Day 5

Skype with Jodie in the morning, Internet in Melbourne cuts out half way through. About 5 text messages later and Jodie gets it working again – that’s my girl! Usual breakfast of Kalas Puffar then off to the bus stop. Bus running late, waited about 15 minutes. Cold walk to the office through moderate wind and light snow. Fresh snow on the ground (apparently we got about 20cms overnight).

Nice girl at reception helped me translate the menu today – picked chilli con carne with rice, talk about coincidences; have to see how it compares to mine.

Phone conference with Romania to discuss upcoming migration to tennet. Slight confusion regarding remote access usage, Jan will travel to Romania to oversee the migration.

Web demo of software to manage folder security – can’t remember the name right now. Software was interesting – allowed you to audit folder access from the directory or user perspective. Easily find out who has access to particular folders, and how they are getting the access. Similarly, lets you find out exactly what folders a user, or group of users, have access to. Ability to log all changes/adds/deletes etc. to any files or folders in the directory structure. Would have been great for our file structure project last year. Not sure how useful it would be on an ongoing basis though.

Lunch was the best so far – chilli con carne was good (although I think mine was better). Ate with Niklas, the rest of the department had finished by the time we arrived. Talked about health care system in Sweden, taxes etc. I learnt that: Sweden has a GST of 25%, most common income tax is about 30%, and companies have to pay 65% of your salary to the government in taxes and pension/super. They also get free health care, but apparently this doesn’t include dentist visits. Parents get a ridiculous amount of leave when a baby comes along.

Closed a few Helpbox requests, started to feel like I was becoming useful. Niklas gave me a lesson on email delivery (MX records, how AT&T’s Secure Email Gateway fits in to the picture). Went through Helpbox and looked over some documentation. Will go through this in more detail with Helene Strom in Stockholm next week.

Went to a shopping center near Helsingborg with Niklas and family after work. McDonalds for dinner – had a Big Tasty burger. It was bit, but not that tasty. Visited my first H&M, which I found out is actually a Swedish company so it’s not surprising there are so many stores in Sweden. Bought some slippers for the apartment to keep my feets warm and a few extra pairs of socks. Also stopped at the local System Bolaget – the Swedish bottle shop. Was surprised to find VB in the beer section and not Fosters! The Osslen’s drove me back to the apartment so I didn’t have to freeze my butt off getting home.

Skype with Danny and the gang back in Melbourne then bed.

Oh yeah – saw my first IKEA next to the shops we went to. Whoever told mum that IKEA wasn’t yellow and blue in Sweden was right – the logo was RED!