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