Lögberg-Heimskringla - 24.01.2003, Page 1

Week at a glance
Friday, 24 January 2003 • Number 02/ Númer 02* Föstudagur, 24 Janúar 2003
lcelandic Canadian brothers in
Mauritius
Page 4
Yúkonfarar — lcelanders in the
Klondike Gold Rush
Page 3
Lögberg
Lögberg stofnað 14. janúar 1888
Heimskringla stofnað 9. september 1886
Sameinuð 20. ágúst 1959
Heimskringla
The Icelandic Weekly
www.logberg.com
PAP Registration no. 08000 Agreement no. 1402161 116th year /116. Árgangur ISSN 0047-4967
Icelandic Students Place Fourth
PHOTO COURTESY OF ÁSTDIS BJÖRG JÓNSDÓTTIR
Members of Team Bifröst which placed in the top four at the
Manitoba International Marketing Competition, from left:
Þórir Örn Ólafsson; Friðrik Eysteinsson, Faculty Adviser;
Ástdís Björg Jónsdóttir; Grímur Bjarnason and Heiðar
Hrafn Eiríksson.
Fréttir • News
Ingibjörg Sólrún
biðst formlega
lausnar
Ingibjörg Sólrún
Gives a Formal
Resignation

Ingibjörg Sólrún
Gísladóttir, Mayor of
Reykjavík, submitted to the
City Council a formal letter
of resignation from her
position as mayor effective
February lst. She also
resigned from her position
as an elected representative
on City Council. The R-list
city representatives pro-
posed that Þórólfur Árna-
son be appointed mayor
until the end of the election
period. Ingibjörg's letter of
resignation and the R-list
proposal was referred to
City Council.
The R-list city repre-
sentatives also proposed
that Steinunn Valdís
Óskarsdóttir become a city
representative at the begin-
ning of February to replace
Ingibjörg Sólrún and that
Ingibjörg Sólrún be a stand-
in. This proposal was also
referred to city council.
Informatwnfmm Morgunblaðið, Á. H.
We wouldn’t have missed
it for the world.” Those
were the sentiments of Þórir
Örn Ólafsson, one of the par-
ticipants in the Manitoba
International Marketing
Competition (MIMC). He was
one of a team of four students
from Viðskiptaháskólinn á
Bifröst (the Bifröst School of
Business) who were in
Winnipeg to participate in the
last leg of the competition
which began last October with
online virtual simulations of
marketing strategies, and
ended up with presentations
before academic and industry
judges.
The competition, which
attracted teams from tén
Canadian universities, two
American, two Mexican, two
German and one French along
with one Icelandic, focused on
the marketing side of running a
company. “You get the most
profits from the market by
doing the right things from a
marketing and strategic per-
Tricia Signý McKay
Reykjavík, Iceland
just overheard my cousin
Ásta telling Shawn to make
sure his windows are closed.
"Many houses have burned
spective,” the students
explained to L-H. Then they
had made their first presenta-
tion before the judges, but had
not yet heard that they made
the final cut of four teams.
In this first team to cóme to
the competition from Iceland
were students Grímur
Bjarnason from Brautarhóll in
Bláskógarbyggð, Ástdís Björg
Jónsdóttir from Reykjavík and
Heiðar Hrafn Eiríksson from
Grindavík, as well as Þórir,
also from Reykjavík. Their
faculty adviser was Friðrik
Eysteinsson, originally from
Breiðabólsstaður on the
Snæfelsnes Peninsula, but now
from Reykjavík. But for one,
the students said they were
about ten years older than the
other participants.
Viðskiptaháskólinn á
Bifröst is in Borgarfjörður, and
is the smallest of the three
business schools in Iceland. It
is literally out in the country,
along the Ring Road, and has a
student population of 250 and
down this way, rockets can
come in through the windows,"
she explains.
It's New Year’s Eve and the
over-eager arsonists have been
practicing for over a week.
thirty faculty members. The
students cited the environment,
isolation and its uniqueness as
benefits of the school and,
because of its size, the close
relationship of students and
faculty. Þórir and Ástdís opted
Sounds alike to gun-shots have
filled my ears day and night
leading me to believe there may
be more than one reason for the
name “Smoky Bay”
(Reykjavík), the fact that there
are so few trees in Iceland, and
the unusual Icelandic custom of
encasing a perfectly good house
in sheets of protective corrugat-
ed steel.
Today’s newspaper con-
tained a map depicting loca-
tions and times of bonfires and
fireworks’ displays. It looked
like a diagram charting war tac-
tics and strategies. Recently,
most of the ads on TV have
been urging me to provide my
children and pets with protec-
tive eyewear for this occasion
and I am left wondering, “What
is this all about?”
Every few minutes I check
on the progression of our New
to live on a nearby fann with
their three children while
studying at Bifröst, while
Heiðar and his wife and his
family of three children and
Grímur both live on campus.
Please see Icelandic on Page 5
Year’s dinner and involuntarily
blurt out “Ásta, I hate your
neighbours.”
Sadly, I believe Ásta’s
neighbours’ children are afflict-
ed with sight problems. I
reached this conclusion while
watching them set off firecrack-
ers in broad daylight where, due
to their lack of sight and poor
aim, most of the buming bits
ended up hitting our house or
landing in our garden. In the
past few hours their only
progress has been that they are
now wearing suits and accom-
panied by an adult. I nai'vely
imagine that this is some sort of
punishment for them.
While watching the fire-
works I have been instructed
not to wear nylons. One New
Year’s Eve a few years ago,
Please see Gamlárskvöld on
page 4
On the Westman Islands, Óli (left) and Bjartur (right) don
their goggles as mother Jóhanna Alfreðsdóttir helps them.
Gamlárskvöld í Reykjavík
Creating Community • Sköpum Samfélag