Danr

By danr 53 minutes ago in Hempstead, UK.

flying back to England for the weekend this evening. i keep forgetting. having a normal day takes your mind off what is usually a big event

By danr 1 hour, 33 minutes ago in Niittykumpu, Espoo.

I am now nearing the end of my second day back at uni after my “year out” in South Africa. My courses are all great - I have some lectures, but I can stand them - and I have Thursdays and Fridays off! This does mean, however, that Monday and Tuesday are quite packed (8:00-16:30 without a break, and 10:00-18:30 with a two hour break in the middle). I have 5 hours on Wednesdays, too, but like 6 of my hours on Mondays, they are spent in the labs.

I have courses on networks, computer organisation, Flash and multimedia, media design, Finnish (elective) and object oriented programming (where my online Java course from last Autumn will come in handy). All interesting and fun. 

On the treadmill again.

By danr 14 minutes ago in Niittykumpu, Espoo.

animating a dog using Flash

By danr 29 minutes ago in Niittykumpu, Espoo.

first day of Uni today

By danr 48 minutes ago in Niittykumpu, Espoo.

This morning I was woken twice by my phone ringing. The first time, at 4:20am, I rushed around trying to locate it in the dark and, of course, as I found it, it stopped ringing. The number started with +1, the calling code for Canada! I was only half awake and very confused.

Then again at 7 something, the phone rang again, but only for a second. It was the same number again. I don’t have a clue who it was. 

was planning on going to the Honka game this evening but then a thunderstorm came. just found out that it was free entry & now the suns out!

By danr 23 minutes ago.

By danr 1 hour, 54 minutes ago.

Tonight is “Taiteiden yö”, which translates to “Night of the Arts”. It is a night when galleries, book shops and cafes are open into the night accompanied by loads of extra things like open-air cinemas and exhibitions.

We are going with Laura and the Triplets and it should be a great time.

Night of the Arts

There is a thunder storm right above us. We just had an almightly bang and now it is pouring with rain. I feel Autumn is on the way.

By danr 24 minutes ago.

By danr 14 minutes ago in Niittykumpu, Espoo.

My university, EVTEK, will merge with another university, Stadia, next August to form Metropolia. The new logo was put online today.

“The symbol of Metropolia symbolizes growth and advancement, an upward movement. Education and close cooperation with the labour market raises know-how and brings people, companies and communities to a new level.”

More info

Metropolia website

I saw Roni Porokara, FC Honka left-wing superstar, driving past in his shiny silver Mini as we were waiting at traffic lights in Helsinki this afternoon.

I have made a new account for more personal photos on Zooomr to take them out of my kind of popular main account at zooomr.com/photos/danrowden. The new one is zooomr.com/photos/danr, which I will use for more general photos, like holidays and birthdays. The original Zooomr account (danrowden) will be for my more arty shots.

Here are the feeds for both photo steams…

danrowden account (arty photos)
danr account (general photos)
combined feed (both streams)

By danr 10 minutes ago in Niittykumpu, Espoo.

I read in the paper today that a Finn holds the World Record for solving a Rubik’s Cube with his feet. His time for completion was 51.13 seconds. Anssi Vanhala is also ranked 26th in the World for regular Rubik’s Cube solving, with a time of 12.14 seconds. The current World Record is just 9.86 seconds.

on the hunt for felt. it’s harder to find than i thought

By danr 56 minutes ago in Niittykumpu, Espoo.

There’s a man walking up the middle of Länsiväylä motorway just up from Haukilahti

By danr 38 minutes ago in Iirislahti, Espoo.

By danr 49 minutes ago.

By danr 34 minutes ago.

By danr 33 minutes ago in Espoo, Finland.

Finland is upgrading to digital from analog and we finally found a digi-box today that doesn’t (or, didn’t) break the bank at €50. I just installed it and we now have 5 or 6 new channels! Super duper.

By danr 1 hour ago in Espoo, Finland.

Happy Birthday Lauren and Joona!

I just phoned the dog breeder’s from where we are hoping to get a puppy to arrange a time to go and see it. I had to speak English because my Finnish isn’t good enough for the phone, and I was quickly passed on to the breeder’s daughter. I explained that we had been e-mailing with the breeder and had arranged to come see the puppy this week. The daughter said that her mum had not had any e-mails from us and even checked the e-mail address, even though she had replied to us numerous times. She said that the puppies had all been sold and that her mum didn’t know who I was. I hung up very confused.

Raija suggested she phoned and spoke Finnish, and straight away arranged with the breeder to go see the puppy today! I don’t know what the problem was with the daughter - I guess she didn’t understand what was going on. And it was very strange for Raija to arrange with the breeder after I was refused acknowledgement a moment before.

The English teaching jobs were taken, so we didn’t get the jobs. They have kept our details for the Spring. On with the job search!

Honka are back up to 4th. well in boys! http://veikkausliiga.com/Matchdetails.aspx?id=1301033

By danr 5 minutes ago in Espoo, Finland.

By danr 44 minutes ago in Espoo, Finland.

We were at the summer cottage over the weekend. We had temperatures of 28°C in the shade yesterday and we were out on the lake sunbathing. The front step was rebuilt while we were there and I cut the grass Mökki-style.

Today we woke up to the inevitable clouds and rain that are expected after a hot and sunny week. We had quite the scare driving back down on the motorway when we met with a huge downpour. It was difficult to see the road, let alone out of the windscreen, and driving on worn-down tyres (we are getting new ones soon) was sketchy for a while.

By danr 1 hour ago in Espoo, Finland.