Expat life...

Extraordinary Finnish design

admin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:33:58 +0000

“I was wrong” – Social Distortion – Live at the Roxy

admin — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:14:41 +0000

Here I am sitting in the library trying to finalize our group paper or International Bizz. Work + iTunes = procrastination. I was browsing another iTunes shared library named “lammaskoira” when I ran across this song. This album used to be in my truck’s CD player almost nonstop 10 years ago. (I feel old) Sums up how I’ve been feeling this year.

Well, when I was younger, I was so full of fear
I hid behind anger, held back the tears
It was me against the world, I was sure that I’d win
But the world fought back, punished me for my sins
I felt so alone, so insecure,
I blamed you instead and made sure I was heard
And they tried to warn me of my evil ways
But I couldn’t hear what they had to say

I was wrong, self destruction’s got me again
I was wrong, I realized now that I was wrong

And I think about my loves, well I’ve had a few
I’m sorry that I hurt them, did I hurt you too?
I took what I wanted, put my heart on the shelf
But, how can you love when you don’t love yourself?
It was me against the world, I was sure that I’d win
But the world fought back, punished me for my sins
And they tried to warn me of my evil ways
But I couldn’t hear what they had to say

I was wrong, self destruction’s got me again
I was wrong, I realized now that I was wrong
I was wrong Ya!
I was wrong

Well I grew up fast, I grew up hard
something was wrong from the very start
I was fighting everybody, I was fighting everything
but the only one that I hurt was me
I got “society’s” blood running down my face,
Somebody help me get outta this place
How could someone’s bad luck last so long?
until I realized that I was wrong
(Guitar Solo)

I was wrong, self destruction’s got me again
I was wrong, I realized now that I was wrong,
I was wrong, self destruction’s got me again
I was wrong, the only one that I hurt was me,
I was wrong

YouTube

light and dark…

admin — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:22:19 +0000

I have lived in Oulu for almost a year now. Yet, I still haven’t begun to get used to the stark contrast between light and dark. I arrived in Oulu on the 3rd of January. The sun would rise somewhere between 10-10:30 and set around 2. In other words, you can briefly see the sun trying to peak over the tree tops before immediately sinking below the horizon. If you have class all day then you wont see the sun at all; its almost like perpetual darkness. After the shortest day of the year on Dec 20th the days begin to get longer by 6 minutes. By June, the day would last from about 2 AM to 12AM! 22 hours of sunlight! Unless you get some hotel curtains you can forget about sleep. I was getting on average about 5-6 hours sleep a night during the summer. I should have bought a mask. This time of year is referred to as the “Dark Time” due to the absence of snow to reflect light.

Cool to be an American again?

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:59:36 +0000

A friend of mine sent a link to an article discussing how American expatriates feel now that Obama is our new President. I went to lunch at the University yesterday and was asked by serveral people how I felt about the results. “Releived and hopeful”. I had a nightmare that I would wake up to McSame being head of state. This election has restored my faith in American again. The administration of past eight years has left me feeling somewhat disparaged as an expat. I agree that I feel less aprehensive when telling someone where I’m from. I don’t feel like I have to apologize for Washington anymore. Obama represents a critical realignment of America’s values and beliefs.

“Our destiny is shared and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.” – Barack Obama

The Finnish man’s washing machine

admin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:04:20 +0000

Simple.

One large power button.

Five wash settings.

Space saving.

Efficient.

How to bake Pulla

admin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:42:31 +0000

Finnish Sauna

admin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:34:29 +0000

The Finnish Sauna tradition dates back over 2000 years ago and is heavily ingrained in Finnish culture. “Sauna culture” = naked. Would you wear your clothes in a bathtub? The sauna symbolizes birth, life, health, cleanliness, and goodfortune. Its the first room to be constructed when building a new home. It was often used for drying salmon, smoking meat, child birth, hygene (source of warm water), virility, and prevention or treatment of the common cold. Sauna was considered magic and you musn’t swear inside. Traditionally heated with wood, heavily insulated, generally heated to 70º – 80º C.

Wikipedia: Sauna

Water is thrown on the hot stones topping the kiuas, a special stove used to warm up the sauna. This produces steam, known as löyly, which makes the sauna feel even hotter. Occasionally one uses leafy, fragrant boughs of silver birch to gently beat oneself.

The key is just enough steam that you feel comfortable. Take frequent cool down breaks depending on how you feel. A visit to the sauna is very personal. Use it to relax, chat and rid yourself of stress. Use it anytime of day.

Remote access from Finland

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:26:22 +0000

Ok, so this is one of my more geeky posts. If you have a mac at home that you would like to access while abroad here’s how to set it up for remote access via VNC “screensharing” and SSH “secure shell connection”.

“Back to my mac”
If you have a “.mac” or “mobileFail” oops I meant “mobileme” account, its possible that your host machine (the one you are leaving behind at home) still needs some configuration to work with “back to my mac”. I wont be explaining how to use “back to my mac”. Read apple’s .pdf for more information.

In my case, the powerbook left behind was connected to a small home network and I wasn’t about to pay $99 for “back to my mac” service.

Step 1

Create an easy to remember URL adress for your orphaned mac. Generally, residential broadband accounts are assigned a dynamic IP address. Dynamic means it changes from time to time. Dynamic IP’s are no good if you want to connect remotely. You can of course pay more for a static IP address but that isn’t necessary. The solution is to use a dynamic DNS service like dyndns.org. Setup an account. Make note of your new URL, username and pass.

Step 2

Two options. Now that our DNS service is setup we have to somehow update the DNS service with the dynamic IP address of your mac at home. How?

Dyndns.org has a OSX client you can download and install on the home mac. Make sure this application is configured to “open at login” by choosing this option from a “click and hold” on its dock icon. Setup is straighforward, input your URL from step one along with username and pass.

The cool way. If you hacked your router with DD-WRT firmware. It has a dynamic dns client built in. Just input your URL from step one with user and pass. I prefer to use this setup. So long as you didn’t flash your router’s firmware with one of DD-WRT’s nightly builds; your router’s uptime should be around 99%. Some routers have this functionality out of the box. Now, your router is updating your personal DNS whenever your home ISP decides to change the IP address.

Step 3

Assign the mac you want to access remotely a static IP address. This part is easy. Go to System Preferences > Network > Airport or Ethernet (Depending on how your mac is connected to the local network) > Advanced… > TCP/IP then configure IPv4: using DHCP with manual address. You can use the same IP its already using but now it wont change if the computer or network is restarted.

Step 4

Now setup port forwarding in the router settings. Login to your router’s web admin page and navigate to port forwarding. Note: Not all pages look the same. This router has been modified with DD-WRT.

Open ports, 21-ftp, 22-ssh, 5900-vnc and 3283-vnc and forward them to your mac’s now static local IP.

Step 5

Connect

From the Finder menu, select GO > Connect to server

then type vnc://ip-address-of-mac

when your away

type vnc://dns-URL-created-in-step1

Finnish breakfast

admin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:12:14 +0000

A typical Finnish breakfast consists of toasted rye bread covered in margarine, ham cold-cuts, sliced cheese, and a few slivers of cucumber. However, I have modified the recipe a little bit. Instead of rye bread use toasted ciabatta and coat one side with olive oil. Next, spread some valkosipuli, add a slice of cheese a few basil leaves and top it off with a slice of ham. I also have a cup of Risifrutti which is rice pudding with either stawberry, blueberry or rasberry topping. I just wish Risifrutti was packaged in a tetrapak rather than single use plastic.

A sad day in Finland…

admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:29:01 +0000

A gunman opened fire at a catering college in Kauhajoki, Finland, the nation’s second school shooting in a year. The attack left eleven people dead, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said at a news conference.

Having quoted that… I still feel safe. I’m surprised to have found out about this on Bloomberg. I was in class for over four hours today and didn’t hear anything about it. Kauhajoki is 320 km southwest of Oulu.

Update: I was talking with some friends over dinner tonight about what happened today. The Finns seemed to be worried about how the world will view Finland after this tragic event. My opinion of Finland hasn’t changed. This could happen anywhere. I think its a symptom of a larger social problem affecting developed countries around the world. We will be placing a candle in our windows tonight to honor the murdered.