I landed in Shanghai Pudong Airport. Its the same as it was in April, very humid and smoggy. I spent a lot of time in customs since I had to hand carry high tech parts for the project I’m working on. I’ll have to return tomorrow to claim them since they are being checked out.

Actually I’m stopping at Vienna to switch planes again. Rainy morning here in Sweden, it will soon be snowing. I got out of here in time.

Next posting will probably be from Vienna…

Update:
In Vienna now, finally made it through their customs and man was it a zoo. Probably the worse I’ve seen so far. The weather outside is actually warm. They actually smoke inside of the airport (you would love that Bugs)

This is the only trip to Sweden I didn’t even bother to look around. I even ate at places that I already had eaten before. I wasn’t in the mood to go exploring, more of a get in and out mission.

The weather for the whole stay was cold and wet. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why I just wanted to get to work quickly and back to the hotel room. The photo below is the train station I went to every day. After weeks and weeks of use, I really got the hang of metro commuting.

Heading out tomorrow for Shanghai, China. I often talked to Bugs about this, how in the world did two Southside Stockton natives ever get in the position to see different parts of the world.

Next posting will be from somewhere other than Sheraton Hotel, Stockholm Sweden.

Sitting in SacTown Terminal B. Bugs woke up super early in the morning to give me a ride and send me off to Sweden then Shanghai.

Update:
I’m now 37000 feet above earth! I’m getting free internet access due to some error on the plane. This is a first for me  Nothing eventful, planes were right on schedule. I slept most of the way from Sacramento to Chicago. Bugs called me for a chat

Update:
Flight was uneventful, must be getting used to torture. Landed in Stockholm and took a cab to the Sheraton. I was lucky they had a room ready, weird thing it was the exact same one as my last visit. What are the odds of that happening?

Took the subway to the train station. That is where I am at this very moment, sitting in a train waiting to roll.

I’ve landed in Chicago, this was a comfortable ride back since I had knowbody sitting next to me and it was behind the upgrade seats which meant more leg room. (22F) Movies were the same so no new entertainment.

For once an uneventful plane switch. Everything went smooth as silk. I’m now in the Chicago O’Hare terminal waiting for my flight to SacTown. Next stop, home!!!

Yaaaaaaaah! I’m all packed and ready to hit the road tomorrow. I saw this sign during one of my many walks, I thought how true. I haven’t driven a motorcycle or car in quite some time.

I’m actually sitting in the airport (Stockholm, Sweden) and using my Blackberry to post up on my Blog.

I barely made it to the airport on time. I had scheduled to be here approximately 3 hours before flight time, I cut it dangerously close by getting here only 2 hours and 45 minutes to spare.

I picked up a muffin and Red Bull. I then proceeded to check out the office space availability afterwards.

As I sat in my new office chair some MoFo kept banging on the door. This particular setup had two enclosed stalls so I was pretty ticked he kept banging on mine. Thump, Bump, Thump, Bump. I yelled “hold on” as nice as I could. Thump, Bump, Thump, Bump. Man, this guy is relentless.

After I’ve completed my project at hand I go to leave and open the door and see a wheelchair blocking my path. Ahhhh, says the slueth in me, that extra large wheelchair had a tough time manuevering in this dinky ass entrance section, that explains the bumpin’. The thought never crossed my mind to wheel it out into the terminal so I could watch from the distance a guy crawling out of the bathrooms.

Oh well, maybe some other time…

* UPDATE *
So what I do with so much extra time on my hands? I search for a wheelchaired MoFo so I can take his photo! Got it!!! I’ll upload photo when I can. That’s a shortcoming with Blackberry. Great for doing text lousy for photo manipulation…

Okay, because I said I would, here is the spy photo I took…

So what do I do… I go through my Mac Powerbook’s IPhoto library and check out some photos I’ve taken. This one caught my eye big time! It reminded me of the great homecook meals Bugs cooks up for me and the love she put into it. It really shows in this particular meal, a sort of tribute to my mom. One thing nice about taking photos you can always go back to them and remember how you felt at the time. I have tons of great photos…

Today’s Morning Walk

It is Sunday morning, same deal for breakfast. I headed out this time towards City Hall. Not once during my previous visits have I gone within the grounds. This particular site is world famous since every December the Nobel Prize Banquet is held here. (the Blue Hall).

This is the view of City Hall I see from the Sheraton Hotel.

This shot was taken with my back againts the water. As you can see, not too many tourist walking around. Even the buses that unload out front didn’t look quite as full as they used to during peak season. You can definitely tell the summer season is coming to an end here.

From what I understand your able to order any meal that has been served since the Nobel Prize started. Not to cheap and reservations are in order. I wonder if they ever served Adobe and Rice. If not, they need to contact Bugs and ask her whip up one of her tasty meals! (knowbody makes Chicken Adobo better than Lorraine!)

I watched this kayaker head off towards Old Town Stockholm. The shot was blinded by the sun so I had to go complete manual mode on the digital camera. You still get the idea.

Headed off towards “Walking Street” to make it a longer walk. This is the street that has all the tourist trap shops. It is also the location for countless ice cream vendors. This time, I went and grabbed these bread biscuits and Red Bull a combo Lorraine came up with the last time we were here.

I got up early this morning to take an early morning walk after eating a light breakfast. I saw an interesting set of saddlebags, unique at least. They looked very authentic, I was tempted to check them out and see if it felt like cowhide but wasn’t sure if the owner would be piss for me trying. I took a photo instead.

Another shot I had to take was the car shown below. They are everywhere, it reminded me of the Goldwing. Everyone call the GW a car on two wheels, I call this thing a motorcycle on four wheels. Actually… these type of cars are classified as motorcycles and can be driven without a valid Sweden drivers license. Children just need to be at a certain age and pass a written permit test and they can drive something similar to the one shown below.

I did some more walking around Stockholm, after awhile I started getting bored and went into the subway system. Nice and cool down there. I found that if stayed with the orange lines I was bound to get back to the hotel.

I made a discovery this time around. I found you can get around by taking the “airport sidewalks” which I call the flat escalators. They go forward in direction and never up. It’s a nice way to get around town without getting hot, cold, rained on etc. A major plus is the fact knowbody gets in your way, were all moving the same direction and the slower bozo’s stay close to the right handrail as you buzz pass them. I also found if you press hard enough with your elbow between their shoulder blades they will notice you behind them. Also, for a quicker response, stick your hand in their rear pocket and start pulling the wallet.

The escalators go a long way down…

Took off again to check out a Matinee at the local Movie Theaters. I had to walk about 1 1/4 mile to get there to find out that they showed Miami Vice only once a day and that was a 9PM evening show. I said thanks with my “you suck” scowl and promptly left the theater.

Headed off towards Central Station to grab a bite, rice & chicken. I’ve eaten the exact same meal at least four times now.

One thing I’ve gotten hooked on is the free expressos, latte, cappuccino’s they have at work. Just bring a cup, poke a button and instant wakeup buzz! At first I just watched the guys drink up during the breaks then one day I thought I’d give it whirl. That’s all she wrote! Like clockwork now, have it in the morning, noon, mid-afternoon sometimes more. The photo below is the exact model I use (see what happens when your stuck in the hotel, doing research on expresso machines!)