Meet the Einsteins
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 8:14 PM
I guess the kids got sick of waiting for summer to come. Note that they are both barefoot, in shortsleeves and there are still snowdrifts in the background.
This is where Mom and Dad will stay while in Stockholm
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 8:01 PM
I hear it's just like all other hostels, but it would be worth the experience, right Mom? This is an old jet they converted into a hostel next to the Arlanda Stockholm airport, next to the SAS Radisson. Come on, a romantic night with Jim & Nancy in a hostel ... Sarah, you can pick up a stewardess costume for Mom!
The new smoker pit
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 8:17 PM
We tried this one out last night. I bought it at the Swedish version of Harbor Freight Tools. Not the best quality piece of equipment I've ever bought, but it did the job. The maiden voyage was with entrecote roast (rib eye!) with two different pork roasts. Turned out great.
It's Spring!
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 1:00 PM
What do you think... does it look like spring?
Committment
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 5:11 PM
This week was a major milestone for us. I have a job offer in Grand Junction, CO and it was pretty attractive. But Kathy and I discussed it and we just felt like we had unfinished business here in Sweden. Don't know if it's because we had originally planned to stay two years (I hate it when I do things like that!), could be that we enjoy some of the financial benefits that we're receiving in this job, could be that we like the travel that we've been able to do since being here, or it could be that we've made some good friends. Don't know exactly, but neither of us could really decide. So, I asked the kids to think about it this week and let me know if they wanted to go or stay. As we drove home today from church, it became apparent that they had all reached a consensus, let's stay. So, for at least the next year and while work will continue to let me stay here, our address will remain: Luleå. And just to remind myself that winters are not my favorite time of year, here are a couple of photos of the house today, 29Mar2009!
Too many time-wasters
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 6:35 AM
Ok, I'll admit ... I'll watch just about anything with Christopher Walken in it, including "Balls of Fury", easily the dumbest movie I've seen in 5 years. However, this one is weird on so many levels, can't get enough!
Ice road hucksters
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 4:37 PM
Most of Luleå and the surrounding villages are situated on spits of land between fingers of the Gulf of Bothnia, part of the Baltic Sea. As such, sometimes, getting from one side of town to another requires a long drive to the next bridge and then backtracking. One of our friends, the Näslunds live in Boden, about 25 minutes north of our house. Since they are on the same side of the shore as us, it's easy to get there. However, if you want to go from their house and on into town, you have to drive farther up the road, cross the bridge and then come back on the other side. There is a ferry that runs back and forth during the summer and during the winter, there's an ice road.
While it's not the craziest thing we've ever done, it does remind you how different things can be up here. I forgot to report about this one, I think. Last January, when we made the trip to Kiruna to see the ice hotel, we considered driving farther north over to Norway. As we left town, it started snowing heavily and a sign announced the highway was closed at the border. So, I pulled over into a snow-covered parking lot to figure out what to do. ´Dan and Kylie had revealed how afraid they were of driving on an ice road and how unsafe they thought it was. When we pulled into the vast parking lot, stopped, and turned off the engine, they both took their headphones from their ears and their eyes from the video iPods to ask where we were. Not thinking, I said that we had accidentally driven on to a frozen lake bed and we were trying to figure out how to get off safely. Suddenly, they sat up and looked worried. I rolled down the windows and said, "can't you hear the ice creaking beneath us?" Kathy jumped right in when they showed their disbelief, "can't you see the sign over there that shows snowmobiles aren't allowed here? That means it's unsafe to walk on!" The sign is really to tell the snowmobiles not to go bombing throught the parking lot, but not because they're in danger of falling through imaginery ice! About this time, the kids started to panic and wondered outloud what we were going to do. I suggested that we should stop moving, I'd get out and walk back to town and go get help. When I opened the door to go, I think both of the kids were about to cry! So, I said that we would go very slowly and try to leave... they shouldn't move suddenly and not keep very still in the back. As we drove out, the snow creaks and squeaks under the tires very loudly, so I told the kids it was the ice cracking below us. They bought it without question until we got out on the highway and we told them what had really happened. I thought the funniest part was that they didn't even notice the streetlamps in the middle of the parking lot, the whole reason they were able to see the snowmobile signs in the first place! I guess this is one of the joys of parenthood, having a couple of rubes to play simple practical jokes on.
While it's not the craziest thing we've ever done, it does remind you how different things can be up here. I forgot to report about this one, I think. Last January, when we made the trip to Kiruna to see the ice hotel, we considered driving farther north over to Norway. As we left town, it started snowing heavily and a sign announced the highway was closed at the border. So, I pulled over into a snow-covered parking lot to figure out what to do. ´Dan and Kylie had revealed how afraid they were of driving on an ice road and how unsafe they thought it was. When we pulled into the vast parking lot, stopped, and turned off the engine, they both took their headphones from their ears and their eyes from the video iPods to ask where we were. Not thinking, I said that we had accidentally driven on to a frozen lake bed and we were trying to figure out how to get off safely. Suddenly, they sat up and looked worried. I rolled down the windows and said, "can't you hear the ice creaking beneath us?" Kathy jumped right in when they showed their disbelief, "can't you see the sign over there that shows snowmobiles aren't allowed here? That means it's unsafe to walk on!" The sign is really to tell the snowmobiles not to go bombing throught the parking lot, but not because they're in danger of falling through imaginery ice! About this time, the kids started to panic and wondered outloud what we were going to do. I suggested that we should stop moving, I'd get out and walk back to town and go get help. When I opened the door to go, I think both of the kids were about to cry! So, I said that we would go very slowly and try to leave... they shouldn't move suddenly and not keep very still in the back. As we drove out, the snow creaks and squeaks under the tires very loudly, so I told the kids it was the ice cracking below us. They bought it without question until we got out on the highway and we told them what had really happened. I thought the funniest part was that they didn't even notice the streetlamps in the middle of the parking lot, the whole reason they were able to see the snowmobile signs in the first place! I guess this is one of the joys of parenthood, having a couple of rubes to play simple practical jokes on.
This last photo is actually taken from the rest stop on E4, Grundvik, I think...but not sure.Most
More commercials
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 4:21 PM
This is a series of commercials by a Swedish telecom, Telenor. They all deal with this imaginary Swede learning to do business in other countries, learning all of the subtle nuances in each location. The American one, "When they ask how you are doing, they don't really want to know how you are doing" and learning all about "casual Fridays" made me laugh the first time I saw it, even though I still don't understand everything I hear. The Japanese one appeals to the kids because of the fart noises. And the Middle East one, well... "do you have Facebook?" is very timely.
It's been a long time
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 3:50 PM
It has been quite a while since I sat down and added to the blog. Part of it has been that our lives have been pretty quiet of late with very little that would be of interest to our friends and family. We stay busy but not much to report about. The other part is that I'm generally a lazy person and anything that requires maintenance and upkeep, well.... I find reasons not to do it! Just like everything else in my life, I'll commit to being better about it, at least until I slack off again.
We have a new American missionary and he took note of the strange sounds coming out of the other church members last Sunday. Since he's nearly finished with his mission, I doubt it's the first time he's ever heard them, but suspect it's more that he's never heard it used so much. This roughly the equivalent of "dude" in American-speak. There's another variant that sounds like "yah" but said with a short inhale instead of an exhale. It's my understanding that this is much more prevalent in the North than in other areas of Sweden.
There's even a beer commercial which shows the multi-meaning of the sound ... just like the Budlight "dude" commecial a couple of years ago.
Kylie's Big Day
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 7:12 PM
Kylie sang in an Interfaith Choir at the Kulture House on Sunday. I've got to hand it to her, Saturday was a 4-hour practice session and then on Sunday, we dropped her off at 3:30pm for the practice while the show didn't start until 6:00pm. The show went well and Kylie seemed to have a lot of fun. We all had to smile a little when they broke into a couple of Southern Baptist hymns, "I'm not going to hide this light of mine..." and others. It wasn't the singing that made us laugh, it was the accompanying dances that made us smile.
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