Back in Sweden

We're here and the trip went well except that all our luggage got lost. But after a day of not knowing, the bags have reemerged from the airline maze and will arrive in Linköping tomorrow, Sunday. This is probably about time since a t-shirt can only be worn for a certain amount of time before it gets a bit smelly.

Other than the luggage issue it is great to be back!

Chistmas in Sweden

So for everyone that does not know this already. Autumn and I are going to spend Christmas and New Years in Sweden. I'm looking forward to seeing all of my friends and family in Linköping during the holidays. Most presents are bought, we have bags and we are ready to go. It's still hard to quite understand that it is Christmas soon with the sunshine on our lawn just outside our living room window here in California. But I guess I could get used to it. But now onto a hopefully white Christmas in the North.

Saturday Afternoon

There have been some very interesting times lately. There is a lot to say about the election and Obama's win. But today is not the day since we're getting ready to have some people over for dinner. So I have to go.

Things Appreciated

The sound of hummingbirds right outside our kitchen window.

SNL and 30 Rock

The Brattle Book Shop in Boston.

Biden Convinces

In tonight's VP debate Joe Biden convinced on the two issues of this election: the economy and the war. Time and time again the Obama / Biden ticket has to denounce the barrage of misinformation, half-truths and out right lies. How they manage to do it with such calm is a mystery. This campaign has certainly seen it's dirtier sides, and it would be easy to generalize and blame both sides. But the truth of the matter is that the McCain campaign has run a series of, to be frank, rather pathetic attempt at portraying Obama as, a naive liberal...also known as socialist. Over and over again the Macain campaign keep regurgitating that "Obama want's to raise taxes". Ohh that's baaaaad. But that's beside the point, Obama will not raise taxes on 95 % of the population. Something that he and Biden keep having to repeat over and over and over again. My question is, why does the McCain campaign feel that they constantly have to...well let's face it...lie. Why can't there be an honest debate about what our values are? Because they could never win such a fight? One aspect of politics can be seen in the tension between personal responsibility and systemic issues. Neither one of these will paint the full picture, neither will a watered downed compromise; but what is needed is a picture that shows each one of us responsible for our own life and our own decisions BUT that also shows that we are not all dealt good hands and that there needs to be a system that creates a framework of fairness and yes, this might even take the shape of redistribution of wealth. Because what is becoming increasingly clear to me is that in order for you to have a good life you will have to make sure that your neighbours, the people in your town and in your country also enjoys a decent level of living. Because if they do not, that will in the end come back and bite you. To be your brother's keeper will mean that you are being your own keeper. As in "give and you will receive".

TV On The Radio - Dear Science

Some good listening.

Early Weekend

After a month of very long hours I decided to have an early weekend. I took tomorrow off and since Monday is Labor Day, this will be a four day weekend.

Today Obama held his acceptance speech for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. It can be viewed here under Video. It's an hour or so long speech in front of about 84000 people. And I have to say that it was pretty impressive. It's hard not to feel like this is a breath of fresh air. What's not hard is to be cynical, what's even less hard is to use cynicism as an excuse to not do anything. So far Obama has managed to convince, and yes maybe there will be change, even change for the better.

That is, if not too many listen to these people.

Thursday

The other day I got our garage set up as a little boxing gym. I hung a punching bag up in the ceiling and got some carpet for the floor. It turned out pretty ok. I haven't actually used it yet and am a little bit concerned that the bag won't stay up, but we'll see. So every Monday and Wednesday I'm training and instructing at with PAL (Police Activity League) and Santa Maria Boxing Club. It's a place where kids can come and train boxing in the afternoons/evenings. At the moment I have two kids that I'm training and it's a nice change and break from the work environment. Sitting in front of computer screens and boxing are two quite different things all together and I think that having a place like that to go to is very healthy for me. It clears my mind a bit and helps me to refocus on other things than work.

Well, now I think we are going to watch Sharkwater. Now you might say, "well is that really that smart to do seeing that Magnus is probably the most sharkfobic person I know" ...granted...but they are also very fascinating horrific animals.

Hugs to family and friends!

Friday

It's Friday morning and the start of a long weekend. A four day weekend as a matter of fact since I also have Monday off. I have been singing a song about this weekend, there is a lot of "la la la" in it. Today it's 4 July, Independence Day, so there will be barbecue. We are going over to some of our neighbours. Probably Autumn will also read the declaration of independence for us. It's very interesting reading and I can recommend that anyone that has not read it have a go at it. It's short too.

Now it's breakfast time. Talk to you later.

Hot hot hot

Today and yesterday might have been some of the hottest days that I've ever experienced. Finding a small pool for the backyard seemed almost impossible after having tried two of the major stores and they were both sold out. Sold out. People must have been desperate. Yesterday when Autumn was looking for a fan, they were sold out too. This might give you an idea of how warm it has been here the last two days. The garden seems to be flourishing in this heat and the squash is growing into quite a giant monster plant.

Midsommar

I feel a bit nostalgic today and miss Sweden a bit more than usually, and not just because of the new potatoes and the pickled herring. But we will have our own Midsommar celebration here in Santa Maria tomorrow, and judging from the weather today it seems very likely that I will actually spend one Midsommarafton without rain! Juuuiipi!

Many greetings! I hope you all will have a relaxing day with friends and family!

Kensington Heights

The Constantines new album Kensington Heights has finally arrived.

The Constantines - because Hockey needs Literature as much as Literature needs Hockey.

Friday

The weekend is here! Tomorrow we are going to a barbecue and we also talked about going wine tasting. We'll see what happens.

After having been sick for about 3 weeks I am finally better. The antibiotics might have helped. It was good to be back at the boxing again. I've also started riding the bike to work a bit more often. I've been told that when someone rides a bike here they are usually suspected of having been convicted of a DUI and as a consequence lost their license. But rest assured I still have both my Swedish and my California licenses.

And one from our house

So the sprinkler with the infra red sensor is working wonders. I've seen a few of the little critters sulk and turn away as they realize that our garden no longer is their giant litter box. The kitchen garden is growing really well.

This Monday is Memorial Day which means that we have a three day weekend. One of the great things with a three day weekend that stretches from Saturday to Monday is that it is followed by a four day work week. Work is going well, although it's been very busy.

I am reading Surprised by Joy at the moment which I am enjoying a great deal. I made some kind of attempt at reading this book when I was probably a bit too young so I am glad to have given it another try.

Well, the Primary election is continuing here and as far as I am concerned they should get it over with so we can move on to the actual election. The more it drags on the more a certain individual seems to loose her dignity. You almost get a feeling that there is a sense of entitlement from the Clinton campaign. An entitlement that says that Hillary should win the nomination just because, and it's inconceivable that she won't, even though most indications seem to point towards her not winning it.

I am adding another picture from our house, this time of the living room.

Cozumel Photos 2

Cozumel Photos

As promised here are some photos from our trip to Cozumel at the beginning of this month.

The magic bullet?

Today I bought one of these. The neighbours' cats are using our garden as a litter box, and frankly I am getting quite fed up with it. Any one who has seen Aliens the director's cut will know what I am expecting out of this motion censored sentry gun. Not that cats are aliens but the line must be drawn.

More updates on the Cat Problem coming up.

Back in Santa Maria

We returned from Cozumel late on Saturday. The snorkeling was incredible. I will post photos of our trip as soon as I get around to it.

Anniversary

Tomorrow we will be leaving for Cozumel, where we are going to celebrate our one year anniversary. We are staying there until next Saturday. If you need to contact us it will probably be easiest to reach us through email. We will be flying out from Santa Barbara, to Phoenix and then to Cancun. From Cancun we'll take a bus or taxi to Playa del Carmen and from there a ferry to San Miguel on Cozumel. I can't believe it's been one year since that sunny day in May. It's gone past so fast.

By Popular Demand

As promised, here are a few photos. The picture on the top shows the front of our house while the photo below shows our street. More photos coming soon.

Tuesday Morning

It's about 7 in the morning and I am sitting at my desk at work. It's an important week for our company so there is a lot of work to do.

As promised I will upload some photos of our house here soon. Promise.

In a few hours

Just a few hours left until the game that will decide whether of not there will be a seventh and final game on Sunday.

For anyone that wants to see todays game go to: http://kanalnio.se/1
and click on "KLICKA HÄR FÖR ATT SE MATCHEN LIVE PÅ WEBBEN!"

LHC 2 - that other team 3

Ok, the good news is that if LHC wins on Friday I will be able to watch the last game on Sunday, at home without having to work. They are playing in Linköping on Friday so hopefully with the support from the home arena we will see a win and this hockey final will go to the seventh and last game.

I got a lime and a lemon tree the other day.

One lost game and finally Friday

After 3-3 at full time LHC lost today's game in Sudden Death. On to the next one.

It's Friday and not one day too late. Work is pretty demanding at the moment. Yesterday we went to the Hitchingpost and celebrated Linda's birthday. We had a very good time, even though I probably ate too much.

Today also brought some very warm and pleasant weather. Maybe we'll go to the beach this weekend.

The kitchen garden is growing and our apricot tree is so heavily loaded with fruit that the branches are sagging. We'll need to put up some kind of support.

We are celebrating our one year anniversary on the 5th of May and will be going to Cozumel, Mexico, from the 3rd to the 10th. This will be a very welcome break.

I hope you are all doing well!

LHC 2 - HV71 0

Yeah! This is looking good.

For some reason the quality of the streaming was a lot worse for the second game. I also had to actually do some work so I couldn't see most of the game.

Now on to Friday!

That's the way to do it!

Linköping Hockey Club just won the first game of the finals in the Swedish national hockey league. I can watch the finals on www.kanalnio.se with surprisingly good quality. The score? LHC won with 6-4. It was fun to see the arena in Linköping. Now to the next game!

Friday Afternoons are Sweet

Friday is here. I am staying about 10 more minutes at work and then it is the weekend! It has been an interesting, busy and fun week. Enough said. I am out of here!

Sun Room

It's Friday and I am sitting in our sun room looking out over our back garden. The apricot tree is in bloom. It looks as nice as it smells. Autumn and I have a date night with dinner and movie.

The weekend is very welcome. Work is busy and fun.

I hope you are all doing well.

Update

Things are busy. Lots of work and I've started boxing. We're starting to get our house in order which is really nice. Last weekend we went down to LA and did a lot of furniture shopping. That's all for now.

February

So this month has its fair share of interesting events. One of them was that we had a break in in our car the other day. They took the stereo, the speakers, the seat covers and the fire extinguisher. All in all they could probably get the impressive sum of something like $50 for all this on the black market. I am just making that sum up since I have no connection what so ever with the Santa Maria Black Market...for real. But really, why would someone take the seat covers?

I thought the car was safe with its very advanced anti-break in system. The universal anti-break in system of being all banged up and pretty old. Who would find it worth the effort to steal something from that car? But I was wrong.

Now you might wonder, why the fire extinguisher? Well, the car has been smelling pretty funky, with this smoke, so we thought it was best to have the fire extinguisher in the car, just to be safe. But no more fire extinguisher.

Short update

Hi all! Things are good. Lots of work. We like our new house. Yesterday someone crashed into a fire hydrant outside our office, the water must have sprayed around 15 meters up in the air.

I hope you are all doing well!

A photo

Last Saturday I went down to LA, with a few colleagues, to watch the US-Sweden football game. I'm adding a photo here. Not much to say. Sweden lost with 2-0. But it was fun to see some live sport.

Weekend at the new house

Ok, so it's been some time since my lost update. But here it is!

Things have been quite busy for us here for a while. I started my new job on the 3rd of December in Santa Maria. It's been good but a new job usually takes a lot of energy, and so does this one. It's an interesting place to work with a lot of things to learn. It's with a Swedish company and I am almost daily using Swedish at work, either in writing or speaking. There is around 12 of us at the office in Santa Maria but the company has about 200 employees in Scandinavia. The product we are selling is a Student Information System and I am working as a Developer/Application Systems Analyst.

The second thing that has happened is that we have moved in to our new house in Santa Maria. This means that I do not have to commute back and forth from Lompoc anymore, which is great! Our house is even withing walking/biking distance. This feels like a real luxury in California! This is our first real weekend in our new home and we are tinkering about getting things in order. It's an old house, built in the 1920s, with lots of character (which involves some quirks, but that is part of the character bit).

The third news is that Autumn has also started her new job. She is currently going through the training in Los Olivos but she will work out of Santa Maria. Her job will involve a bit of driving, but she will mostly be going to places in Santa Maria. She will be working for the Santa Barbara County Education with a project that involves helping families with newborn babies.

In short, there has been a lot of good change. We are very thankful for all this and for all the support from friends and family throughout this rather tumultuous year.

Pictures of the house will be posted in the near future. Oh, we do have a guest room now, so you will have a room of your own when you come visit!