Deep in the unreal

It's friday today. The sun is shining outside and I'm mentally preparing myself to get home after work and do a show. I've made a few notes during the day, looking through the various news sites covering Sweden and the swedish lifestyle.

Ever heard of Myke Bartlett? As I am writing this I am also listening to Electricity, which is a novel written by Myke Bartlett. I had never heard of him myself, but looking through podiobooks.com, in search for information on how to register as a writer (I'll get back to that in a later post) I stumbled across his work.

"Aston Somerfield, casual smoker and part-time alcoholic, has come to London to find himself. He knows who he's looking for, he's seen him on the cover of the NME. Drawn across oceans by fame and fate, Aston is keeping his diary empty to make sure he's available. Won't commit to anything until it's everything.

London, however, has other ideas.

When a virtual stranger calls Aston a few hours before his death, fate catches up with him, derailing his barely-made plans. Amid a hundred boozy evenings and romantic deadends, a mystery unfurls.
Equally assisted and hindered by tremulous accountant Tom Hensley and dedicated loafer Steven Black, Aston uncovers a different London, one of murder, ghosts, dangerous emails and the second big bang.
As chaotic and random as the city it inhabits, Electricity gradually evolves into a mystery bigger than the universe itself. Being of a somewhat useless persuasion, Aston does his best to ignore it."

There was something in this description that fascinated me. I don't know what, because I usually have a hard time with books where the main character is an alcoholic and everything is about booze, but in this case... Well, something got a hold of me. There was a decadence in the air that attracted my attention.

I'm up to the final chapter now and I have to say that it is a wonderful book, that grips you and takes you with, on a strange, annoying, but yet spiffy journey into the unknown. Sort of, anyway. My point is that I would recommend you to read this book, or listen to it as I have. Myke has a fantastic voice and he does the different characters in a way that I haven't experienced before.

Check out the book at Podiobooks.com.
You have to be registered to listen to the entire book, but it's free and only takes about 3 minutes to fix.

Soon time to check out for this week. My birthday is tomorrow so I'll definitely be off-line this weekend. :-D

/ Andy

New forum for the Polarbear Podcast

A quick note to all you readers of this blog.

Some of you are also listeners to the podcast and I just wanted to let you know that I have just completed a forum for the show, all about Sweden, that you can now become a member of and start using.

Check it out at: http://polarbear.lefora.com/forum/

Links will be put on the Polarbear website shortl, burt for now this will have to do. A big thanks to Dave Gray over at the Global Geek Podcast for the tip on Lefora!

Have a good one!


/ Andy

Moving a tank

It's ok...I'm allright. No need to call for paramedics. I just got home from my very first RUN in ages. I think it must have been two or three years since I ran the last time, and even longer since I ran a LONG run. But today the fitness devil (or is that a saint) got hold of me and dragged me out into the track.

Since this was the first time I knew I wouldn't last long. So there weren't any high expectations on my part. I just wanted to get myself through the run without dying. And I did. I'm sitting here now writing about it. :-D

The track today was 2,1 km, that is 2100 metres, which isn't a very long distance for an experienced runner, but for someone who hasn't been running in a while it is like it never ends.

I had to stop once and stretch since I felt the muscles on the back side of my lower leg (whatever they are called) starting to cramp. This was after about 700 metres. After that I didn't stop. Not completely anyway. I stopped running between 1500 and 1700 just to catch my breath, but I kept on power walking, as not to loose the rythm.

And now I'm back home again, after having completed the run and I feel...well...good I guess, but very tired and as if my chest is about to explode, but I guess that is normal.

Now I'm after-sweating and after I complete this post, I'll hit the showers and hopefully feel a lot more energetic during the rest of the day.

This is the start of a plan I have to run "Springtime" next year, which is a local run here in Helsingborg, where almost all my colleagues at work participate, and I have felt envious. So, now that's out in the open - no turning back!!! Ha ha 

There is nothing special with Springtime really, but for me just a goal for my training. The plan now is to run once a week, for 6 weeks, alternating with 2-3 walks every week and after that increasing with 1 run every 6 six weeks. So in a few months I'll be running three times a week, and hopefully this will give me a better stamina, help me shed some weight and also get me in shape for Springtime 2009!

Gotto hit the shower now, but I hope to talk to you all again soon and be sure to check the new Polarbear Podcast Update later this weekend!

/ Andy

This is worth 2828 SEK

What is all this about you wonder? Well, according to bloggvarde.se my blogg, the one you're reading right now, is worth 2 828 swedish kronor. 

It doesn't mention where or how I can get this money but to be quite frank it's not all that impressive anyway. And I'm not in the market of selling my blog either right now.

A friend of mine had his blog valued to 286 000 SEK, a bit more impressive, but he isn't either planning on selling his blog to anyone at the moment. He too thinks his blog is a bit underpriced, despite the 286 000 SEK, considering the time and effort he spends on it, doing at LEAST two post per day and that he does it for a major swedish tabloid.

I think this site is just bogus and they even claim that the price is only an indication of the correct market value since they have trained monkeys doing the calculating. Maybe nothing to go to the bank with I guess.

Well, back in a jif with more exciting news from Sweden!

/ Andy

Time to vote again!

One sweaty walk

I just came back from a 6 km walk. Nothing strange about that in itself perhaps but this time I was on the verge of killing myself. You'll se why! 

I walked out there, well prepared for the hour long walk, with my iPod locked and loaded, with my walking shoes on and - since it's been pretty warm the last couple of days - wearing only a pair of knee high shorts and a sweatshirt. 

As I got to 3 km, I got confirmation that it was more than just a little hot outside. A thermometer at the local store read 23.5°C (73°F) and it was only 09.30 am. There I was in the middle of my route, in glaring swedish sunlight in the morning sweating my ass off. 

Walking at the pace I do, is in itself a workout, and doing it under these conditions is not only tougher but also plain out stupid. I hadn't brought any fluids along and I noticed that for every step I took I became warmer and warmer. And it wasn't that kind of nice workout:ish warmth. It was more of the "get-me-the-hell-out-of-here" warmth. There just wasn't any shade around, without me having to stop and hide in some bushes or something. And that was out of the question. I had to get home!

As I passed the 5 km marker (estimated up in my head, from having read the google map pedometer from my previous walks) I was sweating like an eskimo in the Sahara desert. It was as if a layer of heat was pumping around between my skin and the sweatshirt and despite all efforts to cool down I just got warmer and warmer. My head was hurting and my eyes where bluring. This wasn't a good sign!

As you might understand I got home alright and even if I am exagerating a tad, it was much warmer outside that I had anticipated. Lesson learned! Never again will I leave home wearing a big sweatshirt (that usually keeps me warm in the winter) when the temperatures are around 22-25 °C if I am planning on power walking for an hour. Adn the silly thing is that I took just to feel confident since it "hides" a bit of my bodymass compared to a t-shirt...! Now isn't that plain daft?

Now, 20 minutes after I got home, I can finally move around again, and getting down here, in the basement where I have my computer, was wonderful because it's cool down here... Thank god for the new studio! I am still a bit exhausted, but let's look at it from the bright side:

It was a hell of a workout today!

Talk to you all soon again, and don't forget to follow me on Twitter in the meantime!

The Polarbear is now taking a shower!

/ Andy

Off to the library

So I just released a little snippet on the Polarbear Podcast feed telling my loyal listeners to not go away, because I haven't gone away. I have just been out of the loop for a while, doing other things and for this reason I felt I needed to address this in some way, and what could be better than here on the blog.

First of there has been a lot of work going on in our basement the past weeks. We have turned a filthy worn down garage into a studio/dressing room with a new floor, new walls, new artwork on those walls, a row of closets and two working spaces where of one is my studio. Marie (aka my wife) has lended me a hand sewing some curtains for sound muffling, but despite that we're not home yet I'm afraid. I still ned to get a carpet under me to deflect even more sound, bouncing off the hard surfaces in the room. But all this will be done within the week. After that I will technically be able to record a show.

Secondly I've had a rough few months at work. I just today released one magazine to the printer and next week two more will follow. Somehow the planning hasn't worked 100% and things have got piled up.
Also there has been a lot of discussions lately about how we should conduct our work in the future, trying to make our department as efficient as possible. The company initiated a project to find out how we can utilize our staff and equipment in the best way for instance. It's very exciting and we believe it will be a win-win situation both for the company and ourselves. But as I said, it has taken some time off from other stuff. And new routines take time getting used to.

Thirdly there has been stuff going on with Swecasters (www.swecasters.com) lately, and on Sunday (4th of may) we will be having our second annual meeting in the history of the organization, electing a new board and chairman. Hopefully I will still have the trust of the members to stay on as chairman, but you never know.
And speaking of Swecasters, I am having a meeting this afternoon with the local library here in Helsingborg, to discuss how they can help us spread the word of podcasting to the local population, through events such as workshops, seminars, lectures etc. Also I am hoping to discuss how ALL libraries in Sweden can do the same thing and how we can organize that. Very exciting things anyway and I will be sure to give you an update on how all this went down.

So with all these things going on you might understand that my head just hasn't been able to handle a podcasting recording too. I've had the physical time perhaps, but with the studio not being ready and the sound not being the way I like it, and all these other things going on... Well, as podcasters are known to say: Sometimes life get's in the way!

But I am aiming on doing a show this weekend so hopefully there will be a new one out there next week.

Ta'da!

/ Andy