The Baroque Cycle. Finished. ‘Nuff said.

But now I have to go back and read Cryptonomicon just to try to find out all of the ways in which the two book sare connected to each other. I do recommend all of the Baroque Cycle, especially if you have any kind of interest in historical novels (which I do). At times it’s quite hard to read and requires concentration, e.g. when Waterhouse and Newton ramble about various philiosophikal matters, but other parts just fly by.

P.S. Read Reason’s interview with Neal Stephenson (via kottke.org).

Superbowl is just getting ready to start. Time to go sit by the TV and enjoy the one and only American Football game shown on Finnish TV. I’m on call and hoping that we don’t get any calls during the night. Tomorrow’s a day off since the game should end around six (am). I already missed the best game of Euro2004 because of a call…

Let the games begin!

Update 05:20: Congrats to the Patriots! A good year for sports in Boston and a game that was exciting to the finish. Sorry Mom ;)

I know, I’m a nerd. Even changing my dream profession from researcher to firefighter only dropped my score by 2%. (Via ButtUgly.)

We found a new flavor of chocolate in the store the other day. Fazer has published a small chocolate bar called Maya (direct linking impossible, go to products, brand = Fazer blue, chocolate countlines) which has corn flakes and chili in it. It’s an interesting taste. I’d say good, Anna still has practise that she needs. She only managed to eat 1.5 pieces. But it’s odd to eat hot chocolate (not in the drinkable sense but in the chili sense).

While this year’s new year celebrations have been more subdued and marred by the recent disaster, the changing year offers us a symbolic clean slate. While there is not much that can be done to prevent natural disasters from happening, the latest disaster has shown the need for global coordination in large scale rescue and humanitarian aid issues. Hopefully we will see some improvement in this area.

In Finland towns and cities decided to donate the money reserved for the new year celebrations. Thus we didn’t have any spectacular fireworks this year, but the populace have celebrated the changing year in their normal fashion. Luckily our neck of the woods was peacuful enough that I wasn’t called to work and we got to enjoy the Extended Edition of Return of the King. Below are two pictures from last years celebrations.

They were taken from the top of the hose drying tower of the Joensuu fire station, 25 metres or so above ground level. It was cold and windy. I had to thaw Anna out in a hot shower for an hour afterwards. The panorama will give you a partial view of the skyline of Joensuu during the night. Happy New Year to all!