polarbearandy's Blog

So it's called a baster, huh? Great to know. A new word is now added to my vocabulary (who the f came up with that word by the way - vocabulary - impossible to get right.). And as always you manage to explain the process in just a few words, what took me almost 5 minutes of the show. Amazing!

Still no more news on the book unfortunately. Haven't been writing as much as I thought I would. At least I think I have the ending in my head. Now all I need to do is get it out of there and on to some paper...

/ Andy

Just a short one to celebrate the new year, and to tell you all about how our Christmas was. Joyce jumps in too, teaching us a bit or two about how we say "My name is..." in swedish.

Fire away

/ Andy

So what's you point of view on the topics of show 144?
Let me know, and also fire off an email to Make a Mess if you like them!

/ Andy

On this episode I tell you about the first snow and how I haven't managed to change the tires of our car yet. The news from the past week speaks about ridiculous salaries among swedish top CEOs and how one of them has decided to make a difference. Also the Social Democratic party has lost voter support the last month like never before.

One more thing. Marie makes a guest appearance on the show today!

Let's hear your thoughts on the current episode.

/ Andy

So today saw the very first snow in the southern parts of Sweden this season. It started very suprisingly this morning and it hasn't stopped since. It is as beautiful as ever when the first snow falls but it has coause problems, both on a personal and national level.
I haven't had time to change the tires of the car yet, so driving home today from work was somewhat hazardous, but we managed to stay on the road. I even got the chance to show off a bit for the kids as I skid 180 degrees around and ended horisontal to the sidewalk outside our house as we arrived home. Not very safe perhaps, but fun and the kids cheered.

On a bigger scale there has been a lot of accidents reported during the day and right now, as I write this, Marie (my wife) is sitting on a bus, stuck somewhere out in the middle of nowhere on her way home from work. The busdriver had told them that it could take up to an hour before things cleared up. I guess the stop was caused by yet anoher accident somewhere along the road home. Queues easily build up on those small roads that the bus takes.

The weather people have said that the snow will continue falling allthrough the night and not stop until tomorrow evening, so somewhere between now and then we will have to go out and change those tires!!! I'm NOT looking forward to that!

/ Andy

Aaah, the book... Well I'm down to the last chapter and I just yesterday figured out the ending which makes it so much easier to finish up. :-)
I think (THINK!) I will be able to complete it before christmas, which is what other people told me would be more realistic from the start. How could I know?

Keep on listening and thanks for giving me your view on the new (old) format!

/ Andy

Let's hear what you have to say on the topics of episode number 142. And how did you like the music? What is your reason to donate / not donate to the Backup Drive? Give us YOUR point of view!

/ Andy

It's funny how you managed to sumerize the entire matter in a few sentenances, when it took me like 5 minutes of talking to HOPEFULLY say the same thing. That's when you notice how you lack in finding the right words...

Thanks for the comment and nice to hear that you liked the JJ segment. Hope you like the next one too. Are you previously familiar with JJs work?

/ Andy

A brand new update show where I talk about today being the official cinnamon bun day and how IKEA just introduced self service checkouts at our local store here in Helsingborg. A lot of talk too about SEX and LSD being banned! Listen to the whole story and let me know what you think about these topics.

/ Andy

This is an update.
Should the Swedish government be critizised for not letting the eco-car subsidition plan continue, or have they done enough already? Is it true that the Black Widow spider has settled in Sweden? Check out the new show!

/ Andy

Thansk for the tip!

I've heard about such a product but I'm not sure where to find it, but I guess starting at our local paint shop would be a good step...

I'll keep you and the rest of the listeners posted!

/ Andy

...and it's an Update, letting you know what's been going on here in sweden the past 2 weeks. A show was planned for last weekend with a listener to the show who was coming over to join me physically, but it never happened unfortunately. Hear more about that on the show.

Let me hear your thoughts on episode 138!

/ Andy

So I guess you all heard about the angry Swedish(!) wrestler, Ara Abrahamian, who made a statement after the mens finals by stepping down from the steps and throwing his bronze medal into the fighting ring, after the ceremony. Ara together with his swedish coach and a few other people around the world blames corruption among the judges as the reason why he didn't make it to the final. Sweden has handed in a formal complaint and are waiting to here what IOK has to say about the whole thing. Some say that he will face disciplinary action after refusing to accept the bronze medal at his presentation ceremony. Some say the Judges will have to take the blow.

I can't be the judge of whether what he did was called for or not, since I never saw the fight, but from what Swedish media is telling us there definitely seams to be something rotten in the state of China right now, just to paraphrase William Shakespeare a bit.

Sweden has also handed in a formal protest after a Swedish rows(wo)man ended up in last place due to, which she claims, grass and leaves on her course which slowed her down. We seam to be very good at protesting during these Olympics.

Anyone heard or seen anything more about these things?

/AN

Thanks for the mention! It's all been modified.

So show number 137 is out now so start discussing it, all you nice listeners! You can check the shownotes for more information about the show.

On this show we discuss the recent events at Liseberg Funfair in Gothenburg and the effects of the new FRA law on Swedish industries. I also tell you about a new movie I thnk you should go and see; Mama Mia.
What do you think about the music on this show? Are they a new version of Deee-Lite as they claim? Let us know.

/ AN

Ok, sounds like a smart thing, but I thought it would be compatible. It's a regular quicktime movie...?! Isn't that compatible? I'll have to check the settings in iMovie. Thanks for the tip!

/Andy

Let us hear what you thought about this show.

Let's get the thread rolling...!

The past few weeks has seen a change in the weather. I reported on the previous show (131) about how great the weather was with daily temperatures at around 28-30 °C, but as things progress the weather is getting worse. It's gotten colder (today sees the bottom note at 12°C in the morning), it has started blowing a lot and we've also seen quite a lot of rain. I have no problems with summer rains, but together with the winds and the low temperature it's a bit off putting. It's as if the summer is over for this year, which is bonkers considering it's just June.

Tonight, quite a few people graduate from highschool (Studenten again) in different smaller towns around the nation and the question is wether they will get as good weather as the ones who graduated last week. Probably not. You might have guessed that we are celebrating a student this evening, and the white garden tent her parents have put up in the garden, doesn't feel as a place I want to sit, when the temp crawls down to 10°C later this evening...

How is the weather where you live right now? Is it true summer yet or just an initial taste of it.

/ Andy

I work in Nuclear Power too.

Awesome, I have two nuclear scientists in my audience!

For the record: I know NOTHING about nuclear science apart from what you learn in high school physics class, but doing a podcast and being a computer geek I know how to USE a lot of nuclear power. That part is pretty easy!

Great to have you on board Vince!

/ Andy

Hi everyone.

My name is Anders 'Andy' Nyman and I am not only the admin of this forum but also the host of the Polarbear Podcast, which is an Internet radio type show all about Sweden. If you want to know more about the podcast behind all this, feel free to visit the website at http://www.polarbearpodcast.com.

I am a 36 year old guy, currently living in Helsingborg in the southern parts of Sweden, together with my wife and two kids from a previous marriage and a dog, also known as the "Iranian combat goat". Don't ask me where I got that from but she has some resembelance to one of those...I think. My interests in life are among other things podcasting, writing novels, graphic design, music and movies, preferrably from the later parts of the 20th century and beyond. The thing with writing is also a fairly new hobby that I have taken on and I'm loving it. My first book will hopefully be released sometime this fall.

I have also recently taken on training, as we bought one of those hell-machines a while back. Now it's come to use and it feels good - every time I get OFF it. Hopefully it will help me shed some weight in the long run.

I hope this has given you an idea of who I am. I hope I will get to know all of you in the same way. Just create a post with your avatar name and your real name (if you want to) and tell us a little bit about yourself.

/ Andy

So as I filled up the car up yesterday I was painfully made aware that the price for 1 liter 95 octane petrol is now 13:86 crowns (2,13 USD). This is totally wacko. How are people living in non urban areas in Sweden, and dependant on their car as their main transport, going to make it when their feet are swept away under them like this. I mean people in the cities can always make it by using public transport, but if there is no public transport???

To compare this with the rising gas prices in for instance the US I would love to hear how much a liter of gas (petrol) costs where you live. Is it up there at the Swedish level, or perhaps even higher.

Let me know.

/ Andy

Today (June 5th 2008) is "Studenten" in Helsingborg. Studenten is normally refered to as the graduation day for high school students (see the similarity in words) and is a big festivity. All afternoon there has been decorated cars driving around town and the suburbs, honking there horns and celebrating someone close who has graduated or as we say in sweden "tagit studenten" (translated "taken the studentship").

Do you have any experiences from Studenten? Tell us about it.

/ Andy