Diario

This much you probably know already: I am obsessed with Sweden. I'm the kind of dude who doesn't know the meaning of 'passing interest' (let alone, 'guilty pleasure'), but when it comes to obsessions, almost all of them pale in comparison to my love of the Great White North. It has been my lifelong dream (literally, for once) to someday visit the land of the ice and snow, of the midnight sun, and the hot spring glow. And today, the missus and I took one big step toward making that dream a reality. We've ordered our plane tickets, ya'll. Next summer, three weeks of unmitigated happiness in Norway and Sweden will be ours. I couldn't be happier. This calls for a celebration. And what more fitting way than to hoist my proverbial stein in honor of the ancient people of this alluring land, the vikings?

'No surprise' number two: after Sweden (and, by extension, the other Scandinavian countries), my foremost obsession is for metal. Vikings and heavy metal go together like looting and pillaging. …