Writing does not come easily to me…

Concepts, pictures, visuals, narratives and ideas flow through my mind at a pretty consistent pace, but transferring that flow into a river of sentences, paragraphs and pages is a struggle. Yet, I keep trying.

I have sent off a draft of an article that I have been working on. I feel a bit of relief, a bit of weight lifted off my shoulders and now I can turn my attention back to “all things mobile.”

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary celebration of InterMedia at the University of Oslo, which included a series of lectures, a poster session and a reception with speeches. It was a good introduction to the history and politics of the organization. It was a very long day and I met so many people – I hope I remember some of the names. I also got to spend some time with Rolf Steier, the other Fulbrighter studying mobile devices. It was very good to compare notes and share common and uncommon experiences.

After I pick up A from school today, we will take the ferry to Oslo to play with some other Fulbright kids. She’s been having a bit too much of the new girl experience – not getting picked as a partner for sports and games, being left out at recess, and everyone else already has plans after school. The teacher even intervened yesterday – I guess he saw A sitting on her rock at recess a few too many times. He spoke to the class in general terms about being the new person and what that might feel like… not mentioning names directly, but there is only one new kid in the class. She is actually handling it quite well.

We are off to Florence, Italy next week for the autumn school holiday. A and I have never been to Italy and we are thrilled. It will be nice to get away for a little bit and reflect on the reflection. Of course I’ll be observing Italian mobile usage while we’re there… in between the art, pasta, gelato and art. Oh, I already said “art,” didn’t I. ;)

Art, art, art, art, art...

Bizzee

Watch out! There’s a documentary filmmaker in the house... Nick (aka Captain Planet) is here to visit for a few days and he seems to think that this is some disturbing reality television show...

This is going to be short because I have an article due by the end of next week, company (yay!), the usual complexities of life in another country & my work/research... More on all of that later - after the article is finished.

I have been posting more pictures to Flickr:

The Fulbright Rooftop Potluck
More pics of life at AHO
And the Changing of the Guard

Sunday Hikes

The weather is cool and the Birch tree leaves are just beginning to turn yellow. Research, writing, designing, school, and soccer are the skeleton on which we build the flesh of our life. We have started a new family tradition of hiking on Sundays. This past Sunday we went on a hike that lead to an old farm owned and run by the community. It has trails, pastures, sheep, and horses. The buildings have been renovated and are used for school trips and events. A’s class had hiked there a couple of weeks ago.

Inside the farmhouse they were selling Norwegian style pancakes that are served with jam and coffee or juice. Outside the farmhouse they two had crafts for kids/grown ups. Kids could makes their own jump ropes by twisting colorful fabrics together. A. made one and then we both made felted wool hearts with colorful loose wools - I have to remember this felting technique for the Westville ArtWalk - it would be perfect.

I’ve posted pictures. My camera batteries died during jump rope making, so I didn’t get pictures of the lovely felted hearts and the people carrying baskets of edible wild mushrooms they had found in the forest.

Technical Difficulties...

When I canceled the AT&T/Yahoo DSL at the New Haven house for the year, I didn’t realize that there would be online account repercussions that would come back to haunt me. I have been slowly moving everything over to my Gmail account for a few years now, but left out 2 very important address changes - my Amazon account and my Yahoo login. When my old email address disappeared from existence about 24 hours ago, Amazon simply required a completely new account - no options. Now I am Tabula Rasa to Amazon - no book recommendations, no account history, no wish list. The bigger problem is my Yahoo ID. I hadn’t really put it together in my head that this was attached to my Flickr account. When I went to upload new pictures yesterday I was locked out. I was sent over and over to the Yahoo login page. I have sent a request to Flickr customer support, but it is unclear how long it may take to resolve this... So it may be a while before I can show you some new pictures from our expat life... bummer. I just hope there isn’t anything else I have forgotten with that address... hhmmmm...

Commuter Visions

Just uploaded more pictures of my commute in and around Oslo.

Genius Loci*

Yesterday I met with Andrew and other interesting scholars/professors at The Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO). The building evokes creative experimentation, reuse, recycling, growth... The spaces inside feel and smell and look like an architecture & design school - reminds me very much of the art schools I have attended and taught at - makes me feel at home. This place has lots of interesting minds to bounce ideas off of, collaborate with and get to know.

*Genius Loci