Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

Hello Controlant!

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[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.

Do. All. The. Things. Part. Halloween.

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[Photos taken 27 – 31 October 2022, posted online 02 July 2023. Seems like we’re about to get a whole week of no rain!]

Learning from last year’s fiasco of no-pumpkins-left-on-the-day-before-Halloween, I went out and got some a few days earlier. Finnur returned from the UK, Hannah Gadsby’s show finally happened, we went to the summer house with guests, and then had a lot of fun cutting designs into our pumpkins.

My upcoming new workplace sent a message asking for a profile photo, and I got to set up my work account a few days early and start poking around. I quite liked that.

Sadly, the Do. All. The. Things. mania petered out with a whimper, and I found myself returning a chunk of stuff back into the closet with the doors, having exhausted my decision muscle. But, some stuff got done, and I could finally cross it off my chronically ridiculously-long to-do list.

Thursday 27 October 2022

Four pumpkins being safely stored by the garage door, where it’s pretty chilly.

Do. All. The. Things. Part. England

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[Photos taken 22 – 26 October 2022, posted online 01 July 2023. After a mostly miserable and fall-like June, we might get a week of nice weather starting tomorrow.]

The younger kids got two days of winter-break towards the end of October, so we decided to journey to England and say hi to (grand)dad, Shirley, and Anthony.

I made the unilateral decision that Anna would not be traveling with us, since she was busy at university (they have four 12-week courses, followed by one 3-week group-work-course). Thus this was the first trip abroad with just Emma and Bjarki tagging along.

Saturday 22 October 2022

Parked at Keflavik airport, which is terminally under construction. It was freezing outside, as evidenced by the frost on the ground. Brrr…

Do. All. The. Things. Part 3

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[Photos taken 15 – 21 October 2022, posted online 24 June 2023. Perpetual clouds covering our area these days. Thankfully it’s fairly warm out.]

By the third week of my in-between-jobs month, I began to run out of Do. All. The. Things. steam.

We did manage to invite my immedate family up to the summer house for an overnight stay, and had a nice time. Getting back to town took longer than anticipated, but all went well.

I kept up failing at interior designing, went on an evening hike, started working my way through our very out-of-date CD pile (not to mention the floppy disks!), windows got cleaned, gym was visited, and Anna occasionally got a little help with her university homework.

Saturday 15 October 2022

En route to the summer house. The wind was blowing water off the top of the ocean.

Do. All. The. Things. Part. 2.

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[Photos taken 10 – 14 October 2023, posted online 17 June 2023. This day marks 29 years of togetherness with Finnur!]

The month between having jobs had me itching to Do. All. The. Things. that typically are easy to not-do due to one thing or the other.

This week included lunch with mom, summoning electricians, getting a piano-tuner, and attempts at interior decorating, in between the usual shuttling of children, and hanging out at cafes to recharge mental batteries… and plan.

Monday 10 October 2022

Having lunch with mom! We tried the cafe Hygge, and it was indeed quite hygge.

Do. All. The. Things. Part. 1.

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[Photos taken 01 – 09 October 2022, posted online 11 June 2023. Have just returned from a fantastic whirlwind visit to California.]

I had accepted a new job, that would be starting on 01 November. I therefore had a month to Do. All. The. Things. The first thing on the agenda was getting a new computer (as my old one kept flaking out), and attending a birthday party.

Saturday 01 October 2022

Goodbye Marel!

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[Photos taken 24 – 30 September 2022, posted online 27 May 2023. We have clear skies for a bit for the first time in what feels like three weeks or more. May’s been weirdly wet and windy…]

When I resigned at the end of July, I fully expected to keep working there for three months (in Iceland you get three months of salary if you’re fired, and also can be asked to work three months after resigning) but as projects got finished it seemed silly to start doing new things.

So, we came to an agreement that my last day would be Friday 30 September, or about a week after the much-covid-delayed annual ball!

Saturday 24 September 2022

Ok Hiking, Tire Troubles & Autumn Colors

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[Photos taken 17 – 23 September 2022, posted online 21 May 2023. It’s wet and windy outside. ]

The hiking group was back in action, and this time the target was Ok, the ex-glacier (aka The canary in the coal mine of our collective doom).

The hike was “demanding” with endless stretches of rocks in all shapes, orientation, sizes, and colors. On the drive back I then somehow managed to bust not one, but two (!!) tires of the car, needing to get rescued by our guide, and then organize a pick-up truck to go fetch it.

The remainder of the week was spent in mild survival mode as I’d come to an agreement with work to end my employment at the end of the month.

Saturday 17 September 2022

The ominous plaque at the top of Ok the ex-glacier.

End-of-Summer Deck-Building & Biking-to-work

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[Photos taken 02 – 16 September 2022, posted online 20 May 2023. Rainy and windy days, but at least it’s rather warm.]

The weather in September was surprisingly nice, almost Indian-summer-like. This prompted us to finally buy an outside couch for the summer-house, as there was no good way to congregate on the deck otherwise.

Back in town, Finnur put this summer’s deck-building-with-his-dad to good use by helping my brother build a deck at their place. Thankfully the weather co-operated, and they could work long into the evening, as the days were still fairly long.

I found biking to work to be a nice thing to do, and began working slightly shorter days as my work was winding down, having resigned a month prior.

Friday 02 September 2022

Outside couch loaded onto Finnur’s dad’s trailer, and about to be hauled northwards. The weather was amazing!

Naming & Restart of School + Hiking

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[Photos taken 20 – 31 August 2022, posted online on 07 May 2023 from Denmark! Yup, Controlant‘s amazing Annual Ball was held yesterday at the Circus building. So. Much. Fun!]

It was time to name the newest member of the family, and it was a lovely event. A few days later, school started up again, and life began settling into a rythm again.

The weather was good enough to do some staining at the house in the country, and at the very end of the month I went on a hike with the hiking group. In between we met with friends, and life started feeling very normal again.