Today I got involved in the preparedness work for the possibly pandemic swine flu. This is completely new to me, but it is quite interesting to see how these things work. It is also quite interesting to see how the media work from this perspective.
Ok, it was a very long time since I trusted what media reported, not since I worked with migration matters. But still this is new! The whole day I sat in conferenses with the responsible authorities and in our situation room. Still I get to hear a completely different story in the evening news on tv. Although they were referring to the same authorities and the information basically the same, the angle was quite different and it gave quite a different picture. But of course; if they would have just said what the authorities said and only talked about the confirmed cases it would not have been that spectacular and sensational...
However, I might not be the most suitable person to work with these matters. I might just be "too cool", I am just not the worrying kind. What I worry most about right now is that I might have to work this weekend. Instead of having a real long weekend. :-(
But on the other had there are persons who just worry too much. One of my colleagies got a call today from a person who wanted to know where he could find the hoarding lists. It took my colleague quite some time to figure out what the person meant, bt obviously he thought there were lists on things one might need to hoard in case one would get isolated. It took her even longer time to explain that there are no such lists and there is no reason for such lists and there will be no such lists nor reason to get isolated etc etc...
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Haväng
Had a lovely walk along the sea this morning in Haväng in south Sweden.
I need to find a way to get a house by the sea!! This is the way I want to live.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Spring in the City
Today was the first really warm and sunny day of spring this year. And as today was also the day of the month when most employees in Sweden get their pay, all bars and especially the ones with some kind of terrass or garden, were completely crowded. The whole city was enjoying itself in the sun.
I had made plans with a friend of mine to go for an after work drink. Later I was offered the opportunity to also join some colleagues for a drink, but as I had decided with my friend first I stood by that plan. While on the way to see her, another friend called as well as my sister and they both joined for a drink. I also got another offer to join another friend for a drink, that I had to reject.
I still can't believe my joy of having all those choises! It is such a difference from life in The Small Town, I can not believe it.
I had made plans with a friend of mine to go for an after work drink. Later I was offered the opportunity to also join some colleagues for a drink, but as I had decided with my friend first I stood by that plan. While on the way to see her, another friend called as well as my sister and they both joined for a drink. I also got another offer to join another friend for a drink, that I had to reject.
I still can't believe my joy of having all those choises! It is such a difference from life in The Small Town, I can not believe it.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Too Old for the New Media??
I admit my technological ignorance; or as someone said today “I fully realise I am standing with all feet in the world of dying media”.
Even though I do occasionally blog and I am present on Facebook I am a rookie on social digital media. Therefore it is quite funny that I, who only had heard about something called twitter, but had no real idea what it is really about, in one day both attended a seminar and later followed a debate on TV about twitter (and other similar media). The seminar was called Facebook – in face of disaster and was about the roll these new media play and could play in disaster/crisis management. It was actually very interesting and opened the eyes on many, if not all of us, attending. I never thought about it as something professionally useful. Maybe that is the real sign of what generation one belongs to, not if you use it or not, but the matter of importance or meaning it has to you. For me, these things never seem really serious or trustworthy, it’s only for fun.
On the other hand; the lecturer showed some rather interesting statistics. According to those figures it is not mostly the young – teenagers- that use twitter. The largest group of users was the group 25-49. I don’t really know how to interpret that. Does it mean I am unusually old-fashioned even in my own age group?!
Even though I do occasionally blog and I am present on Facebook I am a rookie on social digital media. Therefore it is quite funny that I, who only had heard about something called twitter, but had no real idea what it is really about, in one day both attended a seminar and later followed a debate on TV about twitter (and other similar media). The seminar was called Facebook – in face of disaster and was about the roll these new media play and could play in disaster/crisis management. It was actually very interesting and opened the eyes on many, if not all of us, attending. I never thought about it as something professionally useful. Maybe that is the real sign of what generation one belongs to, not if you use it or not, but the matter of importance or meaning it has to you. For me, these things never seem really serious or trustworthy, it’s only for fun.
On the other hand; the lecturer showed some rather interesting statistics. According to those figures it is not mostly the young – teenagers- that use twitter. The largest group of users was the group 25-49. I don’t really know how to interpret that. Does it mean I am unusually old-fashioned even in my own age group?!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Disaster Management at the Office
As my job is connected to disaster/crisis management it seems logical that there is a disaster-film-club at the office. The films shown by the club should be disasters in double meaning, i.e. be about disaster and be disastrously bad, i.e. real turkeys. Today they showed Rymdinvasion i Lappland (Space invasion in Lappland) from 1959. The film is Swedish but the dialogue is in (bad) English as it is a Swedish-American production. However I am not surprised it did not make it in Hollywood. In fact I don’t think it made it anywhere. The film is disastrously bad and hilariously funny! If you like turkey-films. It made me think of Plan 9 from outer space. The story, in case you can call it a story is incredibly thin and there are plenty of long scenes of skiing on the mountain and some completely unmotivated scenes of skating and a lady in the shower. It is just funny and simply impossible to describe.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0053232
www.vujer.com/filmer/rymdinvasion_i_lappland_1958
www.russin.nu/filmview.php?filmid=1151
To add to the somewhat surreal atmosphere at our show the sound only worked the first three minutes on our copy. There was no way we could make it work, but since we had all gathered and started drinking some wine and as the film had subtitles we decided to watch it anyway. When we got tired of the silence one of my colleagues started adding music that he streamed from Spotify. I must say he did a terrific job. He started out with some Bond-music, which worked splendidly! We realised this must be the original Bond!! Then he changed into such different tunes as Thriller, Fly me to the moon and Det är så hälsosamt och stärkande i fjällen. It was a long time since I laughed that much. The comments from the audience also added some extra touch as we interpreted it all from a crisis management perspective with jokes that maybe only we could understand.
There was also a somewhat funny interlude to the show. The film club had promised some drinks and popcorn. I don’t know exactly what they did when they wanted to pop the popcorn, but all of a sudden the fire alarm went off and there was a terrible stench in our corridor. It seems they had burned the popcorn so badly all three microwave ovens were completely destroyed. As we very rapidly could establish the reason for the alarm and the smell we did not evacuate but continued working. Someone called back to SOS Alarm to inform them about the reason and say they did not have to send the fire brigade. But obviously it was too late or rather they had to come as it was an automatically generated alarm and we all had to evacuate. This was actually a bit embarrassing but also funny. Our office is really right in the centre of Stockholm and it is rather big so when all the people gathered in the street and then of course when the fire brigade came, it caused quite some attention. I can imagine people would find it quite amusing if they knew what happened and who caused it.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0053232
www.vujer.com/filmer/rymdinvasion_i_lappland_1958
www.russin.nu/filmview.php?filmid=1151
To add to the somewhat surreal atmosphere at our show the sound only worked the first three minutes on our copy. There was no way we could make it work, but since we had all gathered and started drinking some wine and as the film had subtitles we decided to watch it anyway. When we got tired of the silence one of my colleagues started adding music that he streamed from Spotify. I must say he did a terrific job. He started out with some Bond-music, which worked splendidly! We realised this must be the original Bond!! Then he changed into such different tunes as Thriller, Fly me to the moon and Det är så hälsosamt och stärkande i fjällen. It was a long time since I laughed that much. The comments from the audience also added some extra touch as we interpreted it all from a crisis management perspective with jokes that maybe only we could understand.
There was also a somewhat funny interlude to the show. The film club had promised some drinks and popcorn. I don’t know exactly what they did when they wanted to pop the popcorn, but all of a sudden the fire alarm went off and there was a terrible stench in our corridor. It seems they had burned the popcorn so badly all three microwave ovens were completely destroyed. As we very rapidly could establish the reason for the alarm and the smell we did not evacuate but continued working. Someone called back to SOS Alarm to inform them about the reason and say they did not have to send the fire brigade. But obviously it was too late or rather they had to come as it was an automatically generated alarm and we all had to evacuate. This was actually a bit embarrassing but also funny. Our office is really right in the centre of Stockholm and it is rather big so when all the people gathered in the street and then of course when the fire brigade came, it caused quite some attention. I can imagine people would find it quite amusing if they knew what happened and who caused it.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Hard Times in Fashion and Beauty
Today I went to the hairdresser to have a haircut and some new highlights. While waiting for the highlights go get ready I was reading an issue of Vogue. I hardly ever read this kind of magazines to it was a rather new and interesting experience. Are there really people who find it worth spending time and money on this kind of shit?! And are there really people living like those described there!? And I am not really thinking about the stars and starlets written about.
Most of it was of course “the usual” fashion and beauty tips, most of it for astronomical prices, but it was the articles that fascinated me most. There was among other one article on how to save on beauty in times of financial crisis. The article noted that some people cut down on cosmetical surgery and noted that at least some choose not to make the bigger operations but only lesser corrections. One woman could just not think of stopping having her botox, she only asked the surgeon not to tell her husband and paid in cash. One saved on manicure and let it go twice the time between the sessions, another went from going to the hairdresser every third week to have it done only every fifth week. Wow, just imagine what hard times these ladies must be going through!!
Most of it was of course “the usual” fashion and beauty tips, most of it for astronomical prices, but it was the articles that fascinated me most. There was among other one article on how to save on beauty in times of financial crisis. The article noted that some people cut down on cosmetical surgery and noted that at least some choose not to make the bigger operations but only lesser corrections. One woman could just not think of stopping having her botox, she only asked the surgeon not to tell her husband and paid in cash. One saved on manicure and let it go twice the time between the sessions, another went from going to the hairdresser every third week to have it done only every fifth week. Wow, just imagine what hard times these ladies must be going through!!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Spring Dilemma
I am feeling caught in a dilemma! With the arrival of spring and sun I feel full of energy and inspiration. I would like to go jogging again as I have now found a very nice 9 km round. I would like to get started going to the gym again, or find a golf club, or go for after work, or cinema or or or…. At the same time I have caught a cold again and feel completely exhausted and just want to drop dead on the sofa straight after work. That is very frustrating!
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Simply Happy!
I haven’t been blogging for quite some time, simply because I haven’t had the time! Since I moved to Stockholm I have a life in the real world and less time to spend behind the computer after work. That is good!!
It is so great to have a life and have friends outside the office. I do miss my old colleagues but it feels great to catch up with my “normal friends”. Last week I worked four days and went for after work three days and had a wonderful social weekend. I really like my new apartment and my new neighbourhood. I love to ride my bike to and from work and I simply feel happy just to be here. It almost feels a bit ridiculous to walk around with a stupid smile on my face. I wonder when it will end. But not too much! Right now I just enjoy!
It is so great to have a life and have friends outside the office. I do miss my old colleagues but it feels great to catch up with my “normal friends”. Last week I worked four days and went for after work three days and had a wonderful social weekend. I really like my new apartment and my new neighbourhood. I love to ride my bike to and from work and I simply feel happy just to be here. It almost feels a bit ridiculous to walk around with a stupid smile on my face. I wonder when it will end. But not too much! Right now I just enjoy!
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