New toy
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

I’ve been planning for months to buy myself an Apple Powerbook laptop, and when the latest company bonus came in I finally gave myself permission. Of course, I had to have the best: although this is the smallest model (12″ diagonal screen) so I can easily carry it around, it still has a large hard disk, wireless LAN and Bluetooth, and can read and write both CDs and DVDs.

The plan has been that I’d use it to post far more often to this blog, and to do some programming experiments (especially learning a new programming language called Ruby).

Another thing that should be arriving soon in the post is a miniature USB memory card reader for Secure Digital (SD) cards, the type our tiny Canon digital camera uses. So then I’ll be able to take photos with that camera and upload them from wherever I find a café with wireless Internet.

In fact, because my phone (a Nokia 3230) has Bluetooth, I can use it as a modem and connect to the Internet with my Powerbook wherever I am. It’s not very fast then though – browsing works OK, but you see the images downloading one by one. Probably not very good for uploading megapixel images…

Anyway, a cool tool – I just have to learn how to get the most out of it. Should be fun!

April snow showers
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

It’s that time of year in Helsinki when you never know whether it’s going to be warm and sunny, or snowing again, The flowers in this tub didn’t look very happy.

We had another of our board games evenings (they’re usually every second Tuesday). This time there were 9 of us, and it was at our place. While waiting for Sami & Sarita we played a quick game of 6 Nimmt!, then we played a couple of games of Lupus in Tabula, i.e. Werewolf.

Pirates of the Spanish Main

Then we split into two groups. The two Michaels & Scott played Pirates of the Spanish Main, while Eve, Sarita, Sami, Mari, Séverine & I played Citadels, which Sarita enjoyed very much when we played at Iris’s place last time.

Citadels

After the others left, Michael W., Scott, Eve & I played High Bohn, an interesting explansion for Bohnanza. All in all a good evening, and just a shame it had to end so soon!

Eve & I are out for a Sunday afternoon walk. Here Eve is standing on the ice of Töölönlahti, downtown Helsinki.

Assembled table
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

This weekend I built the kitchen table (the plan for which is here). It still needs to be painted with a dark brown wax, to give a “hardwood” look and fit in with the other kitchen furniture.

It’s been very satisfying to work on the table, but also very hard work. I’m glad it’s done, and it turned out quite OK – the mistakes I made aren’t really visible!

I’m with Eve & her friends Riikka, Marita & Sari in Via, a very stylish wine bar in the centre of Helsinki.

On Wednesday evening Eve & I joined Isabella, Marko et al at the Secco shop opening party. Secco specializes in products made with recycled materials – their motto is "The Treasures of Wasteland". Their new shop is at Fredrikinkatu 33, right in the centre of Helsinki’s trendy boutique district.

Secco shop opening party

There were lots of interesting people, including a few familiar faces.

DJ Marko

Marko was in charge of the DJ’ing, and seemed to enjoy the attention.

Wasteland garden" jewelry

And of course there were the fascinating Secco products. This ‘Wasteland Garden" jewelry, designed by Anja Hult, is made of black tyre rubber and coloured beads.

Jewelry made from small odds & ends" jewelry

This colourful jewelry is made from lots of small odds & ends, strung on a chain.

Bowl made from vinyl record" jewelry

I especially like these bowls made from old vinyl records.

Glasses made from wine bottles" jewelry

And these glasses and candlesticks made from old wine bottles are fun. The patterns on the glasses are etched, so they’ll withstand dishwashers.

Plan for table
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

Last year I promised Eve that I’d make a table to go under our kitchen window. I’ve had the plan since last summer (though originally it had slatted shelves); my problem has been to get the necessary wood. I’ve visited our local timber yard many times, but each time they’ve been out of the wood I need or their big circular saw has been out of order.

So this week Eve took charge: she called another branch of the same timer yard, and they said to just e-mail the measurements and they’d saw it for her. We collect the wood tomorrow – let’s hope it’s alright! And then I can expect some serious pressure to get down to the business of assembling the thing…