Monday, June 24, 2002

Almost moving time!

Monday! Can't believe it's soon time to move, only a few days... We should probably find out if I'm pregnant at the same time... :-)

We got a whole bunch of new stuff for the new place this weekend. I'm getting really excited and just can't WAIT! They are painting the new apartment for us, I can smell the fumes when I walk in the outside hallway. I didn't think they would since the old tenants haven't lived there for very long. And they traveled most of the time. And one of the rooms was soley used as storage... BUT it is kind of nice to be able to have a totally fresh place!

I have to go to the bank and do a few deposits, see ya' later!

Thursday, June 20, 2002

Over for now!

Well, all the trips back and forth to the attorney's office are over. Now I just have to wait. There should be no problems, I was just so complete;y stressed out by the whole thing coming at me out of nowhere...

The bad thing is that all the driving arond town (in the sun that decided to only shine when I was in the car) got me major problems... Since I am no longer on immune suppressant medication due to trying to get pregnant, my immune system reacts to itty bitty things. Like TOO MUCH SUN!!! I now have hives all over my neck and chest. They itch like crazy, and they usually last for 3-4 days. I can't take Benadryl or any other anti-histamine since there is a chance I might be pregnant (will fins out in the first days of July, keep fingers crossed for a yes!)

So I'm itching BIG time!

Immigration crisis!!!

The worst happened yesterday...

I have been waiting for the INS (immigrations) to send me forms for my permanent resident card renewal. After you marry you have one for 2 years kind of temporarily, and then after 2 years you get the card that will be permanant forever. We remeber something about this form being sent out automatically...

Well, my card expires on June 23, and I was getting worried. I know INS probably are busy, heck their entire organization is about to be shaken around. No form... So I finally tried to call my immigration attorney who helped us in the first place with all the forms and such. Couldn't get through, only voicemail. I left a message on June 10 for them to call. They didn't. Finally a week ago I e-mailed them. No answer. So yesterday I had my husband contact them. He works for a company that do a LOT of business with that law firm, so he got to talk to someone right away *rolling eyes at injustice*. They then called me.

Apparently this form is NOT sent out automatically!!! So we had to do a mad dash and scarmble to get all kind sof proof gathered that we are indeed still living together. Leases, tax returns, insurances, photografs. I was so stressed out! I drove like crazy down to my husbands work so he could give me a check for the $944 it is going to cost! And there is still no guarantee it will be at INS in time!

So I am a bit stressed, but there is nothing I can do about it. We are going down to the law office to sign the forms today, and they are going to give us some affidavites for friends and neighbors to sign, certifying that we indeed live together. The attorney say these applications usually are approved with no problem, and I beleive her. For our first interview with the INS we had brough a ton of proof. They only looked at the leese!

I think we are ok, but still... If I would have know this earlier I could have filed myself for a measly $144. Now it is so close so I don't dare to. Which costs us another $800. Blah!

Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Computer trouble...

My computer just decided to not cooperate, so I had to restart. Figured I might as well write a bit before getting back to work. I guess I had so many applications running at the same time so it didn't like it too much... It should be ok though, I have 1.5 GhZ Pentium 4 Processor and lots of RAM and disk space. Depending on what kind of translation I am working on it does require a lot of stuff... Oh well! The rain is holding up a bit, but I kind of want it to keep on. It is nice and soothing.

The neighbours moved out today. That makes me excited, because we are getting close to moving in now!

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Legal translation

Can't believe I actually finished a 6 page legal translation in one day! And guess, what??? I got yet ANOTHER great job! I'm on such a roll! (Knock on wood...)

This new one is for a new "revolutionary skin cream"... :-)

Should be a lot easier than financial or legal, it seems actually to be kind of fun! Talk to you tomorrow!

Good nights sleep!

I slept so good last night! I guess there is nothing like a day of hard work to zone you out.

Today I have yet again a lot to do. I am loving our weather right now, it has been gray and on and off raining for a few days. The best part is that the temperature stays in the love 80s! Well, I am off to work!

Monday, June 17, 2002

Tired!

***********So tired!!!*******************

I have been working my ass of today, I am sooo tired. The reason for it is that I got ANOTHER job! So I want to get the one I was working on done with quickly. I just wrapped the last of the editing/proofreading on the Annual Report, so that one is sent off.

The new job I got is for a law firm, and it is regarding an international child custody case. Pretty basic legal document, but it can still be difficult terminaology. I am loving all the $$$ I am currently bringing in! It has been a tough spring, so I need to catch up :-)

Oh, and we got a new mobile phone today. I wanted one we can use if we go to Europe, and our service provider charges only $0.99 per minute in Sweden. We got a Samsung N105, it seems to have what we need. Cool!

Now I am going to make dinner and then crash in front of the TV.

More work...

Good morning!

Nothing much today, I have to finish up the translation (though it is not due until Wednesday morning).

Talk to you soon!

Sunday, June 16, 2002

Had some fun...

We actually managed to do a bunch of fun stuff this weekend! Last night we went out for a nice dinner downtown at a fancy place called Victoria's. I hade one of my favorites - grilled shrimp, K had blackened Swordfish. After that we went to see "the Bourne Identity". It was pretty ok. Different to see Matt Damon in a "action heroish" kind of role, but he pulled it off well. Maybe because he played a person who didn't know he was an action kind of guy!

This morning we went for breakfast at the beach at a place called "Gulf Drive Cafe". We usually luck out and see dolphins there, but not this time. After that we took a walk on the beach. They have recently done a major beach restoration, pumped in tons of new sand. The beaches were torn up pretty bad during the hurricane last fall. We then went to this place called The Red Barn Flea Market. We don't really like the place at all; it is kind of like a big mall for rednecks :-) They do have a very nice sea shell shop, so we went there and loaded up on some nice sea shells for decorating our new guest bathroom. We also got some cool metal fish in tropical colors to put on the wall. The bathroom has kind of a tropical Florida theme to it, so it will fit well.

K's sister called us in the middle of the night. She lives in Colorado, and I guess they are having a huge bush fire. It is getting close to where she lives, so they have to evacuate. They are moving most of their belongings to her daughter's house, which is out of harms reach. Luckily she has fire insurance in case the fire gets to her place... Scary!

Well, better get back to work.

Saturday, June 15, 2002

Saturday!

Saturday! Wohoo! Not that it means that much when you got to work... I am taking some time to go to Home Depot. I have to get some new herbs for my kitchen herb garden. The dogs ate 3 out of 4 of them. I have a really nice ledge I am going to put them on in the new kitchen, and I still have all the terra cotta pots left intact. I am also going by some stores to look for some more decorating stuff for the new bathrooms as well.

Right now it is raining like crazy and I love it! It brings down the temperature and makes it kind of cozy.

Friday, June 14, 2002

Working...

I've just finished off the editing, so I'm about to send that off. It took only about a half hour to do - US$146. Not bad! I couldn't do it this morning because the file they had sent me was corrupted. All fixed now. I've already started on the translation, but it's rather boring, so I'll probably do bits and pieces here and there.

The dogs are nuts! They're playing their favorite game of 'you eat me, I eat you'. It consists of them trying to nip each other the best they can. They seem to really like it! They don't bite hard or anything, just for play. If one of them DID get bit hard, oh well, I would know right away... They are big babies and cries for nothing... :-)

Busy!

Got so much to do today that I don't even know where to start! I got an editing job of 19 pages (due tonight, so I better do that one first). Then I have to do a 10 page translation, an Annual Report. It's not due until Wednesday, but it would be nice to have it out of the way. I will probably work a bit over the weekend since Ken will be busy as well.

We are planning on going to one of our favorite restaurants, it is more a shack than a building, and it is located out on a long pier in the middle of the Mexican Gulf. Fabulous sea food! The place has been there since 1947, so the atmosphere is great. We are also going for a long walk on the beach since I need some sea shells for decorating my new candle display. There are some absolutely beautiful beaches around here. The sand is baby powder soft and white. You can find all kinds of sea shells (large!) and even fossilied shark teeth. Better get to work!

Thursday, June 13, 2002

No sleeping in...

I am sooo tired this morning... I would easily have slept in today, but a certain dog named BOB decided to start barking at some neighbour and then whine at 8:30 AM. We are usually up by this time anyway, but I was (is) so sleepy. I know he couldn't been desperate to go to the bathroom since Ken took them out at 7:30 AM... I think he just wantet to be annoying. And what are they doing now when we are back from our walk? SLEEPING! Bastards... no they are too cute, can't be mad at them :-)

Wednesday, June 12, 2002

More biopsies...

I can't believe my bad luck sometimes... I went to the dermatologist this afternoon, and of course, low and behold; he found something he was very suspicious of... They have to cut the whole thing out to be sure! I am scheduled for the surgery on July 16th, so keep your fingers crossed then.

The bad mole is located just below my hip on the left side, almost on my butt, so I haven't been able to see it. It is much blacker than all the other moles, that is about what I could see from my angle.

With me being a high risk for melanoma I knew this might happen one day, especially since I have already had Basal Cell Carcinomas, one of the more easily treated and not so dangerous skin cancers. There are basically three kinds: Basal Cell Carcinoma, the Squamous Cell Carcinoma and then the big bad one, Melanoma. So it might be the big one this time according to the doc... Not so fun! Oh well, my philosophy is to always stay as positive as possible. I think that can make a big difference. But it's not always easy!

Hot AGAIN!

Forgot to mention that it is absolutely SVELTERING hot here! You just can't stand it outside! I had the AC on cold all night, AND the bedroom ceiling fan was on high. I was still hot as an oven (could have something to do with the two very warm dogs that was sleeping all over the bed???!). At 9 AM this morning we already had 79° F / 26° C!!! Every afternoon we have pretty bad thunderstorms. Luckily we have plenty of lightning protection and battery backups for the computers, so we don't have to worry about that at least.

I would love to have at least just one day with 75 degrees, it would've been sooooo nice...

Preping before the conference

Got a great idea last night, and I made chicken fajita wraps, mmm.

Last time I went to the American Translators Association's annual conference all the freelancers left their resumes at tables divided into languages (they do this every year at the job expo, plus you give out sooo many resumes!). I did see two "resumes" that stood out. They were made as broschures, and were much more attractive I think. These were just plain and simple, and they still made a great impression.

I started playing around with MS Publisher last night, and just printed some samples. It looks freaking good! Imaging in full color and with great paper! My husband is going to print them at work, where they have a full color duplex printer. Plus, I will save sooo much money printing myself... AND I get full creative input, of course! The conference is in November, so I have plenty of time to finish it and tweak it. But the same goes for my new web site... It is so much work! But it will also be 100 % better and look much more professional, the one I have now was just thrown up there for good measure, and I haven't really thought much about it since then. (It has already been two years!). The new one will be seamless with its CSS and the logo looks very professional. The old is more of an online resume, very boring. (But I did everything myself, and back then my HTML was total crapp. Not that it is THAT much better now, but...)

Well, better get to work. I will be out all afternoon, so I better do it now.

Tuesday, June 11, 2002

Getting ready to do some work

Just got the next project. This is from an old client down in Miami. Six pages of Swedish into US English, which in this case is an open patient study of epilepsi patients at the Sahlgrenska Sjukhuset in Sweden. Should be interesting...

Last night I was so tired so we decided to get some take out from our favorite chinese place. We had Garlic Chicken and General Tso's Chicken with fried rice and steamed rice. We also rented a movie, 'Rock Star' with Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. I have seen better, but it was ok I guess.

I should not think about food, because I am so hungry, and it is not time for lunch yet. (I skipped breakfast). I am thinking about maybe going up to one of the fast food places for lunch to get something... I have not had any crap food for a while! Whopper, anyone???

By the way, I am ovulating this week, so keep your fingers crossed. Hopefully we will get pregnant this month!!!

Morning

Just woke up. I cannot believe how much stuff I got done yesterday! The place looks great, it has been a long time since it was THIS clean, that is for sure...

Today I have more work to do, and tomorrow I have an appointment with my dermatologist. My mom died from Melanoma when she was only 24 (I was 1), and I have a lot of moles. I just check them regularly for my peace of mind. I am also going by my Swedish friend's house. They just moved into a new house they bought, so I am going to check that out.

Monday, June 10, 2002

Work, work!

Got most of my stuff done already. After running my errands I finished off the translation job, it was only 5 pages so it went quick. I also cleaned the bathroom and some of the rest. All I really need to do is dust, vacuum, 'swiffer' the kitchen floor and scrub the stove... And I also had time for two long dog walks as well!

I got even more work today, I cannot believe how much stuff is starting to poor in! And they have all been old clients, so I know I do not have to worry about getting paid. Today I did a MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet), and I got some semi-medical stuff coming in tomorrow. One of my favorite parts of being a translator is the diversity. You get to work on so much different stuff so you get really good all around knowledge about all kinds of stuff! Everything from autopsy documentation and contracts to company web sites and PR stuff. Sometimes I even get to translate personal love letters and poems! It is never the same!

Lots to do

Got a lot of stuff to do today!

*Eat breakfast (Cherrioes and strawberries)
*Deposit check into business account
*Deposit check into personal account
*Do 5 page translation (Material Safety Data) for my Malaysian client.
*Emty and refill the dishwasher
*Clean the apartment
*Iron all the stuff hanging in the living room

Hopefully I will be able to fit having lunch, walking the dogs a few times and taking a long shower into all that!

Oh well, off I go...!

Sunday, June 9, 2002

Hot and messy

Weather update: 2:53 PM EDT on June 09, 2002
Observed at Bradenton, Florida
Temperature 91° F / 33° C
HeatIndex 96° F / 35° C
Humidity 48%
Dew Point 69° F / 21° C
Wind ENE at 13 mph / 20.9 km/h

And THAT my friends, are the conservative weather news from the officials... Add a few sveltering degrees to that and imagine that this is in the SHADE...

I have some outdoor stuff to do today, and I am swimming in sweat and I am totally ready to just plant myself on the couch for the rest of the day... but some people are coming to inspect our apartment on Monday so I have to clean a bit to not scare them. Our place is a mess, since we know we are moving soon and stuff is just everywhere... Total mess... :-)

Work Plans

Last night my husband told me he is planning on quitting his high paying job probaly next summer or so... Kind of came as a chock and yet it did not. He HATES that job, the only good thing is the money and the people he hired to work under him, but otherwise it sucks! He has been putting up with their shit for so long now, over 4 years. He cannot handle it much longer...

His own business has great potential, so I am not worried about money or anything. It is just kind of scary for both of us to have our own businesses. His business is a LLC, mine is a S-corporation. Anyway, he has saved enough money to hold us over for at least a year, and that is not counting the retirement funds, which we will not touch at all... He is planning on attracting some more clients until next summer, trying some new things and so on. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Planner, Certified Estate Planner, Certified Management Accuntant, Certified Audit Accountant, so he has a LOT to work with :-)

I am sure everything will work out great, it is just a bit scary to venture into... We do make a great team, though, so I am not worried!

Great!

Wow! I am so happy things seem to be going better and better! A lot of translators have had a tough spring, I do not know if it is a remnant from September 11 or just plain bad economy, but the job offers have been pretty sparse.

Now all of a sudden I have gotten more than I can handle! Makes my pocketbook happy :-)

Saturday, June 8, 2002

Hanging out...

Just hanging out doing pretty much nothing... We are planning on having a nice dinner out downtown, and then see the movie "Sum of all fears". This is usually what we do on Saturdays. We both like good food and good movies, so why not? It is kind of relaxing to go out and take it easy.

Right now there is some thunder outside, it got kind of dark here for a while. We could use some more rain, it clears out the stuffy air. The cool thing about living in a subtropical climate is the summer rains. As clockwork the clouds start to build up in the afternoon and suddenly the sky will open up and the rain will come down 'en masse'... You do not want to be stuck in your car driving on I-75 when this occur; you will be lucky if you can see a few feet in front of you!

Just had some Pepsi and Swedish "pepparkakor". Weird but good combination! The restaurant we are going to tonight is an italian joint that is ok. I feel like having some grilled shrimp or some kind of fish. Brought up on an island I had to eat a LOT of fish when I was a kid. It got kind of tiresom. Now I have rediscovered seafood and really enjoy it! Florida has so much to offer in this department. And the SHRIMP! They are HUGE here! I never liked shrimp until I came here. I still cannot handle stuff like lobster, mussles, oysters or scallops... yuck... I am kind of ok with crawfish if they are in some kind of creamy pasta sauce. Then I might even handle lobster. And New England clam chowder can be good... I am learning, getting better...!

When I came to the US the first time in 1993 I was 19 and I would not eat anything I did not know eactly what it was... I did not even like chinese food (I LOVE asian food now, especially thai). But I have learned... My husband have force-fed me some stuff like snails, shark, alligator (tastes like chicken!)... he can eat anything! Well, he wrinkles his nose at certain Swedish stuff, like pickled red beets, caviar sandwich spread in a tube (don't ask!), but he is very open-minded and eats whatever you put in front of him. He eats weird: he will start with whatever side dish he has, and

Friday, June 7, 2002

Almost time to move!

Well, I talked to the neighbour. It seems like the apartment manager is a bit of a drama queen. Maybe he likes getting all worked up for nothing so he can work on his ulcer...

They came up with a compromise so they will move out on the 21st instead of the 15th. I mean, how much time do their cleaning crew really need to fix up the place? They have barely lived there and the carpet is brand new?

We are still on for moving in on the 29th. Cool! I have got a bunch of new stuff to spruce the new place up a bit. I am really looking forward to getting more SPACE!

Weird People

You know, I have been looking forward to moving into our new place for a LONG time. We will get an extra bedroom (my office! yeah!) and an extra bathroom. NO ONE wants to move more than I do, trust me.

The story is that we are taking over the unit next door to us since they are moving into their new house they just finished building. They are very nice people and I have even been cat-sitting for them on occasions. Plain nice folks.

We got a call from the office saying we could move in on June 29th and we signed the new contract and everything. Cool.

Well, last night when walking the dogs my husband walked into the neighbour. Apparently his mom had died. She was in her 90s and they had been expecting this for a while, so there was no big chock or anything. The neighbour guy asked if it was ok with us if they could delay (a couple of weeks)their move until the end of the month (when we are suppoused to move in) so they can fix stuff with his mom. My husband said we were ok with it, but that it is of course up to the office to decide.

Today I get an angry call from the apartment manager saying the guy won't move out in time because we said it was ok! Come on, everyone involved are smart people and know my husband has no umltimate say in this, but the office is upset because they somehow say it is our fault, and they have a guy in line to move into our place when we move, and so on.

All we did was saying it was ok with us to delay our move if it was OK WITH THE OFFICE... ! So my hubby is trying to get a hold of the manager and straighten it out. We should have no blaim in this. The neighbour guy knows it is not up to us to decide such a thing, all we said we wouldn't mind... Sigh! Just trying to be a nice...

I like the neighbours and we were just trying to be nice. They are smart, they know they can't go ahead and not move out on time without the approval of the office. What is wrong with people???

Naked on the phone

I was really enjoying my morning: sleeping in... when I abruptly was awaken by the phone. I am the kind of person who always answeres no longer then on the second ring. And since this was on my business line I had to immediately sound chipper and awake, not giving the truth out (that my office is currently in my bedroom and that I rushed naked from my bed to answer, at the same time trying not to flash the neighbours or trample the poor dog that had been sleeping on the ned with me).

It was my new client, so it was good I got my ass up. He has a very unique approach to projects, and I really like it. He actually calls me up (from Sweden) to discuss and go through the translations after his client has had a go with it. It is a very informative process since I get a chance to really see how my translation was received. I have learned a great del from this feedback!

Today it is LAUNDRY day... Well, it has been for a few days now, but I have been procrastinating ... Today it has to happen, I hate not having my favourite clothes to wear on the weekend... So I have to get out there in the sticky hot weather, with my poor aching ant bitten feet and DO it... Yuck! I cannot wait until we have our own house with our OWN laundry inside... Blah!

This morning when I walked the dogs it was so humid that you could actually see the steam rising from the bayou and river along with the temperature! It is going to be a hot one today... !

Thursday, June 6, 2002

Fire Ants! Ouch!!!

Ouch! Yesterday I stopped to talk to someone, and I did not know until it was too late that I had placed myself right ontop of a fire ant nest. Fire ants are not that bad, you might say, well, around here we have some "illegal immigrant" fire ants from South America who have mixed with the locals. The result are FIRE ants! My husband used to think I was a baby who could not handle some little ant bites. Until he himself got bit by the "special ants"... Oh poor him *eyes rolling*!!! Then he realized these were super duper ants. Now every time I get bitten (I walk the dogs like 4-5 times a day, so it happens now and then) he actually feels for me!

I mean, I have scars from JANUARY still looking kind of bad! The bites turn into puss filled blisters that hurts sooo bad... And I have my entire right foot covered and some on the left. I am feeling VERY sorry for myself... :-( There are FIRE ants and then there are the normal fire ants who's bites hurt, but only for a bit.

I learned the story about these SPECIAL ants from my old college professor in biology. He taught me a lot of intresting stuff I never thought would actually be of any use.

Hot weather

I am thinking about goin up to Eckerd's (pharmacy place) to get some nail care stuff, but it is just so damn hot and yucky outside! You can really tell summer is here now, beacuse the humidity is as thick as (invisible)fog... For those of you who have never experienced a Florida summer, it is like being in a green house that have been out in the sun all day. But before the sun rose someone showered the inside of the greenhouse, so along with the temperature rising the steamy sticky humidity rises along with it...

I do not mind the heat per se, it is the humidity that slows you down and makes even the simplest outside movements into a tireing feat...

Of course, my car does not have any air conditioning, so it is like being in a toaster driving it this time of the year. I got a very good deal on it; got it from my mother in law for only $900. It is a 1993 Chevrolet, and it runs great! But no AC...

As soon as we get closer to have a baby I will have to get a new car. (If I do not want to roast the poor thing and get arrested for child endangerment!) I will probably get a nice brand new one (thinking Toyota maybe), and it will be the family car. I am actually kind of longing for a station wagon. This must mean I am all grown up, huh???

As it is now I do not really need a fancy car since I work at home. My hubby, on the other hand, being a fancy Director of Finance (finansdirektör, låter så fiiint på svenska *himlar med ögonen*) have to ride in style (he does not HAVE to, but it probbaly would not look to good if he came in an old beat up piece of crap... He has a Chrysler Sebring Convertible, and I get to use it on the weekends, so I am not complaining! He has worked VERY hard to deserve a nice car, so he is sooo worth it! (Go Ken, GO!)

Well, I really need some nail stuff (my big toe nail fell off recently, and I have to use orange sticks to "guide" the new nail growing out otherwise it grows inwards, ouch!) (Now, that is grosse, huh??!! Off to Eckerd's I am...!

List

Four things you'd like to learn:
1. Be more artistic
2. More languages
3. How to be more productive (i.e. make more money...)
4. How to be a real computer whiz

Four beverages you drink frequently:
1. Water
2. Diet Coke
3. Ice tea
4. Milk

Four tv shows that were on when you were a kid:
1. The Fraggles
2. The Muppet Show
3. Barbapappa
4. Tummen och tummens mamma

Four tv shows you watch now:
1. CSI
2. Friends
3. Trading Spaces
4. Emergency Vets

Four things that never fail to cheer you up:
1. Great sex
2. Having fun with my hubby
3. Really good food
4. Playing

Four dream guys:
1. Ken
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???

~Favorites~
candy: Anything chocolate
cartoon: Futureama
cereal: Swedish oatmeal
chewing gum: sugarfree peppermint or something strawberry
color: blue
day of week: Saturday
least fave day: Monday, since hubby has to go to work :-(
time of the day/night: After 9PM when I get to spend some time with hubby
flower: tulips (also Lily of the Valley)

Web Site

Well, I have been putting off getting my new web site up and running. I recently switched host, so I have more flexibility now. I have the theme and style sheets ready for the new one, I just need to log a few hours getting all the stuff in there. It needs tweaking and fixing. I guess what happens is that I start and get stuck with some code problem. I have never been much of a HTML pro, that is for sure! My husband have been so busy lately, so I have not wanting to bother him. My goal is to have it up and running before the American Translators Association's next annual conference, which will be in November.

My old site is ok, but I have sooo much more stuff I want up there, plus the new one will be more professional and crisper in its look. This is after all my only means of income, being a translator that is, so my web site should reflect me in a as professional way as possible. It is kind of my online resume. I do not get a lot of work through the site, but I do have around 250 hits a day. So I better get working...

Wednesday, June 5, 2002

Work

Good Morning!
The weather today is so gray I just feel like sleeping all day or something. But since that is not my style, I am already up... Anyway, the dogs would not have let me sleep much longer even if I tried! I have gotten alot of work lately, which is good since spring have been sparse with projects. I have an agency wanting me to do a 80,000 word project, that would be $8,000! I am waiting for a sample plus I want to make sure the deadline is comfortable. A project like this also require them to pay some of it before I finish... It is a lot of money... The largest I have done so far was almost $5,000, it took me almost 3 weeks. I was nervous since the agency was in Venezuela, but they had good references. The end client was the Swedish company Pharmacia, they do not hire just anyone fore a large job like this. And I DID get paid on time. That is how I paid for this super-duper computer I am using at this very moment...

Well, better get to work...

Contemplative

I grew up on Sweden's largest island, Gotland. Situated in the middle of the Baltic Sea it has a mystic and interesting history spanning back several thousands of years. The Vikings used this strategically situated island as a hub in their trades and travels. Its perfect spot in the middle of the action brought riches to the inhabitants, and even today treasures are being unearthed in peoples' back yards!

One thing is for sure: I cannot live without an ocean nearby. At the moment my ocean of choice happens to be the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing beats a bad day as a long walk on a stretch of powdery white sand, the azure blue waves lazily lapping on your feet. Mmmm... I can really taste the salty air just thinking about it! We are lucky to live on one of the many waterways leading in from the Gulf. We once in a while see such wonderful creatures as dolphines, manatees and sea otters right outside our house! These are the moments I do not particulary miss Sweden. I actually feel lucky to be where I am!

There are other times I miss my old island with every inch of my body. I ache to see and talk to my friends and family in person. I have not been back since the summer of -98, so it has been a long time since I had a chance to enjoy their company. I cannot wait until next summer when we finally (hopefully) will be able to go back for a couple of weeks. It all depends if I get pregnant and if/when I have a baby. Until then I thank my lucky star to have such a wonderful husband as my best friend. He is truly the best thing that has ever happend to me... XOXOX

E-books

Hmmm... I just recently discovered the joy of E-books. Since I have not been in my home country Sweden since 1998 I have not had a chance to keep up with what books have come out since then. Sure, once in a while someone back there is nice enough to send me some stuff, but since I read a lot and very fast it does not last very long. Well, I just happened to stumble on some web sites after I had purchased a Swedish E-book for work, and they were talking about the E-books one can borrow electronically from some of the larger libraries in Sweden. All one had to do was to go into one of the libraries in person and set up an account. That would be a little difficult since I am in the US.

I e-mail a few of the libraries and begged for someone who work there to set up an account for me. I got mixed result. One snotty guy told me rudely how expensive it was for them to have E-books, it cost them 20 SEK everytime someone downloaded one etc. What a prick... But I DID get some really NICE replies as well, along with several account numbers to use at will. So I am now like a kid in a candy store! They have hundreds of great books, and they are all pretty much new titles by Swedish authors that was published since I was in Sweden the last time! GREAT!

I just started to read the first book in a trilogy by Jan Guillou. It is set in the 13th century and seem very promising. Guillou wrote some really good books in the beginning of the nineties that I liked. They were realistic in the fact that they depicted the Swedish society well, but it was about this Swedish secret agent guy "who had the right to kill". Kind of like Bond... Anyway, I remember I liked those books, so I hope these will be pleasing as well.

Dogs

I have to say I really love my two dogs! They are my company during the day, and they make sure I get my butt off of the chair in front of the computer once in a while. If it were not for them I would not see the light of the day on days when I have a lot of work. It works out great, because they need to go out and I need exercise as well. Plus, they are very snyggly when you curl up to watch TV at night... They are sometimes a real pain in the behind, they behave somewhat like 6 year olds... But that is kind of part of the fun. Bob turns 2 on June 25th, and since we do not know Stan's birthday (he is a rescued dog around 2 years of age) we intend to celebrate them both on that day. I am getting some doggy ice cream, that seemed to be a great hit from last year!

I better go and make some lunch, I am starving!

Tuesday, June 4, 2002

List

- last movie you saw: "Proof of Life"
- last movie you saw on the big screen: "Enough"
- last phone number you called: My immigration attorney
- last show you watched on TV: "Trading Spaces"
- last song you heard: Something on the radio...
- last thing you had to drink: Diet Coke
- last thing you ate: Melba Toast
- last time you showered: This morning
- last time you smiled: Very recently when my dog farted
- last time you laughed: Last night hanging with hubby
- last person you hugged: My husband
- last person you kissed: My husband
- last thing you said: Hold on (to whining dog who wants my Melba Toast)
- last person you talked to online: My friend Fredrik
- last person you talked to on the phone: My husband
- last thing you smelled: Dog's fart...

Introduction

Hmmm... Things are kind of weird in my life at this time. I feel like I haven't done much at all with it... but if I think hard I realize I have a lot to be darn happy about!

I have moved from the other side of the world (Sweden) to the US. I have gone to college and come out of it with a 3.7 GPA, considering how I sucked in high school, that is way cool! I have met my soul mate AND married him! I live in a beautiful home on the water off of the Mexican Gulf. We actually have freaking DOLPHINS swim by our balcony!!! I have two wonderful dogs that are just the sweetest things. I have a fulfilling career in MY OWN company. No boss, just ME! I get to do stuff every day I actually love (I translate documents in between Swedish and English), and I can do it in my PJs if I had any, since I work from home in my virtual office. I bet a lot of people would be very happy to be in my shoes... Of course, there are a lot of shit about my life that absolutely majorly SUCKS... As in I have all kinds of medical problems... So think twice before you decide you want to be me or anything...

I am now 28. When I was 13 I had been sick for awhile and the docs discovered after ALOT of probing around that I had Chron's disease (inflammatory bowel disease). Well, that really sucks... But I always had all these other problems that my docs never really could explain, so I just suffered and tried not to think too much about it. When I moved to the US went to a family doc to establish a medical caregiver here. He took one look at my papers and me and told me he was pretty sure I had Lupus. Turned out he was right! Sounds bad, you might think. Well, it was kind of a nice. I finally had an explenation to all the other stuff that I had experienced! Lupus is an auto immune disease, just like Chron's. It basically means your own body has "too must immune system". It can't differentiate between what is supposed to be in your body and bad stuff that it needs to get rid of. So symptoms often include inflammation of the joints, but can pretty much happen all over the body, in organs and such.

Since then I have tested positive for several distinctly different diseases, but they are all there do to my screwed up immune system. I have Lupus (SLE), Chron's, Reumatoid Arthritis, Interstitial Cystitis (inflammation of the bladder), Thyroid Disease and Osteoporosis (due to the meds I used to take).

But despite all this shit I keep my chin up pretty good. My philosophy is that you only are as sick as you think you are. I never really think about being sick. Heck if I did I would be freaking depressed all the time! You could never see by looking at me that I am sick. Lupus is often called "the invisible disease". I look completly normal. Heck, sometimes I even look really good! :-)

I have recently gone off all my meds so my body can clean up in preparation to have a baby. I have had some drawbacks, but on the large part I seem to be doing really good off the meds. The stuff I used to take is an immune suppresant drug that keeps the immune system i order. It has to be stopped before atempting to have a baby since it can cause defects and miscarriage.

At this point in life my husband and I are trying to conceive our first child. THAT is scary! I mean; the idea of having a baby grow inside of you, and you being responsible for this baby's well being. Not just in the womb but for the rest of its life... At the same time it is an awsomely exciting thought. We are ready, we can't wait. I really wasn't that aware about how the human reproduction thingy works for REAl. I mean, don't get me wrong. I understand how babies are made... But it is such a freaking science! Here I have spent most of my adult life NOT trying to get pregnant, and now when I am ready to embark on this important journey, well, it is not EASY to get knocked up!

I have been frequenting different boards for people trying to conceive. There are a ton of them! And these people are pretty desperate! I now know all the ins and outs. Did you know there is really a 24 hour window of opportunity to achieve in this baby making business each month? Well, you do now! Apparently, an egg can only get fertilized after it has been released from the ovaries (ovulation). This happens about two weeks after the woman have had her first menstrual day (yeah, more details than you wanted...). But the thing is, everyone is different, so there is no guarantee on WHEN EXACTLY this ovulation happens! Big deal you say, well, when this egg is released it has only 24 hours to find a sperm and get fertilized, after that it desinegrates and vanish...

So how the heck would one know WHEN to stay alert and do the deed? Apparently there are all kinds of scientific ways of figuring it out, all too comlicated to go into details. My favorit is the Ovulation Predictor Kits; you piss on a stick every day, and the test will go positive when you are 24-48 hours away from having your ovulation. How is that possible? Well, just a few days or so before, the body have a surge in hormones, and the test can pick up this surge.

And the trick in making a baby successfully is to have sperms waiting around for the egg. Sperm can live 72 hours or more, and the journey for them is pretty long and hard to get up into the fallopian tubes where the eggs will be. So to maximize one's chances one should do some baby dancing. For those of you not into this stuff; it means to have SEX ;-) That way you have sperm waiting in the tubes when the egg is released and hopefully they will meet, get along well and get started... Sperm is designed so it can spend days just swimming back and forth in the fallopian tubes, waiting.

One intresting thing I didn't know was that some of them actually swim right out of the fallopian tubes into your guts!!! (The fallopian tubes are actually not attached to anything on the top.) So there could be women walking around with sperm swimming around in their stomachs! Kind of creapy but cool!

We tried for the first time in the middle of May, and I walked around every day after that thinking I was pregnant. I mean, I felt pregnant! You have to wait a certain amount of time before you can test to see if it "took". Well, 5 freaking minutes before I was going to take the test I got my period. 5 minutes! How much does that suck!!! So now we have to wait for the next time I ovulate to start all over again. I should ovulate around the 12 of June, so keep yur fingers crossed around that time. If we suceed then we would get a March baby! But as you might be aware of, it is common to have a miscarriage in the first three months; that is why so many couples choose not to tell anyone they are expecting until they are in their fourth month. So just because you get pregnant it does not mean you are guarantees a baby.. I friend of mine just lost her baby, and she was 12 weeks (3 months). Pretty scary... Well, enough for now.