Sorry for the drought

Sorry about the blog slowdown. I returned from Sweden and I had a whirlwind job interview period. I was offered 4 positions and it was quite difficult to choose. I ended up choosing KCM. They are actually owned by the same company I used to work for (Tetra Tech). It’s is different people, different work, and a much bigger office. My office is nice though I don’t have access to direct sunlight unless I stand up in my cube. I am going to try and talk my way into a cube on the other side of me that is open but is currently used as a shared work station. I have planted the idea in my boss and hopefully eventually I can move. I am just much more productive with direct access to the outside world.

My office is about 4 blocks from my house (where I won’t move back into until December) and my gym is in between. The building is also on top of a mall so I can go shopping midday without leaving the building and in true Seattle style we have 2 Starbucks in house.

Italia

Lots of excitement so far, no pictures to show yet, and not too much time to write...

We arrived in Naples on Friday and spent three days there. Naples is quite a dirty city but it is very lively and feels real. I am sure there were tourists somewhere but it had a very local feel. From there we made day trips to Vesuvius and Pompeii. I did not realize how much of Pompeii had been uncovered. I sort of expected a very small area to be unearthed and thought there would be some sort of underground tour. I was very wrong. It is quite a large city and there is so much to explore and see that it is an all day affair. The city was built several hundred years BC and it seems so modern. Much of the city was destroyed and rebuilt around 63 AD in an earthquake before it was completely covered in 79 AD and so a lot of the city is from the rebuilt era.

Our first two days here were a little rainy but we decided to climb Vesuvius even though it was covered in clouds. The "peak" (about 3000 ft) I think is often covered in clouds. When we first arrived we could not see Naples, Pompeii, or even the bottom of the crater but in our time at the top the clouds parted and we got a couple great views for a few minutes.

We then made our way to the small island of Capri. We apparently have been mispronouncing this name for year since we put the emphasis on the 2nd syllable. It is actually pronounced like you would say “cat pee” with the emphasis on the beginning of the word. There are actually tons of cute and friendly kitties running around too. The island is very mountainous and has very few beaches because the cliffs drop sharply into the water in most places. There are lots of caves around the island that you can boat or swim into when the water is calm. The water is a perfect blue green and while not as warm as it was in Honduras I could get used to the Mediterranean. Lots of cute streets, all of your designer Italian fashion stores as this is the rich people vacation spot, good hikes, good views, and of course good food and gelato. Southern Italian gelato is as I was told slightly creamier then its Northern counterpart.

Cray fish party

This time of year in Sweden there are two unique food traditions: surströmming and crayfish. Surströmming is fermented and canned herring. The cans are stored for a year and they begin to visibly swell because of the gases. Apparently the smell is just one of the most foul things possible. Drinking lots of snaps must accompany eating surströmming I hear. The tradition hails form the North and while it is well known it is not that common to eat anymore. The second tradition is to have crayfish parties. We went out to the archipelago this past weekend with one of my coworkers, a couple of her friends, and the students who we worked with in Honduras for a crayfish party. The one difference with the island this time of year is that all of the
plum (three varieties) apple, and pear trees were in full bloom and I got to pick lots of fruit and help with some cooking and canning.

The crayfish are like little lobsters and are quite good though they require a lot of work and are super messy. Part of the crayfish party tradition is to wear these special crayfish hats, which we forgot to buy so we got to make our own, which I thought was much better.

I NEED these

The weather is still nice in Sweden but my office always seems to stay pretty cold. At my last job and at UW I used to keep a space heater under my desk (although it was illegal at UW) to keep my warm and sane. Sometimes at work when it is really cold inside I wear a hat, although I always get teased about this. I never actually thought of wearing gloves since my only fingerless ones are for weightlifting although it is my hands that are the coldest. But the space heater is not great electricity wise and it can also emit not the best smell sometimes. This uses energy and heat form the computer directly so it is the perfect solution. And yes I imagine I will get endlessly teased but who cares because I will be unique and look so sexy.

They have got to be kidding

Swedish road authorities are set to position model elks along Sweden’s roadsides in an attempt to yet again remind drivers that they’re at risk from elk wandering into the road.

Swedish police, SOS Alarm and Vägverket (the Swedish Road Administration) are all involved in the week-long project which is set to last until September 3. Police are set to question drivers who pass the model elk and ask them if they saw the animal.

“There is a tendency for many drivers to not pay attention to that which exists on the side of the road,” project spokesman Lars Sävberger.

Some 35,000 elk are hit on Swedish roads each year.

I sort of want to go borrow the IVL car and go find some fake elk.

http://www.schlockholm.com/index.php/site/comments/road_authorities_launch_dont_hit_an_elk_campaign/

This is the first year that Europe has held a tournament series like in the US with a regionals tournament in order to make it to Europeans. This past weekend we are able to scrounge together 9 girls to represent Stockholm at the Northern European Regionals. I was sort of expecting it to be a disaster because we had ever all actually played together and 4 of the girls were juniors who had been playing for less then a year. The tournament was unique from any tournament I had been to the US in that we traveled via overnight ferry and only arrived at the fields by taxi at 11am for our 11:30 game. We played 3 games each day and I played every single point except one. I was handling the whole time and that is significantly less tiring than cutting, except for the fact that you still have to play D. Our biggest downfall was when some of the Finnish teams started playing zone. It wasn’t too windy but we had never really practiced zone. At first I tried to play it sort of conventionally and by the book but that doesn’t work so well when your downfield teammates don’t know where to be. I finally gave up on convention and perfected my cross-field blady forehand and other throws that would probably make much of Viva cringe. I promise never to throw them again as long as you don’t make me handle in a zone.

Our record for the weekend was 3-3 beating the Latvians, the Russians, and a team from Northern Finland, while losing to three Finnish teams from Helsinki and Turku. We even won the spirit award. I never thought I’d be on a team that would win a spirit award. I think part of it is that I am much calmer and more reserved to the other team when I know that English I not their first language.

After our last game where we rushed to the ferry and I think everybody but me paid to go into the saunas and hottubs on the ferry. After a hot, exhausting weekend of playing ultimate I could have gone for a nice cool swimming pool but I guess that just goes to how that I am not very Swedish because to them drinking beer in a 80 degree Celsius sauna sounded like heaven. However, travelling via ferry is much more civilized than having to cram into a tight car for several hours.

My Thwedith Dental Expewience

Yeth, my mouth is thtill numb. I had a cwacked fiwing and tooth the latht few timeth I went to the dentitht but it didn't hurt me tho thhe didn't do anything about it. Latht week it thtarted hurting me when I ate ow dwank thomething cold. I went to the emergenthy dental plathe becauthe it would be 4 weekth before I could get an appointment at a wegulaw dentitht. My thwedith dentitht, Ibwaheem Ibwaheen, took x-wayth and tethted my teeth for hot and cold thenitivity by putting diffewent tempewatuwe thwabth on my teeth. I think the hotetht one was actuawy on fiwe becauthe it wath thmoking went it went into my mouth.

He gave me anethethithia (I didn't even have time to be thcared) with one of thothe thuper long needleth and then wemoved my fiwing. My tooth wath cwacked tho he gave me a tempowawy fiwing and thaid if it continued to huwt in 6-8 weekth I would need a woot canal. And yeth Ewic waughs at me evewytime I thay woot canal.

The tempowawy fiwing lookth like white pwathtew, note the big white thpot in the pictuwe in the lowew wight thide of my mouth.