stoff
Today I took the car to the shop again this morning. As I expected they didn’t have a car for me to borrow during the day but instead they decided to fix it while I waited. So after an hour I got my keys back and off I went. Didn’t have to pay anything because of the earlier fuckups so happy about that. Now that I don’t have to worry about that or getting a new job I guess I’ll just have to worry about global peace.
Remember a while back when I was just hating on car mechanics in general? Well that was after some bad experience with them and after all of that shit me and my wife decided that we’d prefer to have a set monthly cost for a car no matter what happens (almost). And that is called leasing. And Volkswagen was having a drive (no pun intended) on their smaller models at the time so we signed up for that. Since then we pay a fix amount and we don’t have to care about the car making a strange noise or anything. And it’s not cheap either but we get full service from their repair shop.
So you’d think that would solve all that? … well, nope. Cause mechanics are humans and humans fucks up. Sometimes twice per day! We had a chip on the front screen and we heard a weird noise a few weeks back from a wheel so we called them, set a date for me to come in with the car, we’d get a spare car over the day while they fix it, we didn’t have to pay nothing. So on Friday I drove it to the shop and got a spare car and drove to work. After about 40 minutes they called me. I’d gotten the wrong spare car! So they sent a mechanic over with the right car and we just switched. And then they called me again. It seems that as of a few weeks they don’t fix chipped windows anymore, they are using a third party for those repairs. So there was nothing they could do about that! So I went back to change cars again and the customer service guy I talked to thought that all sounded weird so he double checked it. And yes indeed the mechanic was wrong, they are suppose to fix those cars for people like us that have this special deal. So they asked me to come back with the car this week and they would definitely fix it. We didn’t set a date or anything so I’m thinking I’m gonna take the car there and be met with “but we don’t have a spare car for you today, can you come back tomorrow?” and that’s when the only downside to having a leased car kicks in – limited mileage. We’re only allowed to drive 1500 metric miles per year with it (or rather 4500 during the 3 year lease period). And we’re up to 1250 and 4 months to go so trying to be as efficient as possible there. And all these trips to and from the shop ads up.
So yeah, even though we’re leasing a car and paying a shitton per month for something we’re not even gonna own isn’t solving all the problems that we’d hope for. ‘Cause mechanics are still fucking us over.
After having talked to my boss to be, my teamleader to be and a woman from HR I’m very hopeful that my new job at Tomas Cook will kick ass. Because it’s a job that I really enjoy doing and do well. It’s webrelated but I also get to explore the business intelligence side of Sharepoint which I haven’t really done that much earlier. I get a small salary increase, I liked the offices and I like the people. So everything felt awesome when I went there to sign the papers.
That’s when “I knew there was a catch!” kicked in. They have a strict cell phone policy. Namely … iPhones only! I can totally go onboard and support a decision to only have one type of phones to make it easier for everyone’s jobs. At the lawfirm we had Blackberrys only – for security reasons. If you bought your own phone that was OK but don’t expect to get your mail on it. At Carema we had HTC only, but if you bought your own phone you got no official support for it but you could still use it. But here it’s strictly iPhone. I felt like a sell out accepting that but I really wanted the job. And it’s not like I haven’t had an iPhone before. But now I have to pay for apps again and shit like that. And having invested in Navigon for Android you can guess how happy I am about that!
The only other downside is their location. Their office is in Stockholm, but not in the centre but a bit off (Marieberg) so I’ll be 5-10 minutes late every morning since I drop off Sam at kindergarten. And I’ll need to go like 10 minutes earlier to make it home earlier than 6:30 and considering Sam goes to bed between 7-8 that’s pretty important to me!
But still, this feels like it could be one kick ass job!
Last year after I came back from my parental leave I thought I needed to take another step in my career and move away from helpdesk. Even though I actually enjoy solving peoples problems I also enjoy making things just work, mostly from behind the scenes. So after the summer break I left my safe and comfortable job at the lawfirm and got a job at Carema, huge healthcare company here in Sweden. But after a few months it got a bit unsettling here and getting vibes of outsourcing. So I started looking around and found an ad for a job at Tomas Cook, the travel agency. After some interviews and EQ tests and psych profiling (I wish I was kidding!) I was offered the job. Unfortunately I already had another interview planned since I didn’t know how it was gonna go with Tomas Cook. And that interview was for a huge contractor here in Sweden. So I went there for the interview and even though they offered all the job-security in the world, a better monthly salary (but not many benefits) I spent the night actually losing sleep over which one to go with. But I chose Tomas Cook! Partially for the benefits, partially for the job itself that is 100% up my alley (compared to the other one that was like 95%) but it was also because I liked the feeling you got at their office. It was calm and warm. All the people I met were very friendly and nice but professional and that goes double for the boss.
Who would’ve thought that I, the most professional, factual almost Vulcan when it comes to work, would chose one place over there other mostly because of how I felt for the people I met and not only because of factual things like salary and the actual work.
And who would’ve thought that I, the person who had only changed employer twice in his career (once involuntarily) would change jobs twice in less that 12 months?
But here I go. Wish me luck!
By the end of today I should have a new job signed and done. Although in sweden you have a 6 month grace period when it comes to employments and during that period the employer as well as the employee have full legal right to just say “nope, it’s not working out” and you’re off the legal hook. So as fark as “signed and done” goes there’s still no guarantee. We’ll see later today.
But Sam has really adapted quickly to life without a pacifier. It takes a bit longer for him to realize that he’s suppose to go to sleep now without it but once he does there’s no problem at all. Even at kindergarten it’s working out nicely. So all good on that front too.
And now it’s easter weekend which is 4 days off from work and we’re taking that opportunity to force Sam to live without a pacifier. About 24 hours in and so far he’s doing well and accepts it that we reply “gone!” whenever he says “app” (the swedish word for pacifier is “napp”). Fortunately for us he’s never been that obsessed with having a pacifier. Actually during his entire first year he was always spitting it out so we really never even should’ve started using one. But we’re weak 🙁
Right now there’s a bit of uncertaintity to say the least about my job status. Or if I’ll have one in when April ends. When it’s sorted I’ll post a longer update about what’s going on, but right now I don’t know for sure but I’m pretty comfortable that I won’t be unemployed for long! More to come later.
It’s finally arrived. We waited them out but now the wait is over. And it’s big. And comfy and cuddle-friendly as hell! It really is in the face of adversity that you need this 🙂
This parenthood thing really does suck sometimes! Right now we’re having issues with Sam that we have no idea how to deal with. He started feeling sick last week, probably got the some stomach flu and that started on Thursday. Since then he barely eats anything at all ever. And he can get a fever for no apparent reason at all. We thought he was good to go back to kindergarten but then on monday night he started crying and then threw up. So I was home on tuesday as well and H took over on wednesday and today he looked and felt fine enough for kindergarten again. It’s just so worrying as a parent when your kid get sick like that and gets a fever when you thought he was OK. But during the days that we’ve been home with him he’s been very bored at home so even if he’s not 100% I’m still sure he’s better off at kindergarten than another day lying in the soffa watching Nickelodeon and playing with the same toys and cars that he’s played with for over a week. But what’s up with this “don’t wanna eat”-thing. It’s not that he’s just protesting or anything, he’s just not hungry.
But then he says something like “sit close” and his smile and it’s all worth it!!!
A few years ago someone at NASA’s PR department must’ve gotten a weird idea and said “hey, we have the ability to produce some of the most amazing visuals with out technology and access to ISS so let’s start doing that” because in the past months we’ve seen some amazing videos and images from them, including the incredible hi-res shot of the americas.
But this goes about and beyond!!!
NASA – Aurorae from Space from Camilla SDO on Vimeo.
One thing noone told me about being a parent is how tired you are and feel it’s ok to go to bed at 9 pm. Me and Helena have done that basically every night for the past 2 weeks (except the weekend) ann we feel it’s totally ok. But I also feel we’re missing out on alot of “us” time. I remember when I used to play WoW to 1 am every night, go to bed and up at 6 again, that’s right now not even conceivable how that would work!!
If we disregard the actual result from the F1 race, that was a helluva weekend!
Saturday morning we went to do a bit of last minute shopping (even bribed Sam with a guitarr) and on the afternoon my sister AC, her son Alex and my brother Jocke came by and we had a small little BBQ (just burgers and bacon and all that good stuff), then watched the F1 qualifying (yeah, I waited a full 12 hours to see it ’cause it’s more fun to do it with other people). Then we played alot of PS3 move and some normal board games into the wee hours. Well for us anyway, we went to bed at 1 am and I think the last time we did that was when we took the small cruise together! Then woke up early on sunday to watch the F1 race, some more PS3 move and just talking and they went home. Great fun!
Then my wife had invited two of her friends over with their kids so we had our hands full until around 6 when they went home. Then it was a quick dinner, Sam to bed and after 8 we decided that we’d had an awesome but busy weekend and just went to bed. And it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.
Awesome 🙂 .. if we disregard the actual F1 race..
It’s finally time for Formula 1 again! As usual it kicks off in Australia again. And as usual me, my sister AC and brother Jocke are picking up something that we started 10 years ago – they come over to my place on saturday evening, we eat, drink, watch movies and try to stay awake all night (with varying degrees of success) and watch the race in the morning. Ofcourse this was easier when they started the race at 2 pm local time which was like 5 am here in Sweden but for capitalistic reasons they are now started 4 pm local time which is 7 am here so we’re gonna have to stay awake even longer. Or we’ll just go to sleep at 2. I dunno. We’ll see what happens.
But it’s good to keep up with tradition 🙂
A little followup on yesterday’s post – I updated my Samsung Galaxy SII with the officially released Android 4 and I kept an eye on the connection indicator to see if they had gone the same route as Apple. Nope, still only HSPA+ 🙂
Btw, gotta love flashmobs (although this seemed a bit TOO well organized)
Time for another “I hate…” post.
I hate it when marketing departments screws with technology terms and twists them. The latest example is .. can you guess… that’s right, Apple! Read this if you’re interested in the technical aspect of it – or let me summarize. We all know what 3G is on cellphones today. It’s pretty fast. So the next thing is ofcourse 4G which is really really fast. But there have been a technical debate about what defines each. Most people agrees that the technology called “LTE” is what really is 4G. Actually as far as I knew there wasn’t anyone saying anything else. Well in the latest iOS update Apple and AT&T decided to redefine it and include HSPA+ as 4G. HSPA+ has been available for years through the 3G network. And yes, in perfect conditions HSPA+ can come up to the same transfer speed as LTE. But that don’t make it 4G because it still uses the overcrowded 3G range. LTE is a new technology that uses new infrastructure which is what I, and every other sane tech nerd, call a new technology – when you need to change the infrastructure!
I mean, did Intel ever overlock a Pentium 3 CPU to ~2 Ghz and call it Pentium 4? Ofcourse they didn’t since Pentium 4 is a completely different architecture!
But I guess the marketing departments at Apple and AT&T decided that doesn’t matter and just went for calling HSPA+ 4G and BAM! overnight Apple has the most 4G capable devices in the world (but not a single one publicly available that actually uses the 4G network). Good work And it also makes it easier for them to sell the new iPad in europe as a “4G” device even though it can’t handle European LTE!
Now the big question is how will they sell the iPhone 5.. I mean they can’t brag about “it has 4G!” since the iPhone 4S already, by their definitions, has 4G!
Let these technical things be for technical people and let marketing do ads. I mean if technical geeks where to make ads it’d probably be something like this –
I really like George Takei. You know, that asian guy that played “Sulu” in the old Star Trek. I can’t say I either like or dislike his acting or whatever, but I am a huge fan of his facebook-page. It’s one of the big downsides to deactivating my account – I don’t get to see the funny pictures and clips and his posts that are always full of Zen-isms. And I loved his roast of William Shatner!!
And then the guy goes and does something like this…
It’s hilarious shit! I wish Hollywood had more people like that!!
Sweet – http://www.svd.se/opinion/brannpunkt/carema-foljde-de-etiska-riktlinjerna_6911371.svd
It’s basically the findings of an investigation into how Carema have handled the care of elderly and they can’t find nothing wrong that Carema isn’t fixing and they also go as far as saying that the media was in some cases totally outright lying. 🙂
So it’s the International Women’s Day today.. what does that exactly mean? And does it mean every other day of the year is Men’s Day? ..
I don’t need a special day to remind me how much I love my beautiful Helena; the woman that keeps me on my toes at home instead of being the lazy couch potato I’d probably be; the mother of my wonderful child; the love of my life; the wonderful person that I wake up next to every morning… hm, I guess it took a special day for me to write it though 🙂
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Time to post some pictures. I haven’t done that in a while so there is alot to post.Here we have pictures from when we went out to have some fun in the snow, going sleigh riding down the slopes and whatnot.
Here are some pictures from Sams 2nd birthday which we celebrated a little bit but since it was a normal weekday we didn’t have much of a party, but enough for him to know it was a special day.
Here are some pictures from the real birthday party we had on Sunday.
Password is the name of my current employer.
Yesterday we had a birthday party for Sam. We were a bit unsure if we should invite family or friends with kids he can play with. Because after all it is his party, not ours. But we eventually decided to invite “people he likes to be with” which included my sister, mother and father and same for H. And some other friends and neighbours with kids. So about 20 people all in all. And our house suddenly felt a bit small!!