Welcome Back!

(cue Ma$e)

Welcome back fellow readers! Sorry that we haven't written in so long, there's really no excuse. We'll do our best to give you all the important updates from the last three months, and then hopefully pick up the blogging pace in the upcoming weeks.

Around the time that we quit writing completely (late October) we found a new apartment up in Uppsala. The guy renting out his apartment wanted us to start renting only two weeks later, so we started packing and cleaning immediately. We were fortunate enough to receive some moving help from my coworker and two friends that Miranda met through her Swedish studies. Taking the moving truck from Stockholm to Uppsala was my first time driving in five months, my first time driving on European roads, my second time driving a large moving truck, my first time driving anything with rear-wheel drive, and the first snow-storm of the year. The entire experience was kind of like jumping straight into the deep end, but it seemed to be much more dangerous. The truck and all of its contents arrived safely, and we've been settling in ever since.

The rest of 2008 was filled with paper writing for Miranda, a heavy work schedule for me and glögg parties on the weekends. What's glögg you ask? It's a very typical Swedish Christmas drink. Warm port wine often mixed with brandy and some various spices. It's served in tiny glasses, about the equivalent of two shots...it isn't too strong, but it's a good way to warm up on a cold winter night.

We made it home for two weeks around Christmas. It was so good to be home with friends and family, it even felt as if we had never left. It was great to spend quality time with both of our families, and I'd give almost anything to snuggle with Marble on the couch, or to play fetch with Helius again.

Back to Sweden...

Per our rental agreement, our new landlord cancelled his internet service when we moved in. The internet continued to work for another few weeks, so I waited to contact the internet provider to set up my own account until the service stopped. They shut down our stolen internet in early December, so I called and was told that it would take two weeks to have the internet turned back on. I was a bit surprised that it would take two weeks to get service, but I figured it would actually work out quite nicely...we were going back to the US for two weeks for Christmas, so I figured we could "survive" for a week without a home internet connection, sign up for service when we left for the US, then have internet as soon as we returned to Sweden. If only it worked that well...we got back and received a note (all communications going forward were in Swedish) explaining that the initial two weeks were the "regret period", meaning nothing was done during that period. It further explained that it should take an additional two weeks to activate service. So we waited. After two weeks I called...sorry, the phone company didn't know which apartment we were in when they tried to activate service. I gave them the same information that I had already given them once. We were delayed another two weeks. I called back and although they had some excuse, all I heard was "Sorry, there are additional incompetencies." I don't know what was going on, but finally, after seven weeks of waiting, they finally activated our internet. Seven weeks, in a modern country! It was ridiculous.

Enough of that rant. We are connected to the modern world again and are once again accessible via phone and internet. As far as I can tell, life is good.

Those seven weeks, we'll call them the Dark Ages from now on, were rougher on Miranda than on me. I was spending about 18 hours a day either at work or commuting to and from work, one hour a day getting ready for work or winding down from work, and the remaining five hours sleeping. Home internet was the least of my concerns. Miranda on the other hand, was writing her final papers. She had to do some online research and welcomed the friendly distraction of a phone call, email or Facebook, so she spent most of the Dark Ages holed up in a computer lab at the university.

After my busy season ended we started to concentrate on completing our move into the apartment. A new bed was needed, as well as more storage space. A few trips to IKEA were made, taking measurements, scouting prices, checking the weight of the boxes. We finally decided it was worth the extra money to just buy online and have everything delivered. The dresser alone weighed over 150 pounds. Too much for a weak guy like me. Miranda probably could have handled it with one hand, but my pride wouldn't let her show me up. As for a bed mattress, I'm sure our fellow bus riders would have loved that…We placed the IKEA order yesterday, so we finally hope to find a home for the many piles of clothes that are laying around with nowhere to go. It also will be nice to get a good night of rest, in a bed that is larger than 120 cm (roughly four feet) wide.

I have spent the rest of my free time converting the old 12-speed bike that I bought for $50 (probably stolen, but that's another story) into a singlespeed. Converting to a singlespeed was a pretty cool project. I ripped off the handlebars, had Miranda's dad cut them shorter over Christmas and I rewrapped them. I replaced the brake pads, brakes, brake cables and housing, stripped off all unnecessary parts and in the end have a bike that is about 10 pounds lighter without any slipping gears, badly working parts or annoying sounds. The only help I needed was to have a local bike shop remove the rear cassette for me. Miranda doubted my ability to finish the project, but in the end the time and money were definitely worth it. She even complimented me on the finished product!

Lastly (Miranda taking over the keyboard here), we need to add that the blog missed an important birthday back in December: my sister Taryn, who turned 42 this year. Happy super-belated birthday, Tz! You still have the energy and looks of a woman 20 years younger...er, wait. You are! I forget these things in my old age. ;) But for as late as this birthday greeting is, we are still anxiously waiting for the webcam birthday present to be plugged in! You are an amazingly hard worker, but our wish for you this year is less work, and more time to relax and chat on the webcam with your Sweden-er relatives. Love you!

That's all we've got for now. Next in line...catching up on photo galleries and maybe a quick blog about our new life in Uppsala.