Happy new year message!

Hey, how is everything going?

I must say that Im copying my father's idea of sending a more personal message telling how everything is around here and wishing you an excellent new year.

I'm very happy with the conclusion of this year. I have done a good job in the SIM card project which puts a "wi-fi" antena into a sim card, the so called wlansim. This is a project that was running in Telenor since a while and which I joined and we finally managed to deploy a working card together with another company during 2010. The wlansim won this year's best hardware prize at Cartes which is the main smart card event in the world. The growing interest from the industry in the wlansim is keeping me, my boss and workmates working hard, and hopefully everything is in the direction of a improved design of the card next year.

Besides that, there was a somehow tense moment at work, when my research group was kind of relocated to Sintef, as a strategy from Telenor. But this turned up to be very positive, as our team remained practically unchanged and Sintef is an wonderful workplace. We met colleagues with different backgrounds who have been helping us to achieve a better product and which added a nice flavor to the every day work. I also passed through a few doubts regarding work career, maybe as a result of a quarter-life crisis, but I realized that Im actually very satisfied with my job.

In fact, I am very oriented towards settling here for a few years, specially now that Eloise, my girlfriend, managed to get a job here in Trondheim, Norway, as well. She got an amazing job at the Marintek to work with fluid mechanics regarding ship designs, which is something she is fascinated about. At the same time, we managed to get a slot for renting one of the superb Sintef accommodation options. So, now in February we move together to a nice and big flat in the Moholt Neighborhood. We couldn't be more happy about it and we will make sure the flat will be able to host every one of you who wants to visit us =)

This year I also managed to travel a lot and satisfy that which is one of my great pleasures. I discovered countries and cultures which I had just dreamed about knowing and I leaned a lot through that. I hope I can have the opportunity to do the same next year and keep watching with my own eyes the so many beauties of this world. I also managed to meet again some friends which are not living here and spend time with the ones living in town. Nevertheless, I hope I manage next year to see again the friends which I couldnt meet recently and also the ones I could meet.

I could write more and detail all the special moments I had during this year, but the time is passing and I must go for my first new year celebration here in Norway (the last ones I was always abroad). I wish you a marvelous new year, full of peace and personal growth.

Best Regards,
Thomas