TexasSwede

Today Midsummer is celebrated in Sweden, as well as in several other Nordic/Germanic countries. It is an old pagan holiday, and the only one (at least in Sweden) not hijacked by christianity, despite attempts.
Midsummer celebrates the summer solstice, the shortest night of the year. It actually takes place on June 21, but Midsummer is celebrated on the Friday closes to it, in order to give people a three day weekend.

The traditions in Sweden are that you raise a midsummer pole (sometimes called May pole), usually covered in leaves and flowers. You dance around it, for example the popular "frog dance" (YouTube video here), then eat pickled herring (different varieties) with cooked potatoes and sour cream, bread, cheese, beer and akvavit.

Glad Midsommar!

Not sure how much I trust this survey, but it is interesting. :-)

While computer nerds are obviously good at IT, what we didn't realise is that they're good at "it" too.

An anonymous study of 2,000 British men and women from PS3PriceCompare.co.uk concluded that out of all jobs, computer geeks make the best lovers.

Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/article2439786.ece

Yesterday something happened that never happened to me before.
I have always been laughing at people who drop their phones in the toilet. I been using cell phones since about 1993, and yesterday it happened to me for the first time. I had been at the pool, had some sunscreen left on my hands, walked into the bathroom to do something while I checked my mail, and the phone slipped, and plopped down in the toilet which conveniently had the lid up. Yes, I am a male, and living alone...

In about 3 seconds I had the phone up again (probably some of the longest 3 seconds in my life). I quickly dried off the excess water and pulled the battery, probably within 5-6 seconds. Took out the SIM card, MicroSD menory card and used some compressed air to clean it out as much as I could. I then put the open phone on top of my Antec Nine Hundred case (highly recommended, by the way!) with a big 200mm exhaust fan which is sending warm air out of the case. I left it there overnight to dry out.

This morning I put the battery in and the phone started up fine! The screen have some discoloration where water got in between the glass and the LCD display, but for now I can live with that. I have insurance thorugh AT&T, but the Blackberry Bold have a $125 dollar deductible.

I still have not tried everything, like taking pictures, but the phone is charging fine, phone calls and text messages work, etc. Honestly I am amazed that it survived at all.

I just read Devin's posting about his scare last Thursday.

I also have a history of heart issues in my family, both my parents died from it, even if I suspect my mom got a blood clot after she had leg surgery... But the official papers say heart attack.

I was always a big guy, and about 8-10 years ago it was pretty bad. I never checked my weight back then, except for at some rare visit at the doctor. I remember once the scale ringing up at 275 lbs and 6'0". I had just moved to the US at that time, and still had some problems grasping lbs vs kg. So I guess it did not really register with me how big I actually was.

In late 2002, around Christmas, I stopped drinking regular sodas and switched to diet sodas. Some time in February or March I had dropped to 260 lbs, and over the next few months I lost another 15-20 lbs. All without much exercise, just some small changes in my eating habits. Well, in addition I also was going through some marital problems and in the summer of the same year a divorce. Broken heart can be a good (if not fun!) way to lose weight...

I been steadily working on small changes in my life. Adding more exercise, tweaking what I eat, finding good but healthy as well as filling food both at the grocery store and fast food places and restaurants.
I am right now at 215 lbs, for the last 8-9 months I been up and down between 212 and 225, but mostly in the lower range of that. I am not going to stress about it, the weight took years to pack on, and it will take a while to get off.

I just turned 40 in March, and I am right now at the same weight as when I left the Swedish Air Force at age 22. I am actually probably in slightly better shape now than back then (I was mainly driving trucks and heavy equipment in the Air Force). My goal is to get below 200 lbs, which is about what I was when I graduated High School. My dream is to hit 190, though.

It is hard to stay in shape when you have a job sitting on front of a computer all day, and sometimes night. On top of that, I am lazy.
I now try to go to the gym several times each week, and working out with a trainer at least once a week.

But the biggest effect om my weight is how and what I eat. I foound so many good to eat that I can't really come up with any excuses not to eat healthy most of the time. I am not a picky eater, so that makes things easier, of course. The other day I had a sliced avocado, a can of drained tuna in water and two hard-boiled eggs for lunch. Excellent, very tasty. Sdding some black pepper on the tuna and avocado, and a dash of salt on the eggs made it even better. I boil half a dozen eggs every few days and put them in the fridge. A sliced egg or two on a piece of bread (especially Wasa crispbread) with some caviar on top) is a great and filling breakfast. Works for lunch too.

What I am trying to say is to make small changes you can live with. One step at a time.