Author: peteDog

Going to concert, feeling old

Post author By peteDog
Post date November 26, 2008
7 Comments on Going to concert, feeling old

Yesterday I went to a concert at a local venue close to where I live. My good friend suggested I should see this band called Wintersleep that he really likes, so I thought I’d stop by and check it out. I prepped hardcore by listening to their latest album on repeat about 10 times, making sure I could sing along, or at least recognize some of the songs.

Finally, after work, I was somewhat pumped. I got to the place way ahead of time, not really knowing when Wintersleep was going to play and as it turned out they were the opening act, before two other bands. Excellent! There would be no need to stick around if the other bands happened to suck.

Stuff I Like

Glögg making fool

Today we made Glögg for the first time. In all my years living in Sweden I have never actually made it myself, but since it’s not sold over here, and we ran out of our imported-by-parent-or-swedish-friend bottles of Blossa, the wife finally conviced me we need to make our own.

It turns out that it’s not that hard to make, and we’re pretty close to the final product and it tasts mighty good. Why haven’t we tried this before? Has easy access to store-bought Glögg killed our desire to experiment in the past? Probably.

In any case, I’m pretty happy about keeping the tradition alive….

Deep Thoughts

Price of gas

We do a lot of driving here in the US, and in the last couple of months, as most of you know, the price of gas has plummeted. Probably not as much in Europe as it has over here due to the dollar having gained in value against other currencies lately, but I figured it out, and it has fallen about 55% or so from when it was at its peak. Even though it’s not going to stay this low for long, I’m enjoying not spending a fortune at the pump these days.

The downside of this is of course, that more people might feel that the renewable energy issue isn’t as critical anymore… I don’t know who those people are, but I’m sure they exist. In Alaska maybe?

Anyway, that was my deep thought for the day.

Tips & Tricks

Liberate yourself from an old email address

Post author By peteDog
Post date November 17, 2008

I’m sure I’m not the only one with 433423 different email addresses, trying to keep track whom I’ve given out what address. Below is a wired.com article describing a pretty good way of cutting your ties.

Back in the 1990s, you were an early adopter. You got yourself an Aol.com address or a Hotmail address. Or, you were issued an e-mail address when you signed up for your residential internet access, which you handed out to everyone as a badge of honor.

Times have changed, and that old address is a black hole for spam. You never check it, and you don’t want to. But your stupid ISP, your stubborn family members and high school buddies insist on sending you important things there….

Read the rest of the article here.

Music/Movies

Han shot first

Yesterday my daughter got all 6 of the Star Wars movies for her birthday from a couple of our friends. She was ecstatic, and to be honest, so was I. Once I looked closer at the original trilogy covers, I also noticed that the bonus discs contain the Original Theatrical versions of the movies. I didn’t even think they existed anymore, with the possible exception of someones old and worn out VHS tapes. I was definitely not expecting them to be bundled with the newer versions.

So, this morning I enjoyed Han shooting first again, for the first time in years.

Daily WTF

Free penis? WTF?!

Post author By peteDog
Post date November 7, 2008

Sweden amuses me sometimes….. I’m glad the tax money is well spent.

Swedish health authorities have sparked controversy with their decision to supply free prosthetic penises that are not fully functional to transsexual men.

Ottar, a monthly magazine published by the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, said the prosthetics will be available to women seeking to undergo a sex change operation starting Jan. 1, 2009, The Local reported Thursday.

The move was designed to promote equality due to the publicly funded wigs, breast implants and hair removal operations available for transsexual women.

Read the rest of the article here…

Deep Thoughts

A little bit of the good ol’ crazy

Post author By peteDog
Post date November 3, 2008
1 Comment on A little bit of the good ol’ crazy

Election is tomorrow. Finally. What we also vote for here in the US besides the candidate for the presidency and representatives for congress are different Propositions. Propositions are basically issues that have gained enough support publicly, but not received any attention by various politicians in power. In any case, it’s pretty much the closest for of direct democracy we have here in the US. They get put on the ballot and voted on.

The proposition that has, by far, gained the most attention is Proposition 8. A ‘yes‘ on 8 would mean a ban on gay marriage that would be written into the Constitution and a ‘no‘ would leave things as is. Meaning that gay marriage would continue to be allowed and recognized under California law.

Music/Movies

Basement rockstars

Back in the day, long time ago, I used to play in a band. Two bands actually. Both of which are the stuff of legend, but only one ever seen in public. This is not about that band.

Recently, fellow bandwagonjumper-friend Jonas made me aware of a new music sharing site called Soundcloud.com. I signed up. Did nothing for a while. Nothing yet again for another few weeks untill I got another nudge and hint to start using the service a few days ago. I finally broke down and dug through my mp3 collection of previously recorded material that hasn’t been listened to for ages and started uploading.

Daily WTF

Three celebs and a pile of wax

Post author By peteDog
Post date October 28, 2008

This image is on the front page of DN.se (swedish newspaper) today, and I’m wondering: Are pictures of Brad Pitt so hard to come by that you must resort to using a wax doll?!

Daily WTF

Post author By peteDog
Post date October 28, 2008

This lady is insane and out of touch. We don’t need another ignorant nut in the white house again. It seems like she’s giving us a choice of electing Kim Jong Il or John McCain. Wonderful! If this lady is ever president, I’m moving to the country and building myself a bunker in preparation for the nuclear winter.