On the Road Again

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
...
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again,
And I can't wait to get on the road again.

Willie Nelson - On the Road Again

Out travelling again, this time a full week in Växjö working, stopping by in Gothenburg for the weekend on the way back to Oslo. Just to refuel long enough before getting on the plane on Valentine's Day to see Chicago for a good full five days!

Växjö by Night - The old Pentax S4i doing a decent job

But what's the fun in it, what's the downsides, what's worth it, what's hell

+
Hotel lifestyle isn't something I take very much harm in living, I try to spend max a waken hour or two in my room. Växjö offered the possibility to keep me fit and keep training Muay Thai and also have a brief contact with a new, for me, martial art - Savate or French Boxing.
Hotel breakfast is a theme of it's own, but well - I love it :)
A typical one would be:

a bowl of ceraels with yoghurt, dried fruit, flax seeds
a cup of tea and a glass of juice
a couple of loaves of bread with ham / cheese / Brie
two boiled eggs and caviar

A breakfast for champions ;)

-
The downside would be to eat alone. But that's not very much different from my solo lifestyle in Oslo, though it is a lot more obvious when doing it in a restaurant. Doesn't trouble me awfully much but would hate if it occurred all too often.


This plus and minusing will lead to a small comparison between our two offices as well - and it is inevetable that it turns in to a Sweden Vs. Norway battle in a way as well.

Sweden - Norway
Fruit basket every day - Fruit basket twice a week

Needless to comment, fruit five times a week is better than two.

The Swedish fika - No fika

Being almost carried away to the regular 9'o'clock'coffee and the 14.30 one is a rare sight in Oslo. The love for fikabröd is also quite swedish. I managed to time two birthdays and the fettisdag so that might have something to do with the high frequence of fikas here.

Industry - Office

Not many blue-collar workers seen in Oslo, and the scent of welded steel and the greenpainted corridoors doesn't loom over us there.

Lunch - Nistepakke

Not sure whether the Swedes win this one, getting a serving of classic swedish cooking @ 68 SEK or having the sallad buffet and a loaf of bread @ 25 NOK. I'd say Norway is on the winning side there. The swedes also have this love for eating quite heavy, proved today by ordering pizza/kebab for lunch. I am quite sure this will affect my afternoon's work.

Swedes - Norwegians

With risk of losing my readers from one nationality or the other I won't make a stand. It is a difference surely but not sure whether the Swedishness or the Norwegianhood wins in the end.

To sum it up - the offices are quite different and I am happy I work at the one I do, but I surely don't mind getting away on a trip or ten to the Swedish office as well. But I fear all the eating would damage my Beach08-plans if I stay too long.
I am not even sure that the short distance (~200 m) from the Muay Thai-club would help.

Single Player

After fighting my way through five-mans in countless PUG's with random kids, waited for 25-40 man raids to start because of slackers needing to do this-and-that, I am finally alone!. Just me and the monsters.
This time the choice fell to indulge in a single player RPG-action game known as the Witcher, a title that has gone me by completely but was awarded best RPG of the year by several sources.
The story is quite a lot more "mature" than what I am used to, dealing with issues as racism and containing some "adult" content.
(You will for instance receive a card for each woman you "seduce")

In-game photage / cut-scene from the Witcher

Since I haven't really been playing any single player games since WoW, at least not any RPG's, the graphics have evolved quite a lot compared to my latest 1p-experience in games like Neverwinter Nights and such ... and it doesn't feel long ago since they were "fake 3d" in games like Baldur's Gate and those good ol' friends.

Well the story here in short is that I am taking the role of Geralt - a Witcher returning home after a battle with amnesia only to find my base being attacked by an evil mage and the hunt is up. Character generation = 0, and fine by me. There is of course a levelling system that will allow quite a lot of customization. Chosing whether to improve in swords or herbalism can be quite an important decision. And lots of the story is driven forward by your character having to learn things in books - he isn't all knowing and will have to read up on wolfes in order to skin them and be able to use reagents from them in the important alchemy-part of the game.

All in all - a great story driven forward by the classic grinding and slashing you'd expect. It is at times a bit too linear despite promises of the opposite. I guess I am a bit spoiled by the freedom of WoW were you are able to practically go everywhere and do anything.
I have just gotten in to chapter two out of five/six and events and actions in the early chapters will have consequences later on in the game so I guess and hope that there is some re-playability as well.

What I appreciate is the choice I have - sure I can go ahead and play it for some three-four hours straight but I can stop/pause whenever I want. Both because it is a single-player and because it isn't t h a t good ;)

And if all else fails, there is still NWN2 to get in to and the recently released addon Mask of the Betrayer.

It Is!

The results of the little project was as follows:

Tuesday, January 29th 21:45

First coin has disappeared, that particular one was nailed to the board with a headless pin and took less effort to grab.

Friday, February 1st 15:45

The whole board was cleared - if it was done by our janitor when cleaning up or if it was done as a cover-up from a great minded thief we will never know.