Thursday, March 30, 2006

Dagens Namn -- 30 Mars 2006

Today is your name day if your name is: Holger or Holmfrid.

Dagens Namn -- 29 Mars 2006

Wednesday was your name day if your name is: Jens or Jonas.

Dagens Namn -- 28 Mars 2006

Tuesday was your name day if your name is: Morgan or Malkom.

Dagens Namn -- 27 Mars 2006

Monday was your name day if your name is: Ralf or Rudolf.

Dagens Namn -- 26 Mars 2006

Sunday was your name day if your name is Emanuel.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

This is why...

1) You shouldn't smoke if you are a guy

2) You should immunize your children

3) I had a good time tonight

Dagens Namn -- 25 Mars 2006

There is no name for today.

Today is Marie Bebådelsedag (aka Annunciation), the day nine months before Christmas, when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would give birth to the Son of God.

Dagens Namn -- 24 Mars 2006

Friday was your name day if your name is: Gabriel or Rafael.

Dagens Namn -- 23 Mars 2006

Thursday was your name day if your name is: Gerd or Gerda.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Local.Live.Com

My co-worker, the other J, showed me this website the other day. It is kind of like Google Earth, but cooler. It has bird's eye views of many locations and allows you to look at them from all four cardinal directions. I was able to look at my apartment, my parent's house, and my grandmother's house in Minnesota. The pictures tend to be clearer than those from Google Earth. I think they are also more recent. For example, they reflect that my parents now have one red car and one beige car. The pictures from Google Earth still show two red cars in their driveway. It has been about four years since that was the case. Anyway, if you are bored and want something interesting to do, check out Local.Live.Com.

Alternative Name Days

My co-worker, the other J, was disappointed that his name did not apppear on the Swedish name day calendar. I have found out, however, that apparently there is an alternate American/Canadian name day calendar. I will stick to the Swedish calendar (I am the SwedishNurse after all), but for those of you who want to have a name day and don't have a particularly Swedish name, please check out My Name Day.com.

By the way, Other J, your name day on the alternate calendar is July 12th!

Dagens Namn -- 22 Mars 2006

Today is your name day if your name is: Kennet or Kent.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Dagens Namn -- 21 Mars 2006

Today is your name day if your name is: Bengt or Benny.

Dagens Namn -- 20 Mars 2006

Monday was your name day if your name is: Joakim or Kim.

Dagens Namn -- 19 Mars 2006

Sunday was your name day if your name is: Josef or Josefina.

Dagens Namn -- 18 Mars 2006

Saturday was your name day if your name is: Edvard or Eddie.

Dagens Namn -- 17 Mars 2006

Friday was your name day if your name is: Gertrude or Görel.

Dagen Namn - 16 Mars 2006

Thursday was your name day if your name is: Herbert or Gilbert.

My favorite Gilbert!

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Dagens Namn -- 15 Mars 2006

Today is your name day if your name is: Christel or Kristoffer.

Dagens Namn -- 14 Mars 2006

Tuesday was your name day if your name is: Maud or Matilda.

Dagens Namn -- 13 Mars 2006

Monday was your name day if your name is Greger.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Saturday night in Baltimore

I went to Fletcher's in Baltimore last night to see one of my favorite local bands, Full Minute of Mercury, play. They were great as always, but I was also glad to get to see two other new (to me) bands: Can't Hang and Vote Quimby. Can't Hang was kind of a mix of reggae, rock, and punk. I especially enjoyed the reggae bent to their sound. Vote Quimby was more straight up rock and I especially enjoyed their covers of songs from Footloose. Plus the song Famine and the Darth Vader mask were classic. All in all it was a great show. Both the on and off stage antics were truly entertaining. Follow the links below to check out the bands!

Full Minute of Mercury (official website, Myspace page)

Can't Hang (official website, Myspace page)

Vote Quimby (official website, Myspace page)

Dagens Namn -- 12 Mars 2006

Today is your name day if your name is Viktoria.

Sweden's Crown Princess is Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée. She was born July 14, 1977 and is also the
Duchess of Västergötland. In accordance with the 1979 Act of Succession, which entered into force on January 1, 1980, The Crown Princess Victoria is heir to the Swedish throne. The Crown Princess will be Sweden's first female Head of State within the Bernadotte Dynasty (1818 - present). In modern times Sweden has only had two Queen Regents, Kristina (1626 - 1689, 1632 - 1654) and Ulrika Eleonora (1688 - 1741, 1718 - 1720).




Dagens Namn -- 11 Mars 2006

Saturday was your name day if your name is: Edvin or Egon.

Dagens Namn -- 10 Mars 2006

Friday was your name day if your name is: Ada or Edla.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Random Acts of Kindness

I went to Starbucks today on my way home from clinical. When I walked in there was one woman in front of me in line and one guy came in right behind me. The woman ordered her drink and when they told her her total, she said she would pay with a gift card she had taken out. Then pointing to me and the guy behind me she added, "And I'll pay for their drinks too." The guy and I did a double take, not quite believing our good luck. We of course both thanked her profusely. She said that someone had been kind to her by giving her the gift card and she figured why not pass on the kindness!

Dagens Namn -- 9 Mars 2006

Today is your name day if your name is: Torbjörn or Torleif.

Dagens Namn -- 8 Mars 2006

Wednesday was your name day if your name is Siv.

Dagens Namn -- 7 Mars 2006

Tuesday was your name day if your name is Camilla.

Dagens Namn -- 6 Mars 2006

Monday was your name day if your name is: Ebba or Ebbe.

Dagens Namn -- 5 Mars 2006

Sunday was your name day if your name is: Tove or Tora.

Dagens Namn -- 4 Mars 2006

Saturday was your name day if your name is: Adrian or Adriana.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Fifty Things About Me

1) I was born a week late and refused to turn my head in the right direction so I had to be delivered by c-section.

2) I have only ever had one pet. He was a goldfish and his name was Sven. I named him after my uncle.

3) I have only been a patient in the hospital three times. The first time was when I was born. The second time was when I fell off the jungle gym and had to get stitches in my chin. The third time was when my dad accidentally slammed my finger in the car door. The second and third times were both when I was in second grade.

4) I hate walking over grates in the street or sidewalk. I almost always walk around them unless they absolutely can’t be avoided.

5) I think that toilet paper should come over the top of the roll. If I am at someone’s house and their toilet paper comes from underneath the roll, I will change it around to the “right” way.

6) My ancestry is half Swedish, one-quarter Norwegian, and one-quarter Slovak.

7) My favorite flower is the tulip.

8) I hate bananas. Sometimes even the smell of them makes me want to throw up.

9) I like to mix Coke and Orange Fanta together.

10) I like to dip my french fries in mayonnaise.

11) I prefer dark chocolate over milk or white chocolate and I don’t like chocolate with fruit flavors (e.g., orange or raspberry).

12) I’m not a big coffee drinker, but I normally drink two mugs of tea with milk and Splenda in the morning.

13) My family and I lived in The Hague for three years when I was in high school. I haven’t been back since we moved back to the US almost ten years ago and that makes me sad.

14) I have traveled to the following countries: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, England, Ireland, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Kenya, Australia, and Canada.

15) I have been to nineteen of the fifty states, although some of them only for a few hours.

16) I took piano lessons for ten years when I was in elementary, middle, and high school.

17) I took horseback riding lessons for three years when I was in high school. My favorite horse was named Mr. X.

18) I can speak, read, and/or write in all of the following languages (although to varying degrees): English, Swedish, German, Dutch.

19) My mom was born and raised in Sweden. She only came to the US in 1974.

20) My paternal grandfather used to be a traveling salesman. I have this old keychain that was an “extra” he used to give to his customers. It says, “It will pay you to remember – [his name].” Looking at it makes me happy.

21) My favorite colors are red and blue.

22) I have met one American president, George Bush Sr.

23) I much prefer white wine to red wine.

24) I love collecting nice china. My favorite part of my china collection is my Rörstrand teacups and saucers. They are blue and the pattern is called Swedish Grace.

25) I have held a koala bear and I have the pictures to prove it.

26) When I was little my dad and I used to make up stories about a girl named Goofus Roofus. My favorite one was about when she dug a hole in her backyard all the way to China.

27) I have a mental aversion to Chinese food, but I have no problems eating Thai or Vietnamese food.

28) I have one sister. She is four years, eight months, and nine days younger than me. She has naturally red hair.

29) Both my paternal great grandfathers were named George.

30) I always face my bills.

31) I hate make left turns when driving. I avoid them if at all possible.

32) I have been a registered nurse for four and a half years. I have licenses to practice in Virginia and the District of Columbia, but through the compact agreement I can actually practice in twenty-one states.

33) My paternal grandparents had eight grandchildren, all of them girls.

34) I am left handed and even to this day hold scissors the wrong way.

35) I had the chicken pox when I was in second grade. I have three pox scars: one on my left forearm, one at the base of my nose, and one slightly above my upper lip.

36) I like my apples and grapes to be of the green variety, as opposed to the red variety.

37) I still have one doll from when I was little. His name is Smelly Pelle.

38) I love doing family history research. I could sit and look at census records and ship manifests on microfilm for hours.

39) I don’t really like gold jewelry. I much prefer silver, platinum or white gold.

40) Both my hands are double jointed. I can make them look really disgusting or so people tell me.

41) I am a total snob about Christmas decorations and I think colored Christmas lights are incredibly tacky.

42) When I was very young I forgot how to speak English for a few days and could only speak Swedish. Boy was that frustrating since my babysitter only spoke English.

43) I get to watch babies being born for a living. It is amazing every time. It never gets old.

44) I prefer Coke over Pepsi. I beat the Pepsi challenge once. You can TOTALLY tell the difference.

45) I got my first walkman when I was in first or second grade. The two tapes I got with it were “Madonna” by Madonna and “Whitney Houston” by Whitney Houston. I still have both tapes.

46) The embroidered curtains that hang in my dining room were made by my great grandmother. I think that they are gorgeous.

47) My favorite mixed drink is the Grape Crush.

48) My favorite food is potatoes. I will eat them prepared in almost any fashion.

49) I always eat the European way, with my fork in one hand and my knife in the other hand the whole time. It drives me crazy how many Americans cut up all their food first and then eat only with their fork.

50) One of my favorite books as a child was “Andrew Henry’s Meadow” by Doris Burn. A couple of years ago my dad found me a used copy. I read it all the time now.

Dagens Namn -- 3 Mars 2006

Today is your name day if your name is: Gunvor or Gunborg.

GRATTIS PÅ NAMNSDAGEN MORMOR!!!

Dagens Namn -- 2 Mars 2006

Thursday was your name day if your name is: Ernst or Erna.

Dagens Namn -- 1 Mars 2006

Wednesday was your name day if your name is: Albin or Elvira.

Dagens Namn -- 28 Februari 2006

Tuesday was your name day if your name is Maria.