Thursday, January 15, 2004
Two things:
1. If it doesn't hurt, it's not cold.
K and I walked to the CityMarket last night. It's about 1.5km away from the house and there's a hill involved, but for the most part it is an easy walk - especially last night (Well, we left the house at 4:45pm which is hardly night-time, but since it had been dark already for over an hour night-time it is). The weather was really nice, about -4 degrees (*9/5+32= 25F), a light snow was falling and the walk was almost short. Of course the return trip with a 10 kilo backpack was a little more difficult, but that's not the point.
Point is, we did the same walk on Sunday when the sun was out and so was Mr. Frosty. It was close to -25C (*9/5+32= -13F) and that walk seemed like it was miles long. We had ice growing on our faces, eye lashes, my beard, and our hats had a lacey outline of ice. Now we got all the way to the parking lot when we could finally see that the store was closed. There was no holiday, and it is usually open on Sundays, but not last Sunday. So we had to turn around and trek back (and I can say this truthfully - well almost truthfully) uphill, both ways, through five feet of snow (exag.).
2. If it ain't dirty, wear it again.
There is an interesting aspect of the Finnish working culture to wear the same thing many days in a row, similar to a uniform I guess. I noticed this the first time when a co-worker wore the same thing to work for an entire week. And this was no regular getup, this dude stood out, and for an entire week. I didn't get close enough to smell, but that's because I'm smart.
So, trying to adopt a "When in Rome" type of attitude I have begun to wear some items several times a week. So far it's mostly the pants, but soon enough I will start to wear one outfit a week. I guess it's easy on the washing machine and even easier in the morning when there is no longer any thinking involved.
Onto another subject, we had our first meeting this week and I feel pretty good about future employment. I emailed the boss asking about my future and he said not to worry and so I won't. My next set of duties is to map out our travel options for the year. As a group, I think our first trip will be to Cannes - can't believe it - and I am going to try and get to SXSW, even if I have to chip in a little. I've been thinking about it for a long time now and I think I will go ahead with it. Besides, it will have been 5 months since seeing the fam and that is a long time.
And onto one more subject, football. My friend Harri has the cable station that the Conference Championship games will be on this Sunday and he volunteered to tape them for me. Hot Damn, that's all I have to say.
Guests will be in town tonight and we will see them tomorrow. It's weird, because even though they are in route, it still doesn't feel like they are coming. I can't quite explain it and so I won't. See you.
1. If it doesn't hurt, it's not cold.
K and I walked to the CityMarket last night. It's about 1.5km away from the house and there's a hill involved, but for the most part it is an easy walk - especially last night (Well, we left the house at 4:45pm which is hardly night-time, but since it had been dark already for over an hour night-time it is). The weather was really nice, about -4 degrees (*9/5+32= 25F), a light snow was falling and the walk was almost short. Of course the return trip with a 10 kilo backpack was a little more difficult, but that's not the point.
Point is, we did the same walk on Sunday when the sun was out and so was Mr. Frosty. It was close to -25C (*9/5+32= -13F) and that walk seemed like it was miles long. We had ice growing on our faces, eye lashes, my beard, and our hats had a lacey outline of ice. Now we got all the way to the parking lot when we could finally see that the store was closed. There was no holiday, and it is usually open on Sundays, but not last Sunday. So we had to turn around and trek back (and I can say this truthfully - well almost truthfully) uphill, both ways, through five feet of snow (exag.).
2. If it ain't dirty, wear it again.
There is an interesting aspect of the Finnish working culture to wear the same thing many days in a row, similar to a uniform I guess. I noticed this the first time when a co-worker wore the same thing to work for an entire week. And this was no regular getup, this dude stood out, and for an entire week. I didn't get close enough to smell, but that's because I'm smart.
So, trying to adopt a "When in Rome" type of attitude I have begun to wear some items several times a week. So far it's mostly the pants, but soon enough I will start to wear one outfit a week. I guess it's easy on the washing machine and even easier in the morning when there is no longer any thinking involved.
Onto another subject, we had our first meeting this week and I feel pretty good about future employment. I emailed the boss asking about my future and he said not to worry and so I won't. My next set of duties is to map out our travel options for the year. As a group, I think our first trip will be to Cannes - can't believe it - and I am going to try and get to SXSW, even if I have to chip in a little. I've been thinking about it for a long time now and I think I will go ahead with it. Besides, it will have been 5 months since seeing the fam and that is a long time.
And onto one more subject, football. My friend Harri has the cable station that the Conference Championship games will be on this Sunday and he volunteered to tape them for me. Hot Damn, that's all I have to say.
Guests will be in town tonight and we will see them tomorrow. It's weird, because even though they are in route, it still doesn't feel like they are coming. I can't quite explain it and so I won't. See you.
// posted by Howard @ 3:22 PM 
