Everyday is Monday

I had a week of Mondays last week and Friday had an added bonus of being both Friday and Monday at the same time due to the holiday on Thursday. From Monday onward, I seemed to fumble everything from the complex to the simple. I patched the system a bunch of the CPAN sites run on, as well as this blog, only to have it come up perfectly but be unable to log in to the system because sshd decided it didn't want to run so I have to wait until Ben can get to the console and start it for me, hopefully soon. I spent the weekend away from computers to try and change my system karma. :)

I've scanned all the pictures from Tunisia and have been sifting through them and whenever sshd comes back online, I'll put them up on the system.

permalink Ω 9 January 2005, Helsinki

Crumpler

I think I've tried just about every bag to carry stuff around in and there's always something that fails me in the end; too small, too big, too soft, too hard, etc. The last bag I fell in love with, the Timbuk2 Commuter v.2 bag, is a great bag but seemingly no matter how light it is my back begins to ache after about 2km of walking. I walk a lot and having my back being enraged too often isn't something I can live with. So, I began looking for another bag that might be kinder to my back.

While we were in Prague, I dragged Jarkko to Fotoskoda, a candyland for photographers the likes of which Helsinki only wishes it had when compared to the Leica shop here which is small and seemingly only open during certain phases of the moon and the last day of February during odd-numbered leap years [when it is open though, the gentleman who runs the shop is absolutely excellent]. I noticed they had a camera bag department on one of the three floors and asked to look at a backpack they had on display. I didn't really want a camera bag since I travel light and don't carry that much kit and I've not liked backpacks since university where the weight of the bag stuffed with chemistry textbooks would crush against my vertebrae. The bag I found myself looking at and eventually buying was the Crumpler Formal Lounge. Its lower half is a padded camera bag and the top half is for a laptop/whatever else. Most importantly it has a gullet for your spine on the back between the padding much like a saddle does. It's easy to get into without being so easy that you have to worry about getting ripped-off in a crowd. The camera compartment isn't really large enough for someone with a large SLR and giant lenses, but it's perfect for someone with something of the Leica form factor who carries the camera [intact and ready to shoot], an extra lens, flash, a filter or three and extra film. It's also nice to have all the kit conveniently located, yet in a padded compartment where it won't rattle around like it did in the commuter bag. I still don't really love backpacks all that much, but this bag is the most comfortable thing I've worn in years. My back is very appreciative, too. :)

permalink Ω 7 August 2004, Helsinki

The Year of the Gnome

The Meilahti Art Museum has an upcoming exhibit of puutarhatontut, garden gnomes, titled "Paradise Garden". It's not on the website yet, but it opens on 9 June and closes on 19 September. Surprisingly, 2004 is also The Year of the Gnome. I'm surprised that the Gnome Liberation Front hasn't made the news, but if I see a few hanged garden gnomes swinging from the trees in the park it won't be much of a shock since gnome theft and torture is on the rise this year.

permalink Ω 26 May 2004, Helsinki

Tori! Tori! Tori! Sunnuntaina

It's the not-winter season again [although it did spit a few snowflakes from the sky today after the brief spell of 25+C weather] which means the Hietalahden Kirpputori is back is business. Arabella, myself and a few others have reserved 2 tables to experience the market as sellers instead of buyers for a change. C'mon out on Sunday, say hello and maybe find a few bargains [hopefully ours :)]. If you like books in English, I'll have a box or two on sale for a lot less than Akateeminen.

permalink Ω 13 May 2004, Helsinki

It's certainly mental

A terrifc time sink that is just a notch above completely pointless to make you think that the time might not be completely wasted is the mental_floss quiz and factoid library. It's surprising the amount of useless information you can recall on demand but have trouble remembering what you had for lunch yesterday. mental_floss magazine would appear to be the USA Today of trivia magazines and part of the growing fad of publishing bound collections of trivia like Schott's Original Miscellany. The Freudian Slippers they sell on their site are pretty cute and unusual though. :)

permalink Ω 9 May 2004, Helsinki

A Dremel in the hand...

When I was a bartender, I learned to believe in the power of the full moon. I never bought into the whole idea of celestial bodies determining behaviour such as horoscopes, but I overcame my scepticism after too many nights of full moon freaks. It isn't a full moon and I don't know if there is a celestial convergence, but there are an awful lot of people lately who either need a good trepanning by a qualified mental dentist in possession of a good quality Dremel or a fleet enema.

Jarkko was on holiday last week and we did a few fun touristy things that I took my camera along with us to take pictures. I have been scanning the photos over the last day or three. So, there are a number of photos coming up soon. Tomorrow, we need to go shopping for a decent photo scanner since negative/photo scanners are a lot cheaper than the last time I looked five years ago and this old one is slow going with lots of prints.

And, if you live in Finland and understand English, Meng Weng Wong was nice enough to set me up with a mailing list since I have near epileptic fits over excessive use of animated smileys on the wailing wall and mailing lists are a lot easier to manage, thread and organize than a flat web page. It's unmoderated and should be a fun list for the local expats to share news articles, URLs, local events and the usual mailing list kind of stuff. Meng is the guy behind SPF so spam shouldn't be a problem, either. If interested, the subscription page and the subscription address, subscribe-iesaf@v2.listbox.com, should be self-explanatory.

permalink Ω 12 April 2004, Helsinki

The perfect PAA

I've tried everything from a filofax to a Palm Pilot to iCal to keep organized. However, the problem with them is that the analog filofax is too big to carry around and the palm pilot or the laptop just take too long to boot to jot a quick note down and likely aren't going to be carried to a pub or the movies, etc. Moleskine notebooks were reintroduced a few years ago and now they have pocket weekly notebooks, the perfect PAA [pocket analog assistant]. A far superior and more practical technology under $20.

permalink Ω 12 September 2003, Helsinki

Go Card, Go!

I love the free postcards available in some clubs as they are often nicely designed and make good bookmarks. The rates for the postcards are pretty reasonable as well. It would be interesting to advertise Perl this way, especially since Jon Orwant mailed all the TPJ subscription confirmations on these postcards when TPJ was just getting going. :)

permalink Ω 4 April 2002, Helsinki

Mondo Global Warming Condo

It is nearly 1 mile long, 750 feet wide, 25 stories high and will circumnavigate the globe every 2 years. Oil tanker? No, a luxury cruise ship condo. Since Antarctica is melting, I'd say this is a damned good investment.

But the Freedomship is just the tip of the iceberg :)

Let Residensea give you The USS World who will embark on it's maiden voyage on 2 May 2002.

So, if you have a few million euros to burn and want to avoid the rush before the flood, you've got lots of options. Well, unless you're a land lubber like myself as I would have a hard time deciding whether to drown or board the ship. I blame the Poseidon Adventure.

permalink Ω 3 April 2002, Helsinki

Greetings from America

I collected first day covers on cachet envelopes when I was a kid and I remember especially liking the 50 states pane. This morning I went by the post office and noticed that the USPS is issuing the first 50-stamp pane in 10 years, the Greetings From America series.

The stamps are in the large letter postcard style from the 1940s and each will have state-specific information on the back of the pane such as capital and date of incorporation. Massachussetts has Motif #1, Missouri features the Gateway Arch and Montana has a bucking bronco that caused Wyoming to grumble a bit. New York displays Niagara Falls instead of 2 smoking towers and Utah just has sandstone instead of a mormon temple or a guy with 5 wives. I miss the wacky postcards with a sense of humour here. :)

You can purchase everything from mugs to mouse pads with each of the state designs on them from the postal service and enter the sweepstakes to win a dream vacation in the US. The USPS is also allowing 60 days instead of the usual 30 for first day cover requests so if you want to be sure to get yours you can pre-order the stamps by calling 1.800.782.6724 as the web site isn't being completely honest about the 'pre-order' option.

The postal service has one heck of a bad year so I'm happy to see them issue such a fine set of stamps that has rekindled my interest in philately.

permalink Ω 26 March 2002, Helsinki

Imaging the past

I casually collect postcards and stationery, anything that catches my eye and I've found my latest favourite time sink of a web site Found Image. They have a rather impressive collection of vintage postcard images that they can print onto notecards, journals, and just about anything else you would like. I should hide my credit card.

permalink Ω 14 March 2002, Helsinki

Due to popular demand

Since noone can type, speak, or spell "Hietaniemi" I have changed the URL for the Axis of Ævil to axis-of-aevil.net. Hopefully your puny hoooman brane can handle the storage issue. :)

permalink Ω 4 March 2002, Helsinki

Mundus Vult Decipi

You know you are bored when you spend an afternoon organising the several thousand bookmarks you have accumulated over time and find a few that defy explanation as to what ever prompted you to bookmark them to begin with. A few fun oddballs from my bookmark-o-rama;

• I don't like to shop much but I have a sort of macabre fascination for the US 'shopping clubs' where you can buy 200 rolls of toilet paper to stock your bomb shelter. Am I the only one who finds the name BJ's Wholesale hilarious? I mean...c'mon.
• I don't cook but HappyCookers must have gotten bookmarked because it makes me giggle. I wonder if they have seen the cult classic The Happy Hooker?
• Health conscious? Since 11 September you should eat like there is no tomorrow and Blow health out your ass!. Besides, noone cares if you are fat when you're dead, right?
• I went looking for the 'things' in the Linens 'n Things site and still haven't found anything remotely useful. It should be renamed 'Linens and lots of crap. The marketing department would shoot that down though I'd bet.
• Sometimes the truth is more naked than we can bear. If this were socially acceptable in public I wouldn't be surprised to see men gazing at their euphamism frequently and with great pride. :)
• I thought that bat boy was a joke and had it filed under humour. Now that it's really an off-broadway show I'm scared and even more convinced than ever that the end of the world is nigh.
• I don't have a fetish for cold butter so I can't quite figure out why I fancied the butter dispenser. If this thing fetches $17 then I really need to start selling paper clips for $10 as 'a special macintosh tool'.
• Perhaps I noted the page of clerihews to plot a scheme to replace the haiku meme.
• Friends shouldn't let friends create pages like this one. Keith, stop with the blinking!
• It is a tragedy that New England doesn't have a single White Castle. I could really go for a bag of 12 with a tall iced tea. Maybe I bookmarked this just to torture myself.
• As something of a casual historian I knowI sleep better at night knowing that someone is archiving all of the annoying banner ads on the net. Why Mangos, indeed.
• Have you noticed lately that there are little books on just about every niche topic in history possible? Now we have a web site and museum run by a man [ because a woman probably finds it too mundane ] on menstruation. Most interesting is the list of euphamisms for menstruation around the world. Finland is not represented, but the French have 'the English Navy has arrived'. I wonder if a travel agency could book a tour of the Museum of Menstruation and then fly you off to iceland for a visit to the Penis Museum.
• I bookmarked the Disgruntled Housewife long before I was married and it still is hilarious. The Meals Men Like make me think of pudge and giggle :)
• The completely useless yet wicked funny masshole site.
• If you think bailing out the airlines is expensive you should check out the Big Dig. Billions of dollars and more than 10 years later they still aren't done, raising tolls on the pike and it won't improve traffic through downtown when they are done. But hey, it's visible from space!
• The Journal of Mundane Behaviour proving there is a journal for everyone. They are looking for papers on 'mundane sex' for their next issue so...
• Now even your dog can be a flag waving freak!

I owe my bookmark organising sanity to URL Manager Pro, a terribly useful little utility.

permalink Ω 4 October 2001, Helsinki