The problems with suits...

The problem with suits is multifold. Essentially getting a good suit and looking great in it is a long-term process involving sweat, money, and time. Or that's the conclusion that I've come to. Granted, I don't have any first hand experience.

The problem is this: to look incredibly good, you first have to invest time and effort into getting your body into good shape. Then you have to invest more time and effort into maintaining yourself in good shape. Although one might argue that this should be done anyway, so it's not that big a deal. But at least to me it takes some work. I mean, it's not like I'm in that bad a shape, but that's mainly thanks to buying some free weights for myself. So now I just daily do a bunch of sit ups, push ups, squats, throw around some hand weights, etc. But sometimes there may be a week or two during which I do nothing. And this year I've been to the gym at work... Oh... Three times? Pathetic.

Then the problem with suits. The suits that come from the rack rarely fit just right. Then there's the whole process of adjusting the suit, or should be. I haven't been arsed to, since the 152 sized suits with a slim cut for the jacket suit me (no pun intended) decently enough. And every time you buy a suit, it should be the same process. And what if you change brands? You'll have to check the sizing again.

So then... The money. Bespoke. Costs like hell, but should be worth it. Now you have to find a tailor. Then you, according to some guidelines, need to have at least two to three jackets/suits made to see the quality and get to grips with your tailor and for the tailor to get things just the way they should be. Apparently they'll naturally create - draw, cut, sew - the suits to fit you just right. But there is some small variance.

And then the issue with personal taste. Being the slightly slim but tall person I am, and also been putting on some mussle mass, I would want my suits to have form fitting jackets and a sharp shoulder line. Something you'd imagine that a somewhat sporty suit would have. Except that it shouldn't be too clean, i.e. the shoulder padding should look just ever so slightly as if it'd form according to my shoulders, but still flatter the torso by giving a sort of athletic look. Without too much padding.

Difficult? You bet. And without being able to drop two grand a suit (in pounds sterling...)? Doubly so.

Sleep, she is for the weak!

... and right now I'm starting to think that it might just be better to acknowledge that in fact I want to be weak and sleep. And have a vacation. When you start getting back responses to emails you don't even recall sending, it's getting bad (and no, I was entirely sober; heck, who has the time to drink these days let alone waste a day being hung over...).

Online music

For a while I held the opinion that online music business won't just work thanks to idiotic DRM-limitations and too high a price tag. And other annoying stuff. My opinion started to slowly change when I tried out Apple's iTMS. Of course it still had DRM. And it was decently expensive considering that you didn't even get the physical CD. And then you had to rip the DRM away so you could actually listen to it. No wait, I'm in Finland, I can't talk about overriding DRM protection. Silly me.

But the point remained, the Apple user interface, again, was done brilliantly. Without even noticing I had spent somewhere around 30 euros there. But it was still sort of annoying. Enter Amie Street. I'd actually been aware of Amie Street since the end of summer, 2006. I'd even plugged it and the idea in some conversations with people, but never actually got around to spending any more than 10 minutes with it myself. Until tonight. I paid them 10 bucks and was essentially expecting to get a couple of albums for that money. And mostly crap. But instead I bought the couple (three) albums and lo and behold, they were actually fairly decent. And I still have somewhere around nine bucks to spend! I can see how this service would, in the long run, be actually able to make a dent in my wallet. At least a larger dent than iTMS, not to mention the people selling physical CDs. I can just click-click-click and download a new album. And it'll cost something like 20 cents. Do that ten times and it's still just two bucks. Do that on 90 days a year and it's already 180 bucks...

Oh, and a shameless plug (I'm entitled to these because a) it's my blog and b) I don't even know the person who I'm plugging, this time). Go listen to Manic's stuff on Amie Street and possibly buy something if you like it. Brilliant stuff.

Hideous card...

So I decided to join the 20th century... I've been a firm believer in the fact that I neither want nor need a credit card, but the plans to move abroad for a while essentially spawned the understanding that I would need to bend my principles a bit. So I went ahead and ordered a Visa from Sampo. Swell. They even let me pick the image I wanted on the card from a predefined set. I picked the black card. A simple, black card. No image. Just black. Neutral and stylish. And fairly often I wear at least something black, and at times I'm completely dressed in black. Simple decision, huh?

Well, the card arrived yesterday, and it was black. But it had these little sparkling bits on it. To sum it up, it was hideous. I was planning on actually starting to use the debit card features of it since they're a lot more widely supported than Visa Electrons, with which I'd been living before. But my god... The card looked so hideous that I don't think I can even take it out of my wallet, let alone pay with it.

So naturally, after a bit more than 24 hours of contemplation, I put in a new order for the same card but with the standard Sampo image on it. Hopefully it won't be glittery...

The Modern Road Warrior

Well, ok, I don't really travel that much, but I've been noticing a trend in the stuff I buy. Especially electronics. I like small, durable, and wireless. So what do I have with me when I do travel?

• laptop (Thinkpad T40)
• external hard drive (small aluminium LaCie USB drive, 100 GB)
• mobile phone (Nokia E70)
• headset (some random Nokia Bluetooth headset)
• a bunch of chargers (this is actually a real problem!)

If I have to be able to do work, then I'll need to either take along another laptop or replace the T40 with the work laptop and of course the SecurID card.

And then of course a pile of books, clothes, sanitary equipment (toothbrush, contact lense stuff, haircare stuff, face-care stuff, etc.), and a portfolio case with relevant papers/magazines and so on. Previously I've been typically lugging along a duffel bag and a laptop bag, but recently I pretty much got rid of the laptop bag and just throw the laptop and other stuff in between clothing (works well, I don't fly that often and I typically have my bag with me at all times).

It's nice to know that packing has become a routine already. I guess I can pretty much pack a bag for a week-long trip in about 15 minutes. The only problems are jackets; you can only take one with you without any hassle...

Phew... That was close!

I've been advocating this On Demand (with apologies to IBM...) lifestyle for a while. What this means in practice is that I don't keep any food at my flat, usually. If I get hungry, I go and get something to eat... On demand. Also works with other aspects of life.

Anyway, on my way back home from work, I decided to go get some müsli for the morning; I'd already picked up a box a while back but of course I had taken the wrong type; it was by some random company and tasted like crap. Anyway, got the right box of müsli and on a whim decided to actually get some chicken filets also. And by this point the people who know me must be shocked - me buying some raw materials which implies I'm going to cook! The horror...!

Long story short; I ended up cleaning my flat, doing the dishes and then, just before actually starting to cook I walked out, walked to the local Chinese restaurant and grabbed some takeaway food. Danger averted!

And on a completely different note; a small survival tip for anyone employed by N who happens to have a phone number that's exactly identical to a general telephone conference number and is different by only one number... Start blacklisting the phone numbers that most often call you (e.g. meeting room numbers, telephone switch numbers, etc.) and never answer anyone calling from any number you don't know if the phone rings on the hour or on the half hour. It's just one of these nice little things you learn to live with when you're at a large company...

Sometimes...

... I think I like the idea of studying more than the actual studying...

But right now I think I might actually be having an exceptionally strong drive in getting stuff at school done.

MSc or... MSc...?

Starting January 1st of 2006, the Finnish polytechnic schools (ammattikorkeakoulu) have been calling themselves Universities of Applied Sciences. Predating that, when the entire ammattikorkeakoulu system was being introduced, many people voiced concerns as to whether or not having an alternate higher education route was needed as there already existed schools which took care of the technician-level of education. But the system was created nonetheless. And now they're at it again; up until now they've technically provided students with Bachelors degrees, but apparently now they're starting to offer Masters level degrees also. Which are recognized as equivalent to the university Masters degrees that have been handed out before by the actual universities.

The reason why this is an issue for me is that the ammattikorkeakoulu system is trying to play a publicity stunt by trying to make it appear as if it's an actual university, which it most definately is not. If you look at the main responsibilities of universities (doing research, influencing in society through educated opinions, upholding culture, giving scientific education which builds a strong foundation for doing academic research and so on) and you'll notice that the Universities of Applied Sciences don't really do any of those things. They do serve a purpose, mainly training people to do something concrete. And those people are needed. But their current moves are just bringing unnecessary confusion to the landscape. And in the long run this my actually turn against them...

Let's take a scenario where they are indeed considered as equals to universities and the degrees are also equivalent. The scope and level of teaching is still drastically different. The credits are handed out a lot more easily than in, say, TKK. Eventually you'll have a two-story system of universities in Finland. You'll have the first tier universities (the "real" universities) and then the second tier universities, which are considered inferior to the first tier schools. And that will in turn completely destroy their reputation; if you play basketball and like to play basketball but have never played golf, you'll just get completely creamed at a golf competition. Focus on basketball instead, since that's where you're good at.

Of course I have to admit that this might sound a bit elitistic and arrogant and there is naturally my own agenda in which I fear the devaluation of the MSc degree, which might in turn hurt me. But I seriously do think that there is a position to fill for ammattikorkeakoulus, but they are missing the point and trying to be something they are not. They'll never be part of the academia, but that isn't in any way a bad thing for either the academia or the ammattikorkeakoulu system. This current direction, however, will only make things worse for everyone a bit later and some sense should be hammered into the leaders.

Payscales, bonuses and whatnot

Right now I'm less than impressed with N.