Support Antiwar.com / Telecommuting and fair housing / Romantic fragrance / A hidden…
No wife, no life. Indian proverb
Assume that the home office has 10 square meters. It is a small one, but bigger than most cubicles. The average price in the fair was about 3000 euros per square meter. Thus the home office costs about 30000 euros, which is about (or above) annual net salary of an average office clerk.
The average price of office space for a cubicle is maybe 500 euros a month, or even more. So, the more telecommuters, the more the employers saves, if they can convince/order employees to give up their personal cubicles in the office.
So, the clerk uses 30keuros of his money (plus interest) and enables the employer to save some 4000 euros a year. The employer is happy, of course, as the stock rises and options are worth something. The office clerk is basically screwed, forced to pay for the tools and equipment necessary for doing the work.
Unless employers start to share the savings caused by telecommuting with employees, telecommuting is not financially sensible. It may well be sensible emotionally, if telecommuter is more efficient than the car commuter and gets to spend more time with kids, pets, etc. Or just idling, moving the lawn, building one's house, or drinking with other telecommuters.
The question why we still need large companies is a good one. Most likely networks of independent professionals would be must more efficient and stable. See e.g. the book The future of work by some MIT-professor. Or read what Kallo Isokallio, former Nokia CEO, writes in today's Iltalehti.
If this weather (27C yesterday) and no rain coming this week (or having come for the last N weeks) is not due to the global warming, it is at least a cause for a local warning. The nature, trees most notably, cannot take the heat and drought.
Well, what would I get with my imaginary half million euros by buying a house. Quite a lot of space, about 170 sq meters or more. 2 living rooms with large screen TVs. A huge sauna with at least two showers and a toilet seat next to them. Another two-shower bathroom with another toilet seat, maybe behind a class wall. Usually two bedrooms (there are more showers than people living in the house). Sometimes, or quite often, the sauna is not in the building, but in a smaller sauna-building. A few terraces, very suitable for BBQs during the long Finnish winter. No places for bookshelves, but always a large fireplace.
Actually, it would not be too difficult to build those house with $250000 euros or less. I would do it by just cutting down on the bathroom sizes, not building the separate sauna building, installing a bit smaller (less fancy) kitchen equipment. That would do it.
Some smaller houses were more sensible, but not all. One has a bedroom, a kitchen, a living room and a sauna. All in different floors. Keeps one fit, I assume.
In all, very interesting trip. About Kauklahti, the suburb where the fair is, I have no other comment, but that it is a bit too far from the Academic bookstore. And from and decent restaurant.
Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs July to September 2006".
Support Antiwar.com
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One of the themes of the housing fare was telecommuting. Several apartments and houses had separate rooms for the home office. Does this development make any sense? Let us calculate.Assume that the home office has 10 square meters. It is a small one, but bigger than most cubicles. The average price in the fair was about 3000 euros per square meter. Thus the home office costs about 30000 euros, which is about (or above) annual net salary of an average office clerk.
The average price of office space for a cubicle is maybe 500 euros a month, or even more. So, the more telecommuters, the more the employers saves, if they can convince/order employees to give up their personal cubicles in the office.
So, the clerk uses 30keuros of his money (plus interest) and enables the employer to save some 4000 euros a year. The employer is happy, of course, as the stock rises and options are worth something. The office clerk is basically screwed, forced to pay for the tools and equipment necessary for doing the work.
Unless employers start to share the savings caused by telecommuting with employees, telecommuting is not financially sensible. It may well be sensible emotionally, if telecommuter is more efficient than the car commuter and gets to spend more time with kids, pets, etc. Or just idling, moving the lawn, building one's house, or drinking with other telecommuters.
The question why we still need large companies is a good one. Most likely networks of independent professionals would be must more efficient and stable. See e.g. the book The future of work by some MIT-professor. Or read what Kallo Isokallio, former Nokia CEO, writes in today's Iltalehti.
Romantic fragrance
It is nice to wake up in the center of the city and smell the smoke from burning birches. It reminds me of the countryside. Apparently, there are some large forest fires raging somewhere nearby, most probably in the western Russia. But there were quite many in southern Finland last weekend as well, some of them arsons.If this weather (27C yesterday) and no rain coming this week (or having come for the last N weeks) is not due to the global warming, it is at least a cause for a local warning. The nature, trees most notably, cannot take the heat and drought.
Sun 06-08-06
Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome. Samuel JohnssonA hidden need
Nivea has found a hidden need. To meet the need, Nivea has now introduced a new deodorant, which beautifies underarm skin. In the TV-ad, a man tells a woman, that the he likes her underarms more than anything else in her. I would say this is bizarre, if not downright perverse.Housing fair
We (S, Satu, I) visited the annual Finnish housing fair today. Not that we would be considering building or buying a house — property is still a nuisance — but just to check how $400000-euro detached houses look like. We also wanted to see the crowds, see their reactions, hear their comments.Well, what would I get with my imaginary half million euros by buying a house. Quite a lot of space, about 170 sq meters or more. 2 living rooms with large screen TVs. A huge sauna with at least two showers and a toilet seat next to them. Another two-shower bathroom with another toilet seat, maybe behind a class wall. Usually two bedrooms (there are more showers than people living in the house). Sometimes, or quite often, the sauna is not in the building, but in a smaller sauna-building. A few terraces, very suitable for BBQs during the long Finnish winter. No places for bookshelves, but always a large fireplace.
Actually, it would not be too difficult to build those house with $250000 euros or less. I would do it by just cutting down on the bathroom sizes, not building the separate sauna building, installing a bit smaller (less fancy) kitchen equipment. That would do it.
Some smaller houses were more sensible, but not all. One has a bedroom, a kitchen, a living room and a sauna. All in different floors. Keeps one fit, I assume.
In all, very interesting trip. About Kauklahti, the suburb where the fair is, I have no other comment, but that it is a bit too far from the Academic bookstore. And from and decent restaurant.
Indian food, wine, and sauna
The restaurant Poiju in Ruoholahti has a nice terrace by a canal. They serve Indian (north) food etc, but the best offer is chicken korma for two and a bottle of wine for 24 euros. It is a real bargain in Helsinki. The food is decent, wine drinkable Chilean. We spent a nice couple of hours, but of course bought another bottle of wine for 16 euros, thus falling in their trap, happily though. The restaurant is reachable by the number 8-tram from our home. I assume we will make the Indian owners richer by frequenting the place.Lazy Saturday
My Saturday was exceptionally lazy: reading military history at home, playing some pinball in the amusement part (Attack from Mars, 5.8 billion points), returning home, chatting, later meeting with Petri, Mila, Pekka and Mila's friends in Rytmi and Milenka. Once a month I need to take it easy, stay at home and then meet some friends for a few beers. Life is nice.Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs July to September 2006".
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