Time Warp

Have I really not been blogging for 2 weeks? I've composed all sorts of posts in my head and was certain that I had put one or the other to paper pixels. I suppose it was that mad dash at the end of the semester, then the conference, then some traveling. So what do I remember?

• Swedes can deal with snow. They have piles of it, but the streets are in great shape. The trains aren't running (must be the German train system syndrome) very regularly, but the streets are swept clean. Even bike paths are operable, and bicyclists out in droves.
• I was on TV Sunday, it really is bizarre the people that catch my seconds-only interview (that took 2 hours to make) while zapping.
• The German government got it's backside kicked again by the constitutional court. Those keeping count note that this is the 14th time the court has found the government passing laws which are not in keeping with the constitution in the past 5 years. The telephone and IT operators get to delete terabytes of data they were forced to log on who was calling whom when from where.
• I much prefer little Swedish roadside eateries that serve up freshly smoked fish they smoked themselves to the McDonaldized Mega-Reststops.
• I also much prefer the little Swedish hotels over the chains. I'm getting in after closing time? No problem, the passnumber for the door is XXXX. You are in room Y, it's unlocked and the key is on the desk. Oh, and there's a pot of coffee and some cookies in the commons room. Now that's hospitality. And they run much cheaper than the fancy ones.
  
• Instead of running open WLANs these little hotels have taken to setting up Ethernet sockets. Lucky me, I always pack a cable.
• The customer points card for ICA now has a new twist - they send you coupons for the "things you buy a lot". Except it's a coupon for the house brand of taco shells and not the Santa Maria ones we always buy. All the coupons they sent were spot on things we always buy.
• The city I was in is crawling with Oddfellows and Knights of the Whatever and Masons and such. A friend who has lived and worked there for over 10 years said that he got invited to join one, but declined. So he is out of the loop, as along with all the secret stuff they do, they also discuss who gets what position and how they can help each others. Need I mention that these tend to be men-only deals with a ladies' auxiliary?
  
• The Mongolian restaurant rocked.
• I'm tickled pink that my book, published late last year, got a nice review in the German equivalent of the New York Times Literary Supplement, the FAZ. I got letters from *so* many people about that!

Alright, back to work. Have I noticed that the new semester is just around the corner and I have to teach that course that really, really needs a lot of prepping?