mattiaseklund

Telescope

2012-02-10T13:07:00.000+01:00

Often when I gaze up at the heaven and see Jupiter or Venus chasing the moon around the sky I get an urge to buy a decent telescope. It would be great to watch the rings of Saturn and remote galaxies together with my family.
But then I remember that I live in a city, so the view would be limited. So we would have to drive out of the city and find a nice dark place to set it up - But to do that we would have to buy a car, or possibly a house in the countryside. This is the point in my train of thought where I suddenly loose interest in buying a telescope.

A folded piece of paper

2012-02-07T20:50:00.000+01:00

I just took apart my entire laptop, to get direct access to the cd-drive, into which Tage had stuck a folded piece of paper. And managed to put it all back into fully working order.
Savoring the victory with a few cc of Suntory whisky.

Todays science experiment

2012-02-04T22:38:00.000+01:00

yields that you actually can blow soap bubbles when it is -19.8°C, and that they freeze within five seconds (rough estimate).

2012-02-02T23:45:00.000+01:00

New

2012-02-02T15:24:00.000+01:00

I did a new thing at work today. I dropped my moped keys down an elevator shaft. It is nice to know that you can do new stuff even after more than three years on the job!

Bad parenting - Update

2012-01-24T19:54:00.000+01:00

A while ago I wrote about an idea that I had - to teach your kid something that is entirely wrong, just for the fun of it. Now I don't know anymore... Tage still insists that 'turning on the lights' is in fact when you turn them off, and vice versa. Totally without any encouragement from either of us adults, more the opposite. This has led to several fights, e.g. when we visited some friends and he and a girl got into a dark room and played with flashlights. After a while there was some shouting going on, so the other dad went in and turned on the lights and both kids started shouting Turn off the Lights!!! - so he did, and Tage continued to insist that he should turn off the lights, confused he turned the lights on again, and both kids just kept screaming for the lights to be turned off... This continued for some time. The other dad came out looking seriously bumfuzzled.

It is mildly amusing, but I can not help to wonder if maybe it will be dangerous at some point in his life. Maybe there will come a moment when something big depends on a light being turned on or off, and instinctively he will do the wrong thing. Some things are best to have a solid and correct understanding of and that understanding should not be played with by dads who have to much time on their hands.

Corn Succotash

2012-01-11T22:33:00.000+01:00

I have gone around the entire day saying 'Corn Succotash' to myself. Not loudly I think, but still. The problem is that I can not deduce where it comes from. It is a fun thing to say so I do not suffer indefinitely but as I neither knows what it is nor why it is on my brain it kind of annoys me. (If I would have to guess I would say it is something that someone says in M*A*S*H but I have not watched an episode of that show in years...)

Industrial design

2011-12-28T15:08:00.000+01:00

One thing that can really get me cooking is industrial design.
Today it is the plastic little flipp on the cat-5 cable connector that after some time, at least when it is connected to a laptop that is carried around the flat, breaks off. It really grinds my gears. I have not counted, but I believe that I currently have at least five cables that are broken. The cable is probably designed to be stationary, you plug it in to a router and a computer and then you leave it, and then there would be no problem. But I can not be the only one that use a cable connected to a laptop right? It baffles me that the connector has not evolved into something sturdier. (One reason might be that most people use a wireless connection and hence circumvent the problem entirely, but I don't since I got in a fight with my isp regarding a wireless modem that they promised me over the phone but then cheated me of).

Feelings of guilt

2011-11-04T21:33:00.000+01:00

Am I alone in feeling guilty walking past my regular pizza place carrying ingredients for home made pizza?

(The pizza was good, the listeria bacon that I used as an ingredient on said pizza kind of ruined it though)

Who are you?

2011-10-29T14:16:00.001+02:00

Especially you who come from: http://www.dongo.org/the_netherlands-germany/list_4_en/a_dutch_street_and_a_german_street_in_category_transport.html
And why do you come from there to this little corner of the world?

Quote of the day

2011-10-16T21:53:00.000+02:00

During lunch today Tage says:
'Hur säger man på engelska pappa? Tack för maten?'
('How do you say it in english dad? Thank you for the food?')

I was stunned.

I am certain that there is a Nobel price in my future

2011-10-05T11:21:00.000+02:00

The nurse at my doctors office told me, when I asked for some advice about my broken back, that I should eat the maximum amount of non-prescription pain pills. That I should combine paracetamol and ibuprofen (i.e. Alvedon and Ipren) to get a maximum effect. So, it came to me, the Nobel price winning idea: Making a pill that contains both substances! Alvepren! The maximum effect in One small pill! I can assure you that it would be a big seller.
I am giving the idea away to the pharmaceutical companies, but I do want the price money and a seat at the kings table!

Stupid criminals Or maybe it is me

2011-09-26T22:01:00.000+02:00

We took a hike through the woods today and picked some shrooms. We used our new double stroller to get to the woods and then Tage walked on his own and I carried Knut in a BabyBjörn. To stop the thieves at least a little I locked the wheel with an old lock and then left the stroller next to a well travelled path. When we got back we noticed that someone had rummaged through the contents in the stroller, probably searching for anything of value, but luckily he/she struck out. When we walked home I could not make up my mind if I thought less of the thief for going through our things or for the fact that he/she was so bad at the job that they couldn't even pick the crappy lock and steal the entire thing (which is worth muchos dineros).

And now I am blogging about it, which reminds me of the time when someone broke in and stole some petty cash from the Hilbert (the break room for the physics students in Gothenburg) store room. We laughed about that the next day, about the fact that the serious money was located just under the tray with the petty cash, and the stupid criminal had missed it. Of course the room was burgled again the next night and all the money was gone. So, if we should learn anything from that story it means that we can not take our expensive stroller out to the forest again, cause the criminal will read this and realize his/her mistake and take the entire thing the next time.

Bad parenting #2

2011-09-21T23:06:00.000+02:00

Is there someone else than me who has thought of teaching your kid something that is entirely wrong, just for the fun of it. Something fundamental, like: dark is light and light is dark, or up is down (both of which Tage, on his own behalf, insisted on for some time). It would take a real effort to build up the conspiracy needed for the misconception to really take hold, but what a pay-off right?!?

But no, instead we try to force our son into the suit that everyone should wear, in which the room becomes dark if you turn off the light, you travel up with the elevator when in fact the elevator is gaining altitude, girls are girls and boys are boys and so on and so on. But I often contemplate saying that Yes, of course that (red) crayon is blue, just to see where it would take him.

Black quote

2011-09-17T08:35:00.000+02:00

"The black train must come and get me",
my two year old says. Kind of ominous don't you think?

Bad parenting

2011-09-10T12:42:00.000+02:00

When you get upset when your kid tips over the water glass during dinner cause he was dipping his finger in it. And the reason for dipping his finger in the glass was that he wanted to do as his father did (I was dipping my finger in coffee and then in the water glass trying to form a nice 'smoke' ring in the water). Good job sending mixed messages dad (i.e. me)!

You deserve better

2011-09-01T13:51:00.000+02:00

Or at least something new. I have been totally lazy these last months. Or No, not lazy per se, more tired and unable to put anything interesting down on paper, or the paper substitute that this is. It is not that I do not have the time, I have just now been laying on my bed with a sleeping infant in the same room for the last couple of hours, doing nothing really.

I have been thinking about blogging, even started a few entries, but they all landed on the cutting room floor. As I am sure that this will.

I admire people who can formulate long imaginative texts every day, or once a week for that matter. But also those who can post nice photos as often. I have thought of doing that, posting a photo a day or something, just to get creative and do something, but My stupid brain stops me every time I try. Or rather, it is my lack of skill compared to my (maybe too) high standards that stops me (which is very stupid I know, cause come on, it is not like this is important or anything. It is not a job, I do not get paid to do this, and you do not get paid to read it (if you are not doing it at work, which some of you probably are) and no one is going to 'discover' me through this blog. No one is going to stumble in here and find my writing/photography so great that they will pay me to do it (right?)).
Anyway, that is the way that I think, I do not want to post a pic that I am not a 100 per cent satisfied with, and if I sift through my rather large collection of photos the number of 'great' ones is depressingly low. I have tried to ignore my brain and just share anyway, but have not jet succeeded. (The fact that I have all my photos on a computer without internet connection, with makes it a bit of a bother to upload stuff, sure ain´t helpin either).

I have had a much lower threshold for my texts before (they are a real mix between low points and a couple of read-worthy ones) but after a break I get some kind of a stage fright and think that everything I write must be well written, thought through, funny, note worthy, interesting and funny. But fu"k that, here goes nothing, Lets push publish and see what happens!

Epiphany

2011-06-14T22:18:00.000+02:00

We took a weekend trip to our capital to cash in one of our wedding gifts - a visit to Fotografiska including dinner, a sleepover and great company.

After a lunch at the herring wagon at Slussen we went down to the docks to wait for our friends. Sitting there we noticed a boat that acted a bit odd. It just bobbed about doing nothing special and I got confused. Our view was blocked by a couple of boats, one of which is acting as a hostel I believe, just to set the scene for you. (I could have shared a photo of our actual view, including the oddly behaving boat, but for some reason I only had my old analog Minolta with me and I have not yet developed the film). Then a second and third boat came about and did more or less the same. 'Odd' I thought.

After a while a whole bunch of different boats came from under the bridge and headed out towards the ocean. 'That was also odd' my mind said and tried to come up with a reason why so many boats would come at the same time, maybe they were involved in a race (but that really did not add up, usually boat races are more homogeneous - these boats were very dissimilar).

After a little while, the oddly behaving boats started to move in the opposite direction (as opposed to the strange boat race) and this is the moment where I had an epiphany. Is it possible that there actually is a lock (=sluss) at Slussen??? Oh yes. Sometimes I am so darn clever (or if we turn it around - most of the time I am so darn dense).

Deprimerande

2011-06-05T20:18:00.000+02:00

Jag är lika gammal som Ove Sundberg. Snacka om deprimerande.

2011-05-31T21:53:00.000+02:00

(censored) her!

2011-05-24T22:48:00.001+02:00

Just as I was entering a building the other day I happened to overhear a mother talking to her four year old. He said something on the line of 'Hey, there is the mail man, do you think we will get some mail?´ Her retort was a snide remark that I was obviously meant to hear that basically said that 'We will probably not get something cause those guys are so useless that they deliver the mail wrong almost all the time'.

I stopped in my tracks and almost confronted her. And I should have, I should just have turned to her and asked, 'Sorry, I could not help overhearing, is there something that I do wrong? Have I delivered your mail to the wrong door by misstake?' in a pleasant tone of voice and with a nice smile. Instead I continued through the door, got in the elevator and started fuming over her remark and the fact that I was to chicken to confront her.

Now all I can say is (censored) that (censored). (censored) her. I take my job bloody serious and I am meticulous about getting the right letters delivered to the right recipient. Errors can of course occur, especially if I think, e.g., that Johnsson, M, lives with Johnsson, K while they actually lives with Johnsson, B. (A little note on the door might fix that problem by the way. We mail men are capable of reading, telepathy though, is seldom our strongest ability.)

If she had just told me that, 'sorry, my mail often gets mixed up with Johnsson's on the second floor, could you please be more careful', I would have cared, I would even have felt really bad for the mistake, Maybe I would have lost sleep over it even, but now - (censored) her and her bloody problems.

Headlines

2011-04-30T13:50:00.000+02:00

I got a letter for a company called 'wang somethingsomething' the other day, and since the address was not correct I searched for the recipient trying to find out what to do with the letter. Googeling 'wang eskilstuna', I found this:

The perfect name for that particular profession.
At the time I found it hilarious.

Chef

2011-04-21T00:52:00.000+02:00

T's first original recipe. Pancakes with muesli (and jam). I predict a great career as a chef at a Michelin star restaurant in the near future.

(Darn this was hard. I have forgotten how to spell and how to express myself in English. Perhaps it is due to my long absence from this here place, or maybe it is the sleep that eludes me that makes it so difficult. Ill try to come back soon at a more reasonable hour and see if it will be a little easier.)

No bloging long time

2011-02-16T21:31:00.000+01:00

It has been a lot the past month.
I stopped being a 'dad at home' and started working again.
The work has been hard, especially due to the cold weather and icy roads.
I have also worked a day at the daycare Tage attends, and that was no picnic, let me assure you.
I have trained a lot, or rather, I have been a trainer a lot.
My beard has grown big and needs more and more care.
There has been a lot of preparation towards last weekend,
during which I got married.
To sum it all up, I have been tired and have had no energy to compose any of these funny/interesting/informative/well thought through blog entries that you have come to love and crave. I am sorry and hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, even if I do not promise that I will be better in the future.

What a day!!

2011-01-19T16:24:00.001+01:00

Today was the first day that I left Tage alone at the daycare. It was only for half an hour, and it went all right. I mean, it wasn't fun to walk out the door and leave my kid crying in the arms of someone else, but he calmed down after a while they told me. But that was not what brought on the title of this post, it was something that happened during this 'free' time that I got.

I walked around without a real goal, just staying away and trying to not obsess too much over the fact that my kid was crying. I happened to walk by a grocery store and thought 'maybe I should just pop in and get me a chocolate bar, I deserve that don't I?' even though I am trying to loose those damned extra Christmas pounds that currently flapp around my waist. So I walked in to the store, but when I saw the fruit I actually changed my mind, I was going to have some bananas instead. But they did not have any ecological ones, and since bananas are one of the things that we only by if they are eco, I changed my mind back towards chocolate again ( I do admit that the logic here is not very sound, especially since sweets are not one of those things). Anyway: On my way back from this little detour in the healthy section towards my original goal It happened.

I walked by a cart with some wares that were marked down due to that they were going out of sale. 'Hmm, a bottle of fish sauce. That I do not need.' I thought distractedly at the same time that I, for the hundredth time the last fifteen minutes, checked that I had reception on my phone and that there were no missed calls from the daycare personnel. Just as I was about to walk on something in the back of my mind told me to look down once again, there was something in that cart, something very important.

And my mind has never been more right.

It was a product that I learned to love a couple of years ago. A product that inexplicably vanished from the stores maybe last autumn. A product that I wrote an unanswered mail to the manufacturer requiring about. A product that I have searched for all over the country. A product that I put a Wanted ad for, right here on this very blog. A product that I had lost all hopes of ever owning again.

There they were, what might possibly be that last two jars of Chipotle paste in the country, in a sales cart, going for 10 SEK each. If they only knew what I gladly would have paid for them they would cry themselves to sleep for a week. You better believe that I bought candy to celebrate!

AAAAAHhhh MVF

2011-01-13T21:17:00.000+01:00

Alltså, va faan.
Kanske är jag löjlig. Kanske så ska jag sköta mig själv och skita i andra. Kanske tycker folk att jag är dum. Kanske så kan folk som inte bryr sig om att sopsortera flytta till en annan planet och sluta att förstöra den som jag och min blivande fru tänker bli gamla på, den planet som mina barn ska växa upp på, den planet som alla idioter håller på att köra i botten. Hur jävla svårt är det att slänga den gigantiska kartongen som den nya platt-tv'n kom i i lådan som det står 'förpackningar av papper' på istället för lådan som det står 'övriga sopor' på? Hur stor uppoffring är det att ägna en minut då och då till att sortera lite jävla sopor? Om man inte orkar bära kassen med tomflaskor till affären för att panta dom kan man väl iallafall slänga den i plast/glas återvinningen eller? Är det föresten bara jag som är snål eller är det någon mer som känner att om man har betalt pant för att få låna en flaska av butiken så vill jag ta mig tusan ha tillbaks dom pengarna? Jag vet mycket väl att sopsortering bara är en liten droppe i havet, en mjölkkartong som återvinns istället för att slängas i soporna kommer inte att rädda världen, men det är en väldigt enkel åtgärd för att dra ett litet strå till stacken. En sista fråga: Är det ok att plocka upp ica-kassen som är full av pantflaskor och burkar ur soporna och ta med dom till affären eller blir man då direkt klassad som en sunkig uteliggartyp? (Jag tycker själv att man borde bli klassad som miljöhjälte, men jag får mer känslan av det tidigare när jag står där och tittar ner i sopkärlet och hatet mot mina slöa jävla grannar får det att koka i mig. Jag lät flaskorna vara kvar, jag klarade inte av att möta någon granne i trappen med en påse jag plockat upp ur soporna, men jag flyttade svärande över tv-kartongen till rätt kärl).

MVF

2011-01-04T21:56:00.002+01:00

Men Va Faan

Har spenderat lite tid med kära eniro.se för att lokalisera lite folk, och det är helt otroligt att dom har lyckats förstöra den siten så grundligt som dom har. Man blir så in i helvete frustrerad.
Till och med reklamen för deras sökmotor är ju helt uppfuckad, dom söker efter något i typ Lund och får upp svar i hela Sverige. Man kan väl i alla fall anta att om man vill ha en, låt oss säga restaurang, i Lund, så vill man att den faktiskt ska ligga i Lund och inte någon annanstans. Orten är man väl oftast rätt så säker på.
Om man går in på fliken 'personer' och söker men inte får någon träff så hamnar man helt plötsligt på fliken 'kartor' eller 'företag', men det var ju en person som man sökte, det är ju ändå en sak som man var rätt så säker på. Om man sen vill ändra sin sökning så måste man själv byta flik, och då är sökningen som man just gjorde borta, så då måste man skriva in allt igen.
Sen så kan man ju tycka att om man har fixat en adressändring via adressandring.se så vore det ju käckt om telefonkatalogen som folk faktiskt använder, dvs just eniro.se, faktiskt uppdaterar sitt register.

Jag kan inte minnas att det var så kasst förut, så jag undrar hur dom har lyckats göra så många saker så mycket sämre?

Ode

2010-12-31T22:34:00.000+01:00

A year has gone, a year will come
What have we learned, what have we done
Where will life bring us, what will happen next
Will we get smarter or maybe kicked in the head
I do not know and I can not say
But I hope it entails both yeay and hurray

Flashback

2010-12-22T13:05:00.000+01:00

I re-read the last post and got a flashback to a great MASH ep in which Frank and Hot Lips visits a local craftsman. The dialogue goes something like this: (actually I am rather sure that it goes exactly like this, even it if were years since I had my last MASH hangup)

-(Frank to the Craftsman): One of our sergeants told us you do wood carvings.
-(Craftsman): Ahh, sergeant Kowalski, I make a naked lady radiator cap for his fathers Crystler.
-(Frank to Hot Lips): Now we are getting somewhere, (turns to the Craftsman) So you do carve?
-(Craftsman): Come, I'll show you. (holds up a piece of wood and says proudly) Used to be round.
-(Frank): It looks like a two by four.
-(Craftsman): Thank you!

Brilliant. I just love it!

Duplo

2010-12-20T12:57:00.000+01:00

Ok, I wanted to share this image with all of you, and tried writing a nice blog post to it, but it did not pan out. Basically what I wanted to say was that:
I play a lot with duplo these days.
I built this sculpture some days ago and then took a photograph of it, or rather through it.
It turned out pretty nice.
And then I wondered if you could figure out how I did it.
Can you? (Oh yea, I only used regular 2x2 and 2x4 pieces.)

Hur svårt kan det vara?

2010-12-19T00:08:00.000+01:00

Hur svårt kan det vara att komma på ett kassasystem som funkar på krogen? Hur kan det fortfarande vara så att om man är ett sällskap som går ut och äter en bit och dricker några glas på krogen och sedan betalar var för sig så är det alltid killen som är sist, den blyge killen med lite krassligt självförtroende, som får ta ölen och maten som de andra tryckte i sig men sedan glömde att de tryckte i sig.
Det är klart att man inte kommer ihåg exakt vad man drack och åt efter fem timmar. Och det är lika klart att det är den osäkre killen som är kvar i slutet och får ta slattarna. Han som inte vågar ta diskussionen med personalen, eller för den delen ta diskussionen med kompisgänget dagarna efter. Han får ta smällen och se glad ut. Hur svårt kan det vara att skapa individuella notor, genom att tex fråga efter namn på den som beställer, eller genom att stämpla gästerna med en stor jävla stämpel i pannan för att identifiera dom.
Den här gången så var jag näst sist och slapp de extra ölen, men jag fick betala för en dyrare maträtt än den jag åt, för den jag åt hade nån annan redan betalt och det var bara de dyrare alternativen kvar, och jag kan erkänna att jag säkert vet att jag gått tidigt nån gång och betalat för en öl mindre än jag drack (något som jag kommit på genom en rannsakan dagen efter), men oftare händer det nog att jag är den som betalar sist (nu är inte det så farligt eftersom jag inte är ute så ofta så den smällen kan jag ta när det händer men roligt är det faan inte). Så jag undrar - hur svårt kan det egentligen vara?

If you are wondering

2010-11-30T20:40:00.001+01:00

If you are wondering why this lille katt video suddenly climbed to the very top of the YouTube charts it is cause we showed it to Tage once, and then he demanded to get control over the 'replay' button. If you are wondering why this is my last post it is cause my computer tripped and fell over the balcony rail in a freak accident that has nothing at all to do with me freaking out over this lille katt video.

Something I do not understand

2010-11-23T16:12:00.000+01:00

There is something that I do not understand with regards to the new body scanners used at more and more airports. As I understand it people are upset that the security personnel get to see them in the nude and they feel uncomfortable about that. That I get. What I do not get is why the security personnel needs to see the nude images. I bet that it would be bloody easy to construct a program that analyses the images and looks for suspicious things (hidden blades and plastic explosives and so on) and returns a green or a red light for the person And destroys the image in the process. Hence no-one would ever get so see anyone naked, the check would be faster and more secure than by visual inspection and everyone would be happy campers. Personally I would feel much less violated by such a system. Now if I only had thousands of readers I bet that this idea would quickly find its way to the people in charge and they would have everything sorted within a fortnight.

Re-littering

2010-11-04T20:45:00.000+01:00

Where do you all stand on the subject of re-littering? I.e. if you see something on the street that you go 'Oooh - that seems interesting' over and then you pick that something up only to realize that it is just a piece of crap - is it then ok to throw it back down on the street or should you locate a trash can? It happens to me quite a lot and I often get stuck in this ethical dilemma (most oftenly I do re-litter but I never feel good about it).

Turbulence

2010-10-28T01:38:00.001+02:00

I snapped this during our vacation on Gotland this spring. Except for the crop and a little tweak of the colours I did no edits. Sometimes a little turbulence in the air is a good thing.

Significant figures

2010-10-27T20:02:00.000+02:00

I have a problem with the tv show Biggest looser. They calculate the weight loss for the contestants as a percentage based on measurements in whole pounds. So a person that has gone from 310 to 305 pounds has lost 5 pounds => 5/310=1.61%. And then they use this number to eliminate people. It is just plain wrong to get a number with three significant figures from a division that contains a number with only one significant figure. The true answer to the above example should hence be 2%. They really ought to buy a more precise scale and learn some maths.

Change

2010-10-27T12:41:00.001+02:00

I thought that a little change was due...

Shit

2010-10-27T11:44:00.000+02:00

Another thing that happens in the woods bother me. It also involves stupid people like in my previous rant where someone destroyed my lens hood that I dropped, found and then left hanging on a tree in the same forest that inspired this little rant.
It is shit. Dog shit to be more precise. Having had dogs all the time growing up I am fairly familiar with the subject, but I find that I am a little bit undecided. I mean, if a dog shits on the streets you pick it up - no problem there. But if a dog shits on a path in the forest I do not really know. To just leave it for someone to step in is not acceptable. I think it is quite all-right to just push it out of the way with a stick so that no one would have to step in it, it will be gone pretty soon so no real harm is done. To pick it up with a plastic bag and throw it in the trash is also an option, but I must say that due to the extremely low density of dog poo trash cans out there in the woods I would be a bit hesitant to do that.
But there is a fourth option - to pick it up with a plastic bag and then throw the bag a few feet away from the path. It is just so fucking stupid. I mean I get annoyed of all littering, I have been so darn close to confront people that I see throw their crap on the streets like if it were their own personal trash can, my blood has boiled and I have wanted to just cut their fucking heads off with some choice words (I have only been held back by the fact that I live where I live and hence would most likely have been stabbed or the like by the perpetrator...), but to put something bio-degradable into a plastic bag and then throw it where everyone will see it for years to come is so darn stupid that I [now I am so worked up that I am hyperventilating, maybe this sentence ought to end soon so that I wont pass out] that I can not even begin to describe it.

Sheos

2010-10-19T09:47:00.000+02:00

Attended a training camp this weekend. It was great fun, hard work and a cheep way to up-grade my shoes. I was one of the last people leaving and I could not find my own shoes anywhere. Instead there was a pair very similar to mine: same brand, almost the same model, half a size larger, and a lot less worn. I could see no other option than to adopt them and treat them like if they were my own.

Being the fool

2010-10-05T11:24:00.001+02:00

This Friday when I was picking the last of the mushrooms in the forest closest to me I found a lens hood. I was a bit amazed that it was very similar to one of mine. I thought it over and concluded that yes - it was similar, but it was definitely not mine. So I hung it on a tree next to the path close to where I found it and felt good about it, maybe the owner would find it and feel good about not having to spend a ridiculous amount of money for a little piece of plastic that is not a crucial part of the lens but still something that you want to have so that you can use it to its full extent.

I thought nothing of it during the weekend (during which I saw two elks) but come Monday my mind started to nag at me. I took a look around and of course I could not locate the lens hood that looked very much like the one I found in the woods. Fuck I thought, I am so stupid. Of course it was mine, the one I found. Of course, I mean, who else would walk around at that particular spot, with a lens similar to mine?

I quickly got mine and Tages stuff together and rushed out of the apartment. During the quick trot I calculated (maybe estimated would be a better word for what I did) the odds of what would happen next; At first I thought that there would be a 50% chance that it would be where I left it, a 20% chance that it would be on the ground close-by but still intact, a 10% chance that it would be close-by but broken, and the rest that it would be gone forever.

The closer I came the chances of me finding it intact grew smaller and smaller. When I saw the tree and that it was not there I was not very surprised. I later found it some fifty meters away in the mud, broken into four pieces. I am quite amazed of how the mind works for some people. Why would you, if you find a thing in the woods, a thing that someone clearly has found already and put up in a place where the original owner would be able to find it, a thing that is clearly not crap, pick that thing up and destroy it? What do you gain from that? On the other hand, I can not really say that my own brain worked particularly well during this episode either.

Who the fuck?

2010-09-29T13:00:00.000+02:00

Who was the bastard that designed the standard that controls how stuff you put into the usb port works? I mean, why in hell must it take an infinity of time for a memory stick/sd-card reader or whatever to be disconnected from the fucking computer? If I tell it to eject it should fucking disconnect immediately. I have no patience for that crap. (I am a little annoyed since this mornings failed attempt to get the ethernet card in one of my computers to work (the non working ethernet card is the reason for the non existence of photos on this here blog recently)).

Aaaah

2010-09-19T14:29:00.000+02:00

We are, just for fun, listening to all our records - in the order in which they stand in the shelf.
Up until today the low point was the Chopin record that was a combination of music and letters (read in French) to and from the composer. Who bought that we really do not know (but since K has a great memory and mine is more the shape of a Swiss cheese I suppose it was me at some confused point in my life).
Today we came to Mazarin by Per Gessle. I can not even begin to describe how much I loath it. My god, I want to puncture my eardrums with a spoon. We and our stupid projects.

Project

2010-09-15T22:38:00.000+02:00

I decided during my stay at my parents house this summer that it would be a nice little project to scan all their old photos (or most of them anyway). Mostly it was so that I could get some photos of me when I was Tage's age for comparison, but why not do them all I thought. So I told my dad to bring them to me and now I have 25 cartridges with 40 slides each ( = 1000 slides) to process in my bookshelf. Scanning takes about a minute each so that could be done within 16.7 hours (if I really streamlined the operation) but that does not take into account the time it takes to remove dust, change frames on some of them etc etc etc. Then there is the post-production, cropping, making changes to the exposure, digitally remove some dust etc etc. But that is all fine, it is just manual labour and yes, it takes time and is kind of repetitive but I sort of like that.

What I do have a problem with however is sorting. I am kind of meticulous when it comes to my photos. I have them nicely sorted in the order in which they were shot. I like the time-line, that they form a record of events. It probably has to do with my poor memory. To have your photos sorted like that is of course not ideal. For one thing, it makes it impossible to put them into an album (if you don't put all of them in there), and you can't sort all your photos of your dog in one place (cause then you disturb the time-line), and you can't really show your photos to someone (because then you must show all of them)... (all of this applies to the analog photos of course, the digital ones is far easier to handle (I highly recommend using a photo managing/editing software like Lightroom, Aperture, blueMarine or picasa to keep your photos organized)). But as you might have guessed, the gene that makes you inclined to keep anal order among your photos must have skipped a generation. Photos of the X-mas 1981 pops up in numerous cartridges. Winter is mixed with summer, spring and autumn. A young version of my mother pops up in the middle of a moose hunt in 1985. Dogs that did not exist at the same time seems to be playing together. These cartridges must be my fathers version of Monica's closet. I feel that I must bring order to this chaos but I do not know how.

Schroms

2010-09-09T23:45:00.001+02:00

This week me and Tage have spent more than an hour each day in the forest looking for mushrooms. Except for today we have gone to the smallish forest a couple of hundred meters from here. This one: (We live in the house under 'Earth')

View Larger Map

Since the forest is so close to the town, in fact it is in the town, it is a very popular recreational area. A lot of people move around there and even if not everyone looks for mushrooms I always see people who do just that, but even so, I have had no problem at all finding around 4 litres every day (Chanterelle, Funnel Chanterelle and Trumpet of death (cool name!) mostly). Today I thought I would change it up a bit and take a bike trip a bit further away, to go where not so many other people have gone before. Compared to just getting the stroller and going into the woods it was quite a bit harder. I am not very used to biking around with a little kid on the back of the bike, and getting on and off is a bit tricky... I also had to carry him almost everywhere we went. So, lets have a quick quiz: how much do you think I found today?

In April

2010-09-06T11:33:00.000+02:00

Some time in April or thereabout I borrowed two books at the local library on the art of using flashes whilst photographing. It was an active choice, I went to the library just for that cause. I have a good flash and I do not know really how to use it to get good results, instead I fool around and use the trial and error method (which works to some degree but - really, come on...). So I have actually meant to read, no, to really study these books.

Since then I have re-borrowed them three times, two of the times after the loan already had gone over the limit (so now I own the library some money), even if the library has sent me a mail a couple of days before saying that 'hey, its time to return/re-borrow the books'.

One of the books I have used as a lap-top stand when I have the computer in the bed. The other I actually opened and read several pages in, up to the section of the omni-bounce. It stated that - 'you really got to have an omni-box'. I do not have an omni-box. And yes I could buy one (and I will, once I am in a town that has a decent camera store), but since I do not have one I felt a little like a looser, I mean come on, I did not even realize when I bought the flash that I of course should have bought an omni-box too. Anyhow, after I had read the section of the 'must have' omni-box I kind of lost interest in the books (no, not really lost interest, I have felt stupid, lazy and like a looser every time I have seen them) and they have just been laying around here since. Until yesterday when I returned them to the library after I had received an email from them saying 'please return the books now you dickwad, we both know it, you will never read them so why not let someone else get a chance? come on now, what do you say?'. This was several days ago, so now I own them even more money. Some times I mess these little things up for no bloody reason what so ever and let me tell you, It really sucks to do that.

Soup #46

2010-08-25T21:47:00.001+02:00

#46 Rural bean and vegetable soup. A rather nice soup with a couple of different types of beans (should have been kidney beans, pinto beans and black eyed peas but I could not find pinto beans in any of the multitude of stores that I went to yesterday so I skipped them and increased the amount of kidney beans instead), some mushrooms (should have been dried porchino and button mushrooms, but I thought I would swap the dried porchino for fresh ones from the forest, so I took Tage on a stroll today and could of course not find any of the ones that I had seen on our last jogg. But I did find plenty of chanterells so I used them instead. At the same time I learned what Tage hates more than accompanying me on photography strolls...) The soup also contained some chopped shallots and some mini pasta. So, friend of order asks, where the heck did the vegetables go? I have no idea. Anyhow - I liked it.

(By the way, do not worry, I have not forgotten soups #39 to #45. You will hear about them soon, I promise.)

Naah

2010-07-12T20:31:00.000+02:00

Den som är det mindsta intresserad av fotboll skulle säkert tycka det var roligt att nått av lagen i den högre ligan spelar mot mallorca på arenan tvärs över gatan. För mig är det bara ett störande moment när jag försöker kolla på simpsons... Min behållning av matchen som gick på tv igår var den rätt så snygga sparken som nån i det orangea laget fick in i bröstet på en i det svarta laget, råkade zappa förbi precis när dom visade reprisen. I min värld så var det helt klart en poänggivande spark (iof så använder vi inte dojor med dobbar på i dojon).

Blog ideas

2010-07-10T20:55:00.000+02:00

People and their cars

'Tack för att du gör mig hel' lappen jag hittade på gatan

Soups (5 of them)

Original people

My obsession with lists and order

Sandboxes, and my obsession with order in said boxes

Why do I only have the energy to search out the lowest price on some specific items and not all. And why is it that I can go to extremes to buy those items at the cheapest place and just ignore the other items?

Photos, cameras, camera gear, money, phones, stuff...

Yea, as you can see, I have a lot of ideas, but the creative side of me is in a state of rest at the moment. But one day I will bounce back and once again be a source of your daily procrastination routine...

Some things really get me going

2010-07-01T21:50:00.000+02:00

Most of the time I think that I do not react especially hard on things. But some things really get me going. Pan flute Indians are one of those things. I just can not stand them. In this town they occupy the same place on the main street every summer and today was the first time that I encountered them this year. I was walking along and just caught a tone floating in the air and my brain directly came to attention. A few steps later I was certain and I stooped dead right there. I caught a glimpse of a feather and turned the stroller around and went in a circular motion around them with a couple of blocks in between. It is just what I need, another reason to not walk down to the centre of the town. (Ok, this was not one of my best rants ever, but it is the best I can produce under these conditions..)

Here to

2010-06-13T22:49:00.000+02:00

Nerdy street art. Not only in Eskilstuna but also in Visby.

A year ago

2010-06-06T11:39:00.000+02:00

A year ago my life changed forever.

PhD

2010-06-02T09:03:00.000+02:00

At 15:00 on June the 18'th Jorge Cham is comming to Uppsala to give a talk. If I was there I would not miss it for the world. (registration required before the 10'th)

Number

2010-05-31T13:09:00.000+02:00

Number of deer seen on the train ride home from Småland, the train ride that got delayed an hour and then changed into a train and taxi ride at a stop where the train normally does not stop: 7.

Interesting conversation during the ride:
-(the conductor) You will get a taxi from Katrineholm to Eskilstuna.
-(us, with Tage in our lap) Ok, we will need a chair for him in that case.
-(the conductor) Sure, they must have one, I will specifically tell them that you will need one.
-(us) Great.

A little time later, during which the conductor had talked to us and Tage several times:
-(the taxi driver) What? A baby seat? Nobody has mentioned anything about that. I can get one but it will take longer. And I hope you know how to install it cause I have no idea.

It all got sorted out in the end, and we came home only a little over han hour later than what we vere supposed to.

By the way: If you get stuck in Katrineholm, be sure to have a moscito repellent on you, damn it they were hungry.

By the way 2: If you are in Katrineholm and need to go to Stockholm late on a Saturday, make sure you look on the right screen so that you do not wait for the arrivals from Stockholm instead of the departures to Stockholm. (I do hope that the lady who wanted me to help her buy a ticket to said place had some place to spend the night)

Lyxfällan

2010-05-11T14:53:00.001+02:00

I think that before a country would be eligible for the huge 'chrisis package' that IMF has put together, the country in question should first have to participate in a Lyxfällan special. That would be a great show. A couple of economists would stand there in front of the budget board and try to make the country realize what their problem is. (The country is silent in the conversation below. It just stands there looking ashamed and tries to hold back its tears)

-So, how much do you spend on the military? On social services? On pensions?
-And what loans do you have? Don't you understand that these sms loans that you took last year have a huge interest?
-Do you save anything for a rainy day? No? You really should have.
-Ok, so if you sum it all up you see that your income, in form of taxes, is half of your spendings. It does not add up does it? You really need to think this through during the night.

// later in a bar, the economists talking //
-I really do not know if we can save this country.
-No, I agree. They must have seen this coming a long time and just let it happen. I think it might be to late now.
-What we have to do is to sell of any assets that they might have, what can you get for an island on ebay?
-And we have to try to do something about their loan situation. Thirty thousand different sms loans, plus all their credit cards that they have maxed out.. Maybe we can go and see if IMF could do something...

I really think this would be an excellent TV-show.

Wanted

2010-05-06T22:17:00.001+02:00

Chipotle paste. I really miss it, and have searched all over for it without any result. I think it is out of production but there must be a store somewhere that have some left, mustn't it? If you find it, could you please buy a couple of jars for me? I would be forever grateful.

Memory

2010-04-25T17:31:00.000+02:00

The other day when I was on my way to the hospital to exchange some blood against two pairs of socks I went down to the bus stop just 100 meters away from here. It is in plain view from our flat and a couple of days before I had noticed that someone had smashed one of the glass walls of the wind shelter. The day I went down there I came around from the back and for some reason I bent down and picked up a shard of glass. With this in my hand I proceeded to walk around and sit down on the bench inside the hut. And then I leant back to rest against the glass wall. The glass wall that had been smashed. The glass wall that I had a piece of in my hand. Can someone please tell me just what the fuck is wrong with my brain.

Abandoned

2010-04-20T20:41:00.005+02:00

While on a random walk today we stumbled upon an abandoned flower shop. (Actually I stumbled upon one and deliberately walked past another, but the only nice photos were of the stumbled upon one). The photos could have ended up better I am sure, but Man does Tage hate it when I stop and take out my camera. It is really hard to be creative with groaning kid in the stroller, but I am working on the problem. Any day now either he will realize that groaning is stupid Or I will come to a state were I just do not care. (No, I do not believe any of those things will happen).

Intellectual challenge

2010-04-16T11:47:00.001+02:00

I feel that I need to exercise my brain before it deteriorates. Can't some one throw a 'not to hard but still challenging' problem my way? Math/Physics/Programming/Logical or something else completely. Come on. Put me to the test (or more importantly, excercise my brain!)

2.885

2010-04-15T14:25:00.004+02:00

For more than ten months now I have had only one object in front of my camera, and have had so about 2.885 times. Even if the subject is well worth it I kind of miss the good old days when other things caught my eye. With this in my mind I took my camera, jumped on a bus to a place I had not been before (and then dragged on the stroller with Tage in it). I explored and let my eye wander. And I managed to snap more than 20 shots in a row that did not feature any small human beings at all. I even managed to photograph a bird or two, this was however hard since the little guy gets bored quite easily...

By the way, blogging with the little man in the same room is quite a feat. This post took most of the day to compose, and the prose might have suffered a bit in the process.

Quiz answer #10, and the Proud winner is

2010-04-11T10:20:00.000+02:00

Fist of all, here are the answers:
-Who of Marge's sisters has triangular shaped earrings? (1p)
-Selma goes for round earrings mostly, and Patty has triangles.

-Sideshow Bob has a brother. What is his name? (1p)
-Cecil Terwilliger.

-What magazine did Milhouse order when he and Bart took care of the comic book store? (1p)
-He orders a thousand copies of 'Biclops' in the Worst eposide ever, as it is called.

-What crop did the family grow at the farm? (1p)
-It was Tomacco, a tomato/tobacco hybrid that tasted awful but was highly addictive.

-And last but not least: In the movie, Marge makes several variations of 'home sweet home' embroideries. You get 0.5 points for each version you can tell me.
-I have not yet watched the movie so I am not one hundred per cent certain of this, but I know that she makes at least a 'Dome sweet Dome' and a 'Nome sweet Nome' version.

And the winner is.... cmh, who came on the outside in the last curve and overtook m with half a point on the finish line - wheeeee!!!! And there were much rejoicement. The price was a book was it not? Name your poison and I will see to it that it is sent to a mailbox close to you. If you can not decide I will send you one of my favourites.

That's all for now folks. Maybe there will be a new quiz one day. Thank you for playing, hope you enjoyed it!

A little note on design

2010-04-06T19:14:00.001+02:00

One of my big interests in life is design. (I might have written something quite similar to this before, but my memory is poor and I really dig the subject so here goes...). Good design makes me happy and poor design can really make me loose all confidence in the species called Homo sapiens sapiens. Most of the stuff you encounter fall in the huge grey area in-between, they do their job but not with splendour. And I have a hard time figuring out why, it should not be so hard to put in just a little bit more thought and testing before finalizing a product. Some of the things that has occupied my brain recently are:

Plastic CD casings. Who the hell designed the first prototype? The hinges are so fragile that they break if you just breath on them. The plastic nubs in the middle that are supposed to keep the CD secure, they break for no reason at all and then the disk just flaps around in the casing. That problem is multiplied by a thousand if you consider the 2-disk models. (These are just a couple of my hang-ups). So, who the hell designed the first model? And who the hell thought 'Yes! This is it. This is what the casings should be like for our new music media. They look sturdy and resilient. Or maybe not, but it is not like a lot of drunken people will throw them all over the room at parties'. And How the hell can the design have survived for so long (the design that is, the casings do not survive for very long). I do not get it.

The way that the power cord is connected to a MacBook. A magnet holds the cord in place, so if you stumble upon it it just comes loose instead of sending the computer crashing to the floor. It is simply beautiful.

The TV image format. I want to see my tv in a format that keeps a square looking like a square. That should be the default setting. If that means that I get black stripes at the sides or over and under the image, so be it. I absolutely do not want the image to be stretched a little at the sides (and not stretched in the middle) so that the entire screen is filled, it makes me nauseous. (There might be TV's out there that handle this in a good way, but our set does not).

Speaking of TV's, just a word on digital boxes. I want to be able to quickly zapp between channels. Maybe it is stupid, but that is what I like. The boxes that I have so-far encountered takes more than a second to switch between channels. Why the fuck would a digital apparatus made in the year 2010 need that huge amount of time to do something so trivial?

DVD casings. Now as durability goes they are vastly superior to their CD counterparts, but why are they so huge? They must be at least fifty times as large as the disk that they contain. (Compare them to the cardboard boxes that video cassettes comes in).

Various household appliances. How hard can it be to make the controls for microwave-ovens/washers/ovens simple and intuitive to use? Bloody fucking hard it seems.

By the way, why in hell does the stove 'on' light light up when you turn the stove on even if the child-safety switch is on and hence the stove is not on? Why? Why oh why?

Sometimes I really regret that I did not consider studying industrial design when I went to college. I think I would have been good at it. I think I would have enjoyed it. Or maybe I would just have been stressed by the deadlines and money restraints and pushed out poor design that people would loath and that I would have hated myself for. Who knows?

Minne

2010-04-06T11:32:00.000+02:00

Sitter på golvet och äter kex med leverpastej. Får mig att minnas tillbaks på lumpen när man åt kex och leverpastej mest hela tiden...

Quiz

2010-03-31T23:54:00.000+02:00

A week has passed and I have received far fewer answers on the last question than I expected. And no-one has bothered watching the Simpson movie to get even one of the 'home sweet home' variations (I remember two, but I think that there are more). So, now I am torn between:
1, wait over the Easter weekend and see if anyone else bothers to send in their answers, or
2, saying that the game is over and write out the answers.

Since I don't know all the answers I should perhaps wait over the weekend and then decide if the answers I get are valid or not. Yes. That is a good idea. So: send in your answers and maybe you will get some points when I return from the trip down to Småland.

What happened? (and quiz #10)

2010-03-24T21:52:00.000+01:00

I have no idea what happened to me, but suddenly I stopped writing. It is a bit odd since stuff has happened that I usually would write about. Soups for one thing (Just finished a prawn bisque that was rather good if I may say so myself, and that is just one of the three that I have not told you about). Another thing is the move. We packed all our stuff in boxes (and some paper bags), transported them out the door into a car, drove the car 160m, then out of the car they came and up the elevator to the third floor (for which you have to press the button marked 4) and into our new huge (by our standards) three room (almost four since the hallway serves as a room too) apartment. Yet another thing that has happened is that I am now home full time with Tage, and that is really something to write about. And I will. But now I realize why I stopped. It was the last question in the quiz. I just could not come up with a good question. I felt that, as it was supposed to be about Simpsons, and that I am supposed to be a Simpsons nerd, the question had to be really really good. But fuck it, I will just ask about a couple of random facts and get it over with and then finally I might be able to get on with the blogging. So here goes. The last set of questions:

Who of Marge's sisters has triangular shaped earrings? (1p)
Sideshow Bob has a brother. What is his name? (1p)
What magazine did Milhouse order when he and Bart took care of the comic book store? (1p)
What crop did the family grow at the farm? (1p)
And last but not least: In the movie, Marge makes several variations of 'home sweet home' embroideries. You get 0.5 points for each version you can tell me.

(I will give you a week to answer since most of you probably has stopped looking in several times a day to see if I have written something new since I have not written something new in a long long time)

Soup #36, #37 & #38

2010-02-13T15:43:00.001+01:00

I am lacking the energy for normal posts and the last quiz question (it will come soon, I promise), but I do feel that I must relate the last couple of soups that has been on the menu.

#36 was an ok dish, but it was more of a starter than a complete meal. Cucumber, mint and green peas. Basically it is what it sounds like, soup based on cucumber, green peas and mint. It also contained a couple of tatoes, butter, chicken broth and a good splash of rich cream. A comment we wrote was that it would have been better to use less water and more cream than the recipe prescribed.

#37 I did on my own when K had left me to see an Opera in the city of our dreams. Cheese soup with bacon and potatoes. It sounds quite good and I really had great hopes for it, but it did not live up the expectations. Bacon (too little), onion, broth and potatoes were cooked in a pot and then thickened by some flour. Then some Emmenthaler, sherry and Worcestershire sauce were added. Maybe it would have been better if I had served it in a hot bowl as it said in the book.

#38 This one we did last night, and I just had the rest for lunch. Prawn and lemon-grass soup. As you might think it is an asian soup, and as such it is a bit hard to make since I am not so sure on how it should taste and how the ingredients should be treated. A good thing was the raw prawns, they turned out great since they were only cooked once (they did not become chewy at all), the bad things were the amount of lime, three of them might have been two to many, and then the lemon-grass. Now I do not know if it is supposed to be like that but since they are so 'woody' they are not all that pleasant to get in your mouth and since you should cut them in 2.5 cm long pieces according to the book, they are not that easy to pick out of the soup either.. A strange thing was the straw mushrooms. A canned mushroom that were, hmm, strange you might say. And then we have the coriander, but that is a story of its own.

Due to

2010-01-28T18:30:00.001+01:00

Due to enemy shelling (i.e. heavy snowfall and hence tiresome days at the office) black out conditions are observed on the blog. (Modified mash quote by which I mean that I just don't have any energy to ponder up difficult simpsons questions right now. But do not worry, they will come!)

Soup #35

2010-01-23T21:36:00.000+01:00

It is back! Once again it is back, your favourite segment on this blog - The soups. (For those of you that can't remember what it was all about: I make all the soups in a book with 85 different soups in it and write about the experience here on the blog. I went into the project with gusto but have kind of slowed down a bit lately (only two new soups were made last year). I do however mean to finish the project.)

Wonton soup was on the menu today. A mixture of fish, crab, ginger, garlic and spring onions were put on a square of wonton dough which then was folded and glued together with a little water. The dumplings were then cooked in a chicken broth together with shallots, ginger and a little sugar. The soup was finished of with rise vinegar, soy, spring onions, parsley and sesame oil.

I must say that it was great. It took some time to make the dumplings, but considering that it was the first time it was not too bad. It was rather easy to make and the result was a well balanced soup with lots of great dumplings.

Quiz answer #9

2010-01-23T15:01:00.001+01:00

Of course it was M*A*S*H I was asking about, and first of all: Radar had an uncle that could make binoculars out of corn on the cob/salt and pepper shakers/or just about anything, whose name was Ed. Radar left the show with a hardship discharge so that he could go home and help his mother with the farm when Ed suddenly passed away.

Major Houlihan got the nickname hotlips after hawkeye and the other guys snuck a microphone into her tent when she was making out with a general (I think it was a general), and then proceeded to broadcast the interchange over the PA system. The general commented on her hot lips and the name stuck.

Charles Emerson Winchester III. The major who got stuck in the 'festering sewer' ('Know this: You can cut me off from the civilized world, you can incarcerate me with two moronic inmates, you can torture me with your thrice daily swill, But you can not break the spirit of a Winchester. My voice shall be heard from this wilderness and I shall be delivered from this fetid and festering sewer') after a gaming debt of 672$ and 17c that his boss at Tokyo general owed him.

The booze that Klinger managed to scrounge up for Charles was a bottle of Napoleon Cognac. Which he refuses to share with Klinger with the comment 'when the delivery boy brings you a new divan you do not invite him to repose upon it'. (I will give one point for Cognac).

Someone recently told me that I have watched far to much of that series, but I hardly think so.

Soon the last question is upon us, and I do believe it will be from a couple of different movies... (Or maybe it will be Simpsons. Yes, I really feel that it needs to be from Simpsons.)

Quiz #9

2010-01-19T18:44:00.000+01:00

Radar has an oncle, what is his name? (1p)
What is Houlihans nickname? (1p)
What is Charles full name? (1p)
Klinger managed to scrounge up a bottle of booze for Charles. What kind? (2p)

Quiz answer #8

2010-01-15T19:59:00.000+01:00

First rule: 'You don't talk about fightclub'
Second rule: 'You don't talk about fightclub'

A friend supplied to you by the airline company for the duration of the flight: A Single-serving friend.

And finally Bob. The huge guy with the huge bitch tits but without testicles. He was portrayed, quite well I might add, by none other than Meatloaf himself.

Quiz #8

2010-01-13T19:18:00.000+01:00

You all probably know the first rule of fightclub, but what is the second rule? (1p)
What does the guy that Edward Norton plays call persons he sits next to when flying? (1p)
Who plays Bob? (1p)

Quiz answer #7

2010-01-11T20:33:00.000+01:00

It turns out that the question was not all that easy after all. Well, what do you know...

Kramers christian name is of course Cosmo!
The ones doing the nasty in Jerrys van (he had it in one episode), were Georges parents!
And finally, George got the job at the Jankies by following his new found religion: doing the opposite of what I would usually do.

cmh probably spent the last few days watching the entire series as he scored three points. Next: One of my favorite movies.

Fuck

2010-01-10T15:09:00.000+01:00

A week ago we were very happy to cancel the combort internet as we are moving. Now that we know where we are moving to, we are very sad to realize that it seems that combort is the one and only internet provider that we can get. Fuckelifuck.

On top of that some fucked up neighbor had stolen our wash time. Being mad from the previous realization I looked them up and rang, knocked and huffed and puffed on their door until... nothing happened.
The culprit did come down to the cellar a minute later when I was trying to jimmy the lock open and he was sooo sorry. Yea. Right. Luckily for him the machines were finished so he did not have to abort the program and end up with half washed damp clothes.

Great idea

2010-01-10T10:57:00.000+01:00

K got a fantastic idea this morning. And I do realize that it would take a lot of research to get it to work but I also know that all the money spent would be paid back hundred-fold the day the finished product hits the market. So here it is, we give it away for free for anyone to develop (all we want is one of the finished products): A snooze button on kids!!!

Quiz #7

2010-01-09T20:17:00.000+01:00

It is hard to think up questions that are just hard enough... So I think this one is a bit easier:

What is Kramers first name? (1p)
Who ended up having sex in Jerrys van? (1p)
What was the 'religion' that got George the job at the Jankies? (1p)

Monday at eight fifteen I want your answers, and yes, You may watch the entire series to get the answers, but No, you may not google them!

Quiz answer #6

2010-01-08T18:48:00.001+01:00

I think the cure for his wrecked nerves was something like 'take of your shoes and make fists with your toes on the rug'. But I will accept 'curl your toes' as some of you wrote.
The president was Chester A Arthur. It was an intricate part of the third movie as it led Mclain to the school with the big bomb made out of jam?/syrup?.
And there are a couple of different ways to solve the puzzle. e.g.
1: fill the 3g jug
2: pour the 3g into the 5g jug
3: fill the 3g jug again
4: fill up the 5g jug with the water in the 3g jug until it is full (now there is 1g left in the 3g jug)
5: empty the 5g jug
6: pour the 1g into the 5g jug
7: fill the 3g jug and pour that into the 5g jug (which now should contain 4g)

No-one got all the answers (the president was the hard one).
New question tomorrow.

Quiz

2010-01-06T12:12:00.001+01:00

To get even more players in the fantastically fun and exciting quiz, I am now instituting a consolidation price for the person who gets the most points on the five last questions!!!

So: New players (and old participants who are about to loose interest due to their lack of points), friends, family, new presidents and old presidents, present colleagues and those of yore - Don't be afraid, join in!!!

I'm extending the time on the last question another day so that as many of you as possible can answer, so come on, there is nothing to loose!

Tile stickers

2010-01-04T20:44:00.000+01:00

Just got another great idea! Do you know of the stickers that you can put on tiles? A cheap and quick way to change the appearance of a boring white kitchen. Wouldn't it be a great idea to make such stickers but with a couple of standard recipes (like pancakes, meatballs, tomato sauce) so that you didn't have to look it up in a book? Wouldn't i't be perfect for a student kitchen? Can't you imagine going in to Designtorget and finding this product? Are you sure that you don't know any entrepreneurs that could turn my fantastic ideas into money (and give some of it to me)?

Quiz #6

2010-01-04T18:53:00.002+01:00

What is the advice Mclain gets on how to calm down after flying? (1p)
Who was the 21'st presient of the united states of america? (2p)
And how could you use a 5 gallon jug and a 3 gallon jug to get exactly 4 gallons of water? (1p)

Yes, you guessed right, it is Die Hard trivia today. Two days from now, and of course no googling.

Quiz answer #5

2010-01-01T16:22:00.000+01:00

Ok, so I couldn't the answer to this one, but I thought that I would watch the movie to get it. But then I could not find it on my computer, nor among the cd's. So I were quite convinced that I could find it in the storage room in the cellar, on vhs. Said and done, I went down there moved around all the boxes searching for the video player and tapes. Upon finding them I proceeded to carry it all up-stairs, then I spent twenty minutes searching for a power cord and a scart cable, found one but not the other.. Then I started to look through the tapes to locate the film. But of course could not find it. Hence I had to google for the scrpt (sorry, now tage wants to take an active role in the typing, so there mi''ght be more errors than usual... )

All this said, this is what Brian wrote:
"Romanes Eunt Domus" - 'People called Romanes they go the house'
while the correct grammar would be
"Romani Ite Domum" - 'Romans go home'

Many creds to mjn who almost nailed it (had 'Romani' instead of 'Romanes' in the first line) and gets two points. m were close enough for the bad grammar version and gets one point.

God damn

2009-12-30T19:09:00.000+01:00

God damn what a week. God damn. I hate everybody who gets the hm catalog and/or ellos catalog. Hate. God damn.

(This has been a translation of the previous post)

Fy faan

2009-12-30T19:04:00.001+01:00

Fy faan vilken vecka. Fy faan. Jag hatar alla som får hm katalogen och/eller ellos katalogen. Hatar. Fy faan.

Quiz #5

2009-12-27T11:03:00.000+01:00

Ok, Christmas is over and Monty Python is 40+.... So the question is:

What was it that Brian wrote on the wall to protest the Roman presence. The first thing in poor Latin gives you 2 points and the corrected version that he writes a hundred times in meter high letters gives you another point.

You have until 2010 to come up with the answer.

Success

2009-12-25T20:17:00.000+01:00

Oh man did I succede with the eggs on the christmas dinner!!

It is hard

2009-12-25T11:30:00.000+01:00

It is damn hard to not sound ironic when you say 'oh you poor little thing' to a child that cries his heart out over his first ever common cold. And it is also damn hard to suck out the snot from his nose when he yells his lungs out if he just spots the snot suction thingie.

Quiz answer #4

2009-12-23T16:20:00.001+01:00

As the once who answerd (except cmh) said, 'han shot first' is just what he did in the mos eisley bar in the original part IV of star wars. But this was changed in the remastered version so that Greedo shot first, probably to make Han look more like a good guy. Pure nerd trivia!

by the way, no more questions until the mellandagar...

It happened

2009-12-22T21:30:00.000+01:00

Today
It
Really
Happened!

Got a call from the office when I was out on my round today. I was to ring the bell when I got to one of my addressees: they had something for me. I was more than an hour away and hence had some time to think about what it might be. Maybe it would be a heap of letters that I had delivered falsely over the year. Or maybe it would be a punch in the face. I did not know and since I didn't have much else to think about I thought about it quite a lot. When I got there I actually was a bit nervous and then it turns out that they had a Christmas present for me. 'I just thought you needed a bit of encouragement' she said. My god, I was really touched by this. I have dreamt of this and then it actually happens! Now K is giving me jealous looks and think that I have something going on with all the lonely house wives that I meet all day...

Ice road truckers - bah

2009-12-21T21:30:00.000+01:00

Driving big rigs on an ice road, whats the thrill in that? Now, driving mopeds on un-plowed icy roads, in -16°C, for three hours, delivering mail - there is a show that I would watch! (Or rather, I would very much like to watch it from the comfort of my couch, under a blanket, instead of experiencing it in real life.)

Quiz answer #3

2009-12-21T21:13:00.000+01:00

Dr Jan Itor. How hard was that? And the name of his made up a cappella band was 'the Hibbletons', which none of you got. The response rate was low on this one, and the correct answers were even lower. Don't you watch Scrubs people?

Quiz #4

2009-12-20T16:00:00.000+01:00

'Han shot first'

If you know what it means you'll get two points. Email the un-googled answer to me within two days. And remember, it is never to late to join in, there will be at least 10 questions so you do have a shot at the first prize even if you start now!

Quiz answer #2

2009-12-20T12:00:00.000+01:00

Rosebud has of course been mentioned in many movies, but there is one that revolves around the word, a real classic that I recommend to one and all.

Citizen Kane, Orson Welles 1941 classic, where a reporter tries to find out what Kane's dying word 'Rosebud' referred to. And in the end scene (spoiler alert) we get to see how they burn Kane's childhood sled named Rosebud.

I am quite pleased with the participation, with the quality of the responses, but not with the prize. Maybe the winner will get a book instead.
By the way, do you want to have a break over the holiday or should we continue but with a longer response time? Your input matters!

Quiz #3

2009-12-18T15:35:00.001+01:00

Scrubs:

When the janitor pretends to be a doctor, what name does he use? (1p)

And what is the name of the a cappella band, actually the best 'hospital a cappella band in town', that he dreams up in one show to get out of an embarrassing situation? (2p)

New to the game? No problems, we are just getting started. If you know the answers to the questions above, without googling, email them to me within two days from now and you are in. A fantastic prize is in it for the winner and a huge amounts of fun is in it for all of us!

Quiz #2

2009-12-17T15:38:00.001+01:00

More movies....

Rosebud.
What movie (1p), and what is it (1p)? You have two days from now.

By the way, how does a CD of your own choice sound? As first price that is...

Why??

2009-12-16T21:43:00.000+01:00

One of my pet peeves is poor design, and I just have to tell you about one heck of a poor design that I encountered two days ago.

It was snowing here in the wonderful town of Eskilstuna and even if the town is excellent in almost every way plowing the streets is an area where the town falls short. That is not the design I was talking about, it isn't a design at all. The poor design was on a zimmer frame (aka rollator här i sverige). The zimmer frame was equipped with mudguards (stänkskärmar). Now why in hell would a zimmer frame need mudguards? I have seldom seen old folks running along in such high speeds that muddy water splash up from the wheels of their zimmer frames. If they did, I hardly think they need the device in the first place. Anyhow, the poor design was not just the fact that the zimmer frame was equipped with devices that was totally unnecessary. The poor design was that in this climate, in this town where plowing the streets just does not happen, snow piles up between the wheel and mudguard and acts as a very effective break. It was freaking hilarious to watch the old man trying to get home with a fucked up zimmer frame, he looked so incredibly helpless. Then I saw his wife and thought 'why the hell are you trying to get home, run away damn it' but of course he couldn't. He was stuck right where he was. Poor fella.

Quiz answer #1

2009-12-16T21:12:00.001+01:00

Hard eeyy? It should be hard, it is hard and it will continue to be hard. Hope you will enjoy it.

Anyhow, it was from Pulp Fiction of course, it is Jules that pulls up a quote from Hezekiel 25/17 before he kills someone. And one of the unfortunates he tells it to is Brett, whos burger from Big Kahuna - that Hawaiian burger joint, Jules takes a bite from.

m guessed right on Hezekiel but missed the chapter and verse, and gets one point for that, and one for the burger place.
Dog got big Kahuna right.

Quiz - #1

2009-12-14T17:47:00.000+01:00

Ok, so there seems to be a demand for a quiz after-all, so here we go. I do not know how many questions there will be, perhaps ten or so, It might depend on your participation.

Remember, no googling.

Question 1 (2p): Where did Jules find the 'cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker before you popped a cap in his ass' i.e.: "... and i will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothtes..."

Bonus question (1p): Where did Brett get his burger from?

Send me an email with your answers and an alias that you want to have on the scoreboard. You have two days from now to answer. And remember, the winner gets a fantastic price!

Re:Nops etc

2009-12-08T22:51:00.000+01:00

Oh yes, as some of you missed the last exciting quiz that took place maybe two years ago (on the blog that predated this one), maybe I should tell you about it so that you know what to expect if it would take place again.. The idea was to bring more readers to the blog by having a fun quiz with equally fun prices. And the idea worked, even if the new readers were just imaginary people part of a big conspiracy. The winner though was real and received a Pearls before Swine book as a reward.

Anyhow, I posted a question on the blog and the participants had a day or two to answer to get credit. Googling was not allowed and I relied on the honor system and the fact that the questions was inherently hard to google as a way of controlling that people in fact did not google the answers.

So, what do you think, are you up for the challenge??? (please leave a comment if you are so that I know that you are)

Nops

2009-12-08T20:21:00.000+01:00

Four persons does not a quiz make.

Quiz

2009-11-28T23:33:00.001+01:00

Darn it if it isn't time for a new quiz! It was a lot of fun last time don't you think???
Are you with me? (if enough people say yes I will start to think of questions)

Theory

2009-11-24T19:32:00.000+01:00

One of my theories (I have many as you might be aware) is that 'the vet on bondi beach' gets to score more than any man alive.