So long, and thanks for all the fish

Many thanks to Olof, Steve and Mats for the fish. It was wonderful to have a taste of Sweden after having spent two weeks already in Holland.

This is the last post of this blog. Check it while you can, because it won't be here forever.

I've set up a new blog, not dedicated to anything in particular. Just life, research and everything at paperfreenotes.wordpress.com

Ideon Business park at the horizon

Lund opening hours

When I arrived in Lund and Mats and I stood in front of railway station looking across the street, Mats pointed out the location of two very important stores: a supermarket and the liquor store. He also mentioned the opening hours, which I at that time did not bother to remember. One was easy anyway. Every day from ten to nine. The other, I still don't know by heart, but I think it closes at two on Saturdays. I should however have paid more attention to the fact that Mats bothered to tell me the opening hours. Being a local he knew exactly why he mentioned them. It was only three days later, that I found out about it.
I woke up early so that I could visit a shop, or bank or whatever before going to work. That was a mistake. The fact that the supermarket opens at nine holds no guarantee whatsoever concerning other shops' opening hours. It is not even a vague indication. In the course of the following days, it seemed that every indvidual shop has its own private opening hours. Never assume anything when it comes to opening hours in Lund.
Here is the evidence. I walked up and down two streets in the centre on a coldish Sunday afternoon and just noted down the following in order of appearance (some shops had no opening hours. I left them out):

Lindex
måndag - fredag: 10.00 - 18.00
lördag: 10.00 - 15.00

Scandinavian Sportsmen
mån - fre 10.00 - 19.00
lör : 10:00 - 16.00

Klippet:
vardag: 9.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 16.00

C.H. Anderson
mån - fre: 11.00 - 18.00
lunchstäng: 13.00 - 13.30
lör: 11.00 - 16.00 (I assume, no lunch break on Saturdays, but I would not count on it)

AirCal
mån - fre: 9.30 - 18.00
lunchstäng: 11.30 - 12.30
lör - söndag: stängt

Chocolaterie
mån - tisdag stängt
onsdag - fre: 12.00 - 18.00
lör: 11.00 - 16.00

Scholl
mån - fre: 10.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 13.00

Hercules klippet
mån - fre: 9.00 - 18.00
torsdag: 9.00 - 19.00
lör: 9.00 - 14.00

Grahns
mån - fre: 9.00 - 19.00
lör: 10.00 - 16.00

Halbergs guld
mån - fre: 10.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 14.00

Synsam optics
mån - fre: 9.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 15.00

Fransa
mån - fre: 11.00 - 18.00
lör: 11.00 - 16.00

Zapatos
mån - fre: 10.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 16.00

a make up store
v: 10.00 - 18.00
l: 10.00 - 15.00
YES WE HAVE A MATCH WITH ONE SHOP ABOVE

Kneip & Schonebogm
vardag: 14.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 13.00

Shop Igen
mån - fre: 14.00 - 17.45
lör: 11.00 - 14.00

Ylva interior
mån - fre 10.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 14.00
SECOND MATCH

M confetti
mån - fre 10.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 14.00
THIRD OCCURRANCE - it seems we have a winner

Godiva dan
mån - fre: 11.00 - 19.00
lör: 10.00 - 16.00
långlördag 10.00 - 17.00

(Every first Saturday of the month is a långlördag in Lund, accoriding to www.thelundian.com. I do not know who they are, but they also claim that shopping hours are "Open 10 am- 6 p.m. on weekdays and 10 am-1 or 2 p.m. on Saturdays")

Färs & Fresta
mån - fre 10.00 - 15.00
torsdag: 10.00 - 18.00

l:a Fiskaregatans Trä
mån - fre: 10.00 - 19.00
lör: 10.00 - 18.00

Villag and The Body Shop (I do not remember whether these shops are next to each other, but it would be remarkable if they are)
mån - fre: 10.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 16.00
Seen this one before

Pro Forma
mån - fre: 9.30 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 14.00

Game
mån - fre: 10.00 - 19.00
lör: 10.00 - 16.00

Kriss
mån - fre: 10.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 14.00

Ahlgren konfektyr
mån - fre: 10.00 - 19.00
lör: 10.00 - 16.00

This shop was open when I passed it. The shopkeeper was working close to the door and was clearly interested in what I was doing with my little blocknote. I told him about my little project and he acknowledged that the opening hours were an issue in local politics. He and some other shopkeepers wanted increased opening hours : during weekdays all shoppps should be open until 19.00 and they should also all be open on Sundays. Otherwise they would loose to much customers on places like Nova Lund.

The list continues, but I've done enough to prove my point. I'll grant the shops this much: there seems to be a pattern emerging. You can more or less safely assume that shops are open between 10.00 and 18.00 on workdays and between 10.00 and 14.00 on Saturdays. This means that they are open while I am at work and when I try to catch up on my sleep on Saturdays.

Still there are some funny opening hours, or shops that you should know about:

7eleven, in spite of its name, on Sundays is open from nine till eleven.

System Bolaget (the liquor store on Mårtenstorget)
mån - ons: 10.00 - 18.00
tors - fre: 10.00 - 19.00
lör: 10.00 - 15.00
System Bolaget is the only place where one can buy liquor that exceeds the 3% alcohol limit.

Do not go to the Phonehouse on Tuesdays at 10.00:
mån : 10.00 - 18.30
tis: 10.15 - 18.30
ons - fre: 10.00 - 18.30
lör: 11.00 - 16.00

Apple Support Centre (mentioned here for obvious reasons)
mån - fre: 10.00 - 18.00
lör: 10.00 - 15.00

Pocket
mån - fre: 10.00 - 18.30
lör: 10.00 - 16.00
Pocket is a book store for pocket books, manga and books about Jazz music which was also played when I was there.

Snoopy socks

Free maps come at a price

I have this habit of wanting to have a map of those places that I am visiting a bit longer than a weekend. Since I am staying in Lund for four months it started itching from day three. It appeared that it is quite hard to buy a decent map of Lund. The tourist office is closed during the weekends which is when I am in need of a map the most. So I tried a supermarket, a few book stores, and a 7eleven. Non of these sold maps of Lund. At the 7eleven the shopkeepstress suggested to try the Lundia hotel down the road. There, at a friendly receptionist helped me out with a small tourist map inside a brochure about the cultural events in Lund. It covered only the inner city and it would do for the particular occasion, but the itching did not go away. Tough luck. I had to do without and so I did. In the end, just roaming about has its charms as well.

On some spots there are these boards with partial maps of the area where you are. Like this one at one of the entry points of Ideon.

And often, you will find maps on boards on main entry roads to a city. During one of the urban hikes that I undertook to get acquainted with Lund, I stumbled upon such a board on Getingenvägen. This particular one also held a map dispenser:


You push the button with the red circle around it and out comes one map of Lund. A decent one, with not just the centre of town, but all its quarters as well and even small maps of the surrounding villages. It includes the bus lines, a street name index, the important buildings, the miljöstation, the återvinningsbehålllare and the återvinningscentral.

All that for free. Gratis.

By the way : a colleague told me that the word 'gratis' that exists in a number of languages, originates from Sweden.

Let me tell you what you already know, but keep forgetting: few things in life are actually are for free. If you don't have to pay for it, then that means that somebody else is paying for it. Or, put in a different way, if it's for free, it still comes at a price.

So, who pays for these maps? Well, a number of people actually. When the map is disentangled or downloaded from the machine. This is what you see:

And when you swap it:

and when you unfold it, first this

and then you see the entire map.

So, I assume that the companies whose advertisements are printed on the back of the map
have paid so that I can get a map for free. Am I complaining about this? Initially not. Is this not great service to travellers who enter the city, paid for by some of the companies in the city? Free maps at the push of a button 24 hours a day - until the machine is empty of course. Then I looked a bit further an saw this:

There were several other copies in different states of decay lying around and I remembered that I noticed a crumbled map by the side of the road when I walked to Nova Lund a week earlier. At that time, I wondered where the map came from and why somebody would simply throw away a decent map like that. Now, I conclude that the fact that somebody else has payed for it, makes it easier for the users to throw them away. What do you think?

PS I. A really interesting and fun to read book about maps is How to ly with maps by Mark Monnier

PS II. You and I can use blogger / blogspot for free. You'll find out who is paying for it when you start one or when you look around other blogs and discover it.

How I fixed my iBook

Last Tuesday, I think I repaired my iBook. The troubles that it had did not reoccur after Tuesday, so I now conclude that the repair was successful. Tuesday, I wasn't so sure and I know the troubles will reoccur. Hopefully, that will not be before the end of my stay in Lund, or, even better, before finishing my thesis. Let me impose the details on you and between the lines relay the story of how I encountered my future girlfriend in the process.

So, my iBook stopped working. 'But what does it do?' you may ask if you've had any experience with the 'helping' side of a help desk. In many cases, computers that 'stop working' don't stop working completely. They still do something. For example the power light goes on, the hard disc starts spinning, or the screen flashes. The operating system may even boot up to a certain point. Users summarize all these events back to 'it stops working'. To a help desk, these little things that a broken computer still does are useful clues. And they are also useful in case you want to start looking for answers on the internet.

Right, so what did my iBook still do when I hit the power button. The optical drive made the familiar boot-sound. It said kssh-wrrng, like a cat that is agreeing to a comforting pet. This sound should then be followed by the Apple 'boinggg' sound that indicates a boot. But, it didn't. In stead, I heard the hard disc spinning and after a few seconds, the fan started fanning in high speed. After that nothing else happened. The screen remained black. First, I thought that that isn't such a problem because at normal startups the screen switches on only five or so seconds after switching on the power. Unfortunately, the screen remained black after these seconds had passed.

After some Google-ing for the symptoms, I found loads and loads of documentation. You can look it up yourself, but let me give you some shortcuts. After a complaint or two, the Danish consumer organization commissioned an expert examination of the problem. (check here) According to the report, the problem is located in the connections of a particular chip that arranges power supply to several parts of the iBook, such as the screen and disc drives. The soldering of two of the 28 pins that connect the chip to the logic board (the logic board is a flat piece of green material that holds and connects all the chips and other electrical stuff) in due time wear and may eventually break with an almost invisible fracture. The soldering connections wear due to on and off switching of power. I don't understand why this is, but it makes enough sense to me.

Now you may be wondering, what were my options at that point, and when will I start talking about this future girlfriend? On the latter, she has long legs and blond hair. I know, that does not really narrow it down in Sweden. On the first, the options were (1) bring it to the Apple repair shop an pay a lot of money for transport and installing an entire new logic board, (2) buy a new laptop and pay even more money - which is bad - but be tempted to buy the MacBook air - which is the upside of the bad part, or (3) repair it myself which might fail but is by far the cheapest option. Those who are not that Zen with motorcycles will immediately opt for (1) or (2). Provided I have time available and that I own a motorcycle, I would definitely consider to repair the thing myself. In case of my iBook, the only thing that could go wrong is that it would remain in the 'not working' mode, where it already was.

Fortunately the internet provides several pages with detailed information on how to fix the problem in a bit of an improvising way. It boils down to 'applying pressure' to the chip in order to press the fractured soldering back into a connecting position. Apparently, simply clamping the entire laptop onto a table with a C-clamp actually works, but among other disadvantages also downgrades the portability of the laptop.

Another way to apply pressure is to insert a piece of any non-conducting material between the chip and the casing. See here for example. It works, but I don't find it very elegant. Suddenly the bottom of the laptop may not be that flat anymore and I wonder what effects the pressure has on the rest of the logic board, the more so because of the extra pressure that the weight of one's hands on the keyboard may add to the bent situation.

The third way is, of course, resoldering the connections. This would be limited to holding a soldering tool to the two pins to melt the solder so that it reconnects again. One needs a soldering tool that generates about 500 degrees Celsius as somebody pointed on the internet. The tool should have a tiny tip of less than a millimeter since the chip is only about 9 mm long and holds 14 pins within that. This also means that a steady hand and peace of mind come in very handy. I tend to think that I have these two qualities, so I only needed a soldering tool. Since I left mine behind in the Netherlands - how unforeseeing - I started a quest for one, which is where the future girlfriend that remains anonymous will enter the story.

I went tot the university workshop just opposite of my office building, but unfortunately it was a metal workshop which did not have a soldering tool for electronic stuff. The gentlemen kindly referred me to the university's computer service department. I did not expect much from this service, after all it has a monopoly on IT equipment for the university which usually means that prices go up and service goes down. Anyway, I went out to buy a soldering tool. This included worries about opening hours (I will spend a posting on Swedish opening hours later) and locating the store, but I had help from a friend - not the future girlfriend, in case you wondered. The shop did not sell soldering tools that could reach 500 degrees. 450 was the best they had and it was slightly more expensive than I was willing to invest, but my back was against the wall, so 450 degrees had to do. On my way back home, I noticed this particular pretty lady with legs wrapped in bright purple stockings. I actually managed to wink and smile. She smiled back ...

To open an iBook, one needs a spudger (a very funny new word I learned on this quest. I organize it in the same category as 'flustered') or big flat screwdriver, a small phillips screw driver and a ..., well look it up yourself at the ifixit site. The third most important thing not mentioned there is an empty table as big as you can get your hands on. If you open an iBook you need the space to organize the loads of little screws that come out. They all need to go back in at the right spot, so you need to organize them when they come out. This time, it were only 14 screws. Last summer, I replaced the hard disk, which meant unscrewing dozens of screws and I needed to draw maps of the iBook layers that I was peeling off with the locations of the screws. The table should be as big as possible because you preferably want to store the screws outside the range of your arms or other body parts. You'll be surprised about the moves and swings you make.

The most and second most important things, as I mentioned above, are a steady hand and a mind as empty as the table. Don't think about problems at work, or purple stockings while you are working on this.
Two other handy things: (1) a pair of squeezers in case you drop a screw inside the iBook and (2) a printed copy of the manual because you will not be able to use your computer while you are taking it apart. But you had thought of that, right?

The most uncomfortable bit of opening an iBook is using the spudger to separate the white bottom part from the grey band that goes around the sides of the iBook. Fortunately, compared to last summer, it was less difficult this time. The rest is just screws and administration. It took about 15 minutes before I could see the bottom side of the logic board. And there it was. The blue rectangle indicates the chip that needed resoldering.

I couldn't see whether the connections of pins 1 and 28 were broken, but if I tried really hard I could see they were slightly different from the others. My digital camera confirmed it. See?

The pin on the right with the blue arrow looks less shiny than the rest. Hmmm, now that I see the picture on my laptop in stead of on the small camera screen, I notice that the second one from the right also does not look that shiny. So, either this picture does not mean much, or maybe I'll have another problem later on.

Then I did a stupid thing. Not disastrous, just stupid. I pressed the chip with the problem. By doing that I may have pressed the loose connections back in place and made the serrated edges hook on to each other so that they may stick for a while. In other words, I might have solved the problem. Admittedly in a lousy and temporaty way, but still.

Anyway, I took the soldering tool and tried it at low temperatures - it was adjustable - on a low-risk connection (one of the pins of the battery connector, big and easy to reach). Just to see whether the information about the required high temperatures was right. After all, I did not want to burn my one chance of fixing the iBook. It turned out that the information was correct. Only at the tool's maximum temperature the solder would melt. Not fast nor completely, but it kind of softened up.

No stepping down from here. I only had to press the tip of the soldering tool to the two pins. And so I did. Sorry, I have no pictures and no films of it. Remember, I needed a blank mind, so no distractions with cameras or purple stockings. You just have to take my word for it. I did it and saw no difference. So, I gave it another go and another. Each time a second or two longer. You may wonder, like I did, whether the chips can stand the heat. They can. After all, they are made of metal inside and at one earlier time in the life of my iBook, a machine - machines can not be distracted by long legs and purple stockings - had soldered thousands of connections on the logic board. Surely, the chips can stand the heating of two pins. At least, that is what I figured. After the third attempt, I saw that the heat had made a difference. Not impressive though, if that is at all possible on a quarter of a square millimeter. The connections looked even rougher than they already were, and slightly darker. (sorry, no picture. I forgot to make it) 'Is that better?', I wondered.

I realized that I had not disconnected any electrical parts except for the battery. So, I plugged in the power connector and pushed the power on button. Guess what? It worked. It booted as it should up to the login screen.

S I G H - O F - R E L I E F

It did not prove much, of course. But if it had not booted, that would have meant more and more fumbling with the soldering tool. It possibly even meant adding more solder, which I would surely overdo because the tip of the soldering tool was a bit too big. This would cause two pins to connect to each other which obviously is not good. At points like these, I can invent numerous other disaster scenario's. Fortunately, I did not have to. In stead, I shut down the power and put the laptop back together. 'Just reverse the steps' the manual says. Again, the important part is to remain empty headed and focused. In mountaineering, most accidents happen on the way down. It is the same here. The stockings lady had to wait. And she did.
After I had put it together, the iBook still booted as it should. Y E S S S S S. Then the next test phase followed. I walked back to my office and switched it on. Now, if me pressing the chip had already fixed the problem temporarily, then that solution would probably not have passed that test. The shaking of the laptop during the walk might have made the connection let go again. And if not during that trip, then during the next or the next. The last few days, the iBook gave me the familiar kssh-wrrng and boinggg on every boot. 'Yes, sure, good for you' you are thinking 'But what about the lady with the purple red stockings?' I never saw her since. In fact, now that I am writing about her, I am not sure whether she was my future girlfriend or the guardian angel of my iBook. Only Friday evening, while I was taking the shots for 'the making of the making of "cleaning the vacuum cleaner"' the screen suddenly turned black. I rebooted the laptop and it worked again. I guess, I still am kind of lucky when it comes to my iBook.

PS People do weirder things to repair their iBooks. Look here to see how somebody used candles and alcohol to resolder connections where the soldering tool can not go. The guy also painted his iBook green.

New routines: daily walk to my office

In order of appearance, these are the buildings that I pass, while walking to my office. I enjoy this every day, except that the white/greyish hospital building is not so enjoyable to look at. The closer I get to the building, the more relatively younger buildings occur. Until last Saturday, I thought my office was at the end of the campus. Boy, that was naive.

The pictures' quality is not very good because of the conversion that is needed for these rotated images. Scroll down to can see the individual pictures. Click on them to see them full screen.

Domesticating an apartment 1: Add vegetation

By the way: the fact that I added this post does not mean my iBook is fixed. I made it Sunday evening and the laptop just happened to work Sunday and Monday during the day. Then I carried it home again and it did not boot after the tenth attempt. So today I'll spend trying to fix it. Hopefully, I will be able to borrow decent soldering equipment.

F$%#ing hell. My iBook is leaving me.

As of yesterday afternoon, my iBook G4 laptop is showing problems. It did not want to wake from sleep mode. Yesterday evening it did not want to cold start, but switched on its cooling fan. Second attempt was successful. This morning, it took about eight attempts before it booted. This is not good. It probaly is the dreaded logic board failure that occurred in a number of iBooks. So, if I am not updating this blog on a regular basis anymore then I may well be soldering
it. ... or busy buying a new laptop. I may also just have run into an excuse to buy a MacBook Air ...

Thank you, Robin for the new year's gift

Today, Chinese new year started. It is the year of the rat, the first to arrive at Buddha on the other side of the river. Check out the story at BonnieBlueFlag's blog

Robin, one of my house mates in Holland, handed me a present just before my train to Lund departed. Today, I was allowed to open it. It is a jade rat amulet for good luck. Thank you, Robin. As you suggested, I'll put it where I need luck, the most, although I am not sure where that is: at my new work place, or my new home.

Happy new year.

I finally finished the post: Photos from a walk through town

I finally finished the post Photos from a walk through town. It looks simple enough huh, just a few photo's and some text. Once you know the tricks, which browser to use and the secrets of the upload order and deleting photos. I'll spare you the details.

Learning Swedish

Today, I bought the book 'Svenska för utländska studenter' and it has 'med ljud-cd'. The latter addition convinced me to buy the book. My biggest problem is not reading Swedish, but speaking it and understanding it when somebody else speaks. Swedish looks quite similar to Dutch, but it sounds somewhat different. Of course, other elements that convinced me were the title and the fact that the book was not too voluminous

Rehnqvist (2006) Svenska för utländska studenter. s.l. : Studentlitteratur.

A propos : one-eye will never be king

If you imagine what the land of the blind will look like, one-eye will go mad if you ask me. Or be declared mad, just like I tend not to believe people who claim to see true visions of the future or to be able to speak with the dead.

Well, when you look it up - google it or wiki it - others before me have had a similar thought. H.G. Wells for one wrote The Country of the Blind according to this wiki page. I also learned that the saying originated from Erasmus, who is not known for being the stupidest kid in town. Wouldn't he have thought of it?

Cathedral made feelable for the blind

There is this cathedral in Lund, called Lunds Domkyrka. It is open for public, it has an interesting clockwork inside and many more things to see. I am not going to explain all that because you can see the wiki page for yourself. Interestingly and not mentioned in the wiki, there is a wooden model of the building inside as well. A note explains that it is there so that the blind can feel what the outside of the building 'looks' like. Now, this is a service to the blind that I haven't seen before in a church, cathedral or any building for that matter. In some cases I have seen model buildings inside buildings, but usually there is a 'do not touch' sign or 'do not touch' artifact to prevent people from touching it (see picture). In fact, the seeing are not supposed to touch the model of the Lunds Domkyrka because another note asks the seeing not to touch the model but look at the original.

Although to me the Lunds Domkyrka model seems a great service to the blind, I do wonder how the blind are made aware of the presence of the model? And, how are they told that they are allowed to touch the model?

The model is quite detailed. One can even see through the tiny windows and door of the model into its interior and notice that it is filled with details as well. It is difficult to reach inside the model. But then again, that would be silly. After all, one is standing inside the original, right?

Model of St. Paul's Cathedral inside St. Paul's Cathedral (picture taken in the nineteen eighties)

Photos from a walk through town

Just a few images from a walk through town.

Impressive tree in the middle of the square of Katedralskolan. I would like to see it again in Spring.

If you walk through the gate of the Katedralskolan, there is a map of the complex directly left. I find the symbol indicating your position quite friendly. Far better than the avarage cross or arrow.

Apartment buildings at Järnåkravägen.

And below, slightly newer apartment buildings nearby.

When I stumbled upon this office and industries behind it, I wondered : is this where it all came from? And indeed. Tetra Pak (according to wiki) was founded in Lund in 1951 by Ruben Rausing, who was Sweden's richest man when he died in 1981. According to the same wiki page it was Erik Wallenberg who invented the tetrahedal package or Tetra Classic. I guess, in 1981, IKEA was not yet on the move as it is now, in terms of producing some big geographical area's richest person.


Plommonvägen


There are four apartmentbuildings at Södra Vägen, that look like gate keepers at the south end of town.


At their south side they are tilting a bit by design.


Now that I see these pictures of the north side, I am not sure whether on the side the buildings are tilting by design or by effect or because the lens is doing this.



Just a few meters further, on Kastanjegatan you can see how they made rows of apartmentbuildings a couple of decades (I guess) ago.


And walking further into town, there are a lot of houses as least as nice as these on the crossing of Södra Esplanaden and Rådbygatan.



If you walk into Rådbygatan you'll end up at Mårtenstorget, a square with a market ...


... and an Apple store. Always a nice to place to end. Unfortunately iPhones are not yet available in Sweden and the new MacBook Air had not yet arrived. Just a few weeks before I can start drooling over one of those.