Diary Q3 2004

MattiKinnunenDiary3Q2004

See also MattiKinnunenDiary2Q2004
Send your comments to me!

THESE ARE MY OPINIONS! THESE ARE NOT OFFICIAL OPINIONS OF ANY ORGANIZATION. READ WITH CARE!

See also my public diary! It contains non-work-related topics.

I DO NOT UPDATE THIS DIARY ANYMORE

September

Week 37 13.9.-19.9

Monday 13th
- 9-10.30. Discussion with BettinaWolker on Traffic Testing, which is not an easy task to coordinate as she should.
  - there are, again, so many different boards working on this issues. TeroPeltola? has established a KPI and outage forum,which should, among other issues, define the KPIs for RNC (not MGW, of course), and "support development of RNC to best of its class" (sic!).
- 10.30-12.00 Office work. Rather good mood and many small things to do.

Week 37 6.9.-12.9

Friday 10th
- I gave a lecture about the characteristics of good requirements in the Friday-lectures series. See SeFridayLectures.
  - good discussion during the lecture.
- Nothing much more.
Thusday 9th
- Meeting about the product strategy. See MattiOnProductStrategy, which I wrote on Wednesday. It pays to have hangover - it frees the mind!

Some days are missing from here. Too bad!

August

Week 35 17.8.- 29.8.

Thursday 26th
- Autumn is here. I did not dare to cycle, since it is raining cats and dogs. I took bus instead. Finally, I even managed to get Travel Card.
- Long discussion about the state of the R&D and Nokia in general with MaunuHolma. Sari Baldauf is in HangzhouOffice right now. I hope Maunu has an opportunity to ask Sari for some ideas how Nokia Networks is going to make some really enhancements in quality. The current campaing, which states that "quality is our business" is a disgrace. It is so stupid! As if we could make better quality just by hanging out posters, when we are not even using the standard industrial practices. What a shame.
Wednesday 25th
- Serious cycling began: I cycled 75 minutes with 80% of the full speed this morning. Really refreshing and should help me in reaching my health goals. There are really nice places to cycle in Helsinki: I cycled by up the riverside of Vantaa, then through the Central park (forest) and via quiet suburban streets. Nice and rather safe.
  - I was totally wasted when I got back home in the evening. I am not as fit as I used to be when I was younger.
  - We walked aroung the Töölönlahti and checked a couple of menus along the way.
- The 2nd part of my IIP. Since I got into MIT, I do not have much time to work here anymore. This is due to my extensive holidays: maybe 50 days still this year. So, I will work until 15th of October and then take a 2-month holiday...
  - We removed a couple of tasks from my STIP.
- I will have a 25-minuted walk in the afternoon - just to get my brains to work again. One must not stay in the office building the whole day. It is not good for humans to do so.
- It seems that nobody is really trying to figure out the reasons behind the current WCDMA crises. It seems that most managers, even quite high ones, are happy if we can solve this and that crises. I do not understand such an attitude: it is clear that the current crises are due to some systematic problems and minunderstanding is our R&D. At least I think that the co-operation amoung NRC, System Technologies (Koskinen), RNC developement (and inside RNC development between IPA-framework and RNC SW application), standardisation (is anyone really following the standardisation e.g. the work SamiKekki? is doing - does anyone try to anticipate the coming R&D-challenges from the current standardisation etc), marketing, etc. It seems that all these stakeholders are doing their own duties in more or less isolation from the others. This is not good, this is not even acceptable.
  - Then we have our own problems with methodologies, management practices, misconstructed organization, excessive amount of this-and-that managers, non-enough-competent developers (so called competence development is a joke here) etc. But I have written so much about these issues, tried to make them better for so long and against so much irrational resistance, that now I am about to give up, move to MIT and continue thinking about R&D and large-scale product development from an academic point of view.
- I am suffering from acute want of competent, enthusiastic, and honest discussion partners. I am so lonely here. I really miss Maunu and Reijo. Of course, there are still others with whom it is always a pleasure and productive to talk. But most of them are so busy with current crises and so down-throdden by the past, that having them around is not so great a blessing it would be in some other situation.
- I receive about 2 work related emails per day. Really quiet here: I am now convinced that my contribution to this company is not so much needed anymore. It may well be, that my special talents are in creating totally new products in great teams. I am not so good in doing simple things alone.
Tuesday 24th
- A romours has it as follows: the HR are career map development project intended to get rid of the "chief engineer"-jobtitles. Reason: engineers are not leading anything, managers are those who lead. Incredible but so telling attitude in this company. Anyway, some parts of Nokia R&D were so much agains this idea that the current career map still includes "chief engineer" and the like. The career map is a bit strange: it seems that "chief engineer" is more demanding than "program manager". See also the Word-attachment: it has the titles in columns, but the headings of the colums are not there. I think the heading are the job grades (JG), which would indicate that the "chief architect" has JG 12, which is the same as senior program manager has. Strange.
- I cycled to work and back to home. Nice weather still.
- The doctor measured my blood pressure, which was quite high. So, I panicked and bought a bloodpressure meter OMRON M4 for my personal use at home. Incredibly, my blood pressure was considerably lower on Wednesday morning. I tried to get rid of all stress, think nice thoughts and eat only a little. I think I will get my bloodpressure under control by excercising, drinking less, and eating less. I also think I should lose more than 10kg. Let´s see...
- I visited the local gyms in Kallio. I think I will start to regular the Silver Gym. It costs something, but I have found that I just cannot use the local gym in the Säterinportti office block. I need to get away from the office as soon as possible in the evening.
Monday 23rd
- I cycled to and from work. Really nice weather since I managed to escape the thunderstorm in the evening.
- I was hacking in my mind with the performance modelling tool. It is quite well developed already.
- I held a peripathetic walking meeting with MaunuHolma. I called him and walked around the nearby bushes and forests while talking. It is always nice to talk to someone, who has though about large scale product development a lot.
- I cooked Italian risotto for the first time since coming back from China. I used some preserved squids, which made the risotto really good and exotic. I think I will cook this risotto to some selected friends too. It is a bit too excotic for those who do not love squid, but what the heck: they must stay away!

Week 34 16.8.- 22.8.

Sunday 22nd
- My godson´s 2-year birthday party: too many people and so many kids. I escape to the balcony.
- I got to lend a book about the architectural wonders of Boston. Nice buildings there - especially I would like to stay in the Bakers-house designed by Alvar Aalto.
- No excercise.
Saturday 21st
- I spent the morning as many others did by watching the Olympic Games at TV. Sport is rather entertaining and provides also an excellent excuse for not doing something more productive.
- I decided to check how the poor people shop and walked to the Lidl-supermarket in Pasila. It takes 20 minutes one-way, so in case of acute poorness I can still managed. I did not find the shop good: most of the groceries were not so delicious looking. The shop itself was not very pleasant and the guards were intrusive and ugly. I assume I will never go to Lidl-again. Siwa and Valintatalo, which are near my home are good and cheap enough for me. And the shopping-hall and open-air markets are not far away either.
- I played some pinball in Linnanmäki. I got 2 replays (6 total). Not bad.
- In the evening, we were invited to Swedish-Finnish greyfish party at Tero Norkolas. The greyfish were good (Chinese) and all the drinks were too many, but somehow, with unhuman willpower, I managed to stay rather sober until 1 am. After that I let go and was a bit more drunk at home at 3 am. Nice party: 10 guest, one of which is a professor of biology and really civilized person. Other were not uncivilized either.
Friday 20th
- It is still warm. I took bus to Pajamäki and walked from there to the office. It takes 32 minutes. In Perkkaa one can only see mothers, babies, and dogs. All men are missing. Maybe they are here in Säterinportti hacking away...
- I started to write PerformanceEvaluationToolStrategyTask. I assume it is now time even for me to start doing something real here. I got my salary (net about 3100 euros) today. I will have a beer or two to celebrate it today.
- No news from MIT. They have sent a package to me, but I have not received it. I am getting inpatient.
Thursday 19th
- Sirkku´s birthday: we celebrated by having Thaifood at dinner and watching "Fahrenheit 9/11" in Bristol. Really good movie, but I knew most of the things already: most of them are in Paul Krugman´s and Chomsky´s recent books, which I read in China.
- Nothing specific at work. Just trying to get something done and thinking about product development. It is so quiet here: I just sit here all alone and the others somewhere are taking care of acute crisis. I think this is so nice.
- Cycled to work.
Wednesday 18th
- Cycled to work. Nothing specific: a meeting on effort estimation in architecture work. We should be better at it, but I do not know how.
- Sirkku´s relatives visited us in the evening (and I missed a concert by Pelle Miljoona). Some wine.
Tuesday 17th
- I visited TeroTaskila?, JariIsokangas?, and SinikkaSarkkinen? in Tampere. Now I know which kind of tools they would like to have.
- I enjoyed free time with my friend Kössi by the rapid with a few beers. We also had dinner at Knossos. Great food there.
- I travelled by train to Tampere. From Helsinki I took the Pendolino, 1st class. It was not worth the price.
Monday 16th
- I walked from Mäkkylä. Nothing specific at work. In the evening I travelled to Tampere and spent the evening with my mother. She is a bit sad because I will move to USA (i.e. abroad).

Week 33 9.8.-15.8.

Sunday 15th
- Idling at home for most of the day: wathing Formula 1 and Olympics, fixing bikes, sleeping and reading "Software craftmanship".
- Sushi-dinner at Kabuki with OlliFinni? and his family (and Sirkku, of course). Excellent, not bad at all and not even too expensive, either.
Saturday 14th
- Mostly idling at home.
- I walked to the Akateeminen and bought the new Foreign Affairs, which had some good articles about China. I read them in Cafe Engel.
Some missing notes here...
Monday 9th
- Still happy - even more than before.
- Sun shines and 23C.
- OlliFinni? gave me and my book a lift to the office. Now my library is here. Check it and learn something new!
- Installing Cradle tooks some time, but now it is running in my computer (or so I think). There are some manuals for me to read before start hacking away with Cradle. It seems to be a good tool.

Week 32 2.8.-8.8.

Sunday 8th
- Unpacking continue from 11am to 7pm, but then the home was ready and we were able to leave to Sea Horse to meet some friends from Boston, USA.
- It is nice to meet some persons from Boston. Milton has even Bsc from MIT. He seems to have similar values as I do.
- After enjoying the delicious fried Baltic herrings, we returned to our home (5 persons) and continued celebrations with some nice Prosecco from Italy.
Saturday 7th
- Slowly, slowly, but still so happy, exalted even, I got out of bed.
- Hard day: moving friends stuff from old home to the new one from noon to 4pm and then drinking his beers. Later, at home we managed to continue to unpack our stuff. It started to look quite desperate. But happiness helped here too.
- Sunny, 27C, sweating like a big pig.
Friday 6th
- I met an old couple from San Francisco this morning. They had flown from SF to Zurich (Switzerland) via Germany, Check, Hungary, Austria and Baltic states (in some order, check the map) to Helsinki, Finland. They were on the way to the airport. I cycled with them to the airport. Nice couple, really skinny and brown after cycling so much.
- I was late from my IIP - not very clever thing to do. But MikaLehmusto? had invented good incentive targets for me. So, now I know what I should do in order to get some bonus-money. Incredibly, this seems to have something to do with the good of the products (RNC, MGW, IPA).
- So, I came late and stayed lated. At 8 pm I got this email

Dear  Mr. Kinnunen,

Congratulations!  After careful consideration of your admissions package, we are pleased to extend to you 
an offer of admission to the master's degree program in System Design and Management (SDM) in January, 2005.  
The SDM program is rigorous and academically challenging, and your application indicates 
that you are capable of meeting that challenge.

We believe that the SDM program offers an outstanding opportunity for personal and professional growth, 
and we look forward to having you join our program.  We are selecting our new class with care, 
taking into consideration the many elements that comprise an engineering leader.  
Each new admit has great potential, not only as a contributor to the SDM program, but also as a future leader.

On behalf of the faculty of the School of Engineering and the Sloan School of Management at MIT 
that participate in the SDM Program, and our colleagues in the Program Office, 
we extend our congratulations on your achievement. 

Once more, congratulations.

Sincerely,
Dennis P. Mahoney
Director, System Design & Management Program

- which made me so happy. I started dancing wildly around the office - I do not think there were anyone else here at that late moment.
- Check: http://lfmsdm.mit.edu/sdm/ for more infomarmation.
- Celebration continued until 2 am: first some real Champagne at home (with Sirkku, Li and AaroKoskinen?) and then some beer etc in Rytmi.
- Should I start to support Bush, because his 2nd term would certainly crash the US-dollar (all my savings are in Euros...)
Thursday 5th
- Cycling to the office - some 22C, sun. 34 minutes.
- Discussion on whether NRC is suitable for making some tools is still ongoing.
- I spent the day reading some material, installing Cradle and discussing.
- The new CD by www.sonicyouth.com Sonic Youth? is rather nice.
- In the evening idling at home - we managed to unpack some stuff.
Wednesday 4th
- The first CA-meeting. Nice people with extensive experience - now I feel young, in China I always felt so old. Excellent!
- A meeting on one "Performance SOP". It seems that I should write another version of my "Designer´s guide to performance in IPA" from 2001. Why not?
- I was too tired to do anything productive in the evening. I managed, however, to read some 50 pages of "Hullu työtä tekee" and the newest Economist. So the who evening was not in vain, I assume.
- I tested the web-browser in my mobile phone 6820a. It is next to useless: slow, the screen is too small, and the phone crashes too often. I would never buy/use this phone with my own money.
- Long discussion with MaunuHolma on documentation etc.
- I took train to the office.
Tuesday 3rd
- I cycled to the office - it is so much fun, 23C and sun shining.
- The local radio-shop in Porthaninkatu is the place to get electronics fixed. Really nice old men working there. Reasonable prices.
- We received our things from China. It took exactly 2 months to get them. Now our home is full of boxes. We have no places to put all the things we now have. Too bad. At least we have to buy some new book-selves.
- I got 3 new books today:
  - Discovering Your Career in Business
  - The 12 Bad Habits That Hold Good People Back
  - "Hullu työtä tekee" by Juhani Seppänen
- I got the www.iht.com Internation Herald Tribune? for the first time delivered straight to my home. It is one day old, but still it relieves my anxiety - I feel more like member of the world community. www.helsinginsanomat.fi HS? is so local - but I do subscribe to it too. Other magazines I substribe to are: Economist, New Internationalist, Harward International review, and maybe some other. I do not exactly remember. Anyway, the more one reads, the better persons one becomes.
- We had the traditional "Tiistaitapaaminen" ("Tuesday meeting") in Sea Horse, which one of the best places to have a dinner in Helsinki. The food is really traditional and fresh etc. There were 11 friends this time - some came all the way from Joensuu.
  - Maybe some pints too much...
Monday 2nd
- Rather nice now that most Nokians are back here in the office. Nice to meet my new workmates and even my boss! A boss makes one´s day.
- Some emailing about "RNC tool strategy".
- Some work on the seating plan.
- Reading some articles.
- Tired.
- Sun shines.
- I stayed in the office way too late leaving only after 6pm. Almost noboby works here after 4.30 pm.
- I found a new route to home: bus 205 to Kamppi and from there by metro. It took 50 minutes (including shopping some food).
- One speedy jeans guy tried to enter our house - I had to use the back door. This is how living is Kallio is like.

July

Week 31 26.7.-1.8.

Sunday 1st
- We visited the Church of 3 crosses by Alvar Aalto in Vuoksenniska. Marvellous building.
- Back in Helsinki vary late.
Saturday 31st
- My birthday. I am now 36-years old. It is rather much. I am getting old, but not tired.
- Sirkku gave me a book about Stalin. I was and still am so happy about the book. I can hardly wait reading it. Maybe I should take a weeks vacation just to read it - but only after I receive my other books from China - I need some reference material.
- We drove to Joutseno to meet OlliFinni? and his family. Olli is a master cook and we ate some delicious smoked and fried fish. Some beer too!
- Again, we stayed up quite, too late.
Friday 30th
- The workshop in the morning.
- We rented a Smart and drove to Valkeala. The Smart Forfour is really nice car. If I would buy a car, I would buy it.
- Salmon-suop etc in Valkeala.
Thursday 29th
- It was still raining, even worse than on Wed. I tooks train to office.
- I worked on MattiOnProblemSolving (see also HzSeMinutes2004x07x30xTaskStartingNotKnowingWs).
- I joined (with my own money) INCOSE and read their material. I also started SeLibrary?, which I hope will become quite popular later.
- In the evening I read INCOSE material at home.
Wednesday 28th
- Rain, 14C, thunder. I took train to the office.
- In the evening we visited Mr Tero Norkola, a literary agent or something. He is also a decent cook and we had nice squid etc. Some drinks too much and definitely too late. Chaos.
Tuesday 27th
- Sunshine, about 23C when I cycled to the office after 8.30 am.
- Only 105.5 kg. Strange.
- I went to the gym for the first time since I broke my shoulder in China. Now the shoulder is OK but my level of fitness is not OK. Getting better, though.
- I have managed to sell my extra (old) bicycles and my extra mirrow.
- I managed to install and use XNA in/on my Zaurus.
- The MIT-interview went well in the late evening. I am quite confident that they will accept my application. Pat Hale, the interview (a director there), said that my ideas and motivation are exactly in line with the whole idea of SDM@MIT. We also discussed at lenght on military history and how knowing the history helps also in business. Some worrying issues: it seems that I really must brush up my mathematical skill before going to MIT. This will be a tought autumn after all.
- We had a couple of beers in Bullman restaurant with Päivi Nikkilä, a radio journalist. Some nasty gossipping!
Monday 26th
- Still sunshine. So, I cycled some 50 minutes. I have already lost 2 kg. Not bad. Now only 106kg - I still have opinions...
- Others are returning to office.
- SDM@MIT wants to interview me. Excellent. I am excited. The interview will be tomorrow, on Tuesday. The interviewer will be Pat Hale.
- In the morning I chatted with JyrkiInnanen, TapioPehkonen, JouniSaukko? and Heikki Koskinen.
- In the afternoon I chatted (at least) with Matti Palo, Kisu Lagus, Eero Kauria, Sami Tilander etc. Fun to have other people here too. Oh, I almost forgot Tero Peltola.
- Funny how fast one can sell stuff in the net. I posted an ad about one large mirrow and got first reply in 2 minutes. Another ad about 2 bicycles got 4 replies in 2 hours. Maybe the low price has something to do with this. I like to give my unnecessary stuff away with just nominal prices.
- The new Sonic Youth DVD rocks almost too much. I get goosepimples when listening to it. No, I am not watching so much during working hours.
- It is time to leave the office and cycle some 50 minutes. Really nice weather today.
- Nothing much at home in the evening. I read some books and Suomen Kuvalehti. Again pasta for dinner.

Week 30 19.7.-25.7.

Sunday 25th
- We borrowed a van and brought some stuff from Tampere to Helsink with my brother. Sun was shining.
- In the evening, I read Harward International review (an interview with Paul Krugman), The American Heritage of Invention and technology (interesting article about WWII D-DAY technology), Helsingin sanomat (poor newspaper, I will subscribe to International Herald Tribune instead) etc.
Saturday 24th
- Sailing trip to Porvoo by motorship King (www.royalline.fi). The Helsinki archipelago is nicer than I have imagined. In Porvoo, we had coffee and drank a bottle of sparkling wine by the riverside. Really nice. On the way back the sun was shining and I got sunburnt.
- I took the 1830 Pendolino to Tampere. It takes only 87 minutes. Nice. Markku picked me up from the station and we went to his garage to have a beer and talk bullshit, which is fun thing to do, sometimes.
Friday 23nd
- I continued planning my work for the fall period. It is progressing well. I am really looking for having some workmates here and really begin working.
- It was raining in the afternoon when I cycled home.
- We visited the Diacor lab in the morning.
- In the evening, I fixed Sirkku´s bicycle, which actually was not even broken. The front tyre was somehow misplace. I have never seen such thing to happnen earlier.
- I intended to take the tram and ride around Helsinki late in the evening, but somehow I turned into a couch potatoe and could not leave home even for a short trip.
Thursday 22nd
- I visited the nurse. She said that (after 1.5 years in China) I seems to be OK except that a) I am too fat (I knew it) and b) my blood pressure is too high (again). The remedies are trivial: less food, more exercise, less alcohol and less stress. Let's try that for some months and see if it helps. I should lose at least some 13 kg, preferable some 20kg. Not too easy, but after losing 20kg I would as light as I was when joining Nokia back in 1997. Working in Nokia is making me fat. Or is it just working?
- Twiki was broker again. Now it is not.
Wednesday 21st
- I cycled to the office. Nice weather, about 20C, sunny.
- Aggio-sport has moved away from Haaga. I cannot find their store anywhere. Too bad, because I need nyw cycling shorts and shoes.
- Long discussions with MaunuHolma.
- This Twiki does not work properly after some reconfiguration of the server atmweb. I fixed some problems, but some remain still.
  - It seems that Twiki is too vulnerable to some changes in the environment. Luckily the problems are easy to fix.
- I stayed in the office until 6pm as I wanted to see how Tour de France, stage 16 turned out. Lance won, surprise?
- Sirkku and her sister were selling some old things in the Hietalahti flea market. The things were not so good, but they did manage to break even.
- Normal pasta-dinner, an English drama from TV and some books. Normal evening.
Tuesday 20th
- Migraine, I stayed at home. I got better in the afternoon, so I did some new things
  - I vacuum-cleaned our flat. It takes only 10 minutes, so I think Sirkku was right when she insisted not to buy a Trilibyte.
  - I also visited the public library (15 metres from our home) for the firts time in years. I bought a new library card and borrowed a few books. I even managed to read Veren Vimma by Leena Lehtolainen. It was more or less waste of time - I have read much better crime books earlier. Leena is getting better, though. This books is much better than her first one.
- New potatoes for dinner. Really Finnish.
Monday 19th
- I bought a new bike from Velosport. The bike was not too cheap but it feels good!
  - The new gear/axis-system has two rubber-cushions, which make some noise when I drive. Strange. Even lubricating them does not help.
- We had some pasta for dinner. It is rather nice to cook.
- I read "Power and womanhood" by Yrsa Stenius in Finnish. It is an important book to read for anyone.

Week 29 12.7.-18.7.

Sunday 18th
- Idling at home. Later we visited Linnanmäki again and ate pizzas for dinner in Manala. The pizzas were terrible. Do not go to Manala for pizzas.
Saturday 17th
- I took it extremely easy until 4 pm.
- I visited the surroundings of Tuska-festivaali. There I could see some nice Gothic-youngsters and feel myself so old and wasted.
- I bought two books: an anthology of Joseph Brodsky and a book on mathematics and stock markets.
- We visited Mikael and his family in the evening in Tapanila. Nice evening.
Friday 16th
- Nothing worth mentioning at work. Still waiting for something to turn up and light my motivation. It will come, soon, I am sure.
- I went to the Linnanmäki amusement park to play some pinball. My current favourite is Gofers. It is quite easy one to play, but it requires fast reflexes and total concentration.
- In the evening I went to see my friend in Kuusiluoto island. It is nice place - a piece of pure nature in the middle of Helsinki. We grilled some food and had a few beers there. There are also some nice sheep there - they are really friendly towards anyone who has food to offer.
  - Some Russian men were fishing by the bay in the middle of the night. They said "Kuha, hjyva".
Thursday 15th
- 20C, mostly sunny
- It is still hard for me to really start working here in Helsinki. I came to work, sent a letter to the Copenhagen police station (they have my mobile phone there and I want them to send it back to me; it is my 4th phone within one year...), read "3G training material" and were thinking about "RNC tools strategy" as a part of more general strategy of developing systems like RNC and MGW.
- No lunch today, just a couple of sandwiches.
- I know a way to crash Opera and the whole Windows 2000 Professional. Go to the page http://aikataulut.ytv.fi/reittiopas/fi/line/?line=50&type=1 and click the blue point next to text "Sörnäinen". It will crash your computer. Too bad!
- From my office window I can only see trees (a forest) and clouds. It is hard to believe that I am really looking at the 2nd biggest city in Finland. Looks too much like countryside to me.
  - I walked from Pajamäki to Säterinportti (I took the bus 50 from Sörnäinen to Pajamäki. This seems to be the most convinient way of getting to the office withour cycling). It took some 35 minutes and I saw about 3 other persons during the whole time. This place is too dead for me. Good thing is that I can read books while walking, which was not so easy in China. Today I was reading a crime novel by Liza Marklund.
Wednesday 14th
- Nothing special at the office today.
- I am still trying out different ways of getting to the office. Today I took the tram and train to Leppävaara and then bus 23 to Säterinportti. Not fun at all.
- I visited Aaro Koskinen in Hiomotie 30. We went to the centre of Helsinki and had a couple (really, just 2) pints. I do not know the most hip-places anymore, but luckily Aaro does.
- The furniture shop had delivered out sofa. Now we have already beds, sofa and one table (with 3 chairs) at home. We have also managed to put all the books on the shelves, so our place starts to look like a home.
- I cooked some pasta for dinner. I have to start cooking with pasta - it is about 1.5. years since I have had to cook myself...
Tuesday 13th
- Today I took tram and train to Mäkkylä and walked from there to the office. It takes 22 minutes to walk from Mäkkylä, which makes it a decent morning walk for a fat guy like me.
- Nothing special at work. Reading, planning. I worked on the floor plan for out next office in C5.
- I went to the grocery shop for the first time since coming back from China (and of course I did not visit them too often in China either). I found it surprisingly easy to buy something to eat and even something for cooking. It all cost 37 euros, which I consider cheap. I may be mistaken here.
- Wine is cheap here. I bought a bottle of Italian Prosecco for 6 euros. We drank it almost too fast.
Monday 12th
- First real working day here in Finland. I took it easy, tried to get used to the view from my new office and trying to catch up emails etc. Everyone else is on vacation, which makes me feel lonely here in the office all alone. I do not like this kind of solitude - I need to be in a group, I need to discuss with someone. It is rather hard for me to work alone. I cannot help it at all.
- I walk to and from Mäkkylä station. I also brought my new tax card to payroll service in Mäkkylä. Now I only (!) have to pay some 30% tax...
- We bought a new sofa. It took 2 minutes.
- At home we were arranging our books and other stuff. Petri Griinari visited us.

Week 28 5.7.-11.7.

Friday 9th to Sunday 11th * Moving to Porthaninkatu, Kallio*
- On Friday:
  - Sirkku and others continued to paint and decorate our new home. It was in terrible shape when we got it. There we dozens of holes in the walls and the whole flat was dirty.
  - I visited the Helsinki Tax Office and one barbershop near our home.
  - At 2pm, I got the truck and started to drive to Tampere. It took almost 3 hours to drive there, because the truck was too old. I tried to listen to radio, but both the radio show hosts and the music they played were so bad that I had to mostly listen to the engine. Is it so that the Finnish radio shows are bad or is it just because I understand the language?
  - We (Markku, Ikonen and Japi) moved all boxes from my mother´s garage to the truck in 1.5 hours. It was surprisingly easy. We also enjoyed the nice weather and some beers too.
  - And then we had two pint in the local pub Patarouva (queen of spades).
- On Saturday:
  - Early morning and straight back to Helsinki by the truck. It took only 2 hours to drive back to Helsinki. I was speeding most of the time.
  - Again, it was easy task to carry the boxes from the truck to our home (me, Markku, Masse, Jussi, and Sirkku). 2 hours.
  - The guys left. We took the truck, drove to Sirkku´s sister´s place and then to Ikea. I do hate Ikea, I always get bored and anxious there. We did manage to buy something small, anyway.
  - We called it a day and went to our temporary flat in Tehtaankatu. It is called "Ulla". See http://www.kotivisio.fi/index2.html. (BTW: this Stadihome-system is excellent. Cheaper than a hotel and nice flats!).
- On Sunday:
  - Sight-seeing by truck. We had morning coffee (and delicious cake) in Tamminiementien kahvila.
  - We managed to get our kitchen and bedroom OK. It was time to call this flat home....

Week 27 28.6.-4.7.

Monday 28th

Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = MattiKinnunen

-- MattiKinnunen - 07 Oct 2004

Topic MattiKinnunenDiary3Q2004 . { Edit | Attach | Ref-By | Printable | Diffs | r1.20 | > | r1.19 | > | r1.18 | > | r1.17 | More }

Revision r1.20 - 07 Oct 2004 - 11:23 GMT - MattiKinnunen Parents: TWikiUsers > MattiKinnunen	Copyright © 1999-2003 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors. Ideas, requests, problems regarding DSA? Send feedback

Viewer:Main.TWikiGuest

Hae tästä blogista

Mane