Latest entries from shazzerspeak.blog-city.com

Swedish practicality starts young...

Shazzer — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:48:00 GMT

A team of Helsingborg, Sweden, high school students has won a national award for its invention — men’s underwear with pockets for condom storage.

Underwear condom pockets earn award

Somehow I don’t think this would have gone over big as a 4-H Project in the U.S.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

The polls are open! The polls are open!

Shazzer — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:58:00 GMT

Just a quick shout-out to all my friends, family and loyal ShazzerSpeak readership in the Hoosier State to remind them to grab their government-issued ID and “get thee to the polls” today to cast a vote that might actually have some impact for a change.

This marks the first time in my adult life that the presidential nominees haven’t already been determined by the Indiana primary, making the trip to the polls pretty much just an excuse to slip out of the office early on a spring afternoon. NOT THIS TIME!

There are very few days that I regret relocating from my home state to Sweden, but May 6, 2008, will go down in history as one of them.

Mobile post sent by Shazzer using Utterz. Replies.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Give Dubya props for consistency!

Shazzer — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:24:00 GMT

I had to post this if only for the incredibly clever Absolut Vodka-esque graphic!

Administration Still Purging Those Who Are Not “Loyal Bushies”

The Bush administration hasn’t changed its habit of ridding itself of those guilty of independent thinking.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Shazzer — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:55:00 GMT

From sunny, non-celebrating Sweden!

Mobile post sent by Shazzer using Utterz. Replies. mp3

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Rare sunshiney weekend has me longing for Spring and a cleaning lady...

New Rules for distinguishing the "bitter" from the idiots

Shazzer — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:56:00 GMT

Bill Maher hits it out of the park with this set of "New Rules", in which he manages to roast the IRS, the airline industry, "Bitter-Gate" and Bill O'Reilly of Faux News.

Oh...and he's bitter because “shitkickers voted twice for a retarded guy they’d like to have a beer with, and everybody else had to suffer the consequences.”

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

When the cat's away...the mice eat sushi!

Shazzer — Sun, 04 May 2008 05:43:00 GMT

Dr. Darling’s Mom is down for the weekend and the two of them made a rather spur-of-the-moment decision this morning to go to Copenhagen. I’m still dealing with the remnants of the Spring Cold from Hell and decided to pass on the excursion. I’m also in the midst of proofreading a doctoral thesis for a Lund University engineer and needed to spend some time on that.

But the weather was just too beautiful to be indoors all afternoon (and the sun was too bright to see the iBook screen on the balcony). So instead of working, I ran errands, sampled my favorite Alpha Geek ’s latest espresso blend (in addition to being our "go-to guy" for all things computer-related, Sonny's an amateur barista), and then rendezvoused with some friends for a spicy tuna inside-out fix.

Usually Dr. D’s absence (the D also stands for ‘disdainful of fish’) is the only excuse I need to hit a sushi bar, but today I reasoned that I actually needed the wasabi…you know, for medicinal purposes. My sinuses are clear for the first time in a week!

Mobile post sent by Shazzer using Utterz. Replies.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

From the Domestic Goddess Dept.

Shazzer — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:54:00 GMT

According to LiveScience.com:

Men Create More Housework for Women

So then why is it that The Penthouse-Nordic usually looks like a dump unless we’re expecting company?

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Pain at the pump: a little reality check for Americans

Shazzer — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:21:00 GMT

I’m hearing plenty of griping about gasoline prices from my American friends and family lately, but it’s hard for me to be sympathetic when I don’t even own a car.

However, if I did have wheels, I’d be paying close to 7 bucks a gallon for gas here in Sweden…so I’d probably have no sympathy anyway.

U.S. gas: So cheap it hurts

Relatively low taxes have kept pump prices far below most other developed nations, which some say is precisely why the current runup is so painful.

(from CNNMoney.com)

Original Entry

Leave Comment

The Supreme Court strikes out again

Shazzer — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:19:00 GMT

In the “most important voting rights case since Bush v Gore,” the Supreme Court validated GOP voter fraud talking points.

SCOTUS stikes again!

This is especially distressing to me because the case originates from my home station of Indiana, where there has never been an incident of the type of fraud the ID law is intended to prevent.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

A Snickers a day keeps the Dr. away?

Shazzer — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:59:00 GMT

Tough job: Volunteers needed for chocolate study

LONDON (Reuters) - Calling all chocoholics: British researchers recruiting volunteers willing to eat a bar of chocolate daily for a year, guilt-free and all in the name of science.

I hate to break it to the researchers, but I’ve been following this protocol for years.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Colour me miserable, matey.

Shazzer — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:13:00 GMT

Is there anything quite as annoying as a spring cold? Especially after one has gone "cold-free" all winter long? I don't think so!

I knew something was up in the middle of last week when I starting waking up each morning to find my right eye socket glued shut (and Dr. Darling claiming to have had nothing to do with it). I had been told when I was getting fitted for my prosthetic eye earlier this year that it would likely give me the first indication that I was catching a cold or about to get hammered with allergies. Turns out that was not an exaggeration.

I've since learned that contact lenses serve as a similar "early warning system" for folks who wear them. Of course contact lens wearers can just switch to glasses when they're feeling poorly. I get switch to "Pirate Mode"...abandoning the fake eye in favor of a patch...which is exactly how I spent the weekend.

As this is the first and only cold I've had since cold & flu season began last fall, it's apparently decided to run the complete gamut of symptoms. Last week it was watery eyes, scratchy throat and morning laryngitis (much to Dr. Darling's delight). Over the weekend it was headache, sinus pain and sneezing, and today it's manifesting itself as a deep chest cough along with massive snot production. FUN!

I worked from home on Friday at the request of colleagues who did not want to catch the bug, but was back in the office today even though I actually feel worse now than I did last week. Normally I'm not quite this dedicated, but I had an oft-postponed meeting with our CEO scheduled for early this afternoon and I didn't want it to get pushed back again...especially on my account.

So I dosed myself with contraband U.S. cold medicine this morning and soldiered on...hopefully not infecting the CEO in the process. Because I don't think that would serve me very well in my next employee evaluation.

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

I'll believe it when I see it...

Shazzer — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:58:00 GMT

Turning tide in Indiana

Worried about Iraq and the economy, some Republican Hoosiers are feeling blue, and may vote that way, too.

(From The Boston Globe)

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Indiana wants me...

Shazzer — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:08:00 GMT

For the first time since I’ve been old enough to vote, my home state is actually a “playa” in a presidential primary race…and I’m living in Sweden.

Usually the nominees for both parties have been determined long before the Hoosier State gets around to holding its primary in May. But this year both the Democratic candidates have been campaigning in Indiana...hell, Barack Obama even has an event scheduled at my high school.

Of course the sad reality is that no matter which Dem takes Indiana, the state will go to McCain in November. He won't even have to campaign there...merely wave as he flys over.

For Indiana Voters, Talk of Change May Fall Flat (from The New York Times)

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

How did I survive so long without an iPod?!

Shazzer — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:35:00 GMT

Despite being both a dedicated Mac user and a gadget-addict all of my adult life, I have always (inexplicably, really) resisted the pull of the iPod. Part of my apathy toward the "game-changing" mp3 player that put Apple design artistry in the hands of pretty much everyone on the planet is that I've just never had an overwhelming need to carry my own music around with me.

Naturally I'm in plenty of situations where tunes could make life more pleasant: the daily commute to my office, the gym, the laundry room, etc. But I worked in commercial radio for a lot of years and have always been pretty content to listen to that. And since moving to Sweden, radio ads and jingles have been great tools for learning the language. Besides, the last couple renditions of my mobile phone have had the ability to store and play mp3 files (though the process for getting them on the phone is kind of a pain-in-the-butt).

I further have never had the inclination to store a bunch of music on my iBook, and for that reason, iTunes was one of the most chronically underused programs on the machine. But then late last summer my good friend (and fellow Mac fan) Bex introduced me to the podcast section of Apple's iTunes Store.

OMG let's just say I saw the light!

Turns out the iTunes Store offers thousands of free audio and video podcasts from both independent creators and major media outlets. You just subscribe to the ones that interest you, and iTunes (the software) downloads the latest episodes automatically. SWEET!

But I was kind of tethered to the iBook for listening to and/or watching them, and given that I already spend MORE than enough time in front of a computer each day, it wasn't long before I was contemplating my first iPod purchase. The only question was, which one to choose? Unfortunately, that was also just about the time that my hinky eye drama started, and the shopping trip was postponed indefinitely.

Then last month my favorite AlphaGeek Sonny bought his lovely wife an iPhone, and suddenly her iPod Nano...which had been a Christmas gift...was kind of redundant. Knowing I had been lusting after an iPod for quite some time...he offered me the opportunity to buy it from them at a "family discount", and now, just a few weeks later, I can barely remember what life was like before I got it.

Now, instead of doing sudoku puzzles on the train ride to work, I'm watching episodes of NBC's Meet the Press and highlights from The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Last night while cooking dinner I listened to parts of NPR's The Bryant Park Project and the first half of a recent episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. And earlier this week, instead of reading in bed, I watched five clips from The Best of YouTube without disturbing Dr. Darling...until I laughed outloud.

Perhaps I still have a few things to learn about iPod etiquette.

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Caffeine kick: short shots are better than 'big gulps'

Shazzer — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:32:00 GMT

Caffeine jump-starts the body and sharpens the mind. But studies suggest that we Yanks are doing it wrong. For optimal brain gain, regular tea breaks, as favored in the UK, are more effective than a 20-ounce French roast sucked down at Starbucks in lieu of breakfast.

Caffeinate With Care: Small Shots Do a Brain Better Than Big Blasts

(from Wired.com)

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Mainstream media screws Americans again

Shazzer — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:43:00 GMT

Torturers in the White House: Why Is This Story Being Ignored?

“The biggest news of the last week went virtually uncovered by the mainstream, print media. ABC News first reported last Wednesday that top Bush Administration officials, including Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, John Ashcroft, and George Tenet, Colin Powell, and Donald Rumsfeld met to discuss which particular torture techniques should be used against Al Qaeda suspects in U.S. custody.”

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Indianapolis tops list of sexually satisfied cities???

Shazzer — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:14:00 GMT

WTF? Not only is Indy number one on the list, but the article goes on to say:

“The Indiana city is followed by Columbus, Ohio, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Salt Lake City, Utah, in the report by Men’s Health Magazine that ranked the sexual satisfaction of people in 100 cities.”

Having spent most of my adult life in Indiana, I feel pretty safe in saying that it’s easy to be satisfied when your expectations are low.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

But I don't even drink beer...

Shazzer — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:28:00 GMT

Lately my inbox has been pounded (at least SOMETHING is getting pounded around here) with notifications from Twitter that a fellow user has decided to "follow" me.

For the non-initiated, this means that some Twitterers have subscribed to my Twitter timeline so that my "tweets" appear on their Twitter pages, or on their cellphones via SMS if they so choose. Initially, I was really flattered by this influx of new "followers", because I thought it meant that folks were finding my tweets entertaining enough to want to be notified whenever I posted a new one. (Hey, it could happen!)

Sadly, this is only the case about 2% of the time.

While the "follow" option is meant to connect Twitter users with similar interests and spark interaction between them, more and more often commercial entities are setting up Twitter accounts and using the feature to blast unsolicited advertising messages (AKA SPAM) to unsuspecting "followers." This works because good Twitter etiquette dictates that you return-follow a user who has chosen to follow you.

That being said, I've always been pretty selective about who I follow (Dr. Darling's influence, no doubt) even though I know doing so limits my Twitter experience somewhat. I check out the user's profile before I commit to following them, and if they themselves are following massive numbers of users (as all commercial accounts tend to do), it's a pretty good bet they have no interest in knowing that I got stuck sitting between two stinky drunk people on my commute home from the office.

On the other hand, perhaps that's exactly the kind of tweet that prompted user BeerOfTheDay to start following me?

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Obama administration AG would investigate Bush White House crimes

Shazzer — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:27:00 GMT

Obama would ask his AG to “immediately review” potential of crimes in Bush White House

This ALONE is reason enough to vote for him.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

This onion has me crying...

Shazzer — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:42:00 GMT

Two stories from the latest issue of The Onion Daily Dispatch have me in tears of laughter tonight. Below is a preview, but click the links if you have time...it's SO worth it!

Southwest Airlines Now Taking Passengers To Destinations By Shuttle Bus

“With these amazing new buses, traveling from New York to Los Angeles takes as little as three days. That’s less than half the time it took passengers to get there on our old planes.”

and

Posters of Naked Women Fail to Draw Real Naked Women to Dorm Room

The housing department report, compiled over the course of three weeks spent monitoring the dorm room and its immediate surroundings, categorically concluded that “there exists no measurable cause-and-effect relationship between the presence of the naked-women posters and the willingness of non-photographic human women to appear naked in or near that location.”

Sheer genius.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Despite my appreciation for both boobs and bacon…

Shazzer — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:38:00 GMT

I find this image somewhat disturbing.

Bacon Bra | Serious Eats : Required Eating

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

OMG!!! It's my dream salad!

Another kallbadhus convert created!

Shazzer — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:23:00 GMT

Today I introduced yet another American to the wonders of the traditional Swedish sauna and cold plunge routine. It's one element of the culture here that I have TOTALLY embraced, though I missed the best part of the winter bathing season this year courtesy of my surgery.

Like most Yanks (and Brits, and...well, pretty much everyone except Germans), this newbie was a little wary of the nudity factor at first. The skinny-dipping is one thing...the sauna is something else entirely because of proximity.

But once the initial oddness of sitting around naked with a bunch of strangers wore off, she was completely onboard. Especially with the post-plunge-sitting-around-naked-OUTDOORS-with-a-bunch-of-strangers part of the experience. I know this sounds strange considering it was cloudy and only about 40 degrees (F) outside, but once you emerge from the bone-chilling Öresund, the air temperature feels outright warm by comparison!

While we were there, we ran into a Finnish friend of mine who turns out to be a Malmö kallbadhus regular. (This shouldn't have surprised me since Finns are even crazier about the sauna/cold plunge ritual than Swedes.) Between her and my newly converted American pal, I should have no shortage of people to plunge with this spring!

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Gawker smart-asses share my opinion of Starbucks coffee

Shazzer — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:30:00 GMT

Talk about serious vindication!

Starbucks Geniuses To Stop Burning Coffee, Change World Forever

(Of course I had to comment!)

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Monday morning mindfulness

Shazzer — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:50:00 GMT

First I left The Penthouse-Nordic for the gym without my keys, but (thankfully) realized it before Dr. Darling had left the building.

Then I left the gym without my insulated Starbucks coffee mug and had to double back for it. (Yes, I take coffee to the gym rather than a waterbottle…it’s 5:45 in the morning for cryin’ outloud!)

And then I left for work without the new iPod Nano I had just loaded up with podcasts to listen to on my commute. (The only item I didn’t go back after.)

It’s a good thing my head is attached to the rest of my body, even though it’s clearly out to lunch.

Mobile post sent by Shazzer using Utterz. Replies.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

Healthy spousal rebellion

Shazzer — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:38:00 GMT

Dr. Darling spent part of the past weekend up at her brother’s house in Halmstad for a big gathering of their cousins, which means I got to be on my own for about 28 hours from Saturday to Sunday. (Not that I was counting or anything.)

I opted out of the festivities primarily because I haven’t seen any of the cousins since losing my eye, and I just wasn’t up to answering a lot of questions about it…nor the inevitable discussion about the ongoing cancer-watch…especially in Swedish.

So I stayed in Malmö and did what I always do when the Swede is out-of-town: eat sushi. Twenty pieces to be exact, and it was heavenly!

I also took the opportunity to wear my newest hat, a cotton flatcap (aka newsboy-, ivy- or driving cap) that I should have purchased in Scotland had Dr. Darling not talked me out of it. The cap looks exactly like the picture below except that it’s black.

I’ve always had a bit of a thing for caps and my collection has grown quite a bit since moving to Sweden where the weather is nearly always conducive to wearing one no matter what the season.

I originally found this little beauty in Edinburgh, at an H&M store of all places. It was inexpensive and looked incredibly cute on my head, and besides that I loved the irony of purchasing a very English-looking cap from a Swedish retailer in Scotland. But because Dr. Darling HATED it, I didn’t buy it…something I regretted (and mentioned several times) after returning home.

So the weekend before last we were out running errands and happened to pass an H&M, and which point the Swede looked at me and said, “You wanna go in and see if they have that hat, don’t you?”

The following conversation ensued:

Me: “Of course I do, but I bet they don’t have it. That style would be kind of unusual here, and besides, I just couldn’t be that lucky.”

Dr. D: “Well, I’ll bet you they do have it, but if I win the bet, then you can’t buy it.”

Me: “So you’re saying that if I win the bet…meaning they don’t have it…I’m allowed to buy it?”

Dr. D: “Exactly.”

Me: “How much of an idiot do you think I am?! Don’t answer that question!!!”

We laughed all the way to the men’s department where lo and behold, they actually had the cap. There was only one black one left in my size so of course I HAD TO GET IT no matter how much the Swede despised it.

Dr. D’s shoulders hung in mock resignation as I marched up to the sales clerk and paid for it. I did, however, make one concession: that I would never wear it in her presence*, which is why I had it on most of this past weekend.

*We’ll see how long THAT lasts.

Original Entry

Leave Comment

Related Entries: