time goes on...

It's been really crazy lately, with work and other stuff. Work has been especially tough with a lot of people being sick or on vacation. Last week we were down almost 9 people but we still managed to get everything done which is amazing but what happens is that some of us has to work twice as hard as usual to get things done. I had to start 45 minutes earlier some mornings which isn't a problem for me at all except be able to be done in time for me to go home. So many things this week has been about work but not everything.

Last week I got my new Ipad Mini and I like it a lot. It's so easy and just perfect size to be able to bring with you. I always thought that the regular Ipad was a bit to big and the new Mini it's just perfect size. I'm going through apps to see which I need and which I can use. Luckily for me the Ipad is not for work just for my own leisure. That sounded a bit dirty hahahaha well I don't care at all. So what more is new???? Not much, I slowly has recovered from the cold from hell and I'm almost back to normal although my fitness and stamina is down and when it's cold outside I get some funny feeling down towards my lungs while exercising so that is something I haven't felt before. However I confident that it will go away as soon as I'm back to normal health again.

Been to Ikea, helping dad out with the heavy stuff they bought. Helping them buy tv in fact they bought two, one to the bedroom and a bigger one to the living room. I actually think this was the last thing to get done from all the moving and I'm looking forward to having the weekends free of any kind of work but doing other stuff instead. I need to plug in my PS3 and my surround system which I haven't made time for. I have had time to do it but I prioritized other things like reading and relaxing, cleaning, playing with the Ipad hahahaha. I'm really enjoying my new place and I feel like I home in a way which I didn't felt at my old place, I haven't had that feeling in a long time and it feels really good. It feels like home and in a good way.

Happy New Year

So 2013 is around the corner pushing its way through hour by hour. So my expectations for next year aren't that many.

Being done with the moving business.  Both me and my parents relocation to new places will be done with new people moving in to our old places. I have seen a drastic change in both my parents these last weeks, it's like they are able to let go of everything that came with the house and seeing how much an apartment will benefit them. My dad said last week "no trimming the grass, no snow shuffling and no must do this or must do that, no fixing this or that", to me he seems to be so relieved to have sold the house and be moving on. While looking back this has been a special year with all the members in my family moving to new apartments, that has never happened before and will most likely not happen again. My brother and his family moved to a bigger apartment right outside Östersund, mum and dad moved to Nol from Älvängen where I grew up and then me, I made  the shortest move in the family just about 2 km closer to the city centre but to a better neighbourhood than before.

Getting my health back on track. I 've been sick for the last month and just slowly getting better I really caught a cold from hell or something. It has been a quite persistent cold that has harassed me this last month, it hasn't give in at all but rather find new ways to annoy me. The funny thing is that haven't had a cold for over a year and then I had one earlier this fall and then this one. So if this one just gives in I can go back to the gym but the problem is that I got a sour throat off and on which means no training for me. Although during this year I've been able to loose about 10 kilos which I'm so freaking pleased with and proud to been able to achieve. So definite on my way to a healthier lifestyle :)

Continue on my own personal growth and be more courageous that I've been this year is definitely a priority next year since I've been standing still in that department a lot this year. Anyway, I'm looking forward to a new year with new challenges. To finish of this year I wish you all a Happy New Year.

Big hugs
//Andreas

NHL players...

I'm not a sport fanatic, I occasional watch biathlon, football, cross country ski, athletics when its on but as I said before I usually just have it on in the background and do other stuff. Anyway on thing that is pissing me off quite a bit is the hypocrisy that the Swedish Hockeyligan, an organisation for the clubs that play in Elitserien, the elite division, has when it comes to lockout NHL players. All bout two teams voted not to use NHL players during the lockout in America. Well thats just stupid, plain and simple, their reasons for not allowing NHL players in Elitserien is not holding up at all and the Competition Authority said that players from NHL should be able to play but it didn't stop there, some idiot club refused to accept and appealed to the court and they overturned the decision, so now the competition authority have to reinvestigate and see if they were wrong. Only in Sweden can something this stupid happen.

I know that the last lockout made a lot of clubs economics struggle a lot but in the same time they are denying the fans maybe the biggest gift they can get. Many other European leagues are welcoming NHL players but GOD forbid we do that here. Now two clubs has used NHL players and followed the initial ruling from the competition authority and now the other clubs wants to punish them after the courts decision. Whats that about? When you thought that the other clubs and their hypocrisy couldn't go any lower, this happens. This is once and again proof that those who rules in hockey clubs in Sweden are stupid and not in touch with reality. I'm not saying you should fill up every team with only NHL players but at least allow the possibility to contract a few. If you take this to EU they would most likely take Hockeyligan by their ears because free competition on the work market is something EU loves and the stand that Hockeyligan has taken most definitely violates that rule. Just look on how much criticism Sweden got when the union and government tried to stop foreign companies to do construction jobs here in Sweden. It's the same principal that are being broken, well Hockeyligan is much for importing pros that don't have a NHL contract and destroying the league that way but even if you are under contract in America, you should be able to play during a lockout on a short term contract. I wonder why they are so afraid of allowing these players play. In Allsvenskan, the second division here in Sweden, NHL players are welcomed by the teams and it has got a positive impact due to that the league gets more attention than usual. Well my opinion is that all the teams that voted for not to use NHL players should take a long good look at themselves and be ashamed of their small minded opinions. If you don't dare to take a risk well then you should get out. For all fans that love hockey here in Sweden they would have loved to see their idols out playing on the ice in any team.

This is my personal opinions about this particular issue and I truly believe that Elitserien would benefit by contracting NHL players but at the same time I understand the economics behind it. But I feel sorry for the hardcore hockey fans that are being denied the possibility to see their idol playing in the highest level here in Sweden.

Grateful

I think I've spent about a total of 5 hours of shopping so I think I've been pretty efficient doing my christmas shopping. This is the the season to be glad about many things in life considering the economical situation in many areas of the world. It's just not countries that are in a bind but the common man in general that are trying their best to support their families. I've been fortunate enough to have a good job that pays good enough for to live my life without any big worries. Many things in life is superstitious and we take things for granted without realizing it.

I'm still under the weather, the cold I caught won't give in at all, I don't have a fever but I feel like shit. The biggest problem I've with this cold is that my voice is cracking and that I'm really hoarse, I shouldn't been outside like the other day when I was at Liseberg with my brother and his family. I meet up with them directly after work and I didn't have warmer clothes with me so I started to freeze and didn't warm up until late that evening. Last Saturday, I and most of my colleagues had to work so it wasn't a normal Saturday for me, I'm used to be able to sleep in and wake up late. The board of Posten decided to listen the wishes of internet companies to give people the chance to get all presents that they ordered online and also to deliver as many christmas cards as possible before christmas. It's not often that I see people being really surprised seeing us out on a Saturday. Anyway I was dead tired when I got home, I was out cold at 10 pm and slept until 7 am which is way to early for me to wake up on a weekend. The positive note is that I'm got two days off next week which means that I won't be back at work after the new year and having nine days off might help me get well, at least I that's what I hope for.

So this is the season to be grateful for what you got, I have a good family that is doing well. Vincent is doing really good, Havanna thrives, mum and dad is seeing the possibilities of having an apartment instead of a big house. You can see that the pressure dad has felt is going away, he seems happier and not so troubled, mum caught my cold so she is sick. My brother is my brother, I love him and all of my family equally but the last weeks has been so intense so when the dust settled we most likely need some time off from each other. I'll guess all moving business is taking its toe on me and I'm really looking forward to going back to my normal routines. All this aside I'm grateful to have them in my life, they are great and the best.

sick

The exhaust I felt has turned itself into a full out cold. I got fever, coughing and stuffy nose, it's so annoying being sick. Last night I slept for over 12 hours which is something I rarely able to do, sometimes I've been able to sleep for 10 hours if I'm really tired. It's really sick that I was out cold for 12 hours, I normally get about 7 hours of sleep.

Yesterday I was supposed to work the afternoon shift at work from 10.30-18.50, I went to work and 4 hours later I was on my way home with the train feeling not so good. Bought some candy and did a little grocery shopping before getting on the tram home and of course I ate to much candy. Today I woke up with a fever so I have done as little as possible being mostly curled up in the sofa watching tv hahahaha almost to much tv:)

Other news is that the new motorway has open finally and the commuter train route that I have to travel on to Nol where I work started last Sunday. I did my premiere tour with the 9.50 train and it was a good journey, the train went smoothly and very comfortable, The seats is a bit firm but in a good way maybe they get a bit softer with time. If this holds up the train will be a success that a lot of people, the politicians in particular hope it will be. I quickly calculated that I will save over an hour per week travelling with the train instead of the bus. Not so bad after all.

exhausted

I'm done with my move, well there is a sofa and a small dinner table left in the old apartment. I wanted to sub rent it to a friend but it fall through so I gave them my three month notice and moving on with my life. Except trying to sell the last stuff I only got the moving out cleaning and taking down the lamps other wise I'm all done. Last night we started moving my parents stuff beginning with picking up their new beds installing them and today we packed the cars full with moving boxes, myself and mum in one car and dad in his car. 

Then the well not s funny thing happened, hahahahahahahahahahaha not meaning to laugh but it was at bit surreal. Me and mum drove first with dad right behind us I was watching the back mirror to make sure ha kept up with us because I had the key to open the gates to the area yard boom and he was supposed to close it after he passed it. I lost him right after the Alafors Exit and up on the exit to Nol. I asked mum "where is he?" "What" Can you see dad?" "No, but he should be right behind us" "Nope he isn't" "What, of course he is, Where should else be?" "I don't know, maybe he drove to Nödinge and to Systembolaget, which is where we but our beers, ciders and other alcoholic beverages" "No, he would have told us that" "Well he might just have thought of it" "No he would have said so" Alright now I'm getting worried, maybe we should backtrack in case something has happened I'm just gonna call him. Well he doesn't answer so I think we should take the local roadway and see if we see something" and off we went and found him with the warning signs on and at the Nol Exit. Dad had forgotten taking any of his phones with him and he has two, luckily for him I had mine with me so he could phone the towing company and then we decided that mum and me went to the new place and unload the stuff in the Ford, then I would return to dad. I think dad waited almost 30-40 minutes on the towing truck. After the towing man lifted the car up and towed it off the exit we tried figuring out what was wrong with it but the only conclusion was to tow it to the local VW shop. Then we rented a trailer and emptied dads car which went really well and then we drove to the apartment and unloaded the stuff. You can say it was a remarkable day in many ways. It isn't often I see my dad worked up about these things but today he was very cranky about it and I almost couldn't stop laughing so dad got annoyed with me. Anyway we solved the problem and got the boxes to the new place. When we finished mum and dad drove me home as thank you for helping us.

Work has been insane, the weather is the biggest contributor to that since the week started off with snow that made the roads not so much fun driving on, slippery like hell and you have to have your tongue in your mouth keeping you out of the ditch. I actually was a part in an accident in Skönningared where there is a steep hill and I got an oncoming car that drove way to fast and ended up in the ditch but we got it back up on the road without any visual damages. Yesterday I got one of the routes with cycling fuck it was cold, we had about -10 Celsius brrrrrrrrrr. I'm not so keen when it get cold outside but yesterday it went ok. So next week the forecast has predicted more snow so it is just liking the weather right now. 

News on my apartment is that someone is checking it out on Tuesday but I don't need to be there and that is good otherwise I would have needed to take a couple hours off work. So I have talked to the landlord about the ancient stove and that the kitchen fan needs to be switched out and be repaired. I am hopeful that if they want it that they can move in early. So with everything that has been going on at work and after work I am totally exhausted, I fell asleep really early on the evenings which isn't surprising at all.

Have a nice week and be careful if you be out in the snow and slippery roads:)

Moving weekend

I've been moving my stuff to the new apartment and it's been going well. bought a new sofa from Ikea, it's a bit bigger than I expected but it doesn't matter. One thing is for sure my living room is smaller but the kitchen is spacious, very spacious for a one bedroom apartment. So I have the most of the furnitures moved in and I've been sleeping here since Friday. I usually have trouble sleeping in new places but not here I fell asleep fast on Friday maybe due to that I was very tired.

Things that annoy me is that one of the previous tenant has removed and brought with them the power cord to the broadband box which they are not allowed to do because it belongs to the apartment. The other thing is that that the tv antenna outlet in the living room is damaged and the pin inside the outlet is missing which means that there is no antenna hahahaha, I mean its a rental apartment it is just to tell the area landlord he/she will fix it. OOOhhhhhh you should see the the paint job in the bedroom hahahahaha its insane, so badly done it's hilarious, at the light switch and power, tv outlets they have painted around it and probably not used masking tape and most likely done the same at the celling to or they have used masking tape but left it sitting too long so the paint got stuck to the tape while removing it. I like the deep brown color the used in the bedroom, well right now I think I like anything that isn't white in a apartment. At my old place I sometimes felt that I was at the hospital because of all the white. I'm not a big fan of a white white color, if it has a shade to it that made it a bit warmer I wouldn't have had any problem with it but the color the landlord used is a cold white and that doesn't sit well with me. The biggest plus of my new place is actually the planning and to quote my mother "this is a much better apartment, in style and planning" and it's been renovated a few years back which a big plus, negative is that I get a higher rent but that I knew when I applied in this area so it not a big deal and again as mum said "since you don't have other things that cost that much you should put some money in to a place where you feel comfortable in" and that's what I really feel here, comfortable and relaxed even though I've only been living here for a couple of days, you will hear me bitch about this place soon enough hahahaha:) have a nice one, signing off to do some moving// Andreas