I live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. I have a car, a nice home, computers, gizmos and all the other things that define "modern western lifestyle". And I do like that lifestyle.
But on the other hand there is part in me that dreams of giving all that up. That dreams of simple life far away from the crowded cities.
Few months ago I saw a story on TV about this Norwegian man, who quit his job, and moved to a remote location in northern Norway. He built himself a house that was similar to the old Viking-dwellings. He had no electricity (well, he did have a generator for cases when he absolutely needed electricity). And he didn't have any clocks. It was peaceful, stress-free existence.
I could see myself doing something like that. But the thing is that it's the two extremes that appeal to me, the things in between do not seem appealing at all.
I couldn't really see myself making _some_ cutbacks to my life. If I do "cut back", then it needs to be all the way. Either I live this lifestyle, or I live the complete opposite lifestyle. But no half-hearted attempts somewhere in between.
I guess that I see the middle ground as combining the worst of the two extremes. If I make some cutbacks, I sacrifice on the material wealth, but I don't really gain that much in the lifestyle. I would still have to go to work, and it return I would have less of the modern luxuries. So it has to be all or nothing.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Green is the color of money
The Greens in the Helsinki metropolitan area released their proposal for congestion-charges for the city. I wont comment on the actual idea of congestion-charges, but I DO want to comment on their proposal, which is downright stupid.
The charge works as you might expect: you need to pay if you drive to the metro-area. You can either pay per kilometer, or you can buy a monthly "pass". If you buy that monthly pass, you also get a 30-day ticket for the mass-transport in the metro-area. Which is a good idea.
Everything else about their suggestion sucks though.
Their idea is to basically charge money from commuters who drive to the metro-area (Metro-area in this case is the cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Helsinki) from the surrounding counties. Also, if you drive inside the metropolitan area and cross a city-limit (like, driving from Helsinki to Espoo) you need to pay.
Well, what's the problem here? Simple: if you just drive inside one city (like, inside Helsinki), you do not need to pay one dime extra.
Why is that a problem? Well, it's the idea behind all this. Fact is that further away from the metro-area you are, the less viable alternative mass-transit is. And now those who live outside the metro-area would be punished because they commute to the metro-area. And while they are punished, the people inside metro-area (to whom mass-transit IS a viable alternative) are not encouraged to use mass-transit. People who live in Helsinki can keep on driving inside Helsinki, without having to pay one cent extra. Even if they had a tram/bus/metro 50 meters from their home. People outside metro-area who have no other alternative but to use their car, are expected to pay more.
I commute by train, since my workplace is right in the downtown of Helsinki. The Mrs.'s workplace is not in the downtown, so she carpools with her father. The reason for that is that there is not one mass-transit connection between our home and the place she works. Not one.
The Greens' proposal would make it quite a bit more expensive for her (and her father) to go to work. And the mass-transit-ticket they would get in return would not even be useful for her, since it's not valid here. We would have to live closer to Helsinki to be able to use it.
Her only "viable" alternative is to get a 30-days train-ticket (costs 106 euros/month) and in addition, a 30-day bus-ticket from Helsinki to Espoo (where she works, costs 114e/month). It would cost her 220e/month just to go to work. Daily commute would be 60-90 minutes in one direction. So she would spend 2-3 hours a day commuting, and she would pay 220e for the pleasure.
I have mailed two Green politicians about this (one of them my representative in the parliament), but I have received no reply.
why did Greens suggest something like this? Why aren't they suggesting new fares for people who live in Helsinki (or Espoo, or Vantaa), but still use their own car? I guess the reason is simple: This was one of their themes in the communal-elections. And it's not politically smart to tell the voters "if you vote us, we will make you pay more". No, what they said was basically "If you vote us, we will make these other people pay more". People outside the metro-area would be asked to pay more, but those people do not vote in the metro-area communal elections.
The charge works as you might expect: you need to pay if you drive to the metro-area. You can either pay per kilometer, or you can buy a monthly "pass". If you buy that monthly pass, you also get a 30-day ticket for the mass-transport in the metro-area. Which is a good idea.
Everything else about their suggestion sucks though.
Their idea is to basically charge money from commuters who drive to the metro-area (Metro-area in this case is the cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Helsinki) from the surrounding counties. Also, if you drive inside the metropolitan area and cross a city-limit (like, driving from Helsinki to Espoo) you need to pay.
Well, what's the problem here? Simple: if you just drive inside one city (like, inside Helsinki), you do not need to pay one dime extra.
Why is that a problem? Well, it's the idea behind all this. Fact is that further away from the metro-area you are, the less viable alternative mass-transit is. And now those who live outside the metro-area would be punished because they commute to the metro-area. And while they are punished, the people inside metro-area (to whom mass-transit IS a viable alternative) are not encouraged to use mass-transit. People who live in Helsinki can keep on driving inside Helsinki, without having to pay one cent extra. Even if they had a tram/bus/metro 50 meters from their home. People outside metro-area who have no other alternative but to use their car, are expected to pay more.
I commute by train, since my workplace is right in the downtown of Helsinki. The Mrs.'s workplace is not in the downtown, so she carpools with her father. The reason for that is that there is not one mass-transit connection between our home and the place she works. Not one.
The Greens' proposal would make it quite a bit more expensive for her (and her father) to go to work. And the mass-transit-ticket they would get in return would not even be useful for her, since it's not valid here. We would have to live closer to Helsinki to be able to use it.
Her only "viable" alternative is to get a 30-days train-ticket (costs 106 euros/month) and in addition, a 30-day bus-ticket from Helsinki to Espoo (where she works, costs 114e/month). It would cost her 220e/month just to go to work. Daily commute would be 60-90 minutes in one direction. So she would spend 2-3 hours a day commuting, and she would pay 220e for the pleasure.
I have mailed two Green politicians about this (one of them my representative in the parliament), but I have received no reply.
why did Greens suggest something like this? Why aren't they suggesting new fares for people who live in Helsinki (or Espoo, or Vantaa), but still use their own car? I guess the reason is simple: This was one of their themes in the communal-elections. And it's not politically smart to tell the voters "if you vote us, we will make you pay more". No, what they said was basically "If you vote us, we will make these other people pay more". People outside the metro-area would be asked to pay more, but those people do not vote in the metro-area communal elections.
When the cat is away....
For the last four weeks I have been more or less totally out of the loop, thanks to my summer-vacation consisting more or less of living in the middle of the forest (literally! Well, almost). This utter cluelessness is best demonstrated by the fact that I'm oblivious to this "Star Wars: Clone Wars"-thingy that greeted me this morning as I stepped out of the train. Huh? Clone Wars? Premieres later this month? Did I miss the memo or something?
So far my workday has consisted of going through my backlog of email (100+) and re-learning the stuff I'm supposed to be doing as a living. It's all coming back to me now (*. Slowly.
* = No, that is not a reference to Celine Dion in any shape or form. Seriously. *shudder*.
So far my workday has consisted of going through my backlog of email (100+) and re-learning the stuff I'm supposed to be doing as a living. It's all coming back to me now (*. Slowly.
* = No, that is not a reference to Celine Dion in any shape or form. Seriously. *shudder*.
The Cone of Silence
The Mrs. has (more or less) lost her voice for now. She has some kind of infection in her throat, and it's quite hard for her to speak. So this weekend has been pretty quiet, literally.
I had my annual review about a week ago, and everything went well. Well, I didn't really achieve my goal of getting absolute top-scores, but I still got very good scores, and what's more important, the actual feedback from my co-workers was excellent. So I can't complain. I have several new ideas on how to proceed and how to do an even better job.
As I'm typing this, I'm sitting in our backyard, under a sunshade. I guess this means that summer is officially here. Thank goodness for WLAN.
I had my annual review about a week ago, and everything went well. Well, I didn't really achieve my goal of getting absolute top-scores, but I still got very good scores, and what's more important, the actual feedback from my co-workers was excellent. So I can't complain. I have several new ideas on how to proceed and how to do an even better job.
As I'm typing this, I'm sitting in our backyard, under a sunshade. I guess this means that summer is officially here. Thank goodness for WLAN.
Check the settings!
It was snowing a bit yesterday, so I decided to go take some pictures outside. Besides, I had bought a stand for the camera and I wanted to try it out. I only took half a dozen pictures, before heading back in. And no, the pictures were not any good. But I did notice that you can turn a crap picture in to a bit better picture with some cropping and tweaking. But the fact that your white balance is off doesn't really help. You see, I have the tendency to take the camera and take some pictures, only to notice afterwards that the white balance-settings were all wrong. Note to self: ALWAYS check the settings on the camera before you take any pictures! And if it's snowing, take an umbrella so you could at least try to cover the camera from the snow!
Working-life
Work has been pretty good. Busy, but good. It's great when you get a relatively complex task to do, and you singlehandedly do it. I was asked to arrange some Excel-training. I have done it before, and it's a good thing to see that practice does make one better. Before it was quite tedious and difficult to arrange, but this time everything just flowed in to place. I got the trainer, I got the location, I got the hotel-room for the trainer, and I got the participants.
Working-life
Work has been pretty good. Busy, but good. It's great when you get a relatively complex task to do, and you singlehandedly do it. I was asked to arrange some Excel-training. I have done it before, and it's a good thing to see that practice does make one better. Before it was quite tedious and difficult to arrange, but this time everything just flowed in to place. I got the trainer, I got the location, I got the hotel-room for the trainer, and I got the participants.