Now THIS is winter

So the first snow never melted away, and now, we got more snow. And more. And more... and the temperature is below -5C every day.
Yesterday evening I shoveled a path to our front door, and by the time our guest were leaving (a couple of hours later) there was a layer more than 10cm thick to prevent them.
Today, it looks like this in our back yard:




I don't remember having this much snow ever, here in this part of Sweden.
You could compare with this picture...

The forcast has changed, and it could very well be a white Christmas this year!
All is not good though. We left Klara at my parents yesterday, and today I really don't know how to get there. :D

White Christmas

This week it will be around -5 degrees, but the forecast shows rain and +5 the days before Christmas... So, a white Christmas seems to be a utopia once again :(

Designer

This probably doesn't mean anything to most people. To me, it's my current work-baby, and a view of improper CAD-work, that I now have to fix. I really love this job! =)

Chairman

I just got chosen as board chairman in our co-operative building society! :)
Now I only have to fulfill my obligations, but I'll cope with that just nicely I hope.

A great day at work

This is what I love to do. This is the part I love about my job. I love to sit and engineer plastics in 3D, but unfortunately this isn't what it's all about all the time. Then again, when this part of the job is ongoing, it's usually a rush, just as it was this time.
So having a cold this week and feeling tired, around 17 o'clock my head was like a jar of marmelade. Still today was great... Can't wait for the next round of CAD mayhem to commence. :)

Grandparents

Being a father really sets you up for challenges you weren't aware of existed. Klara was at my parents Saturday to Monday evening, and while it was nice to have some time just for myself (the wife was in Stockholm), I looked at quite many video footages on my phone during these days. It's funny how much your child can affect you, especially when he/she is not around.

There are so many great things with Klara spending time with my parents, one of them being learning lots of Hungarian words. But the things that makes me happiest is the fact that she loves being there, playing with my parents, and that they spoil her, not as much with gifts, as with love, care and all the time and patience in the world. She's always so happy with them. Love you, mom and dad!

Less for more

This was a big letdown...

The ticket cost 25% more this year (850SKK), then they charged 120DKK (wtf!) for the rental of a fuckin' box that you almost could use for two winter jackets, last year it was "only" 70DKK and you could fit three. And they only accepted cash, well, a nice surprise after standing in a 50m line.

At least there was no line to get in, so that went well.

And then, nothing. Where did they leave the props? The "Wicked wonderland" stuff? This was like a regular night out, with some lasers added. No bouncing balls like last year. No fountains. No performances that we found memorable. Basically just a DJ and some screens going up and down with the DJ's name. Wow. I don't know if I'll go next year. This wasn't a fair thing to do to everyone expecting to get entertainment value for their money...
Because despite the good music, and the good DJs, we should have gotten more bang for the buck.

Highlight of the evening: Mr. White playing "Aztec Mystic - Jaguar"

WTF

Where is the show? Why am I paying more than last year? No show, no nothing... This sucks. But Axwell is on, things should pick up.

Sensation White

3hrs away...

The flu

So we finally managed to get the flu, though we can't be sure it's the infamous piggy kind.
The whole weekend was like a medium-bad cold, and we both worked from home today. Klara seems to be the least influenced by this, I even wonder if she only has a slight cold.

Tomorrow I plan to go to work, but most important is to get well for Saturday, and Sensation White! :)

English in Swedish

Embarassing? Not even official authorities are able to use proper language...

(It should say "...stay at home")

Quarelin

The drug that would save the world.
What you need is 400 mg Metamizole sodium, 60,0 mg caffeine, 40,0 mg drotaverine-hydrochloride in a small pill. What it does, is a pure miracle.
Take a migraine like mine today, me being on the verge of throwing up. One pill made me being able to act like a human after only 15 minutes, and 30 minutes later I was totally restored.

Thanks EU for putting this on prescription only, retards.
And thanks scientists for making up drugs like this.

Back to work

An era has come to an end. Next time I'll have a long period off like this, will probably be my retirement. :)
Today was my first day at work after six months. Really strange feeling, I know where everything is, but still it's alien. On top of this, I have to start with installing everything on my laptop...
And little Klara, off to kindergarten the whole day, a whole new world for her to get accustomed to.

At least we had lots of fun with the guys at the gymn, wonder if we'll have a reunion-reunion soon? :D

Dos and don'ts

If you are in Budapest, there is a chain of stores that you really should avoid. Office. I can't even post the link to the Hungarian (East european) store here, as the site is reported as malicious by Google.
So, what can you buy there? Shoes. Which in itself is fine, but the staff in both the WestEnd store and the one on Váci utca are terrible. I've been to both, and service is worse than lousy, they seem to be there to have fun amongst each other, and trash the customers if they think you don't speak hungarian. It's like they are in 6th grade. In Váci utca, they even tried to scam us off the pity change they owed us, 10Ft. A useless amount, but stupid thing to do as a store, after treating you like shit.
You have been warned.


Better news though, a good place to go to (though not for shoes) is the Nádas büfé in Palatinusz strand on Margit sziget. Of course, this is only in the summertime.
The guy that has the place is probably the nicest and most customer focused "restaurant" owner I've ever met. You always feel welcome, and I hope we´ll find him there for many years to come.
You have been tipped. ;)

Updating the back entrance

With the proper tools, everything is much easier. Since I had no tools at all for this, except a shovel, I borrowed what was needed from Bad boy (thanks!), and managed to get this done in under three hours, including cleaning and all.


Perhaps not completely like the professionals would do, but it should be fine for many years...

Budapest reunion

Yesterday we were all invited to Marcus' crazy big palace, to reminisce our four day trip to Bp this summer. The evening was a superb mix of good friends, alcohol and music, and getting lost.


We even found some "nice" accessories, but we didn't take them with us when we went out to the club. As usual, the best part of the evening is the house party.


Here we were singing some kazakhi disco song, lullaby, or similar, I have no idea, but we really liked it, as I recall.
Strangely enough, the only thing we didn't get done, was looking at the photos and video clips from the trip. That was sort of the plan from the beginning, but we didn't manage to stick to it. On the other hand, we got lots of new pictures to laugh at...

Also, seems like the Porsche fever is spreading. Now Bob got himself a nice convertible, that has completely crazy sound when opening the throttle fully. Driving it was just wonderful (even though I was hung over like a pig), roof down, sun shining, felt like the summer would go on for ever. Thanks for the experience! :)


And thanks guys, for a great party!

Respect

Yesterday I got to drive my friends Porsche 911, in my eyes this was a really great gesture from him. It's the last one of the kind that will kill you, if you don't know what you're doing. I really didn't want to test the limits or even get close to them, especially since I'm far from being that good behind the wheels of a sportscar.
I was probably closer to getting a parking ticket in the roundabout, than flipping the car. Being a bit nervous, I took a roundabout at a slower speed than I do with my Camry when racing, and said wow, this car handles well. Then when I saw the speedometer, looked at my friend, and just laughed. He must have thought I'm a retard. I felt retarded actually. :D But a car like this needs some getting used to, and I didn't have time for that.

However, it was a real thrill, but also a surprise. It was easier to drive than a Volvo V70, and quiet at normal revs. But when you open the throttle... ahhh, actually had hearing problems after the testdrive. :)

I'm happy that he can afford a car like that, he sure deserves it. Thanks for the testspin, Bad boy. Hope the car givs you much pleasure!

Reminding me

...of the weekend in Budapest. :-D

Åhus

Or, to make this readable in English, Aahus.
It's a small town in the northeast part of Skåne (Skeone in English). We spent two nights there with two friends and their daughter, and had a really good time, even though the weather wasn't as good as one would have hoped for. Our bed and breakfast situated very close to the harbour was good, the owner is a great guy, so this place I can recommend.


However, there are other places that are not very great. Two places that could be avoided, if you think good service is important, are Pråmen and Handelsbaren. Could be, that they have been working there seven days a week since June, but still... At least the food was really good at Handelsbaren, after I sent it back once for almost being cold.



A simple pizzaplace, Robins, was a real pleasant surprise. They were very serviceminded and delivered with a genuene smile. Also, one does save a lot of money by eating here instead of down by the harbour.
Other stuff to do is to get a couple of beers and walk around town, and the ice cream boats are also popular, but spending more than a couple of days require warmer and better weather I think.

Spiderman 4

The rumour is true, they are shooting the new Spiderman movie right here in Lund. Most probably because the local actors are cheaper to hire.
Below is a photo from an action scene at the local bath.


And if you wonder why I am so tired some days, the explanation is right here. I have only 50cm width to sleep on.

Finally

Two days ago she started on her own...

This is stupid

You go almost 10km by car to a small candy shop go the middle of nowhere, and everything is as expensive or costs more than in any damn store next to where you live. Oh, but it's fresh candy... So, if they make it here, it should be cheaper! Gay. :(

Time to catch a flight

Not the usual time to stop partying, still I'm leaving a bit early to catch some breakfast. A shame that I'm the last man standing by far, the boys are getting too old. :)

Coronita

This place is even better than before... No, the timestamp isn't lying, it's not time to go to the airport yet.
Miss Siva is really kickin' ass right now.

Bed beach

I just can't get it... Don't mind the picture, I'm talking about the feeling you get here. It's insane. I'm having a rush I hope I'll remember for a year.

It's out of this world

I have been here before.

I have had very good times here before.

In my opinion, Budapest is a real party place. But OMG... This turn is more fun we have ever had with the guys. There's no blog big enough to fit it all in.

Oh and there's one more night to go...

A nice night ahead

Today was the least sunny day, mostly rain so far, but now it's improving. Think Rio or Bed Beach will be a good choice. I just don't understand when we will rest some. :)
Morrisons 2 has not disappointed us the previous two nights, but I feel that I'm not even close to being in the same shape as 10-15 years ago. :-D Must be the water at Gellert...

One thing I wonder

Where are the guys?! :-D I'm lost... again.

Wednesday

No, really, it's Wednesday! So freakin' good! Nightlife is better here...

Arrived in Bp

At B-plan, a place that has lost lot of it's quality, but still it's ok.
Anyway, great to be here with the guys!

Midsummer evening in Sweden

Welcome to midsummer in Sweden. We had crazy showers and winds, it even hailed, but sunshine was also on the menu. Look carefully at the picture above, and you'll see the flags in the upper right corner, and the rain making stripes in the picture.


There were seven of us celebrating this event, and of course the amount of food we prepared resulted in lots of leftovers. We didn't even run out of alcohol, seems like we're getting to old for this. :P



Klara's godparents slept here, and then today I made pancakes for breakfast, and actually I didn't manage to eat anything else until later this evening.
Before they left, Magnus played with Klara, but really in an active way, she sat there and talked to him, while he was trying to read from a Hungarian book. It molt my heart seeing him play with Klara.

Nice day

Two "fun" things happened today...

First, I left my pillow outside the whole morning to freshen a bit, of course without the pillowcase, and to great joy, a bird took a shit on it. I mean, what are the odds? Have never happened before, oh but now...

Then, as I was putting the tennis balls into the machine dryer to tumble my now clean pillow, I knocked over the liquid detergent, so I had to wet mop a zillion times to get rid of it.

On the other hand, today was a good day in the sense that Klara behaved lovely the whole day, not whining as much as she normally does these days.
And then, my wife got some really great news tonight, but I can't share that with the public just yet.

Edit, June 17th: She got the new job she wanted, and today she quit her old job! :)

Full speed

Up on the hill at mom and dads place, my old house in the background.

Just one problem

...that I can think of. Who's going to push the cart?

Speed limits

The other day, on my way home from the gymn, I tried something completely new. I drove very economically and kept to the speed limits. I didn't break any of them, except not slowing down completely to 50 from 70 when exiting a road work area.
Now, this was around 19:30, still there were quite a few cars on the highway. I noticed a few things driving this way:
It was boring, though survivable as it's only 15km to drive.
I was able to go in a convoy of other cars at that speed, not having to take over many.
An old man behind me for over 5km had a cow about 50m from a chicane, tried a crazy, rabid overtake, me slowing down to 50, but he didn't make it. It was kind of amusing though, because afterward, he only went 10km/h above the limit, barely overtaking me.

So what did I learn in this experiment?
I'd rather take the bus. If everyone drove like this, people dead in traffic accidents wouldn't be zero, because they'd die from boredom.

Another perfect summer day

Third day in a row, sunny, 25C in the shade and a slight, warm breeze. Doesn't get any better than this here in Sweden.
Tomorrow it's back to sub 20C and probably rain, but until then we'll try to hang in there. :)

In the park

All the neighbours are in the park, a great day for all of us. :)
Klara is trying hard to show her new skills.

And a cow...

Today she took her first real steps. Actually standing up on her own on the floor and then walking three small steps. =)
She also said "mmm" as in "muu" that the cows say, when looking in her book and "hej" perhaps, as in "hi" in Swedish. Big day today!

Time off

We went to Stockholm this weekend to visit Tina and Massimo. I haven't been there since they bought the house, so I felt it was time to check that out too. Boy have they put a lot of work into that house, but wow, so beautiful it was!
Massimo, being a real Italian, made bruschetta and lovely pasta for dinner. Seems like that's the essence of real Italian food, simple but very tasty. We rented some good movies (Transporter 3, Burn after reading and Madagascar 2), ate good food and had lots of fun together.


The hardest part of the trip was leaving Klara at the grandparents for the duration. Strange feeling, knowing we won't see her for two days. Probably, it was harder on us than on her. Feels like I used my camera more for viewing pictures and short clips of Klara, than taking pictures.


A trip out to the archipelago was a must, as I've never been there, and people keep telling me what a beautiful place that is. Unfortunately, the weather was not perfect for this, but we managed to avoid the rain pretty well. Dalarö was a really nice, very small village, with some pretty houses on the beaches.




On Sunday we walked around "Gamla stan", the old town, also a must for any tourist. A must-go restaurant is vapiano, an Italian pasta/pizza restaurant, where they make their own pasta, and prepare everything right before your eyes, and the taste was... mmm. Also, it wasn't expensive compared to other restaurants in the neighbourhood. There's even one in Budapest! :)


When we got home, we both just wanted to have Klara near us, so we did what we every morning after swear never to do again, had her between us for a bad nights sleep. :P After all, we just had two days of relax and fun, sleeping 'til 9am, what a luxury!


Today was really strange. In three days I managed to totally forget everything about Klara's routines, so planning for the day was really stressful. Even more so, since I had to adjust her nap to be able to get to the doctor at 1pm. I guess I'll get back with the program soon enough.