Smells good

I'm probably a bit nut when it comes to perfume. I love to sniff around in stores and find new favourites. Some brands I buy over and over again and have been my accent for years, others I never buy again realizing that the smell wasn't really me.

While in London I actually ended up buying two new fragrances. I told you I'm nuts... Euphoria by Calvin Klein and Brit by Burberry. I have wanted to buy Euphoria for a long, long time, but being out of work I really didn't feel like spending money on new perfume. Especially when I already had quite a few bottles at home. Brit I got as a sample in magazine sometime ago, and being in a severe shopping mood on Saturday I ended up buying it as well.

Brit has already turned a new every day favourite. Euphoria is probably more a night and special occasion fragrance. I used it last Saturday night and it made me feel quite confident, sexy and chic just as the ad says.

Home again

I’m home again from London. So what can I say? I’m just in love with that city. There is no other place like it. As usual I had a great time seeing some unusual and hidden sights on two different London Walks. I visited my favourite bookstores and shops and spend more money that I attended to do. Surprise, surprise… I also met up with some old friends and made a new one. Philip who turned out to be everything I thought he would be and some more. And his smile and laugh was even better in real life. I do hope we get to meet very soon again. I have a feeling we have many, many things left to talk about.

Off to London

I’m off to the airport and London pretty soon. Yeah! It’s been 8 (very long) months since my last visit. I’m going to meet with old and new friends, including Philip, which is very exciting, but also a bit nerve racking. I’m also going to visit my favourite shops for a bit of shopping spree and I’m going to hunt for a new handbag. I’ve been dreaming about a Mulberry bag for years now. They do cost more or less fortune, but I know if I find the right bag I’m going to use for many, many years. As always I will also do some sight seeing. Having seen and done most everything one should do in London, I’m now trying to do things that are a bit unusual. This time I’m thinking about taking a special tour of Westminster Abby. Another tour I’m thinking about is the famous Jack the Ripper tour in Whitechapel. Holly and I were going to do that tour last autumn, but having walked for 7 hours straight already we both agreed on that another single step would kill us. Instead we ended up drinking wine and talking half the night. How much walking I can take this time remains to be seen, but I’m bringing three pairs of shoes, which two pairs are very comfortable.

Great quote

Talking to our CRM Manager earlier this morning about the big need of someone in the company who knows the Internet in and out (i.e. me). Which in reality means that I’m involved everywhere already and wonder how I’m going to be able accomplish anything at all.

How do you eat an elephant? Piece by piece, you can’t eat it all at once.

She (the CRM Manager) started right before Christmas and went through the same thing, so she should know.

The scale was right

I was down 3.9 lbs at my monthly WW. It made me happy of course, but I can’t really understand how. This past month I have in average only been to the gym once a week instead of my regular three times a week. I try to bring my own lunch to work, but I have lunch out at least twice a week. I try to make wise choices, but sometimes the choices are very limited. But on the flip side I try to walk home most day and that takes about 40 minutes. I also try to take a walk during lunch if I bring my own lunch. I found a route that takes about 30 minutes, which starts with a pretty steep hill, then up 50 stairs and down 50 stairs and finally back to the harbour and the office. Also I haven’t had any chocolate (as I vowed last month) and just very little wine. Maybe that have helped as well. And I haven’t missed too much actually. We’ll see what the scale says next month. I’m going to try to continue with my walks and limit my chocolate and wine intake. I might not lose as much as this time, but maintaining would be pretty good as well.

They couldn’t do it

England couldn’t win over Sweden in the World Cup this time either. 38 years and counting since the last time. As I predicted earlier the match ended with a draw and 2-2. My old favourite Marcus Allbäck made the first goal and Henrik Larsson the second one. Sweden will now meet Germany on Saturday, which is going to be very hard, but you never know. And England will meet Ecuador on Sunday. Both exacting matches.

Election year

Carl Bildt ends his blogging for the summer with a post about the upcoming election here this autumn. He being the first conservative PM in almost 20 years back in 1991, he has a rather clear view of the political climate in Sweden.

The centre-right Alliance is focusing on the inability too create sufficient employment in the economy, which is undoubtedly a key long-term problem, although it might not be seen as that acute in a situation in which the figures are starting to improve somewhat.

The Social Democrats, for their part, are almost exclusively concentrating on negative campaigning against the opposition. It's the usual smear campaign, saying that any other government would be the fairly immediate end of most of the good things in life.

But they have a number of big problems.

One is that while PM Göran Persson certainly does not want to lose the election, I'm not certain that he really wants to win. He gives the distinct impression of wanting to do most other things in life except being Prime Minister - done that, seen that. And the quality of governance is clearly suffering as a result.

Then there is the problem of his semi-alliance with the Green Party and the ex Communists. They are both pretty wild in their demands.

The ex-Communists have just published a platform advocating a massive increase in public employment as well as Sweden leaving the Schengen cooperation and the "dissolution" of the European Union.

For a party that never asked for the "dissolution" of the Soviet Union that's undoubtedly somewhat on the thick side.

Personally I would rather see a Centre-Right alliance than yet another period with the Social Democrats. They jut feel old and worn out and hasn’t really done anything concrete with the high number of unemployed or people living on some kind of well fare and pension from the government. It’s something wrong with the system when one can get a pension (rather small, but still) from the government even before you turn 30. Instead of looking into the problem why people are on disability leave or living in well fare the Social Democrats have just made people depend even more on the government. But the government isn’t responsible for your own life. You are! I just don’t get it!

Summertime

Going to bed the other night it hit me that Sweden is at its prime right now. Everything is so green and fresh, with flowers everywhere. And the light is just amazing. It never really gets dark. Or at least not pitch dark as we get during the winter. Now it just feels like dusk from 11 pm to 3 am, and I live in the south. Up in the north around the Artic Circle the sun never sets now. Isn’t that just amazing?!

This is clearly my favourite time of the year. A time I start looking forward to somewhere in January. And now it’s here and soon it’s going to be gone again. But meanwhile I’m going to enjoy every second of it. Sunny and warm summer memories are always the best cure for that dreary winter blues. Even though I hate the Swedish winter I don't think I could live without the summer. It's just too special for me. It's Swedish summer.

European constitution

Once again former PM Carl Bildt has written a very interesting post. This time about the European Constitution and if there every will be a new constitutional treaty. The old one has died somewhere along the road after last year’s big no in the referendum elections in both France and The Netherlands.

That the old Constitutional Treaty is dead is obvious to everyone although officially acknowledged by few. That it was recently ratified by Finland and Estonia was nice, but little more than that. It was like paying homage to the heroes of the past.

I spent a lot of time in France last year working and I remember the long and sometimes very heated discussions in the mini EU (French, Brits, Dutch, Belgian, Czechs and Swedes) our office was made up by. As usual the French and Dutch where the one with the most arguments. The French were for the constitution and the Dutch against it. But something that we all could agree on was that the word constitutional was little too much. It’s just a very big and strong word.

The C-word will be gone. And it will be given a more proper designation. Institutional reform is what it is really all about. In substance, I would expect it to differ little from these parts of the much larger Constitutional Treaty.

If the dreaded C- word will be gone or not the next time around remain to be seen, but I have a feeling the whole EU will make this treaty a lot smaller and not so important. They can’t afford another defeat. It's time to get the people of Europe with them instead of against them.

White roses

I bought white roses on my way home from work on Friday. White roses always remind me of my uncle. As yellow roses remind me of my dad. Two brothers who loved to buy flowers to their wives and daughters. And without being sappy I have to that I miss you guys. I hope everything is well wherever you are.

Scale jumping

I’ve been scale jumping for the last week or so. It looks like I’m down 3-4 pounds from last month. Do I see or feel a change? Not really and I’m not even sure it makes me feel better about myself. I do feel great about myself right now, but I don’t think it’s because I lost a couple of pounds (again). Still after four years, I’m mostly surprised how a couple of numbers on a scale can have that effect on me. I wonder if I ever will be able to live without thinking about what I eat and how much I weigh. Will it ever be time when I won’t worry? I don’t worry constantly, but somehow the fright of becoming big again is always lurking back in my head. Honestly I don’t think it ever will go away. Maybe for periods of time, but not totally. I guess, it’s just a part of me and who I am. My life and my history. We all have different kind of luggage. Mine just happen to be weight and food.

Change of hotels

I decided to change my hotel in London today. When I booked a month ago I found a great deal at The Shaftesbury London Hyde Park Hotel. Only £69/night even though it was 4 stars boutique hotel. I couldn’t find any reviews on the Internet about it since they had only been open since April, but the description sounded so good and they had other 4 and 5 star hotels in London. Today I did I quick search on Yahoo and found three different reviews all saying that the hotel was terribly and still a building site. The last review was from last week with some photos and it sure did look like a building site. No way I was going to stay there! After some searching I found a pretty good deal at The Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt Hotel. Not as cheap as the other one, but at The Vanderbilt I know what I will get for my money. I will also earn points on my SAS Eurobonus Card, which is always nice. Especially since I promised Holly that my next bonus trip should be to Houston. Hm, I better start earning some points again.

Thank you Freddie!

With two minutes to go Fredrik Ljungberg was finally able to make a goal and Sweden won with 1-0 over Paraguay. As things are now it looks like Sweden will join England in the second round. The final match is against England on Tuesday. Sweden hasn’t lost a match against England since the early 60’s, so I have high hopes we won’t now either. Philip keeps telling me that England is going to trash the blue and yellow boys, but my reply is very simple and clear: Only in your dreams!!! Only in your dreams!!!

Go Sweden!

That’s all I have to say today. OK, it’s not a matter of life and death, but I do want Sweden to win so they have a chance to continue to play in the World Cup. Losing to day and they are out. Even if they win over England on Tuesday next week. And they will. Sweden hasn’t lost against England in almost 40 years. Go Sweden!

Blogging

Being back in the marketing world again, I’m really starting to understand the importance of blogs and blogging. But you need to know how to do it well as always. I do not claim at any account that my blog is perfect since I mix business with pleasure and football with politic.s But this blog is very much who I am.

• How to start a blog


• No guilt if you don’t post every day


• Sometimes blogging can become too much

Hot, hot, hot, but nice, nice, nice

Today has been a glorious hot and nice summer’s day. Some people might say it’s too hot, (Swedes are never happy with the weather) but I’m just enjoying it as long as it last. A couple a more day or so. Then it’s back to around 20 degrees C. Not too shabby either, but I enjoy going outside without bringing a sweater because it might get cold later, or it might start to rain and then it gets cold. I missed how the season changed when living in Texas, but I would so love to have longer summers like they do just down in France or in the UK. The winters are also milder which would make me a lot happier from November to February. Hm, maybe I need to move?

OK, that was today’s weather talk. I did tell say that Swedes are never happy with weather, didn’t I?!

Women commenting blogs

Subscribing to tons of different newsletters I came across an interesting article earlier this week. Ann Handely from Marketing Profs wonders: Since when do women have nothing to say?

I've noticed an overwhelming number of male "commenters," but far fewer female commenters. Evidence purely anecdotal, and from a single observer.

After entering the blogsphere myself this spring I have read a lot of blogs to watch and learn from, and yes it’s true more men than women comments. Or maybe it’s just that simple that the blogs I read are more male dominated? But the answer could also be something like this:

So I'm wondering... if women are less linear, and blogs (and their billions of offshoots, side conversations, and tangential links) make them about as un-linear as content gets, why aren't more women into them? And if women are so connective, and blogs are so connective, why wouldn't women be chiming in more?

Interesting thoughts. Something that also comes into my mind is that men speak their mind no matter what. They really don’t care what other people think about them. If they believe in something they say so. Women usually think twice before saying something and when they do, they make sure they are very right, with back up arguments and all. Sure quite stereotypical, but men and women are different. That’s what makes us so unique.

What happened?

Sweden didn’t score any goals against Trinidad & Tobago and the match ended 0-0. England did win with 1-0 over Paraguay, but by an own goal from Paraguay. Not exactly what I had expected.

Competing in their first finals, Trinidad and Tobago pulled off a famous result, showing tenacity and no lack of tactical discipline to hold the more favoured Sweden to a goalless draw. Playing against 10 men for virtually the entire second half, Scandinavia’s sole representatives were unable to break through and will now have to regroup for their next match against Paraguay.

England got the opening win they were looking for, but the performance in the second half was less than convincing. Paraguay can take heart from their battling display, though they had no reward for their efforts.

The next matches are on Thursday. England against T & T and Sweden against Paraguay. Sweden has to win and hopefully T & T will be able to pull off another miracle against England.

Flowers of the week

Pretty flowers snapped during the past week.

Goggle having second thoughts

It looks like Goggle is having second thoughts about its compromises working with the Chinese censorship.

The internet search engine Google has admitted compromising its principles by accepting censorship in China and raised the possibility of pulling out of the country.

Google would of course lose a lot of money pulling out of China, since China is one of the fastest growing Internet markets right now. But they would win the hearts of everybody who believe in human rights. So once again the bottom line is capitalism or liberalism. What will it be?

Subway maps

The Londoinist have found another neat site. The world’s subway systems presented on the same scale.

As well as a disingenuous means of mocking the French for their capital’s pea-sized hairy testicle of a network, it’s also fun to treat the site as an underground Rorschach test. So what does Londonist see? Brussels is but a little ant, LA is some kind of elemental pagan symbol, Moscow is just plain scary, while Boston looks like a screaming man on fire. And Madrid, for some reason, makes us think of autopsy tables.

After seeing those I’m going to have a total different look on things when using the Metro in Paris and DC, the Tube in London and the Subway in NYC. I guess I’m not nerdy enough to have thought about this before.

One of those

Getting some coffee yesterday morning at work I ended up chatting with some of the controllers for the Sales Department (at least I think they are). The topic was of course the World Cup in Germany. Sweden plays their first match tonight and before that England takes on Paraguay. Two matches that one can’t miss. Since the Sweden finally has gotten some nice summer we joked around about how bad it was going to feel to pull down the blinds to watch telly when one should be outside enjoying the sun. But watching the World Cup would of course win... Then a woman (no idea what she does) interrupted our conversation with: "So you are one of those, Cathy". Well, yes I am. And I’m very proud of being one of those. The World Cup only happens once every fourth year, and having played football for more than 10 years growing up, I do love the sport. Even if I’m a woman… I love the Olympics as well. It’s very simple. I like sports and think it’s great fun to watch. So there. I’m one of those.

By the way, Sweden will win with 4-1 over Trinidad & Tobago and England will win over Paraguay with 2-1.

Information overload

For the last two days I've just crashed after coming home from work. I'm slightly coming to grips with the different systems and abbreviations that are used, but not all the information and all the people being involved. It seems the more I dig for information the more questions and needs surface. My first tasking is planning for the autumn, but to be able to do that I need to meet with so many people and process everything they tell me. I.e. information overload!

I did know before starting that it was going to be a bit of a challenge, but now I know it's going to be more than a bit. Many people have talked about me as the new Internet Manager and not Internet Marketing Manager, which was the position I applied for. When I got my business cards on Thursday it also said Internet Manager Scandinavia, so yesterday I asked my boss. And yes I'm the Internet Manager for Scandinavia. Internet Marketing Manager is just one part of it. OK, a little bit more than I wished for, but it does explain why so many people are eager to talk to me. There has never been a person responsible for whole Internet part before, and since the company want Internet to become its own business area it has now (a bit abruptly I might say) come upon me to make it happen. Whoa! Going home yesterday on the tram I could hear my old boss and now great mentor's deep voice my head: "Just relax, Cathy! You can do this! One day at a time!" Yes, one day at a time and one task at a time.

Dr Hauschka

I’m back to using Dr Hauschka’s skin care products after using a drugstore brand most of the winter and spring. It’s only been a week and a half, but I can really feel the difference in my skin.

The Cleansing Cream, which almost feels like an exfoliant, is my favourite. The cream makes my face feel very fresh and bright, especially in the morning.

For my eyes I use the Daily Revitalising Eye Cream. I have never really understood the fuss about a good eye cream. But now I know. The areas around my eyes don’t strain anymore. The puffiness and dark circles I sometimes got after not sleeping enough, hardly occurs anymore.

Having been told as a teenager that I had oily skin (who hasn’t) I was been using the same day cream for oily skin until last autumn. (That sort of shows how much I really care about different skin products. If I find something that works I use it…) Then I found out that I actually had dry and sensitive skin and tried the Rose Day Cream. What a change! My face felt like totally new face. It doesn’t strain after cleansing and best of all. My face doesn’t flake and come off during the day. And my face is more or less spotless after endless years of fighting outbreaks. So I guess checking your skin type every now and then isn’t that bad…

One of those mornings

Even though it’s Wednesday today, this morning sure felt like a Monday morning…

It all started when I was going to switch on the lamp above my bed. Still sort of sleepy I couldn’t find the button and down came the lamp from the wall. It didn’t break or neither did I, but getting a lamp in your head isn’t really the wake up call you want. I wasn’t really that surprised that it happened. It’s a concrete wall and hanging thing has been wobbly since I put it up last summer (I’m not that handy when it comes to drills and concrete walls…)

Making coffee I obviously lost count of how many scoops of coffee I should use for that amount of water, since the coffee ended up looking like tea and taste nothing close to coffee. Sigh!

Going to work I change from bus to tramp at one stop. And of course I just missed my regular tram. The next one was supposed to come in 10 minutes, but was delayed for 20 minutes!!! But I did have the time to go and get some decent coffee. An extra big cappuccino with cocoa sprinkled on top. I needed that and deserved that.

At work I had 50 (!) emails waiting for me. My God, I’ve only worked there for a week. Don’t people have a life?!

The rest of the day was spent in meetings, which probably was good. If I had had the chance I would probably had broken something or gotten food all over me…

Now I’m finally home and feel very happy that the day is almost over. Even though I’m about to cook dinner... Maybe I should gear up in a wet suit or something just to be on the safe side.

Champagne tasting

The champagne tasting last Wednesday was great fun and very interesting. Champagne is not only for weddings or celebrations. It’s a drink for all occasion. A little bit pricey though… But very fun and bubbly!

We started out with a Deutz Brut Rosé from 2000. Slightly pink with lots of raspberries in both taste and smell. But also some roasted almonds and a hint of citrus.

Next was Launois Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée Reservée. Light yellow with a smell of yellow apple and some aromatic flowers. The taste was also quite flowery with grapefruit. Personally I thought it tasted a lot like a good chardonnay. Which in some way was true since Blanc de Blancs means that the champagne is made only from the chardonnay grape.

After that we went on to Pommery Wintertime. Quite yellow with a distinct smell of autumn and old leaves. The taste was very full compared to the others withhints of bread and actually some chocolate. Maybe also some very ripe apples.

The last bottle was Cuvée St-Vincent Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru from 1990. Very yellow with smells of apples, citrus and some oak. The taste also had some oak with minerals and grapefruit in it.

My favourites from the evening were (of course) the pink champagne from Deutz and Launois Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée Reservée. My least favourite was Pommery’s Wintertime. Too rich for my taste. I do not want to be reminded of the autumn when I drink something fun and bubbly as champagne.

National Day

Today is the National Day of Sweden. Is it a big holiday? Not really. Last year was actually the first time it was a public holiday. June 6 has only been the official National Day since 1982. Before that the day was called The Swedish Flag Day. Former conservative PM Carl Bildt has more about how June 6 became the Swedish National Day in his excellent blog.

Sweden has always been a little afraid to display and boast Sweden and its flag, at least in my opinion. Mainly because it could be used the wrong way, i.e. by the right wing extremists. Also the Swedish mentality that everything should be lagom probably plays a big role here as well. Lagom is a word that really can’t be translated, but I would say that it means something like stay in the middle of the road. Don’t do things too good, but don’t do things too bad either. Just be lagom. If you do things lagom nobody can come down on you for not doing things too bad or too good. Just blend in with the rest of the masses.

I personally don’t like the word lagom. Why shouldn’t we boast the good things and try not talk about the bad things? Life shouldn’t be lived in a dull middle of the road style. It should be lived to the fullest, with both ups and down, and with lot of passion. OK, that was a bit of sidetrack, and very much personal view.

Communication expert Colin Moon writes a lot more about lagom and other things in his books Sweden - The secret files and Sweden - More secret files. All about Sweden and Swedes seen from a foreigner’s perspective. Hilarious reading for a Swede and quite informative for a non-Swede. This is who we are. Can’t do much about it. We are Swedes after all… And as much as I like to see myself as citizen of the world, or of Europe at least, I will always be a proud Swede no matter what. With amusing quirks and Swenglish.

More Swedish food

Paul from Another Food Blog continues to write about his food experiences in Göteborg.

The food was exquisite, and casually thrown together in the presence of the guests. The first course was a salmon and shrimp (the same as prawn here, although fresh and shelled by myself) bisque, slightly spicy, with tomatoes and celery. The wine served was a particularly nice Brown Brothers Cabernet Merlot from 2003. It was extremely plumy and full bodied, and had been kept in the cellar for precisely the right amount of time (3 years).

Various cheeses and bread were served afterwards, along with a nice Sauternes from 2001. The wine was sweet, of course, and refreshingly not chilled, my preferred temperature for sweet wines.

Sounds like very good meal, and probably a bit Swedish as well. We love our salmon and shrimps in all imaginable ways.

One way to do it

A South Korean man who was upset for not finding a job went to the zoo and protested. I guess all ways are good except the bad ones…

Lee spent only a few moments with the rhinos and climbed a tree in the enclosure where he remained for about four hours, shouting out to visitors about how he had lost his job and other bad breaks in life.

It is very hard to be out of work, but this sounds a little bit too desperate. But he sure did get attention. The story has spread all over world by now.

Abilene

Sorry all you people in Abilene, I think this is the cheesiest lyrics I’ve heard in a long, long time.

Abilene, Abilene
Prettiest town I ever seen.
Folks down there don't treat you mean
In Abilene, my Abilene

According to Wikipedia George Hamilton IV had a hit with the song in the early 1960’s, so I guess one could blame the cheesy lyrics on just being more 40 years old. But still, Abilene is not the prettiest town I ever seen. Texas has prettier towns than that. For example my old uni town San Angelo. As the saying goes - Once a Texan always a Texan...

Four-day-long weekend

Seems like the whole country is enjoying this extra day off before tomorrow’s National Day. I guess a four-day-long weekend can never be bad for you. That is, if you don’t work in a shop or department store, because that’s where everybody is heading. Especially since the weather still hasn’t been that great yet. I’m actually not going shopping myself. I’m heading for the gym (it’s been two weeks now. Eeek!) and then I’m going to do some reading. I’m also going to enjoy the fact that even though I’m home on a weekday I don’t need to be glued in front of the computer looking for a job. Yeah!

Big email goof

Talking about email, I goofed big time Friday just before leaving work. I had been emailing back and forth with two other colleagues about making our catalogue pdf:s into clickable catalogues where the user turn the pages with mouse.

I had already emailed one company about a quote and was about to email another one. Tat company’s email address was buried deep into to my message, but just to make things easier for the company I thought I was going to keep what they wrote to my colleague a couple of weeks ago. Smart thinking, if I had removed what was left below that part. Now I also sent them our thoughts and ideas including what we thought was a fair price to pay, and how much the other company had offered us. I realized my mistake the second I had hit the send button. I even tried to recall the email from the mail server, but too late. Major, major goof!!!

So either we will get a real good offer back or they will just have good laugh on the behalf of new Internet Marketing Manager. Guess all I can do is to quote Seneca - Errare humanum est.

No more emails

Showbiz manager Benny Medina is calling it quits when it comes to emailing.

“I will no longer be accepting E-mail," the 48-year-old Medina, who counts Mariah Carey and Tyra Banks among his clients, announced the other day. "If it's important, call me. I don't do E-mail."

"I'm not making a stand against E-mail, I'm making a stand for the way I like to communicate. Generally, E-mail ends up as a form of communication that can go completely unanswered, with people thinking they've followed up on an outstanding issue when they haven't, and it's bad at communicating a feeling or an emotion.

Benny Media is certainly on to something, but I honestly don’t think I would manage not doing emails. It’s the best tool of communication since Bell invented the phone. Maybe even better than the phone since you get to decide when to read and reply. It’s not like a phone, which can interrupt you at the most inconvenient times. I agree on that an email can’t communicate a feeling or an emotion. Many mistakes and misunderstandings would probably never had happened if the person we were about to send the email to could see us or hear the tone of voice we are using. But in this case I think convenience wins over feelings and emotions.

Email is seen as very quick way of communication and often it seems like we all forget how to write a proper message. We use abbreviations without reflecting on if the receiver knows what it means. We sometimes type a whole message just using lowercase letters. And the worse things of all we don’t hyphenate or punctuate correctly. A lot would be won if we just thought one more time before hitting that send button.

You know you’re getting old

Brian Micklethwait writes:

You know you are getting old when people you were at school with start having buildings named after them.

I’m not that old yet (and hopefully it will be awhile before my friends have buildings named after them.) But I do think the sculpture is plain hideous. I usually love modern art and sculptures, but this. No way!

It IS expensive in Sweden

Paul from Another Food Blog writes:

I’m currently in Sweden, enjoying a break in Göteborg. I’m staying at Gothia Towers. It’s a fantastic hotel, with really REALLY modern everything. So much so, in fact, that it’s a very trendy night-time attraction for local twenty-somethings. Drinks in the bars cost roughly twice what they might in the trendiest places in Britain (outside London) and the hotel restaurant is incredibly expensive, but has amazing food.

But the view from the top floor bar Heaven 23 is amazing. And the king size shrimp sandwich is to die for. Add to that they have one of the best wine cellars in town (the highest located one as well) and you will get a great bar and restaurant. It’s not a cheap place, but if you want to have good food and wine and a great view you should definitely visit.

There were about five courses in total, with lots of fish. A gazpacho was too salty for me but was offset sensibly with a South African savignon blanc which was sharp and acidic. The main course was baked halibut, with potatoes and cod. Another white for this, a French Chablis, more full-bodied and more buttery. The wine with dessert (which was a complicated tiramisu) was close to madeira but was made with a Pinot-something grape which I’ve never heard of before. It was a good, strong finish to the meal and it finished me off, too. Total cost: 1150 Krona(!).

We do love seafood here on the west coast of Sweden. And paying 1150 kronor for all of that is OK (once in a while at least).

Tired, tired

One week at work and I’m totally exhausted. I did some laundry earlier today and that more or less took the last energy out of me. For the last couple of hours I’ve just been dozing in front of the telly. I expected that I would be tired, but this is almost ridiculous. So needless to say tonight will be a very early night. Hopefully my energy level will be back to normal tomorrow so I will be able to do some stuff around the house and of course write more here in my beloved blog.

Same old faces

OK, I have lived in the same flat for nine years now, so I really shouldn’t say anything about people not changing and keeping the same habits. But this is sort of amusing and cute.

For more than six years I took the same bus every morning and all the same people got on and off at the exact same bus stops every day. Changing jobs I’m now back on the same bus at the same old time, and guess what? The same people still get on and off at the same buss stops. Yesterday morning some people even nodded and silently greeted me as a sign of recognizing me. God, we really are creatures of habits!

PCs used for gambling need permit

Sometimes the laws and regulations in Sweden make me wonder, especially the laws regarding gambling. Having worked more than six years for the second largest lottery in Sweden I have seen my share of bureaucratic and more or less idiotic rules.

Once again the zealous National Gaming Board strikes again:

An Internet café in Örebro in Sweden has been closed after the local council argued that its twelve PCs were occasionally used for gambling and it therefore needed a gaming permit.

When protesting didn't help and both the country administrative board and the administrative court ruled in favor of the cafe, the case was taken to the administrative court of appeal in Jönköping, which yesterday ruled that a PC - even in an internet café - automatically becomes a gaming machine if someone plays games with a financial stake on it.

Don’t they have anything else to do then going after Internet cafés? What happens if I gamble on my PC at home? Will the Nation Gaming Board come after me as well or do I just need to get a gaming permit?