From the inside...

Wow, I'm really bad at blogging! It's been over two months... I'll try a quick recap:

I had four weeks of vacation this summer, and went back to my hometown, Mandal (as far south as you can come in Norway). It was great, but the weather was horrible! Rain almost every day. Either way, it was great spending time with friends and family. I had plans for intense snorkeling, as I had signed up for a diving course after my vacation. The only time I wore a mask and snorkel, was in my cousin's swimming pool (just to practice some stuff). This didn't look good!

I came back to Oslo, started working on Opera Mini 4 beta 2. I then started my PADI Open Water Diver course. I soon found out that diving really requires the right equipment, and I had some problems at the beginning. After a while I found the right suit, and things went better. I took the course with Eva, a good friend of mine. We managed to get the licence, and felt pretty good about ourselves! In Norway, the rules are a bit different than in the rest of the world. We have 4 dives in a swimming pool, and then 6 dives in the sea. The last two, Eva and I did alone. The visibility really sucked some places, but we managed, somehow. We took the course in a town outside of Oslo called Drøbak, and where we dived, there's actually a wreck lying at about 12-14 meters.

A few days after we finished the course, my dear brother got married. It was a really happy day for everyone. A while back he called me, and asked me to sing in the church. His wife to be had written her own Norwegian version of "You raise me up", dedicated to my brother. I was nervous about this, as singing when your emotional can end terribly. Luckily it went pretty well, but I'm far from Josh Groban!

The day after my brother's wedding, I left for a new week of vacation. This time to Egypt. I've always wanted to see the pyramids, and snorkel in the Red Sea. I got to do both, but it was extremely hot at this time of year. It would be as hot as 36 celsius late at night... I have no idea how hot it was in the daytime, but whenever I got out of the water, I laid down in the shade. Of course, I didn't get tanned, but my back got pretty red for a while! I also got to do a dive there. It was really beautiful! The visibility was great! We even saw a stonefish. I couldn't see it until it opened it's gigantic mouth. When I was diving, the water held 29 degrees (C). I was diving in my bikini!

So, what's next? In a week, I'll be in our Linköping office, catching up with my colleagues there, and meeting those I still haven't met. I haven't been in Linköping since December (I think) last year, so it's about time. There are three new QA people working with Opera Mini I've only talked to over the phone, so I'm looking forward to it.