In Apple, Tech on
13 July 2008 with 8 comments
Although I can hardly write a sentence of decent Swedish without help I wanted to set up my old PowerBook G4, running Tiger, to do spell checking in Icelandic, English and Swedish. I’ve been using Stafsetning 2004 since it was in closed beta back in 2004 and was mostly satisfied with it.
My biggest problem with it started when I switched from an iBook G4, running Panther, to my current computer and OS back in 2005. One of Stafsetning’s biggest features, switching between Icelandic and the OS X Spell Checker’s language on the fly by a keyboard shortcut (or menu from Menu Bar if that’s how you roll), never functioned well after my switch to PowerBook and Tiger. A switch between languages would often mean I’d get an error message saying the Spell Checker couldn’t be contacted. Hardly a niggle but Stafsetning had its redeeming features and I’d have stuck with it if not for wanting to have Swedish spell checking as well.
I might have checked if my system already included a Swedish dictionary but instead decided straight off to try cocoAspell which is free and has a big selection of dictionaries. Removing Stafsetning from the list of Login Items didn’t remove its imprints from applications’ spelling menus but I (stupidly) installed cocoAspell anyway. Spell checking was, of course, borked. Uninstalling Stafsetning seemed the thing to do but the software makes no provisions for it nor could I find any instructions for doing so on Stafsetning’s website. I sent a mail to their support address1 but as it was Saturday I expected no answer until next Monday at first.
Being an impatient man I ended up searching for components of Stafsetning, which by the way is an input manager, with Spotlight and then removed them by hand. Spell Checking was still borked. I uninstalled cocoAspell and that changed nothing. I found a new level to being frustrated and started pressing buttons. ⌘-⇧-. did the trick by bringing up this window:
No surprise I didn’t think of this as I never use it. Here I could switch from Stafsetning’s dictionary to one of a few included with the OS X’s native spell checking system. One of which is Swedish. You would think some text on some spell checking software would mention this little thing, though? I suggest something along the lines of “oh, and when you’ve finished removing our software by hand you might want to call up the Spelling menu for each app and change it from the dictionary you just removed.”
I also hope Apple has made changes to this system in Leopard and I should check to see if they have. Now that I have Icelandic through cocoAspell, along with the Swedish and English dictionaries included with Tiger, I want to find a way to change Spell Checker’s language with a keyboard shortcut. I’ve come as far as looking at Red Sweater Software’s FastScripts Lite but that option would mean I’d have to learn some AppleScript. There should be an easier way to do this.
Update:
Only fair to add that the developer of Stafsetning 2004 got back to me earlier today; Tuesday the 15th. Of course the matter was mostly fixed on my end, as I mentioned in the follow up to this post, but his response was very helpful.
In Sweden on
13 July 2008 with 5 comments
Last night I was made a Swede at a formal ceremony - well, a sushi dinner - at Marie’s friend Lisa’s place. Of course there was a load of people present although I think the sushi was the main draw and not me. Or maybe it was the constantly appearing cocktails in various bright colours that remarkably didn’t leave me a hungover wreck this morning.
As part of the ceremony I was kitted out with a sash in blue and yellow; the colours of the Swedish flag, a blue pea whistle with blue and yellow ribbon for a lanyard and a Swedish Football Association hat. In yellow and blue. Then I was presented with a gorgeous, piano black ukulele to congratulate me on having become a Swede.
Now I’ll have to start practice. Not sure if Sweden is as pleased to have me after hearing the first attempts at making musical sounds with my new instrument.
In Sweden on
9 July 2008 with 4 comments
- Listened to a Bellman recital
- Driven a Bon Jovi special edition Volkswagen Golf (I’m fine now, thank you).
- Drunk quite a lot (two parties already, I’m fine now, thank you).
- Seen, and heard, The World’s Loudest Child (she was charming and I think I have tinnitus).
- Eaten Falukorv (similar to Icelandic kjötbúðingur and good to eat but stay away from Falukorv stroganoff).
- Stayed in a Falu red (of course) country cottage.
- Seen more potato gratin in four days than I’ve seen before in my entire life.
In Sweden on
6 July 2008 with 1 comment
It’s just about 59 hours since I stepped out of my old flat for the last time. Since then me and Marie have flown from Iceland to Sweden, spent a fabulous night with friends of Marie’s in their cottage outside Stockholm and gone to a double birthday party in a village outside Falun in Dalarna. Falun is my new home now but I’ve yet to spend a night here since arriving in Sweden.
Me and Marie only managed a brief stop in her flat - my new home - yesterday, for dropping off suitcases, a shower each and a snack, before heading out to the birthday party. We ended up staying overnight so it was only this afternoon that I managed to empty my suitcases. I’m about as settled as I’ll get until the rest of my stuff arrives and I’m sitting in the living room, blogging, while Marie’s three sons lounge about watching the TV and playing video games.
Maybe it all feels so normal because I’m exhausted. I’m incredibly happy for how smoothly the move, and all the preparations for it, went but also for it to be over. Marie had gotten some special ales from Systembolaget, before flying out to Iceland, and I look forward to relaxing with a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot.
Tomorrow there’s paperwork to be done, I will need to get a Swedish phone number and do various other things that I can’t remember right now. But tonight it’s just relaxation. And perhaps I’ll try to sort through the few hundred photographs I’ve taken in the last couple of weeks. But only if I feel like it.
In Stuff on
15 June 2008 with 9 comments
I got an urge to listen to the “Theme From Rawhide” with The Blues Brothers a bit earlier. Letting the album roll in iTunes I got an urge to watch The Blues Brothers movie too. That reminded me I have it. On VHS. I’ve never owned a VCR in my life so since moving out from dad I’ve had no way of playing the few tapes I have.
I’ve been going through my stuff lately, albeit mostly in my mind. I won’t be taking much of it with me to Sweden so a lot of stuff will have to be disposed of somehow. At the indoor flea market today I was reminded of my “collection” (are six albums a collection?) of Led Zeppelin albums. A couple of blokes were selling second hand vinyl records (one had a fair bit of The Smiths catalog) so I asked if they would buy my Led Zeppelin records.
Selling off stuff like this feels somehow wrong but I put that down to my pack rat tendencies. I was a rabid Led Zep fanboy a decade ago, or so, but now only listen to them rarely and certainly not the vinyl records. Someone else should have them. My feelings about selling off my comic book collection - no quotation marks needed - are quite different. The comic books were a big part of my childhood and I would love to get them out of their boxes and have a good read. I’m tempted to do so right now.
Still, the same applies to them as the Led Zep albums; someone else should have them. Even now I don’t have room for them and I can’t justify paying for shipping just so that I can not read them in Sweden. One or more of Marie’s lads would probably love them - if they could read Icelandic. Better that I get a little cash for the books to subsidize moving other stuff. They’re not just books, and in fact I’m not sure there’s any such thing as “just” books, but I have to pick carefully what I’ll bring.
This all may sound like a metaphor for settling the past but I think that’s incidental. It’s probably closer to being a metaphor for dealing with the future. After all I’m trying to pick the things that mean the most to me and will be most useful after the move. But that’s mostly incidental too although I could learn a lesson from seeing it that way.
Right now I’m contemplating whether to take the VHS tapes to Sweden. It’s an absurd notion in so many ways. VHS tapes have absolutely no merits today, unlike vinyl records which I am certain will outlive the already obsolescent, and very annoying, Compact Disc. But Marie has a VCR and I have a Blues Brothers tape.
