Jack of all trades, Doctor of Philosophy.
If you cycle as often as I do, you may find the following tips helpful:
I bought some Nokia shares a few months ago thinking at that time that the share price was really low, and it wouldn’t go lower than that. However, Nokia proved me wrong again and again. In April Nokia shares dropped more than 30%. And it has kept that trend ever since. Today it dropped again — around 20%. Now I’m losing more than 50%… Well, I guess there are reasons why some financial analysis institutes cut NOK as Junk… It’s just difficult for newbie investors to understand. Now I’ve witnessed how one company can screw up, and not surprised any more if it may go further down.
If Microsoft is to take over Nokia, it is certainly doing an excellent job…
Leave a CommentWe had our NomadicLab picnic day yesterday, and it was nice experience. The sky started a bit gloomy in the morning and everyone was worried it will rain during the day — which is said to be a tradition that many picnic days in previous years enjoyed raining weather. A colleague put his sunglasses on to pretend it’s sunny. And that helped. After some official workshop sessions when we walked outside, the sky was bright blue and sunny.
We brought the food and drinks to somewhere close to the sea and started the picnic under a huge cannon. People started eating and drinking and after one sandwich I went playing football. I got tired after a while and after some rest we played a Swedish game “Kubb“. It took us a long time to finnish just one round, but in the end my team won the game. After that we started volleyball. And that really hurt my arms and hands.
When we were heading back, someone was too drunk to walk already. A colleague asked me how it feels to be sober when others are drinking. “Normal”, I replied. It was an honest answer. As long as nobody is forcing me to drink, I feel completely comfortable. Besides, it feels more natural when alcohol makes Finns more talkative.
People went to a restaurant and later to a bar, but I didn’t go for no good reasons. Maybe I was just too tired. I came back with red and burning face (and probably also red neck). When bathing my nose was also bleeding — too much sunshine, I guess. After got up this morning my legs are sour, my arms hurting. But it was nice, at least I had time to be with colleagues not just talking about work, but also personal things.
Leave a CommentYesterday we had dinner at a colleague’s house. He has a house similar to my parents used to have: a two story building with both front yard and backyard. “Mi casa es su casa”, he says. And we acted like that. We sat in his sofa and played with his Playstation. I even played. Although I know I suck at games, but it doesn’t stop me enjoying having fun with friends. When we were playing Guitar Hero, I tried the drums, simply because I had some limited experience with them when I was in primary school 15 years ago. But it turned out too difficult for me; I was missing literally every note — either too fast or too slow. I guess previous experiences didn’t help much…
While we were playing video games, three ladies were busy preparing dinner. It might not be something to be bragged about, but it indeed felt great. It’s like staying at home and I never need to cook, someone always keep my stomach full. Same thing happened yesterday — we almost exploded… Also after dinner no one needs to wash the dishes, there’s a machine for that!
After dinner and a little bit rest we headed home, and a colleague drove us back home although he lives in the oposite direction. It’s very nice to have such awesome colleagues and friends. “We should do this often, or even everyday”, I proposed to the colleague who cooked. She looked happy and said “I’m very happy you like it; I like cooking very much!”
I know it’s impossible to do it often; but I’m still quite surprised that there is actually someone who loves cooking in this world.
Leave a CommentToday I found a mail lying in my mailbox, and it turned out that I have the right to vote! Believe it or not:
Well, I’m also from a republic country — at least that’s what they say — but I’ve never had the chance to vote. It seems that one should not believe what one government claims. And now I feel quite upside about Finland: how can you let a foreigner vote? I’m not a citizen, I don’t even have a permanent residence permit! Isn’t Finland afraid of people overthrowing one government? Well, I just think they are wild! Now what should I do? Just discard it? But this’s my first opportunity! But whom I should vote? No one never taught me how!
I didn’t realize I’ve been in Finland for almost two years now. It’s been a long time. It’s been nice to study, work and live here. But there’s still something missing, however I don’t really know what’s missing. I suppose I was born a nomad; I’m one that never wants to settle. When is the time to move on? And where I’d go? What should I go after?
I don’t have answers to any of them. But I guess it’s good this way, at least for now.
Leave a CommentThis morning I had to go to Helsinki city center to pick up some office equipment, and once I got on the bus I noticed something different from my daily routine: I couldn’t find a seat that no one was sitting beside, which is quite rare when I go to/back from work. Before this I had always thought that there isn’t enough people in Finland even to fill a bus… It became more obvious when the bus in driving away from the highway and begin entering the city center: there was roughly one km queue of traffic waiting, I thought only big cities have this kind of problems. Turned out I was wrong.
One hour later when I was going back to work from Helsinki center, I got onto a bus in which I was the only passenger — for more than 10km. After that there were three of us all the way to my workplace. And after we got off, the bus was empty again — of course the driver was still there… Living inside ring one and working outside ring three certainly has some benefits: one never needs to worry about crowded public transportation.
Things become quite different when you take them for granted, isn’t it?
Leave a CommentSpring is already in Helsinki; I shot these beautiful flowers on the bus when going to work:
At work Aimmy invites us to have some cake during afternoon coffee break. The cake was very delicious and she’s really good at cooking yummy food. She has already made muffins twice before this; and we are all expected to taste some original Thai food, probably next week.
Yesterday I volunteered to set up a website for the project I’m currently working on. It seems that even my PHP skills will be useful for my career. Some skills developed from hobbies come quite handy when doing serious business. Everything, any experience or lessons are likely to be used sometime later…
I moved my desk to a different position in the room and now I’m enjoying the new layout. Last night I watched Hangover from my bed instead of siting in my uncomfortable chair, thanks to the new layout. 27 inch display looks OK and wireless keyboard acts as remote — a real big remote. Now off to watch Hangover 2. 🙂
Leave a CommentOne colleague said that he felt lucky because they don’t have to eat the traditional Christmas food any more. But I think the food is not that bad, at least the salad is quite good. Especially the salty and sour and sweet herings, they taste delicious.
Just took a walk literally “ON” the sea since the water was completely frozen.
It was my third time walking on ice.
The first time was in Kiruna, a small town in the arctic circle in northern Sweden. We were walking on a lake and the guide told us to keep a distance from each other, so as not to break the ice and get ourselves frozen in the lake. It made us all nervous but in the
end I found him to be kidding. You can even drive trucks on that. On the way back the guide drove the van onto a lake and showed us how it was like to drift on ice.
The second time I was walking on the shore around Otaniemi and found many Finns skiing or ice fishing on the sea. So I walked on it with great care, and found out it was quite safe to walk there.
This morning I was originally planning to take a walk along the coast line. But then again I found some guys
playing on the sea. So I stepped out on it. At first I was a bit afraid, after all we were getting positive temperatures in the past few days. But after a while I was sure that there was nothing to be afraid of. I jumped on the sea and nothing happened. Besides, walking on the sea is much easier than walking on the road. Walking on the sea is like struggling in a swamp, as snow could be very thick at some points; while walking on the road was like dancing Waltz on a mirror, because the roads
are covered with ice and a very thin layer of fresh snow. And this time I used GPS to track my location and ended up with the following trail.
The whole trail is 7 kilometers and my average speed was 4.39 km/h. But the top speed was 13.36 km/h because I was chasing by a shark. LOL.
Another picture:
Only three months to go before I have to deliver my thesis. It’s supposed to be 9-month work but I have to complete in less than five months; otherwise I’ll have to pay expensive tuition and enroll for the next academic year. When you receive something you need to give away some at the same time.
We have EU founding to support our studies; in return we have to stick with one study program and
complete the study in time. For these kinds of programs there’s not so much flexibility compared with other self-founding programs. At KTH I had the most boring courses in my life. All I had to do there is to configure routers. It would be fun when you have one of these courses; but having more than half of the curriculum trying to teach you to design a network was like forcing soldiers to stay in lecture halls listening to all kinds of theories all day long. It’s sick; it’s not what
you are expecting.
But anyhow technical stuff in school life should not be the most important. It’s a whole new world and I wouldn’t force myself into something one can learn anywhere. Apart from the boring studies, life in Sweden and Finland is better than anyone could expect. There’s beautiful nature, multicultural environment and nice folks everywhere. One of the most important reasons I love here is how people enjoy life. No one seems to be pushing you
forward; no one tries to persuade you into doing something; you don’t have much pressure saving money in order to buy an apartment; you are away from people’s nagging of what you should do and what you shouldn’t. It is just comfortable, cozy and easy to have a life as such.
Eat when you are hungry; drink when thirsty; rest when tired. Simple rules often work best. Seize the day.
I don’t need to worry about anything since I know somehow
I’ll finish the thesis in time. And I even don’t care how exactly I’m gonna do that. But I will.
Enjoy as much as possible, even if you are doing research. 🙂
Now we are starting to have positive temperatures here. The weather is just gorgeous everyday. The breeze is fresh; the sky is clear; the sun is shining. You feel warm inside out. You can clearly see how people are smiling: their brows flying upward and eyes narrowed — that’s how you smile under the sunshine, isn’t it? You could even see reflection of bright teeth once in a while. It’s just as cozy
as one could possibly imagine.
The snow starts to melt but the roads are still slippery and reflexive. Even so it doesn’t stop people coming out doing exercises and enjoying life. All kinds of people, old or young, chubby or skinny, are jogging or doing Nordic walking in tights. Though at times you can notice white steam coming out of people’s mouths, it doesn’t make you feel chilly. Instead you get a burning feeling as if you have joint them doing exercises; it’s like
there’s a flow of energy inside you trying very hard to burst out.
The French guy across the corridor has already started wearing shorts. The first thing he said when he saw me was: “Its hot!” As a matter of fact, it is, since inside the office it was around 30 degrees. And as the sunshine flows inside, you feel it’s already summer time.
I opened the window, fresh air pours in. Closing my eyes, I could feel the cool air moving from my cheek to the neck. It’s just
amazing.
All of a sudden you hear birds singing; they are not owls; it’s like canaries’ chirps up from paradise. I looked out trying to figure out where the little spirits were, but with no success. Maybe they are in paradise; you never know. I’ll just leave them alone, enjoying their divine melodies with a grateful heart.
What a wonderful world.
P.S. I have to admit it’s damn hard to write a descriptive essay; this is the best I could come up
with right now.
P.S.2. I love Louis Armstrong’s “What a wonderful world”.
Leave a Comment前几天在公司开会，一个长的就像科学家的大叔演示了他一个人用业余时间做的智能家庭自动化控制系统。自己买传感器，网线，自己布线，自己写软件，做出的系统能监测室内温度湿度亮度，监测洗衣机状态，衣服烘干之后给他发短信，在jabber上发消息，或者在facebook上更新状态……这些就算了，他连家里吐丝机的状态都能远程监测到……他在家专门有一间数据中心，里面放着各种交换机，路由器，以及他用10欧元的旧笔记本搭起来的服务器；他给这个系统分配了好几个子网，用了几百条网线……如果这个还不算什么的话，前几天他听说我拿到了一个开发板，可以集成ZigBee和GPS模块，于是问我那东西好不好编程，因为他想做个东西来追踪自己的小孩……太可怕了……
刚刚拿到了一个小公司还没上市的产品，一个Linux盒子。捣鼓了一下，感觉人跟人的差距真大。自己好歹也用了五六年的Linux了，别人玩一玩就可以整出自己的系统来，比如Ubuntu，MeeGo，Android，运气好还能赚不少钱；玩腻了在开源社区纠集一帮人或者自己单兵作战，整出个新的操作系统，比如什么TinyOS，Arduino之类的，部署到WSN节点上为物联网添砖加瓦；再不济也写写网络协议栈，在KTH时有一老兄就写了个微型的TCP/IP，据说后来被某个公司用到卫星上去了。自己捣鼓了这么多年除了会配置一些基本的服务之外就什么都不会了，加上现在Linux系统GUI的发展，想装模作样用用命令行吸引小女生们敬佩的眼光也越来越难了……
技术上比不上人家就算了，连名字都没人家的拉风。公司里两个小头头一个叫“油腻”，一个叫“压你”，还有一个老兄叫“嗨妹”，比不过这几个就算了，毕竟人家是欧洲人。但是人家孟加拉人的名字也很拉风啊，叫“拉屎不”…新来一个三叔（阿三大叔，简称三叔）叫“拿磷”，难不成是个喜欢自焚的主？（以上名字均为标准音译）
P.S.
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8 Comments
今天出门的时候感觉比较冷，到了公司发现温度计上赫然显示着零下二十九度…头一次发现赫尔辛基的温度计也可以这么吓人，孟加拉同学还专门跑到我办公室，一脸兴奋的告诉我外面有多少度…
不知道是不是天气太冷的缘故，今天头一直一阵一阵的疼，每过几分钟就有一种有人那针刺大脑的感觉。一天就看了一篇报告。不过学校的论文模板很给力，我就记了三段话的笔记，生成pdf后就有一页了，比用ieee会议的双栏排版有成就感多了…
导师度假去了，又没有硬性规定任务，加之头痛难忍，加之没吃早饭午饭…理由真多啊…我就早退了…
进入正题。我去买了厨具，成为了一名有电饭锅的新时代男人。到芬兰半年多了，今天头一次做饭给自己吃，都是眼泪啊…哥也有今天啊…
正题完毕，谢谢围观。
4 Comments九月份排队申请房子，到了年底还是排400多名，住房一点希望都没有。后来听说可以以没有住房为由申请提升优先级，经过交涉之后马上就排到了70名，没过几天就分到房子了。
回来后第二天拿到了钥匙，房子还不错，虽然比较老，但也宽敞明亮干净；独立卫浴，布局跟国内标间一样；让我惊喜的是有个小冰箱，让我临走前在北京机场买的熊猫冰箱贴派上了用场，话说这个熊猫是可以摆造型的，虽然不是功夫熊猫的样子，但我觉得它也是会功夫的，有图有真相。:D
大致看了下房间后下楼转悠，在地下室找到了张床。于是把东西从同学家搬过来之后，又让同学帮忙把床抬到我房间，虽然小了点，而且高不到三十公分，但也勉强能睡。今天又请同学帮忙，在回收站抬了张桌子回来，还捡了把没有靠背的椅子，家里总算像个样子了。几张图：
发现我的背包还挺多的……
整个房间：
另一张：
捡的桌子：
房间很空啊：
最近很忙，有一种所有东西都压过来的感觉。虽然只有两门考试，但是由于平时学的不认真，只有临时抱佛脚；毕设依然未定，不过这两天四个面试，这频率也太高了点。
明天回家，不知道一年半之后回到家会有什么样的感觉，不知父母头上有没有新添银丝……但是我又不敢想的太多，因为我怕自己回到家的时候亲人已经认不出我了，我还是一年前的那个我吗？我自己也没有答案。既期待，又恐慌，索性不想了。
收拾东西，打包搬家，发现自己东西竟然多了不少，看来有一点要安定下来的味道了。只是明年的住房问题还没解决，估计回来之后会居无定所好一阵子。
不管怎样，问题总会解决的，一切顺其自然。冬天会走，春天会来，我要像松柏一样，傲雪凌霜，矗立在那里，守候春天的第一缕暖阳。
其实我不知道这棵树是什么树……
明天的两个面试是今年最后的战役了，相信自己能行的！
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