Today is the last Friday before university makes its comeback into my life on Monday. Many new faces; which is good fun.
Tonight is a meal with the Christian Union. I should probably not eat much as it feel like eating is what I have done most of the time this week. Having said that, I went for a massive run in preparation for the Great North.
Well, to the airline business then. The latest news is that Alitalia will get saved. I am not sure that saving Alitalia is a good idea. There are too many subsidised seats out there already. My assumption is that very few Italians are proud of the product Alitalia provide to their customers.
Meanwhile, a few airlines have joined Boeing in a campaign for a sustainable jet fuel supply chain. Basically, the airlines have as customers decided what they would prefer to buy. Now it is up to the energy companies concerned to improve their share of the process. It seems like these airlines and Boeing did not try to get the energy companies involved in this. If that is the case, I am surprised nobody spoke to any of them first as they are the jet fuel suppliers.
Tonight is the first debate between The Hopefuls, aka Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. It is on 2am BST and perfectly visible on Sky News. People would argue that Senator McCain is better for business. I would like to turn that argument around. Personally, I believe Senator Obama has the policies to create a world where international businesses have less to worry about. His ability to listen will be important to the relations with countries east of Britain.
Even though I will never be the president of the United States (yeah, even I have realised that), I hope to find myself in a position where I can make a difference in a year from now. I will graduate next summer, and companies have expressed interest in me. Hopefully I will be able to convince potential employers that I will be a good fit. I guess my age of 24 is the only thing they could have against me.
Anyway, it would be a great challenge to enter the labour market in a recession. A challenge I actually look forward to.
Today Simon has:
Listened to Visslaren by Kent
Read (well, a quarter of the book left) the Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Noticed that blogging once a month probably is not good enough
Friday, 26 September 2008
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Alitalia
Actually, when I wrote the previous post yesterday I was not aware that Alitalia, six hours earlier, had filed for bankruptcy protection.
Today Simon has:
Listened to the tunes in Guitar Hero
Read nothing yet
Noticed that he looks forward to brushing his teeth properly
Today Simon has:
Listened to the tunes in Guitar Hero
Read nothing yet
Noticed that he looks forward to brushing his teeth properly
Friday, 29 August 2008
On Everything
Yesterday I used British healthcare for the first time in my life. I had a wisdom tooth extracted at the RVI Dental Hospital. It was very straightforward, and I am actually looking forward to my next appointment in October when another wisdom tooth of mine will be shown the door. As it is now, I have to eat lighter food than usual as chewing is slightly tricky.
American Politics
Barack Obama. That is probably one of the most popular two word combinations in the world right now. Is the hype exaggerated? I do not think I want more hype, but Senator Obama is worth every single moment of attention he get. The Democratic party seems to me more socially aware than ever and they, somehow, manage to get the positive properties out of the descriptor 'liberal'. I can see the British Conservatives take a lot from the Democratic election machine if it turns out to be successful. I personally hope that Senator Obama, together with Joe Biden, will beat the Republican pairing McCain/Palin. I was excited when George Bush was elected the first time. I cannot say that I have been impressed by much during his two terms - apart from that he is extremely charismatic and funny. These two abilities are something that rarely is shown on Swedish television. Censorship at its best.
The Airline Industry
This is an industry which is extremely close to my heart. This morning Sky News greeted me with the headlines that the low fare transatlantic airline Zoom has gone bust. As an airline today, you need plenty of money in the bank. Young airlines as Zoom has rarely a credit worthiness that make lenders jump in sheer excitement. In a book written by Professor Rigas Doganis, who is a former CEO of the Greek flag carrier Olympic Airlines, it is described how the airline industry is highly cyclical. You get roughly seven bad years after seven good years. So I guess that the bad years are ahead.
The next European flag carrier to go bust will, of course, be Alitalia. Air France/KLM is a natural buyer as they are the major carrier in the Skyteam Alliance which Alitalia is a member of. I do not know though if AF/KLM is still interested as Berlusconi clearly has expressed that he would like the airline to remain in italian hands.
The library is closing now, so more later.
Today Simon has:
Listened to the Obama speech again
Read some on svd.se
Noticed that he will spend very little money next week
American Politics
Barack Obama. That is probably one of the most popular two word combinations in the world right now. Is the hype exaggerated? I do not think I want more hype, but Senator Obama is worth every single moment of attention he get. The Democratic party seems to me more socially aware than ever and they, somehow, manage to get the positive properties out of the descriptor 'liberal'. I can see the British Conservatives take a lot from the Democratic election machine if it turns out to be successful. I personally hope that Senator Obama, together with Joe Biden, will beat the Republican pairing McCain/Palin. I was excited when George Bush was elected the first time. I cannot say that I have been impressed by much during his two terms - apart from that he is extremely charismatic and funny. These two abilities are something that rarely is shown on Swedish television. Censorship at its best.
The Airline Industry
This is an industry which is extremely close to my heart. This morning Sky News greeted me with the headlines that the low fare transatlantic airline Zoom has gone bust. As an airline today, you need plenty of money in the bank. Young airlines as Zoom has rarely a credit worthiness that make lenders jump in sheer excitement. In a book written by Professor Rigas Doganis, who is a former CEO of the Greek flag carrier Olympic Airlines, it is described how the airline industry is highly cyclical. You get roughly seven bad years after seven good years. So I guess that the bad years are ahead.
The next European flag carrier to go bust will, of course, be Alitalia. Air France/KLM is a natural buyer as they are the major carrier in the Skyteam Alliance which Alitalia is a member of. I do not know though if AF/KLM is still interested as Berlusconi clearly has expressed that he would like the airline to remain in italian hands.
The library is closing now, so more later.
Today Simon has:
Listened to the Obama speech again
Read some on svd.se
Noticed that he will spend very little money next week
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Laptop for Sale
If you click here you will get some info on what my laptop is about. When I bought it almost two years ago it was Acer's best laptop after the Ferrari series. So it's a full business laptop with a battery time of 3.5 hours. 2 hours if you're playing games.
The laptop is in pristine condition (what else - look at my mobile!) and has one year left of the accidental damage warranty (which I paid extra for). This means that any future repairs will be fully paid for by Acer.
I have made some research. A new Acer TravelMate with roughly the same specs as mine would go for around £550 today. I paid more than twice that amount in late 2006. I reckon a fair price would be £330 or 4000 Swedish Krona. Of course it will be formatted to factory settings before any transaction takes place.
Why am I selling it then? Well I want a Mac before the end of this academic year. And that will make my Acer redundant.
Today Simon has:
Listened to his colleagues during an evaluation session
Read about the Church of Scientology
Noticed that he has now decided for a MacBook Pro.
The laptop is in pristine condition (what else - look at my mobile!) and has one year left of the accidental damage warranty (which I paid extra for). This means that any future repairs will be fully paid for by Acer.
I have made some research. A new Acer TravelMate with roughly the same specs as mine would go for around £550 today. I paid more than twice that amount in late 2006. I reckon a fair price would be £330 or 4000 Swedish Krona. Of course it will be formatted to factory settings before any transaction takes place.
Why am I selling it then? Well I want a Mac before the end of this academic year. And that will make my Acer redundant.
Today Simon has:
Listened to his colleagues during an evaluation session
Read about the Church of Scientology
Noticed that he has now decided for a MacBook Pro.
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Lapplandsväck
The annual Christian summer conference is underway - and I am not there. Well, I attended it for a day on Saturday - but that was it. Anyway, it was good fun to meet a wide range of friends during my brief guest appearance.
The other day I spoke to a UK friend over the phone for a while, interesting to hear how my English gets even slower (yes, it is possible) just because I haven't used it for virtually a month. Fortunately, my English improves year on year. So I should be even better by graduation. In the best of worlds; I am good enough to get onto a good grad scheme.
An agency has helped me to get a new flat in Newcastle. This obviously means that I have decided to skip the placement year. I will live across the street from the Centre of L. So it should be no more than a 20 minute walk to uni.
And now to something completely different. Robert Mugabe, one is really wondering how a rather promising leader 28 years ago has turned into something very in- and un-human. I hope that the African Union can sort something out. If not it should be inevitable for neighbouring African countries to intervene. And if they do not intervene I will upset, but nowhere near as upset as I would be finding European countries and the US resisting an armed intervention to restore democracy in Zimbabwe. However, if we are lucky the old dictator will just die all by himself. BUT - that would probably not be the fairest solution.
Today Simon has:
Listened to XM Radio Online
Read The Economist and Svenska Dagbladet
Noticed that it is a grey day
The other day I spoke to a UK friend over the phone for a while, interesting to hear how my English gets even slower (yes, it is possible) just because I haven't used it for virtually a month. Fortunately, my English improves year on year. So I should be even better by graduation. In the best of worlds; I am good enough to get onto a good grad scheme.
An agency has helped me to get a new flat in Newcastle. This obviously means that I have decided to skip the placement year. I will live across the street from the Centre of L. So it should be no more than a 20 minute walk to uni.
And now to something completely different. Robert Mugabe, one is really wondering how a rather promising leader 28 years ago has turned into something very in- and un-human. I hope that the African Union can sort something out. If not it should be inevitable for neighbouring African countries to intervene. And if they do not intervene I will upset, but nowhere near as upset as I would be finding European countries and the US resisting an armed intervention to restore democracy in Zimbabwe. However, if we are lucky the old dictator will just die all by himself. BUT - that would probably not be the fairest solution.
Today Simon has:
Listened to XM Radio Online
Read The Economist and Svenska Dagbladet
Noticed that it is a grey day
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