The guy in the glass

The Guy in the Glass
by Dale Wimbrow

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't your Father or Mother or wife
Whose judgement upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people may call you a straight shooting chum
And call you a wonderful guy,
but the man in the glass says you're only a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest
For he's with you clear to the end,
And you have passed your most dangerous test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may face the whole world down the pathway of life
And get pats on the back when you pass,
But your final reward will be heartache and strife
If you've cheated the man in the glass.

Be the best of whatever you are

Be The Best of Whatever You Are
By Douglas Malloch

If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,
Be a scrub in the valley-but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway happier make;
If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass
But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,
There's something for all of us here,
There's big work to do, and there's lesser to do,
And the task you must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can't be the sun be a star;
It isn't by size that you win or you fail
Be the best of whatever you are!

We Must

We Must
By William Arthur Ward

We must be silent before we can listen.
We must listen before we can learn.
We must learn before we can prepare.
We must prepare before we can serve.
We must serve before we can lead.

November...

Time flies when you're... working hard...

It's easy to lose yourself in work. In the stresses of everyday. But it's important to get away from that. This weekend I've had my urge for "creative" time... it seems to happen every now and then... but now I feel like I've been neglecting my creative side lately and realise it affects me.

Hence why I'm blogging again as well. It's one way of releasing. Another way was taking a day off work on Friday and walking around London taking pictures. My goal was to capture a few different sides of London, inspired by the protesters at St. Pauls. In such close proximity you have so many different worlds.

- St. Pauls and Bank - Bankers, corporate suits and work work work. Now St. Pauls has been taken over by hippies and protesters though which made for an interesting contrast. Atop all that... tourists from every corner of the globe.

-Old Street - hip, young, fashion conscious people who in some instances try to dress poor when they in fact spend fortunes looking like it.

- Goodge street and British Museum - tourists and school children. A very differing group of people.

Here are my favorite few shots of the day.

While chatting about this inspirational stuff... I've been watching a lot of X-Factor lately... getting a bit of ridicule for it but the reason it's inspiring me is because the fact that there is so much talent out there in this world. There are people who are incredible and don't get the chance to share it with others. When they do it inspires me.

This is Melanie Amaro from the US X-Factor and an extremely powerful song.

While we're on the video segment.

This is an old video that I thought about today. When I first heard it I was doing alright but a friend of mine wasn't. He was lacking some confidence and listening to it made me smile. I like this song. :-) Besides that, it's a pretty cool video as well.

There are quite a few new songs on my top 5 list right now...

1) Adele - Someone Like you

2) Adele - Set fire to the rain - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZiXMoYxG-I

3) Listen - Beyonce -

4) Breathe Gentle - Tiziano Ferro and Kelly Rowland)

5) Orphee Aux Enfers (Galop) - Jacques Offenbach

So that's a lot of links and stuff but haven't shared for a while. :-)

Vacation-e in Sweden

It's been a magical two weeks. Starting to come to an end but still have four lovely days off.

All I can say is it is absolutely magnificent coming to S

kanör for vacation and two weeks is just enough time off to really relax. To get your head straight. To forget about work for a while. And to see friends who aren't stressed about anything.

And if nothing else to look out over this incredible view.

It's been a fun filled time as well as can be seen in the following pictures from a hat party we had in Skanör.

The weather hasn't been all that great but who needs weather when you got friends, wine, music, and time.

The pace of life is extremely slow down here though and I do realise how much I love always having something to do in London. There is always people you can see, always things to do and it's all about taking your finger out of your butt and doing it.

Tonight I'm playing Squash! Can't wait. Should be a lot of fun. It's one of the best sports out there fitness wise.

Parents arrive in Skanör on Saturday night. And Monday evening it's back to London and work again on Tuesday. Fun and games.

Trashy pop

I'm not ashamed to say that I love trashy pop music and upbeat dance music. Whatever you say it gets me in a positive state of mind. The lyrics aren't important at all. It's the beat, it's the feeling you get when you hear the rhythm. If I wanted to get great lyrics or read profound things I'd read a book or listen to certain kind of deep stuff.

It's a bit like going to the cinema, sometimes you are just up for letting loose and being entertained and relaxing. I don't want to stand and listen to a bunch of words when I'm dancing, when I want to relax. I want to be entertained. That's why I normally go for the comedies at the cinema too.

I'm listening to quite a lot of stuff recently. I can't think of a better way to waste a few hours than by just being on youtube and going through song after song, or lastfm.

Or going onto this radio channel and just listenin for hours. ---It's a German radio station and you need to listen to the House channel (Funky HOUSE)

So I'm on vacation. What an incredible feeling. I feel like I don't need to do anything. I feel no stress right now. I'm just enjoying my own company. I know I spend enough time with others in London that I feel no real need to spend time with others but yet I'm still meeting up with others because I enjoy it. I realise how much more of a social person I've become recently. I've also become much more of a positive person.

Sure - I have my negative spells as well but I see the opportunities in everything which is something that I missed out for quite a while. I'm happy that I'm back. I have some great friends around me both in Sweden, England and the rest of the world.

Mika - more music

Another artist I'm big into at the moment is Mika. One of his old songs has really inspired me. Think it's super beautiful.

It's called happy ending and it's quite a depressing song but if you really look into it I think it's a beautiful positive song. Love it. Have attached the lyrics as well.

Happy Ending lyrics

This is the way you left me,
I'm not pretending.
No hope, no love, no glory,
No Happy Ending.
This is the way that we love,
Like it's forever.
Then live the rest of our life,
But not together.

Wake up in the morning, stumble on my life
Can't get no love without sacrifice
If anything should happen, I guess I wish you well
A little bit of heaven, but a little bit of hell

This is the hardest story that I've ever told
No hope, no love, no glory
Happy endings gone forever more
I feel as if I'm wasted
And I'm wastin' every day

This is the way you left me,
I'm not pretending.
No hope, no love, no glory,
No Happy Ending.
This is the way that we love,
Like it's forever.
Then live the rest of our life,
But not together.

2 o'clock in the morning, something's on my mind
Can't get no rest; keep walkin' around
If I pretend that nothin' ever went wrong, I can get to my sleep
I can think that we just carried on

This is the hardest story that I've ever told
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/m/mika-lyrics/happy-ending-lyrics.html ]
No hope, no love, no glory
Happy endings gone forever more
I feel as if I'm wasted
And I'm wastin' every day[repeated under]

This is the way you left me,
I'm not pretending.
No hope, no love, no glory,
No Happy Ending.
This is the way that we love,
Like it's forever.
Then live the rest of our life,
But not together.

A Little bit of love, little bit of love
Little bit of love, little bit of love[repeat many times]

This is the way you left me,
I'm not pretending.
No hope, no love, no glory,
No Happy Ending.
This is the way that we love,
Like it's forever.
To live the rest of our life,
But not together.

This is the way you left me,
I'm not pretending.
No hope, no love, no glory,
No Happy Ending.
This is the way that we love,
Like it's forever.
To live the rest of our life,
But not together.

This is the way you left me,
I'm not pretending.
No hope, no love, no glory,
No Happy Ending.

Another song that I'm really into by MIKA, is this one. I feel the energy. I feel young, I feel free, I feel strong...

Music and tricks

The perfect start to a day? Wake up. Put this song on and see the ray of sunshines seep in through your curtains. It makes you feel absolutely FANTASTIC. That's how my Saturday started.

This is one of my favorite songs at the minute. I found the song from the latest Social Media Revolutions 2011 video by Erik Qualman. If you haven't seen that video definitely go onto that site and check it out. Always insightful.

So having listened to this song as soon as I got up, I went out for a 10k run. It was such lovely weather and as I run with my iPhone I could make a little film of me panting heavily. :-) Oh so exciting. :-) I use the Nike+ app to measure how far I go so that's the voice you hear a little ways in...

As you can see, Kew Gardens is an absolutely beautiful surrounding to go running in. Who would have guessed that's London eh?

So my Saturday started wonderfully. A friend of mine from my time in Bratislava - Kieran - was in town and so met up with him in Balham - a part of town I'd never been to. It's near Clapham common.

So thanks to last night I now have some new TIPS for places to go in London if you are over and want some great hidden gems off the beaten track.

• A pub called the Duke of Devonshire. - really cosy - for some reason it reminded me of a circus. don't know why. It had a really nice interior but I was expecting monkey's with wings to jump out from under tables. Very odd.
• A great Spanish Tapas restaurant in Clapham called Carmen Bar de Tapas -best Tapas I've had in London.

Also, if you're ever in Brentford/Isleworth/Kew gardens area, there's a lovely pub that's just been refurbished called Coach and Horses. Jon and I went for roast today. I've picked up some cold ... sniffly nose and sore throat.

I'll leave you with some fun music ---a little Lonely Island and Jack Sparrow. Michael Bolton is a legend.

Pics from the last few weeks...

So my 29th Birthday came and went on the 26th May and I had a great time. I invited just a few close friends to dinner at Circus in London. Here is the team.

The first thing that met us at Circus was a woman taking off her bra and swinging around some nipple tassles. And Joao was worried it was a strip bar. Needless to say there was no more nudity but it was a great place with GREAT food. I'd recommend the food.

The night ended with us playing ring around the party hat. What kind of ring, an ONION ring of course.

Pris got it twice. She's the champ. :-) Surprisingly we didn't get thrown out. Thanks Simon for brining the party hats.

Earlier that week I was in Barcelona... What a town. The hotel where the event was held is called Arts Barcelona. A real kool place.

And here's the team that went there. What a party crew. :-)

Matt, Rich and Jon dancing in the car

I promised you this video from Austin a while ago. Here's Matt, Jon and I singing and dancing in the car.

Sitting working on a proposal...

Sitting working on a proposal for a prospect on a Sunday night. FUN! But I'm watching MTV in the process. YAY! It's golden oldies time.. .early nineties /late eighties... and the song that came up was this one...

I LOVE THIS SONG!!! You have to love the 80's and early nineties... !!!!

Have a day off tomorrow but will be working the entire time I believe.

Ba- ba- ba- ba- barcelona

Ba-ba-ba-Barcelona

Wrote this on the airplane back from Barcelona on Wednesday. I was sitting 6 seats behind Johan Cruijff. :-) Celebrity spotting.

Another week away from home, another absolutely incredible city. I'm spoiled having been in Stockholm, Austin, New York and Barcelona, not to mention Bratislava and Brussels and Malmö the last few weeks.

If you have to travel places with work there are worse places to go and there are worse companies to do it with than Bazaarvoice. I've still been able to find some time to get out and see some of the cities.

What I've noticed is the difference in the pace of life in the different places compared to London. It's not something I didn't know before but it's constantly reconfirmed time after time after time.

In between the travels - London has offered me a wonderful stage to enjoy. I've been proactive- musicals, squash, afternoon in Richmond, spontaneous tube stop discovery.

Summer truly makes a person feel better. I wish that I lived in a climate like this all year around. Kinda puts a dampener on Sweden as a great place to live the rest ones years but then you could say the same about most European countries.

Met lots of fantastic people this week at the Global Ecommerce summit. It's really great to be at these events. Mingle. Get to know the players. It's an exciting industry and it has a very hot future. I look forward to working in it a long time.

It's nice when you meet kind, fun people who are positive and respectful of others. Also helps when the team from Bazaarvoice we have is wonderful.

I need to leave you with another song... This is awesome... LMFAO with body rocker anthem.

Look at the guy dancing at the beginning. The Shuffle. How can you not smile. :-)

Bank holiday weekend coming up. Last long weekend until August. Looking to get away and do something spontaneous. Travel again. :-) we'll see what happens.

Last FM- rocks my world!!!

If you don't use Last FM yet. DO IT!
http://www.last.fm/

I love it. It takes the music you listen to and predicts what other stuff you might like. I know there are a lot of different varieties of this out there now. But for me it's been a god send. I've added a few artists and it's found more and more. and 90% of the songs that it recommends me - I end up loving.

I found this one in particular that I've definitely fallen for - it's a group called Chiddy Bang and this is their music video.



They combine MGMT's big hit Kids with some rap.

I've definitely found music again recently. Gives me so much energy. :-)

US Pictures

So as promised, here are some pics from my time in the US last week. I was in Austin and New York.

The US is one special place. At our company event they had snacks on the tables and the snacks were....

Pretzels filled with peanut butter? Really??? How healthy is that? And what kind of a combination is that. And were we guinea pigs to test on?

No wonder the country is full of people like this that I pictured at the airport when I arrived.

The US is really a world of extremes. Nothing depicts that as this picture does. An obese woman next to one that clearly takes care of themselves. Probably have completely different financial situations. But she can still afford some pretty hot shoes. :-)

And on the other hand, there are environmentalists all around...

Like this on the back of the lid to my youghurt. "when I saw a river catch on fire from a chemical spill." How many people see that? That's crazy.

So after a good time in Austin where I shopped till I dropped... literally --- I headed to New York to visit my sister Antonia (aka Antonio :-p). Here's a pic of her.

We went to have breakfast at a place near her home in Greenwich village. The place was called Miss Lily's and is on W. Houston street. I'd definitely recommend the Jerk Pork Belly Hash... mmm mmm.. a bit spicy but real good.

This is how it made me feel. :-)

Earlier that weekend I met up with a good friend of mine, Krille, a Swede living in London who I met when I lived in Vienna. What a guy. Always makes me feel fantastic.

I also met up with my friend Pratap for lunch on Monday at a great place called Gobo Restaurant on the Upper East Side. It is a vegan/vegetarian restaurant and had some great food. I'd recommend the bubble tea as well if you get the chance. Pratap let me know that the Smoothies there were really good.

So all in all, a great weekend in New York and Austin.

It all works out in the end...

Saw this video on Youtube. Doesn't have that many hits but I liked the song.




Due to post a bunch of pictures from Austin and some other travels coming up including a great video with Jon Bird, Matt Birbeck and myself dancing in a car. :-)

Post from the air (((written on my way to Austin on plane -- posted back on land in London)

Somewhere south of Greenland. 36,000 feet up in the air. Godthab anyone?? What's life like there? Travelling as often as we do definitely has it's perks but the world is never-ending. It's also ever-changing. Just because I spent time in China when I was young, I don't know the China of today. 

I'm tired of travel right now. 

Travel is important. It's important to get away from your everyday. To see that things are done differently - for better or worse - elsewhere. But as with anything else one must do so in moderation. Having travelled extensively - continuing to travel currently gives only marginal insights and vision. Quite frankly it's only to visit people that I enjoy travel. It's only to travel with people in my own Rich culture that I enjoy it. 

It sounds cynical but I couldn't care less about other cultures right now. It's about finding mine. 

When you're young it's all about different cultures this and that but what if that's all you'd ever known. Is it so strange then to want to experience one culture for a prolonged period of time. To really get to know it. To become one with it? I think it's normal but I think the decision of which  must be made when one is comfortable to make it.

Am I somewhat ready? Perhaps?we'll find out.

I'm coming to the point where I want to make such a decision and I've very much narrowed down my options to three countries and a handful cities: Sweden, UK and USA. 

Top of the list is Sweden. I feel it's who I am. Where I'm from. Who I want to be. but there are a few downsides that I just know will be thorns in the side if I choose to do so.

I don't feel English. Truth be told I've had a real love hate relationship with England and had quite a lot of distance from the culture and many things with it. Started at university. Now too. I'm super thankful for all its given me. Ive had some good times there but it was never my end station. I have always felt Swedish more.

Until recently I always loved USA but since working for an American company I've realised a number of things about it that differ from my personality or at least who I have become. I could envisage living there for a short period of time in the future but otherwise no. We'll see how things change when I'm back in positive USA.

Travelling at 875 km/h high above the Atlantic I know that I must slow down slightly and focus in order to speed up. I'm a restless creature. I'm a creature of habit. It will require a real fight to break old habits but I'm ready to do it - for the benefit of my future.

Funny that travelling is the only real time I have to reflect. One can never be too happy in this world can one? More options ... More dilemmas.

If... By Rudyard Kipling

I just had lunch with a friend of mine called Pratap. He is an inspiration. He told me of one of his favourite poems. It is by Rudyard Kipling.

If...


IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Austin

USA, What a place.. land of the extremes. Will write more about it later but wanted to post some pictures from yesterday's Bazaarvoice Internationals vs. USA football game. It was a lot of fun. And these are some good pictures from Nishant Pithia.

Time to start it up again...

After a few months... ok... a year of not writing I think it's time to start up again. Once again - let's see how long it lasts but I can try at least.

It's been an eventful year since I last wrote. Toppsy turvy. Lots of lows and one or two ups.

Anne and I broke up after she moved back to Sweden. After a four year relationship, it's never easy to end it. I learned and hope still to learn a great deal from Anne and the relationship we had. To me, what's life about if not continuous learning and progression. Things change - ideas change - directions change. Grab ahold of the opportunities you have to move forward and do something about it.

I've learned recently that the heart and mind are completely different entities and both have incredible power over you in different yet important ways. I wish it were easier but everything happens for a reason.

I have also realised that one must feel good physically in order to feel good emotionally. However, upon deeper thought is it also that- one must feel good emotionally in order to feel good physically? I don't know.

This came up after I for the first time ever went for a 50 minute jog. Non-stop and I felt great. I've been sick for a few weeks so it feels good to be back in training.

This past week I spent 7 days in Sweden. In Malmö, Lund, Skanör, and Stockholm and I've realised how important Sweden is to me and how much I love the country. I will live there again one day and although I can't say exactly when, I don't think within the next 3 years is too ambitious. London is an incredible town but I feel like you need to have someone to share it with. London is too vast... Too crazy... Too different to settle in for a long time because there's always more... There's always stress. It's a wonderful town but what I've realised is that

Too much choice makes life far too complicated.

So I had a wonderful week in Sweden and heard some great music I hadn't heard before including the following link which is kinda like I feel like at the moment. Love listening to new stuff - especially from Sweden. "Vi mot världen".



I just watched a very interesting documentary from Louis Theroux on San Quentin prison. If you get the chance I'd definitely watch it. He said one thing that stuck.

"Humans are creatures of habit."

I believe that very very much. The majority of people will return to habit unless the habit is so dreadful that they realise that an alternative is better. I admire and applaud people who can revert from habit.