AdventureDad

The past week has just been freaking great.  I’ll bore you with that later but let me tell you about yesterday. Last night I had the privilege of meeting some other bloggers here in Stockholm.    First I played tennis for an hour after work and then headed over for "Bloggöl" as the event is called. This event takes place the first Monday of every month. A group of 10-15 bloggers get together, have a few beers, and chat.  Last night we went to "Tranan" which is a cozy basement bar near Odenplan.   I had never meet any of these people before and didn’t even know what they looked like. I have  long ago been Americanized and Mexicanized so I have no problem going to a place full of strangers.  But any normal Swedish person would have a heart attack just thinking of this.  "What???  I’m going to a place full of people I’ve never met and I have to stay there for hours and talk to them.  What am I gonna talk about?"  Thank God Hot Wife got me out of that stage ages ago. 

We were 12 in total and I met some very nice people.  All of the other bloggers have far more blog experience than myself.  A few have IT knowledge on an almost scary level.  As far as I know Stefan Geens is the one who started this get-together with other bloggers on a monthly basis.   I think it’s a great idea.  Stefan is from Belgium but has lived in Sweden for three years and I have been following his blog for a couple of years. He blogs about current events, personal stuff, and a lot of geek related issues like mathematics.  Stefan’s knowledge about blogging and internet is extensive to say the least.  He previously lived in NYC so we probably have many stories to share. Seems like a great guy that you can discuss anything with.  Anders Löwdin is another very interesting guy who blogs about politics and current events.  It turns out that he has visited Mexico in his younger days and done some extensive traveling.  I know Mexico well and have explored the country quite thoroughly.  And I have been through a wide variety of trips. Everything from renting a luxury mansion by the ocean to sleeping in a $5 cockroach infested room with scorpions crawling on the floor.  Anders seems to have done some pretty wild traveling and he told me some interesting stories about Chiapas in the mid 80’s.  Look forward to hear more from him.

Erik Stattin is another super blogger who has a very well known blog here in Sweden.  He writes about a wide variety of subjects but more focus on politics, books, blogging, and current events.  I didn’t have a chance to speak much to him but he seems to be very experienced in the blog world.  His blog is one of the highest rated and most popular blogs in Sweden.  Jon Åslund blogs about current events and have some scary geek knowledge.  I do read tons of stuff about IT but I’m a bit lost when people start explaining how they run their own servers and what commands to use.  I should really try to learn more about this area.  The world is small and saw this once again last night.  I ran into Jenny who is a sporty 25 year old (or around there).  We had a chat about our sites and she asked me where I was from.  I told her I originally come from Boden which is a small town close to the North Pole.  OK, it’s not quite that high up but it’s far north and close to the Arctic circle. Kind of like Alaska.  Turns out she’s from the same town but now live in Stockholm.  I have never met anyone from my hometown like this before.  Thought it was cool.  She seems like me very interested in sports of all kinds.  Not watching, actually participating or instructing spinning or aerobics etc.  I hope to see her again.

Waldemar and Alexander have the blog Eudoxa where they discuss society, culture, and technology.  They left early so I didn’t have a chance to speak much to them.  Zaida was there but I didn’t speak to her.  Her blog title is " with a green perspective on the world" which I find refreshing.  Her blog is heavy into politics and current events.

There were a few others I didn’t meet but I hope to see them at Bloggöl next month.  Blogging might be very common in US but it’s not here in Sweden.  When blog is mentioned people get that empty look in their eyes and don’t know if you are talking about a contagious disease, a part for your Ipod, or a Caribbean vacation destination.  I thought it was great to meet some Swedish bloggers and will definitely try to make this a monthly event. 

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