dimblr.com Welcome Guest | Login or Register

To by:Larm or Not to by:Larm
One Man’s Unexpected Trip to Oslo
By Vish Khanna
“I can’t believe it: I’ve never been to Norway.”
That was me after learning that I was going to attend the tenth anniversary edition of the by:Larm music conference, which travels around to different cities in Norway yet had avoided the capital city of Oslo until this past February. As it turns out, I was and am not alone. Many, many people I know have never been to Norway either and some may never make it there. Having dropped in for four days and three nights to cover a festival with a jam-packed schedule, I can’t say I really had time to process what Oslo was all about. The most I could do was walk all across downtown to the different venues, interview local and visiting attendees, catch up on sleep in the downtime, and fit in some minimal sightseeing when I could. So, while I didn’t get to delve into the cultural implications of by:Larm in quite the manner I hoped to, the following recounts a lot of what happened on this odd but memorable excursion.
As the date of my departure crept up, I realised I was pretty unprepared for this trip. Meeting several work deadlines right up until my plane left on Wednesday meant I’d put off figuring out what Norway’s kroner was worth in Canadian currency or just how lost I’d be without knowing how to speak Norwegian. I feel a little better when my colleague Stuart Berman arrives at the gate and admits that he too is planning on winging it a bit, counting on his credit card and English to get him through, at least initially.
The other thing is, I’m already completely exhausted and on no sleep at Pearson International. Knowing full well that I don’t really crash-out so great while I’m mobile, I still plan to get some shut-eye on the seven-hour trip to Amsterdam. The flight is smooth and enjoyable, mostly thanks to the airline’s on-demand film service, which enables you to choose from countless films and TV shows (both “popular” or new and “classics”) that you can pause, stop, or switch from. I watch Atonement (good), The Simpsons Movie (okay), and great sitcoms (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Rock, etc.) to waste my time. What I should be doing is sleeping but I can’t and am a real zombie when we land at Amsterdam’s Schipol for a short layover before a two-hour flight to Oslo. I preview some of the new Constantines record on Berman’s laptop and skim through my Lonely Planet guide to Norway, which mentions Vikings but nothing about the country’s renowned black metal scene.

exclaim.ca

Tags: forget, leaving, lyrics, might, tomorrow, try

MANCHESTER – Thirty-eight city employees earned more than $100,000 in calendar 2007. Another four school district workers will hit that mark in fiscal 2009.
Using the latest comprehensive lists available shows that being a municipal worker who earns a six-figure income is becoming more common.
While $100,000 may not be the benchmark status symbol it was roughly a generation ago, it still more than doubles the average, non-government, worker’s wages in Manchester.
And the city is approaching its first $200,000 paycheck, as Manchester-Boston Regional Airport Director Mark Brewer, hired in January, pulls down $192,658. Brewer is now the city’s highest-paid employee, replacing interim Airport Director Michael Farren, who retired late last year. Farren tops the 2007 list at $178,084.
Working off those 2007 numbers, former Fire Chief Joseph Kane came in a close second with a severance package that pushed his earnings to $173,867.
When he starts work July 1, incoming Schools Superintendent Thomas Brennan will become Manchester’s second-highest paid worker at $155,000.
Sticking to the 2007 figures for city workers, police Capt. Richard Valenti followed Ferren and Kane, making $138,104. Recently retired Public Works Director Frank Thomas made $137,618 and City Solicitor Thomas Clark made $130,988 to round out the city’s top five earners.
The next five highest-paid city employees were police Capt. Richard Tracy, $123,771; police Capt. Gerald Lessard, $123,723; new DPW Director Kevin Sheppard, $123,056; police emergency communications supervisor Steven Olson, $121,882; and fire Capt. Kris Soderberg, $121,506.
Half of the 38 $100,000-earners were in the Police Department, four in the Fire Department, four at the airport, two at public works, two in finance, two at water works, two in housing and one each in three other departments.
Another 59 city employees made between $90,000 and $99,999 in 2007, with 27 of them from police, 13 from fire, four at the airport, two in the school district and one each in 13 other departments.

unionleader.com

Tags: forget, leaving, might, tomorrow, try