Øl Time

Just innocently drinking some high quality øl with the guys. Clockwise: me, Jens, Peter, Anders, Henrik. Mini-breweries have become become extremely popular in the past couple of years. The Carlsberg/Tuborg goliath used to run the show almost exclusively, but now it seems like there's a brew made in every town big enough to have its own håndbod team.

The Bike Parade to Bakken

Bakken is København's other amusement park. Less famous, older, cheaper, in the suburbs, and decidedly blue collar, Bakken is the place to go for amusement if you're a local or a drunk Swede. Opening night is celebrated with a massive bike parade from Nørrebro to the famous red gate. Over 5,000 bikes of all shapes, sizes, and vintages make the 10km trip.

This is a Nimbus, the only bike ever designed and manufactured in Denmark. The company shut down many years ago and now these bikes are obvious collectors' items.

If you ever see a bike with this emblem, go ahead and yell out "Hvordan gør det?!" because there's a 99% chance the owner is a proud Dane. Avoid striking up an extended conversation though, because this owner is likely a rabid enthusiast able to drone on for hours about the best bike ever made.

Many of the bikes were works of art, ancient, or just something out of the ordinary, but this one took the cake. Talk about self-expression.

Recruiting for LHAS

We recruited for two days this week at Copenhagen's main technical school, DSE, in Lyngby. LHAS is aggressively hiring these days, and you can see the effort in our impressive recruiting display and manpower (um, actually womanpower). I was very pleased with the size of TT's logo on the display and I'd like to take credit for it. I did my best to convince some of these students that they go to California with me and work for TT, but I feel like I just scared them. In hindsight I was probably most effective when I stood quietly so that my fellow recruiters could point at and talk about me.

Dybbølsbro

Another beautiful morning to be enjoyed before work. This pic means a lot more to me than anyone else because I see this train station twice every day. The station is adjacent to the Dybbølsbro, which means double bridge, as in one for the pedestrians and another for the cars.

Bike theft is a common crime in Denmark, and it's not hard to see why. Many of those bikes are left there night after night and most are not chained to the rack. It's easy to imagine someone with a van stopping in the middle of night to scoop up three or four bikes in less than a minute. Surprisingly, people don't seem to care too much. Losing a bike now and again is just part of living in Copenhagen.

Open Skies

The EU and US have finally agreed to 'open the skies' and eliminate most of the restrictions on EU-US flights. Starting next March, any US or EU airline can fly from any city, to any city. Also part of the agreement, airlines are now allowed to merge with others outside of their country. This is great news for us trans-Atlantic travelers. The number of EU-US flights is projected to increase by 50% in the next six years, and the increased competition will almost certainly lower prices.

Spring = BBQ

Apparently the mild temperatures of spring have come early this year, and I am not complaining. Danes (Scandinavians in general) greatly appreciate nice sunny weather, and when the sun is out the office is conspicuously quiet because everyone has gone home to their gardens and grills. Jovanco, pictured here, invited me to his house to enjoy one of these first days of spring. Days like today make the remaining three months seem not nearly long enough.

Our Coffee Machine

It's a real trooper, let me tell you. All day, every day, it's doing its part to help us survive. The complicated buttons allow you to customize your serving with various amounts of sugar, powdered cream, and chocolate. There's a promising button labeled Espresso, but so far it has only produced a serving of the same old grind. We will keep trying, though, and of course I'll report any new developments.