Alagaesian

What sets companies apart in a competitive world?  The answer is service which will let your customer remember you for a long time.

It can be a good offer as well…

The inconvenience caused during my flight to Copenhagen last weekend with Sterling was sort of erased from my records when I came home the other night to see an email from Sterling offering their apologies… and attaching 2 free round trip tickets!

Woohoo!

Technorati Tags: sterling

from cheap flights… (with Sterling).

Learned that my flight to Copenhagen was delayed from its 2125 departure to 0050.  So what I did was to just relax at a friend’s place and invited myself for pizza and went to the airport at 11pm only to see the check out counters and offices desserted.  I was a bit alarmed as I know that the counters should have been open 2 hours before the flight so I had to check it out from security.

Apparently, you’re supposed to check in for the original flight schedule and they expect the passengers to wait 4 hours for the delay… doing nothing in the gates.  Crazy.

It was good that I didn’t have any check in luggage so they easily just let me up to the gates and get the boarding pass there before getting onboard.  It’s a case of you get what you paid for thing.

All’s well that ends well.  Arrived quite late in Copenhagen, a bit more expensive as I didn’t expect to be using the taxi to my friend’s place. 

Partied all night Saturday and had fun with the beautiful danish people…  Always love coming back for more! 

Thank God for cheap flights..?

Thanks to the temptation of cheap tickets, flying around albeit unplanned became easier and holiday options have been extended to cover more and more miles.  

Haven’t planned for any holidays in July until I came across an offer with Sterling.  I looked into it and made some calls (to friends) and in an hour, I’m booked for a weekend trip to Copenhagen for NOK 350 return.  What’s funny is that a 20 minute taxi ride here in Norway is actually more expensive than flying to Copenhagen.  

An offer you can’t refuse?

The temps in Bergen these past few days are pushing 30 (degrees C).  Can’t be any better and the temptation is just too much to have a few drinks out.  Walking along the quayside in Bryggen you could just gape with envy at the nice sailboats, boats and yachts berthed around.  

Have to try sailing some day…  In the meantime, just have to stay in this weekend and finally start studying again for the coursepaper due 5th September.  I just got my second book which is 200 pages long… and I haven’t even started yet with my first book (100 pages).  

Looking forward to my backpacking trip quite soon for a couple of weeks in August… hence have to get some reading done fast as you can be sure I won’t be opening my books while backpacking!

And I thought Midsummer Night was only something of a literary piece… 

It looks like Scandinavians, especially Norwegians, loves everything to do with the sun.  Midsummer night (Sankthans or short for Sankt Hans aften or St John’s Eve) was 23rd of June and it was supposed to be the longest day (with sunlight) of the year.  It felt like it as the sun is almost still way high over the mountainous horizon of Bergen when I was walking the mountains home from a bonfire / concert.  

The day was actually a bit cold, with the clouds threatening to rain down.  So people more than welcomed the heat of the huge bonfire (25 feet high).

Speaking of weather, it has been cold and raining the past days and haven’t seen any really good summer days since May.  But the latest forecast is that we may expect things to clear up and heat up to 25 to 30 degrees C over the week.  

Time for some utepils (beers out)!

I’d put the pictures from the bonfire concert but they are all in my mobile and I can’t really be bothered looking for the cable.

Technorati Tags: sankthans, saint, john’s, eve, midsummer

The forecast is 24 degrees C, therefore a summer barbeque has to be part of the agenda this weekend… have to take this chance in case the rains come again!

Yeah, also need to think of where to go this summer… probably a backpacking trip or something.

As far as I’m concerned those are gonna be the highlights for the weekend… oh yeah also need to do some studying… 

bummer… 

They did say that we are up for the best summer ever in Bergen in years we can remember.  So far that is holding true and we can only cross our fingers that it will still hold in the next 3 months!

Not a drop of rain in sight for days now and this is expected to last until at least the end of May.  Temps this Sunday reached to 30 degrees in my balcony but that’s only because my thermometer is directly under the sun.  Actually it feels more like 20 degrees out.  

Soon I have to stock up on disposable barbeques.  

Update on the legs - the worst is over and there’s no where else to go but straight to recovery.  I’ve started walking around without crutches now and hope that I can start hiking mountains again in the summer.

You’d think that an airline strike 2 years back where you spent 3 days trying to get to your destination is bad enough.  Nope, this week’s airport strike is worse.  

The Norwegian Airport Authority, Avinor, did not reach an agreement with the worker’s union last Thursday / Friday midnight and therefore the workers went on strike Friday morning which closed down 5 airports in Norway.  To make matters worse, Saturday was the National Day.  Thousands got stuck somewhere not able to be with family for the big traditional celebrations.  

I had visitors (my uncle and aunt) visiting me from Australia while they are on holiday in Europe.  They were supposed to arrive Bergen Friday night but instead had to fly to Stavanger and take the bus for 6 hours to get to Bergen.  I was also up on the phone the whole day of Friday booking and rebooking flights, doing research on hotels and buses and ferries thinking of alternatives for them to get here to join the 17th May celebrations in Bergen.

The threat of strikes seems to have become a yearly tradition in Norway where various unions negotiate pay raises during spring.  As of the time of writing, the parties are still far from reaching any agreement and hence the strike threatens to expand to other airports, including Oslo.  God forbid they continue to be stubborn and still be on strike when my visitors are supposed to fly out!

Maybe we should start throwing rotten tomatoes at the airport, or maybe the union???  This is freaking economic sabotage and such a big hassle for travelers.  A big embarrassment in Norway I reckon.  

Technorati Tags: airport, strike, norway

It’s been 9 days after my Partial Meniscectomy.  Things are looking good in that I have started to regain strength albeit not enough to stand without crutches.  I had my appointment with the doctor again yesterday and asked for another week’s sick leave so I can focus on exercises.  And he also gave me another two weeks of free taxi rides to and from work.  The social welfare in Norway allows people to go to work by taxi if they can avoid paying for your sick leave salary.  A very good system as I don’t think I can stand staying home longer than necessary.

I just got home from my first physiotherapy session and I was told WE HAVE MUCH WORK TO DO.  uh-oh.  I was thinking… should I have done more the past few days?  My extension is not yet full and the knees hurt when forcing the extension.  The flexion on the other hand is only to 85 degrees.  I read that I should be doing 90 to 110 degrees by now.  So the therapist had me on the bicycle for 20 minutes which was totally uncomfortable at first but I just had to press it hard.  Apparently the knee capsule hardens after days of inactivity so it is important to get back the flexion and range of motion. 

After some minutes on the bike, my right leg was already feeling tense and it was just funny to see it shaking.  More biking tomorrow I guess in my second session…

Technorati Tags: partial, meniscectomy, meniscus, physiotherapy
 

It’s been 3 days after my Partial Meniscectomy in my lateral meniscus.  I took off my bandages yesterday, 1 day late as it became a bit hot being always wrapped in.  And that what was left of the anesthesia has completely subsided so I regained all consciousness in my right leg.  What I just left on is the strip covering the wound which I’m thinking of changing tomorrow.

As I said in the previous posts, the procedure wasn’t an ACL reconstruction after all but rather more of a Partial Meniscectomy where the doctor removed 25 - 30% of my lateral meniscus.  I’ve been reading more about it to find out long term effects but haven’t found much information.  A total removal increases chances of arthritis but we are not for sure in the case of a partial removal.  But one thing for sure, the knees won’t be the same again.  My doctor however assured me that, albeit with some light discomfort in the future, it shouldn’t hinder me from doing sports.

I’ve been having some pressure or pains still on my leg but it is more because of the swelling and not the wound.  So I always have the tendency to try to massage my calfs and ankles with my good ol’ Tiger Balm. I am still avoiding walking or putting much pressure on my leg while walking and it doesn’t even have enough strength to do the leg raise exercises I was told to do.  

I’ve already stopped my pain medications but took the last one last night which was a bad idea as it completely tired me out.  

It’s been so nice in Bergen lately what with summer-like weather.  We’ve already have 2 barbeques this week and another one coming up later!  It feels more like a holiday and even extremely nice with friends taking good care of me!

Technorati Tags: acl, reconstruction, meniscectomy, meniscus