Happy new Year!

Here is a drink for every one that been in touch with me at Twitter, Facebook or elsewhere (I will become tipsy - but it is worth it).

I am already looking forward to some new events and happenings next year. My project - a new customer website will be launched in beginning of March. It is nice to see the result and to be able to show it to customers, leaders and owners already now.

Summer Salsa festival in Croatia at end of June is one other thing I already is looking forward to. And Scandinavian salsa congress of course at end of March.

There are a few more nice things coming up....with a little luck. But as always I never presumes anything.

I had lots of fun "here" despite the worse possible year culminating 9 September. But a pale sun is shining over the landscape. I think it is a turning point both in life and the cold winter. A heath wave at -5 degrees turned into -10 this night. But it is warmer again.

So sheers everyone!
And one more sip for everyone who made me smile 
And then one sip for each smile....
(I am definitely tipsy now)

Happy New year!

Do you need something to warm you up? From last year's Salsa party: Now with working links.

Sensual Bachata, Youtube

Salsa - Via, Youtube

Moose meatball making mama feeling good post

This is a post for you who need to read something nice for the moment.

I am far too tired to write anything new tonight - just getting home from a Christmas party with relatives. It is -15 degrees Celsius, the snow is sparkling like billions of diamonds. Thekids are wrapping up the last presents. Then in about ten minutes we are tearing them up again. The Christmas three is more beautiful than ever. I look forward to a quiet evening and lots of sleep.

Ah - I forgot the moose!
We call them actually elks. But it sound better with "moose meatball making mama". These creatures I found this autumn in the garden. No I didn´t have any gun. I bought the minced moose meat I used for a delicious meal. The best meatballs I ever have eaten. I have hidden a few for myself for a late night sandwich.

Schhhh! It IS Christmas and I am allowed to have secrets ;-)


Here are some feeling good posts if you need them or just feel for reading:



Christmas and/or snow

Merry Christmas & Glögg (hot nice drinks)

So it is Christmas again & another burning hot ski tour

A Rhapsody in Light or the lack of it. Nordic Light Winter 2010

Report from a fancy skiresort - or my extended backyard?

I am addicted - but not by elks, deers and hares


Not snow

It has to be fun or else we cannot make it

Contradictionary - The English Language part 1


Be yourself - It takes a fool to remain sane

Shiteons are sub-atomic particles of bad luck that streak around the universe

Merry Christmas all of you!

 

Merry Christmas & Glögg (hot nice drinks)

I wish all my netfried, businesspartners and friends a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!
Why not try one of these hot beverages. They will scare any cold away and keep those of you who need it warm. If you're living in a warm country - I presume they will help you anyhow. At least to get that special feeling connected with Christmas.

/Bettina


Thorilds Glögg 
a receipt I've inherited from my father
(ö is pronounced just like "a" in "an" in "an apple")

Take for 1 litre:

1/3 red wine
1/3 port wine
1/3 of vodka

Pour wine and port wine into a saucepan. Heat it gently while adding.
but wait with the vodka.

Add:

1/3 -1/2 of teaspoon with ginger
3-4 pieces of cinnamon (you know the kind looking like stick/barque)
10-15 pieces of clove
a few spoons of raisins
a few spoons of chopped date (this is unique for my fathers receipt)

The amount of spices in not exact in any way. Add more or less of everything. (I have never ever measured how much I add so this is just a guess)

Boil water in a separate saucepan.
Add 1/2-1 dl of almonds. Just let it be real hot. When you lift them up you can remove the peel.

Finally add the last 1/3 of vodka into the saucepan with wine.
Heat it up quickly and serve it in small cups together with a spoon and the almond. All the fruit is supposed to be eaten but not the hard type of spices,

If you think this receipt is too strong - either you reduce the amount of vodka OR you add more ginger. Ginger conceals the taste of alcohol. If you serve this to friends - remember that people usually underestimates what effect hot alcohol will have on their poor bodies. No driving after glögg!

If you have leftovers - pour into some kind of can with lid. Place it into the a refrigerator. The taste gets better and better. Just add some more vodka for every time you heat it up.

Äpple Glögg (apple glögg) - great even without alcohol

5 dl juice from apple
2 dl white vine
3-5 pieces of barque/pins of cinnamon
5-7 pieces of that kind of aniseed that looks like flowers/stars (what is it called?)
(a few 10-20 pieces of clove if you like that taste)
0,5-1 dl raisins
0,5-1 dl almond
2-?? cl of hard liquid like apple snaps, Skåne snaps, or in vorst case Vodka. Anything strong with apple or taste of aniseed is great.

Boil the spices and the apple juice for 10 - 15 minutes.

Add raisins and peeled almond .
Add vine and heat more.
Add the hard liquid and heat for a few seconds.

This is wonderful for a bad throat or when ever you have a cold. The vitamins makes you feel much better. And you can make this recipes without any alcohol at all. Kids love it! (It taste almost as good)

Keep any left overs in the refrigerator. Without alcohol it last for about 1-2 weeks. With alcohol much longer. The taste get better and better. (The taste of "star aniseed" and cinnamon takes a while to flourish.)

So it is Christmas again & another burning hot ski tour

As always I woke up one day realizing it is Christmas in just a few days. And so I did yesterday. At 12:30. I haven´t slept that long for several year - I had really to hurry to manage to do shopping before closing time at 16.00. Annoyed really...I really wanted to go up early this morning.

So I did start my X-mas shopping by buying three gifts and of course the most expensive to myself. But before showing you that awesome thing - let me introduce my oldest daughter. The most pretty girl in town. And of course also the best salsa dancer too.

Here she is:

But I think this angle is prettier

Talking about beauty - this is where she got her dancing & beauty genes from ;-)

Saturday Night Fever?
Nice Christmas gift, surprise surprise.

About ageing and how to feel good
I must admit I feel a little bit old the day after a skitour. The tendons in my heels do not like skiing but since I do they just have to obey. I have to figure out what insoles to use for the skiboots. And meanwhile I have to pamper my heels with warm socks and liniment. I am pretty good at pampering....so we can manage. Including in day-after-ski-pampering is also wearing high heels. I can do that offer for the good sake.

the light is actually yellow but iPhone makes it burning hot red
Probably corresponding my temperature

I went skiing tonight once again. Angry at everybody and everyone but the most angry at myself. And as always - every bad feeling was wiped out after that skitour. I really wish everyone on this earth find a similar magic cure for all kinds of "feeling bad".

The silence, the snow, the nature, the smell, the partly monotone and hard work making an almost meditative transcendental feeling. I love feeling my body working really hard. That is probably why I like going to the gym and swimming too. I like that kind of meeting with my body and feel how it responds to my wish. It is amazing much more we can manage then we actually believe. Not that I ran that hard this night - I just ran hard enough to get any effect and still save my heel tendons.

On the way down from the prepared tracks I was risking my life as usual. It was a kind of off pist skiing with cross country skis. 30 centimetre new snow and no other skiers this day at that path.Only a few footprints. I ended up first in the blackberry bushes and then literally in a spruce. But I fell softly and giggling. This is also a part of that therapy :)

It has to be fun or else we cannot make it

Post moved to Bettinas Business Blogg
(remove from here to stop SEO penalties because of duplicate content)

The Replacement Theory

9 dec 2010, three months and three lanterns

You think you are brave and have come over the worse. You feel life is coming back to you.You feel more happiness than misery. You think you never will feel the same again. You think you have got over it. The ranting riddles in your brain has started to slumber. You feel peace.

Some thing you never get over. You just pretend. You just manage to chop the sorrows down into small pieces and process them in a time sharing way.

You cry just a few minutes on the highway then you are yourself. Or in bed all alone when you go to sleep far too late. Next morning you cannot almost remember you cried. You let the sunshine in again.

Some losses you can get over. Some losses are screaming in your hearth for ever.

Some friends are replaceable. Others are not.

I am happy having found out the "replacement theory" works for parts in life. I have known it all the time. Others cannot be replaced. And I do not want them to be replaced.

I am happy having found new energy anyhow
despite I still am crying
Sometimes

---

Mona-Lisa and her friend died at the railway accident 9 September 2010 at Stenungsund
http://www.thelocal.se/28894/20100909/
 

A salsa club introduction

This is a quick salsa & salsa club introduction and a few video clips from my favourite salsa socials - Falken & Salsabor Henriksberg Gothenburg Sweden.

At Falken you pay 4$, get the best dance floor in town, the nicest people and tons of fun. Here the only liquid available for drinking is two containers of water. So if you dear reader by some reason believe people are "hot" because of drinks or other kinds of drugs - you are definitely wrong. The only drug these people are on joy and of course some endorphins and dopamine.

And this - almost no drinks - is typical for salsa communities all over the world. You cannot dance if you drink too much. And if you have spent a few hundred dollars per season on classes you do not want to spoil everything by alcohol. Dancers here in Sweden do not not even smoke. It is amazing.

To interact on the dance floor you need a sharp brain and working reflexes. There are lots of things to consider. Beat, musical interpretation, planning the tours (for guys) and not get hurt by the couples beside. The guy need to make it comfortable for the girl - make her relax by showing her "I protect you from the evil neighbours that might make you fall right on the dancefloor". The girl - if she is relaxed - gives everything. Both regarding dance and interaction.

And what is happening then?
Salsa is a kind of old mating "ritual". Men becomes men and women women. The guy chases the girls and they of course say "no no no" and at the same time they show off. Exposing every curve using hips, bobs, belly, butt and glittering eyes. You look the guy deep into his eyes. You smile.You flirt, you tease you might even seduce for usually 2 x 7 minutes. But when the you leave the dancefloor - it is like nothing ever have happened.

It is like a theatre or a game. What ever happening at the dancfloor is its own entity. What is happening at the bar - another one. But of course inviting for a dance is a great way to start a chat with that awesome girl or guy. And you may have her/him in your arms and see if you want more.

Salsa


There are two main styles of salsa - Cuban and X-body. The sample above is on-1 LA style. Then of course two different timings - on-1 and on-2. The dance is the same - it is just where you put the feet in the beat that differs. Here in Sweden most people dance on-1 but on-2 is coming. In New York on-2 is dominant.

Cuban is easiest to learn. So any newbie - start with this style first. You get to the point of FUN much quicker. Sadly many guys skipping this phase never learn to dance. Their heads get so full of pattern and styling that they forget timing and musical interpretation.You have to listen to become a great dancer - both to the music and to your current ladies needs. But I also know lots of guys starting with NY or LA linestyle becoming great dancers anyhow. It is just so many more obstacles to overcome at the same time. Learn what is most popular at your own dance scene.

If you start dancing Cuban and finally finds a bit boring - it might be a good idea to start dancing X-body or line style. This is a more intellectual kind of salsa but also more expressive. In cuban the girls hands are stuck almost all the time - in X-body you may shine that is show off all by your self.The guys shines as well


Bachata




Bachata is a intimate dance but always danced with respect. Anyhow as far as you stay at a salsaclub or dance studio socials. But if you go to a place for salsa wannabies - a Latino party club for example - serious grinding might happen. That is sex with clothes on and has nothing to do with dancing. Not funny at all...

In bachata you get very close and this means that there might be people you refuse to dance bachata with. And people who perhaps not dance bachata with you. You have to respect that - this doesn´t necessarliy mean they do not like you.

Well performed bachata is very nice - soft sensual and relaxing. You are very very close but there is always a few inches in between (a fact people sometimes miss while just watching). It is sensual and yes and you might feel sensations perhaps not wanted or wanted indeed. But as with salsa - that magic disappear when you leave the dance floor. If you want to get laid for real you have to start the game once again beside the dance floor.


What to wear?
Clothes that breathe - you will get sweaty. An extra T-shirt is often brought by the guys that cannot undress as much as the girls. There are nice looking sport T-shirts in factory build for breathing. Look at the golf section for example. Make sure the fabrics is nice to touch for the girls - some synthetic is awful.

Girls - make sure shirts, skirts, tops, shoulder straps and everything is dance prof. Make sure theys stay in place while shaking your hips, bobs or spin. Never have a bare back where the guy is supposed to put his hand. You get sweaty here as well. It has to be comfortable for him too.

On feet wear firm shoes but not rubber shoes. You must be able to twist, turn and spin without hurting you knees. This can be hard to foresee if you do not know the floor. Different floors behave differently. Experienced dancers always bring two pair of shoes. One fast and one slow.

Shoes with synthetic soles works mostly fine. Or very old "dried out" rubber shoes with no floor grip at all. Try at home and pick the fastest ones.

Why do no one carry a wedding ring?
It is simple - it hurts to wear rings while dancing. You may even hurt your partner with a fancy ring. As a matter of fact you need to be careful with all kinds of accessories. Like bracelets, necklaces, earrings, belts with sharp decorations. So do never presume marital status based on ring or no ring at a dance club

Cha cha cha
This dance is not for new beginners. It is very sensual despite the distance. You flirt - you seduce like never before. And you have time to express all feelings since it is slower than salsa.

This is THE best dancers in Gothenburg. Nina also a member of hiphop group Twisted feet. She has taught me some styling - something she really knows. Philippe does everything for his lady. He moves like a panther - dyamic and explosive. When connected he moves around the girl all the time - making her feel precious and great. His eyes is aways there - checking you up. Watching you deep deep in your eyes. Making you feel desired even if you know it all is a game.





Salsa Weekend 2009
All included - classes, shows, fun & socials. Unexpected happenings at the dancefloor. Like some African Rumba with Griselle Ponche. Amazing lots of stars are there



Merengue
is a simple beat 2 dance. It is energy - flesh and body and great fun. It is very simpel to learn the basis. So simple you can even teach a dog.

Often at clubs there is a salsa class in beginning of night. Here you see lots of different skills - everything from white to black belters.

So why do I dance salsa?
It makes me happy, makes me meet a lot of friends, gives me great low intensive cardiovascular training, makes my body burn fat and it gives me a chance to flirt with "safety belt on". It is a kind of sex with clothes on but you get no sexual diseases and no unwanted pregnancies. You only get the fun part and there are no bad side effects. You get respect, lots of friends and have fun.

A Rhapsody in Light or the lack of it. Nordic Light Winter 2010

09:15 Stenungsund

December 9-10, 2010
I brought my camera with me for 24 hours. My mission was to to kill the Swedish world famous bitter sweet romantic melancholy personalized in the voice of Monica Zetterlund, Jan Johansons piano and Wilhelm Petterson Berger's compositions. 

When I went out to clean up the car right before taking off for car maintenance I saw the dawn above and decided to collect "prof" for 24 hours.

Did I fail or succeed? It is in the eye of the beholder.
I have my own conclusion anyhow *smiling*

Music
Jan Johansson, Visa från Utanmyra
Monica Zetterlund, Sakta gå hem genom stan
Wilhelm Peterson-Berger - Sommarsång (Summer Song)

09:15 Stenungsund

10:30 Car service

'

12:30 Outside Bohusläns museum Uddevalla

Having lunch, fishsoup and a cake

I wonder if the owner regrets never having covered it completely

13:!5 Uddevalla,  I was supposed to park my car

16:45 very late for WCS class, became even later when I found this

18:00 Class in Westcoast swing, Gothenburg

22:15 Salsa Performance class, Gothenburg

23:30 Tonight three months and three candles

08:00 December 10

08:15 Ytterby

09:00 Gothenburg

09:15 Gullbergsvass, Gothenburg

Gullbergsvass, Gothenburg
Steering committee meeting in 30 seconds

About Revenge and Assange

Contradictory by Kjell Engman

Today I caught up with the Assange sexual assault story. Assange - the founder of Wikileaks - is as I presume most people already know accused for "Sex by Surprise" due to international sources. Swedish sources call it rape. (I have looked for the exact charge but cannot find it)

I read a a Swedish blogger - Göran Rydling - who knows the name of one of the two women involved. Göran is running a blog about consensual sex. A pretty big blog http://www.samtycke.nu/ and very serious as far as I can see. There are lots of articles about raping, rapists and how to solve the problems that no is not always taken for a no. So when a guy like him starts to believe this is a set up - I start to wonder too.

Watch the Fox News by yourself:

One of the girls in Assange case is running a blog of her own. At 19 january 2010 she wrote a blog post about revenge "Seven steps to revengue".  Some sources use this blogpost as an argument that it all was about revenge. Two women finds out both had sex with the same "golden calf" - or bull to be more precise - in just 48 hours.

I think this blog post is a far to loose ground for presuming it all is about revenge from these two woment. But who knows...there are facts that are so strange that I start to wonder. Curious as I am I looked up some of the sources to that blogpost:

How to get legal revenge

How to enjoy Revenge


A few quotes

"Although seeking revenge is not appropriate for every conflict, there are times when you might feel your pride or reputation must be defended. Prepare yourself and your plan to get back at those who deserve a dose of revenge."

"Remember, keep your goal in mind, and make sure your victim suffers in the same way she made you suffer"

"Plan the attack. Tailor your revenge tactic to best annoy or humiliate the victim. Choose a suitable date and time to carry out the plan. Outline your plan in detail to avoid missteps and deviations"

"Strike once and then move on. Get your revenge and be done with it. Don't hang on to the hurt forever; this hurts only you."

Excuse me now - but this is going to be a bit personal...

This kind of sites only makes me want to puke. This is as far from me as possible. I can be angry - I can be mad. But revenge - NO! I can take a verbal fight and pick a few points but never plan for a revenge and then perform it. If I ever did such a thing I would probably "enjoy" it for a few minutes or perhaps half a day then I would feel guilty.

There is always so much you do not know about peoples behaviours and why the act as they do. Mostly people make strange or wrong choices because of lack of knowledge. Why put a knife in the back of such a person? I pity them mostly.

I feel the same about those who have put a knife in my back. If they had understood they would never have done what they did. If they had understood things would have been differently. But these people never wanted to understand - they never realized they didn´t have the whole picture. So all it does is making me feel sad about them - not me.

There is however a few good point at that "revenge site"

• only revenge a behaviour - not a person
• keep it short
• Revenge is like burning down your own house to kill a rat. Forgiveness is the best revenge, since a rat can turn into a friend

I had one real revenge in my life but that was in a fight with an old employer - not in a fight with an individual. It wasn´t planned - it was an opportunity that opened at a negotiation. I won since the negotiator didn´t understand the current bid.

In the Assange case I think as I always do: there is so much we do not know anything about at all. That is actually all we know.

In time we perhaps get an answer - or perhaps we believe we get an answer.
But how can we be sure that answer is the truth?
And whos truth is it?

Be yourself - It takes a fool to remain sane

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken
by Oscar Wilde

Today when I heard The Ark is going to do their last tour this summer I came to think about this quote. Read lyrics below and you understand why.

This is a feel good post.
To make anyone not feeling he/she is fitting in to feel better. 
To make anyone one feeling miserable a bit happier

I hope and presume the Arks music will stay for ever as well as Oscar Wilde's work & quotes.

This song once meant a lot to me. It still does. Listen and read the lyrics :-)

Lyrics to It Takes A Fool To Remain Sane :
Whatever happened to the funky race?
A generation lost in pace
Wasn't life supposed to be more than this?
In this kiss I'll change your bore for my blis

But let go of my hand and it will slip on the sand
If you don't give me the chance
to break down the walls of attitude
I ask nothing of you
not even your gratitude

And if you think I'm corny
then it will not make me sorry
It's your right to laugh at me
and in turn that's my oppurtunity
to feel brave

'Cos it takes a fool to remain sane
Oh, it takes a fool to remain sane
Oh, it takes a fool to remain saneOh, in this world all covered up in shame

Every morning I would see her getting off the bus
The picture never drops, it's like a multicoloured snapshot
stuck in my brain
It kept me sane for a couple of years
as it drenched my fears
of becoming like the others
who become unhappy mothers
and fathers of unhappy kids
and why is that?

'Cos they've forgotten how to play
Oh, maybe they're afraid to feel ashamed
to seem strange, to seem insane
to gain weight, to seem gay
I tell you this

That it takes a fool to remain sane
Oh, it takes a fool to remain sane
Oh, it takes a fool to remain sane
Oh, in this world all covered up in shame
(Oh, take it to the stage)

So, take it to the stage in a multicoloured jacket
Take it jackpot, crackpot, strutting like a peacock
Nailvarnish Arkansas, shimmy-shammy featherboah
Crackpot, haircut, dye your hair in glowing red and blue

Do, do, do what you wanna do
Don't think twice, do what you have to do
Do, do, do, do, let your heart decide
what you have to do
That's all there is to find

'Cos it takes a fool to remain sane
Oh, it takes a fool to remain sane
Oh, in this world all covered up in shame
Oh, it takes a fool to remain sane
Oh, it takes a fool to remain sane
Oh, it takes a fool to remain sane
Oh, in this world all covered up in shame

Oh, it takes a fool
(It takes a fool to remain sane)...

---

Soon after this "experience" I started to dance salsa. The dance made me wanting to come back again. To the land of everybody else. It gave me a context, friends & life except for the pure happiness.

Shiteons are sub-atomic particles of bad luck that streak around the universe

Thanks Sweavo for being the one you are - and for these words

Written by one of my oldest netfriends. We have meet at three different forums for at least 10 years now. A guy I really want to meet for real one day.  

Shiteons are sub-atomic particles of bad luck that streak around the universe at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour. Like gamma rays, shiteons can pass through the Earth and everything on it with very little influence. Unlike gamma rays, shiteons tend to accumulate in vast clouds, millions of miles across. You will notice if the Earth passes through a shiteon cloud because everything will go wrong, usually you’ll have a spot of bad luck, then you’ll have a couple of days where everything breaks and all your efforts to fix things only make things worse. Then, seemingly inexplicably, everything comes right again. The remote starts working, the cat comes back, you find your chequebook. This is the Earth passing out of the shiteon cloud again.


The best identified strategy for dealing with a shiteon storm is “perseverance”. This is mid way between trying and giving up. Trying too hard to fix your situation only exposes more activities to possible shiteon strikes and usually exacerbates the situation. Giving up just lets entropy take over and you end up with an unholy mess to dig yourself out of after the “shite-storm”. Perseverance, continually looking for small, correct things to do, and doing them, is by far the most successful approach under “shite” conditions.

Published with Sweavo's consent

Now Sweavo and I "meet" at Facebook. He is a is really feel good guy who always makes me smile. And he is always there when I need him: like translation problems, analysing Google Analytics tracking cookies or simply learning me how to be a grounded salsa dancer  as the selfannounced Jedin/Yoda at Youtube. Thanks for being the one you are :-)
 

Report from a fancy skiresort - or my extended backyard?

my iPhone today

Three rounds by ski in 48 hours. On top of that mounting ceramic & granite tiles in new bathroom and working with a videoproject this night. I am not surprised my body refuses to work for an hour or so. Giving me a chance to write some words. I presume I am addicted on that too....writing.

This morning there was 20 centimetre more snow. But the sticky type this time. When I started skiing I doubted it would work at all since skis got clogged by snow beneath. And of course I didn´t want to go back and treat them with whatever that is called - "skivalla" we call it. I persisted - making my legs full of lactoacid.

So I decided it was worth a try anyhow - just to keep my own tracks open. In case I do not I know the pedestrians in the wood will take over. I think about human beings this time - not elks & deers. I have to stake a claim (?) on parts of the path so they not put their footprints all over making it hard for cross country skiers like me.

Luckly with snow clogged beneath the skis I did not have any chance to slide backwards at all. And sadly not forward either. I had to use the ski poles get speed enough (staka we call that too). You should have seen that micro second when all snow decided to slide off my skis  giving me full speed. Almost like a Jacques Tati movie.

There wasn´t much light so I did not bring my big camera. And besides technique isn´t good enough yet to handle a system camera and downhill slopes at the same time. I can tell - it hurts! But today I would probably have fallen softly if I had tried going down that zig zag slope looking like a green piste with slalom skis but a black one with cross country skis and a system camera around my waist. I need great light - I mean really great light to put me on for a risky project like that. Like the light I had a few times last year.

I proudly presents - from my extended backyard:

Photos from wolf woods and meadows, winter 2009/2010

• or how it is to live at a fancy ski resort instead of that damp Swedish west coast town I use to live in
• or how to manage the new ice age coming up
• or how I´m trying to get to know my new camera
• or if you dare to go for daily skitours in the wolf wood
• or how to go downhill skiing with cross country skis and a system camera around your neck/waist meaning it will hurt like h*ll if you fall

The meadow right outside, Arnes land

On my way up the hill

There was a wolf just 600 meters from this house last year
A friend of mine saw it.

Our backyard

That old Opel

My enemy - in the tracks

The meadow right outside