A new twist on the 'job hunt'...

Well, now that I'm here, it's time to look for a job. Hrm...ah...here's something:

Vikings wanted

OSLO, Norway -— Help wanted: Vikings. Must be friendly, tourist-oriented and interested in ancient Norse traditions. Crazed, bloodthirsty pillagers need not apply.

In a rare employment opportunity for Vikings, whose job market peaked about 1,000 years ago when they terrorized Europe in their longboats, southern Norway's Vestfold county wants to fill slots at its local historical park.

The ad, to appear in local media Saturday, will be simple: "Jobs available. Vikings in Vestfold,'' with a link to the center's Internet home page, said Lars Kobro, self-described chieftain of the Midgard Historical Center.

"More and more we see that tourists are interested in Vikings,'' Kobro said Tuesday. "They don't want just exhibits, but face-to-face encounters.

But the center is seeking to play down the Scandinavian Vikings' reputation as wild, murderous looters who pillaged and burned through much of Europe, a claim Kobro said was largely exaggerated in texts left by ancient English monks.

"They were really more traders and merchants,'' said Kobro. He said they are seeking a corps of about 50 part-time Vikings, ready to turn out at the center when needed.

Unfortunately, I'd have to relocate again. To Oslo. And, while leaving the country isn't necessarily a bad idea, I'm not about to do it right now. I think we'll hunker down here and weather the storm in this brick fortress.

(Thanks to James for this)

Limbo, cont.

It was easy. Too easy.

Actually -- there haven't been many problems. The wireless network has been more or less behaving itself (always miraculous) and my project this weekend was to get my new desk built & my real computer up & running. Laptops are useful conveniences, but I really don't like using them more than necessary. My wrists particularly dislike them.

Mission accomplished -- I have just finished constructing the most insidious piece of particle board furniture I've ever had the pleasure (?) to construct. Someone really went nuts with their CAD/CAM. Hooking up the system itself was a breeze -- the advantage of the new desk is that it's intelligently designed, and allows for all my various pieces parts & their cables, while providing easy access to my tower. Pretty miraculous, really.

Of course, I'm sharing the room with a lot of plastic sheeting, some cheap plywood, the vanity from the bathroom that isn't quite done yet, and a wet/dry vac. So it's not yet ideal. But once I'm at the keyboard--I could care less. Hopefully, the bathroom will be done in the next week or so. (Theresa -- it's going to be Alien Bathroom 2.0.)

But enough minutiae. Tomorrow, I'll be back to blogging proper, rather than blathering numbingly on the minutiae of cheap computer desks. I've barely even been reading -- just packing, moving, and unpacking, and planning & preparing for doing much work on the house.