Swedish vodka no longer Swedish

There aren't that many world wide known Swedish products left to be proud of as a Swedish Alien. IKEA is of course still going strong. But SAAB is owned by GM, Volvo by Ford. Eriksson makes their phones with Sony and ABBA will never reunite.

But so far you have been able to hit the bars*, knowing you most certainly would find a bottle of Absolut Vodka and be able to show off this very Swedish product to your American friends.

Until now.

It's turning French.

(* That is b.k. These days you're happy if you can get anything stronger than 1% milk.)

The Swedish artist in New York

I have a the latest edition of Swedish Elle (well, at least it was new before it had to cross the Atlantic, by now it might be old in Sweden..) by my favorite reading chair and I read an article about the Swedish singer Marit Bergman. She is one of those artist that kicked off "a.c-my-move-to-California" - so I actually have no "relationship" to her at all. I wouldn't be able to tell any of her songs or identify her in line up of artists. It feels a bit weird... this pretty big Swedish artist that I have no idea about.

Anyway - she lives in New York now and I've written about this phenomena before,- here is a long feature article about her life in Brooklyn and - not a single line on what kind of visa she is on or how she is able to stay past her 90 day visa waiver...

Well, I'm happy for her what ever visa she is on - she seems to enjoy it a lot.

But I'm sure curious...

(At elle.se you can see pictures of the photo session with Marit Bergman in New York).

Saturday night at... IKEA...

Me and mom went to IKEA... to buy pottery... on a Saturday evening. Oh, my. I'm getting old. Anyway, we found great pots for the patio, clean, stylish, off white - exactly what I hadn't found at HomeDepot earlier in the day.

I was surprised to run into a crowd of shoppers. IKEA on a Saturday night in California is obviously not quiet and lonely, but a busy place, filled with young people filling up the shopping carts. So maybe I'm not getting old at all - only more cool?

When standing in the long line at the check-outs(getting flashbacks from IKEA in Kungens Kurva outside Stockholm...) my mom said "well, wasn't it pay day this last week?". This is a comment that can only be made by a Swede, used to everyone getting their salaries on the 25th of each month, thus the weekend after the 25th is not a good weekend to hit the stores with everyone else with thick wallets (or these days loaded credit cards).

Here you are usually paid biweekly and it could be either week and day of the week. So the shopping crowd at IKEA on a Saturday night could not be explained by unusual thick wallets. Seems it just a cool place to go on a weekend night. And we were there!

TSAs mediocre response

The TSA has responded to the "nipple incident" (see post below) and the woman's request for an apology:

"TSA has reviewed the circumstances related to the screening of a passenger with body piercings that occurred recently in Lubbock, Texas. It appears that the Transportation Security Officers involved properly followed procedures in that incident. They rightly insisted that the alarm that was raised be resolved. TSA supports the thoroughness of the Officers involved as they were acting to protect the passengers and crews of the flights departing Lubbock that day.

TSA has reviewed the procedures themselves and agrees that they need to be changed. In the future TSA will inform passengers that they have the option to resolve the alarm through a visual inspection of the article in lieu of removing the item in question. TSA acknowledges that our procedures caused difficulty for the passenger involved and regrets the situation in which she found herself. We appreciate her raising awareness on this issue and we are changing the procedures to ensure that this does not happen again."

I sure wonder how long they've been working on this release, published on their website. They must have worked hard to omit the word "apology" sticking to the importance of "procedures".

The closest they get is "regrets the situation in which she found herself".

Sad.

Shame on TSA

As a frequent flyer I have spent lots of time in airport security - and more after 9-11. And even though I have found my "flow" to get me through as quickly as possible, going through security is probably one of the worst part of flying. I don't mind heightened security - after all - I'm going to be on that plane. But the feeling of being treated like unworthy cattle is hard to shake off sometimes. You can check id, x-ray hand luggage, have people remove their shoes and still say "hello", "welcome", "have a nice flight".

Yesterday the news about a woman having to remove her nipple piercings to be able to pass through security broke. And even though nipple piercings is not my kind of game, the story really, really upsets me.

Male TSA* personnel, refusing to inspect the small piercings after a hand held metal detector beeped, even as the woman offered, but instead giving the woman pliers to take them off. The woman is asking for an apology and I, for once, almost wish she would do like so many Americans do - sue!

Since when can nipple piercings be considered a threat?

And how come you can go through security with hardwire in your bras - but not with nipple piercings? After all, the hardwire is long, sharp and could probably do some harm if you really wanted to. Or how can men have belts with large, metallic buckles. After all, a belt could probably be used to strangling someone.

This is a low point for TSA.

Here is a video about the incident.


*TSA = Transport Security Administration is the authority responsible for all airport security in the US.

Oh, so funky....

I love California, but there are a few moments when it's hard to live in a Northern California house. My mom brought the latest issue of the Swedish interior decorating magazine Sköna Hem, and I'm drooling over it just as much as over Swedish chocolate.

This issue of Sköna Hem had a feature article about a "funkis"* appartment in downtown Stockholm, and boy, how hard it is to live in a "garage with house on top" when you see the pictures...

Check out the pictures from this place here! Look at the view... isn't it to die for... ?

Maybe I have to take a trip to the new Scandinavian Designs store this weekend to ease my mind. I wonder if you can ship a "funkis" building from Stockholm...?

(* "Funkis" as in "funktionalism" - in English architectural "functionalism")

Walking distance

When we were looking for a house, one of the criteria besides having a "in-law cave" (guest room downstairs with separate bathroom) we gave to our real estate agent was "walking distance to something". We wanted to be able to leave the house sans car and actually get somewhere. A store, a coffee shop, a plaza - something. This isn't necessarily automatic around here and in the city we live, you really have to look in a few, specific areas to full fill that criteria.

In the end we didn't too bad for being Northern California. Withing walking distance we have for example ColdStone Creamery (the best icecream), Starbucks (no need to specifiy...), Borders (bookstore with café) and WorldMarket (store filled with stuff from all over the world... like Swedish Fish and Droste chocolate).

Since my mom managed to catch some sort of "jet-lag-flu" and have been in bed for almost a week (out of the three they are staying), this has been great for her poor husband who has been taking daily walks around the neighborhood. He has never done so much shopping in years... he even bought shoes - voluntarily and alone!

Music night

Tonight we tuned in to American Idol for the first time this season. American Idol, which Swedish version is called "Idol", is on its seventh season here and so far two contestants (of the top 12) have been voted off the show. The grand finale is May 21.

We weren't really watching, just had the TV turned on. It wasn't really until the last performer came on that I kind of focused on the screen and listened. Contestant David Cook was performing and he was doing Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, in a version created by Chris Cornell, and I really, really liked it.

I went online and checked out David Cook's earlier performances in American Idol - and I really liked them too. Maybe I have to tune in next week (or just go on YouTube a couple of minutes after the show has broadcasted on the EastCoast, three hours earlier than here in California) to check out his performance. That is if he is still on the show next week...

To think about before crossing the bridge

Come visit and shop

The Swedish daily magazine Dagens Nyheter today writes about the "invasion of Swedes" in the US due to the low dollar exchange rate. Well, we haven't seen any crowds so far here in our part of California - even though we do have two Swedes in the house currently.

For other friends and family that might consider coming to see us (+27C on the patio today!) and like to shop, DN did a little price comparison, to help convince you, now is the time:

Ipod touch (32 gb)
In the US: 2973 SEK ($491)
In Sweden: 4495 SEK ($742)

Levis 501
In the US: 235 SEK ($39)
In Sweden: 900 SEK ($148)

Xbox 360 Premium (20 gb)
In the US: 1800 SEK ($298)
In Sweden: 3200 SEK ($528)

Canon EOS 400 D
In the US: 3250 SEK ($537 )
In Sweden: 6000 SEK ($991 )

(Not only is the dollar currently weak, but somethings are really ridiculously expensive in Sweden... )

So if you were thinking of buying an iPod, a pair of Levis jeans, and a new SLR camera - the total price difference is almost the plane ticket...

Easter Sunday

Today is the big Easter day in the US. Easter Sunday. For us, who have been "celebrating" since Thursday, we're kind of done with Easter by today (and being Swedish - we actually have one more day to go - tomorrow is a holiday too - Annandag Påsk, second day of Easter...).

About half the stores are closed today, which is really unusual here. It only happens a few times a year.

We thought we were going to do a more "American" Easter this year - include a visit to the Easter Bunny, and doing a little egg hunt.

But we were too busy and ended up with Swedish Easter witches, European paper eggs filled with candy and "Easter twigs" (påskris). Again. Next year...

A day in Sacramento

Sacramento is the capitol of California. Governor Schwarzenegger flies here (from L.A.) every day to work in the State Capitol. It is an old "gold rush" city, established in 1839.

Today I played a guide and took my parents to Old Sacramento, the California Railroad museum, and the State Capitol and the Capitol mall, a very nice park behind the Capitol.

I took a bunch of pictures - if you're curious - check out the slide show below!

Witches and semlor on "Pink Thursday"

In Sweden the Thursday before Easter is called "Skärtorsdag" (which if you stretch the translation could mean "pink Thursday"). It is the day when the "påskkärringar", "Easter witches" fly to Blåkulla according to old folk tales. So in Sweden, this is the day when kids (usually girls...) dress up as witches and hand out homemade Easter cards and collect candy in return. The closest thing to a Swedish Halloween...

We let the Swedish kids around here dress up as Easter witches, but we spared our American neighbors the shock of getting totally unexpected visits from scary witches wanting candy... they got to "fly" around our back yard instead and taking a break eating semlor.

Easter pasta

I found Easter pasta at World Market the other day. They also had the paper Easter Egg we usually give in Sweden! I already have a bunch so I didn't need any - but it was nice to see. World Market really is a great store for aliens - you can find all sorts of nice things in this place. Ours is withing walking distance.... and they do have European chocolate...

The pasta was ok - especially the Daughter liked eating small rabbits. Hm.

The arrival day

Today my mom and husband arrived for a three week stay. They arrived 24 hours late, getting stuck in Paris (which wouldn't had been so bad had it not been freezing cold and they were dressed for California). And the Husband is returning back from Scandinavia too - he will arrive only an hour late according to the latest flight status.

So tomorrow the house will be filled with three very jetlagged grown-ups, one very tired grown-up who has been driving around Northern California alone with two kids in the backseat to pick up jetlagged people - and two very happy kids that want to play intensely with dad and grandparents.

Now that will be a very interesting equation..

Spam

I have a private e-mail address on my own domain. I've protected it vigorously since I got it in 2002. Never let anyone but friends have it. Never, ever using it online on any kind of website.

Being married with a geek, I have a system making it possible to create a unique e-mail addresses for every place where I leave my email, like jacalicas_gap_email@mail.com if I would sign on up or order something from GAP (but still getting the e-mail in my regular inbox). This way I can track spam and just delete the specific e-mail address and thus avoid spams from at least one source. That's how I know for example that someone hacked Borders e-mail server - because I started getting spams on the unique e-mail address I had only used on their website... So you can't even be sure big retailers are protecting your e-mail.

So, for almost exactly 6 years I've had my private e-mail. Today I got my first spam. And once you got your first - the fight is over. You're going to loose. Once your e-mail is in the hand of a spammer, that's it.

That's why I hate these "I'm just forwarding this" e-mails when people include all their friends e-mail addresses openly, in my case, my very own, private one. Those e-mails will be sent around, everyone's e-mail adresses available and sooner or later, they are going to picked up by the spammers. They might not be considered spam, but they will turn into spam eventually.

Now I'm going to mourn my absolutely, perfect and spam-free e-mail address.

R.I.P.

And the dollar keep falling....

When I did a university year in the US a very, very long time ago (1992 - before e-mail, PDAs, cellphones and Facebook... imagine that!) the exchange rate between the dollar and the Swedish krona (SEK) was 5.20. Meaning for each dollar I would have to come up with 5.20 SEK. When I moved over here it was 11 SEK... That's a "bit" of a difference. When we were buying our house in 2003 and moving funds from our old savings account in Sweden to the US, we were so happy the dollar exchange rate was "down" to just around 9 SEK...

Right now, the dollar exchange rate to the Swedish krona is almost touching 6 SEK.

I've said it before now really is the time to come visit... at least if you have Swedish kronor in your wallet.

"Melodifestivalen" in sunshine

I'm a "schlager"* fan** (to my Husband's horror) (but hey, he still married me...). Every year the European countries will send one "schlager song" to compete in the grand finale, Eurovision Song Contest, broadcasted live all over Europe. So every year, there is a domestic competition, the "Melodifestivalen" in Sweden, on who will get to compete for Sweden.

Since I was a kid, I've been watching the "Melodifestivalen" and the Eurovision Song Contest, giving the competing songs votes, commenting on performances, mostly thinking the wrong song won.

That is, until I moved here. The first few years I lived here, you could only listen to these programs online on Swedish radio. And you sort of have to see it too... even though it should be about the music and the songs rather than the artists, you need to see the performances. It's like listening to the Oscars on the radio...

Yesterday I watched Melodifestivalen online. Since it was in the middle of the day, I hooked up my laptop to my iPod amplifier in the kitchen while having lunch, letting the kids dance and eat waffles. We had a blast. Even though it feels weird to watch it with sunshine.

The important question afterward is always - did the right song win (the tabloids will use a lot of space trying to answer this question the next couple of days)? Well, I didn't really have a favorite, but the song that won probably will have a decent chance in Belgrad, where the Eurovision Song Contest will be held this year.

Here is this year's winner - Charlotte Perelli with Hero;



*A definition of schlager according to Wikipedia: Typical schlager tracks are either sweet, highly sentimental ballads with a simple, catchy melody or light pop tunes. Its lyrics typically center on love and relationships, and feelings.

** I admit... I have a "schlager-playlist" in my iPod...

More is not always better...

It's Friday night. It's been an intense week. I have a big deadline on Monday, the Husband is in Scandinavia, my mom is arriving for three weeks on Monday night. And it's been the "crazy week after daylight savings", meaning kids are confused about bedtimes.

When I came downstairs to the office after everyone shorter than 110 cm is asleep to finish up some work (yeah, great Friday evening...) I see on my news section on my iGoogle that a possible tornado has hit downtown Atlanta tonight.

So I want to check the news. I usually watch news online these days, but tonight I decided to actually turn on one of the five TVs we have in the house. There are several news channels in this country, CNN, CNN HeadlineNews, ABC News, MSNBC, Fox News, CBS News, and other specialized news channels. So there is not lack of possibilities to watch the news whenever you want to.

But with +100 other channels in our channel lineup it's almost impossible to find them... Because they are not sorted by name, but by channel number and a short abbreviation for the channel. Gaah. Fox News is 360 FNC.

CNN is 202CNN.

So I'm watching CNN right now. Easiest to find. One day I'm going to make a list of all the NewsChannels so I can browse them when something happenes.

Now I'm going to hope that the damages are not too bad in Atlanta...

(The picture is a screen picture of CNN's Live on CNN - a way to watch their news live from their website. Easier to go to www.cnn.com than to find all the remote controls needed to turn on a TV in this high tech house).

Jon Stewart on the "shame parade"

Jon Stewart, host of the ComedyCentral show The Daily Show, did a little piece on the "shame parade", the "bringing your spouse to the press conference when you resign" that I wrote about below.




Thanks Ally for the link!

In the news...

The major news story here right now is the resignation of New York governor Eliot Spitzer over being linked to a prostitution link. Spitzer, who has been known to fight "white-collar crime" (trafficking is one example) is now going down for the same type of behavior he has been condemning while in office.

The story is a sad but not unfamiliar one. A person with power forgets how to behave and think he is beyond being found out or just looses his head.

But the worst part of the story, and one thing that I dislike so much about American politics, independent of the story being a positive or a negative one, is that the spouse is always exposed next to the person being scrutinized or presented. Usually these spoused are women (with Mr Clinton being the current major exception) - and in reality whom you are married to is as much part of your electable self as the actually policies you want to be elected for. I think this is the Swedish person in me - because in Swedish politics you hardly have any knowledge about the persons our elected politicians are - and I'm happy without that knowledge. After all it's not the spouse who is in office. I hope my job applications isn't affected by my Husband looks, personality, career or opinions...

In this case, Eliot Spitzer's wife, Silda, was standing next to him during the press conferences when he resigned and even though he didn't admit to have visited prostitutes, it sure was on the table. She - who just has learned that his husband not only has cheated, but done it visiting prostitutes - has to stand there next to him and look... what? Sorry? Devastated? Supporting? Why on earth does she has to stand up there next to him? Because he will look better as a family husband, or because she will look better as a supporting wife? Unless she is a very good actor, you could see the distress and stress. I sure hope it was her own decision and she was not "expected" too...

I just think Mr Spitzer could have met the press on his own without any kind of support next to him.

Life insurance

I had an appointment with our insurance agent today. I had to update my life insurance policy. Insurance policies are boring in your own language - doing them in another language is more or less hopelessly boring. We've done our research. Sort of. I hope we have made the right decisions.

Trying to grasp the insurance system in the US is kind of tricky. It differs a lot from Sweden. With the help of "Insurance for dummies" (not kidding) we've sort of grasped the the different types. Since we're both self employed and don't have a big company as employer we have to do most of this ourselves.

The insurance agent I met with today was the total stereotype of an insurance agent. Middle aged, boring but nice man with bad handwriting. I signed a bunch of papers, had to look up my social security number (WHY can't I memorize that number, embarrassing!) , had no idea what my weight was in pounds (or in kilos for that matter), wrote checks with weird sums (the ever present checks...).

Now I have to wait for a nurse to come to the house and hook me up and check my health and I'm all done. Book can go back into the bookshelf and collect dust until next time.

A day at the office (EFTI)

Time for a new EFTI day again. Well, actually it was yesterday, but hey, with the time difference, some of yesterday was today here... if you stretch it... ok - I admit... I had put the wrong day in - but here it is anyway.

Since I am a grass widow this week I had company at my (home) office today. This is what we accomplished:

Causing cash confusion

I headed over to Old Navy today. The Daughter is dressing up in green on Friday, celebrating St Patrick's Day (which isn't until Monday, but since it's spring break - alas - wearing green and egg hunting at the same time - preschool multitasking). Not that she has an entirely pink wardrobe (I try my best), but I couldn't find a single green item. So - Old Navy here I come.

I fond a green t-shirt only after 30 seconds and happily went to the check outs. And managed to cause complete confusion since I was paying with cash. Real money. Green bucks. The poor store clerk couldn't open the cashier's box to get my change back and after several attempts the managed had to be called.

Plastic is the way to go.

Blank notebooks

I want blank notebooks. Not ruled. Blank. I want to write my notes freely and not be constrained by the paper being, as they say here, "wide ruled" or "college ruled". But it's almost impossible. How can it be that a huge office supply store like Staples (three times the size a regular "ICA" store in Sweden) doesn't have one single blank notebook for sale? Well, you can go over the art supply section and find sketch books with blank papers. More expensive, heavier paper, less variation and suddenly it seems your random, quick notes has to... resemble art...

I might be totally wrong, but I can't remember it being that hard to find blank notebooks in Sweden. But maybe my memory is wrong. Maybe the whole world prefers preprinted ruling. Neat notes. "Ordning och reda, pengar på Fredag, var sak på sin plats" as Alfie Atkins dad says.*
The picture is of a Swedish "kollegieblock" (wire notebook) with Marimekko artwork. Ruled. But with a cover like that, I might even consider writing ruled notes.

(*Only makes sense if you've read the children's book "Vad sa pappa Åberg?" ("What did Mr Atkins say?") 152 times).

Saved by daylight savings

The Husband has to go to Norway for a meeting next week, so for once our roles are changed. I'm staying here and the Husband takes off for Scandinavia (with a shopping list).

Today I realized that my early morning phone meetings I planned for next week would have to be cancel, since I'm by myself with two (loud but cute) kids (who compete to answer and talk on the phone - not caring who is on the other line, PG&G, grandmom or life insurance seller (I really don't need to be listed on the "Do Not Call"- list anymore, I can just let the kids screen the calls for me).

I usually have phone meetings at 7 am in the morning, ie 4 pm in Sweden (since I work from home here in California but for a Swedish company (sort of)), which works great (schhh, my colleagues doesn't have to know I'm sometimes still in my pajamas and having a really bad hair day), as long as someone else keeps the kids away from the phone.

But (sorry for the long introduction to my main point of this post) - I just realized I'm saved by daylight savings! Because since the US changes to daylight savings ridiculously early from now on (three weeks before Europe), 4 pm in Sweden next week is - tada - 8 am in California. And at 8 am, our Nanny has arrived and I can talk undisturbed about SharePointServices, sale cases and step four in our work processes.

So this year I'm not going to complain about this stupid daylight savings thing.

But come back next year and you will hear me rant.

Anyway, I have to go now. I have 78 clocks in the house to change. We really need to cut back on clocks in this house....

Hooked on hoodies

A couple of my (Swedish) blog friends are doing something called "Show and Tell" on Fridays. It's kind of fun to see how they interpret the themes ever week. I haven't really had the time this spring to join in, but I thought I do a little "mini" show and tell based on this week's theme "Favorite clothes".

Because I have a little secret.

I'm totally hooked on hoodies...

I don't know where this obsession came from or really when it started. But if I walk into a store I will spot a hoodie first and check it out. I have way, way too many hoodies in my closet (and hardly dare show the Husband if I add one to the collection).

I wouldn't wear them to work or parties, but to almost any other occasion. Totally weird. I don't even ever put the hood up!

I need to detox on hoodies.

(Picture of hoodie from DKNY)

Watching Swedish TV at night

On my last visit to Stockholm I ran through Åhléns's DVD department, trying to grab a few Swedish DVDs. Didn't really have time to explore much, spent probably a total of 5 minutes in there (the stores really do close early...).

I came back with the Swedish TV series Labyrint and the Husband and I have now started watching it. It's a total of 9 hours to watch and we're about one third through. It's really interesting to watch Swedish TV series here - it's an abrupt change from the "fast" to the "slow". Not necessarily saying that either one is better. It's just... different.

It seems it got mixed reviews in Sweden, but as always, we're happy to hear Swedish and see all pictures from Stockholm. And it's growing on us... we've started to like it. We'll see how long it will take us to finish it. 9 hours...

You can see a trailer here.

And the race continues...

This primary sure is going to be interesting... Clinton may have broken Obamas' winning spell, but he is still in the lead in terms of delegates. And what ever bad thing they now say about each other, trying to win the primary and become the presidential candidate, can be used by the republican side in the upcoming presidential race...

Oh, this is going to be a very, very interesting couple of weeks (months??).

The simple solution would seem that they team up and run together... maybe tossing on who gets to be the President and who gets to be the Vice President?

The weather on Critical Tuesday

Today is a nervous day for the Democratic president candidates here in the US. It's "Critical Tuesday" as they've stated to call the day. The day that might finally determine who will win the democrats' raze - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. It's an amazing race. From a communication perspective it's really interesting to follow the campaigns and see how they are moving around each other like boxers, with speeches, ads, photo ops and visits to symbolic places. The other day Clinton release and ad, claiming she, being more experienced would be best to pick up the phone in the White House if something would happen in the world (see it here) only to have Obama response with almost the exact ad (see it here), claiming he has a better record.

Four states are voting today, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont. Interestingly enough, the weather forecast is always important on election days here. If it's bad weather - less people vote. Good weather - alas, more people vote. Today is a really bad voting day in Ohio with snow storm warnings and freezing rain - but clear weather is expected is the state with most delegates; Texas.

Speaking about music...

Speaking about music, the Husband and I have different taste in music, but one genre on which we can agree (and thus play when we're in the car together) is 80s music (even though he complains that all my songs on my 80s-playlist in my iPod is too "low beat", only 80-90 bpm and he wants them above 100 bpm, the old disc jockey that he is).

Anyway, the other day I started looking for an old WetWetWet song that I remember made me happy - and - thanks to YouTube (how great isn't life when you can find things you are looking for instantly!) - I found it. Angel Eyes! I remember I thought the singer was so cute...

And, since this song is now 21 years old (yikes! HOW can that be possible??) I was a bit curious what happened to the band (and to the singer...). Found out his name is Marti Pellow and like way too many in the showbiz business he went down into drug addiction... But the band reunited and actually released a new CD late last fall and and a new single just a few weeks ago. WetWetWet is actually from Scotland and they stated playing together in 1982...

"Thank you for the music"

I just set up the perfect flow (I think) for getting my music online and I just have to share it. I have an iPod but have hated buying music from iTunes since I'm not free to use those songs everywhere I like. And who knows if I have an iPod next year, after all technique is continuously evolving. I have converted all my CDs to MP3-files (no, I don't share music illegally online) so I can choose if I want to listen to them in my iPod, on my computer in the kitchen, or through the TV-center in our living room or on my own complied audio-CDs with my favorite music from different artists.

Anyway.

Since Amazon.com recently signed up with several big record companies, the Amazon.com/mp3 website now is a more substantial competitor to iTunes. The Amazon.com/mp3 songs are DRM free meaning I can use them as I please, not how Apple and the record companies have decided.

And the other day PayPal launched a great plug-in you can use in your browser. Now you can use your PayPal even if the shopping site does not offer PayPal as a payment option (like Amazon), and you can generate a multi-use credit card number connected to your PayPal to be use on the same shopping site over and over again. Great when you're buying for small amounts, such as mp3-songs for $0.89 - you don't have to fill up your credit card bill with those small transactions.

So I set up a PayPal plug-in multi-use credit card with my Amazon.com 1-click feature (are you with me?). Alas - I can buy songs off Amazon.com with one click (no entering payment information over and over again) using my PayPal account.

Then I downloaded the Amazon Mp3 Downloader, which downloads the music to my hard drive - and copy them over to my iTunes automatically.

The difference from iTunes? I actually own the songs now and can use them (privately of course) how I like. I don't mind iTunes or Apple, just they way the assume I'm a share filing pirate who can't follow the law.

The best of three worlds - Amazon, PayPal and iTunes!

Sunday entertainment: Do you know the US?

How fast and correct can you plot 25 cities in the US? I found this fun test on of the Swedish newspaper's web edition. Even though the test is on a Swedish website - it's actually in English - so you can do it even though you don't speak Swedish. I did pretty ok, the cities "in the middle" is the hardest to plot. Try it out here!

Here is another fun test about the US. How well do you score?!

A blogger meeting by the Golden Gate

Today I got to meet "Petchie", a Swedish blogger currently living in Puerto Rico but right now on a trip through California. We met at Crissy Fields and I recognized her right away from her description. We had a lovely light lunch by the Golden Gate, enjoying the view and comparing notes on the everyday lives of "aliens", visa status, bilingualism, how to get half a kilo of Spanish ham through US customs, living far from family and other very important topics. My Husband and kids had tagged along and the Husband spent most of the time trying to keep the kids from taking a bath in the pretty cold Pacific Ocean.

Thank you P and O for a great early afternoon!It was so much fun seeing you! We hope you enjoyed the rest of the day in San Francisco and found the Painted Ladies and drove down Lombard Street!

The American Cap

Oh my! This blog is turning into a fashion opinion blog! Oh, well, since I've already started I can as well keep going. Today - American fashion phenomena, another day - Swedish fashion phenomena (there are tons of these too...).

So. What's up with the American mens' love for wearing baseball cap at all sorts of occasions. And I'm not talking about those thin haired/bald guys that actually need them for protection - those are excused.

If it's day time.

And it's sunny.

Sometimes you can see how "naked" some men feel after they've taken off this ever present accessory, and relax first once it's back on. Do these American men consider themselves having "bad hair days"? Or is it just one of those things that sort of becomes a tradition? A true American fashion statement?

If jeans with tapered legs is one way to spot an American (guy) outside the US, so is the baseball cap. They usually come in pair.

I don't mind caps at all (not in the way I do mind jeans with tapered legs...), I think it's kind of nice looking - for outdoor activities. But I'm really curious about this almost compulsory cap using behavior it's easy to sense here...

I found this website that went through all kinds of different aspects of a cap. I thought a baseball cap was just a... baseball cap. But oh no - it's way more complicated than that... There are several types of caps; fitted, adjustable, unstructured, visors, bucket. And there are a bunch of special terms to be used when talking about your type of hat; brim/bill, buckram, closure systems, embroidery, eyelets and panels.

Almost a science of its own.

The picture is from JCPenny's new"American Living" site which I wrote about the other day... it's supposed to be "American fashion" and sure enough - there it is - the happy dad in the happy American family is wearing - tada - a baseball cap!