Coffee

In coffee shops the orange thermos is always for decaffeinated coffee. In Finland you can look for decaf in the same stores where they sell nonalcoholic vodka.

Victory!

I would like to proudly announce that my cartoon was selected among the winners in the before mentioned competition. Hooray! I can't wait to get my hands on the precious coffee cups I won!

More Thanksgiving

I've still been preoccupied with the cartoon competition.

The upcoming election sure is a big talk around here.

Cartoon Cornucopia

I'm taking part in New York public Radio's Thanksgiving Day cartoon competition .


Idea developed with Heta. Thank you very many!

For those of you not so familiar with Thanksgiving Day in New York: Macy's parade

Groups

Car Talk

We have a very noisy car. Talking while driving has been getting on our throats - and our nerves - but not any longer!

Shopping manners

Greeting

Drivers' logic

Oh, good - that'll make them move faster.

Folding in Thirds

Click on image to enlarge it.

Identification

Non-driver IDs are issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Cathedrals

Every building in New Haven looks like a cathedral.

Pennies

One Cent coins should absolutely not be in use any more. Their value is so low that there is no-one to bend down and pick them up off the pavement - not even in a city with plenty of people walking around asking for change.

A Woman with a Hat

Yesterday, in a small theater/restaurant there was a woman with one of those hats - a kippah or yarmulka - usually only worn by religious jewish men. This website sees women wearing kippot (plural for kippah) as a "push for equality between the sexes in the practice of Judaism".

Ceiling Panels

Every single store, cafe, bar, restaurant and gas station around here has the same kind of acoustic paneling on their ceiling. (Note that I have carefully documented this already before)

Packaging

One of the most ecological features of American groceries is the size of packaging. Everything is super-sized which means that for each pound of packaged food relatively little material is used in packaging (realtively meaning that if the same type of packages were smaller there would be even more wasted material).
That was at least how it used to be but now it seems that the trend is mini-size. Weight gaining (or loosing) concious consumers want their snacks in small packages containing just the suitable amount of calories for a single doze. Hence, for example potato chip companies gain multiplied profits - and create multiplied amounts of packaging material.

4th of July

There are always so many flags out there that it seemed like the 4th of July brought no substantial increase to the combined number of stars or stripes in this city.

a cry for help

Dear friends. I'm in serious need of help. See - my fiancée thinks that it's the man of the house (me) who should take care of the bugs. What I need is a tool and a strategy for catching these intruders without going near them - or actually even looking at them.

As the most loyal followers of this blog have probably already noticed I am a great inventor my self but now I feel betrayed by my creative powers. Please, help me!

This is what I've dealt with so far. I'm only waiting for the day when we find cockroaches.



Common House Centipedes are disgusting and I do not believe Charles A. Acosta who wrote "But it is clear that house centipedes are far more beneficial than harmful in human domiciles". The little sympathy I have for these creatures derives from the fact that the species was first described by Carl Linnaeus (in 1758), a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist - nearly a countryman of mine.

I think I'm living in America, pretty close to New York city: my toaster has a special setting for bagels. I have no idea what it does and haven't dared to try it yet.

Locking doors

I often feel slightly insecure in bathrooms here as there is no way of telling whether the door is locked once you are inside. The standard locking mechanism is such that pulling down the handle (or turning the knob) will unlock the door, leaving the visitor completely unaware of whether the door was locked in the first place.

I'm sorry

People here are very polite.

Pizza & Parking

Flagging customs

a kitchen with a view

It is part of the civil rights of the American house wives that they have a window placed above the kitchen sink so that they can watch their kids play outside while they wash the dishes. Because of this there is no space for a drying cupboard (kuivauskaappi, found in every Finnish home).

burgers

It is very difficult to learn that burger, in American, can mean both a steak within two pieces of bread and the steak on its own. A mushroom burger means (at least at the Metro Diner) a steak and some mushrooms placed within a roll. I got a veggie burger instead, which was vegetarian to my great delight.

Scarsdale Metro Rest & Diner, 878 Scarsdale Ave, Scarsdale, NY

palindromes

perfecting things

the frames read:
1. diaper
2. coffee - fat, salt + sugar
3. supports for sleeping
4. 1.home - 2.attraction1 - 3.attraction2 - 4.etc

afternoon sushi

Sushi a-go-go, 1900 Broadway, New York

breakfast at pantry

Pantry, 2 Mechanic St, New Haven

nuts and washer

saint patrick's day

It has to be noted here that the people of New Haven were celebrating a bit in advance for some reason. St patrick's is on March 17.