A ride in the park…

Jan is in a continental mood these days, but on Saturday we went together with Ruben to the Dyrehaven park, just north of Copenhagen. Ruben was the instigator of the good idea to see the park before it starts to bloom. And for me its quite good to get around a bit, to get to know my new home town.



We found a place with a huge fallen tree and made camp there. Sitting down on a blanket that Ruben laid out, we enjoyed some cookies and coffee (yep) that he also Ruben brought along.


On our way back to the city among the things we rode past was a tree that is 800 years old, where Jan had some fun on Rubens expense.

We also rode past Arne Jacobsen’s petrol station, famous for its slick design. What if all petrol stations were designed like that?
The rest of the evening we spent at Rubens eating a splendid meal.

(And for all you who are wondering when I'm going to publish a picture of Jan in his new track suit, he first have to go for a run. I don't think I'm going to make him put it on unless he is going running).

Sad in Slovenia..

No, don't worry. I am not really sad. I am, however, in Slovenia. Unlike my latest trip to Michigan, I haven't had a chance to do anything touristy ... it's been a long day with meetings and presentations.

This afternoon, I had the pleasure of delivering my own presentation on the super-duper interesting subject of "The conflict between data protection and data archiving". Power points available upon request. So now I am off to tonight's conference dinner.... It's all good.

So what's with the sadness? Well, that was just the first word that came to mind when I decided to shoot a few pics for this blog - and the results were, oh well - kind of sad: The view from my window, my messy anonymous hotel room and, the saddest of all, me taking my own picture in the mirror!! Anoyone agrees?

Living the Blessing whilst marked with Death

Today I stumbled across a video that has a certain relevance to me and my family. It’s about a particular type of ailment and a particular type of attitude towards life. Seemingly the one thing contradicts the other, but in truth they have so much to do with each other. An existential philosopher like Heidegger tells us that death gives life direction, and therefore we need to learn to die well in order to live well (as you find in the Christian literature called Ars moriendi). Life and death is interdependent.



Remember to live (memento vivendi).

(and please forgive me for blogging something from Opera...).

Mission accomplished

Today, I did not take any pictures. Instead, I spent the morning with the staff of the Bentley Historical Library discussing solutions for digital records management and long term preservation. After lunch, I had my presentation for Nancy's class, followed by discussion and a lot of good questions from the students.
After having finished this, I went to my hotel for a nap - and at 7 Nancy and Elisabeth picked me up so we could go out for dinner. Today burger and beer was on the menu. I like it here!

Michigan, day 2

Who would have thought that I would actually consider going back to Michigan for tourist reasons?? Well today, we went to the Henry Ford Museum which was a place that I need to get back to. Period. As usual, I took too few pictures, but at least I got one of the car that Kennedy was in when he was shot.
After the museum, we went to a humongous plant where they make Ford trucks. Very impressive.

The day began with a very interesting visit at the Gerald Ford presidential library where the staff had been so kind as to find some records pertaining to Denmark.

The day ended with dinner at a nice restaurant with Nancy and two of her colleagues. Absolutely enjoyable.

Tomorrow I am going to write something that should give the impression that I am actually here for work....

Lack of generosity...

I hear that confessions on the internet is a new trend. If you feel guilty about something, you can go to certain websites and write your confessions. Well, I think I will do it right here on our blog. So here goes:
Yesterday, when I boarded the plane to Detroit in Amsterdam, I was not particularly looking forward to 8½ hours on a plane. However, at least I knew that I would have an aisle-seat because I had checked in on the internet in advance, and thus secured the much valued aisle-seat. I REALLY hate not sitting at the aisle, especially on long flights. That little luxury of being able to stretch your legs as well as get up without having to ask one or more other passengers to move is important to me.

Anyway, when I reached my assigned seat, a man was already seated there. I looked bewildered, but he immediately explained the situation: He travelled with his wife, who was seated in the window-seat and he had been assigned the window-seat in the row behind her. Would I mind to take his window-seat so that the two of them could sit together? ARRRGH!

I simply could not find it in my heart to exchange my beloved aisle-seat for 8½ hours of no leg room and general claustrophobia. So I refused to swap seats, and felt awful about this lack of generosity for at least 15 minutes. And I guess there is still a hint of guilt..... But boy, did it feel good to be able to stretch my legs and get up without asking anyone? You bet.

Michigan, day 1

After arriving in Ann Arbor, MI, late last night, I had the pleasure of spending today exploring with Nancy, who arranges my stay here, and Elisabeth, a Danish colleague who happens to be at the University of Michigan at the moment. First on the agenda was service in an African-American Baptist Church in Detroit. It was a great experience and we were warmly welcomed.

After the service (we left after 2 hours and 15 minutes...) we went to a mansion built by a "lumber-baron" where we ate the most delicious brunch I have had in a long time. Yum! The building was very "nouveau riche" and interesting as such. But the decor was absolutely over the top. Unfortunately, I only took one picture, that doesn't really convey what the place looked like.
Then we went on to the Detroit Institute of Arts, where we admired the Detroit industry murals by Mexican artist Diego Rivera. We also looked at native american art, before it was time to relax with a cup of coffee in the court yard.

Dinner was an Italian sandwich, followed by a cup of coffee at Starbuck's...... mmmm