Tunes

I can't help it. There are so many completely cool songs out there that I need to share.
Favorite of the day:
Keane- Spiralling
Try getting the original in your own country, I can't get it here.
This is one of those songs that I heard for the first time and totally digged, dugged. It would probably be good to see this band, Keane, live.
Speaking of live gigs (which I typically like to go to) I missed something pretty good the other day: Rock the Bells was in Helsinki. I missed De la Soul, Nas, Pharcyde, Mos Def, etc.
Oh well. I'm sure it wouldda been fun, but I am not overly lamenting the fact. Some pals went and said it was great, but cold (was at the ice hockey arena on top of ice). Plus, I am off of hip hop music at the moment. I think I am into more indie-mainstream college rock... hence the Keane, deus, etc (see playlist to the right).
And here is a Finnish band that I like... 22 Pistepirkko

Piste means point or dot or period (in Finland you always hear "veeh veeh veeh peesteh something peesteh fee" (i.e. www.something.fi ... and in the phonebook the letters w and v fall one and the same)
Pirkko means bug, so this band's name means 22 Ladybugs.

And I love this one too:

and just one more

Hurrah!!!

It was hard for me to get my hopes up too high, but after reading the news first thing this morning and every paper seems to be reporting a win. So I really felt light footed on my way to work this morning.
Check out the emails that have been going around on my listserve from alumni from the masters program I did in Sweden:
From Brazil:
" THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE FUNELL - errr - TUNNEL!!!!!! Congratulations to the
whole world, welcome to a new era indeed! GO OBAMA!!!
Love to all"
From Nigeria:
Rosa sat so Martin could walk......Martin walked, so Obama could run.....Obama is running so our children CAN FLY!
Congratulations to all !"
plus more..

I feel happy and like there is a REAL cause for celebration.
In fact I was quite late because I managed to lose track of time over at my favorite neighbors' house last night and didn't get to sleep until 2:00. A pal from work invited me over for fajitas (pronounced with a hard j and long i, which gives me the opportunity to say things like "Erno, you have fajita all over your face" which amuses me to no end). The original occasion was to eat and watch him celebrate/mourn his assumed lay-off from Nokia Research Center. They just announced thay they will get rid of about 22% of the jobs from NRC, and since they have already closed his website, things already seem pretty obvious. I don't think he's very upset at all but I think it is dumb for Nokia to get rid of R&D assets. But who am I to say? (update: he can keep his job if he moves to Palo Alto which he doesn't want to do. otherwise he can try to find a new job internally around here)
But then some others showed up from the bar and we decided to celebrate (a bit early) a win for Obama. It still amazes me that people on the other side of the Earth are so informed and involved in this presidential election, not to mention willing to celebrate a win for Obama/end of Bush. Milja even put on her Obama pin for the occasion, and she's not the only Finn that I've seen with one. Do any of you know who the president of Finland is, or whether you support them? If not, her name is Tarja Halonen, she is quite popular here for her progressive, commie politics, and looks quite a bit like Conan O'brien (which partially explains his popularity in, and relatively frequent mention of Finland).
So I started my job this week. So far, so good. I have met the people I will be sitting and working with, although two of three people on my most immediate team are leaving very soon, and the third (our line manager, Susan) is based in London. Auspiciously, Susan is here this week which is giving me a good chance to meet with her. So far, I get a very good impression of her. She seems like the type who is good at making sure things get done in a calm and very professional way, but with a steady and non-bossy, non-pushy style. And mentioning style, she is very well-dressed. Unlike me, who just noticed that the shirt I wore today is totally see-through. Oops.
As for my duties, so far things seem pretty straight-forward and manageable. I think my favorite duty will be to keep track of the news and other media, and create weekly summaries of where Nokia is mentioned in the context of environmental afffairs/CSR issues. Some of the issues are required (materials, energy, recycling), but I get tho choose what to highlight and also mention other industry-wide news or benchmarks. It will be way easy and I will do a really good job on this one. The other stuff I will work on remains a bit foggy, and until I get mt computer sorted, it will be kinda hard to get started. The service desk is being totally lethargic getting my passwords arranged. My laptop itself is ready, but I can't login. This is the third day that I'm held up. Grrrrr.
But on the other side of the technology coin from aggravation is convenience. I am writing this blog from my new work phone. I got the E71 and, while it isn't a specific eco-phone (but my personal phone is, the 3110 evolve... Love it), it is super handy. I dig the qwerty keypad. It is super mini and makes makes it possible to work on emails and type documents really coveniently, like while you are sitting at the tax office (like I did yesterday) or at work with nothing to do. Like right now.

YAYYYYYYYY!!!!

PS I know I promised to stop posting videos, but I SO dig this one

VOTE VOTE VOTE!!

Ok dear friends and loved ones. Check out how much the rest of the world cares about the upcoming election.

And just to get you in the mood for Tuesday, can you please lend me your voice?
Last week I acquired some new/old furniture. I bought them because I love the shapes. It is all second-hand and I need to do some work on the colors. Can you please let me know what you think would look nicest by voting in the polls to the right? THANKS!!

First of all, let me introduce you to the space. This stuff will all go in the library for now. Or rather, what I like to call the library in our place. Nathan's and Seungho's doors open into this space, and ever since I have been here it has been used for hanging clothes to dry, collecting dust, and as a black hole for sh*t that nobody knows what to do with.

Gross, eh? I have spent most of my time in this place just ignoring that space. I straightened it up last week (see below), and a bunch of stuff (e.g. old clothes in bags) will get sold in a few weeks at a flea market.

The hutch
First of all, the hutch. Say it loud, say it proud. I really dig the glass on the top door. And it is very polite, nestling right back into a corner but making itself very efficient for storage (always an issue in small Helsinki flats). The color is grody though.
For now this hutch will house craft projects, as the library space (see below) will now be used for projects rather than storing crap (see above). When I move into my own place (in 2 years or so) it will go with me, and probably make nice in a kitchen. I am leaning towards painting it bright red (inside the upper cupboard will be white though, to make sure the cool yellow glass stays an interesting shade of ocher.




Table and chairs
I love round tables. And I love the shape of the chairs... so Scandinavian! They are the exact same shape as the chairs that we currently have in the dining room and I am completely infatuated with them. Therefore, I think they should most positively be red. But let me know what you think (to the right, if you please).



(I got four chairs, but not all of them fit comfortably there).

Darth Vader chairs
And last but not least, these other chairs. The photos do not do them justice (I upped the shadowing on the pic of a single chair, just to make the shape easier to see). They are the coolest shape, and SO COMFORTABLE to sit in. The arch is perfect. I only wish they were swivel chairs. I am thinking of rigging up some sort of sit 'n spin mechanism on the bottom to fulfill that wish.




Don't they look like Darth Vader?