A thriller in New York.

What an exciting night watching Carlsen versus Karjakin in the FIDE World Chess Championship. Even the fourth game during the night became a drama. There was no easy match during the Championship. But at his 26'th birthday Carlsen managed to defend his title.
 
Karjakin has made himself a great reputation in Norway as a gentleman of chess. It also seems like Karjakin and Carlsen respect one another.

I also have to mention Sergej Karjakins manager Kyrillos, a man who has become very popular in Norway. He has even promised he will spend his summer vacation in Norway.

Russia can be proud of Karjakin and Kyrillos.

Due to the time difference Norwegians has spent a great deal of the night watching chess. It's safe to say that Norwegian productivity will be lower than usual tomorrow. Partly due to tired workforce, but I also predict that there will be lots of chess discussions next to the coffee machines.

Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen, a great ambassador of chess.

FIDE World Chess Championship

As I have been talking about before, chess is a fantastic TV sport. I can't wait for the games starting tonight. I've got everything lined up so I can spend most of the evening, and a great deal of the night in front of the TV watching Carlsen and Karjakin playing.
May the best (Norwegian) win.

Me time.

I'm a social guy who likes to be with and around people, but still I have a need for "me time." A part of a day, a whole day, even a week end where it's just me, a book and hiking, diving, fishing and stuff like that.
It's probably been years since I had a whole day or more, it has mostly been an hour or two. Today I've made some priorities that give med almost five hours or "me time." I've been off line for two and a half hours, no phone, no iPad and no computer. And I'll be offline for the next two and a half hours after I've posted this on my blog.
The house is empty and quiet, and I'm sitting by the window reading and every once in a while I pause and look at the life outside. It's raining but it's not windy and the ducks at the small lake close to our house are swimming quietly back and forth looking for food.
This day will bring me new energy for the days to come. Starting with a day with more people and plans tomorrow. A highlight will be a cup of coffee and a chat with my wonderful friend Roger at lunchtime tomorrow.

A happy moment.

As I was walking from the bus a few hundred meters to my house I suddenly saw a small guy sitting next to the road in the frozen grass.

I imagine someone was out late last night or maybe early this morning putting him there in an attempt to put a smile on somebody's face.  And they succeeded.

I had to stop, look at this guy and take a picture. As I was walking home I realized I was smiling to myself, dreaming about the Christmas season and thinking to myself:

"This is a Wonderful World and I am happy to have fantastic people around me. Some of them unknown to me but still they provide me small surprises that put a smile on my face and makes this a wonderful day."

I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling like this after seeing that guy in the grass.

Back at work.

After spending almost 36 hours with my family I'm back at work realizing that I have to go through with the changes in my (professional) life.

There are still people (and situations) that bring out the worst in me and steal energy from me. It's even clearer for me now when I have been working a bit at one of the places I hope will be a part of my new life. A place where I can feel safe and my colleagues are people who bring out the best in me.

I do, still, believe in this Wonderful World, but I have to concentrate on making the changes I've already planned.
2017 will be a Wonderful Year in this Wonderful World.

Weekend

This morning I was home at 10 o'clock, ending a busy week at work. Now I'm staying home until around 6 o'clock tomorrow afternoon. I am planning a relaxing time with my family.
In a few hours I'll be ready for a new game of chess at TV. As I've mentioned before the Norwegian Broadcasting make excellent coverage of the games between Karjakin and Carlsen in New York.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend with the people you love.

Chess and cumulative knowledge.

The game of chess is developing through cumulative knowledge. Just like science is a collective is a collective enterprise. Its models are cumulative, interconnected and coherent.

The discussion about this topic at the program covering the chess game brings my thoughts to one of my favorite books by Edward O. Wilson. The book is called Consillience. I will pick that book out of my bookshelf and write about it in my blog in a short while.

I almost forgot.

I really don't know how it's possible but I almost forgot the chess game between Carlsen and Karjakin. But luckily I didn't. My book is resting at my nightstand while I prioritize the chess game.

I would prefer Carlsen's game was looking better but still hoping that he will win and continue being the World Champion. Karjakin is looking strong. He might be to strong.

Relaxing.

I have had a busy week. This weekend is also looking busy. Therefore it's important to find the opportunities to relax and get ready for the week to come. Fortunately next week is looking more quiet, at least from Wednesday.
My plans for the weekend is to get time to finish the book I'm reading, getting ready for a new book the weeks befor Christmas which is a great holiday for reading.
To get some quality time with my book all I need to do is to post this on the blog and get the youngest one in bed. I'll start with posting the blogpost and you all know what will be next. Good night and happy reading.

FIDE World Chess Championship Match.

When the match ends it's interesting to see the players discuss and have a brainstorm together. It looks like Karjakin and Carlsen respect one another.
Anastasia Karlovich, the FIDE press officer is struggling to get the players to discuss the game. They still have a few ideas they want to discuss.
Carlsen is not interested to discuss or comment his behavior after last match, which he lost and didn't join the press conference.
Anyway it's good to see the players enjoying the press conference today.
As a Norwegian I still hope Carlsen will be the winner at the end, but I have to say my respect for Karjakin has grown during these mathces.

Chess.

I'm no chess player but I love watching the best players of the world Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen playing in New York.
The Norwegian broadcasting have wonderful people in their studio. Most often two or three chess players and one or two novices. As Norwegian broadcasting is famous for their slow tv this is a wonderful example of slow tv.
I must admit I'm a bit embarrassed thinking about the amount of time I have spent watching chess. But I can guarantee you it's fantastic entertainment. It's great, slow TV.

Making plans.

The last few weeks I've been too busy to do som of the things I've told myself to do. Make plans for the future which is giving me the things I've been surching for. Time to spend with my family, positive people who bring out the best in me and work that gives me the latter.
Even though a opportunity is ahead of me it's to wage to be putting all the eggs in that basket. I need to make some additional plans.

Christmas market

The girls (my wife and daughter and their friends) did a great job at the Christmas market. They have almost earned the money they need for their trip to Croatia for handball girls training camp in June.
No wonder they sold lots of things, just have a look at the pictures.

Family

I've had a great Sunday. Visiting my parents and having dinner with my sister and her husband at my parents house. My two sons and wife also joined me. My daughter was busy playing an away match with her handball team.
At dinner we had a great time talking about important and less important things. I'm grateful for my wonderful family. A good ending of this week making me ready for the week ahead.

Reading.

It has been a hectic week where I have been running from one thing to another. When the whole family has lots of appointments and obligations weeks like this is unnavigable. Even though the plans about changes is my life includes getting rid of unnecessary stress I doubt it will totally disappear.

But now I've got a kind of reward. The house is empty and I've got almost two hours without any plans or obligations. This calls for a good book and a cup of coffee. See you later, it's time for reading.

The production of this weekend.

As I've mentioned earlier in this blog my wife, daughter and two of their friends has been working all weekend producing things they will sell on a Christmas market next weekend.

They have just finished their photo session and made posters for their marketing.

Getting ready.

My wife, daughter and friends has been working with the production of the things they are going to sell at the Christmas market next weekend.
They let me taking two pictures of some of the things that they have made.

There are lots of things and hopefully they will let me take, and post more pictures next weekend,

Back to normal.

Today is a normal autumn day in our part of the world. It's windy and it's raining and the weather forecast is telling us it will continue for at least one week.

Still I had to go outside and spend three hours in this weather. My wife and daughter are making Christmas decorations which they will sell on the local Christmas market starting next weekend. For their production they need different materials and it's my job collecting them.

During the work I made some new friends:

Getting better.

The last two weeks I've been trying to fight a cold. My joints has been hurting, my nose has been running and it's been difficult to sleep.
Yesterday I put on warm clothes and had my morning coffee at the terrace watching the sunrise telling myself it's time to get better. At least I felt better watching a beautiful sunrise and the beginning of yet another beautiful autumn day being born.

This autumn has been exceptional with mostly sunny days and almost no wind. It's not what we are used to at the western parts of Norway but I will not mind it becoming the new normal.
I'm still fighting the cold but today I'm telling myself it's the first day of getting better. Posting on my blog might be a sign of that.

Winter is coming.

Getting into the car this morning gave me proof that the winter is on its way. After a quite cold night the windows was decorated with beautiful ice roses.

I spend a few minutes enjoying the sight as the car was warming up and the roses started melting.