I very rarely stay home sick from work. Usually some cortison-based lotion, pill or spray helps with most things that go wrong with me. Last year when I had the shingles I still went to work, had to pop some Iprens towards the end but went to work regardless. But last week I got hit by a really nasty cold and woke up very early thursday morning and not only a soar throat - a really aching throat. Some Vicks and painkillers, an hour sleep and I then gave up on the idea of going to work. Took the son to kindergarten and went back to bed. And it was goooooooood! I stayed home on friday as well because I wasn't fully operational and maybe even contagious (have you seen Contagion yet? :) ) and got a lot of gaming done and just enjoying 8 hours off from work, wife and son.. well as much as you can while sneezing and wiping your nose all the time!
But now my 2 sickdays for the year are over and done with. I hope. 'Cause I think over the past 10 years that should be my annual average.
MOVIES AND EVEN MORE MOVIES
Me and H (which is what I write when I don't wanna write her full name, but I'm talking about my wife Helena, just for future reference) have really been plowing through lots of movies in the past few days!!
So small short reviews: "Killer Elite", too long and too many twists to be even bother thinking about. "Real Steel", I didn't know it was such a kids movie when we started to watch it but combining the robots and Hugh Jackman taking off his shirt all the time and it's clear that I wasn't the target audience here. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", I didn't expect much since the last "Planet of the Apes" was so very sucky but this one was actually pretty good. Only thing to complain about was James Franco which just haven't got much acting depth to him. "Darkest Hour 3D" - yeah we actually went out to the movies to watch a 3D movie and boy did we regret that! The movie was "meh..." at best and for once the 3D didn't help, it was actually a downside since both our eyes were sore afterwards. So no more 3D for us I think.
But the biggest surprise was "What's Your Number"... Yeah I know, of all those previously mentioned action and/or sci-fi movies the movie we've watched that I'd rate the highest was a chic flic!! But it was actually quite good, funny and warm and modern. The huge downside to having that theme to a movie (which basically is "how many have you slept with?") is it makes for really uncomfortable talk afterwards! Cause imagine it, you're on a date with a beautiful woman and you take the bullet and go see a romantic film and the first thing she says afterwards is "so how many have you slept with?", woooops! But me and H actually didn't fall into that trap. Maybe because we really don't care about what we did before ...
So small short reviews: "Killer Elite", too long and too many twists to be even bother thinking about. "Real Steel", I didn't know it was such a kids movie when we started to watch it but combining the robots and Hugh Jackman taking off his shirt all the time and it's clear that I wasn't the target audience here. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", I didn't expect much since the last "Planet of the Apes" was so very sucky but this one was actually pretty good. Only thing to complain about was James Franco which just haven't got much acting depth to him. "Darkest Hour 3D" - yeah we actually went out to the movies to watch a 3D movie and boy did we regret that! The movie was "meh..." at best and for once the 3D didn't help, it was actually a downside since both our eyes were sore afterwards. So no more 3D for us I think.
But the biggest surprise was "What's Your Number"... Yeah I know, of all those previously mentioned action and/or sci-fi movies the movie we've watched that I'd rate the highest was a chic flic!! But it was actually quite good, funny and warm and modern. The huge downside to having that theme to a movie (which basically is "how many have you slept with?") is it makes for really uncomfortable talk afterwards! Cause imagine it, you're on a date with a beautiful woman and you take the bullet and go see a romantic film and the first thing she says afterwards is "so how many have you slept with?", woooops! But me and H actually didn't fall into that trap. Maybe because we really don't care about what we did before ...
BELATED HAPPY NEW YEAR
I moved my blog here because it made it easier to update - I could simply send an e-mail to the blog and it'd be posted right away. Yet I didn't make a "happy new year" post.
The reason is because we (as in me and my wife) were totally stressed out during new years eve because we had a 3 course dinner to serve to 8 people and making sure they are happy (or atleast content). It kinda made me miss the good old days of being single in my apartment - not having to worry about nothing :) (I kid ofcourse) Fortunately the guests took care of Sam for us more or less but it's still enough to make me forget about those little things.
But I still had a good new years eve and yesterday we were just slacking, watching TV and not doing much at all. Which kinda annoyed the hell out of our son that bores easily :)
The reason is because we (as in me and my wife) were totally stressed out during new years eve because we had a 3 course dinner to serve to 8 people and making sure they are happy (or atleast content). It kinda made me miss the good old days of being single in my apartment - not having to worry about nothing :) (I kid ofcourse) Fortunately the guests took care of Sam for us more or less but it's still enough to make me forget about those little things.
But I still had a good new years eve and yesterday we were just slacking, watching TV and not doing much at all. Which kinda annoyed the hell out of our son that bores easily :)
WHAT DID I GET FOR MY WIFE
The question was raised by a friend of mine "what did you get your wife" so here's the answer to that.
I got her one of those Qube games with the "luxury" theme (cause she likes that stuff), a Nespresso-machine (she wanted one for work but she's not really likely to bring it to work since it makes sooooo good coffee!) and pods for 500 crowns - that was alot of coffee! :)
So she was pretty much happier than I was about the presents - and she was even happier when her secret santa had bought a little Nespresso-glasscube for the pods!
I got her one of those Qube games with the "luxury" theme (cause she likes that stuff), a Nespresso-machine (she wanted one for work but she's not really likely to bring it to work since it makes sooooo good coffee!) and pods for 500 crowns - that was alot of coffee! :)
So she was pretty much happier than I was about the presents - and she was even happier when her secret santa had bought a little Nespresso-glasscube for the pods!
MERRY CHRISTMAS INDEED
So did you have a merry Christmas? .. I certainly did! I really love Christmases like this!
First we had a small little present opening at home and I got an electric toothbrush from my lovely wife! The story behind that is that I've always prefered electric ones, it just feels better afterwards. But during our very nice romantic weekend after we got married I lost mine. And I never really put a high priority on it (the Samsung Tab was much more important!!) but now I got one again!
Then we got into the car and drove 3 hours to her brother's place and celebrated Christmas with his family. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun and lots of presents (with 3 small kids there it was plenty of toys!)! And that's when my wife surprised me again! Not only did she remember me saying "I want that for Christmas!" when I saw the TV trailer for "Uncharted 3" - but she went above and beyond and got me the special edition of it!!
The day after we had some breakfast and that's when the only bad thing that happened all week happened - Helena got some food poisoning with all bad stuff that comes with that. And then we got into the car to drive 3 hours to my parent's place, stopping every 30 minutes when H felt a bit queasy.
But when we finally got there she slept for 2 hours and it was all good. Then it was the same story, lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun and... ok maybe not lots of presents since we had agreed to play the Secret Santa game. I don't know who was my Santa but that person bought me two whisky glasses, really nice so thank you for that! Then it was time to play some games... first it was the social version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and that didn't work out since we improvised the rules because the rules that comes with it only applies when playing 2 people and we were four. But I still think it should have been "last man standing" (which ofcourse was me) but nope. So then we moved on to Scrabble and on the second word we got into an argument about the rules. And when it was really close towards the end we got into an argument what happens when challening someone that puts down tiles that make 3 words at the same time.. but in the end I won again. I have really no clue why I win Scrabble so often (in english)!
Anyway, then we stayed the day and after breakfast (without the food poisoning) we got into the car and drove 1 1/2 hour home to calm down, get organized and start putting batteries in everything our son got... oh the noise!!!
First we had a small little present opening at home and I got an electric toothbrush from my lovely wife! The story behind that is that I've always prefered electric ones, it just feels better afterwards. But during our very nice romantic weekend after we got married I lost mine. And I never really put a high priority on it (the Samsung Tab was much more important!!) but now I got one again!
Then we got into the car and drove 3 hours to her brother's place and celebrated Christmas with his family. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun and lots of presents (with 3 small kids there it was plenty of toys!)! And that's when my wife surprised me again! Not only did she remember me saying "I want that for Christmas!" when I saw the TV trailer for "Uncharted 3" - but she went above and beyond and got me the special edition of it!!
The day after we had some breakfast and that's when the only bad thing that happened all week happened - Helena got some food poisoning with all bad stuff that comes with that. And then we got into the car to drive 3 hours to my parent's place, stopping every 30 minutes when H felt a bit queasy.
But when we finally got there she slept for 2 hours and it was all good. Then it was the same story, lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun and... ok maybe not lots of presents since we had agreed to play the Secret Santa game. I don't know who was my Santa but that person bought me two whisky glasses, really nice so thank you for that! Then it was time to play some games... first it was the social version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and that didn't work out since we improvised the rules because the rules that comes with it only applies when playing 2 people and we were four. But I still think it should have been "last man standing" (which ofcourse was me) but nope. So then we moved on to Scrabble and on the second word we got into an argument about the rules. And when it was really close towards the end we got into an argument what happens when challening someone that puts down tiles that make 3 words at the same time.. but in the end I won again. I have really no clue why I win Scrabble so often (in english)!
Anyway, then we stayed the day and after breakfast (without the food poisoning) we got into the car and drove 1 1/2 hour home to calm down, get organized and start putting batteries in everything our son got... oh the noise!!!
MOVIES
This weeks movies have been "Little Piece of Heaven" and "Contagion".
"Little Piece of Heaven" is so totally a chick flic that is damn predictable as hell. Decent acting and story and everything but still predictable chick flic. But if you want some nice "cuddle in the soffa during a dark december night with some candlelight and watch a movie" it does work quite nicely.
"Contagion" is the recent "oh my god a new über virus is unleashed on us and we're all going to hell"-movie. Atleast that's what I thought it was. But the movie didn't quite work for me, or Helena for that matter. I don't know if it was too fast paced or trying to convey so much or what but you just never got involved in the plot or the characters. Never really felt for any of the characters at all. I guess from a "yeah that could happen" this movie is the best pandemic movie but for pure entertainment I'll go with "Outbreak" any day of the year. It's got Keven Spacey, military coverups, bad Donald Sutherland and a monkey saves the day! If you make the comparison to the "oh my god a über asteroid is gonna hit earh and blow us all to hell"-movies "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" I guess "Contagion" would be the latter. Which is weird cause I prefered the "yeah that could happen" feel of "Deep Impact" way more than the entertainment factor of "Armageddon"...
But I'd still recommend it to you :)
"Little Piece of Heaven" is so totally a chick flic that is damn predictable as hell. Decent acting and story and everything but still predictable chick flic. But if you want some nice "cuddle in the soffa during a dark december night with some candlelight and watch a movie" it does work quite nicely.
"Contagion" is the recent "oh my god a new über virus is unleashed on us and we're all going to hell"-movie. Atleast that's what I thought it was. But the movie didn't quite work for me, or Helena for that matter. I don't know if it was too fast paced or trying to convey so much or what but you just never got involved in the plot or the characters. Never really felt for any of the characters at all. I guess from a "yeah that could happen" this movie is the best pandemic movie but for pure entertainment I'll go with "Outbreak" any day of the year. It's got Keven Spacey, military coverups, bad Donald Sutherland and a monkey saves the day! If you make the comparison to the "oh my god a über asteroid is gonna hit earh and blow us all to hell"-movies "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" I guess "Contagion" would be the latter. Which is weird cause I prefered the "yeah that could happen" feel of "Deep Impact" way more than the entertainment factor of "Armageddon"...
But I'd still recommend it to you :)
THE JUDGEMENT
Now I've played with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 3G for a few days and ready for a judgement.
In short ... "pleased".
I'm happy with the size, the wieght, the battery life, the customization, the speed, the apps, alot of it I like. But two of the things I used in my pros and cons list isn't living up to expectations!
First it's the USB connector. I've read a few reviews and I checked up on "prisjakt" for technical specs and nowhere did it say it required a special USB connector. Everywhere I looked just said "USB". But it seems they liked Apple's idea of having special connectors so you have to buy their accessories if you want more adapters and stuff. For my iPhone I had 3 USB cables, one for work, one at home and one in my car. They each cost around $50. And now I have to buy 2 for my Galaxy Tab for $50 each. That just plain sucks! Why do they do it that way? On the Galaxy SII phone you have simple micro-USB connector that is enough to charge and transfer things, but apparently on the Tab it's not enough.
Secondly it's MKV playback. On my Galaxy SII phone there's no problem with MKV playback. But on the Galaxy Tab I I've only found one media player capable of playing MKV files so I know it has the power to play them, I just don't know why I have to have a special media player for it! And it wouldn't have been a problem if I could buy the full version of that media player but alas the writer of that player had his account frozen so I can't buy it and the demo version is only for 3 days. So until I can either find another player capable of playing MKV files or his account is fixed I can't play MKV files without converting them first. And converting them only takes 15 minutes but it was one of the reasons I chose the Galaxy Tab - the only player for the iPad that could play it flawlessly was the VLC player which isn't available anymore (without voiding the guarantee by jailbreaking it).
But I'm still pleased with it. These two things are problems that will be solved in time but also two things that I used as pros for the Galaxy Tab that didn't live up to expectations. But still, just the fact that I can change the user interface on it with a few clicks and that I don't have to hook it up to my computer or installing iTunes or getting a special SIM card for it and yadda yadda, I'm still pleased :)
Also pleased with Mobilgiganten.se that delivered it in 24 hours after I ordered it!
In short ... "pleased".
I'm happy with the size, the wieght, the battery life, the customization, the speed, the apps, alot of it I like. But two of the things I used in my pros and cons list isn't living up to expectations!
First it's the USB connector. I've read a few reviews and I checked up on "prisjakt" for technical specs and nowhere did it say it required a special USB connector. Everywhere I looked just said "USB". But it seems they liked Apple's idea of having special connectors so you have to buy their accessories if you want more adapters and stuff. For my iPhone I had 3 USB cables, one for work, one at home and one in my car. They each cost around $50. And now I have to buy 2 for my Galaxy Tab for $50 each. That just plain sucks! Why do they do it that way? On the Galaxy SII phone you have simple micro-USB connector that is enough to charge and transfer things, but apparently on the Tab it's not enough.
Secondly it's MKV playback. On my Galaxy SII phone there's no problem with MKV playback. But on the Galaxy Tab I I've only found one media player capable of playing MKV files so I know it has the power to play them, I just don't know why I have to have a special media player for it! And it wouldn't have been a problem if I could buy the full version of that media player but alas the writer of that player had his account frozen so I can't buy it and the demo version is only for 3 days. So until I can either find another player capable of playing MKV files or his account is fixed I can't play MKV files without converting them first. And converting them only takes 15 minutes but it was one of the reasons I chose the Galaxy Tab - the only player for the iPad that could play it flawlessly was the VLC player which isn't available anymore (without voiding the guarantee by jailbreaking it).
But I'm still pleased with it. These two things are problems that will be solved in time but also two things that I used as pros for the Galaxy Tab that didn't live up to expectations. But still, just the fact that I can change the user interface on it with a few clicks and that I don't have to hook it up to my computer or installing iTunes or getting a special SIM card for it and yadda yadda, I'm still pleased :)
Also pleased with Mobilgiganten.se that delivered it in 24 hours after I ordered it!
Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 3G vs. Apple iPad 2 16 3G
I've been wanting to buy a tablet for a very very very long time now. And I finally ordered one and hoping I get to play with it today.
I got into a bit of a tussle with my friend Mats who loves his Apple things. He has an iMac, iPhone and iPad and he just loves how they all work perfectly for him without him having to do things. As you may know, I had an iPhone 3GS for 2 years. I was quite happy with it but when I saw what the Samsung Galaxy SII could do there really wasn't any way I could not switch. And I'm perfectly happy with my phone!
From a technical point of view, the things that makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab better is - standard USB connection, better screen resolution and better DPI, better cameras (both of them), smaller (because of the smaller screen), new bluetooth standard, DLNA support, stereo speakers and twice the RAM. I probably won't ever use DLNA, the stereo speakers maybe and taking pictures with it is doubtful too. The only downside is a slightly slower CPU (1000 vs. 1066) but the difference in RAM more then outweighs that!
But putting aside the technical differences, what Apple does well is interfaces and making things that "just work" without having technical skills. Well I do have those technical skills and I don't have an iMac or an iPhone that this tab to interact with, I have a PC and a Samsung (android-based) phone. So it makes perfect sense for me to buy the Samsung (android-based) tab I think. I don't have to "take a chance" and see if the iPad 2 does what I want it to do (like play MKVs without converting them or having to hack it to install VLC), think that I know this one will? And I also like to change my interfaces now and again which, as I understand it, isn't that easy without jailbreaking your iPhone but easily doable on an Android device. Just look at my "World of Wacraft"-screenshots and how often I change my interface there!
But one huge, majorly disappointing thing is still the lack of being able to upgrade the storage. I thought you could upgrade it in the 8.9 (but not the 10.1) and most retailers list memory upgrades as accessory. But they will have that ability in next years lineup which right now only has a 7.7" screen which is too small for me. Or rather the difference from my 4.3" screen on my phone to a 7.7" is too small to justify the cost of upgrade. And speaking of cost, another + on the Samsung side albeit $20-$30...
I got into a bit of a tussle with my friend Mats who loves his Apple things. He has an iMac, iPhone and iPad and he just loves how they all work perfectly for him without him having to do things. As you may know, I had an iPhone 3GS for 2 years. I was quite happy with it but when I saw what the Samsung Galaxy SII could do there really wasn't any way I could not switch. And I'm perfectly happy with my phone!
From a technical point of view, the things that makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab better is - standard USB connection, better screen resolution and better DPI, better cameras (both of them), smaller (because of the smaller screen), new bluetooth standard, DLNA support, stereo speakers and twice the RAM. I probably won't ever use DLNA, the stereo speakers maybe and taking pictures with it is doubtful too. The only downside is a slightly slower CPU (1000 vs. 1066) but the difference in RAM more then outweighs that!
But putting aside the technical differences, what Apple does well is interfaces and making things that "just work" without having technical skills. Well I do have those technical skills and I don't have an iMac or an iPhone that this tab to interact with, I have a PC and a Samsung (android-based) phone. So it makes perfect sense for me to buy the Samsung (android-based) tab I think. I don't have to "take a chance" and see if the iPad 2 does what I want it to do (like play MKVs without converting them or having to hack it to install VLC), think that I know this one will? And I also like to change my interfaces now and again which, as I understand it, isn't that easy without jailbreaking your iPhone but easily doable on an Android device. Just look at my "World of Wacraft"-screenshots and how often I change my interface there!
But one huge, majorly disappointing thing is still the lack of being able to upgrade the storage. I thought you could upgrade it in the 8.9 (but not the 10.1) and most retailers list memory upgrades as accessory. But they will have that ability in next years lineup which right now only has a 7.7" screen which is too small for me. Or rather the difference from my 4.3" screen on my phone to a 7.7" is too small to justify the cost of upgrade. And speaking of cost, another + on the Samsung side albeit $20-$30...
PLAYING JACK BAUER
So did you hear about the Swedish police and DA playing Jack Bauer last week? The story, as reported by our media, is that some woman claims she overheard a man talking Arabic (which wasn't her primary language) on his cell phone talking about blowing up a shopping mall in Gothenburg. She reported it to the Swedish police who realized they didn't have all the time in the world to investigate everything and after getting the logs from the closest cell phone station they narrowed it down to the 4 palistinians. And they were promptly arrested.
That far I can't really blame them. They couldn't risk this women being wrong or risk an actual bomb in the most crowded place in Gothenburg. So I totally understand them borrowing the pages from "24" and shooting from the hips. I can actually applaud them for having the balls to make the call. 'Cause if it had been a real threat and they had hesitated it'd been far worse.
Unfortunately though they weren't just arrested, the police brutally stormed their houses/apartments with little respect to anything else than getting these guys arrested. And everything after this seems to have been one fuck up after another. After checking one piece of evidence after another they should have realized they fucked up and just dropped it and owed up to it. But here we are a year afterwards and all the so called evidence is just wrong and this woman that reported it have turned out to be far from a reliable witness and so far no one is even close to saying "we were wrong". And the problem that really bites me is that until someone owes up to the fact that they made a mistake, they (as in our justice system) won't learn anything from it or change how they work. And that'll lead to this might actually happen again! Cause the only way to improve something is finding the problem and fixing it. If everyone keeps on saying, and god forbid actually believing, that everything they did was correct, then I'm really kinda worried.
But I can't say I envy the guy who has to make the call - arrest four people on vague evidence or risk a bomb going off killing countless civilians. When Jack Bauer makes the call he's the tough guy and it's entertaining. Difference is, when Jack is wrong, which happens from time to time, he doesn't go hiding.
That far I can't really blame them. They couldn't risk this women being wrong or risk an actual bomb in the most crowded place in Gothenburg. So I totally understand them borrowing the pages from "24" and shooting from the hips. I can actually applaud them for having the balls to make the call. 'Cause if it had been a real threat and they had hesitated it'd been far worse.
Unfortunately though they weren't just arrested, the police brutally stormed their houses/apartments with little respect to anything else than getting these guys arrested. And everything after this seems to have been one fuck up after another. After checking one piece of evidence after another they should have realized they fucked up and just dropped it and owed up to it. But here we are a year afterwards and all the so called evidence is just wrong and this woman that reported it have turned out to be far from a reliable witness and so far no one is even close to saying "we were wrong". And the problem that really bites me is that until someone owes up to the fact that they made a mistake, they (as in our justice system) won't learn anything from it or change how they work. And that'll lead to this might actually happen again! Cause the only way to improve something is finding the problem and fixing it. If everyone keeps on saying, and god forbid actually believing, that everything they did was correct, then I'm really kinda worried.
But I can't say I envy the guy who has to make the call - arrest four people on vague evidence or risk a bomb going off killing countless civilians. When Jack Bauer makes the call he's the tough guy and it's entertaining. Difference is, when Jack is wrong, which happens from time to time, he doesn't go hiding.
WELL THAT WORKED OUT WELL
So the "great" result of the summit about global warming last week was... "keep on going as we're going right now while we think about it some more, keep on polluting and praying for a technical breakthrough that'll solve all our problems overnight". And it took Canada a whole 2 days to say "if the biggest baddies of greenhouse emissions isn't in, why should we?" which kinda makes sense. But as long as none of the leaders risk losing the next election because they agreed to some ridiculous demand that might help, then I guess all is fine and dandy.
It's at times like this you want some global rule that no head of state should ever be able to be relected no matter what. 'Cause that seems to be the only way for them to have balls. And speaking of balls, sweden sent Lena Ek to that summit. Might as well have sent Miss Piggy.
It's at times like this you want some global rule that no head of state should ever be able to be relected no matter what. 'Cause that seems to be the only way for them to have balls. And speaking of balls, sweden sent Lena Ek to that summit. Might as well have sent Miss Piggy.
THE ENVIRONMENT AGAIN
Everyone who knows what's going down in Durban right now raise your hands... anybody? ...
Well all the worlds governments ministers in charge of environment are gathering to discuss what we can do about the state of the climate. Last time it was in Copenhagen and the only result of the meeting was all the jetfuel that was burnt up by all the planes there. It's a bit sad when you have a conference to talk about lowering emissions and in comes a big ass jumbojet to deliver one person...
ANYWAY, I'm far from an expert at economics or the environment, but it seems to me pretty stupid. We have countries that doesn't wanna be on the same side as other countries for various reasons. And we have some countries that feels that changing their ways will hurt their economy. And we have politicians that doesn't wanna give in or take a bullet or anything because they wanna be reelected. Meanwhile we have a planet that's drowning. It won't be fun in 30-40 years is the sea level rises a few meters flooding the major cities around the world, it won't even be fun watching those finances and borderes literally washed away.
As for me.. well I'm already taking the train and live in a modern low energy home and leasing a brand new little car that doesn't consume much gas so I think I'm doing my part atleast.
Well all the worlds governments ministers in charge of environment are gathering to discuss what we can do about the state of the climate. Last time it was in Copenhagen and the only result of the meeting was all the jetfuel that was burnt up by all the planes there. It's a bit sad when you have a conference to talk about lowering emissions and in comes a big ass jumbojet to deliver one person...
ANYWAY, I'm far from an expert at economics or the environment, but it seems to me pretty stupid. We have countries that doesn't wanna be on the same side as other countries for various reasons. And we have some countries that feels that changing their ways will hurt their economy. And we have politicians that doesn't wanna give in or take a bullet or anything because they wanna be reelected. Meanwhile we have a planet that's drowning. It won't be fun in 30-40 years is the sea level rises a few meters flooding the major cities around the world, it won't even be fun watching those finances and borderes literally washed away.
As for me.. well I'm already taking the train and live in a modern low energy home and leasing a brand new little car that doesn't consume much gas so I think I'm doing my part atleast.
WEB TIME MACHINE
Thanks to the wonders of the world wide web time machine I have been able to restore the updates for 2000!! I have the updates for 2001 as well as restored the missing ones for 2010. Pretty sweet huh?
And anyone saying they've had a blog for a long time should check it out, the first capture they have of my kristoffer.com was back in 1998 :)
And anyone saying they've had a blog for a long time should check it out, the first capture they have of my kristoffer.com was back in 1998 :)
IN WITH OLD
I'm finally done adding old updates to this blog! I started this blog way before blog was even a word, back in 1997. Unfortunately I don't have those updates (and the internet archives only goes back that far) and let's be honest, before 2002 there wasn't that much interesting happening. But all the updates dating back to January 1st 2002 are now added to this place. How many blogs can say that? :) So now you can read about all my travelling again and my sadness when I lost my best friend and the excitement when I met Helena :)
Also added it to Facebook so hopefully you'll get a notice there when I update this place. Just hope that works as intended.
Also added it to Facebook so hopefully you'll get a notice there when I update this place. Just hope that works as intended.
SNOW OR NO SNOW
So it's December 1st today. And not many signs it is December at all. Still above 0 here, we had a little bit of snow Sunday night that melted fast and then nothing.
So now people start complaining about the lack of snow. And last year it was complaints abot too much. I don't know which side I'm on. A lot of snow is good for a lot of reasons, most of all it's a sign the weather is "normal". And I also want it so my son can experience a white Christmas, seeing that he hardly remembers last Christmas. But then again I remember last year when I was out shoveling snow like a mad man. When it was hard to get the car out and slippery as hell on the roads and the electric bill made everyone turn down the heat a little bit. But still.. snow is snow so bring it on :)
So now people start complaining about the lack of snow. And last year it was complaints abot too much. I don't know which side I'm on. A lot of snow is good for a lot of reasons, most of all it's a sign the weather is "normal". And I also want it so my son can experience a white Christmas, seeing that he hardly remembers last Christmas. But then again I remember last year when I was out shoveling snow like a mad man. When it was hard to get the car out and slippery as hell on the roads and the electric bill made everyone turn down the heat a little bit. But still.. snow is snow so bring it on :)
O'LEARYS APPOLOGY
Just a small quick update regarding our visit to the new O'Learys restaurant the other day.
I mailed the HQ and got a very nice mail back tonight. He apologized very politely and even offered us a free evening off bowling and dinner which was really nice of him. Surprisingly nice. They could just have deleted the mail like most companies would and gotten on with their business but he not only read it but replied. I thought that was nice. Unfortunately me and Helena don't have the luxury of going out much, we pretty much have to plan logistics one or two weeks ahead of time so when we do go out we want it to be something or someplace special. And it was on Sunday so not very likely to happen again anytime soon and when it happens we're not likely to go there again. I think. Then again it is free... but as our old spam protection software said, "there is no such thing as a free lunch"...
I mailed the HQ and got a very nice mail back tonight. He apologized very politely and even offered us a free evening off bowling and dinner which was really nice of him. Surprisingly nice. They could just have deleted the mail like most companies would and gotten on with their business but he not only read it but replied. I thought that was nice. Unfortunately me and Helena don't have the luxury of going out much, we pretty much have to plan logistics one or two weeks ahead of time so when we do go out we want it to be something or someplace special. And it was on Sunday so not very likely to happen again anytime soon and when it happens we're not likely to go there again. I think. Then again it is free... but as our old spam protection software said, "there is no such thing as a free lunch"...
O'LEARYS FAIL
When I left my job at Vinge my nice colleagues there got together and bought me two gifts. The first was a whisky that was really nice. And the second one was a gift certificate for 1.000 Swedish crowns (approximately $140) at O'Learys. They knew I liked going to O'Learys since I've gone there alot ever since my first Formula 1 at O'Learys experience in 1999. The gift certificate was for the newly opened restaurant in the north part of central Stockholm (Norrtull). And as this was the last race of the season, and it started at 5 pm in the afternoon it was a perfect time to use that certificate.
When we got there they made two things clear - alcohol wasn't covered by the gift certificate and there was no refunds. That seemed Ok to me since we were 5 people I thought we'd eat for 1000 swedish crowns. The food was good (above average for O'Learys actually) but that was about it. They forgot our orders left and right, they never even asked us if we wanted desserts (which we definitely did) and at the end me and my brother Jocke was left waiting for our beers but we got tired of waiting for that so when the race was over and the soccer game was done we just wanted to pay and get out of there.
And this is where basic math skills actually outsmarted my drunken math skills. I'd like to think I got some advanced math skills but after 4 beers not so much. The tab ended up at 1250:- swedish crowns. So I had to tell this waitress that we had a gift certificate we handed in when we got here 3 hours ago so go sort that please. Which she did and came back with two tabs. One for 250:- since the certificate was only for 1000:-. And one tab for the alcohol for 500:-. Which meant we paid 750:- for a tab of 1250:- with a gift certificate of 1000:-. If we hadn't wanted to get out of there so badly and if I didn't have 4 beers in my system I would indeed have protested their math skills saying that we really should only pay for the beer since the way they counted we in practice paid for everything but the beer. So they ripped us off of 250:-.
That combined with the lack of service and the fact that I was sober by the time we got home (which wouldn't have happened had we gotten that last orders of beer) makes me say "no more!". But I'm not sure I'll be able to honor that promise since there really is no other good way for me, my sister and brother to meet up and watch F1 while drinking beer and enjoying good food since we live too far apart, otherwise they could just come over to our place all the time for that :)
When we got there they made two things clear - alcohol wasn't covered by the gift certificate and there was no refunds. That seemed Ok to me since we were 5 people I thought we'd eat for 1000 swedish crowns. The food was good (above average for O'Learys actually) but that was about it. They forgot our orders left and right, they never even asked us if we wanted desserts (which we definitely did) and at the end me and my brother Jocke was left waiting for our beers but we got tired of waiting for that so when the race was over and the soccer game was done we just wanted to pay and get out of there.
And this is where basic math skills actually outsmarted my drunken math skills. I'd like to think I got some advanced math skills but after 4 beers not so much. The tab ended up at 1250:- swedish crowns. So I had to tell this waitress that we had a gift certificate we handed in when we got here 3 hours ago so go sort that please. Which she did and came back with two tabs. One for 250:- since the certificate was only for 1000:-. And one tab for the alcohol for 500:-. Which meant we paid 750:- for a tab of 1250:- with a gift certificate of 1000:-. If we hadn't wanted to get out of there so badly and if I didn't have 4 beers in my system I would indeed have protested their math skills saying that we really should only pay for the beer since the way they counted we in practice paid for everything but the beer. So they ripped us off of 250:-.
That combined with the lack of service and the fact that I was sober by the time we got home (which wouldn't have happened had we gotten that last orders of beer) makes me say "no more!". But I'm not sure I'll be able to honor that promise since there really is no other good way for me, my sister and brother to meet up and watch F1 while drinking beer and enjoying good food since we live too far apart, otherwise they could just come over to our place all the time for that :)
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
I'm a huge supporter of freedom of the press. And freedom of speech and all those other beautiful things that democracy brings. Even if they can be used for bad things like oh say starting wars and invading countries left and right. But all in all it does more good than bad. But one thing one has to know and think about is not trusting everything you read and instead ask "what's their angle? what do they have to gain from this?". Everyone knows Michael Moore's documentaries that go into that grey area in between "telling the truth" and "not quite lying".
Well for the past few weeks my new employer Carema have suffered the fate of having the media against them. And reading the headlines and articles in the newspapers/web in the morning while going to work and when I get to work I get "our" version of the truth and although they have the same facts, it's just angled differently. And I don't have access to any classified information, it's all on the web. But most people aren't interested in reading our side of the story since it's much more fun / juicy / interesting to read the medias version than the other side of the story.
It's all pretty frustrating - but still, huge supporter of freedom of the press. I just wish people would care more for finding out the truth than taking the headlines at face value.
Well for the past few weeks my new employer Carema have suffered the fate of having the media against them. And reading the headlines and articles in the newspapers/web in the morning while going to work and when I get to work I get "our" version of the truth and although they have the same facts, it's just angled differently. And I don't have access to any classified information, it's all on the web. But most people aren't interested in reading our side of the story since it's much more fun / juicy / interesting to read the medias version than the other side of the story.
It's all pretty frustrating - but still, huge supporter of freedom of the press. I just wish people would care more for finding out the truth than taking the headlines at face value.
WTB DIABLO 3 BETA ACCOUNT PLX! :)
I'm actually thinking about buying some random Diablo 3 beta account out there but everytime I'm hit with the thought of "really?? pay money that you have a thousand different things to spend it on than a beta for a computer game" and I give up on it. Only to look into it again the day after!
Actually the only thing stopping me is really the risk of being ripped off, like I almost was when I sold my old Warcraft account. Not so much the money but the idea of getting ripped off so easily online when your better judgement is saying "no".
But I still wanna play Diablo more than a kid wants to open his presents on Christmas morning!!!
Actually the only thing stopping me is really the risk of being ripped off, like I almost was when I sold my old Warcraft account. Not so much the money but the idea of getting ripped off so easily online when your better judgement is saying "no".
But I still wanna play Diablo more than a kid wants to open his presents on Christmas morning!!!
STILL THE NOOB
Slowly getting how things are setup here and what's doing what. But it feels I could work here for a year and still I'd be surprised when some server popups up because there are so many everywhere doing things it's impossible to get them all.
The bad thing now is that the media here in Sweden is doing everything they can to paint the company I started working for as "the evil empire" because of things that went down in some elderly care centers and that wouldn't make anyone feel good about just starting working there. Kinda reminds me of the "did the subcontractors building the deathstar know that the empire was evil and did they condone the empire by taking the job there"-discussion from "Clerks" :)
The bad thing now is that the media here in Sweden is doing everything they can to paint the company I started working for as "the evil empire" because of things that went down in some elderly care centers and that wouldn't make anyone feel good about just starting working there. Kinda reminds me of the "did the subcontractors building the deathstar know that the empire was evil and did they condone the empire by taking the job there"-discussion from "Clerks" :)
GETTING USED TO BEING THE NOOB
If you wind the clock back 10 years I was just starting my career as "consultant" and driving around Stockholm doing all kinds of computer magic. Everything from installing a few PCs to travelling the world. But everytime I was either involed in how the computer system was built up and evolved or it was so well documented that I had it all under control. It didn't happen that often that I got to a customer and had no clue what their computer environment looked like.
And when I was eomployed by Vinge full time I had more knowledge of their IT systems than the people who worked there since they had only worked there a year and I'd been there on and off for four years. And after 5 more years I knew the IT systems inside and out even though it changed a lot over a year and I often had to find that out myself!
But now I'm at a big company with hundreds of servers and systems and I have no clue what's what or what server does what and most importantly where to look when something is broken! I'm doing all I can to learn it but it's going slowly. Thing is I have no reference point that I can use to know if I'm learning things fast enough or if I'm looking like a total noob! ... but it's only day two!
And when I was eomployed by Vinge full time I had more knowledge of their IT systems than the people who worked there since they had only worked there a year and I'd been there on and off for four years. And after 5 more years I knew the IT systems inside and out even though it changed a lot over a year and I often had to find that out myself!
But now I'm at a big company with hundreds of servers and systems and I have no clue what's what or what server does what and most importantly where to look when something is broken! I'm doing all I can to learn it but it's going slowly. Thing is I have no reference point that I can use to know if I'm learning things fast enough or if I'm looking like a total noob! ... but it's only day two!
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