The Final Countdown

Normal people let themselves breathe, space activities out sensibly, pause to reflect. Not Megan! I've been in an insane whirlwind of preparation for two big things this week: launching the new Bonnier.com site (and the associated BonFire social network, which is a giant project in its own right), plus...moving back to the U.S.!

I know, I know, I haven't really talked about exactly when I was leaving Sweden and what I'd do when I get back. Those are messy questions. I'll share my schedule, just so you can see what a lunatic I am: Friday is my last full workday in the Bonnier office. Then, I go to Helsinki this Sunday through next Wednesday, for the Bonnier Publishing Program. Thursday the 5th, I return to Stockholm for a one-day stopover (There no direct flights from Helsinki and I could use miles to upgrade to first-class for the flight home from Stockholm). Friday the 6th, I fly from Stockholm to New York to party for an evening with my girlfriends in Manhattan. Then I fly to Baltimore on March 7th (again, because there were no direct flights from Stockholm, so since I had to go through Newark anyway, I decided to make it fun). From there, I'll drive out to the Eastern Shore of Maryland to visit my parents and grandma for a few days. Then I'll drive to Annapolis, Maryland on March 10th for a business lunch with the Bonnier's V.P. of digital media, who lives in Washington, DC but is meeting me halfway. Then I have to fly BACK to New York to shoot two segments of the T.V. show Food Detectives on March 11th. (I think way back in maybe my first post I mentioned that I occasionally guest-host a show on the Food Network. Well, the show got picked up for a second season and I'll be back in the States just in time for their last week of filming.)

From there, I fly back to Santa Fe on March 12, where I will take a week off, for the love of god! Well, sort of. Because the new social network will be in beta, I'm sure there will be a lot of questions and bug reports from our beta testers, so I'll work on that, but I'll mainly try to just be a human being again for a little while, and then swing back into full action on March 23.

What "full action" means is not 100% clear, however. I have responsibilities in a few different places within the Bonnier company: at my alma mater, PopSci, at Bonnier AB, continuing to work on the new Web site, and also with the digital department at Bonnier in the U.S., which, under the leadership of a new boss, is getting a facelift.

But back to the here and now in Stockholm. Today I packed up all my belongings, so I could ship them home and only travel with one suitcase. Kind of key, since I have to make stops in a bunch of places before landing back in New Mexico. This way my stuff will already be at the house when I get there. And holy crap, I have a lot of stuff. I had four humongo suitcases when I came over here and I of course did some shopping over the past seven months, to boot. Niklas said one of the things he'll miss about me is that I wear a different outfit to work every day. Sweet, maybe, but crazy. What can I say? I love fashion. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to do a final sweep of the social network, and also get ready for the DHL man to grab my boxes.....