THe moving went *mostly* well on Friday. The movers did manage to damage my desk, but it still works. However, I will have them pay something for the damage so that I can get a new one. They don’t make these desks in sweden, but we will have to figure something out.

When they moved me, they also moved 9 boxes of alcohol. It was all of the alcohol that I had been buying in duty free in Oslo and tax-free in Denmark during my travels over the last 3 months.

Got a parking ticket 🙁 since I parked illegally on Friday night, but not much to do about that.

I spent a good portion of saturday unpacking things. At the same time I have also been doing an inventory which is needed for home insurance. The only I have not inventoried is clothes and food. I have a plan to slowly but surely inventory all books, CDs, and DVDs, and hope to have that done by Friday. But the most valuable stuff is nearly complete.

Had a huge party night on Friday, spent a part of the day recovering on Saturday…today I will take Robin to Ikea and I will do some food shopping as well. More unpacking too. I hope to be finished by Tuesday of this week.

This week is busy at work as well. All weeks at work have been busy lately, but that is another post.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I promise next weekend to take some pictures of my flat and of the part of stockholm which i now live! 🙂

Finally, here is a map of Östermalm

It might truly be my last update for awhile since I have no internet, phone, or cable yet at my new apartment. An overview for those who care…

New Apartment – Laywers on all sides want changes to the lease. I blurted out “I just want the keys”. I got the keys. A bonus point…the rest to be worked out tomorrow. The landlord expects first month’s rent and a deposit of a month. Have to figure that one out.

Movers – Nice and Friendly. Have to be here to supervise. Would watch TV and eat bon bons at the same time, but both are packed away. They are behind schedule.

Cleaner – No chance until Monday. And will set me back 750 kronor an hour. I told them they have 5 hours and no more.

But the new place is okay enough I suppose. I will need a major shopping trip to Ikea.

So on Monday I go Migrationsverket, which is the Migration Office for Sweden. I got there at 10.25 in the morning when I took my queue number and I was number 99. They had just been open for 1 hour and 30 minutes and were just serving number 50. The queue I was standing in was for “applications already processed and those who just need a stamp in their passports.” So you figure that this line would be quick. WRONG. When it was 12.40, they were just serving #90. And I had to get to my apartment viewings beginning at 12.45, so I had to abandon my number. The problem was that in my line, people who could read neither Swedish or English were telling their refugee life stories and wasting time. Grrr.

So I decided today to take my papers and get my work and residence permit at the Swedish embassy in Denmark. 10 minutes, including a 3 minute wait.

Is it just me or is something really wrong?

For the love of god, someone please tell me why i have bought 1200 kronor in alcohol. The 15000 kronor worth in my apartment just must not be enough….

It has been so long since I have last updated. It’s a testament to how busy I have been. But not just how busy I have been, rather how mobile I have been and the fact that it is not always easy to get an internet connection.

OK, so it has only been 7 days, but it has felt like a very long 7 days, thank you very much.

Let’s see…so the last time I wrote I was in Oslo…which was last week. Last week I had been in Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden all within 6 days. It’s a very tiring thing to do in fact and I don’t recommend it. Anyway, so it is one of the reasons that I have been really tired. Last weekend Thomas over came over for Denmark to visit and that was really nice. I took Markus to see Eddie Izzard for his birthday. Eddie Izzard was really great. So the weekend had been quite nice actually.

In other news, I was told by my landlord that I had to leave the apartment at the end of the month. Apparently laws in stockholm are such that landlords can only rent their apartments for 2 years before the person living in them have “squatter’s rights”. So I basically I need a new place to live by 1 October. I looked at one place that was very central, but it had a lot of this old lady’s furniture in it and it was really cramped. So I didn’t rent it. Yesterday (Friday), I saw this beautiful one-room loft (80 sq meters). It’s in Ostermalm (the richest section of stockholm), has bay windows running long one side, the lights are remote-controlled, and I have no neighbors (the building is otherwise businesses) so I can be as loud as I want. The best part? The rent is 3000 kronor cheaper than staying where I am. I agreed verbally to take the apartment the moment I saw it. But I am going to look at another 2 apartments just to say I did. I already made a verbal contract. And the company is giving me 7000 kronor for miscallaneous moving expenses which is nice too bceause in the new flat, I plan to put in some wall dividers to provide some seperation from the rest of the loft.

So today I will be going around the city, doing errands, going to the gym and other stuff. Part of me also wants to just chill out and relax, but I don’t have that luxury….

Today I made a donation of miles from my airline frequent flyer programs where I do not have a large milage accrual and to simply hold on the milage is to not utilize them effectively. So I made a contribution from my Delta and United Airlines.

Strangely enough, the one airline where I have the most miles that I don’t plan on using — Northwest Airlines — does not have a facility to donate miles to relief efforts.

Now, all other debates aside as to whether the airlines just use milage donations as a way to get miles back from customers when they could donate cargo and passenger plans for a tax benefit on their own, it just seems strange that Northwest does not have a facility for milage donation.

I know that times are tight for a lot of people and that not everyone can contribute cash. But things like airline mile donations are a way to make a non-cash contribution.

I know that I personally will be looking for additional cash and non-cash ways to extend my commitment. For example, I set aside a targeted amount of money each year that I use for political (non-tax deductable) and charitable (help significantly with reducing taxes at the end of the year) contributions and I will shift that money around in the next couple of days. And I also know that times are tough for everyone (including yours truly), but if you have given already — great, give again. If you have already given twice — think about giving one more time. Direct your funds if you don’t want to give to general organisations like the Red Cross who can use it for purposes other than Katrina. Visit the Department of Justice for a list of honest organisations.

Anything that you can do I am sure would be appreciated.

I just finished working a 3 hour presentation that I also have to present in 5 hours. It on business compliance and risk management.

Wish me luck!