FRidh's blog

During my stay in Sweden I do have some obligations, like working on my thesis project. I have not really written anything about that yet, so let’s write a bit about that now.

Two months have passed and I am (still) reading literature, discussing with my mentor, and writing parts of my report. I hoped that by now I would have a prototype to play with since my model is finished, but it seems I have to wait a bit longer. Today we’ve been to the workshop again discussing certain parts. Now I need to make some final drawings for them and then the construction can begin!

There is just one part I am still a bit unsure about though. We will construct custom heat exchangers for in our device. Three of these heat exchangers use a fluid like water, but one heat exchanger will be electrically heated. Now it is not that difficult to calculate how much heat will be dissipated by a resistance of a certain material and dimension. However, calculating whether the wire will not damage is something totally different. Monday a collegue who used to be a electrician will be at work, perhaps he knows how to make a nice estimation.

Like I said I am still reading literature while I write parts of my report at the same time. Really, how nice is it when you read ‘literature’, and that people don’t refer correctly, claiming that certain claims belong to certain people, and then totally mess up. Even though it sometimes can be rather confusing, it does feel good in the end when you have it all straight

Weather was good today so I decided to go cycling to the north of Borås where there is a nice lake. As you can see the lake is still frozen, but the layer of ice is very thin.

All the pictures I made in Lapland I put at my gallery and Facebook.

Like in the title, the trip to Lapland really was awesome!

Last Thursday we left from Gothenborg and went all the way to Kiruna by bus, a trip that took about 22 hours. When we got there we first had a nice breakfast and then dropped our stuff at the first hostel. It was then time for the first activities, dog-sledging and driving a snow scooter! Really nice, however, taking of your gloves to make a picture while on a snow scooter isn’t such a great idea……it’s cold!

In the afternoon I continued with a trip in one of the iron mines in Kiruna. Even though it was cool to see and hear certain things, for instance the fact that you’re half a kilometer deep at that moment is cool, the trip was rather boring.

The next morning I had some time off so it was a good chance to explore Kiruna and enjoy the terrific weather that day. That afternoon we took the bus again and went to the ice hotel! The ice hotel really looks amazing, and the ice bar is just as good! Drinking out of a glass of ice is weird

In the evening we went up a hill to see look for the northern light. In the afternoon the sky was very clear unfortunately in the evening it wasn’t really anymore. Still, there was a great view over the city that evening!

In the morning we continued to Narvik in Norway after having dropped off a few people at Abisko. On the road to Narvik we saw some great fjords and from a hill we could see the harbor of Narvik. After Narvik we also went to Abisko where we would spend the night.

That evening started with a sort of quiz. When that finished many people went out to look for the northern light again. Unfortunately it was quite foggy so no chance of seeing it this evening either. So after been out once I continued emptying a bottle of medicine.

The next morning I had to go out early to pack my things and to go to the sauna by a lake. This really was awesome. First, you go in a sauna, and then you run to a gap in the ice, jump into it, get out again, and run as fast as you can back into that sauna!

After the sauna we went back to the hostel, waited till the others were finished with other activities and then went on to visit some Sami and reindeers. At around 3 o clock we unfortunately left again for a long trip back to Gothenborg. Wish I could have stayed just a bit longer……

Tomorrow will be the start of my life as an icecream, when I go to Lapland!

Tomorrow morning I take the train to Gothenburg, and around 9:30 we go from there by bus all the way to Kiruna! We stay there for 2 days and we then go to Narvik and Abisko for another 2 days.

Anyway, time to go to bed now!

My last post about Sweden is a while ago already I noticed. Well, everything is going fine, and I am still enjoying a lot. I went snowboarding yesterday, and I have quite a big headache now! I of course managed to fall at the back of my head. Ahhh well, it was fun though

Lapland is now also only a few days away. Thursday morning I will leave from Gothenburg by bus. Now, if only my headache is gone tomorrow, and weather is good again, I will have a look around on the bike. It’s time for some pictures again

Normally I just write on my blog using the website, but now I got curious to this blogging program called Blogilo while I was upgrading to KDE SC 4.4. Recently a new version was released so I decided to give it a shot.

Blogilo really does work nice. It is so much faster than using a web interface and you still have all the options you normally have. For instance, it is now very easy to select and add a picture without having to use those slow Java or Flash interfaces for it.

Now I also upgraded to KDE 4.4.1, which is so fast and awesome!!!

Yesterday more great names were announced! A few of them:

• EDITORS
• THEM CROOKED VULTURES
• 30 SECONDS TO MARS
• ALICE IN CHAINS
• KYTEMAN’S HIPHOP ORCHESTRA
• THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM

Seems like I guessed right with The Gaslight Anthem

You can find the current line-up with the other announced names here.