Harry Potter

I think there has been enough introspection for a little while and we have reached some conclusions at home. Thankfully.

Last night we escaped the parental duties and went to the cinema (movies for my Amreican readers) to see Haryr Potter and the Order of the Pheonix.

The film was quite good, but given the depth that the book goes into, this is really little more than a precis of the story with little explanation about why anything happens and what the consequenses or various actions may be. I think you can safely assume that the film would make no sense if you had not see the first 3 and that to get the most out of it you should have read the book. The problem with having read the book is that you know what will happen. There was also a small dissapointment for me that Tonks was just not as attractive as I had expected her to be.

On the whole I think it gets 6/10.

Slowing Down

Continuing from yesterdays self indulgence. I have been thinking increasingly about some form of sustainability in the way that we live (that is our little family, not the world as a whole) .
Our needs are actually not extravagant, other than our expenditure on air fares that eats a lot of our spending, we live in a modest manner. That appears to be sufficient for us, we are not hankering after luxury homes, cars or whatever else is available (except bicycles).
So what do we need? How much is enough and how many material benefits are we willing to sacrifice in order to slow down and enjoy life more?
Not easy to answer...
The decision at the moment seems to be more about a possible but not guaranteed compromise of future income rather than an immediate departure from a life of comfort.
Reconciling this is difficult for me having been brought up in a society that places great importance on job and status, both of which are intrinsically linked to income. Is a down-shift a waste of an opportunity or is it taking an opportunity?

I am much more hesitant to post this than normal, I don't know why...

Ruminations on life

Over the course of the past year or so I have spent too much time trying to decide life's next step should be. I am not someone who seems happy to stick with the status quo for very long before needing a change and I seem to have managed only a few years in a few different circumstances before looking for new challenges or problems whichever you wish to call them. I am starting to feel the need for a change again.

So before setting out for a new patch of greener grass, perhaps it is important to try and define exactly what constitutes green grass and what makes one patch greener than another?

Job

Given that being rich without working is apparently not an option, it seems that some sort of employment is essential for survival, this should include some (but not too much) intellectual challenge, travel and stress. Some financial reward is essential, but all I really need is enough for a reasonable house and standard of living, transport, an adequate pension, at least one really nice bike and some time to ride them.

Location

This is more complicated given our family's geographical situation, we will never be near to all of them so there will always be some compromise on that front. Given that, what makes a place nice to live in? Landscape (ie mountains), food, cost of living, ease of commuting, education, health care, tax and plenty of others.

What has all of this added up to? So far, I don't know, but I am thinking about it. A lot.

Running in Switzerland

This is Rheinfelden in Switzerland, it is a rather quaint little town with a big brewery. I am here for the night, maybe for the last time and I have been inspired to do something that I have not done for two years. I am going to go for a run. On each of my previous visits this summer, we have sat over the Rhein drinking beer and watched groups run over the bridge next to the hotel into Germany, along to the next bridge and back into Switzerland. When I was packing last night, it occurred to me that as this could be my last chance, I should have a go.

The last time I ran was 30km in the World Long Distance Triathlon Championships in August 2005. I suspect this will, in some ways seem harder.

This was the winner, but you get the idea!

Busy bees

We had a busy weekend, finally getting some painting done on Sunday. The weather was crap on Saturday to coincide with the Ringsted festival of course, but we managed to hear most of it from the comfort of our own home! The Canadians cam to have dinner with us and I even managed a decent bike ride on Sunday morning.

Now everyone is back from their holidays and my workload has suddenly gone through the roof, so this will have to be a short one.

It's the weekend

Great!

Tomorrow I am have my hair cut and that's about it for the plans. We can get on with the painting and enjoy the rain :-(

Back on our own again

This morning I had to get up rather earlier than I generally do to take Mum to the airport. It has been really nice having her staying with us and J seems to have enjoyed it too. Yesterday MK was off work as well so there was a trip to the beach organised. Apparently it rained a lot but it seems that they all had fun.

Not much to report from me today so I'll just post a picture or two from the files...

Tennis Rackets

It took us a while to get around to finding a tennis shop, but we managed it today in Hellerup. As a result Mum (who blogs here) owns a Prince O3 blue tennis racket and is all set to hit the courts when she gets back home. We are looking forward to tales of tennis, tea and something else beginning with T such as Tupperware, Tablecloths or Tricycles...

I can't wait.

By the way, please note that there was an appalling spelling mistake in Gill's Elevensies original URL and she can now be found at the correct spelling www.gillselevenses.blogspot.com

For today only, it may be worth a visit as I have donated some photographs!

Yet another new blog to fill your dreary days

Have a look over here for some full-on entertainment.

Gills Elevensies

Great weekend

We had a really great weekend, to kick things off I managed to get out on my bike on Friday evening for the first time since we were in Boulder.

Saturday was the big day, firstly Mum, J and I went to watch the finish of the Tour of Denmark bike race in Ringsted. (I suspect I was more interested than these guys were!)

Then we went to the big wedding, everything went perfectly and we got to talk to some very nice interesting people, eat cake and drink champagne

In the evening there was another "do" with lots of good food, wine and plenty of speeches. Whilst Mum and J went home to bed.

On Sunday we all went back for brunch and then the 4 of us hit the beach to soak up the sunshine on the first day of good weather for a couple of months.

Baby Sitting

We have a resident baby sitter for the week, even better, one that came bearing gifts! So this afternoon I will get to ride my bike in the broken sunshine and enjoy the extra company this evening.

Tomorrow is THE wedding so let us all hope for good weather and quiet children in church...

I now have a set of Thomson twins, namely a reclaimed X4 stem on the Pompino
and an X2 on the Cannondale

Motivation

My motivational issues (as consultants and Americans may call it) actually has nothing to do with my work (which I don't think a robot will be doing for a while yet!). My lack of motivation is relating to exercise, I just can't make myself overcome the crappy excuses that are always available.

Here is a long winded explanation of my excuse:

A typical day involves getting out of bed shortly after 6, washing, eating and getting J out the door to nursery in time to get the train at 8. At the moment there is no way that I am getting up at 5 to train before all of that. The evening is a shared combination of looking after J, cooking and then bathing him and putting him to bed at about 8. We have decided that it is important to eat together so that really means (allowing some time for digestion) that the first time I can get out is after 8, but hang on! Isn't that the first moment of the day when MK and I can actually relax and talk to each other? Yes is it and a I am generally rather lethargic by then too.


So without having read this book, here is what I plan to do. Fit the new stem to my bike that some kind old lady is delivering today, and ride the damned thing every day (if at all possible) either early in the morning or before bed, but no excuses.
I'll let you know how I get on...

Chataqua

A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure of eating at the Chataqua dining hall a couple of times (Lunch and breakfast as I recall) and it is really a lovely place to eat. You sit on the deck and get treated to great views and pretty good food served by slightly weird young guys and less weird girls.

The place has been open since 1890 something and has probably not changes a great deal since then. Here is some evidence that we were there:

It really is a treat to be able to walk around the corner to a place like this and just sit and relax for a while, good honest holiday stuff:

I guess if we go back there at Christmas it will be a totally different story, but perhaps one we should try...

Here we are last August:

Sub Human

The guy who invented zero-gravity brakes (yes please I'll like a Ti set for my birthday) has had a totally insane idea of a human powered submarine that he will take across the Atlantic ocean.

Have a look at his website here. This is an amazing project and I plan on following his progress as it is the sort of totally daft idea that I hold in extraordinarily high regard. Good luck Ted!!

There is a great quote in the video on the site "I think he'll be utterly miserable for weeks on end..."

New blog on the block (I wanted to say bog)

It seems that the remaining literate male Millard (that being Ben) has entered the world of blogging with a fascinating insight into his morning repast. Check it out here and I will add a link to the right.
My only comment: Couldn't he chose a template that looked less like mine!!

Broken Windows

Yesterday we made an effort to get the painting of the living room windows going again and we (I) managed to finish off the sanding and also started on the bathroom window. The plan had been to start painting this evening.

Bollocks

Our window are of a rather peculiar design so the outer later of glazing opens outwards to allow cleaning etc, but the window itself does not open. However, I have now learned that if you do not close the outer window carefully enough, the wind can catch it and swing it around hard enough to break the 1,5m x 1,5m pane into many small pieces.

Have I already said BOLLOCKS?!

The treadmill awaits

We have been sleeping off the jetlag, washing, ironing and preparing for painting windows. At least it is not so difficult to go back to work when the weather sucks so much. It has been cold and overcast or raining since we got back. Apparently it is statistically unlikely to continue like this as it has been crap for 7 weeks now!

This is the sort of weather that we need and coniciadentally it is a bedroom view that I wouldn't mind having either.

Back home

We're back and trying to recover from the immediate jet-lag. J is pretty tired but still managed to wake up at midnight and want to play and eat for a couple of hours. There are still a few pictures for you to see.

Driving Grandad's car


Sleeping in it as well

Throwing stones in the Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat Springs

(Harry Potter 7 is living up to expectations, maybe a review will follow in a few days)

Steamboat Springs

We have been on a overnight trip to Steamboat Springs further up in the Rocky Mountains. On Sunday we drove up there which took 3 hours, then we walked around the town and had a bit of lunch before going up to Fish Creek Falls.

J had a ball throwing stones in the falls and was not too happy to leave. The next stop was the Strawberry Hot Springs which were also a big hit with J.

Monday started with a hearty breakfast before a factory tour at Moots, the titanium bicycle factory and then a scenic route home through the rocky mountain national park.

The camera has added 10 kg to me, not the American diet and holiday eating!

Happy Retirement

Huge congratluations to my mum (and regular comentor on this blog) who has retired as of today.
We are looking forward to seeing you in a few days time.
Love from the Danish side of the family.

Book winner

Di has been awarded the book about the Tour de France, I just need an address to post/mail the book too. Perhaps she can mail that to me or leave it in a comment.
If you want to see more pictures of our vacation in Colorado then hop over to Big Williams World for an update.

Colorado Calling

Here is J in the fountain in Boulder


Eating sugar off the table in a fancy restaurant in Denver!

And some mobile blogging in action at the park

Yesterday we hiked to the Royal Arch which was pretty tough and today we are earning our keep moving stuff into storage in a big truck.

The Mile High City

Denver is known as the mile high city, can you guess why? Yep, that's right it's a mile above sea level.

It could also be known as the rather dull city, but at least we have seen it now and made our own minds up!

After a little retail therapy to get over the disappointment of Denver (which was tempered by a nice lunch). We headed back to Boulder for the traditional pizza evening.

I'll post some pictures when I can work out how to.

The long day ahead

According to the calendar, the longest day of the year was about a month ago, I suspect that the longest day for us will be tomorrow. We are leaving home at 4:30 in the morning and if all goes according to plan will be in Boulder at about midnight local time (7 hours behind Danish time) so the total journey time will be around 26 hours.

We start in Copenhagen

then Frankfurt

then Washington

and finally Denver

I hope that I can continue to post whilst we are there.

Bench Mystery

Our bench went for a short walk last night after we went to bed. This morning it was sitting on the pavement outside the house looking back into the living room. Thankfully it didn't stand on the hedge too much getting there...

If at first you don't succeed...

So it looks like nobody wants my first book on offer, ungrateful lot, I bet if Amazon sent you an offer of a free book delivered to you with no strings, you'd accept it! (Only if you read the junk mail though so maybe not)

Anyway, I am withdrawing Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell from the competition and trying again with something more digestible.

So in honour of the Tour de France starting in London this weekend I have decided to offer "Push yourself just a little bit more - Backstage at the Tour de France" by Johnny Green. Now before you all write this one off as simply a boring cycling book, you should consider that the author was the tour manager for The Clash (an influential rock/punk band from the UK) and has a rather unique take on life and his very own writing style, or writin' style as he would say. The book is as much travel writing as sports writing and is a fans view of the Tour (albeit a fan with an access all areas press pass), watching the traveling circus move around the country and marveling at the organisation and characters that make it happen.
At first I found the guys style a little annoying, but once I got over the written cockney access, I really enjoyed his almost child like enthusiasm for the event coupled with a somewhat world weary view of spending three weeks on the road and all the aggravation entailed.

The challenge is the same as last time, tell me why you want it (or don't want it) and I'll post it to whoever seems the most enthusiastic,

Out on the bike again

It has been a while since I have been out on my bike, in fact I have only ridden once since the unsuccessful 24hour race last month.

Going out shortly after dinner lead to a little indigestion and the evening pollen didn't help with my breathing too much, but all in all I am kidding myself if I don't concede that I have allowed myself to become one of these:



This has to change, I fear that I am going to be struggling to keep up with WRM up the hills next week.

I have been watching what I eat for a week or so, but that alone is not going to be enough. I am hoping that Boulder can kick start a bit more activity and specifically biking for the second half of the (inappropriately titled this year) summer. My plan is to change to the Ringsted cycling club when we get back here so that I can find some new riding buddies to motivate me to get out the door more often.

As I am sitting here writing this I can hear Bryan Adams "rocking" Ringsted about 100yards up the road!

Altimeters

I guess I must be bored at the moment as my mind is spending too much time on a particular subject: Watches!

Having been given a reasonable bonus for my fine efforts at work during the last year, I decided that I deserved a new watch of some sort. My first thought was the Tissot Touch that I have been lusting after for a long time, but I quickly realised that this is a bit out of my self imposed price range (I only really want the titanium one with the orange strap).

Then I considered the functions that I attract me to this watch and decided that a more utilitarian model could also satisfy my cravings and Hey Presto, the solution came immediately to mind

The Suunto Vector.

I have wanted one of these since I lived in the Alpes and developed a little slight obsession with altitude. Now our impending trip to Colorado seems like an idea opportunity to get myself initiated into the altimeter/digital compass club. They come in a lot of colours, but I have taken rather a liking to the lime one.

There are some pretty good deals available on the internet, I am not decided yet whether to order on-line or wait until I am in Boulder to try some in person before "pulling the trigger" as they say in the wild west shopping malls

The First Giveaway

So here it is, the first of my Great Book Giveaways

This is a very long book at over 1000 pages and it took me quite a while to read. (To be honest, a little while to get into as well.) However, once I was in the groove it turned out to be an excellent story. I would say that it is little like a Harry Potter for grown ups, with a certain amount of Dickensian charm thrown in for good measure. The style of writing (I hesitate to use the word "prose") is a pleasure to read and the inventiveness of the continues to develop throughout the book.

I enjoyed it, as you can tell, but I would say that it is no light undertaking to read and therefore probably not well suited to those with a short attention span or with little or no spare time (you can decided for yourselves if you think that may be aimed at anyone in particular!)

So who wants it? (If anyone!)

I am prepared to send it anywhere in the world to the person anyone who really wants the book and tells me why in a comment to this post. I will decide on Sunday who is getting it and then let you know.

Bribery

When I have come home from my travels over the past few weeks, J has been fairly non-plussed by my return and generally ignored me for the first 24 hours that I have been home. Last week I decided to buy my way back into favour and came home bearing gifts. It worked perfectly!