From the article:

"One would be hard pressed to imagine any other group with substantial economic clout being told to sit tight and wait their turn by the administration of a president they helped to elect---not women, not Jews, not African Americans. No other group would tolerate it.

There is a great deal that can be done now, and if there is to be a culture war, it's an inevitable one. The quest for "bipartisanship" should not be an excuse for sacrificing political integrity, or honoring a long-overdue commitment to a long-loyal and significant voting bloc. Ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away, nor is pointing out the obvious fact that the Republicans are no friend of the LGBT community, or that a McCain-Palin administration would have been an express train to oblivion for gay rights. LGBT Americans voted for Obama to be their president too, not just the lesser of two evils."

Amen to that.

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There's a new attraction on the Skydeck of Chicago's famed Sears Tower...glass balconies that literally let you step out over the city from 103 floors up.

This is pretty ingenious if you ask me. I've visited the Skydeck close to a half-dozen times (usually with first-time visitors to the Windy City), and these babies have me ready to pay the price of admission again!

Though I do have to admit that I am disappointed to learn that the building's owners still intend to go forward with a plan to rename the historic landmark "Willis Tower" later this year. I was sincerely hoping that was just a joke.

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I was having breakfast at the office with two of my favorite colleagues a couple weeks ago when the subject of nursery school came up. Given that I don't have any kids myself, I pretty much just sat back and listened to the conversation...which they naturally carried on in lightening-fast Swedish.

At one point Anna was describing an incident on the playground several years ago in which a child at her sons' school had a rather embarrassing "accident" from which her parents had yet to recover. Initially I thought I had missed a pertinent detail of the story due to the rapid-fire Swedish, but it turned out Anna was being purposefully coy about the precise nature of the "accident" because, well, we were having breakfast after all.

So I waited until both she and Eliza had finished eating before asking, in English, for a clarification.

"Are you saying that the kid crapped the slide?"

At which point they both burst out laughing because evidently the phrase "crapped the slide" is a lot funnier than its Swedish equivalent. My colleagues liked it so much that we decided to start a campaign to make it part of the company lexicon as an idiom for an incident so mortifyingly embarrassing that you and your family end up being scarred for life.

We were still laughing about it a couple of days later when Eliza and I were experimenting with a new feature of the content management system we use to run the company websites. It allows you to place a block of text in quote format so that it stands out in a client case or customer reference page.

Using a draft of a client case page that had not yet been published on the site, Eliza added the following text:

"Oh Lord...I've really crapped the slide. Sure wish there was a Global Company XYZ service technician on hand to give me advise."

-- Shazzer MyRealLastName 

The new quote box rendered just as we expected it to and we had a nice chuckle over how "official" it looked on the dummy page, in spite of the typo...which we didn't bother to correct. It was just a draft, after all.

Fast-forward to yesterday afternoon when I was working on a different client case page. After hitting the "publish" button, I noticed a link where there shouldn't have been one. That's right...the draft page with the "crapped the slide" quote attributed to me had been LIVE on our corporate website for about 3 weeks.

Worse yet, neither Eliza nor I could not get the content management system to take it offline no matter what we tried! Panicked (and yet still laughing uncontrollably) we ended up having to delete the page entirely just to get it to go away.

Later I sent the following text message to my co-colleague in crime:

"You do realize that accidently publishing the "crapped the slide" quote on the corporate website is a perfect example of actually CRAPPING THE SLIDE?"

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This is because Dr. Darling, a classic INTJ, is physically exhausted by any kind of prolonged social interaction and I am driven crazy by my in-laws' unwillingness to let us act as actual hosts. And by that I mean the simple things like having a vote as to whether or not we should attempt to have a cook-out in a windstorm. At the beach. Hauling everything (including the grill) by bike so that they can have wine or beer w/dinner. I wish I was kidding.

Now I need to be clear that I'm talking about my father-in-law and his wife, not my mother-in-law...who is a pretty easy-going house-guest by comparison. She was down from Halmstad the previous weekend for Midsommar and we had a very nice visit. My father-in-law, and more specifically his wife, are much higher maintenance in spite of the fact that they always bring their own sheets and towels.

First off, they always invite themselves, though I can't really blame them for that because the Swede -- whose responsibility I believe it is to issue such invitations -- never seems to get around to it.  So I don't really mind that part, especially since they tend to give us plenty of notice. But once they arrive, they totally run their own agenda...which was even more aggravating than usual on Friday night since it was Dr. Darling's birthday.

This visit, besides the ill-timed BBQ at the beach (which did not happen courtesy of the weather, thank you Mother Nature), their plans included watching the EUFA Under 21 soccer match between Sweden and the UK (which we had to record so as not to interfere w/dinner), getting a tutorial with how to organize pictures on their laptop, and having us explain of all the accessories that came with their latest mobile phone, including installation of the accompanying software on the aforementioned computer. Oh, and did I mention it's a WinDoze machine equipped with Vista? I wish I was kidding.

Now why they rely on us for this kind of technical assistance is kind of a mystery considering that my step-mother-in-law has two highly tech-savvy sons of her own, and Dr. Darling's brother, a mobile network engineer, lives less than a half-hour away from them. The only thing we can figure is that none of those guys have the patience to explain things to them in terms they understand. Score one for the "alternative lifestyle" branch of the family that includes the foreigner.

They left about 3 p.m. on Saturday, which means they accomplished a hell of a lot in less than 24 hours. We, on the other hand, were left exhausted and kind of dazed, actually. On the plus side, they did give us our birthday presents (mine's this coming Saturday) in the form of cash, but it was tempting not to see it as "payment for services rendered."

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He also rightly notes that even with the progress being made in places around the U.S. (besides Washington D.C.), full civil rights are still far from being available to gay citizens.

From the article:

It’s a press cliché that “gay supporters” are disappointed with Obama, but we should all be. Gay Americans aren’t just another political special interest group. They are Americans who are actively discriminated against by federal laws.

I hope the President read it. In fact, I think I’m going to e-mail it to the White House.

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The first instance is a story about a cost-saving measure implemented at the city’s main police station in which several of the building’s restrooms were closed for the summer.

Nothing wrong with the plan in principle considering that much of the administrative staff will be on vacation during some portion of July and August. No, the problem was with the execution of it. Turns out the folks in charge of building maintenance didn’t bother to inform the affected departments before they locked them out of the toilets.

Don’t get me wrong…in these tough economic times, I truly do appreciate any government agency’s efforts to save tax money. But I’m not sure that forcing police to search a huge building (it serves as headquarters for regional law enforcement operations in this part of the country as well) just to find an open bathroom is making our streets any safer.

Then a few days later, the Malmö sports and recreation committee ruled that women have the right to swim topless in the city’s public pools if they want to, a ruling that can reasonably be considered more of a victory for teenage boys than for the women who filed the discrimination complaint.

And finally, on the VERY SAME DAY, Malmö customs officials were in the news for a seizure of 9,000 Viagra tablets that someone was trying to smuggle into the country through the mail. Talk about bad timing…the topless female bathing policy will probably cut the demand for erectile disfunction medication by at least 50%.

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Today marks the summer solstice for 2009, but Swedes have been celebrating since Friday. They have a talent for conveniently re-scheduling their holidays so that a 3-day weekend results. It is also Swedish custom to celebrate the "Eve" of the designated holiday, presumably so that the holiday itself can be used to recover from the previous night's party.

This means that the summer solstic, which actually occured this morning and marks the BEGINNING of summer for the rest the Northern Hemisphere, was celebrated on Friday here in Sweden, where it's considered the "middle of summer". Are you confused yet? Welcome to my world.

Since both Dr. Darling and our Midsommer party host, AKA the Alpha Geek, work in Denmark (where it's not an official holiday), we gathered on Saturday for lovely meal with family and friends. The menu featured four different kinds of herring and two different strawberry-centric desserts...both Swedish Midsommar staples.

Saturday also happened to be the 7th anniversary of my move to Vikingland from the United States. Back in 2002, I thought it was a good idea to have my arrival in Sweden coincide with the country's biggest holiday outside of Christmas, but in hindsight...not so much. The anniversary of the start of my life here gets lost in chaos of party planning and trying to remember the holiday opening hours for the the state-run liquor store. In fact, I'm not even sure Dr. Darling would remember if I didn't happen to point it out.

Good thing I'm not "the romantic type."

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And yes, I could have paid the conductor for a ticket, but they charge you an obscene amount extra to buy it on the train…and as far as I was concerned, I’d already paid for the trip, I just didn’t have the card on my person. When the commuter card did not turn up at my office, I rode “stealth” on the way home, hoping to find it on the dresser in The Batcave. No such luck. And there was no point in buying a new monthly card since the transportation company’s discount Summer Card was going to be available on the 15th.

So I spent the remainder of the week either paying for single trips at 62 SEK (a little over $8) a pop and resenting the hell out of it, riding “stealth” and sweating the possibility of facing a big fine if caught, and hitching a ride with my scary-driving boss who sees her commute as “work time” and spends the entire drive on her mobile phone (hands-free, but still a HUGE distraction).

So needless to say, I was very relieved when the week was finally over and I could anticipate starting Monday with a Summer Card.  I should have realized it wouldn’t be that simple when Dr. Darling and I went to the ticket office on Sunday afternoon and had to wait in a queue over 30 people deep to buy it.

This is a prime example of customer service in Sweden…on a Sunday afternoon at the start of tourist season, the day before their hugely popular discount Summer Card becomes valid, the ticket office thinks it’s okay to have just two windows open to serve customers.

I'd had a similar experience on Thursday morning when my rebate card (which has been loaded with money that can be used to buy tickets at a discount) suddenly stopped working in the station's self-service machines, and I had to go in to the ticket office to get it straightened out. On a week day, during the morning rush hour, they had just one customer window open despite there being at least three other staff members on hand...two of which had to interrupt the clerk when it was finally my turn to be served. Needless to say, I missed my train and was late for work that morning.

So I guess it shouldn't have been much of a surprise when my brand new Summer Card wouldn't work in the self-service machines on Monday. Unlike my monthly commuter card that's valid for unlimited travel for a specific period of time and can just be shown to the conductor after I board, the Summer Card is only good for 50 trips. You have to put it in a self-service machine, which then issues you a "ticket" that shows how many trips you've got left. Failure to get this ticket before getting on the train means you'll be charged the highway-robbery price to buy a regular ticket onboard.

Fortunately, in this case it was a problem that virtually every other Summer Card holder had...so we all got a "free" trip while the train company fixed the technical glitch.  Tuesday was amazingly trouble-free, and then Wednesday morning a switching-error put my Landskrona-bound train on the tracks headed for Copenhagen. That's right...the train took a WRONG TURN. We had to wait for clearance to reverse direction...and then get in a queue behind several other trains that left the station AFTER we did. Another day late for work.

On the way home, my Summer Card was rejected by the ticket machine in Landskrona, but the train was so crowded that the staff onboard didn't even bother to check if people had them. Once in Malmö, I went straight into the ticket office and remarkably, there wasn't an interminable line for service. The clerk informed me that the card had become de-magnetized, probably from being too close to my mobile phone or iPod. GREAT.

So they replaced the card, which I promptly shoved in my pocket next to my mobile phone.  Quickly realizing the folly of that, I started to move it to the outside pocket of my backpack...where my iPod was parked.  Clearly keeping my Summer Card separate from my electronics was going to be tougher than I thought. So when I got home, I traded my backpack for a messenger bag that has an outside pocket so narrow that ONLY my Summer Card will fit in it.

I set off on Thursday morning confident that I finally had my commuting act together. The Summer Card worked as expected and the train was only 5 minutes late departing Malmö. I strode up to my office relatively on time and ready to have a productive day.

And that's when I realized that the key-card I needed to get in the building had not made the transition from the backpack to the messenger bag.

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Gay rights advocates in the US were already getting impatient with the Obama Administration's lack of action on their issues, but even the New York Times thinks the recent DOJ brief defending DOMA was the equivalent of taking a big dump on gay citizens.

Now a lot of high-profile gays who were scheduled to attend a DNC fundraiser co-hosted by the three openly gay members of Congress later this month are calling in with regrets. Maybe hitting Democrats in their pocketbooks will finally get their attention.

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Not surprisingly, the results came up INTJ and pointed to "Scientist" as the top field for persons of that personality type. This was something of a disappointment since her Ph.D in molecular medicine has proven to be even less than useless over the last couple years. Adding insult to injury was the discovery of an official online forum for INTJ's touting itself as a hangout for "masterminds, innovators, villains and virgins."

On the plus side, she did learn that the ideal partner for an INTJ is an ENFP, and guess what I happen to be?  BIGTIME.

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According to this news item in the Idaho Statesman, cardboard cutouts of Brad Pitt dressed in a traffic cop's uniform are being credited with reducing the number of accidents at some of the most dangerous intersections in the Siberian city of Omsk.

Now I'm one of the few people in the world (apparently) who is not instantly transformed into a quivering puddle of goo at the thought of Brad Pitt, though I do admit that a police uniform would up the stakes considerably.

But based on this information and the gratuitous photo to the left (have mercy!) I think we can safely surmise the following:

1. A cardboard cutout of Angelina Jolie would have a related but opposite effect...slowing drivers down to the point of causing a chain reaction of multiple-car pile-ups.

And...

B. It was a very slow news day in Idaho.

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As a strong supporter of having many different kinds of voices in government, I was quite delighted by this outcome even though I did not happen to cast my first-ever EU vote for their candidate.

Of course this will probably come as a surprise to some of my friends, who know me to be both an internet junkie and a vocal defender of the right to privacy (a major plank of the Pirate Party's platform).

But just imagine the expectations of the poll workers who watched me cast my ballot wearing an eye-patch.

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Better camera, video recording and editing, digital compass, voice control. SO SWEET!!!

Now I just have to figure out the fastest way to get my hands on an unlocked one here in Vikingland.

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Dr. D usually takes the exclusively Swedish holidays off as well, though there aren't nearly as many of those as there are exclusively Danish ones. The Danes really have it all over Swedes (and pretty much everyone else in Europe, save maybe the French) when it comes to work-life. In addition to more paid holidays, they have a shorter work week (37 hours) and earn significantly higher salaries than Swedes in similar jobs (as much as 25% depending on the field/industry).

So we celebrated Danmark's National Day yesterday by sleeping in late, running some errands, meeting some friends for coffee and then dining on Danish Red Sausages.

We celebrated Sweden's National Day today by sleeping in not quite as late, running some errands, meeting friends for champagne and dining on sushi before watching Denmark beat Sweden in a World Cup qualifying match.

Dr. Darling was NOT happy about this, but then she's been a Swede a lot longer than I have. She also has to go back to work on Monday in Copenhagen.

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Here's a map showing the status of marriage rights around the continental US right now, and it's looking pretty rainbow-like to me.

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The stunning Ben Rose Home in Highland Park, Illinois, can be yours for a cool 2.3 million USD.

I first read about the house being on the market at Gizmodo, which refers to it as “architectural porn.” Details on the amazing property can be found in the actual real estate listing here.

As Ferris would say, “It’s so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend you pick one up.” (Of course he was referring to Cameron’s Dad’s red Ferrari, rather than the glass garage it was stored in, but it works anyway!)

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I am also hopeful that this is the last U.S. Memorial Day during which the commitment and sacrifice made by gay and lesbian service members is deemed of less value than those of their straight comrades-in-arms.

I’m also hopeful that the California Supreme Court rules on the side of justice tomorrow when it announces its decision on the challenge to Proposition 8. I have a very positive feeling that the court will toss it, if for no other reason than the dangerous precendent that letting it stand will create.

Of course I’m also mindful of the fact that although a court decision can change a law, it can’t change hearts. Win or lose tomorrow, the fight for full civil rights for gay Americans will continue.

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This is especially true if the multiple plastic bags that divide up the pieces needed for specific elements of the set get opened all at once by said nephew and his 7-year-old cousin, and are then mixed together…all 445 of them.

Fortunately for these two little guys (not to mention my brother-in-law), Dr. Darling actually does have a Ph.D, albiet in molecular medicine rather than construction engineering. And when the boys became bored and/or frustrated with the colorful pile of tiny pieces of plastic, the methodical Swede stepped in and managed to assemble both the chopper and the surprisingly complex life raft in under two hours. (I put on all the stickers.)

Which is why I’d really love to get a hold of this for Dr. D’s birthday next month:

Or better yet, this:

Though I can’t quite decide if Frank Lloyd Wright would be pleased or mortified.

Images via Boing Boing: FLW Lego: The Guggenheim and Falling Water

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But please note she still looks hot even when she's advocating for children at an international criminal court proceeding in black & white.

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T-minus 20 minutes and counting until the Eurovision Schlong Contest! (schlock + song = schlong)

Eurovision 2009 is underway. I'm having Gin & Tonic and Salt & Vinegar crisps in tribute to Terry Wogan, whose commentary will be missed.

@racesail In Sweden there are 2 EuroVision camps: one sees it as an excuse to party, & one takes it too seriously. Both are entertaining!

3 ballads in a row have put Moscow to sleep. Sweden's opera diva should wake them up, but the mixing is off.

Portugal's light show makes it look like a rainbow threw up on the set. 

Trying to limiting myself to one gin & tonic per 10 songs (it makes the show better), but I'm gonna have to slow the hell down.

Iceland's entry was a hottie!

Song No. 10 and time for another drink! Since it's Russia's entry, I probably should be having vodka, but I'm sticking w/ G&T.

The outfits haven't been that outrageous this year. It's almost like Russia's dour rep has infected everyone.

Malta has a song and a voice. Best ballad of the evening so far, and there have been A LOT of them.

Estonia's entry was rocking some strings, and I have a thing for strings. Am I the only one who thinks the broadcast audio levels are funky?

Turkey sure isn't afraid to show a little skin. But could she wear that outfit on the streets of Istanbul?

Germany's tin foil trousers are making my teeth hurt.

Turkey sure isn't afraid to show a little skin. But could she wear that outfit on the streets of Istanbul?

Norway is really sucking up to the host country with those dancers. Then again, they are almost neighbors.

Gee, the UK certainly brought out the big composer guns. Oh Andrew Lloyd Webber, what happened to your career?

Eminem and three hot harmonizing chicks are representing Finland?

I didn't know Joey Heatherton had moved to Spain.

RT @trendybot Malta is now trending on Twitter! » link to Malta - Twitter Search [Great sign for my favorite entry!]

Lot's of power ballads to choose from this year, but Malta was definitely the standout.

I think Finland is going to do well. High-energy tune, hot chicks singing harmony, and torch-twirling.

Cover of Cool Hand Luke [Blu-ray]

And the while-we-wait-for-votes entertainment is a transparent slip 'n slide suspended from the ceiling?

Not that it was erotic or anything, but I'm having flashbacks to the car washing scene in Cool Hand Luke.

Either I've built up a tolerance to Gin & Tonic, or this competition is a bigger buzz kill than I thought.

Wow! 5 countries have voted so far and the UK is still in it!

And the woman who *should* have represented Sweden is delivering the Swedish vote. Sing it Sarah Dawn Finer!

Okay, I'm not getting the Norway thing. His eyebrows scared me, along with most small children and domestic animals.

Should have apologized to my new followers earlier. I'm not normally so prolific...but I do tend to tweet #eurovision.

Looks like Norway is going to run away w/ the Eurovision title. If next year's show is in Oslo, I may be able to tweet it live.

I take back my previous tweet. There's no way I could ever watch this show sober.

Watch out...here come the eyebrows for the winner's performance. At least Iceland came in a distant 2nd.

Okay Twitterverse...time for me to hit the sack. Hopefully tonight's #eurovision play-by-play hasn't offended too many.

NEXT MORNING

At the gym working off last night's #eurovision debauchery. Hopefully no one will notice I'm sweating tonic water.

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• Twittering Eurovision
• Roadtrip Recap Twitter-style

Anyone who knows me or reads my blog knows I’m an unapologetic Apple Fanboy in spite of my anatomy. As such, I’ve been lusting after a Jesus Phone dating back to when it was merely a rumor that the Cult of Steve was developing a mobile device that just happened to make phone calls.

But first geography (had to wait for it to arrive in Sweden), then exclusive-provider contracts that basically suck, combined with the guaranteed disapproving looks of a spend-thrift Swede, have all conspired to keep my from buying one. Plus there’s the matter of my already owning a perfectly functional Sony Ericsson P1i that’s less than 18 months old and takes remarkably good photos, besides.

And then about a month ago, my friend Nicole, who can reasonably be called a cell phone slut for changing mobiles with the seasons, decided she HAD TO HAVE an iPhone. This after playing around with a friend’s for a couple if hours one night, but even more maddening from my point of view, after mocking my Mac fandom for years.

Shortly after this, I found myself stranded in a classroom with no internet access for three days…and as great as the P1i is for e-mail and texting, surfing the web on it (even with a mobile browser like Opera) is a pretty torturous experience.

The last straw may have occurred earlier this week, when my brother-in-law casually mentioned to Dr. Darling that his wife was getting one, and asked for advice on installing and using iTunes on a PC. Gah!!!

So I’m now eyeing the rumors that Apple will be coming out with a new version of the iPhone this summer with renewed resolve that I can survive the laser gaze of a certain Swede when I finally get my hands on one.

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