We have arrived....
So, after 2 weeks of camping out in a hotel we loaded everything up into the monster SUV the rental company gave us for the day and drove to Logan via the newly opened I-90->airport tunnel. How fitting after years of snarled traffic and billions of dollars spent on the Big Dig that we be able to drive from Belmont to the airport in 25 minutes in a giant SUV so large that other SUV drivers were looking up at us with a gleam of fear in their eyes.
We arrived at the airport a bit too early as the international terminal is usually packed come 5pm due to all the red-eye flights leaving between 6-9pm. But, as Murphy's Law dictates, the extra time we added for dealing with HoneyBear proved to be pointless as the terminal was almost empty. Amazingly, HB hopped right into his crate without having to entice, plead or smoosh him into it as I had prepared myself to do. The Iceland Air crew seemed to really like HB too as he had to sit there in his crate next to the check-in desk until it was time to load him on the plane. I watched him be unloaded from the plane in Iceland where all of the ground crew went over and had a look at him with smiles on their faces. I imagine they were amused at his name since the little yappy dogs are usually named Killer and Brutus while the giant dogs are named Daisy and HoneyBear :)
Everything went great until they couldn't fit his crate into the plane in Stockholm which had a few tense, irate moments since we thought there had been due diligence done more than once before departure in Boston to be certain this wouldn't happen. We had to go down to the tarmac and hold HB while they disassembled the crate and reassembled it inside the cargo hold. HB was such a good boy as he would have had every right to throw a tantrum considering all the jostling and stress. When we arrived in Helsinki the customs person just looked at his papers to make sure he had his shots and waved us on through the gate. All things considered, it went far better than I had hoped.
Jarkko's mother and father met us at the airport and helped us move our small mountain of stuff, decidedly not euro-sized :), to the apartment. They had also bought a few lamps, brought over some household stuff like glasses and chairs, and made sure we had a few rolls of toilet paper so we wouldn't have to dash out before the shops closed on Friday night which earned my eternal gratitude.
I start my intensive Finnish classes tomorrow and, hopefully, my sinus cold that I caught on the plane will have moved on to greener sinuses so I won't bother the class every time I honk my nose. :)
It's good to be home :)
permalink Ω 29 January 2003, Helsinki
50 Years of frozen culinary liberation
It's the 50th Anniversary of the Swanson TV Dinner. Yes, years of TV trays and tasteless rubbery chicken haven't diminished the popularity of the meal you don't have to cook. Oddly enough, the TV Dinner also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame though I don't remember one starring in any movies. All hail the TV Dinner! :)
permalink Ω 17 January 2003, Helsinki
Big Dog Diner
I searched for a new raised feeder for Honeybear for the last few years since his old one was showing it's age and not all that sturdy. The plastic ones available would get all slimy and gross like most plastic crap does in a short amount of time. The wooden ones would get all drooled on and dirty in addition to being heavy, cumbersome and not all that attractive. I finally found a new raised bowl set from BlackDog Pet [ Mention you saw their ad in The Bark Magazine and get 15% off ] which is made of coated steel in a sturdy design that is also nice to look at in your house. The height is perfect and the bowls are different sizes which is a clever detail since the smaller food bowl makes it easier for the dog to clear the bowl. For the larger breeds it's really important to have one of these raised bowl diners as it takes much of the stress off their joints and back while eating which helps them live a longer, healthier life.
permalink Ω 16 January 2003, Helsinki
Jonathan Franzen
When the furor over Oprah selecting The Corrections and the author's disdain for being lumped with other books of what he regarded as pulp reached it's most annoying intensity I gave the book a pass. I don't buy much fiction anymore since I have been consistently disappointed over the past decade by lousy stories that I felt robbed of the time it took me to consume them.
Last fall I noticed Franzen had a book of non-fiction essays, How to Be Alone, which contained a number of utterly brilliant pieces including a painfully personal account of losing his father. Franzen is from my home town and the book got me hooked on his writing so I decided to try The Corrections which is so vivid that it has restored my faith in fiction. If you eschewed the book before on account of the Oprah scandal I suggest you give the book a try since it's clear that this author can write a story that keeps the pages turning and won't let go even when you've finished reading.
I really hope he keeps writing and I'll have to work hard to keep from thinking of St. Louis as St. Jude :)
permalink Ω 16 January 2003, Helsinki
The Power of Awe
Soap Lake, Washington, is contemplating erecting a gigantic lava lamp to attract more tourism in the sacred tradition of roadside america attractions.
The feasibility of building such a lamp successfully is dubious since, aside from the weight of the glass and liquid contained within, someone is going to have to do the math on the wattage of the bulb it would require to illuminate it and the amount of heat it would generate to keep the blobs moving while taking seasonal changes into consideration. The illustration shows a viewing platform around the base of the lamp which I suspect would fry the humans standing so near. I imagine a building would have to be erected around it to remove some of the climactic variables with climate control.
It's an amusing and cute idea but why does a town in the midst of some of the most amazing geologic features in the western US need to build something as incongruous as a lava lamp to attract tourists? Why not just build a Soap Lake spa and hotel to attract some of the people who visit the Grand Coulee Dam? I've visted the area and it's really worth the trip to witness the scale of the scenery alone since pictures just cannot capture its grandeur.
permalink Ω 14 January 2003, Helsinki
Bob's your uncle!
OUP has recently published Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions: Making Sense of Transatlantic English which is a must-have for the English enthusiast or merely curious. It is not a dry lexicography but a lively and practical comparison of the two major dialects of English in all parts of daily usage. The author, Orin Hargraves, touches briefly on orthography and vocabulary then delves right into government, education, medical, food, clothing, shelter, transportation, sports and a host of other topics with detailed descriptions and tables to illustrate the differences. It's a brilliant book and I hope to see more from this author in the future.
permalink Ω 14 January 2003, Helsinki
Fleet as in bank, not as in swift
Fleet Bank is the 7th largest banking institution in the continental United States which would lead one to believe that international banking would be a familiar concept to them. When the head of wire transfers asked me what currency Finland uses I was not filled with confidence that leaving any substantial sum of money in my Fleet account was going to be a wise choice. She gave me a packet of rubbish for a reqular wire transfer PIN and such but I think that I'll go down to the Harvard branch sometime before I leave where they have to have people who know how to deal with international banking with all the students around.
When she noticed the balance on my account she asked if I would take some time and talk to the investment rep so that Fleet could invest my money for me. She didn't seem very appreciative when I noted that it was recently announced that Fleet had some large losses due to some Enron investments and that I wasn't interested in investing in the US Stock Market or with Fleet at this time :)
The catch-22 is that I cannot open a bank account in Finland until I get a national ID and I don't want to leave a largely uninsured bank account in the US where a war with Iraq could seriously devalue the dollar at best and wreck this antiquated 'banking' system at worst. I could take a giant bank or traveller cheque on the flight to Finland but that seems risky although it may be the easiest and least pain in the arse way of getting most of my money out of the country without having to fly back to Boston in the summer after they've jerked me around for 6 months.
It may be amusing to note that "Fleet" is also an enema [ yes, really :) ] and considering the quality of 'customer service' I received today it's not really much different.
permalink Ω 13 January 2003, Helsinki
Koopanova
I discovered a new artist the other day after hearing a brief clip of "Waltz for Koop" and hunted it down; Koop. If you like Jazzanova then you'll want to check them out.
permalink Ω 12 January 2003, Helsinki
Shake me
Geek Culture has created an amusement cum monitor pet for the apple geek in us all which even includes Moof in the icon garden; the angel snow globe.
permalink Ω 12 January 2003, Helsinki
A REAL Hummer
The only way to start an argument faster than mentioning abortion or Israel these days is to mention SUVs as a wanton and wasteful guzzler of gasoline among other ills. Jarkko went hunting with google for 'SUV craze' tonight and found an image [ Caution! Image is not, erm, suitable for work or children ] that really sums up the essence of why a Yank would rather die than give up their absurdly large vehicle for public transport or something small and fuel efficient.
As a wise man from the North Side of St. Louis once said..."You can sleep in yo' car, but yo' can't drive yo' house". It's much more convenient, too, when your car is as large as your house. I keep hoping gasoline prices go well over $2.00 per gallon in the states as nothing will make the SUV seem unattractive to drive sooner than bankrupting those who cannnot afford the fuel.
permalink Ω 12 January 2003, Helsinki
