Bragging Rights

Bragging rights are the rights granted to someone that allow him or her to boast on themselves to a certain extent without being looked down on for it.

The goal sign says "In The Tracks Of (Our) Fathers For Future Victories"

Today is "The Vasa Race Sunday" here in Sweden. The Vasa Race (Vasaloppet) is an annual long distance (90 kilometers or 55 miles, 1,625.1 yards) cross-country ski race held on the first Sunday of March in northwestern Dalarna, Sweden, between the village of Berga by (outside the larger village of Sälen) and the town of Mora. 

It is the oldest, one of the longest, and in popular consideration the biggest cross-country ski race in the world. The race was first run in 1922, inspired by a run by the Swedish King Gustav Vasa in 1520. Leading up to the main event, the Vasa Race itself, the tracks are open for noncompetitive skiers the whole week before ("Open track").

Jörgen Brink/Scanpix

This year the race was won by Jörgen Brink (third time in a row) in the fastest time ever of 3 hours 38 minutes 41 seconds, while the other 16.000 poor sods will be at it for another 9 hours more.

The Vasa Race is a must-do for every Swedish Man´s man, or for that matter every Woman´s woman since 1981. Having accomplished this feat you get bragging rights for life if you do it with dignity and some decent humility.

As accomplishing the Vasa Race, whether the main race itself or the noncompetitive variety, have become not uncommon the really, really, really, really, REALLY macho men and women have had to up the stakes and a thing called "A Swedish Classic" (or lovingly referred to as simply "the classic") has been invented. 

The classic consists of a combination of four Swedish endurance feats and has been around since 1972. To receive the diploma you have to accomplish all four endurance events within a period of twelve months. The events consist of

• The Vasa Race or Open track - 90 kilometers skiing, (The Engelbrekt Race - 60 kilometers skiing - is also accepted which seems sort of like cheating to me)
• The Around Lake Vättern - 300 kilometers recreational bicycling 
• The Vansbro Swim Race - 3 kilometers swimming
• The Lidingö Marathon Race - 40 kilometers running

By now more than 32,000 people (mostly Swedes), whereof 6,000 women, have accomplished this and can brag about being "A Swedish Classic".

Needless to say I am - of course - man enough to be a man without those stupid races. (Yes, you may indeed call it sour grapes if you must.)

A Little First Life Drama

Man in doorway, art by Eugène Jansson

You may be wondering why I didn't post yesterday, so this is what happened in my first life.

I got home from work around 4 PM. Suddenly I got a really heavy coughing attack and I could actually feel something rupture under my beautiful belly button. A few minutes later a small swelling appeared under the  belly button. It hurt a little but not too bad, so I went for my afternoon nap.

When I woke up two hours later the swelling was the size of a tangerine and was all swollen, hard and tender to the touch. I tried pushing it back inside without success, so I called the regional medical hotline to ask for some advice about what to do.

The nurse on the other end told me that I most likely had gotten a rupture in a weak spot under the naval and the intestines had pushed through and I had gotten an umbilical hernia. As the hernia was now hard and big it had probably become strangulated. She told me I was in need of immediate care and should go to the emergency at once. I argued with her and told her that I was a reasonably fit man in otherwise good health and and didn't have any bad pains from it and asked if I should really go there, couldn't I just book an appointment with a doctor on Monday and have it taken care of? She then asked me, "Do you want to die?".

I got the message and walked to the emergency at the hospital that is only about a kilometer from where I live. Once I got there my problem did not seem that serious compared to everything else they had to deal with on this busy Friday night. After an hour a lot of tests and blood work were taken, which all confirmed that I was in good health except for the hernia, which by now had grown to the size of an orange.

After the tests I waited around for a few hours more, all the while feeling guilty for being at the emergency ward with something that didn't seem important. At midnight I asked a nurse if it wasn't better if I went back home and made a reservation to see a doctor on Monday. She told me I should stay and would be taken care of in 10-15 minutes.

I was later led to a examination room and was seen by a good doctor of American extraction. He then gave me two injections, a tranquilizer and a painkiller, after which he successfully pushed the swelling - by this time the size of a small grapefruit - back into my belly.

The doctor told me he was going to refer me to surgery and that they would contact me in the not to distant future, meanwhile I should just keep pushing the intestines back inside and come back for help if I could not do it. I could then finally leave the hospital at 2:30 AM and walk back home while i was still a little dazed by the tranquilizer.

I will now answer to the name "Bock with Brock" (The Swedish word for hernia is "bråck", which is pronounced like the American name Brock)

For NE0

Hey NE0, I got your message through my e-mail! Let´s try a little show and tell instead and hopefully you will get the "SecondLife button"-gadget working on your blog also.

Image 1

1. Start by downloading this image of the SecondLife logo  to your computer. (see image 1)
2. Click "Design" in the top right corner of your blog.
3. Click "Layout"
4. Click "Add a Gadget" anywhere in the Layout (you can move it to wherever you want it later)

Image 2

5. Choose the "Picture" gadget (see image 2) in the window that pops up
6. Fill in the window with the name you choose for the gadget, the url to SecondLife´s main page (I use http://secondlife.com/?lang=en-US), and add the picture with the logo from your computer. Check the box that says "Shrink to fit".
7. Click "Save"

Image 3

This is how the gadget should look once you are ready (see image 3)

When you are done you can move the gadget  to any position in your blog you wish in Layout

Good luck! Please get back to me if you still have problems.

Zigadena Hits First Life Media

Zigadena Gabardini photographed by Emarald Harvey

As you may remember a comment of mine was used in an article on CTV News.ca, see my previous post Bock Is Quoted in First Life Media. Well my dear friends Zigadena Gabardini and Emarald Harvey have now outdone me completely.

The wonderful Zigadena was contacted by the Swedish magazine "Camino" for an interview on shopping and design in SecondLife and she got an entire spread in the magazine, both the paper and online issue (pages 12-13).

Zigadena and her husband Emarald are both wonderfully imaginative, talented and creative designers in SecondLife with both a shop inworld and on Marketplace (you can always find the SLurl to their Main Store inworld and the url to their products on Marketplace on their blog ZE designs SL

My buddy Bara Jonson was in a television documentary, my other buddy Eddi Haskell has done radio and television shows, Ziga and Em in a magazine interview with picture, I will have to make a film directed by Martin Scorsese to match up to them...

Blog Stats for February 2012

The total number of pageviews for Bock in SecondLife February was 13,006, while January 2012 had the record number of 14,334 pageviews. The previous record was set in October 2011 with 13,436 pageviews.

Sweden still leads as my all time largest reader country with 62,473 pageviews, while the United States comes in at 45,123 pageviews and the United Kingdom in third place with 7,074 pageviews.

The three largest language groups among my readers in February 2012 are English (53,1 %), Swedish (24,5 %) and Dutch (5,1 %).

Customer Service

As proof that this blog is heterophilic I am now posting the iconic picture that is mentioned by my dear friend Diana in her comment on my earlier post "Just Because It´s Cute".

Hey, most of my family and best friends are heterosexually challenged, actually even my mother and father. I usually make sure to have at least three of the poor things at every party I throw.

I found this background story to the picture on the blog A History of Total Health.

"Edith (Shain) was a part-time nurse and student at New York University on the day President Harry Truman announced the Japanese had surrendered. She and a friend, at work in Manhattan at Doctors Hospital, took the subway to Times Square when they heard the news. Still wearing her nursing whites, Shain joined the crowd in expressing their impossible-to-describe exhilaration that the horrors of world war were over.

Amid the pandemonium, Edith was suddenly grabbed, embraced and passionately kissed by the unknown sailor who’d forgotten his manners in the heat of the moment. Alert photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt and naval photographer Lt. Victor Jorgenson seized the opportunity for the image of a lifetime. Jorgenson’s version was published the next day in the New York Times; Eisenstaedt’s shot appeared on Life magazine’s cover."

But it seems there are three women claiming to be the nurse in the picture as this article in the New York Times tells us, "When A Kiss Isn´t Just A Kiss".

Upbeat

Nah, I don´t really like the song but it is upbeat, fun and some of the guys are really cute. I think they call themselves "Pac and Man", but I´m not sure.

I need something cheerful today when St. Petersburg’s Legislative Assembly passed a homophobic law penalizing the dissemination of material promoting "homosexuality and pedophilia among minors".

Promoting in this case also makes it illegal for any person to write a book, publish an article or speak in public about being gay, lesbian, bi or transgender. The law imposes fines of up to $16,000 on individuals and up to $160,000 on legal entities for the promotion of homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender practices among minors and was passed by 29-5, with one abstention.

The new legislation also effectively outlaws any Gay Pride events.