Changes in Latitudes

This week I finished the not so exciting job of scrutinizing sonar! Now I can begin with some statistics to see what these mackerel were doing in 2010. My supervisors are also very excited that the project is progressing to the next phase so that they can be a bit more involved. [My sonar transects in NW, NE, SW and SE Atlantic/Norwegian Sea] In the meantime, I did some more holiday decorating and have been preparing for my Norwegian exam. One of my supervisors wants me to hold a little presentation for them only in Norwegian! That should be interesting haha [kjøleskap snømann]

Nah. It's after Thanksgiving and we will only get to enjoy them until Dec. 13th because we'll be going to visit Carolyn right before spending Christmas in Oslo. This morning I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and no rain! So I'm looking forward to a nice light jog around the neighborhood. No, the other walls in our apartment are not painted green. Although, that would have been a very funny surprise for Marius when he gets home tomorrow!

Nothing really big has been happening - so that's why there haven't been any posts in a while. I have been working on my thesis, as usual, but finally finished with cleaning the sonar data, so now I can move onto the exciting part - seeing what the fish are actually doing! [New carpet and fixed couch!] In the meantime, Marius and I got a new rug for the living room - fluffier and bigger to protect the floors from the pointy couch legs. We also got a new cabinet from IKEA to put the aquarium on -- woohoo exciting! (haha). We are excited for our little trip to London in December. We will officially be among a group of Norwegians that go to London for their shopping - very fancy! I bought the three of us tickets to hear Clare College Cambridge Christmas choir concert. What a cozy way to get into the Christmas spirit! [The penguins are right next door to one of the other IMR buildings, so I ate lunch with them today]

[Halloween in Landås] We got two pumpkins again this year and carved them today. We did one more decorative with lots of holes; an idea I saw on Treehugger.com and the other was traditional style by Marius' imagination. [So much concentration!] [Using power tools to git-er-done!] [Got creative even without the stencils and little knives] [My modern decorative pumpkin]

When you decide to "stop" by IKEA, make sure you have the entire day set aside only for IKEA activities. Today, Marius and I went with the idea of just buying a reading lamp for the livingroom. We didn't decide on a lamp, but instead brought home a tv table and shoe cabinet. The assembly, re-arranging and cleaning took 7 hours. We are very happy with the result!!  [I did help for most of it, but  I was also designated picture taker!] [Completed 'entertainment station'  with sliding red doors] ["skoskap"- shoe cupboard that I put together myself!] 

[A look down the ski jump] [old ski poles with different functions] This weekend I went to Oslo to spend some time with Marius and his parents. When I arrived on Friday, Marius and I baked two loaves of cranberry walnut bread as a thank you for flying me out. Saturday morning we woke up to snow! It was snowing! What?! Marius started whistling "Deck the Halls" -- way too early!! We took a little day trip to Holmenkolen ski jump and went to the Ski museum. Nothing much to it, but when you're Norwegian all you think about is skiing all year, so the snow earlier that morning was quite fitting. Believe it or not, there is interesting history with skis; maybe I'm becoming more Norwegian now. Sunday was another morning of a little snow, however, followed by rain. After looking at some apartments that  Marius wants to buy to rent out to students, we went to the new modern art museum in Oslo at Aker Brygge. There was a warning when you walk in: "Some of the exh...

[Foto: Leif Nøttestad] ICES recommends lower catch quota for the next year. (link) From the abundance estimations of mackerel, herring and other pelagic fish species, the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has recommended that the quota for fishing mackerel be reduced by about 100 000 tonnes; and over 200 000 tonnes for herring. Over the past ten years there has been a significant decrease in zooplankton in this region of the Atlantic, which is the primary food source of migrating pelagic fish. It is believed that because of the way in which mackerel feed during their summer migration (passive filter-feeding), they out-compete herring in overlapping regions. This competition ultimately leads to a depletion of resources...yada yada yada. If fishing continues at the pace it was set for this year, then the scientists at the Institute of Marine Research believe that a collapse in the mackerel and herring stocks is possible. This is another reason why my thes...