Christmas

Christmas, the hellish time that occurs once a year. Sure, the food is great but this year the company, six kids and two dogs was just too much. For those that do not know it: I'm hyper allergic to dogs. Actually to all animals with fur. So. I had to eat this antihistamin drug that 1) made me really sleepy 2) didn't really help since you're supposed to take it and GET THE FUCK AWAY from what is causing your allergic reaction. Since this wasn't possible I ended spending much of my time in the bedroom I was sleeping in which was declared safe zone for me so no dogs allowed.

So suffering from asthma and having my body battle the allergens flying around in the air I caught a cold also as a bonus, so now I've been using more or a less a years supply of tissues to wipe my nose while at the same time coughing my lungs out which means that I will spend the New Year in bed. Oh well, isn't the first time I do that.

Other than that, it was OK. Got to relax and see the relatives and spend some time with the children and talk to them and see some of the magic that nature has to offer.

Ystävälle

Kun katselen sinua
tunnen piston sydämessäni
piston jonka olen tuntenut
kauan kauan sitten

Näytit niin pieneltä
kun seisoit edessäni
olit hukassa, olit poissa
otin sinut syliini

Pidin sinua sylissäni
halusin antaa
sen mitä halusit
mutta se ei ollut annettavissa

Tiedän tuskasi, tunnen sen
olen itse tuntenut sen
rakkaus joka repii rintaa
kunnes tulet hulluksi

En voi kuin lohduttaa
ja olla lähelläsi
pidellä vaikeina aikoina
nauraa iloisina

Olet hyvin rakas minulle
ystäväni

Almost there

Went to Turku yesterday, returned today. Seems alot happened while I was away. An escaped Estonian convict was arrested in the general area and a bar less than 100m from my house flamed. Lucky for them the firestation is so close.

Anyway.

I went to Turku. Held my presentation today for the class about the course project that I slapped together in a day. Sound was crappy but that can be improved. Also I'll add the rest of the slides to the presentation and ship it off to Sweden for a sanity check.

Anyway.

There was a lot of good material published during the presentations, even stuff that with some effort and time would do as a virtual course. Hopefully they realise the potential.

Now I'm just tired. Need to finish another paper tomorrow and send it away away away. I wish I could get some info on the raise that my boss said he would propose me for. Should come this month and they days are getting fewer and fewer...

My dear friend

I saw your message and I responded to it. It made me sad as you were really hurt. I know how much you wanted it and I know exactly how you feel because I have been in the same position as you are now. I know the feeling of disappointment from having waited so long and not getting the final few yards to the goal which would have made your day if not your life for just one second in the arms of the other. I know I would like to help you but this is something that you will have to experience at least once and learn from it. I'm afraid to say so, but this is who we are and what we sometimes do. It shouldn't be like that but it is and sometimes that makes me a little bit unhappy. I'm so sorry my friend. I will be there for you should you need me.

Post cruise and the company christmas party

Survived the cruise. I was tired, almost fell asleep on Thursday at the office after we arrived there directly from the harbor. But lets take a trip back in time to Tuesday. We went to the boat around 10 (didn't leave until 17) where we had a conferance room reserved where we discussed issued we had open. A quick (but very good) lunch later we continued until five when we had an hour to spare. Some hit the shops, others the cabins. Turned out I shared cabin with my boss and the french guy. At 18 we hit the restaurant where we had a four course meal including three different red wines (one which I bought to P), champagne and calvados. After the meal we hit the pub on the ship where we stayed for some time. Hit bed around midnight having first watched the grande finale of the Wahlmans show (which was crappy - cute singer though). Woke up at around 8 and went to have breakfast. Amazingly everyone showed up for breakfast.

After the breakfast there was an hour before we docked. We bought tickets for the bus to Centralen where I had agreed to meet P. The first bus turned out to be full so we had to wait for the second. As we were driving in towards the center we somehow managed by some dum luck pass all the places that people wanted to visit. After we got out of the bus it took about a few minutes before P arrived. I gave him a courteous hug (although I would have wanted to give him so much more) and introduced the team. We walked towards the places people wanted to visit and after a while we had lost everyone and went to sit at a café. We had some coffee and caught up on what had happened in our lives since we last had seen (which was over a year ago since our August meetings no longer will take place I guess). Time is flying when you're having fun and soon we had to leave for the meeting with the others at Sture plan and we arrived a little bit early. Soon enough everyone was there. We departed P and hit the subway and managed to take the wrong train. We ended up changing subway at Tekniska Lekskolan and switched again at Östermalm to a train which took us to Gärdet. From there it was a short walk to the terminal and the boat where we continued our meeting until 18 when we had a glass of champagne. After that we hit the cabins and immediatly went to the buffet which turned out to be quite filling (actually too filling).

After the buffet everyone was more or less too tired to do anything. I went to sleep at around 10 while the others continued until midnight. Woke up in the morning around four or five, coughing like crazy. Went to the toilet so that I wouldn't disturb the others and threw up at the same time. Burning sensation in stomach the the contents in the bowl were red so I guess that means an ulcer or something in the line with that.

The morning was a repetition of the other ones. Breakfast and then we packed the bags and left the ship after the boat had docked. The taxi was waiting and soon enough we were on the way back to work. The day was quite slow and so I left at 15 back home with my stuff. Took a shower once I got home a read the newspaper. After that I hit Itäkeskus and Eurokangas to pick up my drapes which were ready.

Got them up pretty quick although the all so kind soul of josu said he would come and help me. Thank you for that.

The next day was the company christmas party in the evening so I stayed at work until 18 when I left with my coworker and some other towards the place where we were supposed to be. Arrived a bit late because turned out Putin was leaving at the same time so all the roads were closed and the traffic was jammed. Thank you for that :)

The food was excellent, the people were nice (and quite drunk - and some where .. quite gorgeous). Talked to Mikko (for the first time) and turnes out he if from Oulu so no wonder he is a nice person. He might return there though to continue with his master level studies once he graduates from his present school ,which is not so nice. I hanged around talking and mingling with people until one in the night when I walked into the center and took the tram home. Fell asleep at two after having talked briefly to josu which also left for bed. Goodnight little one.

In the navy

Cruise tomorrow with team. Lets see who gets thrown overboard with concrete shoes. I get to see P on wednesday :)

Torture

This hellish feeling is torturing me when I know that you are next to me and I know I cannot show my true feelings that I have toward you. I want to hold you in my arms, caress your skin and keep you safe and sound. I think you know how I feel which makes it even more harder. We are not for each other, I know that, but still you are like .. I don't know what.

All work and no play

Watched today a discussion on a channel about work and how much work people do. Some complained that they do too much work and that they should really learn to say "Screw this, I'm going home" or get a family in which case it is easier to leave because .. well you know .. you have to go.

Apparently I'm somehow damaged. I looked at the conversation thinking "But the job has to be done?". Why leave if you can make or fix it? There is really no other option unless you want to leave the work for the day and continue tomorrow. Maybe it is just the lutheran upbringing.

The discussion continued to unions and their usefullness. I don't belong to any union, as far as I recall, but still I'm represented by one guy at work. Now how funny is that? What are the unions useful for in todays world? Are they useful at all? Or do they just cause trouble? I know that if I would need to go on strike for one reason or the other I would be working from home. Sure, day off would be nice .. but I'm not always so sure about the cause. Maybe I'm just lazy.

The first kiss

I still remember the first kiss you gave me. We had just been on the dance floor and I was standing next to you near the bar looking at the dancing people, holding a glass of water in my hand. I turned to look at you and you smiled and suddenly you bent down and gave me a kiss. You straightened yourself and smiled at me. After that we went to sit down near the entrance where I held you in my arms stroking your short hair.

I remember looking at you as you were sitting drunk in the kitchen that I was trying to clean up. You looked at me and suddenly you said "I love you". I held you in my arms and I felt so sorry for you because I already knew the answer to what you so much wanted. Would it have been in my power I would have granted you that one wish, but it was not. That night your heart broke as did mine as I looked at your suffering. I so wanted to hold on to you, comfort you, help you.

You visited me once and we were talking about music and you said something about a Swedish artist that has a song about pain and hurt and you said that sometimes life is just like that. Ibland gör det bara ont. I know, I feel like that when I look at you and I am unable to take care of you. I know, you are all grown up now but still now and then you look like that little lost person I held in my arms.

Say what?

Saw Jadesoturi today. I don't really know how to describe it without sounding too critical. A normal finnish movie I would say with some wannabe chinese action scenes in between that made absolutly no sense. The only interesting effect was the cutting of a falling leaf in two. Otherwise I was just sitting and waiting for the story to end. Too mystic for me or then I was just too tired to try and follow the story.


Nothing more today other than that FC6 seems to suck from a MP3 point of view. Amarok has also been castrated and if you want to update it you have remove livna packages, update amarok and re-install the livna packages again. Oh well.

Watch what you wish for

The old proverb is true. Watch what you wish for and be wary about what you ask from people. For example the simple question "Tell me secret" to a very good friend of mine one night when I was bored has simply turned upside my world in a very nice and good way. The answer contained three words and a smiley. I will not repeat those words as I consider them very personal and private but I must say, I was stunned, speechless. On the other hand now I know how some people in my life must have felt at some point :) Still, I am honored and the knowledge that was passed has in my opinion deepened the friendship that I have with this person. I still consider him one of the nicest and considering (although a bit cool) persons and I am happy to have him as a friend.

Yesterday my parents were visiting me and we put up the pipes that will hold the drapes in the study. So today I went to Itäkeskus and after 5 minutes of looking found the perfect(?) drapes for the study. This is so going to be the blue room =)

Some weeks ago I went out for a walk with a friend of mine to Viikki. Nice place and got some nice pictures that I was unable to take out from the camera as the for some reason FC5 wouldn't read it. After I've installed FC6 (and the computer is still not what it used to be) I finally got the pictures out and modified some of them a little bit (shame shame shame on me). Still. There was something nice about the walk. It was cold and brisk and the air was clear. Which reminded me of the one morning when I walked from the bus stop to work and I almost suffocated on the exhaust from the traffic on the road standing in the lights. I guess air quality will go down again once the cold air comes over.

Well, today is a new day and hopefully it will end with good news. The last meeting for today is going to be about the transfer of the team to the new place and the questions that we have about it. Keeping fingers crossed that everything goes well.

Flu

38.3 - nuff said

Who are you?

On blogspot you can describe yourself, that is tell, who are you. But who are you? My Queen (yes, you know who you are (no pun)), answered the question with .. quite a long answer. Look at yourself in the mirror. Is that really you? And who is you? Is who you are defined by your actions? Or your name? Or how you interact with other persons?

Father was here one day visiting and we put a the bedroom lamp. I know of the relationship parent or father child or mother child. But what do these titles mean other than that they describe a relationship between two persons. Who are these persons anyway? Yes, they have taken care of you for 18 years and most likely looked after you even since then making sure that you have everything that you would need. But who are they? Or are we just so customed to these mother and father people that we just go with the flow without thinking about it. We know the relationship between the father/mother person but then what?

I was thinking about my grandmothers. The one passed away 10 years ago. I know who she was as we were quite close (we children were the most important to her). I was thinking about my other grandmother whom I remember lying in bed taking a nap. Looking at her there sleeping I wondered, who is she really? I know her from my years as a small child (as I spent all summers with her and my cousins) but still she manages to suprise us (she told us she still considers herself lucky that she was chosen by our grandfather, one person whom I've never had a chance to know, sadly, he seems to have been such a wonderful person from what I've heard). I know that I will miss her when she is gone. As I still miss my other grandmother.

We can sit in a bus full of strangers and not notice them other than when someone sitting next to you, leans over and says "Excuse me, I'll be getting off" and you stand up and let them pass. We are surrounded with people who we do not know and who for the most of the time do not know themselves either.

Ask someone who they are and they will tell you their name or how they relate to you. But who are they?

So really. Who are you?

Closeness

There comes a time in your life when you meet someone. That person is nice, funny, maybe even intelligent (one of my requirements is that you should be able to argue for your standpoint instead of just grunting and be done with it) but above all, caring for the next person. Since persons like this don't grow on trees and you do not meet them on the street everyday I've taken the stand to be nice, help them. Which unfortunatly opens up the sad and shall we say, not so nice at sometime, opportunity to act nice, funny and intelligent (most of all intelligent) to manipulate the other person to get to what is wanted. Access to information about others, access to others through you.

A hug is not much asked for. An SMS saying that your impression is completly wrong and please do not do it anymore, well, that just confirmed my suspicions that had been growing over time.

A question was posed a few weeks ago. Does IT matter? There were two answers: IT does matter and well, IT might matter. Then again IT might not. IT ofcourse is nothing sexy like tits or penises but information technology as a tool in lining up the business strategy and gaining a competitive advantage over the competitors. Has the value of a strategic IS system diminished? Yes and no. Business may have the advantage for a year, max two or three but then the competition will have gained the distance. Early IS strategic positioning was dependent on the high price of IT and the fact that it was new and not everyone was capable of understanding the value it would add to the business (thinking in old ways here). What American Airlines succeeded with with its SABRE system would not be possible today as today IT is accessible by small and large alike. IT has become a commodity, like electricity. What then becomes important is how do you use it? Do you use it to power your TV to watch soap operas or do you use it to power a machine that will produce something of value, or add value by integrating existing systems into one efficient value adding machine that will for a short time blow the competition away and allow you to focus on the next thing that will keep you ahead of everyone else?

NO WAI!!!

  ___
{0,0}
(__(|
-"-"-
NO WAI!

What could be more cuter than that?

Flying

Yesterday we went with my boss to Jyväskylä to talk with our coders. The plane was owned and operated by Aero which is a partner of Finnair. Interesting. The plane was a ATR72 which I will not set my foot in anymore unless I'm under gunpoint. The ears are still ringing from the noise in the cabin.

It's been a few days since the last post. For some reason Firefox would not connect to google sites which uses Ajax at all. It would just show an white screen. Thinking I was hit with the https problem which affected the 1.5.0.6 version I tried all tricks I had up my sleeve to fix it. Finally gave up and had to shutdown the computer to check out if the battery was affected by the exploding batteries sold by Sony. No it was not. Tried google and it worked. Guess firefow just needed a reboot.

For some reason I've grown very tired. I know I get up very early but still. Hard to stay awake in the evenings. Even not I just want to go to sleep. Need to take a walk tomorrow after the laundry.

Fall

The time of darkness is upon us once more. For some reason the summer always seem to pass very fast. Suddenly you can notice that hey, it's warm, the days are longer and brighter but you really don't pay attention to it (except in the night when it can be too bright outside and not getting any sleep - atleast I'm one of those). Then suddenly you're turning on lights and lamps inhouse because it is so dark. Nature is retreating and displaying its own firework for us to wonder and look at. Fall must be on of the more nicer seasons. Going from a bright, green and warm world towards and dark, rainy and cold season with streetlamps reflecting in the pavement the light in puddles or dark forests damp with rain, where not a sound can heard. What is more nice then to curl up in the sofa under a blanket, drink something warn whilst listening to the thundering roar of the storms raging outside whilst reading a book in the candle light. Or to do the exact opposite. Go out to the sea and feel the storm against your face and the water drops splashing against your face from the rain and the storming sea. In it lies a cruel coldness that is part of life, the cold grip of Nature after her caressing gift of summer. She gives and she takes. It is part of the natural cycle of life and time. Soon all will be sleeping under the cold white blanket only to wake up to a new season of life.

It's been a few days since the last posts, largly to me being quite busy. On Thursday evening I went to Turku to attent Introduction of IS which turns out to be an interesting course. Got on the evening bus home, being home around midnight. Got 6 hours of sleep, packed my bag and went to work. Went from work directly to Turku and attended another course called Education technology which I hope will be usefull at work. Already gave me some ideas for training sessions. Spent the night in Turku at my cousines place and almost suffocated as she has two dogs and I'm allergic. Zyrtech didn't help. The next morning back to class and at around noon I left with the old RPG players to Helsinki. We arrived to my apparment at around two and we had something to eat and talked alot until around two in morning when they went back to Turku.

Now I'm just feeling tired. Good that there will be no more trips to Turku for a month until the next meeting with the teachers and students for discussions. Next week Jyväskylä is calling. Markus said he would come and visit next weekend which would be nice. Haven't seen him for ages.

IRC

IRC .. I really care .. No. For some people it seems to be The Largest Thing in their life. For me? It used to be but then I was blessed with this insight one day when I realized that it is the same bullshit repeating itself each day. So now it mostly is running in the behind and I collect links from different channels and forward them if I find them interesting or funny.

But back the to the people for whom it is The Largest Thing in life. I remember one channel where for some reason one person got the Idea that it was her home and no one would take it away. Interesting notion. Others have used the same channel as an Ego boost and then they've become very angry and disappointed when they've realised that no, they are not the Center of the universe. They are in fact ordinary misguided persons.

The fun starts when you combine irc with blogs. Just like above. The references I made are so generic that no one is really targeted. No channel, no names, no personal identification. But what if I added small pieces of information to what I've written? Maybe not here but in other posts. Frequent readers (thank god this blog doesn't have them) may start to connect the pieces together, and although not all blog readers are on irc the damage may already have been done. So is blogging really an even larger Ego Boost than irc is? When writing to the blog you are in control. You can put things and issues in whatever light you want if you are a skilled person. Ofcourse blogs are the extreme subjective source of information. Anything that has been referenced to blogs should be considered ultra non objective information. On the other hand, is there objective information? So do bloggers know their responsibility? What is said on irc stays on irc? Or does the conversation continue on the blog where persons can be attacked at will? For some the later may be true. Others are I guess more socially responsible so that they know what is correct and what is not.

I've been following one blog for quite a number of years now. I know that I've gotten my fair share of blame in the blog and although certain things that have been said about me in it are blatant lies I've never wanted to correct them. Others have also gotten their fair share of blame and they have been quite heavily accused and slandered in it. Why wouldn't I want to remove them? Let them be there as a sign of the persons juvenality and immaturity. Once it is on the net it is there from the day it was written to the end humanity. That is their legacy. This is mine.

On Thursday I'll start a new course called Introduction to Information Systems. 10 credits. Psyched about the course. As I am about the Teaching technology course that starts on Friday. Unfortunatly I'll have to skip the second day classes on Saturday when the RPG people comes over to check out the appartment. Oh well, there is always another lecture.

Snusnu

I've mentioned Snusnu in the posts here. Who is Snusnu? Snusnu is Snusnu. Why is Snusnu Snusnu? Well. We talked about Futurama once and the episode with the Amazon women :) Death by snu-snu. Snusnu camef from that. What is Snusnu? Snusnu for me is the worlds most kindest person who I can call and talk to about things on my mind and I will get an honest answer. Snusnu takes care of me when I have a hard time. Without Snusnu I would be lost.

Snusnu was here today. We talked. I liked it. I like when Snusnu is here. Makes me calm. Some people are like that.

I got three roses from my grandmother when she visited me two weekends ago. Sadly I had to leave for Sweden and when I came back they had bloomed and after the weekend they were dead. What a pity. I would have liked to look at them a little bit more. I've never understood roses until now. Some people say that roses have a nice smell. Maybe. I just like the way they look. Somehow those three roses in the vase were just .. perfect. Estetically very pleasing. I should get some roses so that I have something to enjoy.


Last weekend at my grandmothers place in the archipelago it was quite a cold night so the sea turned into this very beautiful fog which rose up. Combined with the sun which was shining from a blue sky and the outline of the threes just created a very nice and pleasing view. I had to take three pictures. Sadly one of the pictures was ruined by a phoneline which runs along the road. Oh well. Sometimes the scenery just talks for itself.

During my parents party I noticed an old clock. An grandfathers clock which wasn't running. I guess that was to keep the sanity of the guests. It was however very fitting for the occasion. Some say that when you get older you start to see things from another point of view. The best years of your life is not when you're 20, 30, 40 or 50. It is when you turn 60 and you're having your retirement years ahead. I'm 33. Do I feel old? No. Do I feel childish? At times. Which certainly can be seen at work sometimes. It is lucky that I work with people that understand humor and that at times there needs to be humor as otherwise there would be no "fun" in the work which you do. Am I scared of the future? Yes. When my cousins were here visiting we talked alot about the older generation, my grandmother and my grandfather (which I never got a chance to remember, I did probably see him but can't remeber it) and my older cousin said that you don't grow up until your parents have died and you are left alone so to say. This scares me a little bit as when my parents are gone all family I will have left is my sister and her family. Maybe this will happen tomorrow or in 20-30 years. Maybe I will have another perspective of life then and be more grown up than now. I hope not.

If Snusnu was here Snusnu would say "Stop worrying. You think too much.". I know, I've heard it before =)

Thank you Snusnu.

Flu

Came home from a very taxating weekend. My parents had their 60th birthday celebration and I was expected to attend. Left on Friday to the archipelago with the bus which took around 3 hours. My sister had just gotten there so we gave the presents (there was not one present but a lot of small ones) which included Tolu, packaging tape, business card for my mother (with the title Worlds best mother, printed by Damien, thank you, it made her extremly happy), a new mail box etc etc etc.

The festivities started on Saturday with around 50 invited guests with a three course dinner followed by coffee and cake. After this we all moved on to the sauna where the rest of the party took place. The last left at two in the morning but we ended up at my grandmothers neighbours for drinks. We got home after three.

Now my nose is running, I'm tired for not getting enough sleep (woke up at nine with the temp inside being something closer to 30 as the heating was on) and had a hell of a hangover.

The coming week will be busy busy busy but I hope I can manage it. Now it is sleep time for me.

Home sweet home

Finally back home. The trip was exellent from a job point of view. From personal fun point of view? No. Did meet some really nice and interesting people who did their best to influence coming changes.

Arrived in Västerås on Monday evening after having been waiting for the bus at the airport for over an hour. Never again. Next time I'll try the train. The hotel, a five star hotel was .. like any other hotel. Don't really know why they have a five star rating. After check-in I hit the bed and fell asleep. Before falling asleep I noticed that the sheets had holes in them. Five star indeed.

In the morning I had a fast breakfast as the place was packed. Afterwards I took a brisk walk to the meeting place in the center of the city. The whole day was spent in the same meeting with a break now and then as people were mostly (towards the end of the day) starting to fall asleep (jet lag and stuff). But I got what I came for so I was happy and had a shit load of feedback from the pilot users.

We had two hours before the evening dinner so I hit a bookstore and bought some books for the children which they will be getting for christmas and birthdays. The dinner place turned out to be the same as the last time which was nice as the food in the place is good and the service excellent. Got back to the hotel around midnight while the others continued to another bar.

Got up at 6.15 and hit the shower and after a more fulfilling breakfast this time (as the place was almost empty) I went to the morning meeting to see what must be one of the most conservative units the company. Nothing was good and their way ruled the earth. Sigh. Oh well. After the meetings I went back to the previous day group and ended up at the factory looking at robots doing this and that. They had a cool robot which picked apart wooden boxes and placed the parts neatly in a pile to a certain height and they it started over. Nice.

The rest of the day was mostly off so I did some work while I had a chance. Then it was a cab to the airport and home. Tried to get cigaretts for Snusnu but they were only for outside EU destination travelers so I skipped that. Bought him some candy instead. Tried to get him a small bottle of Absolut vodka (2ml?) but I ended having to drink it myself because as the cashier lady expressed it "It is the rule". Right-o.

Blue1 is to say the least an interesting company. For some reason they fly faster than I can remember all the other airlines doing to and from Stockholm to Helsinki. The trip goes something like this: After the plane has taken off and the fasten seatbelts sign is turned off a stewardes comes along, showes a bun into your face and pours some hot coffee in your lap which is followed by an annoucement to the cabin personel to prepare for crashing at the destination airport. I meen, 45 minutes. When did it become this fast?

Now. I'm. Hitting. Bed.

Truth?

What is the truth? To quote Babylon 5: "Truth is a like a triple edge sword". There is my truth (or view), there is another persons truth (or view), and then there is what really happened. This becomes important when considering what happened yesterday in Helsinki when the Smash Asem march was about to start. From what I've read, the police stopped the march before it even started because of two things:

1) No one could be reach from the organisers of the march to discuss the route which didn't suite the police
2) Smash Asem had said that they would cause atleast some disruption to the daily life of the citizens of Helsinki

Because of the two above the police surrounded the marchers and cornerd them into the Kiasma square where they were taken away from the encampment one by one after they were photographed and their ID's checked.

Granted, some of the marchers had their faces covered which by Finnish law is forbidden in a march. Thus their actions were against the law and they had it coming. But what of the rest of the persons who were trapped? How much of their actions was a result of the police deciding to stop the march and trap the marchers? Older persons can keep their cool but understandable, younger persons temper and feelings are quite fast so it should not come as a suprise that there were reactions to the police actions.

A more interesting question is the police action that took place, that is the cornering of the marchers to prevent disruption in the city. Should crime be prevented? Yes. Should voicing ones opinion be silenced beforehand? No. Even the President said that in a democrazy everyone has the right to march and voice ones opinion, as long as it goes without destruction of property and damage to people.

So. What would have happened had the march been allowed to proceed? This we will not know. And never will know. However it has left a bad taste in quite a few peoples mouths. The Left partys youth organisation has called for an investigation into the police actions as has the Green partys youth organisations as well as some of the representatives of the parlament. Most likely nothing will come out of it but it will have changed the was marches are performed and opinions voiced in Finland.

Sadly. The truth is always the first casualty.

Glas of wine sir?

A few days since the last update. Been busy at work with the project. Getting home around six in the evening after a long day with a lot of meetings (some necessary, some completly unnecessary) takes a lot of energy. Something I had forgotten whilst being on vacation. Next week to Sweden on a business trip. If it anything compared to Ireland and the 20h day there then I'm as dead as I was when I returned from Ireland.

It is funny how some people seems to go through their whole life without having the option to be wrong or mistaken. If they are then they just bullshit until no one wants to argue anymore. You know when you've seen and talked to such a person. On the leadership cource we talked about difficult team members. Difficult is an understatement. The only thing to do is to say "Cut the bullshit" so many times until the person really understands that you're not going to play his game and that bullshitting will get him nowhere. I can understand why people put up with persons like that but what I do not understand is why they submit to the rein of terror. The talk we had with a few and selected team members after the last team meeting in the sauna, half drunk, was pretty .. interesting. A lot of opinions were voiced of certain persons. I am sure that certain persons will also get to know what was said during that time.

Tomorrow I think I'll take my camera and hit the streets in the center to see if I can get a few pictures of some demonstrations and perhaps even a few police officers :)

First day at work

It took the better part of the day to go through all the 1500 messages that had arrived during the four weeks that I was away from work. Most of them could be ignored right out like reminders. Some phone calls to clarify some issues and a bit of shock from seeing an work estimate. Man. But the project is moving forward which is good. Now to spread the gospel and Word to the rest of the suppliers :) Nice to be back.

The morning proved to be interesting. As I was eating the breakfast and watching the morning news I heard banging and shouting from the stairs. I thought it was someone that had started to repair something and paid no more attention to it. When I left I thought I heard someone crying and when I got to the second floor I saw a lot of clothes spread out and some bamboo drapes along the hall and at the backdoor sat a guy crying. Apparently he had had a smaller outbreak. As I continued towards the first floor and the frontdoor I was ready to pull out the phone to call the police to come and pick him up as I saw that there were already two men at the frontdoor with one talking on the phone explaining the situation. With my super deductive skills I deduced that he talked to the police and as I was waiting for the bus on the bus stop I saw that a police car came up to the house. Welcome to Kallio :)

Crash and burn

Haa haa. Made it to work .. not. Came to Pasila and I was ready to have a stroke. Made it to Haaga and I turned around. Tomorrow I'll follow the damn railroad. Less uphills. Less downhills.

Bed is calling. Have to get up at 7.

War paint

Today was a big day. I completed the second project I had in mind for the vacation. That is, I painted the door frame to the toilet which I didn't have time to do when the toilet was remade. The first project was to organize all the papers that I have had on the desk for, oh, say, three of four months. Yes, I know. But why do it today when you can do it tomorrow?

On Friday I went on a longer walk instead of going biking. The
scenery was just .. perfect. It was so nice to see the ocean and feel the wind against the face. Got some excellent pictures. I had to send the picture of the left to Tatu (which accidentally called me in the morning and I had to discuss some work related issues) and ask when TE is going to invite us to go and sail on the open sea :-)

The harbor was bustling with people and some nice cruise ships that were visiting Helsinki. The Silver Whisper was definitly a ship that I would like to spend some time on. What could be more beautiful than to get up from the bed and look out from a large window to the open sea? Or what could be more calmer than that? As I said to Snusnu in an SMS I sent him when we were out on Oorbit looking at the fireworks, I feel calm and relaxed on the sea.

Today I actually went and took a walk around Töölön lahti. Sad that I forgot my camera so no pictures from today. Would have gotten a few nice shots but I guess sometimes it is better to just let the scenery speak for itself at that specific moment than try to capture it with the camera. Atleast for me. I'm no pro at taking pictures so maybe it was for the better.

Tomorrow I'll take the bike and do a trial run to work and see how the route that I thought about looks like. It should be easier than the others that I've thought about. The only thingie that I'm a bit worried about is Pasila and the morning rush with all those people waiting for the busses at the railwaystation. Gaah!

Biking

Against all good judgement I went on a biking tour today. The goal was to bike to work and see how long it would take. However my muscles were not in shape after yesterdays longer trip so I had to cut it short, some 1.5km before work (mainly due to some bad decisions about the route). Now my ass hurts like I've been assraped or something. Damn seats that have to so small and hard.

After I came home I talked to Veltsu (he is extremly against the idea of coming to visit here to Helsinki - and there is always the financial situation of a student so it is understandable), hit the shower and went to Capri for a pizza and beer (the proper way to loose some weight yes).

Talked to Peteris also. He's been on his trip to Rome. Would've liked to hear more about it but he was busy. Atleast he has his humor left when I asked what to do with his passport photo that he gave me in Riga. The options what to do included putting it in the bookshelv and loose it or use it for target practice :)

Seems I managed to insult some people also today. This mailing list for the swedish speaking HBT community in Finland has lately gotten quite a lot of feminist messages. I do not think feminism has anything to do with sexuality, but rather equality between the sexes. So yes, lesbians, party until you drop dead, don't care :)

Todays link? Hmm...screw it.

Getting old

Went to my parents place and picked up my bike which I bravely drove back home some 20km. After the first 3km I was ready to give up but pushed on having one heart attack per kilometer. At halfpoint I had to stop at Hesburger and had a coke and some water to drink, mainly to get the fluid balance back up and some sugar to give me energy. After the rest I changed plans and took an alternate route which proved interesting and which I will not be using anymore as it took me through Pasila and a million people on the road. After Pasila my bike broke, the chain jumpped of the wheel and I got a minutes rest while I fixed it. After that it was just a matter of minutes before I was home.

Talked to grandmother today. She told me that she had fallen while trying to go to her neighbours to escape a thunderstorm. She was unable to get up but luckily the neighbours had noticed her flickering flashlight and was able to help her. Nothing broken but a bruised ego and bruises on the legs and face as an reminder that no, she is not young anymore and she needs help. It was decided that during thunderstorms the neighbours will go to her place instead to keep her company.

Her memory is not anymore that good. She had forgotten that my cousin had visited her for a day a few weeks back but she remembered it after she was asked about it. Guess the time is coming near for her to move on, just hope it is painless and quick. She once told me that the women in the family usually pass away fast and without complication. It would be desirable.

Big brother is watching you

Today the second Big Brother starts in Finland. There's been a massive information campaign about the show and there are channels that you can subscribe to (for a certain amount of ?) where you can watch what the people in the Big Brother are doing.

Exciting.

Not.

What is the point of watching what other people are doing in an artificially created environment? It is like the Bold and the Beautiful on steroids or something like that. It is also a question of privacy on one hand and transparency on an other. Is this what we can expect from the future? Hope not.

Made a sweet pie today. I put in too much of eggs and cream so it was quite runny but it tasted good so I'll adjust the recepie for the next time.

Wonderful world

Aah yes, what a wonderful world of human inconsideration. Yet one prime example why people seem to have their head stuck up their ass and use it as an excuse to not think or not care. Without going into details, I've had it. These people can go fuck themselves, I really don't care anymore. Actually I would like to suggest that the state have some sort of obligaroty social aptitude test and if you fail it you're terminated immediatly.

Pressing section forward on the DVD remote seems to put the stereo on Amplitude modulation instead of the normal Frequency modulation.

Funny

Today I confirmed that, yes, my DVD player remote can activate the stereo by pushing Play. It was as I suspected and not that much to do about it either other than not pointing the DVD remote at the stereo when pressing Play.

Been writing on a new novel to be published, this one a bit more daring than the two other. I was asked why I write about heterosexual couples. That is a good question. Maybe there is somekind of challenge and exploration of the unknown as it is literally an unknown country to me. Having, suprise suprise, some problems with the female anatomy but that can always be described in general terms.

Almost called Veltsu today. We already had a brief phone conversation last Saturday with me being drunk. His voice is much deeper than what I expected. Somehow it doesn't fit him or the mental picture that I have of him in my head from the galler pictures and what I've talked to him. Would like to chat with him more. He is an interesting person. I know that he is busy and all but still would be nice to talk to him.

The SciFi flower has a name. It's called ihmepensas. It is supposed to be quite poisonous so maybe I'll take a bite of it when I'm tired of life :)

Todays plans include a trip to my parents house to pick up my bike and take it to my apartment. It should fit quite well in the entrance locked up.

Drapes

Oh thank god finally yes yes yes :) I got my drapes from the shop today. After a bit of cursing (one of the bars was incorrectly installed and thus lacked a stopper) I had the drapes up. After that I sat by the computer listening to music and enjoying the moment. Then it was up and away to my sister for her second childs birthday. Poor kid was a bit disappointed when she didn't get any presents from me but I already bought them all chewing gum as suggested by my sister and since they received that when I came back from Ireland the're not getting anything else until christmas.
This morning as I was eating breakfast in the living room as usual and started to watch Futurama from the DVD to have something to watch when I heard this music beneath the Futurama tune. Thinking it belonged to the theme for that episode I didn't give it any more thought until it continued even when the episode was running. Then I noticed that the stereo was on. Don't know how it came on by itself as I turned it off last night. Maybe there is a conflict between the DVD player and stereo. Must check when I have time.

As I was taking pictures of the drapes I also took a picture of the SciFi plant that I bought. If someone knows the name of it, please let me know. I forgot it after I bought it :)

Coffee

Since I yesterday was unable to find an MP3 player that would work with Linux I finally had to hop to work to format the damn thing. On my way to work I called Antti and asked if he would be interested in going for a cup of coffee. As luck would have it he was free in the afternoon so we decided to meet at Cafe Java at half past three. I arrived to work and talked some with my co-workers and asked about some things that I was unable to finish before my vacation started. It was nice to see them. Anyway, I got the damn thing formatted and music copied to it. Signed some papers that required my signature and sent an SMS to my boss when he was going to be present. But no reply so I left.

Arrived in a bit of advance to the meeting so I went flower shopping but found nothing. Got a few hinters as to what I could be getting according to my criterias. After that I went to Kirjatori where I picked up three books: Peter Lodenius's Bushin uusi maailma - syntyykö imperiumi, Vandana Shiva's Voiko tietoa omistaa? and Entäs jos... Vaihtoehtoinen Suomen historia. When I'll read them I have no clue.

Antti arrived a bit late since his dentist appointment had taken longer than expected and he was in a bit of pain. We went to Kamppi up to the trendy cafe up on the fifth floor where we sat and talked over a cup of coffee for about an hour. After that Antti wanted to go and buy something so we went through Kamppi center without finding anything. At all. We ended up in a flower shop where I bought a flower. I don't know what it is called but it has colored leaves. I call it a SciFi flower as it looks like something that would be found in the 60's and 70's B-rated SciFi shows planet scenes. Think Startrek and the SciFi literature of that time.

Todays link is about generating .htaccess and .htpasswd files. Found it to be quite convenient for my purposes :)

Music

Pissed from yesterday and having spent most of today troublingshooting why I cannot move music from Linux to my MP3 player I finally gave up (I think there is somekind of bug in the way KDE handles the safe removal of USB devices which just messes everything up), looked at the net for some alternatives to a new MP3 player. Decided anyway to go to Verkkokauppa to check out their sortiment. After having waited for a fair time at the queue to customer service I was presented with the options but none of them would support Linux. So there you are. So in order to lift my spirits with something (as Snusnu had to cancel our coffee meeting) I went to hunt for the next thing I've been wanting for quite some time, a stereo. Went from Ruoholahti with the metro to Kamppi and from Kamppi to the Central Railway Station (as Anttila didn't really have any stereos at all) and from there to City Tunnel Anttila. Finally. I looked at some models and saw one that was reduced by 50% and would even play MP3 cd's. Hooray! So I bought the one. Except when I was going to pay for it the price was suddenly double from what they said it would be. After some coughing and some running by cashier I got my stereo with a 50% discount (actually the discount had ended on the 15th but someone had left the discount notice next to the stereo). So now I have a stereo and I've been listening to Sävelradio all day and evening.

Veltsu came online after having been offline for a few days which was nice to talk to him, even though he is busy. Asked him if he would like to come to Helsinki instead of me going now to Oulu as he is uncertain as to when he'll be getting his own appartment but we'll see. I know he is not that keen on coming to Helsinki but that is something that is ok.

Todays link is not related to wikipedia but to slashdot that actually had a piece of news that is directly related to my MP3 problem. The player doesn't require any drivers to work with Linux and the 8GB capacity is more than enough.

Sigh

Yet another example of human inconsideration. Had to move my trip to Oulu until Veltsu gets his appartment. The one I was supposed to stay with already cancelled once and now I can't get an answer not has he informed me of anything so instead of going back and forth and moving around all the time wasting everyones precious time I sent an SMS to Veltsu saying that I'll come to Oulu when he has his own appartment. That way I don't have to rely on a third party to visit Oulu. Arto suggested that I take in on a hotel but I'm sick of hotels (not that there is anything wrong with them), I'm just sick of them. Although it could be nice to spend a weekend together at the hotel... Hmm, no.

Talked with Snusnu. Hopefully we'll be able to go to coffee tomorrow. Perhaps he is right. Maybe I have too high expectations but damn it, if I cannot trust people to keep their promises then who and what can I trust?

Looked at the two novels that were published. Comments have been so far mostly positive. Even the first one which was very non traditional for the site. Maybe I'll continue

Todays wikipedia link is about Levenshtein distance which is an exiting algorithm to
calculate how much different words differ from each other. Can be applied to spell checking and thesaurus but could also be used at work. Just haven't figured out any exiting application for it yet.

In the beginning there was light..

..at least I hope so. Tried to find a somewhat normal name for this blog but every suggestion I entered into the wizard was rejected. Then finally I took an object from my desk .. a beer glas and it was suprise suprise accepted.

Been fairly quiet day today. Still trying to recover from the Saturdays cousin party and the hangover and throwup the next day. Went into the city to pick up an DVD that Joonas had borrowed when he was dropping in on Sunday. Joonas was on his way to his parents place to be on "Summer" vacation.

Managed to wash to loads of dishes. Definitly the last time I make food for a gathering. Unless we use disposable plates and forks and glasses. But then again, that is not ecological and "green" so .. Although I had to cheat. The plates were paper plates :)

The tooth thats broken is making itself known again. Think I broke a piece off from it when I finally managed to get some food into my stomach yesterday. Darn. Now I should decide if I want to leave it like it is, remove it completely (yes!) or replace it (expensive!). Decisions, decisions.

Talked with veltsu today. Should ask Haisuli when he's in Oulu so that I can go and visit them both. Veltsu I would really like to meet and see what kind of person he is. Very interesting personality :) Must remember to send Haisuli an SMS and query his status and where he is.

Read some old saved wikipedia entries today, like the Viterbi algorithm
Very interesting stuff.

Well, two more weeks of vacation and then back to work. Getting used to this not doing any work thing =)