swedenusa

Cultural observation #1: Everything slows way down during the summer. Some stores and cafés even close for a whole month. Most everyone takes 4 weeks of vacation. My office is no different. Lots slower. We even got to go home 1 hour earlier everyday for 3 months. Honestly, even the clients take vacations from treatment.

Cultural observation #2: We get a bit bored towards the end of the summer. Looking forward to the fall when it will be business as usual. Eager to work, eager to be effective and produce. Because of this we end up planning a whole lot of events, training, visits, and meetings that all takes place in September.

September is a big month. My team will have a kick-off to review the spring, set goals for fall, brainstorm, and get re-introduced to our boss that have been on paternity leave since January. We are having an Opening celebration and will be inviting close to 100 people including media to celebrate this new treatment team. There is a two day education and we are getting new clients. The work-groups and committees starts back up too.

It is a big month. I am excited but just a bit overwhelmed when I think about all the planning and execution that has to be done. I find it a bit amazing when some people just want a kick-off for the team and don´t really realize the work and details that are entailed in making it happen. Then it is not enough to do it in our own facility but it has to be done off site and include meals. On top of it I am asked if we can´t do some sort of fun activity too and not just work.

Then I scratch my head and realize how much I love my job. I get to be a part of all this. I get to do so many different things that I enjoy. It is really amazing. I have some great coworkers and I get stretched in so many ways!

(pic from http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/gallery/681/busy_receptionist.jpg)

I know we have been blogging a lot about the great candy over here. We pretty much always have candy at home. I love it and have become something of a sugar addict. Of course I get all angry with Sam for buying new candy all the time and filling up our bowl. But I keep coming back for more.

 I haven´t been to the dentist in exactly 2 years! I used to go twice a year in the US. We have universal health care over here but dental is not included for some reason. I usually have one cavity every other year. In the US that has been the cycle. Since moving to Sweden I eat way more candy and cookies than ever before. I also haven´t been to a cleaning for a while so I just KNEW that was BAD news.

I set up an appointment - while waiting for the date to come I have had nightmares about my teeth falling out. I seemed to feel that cavity sensation in one of my back teeth.

Seriously, I love going to the dentist. I always found it relaxing. Even when they drilled without getting numbed first. But I was a bit worried this time.

It all took about 40 minutes, x-rays were taken, exam, cleaning, and I was out of there. No problems. Not a hint of a cavity. I won´t have to come back until another year. It all costed about 50 dollars.

I was amazed!

In an upcoming blog I will write about what I do to take care of my teeth one thing is for sure, I don´t hardly ever drink pop anymore…

In response to the discussion  from the last entry I tried hard to find that doctors statement from Oprah. I couldn´t find it. I think it might have been Dr. Oz. But I search Oprahs webpage and YouTube without results. If anyone else might have an idea what the guy actually said… please enlighten me!

I found some other information about the eye and brain. So I thought I could share!

from http://www.blindbabies.org/Images/factsheets_crosseye.gif

A doctor can put drops in your eye to make the pupil dilate. This helps the doctor see the retina, optical nerve and back of the eye better. (from http://www.stlukeseye.com/eyeq/Dilation.asp)

 So if you can see the optical nerve… does that count as seeing part of the brain?

A lot of people spend a lot of time focusing on three things which are often tied together in some way; diets, appearance, and health.

Todays front page news in one of our Swedish papers stated that you can assess your health by looking closely at your face. It sort of peaked my intressed since I don´t like to go to the doctor´s office unless I think I am actually going to die.

I figured I could read the article online and then make my own medical diagnosis at home in my own bathroom. Of course the newpaper online would only allow you to read that article if you pay a membership fee. But they did write where the information came from.

Ha! A quick search online and I knew I would be able to make my own diagnosis. Sure enough the full story can be found in The Daily Mail. I was thrilled. Now I can figure out what is or could be wrong with me. The cure for most illnesses… balanced eating with enough but not overdosing on vitamins.

A Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. You can use this link to find the walk score in your neighborhood. The scores are between 1 and 100. It was fun putting in our old addresses to see what the scores were.

Here is what we found;

Our beloved North Central University got a 77.

Our condo in Edina got a 65.

Unfortunately, it only scores addresses in the USA, so we can’t grade our neighborhood here in Jönköping…

here is the link…give it a try!  

I was starting to get some strange pop-ups on my screen. Which is in itself strange since I had the pop-up blocker on. The new window said that some program had accessed some passwords, 7 credit card numbers etc. I didn´t get too worried since we don´t have 7 credit cards.

Either way, I knew our computer was vulnerable and hadn´t been scrubbed for … well… since we got it 1,5 years ago. We used to have a McAffee subscription but it ran out more than 1 year ago. I installed spyware since it is free at that time. But still no antivirus.

I started with getting rid of all cookies then I just sort of went through the computer as well as I knew how. After that I installed a real antivirus program.

I did the spyware and virus scan as well as looking for worms and what they called “malcious software”. This whole scan took a good hour and we have broadband (slow but still).

I was worried about the outcome. Waiting for the verdict I decided that we will have to get a USB and make back-ups of our important files on the computer. You just never know!

Finally the verdict: No viruses, no spyware.

Somewhere I don´t really believe this but I am happy to know I did everything I know how!

(pictures from http://susnet.se/homHum11.html)

Today we got an SMS that Mir’s glasses are ready at the optomitrist. For those curious readers…she picked top right and top left (but with blue instead of green) Thanks to everyone for your help. There was overwhelming support for the glasses on the top right, so we went with them. 

As for the winner… we picked a random number and started counting through the names in the comments section…Amanda came up on top and is the lucky winner. Check your mail Amanda…

1100 people have lost their lives to the floods and 20 millions are homeless as their entire villages have been burried under the water.

DN - Swedish news

CNN news

Andy called our brother in Minneapolis as our minds starts worrying for the worse. Both J and Shie are ok though Shie had crossed the bridge only 30 minutes earlier. Our thoughts and hearts goes out to the families of the dead and missing and the rescue workers. I am still worried about people we know and pray that all are ok.

Read about the story here:

local news: Startribune

Swedish news: aftonbladet story  

Swedish news: DN story