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The snow had been falling since just before noon, so I started monitoring the status of the train traffic online to see if and when they were expecting delays.  If worse came to worse, I could head for Malmö early and work from home the remainder of the afternoon. Just after 4 p.m. I turned down a ride home from my boss because two different rail monitoring websites indicated that train delays were not significant. Silly me for expecting that information to be accurate.

So I gave my iPhone a quick charge in anticipation of a potentially slow but steady ride south, and then trudged up to the Landskrona station to catch the 4:45 train, which the aforementioned websites were reporting to be running about 9 minutes late. IF ONLY.

That train, nor any other train heading south, arrived at the station for the next TWO AND A-HALF HOURS...which would have been tolerable had Skånetrafiken communicated it. But instead they just kept changing the destinations and times on the platform signs...leading us all to believe that a train was coming if we just waited out in the snow and wind a little bit longer.  There is only one enclosed shelter on each platform at the Landskrona station, and it was packed to the gills. Besides, given how few trains were apparently running, the only way to insure that you'd actually be able to board was to be out on the platform and right in front of one of the doors when it arrived.

Even more frustrating was the fact that in that same two and a-half hour time-span, we watched a half-dozen trains pass on their way north...the last two of which were virtually empty.  WTF? At one point I sought shelter in the pedestrian tunnel between the two platforms, which was precisely the time when the first announcement made in hours came over the public address system. But since I was in the tunnel, I couldn't hear what was being said, so I called out to a young man who was at the top of the stairs leading to Platform 3. Here is our exchange, word-for-word:

"What did he say?" I shouted into wind in Swedish.

"That a southbound train will arrive in 15 minutes."

"And do you believe it?"

"Do you beleive in God?"

"Not tonight, I don't!"

At this point I called a colleague who lives in Landskrona and begged to be rescued. Eliza picked me up a little after 7:00 and fed me supper. I was prepared to spend the night on her couch until her husband found yet another website that seemed to indicate that trains were moving south again. He drove me back to the station just before 8:00 and promised to wait in the car until he was certain I was actually on a train. I jumped on the first one that arrived even though it was only going as far as Lund, where the train staff was convinced I'd have several options for getting the rest of the way home to Malmö.

It took almost an hour to get to Lund (which is normally an 18-minute trip), and once there the lack of information from Skånetrafiken continued apace. At one point the departure board had three trains going in opposite directions leaving from the SAME platform in a 10-minute time span. I'm pretty sure the laws of physics would not permit that to happen.

The southbound train that finally did show up hadn't been listed on the board at all, and was run by the Swedish railway system SJ rather than Skånetrafiken (which is regional). This means that my commuter card didn't cover the fare...something another stranded Swede felt compelled to point out. I told him I didn't care, because if SJ wanted to throw me in jail at least I'd be out of the weather.

I finally arrived home at 10:30 p.m., a full 6 hours after I'd left my office, and while I can't blame Skånetrafiken for the horrendous weather, I do think it's inexcusable that they shared virtually ZERO information about what was going on. Had they told people the delays were going to be hours long, we would have had the option of deciding whether or not to wait it out or make arrangements to stay put for the night. Instead we were kept in limbo, in most cases waiting outside in a snowstorm for hours at a time.

MONUMENTAL FAIL.

I worked from home on Wednesday.

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Last year we went to Iceland, which was really spectacular but a tad bit chilly in April, so I was thinking that maybe we'd try someplace south this time. And since we're in Scandinavia, almost everywhere is south of us. (Well, except for Iceland).

Our only criteria besides mild temperatures is that it be someplace we've never visited together before. So I gave my favorite Swedish researcher a suggested list of potential destinations to investigate, including (but not limited to) Spain, the south of France, or pretty much anywhere in Italy.

So imagine my surprise when Dr. Darling started talking up Düsseldorf.

Shazzer (incredulous): "Düsseldorf? Are you serious?"

Dr. Darling (semi-sincerely): "We've never been there before."

Shazzer: True, but it doesn't exactly have the same caché as Barcelona or Marseille or Naples. How in the world did you ever come up with Düsseldorf?

Dr. Darling: The flights are really cheap.

Shazzer: And I think there might be a reason for that.

Dr. Darling: It could be fun.

Shazzer: And you could be a little less Swedish.

Dr. Darling: Hey, we've got to finance your gin habit.

Shazzer: Good point.

So now we're thinking about London.

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My resolve was further boosted by a bad bout of stomach flu the weekend after we got home. Since coffee is one of the rougher beverages on the belly, it was pretty easy to avoid it completely while I was recovering.

I've since resumed having a cup of joe in the morning (I live in Sweden for crying outloud...it's practically compulsory!)...but only ONE...and I've switched to tea for fika on weekday afternoons. Real black tea...not the herbal, fruity stuff...because I've always liked black tea (it appeals to my inner Anglophile) and let's be realistic, I still NEED the caffeine.

But I've also discovered a really nice side benefit to drinking tea at work...the ritual of making a cup forces me to take a real break...it gets me up from my desk and away from my computer screen for  good 10 minutes, whereas walking down to the cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee may take only two or three. Given the pace and intensity at work lately, this is a really good thing. (And of course I would be completely remiss as a Cult of Steve member if I didn't also mention that "There's an app for that.")

So now I'm rediscovering my love of black tea and have been pointed to all kinds of tea resources by like-minded folks with whom I interact IRL and online...including this tech/design blog showing off some of the latest concepts in tea packaging. There are some very clever things here, like these;

Although I have to admit I was a bit put off by the tea packaged as cigarettes, which you just drop into your mug to steep.

Blech.

Oh, and in case anybody's wondering...I did not make any unpublicized New Year's Resolutions related to my gin consumption.

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Or at least I have been during January, and consequently, ALL of 2010.

In my defense...it's been kind of a crazy month. I was in the US getting some much-needed face-time with family and friends until the 6th, and then did my usual week of jet-lagging with the added bonus of a weekend bout of stomach flu mixed in.

Work has been even crazier than usual because of the aforementioned US visit. (Three weeks away from the office appears to mean that I have three times as much work to do when I get back.) And then there's the little matter of my New Year's Resolution to spend less time in front of my MacBook in the presence of Dr. Darling, which I've been trying hard to keep.

This is why ShazzerSpeak readers have been getting a steady diet of entertaining but not necessarily original content of late...though for those interested, my Twitter timeline and Posterous tumblelog have continued to be very active since I can update them from my iPhone (which technically keeps me "legal" in terms of the New Year's Resolution. )

But two topics that I really must address based on numerous Facebook and Twitter inquiries are: 1. What did I think of President Obama's State of the Union Address? and B) Will I buy an Apple iPad?

The answer to the first question is: pretty darn good. It felt as though the guy I voted for showed up for the first time in months and I was really glad to see him.  Let's hope for the country's sake that he hangs around for awhile.

As for Apple's lastest product...the answer is: Not any time soon. From what I've read so far, the unfortunately-named iPad doesn't do anything more conveniently or efficiently than my MacBook or my iPhone 3GS, so there's no way I can justify shelling out 500 bucks (the US price on the cheapest model) for one.

In fact, I suspect the Cult of Steve is planning to sell its new tablet to folks who do not already own one (but especially not BOTH) of those devices...which despite the popularity of the iPhone is still a pretty decent-sized market. So I'll wait until it can run more than one program at a time and has at least one camera...at which point I may consider starting the campaign that will be necessary to convince Dr. Darling I should have one.

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Addendum: HOLY CRAP IT WORKED!

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If you've ever been tortured by a printer (and pretty much EVERYONE IN THE WORLD has), you've got to check it out.

Here's a quick taste of what you're in for:

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Word to the wise: O'Hare's Terminal 5 is probably the most BORING airline terminal in the world and you do NOT want to spend five hours there, unless you have scads of money to blow in it's ONE bar. Seriously, the cheapest beer was $6.50.

The security procedure to get to the gate was no different from our previous trips through O'Hare.  I did get patted down even though I hadn't set the metal detector off, but thanks to Dr. Darling's "Hands-Off at Your Mother's House" policy, I didn't mind too much. (It was the most action I'd had in three weeks.)

Our flight was close to 40% kids...many of whom were well under the age of four, which is a special kind of hell.  When there are that many infants onboard, there's just no way that all of them will be comfortable and sleeping at the same time. Fortunately a couple of Tylenol PMs chased with a gin & tonic dulled my senses enough to allow me to sleep a little bit despite the din.

One noticeable change from the flight over on December 15; the "preparation for descent" video instructed us that the restrooms would be locked once the captain turned on the fasten seatbelt sign for approach. I always thought it was kind of an unwritten rule that you did not use the toilet once the fasten seatbelt sign was on, but now thanks to the underwear bomber, it's apparently official on SAS flights.

But that was the only change.  We were allowed to have items in our laps right up until landing...which was quite different than what the US media was reporting for international flights inbound to the US. (All passengers belted into their seats with no access to the toilets or items in their carry-on luggage for the final hour of the flight.)

I sure hope things calm down and those rules are rescinded before I fly to the US next time...because that last hour of the trip is going to totally SUCK.

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Last New Year's Eve I spent part of the day introducing my brother to the traditional Swedish sauna and cold plunge ritual (and accidently patting a naked stranger on the @$$) in Malmö, Sweden. This New Year's Eve I spent part of the day introducing my Swede to the Urgent Care concept of the US health care system in Lafayette, Indiana.

Dr. Darling first started feeling crappy on Christmas Eve...during the late service at my home parish, St. John's Episcopal Church. Being the loving supportive partner that I am, I told her that God was probably smiting her with a sore throat for only coming to church with me once every three years.

But the sore throat was just the start of her symptoms, which eventually included severe sinus headaches, an aggravating cough, nausea...and the one that finally convinced her to see an MD on New Year's Eve, conjunctivitis AKA "Pink Eye." Evidently it's not uncommon for a sinus infection to move into the eyes...though in the Swede's case, only the left one was affected.

Needless to say, our New Year's "celebration" was even more low-key than usual. Not only did Dr. Darling not feel well enough to go anywhere, but "Pink Eye" is highly contagious so nobody wanted to come to us, either. (My brother did end up braving braving the infirmary for a few hours both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, but he steered well clear of the sick Swede.) So we watched a lot of football and ate a lot of ice cream.

She's been on antibiotics and eye drops for about 48 hours now and is starting to perk up a bit, which means we should be able to salvage the last couple days of the trip. She recently confessed that part of the reason she put off getting medical attention was that she was just sure it was going to cost us "thousands of dollars". In reality the charges for both the Urgent Care visit and filling the prescriptions didn't even meet the deductible for our travel insurance...and the speed with which we got in to see the doctor and walk out of the pharmacy with the meds actually impressed her.

All without ever having to "take a number."

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According to this National Geographic article, there's a "blue moon" tonight. The term is used whenever a 2nd full moon appears in a single month. It hasn't happened on New Year's Eve since 1990, and won't occur again until 2028.  I'm choosing to take it as a good sign for the new year.

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Via Gawker : [Straight allies Robert De Niro and Bruce Springsteen show President Obama their support for gay rights at a reception for the Kennedy Center Honors recipients at the White House on December 5. Image freshly uploaded to the White House's Flickr]

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This was also the first time I went through the "Visitor" queue at O'Hare immigration processing rather than the much shorter and faster U.S Citizen line, a decision I do not plan to repeat. Let's just say the Department of Homeland Security would probably make a better impression if they were just honest and called it the "We Assume You're a Criminal" queue.

Normally, I would zip through the Citizen line so that I can collect our bags while the Swede gets finger-printed, photographed and given the 3rd degree about why she wants to enter the United States, but since we weren't catching a connecting flight and didn't have anyone waiting to pick us up, there was no hurry to do that.

Good thing, too...because we once we wound our way through the 7-layer maze that actually put us in a position to be directed to one of a half-dozen processing desks, the universal law that says *which ever line Shazzer is in will slow to an absolute stand-still* kicked-in, and we stood, and stood and stood until...I kid you not...there was no one left in the maze behind us from the international flight that had landed AFTER ours.  Ironically, they ended up sending us both down to the US Citizen processing lines, which were standing empty at that point.

On the upside, by the time we cleared immigration, our bags were waiting for us.

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In the meantime, my Twitter feed should be fairly active until we actually get on the plane and they make me turn my iPhone off.

http://twitter.com/shazzer

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