ameriikka

Annoying 1

2010-11-22T17:58:00.000-08:00

Annoying 2

2010-11-22T17:50:00.000-08:00

For other posts on newspapers see: this and this.

getting around

2010-10-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this guy's comment had anything to do with it but apparently there is a stigma related to riding a bicycle in a lot of neighborhoods in the US: you ride one only if you can't afford a car or if you have lost your license. (If you're wearing spandex it's of course an entirely different thing.)

Lapsus

2010-10-18T15:43:00.000-07:00

Lapsus is a fairly widely used term in Finnish. I just found out that you can also use it in English (or can you?) - why not - any Latin term works just great with English (and makes you sound super smart). The funny thing is that I never knew that it is a Latin term. In Finnish it sounds very much like the word "lapsi" which means "a child" and hence I always imagined that lapsus is just derived from child - it is a childish mistake.

panting

2010-07-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

[A special report from Finland]

I've been panting all these years without knowing that I was panting.
Although, while I'm on this side of the Atlantic, it should be called trousering.

carbon-offset-backpack

2010-03-12T15:38:00.000-08:00

No more is there need to worry about the CO2 - a potent greenhouse gas - that we emit when we exhale.

secure enough

2010-02-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

I saw the Finnish ambassador to the US, Pekka Lintu, give a speech. In describing how he wants to be sure about the facts before he makes big announcements, he said: "In Finland we like to have both a belt and suspenders."

Thanksgiving at OTB

2009-11-30T10:32:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving I naturally went and did some off-track betting. I believe this is what most people do. For those of you not so familiar with OTBs – they are gaming worlds for adults where you go to place your bets if you can't get to the track

Glass House

2009-09-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

I visited the über famous Glass House by Philip Johnson. For obvious reasons there are no medium-sized stones in the vicinity of the house - only pebbles, and rocks too heavy to pick.

Music

2009-09-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

The other night I went to Bowery Ballroom in New York to see Soulsavers (featuring Mark Lanegan). The venue is nice, although it's sort of a cheap copy of Tavastia in Helsinki.

Caruncle

2009-08-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

Since I own a car and since I have two nephews - I must be a caruncle. Not especially flattering.

Coffee in Finland

2009-08-18T09:52:00.001-07:00

These are the types of coffee I drank during my trip to Finland (in no particular order). I consumed a minimum of four cups a day, which is below the national average.

Awkward in finland

2009-08-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

These two things felt slightly awkward during my recent visit to Finland:

I've gotten so used to leaving a tip at restaurants that I felt somewhat uncomfortable not leaving one.

The cover of the main newspaper is dedicated to advertising.

Bears in Massachusetts

2009-07-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

Reach

2009-05-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a slight difference in the way that Finns and Americans think about reaching for things. While in Finland:

"The one who reaches for the spruce tree...

...will fall onto the juniper"

in America they recommend you:

"Reach for the stars!"

MSG

2009-04-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

I went to see my first sporting event since my arrival to US - Knicks vs Pistons in Madison Square Garden. You can tell that the home team is not doing great when the loudest cheers are given to the guys shooting T-shirts to the crowd during breaks. I think I've got to get one of those - I mean one of those cannons that shoot T-shirts.

Wedgie

2009-04-05T11:52:00.001-07:00

As defined in Wiktionary: Noun, 1. (slang) A prank in which a person's underpants are pulled up sharply from behind in order to wedge the clothing uncomfortably between the person's buttocks

This belong to the category of expressions that I didn't really need to learn - and yet I wish I could start the elementary school all over again and launch this noble activity in Finland.

Pigeons

2009-03-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

Some things are exactly the same in Finland and in the US - pigeons among them. A couple of them (I presume they are a couple) like to spend their days on the ledge right behind the window by my desk at the office. Having studied these mundane creatures for quite a while now I have to say that I find them quite beautiful.

PJ

2009-03-25T21:28:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd start posting every once in a while about my very favorite things in America. I have to say that I've fallen in love with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (This jelly is what my English teacher would have called jam.) Amazingly enough these godly creations are practically unknown in Finland.

President & Deodorant

2009-03-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

This is what they sell at Union Square in Manhattan. Makes sense to me: it's going to get real' sweaty before Obama gets the Cap and Trade system passed.

Numbering

2009-03-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

While the measurement system in America (inches, miles, pounds, ounces...) gives me a headache, they have definitely figured a better way to number apartments here. (I think even you non-Finns, non-Americans can figure out which one it is.)

Green Card

2009-03-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

It's my second anniversary of living in Ameriikka today (as documented here - the same, oddly familiar madness is on right now). I was thinking about the most memorable moments during this period and I feel like there is one above the rest: the day when I got my long awaited Green Card. The incident would have been memorable as such but it became an all time classic when my wife tripped over and broke her finger as we were rushing out the house to make it on time to the court house. It took hours before we were done with the process and she got to see a doctor. Is there really no gain with no pain?

Ball Games

2009-03-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

I've been wondering how are there so few American men among the people I play volley ball with – while there are plenty of American women. I think I get it now: volley ball is a game for sissies that no self respecting grown up man should play.

Now, you are of course wondering how can it have taken me so long to figure that out. I guess that just goes to show how much of a sissy I am.

Broadway Show

2009-03-08T16:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I got to see a Broadway Show for the first time (Guys and Dolls - I kind of feel like seeing the movie version next). The show was good and the theater very glamorous - I especially liked the way the fire hoses were hidden. I'm sure the firemen will appreciate it too as they rush in to save the building.

Upright vs Canister

2009-03-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

Some days ago I made a mess at the office and I had to get the vacuum (I used to call it hoover but the only thing hoover around here is the damn dam). This was my first encounter with an upright vacuum - and I hope it was the last one. A co-worker said diplomatically that he thinks people get used to what ever they grow up with. But that's not true! Anyone who has tried a canister vacuum has gotta love it!

Snow

2009-03-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

The good people of New Haven (and the rest of the Northeast) faced snow fall of a full foot today. Some liked it better than others.

Fuel Economy

2009-02-25T18:56:00.001-08:00

I suppose this guy likes flags.

Tennis Balls

2009-02-22T12:05:00.001-08:00

Oh my - now I've been in America so long that I can't even tell if this is something that they only do here, or whether they do the same thing in Finland. I feel like every single walker I see around here has tennis balls stuck under the back legs. I suppose they are there to make the legs glide easier (for those not familiar with these devices: the front legs have wheels). It is mind boggling that this issue has not been solved in the design of the walkers. Do these people decide every morning whether they put them on depending on the weather or something?

Twist-off caps

2009-02-11T18:41:00.001-08:00

Today, after a tough day at work (okay, okay - it wasn't that tough) I felt like having a beer at home. One of the things I seem to never learn is that some of the local bottles come with a twist-off cap. When I then go ahead and open them with my highly masculine kitchen knife technique, the result tends to be catastrophic. Luckily all that happened today was that the cap disappeared magically. A few minutes later I found out that the cap had in fact landed on my head which is at the moment covered with thick winter fur.

pillows

2009-02-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

A lot of Americans like to put a ridiculous number of pillows on their beds. Yes, ridiculous. I'm afraid the reason for this behavior is not the popularity of pillow fighting. In fact I have no idea why they do it. Anyone?

Let's write american!

2009-02-05T19:31:00.000-08:00

White House - 3 a.m. - Jan 21 2008

2009-01-20T17:39:00.000-08:00

A great day in Ameriikka! Boy - these two are going to need some sleep.

Snow Shoeing in Vermont

2009-01-20T16:58:00.001-08:00

This would be a definite hit in Finland! (To you non-Finns: no-one snow shoes in Finland - it's all about skiing there.)

Bump

2009-01-12T05:26:00.000-08:00

Helsinki

New Haven

New York

Check

2008-10-02T19:37:00.001-07:00

Folks in Finland: ask your granma about these, if you can. This is how I get payed for my work and this is how I pay my bills. Or more exactly: this is how my wife pays our bills - I haven't quite yet mastered the art of checkery.

breakfast New York style

2008-09-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

This breakfast place had the most extensive selection of bagels I've ever seen. I presume some of them are a little bit unorthodox.

Sharpener

2008-09-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

I don't think I had ever used one of these electric pencil sharpeners before coming to the US. This model is my favorite one at the office. It looks like it could eat fifty pencils a minute; without breaking a sweat. (Yes, it works extremely well and yes I sharpened my pencil a couple of times while making this drawing.)

real life escher

2008-09-22T06:18:00.000-07:00

me-turn

2008-06-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

breakfasst outside

2008-05-18T10:40:00.001-07:00

This year's "breakfast at the terrace" season has been officially opened! A full hour of newspaper reading was pushing it a bit, I left the spot shivering (the umbrellas were rather unnecessary, it was overcast) but I'll try to take the best out of these moderately warm days - before it actually gets hot.

A day at the Racetrack

2008-05-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

Today I bring you special coverage from the Belmont horse racing track, NY city, where my father-in-law (everybody calls him Sunny because his always on such a good mood) kindly took me.

The day started with a hearty breakfast and some research on the racing paper.

The parking lot at the track is so big that you take a bus from your car to the entrance.

Sunny's whole posse was already waiting at the table. Although we were at the track we were in fact following "simulcasting" from other tracks on a little screen.

I got lucky right on the second race of the day - very lucky.

The food was plentiful.

Sunny kept his cool the whole day. Winning or loosing - you couldn't tell the difference on his face. Some people at the other tables were quite a bit rowdier.

Needless to say: betting on horses didn't turn out to be an ingenious way for making money.

Shaving

2008-04-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

Gilette has come up with something that will revolutionize the way we shave - a fully disposable razor. Instead of disposing just the blade, you throw away the handle too. The ads for this magnificent product scream "Enough said". I agree.

On a second, related note: no matter what kind of a razor blade you're using, micro corrosion will eat the best edge of it if you constantly leave it wet. I heard about this six months ago, started drying the razor after shaving, and have used ever since the same (disposable) blade.

Delivery Vehicles

2008-04-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

Many of the American delivery vehicles look extremely old school - and boy I like them! These include school buses, UPS trucks, and many of the freight trucks but my favorite one tends to be the type of van that the mailmen use. Nothing beats a boxy tuna can finished with rivets!

Sunday Paper

2008-04-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

The Sunday New York Times weighs about 5lb (2.3kg) and could be used as a murder weapon.

Entering a Restaurant

2008-04-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

One of the New Yorkers' favorite activities is to wait on line in front of restaurants. I my self just gave it a try last Saturday morning. Nearly 1.5 hours of waiting. It was fun in the company of my wife and two nice visitors from Finland. I can see my self getting addicted to waiting on line - like so many in New York.

One little detail related to this experience: New York restaurants often have these temporary looking steel-and-tarp structures by their entrances to help keep heat in (or out, in the summer time). Not very elegant but somehow I like them.

Super Bowl

2008-02-05T06:01:00.000-08:00

Giants won the Super Bowl. Yahoo!

I got prepared to the big game by visiting the MET. As this Mexican figure from 100 B.C. - A.D. 300 demonstrates the tradition of playing ball in this region goes way back in time. (Note: just like in FOOTball around here, the players carried the ball in their HANDs.)

There was plenty of great food available during the game (thank you very much S&R!). The 3-foot hero sandwich was just about the most American thing I've seen so far.

Landscape

2008-02-05T05:59:00.000-08:00

sitting and writing

2008-01-30T20:45:00.000-08:00

I think that these kind of chairs - often found in class rooms around here (but for some reason nearly unheard of in Finland) - are just awesome. A perfect union of sitting and writing.

morning routine

2008-01-30T20:40:00.000-08:00

In the morning my wife often makes her curly hair a little bit less curly with this sort of hair straightener. One of these mornings she noticed that she can also use it for ironing the collar of her shirt. Those looks! That efficiency!

Dukes

2008-01-20T06:12:00.000-08:00

I recently learned this great expression "put your dukes up" which means: raise your fists, prepare to fight (yes, has come in handy on a daily basis). Then - not long afterwards - I learned that John Wayne was called the Duke.

Knob

2008-01-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

Why are the Americans so obsessed with having knobs on their doors while handles are far more functional? How, for example, are you supposed to open a door when you have just put lotion on your hands and you don't want to get the knob all greasy?

This is not the first time I've clashed with American doors.

Coffee

2007-11-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-11-26T14:10:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-13T17:05:00.000-08:00

I've still been preoccupied with the cartoon competition.

The upcoming election sure is a big talk around here.

Cartoon Cornucopia

2007-11-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-02T21:04:00.001-07:00

Car Talk

2007-10-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

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

Shopping manners

2007-10-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

Greeting

2007-10-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

Drivers' logic

2007-10-08T05:17:00.000-07:00

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

Folding in Thirds

2007-09-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

Click on image to enlarge it.

Identification

2007-08-22T04:25:00.000-07:00

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

Cathedrals

2007-08-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

Every building in New Haven looks like a cathedral.

Pennies

2007-08-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-17T05:55:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-09T20:33:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-05T05:49:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-06-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-25T15:59:00.001-07:00

People here are very polite.

Pizza & Parking

2007-04-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

Flagging customs

2007-04-10T16:47:00.000-07:00

a kitchen with a view

2007-04-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

perfecting things

2007-03-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

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

breakfast at pantry

2007-03-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

Pantry, 2 Mechanic St, New Haven

nuts and washer

2007-03-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

saint patrick's day

2007-03-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

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.