Stockholm, Day 3 and 4

Next was presentation day. We got up early and headed over to the venue. And when I say we, I mean that mrguy resumed his role as my manager and stayed with me. He sat through a morning's worth of presentations in Swedish, and then went record shopping after mine had concluded. You can imagine the impression he made on everyone (just by being himself, of course, but sitting through Swedish presentations? Everyone was swooning because of his chivalry).

My presentation was the first after lunch. I should say that the venue was a small ballroom in a very old hotel. It was really lovely. All presentations are a bit of a crap shoot because local conditions vary. In this iteration I used a borrowed PC and wore a headset mic for the first time. And the folks from the Scandinavian office came to see me. No pressure at all!

At night we went for dinner and then drinks with new friends, a presenter and her husband. I swear we would have kept into the wee hours were it not for jet lag. Such interesting and funny conversations. These people were really cool. She's the archivist for a publishing house. He is a video producer.

The next day mrguy and I went to the Scandinavian office and the team gathered for a q&a with their boss and I. Then we found some lunch in an arty spot where we sat in the fog under heat lamps and blankets. It was a music venue, and Grandmaster Flash was doing soundcheck below us. We could only hear the drums, but whatever.

We got together again with our friends and did some communal record shopping and beer consuming. In Stockholm they do that thing where the alphabetize the music by first name.

So, right, you find Human League, "Indian Records" and INXS in that order. And lots of signs explaining that everything is by first name. Some day I'll get to the bottom of the reason why people choose this organizational scheme.

 Just one more record sleeve:

We had already eaten, but our friends had not, so we met up and had a beer with them while they ate. This gave us ample time to check out the restrooms, which were also interestingly organized:

I wish our new friends were local. They were so much fun. We shared all our favorite television shows, music, thoughts about how people problem-solve and interact. Again, were it not for wanting to sleep we would have spent more time with them. 

Bye, new friends!