It’s not every day that you get to launch a new catchphrase, but I have now fully dedicated myself (in the past five minutes) to making that quest one of the new missions of this website.

Remember this day: The first day you heard the phrase “Grattis på fredag!”

It basically means “Congratulations because it’s Friday.” This is my own personal variation of the common phrase “grattis på födelsedagen” which is the Swedish equivalent of “Happy birthday.”

Somehow everyone I work with began saying “gratis på… everything” but the Friday greeting was far and away the most popular.

Although I’m posting this on a Wednesday, there is another Friday coming up. I think it’s the day after tomorrow. Let’s get ready for this.

Here’s the to-do list for right now:

1. Go to this link and click the black “rösta” button.

Rösta means “vote.” By clicking it you are voting for my entry in the Favorite Quotes contest on the website of Vecko Revyn, Sweden’s biggest magazine for teen and twentysomething girls.

2. Tag your weekend-related or Friday-related posts on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #grattispåfredag.

3. Suggest other ways of spreading this virus in the comments below, on my Twitter @scottritcher, or just go do it!

Soon, maybe the screenshot below, showing absolutely zero instances of the #grattispåfredag hashtag, will become ancient history.

Have fun. And grattis på fredag!

One photo shows a sign on the mixing board that indicates the maximum legal concert volume in Sweden. The limit is lower for shows with younger people.

Taken with Instagram at Embassy of Kentucky (Stockholm)

Happy Kentucky Derby Day from Stockholm! #derby]]> http://sweden.kcomposite.com/happy-kentucky-derby-day-from-stockholm-derby-taken-with/feed/ 0 http://sweden.kcomposite.com/refused/ http://sweden.kcomposite.com/refused/#comments Sat, 28 Apr 2012 07:10:14 +0000 Scott Ritcher http://sweden.kcomposite.com/?p=2982 Continue reading]]> At the beginning of April, the legendary Swedish band Refused played a free reunion show at Stockholm’s Debaser Medis club.

I was on hand to relive my younger years and to save the event for you in 3D.

If you need some 3D glasses, you can now get them directly from K Composite for only two bucks (13 kronor)!

It’s light, easy to drink, and refreshing on a hot day – especially compared to most of the other beers I love which are dark, heavy and rich.

PBR recently showed up here in Stockholm at the state-run liquor store Systembolaget and it was like seeing an old friend.

At a price of 13 Swedish kronor per bottle (about $1.95 US), this is not quite the bargain it is in Kentucky where a 12-pack is yours for $6.99 (or 48 kronor). That works out to 4 kronor per bottle.

I guess I’m paying for the location of the beer now instead of the quality.

The PBR that appears on the shelves at Systembolaget is labeled as the “Export” version. I’m not sure how it differs from the “regular” version which is available only by special order at about twice this price.

The tiny globes hanging from the ceiling turn dark blue and orange one at a time, just for a moment, creating a pattern that snakes around the ceiling somewhat randomly.

A push-button lightswitch in the hallway of a Stockholm apartment building. Push to turn the lights on in the hallway. They automatically turn off after a few minutes.

Stockholm Stadshuset (city hall) across the water.

I grew up in a home full of Kentucky fans, but somewhere along the way Louisville’s team became just as good, if not better.

Every year when the NCAA tournament is underway, there comes a moment when Louisville is set to play a huge game. That is, they are playing a game that wasn’t expected. This year, that moment is Saturday.

And every year when it happens, I can’t resist watching. And they can’t resist losing.

So I’m going to have to skip it and hope my theory is correct: I am the center of the universe and the outcome of basketball games depends on whether or not I am watching.

Have a nice day!

An old parking sign on Södermalm. I love the shapes of the S and Y characters, and how tiny the arrowhead is.

nevver:

Gizmon iPhone Case

nevver:

The book reader of the future

The event had several large rooms of modern antiques from the 20th Century, including lots of Scandinavian furniture and housewares. It was held at München Bryggeriet which is an old brewery that has been renovated into a convention hall.

More info about the fair can be found at the Retromässan home page.

If you need some 3D glasses, you can now get them directly from K Composite for only two bucks (13 kronor)!

Here you can order some anaglyph 3D glasses with red/blue lenses, suitable for viewing three-dimension content on Snuggling With the Enemy and in K Composite Magazine.

The glasses are made with genuine Chinese quality and feature light cardboard frames. They ship in packages of two pairs for just $2.00 US, plus cheap delivery to your address anywhere in the world.

Little Saigon. Shit. I’m still only at Little Saigon.

Sun earth flowers

The little cat

I recently purchased this bottle of vodka because I thought it looked fantastic.

It is hazelnut and coffee flavored and it features artwork by a Stockholm artist named Lindalovisa Fernqvist (www.lindalovisa.com)

The brand is Good Old Sailor. It tastes great in a White Russian.

Snowy February night at S:t Eriksplan in Stockholm

I have dozens of followers on Twitter but I have never actually use the service, that is, I have never “tweeted.”

I’ll be honest. I don’t understand Twitter.

I have asked a lot of Twitter devotees, “What IS Twitter? Isn’t it just the status updates from Facebook without the rest of Facebook?”

Nearly two years ago, I deleted my Facebook profile. (See Block this Application, May 2010)

I have never missed it, never looked back and never regretted it. Despite almost-daily pressure to rejoin from friends and co-workers, I just don’t feel like I’m missing anything.

It’s weird when people react to me like not being on Facebook is the equivalent of not having an email address or telephone. It’s not like that at all.

So it seems that Twitter is a way for people to publicize their conversations, as long as they keep it short.

One guy I work with said he doesn’t use twitter that much because “it’s just a bunch of people telling you what to do.”

I’ve also been told that the service Twitter provides is called microblogging. So it’s like broadcasting your Post-It notes

“Micro” is a good way to describe my level of interest in it.

Nonetheless, I’m curious about it and the door is not completely closed.

So here’s the deal.

If I get 500 followers on Twitter, I’ll start using it. Tweet the word out. Tell your friends to add @scottritcher as soon as they can. The race to 500 is on!

Taken with Instagram at Medborgarplatsen

Taken with Instagram at Gubbängstorget

Taken with Instagram at Gubbängstorget

Taken with Instagram at Vintervikens strövområde

Earlyfågel (Taken with Instagram at Gamla Stan T-bana)

@iida_h (Taken with Instagram at Honey Honey)

Louisville

When the weather gets cold enough each winter, I recommit myself to one simple oath: “I refuse to be cold.”

The transition to walking around completely insulated against the elements consists of a base layer of long underwear, upon which I simply add more of the same clothes I wear every day. Double shirts, double socks, et cetera.

This morning as I put my socks on, I made my traditional winter transition to wearing two pairs of socks.

I had to make a choice. Would both pairs not match, even the two that aren’t seen? Would a secret match exist within the four individual socks? That is, one of the hidden socks would be a match to one of the visible socks?

While I ultimately decided that all four socks should be unique among the set, a larger realization occurred.

This is a sock-making machine.

For the first time in my life it occurred to me that socks are probably not manufactured in pairs. There is probably a big machine somewhere that spits out 20,000 socks an hour, the loose products of which are then paired up by a machine that packages them, or by an 8-year-old kid with one of those plastic guns that stabs a white I-shaped tab between the two, uniting two socks, at least until they are removed from the purchaser’s feet for the first time.

Socks are born alone and die alone. The pairing of two so-called “matching” socks is merely an illusion that has been so masterfully perpetuated that I never realized it was not the natural order until I was an adult man. Today.

I have to add a caveat. This new insight into the sock world has not been confirmed or denied by any professionals with knowledge of sock manufacturing processes.

If there is a reader in the audience who can, in fact, confirm that socks are actually made two at a time, as pairs, please let me know.

The Killer showing off his new socks.

The single sock theory neither sours nor sweetens my love affair with new socks. It only provides new insight into something that is likely different from the way I always presumed it to be.

Nor do I imagine it matters much to Jerry Lee Lewis, a man who has the means to live the dream, it has been said, to wear a band new pair of socks every day. Oh that I could live like that.

Kitchen 1 floor down (Taken with Instagram at Hermans)