A summer preview

Yellow crocus

Summer is coming to Oslo, and this weekend has been a nice preview:

On Saturday I went with Hege and Thomas to a boat exhibition. Not looking for an investment (not much to invest anyway), I fell for a couple of amazing boats: first I fell in love with the red version of the classic-style Nordic Star's Sportsman (only blue exterior on the website). Then, an in my opinion most remarkably well-designed boat materialized in the Fjord 40' Open! It looks like no other Norwegian-based boat I've seen, but reminds me of exclusive, Italian vessels. A refreshingly delightful acquaintance.

Today (Sunday) started with a swim. Albeit indoors, I stumbled across an assorted set of crocuses in the Botanical Garden on my way to the pool. Afterwards, Arnljot and I had planned to drop by another trade fair named Elektrofil (Electrophile)--Arnljot to look at (or was it buy?) the new Sony Playstation 3, and I to get a closer look at Nikon D80 and D200. However, there was a long line of people waiting to enter, so instead we strolled to Aker Brygge and sat down in the sun with each our bowl of fish soup accompanied by a nice bottle of Chablis.

Yep, summer is definitely coming!

Snowjumping in Narvik

Narvik is awesome for skiing and snowboarding! After three years of studying there I kind of knew this already when I booked the flight for last weekend, but the conditions turned out fantastic! After one week of rain, Friday came with a heavy snowfall resulting in more than 30 centimeters of nice powder for me and Eirik to play with--yet the thin base and loose powder printed some serious marks into my snowboard...

However, sunlight and an awesome view all the way to Lofoten easily put our minds off any scratches, and let Karl-Inge and Tini shoot a couple of nice pictures! To top it off, Dana and her family made our visit so comfortable I cannot think of any reason not to revisit Narvik.

Blown away in Hemsedal

Swaying lift

Not completely blown away, but last weekend's trip to Hemsedal resulted in my first visit to the slopes at Solheisen--simply because most of Hemsedal ski resort was closed due to strong winds on Saturday. So instead of long queues and windy slopes, I got to twist and turn through the not-so-steep forested hills of Solheisen in nice, soft snow. The soft snow also made me jump both higher and longer than before.

On Sunday, the wind had calmed down and all of Hemsedal was open--until the wind picked up again, that is. On our way towards the top Tinden, the lift started swaying a lot and was closed just after we got off. Apart from that, and the warm weather that rendered the snow wet and heavy, it was really nice to get back on the snowboard again--particularly as I am starting to get some air under my board now.

I hope to increase the "airness" in Narvik next weekend (high-res map)...

Visioning music heaven

After one week with the Sonos, I've learned a thing or two about music management. I'll skip all the details, and cut straight to the vision that's forming in my mind:

The Sonos cannot play from a UPnP server (as of firmware version 2.1). I got this confirmed by customer support, who also had it noted as a feature request. In parallel, I've searched the internet and eventually installed a trial version of the UPnP server TwonkyMedia on my DNS-323 NAS. Of course, the Sonos couldn't see it so I had to install Cidero UPnP A/V Controller on my PC to confirm that it worked - and it turned out I could control playback on the Sonos from Cidero! Nice, yet not quite what I expected...

I also came across another nice music management tool, namely MusicIP Mixer. This program is capable of creating playlists of songs that sounds the same - after an extensive analysis of the tracks (currently running on my PC...). So, with all my songs indexed, I guess I can play in shuffle mode, and ask for "similar songs" when I hear a song that I like. In other words, my own personal DJ! The only problem is that this only runs on my PC...

So here is my vision for music heaven: an upgrade that enables Sonos to play music from a UPnP server, and a UPnP server capable of serving "similar songs" on my NAS... *twirling eyes* :-)