Vegas baby! VEGAS!

Well I am moved to Vegas, the stuff will hopefully be picked up today and arrive some time in the second half of the month.

the apartment complex I am living in is allot like a hotel... or at lest it has that feel, a workout room, pool, spa, with a nice view of the mountains. The lot next door is a solar farm so there is a nice view across it to the mountains :)

Today is also the first day of work, got the first day jitters.

So here is hoping for a good day 1.

PS. Photos coming soon(tm)

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Well computer is all packed up, and I am posting this from the iPad. Tommorow i will board a plane for Canada and not be back to Iceland for a few years,mwell maybe for fan fest :)

It has be a interesting 4 years and I am going to miss this country, and a lot of people. K, D, and S will be especially missed. The ocean has grower on me, I love it, I even like the wind here, except when it is cold.

Iceland I will miss you.

The 20%

As most of you know now, CCP had 20% layoffs, I was part of them :( So the chapter of my life spent living in Iceland will be coming to a close.

I am going to miss living here, there was something about living in Iceland that resonated with my being. Even the blowing rain sideways could not make me dislike living here. Sure it was not all roses and butterfly's, but the ruggedness of the country appealed to me.

AS of the 27th I will be flying out of here, probably not to return for many years, but I will come back at some point, there is still more of Iceland that I want to see.

I am going to miss the fireworks at new years, the crystal blue sky that goes on forever during the summer. The moss covered fields and rugged piles of dirt they call mountains... :P

I will be leaving behind a group of wonderful co-workers and a few good friends that I will miss dearly.

Every door closes eventually, but the future could be even more exciting.

Went Down under...

Well not Australia, but underground. On Friday Kenny, Diana, Stuart and I went on a cave spelunking tour.


This isn't the entrance, the entrance is this small hole that you need to drop through, my t-shirt and jacket where riding up around my armpits when I got down.



The first room is the ice room, during the winter the whole room covers in ice and icicles, now only another kilometer to go to the other end...



I had expected something like walking along a cobble stone street when I think of lava tubes, this was nothing like that! This was scrambling over lose shifting rocks from the size of a baseball, up to a small piano in size. You had to test every footstep before going. And to top it off I had a flashlight that kept flickering off.

About 600m in I felt like I was at the limit of my endurance, I was taking longer to recover each time I stopped and was stopping more often, to top it off I slipped and landed on my ankle and it HURT! ALLOT!!! Had to sit that one for a bit.

The problem with sitting is that you get hot moving, but when you sit you get cold fast, it is only about 6C in that part of the cave. So you cooled down fast! No matter how tired you where you got up and kept moving to stay warm.

We came across many interesting rock formations, I didn't dig the camera out for each of them, but we saw ledges like in Indiana Jones movies, we sat rock that had dripped down the side of the cave, we saw puddles of rock that had cracked clean through and we saw this where the rock had cooled while dripping from the ceiling.



We got past the 700m of rock scrambling and hit the lava tube, this part went smooth as it really was as smooth as a cobble stone street.

Saw a 15m deep lava pit, didn't take a picture of it, looks like a hole in the ground. We had lunch at the lava pit.



Then we realized we would have to do it all again to get back out..


The return trip went faster, I think as we knew what to expect. And made it back fairly quick, at least it seemed faster. Our guide I swear could teleport! I would be looking for a footing and he would be behind me by a few meters, then I would look up and he would be 10 meters in front of me... On the way back I think I figured out part of what he was doing. It seemed like the trick was to plan a half dozen steps ahead of time, then go, let your momentum carry you from one rock to the next and the next... He would stop and look then move across the tops of the rocks. He obviously didn't have a bum ankle like me, I tried what he was doing but my ankle would scream and I would falter.. I did get along better and if I pushed through the pain knowing that the next step would re-leave the pain I got along good.

We got back to the entrance and scrambling out that hole was challenging, we where then presented with the walk back to the van, that was another half hour walk in a traditional side-ways rain storm with a touch of hail added.

All toll it was not enjoyable but well worth the time and pain spent to see the lava tube, once I have recovered I will have fond memory of the trip.

Its the longest day of the year...

Welcome to the longest day of the year, and we have nice sunny weather here today..

A wee walk, and climbing on fairy homes

I started the morning with a walk up to the towner on the hill, the group wasn't getting going until 9:00 am so I had lots of time..

The path had this neat anti-rockfall mesh, like giant chain-mail.


the tower was kinda small, but neat to look from



We then got together and headed for the river Leith(sp?) where it is told is the tears from a Scottish giant maiden that was crying over her lost love that went to Ireland. The legend goes that those who put there face into the river will have beauty for the rest of there lives.



We then went to a light house on tip of the isle of Skye and had to walk down, and up and down the hills to get there. Lots of UP :(


Then we headed to the Fairy glen and climbed on there home.

It is said that stacking the rocks and leaving tokens for the Fairy will bring you luck, so I left a 50Isk coin on the rocks.


The next day we where on our way to Inverness, Castle Dun Vegan, and loc Ness.

A wee trip to the higlands

Well day two we left early and headed to Pourtree, a Town on the isle of Skye. We took the ferry across so had to be there by 5:30 to ensure we made the 6:00 ferry (the last of the day)

Our first rest break was a Hamish the Highland Coo..


There was also a loom set up there on how they weave tartans.


We stopped at the Onich hotel for lunch, Had a good lunch and had some time to walk on the beach.





Then we where back on the road again and our next stop was the Harry Potter Bridge :) It was in the first movie as the Hogwarts train steamed across the bridge.


It is also known as the glen Finn-en monument


Any who.. we made the ferry at 4:30 so caught the 5:00 one so where where ahead of schedule. There was a cool statue on the docks that we saw as we set sail.




We got to Pourtree early and got set up in hostels, B&B and hotels and then wandered for dinner.


After i wen't to bed i flipped on the TV and was watching the movie "The brides made' at one point in the movie they are in Scotland and they all hop in the range rovers and head to the pub. And there was a shot of the cars going along the docks to the pub. So look at the above picture and picture a line of ranger rovers driving past the buildings.. It was cool, I was there...)

For the record the pink one is not a pub as the movie shows it, but a hotel.

Anyway end of day two, i start the morning with a walk up to the tower you can see above the hostel.