Saturday, May 30, 2009

Message to Marta

Honey,

please come home. I'm tired of watching the deadliest catch in my last pair of clean underwear. Also, stop at the store and get food, all that's left in the fridge is liverwurst for Milu and beer....

Wait a minute, we're OK , no need to hurry home, see you Monday.

Love you

/J

Barca

For three days straight I have worn my blue and red jersey, my Barca jersey (the team that I will totally endorse when I'm retired living in Costa del Sol) have managed to win the ultimate triple.

Alex and Fia (not to mention Marta) chants Champions, Champions...I'm chanting a little too when no one hears.

Clean

I live in a very gender specific relationship, I have opted to, my wife not at all.

She has made her point, and it makes sense and I buy it but somehow I wish that I was more of a man

Friday, May 29, 2009

One's roots

Spending the weekend alone ( all week to be exact) sucks, brings out memorabilia and a general feel bad for Jonas if you would have asked me, thank you .

Part of feeling sad when I'm left alone is the stinging pain I feel in my heart of missing home. Home for me is Gothenburg, Sweden. I do all right when my family is around but the minute they leave.. not so much.

I find myself searching on youtube for clips of Gothenburg. I watch them, I soak them in, I try so hard to feel the message about how great of a city Gothenburg is. It is a great city, has a lot to offer and I'm very proud to have grown up there and I'm very thankful for the values it has thought me and to how the city managed to shape me in to the person that I am today.

You think I'm full of it, see for yourself...

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

My prayers have been answered

This week started like crap and is heading that way, the family left town and things at work is not going well.

But there is one thing I have hoped for since 2001, and this made the day, my favorite band has reunited.

Monday, May 25, 2009

I give you

Marta and the kids leave early tomorrow to spend a week with her brother in Washington DC. I off course hate this since I'm not able to go or to be more frank, I prioritize work this time.

I'm all for them to go, I know that Tim Jr appreciates it, I just hate not to be there, to savor those few moments one gets with family, to sit in 15 years or so at Christmas looking at poorly shot pictures of the DC trip -09. I'll see myself in front of the fire place and everybody is not only sipping on a toddy but all of them were there, where the picture was taken and oh so much fun they had.

I will feel then as I do now, jealous, hiding it with a big ha ha, I'll be all right, you guys have fun , be safe. So much for a Viking.

And I always pick a fight with Marta the night before they leave. I don't want to but it hurts to see them leave. They'll come back and we will do this 2 more times before July. And that sucks.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Long weekend

I get to enjoy a three day weekend, Monday is memorial day. So i want to spend it with the family.

Yesterday we spent on the beach. We have friends with a beach house, very nice where we played in the surf, had some cold beverages and grilled out.

Today is boating day but the rain is pouring down and Marta does not like it at all. To get herself into a better mood she started vacuuming. The rest of us is hiding upstairs more convinced than ever that it doesn't work. But we do enjoy a clean house.

I guess we will go to Target later, that might be the most exciting thing we do today.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Graduation

I can not believe it. One, our little Alex is not so little anymore, graduated preschool today!Two, it was not this big a deal when I grew up.

I'm speechless, so is my wife ( a nice change). It was fantastic, I ran late off course, had some business to deal with, but they waited 5 minutes so that I could be part of it . The kids were like robots, they had to have practiced a good bit but that did not stop Marta from crying like the Niagara falls. I might have shed a tiny tear too but that is beside the point.

I am so grateful that I have this wonderful opportunity to be someones pappa, to have an significant other to share this with.

We'll screw it up in the end, no question about it. I hope from the bottom of my heart that you get to experience the same.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Ballet

All Fia is talking about is ballet, she so wants to dance.

Well, since Barca won La Liga, Marta wants for her to do soccer. So it's up to me to make my little princess happy.

Even though I have a professional ballerina as a sister in law who has shown me a good bit ( she's got to be adopted, no Campilla has that kind of patience) I feel a little not good enough, then again it could be like...

to be totally myself, the free spirit, the artist that I am, right Chris? Moves, oh do I have moves, Marta can't sink through the ground fast enough when I hit the floor especially when I do my trademark, the coconut. That may include all of my family come think of it, they're not to be found and dragged up on stage with me when the moment of fame arise.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Summer travels

All of a sudden I have more work than I can handle, if only for a short time ( as far as I can see) I appreciate it.

School is almost done, next week is the last week and then Marta and the kids will start the summer traveling. First is a week in Washington DC to visit with her oldest American brother, then Michigan for a week to top it off with a month at their favorite city.

Milu and I will be at home watering our vegetables wishing that we were with them in...

Monday, May 11, 2009

$1800 spent on a Volvo

Could buy some stuff or get Marta's Volvo almost fixed. Yep, almost, have to take it back in for a warranty repair on the electronic throttle body.

My good friends ( I'm being sarcastic) at the dealership has to take it through some testing even though I have the printout what is failing. This might take up to 3 sessions and after that an authorization from Volvo North America has to be approved.

Why don't I have my guy fix it ( he's a certified Volvo technician but independent so no warranty work is granted) is that it runs about $1000. After all my time spent and work missed it will cost me that anyway. Got to love dealer ships. I had the dealer quote the same work that my guy did, they were over $1200 more expensive and yes my guy used Volvo original parts.

The only reason I buy the cars we have is the fact I have a good mechanic. If he quits there will never be another Volvo in my drive way, the Volvo dealership has made that point very clear to me.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Parade 2009

Goodnight Milu

I think that I have told you about a boy and his dog before. I will do it again.

Our German Shepard, the 8 1/2 year old little Milu, has a habit of making sure that the kids ( her pups/siblings) are OK and that they fall asleep properly. She has since we brought them home from the hospital made her rounds during the nights and she's the one that wakes us up when one of them is ill or had a nightmare.

Every night she goes in to Fia's room, stays until she falls asleep and then move on to Alex's room. Since we got back from Disney Alex is paying the little Milu some more attention, I guess he really missed her.

Now when I enter his room at night for the last checkup and to give him one more kiss and whisper that I love him I find the following in his bed.

One hairy German Shepard who is fully stretched out on top of the bed, the same dog has Alex's favorite blanket draped over her. At her head I see a couple of story books, she obviously had a bedtime story read to her and what few images in that particular book shown to her ( every night is a different book). Also that his reading light is left one is clue #2.

Then my heart gets soft, Alex is always holding her paw in his hand, one has to see it to believe it I guess.

She used to be my dog but not so much anymore. I get home late, way after their bedtime three nights a week and all I get from Milu is a couple of thumps with her tail against the mattress, excuse me for expecting her to get out of Alex's bed for maybe a treat or two.

Monday, May 4, 2009

To meet a hero at Kennedy Space Center

During our stay in Florida we went to Kennedy Space Center or NASA if you like. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen. We were very fortunate to see both launch ramps loaded with Atlantis and Endeavour.




















Alex and Fia somehow won tickets for us to see the Atlantis take off on May 11th in the VIP stands. Well, we have things to do and we will most likely smack our selves in the head for not going come 20 years down the road, besides Fia lost her two invites but she says it's OK.














Long story short we had the ultimate privilege to meet with an astronaut, shuttle pilot Jon McBride.














I'm absolutely at a loss of words to explain what we got to see. They really don't need to show you all of this but my appreciation to what we were allowed to see, the way it was executed and the way these heroes ( astronauts) are humble in their way to share their experiences was absolutely first class.














And Alex has a signed picture with a personal greeting that is THE coolest thing. Thank you Mr. McBride and NASA, you made our day.













The mere fact that he was on the first shuttle to be launched,Columbia and then later on the Challenger , both have been lost since then in tragic events ( only two shuttles, well shuttle going up orbiter coming back as we who are tight with NASA say, that have been lost since the program started?) is just amazing to me about this mans character, talk about nerves or guts. Wow.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

6-2

Total domination. Madrid is humiliated, what an embarrassment. Viva Barca!

They're still there

Even though we have this deep recession, to my surprise I found one happy couple still alive and well. Business appeared to be a little bit slower than previous years but no sign of a chapter 11 any time soon what I could tell.