Category: Norway

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Weekend in Sweden

Last weekend I went with the family to Sweden for a retreat with some of our scandinavian peeps. This was the first of a soon to be annual event held at the Björneröds Ridcenter. The wife and kids have been going to horseback riding camp at Björneröds for a few years now and this was a good time for us to socialize with good friends.

And to top it off, my crazy wife was covered in a local Swedish newspaper for participating in an annual swimming race across the Fjords. The water she swam in was freezing too. We were having a mini triathlon with some friends that weekend and with the exception of one other person, my wife was the only one of us to opt in for the swimming part of the competition. I on the other hand stuck to the biking portion of the competition because black people don’t like participating in freezing ass water sports.

 

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If I can’t be famous, I’ll be infamous!

The martial artist in me is conflicted by the recent turn of events in Colorado, and the anniversary the mass murder in Oslo, Norway. The Norwegian gunman had more than an hour to hunt down and attack his victims. More than an hour, which means that he had to stop and reload at multiple points. As a person that trains in self defense based arts, I can’t help but think about what I would do if faced by such a threat. Would my training make a difference? Would I freeze or rise to the challenge? Are the arts that I am studying really effective in real combat situation? In truth, I don’t have any answers. I would hope that be able to protect myself and my loved ones. Or at the very least make the son of a bitch regret picking me or mine as a target.

My father was gunned down when I was fourteen as he was closing down his candy shop for the evening. The murderer was never found. Even as a young man I often Continue reading “If I can’t be famous, I’ll be infamous!”

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Paintball: Urban Warfare

I started off the Spring break vacation by taking the family for some fun at New York City Paintball (http://www.newyorkcitypaintball.com). The break was just an excuse needed to arrange an early birthday outing for my wife who, believe it or not, had been asking me for months to take her to the paintball facility since it is located right next to LaGuardia. I thought this was pretty funny since my wife is one of the least violent people I have ever known. The kids are a bit more like me. My daughter is into the martial arts and my son is a Call of Duty/first person shooter veteran. To top it off, our good friend Tone Loc was visiting from Norway, so it Continue reading “Paintball: Urban Warfare”

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Norwegian Birthday?

I am not sure that Norwegians understand the whole concept of “birthdays”. Usually on birthdays people take it easy and relax. However my wife and mother-in-law got a real kick out of working me out on my day of rest.

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They really want a dog.

We babysat a good friend’s dog for a few days and now the kids and wife have been bugging me to get one when we get home. Personally I think that they are all just missing our pet cat who passed away a few months ago. Problem is that I am not a big animal lover. Plus having a dog in NY can be kinda unfair. But mostly, I just hate picking up crap. Still I have to admit that Trixie was pretty fun to have around.

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Home Alone

Off to the airport

It is really weird how dependent you can become on the sounds and routines that we fall into over time.  I bring this up because the fam has taken off for the summer and left me home alone. As a result, the house is way too quiet. While it is great that I have the bathroom, TV, and living room all to myself, there is something wrong with a quiet home. I honestly can’t wait until they come back.

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A Visit from Norway

Bagels for Norway
My mother-in-law and my nephew flew in from Norway last week to spend some time with us over the kids’ winter break. It was good to see them since we had not gotten together in a few months. The kids are always excited to see “Mor-Mor” and their older cousin Bjorn.

Their visit made me realize how much I miss being overseas.

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Returning home

NYC

So, I am finally back home after nearly ten weeks overseas in Norway. Needless to say, it has been very rough getting back into the swing of things. I definitely could get use to the European way of living. I find that as I am getting older and more set in my ways, NYC is not as appealing as it was in my youth. Continue reading “Returning home”