Friday, December 24, 2010

merry christmas

Hope you will have a nice Christmas. Here it is cold and snowy of course and I am waiting to soon go and pick up my sister from the station. So we will actually celebrate Christmas at home this year and when that happened the last time I do not know. It might feel a bit weird since at this time any other recent year we have had breakfast and then head out exploring whatever town and country we would be in. On the other hand it is nice to stay here to avoid being stuck at some airport somewhere like many others are.

God Jul or Merry Christmas everybody!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

christmas sweets in abundance

I kind of went a little bit out there last weekend (and some this week) and made Christmas sweets like crazy. A few of the standard ones I made last year and then all of the new ones I wanted to try out.

























From left to right: candied almonds, fudge, knäck (Swedish Christmas toffee), chocolate coated liquorice toffee (last year's hit), toffee rice, and peanut brittle (discovered at Christmas 2003 in Florida). So that is six different Christmas sweets, but it is not over there. In the fridge we can also find: cake balls, white chocolate and saffron truffle (I absolutely love saffron!), and white chocolate and lime truffle (must be my all time favorite!).

To conclude, nine different types of Christmas sweets. And the perfect year to make all of this as well since my sister will leave already on Christmas Day and my parents will leave on Boxing Day which will leave me home alone with all these candies.

blackout

Yesterday we had a blackout for 7 ½ hours. Lovely... From 6 pm to 1.30 am we had no power whatsoever and with -23 degrees outside it was not the best timing. Thankfully we have a fire place as well as one of those old stoves, 'iron stove' as we call it in Sweden, that you have a fire in. I was the fireplace guard to keep the house warm.

So I sat in front of the fire place with candles lit and knitting on my hooded scarf. And with dads radio headphones. Perfect. So I had at least something to entertain myself with.

Friday, December 17, 2010

not that either

So I have been a little bit productive the last two days and have sent out a few applications. I even sent out one for a one month, part time, badly paid job and they called me and asked a few questions. She said that they would call me for a meeting on Friday (today) if they would be interested.

And I never heard from them again. I cannot even get a tiny, short time job to do something and get some money. They really would have gotten value for their money if I would have taken (and gotten) the job. Apparently it is impossible to get a short term job with my CV. 

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

excellent feedback

I wrote an email to my contact at Google that I wished, for future reference, to get a little bit more feedback regarding the debacle, a.k.a. the interviews. She wrote back and said she cannot give any more feedback than she gave me in the rejection email (my wording, not hers). The excellent feedback being:

"The interview team was impressed with your background and accomplishments, and enjoyed getting to know you. (...) we do not have a position that is a strong match with your qualifications at this time."

Thanks for the detailed and very helpful feedback. I will embrace it and keep it in mind for the next interview.

(Although it probably does not top the excellent feedback from the Washington DC company.)

last weeks debacle

So about the Google interview, just to make a a tiny recap of the whole debacle. I had the interviews on Monday last week and it was kind of exhausting since there was four interviews in three consecutive hours. As I was still a bit sick (still am...) with a runny nose and cough it was not the most pleasant three hours as I had to keep talking. But it went well and the people were nice. At least I thought it went well.

After that I was all happy with how it went and took a stroll around town and did a little bit of shopping. Of course 'a few' nail polishes slipped into my shopping bag. But since I was still a bit sick and did not have energy to walk around for so long I headed to the airport a little bit earlier. Then it was time for the next stop, which was in Copenhagen.

So I thought it went well. But I was wrong and that sucked. I had hoped for this one. It also sucks that I have been so close on several openings and been so close to the finish line but then it just stops. It gets frustrating. I have to admit that the last month I have been really bad as well, at applying for jobs. I just totally lost my motivation. I have a daily bad conscience for that, believe you me.

But today I actually sent out five applications so far so the bad conscience have gone down a little bit. Although a tiny little bit.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

good week, bad week

So I am back. Back here and back in Sweden. I managed to be in four countries in four days this week. It started off in Dublin then I made a stop in Copenhagen for two nights, then a quick stop in Sweden to repack and then continuing to Finland. A busy week.

Anyway, it has been a good and a bad week. It started off good with some time in Dublin and the interview at Google. Exhausting though with four interviews in three consecutive hours, but it went well. Then I visited friends in Copenhagen as my flight from Dublin made a stop there. I just booked myself another ticket back to Stockholm. Had a really good time and nice to get my mind of Google for a while.

Then it all became bad after that. The flight back to Sthlm was a little bit delayed,coming back I had three hours to get ready for the next trip and was completely stressed out. On the boat to Finland I checked my email one last time and I had received an email from Google. The subject was 'Thank you from Google' and reading that line before opening the email I could sense what was coming. And I was right.

'We carefully reviewed your background and experience, and though we do not have a position that is a strong match with your qualifications at this time, we will be keeping your resume active in our system'.

The standard answer. I was really wishing for this one but no. So that was the mail I got on my way to my grandmothers funeral. A not so pleasant weekend concluded this week with motions going on a roller coaster, from feeling good about myself and good interviews (so I thought) and happy seeing old friends to feeling bad about myself for the rejection and crying for mummo.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

better to be safe than sorry

I have arrived safe and sound in Dublin and have also reached the hotel and the room is really nice, staying at the Maldron Cardiff Hotel. Thanks Google. Luckily I could check in right away and did not have to wait two hours.






















I got a map from the reception and the plan was to head out and do the town. But now I am all freezing and still have a little bit of that cold left with all that it implies, the runny nose and annoying cough. I had planned to do some shopping and have dinner at one of the recommended restaurants I got from a friend. But now I am thinking that I might just stay in, watch a movie, and perhaps order room service instead. I do not want to walk around town for some hours in the chilly weather only to discover tomorrow morning that I am not feeling well.

So I am thinking it is better to be safe than sorry. Even though it is really boring when I am here in Dublin, and usually I am all about doing the most out of a trip even though I am sick. But now I have got this interview tomorrow to think about. Now I think I will take my computer and crawl under the cover and watch a movie. (Yeah right, I should also study and prepare for the interview tomorrow as well.)

By the way, I just opened my toilet bag to take a pain killer (I am going all out on the line 'it is better to be safe than sorry) and found a not so pleasant discovery. I brought my nail glue and discovered the nail glue bottle itself, my makeup bag, and my toothbrush all glued onto the toilet bag. I could rip of the makeup bag and the nail glue bottle, the tooth brush is still there, even the hair of the brush is all glued so I will not be able to use it. Yeay. Lovely.

off to dublin


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At the Arlanda airport right now waiting to board at the gate. i have always loved airports, the excitement and expctations in the air. Dublin and Google here I come.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

packed

I am all packed. And it is not even 11 pm. Usually I have a tendency to stay up all night doing everything in the last minute since I did not start early enough. But considering how little things I actually have with me it is surprising how long it took. On the other hand it takes some good planing to take as little as possible with you.

So. Tomorrow morning I am off to Dublin. I arrive around noon so I have some hours in the city to kill. I do not mind at all, then I get to walk around enjoying the beautiful city *cough* and perhaps buy some nail polishes (...).

Of course I have not prepared anything or read anything. I am saving it for tomorrow, I assuming they have internet at the hotel otherwise I am screwed, and going to feel lonely.

preparation

I guess I should start packing and preparing.

Friday, December 3, 2010

fazer salmiakki

This one is on my top five list of favorite candies. It is milk chocolate with salmiac filling, delicious! I really have trouble stop eating these and somehow this package disappeared rather quickly. I was happy to see a few years ago that they started selling it in Sweden as well. Only to discover that they sell only the chocolate bar and not these individual chocolate pralines. The salmiakki chocolate bar is not at all as good as these ones.

Finnish chocolate, Fazer Salmiakki





















On another note, Fazer is probably also one of my absolute favorite candy producers, they have so much good stuff. Unfortunately most of the really good stuff is not even sold in Sweden and can only be found in Finland. That is why I usually stack up when I am in Finland. The Fazer breads are delicious too, and that they also finally started selling here in Sweden some years ago.

By the way, Fazer is pronounced 'fatser' and not 'faser' if there is someone out there in unawareness. When I was on my exchange in Helsinki I had a friend taking a course in which they visited companies. She said they had been to a company and pronounced it 'faser', I interpreted that as Pfizer the medical company. Then she was all excited as they had received all these free products and my immediate reaction was: What?! Free products? Would that be medicine and pills and stuff?! Then she took out the candy bags and I realized she had visited Fazer. Then I had to teach all of them that they had visited 'fatser' and not 'faser'. What I cannot figure out is how they could have visited the company and not picked up that it is pronounced 'fatser'.

water marble

I stumbled upon My Simple Little Pleasures on YouTube when I was looking at videos of nail art (she has a blog to, My Simple Little Pleasures). I got really inspired by her water marbling with nail polish and I knew I had to try it out. Tried it out the first time some weeks ago and it was kind of a mess but fun to try. The other day I decided to give it a serious second try and ended up with a nice gold and green water marble. Yesterday I tried another on with beige/silver and teal-green colors.

The second try (first photos) is the favorite as I absolutely love teal colors, and I also liked the shape of the abstract pattern (I could say it was all intentional with the random pattern when it in fact was a little tricky to create a pattern with this polish...) I really like it, even though I got some bubbles in this one. I will definitely continue with the water marbling.

Second try with water marbling, H&M - French Smoke and Color Club - Rule Breaker

First try with water marbling, OPI - Bling Dynasty and China Glaze - Emerald Fitzgerald.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

ostkaka

A few weeks ago when mom and I was in the grocery store I spotted ostkaka and got a immediate craving for it. I have not eaten it since I was young. Some day ago mom bought another pack and tonight I had a piece again. It is really nice. It is a traditional dish and directly translated ostkaka means cheese cake, but it is nothing at all like the American style cheesecake. You eat it slightly warm and of course have to have drottningsylt (blueberry and raspberry jam) and whipped cream with it.

Ostkaka, Swedish cheesecake.

Looks not much to the world but it is really good.

The ostkaka of course have to be served with blueberry and raspberry jam and whipped cream.