[Photos taken 01 – 11 November 2022, posted online 19 July 2023. The weather finally turned summer-like in July, and I’m officially on summer vacation, whoohoo!]
I started working for Controlant on 1st November. It’s an Icelandic startup from 2007 that was in the right place, with the right connections, at the right time, when Covid-19 hit, and Pfizer needed a way to monitor in near-real-time the temperature of the covid-vaccine that needed to stay below -80°C / -112 F at all times, before use.
The Contolant logger and monitoring-platform was chosen, and delivered great results, coming close to eliminating transport losses due to temperature issues, which generally hover in the 20-30% range (!!!).
I’d had my eye on the company for a while, and actually remember speaking to one of the founders briefly about it in the teacher’s lounge when I was teaching at the University of Iceland some 10 years ago, and he was still a graduate student!
Anyway, when I joined I was employee number 4-hundred-and-something, and now it’s up to 5-hundred-and-something. It’s interesting times!
As a side effect, my brain was completely fried for a while, as I tried to learn a lot of new things, and I barely took any photos besides of me going to and from work, it seems!
Tuesday 01 November 2022
I decided to bike to work, it’s so close it’s hard to justify driving there unless you are going somewhere else too! I had some fun trying to figure out how to navigate around the construction area on the way.
Oooh, brand new grass!
The company story-wall in the reception.
Predictably, the first few days were all about getting my laptop set up, and reading onboarding materials. The laptop bit included a terrifying spell of “memory training”. Who comes up with these things?!
Scrumptious food at a sewing club that evening.
Wednesday 02 November 2022
We discovered water in the bathroom cabinets… Finnur the plumber went to investigate.
Turns out that (probably) I had managed to unscrew the sink drain from the pipes, as I was unscrewing the drain lid in the sink to clean the area around it. Ooops!
Hmmmm, this will need fixing.
I decided to try and improve my jogging, and tried the treadmills at the gym to warm-up before practice. Turns out you shouldn’t try jogging in flat weight-lifting shoes, it destroys them.
Thursday 03 November 2022
Quite dusky at 8 am. Also, a dusting of frost on the ground. Time to put the studded tires on the bike.
There is a large new residential area being built in the area between the older building I work in and the Smáralind (penis-shaped) mall. It’s quite cramped and foreign-looking.
Finnur keeping the Halloween spirit alive.
My group at work went out for dinner, I got some sort of crepe-sandwich. It was pretty good!
Northern lights dancing outside our bedroom window at 11 pm.
Friday 04 November 2022
Another jogging attempt. I find it’s easier to pay attention to the technical part when you’re on a treadmill. I tend to take strides that are too long, and tilt my pelvis awkwardly.
The parking situation around my workplace is pretty bad, so when I arrived at 9 am (after gym) I started out parking at the mall, and walking up the hill. Later on I got access to a parking garage.
As I’m writing this in July 2023, this house now has 6 floors, and windows have been put in.
World still frosty at noon-time.
Saturday 05 November 2022
At tea-time, we found ourselves in the west end of town. The view over the sea is always nice.
Birthday child hiding in her room.
Mom with her newest grand-child.
I was still working on some things, so to Ikea I went.
Found these organizational buckets that worked nicely with our weird metal staircase to contain various exercise equipment.
Sunday 06 November 2022
It was time to put away the piles I’d all but given up on sorting through, but I found a small energy-spark, and spent it on finding and discarding old CDs like this Interactive Movie Guide from 1994.
CDs on the way to the recycling center.
Much to my joy, some stretchy bands with hooks that I’d picked up at Ikea were perfect to contain our rollers! Finally, less messy!
Monday 07 November 2022
A sure sign that Christmas is right around the corner!
Tuesday 08 November 2022
The Controlant logo. The company is currently occupying three full floors in this building, and is in the process of adding more and more space in surrounding buildings, aside from the offices abroad.
Looking right, to the building cranes.
Friday 11 November 2022
Another post-morning-gym walk past the building site.
Happily, my office mates were pretty good about opening the windows to get fresh air, but at the same time, it got cold quickly. So, I went and got myself an office-woolen-thing. It lives in the office, and I now have another blue one for home!
