Scandinavia Day 1

As you probably already know, I just spent about a week and a half in Scandinavia. The low-down is that my former roommate Julia and I talked about taking a trip together for several years. She did her mission in Sweden and I was in Norway, so we figured we should go back together. It took a while, but we finally did it. She had a work assignment in Copenhagen and Malmø in Sweden, so I planned to go over, freeload at her hotel, and hang out like a European while she worked. Despite being so close to Norway, I didn't plan to go there because I wanted to only go places I haven't been. But of course, the more I thought about it, the more I decided I wanted to, and Julia also wanted to see a bit of Norway. So... it turned into a much bigger deal than originally planned.

Day one, we arrived in Copenhagen, checked into our hotel, and went downtown. Our first stop was lunch. In reading my Rick Steves guide, I learned that the locals eat their lunch from these little hot dog trucks. Since I was down with being a European for the week, I was down with eating like a local. (Another way that I went local? ... didn't bring a razor.) While Julia and I stood in line, I was reading to her what Steves says about the different kinds of dogs you can get. Julia got it in her mind that she wanted one kind of dog in one kind of bun. Somehow, she pointed to the dog she wanted and the bun she wanted... and ended up with two hot dogs. It started the week off with lots of laughs. For me, anyway.

This is my dog... which was more of a sausage, wrapped in bacon. It was gooooood....

After lunch, we ventured off to the main shopping area, Strøget.

We stumbled across Vor Frue Kirke and went in. Julia informed me that I have heard about this church for years in General Conference. She's probably right.

The original Christus statue.
This sign says "This is my beloved Son, Hear him."

On both sides of the Christus statue are the 12 apostles. Here is Peter, with the keys of the priesthood. Read more and see much better pictures than mine here.

After this, we went home and had bad pizza and went to bed.

Day two coming soon...

Parks and Recreation

I'm catching up on some Parks and Recreation episodes. This show has gotten so funny, I'm considering adding it to my quote of the week feature. Here is one from the episode on 5/12.

Leslie: "we need to remember what is important in life. Friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn't matter. But work is third."

See what I mean?

The Office quote of the week 5/19 Season finale

You know, something has really been bugging me this season. Why is Erin on this show? Is she supposed to be funny? I think she's so annoying. I don't get it.

Okay, moving on...

Lots of funny quotes in this episode...

1. Phyllis, taking about the baby that she placed for adoption -- "It was a big year for babies. Porky's came out."

2. Dwight -- "Bread is the paper of the food industry. You write your sandwich on it."

3. Ray Romano -- "I'm leaving my other job because they were all... jerks. You have your jerk wads and your jerk offs, so between the wads and the offs, I just had to get out of there."

4. Oscar -- "Angela is engaged to a gay man. As a gay man, I'm horrified. As a friend of Angela's, horrified. As a lover of elegant weddings... I'm a little excited. "

5. Ryan -- "How do I know Robert is gay? He 'liked' my Facebook photos... at 3:00 in the morning."

6. Gabe -- "I'm a terrific hugger. I've been with a bunch of girls where that's basically all they want to do."

I could quote Ricky Gervais, but since it made no sense (as usual, ipso facto) I'll just note that he's a genius and be done with that.

The Office quote of the week -- 5/12

Acting manager, Dwight: I expect all of you to be on your best behavior, which means none of you will be insubordinate, nor will you foment insurrection.

Jim: If we've already fomented insurrection, may we be grandfathered in?

Glee quote of the week -- 5/10

Santana: Just because I hate everyone doesn't mean they have to hate me, too.

but how can I deny the awesomeness of this quote: "What about prom, Blaine?"

the number of the week... was, OF COURSE, Blaine singing "I'm Not Gonna Teach your Boyfriend how to Dance with You."

Glee quote of the week -- 5/3

No quote of the week and how do I choose a favorite from "Rumours"? So this is the best part of this episode... Sue Sylvester as David Bowie.



Okay, I'll choose this song as my favorite performance of the week, but it's not really my favorite on the album.

New trend: Dock day -- Queens style

We've had such nice, spring weather in NYC that I actually took a real lunch break TWICE this week and walked over to the water. Since I've been working in Queens I have complained about lots of things, but there are some plusses. The best is a staff bathroom (this is a bigger deal than you might think). Another one of them is that our office is close to this little pier, that has a great view of Manhattan.