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News: As of January 16, 2000
(The latest story is at the top)
Happy New Year! - 01/16/2000: I can't believe a
year has come and gone since I wrote last. The year has been both great and hard.
Christmas 1998 was great and the beginning of a great winter. We had quite a
bit of snow and sunshine. We have a great ski and sled hill close to our house.
It's about 200 foot high and has a 400 foot run. We were there a lot.
Snow helps the winter here by making it lighter. This year we have had very
little. only one day on the sled hill. In January I started a new position at
Tetra Pak. All I can say is I am very tired and know exactly why I have not updated
the web site. Somedays it real fun and other days I just want to walk away.
Tetra Pak is building a new Global data system that will role out to some 5000
users in 50 companies located in 15 countries during a 3 year period. I am responsible for
the actual systems it will run on. It is specially difficult as Tetra Pak has not
run a shared system for the whole company before. Each company has run there own.
Lotta has also been busy with a new job she started during the summer. It's
been a positive move in that it's the first time she has had a Monday to Friday day job.
She works in the Cardiology Lab where the run special procedures on people with
heart problems. Two great adventures have taken place this past year. The
first was a week in the Canary Islands. Most of it spent by the pool. The
other was our summer trip to Ireland. This trip was fantastic. Ireland is
beautiful! We had unheard of sunny weather and a great time visiting my best
friend from college, Mark Shaw and Family. Mark was spending a 6 month contract
there at the time. The rest of the summer was filled with trips to Lotta's parents
lake house, Pippi Longstockings theme park, and other sunny excursions. Yes, it was
a very sunny summer and enjoyable. Fall was also great weather wise. BUT it's
winter again and we hate it. On the positive side, we bought my dad a ticket for
Christmas and enjoyed a week with him here in Sweden. It was great to see him with
the kids. He will be back in the summer. The kids can't wait! The big New Year
event was spent with two of our best friends here, Christina and Per. Sweden is
famous for all the firework they shoot off at new year and this was of course a special
one. We felt like we were in a war zone for about 30 min. I'm not kidding!
They buy rockets for fifty bucks a piece and shoot them off drunk out of their
minds. It's dangerous. We survived with out injury and a real good time.
As for us, the next trip is a ski trip for a week in March. As for the summer
and next trip to the USA... well we don't know yet. There has been talk about Easter
but who knows. Take care and look at all the new pictures. There are a lot so
be patient when you open the photo page.
Happy Thanksgiving! - 11/26/98: Thanksgiving is
here again and so are we. I think the only Thanksgiving letters I have ever written
have been from Sweden. Well I guess we have a lot to be thankful for.
Sometimes we thought just making it through the first year would be enough to be thankful
for. Starting with six months of winter is bad enough, but the darkest, wettest in
recorded history is worse. Building a new house, moving twice, starting two new
jobs, putting the kids into a new daycare, putting in a yard, driveway, walkway, and
attic, all during the windiest, coldest, wettest summer in recorded (OK, it wasn't the
record, but close). Let's just say that people were so effected by the weather this
year that the local paper took the weather section that was previously buried in the
middle of section B somewhere and created a daily full page investigation found
conveniently on the back page. Well, at least we have winter to look forward too... No,
really. Marcus has started ice skating school and Nichole is getting skates for
Christmas. If the snow comes soon, there is a slope up where Lotta's Mom and Dad
bought a Lake House. Even better, we live right next to the biggest sledding hill in
Southern Sweden. Seriously, I'll bet the run is about 350 feet in elevation change
and at least 1500 feet long. And we live at the base of the mountain (OK, I got
carried away again. Hill). As for the Holidays, we are celebrating Thanksgiving here
with Lotta's family including Grandparents. Should be a treat for them. For
some strange reason they don't usually celebrate a bunch of pilgrims being saved by the
Indians here in Sweden. That's OK, they didn't go trick or treating before we got
here either. That right, Lotta and I started a new tradition in our neighborhood.
The last couple of years Halloween has become more and more popular with
decorations, pumpkins, and costume parties for adults, but it wasn't until this year kids
started to trick or treat. I guess I don't have to tell you, the kids thought it was
great. We got 30 kids and the whole neighborhood (52 houses) to participate.
Some of the adults even dressed up to spook the kids when they came to the door. Time to
close for today. We all wish you the very best Thanksgiving and holiday season.
Don't forget to check out the new pictures under Fall 98.
Summer - 08/04/98: It's been a while since I
updated the news. We have been pretty busy. First, the big move in and then
trying to put a yard together has kept us running. Unfortunatly, this has been one
of the rainiest summers in a long time. Every time we start something, it starts to
rain. The yard was suppose to be done a long time ago, but we were putting down a
cobblestone driveway and didn't want to start the rest until the big machines were done.
We also put down a walkway between the garage and the house as well as a 350 sq.
ft. patio. Today we started the prep work for the grass which comes on friday.
It will be nice to have that done before I go back to work on Monday. The only
plants outside at this time are the hedge which goes all the way around the house, a tree
to be planted in the front yard, and a lot of small plants for the flower beds and garden.
Soon to come are an apple tree, and a line of 6 ft Ceders to create a privacy wall
at the one end of the patio. Marcus and Nichole have enjoyed the summer and are
making new friends in the neighborhood. Thats the good thing about moving into a new
neighborhood, Lots of kids the same age and everybody trying to meet everybody. As
for going back to work, well lets just say 7 weeks went too fast.
Update on the House - 05/20/98: Well it came!
On the 14th of May they delivered the house. It was pretty exciting watching
them put the Lego pieces together. In the morning there was only a foundation.
By lunch the bottom floor with bathroom, utility room, and complete kitchen was in
place. By the end of the day the second floor was up and all but the windows
assembled. As for the second floor inside, that will take a while as they build it
the conventional way. The outside isn't complete either. They need to
insulate, stucco, and paint. For those of you wondering, no it's not a trailer
house. They simply build the house in sections indoors in a factory where it is
dry, and then deliver the pieces to the sight for assembly. In fact, the structure
is a little more sophisticated than a regular house so that it can be moved and assembled
without damage. The main benefit of this type of house is that it remains dry
throughout production. The continuous moisture here is a big problem for houses over
their lifetime. If they can keep them dry, they will live longer, and the owners
will live healthier. I have the even on video so if I figure out how to transfer a
bit to an .avi file I will post it. As for pictures, they are on the way.
Extra Benefits - 04/24/98: One of the extra
benefits of moving here was travel. So far Tetra Pak has paid off twice. Once
to Seattle, which was an extra bonus since my Dad lives close by, and once to Lusanne
Switzerland. The trip to Seattle was great both professionally as well as privately.
While there I got to spend 3 days with my Dad and check out his new gallery, the
Bear Paw Gallery. He is showing mostly his own work as well as selected other
artists. I'm very excited for him. I hope to build a web site for the
gallery soon. As for the trip to Switzerland, well the Alps are beautiful. I
want to go back when I can spend some time. (I was their on business). I need to
learn a bit of french though. They don't speak a lot of English outside Tetra Pak
and Swedish is not that common at the office.
Day to Day - 04/21/98: Day to day life is still
crazy. Lotta and I both work full time but Lotta alternates between morning and
evening and 3 of 5 weekends. Right now since we live in Akarp, I get up about 5:30,
get ready, wake the kids, get them ready with help from Lotta when she works evenings, and
get them to school by 7:30 so they can eat breakfast. After work I pick them up
about 5:00pm, drive them home, get them fed (or if Lotta is home we get a real meal), get
them bathed, teeth brushed, story read, and into bed (the first time) by 7:30. OK 8:00 but
we try! Its not easy considering it doesn't get dark until 9:15 now. Then we start
over! In between we do taxes, hunt for houses, set up insurance, set up banking,
etc... For those of you that knew how we were about going to the gym, all I can say
is Lotta rides her bike 15 miles to work instead (see weather above) and I hear there is a
nice gym in the basement of our 2 story building. All this will change soon.
The house will be finished this summer, I'm taking 7 weeks (3 of my 5 vacation weeks and 4
of our 146 paid parental leave week) off to get organized and enjoy the summer June, July,
and August, and we will have 20 hours of sun (or at least light) and 70 to 75 degrees
everyday! Remember, always visit Sweden in the Summer!
The Weather - 04/21/98: I'm sure you are all
interested in the weather. Well, we have lived through the most depressing winter
since they started recording in 1908. We had only 12 hours of sun shine in December
total! It's always dark and rainy during the winter, but nothing like this year.
Spring is also a bit late in coming. We just now have Daffodils. The
hedges as getting green and the first sign of trees budding leave can be seen. The
cherry trees and a few others are also in bloom, but I sure miss the Dogwoods.
Temperature wise we stay pretty close to 50 during the days and 40 at night. This
week will be the first week we hit 60 "they say". One thing you have to
understand about Swedish weather is that it is very similar to mountain weather.
What I mean is, 55 degrees with sun shine and calm winds feels like a perfect 75 degree
day, 55 degrees with clouds and or wind feels like the dead of winter. You can
imagine what it's like to dress for a partly cloudy day with light but gusty winds,
"shorts and winter jackets!"
The New House - 03/21/98: After searching long and
hard, we gave up the hunt for an older house in the center of town and decided to
build. The house we are building is located on the north side of Lund. Its
right next to a big park that has the only ski hill in the South. It worked out
great since the kids are already in a day care located just 5 min. by bike from the
house. It's also close to work. Lotta is about 10 min. one direction and I am about
10 min. in another direction. As a matter of fact, you can complete the bike tour by
riding 5 min. from Lotta's work to mine! As for the house, it should be ready to
move into June 26. We are pretty excited. Check out the pictures as we build
in our photo album.
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