Warm and Sunny Day in Pasadena

Today is a very warm and sunny day. It's the kind of day when I wish the ocean was closer or that we had a porch or a balcony. But at least I had a fresh lemonade at Il Fornaio, which is not that bad either. On my way back home I went in to this martial arts gym that I walked past. The first class is free, so maybe I'll go there this afternoon or tomorrow and do a test run. But training in a new place is always a bit...well new, and it usually takes a while to know what level people are and how hard they are training etc. I guess I feel that having a black eye a week from now is something to avoid, if possible.

I hope the shopping went well in Linköping today. Here the wedding is getting closer with seven mile strides. Still some things to plan and do before the day but we are getting there. I wish you all a swift and safe journey next week!

Now it's time for an ice coffee.

The picture is taken from the hill by the Mission and shows the Lompoc area.

Sunday evening

It is now less than two weeks to the wedding and the preparations seem to be going in the right direction. Next Sunday Autumn and I will be going up to Lompoc. Soon after that family and friends will arrive from Sweden. It will be good to have you all here and I am looking forward to seeing you!

So let me tell you a few short stories.

Last weekend when Autumn was away for her hen party I managed to lock myself out of our apartment. When I closed the door I realized that one of the key wasn't on my Puma key chain. What are the odds?! Looking through the living room window I could actually see it, maybe a meter inside the door. For a while I was contemplating the idea of giving the door one of those tackles that you see people doing in movies, in order to force it open. But my better judgement kept me from going ahead with a plan, that indeed didn't seem to have any down sides to it. Instead I got helped by one of the neighbors to get in contact with the owners of the building. That neighbor even printer out maps for me so I could drive and get another set of keys from the owner. So neighbors can actually be good for something else than not making too much noise.

I realized today that I haven't tried "Fish Tacos", and don't particularly feel like trying it either. But on the grounds of that I can't really say anything about any kind of food before I have actually tried it, I guess that there will come a day, even for Fish Tacos.

We went to a Cafe yesterday here that reminded me a bit of Åbacka in Linköping. Nice place.

I hope the weekend find you all rested and prepared for a new week.

How Happy are the Elephant Seals?

This is how happy the Elephant Seals became when they heard that a certain Schultz family has recorded some songs! Now they can't wait to hear them. Brrrrruuuurrrp!

The lone cypress

And here is another photo. This time of a 250 year old cypress tree. This photo is taken where we parked our car. We then walked down closer to the tree but the area closest to the tree and that cliff is closed off to the public.

Today it is raining! It's been raining through part of the night and it still is. A rainy day here is a rare thing, and when it does, at least I feel like it is a welcome change.

Today it is about 2 weeks to our wedding. I am really looking forward to having family and friends from back home here during that time.

Another photo from highway 1

On our trip down highway 1, on one stretch of the coast there were these big blobs, literally covering the beaches. They were Elephant Seals and they just laid there not having a care in the world. Mostly busy with making loud "brrrrrrrrurp" noises. Here I am with the seals in the background.

Silver to LHC

LHC lost today's game and thereby also the finals with 2-4 in games. It was a great job getting to the finals in the first place but a gold would have been sweet. Maybe next year.

Well, I'm off to the gym. This weekend I am what we in Sweden call a Grass Widower (Gräsänkling) since Autumn is away on some kind of hen party shenanigans.

A breathtaking drive

The Friday before Easter we drove about 6 hours up north to Fremont, which is close to San Fransisco. In Fremont we visited Autumn's friend Sara and celebrated her ordination. We stayed up there until Monday. On Monday we started our drive down south, to Lompoc, but this time we took the coastal road, Highway 1. This highway runs for a large portion of the pacific coast in California. And the view was breathtaking! We really took our time driving down this scenic route and it was fantastic. If you follow the link above and then zoom in on the map to the right you can see the outline of our drive. On the picture I am standing right next to the edge and behind me you can see part of that winding coastal highway - the road that had taken us higher and higher, and then gave us this incredible view.

Drive thru [sic] state

After a while in California you start wondering if it would be possible to live your entire life in a car. To help you do this there are: drive thru dry cleaners, drive thru pharmacist, drive thru banks, drive thru restaurants and even drive thru weddings (even if that is in Las Vegas).

However, there still are a few drive thrus that I am missing. Where are, for example, the drive thru therapy sessions, night clubs, hair saloons, boxing events, church services, spas, Costcos (Great store!) and libraries? But maybe they are out there, and I just haven't looked close enough? Let me know what would be your favorite drive thru.

Back in Pasadena

We came back from Lompoc around 10pm on Sunday. The drive down to Pasadena went well and The Jelly Bean (the -91 Honda civic) kept her head high, even though she has a missing tooth or two. As we came back we were greeted by an empty mailbox and one of the messages on the answering machine letting us know that there had been suspicious activity on a credit card that should have been in that empty mailbox. The realization that someone had stolen that credit card and been spending with it, was rather worrying.

So, Monday started off with damage control: freezing accounts, going to the police etc. What's good is that it seems that we will not be responsible for the spending on the card, but we could have lived without the hassle. On top of the credit card, papers sent to me from Sweden that I need for immigration was also probably stolen, something that sets me back in that process.

In addition to focusing on the immigration paperwork right now there is also the wedding planning. The details are falling into place but there are still some things to decide and plan.

Now I am looking forward to the hockey game on Saturday, a game that LHC has to win. The difference is that this time they will play it in Linköping.

Next game in Linköping

5 games played.

LHC: 2
Modo: 3

Next game will be played in Linköping.

Not the best game

LHC lost today's game with the score 5-1. The first period was very weak and ended with MODO in a 3-0 lead. The second period was stronger and ended with LHC scoring 3-1. But in the third period MODO scored 2 more goals and that was too much for LHC. So I am looking forward to a better game on Thursday at 10am (7pm in Sweden). The game can be seen on www.kanal5.se.

2-1 LHC!

After today's game LHC is ahead of Modo with 2-1 in games. LHC started off somewhat slow but got stronger as the game progressed. And in the third period Sami Torkki scored the winning goal. Now we are looking forward to the next game on Tuesday up in Örnsköldsvik.

Kanal 5 seems to be doing a good job covering the finals. This time a got Autumn and Linda to watch the 3rd period with me. On the picture we see Ivan Majesky congratulating Sami Torkki after the winning goal.

The third game

So LHC lost the second game of the finals, resulting in the score 1-1 in games. Tomorrow, Sunday 8 April, the third game will be played in front of about 8500 people, in Linköping, as the game is sold out. I didn't manage to see the second game but will get up early tomorrow to see this game. It starts at 8 am here and 5 pm in Sweden.

Otherwise things are good. We are in Lompoc at the moment, spending some time with Autumn's family. I hope Easter has treated you well and that it has been a restful week.

Whoooooooot!

What a game LHC! They just won the first game of the finals, played best of 7 games. LHC won this game with 5-1 and took over more and more as the game progressed.

I listened to the first period on webbradio and then read Daniel's comment on this site about that I could watch in on Kanal5.se. And it worked! Thanks a lot Daniel. Du har förtjänat en bamsekram!

Here are some comments from the two guys on the webbradio in the first period:

-Ska se om jag kan göra ett diagram över utvisningarna. Det ar 1-1 nu.
-Det där utrymmet kommer inte att räcka för det. Nej nej.
-Ja, det är ju bara 10x20cm.

------------
-Det ar en match i matchen mellan de här två slovakiska målvakterna.
------------
-Han har inte 2.30 m långa ben, vi överdrev lite grann. (om Stanas ben)
------------
-Har kommer Emvall som en väderkvarn i kombination med atlantångare
------------
-Är det Linköping som dominerar?
-Inte dominerar, men hanterar...
------------
-Pucken åker som i en halveliptisk bana i plockhandsken
-Nu heter det ju forstås inte "halveliptisk bana"...
------------