Friday, December 28, 2012

It is not THAT serious - stink positive!

C'mon Finns, chill out - it is not so serious that you would have to kill yourself! The only thing that serious would be that you would have killed someone else - which then requires you to take responsibility and stand up for your acts. A chicken would kill him(her)self.


Finnish main magazine www.hs.fi tells that the level of Finns making suicide has dropped to the level of 1960's, which is good. The bad thing is that we are still multiple vs other Nordic countries. Another one is if at 1960's all suicides were registered as such - you know the world was a bit different back then.

Oh boy, please focus on the positive things and let the bad ones come & go without major harm. There is something good in everything!

Joo, hyvä homma, että itsemurhien määrä on pudonnut 1960-luvun tasolle, mutta jokainen on liikaa. Hieman ryhtiä elämään, nukkukaa yön yli - ei se niiiin vakavaa ole!

Stink positive, people!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain... NOT!

Yesterday morning we woke up with a nice -15 C and a sun shine. During the day the temp climbed up to -1 by late evening and today we started with a sad +3 C. I hate the slid - loskapaska! I have said many times that I rather take -20 C than +1 C (which means slid - loskapaska).

Now all the light snow packs up and becomes heavy, causing problems to the rooftops. I am glad that with few Euros I get the snow work outsourced to a person I'd give the money anyway: My son.


I just heard of a problem in my office, luckily the system is set so that it does not require my involvement...

Have a great day, I return to work task list!

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...!

Regards from Santa - Terveisiä Joulupukilta!


Helsinki Airport is currently - and surprisingly - the place in Finland with most snow. 66 cm, equals to 25,74 inches. I had a great morning; sleeping until 11 am, chill quick b-fast with a slice of bread and ham. Then outside to clear the yard from the snow. Almost an hour of good sweat and fresh air does wonders.


Also remember that enjoying outdoor is not limited to the time of the year.


I love winter!  

...let's see what will I say in a month, after getting fed up with the bloody snow shoveling ;o)

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Loistavaa Joulua - Fabulastic Christmas!

Yesterday was THE Christmas night for us Finns. For me it meant food & home preparation, last minute shopping, relaxing with the family, visiting friends & family as a Santa's helper, fantastic meal, family time with talks and games, presents from Santa, more talks with the family - and 20 hours of snowing.

Today started with a nice breakfast, then some snow work and a fresh walk, Christmas sauna, some more snow work and now a moment at the sofa to share with you the sauna break moment.


Have a fantastic Christmas
-
Loistavaa Joulua meille kaikille!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

The end is not here!

The end of the world did not happen yesterday and hence we are going to a direction of more light. In Helsinki the sun rises already at 09:25 and goes down at 15:14 - 5 hours 49 minutes of official daylight. Up north the sun will stay down for weeks, last year the darkness ended Jan 17th at Utsjoki...

One can go mad from it.


Stay home to cook your Christmas ham - it's too expensive to go to the restaurant as the (already high prices) have increased by 40% since 2000. At the same time the shop prices have rised by 13% says Iltalehti... Or do you think up to 20 Euros is a fair price for a mojito? 19,90 at the Hard Rock Cafe Helsinki.

2 nights to go!


Friday, December 21, 2012

Njet Parkering

If someone has thought the Horror Story -series has made someone feel bad, I'm not sure how this one will impact. Who knows, I might be invited to the Russian Embassy...

I came across with a blog that is very local at Lappeenranta, Finland. It is a small city next to the Russian border and hence they have many Russians visiting. It has got some veeeery positive impacts on several areas - and on the other hand it also enriches the local parking culture.

Good or bad - you can judge yourself. One example was today at Helsinki City centre, where always-busy-street Northern Esplanad, Pohjoisesplanadi, had a Range Rover from beloved neighboring country double parked in front of the Stockmann book store, Akateeminen Kirjakauppa. Busy-as-standard street became even more busy...

Anyways, check out the blog from Lappeenranta and make your own judgements.
http://njetparkering.blogspot.fi/

...here is a taster borrowed from the site.

As said, make your own mind about these, while I'd say park nicely as the Santa's helpers are on the move! Let's see if the end of the world comes today as estimated. I hope not, as I have not yet eaten enough Christmas goodies...

3 nights to go!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Soooo Smart - Horror Story Part 17

What can I say, she is on top of everything else soooo smart. How else can you describe a person who posts that her music(?) producer is in Miami and uses the pic + quote below?

And then some reporter writes about it in media...
And then some fool writes about it in a blog...

http://www.stara.fi/2012/12/17/johanna-tukiainen-facebookissa-kurt-cobain-on-musatuottajani/

4 nights to go, be good!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

No-no-noooo... - Horror Story Part 16

This is too much even for my taste. One can not get enough bored to enjoy something like this. One of them carries a passport with a "Male" tag and the other with "Female" tag - but why...? I can tell you the Christmas elves are not looking this with a happy face with only 5 nights to go.


http://www.seiska.fi/viihdeuutiset/_a523773/johanna+tukiainen+sekoili+homokampaajansa+kanssa+laivalla++video/

They claim to planning to have a baby and another in a year or so. Be aware!

Kauhusta huolimatta;
Hauskaa Joulun odotusta!!!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Horror Story Part 15

Oh boy, Johanna Tukiainen has not left us alone - or what can be the reason she was the #6 ranked of people googled in Finland during 2012? She was at more interest than our new president Sauli Niinistö and Justin Bieber...
  1. Robin
  2. Petri Nygård
  3. Pekka Haavisto
  4. Jussi Parviainen
  5. Johanna Tukiainen
  6. Sauli Niinistö
  7. Justin Bieber
The list can be found from here http://umami.fi/ajankohtaista/news/vuoden-2012-suosituimmat-google-haut/ and the

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Lahti City Christmas Market - Laheen Joulutori

I was in Lahti today. It's one of those small-medium size cities in Finland with somewhat 100.000 people. It's a city with sports, business and apparently as the main reason for existance manufacturing of furniture.

We should not forget the beverage / beer manufacturing that I wrote a saaaaad story about back at December 2009. ...strange, I've been doing this for years... Anyway, I was there today and I met the Santa Claus - Joulupukki!

First I was not sure if he was the real or only a helper, but dear friends well noted that "C'mon Mika, he recognized you and hence waived at you. He must have been the real one!". I agree. He sent his regards to the ones who are true believers.
The Santa was at a Christmas market in the city market square. They had a lot of Finnish stuff, mainly hand made - I also did a bit of shopping - and lots of food and glögi, the sweet non-alcoholic glühwein as you are not allowed to sell alcohol in Finland in such places. Same in Sweden...


The best positive surprise for me was though the guys that sold the German currywurst with a small bread - the one I call a hotdog for MEN!

The soft spot was the Lahti Men's Choir singing a traditional christmas song "Sylvian Joululaulu", in few Finnish votes selected as the most beautiful christmas song ever.

Hyvää Joulun odotusta - Still some nights to go!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää Suomi - Happy Independence Day Finland!

This fantastic, strange, fascinating, country with unique, peculiar, interesting people and unique, challenging, ever changing athmosphere and climate is celebrating 95th birthday today!

Here is a fantastic clip of Finland, giving you a glimse of what we have. Have a look, make sure your loudspeakers are ON, sit back and enjoy! Welcome for a visit, I love this country!


Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää Suomi - Happy Independence Day Finland!

PS Old stories of the same topic via this link.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Today we went to get some food from the shop, among others baguettes. First my wife took one and then I went to get another. Honestly I didn't even look at the price of the one I took, but from the receipt I noticed one was 1,75 € and another 0,75 €.

When we got home, I came across with an old receipt from Mercadona, Spain. There I had also bought 2 kinds of baguettes: regular and artisan one - Barra de pan and Barra integral. Their prices were 0,45 € and 0,52 €. I can tell you there is no size or quality advantage for Finland to justify triple the price level so what is it? And why was there more than 1 Euro difference between the 2 ones from the same shop? When I look at them, I can't see any genuine difference to justify more than double value.

Well, they are going to taste good anyway tonight. Some salami, Manchego cheese and prosciutto Italiano will crown the evening...