Back in Czech

And it's nice to be back. :) The weather has been more spring-like than in Finland, though it's not the "terrace season" just yet.

Connectivity concerns

When one is about to embark on a longer business trip, he (or she) may start to think about today's possibilities to keep connected with the family (without paying a huge buck for international phone calls). Sure, there are social services like Facebook and IM services like Google Talk, but one excellent thing that comes to mind are Skype video calls.

I can't install Skype on my corporate laptop, but luckily I have two wonderful Linux machines that come with Skype pre-installed. Although neither one are brand new they are still fully working. My Asus eeePC 900 netbook has currently Crunchbang Linux, and my trusted Nokia N810 is running Maemo OS2008. Both machines have got WLAN connectivity. One major disadvantage in the N810 is that in can only do Skype voice calls for some reason.

A few more differences that matter for me: compared to the N810 the eee pc is still "quite big" to drag along, and the N810 gives way more operating time since its' battery can last up to seven hours (against two hours for the eeePC 900). Also, the N810 has got built-in GPS and a way better keyboard. If only it would do Skype video calls too!

But, to sum it up, I think I'm pretty well set for my business trip with either one of these machines. :)

Tour de Mäntsälä

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Time to show the world what we've got here! Though Mäntsälä is not a 24-hour metropol like New York, it's a decent place to live. In the centre are 1) the bus station, 2) hockey arena, 3) club house, 4) city hall, 5) a church on top of a hill, and 6) & 7) two supermarkets (third one would be Lidl a bit further away).

If you're wondering the bit funny lighting of the pictures, it's likely because they were taken at daybreak today. A strange twist on behalf of my cell phone's optics is a free bonus. ;)

Peak of the snow season

This has been a really good winter. It's been two months with more and more solid snow and tens of minus degrees. But for next weekend the forecast is around zero degrees of Celcius.. so here are a few snapshots from a day that might still be among the "highlights of winter 2010".

Einige Bierdeckel

Oh it's been too long since I've been to Germany..

Round the Baltic coast(ers)

Here's a few beer coasters to show from the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania).

In more detail, one from the "Beer House" in Tallinn, and Pärnu ölu.. hmm.. now what makes this one interesting is that I've never been to Pärnu.. and I'm not even sure if I've ever tasted that beer. ;)

The third one is from "Avilys" brewery in Kaunas.. It was a really nice place, and that coaster is a post card on the other side (the brewery paid for the postage)!

Czech out some beer coasters

This is a brief excursion to some of the Czech beer coasters I've managed to collect on my past trips. The most interesting ones are from smaller breweries.