Pretty

2 years in Edinburgh today!

Congratulations us! Today is our 2 year anniversary here in Edinburgh! Lots of good things have happened and we’ve met tons of nice people. Today we have been outside all day. We started off by taking my new Mexican trousers to the tailor, then we took off on a picnic with Mike and Jen as it was such a nice day out... or so we thought. Once we were ready to picnic it up and got to the park it was cloudy and windy, so the picnic continued inside at their place in front of the TV watching How I Met Your Mother. Can’t go wrong with that show!

When the picnic was over we walked over to Anna and Jono’s place to pick up a car seat for Bump and Anna also gave us a whole bunch of nice baby clothes and other useful stuff that their little Max has grown out of. Thank you very much for that Anna!

This evening we have moved our bedroom around a little bit to create an even better nursery for baby. Turned out really nice if I may say so myself. We talked about going to the movies, but after all that, we are spent.

Reminiscing about the past

Tonight I was Googling pictures from Norrbotten, the county in Sweden where I am from, and came across what I think is a rather rare, but also very nice shot of Folkets Hus (meaning: The people's house) in Båtskärsnäs. So I stole it and uploaded it here of course. Ha! No, but all kidding aside; this of course sparked my interest to keep digging and I then found articles featuring some of my relatives but most of all it gave me a bit of a flashback to my childhood and I think I am going to keep poking around and tell you more about where I’m from later on. Obviously, some of you faithful readers already know this, but for the rest of you – A history lesson á la Peter!

A Folkets Hus is a community hall usually found in working class communities in Sweden and Båtskärsnäs is the name of the community where my dad and my grandparents and most of my family on the Helin-side grew up. The Folkets Hus era in Sweden is long gone, but the halls are still there, and they are still telling a story about older days.

Båtskärsnäs as a community was quite well known in the days when sawmills were still small and family-owned before the industrialization and was known to be a socialist community, and Folkets Hus was the central meeting point for both political meetings and union meetings as well as for dances and the hall was even the local cinema, and my granddad was the cinematographer in the evenings, as well as a sawmill-worker during the day.

My most vivid memory from this particular Folkets Hus were the paintings on the wall, and I believe they are still there. The old socialist leaders were all honoured: Hjalmar Branting, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

It is funny how a simple thing like that can spark so many memories. I remember the summers on my grandfather’s boat and our daytrips out to Halsön, an island out in the archipelago and how he would take us hiking across the island, but never all the way across because half the island was inhabited by snakes, or at least so we were told. The island had a gorgeous beach where we played in the water and had picnic. Sometimes we also got to drive the boat, and I can still remember that special feeling when holding the wooden polished helm believing I actually were in control of the boat, when in fact he was standing right there holding a hand on the helm as well.

Another thing I remember is the traditional midsummer-celebrations that used to take place across the street from Folkets Hus and how it was always the exactly the same procedure every year. The band, Thores Trio, was playing traditional summer-songs, and people used to dance around the may-pole, just like it should be. Worth mentioning is also that I am actually related to members of Thores Trio, and the band was a bit of a cult institution in Norrbotten for over 60 years. They travelled around Norrbotten in their red and white Volvo Duett for decades, arranging dances and sang and entertained.

One particular detail I remember about that car, besides the fact that it was in mint condition, was that it still had the plastic covers on the seats even though it was probably 40 years old at that point. Us kids were of course not allowed to touch the car without supervision.

One year at the midsummer-celebrations I also won a very nice gift basket in a raffle, but of course I was much too young to appreciate the contents of it!

There is now only one member of the band still with us, but before the other members passed, they set up a fund for emerging local artists. On the Thores-fund website you can listen to a few sound bytes from when the band was active: Click here.

Hope you enjoyed the history lesson people! More to follow!

Long before Dolly the sheep

Grandpa Jean Noel has had an interesting life! He traveled the world with the Canadian navy, he has been to the coronation of the Queen of England, he worked for IBM when the computer was still a massive noisy piece of equipment, he shook hands with Bill Gates before he was filthy rich, he has been involved in politics, and he also worked in a medical research facility!

If you click on the image below, you’ll be able to read an article from Life magazine from the sixties about a project they called the "John Glenn project" that he was involved in. He helped develop an artificial placenta that they tested on lambs in order to help save babies lives back in the days. It is very interesting reading, so take your time, sit back, kick off your shoes, and be amazed.

Jetting off soon again

Later this week, on Wednesday morning to be exact, I am off to Sweden again for another business thing. I am going there to attend a workshop where our sales reps will learn how to utilize the company’s shared services better, such as technology and customer care, and I am going there as a resource and to give advice to the sales reps when they are putting their heads together to find solutions for a case study on one of our clients. I am sure it will be really interesting and I am glad I have been chosen to go, but at the same time it’s hard to be away from my growing little family even for a few days.

I am really not complaining, and I am lucky to be given these opportunities by my boss, and compared to his travel schedule, mine is a walk in the park! The whole workshop series is split up in four sessions in four different countries covered off in less than a month, and he is attending all of them on top of his usual travels and meetings.

Speaking of work, I must say the last couple of months in my office have been absolutely blissful and my Swedish team that I am in is just a dream team to work with. I am working with three girls, two Swedish and one Norwegian, and we have put a lot of effort in to finding ways to work smarter, more efficiently and with higher customer satisfaction. To sum it up in one really cool corporate buzzword: Leaner. We are working leaner than ever before, and it is paying off. Hopefully we’ll be able to spread our gospel to the rest of our centre soon, but we’ll see. One step at the time.

On another note, completely irrelevant to the above, our little boy is kicking like a madman in there! It is the coolest thing ever that there is a living being in there just waiting to come out and see the world, but of course I am just a tad nervous as well, not much though. I am sure nature will kick in once our little man arrives this summer and everything will be just fine. Another colleague of mine, whose daughter just turned four years old, put it like this:

”I am just amazed by myself; I have managed to keep another human being alive for four years!”

Funeral for a friend

My dear friend and I first met in Westport, Ireland a few years ago and it was love at first sight. Ever since that day, we have been together through rain and through sunshine, early mornings and late evenings. You have been a faithful companion and you have kept me warm those frosty winter nights. I am sad to say, that once again another good thing has to come to an end.

You will be dearly missed, and I will find it hard to replace you, but life goes on.

I have written you a little song to remember you by:

You were my slippers

My only slippers.

You made me toasty

When floors were cold.

You'll never know, dear,

How much I loved you.

Please don't take

my slippers away

Good bye dear slippers!

Mother’s Day

Today is Mother’s Day here in the UK, so by this time next year we’ll celebrate Mother’s Day with our little boy and are probably doing something fun with the whole family. This year we are obviously only halfway there with baby still in the oven, but we might just go out for date night anyway. Dinner and a movie is always nice no matter what the occasion is.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms out there!

Peter and Sharkey

Like a Saturday should be

Today I woke up to the smell of our imported Canadian ”weekend coffee” and pancakes. My lovely wife had already been to the store to pick up supplies and was in the middle of cooking up a great breakfast including blood orange juice, sausages and those super-tasty savoury chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup. I don’t think anyone could ever ask for a nicer way to start the day. After that, we did our normal nerd-routine with our laptops and now we just finished a movie, The Kite Runner, and are contemplating if we should go for a walk. It is a nice spring day here in Edinburgh.

When I grew up back home in Piteå, the weekends were not for relaxing and recharging batteries, on the contrary. We always had chores and things to take care of, so sleeping in was a big no-no. Just imagine having so much stuff and possessions meant for leisure at your hands so you’ll never have time to enjoy them. Think that might have been a military-family thing; or maybe it was just ours, who knows.

Split second change of plans: Our friend Martin just called and invited us to watch the rugby game with him at a pub. It is an important day for Irish rugby fans today. Ireland can win the grand slam for the first time in 61 years today, so lots of excitement and tension. Sláinte Ireland!

Off to the ballgame we are!

"For you, a thousand times over"

From Nanny Fine to Chicken Fat Lady

As parents to be there is a lot to think about and lots to consider. One of the many things that might not be super-urgent but still needs consideration is daycare. We have not put too much thought into it but we have spoken to friends with kids and I have also been to one daycare provider to find out about the cost of full-time daycare for our little one.

Brace yourselves because here it comes: about £800 pounds or £37 pounds/day for full time daycare including snacks, lunch and nappies! Absolute and utter, yes utter, extortion!

I am sure there are private options as well, but who do you trust with your child? You could be lucky and find a dream-type “Mary Poppins meets Nanny Fine-type” that will take great care of your baby and teach baby the ways of the world in a safe environment, OR you could be unlucky and meet the nightmare-type “Chicken Fat Lady from Erin Brockovich-type” that will stick the baby in front of the TV all day and hand out the occasional spanking. You just never know.

We also have the option of one of us staying at home full- or part time, but that can get a bit tedious in the long run as well.

I have found a great source of information and answers to some of my most common dad-to-be-questions. It is called http://www.dad.info/, and I am sure it will continue to be a great well of facts and tips. Check it out!

Finding the right nursery is an important step for you and your family and it can be a pretty stressful process. Whether you are a first-time father or have just moved to a new area, you're faced with a range of options. So how do you know which provider to choose?

How long have the staff worked at the nursery?
If the staff change regularly at the nursery it's more difficult for you and your child to get to know them and build up a sense of trust. If most staff have been at the nursery for over three years then you can be more confident of a stable environment. However, there may well be a good reason for recent staff changes and it is well worth taking the time to find out
a bit of background.

Will they tell me how my child is doing?
A good nursery will find ways to involve you in your child's life at the nursery, for example by giving you updates at the end of each day and by organising regular meetings to discuss how they are getting on and any issues.

What food will they provide?
Food is an important part of nursery life. A good nursery will have a well-balanced menu and be able to provide for any special dietary requirements. It is quite normal for parents to ask to see an example of the menu. This is also a good chance to discuss any special dietary requirements or allergies your child has.

In case you were wondering...

...how our little baby boy will look like in a few years, this might be the answer. When Shaena and I first found out that we were having a baby, curious by nature as we are, we wanted to know what this wonderful little Swedish-Canadian mix would look like so we did our usual research and found a website online where you can upload photos of both parents and get an idea of how the baby will look like.

Funny enough, I seem to recall seeing a picture of a boy similar to the top one at some point in my grandma's house back in Sweden. Think it was a picture of my dad as a child, but will have to look in to it. For obvious reasons, the picture will have similarities but there will of course also be lots of differences. After all, this baby will get genes from Harrison / Fortin / Pentland / MacIntosh / Helin / Bergstrom / Andersson / Nilsson and so on, and so forth. However, if there is a 'match', it would confim that the website matching technology works, but it could of course also just be a fluke. Over-analyzing much? :)

Technology of today sure is impressive though! I spoke to my boss Ron a while back (Ron recently had a baby as well) and when they were where we are now, they did a 3D ultrasound and got to see how their baby would look like in detail before he was born, and it was eerily accurate.

We have decided not to do a 3D ultrasound mostly because the pictures kinda creep us out a bit and also, we don't want to spoil the surprise too much, but it is definitely impressive that technology has advanced so much that anyone can get a scan like this done!

Which one do you think it'll be? Will be interesting to see if this is accurate!

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY!

Make sure you're wearing green, drinking Guinness and rooting for the Irish!

Los videos Mexicanos

This is a playlist with clips from Mexico:

Tired today, busy tomorrow

Man, that was a long week! If you have never been jetlagged before, you wouldn’t know how it feels, but it can probably be described as a dragged out tiredness that can hit you at any time, any place. Going back to work on Monday was fine, I guess we were a little bit tired, but Tuesday was probably the worst day and on Wednesday we were back to being human again.

They say that it hits you the worst on the second day when travelling west, probably not a documented fact as much experiences from people we’ve talked to and what we have experienced. For some reason the jetlag is easier when you travel east, probably has to do with the time difference and turning the clock backwards instead of forwards, but what do I know. Interesting phenomenon no matter what.

Tonight we are tired and sleepy and tomorrow will be a busy day for us. We are cleaning up the flat after the tradesmen that fixed our windows, I am getting my hair cut, we are taking my new nice Mexican business trousers to the tailor, that laundry basket isn’t getting any emptier and we have made plans to go out in the evening to meet up with Jess, Denis, their bump, Ron and Christine and a bunch of other people. Oh, and Tesco will bring us food as well. Sounds like a full day, doesn’t it?

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!

Looks good in leather

We mentioned earlier that Nini is preparing baby for a life in Rock ‘n’ Roll stardom with the Rock star blanket, but what would a rock star be without his leather outfit? Grandpa Stefan sent us this picture of a pair of leather pants and a leather jacket that he got for baby. Just add Metallica-patches, a bandana and vóila – instant rock star!

Lots of pressure on our little man to perform, eh? I am sure ‘eh’ will be baby’s first word as well. True Canadian! Thank you very much dad, we appreciate it!

A little self praise never hurt anyone!

Hey all, so I'm at work and I thought that I might post a few nice comments that I have received over the last few months while at my new job!

"Thanks for following up, the best service we've had since leasing the property in May 2006."

"There are some issues with reaction times in terms of getting things done, but once Shaena was attached to the property things moved more quickly."

"Thank you for being so responsive.

Your predecessor was anything but."

"I would just like to take this opportunity to thank you for everything you have done for me. I have found the service received by yourself and your company to be excellent and would always consider using your services again in the future."

"I must say your communication regarding follow up is 200% better than the previous person I was dealing with in the past."

Always nice to hear a good comment that makes you feel like you're doing something right. Too bad my company doesn't send us half way across the world on a company incentive trip!! :)

xoxo

Shaena & bump

More pressies for baby!

3.5 months left in the oven and already showered with presents! Baby got another parcel, this time from Auntie Nini in the States. She is preparing baby for a life in Rock 'n' Roll stardom with a Rock star blanket and cool shoes. The shoes are so tiny you can hardly see them, but they are there. She also sent baby two onesies, one with a text saying "Mommy's new man"! Muchos gracias Nini!

Ricardo the dolphin, Cubby the lion and the Harrison-Helin's

Blankie for baby!

Look what the Fortin's made! A wonderful blanket and a sweater for our little baby. Thank you very much guys, we really appreciate it!

Mexico - Play-by-play

Day 1 started early in the morning with us leaving for the airport in Edinburgh where we boarded the first out of three flights: Edinburgh to Newark, New Jersey. We flew with Continental and compared to the last time I flew with them, the service was much better and the airplane itself felt newer somehow. Movies and food can make time fly, literally. After a few hours in Newark airport we continued down to Houston and George Bush Intl. airport where we had another few hours to kill before our last flight to Cabo San Lucas Intl. We are not entirely sure where, but somewhere along the way our luggage got lost, which of course posed a bit of an inconvenience for us as we did not have any other clothes and toothbrushes and sun block etc.

When we got to Cabo, we met up with our friends Denis and Jessica at the airport and took a taxi to our first hotel ”Tesoro” which we booked just for one night as we flew in a day early. The first night was an early one, just grabbed some Mexican food around the corner and went to bed.

Day 2 that’s when the fun started. We took a taxi out to Sheraton Hacienda Del Mar, our hotel, checked in and hit the pool. As we still did not have our luggage, I had to buy new swimwear and other essentials, but we were still crossing our fingers that the luggage would arrive before the evening. It did. 15 minutes before our first organized cocktail reception and dinner we got our stuff. Phew! The dinner was a really nice gathering; we were greeted with Margaritas and a Mariachi-band playing local music and were seated next to one of the outdoor pools for a great buffet dinner.

When we got back to our room, we had our first out of many gifts waiting for us; gift-credit cards with money on them and a Flip, which is a pocket video camera! Not too shabby!

Day 3 was labeled ”The Beach Day”. CareerBuilder bussed all of us to a beach in the city centre where they had set up both a DJ, a bar, a fantastic barbeque buffet and activities such as kayaking, jet skiing, banana boating, parasailing, snorkeling among other things. I tried jet skiing for the first time ever and let me tell you, it was awesome!

When we got back to the hotel, we had another cocktail reception and buffet dinner waiting for us. Starting to see a pattern here?

Gift of the day: 2 portable iHome speakers for MP3-players.

Day 4 was our first individual activity day where we got to go on an excursion of our choice, and we had already chosen to go horseback riding on the beach. Let me tell you, that was so much fun but also very hot! There is no hiding from the sun when on a horseback on a Mexican beach! We were probably just over 20 people on 20 horses riding down by the water accompanied by curious dogs and hungry buzzards and it was a really nice and calm experience despite the scorching hot sun.

Later in the evening, we had one of the main events of the week, the big dinner where everyone on the trip got to dine and dance together. Shaena did not feel up to it for this one, so I went with our friends instead. We were bussed to the Hilton resort about 10 minutes drive from our hotel where the staff had set up a massive outside venue on the beach complete with a big stage, more buffet food and room for all 1200 guests! That is what I call impressive! Food in excess, great music and karaoke on the stage later on in the evening. I was exhausted after that, and we all fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel.

Gift of the day: A beer cooler/holder with 6 Coronas and 2 towels.

Day 5 was the much anticipated Swim with Dolphins-day. As always, we got up in the morning, went down for breakfast on the terrace and had some food while whale-watching and then we took off to the Dolphin pool. When we got there we put on wetsuits and life jackets and got a quick briefing on what not to do with the dolphins. Apparently, dolphins are not comfortable around you if you don’t show them an open palm, closed fists do not go down well with Flipper and pals. So, we hopped on the pool with our dolphin Ricardo and everyone got to pet Ricardo and dance with him, basically one by one we grabbed his fins and danced around. After this, everyone got the opportunity to cuddle and hug and kiss Ricardo and take pictures, and needless to say, we were up for cuddles and pictures! A very nice touch was also that the pictures were compliments of CareerBuilder.

The last one-on-one activity we did with Ricardo was the dolphin race. We got to choose either a quick race of a slow race. Shaena went for the slow one where she’d grab on to Ricardo’s fins and go for a ride on his belly while I went for the quick one where I was asked to swim over to the other side of the pool and Ricardo would come speeding after and when he turned around, I grabbed on to his fin and he dragged me back to the other side of the pool full speed. What an incredible experience! All in all we got 4 pictures printed from the dolphin day and we’ve decided to hang them in the nursery for baby to see.

Later in the evening, there was another dinner event planned for our enjoyment. As this was an award from my company, there was also an awards-dinner scheduled, and this was it. After our encounter with the dolphins and before the dinner we also got a complimentary bottle of champagne delivered to the room for us to enjoy while getting dolled up. We didn’t, but we sure looked good and the event sure was swank! A professional photographer greeted us by the entrance and all the winners and their guests were seated in their respective groups. And on the table in front of us were our awards. I got a nice crystal piece with my name inscribed on it. So proud!

Gift of the day: Adidas sweatpants and a personalised handwritten thank you letter addressed to me from CB's VP of Customer Care.

Day 6 was the last full day and my company had organized a shopping trip, but everyone could just do whatever they wanted so we took the shopping bus downtown with my boss and his wife and Denis and Jess. We decided against shopping the whole day and instead we hired a taxi boat to take us around so that we would get out on the water away from the heat. The taxi boat also took us to the famous landmarks of Cabo, the arch, lover's beach, The Window To The Pacific, Land's End where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean meets, and we also got to see sea lions and whales close up and snap a few photos. We rounded of the day by petting a lion cub and got a few nice photos of this as well.

Later in the evening… yes, another 3-course meal!

We also had time to chill and relax every day between activities of course and the whole trip was so very well planned so that even though there was a lot going on, we never felt rushed or pressed for time and we were pampered like kings and queens. What an incredible company to work for! Not many companies would go through all that trouble to care for their staff, especially not these days.

The morning after – home time; and we could not be happier and more content with our trip! Definitely a memory for life, and hopefully we’ll get to do it all over again next year in Aruba.