Touched

I attended my last U9 conference yesterday. The JSA were the hosts this time, and I got the chance to see the beautiful city of Jönköping once again.

The meeting itself was like usual. The only difference was that we were four (out of 9) that are leaving the network as our assignments in our student boards are ending in a few weeks time. It was a sad feeling, and when I look back on my year within the U9 network I only see good things.

It began in Växjö, May 2007. A city in southern Sweden. It was my first conference and a place where I met some wonderful people. Växjö will always be a special place for me, despite their irritating accent.

It went on in the fall with Stockholm (nothing new here, this is usually what I call "home"), Umeå (a cold place in the north) and Uppsala (this is where I spent five years of my life). After the Christmas break we attended a conference in another southern Swedish city, Lund (probably the wildest conference and the wildest afterparty!). This place is known for its tradition and well known university. I even got the chance to arrange one of these conferences about a month ago, and the city of Linköping was unveiled for some of the attendants.

The last stop of this furiosly running train was Jönköping, and this was the end of the road. It was sad and it was emotional to say "good bye" to some of the people I've got to know over the last year. I am pretty sure that I might have seen some of them for the last time as they are leaving the academic world for another world. A cold and dark world called the real world. We are all heading in different directions, and personally I am probably leaving Sweden for a while.

I have some friends from "back home" who know reside in Jönköping, and I had the great luck to see them during my 12-hour visit. I was actually going to stay in Jönköping over the night, but an exam today stopped me from that.

Anyway, I'd like to thank you guys from "back home" for taking the time to come and see me during my short visit. It made me very glad to see you, and I know that you all have been busy with your own studies and lives. I am looking forward to see you "back home" again in a few weeks!

Thanks for reading.

Finally he is back.

Nerazzurri visits the Pope

Inter's official homepage published some interesting images yesterday. The Inter squad was in Rome because of the Coppa Italia fixture against Lazio last night, and the squad paid a visit to the Vatican and the Pope. PR stunt or not, it was a rare situation. I personally don't think that religion should be mixed up with other things. Religion is something exclusive and personal, and it should stay that way. In other words, save me from religion/politics and religion/sports mixtures.

Inter academy in Abu Dhabi - we are selling our souls

The Arabs are rich and we want their money.


Inter inaugurated its first academy outside Italy earlier today in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are we going? How far are we willing to go for the $$$? When did UAE ever provide the world with a decent footballer? This is a joke.

Iranian official warns of 'destructive' consequences of importing Barbies

I am speechless.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHERAN, Iran

A top Iranian judiciary official has warned against the "destructive" cultural and social consequences of importing Barbie dolls and other Western toys.

Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi said in an official letter to Vice President Parviz Davoudi that the Western toys was a "danger" that needed to be stopped.

Iranian markets have been inundated with smuggled Western toys in recent years partly due to a dramatic rise in purchasing power as a result of huge increase in oil revenues.

In Monday's letter, Najafabadi called for a crackdown on the smuggling of these toys which threatened Iranian culture.

"The Iranian Threat"

I have seen less and less articles published about Iran's nuclear energy program lately, and I don't know why. I guess people are tired of the same stories, because I truly am. I've been reading similar statements and accusations since 2002 and nothing surprises me anymore. I

I read the Jerusalem Post on a regular basis. They honor the Iranian nation and the Iranian people by putting up this stupid header on their homepage where all articles about Iran (no matter what it is about) are gathered up.



Anyway, I found an interesting article today.

This one is about some sacked advisor to president Ahmadinejad, who openly criticized Ahmadinejad for his policies this far following his three years in office. The interesting thing here is that more and more officials and politicians/clergies criticized Ahmadinejad's work, and some of these people are from Ahmadinejad's own branch, some kind of Iranian neo-con branch. This is something unique and completely different for me. I thought these kind of statements and comments meant execution but obviously I was wrong.

More sunny (and inspiring) Tuesdays please

This has been a long but inspiring day. I had the great luck to see the sun today as well.

It began with studies, a lecture, followed by another lecture and more studying. The day was rounded off with a long meeting. It's been fair.

The second lecture today was actually more of a talkshow kind of thing where one of Sweden's most successful businessmen was present and where two students openly asked him questions about himself and his work. It was very inspiring to hear about his life and his business, an how he had made himself a fortune.

The same guy is also the chairman of the Swedish football club Hammarby IF from Stockholm. We were allowed to ask questions during the lecture, and I had to ask about the current situation with the goalies in Hammarby. They bought one of Sweden's best goalkeepers (Rami Shaaban) before this season, but after three games of something they benched him and threw their reserve goalie (Kristoffer Björklund) out on the pitch. The reserve goalie proved to be better than we all had expected, and excelled his rival. For example, he managed to deny Henrik Larsson several goals in the game between Hammarby and Helsingborg last week, and on top of that he saved a penalty kick from Larsson in the same game.

Anyway, the chairman said himself that they had bought one of northern Europe's best goalkeepers and that they regarded him as their number one, no matter what. But they had to be consequent and fair now that the reserve goalie was performing this well.

As I said earlier, this was a very interesting and inspiring person, and I told him that I practically am the neighbor of one their players. And of course, I also told him that I am a die hard supporter of one of their greatest (if not the greatest of all time) antagonists. Despite all the trouble AIK is having right now.

Reflections on a beautiful day

It's a beautiful day and I am sitting here working with some stuff that need my attention. I am planning to go out later but most of my friends are out of town. The gym will be my destination.
Pretty soon I'll find out if I need surgery for my injured shoulder/arm or if I am to deal with the condition I am in. The rehab has done wonders for me but it still doesn't feel right inside. It still starts to hurt when I hold the phone to my ear for more than 30 seconds. Something is wrong.

Totti is said to be missing for six months. That's a pretty heavy blow for Roma, although his replacement Mirko Vucinic has been playing well. At the same time, this is good news for any Interista. We've missed key players the whole season but we still managed to do well this far (the exceptions are the games against Napoli and Liverpool.).

I really hope to see a victory tonight against Torino. If we win, we're six points ahead, and the Scudetto race will probably be over for this season.

Roma - Livorno 1 - 1

Diamanti scored a late equalizer in the 83rd minute. If Inter beats Torino tomorrow we're six points ahead with four games left of the season. May could be a very nice month...

Images from last night

Mattias Thylander (to the left) was once again back at Råsunda stadium, now playing in Trellebrog. I remember meeting him six years ago, when he was one of the most hated players in the AIK squad.
Bojan Djordjic
Bojan Djordjic
Bojan Djordjic
Celebrations after Iván's goal.
The goalscorer.


A hero returns to Stockholm, but unfortunately only for a short visit.
Derek Boateng of Beitar Jerusalem heading for the north stand.

When Derek said "This is my home", the fans went wild.
Derek is greeted by the fans.

Lee Baxter and Niclas Bergh

The starting lineup
Rikard Norling smiling again
A hero warms up.