Public traffic on strike / Travel preparations / A quote / IP-telephony / Property markets

Public traffic on strike

The public workers of the main traffic company has gone on strike. They are against a plan, which would merge two companies owned by the City of Helsinki into one company, still owned 100% by the City of Helsinki. They claim, that after this merger and changing the legal status of the resulting company on inc, some big bad capitalist will come and kick all the employees out. I do not find their worries credible and most people (both my friends and in media) seem to be as puzzled as I am. This strike must have something to do with the coming communal elections in October.

The strike does not harm me personally. Weather is still good enough for cycling: 15C, overcast, rather calm. So, I cycled to the office. The traffic jam was a bit worse than usually, but I could not see any serious problems - most drivers behaved calmly. I like cycling, but sometimes I think that 11 km is too long a distance to commute daily by bicycle. It is not so fun always.

Travel preparations

I called the passport office in the police station and they told me that it is possible to get two passport at the same time. I need two because I need to have one all the time (I intend to travel a lot this autumn) and I need to give one to the US embassy, which may not return it right away. Other things to do still are:

• Get some money: grants, loans, etc
• Buy flight tickets to Boston and to Brazil
• Read the books
• Get the visa
• Arrange moving: send books by mail
• Figure out a way to pay the tuition to MIT
• Meet all friends - arrange a party ?
• Buy a computer (Mac)?
• Health check - dentist?

A quote

By Kalle Isokallio (with whom I do not agree too often):

"Suomalaiset poliitikot, ministeri etunenässä tuntuvat uskovan kiven kovaan siihen, että jos Jumala antaa viran, antaa hän myös sen hoitoon tarvittavan viisauden. Minä en moiseen usko. Eikä kannattaisi ministerienkään uskoa."

IP-telephony

Now that I have cable modem at home, I was also able to buy an IP-telephone. Olli recommended the services of Laajakaistapuhelin, and now I have ordered a phone, router, and connectivity from them.i At least our wifes can now call each other for free. Calling to USA is also only 11 cents per minute, which is good when I will move to Boston. If you now decide to buy IP-telephone from Laajakaistapuhelin, please tell that I have recommender them to you. I will get some money id you do so. This is the modern, male Tupperware!

Property markets

Discussion on whether another property bubble is about to burst does not prevent my friends from taking considerable mortgages and buying homes. Many do that alone. I wish I would be as daredevil as their are. Last weekend´s Taloussanomat run a front page story about property prices which are getting close to all time high. I started to wonder why the property prices do not go down as prices of all other durable goods go (compared to the quality, cf cars for example). Another thing is that old houses are as expensive as old ones: wear and tear does not show in their prices. This is strange and I am sure there is a really nasty conspiracy behind all this.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs from September to October 2004".