Working like a Dog!

Cramming more stuff into my brain today with this course. More that I ever wanted to know about tech support and call centers. I feel I'm going to start to get comfortable with this and then go back to my real job. In six months I'll do it again and I'll have forgotten everything ( or they will change procedures! )

Cramming all information

The visit here is going ok. The course is taught by one of the tech support staff. This course is more of a cram course it was not well designed as the last course that I took. I'm holding my own except that I'm next on the list for support and I'm getting support items coming down the pipe. This is because the other guy is in Europe and can't get to the phone. It would be ok but I need to research the problems but I have no time as I'm in this class...... It's Ok I have a handle on most of it.

Going to rush back to the hotel tonight to watch the Phillies tonight. Watched the game the other night saw the Phils go up 2 but the fell asleep for the rest of the game....Jet lag again!

Major weekend wrapup....

Sorry for no updates. It's been a crazy weekend. Marilyn, Meg and I went out to the 1812 production. " This is the Week That Is" the election special. With this election it just gave them a target rich environment. No politicians were save from the barbs and jabs that were lobed at them. The 2008 Presidential Election Beauty Pagent was a scream.

On Saturday we meet Marj and Roy down at the boat. They were helping us put the boat to bed for the winter. Saturday the wind was screaming at 40 knots and the rain was going sideways. We got all of the inside work for the winter done. It calmed down enough for us to go to the Harbor Shack and have the last crab cakes of the season. Sunday it was beautiful! 60 degrees sunny and no wind. We dropped the sails and the rest of the canvas. I finished the temporary structure for the solar panel. The we packed up and went home.

At home we unpacked the car and then I packed my bags again for San Leandro. I have a week long course here for tech support. It's a little cool here in San Francisco and I did not bring a jacket.

Getting the boat ready for winter

Marilyn picked me up at the airport and we drove down to the boat. I packed my bag last weekend which was 80 degrees. It was high in the 50's this weekend. I wish I packed some long pants! The heater on the boat worked well. It was low in the 40's last night and our dock neighbors were wrapped up in their sleeping bags. We just cranked up the heat pump to 70 and were perfectly snug. Scott finished the new companion way doors. They look fantastic. I'll try and put up a picture before we put the boat away for the winter. The really did their job as we did not have to wrestle with the boards getting in and out and it kept the heat in. In the summer it will keep the cool of the A/C in just as well. We took off the the main sail and folded it up and bagged it and then the wind wipped up and we could not take down the jib. Next weekend for sure and we have to winterize all the water systems on the boat. After Nov 1 Imagination is hauled out of the water and put on land. The old boat was huge when it was out of the water and you were looking up at it, this one is even bigger. Next May we'll be right back in the water and having fun again.

Two Buck Chuck

Good day out here. I don't know what it was all the talk about "Joe the Plumber" or the Phillies winning the NLCS or bad feng shui of my room I could not sleep Wednesday night and I opened up my computer and started programming. I fixed a problem that was vexing a Japaneese customer. This is a big load off my mind as this is one of the two big problems that need solving before the end of the year. The class is going well except that I need to to have a Red Bull to stay awake mid morning.

After the class I confirmed my bug kill with the internationalization specialist here. I was wondering about stenciling a bug on my laptop like when pilots make a confirmed kill. How many do I need to become and ace?

I had dinner a Julie and Jay's last night. Julie is my group leader. We got salmon and salad for dinner and met up with Jay at their home . Jay was in full kitchen mode when we got there. A glass of wine was placed in my hands and the salmon was seasond and places on the grill. The first bottle ran out during dinner and the Two Buck Chuck was opened. It was a great wine especially for dinner. Dinner, conversation and wine flowed then all to soon it was time for a ride back to the hotel.

Today finishing up the class and another round with the internatialization specialist and tonight I'll be staring another red eye in the face. ( <-- Not a pretty picture! )

Stuff, Stuff and more Stuff.......

The class is going well. Not much that I did not know already. But my product support commitment is firming up. I have to take a product support class in October. ( Yup gone another week in October ) and I have 5 weeks of telephone product support between now and the end of January. The good thing is that 5 weeks are in Philly.

I'll be gone three weeks this October when I get back home no one is going to know who I am anymore.

I'm trying to get my commitments done before ski season so that this support stuff doesn't get in the way.

With all this training and support ( the training is mostly for the support! ) I only have about 3 weeks to do two software releases! YIKES! One is a slam dunk which I have completed the changes in Sweden and only have to do the paperwork. The other I have not even started! I'm going to be one tired puppy between now and the end of the year.

Jet lag

My body is beat! It doesen't know when to sleep and when do be awake! So I'm doing a little programming at 4 in the morning... or is that 7 ... or 1.... Nevermind!

I'm down at the Marina in San Leandro right on the San Francisco bay. There is a marina down here lots of motor boats a few sail boats no one was near any of them. It's a nice place but I prefer being downtown. This place is not so friendly as a pedistrian. Downtown I can come and go as I please with the BART, and even in the financial district there are more choices of places to go.

Another Monday another flight....

I'm sitting at the airport ready to get on another flight to San Francisco. I have a meeting today and a class to attend this week.

Went to Ikea....

Went to Ikea the Swedish furniture store this afternoon to get some lingonberry jam and some crispbread. I figured that bringing a jar of jam in my luggage was a risky adventure for sure. We bought a quilt cover and other odds and ends. We lunched at the resturant and Anders was right the resturant at Ikea is quite good!

Universal Beer Server

Since Soft Beer Inc. has introduced the Universal Beer Server the response has been tremendous! I have been deluged with questions like "What do I need to run the Universal Beer Server?".

First if you are a Micro Brewery just go to the Soft Beer site and tap into the "Universal Beer Server" and you may need the "Universal Beer Server API Interface" it will adapt to any standard barrel or keg.

If you are a home brewer get the "Universal Beer Server Home Edition" and this will work for you. ( a 2Gb brewpot required )

We here Soft Beer Inc, the leading providers of network available beer, are proud to announce that Anheuser-Busch has just signed an agreement to purchase the "Universal Beer Server Enterprise Edition".


At home you need the "Universal Beer Client 2.0" ( version 2.0 has more thruput! ) any available USB beer tap, and a 15 liter per hour Internet connection.

And we for a more productive work environment urge you to try "Universal Beer Office 2008" We do not recommend installing on Vista as many hiccups have been reported. Liberal licencing for workplaces of 100 stations or more.

Soft Beer will soon be leading the market in wireless beer delivery with "Pocket Beer" available Spring 2009.

Class Action Settlement

When I got home I found in my mail the Class Action Settlement of Mike Seidman and Gail Howard v IBM ( International Beer Monopoly). I read the settlement and wanted to retain my rights under this lawsuit and remain a member of this class. ( Translation: We got the invitation to the beer tasting party and we are going to come! )


But I wanted to present some more evidence in this case:


With the recent increases in bandwidth on the Internet and advent of the high speed DMcodec ( digital to malt encoder/decoder) I would like to unveil the creative data solution for people that have an under capacity in the fridge. It is the Universal Beer Server!

Universal Beer Server can be setup and scheduled in minutes

Universal Beer Server emails simple instructions and result logs to you or your secretary

Universal Beer Server is a solution without spending big on expensive software

Now available for the Mac OS X Leopard!

Runs all standard packages!

Leaving Sweden

Well I'm at the airport in Stockholm and am getting ready to get on the plane to Newark. I'm a little sad about leaving as all the people I have met here in Sweden have shown me great hospitality and have gone far out of their way to make me feel welcome. We did a lot of great work here and we worked well as a team. Both companies should be very happy with the results of our labor.

I've watched the debates here and I'm starting to get a little tired of the election. I think for what I've seem choosing the Swedish Chef for president may be the best choice we can make!

Hejdå Sweden!

Dinner at REX

Anders, Jonas, Mathias and I went out to dinner at one of Umea's better resturants, REX. It was a really nice place they had to give me a english menu. The food is fine local Swedish cusine.

I had a three course plate , Löjrom från Kalix , Reninnanlår, and Vaniljglass.

The first I item was whitefish roe , second filet of reindeer and last vanilla ice cream with local cloudberries.

More Umetrics people

Here is Jonas during a break in the music.


Mathias relaxing with some local refreshment. ( Note DUI laws a strick here, one beer can put you over the limit, Mathias was riding a bicycle home. )

More pictures .... Eyes closed edition

Here is pictures of Me and Anders......

Swinging in Umea

Jonas, one of the guys in the Umetrics office plays sax in a big band and they had a gig tonight. They were playing for a dinner of doctors of optometery. After they dinner they had an open dance. About 50 people crammed into this house on the university and got down! They played Stevie Wonder, swing favorites, some disco and, yes an ABBA set.

Working in Sweden

Today was my first day at work. I met Anders who is my host here at Umetrics. We sat down over some good strong coffee and started talking and did not stop until late last night. We are getting along great here. A few things about the workplace here. People come in and take off their shoes and wear sandles ( glad I brought my slippers! ). One woman brings her little dog to work. He snuggles under her desk while she is typing. Everyone comes down at mid morning for coffee and mid morning snacks. The workplace is professional, quiet and focused. The office furnishing looks a bit like Ikea. I wonder why??? I can officaly say the the Swedes do eat meatballs for lunch, they are delicious. The meatballs not the Swedes.....

The Streets Roll up.....

The rain slowed enough to drop of the computer and walk around. Looks like everything closed up around 4pm on a Sunday. All of the stores are closed and with the rain the place is deserted.

Back to the hotel.....

When it Rains go to Wayne's!

Still here at Wayne's coffee. The place is still packed and no one has even given me a dirty look about taking up space here surfing the web. I'm just waiting for the line to subside to see if I can get somethnig to drink. It's still coming down outside and people are just looking for a dry spot for a warm drink.

Live blogging from Wayne's Coffee in Umea

Welcome to Wayne's Coffee in Umea. Wayne's coffee is the Swedish equivalant to Starbucks. I'm here because it raining outside. I'm here and the rest of Umea seems to be here too. It's a great place to people watch and the coffee is good. The place is packed and there is a good mix of people young, old, friends and family with kids ( one of which is crying .... for a cookie I'm guessing! ) I got a large Caffe Latte and a piece of choclate cake with what looks like home made whipped cream. They have free internet here, which is the homerun system. You get a card wich is good for about 30 minutes but my 7 day card is working fine. You can get Smorgas here. Which are sandwiches, not all you can eat. Smargasboard is a sandwich table. Ordering a sandwich is a little different. They seem to like their sides on the sandwich. Like roast beef and potato salad. Kind of like in Philly knowing what a cheesesteak wit' is going to get you.

Tips on travel in Sweden

Telephone.

Get an unlocked cell phone or ask you cell provider to unlock yours before you leave. Get a SIM card. It cost about 200kr ( ~$28) and I think you get 100 minutes to the US. Cheap tip incomming calls are FREE! have your friends call you. PS if you want my local Swedish number e-mail me and I'll give it to you. There are not too many people here for me to talk to.

Internet.
Get the Homerun package from Telia. You open up the WiFi page and get the 7 day package. about 199kr ($28). It's a little tricky as the page is in Swedish. Also save the user name and password they give you. They do not mail it to you and if you lose it you buy another. ( voice of experience! )


Water.
In this country the water is safe to drink. They give out a national prize on helping water quality in the third world. Bottled water is hard to find. ( plain water lots of the fizzy bubbly kind )


Coffee. ( kaffe )
Like San Fransisco and Seattle there are coffee shops everywhere. No Starbucks. Coffee shops you can get coffee, dessert, sandwich or light dinner. The Swedes are coffee crazy.


Money.
ATM's work fine. Change cash at Stockholm on the way. Good rates there. Exchange there instead of Newark. Call your credit card company and all will work fine here. On think when using a credit card here they have a pin let them know you are using a card from the US show them ID with a birthdate and they will hit the No PIN option for you.

Shoes
Take slippers with you. You take your shoes off when you come inside. A lot of sidewalks outside are packed gravel and grit. And it seems pretty wet here. So your shoes will be gritty. The indoor floors are wood. The grit scratches the floors. Slippers are floor friendly and comfy.


Language
Generally everyone speaks English to some degree. I seem to have no trouble communicating with people here. Couple of words here.

Hej ( Hey ) -- Hello , Hi

Tack or Tack Tack --- either Please or Thank you.

Pictures from Umea

Here are some pictures from Umea on a quiet Sunday Morning.

Greetings from Umea Sweden.....

First of all I have been saying the name of the town wrong. It's not U-MAY-A it U-MER. Which points of I can't pronounce anything in Swedish. I feel completely illiterate. The town is about 100,000 people. It's a it in a rural area here. It cool here not cold about 48 during the day 35 at night. I'm in the town center there is a shopping street here which is the major attraction. I e-mailed the guy I'm meeting here and asked what was there to see and he basicly said that he did not know. Which was the same answer that I got from two other guys who live here when I talked to them on the plane. Seems like this place is just a regular town. But I disagree. The town seems lively there is a river front. I'm going to see the Umea tourist information tomorrow and see what they have to say. I have my camera and I'll have some pictures on the web site.

My time sense is all screwed up it's about 1:30 and I'm going to try to get some sleep.... I hope.

To Sweden

Flying in the US lately has been a drag. Security, no food, crowded carryon a real pain. I flew out of Newark NJ and I check in to SAS, no baggage fee so consequently there was no rush to pile on the carryon in the passenger comparment. Most of the carryon space was empty. I had a middle seat, in the middle asile of the wide body. There was no one to the left or right of me so I had all the elbow room I needed. The seats had a entertainment center showed a choice of movies on demand or a camera from the front of the airliner or a moving map showing current position, speed and altitude. They served a warm meal with fresh bread, and a complementry cocktail. Two hours to Stockholm they also served breakfast. Rolls, youghrt, OJ you get the picture. Did I mention this is ecomony class! International arrivals at Stockholm was confusing but the aiport was under construction. You show your passport, get your bags and go thru customs. I was mostly waved thru. You go thru security again when you go into the domestic terminal. I woman at the check point patted me down. Boy did I get a Swedish massage. I then got on a flight to Umea the flight was less than half full. Remember that? I took a taxi to the hotel in Umea. I walked and looked around and tell you more and may post pictures tomorrow.