Some things are so different

So last night I ordered something online, nothing major just a couple of spring form cake pans from a website here in Sweden, however this is the first time I was unable to use my Visa out of Canada to complete the purchase. We do have an account here in Sweden and the debit card can act like a Visa for purchases, similar to those in the US, but I have not used it for purchases online, only in person where there is a chip/card reader and you input a pin.When I tried to use my Visa from Canada it took me to the 'Verified by VISA' pop up that I get often, I put in my password and....nothing. It failed. Now I knew my card was good and such, and I knew that Carl had run up against this in the past so I tried the Swedish Visa.

I input all the required info and when I got to the verification part it told me to get my card reader. Oh boy, this can't be good, or easy. You see Sweden, and in fact it seems all of Europe, is far FAR ahead of North America in banking. I mean even to log in you have a specific card that you put into your own personal card reader that you can either attach to your computer via USB or wirelessly as well. In this instance I was prompted to place my Visa into the card reader and follow the instructions. I did, and after a series of numbers and verifications I got a code to input into the transaction that approved it. Kinda freaky, but cool all at the same time.

One thing I find interesting here is that no one uses checks (or cheques to my Canadian and UK readers). If you have a bill to pay you get the payee's bank routing and customer number and just directly post the payment to them. There are even people who work at the Embassy who had never even seen a check/cheque until they went to work there. To be honest the system here still puzzels me, and I have yet to figure it out completely. Maybe someday in the next 3 years I will get it.

Catching Up

This week was not the most eventful on the calendar for me personally. I did get a follow-up from the headhunter and yes the company still is interested, they presented my resume and yadda, yadda. We will see what happens, I am hoping for the best but I am a pessimist at heart. I did a major clean on the house and made one of the best cheesecakes (Nutella) that I think I have ever made. I am thinking about trying a few more cheesecakes and maybe just selling those out of my home for some pocket cash, just need to perfect a few more recipes.

Now that I have more time on my hands though I am looking more and more at world events. Some big things did happen this week; DADT was finally ended in the US and gay and lesbians can now serve openly. A big step and a big deal, however it was marred by the recent Repuglican debate when a gay serviceman asked a question via internet with video and asked; “In 2010, when I was deployed to Iraq, I had to lie about who I was, because I’m a gay soldier, and I didn’t want to lose my job,” said Stephen Hill, whose image was projected on a large TV screen in the debate hall. “My question is, under one of your presidencies, do you intend to circumvent the progress that’s been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?” The audience boo'd him. Santorum immediately went on to explain why DADT must be reinstated, and goes on to say that "any type of sexual activity has no place in the military." Okay. Well then that is the most ridiculous answer that could have been given. Gay or straight, sex will occur. It happens. Many soldiers are married to other soldiers so his answer is just plain stupid. However it is not his answer that angers me, what angers me is that he did not even stop and chastise the crowd for booing a serving member of the military. He says he did not hear the boo as he was formulating his answer to the question. What an asshole.

The think that concerns me most is that one of these idiots will be the Repuglican nominee, and all of them are vying for the votes of the Tea Baggers of Christ. Funny how everything that comes out of the mouths of these theocracy wanting nut bags is completely against any christian teachings I am aware of. Also the current President who fired up a new generation of voters on a promise of Change has been lackluster at best. I am curious, and somewhat scared to see how this all turns out in 2012.

In other news we are waiting for a dead satellite to fall to earth. I hear it is about the size of a bus, but no one can seem to pinpoint when or where it will actually fall. It was supposed to last night, but now they are saying sometime this morning. I am fascinated to see that every country is convinced it will crash on their soil, even though approximately 71% of the earth surface is covered by water so I am guessing it will splash down somewhere in a large body of water.

Today we are off to watch rugby here in Stockholm, a final Swedish Cup match, should be fun. Right now the weather is glorious and I hope it stays that way, soon enough the days will shorten dramatically and the general forecast will be gloomy. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and if something interesting happens I will endeavor to write about it. ****UPDATE***** Satellite fell in the Pacific.

The week in review

So after my last post of whining and feeling sorry for myself, I snapped out of it pretty quickly. Life is a journey and you just have to roll with it.

This week once again gave The Carl another opportunity that we don't usually get. He was invited to attend the opening of Parliament here, and I having the time off was able to capture the event digitally. Yes, I have photos of my hubby with the flag waving on the car, and stepping out of it. Pretty cool I must say.

On Friday I met some friends from the Adobe office here for lunch and that was a lot of fun (more fun not having to go back to the office to be honest!) and one of those friends had sent me on Thursday a posting for a job here in Stockholm.

I had looked at the job and noticed that it had stated that both English and Swedish were required, so I emailed the head hunter and asked him, he said yes so I had pretty much written it off. Later on Friday afternoon he called me and told me he had spoken to the hiring manager and that English only was not a deal killer so he asked me to send me my CV. We chatted a bit more about the position and then I sent off me CV to him. I think it might be a bit above me but I think I can learn the bits I am not as strong on, we shall see. At this point I would just be happy with an interview.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Reality bites

Today it finally hit me that I have nothing I have to do every day, and it hit kind of hard. I was hoping the "vacation" feeling would last a bit longer, but it didn't. Now the question is what do I do with myself and all this time that I have? Yes, I need to continue to look for a job, but I also need to find something in the interim that gives me some satisfaction and/or purpose.
We shall see what this brings, but if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them!

10 Years Gone

Ten years ago today. Those four words and you already know what this post is about. I was working in Dallas, TX for JPMorgan Chase and at least 20% of our staff had transferred from NYC. I was at my desk and my Mom called me and told me that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. My first was it was something small like a Cessna, but as we all know it was much worse and horribly calculated. Many people I worked with had family and friends who worked in the WTC, and I knew business contacts who I talked to daily. I also had many friends who worked in the area. So many never came home. Many more survived, but were never able to return, haunted by what they witnessed on that day. Little did I know too, until later, that a man I had met briefly and flirted with a few years prior in New Orleans was going to commit an act of bravery unlike I had ever known.


Today I had the honor to accompany Carl to a remembrance service at the Official Residence of the United States Embassy here in Stockholm. Carl attended as he is the Charges d'Affaires a.i. for Canada until the new Ambassador arrives and was therefore invited and I, as his spouse, accompanied him. The service was lovely, and solem as it should be. Bells were rung for each flight, and for each tower that collapsed in turn. Hymns were sung, poetry read, and speeches delivered. Towards the end though a group of school-aged kids gathered on the balconies above and unfurled four hand-made banners. These kids took part in a 2-day project that involved storytelling and focusing on creating places of peace. Each banner was an island where all were welcome and peace ruled and the feeling of being an outsider, language barriers, fear, scorn, abuse, poverty and a myriad of other issues were replaced with love, understanding, cooperation, acceptance and all the things that are good in the world. 


Ten years on and the world is a much different place, and the US especially has lost quite a bit of it's innocence. The constant state of fear that is maintained, the security screening that we all most go through when travelling, creation of major departments in the US Government that 15 years ago would have sounded ludicrous such as "The Department of Homeland Security" is the result of this day 10 years ago, and it is now our reality. Sometimes I think that the efforts to create security actually makes us all more tense and on edge and actually cause us to lose sight of what we all really want; peace. The presentation that the kids did today made me smile. It gave me some hope that in spite of all that is wrong in the world that there is still hope in youth.  


Today though my thoughts turn to Alice Hoagland the mother of Mark Bingham, the man I referred to in this first paragraph of this post who was one of the people who stormed the cockpit of Flight 93 over Pennsylvania and lost his life to save others. Her son has left quite a legacy that has grown out of his actions, but I think she'd rather have him here with her. If you are unfamiliar with Mark, click on his name and it will take you to Wikipedia and you can read more about him there. 


When we entered the Official Residence there was a flag in the entry hall, a "Flag of Honor" that listed in the stripes of the US Flag all of those lost on that day. It brought a tear to my eye. Below are pictures; in the blue stripe, 3rd row down in the center is Mark's name. I hope that everyone reflects on what happened ten years ago today, but don't stop there, allow it to be a catalyst for change. Make this world a better place. Speak out when you witness something wrong, stand up for what is right. Exercise your right to vote, don't be apathetic, get involved and make a difference. Even the smallest action can have far reaching consequences. 

Curmudgeon List

A list of a few things I don't "get" or care for; maybe I am just old. 

• Chunky jewelry on guys (or girls for that matter, but on girls I can at least get it but on guys?).
• Man-pris. These would be capri pants for men in case you were wondering. 
• Why it is that when you have the time to sleep, you can't but when you have a lot to do sometimes all you want to do is nap. 
• Why people wear those weird ass Vibram foot-gloves, they look stupid.
• Nose piercing.
• Hipsters in general.
• Why people wear hats that are 'in fashion' even though it makes them look like dorks. 
• People who do not dress age appropriately.
• People? Who end every sentence? With a question?
• Walking into a room and forgetting why I walked in there, or any one of many iterations of this. 
• People who initiate online conversations and then become monosyllabic. 

I'm sure there is more...but I started typing this and forgot most of them (see second to the last item).

Funemployed!!

Today was my last day of work at Adobe. I've mentioned it before on here and now it is over. My co-workers here in Stockholm gave me a lovely send-off yesterday at fika with flowers, a lovely cake, and a wonderful book on Stockholm signed by all in the office and a very nice bottle of wine. 

My co-workers in Ottawa sent me a great scanned card they all signed and there is a gift on it's way, all in all a wonderful send off and to be honest I am glad for the break and I look forward to whatever presents itself next.

This weekend will be busy with a dinner with friends on Saturday night and plans on Sunday with a remembrance of 9-11. I am looking forward to relaxing when I can. The next week or so I will be cleaning the house *really* well then when that is done I will be going out and about and checking out parts of Sweden I have yet to see. Speaking of things I have yet to see, I saw this on the way home today. Ass Transport. Yes, really. It made me laugh all the way home, thank god traffic was slow enough that I could get a pic of it!

Have a great weekend everyone! And remember, I am available for lunch dates, book accordingly. 

Let the weather fit the mood.

Four more days to go at work and all I can say is "meh." It's an overcast and rainy day here in Stockholm and the weather pretty much sums up my mood today. On the bright side, me niece is coming into town tonight to stay with is for a couple of days as her job brings her to Stockholm. 

One year ago today....

Exactly 365 days ago today we arrived in Sweden. God that was a long day. Myself, Carl, the two dogs, their crates and all of our luggage in a rented van on a late afternoon drive from Ottawa to Montreal to catch our flight. Checking in and getting the dogs crated, dropping off the rental van, paying for excess baggage and the dogs, going through security with the dogs (as they have to step out of the kennels, be checked over with the wand, the kennels go through xray and so on and so on). Because of time I did this while Carl returned the van. Honestly it was one of the most stressful 60 minutes or so of my life. 


Once all that was done, I don't recall much else until I was sitting on the jet. I know we must have eaten something. I know we were tired. We could not stay in our house as everything was packed and on a truck at a warehouse already so we stayed in a hotel. We got up early, went back to the house and cleaned it the best we could. We then had to go drop off our car at the warehouse so it could be shipped over, dropped of keys to the house to the rental agency, then on the road to Montreal. 


Once all was settled and we were on the plane I just kept fretting about the dogs as they had never been in kennels that much before. We had done a lot of prep work about 3 months out to get them used to the kennels but they still weren't crazy about them. Lufthansa was great though, the flight attendant found us to let us know that the dogs made it on board with no issues before take off, and they even came up and said that they must be fine as if the dogs bark in the hold they can usually hear them in the galley. I was hoping they were asleep in the dark, they were. 

The flight was fine, except my personal entertainment unit failed at my seat. Not the end of the world as I had a book and my ipod with me but I still got an in flight credit (which I still have not used - I should look and see if it is still valid). We landed in Munich and we knew that in Frankfort you could actually request to see the dogs, but in Munich the way the airport was laid out we couldn't. We had a few hours of layover and we were both pretty exhausted (see below).

Ah, lovely aren't we? After what seemed like a day-and-a-half layover in Munich (where we at least ran into our friend Ken) we were on the flight for Stockholm. We could see the dog's crates being loaded and we saw movement so we were relieved. 

We finally landed in Stockholm, and we knew that the Ambassador was planning on meeting us at the airport, though I had no idea she would be standing at the end of the jetbridge. I'm sure looking like we did we made a lovely first impression. 

Once we got our luggage, we waited for the dogs at oversized baggage but we could not let them out of the kennel until we cleared customs. There was someone in line in front of us with something that looked like a hunting rifle with a sight on it and I swear the customs officer was on the phone about this for 10 minutes or so. When it was our turn we handed him the paperwork, had to bring the dogs out of the kennels so he could scan their microchips to make sure they matched the paperwork and we were on our tired, but merry way. It seemed to us that the customs officer was more baffled by the gun than the dogs. All in all from landing to exiting the airport with the dogs was about 45 minutes. I was impressed. 

The dogs were finally let out of their kennels briefly after about 16 hours and they happily found a patch of grass. Back into the kennels, not very willingly for the drive to the house. We finally arrived and once the Ambassador and the rest of the team left we were here. All four of us fell asleep on the bed in a lump, but we were here in Stockholm. 

This is stuck in my head and it won't go away!! (NSFW)