Rainy

Even though we really don't have much rain in my part of California, you really get used to the sun. So in January, the rainiest month of the year, we really shouldn't complain, after all, soon we won't see clouds in months.

But it's interesting how you can get used to the sun and warm weather. The Husband is just laughing, saying he will quote me when those 100F days arrives and I wish for clouds and rainy, cool weather.

The grass is always greener...

I have almost cracked it

So, the Husband got us Blackberries. As in the phone/pda. Not the fruit. He has been hunting for something that would fulfill all his mobile needs and we've been through Palm Treos, Pocket PC Smartphones - and now we have Blackberries (and before that a bunch of different Nokias, still one of my favorite brands). He seems happy, and then so am I. I just make sure that what ever he installs on his, I install on mine and I should be good to go. The glory of having an in house geek. Having the same phone also makes things easier. Same chargers, same headsets etc. Makes it easier when leaving the house since these days you almost need an extra suitcase for all the cords and accessories to all the electrical stuff you can't live without.

There is even a Facebook application for the Blackberry. So now don't even have to leave my friends behind when leaving the house. Great. I think?

A rainy but very fun weekend

I'm back after my weekend in San Francisco. I haven't seen so much rain in awhile. It was just totally crazy on Friday and we got soaked. My jeans was wet up to my knees...

Besides that, I have just had an amazing weekend. Not only did the rain clear Saturday (it returned Saturday night, but by then, after a couple of cosmos we didn't really care any more) but we just had so much fun together. It was a very cool feeling to meet people for the first time and just automatically pick up. We know so much about each other, part from the little detail of not having "seen" each other before.

These are friends I wouldn't have gotten to know had I not become an alien...

Hanging out in San Francisco

The rain has finally stopped. We're out exploring the city having tons of fun. Next stop Golden Gate !

IRL weekend in SF

Soon I'm beating the bad weather and hitting the road. I'm off to San Francisco for the weekend, staying in a cute (hopefully, we haven't seen it yet...) bed&breakfast. For the first time I'm meeting Swedish friends from all over the US that I have talked, laughed - and cried with for the past four years. I "speak" to them every day, but I haven't actually met them. Yet.

Now we have a full weekend to actually talk without a key board. And we have to try to remember to call each other our "real" names, and not our screen names. Even though I already have a nickname to my online name ("Jaccan").

It's going to be a lot of fun - I'm very excited!

Too bad my friends, from Seattle, Portland and Toronto won't get to see any Californian sun in this horrible, rainy weather... Oh, well. I guess we just going to stay inside and drink cosmopolitans instead!

(Photo from San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau)

Around the world in pictures

I found this interesting picture page somewhere - now I can't even remember where... during one of my random surfing sessions. Reuters, the world wide news agency, has a picture page, called "Editor's choice".

They update it daily and you can watch a slide show with 24 pictures - one for each hour of the day. It's an interesting way to see what's been going on around the world - just by watching amazing pictures. Just a short explanatory text about where the picture was taken and what was going on.

Check it out! Around the world in pictures in 24 hours! No picture from Sweden today but one from California (Tiger woods on the golf course - the picture in the screen copy).

Premiere executive

That's what I can call myself now. At least when it comes to flying...

Last year I flew 60646 miles. So I have now been given a United Airlines Premiere Executive/Star Alliance Gold card. Which basically is an indication that you have been flying way too much. The only advantage of having to fly between California and Sweden is that at least you get a lot of millage.

The card will however make it easier to check in, go through security and hopefully it will render a couple of free upgrades to the front of the plane (because I'm still sitting back there squeezed in with the majority of the people).

Hoax e-mails

Being a communication nerd, I always find these "chain e-mails" that shows up in my inbox now and then very fascinating. Usually some friend has decided to forward them to their entire address book - accompanied by "Read this story - it's amazing/horrible/fun" or something like that. Maybe I'm not like most people since I usually never immediately forward them, but I always go online to search and read about the e-mail, it's origin and how long it has been circulating online.

To this day - it has never happened that one of these e-mails I have checked have ever been true... They are always hoaxes - at least to some extent. They might still be amazing, horrible and fun - but not true.

Urban myths in the e-mail world.

Today I got one that when checked had been circulating the e-mail world since 1999. The original sender claimed to be MADD - a very important organization in the US which fights drunk driving (Mothers Agains Drunk Driving). It claimed, as so many of these, to be collecting names to send to someone, somewhere. MADD had nothing to do with this e-mail, and even though they have said that they of course like initiatives that would try to eliminate drunk driving, sending this e-mail around might not really help or do much (and a lot of their valuable time has been spent answering questions about this e-mail).

Next time you get one of these - google the header or some part of the e-mail and you might be surprised at what you find...

These are some great web pages dedicated to web hoaxes too - a lot of interesting reading if you're interested in new aspects of mass communication...

Snopes.com
ThruthOrFiction.com
Urban Legends at about.com

Finding new friends

We were invited to new friends for dinner last night. It was such a nice, relaxed evening. Don't you just love meeting new friends to just... hang out with... completely relaxed... letting your guard down and just be yourself.

I get a lot of questions on "how do you make new friends as an alien?". And I shouldn't really be a good person to ask. I'm really kind of shy, reserved and cautious. You wouldn't find me happily socializing through a room at a party, or chatting away with strangers I just met.

But - moving to the US - and - social networking online really has changed me.

One of the best things about the US is the openness and the social interaction here. (Even though some people claim that this, compared to other cultures, really is more shallow and in the end doesn't really mean anything - and I always disagree... and besides - I rather talk to people on the bus these days but sit quietly, staring out the window like in Sweden.) It forces you to practice doing small talk however hard you think it is.

Social networking online really has boosted my self confidence and I now have a bunch of really good friends that I have hardly ever met IRL that I "talk" to every day, that makes me laugh, cry, learn and feel good (and isn't that what friendship is all about). And I've gotten more brave an open.

Of course you might need a bit of luck to find friends whom you connect to beyond small talk. But you can definitely find and make new friends as an alien - you just have to practice and be open minded - however shy you are originally.

Thanks A and P for a great afternoon and evening!

Driving through the Sierras

Today I headed back for California from Reno, taking the I-80 over the Sierras. It's pretty amazing to go up over those heights. You pass by the Donner Pass, at about 7000 ft, or about 2000 meters.

This part of the Sierras get an average of 10,7 m snow per year (415 inches), making it one of the snowiest places in the United States.

The pass received its name a group of California-bound emigrants. In November 1846, the Donner Party found their route over the Sierras blocked by snow at this place and was forced to spend the winter on the eastern side of the mountains. Of the 81 emigrants, only 45 survived to reach California (and it's said that some of them resorted to cannibalism to survive). This is a place you don't want your car to break down... It sure is easier these days to "head west".

My trip back was pretty uneventful and I managed to beat the snow that was supposed to fall later today. I might have grown up in Sweden - but I still don't like driving in snow.

I found a little "news story" from 1952 when a train got stranded up here. Look at the depth of the snow... "hua" as we would say in Swedish...

A first hand experience of the US election

Today I really got a first hand experience of the American presidential election. I got the opportunity to observe both a Republican and a Democratic caucus (procedure to elect presidential candidates). It was the first time Nevada had done the caucus and it had been lots of talk and speculation on how it would turn out (not only the election result in it self, but the procedure).

It was a very interesting experience! We started out with a Republican caucus. It was... complete chaos... 14 different precincts (valdistrikt) were negotiating in the sports hall of Reno High School... It was extremely noisy, and I'm surprised the participants could here the instructions. After about an hour they had all choosen their delegates and done their bid for their preferred presidential candidate however. I think.

The Democratic caucus an hour later was much more organized. Clear instructions, only one precinct in each room. It was much more easier to observer. All the 126 member in our room divided in groups during 15 minutes, each group supporting the different candidates. Groups with less than 15% (19 people in our case) were not "valid" and it's group members had to choose different groups or exit. Lot's of cheering, yelling, and arguing between the different groups. In the end, Obama got 55 votes, Clinton 50 and Edwards 20. But since the votes were divided into delegates to the Democratic convention, and this specific precinct only had 7 delegates, Obama got 3, Clinton got 3 and Edwards 1...

In the end of the day Clinton claimed the victory of the Nevada election with about 50% of the Democratic votes. Mitt Romney won the Republican vote. Who will be the presidential candidates in the end... well.. who knows... The race is sure on.

A day at the caucuses (EFTI)

Today was a really interesting day. I got the opportunity to visit both a Republican and a Democratic caucus (the election of presidential candidates) here in Nevada. Since today was an "EFTI" day as well, I just made a little slide show from today's events.

My first political rally

So I'm in Reno to learn more about the American political process. This afternoon I got the opportunity to visit a political rally - Hillary Clinton's. She held her rally at the Sierra hotel here in Reno, in a huge conference/convention hall. She was very, very late - we waited for almost 1,5 hours. But it was really interesting. I tried to take some pictures, even though the lightning was really bad. I never got really close, I just couldn't wait standing in the front so long. I walked around taking in the scene, so by the time she finally came on, I was to far in the back to really get good pictures.

There is no doubt Hillary Clinton sure is a experienced politician. She speaks in sound bites, knows what engages a crowd. It was really interesting to watch.

I put together a little slide show from the rally.

Tomorrow I'm going to attend two caucuses! Now THAT is really going to be interesting!

In Reno!

Quick trip and dry roads. My new GPS in the car took me all the way to the hotel door! Perfect birthday gift! Now I'm off to a Clinton rally! We're here to learn about the election and tomorrow is election day here in Nevada!

On my way to Reno

This weekend I will spend in Reno with my work mates. I'm driving and the weather is beautiful! You have to drive through the Sierras, over 7000 feet.

Birthday in California

Today was my birthday. And our engagement day. And actually the day when I found out I was expecting my first child. Big day in other words!

Since my singleton years in Stockholm, with my family spread out over the world, I've always celebrated my birthdays a special way. I always take the day off and spend the whole day, celebrating myself, doing things I like, giving myself birthday gifts, visiting a spa, getting my hair done etc. I usually have a great time, and today was no exception!

Here is a quick little slide show from my day!

Counting dollar bills...

I had an appointment with my hairdresser today and I actually had cash to pay with. I usually never have cash, I'm so used to use my ATM-card (bankkort) or credit card. And since you pay a fee to cash money in an ATM-machine (bankomat) unless it's your bank's ATM-machine, you sort of keep from cashing money (unless you're at your bank) (where I, for the record, am way too often... like the other day for example...).

Anyway - so when I was paying the hairdresser I had to add up the bills (and add the mandatory tip on top) and I realized it was a while since I payed that much money with bills. I almost had a hard time add them up. And it sure doesn't help that dollar bills are the same color. Different "founding fathers" (or whoever is printed on the bills) doesn't really make much difference. Men with beards all look the same.

Well the hairdresser looked happy so I guess I did ok.

One of the most beautiful buildings in Stockholm

I don't know what it is with this building, the city hall of Stockholm, but I've always thought it was one of the most beautiful buildings in Stockholm. It's strategic location right by the Lake Riddarfjärden in downtown Stockholm where you can see it from almost all angles.

I just read that there is a new book about this building. A Chinese photographer, Yanan Li has taken the most amazing photos of this building, all collected in this book, "Det okända Stockholms stadshus" (The unknown city hall of Stockholm). You can see some of the pictures on the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet's webpage - click here. The book will be published in English too (and Chinese if you prefer that).

It's interesting that the book is published by a "Chinese alien in Stockholm". Maybe you see different things, new aspects, unseen angles, when you come from "outside". For a person from Stockholm, the building has always been there, you might see it every day, it becomes part of the... background through which you pass, living your every day life. Maybe it takes an "alien" to really see and explore. I really would like to read this book!

There will be an exhibition of the photos in the city hall from this Thursday until February 14. Yes - I might actually make it - I'm in Stockholm that week of the exhibition- so maybe that will be my Valentine celebration - look at beautiful photos of my favorite building - in my favorite building! (since the Husband will be thousands of miles away anyway...).

I feel old...

Today I had to run by the bank. I actually have to visit the bank office quite often here. I don't think I visited a bank office at all during my last couple of years in Sweden, after getting internet banking. But this country still lives in the stone ages when it comes to banking, so even though I do have internet banking, I still need to visit the actual office.

My bank, Washington Mutual, isn't too far (I could actually walk). They have "the new look" of bank offices. Very informal. The clerks are standing up at small stands, and when you get help you more or less stand next to them.

I never really got this part. Why do I have to stand closer to a bank clerk than for example the sales clerk at a Gap store? And what's wrong with a lite "dress code"- after all we're dealing with money, not... sports goods... And maybe I'm really getting older or why doe the bank clerks seem so young? Are they really out of high school?

Or am I really getting old... wanting an old fashioned desk, dressed up, mature clerks...

Well, actually I would prefer not to have to visit the bank at all. In a couple of years maybe...

Lots of snow...

Last week's major storm over California sure dumped a lot of snow in the Sierras... Today we headed up the mountain for a day in the snow again.

That is a big, American pickup truck in front of us.... See the snow walls...

Not everything is bigger in America

This "city" for example. Kyburz on highway 50 between Sacramento and and South Lake Tahoe. Must be one of the smallest one I've ever driven through. I just absolutely love this sign.

Facebook and Twitter status

I'm experimenting with different ways to feed my status to my different "social websites". Not that I'm that sure anyone is really interested in knowing what I'm doing right now (except my mom), but it is still fun to learn new things.

So now you can see my Facebook status in the left hand column under the header "Status" (very inventive name, huh?). It's based on the RSS from Facebook, and seems to be pretty slow sometimes, so I wouldn't say it's IRL updates, but almost...

Like, right now I'm obviously NOT trying to fix broken tiles with Husband, I have sneaked away to my computer (schhh, don't say anything) . It was too cloudy outside...

(And "Ja", that's me... Facebook thinks my first name is Ja and last name is Cal).

My first coyote encounter

Last night, while driving home from my "girls' night out", I was thinking, "it's really dark, I should watch out for something coming out on the road", when a coyote crossed the street right before my car.

I know you can find them around there, but I haven't actually seen one. I don't think they eat humans, but I sure was happy being in my car and not walking on the sidewalk where it passed over the street. And suddenly I sort of like our high fence around our garden... because I spotted the coyote about 2-300 meters from our house...

(Picture from Wikipedia, where you can read more about coyotes).

Bilingual reading

I love reading. Even before I could read, I loved reading (pretending to be "reading" from phone books or maps, what ever I could get hold of). I read every day, even though I really don't have time some days. I can even walk and read...

I love my books and love to have bookshelves around me and the worst part of moving here was leaving my books behind (I really do need a book-beam-machine....). And one day I WILL have a house with my own little library in it...

One of the best things with my university exchange year here in the early 90s was that I "broke the English reading code". Sure, I could speak English when I came here for my university studies (after all, 9 years of compulsory English education made some things stick, and in combination of watching "un-dubbed"TV, I could make myself more or less understood), but reading literature fluently... naah.

If getting a choice, I would always pick a book in Swedish. I took a lot of classes that exchange year, and sure, I still use some of the things I learned in class, but the best part of what I learned that year is my ability to read fluently in English. Well, fluently enough to be able to read a non-fiction book without getting lost or stuck. I still don't know every, every word, but I don't let that stress me, but keep on reading and in the end you can usually grasp it all.

My life here would be considerably worse if I could not walk up to Borders to pick up a new book, but had to wait for books coming from Sweden....

I just finished a wonderful book - The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards. I was mesmerized and I could hardly put the book down. It raises a lot of questions and thoughts, especially when you have kids yourself. I really, really liked it.

Now I have to take another power walk to Borders to pick up a new one...

Public restrooms

Tonight I took a little power walk around the neighborhood, and I had some stuff to get at the close by plaza. I thought I was ready when I left the house, but when I got to the plaza, I sort of needed a restroom.

And this is one thing I just love about Americans stores - most of the major stores do have public restrooms. No questions asked, you don't need coins to get in, all ready to use. They might not be as... private as Swedish public restrooms, with its "open stalls" compared to the Swedish mostly "closed stalls" - but they're there and they're available - and in the end - that's really what you need at the time...

A great new little gadget

When you're married to a geek, you get a lot of fun gadgets for Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries. I never have to research what to get, install and implement. I have a living CIO in the house. Very practical.

This year Santa, hrm, the Husband gave me a new video camera. I have long complained about the lack of a good way to shoot video images (we have still images well covered in this house). The Sony video camera we got before our wedding was considered small and handy then, now it's monstrous and requires tapes...

But now I have motion pictures well covered too! This is my new little gadget - a Xacti (Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1a)!

It has a 10x optical zoom and record both 720-pixel high-definition video and snap 5.1-megapixel digital still images. And it slips easily in my camera bag! Hopefully now I will be able to take more moving pictures from California for the blog.

After all I live in the movie state...

A January Tuesday in California (EFTI)

So yesterday was an "EFTI - Ett foto i timmen" day, meaning "One photo an hour". It's a Swedish photo project. Since I work from my home office, usually nothing really exciting happens (unless you want to see different photos of my screen...), but I decided to see if I could collect pictures from my day in California.

So here they are:

How about a week in IKEA?

A comedian in New York, whose apartment is getting fumigated, got IKEA to agree to let him stay in their store for a week. Mark Malkoff will be eating IKEA food, but will (thankfully?) take his showers in a back room. He is writing a blog (of course) - check it out here.
I wonder if he has to pay rent... and what that would be. I wouldn't mind staying a week if I get to eat food from the food shop, especially if they still had some julmust and Paradis-askar left...

Swedish humor...

We spent a lot of our Christmas holidays catching up on Swedish television online. We saw all episodes of Grotesco, a new comedy program. While the Husband was on the floor laughing (his kind of humor) I stayed in my seat, but did laugh a bit.

The character Sven Hilding is my favorite... Swedish in essence... He is a Swedish diplomat, in this episode he is sent to Paris to present the Swedish views on... something...

Actually in "English" (and some "French" in the beginning)!

A cold but beautiful day

Yesterday was my wedding anniversary. On January 5, in one of the coldest and snowiest Decembers in a long time in Stockholm, I got married.

I wanted to take our wedding pictures in one of the most beautiful places in downtown Stockholm, the island Riddarholmen, with the view of Lake Riddarfjärden, the Stockholm City Hall (Stadshuset). I have spent so many hours sitting on the quay here, during different seasons. It's one of my favorite places in Stockholm.

My wedding day, January 5, also known as "Trettondagsafton" (Eve of Epiphany, Twelfth night), was a fantastic day, blue sky, the snow and icy glittering in the sun.

And freezing cold... -15C (5F). Without the wind factor. And it was windy. Gosh it was cold. But the happiness of the day and the event itself made it possible to stand there and have our pictures taken.

How fast time fly...

Here comes the rain again...

After waking up to some sun this morning, in the break between round two and three in this major winter storm, the wind and the rain came pounding back at lunch time. We just managed to get out and clear the broken tiles, sweep up the scattered things around the back yard, and build an improvised support to the broken back fence, enough so it will make it through round three. We hope.

We seem to be lucky though. At least we didn't get a three through our roof like a lot of people.

And we were lucky not to loose our power, 150 000 customers around our city lost their power yesterday, 25000 still have no power.

Round three should not be as bad as round one and two...

This is our poor palm tree...

Really, really bad weather...

Ok. I take it back. The sound of wind and rain was NOT exciting. Only scary. This was one of the worst storms I've been through here. I woke up at 5 am, thinking the whole roof was going to come off. It was sooo bad. When the tiles started flying off the roof and we lost a outside net window, it was not exciting in any way. Finally in the late afternoon, it calmed down. Phew. The house is still standing and all the trees in the garden are still there, even though they all have a more... rugged look to them.

(And is it only me who wonders where all the birds hang out when the weather is this bad?)

Now we have the third round waiting in line. It will come in tomorrow, but will not be as bad as this one at all. We hope. We can't watch the news since the antenna has blown in a complete wrong direction...

One wish will almost come true... but just almost...

SAS will start flying to San Francisco! But from Copenhagen. And only three times a week...

Oh, well... you can't have everything you wish for... I'm happy for all Danish people in Northern California. Congratulations!

Stormy weather...

After a pretty rain free fall, we're getting our share of rain and wind the next couple of days. We will get three rounds of storms. The first round has already moved in. It moved our patio furniture around and disorganized the kids play yard. But round two will be the worst - it will come in tomorrow morning and continue through out the day. According to the meteorologists, "wind gusts might be powerful enough to knock down trees and cause power outages". Then we'll get a a break until round three comes in Saturday afternoon.

But considering that we've had two or three days with rain during the whole fall, this is pretty exciting (as long as we'll keep our power and most of our garden...) - the sound of wind and rain against the windows really is rare...

And the meteorologists are really happy - finally some news! If you want to see an excited meteorologist from tonight's news - click here!

How can you resist this?

Ok, friends and family back home in Sweden! The dollar exchange rate hasn't been so low in ages, 2008 is going to be the perfect year to come visit us! Just get that ticket now!

Here are a few other good reasons to come visit:



(Thanks fellow Swedish-California alien Minten who had put this clip from YouTube on her blog)

Happy New Year!

"Same procedure as last year? Same procedure as every year, James!" *

We had a great New Year's Eve with good friends visiting and good food. The only thing we missed was the fireworks... but to our big surprise, someone in our neighborhood broke the law and we saw one (1) firework at 00.05 last night! (Everyone should get the chance to celebrate a New Year's Eve in downtown Stockholm, getting the real New Year's feeling).

I hope you have a Happy New Year!

* In several countries in Europe, this black and white TV program, "Dinner for one" (or "Grevinnan och betjänten" in Swedish) is broad casted on New Year's Eve. This has been shown on Swedish television every New Year's Eve since 1972...

7 wishes for the New Year

A couple of weeks ago I was challenged by one of my favorite Swedish bloggers, Idépappan, about seven wishes for Christmas. At the time, I was on my intense trip in Sweden and didn't really have time to respond. And since Christmas has already passed and Santa has been here - here are my seven New Year wishes:

For 2008 I hope...

... that my family all stay healthy (and slimmer... that goes for me only...) and happy...

... that someone finally invents the beam machine for easier transport - after all - they've been seen in sci-fi movies for years - and boy would that solve the oil crisis...

... and if that won't come true - that some airline will open a direct flight between San Francisco and Stockholm - after all - these are two of the greatest places in the world to be - it should be easier to travel in between...

...that my dad would get his "ass off the wagon"* and come visit us, after all, we've been here 8 years by now...

... that the sun will shine non stop in Sweden between May 25 and July 7 - the approximate dates I will take the kids to Sweden for their annual Swedish holiday...

... that the cost of sending Swedish magazines from Sweden to California will decrease with at least 70%...

... that the new mall about 500 m from our house will finally open - it's been planned to open "next year" for the past 5 years...

I'm not challenging any specific bloggers - but please fell free to state your seven New Year's wishes!

HAPPY NEW NEAR!

* Swedish expression directly translated...

A day in the snow!

One thing I love about living here - is the possibility to go skiing or sledging for a couple of hours and then come back home to a snow and ice free city... Snow only about an hour way! Great way to get some "snow feeling" during the Christmas holidays.

Today we went to Adventure Mountain Lake Tahoe, close to Echo Summit, where you pay a parking fee and get access to groomed sledding runs and restrooms. We had so much fun! Good thing we now have kids to use as an excuse to play in the snow.

And when we're done with snow, we just throw our winter clothes in the trunk and head home.

Cleaning out Christmas

Christmas is over and New Year's Eve is approaching. When I was a kid in Sweden we used to decorate the Christmas tree the day before Christmas Eve and then kept it until after "Trettondagsafton" (January 5). On year I even insisted on keeping the tree until my birthday in mid-January. Not much left of that tiny Swedish Christmas tree by then...

Now, I prefer to decorate the Christmas tree early in December and then clean out Christmas before New Year's, just like they do here.

So today we spent the day cleaning out Christmas, putting the tree on the curb, to be picked up by the boy scouts. And the house smells fresh and clean. One year until we unpack those boxes with Christmas stuff again!

New travel rules...

From January 1, 2008, it's forbidden to pack extra lithium batteries in the checked baggage when flying (the reason; the fire-protection system in fire-protection systems in the cargo hold of passenger planes can't put out fires sparked in lithium batteries).

Thankfully you're still allowed to bring two extra batteries on the plane in your hand luggage. For us long-distance-travelers, extra batteries are part of what makes a trip between Sweden and California bearable....

The best would of course be electrical outlets in all seats (when will that be a standard??), even in the way back of the plane... But until then, I want my extra laptop battery... especially if I'm going to continue being rerouted and delayed for hours and hours...

The lack of lights

We've had a couple of more gray days in my part of California. Overcast and actually some rain. Those are the days you miss the automatic car headlights which is standard in Sweden...

Unless a car is bright yellow or bright red (which usually means the car is a sports car, going way too fast, driven by a young man) you can hardly see the cars approaching. A beige or a dark blue car are almost impossible to spot, they just blur into environment. It's really scary sometimes.

I have my lights turned on. At least the other cars should see me, even though I hardly see them..

A fun walk

Today, on the "third" and last day of Christmas, I finally took my premier Nordic walk (stavgång), using my new Nordic walking poles. I've had them for awhile, but Thanksgiving, visitors, my trip to Sweden, stomach flu have postponed my first trial.

I had watched the video that came with the poles so I was ready, knowing what to do - in theory at least. It felt a bit silly and weird for the first block - but then I got into pace. And it was really fun! It felt great! The poles makes you walk faster and steadier. I felt i could walk forever.

I got a few looks - might have been because I was just enjoying myself so much... But what the heck - I'm "Nordic" - poles comes with the heritage - right?

For me, who enjoy walking, this is a really great add-on. And with great music in my iPod and no kids around my legs, sun in my face and fresh air - a great work-out!

And I don't care that my Little brother thinks "pole walking" is the end of life, a sign of getting old. After all, I got my iPod a full year before him. It's a well established fact that Big Sisters are the coolest, and sets the trends for the rest of the world to follow.

(Picture of my Leki Speed Pacer Vario poles)

The second day of Christmas

It's Christmas Day and very quiet. Today is the "real" Christmas Day here (well, for those celebrating Christmas that is). For us who had our "crescendo" yesterday, this being the "day after", it's almost a weird feeling. We took a walk in the morning along deserted roads and ended up in a quiet and empty park. We didn't see any cars or any people. Realizing we while we were "done", our neighbors were in the middle of celebrating. On the other hand people around our neighborhood were on and about yesterday, a "normal" day, while we were spending the day celebrating.

But I, being a big Christmas fan, have just realized, that since we actually do have two Americans in the family, we really should celebrate both days.

I only have to figure out a way to break the news to the Husband...

God Jul!

I've had a fantastic Christmas Eve - the "big" day for Swedes. From "lussebullar" to "Karl Bertil Jonsson" to a visit from Santa. Santa visits all Swedish homes in person - so he came all the way to California. Phew. Too bad my Husband missed him. He had to go get milk.

We've had a day with lot's of laughs, fun, traditional food and candy and silly rhymes on the gifts.

Merry Christmas to everyone reading! I hope you have a fantastic Christmas!

A Christmas Welcome

I like Christmas wreaths - after years in an apartment in downtown Stockholm, I finally have a real "door" to hang a big wreath.

I order mine from a friend that makes them herself. This year's wreath goes in greenish. It's beautiful and it feels extra nice to welcome guests to the house! And just like most things here - it's pretty big...

The silly things of Christmas

This paper Santa has been with me since the beginning of times... I always smile when I see it. I used to think it was the most beautiful thing in the Christmas tree... and actually I still do... but now because it remind me of my beautiful childhood Christmases...

I didn't bring that many Christmas things from Sweden to California, after all, most of them more or less look the same. But this one is special and now it goes in the top of the Christmas tree every year!

Fun radio before Christmas

Every year, the last nights before Christmas Eve, you can tune in to different radio station's "rhyming shows" (rimstugor) in Sweden. People call in and tell the show's participants weird Christmas gifts and while waiting they get a "rhyme" back. In our family we have the tradition that each Christmas gift has to come with a rhyme - so this usually is a lot of fun inspiration.

Right now (Friday December 21, 9.42 pm Swedish time) I'm listening to the "rimstuga" on P4 Stockholm and having a blast. In California the time is only 12.42 pm, and I still have half a day of working left before my Christmas holidays. But laughing sure makes it a bit easier do to all these few last things before I can turn of my office e-mail and go on my Christmas holiday!

I have no idea if this is done here in the US... but it's a lot of fun!

(Picture from the Swedish Radio website - one of the greatest radio websites!)

Need wings

Ok, so on January 19 I'm going to Reno. I have colleagues from Sweden there that day and since it's not too far form here, I will make sure I meet up and participate.

Now, January can be a bit tricky month to travel to Reno. You have to go through the Sierras to get there and if there is a snowstorm in the mountains, the I-80 might close, or it might just take hours and hours to drive. And actually I wouldn't look forward to drive alone all that way.

So I decided to check out the airfares. That way I don't have to worry about snow chains.

But, it turns out it's way too close... There are no direct flights... I have to fly to San Francisco and then to Reno. Or to Vegas and then to Reno... And it would cost me about $350. To go 180 kilometers. So, wrong and bad idea.

So my option for not driving is taking the train. There actually is a train there - the California Zephyr. It's a 5 hour ride. Not sure how the train can be that slow, it's about 2-3 hour drive with a car - not speeding. Do the passengers have to push the train uphill? And the ride back is 6 hours...

Oh, bummer. I guess going by car is my only option.

Where are those snowchains?

Only a few days left...

Christmas preparations are in full speed. I really, really like Christmas. I like the smells, the sounds, the lights. Tonight I made "vörtbröd", a special Christmas bread.

It really isn't something I would bother doing myself if I were in Sweden (where you can just buy it at the store), but since you can't get it here - you have to make it. No Christmas "smörgårsbord" without vörtbröd!

I kind of like this...

When working with the TV on in the background this morning I heard this song. It turns out it was Jordin Spark's new single. Spark won the American Idol this spring, only 17 years old. I really didn't watch that season of American Idol, so I actually didn't recognize her. But I really liked the song - it's been stuck in my head all day.



This is not the video (couldn't find a version to embedd - you can find the official video here).

Before Christmas is today!

My urgent Christmas package that I sent Friday to Sweden arrived today! Amazingly fast. And way before Christmas, even the Swedish one. The postal services at their best!

Or was it the Santa helpers that did it?

I just read that 275 million cards and letters were estimated to be mailed yesterday in the US - the busiest day of the year at the post office. That's a lot of cards...

The Christmas cards are on their way!

I like sending Christmas cards. It used to be something I hated, it was just a long, boring administrative process, writing addresses, finding the latest address in a flimsy address book, writing the "sender" information, licking stamps. But now, with all electronic help you can get (I have "sender" labels and all recipients in a file so I can easily print address labels), so the boring part is pretty short. And the stamps here come as "stickers" - no more licking!

I had planned to write little personal notes on the Christmas cards (after all it is kind of nice to get a "real" letter in the mail box these days). But my helper (aka The Husband) had already efficiently closed the envelopes when they got to my "work station" (I was in charge for address labels, he for putting cards in envelopes). Oh, well. You can't have all.

This year we ended up sending 61 Christmas cards all over the world. I have no idea if that is a lot or way too many. I do know that we won't get 61 Christmas cards in our mailbox. So far we've received 3. But it doesn't really matter really - no one is keeping score. Really. Only a bit.

I think (know...) the urge to keep in tough gets stronger when you're an alien. You think about your friends and family in new ways. And you suddenly realize the pure joy of finding something in your mailbox from far away...

Something I always wonder about...

I picked up a bunch of Swedish magazines when in Sweden and try to steal moments here and there to read them. In at least two I've read so far I've read about persons (Swedes) that "decided to move to the US to work for a while" or "I lived on Manhattan for a couple of years to get some inspiration".

Considering the lengthy and complicated immigration processes most of the Swedish aliens I know have been going through, this always amazes me.

How on earth could these people just "go to live in the US"? Is there this completely unknown immigration VIP-line for these "media" people? Did they all win in the green card lottery? Or are they actually coming here on the visa-waiver program and just stay after it has expired or do they keep leaving and then coming back every 90 days and just does this for a couple of years?

No wonder I get so many questions from Swedes, who presumably also read the Swedish magazines, on where you "can pick up a green card".

Or are they all doing like in the movie Green Card? (ie marrying Andie McDowell).

When is "before Christmas"?

I got an assignment to buy and send a (very late) Christmas gift to Sweden yesterday. I hurried off to the post office this late Friday afternoon. I got told that in order for the package to get to Sweden "before Christmas", I had to choose the Express service which takes 6 business days.

When I asked the clerk about what this meant exactly since in Sweden, Christmas means December 24 which is next Monday and no mail is delivered on Saturdays, which means that in order for the package to make it "before Christmas" it has to be delivered by next Friday, December 21... And since December 24, 25 and 26 are holidays in Sweden, 6 business days from today could actually mean delivery on Thursday December 27. Which is sort of way past Christmas in Sweden.

The clerk looked at me confused and looked at her papers. "It says, Express service before December 17, can guarantee delivery before Christmas to Europe".

Oh,well. I guess Sweden is the big exception with it's tradition to celebrate Christmas on the 24th and not the 25th like most of the world.

I choose the Express service. The difference wasn't huge and who knows, maybe the USPS and the Swedish post office have help from Santa's crew this week before Christmas...

"Hold your thumbs"!

The Lucia Day

Today is the Lucia Day. In Sweden. Here it's just December 13. So you got to work around things to keep up the traditions. Thanks to jet lag I was up early and could wake up the kids just before it got light outside (not as easy as in Stockholm where the sun isn't up until almost past 8 am on this day). I lit candles, got the Daughter her Lucia gown on, the Son his ginger cookie man outfit, had them wake up dad and then we turned on the Lucia show on Swedish Television's website. Phew. By the time we were half way through the program, the bright Californian sun was shining and all the dark magic was gone.

At night we got some magic when the Daughter and the Son joined in the Lucia procession at our IKEA. The event had been announced in the store and on their website, but let's say there were no huge crowds waiting in line to see this. Mostly proud parents who ran like crazy through displays of Billy book cases and Leksand sofas to try to take pictures of the kids. (yes I was one of them - heck - this was my first opportunity to be a Lucia procession hooligan - couldn't miss that opportunity).

Afterwards IKEA invited all for glögg, ginger snap cookies and lussebullar. Very nice! I must say, despite being week after the last couple of days, it was a very, very, very good Lucia. As good as it get far away from the real thing.

A little low

Stomach flu.

You don't want to know the details. Good thing I got "skorpor" at IKEA three weeks ago.

It's the only thing I can eat.

I was the "last woman standing" in the house. But now I'm down too.

The big dinner

December 10 is the day the Nobel Prizes are handed out in Stockholm. In the evening the festivities starts - a huge gala takes place in the City Hall of Stockholm, one of my favorite buildings in Stockholm. All this is broad casted live on Swedish television.

When I was single in Stockholm I always took this a good reason to turn on the small TV in my kitchen and do all Christmas baking (after all, a dinner party on TV is not the most action filled show... it takes hours and not something you might sit down and watch continuously). Sometimes I invited friends over to help out, sometimes I did it on my own. With the company of the commentators over at the City Hall it was a pretty fun night. And I had "lussebullar" ready for Lucia, December 13!

(The Nobel dinner takes place in Blå Hallen in the Stockholm City hall. Picture from Wikipedia).

A happy ending

Or at least an ok ending. No snowstorm hit Chicago before my plane's departure (after waiting for six hours) and the plane was half empty. I got a seat in Economy Extra, had a row to myself and could lie down and use my back pack as a pillow and slept more or less the whole 4 something hours between Chicago and California.

So at midnight I finally hit my own pillow after a pretty intense 7 days... Next trip to Sweden won't be until February.

In Chicago...

When I arrived to Arlanda this morning the flight to Chicago was on time. By the time I had passed through security it was delayed for four hours (But at least there would be a flight which has not been the case in the last four days due to a broken SAS aircraft)... In the end we where 2,5 hours late out from Stockholm which was enough for me to miss my flight. And to make sure I really would not make it I was chosen for extra control in customs (The second time this has ever happened to me of all the times I've passed through O'Hare) . My two heavily packed suitcases was searched causing confusion with all strange stuff I had. Not the normal packing for a one week consulting job. Now I'm last in the long line to the extra check in desk SAS had to open for all delayed passengers. If I'm lucky I'll get on the next flight out at 8 tonight, in 4,5 hours. This trip has turned out to be the trip from hell... Want to bet there is a snow storm here in about four hours?

Going home?

Tomorrow it's time to get on a plane and head home to California. I hope. I'm going back through Chicago and the last week things have not been going well in Chicago. So far, after all my years of traveling through Chicago, I have never had any problems - and I might have been very lucky.

My attempt to fly through Chicago last Saturday didn't succeed. My in-laws attempt to fly back from California to Sweden through Chicago on Wednesday didn't succeed (well, they got TO Chicago, but couldn't get out from there (SAS flight canceled) and finally ended up in Zürich, arriving back to Stockholm 30 hours after they started..

We'll see how thing will go tomorrow... keep your fingers crossed - I really want to get home to the kids as fast as possible.

Naked

On my last day going to the office this visit, I forgot my cell phone. I realized it on the subway half way to work. Our cell phones are also our office phones so without it I can't call anyone and no one can call me. Or they can, except no one will answer (my phone is busy working as an alarm clock in the apartment where I'm staying)...

Being without cell phone means being without my contact list, GMT-1 time - and a sense of ease - transportation only a phone call away. I feel naked.

Oh, well. No time to go back to pick it up. So I'm going to call it myself, make sure it's not lonely, changing my message to let callers know I won't be answering today. And be of the mercy of colleagues to make phone calls.

Remember this phone? The "banana" Nokia phone that was the coolest in the mid 90s?

7.48 am

In December Stockholm has 6 hours of daylight.... This picture, of the traditional Christmas tree in Old Town, was taken at 7.48 am this morning. Not only is it dark due to the season, it's pretty cloudy this week too, making it even darker.

I haven't seen the sun since I left San Francisco on Saturday morning...

Busy Wednesday

I had a busy Wednesday. I took a quick walk during lunch to pick up something to eat and brought my camera. The rain was the sort of light drizzling rain that hardly is "rain" but is sort of everywhere. I hurried back in side...

There are lots of cute stores on my favorite street in Gamla Stan (Old Town). If you're a tourist - keep way away from the main tourist street, Västerlånggatan, and take instead Österlånggatan (you'll end up almost in the same spot anyway). Lots of designer stores - and a couple of cute toy stores. A must if you're in Stockholm!

I spent the evening at the restaurant Teatergrillen - fantastic food and really a nice place. My friend and I accidentally bumped into a common friend who was already there. Stockholm really is a small big town...

The traditional Christmas Fair

I managed to visit the Christmas Fair at Stortorget ("The Main Square") in the Old Town today. well, "visit" might be to exaggerate... It was more like "running through". I did have my camera with me and took a few pictures. It was so cold I didn't mind keep on running and putting my gloves on again...

But it was nice to see - can't remember last time I was there. I got "vört" bread. The pictures aren't the best, I didn't have time to focus and was shivering. But you get the general idea.

December weather and Christmas shopping

My lovely home town is not really showing its best side... it's been gray, rainy and cold. If you could raise your head in the wind and rain you would see the advent decorations in the windows, which of course is a nice sight. But mostly you keep your head down...

I passed by Åhléns on my way home. Picked up a couple of Swedish DVDs, Pippi-things on order from my Swedish friends in California, Lucia gowns and crowns, and the cutest "ginger spice cookie outfit" for the Son.

I ended my visit at Hemköp filling the shopping cart (which I had to "rent") with only very Swedish things; (and I have to make this list in Swedish, too tired to translate, sorry English readers) knäckformar, en lilleman, malda pommeransskal, hjortonsalt, vörtkryddor, glöggkryddor, brödkryddor, wettek-disktrasor, smågodis, and ten Swedish magazines. Too bad you can't do tax free when buying food... would save me a lot of money.

I've already packed it all (except the cheeses) in the suitcases, knowing my week is pretty intense. I just hope the weather cold be a bit better... I would like to take a look at those advent decorations...

The worst trip

So, I'm finally in Stockholm after a monstrous trip. .

Once I arrived in Frankfurt from San Francisco, Lufthansa refused to let me and four other poor US passengers board the Stockholm plane, citing bad paperwork from United and did accept our boarding passes...

We had all been up for over 24 hours by then, tired, exhausted. But the Lufthansa staff ordered our bags off the plane and we had to walk back to the main concourse (and Frankfurt is HUGE), exit and go to United's ticket counter, get new paper work, go to Lufthansa's check-in to get new boarding passes, go through security again and then get back to the gate for the next flight to Stockholm...

Now how BAD is that service. They might talk so nicely about "Star Alliance" - but the Lufthansa staff told us right out that they didn't care that we had boarding passes issued by their partner (at the United counters in Dallas, San Francisco and in Huston) - it wasn't their problem, they wanted more paper work and if we couldn't show proof we had tickets (why we would have gotten boarding passes without tickets in the first place were beyond us) - we had to solve it ourselves. End of discussion and one of the gate staffers actually told me, "why are you so upset, of course you have to solve this yourself, it's not our problem".

When I finally had new paperwork and boarded the plane (this one a SAS flight where they actually didn't look at the paperwork at all - only at the boarding passes...) my seat was already taken ... But as the last person, I was seated and FINALLY took off for Stockholm where I arrived 14 hours later than scheduled.

Note to self - if you ever get rerouted and end up having to go through Frankfurt, force United or any other Star Alliance to issue a folder of paper work - or plainly refuse to be re-booked on a a Lufthansa flight...

I missed my shopping afternoon and the "1st Advent" dinner with my brother and his family and is totally, utterly jetlagged. Six days until I have to get on a plane again...

Waiting...

By now I should have been somewhere over Canada but here I am still in California. The international terminal is boring and I still have two hours to spend. My computer charger was checked in at 6 am this morning before I knew it would take of almost a day to get out of the state. Oh well at least I'm by myself and don't have kids to entertain...

Second attempt

For the second time today I'm at the airport trying to start my trip to Stockholm. It's going to be a long day... First stop San Francisco.

Almost on my way

I got up at 5 am this morning to catch the morning flight to Chicago and then my usual flight to Stockholm, SK945 for my busy week in Stockholm.

When I finally reached the check-in gate at the airport it turned out my flight had been canceled last night due to bad weather. All departures to Denver and Chicago had been canceled. I did think the airport seemed a bit... empty.

Too bad my travel agency had given the Swedish office switch board number as pager number.... or wouldn't have had to get up that early. Now I'm delayed for 12 hours, have to go through Frankfurt, arrive Sunday evening in Stockholm and will miss my scheduled "advents" dinner with my brother and his family....

But at least I didn't get stuck in Chicago... Shouldn't complain too much - I've been flying through Chicago for years and actually never been rescheduled or had a canceled flight. Today was actually the first.