All I want is a DeLorean

This freezing weather and constant snowing has made me long for a way to get around without driving in the snow or freezing to death while waiting for the bus. And the I realized... I need the DeLorean from Back To The Future II.

"You built a time machine out of a DeLorean?"

Flying cars... shouldn't we have these by now?

I wouldn't have to drive in the snow or worry about traffic, I could just go to hover-mode and fly. And since it's a time machine it might actually get me to work on time.

TGIF

It's cold, it's snowing and I've finally gotten proper tires on my car. It seems like I've had a never-ending to do list this week, including new gloves, defrosting my bike with a lighter, locating lost documents and trying to talk to people who don't call back.
At least I won't have to get up early tomorrow morning.

Stolen from greaserlevin who probably stole it from someone else

Homie

My friend Kerry Bomb of The Headlines is homie of the week in local newspaper City. She even made the cover.

Homie Kerry

Remembering Freddie

Today it's 19 years since Freddie Mercury moved on to the big stage in the sky. Since the weather here is cold and the roads are covered in snow and ice, take his advice and keep yourself alive. Drive carefully.

Today is a good day

I've been keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for some good news... and today I got them.

Brussels

Brussels... lots of good food, meetings and beautiful buildings. I ate four desserts in three days, drank one Belgian beer and spent the rest of my money on art books.

There was a lot of meetings in various offices.

We had a pretty full schedule with meetings at the European Parliament, the European Comission and other such places. Some were interesting, some were an experience and one meeting involving a German was... well, I guess you had to be there.

There was a lot of street art and beautiful architecture. I saw quite a few murals and contemporary art next to cathedrals, beautiful old buildings and one or two good-looking contemporary buildings. I stumbled a lot, because I was looking at architecture and not at the uneven parts of the pavement.

Near the parliament.

Gorgeous art nouveau building that houses a museum of musical instruments.

Funky building - it's ugly and yet it's not.

And then there was the food. I had everything from spaghetti puttanesca in a small Italian restaurant to the Belgian classic moules frites at Chez Vincent. And did I mention the four desserts in three days? But the highlight was dinner at a Moroccan place called Kashbah.

Remains of a delicious dinner at Kashbah.

We shared a huge platter of meze as a starter, then there was a huge tagine filled with vegetables followed by sorbet and Moroccan mint tea for dessert. They even had a belly dancer.

We also checked out the Magritte museum and I found a lovely art book in a graffiti shop called Montana Gallery. And yes, there was Belgian chocolate too...

More photos on flickr.

From Brussels with love

I'm in Brussels on a business trip. Lots of meetings in various EU offices, good food and two languages. This city has some truly beautiful buildings and lots of pavements that could use a little mending. A rather dangerous combination for a girl like me...


More photos and details will be posted as soon as I get back home to my computer.

Grey Skies Turn Blue

The last few weeks have been tough. I've made some major changes in my life and had more downs than ups. But I'm lucky to be surrounded by great friends who have been everything from shoulders to cry on, personal assistants and drivers to cheerleaders and life coaches.

My grey skies are slowly turning blue...

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day in Sweden. My dad passed away just before my 13th birthday.

He worked as a dentist but had his own recording studio and installed stereos in his spare time. That's how he met my mother. They had seen each other around the dental school in Malmö where they both studied. My dad used to DJ at parties, that's how mum knew who he was.

My grandparents got a stereo installed, and then mum decided to get one too. But dad had forgotten a cable so he had to come back to mum's place the next day. And the next day there was something else that didn't work... Dad had some smooth moves.

I've inherited my passion for music and my tech skills from my dad. Mom thinks that manuals are part of the packaging and tends to throw them out before reading them, and then calling me because she can't get her new computer/TV/stereo to work.
Every time I ask "And what have you done with the manual?" her reply is always "You're so much like your father. That's exactly what he always said".

Happy Father's Day Dad. You left way too soon.

Dad in his studio, early 1980's.

"feel a sadness burning in my heart, you left too early father love"

Pendleton photo shoot

We're stocking men's shirts from Pendleton at the HepCat Store so Rob asked me to drop by and take some photos. It's been a while since I did a photo shoot for the shop, because we now have a studio and studio photography is not really my thing. I prefer to work with natural light and real people in real settings.
The rusty old back door to the garage is a perfect backdrop for photos. If we ever leave Saint 21 that door is coming with us.

The proper photos will make their way to hepcat.se sometime next week, but here are ones you probably won't see in the webshop. The fun ones.

Micke and Tony in action

DiscoTony

Ehm... is there coffee on my face?

More photos on flickr.

Waltz #2

Nothing soothes a worried soul like Elliott Smith.

Fall

Yesterday was one of those lovely fall days when sky looks beautiful and the light is just right for photography for a couple of hours. It's gotten really cold outside so wearing my converse might not have been the best idea, especially as I was walking in wet grass and crouching in bushes in the St Lars park.

Classic Fall Photo


I just liked this little guy.

Pretty sky over Saint 21.

ggmcph - Geek Girl Meetup Copenhagen

16 hours of non-stop activity, 150 fantastic women and one amazing event. The first Geek Girl Meetup in Copenhagen was a success! I met so many amazing women.

Geek Girl ponytail

I got out of bed at 5.45, packed the last stuff for the showroom and headed to the train station with 200 CDs from HepTown Records on my bike. Which would have been a lot easier if it wasn't raining... And as a bonus Skånetrafiken cancelled my train, making me late. Grrr...

I made it to Iværksætterhuset after a very brisk walk through Nørrebro, passing several lovely bakeries on an empty stomach. Who says I have no strength of character?

Good thing we had a sponsor who gave us licorice covered in chocolate and gold dust...

We got the showroom set up during the first unconference session and workshops, starting with the clothes swap. We asked all geek girls to bring clothes they don't use anymore. They got a token for each item they brought, and could exchange that token for something from the swap table later on. It was fun to see that a lot of stuff changed owners during the day.

clothes swap

The lovely Camille organised a craft corner with embroidery, bead work and jewellery design that proved to be very popular. There was a lot of networking, talking and planning while working on earrings and robots.

We'd also borrowed a playstation move from Nordisk Film, and the game start the party! was perfect for our showroom. Fun and easy to get the hang of. Saving chickens and zapping ghosts were my favourites.

craft table

Henriette has a go on the playstation move.

There were some amazing talks and workshops, but as an organizer I didn't really have time to sit down and enjoy them. I plan to catch up via bambuser later today.
What was amazing was listening to the buzz and the talking, networking and planning that was going on everywhere. Knowing that I played a small part in making all that happen is an amazing feeling.

I also got the chance to do a small workshop on how to turn a t-shirt into a tank top and be quiz master for the geek pop quiz that finished the evening.
I'm really proud that all the food was vegetarian and the leftovers were given to charity, as were all the clothes left over from the swap.

Nørreport.

It was a very happy geek girl with sore feet that headed back home to Sweden at the end of the day. Copenhagen is a beautiful city, especially at night.

See more photos from Geek Girl Meetup Copenhagen on flickr.

From Rascal

Just got a package of lovely hair flowers from Rascal. I ordered the combs and she threw in two extra flowers. Thanks dear!

Nothing brightens up a day at the office like having flowers delivered.

Flowers in the window.

Emergency Rations

I keep a supply of emergency rations at my desk. Because you never know when hunger is gonna strike or when you need to motivate your co-workers with sugar. Or when you're gonna be a scatterbrain and forget all about breakfast until you're at your desk and starving.

Yum... and it's all organic.

For some reason the stuff I bake seems to vanish from this drawer when I'm not looking...

The Cove

I watched The Cove on TV tonight. A great documentary about the dolphin and whaling industry in Japan. If you're in Sweden you can check it out on SVT Play.

Loved the story of Ric O'Barry, the man who trained the five dolphins that played Flipper in the original tv-series. In doing so helped create the demand for dolphins as entertainment, an industry that captures wild dolphins for use in theme parks. Ric O'Barry is now an activist working to release dolphins from captivity and end the slaughter in Japan.

"I spent ten years building that industry up, and I spent the last thirty-five years trying to tear it down."

Sea Shepherd is also keeping an eye on Taji.

Preppy

I gave a talk on social media for a business network today so I had to smarten up a bit. When in doubt I wear Ben Sherman. It's classic and their stuff fit me really well. Wore a cardigan because it's raining and freezing cold here.

I haven't felt this preppy since my preppy phase* in the late 90's and the less said about that the better. I'm just happy that camera phones and social media wasn't around back then.

Preppy punky

*I also had a skate girl phase and bright red hair at one point. My teenage years were confusing.