The glaciers are coming!

Joe OK, not really, but it is wicked snowy here today. Sorry for the picture being so ghetto, but I don't have a camera with me today, and I wanted to show the view from my office window before this all melts—presumably tomorrow, to make way for the sleet we have scheduled for Friday. Yippee!

In other news, I appear to have graduated on Monday. I know this because I had to fight my way through the 25 cm of melting snow this morning to pick up the 11 page certificate I get in place of a diploma from my local gas station. OK, I just reread that, and I'll clarify: I had to pick it up from the local gas station, I actually graduated from the university. Of course, Moderaterna loves the deregulation, so maybe Preem Petrochemical University isn't too far off…

City of (Occasional) Lights

photo gallery

JoeThis November, in an acknowledgement that November is not a nice month to be in Uppsala, the city has decided to hold a repeat of its very successful venture two years ago, Allt Ljus på Uppsala, a sort of festival of colored lights at various places around town. (Why they decided not to do this last year, the darkest November in living memory, remains a mystery.) Forewarned that the snow was coming today, I decided to head downtown last night to check out this years entries.

Nu är det wintertid igen

JenniferLast year Sweden had the worst November in decades, as measured by having very few hours of sunlight (17 in total). Throughout the month, everyone was secretly hoping that it would snow, a lot, and soon, as the snow makes it what light there is brighter and is much better than endless grey days with a temperature hovering just above freezing.

One day toward then end of the month, the afternoon fika conversation at work turned to a prediction that there would be 25 cm of snow overnight. I frankly didn't believe it, partially because the weather forecasting is so bad here (and partly because I wanted it to be true). I expressed my disbelief by using a sarcastic, crude American expression that involves my posterior and winged simians. People laughed.