As Promised..

I promised to let you all(?) know how it went getting the car out from it's snowed in parking spot today.

For starters my girlfriend's parents came by with a shovel... so it was not necessary for me to take the 10 minute walk to their place... a good start.
Secondly the weather was perfect.. a mere -3/-4 degrees.
To top it all off the snow was not all too compact which meant it was manageable with the shovel.

So in reality, what had the potential to be a real nightmare ended up being a pleasant little work-out of not more than 40 minutes, for both myself and my girlfriend.

The work-out also provided an unexpected physical benefit as can be seen in the photos bellow.

Before:

After:

Two Hot Girls In The Shower...

= every man's dream?

But no I'm not referring to some R rated video that I've recently seen... honest...
I am in fact referring to the YouTube pair and their series of sketches.. which as the title implies are performed in the shower.

Now I am all too well aware that most of you have probably already seen these ladies in action. For us others whom are only now discovering YouTube as a source of entertainment I can recommend them. It is the combination of their script and the physical interaction between the two...( mind out of the gutter now ;-) )
By this I mean ,for example, it's their facial expressions that I find amusing..

you can visit their site ...Here...

I also like a song they have recorded here which plays on the American stereotype. I will state that I am not anti- American... I try my best not to be anti anything.

Euro 2012

Reading the papers you would think Sweden qualifying for the tournament is going to be a piece of cake. I agree Sweden did get a good group and stand a good chance....

But still, I don't think either Holland or Hungary are going to be easy matches and even though we should easily beat Finland I predict that to be an ugly match of which there is a risk Sweden takes too lightly creating the possibility of an upset.

It will be interesting to see if we see Zlatan in this qualifying round or if he waits until the tournament to make himself available.

All this then leaves me with three questions...

1. Do you think this is an easy group for Sweden?

2. Does Sweden need Zlatan?

3. Do you care?



Lastly... even if the Kiwi's loose every one of their matches at the World Cup... at least they are there... where is Sweden???

Waitangi Day

Yesterday, being the good kiwi that I am, I celebrated Waitangi Day... Our National Day...

The day The British signed a treaty with the Maori tribes making New Zealand a part of their empire.... no controversy there...

You can read more about our national day ....here... on wikipedia.

Home is where the heart is

I found this video clip describing my old home town....
Sometimes I miss the place... other times....nah

Some music from Home

I was sorry to hear that kiwi musician Pauly Fuemana had passed away. He was a member of a band called OMC and is probably best known for the song.. "How Bizarre"  which can be seen below...



It is one of those songs that brings back memories of cruising on a hot summer day in you car with the windows down... you know, in the days before air conditioning.... It creates a certain feeling of longing back to those days... especially perhaps now when its -10 out.


On the subject of kiwi music.. while checking out some blogs from my old home town Wellington I came across the video which can be seen bellow. It is of a new single from a member of the band Fur Patrol.
Her name is Julia Deans and the song is called "a new dialogue"... enjoy....

Snow.. not so.. mobile

Believe it or not... this is my car.

When I parked it in this spot roughly a week ago the snow had been nicely ploughed and it was no problem either getting in or out. 

Tomorrow I am off to pick up my son. I'm one of those dads that have the privilege of seeing/taking care of their child every other week.  

Getting the car out is a task I am not readily looking forward to... for obvious reasons. For starters I have to get hold of a shovel... so it will be a quick walk to the girlfriend's parents place to borrow one, then after hopefully getting into the car, comes the task of brushing off the snow and scraping off any ice from the windows. After all that it's fingers crossed that the battery hasn't been drained from the past week's cold weather. 

The task of picking up my son is therefore not one to be taken lightly. A great deal of time, effort and thought has to be applied. 

Fingers crossed that it will all go well... of course I will let you all(?) know how it goes.

2723-01 Rocca Guicciarda Riserva 139kr

I was given the task of buying a wine meant as a gift for... my girlfriend's sister's boyfriend's step-dad in Norway.
The wine was to cost around 150 Swedish kronor. As my girlfriend lives in a smaller town and as the task was given at the last minute I went to the local Systembolaget. There I found one of my favourite wines...

Rocco Guicciarda Riserva... number 2723-01
I personally love this full bodied wine with its characteristics of spices, roasted barrel, chocolate, coffee, dark cherries etc. etc..

The wine is best suited Lamb, Beef and Game.

Whenever looking for a wine, or any other alcoholic beverage for that matter, in Sweden I strongly recommend that you first check out Systembolaget's web-page there you can match food to wine and visa versa. Check out the information on the wine in question... Here...

If you are interested of a little extra information on the producer I have found this site
Here you can see a map of the region and some interesting background facts... for example... The producer Barone Francesco Ricasoli has a Swedish wife.

Snow outside Cold inside

Today has not been a particularly good day. By good day I mean effective day. The couch has been my place of choice from the point of stumbling out of bed in the morning to now, when one is starting to contemplate getting organised for bed.

It's cold outside... around -10 and close to meter deep snow. Inside my girlfriend (yes I have one of those) has the flu. Therefore the motivation for going outside has been little to non-existent today. Well not to worry you say... you could spend the day searching and applying for that much needed job. Yeah ...well..um..no.

You then of course ask me.. have I done anything at all today?
Actually yes I have. I have spent all day playing with my favourite thing on my computer, namely a certain photo-editing program. Firefox's latest update provides me with the chance to edit the appearance of my browser with the  new addition of a theme editor Personas. I personally used  a variation to my current desktop picture. Seen here below...

Tomorrow is Saturday... the weekend. Time to take it easy ;-)
I have also been playing with the half tone function resulting in the artwork below...

I am looking forward to the day when I can afford a decent digital camera and then maybe make a more serious effort  of doing something with my artwork. I do currently have an account on  Deviant Art where I publish some of my current efforts of creativity.

New New Zealand Flag

I have been reading in the newspapers that there has been an interest in updating the flag of our beloved nation. I agree that although the current flag has served us well and been an identifying symbol on occations of both national and international significance it no longer serves as an accurate reflection on us as a people and our relationship to the world as a whole.

I have attached my contribution to the debate and though I'm not 100% happy over the result I will try and explain my reasoning as to the colours and content.

Firstly the colours: Living overseas as I do I have come to realise how unique certain colours are to our country. The blue of our sea is special and more so the greens of our native forest. These colours are the colours on my flag combined with the strip of white across the top... Our long white cloud.

The southern cross is meant not only as the flag's connection with our past but also shows our position on the globe.

And finally as a "KIWI" living overseas I feel that our native bird is a more significant symbol of who we are as a people when comparing us with the rest of the world. We are known as "Kiwis" plain and simple but it is also important to reflect over the fact that the bird itself has no ties to and therefore is independant of any specific sport. We are after all much much more than sports we partake in.

Below are more versions based on the same theme.