My new toy

Finally did it! Bought myself a beetle this week...and very happy i am. Honestly, if you have never sat in one you would not believe the space it has. Anyway, i know some people think my choice of car is a little "feminine". I love it however! Now its just to plan a road trip.

Settling in to Södertälje

Since moving in I have been doing alot of sorting...and have spent many an evening in Ikea. My apartment is slowly taking shape though (in no small part thanks to Klara).

It is amazing how much time a person can lose in their life browsing round Ikea!! No more!! I am only 30 after all. I should be out partying!!

Its nearly done though. A few pictures on the wall and a rug are next on the shopping lists though. By the way. Be good to see you back over here Wayne!

Summer BBQ

Asok cam to visit over the weekend as part of his summer vacation. The weather was great and after a day at Lådbilslandet (for the kids) we went out to Ingrids mums house and had beers and a barby. I had a great time....and Taras even promised he was going to atually write something for designertechniques.....so did Asok!!! A great weekend. Back to work on monday though. I should not complain really...in the last three months i have only worked two weeks!

Camping Vacation

Had a great hiking holiday during my summer vacation. Headed a little north in Sweden (just above Åre actually) and spent three days doing some fell walking.....or fell wandering as they say in Sweden. The first two days were 16km and 19km respectively...all cross country. It was easier than i expected though, and it helped that we had prepared well. The cabins we were staying overnight at were so remote that all supplies were airlifted in by helicopter. There were no roads to them at all...period!

The walking was fun though, and the scenery fantastic. Reminded me a lot of Scotland though which was odd. We were very lucky with the weather as well actually. It only really rained on the second day, and for me at least i welcomed it. Klara didnt though....she would have much prefered sunshine?! In my opinion i thought it was a great for keeping cool and fresh. On that note, i was also very happy with my new thermos. Such a small pleasure, but one that i had forgotten since coming to Sweden. A really really strong brewed cup of tea!

The last day we managed to walk 12km in 2 hours 15 minutes. I thought this was not to bad considering it was cross country and we had done 35km in the previous couple of days. Anyway. Had great fun, and hope to do it again sometime in the future, perhaps even further north.

My First Scania

Managed to arrange my first loan of a Scania truck. Was pretty simple to arrange so i hope to borrow one very soon in the future with a fully loaded semi trailer as well. Oh the fun!!!! Anyway, this truck was pretty cool, and the Opticruise was pretty easy to use. Took the truck to visit Ingrid, and actually spent the night in it. Was Ok to sleep in...although I could not figure out exactly how the night heater worked. After a visit to Ingrid, i took it north to Sundsval and Klaras folks place. Had a nice couple of days there before bringing the truck...and Klara back to Södertälje. Looking forward to getting my hands on a V8 now!

Moving from Göteborg

The time has come for me to finally leave Göteborg, and my apartment at Norral Liden. Wayne....the era is now officially over!! I added the picture above just to help you remember. The packing was a nightmare too. I didnt think it was going to be nearly as much effort as it finally was.

It took two full days in the end, with the removal company arriving to start packing sunday morning, 8 o clock sharp. Wayne...that table you built had a LOT of sand in it!! Anyway, i have taken it with me, and am going to turn it into a coffee table. Anyway, it didnt take long to load the truck, but after they left we took a couple of hours to clean the apartment. We didnt spend any longer as a moving company will finish the rest...ah, the luxury.

My leaving party

Just a quick thanks everybody who came to my last party in Göteborg. It was good to see everybody from Volvo especially. I will miss you all, and i am going to miss Göteborg too. of course you are all welcome to come and visit any time in Södertälje!

the NEW DesignerTechniques

It has taken some time.....but finally the new DesignerTechniques site has launched. With an improved structure, and a fresher look, i am hoping it is going to be very succesfull. It has cost me enough in late nights and coffee!!!

Olgas Party

Another party. Not much to say apart from thank you to Olga! Great party.

Monster Jam Ulevi

Monster Jam came to Sweden at the weekend and i thought it was too cool an event to have missed. I always enjoyed watching it on TV (although i dont think Wayne was so keen). Seeing it live was something else though. Grave digger was the one i went to see, and he didnt let me down...he won. It was interesting to see the cars up close as well though. They really are nothing more than engines with wheels bolted on. The body is nothing but a painted fiberglass dressing. The weather was great as well. In fact it has been in the 30s for the last few days in Göteborg. Nothing to complain about there though!!!

Glider Flying

One of the presents i got for my 30th birthday was the promise from Linus (aerodynamics guy from Volvo trucks) to go Glider flying. Linus has had his license for a fair few years now (otherwise i may not have went). The weather was absolutely fantastic, calm and clear...not to mention very hot. It was a long relaxed day, as we had to wait for our slot in the air...and i have to admit that i was very nervous. When it came our time i put on my parachute...which nobody explained how to use i might add...and up we went. For the whole 5 minutes behind the tow plane i could not open my eyes. I didnt actually expect to be that nervous. Once we were loose though i calmed down (the hyperventilating went away)!! It was absolutely fantastic, and very smooth as well. I managed to stay up for a whole 35 minutes before the sick feeling started. It is a little bit bumpy when you are trying to climb. It was a great day..with a great view. I look forward to doing it again Linus. And perhaps getting my own license in the future???

Now for something new

I guess I can now let everybody know about my other exciting news. I have just recently accepted a new job as a designer for Scania trucks. This will obviously mean leaving Volvo and Gothenburg behind. I will miss both of them a lot (it has been a fantastic four and a half years), but of course I am really looking forward to moving to a new town and starting a new job. For those of you who read www.designertechniques.com this may go some way to explaining why there has been something of a slow down in the updating of the site. I have of course been a little bit busy with arrangements. Hopefully once things settle down however normal service will resume. In the meantime however I am looking forward to a really good leaving party in a couple of weeks. I should also say that this means my old phone number as well as my Volvo e mail address no longer work. The allan@designertechniques.com address is obviously there for those who want to keep in contact though. Was not sure what picture to illustrate this with...so the honours go to my dad on a visit to Volvo trucks. Gothenburg can now sleep easy at night....Stockholm however has to look forward to me touring around in some Scania trucks!!

New Phone

Got myself a new phone a few days back (Sony Ericsson K800i) and it has a realy good camera on it. It is 3.2 megapixels and has full focus as well as a macro focus setting. The really cool part though is its panoramic setting that lets you take some really cool shots. I guess this stuff is all pretty normal these days, but i still find it quite cool. Anyway....here are a couple of shots from it. Hopefully it will mean i will have more to add to the blog in future too.

A few more 30th Birthday Pictures

Got some more pictures of my 30th Birthday party the other day. You have seen it all before I guess....but there are a few of Andrew going a bit mad with the champagne! And Wayne....the hat looks great!

Mustang

I absolutely cannot forget to thank Johan for the loan of his Mustang for the week. It made for a great 30th birthday week.....and probably means that I am going to have to dig into my own pocket soon to buy my own toy car. Cheers buddy. Also thanks for arranging the trip to Åre in the truck. Its not often you can do a 2000km trip in a truck.....especially a tricked out FH16 with custom colours and graphics.

To round up my birthday weekend celebrations there was a huge birthday party at my apartment. Between 50 and 60 people came in the end....and a great time was had by all. I have to thank everybody for coming.....as well as for the fantastic presents i got. Pink socks, plenty of alcohol, an invite to dinner at Lottas house, a massage, a USB Midi Keyboard, and invite to go glider flying, flowers, concert ticket vouchers, and much much more. Thank you all very much. It made my transition to old man much easier. On the party side, i also had a great time....although i wish i had remembered to buy chamagne glasses for 60 people. 12 bottles of champagne and only 4 glasses does not work so well. Oh.....and the other thing i forgot was how long it takes to tidy up the next day!! Anyway, you can click on the pictures to see them bigger, and as soon as wayne sends them i should be able to post up some more. Cheers

Folk Race

As part of my 30th birthday weekend I also arranged a Folk Race. Basically this is an old traditional type of race for Sweden. It used to be that you had to buy and old car for very little money...race it against your friends in a field and then sell the car.....at least thats my understanding. What it meant for us though was turning up and being given rear wheel drive beaten up old Volvo cars to race each other round a dirt track. It was great fun...although i didnt win. The weather was great and there were many friends from work and the UK with me. The racing was pretty difficult. You were not allowed to touch the other cars.....AT ALL. With a penalty of being banned from the rest of the days racing. On parts of the track it was so dusty and dirty you could literally not see the other cars which were no more than ten feet from you. It made for some interesting moments. Well done david for holding your monster moment together.....i was sure i was going to get past you!!!

Poker Night

Had another poker night over at my place to help begin my 30th birthday weekend celebrations. Rob and Andrew were also here from the UK, and we had a great night. I hope I nobody minds that i point out that i won for the second time in a row now.....the challenge is down.

Åre trip

Took our yearly department trip to Åre in the north of Sweden this year, and had a great time. We were there to visit a logging truck company (cheers Johan) and see our trucks (and others) in action in the real world. Of course there was plenty of time to enjoy Åre itself as well. We managed to do some Snowboarding, go on some snow scooters, drive an excavator, and drink some beer. All with fantastic fresh Swedish weather. The snow scooters were my favorite part....I managed to get Johans scooter (which was a lot more powerfull than the rented ones) up to 135kmh. Trust me...it was fast. So fast in fact that the wind was lifting my eyelids away from my eyes....under my helmet visor. Great!

Not been doing much!!

Been a bit quiet after new year, with loads of work to do. That and DesignerTechniques have kept me busy (as well as the odd party). I have managed to come across some really cool web sites that I thought I would share though. In no particular order......

Some truly amazing storm photos.
www.tinyvices.com/storms.html

Probably the wierdest site I have ever seen. Its a webcam in some guys apartment.....and you can turn the various lights in the room on and off (you can chat to him whilst you are annoying him too....when he is there)
www.drivemeinsane.com

A strange rabbit. The funny thing is trying to shake him loose once he has grabbed the curser!
www.changar.com/archives/go.html

Some cool kids drawings that have been redrawn by professional artists.
www.drawergeeks.com/Kid_Creatures/Kid_Creatures.html

A really cool idea.
www.instructables.com/id/EOFOYM0RBUEXCFH30A?ALLSTEPS

I guess thats enough for now.....

Cats the musical

Went to see Cats the musical the other night at the Gotebörg Opera House. It was much better than I thought it was going to be (especially since it was all in swedish). We were sat about 10 feet from the stage, and the dancing and singing were just amazing. The dancers at the start of the show were even crawling in amongst the audience! If it was not already sold out I might have tried to see it again.

DesignerTechniques Competition 2 is launched

The second DesignerTechniques competition is now here, and I am pleased to say that the prizes are pretty good. With a Wacom up for the winning as well as a collection of fabulous books, and an art supplies gift voucher, I am hoping for a lot of great entries! The site I am pleased to say is now getting between twenty five and thirty thousand visitors per month, is viewed in over 100 diferent countries, browsed in virtually all the major car companies, and certainly every major transport design school in the world.........and it is still growing. Thanks to all who visit (and to google for the statistics)!!!!

Old pictures found!!

Having been doing a little clearing around the apartment, which led to coming across my old photos drawer. Found these in there, and thought since Dave was showing off his "album kids" pictures i would continue the theme. Ok, thing is, I can come up with first and second names for 6 of the people in the pictures. There are 14 though. Anybody think they can do it?? (obviously this question is only to the people i went to school with). Just click on the pic to make it bigger by the way.

New Year 2007

Spent new year back at my apartment again, and the firework show this year was the best yet. Göteborgs Posten has a huge display at 5pm, and it was really amazing. Hundreds of people were lining the harbour front to watch it.....and it didnt let anybody down. It was setting of car alarms perhaps half a kilometre away!!! Well I am an overgrown child......I think thats cool! For those who dont know, my apartment overlooks the harbour and I have a top floor ringside seat! Yippee!! Åsa, Annika, myself and Wayne then partied and drank champagne until midnight when the second show started. Whilst not one show, the whole horizon was lit with fireworks shows. I am not going to try to describe how amazing it was, and we didnt get any pictures......you will just have to see if you can try to get an invite to my place for next year. The rest of the night is a blur, and my hangover was a complete one the next morning.....but i look forward to doing it all again next year. Scott.....you should join for next year!?

Christmas at Ingrids Mums

Had a great time at Ingrids mums place over the christmas vacation. There was me, Ingrid, Taras, Leah and Maya. As well as Ingrids sister, husband and three kids. It was one of those vacations where everything centres around food....and lots of it. The kids got loads of presents from santa on christmas eve.....(swedish rules) and everybody had a great time. I got a cool manga style figure that you had to construct yourself. It was from Taras, and came from Japan, and you would not believe how well moulded it was!!! The funniest thing about the whole trip though was coming back and stopping at MAX burger. They were giving away these free whoopee cushions.....I had forgotten just how funny these can be!!

Radio Controlled Helicopter

Just got a new radio controlled helicopter to go with my aeroplane. Its pretty cool, and i can fly it in the house which is not possible with the plane. Its a bit hard to control though and really the plane is a bit more fun, especially in the park. For only 20 quid though you cant really complain. www.silverlit.com if you want one.

Johns Surprise 30th Party

Travelled to germany to visit some friends, and to surprise john for his 30th birthday. Must say thanks to Andrew, Melissa and "Mads" for putting up with me and Paul for a couple of days. And for letting us have a key so that we could come back from johns party at 8 in the morning. Paul, i dont think anything will ever beat our 4.5 hour journey home from that party!!! After the party went down to Pauls place and visited his new baby, Lucy. Also got to see Pauls flash new house. Unfortunatly I didnt get any pictures since i spent most of my time relaxing and sleeping in until way past noon. Thanks for letting me do that Carmen. It was a lovely time, and i look forward to coming back in the warmer weather. I may even help Paul with a bit of digging in the garden if he is lucky!! You will have to send me some pictures of the house, see if I can do an "artists" impression of what it could look like. Give you something to aim for Paul. Finally, thanks to Sue for arranging the surprise party.....and not getting too annoyed at my efforts to blow out the candles on Johns cake. Now.......who is going to arrange my surprise brthday party?? April 5th for those who have forgotten!! I hope though that nobody has to endure the length of journey it took to get back. Paul, it was a 12 hour journey back from your place. Two trains, a bus, a plane, a bus, a tram and then a walk. There must be an easier way?!

Teaching in Umeå

Went teaching again, this time in Umeå. Some really talented students up there, and I am hoping that I can persuade some of them to take a little time from their studies to write some tutorials for DesignerTechniques. Aside from the teaching, one of the students also had the coolest little electric scooter ever. Really cheap as well....although you have to import them from Korea. Perhaps something I am going to have to buy early next year. I will certainly let you know if i get one!!! By the way, cheers to Linnea again....I didnt take any pictures in Umeå either. Actually, i really must buy a digital camera!

Short break in Scotland

Went back to scotland for a few days. Nothing to interesting to report.....apart from I missed my flight back. I did come across this rather amusing picture of my dad though (the one on the right). Its from back in his army days, and I just thought it would be nice to post it up here for the whole world to see. Dad....your now famous!

Teaching in Luleå

Spent an interesting couple of days in Luleå (very northern Sweden). Actually had to lecture to just over 100 students, and then run a sketching workshop with about 30 students. Talking in front of 100 people was a bit of a new experience for me, but it went really well. I actually went over time...with no complaints. The students were not actually training to be designers, more studio engineers. It was good to try to show how important the role of studio engineering is in matching the designers ideas to engineering led production reality. Hopefully these two days lecturing will lead to more, as I had a great time running them. By the way, the picture is here is actually from a few hours I spent teaching at HDK in Göteborg. I didnt take any pictures at Lueleå. Everybody say hi to Linnea.

The end of an era

After just short of three years of sharing an apartment, Wayne has finally took the plunge and quit his job...and Sweden. There have been a lot of fun times and I wish they could continue, but now I must find a new flat mate to share my apartment with. I only hope he proves to be as good at making tea as wayne was....and cooking. I hope everything goes great Wayne and I look forward to seeing you back here from time to time. There will be plenty more parties happening and you are always welcome. After all, who else is going to supply the champagne??

Waynes BurstaBubble site

Since he has not written a new article for DesignerTechniques I have been unable to plug Waynes new site so far. Then I thought why not put it on here. For those of you who dont know, Wayne is my current flat mate in sweden (he is leaving soon....but more on that later). He started his website at around the same time as I started DesignerTechniques. He will hate me for saying this...but whilst my site has grown to the point of getting 15000 to 20000 visits per month, his has had a grand total of about 500 since it launched!! I get more than that in a day (cue big cheesy grin from Allan!). Anyway. Its a pretty cool site and idea. I wont try to explain it.......its best you just go and visit the site. I have already ordered a pair of jiffy pants! Cant wait till they get here! ANYWAY....GO AND LOOK AT HIS SITE NOW! Just click the link at the top or look under links over on the right of the page.

FH16 ROADSHOW days five to ten

Well, I have been trying to remember what we did everyday since day four....and to be honest it is all a big jumble in my head. There was so much going on that all the days have rolled into one. If only I had remembered to update my blog every day like I planned. Because I cant remember I have decided to finish my FH16 tour update by just putting up a few more pictures. The rest of the journey did have a lot of excitement though. Some things that come to mind? Well we bought Johan a radio controlled helicopter for his birthday (although we could not get it to work). We did an all night drive from Austria to Germany (plenty of red bull and loud music). We drove on some very narrow roads (you can see this below), and we managed to fit in a few party nights. There was also the highlight in Austria of seeing a truck being driven rather poorly...and into another truck.....this you can also see below. I think it is fair to say that I had an awesome 10 tens and would gladly do it all again. Getting back home was nice though....a good nights sleep was the first order of the day! Thanks to all of you who were involved in the tour.