We're in!

After an intense weekend of moving including getting our old place ready to be handed over to its new occupier as well as getting our new place habitable, we are finally moved in the new and improved ‘Harrison-Helin Manor’!

The moving craziness started on Friday afternoon when our two helpers arrived with the moving van. I don’t think we were prepared for how energized and efficient they were going to be, but 3 van loads and 2 hours later, all our stuff had been transported over to our new place! After the movers had left, the cleaning crew arrived and swung their magic wands in our old apartment. When I went back to the old flat later in the evening to pick up the rest of our food and a few knick-knacks, I was stunned and amazed to see what they had done to the place! Pristine, spotless, flawless, eat-off-the-floor-sparkly; you name it, it was so clean! So Edinburghers: If you are ever looking for a fantastic moving/cleaning crew, let us know and we’ll hook you up!

After all of this, we were left with the fun part; getting the new digs set up the way we wanted with everything from “where would you like the cutlery and where would you like the glasses?” to furnishing and the best of all, getting Ethan’s own room and his own play area ready! After all, that was a major part of the reason why we decided to move in the first place. We are still going through boxes, sorting through clothes and still don’t have anything on the walls, but we are in good shape, the apartment is perfect for us, we have done several online guided tours yesterday and today, and we are very excited to call this our new home!

We will be sure to post some nice photos as soon as it looks a little less like Basra.

Moving Day - T minus 1 day

Tonight is our last night here in our old crib before we move to new and improved digs a few blocks away and we have spent the evening trying to get stuff organized, packed, piled and ready to go for tomorrow when – listen to this – the moving guys are coming! That’s right, our friends Piers and Lesley have organized for their staff from their building company to come and move our stuff with one of their vans and when the move is completed, staff from their other company, a cleaning company, will come to the old flat and give it a good professional clean! Not only that; tonight we also had Maeghan and Reg here to help us with the packing and tomorrow and Saturday, Ethan’s Godmother will come by and help with moving, unpacking and babysitting Ethan! And all this for the price of moving-pizza and moving-beer!

There is no doubt in our minds that we have the best friends ever!

To the left, to the left.
Everything you own is in the box to the left.

So my mom is clearing out the old boxes...

...and she stumbled upon this photo:
In 1989 my Mom had Dean Gunnarson perform at my birthday party and man was I a cool kid! Dean was, and still is, an escapologist and hails from Winnipeg. He's been on TV countless of times and did some of the craziest escapes to this day.




Check out his video:

Poor Ethan…

Last night was a long one for all of us. Ethan had a fever, a very runny nose and was really touchy and cried at the drop of a hat. It is not very often he’ll get sick and really cranky, but last night was one of them. Shaena and I took turns walking him, rocking him, administering Advil and wiping snot from his little face. Today I stayed home from work because he was still feeling warm this morning and none of us had gotten hardly any sleep last night.

He is feeling a lot better now, still a bit cranky but the fever is gone and right now he is getting a good solid nap and hopefully he’ll be out for the night. Orlaith came by for tea tonight and fed us pizza and on the back of the recent trip down ‘Richard Dean Anderson memory lane’, we tried to watch an old episode of Macgyver, but it just wasn’t what it used to be.

Other than that, moving day is fast approaching and hopefully Ethan will be back to his normal happy-go-lucky self before Friday. We are getting so excited to move and also to get the moving over and done with!

A blast from another past (Or: The “Ask Mr. Smarty Competition” is open for business!)

Around the same time as the ‘Hollywood goes hockey-extravaganza’ went down, in the late 80’s and early 90’s, in Winnipeg, Canada, a young boy was sitting in his dad’s house in Haparanda, Sweden doing research and writing essays for his teacher. Not because he needed to, just because he wanted to. Looking back, one might think: “What a geek!”

Whenever I visited my dad we used to camp out up in the spare bedroom, which also doubled as a study, where there was/is a beautiful old wooden desk complete with stationery and bookshelves filled with books. My dad has an amazing collection of books about anything and everything; so we were never short for reference material.

For our research sessions we used to pick a subject, most of the time my dad would give me some pretty cool suggestions, and then we would get going! I would do all the writing and he would provide the books with all the facts, pictures etc. One of the topics that really stuck with me that have interested me ever since was ‘the mutiny on the Bounty’ when Fletcher Christian and his men took over the Bounty from the vicious and unfair commanding officer William Bligh and set sail for Pitcairn Island where they torched the ship and settled.

Other topics could include Sioux indians, pirates, the Easter island, airplanes and more. Clearly, not as glamorous as a celebrity hockey event, but being cooped up in the study together doing research and producing these reports was a great way of spending quality time with my dad. I wonder if those essays are still around somewhere? If they are, I would love to get my hands on them! My dad, by the way, is the 'book smartest' person I have ever met! Ask him something, anything, and you’ll be sure to get a detailed and accurate answer along with a ”…and by the way, did you also know…”!

Actually; let’s try it, here’s a challenge for all of you readers around the world: Ask my dad, Stefan, a question in the comments section and he’ll give you the answer. Go on; give this smarty a run for his money!

Rules: If anyone of you can stump my dad, you will win a fancy prize, however, if no one can stump dad, the prize and the glory is his! Closing date for questions and answers is Valentine's Day.

Dad: You didn't know about this competition until now, but get your thinking cap on!

The “Ask Mr. Smarty Competition” is open for business!

Blast from the Past

So I have been reading a fellow bloggers tales and she has this super awesome blog where she dips into her old memorabilia from when she was a kid and posts items/memories/journal entries, etc. It just got me reminiscing about what a cool upbringing I had as a kid.

My mom founded a Charity called "The Rainbow Society" in Winnipeg, Canada which was/is dedicated to fulfilling the dreams of Manitoba children suffering from life-threatening illnesses. They were the only charity of their time to serve the needs solely of Manitoba children and still are!

Although this was a double edged sword as most of the cool kids I met when I was young did not always have the best outcomes ahead of them, My mom was able to help them achieve their dreams and bring along their families on some pretty cool journeys.

One huge event that I remember is she organised this charity event in 1989 called "Hollywood Goes Hockey" that had famous hockey players play against celebrities. From my memories, at this event were Matthew Perry, Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver), Dave Coulier, and Jack White (he drew the Pink Panther). Funny enough, I actually have my own sketch from Jack with the Pink Panther holding an old 80's type cell phone saying "Shaena, its for you...It's your Mom" (I need to find this and scan it to the blog!)

I remember wearing a big blue puffy dress to the event and getting to sit behind the penalty box and MacGyver turning around and making funny faces at me to prompt me to blush as red as red can be! Of course at the time I didn't know who any of these people were or have any idea of the fame that my Mom brought to the Peg. It would be nice if my mom could dig up some memorabilia from that night and scan it over (yep Mom, I hope you're reading this and starting to look!)

It sure was cool though being a kid in the 80/90's. Looking back it just seemed so dreamy and picturesque.

Ps - Mom. You are cool and inspiring! I hope I can be as cool a Mom to Ethan as you are to me and inspire him to reach for his dreams!

UPDATE Since posting this blog this morning I happened to come across a spectator at the event and she has sent me this photo. She was trying to get a photo of Richard Dean Anderson...

Something to cheer you up! TGIF

And he's off!

Rome Part 2: "Suit up!"

Right, so here comes the write up on the second half of my Rome-adventure. Obviously and without any doubt, the Sunday was an extraordinary history-extravaganza. Monday and Tuesday more the reason why we were there in the first place. Every year at kick-off, the agenda is very packed and the days are very long, so nothing new there. I woke up on with the cows around 6am on Monday morning to be ready for 7am, as our team was represented in a booth in the ‘lifestyle zone’, an initiative for healthier living, wellbeing, etc. The ‘corporate stuff’ kicked off after 8am and I knew that a long day of PowerPoint-presentations and meet-and-greets was ahead of me, so I loaded up with coffee, orange juice and blueberry muffins for breakfast.

Every year at kick-off I also dread getting hit by the ‘death by PowerPoint’ syndrome, you know, the never-ending slideshows and dull presentations that no doubt would put even the most energetic person to sleep. So far, I don’t think I have fallen asleep at a presentation, at least with my current company, but it sure was touch and go a few times. This year was very interesting though, and it did not feel like we went through 4 billion slides at all. It felt like most of the material covered was relevant to what I do and most of the time it felt like the presenters had put a fair bit of effort and thought behind their session.

The last ‘break-out session’, as they are called in our world, lasted until 6pm on the Monday and after that, we had about 45 minutes for a ‘shit, shower, shave’ (there's some UK slang for ya!). That is basically the quickest way possible to get freshened up in order to look alive again, a bathroom Formula 1 pit stop, one might call it. Only in the UK!

Just before 7, a shuttle bus picked us up to take us to a restaurant in downtown Rome. On the way, we also got a guided tour passed some of the more famous sights, like Castello St Angelo, the Vatican walls and more, but unfortunately it was quite dark outside and people, including me, were too excited about getting fed to pay any attention to ancient Roman history.

Dinner was great; we were treated to real traditional Italian country-food like roasted vegetables, barbecued beef and chicken, sea bass, country potatoes, Italian wine, and tiramisu for desert. The dinner entertainment consisted of 3 old gentlemen singing playing the accordion, guitar and trumpet. They were singing classic songs like ‘Amore’, ‘New York, New York’, and good old ‘Volare’ complete with foot-stomping and hand-clapping, over and over again. As soon as I saw them, when they greeted everyone that walked into the restaurant, I was thinking: ”Hmm… this must be the Italian equivalent of a Mariachi-band. Would it be ok to refer to them as a Mafiachi-band? Oh snap! I am too funny!” Obviously, no one else thought so.

When we got back to the hotel after the dinner I had a few more people to mingle and meet with and when that was finally done and all pleasantries had been exchanged, it was 2am in the morning. Poor me, as the next day started at 6am as well. 9 hours sleep in 2 days is just not enough, but luckily the Tuesday morning was easy listening, so no real complaints there. A nice lunch, a change of clothes and we were on our way home again!

Going home is always a very exciting part about traveling with work nowadays!

Rome Part 1: "Pop(e) goes my heart!"

Sunday: Me and my workmates arrived at Rome Ciampino airport this morning, were picked up by a coach bus and were driven straight to our hotel, The Rome Cavalieri Hotel, which is a Waldorf-Astoria owned hotel, so not too shabby at all. It is actually so not-shabby so that a bottle of still water is humbly priced at €8 and access to the internet for guests is associated with a nominal fee of €27 per day (hence the reason why this entry probably will be posted when I get home)! In the VIP valet parking there was a Maserati convertible sports car parked right next to a Ferrari Enzo super-sports car.

Anyway, our rooms were not yet ready when we got there as we were a bit early, so we jumped right on the next shuttle bus to downtown Rome. I believe I also managed to confuse practically everyone on the bus when I had my Italian speaking team member Giuseppe talk to the bus driver and have him, out of the blue, pull over on the next available side street and drop a few of us off at the Vatican instead of proceeding further downtown where the bus would normally stop. Reason for this sudden move was that I had heard that the Pope himself usually made an appearance at noon on Sundays and I couldn’t afford to miss an opportunity to see the Big Papa(l). Said and done; after a quick walk with my friends from our office in Sweden, we walked through the arches to the Vatican! Not only had we just disrupted the whole shuttle bus 5 minutes ago, we were now also in another country! Boom!

We snapped a few photos of the famous circular square(?), St Peter’s square, in the Vatican whilst trying to figure out where the Pope would actually appear. When the clock struck 12, there he was! He started speaking in Italian, so no idea what he said, but man was that a cool experience! After listening for a little while, we realized that everyone else seemed to be a lot more into it than we were (probably because they were: a) Catholics and/or b) they knew Italian) so we moved on through the Vatican security checks, which was much like airport security checks, and once through, we headed full steam towards the Papal tombs. This was a little bit eerie, a little bit interesting, and a little bit romantic at the same time, but we decided to speed through the vaults fairly quickly as there is so much to see in the Vatican. After the tombs, we took a wrong turn and before we knew it, we had left the secure area without seeing half of the things we had set out to see and the Swiss guards did not want to let us back in without going through security again. So we did.

We had our sights set on checking out the St Peter’s Basilica and the famous dome, but I don’t think anyone of us realized what exactly we were about to see. To get up to the dome of the Basilica, you have to pay either €5 if you are taking the stairs all the way or €7 if you would prefer to take a lift half way up. We opted for the stairs all the way. All 553 steps up to the top! After about 300 steps, you get to enjoy a bird’s eye view of the basilica from a balcony type ledge before continuing up to the top and we were all just standing there, astounded by the beauty of the cathedral and the unbelievable engineering feat it must have required to build the whole thing! A guessing game of how tall the dome was from the ground to the top and various ways of estimating were discussed. One of the guys suggested that “his parents’ house was about 13 meters tall and that he would estimate that he could probably stack 20 of those houses on top of each other inside the dome.” We later found out that the dome was 147 meters, or about 440 feet, tall. This was also a good opportunity to catch a breath and let our legs rest after what felt like a billion steps instead of 300. After a while, we motored on towards the top in a system of stairs that were both spiral and leaning against the cupola wall at the same time. And people wonder why Quasimodo had a funny walk! Once at the top, we were presented with a breathtaking 360 degree view of Rome and great photo ops. And then it was just the matter of getting down…

After another 553 steps going down, we ended up down in the Basilica itself where we admired the artwork, the ceilings, the beauty, and again, the architecture. We also got to witness a somewhat creepy procession of priests, priests in wheelchairs, nuns and common people. In hindsight, after catching my breath and after composing myself, the Vatican is probably one of the most amazing places I have ever visited, truly fantastic!

The day was rounded off with a late lunch in an authentic Italian restaurant. Very, very tasty foods were had! Tonight I have been down mingling with other CB people at the opening reception, which was held in a venue that supposedly is the best rated restaurant in Rome and the 4th best restaurant in Italy! I concur, as the food was divine!

While Daddy is away, Ethan and Mommy will play!

While Peter has the privilege to walk the majestic city of Rome, Ethan and I decided to have a girls night. I am getting him used to being the centre of attention early on in life so he is a killer with the ladies!

All in all there were 10 beautiful ladies that Ethan had his eye on at one point or another. All smitten with him!

I had asked the gals to bring over some DVDs for the movie fest and Jen so kindly brought Coyote Ugly that she bought off Amazon for £2...needless to say there was a reason it was such a bargain...it was a little more graphic in the love scene! None of us were expecting that nor did we think a version such as this one existed. It's almost like the movie lost a few points after taking away the sweetness and innocence that we thought Violet possessed! However, it was a great laugh for the girls and thankfully at this point Ethan had gone to zzz-land!

This was also an opportunity for Ethan to rake in some more gifts! Marie (Ethan's Godmother's Mother) had given him a Ireland Rugby Jersey for Christmas. Thank you Marie! It has the number 13 on the back which is actually the number bestowed on Ethan from the Harrison side as Harri 13 or "The Baker Doz" which is a lineage that my Dad created for all the males on the Harrison side - Number 1 being my Grandpa of course. He will wear this with pride...or until he grows out of it.

The great thing about hosting a girls movie night is that all the sweeties get left behind! So Peter will have something to soothe his sweet tooth with when he gets home!

While Peter is most likely planning his next blog entry in his head, we will be heading out for a baby date! We ended up finding a parent centre on Friday that hosts an International Parent Group!! Finally some other moms and babies that are around the same age and its a place you can let your kids rome (ha ha) free. I met a nice mom (also Canadian) and her little one Kai is 10 months old and loved Ethan immediately. Shall be nice to venture out. The day looks to be nice and bright so far!!

Ps - thanks to all our recent followers! It is nice to receive comments and feedback and see new blogs along the way!

The aftermath of a Saturday chocolate-banana treat

Holy cow! It's our buddy Tobbe!

Remember our friend back in Sweden who signed up for that crazy race, The Mongol Rally 2010, a charity race from London to Mongolia? Yeah, I don't think I have formally introduced you yet and found this photo on Facebook yesterday, so here he is, my best friend Tobbe!

We will be sure to follow the race closely once Tobbe and the rest of the team takes off from London in their tiny little 1.2 litre car this summer.

(Tobbe and his team will also start fundraising for the Mongolia-charity shortly (it is another imortant part of the race) and we'll stay on top of that and will let you know when and how you can help them with the cause.)

Casual Friday at CareerBuilder

Early morning conversations are the best!

A sleepy conversation from early this morning:

Peter: "Ok bye, see you later!"

Shaena: "Where's your winter coat?"

Peter: "It's not cold outside."

Shaena: "Where's your winter coat!?"

Peter: "It's kinda broken and it is really not that cold outside. I've been wearing this coat this whole week."

Shaena: "So what if you get stuck in an avalanche!?"

Peter: "In Edinburgh? But we don't even have any mountains?"

I rest my case.

3am fun and games with Master Ethan!

Ethan is growing and developing, as it should be, and he is getting more aware for every day that passes. Now, instead of waking up around 2-3am for a quick 2 minute devouring of a bottle and his usual ‘roll-over-to-show-you-that-I-am-done-with-you-and-you-are-free-to-go-back-to-sleep-now-mom/dad’ he has now moved on to ‘I-am-just-going-to-snack-a-little-and-then-stand-on-all-four-ready-for-giggles-and-playtime-then-snack-a-little-bit-more’. As you can imagine, this is putting a little dent our much needed nighttime sleep. So far we have coped with it, we’ve just been a little bit more tired than usual, but let's hope this is just a phase that’ll pass shortly!

What else? We are now starting to see forward motion when he is playing in his cop car (last week he could only chase bad guys in reverse) and Ethan also has a brand new matching set of teeth in his top jaw. He will probably be very proud to show off his pearly whites to the world real soon. At the same time, our little buddy has gotten more sensitive to loud noises and sudden noises (like tonight when I ripped up a new box of nappies or when mommy and daddy 'team burped' after dinner), but that’s all normal of course.

We have been very, very lucky with Ethan so far, he is not prone to colds or colic and ugly things like that, he is hungry like a wolf, playful and happy as ever, and to top it off, he is cute as a button!

Ethan's Pimped out Throne

This one's for you Great Grandma!

When in Rome

Next Sunday is the start of my company's 2010 kick-off in Rome and I have about 5 or 6 hours of free time in the afternoon before it is time to suit up and attend to business. After that, I will be in meetings, presentations and dinners in a hotel, still in the city, but will probably not have time to nip out and see the town. Therefore, I would obviously like to make the most of the opportunity and go out and see some sights.

On the top of my list is a visit to the Vatican City and also a visit to the Colosseum. If I have time to spare I'll probably check out a few more sights, but I doubt it. These two attractions (if you can call a whole sovereign country an attraction) have always been high up on my 'bucket list', things to do and see before you kick the bucket, as they are both such amazing historic landmarks and I am really excited that I'lll get a chance to check them out next week.

Since I only have a limited window of opportunity here, I have to make the most of my touristing so I have researched the distance from the hotel thoroughly and according to Google Maps the Vatican is a 45 minute walk from our hotel which, under the circumstances, is way too far away to walk. Taxi would take me around 15 minutes and public transport about 45 minutes, same as walking for some odd reason, so I think it is quite obvious how I will be getting around. The Colosseum, according to Google Maps again, is about another 20 minutes away from the Vatican, so hopefully I have the logistics figured out at least.

I won’t be traveling alone though; my fellow CB co-workers from Edinburgh will be traveling to Rome as well, so it is likely that I will have company on my Sunday afternoon adventure outing. I am really excited to see some sights, but as always, it would have been much more fun if the rest of the family could come. Next time!

Here are some interesting facts about the Vatican City:

• The Vatican City is the smallest country in the world with the smallest population. It measures 44 hectares ( 110 acres) and has a population of about 1000 people.
• The Vatican has its own Post office and issues its own stamps. The Vatican mail system is widely used by Romans as in most cases is a lot quicker than Italian mail.
• The Vatican's radio station is located in a tower inside the Vatican Gardens and broadcasts in 20 languages throughout the world.
• The Vatican's railway Station was opened in 1930 and is mostly used for freight.
• Piazza di San Pietro (St Peter's Square) and the colonnade were designed and built by Bernini (completed in 1667). At 314 meters long and 240 meters wide it is the largest square in Rome. Bernini (with the help of his pupils) designed the 140 statues of saints which decorate the colonnade.
• The Vatican City issues its own passports; the Pope, cardinals, members of the Swiss guard and clergy being the recipients.
• The Vatican City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the only site to encompass a whole country.
• Italians are allowed to donate 8% of their yearly taxes to the Vatican (this is instead of paying it to the Italian Government).
• In 2007 the Vatican opted to become the first Carbon neutral state by offsetting their carbon footprint with the creation of a forest in Hungary.
• The Vatican stamps its own coins. The €1 coin which has a portrait of the present Pope is in high demand with collectors.
• The Vatican museums are over 9 miles (14,5 kilometers) long, and it is said that if you spent only 1 minute admiring each painting it would take you 4 years to complete the circuit!
• Established in 1506 by Pope Julius II the Pontifical Swiss Guard (Vatican guard) were originally employed as personal bodyguards to the Pope, at present they serve as the military force of the Vatican.
• To be a Swiss guard one must be: at least 1,74m (5'8.5'') in height, Male, Catholic, between the ages of 19 and 30, have completed basic training in the Swiss military, and of course, be Swiss.

Here are some interesting facts about the Colosseum:

• At the time of its construction, the Colosseum had the capacity of seating around 50,000 spectators.
• Initially, the amphitheater was used for holding gladiatorial contests and public spectacles, such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles and dramas based on Classical mythology.
• Roman Coliseum remained in use for nearly 500 years. The last recorded games were held in it in the 6th century.
• It was in the medieval era that the amphitheater ceased to be used for entertainment purposes. Thereafter, it was used for housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.
• The games played in the Colosseum are believed to have taken the lives of about 500,000 people and over a million wild animals.
• Though ruined by earthquakes and stone-robbers, the amphitheater serves as an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome.
• Roman Coliseum is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Rome and still holds close connections with the Roman Catholic Church.
• On every Good Friday, the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession to the amphitheatre.
• The amphitheater has been depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.
• There were special boxes in the Colosseum, at north and south ends, for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins, providing the best views of the arena.

Britain: Get a grip! Literally.

I heard on the radio this morning that Scotland can expect another fortnight (2 weeks) of bad weather and ‘snow storms’. For us, being used to a more arctic climate from back home and all, the weather situation here is really not even worth mentioning compared to what we are used to.

Imagine this: -40 Celsius and so much snow in the morning that you can hardly even find your car, let alone start it because the cold drained the battery. Add cold wind and even more snow coming down while you are trying to salvage your car from the parking lot where the snowplow drove past and covered the back of the car with wet snow that turned into solid ice overnight. By the time you are done scraping your windscreen free from snow and ice, your layers of t-shirts, long johns and socks are soaking wet from snow and sweat.

We rarely get snow here in Edinburgh in the winter, but this year we have had a bit of snow for the last 3-4 weeks, and we are talking about 1-2 inches on the ground, which in fairness has made the streets quite slippery. The result of this weather situation has been closed airports, closed highways, closed schools and people staying home from work. Someone at my work told me about her friend who had been completely stuck in her car on the M8, a major highway, for 15 hours before the army came and dug them out! Why? No snow tires. Someone else had seen their neighbour scraping off ice from his car with the backrest of a plastic garden chair!

At the moment, the situation here is kind of a mix between the movies ‘Ice Age’ and ‘The Day After Tomorrow’; it is a bit funny in a tragic kind of way how paralyzed people get and how serious they take ‘the blizzards’. They just don’t know how to deal with all this snow. Another example of the effects of these extreme conditions is our front door at work, which has been broken and left open since New Year’s Eve. This apparently due to the cold and the snow, and the repairmen in this country do not always have the best sense of urgency. This has resulted in a very cold reception area with a very moody receptionist wearing gloves and a winter coat inside.

Ethan stands...almost!

Lost Dublin-photos from 'The Brick'

Today Shaena and I are doing some more packing for the move and we are going through a bunch of our stuff to figure out what we need to keep and what we can toss. For the longest time, we have had a bag of cords and various electronics stuff sitting in our closet and we decided that it was time to clear it out once and for all. Also found in that bag was my old, nay ancient, digital camera commonly known as 'The Brick' for it's clunkiness from when we lived in Dublin and low and behold when we put batteries in it, there were photos on the memory card!

Below is a selection of photos taken around Christmas time from Grafton street, O'Connell street, St. Stephen's Green shopping centre, and our friend Naomi made the selection as well:

Ethan's Pimped out Ride