But he has become more of an unemotional killer in the shape of Daniel Craig, even though I quite like him as an actor. I feel a bit sorry for him somehow, because behind his tough stoneface, I can see that he's not in harmony or happy at all. Poor chap. Bitterness all over his face and he has to make strong efforts to express himself verbally. Well, he's after revenge for the girl that was killed in Casino Royale.

It's another character all together than the one that Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan played, where the elegance and humour existed. Still, like most of us old Bond fans, persist to say, the real James Bond was of course Sean Connery and that will never change. I rank Daniel Craig as number 3, behind Roger Moore.

One early Sunday morning in the outskirts of London 1990, when I was out for a longer run along the Thames, I actuall ran into Roger, during a shooting of the film "Bullseye".

I was almost back home at Kew after 20 km's around Richmond Park and along the river, when I spotted a film crew and 2 older gentlemen in Scottish kelts, sitting waiting in chairs all by themselves. Roger Moore & Michael Caine. It felt unreal, because there were only the film crew, Roger & Michael and me there. So I hurried back home to have a quick shower and change, then back to the film shooting with some friends. I had a short talk with Roger, who was very polite and took some interested in me because I was from Sweden. I didn't know then that he had a Swedish wife. A funny memory that I have was that, I noticed that Michael Caine felt a bit bypassed/ignored/bored during our conversation. It's also easy to read the different attitude towards us on the photos that we took together. Roger Moore & Pelle smiling happily together, next to Michael Caine with an apathetic look on his face. The movie was really really bad. Perhaps my fault, who put Michael Caine in a sour mode. Check this review http://www.leninimports.com/michael_winner_bullseye.html I agree fully.

It was a big pleasure tonight anyhow, to watch the 22nd Bond movie in a big theatre (Bergakungen), sitting on the front row, feeling the explosions and action scenes through vibrations in the chairs. I recommend you to see it, likewise I recommended to see the latest Rocky & Rambo movies. Films of no importance what so ever, but still ... Boys are still boys.

Early this morning, during my morning coffee, Nellie kept pointing at my cup and mumbling something over and over again. It took me a while to realize that it was the Goofy figure on the cup that she was aiming at. Nothing in particular with that since Goofy is all over our house in different ways, but in the other hand she held a piece of a Disney puzzle that she was playing with and when I checked it a bit closer, it happened to be the head of Zeke Wolf also called the Big Bad Wolf. She insisted that it was another Goofy and I got a bit upset and engaged in telling her the differences between these two guys. Well, it's not that easy for an 18 months old girl to see the difference in characters/personalities, but at least she should be able to see that they are different animals with different ears, teeths, etc. But then when I more closely examined the small puzzle piece, even I saw many similarities, like body structure, colour of clothes and honestly it's not that much difference between a dog and a wolf. Zeke dresses a bit more hillbilly style, otherwise very much the same. OK Nellie, nice try. Papa loves you anyway. I will keep on guiding you through all the important topics in life. It's giant puzzle and it includes to avoid the Big Bad Wolves, especially for small pretty girls.

Went with Nellie for her visit ever to the dentist today. We were met in the waiting room by a very nice and smiling lady dentist from Denmark. She made us feel very welcome and had an adorable attitude that I would like to see at more places more often. Of course, she's been selected to handle children, to make them positive about the dentist business, but why should it be so difficult for other service people to act in a similar fashion? Even if we are not kids anymore, we still like to be treated nice and feel good.

So she managed to get Nellie in to a very cooperative mode and the whole session was a pleasure for all of us. Nellie played with her toothbrush all evening and she will most certainly look forward to her next visit there.

I had a similar experience in Kuala Lumpur, where I had some rather big dental jobs made by a young chinese dentist, called Eugene. He made me feel very good and it was a pleasure going there, even though it was painful doing rootfillings etc. He was smiling a lot and told me things that kids normally like to hear,"You are so brave Mr Claesson", "Very very good Mr Claesson", over and over again. Funny, but also relaxing & comforting. Especially for me, who have been tortured by old boring dentists during my childhood. At my first visit to the dentist at the age of 7, we (a bunch of kids from my school) were transported from school in a Peugot stationwagon (like pigs on the way to the butcher), sitting in the luggage section, to the dentist in Vara (community center, very far away = 18 km's!!) and then had to sit and wait half a day for our turn outside the torture chamber listening to our friends crying in there and coming out with tears. Then when it was my turn, I remember that this old mean guy = the dentist, was slapping my hands when I tried to protect me from the so called treatment. He still managed to pull 3 teeth out and drill in 2 others. Yes, I had anaesthetics, but ... Hey that was a nightmare session all together. No wonder that I have had a mental problem with dentists all my life, until I met Eugene in KL. This danish woman today, Mia, for sure gave Nellie a better dental start than I had. Not everything was better back in the old days. The attitude is the key!

Ran 20 km's this morning in the rain. Very wet weather and I didn't see or meet any other runners at all. What's wrong with people? or is it me ...? When you sit inside your warm house looking out at the shitty weather, it can be rather discouraging to get out for a 2 hour run, but when you have spent the first 10 minutes out there, it's rather pleasant actually. You just have to get soaking wet first, then there's nothing more to it. As long as you keep on running, you wont get cold. Another thing is that you feel like a winner, since everybody else are chickening out. I used my Nike Shox shoes and that was probably the last longer run we did together. They start to feel dead. They've been OK though, but I wont buy any more of them. Asics Gel Kayano are still my favourites, but I might consider trying a pair of Reebok Smoothfit next time. Seemless technology sounds good.

Next marathon will probably be the Lucia Marathon in Bovallsstrand on Dec 13. I ran that race 5 years ago with a soft textil Lucia crown on my head. It was raining that day too and the five soft candles on my lucia crown soaked up so much rain water, so they were hanging down like long cow nipples after 10 km's, so I had to remove it, since it was slapping my face during running. It was a bit fun and I was photographed in the local paper (Bohuslänningen) and published on the front page.

Premier league: It was nice to witness Chelsea first loss in 4½ years at home at Stamford Bridge today. Well done Liverpool! By the way, the British football players never complain over bad weather. On the contrary, they seem to love it when it's pooring down. Phil Neville's interview comments, after Everton's draw with Man Utd on Saturday, was a true dedication to the British weather. That's real spirit!

We watched the Coppola movie tonight again and it's with mixed emotions that I think about our decision to NOT to go to Tokyo for a year, as suggested in the beginning of this year. I'm really fascinated about Japan and the lifestyle there, even though you have to accept to feel like an alien, mainly due to language constraints. I realized during my work visits there that it's a very challenging place to live, but also extremely exciting. Still not more complicated than Seoul and definately much more of a thrill. Our final decison might have been the most sensible one from a family perspective, but but ... some opportunities never come back. New ones might pop up instead.

Bill Murray is acting really cool in the movie and Scarlett Johansson is very pleasant indeed. I also like the slow pace of the movie and atmosphere all together. I can also easily identify myself in the lost situations that he's in, where the mind is drifting away a bit. Feels like I've been in his shoes many times, but instead of hanging in the bar, I have been using the threadmills in the gym or the swimming pools. In Japan you are considered as a criminal if you have a tatoo, so I was stopped in the swimming pool and they came with thick tape to cover my tatoo before entering the water. It can provoke other people, I was told afterwards. They also forced me to use a cap over my hair. Then I was instructed to swim in a "right to left" lap in my swim lane even though I was alone in the lane and even told again a couple of times when I was swimming straight in the middle. The Japanese are funny guys and over-organized quite often.

Nellie caught lots of attention when she was over there in March. Her blond blue-eyed happy face made lots of Japanese women very curious, but we were used to it from Korea, so for Nellie it was just normal.

I wonder how lost in translation and confusion Nellie is right now. Born in Malayisa by a Polish mother and a Swedish father, who communicate in English. She's spent most of her life so far in Korea and is quite well travelled for her age. Her only Christmas was spent in Australia, but now she has settled down for a while in Sweden. I still think that a year in Japan would have looked good in her CV (for toddlers).

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone? (Bob Dylan of course)

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My future role at work was decided today, after a few other potential options with some very close calls, that have been handled rather unprofessional from the company (according to me). The disability to communicate in an open and honest way (exceptions exist), is where I'm most critical and also the overall repatriation process (or lack of it) after my expat assignments. I have heard from other ex-expats that the toughest part is to get back in to the organization back home again in a wanted way. Yes, that was true for sure and I also experienced that you are very much on your own without any HR support at all. One setback was that I was considered over-qualified (hard to believe though ...) for most of the positions that I wanted to go for. My achievements in Asia over the last two years, are apparently regarded high and some managers are afraid to engage me as a normal line manager, because they say that they will not be able to satisfy my needs for new challenges over time and they think that I will leave for something more exciting pretty soon. That's what I've been told (after begging for some honest opinions), but I have also clearly stated that I have other prioprites now, being more family oriented and home based when I have 2 small kids again. I don't want to repeat old mistakes. Anyhow, my record is showing a bit of a restless nature with hunger for new stuff all the time. Perhaps that's the truth and I just try to create another picture that would be desirable. Wanted position and true nature/personality might be in conflict a little bit.

For a while in the vacuum of a new clear role this autumn, I felt a bit useless and lost in nowhere, like a rolling stone with no direction ....

Well, from now on I will be a part of a new global Sourcing program, focusing on the Application delivery unit within the new organization. It can be very challenging indeed and of course there will be more interactions with Asia again. The global economy and trend with low-cost sourcing is very interesting and also a very sensitive and delicate topic to discuss with some people. It's a reality that we have to face, so I'm glad to be able to participate. Let's see how I can live up to be a "working class hero" in this role.

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Theres room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be  (John Lennon of course)

Believe it or not, but tonight I participated in the local TV program "Gbg idag" on Kanal Lokal, as a guest in the sofa during a discussion around mental power. It was a cool experience and very nice atmosphere in the studio. The time was going so fast and I had so many things that I wanted to mention, but we just managed to touch upon a few headings more or less. I suppose that the main trick is to be able to use as few words as possible within a short period of time and still manage to get your message through to the audience. Of course, I was far far away from that and used my normal unstructured way, without preparations, shooting from the hip. Yeah, it makes it more exciting and fun. I prefer myself to listen to people that are real and a bit confused, than listen to someone that's reading from a prewritten script. OK, now I have created some arguments to protect my failure, if you think that I fucked up really bad on live TV. I will check the program on web-TV tomorrow and then have a second opinion.

http://www.kanallokal.se/webb-tv/gbgidag

Tired all day today. Probably an aftermath from yesterdays long, late and tiresome drive back home from Eskilstuna & Västerås. Darkness and rain makes always driving tougher, especially if you are tired due to lack of sleep already before you start. Home around 1 AM and then it was rollerski training with the MC-gang in the morning, so Yes, it's probably normal to feel like I do right now. Perhaps also that I have spent some energy on acting a bit extra much "Mr nice guy" since we picked up my mother-in-law from Poland at the airport. On the other hand, I can live the Kronblom lifestyle now when she's here and is helping out with the kids etc. It feels a bit aquard though, to not be able to understand each other language wise.

When I grew up, I was a bit of a cartoon fanatic and read all kind of series that I could get my hands on. Always some comic strips in the womans weekly magasines that my Mum had (Året Runt, Allers, Hemmets, ICA-kuriren, etc) and the cartoons there where often Swedish creations, who had a bit of a negative relationship to their mothers-in-law, like Kronblom, Fridolf, Åsa-Nisse, amongst others. They don't fit in any more in todays more modern society and I don't even remember when I saw any serie strip with them last time. Perhaps it's because I read other magasines today. But most probably they are dead. Were they funny in the first place? is another question. Hmmm ....