Usually I don't want to blog at this time of day, even though it's fairly usual for me to be awake. Having the laptop in bed certainly means that it is a bit warmer and more relaxing to be 'netting this early. Also makes it a bit easier to read and keep an eye on IRC.
Finished Jón's bio and have picked up The Great Settler, 1st volume of the biography of Stephan G. Stephanson, probably Iceland's greatest poet of the late 19th and early 20th century, a poor farmer in Canada and the U.S. who emigrated young with his parents in the great exodus of late-mid 19th century which gave rise to those called then and their decendants still now the West-Icelanders. A few years ago I even met some of my relatives from Canada when they visited here. It is quite revealing how they have managed to live in a multicultural society yet never forgotten who their great-grandparents were, where they were from and how that affects who they are today.
Following Morgunblaðið's editorial yesterday about how they did defend and support free speech, but that they did not want to publish overly insulting articles and that namecalling was not they way to support your argument, I was yet again reminded of the "Agnosticism destroys society" speech by the bishop of Iceland (see my blog from January 9th for my reaction then. I'm still astounded that the good bishop in his zeal to sell Christianity is allowed to confuse agnosticism (the Icelandic word being literally 'lack of faith') with 'lack of morals' which is what he is really attacking, but since he's in marketing, he takes what wields better in an attempt to browbeat folks into thinking that good morals must derive from faith, God, and believing Death Is Not The End.
On a much lighter note, I Love My WLAN. Streaming mp3s from my main server wirelessly into my bedroom rocks. Especially since my collection got a little boost from my collegue Svenni and then the extra disk space I have and the power of the new desktop means that ripping the rest of my CD collection is just so much easier.
Oh. Now I remember. Saturday. mmmm... much alcohol, food, dancing, fun people, great music, good conversation and the inevitable finding of people who know people you knew years ago. One of the beautiful things about living in the tiny village that is Iceland. In short Saturday was fabulous, and not even having a useless, clueless coach in charge of the national football team will dampen that.
(this is turning out long??)Many many congrats to my Italian teacher, Paolo Turchi, who grabbed 1st prize on the Icelandic 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' on Sunday.
Never mind that it's only 5 million ISK, about 65 thousand USD and the good old government grabs 38%, still something to enjoy. Going to class tonight will be fun!
'nuf for now, take care y'all.