Man, were do I start…

Oh well, no dirty words is fine with me. I once mad the mistake of rushing into the car with my kids, there was a CD with Guru in the CD player. I was a bit stressed and thought nothing of it. All of a sudden Ian says “…bit dad, he is saying bad words”.
And, yes, Mr. Gifted Universial Rhymes Unlimited was saying a bunch of bad words :-)
Here are some photos from Tuscany of the Vesterlund clan. The last pic is of Will at the top of the leaning tower of Piza.








I work in public relations…or something like that. I work for a social service organization public relation/marketing team. The “team” stuff is kind of funny since there are only TWO of us. I take care of the 2 websites, design a bunch of booklets, flyers direct mail material about adoption, foster parenting, counseling, services for people with downs syndrome etc, etc. It is OK, beats some of the crazy jobs I have had in the past and my c0-worker is easy to work with.

(Oh, by the way Folk mean “people” in Swedish).

As for Healthcare reform….well….it is crazy..
I have on purpose tuned it out during the last few months. It is obvious that SOMETHING needs to be done. US health care is very good, but it is not assessable to everyone. The whole insurance thing as a circus and even if you do your research, you still can be slapped with a hefty bill. I needed a minor medical procedure. I called the hospital and the insurance company to figure out the cost. My insurance would cover all but $35 they promised me. I later got a bill for $600!!! Apparently the anethetist bills separately and is not covered by insurance?? What the….how should I know that! I had lunch this past Tuesday with a friend. He teaches at a local University here and his wife works part time as a producer for a local TV-show. Their youngest son needed tubes in his ears. It cost a fortune and his dad was going to help out paying for it. OK, his wife only works 2 or 3 days a week, but they still have very nice jobs.

As for the secrecy…I have wondered about that too. Bush was a grand master of secret back room deals, and while I do not think two wrongs make a right (so to speak) I guess this is how things are done these days in Washington, DC. US politics is SO very infected right now. The lobbyist has both parties in their fist. The two parties cannot work together at all. A senator that votes with the other party gets into trouble. I heard that right now during the healthcare debate, there are 2.5 lobbyists PER SENATOR!!! One has to ask, is democracy for sale??
The irony is that Republicans from California and the Northern States are sometimes MORE to the left then a right leaning Democrat. It is almost like two gangs fighting over turf.

I can really relate to your newfound Pro-Britishness. I am very much the same. While I was never anti-Swedish, I thought so much stuff in Swedish culture and every day Swedish life was silly, lame or just plain dumb. I saw us sort of as a backwater nation, stuck up north and far away for all that mattered. After my first 6 months at the American university I attended I kind of changed my mind. Sure Sweden is no utopia, it is a small country with a lot of country side – but it has so many good things too. I also think we Swedes are so scared of being the dumb, hillbilly distant cousins of The US and bigger European nations like The UK, France, Germany and so on, that we sometimes forget what we are good at, both I terms of our society, fine- and pop culture, film, literature music etc. I usually say that I am Swedish in a Zlatan Ibrahimovic/Henrik Larsson type of way. What I mean is that for me, being Swedish is not some kind of blue eyed/blond haired ultra European club stuck in our own and others stereotypes about us (you know Abba, meatballs, skinny dipping in lakes etc, etc). It is kind of hard to formulate in a few words. I try not to big-up Sweden too much because I know t will annoy people.
Man am I blabbing or what. I hope I make SOME sense…
(By The way, are things as bad in Barca for Zlatan as Swedish media make it out to be?)

I can relate to the England squad too. Even sports such as Tennis that I never care for THAT much, I find myself checking online how Swedish players do in big tournaments.
About BBC. I agree it is the best news service in the world. We have BBC World Service on the radio in the morning and in the Afternoon. BBC America has World Service news in the morning and their own news (produced in DC, not UK) in the evening. I also think a lot of their TV dramas are fantastic. If one compares stuff like Spooks, Hu$tle and Life on Mars to standard US drama such as Law & Order, CSI, Desperate Housewives…I actually prefer the just listed British shows. Smarter scripts, sometimes creative camera angles and just more enjoyable entertainment, and the budget is smaller too :- )

The Absent Minded guy is quite amazing. He should probably write a book on how to NOT manage ones career. I always wondered WHAT he was up to and then he gave a big interview a few years ago. Having a serious hashish/skunk habit and verbally fighting everyone around you is probably NOT the way to go. Now he is a dedicated Muslim and seems to have kicked the skunk.

I have not had a chance to listen to Love pt 1 by Build an Ark, but I will this evening.

By The Way - Did you get any of those Swedish movies? Any more Danish directors apart from Lars Von Trier?

Peace and I am outie :-)