Something by
Claus Ulstrup
.

Last update 2018-05-21
Next update 2018-05-28

Fixed galleries
2017
- Norway
- Sicily
2016
- Sicily
- Leipzig (Coming soon)
 

Because of Whitsun day I had Monday off. Saturday I drove into the woods of Sweden. I went to a familiar place near Osby, where I have been through the last 10 years. Tina is not into being one with the nature, so she stayed at home.

Tree climbing has been a passion for some time. From being a beginner I would now consider me an experienced tree climber. When I have my boots or bow, no tree is safe – except the rotten ones.

A standard solo tree climb:
1) I attach my dynamic climbing rope to the tree or equivalent according to the same principles as a top anchor.
2) I put the rope in a Grigri I have in the belay loop
3) Sets a prusik on the rope as an additional safety
4) Binds a knot on the rope after approx. 5 meters, this knot I move, as I climb. Worse case - if the Grigri fails I don’t hit the ground.
5) I start climbing
6) As I climb, I give myself rope through the Grigri and set safety point with slings and quickdraws
7) I use a Via Ferrata shock absorber if I need temporary safety along the way.
8) I rarely climb higher than I can (the same rules as top anchor) put rope around the trunk and abseil down without leaving equipment.

If there is no branches near the ground, I usually throw a line or use my bow

1 / 14

The camping spot near Osby

2 / 14

cotton wool and vaseline as firestarter

3 / 14

And the result

4 / 14

And later on - good I had my chainsaw with me

5 / 14

First tree of the day

6 / 14

But first - go away you angry snake

7 / 14

First top of the day

8 / 14

Don't worry - perfectly safe to do

9 / 14

A self of course

10 / 14

Sunset from another tree

11 / 14

Sunset from another tree (again)

12 / 14

Putting the gear in order

13 / 14

of course - I had to play with my 4,5 air rifle

14 / 14

Took four shoot to hit three water balloons at 50 meters

❮ ❯

This spring has been very good. There have been a lot of sun and a pleasant 20 degrees. It is an enjoy to ride the Citybikes to and from B&Ws and just sit on our balcony.

One's happiness dependents on how one adjust went life takes a dive though the rabbit hole. This has been one of the strangest weeks for some time. Monday came late at works because of train problems and all the citybikes had been hacked. Tuesday went to B&W’s but sucked because my body had begun to reject me. On Wednesday one of my colleagues went ballistic. I decided to work from home the rest of the day. In the evening Tina and I went to Louisiana - Museum of modern art and got the first dent in our 3 week new Subaru XV.

Enough whining - Let me you though the week chronological:

Monday: On way to work Monday I got stuck on Flintholm Station. When trains are cancelled or delayed in rush hour thinks quickly gets chaotic. Therefore I have a backup plan called Citybikes. On Monday the train was delayed by at least 10 minutes and the info screens indicated the next train would be a short train. I know from experience, that this combination means chaos. At Flintholm there are two Citybike stations but all the bikes were out of order. On their homepage they had a news about, that their systems has been hacked. By the time I figured out, that my backup plan had failed, it had almost been 10 minutes. Back to the station and thankfully the info screen indicated a long train. It was a tight fit, but luxury compared to worst case scenario. I later heard that the hacking most likely was an inside job – maybe someone unhappy?

Tuesday: My body has been a kind of tired after I cut down a tree on Sunday. At B&W’s it was very visible. Both my arms and fingers gave up. To be honest I might have pushed myself to hard lately. Of course there are many factors to take in account when one is evaluation one’s performance – but still, I feel very tired in my body.

I had both Thursday and Friday off because of the ascension of Jesus (public holiday in Denmark). Instead of doing something active, I have done absolutely nothing between Tuesday evening and Sunday morning.

Wednesday: I must admit, the mood at work was a kind of unpleasant after one of my colleagues went very very angry. I decided to work from home rest of the day. On the way home I visit Holms bakery and enjoyed some compulsive eating.

In the evening Tina and I went to Louisiana - Museum of modern art. We wanted to see both Picasso ceramics, Gabriele Münter and of course have dinner. I am not the greatest art lover but the Picasso Exhibition was really great. I love the way he use colors and shapes of clay. However the Gabriele Münter was a kind of boring, so it was a quick passthrough.

Went we came out to the parking lot someone had left a parking dent in the side door of our 3 week new car. I left a note in the window of the car next to ours. Later he rang and he could not recall making a dent in our car – total crap. A internet search indicates that it will cost around 200 Euro to get I fixed.

All the lockout and strike talk is over. Finally the negotiations have ended. Over the next 3 years I will get a 6,25 percent pay raise. I haven’t spent time on understanding, if there should be any downsides. But still, around 2,1 percent a year don’t sound much. Anyway it is still better than going on strike.

Because 1. of may (holiday day) was a Tuesday, I took Monday off as well. I have been working on our shit house, trying to improve the walls and preparing for a complete paint job. We live in an old building from 1892. I think our shithouse was meant to be a cleaning cabinet in the beginning, where the shithouse was down in the yard.

I have tried to fix all the major cracks with sand filler. Next step is going to be sandpaper, a box around the pipes with shit, something about the lighting and of cause last, a complete paint job. This little project is probably going to take some weeks, before I am finish.

I have now made the box around the pipes. But everything is so narrow. I might have to take down the box again. Tina is complaining about lag of space and her ass.

At work things are still a little psycho like. I had to spend two full working days on the last session of the counseling course. If things cool down a little, it might be possible to get a little job satisfaction back again. In connection with the counseling course I have to deliver a kind of an examination paper, and make a presentation the 31. of may. I am not look forward!

Sunday I cut down the last half of a birch tree. I did the first half last Sunday. With sweet 19 degrees and blue skies it was an enjoyment. It was a very high tree, almost the highest in the neighborhood. It turned out, that the tree had begun to rot from the inside. I would probably just have been a matter of time, before it would have crack anyway.

Time is a funny concept. Time is a constant, but still, some times it goes faster than other times. This week has been super busy week, but still manageable. When I think back, Monday seems like ages way.

Because the Danish government wants to limit the public expenses, we had to write an important paper to our director at work. I delivered the numbers and a colleague wrote the text. I hope the result is going to be, that we are permitted to spend all the millions which we already have been granted by the city council.

SAP local news – Yes I won a chocolate turtle from Toms. I had a discussion with a colleague about handling VAT on postings in SAP. In the old Oracle system one should always include VAT. But not even the instructions from KS mentioned how to handle VAT, so we had to guess! I wanted to include VAT because that was the old way. A colleague was compelling sure, that it was without VAT because the postings were directly on the PSP-element. I followed her advice but she was wrong. As compensation she gave me to chocolate turtle from Toms.

It is a trade how to eat chocolate turtle from Toms. First bite of both ends, then you suck out the cream, finally you eat the rest. I have put a note on my to-do list about doing a video about it – yeah why the hell not

One should always remember to enjoy life. Therefore I open a Baron de Lay red wine from Rioja from 2010. I have built up a little stock.

Maybe the reason this seems like a busy week is, that I also drove like 300 kilometers in my new car, cut down the half of a large tree, went to B&Ws two times and have painted most of the panels in out hall. But this is going to be a bedtime story some other day.

As predicted this week was a kind of yin yang week. At work everything seems to be like running in headwind. But finally we got our new car – Subaru XV 2.0 (Crosstrek) and what a car it is.

Next week at work is going to be just as interesting. The SAP implementation is still not finish, data is not in order, we haven’t documentations for our processes and everything seems to be running in random order. But the spirit is high and that is the most important thing.

Still the negotiations about the next 2-3 years public agreement about payment and working hours are still in its final phase. That mean, that the strike and lockout once again have been postponed. This time until the 6. of Maj.

Tuesday we left our 10 year old Hyundai Tucson at the dealership and went home in our brand new Subaru XV (Crosstrek). Since Tuesday we have already driven 750 km. When we picked up the car, it had only driven like 400 meters. We immediately went on a drive to the Farø Bridges and back around 250 km. On the way home we visit one of Tinas sisters.

On Thursday we took it on a drive as well and yesterday I went Solo first to Glostup, Vallesbæk, Køge, Vordingborg, Guldborgsund, back to Vordingborg, Næstved, Ringsted, Roskilde and then back home – In total around 300 km. My initial experience is that it is going to be a great car. We both sit well, the car drives beautiful and I really appreciate all of the driver assist technology. It was the driver assist technology which was the cause we began to look for a new car in the first place as with age, I find it difficult to drive around 1.300 km (over to days) without my knees begin to hurt.

Finally we came to week 15, where Tina and I went on an early spring vacation to Malta. We left early Saturday morning with a Lufthansa flight first to Munich and then to Malta. We stayed one week at db Seebank hotel located at Mellieha Bay.

It was a nice opportunity to relax, enjoy some sunshine and go for some long walks for myself. I must admit the first three days was a little cold. It was around 15 degrees Celsius and a great deal of wind. But then the temperature jumped to around 20 degrees. It was fairly pleasant and we enjoyed some good pool time.

The hotel was at better one. Okay restaurants, entertainment and staff. The terrace room with sea view we stayed in was quite nice. It was an all-inclusive stay therefore we got our fair deals of drinks of cause. One day we walk together to Parish Church of Mellieha and the see view café close by, where I got a hot chocolate at some tee for Tina. The view from the café is just awesome.

I went for two longer walks. The first walk was from the hotel and to chapel of immaculate conception. In the beginning I took the road but about halfway I took the walking path along sea. It was an awesome walked which I really enjoyed. At the end you come by a Madonna and the memory plate for Marc Bradshaw.  On the way back I walk the last half along the sea as well.

The other trip was to the old abandon radar station on Rdum Il-Qammieh. But first I walk by Popeye Village. Then through some fields without being shot at and being chased by angry dogs. I chose just to follow the sea. Again the view was fantastic. However at the end of the cliff, there was this very large and deep crack in the cliff. Because I am boring and enjoy my life, I stayed on the right side. From the top I could see the ferry to Gozo. On the way back I walked by the Red Tower and down to the hotel.

Me making fun of Tina and maybe the other way around.

Next week is going to be busy as usual. Hopefully I will have sold my old Hyundai Tucson from 2008 and have a new model in the garage. At work it is probably be hell as usually, but aleast my batteries are now recharged again. I might do a midweek update about how it goes.

Easter Holliday This easter we decided to go on a mini vacation. Thursday we drove to Hotel Fyrklit at Hirtshals. From there we visited Skagen, Hirtshals Oceanarium, an old climbing buddy of mine and the old family farmhouse, which were sold around 1930 or before.

Skagen is northernmost town in Denmark. From there you can walk up the beach to the point where Skagerrak and Kattegat meet. In summertime it is a tourist hell, but this time at year, it is acceptable. If you don’t want to walk yourself, you can take “sandormen” witch is carriage pulled by a tractor. Skagen is a fishing town – therefor it is recommended to order some kind of fish, if you go for lunch or dinner. Tina tried Fish and Chips and I went for mussels at Skagen Fishing restaurant.

I hope, I will get more time the next days, to write more. However at work, it is going to be pretty busy – the next update is therefore uncertain. The good news is, at that the strike and lockout has been postponed 14 days. I hope some kind of solution will materialize soon.

The last three days have been very quiet at work. Only I and one other colleague from the team have been at work. The rest have been on easter vacation. I took advantage of the situation and took some pictures of my workplace – the water bucket looks better, when you stand in front of it. Also the easter bunny had to go.

Next week it is going to be interesting, whether we are going on strike or lockout. There is not yet an agreement for all government (central and local) employs. The strike will begin on the 4. of April for a selected group. Lucky I am not going on strike. But our employer is going to lockout the rest the 10. of April including me.

But now Tina and I is going to have a quite easter vacation – I will write more next time. I am almost finish with the Sicily 2016 gallery.

Thursday I got my last wisdom tooth pulled out. It had been damaged for some years. But last week it finally cracked. Some I had no other choice than to spend the money on a pullout – In total it costed 2.800 Dkr. (375 euro). On Wednesday I am going to get the threads pulled out. This was the fourth and last one. I hope that the rest will last at least 20 years more.

And now to a very childish thing. These small plastic eggs have been an expensive gimmick in Denmark some time ago. One egg would cost as much as 11 euros. On Friday on our weekly trip to Bilka/Fields I found a rest sale with just on egg left for 1,33 euro. My childish personality could not resist. I had to buy it – and so I did!

Spoiler alert – The egg contained cocaine and stickers. Naturally I threw out the sugar crap. I have immortalized the stickers on our toilet.

1 / 4

The egg has not hatched

2 / 4

cocaine and stickers

3 / 4

The stickers

4 / 4

Yes - why not

❮ ❯

Tuesday we woke up to a disaster in our street. A delivery to the local store went wrong. Yes it is bottles with beer – what a shame.

But else it was however a very beautiful morning. During the night, there had been a light snowfall. The pictures below are from my transport to work. First with the metro and then with the s-train. I really appreciate the part, where the metro comes out the tube. When there are blue skies, the sun shine is like nectar. I can actually feel my batteries are being recharged.

This update took a little longer than expected. To my big horror, my tiny page had been infected by doubleclick, facebook and google. It turned out, that because I used an iframe with YouTube material, which contain trackers – it affects the page all together. To resolve the problem, I just took a screen dump of the iframe and made it into a link.

Anyway – It has been a very busy week. Three times at B&Ws – I beat my personal record by being out there for 5 hours Thursday. It hasn’t been record climbing. But still I can feel my forearms and fingers. I am still at a steady 6a+ level. The pictures below are from the Tuesday session, where I climbed with my buddy Torben. I might begin taking photos of the different routes or at least the ones, which troubles me or I like.

It has been super busy at work. Simply too much to do and so little time. Unfortunately massive overtime is not in this case an option in this case, because the overload will just grow linear with the effort. It affects the motivation – guess I am used to it now, just as my colleagues are.

One could argue that the most present problem is the quality of the coffee and the storage of used bottles. Lame pictures – I know.

On the home front we (that means me) have begun to paint some door panels. I made a little painting station at our hallway and painted the doorway to our bathroom and bedroom. I think, it is the first time for 20 years, that the doorway to the bathroom (maid room in old days) has been painted. Yes - the building is from 1892 - nothing is level.

As I wrote – a very busy week. Next week is probably going to be just as bad – but nothing some good climbing, music and sugar can cure.

On Saturday I finally replanted most of our plants in our living room. Most of them had been in the same soil for one year and some of them had grown them self to big. So out with the big saw and more than 50 liters of new nutrient soil.

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The beginning - cutting down some plants that had grown too big

2 / 8

No - this one had to die

3 / 8

Beginning to build a new pot

4 / 8

Just some random plants

5 / 8

Hey - that is me

6 / 8

Lets just call this one "the ugly one"

7 / 8

Trying to be creative

8 / 8

One of the final products

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Another week has passed. Two days spend on a counsel course. A lot about that one have to imagine being the receiver and what kind of information/counseling would make him/her act. That means trying to found the receivers needs, goals and motivations. It is not a new tool in my toolbox – but of course it important to be constant aware about it. It is five days I total. The next two days will be in the beginning of april. My boss told me, that it cost almost 3.000 euros  in total – so I better deliver something back.

The weather has been cooled and a little bit snowy. But nothing bad or interesting. I guess this is what fräulein winter has for us this year - it is a kind of boring. Next week "they" say over 0 C. But still, I miss the long evenings where the sun first go down after 9 pm CET.

I finally got my Sicily album finish! Yahoo! The next image project must therefore be Sicily and Leipzig 2016.

Finally we got some snow in Copenhagen. All through it was some very wet snow. Tina went to work for the first time in two week after she was hint by the flu as well.

I bought the latest album from Anna von Hausswolff at Band Camp tonight. It is a strange album/music. It is hard to describe, I think it is like a rabbit hole pulling you down into the music - the light gets dimmer and you just don't want the music to stop.

Spoiler alert - But at the end it does.

The first full week at work after have been down with the flu for two weeks. Tuesday I walked the usual 16 km around CPH airport. It was an interesting experience due to the cool weather and wind. At one point I lost all feelings in my fingers because I had to put on some glasses and more clothes around my head - It only took around 10 seconds and the feeling was gone.

I finally finished the first image gallery. The gallery is from my trip to Norway last summer. The gallery is still missing comments to the pictures, but that must I do some other day. I must admit, doing it all by my self and by html takes time, more than I thought. But still - now it is my own and I can write what ever I want.

I know it is childish - but after one month of boycott, I wrote a letter to Facebook that I won't use them anymore until they guarantee they won't delete any of my stuff in the future. I guess, they will never response.... .

What an enjoy to come back to work monday and see a note saying "Because you were ill, I left a "get better" thing" - thank you Else :-)

This week has really sucked. Went to work monday, but already monday evening the green snot monster was back. Tuesday to thursday was just a complete waste of time and effort. Lucky I am able to work from home, so friday I at least did managed make work. Tina is as well down with the green snot and cough monster. As consequence I have not been doing much on this site.

We had to concert ticks to Susanne Sundfør at DR Koncerthuset saturday evening. Because Tina had the green snot, I had to go alone. I really like Susanne Sundfør. She represents true music. She build her music from the bottom and up. Definitely not like the designer factory music we often hear in radio and can find on youtube.

I took some photos with my phone (CAT S60) unfortunate it don't have the best camera in the world, but it has other qualities.

The concert itself was good. She has changed her style or with her own words evolved. She is very good at what is does. Next time she visit Copenhagen, we will definitely buy tickets again.

Sunday - for the first time in two weeks I was back at B&Ws for a climbing session with Cosi. After two weeks with the flue, my arms and fingers were naturally weak - but still I would say, I climbed well and kept a level around 6a.

I hope my health still is okay tomorrow monday, so I finally can come back to work on full power.

First of all - I am Claus Ulstrup, born 1972. So I am beginning to be pretty old but know my way around the internet. I live on Amager, Copenhagen the capital of Denmark. I have chosen to make this site in English because the world are just bigger, when the language is other than Danish. For the last many years I have been living with my wife Tina (Not entirely true, as we are not legally married). I currently work fulltime at Københavns Ejendomme og Indkøb.

My intentions with this blog-like homepage is to have some kind of memory of my life. But unlike Facebook and other similar internet services, I want to be in full control of the contents and not be subject to censorship, advertisements and tracking.

I hope, that in time, this low-practice html site with some java will become great. One thing is certain, that it will always match my effort.

I have at few beginner goals:
1 - Try and convert my Facebook contents to this site
2 - Make an update once a week
3 - Try a make some kind of java image gallery
4 - Try and make this look nice - but still keep it as simple as possible

Now that will do is a first post. Knowing my self - I give the site a 25 percent chance of success :-)

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Mail her_and_now@cykeltyven.dk