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.