HB COLD

Last entry for a while - can't say that I'm disappointed - because tomorrow I will be outta here! Still have a lot of cleaning to do. Massive house cleaning before a long vacation is probably the most annoying house cleaning that there is, yet also the most gratifying. While in the process of cleaning I hate it, but when returning home to a clean house, I love it. So we will make the plunge and get it done.

Packing could be a little difficult. I know the weather is going to be warm, but I shouldn't pack for summer, even though it is going to feel like late summer when we get to Dallas. Also, there is an entire wardrobe waiting for me in countless - well, 38 - boxes that are piled high on the bed.

Other than packing and cleaning, we also need to make sure and set the VCR. This could get complicated as we only have one 4 hour tape and at least 5 hours of shows that need to be recorded. We have the last 2.5 hours of the Apprentice, the first season (Yeah, we know who won already, but it's called suspension of disbelief - and when it is hard to believe you live where you live, it is quite easy to not remember that you know who won already). We also have 2-3 episodes of the OC, which is definitely a guilty pleasure, but hey, it's in sunny California and when living in not so sunny Finland, any escape is a good one.

So chances are we are going to miss something, or the VCR won't record, or other similar setbacks that won't really matter when we are in Dallas and Austin, but when we return in the dead of winter, these things will matter a great deal.

So that's all he wrote.

For some reason Finland has seen a dramatic rise in temperature over the past 2 days. Admittedly, I was hoping for more freezing weather so that we could have a literal escape, but now that it has become so warm - and by warm I mean 32-35 degrees - the escape will be more from the slush than from the cold. This is just fine with me because I hate slush. Today Karoliina and I walked with our bikes home because the slush was so bad that it was next to impossible to ride in. Sure, I could have done it, I've got a tank of a bicycle, but there was no way that Karoliina could have done it and since we were together, we walked. It doesn't look like it is going to let up anytime soon either. It's like riding a bike through a sandy beach, only this sand has been coated with butter, making it extraordinarily slippery. Also, there are no babes in bikini's, nor any water, and it ain't warm. And this weather has also turned the outdoor skating rinks into shallow pools. Poor kids, now they have to wait until it freezes over again before they can practice hockey. You know, in Texas we get snow days when things get cancelled, I gues in Finland they have thaw days.

T minus 3 days.

It has come to my attention that the photo hosting site that I use does not allow you to save a photo from their site, or from my photo stream. So please just let me know which photos you would like and I can email them to you.

Although this is a limited time offer, because I will only be at my desk for a few more days. Gotta a long trip to Texas coming! T minus 4 days.

Wait, I have just tried something. When clicking on one of the photos, you should be taken to the website Flickr. To the left of the photo there should be an option that says All Sizes. Click on that, and then you have the Download option. Let me know if it works for you.

This weekend a fog rolled in on Saturday and it was really creepy. It was so thick and so white that to look out onto the lake actually made me dizzy. When the lake was only partially in my view the feeling was worse, like part of my eye was covered or I was losing my sight. I was glad I took my camera with me. The camera couldn't really capture the fog. It was too dark to take a clear picture and when I used the flash the light reflected against the fog and it created a spooky effect.

It seems that, come winter time, our lake turns itself from a normal lakeside setting into another planet altogether. I should really put together a four seasons look for that lake, because in the wnter time it is just plain freaky.

Which one is scarier? This one?

Or this one? These remind me of Sleepy Hollow.

Are you afraid? I was after I took these pictures.

A nice leisurely stroll at the lake

An iced over tree

The Carriage House was my favorite bar in Brooklyn. It was on the corner of 7th Ave and 8th Street. A real local hangout with a lot of flavor. I would go there to watch whatever sporting event was on at the time and to talk with a couple of the guys from the neighborhood. Everyone there was really friendly and I usually got a free drink or two. I remember one night I was hanging out there and I went to the bathroom and written on the stall was "Uncle Howard 12-8-2001". I had no idea that this was written there and it took a few seconds for me to put 2 and 2 together and realize that I was Uncle Howard. My buddy Aaron, who is now married to Karel McComas - my best and only attempt at playing matchmaker - had written it on the wall the night that Samuel was born and it took me months to find it. That was easily my favorite moment in my favorite bar in Brooklyn. Happy Birthday Samuel.

A clarification on the match maker definition. There is a chance I am exaggerating my role in all of this. Sure, Aaron and Karel met at a party that K and I threw, but we did not set them up. Rather, we facilitated the organic development of a relationship that led to marriage. Karel came to our party and announced that she was not going to stay for very long. She was pissed. A few minutes later, she wasn't so pissed as she and Aaron spent the night talking and flirting. She did not leave early. So is that a matchmaker? Or is that just a dude who threw a party where two people met and fell in love and now this dude likes to tell people that he set them up? Well, it sure sounds better my way, doesn't it?

Also, Happy Chanukah to everyone out there. Let the latkes begin. Personally I like my latkes with applesauce more than sour cream, although lately I've been feeling like a combo kind of guy. Well regardless, have a happy one everyone.

Two words: White Out. Our return to Joensuu this afternoon came right smack dab in the middle of a blizzard. As soon as we stepped off the plane we were hit in the face by blasts of snowy wind. Nothing says welcome home like a wet kiss from the weatherman. But there is one thing that this blizzard wasn't counting on and that is my brand new mountain bike, perfectly equipped to deal with this exact situation. And so rather that calling in to work and staying home, I put on my contact lenses - impossible to wear glasses in something like this - pulled my baseball cap down real low and hit the road. It was great! I was passing everyone, most people were off their bikes and walking with them, but not me, I was cruising. An excellent purchase if I do say so myself.

New Year's Day just got really, really cool. I am just day dreaming about being in a loud bar with some friends, including Ho and going crazy as the Horns tangle with Michigan - their first ever meeting - in the stinking Rose Bowl for crying out loud. It just doesn't get any better than that.

T minus 11 days, and this one's almost over. Well, not for you, you're just waking up, but for me, it's almost over. How many commas did I just use in that last sentence? 4? Not too shabby.

I have just learned a lesson the hard way. I must always put my contact lenses in BEFORE I cook with onions, or garlic and especially chili peppers. I normally do, but not this time. Now I am am forced to stay home and clean the kitchen rather than getting to go play basketball or go to the gym. Damn, I am stupid.

Man, did that hurt trying to put the lens into my eye. I could feel the heat from my finger which had seaped onto the lens even before it touched my eye. It was as if my eye saw what my brain did not - imminent pain - but my brain had to see for itself. Well, the eye was right. But at least the fried rice came out ok.

I have set a precedent, not necessarily a good precedent, but a precedent nonetheless. I received a call from my bank yesterday and was told that I was involved in a police situation. Apparently, an international hacker was arrested earlier this week and it was revealed that he had accumulated several bank account numbers and had corrupted them, and mine was one of them. It was a precedent because my bank had never had this happen to any of their customers before. My account was not used by the hacker, there were no mysterious purchases made, but it was still in his computer. I have no idea how this could have happened, since I rarely use my bank card for anything other than cash. I remember using it in Amsterdam at a Foot Locker for a new pair of basketball shoes, but other than that I cannot recall a single time I used it otherwise.

On another topic, T minus 16 days. K and I leave for Turku this weekend, which is a nice break from J-town, you know civilization and all. Then the following week is the big Christmas Party here at the job, if it is half-way as entertaining as last year's was, it should be a good time. Hard to believe that this will be my second party here, but that's what it will be.