Tuesday, June 14, 2005
There are some things that I read about in the news and then I totally forget about it. Like, for example the fact that the Finnish paper industry is on strike right now and has been for the past 2 weeks. Ok, big deal. Paper industry isn't exactly the airline industry. I don't use that much paper anyway. (Side note: the Finnish paper industry is responsible for 15% of the world's paper products) But then reality struck. I walked into our local shop SIWA and found that the entire section of toilet paper and paper towel had depleted to the point that the only thing available was bulk, rough, sand paper like toilet paper. Another side note, I am a firm supporter of soft, yet durable toilet paper. I told K about it all and she had said to me that her mother had stocked up on toilet paper and paper towel before the strike. Apparently she has been through this before. Another awful side-effect of the strike is the fact that strawberry season is underway here in Finland, but there are not enough boxes to load up the strawberries for sale. Those damned paper people are pissing me off.
The weather has been wonderful lately. Highs in the 80's, party cloudy with a 100% chance of pollen. Sometimes I forget the fact that we live in the middle of an enormous forest. There is so much pollen in the air that you can actually see it. It rained the other day for a few minutes and since we keep our window open, our house was covered in pollen. The puddles on the streets look as if there was an army, armed with yellow spray paint invading Joensuu.
The weather has been so good lately that at 3am the sun shines brightly and hotly through our open window and directly onto my face. It stays there until 6:30. I have recently been forced to switch positions so that I am sleeping next to Karoliina's feet for a couple of hours. I am glad she does not kick in the night.
Other interesting tidbits: Today I am 30. Last night I was reflecting on this for a while. The one thing I can say is that I still have a good portion of hair left on the top of my head and for this I am grateful. I said long ago - when I started to lose it - that as long as I could make it out of my 20's with some semblance of hair I would be happy. Mission accomplished. I have a bad feeling I will not make it another 10 years with the same amount on top.
Scott & Joanna Horwitzz called me this morning. They were celebrating someone else's birthday in Chicago, karoke style. He woke me up with a rendition of Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler". To which I asked Joanna after hearing a little, "Is he in public?" Great way to wake up.
The weather has been wonderful lately. Highs in the 80's, party cloudy with a 100% chance of pollen. Sometimes I forget the fact that we live in the middle of an enormous forest. There is so much pollen in the air that you can actually see it. It rained the other day for a few minutes and since we keep our window open, our house was covered in pollen. The puddles on the streets look as if there was an army, armed with yellow spray paint invading Joensuu.
The weather has been so good lately that at 3am the sun shines brightly and hotly through our open window and directly onto my face. It stays there until 6:30. I have recently been forced to switch positions so that I am sleeping next to Karoliina's feet for a couple of hours. I am glad she does not kick in the night.
Other interesting tidbits: Today I am 30. Last night I was reflecting on this for a while. The one thing I can say is that I still have a good portion of hair left on the top of my head and for this I am grateful. I said long ago - when I started to lose it - that as long as I could make it out of my 20's with some semblance of hair I would be happy. Mission accomplished. I have a bad feeling I will not make it another 10 years with the same amount on top.
Scott & Joanna Horwitzz called me this morning. They were celebrating someone else's birthday in Chicago, karoke style. He woke me up with a rendition of Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler". To which I asked Joanna after hearing a little, "Is he in public?" Great way to wake up.
// posted by Howard @ 1:43 PM 
