Gammelt Nytt

Hei igjen.
Under en lenge etterlengtet opprydding på en av mine mange eksterne HHD'er fant jeg igjen denne teksten som jeg skrev til avisa før sist stortingsvalg (2009). Legger den ut her også, denne gangen postes det på norsk til og med :) God lesing!

Stortingsvalg 09
Det nærmer seg Stortingsvalget 09 og vi skal velge fremtiden igjen. Har jeg denne gangen mulighet til å forandre noe? Får jeg denne gangen være med å bestemme hvilken retning kursen skal stakes ut de neste fire årene?
Blogging er definitivt en sak jeg ikke har bedrevet tiden med, derimot har jeg brukt mye tid på å uttale meg i venners og kollegers påhør om politikk. Når jeg nå øyner muligheten til å gjøre begge deler samtidig, synes jeg at den kjangsen må benyttes. Ikke fordi jeg tror mine evner ligger i politikken, eller at jeg i fremtiden kommer til å stå på noens valglister. Tvert imot, jeg er nok for bastant og unyansert i mitt politiske standpunkt til å gjøre en god figur blant de folkevalgte, en Jan Simonsen i miniatyr - men uten den tvilsomme omgangskretsen og minst like tvilsomme tilholdsstedene.
Som familiefar, nyetablert med stort boliglån og SUV i garasjen er det med spenning jeg ser frem mot valget. Ut i fra de forannevnte premisser er jeg garantert ikke i favorittsjiktet til Halvorsen, Stoltenberg & co. Når jeg i tillegg innrømmer at jeg er ansatt på norsk sokkel i oljeutvinningsindustrien og tjener noe over gjennomsnittet blant den norske arbeidsstokken, faller i hvert fall Halvorsen av. Når det er sagt, jeg hadde trodd at nevnte fruentimmer skulle ha falt av for lenge siden, men jaggu har hun klort seg fast på ryggen til Jens’n. Fra sin beskyttede posisjon bak dressjakka til Sjefen har hun ridd av den ene stormen etter den andre.
Jeg lurer ofte på hvor stor tabbekvote våre folkevalgte har hos oss som lever i Norge? Hvor mange usannheter og unnvikelser vi vil godta før vi mister tilliten til hele systemet og flagger ut til Torrevieja i samlet flokk? Vi som går urnene og gir stemmen vår til de som lover oss bedre eldreomsorg, bedre trafikksikkerhet, mer til småbarnsfamiliene og en ny tid for de svakest stilte i samfunnet.
Jaha, tenker du nok, her har vi med å gjøre en overbetalt bajas å gjøre. En som garantert stemmer Fremskrittspartiet fordi han syns Siv er ei grepa dame. En som øyner muligheten til lavere skatt for å kunne kjøpe mer ting å putte i garasjen. En som har hatt sin post på ytterste høyre fløy siden han fikk stemmerett, og ikke kommer til å gi seg før han har sett Fremskrittspartiet kjøre Norge på skakke i løpet av en regjeringsperiode. Du tar feil min venn, i all hovedsak. Jeg har sjelden stemt Frp, og jeg har ikke vært konsekvent velger av ett parti. Jeg har sågar i et svakt øyeblikk stemt Krf. Den gangen fikk jeg i hvert fall være med å velge statsminister. Når det er sagt var jeg ikke den gangen imponert over hvilke resultater Bondevik 1 regjeringen la frem når perioden skulle oppsummeres, men det er vel slik det blir her i landet så lenge ekstremdemokratiet skal bestemme. Og jeg har heller ikke i dag en Siv Jensen fetisj, selv om jeg synes hun er et friskt pust i norsk politikk. Og ja, jeg synes at hun og hennes parti skal få en mulighet til å vise hva de duger til, eller motsatt. Så får vi satt en strek for i hvert fall den debatten.
Fremfor alt synes jeg det er viktig at den som får majoriteten av stemmer ved valget får et ord med i laget. Ikke den koalisjonen av 4- 10 prosentspartier som finner ut at de har en ting felles, om så det bare er at de har spist middag på samme restaurant en gang i fortiden.
Les programmene nøye, gjør deg opp en mening selv og gå til valglokalene på valgdagen eller forhåndsstem. Det er DU som bestemmer!

Another day,another penny...

I have always been reminded of how fortunate we are, me and others who work offshore.
We earn good money, we dine from a large selection of hot dishes and have smorgasboard every day, we have 3 or 4 weeks off after every 2 weeks offshore, and on and on it goes. I do count myself amongst the fortunate one's.
-Yes, I do have a good job.
-Yes I earn good money.
-Yes, I have 4 weeks off after 15 days offshore.
-And yes, I do have the choice of different dishes when I go to the mess room to eat.
Well, then what's there to say, more than: Good for you, enjoy your stay offshore!
-As usual I want to have a say on the matter as well. BIG SURPRICE! ( That's why I started this blog, remember?)

When I am offshore, I work for 12 hrs. Sometimes 16. 12 hrs x 14 days is 168 hrs total. That's 84 hrs a week, not counting overtime! How many of you landlubbers can say the same?

Sure, I eat well. Not as well as some think though. Cuisine on my workplace passed away years ago from economical causes. But we get fed. -And fat. Which we get constantly reminded of during our bi-annual health-exams and by offshore medic's.

Yes, I make good money. As a kid, I used to dream about having a job that paid a million per year. I didn't get a general education as everyone told me to get if I wanted to earn "real" money. I passed my three years at vocational school, got my papers (how did that happen?) and attended a 5 weeks course for working offshore as a wirelineoperator. Which in turn lead me to where I am now.... Earning a million ( We're not talking $ here guys, norwegian krone is my currency.)

What a prick, you say. No education and no degree and still getting paid a lot of money. Unfair!

Guess what, I'll let you into a little secret:

I don't care so much for the money or the fine meals anymore. My main concern when I go offshore is not how much money I get paid or wether the tenderloin beef on saturday nigth is tender enough. I use the last few days of my time off worrying for my family, my wife, my three kids!
It is not fun for me to leave them for 15 days.
It is not fun for me letting my wife do all the work by herself.
It is not fun for me to put my family second to work.
But guess what; I have to! This is what I do, this is what I have done my whole working life, this is all I know how to do for a living...

And that sucks! But I love my job, do not misunderstand me. I am even pretty sure that I am good at what I do. But I seriously doubt that I would have started working offshore NOW, after having a family of my own. That would be to much. Because I love them, and I miss them every second of my working schedule. That is the price we have to pay, both me and them. Luckily they are very supportive and understanding.
My wife is fantastic in the way she cope with the kids and her work alltogether.

She is truly my everyday hero!

As for what I earn, I contribute to norwegian welfare by paying the equvivalent to my wife's gross income in annual taxes, so I do not even feel guilty for what I earn. I just hope that someday when me or my family need something in return from the government, my years spent paying for and working for our common welfare will give me something in return.

I guess that's what it is all about, giving and getting... It sureis better than envying the neighbours paycheck.

Have a nice day all!

"My dog is worried about the economy because dogfood is up to 99 cents a can. That's almost $7.00 in dog money."
-Joe Weinstein

Another penny, another thought

Hi, I guess the blog haven't really caught on yet :)
But thanks to my former neighbour who bothered to stop by and leave a comment.
If anyone (is there anybody out there?) wonder why I write this in english, it is simply because I have a cousin in Miles City, MT who promised me he'd read in every now and then. So here's to you Nobby ;)

This weekend I am a single dad, but not to worry, she'll be back on Sunday (I hope).
I guess everyone deserves some time off from housekeeping, work and screaming kids. Unfortunately my time off is usually spent "alone" offshore. I'd much rather stay at home and get overrun by three crazy kids, but the bread needs to be put on the table, right? Hopefully the kids will be self-supplied before I get too old to hang around in some exotic paradise on the other side of the planet, or to senile to remember i ever visited! - a quick diversion from what I was supposed to tell you; I am, as I said, a single Dad for a couple of days. Which I thought could be a fairly relaxing weekend. My things to do list was as follows:

-Get up, make breakfast.
-Let kids watch childrens tv while I read newspaper.
-Take kids outside and play for a while.
-Make dinner.
-Put kids to bed.
-Have my well deserved beer :)

However, as anyone who's ever been in the army knows: even the best laid plans will fail at first enemy contact! So, Friday have been like this:

-Woke up at 6:20, baby crying.
-Got up, change diapers, had two paracetamol and a fistful of vitamine-C tablets due to sore throat and runny nose. Slight fever (which is much worse for me than anyone else, I think I'm probably allergic to fever!)
-Drove kids to school. Drove wife to work.
-Collected wife @ work, drove her to bus station and saw her off.
-Drove home, fed kids, put baby to sleep, had 1/2 hour nap myself.
-Had to wake angry baby to get her to birthdayparty in time. Dressed her as wife told me to. Had to fix baby girls hair. No instructions attached,managed to place two pigtails unevenly on head...
-Went to party. Placed cake and jell-o unevenly on babys clothes and face.
-Got home, fed baby, ordered pizza, got baby to bed.
-Had quiet and nice evening with my two boys. Got them to bed at 10.30 pm.
-Found out that I forgot to buy beer, panic! Labourday tomorrow. Shops closed!!!
-Wrote frustrated notes in my Blog!

Now, I am not to complain about this. I know! Much people worse off than me. But you see, I haven't had the proper training for this, and I need some time...
And what really p***** me off about it all is that it is the damn communists fault!

You may ask why, and I'll tell you: The communists gave us the left wing which in terms gave us Labour day, which is really a day off for everyone to be working in the garden after communism died (really, it's dead!!! Don't let anyone lead you to believe anything else) Not even the labour party members bother to march on labour day anymore! AND, it is on a saturday this year, time off for most everyone anyway!
So I blame the commies for me having to spend tomorrow evening wothout beer, as I already drank the ones I had at home, which is most likely why I am writing this ballony right now.

So, if you think this is all B.S, blame communism, I do!!!

Have a nice evening :)

Suddenly remembered.....

Hi, guess who's back?

Me again. And only 6 years after my previous appearance ;p

I have decided to try this blogging stuff again, inspired by a friend of mine which writes some very touching stories about this n'that. Just ordinary stuff I guess, but still living and also in a way that makes you feel the essence of it. And it also makes you think! I have no visions that what I can put up on the board here will arise great philosophies or create the heavy debates, but I'm going to write anyway. Just in case someone finds something that touches them or makes them stop for a minute.

That is something I'd like to be able do once in my lifetime, just because I find it an intriguing thought. To be able to make another individual to reflect upon, or even change his view on things, just because of something I wrote or said. Not necessarily to have that individual think the way I do,or even agree, but to have him/her make a decicion based upon my influence. Whether for or against my opinion.

Reading this might make you say; Now there's a nut, that guy is as crazy as a cracker!
-But then you have misunderstood my intention. I do not want to make someone do something against their will. Simply the idea of creating a thought or an idea in someones mind is what I'd like to be able to do. Something that might change someones life, or view upon things, which even might change a human life. Hopefully for the better :)

As for my 1st (and prior to this, the only one) post on this blog, Dubyah won the first battle, but he didn't win the war (in so many meanings). I think that Barak Obama won the last election at the perfect time. To me, US of A seem like a much more friendly and welcoming superpower now. It's got a president that actually can make a difference. And make someone think in different ways, I hope!
------------------C.H.A.N.G.E!--------------------

What a difference 6 years make :)

See you all soon :)

Upcoming Election

In just over 24 hrs, there will be decided who is going to be the worlds most powerful? human being for the next 4 years.

I just saw the final spastic attempts from senator Kerry and Dubya to gain those last votes.
And of course the both end up with the typical american throw around; God Bless America....

Of course he would, but what about the rest of the world?
I'm hoping, God, that you bless the rest of us poor humans around the world and vote for Kerry!
If not so, I will have to start building that undergound survival chamber in my basement, 'cause I am afraid that his die-hard-with-a-unlimited-licence to take away innocent lives will destroy the little threads tha still holds our fragile society together....

-I'm hoping that all people in the U.S of America with a wish for a peaceful world makes the right decicion on Nov. 2

God bless us All!