A Medium Geek... No More, No Less

I am normally not a big fan of Berlusconi but this one time I think he might be onto something :D

Ronald comes running into the living room and shouts:

- Mommy, mommy grandma gave Harold a new baseball bat and I didn't get one.
* But Ronald, Harald got it for spending all weekend helping her clean out her basement. You didn't want to help.
- It is boring! I wanted to play the Wii and not drag dirty, ugly stuff around.
* Well grandma gave Harld the baseball bat because he worked hard all weekend. You can't expect to get one too when you don't help. I am
sure though that Ronald will let you play with it too.
- That is unfair! I want one too. If I don't get one, he shouldn't have one either! Take it away from him, take it away from him!!

Childish huh? Or is it unfair that Ronald didn't get one?

Yesterday I read the following in a book:

"The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read" Margaret Atwood (The Blind Assassin)

It summed up everything I have been feeling towards my blog since I started writing again. I must have either grown up or become a coward but in any case I no longer have the guts to write the things on my mind. I am not exactly sure what it is that is stopping me but I think it is a mixture of political correctness, people around me that disagree with my views or possess the flaws that I want to critizise, and/or that I find the entries I have started make me sound like an arrogant person that thinks to highly of herself. So maybe I am all that but I would hate to make it too obvious by putting it into writing :) .

So instead of blogging I upgraded my drupal installation. Hmrfm I am really becoming a boring mediumgeek.

I had written a long entry about how left winged American polititcs are actually to the right of Norwegian right winged politics when looking at the political landscape as a whole. I had added in some harsh words and judgements about certain parties but I have become so horribly politically polite that I don't feel like posting it.

I need to go and work on my political impoliteness but until then I just want to say one thing as tonight's Democratic election could decide who will be their candidate.

"Go Hillary"!

Working with usability is just like being in politics. If you try to make everyone happy you end up with something that nobody likes. If you try to work towards the greater good there will always be a group of people that would vote for someone else :) .

From What Europeans think of each other

In Heaven…
the mechanics are German
the chefs are French
the police are British
the lovers are Italian
and everything is organized by the Swiss.

In Hell…
the mechanics are French
the police are German
the chefs are British
the lovers are Swiss
and everything is organized by the Italians.

It is an interesting read about what different European nationalities think about each other :) .

Ever since I spent some hours at the Paris airports I haven't been able to forget about lines and how rude the French were sneaking in line. It wasn't really the first time this happens either. The same thing happened while waiting at the airport in Iceland few years ago. A bus full of French people barged ahead of us and conveniently didn't understand a word of English (or sign/pointing language) when you tried to point out to them that there was a line. I remember being furious and daydreaming about kicking one of the lady long time afterward, but that is another story :) .

I have been wondering how someone can actually be so horribly self-centered to think they have the right to getting ahead of people that were there before them? During lunch we discussed this a bit but there were no conclusions. Up until now I simply thought people that snug in lines were rare, rude, ignorant, self-absorbed bastards but now I have started doubting my belief. I cannot remember when I learned to stand in line but I can remember it as far back as I can remember. There was never any question, you either get there early or waited your turn. I would feel horrible pangs of guilt if I tried to sneak in line. I don't understand how anyone can do it on purpose...

That lead me to explore the option whether these people were simply so absent minded that they sneak in line unintentionally? I have seen that happen at the canteen when people are busy talking they sometimes accidentally skip a spot or two. I might have done this myself at some point. But the airport cases can't have been accidental. There was pushing and obvious sneaking. Do those people feel it is their right, that they are more important than the people in front of them? Or does the concept of lines not exist in some countries? I have heard rumors of such things, but I cannot for the life of me imagine how things can function there. It must be a major disadvantage to be polite and proper there.

Does anyone reading this come from a non-line culture society that can shed some light on this before I either got nuts, or back to thinking the French are the rudest people on Earth? :)

While I am at it, can anyone teach me how to say, "I was here first, please get to the back of the line" in French? Oh, and maybe to add "you asshole" in case the first one doesn't work well enough?

This blogging thing isn't coming back to me as naturally as I had hoped. I have started some entries but find it difficult to sit down to finish them.

Until I get off my ass... or actually until I get onto my ass, here is the funniest English translation we saw in Guadeloupe at the Fort Fleur d'Epee.

My vacation, which I spent half of last year looking forward to, is over. I am home now and while it is good to be home it is very sad that there is no more vacation. I will really miss beaches and swimming!

I wont miss the French as much but that is another story. Why don't the French know how to stand in line? They will ask you if you are standing in line to wait for some particular thing and when you respond "yes" they will either barge ahead of your or quietly walk to the beginning of the line and sneak into the line there.

Cultural differences are quite fascinating even though they are extremely frustrating at other times. The people on both Antigua and Guadeloupe were very polite and said hello to you in the streets. It made you feel welcome. They were however very relaxed, which could mean that you had to wait for a long time until they would serve you in restaurants.

Anyways, I am just rambling a little so that I could squeeze in that complaint about the French, trying to disguise it as a cultural observation...

No again, the vacation is over. So what to look forward to next, now that I no longer have my Caribbean vacation? I really need to find something or otherwise I will feel lost. That will have to wait for tomorrow though, as I have a mountain of clothes to wash and hundreds of photos to go through!

Being on vacation is a certain process. You spend the first days being excited about everything and nothing. Your mind is churning and you are simply what could be termed as “high on vacation”. Then you hit the part of the vacation when you start relaxing, all the old built up work exhaustion gets to you and you go into a vegetative state unable to think and you just pass through the days without really being able to process what is going on around you.

Honestly, there really isn't much difference between you and the coconut in the tree hanging above you! I have been in this state for few days now. Sleep, relaxing, and not thinking were my highest priority. Thankfully, my mind seems to be back! I was getting worried that I had turned into some kind of “vacation vegetable”.

Talking about vegetables. This is really an island with lots of exotic vegetables and fruits. Couple days ago we rented a car and drove around the northern part of one of Guadeloupe's butterfly wings. We visited among other things a rum factory, “Domaine de Séverin” which makes rum from sugar canes. We also visited “La Maison du Caccao” (The House of Cacao) where we got to see the cacao fruit grown, dried, and even to taste it at various stages. Ok, I must admit that tthe last state was the best (when it had become a nice delicious chocolate cake), but this was very interesting.

Today André decided he had to buy a coconut at the beach. I got kind of worried when the guy selling it took out a big, black machete and starting hacking at the coconut. I probably didn't need to be worried, everyone here seems to be very nice. With the exception of the old ladies at the market and in small vegetable stores. I decided to take a photo of one of those stores and had a old lady come running out and shouting something at me. I didn't really understand anything but it didn't sound to nice. Since when is it not allowed to take photos of houses? The old ladies at the outdoor markets seem to get very angry if you happen to pass by their stalls and not buy anything. I am staying away from the outdoor markets hereafter.

Back to the coconut at the beach. It was cool to sit with a coconut and drinking from it with a straw but the taste was a bit boring. Lets put it this way. We didn't manage to finish the whole coconut.

Over to today's highlight! So here we have been in Guadeloupe for more than a week being dumber than a coconut. We have been under the impression that we needed to take some long exotic trip (involving potential encounters with snakes) to see one of those iguanas which we think are very cool. What do you know, they are just few hundred meters from here in the park at our hotel hiding in the cliffs. I think we will be regulars at that park until we leave.

Right as I speak, we are watching a Mardi Gras Carnival celebration at our hotel. Obviously they have hired in bunch of people to do a simple parade, dancing in white with hats formed in the shape of houses on their heads. The grown-ups seemed to be having fun but it was quite cute watching the kids who just seemed to be a bit tired and bored. Sneaking off to sit down and probably swearing at those boring foreigners around them, just sitting still and watching them. Hmmm... maybe time to stop blogging, stand up and dance when the get back from their latest parade around the beach...