Saturday, January 31, 2009
11+ years in Nokia now over
Today was my last day in Nokia, also premises-wise. It's amazing to think that I've spent over a quarter of my lifetime working there. Everything has to end sometime and I guess now was as good as any for this one.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Winter bike commuter morning flat tyre blues
22 January, 2009 09:22:28
In Finland it's customary to spread copious amounts of gravel to icy pavements and roads to keep people from slipping and hurting themselves as well as to help cars up steep hills and get going in intersections. Trouble is, this eskar gravel is becoming more and more expensive as the supplies from hillsides this is excavated from are running. Apparently, no more permits are given to open up new sources to conserve the nature. Thus the keep-people-walking-upright-in-winter departments have turned to another material to increase friction, which is bigger rocks ground to small pebbles.
This is all fine, as the finely ground rocks do the same thing for cars and pedestrians as the gravel used to do. Thing is, the stuff is murder to bike wheels. Many of the small pieces of stone have extremely sharp edges, which easily punch a hole through bike tyres if you run over them.
Last winter I had three punctures. Today morning was #1 for this one.
More philosophically, this one instance where conserving natural resources translates spending more elsewhere. Grinding rocks to produce this stuff must some energy. De-motivating people who ride a bike to work means they use means of transport with an internal combustion engine and thus CO2 emissions. I am waiting to be picked up right now in out family hatchback. Finally many more rubber inner tubes have to be manufactured, packaged and shipped to Finland to be punctured. I've read stories from more frequent cyclists of going through half a dozen each winter. I know that in the balance my vote would be on making a new hole for the non-puncturing gravel, as I start fixing yet another tyre...
Monday, January 19, 2009
Golf ghost town
Imagine owning a big villa in a location where it almost never rains, where it's always warm (if not hot) and where your backyard leads to a PGA rated 18-hole golf course. All this beyond a couple hours flight away from anywhere in Europe by the Red Sea filled with coral reef wonders.
Now imagine further that there are 200 of those villas surrounding the entire course, they're all unfinished heaps of junk and that they've been that way for the past 10 years everyplace else has been inflating a huge real estate bubble.
This totally weird sight is from Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Xmas!
After a long long radio silence, this is just to tell you that the blog ain't dead. The energy previously used to update this has just been more than spent on other things, which hopefully will now be completed in the next few weeks. So in the absence of Christmas cards that should've been mailed long ago, here's "Merry Xmas everyone!" from me.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Feeling dizzy?
12 September, 2008 09:31:19 Here's a handy refill station for travellers needing a quick refreshment. I dunno if these have been around for long, but it's the first time I ever saw one. There are so many medical TV series now that anyone knows how to use them: you apply the gel, charge the pads, yell "CLEAR!" and zap the person on both sides of the chest or thereabouts. If you take a nap in Frankfurt airport, don't take it here...
Misty falls before take-off
08 September, 2008 18:14:31 In hot and humid countries there is an interesting phenomenon when the airplane air conditioning is blasting at full tilt when the boarding begins.
Friendly fire
06 September, 2008 13:23:53 First post after a long hiatus. A barbecue in the making back in the parents country lot.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
License to golf
24 July 2008 21:45:34 Our son Joona took his golfing intro course a week ago and here he is with his green card and his instructor. The first round we played dropped Joonas HCP from 54 to 51. Watch out Tiger Woods...
Golf and nature
21 July 2008 17:29:59 There's a lot of talk right now about climate which most of which I completely agree (private car use, public transport, riding a bike, long-haul flights, saving energy at home, etc.). Now the environmentalists have also taken golf as a terget. I think this is taking things too far at least for two reasons: 1) I'm selfish and really like playing golf and 2) I really don't see how e.g. this course through these woods is destroying our environment.The picture in from the Classic course in Vierumäki.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Circular rainbow
30 June 2008 15:11:50 There was an interesting light reflection around the sun today. Must say I've never seen one before, or paid any attention if I did. Pointed it out to my parents and they said it's nothing unusual and means that it's going to rain tomorrow. I would doubt the meteorogical significance, but it looked cool nevertheless.
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