Computer issues

Last week was tough. It was the first week of the semester and the new students all wanted library cards at the same time. We noticed a definite increase in the number of requests, so we were busy. I also had to pick up seven boxes with journals from a faculty library and shelve them at the new storage. There are five faculty libraries that will merge into one and they are now hard at work trying to reduce their collections. If we have the first 20 years of a specific journal and they have additional volumes, they donate their part to us. They will also give us large sets of journals later, so the new storage will soon be full.

I spent the weekend at home, mainly because of the bad weather. It's cold and windy. It happens to snow today, but I guess it will be gone again by tomorrow. In the far north of Sweden it's a little colder than here, they have had down to 42 centigrades below zero. The record is around 52, I think. Not pleasant.

My new laptop was finally installed properly and that was a lengthy process. I handed it over to the technicians at work, so they helped me get some programs installed. Since I work at a university, I'm allowed to use work-related programs also at home. However, getting them to function was not easy and it required a lot of problem solving by the technician. I'm grateful for this, because I have not enough knowledge to deal with these issues.

Bad weather

Last week was a very normal January week at work. We had a fair amount to do. It's already now noticeable what subjects will be popular this semester. Apart from the standard textbooks, the students borrow books about architects, biofuel, mechanics, mindfulness, immunology and a large number of other subjects. The semester really doesn't start until next week, but they have been given the reading lists ahead of time.

This weekend I removed the Christmas decorations and the tree at home. It was hard work (the tree was overloaded) and it took most of Saturday. All of that is now up in the attic again. I did sort some things out to give to charity. Sunday I defied the bad weather and walked across town to a grocery store. I made my own hamburgers, not only for that day, but also for future lunch boxes. Very tasty, if I may say so myself.

It has snowed quite a bit here, but on this side of Skåne (the west) it has blown away again. It's just about freezing and the winds are very high, so this is causing trouble for commuters and others. Parts of the train lines are out, but I think I will make it home this evening.

After-Christmas shopping

I have spent much of the vacation doing as little as possible (and intentionally so), but I have accomplished some things. I have changed zippers in three pairs of jeans (very difficult), shortened one pair and mended a top. I did research for a colleague and that is now finished (interesting case, the ancestors lived in Jämtland, and several family members emigrated to Canada). Went shopping at the after-Christmas sales and came home with something I have needed for a long time - a new laptop. I have been busy removing files from my old laptop, so I haven't had time to install the new one yet. As a preparation for this new year, I have also changed the calendars, filed away old documents and made some plans for the next few months.

Twelfth Day is a holiday here, so the workweek started Tuesday. It was not a pleasant experience to get out of bed that early, especially not after such a long vacation. We were all tired and it takes a while before you get back into the routines. We had the usual problems when a new year begins, one of the databases went down (it does every January 1st), but it was soon fixed.

We are still waiting for the winter here. It's 6-8 centigrades and rainy. The winter resorts in the north don't have any snow and hence they don't have any visitors. I have been watching some sports on TV, like biathlon and cross country skiing, and they have problems getting enough snow for their competitions also in other parts of Europe.

Christmas holiday

The Christmas holiday was very nice, despite the lack of snow. Christmas Eve I took the train to Göteborg, where my sister's in-laws host the festivities. It was the usual buffet with lots of good food (herring, meatballs, salmon, sausages, cheese and much else) and a fair amount of presents were handed out by Santa. I got some gift certificates, a necklace and a ring my mother had made herself by fusing colored pieces of glass, a knitted scarf, a pocket book and both muffin and petit four cases plus a book in which to write my own cookie recipes.

The rest of the holiday was spent in Borås with my mother and sister & her family. We made some purchases at the after-Christmas sales in town (I got a knitted top and a pair of boots). My sister suggested that the family women should visit Sweden's largest discount store, and the women agreed. It's a huge place about an hour and a half away by car, and the prices there are sometimes ridiculously low. Of course you buy more than you really need, but it's practical things like hygiene products, toys, clothes and household items. I found a top and some small things.

Monday I returned home again, after a pretty relaxing week. I celebrated New Year's Eve by eating pizza in front of the TV. I had a nice view of the fireworks from my balcony. Today was the first workday of the new year, and it was incredibly hard to get out of bed at 6 AM after such a long vacation. But I made it, and we have been busy at the library, since there were requests from several days waiting to be processed.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the Christmas letters and holiday greetings! Remarkable how many of you suggested that I should visit the US again soon...

Christmas party no 2

It has been a crazy week at work. The upcoming holiday is long with many days off, and there were so many things we needed to do before we take vacation. We have done some fun things also. Thursday evening we had a second Christmas party, this time only for the employees at the main library (the party arranged by the social club is for all library employees at the university; some 30 institutions). This last party was also enjoyable, with very good food, a treasure hunt (through most floors of the building) and a difficult quiz (the theme was TV series - name all the characters of Dallas and other challenging questions).

Friday morning it took a while before my colleagues showed up for work, but most of them did. My department had the last meeting for the year, and it was more of a coffee break than anything else. We were treated to saffron buns, ginger snaps and chocolate.

Saturday my father and his girlfriend came to visit me. They brought the Christmas present I had asked for - a broom and a dustpan. Not that exciting, but that's what I needed. We also went to the nearest mall to eat lunch and check out some stores. It was crowded, since it's so close to Christmas, but we didn't have many errands so we got out of there after just a few hours. I took the opportunity to go grocery shopping also, since my father has a car.

Finally, I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The next blog post will appear in January.

Weekend trip to Stockholm

The weather changed again pretty quickly. All snow was gone by Monday and it's now dark and rainy. It has been a very mild winter so far.

Saturday I got a cold, which was not surprising as many of my colleagues had the same. I stayed at home until Wednesday around lunchtime. I had two meetings booked that afternoon, so I just attended them.

Friday afternoon I went by train to Stockholm. I have relatives there (my mother's cousin), and I visited them over the weekend. My sister also visited, she had attended a course arranged by a school there, and she had the final exam Saturday. We really didn't do much in Stockholm, just some shopping. It was a nice visit, despite the rainy weather. I returned home Monday.

Today I'm at work, even though I shouldn't be. I had forgotten to book the train ticket for Christmas, and it was necessary to get that done. This year's Christmas present from work is a large platter (for serving food on) and a box of chocolate (already consumed).

Christmas party in a snowstorm

Ok, now we got snow... It has been a terrible week weatherwise. Very high winds (35-40 m/s) and rain/snow. We are experiencing high water levels (ocean water is flooding streets in Malmö) and power outages. The traffic problems have been (and still are) very extensive. The only train line that is open is a short distance on the west coast line. I had to borrow the storage round car in order to make it home both Thursday and Friday. Everything was cancelled; trains, buses and ferries.

Despite this extreme weather, we had our Christmas party Friday evening. Several people couldn't come because of the weather. But those who attended had a very good time. We had rented a place in central Lund, and we all agreed that we should do that again. Very practical facilities, with a fully stocked kitchen. It's a lot of work, but we prefer to do our own party, rather than having it at a restaurant. We had a theme for this party, the 1970s. Many of the guests had taken this seriously and had dressed up in the style of that era. Very fun, and we gave a prize to the best outfit (a young guy in punk clothes). The social club turned 40 this year and we celebrated this by publishing a 1973-2013 chronicle. The booklet contains descriptions of the social club activities, like parties and excursions, and lots of photos. It was handed out at the Christmas party and was well received.

Today most of us rests. Not me, though. I had to drive to Lund to get the party things (candleholders and everything that was left over) back to the library and also pick up more forgotten things. It was very treacherous to drive, not because I had problems, but because of all the optimistic drivers who don't have spiked tires. I got stuck when a taxi couldn't get started again at a traffic light.

So, now I was thinking I would take the train home... Let's see how that goes. (According to the traffic authority website it should work).