Pia's blog

The Rolling Stones!!!

2007-08-01T23:37:00.000+03:00

The Rolling Stones at Olympic Stadium – what a night!! :)
But I must say I still liked the Who gig better. The atmosphere was somehow "intimate" despite the fact that the venue (Hartwall Arena) was huge, although not as huge as the stadium.

Fried vendace + Pinot Gris

2007-07-28T13:29:00.000+03:00

It's ironic: I like to keep fish in an aquarium AND I like to eat fish (although not the same fish than what I keep in the tank).
Anyway, one of the best things you can do in summertime is to pick up some fried vendace from the marketplace. Yummy!!

Bronze corys spawning!!

2007-07-28T10:23:00.000+03:00

My Bronze corydoras have started spawning!! In the morning I found eggs on the back of the aquarium!!! :)
Too bad it is quite inevitable that the eggs will get eaten by other fish or even the parents themselves...

Biking in Tampere

2007-07-25T21:55:00.000+03:00

Riksu and I went biking in Tampere and ended up in Tahmela, where Riksu's brother Juppe lives with his family. On our way back I took some photos.

Oulu my home

2007-07-22T12:47:00.000+03:00

A regular part of my summer vacation: visiting my hometown Oulu. I still call it my hometown, although I have not lived there since 1997. If I could have the same job I have now, and live in Oulu, I would move this second. It's a bit funny that for years I thought there's now way I would ever move back but the older I get, the more I feel like moving back... Strange.
Talking about my job, check out our little blog. (It's in Finnish only.)

Regular summer weather...

2007-07-18T14:10:00.000+03:00

The regular summer weather in Finland: You never know what you get. Yesterday it was so warm and nice, but today hardly a summer at all...

The perfect summer day

2007-07-17T20:59:00.000+03:00

When we want to visit our relatives' summer cottage in Virrat, we usually take the bus. If you have the time and if the weather is nice, you should definitely take the 99-year-old steamboat Tarjanne instead. It takes about 6 hours from Tampere to Virrat, but it is worth every minute.

The Who rocks!

2007-07-09T23:25:00.000+03:00

We went to see The Who in Helsinki. The last time they were in Finland was 40 years ago! You would not know it's been so long. This was probably one of the best gigs I've ever been to!

Lemmings are back!

2007-07-06T12:56:00.000+03:00

I used to love Lemmings, and to my surprise, it's available also for Windows!! Click here for download.

Denmark and back

2007-06-28T21:55:00.000+03:00

I attended the annual user innovation workshop. This year it was organized by CBS in Copenhagen. It was great as always to meet with people who do research in user innovation.

Paluu pulpettiin

2007-06-21T20:28:00.000+03:00

Pakkohan tää peruskoulutesti oli tehdä, kun tällanen kerta löytyi! Yllättävää kyllä sain keskiarvon 9,7 eli sitten vuoden 1993 on ilmeisesti jotain kehitystä tapahtunut meikäläisessä. :)

Sushi for the pain

2007-06-18T22:59:00.000+03:00

Today was a loooong day in the office. We have to file all travel documents through Personec Travel, which is a program from hell. I ended up spending a little bit over 2 hours trying to clear my travelling expenses for the trips to Japan and the US. I would say I'm above average computer user with use experience of dozens of programs and some programming skills. But no, this is obviously not enough for being able to clear two trips in two hours. The result (after sweat and near-tears) was only one trip cleared (which in fact bounced back later!). After that I was done. And also ready to rip off heads of the mean and useless people who have "designed" the stupid program.
Once I realized I had also missed the 7 o'clock train to Tampere, which means I will not be at home until a little after 10 o'clock, I was ready to scream. The only solution to ease out the pain, was to stop for sushi at Kamppi Center. It helped.

California dreamin'

2007-06-10T21:26:00.000+03:00

After the trip to Japan, only 3 days at home, 1 in Helsinki, and then I was off again. This time I was headed to Silicon Valley, mainly to Stanford University. I also spent one day in San Francisco doing the usual tourist stuff.
I quite unintentionally spotted the street where the famous BRAVIA Commercial with bouncy balls was shot. I love that ad (if you can love an ad)! Their other colorful ad is pretty good too.

PS. Check out the videos: the cable car, sea lions

Fried vendace for lunch

2007-06-02T14:20:00.000+03:00

This is truly a summer-thing to do in Tampere: Having fried vendace for lunch at Tammelantori market place. I am (as you probably already know) a big fish-eater, so this is a perfect lunch for me. Some might argue they put too much salt on the vendace, but I don't really care - it's delicious! The only thing that was missing was a glass of cold white wine. :)

Kyoto is lovely

2007-06-01T19:52:00.000+03:00

On Monday we took Shinkansen to Kyoto. It was not the first time I took the same train. I could easily see myself living both in Tokyo and in Kyoto. And probably anywhere else in Japan, too. These two cities are just the only ones I know. The highlight of this trip to Kyoto was probably seeing Kinkaku-ji temple i.e. Golden Pavilion Temple or visiting the Ito Jakuchu exhibition. The man must have been a genious!
On June 1 we flew back to Helsinki.

In Tokyo!

2007-05-28T19:38:00.000+03:00

On Thursday 24th I took off for Japan for a work-related trip, although I must say, our timetable is not super busy... :) The first 3 days I spent in
Tokyo. It is definitely one of my favourite cities! And Japan in general is great. In my opinion, Japan and Brazil are the coolest countries in the world. This was my second time in Tokyo (and in Japan). Last year in February I was there with Riksu (who was by the way quite jealous of me for getting to go back!).

PS. Check out the video: descending from Tokyo Tower

Bolivian rams

2007-05-13T19:31:00.000+03:00

I am anxious for my Bolivian rams to pair up and start making babies. However, I believe that the chances for the offspring to survive with all the other fish are slim...

Ruotsi sujuu

2007-05-08T15:52:00.000+03:00

Samojen kamojen joukosta kuin Snoopykin, löytyi myös vanha "päiväkirjani". Olen kirjoittanut tämän kyseisen tekstin arviolta 5–6-vuotiaana sen jälkeen, kun ollaan oltu kylässä pikkuveljeni Juhon kummeilla, joiden lapset puhuivat pelkkää ruotsia. Äkkiä sitä oppii, kun on pakko. :)

My Snoopy

2007-05-08T14:43:00.000+03:00

I had to organize some old boxes full of stuff from my childhood. I found my dear Snoopy and lots of clothes I had made for her (yes, it's a her). :)

Small leaves and strange candy

2007-05-04T18:36:00.000+03:00

It seems that we are finally getting leaves on trees. It gives you hope that the summer will be here eventually. :)
Although I am a big fan of both salmiakki and chocolate, I don't see the point of putting them together. Well, somebody thought of it anyway, and today I got to taste this strange combination.

Vappu!

2007-05-01T21:21:00.000+03:00

Time to celebrate Vappu! It must be different in all countries, but at least in Finland it is a milestone on the journey from spring to summer, and according to students the most fun holiday all year. Riksu is not a big fan of Vappu, so this year (like previous years) I spent it with my friends in Helsinki.

Fish news (good and bad)

2007-04-28T14:40:00.000+03:00

I have good and bad fish news. I'll tell the bad news first: I have lost my first fish in this tank. One of the ten Flame tetras had been in a bad shape for a while already, and today in the morning I found the corps. No new fish or plant has been introduced to the tank since when the Otos arrived in the beginning of February, so the reason for his death should not be a decease that is infectious but something that just happened to this specific fish.
Then the good news: It seams that my Bolivian rams have reached their adulthood. This means that there's a chance for babies! :)

Check out also the new video on my bristlenose pleco Rousku.

Pelottavaa yhdennäköisyyttä

2007-04-23T20:08:00.000+02:00

Löytyipä eräästä blogista vähän pelottavia kuvia...
Ja kuka sanoo, ettei telkkarista ja muista tuuteista tulvivalla kuvastolla ole merkitystä ihmisen kehitykselle?
T: Tyttö, joka ei saanut kattoa Ritari ässää

Teekkarilakki

2007-04-23T14:35:00.000+02:00

Tasi-isäni teekkarilakki on hiukka erivärinen kuin omani. Kaikki kellastuminen ei johtune ajasta, vaan ennen jotain tiettyä vuotta materiaali vain oli sellaista, että se helpommin kellastui. Noh, kun isä ei ole enää lakkia pitämässä, annan vappuna lakin Tasin pikkuveljelle Timpalle, joka omana teekkariaikanaan oli jonkin sortin radikaali eikä hankkinut omaa lakkia.
PS. Huomasin muuten, että olen isääni isopäisempi, kun sovittelin lakkeja.

Good old Zander

2007-04-21T18:24:00.000+02:00

Riksu and I have pretty different diets when it comes to eating vegetables, meat, or dairy products. But with fish we find common ground. Today we cooked a simple but delicious meal: salad with parmigiano, mashed potatoes, and zander.
Similar dishes in earlier posts:
02.09.2006
14.10.2006
What can I say – I love fish!

Product Development Gala

2007-04-20T21:15:00.000+02:00

Today it was time for the annual Product Development Gala at Helsinki University of Technology (TKK). All projects for this year's PDP course were presented in the gala. I took the course in 2003–04 and can say it was the best piece of university-organized learning I ever went through!

Feels like summer!!

2007-04-16T20:08:00.000+02:00

Look at the temperature chart! Today and yesterday it's been like two summer days. Over +20 °C (68 °F) both days, although almost 0 °C (32 °F) at night. Today I went cycling with short tights. What a feeling! Well, the rest of the week is going to be crap, but who cares today!!!

Sinko

2007-04-16T16:03:00.000+02:00

Matti H. lähetti mielenkiintoisen linkin, jossa vähän vertaillaan lukuja tulevan huippuyliopiston ja kilpailijoiden välillä. Aika surullista luettavaa ovat kyllä nuo luvut. Esim. MIT pyörittää puolta opiskelijamäärää nelinkertaisilla professoriresursseilla! On ohjauksen taso vähän eri kuin täällä. Ja jos vaikka vähän vaatimattomampaankin kohteeseen kuten KTH vertaa, niin siihenkin nähden on aika huonosti asiat tulevassa huippuyliopistossa. "Sinko" on muuten aika mainio työnimi ko. yliopistolle... :D

Tulips (before and after)

2007-04-15T15:52:00.000+02:00

I love tulips and I find them beautiful also when they are not so fresh anymore. Well, today it seems that I will need to throw them away very soon.

Mignon Easter egg

2007-04-14T15:46:00.000+02:00

During Easter my plan was to treat myself with a certain type of Easter egg, but everytime I went to a store, I forgot to buy one. My colleague Juha surprised me two days ago at the office and gave me exactly the egg I had been wanting. Today I finally enjoyed the egg at the courtesy of my own living room. :D

Leaping shampoo

2007-04-12T15:38:00.000+02:00

I found a cool Leaping shampoo video that shows and explains Kaye effect pretty well. This is cool to watch even if you are not a geek. :)

Brazilian Portuguese

2007-04-11T18:06:00.000+02:00

Today I visited the Embassy of Brazil, because I needed to register for a conversation class. I hate it that last spring when I took Portuguese lessons at Diálogo in Salvador, I was able to speak quite well, but now I have forgot the most of it, since I never get to use it. I've been wanting to take lessons for a while, but in all universities and schools in Finland, they teach Portuguese Portuguese, not Brazilian Portuguese. And I don't want to lose my Brazilian accent.
I just figured out a few days ago that I should probably take a look at the Embassy's webpages (why didn't that thought come to my mind earlier???), and so I did and found a perfect class which starts April 19. Yippee! And an even bigger yippee to myself for today, as I was able to survive with my Portuguese in the Embassy. :)
On my way back, I passed by Helsinki Cathedral which was whiter than I remembered.

Googlen mainokset ja muita sosiaalisen median liiketoimintamalleja

2007-04-09T17:57:00.000+02:00

Tässä VTT:n tuoreessa julkaisussa pyöritään Web 2.0:n ympärillä kuten siinä aiemman postauksen julkaisussakin. Molemmissa on hyvää perustietoa ja paljon hyviä esimerkkejä.

Snow...

2007-04-08T13:53:00.000+02:00

I woke up today, took a look outside, and nearly screamed: it had snowed!!! Fortunately it melted away by afternoon.
But still, please Mr./Mrs. Weather, make up your mind, what's it gonna be, spring or winter?

Tulips

2007-04-07T13:46:00.000+02:00

It's Easter, so I bought tulips. By the way, I've "trained" Riksu, so he knows that if he ever buys me flowers, it should not be roses (I've never liked roses) but instead tulips, gerberas, chrysanthemums, or other simple-looking but colourful flowers.

Police!

2007-04-05T21:50:00.000+02:00

We live in a quiet neighbourhood, but tonight for some reason two police cars had to pay a visit to Pub Vaakuna across the street. I would have missed them (as I'm not a crazy person that spends her nights watching neighbours through the kitchen window), but the cars had their blinking ligths on and that caught my attention. How exciting!!

A good day

2007-04-04T23:45:00.000+02:00

It was a great day for both Juho and me: I received the news that Tekes is going to fund our 3-year project and Juho got a job, too. Yippee!
To celebrate, I had a dinner and a few drinks with my colleagues, and went "home" to Tetti's quite late at 23.30. I noticed she had put up Easter decorations, which date back a long time. The tiny chick figures made me laugh before I went to bed.

Spring stuff

2007-04-03T15:09:00.000+02:00

You know it's spring when they start putting up scaffolding on houses.

The Forsyte Saga

2007-03-31T19:43:00.000+02:00

I have forgot to tell about the best mini series I've seen for a while: The Forsyte Saga. Riksu took the dvd box home from library and we watched the whole thing in a week or so. I am a big fan of Jane Austen type films and series. I can highly recommend this one!

Test your musicality

2007-03-31T13:09:00.000+02:00

I found three musical tests that test if you are tone deaf, what your pitch perception is like, and if you are good with rhythm. My scores on all three tests are here. Music school might have something to do with the results. :)
What's your score?

"Could Union Square Be Your Next Airport?"

2007-03-30T18:45:00.000+02:00

For a while ago already, Juho showed me this article. Great out-of-the-box thinking, I'd say!

Freedom!

2007-03-30T18:15:00.000+02:00

Although I've got a racing bike and a mountain bike, I've been wanting a simple city bike for a couple of years already. Whenever I visit my Mom in Oulu, I get to ride her 3-gear ladies' bike. My racing bike is purely for sports. My mountain bike is good for riding in the city, but not for parking it, locking it, riding it when wearing a skirt, or transporting anything. It doesn't have a stand, so it always has to be parked leaning on something. Locking it takes forever, since you need a separate insurance company certified lock. You can imagine the problems with the skirt. And as there's no rear rack, the only kind of bag you can have with you is a backpack. The outcome of all this is the fact that for some years already, I've been walking to places and using the mountain bike mainly for exercising. And as it takes longer to walk to places, I've felt "trapped".
Today I finally got myself a 3-gear, foot-brake (or whatever it's called) ladies' bike with a fixed lock. The bike has both a rear rack and a mounted basket on the front. I LOVE IT! There was a 20 % discount on all bikes this week, so the bike wasn't even too expensive, only 279 euros.
I got my freedom back!!! :D

Web 2.0 – johdatus internetin uusiin liiketoimintamahdollisuuksiin

2007-03-29T21:01:00.000+02:00

Tässä Tieken tuoreessa julkaisussa on paljon web 2.0 -esimerkkejä (esim. Igglo, Amazon, BitTorrent, Wikipedia) ja muutenkin rautalankavääntöä, että mistä oikein on kyse.

PS. Tästä lähtien kirjoitan sillä kielellä, millä milloinkin huvittaa ja kumpi on tarkoituksenmukaisempaa. From now on, I will post either in English or Finnish according to how I feel and which language serves the purpose better.

Sushi and coffee

2007-03-29T16:14:00.000+02:00

After work, before I took the train back home to Tampere, I had sushi and coffee with my brother Juho in Kamppi Center.

Ladies hairdresser Capriccio

2007-03-26T20:15:00.000+02:00

I surf around scaryideas.com from time to time, and today I found a ladies hairdresser ad that made me laugh. :D

Biking season has begun

2007-03-25T18:04:00.000+02:00

Today I took my dear mountain bike out for the first time this spring. Of course one can bike all year round, but personally I just hate it when I need to wear so many layers I feel like my knees don't bend well for pedalling... Today it was warm enough (over +10 °C), so I went biking for about 1 hour. Although it was a lot of fun, I believe I will need to wait a while until the next time, since there was so much dust in the air that my semi-asthmatic lungs did not feel too good.

I love goat cheese

2007-03-24T19:57:00.000+02:00

The best part of a home-made chèvre salad is that there's enough of everything: rucola, green olives, red onions, basil, tomatoes...mmmmmhhh! :) I believe no-one likes goat cheese OK. You either love it or you don't (and you say it tastes like wet woollen stockings).

My face(s)

2007-03-20T22:14:00.000+02:00

This is the best site I've found for a while!!! Check out the Face Transformer. And take a look at my 10 faces too... :D

Remake of a remake - but by whom?

2007-03-20T14:36:00.000+02:00

In 1984, Ridley Scott directed the famous Apple Macintosh Commercial. In 2004, for the 20th anniversary, Apple digitally added an iPod on Anya Major and launched a remake of the ad. Now, there's a mysterious remake of the remake with Hillary Rodham Clinton as Big Brother circling the internet. Barack Obama's campaign people claim they have nothing to do with it. Well, who has then?

the original 1984 Apple Macintosh ad
the remake with iPod
the Clinton/Obama mystery ad

(via MIT Advertising Lab, San Francisco Chronicle, and MilkandCookies)

Kokoomus and Greens win + it's snowing

2007-03-18T23:44:00.000+02:00

Kokoomus wins big time and also Greens get one more seat in the parliament. Yippee!!! :)
AND it started snowing again. What is this...? I want my spring back!!

Fish news!

2007-03-18T15:58:00.000+02:00

I made some changes in the fish tank. The photos show also how well the plants have grown!

Election day

2007-03-18T15:26:00.000+02:00

Today is the day of election of the parliament. I just came from casting my vote. This is probably (I'm not 100 % sure) the first time I am voting on the actual election day. I usually vote in the advance voting period just to be sure I will not miss the thing. As you know, I am the moving kind, so I can never be sure if I will be home for the election. But today I was.
Picking my candidate was a bit difficult, since this is the first time I'm voting in Tampere region and I don't know the candidates here too well. Actually this is the second time I get to vote as a Tampere citizen, but the last time it was the presidential election and the whole country was one big electoral district. And in fact, I cast my vote for Sauli Niinistö in Singapore, not in Tampere.
Today it was tough choice for me as always between finding a green and liberal
Kokoomus candidate or a right-wing Green League candidate. A very tough choice.

Spring!

2007-03-15T17:30:00.000+02:00

It is getting more spring-like in Tampere but even more so in Helsinki. In both cities the temperature has been hovering around 6–8 °C (42–49 F) and it's been sunny. It's hard to spot snow in Helsinki anymore. I was so excited about spring and the plan was to take a very springy picture but I ended up shooting DDR in November...

Where's the snow?!

2007-03-13T19:36:00.000+02:00

Where's the snow? Is winter really over now? It looked a lot different just one month ago. The winter in Tampere this year was really short I'll say:
January 16
January 22
February 3

Leaving Oulu

2007-03-12T11:20:00.000+02:00

We took the pendolino back home to Tampere.

My old home

2007-03-11T18:19:00.000+02:00

The purpose of our trip to Oulu was to go through Dad's stuff in a warehouse in Haukipudas. On our way back, we decided to drive by the house where Juho and I were born. We moved out in the summer of 1984. Seeing the old house was strange – the house looked so small!

In Oulu

2007-03-10T23:43:00.000+02:00

This weekend we are in Oulu. Riksu and I arrived on Friday night and my brother Juho today in the afternoon.
I spent lovely 3 hours with Marja, with whom not 3 or 30 hours is ever enough, because we always engage ourselves in a never-ending discussion.
In the evening Riksu, Juho and I went to JP's and then headed to the centre to enjoy the night-life. The night-life scene in Oulu has not changed much for a few years, so we went to our regular spots Never grow old and 45.

I look like a man

2007-03-09T11:15:00.000+02:00

I had to try out the famous Naamavaalikone (it's a candidate matcher for the parliamentary elections based on the shape of your face). The result: I look like a man.

Panda sneeze

2007-03-08T12:44:00.001+02:00

My friend Konrad sent me this hilarious panda sneeze video. I have now watched it about 10 times and I'm still laughing... :)
By the way, if you don't know Hana Koala, check out this one, too. When I was in Kyoto about one year ago, I fell in love with one car insurance TV commercial. It's funny how all Japanese commercials look like they were made for children, because they are so "Kawaii" (that is cute in English). If this doesn't cheer you up, nothing does!

Nettle crêpes and lingonberries

2007-03-07T21:07:00.000+02:00

I stayed at my grand-aunt Tetti's as usual. She made one of my favourite dishes: nettle crêpes. (They go very well with lingonberries.)
PS. Yep, I know this is not the first time I write about nettle crêpes, but the first time this year anyway: 03.10.2006, 15.12.2005, 05.11.2004

Old sewing cotton

2007-03-06T14:58:00.000+02:00

I had to patch up a small rip in my jeans. Most of my sewing stuff is more than 50 years old! The reason is that my Mom's mother, who died before I was born, had her own dressmaker's business and apparently an endless supply of yarn.

Risto-Matti Hannukainen

2007-03-05T11:48:00.000+02:00

I got a bill for the annual membership fee from Hannukaisten sukuseura (Hannukainen genealogy association). It's seems that they have decided that Riksu took my name and not the other way around. :)

Chicken-potato casserole

2007-03-04T17:49:00.000+02:00

We cooked one of my current favourites: chicken-potato casserole. Riksu's mom makes something like this, but we developed the recipe by adding blue cheese, and now it is delicious.
The recipe (in Finnish, sorry):
400 g kanan filesuikaleita
1–2 pussia peruna-sipuli-suikaleita
ruokakermaa
sinihomejuustoa
valkosipulia
mausteita (mustapippuri, timjami, basilika, rosmariini jne.)
Paista kanan filesuikaleet pannulla. Kaada paistovuokaan peruna-sipuli-suikaleet ja kanasuikaleet. Murenna joukkoon sinihomejuustoa ja pieneksi silputtua valkosipulia sekä heitä mukaan mausteita maun mukaan. Lorauta kaiken päälle ruokakerma ja laita vuoka uuniin (225 °C) noin tunniksi. Kannattaa välillä vilkuilla, ettei pinta pala. Jos pinta alkaa ruskistua liikaa, laita päälle folio.

PS. I have decided to use coloured thumbnail photos from now on.

Fish parade

2007-03-03T23:33:00.000+02:00

I spent almost one hour hunting my fishes with a camera. There's now a photo of each species. A much bigger job would be trying to take a photo of each fish, since there are 28 of them all together:
1 Bristlenose Pleco called Rousku
4 Otos
5 Skunk cory
5 Bronze cory
3 Bolivian Rams
10 Flame tetras

Progress on my fish tank

2007-03-03T10:23:00.000+02:00

The plants in my aquarium have grown a bit already. There used to be nothing on the back of the tank, so you could see the wall through the tank. A while ago I put some dark green cardboard in the back, but I'm not sure, if it's working... What do you think?

Fog

2007-03-02T20:17:00.000+02:00

The temperature has risen and it now hovers around 0 °C, which is probably the cause of the fog we experience tonight in Kaleva.

Salmiakki

2007-03-01T22:06:00.000+02:00

I love salmiakki, and I love the new Fazer salmiakki mix. I had to buy one bag for my train ride back home. Although it can be tiresome to travel between Tampere and Helsinki every week, I quite like the Thursday night on the train: There's never too many people, I'm always pretty tired, I usually read something not work-related, and very often fall asleep.

Bloodworms

2007-02-23T17:59:00.000+02:00

It's Friday, so it's time for a treat for my dear fishes: frozen bloodworms. I hope they will never get mixed with anything else in the freezer...

Algorithm march???

2007-02-22T18:57:00.000+02:00

What in the world is algorithm march...? And that music...????

Desktop background photos

2007-02-19T18:57:00.000+02:00

Now that I have this big new wide screen, I wanted choose a nice desktop background photo. Since the screen is 16:10 and my camera produces photos sized 4:3, my photos don't work on the new screen. I started photoshopping and then, as usual, got a little carried away... :) Feel free to use the photos on your desktop. There are shots from Boston, NYC, Oulu, Rio de Janeiro, Hailuoto, etc.

Subway systems on the same scale

2007-02-16T14:53:00.000+02:00

I keep coming back to this site over and over again: subway systems of the world presented on the same scale. I hope they will add Helsinki metro soon.

VR

2007-02-15T21:52:00.000+02:00

Once again my friend VR works against my going back home to Tampere. This winter has been especially hard on our friendship. Usually it's been because of the weather, but now it seems to have been a technical problem on another train. When one train dies on the tracks, it messes up all the other trains, too...

Metro-map-like trend map

2007-02-14T14:49:00.000+02:00

I found an interesting map on Future exploration blog: a metro-map-like trend map for 2007. I love maps, I love trains, and I of course love all metro maps. The blog definitely got my attention now! :)

Brilliant anti-war poster

2007-02-11T14:48:00.000+02:00

As I was going through my favourite blogs, I came across a brilliant anti-war poster.

New trolley bag!

2007-02-10T14:47:00.000+02:00

I finally got myself to buy a new trolley bag! The one I had was not very high quality, and I was not able to change the wheels that had cracked in the middle and were making a lot of noise. I could have lived with the noise, but with the damaged wheels that don't roll well, the bag was not exactly fulfilling its purpose. My colleagues have been making fun of me and my noisy bag for a while already, but next week they are going to be disappointed. :)

Cold but sunny

2007-02-10T14:45:00.000+02:00

It's been quite a cold week in Finland. The good thing about cold weather is that usually, when it's cold, it's also sunny. We geared up for the weather and walked to the centre to run a few errands. I should have worn sun glasses, as the sunlight was pretty bright because of all the snow.

Cognac

2007-02-09T23:43:00.000+02:00

I am a fan of Cognac, so I decided to treat myself by buying a nice small bottle of VSOP.

New screen

2007-02-09T14:42:00.000+02:00

While I was in Helsinki, the new computer screen Riksu had ordered had arrived. It was nice to start working on Friday morning. :)

All about fish

2007-02-04T14:41:00.000+02:00

It's all about fish again.

Fish news

2007-02-03T22:39:00.000+02:00

Fish news: I bought 4 adult Otocinclus catfishes from a person who had to get rid of one of her fish tanks. They are algae-eaters, so them together with Rousku (she's a Bristlenose Pleco) will take care of all excess algae in my tank. "Otos" are 100 % vegetarians, so if the algae runs out, I will need to feed them cucumber etc. If someone is interested, there are also new videos shot earlier today...

weather, fish, carpet

2007-02-03T14:37:00.000+02:00

1) As any other true Finn, I pay a lot of attention to weather, and also like to talk about it. (This is probably because the weather here so often sucks, and we feel grateful and overly happy when it doesn't.) So I must declare today the most beautiful winter day so far (this winter). :)
2) They had an open house today at Tampereen Akvaarioseura (Tampere aquarium association or something like that), and since their premises is just around the corner from where I live, I had to pay a visit. (I have been a member for about 3 weeks now.)
3) We went to pick up the white carpet we had ordered for our living room. It's quite nice.

Birthday present!

2007-02-02T14:34:00.001+02:00

Yipee! Katja B's birthday present arrived!!! :) This will definitely come useful later this spring, when it's time to pique-nique. No more squeezing wine bottles into socks for protection and warmth... It will be an end of an era. Thank you Katja!!!

Moai

2007-01-30T14:33:00.000+02:00

I happened to notice morning sunlight hit my miniature moai creating a nice shadow on the wall, so I had to take a picture...

Riksu came back

2007-01-28T14:31:00.000+02:00

I thought Riksu was going to come back home in the evening, so I jumped a bit, when I heard somebody enter when I was just in the middle of my peaceful breakfast. They had decided to drive all night from Sodankylä instead of departing on Sunday morning.
I ended up spending both Friday and Saturday night by myself. It was pretty nice to be at home alone for a change, although I'm happy R came home early. :) But I have to say this: I believe I have got used to living with Riksu so well, that I can feel "alone" even when in the same house with him. Now that I was actually alone, it felt like "more alone" than what being home alone used to.

Goodbye Fishers

2007-01-26T23:26:00.000+02:00

When I saw JP during Christmas, he went on and on about how he had found the best TV show ever. He had watched all 5 seasons on DVD just before Christmas and was sure that I would like it too. The show has already ended on Finnish TV, but I have never managed to watch a single episode. After Christmas, as JP suggested, I started watching it. I fell completely in love with the characters. They started to feel like real people I know in my real life (the same happened to JP). Tonight I finally watched the last episodes (what a great way of spending a night home alone!!!). I can't believe it's now over. After seeing all 63 episodes in 4 weeks (I'm a creep), I agree: it is the best show ever. I will miss the Fishers.

The beginning of my weekend at home alone

2007-01-26T14:24:00.000+02:00

Tonight is the beginning of my weekend at home alone. I've been waiting for this for a while, as I don't get the apartment all for myself often. As much as I love to share my home and life with Riksu, I sometimes need to be alone. I might invite a friend over, but let's see. Anyway, I will not be completely alone, since I have my dear fishes keeping me company. One of them is posing on today's photos. And there's a video of my Flame tetras, too... :)

Real winter in Otaniemi

2007-01-24T14:23:00.000+02:00

It's finally a real winter in Otaniemi, too!

Lactose

2007-01-22T22:45:00.000+02:00

It is the most perfect winter day. It's also Anna's first day on maternity leave, so she invited me to have lunch with her. (On Mondays I always work from my home office, not from my actual office.) We ended up in Sevilla, where the food was OK but something else not: They did not have low-lactose milk! Therefore I was not able to enjoy my cup of coffee, which was in fact included in the price of the lunch. How is it possible that in a big restaurant like that, they don't have low-lactose milk? (Interesting statistics, by the way.)

Back home

2007-01-21T22:43:00.000+02:00

We had a very early wake up, since the plane took off already at 7.30 in the morning. Ryanair requires you to be there at least one and a half hours before the departure, so it really was an early wake up. But not too bad, since we are so middle-aged nowadays that we don't even party through the last night but go to bed early instead (since it is going to be an early wake up, and we are old enough to know it will be hard to get up if you're still drunk, and we are old enough to care about it).

My birthday in Dublin

2007-01-20T22:41:00.000+02:00

Dublin is great, although it rains every fifteen minutes, and sudden gusts of wind feel like they are going to rip your hair off... Lots of Irish Pubs. But I believe they call them just pubs here in Ireland. :) 5 of us are staying in an apartment we rented from Ellis Quay Apartments. It's only a walking distance from the centre, and roomy and clean, and
recommendable. Hmmm... and yes, today I turn 29. I have decided that I will stay 29 from now on. :)

From Pirkkala to Dublin

2007-01-19T22:39:00.000+02:00

My brother Juho tipped me already in September on the fact that Ryanair was going to start flying from Tampere-Pirkkala to Dublin. We booked the tickets right away and ended up paying less than 30 euros each for a return ticket! So today there are 8 of us flying to Dublin: Riksu and I, Eero and Eeva-Riitta, and Henna, plus Juho, and Juho's friends Olli and Eeva.

Birthday present

2007-01-19T22:36:00.000+02:00

My birthday is not until tomorrow, but since we'll not be home for the weekend, Riksu decided to give me my present beforehand. :D

Excited about my fish tank

2007-01-16T22:34:00.000+02:00

I continue to be (very) excited about my fish tank. I watch it like television at least 30 minutes every day. (Actually I watch it way more than television.) I believe I have now reached the number of fish I will get (at least for a while): 5 Skunk Corys, 5 Bronze Corys, and one Bristlenose Pleco in the bottom, 3 Bolivian Rams in low water, and a group of 10 Flame tetras in middle/high water. And yes, there's a video to watch, too... :D

What's with winter?!?!

2007-01-16T22:30:00.000+02:00

What's with winter?!?! We had a real winter two months ago for a week or so, but after that it's been mainly just water. Is this now doings of the global warming...? Will we never have a white winter anymore???

Verokortti (tax deduction card)

2007-01-03T22:26:00.000+02:00

Finally! They have finally made ordering an updated tax deduction card possible on the internet.

Creativity test

2007-01-03T22:18:00.000+02:00

I came accross an interesting creativity test (unfortunately only in Finnish). Who knows how well all these tests work, but anyway it was fun. :)

New Job

2007-01-02T22:14:00.000+02:00

Today is officially my first day at my new job. I am now a researcher at TKK, more precisely at Decode Research Group at BIT Research Centre. The plan is to spend two days a week in Otaniemi and three in my own little office at home, so pretty much the same thing I've been doing for the whole autumn.
Today I also paid a visit to Viherkala fish store and got myself 3 Skunk Corys and one Bristlenose Pleco!!!
And also, today my Dad would have turned 65.

Happy New Year!!!

2007-01-01T19:19:00.000+02:00

Kajsa and Jussi came all the way from Turku to celebrate the change of the year with us. We cooked, drinked, and played board games. Very middle-aged but fun. :) Having K+J over was a good enough reason to finally clean up the mess in the house. There are still some boxes here and there but not too many.