Copenhagen sightseeing day

A brief selection of what I saw, many more pics to come. What a smart and beatuful city, except for that Chistiana part...more about that later.

Training day in Copenhagen

The course went very well... Michael took me to his favorite lunch spot. He always gets the mussels there, something I've never tried, until now. I had no problems with them, but maybe not something I would go out of my way in ordering again. When the course was over, I walked around some of the shops on the Strøget. This is claimed to be the longest pedestrianized street in Europe...I'd beleive it. I love my Ecco's.

Now that is what I call a bike rack...


Later in the evening I decided to venture out and see what the streets were like at night. I passed a club playing some caribean music, peaked my head in and found they were giving mambo lessons. Then later a live Cuban reggaeton act (Aliaza I think). Never understood a word they sung but they had very good harmonies and rythms! When I finally left it was snowing and the city was so beautiful. People were still riding their bikes through the slushy snowy downpour, at midnight! By the time I made it back to the hotel my wool coat was covered with big fluffy snowflakes, I looked like a snowman.

Women of Toledo, beware...

My friend Andrew sent me this article today, ranking the healthiest and least healthy cities for men in the US. Toledo rated 98th, I think he is proud that he escaped the gravitational pull of Toledo for sunny Orlando. But after reading, I wonder if it is worse for the women's prospects of dating the unhealthy men?

Live from Copenhagen

I found the motorway towards Manchester airport to be more like a parking lot, so I took backroads (cutting through Warrington at 8am) and somehow made it to the airport on time. The flight was somewhat annoying, because I had the world's most obnocsious passenger to the left, and the most nervous on the right. At least the food was decent.

Copenhagen airport is very nice, and the train station joins up directly to it (what a concept, c'mon Toledo). Took the train to city center for 28 kroners (Denmark doesn't use Euros). The trainstation roof is a timberframe masterpiece!



Walked the city a bit and found my hotel. Walked the city some more, visiting the National Museum. It is a wonderful museum and covering both art and some natural history. It had some great Hindu statuary of Pavarti, Shiva, and Gonesh. It also had some amazing medieval Christian woodcarvings.

Tomorrow is a trianing day, but on Saturday I'm hoping to see some more sights. By the way, it is cold here! There is some frozen snow that melts in the sun during the day and refreezes at night. Reminds me of what Ohio is supposed to be like. In England we have only seen frost 2 or 3 times this season, and ice forming on ponds or rivers is pretty laughable.

Salling Clicker

I've just discovered a new use for my Mio... it is a wifi based HTPC remote control! I was sort of jealous of my boss who just bought a sonos system for his home (which is still cool if you have the cash).

But using Salling's clicker software to establish a wifi connection to the agent you load on your PC, you can use pre-configured scripts to control apps like Windows Media player, Winamp, powerpoint, or even just a virtual mouse/kbd to navigate your htpc monitor. If they don't have a script for your app, you can make your own. Imagine walking around with your PDA which can control any HTPC or regular PC in your home...the possibilities are endless. The software can be set to use proximity detection also to lock everything and shut off the music when you leave.

Truly amazing stuff.

The Mio runs Windows Mobile 5 on a 400mhz processor. It plays movies, stores plenty of content on a 4gb sd card, and navigated me across Europe. I'm already considering turning in my n80 that has the problematic symbian os for a windows mobile 5 gps wifi enabled phone like this one.

A blustery day in the hundred acre wood...

They don't really know tornados here, but man was it windy today!! We were sitting in our office when the gusts started getting bad and they blew open the emergency doors a few inches. Then we saw a big plastic dumpster roll across the parking lot, jump the curb, and make its way down the stairs letting its two bags of rubbish free to roam. Pieces of our building were blowing off and damaging cars. Crazyness!

9 deaths attributed to high winds

Gardener's Seed Swap

Toledo GROWs, an outreach program of TBG, will once again host the increasingly popular Seed Swap at the Crosby Conference Center. The Swap is simply the sharing of seeds for the upcoming garden season. While exchanging seeds and bulbs green thumbs can also share knowledge, ideas and tips. The event is free and open to the public.

Friday, February 23 at 6:30pm events and presentation topics include...
Seed Tasting
Seed Starting/Saving
Preserving Local Culture Through Seed Saving

Saturday, February 24 at 12:00pm events include...
Seed Exchange
Live Music featuring the Root Cellar String Band
Games and Storytelling for Children

Click here for more info.

I've been busy lately...

After holidays I had plenty of work to catch up on. Its always a rush in January to get ready for the boy's birthday. I also bought a car for Megan (Peugeot 309). Lastly, busy planning out the next three excursions.

January - Copenhagen, DK

February - Italy (Pisa, Florence, Lucca, Siena)

July - Germany road trip (Cologne, Bremen, geneology search)

back "home" again

At least our temporary home, this going back and forth over the holidays has really made me thing about what the word home means. It really was excellent meeting with family and friends for a couple of weeks.

On our flight back to UK yesterday I saw Little Miss Sunshine...what an excellent movie!! I had heard good things about this in the past but just couldn't get past the movie premise on the jacket. To those who like their movies a bit off color, this film is a must see. It is hilarious in parts, has some horrifying social situations, and is very very creative. The diverse eccentric character personalities were put together nicely and the acting is top notch. Toni Collette has been in some cool movies!