Finally some vacation

A couple of days before Christmas, we realized that the family really could use a vacation. After browsing through our alternatives, we discovered that the we would get the best "work/vacation combo" (research/visiting friends/doing stuff we haven't done in a while/getting some sun) by going New York, and then drive/fly down the east coast over Philadelphia/Washington, and then finally Florida.

Since we had our second boy, Adam, we've been wondering how we'll manage traveling with two small kids (Max 3 yrs, and Adam 6 mos). I guess this will be the ultimate test.

The flight from Arlanda to Newark was not so bad (about eight hours), but then Murphy's law started coming into effect:

- After waiting for an hour for our oversized luggage, we were told that it was still in Stockholm. Not a good start since that means our strollers and child safety seats were gone.
- After finally being able to move the family to Avis (without strollers) we were able to rent child safety seats (good), but also switch cars three times (!) since they managed to screw up.
- When we, rather tired, managed to get to the hotel and check in, we thought we were home free. Until I started to load the remains of our luggage into one of the hotel elevators, that is. Because the elevator decided to disappear. Without us in it. (Ten minutes later we managed to get all the luggage back. It turned out that that particular elevator was broken, and had transformed itself into a monster that occasionally opened up and swallowed people's stuff. Glad we weren't in it.)

To be continued...

Christmas came early this year

I'm coming out of the closet. I am an amazon.com-o-holic. Even though this is a bit easier to combine with "living in Sweden" since the depreciation of the US dollar, I sometimes place a bit too may orders with Amazon for my own good. It's probably not good for the environment either.

Anyway: Nowadays, you've got to give it to them. I ordered my stuff (too much to fit in one box) this Monday at dinner, CET. I got the packed-and-has-left-the-building-mail at night (22.42 hrs CET or something ;) After leaving their place at Kentucky, it got airborne in OH Tuesday morning, arrived at East Midlands in the UK last night, Arlanda this morning, and to my house in Vaxholm just after 9 am. That is like 33 hours door-to-door from Amazon and my house in the archipelago! Two different boxes!

"Sure", you might say, "that's not a big deal". But it IS. The prices for express shipping has dropped ($53 for 15 items), and the speed has increased significantly. It used to be 2-4 days with standard express from the US (most likely meaning 3-4 days). This time it was less than 1,5 days!

Christmas came early this year, and now I can spend the holidays wrapping up the last season of West Wing, browsing through the new edition of WoW Master guide, and also get started on Carnivale.

Merry Christmas!

Mac != Nokia E70

I had really hoped that Apple would include E70 support in iSync with 10.4.8, but it seems like I'm out of luck. Guess I'll have to try one of those don't-try-this-at-home-scripts from the net, who frequently seems to duplicate/mess up contacts and perhaps make the phone become FUBAR (yes - it HAS happened before...).

The Rolling Stones

Just got back from the Stones' concert in Twickenham, London. It was REALLY great - the best Stones concert I've ever been to! Mick was a 100% from the start, Ron was sober, and Keith seemed to have a good time. As a matter of fact, Keith and Ron were playing together in a way I've never seen them do before - this coconut climbing thing must have been a bonding experience for them :)

This was my sixth Stones concert... I wonder if it will be my last?

Summer reading

After spending a couple of weeks on Öland, I have finally had some time to read some books. It feels great; it is tough finding spare time to do much else but taking care of family (and as much business as possible) right now.

Anyway, I have been longing to read Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity is Near" for a long time now, and it is really awesome! It's a must-read for anyone who likes to think about the future, instead of merely awaiting it. And the future might be here quicker than you think ;)

The second book I've managed to read is Johan Norberg's latest "När människan skapade världen" (not in English yet). It is at least as inspiring as his earlier book "In defense of Global capitalism", but it also shares a lot of thoughts, facts and philosophy with the older book. Available as mass-market paperback from day 1 makes it a non-brainer to read this summer, especially if you haven't read the first one.

Adam Åke Mosseby

On June 4, our baby boy Adam was born. It is truly remarkable how fun it has been to get a second child. Everyone around me said things like: "Getting a second child makes things not twice as complicated - it gets even worse!", but reality for us has been the opposite. Adam is a pretty smooth sailor...

PS. It has also helped having our fabulous grandparents around - without them, things would've been a little bit more complicated ;)

Statistics say more than a thousand words

(from Johan Norberg, from the Economist)

Playing the Angel - the concert

I went to Depeche Mode's concert in Stockholm yesterday. OMFG. It was REALLY good. It was my fifth Depeche concert, and maybe the best. Probably as good as my first one (World Violation Tour in Stockholm, 1990).

I was blown away by the fact that Martin Gore has stepped up and truly become the main person in the band. Being there when he was singing "Leave in silence" yesterday, was one of my best live music experiences. Martin has definitely been taking singing lessons ;)

/Moz

Gubbarna och Bilarna

I morse låg hela familjen och läste morgontidningarna i sängen. Efter ett tags runthoppande lugnade Max, 2 år gammal, ned sig. Han plockade upp Dagens Industri, lade sig på rygg och började läsa. Domen kom efter ungefär tio sekunder:

- Gubbarna och Bilarna!

Max återgick tämligen omgående till runthoppandet i sängen.