Well..where do I start to describe New Years Eve?

Lets try this route….
Hanna and I got to our friends house in Klaukkala around 6:30pm and started to look for a space to park her car and I told her to park off the side of the road (not thinking that the snow has covered what is usually there – a ditch) and as soon as the front and and rear passenger tires cleared the road they both fell in the ditch and now the car was stuck. Luckily our friends Timo and Teemu with Salla and Tiina + Tuuli watching us from inside the house we managed to drag out old “PEPE” out of the ditch. and we managed to park the car in front of the house with no other problems. It was around midnight when all of us were celebrating the coming of the New Year when I noticed the tempature guage outside and it read a smooth -27*c (or about -16*f). This is far the coldest I have felt outside so far…and its only January…

In the morning we all woke up, some with hangovers and some with out any.. (took some magical pills before I went to sleep..he he he he) had a wonderful late brunch and decided to get an early jump on getting home before the sun goes down as it was said that it was going to be much colder on New Years Day than the previous day. Went outside to get the car started and would not start. 6 1/2 hours later with battery cables and pushing the car into the garage to keep warm, no luck. “PEPE” would not start for anything. Frozen fingers and toes later, we decided to borrow our friends car for the eveing and go home and see what happens in the afternoon the next day to see if keeping the car warm enough to “thaw out” it may just be able to start and make it back to Lauttasaari. It was a very long New Years Day and one i wont forget for awhile.

The next day (today) Hanna and I went to “pray to the warm gods” and let our car start. We got to our friends home and chit chatted quickly with her as we did not want to intrude anymore than we had already and she had mentioned that it was -30*c this morning there, so we are very lucky that we got the car into the garage the other day. After about 35 mins or so with the heater fans on the engine compartment, I got her started as we were about to leave the car for the weekend and come back on Sunday as the garage has a one day a week (sunday) heating schedule that the floor of the garage heats up and warms the entire space very warm (+15*c) and that would be our best shot in getting the car started. But to my amazement, and little determination I had left, I got the car started and we have now made it home. We can safely enjoy the weekend nice and warm in our bed without having to get up and dress for “Alaska” as it must be much warmer there than here…for sure. =)

Lets see what other interesting things come our way for 2003, as we have started out on an interesting path. Hopefully a path that only has a few bumps on the road. ;-)

…more to come soon…

Just less than 28.5 hours from now we will embark in yet another hetic, exciting, somewhat monotonous NEW YEAR. I hope that 2003 will be the year that major discoveries will be made, new inventions that help humanity will be created, and maybe I will get a raise at work. ;) (gotta have some fun now and again)

I hope that all of you that have read my journal so far (and in the future) enjoy your Holiday Season and I wish you all a SAFE but ENJOYABLE NEW YEAR!!

…more to come soon… (once I awake from my little headache called a hangover) =)

2002 will the second Christmas I have had in Finland, and it wasn’t a dissapointment. Getting lots of presents, getting a visit from Father Christmas (Joulupukki – in finnish) and being with Hanna’s Family is a nice feeling. (though I miss all my friends and family in the states for sure…don’t get me wrong.)

Snow falling on Dec 25th marks a nice feeling in the air, being very peaceful like we are the only ones here. Very quiet, cold has its advantages and remember that “SIBERIA TEACHES”. =)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

…more to some soon…

Well lets see here. I guess I can make myself some preliminary Project plans for 2003, can’t I?

Project Blue Balls:
building a computer with Hanna knowing about it, and if she finds out about it, deny deny deny…(hence the project name BLUE BALLS..Do I have to explain?)
PIV – 1.5mhz (upgradable to 2.6mhz)
256mb DDR SDRAM (expandable up to 3gb RAM)
20gb HDD
ATI 128 Rage Pro 32mb 4x/2x AGP card
Plextor cd-r 48/24/48
Sony dvd 16x/48x
Built in LAN
Built in Sound (5.1 surround sound)
Time Completed: Buying piece by piece per month, it should be done before MidSummer 2003…

Project Renovation 2001
Its only taken us 1.5 years to get the renovations done to our apartment, but its almost done. We have hit the milestone we wanted and finishing up on the last mintue details and equipment needed for finishing the job.
1. Getting the jacuzzi and bathroom shelves in placed in our bathroom
2. Getting the last minute details of the Living Room book, tv, entertainment, and glass shelves in place and we can safely say we are then complete with the renovations
3. Shelves and storage space in the hallway completed.
4. (optional) getting each room wired for internet connection via our LAN connection. (this would be an ongoing sub-project and no timetable is set for this as of yet.)
Time Completed: Feb-2003

Project ReArrange
To rearrange my office so that I can place a newer shelf system in place to accomadate my books, computer equipment, and other nick nacks that I own in a place as to not have them all over the place.

This has a time table of 6 months, so hopefully i can get this going soon.
Time Completed: June/July 2003

Project Playhouse
Finish up Tiia’s playhouse with Hanna’s father before Mid Summer in June 2003.
Every weekend after the snow has melted from May till June. Possible Friday and Monday day off at the end of May to begin work fully may be a possibility.
Time Completed: June 2003

Well, that is some of the major projects going on for me this coming year. So my card is full, lets see what comes of these projects in the coming months. I will do a report card on these within 3 months.

…more to come soon…