Pula-ajan resepti

Jos työttömyys iskee tai muuten vain rahapula, niin tällä reseptillä pysyy ravittuna työttömyys/pulakauden yli:

1) Osta purkkihernekeittoa
2) Lämmitä se
3) Syö puolet keitosta
4) Jatka keittoa vedellä kunnes sitä on yhtä paljon kuin alussa

Seuraavina päivinä toista kohdat 2 - 4, ja jatka tätä niin kauan kunnes työttömyys hellittää.



Same in English: to give competitive advantage to fellow Finns during the worsening recession, the survival tip above is given only in Finnish.

Joulu on taas, joulu on taas!!!

Ja vihdoin taas se jokavuotinen ihanuus alkaa (tai siis alkoi itseasiassa välittömästi heti halloweenin jälkeen kuukausi sitten, mutta nyt se vasta yltyy)! Kirkuvanvärisiä epileptisiä välkkyvaloja ja muovikrääsää ilmestyy kiihtyvästi joka paikkaan, kajareista paasaa tuutin täydeltä kulkustenhelinää ja innoittavia tonttulauluja ympäri kaupunkia ja TV:stä tulee Osta-Osta-Ostaata kaikilta kanavilta 24-7. Jos et ole jo sattumalta huomannutkaan, niin joulu on tulossa!

Sitä miettii hiljaa mielessään muunmuassa, kuinka joulupukin tontut jo ahkeroivat kiivaasti kiinan-pajalla jotta kaikki kiltit lapset ameriikan mantereella sitten saisi joulupäivänä sylin täydeltä muovista valettua kertakäyttökrääsää. Tietysti kokakola-pukin tuomana. Vastuttamattomasti kaikkea jouluun liittyvää seuratessa joulumieli valtaa pikkuhiljaa jo meikäläisenkin, ja oksennuksen maku alkaa tuntua suussani.

Something positive, for once

What POSITIVE changes have there been in this city since we moved here 2001? After thinking really, really hard, one thing came in mind; there are now more dedicated bike lanes in the city now than what there used to be.

Most of the bike lanes are created by just painting a white line on a roadway, which is not as good as having a truly separate path for bikes, but it shows that at least the city tries to promote this healthy way of transportation. Just having the painted lane there gives a sense of "own territory" when biking, making it feel safer while cars pass by. Thanks to the roads becoming more bike friendly, it is easier for me to do my part and bike to work once in a while, so that at least at times there is one less car on these clogged roads.

I could even think of giving up driving to work altogether, if only it didn't rain 300 days a year here...

"Eveybody wants to live here": the commute

Commuting to work and back to home is often painful here. There are no highways here so drivers are forced to use traffic light -infested streets for the entire length of their journey. And it does not really matter whether you drive or use transit. Buses use the same clogged roads as cars, and skytrain lines are few and packed. However, if you compare to worse, today's situation is still somewhat bearable.

Below a picture of a major street in Vancouver during morning rush hour. It is taken on a relatively quiet day, and traffic is moving somewhat smoothly. It takes about 1 set of traffic lights or about 1-2 minutes to get through a block;



The latest projected population increase for the region by 2020 is over 600000, bringing the total population of the region to close to 3 million. Let's see how the daily commute looks once this "dream" has come true;



It is the same street but traffic will be "a bit" different. It can already be at times like this, but in the future this will be the situation on a good day!

Instead of 1-2 minutes, it will take 5-10 minutes to get through a block. There are hardly any skytrain expansions planned before 2020, so most of the extra traffic created by all the additional people will be on roads. This really is something to be excited about!

The Best Place on Earth!

The license plate issued by our province says it; British Columbia is The Best Place on Earth! The rest of the world, suck it! Sure, the title is self-granted, but we are so CONFIDENT of the superiority of what we have got here that we don't need to ask for your opinion!

It doesn't matter where you live, Hawaii, Japan, Finland, where ever. What we have here in BC and Vancouver is so much better than what ANY OF YOU anywhere else have got. You can only fight where does the title of "the second best place" go!

They only cure to the jealousy is that one day you may have chance to move and live Here. If you make $200000 a year, you are welcome to make yourself comfortable here. If you make >$500000 a year, you are even more than welcome! If you make less than $100000 a year, you are welcome too, since we will need lots of low-paid workforce to be servants for the rest of us!

More information:
http://www.gov.bc.ca/keyinitiatives/ubcm_brochures.html
http://www.icbc.com/registration/reg_spec_lic_plates_opp.asp

"Everybody wants to live here": the beach

On a sunny summer day, what would be more refreshing than to head out to the beach. During summer 2008 in Vancouver, you can probably do it. There might be quite a few people there, but still it is likely there will be plenty of room:


Once the dream of having everyone to move here has started to come true, by 2012 the beach will be more like this;


And, by 2025 it will be like this:


If you decide to head out there, you better prepared to remain stand up, since there may not be enough room for you to lay down. Of course, you can try to arrive before everyone else, around 7am to find a spot. Then you just have to hope that not too many people arriving after you will step on you.

So, let's keep selling Vancouver and BC to the world to make sure this dream comes true!

Pedestrians pollute the city!

You might think that choosing walking over driving is "green" and does not create any pollution, but think again. Of course, pedestrians do not cause any emissions directly, but indirectly they cause massive amounts of pollution.

This happens thousands of times every day in the city; a pedestrian presses the button on pedestrian controlled traffic light, the light turns red for cars, and dozens of them will have to suddenly stop to let the lone pedestrian cross. In case there is no traffic light, only crosswalk, cars are again expected to stop even if it only appears like the pedestrian is about to cross the street!

Why on earth is it so that cars do have to yield to pedestrians? Environmentally it does not make any sense. If car weights 1000kg and moves at 50km/h (typical speed on a good day) and pedestrian weights 70kg and moves at a walking speed, which one will waste more energy, if the pedestrian had to stop or the vehicle?

To save the environment, the legislation must absolutely changed so that pedestrians will have to yield to vehicles. This will reduce gas consumption dramatically, since cars will not have to stop constantly to let single pedestrians to cross the street. An additional 10c/litre gas tax could be applied, and still overall gas expenses would be less. This additional tax revenue could be used for public transit, so that even those who do not own or use a private car would benefit!

By this little change in the rules, everyone will win, even the pedestrians. With this change, the world will become a much greener place for everyone!

Uusi uljas tietokone!

Hommattiin tässä Petrille vähän aikaa sitten hieno läppäri jossa tuli vakioasennettuna Windows Vista, ja kyllä tämä uusi Windows on sitten hieno! On käyttöliittymä jossa ainakin 16 triljoonaa väriä ja 3D -ikkunat ja valikot pulpahtelee todella hienosti esiin kun niitä klikkaa. Ja höysteenä on toki ainakin 7-kanavaiset digitaaliset sursuraround -ääniefektit jotka hivelee korvia. Ja sitten vittusaatana mikään aiemmin käytetyistä ohjelmista ei sitten oikeasti toimikaan kun siinä läppärissä tuli joku vatun Windows 64 bit edition eikä 32 bittinen jota meitin vanhat ohjelmat ehkä tukisi.

Ja jos joku ohjelma sattuukin vahingossa toimimaan, toimii se perkeleen hitaasti kun Vistan uudet hienosti pulpahtelevat ikkunoinnit ja animaatiot sun muu sälä syö kaiken konetehon mitä koneesta irtoaa ja vielä vähän lisää. Noh, jotenkin maailmantalouden pyörät täytyy pitää liikkeessä, ja mikä onkaan parempi tapa edesauttaa tätä kuin kehittää ensin uusi tehosyöppö käyttis, ja lopettaa sitten tuki vanhalle. Ihmiset ovat sitten pakotettuja ostamaan uudenkarheita tietokoneita, jotka jaksavat pyörittää tätä uutta uljasta tuotosta juuri ja juuri yhtä hyvin kuin vanha kone edellistä käyttistä.

Kyllä teknologinen kehitys on sitten hienoa ja autuaaksitekevää!

Same in English: We just became Windows Vista users. Now only thing we need is a nuclear powered PC that might have just enough juice to smoothly run it %#"#%!!!

The Best Place on Earth presents: "Everybody wants to live here!"

Our hometown Vancouver has consistently claimed top positions in various livability surveys. Largely this is thanks to the spectacular natural settings that surround Vancouver; the mountains, the ocean and the wilderness. Indeed, there are number of beaches, provincial parks and skiing slopes amidst the majestic mountains, that have so far been easily accessible to the residents of the city.

For past few years, provincial and municipal leaders have aggressively been marketing Vancouver and BC to the world, in hopes that hundreds of thousands more people would be attracted to move here. It has been projected that by 2020 almost million more people will have moved here, bringing the total population of the area to over 3 million.

The most visible part of the marketing campaign is the 2010 winter olympics that were aggressively bid for by Vancouver and eventually won. Getting the olympics has then contributed to the ongoing unprecedented residential construction boom and to the expectations, that "everyone" indeed is going to come to live here.

It is clear that the provincial leaders have managed to convince the general population that the olympics are the best thing that have ever happened to the city and that it will be nothing but positive to have "everyone" to move here. However, there has not been a word what kind of impact the increasing population really will have on the quality of life here.

To enlighten at least those few people that happen to wander to this site, I will post a series of pictures over next several weeks, illustrating the actual impact on life in the city, once "everybody" has moved here. I can already reveal that while there will be more and more people living here, there won't be more beaches, more roads or more wilderness available for the additional people to enjoy...

Tervemenoa Suomi!

Kesä tuli toukokuussa ja sitten myös meni. Nyt on viimeiset kolme neljä viikoa putkeen ollut paskakelejä; tuulta, vihmovaa sadetta ja lämpötilat jossain 12 asteen paikkeilla. Viime säätiedotus tosin hehkutti että lähipäivinä tulee lämpöaalto ja jossain päin maata voidaan nauttia jopa 15 asteen helteistä!

Tämän reissun alkupuolella huhti-toukokuussa kelit hellivät ja oikein sitä joutui muistelemaan että oliko täällä oikeasti aina näin hienot kelit. Mutta nyt viimeistään on harhaluulot Suomen autuaasta suvesta huuhtoutuneet kirjaimellisesti pois!

Noh, heinäkuuta riittää vielä pari viikkoa. Sen jälkeen kesä onkin Suomessa ohi ja tulee taas pimeää ja kylmää. Tai siis pimeäMPÄÄ ja kylmeMPÄÄ. Tuon sanottuani voinkin nyt lähteä hyvillä mielin takaisin Kanadaan!

Same in English: Auf Wiedersehen, Finnland!

Mopojengit!

Suomessa ja varsinkin Salossa on yksi vitsaus ylitse muiden. Se on teini-ikäisten kakaroiden mopoista lähtevä jatkuva, rassaava meteli.

Kun niissä vehkeissä ei ole alunperinkään paskankaan vertaa tehoa, minkä takia niitä mopoja pitää tarkoituksella tunata niin että niistä vähistä tehoista ainakin puolet muuttuu liikkeen sijasta silkaksi meteliksi. Mopothan on kai alunperin tarkoitettu LIIKKUMISEEN eikä melusaasteen tuottamiseen!?

Vituttaa oikeasti kun on vaikkapa kaupungilla kävelemässä, ja sitten kuulee jo 5 kilsan päästä kun apinalauma mopoineen lähtee kaasuttelemaan kohti. Hyttysparven ininää muistuttava meteli kasvaa hetki hetkeltä, ja ehkä joskus vartin päästä ne apinat sitten menee yksitellen ohi. Ja vaikka niillä on kaasu pohjassa, ja kierroksia koneessa ehkä 8000 ja meteli aivan sietämätön, silti niillä paskavehkeillä on ohituskohdassa vauhtia vain jotain 15km/h! Ainoa mikä sen saatanallisperkeleellisen kakofonian yli tuossa kuuluu, on noiden rääväsuisten nulikoiden vielä äänekkäämpi kiroilu.

Tuollaiset mopot ja vastaavat voisi mun puolesta kieltää vaikka lailla. Ja samantien voitaisiin kieltää koko nuoriso, ja lähettää ne vaikka johonkin Kainuussa olevalle työ/kasvatusleirille.

Vancouver's "solid" "job" "market"!

The local newspapers and news broadcasts have been drumming for a while about Vancouver having "all time record employment" and about "tons of open job openings being available". I wonder where or what these "jobs" are. A person who I happen to know very well had to look for a job for over a year before finding something half-way decent. And there are number of others who I know, who are or have been in similar situation. So I know that these claims or "full employment" are bullshit.

Probably there are indeed record number of minimum wage jobs at $8 an hour. Too bad that working full time in such job wouldn’t be enough to cover even the cheapest possible rental apartment and other basic living costs in this "world's most livable city" in "the best place on earth".

The fact is that the city is still full of poor students and other folks living at margin and in desperate need of more income. Additionally, several freight ships arrive daily with thousands of Asian (this is politically correct blog, so I can not disclose any ethnic origins) immigrants that are willing to work for almost free.

Normally, if there were a decent job opening somewhere within this city, there were at least 1000 applicants for such a job. But since we are now experiencing this "unpreceded job market boom", that figure has probably reduced now to only 500! Awesome!!

Conclusion after first few weeks in Finland

I’m sort of a person that will not be able to live happily in one place for very long. I’m actually surprised that I enjoyed Vancouver so long. I think that when we moved there the city was truly a great place. The first 5 of the 7 years I felt predominantly happy, and only lately my negative feelings towards the city have become more prevalent. Is this just due to my personality, or because of the actual decline in the livability of the city, I don’t know. Most likely it is due to both factors.

I doubt I would enjoy Finland for as long if we move here. One reason is that living here would not be a brand new experience. Probably we would make through the summer and the first winter just fine but the second winter might be too much; the novelty of rediscovering Finland would be certainly gone by then. Maybe the best case would be to move to some new place, but to a place that is closer to Finland. That way we would get the best of both worlds. And it would not hurt to have good job and decent pay in that new place ;-)

Well, I will be back to Vancouver for 2 weeks. Let’s see how I feel about the city after being away for a while. Probably I will be fed up the moment I attempt to drive there….

Tuli nyt blogattua tuo yo. laimea vuodatus, kun jotain materiaalia pitäis kait suoltaa tänne, mutta mikään ei oikein ole ottanut täällä vielä päähän (paitsi rahka). Ihmiset on täällä toki yleisesti vittumaisia ja happamia, mutta sehän tarkoittaa vaan että mä sovin tänne joukkoon erittäin hyvin!

Yöelämässä

Kaverilla oli tuparit viime viikolla, ja vieraiden joukossa oli paljon vanhoja tuttuja, mutta myös joitain uusia naamoja. Alkoholin virratessa keskustelu alkoi vapautua, ja ensimmäistä kertaa täällä olon aikana olo tuntui ajoittain todella ulkopuoliselta. Monet keskustelunaiheista, kuten tämän päivän Suomijulkkikset, tai kiihkeä väittely Inkoon jalkapalloseuran edesottamuksista, eivät nimittäin oikein meikäläiselle auenneet. Kaiken kaikkiaan bileet oli kuitenkin pätevät (kiitti Laura!) ja oli hauska nähdä ihmisiä, joihin ei ole tullut oltua yhteydessä moneen aikaan.

Siitä sitten illan pimetessä alettiin siirtyä kämpältä kohti Turkulaista yöelämää. Poikettiin ensin pikaisesti viskibaarissa, joka oli varsin kelpo paikka, ja sinne oltaisiin joudettu mun puolesta jäädäkin. Enemmistö halusi kuitenkin lähteä johonkin yöluolaan, joka sitten liian myöhään paljastuikin karaokemestaksi. Siinä vaiheessa olin että voi helevetin helvetti. Mua ei ole koskaan karaokehelvetit kiinnostanu, mutta tällä kertaa jouduin todella hillittemään itseni, etten vetäisi päätäni aivan täyteen. Oli nääs aika hirveetä kun umpikännissä olevat äijät kävi vuorotellen lavalla örisemässä joitain jeesuksenaikaisia suomihumppabiisejä juopuneella turkulaisaksentilla. Kävi siellä muutama muijakin välillä jotain mylvimässä, mutta ei se sitä tuskaa yhtään helpottanut. Yritin siinä sitten kiemurrella baarijakkaralla, tuskanhiki otsalla ja korvissa, ja katselin samalla monttu auki kavereitani jotka kaikki jorasivat menossa täysillä mukana. Tuli todellakin poikkeuksellisen vahvasti semmoinen olo, että ei perkele MÄ EN TODELLAKAAN KUULU TÄNNE!!!

Ens kerralla mua toivottavasti ainakin varoitetaan etukäteen, jotta voin ottaa kourallisen eareja mukaan sekä niiden päälle vielä Peltorin oranssit kuppisuojaimet!

Same in English: I had a very memorable experience last weekend. I had chance to listen bunch of local Average Joes singing in a local Karaoke club. Can there be anything more beautiful and fabulous in the world, than watching a drunk Finnish male on stage, barely able to stand up, and listen him to “sing” some old Finnish folk song seriously off-key?

Vancouver - nature still at your footstep???

Vancouver is being marketed to the people as one of the world’s most livable cities, as a place with nature at your footsteps, and as a place where it is possible to ski, golf and sail within one day. But for an average person, this is less of a reality now and will be even less true in the future.

Politicians’ desire is to increase the population of metro Vancouver by another 1 000 000 people in just few years. These people will be squeezed within the existing city boundaries by increasing the population density. This development will certainly benefit some key groups and industries (real estate, builders), but let’s think about how this will change things for the most people living here;

As the population density increases, more and more of the people will be squeezed into towers with tiny concrete cells, with a view to 50 similar concrete cells across the street. People can move around only within a 3-block radius by foot, since all the streets will be impassable due to permanent traffic jam - building one more skytrain line by 2020 will hardly alleviate this. The mountains and the wilderness that used to be close – making Vancouver special – will be further and further away. Just getting across the bridge that leads towards them will take hours. As more and more people move in, even the tiny concrete cells will become more expensive than a large house somewhere else, and thus more low income people will be displaced out on the streets. So, if you leave your tiny concrete cell and go for that little 3-block stroll, you can enjoy the views of concrete towers and streets lined with standstill cars and homeless beggars, instead of the ocean and mountains.

As I see it, quite soon, Vancouver will be more of a stress ridden, overcrowded hellhole than one of the worlds most livable cities.

Kotka – nature at your doorstep

Last weekend I spend in Kotka, my hometown. It is a small town by the Gulf of Finland, it has of 60 000 people and relies mostly on paper and forestry mills and harbor.

Somehow I never really have appreciated how beautiful the landscape there is – until now. Outdoor possibilities are numerous and the landscape is especially great for biking. There are number of nice bike paths, either on a dedicated bike lane or on quiet gravel roads. The archipelago and network of roads and bike routes makes possible to hop from island to island, and more great bike paths can be found along river Kymijoki, which flows through the town. There are few shallow hills on the way, and it is possible to admire numerous rapids on the way.

I never even thought that Kotka would somehow compare to Vancouver by any scale or measure, but during my visit there I made an important realization: most of these natural features found near Kotka are not “world class”, but the smaller scale of them makes it easier to access and enjoy them. You just need to step out of home or wherever you are, start walking/biking and within minutes you can get to a trailhead by a forest, or reach a bike path by waterfront or by the river. No need to drive by car some 50 miles first to access them, and no crowds.

Ps. Besides the natural wonders, one thing that also was strongly present during portions of my stay in Kotka, was the smell from the surrounding pulp & paper mills. If only there was a way to bottle the scent somehow. I could then spray it in my living room if I really start to miss my hometown =)

Finnish "delicacy"

Quark is the Finnish equivalent for the omnipresent cheddar cheese in Canada. In case you Finns do not know: quark is another form of milk that has gone seriously bad!!! Why on earth do you have to put that shit everywhere!!!???

Initial thoughts

Yepp. Few spent days in Finland, and after initial adjustments time to share some feelings.

Salo is a town of about 20000 people, and so far have I kind of dreaded of the idea of ever living there. I thought the place would simply be way too small after living so long in a big city like Vancouver. However, my first impression is that living here is far, far less stressful than in Vancouver. The life can be very simple and effortless here. Everything you need is close by. The commute to work takes only few minutes by car, and about 10 minutes by bike, and doing groceries and other daily errands is far easier than in Vancouver. Largely to this contributes the fact, that here the roads can actually be used for such a thing as transportation. If Salo starts to feel too small, it is possible to drive or take a train to Turku , 50km west or to Helsinki, 110km east, and it takes about same time (or less) than drive from Vancouver downtown to Surrey. Only major adjustment I have had to make so far is getting used to banks and other offices closing much earlier than back home, and to the fact that almost everything is closed on Sunday.

Sama suomeksi: Hemmetti. Tuntuu että kaikki täkäläiset kyttää. Kait se mun Kanadassa 7 vuotta muhinut pärstä näyttää joteskin erilaiselta...

It's Finland!

I have just moved to Salo, Finland for few months. I will write about the experiences of living here in this wildly popular (individual viewers: 3) blog.

First, the first groceries I did after settling in Salo. All the Finns living abroad will appreciate the significance of every item show in the picture (the rest of the world can ignore this =)

Vuosikatsaus 2007

Nyt mitataan vuotta 2007. Oliko se hyvä, vai oliko se huono. Tässä minun vastaukseni.

1. Mikä on keskiarvosanasi vuodelle 2007 (asteikolla 4-10)? 9

2. Mikä oli paras/parhaat kuukautesi? Tammi-Joulukuut oli aika hyvia

3. Oliko talvi tarpeeksi kylmä? Ei, en paassyt avantoon uimaan

4. Oliko kesä tarpeeksi lämmin? Tassa mielipiteeni kesasaasta:
5. Mikä oli paras saavutus vuonna 2007? Suomi havisi jaakiekon m-mestaruuden Kanadalle (eika kukaan kanadalainen noteerannut asiaa mitenkaan)

6. Mikä oli sinun paras hetkesi tänä vuonna? Kerran tyomatkalla sattui jopa kolmet vihreat liikennevalot perakkain

7. Mikä oli ikävää tässä vuodessa? Kaikkialle levittaytyvat rakennustyomaat. Vituttaa kun kaikki kadut on joko revitty auki tai taynna roinaa. Keskustasta pois paasee nykyaan parhaiten uimalla

8. Mikä ilahdutti sinua (nimeä yksi asia)? Porukoiden visiitti Vankkuun.

9. Mihin petyit? Paikallisiin jalankulkijoihin, autoilijana tuntuu välillä turhauttavalta liikkua kaupungilla. Jalankulkijat terrorisoivat kaikkia teita, liikennekuri on heilta täysin kateissa.

10. Mitä opit tänä vuonna? Vahan saksaa

11. Mitä tavoitteita asetat ensi vuodelle? Saksan opiskelut autolla ajaessa saa riittaa vahaksi aikaa, aion kokeilla espanjan opiskelua auto-menetelmalla

12. Mikä oli vuoden paras elokuva? Hot Fuzz

13. Mikä oli vuoden paras tv-sarja? Family Guy, The Office.

14. Mikä oli vuoden paras biisi? Ei taalla radiossa/TV:ssa soiteta kuin paskaa musiikkia.

15. Matkustitko vuonna 2007 ja missä? Ihan tarpeeksi, pitkin maailmaa. Salossa tuli kaytya.

16. Hankitko mitään uutta? XBoxin ja Guitar Hero 2:n

17. Jos voisit muuttaa jotain tästä vuodesta mitä se olisi? Kesasaan

18. Jos voisit toistaa ensi vuonna jotain tänä vuonna tehtyä, mitä se olisi? Jatkaa muovikitaran rampytysta

19. Mikä on paras tapa viettää uutta vuotta? Humalassa

20. Valatko tinaa? En