Some impressions & observations / What is political? / Enjoy your meal! / Scary

Renewal becomes impossible if one supposes things to be constant that are not — safety, for example, or money or power. James Baldwin

Some impressions & observations

Some local fat people were wobbling and blocking my way in the local mall. I said "anteeksi" (translates as "sorry" &mdash there is no "excuse me" in Finnish) and they gave way. Apparently saying "anteeksi" is quite uncommon, as they started to chat about me saying "anteeksi".
Streets are quiet, very much like in Cambridge. Fewer and smaller cars though. No salt on the sidewalks, but lot of sand.
The best Finnish bookstore, Akateeminen kirjakauppa, now has a liquor store in its basement. Quite a combination. I bought a bottle of port wine and no books.

What is political?

Oona Juutinen writes about her life in Amsterdam in the newest issue of Voima-magazine, a local free leftist voice of weltschmerz. She has been squatting houses and claims that squatting houses is political action. It sure is. The most common justification for squatting is that empty houses are wasting resources. In other words, resource efficiency justifies squatting. It is funny how leftist squatters use the same arguments as their opponents. The leftists are for efficiency when squatting, but against it when arranging business or government. They really try to have it both ways.

Enjoy your meal!

According to some research, if one enjoys (relishes) one's meal, one gets up to 50 percent more nutrients from it. See Harriet Brown's op-ed Go with your gut in NY Times yesterday. I agree, one should take time to eat one's meal in no hurry. And one definitely should not talk about work/business over meal. Instead, I would like to follow these guidelines for dining etiquette.

The idea for lunch is to get to know your [business] partner as a person. Unless it is unavoidable, you should only talk business at the end of the meal when the coffee arrives. If you need to pack in more business conversation, suggest meeting at the office for half an hour or so before going on to lunch [rather than afterwards]. Conversation during the meal can be very wide ranging and personal.

It is a great pity and cultural loss, that the current business culture value being in a hurry. Most professionals do not have a decent (half an hour) for having lunch in peace. No wonder they get stress and ulcers. In USA, this self-induced hurry has been taken to extremes: they do not have time to even have a coffee without running here and there at the same time. Poor souls.
Well, it is now time time to go the the market hall to buy some fish for the risotto I am going to prepare at 1pm.

Scary

I woke up in the dark of the night. For the first minute, I had no idea where I was. I always happens when I fly over many time zones. It is really scary. Usually it happens only once, as I learn fast.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs January to February 2006".