As a homeowner you have to have projects to improve the house in some way. And the first project that have been on my mind since we moved in is the terrace!
We plan to have a huge terrace - 4 by 16 meters - that's 64 square meters addition to the house! It's gonna be awesome! 5 meters will be under roof, a cozy area if you will on those rainy august days.
My family will come out in force on saturday and help with everything from building to babysitting so we can hopefully get most of the building done before end of the weekend and I'll spend weeks putting in the floor. Then it's time to put up the roof on the sucker, fortunately Helenas big brother will help out with that!
You can follow the build in this photo gallery.
COUNTING DOWN
When I get off work on wednesday july 7th I'll be starting my almost 7 month long parental leave and I'll get to spend as much time with my son as I possibly can. Ofcourse I have no ambitions that I will have time or energy to have time to do anything else but spend time with my son, I do ofcourse hope that I'll have some time between naps to do some things that I want, like catching up on the latest season of "24" or something.
But I can't imagine what it'll be like. Not only have I no clue what it'll be like being with my son, but I have never been home for that long - ever! I had a 4 week vacation once but that's as far as I've gone without working since I was like 14. But now I'm gonna be home 7 months. Yikes!!!
Let the countdown begin!
But I can't imagine what it'll be like. Not only have I no clue what it'll be like being with my son, but I have never been home for that long - ever! I had a 4 week vacation once but that's as far as I've gone without working since I was like 14. But now I'm gonna be home 7 months. Yikes!!!
Let the countdown begin!
DROPBOX
Ever used "Dropbox"? It's a damn good little program you install on your computer(s) that points to a folder and everything you put in that folder is uploaded and stored in their server, backed up and safe, and then synchronized to all your computers running the program so the folder looks identical! And they even have a an iPhone App so I can access and view the files when I'm out and about. And you can also share files with the publuc if you want.
I use it for two of the features - getting my important files (like all my photos) safe and backed up elsewhere "just in case" and I use it to transfer files from home to work and vice versa. It's awesome, try it! And please use this link so I'll get some credit :)
I use it for two of the features - getting my important files (like all my photos) safe and backed up elsewhere "just in case" and I use it to transfer files from home to work and vice versa. It's awesome, try it! And please use this link so I'll get some credit :)
SLOW SITE
As you may have noticed the past week have been terrible for this site! It's been slow and unresponsive and I didn't really bother to look into it until this weekend when it got really bad. I finally found the culprit - as you may remember over the years I have posted links to mp3s of good or funny songs or "what I like right now". And somehow for the past week this place have been bombarded with downloads of those mp3s, I'm talking thousands of downloads per day! I don't know who or why but they are gone now so it should run more smoothly now!
My New Life
My new life as a homeowner and father is progressing pretty well. My son is growing well over the curve and our house is still standing!
The biggest effect has actually been my abstinence when it comes to buying new toys! A year or two ago I wouldn't have hesitated to buy a new toy like a new graphics card or camera. But for the past months I've given it a second, third or forth thought and decided that my money was better spent elsewhere.
Until now!
After spending easter weekend with Helena's family I got inspired to buy a new real digital camera, not a small cheap one we already have. A real one this time. We'd already decided we needed one and was gonna wait until summer but after that weekend and realizing how many photos we'd miss out on of our boy growing we decided to buy one now on credit. A Canon EOS 450D with a normal 18-55 lens and a 55-300 zoom lens. With accessories and stuff it ended at about $1300 but totally worth it!
Or what do you think?
The biggest effect has actually been my abstinence when it comes to buying new toys! A year or two ago I wouldn't have hesitated to buy a new toy like a new graphics card or camera. But for the past months I've given it a second, third or forth thought and decided that my money was better spent elsewhere.
Until now!
After spending easter weekend with Helena's family I got inspired to buy a new real digital camera, not a small cheap one we already have. A real one this time. We'd already decided we needed one and was gonna wait until summer but after that weekend and realizing how many photos we'd miss out on of our boy growing we decided to buy one now on credit. A Canon EOS 450D with a normal 18-55 lens and a 55-300 zoom lens. With accessories and stuff it ended at about $1300 but totally worth it!
Or what do you think?
Procreation
I'm baffled at how mankind is still alive!
During the past year I've been surprised again and again and how much can go wrong with a pregnancy and how it all of a sudden can go bad! Ofcourse I knew it had it's risks, I watched E.R like everyone else in the 90's but still didn't know it was that much that could go wrong! Not to mention the actual "giving birth" part! I'm a bit scared to even imagine how they did it a thousand year's ago.
But now that he's actually out there's still a few hundred or so defects that won't show up, like PKU ("phenylketonuria"), I'd never even heard about that before!
And to top all of that - the infant is completely helpless and at mercy of others for a solid 2-3 years atleast! Check the animal kingdom, what other animal needs to protect and feed it's offspring for that long!? How long does it take for a foal to walk? Hours? Takes a year for a human baby!
It's really quite amazing how we're not extinct!!
During the past year I've been surprised again and again and how much can go wrong with a pregnancy and how it all of a sudden can go bad! Ofcourse I knew it had it's risks, I watched E.R like everyone else in the 90's but still didn't know it was that much that could go wrong! Not to mention the actual "giving birth" part! I'm a bit scared to even imagine how they did it a thousand year's ago.
But now that he's actually out there's still a few hundred or so defects that won't show up, like PKU ("phenylketonuria"), I'd never even heard about that before!
And to top all of that - the infant is completely helpless and at mercy of others for a solid 2-3 years atleast! Check the animal kingdom, what other animal needs to protect and feed it's offspring for that long!? How long does it take for a foal to walk? Hours? Takes a year for a human baby!
It's really quite amazing how we're not extinct!!
Cooling Down...
Now we're into day 11 of Sam's life and me and Helena have tried to be as good new parents as we can giving him whatever he wants. It really get's to you when your son is screaming as loud as he can and you can't get the milk to cool down fast enough for him. And I'm getting good at changing diapers!
Fortunately for us in Sweden we're aloud 10 days off from work after having a baby but as of monday I'm a working man again. It's bitter sweet, I liked being with my son all the time but it's also liberating being at work when you only have to take care of work.
But before that we're going to my parents this weekend to unwind a bit :)
Fortunately for us in Sweden we're aloud 10 days off from work after having a baby but as of monday I'm a working man again. It's bitter sweet, I liked being with my son all the time but it's also liberating being at work when you only have to take care of work.
But before that we're going to my parents this weekend to unwind a bit :)
I'm a Dad!
In case you missed it, on Monday 22nd at 12:20 CET I became a father to Sam Mikael Ström. A healthy 4.3 kilo baby meassuring 55.6 cm in heigh and excellent condition :)
Me and Helena are staying some nights at a hotel at the hospital to cool down after this huge event.
Here are some images. Login is "friend" and password is the company I work for.
Me and Helena are staying some nights at a hotel at the hospital to cool down after this huge event.
Here are some images. Login is "friend" and password is the company I work for.
No Expectations, No Disappointments
Here we go again! One more olympic games and once again the media is doing what they can to make us think sweden has a good chance at bringing home some medals. And so far nothing has worked out and they are saying "what tha hell happened!?". I'm saying "sure they may look good in the pre-olympic events but this is the best of the best!".
I'd like Sweden to win medals. It'd be a good thing. But I still hate it when the media pushes up the expectations and we fall flat and are left with feelings of disappointment. But not me. Cause I don't do that anymore :)
Go sweden, go, bring home those medals! And if not... well that's ok too :)
And no baby yet, sorry to disappoint!
I'd like Sweden to win medals. It'd be a good thing. But I still hate it when the media pushes up the expectations and we fall flat and are left with feelings of disappointment. But not me. Cause I don't do that anymore :)
Go sweden, go, bring home those medals! And if not... well that's ok too :)
And no baby yet, sorry to disappoint!
Counting the Days
Me and Helena have gone into "counting down the days"-mode, which right now is down to 2 weeks! It's going slower and slower now when we know our son can come out at any moment! He's really kicking her hard in there! We're also running around trying to predict what we'll need and buying everything but as always you won't know what you'll need until it's too late!
Meantime we're warching tons of movies. Weirdest good one yet was the timetraveller's Wife. Weirdest bad one yet was New York I Love You, even though it had Natalie in it. 2012 was better than I thought, then again I am a big Cusack fan!
Meantime we're warching tons of movies. Weirdest good one yet was the timetraveller's Wife. Weirdest bad one yet was New York I Love You, even though it had Natalie in it. 2012 was better than I thought, then again I am a big Cusack fan!
A Long Long Time Ago...
Ok maybe it wasn't that long ago, just over 2 years ago, back in November 2007 one of my friends got married. And they had a professional photographer called Christel there (along with an "assistant") that was running around all day taking photos. I saw a few of them on her website Estethia.com. I thought she did an awesome job of covering the wedding, took some really nice photos and also spent alot of time fixing them up in photoshop or whatever. But it wasn't until recently that the bride sent over the photo of me from that wedding. And I gotta say... if you're a photographer and can make me look this good, then you're really good!!! Check out her website cause she does really good work! When I get married and if I can afford it I know who to call :)
And when I showed that to Helena she said "oh you looked so good back then. Pity I didn't know you then". What the hell is that suppose to mean!?!?! :)
And when I showed that to Helena she said "oh you looked so good back then. Pity I didn't know you then". What the hell is that suppose to mean!?!?! :)
To Absent Friends
Yesterday I finally got in the "Star Trek Online" beta! It's an online roleplaying game in the Star Trek universe. And being a huge trekker and huge Warcraft geek I think I'll like it. So far I love it! Some parts of the game feels like being in one of the episodes, really well made. Although it's almost more than what my graphic card can handle!
When creating a character you have to chose name, which was relatively easy. Then you have to name your ship. Which was easier 'cause my first thought went to my best friend Eden who passed away almost 8 years ago. So if you're in the game and see a ship named USS Eden pass by, that'll be me :)
When creating a character you have to chose name, which was relatively easy. Then you have to name your ship. Which was easier 'cause my first thought went to my best friend Eden who passed away almost 8 years ago. So if you're in the game and see a ship named USS Eden pass by, that'll be me :)
Happy New Year!
Since every other site is summoning up the past ten years I thought I'd do the same. Because the past ten years have been completely revolutionary in most ways for me.
10 years ago I was just settling into my rental apartment in south of stockholm, never having set foot in the northern parts of Stockholm. Didn't have a drivers license, worked at the "customization" department at a computer retailer, didn't have a girlfriend or even any prospects and was rarely going outside the Stockholm region.
Then I got promoted, lost my job, got a new job, got my drivers license, got to travel the world for the state department, got laid off again and got a job at a former customer. And that was just in the first five years. But then I got so comfortable that I have really no reason to look for any other job!
In 2005 I had my 30 year crisis and was slowly realizing that you really need someone to share your ups and cheer you up in your downs. But it wasnt until 2006 that I really understood just how much I needed that and after "playing the field" for 2 years I was almost ready to give up when I was contacted by Helena through an internet dating site and I realised quickly she was something special! We met for the first time 3/3 in 2008 and by September I was moving in with her. Then in April we signed the papers to have a house built and in June when the house was being built we found out we were pregnant.
So now, 10 years after, I'm living in my own house (north of Stockholm!), have a good job, good friends, awesome fiance and in 7-8 weeks I'm gonna be a dad. So except for still going to "Star Trek" events, watching Formula 1 and playing computer games nothing in my life today is as it was 10 years ago.
Overall the past 10 years have been very good to me. Except one huge thing. 10 years ago my best friend was Eden. I loved that guy and for who he was. In February 2002 he died only 32 years old. That was a huge bummer but taught me a little bit about appreciating live. Still find myself thinking about him.
And now for a very adult comment - I really hope the next 10 years is way less eventful! I don't want to move and don't want to lose my job and I don't want to lose anymore friends. :)
Have a great 2010 everyone!
10 years ago I was just settling into my rental apartment in south of stockholm, never having set foot in the northern parts of Stockholm. Didn't have a drivers license, worked at the "customization" department at a computer retailer, didn't have a girlfriend or even any prospects and was rarely going outside the Stockholm region.
Then I got promoted, lost my job, got a new job, got my drivers license, got to travel the world for the state department, got laid off again and got a job at a former customer. And that was just in the first five years. But then I got so comfortable that I have really no reason to look for any other job!
In 2005 I had my 30 year crisis and was slowly realizing that you really need someone to share your ups and cheer you up in your downs. But it wasnt until 2006 that I really understood just how much I needed that and after "playing the field" for 2 years I was almost ready to give up when I was contacted by Helena through an internet dating site and I realised quickly she was something special! We met for the first time 3/3 in 2008 and by September I was moving in with her. Then in April we signed the papers to have a house built and in June when the house was being built we found out we were pregnant.
So now, 10 years after, I'm living in my own house (north of Stockholm!), have a good job, good friends, awesome fiance and in 7-8 weeks I'm gonna be a dad. So except for still going to "Star Trek" events, watching Formula 1 and playing computer games nothing in my life today is as it was 10 years ago.
Overall the past 10 years have been very good to me. Except one huge thing. 10 years ago my best friend was Eden. I loved that guy and for who he was. In February 2002 he died only 32 years old. That was a huge bummer but taught me a little bit about appreciating live. Still find myself thinking about him.
And now for a very adult comment - I really hope the next 10 years is way less eventful! I don't want to move and don't want to lose my job and I don't want to lose anymore friends. :)
Have a great 2010 everyone!
Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Do you remeber this? My monologue about how terrible "Star Wars Episode I" was and why it sucked so bad? It was written back in 2001 and my english & typing is so bad I'm embarrassed but it was written for fun.
Well this guy here takes it to a whole new dimension! How long did that guy work on this clips? Months probably! And they are hilarious, brilliant and makes so many good points, everything from shallow comments like "what's that doing there" to downright deep analysis of lightsaber duels! It's really fun if you have the time (7x10 minutes)
Well this guy here takes it to a whole new dimension! How long did that guy work on this clips? Months probably! And they are hilarious, brilliant and makes so many good points, everything from shallow comments like "what's that doing there" to downright deep analysis of lightsaber duels! It's really fun if you have the time (7x10 minutes)
It Was A Very Mery Christmas Indeed!
Although it was a hectic few days to get everything ready for our very first Christmas dinner ever it was so worth it! We were about 13 people there over the day, 6 stayed the night so a bit of planning but it was so fun! Helena's brother with his family and my sister with her kids and my brother, and Helena's mother, grandmother, it was all fun and most people had a good time. It was a bit tough in the evening trying to make sure people of four generations had a nice time (what can you do when the kids wanna play Guitar Hero and the grandmother wanna watch the news!?).
Then on Christmas day we went home to my parents for a more British christmas with turkey and the crackers and even more fun was had by all.
All in all a very merry christmas! Thanks everybody!!
Some photos can be found here.
Then on Christmas day we went home to my parents for a more British christmas with turkey and the crackers and even more fun was had by all.
All in all a very merry christmas! Thanks everybody!!
Some photos can be found here.
White Christmas!
It looks like it's going to be a very, very white Christmas here in Stockholm! It's been snowing for days now and although the temperature is almost up to 0 again I hope the snow is gonna last atleast a day more so we can all enjoy a white christmas for the first time in I don't know how long!
My darling Helena has worked her butt off trying to organize the perfect Christmas dinner! We're having 11 guests over for Christmas eve so it's gonna be busy! But it's gonna be a blast I hope but it does hurt when you go to the supermarket and the total is up to $200!
And this winter landscape encouraged me to take out my old camera (since our new one sucks, we sent it back to Canon to have a look at it 'cause it must be something wrong with the optics) to take some "screenshots" of a white christmas. And the best photo of them all is here. I liked that one, alot! :)
I've added a new album in my image gallery so head over there.
And Merry Christmas if I don't have time to write something tomorrow!
My darling Helena has worked her butt off trying to organize the perfect Christmas dinner! We're having 11 guests over for Christmas eve so it's gonna be busy! But it's gonna be a blast I hope but it does hurt when you go to the supermarket and the total is up to $200!
And this winter landscape encouraged me to take out my old camera (since our new one sucks, we sent it back to Canon to have a look at it 'cause it must be something wrong with the optics) to take some "screenshots" of a white christmas. And the best photo of them all is here. I liked that one, alot! :)
I've added a new album in my image gallery so head over there.
And Merry Christmas if I don't have time to write something tomorrow!
Hate To Ruin The Christmas Spirit...
Yesterday I was flipping through our channels and actually stopped on National Geographic. They were showing a 2 hours documentary called "Six Degrees Could Change The World". And it's just what it sounds like - a documentary with scientists and sociologists going through what would happend if the earth got one, two, three, four, five or god forbid six degrees hotter. The conclusions were not pretty. At two degrees it'd start spiraling away beyond what we could control and at 6 it'd be game over. And when it was produced we were at 0.8. And at the same time all the world leaders can't unite in Copenhagen (which in itself is a huge CO2 fest flying in all the people all over the world)! And this morning in Metro they said behind each kilo of ham on the dinner table at christmas is atleast 10 kilos of CO2.
If that doesn't kill the christmas spirit I dunno what does!
If that doesn't kill the christmas spirit I dunno what does!
New Imagegallery
Hey everyone. As I mentioned in the update a few days ago I was working to get a new imagegallery up and running. It's based on "ImageVue" which has some really cool things going for it but it lacked any form of password protection which made it impossible for me to use. Publishing pictures of me or my family has never been a problem but now when more than half of the pictures I take feature Helena or a member of her family I've had to have a password so noone can google their way there. For some reason Helena have been very good at keeping herself off the grid!
Anyway, here it is!
As before the username is "friend" and the password is the name of the company I work for, with a capital first letter. I know it's easy to figure out but it's good enough to keep it off Google anyway!!
I haven't had the time to tag and put captions on all of the photos yet but the albums themselves should be tagged. I had to put the years 1975 to 2005 into a sub-album because otherwise the menu would've gone on forever!
I hope you like it. I do!
Anyway, here it is!
As before the username is "friend" and the password is the name of the company I work for, with a capital first letter. I know it's easy to figure out but it's good enough to keep it off Google anyway!!
I haven't had the time to tag and put captions on all of the photos yet but the albums themselves should be tagged. I had to put the years 1975 to 2005 into a sub-album because otherwise the menu would've gone on forever!
I hope you like it. I do!
Everything Is Good. A Bit Too Good!
One of the things I had fixed for Helena's birthday was to prepare a romantic weekend at Villa Fridhem in Norrköping for us in December so we could just get away and enjoy ourselves. And my family chipped in and set her up with a massage at the spa!
So on saturday we were off. After driving for two hours we checked in and the champagne was on ice! Ofcourse it was alcohol-free but that didn't matter, the chocolate and strawberries still made it perfect! Then we had our first disappointment - the afternoon tea. It was just 3 cakes and one was just finished so we had two cakes and neither of them was any good. No cookies, nothing. Ok, we didn't pay any extra for it but we were spoilt rotten the last time we did this in Söderfors Herrgård! After that we walked around abit and the feeling that hit me was "if I was in charge of this place I really would fix these million small things that they are missing". Like when a horse pooped right in front of the entrance, took them hours to clean up!
Anyway, after that it was time for Helena's massage - and it was good and went on for over an hour! Meantime I was enjoying myself in the swimmingpool with a cold beer! And as I was floating around I had one of those perfect moments when everything is good, no worries, no problems, nothing, cause everything is good! It sured helped that the day before we had gotten all of the assurances in the world that our baby was ok, and that one week before we had frozen two of our three mortgages for the house for 2 years and making sure that interest wouldn't run away, and everything else was just good!
After that we had a shower and was off to the typical swedish "Julbord" (a buffet of traditional christmas-type food). And I kept eating and eating and at around 9 pm we were both so stuffed that we couldn't do more than go to our rooms and watch some TV and talk and then go to sleep! It was ridiculous really. And we woke up the next morning still feeling pretty full but then it was time for breakfast which was pretty good but again, small things they should've changed to make it better. Like the waffles, took 10 minutes to cook a waffle!
After that we walked around a bit, took another dip in the pool and then we were off going back home. And then we stopped by the christmas market in stockholm city and bought some candy and sausages.
All in all a kick ass weekend! But I can't help to shake the feeling that life is going a bit too good right now... just praying nothing kicks me down to reality!
And if you want photos they are located here in my new gallery.
Btw, you'll need a logon for the ew gallery. The username is "friend" and the password is the name of the company I work for, with a capital first letter.
So on saturday we were off. After driving for two hours we checked in and the champagne was on ice! Ofcourse it was alcohol-free but that didn't matter, the chocolate and strawberries still made it perfect! Then we had our first disappointment - the afternoon tea. It was just 3 cakes and one was just finished so we had two cakes and neither of them was any good. No cookies, nothing. Ok, we didn't pay any extra for it but we were spoilt rotten the last time we did this in Söderfors Herrgård! After that we walked around abit and the feeling that hit me was "if I was in charge of this place I really would fix these million small things that they are missing". Like when a horse pooped right in front of the entrance, took them hours to clean up!
Anyway, after that it was time for Helena's massage - and it was good and went on for over an hour! Meantime I was enjoying myself in the swimmingpool with a cold beer! And as I was floating around I had one of those perfect moments when everything is good, no worries, no problems, nothing, cause everything is good! It sured helped that the day before we had gotten all of the assurances in the world that our baby was ok, and that one week before we had frozen two of our three mortgages for the house for 2 years and making sure that interest wouldn't run away, and everything else was just good!
After that we had a shower and was off to the typical swedish "Julbord" (a buffet of traditional christmas-type food). And I kept eating and eating and at around 9 pm we were both so stuffed that we couldn't do more than go to our rooms and watch some TV and talk and then go to sleep! It was ridiculous really. And we woke up the next morning still feeling pretty full but then it was time for breakfast which was pretty good but again, small things they should've changed to make it better. Like the waffles, took 10 minutes to cook a waffle!
After that we walked around a bit, took another dip in the pool and then we were off going back home. And then we stopped by the christmas market in stockholm city and bought some candy and sausages.
All in all a kick ass weekend! But I can't help to shake the feeling that life is going a bit too good right now... just praying nothing kicks me down to reality!
And if you want photos they are located here in my new gallery.
Btw, you'll need a logon for the ew gallery. The username is "friend" and the password is the name of the company I work for, with a capital first letter.
All Is Well
No updates must mean everything is going well. Right?
Well pretty well! We've taken our first "becoming a parent"-course which was mostly about the delivery and all of that, expect alot more next time. Today we listened to the heartbeat and Helena had all the measurements and samples taken and everything is super fine according to our nurse.
But tomorrow is a big day! Tomorrow we are gonna do a 4d ultrasound so we can actually see the baby's face and feet kicking and all of that, really excited over that. We did it with her brother's kid last year and it was exciting enough but not it's our kid!!! :)
Will probably post pictures of it later!
Well pretty well! We've taken our first "becoming a parent"-course which was mostly about the delivery and all of that, expect alot more next time. Today we listened to the heartbeat and Helena had all the measurements and samples taken and everything is super fine according to our nurse.
But tomorrow is a big day! Tomorrow we are gonna do a 4d ultrasound so we can actually see the baby's face and feet kicking and all of that, really excited over that. We did it with her brother's kid last year and it was exciting enough but not it's our kid!!! :)
Will probably post pictures of it later!
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