Finker

Speech-recognition

Finker — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 16:48:00 +0000

I'm trying out this speech recognition software which is pretty awesome. I had no idea, that this kind of software is so advanced already. In fact, I'm not touching the keyboard at all while writing this blog entry. We're going out for pizza right now, but I will have to try this again very soon. Man, this thing is awesome.

Poor cat

Finker — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:59:00 +0000

Our Sigvard got neutered today and he's been pretty weak. I sympathize with the little fellow. Just the thought of that happening to me makes me nauseous. Anyway, it had to be done and I think he's already forgiven us.

The snow is finally gone and the temperatures are around 10 C. Makes me happy. The Finnish labour day is coming up, and rumour has it that we'll be attending a party and watching quality ice hockey on TV. Finland is playing Denmark in the first game. Looking forward to it.

I'm back, baby!

Finker — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 18:32:00 +0000

It's been three months since I last wrote here. I could say that I've been too busy to write, but I'm not going to. Because I really haven't.

A lot has happened in the last months. Here's a quick look at the past few months:

I quit working for the Internet marketing company at the beginning of December, and was going to concentrate on getting my final thesis done asap. Well, that hasn't happened, as I'm only halfway done. I'll finish it...by the end of March...someday.

Christmas was nice. I spent most of it at my parents place, eating ham, drinking beer and working on some web sites. My siblings were there, so it was just like when I was a child. I love the holiday season. Even the commercial aspects of it now, since it makes me a few bucks on the side.

After Christmas we spent the Christmas in Helsinki at my sister's place, and prepared for the two-week trip to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. It was a great trip, though the vacation spot wasn't as sweet as I had thought. We did plenty of snorkeling and I even had a decent tan after 2 weeks of laying in the sun. The water is incredibly clear and calm, and there are so many different kinds of fish in the Red Sea that it is the perfect place for underwater activities.

Sadly, the vacation was soon over and the reality of cold and dark weather kicked me right in the crutch. The past month has gone by very slowly and the anticipation of Spring is finally upon us. Spring is almost here...almost.

We're visiting Maria's parents for a week as Maria has her winter holidays now. Yup, it's just another week of slacking off. It's nice to be on the country-side and we are (read: I am) planning to go cross-country skiing tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just sit in the front of the computer all day, just like today. And yesterday. And the day before. I could go on forever, I really could. But I won't. It'd be too sad to notice that I have no life. Instead, I lie to myself and try to forget the day-befores. Life's smiling at good ol' Sami-boy.

Maria's blog

Finker — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 12:39:25 +0000

Almost forgot. I talked Maria into setting up a blog for herself. Maria's blog also has a picture of our cute little kitty, Sigvard.

Awstats finally working on 1and1

Finker — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 12:33:13 +0000

I have been struggling to get awstats to work on 1and1 and today I finally cracked it. A stupid little mistake that I made months ago kept me from getting the correct stats for my websites. Oh well, after hours and hours wasted on this, it is finally working and I have a peace of mind. A big thank you goes to Ravi's Tutorial: Installing AWstats at 1and1.com, couldn't have done it without that tutorial.

Need to get some work done now.

Hosting

Finker — Tue, 16 Nov 2004 23:30:17 +0000

I'm trying to decide what hosting plan I should go for. Currently, I'm only using 1and1, which I've been using for free since January 2004. 1and1 may not be enough for me anymore, because I'm building more sites and the capacity of that hosting plan isn't quite sufficient.

I also need to decide whether to go with shared hosting or have a dedicated IP for each of my sites. HostGator seems to offer pretty nice deals on shared hosting, but I don't know how reliable they are. A friend of mine uses Pair Networks, which seems to be highly recommended by several webmasters.

Money is a bit of an issue for me, so I don't want to spend more than $30/month on hosting. If somebody has hosting recommendation, please let me know. Thanks.

Traveling & US Presidential Election

Finker — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 14:53:38 +0000

I've been roaming around Scandinavia for the last 1, 5 weeks and it's nice to finally sit down and relax. First we visited my sister and her fiance at their new apartment in Helsinki. They had a housewarming party with a lot of booze and food. It was good. I'm not a big fan of the city of Helsinki though, especially in the fall. Everything there looks, feels, smells and tastes somewhat depressing after the summer is over. I think it's the grey and brown buildings and the general unhappiness of the people after they realize that the long winter is ahead of them. Again. Having said that, I did have a good time. It's all about the people you're with (and the alcohol in your bloodstream).

After we got back from Helsinki, it was time to back our bags again and head for Stockholm. I attended a Search Engine Strategies conference, while Maria walked around in the city and did some shopping. She fell in love with Stockholm and tries to talk me into moving there all the time. I'm not excited about the idea. New Zealand sounds much better...

The ferry to Stockholm felt strange. There was a handful of young couples and hundreds of elderly people going crazy with the slot machines. I've been on the ferry at least 15 times, but it has always been full of drunken teenagers and some pathetic old farts who are drunk out of their mind and who desperately try to find some young bird to sleep with. It's a sad sight. Anyway, this time it was very different. It's a good thing that I didn't bring my party shoes with me.

The US presidential election takes place today and I'm afraid of the outcome. Well, it's not like we're going to know the results until weeks of debating and re-counting. I'm pretty sure there has never been an election that receives so much attention from other nations. The Finnish media, for example, has been following the election for several months and YLE sends a live broadcast of the election starting at 2 am. It seems that the Finnish media is more concerned with this US presidential election than the any Finnish presidential election. Frankly, so am I. If W gets re-elected, it will be a very dark day for the entire world.

Terrible backpain

Finker — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 22:36:36 +0000

I woke up this morning at around 9 am and I could barely move. No position seemed to be comfortable. Everytime I moved a muscle it felt like someone was stabbing me in my upperback. After a few minutes of constant pain I tried getting up. Huge mistake. Felt very dizzy and almost threw up.

Maria got my a couple of strong painkillers and after a while I could get up. I still look like a Frankenstein when I walk but it's gotten so much better. Because of the pain, I've had such an unproductive day. Even missed a meeting with my thesis supervisors.

I plan to have a normal day tomorrow: write my thesis, go to the gym, and work until I'm exhausted. As for my back, I plan not to feel a thing.

Internet Collapse in 2006

Finker — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 12:46:39 +0000

A Finnish professor who works for Helsinki University of Technology predicts that the Internet will collapse in 2006 due to web attacks, e-mail spam and viruses. He also mentions that people will have to live without the Internet because of this web sabotage.

I don't think it'll happen any time soon (if ever), but his comments give you something to think about. If it does happen, it will have a huge impact on the world economy. Well, at least people would forget about the dot-com bust a few years back... (c;

Netherlands - Finland 3 - 1

Finker — Wed, 13 Oct 2004 22:35:46 +0000

Oh well... Until we meet again.

By the way, I added a new section to my new rapidly growing blog. The section is called Finker Suomi (until I think of a better name) which is a Finnish version of Finker.

Electronic Darts Board

Finker — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 14:57:25 +0000

I saw an advertisement for an electronic darts board yesterday. I have to get me one of those... I love playing darts (especially with a nice cold fink brau in the other hand). It's not like I'm really good at it, it's just fun, like bowling. The board costs $50...from Lidl. I'll get it on Thursday.

I've had an extremely boring three days. Maria went home for a week, so I've been just sitting in front of the computer for 14 hours straight every day.

Tomorrow will be a big day for the Finns as they will beat the Netherlands in the WC Qualification match in soccer. The Finnish team has suffered from some injuries; Mikael Forssell is out for 6 months and Jari Litmanen may not play tomorrow either. Then again, the Netherlands has similar problems. I expect it to be a tight game, even though Holland is clearly a stronger team.

Online MBA Degree

Finker — Fri, 08 Oct 2004 14:23:52 +0000

I'm doing some SEO consulting for a few companies. They will act as case studies for my thesis. Anyway, I figured I'd introduced these companies here. The first (and probably the most interest one) is MatrixMBA.

MatrixMBA offers an online MBA program that costs about one tenth of a regular MBA program. It's a pretty sweet deal, so I'm going to watch how successful the program turns out to be, and possible join it myself later on. The site is brand new, looks pretty nice, but has very little content at the moment.

The people who run the program are bright business minds, so I believe it will become a popular program. So, if you're thinking about getting an online MBA degree, I suggest you check them out.

I will write about the other companies later.

Donnie Darko

Finker — Sun, 26 Sep 2004 10:42:46 +0000

Went to see a couple of old friends on Friday, drank a bottle of vodka, had a blast. For me, it was also an introduction to the nightlife in Jyväskylä, and I'm not completely disappointed. The club that we went to started out with some 80's glam rock and gradually moved towards heavy metal. Suddenly the DJ realized he had gone a little too far and started playing slower stuff like Richard Marx... That's when we left.

Yesterday was a typical hangover day. We slept until 12 and I managed to drag myself out of the bed and to the couch, which is at least 10 feet away from the bed. It wasn't easy, I tell ya. After the worst was over, we ate pizza and watched a movie called Donnie Darko, which I've wanted to see ever since I read about it on IMDB. It was one of the best movies I've seen, and I still find myself going over the movie over and over again. Have to watch it again. Maybe tonight...

I got my glasses on Friday and it's been a strange experience so far. I don't look like myself, but the funny thing is that I don't even feel like myself when I have the glasses on. That's why I haven't worn them much... Maria says I look like my friend Werty when I have the glasses on. Wait... Now that's why I haven't worn them much. (c;
By the way, I think I look like Dean Cain who plays Superman on "The new adventures of Superman" (when he's Clark Kent).

I just added Google Adsense all over the blog and completely ruined the clean look that it had before. I'll probably remove them soon, but I just want to see how accurately the ads match the content of my blog.

Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch

Finker — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 22:35:05 +0000

I went to see an optician today, because for the last ~five years I've not been able to see very far. I'm actually excited about finally getting me a pair of glasses, the downside of course being that I look like an idiot with glasses on. It wasn't easy looking at the stranger staring back at me in the mirror. It'll take some time to get used to the spectacles and seeing more than 30 feet ahead of myself. They are supposed to be ready by Friday, so I'll probably waste some time by writing more about them in my brand new blog.

Maria was drunk and broke her camera and cellphone yesterday. She dropped her purse and had a bottle of "Salmiakkikossu" (kind of a salty liquorice vodka) in it. She didn't realize that the bottle was broken until 10 minutes later. By that time, the camera and the cell phone had already drowned in the sticky and sweet alcohol. We tried to clean and fix them for hours today with no success. She's pretty mad at herself. After all, it is about $500 worth of electronic equipment (plus the cost of the booze). If she sees this post, I may have to delete parts of it. (c;

Tomorrow will be a nice day. I have a meeting with a personal trainer at this awesome gym that I just became a member of. After gaining something like 15 pounds and getting totally out of shape, I can't wait to start working out again. I will post reports of my progress every once in a while.

Have to get some sleep now.

Finking out loud

Finker — Tue, 21 Sep 2004 10:53:01 +0000

Finker.net is finally up and running. I'm just hoping that I will have time to actually write something, someday.

Contrary to the title of this post, finker does not actually refer to thinking. "Finking" was an activity of drinking cheap beer called Fink Bräu during the Fall of 2003 in Amsterdam. A 0,5 liter can of this delicious beer costs around 35 cents. I'd like to thank my Swedish and American friends for finking with me so excessively. Good times.