Day 46

I have done a bit more cyckling lately; the weather has been quite ok and it's more motivating to go out and do some exercise. One thing what my cycling friends did not tell me: Keep your bloody mouth shut while cycling, there are insects out there. I did not follow that rule 'cause I didn't know such a rule exist! And I got a bee in to my mouth and it was quick enough to inject/sting  my tongue. Not the most pleasant feeling and my tongue was hurting like a hell for the next 10 hours or so. I don't do the same mistake again..

Day 45

I finally went to the Labour force boreau to show some certificates, work and education. I waited more than one hour until I was served by the lady. It turned out that neither of certificates were sufficient for them. My M.Sc. certificate from university was incomplete, for which I was a bit surprised: maybe I'm a "vale-maisteri" (a fake master) :). I need to dig out some more papers from my storage, but these are like 17 years old papers and I have moved so many times, that I'm not sure at all that I will find all needed papers. My job certificate was not OK either as it's written in english and fare enough, we are in Finland. So I need to ask another certificate from my ex employee, and this time in finnish. Could take some time.

Even more, they don't really need these certificates as I'm not claiming any benefits from them, not yet atleast. So the next appointment is agreed to be in April next year! Right, and if I'm still unemployed by April, then I have exceeded my 200 days limit and failed in my "mission".

Day 44

.. the day to forget.. good to see it's finally over..

Day 43

Today Kimmo plays bass and we all are going to Karma Rock to see him and many other artists. The weather is hot today (the first hot day in this summer, jihhuu). It's going to be a very relaxed and enjoyable evening with friends and good music.

Day 42

Quite a few of my friends do cycling now-a-days and I tried the same today. They say that their trips are like a hundred or 130 km long, like from Tampere to Pori or Turku to Nakkila. Well, I just finished my 16.2 km trip -yep, bloody 16 point 2 km-  and I'M DEAD. Someone is doing maths wrong here. After 5km I was ready to turn back. After 8km my legs were burning, 10km breathing sounded more than heavy, 14km I was sweating like a hell and all drops stream to my eyes and visibility was poor (almost hit a granny); bloody hell. Sport Tracker says that I did 16.2km in 40mins with avarage speed around 25km/h ( I stopped twice due the incoming call and Spotify crash). A bit embarrassing compared to the distance done by Kimmo, Mikko, Mari, Mika, Heikki, Katja and others..

So, maybe I'm not the next Louse Armstrong and can't make my living with cycling either. I don't no what kind of drugs these cyclist are taken, but it must be strong. I'm not too fat and I do some "movements" every then and then. Maybe it was those three blueberry pies that we ate yesterday, toped with a cream, made by Virpi, nammm...

Without Green Day in the background (Green Day – The Original Broadway Cast Recording 'American Idiot' Featuring Green Day) I propably would be still on my way. I boosted my last kilometers with System of a Down, as I need the extra kick (System Of A Down – Hypnotize  ). If that don't work for me, then nothing. Try to jog in a rhythm of SOD, like "Dreaming", and you will surely get needed extra boost!

I need a drink..

Day 41

I thought that 1 litre of blueberries will cost 5 euros in the market, but it's much more expensive, should be closer to 20€ (?). Thus, the day 39 calculation was wrong, and you can actually make some extra money with blueberries during the summer, if you are ready to spend tíme in the woods.. (I said that this blog is boring and now it starts sounding like one, really..)

Day 40

.. if the yesterday's job (u remember: forest, blueberry, 4 litres in 3 hours, two person) wasn't the job for me, then what could be considered is.. acting, being an actor. My daughter had a premiere tonight "Kuka Pelkää Noitia". They all looked great on the stage and she did a wonderful job! So if you do very well and you are the lucky one then the money comes in as well. Maybe its all to late for me, not her. and by the way, I cannot do any acting if I am asked to... so lets forget it.
 Go to see this:

Day 39

There was a plan to have a boat trip today but the weather was not in our side. We were invited to join a trip somewhere between Turku and Luvia by our dear friends Mikko ja Katja. I'm not sure what was the weather on the sea, maybe Katja can comment via iphone, but in the Pori it was cloudy and windy.

Instead we decided to do something which I have not done since I was a kid, and forced by my mum an dad: blueberries, go to the forest and pick the blueberries up by myself! The actual idea came from Virpi and we spend over 3 hours in the forest and we got some 4 litres altogether. It felt like a real job, and was worth of 4* 5e divided by two: 10€ each minus tax and fuel and... It was fun alright, but maybe that was enough for next 30 years.. :)

Day 38

Monday 23rd of July.

Today was a perfect day to do nothing, so we didn't do anything.. nice!

Day 37

Sunday 22nd of July.
I was asked yesterday if I have already started to send CVs out and have I applied to any. I'm still on holiday, my mind is. I want to keep this status until early September, so next 5 weeks. Only then its time to have a serious consideration of the future. I have managed to be in the "blank mode" pretty nicely so far, and I'll hope that no kind of stress will reach me during my extra ordinary time off at work.

Day 36

I met a friend last night who was looking for a job as well, and within the same technology area. We wondered if we could start up our own enterprise together... there is one major problem though, the business idea is missing :). But it could be one idea to think a bit deeper, eventhough I already once said that it's not something I'm keen to go for. Better not to say never..but sounds a bit distance still.

Picture from the river Kokemäenjoki in Pori at 22.00

Day 35

Friday 20th of July.
The payday: today I received my final salary slip, which should help me through upcoming unemployment days. And the last link to the company is now lost, we are even. I wish the company and all the friends over there all the best.

Day 34

We were so lucky to get a really nice weather to our Jazz piknic day, see the picture. Emeli Sande was the star of the night and she was performing... ok.

But what's even better, today I received my RHCP ticket to Ratina Stadium in Tampere 01.08.12!

Day 33

Salsa salsa salsa, dancing salda didappapduu.. Pori Jazz is full of surprises and today we found an "undercover" place with salsa music and dancers. It looked pretty cool and maybe I could be the next great salsa dancer ! Could I earn my living as a salsa dancer ? I can do poko with punk music and then I could expand to humppa and eventually end up to salsa, couldn't I....

Day 32

Day 32 was a rainy day -again- in Naantali. We tried to play golf with my godson and his father, but eventually we gave up.. and not for a long, the sun was shining.. 

Day 31

Day 31. It doesn't feel like day 31. It's been a month since I woke up as a "free bird". So far so good. Let see what day 32 brings along..

Day 30

The weather has been crap during the summer, but it is what it is and there's nothing I can do about it, or none of us actually. Anyway, the weather wasn't too bad last night at all, and there were plenty of people enjoying the music and the mild summer night. This picture is from the Jazz street, unfortunately Samsung mobile cannot do better quality thus you dont see much.. I had a Nokia mobile since mid 1990 (not the same model throughout the years thou :)) and always liked the shape, usability and quality of Nokia phones, but now, for the first time, I have moved to Android world from Symbian. It's a bity that Nokia couldn't response quickly enough to Apple and Android type of ecosystem. I  would like to talk hours and speculate the reasons why Nokia failed, but I'll save you from that :) , for now atleast. It's great to see that Android has cought Apple and now we have two platforms to choose from. I dont count Windows yet, but they have a good chance to get close to those two in front when Nokia gets it's act together and Apple will destroy themselves with their arrogant behaviour, and Android.. well they will be though.

Day 29

This is a festival "season" here in my home town Pori; European biggest Jazz festival has started and will last for a week. Jazz is not my-type-of music, but that's not a point here: it's the atmosphere what makes the difference. This is a relatively small town (~80 000+) and during the festival there are lot of people visiting from abroad and other parts of Finland. So, again a good reason to forget my "unemployment status" and join the festive mood :)

Day 28

.. travelling abroad was always in the agenda during the time in England. The job itself required some travelling, also travelling back to Finland every so often, and some holiday trips. Our customers were in New Zealand, India, many parts of the Europe and UK for sure.

So, I was just graduated, got a new (and the first real) job in Finland, got married, moved to England, got totally new job in a new environment, lived in a new culture, got a bit more salary and other company benefits than I was used to. Many of our friends from Finland visited us and it was so cool to hang around in the town with them. :)

That all was quite a lot in a very short period, which was fun alright, but if you ask now: I would take it all (or less) a bit slower, be more relaxed and enjoyed the actual life even more. And oh, I forgot to tell that we got our first child during those first years also :). After he was born, it was the first time to stop and think what I have and what's important...

Day 27

Day 26

As part of my resignation, I lost couple of benefits, which I was so used to, like a car. I had company leasing car for many years and now it's gone, and I'm without a car. I haven't bought a new one yet and not planning to buy, not now. I had a plan to buy second hand car this month, but decided to live without. I will use a bicycle as much I can and the kids must do the same. They are not too happy about it though:). Well, my dear Virpi has a car and she is so kind to borrow it basically anytime I need. So no rush there. I can do my golf, and job hunting when the time is right, by Honda :)

Day 25

Tuesday 10th of July.

Another day of golf with Mikko. I had a plan to play golf almost everyday now when I have more spare time than ever, but that has not been the reality due to crap rainy weather and I have had better things to do. Am I a good golfer? Avarage.

Day 24

Monday 9th of July.

golf, nothing but a golf. No time for the blog

Day 23

.. the office was not located in London but close by. We decided to move into middle of London, not knowing much of the boroughs and what would they be to live in. Hyde Park was well known park in the middle of the town, so we picked the south side of it and were lucky to find a decent one bedroom flat from South Kensington. It turned to be a great location to live. 


I travelled two hours every morning to the office using two different tube lines and a train, and enjoyed every minute of it for two years. I was not used to spend four hours a day for travelling between home and the office; in Tampere in took 20min by bike! But, the whole enviroment - or should I say ecosystem- was so much different and overwhelmingly enjoyable that not even the rush hour tube chaos could have ruined it, honestly. I felt learning something new every day for a period of one year and only after that I did not feel as turist anymore, or not so much at least. The second year in Kensington was maybe even better as then you didnt have to concentrate on every single basic things, but had a chance to expand the experience even further... 


... and concentrate more on working :), which was pretty fine also. I must say that the fag breaks were confusing sometimes as I did not understand all the stories told by my colleagues; they were coming various parts of britain and when the Irish Benny spoke, I wonder what he actually was saying and by the time I got it, they were already moved to another story: never had a chance to laugh together with them, I was always late :)...

Day 22

I woke up at 04.00 to take this sun rise picture for you... or did not

Day 21

For some reason, I feel much busier now-a-days than "in my previous life, the life before unemployment". Like today I have barely any time to update the blog. I have already been in FHRA Nitro Nationals in Alastaro http://fhra.fi/sitenews/view/-/nid/38/ngid/1
It's not really my kind of sport at all, but must say that it's pretty impressive to see these grazy people to drive Top Fuel cars. My son in driving a bit smaller type of dragster and this is his first start ever. Was fifth in qualification round, so that's a good start. Good luck for the tomorrow and to final if you reach that far. So that was the main reason to visit Alastaro today. My dear friend Kimmo is also part of the RF Motosport team (top fuel) and here's a picture of the car.

And now I must run to the party; there is a great birthday party coming up tonight in Lattomeri. Likely the weather is superb and the night should be warm enough. Happy birthday Minna and Make!

Day 20

Today was a sunny and hot day: perfect for all unemployed people :) More days like these please. I didn't give a single thought today to improve my unemployment status, sorry. Actually I'm not even sorry, why should I. There are plenty of days to come when I might need to feel sorry not to perform :). But not today.

Day 19

I called the Labour force bureau this morning and informed that I still don't have the certificate of employment, even though I called the office (HR) yesterday and asked it to be send out ASAP. They weren't too upset and asked me to come back in early August, which is fine by me.
And then, the mail was a bit late today - usually the postman arrives by eleven o'clock, but today it was delivered late afternoon- and when I checked the mail, it was there together with other mails, my certificate. Point c) is sorted out now and it's time to complete task b), without a hurry.

The sky looks like this at ten o'clock in the evening

Day 18

.. having a top floor office with a view over the city (or back of the city :)) was great for the first timer, and even better, we got my best friend from the university to join the company after 6 months or so, and he moved in to the same office! And we had maybe the best boss for all times to lead us. We shared many good moments together.

But that was not enough for me, You see, when I joined the company 1995 I made it very clear -to myself- that my destination will be somewhere else than in Tampere. And soon I found myself in the situation where I had a chance to move to UK and London. Initially I it looked like that I can't find a job inside the company, but I was blessed with the great boss ever who helped me to get a transfer to UK inside the company, and as an expat! ...

Day 17

The third Monday of my unemployed story was again very pleasant and I'm quite lucky to be able to spend these kind of start-of-the-week days, and even more to come. It's a holiday season down here in Finland and 75% (or something) of the whole population are having wonderful Monday today, so surely I'm not the only one.

Today I'm in Tampere, which looks like this.. one perspective. I used to work in Tampere and I was tempted to drive pass the office.. I was not! Its been only three weeks since I left the building and said bye bye to mates for heaven sake...

How many of you know the place anyway? All Tampester people should know, and more likely many other Finns also...

Day 16

17 years in a firm is a reasonable time and it was a good time.Well spent, I would say. It was a priviledge to work in  a multicultural and global environment. I got a great deal of friends globally, some still in the company, some moved out already.

It all started in 1995 in Finland. The time when we felt like a pioneers and motivation was high. We got respect from customers, which gave even more boost to perform and do long hours. I was a rookie who was just graduated from the university, but immediately felt to be in a right place in a right time. ...