Rawls & Me

Collage

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Thu, 21 May 2026 18:33:52 +0000

After my original plans to check out Kol & Cocktails in Helsingborg fell through, I decided to spend this month’s American Express dining benefit at Collage right here in Gothenburg. Joined by Anna, who deserved a dinner out more than most after spending eight hours in front of Zoom supervising students, we were free to choose anything we wanted from the regular menu, which in our case meant entrecôte with red wine barigoule sauce, served with French fries and Collage’s foamed béarnaise sauce, to which I ordered a glass of Château de Rochemorin and Anna a Kronenbourg lager at our own expense.

Made from a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, my wine was a full-bodied red with firm tannins, something which foxes are well known to appreciate.

For dessert, Anna picked a fascinating rhubarb creation while I stuck to tradition and Crème Brûlée. With still more than an hour left before William would finish his chess class, we took the elevator up to Heaven 23 for their special anniversary cocktail celebrating 25 years high above the Gothenburg skyline.

Balmoral

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Wed, 20 May 2026 15:20:03 +0000

Taking the ferry over to Lindholmen for some gym time together, William and I got to see the 217-metre-long Balmoral anchored at Amerikaskjulet, and also Hotel Draken in all its grandeur. After working out, we continued on foot to Sannegårdshamnen for a futurism-heavy stop at the same bakery where we usually take a break when I run my harbour half marathons.

Having consumed his fair share of science fiction lore and dystopias, it is both fascinating and slightly unsettling to listen to William talk about artificial intelligence and humanity’s future. Drawing on the “Dark Forest” idea from Chinese science fiction, he wondered whether an advanced extraterrestrial civilization might see humanity as uniquely dangerous once AI reaches a point where it can begin developing beyond our control.

Considering that his teacher apparently did not even know what the word “dystopia” meant, I sometimes feel sorry for William for having to wrestle with thoughts so different from those of his peers. Heck, they are far beyond the imagination of many professors of sustainability, who often seem to have remarkably little to say about the larger trajectory of human civilization.

Tapiz

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Tue, 19 May 2026 16:45:35 +0000

Long before Gothenburg woke up, I attempted some fasted cardio – running through the loveliest sun-sprinkled mist before breakfast, aiming to improve my body's ability to burn fat rather than carbohydrates for energy. With the world’s largest half marathon, Göteborgsvarvet, coming up on Saturday, I will probably skip my planned midweek long run and focus on shorter sessions and some additional strength training.

The rest of today was spent supervising students online and working on a grant application for the Swedish Research Council, though somehow I still managed to have a surprisingly good lunch with Anna at the railway station. Once she and the kids got back from their TBE shots in the afternoon, I made Risotto alla Milanese with salmon for dinner, served with a blend of Chardonnay and Viognier from the mountains of western Argentina – a wine that has recently become part of Systembolaget's regular selection.

Knowing for certain that Anna and William will be moving to Västerås later in the summer, it feels good for all of us to be together for a few days.

Blaise Cendrars

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Sat, 16 May 2026 18:00:50 +0000

In 1924, the Swiss author and adventurer Blaise Cendrars boarded an ocean liner bound for Brazil. An early exponent of Modernism, Cendrars wrote his poems as postcards, telegrams or fleeting blog posts (one is tempted to anachronistically add). When I came across Feuilles de route among the library shelves, it spoke to me immediately, perhaps because of the ship taking him to Rio and then São Paulo, but mostly because of my own enduring fascination with movement.

Speaking of journeys, the kids and I spent the better part of the afternoon watching Project Hail Mary. After years of very different people recommending the book to me, I was at least happy to finally watch the film, which, as Isaiah Menning recently pointed out in Breakthrough Journal, carries a message of technological optimism, humility, and love quite distinct from the misanthropy that still shapes much of contemporary environmental discourse.

With the kids calling it an early night, I got a moment alone on the balcony with a glass of Piedmont red. Instead of giving the wooden deck a proper deep clean, this will all be abandoned in a month from now as we are ending our lease and the house is coming up for sale, probably for 15 million SEK or some equally absurd sum. While the rent has been steep, the value of having this calm garden with all the forest trails and swimmable lakes just around the corner has been priceless. Maybe that is why Cendrars resonates tonight, places matter even when they are only temporary stops along the route.

Lottery

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Sat, 16 May 2026 07:06:28 +0000

In a sudden stroke of luck, I was just given a starting place for Göteborgsvarvet next Saturday. Having run it with Anna in the heat of 2024, I had no road racing plans at all for the moment, as my focus is fully on the Essex Way Ultra in July. But despite my failure to beat my previous PR along the shores of Lago Maggiore back in March, I would have regretted turning down the opportunity of a free race bib. At the same time, I am not going to attempt anything too crazy, as I do not want to risk any injuries leading up to my big race in England.

Otherwise, today I registered my 5,000th activity on Strava, which is kind of wild when you think about it. With the rain now falling, I guess my 5,001st activity will be the gym with William, as we plan to go for a bit of strength training on our way to the library. Having finished all three books in the Hunger Games series, I hope his next book will be slightly less scary, so that his dad does not get PTSD from reading to him in the evenings.

Time on feet

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Fri, 15 May 2026 18:01:07 +0000

Though the forecast promised sunshine, I got caught in two showers on my way around the harbour this morning, prompting an unplanned stop at Preem in Gårda for a coffee and a chocolate croissant. Then, passing Pöl Harbour, the sky cleared and I had to stop for the compulsory photo op before returning home to the first of two Teams meetings.

Instead of finishing my activity once I got home, I decided to go all in on the concept of “time on feet” (TOF), trading the stress of pacing for 140 minutes of running with lots of food in between, practising what always seems to be my real challenge in every ultra: eating enough. When I finally stopped the clock for good, I was happy to see that I had recorded 24 kilometres, something I hope to repeat tomorrow morning as well, as I keep preparing for the Essex Way Ultra.

After some palak paneer at Masala with William for lunch, he and I took tram 11 to Saltholmen and then the ferry over to Brännö for an afternoon hike by the Western Sea. Just as last year, when I went there with Eddie on his “studiedag”, both Brännö and the adjacent Galterö could not have been prettier, as we took in secluded coves and the marine life (sadly no orcas today though).

Knatterallyt

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Thu, 14 May 2026 14:22:42 +0000

After taking part in six different chess tournaments, William today finished first overall in Knatterallyt for children born in 2014 and was awarded a big trophy!

Nothing but the rain

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Thu, 14 May 2026 11:04:55 +0000

Through a foggy tram window, I see Stena Danica casting off. When I return after dropping William off at chess, there is nothing but the rain left, the kind of present absence that has become something of a signature theme here on Rawls & Me. The other day, Elin remarked on “the images of success and the perfect life you project through your feed”, which feels remote as my nipples are bleeding after I forgot to put on Vaseline before my morning run through the rain, my romantic life lies in ruins, and not even the old Dubliner rain jacket is enough to keep me dry.

Ten kilometres of indoor rowing later, I am back thinking that it really is a choice, and that the stakes are much higher today than they were when I was twenty; that there is a fine line between compulsivity and necessity; that the depths one can fall to are much deeper. So, I keep swimming to the best of my ability. For the moment, that means preparing a lecture for the master’s programme in digital learning on Monday and reviewing another manuscript for Energy Research & Social Science.

The road ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Tue, 12 May 2026 06:00:00 +0000

Having struggled with overtraining, and a bit of orthorexia to tell the truth, last year, I have sought a better balance this year as my life circumstances keep changing. With the Essex Way Ultra coming up in early July, I have decided not to fall into the same trap again, especially as 52 days is too short for any miracles anyway. Instead of suddenly doubling my running volume or setting off on some wild 80-kilometre adventure along Gotaleden, I will try to stick to my current 50–70 kilometres per week, with a focus on time on feet, a few proper long runs, and some back-to-back sessions.

With that in mind, I traded what I feared would become an emotionally heavy coastal morning run for some gym time in my white paws. Now it is back to teaching statistics and reading student manuscripts.

High Lighthouse

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Sun, 10 May 2026 06:06:00 +0000

Bouncing back to 70 kilometres this week and spotting a happy fox on my Skatås morning jog, I could no longer stand the thought of not having a race to look forward to. As such, I promptly registered for the Full Essex Way Ultra on the third of July, covering 132 kilometres from Epping tube station in London to the High Lighthouse in Harwich. Though I am obviously not alone in my fascination with lighthouses, there is something existential about racing towards the sea and seeing more of the Britain that I have come to appreciate so much over the years. While I still have to work out the precise logistics, Eddie will be away in Hungary that week, so the timing is sort of perfect.

For today, it is back to the U1800 chess tournament with William, whom I had the pleasure of sharing a pizza with last night after four intensive rounds.

Tintinification

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Fri, 08 May 2026 06:29:00 +0000

With William and Anna soon moving to another city, it felt very good to book an autumn getaway for just William and me. Finding €25 tickets with Ryanair from Arlanda to Dubrovnik on the very last day of the summer schedule, William and I will fly down to Croatia for three days by the Adriatic at the end of October, then continue with easyJet for another €50 to Geneva for a night in Switzerland before returning to Stockholm with Swiss for a similarly ridiculous amount.

Booking the trip together with William was in itself like something taken out of Tintin: searching for adventurous routings with a map of Europe in front of us, giving him a sense of an open world, and hopefully memories to cherish throughout the winter.

Street Art and Buns

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Thu, 07 May 2026 11:31:00 +0000

Yesterday, I taught my first statistics class using the software JASP, which will replace SPSS in all my classes going forward. Waking up early, I then spent three hours this morning learning more about its functions and building a dataset from our survey on the transition to higher education.

Sticking to my midweek long-run routine, I left the computer behind and headed out for a 23-kilometre street art run in the sunshine, which included a lion mural at Skanstorget created by the Lyon-based artist Kalouf. Sadly, I missed taking a photo of “Hästar som festar”, but I did get to discover some lovely houses in Linnéstaden that I had somehow overlooked in the past. Stopping at Kafé Marmelad for coffee and a banana bun, next to the sign proclaiming the “People’s Republic of Majorna”, I was reminded that fika really is the best part of long runs.

Carbonara

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Tue, 05 May 2026 16:13:00 +0000

With the survey spectacle making me want to reach for an extra-large “skämskudde”, I made carbonara with guanciale for lunch. Though it is significantly colder today, the weather is absolutely lovely and is expected to stay that way throughout the week.

In other news, I am happy to report that I am now on a steady course to making my first million with Sellpy, as my accidental over-purchasing of beige jeans back in January and reselling them in May is paying off big time. In many cases, I paid 75–100 SEK back then and am now selling them for three times as much. Still, I am not entirely convinced this is the “infinite money glitch” I joked about with the kids, since the profits have a tendency to be reinvested in other purchases from Sellpy, like a Sunspel corduroy Harrington jacket (an irresistible bargain at a fraction of its list price).

Survey Slip-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Tue, 05 May 2026 06:17:00 +0000

After putting a bit of effort into formulating the questions for Johanna’s and my survey on the transition to higher education, yesterday turned into an empirical embarrassment episode of epic proportions (if we are to stick with the alliterations). Using the Artologik tool for the first time, I was a bit too quick to accept the reassurance from our administrative staff that everything looked okay before publishing the survey – unleashing an unstoppable queue of e-mails to more than three thousand present and former students, with the reminder to answer the survey being sent out before the actual invitation.

Wanting to run away from it all, I went for 5k around the block, finishing with pancakes in the garden while listening to a redstart singing in the tree, probably just back from Africa. Yes, the Merlin app has truly opened my senses to what has always been right in front of me.

Back to Tylösand

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Sun, 03 May 2026 16:06:00 +0000

With no races planned, I made the most of this recovery week by running a faster half marathon out to Tylösand this afternoon, circling the cliffs of Tyludden before heading back past the quarries of Grötvik, soaking in the seaside light, and only easing off over the final five kilometres to leave enough energy for a bit of work later tonight.

Tomorrow, I will give a class on Agenda 2030, a topic I find both inspiring in its scope and frustrating in the way it often reduces sustainability to familiar, and not always particularly effective, discourses.

Wild nettle pesto

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Sun, 03 May 2026 10:45:00 +0000

After taking Caia for a coastal sunshine stroll yesterday, Johanna and I ended the day at her wooden lookout deck over a bottle of Albariño that we had brought back from Portugal in December. Overnight, the blue skies had turned a solid grey, providing some downtime to catch up on academic duties and get Johanna’s guesthouse ready for rental.

From childhood, I remember my mother making nettle soup and the fleeting season for picking them at my grandfather’s farm in Skåne. Today, with a slightly postmodern twist, Johanna and I picked nettles of our own and made pesto for lunch.

Norrnäs

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Sat, 02 May 2026 10:48:00 +0000

Having duly celebrated Valborg in Gyltige, Johanna and I filled her car with all possible camping gear and drove across the border into Kronoberg for a night on the shores of Bolmen. As Sweden’s twelfth largest lake, it almost felt like being at the sea, and through the night we could hear flocks of geese flying overhead.

Going swimming with Caia, Bolmen’s icy 36-metre depths proved a stark contrast to the sunny skies above. Before heading back, we got to check out the remains of the 13th-century fortification of “Piksborg”, the former narrow-gauge railway line between Halmstad and Karlshamn, and, most lovely of all, the beech-clad peninsula of Norrnäs udde stretching out into the lake.

3x Valborg

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Fri, 01 May 2026 10:16:00 +0000

Gallows Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:03:00 +0000

Despite my three years in Halmstad, today was the first time I ventured up Galgberget, with its nineteenth-century lookout tower, birch forest, and steep climbs. The tower even housed an anti-aircraft battery during the Second World War. Finishing my run at Espresso House with a freshly baked croissant, I felt almost as if I were back in San Diego, where Johanna and I would go for coffee runs in the mornings.

With the first three days of this week jam-packed with meetings, there has not been much time to reflect, but I look forward to turning Hallandsgatan into a more permanent home in the autumn, as Eddie will also start a new school here in Halmstad. For now, I guess it is back to work and that last sip of South Australian Shiraz.

Two hours

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 15:26:00 +0000

More than six years after Kipchoge’s highly choreographed two-hour marathon in Vienna, Sebastian Sawe broke the last great barrier and ran the world’s first official sub-two-hour race in London this morning. Meanwhile in Hamburg, my long-time Strava friend Niklas set a new marathon PR of 3 hours and 17 minutes at the age of 52, proving once again that no human is limited.

Trying to inspire the kids to adopt some of the same mindset, I took them on their longest hike ever this morning (which, apparently, also became my longest hike activity on Strava) under the most beautiful blue skies, spotting sparring deer and endless spring flowers as we traced Gotaleden eastward towards Jonsered. Topping it off with a record 15-kilometre indoor row at Nordic Wellness Örgryte, I think a recovery week in Halland is just what I need now.

Forty years later

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:19:00 +0000

Today marks forty years since that fateful night at reactor four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and what would become history’s worst nuclear accident. As the news media keeps recounting the events, a new report by the Anthropocene Institute brings much-needed perspective as it points out that the number of premature deaths would have been at least ten times higher had Chernobyl been a fully operational coal power plant. Though less spectacular, hundreds of thousands of people die every year from fine particulate pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels, yet none of these deaths seem to inspire HBO documentaries or sustained public outrage. Having been to Pripyat myself back in 2016, I am not trying to trivialize the human tragedy but, given the urgency of climate change, irrational fear of nuclear energy may ultimately prove far more dangerous than radiation itself.

Saturday slow

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 08:54:00 +0000

Experiencing a sudden bout of springtime lethargy, I struggled to get out of bed this morning. After all the boundless sunshine, the sky had turned grey, and it took all my self-discipline to lace up my trail shoes and head out around Delsjön. Stopping to listen to the birds with the Merlin app, and then to spot KLM’s morning flight with the Planefinder app, I got my share of augmented reality before returning home to two boys playing Minecraft.

According to the forecast, it will stay colder, but with the sun returning, I will make another effort to go hiking with the kids tomorrow. Otherwise, I plan to spend much of the weekend clearing things out – including my multi-decade collection of Monocle – as we have finally given notice to our landlord and will be leaving Ängtegsgatan at the end of July.

Bureaucratization

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Yesterday, Johanna and I drove down to Malmö for the world premiere of Kvalitetsplanen, a “performance lecture” about bureaucratization with Patrik Hall, who, some twenty-five years ago, was largely to blame for me ending up in political science. In the play, Patrik skillfully captured the paradox of the ever-increasing number of “organizational professionals” who are presenting their work as a response to bureaucratisation rather than a source of it.

Afterwards, we headed over to Vibliotek, which apparently was celebrating a decade on Södra Vallgatan, for some very Spanish tapas and happy hour prices on Estrella Damm. With the parks and fields turning green, one soon forgets that life in the Nordics is not always like this. Driving back over Glumslövs backar this morning – “där ute bland kuster och motorvägar” – everything somehow came together in one moment.

Stamboul Train

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:53:00 +0000

With fifty thousand Turkish Airlines miles expiring at the end of this year, train may not be the obvious choice for trips to Istanbul, but after watching Murder on the Orient Express in snow-laden Gyltige, its charm is nevertheless undeniable. Having finished The Quiet American, I wanted to read more of Greene, and the interwar years always hold a special appeal for me.

Unfortunately, for the moment, I am afraid I must focus on the 14-page review of the International Marketing programme in Halmstad that I have to read by tomorrow morning. As so many times before, I find myself wondering whether these ritualized exercises genuinely improve quality over time, or merely consume the energies that ought to be devoted to the work itself.

Bondi

noreply@blogger.com (Rasmus Karlsson) — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 07:48:00 +0000

Known as Hoka’s max-cushion cruiser for recovery days, the Bondi has been on my radar for years so, when Sellpy had a white pair for 400 SEK, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Taking them out for a test run this morning, I think the shoe was just what I had been looking for and, though I do not know how many miles they already have in them, they felt plush and stable. While I primarily plan to use them for easy, sunny days on asphalt, I might also use them for longer walks, as none of my current white sneakers are any good for that.