Mood swings

Sleep deprivation can do funny things. It can, for example, mess up your
immune system I read. Also it can, at least in my case, cause mood
swings. For past two days I have been quite happy and very very
depressed. As I am writing this I am the latter. Again. And I hate it.

I'd like to scream out loud, shout for help. But what good would that
do? I think nothing. I just am so tired. Wish I could snap my fingers
and wake up in perfect world, don't we all? I am quite lost on what to do...

I have troubles concentrating. I have severe lack of motivation. I feel
unneeded, unvalued for some reason. I feel guilt for slacking at the
work, which makes me even more depressed feeds my feeling of
unworthiness. Which eats out the motivation, which feeds the guilt and
there we have a vicious cycle feeding itself.

Please, someone, help me make it stop!

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What am I even writing this for, no one reads my blogs. That is the main
reason I haven't actually posted anything in any of them for quite some
while. What is the point to share the photos with empty audience? What
is the point of sharing my thoughts for empty group?

First commission abroad

And in Cyprus. Not bad...

Internet connection here at hotel is 6 € per hour, so I try to keep this short and provide some photos.

And of course they didn't upload... Maybe I should take a risk and try to upload them tomorrow from customer site.

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Well, better late than never:


It was wee bit cloudy in Frankfurt.


On the border of the occupied territory.


Fresh fruits in old town


A reminder that the traffic culture is quite different from the Finnish one: "Cross with care"

Long Time No Posting

The return to work from the vacation has been quite rough for me.

I just read an article about a study made by Finnish Institute of Occupational Health that the benefits of even a successful vacation can be undone in a month at work. The the employee is not allowed to have a so called soft landing back to work the relaxing and energizing effects of the vacation are pretty soon used up.

What does this have to do with me? Well, I had the best vacation I've ever had. Returning to home was rough in itself (I would have loved to stay at Philippines) but th return to work was an chapter of its own. In a nutshell I had about two days to get reaquinted to the work. And after that our QA manager started her vacation and her testing manager tasks fell for me. So much for the soft landing. I already feel like I have spent the energy and relaxation gained on the vacation.

Guh.

Manila, Day 2

Or rather day 1, if you count full days spent here. It rained, no wonder since the typhoon Helen is still relatively close. Moving away though but it'll affect the rains here for couple of more days. Tough luck, but so what?

Took a ride in jeepney today and went to a shopping mall complex. Boy was that place huge! And to my amazement the Canon lenses seem to be quite darn cheap here. (Speaking of which I have to check the price in Finland) Ok, not so cheap as I thought but still, the lens I was looking for is almost half the price here. Good to know.

We also made some culinary expeditions today and and dined at McDonalds. That was cheap. Big (double cheese burger) meal was like 1,5 euros. Damn.

On a side note we also stopped by at Ring Side Bar watched female and midget boxing. That was ... different. Had a shoulder massage there from a pretty girl. Which reminds me we did get a proper massage during the day too. Cost 200 pesos, which is about 3 euros. Not a bad price.

The clock here is about 3 am, so Manilla signing out.

Good night!

Manila

Flight from Shanghai to Manila was yet again uneventful one. A bit of turbulences on the way but nothing major. When we arrived at the airport in Manila we just walked out of the plane, then to the passport control, then to the luggage claim, only to wait for the bags on the wrong line. There was no mention of from which flight the luggage was from. Oh well... After the luggage claim the was one more stamping stuff and aftr the next door we were out.

Oh wait a second. Out? From the capital's international airport? Damn that was a small one...

In the plane Jarkko had discussed with one of the stuartesses and she had promised to show us a great hotel we lost her after the luggage claim. Oh well... We the decided to take Taxi to the hotel we were recommended: City Garden. Little did we know that there are two City Gardens here. The taxi took us to the wrong one. After a small hassle at the hotel we were able to get a hold of the right one, which was fully booked. Yay! Well, on with the calling spree and finaly we found rooms for us at the Great Eastern Hotel.

Now we shall go and get something to eat and tomorrow we have to make some decisions on how to proceed.

Shanghai, beibe!

So, Shanghai... Now what?

Couple of hours of time to spend before we have to head back to the airport for our flight to Manila.

The flight from Helsinki to Shanghai was quite uneventful. Night flight so I tried to get some sleep. Those of you who have slept in a car know how it is like.

Now I am at "The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf" sipping mango juice and fruit cocktail. Temperature outside is about 30 degrees centigrade and air humidity is ... well high.

So this is China. Burger King and Starbucks spotted already. I was actually quite astonished at the size of the buildings here. My mind tries to convince me that the building are of same size as those back in Helsinki. Only that the buildings are about 30 stories or so high. No wonder they look like miniature buildings until I get close.

Oh, and a pic of my first step to the Chinese soil. Pavement. What ever.

The Day of Departure

So they day has finally come.

Funnily enough I am completely calm, just like it would be perfectly ordinary morning. We shall see how long it is going to take to really hit me that we are really truly going!

The plan is to go and stop by the airport during this morning and leave our luggage there. We will also fill in the boarding pass stuff so we can choose the best seats. After that we will come back to downtown and try to chill for a while. The flight is scheduled to depart at 17:10 sp there is still plenty of time to get myself all hyped up about the trip...

Vacation!

It starts now!

One week Finland. Then flight to Shanghai -> Manila, then to... Puerto Galera? Angeles City? Who knows. Only thing that is certain is that we are going. The tickets have been booked and paid and the visa to China has been applied. What ever happens between the flights remains to be seen...

It Has Been Quite A While

There has been a bunch of issues that I have meant to mention here. But have I done so? Noooooo siree. Of course I could make it seem like that I had posted all the things a while ago by fiddling with the post timestamps. But can't be bothered.

So what was I supposed to blog about?

Windows is one. I finally decided to format my hard drive and start from the clean slate. All the stuff that had piled up in the corners of Windows had started to slow it down drastically. But did Windows want to be reinstalled? No.

When I put in the installation CD all when fine all the way until the installation itself was supposed to start. Nice try but all I got was a Blue Screen of Death (because of unaccessible boot device). Gee thanks. Retried a couple of times with the same result.

So this way we get to the secon part of what I was supposed to blog about; Linux. I had the intention of making a dualboot for Windows and Ubuntu. That way I would have played the games on Windows and use Ubuntu for all the rest. But as it turned out I now have only Ubuntu installed. To the very same HD Windows installer claimed to be inaccessible. Go figure. I still have every intention to install the Windows. Maybe next week when my vacation starts?

One more thing. I bought the Asus eeePC. This is all fun and games, but I got bored pretty quickly to the over simplified Xandros. So after a little digging around the net I found out that somebody had already made a solution to my problems: Ubuntu eee. Thank you.

Asus eee PC

Got mine.

Charged the battery.

Did the initial configuration.

Enjoying the computer.

The very first impression: So darn cute!

Second one while writing this: the buttons require some getting used to. These are so much smaller than on your regular keyboard.


But I am not complaining. Compared to other laptops that I have used, this is truly portable where as the others are more like draggable.

Regarding the Public Transport in Helsinki

More often than not the 110/110T/110TA bus line has been late in the morning. Usually when the bus is late the driver drives the bus straight to the platform and drops the passenger off there, instead of dropping the passengers off at the official unloading platform, picks up new passengers and gets going.

This morning however the driver dropped the people off at the loading platform as usual in this kind of situation. While the passengers were stepping off the bus and walking through the door leading to/from the docking are to the bus station the would be passenger kindly waited for the previous passengers to come out. As is polite.

After the stream of people coming from the bus ended I entered the platform area, as a second person to do so, and realized that the bus was already backing off the platform...

So he apparently didn't want to take on the passengers that had patiently waited for the delayed bus to arrive. Oh no. Luckily I managed to get in though but a dozen or so people weren't so lucky.

No More Fittings

For two weeks at least. Since I have the stitches in my leg and back, (heavy) exercise is not the best idea. And it shows.

Today morning was the first time I woke up with a headache since we bought the Wii Fit. The exercise has prevented my muscles from getting stiff, but not that I am not allowed to exercise any more, I seem to be paying the price.

Well, better a headache today than even a possible melanoma tomorrow.

One of These Days

During noon, I got three birthmarks removed. With local anesthesia.

During afternoon, I had some dental work done. With local anesthesia.

In the evening, I took my medication. Without local anesthesia, but as an injection.

As a careful estimate I got stuck by a needle couple of dozen time. Lucky me I am not afraid of needles.

Part(s) of Me is Missing

Got three birthmarks removed today. Two bigger ones and one small one that I have scratched open a couple of times. Not a big operation. Snitch, stitch 'n' patch and off I go. Got three stitches to the one in the back and four to the one on the leg. No sauna for two weeks after when the stitches are removed. No hard exercise either I'd wager.

No biggies. Except that the stitch buggers itch!

People Like Statues

We spent a day in Tallinn last weekend. Did really nothing special, just strolled around, looked around, you know, chilled. At a small park a friend of mine spotted this statue portraying a man and a woman embracing eachother and the friend of mine pointed at the butt of the girl and commented "Now that's some butt! Wonder if anyone has quite one like that" (Free translation, just to get the spirit of things). Just for gags I pointed my cam at the statues butt and snapped a shot.


As we were pondering the physical possibility of such an butt even excisting along came Polly. There she walked hand in hand with some guy, stopped at the statue, pointed the butt, said something, both of them laughed a bit and turned to move on. Her profile seemed to match the one of the statue. So, hastily I snapped a picture of her too.



So it seems that there is plenty of truth in the statue...

Customer's Office

It is a dangerous place.

Today I had the opportunity to visit the offices of a luxury car dealer. Boy, oh boy, did I want to take the red car out for a spin. Didn't have the time though.

And that is a good luck, since I might have wanted to buy the thing and it ain't the cheapest one of the bunch!

Not Yoga Alone

Apparently taking some 30 minutes of yoga with Wii Fit in the morning is not enough. The backache and headache are trying to make comeback. Well, my good feeling did last a record long time of approximately one and a half weeks.

I skipped the muscle exercises almost totally during the weekend, so I cannot really say if the "yoga in the morning, muscle training in the evening" -routine was that efficient. The sheer fact that after the work I just don't want to make the exercises quite effectively shoots down the whole concept.

Tough luck. I'll take a longer session in the morning then with more comprehensive workout.

And the First Results Are In

Just after five days of exercise (out of which the first day was more like a trial run) with Wii Fit I already see the first results. These are actually the second results from the workouts because the first ones were the great feeling I have had for the last five day (coincidence? I think not!).

The visible results then? I have had a nasty bulge at my lower abdomen which together with stooped back have given me a bad posture. The stooped back I have been able to more or less correct even before buying Wii Fit, but the lower abdomen bulge that I haven't been able to tackle.

Well, now that I have done jackknives for couple of days and some parallel stretches for the past two days my deep abdominal muscles have been reawakened and the bulge is just about all but gone.

Man I feel so good! Even the slight headache I had yesterday felt distinctively different from those I have had for couple of years more or less most of the time.

On a side note: My wife is doing her exercise there now. Where as my training has consisted of morning yoga and evening muscle workout her's includes aerobic exercises with a little yoga and muscle workout on top.

Right now she is doing the freestyle rhythmic steps which is pretty good for all of you who do not want to miss your favourite tv-show! Just start the exercise, switch to tv-channel and keep working, all the instructions are told via wii motes speaker as well as the rhythmic tic tic sound.

Never Felt Better

Well, maybe I have but I can't remember when.

Because of combination of many things (my work, hobbies, health condition etc.) I tend to have stiff shoulders/neck/back and these tensions tend to give me horrendous headaches. For the last two day however I have had stiffness none what so ever. I have felt really good.

So what has changed?

My morning workouts. Yesterday morning I had a 42 minute workout and today just a little over half an hour. From both of these about ⅓ has been yoga and the remaining ⅔ has been muscle workout. Compared to the couple of minutes of swaying hands like a windmill the difference has obviously been tremendous.

Let us see what happens during the workdays when I plan to split the workout for morning yoga and afternoon muscle training. I hope the yoga can help me keep my back and shoulder open for the day and the muscle training will give me to physical workout I need for good nights sleep.

For now, I really truly love our Wii Fit.

I, Streethawk

Memory Expansion

Every now and then we all have issues with our memory. We just don't seem to be able to remember all the things we should. For that there are, some people say, little pieces of paper and such to scribble notes on. Well...

I don't like those little notes. They are hard to keep organized in your pocket. In case of misspelling correcting the error is a pain even at it's easiest, when you don't need to note any more you toss it away creating waste. Etcetera, etcetera. Therefore I would like to have an electronic memo. All the thing written down in one place, easy to organise (I hope), easy to rewrite and reusable.


So what could come to my aid? I dug up my old Nokia 9210 Communicator but it doesn't work any more. I thought of buying a new one but the price tag of ~800 € isn't that tempting. Buying any other electronic device ain't that much cheaper either. I would prefer something that I already own.

Nintendo DS to the rescue! For that device is versatile, Opera web browser has proven that much to me. That could work as a notepad for me, since it has rather good system to recognize handwriting. But alas, it doesn't quite work offline! So something else is needed. And when there is a will there is a way.

Homebrew software is the answer. There are already some txt editors for DS and on a brief search I found this: TxtWriter. Now I just have to figure out what, from where and how much.

Reality Check (Courtesy of Nintendo)

Two words: Wii Fit. Couple of more words: I am in stinky shape. Both literally and imaginatively.

We bought one today and naturally it needed to be tested. My wife and I created a a profile for each and performed the initial body test. We both scored 41, which is +9 years for her and +11 years for me. Again, I am in stinky shape.

Next we tried some of the activities, she tried out the aerobics for half an hour. Got sweaty and enjoyed. Then I tried muscle exercises and yoga for about 45 minutes (out of which 22 minutes was active workout, the rest was spent watching tutorials and browsing through the menus). Got sweaty and enjoyed. My balance is all over the place, so the yoga poses proved a bit difficult for me, but I genuinely believe that the Wii Fit will help me regain my balance.

I can see me doing the yoga poses on daily basis to keep my headaches cause by stiff muscles at bay. I think I will revisit this topic later on.

Favours for Friends

After giving a careful thought or two regarding friends I came to conclusion that I am more than willing to give up my own comfort to do a favour for a true friend.

Being an engineer I had to break this to pieces and figure out why. While this is still an ongoing process I have found several reasons. These reasons, not quite surprisingly, depend on the person I am doing the favour for. The most general rule however is that if slight addition of discomfort for me means that the friend of mine gets some load off their back I am willing to do so.

Simply because the slight addition of discomfort to my state of well being doesn't really mean that much since most of the time I feel like crap to begin with. So the relative decline in my well being is a small one compared to the potential positive effect to be had for the friend in need.

Luckily(?) for me, there aren't that many friends that I count into the category of true friends. There are couple of friends that are on transition from "mere" friend to true friend and for these friends I am more likely than not to do these favours.

Signs of Summer

There is an old Finnish proverb:

"Kuu kiurusta kesään,
Puoli kuuta peipposesta,
Västäräkistä vähäsen,
Pääskysestä ei päivääkään."

A rough translation could be:

"In a month of lark's arrival comes the summer
Half a month after chaffinch
Only a while from wagtail
Not a day from swallow"

During last week a saw a couple of wagtails, so the summer is practically around the corner.

What other signs of summer might there be? Especially for a urban person who might see the migratory birds, not to mention recognize them.

First signs of the summer are the skateboarders. They appear to the street as soon as the snow has melted. After that hem of the coats start getting shorter, especially for the ladies. Around the same time first roller skaters brave the streets that are still covered with sand.

Then follows a period of time when no significant change seems to happen, but if ones pays attention one can notice that actually them hem of the skirts starts getting shorter. First miniskirts appear to the street view when the spring is well on its way, although some thick pantyhose are still worn. During this period of time the coats worn start getting lighter.

Given a little more time the pantyhose get thinner and soon vanish all together from the miniskirt ladies. That is a definite sign that summer is practically here. But the surefire sign of summer still seems to be the rollerbabes in their skimpy shirts and tight hotpants.

The Man Behind the Cam

A brief introduction then. Look to the left, there's a profile!

Haha, just kidding, I'll make the introduction a bit longer than that.

I was born November the 2nd 1977 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Despite my birthplace I am a Finn by nationality, even though I have gotten my fair share of Swedish jokes. First three or so years of my life we lived in Sweden but moved to Finland when my big brother was due to start in elementary school. I have no memories from my time spent in Sweden, my first memories are from Finland.

As with the most male children I got of influences from my father, hopefully more of the good than of the bad. One of the influences was that of photography. I remember many dark winter nights being spent looking at slides my father had taken. Until my teenage I didn't really truly handle a camera (sure I played with a broken one, but I don't count that one). During my teenage though I borrowed one of my dad's compact point and shoot cameras for a trip to Rhodes. That, I think, kickstarted my photography hobby. A lot of gear has come and gone over the years and the photography as a hobby has had its active and passive phases.

Besides photography I am an active videogamer, roleplaying gamer, employee, husband and owner of a turtle born in summer 2006. I don't have much of an social life outside of work and family and I really don't feel that I'd need any more. I am quite confident having two best friends (and being married to the female one of those) and a bunch of buddies I see at work.

That's it for now.

This one is signing out.

Third Blog's the Charm!

Posting personal non photo related texts in my photoblog didn't somehow feel quite right, so I decided to start up a more personal kind of blog. I did (and still do) have a rant blog but it is for the gloomy side of me, too restricted in a way.

So it felt only logical to create yet another blog were I can allow myself to speak freely about just about anything I feel like to talk. I suppose a proper introduction is in order...