Today I joined my parents, Ethan & Kelly for a choral concert at the chapel at River Bend.

The performance was put on by a choir called Conspirare. The music was beuatiful, provocative, and well performed. My favorite piece was Night Water by Eirc Whitacre.

I took a few photos of the inside of the chapel — a lovely space with fine acoustics.

It was an enjoyable concert. I'll have to see to it that more choral concerts are in my schedule.

I went to Ethan & Kelly's place on Saturday after my morning run.

I helped out by cutting holes for the plumbing in the back of the new kitchen cabinets. I used Ethan's new Dremel tool. Fast little sucker.

All done!

My ride, a maroon Chevrolet Malibu. Not bad for a rental.

It's a sporty little car, and it has a sunroof and a good radio. That's really all I need.

Did I mention the sunroof?

That's Lake Austin in the background. I took this photo while driving over the big suspension bridge. Yes, my left hand was holding the camera outside the window.

Don't mess with Mike Lowry.

Last night I went over to Steve & Jill's place for dinner. Steve is in D.C. on business so it was just Jill, the kids, me and the next-door neighbors.

Anna Rose was running around like a little wildcat. I managed to get her to hold still long enough to take this photo.

Jill &: Steve's neighbors, Roxanne & Danny.

Jill & Grant.|| Supposedly Grant was sick, but he didn't let on.

Anna Rose wanted to play chase. But there's no running in the house! Mommy scolded me too!. :)

Check out Jill's new 20-inch iMac! Aweome, eh? Anna Rose played some online games before going to sleep.

After running around non-stop for 20 minutes, Grant decided to watch figure skating on TV. And by watch figure skating on TV I mean fall asleep on my lap.

The sun shone for a brief moment this morning.

The weather is improving here. The temperature is well above 10° C, and the sun even peeked out between the clouds for a while. I have fixed a big breakfast of Fredricksburg bratwurst and scrambled eggs with pressed orange juice. Yum!

The Draught House Pub

I went to the Draught House tonight for a couple of pints.

I met soe nice people there, including a guy from San Marcos and another fellow from Toronto.

I also met a couple of runners who had just run the marathon and half-marathon here in Austin. We chatted and exchanged stories.


The folks I met were very interested to know about Sweden.

The beer was delicious. I'll definitely be returning soon.

Here's the apartment where I'll be staying in Austin for the next 6 weeks. It's conveniently located just half a mile from the IBM building where I work.

Ok, one more for good measure.

I started work on the redbook today. I'm working in the ITSO office in building 905. Everyone here is complaining about the weather. It's not that bad. Heck, it's above freezing. What are they expecting? It's winter, for the love of tomatoes.

Here's the view outside my office window.

My desk. The U.S. and Swedish flags represent the home countries of my co-author and me. But they could just as well represent my two homes.

In the background, on the top of the cabinet, are dozens of other national and state flags. These are used to show the nations of origin of the guest residents working on projects at the ITSO.

I had breakfast this morning with my mom and dad. It was still below freezing outside, and there was an almost invisible layer of frost on the deck. Tom nearly fell while walking out on the deck. He caught himself, but not before spilling half a cup of coffee on Angel (one of the cats). Angel didn't seem to mind though; he just licked the coffee off his fur.

In the afternoon, we went over to Ethan & Kelly's place to help them a bit with the IKEA cabinets they are installing. Ethan is recovering from a construction injury sustained yesterday. It's a nasty cut on his back. He had 13 staples put in to hold the wound closed. Ouch. I must say though, the kitchen is beginning to look like a kitchen. Almost. It brings back memories of the renovations Lotta and I did back in 1999. Ethan has already told me that he expects me to help lay tile. Sounds like loads of fun, eh?

We went to Mangia Pizza on Gracy Farms Lane for lunch. It was yummy. Here Kelly details the nuances of her life as a rogue in World of Warcraft.

My mom wore the Dale sweater that she bought in Norway last summer. I think it looks great on her. Even though it is a bit too big. ;)
Tomorrow will be my first day at the office. I'm looking forward to meeting the folks with whom I will be working, and of course seeing some familiar faces again. I'll be working in one of the IBM 90X buildings on Burnet Road — much nicer than the old former manufacturing plant buildings across the street.
It's barely past ten o'clock here, but it's well past bedtime according to my body. I won't have any trouble getting up tomorrow morning.

Here are a couple of photos from the approach into Chicago over Lake Michigan.

Arrival in Austin

I have arrived safely in Austin. It's cold here, about 30° F (-1° C). When I picked up my rental car, I almost slipped on the pavement because there was a thin layer of ice covering the ground. The car (a Chevrolet Malibu) warmed up quickly and the ice on the windshield melted after just a few minutes.

On the drive out to my parents' house, I had to take the 183 access road most of the way because the raised sections of the roadway were closed — probably due to the risk of icing. Near MoPac there was an SUV turned on its side in the middle of the highway. Several others had stopped to help, and there was a tow truck just arriving when I passed.

When I got out to my folks' place, I distributed the gifts I brought from Sweden (Chivas & Marabou for dad; Höganäs, Clarins & Anton Berg for mom). Now I'm getting ready for bed. It's been a long day and I'm sure I'll sleep like a log.

Greetings from 37,000 feet!

Hello from 37,000 feet! I'm using Boeing's nifty Connexion system — basically onboard wireless internet access. The flight attendant gave me a card with an access code good for 30 minutes of free access. That's just enough for a bit of chatting and blogging.

Right now we're somewhere over Northeastern Canada.

Here's a picture I took when we were somewhere beetween the UK and Iceland.

Swedish meatballs!

Cognac in the stratosphere.

Hello.

Wing.

Eye.

Cheers! See you soon, mom & dad!

It's snowing today in Stockholm. Nice big fluffy flakes. I'm almost sad to be going. My plane to the U.S. leaves in a couple of hours so I'm doing some last-minute cleaning and packing. See you on the other side of the Atlantic.

Are you up to the challenge?

I received this challenge from Åsa, who received it from Wånkan. Now I'm passing along the questions to the rest of you!

Four jobs I have had:

1. Stocker in a warehouse at Best Products
   
2. Computer lab administrator in my dormitory at UT Austin
   
3. Intern at Apple
   
4. Consultant at Tivoli / IBM
   

Four places I've lived:

1. Austin (parents' house on Rogge Ln.)
   
2. Austin (various dormitories and apartments on and around campus)
   
3. Austin (condo at Mesa Village)
   
4. Stockholm (condo in Bergshamra)
   

Four TV series I like to watch:

1. Babylon 5 (It's over, I know... doest that count?)
   
2. The Simpsons / Futurama
   
3. The Colbert Report / The Daily Show
   
4. Battlestar Galactica
   

Four places I've gone on vacation:

1. Croatia (from Split to Dubrovnik and back)
   
2. France (mostly the Nice area, but also Paris & Normandy)
   
3. Switzerland (I love mountains)
   
4. Colorado (did I mention mountains?)
   

Four films I can see over and over again:

1. A Bug's Life
   
2. Brazil
   
3. Blazing Saddles
   
4. Mulholland Drive
   

Four websites I visit daily:

1. My friends' blogs: Tobbe, Åsa, Danne, Anne, Erlend, Kevin
   
2. Ars Technica
   
3. Google News / Gmail
   
4. The Superficial — my guilty pleasure
   

Four favorite dishes:

1. Anything with curry (red or green)
   
2. B.C.D.
   
3. Sushi
   
4. Bratwurst, sauer kraut & mashed potatoes
   

Four places I'd rather be right now:

1. Conundrum Hot Springs
   
2. Backpacking somewhere I've never been
   
3. In bed with a friend (so nice, I had to copy it!)
   
4. Climbing at Klättercentret

Four people I challenge to answer these questions:

1. Steve & Jill
   
2. Ethan
   
3. Lotta (& all the girls I've loved before)
   
4. My legion of cheering fans
   

Curling is fun. But which team should I support?

Salsa dancing at La Isla

Last night I went to La Isla on Flemminggatan near Fridhemsplan. I took the level 4 salsa course. It was fast and tricky, with lots of turns. Still, I managed to make it all the way through the routine and remember it still this morning.

Here, Harvey and Pilar show the ladies how to do a fancy bit of styling, basically a bit where the girl shows off. Since the men didn't have to practice this part, we just stood on the sidelines and took pictures. :)

Harvey is one of the instructors with Stockholm Salsa Dance, the group that arranges the drop-in courses held at La Isla. He's a great dancer and is good at coming up with clever routines. Tonight's dance routine was a good one -- challenging, but doable. It also flowed really well: each move seemed to follow naturally from the one before.

After the lesson, they turned down the lights, turned up the music, and people began social dancing. Here are some of the pros.









And more folks on the dancefloor.

That's all for now. I was having so much fun dancing that I forgot to ask someone to take a picture of me. But guesss what? My picture is on one of the posters advertising the drop-in courses!

Yay! I'm famous!