The New Norway Office

Kimber has been to Norway twice this year and she thought it might be fun to show the progress of the new building Marathon will be moving into in less than a year. When we moved to Norway, the office was in the center of Stavanger. However, a new office building was being completed basically next door to our apartment in Hinna. Below are two pictures of the first Hinna building. We have posted other pictures but these two are unique. They are taken from our back patio and from the terrace above the shared area of our apartment in Norway. These are views we will never have again!



In October 2009, Marathon announced they would be moving to the building being completed near our apartment. This meant Kimber’s commute was 2 minutes, even underground if needed due to bad weather starting in January 2010. The working environment required some adjustment as we all went from offices to open floor plan, and nearly quadrupled in number over the next 5 months as we took over operation of Alvheim from Maersk. Below is the aerial view of the area where our apartment was located. Take note of the pier on the lower left of the photograph. It becomes the subject of the rest of the story.



This new building is temporary however. Right after this building was finished, construction began on a building that would be located on the pier close to our apartment and near the Condeep. The picture below shows the pier as it was used prior to construction. These are ferrys offloading for a soccer game.



The next picture shows the pier as construction began. The entire interior of the pier was jack-hammered or dug out.

A structure of concrete walls was built on the interior, then clean fill placed inside the vaults created by the walls. Then the combination of walls and fill was overlayed with concrete. Finally the basement (garage) and first floor went down. All of the buildings floors are poured concrete much like the building we are in now.

Next building construction began. The next series of pictures shows progress of the building by floors and overall completion. You are only seeing a small part of the building in these pictures. It is the part that is over the pier. But always in the background is the Condeep to provide perspective. The building actually extends over the pier as well as the length of the three apartment blocks it is beside. But I can't capture all of that in one shot. The pictures below are from October and December 2010.


The building is on the other side of our former apartment from the current office building. Still a nice commute if we were still living there. It will have a great view as well from some sides, overlooking the Fjord. The last two pictures are from this year. They are March and June of 2011. So here is the comprehensive history of the Marathon Hinna Offices.

Kimber's IOU

I owe you a post anyway. I haven't made a post since I was on Alvheim and did the Stavanger half-marathon.

I actually was on Alvheim twice in August. I went out to meet with each crew and complete some process safety training as well as help out with the improvements we continue to make for process safety. Have I mentioned before how exciting this job is?!? How cool is it to commute to work by helicopter? Then to work on such a new and sensational project that has gone through the amazing transition from Maersk operation to Marathon operation! Alvheim or any FPSO is phenomenal to mean. Plus I have been involved in the beginning of the operation with the ability to apply what we have learned from other operations to Alvheim to truly make it the best and safest operation. It has been so exciting for me and I feel blessed by the chance I have had to work here on Alvheim in Norway and with all those I now count as my friends.

One of the times I was on Alvheim, I got to "shoot the ship", which was so cool. When the tanker comes to offload Alvheim, they must be connected. So the tanker comes to within 90 meters (which is really close by the way for this very large bobbing vessel) and gets connected. This is done by shooting a small line from the aft of Alvheim to the deck of the tanker. We use a small air gun which is attached to the rail and just fire, aiming for one side or the other of the tankers deck. And about the aim. It isn't like firing a gun. As I learned, twice, you don't always hit the tanker. Granted, it is hard to miss. My first shot went wide right. The second shot actually hit the deck, then bounced off. Surprisingly they let me shoot again. Although I know that since the bridge could watch on CCTV, there was much laughter on the bridge. So I made the third shot. So criminals every where, beware, I am a great shot! Can't hit a tanker. But I am so excited that I have gotten to shoot the ship. After the line goes across, a series of heavier and heavier lines are winched across, until the offloading hose can be sent over. It is really an interesting operation.


The other item of note for me was I completed the Stavanger half-marathon. I am relatively pleased with how I did. I ran the whole time and felt very food as far as fitness. I started at about a 5 minute kilometer and could easily have maintained this for the run except I started to have severe pain in my hips about half way. My legs and lungs felt great and quite energetic but my hips were a real problem. I finished in about 2 hours 13 minutes which I am not that happy with but it was my first 1/2 marathon and the weather was not great. About half the race was in rain.


The course was fine. About 1/3 was on trail and the rest asphalt. It was well marked and plenty of water available. There was only one section towards then end that I thought there was not enough traffic control. There were a lot of fast moving cars in one area, and tourists in another. I am sure I will try another 1/2 marathon sometime but I need to sort out my hips first. Oh, and congratulations to all the other Marathon marathoner's and 10K runners. Well done!

The next post will likely be our farewell to Norway. Although we are very sad to leave, we will always treasure out memories here and I for one will always think of our time here with a smile.

Bikes!

We finally made our trip to Flekkefjord yesterday. Our main purpose in going there was to ride the dresins, which are bikes that are designed to travel on the train tracks.


The rails were closed to train service several years ago, but a group called the "Friends of Flekkefjord Railway" has preserved the 17 kilometer line and some of the associated structures. They also maintain and operate the dresins for rental to ride the line.


The trip out is the "uphill" half of the ride. There are no steep hills, but you can tell you are going uphill by the amount of effort you must put into pedaling. On the trip back, hardly any pedaling is required. You must be careful to maintain a safe speed, however, as the dresin can jump the tracks of you go too fast.












The weather for the trip was absolutely beautiful. It was probably one of the best days of weather we have had in Norway this summer. Additionally, the scenery along the line was beautiful. There are several lakes and parts of the fjord you pass on the trip, and the reflections of the mountains in the water were spectacular.



There are also 17 tunnels along the 17 kilometer line. We wore lights mounted on headbands. Even so, it was so dark in some of the tunnels, we couldn't tell how fast we were going, and we felt as though we might crash into a wall since we couldn't see anything in front of us.





Andrea joined us on the trip, along with Dan, another Marathon person who works in Equatorial Guinea. At the halfway point, we stopped for a little break before turning the bikes around for the trip back.


We finished out the day by taking the coastal road back to Stavanger. It took a little longer, but the scenery and drive were really nice, as you can see from this photo.










Finally, Sidney is also doing some biking of her own. We took the training wheels off her bike and she has been learning to ride by herself. She has the balancing and pedaling part down, but we are still working on teaching her to take off on her own. Good job, Sidney!

Preikestolen on a Windy Day

While Kirk and Sidney are off exploring Europe, Kimber is spending time with Jennifer and Jennifer's daughter, Kaitlyn. Jennifer was Kimber's boss in Texas City and will be Kimber's boss when we return to Houston. We went hiking Sunday to the most popular Norwegian hiking destination, Preikestolen. It was a lovely day except for the wind. Most of the hike was well protected from the wind, however, when we rounded the corner to the "Rock", we were nearly blown off our feet. You see in the picture below Kimber and Kaitlyn are not standing. As you also may notice, our hair is blowing completely side ways. We were nearly side ways too. We could barely stand for the wind. Fortunately, the wind was blowing in from the fjord towards safe ground rather than towards the fjord and long drop down. There is also a picture of us standing but that didn't last long before we had to drop down to keep from blowing over. It was nearly hurricane force winds.


Unfortunately for the rescuers, pilot, and person needing rescue, we saw this rescue helicopter and it's crew in action on our hike down from Preikestolen. It was exciting for us but not for them I am sure.

For those who know us or who have been following the blog, you may remember what happened the last time I hiked Preikestolen. I badly injured my left ankle very near the top of the hike. Rather than take the option pictured above (helicopter route) I hiked out on the injured ankle. Maybe not the best choice. But I remembered exactly where the injury occurred. I was stepping through the gap between the large boulders shown to my right in the picture below. I didn't see or react to the small rock in the center, and my left ankle turned off of the rock. I was carrying Sidney in the back pack at the time and the extra weight contributed to the severity of the injury. At the time I thought I broke it. Fortunately, neither Sidney or I were injured further because of the mud we landed in when we fell. It felt a little odd to return to the scene of the crime. My ankle held up well this time, but I think it will always be affected by the injury.



It was windy in Stavanger Sunday night as well. The two pictures below show the affect the wind had on the crane hook. It was swinging from side to side in the wind like a pendulum on a clock.



Finally, Kimber will be traveling with Jennifer and Kaitlyn to Lillehammer on Saturday. We are going to visit the Olympic Park, do the Wheelbob and the zip line at Hunderfossen Park. Kimber is excited to get to explore another thing in Norway and to share it with friends. It will be a fast turnaround trip, about 24 hours from take off to return to Stavanger.

Stavanger Cathedral

In looking through the archives the other day, I realized I did not have any posts about one of the most unique and oldest buildings in Stavanger - The Cathedral.

The building of the cathedral began around year 1100 (though there are indications that an older wooden church from around 1025 lies underneath the stone building. Stavanger was actually established as a separate bishopric in 1125. The cathedral itself is dedicated to St. Swithun, who was chosen by the first bishop of Stavanger, Reinald (he was later hanged for not telling the king where the holy treasury was.)


There was a fire in the cathedral in 1272. Some speculate that this was intentional so as to get money to build a bigger cathedral. There is a definite difference in the architecture between the original part of the church and the part built after it burned.

One of the next major events was the changeover from Catholicism to Lutheran, which occurred in 1537.

There is a school attached to the cathedral, and it is among the oldest continually used schools in Norway. The cathedral itself has been in continual use for over 900 years.

On another note, we depart Friday for Tromso for an attempt at dog-sledding and hopefully a view of the Northern Lights. We hope to get plenty of good pictures and not freeze our bums off!

Our First Time Skiing

We went on our first ever ski trip last weekend with the British School. It was in Sirdal at the ski slope beside the Marathon cabin. We were fortunate enough to get the cabin for the weekend as well, so it made it very easy to get to the slope.

Sidney, Kimber and I all attended ski school. Sidney was in a separate class from us, which was a good thing. We probably would have spent most of our time telling her to stand up and stop eating snow rather than learn anything ourselves. Not that we learned a lot anyway, but more on that in a minute. Sidney did well in her class and seemed pretty comfortable on the skis. Her favorite parts of class were making a "pizza slice" (snowplowing) and the "Ski School Boogie" (a form of the "Hokie Pokie").

As far as the adult ski school, well, we hurt in places we haven't hurt in for a long time. I am convinced that learning to ski definitely gets harder with age. Kimber did better than I did, mostly because she figured out how to stop. I got the award for the most dramatic fall, but did not injure myself or anyone else in the process. I did learn how to turn, and the instructor reluctantly told me that since I couldn't seem to get myself stopped snowplowing, just to turn and stop instead. He said he had never told anyone that before, and I was glad I was able to give him a unique experience. After that, I was able to relax and enjoy it, and I didn't fall anymore. We will see how the ski trip in March goes. I still don't think we are ready to invest money in our own ski equipment.

Things are going well with my play practice. We have rehearsals tonight and tomorrow, and the first performance is Thursday night. I have most of my lines memorized, and feel like I should be okay by Thursday (I hope!)

For those that have been thinking about contributing to the Haiti Relief effort, I can suggest a way. A friend and classmate from nursing school, Melody Webster, is going down with a group called MercyWorks. Here is the link to the organization: www.worldwidevillage.org. If anything, please pray for them and their efforts, and for the people affected by this tragedy.

Finally, an update on our forecast. The snow that arrived just before Christmas is still here, though it has turned to ice in many places. We are forecast to get an inch or so of snow tonight, but the temperatures warm to a balmy 6C (43F) over the next couple of days, with about an inch of rain as well. Thursday is to be clear and breezy. Hopefully that will be enough to get rid of the snow. Since Stavanger Commune has gone through their next three years of budget for snow clearing (and the streets are still bad in places), I am sure everyone will be happy to see it gone!