as booking flights and hotel, but I plan to do so once my paycheck arrives in a little more than a week (the 15th). So far, I’ve only decided to actually attend, so once again, this year’s vacation will be centered around attending Blue Man Group shows. I never thought I’d be this much of a fan of, well, anything at all, but such is life. And what a great life it is.

Sitting here at the Egon diner, I just realized that I’ve spent way more than an hour writing this blog post. It’s amazing how time flies when you’re on a roll.

Anyway, until next time, this is NeonNero, signing off. I’m going for a walk.