Stockholm, Sweden

We arrived in Stockholm early in the morning. Right off we got to see how friendly and helpful the Scandinavians were going to be. We met Joakim in the tourist center and he made us laugh and wake up from our long travels. He had a dry sense of humor and was totally game when we asked him to take pics and even be in the photos with us! He said, "you better not tag me in those on facebook"…so Alison memorized his name...and we totally found him…we're friends now!! Small world!

Bill arrived shortly after us and we took the train into the center of town. We knew we wanted an overview of the city and to see the Viking ship at the Vasa Museum. We hopped on the double decker bus and the trip started! The weather was chilly with ice and snow on the ground…but bundled up it was a perfect day with a gorgeous, sunny sky!

Our first stop was to see the famous Vasa that sank on its maiden voyage…actually, this majestic boat never even made it out of the harbor! It collapsed under the weight of its sail. It was built in the 17^th century…after sinking it spent the next 333 years at the bottom of the sea. It was pulled from the bottom of the sea in 1961 and restoration is still in progress. This museum is awesome! There are school-style diorama projects that will blow you away with mini scaled version of a cross section of the ship, how it was built and how it was rescued from the sea floor.

Next, we hopped back on the bus, some of us took a little power nap prompted by the sun beaming into the bus. We then stopped at Old Town to walk around and grab a bite to eat. Alison had found a coffee shop that was supposed to serve the thick hot chocolate, like we had tried in Ljubljana…and we actually found the place! We all got a hot meal and warmed up from the chilly weather outside. The food was great and the white and regular chocolate was delicious.

From there, we walked the pedestrian area of the Old Town, found a few little tourist shops with Alison's snow globes and crystals for her nieces and a few Swedish items for my family. I even found a keychain with 'mormor' on it!! I was always the only kid with a mormor, so it was pretty cool to see it pre-printed! J

We then walked back to the main area of town. There were lots of shops and the city seemed to come to life in the afternoon. It was very quiet when we arrived at 10ish, then it was totally bustling later in the afternoon. We stumbled on an open air market, took in the flowers, fruits and vegetables. There was a man from Persia at one of the stands that sold nuts and dried fruit. We chatted with him for a while…I think he is the only person in Europe I've met that liked George W…crazy dude! J We bought some corn nuts to snack on thru the trip and I got some for my mom too.

We looked at our map and debated what else to do with our day. We all had achy feet, so we decided to try to catch an earlier flight. We got back to Arlanda Airport and no luck. But, we did have a nice time relaxing in the Prez Club (stocking up on more snacks) until we took off for Oslo.

We arrived in Oslo right on time at about 9:30. Normal landing…then the fun began. After touching down, we didn't even break stride, I looked out the window and commented, "wow, we're still going really fast!" We had to have been doing at least 50mph, thru turns and all. We screeched up to the gate and everyone popped out of their seats…faster than Alison, Bill and me…that NEVER happens. All of a sudden the back door opens, the jetway is open and people are pouring out of the plane and hauling to the terminal. We all look at each other stunned at how fast everyone is moving. Are we missing something here…is there some huge line coming up for immigration? We move up to the walkway in the terminal and everyone is still practically running…Alison is elated and we're all convinced she MUST have Norwegian roots. We run/walk all the way to baggage and head for the train. These people just move fast and it's awesome!

We took the train to our hotel. The Radisson SAS is connected to the rail station by a sky bridge. It was chilly out, but little did we know, the real cold was going to be the next day!

Scandinavia bound at 600 mph

It's been a while since I've posted. I didn't post on Ireland and missed having the recap to remember the details of my adventures…so jumping back on the bandwagon and here goes. My friend, Matt, is the PM for a great little product called the HP Mini 2140 and he was nice enough to loan me one for this trip! So, I have half the weight of my mobile workstation to lug as I travel Sweden, Oslo and Copenhagen. So far, this thing rocks!!! Here's my little setup on the plane. I even had room for my meal next to it!

Today, we woke up early and Oscar took Alison and me to IAH to catch our fight to Newark. We relaxed in the president's club, had a 9am bloody mary and worked on our master cheese collecting skills. I think our chico sac is completely overflowing with cheese and cracker goodness! Oh, and we discovered the hazelnutty goodness of Nutella. If you haven't tried it, run to the store and pick up a jar…YUM!!

I also called and chatted with my mormor. She is the absolute best!! We are so much alike and it makes me hopeful that I will call or stop by and visit with her more. I mentioned that I was going to call her the night before, but was afraid 10:00 was too late…she laughed and said, 'oh, that's like noon to me!'. I think I know where I get my night owl-ness. She gave us a few tips about going back to the smorgasbord as much as we'd like and how to saw good day (gudog) and thank you (taksamika). Her mom was from Stockholm and had the last name Magnuson, so we'll see if I run across any distant relatives. I'm a total mutt of ethnicities from around Europe…but I've always felt so, so close to my mormor and many of the customs and traditions I cherish from my family and will definitely pass to my own family are from mormor, that were passed from her mom. When she was little, her mom didn't speak any English and lost her site when she was older, so my mormor would read the Swedish paper to her. We always have a smorgasbord for Christmas, with appetizers, cold foods, hot foods (including Swedish meatballs) and rice pudding with raspberry sauce. There are 2 almonds hidden in the bowl and the people who get them win a prize. Somehow it was always Beca and me…so weird! J We always had a centerpiece with candles and little angels twirling around too. Looking forward to see if the culture and people seem similar to her.

After a quick stop in Newark where I picked up my FAVORITE Swedish delicacy…Swedish Fish (haha)…that brings us to now, on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic near Reykjavik, Iceland.

I watched Australia the first 3 hours, not what I expected, but a cute movie with some nice scenery. Took a little nap with John Mayer singing me to sleep. There is something about his music and planes for me. I can just listen to him on shuffle the entire way. When I was in Taiwan a few years ago, I was listening to Brian and Kara Connelly's wedding CD and fell in love with 3x5 and been hooked ever since. My other favorite travel artist is Damien Rice…he evokes more emotion through his voice that anyone else on my iPod. Being on the plane for these adventures can make you a little stir crazy, but there is something about the peace and quiet, before the hectic travel schedule, of having 7.5 hours to yourself. To just relax and close your eyes with no distractions and lose yourself in a song, it's nice.

Looking forward to the adventures this trip has in store…see you in Stockholm! Here's the plan…

 

Rockafire Explosion

I am sitting at work. Reading other people's blogs. Feeling bad that I haven't posted to mine in forever...and I stumble upon this gold mine!!!

If you grew up in the 80s and ever visited Showbiz pizza and watched the Rockafire Explosion...you have to watch this video!!



There are a group of guys making a movie about the fanboys of this ape-led band. Can't wait!!!

http://www.rockafiremovie.com/

i think i've made a huge mistake

That was for all my fellow Arrested Development fans. Wait, a joke's not funny if you have to explain it...oh well!

So, I'm insane and have decided to ride with Team HP in the MS150 this year. It should be a rewarding and exciting experience...but I am totally scared @&#*less! Wish me luck and hope I don't totally come back scraped and bruised!



As part of this whole thing, we have to raise moolah for the National MS Society research fund. It's great cause, so if you have some spare change, feel free to visit my page! :)



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Gaigespages is back!

It all started when I was uploading pics last week. I was rockin and rollin through my photos and trying to get caught up on gaigespages...my last update was in June...ouch!

All of a sudden, I started getting an "upload failed" message. Ok, weird...but I was upstairs, must just be a bad connection. I schlepped the computer, HDD and power adapter down closer to the access point. And nothing...same issue.

I tried again the next day after work...ready to throw my computer across the room! I finally plugged in the ethernet and it didn't change a thing..."upload failed"...(@&$!!! Nita was even over one night and got to see my crazy OCD self try over and over again!

I googled "ethernet speed" and found this cool tool, but it didn't tell me what I wanted to hear. I had no upload connection. Well, at least I knew the problem now. I IM'd and talked on the phone with Comcast and they pretty much just told me to be patient, they were fixing an issue in my neighborhood. Boo :(

I finally tried again last night, and voila...it worked! Yippee!!

So, gaigespages is up to date with 31 new albums from the last few months!

Turkish fest

The Greek fest was postponed due to Hurricane Ike...so Nita used her google skills and found another culture to celebrate! The Turkish Festival was being held in Jones Plaza...so Nikki, Nita and I went to enjoy the fun. I cracked up when we walked in...the belly dancer was totally the same girl that just performed at a friend's birthday party recently...it had to be her! The little boy and girl in the pic below were totally loving taking a little dancing lesson!

We relaxed there for a while, then decided to go over to check out Discovery Green. Nikki and I snacked on ice cream and we just enjoyed the pretty day at the new, busy downtown park! It's nice to see that Houston finally has a nice outdoor area to relax in town!

dog day at the park

My mom and I took Rocky (who just turned 16!!!), Luna and Gidget to the park to enjoy this wonderful time of year in Houston. The temperature has been absolutely perfect the last few weeks! Here are a few fun shots of my hilarious girls!