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)
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!
I Refret Buying The House!
Yeap, you read that right - I officially regret buying our house. It's not due to any problems with the house or the building of it. Or the worth versus cost. Because it's a good house and definitely worth what we paid for it. No, the reason I regret it is that I gave this guy our money!
To summarize - it's our version of "CBS 60 Minutes" who try to nail "the powers that be" and this time they were after "Älvsbyhus" which is the company building the most houses in sweden per year. And they had 3 families who had their dreams turned into nightmares because of leaky roofs and heavy rain on the day of the assembly but most of all because of "Älvsbyhus" poor post-building customer service. Or lack thereof. When we got into this whole thing we quickly realised one key factor was if it was gonna rain on the day they'd be putting the house together, then we'd be in for a nightmare trip. And we also knew that you get what you pay for and "Älvsbyhus" is the cheapest option out there. But we also figured if they build 1.000 houses per year they kinda must know what they are doing. And we haven't had any major problems (although we still have four outstanding issues after our inspection but they have promised to take care of it).
But then when you see the segment in "Kalla Fakta" and when they interview Donald Johansson, the CEO of "Älvsbyhus" and the entire thing gave me a terrible feeling of being ripped off. I actually gave my money to this guy!? They make some 150 million swedish crowns per year but his ego and "we are never wrong" mentality stops them from the goodwill factor of fixing these three families nightmares that would've cost them a maximum of 1.2 million swedish crowns and saved them from being blacklisted and that PR nightmare that was shown on the TV?! The arrogance, the condescending "you don't know what you are talking about little girl" towards the journalist.. That f*cking old fart made Göran Persson look like a big care-bear!!
If I had seen this before we signed on I'd never have bought it and I sincerly hope they get alot of "we changed our minds" calls today 'cause a company that has a CEO like that deserves to go out of business. In my opinion.
Then again, if we hadn't bought that house we wouldn't be friends with Hanna, Micke and the Westbergs :)
To summarize - it's our version of "CBS 60 Minutes" who try to nail "the powers that be" and this time they were after "Älvsbyhus" which is the company building the most houses in sweden per year. And they had 3 families who had their dreams turned into nightmares because of leaky roofs and heavy rain on the day of the assembly but most of all because of "Älvsbyhus" poor post-building customer service. Or lack thereof. When we got into this whole thing we quickly realised one key factor was if it was gonna rain on the day they'd be putting the house together, then we'd be in for a nightmare trip. And we also knew that you get what you pay for and "Älvsbyhus" is the cheapest option out there. But we also figured if they build 1.000 houses per year they kinda must know what they are doing. And we haven't had any major problems (although we still have four outstanding issues after our inspection but they have promised to take care of it).
But then when you see the segment in "Kalla Fakta" and when they interview Donald Johansson, the CEO of "Älvsbyhus" and the entire thing gave me a terrible feeling of being ripped off. I actually gave my money to this guy!? They make some 150 million swedish crowns per year but his ego and "we are never wrong" mentality stops them from the goodwill factor of fixing these three families nightmares that would've cost them a maximum of 1.2 million swedish crowns and saved them from being blacklisted and that PR nightmare that was shown on the TV?! The arrogance, the condescending "you don't know what you are talking about little girl" towards the journalist.. That f*cking old fart made Göran Persson look like a big care-bear!!
If I had seen this before we signed on I'd never have bought it and I sincerly hope they get alot of "we changed our minds" calls today 'cause a company that has a CEO like that deserves to go out of business. In my opinion.
Then again, if we hadn't bought that house we wouldn't be friends with Hanna, Micke and the Westbergs :)
Politicians
You know what job has really gotta suck? Being a politician in the opposition! Because no matter what the other person says, you have to disagree and make them look bad. And women do it really bad and to make it worse, in swedish it doesn't even just sound lame when the do head-to-head!
Last week there was a debate in swedish TV about the integration of immigrants into swedish society and the oddities that we swedes think are normal. There were two chicks, on being the minister in charge of integration politics in our current government, and one from the opposition. And even though what the first chick said made total sense and was calmly stating facts and figures and stuff the other was doing her best to discredit her and ranting on about the high unemployment that the current government has caused doing the most damage to immigrants and so on and so forth. I don't know which of them was right and wrong and I'm not sure I care about politics that much to even bother. But I know it's gotta suck having a job that requires you to disagree what the other person no matter what and to do it in public no less!
Last week there was a debate in swedish TV about the integration of immigrants into swedish society and the oddities that we swedes think are normal. There were two chicks, on being the minister in charge of integration politics in our current government, and one from the opposition. And even though what the first chick said made total sense and was calmly stating facts and figures and stuff the other was doing her best to discredit her and ranting on about the high unemployment that the current government has caused doing the most damage to immigrants and so on and so forth. I don't know which of them was right and wrong and I'm not sure I care about politics that much to even bother. But I know it's gotta suck having a job that requires you to disagree what the other person no matter what and to do it in public no less!
Movies And Even More Movies
Had a very slow, relaxed weekend with alot of movies. Ended with a Christmassy market, overall a very good weekend!
Saw "District 9". Not sure what to say about it or how I feel... it was an ok story, but a bit even and very graphical and very greasy and dirty. "My Life in Ruins" was the complete opposite, nice, sweet clean fun movie without any major thinking required to understand and appreciate. Then "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past". Had no idea what kinda movie it was, except it was kinda obvious it would be a version of "A Christmas Carol" and it was. Some funny moments and sweet but oh so predictable and cliche. Had it not been for Michael Douglas and his Hefner-clone character it'd been a waste of time.
And to finish it off we saw "The Hangover". Best movie of all weekend. Hilarious as hell. No major thinking here either but that's not a requirement :)
Saw "District 9". Not sure what to say about it or how I feel... it was an ok story, but a bit even and very graphical and very greasy and dirty. "My Life in Ruins" was the complete opposite, nice, sweet clean fun movie without any major thinking required to understand and appreciate. Then "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past". Had no idea what kinda movie it was, except it was kinda obvious it would be a version of "A Christmas Carol" and it was. Some funny moments and sweet but oh so predictable and cliche. Had it not been for Michael Douglas and his Hefner-clone character it'd been a waste of time.
And to finish it off we saw "The Hangover". Best movie of all weekend. Hilarious as hell. No major thinking here either but that's not a requirement :)
More TV...
Did you see the new "V" series that just got started in the states? I was a big fan of the original when I was a kid because "look at the lasers man!" but even later when I grew up and saw it on DVD and when I got it! I got the reference to nazi germany complete with jugend, the resistance and collaborators and everything. I totally loved it and understood what Kenneth Johnsson was trying to do. And I even saw how it was turned commercial and why he bailed out on the show when it got serialized.
- ANYWAY - he's back for another attempt! It's only been one 44 minute episode but so far I don't like it. I like it as a sci-fi show, definitely, but it has lost the historical references and all of that stuff. Instead we are told (and skip this part if you don't wanna know, but this is said in the first episode!) that the aliens have always been here and they are the ones to blame for the state of the planet. The idea is that the aliens come here incognito and ruin the planet so when the real spaceships come people see them as saviors because "it can't get much worse". Isn't that a huge let down, blaming aliens for the state of the world today? I thought that was a bit too easy, especially for the americans that again refuse to go along with the eco-treaties with the rest of the western world!! I way prefered the historical references and reminders like that...
- ANYWAY - he's back for another attempt! It's only been one 44 minute episode but so far I don't like it. I like it as a sci-fi show, definitely, but it has lost the historical references and all of that stuff. Instead we are told (and skip this part if you don't wanna know, but this is said in the first episode!) that the aliens have always been here and they are the ones to blame for the state of the planet. The idea is that the aliens come here incognito and ruin the planet so when the real spaceships come people see them as saviors because "it can't get much worse". Isn't that a huge let down, blaming aliens for the state of the world today? I thought that was a bit too easy, especially for the americans that again refuse to go along with the eco-treaties with the rest of the western world!! I way prefered the historical references and reminders like that...
My Sister's Keeper
Saw "My Sister's Keeper" yesterday. I know, it's a "chick-flic" but it's Helenas birthday so spending two hours in the movies is the least I could do. I mean, she sat through the latest "Star Trek"-movie and "Tron" for me :)
Anyway, the movie is about a all american couple who just wants a normal life with a house and happy kids. All goes well until the daughter get's leukemia. And with lack of donors they create a tailor made daughter that's completely compatible in every way and use her to make the sister well. Now she's grown a bit and at 11 the older sister get's sick again and they need to transplant the younger sister's kidney and she says "No, no more" and "lawyers up". There's a few sidestories (like the neglected son who goes off to do whatever without anyone caring, or the older sister's lovestory) but it's mainly about the family and the parents just trying to do what's right. I though it was gonna be just an emotional piece of garbage that only chicks could like and one year ago I would probably still feel that afterwards. But instead, now that I'm about 4 months away from becoming a father myself, it was difficult not to get emotional and imagine the pain and the struggle of everyone. Because one of this things it did good was to show the story from everyone's point of view. Although they did their best to make the mother look like the villain at the same time you knew she wasn't, she was just doing what she thinks is right. And one thing they also did was to go to the extremes - extreme happiness, extreme sorrow, extreme this and that, they really pushed that. And it was hard not to cry at certain things, like the beach-scene! Only one thing I found off was Thomas Dekker and Sofia Vassilieva as a couple knowing age difference (which was only 5, thought it was more)
If you think you can take an emotional roller coaster ride like that and drop a tear or two then go and see it!
Anyway, the movie is about a all american couple who just wants a normal life with a house and happy kids. All goes well until the daughter get's leukemia. And with lack of donors they create a tailor made daughter that's completely compatible in every way and use her to make the sister well. Now she's grown a bit and at 11 the older sister get's sick again and they need to transplant the younger sister's kidney and she says "No, no more" and "lawyers up". There's a few sidestories (like the neglected son who goes off to do whatever without anyone caring, or the older sister's lovestory) but it's mainly about the family and the parents just trying to do what's right. I though it was gonna be just an emotional piece of garbage that only chicks could like and one year ago I would probably still feel that afterwards. But instead, now that I'm about 4 months away from becoming a father myself, it was difficult not to get emotional and imagine the pain and the struggle of everyone. Because one of this things it did good was to show the story from everyone's point of view. Although they did their best to make the mother look like the villain at the same time you knew she wasn't, she was just doing what she thinks is right. And one thing they also did was to go to the extremes - extreme happiness, extreme sorrow, extreme this and that, they really pushed that. And it was hard not to cry at certain things, like the beach-scene! Only one thing I found off was Thomas Dekker and Sofia Vassilieva as a couple knowing age difference (which was only 5, thought it was more)
If you think you can take an emotional roller coaster ride like that and drop a tear or two then go and see it!
Missing The Small Things
One thing I take some pride in is that I pay attention to and appreciate the small things in life and the small gestures in a relationship.
Today that backfired.
Everytime I leave for work I kiss my sweetheart, who is usually sleeping, goodbye. Today for some reason I missed that little thing for the first time as far as I know. 30 minutes later she texted me "are you angry at me?".
Which ofcourse I'm not, I just this once missed it :(
Today that backfired.
Everytime I leave for work I kiss my sweetheart, who is usually sleeping, goodbye. Today for some reason I missed that little thing for the first time as far as I know. 30 minutes later she texted me "are you angry at me?".
Which ofcourse I'm not, I just this once missed it :(
Happy Halloween!
Time for halloween again. Still don't get why it's so popular in sweden all of a sudden, damn americans and your TV shows! :)
And for the first time I have a house that needs to adorned for this weekend too. $40 later at Buttericks and it's all scary. Unfortunately we won't be home though but it's the thought that counts, right :) and in 5-6 years I'll have a kid myself that's gonna go trick or treating so need to set a good example on our newly built street!
Have fun!! I will!
And for the first time I have a house that needs to adorned for this weekend too. $40 later at Buttericks and it's all scary. Unfortunately we won't be home though but it's the thought that counts, right :) and in 5-6 years I'll have a kid myself that's gonna go trick or treating so need to set a good example on our newly built street!
Have fun!! I will!
Big Deal For Me, Not Much For Anyone Else
You may have noticed this site is a bit faster now?.. that's because I've setup a webserver at home that is hosting this site, so you no longer have to go through the states and it doesn't share the server with NataliePortman.com. So it's all good for everyone. Except my electric bill :)
Here's To The Joes!
I saw "G.I Joe" the other day. From what I could tell by the trailer it was gonna be one good actionride from start to end. But ofcourse the trailers doesn't really tell you everything!
Because it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. After about 10 minutes me and my fiance looked at eachother and said "is this a kids movie or for growups". And after thinking about it, it should be for kids since it's based on the toys. But did they have to make it THAT childish! Everything is over the top, from the cliches, the characters, the action, everything is amplified just so the kids get it while the grownups are asking "why are we watching this crap??". After about 50 minutes I wanted to turn it off but she wouldn't let me and forced me to watch the rest. And the only one plot twist was oh so very predictable! Can't believe Jonathan Price agreed to this crap! And can't believe Brendan Frasier agreed to it and was only in it for like 2 minutes!
This kind of movie is why people rather download than spend $20 going to the movies - 'cause you never know what movie is gonna be so bad that you'll feel ripped off!
Because it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. After about 10 minutes me and my fiance looked at eachother and said "is this a kids movie or for growups". And after thinking about it, it should be for kids since it's based on the toys. But did they have to make it THAT childish! Everything is over the top, from the cliches, the characters, the action, everything is amplified just so the kids get it while the grownups are asking "why are we watching this crap??". After about 50 minutes I wanted to turn it off but she wouldn't let me and forced me to watch the rest. And the only one plot twist was oh so very predictable! Can't believe Jonathan Price agreed to this crap! And can't believe Brendan Frasier agreed to it and was only in it for like 2 minutes!
This kind of movie is why people rather download than spend $20 going to the movies - 'cause you never know what movie is gonna be so bad that you'll feel ripped off!
Revelations
The other day I had a terrible revelation - I'm becoming what I hated 15 years ago!!
Wind the clock back to high school. Things sucked bad for me in most ways and like most teens I questioned "why go on?" and if Knut F. hadn't stepped in I'm not sure I had. Then I happened to see a little movie called "Pump Up The Volume" that really showed me this is what teenage is all about. I totally recognized so much in that movie it was kinda scary. One of the points of the movie is that all parents just want their kids to be normal and go to school, get educated, find a girlfriend and get a job and be normal. Which is really not what the kids wants. And I remember hating all the parents in the movie that told their kids "just be normal".
Well folks, last week I said "I just hope our son is normal" and it hit me like a blast from a shotgun what I'd just said! Of course in this case I'm more referring to any birth defects or missing toes or something but I do actually just hope our son is normal and goes to school like a normal kid and gets educated, finds a girlfriend and so on. And it sucks that I feel that. Because it's still very fresh in my mind the fucked up teen years I had when I was anything but normal. But I should take some comfort in the fact that I'm doing ok regardless!
Wind the clock back to high school. Things sucked bad for me in most ways and like most teens I questioned "why go on?" and if Knut F. hadn't stepped in I'm not sure I had. Then I happened to see a little movie called "Pump Up The Volume" that really showed me this is what teenage is all about. I totally recognized so much in that movie it was kinda scary. One of the points of the movie is that all parents just want their kids to be normal and go to school, get educated, find a girlfriend and get a job and be normal. Which is really not what the kids wants. And I remember hating all the parents in the movie that told their kids "just be normal".
Well folks, last week I said "I just hope our son is normal" and it hit me like a blast from a shotgun what I'd just said! Of course in this case I'm more referring to any birth defects or missing toes or something but I do actually just hope our son is normal and goes to school like a normal kid and gets educated, finds a girlfriend and so on. And it sucks that I feel that. Because it's still very fresh in my mind the fucked up teen years I had when I was anything but normal. But I should take some comfort in the fact that I'm doing ok regardless!
Kick Ass Weekend?
Got everything I need for a kick ass weekend now! It's friday and the 25th which means pay-day in sweden!
Gonna start tonight with fixing some tacos and TLCing my fiance, see two chick-flix then off to bed (wink wink). Then tomorrow we're off to visit some friends of Helena's who just had a baby a few weeks ago so we're bound to get some tips and tricks there. Then we're going to my parents for a nice Saturday dinner with the family and the extremely predictable reactions to the ultrasound scans. Then on Sunday gonna do some house cleaning, mow the lawn and then enjoy a nice Formula 1 race from Singapore while enjoying a cold one. Don't pump up my expectations but this weekend is gonna rock :)
Gonna start tonight with fixing some tacos and TLCing my fiance, see two chick-flix then off to bed (wink wink). Then tomorrow we're off to visit some friends of Helena's who just had a baby a few weeks ago so we're bound to get some tips and tricks there. Then we're going to my parents for a nice Saturday dinner with the family and the extremely predictable reactions to the ultrasound scans. Then on Sunday gonna do some house cleaning, mow the lawn and then enjoy a nice Formula 1 race from Singapore while enjoying a cold one. Don't pump up my expectations but this weekend is gonna rock :)
Let's Make It Official
I think I set some kind of speedrecord! In less than 18 months I went from being hopelessly single to being engaged, having built a house and now expecting a son in late february!!
That's right - we're pregnant :)
Last august or something we had the "kids or no kids" discussion, with me being pro and she being against. She wasn't against having a child, she was just very, very much agsinst actually giving birth! But we both kind agreed that "if it happens it'll happen" but we were both pretty much in agreement that if it didn't happen we wouldn't really lose any sleep over it.
But after about 5 or so months without protection we both were silently realising that it wasn't gonna happen and we were fine with that. We know plenty of couples that have trouble getting pregnant or staying pregnant so we just assumed we weren't compatible, I had bad swimmers or something. But we never talked about doing anything about it like see a doctor or something.
Then one day, just a few days after they started putting our house together I realised she wasn't acting like she should "this time of the month" and joked she might be pregnant. One visit to the bathroom later and yeap, we were pregnant!
We had absolutely no idea what to do. We called our respective families and everything like that. That was in June. We did the ultrasound last Friday and everything is totally ok as far as anyone can tell!! So we're making it official...
I'm gonna be a dad!!... JIKES!!!!!
That's right - we're pregnant :)
Last august or something we had the "kids or no kids" discussion, with me being pro and she being against. She wasn't against having a child, she was just very, very much agsinst actually giving birth! But we both kind agreed that "if it happens it'll happen" but we were both pretty much in agreement that if it didn't happen we wouldn't really lose any sleep over it.
But after about 5 or so months without protection we both were silently realising that it wasn't gonna happen and we were fine with that. We know plenty of couples that have trouble getting pregnant or staying pregnant so we just assumed we weren't compatible, I had bad swimmers or something. But we never talked about doing anything about it like see a doctor or something.
Then one day, just a few days after they started putting our house together I realised she wasn't acting like she should "this time of the month" and joked she might be pregnant. One visit to the bathroom later and yeap, we were pregnant!
We had absolutely no idea what to do. We called our respective families and everything like that. That was in June. We did the ultrasound last Friday and everything is totally ok as far as anyone can tell!! So we're making it official...
I'm gonna be a dad!!... JIKES!!!!!
Still Alive
Yeah, I'm still alive and I just realised how long it's been since I wrote things here. But that's how busy I've been. Or we've been! For the past weeks we've been going to Ikea every other day and hardware stores and all that crap to get the house in order and we are slowly getting there. But every time we say "Done!" something else pop ups. And we spend weekends visiting friends or family. Add to that a busy schedule at work and you realise why I've been slacking here.
Anyway, the house is almost "Done!" as is "could pass as a normal house where people live" rather than the mess it's been in the past few weeks. Really gotta give it up to Helena that's keeping things tidy around chaotic little me :)
Gallery has been updated.
Anyway, the house is almost "Done!" as is "could pass as a normal house where people live" rather than the mess it's been in the past few weeks. Really gotta give it up to Helena that's keeping things tidy around chaotic little me :)
Gallery has been updated.
My New Life As A Homeowner
I'm slowly but steadily settling into my new life as homeowner. Fortunately it's a brand new home so I don't have to do that much maintenance work yet but there's still a bit of work to do!
Biggest change so far is that I'm more aware of things I didn't use to care about! Most importantly mortgage rates and electricity rates/use! I've never paid an electric bill in my life before 'cause it was a part of the monthly rent in the apartment I used to have and Helena used to pay it for her apartment, and I've never had a loan of 2.5 million before so all of a sudden I care about that too. And I'm more and more turning into my father - I'm just afraid of the day when I think having a tie is a good idea!
Biggest change so far is that I'm more aware of things I didn't use to care about! Most importantly mortgage rates and electricity rates/use! I've never paid an electric bill in my life before 'cause it was a part of the monthly rent in the apartment I used to have and Helena used to pay it for her apartment, and I've never had a loan of 2.5 million before so all of a sudden I care about that too. And I'm more and more turning into my father - I'm just afraid of the day when I think having a tie is a good idea!
Very Busy Vacation
I just finished two weeks vacation. Or whatever you can call it!! Painting a new house from scratch really sucks! And so does having to roll out a lawn! But now it's done and we can now lay back for a bit to enjoy it :)
Pictures are here as usual.
Now I'm just waiting to set up the mortgage and start living a grown up life owning a house... geez, this moved fast!!
Pictures are here as usual.
Now I'm just waiting to set up the mortgage and start living a grown up life owning a house... geez, this moved fast!!
John Hughes
Woke up this morning with one thing on my mind - doing another round of painting on the house.
Then I started reading the news to find out John Hughes is dead!! What tha hell!? This guy wrote some of my favorite movies ever!
I know I was too young to "get" Breakfast Club/16 Candles the first time I saw it but with the fucked up school years I had, belive you me, I totally got it and it absolutely helped me survive it.
Ferris Bueller I still consider to be one of the funnies movies ever! When I first saw it I just rolled on the floor laughing so hard when they crashed the Ferrari it was unbelievable! Then we have the "National Lampoons"-movies that are rerun forever (see Christmas Vacation every year) and more.
(EDIT: I'd earlier made a reference to the Jackson "Thriller" video, but ofcourse that was John Landis, another 80's icon!)
Really sad he's no longer with us. Although his spirit lives on in his movies.
Then I started reading the news to find out John Hughes is dead!! What tha hell!? This guy wrote some of my favorite movies ever!
I know I was too young to "get" Breakfast Club/16 Candles the first time I saw it but with the fucked up school years I had, belive you me, I totally got it and it absolutely helped me survive it.
Ferris Bueller I still consider to be one of the funnies movies ever! When I first saw it I just rolled on the floor laughing so hard when they crashed the Ferrari it was unbelievable! Then we have the "National Lampoons"-movies that are rerun forever (see Christmas Vacation every year) and more.
(EDIT: I'd earlier made a reference to the Jackson "Thriller" video, but ofcourse that was John Landis, another 80's icon!)
Really sad he's no longer with us. Although his spirit lives on in his movies.
Paint Job...
You know when you see those home-makeover shows and they paint the place in a flash? ... I'd like to meet those people. 'Cause I have a house here that needs 3 coats of paint. And after two days, combined manhours approximately 30 hours, we are 3/12 part of the way! We have done the first coat on 3 walls. That's it. It takes goddamn forever to do this work. I don't know how anyone could do it faster though, if you're not a pro, but we don't wanna dish out another 20.000 crowns to have it done that way...
Other than that everyone is proceeding according to plan. Hope to take some photos of the house now, with updated interior and the paintjob almost done. Well the first coating anyway...
Other than that everyone is proceeding according to plan. Hope to take some photos of the house now, with updated interior and the paintjob almost done. Well the first coating anyway...
And Now For Something Completely Different
Let's talk about something else than our house... yesterday marked 40 years since the awesome achievement of the Apollo program to walk on the moon. Anyone who have seen the TV series/documentary "From the Earth to the Moon" knows just how advanced it was, and that just scratched the surface.
So when I read the tabloid "Aftonbladet" here in sweden running a poll saying "over 60% of their readers think it was fake" I get upset. It's a pretty ignorant to discuss it over and over again, cause it does come up now and again ofcourse. And I hate to think what Grissom, White and Chaffee would say about it had they not died in the Apollo 1 fire!
But then I found this nice piece of journalism - "Top 5 proofs it did happen" and it put a smile on my face.
So when I read the tabloid "Aftonbladet" here in sweden running a poll saying "over 60% of their readers think it was fake" I get upset. It's a pretty ignorant to discuss it over and over again, cause it does come up now and again ofcourse. And I hate to think what Grissom, White and Chaffee would say about it had they not died in the Apollo 1 fire!
But then I found this nice piece of journalism - "Top 5 proofs it did happen" and it put a smile on my face.
It's Coming Together
On friday I had the day off from work and I spent it packing everything and transporting as much as I could to our house. But the real action didn't start until saturday morning!
We went to rent a lorry to handle the big things like our bed. And apparently they don't like it when you pay in cash! They get nervous that you'll drive off with it! But I looked trustworthy enough for her to allow it anyway so off we went to Mio to pick up our really, really expensive (10.000 SEK!) diningroom table. Then back to the apartment to fill it up. Helenas mother dropped by and when my family arrived we loaded it up and went to the house and loaded everything off and sat down for a coffee. Then "the men" went off with they lorry to Sureguard to get all my things and then back to the apartment to pick up things that were going to the dump. Add a little time pressure and you have one serious, effective and not so fun Kris!
Then my brother Jocke went off to his girl while me and my dad went back to the house to join Helena, her mother and "uncle Leif", my mother and sister who had put most of the furniture in order already. Then we had an awesome barbecue and after everything went home we spent the night cleaning up as good as we could and went to bed. Unfortunately it took quite a while for me to fall asleep and I had some nightmares so didn't sleep very well at all.
But on sunday we went up and started our "list of things to do" but that went out the window when my friend Ricki said "I'll be there in 30 minutes to hook up your home theater" which wasn't really what we had expected but it worked out fine anyway. After a small tour of Ikea and Bauhaus we went home and got to work and after about 6 hours of work it was all good to go with "Wall-e" (as sound tests go, you can't beat animated movies!). Eva dropped by too. And Helena did her thing cleaning out some areas and making sure we were well fed. I hate living up to gender stereotypes but we really did yesterday. Then we went back to the apartment to pick up the cats and boy were they glad to see us again. They still don't know what to make of the house though...
After driving Ricki home I came home (!) at 23:00 and even though I had a gazillion things to do and wasn't tired I went to bed and ended one of the busiest weekends of my life!
Now I'm back to work and piling up things to do at home but trying to focus on work. Not going to well to be perfectly honest.
We went to rent a lorry to handle the big things like our bed. And apparently they don't like it when you pay in cash! They get nervous that you'll drive off with it! But I looked trustworthy enough for her to allow it anyway so off we went to Mio to pick up our really, really expensive (10.000 SEK!) diningroom table. Then back to the apartment to fill it up. Helenas mother dropped by and when my family arrived we loaded it up and went to the house and loaded everything off and sat down for a coffee. Then "the men" went off with they lorry to Sureguard to get all my things and then back to the apartment to pick up things that were going to the dump. Add a little time pressure and you have one serious, effective and not so fun Kris!
Then my brother Jocke went off to his girl while me and my dad went back to the house to join Helena, her mother and "uncle Leif", my mother and sister who had put most of the furniture in order already. Then we had an awesome barbecue and after everything went home we spent the night cleaning up as good as we could and went to bed. Unfortunately it took quite a while for me to fall asleep and I had some nightmares so didn't sleep very well at all.
But on sunday we went up and started our "list of things to do" but that went out the window when my friend Ricki said "I'll be there in 30 minutes to hook up your home theater" which wasn't really what we had expected but it worked out fine anyway. After a small tour of Ikea and Bauhaus we went home and got to work and after about 6 hours of work it was all good to go with "Wall-e" (as sound tests go, you can't beat animated movies!). Eva dropped by too. And Helena did her thing cleaning out some areas and making sure we were well fed. I hate living up to gender stereotypes but we really did yesterday. Then we went back to the apartment to pick up the cats and boy were they glad to see us again. They still don't know what to make of the house though...
After driving Ricki home I came home (!) at 23:00 and even though I had a gazillion things to do and wasn't tired I went to bed and ended one of the busiest weekends of my life!
Now I'm back to work and piling up things to do at home but trying to focus on work. Not going to well to be perfectly honest.
So Many People To Call For So Many Issues...
Yesterday and today have been full of calling people everywhere to try to sort things out.
Everything from my bank, internet & tv supplier to the people who's gonna deliver the grass and now the sanitation department to make sure we have somewhere to throw all our garbage.
So many things to get covered! But so far I think we have everything covered!
Everything from my bank, internet & tv supplier to the people who's gonna deliver the grass and now the sanitation department to make sure we have somewhere to throw all our garbage.
So many things to get covered! But so far I think we have everything covered!
I Suck At Updating
Right now we're in the middle of packing up our old apartment to move this weekend now that we passed the building inspection and we're good to go! Thankfully we'll have support from my family this weekend when moving, I just hope we'll get our huge couch so people have somewhere to site! And on sunday Ricki is coming over to do what we do best - building my home cinema :)
Right now so unbelievably happy!! :)
Right now so unbelievably happy!! :)
The wheels are turning
Everything is slowly moving ahead to us moving into our new house in 2 weeks time. They still have some loose ends to tie up, some electricity work and the wallpaper goes up last, and an inspection on 13th and then we can go ahead and move in. Thats the plan now anyway. Can't wait!!
Saw "Knowing" the other day. I like the first 99.9% of the film but in the very last scene they ruin it for me by going religious. It's a bit like "Battlestar Galactica" - love 99% of it had they not been that religious.
Saw "Knowing" the other day. I like the first 99.9% of the film but in the very last scene they ruin it for me by going religious. It's a bit like "Battlestar Galactica" - love 99% of it had they not been that religious.
Finally summer again :)
Now it's really summer time here in Stockholm! It's wonderful to walk to work nowadays, stopping by Kungsan for a chocolate dipped icecream before work. Think that was one of Gods many plans to be honest!
Our house is almost done. We're waiting for the electrician and the wallpapers to go up, we're also having our fireplace mounted this week but it looks like it's the wrong kind. Won't know until it's done and the covers are in place though.
And then, on july 13th we have our big inspection of the house that will either end in such a huge list of negatives that the entrepreneurs will have to redo alot of stuff, or most likely a small list of things that will take them 1-2 days to fix and we should be able to move in that weekend. That's almost three weeks from now! Can't wait!
Our house is almost done. We're waiting for the electrician and the wallpapers to go up, we're also having our fireplace mounted this week but it looks like it's the wrong kind. Won't know until it's done and the covers are in place though.
And then, on july 13th we have our big inspection of the house that will either end in such a huge list of negatives that the entrepreneurs will have to redo alot of stuff, or most likely a small list of things that will take them 1-2 days to fix and we should be able to move in that weekend. That's almost three weeks from now! Can't wait!
Almost There...
If you've been checking out this image gallery you should know why I don't update much. Got tons of stuff to do and when you least need another ball to deal with life throws a huge curve ball right smack in your nuts!... more of that later, sometime... now we gotta finish that small little shed that's soaking wet now...
Another Little Hick-Up
They're set to start building our house on monday and I thought I was on top of it. Then a truckdriver calls me up and says "hey there, where you want the house? you're suppose to set up a sign you newbie!"... well it's not my fault they told me I wouldn't need the sign since there were so many people building there that they had everything under control, the sign-thing is just for people building in the middle of nowhere.
That's what I get for trusting that guy...
That's what I get for trusting that guy...
Movies
One of many things me and Helena have in common is we like movies! And we've seen quite a few in the recent couple of weeks, even gone to the cinemas - 3 times!!
Wolverine was pretty good and fun action. Angels and Demons was so so. And then we saw Terminator Salvation and it was abit of a disappointment! It was good action but it took itself way too seriously, hardly any comedy, paper thin story. So not that impressed. Atleast the third one had some moral to it, this was just plain action.
But one movie we saw on dvd the other week was "Fireproof". We thought it was gonna be a good drama/romantical movie about a couple who'd grown apart and was on the brink of divorce. But it wasn't. It was a sugar-overload sent by the american jesus christ society! I'm all for respecting other people and their beliefs and if they want to believe in jesus christ then go ahead. But don't try to convert the world through these kinds of Hallmark movies! I mean the movie and story was ok, had it just not been for the "I have to love god to know what love really is" crap they kept on about.
And someone really should take a look at the subwoofer in Heron number 9 cause it's been sounding crazy for a year now...
Wolverine was pretty good and fun action. Angels and Demons was so so. And then we saw Terminator Salvation and it was abit of a disappointment! It was good action but it took itself way too seriously, hardly any comedy, paper thin story. So not that impressed. Atleast the third one had some moral to it, this was just plain action.
But one movie we saw on dvd the other week was "Fireproof". We thought it was gonna be a good drama/romantical movie about a couple who'd grown apart and was on the brink of divorce. But it wasn't. It was a sugar-overload sent by the american jesus christ society! I'm all for respecting other people and their beliefs and if they want to believe in jesus christ then go ahead. But don't try to convert the world through these kinds of Hallmark movies! I mean the movie and story was ok, had it just not been for the "I have to love god to know what love really is" crap they kept on about.
And someone really should take a look at the subwoofer in Heron number 9 cause it's been sounding crazy for a year now...
Another awesome weekend ends...
And so another awesome weekend ends and the first real week of summer begins!
Me and Helena are keeping ourselves busy wether we like it or not, but on saturday it actually looked like we were gonna have a lazy ass afternoon and evening at home with only the TV as company. But oh no, we were called into Heron City to watch "Angels and Demons" with two friends of ours. It was nice to see them again but the movie could've been better. Although I gotta say it's still fun to see movies from Rome where I can say "been there" (although nowadays I say it quite to myself).
But sunday was the big day for us. My family and some of Helena's joined us at our building site for a little tour of where everything is going to be becauase in exactly one week the house will be lifted in place. And after that tour we went to a nearby lake and had a picknick/lunch, celebrated my 34th birtday (!) and just enjoyed the kick ass weather! After that we went home to find out noone had showed to check out the apartment so to comfort ourself I got to open my birthday present 2 days too early and we spent the night trying to play Metallica on our Playstation.
Absolutely kick ass weekend!
Me and Helena are keeping ourselves busy wether we like it or not, but on saturday it actually looked like we were gonna have a lazy ass afternoon and evening at home with only the TV as company. But oh no, we were called into Heron City to watch "Angels and Demons" with two friends of ours. It was nice to see them again but the movie could've been better. Although I gotta say it's still fun to see movies from Rome where I can say "been there" (although nowadays I say it quite to myself).
But sunday was the big day for us. My family and some of Helena's joined us at our building site for a little tour of where everything is going to be becauase in exactly one week the house will be lifted in place. And after that tour we went to a nearby lake and had a picknick/lunch, celebrated my 34th birtday (!) and just enjoyed the kick ass weather! After that we went home to find out noone had showed to check out the apartment so to comfort ourself I got to open my birthday present 2 days too early and we spent the night trying to play Metallica on our Playstation.
Absolutely kick ass weekend!
Reconnecting With Old Friends
Back in 2000-2001 I had a friend called Markus. We lived a few kilometer from each other, we both liked "Star Trek", movies, computer games and the occasional beer (or in his case, bottle of wine). I liked him. But after Eden died and after Markus got married and I did my world tour we kinda lost touch for a long time and what little I heard from him was from my sister who ran into him now and again.
But now we decided that it had definitely been too long so me and my fiance went over to their house for a BBQ, some beers and alot of conversation. And it was good! It was awesome actually. Marcus and his wife now had 2 kids (she was pregnant with the first one last time I saw her!) and he had done so many home improvement I couldn't believe it was the same Markus! And we had a great time just talking and discussing things about life and stuff. It was great reconnecting and we're definitely gonna do it more often :)
But now we decided that it had definitely been too long so me and my fiance went over to their house for a BBQ, some beers and alot of conversation. And it was good! It was awesome actually. Marcus and his wife now had 2 kids (she was pregnant with the first one last time I saw her!) and he had done so many home improvement I couldn't believe it was the same Markus! And we had a great time just talking and discussing things about life and stuff. It was great reconnecting and we're definitely gonna do it more often :)
Some New Photos
I've added some new pictures in my 2009 album here, although you should log in as "guest" to see them all.
Most importantly I have some pictures from the baptism me and Helena went to a week or so ago. It was for her brothers newborn, Emilia. As always it was a great day and I had a blast! And so did Helena once she got over the anxiety of "what does a godmother do!?"
Then there are some new pictures in our album for our new house. (you really should bookmark cause I've grow tired of mentioning every update to it)
Most importantly I have some pictures from the baptism me and Helena went to a week or so ago. It was for her brothers newborn, Emilia. As always it was a great day and I had a blast! And so did Helena once she got over the anxiety of "what does a godmother do!?"
Then there are some new pictures in our album for our new house. (you really should bookmark cause I've grow tired of mentioning every update to it)
It's The Small Things... That Drive Me Insane!
Yesterday I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep when all of a sudden I realise... no matter how I do it, I will not be able to watch cable TV on my projector the way we have it planned now! And no matter how I replanned it, unless I dished out some $300 for another receiver and payed $10 per month extra for the card, there really is no way to solve that situation! And it drove me insane! Seriously, I couldn't solved it! I had the chance to design my cables in that room the way I wanted it but there's no way of getting the cable TV in there. Sure I can get the TV but no sound, unless I have extra cables along the wall that will look like crap!... so I guess we're gonna have to pay that extra money so I can sleep again... until I realise the next problem, whatever that may be.
Went by our new home yesterday to see if there was any progress with the house. And to our surprise there was! The foundation is now in place!! Very surprising how fast that happened actually! We've gone from "should we do it" to having a foundation set in stone for us in less than 8 weeks. It's a bit scary cause thinking back about 14 months (february 2008) I was living in my little rented 2 room apartment and totally happy with that and didn't see any need to change. Now we're building a house!!
Check out the photo gallery here (or on facebook!)
Also added photos and some captions to the photos from Söderköping. Again I remind you to login as "guest" and password is the company I work for.
Check out the photo gallery here (or on facebook!)
Also added photos and some captions to the photos from Söderköping. Again I remind you to login as "guest" and password is the company I work for.
Lack of Anything To Say Really
Don't have much to say here really.
Our house project is moving along nicely. Should be ready to move in around july 15th if all goes well.
Me and Helena are going about our daily lives hoping that the rest of our lives are as good as the past year have been. 'Cause it has been freaking awesome!
F1 is going down the drain for Ferrari and now it seems like they may not be with the sport for 2010, great fun that'll be!
Other than that... moving along, nothing to see...
Our house project is moving along nicely. Should be ready to move in around july 15th if all goes well.
Me and Helena are going about our daily lives hoping that the rest of our lives are as good as the past year have been. 'Cause it has been freaking awesome!
F1 is going down the drain for Ferrari and now it seems like they may not be with the sport for 2010, great fun that'll be!
Other than that... moving along, nothing to see...
Quick little update
This'll be a quick little update before I head out the door to join my friends and watch the pilot of "Caprica".
Me and Helena went down to Söderköping again. The ice-cream place had just opened and it was a swedish holiday (valborg) so we figured "what tha heck" and rented a cheap room at a nice hotel so we could stay for two days and have even more ice-cream and maybe see more of this calm, old little town. It was abso-freaking-awesome! :)
You can find pictures here and as usual, log in as "guest" to see all pictures.
And today I went out to check up how the work on the house was going. Or maybe I should say the foundation cause that's what they are working on now. Pictures are here. You might wanna make that into a Favorite since I'll be updating it alot over the next two months! :)
And the summer is finally coming to stockholm so it's even better going out for a ride today!
Have fun! I will!
Me and Helena went down to Söderköping again. The ice-cream place had just opened and it was a swedish holiday (valborg) so we figured "what tha heck" and rented a cheap room at a nice hotel so we could stay for two days and have even more ice-cream and maybe see more of this calm, old little town. It was abso-freaking-awesome! :)
You can find pictures here and as usual, log in as "guest" to see all pictures.
And today I went out to check up how the work on the house was going. Or maybe I should say the foundation cause that's what they are working on now. Pictures are here. You might wanna make that into a Favorite since I'll be updating it alot over the next two months! :)
And the summer is finally coming to stockholm so it's even better going out for a ride today!
Have fun! I will!
Busy Busy
I'm not that narcissistic that I left that update for this long, it's just been really busy around here. Trying to sort everything out and making sure things are rolling and all the papers get signed and shipped to god knows who... but it's getting along now.
They shaved off an inch of ground on our lot to give us an idea of how big it was and it's pretty damn huge! You can check the image album here. You'd do best to login as "guest". The password is the name of the company I work for.
They shaved off an inch of ground on our lot to give us an idea of how big it was and it's pretty damn huge! You can check the image album here. You'd do best to login as "guest". The password is the name of the company I work for.
So I'm One Of The "Good Guys" Huh?
Even though it's been a year now some friends are still surprised that I actually have a girlfriend, that I moved in with, and am now engaged with and building a new house with. I get alot of nice congratulations (like this). But the best compliment have come from three different people (from a family member, a close friend and an estranged friend/former collegue) and that is - "proof that good guys can win"! I like that. I like that people consider me a good guy. I know it's narcissistic as hell, but it still feels good getting the compliment.
Regarding our house building, everything seems to be set - except for that damn approval from the council that we may actually build the house we want and the way we want it!
Regarding our house building, everything seems to be set - except for that damn approval from the council that we may actually build the house we want and the way we want it!
Babysteps
Small steps every day for us to build our home! Right now everything seems to be on track, just waiting for the permit to start building and we're good to go.
I can't imagine people who have to deal with all of this plus do the actual building work, I'm going nuts just calling around and making sure everything is moving ahead...
But right now we're on track to move in week 32 (late july/early august) :)
I can't imagine people who have to deal with all of this plus do the actual building work, I'm going nuts just calling around and making sure everything is moving ahead...
But right now we're on track to move in week 32 (late july/early august) :)
Why's It Gotta Be So Complicated!?
This is getting really complicated. Remember when I said that this house building stuff was gonna be rushed and if everything would click we'd get to move in early august?... it's really not clicking. Right now there's two key elements that are not happening. First it's the permit we need from the council to build there. It's a pure formality but we still haven't seen anything. Then it's the downpayment for the building lot that we thought was gonna be handled by the bank. Which it would've been, had she not been home sick all week! I called them today to find out and someone was gonna try to sort it out but as it looks now we're fucked... so all change and reset target to november :( ... *cry*
I Don't Feel Any Different
Sorry to say but I don't feel any different today than I did when I woke up on saturday! And I'm pretty sure Helene agrees. Although she was shocked that I actually asked her it's still a bit of "was that all?" feeling. Hopefully it'll change when we get our rings, should be friday.
And as always I won't be doing an update tomorrow for the same reason as last year, and the year before that. But we do have a really good april fools joke planned for NataliePortman.com :)
And as always I won't be doing an update tomorrow for the same reason as last year, and the year before that. But we do have a really good april fools joke planned for NataliePortman.com :)
Things Are Going ... Slowly...
The sales rep at the company contracted to build our house is trying to rush things so we can move in in early august. Unfortunately some stuff are slowing it down. I hate old mail system, takes 2 days just to send a letter... but if everything goes ok we're in for a rushed ride.
We're about to go up to check the building lot again and the surroundings. And if everything goes according to plan, there should be an interesting update here later today ...
Update: Yeap, it did. Now we're engaged :)
We're about to go up to check the building lot again and the surroundings. And if everything goes according to plan, there should be an interesting update here later today ...
Update: Yeap, it did. Now we're engaged :)
We're Actually Doing This
Now we got the papers sorted. Not signed but they are right here. Just for the lot to build on we're paying 850.000 swedish crowns. That's more than I have ever paid for anything in my entire life. Not to mention the 2 million that comes afterwards for the house and everything in it!!
But I hope it'll be awesome! Once we get the practical details (like "where the f*ck are we gonna get the 10% deposit for the building lot?!") and we got the house, then everything will be worth it. But the road will be long and bumpy and I will have second thoughts a gazillion times...
Thankfully my Helena is a rock :)
But I hope it'll be awesome! Once we get the practical details (like "where the f*ck are we gonna get the 10% deposit for the building lot?!") and we got the house, then everything will be worth it. But the road will be long and bumpy and I will have second thoughts a gazillion times...
Thankfully my Helena is a rock :)
End of Battlestar Galactica
And so on saturday I sat down among fellow sci-fi geeks to enjoy a good send-off party the Battlestar Galactica. I hate watching the last episode of a series I enjoy but in this case I was completely ok with it!
I loved the show from the very first scene (cause I did particularly like 6 and the odd CGI space sequences) and it had some ups and downs and alot of "yeah, as if that could happen!" plots, and it did get a bit nutsy sometimes but I always liked watching it and watching how the characters grew and what they go through. Because the show wasn't about bad robots, the science, the space battles, the CGI, it was about the characters. And I was totally ok how they left things for the characters. I was fine with not knowing really what she was and why she wasn't dead, and with her dying and with everything. Considering most of the show was extremely dark it was a very bright ending. And the song "all along the watchtower" now has a special place in my heart :)
Nicely done Ron!
I loved the show from the very first scene (cause I did particularly like 6 and the odd CGI space sequences) and it had some ups and downs and alot of "yeah, as if that could happen!" plots, and it did get a bit nutsy sometimes but I always liked watching it and watching how the characters grew and what they go through. Because the show wasn't about bad robots, the science, the space battles, the CGI, it was about the characters. And I was totally ok how they left things for the characters. I was fine with not knowing really what she was and why she wasn't dead, and with her dying and with everything. Considering most of the show was extremely dark it was a very bright ending. And the song "all along the watchtower" now has a special place in my heart :)
Nicely done Ron!
I Guess They Heard Us :)
Looks like that decision about changing the F1 scoring system is gonna be pushed a year, if it ever does make it. So for once I guess they heard us cause not many people thought it was a good idea... one week now :)
So Many Options... I Hate It
Quite often you'll hear me saying that "variety is the spice of life", cause I do really like to have the option of doing things one way or the other. But since I met Helena, one thing has become clear - I excel at coming up with different options and ways to do something, but I suck at deciding which is best! Just a simple thing like driving from my parents home to Barkarby, there's atleast 7 different ways to do it and I can't decide which is the best! It's getting pretty frustrating.
And now this entire house thing. I've drawn up 100 different ways we can do but can't decide which is the best. When it affected me, no problem, I'll go this way and suffer the consequences. But now that it also affects Helena I'm struggling. Which is really unattractive. But right now we've narrowed it down to 3 different options and a "due date" on April 1st on which way to go. Unfortunately, one way to go may be "keep on looking"...
And now this entire house thing. I've drawn up 100 different ways we can do but can't decide which is the best. When it affected me, no problem, I'll go this way and suffer the consequences. But now that it also affects Helena I'm struggling. Which is really unattractive. But right now we've narrowed it down to 3 different options and a "due date" on April 1st on which way to go. Unfortunately, one way to go may be "keep on looking"...
Formula 1!
Soon time for the next F1 season! Next sunday we go again in Australia. The thing that's making it more exciting now is how poorly McLaren are doing in the test season and how the new, pretty independant, Brawn GP are kicking everyones asses across the paddock. Pretty cool stuff if that keeps up come race-time!
What's not so cool is the new "rules" that the FIA hammered the other day! According to the new rules the driver with the most wins, regardless of points, wins the championship! So it's quite possible Lewis Hamilton may take home the win even he just wins 6-7 races and don't even race or get to the checkered flag in the rest! And it's a good idea but not so good for us supporters of a team who has managed to field two championship contenders three years in a row now! If you're a supporter of say McLaren or Renault, who have a great first driver but a second driver that fades away, then it's great. 'Cause then Hamilton won't really ever be competing against Heikki in a serious fight for the win and if it were to happen, Heikki would move over for the teamssake. Just like Barrichello moved over for the teamssake back in Austria to let Schumacher take the win for the most points! That was done openly and according to the rules at that time and completely fair, and this new rule pretty much guarantees that someone will have to do that again, let their teammate pass to take the win cause it's all about wins now!!
Only good thing about this idea that I can see is that we won't see Schumacher/Hamilton like behavious in the last couple of races for the seasons where they are going around only scoring as many points as they really need and nothing more. Cause it wasn't by accident Hamilton won by just one point last year. ironically though, with these rules Massa would've been champion...
What's not so cool is the new "rules" that the FIA hammered the other day! According to the new rules the driver with the most wins, regardless of points, wins the championship! So it's quite possible Lewis Hamilton may take home the win even he just wins 6-7 races and don't even race or get to the checkered flag in the rest! And it's a good idea but not so good for us supporters of a team who has managed to field two championship contenders three years in a row now! If you're a supporter of say McLaren or Renault, who have a great first driver but a second driver that fades away, then it's great. 'Cause then Hamilton won't really ever be competing against Heikki in a serious fight for the win and if it were to happen, Heikki would move over for the teamssake. Just like Barrichello moved over for the teamssake back in Austria to let Schumacher take the win for the most points! That was done openly and according to the rules at that time and completely fair, and this new rule pretty much guarantees that someone will have to do that again, let their teammate pass to take the win cause it's all about wins now!!
Only good thing about this idea that I can see is that we won't see Schumacher/Hamilton like behavious in the last couple of races for the seasons where they are going around only scoring as many points as they really need and nothing more. Cause it wasn't by accident Hamilton won by just one point last year. ironically though, with these rules Massa would've been champion...
Lost The First Bidding For The First House We Really Wanted
We thought we were ready for bidding on a house but apparently we weren't. An arrogant real estate agent, some things we knew were wrong with the house but thought "ok, for this price we can fix it" and when the price went above 2.25 million we called it off. We really wanted that house cause it was as perfect as a house can get for us!
But the real estate agent was really sucky, ignored our questions, was promised private showing but that never happened and can't shake the feeling that we were bidding against something fictional.
Anyway, the search goes on... but we swedes really need to take after the customer care I receive everytime I deal with asians or even americans!
But the real estate agent was really sucky, ignored our questions, was promised private showing but that never happened and can't shake the feeling that we were bidding against something fictional.
Anyway, the search goes on... but we swedes really need to take after the customer care I receive everytime I deal with asians or even americans!
Can It Be? Am I Growing Up?
So now I know different foundations to houses. I know about isolation, mortgages, wall-building, roofs, leaks, heating your house and all those other completely irrelevant small things that I one year ago didn't give a crap about!
One year ago I was living completely happy in my 2 room apartment in Visättra, without a thought in my head about moving anywhere. I'd lived there for 9 years, 9 good years and didn't see any real reason to move, it's just a huge hassle. I couldn't care less about concrete foundations or not.
And here I am. After just one year, one awesome year, I have moved to the complete opposite side of the city, gotten pretty comfortable but now we're bidding 2.2 million swedish crowns on a house. I have no idea how to maintain a house, all the stuff you need to do with regular intervalls. I'm counting on losing ALOT! of sleep over mortgage rates and leaky roof than I ever did about things I used to lose sleep over...
Damn... I think I just may be growing up now...
GOD DAMNIT!!
One year ago I was living completely happy in my 2 room apartment in Visättra, without a thought in my head about moving anywhere. I'd lived there for 9 years, 9 good years and didn't see any real reason to move, it's just a huge hassle. I couldn't care less about concrete foundations or not.
And here I am. After just one year, one awesome year, I have moved to the complete opposite side of the city, gotten pretty comfortable but now we're bidding 2.2 million swedish crowns on a house. I have no idea how to maintain a house, all the stuff you need to do with regular intervalls. I'm counting on losing ALOT! of sleep over mortgage rates and leaky roof than I ever did about things I used to lose sleep over...
Damn... I think I just may be growing up now...
GOD DAMNIT!!
Happy Birthday To Us!
If you've done your math you might now what today is?...
No? Well no surprise really. But it is one year ago today that me and the love of my life, Helena, met for the first time on a weird walkathon date in Stockholm, the date that ended with me making the wrong "kiss or hug?"-choice. But even with that little hick-up we ended up falling in love, and me moving in with her and now even looking at buying a house! Things are awesome between us!! One hickup or two but pretty much awesome!
I just love her! I love how she can talk in that cute little girlish way, how can be so adult and cold with the banking people, how she drives like a maniac, how she laughs at people messing up, love making love with her and love how she makes me feel! It's awesome!!!
To celebrate it we're going out to our favorite restaurant tonight and this weekend we're going away to some mansion and staying the night without a care in the world!!
Life is good!!
No? Well no surprise really. But it is one year ago today that me and the love of my life, Helena, met for the first time on a weird walkathon date in Stockholm, the date that ended with me making the wrong "kiss or hug?"-choice. But even with that little hick-up we ended up falling in love, and me moving in with her and now even looking at buying a house! Things are awesome between us!! One hickup or two but pretty much awesome!
I just love her! I love how she can talk in that cute little girlish way, how can be so adult and cold with the banking people, how she drives like a maniac, how she laughs at people messing up, love making love with her and love how she makes me feel! It's awesome!!!
To celebrate it we're going out to our favorite restaurant tonight and this weekend we're going away to some mansion and staying the night without a care in the world!!
Life is good!!
Warcraft Is Like Cocaine???
Today I'm pissed! I was planning to make an update explaining how much I love my Helena, but instead I find myself being pissed about an article in Metro this morning. I've always like Metro cause they have like a no-bullshit attitude towards news, they just report the news. Sure they have a columnist or two but this wasn't it. No, this was a 30-40 year old woman (juding by the photo) writing about a report from a swedish company that said that "there's not a single case of computer game addiction that doesn't have any links to World of Warcraft. It's a computerized cocaine"!!
Oh man.... I don't know where to begin. But lets!!
To start with, let me introduce myself. I started playing Warcraft at european launch in early 2005 and from fall of 2005 to may 2008 I was in one way or another leading guilds and 40 man raids (that was later slimmed down to 25). I played the game almost as much as I worked during that period and I feel pretty comfortable saying I know the game inside and out, every aspect of it. Then in may 2008 I met the woman of my dreams, sold off my main account and settled for my B account that I play occasionally with my friends. But enough of me, let us start...
First off, it's "what's the source of the news". It's a company. Complete with CEO and everything. Sure they have a green light from the social office, but it still comes down to making money and to do that people need to know they exist so what better way than to call the most played game in the world for cocaine!?
(and yes I do realize the irony of me writing about it here increases their audience, but I'm sure as hell not gonna link to them!)
Secondly, don't people commit crimes to pay for their cocaine addiction? I have no problem dishing up the 10 euros per month it costs me to play Warcraft. And the kids today ask their parents for money for it. Now how would that sound if a 15 year old asked his mother for 10 euros for cocaine? And don't ask me how much cocaine you get for 10 euros per month, I have no clue!
Thirdly, the drug dealer. In this case it's Blizzard who has such a high profile thanks to Warcraft that they can't afford to NOT listen to criticism. A company so responsible they even built in a parent tool into the game so parents (remember, the ones that pay for the account) can set limits to how much and when the account can be active. How would that go with a drug dealer? "Sorry, can't sell to you, it's past your bed time!"...
Fourthly (is that even a word), there are no documented health related issues to playing Warcraft on a regular basis. Yes there have been one or two cases of people dying after playing computer games for days at an end, but that's not a regular basis! And really people, take two normal people, give one of them cocaine constantly and let the other level up a new char in Warcraft and see which of them dies first! More people die from ice falling off buildings than of Warcraft!
Fifth, I don't know why people take cocaine but the only reason a person would play the game more than what can be considered "healthy" is if they have serious psychological problems! Because there really is just two ways to play the game. Either you can do it "the casual way" which is to play occasionally with friends and do some small scale stuff and you're happy just playing with friends and maybe making new ones. Or you can do it "the hardcore way" which is all about one thing - E-PENIS! Yes, that's the correct word for it! To make your character better geared, more powerful and more so called achievement points for achieving different in-game goals. But it's all in game and if you have a need to get such a huge e-penis that you play it that much, then you're not right in the head. And what would you rather have people who are not right in the head do - play Warcraft or do cocaine?
Sixth, now that sweden fails in pretty much every sport we used to own (like skiing or tennis), what's not so known in the general media is the status Sweden has in cyber athleticism! We dominate! And last time I checked the most famous Warcraft player (besides Jenkins) was "kungen" who happens to be Swedish, leading the most famous guild that's made up of a lot of swedes. Now how is that related to cocaine? Do we have any chart of cocaine addicts that are doing well and putting Sweden on the map?
Seven - the good feelings of cocaine (as I understand it) are artificial and chemically induced and effects your body so much that if done on a regular basis makes the body so addictive to it that you need weeks of detox to get out of it. Cause as I understand my House, cocaine isn't something you cut cold turkey. The good feelings in Warcraft comes from achieving goals in game and the "just a little bit more" feeling is constantly there. However, pulling the power cable will quickly remedy that - cold turkey style. The body won't be chemically dependant on anything and after a few days he/she won't even care. I know, I sold my paladin account without any drawback symptoms what so ever.
I don't for a second regret the almost 3 years I spent playing the game as much as I did. I made alot of friends. I learned a lot more about people skills. I learned how to motivate people, how to balance being nice and enforcing discipline, I learned alot. And I had fun.Which is what it's all about for me.
So yeah, you come here and call me a cocaine addict if you want to and I'll give you a crushing blow with my thunderfury! (how very old-school!)
//RoLaren aka Tandie
Edit: My bad, they said "cocaine", not "heroin".
Oh man.... I don't know where to begin. But lets!!
To start with, let me introduce myself. I started playing Warcraft at european launch in early 2005 and from fall of 2005 to may 2008 I was in one way or another leading guilds and 40 man raids (that was later slimmed down to 25). I played the game almost as much as I worked during that period and I feel pretty comfortable saying I know the game inside and out, every aspect of it. Then in may 2008 I met the woman of my dreams, sold off my main account and settled for my B account that I play occasionally with my friends. But enough of me, let us start...
First off, it's "what's the source of the news". It's a company. Complete with CEO and everything. Sure they have a green light from the social office, but it still comes down to making money and to do that people need to know they exist so what better way than to call the most played game in the world for cocaine!?
(and yes I do realize the irony of me writing about it here increases their audience, but I'm sure as hell not gonna link to them!)
Secondly, don't people commit crimes to pay for their cocaine addiction? I have no problem dishing up the 10 euros per month it costs me to play Warcraft. And the kids today ask their parents for money for it. Now how would that sound if a 15 year old asked his mother for 10 euros for cocaine? And don't ask me how much cocaine you get for 10 euros per month, I have no clue!
Thirdly, the drug dealer. In this case it's Blizzard who has such a high profile thanks to Warcraft that they can't afford to NOT listen to criticism. A company so responsible they even built in a parent tool into the game so parents (remember, the ones that pay for the account) can set limits to how much and when the account can be active. How would that go with a drug dealer? "Sorry, can't sell to you, it's past your bed time!"...
Fourthly (is that even a word), there are no documented health related issues to playing Warcraft on a regular basis. Yes there have been one or two cases of people dying after playing computer games for days at an end, but that's not a regular basis! And really people, take two normal people, give one of them cocaine constantly and let the other level up a new char in Warcraft and see which of them dies first! More people die from ice falling off buildings than of Warcraft!
Fifth, I don't know why people take cocaine but the only reason a person would play the game more than what can be considered "healthy" is if they have serious psychological problems! Because there really is just two ways to play the game. Either you can do it "the casual way" which is to play occasionally with friends and do some small scale stuff and you're happy just playing with friends and maybe making new ones. Or you can do it "the hardcore way" which is all about one thing - E-PENIS! Yes, that's the correct word for it! To make your character better geared, more powerful and more so called achievement points for achieving different in-game goals. But it's all in game and if you have a need to get such a huge e-penis that you play it that much, then you're not right in the head. And what would you rather have people who are not right in the head do - play Warcraft or do cocaine?
Sixth, now that sweden fails in pretty much every sport we used to own (like skiing or tennis), what's not so known in the general media is the status Sweden has in cyber athleticism! We dominate! And last time I checked the most famous Warcraft player (besides Jenkins) was "kungen" who happens to be Swedish, leading the most famous guild that's made up of a lot of swedes. Now how is that related to cocaine? Do we have any chart of cocaine addicts that are doing well and putting Sweden on the map?
Seven - the good feelings of cocaine (as I understand it) are artificial and chemically induced and effects your body so much that if done on a regular basis makes the body so addictive to it that you need weeks of detox to get out of it. Cause as I understand my House, cocaine isn't something you cut cold turkey. The good feelings in Warcraft comes from achieving goals in game and the "just a little bit more" feeling is constantly there. However, pulling the power cable will quickly remedy that - cold turkey style. The body won't be chemically dependant on anything and after a few days he/she won't even care. I know, I sold my paladin account without any drawback symptoms what so ever.
I don't for a second regret the almost 3 years I spent playing the game as much as I did. I made alot of friends. I learned a lot more about people skills. I learned how to motivate people, how to balance being nice and enforcing discipline, I learned alot. And I had fun.Which is what it's all about for me.
So yeah, you come here and call me a cocaine addict if you want to and I'll give you a crushing blow with my thunderfury! (how very old-school!)
//RoLaren aka Tandie
Edit: My bad, they said "cocaine", not "heroin".
Pirate Bay Trial
I guess you all know that there's this big trial in sweden against Pirate Bay. The prosecutor and representatives of the media business are charging them with aiding and abetting copyright violations and all that crap because of the site and torrent tracker. And the defense is saying "no haven't done anything wrong"...
The fun thing here is that from a legal stand point they didn't (as far as I understand it). Morally they did ofcourse and their disregard for copyrights and encouraging anarchy is way off, but nothing they can't get convicted for. And the swedish court system has time and time again proved that they are all about the letter off the law rather than the spirit of the law so it's my bet they'll walk away free.
For whatever it's worth, either way the losing side will appeal and we'll be right back here in a year or so...
The fun thing here is that from a legal stand point they didn't (as far as I understand it). Morally they did ofcourse and their disregard for copyrights and encouraging anarchy is way off, but nothing they can't get convicted for. And the swedish court system has time and time again proved that they are all about the letter off the law rather than the spirit of the law so it's my bet they'll walk away free.
For whatever it's worth, either way the losing side will appeal and we'll be right back here in a year or so...
Golfing
I tried golfing last sunday. Just going to a huge simulator that has like 6-7 feet to a huge screen and you hit the ball on the screen and it guestimates and projects how the ball goes. Surprisingly accurate, as long as you actually hit the screen! When we were putting we sometimes hit the ball so lame that it didn't get to the screen so it didn't count! Fortunately it had 2 meter "giving" distance (if you got within 2 meters of the hole you were in).
I did surprisingly well I think although I still don't feel like I can say I have control of where the ball is going! Really when I swing that huge driver I really feel I have no control what so ever and just happy if I hit near where I was looking!
Not sure if it's a sport worth investing alot of money in, cause it sure as hell aint cheap!!
I did surprisingly well I think although I still don't feel like I can say I have control of where the ball is going! Really when I swing that huge driver I really feel I have no control what so ever and just happy if I hit near where I was looking!
Not sure if it's a sport worth investing alot of money in, cause it sure as hell aint cheap!!
Getting it Right
Today we went out to look at a house in Täby. The house looked pretty good for us, just the right size and everything. Even a little small door for the cats to run in and out as they wished. However, and this was the deal breaker, it was exceptionally close to the railway (I mean like 50-60 meters. And not 50-60 meters of forest, it was 50-60 meters of playground to the school that was right next to it. And right now that's really not what we want.
We want a nice place in a calm environment where we can sit out and enjoy a nice juicy steak in the summer, and with a living room that's ok to set up a home theater in and where the kitchen and living rooms are not that seperate, prefereably not at all. But that seems impossible to find and since this is the biggest deal we've ever done, yes we will be that picky :)
We want a nice place in a calm environment where we can sit out and enjoy a nice juicy steak in the summer, and with a living room that's ok to set up a home theater in and where the kitchen and living rooms are not that seperate, prefereably not at all. But that seems impossible to find and since this is the biggest deal we've ever done, yes we will be that picky :)
Road Trip
Yesterday we went out for a road trip in my new Volvo. Don't know if I can say new since it's from 2001 but it's new to me so I wanted to take it out for a test drive. Drove up to Uppsala to have a relaxing afternoon at Fyrishov, which is a huge facility with lots of different pools, everything from spa to competetion pools. But it was anything but relaxing 'cause there was a gazillion families there. So after an hour or so of that we got cleaned up and went out to a restaurant called "Peppar Peppar". And it was awesome! Peppar steak was juicy as hell, loved it. A bit on the pricy side but how often do we get to eat in Uppsala :) And then back home again. And the car performed excellent :)
How Was Your Weekend?
My weekend was pretty good. Started off going out to Texas Longhorn with a few buddies of mine on friday, played some WoW, saw a few movies, enjoyed good food and having a girlfriend.
Oh and I also bought a new car (Volvo S40 from 2001)..
How was your weekend :)
Oh and I also bought a new car (Volvo S40 from 2001)..
How was your weekend :)
"What If" Operation Valkyrie Had Been a Success?
So there's another movie coming out about Operation Valkyrie, you know, the old plot of blowing up Hitler and his military chiefs to hell, but this time it's Tom Cruise as Stauffenberg so should make some headlines. Anyway, heard an interesting "what if" that was related to this movie from some random movie critic, and you all know I love "what if" scenarios.
What if they had been succesfull?
I don't know if it would've made _that_ big difference if they'd killed Hitler that late in the game (July 1944). It's even more interesting to speculate if someone could've killed him even before it started. How would that affect history? Things you don't really think about, like NASAs #1 rocket guy, von Braun, that helped the states in the space race, he wouldn't have the expertice he had. Not to mention fusion power and stuff like that.
That was one of the few things I liked about "Benjamin Button", they had a very interesting "cause and effect" sequence that showed just how little small irrelevant things can hurt you...
Enough philosophy for one day, tonight it's time for another nice steak at Texas Longhorn, jummy!
What if they had been succesfull?
I don't know if it would've made _that_ big difference if they'd killed Hitler that late in the game (July 1944). It's even more interesting to speculate if someone could've killed him even before it started. How would that affect history? Things you don't really think about, like NASAs #1 rocket guy, von Braun, that helped the states in the space race, he wouldn't have the expertice he had. Not to mention fusion power and stuff like that.
That was one of the few things I liked about "Benjamin Button", they had a very interesting "cause and effect" sequence that showed just how little small irrelevant things can hurt you...
Enough philosophy for one day, tonight it's time for another nice steak at Texas Longhorn, jummy!
Movies and Even More Movies
In the past few weeks me and my girlfriend have watched more movies than anyone should. But we really have nothing better to do in our spare time right now than watch a movie or two. And I'm not really complaining since I like movies :)
Finally saw "Mamma Mia!" (had to buy it on blueray just cause I can!), quite a funny and good movie for all generations basically. I was most interested to see how they incorporated "Does your mother know". 'Cause let's phase it, had it been either of the male actors singing it to a young girl it wouldn't work today.. most innovative use of a Abba song was "Lay All Your Love on me", loved that one!
Biggest disappointment yet was Benjamin Button. Sorry but it felt like it tried to be Forrest Gump... but didn't quite achieve that epic feel. Big disappointment there. Or maybe "Wanted" was the biggest disappointment? That's not even worth words... or maybe X-Files was even worse?.. so many stupid movies made today...
"Expired" was a bit funny and cute but overall pretty boring. "Seven Pounds" was very boring but the last 10 minutes make up for the boring movie cause it's so good ending I had to drop a little tear. "Grey Matter" was pretty slow but sweet, "Alien Raiders" was surprisingly good thriller/horror. Never been into horror movies but Helena is so I just adapt.
And countless comedies, "Accepted", "My Best Friends Girl" but best one was "Step Brothers", didn't expect it to be _that_ funny! And ofcourse Kevin Smiths latest, "Zack and Miri Makes a Porno" which was funny, just not hilarious.
Can't wait for the F1 season to start :)
Finally saw "Mamma Mia!" (had to buy it on blueray just cause I can!), quite a funny and good movie for all generations basically. I was most interested to see how they incorporated "Does your mother know". 'Cause let's phase it, had it been either of the male actors singing it to a young girl it wouldn't work today.. most innovative use of a Abba song was "Lay All Your Love on me", loved that one!
Biggest disappointment yet was Benjamin Button. Sorry but it felt like it tried to be Forrest Gump... but didn't quite achieve that epic feel. Big disappointment there. Or maybe "Wanted" was the biggest disappointment? That's not even worth words... or maybe X-Files was even worse?.. so many stupid movies made today...
"Expired" was a bit funny and cute but overall pretty boring. "Seven Pounds" was very boring but the last 10 minutes make up for the boring movie cause it's so good ending I had to drop a little tear. "Grey Matter" was pretty slow but sweet, "Alien Raiders" was surprisingly good thriller/horror. Never been into horror movies but Helena is so I just adapt.
And countless comedies, "Accepted", "My Best Friends Girl" but best one was "Step Brothers", didn't expect it to be _that_ funny! And ofcourse Kevin Smiths latest, "Zack and Miri Makes a Porno" which was funny, just not hilarious.
Can't wait for the F1 season to start :)
Sometimes Hi Tech Sucks
I'm pretty proud to be as high tech as I am, but sometimes being hi tech sucks! Last week me and my girlfriend had a sensitive argument, the kind that can kill a relationship if you phrase things wrong or say stuff in the heat of the moment. So it was done through SMS. The advantage of that is ofcourse you don't risk ending up calling her fat just to be cruel. But it also has one big setback! Sometimes if you send long text messages it doesn't deliver it all at once, but in small pieces. Some messages where chopped so badly that if we hadn't waited for the rest it'd killed it! So that really didn't help... hate emotional rollercoster rides like that!
Love You All
Today I got one of those chain e-mails, you know the one that says "forward this to everyone you love and you'll be happy". I never do. But this one, from my niece, was about taking a minute to tell everyone that matters to you that you love them before it's too late. So I thought I would...
So here's to mom, dad, AC, Amy, Paul, Nic, Alex, Linda, Carro, Binta, Becks, Steph, Lauryn, Jack, Jocke, Mats, Lina, Ricki, Eva, Peter R, Clara, Henrik A, Janne, Johan, Dago, Mattias K, Roger P, Dazza and most of all Helena - love you all!! (hoping I didn't miss anyone)
So here's to mom, dad, AC, Amy, Paul, Nic, Alex, Linda, Carro, Binta, Becks, Steph, Lauryn, Jack, Jocke, Mats, Lina, Ricki, Eva, Peter R, Clara, Henrik A, Janne, Johan, Dago, Mattias K, Roger P, Dazza and most of all Helena - love you all!! (hoping I didn't miss anyone)
How's The New Year So Far?
How is your new year going? For me it's "ok but could be better", had a bit of a downer with my girlfriend last night but atleast we fell asleep holding eachother in the end. Other than that I'm happy to finally have my video system set up the way I want it to, complete with HTPC optically hooked up and all stuff like that, the way it was meant to be basically. So now we're busy plowing through movies one after another. And then still busy redesigning NataliePortman.com. But atleast WoW isn't taking that much of my time anymore :)
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