There I was in Chicago walking around downtown with Evelyn and someone else from the conference. We had visited the Mac Mothership store where I bought a new iPod, and a replacement power cord for the one I left in Sweden. Well, it was frayed and I had meant to buy a new one anyway. We were crossing the State Street bridge (just next to Marina City - the twin corncobs) going south.
One of my irrationalities is a fear of heights. I have made it to the top of the Washington Monument and looked out through the windows, but I was bodily leaning inwards the whole time, just to make sure the offset weight didn't topple the structure. Yes, I know it's irrational. So crossing a drawbridge isn't as bad, but I'm thinking "okay, I'm just walking, nothing dangerous here, don't look down, don't think about it."
While distracted that way I didn't think of the fact that I was, indeed, walking across a bridge. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see what time it was. I dropped it. It clattered on the sidewalk and over directly into the gap in the middle. I'm thinking that perhaps it was stuck some place where I could reach it ... moved over to look down through the gap ... which framed the splash very nicely. I wonder if the phone-using fishes know enough Swedish to figure it out.
Looks like I've ruined another phone. My first two went bye-bye in the wash. Not the same wash. I didn't learn the first time. I had a rest-of-the-world phone, a Nokia 1100 which was a great little phone. It's designed for developing countries, and also for people who don't use the phone much. But it was stolen from my house in Santa Fe. Good luck thieves - it don't work in the US. I got rid of my old Motorola when I left the US. And now this one. So a MTBF of about 2 years per phone. Not so good.
Better than my record with PDAs.
The phone I dropped in the Chicago river was a cheapish one, and one I didn't like. It has a color screen that's almost impossible to read in daylight - luckily not a big problem in Sweden - and no flashlight. I miss that Nokia flashlight. I also got a pay-as-you-go SIM card that I never registered, so I've also lost my phone number, the saved numbers of my friends, and the $40 or so of time on the account. I think I'll get a real account when I return to Sweden.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Sunday, March 02, 2008
more Swedish in my dreams
Just before waking up this morning I had more dreams with Swedish in them. Strange dreams too. It started in the switching yard of some railroad, and I forgot the details of that. I remember waking up in my dream to talk about a book I had which had 4 sections. One section was a translation of Latin terms as used in English, into Swedish. I think that came from a dinner we had last week after tango, where one of they guys, who is a professor, said something like "blah blah blah, ergo, blah blah blah." I was quite taken by the "ergo", since it's part of the cultural heritage of Rome, 2,000 years old, shining through both our languages.
After a while in the dream I was a soldier, walking away from the switching yard around a bend in the tracks carrying a big square box. The box looked like something from Zelda64. Obviously computer graphics, low resolution cube about 1m on a side, light blue. The box had a name, "plikt", which is Swedish for "duty" or "obligation."
I went over to Gudrun's for brunch and she enjoyed trying to interpret some deeper meaning. There was a small party here in January when Zoi came back from visiting her beau in Iceland. Gudrun was there as well and learned that I have a bottle of real maple syrup in the fridge, so she had a shot of syrup. It seems she really likes it.
So for brunch I made American-style pancakes (quite thick compared to Swedish ones, and I pour out a large pancake instead of small "silver dollar" sized ones; interesting how old coinage stays tied to a food), with syrup. I also bought a pineapple so it would be a real brunch. Yeah, it's weird what I think needs to be part of brunch vs. breakfast.
We chatted for a while. My Swedish is indeed getting better. I really ought to read and talk more in Swedish. I've been saying that for a while now. :)
After a while in the dream I was a soldier, walking away from the switching yard around a bend in the tracks carrying a big square box. The box looked like something from Zelda64. Obviously computer graphics, low resolution cube about 1m on a side, light blue. The box had a name, "plikt", which is Swedish for "duty" or "obligation."
I went over to Gudrun's for brunch and she enjoyed trying to interpret some deeper meaning. There was a small party here in January when Zoi came back from visiting her beau in Iceland. Gudrun was there as well and learned that I have a bottle of real maple syrup in the fridge, so she had a shot of syrup. It seems she really likes it.
So for brunch I made American-style pancakes (quite thick compared to Swedish ones, and I pour out a large pancake instead of small "silver dollar" sized ones; interesting how old coinage stays tied to a food), with syrup. I also bought a pineapple so it would be a real brunch. Yeah, it's weird what I think needs to be part of brunch vs. breakfast.
We chatted for a while. My Swedish is indeed getting better. I really ought to read and talk more in Swedish. I've been saying that for a while now. :)
New company!
I totally forgot to mention this here. I started my Swedish company two weeks ago. It's "Dalke Scientific, AB". The "AB" is Swedish for "Inc." It means "aktiebolag", which is a company with shares. My company in the US is "Dalke Scientific Software, LLC". Through experience I found that I rarely used the "Software" part of the name, and my domain name is "dalkescientific.com".
I'd been putting off starting the company for a while now. I first looked into it last summer. I wanted to get new clients before I started one up, since I figured that would be essential to being allowed to renew my temporary residency permit. I did some work for Caran early this year, and a couple days of work for OpenEye, going up to Stockholm for that one. In a week or so I'll start doing some work for AstraZeneca. I haven't done anything for them since September. I'm scheduled for about 18 days over the next few months.
In a couple weeks (the 12th of March) I head over to Chicago for PyCon, the Python conference. I'll get there a day early so I can do some shopping in Chicago. It will be nice to have clothing marked in sizes I understand, and I hope to find some new tango shoes. Mmm, and deep dish pizza!
That conference ends midday Sunday. I take the afternoon direct flight to Albuquerque then up to Santa Fe for OpenEye's CUP conference. I used to live in Santa Fe and I plan to stay there for a total of two weeks for the conference and visit with friends. I'm looking forward to some private dance lessons with Luren, one of the tango teachers I had there.
Then back here. I hope to have a kitchen. The one in this new place is being remodeled. The owner had hoped to finish it when I moved in last month, but it's been ... slow. As of last week the water in the sink is working. Perhaps by the time I move out it will be ready? I hope to do that in mid-summer, which would mean having more clients so I can get the income to prove to me and the bank loan that I can afford the loan to buy an apartment.
I'd been putting off starting the company for a while now. I first looked into it last summer. I wanted to get new clients before I started one up, since I figured that would be essential to being allowed to renew my temporary residency permit. I did some work for Caran early this year, and a couple days of work for OpenEye, going up to Stockholm for that one. In a week or so I'll start doing some work for AstraZeneca. I haven't done anything for them since September. I'm scheduled for about 18 days over the next few months.
In a couple weeks (the 12th of March) I head over to Chicago for PyCon, the Python conference. I'll get there a day early so I can do some shopping in Chicago. It will be nice to have clothing marked in sizes I understand, and I hope to find some new tango shoes. Mmm, and deep dish pizza!
That conference ends midday Sunday. I take the afternoon direct flight to Albuquerque then up to Santa Fe for OpenEye's CUP conference. I used to live in Santa Fe and I plan to stay there for a total of two weeks for the conference and visit with friends. I'm looking forward to some private dance lessons with Luren, one of the tango teachers I had there.
Then back here. I hope to have a kitchen. The one in this new place is being remodeled. The owner had hoped to finish it when I moved in last month, but it's been ... slow. As of last week the water in the sink is working. Perhaps by the time I move out it will be ready? I hope to do that in mid-summer, which would mean having more clients so I can get the income to prove to me and the bank loan that I can afford the loan to buy an apartment.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Drömde på svenska
It finally happened. I dreamed in Swedish. I was back in Santa Fe (no surprises about that topic as I'm making preparations to be back there for two weeks in March) talking to someone I know there. She had a few friends visiting, and one was looking at a plan book or calendar. So I asked whose birthday was coming up - in Swedish. Because of course everyone knows Swedish. And she replied in Swedish, as did someone else there. We had a bit of conversation before I remembered that this was Santa Fe and the odds of meeting that many Swedish speakers was pretty small. So I woke up.
Though maybe I'll stand in the Plaza with a sign asking "pratar du svenska?" and see who responds "jag kan svenska." Anyone who knows me is disqualified. :)
Though maybe I'll stand in the Plaza with a sign asking "pratar du svenska?" and see who responds "jag kan svenska." Anyone who knows me is disqualified. :)
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Borlänge and Nora
In the days between Christmas and New Year (mellandagarna - "the between days" - in Swedish) I went over to the House of a Thousand Wows to game. One of the game was played was about rail travel in Sweden. It's not the Ticket to Ride / Nordic countries version but an older game based on a hex map. I wanted to play it in part to get a better idea of city names in Sweden.
The northern-most city on the map was Mora. I joked about the "mines of Mo-ra", to some groans. (Geoff, you can groan as well.)
I was talking with Pär. He invited a few people over to his place for fika and tango, since there wasn't much going on over the holidays. I talked with him a bit about my difficulties of finding new clients, and my decision to expand and look for more general purpose programming work, rather than only in chemistry. My goal now is to live in Göteborg, as compared to being a chemistry software developer.
He called me the next day about doing some work for his company. They are a hardware company working on a project with a dozen other companies to get better data on road conditions. One of the things the project has done is instrument a number of cars to record things like speed, location (via GPS), direction, tire slip, hitting the brakes, shocks, etc. as well as set up weather stations next to the roads. This gets SMS'ed to the main computers, which processes the data, runs some weather prediction models, and puts the result on a map for visualization of the road conditions.
The idea is that this can help with "countermeasures" (salt and sand) and route planning. Pretty spiff.
He asked if I could go along to help with evaluating the web-based mapping visualization component, being developed by another group. The short version is he wanted someone with software experience because his company is a hardware company and doesn't know the right questions to ask, or at least the right way to ask the question. I joke that my job title for my Swedish business card will be "nördtolk" - nerd translator.
The meeting was at Vägverket - the Swedish Road Agency - at their main offices in Borlänge. The city wasn't established until the 1940s so I got to joke they they haven't "lived there for a long time". Bor länge means "living long", but the name comes from Borlængio "vägsträcka där man måste bära (båtar och) last" - stretch of road where one must carry (boats and) cargo. That is, portage.
There were no flights that week from Gothenburg to Borlänge so we drove. There were three of us going up and four coming down (the 4th came up a day later by train). It's about 6-7 hours away though coming down was longer because of snow. Swedes have a thing about "godis". Loose/bulk candy for the most part. You can get it in the shops. You can get it in the movie theaters, and more people get that than popcorn. And there's driving godis. Apparently an essential part of any Swedish road trip.
We stayed in Falun and went into Borlänge during the day. Falun has it's own knäckebröd, so of course I had to get some. Apparently it has its own sausages as well. My joke there was talking a walk in town is a Falun gång (gång=walk, and it sounds like Falun Gong).
On the second night we went to ... Nora! Yes, that place I learned about a few weeks ago- I went there. Pär and I went tango dancing there. He had looked them up on the web and made sure there was dancing that night. With the two of us there were 13 people. A couple of them I had even seen at Tangocamp. So, not many people, but it was fun.
These places were in Dalarna. A symbol of the province is the Dala horse. They are very fond of their horse and it shows up in a lot of places. One last word play joke for this blog. The Swedish word for horse is "häst". This rhymes with the word for west, which is "väst". (In American, sounds like "hest" and "vest"). The transit system in Gothenburg is called Västtrafik - "west traffic". Dalarna's is called Daltrafik. But I think it should be called Hästtrafik.
What to see where these places are? Here's the Google map route.
Only after I got back to Gothenburg did I realize that we passed very close to my ancestral home, as it were. My g'g'g'grandparents came from around Örebro, at least according to the research my mother's mother's cousin did some years back. And my niece and my g'g'g'g'g'g'grandmother share the name "Margaret." I may be off in the "g" count there. It was a long time back, going to the late 1700s.
The northern-most city on the map was Mora. I joked about the "mines of Mo-ra", to some groans. (Geoff, you can groan as well.)
I was talking with Pär. He invited a few people over to his place for fika and tango, since there wasn't much going on over the holidays. I talked with him a bit about my difficulties of finding new clients, and my decision to expand and look for more general purpose programming work, rather than only in chemistry. My goal now is to live in Göteborg, as compared to being a chemistry software developer.
He called me the next day about doing some work for his company. They are a hardware company working on a project with a dozen other companies to get better data on road conditions. One of the things the project has done is instrument a number of cars to record things like speed, location (via GPS), direction, tire slip, hitting the brakes, shocks, etc. as well as set up weather stations next to the roads. This gets SMS'ed to the main computers, which processes the data, runs some weather prediction models, and puts the result on a map for visualization of the road conditions.
The idea is that this can help with "countermeasures" (salt and sand) and route planning. Pretty spiff.
He asked if I could go along to help with evaluating the web-based mapping visualization component, being developed by another group. The short version is he wanted someone with software experience because his company is a hardware company and doesn't know the right questions to ask, or at least the right way to ask the question. I joke that my job title for my Swedish business card will be "nördtolk" - nerd translator.
The meeting was at Vägverket - the Swedish Road Agency - at their main offices in Borlänge. The city wasn't established until the 1940s so I got to joke they they haven't "lived there for a long time". Bor länge means "living long", but the name comes from Borlængio "vägsträcka där man måste bära (båtar och) last" - stretch of road where one must carry (boats and) cargo. That is, portage.
There were no flights that week from Gothenburg to Borlänge so we drove. There were three of us going up and four coming down (the 4th came up a day later by train). It's about 6-7 hours away though coming down was longer because of snow. Swedes have a thing about "godis". Loose/bulk candy for the most part. You can get it in the shops. You can get it in the movie theaters, and more people get that than popcorn. And there's driving godis. Apparently an essential part of any Swedish road trip.
We stayed in Falun and went into Borlänge during the day. Falun has it's own knäckebröd, so of course I had to get some. Apparently it has its own sausages as well. My joke there was talking a walk in town is a Falun gång (gång=walk, and it sounds like Falun Gong).
On the second night we went to ... Nora! Yes, that place I learned about a few weeks ago- I went there. Pär and I went tango dancing there. He had looked them up on the web and made sure there was dancing that night. With the two of us there were 13 people. A couple of them I had even seen at Tangocamp. So, not many people, but it was fun.
These places were in Dalarna. A symbol of the province is the Dala horse. They are very fond of their horse and it shows up in a lot of places. One last word play joke for this blog. The Swedish word for horse is "häst". This rhymes with the word for west, which is "väst". (In American, sounds like "hest" and "vest"). The transit system in Gothenburg is called Västtrafik - "west traffic". Dalarna's is called Daltrafik. But I think it should be called Hästtrafik.
What to see where these places are? Here's the Google map route.
Only after I got back to Gothenburg did I realize that we passed very close to my ancestral home, as it were. My g'g'g'grandparents came from around Örebro, at least according to the research my mother's mother's cousin did some years back. And my niece and my g'g'g'g'g'g'grandmother share the name "Margaret." I may be off in the "g" count there. It was a long time back, going to the late 1700s.
nyårsafton
For last year's New Year's Eve party I went to Camilla's. This time she and I went to a friend of hers' to celebrate. As typical it was a knytkalas. I made something simple: a chunk of mozzerella, a leaf of basil, and a chunk of tomato, on a toothpick.
I only knew Camilla's sister, so at the start it was kinda slow. Then a couple other of friends of Camilla's showed up, also foreigners, so we started chatting, and asking questions about what Camilla's been doing in Sri Lanka.
The apartment was on the 5th floor on a slope, which meant it was over the roof line of much of the city. Fireworks are legal here, unlike Florida. And I mean the good kind that shoot upwards 20 stories and make a sparkly boom. A lot of people buy them. A whole lot. It was great.
I'm used to city fireworks, which are an order of magnitude bigger, but only in one spot. Imagine the entire view (even some upwards because people were firing from close by) covered in fireworks for almost half an hour. Tres cool! In reading the paper though it looks like they might be banned in the next few years. The other downside is there's a lot of trash afterwards. It's almost three weeks later and I'm still coming across firework wrappers.
I only knew Camilla's sister, so at the start it was kinda slow. Then a couple other of friends of Camilla's showed up, also foreigners, so we started chatting, and asking questions about what Camilla's been doing in Sri Lanka.
The apartment was on the 5th floor on a slope, which meant it was over the roof line of much of the city. Fireworks are legal here, unlike Florida. And I mean the good kind that shoot upwards 20 stories and make a sparkly boom. A lot of people buy them. A whole lot. It was great.
I'm used to city fireworks, which are an order of magnitude bigger, but only in one spot. Imagine the entire view (even some upwards because people were firing from close by) covered in fireworks for almost half an hour. Tres cool! In reading the paper though it looks like they might be banned in the next few years. The other downside is there's a lot of trash afterwards. It's almost three weeks later and I'm still coming across firework wrappers.
Julafton
Swedes celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, just like our Cuban neighbors in Miami. I went over to Gudran's for it. Also there were her two daughters, her aunt and uncle, her brother (or was it cousin?) and Kerstin (another tango dancer).
It started at 11am. We met there and took a walk around the Botaniska Trädgården (Botanical Garden). After a while we had fika in the gazebo. At least that's what I would call it. The Swedish name is "lusthus pavilion", which directly translates as "pleasure-house pavilion", which makes me think of Coleridge's Kubla Khan. According to various English dictionaries, gazebos are supposed to be open or perhaps screened in. Doing research now I found only one "unique in being fully double glazed." And it's a Finnish BBQ. I'm going to call it a "gazebo acclimatized to Sweden." A pavilion is any sort of outbuilding so that's probably the correct term.
We headed back to Gudrun's, and after a bit I made a small lunch. My family's tradition for Christmas Eve supper is an Ecuadorian soup called locro. That link talks about Argentinean locro, which is a different type. For pages more about Ecuadorian locro see here and here.
It's always been tricky getting the right cheese for it. In Miami Mom used queso blanco, which was "white cheese" that was cheap and easy to get. It needs to be something that melts nicely when warmed up, and has some taste to complement the potatoes. It's possible to buy queso blanco elsewhere in the US but it's really expensive, so I've been using Christy's suggestion of Monterey Jack. Which I can't get in Europe.
Last year I was in Leipzig at J&J's for Christmas and I made locro for Christmas Eve. South Africans, like most Americans, celebrate on Christmas day so that worked nicely. Johann and I went to a cheese store at the central train station (largest station in Europe). I walked around and picked up cheeses until I found two which looked and felt right. One worked out much better than the other, but I can't remember which is which. I made it again when I visited last November. We went to the same place and again, I can't remember what we got. Perhaps gouda this time? Whatever it was, it worked out.
Some time in early fall I tried to make it here in Sweden, which has its own cheeses. I tried "prästost" but it didn't work out right. It melted too easily. A few days before going over to Gudrun's I tested Herrgårdsost (långlagrad mager, to be specific. According to the Swedish page it's an Emmental cheese.
I tried it. While I was boiling the potatoes I nibbled a bit of the cheese. Mmmm, I could tell the taste was going to be a good fit. It melted nicely. Yes, Herrgårdsost is a winner! So Mom, Christy? Want to try an Emmental next time?
It was a success at Gudrun's as well. Very much enjoyed. I also brought a couple of avocados, which Mom likes with her soup, but they weren't that ripe even after waiting a couple of days and I don't think it added anything. The chives (gräslök - "grass onion") were a good addition.
In case you're wondering about the recipe, it's not really fixed. Chop potatoes into bite sized pieces. Boil. While it's boiling, cut the cheese into small cubes. Once the potatoes are done, drain. Add whole milk until the potatoes are nearly covered. Heat (after all, the milk was cold). Remove from heat. Add cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Don't ask me about the proportions, I eyeball it each time. Maybe 2 or 3 times the potatoes by weight to cheese?
For a light lunch for 7 (one was lactose intolerant) I used 12 potatoes, 350g cheese, and 500ml mjölk. Roughly.
Here's the instructions in Swedish, which I wrote up for Gudrun
Skala och skära potatis i bitar. Koka. Medan du väntar, skära osten i bitar. Häll av vattnet. Tillsätta tillräcklig mjölk för att närmast täcka potatis. Värma soppan (eftersom mjölken var i kylen). Ta den av spisen. Tillsätt ostbitar och kyrdda med salt och peppar. Jag tycker bäst om att äta med gräslök. Min mamma föredrar avocado. Majs skulle passa jättebra med. Men se på de där sidorna för andra variationer.
It might be nice next time to try with a bit of corn (like a corn chowder) or some bell peppers.
It started at 11am. We met there and took a walk around the Botaniska Trädgården (Botanical Garden). After a while we had fika in the gazebo. At least that's what I would call it. The Swedish name is "lusthus pavilion", which directly translates as "pleasure-house pavilion", which makes me think of Coleridge's Kubla Khan. According to various English dictionaries, gazebos are supposed to be open or perhaps screened in. Doing research now I found only one "unique in being fully double glazed." And it's a Finnish BBQ. I'm going to call it a "gazebo acclimatized to Sweden." A pavilion is any sort of outbuilding so that's probably the correct term.
We headed back to Gudrun's, and after a bit I made a small lunch. My family's tradition for Christmas Eve supper is an Ecuadorian soup called locro. That link talks about Argentinean locro, which is a different type. For pages more about Ecuadorian locro see here and here.
It's always been tricky getting the right cheese for it. In Miami Mom used queso blanco, which was "white cheese" that was cheap and easy to get. It needs to be something that melts nicely when warmed up, and has some taste to complement the potatoes. It's possible to buy queso blanco elsewhere in the US but it's really expensive, so I've been using Christy's suggestion of Monterey Jack. Which I can't get in Europe.
Last year I was in Leipzig at J&J's for Christmas and I made locro for Christmas Eve. South Africans, like most Americans, celebrate on Christmas day so that worked nicely. Johann and I went to a cheese store at the central train station (largest station in Europe). I walked around and picked up cheeses until I found two which looked and felt right. One worked out much better than the other, but I can't remember which is which. I made it again when I visited last November. We went to the same place and again, I can't remember what we got. Perhaps gouda this time? Whatever it was, it worked out.
Some time in early fall I tried to make it here in Sweden, which has its own cheeses. I tried "prästost" but it didn't work out right. It melted too easily. A few days before going over to Gudrun's I tested Herrgårdsost (långlagrad mager, to be specific. According to the Swedish page it's an Emmental cheese.
I tried it. While I was boiling the potatoes I nibbled a bit of the cheese. Mmmm, I could tell the taste was going to be a good fit. It melted nicely. Yes, Herrgårdsost is a winner! So Mom, Christy? Want to try an Emmental next time?
It was a success at Gudrun's as well. Very much enjoyed. I also brought a couple of avocados, which Mom likes with her soup, but they weren't that ripe even after waiting a couple of days and I don't think it added anything. The chives (gräslök - "grass onion") were a good addition.
In case you're wondering about the recipe, it's not really fixed. Chop potatoes into bite sized pieces. Boil. While it's boiling, cut the cheese into small cubes. Once the potatoes are done, drain. Add whole milk until the potatoes are nearly covered. Heat (after all, the milk was cold). Remove from heat. Add cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Don't ask me about the proportions, I eyeball it each time. Maybe 2 or 3 times the potatoes by weight to cheese?
For a light lunch for 7 (one was lactose intolerant) I used 12 potatoes, 350g cheese, and 500ml mjölk. Roughly.
Here's the instructions in Swedish, which I wrote up for Gudrun
Skala och skära potatis i bitar. Koka. Medan du väntar, skära osten i bitar. Häll av vattnet. Tillsätta tillräcklig mjölk för att närmast täcka potatis. Värma soppan (eftersom mjölken var i kylen). Ta den av spisen. Tillsätt ostbitar och kyrdda med salt och peppar. Jag tycker bäst om att äta med gräslök. Min mamma föredrar avocado. Majs skulle passa jättebra med. Men se på de där sidorna för andra variationer.
It might be nice next time to try with a bit of corn (like a corn chowder) or some bell peppers.
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