Tales of a Texpatriate

Today is Mother's Day in the US. I won't go into my feelings on why or why not one day a year is even enough to tell someone like a mother thank you, or why in general days like this drive me nuts because it's so manufactured and false, and that I think if you love someone you should show them that love EVERYDAY, and if you want to send them a gift just SEND IT and don't wait for a retail-sanctioned holiday. Ok, well I kind of did go into my feelings on that, whatever, I'll stop. (gets off...

Going to the gym or out for a workout in Austin meant the following:Find t shirt.Find shortsSunscreen your faceThrow on sneakersGo (you're just going to sweat, so why bother dressing up')Going to the gym in Oslo is substantially more fraught with etiquette, dress codes and pain in the assness: Observe weather.If wet, carry sneakers and wear rain/snow boots, as the gym has a 'no outdoor shoes' policy so you have to make sure not to track in any wet on the gym floor.If not wet, can dispense...

                                                Getting instructions before the...

Well today was an interesting day.I need to preface this by saying that this week is a hard week workwise for me, I'm deeply enmeshed in these semi-annual week-long meetings that not only do I have to plan, organize and manage but that I then must attend. I also plan and attend all pre-and post meeting activities, such as dinners, team builds, etc. It makes for very long days, lots of hard work and a really exhausting schedule.This isn't made easier by the fact that when we have the...

IMG-20120422-01275.jpg, a photo by karlakp on Flickr. Wardrobe switchout, winter to summer. This is part one, dresses and skirts. More pants and tops to come later. Argh. My summer wardrobe is substantially larger than my winter one, as I am a creature of warmth.Edit: Well, I found some of my pants but none, and I mean NONE of them fit anymore. It's rather comical how large they all are. I am going to have to find a seamstress to take them in, and that is going to be an expensive...

Balls is my new favorite curse word. It's in regular rotation in my vocabulary now. It's just so...round. And satisfying. BALLS. Since I work with men, it's especially satisfying, as I'm surrounded by the damned owners of the things all the time.Anyhow, balls. Blogger changed their, well, everything. I am writing a post just so I can figure out how the hell to make a post. Isn't it bad enough that Facebook keeps going and changing stuff on me, now Blogger has to go and do it too' Dang...

It seems that everywhere we live in Norway is somehow doomed to be worked on, remodeled, reconstructed, or be in a construction zone.Our first place, where we lived for three years, overlooked a giant construction site where they basically took out half a mountain to build a big shopping complex. There were huge klieg lights on at all hours, so in winter at night we had orange artifical light streaming in the windows constantly (never remember seeing the moon) and the dynamiting of the rock...

IMG-20120417-01267.jpg, a photo by karlakp on Flickr.Midnight. Oslo tube station

Worst day ever today. No details, but culminated in my getting on a tram that then ended up running into a pizza delivery van. I actually started laughing as the idea of the tram hitting a pizza delivery van on this particular day at this particular time was so cliche, it tickled my funny bone something fierce. Even when I am REALLY pissed off, I still see the funny side. I mean, REALLY' A fucking pizza van' What, was it driven by an old lady with a zimmer frame and a baby carriage'I then...