Not A Bad Few Days…

Well the past few days have been a little busy as I’ve traveled around Norway. I went among other places Lillehammer (site of 1994 Winter Olympics), a local beach, a jungle of sorts that starts from the backyard of my cousin’s house and the Holmenkollen ski jump.

Norway has pretty much been what I expected it to be… not too many cars (good luck getting stuck in traffic here… just doesn’t happen). Tons of people just walking around or on bikes all the time. I wish I kept my phone on (which has a pedometer) to keep track of how much I’ve asked these past few days… it has certainly been a lot. Holmenkollen was simply fantastic and makes me wanna go skiing or ski jumping (haha).

The jungle that starts in my cousin’s backyard was not what i expected it to be at all. I thought it would be something small and short but boy was I in for a hike. We cut it short to only an hour but it is a remarkable trail (see pictures here on my sister’s blog). I think I’m gonna head back there tomorrow morning and I know my sister won’t be tagging along… that hike took quite a bit out of her the first time. There are also reports of snakes and other sorts of animals in that jungle but I didn’t see any in the first time there… maybe its a little ominous to be asking/hoping to see them the second time around but we’ll see how it goes.

We went to Lillehammer yesterday which hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics. The weather was completely awful and that is an understatement. There was plenty of rain and so much fog that you could barely see anything in front of you and never mind anything on the sites like a huge ski jump or other sites. I got a chance to go into the gift shop there and was met by a wonderful tour guide of sorts named Hans who showed plenty of highlights and artifacts from the games and even signed a couple of postcards (don’t ask me why) with his name, number and email address. I learned plenty from him and it was wonderful that he spoke English but it clearly seemed like he hadn’t seen a living life form in ages and was just happy for the company.

Went to a local beach today which was really amazing. Although at times it was disturbing to see some what grown up children without any forms of clothing, which has happened twice now, it was still a great experience. Plenty of walking along the bumpy rocks with cousin and his father, another half an hour trek by the mountain side and the fjords as well as being talked to by a guy in Norwegian and nodding my head to his talk while I have no idea what he trying to say. On the other hand, I did eventually learn how to say “Do you speak English?” and “Thank you” which should come in useful.  I’ll have pictures up on ABG Photos here soon, so stay tuned.

Tomorrow and by that I mean later today since it’s 3 AM local time, I think I’ll travel more in Oslo city and see the downtown a bit more. Maybe some really good food tasting is in order and a movie at night at the unique local theater would be nice. We’ll see what happens but let me try to get to bed for once before the sun is completely up (around 4 AM local time) and before my cousin’s wife gets up to go work. I have gone to bed after she has woken up to go to work more than the other way around… and that’s something I should definitely change. More Halo in line for tomorrow night, so if anyone wants to join me around midnight Norway time, 6 PM EST… let me know.

Random Fact: The day of the opening ceremonies, art thieves stole Edvard Munch’s masterpiece The Scream from the National Museum in Oslo.

Also remember that life is like a box of chocolate, a box that I just might bring home if it is Mars Chocolate Bars… something I can’t find back in the States.

One more thing, how have the Yankees been doing? I haven’t paid much attention to them while I’ve been here but any thing specific that I missed out on that a boxscore won’t tell me? and what’s up with Willie about to be getting fired anyways?

– ABG From OSL

Manny’s Mouth

Manny Ramirez is wearing a Pure Power Mouthguard this season — according to the Boston Herald — which the outfielder is using to help relax his jaw, neck, and head muscles as he swings his bat. The theory behind the mouthpiece, which took more than one hour during spring training to get custom-fitted for Ramirez, is that the relaxed head muscles helped an “improved bite that improves strength, balance and flexibility.”

I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone getting a custom-fitted mouthguard but would you really expect anything different from Manny?

Here are his numbers on the year so far…

  • Avg .287
  • HR 8 (on pace of 27)
  • RBI 28 (96)
  • Runs 29 (100)
  • SB 1 (3.44)

His career averages are about .312 with about 33 HRs, 109 RBI and 92 runs.

Frogner Park

The Frogner Park is a public park in the west-end borough of Frogner in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. It is part of the Frogner Manor, and belonged to rich families like Anker and Wegner in the 19th century, before being acquired by the city of Oslo.

It is famous for housing the Vigeland Sculpture Park, which was created by Gustav Vigeland in the 20th century. The 212 sculptures are, essentially, the adult work of Vigeland. The massive works represent various ages, moods, and stages in lives of people culminating in the famous Monolith with its 121 figures struggling to reach the top of the sculpture. Of the sculptures that are on hand, the most famous one is of a crying baby that attracts attention from all over the world.

To view photos from Frogner Park, please visit Frogner Park Photos.

– ABG From OSL

ABG From Norway

Greetings from Norway!

I’ll have more updates later but I’m here until the end of the month and hopefully these next 10 days are fantastic here. Stayed tuned to find out if my sister bothered me on the airplane ride again or not, how the food was, and anything else out of the blue that might have happened between Newark and Oslo.

Anyways, here are some random pieces of information regarding the country:

Population: 4,644,457 (July 2008 est.)

Religions: (2004)
Church of Norway 85.7%,
Pentecostal 1%,
Roman Catholic 1%,
Other Christian 2.4%,
Muslim 1.8%,
Other 8.1%

Literacy:
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 100%
male: 100%
female: 100%

Government Type: Constitutional Monarchy

International Disputes: Norway asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Queen Maud Land and its continental shelf); despite dialogue, Russia and Norway continue to dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia’s fishing rights beyond Svalbard’s territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone.

All of this information is courtesy of the very friendly CIA: The World Factbook.

– ABG From OSL

Halo 3: Killimanjaro

So I have been playing Halo 3 since the day it came out but I have only recently started playing these double EXP events over the weekends. I was playing GriffBall yesterday which is a modified dodgeball with hammers and swords and there is a skull in the middle of the court that you need to get to the other side to score a point.

Well, let’s say that in between the scoring I was getting some kills in as well. I had gotten ‘Overkill’ which is 4 kills within 4 seconds of each other. Playing yesterday, I learned about ‘Killtacular’ (5 kills within 4 seconds of each other), ‘Killtrocity’ (6) and ‘Killimanjaro’ (7). That was some game there and certainly there is some luck involved where I got it all started with a double kill with a hammer and the opponents were spaced out enough that allowed to strike each opponent in time.

(Overkill)

(Killtacular)

(Killtrocity)

(Killimanjaro)

I would have loved to continue the streak but unfortunately my streak was ended right there.