So it has been a whirlwind week for me…left North Carolina on Thursday morning, arrived at Arlanda Airport (20 minutes out of Stockholm by train) on Friday morning, and then on to Linköping Saturday morning.  You don’t want to hear about travel though, you want to hear about Power Challenge, so I will start with my arrival in Linköping.

Saturday-Arrived in Linköping at 16:00, stepped off the train and was greeted with open arms (ok…figuratively) by Mr. Powdersnow himself.  From there I got to do what ever Power Soccer player has dreamed of doing since first starting to play the game…Grocery shopping with Powdersnow!  Then I was treated to a traditional Swedish dish, Tacos, at the holy shrine of Power Soccer, Pow’s home (too be fair they WERE Swedish tacos, which are actually quite a bit different from American tacos).  Of course dinner turned into a three hour discussion about Power Soccer and all things related to it.  Eventually it was time to go home and get some sleep, one more day until my first day of work.

Sunday-Went for a scenic bike ride around Linköping (A Beautiful day and a beautiful city) with my Dad for the Summer, one Mr. Magnus Z.  In Linköping you get around by bike, any other way is just inferior.  Bikes dominate the roads and provides a pleasant break from the SUV hogged streets of the US.  Had some dinner at Magnus’ and then proved US supremacy in Table Tennis by winning a hard fought match against the Swedish representative 11-9 9-11 11-9.  Tough life so far.

Monday-WORK…bright and early, well bright doesn’t really mean much here in the land of eternal sunlight, but early anyway.  The PC office is in the heart of Linköping’s downtown and it is a very nice little office.  While I adjusted to my new work place, I got my feet wet by writing some test cases to ensure that all the different parts of the Power Soccer webpage are working and if they weren’t that we would know immediately what the problem was and could fix it before anyone even notices!  Surprise, surprise, the rest of the crew that you don’t see so much turns out to be some pretty nice people.

Tuesday-SIICCCKK grr…anyway…More Work!  Did all sorts of things for all sorts of people, many of them work related!  Sadly I had to leave work early for a very important meeting in Norrköping (~40km north of Linköping).  This meeting involved paintball guns and took play in a field outside in the beautiful rain, also it was a rather competitive meeting, pitting Power Challenge against Opera.  Power Challenge won the meeting 4-3 and remains undefeated in these very work intensive company meetings.  Also, don’t ever drive in Norrköping is you don’t have to, just trust me on this one.

Wednesday-STILL SICCCKK…grr…work work work…More work on improvements for the next patch.  However I am having trouble working due to the terrible sounds coming from the common room.  Those sounds would be some of the crew trying, and failing, to play Guitar Hero.  As you guessed, all work and no play for us here in Linköping =)  It is OK though, we are all working overtime today!  Outside…at a BBQ.

I apologize for lack of pictures, I didn’t bring my camera cable to work, but don’t despair, I will have some up soon!

One thing I have yet to figure out is why the crew seems to make these weird noises all the time.  Sometimes it seems like they are making them at each other, very odd, I hope I find out what is wrong with the crew soon!  I don’t want to catch whatever it is they have.

/Frogodo

Belgium is known for many things. Chocolate, beer, fries (mistakenly called French becomes they were served in British noble houses by French cooks and not seen before), pretty women (sometimes after a couple of the before-mentioned beers), sprouts and waffles but we are also quite successful in the art of movie making (the brothers Dardenne who occasionally win the Golden Palm of Cannes Filmm Festival) AND we are rather successful at surrealism in all its forms. The running joke is that Belgium, politically speaking, is actually something surreal… as you are probably all ignorant or uninterested creatures, I will not dwell on that… but you all heard of René Magritte, the world most important painter if you scrap the odd-500 top painters out. (the fact that a realist like Powdersnow actually chose that for his clan is “surreal” from our point of view (cuckoo as we might define it) but completely illogical from his point of view but that is a totally different discussion).

As always, I needed a rather long introduction to get to a basic point: the following video. When you are currently not able to play powersoccer to make you feel a bit better in these dark and lonely days, just watch the following video. It was made by a Belgian and it will give you a smile (and in some cases laughter) and an overall feeling of joy. Yes, we Belgians tend to bring joy and laugher in your pessimistic and boring life. That is why we are so adored!

Enjoy:

watch?v=jedd2FiZTqM

Note: the movie was shot in the tram of Sipwell. I take that tram to work and back home every day. It does happen the tram is laughing at something, so the film has, although dramatized, a real core.

Note 2: yes, I am the typical Belgian. Where ever there is fun to be made, there you can find sipwell

I think I’ll have to make this into a series, giving you daily updates regarding our favourite temporary Tech Op’s dude, Jake.

I’d say Frogodo has settled in pretty nicely. As much as can be expected in a couple of days any way. He doesn’t look the slightest bit lost or afraid - that must be a good sign? I mean, the PC HQ can be a rather spooky place. But we’re trying to play nicely, and to make him feel even more welcome we ordered - especially for him of course - super fine weather! Blue skies and that special Nordic light.

(…well that’s another kind of light, but never mind…still Nordic!)

On days like this, not only does everyone you meet outside look rather cool and interesting thanks to the sunglasses they wear, the sunshine actually make you happier. Something to do with…hormones? Endorphins?

Look, a few pics of Linköping in the summer:

the park “Trädgårdsföreningen” (= “The Garden Association” if translated in a Babelfish kind of way)

you know what they say: when in doubt - go swimming!

One place you actually HAVE to visit when in Linköping, Bosses glassbar (Bosse = the name of the owner, glassbar = ice cream bar).

Curious about what Frogodo might get up to for the next couple of weeks? Besides the obvious Jolt drinking and programming of course.  Have a look, check out Linköping from a tourist guide perspective.

All of you somewhat familiar with Power Soccer know that there is a guy called Frogodo. We’ve all heard his name but not all of us actually knew HIM. Well that’s about to change. Cause as of today, and for the next ten weeks, he’ll be part of the development team here in Linköping.

Frogodo - or Jake as he also may be referred to - will join forces with Magnus and Krzysztof, performing some heavy technical operations stuff.

So, let’s give Frogodo a warm welcome to Linköping and the magnificent headquarters of Power Challenge. And, of course, a big congrats to the contributor account on this blog…

/ L

Ladies and gentlemen,

take a look around you. Collect some friends and family around you to face the last Ordeal. The End is near. Very near. When I logged in this afternoon on the Powersoccer website, I was astonished, shocked even, to see the following image:

Shaolinda was playing a game. That must be her fourth or fifth game ever, although she was registered in April 2007. Is there any reasonable explanation… or is my gut feeling right? Is the end of the world near?

By the way: it does not surprise me though that she plays the latest patched version of Powersoccer… as it is simply brilliant, fantastic and superb. I spoke to an old chum in the game (we are both active for almost 2 years) and we both had the same feeling: this version is without discussion the best ever! The Best Ever! I will quit my daytime job just to play this game forever! I just need an internet connection and some water… a roof over my head, food, real life friends: I don’t need them anymore!

Shortbread. Plain and simple, and preferably lots of them. David Nicholson, the latest addition to the Power Challenge crew, brings them every time he comes over from England (he can’t help living there, poor guy). And we absolutely adore him for it. (and hope he never feels “at home” enough here to stop bringing us biscuits)

So, I spoke to Sipwell earlier and he asked me about Dodo (Powdersnow) and we ranted for a while as always and anyway, here’s the short but accurate Skype conversation:

[11:31:05] Linda Wallin: we’re pow and shao
[11:31:12] Linda Wallin: hilarious, isn’t it`?
[11:31:27] sipwell: that you both are Japanese kittens?

I guess this means that this —>  is really me, just trapped inside this human-looking flesh onesie…

…I totally forgot what I was really going to post as funny friday thingie… Huggy Bear’s “I know more about grass”! Classic!

Watch the video and pay attention somewhere around 1.50… I must say, Snoop sure knows how to play the part.

Sometimes Fridays come with that…je ne sais quoi… joyful feeling. Like something’s lurking around the corner, in a good way.

Today is a good day and on good days I like to think about good things. Funny things, and stuff that makes me happy in one way or another. There’s generally not enough laughter in the world I must say.

Things I like:

* the super-mega-merge of two Digimons called DNA digivolution

* (business)men dressed in suites (on their way to work) riding a bike - preferably one that looks like it belongs to their wife

* Blackadder. Everything, every word. Pure genius.

* The Phantom

* Rik Mayall (The new statesman, Bottom among others)

And of course other things. Like the names of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Heartshaped post-it notes. The clean washing on the clothes-line, gently blowing in the wind.

Aaanyhow. Snapping out of it and getting back to work. Michael is standing next to me making a lot of noise, disturbing me, stealing all my focus.

Have a great weekend, enjoy the sunshine and the terrific Friday atmosphere.

Cheers, peace and see you again soon

So, are you familiar with Twitter? I mean, have you made up your mind yet? I guess it’s all very 2.0 and the bird is cute…but still. It doesn’t rock my boat. Not even a little bit.

Is it pure brilliance or is it pointlessness, taken to a whole new level?