The blues of the week

Firstly, apoligies for being so silent again. Projects at work are keeping me busy during the days (and last night) and family activities during the evenings. Still, I am happy!
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On Monday morning it wasn't raining, but still my har & shoulders got wet during 30 meter walk from the car to the office.

It was not foggy, but still everything above the ground was gray. Even the black asfalt had turned into gray. Also white rooftops and trucks that I see from the office window were gray.

Normally I can also see the planes at Helsinki Airport taking off & landing, but then it was all gray wall where now & then blinked the winglights of the planes in taxi. Monday blues...

Luckily I enjoyed the job!

Last Sunday we turned the clocks 1 hour backwards but honestly, in addition to Sunday morning I find it hard to come up with any positives with it. For us the mornings are (for a short while) slightly brighter, but what good does it make around 9 am while the local habit is to start the office day around 8 am - and finish earlier then colleagues in central or southern Europe.

I don't find it either a plus that the sun says "see you tomorrow - perhaps" already around 4 pm (today the sun goes down at 16:26 - and in Lapland already 15:14...). That means it will be spring when I next time leave the office at daylight.

The positive thing is that it was fairly ok to get up already 6:15 am to to the the gym, but since I did it 3 times this week it is not a surprise I was not able to sleep this morning after about 6:30. That is not the best thing if you have gone to bed at 1 am, but sleeping is anyway a waste of time.

When you combine these dark moods with the Finnish mentality of "I'm not gonna ask for help", add the Finnish drinking habits and remember that while not drunk we have the 2nd highest coffee consumption in the world, it is no wonder we get to read too often about suicides and other violent stories form the papers.

This calls for some Eppu Normaali and a song about the melancolic Finns:
Tuhansien Murheellisten Laulujen Maa

Unfortunately it is only in Finnish, but you can get a translation from here. I recommend to read it, helps to understand us a bit better ;o)

Hölökynkölökyn!

Ne muinaismuisto shekit

Aiemmin kirjoitin pankkishekeistä muutaman kommentin - tässä lisää päivän Kauppalehdestä.

Grrrrrr - Finnish pricing....

On Saturday I came across with few things that I was afraid to be missing from Belgium; barbershop and car wash.

In case you are planning a new career and wondering weather you should become a hair dresser or start washing cars, I have an advise for you: Go for the hair, you make double the money and even save water!

I have needed a hair cut for some time now and like too often, I make it happen with last minute arrangements on Saturday. Same thing yesterday. I had booked a car wash (that was also a long term need) at the Iso Omena mall and while they were washing it I thought I try my luck with the haircut. First one was a no go but the second one was fine.

Since I had showered and washed my hair half an hour earlier it was just simple cut-and-go job. Lady was quite efficient and I didn't request any special treats like cutting with a knife or sides & back with scissors. Just use the machine for the sides and scissors for the top. 15 minutes and we were done.

Then the payment: 29 freaking Euros for 15 minutes simple cut!!!
...the place was Hair Store (sorry Laura). 

I don't know the market price but based on this I gotta book my "own" since then I can trust I get a quality treatment with fair price.

In Brussels I had about 30 minute treatment including wash, cut with a knife, sides & back with scissors, and after a rinse it was finished with a lotion. And the lotion was put with a 2-3 minute head massage!

And the price...?
20 Euros.

What about the car wash then?

I think it was quite fair for the dirty car, close to 30 minutes work with a good quality outcome. I guess the same price of 29 Euros is fair, but these guys spent double the time with the car and used loads of water & shampoo... If I remember right, I might pay for machine wash easily 15 Euros and then the car would be partly dirty & wet when it is done.

I know I can wash the car at Iso Omena car was myself too, but this time it was so dirty it was better leave in professional hands. In Brussels I had no reason to wash the car myself, they had pretty good system with a fair price. It goes like this;

You drive through automatic pre wash liquid "shower" to a guy who manually adds some to your wheels and hood if they are dirty. Then he takes a power wash and goes around the car washing everything, but gives special focus on dirty spots. Only after that I drive to a machine wash which is similar we are used to in Finland.

There is a BIG difference in a result! Like everyone who has used the machines in Finland can say that often the wheels and hood are dirty after wards and the car is wet - despite of the blow dry. The Brussels system has got a similar blow dry, but in addition the car is hand dried!!!

How much did the fun cost then in Brussels?
9.50 Euros, for my "people mover" - a mini van 10.50 and with a wax 2 Euros more. Plain machine wash starting from 5 Euros.

It is Belgium so don't ask about the taxes but they gave also a receipt if you asked for one.

Eurovision is coming again - with highest interest ever!

Most of my adult life (if I have ever had one...) I have been involved with Eurovision song contest. Most of the time it has been another good reason to get together with friends, eat some food and since we are Finns - have some drinks.

Most of the time it was focusing more on the party, where the Eurovision was only a side track. Frankly, in scale from 1 to 10 my interest towards Eurovision - Euroviisut like we call it in Finnish - has been somewhat 2. Along the years it increased a bit, but really not that much.

That was the status quo until my patriotism grew into even higher level alongthe move to Belgium. And all of a sudden we are invited to a American style baby shower party that is mixed with - Eurovision song contest! And you would never ever quess the nationality mix of the hosts; Dutch-Armenian-American.

Among the hosts were basically all nationalities from England to Russia to Scotland and via somewhere in South America and Asia to Finland. I had heard that Finland´s song was something people were talking about and I had heard pieces of it, but as always starting point was to accept Finland´s defeat.

The evening gets going and the Eurovision songs are performed. Now and then one of the songs get more attention - mainly based on the nationality of the audience. All of a sudden the points are getting in and Finland is in the lead. My comments are along the lines "don´t worry, we will get back to our level soon".
But we won´t and Eurovision has changed forever. The Lordi has won with a what-ever-heavy-rock-song "Hard Rock Halleluja"! Since then the share of the rock/ metal songs has increased. In addition to the sex shows...n

During the past year we have followed the national song selection of Finland, England and Belgium, and I gotta say most of the time I have been stunned of the results.  I guess the worst was 2-3 years ago, I guess 2008;
They had a perfect Abba-goes-modern performance and song that most likely would have made it to the top, but what do the island people vote for? The flight attendant show, the type so many countries have tried and failed with a BIG crash. So did England.

Also the selection criteria has been a mystery sometimes, since clearly the people´s voice does not get the best song to the contest but giving the full decision power to professionals is not an option either. I guess the truth is somewhere in between.

This time I have the highest interest ever, and today came a positive surprise already for 2nd time;

I have a family connection to a Eurovision performer that has come through from the open series:
267 demo songs were sent to the open series and a pro jury selected 30 of them to a public vote. The results were published today and - the "family song" by Bääbs was one of the 3 songs that made it to the Finland´s final!

I didn´t listen any of the other 29 songs, but I gotta say that the Bääbs´s song "You don´t know tomorrow" is a type of a song that we have seen performing well in Eurovision finals.

There is just one trick on the way; The rest of the 15 Finnish finalists are professionals that the Finnish national broadcasting company YLE has invited.

So now it is time to start planning Euroviisuvalvojaiset already for January when the Finnish semifinals start ;o)
Here is a link to the homepage, the song link is not active for the moment but stay tuned...

Real-Life Dilbert

Since I have been too busy to write about real things, here is a little flavor what the REAL life can be...
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A while ago a magazine ran a "DILBERT QUOTES" contest. They were looking for people to submit quotes from their real-life Dilbert-type managers (the cartoon).

HERE ARE THE TOP TEN FINALISTS:

1. "As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks."
(This was the winning quote from Fred Dales, Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, WA)

2. "What I need is an exact list of specific unknown problems we might encounter."
(Lykes Lines Shipping)

3. "E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business."
(Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)

4. "This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it." (Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)

5. "Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule."
(Plant manager, Delco Corporation)

6. "No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them."
(R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/3M Corp.)

7. Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say."
(Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)

8. My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died on purpose so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me ."
(Shipping executive, FTD Florists)

9. "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees."
(Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)
10. One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said, "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!"
(Hallmark Cards Executive)

I Love Basketball!

There are many reasons for it, but this one gets pretty high ranking on the list

However, events like tonight - watching my own kid play gives the TOP kicks, no matter what are the stats. This player of mine is showing progress in the game, step by step, but the beauty is that there is always another step to take!
ENJOY, the clip shows what it is about!

Back to 70's in Belgium

I thought I had seen it all with Belgium, but this one might be the best of them;

I received a physical check ("cheque") from Belgium insurance company's final reimbursement. While exiting Belgium I was recommended to keep my bank account still open for payments like this, but for real I have received in a mail a paper check worth a bit over 100 Euros.

I called my bank in Finland to check the cost for cashing such a thing but they we very reluctant to say anything firm over the phone and asked me to go to my home branch to a) hear if they can at all cash it and b) how much it would cost me.

Like I would like to go to the queue just to hear that it costs me arm & leg... After lengthy questioning and demanding some sort of clarity the 2nd person I spoke with called me back after a while telling it would cost me in minimum 15 euros to cash it over here. Well, sounds nice that the cost is 0,4 % from the value, but in minimum 15 euros.

If I would still be in Belgium this would be easier but... Well, I guess I am lucky in this case as we have an in-house bank branch at BRU office. I agreed to send the check in secured internal mail to them and they would put the money on my Belgium account. That I can use online so it's piece of cake to move the money back to Finland.
However, there is always a risk that it ends up in wrong hands but it should be safe since it has got my bank account number now...

Finally, the company that operates at 70's style: AG Insurance with an address at Emile Jacqmainlaan 53 in Brussels, connected to Fortis Bank...

PS Sorry for complaining again but you know how it is sometimes. There are good things in Brussels too, I for example miss the chawarma poulet at our Libanese place!