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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Presents

We are rather busy at work at this time of year. The students return all their books before the holidays. It's a favorable Christmas with only two working days next week. Very few people will be here then. I have given the movers time off those two days, so that also I could get vacation. I'm going to Göteborg like usual on Monday morning (by train) and will spend about a week with my family in that area. There is very little snow left, it melted again. It's more like a normal winter here now, just above freezing and rainy. It's dark and boring. (The movers are happy about the absence of snow, though).

This years' Christmas present from work was a set of four ceramic bowls. Not that exciting, but might be useful. My father and his girlfriend came to visit this Sunday to give me a present too. I already knew it was a frying pan, but they had still wrapped it carefully. We went to the mall to get some small things. My father helped me repair the shower glass base that I had injured my foot on earlier. The wound has healed fairly well and I don't have to walk with sandals anymore.

This week I have been shopping for more presents, but I still have some left to buy. I can usually come up with ideas for this, but not this year. I did get myself a present though - two pairs of new glasses!

Finally, I would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and all the best for the holidays! Thank you for the Christmas letters I have received from near and far! I have sent out my annual letter by e-mail. If I have forgotten anyone, please remind me.



Thursday, December 13, 2012

Christmas party

Last week's trip to Göteborg was very interesting. I attended two meetings in the digitization committee, and we also got to hear a lecture on copyright. The second day there was a conference on digitization and availability (in a broad sense). Making our websites and databases user friendly for people with disabilities was one topic. Others regarded projects in Finland, language databases and what the researchers really want (open access to everything down to the raw data, basically). Very informative day. I just wish it hadn't been so bitterly cold weather. Many participants at the conference couldn't make it there because of the bad weather (ice, snow and high winds). The airports at Stockholm were closed, and the trains had big problems. I was lucky with my transportations, though.

Back at work Thursday everything was focused on the Christmas party Friday evening. I went with a colleague to shop for beverages and other things. We had to bring all the furniture and decorations to the storage, because there was nothing at all. We even had to stock the bathrooms with paper and soap. We managed to get this big warehouse turned into a party place, thanks to many strings of light, a Christmas tree, tinsel and candles. We rented a music/loudspeaker unit and that was a great success. Some people stayed until 3 AM to dance. I borrowed the company car and drove home at 1 AM. The party seems to have been very much appreciated, especially the food was fresh (taken from the restaurant across the street). The work for the organizing committee continued the next day, when we had to clean up and remove the decorations. I once again asked the movers for help this Monday, so they brought back the chairs and tables we had borrowed from another library. There is much more work involved to arrange the Christmas party ourselves (instead of having it at a restaurant), but it's really worth it. It was definitely a fun party.

Today is Lucia Day, and we had the traditional lussekatt (saffron bun) at the morning coffee. Some retirees showed up for it, so I talked a little to former colleagues.

Monday, December 3, 2012

New mall

About a week ago I visited the new mall outside Malmö. I was not that impressed, there were mostly chain stores and that's not so interesting. It's a large place that, according to their website houses 200 stores, but that's not correct. There are about 160. It's very conveniently located right by a train station. There were lots of people, of course, since it just opened. There were some Danish/Norwegian style home interior stores I visited, and I got some small things for Christmas.

Last week was busy at work. We are planning for the Christmas party, which will be at one of the storages, actually. I got help from the movers to transport chairs and tables and some other things. We started decorating the storage last Friday, and it has potential, even though it's just a large and empty warehouse.

This Saturday I did something really, really stupid. I have never noticed that my bathroom floor is so slippery. I smashed my right foot into the shower glass wall. There was lots of blood, that's all I'm saying. It ruined my plans for the weekend and it's still difficult to walk. I can only wear sandals, which is very cold, since it was 12 centigrades below zero this morning. The first snow fell this weekend also, and I was wet and cold when I finally arrived at work today. This was extremely bad timing, I have so much to do this week.

Tomorrow I'm going to Göteborg for two meetings, one lecture and one work lunch, there will also be a conference on Wednesday. It all regards digitization.