Google and page warning

I love to play an online flash game called Hex Empire. I've played it from a webpage that I have bookmarked. Yesterday when I played it it was ok. This morning when I opened the page I got the error notification from Google that the page is spreading malware and other nasties. Got me thinking. Is it the ads served there or something else that triggered the warning? Not that I allow ads but anyway, could be an interesting attack vector to list your competitor as unsafe by crafting an ad which shows on their pages and then triggers Googles warning. The page can be found here. A working site can be found here if you want to play it and don't want to take any chances.

Another good game that I like to play can be found here.

Enjoy :)

Re-visited

I have the blog in my mind now every now and then and a few days ago I read some of the entries. I decided to try and revive the blog. Don't know if that is a good or bad idea. Found on my computer this great(?) program called Blogilo that allows me to write without using the in my opinion crappy interface of blogger. If was somehow cumbersome for me to use.

Since the last time I've produced a short novel or a short book, a scifi adventure. So far I have not posted it anywhere, give out some examples to some friends to comment. I was happy with it when I was done but since I re-read it I found some plot holes and a lot of spelling mistakes that need to be fixed. Also I was thinking of adding a subplot or side story to it which would make it perhaps a little more interesting. Also some of the charachters need some more depth I think, atleast the main charachter and the perhaps even the damsel in distress could have her own subplot. Also the ending of the story could be prolonged I think in regards to the main charachter and the lady. But lets see.

Midnight

Time to revive the blog. Been more or less silent for over .. 5 months? Oh well :) Life has been busy the last months after I returned from Germany straight to an more of less empty office with just a few persons to handle all the traffic and cases that flow in daily. Too much shit if you ask me. Just before the vacation I went to Singapore and ofcourse I got TD when I came home which meant I spent more of less three days on the toilet. After that it was pretty much relaxing for the rest of the vacation visiting the Helsinki sightings that you always recommend to others but have not time to visit yourself.

Last week we went for a trip to Stockholm with one of the ferries. We had the luxury cabin which was nice. The balcony was also nice for about 5 minutes until we found out that the wind and air pressure made it sing for the whole trip. So we slept with earplugs. In the morning when we arrived to Stockholm I took one of the more successfull pictures ever:
It was a nice foggy and sunny morning. One that comes along maybe once or twice.

Time for sleep now I guess.

Home sweet home

Finally home after 3 months of Germany. It was nice but it was even nicer coming home. The next few weeks will be killing. The release, the bugs, the unexpected and the trip to Singapore after a few weeks. Then it is vacation time. About time.

Mannheim and travel

Atleast a little bit of over one week in Mannheim is over. The appartment is nice as is the landlord who lives across the inner yard. Arrived to Mannheim on Saturday 1st of March and the flight was delayed as a thunderstorm had ripped through the geneal area of Frankfurt and Mannheim.

Patrick from work was on the same plane so I got a ride from him via a grocery store to the appartment. Thankfully he also translated some of the discussion between the landlord and me.

Getting to work on Monday proved eventful. Where does the bus to work leave from? So after some 2km of walking I finally got to the bus and to work.

After that it has mainly been routine. I work around 10 hours and get home dead tired.

On Tuesday this week I went from work to Frankfurt airport to get to Krakow. I carried around meine koffert that weighs about 17kg (thanks to Patrick and his washing machine it was full of clean clothes, now its mostly dirty clothes). After checking I noticed that I only have 45min to get to the gate and Frankfurt and its security checks.. Made it just in time. Through two security checks...

Getting to the plane proved to be some kind of bingo. The first plane the bus stopped at proved to be the wrong one after a lengthy discussion between the driver and the ground crew. The second plane followed the same pattern. Luckily it was the correct one. I had to ask the crew as I boarded the plane if it was going to Krakow. It did. The plane ride to Krakow was a bit bumpy as it was quite windy in the area. The guy sitting next to me stopped eating and held his tray and was looking nervous. Good thing he didn't freak out.

After a nice landing Krakow turned out to be more or less quite dark. Apparently street lights are an overrated thing in Poland. Got to the hotel ok and after loggin in to the net and talking with Ilari I hit bed.

The next day was mostly at work interviewing new candidates for our open position and following presentations given by other teams. I held a 10min presentation about my project that will now be one of the key areas we will be focusing on. In the evening we left for the outskirts of Krakow and a nice mansion in the middle of .. well actually nowhere. Evening program was dinner and wine and beer and wine and beer and .. Finally me and my co-worker go tired and went to the bar where we quite fast consumed (to one German guys suprise) a large number of Gin Tonics. Drunk I headed to bed.

The next day was mostly presentations about different projects and demonstrations of applications. In the evening we went to another building where we had dinner. After the dinner the bar was open. I remember having a contest with my boss's boss where we were competing with drinking shots. Remember leaving. Remember coming to room. Woke up in bed the next morning feeling awfully sick and tired. As did most of us.

The day continued in the same steps as the day before and at the end of the day people started to leave for the airport. In the evening we went out to central Krakow to some market square where we walked around and looked at all the small shops. After that it was dinner time with texmex food.

Me and some others decided to stay for one more night and left on Saturday morning after breakfast. At the airport we had a small lunch. After that it was check-in and through security. After an hour the plane arrived and we boarded it. Flight to Frankfurt was quite uneventful. Except that the butter was so hard that I broke my plastic knife on it :) Landing proved to be interesting as the pilot suddenly locked the wheels (atleast it felt like it) and started to turn right at a very hard speed. I think he landed to far in.

After a lengthy walk I found the transit station where I got my next ticket to Sweden. And I had to change terminals. Which ment a lot of walking. After half an hour or so I was at the gate and went to get something to eat. So while in Germany do as the Germans do. So I had a käsebretzel. Was good.

The plane to Sweden arrived and after a while they announced that it had a technical problem. Yay. It was soon fixed and we could board it. The plane was full and crowded. Didn't like it. Trip was boring and suprisingly the landing went ok. So now I'm at the hotel room at the airport waiting for tomorrow and the trip to Västerås.

Time to go to sleep.

Tutti Frutti

Merde these last weeks. I feel completly dead. Add to the stress at work for creating specifying the requirements for the next release the uncertanity of getting a place to live at in Mannheim and the fact that the the beloved neighbours in the west have been completly ignorant of any mails trying to clarify certain things. This week the pace has just increased with a lot of meetings, some necessary, some perhaps .. unnecessary. So anyway, some of the things that was supposed to be done this week will be done next week. Luckyli for me my host for the next 3 months is out of office next week so I will have to time to do catchup on unfinished business.

Spring

Starts to look like spring will be busy work wise. I worked last Sunday. Most likely I will have to sit the coming weekend also one day for a few hours staring at the screen. Oh well, I have one spare day to extend my winter vacation with. And that is just two weeks away. Then we go to Ivalo. Would like to sleep in the glass igloo.

Germany and Berlin was nice. Still can't understand why the hell germans won't accept credit cards. Sheez.

Graah

Should be out having fun with Ilari but here I am sitting on the couch. Wakeup for tomorrow is at 6.45 the latest. 7.15 is when I should be taking my pain medication and at 8.15 it is again the time to clean the wound. I am seriously getting worried about the trip to Germany. I wouldn't want to disappoint Ilari as we both have really been looking forward to this trip. If nothing else I guess we have to learn how to clean the wound by ourselves and I hope to god that the whole circus is over by then. The other thing is the trip to China which is something that I would love to do but it is equally doubtfull if it will take place. If there is an open wound still by the time I should be going there then the trip is off. I don't want some exotic disease from there.

Bought Ilari his christmas present. No, I wont tell what it is as he is reading the blog :) Haa-haa. Got some other presents also. Should do the rest of the shopping on Monday.

<3

I like someone =)

Vacation - first week

Spending the second week of vacation, slightly bored maybe. The first week I spend traveling around Finland. Started on Friday with a trip to Tampere to see my friend there. Went to Särkänniemi to see the dolphins (which were so lovely I wanted to cry). Also took a look at the black hole movie at the planetarium. Was a bit disappointing.


On Sunday we went to see the Simpsons movie. Sure it was fun but still a but disappointing. On Monday morning it was time to say farewell to Tampere and head out to Tervola. After an agonising 7 hours in the train I finally arrived to my destination. A long strech of tracks in the middle of nowhere. After a while my friend arrived and we walked the 2km to his place. In the evening we took the car and made a trip to Sweden. Actually quite a few as we were looking for an open place were we could have something to eat so we drove over the border a few times. We finally settled for Finnish pizza and a movie.

The next morning it was time to jump aboard again and head out to Oulu. The trip took only an hour and a half. In Oulu I headed out to the hotell which turned out to be nice. Decided to meet one of my friends and we went out to eat at a chinese place. After that we headed out to a café where we had some delicious cake pieces. We went walking in the city center and sat down at a place recommended by Veltsu. They even could make a Holy Diver drink there.


The next day it was time to head out towards Turku. Another painful 7 hours in the train with a change at Tampere. Arrived in Turku in the evening. Walked the 300 meters to the hotell which turned out to be nice (it was an Omena hotell). The room was a bit cold but spacious and nice. Toilet and shower could have been a bit nicer though. Went out to eat chinese before hitting bed with a book.

The next morning it was time to go to the archipelago and visit my grandmother. The trip took two hours with the bus as it went around all the small places delivering newspapers and mail along the route.

The time spent at grandmothers was boring until Sunday morning when a thunder storm struck. It hit the neighbors garage and pretty much spread from there. What we saw and heard was a sizzling sound from the kitchen followed by a red flash and one hell of a bang.


By some freak accident the phone survived. Go figure.

Two more weeks

Got a trip to Hamburg. Suprisingly cheap for a weekend, 370e. Hotel costs almost twice as much as the flight there and back. Received word from Y, too busy but that was to be expected. Other than that everything seems to be clear regarding tour de Finland except that I need to buy the 3 day vacation pass.

Some clouds appeared over my time in German next year. The office in Germany feels that my organisation should pay for everything (yes I can see why as I am forcing myself there :) but my boss wants the German organisation to take some part in the living cost. Hell, I could pay for the rent myself if need be.

Apparently my psychological "warfare" has gone through. As I left the office on Friday our admin told me to swear that I would not remove any of the servers whilst he is on vacation :] Maybe I'll just hide them somewhere as I'll be on vacation when he comes back :P

Three more weeks

Then the vacation starts. As usual huge plans that are most likely not going to happen. Atleast I'm going to Tampere but after that, who knows. Tervola - maybe. Oulu? Don't know. Turku, yes. Archipelago? Definitly. Need to talk to Y about Hamburg and when it would be suitable to go there.

Whilst in Lativa my boss asked if I still was serious about going to Germany. I said yes. He talked to our German contact who talked to me and adviced me on issues that should be considered. I also started to write on the application that he needs to send to the local HR .. and the local Union. I thought there was free movement in the EU... So did P. I'm sure that Nokia laying of a few thousand there wont be helpful :)

Moving forward

Last week my boss asked me if I wanted join a meeting on Friday. Said ok as calendar was empty. Apparently I'm now part of a Steering Group for our team coordinating our development work to this one particular supplier. That came as a supprise. Later that day I happened to sit next to my boss as he was talking to our German partner and even though I don't understand much of german (just a little bit) I did understand that during his next visit he'll bring up my wish of going to work there so that is moving forward. Yay!

Summer plans

I've been thinking about what to do during the summer vacation. Atleast one week in the archipelago is must. Then I had planned on going to Tervola, Oulu and Tampere. Maybe also Hamburg as Y is there for his work practice. Would be nice to go abroad and see what is happening there. Never been to Hamburg and there is a direct fligt with Blue1 so the flight is atleast cheep.

When I went to Riga in February or March I was asked by a friend to buy some ciggarets as they are cheeper there. Did so. Told him to come and get it. No time, has to work on his appartment. Ok. Went bowling. Wanna pick up the ciggarets? No, room mate would just smoke them. Ok. If the ciggarets are not gone by Friday I'll throw them out of the window.

New Horizons

2008 may turn out to be interesting. Yesterday I had a talk with my boss and I happened to mention that it would be cool to work abroad for half a year or a year, say Germany or so (I liked it when I was there). He asked what I would do there and I told him that I would get Germany up to speed on my project. He bought the idea that I sold him and we'll look closer at what the situation looks like in the summer time. So if all goes well, I might move to Germany. And pretty close to Mr. Y. :)

Time

Celebrated my cousins oldest offsprings 18th birthday on Friday. Time really does fly sometime. I can still remember her there on the couch at her grandparents place just a few weeks old after the christening. I can remember babysitting her while my cousin was out. I can remember her at the child daycare center and her first watch. I can remember a lot of things about her. Where did all the time go? And maybe more importantly when? Why is she suddenly 18.. Was I really only 16 when she was born... I guess the next 18th birthday party is in 7 years for my sisters oldest one. Should be here soon.

This and that

Mr. Y was here yesterday. We watched some movies (Snatch, Dogma and Butterfly effect). Between the movies I torched two steaks and we had some redwine to go with it. Too bad Y is leaving the country to go back home next week ... just when I come back from my trip. Atleast I have his card. I was planning on going to Edinbourgh during my summer vacation .. maybe I'll change that to Mannheim...

Been watching Full Metal Alchemist since I partly missed an episode last weekend. It is really a sad story that they tell... Makes you think now and then..

Thank god

You Failed the US Citizenship Test

Oops, you only got 6 out of 10 right!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

Honesty

Some people are always honest, some lie now and then, some all the time. Some are always honest even if it means personal loss, damage to character or some other just basic bad things. Some people get offended by honesty, either for what they are told, what they didn't want to hear or how they have to relate to the new information.

Are you honest? Do you dare to?

Panic

What is more fun than to sit and write a manual for a piece of software that is about to released on Monday? What is more fun than to create and fake cases for the manual? What is more fun when creating cases to notice that you have one hell of a bug in the software that is about to be released on Monday? What is more fun than to realise that it is Friday afternoon and the coders may already have left to spend the weekend.

It's fixed now.

More fun is to have the person you love with all your heart next to you two days in a row.