Where Are Our Bagels?

First Week

2009-01-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

Tuomo writes: First week of resolution leads to... nothing! I mean, no gain, but no loss either... The scale displayed 216.2 lbs :-(

On one hand, I did have a large-ish meal last night, and I made a not-so-healthy choice of having a quesadilla for lunch (though I ate only half of it and saved the rest for this week). Nibbling on fruit cake probably did not promote weight loss either, but now it is out of sight, out of mind :-)

On the other hand, I worked out to Tae Bo twice (Monday & Wednesday) and went to the new gym once (on Friday), so I hope to be on the right direction to increased amount of physical exercise. I'm planning on going to the gym for 20-30 minutes of cardio, and then have the left-overs of chicken tikka masala a la Weight Watchers (9 pts) adn mango lassi (4 pts) for dinner. I have a delicious recipe for a soup (3 pts/serving) that I'll be having for lunch for the rest of the week, so nutritionally I also hope to be on the right track.

Baby steps, as they say, baby steps :-)

Guess What I'm Doing This Year :-)

2009-01-11T19:58:00.000-08:00

Tuomo writes: Soooo it's 2009, big whoop-dee-doo, right? Wrong! It's time for the (drumroll) New Year's Resolution for weight loss 2009 (groan!).

Right before the holidays I happened to come across a picture taken in June, weeks after I had gotten off Weight Watchers for all kinds of reasons, and man was I crestfallen when I realised how "thin" I looked. To be honest, not thin as in to have been able to fit in my 34" jeans but definitely less Jabba the Hutt-like what I feel like when I see myself in the mirror these days... Clothes have been getting tight in course of the past month, and I have to admit that I feel a bit out of breath when I walk up and down stairs. Not to mention the fact that I've been just out of energy to do anything other than shove more unhealty food in my mouth.

This year I haven't waited for the new year to roll in but started in small steps. For example, rather than completely purge the fridge of food that is bad for your health, I've done this gradually. This year this process has been motivated largely by the fact that I had stayed up late about a month ago to bake a fruit cake following a Finnish-style ("Pirkka") recipe. The cake was supposed to be part of the dessert assortment, but unfortunately the guests were so stuffed after the main course that none was eaten. As a result, I've been nibbling at it ever since until last Thursday when I gave the remaining 1/3 to my brother. If someone has to deal with the calories stored in, they might as well be unleashed by him :-)

In other words, I've been easing myself gradually in making decisions advocated by Weight Watchers, including registering my initial weight ( Jan. 5 216.5 lbs, or 97.9 kg). I allowed myself to indulge in the remaining slices of the fruit cake with my afternoon coffee, but I balanced that out (sorta) by working out twice to my brand new Tae Bo DVDs and Wii Fitness. I also checked out the Gold's Gym that recently opened in Langley on Friday, so now that the fruit cake's almost gone, it's time for some heavy duty gym workouts to allow the thin version of me to emerge.

But before we go into strategies and such, let's crunch some numbers:
"Maximum Take-Off" weight: 216.2 lbs
10 percent loss: 21.6 lbs
Weight at 10% weight loss: 194.6

So how is Tuomo going to achieve that goal? Well, here's an article I read a short time ago on Sympatico on how achieve weight related goals:

Many would say the key to success is to recognize that our New Year's
fitness resolution is simply a GOAL, and that in order to succeed, we should
apply the same principles as many organizations do when planning their next
business year. The first step is setting the goal. A common analogy used
in organizations is that a goal should be SMART if it is to be achieved:

S for Specific – Choose a specific outcome to achieve as a result of
your plan to be fit. For example, I want to lower my cholesterol or lose weight
versus I want to be healthier or look better.

Tuomo’s Specific Goal: I want to lose weight.

M for Measurable – I want my cholesterol to be under 5.0 or I want to lose 10 pounds are quantifiable goals.

Tuomo’s Measurable Goal: I want to lose at least 10% of my body weight, which is 21.6 lbs.

A for Achievable - If the smallest you've ever been as an adult is a size
10, it might not be achievable to aim to be a size 0. Perhaps if I'm currently a
size 18, was a size 10 when I was 18-years-old, then now I would like to be a
size 14. That seems achievable.

Tuomo’s Achievable Goal: I want to weigh max. 196 lbs, potentially 180-185 lbs. I want to be able to fit in 34" jeans. I have plenty of those in my wardrobe :-)

R for Realistic – Maybe running a marathon is not a realistic goal given
your commitments, even though it might be achievable if you had unrestricted
time to train. Be realistic about what it is you want to do – if it's not
something you enjoy, you're less likely to stick with it. Remember, physical
activity can be any activity that elevates your heart rate and uses your
muscles. If you enjoy hiking in the outdoors, plan brisk walks or snow shoeing.
Go dancing if that's what you like to do.

Tuomo’s Realistic Goal: I think 185 is realistic and doable. I want to reach this goal weight by means of monitoring what I eat by following principles of Weight Watchers and other similar sources of "wisdom" like Biggest Loser, etc.

T for Time Bound – Set a deadline, or set multiple deadlines for various stages of progress towards your goal. For example, I want to lose 10 pounds by May 24, 2008, so I need to lose about 2 pounds per month.

Tuomo’s Time Bound Goal: I want to have lost 10% of my weight by the end of March, i.e. I want to weigh about 195 lbs (88 kgs) by March 31. Weigh-ins take place on Monday mornings so as to avoid the previous pitfalls due to weigh-ins on Saturday mornings, i.e. eating everything in sight over the weekend...

In addition, I have set the follow mileposts (2 lbs/week) to help me stay on track:

Jan 12: 214 lbs (96.7 kg)
Jan 19: 212 lbs (95.8 kg)
Jan 26: 210 lbs (94.9 kg)
Feb 2: 208 lbs (94.0 kg)
Feb 9: 206 lbs (93.1 kg)
Feb 16: 204 lbs (92.2 kg)
Feb 28: 202 lbs (91.3 kg)
Mar 2: 200 lbs (90.4 kg)
Mar 9: 198 lbs (89.5 kg)
Mar 16: 196 lbs (88.6 kg)
Mar 25: 194 lbs (87.7 kg)

Which would then allow one more week to catch up in case of plateaus, lapses, etc.

So there! Now please keep me accountable and egg me on - I'll keep you posted as we go :-)

Kathy Griffin Kicks @ss!

2009-01-11T00:03:00.000-08:00

Tuomo writes: The other day I was reading the paper and noticed that Kathy Griffin was performing at the River Rock Casino. Well, with two performances, I was convinced that both shows would be sold out so why bother pursuing this pipe-dream any further. Then last night Dave, Angie, and I were watching TV when Kathy Griffin’s reality show My Life on the D-List came on. Dave mentioned he’d love to see her if she were ever to come perform in Vancouver. At this point I brought to his attention that she’d actually be performing the day after on Saturday night, so Dave dashed upstairs to verify this (?), and thirty minutes later came down with a pair of tickets! Thank you honey! :-)

We got tickets to the earlier show starting at 7:30, and after almost two hours of irreverent, celebrity-laced potty-mouthed entertainment, I have to say the time was well spent because she’s fierce, and the tickets worth every penny. Unlike Madonna, we had very nice seats from which Kathy was like 2 inches (5 cm) tall, clearly visible, and had a thing to say a thing or two on issues ranging from Sara Palin and Nancy Grace to celebrating her birthday with Cher (Cher’s quip to Kathy being anxious about turning 30: “You haven’t had a three in front of your age in years, babe!”)

She started with when she co-hosted New Year’s Eve show on CNN with Anderson Cooper (That silver devil rrrr!) and got into some trouble in a way only she could get on live TV:

Her repertoire of jokes was too sophisticated and too well delivered for me to even try to repeat here. But... One of my many favourites of the evening though was when she pointed out that we live in a province from where you can see Sara Palin! Oh and I loved the way she skewered Nancy Grace (Boo hisssss!), the wench of a disgrace on the otherwise revered CNN.

A quick note on the audience. A lot of gay men and women were present in the crowd. Surprising? Barely! :-) Now here’s an interesting observation: we noticed a lot of bears at River Rock. Could it be because they are the D-Listers of the gay community? :-)

Finally, a lot of interesting shows coming up at River Rock Casino, including Margaret Cho next Saturday. Something to think about...

Summary of 2008?

2008-12-31T09:01:00.000-08:00

Tuomo writes: It’s New Year’s Eve – time for one more look back at some of the ups and down of our 2008. The events are in no particular order; any other form than flow of thought would be too much work otherwise :-

Teddy passed away in September ;-(

Lulu entered our life in October.

Our friends Sean, Nate, and Nicole came for a shoestring budget visit. Well Nicole was on a budget and a schedule; the rest of us weren’t. Lots of sitting in the car while the rain ruined all opportunities to view the Rockies. A faboo weekend in Seattle in the end though we ended up having dinner at probably the most overpriced and overrated restaurant in town.

Our friends Tytti, Pekka, and Timo, and came for a visit and brought summer weather with them. Tytti cooked us some fabulous meals and enlightened us of the finer nuances in oenology. I got to tour Seattle with Tytti and dance to our hearts' content to 80s classics at Neighbour’s. Pekka and Timo, who came over a week later but only for a very short time, got a whirlwind tour of what Tytti had explored in the past 10 days. Finally, when Tytti left back to Finland, Dave and I got to tour San Francisco with Pekka and Timo. The usual: the Wharf, the Castro, cable cars, Berkeley – but fun!

In August we got to see the Champagne Ladies for the first time since our move. A fabulous week at the beach awaited (after a red-eye flight to Philly on board a flight with no other than “Pam”!). Though the week began with a trial for our crimes against Champanity, the week was pretty much what we had been anticipating all year.

Dave’s dad got infected by multiple tick-borne diseases, which almost forced Dave’s parents to cancel their trip to see us. Fortunately, he managed to recover so that they were able to benefit from some of the best weather that BC has to offer; in fact, Dave’s dad managed to get a sunburn – though the medication he was on also contributed to this! High Point of the week: high tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria followed by a double-decker tour (high point: poopin’ harbour seal). Low Point of the week: Too bad that Teddy’s passing away coincided with their stay…

Later we learned that while Dave’s dad was in hospital for the infection he had a heart attack. Consequently, he had to go through a multiple by-pass in October, which caused changes in our Thanksgiving Day week travel plans. Balmy Florida became freezing Rhode Island, but a good time was had by all.

In late April and early May, I had a wonderful time in Finland, including the first Vappu (“First of May”) since 1996.

We made some friends with some new people on the US election night, which of itself was a truly historical event to witness.

The lower mainland got a white Christmas for the first time since 1971 (?), which meant that nobody knew what to do with the snow, in particular here in Langley where side roads remain to date in substandard condition.

Wonderful Christmas – our first one in our Canadian home – with a dinner party with our local family. Everybody was stuffed and needed to kick back a bit to loosen the belt. Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme…

All other events have been securely stored in our long-term memories; just remind us :-)

Finally, not a posting without a clip, just to remind us how time is an evanescent concept:

Onnellista uutta vuotta! Happy new year! Bonne année! Gott nytt år! Καλή χρoνιά! Head uut aastat! Gelukkig nieuw jaar! Boldog új év! Ein gutes neues Jahr! Farsælt komandi ár! Yeni yiliniz kutlu olsun!E gudd neit Joër! Akemashite omedetō! Szczęśliwego nowego roku! Feliz año nuevo! С Новым Годом! Blwyddyn newydd dda! Feliz ano novo! La mulţi ani! Šťastný nový rok! See you in 2009! MWAH!

Guess What I Got for Christmas :-)

2008-12-28T16:59:00.000-08:00

Tuomo writes: This had to be the best Christmas - evah! Normally gift guidelines recommend us not to get fitness and/or health related presents because of the underlining message "You're fat!" and so on. Well, in my case, I know I'm fat, so I have to do something about it.

One of the numerous thoughtful prezzies from Dave this year was in fact Wii Fitness. I've been dying to get one for like months, but I was reminded that one never knows what Santa brings in his sack. And sure enough, I found a Wii Fitness amongst my prezzies. Yayyy!

I just finished installing and synching it, so I'm good to go tomorrow morning. The stats were far from flattering, as if I needed numerical evidence for why I should get back on the fitness bandwagon! I also found the following YouTube clip that I plan on using as a source of inspiration to reach my weight and BMI goals six months down the road. I also expect results nothing less impressive than on the dude in clip :-) Enjoy!

Now Where the Heck is Kyle?

2008-12-27T20:08:00.000-08:00

Tuomo writes: Whenever Dave and I go on holidays and don’t have access to Breakfast Television, someone seems to get booted off the morning. First Dave and Simi and now, case in point: Kyle “Argyle” Donaldson.

When we returned from our Thanksgiving week, we were mighty disappointed when Kyle wasn’t there to wake us up on Monday morning. Or on Tuesday… Or for the rest of the week. We were like, "What the bleep!" In the meantime, someone called Riaz Meghji had taken over Kyle’s role on BT. Riaz is entertaining and all that in that puppy-eyed kinda way, but something’s missing. We definitely want Kyle back!

Hmm... maybe we should stop travelling... :-)

According to my source on things related to BT, Kyle had made this really off-colour statement live, and for this reason he allegedly got booted. On the other hand, the BT crew has the habit of making off-colour jokes all the time, which in the States would have had them all fired ages ago, so I don't quite get it. Nevertheless, I have seen Kyle on City TV news at noon, and his profile still appears on the BT website, but no pics of Riaz. So what the bleep?!

For info on Riaz, here's a blurb when he was still in Toronto and a YouTube clip. Tytti, are you watching? What do you think? :-)

On a more positive note, I learned while reading Laila Yuile's blog that Dave Gerry is not only back on TV (Monday thru Friday on CBC at 3 PM - yayyy!) but Laila has posted two guest blogs by Dave (Nov. 24 and Dec. 1).

My Dave’s car already has a Phoebe; thanks on Dave Gerry’s to-the-point observation, it now also has an Antonio :-)

Man, do I miss Dave Gerry in the mornings...!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

Tuomo writes: So it's Boxing Day already... Best Christmas ever - until 2009! :-) Christmas dinner with a Scandinavian style ham, rosolli, carrot casserole, and Karelian pastries followed by an assortment of cookies and washed down with glögi... So how come am I feeling so stuffed?!

Here's a cute little clip that will hopefully inspire me to start using my new Wii Fitness:

We joined the new Gold's gym in town about a month ago, but due to all kinds of circumstances they won't be opening until Jan. 1. Talk about an excuse to procrastinate! We hope to get back on the bandwagon, and maybe even join (gasp) Weight Watchers again. As for me, I'm sick and tired of feeling depleted of energy and just plain ole fat. I saw some pictures of me taken weeks after I got off WW, and I do not what I see in the mirror these days.

I must, I must, I must increase my... energy levels! How's that for a dime a dozen new year's resolution?! :-)

Happy (American) Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

Tuomo writes: It's amazing how muhc you miss home during the holidays, isn't it? Regardless where your home is...

Due to circumstances around Dave's father's health, the original plans on spending Thanksgiving week in balmy Florida got transferred to... well... not so balmy Rhode Island. When the captain on our Southwest flight to Providence announced that the temperature in Providence was 25 F (-5 C) - without factoring in the wind chill factor - there was this collective gasp of disbelief. One almost expected the oxygen masks to drop down due to sudden cabin depressurisation :-)

This week has been first time back to RI since Christmas. In many ways not the ideal time of the year, and a lot of the business landscape has been affected by the recent economic turmoil. But still, it has been been fun to be at Dave's parents. Home" for my I guess if you want to use formalism, where Home is in Helsinki and Home' is in Hyattsville, meaning Langley must be Home"'. At any rate the week has been full of familiar sounds and sight - not to mention some culinary treats, keeping in mind that I'm no gastronome by any extent! For five-star and more exquisite gourmet experiences in RI, look elsewhere :-)

Here are some of my favourite places for a meal in RI (besides Mamma's of course!):

Athenian Deli & Restaurant (1242 Oaklawn Ave, Cranston): Greek comfort food in a blue collar diner environment. This is a MUST and a big disappointment when it has been closed for the holidays :-)
Wien-O-Rama (1009 Oaklawn Ave, Cranston): Hotdogs like I've never appreciated before, with or without celery salt.

So, today on Thanksgiving I'm reminded again how one just can't erase 11 years of memories just like that. Prior to moving to the States, Thanksgiving was just this cultural thing that I was aware of but it really didn't mean anything else. Now it has to be one of my Top 3 celebrations of the year: no presents, no religion, and everyone, regardless of their origins, is invited to have a good meal with their beloved ones. Something that in my mind spans all human kind.

In other words, for all our readers: Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for being "you" - and forreading this blog every once in a while too :-)

Go Obama!

2008-11-26T07:42:00.001-08:00

Tuomo writes: OK so the US elections came and went, and four weeks later, I still haven't commented... I guess everything worthwhile saying has been said and analysed to the nth degree so that li'l ole linguistics me probably has not much to comment on the outcome.

On election night, we went over to our friends' Tim and Keith's place to watch the results roll in on NBC and CNN. On most occasions being three hours behind the east coast is a nuisance, i.e. by the time we want to call our friends and family in Maryland and Rhode Island, it's close to midnight their time! However, this time the results were in well before 9pm, and we were good to go home around 10.

IMHO McCain gave a very eloquent speech; too bad that his booing supporters continued to reveal the true colours of the Republican Party...

There was a collective gasp in the room when President Elect Obama mentioned gays [and lesbians] in his speech. There was nary a dry eye in the room as we witnessed the end to the eight years of nightmare under Dubya. It was such a wodnerful and uplifting speech... And the family is adorable too; let's hope the puppy issue gets resolved soon :-) So here's to a new dawning full of hope at a time of turmoil of various kinds, economic, social, you name it!

Ironically, on the same night that the future president of the United States explicitly made reference to gays and lesbians, more ominous news came from possibly the most progressive state in the country, California. Proposition 8, the evil-spirited move to bring down the recently passed law allowing gay marriage in California had passed. And the irony of ironies is that the people who helped boost Obama were primarily the same ones who helped this proposition pass. Not that Prop 8 would have changed Dave's and my lives in any way (at least, at this stage, thanks to Clinton's DOMA in the 90s), but it made us mad for like days.

As someone on one of the columns that I read regularly put it, this wasn't just telling us to get back to the back of the bus - we had been run over by the bus.

Thank goodness then that this has activated the LGBTQ community to stage protests across the country - or as CNN put worldwide, with a demonstration in London! Hopefully this fury encourages the community to be more forceful... I mean, if my memory doesn't fail me, just last week gay partnerships were made legal in Bhutan :-)

Election Day!!!

2008-11-04T10:46:00.000-08:00

Tuomo writes: I was telling Dave last night that it feels like eight years of a nightmare are finally coming to an end. I excited, Dave's excited, and judging by Facebook, a lot of my friends in Finland are excited, too. I hope our friends in Baltimore are excited - and voting...

Now of course you all realise what this means. Yes, tomorrow the media speculation over the presidential elections in 2012 can begin :-)

In the meantime, enjoy this clip:

Madonna in Vancouver!

2008-11-02T16:18:00.000-08:00

Tuomo writes: As they say, "beggars can’t be choosers" and a lot of aspects in life can be best called "sour grapes," so I advise people to read my review of Madonna’s concert in Vancouver through these clichés.

For one, I hadn’t realized how big BC Place Arena is. I mean, not big – HUGE! An estimate of 30,000 people was there that night, and I think that is a fairly accurate estimate. Come to think of it, 30,000 is like 10% of all Iceland :-) Mind you, BC Place Arena will also be the venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, so that should give my out-of-Vancouver readers some perspective of the scale I'm talking about. The three of us were sitting on the fourth level in the nose-bleed, and from there the stage felt like it was at least ten blocks away. Flanked by two huge letters M in pink, the stage had three screens and two others to the side, to the left and right of the huge Ms. While the show was on, the outermost jumbo-tron screens followed what was going on on the stage while the three on-stage screens functioned as back-drops to each number performed.

As a result, Madonna appeared to be 5 millimetres tall; I hadn't realised she'd be so much smaller in person! :-) Without the two jumbo-trons, it would have been next to impossible to see what was going on on the stage. At times, when Madonna and her dancers were performing close to the back-drop screens, it was in fact impossible to see what they were doing, so a lot of the show was lost on me. In the end, if you wanted to enjoy the show, you had to keep your eyes peeled on the jumbo-trons. Consequently, the thought of purchasing the tour DVD might have been a better choice :-)

As for the numbers, Madonna performed quite a selection of her songs from along her career, focusing not so surprisingly primarily on her latest album. Some of the arrangements were interesting, to say the least, others unfortunately weren't. For example, Borderline made me think of this; had I paid to see a goth performance, I would have accepted it as is without questions, but now I’m not so sure. I didn't like the way Human Nature had been arranged either; for one, I don't care that much for this song, and two, it just didn't work for me. Others fortunately, like La Isla Bonita was arranged and mixed so that it sounded in Dave’s words like what Moldova would be submitting as their Eurovision entry for 2009, i.e. he didn’t like it, but I sure did!

In my mind, She’s Not Me and Far Away, which were new to me because I haven’t purchased the album yet, which hopefully doesn’t mean my gay card will be revoked, were arranged beautifully and the stage performance was at its best, mostly but not only thanks to the imagery on the screens. A propos, during She’s Not Me, Madonna depicted a lighter side of herself when she fended off earlier iconic stages of herself as the stage act, which I think shows that she can have a sense of humour, too. Finally, Like a Prayer and some of her earlier "standards" performed more towards the end did leave an up-lifting "party" feel in my mouth – also due to the fact that I didn’t have to peer any longer at the stage from behind the queen standing and partying in front of me when I didn’t feel yet like doing so :-)

That said, I’ll give the whole experience a B+. Once again, for $100 you can’t really expect to be within spitting distance from a major pop star, now can you? However, the fact that I was so often better off watching her perform on the big screens or I would have totally missed the pleasure of the stage action did leave bit of a - pardon the pun - sour candy taste in my mouth. But considering how much I love sour patch kids, I did enjoy the show for the most.

Two lessons to be learned. One, buy Hard Candy. Immediately! Two, for future reference, be prepared to fork out the bucks when planning to attend an event in BC Place Arena! :-)

Happy Halloween Everyone!

2008-10-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Wanna see something really scary? No, I’m not talking about ghouls, goblins or ghosts... Oh no, I’m talking about the Race Monster: It usually lurks around red places (states, necks, etc.), and it roams around wrapped in (gasp) prejudice! EEEEEEK!!!

On a much lighter note, enjoy this.

It's Madonna!!!

2008-10-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: So tonight is the big night when we – finally – get to see Madonna perform at BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver. We missed her Confessions tour, but Dave’s brother and sister got to see her in Boston. Our initial envy turned into mild mannered glee when they told us that they were astonished by how many gays there were at the concert that night. Umm hellooo, under which rock have you been hiding since the 80s?!? :-)

In honour of this grand event in my life on the eve of Santa Madonna(according to Breakfast Television, "everyone" will be there tonight – including "Argyle" Kyle!), here are a couple of clips, either by Madonna herself or inspired by her, starting with Dave’s favourite:

This one's deliciously wicked:

And this one is just downright delicious:

And finally, no tribute would be perfect without this one :-)

As per Request - Sorta :-)

2008-10-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Pekka mentioned a great Eurovision song from the early 80s, back when music was the main point and not skimpy hemlines cut in a bias and pyrotechnics :-)

I couldn't help posting the clip so that everyone understand what we are talking about: Giannis Dimitras and Feggari kalokerino "Summer Moon". Παρακαλώ!

Into the Groove!

2008-10-29T16:22:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: To echo my admiration of Tytti's impeccable taste in music, I've always felt a bit embarrassed about admitting that I am a Madonna fan.

Pretty much everyone agrees that she doesn't have any real singing - or acting - skills, but man does she cover up for it in so many other ways! I remember when she came out with Like a Virgin in the early 80s and I was in high school. I never really got a kick out of it, but it did catch my eye; even to this day, I wouldn't include it in my Top 5, let alone Top 10 Madonna hits, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. It wasn't until Into the Groove and her Blonde Ambition phase came out that I started to pay real attention to her. I loved the "packaging" and the cheekiness that it came in it! As a budding homosexual, I was titillated by her provocative approach to presenting herself; oh those outfits. So garish, so provocative, so... 80s! Later on, Madonna's overt support for the gay community made me a lifelong fan even though I have to admit that I sorta lost interest in her around her Kabbalah inspired album but got - pardon the pun - back in the groove along with her Confessions on the Dance Floor album.

Most of all I have to admire her for having had such a long career in a field that these days is infested with flavours of the day that become one hit wonders overnight. In fact, considering that way back in the beginning, she was expected to become a one hit wonder herself, so three decades of pop hits is in my book something to be proud of.

From the selection of three decades of songs as the icon of pop culture par excellence, I think my favourite Madonna song is Into the Groove mentioned above. Highlighted in - and promoting itself - the movie Desperately Seeking Susan, I couldn't help falling in love with this romantic comedy. In fact, it is one of my guilty pleasure movies: not much along the lines of a unique plot or fabulous acting, but it struck a chord in me at that time that still continues to vibrate. Besides, how many singer-actors in a supporting role can say they've danced to their own music! On my dance card, this one ranks high on my list of top pop dance songs...

So tomorrow when Madonna hits the stage in Vancouver, I hope she will be performing Into the Groove. That sure would make this 42-year old man very happy. In the meantime, I'll contend with the YouTube clip. Too bad I'm not now at home where I could lock the doors and dance - to my hearts content :-)

Introducing Tytti

2008-10-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: This is what a funk brings you to: How can it take so long to write a blog entry on one of your dearest friends?!? I mean I wanted to do this for her "major milepost," and the gifts that were supposed to reach her and to be waiting for her when she’d return from her trip to Turkey didn’t get sent until today (like FOUR weeks late)...

At any rate, I have been wanting to write about my friend Tytti for the longest time. With Pekka and Timo, she’s the third leg of the tripod that keeps my life in focus. For the life of me, I cannot remember the exact circumstances of how we met other than it was at some party organized by SUB, the student organization for English majors at the University of Helsinki. In what must have been the fuksiaiset, or "freshman induction," and in my drunken haze, I remember her saying timidly that she wanted to participate in Sub. Fast-forward a year or two, and she was the chair of SUB!

So what do I appreciate so much about her? For one thing, she’s always been able to provide a frank but fair view of the state of affairs. I can’t think of anyone as well-grounded and well-versed in her opinions, ranging from choosing the perfect pair of floral pattern pants to how to deal with parents in denial. All of this delivered spot-on with kick-ass precision of a world-class stand-up comedienne... Oh the bons-mots I have come to cherish!

Second, we both share the joys of travelling. Unfortunately we haven’t had too many opportunities to travel together (London 1990, Tallinn a time or two in the late 90s, and hosting her in Toulouse and Barcelona 1991 and Vancouver in 2008), but even these few ones are worth a pot of gold. Oh the anecdotes! Without her and her infallible taste in culture, I don’t think I would have discovered as many best kept secrets. Add to this an appreciation of good food, be it gourmet or not, I couldn’t think of a better travelling companion. I don’t understand people who can’t sit down every once in a while for the tiniest of salads or just an amuse-gueule to process the sights and sounds du jour – or just to chitchat. Nor can Tytti. Add a refreshing gin and tonic to the equation, and things just get better. Nor will I ever have to worry about coming down with malaria either.

Finally, I appreciate her taste in music. With a background in music from high school, she has a taste for a wide variety of music, ranging from classical to the most eclectic performers of world music. As a perennial language queen, I love music that isn’t always your run-of-the-mill, dime-a-dozen mainstream music in English; when she’s around, I have no qualms about putting on music that I know would drive other people climb up the walls: French, Turkish, Latin/Spanish, Arab, bhangra, you name it...

In fact, the song that I would like to dedicate to her is Hijo de la luna by Mecano. I discovered this Spanish group while I was studying in France in the early 90s. When I returned to Finland, she was the first one to appreciate Mecano categorically without comments like ewww, creepy or This isn't in English. As a lot was going on in our lives at that time, we both seemed to get a kick of some kind from their somewhat edgy and controversial lyrics. Oh and I guess we were both going through some kind of a Spanish phase in our lives, too...

We miss you very much. Husband-hunting in Seattle any time soon?

Click here to see the original version of Mecano's Hijo de la luna.

But check this version out, too. It is so up our alleys! ¡Arriba!

Who's Got da Funk?!

2008-10-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: And not the pleasant kind of funk either...

I guess the current slump started after our European friends left and our week at the beach was over. Ever since that everything has felt more or less blah.

It didn't help when when our friends at the beach - hopefully jokingly - mocked my attempt to keep in touch by means of this blog. All kidding aside, I felt hurt, especially when since the trip none of them have even bothered to wonder and/or ask me why I haven't been updating my blog. They were the main target audience in my mind that determined to write this blog in English. I might as well change the language to Finnish because those who do read this are our Finnish friends. And considering that I haven't written much in a few months, they probably haven't been following this either, so I'm questioning why bother in the first place... which definitely guarantees that this blog doesn't get any updates!

I haven't gone to the gym in ages. I haven't eaten sensibly or been on WeightWatchers since June. All I have done is eat and watch TV. And not without snacking on goodies that aren't carrots... I just can't seem to get interested in anything.

I postpone doing things for later. Or tomorrow. Or next week... or month.

I did get myself to go to a hot yoga class (Bikram) for like three times. Then I lost interest. Or motivation. Or maybe it was too pushy. Or something.

I need to get excited about doing something. Like going to the gym... or something.

Though I do have to point out that there has been a glimmer of some end to the funk. I recently got in touch with two friends from the past (thanks to FaceBook, my seemingly only source of social contact). I've written an e-mail or two with them in French and Estonian, something that seems to get my groove back on. I also got my car serviced today, and for some strange reason I feel like achieving things so that when Dave comes home the kitchen won't be a mess or the hallway upstairs won't be strewn with laundry to be folded or put away.

In fact, to prove the point that not everything is as gloomy as it may seem, I ran across another blast from the past, or a YouTube clip, Zoolookologie by Jean-Michel Jarre that got me in a merrier place, at least temporarily. Oh I so love the 80s graphics; it reminds a lot of my high school art work :-)

We're South-East Asian!

2008-10-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: We had nothing else to do, so we took the Which Country Are You quiz. Here are the results, first for me, then for Dave:

Tuomo: You're Vietnam! After years of muddling through on your own, you've finally repaired yourself to a point of respectability. You would have been much better off had people you didn't like not kept insisting on spending so much time with you. But
those times are fading quickly and these days you're pretty sure you won't get burned.

Dave: You're Thailand! Calmer and more staunchly independent than almost all those around you, you have a long history of rising above adversity. Recent adversity has led to questions about your sexual promiscuity and the threat of disease, but you still manage to attract a number of tourists and admirers. And despite any setbacks, you can really cook a good meal whenever it's called for. Good enough to make people
cry.

Now that was positive!

Teddy In Memoriam

2008-09-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: On Sunday September 7th approximately 5:05PM Dave and I bade Teddy farewell.

After the lab report from our vet, it became clear that it would require next to a miracle to end Teddy's declining health. At first we had thought that Teddy had begun to lose weight because he was getting a bit more excercise walking up and down the stairs, but eventually it became clear that something else was going on. By the time we contacted the vet, we weren't sure for how long Teddy hadn't been eating or drinking at all.

The lab results were devastating. All indicators, way beyond several deviations from the normal, suggested that Teddy was suffering from kidney failure, a typical ailment among small pets I believe. As suggested by the vet, Dave brought Teddy over to the emergency clinic for intense IV. Unfortunately the first 24 hours had no effect on his wellbeing, and in course of the following 24 hours Teddy had a seizure. It was a tough decision to make, but it was clear that there would be nothing but suffering ahead for poor Teddy, so we requested him to be put to sleep.

As I'm writing this, I still can't help welling up. We made use of one more opportunity to be with Teddy. We petted him a lot and took lots of pictures, but it was clear that Teddy was in a lot of discomfort; the IV tube hanging from his left paw probably didn't add to his benefit.

Needless to say, Dave and I wept unashamedly while we watched Teddy explore the room we were in. Ten years of good times as well as bad were about to become precious memories... In the end, it felt really painful to say, "Goodbye, Primogenito."

In memory of Teddy, here's a poem in Finnish I found on the Internet (originally in Swedish?) ; underneath it is my prose-y translation in English:

KISSAN HAUTAJAISISSA

Luona pikku ruumiin me seisomme,

ei nouse tuosta enää konsaan se.

Sun kehruutas koskaan ei kuulla saa,

ei nähdä miten luomes vilkahtaa.

Kissavainaamme, kiitos, pikkuinen,

joka päivästä, yöstä saat kiitoksen,

jotka saimme sun kanssasi elellä

ja sua rakkaasti hellien hyväillä.

Sinä lohtua meidän käsillämme toit.

Sinä monena äänenä meissä soit.

Mau, sähäys ja kynnen välkähdys-

mitä kertoikaan häntäsi pyyhkäys.

Olit itsenäinen sä aina vaan,

mitä ikinä kävitkin luuraamaan.

Sinä vapaa olit, taas orjia me

kunnes hautaan viimein vaivumme.

Vailla unia sä nuku, ja maaksi jää.

Meitä pöydässä ikävä räydyttää.

Mutta muistos on talossa ainiaan.

Se ei tunnu kylmältä milloinkaan.

-Lars Huldén-Suom. Satu Marttila

AT A CAT’S FUNERAL

We now stand gathered next to your tiny body

Ne’er shall it move again;

Your purring won’t be heard any more

nor how your eye bats will be seen

Our dearly beloved, lifeless kitty cat,
We thank you for every night and day
That we got to share with you
And pet you with tender love and care.

You brought us comfort by means of our hands

You rang many chords within us
With a meow, a hiss and a flash of a claw
Or whatever that flick of your tail ever meant.

Forever you maintained your independence

Whatever you set your mind on

You were free while we mere slaves were

Until we all in a grave in peace shall rest.

Sleep your dreamless slumber and dust become

While the pain of missing you consumes us

But your memory shall always remain in the house forever:

Ne’er shall it feel cold ever more.

May you, Teddy, rest in peace in a place where nobody ever steps on his tail or picks you up without your concent :-)

What's Going On with This Blog?!

2008-09-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Where did Septemebre go? And what's up with updates?

Just having some technical problems (read: annoying pop ups) at the home computer that prevent timely and unadultared blogging.

Hang in there, my friends! :-)

Teddy's Seriously Ill :-(

2008-09-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Those of my readers who are on Facebook may have already read that Teddy, our Primogenito (who I wrote about) has not been feeling well.

Basically in a nut shell, we noticed a while ago that teddy had started to lose weight. No biggie there because he was "big boned" to begin with; maybe the exercise of running up and down the stairs were having a positive effect on him. It wasn't until last week that we noticed that the loss has been quite substantial and was having an effect on his personality... He doesn't seem to have been eating either, so the poor creature is probably not only dehydrated but also undernourished.

To the extent that I had to take Teddy to the vet, who carried out some lab exams to see what was ailing poor Teddy. It turns out that he has a serious case of kidney disease: his blood, urine, and other figures were way over there, and now as an immediate remedy should be on IV fluids for the next 3-5 days.

The vet (for references for what seems like otherwise a great and tactful vet contact me!) basically made no promises of permanent or even imediate recovery, so we are understandibly under a lot of emotional distress. We can only hope for the best - whatever it is...

Why Public Schooling Is Important

2008-09-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Here's another clip that our friend Doug brought to our attention. A leprechaun in Alabama? Or is it just a crackhead who got hold of the wrong stuff and was told to "play a leprechaun," eh? See for yourselves:

Apparently the town of Crichton and the leprachaun sightings have turned into a pop culture phenomenon. For more visit Wikipedia or Where Da Gold At.

Why I Love Living in Canada

2008-08-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: The following clip was brought to our attention by our friend Doug in Baltimore:

We have our fair share of juvenile criminals here in Canada, but this young boy serves as a warning of what bad parenting leads to, no matter where you are...

Oh No... Now Tasha ;-(

2008-08-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: I couldn't believe it when I heard yesterday morning on BT that Tasha Chiu was leaving, too... So Tasha as well as Dave and Simi may have been faces on TV... But it was the TV in our bedroom and they were there every morning in our bedroom to wake us up and entertain us while we got dressed.

Now it feels as if we've lost close friends. And we had so many to begin with in our new living environment :-(

I have to admit I got teary eyed when it was time to say goodbye...

Good luck, Tasha (and Dave and Simi)! You (all) will be missed dearly in this household.

Jos metsään haluat mennä nyt...

2008-08-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

If you go to the woods today... You may run into this:

Dave & Simi - Fired??

2008-08-19T09:44:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: I've been wondering about this for a couple of mornings: what has happened to Dave and Simi on Breakfast Television/Vancouver? Last Monday morning expecting to be greeted by the beaming faces of the regular BT cast, I was surprised to see Kyle and Tasha. Not that there's anything wrong with these two, but they were there on every morning last week... yesterday... and today. How bizarre... Util this morning I found out (like a week after everybody else it appears...) that... gasp... Dave and Simi have been fired! :-(

Dave

Simi

When we moved to Canada a year ago, GlobalTV drew our attention. Soo enought though, I got irritated by the stiff presentation style and by the not-so-informative traffic news (there would always be a helicopter shot of a bridge I wasn't going to use followed by the sponsor pitch). I would occasionally switch to other channels, especially during commercial breaks, and that's how I discovered Dave and Simi. At first their style came across as useless bickering, but gradually I came to appreciate their style of hosting the show: professionals who know each other and who know how to entertain the morning viewers with their witty banter.

I read that the format of BT is going to be changed. Why? I switched from GlobalTV to BT; doesn't that count as something? I hope I will be greeted by Kyle and Tasha from now on; I don't know if I ever want to wake up to anything else :-)

Kyle & Tasha, the current hosts of BT

RetroPop: Pieni ja ihmeellinen

2008-08-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: One thing I love about travelling abroad is coming across music you wouldn't otherwise. Finnish pop music is popular... well, in Finland, so whenever I go visit my parents, I have the radio and tv on to catch a hit or two.

In April, I came across this clip by a new group (well, at least to me; they may have been around a while...) called RetroPop. I liked the le petit prince-esque visuals as well as the song, Pieni ja ihmeellinen itself ("Small and amazing"). The soundscape took me back to the early 80s, the era of Neo-Romantics, and the lyrics were delightfully angstridden. The Neo-Romantics were all obsessed by technology taking over our emotions; Pieni ja ihmeellinen is all about taking care of our "small and amazing" planet:

My brother recently returned from Finland, and I had asked him to bring me the album because when I was in Finland, it nor the single (!) hadn't been released yet. I still love the lush and Neo-Romantic soundscape of the hit single. The rest of the album has unfortunately been a bit of a disappointment: underneath the 80s soundscape lies more teenage angstscape (is that even a word?) - defying authorities and coping with peer pressure - than a 42 year old man can stomach at one listening.

I wonder if I should be learning something from this... :-)

Philadelphia, or How to Waste a Perfect Opportunity to Visit a Major US City

2008-08-13T14:55:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: Don't you love it when your flight gets cancelled...?

You wake up in a room you don't recognise. Ah yes, your flight got cancelled due to ATC congestions caused by a massive thunderstorm. Things could have been worse: sit in a plane on the tarmac for hours waiting for take-off and then (a) take off in the middle of a thunderstorm or (b) return to your gate. The hotel turns out not to be even in the same state as the airport you were flying out of: Gloucester City, New Jersey rather than Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. No wonder the ride from the airport had taken so long the night before.

The hotel the airline put you up in is a Comfort Inn, which it is neither. Rather no comfort and a Dump de Dump. The staff at check-in had been grumpy and totally incapable of cracking a smile. Hmmm having to deal with a customer base consisting mainly of passengers with cancelled flights makes you forget how to smile... The fear of scabies doesn't disspiate after a shower in a slimy tub. Check out and deal with the same unfriendly staff; is it really that difficult to smile -even if you have to work somewhere in 'burbs of Philly in New Jersey?

You find the shuttle bus you want to take back to the airport idling in front of the hotel. For 15 minutes. Now how much was the price of gas again? The bus seats 14 - legally - but there are 16 of you; the 20+ minute drive is just as long and uncomfortably bumpy as the the night before.

The train from the airport to the city centre runs every 30 minutes. Except that the one you are waiting for is more than 10 minutes late. No announcements. Are we even on the right track? The 25 minute long ride lasts longer than that, and the fare is quite steep: US$7. Beats hanging around the airport all day...

Finally in downtown Philly. What to do, especially when one does not have a map or any other forms of information on the city. Ah yes, the Liberty Bell. Thank goodness the storm last night ahs cooled down the air a bit, so the ten block walk feels good. At the intersection before the museum, you notice a group of tourists heading the same way as you. What else do you do, but put on some speed and beat them to the line. After all you want to have your belongings checked by the security staff before theirs.

You learn a lot about American liberty. How everyone loves and wants it. Except that you learn that the Bell had cracked well before July 4, 1776, and contrary to popular myth, it was not rung on that day at all. Aha, so what else about American history is a myth, you wonder? The exhibition is farily small as is the Bell itself. You have your picture taken in front of it, like the dozens of other tourists who have made it there so early in the day. You wonder how many of them were on cancelled flights, too.

Lunch time! You want a real Philly chesse steak sandwich. You've had those before at food courts, all claiming to be authentic. Except the mall nor the HQ of the chain have ever been anywhere near Philly. Suprisingly difficult to find a decent place for lunch. You locate a diner (God bless America) where you order one with buffalo chicken wings as an appie. The sandwiches - meh! - come before the wings. The wings look delightfully meaty but turn out to be lukewarm (frozen again!), and the sauce is nowhere as spicy as you want them...

Two more hours to go before it's time to return to the airport. Mindless roaming around with a surprisingly high number of Italian tourists, who are just as lost and baffled in the city as you are. Except they have maps, and you don't. What's this square again? Ah JFK Square, with a magnificent water fountain. Check out the passers-by while digesting your food. You come to realise that there's a big and famous museum that you could have visited too. You realise that you could have seen and done a bazillion of other interesting things during the six hours you're in town. Bah...

Go for a cup of coffee and a treat at Borders. Say hi to your "friends," i.e. the wider and less expensive selection of books than in Canada.

Go back to the railway station. Run to the platform from which the train to the airport is about to leave any minute now according to the schedule. Except by the time you get to the platform, panting and wheezing, you find out that the train is 16 minutes late. Nice. You pay US$ 7 again for the 25 minute ride to the airport.

With boarding passes ready since last night and the luggage checked in, proceed to the security check. Have your bottle of soda confiscated because you hadn't finished it in the morning and you thought you'd finish it later.

So yeah, Philly must be a fantastic travel destination :-)

Another Testimonial on Why Flying These Days Deserves a Boo and a Hiss

2008-08-13T12:35:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: To be fair, we have a friend who works as a flight attendant on US Air and who was on our recent flight to the east coast. It was a red eye flight, so needless to say, without him, it would have been quite uneventful and otherwise dreary as red eye flights go.

We understand that airlines are struggling with soaring fuel costs, and as a result, the paying customer gets to bear the brunt and deal with the nickling and diming of every aspect of the flying experience, such as pay US$15 for every checked in luggage...

However what we experienced on our way back goes beyond any sympathy. As my brother pointed it out quite approriately, we don't fly to get a good meal. Therefore if you want a meal, bring one on board on your own or pay for one provided by the airline - or their caterer - at least in North America.

Before our flight boarded, there were announcements that US Air had started charging for freshments (US$ 2 for a can of soda, which I think is quite preposterous when I pay CA$ 1.25 on campus, and even that is expensive) and that meal and snack boxes were available on the flight. Fair enough: a meal box for US$7 sounded like a deal.

By the time the flight attendants made it to row 15 where we were sitting, we were told that they were all out of the meal boxes. In fact, there had been only three (3!) for sale, meaning that they were all sold out by the time the attendants had made it to the second row of economy class. Basically, this means that the caterer (NOT US Air!) has calculated that an A319, that seats over a 100 passengers, has on average only three passengers on board interested in a meal. This means technically that the 12 passengers sitting on the first two rows of economy class are in first class; the rest of us is just chopped liver. As a result, a lot of grumbling was heard...

We settled for a snack box, which, in a not very untypical North American fashion, contained mainly sweet rather than savoury items with the exception of a small can of chicken salad. After 12 years in North America, I still have an issue with snacks mostly entailing something sweet, so here I'll just throw my hands in the air and deal with it :-)

Let me also point it out that this was a 5+ hour long flight! Admittedly, one could (and clearly should) have stocked up prior to departure, but where oh where does one find such a meal for 7 dollars at airports these days?!

Holiday, It Would Be SO Nice

2008-08-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Greetings from the beach, or more precisely Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. The weather is fabulously warm (25 C/80 F), the humidity is tolerable, and the drinks have been deliciously cool and juicy.

The red-eye flight to Philly was a blast! Our fellow Champagne Lady R. was one of the flight attendants on the flight, so instead of little sleep, we little sleep BUT free cocktails at the back of the A319!

Connecting with the rest of the Champagne Ladies has been a fun, but at the same time a poignant reminder of the fact that we have been utterly unsuccessful at establishing ANY kind of a circle of friends in our new environment :-(

Dave and I were subjected to a Champagne Lady Tribunal for crimes against Champanity and Champanicide (don't ask...). We were found guilty of crimes against Champanity (the issue of Champanicide was left either deliberately or undeliberately open... hmm...), but all charges were dropped because, out of mercy, the members of the Tribunal unanimously had missed us too. Awwww :-)

Now something disturbing has emerged: the fact that I'm available for the latest news both on this blig ("What on earth is a blog?!?") and Facebook ("Face what?!") has been considered not effort enough of keeping in touch... I mean, didn't I start this blog with the express goal of having and providing the opportunity to keep in touch with my friends back home, wherever "home" is...? Hmm, clearly gotta work on this...

Off to the Beach!

2008-07-31T16:23:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: How convenient! Right when the weather turned from six weeks of clear and sunny (back) to cloudy and drizzly, we're packing our bags and heading to the Beach! Which beach, you may ask. Well... I'll let you know later :-)

In the meantime, enjoy this eternal beach inspired ditty:

Maynards!

2008-07-29T22:35:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: Here's a clip of one of our favourite TV commercials for Maynards, a Canadian brand of candies ("There's fun inside!"):

The song is by a Canadian group called Major Maker, and guess what - the song is called Rollercoaster. You can see the original full clip here; for more info on the group, see their myspace page.

More Pics of Our Home

2008-07-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: How about some more pics of our home?

Outside - against the sun, hence not the sharpest pics ever - a bit like the photographer himself... - and the front porch:

More pics of the first floor, i.e. the kitchen and the dining room area:

More on Mr. van Koeverden

2008-07-29T09:14:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: If mere pics of Adam van Koeverden are not enough, how about a clip of a recent photoshoot:

Adam Van Koeverden's sexy photo shoot

Awwww, shucks... Now what was the 18th letter again? ;-)

Adam van Koeverden and the18th Letter of the Alphabet

2008-07-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Adam Van Koeverden, 26, the reigning flatwater kayak Olympic and World champion in K-1500 m, was recently chosen to be the flag bearer for the Canadian Olympic Team ("Team Canada") at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

Congratulations and good luck! Oh and he also makes me think of the 18th letter of the alphabet ;-)

Il Primogenito

2008-07-16T08:11:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: Whatever you do, don't make snide remarks about his size in front of him. Or wonder if he's pregnant. Or if he's eaten a pregnant cat. Teddy is just big-boned and has feelings too, like his "mommy" and "daddy." So there! :-)

We may have unfortunately lost exact count of how old Teddy, our first cat, is, but he still deserves the moniker Il Primogenito, or "first-born." Our former roommate, who had a cat, moved out with the cat, so we felt we wanted to get a cat, to keep that positive feng shui or whatever cats do to our living environments going on. We did plenty of research on how to choose the right kind of cat, not just in terms of breed but also in personality. Like our roommate's cat, we wanted a personable and people-friendly cat, not a hisser that hides behind couches. Eventually we contacted a lady in Dundalk, a blue-collar suburban area in Baltimore. We refer to her "affectionately" as the *Dundalk White Trash Kitty Whore*. It turned out that after we had given her the check, not only did she have kittens but also puppies for sale in a house that in hindsight had all the tell-tale signs of a puppy mill, something that all our kitty lit sources had warned us not to use...

From the litter that was presented to us, a litter of cute white kittens with peanut patches, Teddy came across as the one that was the most interested in, feisty yet delightfully playful, so we chose him. Once at home, he also turned out to be quite smart too because when he had to go for the first time, he chose to do his business on a pile of newspapers (it probably seemed familiar to him). We caught him in time and brought him again over to the litter box - and he got it! No accidents ever since - except whenever Yours Truly has forgotten to clean his litter box...

For years Teddy was this aloof cat - typical I guess, like your average teenager - who wouldn't interact much with us... except that he clearly enjoyed being in the same room or otherwise near us, purring and minding his one kitty business. Over the years, and in course of the past 2-3 years however, he has become much more affectionate, so that he actually seeks out our attention. He still doesn't like to be picked up, and when he's lying on one of us, if we have to adjust our position, he runs off. However, there's nothing like when in the mornings while I'm having breakfast - especially on mornings when I'm wearing dark and/or when I'm in a rush - he decides to climb on my lap and make himself comfortable. It really breaks my heart when I have to shoo him off. It is so relaxing to have relaxed, purring cat on your lap... You know, that feng shui kinda thing...

Despite several big moves within less than six months, including our big move to Canada, Teddy (and his "sister," on which I'll write later) has adapted pretty well to being a fabulous cat in Canada. Quite an "achievement" for a little kitty cat with humble origins in the suburbs of Baltimore!

To sum, here's some trivia on Teddy:

Full name: Teddy Helluva Cat
Nicknames: Big Cat, Pooper, Hey You
Likes: women; milk that is left over after a bowl of cold cereals
Dislikes: People who pick him up, step on him or don't clean his litter box; car trips; spritzes of water
Favourite hangout around the house: In paper bags, on the couch (see photo)
Favourite pastime: Lounge on the couch while observing the world; lick water in the bath tub
Favourite position: On his back with legs curled up
Guilty pleasure: Chewing on plants (result: barfing at 3 am)
Things that upset "mommy" and "daddy": (nocturnal) hairballs; hair

Pics of the House

2008-07-15T15:33:00.003-07:00

Tuomo writes: Here's a pic of our living room area (kitchen to the left):

But who can spot Teddy? :-)

Where's My Safe Left Turn

2008-07-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Tuomo kvetches (again): And now that I’m still in a negative place… It can’t be just me, but I find turning left in the Lower Mainland to be next to impossible. People complain about congested traffic all the time, but I am convinced that part of it has to do with the way intersections and turns to the left in particular have been handled. All other things being equal, if it weren’t, then how come my commute home, which involves several more turns to the left than on my way to work, can take well over five minutes longer?

For one, I hate it when the flow of traffic comes to a grinding halt just because someone has to turn left against on-coming traffic. With no way around this driver, everybody has to wait until there is a gap in the traffic flow for the driver to get out of the way. Hello? More turn lanes, anybody?

Ok so what really gets me the most though are turns to the left that offer turn lanes AND lights… but which are still never on or only for like a fraction of a second. You still end up waiting most of the time till the last moment, preventing drivers behind you from turning and/or moving on. Even better yet, the one or two drivers that do manage to squeeze by at the last moment do this despite the risk of blocking and/or avoiding on-coming traffic… So how does this improve general traffic flow and safety?

Here are just two examples of badly timed or managed intersections for left turners that I can think off the top of my head:

* When turning north from the Langley By-pass on to 200 St, the light (!) allows only few cars to proceed at a time from the turn lanes

* In Richmond, when turning left to Lansdowne Road from Garden City Road, the left-turn light is hardly ever on. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I could turn left at a green light; most mornings I vie for that precious gap in the on-coming traffic

Ahhh... now that I have this off my chest, I guess I can move along in my life :-)

YVR SUCKS!!!

2008-07-14T13:09:00.001-07:00

Tuomo kvetches: It's been a while since my last post. I must be going through some light form of culture shock because there are a couple of things I'd like to complain about, so pardon the unusually negative tone...

Don't you hate it when one little thing ruins everything that had been so delightful...?

Last Sunday (July 6), we returned from our three day trip to San Francisco with Pekka and Timo. We had a lot of fun, we walked around and explored the city, and needless to say had a drink or two along the way (more on this at some later point in time).

Our flight back to YVR on AC landed on time after 11pm, and everything went as usual until it was time to get off the plane. During my several decades of travels have I ever experienced where the passengers were literally trapped in the jet way because the door leading to the terminal was locked! After well over ten minutes, the doors were finally opened, and we were let in the terminal and continue our dreary treck to the customs and immigration hall.

What makes me particularly mad is that, all possible security breaches aside worthy a police/RCMP investigation (what if somebody had panicked for instance?), the two people, a young man and a woman, who came to open the door couldn't even bother to say, "We apologise." When I hear the woman say, "Thank goodness someone came to open the door; you could've been there for ages!" I asked her why we had had to wait behind the door for no reason. The only response was a sheepish grin and a shrug of shoulders...

What kind of airport management is this?!? Like does it happen often that YVR staff neglects to keep up with their schedule, especially at late hours when the last thing on passenegers' minds is wondering why they have to wait in a jetway?

All I have to say is that despite the fancy facades at YVR, I don't think I'll enjoy the experience of using YVR ever again. As if I had a choice either... :-(

It's a Baby Girl... Beluga Whale!

2008-06-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

Tuomo gushes: Not much fascinating going on in our lives, other than the anticipation of our next guests (exactly a week till Tytti arrives), so a clip on the most recent birth at the Vancouver Aquarium is called for. On Tuesday (yes, that's two days ago I know making this old news) Qila the 12 year old beluga whale gave birth to a bouncing baby girl (vitals: 1.5 metres long, weight 50+ kgs). What makes this birth interesting is that Qila herself was artificially inseminated and so was her now new-born baby girl.

This morning, the baby beluga was shown on tv swimming around in her pool quite vigorously, and was she ever cuuuuute! Not puppy cute, but beluga cute :-) She has no name yet, so if you have any suggestions, stay alert! I myself propose... hmmm... how about Qutey :-)

Weight Woes...Sorta

2008-05-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

Tuomo bellyaches: So I weighed in this morning at 206.8 lbs (93.5 kg), down by .4 lbs (180g), missing my 10 pound milepost by .4 lbs. Boo hoo hoo, ooh hoo hoo...

At least now I know for sure that the scales at the gym are more reliable...

I guess the reason why I'm feeling a bit frustrated is that the weight has been coming off so slowly. Admittedly, it didn't exactly pounce on me overnight either, but I feel desperate about weighing at least less than 200 lbs. At the same time, nor is there any self-imposed deadline by which I have to fit again in my 34" jeans, so I have to do some serious self-reflection on why I'm so adamant about being at my "ideal" weight (whatever that us). I guess one point of frustration is that I have a closet full of dress pants that I'd like to start wearing again on a regular basis and not only on days when I don't feel particularly bloated or when I think I can wing it by pulling in my belly all day long :-) They do fit me better now than way back in December when I had to wear them to two job interviews, and man was I in pain, so that's better than nothing...!

Besides, not that the path ends at reaching that ideal weight: that's when it really starts because this time, I'd really like to keep my weight at check and not to have to rejoin Weight Watchers ever again, even as a lifetime member...

Next week is going to be particularly challenging with our friends Nicole, Sean, and Nate coming over for a week as our first (summer) guests. Sean and Nate are annoyingly slim, in the sense that ostensibly they seem to be able to eat anything in sight without any effects on their waistlines. I guess this week will then have be a week of damage control. Maybe I'll sneak to the gym a couple of times on my way to or from work for a thirty minute cardio workout...

Yeah right, and pigs will fly :-)

CNN News Item of Inspiration

2008-05-30T14:06:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: So there is life after ESC... but what am I to write about? Hmmm... Oh I could always yammer on the topic of weight loss: I haven't said a word in weeks! :-)

After almost three months I haven't even lost my first 10 lbs! How frustrating :-( On one hand, there have been two trips that have jeopordised all efforts. Then there's been the issue of not going to the gym or doing any form of exercise. As Dave pointed it out, my previous stints at Weight Watchers have been most successful when I've gone to the gym. I've been going to the gym pretty regularly (as well as paid attention to my daily points except...) for the past two weeks, so I expect to see some results... like NOW! :-)

Last week, i.e. after one week of exercising (circuit training) and possibly thanks to a salty supper, I actually put on weight - 0.2 lbs, or 90 grams! This week, the scale in the bath room didn't budge showing 208 lbs (i.e. weight gain) until yesterday when it showed 206.4 (i.e. wight loss). This is the weight the scale at the gym has been showing me since Tuesday - admittely while I'm totally in the nude (not a pretty site!). At home, we've come to the conclusion that our Weight Watchers brand scale is worth diddlysquat because we gain and lose weight as we move the scale around - or even shift our position!

It's going to be interesting what the verdict is going to be tomorrow morning. I'm so close to losing my first 10 lbs - and my second golden star, which I didn't yet earn last week... But then we didn't stay for the meeting anyway, so that made me feel better about the .2 lb weight gain :-)

Those who know me know that I'm very easy to get excited about things. The same holds true for documentaries, articles, reports, what have you on weight loss. Today while getting the house ready for the first guests of the summer (!), I was watching CNN (nothing else going on on TV between 10am and 4pm...) and a segment on a guy who has lost more than 100 lbs. His story made me feel good about losing weight and got me refocused on the positive aspects of weight loss. If he could do it, then goddamnit losing 20 more pounds can't be impossible - just challenging :-)

Also check out this guy's blog in the side bar!

So wish me luck with tomorrow's weigh-in. I had two samosas for dinner, and I'm sure that with all the fat and sodium (but they were oh so yummy!!!) all my efforst for this week were pretty much ruined... or maybe not... Stay tuned!

Eurovision 2008: The Day After, or the Jetsam and Flotsam

2008-05-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: The party's over, time to wrap things up and start thinking about next year...

Thank goodness there's the Internet and message boards; I used to be so depressed the day after Eurovision with no one to discuss the results and speculate - until I got to college and found my ilk... And now I got to blog about this... It was worth growing up :-)

A couple of words on the results, starting with the Top 10:

1. Russia (272 points) Поздравляем! Apparently a dog-and-pony show with pyrotechnics isn’t enough these days: you need an ice skater too :- I still think Dima put on a better show in 2006: even the song was better than this one without a refrain...
2. Ukraine (230 points): No surprise…
3. Greece (218 points): No surprise…
4. Armenia 199 points: No surprise…
5. Norway (182 points): Norway the best Scandinavian country in 2008?! This song is starting to grow on me, but I still fear that at any moment the lyrics will turn into Christian rock…
6. Serbia (160 points): Sure, the host country always does well…
7. Turkey (138 points): Well of course :-)
8. Azerbaijan 132 points: So close behind Turkey. Go figure :-)
9. Israel 124: I still can’t believe this, but oh well…
10. Bosnia-Hertsegovina (110 points): As Dave put it (and he can be picky, so his word carries a lot of weight here!), the most original performance and a fun song, too. Besides, Finland gave this one 8 points (3rd best) in the semi-finals voting... Did the chicken get to run around on stage, too?

And then last but not least a few (hopefully well and wisely) chosen words on the others:

Latvia: 12th?! Oh and guess what: 12 points from Ireland. Quelle surprise! Thank goodness all the other mock entries were either eliminated (Ireland, Estonia) or placed lower than this (Spain). Let’s hope this nips the trend at its bud NOW. No more funny ha ha numbers, please. Ever.
Sweden: 18th?! This uber-produced, perfected and bleached beyond recognition number placed 12th in the semi-finals but made it to the finals only thanks to jury votes (instead of televotes) – and bumped Macedonia (10th) in the process. All along, Sweden was supposed to be such a shoo-in to the Top 5. Oh the irony of placing 18th. Oh and 18th last year too with 51 points vs. 47 points in 2008.
Romania: 20th?!? What’s wrong with you people?? :-(
Finland: 22nd!!! And not last… Dang! Let’s hope this puts an end to Finns believing that one can’t lose with heavy rock (“Hevillä ei voi hävitä!”) – BECAUSE YOU CAN! Try rock like Turkey… or bringing hunky javelin throwers à la Russia. And maybe have Ransu or Ti-Ti Nalle sing for Finland :-)

Now, honestly - what am I going to blog about next…? :-)

Good Evening, Bonsoir (3/3)

2008-05-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Tuomo & Dave write/écrivent: Here are finally the results of the Langley jury for the final – what a task! Voici enfin les résultats de la vote de Langley pour la finale – quel travail!

United Kingdom: one point; la Rouyaume-Unie: un point
Finland: two points; la Finlande: deux points
Turkey: three points; la Turquie: trois points
Sweden: four points; la Suède: quatre points
Bosnia-Herzegovina: five points; la Bosnie-Herzégovine: cinq points
Greece: six points; la Grèce: six points
Iceland: seven points; l’Icelande: sept points
Armenia: eight points; l’Armenie: huit points
Ukraine: ten points; l’Ukraine: dix points

And finally… our twelve points from Langley B.C. go to (drum roll)
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Romania! Et finalement nos douze points de Langley B.C. pour La Roumanie!

Thank you very much, have a nice evening everybody, and see you next year! Merci beaucoup, bonne soirée à tous, et à l’année prochaine! :-)

Eurovision 2008: Results of the 2nd Semi-Final

2008-05-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: First of all, congratulations to all the songs from the second semi-finals that made it to the finals. Once again, here's a quick commentary on today's/tonight's results (in order of performance); note that I/we haven't seen any of the performances live either:

Iceland: Yayy!
Sweden: Duh! :-(
Turkey: Whew :-)
Ukraine: Duh!
Albania: Ok...
Latvia: Tonight's WTF HTH :-(
Croatia: OK...
Denmark: This one fell in the category of Bubbling Under, so glad to see that it made it to the finals. Now, will we witness some serious nordisk samarbete on Saturday night when, after so many years of one or more Scandinavian countries missing, all are together again on the same stage...? :-)
Georgia: Ok...
Portugal: Really?! HTH? Though good for Portugal. The competition does need more diversity: just say no to glambots :-)

Totally saddened by Switzerland's failure to pass; apparently he had forgotten how to sing :-(
And no Hungary either... Dave's intuition was correct... Too Disneyesque I guess...
No Bulgaria. Macedonia. Or Belorussia. Oh well...

De gustibus non disputandus est :-)

Interesting Links on Eurovision Voting

2008-05-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: I love ESC to death - I could spend hours listening to the songs and reading on trivia, but still there are people who have elevated ESC into a science (or seen something scientific in it to study). Good for them! :-)

I just came across two websites that I have to read more carefully myself, but I thought I'd share them immediately with any of my/our readers (what... 5? 6?). Derek Gatherer (how appropriate!) has done a study on ESC voting patterns. His study has corroborated our worst fears and come to the conclusion that there is a voting block, commonly referred to as the Balkan Block, but wait - there are in fact several others!

To read and - gasp - learn more, click on the two links below:

1. Comparison of Eurovision Song Contest Simulation with Actual Results Reveals Shifting Patterns in Collusive Voting Alliances
2. Eurovision Song Contest Predictions for 2008

And don't tell me you all have already read this and that it's old stuff for you! Then why wasn't this triv... I mean... information shared with me?! :-)

Good Evening, Bonsoir (2/3)

2008-05-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

Tuomo & Dave write/écrivent: Here are the results of the Langley jury for the second semi-final; we have to say it was a difficult task to come up with tonight’s points. Voici les résultats de la vote de Langley pour la deuxième demi-finale; il faut avouer qu’il nous a fallu beaucoup de peine à ranger les points de ce soir:

Turkey: one point; la Turquie: un point
Albania: two points; l’Albanie: deux points
Belorussia: three points; Biélorussie: trois points
Macedonia: four points; la Macédoine: quatre points
Bulgaria: five points; la Bulgarie: cinq points
Sweden: six points; la Suède: six points
Iceland: seven points; l’Icelande: sept points
Hungary: eight points; la Hongrie: huit points
Ukraine: ten points; l’Ukraine: dix points

And finally… the twelve points from Langley go to (pregnant pause)
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Switzerland! La Suisse: douze points!

Thank you again, have a nice evening everybody! Merci de nouveau, bonne soirée à tous! :-)

Eurovision 2008: Serbia

2008-05-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Last but not least is Serbia, the winner of 2007 Eurovision! Serbia will be represented by Jelena Tomasević, featuring Bora Dugić, and the name of the entry is Oro:

Here or

In 2007 fembots, in 2008… this?! Hasn’t Serbia submitted this ballad before? Wasn’t this again about longing after the one and only love of one’s life (2004, 2005, and 2006)? Are the Serbians not capable of submitting a fun, uplifting Eurovision entry? Not that this has prevented them from being successfully in the Top 10 from the get go (placing 2nd, 7th, and 4th correspondingly) :-)

While Finland plods on thinking that havey metal and Teräsbetoni is the way to go… a trend that we disapprove of and ope will in 2008 :-)

Eurovision 2008: United Kingdom

2008-05-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: After decades of being one of the few countries (with Ireland and Malta) to be allowed to sing entire songs in English, the language of international pop culture, the star of the United Kingdom has waned a lot since the mid 90s. The nadir must have been in 2003 when the UK joined the zero points club hosted by Finland and Norway! Oh well the only way is up, even for the United Kingdom who, as one of the Big Four, doesn’t have to lift a finger (i.e. qualify through semi-finals) to be in the finals. And by the way to be fair: the same applies to the other three Big Four…

In 2008, the United Kingdom introduces Andy Abraham and Even If:

Here or

Positively the most ambitious, most professional ESC performance by the UK in years! Good job: I loved this!! But will it win? The UK will be performing second on Saturday, that cursed position that - to date - has failed to generate a winning song...

Eurovision 2008: France

2008-05-22T08:55:00.001-07:00

Tuomo écrit: When I started learning French, there were no such things as an Internet, youtubes, message boards, let alone support groups. All there was li’l ole geeky moi who desperately wanted to learn French. Every year I would therefore look forward to the Eurovision song contest for musical language material in French (remember – no MP3 files to go around in any language…). At best, there would be France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg with entries in French; at worst, there was just la douce France. With the help of subtitles in Finnish, I tried to decipher the original French and sing along as well as I could. To this day, I think the best way to learn to pronounce any language – a language like French in particular – is to sing, so I guess I was intuitively on to something… Or could it be that this argument somehow circular :-) Beuf, qu'est-ce qu'on peut y faire...? :-)…

In 2008, France sends in Sébastien Tellier and Divine:

Here or

Mon dieu: Jesus sings Pet Shop Boys :-) A pleasantly bizarre performance à la Cirque du Soleil kinda way that only the Francophones can successfully pull it off. Which is also one of the reasons why I remain a Francophile after all these years :-)

M'enfin... Sauf que je ne suis pas convaincu que cette chanson soit même en français… Je l’aime malgré tout mais je n’en comprends pas les paroles. Anglais? Français? Ou même Occitan? Ou c’est peut-être seulement moi qui après toutes ces années en Amerique du nord sans contact (et hélas effort) quotidien n’arrive plus à comprendre… À l’aide!!! :-)

Eurovision 2008: Results of the 1st Semi-Finals

2008-05-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: First of all, congratulations to all the songs that made it to the finals. Here's a quick commentary on today's/tonight's results (in order of performance); note that I/we haven't seen any of the performances live yet:

Israel: I'm surprised... We had this on our Bubbling Under list.
Azerbaijan: Well duh :-)
Norway: I still think this is like two day old oatmeal. As Dave put it, nice melody, awful lyrics.
Poland: This instead of Slovenia?! :-( I'm appalled...
Bosnia-Herzegovina: I'm surprised that Dave loved this... It's groing on me too though :-)
Armenia: Well duh :-)
Finland: What the BWAAHMP?!? :-) HTH, or How this happen? So the testosterone driven 14-year-olds across the continent got their act together and televoted en masse as I has suspected... Well, good for Finland! Though clearly this is sending the wrong message to Finns and Finnish teenagers in particular :-)
Romania: Thank goodness!!!
Russia: This song is in a dire need a distinct refrain. As it is now it just sounds flat from the beginning to the end
Greece: Well duh :-)

So Slovenia didn't make it. I'm forced to push forth my lower lip as I sulk on this. Not happy :-(
And Belgium didn't make it either. We both thought it was cute with its klezmer sound...

Oh and thank heavens that neither Estonia nor Ireland succeeded in their attempts to sabotage the competition! Mwahahahaaa :-)

OK on to the second semi-finals, which I suspect will turn into a proverbial bloodbath with more than just 10 good candidates running for the remaining 10 slots in Saturday's finals...

Good Evening, Bonsoir (1/3)

2008-05-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

Tuomo & Dave write/écrivent: Here are the results of the Langley jury; voici les résultats de la vote de Langley:

The Netherlands: one point; les Pays-bas: un point
Azerbaijan: two points; l’Azerbaïdjan: deux points
San Marino: three points; Saint-Marin: trois points
Bosnia-Herzegovina: four points; la Bosnie-Herzégovine: quatre points
Belgium: five points; la Belgique: cinq points
Greece: six points; la Grèce: six points
Andorra: seven points; l’Andorre: sept points
Armenia: eight points; l’Arménie: huit points
Slovenia: ten points; la Slovénie: dix points

And finally… the twelve points from Langley go to (pregnant pause)
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Romania! La Roumanie: douze points!

Thank you, have a nice evening! Merci, bonne soirée! :-)

Eurovision 2008: Portugal

2008-05-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: We've come to the last semi-finalist, Portugal!

For the longest time, ESC victory for the geographical outliers of Europe, Norway, Greece, Finland, Iceland, and Portugal, remained elusive until Norway broke the mold in 1985… then Greece in 2001… then Finland in 2006. This leaves Iceland and Portugal as the last western European countries that still have to dream of an ESC victory. Iceland came in pretty close to that dream in 1999 placing 2nd when That Bitch Whose Name Is Not to Be Said Aloud took home the award. Portugal, however, has placed only 6th as its closest to winning (1996) so Portugal needs to work hard to win. Or make it to the Top 5 – which, incidentally, Finland hadn’t made it to until winning in 2006! :-)

In 2008, Portugal is represented by Vânia Fernandes and Senhora do mar:

Here or

Again for fear of the wrath, this time of a certain Lusitanophile, I’ll just say that Vânia’s performance will probably “grow on me" … and that Portugal needs to continue to work hard… or geto ver the fact that Fado, as heart-twistingly fascinating as it is, does not quite work on teh ESC arena:-)

Eurovision 2008: Macedonia

2008-05-19T15:21:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: I don’t care what Greece wants this country to be called, but here’s Macedonia, Tamara, Vrčak & Adrian, and Let Me Love U/Vo imeto ljubovta:

Here or

(In Macedonian here)

Once again, better in the original Macedonian: leaves something for the imagination. Not that I wondered too much about this one – at this stage at least. Maybe later in the gym :-)

Eurovision 2008: Cyprus

2008-05-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: People complain about how the Balkan Block has taken over the Eurovision Song Competition tipping the balance of top ten countries in favor of the newbies, i.e. east European countries and the Balkans in particular. Well, lemme tell ya, everything pales to the game of “Douze Point Footsie” between the old school countries of Greece and Cyprus. Talk about neighborly fraternization when year after year these two countries would spare their highest points for each other – though admittedly this has become less blatant in course of the more recent years…

In 2008 Cyprus brings forth Evdokia Kadi and Femme Fatale:

Here or

Oπα! Bring on the bouzouki! And electric guitars, oh my…

In 2007, the entire song was in French (too bad it didn’t make it to the finals), this year just the title. Just wondering if this is going to be in Greek or English? No matter what, Cyprus – provided that they make it to the final along with Greece (duh!) – will get the token 12 points from Greece…

From me, 12 points for bringing hot men on stage… For the rest of performance, I better hold my tongue for fear of the wrath of certain Hellenophiles… and say no more than that this was quite original :-)

Eurovision 2008: Malta

2008-05-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Gone are the days when Malta’s preview video would invariably feature an Air Malta aircraft shown taking off, taxiing or otherwise idling as a back drop for the performer(s). Talk about product placement! :-)

In 2008, Malta is represented by Morena and Vodka:

Here or

Cheesy with a Russian twist – and in not a fun way either :-(

Eurovision 2008: Hungary

2008-05-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: The year Hungary entered the big happy Eurovision family (1994) with Estonia, I thought that this would be an opportunity of a life time to corroborate the myth that Finland's lack of success was due to the language. When Hungary ended up placing 4th (but Finland 22nd and Estonia 24th out of 25), maybe it was just a conspiracy against Finland after all irregardless of what we submitted... Or maybe that Finland was truly bad, as we came to witness when Estonia got to participate again in 1996...

In 2008, Hungary brings forth Csézy and Szívverés/Candle Light:

Here (in Hungarian) or

NooOOOoooOOOooo…! Don’t perform in English – it just falls apart, especially with lyrics like I will fly tonight – how boring...! Otherwise a pleasant traditional Eurovision ballad. Sok szerencsét!

Eurovision 2008: Georgia

2008-05-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Last year’s debutante Georgia, who did quite well by placing 12th (5 higher than Finland!), is next with Diana Gurtskaya and Peace Will Come:

Here or

Beautiful, harrowing, easy listening for Saturday’s final… but not a Eurovision winner 2008. Or I may have to eat my shorts :-)

Eurovision 2008: Denmark

2008-05-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: And now, everybody’s favourite Scandinavian country, Denmark (with two wins, in 1963 and 2000), Simon Mathew, and All Night Long:

Here or

Hvordan siger man “snooze fest” på dansk? :-)

Eurovision 2008: Bulgaria

2008-05-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Next in line is Bulgaria, one of the more recent Eurovision participants. In 2008 Bulgaria is represented by Deep Zone & Balthazar and Take Me Away:

Here or

Whoaaah a Kylie Minogue wannabe partying to a hip hop riff – or whatever this genre is (I’m so getting old …). Starts ambitiously, then slows annoyingly down and then sorta trots till the end. I guess I kinda like this one… Cool facial tattoos though :-)

Eurovision 2008: Croatia

2008-05-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Oops! I just realised earlier today that the first semi-finals is tomorrow (Tuesday)! Thanks to dragging my feet after my return to Canada, I can only blame myself for having 12 more countries to "review." As a result, the remaining countries will have to suffer from limited reflection and will be subject to a quick and potentially curt reviewing, for which I apologise in advance...

So withour further ado, the next in line is Croatia. Croatia plucks a special chord in Dave's and my ESC hearts. Way back in 1999 when Dave had his ESC baptism of fire Maria Magdalena was Croatia's entry that year, and we both fell in love with its dramatic spell...

In 2008, Croatia showcases Kraljevi ulice & 75 Cents, and the name of the entry is Romanca:

Here or

This is so 1970s that it was… almost... not funny. I was almost expecting a JAT aircraft to appear any minute...

How Does Your Garden Grow

2008-05-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: The first really warm days of summer have finally arrived, with temperatures on Saturday up to the high 20s C (high 80s F). That means that we've scoped a lot of hot men parading around shirtless - and others (bless their hearts) who shouldn't... :-)

Thanks to the good weather we've been able to focus on the exterior of the house, or to be more precise, our porch and front garden. Our porch looks has bleeding hearts, choleas, and a begonia in tall pots. As for the trees and bushes that came with the original landscaping, they have been blooming and thriving quite well. However, we felt that we had to try our hand at landscaping (and discovered first-hand why grass is good is great at preventing erosion) and expand the growing area by creating two lobes on which the following plants were planted (in no particular order):

Two red dragon weeping Japanese miniature maple trees (acer palmatum dissectum 'Red Dragon')
Goldfingers (potentilla fructicosa)
Princess potentillas (potentilla fruticosa 'princess')
Robb's wood spurges (euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae)
Evergreen spurges (euphorbia characias wulfenii)
Cushion spurges polychroma (euphorbia epithymoides)
Sea thrifts (armeria maritima 'rubrifolia')
Butterfly blues (scabiosa columbaria)
Catchflies (silene schafta)
Dwarf variegated boxwoods (euonymus japonica 'microphylla variegata')
Azalea exburies (azalea 'exbury hybrid')

Various body parts may be aching or sunburned, but we are very satisfied with the fruit of our labour. Why don't you come over and see it all! :-)

BTW, for more on the origins of the nursery rhyme that the title of today's posting alludes to, click here.

Home Sweet Home

2008-05-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: So I’ve been back to Canada for almost two weeks now. The weather has sucked ever since though it’s supposed to be super nice this coming weekend (long one too – Victoria Day - woohoo) with temperatures in the low 20s C (low 70s). On the day I left Helsinki (May 2), it was quite warm and dry in Helsinki – 18C (65F) – whereas in Vancouver it has been rainy and only 12C (54F), so go figure… As always when traveling westwards, jetlag was easy to overcome so that by the fifth night Dave was in bed before me!

Packing my things was a bit of a challenge because not only was I bringing back some of mom’s birthday presents with me (the clothes were too small) and other purchases (books and CDs) but also a boatload of stuff that mom had decided that it was time for me to take with me. I was sure I would be penalized at the airport for excess luggage; it turned out that I had only 33 kg (72 lbs), or one kilo (2 lbs) too much. I had to stuff that excess kilo in my carry-on there-and-then, which was also certainly over limits! I wanted to pay a penalty, but the friendly check-in person told that if my luggage weighs too much, the loaders may decide not to move it at all, so carrying that extra kilo on my back wasn’t that much of a hassle, I guess! As a result, my Roots backpack resembled more a pregnant squirrel (!) than a backpack.

Keep in mind that it was warm on that day, and Finns don’t believe in A/C, at least not that early in May! On top of that, I was wearing my leather jacket because who knows how much my luggage would have weighed if I had packed it in my it. A week earlier the jacket had been appropriate, but now with the weather being warmer, it was too much. Needless to say, I was sweating bullets, so so much for traveling looking fresh and fabulous. Fortunately, while I had to lug my Pregnant Squirrel around for the rest of the day, I wouldn’t have to deal with my luggage until YVR…

While I was waiting for my flight to London-Heathrow (LHR) to board, I talked to Tytti for the last time. On my way to the airport, she had texted me telling that she had purchased her plane ticket to come see us in Canada for two weeks in June. This was great news because her stay would overlap with Pexu’s and Timo’s stay in early July – yayyy! Poor Langley has no idea…! She sounded very excited about her trip to Känädä, especially when her itinerary will pretty much trace mine, except that she’ll have more than two hours to transfer terminals at LHR. Smart move if I may say so!

My flight to LHR was on flight BA 6079, operated by a Finnair (AY839 ) Airbus A320 (OH-LXG; picture not mine). I have to say I love flying on Airbus 320s because not only are they an inch or two wider than 737s, giving them an air of more space, but Finnair also keeps the display screens down while taxing so that you can have a view forward. We pulled back exactly on scheduled time of departure 2:05 PM, and approximately ten minutes later we were taking off towards the northeast over Tuusula, “The Langley of Helsinki.” After a sharp veer to the left, we headed towards the west, flying north of Hanko, Stockholm, and Ålborg towards the North Sea. Lunch was served practically within the first 30 minutes of flight. This time I have to say I was more pleased with the meal, spinach and ricotta lasagna, probably because it was still fresh and had not been heated for too long unlike on my way to HEL. I purchased two Finnair Embraer 170 models, one for Tuukka and one for myself, and I would have bought a Moomin umbrella too if they hadn’t run out of them. Boo, hiss…

Having a window seat has its disadvantages, like when you gotta go, you have to bother your fellow passengers. On this flight I was lucky because I had seat 10A and no one occupying the B and C seats. Queen of Sheeba, as the Champagne Lady battle cry goes! At any rate, over the North Sea, I noticed a plane approaching ours, and for the first time ever (I think) I was able to identify not only the model (Boeing 767) but also to which airline it belonged to (American Airlines). It passed us above and behind us, so it must have just taken off from Amsterdam because it was picking up altitude and coming from the south or southwest. Pretty cool and creepy at the same time – thank goodness Dave wasn’t there :-)

On approach to LHR, since we were a bit ahead of our schedule, we had to circle once (?) somewhere over northeast London. After that, the Captain turned off the IFE making it impossible to determine whether we were circling or just flying around the heavily congested airspace around and over London. Besides, flying in the clouds made it impossible to determine visually based on the sun what we were doing. At any rate, we approached LHR from the east approximately 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Considering that I had exactly two hours to make the up-and-down transition from Terminal One to terminal Five, I thought this was a good omen. However, the gate where we were supposed to park was occupied so we ended waiting for more than 15 minutes on the tarmac. Fortunately the Captain had left the IFE display screens down so that I had the pleasure of observing taxiing aircrafts from multiple vantage points. Gotta love LHR for that!

Once we were parked, it was a mad rush for everyone off the place; imagine the Pamplona run of the bulls but in the aisle of an A320! First it was an endless hike along the winding corridors of Terminal One. Remember that I was wearing my leather jacket AND carrying a Pregnant Squirrel on my back. Oh and a bag of goodies that I had bought in Helsinki tax free and on Finnair… All of this made the trek to the Terminal Five shuttle bus comparable to the Bataan Death March. To add insult to injury, there were no windows to catch a glimpse or two of airplanes. Fortunately once on the shuttle bus, which didn’t leave immediately but almost ten minutes later, I was able to rearrange my belongings, and dab a drop of sweat or two off my brow – a traveler comme moi does have to keep up that air of fresh and fabulous at all times!

At Terminal Five, it was up a flight of escalators (or was it two, I can’t recall) and another trek along an endless corridor until I got to a place that seemed to function like a place of triage (“You? Bangkok.. over there. You? Rio… This way please. You? Nairobi… Turn around and go to another terminal.”). A valuable word of advice for anyone traveling through LHR (wink wink, nudge nudge): keep your passport and boarding pass at hand AT ALL TIMES. At my “triage” path I had to show not only my travel documents but also ask questions about my address and my immigrant status in Canada (!?). However, unlike when entering the States by air, the lady who punched in my info in the computer was all smiles and friendly, and actually responded to my knee-jerk “Have a nice day”! I almost wish she really was as delighted by this standard North American form of bidding farewell asI thought she was… :-)

Up another flight of escalators, and I found myself at a place that I have to admit was the worst episode at LHR: the security check line. The line seemed endless, but in the end went surprisingly smoothly. Once again, I did not have to take out my laptop, but I did have to take off my shoes and belt – and still something beeped! It must have been my wrist band that normally doesn’t set off any alarms. And guess what – I was sweating bullets again!

Let me tell you something. Terminal Five is not just huge – it is huh-YOUGE! After the security check point and rearranging my belongings, I got the first true look at the new and infamous terminal. From where I stood, I could see shops till the horizon – and this was just the uppr level. Downstairs was the waiting area for flights leaving from Terminal 5A and even more shopping. It was like a hair under an hour to the scheduled departure time for my flight to YVR, so the departure gate hadn’t been posted on the monitors yet, similar to what they had done at Terminal One on my way to HEL.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to peruse the numerous stores because moments later the departure gate in terminal 5C was announced. This meant that I had to go down a flight of escalators and get on a shuttle train. I still find this part a little confusing because I am still under the impression that the trains run to virtually anywhere and that if you don’t pay attention, you’ll end up in Sussex or something and consequently miss your flight. Somehow I made it to the right platform (and not for high tea in Sussex) meaning that I had to go up another flight of escalators. (Hmmm… I feel a song coming up) to the main level where all departure gates are.

I love British Airways (BA), and I know that LHR, which BA has virtually no control over, is run by BAA. I had asked the check-in lady in HEL if it were possible to be upgraded to Economy Plus, but she told me that I’d have to do that in LHR. Since there were still a good 20 minutes till boarding, I went to the BA service desk to see if I could still be upgraded. This is the conversation that followed with the BA (or possibly BAA) agent (more or less verbatim):

ME: Hi, I’m on the flight to Vancouver, and I…
STAFF: Yes, your flight is Gate **, but they haven’t started boarding yet.
ME: Ah yes, I’m aware of this. What I wanted to know is if it were still possible to be upgraded.
STAFF: Oh I’m terribly sorry, sir, but we don’t deal with money or booking issues. You’ll have to go back to the main terminal to that, but I'm afraid you won't have time for that [turns on her lip gloss at full glare].

Now that was helpful, wasn't it?! I don’t know what to think of this episode other than what a dimwitted twat she came across as, I mean in the way she approached my inquiry. So not only no upgrade, but I was also made to feel stupid for not having realized that of course to get an upgrade I should have acted earlier in the main terminal …

So now we’re a full 747-400 worth of passengers waiting to board a 9 hour plus flight in what I think was a ridiculously small area. The best part was that I knew that we’d have to go down one more flight of escalators (what’s up with this?!) because we were too high in the terminal just to sashay onboard our aircraft (G-BNLL; picture not mine). And sure enough, though the boarding began from the back of the aircraft, the way the gates were organized and how the passengers were lined up, it was not a very speedy process. Fortunately I had been assigned a window seat (37K in front of a bulkhead) next to a lovely couple, who had just flown in from Barcelona and their two week Mediterranean cruise. Scheduled departure time at 5:10PM came and went, and there were still passengers boarding. All things considered, we pulled back 35 minutes behind schedule, which also meant that we had to wait some extra time to actually get the permission to pull back and start taxiing towards the runway; interestingly we passed by OH-LXG that had not left LHR yet, so I got one last glimpse at the aircraft that had brought me so far. In the end, we took off 55 minutes behind schedule towards the west.

Our nine hour flight began quite low first to the west, the sharply turned towards the northeast (I guess to avoid the airspace above Luton), and before picking up altitude and heading then to the northwest over western parts of Scotland and Vattnajökull in Iceland (unfortunately covered by a thick layer of clouds) off to central Greenland and easternmost parts of Canada over Baffin Island. It probably says something about the size of Canada when it took a bit over half of the nine hour flight to reach Canada’s shorline and then the rest of the flight was over… Canada! Despite the clouds over Iceland and parts of Greenland, the weather conditions during most of the remaining flight time were excellent so that I could see some dramatic geographic landscapes over Western Greenland and real icebergs – not just ice floats but icebergs! – floating in the Davis Strait. Lemme tell ya: there ain’t nothing up in the northernmost parts of Canada – just flat and covered in snow! It wasn’t until we had reached northern Alberta or thereabouts that the landscape started changing. We finally reached the Rockies, and I think this was the best view I’ve ever had of this majestic mountain range. Sometimes I wonder if I would have been happy as a geologist… Too bad by the time we started our descent that clouds appeared and covered pretty much rest of the flight over the Lower Mainland all the way to YVR.

Despite my disappointment thanks to the dimwitted agent in Terminal 5C, I still have to say I lurve British Airways very much. After a round of drinks (gin and tonic pour moi thankyouverymuch!) and a bag of pretzels, served Economy Class promptly, we were served dinner, which for me was pesto chicken; this time none of it dripped on my shirt. A bit over an hour before arrival, we were served a snack. This consisted of delicious triangle sandwiches and a stick of juicy pineapple - but much to my disappointment: NO CLOTTED CREAM. Clotted cream, served on my previous flights to the US with the pre-arrival snack, had been one of the selling points for me when I booked my flight to Finland. So what am I going to do now if I can’t rely on BA to get my does of clotted cream every once in a while?!? I’m forced to wonder what Virgin Airways or BMI serve on their flights, if they do serve clotted cream, and most importantly when will they start serving YVR? Only kidding: my love for British Airways (except for their ground agents perhaps) remains as strong as ever… :-)

I have to admit that with a thought given to healthy meals by airlines, I find it strange that this time and age both Finnair and British Airways did not offer an artificial sweetener in addition to sugar with any of their meals; fortunately I was prepared and had brought my own stash of Splenda. Another thing that I thought was seriously strange was the fact that immigration forms were not distributed until after the snack. My experience on previous crossings of the Atlantic has been that these forms have been distributed quite early in the flight and oftentimes even before the first meal. I guess the fact that Canadian customs and immigration forms are nowhere as intimating and nerve-wrecking (let alone the actual process at the airport) as the corresponding US forms might have something to do with this…

We broke through the clouds over Surrey, so that I was actually able to identify Dave’s work place and the huge flag pole near I, meaning that we were approaching YVR from the eastt. Thanks to the heavy clouds, I couldn’t see any of the Rockies that rise to the north of Vancouver, but I got to see Route One (Trans-Canada Highway) from the air. After some 10 minutes it was touchdown time, and a couple of minutes later we were docked and ready to get up and stretch our stiff legs. Ironically, I saw that there was an Air New Zealand 767 at YVR; now Auckland would be a killer destination – in more ways than one!

Immigration was a breeze despite the long lines. After a short wait at the luggage carrousel, I was able to pick up my prized luggage, and I passed customs without a hitch. All this within an hour after touchdown! I was expecting just Tuukka to be there to pick me up, but Mika was there too – and so was Dave!!! By this time, I had been up for over 22 hours, but I was still going strong – until we got in the car… that’s when the ocular screen savers began to feel heavy. Although I had initially expressed a desire to grab something to eat before hitting the hay, but by the time we got to Langley and I had done some unpacking, I was way too tired to do anything else than getting some shut-eye (none of that for me during the flight – I was too busy cross stitching!) and in a horizontal position around 9PM, 24 hours after I had woken up in Helsinki. Curled up to Dave...

Ahh home sweet home indeed :-)

What I Miss about Finland

2008-05-04T05:46:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Now that I'm back to Canada, it is time to reflect on things that I'll miss about Helsinki and Finland:

* Rye bread
* Beverages such as Jaffa, Lonkero, siideri, sima
* Fazer Blue chocolate
* Ice cream and other dairy products - loaded with Points...
* Mämmi (for better or worse)
* Learning new idioms and expressions in my native tongue such as mokkula “blackberry” or tuunata “to fix; to upgrade; to pimp”
* Cool bars and clubs such as Hercules or Baker’s Champagne Happy Hour: a flute of champagne for one euro = 1.56 CAD/USD! (Limit 4/person/round – guess how many flutes I had!)
* Fabulous shopping at Stockmann, Akateeminen kirjakauppa, Kiseljeff Centre, etc.
* Fabulous – yet expensive – design wear, e.g. Marimekko, Aarikka, Iittala, etc.
* Fabulous cafes and other places to sit down and chitchat over a cup of coffee: Café Engel, Café Fazer, Strindberg, Ekberg, and Esplanade just to name a few
* Cool free papers such as City, Papper, Sixth Degree, and Voima
* A functional, no-fuss public transportation system - except for the electronic tickets
* Ridiculously easy access to outdoorsy activities
* Men who jog or bike in spandex gear in public ;-)
* Prices with taxes and service included
* Consequently, being able to figure out the exact change in advance or splitting bills without a hassle
* Water that allows soap to lather and rinse off without a lot of scrubbing
* Long days e.g. May 1st sunrise: 5:18AM; sunset: 9:18 PM – and it only gets better for another month or so!
* Fabulous conversations with my friends on topics ranging from ancient datives and translation theory to and gossiping on human relations over an omenasiideri (or two)
* My folks – whether I admit it or not...

Rinse & Repeat: Getting on a Jet Plane Again

2008-04-29T22:53:00.001-07:00

Tuomo writes: So my dear friends, my two weeks in Finland are up - almost. I won't be leaving until Friday afternoon, but between now and then is Vappu, or First of May, the Anti-Halloween - six months till Halloween. To celebrate Vappu to its full extent, one has to wear a white cap so that one can get drunk, buy a balloon, and wear a fake nose in public; in essence, Vappu differs from other holidays in the sense that at Vappu you buy a balloon and wear a fake nose :-)

But I digress... There will be a three day hiatus because I have to return my broadband modem later this afternoon (stores will be closed on Vappu), so the next time I'll be posting is on Saturday - at the earliest. Hopefully I'll be posting my ruminations on Eurovision soon enough - and then the real speculation starts...! And hopefully I'll be able to move on to topics that have a broader interest among my readers - all five of them! :-) Oh and pictures...

So it's bye for now from Helsinki; talk to you soon from Langley!

Eurovision 2008: Latvia

2008-04-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Latvia, along with Estonia, its Baltic neighbour to the north, has managed to write a Eurovision success story in a relatively short time: in less than a decade after participating for the first time, Latvia hosted the competition in 2002 (though not in my opinion thanks to great winning song...). Now if only Lithuania also were able to figure out the winning code, we could start suspecting a Baltic conspiracy - or something in their diet or something...

In 2008, Latvia introduces Pirates of the Sea and Wolves of the Sea:

Here or

Ummm… Excuse me… Hi… The auditions to the Disney musical is… somewhere else.

OK so much for a Baltic success story for this year. Oh how the might have fallen...

I’ll the first to plead guilty of buying dance remix albums of Disney’s best of tunes (note to self: stop buying them – that just encourages Disney to release some more). And I'll be the first one to admit that more often than not the outcome is annoying, if not downright awful, an insult to both genres.

In other words please: somebody… please… tell… me… how… to… get… this… tune… out… of… my… head!

Eurovision 2008: Belarus

2008-04-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: This is the second time Belarus participates. Sitting behind a group of Belarussians cheering for Koldun and the Belarus entry last year in the Hartwall Hall, you would have thought it was government imposed. Hmmm, considering that we're talking about Belarus, maybe it was... :-) At any rate, the cheer worked, and Belarus did fairly well for a newbie and placed in the top 10.

So here's Belarus for the second time in 2008 with Ruslan Alehno and Hasta la vista:

Here or

Seems like Belarus has figured ESC out: entries have to be cheesy to succeed. Like Koldun last year, the singer is cheesy, the lyrics are cheesy, the choreography is cheesy. If it were any cheesier, mice would be having a field day! :-)

Speaking of cheesy, I'm a little surprised that Dave didn't showcase Belarus from 2007 and Dmitry Koldun: “Work your magic SHOE...!” And that cheesy move that you can see at 03:05 :-) If there's a song from 2007 that Dave enjoys - be it for its cheesy nature or what - Dmitry is it!

Eurovision 2008: Czech Republic

2008-04-28T03:26:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: The Czech Republic was last year’s newbie in Helsinki, but no beginner’s luck for the Czech. Though 2007 was the year of heavy rock inspired tunes, the Czech macho rock entry did not get much support – much like the other countries who had thought that Lordi’s monster rock romp from the year before would be a promise of things to come. Cyprus, Iceland, and Montenegro all got eliminated in the semi-finals along with the Czech Republic, and even Finland, already pre-qualified for the final, didn’t make it to the top 10 (what a big surprise). So much for a new trend… other than for Finland :-)

This year, the Czech Republic tries again by sending in Tereza Kerndlová to perform the Czech entry Have Some Fun:

Here or

For a moment I thought this was the Egyptian entry :-)

This video clip confirms two things: 1) if you’re thin, you get to prance around in hot pants and wave pompoms; 2) otherwise you’re relegated to the choir and forced to wear black. :-

In terms of music, this was somewhat boring in my ears although normally I would go for the more pop-infused tunes. What's wrong with me???! At any rate, an improvement from last year... I'll learn to like this one too - I promise! :-)

Eurovision 2008: Switzerland

2008-04-28T03:24:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Switzerland is one of the founding members of Eurovision, but the prestigious legacy has waned a lot since Celine Dion belted out Ne partez pas san moi in 1987. When the rules dictated that the songs would have to be performed in the official languages of the countries, Italy was one lucky bastard with four languages to choose from: German, French, Italian, and Romansch. Needless to say, like in the case of Belgium, all languages were not treated alike with French or Italian being statistically better choices for success. However, ever since Switzerland has gone for English as their language of choice, success has been even more elusive…

In 2008, Switzerland has sent in Paolo Meneguzzi whose song is called Era stupendo:

Here or

Swoon! First, years go by without a single song in Italian (with the exception of Romania trying to squeeze a phrase here and there) - and now this is the third one this year! Mamma mia!

In terms of musical qualities, Era stupendo is pure Eurovision heaven: slightly raspy voice and pianos -and tons of emotions. I’m not sure if I like the change in tempo halfway through the song though; my mind almost would like to process this as two separate songs.

Last but not least, just in case people want to know what I think about the singer: he's cute too. Cute in a gouge your eyes out with this rusty fork kinda way :-) Is this some kind of prerequisite if you want to sing in Italian?!

Eurovision 2008: Albania

2008-04-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: For a country that used to be synonymous to reclusion, secrecy, and boorishness, Albania has fared well in the Eurovision Song Contest since their entry in 2004 (?). I'm thinking in particular of Albania placing in the much coveted top 10, who were guaranteed a spot in the final, in their first year! This year, Albania is represented by Olta Boka, and her song is called Zemrën e lamë peng:

Here or

My Albanian is kinda rusty (!) if not downright nonexistant, but clearly she sang very solefully about something that was giving her a lot of grief. In terms of music, this was pure Eurovision ballad material, and I would imagine her exuding a lot of stage presence once she gets on stage in Belgrade. I kinda liked it, but I'm sure to fully appreciate it, I would have to listen to it a couple of more times... which I will, trust me :-)

Eurovision 2008: Lithuania

2008-04-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Lithuania seems to be the New Finland (not that the Old Finland would have gone anywhere): a country that has submitted all kinds of songs without much receiving much international renown. Amazing when you consider that Lithuania's fellow Baltic countries, Latvia and Estonia, have both won and have both had a relatively amount of success before and after their victories. Could it be something in the water or what?

In 2008, Lithuania is represented by Jeronimas Milius who will sing Nomads in the Night:

Here or

Good voice; boring though. Apparently International Male delivers to Lithuania.

Hercules: Eurovision Heaven

2008-04-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: I think I was in Eurovision Heaven - or Hell depending on your view on ESC...

Last night (Saturday) a bunch of us was supposed to get together. Unfortunately things didn't work out according to planned, but at least I had a delightful dinner at Himalaja, one of the Nepalese restaurants in Helsinki, and then got plenty of exercise exploring Eira after dark, one of the more fashionable parts of Helsinki. After a cidre at O'Malley's, I continued the evening by going to Hercules - also known as Herccu, or Herkku ("deli" in Finnish) - all by myself (another friend was supposed to show up there, but in the end, he sent me a text message to let me know that he wasn't coming after all).

At any rate, the place was hopping! When I walked in (there was no line when I got to Hercules, but before I got in there was one right behind me!), they were playing this year's Swedish entry Hero. As I sipped on my omenasiideri, or apple cidre, the DJ played one Eurovision entry after another. Invincible. Qele qele. Sata Salamaa. You name it - the DJ played it! Too bad I had no one to dance with...

Oh and the bar was teeming with dark, swarty, and slim Italians and Spaniards. They seemed to be having a fun time hitting on the willing Finns. Unfortunately, none of them had the audacity to approach me; I mean, what does that make me, chopped liver?! :-)

Or could it be that I was actually looking for an excuse to go home early (which I got with that text message from the friend who I was expecting to meet at Herkku) and I didn't quite look like I'be fun to be with - or even available? Nah :-)

Eurovision 2008: Ukraine

2008-04-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Ukraine is yet another Eurovision newbie with less than 10 years under the belt but this has not prevented them from winning (in 2004 as their second year in the competition). Not a bad feat for a country when Finland at that point could only dream of such glory!

In 2007 ,Ukraine put on a show of a life time when Verka Serduchka got on stage in Helsinki and belted out Lasha Tumbai in her crazed-out drag outfit – and came in second! In fact even my parents loved Verka… though I strongly suspect that they did not quite get the joke – like that Verka was a dude in silver dress… To date then, Verka’s performance has been the best in the category of unorthodox Eurovision performances, which unfortunately has apparently given the green light this year for other countries to pull the same off. They do say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but for the time being, I don’t think that Verka can be beat.

At any rate, here is Ukraine in 2007 with Ani Lorak and Shady Lady:

Here or

After Ukraine’s romp with Verka last year, I was expecting to be disappointed. But no: I just love dance music like this: I look forward to working out to this. Also a great stage show based on the YouTube clip. But is it Eurovision? And what’s with the Lordi monster rip-offs? And do something about the owowowoowww in the beginning.

And for those who want more Verka, enjoy!

Eurovision 2008: Turkey

2008-04-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: As my/our readers may recall, I love listening - and shaking my bootie - to Turkish music. I don't think I would ever become a fan of performers such as Tarkan or Sezen Aksu if it hadn't been for Eurovision. Ever since Turkey entered the Eurovision scene, I have been fascinated by the Turkish entries. Like Finland, Turkey was practically a staple among the lowest places - until televoting became the way the Eurovision champion would be elected, which undeniably has had an influence on Turkey's relatively high placings in recent years

From day one, Turkey was lightyears ahead of time and occasionally out of place (whereas Finland still remains lightyears out of place): exotic sounds of both the music and language were difficult to digest until pop music in general started to incorporate eastern sounds. And then the parameters changed - elements in Turkish music became maisntream - and bam, that was it: Turkey won in 2004! This year Turkey is represented by Mor ve Ötesi, and their entry is called Deli:

Here or

Alrighty - this has to be the best rock song this year, hands down! I hope people haven't got the impression that I'm against rock music in the Eurovision Song Competition. In the contrary - it just has to be good rock music (what ever that means - which will open a whole new can of worms, but we'll leave it at that for the time being). And this one was good rock - inTurkish. I have to say that this is a bold move for Turkey and possibly a healthy reminder to us all that there is more to the Turkish music scene besides Tarkan and Company.

Admittedly, kinda confusing that the only thing Turkish about this one was that it was in Turkish. Always a good move in my book of Eurovision music. On the other hand, once again, perhaps not a future evergreen but what the hey :-) İyi şanslar, Türkiye!

Hell has frozen over! or "Dave submits a blog post"

2008-04-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

Dave Writes: Well when my dear hubby reads this, he is going to have a heart attack. Not for what I say, but because I actually wrote an entry for “our” blog! ;-) Yes boys and girls, I have not completely faded away into the great white Canadian North. It merely took me a while to start feeling normal again and “at home” in my new surroundings. Is British Columbia my home yet? Not quite. Will it ever feel like home? Of course it will! It will just take a little more time and a few good vacations with visiting friends (from Rhode Island and Finland) and a trip to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware USA. I am learning that friends are only a flight away. But enough of this dribble! Why am I writing to you now? Well I need to do some translating for our fabulous North American readers. I have no doubt that some of you, dear readers, are asking yourself “What is this thing you call Eurovision?”

Well Eurovision, or more accurately the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), is the most fabulous of all international song competitions in the whole wide world. Yes, I’m sure that song contest that those Von Trapp kids sang at was good too, but ESC is the bestest of the best. Of course I say this having seen absolutely no other real song contests ever! But I know in my heart this is true.

So what is it that makes it so great? The music, when it is good, is really good. The costumes and dresses are fantastic (or delightfully horrible and that, my dears, can be even MORE entertaining). But the best part is the audience – when you are in a group of ESC fanatics (Kuka?) you can’t help but fall in love with the contest. All it took was one year for me…1999. The year Sweden won, yet again, for big boobs and that damn kalang kalang kalong piano riff stolen from Abba’s Waterloo and used in every Swedish entry since 1974. This was also my first trip to Europe and the first time I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Timo and Tytti (Pekka had already interrogated me in Washington DC in 1996). Since then, ESC has been in my life the same way Christmas or a birthday would be when marking the passing of time. It helps that Tuomo is also a fanatic (can you tell?).

Although I have many many favorite entries, I have narrowed it down to a few. So without further ado, I present you with the top three Eurovision Song Contest entries ever submitted (by my humble opinion):

Number Three: United Kingdom, 1981 “Making Your Mind Up”
Sooooooo campy!

Number Two: France, 1991 “C'est Le Dernier Qui A Parlé”
My God! She can actually sing 16th notes! And its beautifully haunting.

Number One: Iceland, 1999 “All Out of Luck”
True, the dudes in raincoats don’t help. But this song just makes me very happy!

Eurovision 2008: Iceland

2008-04-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Oops, I got Iceland and Sweden in the wrong order; in reality Iceland will be performing before Sweden – just in case somebody cares…

Iceland has been on Eurovision stages for a hair over 20 years without much success. However, in 1999 Iceland came second by which time the highest Finland had ever placed was sixth. And in 1999, another instance of Eurovision-cide took place, i.e. the Wrong Song Won, when Iceland should have won but came in second beaten by… Sweden and… Charlotte Nilsson (a k a Perrelli)!!

1999 was also the year when Dave had his Eurovision baptism of fire. Poor guy, had no idea what was awaiting him when he got on that train from Paris to Luxembourg… Iceland was represented by Selma with All Out of Luck (here in the preview release because the sound quality is better) which to date is one of Dave’s all time favourites – mine too! In fact, many years later I was able to get hold of Selma’s album (with All Out of Luck in it) on the UK version of Amazon.com; it cost me an arm and a leg – it’s was a special Japanese edition – but worth it every single track!

But I digress. Here’s Iceland with Eurobandið and This Is My Life:

Here or

Well executed, cute male singer, annoying dance moves. Perhaps to clubby? The singers will be devoured by Charlotte Perrelli - and thus unable to perform - to avoid any head-on competition that might divert any points away from Sweden:-)

Eurovision 2008: Sweden

2008-04-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Ah Sweden… whose sole function in the Eurovision contest over the years has been to make Finland look bad. Oh wait… we Finns have done a pretty damn good job at it all on our own :-) Sweden has been one of the most successful countries ever since ABBA, and ABBA has been one of the few artists and groups to actually have had a mainstream career beyond Eurovision - though does one really need more in life than the love and devotion of Eurovision freaks like moi? :-)

Nary a year has passed without Sweden in the top 10, and in years when Sweden has placed below the top 10, crisis support groups have been set up in Sweden to heal bruised Swedish egos in:-) All joking aside, Sweden takes Eurovision seriously, and Finland and Finns (and – ahem - this year a couple of other countries for that matter!) could learn a thing or two. In fact, I don’t think Sweden will ever stoop anywhere as low as those unmentioned countries (you know who you are!!) I was referring to above – for better or worse. So then here’s Sweden in 2008 with Charlotte Perrelli (nee Nilsson; winner in 1999), and Hero:

Here or

Immaculate composition, arrangements and modulation? Check.
Catchy tune? Check.
Goddess with flowing hair? Check.
Legs that go up to there? Check.
Boobs? Check (though somewhat uneven)
Botoxed alien look? Check.

Would it be too much to ask for the Swedes to submit anything that basically suck, just sucks from here to high heaven? I had a hard time grasping the tune in the beginning until the refrain though, and in the end I was just annoyed by the perfection. Or is it just a case of sour grapes, eller hur? :-)

Eurovision 2008: Germany

2008-04-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Germany, the second Big Four to participate in the televoting on the night of the first semi-finals, has been a member country since the beginning. And yet, with a couple of close calls and a lot of top 5 successes in the 1980s, actual victory and getting to host has been possible only once. Lots of bad luck and some years of displays of absolutely bad taste – that has been Germany’s legacy. So here’s Germany in 2008, No Angels, and Disappear:

Here or :

The singers display a lot of legs, and the boob factor is halfway decent? Check.
Immaculate arrangements and nice voices? Check (Spain, take note!).

What? This wasn't Sweden?! Oh dear... :-)

Innocuous and likable - and still a little blah. I hope this one breaks the "Big Four Curse" of recent years though by not placing in the bottom four, the places reserved predominatly for the Big Four in course of the past couple of years...!

Ironically, in the light of the wreck that Spain has submitted this year, Germany almost submitted this, performed in Spanish (!) and which could have been so much better - either for Spain - or Germany for that matter!!

Eurovision 2008: Spain

2008-04-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Recall that according to the current Eurovision rules, only the winner and the Big Four, i.e. United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Germany, make it directly to the final, and thus will not be performing during the semi-finals. However, since televoters in Spain and Germany will be casting in their votes on the night of the first semi-finals, I will be reviewing their entries at this point.

So first Spain. As one of the Big Four, or the biggest sponsors of the event, Spain has not gained first place since 1969 (I believe), and even then it was a four-way split. Victory has unfortunately remained elusive ever since with a placing in the top 10 every once in a while. The entries that Spain has submitted over the years have been marked by typically Spanish music culture: a delicious display of musical tapas on a platter of flamenco, gypsy sounds, lost of guitars, castanets, and clapping hands… :-) So here’s Spain, Rodolfo Chikilicuatre, and Baila el chiki chiki:

Here or

Honestly ¡Dios míos! ¿Qué fue esto? I mean – honestly??! Is this the year of the freak shows?! First Ireland, then Estonia, and even Finland (how else is one to characterize Teräsbetoni’s macho posturing)…

This got me so upset that I had to do some research on how this came to be, so I hope I got the facts right. It turns out that once again the Spanish national broadcasting company TVE had invited performers to submit entries on MySpace websites. This fresh twist to selecting a candidate to represent a country brought in over 500 applications, among which voters could then vote for their favourites over four days on the Internet. Five of these would make it to the final, and five others would be selected by a jury.

Unfortunately, this allowed anybody to vote – including from abroad – as well as opened to door for hackers and other retards. A rival TV station allegedly wanted to sabotage the competition and encouraged people to vote for a clearly lame entry. As a result, the final top five initially contained two clear cases of “sabotage,” but one of them was disqualified. But damage had been done, and Roberto ended up as the winner even with a jury having a word to say.

I just can’t understand what makes some people feel so bitter or whatever by a song competition that they have to ruin the event for everyone. What do these people hope to achieve by voting for a candidate that does not have much of a chance – hopefully – to place much higher than the other entries Spain has submitted in recent years?! Does this mean that Eurovision fans have now been given the legitimacy to sabotage other cultural events like soccer games just because the fans don’t happen to like them? :-)

Now I have to admit I'm not a big fan of reggaeton or rap, but Rodolfo's performance did little to expand my range of music I like. Though annoyingly catchy and the lyrics require skills beyond the first five units in Spanish 101 (typically the words la luna, el sol, la playa, and yo te quiero mucho have been part of the lyrics one way or the other !), I can’t find a better word to describe Chiki Chiki than amateurish – at best. What a shame, Spain! ¡Qué lástima España! :-(

And in the context of trying to be funny, I wish I remembered what my initial reaction to Verka's "weird business" in 2007 was. I loved it, and though I can't perceive it ever being considered a Eurovision evergreen, it did not come across as mockery of the Eurovision genre. In contrast, all the honestly weird ones this year do exactly that: they mock Eurovision and transitively everything that Eurovision fans consider close to heart. Does this mean humour should be off-limits. Absolutely not! Just don't mock - whatever that means :-) I mean, I don't know where and how to draw the line. Maybe someone with more refinement in esthetic analysis can pitch in at this point...

To add even more insult to injury, consider this entry by La casa azul "La revolución sexual" could have represented Spain but placed third. Now this is something that would have given even Romania run for the money for my douze points - delightfully irreverent (smart lyrics) and a deliciously catchy tune to dance to!!! Now if only I knew how to get hold of more La casa azul – I love them! 90% of my Spanish is comes from listening to Mecano in the early 90s; maybe La casa azul can help me move on and improve :-)

Eurovision 2008: Greece

2008-04-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Of all the countries, when White Daphne Eurovision Club (membership by invitation only – or marriage) was still alive and kicking (another bagel Moment coming up …), Greece was the country whose entries were among the most anticipated, if not the most anticipated one. We would debate back and forth on whether this would be the year that Greece would NOT give twelve points to Cyprus; like is the Pope Catholic? :-)

Usually on the more kitschy end of the fabulousity scale (it’s a word because I say so!), this particular Greek entry from 1993 in particular has been etched onto our hearts forever. Oh the way how Kety Garby sashayed onto the stage and put on a kickass performance. And that outfit… ordinary mortals would have had flesh oozing out of the slits in the dress without even moving a finger, but oh no: not on Ms. Garby. Ellada ora tous photoooos…! :-)

Otherwise Greece used to belonge to the Old School of Eurovision losers until their victory in 2005. Even before that as well as ever since Greece has fared fairly well, so this is Greece in 2008, Kalomoira, and Secret Combination:

Here or

Ok sweetie (Ενταξι, μορο μου…) you have a rocking body with legs to boot – but please: it’s OK to wear an outfit that covers a bit more of your pudenda. We get the point: you’re hawt. Keep in mind: less is more! And don’t divert my attention away from the dancing boys :-)

Contemporary with strong ethnic southeastern flavours: not your run-of-the-mill Eurovision material, but I’ll root for this one! ΟΠΑ!

Mom Turned 80 Today

2008-04-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Today's my mom's 80th birthday!

Last night, after my folks had decided to go to be, I was finally able to wrap the presents, put them in cute bags, and tie spiffy bows as the final touch. I had the tv on with a Gwen Stefani concert playing on low playing in the back ground to cover all the rustling and wrapping noises I was making. When everyhting was ready, I snuck into the kitchen: first to hang up a happy birthday streamer (the least I wanted to do just in case either one of my folks would wake up as I tippytoed past their bedroom) and then all the presents... Then it was time to go to bed.

Around eight I started to hear some noises in the living room area: time to witness the shock and awe :-) My mom seemed to be totally surprised by the amount of prezzies and the streamer. Oh if only the Hallmark store at Langley Mall had had a less lame selection of centre pieces, there would have been a fabulous centre piece to top everything off. Oh well, I iwas able to impress mom with this so mission accomplished I guess :-)

I had placed my cross stitch present - the one I had finished only two nights before departure - in a present bag with a picture of lots of candles on it; when you pressed the button, you could hear the sound of sirens wailing, i.e. to come extinguish the blaze caused by having so many candles on you birthday cake. When I pushed the button, mom either feigned shock or put on a perfect display of being surprised by this detail.

She liked the cross stitch at lot, but she LOVED the blue Swarovski butterfly that Dave had chosen. Then it was time to get her hair done, so she didn't finish opening the remaining boxes until after her return. The outfits Dave had selected and Joy had approved pleased her tremendously though they were all a little tight around the belly...

For lunch to celebrate the big day, dad had selected Cafe & Bar at Hotelli Kämp. We all had avocado mousse in a roll of tuna and mango dressing as an appetizer. Then as our main courses, my folks had grilled spring chicken with bok choy and leaf spinach in red wine sauce; I had a steak of marbled fillet of beef with béarnaise sauce and French fries. To top things off, the champagne... err, I mean sparkling wine - that we chose as our alcoholic drink made everybody feel even more cheerful! And the dessert was perfect: banana choclate mousse à la mode. Yum! :-) In sum, a most charming venue to celebrate one's 80th birthday - especially as it also happened to be mom's first time there!

In other words, next time Dave visits Finland, I'll have to bring him there :-)

At any rate, much fun was had by all, especially by the Birthday Girl. Pictures to follow -sometime in the unspecified future...

Eurovision 2008: Russia

2008-04-21T01:24:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Campy. Trashy. Downright awful. Or even classy. A country that ranges 11 time zones can’t possibly help it: Russia (since 1994) hasn’t left us cold with its entries, so without further ado, here’s Russia in 2008, Dima, and Believe:

Here or

Дима, Дима, Дима, что сделать с тобой…? Dima, Dima, Dima, what to do with you?

Dima represented Russia two years ago with this entry, and then I though his performance was hauntingly captivating with ballet dancers emerging from a grand piano and rose petals all over the stage. In contrast, Believe comes across as almost contrived...

Add Dima's dark Slavic puppy eyes to the equation, and plenty of voters will be seduced to vote for him. He definitely has stage presence, but I'm not quite turned on by the song itself (unlike by Vlad of Romania's singing)...

In terms of guessing who's going to vote for who, mark my words : Russia will get 12 points from Serbia in the finals - assuming of course that Dima seduces the televoters. And why wouldn't he: all the ex-pat Serbians across the continent will be voting for him :-)

Eurovision 2008: Romania

2008-04-21T01:17:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: The first year or two, Romania struggled to find its way to the top ten, let alone to make it to the following year (like Finland), but then in course of the past few year (with the exception of 2007) Romania has submitted some interesting pearls, more in the genre of club music than in terms of traditional Eurovision fluff. Could 2008 be Romania's year with Nico& Vlad and Pe-o margine de lume:

Here or

Cum se spune la “Come to papa” în limba română?! :-)

Wow, not only one but two entries in Italian – or at least parts of it! Consequently, I’m quivering like bowl of jell-o from the mere pleasure of hearing some more Italian. And then there’s that hunk-and-a-half singing in Romanian, philologically the closest relative to Italian that still retains three genders and cases dating from its latin roots to boot. Basically an equation to make me me feel all hot and bothered. Is it hot in here or is it just you, Vlad?! :-) Oh and the song itself is pure Eurovision heaven: a power ballad on loving the other till eternity with modulations and stuff is just what the doctor prescribed.

In other words, in case you failed to notice, Romania is my favourite and gets my douze points if I had to vote on the basis of the entries heard so far. And my day dreams have now taken the form of someone called Vlad giving me a call. Chiamami - te rog! :-)

Eurovision 2008: The Netherlands

2008-04-21T01:15:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: One of the original participants in Eurovision, the Netherlands scored the top prize in 1975. Since then the honour of hosting the competition has remain elusive although the Dutch have showcased some absolutely fabulous numbers, like Vrede and Ruth Jacott and her voluptuously rectangular lips in 1993. So this year the Netherlands features Hind and Your Heart Belongs to Me:

Here or

Which country was this again? Turkey? Greece? Slovenia? She’s pretty and perky – like the daughter-in-law who could have made my parents happy if I weren’t so gay...

As for the song, I kinda like though I can’t help thinking that this must have been a very tactical move by the Dutch to attract votes from the eastern parts of the Eurovision zone..

YVR-LHR-HEL

2008-04-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Believe it or not, I made it to Helsinki without missing my connecting flight or losing my luggage. I just wonder how much of that can be attributed to London Heathrow having worked the initial bugs out and to what extent it is due to the late departure of my connecting flight to Helsinki…

Despite my impression that there was no way that British Airways Flight 84 (Boeing 747-400 G-CIVP, seat 53J) would be full, it was so and with a lot of families with kids as passangers. Despite this, boarding took place in an organised and timely fashion. We pushed back exactly on schedule at 8:35 PM, and after a twenty minute taxing we were in air taking off towards the west. After a minute or two the plane veered sharply to the northeast on which course we remained most of the flight. Anybody who has ever flown on a 747 knows what I’m alluding to when I say that flying on a 747 feels like flying in a living room – I just LOVE that feeling!

About an hour in air, we were served drinks and a bag of salted pretzels as appetizers. As I mentioned in my previous post, I ordered a gin and tonic as I always do on British Airways (it’s a long yet almost embarrassingly funny story; remind me to bring this up at some time). We had a choice of beef or chicken for supper, so I opted for chicken. It turned out to be a variation of sweet and sour chicken, and although it may not have been the most delicious sweet and sour chicken ever – and I dropped some of it on my sweater (great!) – I quite liked it. Fortunately I had brought some Splenda with me so that I could have something else but sugar in my coffee.

All this time, I enjoyed the channels on the IFE. Among the dozens or so channels, I focused on the comedy channels, and I watched an episode of Will and Grace (where Will and Vince kissed each other!!!), Family Guy, and Friends. Reruns, I know but it was funny to me…! Towards the end of the flight (after my 1.5 hour sleep) I watched two episodes of Ugly Betty, and I think I’m hooked on it now!

I’ve been able to sleep on only very rare occasions on planes – I mean, why waste your money of being on a plane by sleeping – and this time was no exception. The seat was comfortable and all that, except for some reason the foot rest was pressing against my shin. The seat pitch must have been an inch or so tighter than before, so I had some difficulties stretching out my legs. All in all, though I’m 183 cm (6’) tall, at least I had no problems fitting in terms of width, and the pitch issue was not that much of a problem because I wouldn’t have slept very much even if I had been on one of the superduper seats in business class, or Panda Seats as Dave refers to them (thanks to a Finnair ad a couple of years ago!).

Breakfast was served about an hour and a half prior to landing. It felt good to be able to slide open the window shield and let the sun shine in. Sun had risen above the horizon less than four hours after departure somewhere above the northern parts of Hudson Bay. Blasting my brain cells with some photons of pure sun shine made me feel quite freshened after only very little sleep. As for the breakfast, it was heavy on carbs (a ham and cheese croissant, lo fat berry yoghurt, and a trailer bar), but hey, I ate it all! :-)

As we started to descend, we were a good twenty minutes ahead of schedule, but this didn’t go well with the Heather ATC – oh noooo, we had to circle around for a good twenty minutes before the descent proper started. In the meanwhile we circled around a landmark somewhere to the northwest of the greater London area that I decided was a farm for mutant chickens…

So at last we made it to the notorious Terminal Five… By the time I got out of the aircraft I had like exactly two hours to make my connecting flight. I started to follow the signs: first down some escalators to a platform where I got a shuttle train that took me from point A to point B, then up some other escalators, and then immediately down to a depot where I got on a shuttle bus that would take me to Terminal One. During the ten-minute drive that involved going through now more than two tunnels and a video presentation on how to clear security check points without stress (i.e. keep the amount of liquids minimal yadda yadda yadda), which, ironically, made me stress out even more rather than calm me down! Once in Terminal One, once again I had to go first up some escalators, then down until at the end of a log winding corridor awaited the dreaded security check point. Except I didn’t have to remove my lap top from my back pack (let alone the other electronic equipment I was carrying…), and, probably due to a lull in the daily flow of millions of transiting passengers, there was no lines/queues whatsoever…

Then I suddenly found myself in the transit lounge where you have to wait until the monitors tell you when you can proceed to your gate, usually 40 minutes prior to the scheduled boarding time. In other words, I had made it to my destination with 45 minutes to spare before I could go further to my gate. All jet lagged out and trying to keep myself awake, I spent my remaining time browsing the numerous duty free stores and being perplexed by the prices in a currency that didn’t make immediate sense. Except that when it was time to find out where the gate for my connecting flight was, the monitors remained unchanged for another 10 minutes or so – only to find out moments later that the flight had been delayed by an hour! Yay!!! :-(

At last it was boarding time for AY 840 (I had started to nod off in the lounge so I had to keep on moving to keep myself awake), and the boarding started within minutes that the gate number in the transit lounge had been announced. No pre-boarding for families with kids or business class passengers first – just first come first served! I couldn’t help noticing how the seats for some reason appeared bare and even sparsely spaced, but I guess that’s the beauty of the Airbus A320. My seat 23F on Finnair’s OH-LYL was very comfortable, and even though I was in economy class, it felt as if I had more leg room than on the 747. Once everybody was seated, I was glad to notice the seat next to me was empty so that I wouldn’t have to wrestle for arm rest space. Then the captain made the dreaded announcement that we’d have to wait 25 minutes more before the ATC would allow us to push back and start our trek towards the runway… I kept myself amused by working on a sudoku, and let me tell you: it’s fun especially when you can’t keep your eyes focused… :-)

We took off pretty much exactcly two hours behind schedule. We took off to the east and somewhere over Kent veered towards the northeast and the North Sea. The flight attendants were courteous yet inherently stiff – well, they were Finns so what would you expect. The meal consisted of gnocchi pasta (I doubt these even were gnocchi) with what must have been tuna sauce; by default, this could’ve been delicious, but unfortunately the result was not very appetizing as if the meal had been reheated one time too many. Nevertheless, I cleaned my plate (to date, I have not refused to eat my meal in a plane), and probably out of sympathy I dropped some more sauce on my shirt. :-)

Two and a half hours later, we touched down while an almost full moon shone in the sky and created a beautiful moonbeam over the Gulf of Finland. By this time, the sun had set, and it was dark again (again?!). I approached the baggage claim area with a lot of apprehension: would I find my suitcase or would I have to claim lost luggage before I could get to go home and finally get some sleep? Lo and behold: there it was – and it was even among the first ones; in fact, I left plenty of other passengers behind waiting for their luggage.

My folks were there waiting for me. As for them, they had seen on TV that, after first no information on flight AY 840 having even departed, that it would be 30 minutes ahead of schedule! It wasn’t until they got to the airport when they learned the true nature of things, but they took it with stride and sat down to have a cup of coffee.

After a small snack of Finnish rye bread (yum!) and a quick shower, I was ready for bed and some serious shuteye. The lights went out at 1am, and I was blissfully in slumberland moments later. Ahhh…

Eurovision 2008: Armenia

2008-04-20T01:23:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Next in line is Armenia, another small landlocked mountaineous country. Interestingly in course of the past couple of days I have read several articles on Armenia. The tone in both British Airways' inflight magazine and this morning's Hufvudstadsbladet made the country appear like an interesting destination for a holiday. As for Eurovision, the oldest Christian country in the world has been surprisingly successful having made it to the much sought-after placing in the top ten to make it directly to the finals the following their first year. And if my memory does not fail me Armenia fared pretty well in Helsinki. This year Armenia features Shirusho and Qele Qele:

http://www.eurovision.tv/medialounge/video/609

I can't claim I know much about Armenian except that it features a bunch of consonant clusters and other sounds that practically require plastic surgery to be able to produce them accurately :-) While I'm sure the the letter in Qele qele represents a stop sound that's produced somewhere in the pharynx while squeezing your diaphragm and turning blue in the face, it still sounds like a boring unvoiced and unaspirated velar stop /k/to me. And therefore qele to me sounds like -kele, the way a certain swearword in Finnish is pronounced when one wants to spare the ears of infants and other weak in mind :-) So this one gets the tee hee hee prize of the year...!

As for the song itself (huh?), this was quite a number: a juicy cocktail spiced with exotic sounds and rhythms. The jiggling boob factor accented by voluptuously swaying hips should push, shove, and thrust this one to the finals...

Eurovision 2008: Bosnia-Herzegovina

2008-04-20T01:19:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: As perhaps the most tragic country in recent European history, Bosnia-Herzegovina has been a showcase of persistance even in the context of Eurovision. Considering that the first performers for the newly independent countries in the early 90s had to avoid snipers just to make it to the finals alive, Bosnia is in my book the epitomy of striving to succeed. With somewhat uneven rate of success Bosnia-Herzegovina is still with us this year with Laka and Pokušaj:

Here or

This entry has to be the bizarrest stage performace by far this year, even after Azerbaijan. It actually made me think of it as a musical version of Waiting for Godot. Once again this is a schoolbook example of an entry would benefit from a translation to fully appreciate the Bosnian effort. Despite the visual surrealism, I may warm up to this - eventually, but not quite yet.

A live chicken? Now that's a nice touch - this trick should bring in a point or two from at least the Irish who should find this endearing with their related fowl on stage performance of 2008 :-) Birds of the feather anyone?

Eurovision 2008: Andorra

2008-04-20T01:18:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Andorra, one the smallest countries in Europe squashed between France and Spain in the the Pyrenee Mountains, is also one of the most recent newbies: only three times with unfortunately not much success. Could it be because the Andorran entries have been performed in a language that is the most widely spoken minority language, i.e. Catalonian (douze points from me for this feat!) or that Andorra hasn't got much votes elsewhere than from Spain? So this year Andorra introduces Gisela and Casanova:

Here or

It seems that Andorrans have decided that promoting Catalonian langauge and culture is not the key to Eurovision success: a boo and a hiss for that :-(

As for musical merits, I have to admit I liked it. Your typical run-of-the-mill Euro pop bang that left me energised. The boobs notwithstanding this entry should guarantee a place in the finals for Andorra assuming the live performance is as energised and engaging - or at the least their highest placing to date. Bona sort, mes amics!

Getting on a Jet Plane

2008-04-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Dave will be home in about 30 minutes, and then it's off to YVR. My flight (BA 84) is scheduled to leave at 8:35 PM and to arrive in London (LHR) tomorrow at 1:40 PM local time. Then it'll be a shuttle over from the new but notorious Terminal Five to Terminal One where I'll catch my connecting flight to Helsinki (BA 6080, operated by Finnair). Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed! For one, I want to show my dad and brother that one can transfer through LHR successfully and intact :-)

And who knows maybe if Aviation Goddesses are benevolent, I might get to upgrade. No matter what, I'll have my mandatory gin and tonic cocktail on British Airways and enjoy the flight.

I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I don't think I've ever packed as much in my carry-on as I've done now. I'm convinced that my luggage will get lost, so I've packed everyhting that is supposed to be my mom's 80th birthday presents in my blue Roots backpack. Honestly, I feel like a beast of burden! In fact, in case I do lose my luggage, I've packed a pair of underwear, socks, and a t-shirt so that I have something halfway decent to wear on Saturday.

So there may be a bit of a hiatus between now and the next post (as if I needed an excuse). The break in the semi-final reviews so far has been due to the fact that I had to give priority to finishing the cross stitch project that I've been working on for my mom's birthday; I didn't finish it until late Tuesday night when I spent the last two hours on the aggravating task of stitching lazy suzans... On Saturday (the day after tomorrow), I'll try to gain broadband access through my folks' cable provider. If this works out, I'll be able to continue my Eurovision semi-final reviews (god I know there'll be plenty of time with jet lag and stuff!). Otherwise I'll be back in the beginning of May.

Ah, I feel a song coming up (to quote Dame Edna)! Ireland submitted this as their Eurovision entry in 1984 Terminal Three performed by Linda Martin:

This one came second (!) and missed the top spot by eight points. BTW for those who care, Terminal Three at LHR is the terminal that serves British Airways, Air Canada, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Fascinating, isn't it :-)

Things That Make Dave and Tuomo Laugh These Days

2008-04-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: There's more to life than just Eurovision semi-final reviews or reflections on weight loss no matter how difficult this is to admit at times. There's also time for a good belly rolling laugh - as in LMAO style of laughter... especially when you have the belly for it ha ha ha!

Our friend Sean from Rhode Island sent us a YouTube clip that has had a profound effect on our current household language. For fashion, dieting, and make-up tips, check out the following clip:

To fully understand the joke, check out the "original" - hard to believe she was serious about this too!!! Oh those 80s....

I'm Losing It!!!

2008-04-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: What I mean with it is that I noticed today that I'm losing weight, yayyy! The pair of 36" jeans, which still a couple of months felt quite tight around the waist, are starting to feel loose. In fact today, I had to tighten my belt because I was constantly pulling up my pants. Now that's a good sign of things to come...

Now in terms of weight per se, I still haven't reached the lowest (207.5 lbs), which was a week before our trip to Arizona. This past Saturday at the WW weigh-in, I weighed 208.8 lbs, a loss of .8 lbs from the previous week. I will have to start weight training soon or else I will plateau even before I reach 200 lbs!

I hope to have reached 195-200 lbs by the time Sean and Nate come over to visit us in early June, 190-195 lbs by the time Pekka and Timo come over in early July, and 185-190 lbs by the time we go see our friends in Rehoboth Beach in August. So there - I have a set a plan and a goal. If only I could stick to it, especially when I have a two-week trip to Finland ahead in only a couple of days...

Eurovision 2008: Poland

2008-04-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Ahhh back to reviewing Eurovision entries... I would like to remind my reader(s) that I have no formal training in analysing music, so my reviews have to be taken as certainty that is totally guided by sheer ignorance [original quote complements to Tytti L.] :-)

Next in line is Poland, the country that has the honour of having scored the highest placing (second) with their first-year entry performed by Mariah Carrey wannabe Edyta Górniak ("To nie ja była Evąąą...!"). Since then, their success rate has been quite chequered, including one year in "penalty box" in the early 2000s. So here's Poland, Isis Gee and For Life:

Here or

I dunno, I'll have to listen to this a couple of times before I can truly appreciate this without just dismissing this as boring. Hopefully the televoters across the continent will have a better knee-jerk reaction and vote for Poland...

Eurovision 2008: Norway

2008-04-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Ah Norway, Norway, Norway, Finland's dear neighbour whose Eurovision track record makes Finns feel good about their lackluster success :-) In their masochistic thinking, Finns think they have achieved the most last positions when in fact this claim to fame goes to the Norwegians, who incidentally also have the most zero points. So Finns haven't been able to achieve even that!! :-) Now on the other hand, Norway has won twice whereas Finland has won only once, so I guess that cancels everything else out and makes Norway more succesful... So here comes Norway, Maria Haukaas Storeng, and Hold on, Be Strong:

Here or

How could I describe this without appearing hurtful? Oh what the heck, this came across as fun and exciting as yesterday's unflavoured oatmeal that was prepared in water to control the amount of calories and served without frozen berries so as not to ruin the natural flavour of oatmeal. OK so that was what I had for breakfast yesterday (I'm still on WeightWatchers, remember?), but that pretty much IMHO described my thoughts about Norway's entry: blah and unexciting. Hmmm, I better start doing something about my breakfasts... Oh well the singer has boobs whereas... never mind... Next! :-)

Eurovision 2008: Slovenia

2008-04-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

Tuomo Neuvonen: Success for Slovenia, one of the remnants of Yugoslavia, has been relatively elusive (unlike for Croatia or Serbia). We can be grateful for Slovenia for one key moment in Eurovision history: thanks to Slovenia in 2002 the doors were opened for drag queens to perform as the main act on stage (Norway in 1986 did have a drag performer on stage but not as the performer). At any rate, here's Slovenia, Rebeka Remelj, and Vrag naj vzame:

Here or

At last an entry that got my booty shakin' and dancin'! Not a pretty sight (my booty shaking, that is), I'm sure, but I had been waiting for an entry like this. And as for body parts, Rebeka also has the boobs for Slovenia to succeed :-)

One more (disturbing) observation: if you listen to both links, you will notice that the one provided by eurovision.tv is more clubby (i.e. the one I danced my ass off to) than the one I picked up on Youtube (labeled: official). It will be interesting which one will actually be performed on stage... I like this one a lot (so far my favourite, I guess), but a lot of my judgement hinges on which version of the song will be performed on stage...

Vrag... in Russian that's "enemy" (враг), but what on earth is the naj vzame? Judging by the video (unhappy people running away from each other, etc.), I've hypothesised that the title must be Slovenian for "snake in the grass" or something like that. Any thoughts?

Eurovision 2008: Azerbaijan

2008-04-07T10:17:00.002-07:00

Tuomo writes: As I mentioned earlier, this year features two newbies, San Marino and Azerbaijan. So hailing from the shores of the Caspian Sea, here's Azerbaijan, Elnur & Samir, and Day after Day:

Here or

When I read the name of the song, I couldn't help thinking way back to 1982 when the Swedish entry was called Dag efter dag, or "day after day." Elnur & Samir's interpretation of the same concept couldn't have been further removed from the 50s schlager infused performed by Chips (which, incidentally, is the recipe for every Swedish entry tee hee hee). The first 20 seconds of falsetto shrieking made me cringe in fear and pain of what the remaining 2 minutes and 40 seconds would offer...

Much to my surprise, Day after Day evolved after those ear-piercing 20 seconds into a more melodious, yet heavy metal style (pop?) song. Once again, I thought of Depeche Mode, so by the time I got to the end, I realised that I actually liked this one. In fact, Azerbaijan will almost certainly give Finland run for its money! This was so much better and stylish... But in the end, how will they perform it live on stage. Will they bring down the house (no pun intended) by attracting televoters across the continent - or will it be reduced to sheer cacophony?

Eurovision 2008: Belgium

2008-04-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: Belgium has a long history of participation in Eurovision, but to date their obly victory dates back to 1985. With ups and downs and a couple of close calls, the second victory has been elusive ever since. So without further ado, here's Belgium, Ishtar, and Julissi na jalini:

Here or

Hmm, Belgium appears to emulate the success of Sanomi from a couple of years ago with lesbian yodeling. Way then the entry was in this artificial language sung to a haunting, yet exotic tune. Only in 2008, they've decide to make it more up-tempo, cheery, and klezmer inspired. I like it, yet I'm thinking, "Is this how Belgium got away without performing in either of the national languages or in English?" Inasmuch I go around telling people to listen to music with their hearts, not their ears only, I feel like I'd like to know what the "plot" for this song is. As for success, it will be interesting to see how this fares...

BTW Julissi na jalini in true ethno-pop fashion includes some ululation, which Dave affectionately refers to as lesbian yodeling... :-)

Eurovision 2008: San Marino

2008-04-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: There may be a lot of critique against the Eurovision concept - or should we call it brand - for promoting music that is insipid, commercial, of minimal artistic value yadda yadda yadda. Yet, more and more countries express the desire to participate. In fact, the two-night semi-final format can be argued to be the offspring of providing a fair opportunity for as many as countries as possible to showcase their musical talent - or in some cases lack thereof... :-) In this sense, year 2008 is no different with two newbies of which the first one is the lilliputian San Marino (I have to admit that I had to look up some info on it!), Miodio and Complice:

Here orhttp://www.eurovision.tv/medialounge/video/596

It's a pity that Italy, a country of almost systematically almost overqualified but under-appreciated entries, has been absent from Eurovision for a number of years. So now it's up to San Marino to continue the legacy of musica italiana. There have been times where in hindsight I've regretted putting so much effort in college in learning Italian instead of, say Spanish, but it was such a sexy language to know in the mid-80s in - and still is... And Miodio's song just does exactly what Italian to this day does to me: send shivers down my spine à la John Cleese in Fish Called Wanda.

Another aspect that I like about this entry is that it makes me think of one of my favourite pop/rock groups: Depeche Mode. Light pop with dark, mysterious, if not downright sexy undertones: mamma mia!

OK, so San Marino may be lilliputian in size, but could it be this year's brobdignagian surpise? (See, I read more than Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in college...!!)

Eurovision 2008: Moldova

2008-04-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: A relatively recent participant with only three times behind, Moldova has performed in the final every single time, either directly or through the semi-finals, so here's Moldova, Geta Burlescu and A Century of Love:

Here or

In general, I like this kind of music, jazzy and smoky. However, judging by how jazzy numbers have fared in recent years, unfortunately Moldova has slim chances in making it to the finals in 2008. Though let's not forget that Hungary managed to pull it off last year, so who knows... I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Moldova.

Eurovision 2008: Estonia

2008-04-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: I used to think way back in the 80s, when Finland's lack of success in the Eurovision was hypothesized to be due to the unusual language, how wonderful it would be if Estonia (or even Hungary) could participate and how we'd exchage 12 points because we'd be the only ones to appreciate each others songs based on the language. Then Estonia participated in 1993 for the first time with little success though and was eliminated for a year. This obviously supported the language hypothesis - until Estonia returned in 1995 with Kaelakee hääl and placed fifth, higher than Finland had ever even dreamt of achieving. So much for that hypothesis. Then in 2001 Estonia went and won the competition with Everybody. Maybe Finland's lack of success was due to lack of talent or ambition or us being põhjapõder, or reindeer (as the Estonians call us Finns) or something after all :-) Even with Finland's victory in 2006, Estonia had managed to crank out entries that have placed fairly well. So here is Estonia: Kreisiraadio and Leto svet:

Here or

Issand, or dear God! What was this? A Dadaist pastiche or what? I have always admired the Estonians for their wry sense of humour, but in terms of Eurovision this is almost inappropriate. By the time I got to the third part - in Finnish (?!) - I simply couldn't believe my ears and eyes. I don't think this is going to do well - even with the scantily clad girls - though an annoyingly catchy tune (I caught myself humming along a moment ago...) might help Estonia make it to the final. In this light, one is almost obliged to consider Ireland's turkey (pun partially intended) high humour. Please make them stop the noises in my head!!! :-(

Eurovision 2008: Israel

2008-04-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

Tuomo writes: I'm on a roll - I feel I can publish one more review before going to bed. Introducing Isreal, Ke'ilo kan "As If Here" performed by Boaz Mauda!

Here or

One thing I can say about Israel: they rarely disappoint, and this is definitely no exception! What I did not like was the part in English: sing in Hebrew or in English but not both. And this applies to all other countries who do this - just a pet peeve of mine. A "typical" Eurovision ballad that IMO should do well but, on the other hand, could get lost among the other entries by not having that certain oomph. Lots of velar fricatives in the beginning and faboo ethno drums in the end that made me happy...

But what's up with those tweaked eye brows? And that buff body, which fortunately is not present in the clip (but can be explored elsewhere on the Internet). Sour grapes...! :-)