Welcome to Tessa's blog

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Mail problems

In case you have tried to send me an e-mail message to my yahoo-mail, you have noticed that it bounces. I don't know why, but it seems to be a universal problem and I hope they will solve it soon. Use my google-mail instead: tess88roots@gmail.com.

It's been a pretty slow day when I have mostly tried to figure out why I have mail-problems, but I have also exchanged the curtains to Christmas ones and got out some (but not all) of the other decorations for the season. It feels too early almost every year. The snow that fell melted in a few days, and now it's rainy and windy again.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

XML

One of the things that I did this week was to attend a lecture on XML. I was clueless before it and not so much enlightened afterwards. XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. It is used by computer programmers to get article references to follow the same standard and to get the entries machine readable, for instance. I really didn't need to know what XML was, but many of my colleagues were going to the lecture, so I did too.

Another thing I did this week was to take part in a social club meeting. We had to come up with some new ideas, because we have already done excursions to so many places in the Skåne area, and there aren't that many places left to visit with the colleagues. We actually managed to find a few things worth trying, for instance renting the ice-rink an evening and visiting the railway museum. Since I joined the board, there have been some other plans made also. They have asked me to arrange a genealogy class and lectures on related topics. Yet another project to start working on.....

Friday was the last working day at the library for the computer nerd that has helped us tremendously with developing the database and making it easier to communicate with the patrons. It was sad to see him go, especially since we will not get someone else to work in the stacks.

Today I have been to the Center Syd shopping center for the first time since July. There were no new stores, on the contrary there were fewer than this summer. Sweden is in a recession, just like most other European countries. I didn't shop much, just some groceries.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Genealogy quote

In search of material for a project I came across this very true quote:

Genealogy begins as an interest,
Becomes a hobby;
Continues as an avocation,
Takes over as an obsession,
And in its last stages,
Is an incurable disease.

Friday, November 21, 2008

It's snowing

For the first time this season it's snowing here, and it's large snowflakes. It's very nice to sit inside and watch it, but it's pretty cold to be out in this weather. Slippery also. Today I made the wise decision to wear the coat my mother bought for me cheaply at the Red Cross second hand store earlier this year.

Tuesday I got a note in the mail saying I had a package to pick up at the "post office" (again, it's at a gas station about a ten minute walk away). It didn't say what the contents was, but I suspected it was a prize in a slogan competition. I was right. It was a (designed) pie tin, a serving spoon and a woven table runner. Nothing I needed, but nice things, so someone might get it as a Christmas present.

The work week didn't start that well. Monday I somehow managed to scrape the side of the company car against a concrete wall when I was going to park outside one of the remote storages. (Like I haven't parked there hundreds of times before).... The maintenance guy was not particularly happy when I returned to the library and told him what had happened. I think this was the third time I damage that car, and no one else has such a record. The work week continued to be pretty bad for various reasons. Someone got sick at the same time as someone else was on vacation, and then three guys were going to a job-related fair. I was all alone in the stacks Thursday, except for a few hours in the morning (luckily they helped out before going to the fair). We did manage anyway, because the requests to stacks decrease in number at the end of the semester. At this time it's starting to be more returns instead.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Work

Lots and lots of work..... Since one of the staff members will leave us soon, we had to do some re-organizing of the work. It meant that he will try to teach two others the things he knows (which is really impossible). So I had to take over more work from those two people, to give them time to learn. In addition to what I already do, I now also drive the car to the four remote storages to pick up the requested materials. It's physically demanding to load and unload the heavy crates with books, and it will be interesting to see how long my back can stand this.

Every evening I have been working on the travel diary. It has taken two weeks to get it written in Swedish, but now it's finally done. I will revise it one more time tomorrow, and then send it to my family members (and some others) here. I do these trips to the US not only for myself, but also for my Swedish relatives, most of whom can't travel there.

This past week I have been downtown Lund and also at Nova shopping center to check out what new clothes there are for sale. I wasn't that impressed. One of my favorite stores, Kappahl, had half price off the sales price, and I did get one top there. Apart from that there wasn't much to see.

It has been very rainy and windy this weekend, so I haven't been outdoors in two days. Today I did the laundry (first time since I came back, so it was a very big load). I have also been cooking for the future lunchboxes.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Another Leroy Anderson concert

Thursday I walked to the "post office" (a gas station) in the evening to pick up a package. My mother had entered my name in a slogan competition, and I won a breakfast kit including a toaster, a coffee maker and a water boiler. I actually needed a new toaster, but I don't know what to do with the other things. Perhaps I can give it away to someone as a Christmas present.

Friday after work I took the train to Kristianstad. My mother and I went to a very nice concert directed by Jonny Jangtun. It was mainly young people playing Leroy Anderson tunes (and some ABBA), with a 30 people choir and five dancers from Rickarum Byateater. It was a shorter version of the musical event they had done in Rickarum in August. I was very impressed by the choir, they sang Forgotten Dreams, Song of Jupiter and Sleigh Ride very well. The young guy playing the trumpet in Trumpeter's Lullaby was also talented.

Saturday we got up early to bake an apple pie, and then we did the usual flea market tour in Åhus. My mother needed more fabric for her sewing project (it's hard to believe, but she didn't have enough Christmas style fabric, even though I had been shopping for her both in Malmö and Lund). Lunch at home and then we picked up my aunt, visited the family graves in the Norra Strö cemetery, picked up the exhibit material at the historical society that had been there on display since June, and then finally arrived at our friend's house in Hanaskog village at about 4 PM. We had brought pizzas with us, and we had a nice time chatting with the Sjösten family. The apple pie was very much appreciated. It was rather late when we returned home after a busy day.

Today (Sunday) we were pretty tired, but still managed to clean the house a little. I went through the boxes with exhibit material, and also the bags with Christmas ornaments I had bought at the flea market in Åhus. They had put lots of different ornaments in plastic bags, and sold them for only 10 SEK each. Very cheap, and I couldn't resist it, there were very nice items in the bags. I returned to Kävlinge by bus, train and another train this evening.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Back to work

The few days before I had to go back to work I tried to cure my cold and just take it easy. Sunday I took the train to Svågertorp south from here, to do some shopping on behalf of my mother. She has started on a project involving making a lot of oven mittens and aprons, and she needed some fabric and other materials for it. She intends to sell the items she makes at the Christmas market at Furuboda.

Monday was the first day at work after the two month vacation. It didn't take too long before I got into the work pattern. I did manage to get in through the door to the old collection right away. Remembering pin codes and passwords is not always so easy after a long absence. Wading through the large amounts of messages and postings on the intranet has taken a lot of the time this week. I was told that the computer genius working in the stacks got a new job elsewhere, which is very sad for us because he is very talented and has helped developing the database.

Tuesday evening I joined 27 of my colleagues for a bowling event in Malmö. It was arranged by the social club at work. We first had a very nice buffet style dinner, and then we divided up in teams of four or five and spent an hour bowling. We were equally bad at it, since none of us really had any previous experience to speak of, but we all had a great time. It was rated one of the best events arranged by the social club, judging from the comments afterwards.

Today I learned about the results from the US presidential election, and all I'm going to say is that I hope he can make a change for the better.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Unpacking

It's a big job unpacking all the things I brought home from the US. I'm almost done now. There were actually 27 new pieces of clothing, not counting the underwear. Also three pairs of shoes. There is no wonder my luggage was so heavy on the return trip. My large suitcase, which I bought very cheaply earlier this year, has made its last trip. The wheels are damaged and the fabric was torn when I got it at Copenhagen airport. It has served its purpose well, I used it this spring to transport exhibit material also.

My mother had been in my apartment to water the plants once during my absence. She had finished making the quilt and it was on my bed when I returned. It looks very nice, the colors match the interior in the bedroom very well.

Some of you asked about the weather in Sweden. It's cold. About 3 centigrades today and frost on the trees this morning. No real snow yet, but we are getting there soon. It's also very dark. By 5 in the afternoon it's pitch black.