quick takes!

- 1 -

I got a Swedish dentist. It was a little confusing, but I managed to get an appointment for later this month. I actually called three different places. The first one answered a lot of my stupid questions about 'how dentists in Sweden work' and then they told me there was a six-month wait for an appointment. No thank you. The second one was the clinic closest to my house, but it is very small, and I had a very hard time understanding the woman, so eventually I just said something about how I would 'have to think about it' so that I could hang up. Third time's the charm.

- 2 -

Next week I go to Austria for a conference. This is the 'big' conference of the year in Europe, similar to the big conference I used to go to in San Francisco every December. It will be interesting to see what kind of overlap exists between the two communities. I'm also excited to play tourister in Vienna. Anyone got any good tips for me?

- 3 -

OH MY GOSH THERE IS A CONTRA DANCE IN VIENNA WHILE I AM THERE FJAILENALEINKNZK.EKSIBNAEIL.NELIGNIALGN;AEI!!!!!

- 4 -

I also get back in time the following Saturday for a folk dance in Uppsala :)

- 5 -

The snow and ice are nearly entirely melted, certainly enough for me to safely ride my bicycle. There are maybe three ice patches on my commute though, so I've been holding off (mainly for fear of unforeseen ice patches while riding). I figure, I've managed to not ride my bicycle for this long, so I may as well wait until the risk of falling on ice is completely gone. Once I return from Austria though... then it is back on my bicycle!

- 6 -

I found this pin on pinterest which talked about choosing words to describe yourself (it also describes the process of how the author narrowed down the choices). I'm considering tweaking my 'about' page to incorporate the words I chose.

- 7 -

Just now, when I opened blogger, I saw that my total number of page views of all time was a palindrome. That made me happy.

______________________

THE END

Jen and others have got more!

back home

Friday we packed up a lot of our equipment, and I hit the road on saturday. The rocket integration is not completed, but my advisor is there overlooking things now so that I can have some time to do work at home.

On the ten hour drive back I listened to the same radio station the entire time. It was very good. It was a station that plays only music for hip kids. I called it my ten hours of musical education. I heard a few songs I recognized. I also heard a lot of songs that I have come to recognize and like in these past five weeks of being spoiled with xm radio. In an attempt to figure out what these songs were I was writing little snippets of the lyrics on the back of my maps. I haven't yet looked at it to see if I will be able to decipher the writing, but hopefully I'll get a few out of it.

Last night I got home, took a shower, and went to sleep. The saddest part about my return was that I forgot that the hot and cold directions of our shower knob were switched. In fact I'm still a little suspicious that it somehow got changed while I was gone, because I really just don't remember that. Then, I woke up this morning and didn't know where I was. That has only ever happened to me if I am staying in a hotel, and now it has happened in my own home, how sad. But aside from that, I am so so happy to be home.