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2000-10-19 09:51:03 Source: Blogger archive

Been a little busy since the last entry. Basically I spent today flying to Stockholm and back, with a couple of client meetings inbetween. Fun - in a twisted sort of way :-)

I guess what you all want to know though is how the flat visit went! Well, let me start by saying that the place is to die for! The flat itself is lovely - it's an old building, so the flat has high ceilings and old wooden floors. Full of character. But then you walk into the living room. And you lose your breath!

To say the flat has a view would be an understatement! It has a completely unhindered view over the river (Göta Älv) that stretches so far that on a clear night you can see to the sea. Doesn't mean much to many of you, but take it from me, it is stunning! To top it off, there's a corner balcony running from the side to the front of the house.

This flat *rocks*!

Anyhoo, it seems like I got on well with the guy who is letting out the flat, because although we didn't finslise an agreement there and then, it was strongly suggested that as long as my references check out (which they will) then there should be no problem. So I'm in a nervous holding pattern right now, hoping with all my fibre that I get this flat. If I do, you'll all be invited to come over and enjoy the view some time :-)

I have visions of buying a telescope... of sitting looking out over the river with friends on a summers eve, drinking chilled Chablis and listening to world music... of meditating in the early morning sunlight... of sitting in the living room drinking warm soup looking out over a white covered winter Göteborg... of watching the ships coming in to the Göteborg docks... of just enjoying...

... and I guess that about sums it up! I'll of course be back with more info as anything happens - and if you believe in crossing fingers, then thanks for your input :-)

2000-10-18 09:26:49 Source: Blogger archive

This is going to be one of those days that just crawls by I guess. I called the people who have the flat I'm interested in last night and spoke to the guy for the first time. He told me that the sitaution was basically unchanged - they are still waiting for one of the two companies who were interested to come and see the flat. I suggested that if we met up it may help them solve the situation. He sounded hesitatnt, but asked me to tell him a little more about myself...

... almost 10 minutes later after we had been in deep conversation he was inviting me over to see the place this evening! Woohoo :-) After I put the phone down and far whooping around the flat a little, he rand back and suggested I take Lotta with me. So the situation sounds a lot more positive than it did yesterday. Then I would have suggested that I had a less than 5% chance of getting this flat. Now the chance is all in my hands. I need to make a positive impression when I meet the guy this evening and see if I can't convince them that I'll be a better (or equally good) tenant as a company would be.

Just to recap - the flat is a corner apartment on the 4th floor of a 4 storey house in an old part of town. It's high on a hill, with a view out over the river and port area (the sort of view that people in Göteborg kill for!). It is a 2 bedroom flat in 70m2, with a corner balcony (a *corner* balcony by crackey!). It is also right around the corner from where Lotta lives - I mean literally 1 minutes walk away.

The only shame right now is that I am so fired up by this flat that I'm gonna be disappointed if I don't get it. Must work on being better at not craving something that hasn't happened yet. I'll try and meditate on that a little during the day :-)

I'll keep you all posted!

2000-10-17 10:21:41 Source: Blogger archive

Cobbled street and tramtracks.
Young girl stumbles, falls.
Mothers not there.

2000-10-16 04:10:48 Source: Blogger archive

It has been a productive weekend. After playing Civ CTP all Friday night (as promised!) I got a little frustrated with losing terribly and decided that it was time to do something worthwhile :-)

So all of Saturday and Sunday morning were spent programming the WapWarp administration area. Now I can edit posts to the site and I've got the beginnings of a category editor in place (I can add, remove and edit categories, but I still can't move posts from one category to another so easily - the holy grail!). The category editor has been *lots* of fun. Writing something that uses recursive functions to navigate down a tree-like structure of links is something I've had to puzzle out far too many times recently. This time it's for my own code, so I'll be able to keep a copy for future reference when I need to write something similar again.

Today has been frustrating as the little i-mood icon on this page today will attest to. Three things - MTV tickets, flat hunting, PowerPoint. Grrrr!

2000-10-13 11:02:10 Source: Blogger archive

I posted an old laptop that I have to freeboxen, with the caveat that I would prefer to give it away to a Scandinavian charity. I've had a couple of requests for it, one from a total freeloader and one from someone who sounded like they have a pretty good reason for wanting it. A Latvian guy who's sister needs a machine for writing college stuff on. I'm gonna give it a week and see what comes up.

Still flat hunting here. Haven't heard back from yesterday's flat. Last I heard, they had two companies coming to view the flat and she said she would contact me if they didn't take it. I guess I'm still looking in that case :-( Still there's a teenytiny percent chance left that it might come my way.

Otherwise it's Friday. Phew! I'm looking forard to a looooong Civilisation CTP session over the weekend (you were right about it killing time Chris!), I'm intending one of those "stillhunchedoverthecomputerwithaflatbeeronthedeskat4.00AM" nights :-)

2000-10-13 03:35:40 Source: Blogger archive

Latest updates;

Flat hunt - still waiting, she hasn't heard back from one of the companies yet!
Laptop giveaway - 3 more students have applied for it :-(

2000-10-12 12:49:47 Source: Blogger archive

http://www.freeboxen.com/. Coool!

2000-10-12 11:55:10 Source: Blogger archive

I'm in the middle of flat hunting angst right now! Yesterday I saw an advert for a fantastik flat (sounded like the best one yet). It was advertised through a bureau. So I called the bureau and spoke to the guy there, who was extremely helpful. They work on a system where I customers pay them a deposit, which goes to the bureau of they manage to hook you up with the flat and which you get back if you are not successful.

So this guy calls the client, who tells him that his girlfriend is handling all the calls. Unfortunately, they've put the flat up on another service as well, who have sent out the details to hundreds of people. So it looks uncertain as to how much chance I've got of getting through to see the flat. Anyway, I decide to go and see the bureau in the evening after work.

I get there and we decide that the bureau guy is going to give me the contact details of the people with the flat and I can try through the evening. In return for which, he gets his 1600 SEK deposit (£120), which of course I'll get back if it doesn't work out.

Now, I'm strapped for cash ATM, but there's enough left in my account to do this. However, I'm expecting 2100 SEK to come OUT of my account any day now to pay for my London flight tickets! So I'm a little nervous about my money situation right?

Last night I tried calling the people who own the flat, but all answerphones are switched to *stun*! So today I called the bureau guy. He manages to get through to the woman, but doesn't manage to book an appointment for me to see the flat. I've got to try again myself after lunch. Grrrrrrr!

I'm not worried about losing my money, this guy has been in business long enough to be moderately trustworthy (despite the fact that his office looks as though he's living off pennies!). But it's just that this flat sounds gorgeous and I can't even get to fscking speak to anyone.

I'll keep the situation updated :-(

On the Civilisation CTP front - whoo, what a game! I've been playing on a medium map at an easy level and I'm doing OK, but so far I've played for about 15 hours and I think I'm only half way through the game! I'm looking forward to the weekend, I predict a protracted spell of sitting in front of the computer, drinking beer and Civ'ing :-)

2000-10-10 12:13:31 Source: Blogger archive

Hi again :-) Kulturnatta was great. The ballet we went to see was fantastic - nice to see some ballet again. We then ended up having a wander around town, finishing (as is usual for these things) at Pusterviks Baren - the favourite bar of Lotta and I when we feel cultural, but in reality a great place to get nicely plastered :-)

This evening I'm picking up my copy of Civilisation Call To Power from Tux Games. Woohoo! Linux gaming here I come :-) Actually, I've been playing the demo for Railroad Tycoon for a little while now, which has been OK, but honestly, I'm useless at it! At least I know that Civ is a game I love - having been playing it in various forms for the last 3 or 4 years I think I should certainly enjoy this. Now I just need to look forward to the point in the future when I have a new flat, an extra computer with a home network, so that Lotta and I can play against each other :-)

In other news, London looms. My tickets arrived today and I'll be there from Nov 2 to Nov 7. All I need to do now is get tickets for Yat-Kha sorted out and make arrangements for our anniversary :-) 5 years....!

2000-10-06 02:51:52 Source: Blogger archive

It's a "Woohoo" post :-)

It's Kulturnatta in Göteburg tonight and I managed to get free tickets for Lotta and I to see a dance performance called Creation/s - Woohoo!

As many of you will know, my whole family were dancers apart from me, but I still appreciate a good ballet now and then - and this one looks fantastic! Besides which, I *think* it's the first time Lotta has been to a ballet and it's definitely the first time I've been to the Göteborg Opera House - Woohoo!