This bird doesn't "tweet"

I’m not sold on the concept. I think it’s a fad that will fade as soon as the hype settles down – we’ll see.

I “get” Facebook, Linked In, etc. The concepts make sense to me. Aside from the social aspect of Facebook, they’re just huge “yellow pages” or business directories for people with the added benefit of references, i.e. friends of friends who can facilitate introductions.

I’m not a techy person so I’m always resistant to new technology – just one more necessary evil I have to master.

But Twitter seems simply like high-speed marketing or promo-hype. I can see how it benefits movie stars and public figures who constantly need to be in the limelight. And I understand it can be a method for spreading the word quickly about a new product or program or seminar, people for whom having the newest and trendiest is an important part of their profile.

But as a medium for spreading the word about “basic” or “thoughtful” products and services, I don’t really get it. Those just take time to build a following and there are better methods for doing that. I wouldn’t buy or do something just because someone hyped it on Twitter. I’d still need to investigate it before I put my money down. Perhaps I’m just old-fashioned!

It’s true that I may not have heard of the product if it hadn’t been pushed on Twitter, but this would suggest the danger of Twitter overload or Twitter spam where everyone is hyping everything and valuable messages get lost in the noise. It’s kind of like the specialty groups on Linked In. There’s good information there, but you also have to wade through a lot of junk.

I also don’t get the concept of “ghost” bloggers. I realize there have been ghost writers for people who want to get their message out but are not good writers. But a “ghost” blogger seems a contradiction in terms. As I understand it, blogs are the musings of their authors. But famous people or companies who hire ghost bloggers – that’s just another form of advertising. It’s no longer the voice of the author. It’s more a forum on a particular subject and not really a blog. To call it a blog is false advertising in my book.

What do you think?

Surströmming - a wedding guest I'd rather forget!

(A friend recently asked me about surströmming. She had encountered it at my wedding 16 years ago. Here’s the story.)

My Swedish husband and I decided to get married in the U.S. I had heard about surströmming (literal translation - sour herring) and thought it would be fun to bring a couple cans of it to the U.S. as a joke to eat during at a post-wedding picnic at my sister's house. It's actually fermented herring.

Although my husband and I had never eaten it, he thought it was a bad idea to bring it to a wedding(!), but since it was an informal, outdoor picnic, I wasn't too concerned. I bought two cans to bring with us. Since I had heard that the cans can "explode," I put them in a plastic bag just in case they leaked. I took them with us on the plane. Luckily, no problems.

When we got to the U.S., we were curious if you could buy surströmming there and went to the Swedish specialty store in Minneapolis and asked if they sold it. They said they were not allowed to either import and or sell it because it was classified by the U.S. government as "rotten" food, and it's against the law to import rotten food.

Since we had heard that the cans can explode, no one wanted to open it at the picnic. A friend was brave enough to try. When he punctured the can, a small stream of juice shot out, nothing too amazing, but, oh, the smell.....!!! If those cans had leaked on the airplane, I swear the other passengers would have thrown me off in mid-air, and what a demand there would have been for sick bags!

(A few years later, I was working at a high school in Sweden. It was mid-August, prime surströmming season, and the students hadn’t returned yet. We were temporarily located in an old school building while the regular building was being remodeled. One day, I smelled a very foul odor in the halls. I thought there must be sewer problems. I later found out that someone had been eating surströmming! The odor is that foul and that strong!)

Surströmming is supposed to be eaten with onions and potatoes. Only a couple people at the wedding dared taste it. It's slimy going down and best swallowed quickly! My husband and I both tried it. Hours later, you could still feel the sensation of it in your throat and the aftertaste, kind of a continual mild burping. It is truly revolting stuff.

My sister took what was left of the surströmming and threw it in the trash can in her hot, mid-July garage. She said when she went out the next day, the garage reeked and there were flies buzzing everywhere. She said it was awful. So she retrieved the surströmming and buried it in her backyard!

I have had nothing to do with surströmming ever since!

The mammogram chronicles – part 8: Backward care at the Västerås breast unit

The phone rang a few minutes ago. It was the breast unit from the central health clinic (Centrallasarettet) in Västerås. They called to report that the mammogram I got yesterday was “normal.” (They also told me this after yesterday’s test.)

“I see you’ve had soreness in your left breast and under under your arm since January. Do you still have it?” (The technician who did yesterday’s mammogram asked me the same question. Yes, I do.) “Then you should probably get a physical (breast) exam, too.” She then offered me FOUR different days at a VARIETY of times with a CHOICE of doctors THIS month.

“Why couldn’t you have taken care of this yesterday when I was there?” I asked. She seemed surprised by the question and mumbled something about availability or scheduling. To be honest, I don’t remember exactly what she said except that it was a bureaucratic non-answer. “Since your mammogram was normal, we wouldn’t normally do a physical exam. But you say you still have pain.”

Faithful reader, if you have been following this chronicle, it’s quiz time. Question number one: Why did I call the breast clinic in January?

The moral of this story: Don’t fall out of the system. If you’re not in the computer, you don’t exist. And if for some reason you pop up, the droids who keep the system going have no idea what to do with you.

Something is very wrong with administration of the breast clinic at Centrallasarettet, and the women of Västmanland are literally paying for it (another visit, another co-payment), also in wasted time and anxiety.

Västerås, stop playing the odds with women's health.

I’m sure my sister would agree.