About

Hi, I'm Robert Birming. I live in Stockholm, Sweden. I work as a home inspector, and I love blogging.

This is where I write and tinker with my Bearming theme for Bear blog. If you ever want to say hi or share a thought, the contact page and guestbook are just around the corner.

Background

I grew up in a small town called Åkersberga, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) outside of Stockholm. These days I live in the Östermalm district of Stockholm. It's often described as "one of Sweden's most exclusive districts". But my life is far from fancy. My apartment is a 25 m² (270 ft²) rental. Still, I like it.

I trained as a bricklayer and worked in construction for about ten years. After that, I tried my hand at a few different things: musician (drums), web entrepreneur, digital marketer, and caretaker.

These days I work as a home inspector. I visit several homes every day and give homeowners advice on how to prevent water damage, fire, and burglary. I love it. It lets me explore new places and meet people I might never have crossed paths with otherwise. Many of those encounters become stories on my blog.

Blogging

I first discovered the web in the 90s during a short course. Most of it was basic stuff, like how to create a document, send an email, and search the Internet. But on the last day, the teacher said, “Today I’m going to let you create a web page.”

We built it in a text file with a few simple HTML tags. Then we opened the file in a browser, and I was blown away. Just a few lines of code turned plain text into a living web page. It felt like magic, and honestly, it still does.

That spark led me to start blogging around 2002, and since then I’ve had a handful of blogs, both in Swedish and English. For me, blogging is still the best way to capture thoughts, share small discoveries, and connect it all to the bigger picture.

This particular blog, hosted on Bear, started on 16 February 2023. You can see how it's been going on the Blogging by numbers page — and if you still haven't had enough of me, there's my interview on People & Blogs waiting for you.

Tiny pixel bear by Sylvia