I’ve finally relocated, and things are slowly returning to normal. Moving to a new country is not for the faint of heart. I won’t spend much time describing the actual 7 circles of hell we’ve been through, but I will note this:

1. Be very careful when selecting the company to help you move. Find one that comes highly recommended by someone you know. Picking someone that seems reputable on the internet, let’s say Pearson Home Moving, may not be the best idea.

2. Be very precise in all your wording, and when you find something in the contract that you think is in error – do not let the moving company representative just gloss over it.

   Example:
   Me: Hmm, it says ground floor here, but that is not correct. I don’t know the exact labelling of the floor, but it’s first or second, maybe even third.
   
   Moving company representative: Is there an elevator there?
   
   Me: Yes, there is.
   
   Moving company representative: Then it does not matter.
   
   Hint, it did matter in later communications.

3. The moving company dropped my piano whilst moving it from my house, badly scratching it on one side. I am still trying to make Pearson understand that they are liable for the damage and the roughly 3000CHF in repairs and transportation costs incurred. They claim they are not.

4. There were additional scratches on various furniture, but I guess that is part of moving, and I can live with that. I did not bother reporting it.

5. Getting an actual fiber to your apartment (or anything resembling a real symmetric, low latency, broadband connection) in Switzerland is ridiculously expensive. You may notice that my blog is slower to load – well, my 200/10 connection is not quite on par with the 250/250 connection I had in Sweden. And, yes, I am paying way more for my 200/10 connection than I did for my 250/250 connection.

Luckily, the Swiss, apart from being slightly overzealous in their love for documentation and papers, have been a wonder of efficiency and helpfulness. Even the customs and tax office have been super efficient and helpful. I actually like talking to government representatives here. They are exceptionally service minded and efficient!

Here is a picture I took just a few hundred yards from where I live:

Summary

Switzerland is great so far, but horribly expensive. Also, the flag is a big plus. Literally.

UTS Pearson Home Moving was great at transporting the stuff, but horrible at dealing with problems and not very service minded.

(This one is in Swedish. Did the mistake of hiring people to do work on my house at servicefinder.se. Doh! This is an open letter to the people who did the work.)

Det här är ett öppet brev till R&R entrepenad. R&R verkar vara ett ungt företag med stor spännvidd vad gäller yrkesskickligheten hos de anställda. De med yrkesutbildning åker ut och säljer in uppdragen, sedan skickar man ut folk utan tillräcklig kompetens och utrustning att genomföra uppdraget. Man förmedlar inte heller tydligt vad man kommit överens om till de som skall utgöra arbetet. Resultatet blir som förväntat.

Öppet brev till R&R entrepenad

Hej!
För några veckor sedan anlitade jag er för (enligt offerten):

• Tvätt av grund (vid putssläpp fylles det ut och lagas)
• Målning av grund i vitt (Alcro)
• Täckning av mark och övriga föremål
• Byggstäd

Saker jag fick göra själv fredagen den 17:e augusti efter att ni var "klara":

• Detaljmåla kring fönster, eluttag, vattenkastare och dörrar
• Byggstäda bort färg och putsfragment på uppfart och över hela gräsmattan
• Tvätta bort färg på fönster och fönsterbleck
• Köra högtryckstvätt på uppfarten i ett försök att bli av med färgfläckarna (lyckades inte helt)

Det hela tog ett antal timmar.

Saker ni sade att ni skulle göra, men inte gjorde (eller började göra efter att ni insett att resultet inte blev acceptabelt och det i stort sett var för sent):

• Använda stålborste och dammsugare för att få rent längs marken så att ni skulle nå bra _innan_ ni målade där
• Använda spackel när ni målade längs marken för att undvika färg på stenarna/betongen
• Fylla i där putsen lossnat
• Först måla ett varv där putsen lossnat, därefter måla allt för att minska nivåskillnaden mellan övermålat och nymålat

Jag misstänker att ni förlorat sjukt många timmar på ni inte gjorde rätt från början. Jag vet att jag har gjort det.

Ett gratis tips:
Inom sisådär något år kommer Europa drabbas av en hård ekonomisk kris på grund av Grekland, Italien och Spanien (eventuellt även Irland och Portugal). De pengar privatpersoner har över för att leja hjälp kommer att begränsas starkt och de hantverkare som fortfarande kommer ha jobb är de som bryr sig om sina kunder och sitt hantverk. Med andra ord de som har yrkesstolthet.

När jag sade "Hur hade du gjort om det var ditt hus?" fick jag till svar "Men så kan man ju inte tänka.". Det är helt fel svar. Om jag betalar er pengar för att uträtta ett arbete så förväntar jag mig att ni lägger lika mycket omsorg vid arbetet som om ni arbetade på era egna hus. Annars skulle jag göra jobbet själv.

Ni kan glömma att ni får måla resten av huset. Jag blir rädd bara jag tänker på hur slutresultatet skulle bli. Det var en chansning att gå via servicefinder för att hitta hantverkare. Aldrig igen.

Mvh. Marcus

Okay, so the reason I’ve been quiet the last few weeks is due to the release of Hirt 3.0, also known as Simon Daniel Hirt. I’m including a screen shot for reference:

Simon was borne the 19th of June, 2011. He was 11 days early, 50 cm tall and 3680g heavy.

Since having a baby and a toddler at the same time has proven more difficult than anticipated, as anticipated, I’ll be on parental leave until mid September. 

Note: A not-so-closely guarded secret is that I am working Mondays. If you need to reach me for work related stuff, just e-mail me at Oracle.

Some months ago I thought I’d hit a low in my life when my then 7 week old daughter had to undergo surgery for intestinal invagination. Well, this midsummer’s eve was even worse. Natalie had been sick for almost two days. We had called the hospital, which told us that the flu was at large among small kids in Stockholm right now, and that we had nothing to worry about. The second day she actually seemed to be better. She got to keep some food. Well, two hours after eating she started vomiting again. She didn’t even get to keep water, so we went straight for the hospital. At the hospital they gave her antibiotics and put her on IV since she was dehydrated. Sure enough – X-rays showed that the intestines were obstructed and we went by ambulance (again) to Karolinska (the hospital where the surgeons for infants are located).

When we arrived at the hospital, she was fairly lucid but weak. They connected her to telemetry equipment monitoring her heart rate and oxygen levels and then we went for another round of X-rays. That’s when the scariest moment in my life so far happened. We were almost done with the X-rays when the Natalie’s oxygen saturation levels started to crash. The nurse standing next to Natalie got stressed out and yelled “Call the doctor. Call him now!”, while running for an oxygen bottle next to the entrance to the room. She started giving Natalie oxygen whilst rather incoherently discussing with one of the other nurses what emergency code to use on one of the handsets. During all this I was standing next to the X-ray machine, holding Natalie’s hand. My mind was racing to horrible conclusions and I was thinking “shit, ohpleaseohpleaseohplease, nononono, I really can’t loose her”. I glanced at Malin, and she looked just about as terrified as I felt. I watched the oxygen work it’s magic, and the saturation levels started to improve.

They put a probe through her nose down her stomach, through which they sent contrast fluid. Then they took X-ray images every now and then to find out where the obstruction was. The diagnosis was Ileus, and they decided surgery was necessary. Once they opened her up, they couldn’t believe how bad it was. She had, after all, been fairly lucid during all this. They had to cut away 90cm of her small intestine.

Now we’re at home again, and they expect her to make a full recovery, despite the heavy surgery. I’m just glad it is over, and I pray my lovely little daughter never have to go through something like this again. Ever.