tomorrow bob and i are going to tierp. a colleague and i are going to work in gävle for a week, and as my parents live not too far from gävle i'm going to stay with them. even though i'd prefer to stay at home, there are many advantages with this trip compared to others i've made with work: 1) i can stay with my parents, 2) i can bring bob, 3) i can let my brothers have a look at the saab. and hopefully: 4) i will get there in time for the birthday cake tomorrow :) (it's my youngest brother's 23rd birthday)

so, keep your fingers crossed the saab makes it all the way :)...it's the first "long" trip we make together, the saab and i...   ¶ 10:29 PM

  the first dog walk after coming home from work is probably the best moment of the day. the quietness and the smells and the fresh air (almost) always turn out to be exactly what i need - even though i often *think* what i need is to go straight to bed :)

an other good thing is that winter as it is now is the best kind of winter. the dark part of the day is getting shorter, so it's possible to see the outline of the mountaines for a while at the beginning of the walk, and at weekends it's wonderful to go for walks in daylight.

i've also noticed that driving to and from work is much less dark now, which is both nice *and* good, as the fan in the saab doesn't work very well. which means the windows get very misty. which means it's difficult to see in darkness, with the lights from other cars sort of clinging to the mist on my windows and giving me notions of near death experiences (both because of the light effect (that's actually rather fascinating and "cosy", making me feel embedded in light) and because of the fact that driving while not seeing very much might well lead to death).   ¶ 10:39 PM

  why is it that really cold winter air smells almost like smoke?  ¶ 10:32 PM

  it's GREAT to be back home again!

dalarna wasn't too bad, and the people i was working with in gagnef were very nice. i was offerec a job there, and if i feel like leaving sollefteå in the future i promised to give them a call :)

i kind of liked the hotel in leksand too, i guess. it was a very big and very old and VERY cold house. the floor was sloping, it took 10 minutes to get warm water and there was something mould-like in the shower. but it was "sweetish", somehow. me and my colleague were the only two guests, and the hotel was a bit outside of civilisation, so it was pitch black all around it. it was like living in a ghost house. the only thing that disappointed me a bit was that the tv only had the same 3 channels as we have here in nyland, and i'd been looking forward to seeing all the interesting programmes on the cable channels i've been told about, e.g. amish in the city and all the different "dating" programmes. i didn't even bring a book, cause i had planned to watch tv and catch up on friends and other things i never see normally...

anyway, it's wonderful to be home again! tommy had bought a "sandwich cake" and coca cola, so i will probably expect to be given that everytime i get back from travelling with work from now on (he gave me that last time too) :)

bob was very happy to see me, and didn't take his eyes off me until recently (i came home yesterday evening). the cat's pretended not to care very much, but they slept on top of me the whole night :)

i still think we must have found the best place on earth to live (or at least in sweden). i've never seen a place more beautiful than this. dalarna was nice, but not even close to nyland!  ¶ 8:05 PM

  i have to get up VERY early tomorrow. a taxi is coming to get me at 4.30, to drive me to the airport. i'm going to dalarna, to work at an unemployment office there for a week. i really, really, really don't want to go! i don't like being away from home. i think the whole idea with having a home is to be in it... from now on i'll have to go away a lot, which makes me not very happy at all. after the week in dalarna i get a week at home, and then i have to go away two weeks in a row. in march i'll only get one small little week at home. stupid, stupid unemployment office! and i have to pay taxes to pay for these trips that i don't want to take.   ¶ 4:54 PM

  i'd like to be as clever as excel! right now i love that programme! (sometimes i hate it, but for the moment i think it's the most clever person i know)  ¶ 5:48 PM

  we came back to nyland a few days ago, after having spent the holidays in tierp with my parents, sisters and brothers. it was a strange new years eve, with a few degrees above freezing, and almost no snow at all... and of course all the news about asia.

back in nyland everything seems to have gone back to normal again. we have snow and it's cold, and they don't send extra news about thailand as often anymore.

driving to work today i really wished i had a camera to film my trip. it was so beautiful! the sky was pale blue/white. the ground was pale white/blue and the trees were covered in a thick layer of frost.

i've tried my new skis twice since we came home. they work, but there are too many trees and stones and slopes in the woods... i seem to be learning though, cause the second time i did a bit better than the first.

now i have to go and read a boring book for a while. i'm at work, but can't really concentrate, because people talk about how they would like to kill michael jackson. apparently someone has found evidence he's done something bad with a boy. i wonder if wanting to kill him will make him a much better person... it scares me when my normal nice colleagues say "the best thing would be to shoot him in the head", and seem to mean it. if normal people can have feelings like that, how mad must mad people be...  ¶ 2:16 PM