This Sunday me and John headed down to the Park by foot since the subway was closed. We crossed the 11ths street, although we went the wrong direction. Now the park had signs saying it was closed, but we ventured on in, as most people around us. We passed and talked to a park-employee who was cleaning up after the hurricane. She did not seem the least bit interested in throwing us out so we kept going further into the park and had probably made it about ten streets or so when we where addressed by a car! It was a surreal situation when a car talks to you. It was a police car and they where throwing everyone out of the park. The problem was probably that mayor Bloomberg was afraid that a branch or a tree would fall down on some ones head. Which apparently happened to several people during the past weekend. We did as we where told by the car and left the park.
Today it was a different park that I visited during lunch. We bought take away at a place called Mangia, good but to price for me to become a regular, $17 for lunch... well it is mid town, but... anyway. Then we took the park and sat down in the green to eat and rest. Perfect weather, most like a good Swedish summer day: clear and exactly the right temperature. Yes those days are rare. We had a long lunch next to what looked like a fair. The park is grand, and houses all kinds of stuff. It was a good New York moment. And a good lunch.
NY
onsdag 31 augusti 2011
måndag 29 augusti 2011
Transport Nutcases II
And the second happening supporting the transport nutcase theory happened during the Saturday before the storm. We where three people sharing a car from a transport service company going from Brooklyn, Parkslope to Upper Manhattan, Hamilton Heights since the subway had been cancelled due to the Hurricane coming in.
We had just started rolling when the driver was called back to base to pick up another driver who was going home from work and had a similar destination as ours. So we went around the block and came back. You could immediately tell that our driver did not like the freebooter climbing into to front seat.
As we where chatting away in the back seat between friends the off-duty driver decided to break in, and not only that. He decided to start his one man routine on his former exploits. He was a former rocket scientist from Romania who had been part of sending Gagarin to space and then moved to the USA in 1966-1967 and worked for Nasa instead. He more or less denied being a driver but said that his job now was as superhero, or I mean vigilante-activist or I do not really know what to call it. He said that he made politicians incriminate them selves and then had them sentenced in court, he also told us that he was running for some kind of office in the next election by write in vote. He was apparently above answering questions: Just like any good politician he used the silence and anticipation of an answer following our questions to dig deeper in to his own storytelling. He came across as a full fledged mythomaniac, and as he got out of the car our driver confirmed all of our suspicions. There was such a wealth of material that this man spew out in only about ten minutes and then it was all completed and confirmed by the other man in less then 3 minutes.
So how come the transport sector attracts so called nutcases?
We had just started rolling when the driver was called back to base to pick up another driver who was going home from work and had a similar destination as ours. So we went around the block and came back. You could immediately tell that our driver did not like the freebooter climbing into to front seat.
As we where chatting away in the back seat between friends the off-duty driver decided to break in, and not only that. He decided to start his one man routine on his former exploits. He was a former rocket scientist from Romania who had been part of sending Gagarin to space and then moved to the USA in 1966-1967 and worked for Nasa instead. He more or less denied being a driver but said that his job now was as superhero, or I mean vigilante-activist or I do not really know what to call it. He said that he made politicians incriminate them selves and then had them sentenced in court, he also told us that he was running for some kind of office in the next election by write in vote. He was apparently above answering questions: Just like any good politician he used the silence and anticipation of an answer following our questions to dig deeper in to his own storytelling. He came across as a full fledged mythomaniac, and as he got out of the car our driver confirmed all of our suspicions. There was such a wealth of material that this man spew out in only about ten minutes and then it was all completed and confirmed by the other man in less then 3 minutes.
So how come the transport sector attracts so called nutcases?
lördag 27 augusti 2011
Transport Nutcases I
I am happy to say that I have a witness to the following, although anyone who has been in NY more than two weeks will easily confess that this is nothing out of the ordinary. My observation today is in two parts where this is the first entry. Field studies gives the following conclusion: In the sector of transport there is a higher than average amount of psychologically unstable individuals.
The last 24 hours I have had two encounters that underline this thesis and here I shall write the first one down:
Yesterday night going home with the subway there was a loud stinking man, who used the confinement of the subway car to sing and preach to us, the unfortunate audience of his madness and bad hygiene or possibly some other entity other then us, that only he could see and for about 15 minutes he kept us company weather we wanted it or not. At first he was only singing loud and between the short verses said or growled things that might be interpreted as begging, possibly for coin other then pennies. It is also notable that he as one of the misfortunate in this society choose to sing about the greatness of America. But I will leave that myth for another time. After the initial singing he choose to move down the wagon possibly basking but not being very apparent about it. When he had passed me he found a different man sitting down with his walker who also seemed to be a bit out there. The two men had a short exchange and it might have had something to do with military issues before the stinking man went back to stand to close to me, and threaten different passengers in his vicinity. He got angrier and angrier by the minute and went on to bark at us all as a collective and finally stormed out of the carriage shouting to silent passengers to shut up.
As this apparently insane man left the carriage he left the scene clear for the man with the stroller to let out his thoughts. Where there previously had been no room for him to talk to himself and everyone around him because of the stinky singing man there was now silence and the stroller man saw his chance to tell us all about his willpower and how he could easily "take down a whole line if he set his mind to it".
The last 24 hours I have had two encounters that underline this thesis and here I shall write the first one down:
Yesterday night going home with the subway there was a loud stinking man, who used the confinement of the subway car to sing and preach to us, the unfortunate audience of his madness and bad hygiene or possibly some other entity other then us, that only he could see and for about 15 minutes he kept us company weather we wanted it or not. At first he was only singing loud and between the short verses said or growled things that might be interpreted as begging, possibly for coin other then pennies. It is also notable that he as one of the misfortunate in this society choose to sing about the greatness of America. But I will leave that myth for another time. After the initial singing he choose to move down the wagon possibly basking but not being very apparent about it. When he had passed me he found a different man sitting down with his walker who also seemed to be a bit out there. The two men had a short exchange and it might have had something to do with military issues before the stinking man went back to stand to close to me, and threaten different passengers in his vicinity. He got angrier and angrier by the minute and went on to bark at us all as a collective and finally stormed out of the carriage shouting to silent passengers to shut up.
As this apparently insane man left the carriage he left the scene clear for the man with the stroller to let out his thoughts. Where there previously had been no room for him to talk to himself and everyone around him because of the stinky singing man there was now silence and the stroller man saw his chance to tell us all about his willpower and how he could easily "take down a whole line if he set his mind to it".
In a time of galant knights and no forks...
Yesterday we went to NJs finest dinning restaurant (without cutlery): Medieval Times! In a rented party bus, sporting a strip pole. For those of you who do not know of the concept of Medieval Times here is the link: http://medievaltimes.com/.
Now it is time to stop being objective and start getting down and dirty subjective.
Medieval Times is a shameless stupidity, much like the Eurovision Song Contest, but for knights. And how dumb isn't that since there are no knights?
So what is it, what goes on?
Well a bunch of people with no acting skills dress up in fancy colourful dresses and fake armour and "act" out a story about good and evil, love and betrayal that leads up to and ends with very bad mock fighting, and ultimately a gift shop. Meanwhile the audience is divided into six different camps set up to cheer on a specific knight in the tournament while fed grilled food whit no cutlery. And I might add that the food was tasty although the chicken was a bit over cooked.
So there is a mock tournament in the end and the evil knight runs around and fights everyone else to the kings over acted dismay while the princess pretends to miss her beloved prince while she is shamelessly carousing the knights in the background (for the last part I have no prof except for the princess complete lack of interest in her betrothed and kidnapped prince while giving lip service to the contrary, and of course my own imagination, as so often before.)
Some people in the audience bring their own plastic cutlery, which the people running the show frown up on and try to stop through public humiliation and finger pointing, which I admit that I like. But still: the plastic cutlery has its place in Medieval Times as much as let us say nylon garments, industrially processed food, plastic chairs, smoke machines and coloured floodlights to just name a few.
Now we are getting to the good part: Our knight won! Go red!
Like any good American sporting event the outcome has been rigged, just like in wrestling in the WWE or boxing on ESPN.
So what did I do to make it interesting? Easy! Find a bunch of kids in any other team and start winding them up! Then continue winding them up for as long as it lasts and finally win the damn thing so that you may shove it down their annoying little kid throats. Then take the party bus back to Manhattan.
Will I go again: probably not. Did I wish to have my time and money back? No, I am happy that we did this and I am grateful that I was invited. If you get a chance you should try it, but it is a drunk event in many respects, just like the Eurovision... but for knights.
Now it is time to stop being objective and start getting down and dirty subjective.
Medieval Times is a shameless stupidity, much like the Eurovision Song Contest, but for knights. And how dumb isn't that since there are no knights?
So what is it, what goes on?
Well a bunch of people with no acting skills dress up in fancy colourful dresses and fake armour and "act" out a story about good and evil, love and betrayal that leads up to and ends with very bad mock fighting, and ultimately a gift shop. Meanwhile the audience is divided into six different camps set up to cheer on a specific knight in the tournament while fed grilled food whit no cutlery. And I might add that the food was tasty although the chicken was a bit over cooked.
So there is a mock tournament in the end and the evil knight runs around and fights everyone else to the kings over acted dismay while the princess pretends to miss her beloved prince while she is shamelessly carousing the knights in the background (for the last part I have no prof except for the princess complete lack of interest in her betrothed and kidnapped prince while giving lip service to the contrary, and of course my own imagination, as so often before.)
Some people in the audience bring their own plastic cutlery, which the people running the show frown up on and try to stop through public humiliation and finger pointing, which I admit that I like. But still: the plastic cutlery has its place in Medieval Times as much as let us say nylon garments, industrially processed food, plastic chairs, smoke machines and coloured floodlights to just name a few.
Now we are getting to the good part: Our knight won! Go red!
Like any good American sporting event the outcome has been rigged, just like in wrestling in the WWE or boxing on ESPN.
So what did I do to make it interesting? Easy! Find a bunch of kids in any other team and start winding them up! Then continue winding them up for as long as it lasts and finally win the damn thing so that you may shove it down their annoying little kid throats. Then take the party bus back to Manhattan.
Will I go again: probably not. Did I wish to have my time and money back? No, I am happy that we did this and I am grateful that I was invited. If you get a chance you should try it, but it is a drunk event in many respects, just like the Eurovision... but for knights.
My first Hurricane (TM)
Since I moved to NY about 2 month ago I have been witness to one of the worst heat waves of the past hundred years, one of the very rare earthquakes of this area and now one of few very rare occasions when one of the hurricanes makes it all the way up here. That is quite some collection for a brand new NYC boy. The Hurricane named Irene is expected to hit us during the small hours between Saturday and Sunday. The city panicked and cancelled all communal transportation from noon on the Saturday. At five or six it had started to pour but no winds had yet penetrated this far. Now at ten the rain is steadily pouring but the hard winds are still to emerge, although it seams like it is blowing up some. Most of the city has been quite and calm during the day, the calm before the storm is fitting in two ways. The Hurricane has been down graded to a one now so it does not seem to be much danger, except that people on the waterfront will have some flooding to deal with. But the exact outcome of this remains to be seen. I am sure I will have to come back to this tomorrow or sometime in the future.
What I may add is that my visiting friend misses out on some of the he was expecting but he has gotten some other very unique experiences instead.
What I may add is that my visiting friend misses out on some of the he was expecting but he has gotten some other very unique experiences instead.
torsdag 25 augusti 2011
John in NY
So he is here, the man the myth the legend. Yesterday we made some tourist things such as Time Square, China Town, Little Italy, Rockerfeller Center and of course the Sony Building... and Central Park by night.
Tonight we might even get to Empire State. But that will be after work, gotta go so I can go and hang out. It is nice to have a friend at all hours. That I have missed. Welcome John!
Tonight we might even get to Empire State. But that will be after work, gotta go so I can go and hang out. It is nice to have a friend at all hours. That I have missed. Welcome John!
onsdag 24 augusti 2011
Dude me this!
Dude! How are you dude? What is up dude? Dude, how is it going? Dude me all over the place. Every one in the office is a dude. You can not be dude-enough! The dude flies over my head as people move in the office space and are forced by social convention to greet and ask each other questions they are not going to listen to, also by social convention. But we are all dudes. Where does the dude come from, and who was the first dude? Is it good or bad being a dude?
We all know the most famous dude: the Dude. And being compared to him, is beyond good or bad it just is. Just like the dude.
Googling for a dude definition gives this: (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dude)
We all know the most famous dude: the Dude. And being compared to him, is beyond good or bad it just is. Just like the dude.
Googling for a dude definition gives this: (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dude)
1. Informal An Easterner or city person who vacations on a ranch in the West.
2. Informal A man who is very fancy or sharp in dress and demeanor.
3. Slang
a. A man; a fellow.
b. dudes Persons of either sex.
I don't take the first one to be a word made out of appreciation, the second one seem to me to have lost that meaning long ago. I had never heard anything like that and do not think anyone in the office thinks that everyone else has fancy dress and or demeanour.
So definition 3a goes for about half while 3b marks us all except for that strange looking fellow in the corner: kind of short, kind of round, glasses and hair lengths is intermediate, no clue there. Name is probably, if you where to know it, something ambiguous as Pat, Sam or Alex. An unclear person of unknown sex. I guess that is just the person I would be calling a dude.
tisdag 23 augusti 2011
Visitor
I will have my first visitor tomorrow, it is going to be nice, do some tourist stuff and hang out with an old friend in NY. I have planned some stuff for us like a party with knights in NJ and a visit to the park, but there will be plenty of time for him to decide what he wants to see and do. Looking forward to five days of never ending bullshit. Unfortunately I will be working during the days but night will be ON! Red white and blue is gonna kill you!
Picking up new things
Today I worked most of the day in Flash, but also some troubleshooting trying to get Flash to show the font that was used. Since Adobe has taken their hands from it... or at least don't address the problem I was forced to use a third party. But I solved it after an hour or two.
Any way I was going to tell you that yesterday I edited sound and last week was mostly ideas. Before that was web design and other screen designs. The work can be varied, and I appreciate it as well as working with different persons. It is almost always a group effort even though it can feel pretty lonely working on stuff.
Soon I might even be allowed to show some stuff that I have made, but again it is a group effort so I can usually not take all the credit and I would even say that I would be reluctant to do so.
Any way I was going to tell you that yesterday I edited sound and last week was mostly ideas. Before that was web design and other screen designs. The work can be varied, and I appreciate it as well as working with different persons. It is almost always a group effort even though it can feel pretty lonely working on stuff.
Soon I might even be allowed to show some stuff that I have made, but again it is a group effort so I can usually not take all the credit and I would even say that I would be reluctant to do so.
Earthquake II
There was an earthquake in Virginia, according to the fire safety and emergency officer, this building is deemed safe. Pew... I was sooooo scared. Or not. Just dissatisfied with missing the feeling.
Earthquake?!
According to all the people around me we just felt a quake in the building. Now the fire safety emergency director is calling out in the speaker system saying that nothing is going on and that we are probably ok. The problem here is that I did not feel it! I just stood up from my chair as all the other people started asking what just happened. I feel so left out: finally an earth quake and I did not even register it. Remains to hear what it was, should I call Uppsala?
Missed another paycycle...
I have truly been caught in a glitch. I might have been raving over this before, it feels like my whole life revolves around some stinking pay checks, I guess this is how the rat race feels like. Any way the background is that I have been set up with a double reporting system for my time: One used in the department for actual time worked with individual projects and one for the time I get paid for. The interesting part of this is that I will only get paid for 37,5 hours a week so they could really just pay me that without reporting and we would save a lot of extra work but no. This would probably be no problem it is was not for the following chain of reasons: the system for reporting my hours for pay is not used by anyone else in my department including my CD who approves my hours. Further more that system only runs on Explorer! And Explorer demands Windows. Windows is in short supply in the creative department. So nothing is easy.
A few weeks back I tried to get my hours approved and they where, but then as stable as any only-on-Explorer system can be the information was not saved and there for no money was paid.
Perfect.
This means two things except for the obvious one that I don't get my money: First off: It seems the time limit to get my direct deposit in place will run out and I will not get $125 from my bank as was agreed upon. Secondly I will have to dig into the Swedish money pile that will mean that everything will cost more: exchange rates and card usage fees for foreign cards. Sometimes if not always monetary systems suck ass. As well as capitalism as a whole.
I'm caught in the rat race and I can not even get my promised cheese.
A few weeks back I tried to get my hours approved and they where, but then as stable as any only-on-Explorer system can be the information was not saved and there for no money was paid.
Perfect.
This means two things except for the obvious one that I don't get my money: First off: It seems the time limit to get my direct deposit in place will run out and I will not get $125 from my bank as was agreed upon. Secondly I will have to dig into the Swedish money pile that will mean that everything will cost more: exchange rates and card usage fees for foreign cards. Sometimes if not always monetary systems suck ass. As well as capitalism as a whole.
I'm caught in the rat race and I can not even get my promised cheese.
lördag 20 augusti 2011
TV rain
You know sometimes when you watch an American TV-series or even a movie you see a rain that is too quick and to hard to be believable. That is because you never saw anything like that in real life. But now I realise that is just because we are lucky in Sweden. We do not get that kind of rain that starts in less than five minutes and then drenches you with coin sized drops of pouring water. It was truly a New York moment yesterday biking back from work when all of a sudden the sky opened up and what came down was worse than stepping into a shower. Now my phone is probably lost, but I hope that the computer will make it through. I'm not starting it until Monday just in case there is still water inside.
Apart from the adverse effects on my modern technology I really enjoyed that ride! One of the best things was that the pavements got freed up from pedestrians so I could ride on them, a little higher than the flood that was the streets.
For the observant reader it is true: my bike does not sport fenders, so passing through the flooded streets was like taking a reverse shower. And adding to that: my shoes used to be watertight. Even though everyday use of them as well as certain expeditions up on mountaintops has rendered some leaks they still don't really let water through. But when the water comes in through the top hole, the result is a water filled shoe that does not drain. Klofs, Klofs.
Now someone may think that having the bike was bad because otherwise I might have taken the subway home. But that someone did not see the rain and my words are just no adequate to describe it. This was the kind of downpour that stopped the subway. To much ware came down in the subway so it could not be used! Now do you understand what kind of flood I am trying to describe?
Apart from the adverse effects on my modern technology I really enjoyed that ride! One of the best things was that the pavements got freed up from pedestrians so I could ride on them, a little higher than the flood that was the streets.
For the observant reader it is true: my bike does not sport fenders, so passing through the flooded streets was like taking a reverse shower. And adding to that: my shoes used to be watertight. Even though everyday use of them as well as certain expeditions up on mountaintops has rendered some leaks they still don't really let water through. But when the water comes in through the top hole, the result is a water filled shoe that does not drain. Klofs, Klofs.
Now someone may think that having the bike was bad because otherwise I might have taken the subway home. But that someone did not see the rain and my words are just no adequate to describe it. This was the kind of downpour that stopped the subway. To much ware came down in the subway so it could not be used! Now do you understand what kind of flood I am trying to describe?
torsdag 18 augusti 2011
Red Velvet Cake
Yesterday at lunch I got fooled... When we had eaten someone started to talk about cookies and I felt I had some space left for something sweet. And someone else mentioned that they sold pie in the café. To shorten this down we can say this: I happened to eat a piece of red velvet cake for lunch, or more desert but anyway. I am trying to blame my inadequate control mechanism on me exploring a new culture or culturett. The red velvet cake was said to have a unspecified unique taste and here by I let my self be fooled or at least that is the story that I stick to. Something that different must be tried and tasted, that is my defence for eating cake for lunch.
How it was? Why good of course! But really not so unique: it is a red dyed sponge cake and sweetened sour cream. If you have a chance eat it, but you do not have to travel around the world for it or order it from internet...
How it was? Why good of course! But really not so unique: it is a red dyed sponge cake and sweetened sour cream. If you have a chance eat it, but you do not have to travel around the world for it or order it from internet...
Biker NY III
Yesterday I went to fencing practise on the lower east side about 65 streets from work or so. Took the bike of course. It took maybe 30 minutes to get there. But it was on my way home I realized what I had done: from Broom Street on the east side to 145th on the west on my bike. Well I checked it: it is 17 kilometres. I probably took an hour or so. But it was a NY moment to ride my bike in the nightly traffic all over the place, passing many different places and starting to lay the puzzle in my brain of how everything connects. I am not done yet. Especially the southern part of Manhattan is hard to map out. But I look forward to do some more riding in the city.
måndag 15 augusti 2011
Research, let's fuck up their brains!
Today I was doing research in a project and came across these quotes:
From http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/school/back_to_school.html# on the subject of school starts (for normal kids I might add) we get this wisdom:
"Most teachers let you pick your own seat on the first day, but by the second or third morning, they'll have mapped out a seating plan. At first, it's a good idea to write down where your seat is in your notebook so you don't forget."
And in
http://www.wikihow.com/Accessorize-Your-School-Uniform
they do not feel ashamed writing this to young females about the skirt height and your questionable gender:
"if your medium height and round, make it a little( i mean a little!) above the knee, so your legs can be shown, to make sure youre a girl."
They continue on the subject of accessories: "Don't copy someone else's cool idea, unless they are your friend. Try to make up your own trends, otherwise people will think you are poser."
When I was a kid, to copy a friend was a BIG no-no. Copy inspiration was taken from as far away as possible so you could have your unique set among your closest friends. I even remember when a friend of mine got the same jacket as another friend. Not good. But then again it was probably his mother that went shopping so the responsibility was probably not all his.
Back to www.wikihow.com they end the page with the following misplaced question:
Was this article accurate?
To what?! What can it possibly be accurate at? To display the beliefs of some people? How should anyone appraise how their broken little brains function?
I would like to finish this rant with this piece of lifesaving advise shamelessly marketed under warnings at www.wikihow.com/Accessorize-Your-School-Uniform:
"Steer clear of key chains that make noises. You could bump it the wrong way and send funny noises out to the whole algebra class. Talk about embarrassing!"
Just so you know! I too feel that we should strive to give young girls more anxiety in their lives. As we all know they are usually very down to earth and not hyped up on misguided beliefs at all...
Let's fuck up their brains!
From http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/school/back_to_school.html# on the subject of school starts (for normal kids I might add) we get this wisdom:
"Most teachers let you pick your own seat on the first day, but by the second or third morning, they'll have mapped out a seating plan. At first, it's a good idea to write down where your seat is in your notebook so you don't forget."
And in
http://www.wikihow.com/Accessorize-Your-School-Uniform
they do not feel ashamed writing this to young females about the skirt height and your questionable gender:
"if your medium height and round, make it a little( i mean a little!) above the knee, so your legs can be shown, to make sure youre a girl."
They continue on the subject of accessories: "Don't copy someone else's cool idea, unless they are your friend. Try to make up your own trends, otherwise people will think you are poser."
When I was a kid, to copy a friend was a BIG no-no. Copy inspiration was taken from as far away as possible so you could have your unique set among your closest friends. I even remember when a friend of mine got the same jacket as another friend. Not good. But then again it was probably his mother that went shopping so the responsibility was probably not all his.
Back to www.wikihow.com they end the page with the following misplaced question:
Was this article accurate?
To what?! What can it possibly be accurate at? To display the beliefs of some people? How should anyone appraise how their broken little brains function?
I would like to finish this rant with this piece of lifesaving advise shamelessly marketed under warnings at www.wikihow.com/Accessorize-Your-School-Uniform:
"Steer clear of key chains that make noises. You could bump it the wrong way and send funny noises out to the whole algebra class. Talk about embarrassing!"
Just so you know! I too feel that we should strive to give young girls more anxiety in their lives. As we all know they are usually very down to earth and not hyped up on misguided beliefs at all...
Let's fuck up their brains!
söndag 14 augusti 2011
The best place in the world...
"This is the best place in the world" said her eyes and her stature. I wanted to ask how she, 15 years old could know such a thing? Probably having visited about 5 states, the five closest, never seen another country. But she was sure. I could see that in her eyes as the flashed in anger at me. And even so sure that when this strange Swede she had meet in the street said that there where both good and bad things with her city she had no other tool in her tool kit but the stance so often seen in the Ricky Lake Show. Bad things with HER CITY, the best place in the world? She demanded to immediately hear what could possibly be wrong with New York? What?
I encountered a gaggle of young girls in the street when I went to buy my bike. They where open and enthusiastic like youngster but narrow-minded and ignorant like slum dwellers at the same time. Both charming in their straight forwardness and a horrific example to why the USofA does not work.
I was at first a bit surprised by her question or demand to know what I could ever critique in her most adorable NY, the greatest city on earth? I thought it more than a bit rude, but collected my self and pointed to the piece of garbage just beneath us in the street. I actually did not need to say much; I could see in her face that it had disarmed her and she looked a bit ashamed.
There was really nothing else to it, but analysing the situation afterwards I think that she at first was as surprised from my honest answer to her question as I later was from her supplementary question. Her view of the greatest city on earth probably did not hold any room for criticism. Now I was barging in to this world and demanded to put down some "bad things" in her NY. I actually did not. She was the one who asked me what I thought of my new home town? And the rudeness of her demand to know what I possibly could find bad with NY was probably completely warranted by my rudeness of answering honestly when she was just making conversation. Our ways are very different, but this meeting in the street was open and honest even though much to short.
I encountered a gaggle of young girls in the street when I went to buy my bike. They where open and enthusiastic like youngster but narrow-minded and ignorant like slum dwellers at the same time. Both charming in their straight forwardness and a horrific example to why the USofA does not work.
I was at first a bit surprised by her question or demand to know what I could ever critique in her most adorable NY, the greatest city on earth? I thought it more than a bit rude, but collected my self and pointed to the piece of garbage just beneath us in the street. I actually did not need to say much; I could see in her face that it had disarmed her and she looked a bit ashamed.
There was really nothing else to it, but analysing the situation afterwards I think that she at first was as surprised from my honest answer to her question as I later was from her supplementary question. Her view of the greatest city on earth probably did not hold any room for criticism. Now I was barging in to this world and demanded to put down some "bad things" in her NY. I actually did not. She was the one who asked me what I thought of my new home town? And the rudeness of her demand to know what I possibly could find bad with NY was probably completely warranted by my rudeness of answering honestly when she was just making conversation. Our ways are very different, but this meeting in the street was open and honest even though much to short.
United States of Who Gives a Shit
I had to quote Dave Wyndorf for this posting. And in this instance it is not all bad: The united States of Who Gives a Shit is really pleasant to ride your bike in.
Compared to Sweden where the least you get for riding your bike on the pavement is a dirty look, if not someone screaming at you or worse chasing you, trying to grab you and stop you. Just to set you straight! Committing an even harsher crime in the process of stopping a minor one. Here no one cares if you ride on the pavement, in the wrong direction on a one way street. To prove my point to you dear reader I even tried it in front of a cop. I even stopped in front of him and adjusted my tier. Not a change in his facial expression. Ok I did not actually try to get arrested, rather happened to stop while breaking the law (?) in front of a officer and adjusting my tier. It does not matter. The policeman had no intention to even tell me to do the right thing. Quite remarkably. I do not know if I think it is good or bad. For me trying to learn how to bike to work I think it is very easy, but then again I sometimes think we should care about our society and our shared space...
Compared to Sweden where the least you get for riding your bike on the pavement is a dirty look, if not someone screaming at you or worse chasing you, trying to grab you and stop you. Just to set you straight! Committing an even harsher crime in the process of stopping a minor one. Here no one cares if you ride on the pavement, in the wrong direction on a one way street. To prove my point to you dear reader I even tried it in front of a cop. I even stopped in front of him and adjusted my tier. Not a change in his facial expression. Ok I did not actually try to get arrested, rather happened to stop while breaking the law (?) in front of a officer and adjusting my tier. It does not matter. The policeman had no intention to even tell me to do the right thing. Quite remarkably. I do not know if I think it is good or bad. For me trying to learn how to bike to work I think it is very easy, but then again I sometimes think we should care about our society and our shared space...
Biker NY II
The day after my bike purchase I went back to the Phone Doctor to get some adjustments done and Michail, my new Russian bike dealer helped me out in a most professional and nice manner. I good store in my opinion.
It might lie a bit off the beaten path for you Brooklyn dwellers but I must recommend it for anyone here on the upper side. on 143rd street and 6th Avenue. Some really nice Russian guys and the sell cell phones and computers also...
It might lie a bit off the beaten path for you Brooklyn dwellers but I must recommend it for anyone here on the upper side. on 143rd street and 6th Avenue. Some really nice Russian guys and the sell cell phones and computers also...
Sunday at the temple
"It has been written and it has always been thus: on the day of mass the people make their way to the temple to indulge their spirituality and show their devotion to their beliefs."
So this Sunday me and another Swede took the Taxi Ferry from pier 11 to Brooklyn and the Swedish Cultural Export Centre, the Temple of all things, the Enigmatic blue cubicle that is IKEA. Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd, the big Swedish export. Well it was just a question of time before I went. And I have said before that I have had some longing for home. So this rainy Sunday the time had come.
From the water this Ikea looked big, but having lived really close to Kungens Kurva it did not compare well. 2 floors, of the maze like Ikea layout. You could recognize most of the products but they where put together in an American fashion... or lack their of. Questions that arises is who actually needs 4 pillows in bed? and would Ernst approve of the example rooms?
In the restaurant we had meatballs and shunned all the local variants such as deepfried chicken, ribs and chocolate cake, half a kilo there of, more or less.
The meatballs was served with a petit ball of mash as well as a small spoon of lingonberry jam. We where not impressed. The salad table had more to choose from than the Swedish equivalent. But they use the same freeze dried carrots. I can't really understand why anyone use them. The Lingon drink was water with a hint of red. One of the worst meals I have had in New York. Even so we where really thankful to get meatballs with lingonberries. Easily fooled.
Afterwards we really went haywire in the food section: cinnamon rolls, sill, caviare, ballerina... anything Swedish. And please note I was far from as big a hamster as miss Sweden her self. But all in all a pretty good day. We got what we came for: both things and experiences.
fredag 12 augusti 2011
Toilet stalls
In the office we have a restroom for men with three toilet stalls and three urinals. I imagine there is a very similar room for women in the other corridor, but I have not entered it and checked. And probably they do not have any urinals.
The first thing to mention is the choice of words here: "restroom"? I don't think anyone actually took a rest in there. Not from the sound of it anyway. And that is what I wanted to write about: I do not mind overly much the sounds made when I go to the toilet, just a bit. But I feel rather ashamed when I hear others... like the other day when someone came in to the stall next to mine and just went FRRRODORF! followed by several quick splashing sounds. It sounded to me like this person had the anus of a horse and emptied it the same way: fast and almost turning it outside in. That made me feel a bit ashamed. I know I should not be, but I can't really help it... that sound will probably remain with me for quite some time. Other things you hear well in that bare room echoing between the tile walls are moans and groans. When that happens I think that I like separated toilets better. I want people to be alone with their poo. Simple as that.
The first thing to mention is the choice of words here: "restroom"? I don't think anyone actually took a rest in there. Not from the sound of it anyway. And that is what I wanted to write about: I do not mind overly much the sounds made when I go to the toilet, just a bit. But I feel rather ashamed when I hear others... like the other day when someone came in to the stall next to mine and just went FRRRODORF! followed by several quick splashing sounds. It sounded to me like this person had the anus of a horse and emptied it the same way: fast and almost turning it outside in. That made me feel a bit ashamed. I know I should not be, but I can't really help it... that sound will probably remain with me for quite some time. Other things you hear well in that bare room echoing between the tile walls are moans and groans. When that happens I think that I like separated toilets better. I want people to be alone with their poo. Simple as that.
Biker NY
Yesterday I bought a bike. It is small, 26" tiers, has to many gears (21!?) no lights, no package holder and manually disposable tiers and saddle. But still I am kind of proud to be it's owner. We will see for how long it will last. I bought it from a store at 143rd Str and 7th avenue called Phone Doctor. There where a big bunch of Slavic people who run the store; buying and selling phones, computers and bicycles and probably some other stuff. They where very helpful and have a return within 30 days guarantee that I do not know if I believe in. But that remains to be seen. Not I need to get me a helmet and some lights. I will try to find my way to work on the bike today.
tisdag 9 augusti 2011
Martinez Academy of Fencing
I went for my first fencing lesson at Martinez academy of Arms yesterday. http://www.martinez-destreza.com/
I did not get to fence with anyone which was disappointing, to add salt to my injury it is also quite pricey to learn with these masters. But people at the place are nice this far and I would like to know more. I asked to train with a French small sword ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_sword ) so that is what I did for two hours last night. And today I feel some stiffness in my legs but not overly much. I was prepared for worse. I will probably do a set of four lessons to see how I like it. I have not yet been able to come into contact with another fighting group or Kali practitioners. Not that I have not tried. I was quite diligent the first weeks. But it is strange that people do not write back when someone shows interest for the thing that they make money on or they are interested in. Strange and sad. I need to get some work outs while I'm here. Work is really not activation for the body. My brain and hand might be working but my back and legs are dwindling away as my butt flattens against an office chair.
I did not get to fence with anyone which was disappointing, to add salt to my injury it is also quite pricey to learn with these masters. But people at the place are nice this far and I would like to know more. I asked to train with a French small sword ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_sword ) so that is what I did for two hours last night. And today I feel some stiffness in my legs but not overly much. I was prepared for worse. I will probably do a set of four lessons to see how I like it. I have not yet been able to come into contact with another fighting group or Kali practitioners. Not that I have not tried. I was quite diligent the first weeks. But it is strange that people do not write back when someone shows interest for the thing that they make money on or they are interested in. Strange and sad. I need to get some work outs while I'm here. Work is really not activation for the body. My brain and hand might be working but my back and legs are dwindling away as my butt flattens against an office chair.
Rainy days
Today it really poured down. But that did not matter since we have a roof and window walls. Ok so we could not go out and have lunch at the Taco-truck. But if that was my biggest concern I would be a happy man. Both my bosses where out today so I got to help Pricsilla make a few comps for a project she is working on. Of the things discussed this Friday about my work this far nothing has happened. As I am writing this at my window my nose tells me someone just light up something illegal in the street. This one smells bad. The rain stopped before I went home so now it is all clear if you want to stand in the street and do illegal things including paper, a lighter and roasted so called herbs.
This has been a slow day and my futile attempts at getting my self a bike has lead nowhere. There is a kind of cool 50thies bike waiting for me in Hobroken... But really? I do not feel the urge to get over to NJ. Before moving here I could not really wrap my head around that fact that the New Yorkers did not like to go to NJ. But now I know why: your MTA-card does not take you there. Simple as that.
It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. I have no clue what I shall be working with.
I think that I will go to Martinez Fencing Academy again and buy myself a bike on Thursday. That is the plan.
This has been a slow day and my futile attempts at getting my self a bike has lead nowhere. There is a kind of cool 50thies bike waiting for me in Hobroken... But really? I do not feel the urge to get over to NJ. Before moving here I could not really wrap my head around that fact that the New Yorkers did not like to go to NJ. But now I know why: your MTA-card does not take you there. Simple as that.
It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. I have no clue what I shall be working with.
I think that I will go to Martinez Fencing Academy again and buy myself a bike on Thursday. That is the plan.
lördag 6 augusti 2011
Review 1
I had my first review of my work yesterday or at least we had a stab at it. It was my CD and her boss, the manager for the UX department who sat down with me to talk about what was happening, how things had gone and what was ging to happen in the future. Actually this happened on the third try. The two former dates we had either got rescheduled or used to talk about some project instead.
During the half hour I was among other things informed that they tried to minimize the amount of meeting time that they used. Which I can understand is a goal in it self but also from observation since I now sit more or less next to 2 of the managers of the floor is not happing that much. They are really busy. It is not easy to get to talk to them even a few minutes. I do not envy their work situation, going from meeting to meeting. I am also not the person to barge in. That I have to learn to be.
Now it was my meeting and my performance. I can in retrospect feel that I was all to defensive not actually lifting any of my questions. I do not think that I came across as defensive though. Not that the critique was open enough to be either defensive or constructive about it. There where insinuations that I did not work well enough which of course saddened me since it was the first project that I made directly for this manager and he felt that I was inadequate in this. And that was also the only thing that he focused on since he did not know about my other projects that much. One of them he has seen and that project did more or less change completely once he got involved with it. This was addressed by my CD but I am far from sure that the manager gave a rats ass about it.
So my seven weeks of work boiled down to what had happened the last 2 or 3 days for my manager. The situation looked as follows:
I got called in to redesign the sign up part of a third party store-solution that we will be selling to other clients. I was presented with some sales material from the third party company and given access to an email conversation that contained some admin login from may this year. I started looking in to this and soon discovered that the admin login had failed and could not be used. I asked one of our traffics to help me out and she reached out for a new one. Now 4 days later with one remainder nothing has happened. I learned that I should be screaming and kick harder and louder when I need something. I will not see the insides of that system before I deliver this coming Monday, not ideal, pretty far from it actually. But when I started I thought it would be good but not crucial since I was only redoing the login part, I was to be surprised by the opposite.
The day after start up I worked with different solutions to the login problem, had one meeting early on in the day where I tried to present my findings and also flag that I did not have access to the system. The wires I showed of the information gathering process of the login got it's fair share of critique. I had concentrated on the process and what could be taken away to make the login as slim as possible. The meeting showed that we had to keep all the infringing information gathering but not what I was to learn yesterday.
So I iterated the process and designed a login form for speedy use and branded it in 2 different ways to show how it might look. I then sent review links to my work to both my superiors and hoped to get some feed back. None came and I started to iterate again taking away some rough edges and adding some overlooked features. I then had a different meeting which turned into checking my work. Then I was made aware that not only were I to do the sign up process but also the structuring of all the material in the downloadable database. That was something of a surprise. And since this had been lost in translation on my part because no such material was presented to me and the structuring of the data was never mentioned. I guess this was the point when the manager decided that I was not doing what I should. After that meeting I touched up the sign up page and started on the sorting of data still without any access to the system. Which arguably could be a good thing if you want to remake everything from the start. Which in this instant might just be the right thing to do. I have looked at three different systems and several different versions applications which all look like they where built by the same programmer with no UI considerations.
So I designed a deep sorting system built on a hierarchy staring with genre into which the artists and their music would fit. Before leaving the office as the last person out Friday I sent review links and asked to be instructed. If this will happen remains to be seen. I am trying to do the correct thing from a work perspective as well as not making my self the uncomfortable strange guy. But I am not yet key conscious in this environment. I guess one of my most important goals are to break that code.
On the other hand I think that my CD reached out in a way and addressed different things that had happened during my work and both have a greater understanding of my work but also of the situation that I have been dropped in.
I can help to think about that it was such a struggle to get here and that it was a hassle even for these people and now that I am here I seem to do everything in the wrong way. Do they wish that I had never come? Why did the ask to get a student from Hyper Island when they seem to need a web designer?
The meeting decided that I was to be assigned a senior designer with whom I could bounce the ball and that I was going to get more idea based work since that is what I want. I miss brainstorming with my Hypers.
During the half hour I was among other things informed that they tried to minimize the amount of meeting time that they used. Which I can understand is a goal in it self but also from observation since I now sit more or less next to 2 of the managers of the floor is not happing that much. They are really busy. It is not easy to get to talk to them even a few minutes. I do not envy their work situation, going from meeting to meeting. I am also not the person to barge in. That I have to learn to be.
Now it was my meeting and my performance. I can in retrospect feel that I was all to defensive not actually lifting any of my questions. I do not think that I came across as defensive though. Not that the critique was open enough to be either defensive or constructive about it. There where insinuations that I did not work well enough which of course saddened me since it was the first project that I made directly for this manager and he felt that I was inadequate in this. And that was also the only thing that he focused on since he did not know about my other projects that much. One of them he has seen and that project did more or less change completely once he got involved with it. This was addressed by my CD but I am far from sure that the manager gave a rats ass about it.
So my seven weeks of work boiled down to what had happened the last 2 or 3 days for my manager. The situation looked as follows:
I got called in to redesign the sign up part of a third party store-solution that we will be selling to other clients. I was presented with some sales material from the third party company and given access to an email conversation that contained some admin login from may this year. I started looking in to this and soon discovered that the admin login had failed and could not be used. I asked one of our traffics to help me out and she reached out for a new one. Now 4 days later with one remainder nothing has happened. I learned that I should be screaming and kick harder and louder when I need something. I will not see the insides of that system before I deliver this coming Monday, not ideal, pretty far from it actually. But when I started I thought it would be good but not crucial since I was only redoing the login part, I was to be surprised by the opposite.
The day after start up I worked with different solutions to the login problem, had one meeting early on in the day where I tried to present my findings and also flag that I did not have access to the system. The wires I showed of the information gathering process of the login got it's fair share of critique. I had concentrated on the process and what could be taken away to make the login as slim as possible. The meeting showed that we had to keep all the infringing information gathering but not what I was to learn yesterday.
So I iterated the process and designed a login form for speedy use and branded it in 2 different ways to show how it might look. I then sent review links to my work to both my superiors and hoped to get some feed back. None came and I started to iterate again taking away some rough edges and adding some overlooked features. I then had a different meeting which turned into checking my work. Then I was made aware that not only were I to do the sign up process but also the structuring of all the material in the downloadable database. That was something of a surprise. And since this had been lost in translation on my part because no such material was presented to me and the structuring of the data was never mentioned. I guess this was the point when the manager decided that I was not doing what I should. After that meeting I touched up the sign up page and started on the sorting of data still without any access to the system. Which arguably could be a good thing if you want to remake everything from the start. Which in this instant might just be the right thing to do. I have looked at three different systems and several different versions applications which all look like they where built by the same programmer with no UI considerations.
So I designed a deep sorting system built on a hierarchy staring with genre into which the artists and their music would fit. Before leaving the office as the last person out Friday I sent review links and asked to be instructed. If this will happen remains to be seen. I am trying to do the correct thing from a work perspective as well as not making my self the uncomfortable strange guy. But I am not yet key conscious in this environment. I guess one of my most important goals are to break that code.
On the other hand I think that my CD reached out in a way and addressed different things that had happened during my work and both have a greater understanding of my work but also of the situation that I have been dropped in.
I can help to think about that it was such a struggle to get here and that it was a hassle even for these people and now that I am here I seem to do everything in the wrong way. Do they wish that I had never come? Why did the ask to get a student from Hyper Island when they seem to need a web designer?
The meeting decided that I was to be assigned a senior designer with whom I could bounce the ball and that I was going to get more idea based work since that is what I want. I miss brainstorming with my Hypers.
Walters food
2 weeks ago me and some friends tried to have a dinner at Walters Foods in Brooklyn, Williamsburg to be more precise. It did not happen because the place was filled up with inconsiderate gluttons who made their worst to have me go somewhere else to get my filling. Or just plain people out eat at a quite appreciated restaurant.
We ended up in the Tearoom that I mentioned here. Yesterday we tried again for Walters and this time there was a table for us.
We had Steak, Lobster and some pasta as well as a banana chocolate bread pudding. It was all good, although the pasta was probably the least interesting thing. Thus far it was the best restaurant I have visited in NY. I am sure that I will come back to Walters. Only one thing to complain about and that was the manager swooping around the tables asking how everything was. The problem with this was not that he did it but rather how. The question felt constructed to be answered with a yes rather than anything else and the way he asked without actually stopping to hear the answer made me feel like he actually was afraid to hear it. Luckily he had no reason for that. But I would not mind having a short discussion with someone from the restaurant about their food, but I don't think you should ask questions if you don't want to hear the answer. So next time manager: take your time! You have all the reason to!
A few observations is in place: Being a foreigner I was surprised when persons from the staff took a drink in the bar after their shift, but still in their working clothes as well as the bartender drank a quick shoot with one of the guests. I do not think it is negative I'm just no used to seeing that happen.
And again the discussion on how a steak is cooked: it is interesting that all the chefs of the world have one opinion and the rest of us including the people who writes cookbooks have a slightly different view. On the one hand I feel that the chefs are the experts, but in the other more democratic view on how language works it is the larger population who owns the interpretational rights to the words. So who is right? We will probably never get to the bottom with this.
We ended up in the Tearoom that I mentioned here. Yesterday we tried again for Walters and this time there was a table for us.
We had Steak, Lobster and some pasta as well as a banana chocolate bread pudding. It was all good, although the pasta was probably the least interesting thing. Thus far it was the best restaurant I have visited in NY. I am sure that I will come back to Walters. Only one thing to complain about and that was the manager swooping around the tables asking how everything was. The problem with this was not that he did it but rather how. The question felt constructed to be answered with a yes rather than anything else and the way he asked without actually stopping to hear the answer made me feel like he actually was afraid to hear it. Luckily he had no reason for that. But I would not mind having a short discussion with someone from the restaurant about their food, but I don't think you should ask questions if you don't want to hear the answer. So next time manager: take your time! You have all the reason to!
A few observations is in place: Being a foreigner I was surprised when persons from the staff took a drink in the bar after their shift, but still in their working clothes as well as the bartender drank a quick shoot with one of the guests. I do not think it is negative I'm just no used to seeing that happen.
And again the discussion on how a steak is cooked: it is interesting that all the chefs of the world have one opinion and the rest of us including the people who writes cookbooks have a slightly different view. On the one hand I feel that the chefs are the experts, but in the other more democratic view on how language works it is the larger population who owns the interpretational rights to the words. So who is right? We will probably never get to the bottom with this.
Premium Cutlery
When it comes to cutlery I do not think semi utilitarian descriptions and labelling such as "industrial strength" and "military grade" has any bearing. Cutlery being a civic notion or custom I think what is important in conjunction with cutlery are practises related to our modern world and it's value system. For example the practise of viewing some metals as more precious than others, even taking out the "metal dream team" through name a few of them "precious metals". Oh yes there is a definition to this in chemistry relating to the number of electrons in the outer shells but most people would not be able to recite that, they just think that gold is better than silver.
So when it come to cutlery I would oblige to the common notion of our value system and say that gold cutlery is more premium than silver, next would be well designed and good looking and feeling cutlery followed by well designed but ugly looking counterparts. There after normal cutlery and further down the list eastern state punched utensils made from metals that bend easily and then plastic handle forks and spoons from Ikea that breaks when you use them in a dish washer. The list could end with those. But then we would have overlooked the number one utensil of the US. The plastic utensil. You find them everywhere. In fast food restaurants, in take away restaurants but also in peoples homes and in their kitchens. This is strange to anyone with the slightest environmental awareness. But then again we are talking about the nation that would not sign the Kyoto-agreement there by blocking any effective appliance of it.
So what is this rant about? Well I found this in my kitchen...
This plastic bag is the source of many questions. The most prominent one being: Can anyone really rank blue plastic spoons as "Premium Cutlery"? How is that possible? Compared to almost any other cutlery made of wood or metal I can't think of a worse material for cutlery actually being used. Another question is what are these spoons doing in the kitchen? I am far from convinced that I will never know the answer to this. I mean the real answer. Not the stupid one: "to eat liquid food with" said in a high pitched dorky voice... Over and out from Premium land.
So when it come to cutlery I would oblige to the common notion of our value system and say that gold cutlery is more premium than silver, next would be well designed and good looking and feeling cutlery followed by well designed but ugly looking counterparts. There after normal cutlery and further down the list eastern state punched utensils made from metals that bend easily and then plastic handle forks and spoons from Ikea that breaks when you use them in a dish washer. The list could end with those. But then we would have overlooked the number one utensil of the US. The plastic utensil. You find them everywhere. In fast food restaurants, in take away restaurants but also in peoples homes and in their kitchens. This is strange to anyone with the slightest environmental awareness. But then again we are talking about the nation that would not sign the Kyoto-agreement there by blocking any effective appliance of it.
So what is this rant about? Well I found this in my kitchen...
This plastic bag is the source of many questions. The most prominent one being: Can anyone really rank blue plastic spoons as "Premium Cutlery"? How is that possible? Compared to almost any other cutlery made of wood or metal I can't think of a worse material for cutlery actually being used. Another question is what are these spoons doing in the kitchen? I am far from convinced that I will never know the answer to this. I mean the real answer. Not the stupid one: "to eat liquid food with" said in a high pitched dorky voice... Over and out from Premium land.
onsdag 3 augusti 2011
The way to say hello
Americans have a way to make the simple procedure of acknowledging that you are to something unbearable and wrong for me. Usually when you meet someone at work for example you say hi to show that this person is important and that you see him or her. Sometimes you might add a "how are you today?" Where I come from we then stop to hear the answer to such a question since we actually asked. Failing to do so would be considered shallow and cold. It is not in any way unheard of but I guess it was along time ago that I choose not to keep those persons as friends. A natural selection of friends if you will. But in this country nothing is strange with a conversation sounding like this:
Person A walking briskly through the corridor noticing person B who might or might not be named Marcus, but probably has a name that starts with an M.
Person A, opens his mouth without stopping or even lowering his pace and says: -"Marcus, what up man?"
Person B looks towards the passing Person A and answers: -"Yeah and you?"
At this point Person A has moved far enough away in the corridor that he no longer can or need to answer the question posed by the person presumably named something beginning with the letter M.
For me this tears a hole in my soul. I usually only say hi, but if someone ask me something I always think about the question long enough to give it an answer. The answer I feel it deserves since another person, a human being asked me the question. This upsets every American. I can't start striking up conversations with people whose names I hardly know the first letter in. But still I both answer questions to my health and well being and pose other questions back to which I seem to be expecting answers. This is out of protocol. Just a trivial thing like answering truthfully about your problems and feelings can be severely chocking. This is the same in Sweden but to a lesser extent.
I'm just saying: if you do not want the answer: do not pose the question.
Person A walking briskly through the corridor noticing person B who might or might not be named Marcus, but probably has a name that starts with an M.
Person A, opens his mouth without stopping or even lowering his pace and says: -"Marcus, what up man?"
Person B looks towards the passing Person A and answers: -"Yeah and you?"
At this point Person A has moved far enough away in the corridor that he no longer can or need to answer the question posed by the person presumably named something beginning with the letter M.
For me this tears a hole in my soul. I usually only say hi, but if someone ask me something I always think about the question long enough to give it an answer. The answer I feel it deserves since another person, a human being asked me the question. This upsets every American. I can't start striking up conversations with people whose names I hardly know the first letter in. But still I both answer questions to my health and well being and pose other questions back to which I seem to be expecting answers. This is out of protocol. Just a trivial thing like answering truthfully about your problems and feelings can be severely chocking. This is the same in Sweden but to a lesser extent.
I'm just saying: if you do not want the answer: do not pose the question.
The American Culturett
There has been many wise men and women to quote about the absence of an American culture. Still there are many utterings of culture in this nation. To mention all of them they have Hollywood, Hamburgers and Hip Hop. The latter being when old people dress like babies, Hamburgers when you do not want to eat the boring stuff and add cheese to the good and the first is a well oiled machine that make a streamlined and well produced product of entertainment and pacification of the masses. It is not all bad even thought I can't help myself from flaming it. There are many parts of American life that is culture bearing and therefore we must acknowledge the American Culturett. I have constructed that word, using the diminutive of culture since there is a lack here of in the American States of United Ignorance. Other things that has been said and proven to be American are being nice and open to people without meaning it, being overly religious for their tech level (actually reversing evolution) and being loud without reason. Not very flattering traits. There is also a very strong willingness to identify your heritage and therefore ascribing yourself to another culture in this country. Which of course has to do with the history of this young nation. But all things taken together there is not much left to do than acknowledge the American Culturett.
Football tickets
I have been planning to get myself a ticket to go see live football at the Giants stadium. The first time I looked for it I could not order tickets, but I was told by a colleague that the tickets where very expensive.
Since the seasons is soon to start I went looking for tickets again. It turns out that the page was faulty, still is actually and that tickets can be bought. And they are expensive: the cheapest ones are $96.
I have asked the other Hypers if they are interested in experiencing some real part of the American culturett. I guess the price will scare them away but Rodrigo tries to get me to go to Baseball instead. The instead part seems as probable as me taking a trip to the moon, but I just might see a baseball game as well, they are much cheaper, go figure? They play about a hundred games during a season and the sport is much more uninteresting and hard to both understand and appreciate. When I have said that I might be interested Rodrigo acts like any good merchant or drug dealer and tries to push it some more: He introduces the idea of going to a tennis match... to watch?! That is among the worst suggestions I have ever gotten. I understand that he probably likes tennis and therefore does not understand how stupid his suggestion sounds to me. But come on...
Anyway I still have this feeling that if I actually go to that Baseball game for $15 I will still be wasting some good 5 hours of my life... it remains to be seen. But I will be buying my tickets within a week to a Giants game, that is a promise.
Since the seasons is soon to start I went looking for tickets again. It turns out that the page was faulty, still is actually and that tickets can be bought. And they are expensive: the cheapest ones are $96.
I have asked the other Hypers if they are interested in experiencing some real part of the American culturett. I guess the price will scare them away but Rodrigo tries to get me to go to Baseball instead. The instead part seems as probable as me taking a trip to the moon, but I just might see a baseball game as well, they are much cheaper, go figure? They play about a hundred games during a season and the sport is much more uninteresting and hard to both understand and appreciate. When I have said that I might be interested Rodrigo acts like any good merchant or drug dealer and tries to push it some more: He introduces the idea of going to a tennis match... to watch?! That is among the worst suggestions I have ever gotten. I understand that he probably likes tennis and therefore does not understand how stupid his suggestion sounds to me. But come on...
Anyway I still have this feeling that if I actually go to that Baseball game for $15 I will still be wasting some good 5 hours of my life... it remains to be seen. But I will be buying my tickets within a week to a Giants game, that is a promise.
Appelbutter
The other day I noticed that I had started to stagnate, already after 6 weeks!? I was going the same ways, buying the same things and eating the same food, over and over. Part of this trip is the idea of experiencing the American Culturett in as many forms as possible while staying somewhat safe and within reason. So I know that this sounds small but instead of buying another jar of pineapple preserve I got myself a jar of Apple Butter. I had never heard of it before and could not really discern what it was just from the looks of it and the ingredients although they are apples and cider. It looks like a brown goo and now after tasting it I must say I like it, it tastes like apples, it could get even better with cinnamon (!) which they usually over use in this country, but not in the Apple Butter. There is no reason to warrant the word butter in the name. It is really just "äppelmos" without antioxidants so it has turned brown.
I give it 4 out of 5 as a bread spread. And my search for new experiences moves on...
I give it 4 out of 5 as a bread spread. And my search for new experiences moves on...
måndag 1 augusti 2011
Homesick
First day today feeling a bit homesick. Or at least first day I verbalise it for myself. I guess it is a feeling that has been building over time. But the thing that really triggers it at this point is that I do not feel that my work is appreciated. That could probably be taken apart in a number of reasons:
- I am of Scandinavian culture and very much so: minimalism is in my blood stream.
- I have not managed to break the code yet: I do not know what the expectations are and I do not know the style preferred.
- I get corrections all the time on things I did not even want to do in the first place. My work so far on my big project is not mine even so I feel I must take the criticism for what others have instructed me to do. Which is both frustrating and deteriorates my reputation with the other creatives.
- I do not feel connected to anyone of the senior designers really.
- I hardly get to do any idea work and that was what I thought they got me for. Mismatch in communication maybe or just a mismatch.
I guess I would like some kind of feedback session, Hyperstyle would probably help show where we stand. But I do not know how to ask for it. Feedback does not seem to a thing that is used here so much. When the first this internal portfolio is done this Friday I will ask my CD for some kind of feedback. That must be done.
- I am of Scandinavian culture and very much so: minimalism is in my blood stream.
- I have not managed to break the code yet: I do not know what the expectations are and I do not know the style preferred.
- I get corrections all the time on things I did not even want to do in the first place. My work so far on my big project is not mine even so I feel I must take the criticism for what others have instructed me to do. Which is both frustrating and deteriorates my reputation with the other creatives.
- I do not feel connected to anyone of the senior designers really.
- I hardly get to do any idea work and that was what I thought they got me for. Mismatch in communication maybe or just a mismatch.
I guess I would like some kind of feedback session, Hyperstyle would probably help show where we stand. But I do not know how to ask for it. Feedback does not seem to a thing that is used here so much. When the first this internal portfolio is done this Friday I will ask my CD for some kind of feedback. That must be done.
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