How to Become a Connecticut Yankee

Tornado

2009-07-27T13:43:00.002Z

We had a tornado come through town a couple of weeks back and we had two trees uprooted in our backyard one of which hit our house.

After clearing the brush off of the back porch we saw this minor damage and called the insurance company.
You can also see our Volvo on this picture.

I´ve already cut and split most of the tree that fell on the house. I´m leaving the trunk of it for now since it´s a Black Walnut and we might be able to sell it. There´s plenty of other trees on the property that simply broke and need to be cleaned up. It doesn´t look like we´re going to have to buy any firewood this winter.

Cuteness with open eyes

2009-02-28T00:53:00.004Z

This is the first decent picture of Siggi with his eyes open.
As you can see Siggi is not the only source of cuteness in this household.
Duncan is pretty cute too.

His cuteness Siggi

2009-02-28T00:40:00.004Z

These are from about a week ago when we took Siggi out to register his birth. Since he wasn´t born at a hospital but at home we have to jump through all these hoops to register him.
There he is with his hat on.
Ready for his snowsuit.
This is the smallest you can get.
Ready to go but not so happy about it.

La Paloma 1/30/09

2009-02-27T13:45:00.002Z

My first time playing since I moved here

I

Siggi, The Valentines Day Baby

2009-02-15T22:22:00.003Z

Our son Sigurður Hubert was born at 3.29 yesterday. 21" 54cm, 7lbs 12oz 3.5kg 14 merkur. Needless to say we´re very happy.

Bumbumynd

2009-02-13T22:14:00.001Z

The belly is about 2" bigger now

The Christmas Picture

2009-01-03T15:40:00.002Z

I took this picture outside of our house on Christmas Eve morning.

It´s Pretty Warm in Here

2008-12-29T16:44:00.003Z

Like so many others the oil prices were killing us and we weren´t even keeping our house that warm too. So we decided to get a wood stove. Now we set the Thermostat to 55 - 60 and the furnace barely ever kicks in. Best of all is that it´s warm in here.

Living Room Done For now

2008-12-29T16:11:00.003Z

When gutting B´s room we had to take the new wiring through the living room to get it to the basement. So we opened one wall there and insulated it and added sockets to it since we were there.
Since I really had no idea what I was doing it took quite a while to get this up and done. It was painted and ready to go Tuesday night before Thanksgiving.

I really don´t like the traditional wood trim around windows so I went Scandinavian style on them. Now I have to go back to B´s room and finish that.

It´s Been a While

2008-11-09T23:34:00.001Z

Not for the first time and probably not the last. I think Edda is correct and Facebook may just have taken over from the blog.

Renovating

2008-07-21T21:23:00.002Z

That's quite a gap.
Oops, no insulation.
Tar wiring and ceramic, nice.
The wonderful pop corn ceiling. Wonder if it has asbestos, had that analyzed and it doesn't.

This is Hardcore

2008-07-21T00:57:00.001Z

My wife really likes to knit, no matter what!

Nobody told me.

2008-07-19T13:14:00.003Z

I watched The Darjeeling Limited the other week and heard some great songs there that I just had to get. To my surprise all of them were Kinks songs. It´s not like I don´t like The Kinks, but I always saw them as a singles band. Now I have a question. How come nobody ever told me that Lola VS. The Powerman and The Moneygoround is a must have record.

Now if you, who ever you are, are reading this and you don´t have this piece of music. Go get it right now!

BMW

2008-05-30T00:38:00.002Z

Yard Work

2008-05-26T21:24:00.003Z

Seven Months

2008-05-11T12:51:00.001Z

Yep it´s been that long since I quit smoking. And I´m still wanting a cigarette every single day.

Spring in Connecticut

2008-04-29T23:47:00.004Z

We've been having days with over 20° Celsius here. Good times.

Tom Lehrer

2008-01-31T12:24:00.000Z

He is a very funny man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNfx0FO4hzs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2If9bVJJLY

Hi Again

2008-01-18T00:51:00.000Z

It´s been a long, long, long time.

Friday Night

2007-11-02T23:05:00.001Z

I´m listening to The Fiery Furnaces new album and drinking beer. I´m going to get drunk tonight :)

Book Meme

2007-10-31T23:24:00.000Z

My wife invited me to do this thing and I think Ólafur Guðsteinn is just the perfect person to do the next one.

1: Hardcover or paperback, and why?

I prefer hardcover simply because of durability and they look better on a shelf. It´s hard to resist the price and the mobility of the paperback though.

2: If I were to own a book shop, I would call it…

That´s a tough call since I´ve never had the slightest longing to own a book shop. Let´s just call it Books or More.

3: My favourite quote from a book (mention the title)

"Black as the chambers of a dead nuns heart" from Nick Cave´s And the Ass Saw the Angel. He reused the line in his song "Up Jumped the Devil" from Tender Prey.

4: The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be…

Kurt Vonnegut or Guðbergur Bergsson

5:If I was going to a deserted island and could bring only one book, except for the SAS survival guide, it would be…

The Bible

6: I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that

Pass

7: The smell of an old book reminds me of…

Nothing, but I love it all the same.

8: If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title) it would be…

Philip Marlowe

9: The most overestimated book of all times is…

Brave New World

10: I hate it when a book…

...that seems to be interesting fails to be so.

of Montreal

2007-10-23T01:00:00.000Z

The show was a lot of fun, a raised stage, cool background screens, Brian Poole had his wings on. They only played songs from their last three albums and the one to come, which I guess was ok.

Opening bands were the exellent MGMT

And the funny Grand Buffet

Tomorrow I won´t have smoked for two weeks.

Two weeks ago I bought an ´88 BMW 325. I´ll post pictures a.s.a.p.

Saturday

2007-10-08T11:10:00.000Z

This coming Saturday we have tickets to see of Montreal in NYC. Could be the concert of the year.

Anniversary

2007-09-30T14:10:00.000Z

Rebecca and I have been married for a year today. We´re going up to Shelburne Falls now.

Mission of Burma

2007-09-22T23:25:00.000Z

Went to see Mission of Burma last night, never been a fan but this concert was quite good, loud and energetic.

Fixing a Cadillac Part III

2007-09-11T11:45:00.001Z

Fixing a Cadillac Part II

2007-09-07T03:56:00.000Z

I got the car primered last night

And here it is tonight, ready for paint. The paint job came out pretty good, couple of runs but no clouds. I´ll post pictures of that tomorrow night.

Vacation at Niagara Falls

2007-09-03T20:49:00.000Z

Two weeks ago we went to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. We had a lot of fun even though the town is a very run down Las Vegasie tourist town. The falls are just that amazing.

Fixing a Cadillac

2007-09-03T20:36:00.000Z

I finally started fixing rust on three doors on the Cadillac. Well I took the door panels and the mouldings off of them. Tomorrow I´m taking the car to the shop and will clean off the rust and bondo it. Hopefully I´ll have it painted early next week.

As you can see the door handles, the window mouldings and the outside mirror are still on the car. I´m not taking that stuff off until I´m ready to paint since I´ll have to store it outside. Don´t want rain inside of the doors.

Cooking With Music

2007-07-03T22:28:00.000Z

I was going to listen to The Clientele while I was cooking a Thai style chicken, but Rebecca beat me to the stereo, while I was out smoking so I guess I´m listening to King Crimson. I guess I´ll live.

Fireflies

2007-06-08T02:16:00.000Z

We have them, it´s pretty cool to see those blinking lights in the yard. And Crickets. I like the sound of Crickets, it´s friendly.

We went to Rhode Island two Weekends ago, it´s not as hilly as the rest of New England. So now I´ve been to five states, the sixth will be added in July when we go to New Hampshire.

My birthday is tomorrow.

Election

2007-05-07T23:48:00.000Z

I´m not voting but took this test for the heck of it. The reason for me not voting is that I would have to take a day of from work to go down to NYC and vote and I just don´t feel like dealing with that.

Stuðningur við Sjálfstæðisflokk: 31.25%
Stuðningur við Framsóknarflokk: 50%
Stuðningur við Samfylkinguna: 75%
Stuðningur við Vinstri-Græna: 31.25%
Stuðningur við Frjálslynda flokkinn: 49%
Stuðningur við Íslandshreyfinguna: 60%

Skoðanir þínar eru í mestu samræmi við skoðanir Samfylkingarinnar!

http://xhvad.bifrost.is/

Nice Day

2007-05-06T02:50:00.000Z

Yesterday was a nice day (apart from the $300 cell phone bill). My boss came to me just before lunch to tell me how pleased he was with my work and told me I´m getting a raise.

When I came home we went out to do yard work after supper. I mowed, Rebecca cleaned out flowerbeds and B cleaned out the fireplace in the backyard and around it. Then in the twilight we started a fire and roasted marshmallows on a branch from a tree. And when I was taking hey and leafs to the compound by the edge of the woods I saw a Bobcat! Very cool.

Finally

2007-04-21T23:04:00.000Z

It´s springtime. 25°C today and a clear sky.

Miscelanious

2007-04-19T00:46:00.000Z

I´ve got a Connecticut Drivers Permit since last Saturday.

I´ve got tickets to see Wilco on June 24th at The Pines Theatre, Northampton.

The river that goes through our town flooded so the main road was closed for traffic. People who parked at a commuter parking lot there still have their cars trapped there in water. I sure hope I won´t have to work on any of them.

I´m currently listening to The Shins.

Some surreal stuff, a guy was bringing in this high school kid who was getting a whiff of what bodywork is, I soon learned that the mentor is a bounty hunter! A few weeks ago a murder of a convenience store owner made the news here. Turned out that the man who got murdered was a friend of the Glass America guy who comes to the shop and that he usually walked his dog by the store to meet his friend around the time he got killed. For some kind of luck he didn´t that night.

50 Cents

2007-04-14T10:30:00.000Z

I just learned that this horrible rapper lives in the same town as I do. Not only that, he lives in Mike Tyson´s old house.

Wilco

2007-04-10T02:02:00.000Z

I can´t wait for the new Wilco album. I bought it on pre sale today, got the Deluxe Package, Rebecca can use the bag for her knitting stuff.

New Fridge

2007-04-08T19:19:00.000Z

Our fridge died the other day so we were forced to get a new one. We looked and looked and the search was going nowhere until we came to a local appliance store. The thing was we did not want anything made in a third world country and it had to be low on energy and fit the space we have i.e. not a side by side fridge.We ended up with this thing here.

The Windshield Wipers on the Cadillac stopped working the day we got the new fridge, actually when I was on my way home from work to receive the guys bringing it! So Pat my boss found me a new (used) motor which I promptly replaced on Friday. Still the wipers didn´t work and I realised that the washer didn´t work either. Last morning everything worked but this morning it didn´t. So it´s quite clear that the lever is broken, a common problem in cars where you can tilt the steering wheel. So now I´ll have to find a new lever (a co worker might actually have one) and replacing it involves taking the steering wheel off!

And finally Wilco will be playing in the area late June and Low will be opening up for them. That will be a nice Sunday night.

Okkervil River Again

2007-03-14T02:58:00.000Z

For some reason or another I decided to log into my Myspace account earlier tonight and saw a bulletin from Okkervil River that they´re playing a charity concert in New Hampshire in July. I ran upstairs to ask Rebecca if she wanted to go and then we bought tickets.

Mac trouble and The Rolling Stones

2007-03-12T01:40:00.000Z

Rebecca´s Mac had hard drive issues so it needed to be replaced. She bought a new hard drive and was able to salvage all files from the malfunctioning one. Then there came the task of actually replacing it. It took us about 8 painful hours to do that. She found instructions online and they also sell mac related stuff and I bought this T-shirt there

Last weekend we took a drive and passed this fleamarket house and decided to take a look at it on the way back. It was a happy happy stop because I found this copy of The Rolling Stones´ Sticky Fingers there.

It cost me $7 and the zipper is in good condition and the record itself is in pretty good condition. It sounds so much better on vinyl than CD.

Supper

2007-02-11T00:03:00.000Z

Should I be worried when an Afghan recipe says the eggplant should be fried until it´s golden brown! Anyway, it´s a great recipe book we discovered after eating at an Afghan restrauant in West Hartford. Óli take notice, fancy kebabs.

It´s awfully cold in here

2007-02-07T01:49:00.000Z

The oil company messed up and forgot to deliver oil to our house and we ran out of it today. It´s -14° outside and when a guy from the oil company finally turned up the heat inside of the house was down to 11°. It takes a long time to heat it up again and now it´s been 2 hours since the guy brought us the oil and it´s up to 13° now.

We called the guy who handles our affairs at the oil company and our next delivery is going to be a lot cheaper than usually and because of this they´re going to have to give us a free tune up, which we needed anyway.

But it´s awfully cold in here.

Vermont

2007-02-04T23:25:00.000Z

We took a drive on the Cadillac up to Vermont yesterday. It´s beautiful up there! One of the best things is that it seems like they´ve been untouched by big business up there. No Wal Mart, Kohl´s or Barnes and Noble´s to be seen. There´s even some wilderness to be seen.

We came to this really weird area in a town called Brattlesboro. There were these upscale Townhouses, wich are expensive apartment buildings, a Trailer Park and this Diner

Diners are not exactly known for fine dining. Anyway Brattlesboro is a really cool town. Kind of like a miniature Northampton.

On the way back we stopped by in Northampton and went to Dynamite Records, our favorite record shop. We bought the new
Cat Power record The Greatest, a record with The Ventures and another one with The B52´s, the one that has Rock Lobster on it.

Lately we´ve been listening a lot to the new record withThe Shins it´s great. Their best one yet in my opinion.

I have been cutting down on my smoking lately and for the past week I´ve been getting closer to only smoking half a pack a day. I reached that goal yesterday! What´s more, I´ve only smoked 5 cigarettes today, without any effort.

Toylet

2007-01-31T14:20:00.000Z

Rebecca´s Honda broke down few days ago. A Engine Mounting and it has only 38.000 miles on it! Well, we needed to have two cars last weekend so we had trouble on our hands.

Luckily my employer offered to lend us his Chevrolet Nova, I don´t know about you guys but this is my mental image of a Cevrolet Nova

But this is the car he has.

It´s really just a Toyota Corolla with the Cevrolet logo on it. Hence the title of this post apperantly the car is nicknamed Toylet around these parts.

I´ve teamed up with a Manchester band called the Silktown Flyers. It´s a basic Rock band and lots of fun to play with.

Got a job for now

2006-12-28T03:30:00.000Z

Talked to the owner of the local Auto Body Shop today and I got a job for now. I wasn´t supposed to start until Tuesday but then he called and asked me to come in tomorrow.

Gleðileg jól

2006-12-24T14:49:00.000Z

It´s the time to be merry and all and the best present is already here. I have my Green Card!!!

The Evens in Hartford!

2006-12-08T21:02:00.000Z

Yep, I´m not lying and nothing ever happens in that town. Sounds too good to be true. They´ll be playing at Charter Oak Cultural Center next Sunday night at 8pm. And it´s an all ages show tickets for $5 and kids under 12 get free admission.

It´s winter

2006-12-08T13:33:00.000Z

It´s -9° outside and windy and feels like -19° according to weather.com and just last week I was wearing a t-shirt up in Northampton. The high today is expected to be -3°, yuck.

On a more pleasant note. We got a new coffeemaker this week and it´s great. It´s a Techniworm Brewer that makes top notch coffee. It boils the water gradually not all at once. And what´s more it seems like the thing is Norwegean.

Dinosaur Jr, Yay!!! Part II

2006-12-01T13:56:00.000Z

When I got to the doors of the venue J. Mascis was standing there talking to a friend (I assume). It was really hard not to bother him.

Support act was that woman from Come, Thalia Zednik or something like that. I was never able to get that band´s bit and for the most part I couldn´t get into her solo stuff either. But to be fair there were a few songs there that were pretty good.

I didn´t bring earplugs to the show (I was advised to but having survived Ham concerts without them I figured they weren´t needed) and I don´t have a buzz in my ears now. The concert was still loud. In October I went to see The Melvins play in New Haven anc compared to this they were singing a baby to sleep.

It was clear that the band was having so much fun on the stage and that the hatched has been buried. I read on the Dinosaur Jr forum that they played a post Lou song, The Wagon, for the first time at their New Haven concert at Toad´s Place three months ago. Last night they had added to that and also played Out There and Feel the Pain.

When I was walking out of Pearl street I almost walked into Thurston Moore.

Dinosaur Jr, Yay!!!

2006-11-29T12:30:00.000Z

I bought me a ticket to see Dinosaur Jr play at Pearl Street Northampton tomorrow night.

Here are the decoration pictures I promised (but no one has complained that are not here)

Happy Thanksgiving???

2006-11-23T02:41:00.000Z

Tomorrow we´re hosting the Thanksgiving party, it´s a bit weird to be celebrating this all American holiday. Pictures of our modest decorations would not upload so I´ll have to post them later.

Cadillac Update

2006-11-09T21:55:00.000Z

Put the dashboard back together today and I didn´t even have to take another look at the Chilton book to do it.

The Cadillac

2006-11-07T22:30:00.000Z

So the Instrument Cluster is out of the car now. Will get the replacement part tomorrow. They´re dropping it off to Unionville Auto Body for me so I don´t have to do the long drive there. That´s nice.

Tomorrow

2006-11-02T22:23:00.000Z

Is the date for yet another step in the immigration process. I have to drive to Hartford to have my Biometrics taken. That means to have my fingerprints taken and possibly more passport style photos.

I saw Bambi today

2006-11-02T22:15:00.000Z

In the edge of the woods in front of our house. I ran inside to get the camera and back out in my slippers. When I finally I had the animal in shooting range I realised the batteries in the camera were dead. Nr. 1 on the to do list now is to replace them!

Here´s a picture of the Cadillac

Good news is that we have decent sterios now. We got a hand me down amp and I bought a CD player at the Good Will thrift store today. Hooked up the turntable and was finally able to listen to my vinyl copy of Okkervil River´s The President´s Dead. Good Times.

I have a new nephew

2006-11-01T16:44:00.000Z

That´s right my sister had her fourth child this morning, congratulations to her.

Yesterday was Halloween, my first. We went to visit friends where B went trick or treating and came back with a huge bag full of candy. It should last him way past next Halloween.

I´ve been working my way through the yard with a leaf blower. I should take pictures.

Okkervil River, a late review

2006-10-31T03:40:00.000Z

Rebecca and I arrived in Nothampton around 8 pm, it was a cold night but that didn´t stop us from heading straight to Herrell´s to have a taste of the best Ice Cream you could ever imagine. Nor did it stop others, we had to wait in line for over 15 minutes.

We were at The Iron Horse at 9.20 the doors were supposed to be opened at 9.30. There was a long line both ways from the doors. One was for those who already had tickets the other one for those without. Just when we had taken our place in the line for ticket holders I looked back and saw a van with a trailer backing and having a hard time with it so I jokingly said to Rebecca that it must be the band arriving and maybe I should offer my help backing the car out. All of a sudden a door opens and Will Sheff walks out of the van. They had just arrived to the club. Shortly after that the people without tickets were told they couldn´t get in the gig was sold out.

The driver finally got the car out of there and drove it to the front door and the band started unloading the trailer. We had to wait out there until 10.30, then they let us in. I was really glad we stopped at the Haymarket for coffee on our way to the club.

A band called Elvis Perkins opened the show and did a good job. They´re energetic and have a fine collection of folky songs. The lyrics were sometimes pretty awkward to listen to and the singer sometimes sang with a fake Irish accent. Anyway they were fun and I suspect these guys could become much better as the years go by. I´m going to be keeping my eyes out for them in the future.

Finally the band everyone was waiting for came onstage and started with a powerful version of Down the River of Golden Dreams, way longer than the album version, which was followed with It Ends With a Fall. Then Will told us why they were so late. They had been playing in Buffalo, New York the night before and were snowed in there, it took them three hours to just to get from the venue they played there to their hotel room!

The show vent on and what we saw was a seasoned band in the heights of their career so far, full of power, selfeconfidence and energy. They did an almost unrecognizeable cover of Iggy Pop´s Some Weird Sin, I loved it as everyone else in the audience. Watching them play Latest Toughs was great, Zachary Thomas and the new guitar player, Brian Cassidy took turns on the tamborine. Zach did the subtle parts and Brian beat the hell out of it.

The Highlight of the show was For Real, everyone sang along, including me and Rebecca. The encore was four songs.

This concert was defenatly a top three concert for me my wife has never been to fond of them but really liked a few of their songs. She came out of there a fan, such is their live power. And this was for a mere $10 admission fee, which is just ridiculus for a band of their caliber. Hell, I´d pay a lot more to see them play.

We bought us 1 one Okkervil River T-shirt each and a copy of their new single, The President´s Dead, on vinyl and got it autographed by Brian, Zach (actually he put his Tag on it so I suppose he´s into graffiti) and Jonathan, sadly we missed the man himself.

Next time they´re in the area, we´re going again.

Just Married

2006-10-07T23:25:00.000Z

Everything went as planned on Saturday. After the beautiful service we went to a photo shoot and for some reason the photgrapher thought Rebecca´s green eyes were blue.

We drove up to Northampton MA after the party to The Autumn Inn where we spent the night. After Breakfast the morning after we headed to downtown Northampton to get decent coffee at The Heymarket. Then we drove up to Shelburne Falls a beautiful small town in Massachusetts.

This week my stepson is on a cruise with his dad and Rebecca and I have planned to see two concerts this week. There´s Ghostdigital, Big Business and Melvins on either Wednesday in Northampton MA or Thursday in New Haven CT. On Friday night we will be going to Northampton MA to see Okkervil River which is one of my favorite bands at the moment.

Last post this month

2006-09-24T01:12:00.000Z

The wedding will be next Saturday and I don´t believe I´ll have any time to post until that´s over. Until next time.

A lot going on

2006-09-15T00:19:00.000Z

Last Friday Rebecca and I went to Town Hall to get our Marriage Licence. It was an experience. The lady handling it had to do it three times over because she kept on making mistakes. Well she finally got it right and then we had to raise our right hands and make an oath that the information we gave were correct. We felt like idiots.

I got my Social Security Card on Monday!!!

We have a dining room again, I finished painting it on Friday and we cleaned it up and rearranged it on Saturday. To celebrate we had a two course meal. Roasted Chicken with mushroom creamy sauce and and Chocolate Souffle for desert. It was yummy.

Now I´m working on the hallway, it´s a lot more work than I thought it would be Hoping I can paint the walls on Saturday, then the moldings early next week.

I´m watching My Name is Earl, good things.

I´m watching Rockstar Supernova

2006-09-06T01:37:00.000Z

And might as well write a blog while I´m at it. Today I went to Hartford to apply for a Social Security Card so I can work. I came in there and there must have been about 30 people waiting in line when I got there, I guess the first working day of the week (yesterday was Labour Day, a national holiday over here) is not a good day to go to any social securty place. I waited in line for about half an hour before it was my turn. The actual applying was nice and easy. I had filled out the form, Rebecca printed out for me, before I got there and that made the lady who received me very happy. She told me I should get the card in the mail in about ten days. So I guess I can start looking around for a job now.

On Saturday we Rebecca and I went to Boston and spent the day there, Rebecca picked up her shoes for the wedding and we cruised the record shops. If any of you ever go to Boston make sure to go to Newbury Street it´s really cool. Note to self: Try not to be using The T when there´s a Red Sox game at Fenway, it gets really crowded.

At last but not at all least. We´ve got tickets to see Okkervil River Oct. 13th!!!

Visa approved!

2006-08-31T12:46:00.000Z

The interview on Monday went well and my Visa got approved. But the stress was not over with, there was some malfunction in Washington so they couldn't finish it Tuesday and I didn't get my passport back until Wednesday morning.

The Flight went well, well it was long and boring, and I finally got there. I landed at JFK and the immigration process went smoothly there. They even gave me a temporary work permit befpore I asked for it. I had to wait for what felt like and hour for my luggage and then another one for the bus to Connecticut.

Interview on Monday

2006-08-22T23:22:00.000Z

So I´m going to the big scary Embassy interview this coming Monday. I´ve had a lot of paperwork to do lately and I had to have a HIV test and lung x-rays to determen if I have TB. Then I went to a Medical Examination where I was asked lots of questions and the doctor counted my testacles!

I have to provide evidence of my relationship with Rebecca, which seems kind of silly to me. How do you prove a relationship? That´s stuff like emails, pictures, passport stamps and so on.

I´ve been selling off stuff lately, last night I sold my Marshall JMC 800 stack and tonight I sold the BMW. Here´s a picture.

While I´m at it I suppose I should post a picture of the one I had before that because I want to.

Now that was a cool car and pure joy to drive.

I have a ticket to fly to The States on the 30th this month. Hopefully everything will be OK at the interview and I´ll be able to leave then.

Approved

2006-07-11T16:45:00.000Z

Our application has been approved at the Vermont Service Center. That means that it will get sent to the National Visa Center, that part of the process is supposed to take from 2 to 4 weeks and then it gets sent to the US Embassy in Iceland.

I guess I´m a lazy blogger

2006-07-09T23:10:00.000Z

It´s been quite some while since my last blog it seems. Not like I think there are many people reading yet since I haven´t told that many people about it.

We´re still waiting for the application to be approved. There was some issue with US Homeland Security not doing their job and adding a few questions to the application and that has been holding everything back in the whole Visa process. Anyway we are lucky ones since we applied at the Vermont Service Center which is supposedly the fastest one.

We have had news that people who applied there about the same time as us have been getting approved so we´re getting a bit hopeful but still worried to let our hopes up.

Anyway, Rebecca was here for an extended weekend last week. We went to Djúpavík and stayed at the hotel there for a night. On our way back to Reykjavík we stopped at Blönduós and then we drove Kjalvegur back. It was very nice to have her here.

Now we´re waiting for her next visit in August when she brings the kids here for the first time. I can´t wait.

We´ve got a case number

2006-06-11T01:22:00.000Z

Well it´s a start, now we just have to wait and wait and wait for them to actually start processing it. Hope it won´t take long.

Had family and friends over for my birthday today, it was nice. First time I´ve done that since I was 19. To actually invite people over that is.

Went to a car exhibition with a friend after the party, it was ok. The coolest car there was a Buick Electra, probably an early 60´s one. Too bad it was poorly restored.

It was 35 years ago yesterday

2006-06-09T23:44:00.000Z

that I was born, I was going to post my birthday post then of course but the site was down for maintainance. Tomorrow I´m having friends and family over for coffee and cakes, too bad Rebecca and her kids can´t be here too, well. She´ll be here in just three weeks for a short visit. I can´t wait.

This morning I read in the morning paper that a guy who died in a car crash two days ago was an old friend of mine, I hadn´t met him in four years. It´s really sad.

We´re still waiting to hear from the Visa people in Vermont.

we´ve got the visa receipt

2006-06-04T20:44:00.000Z

Yep and here it is

Now we have to wait until they start processin it. We hope it won´t take too long.

Election Day

2006-05-27T13:19:00.000Z

Yeah it´s election day here in Iceland for town councils. I kind of feel like this time around it´s none of my business since I won´t be living here anymore. I know I will still go and cast my vote. I´m not even sure which party I should vote for to tell the truth. It´s all the same if you ask me.

I might go to visit a friend tonight and watch the election day TV broadcast and have a beer or two.

Blogger ate my post

2006-05-27T11:25:00.000Z

Last night I wrote a pretty long post and spent a long time doing it and then when I published it it disappeared. Now I´m trying to make up my mind wether to rewrite the thing or not.

Lesson learned is to save future blogs on word before proceeding to publishing.

It´s in the mail

2006-05-23T21:38:00.000Z

I seriously doubt this blog will be useful as a guide to become a Connecticut Yankee and it´s not really my aim. I just figured it would be a cool title for an Icelanders blog who´s eventually moving there and of course by naming it that, honor the great Mark Twain at the same time.

In October 2004 I met an American woman at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival. We got to talking and since she was travelling alone I invited her to join me and my friends when we changed venues which she accepted. She joined us the following night as well. Then we said goodbye and we thought that was it.

Months later I received an e-mail from her and we started corresponding. I think it took me not more than 2 weeks to fall in love with her, it took her somewhat longer to fall in love with me. Anyway we ended up in love, and together, engaged the 12th of April and in different countrys. We aim to change that and today Rebecca mailed the forms for a fiancé visa up to Vermont.

We hope it won´t take to much time to process and aim to get married in the US the 30th of September.

Other things, it´s apparently still winter here in Iceland and it´s been really cold lately. We thougt it was summer already after a few really warm days. I hope summer is not done with us already.

Today when driving home from work I discovered a fith gear in my car, I´ve had it for two years. That´s kind of embarrassing since I´m a bit of a car guy. In my defense I have to say that the gear stick says it´s only four gears and I just believed that. Hey if I wasn´t a bit of a car guy I probably wouldn´t have been messing around like that and wouldn´t have found the fifth gear.