Soaked

Working late. Cold, wet and windy outside. Walking home getting soaked. Hungry and tired. Hot shower and hiding under duvet. Thank God It's Friday tomorrow...

Tired

Tired of the cold and the darkness. Too much to do at work. Feeling worn out and want to go into hibernation for the next two months or so. Sleep. Do nothing than just lie on the sofa. Watch telly. Read. Eat. Sleep. Mmm...

Maybe I am old

Remember me writing about how old a colleague and I felt at a Happy Hour event the week before last. Well, maybe I am old after all...

On Friday I got an invitation in the mail to a new nightclub down town.

A bit more luxurious, more mature... A lot more fun! And lots of love! You and a friend are welcome to the opening of the brand new nightclub A1 for people like you above 28.

It's official! I belong the group mature adults, or at least the the group above 28... Do I really care? No, I have just realised that being in my 30's is pretty good. Old enough to know better, but not old enough to try new things. I'm a woman right in the middle of life and I like it (most of the time).

The four hour-week

The four hour-week is possible according to Timothy Ferriss, a 30-year-old American who sells dietary supplements. In his book, The 4-hour Workweek, he talks about the "low-information diet" which means doing business by the phone and stop multi-tasking.

Here are his tips for a achieving a four hour-week
At least 80 per cent of your results come from at most 20 per cent of your effort. Cut back your client base to the most lucrative ones; ditch the rest

The nine-to-five day is an "illusion" driven by Parkinson's Law (the time taken for a task will swell to fill the time available)

Set yourself extremely short deadlines to force yourself to prioritise

Focus on a single task

Emails should be answered only once a day - Timothy Ferriss recommends 2pm and never first thing in the morning. Likewise, keep texting to a minimum. No web-surfing unless crucial

Conduct business by phone but keep the calls short

Outsource. Mr Ferriss uses "virtual assistants" in Bangalore, India, to answer routine emails

For me this this would only be possible if I was the only one in the office and didn't have a job where interaction with people over the phone, mail and Internet is what I do 90% of my day. If I was a programmer or author maybe, but not in project management. I wonder though, if those virtual assistants know Swedish?

Quote of the day

With the stock market affecting everybody's life this quote is so true.

"The stock market is pure capitalism. The stock you buy doesn't know if you're white or black, male or female, old or young, American or French. Prices are dictated by supply and demand and nothing else. It's global, efficient, wildly volatile, always surprising: raw and beautiful."

~ Ken Fisher, Investment Management Chief and Forbes columnist ~

Via Samizdata

The missing gym pants

For the last couple of weeks I've been thinking about going back to the gym. The stress level at work is pretty decent, or at least I can handle it, and I feel that I'm not totally dead when leaving work so back to the gym it is. A couple of colleagues from work have also talked about coming with me and company is really something that I've been missing.

So last night we decided that today we were going to try out a circuit class and leave work right on the dot. Back home I started to look for my cloths. Everything was there besides my pants. I knew a had two pairs. A black pair that was quite snug before the summer which also was the last time I went to the gym. I know, shame on me... And another pair one size bigger and in red.

The black pair I knew my cousin Maria borrowed this summer when her daughter Frida got sick all over her poor mum. But I should still have the red pair somewhere. Or maybe not. I went through my closet three times, looked in bags and other cupboards before giving up. Those red pants where nowhere to be find. A bit shameful this morning I had to tell my colleagues that I couldn't join them tonight since I didn't have any pants. All through the day I have thought about those pants and where they can have gone. I have a feeling I might have thrown them away in a weak moment believing that I would never need a bigger size again. Just smaller.

I really feel like going to the gym again so I guess it's time to go shopping. And with some new pants and maybe some new tops, it will probably feel even better.

There is hope

It was love at first sight for James Mason, 93 and Peggy Clark, 85 which just a couple of days ago the tied the knot and became the oldest newlyweds in the UK. After a whirlwind romance of three days Mr Mason popped the question Ms Clark by the seaside.

Both cute and romantic, which really shows us "young ones" that it is never too old. There is hope for both for love and romance even after 80. Not sure I want to wait that long, but that's a totally different story...

Beaujolais Nouveau spa

A recently opened spa in Japan offers people to bathe in Beaujolais Nouveau while they drink it.

"To us Beaujolais nouveau means France, it allows us to experience a little bit of French culture," said Akiko Yajima, a journalist with Nippon News Network said earlier this week.

"Also it is not too heavy. Japanese ladies are very comfortable drinking it."

Even though Beaujolais Nouveau is far from one of my favourite wines, I'm not sure if I would like to take a bath in it. To me all wines are best enjoyed with food, friends and laughter.

I'm not that old

Yesterday a colleague and I decided very much spare at the moment to go to Happy Hour. We ventured over to a bar pretty close to the office which is known for its Friday Happy Hours. The place was packed, but we found a window seat and got some wine. The wine cost next to nothing and we soon realised why. The white was extremely tart and the red bitter with a very strong tannin. Not the finest wine so to say... Sipping on our wine (which we still of course drank...) we looked around and realised that we were about 10-15 years older than everybody else. When did people get that young? Or when did we get that old? Because really, we are not that old!

For the next drink we went to another bar where we were not the oldest, but almost. At least among the women. When some girls in tight tops and deep cleavage arrived we very much understood that we are now old and grown up. Waiting for the bus going home later on I couldn't stop ponder about the our experience - When did being 35 become old? Another more comforting thought also hit me. Maybe we just went to the wrong bars.

First snow

Yes, that's correct. The first snow arrived this morning. Big white flakes covering everything. Thankfully must of it was gone by the afternoon, but leaving work tonight there was still some areas covered where the sun hadn't been able to reach. Ugh! And it's cold. Freezing cold. I take back everything I said yesterday. I do not like the cold, the snow or the darkness. Why do I live in a country where it's cold, dark and wet almost half the year? Hm, makes me wonder if I wasn't born in the wrong country...

Cold spell

The first cold spell of the year is here and people are bundling up in all sort of things to to keep warm. To my surprise I don't feel as miserable I as usually do. As long as it's cold the sun keeps shining which always makes me a happy girl. I still hate the darkness though so that hasn't changed...

Right now we have daylight for abort 8 hours every day, but it's going to get a lot less than that before things turn around to the better. Ugh! But at least for now the sun is shining and sometimes it's those small things that make the whole difference.

New computer has arrived

Or really it arrived already on Tuesday, but I've been way too busy this week. Today is actually the first day I had time to play around and fix all those things that makes it "my" computer. I also still need to try to rescue my photos from the old hard drive. I really want to try doing it myself. To see if I still remember how to do it and if there still is some techie girl left in me. If not my friend at IT has promised to come to the rescue. We'll see...

What I love must about my new computer is probably the screen. It's so small and sleek compared to the old one. It's the same size as before but only takes up a third of my desk. The high tower is also very quite and light compared to the old one. Things have indeed changed since I bought my very first computer 12 years ago.

Still no new computer

I got a message on Thursday afternoon saying the computer finally had been shipped, but so far no computer. Argh!

Friday was the day before All Saint’s weekend so things could have been delayed, but I’m getting so tired of waiting. My friend at IT who recommended me to use this company always gets his things in two or three working days. Yesterday it was three weeks since I ordered, so one can start to wonder how complicated a new screen and computer running on XP can be to dispatch.