Found this picture on the internet someplace. I had to laugh.

I woke up a little early today. The idea was, that an electrician would come over this morning to look over some things with the heater, and I didn’t want him to show up while I was in the shower, so I made a point of getting up something like 6:45am or so. So when my mind rose drowsily from happy dreams into semi-awakeness, I briefly looked at the alarm clock and then decided it was time to get up.

So I got up. Went through the normal routine; I showered, shaved and brushed my teeth, clothed myself; spent a couple of minutes hunting down a matching pair of socks, as I always do; and in my rather good mood this morning, I was middle in the process of making breakfast for myself when I noticed that the clock on the microwave was totally off. It said “02:14″. I thought that was odd – there must have been a power outage or something – so I went to look at the big clock on the wall. It said the same thing.

At this moment, a hint of dark suspicion began to rise in my mind. I went to check the alarm clock beside by bed. It said “02:14″.

It took a few moments before the realization dawned on me that the reason why this night went by unusually fast, was not because I had slept so deep, but because it was still in the middle of night, and here I was fully clothed and ready go to work.

This does not happen often to me.

For a moment, the thought occurred to me that I might read a little in bed until morning, so I wouldn’t have to undress and go back to bed, but then a follow-up realization suggested that I had only been asleep for two hours and it was five more until I logically should wake up.

I went back to bed.

It took a while before I fell asleep again, mostly because I couldn’t stop laughing in the darkness, at the silliness of the situation. At point I felt rather thankful that I didn’t have a girlfriend – I suppose she would have looked rather curiously at me as I stood there by the bed, fully clothed, eating from a pack of youghurt at 2am in the morning.

Thank God for small mercies.

Blev precis uppringd av Telenor som gärna ville erbjuda mig lite rabatterat bredband via 3G fram till påsk.

Nu reser jag nu nästan inte alls, men jag tänkte ändå på något sätt, att det kan ju vara kul att leka lite med, eftersom det är gratis i 30 dagar och det var tydligen enkelt att returnera det inom den tiden. Och 79 kr i månaden fram till påsk är ju heller inte så farligt. Så jag sade ja via telefon och sedan började vi en liten avtalsinspelning.

“Ägaren till abonnemanget godkänner alltså … [tum-de-dum, diverse avtalsinfo uppläst, jag svarar "ja" där det behövs] … gratis 30 dagar med returrätt, avtalstid 24 månader med 3 månaders uppsägningstid och inkopplingsavgift 200 kronor…” … ehupp?

Vadå inkopplingsavgift? Det sade han inget om?

Dumt nog så godkände jag, efter en sekunds tvekan (det kommer nog låta roligt när man lyssnar på inspelningen sedan) – eftersom det var inspelning på gång, och jag hade ju ändå sagt ja tidigare…

Visst förstår jag att det blir lite pengar i kostnad och administration att skicka donglar tvärs över landet, så jag förstår ju deras sida av saken. Men jag tycker ändå att det är lite, lite oschysst att ta upp just den där inkopplingsavgiften först under avtalsinspelningen. Helt plötsligt så förbyttes min glada känsla av att “oj, kul grej, den kan jag leka lite med och se om jag vill ha den” till “oh, crap”.

Nåja. 200 spänn är ju inte så mycket när allt kommer kring. Och medan jag väntar på dongeln så kan jag ju alltid sprida lite dålig PR om Telenor via facebook och min blogg.

In the end, what good is this
When gone are all the words you wrote
As time itself, with poignant kiss
Through passing years does now demote
When thoughts expressed, so fresh and young
From ink and pen with boldness sprung
Now lies forlorn in a database remote?

What good is it, when that silvery ideal
That in early dawn then shone so bright
And smithed together with utmost zeal
In words of eloquence and grammatical delight
From indexed view now softly slides
As other fancy memes the public guides
From light of day into a distant night?

So seasons come, and seasons go
And fancy words and posts inane
Like falling leaves in wind and snow
Mutedly are left to fade in vain.
Perhaps, a few, or one or two
Did strike a deeper note with you
What more from this to hope to gain?

Thus like thousand snowflakes in the sky
Unique, thoughtful and succinct
Our blogs and thoughts and posts blow by
Some full of wisdom; and some, indistinct
Into this silent world-wide web of thought –
A brilliant backdrop of ideas that’s wrought
From a world of pages interlinked.

I love coffee!

Coffee is black, and hot, and smells good! Coffee wakes me up every morning! Coffee keeps me awake, keeps me warm, motivates me at work, and sits so nicely in my little cup!

It stains my teeth, deprives me of sleep, and is bad for my stomach; but it doesn’t matter, because I love coffee!

How do I love thee?

• I love coffee with all my heart!
• I love coffee in the morning!
• I love coffee at 10 o’clock!
• I love coffee after lunch!
• Sometimes, I love coffee in the evening too!
• I love coffee with sugar!
• I love coffee with milk!
• I don’t really love coffee without sugar or milk, but it’s better than nothing.
• I love coffee when I’m tired!
• I love coffee when I’m on the go!
• I love coffee in the drive-thru when I go to work!
• I love coffee right after dinner!
• I love coffee when I watch the news!
• I love coffee when I hack a difficult program!
• I love coffee when I relax, kick back and take it easy!
• I love coffee when it’s just dark beans in the package!
• I love coffee when it’s being ground and all the wonderful smell comes out!
• I love coffee when it’s being brewed and the coffee-maker sputters so nicely!
• I love the first cup of coffee in the morning!
• I love the second cup of coffee a little while after!

Coffee boosts morale, keeps the crew alert, and motivates and inspires to productive work.

I need help.

A few years ago, my friend and I traveled to Poland. We went around the place, spending most of our time in a little town called Gorzow Wielkopolski, with an old church and a rather charming mix of new-style apartments, malls and old buildings.

Poland joined the EU, recently, which gave us remarkably little trouble in visiting the country. In fact, all I had to do was wave my passport at the border guard – I didn’t even have to open it – and they waved us buy. Of course, when they saw that my friend had an American passport, they quickly halted us, took his passport away and went into a little house to check it up.

That was when it hit me: I am a citizen of Rome.

Paul the Apostle had a similar experience, which we can read about. As soon as he waved his Roman citizenship around (which you either got by birth, or by a large sum of money), special privileges and laws applied to you, and you were treated with better dignity.

The Roman Empire was an enormous empire that spanned most the entire Europe, Middle East and North Africa. And while it was founded on a military power, states were usually willing (with some initial resistence) to join as it brought trade, money, a distinct legal code, culture, and many other benefits – not the least protection from neighboring tribes. The Pax Romana ensured a peaceful environment within which trade could flourish from all parts of the empire.

When the West Roman Empire ceased to exist 476 A.D., Europe quickly degenerated into a chaos of Germanic tribes and remnants of the empire. The different cultures solidified and became the basis of the European nations, which were more or less continually at war with each other for over 1500 years, eventually culminating in the First and Second World Wars.

To put an end to this division – to bridge the gap between the different nations, and establish a peaceful European community – the European Union was formed, the basis of which was the Treaty of Rome in 1957. All the European nations are now coming together into one democratic union, which will establish a Pax Romana, whose foundation is entirely economic – the benefits of trade and commerce under peaceful conditions will far outweigh any sentiment towards military confrontation.

For the first time since 476, we now have a new, peaceful, economically united Europe, wherein all citizens may travel freely (within the Schengen territories), with a single currency (within the Euro zone) and trade without hindrances.

I am a member of the European Union. I am a Citizen of Rome.

The format should be 16:9, but is 4:3… anyway, I think the general feeling comes across…

*sigh*

Some impressions from the capital.

• Everything in Stockholm is expensive, in everything from food to living.
• Many in Stockholm work far too much.
• There is so much concrete, so much steel, so much asphalt. It is a jungle of gray stone, rising out of the ground, and forming an artificial, constructed wasteland where nothing green thrives. Identical rows of square, concrete towers, house thousands of little people in little square boxes, with little windows that peer out into an artificial world. It must easily crush the human soul.
• If you like shopping, Stockholm is probably the place to go; stores are everywhere and selling everything. And yet, there seems to be little warmth in the hearts of men.
• Yesterday we went to a mass at Adolf Fredrik’s Church. It was full of the ceremonies of the protestant church, completely anachronistic, and insanely beautiful. Among lit candles and a warm, diffused sunlight that fell through the windows on the ornaments of the church, a small choir sang psalms with a harmonic precision that made my heart tremble.
• I’ve been eating way too much restaurant food over the last days.
• Today I saw a young, loving couple in the subway; the guy was holding his hand around her back as they went up the escalators, and they were looking at each other. It was a very warm, unexpected sight, in the middle of this ocean of concrete, people and noise.
• The Stockholm subway is efficient, super-smooth, and with a rather affordable 24-hour pass, extremely convenient. But it’s not much fun on late Friday or Saturday evenings.
• Quietness is a luxury. As is time to be alone and think.

For many years now, while working with computers on a daily basis, I’ve sometimes had these moments when I’m just between sleeping and waking up, and I imagine myself doing ordinary things – you know, like making coffee, taking a shower, stuff like that – and the thing that bothers me in my sleepy state is that I can’t remember what program I need to run to do that.

I have this uncanny feeling that there’s a certain command I need to run (with unix pipes and all) but I can’t remember the syntax, and I struggle with this until I wake up; and it takes me a few moments to realize that I actually don’t need a computer program to do that. I don’t even need a computer at all. I am a human being and I can do whatever I want. :)

Or am I…?