Annoying 1

Annoying 2

For other posts on newspapers see: this and this.

Thanksgiving at OTB

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

Green Card

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

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.

Twist-off caps

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

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?

Landscape

sitting and writing

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.

Knob

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.

Folding in Thirds

Click on image to enlarge it.

Identification

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

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".

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.

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.

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).