Trojkolka.net

End of 2010

I think i broke the record of the longest period of not posting anything on my blog. I'm afraid that it will not change for a while as well.

Is this blog dead?
No, it's not, but the amount of blog posts will be less as what you were used to before.

Why?
Mainly work and a change in priorities. Since my last blog in the summer I have been working very hard, long hours, weekends and what not for a project for one of the biggest paper and forestry companies in Finland. When you have so little time (...)

Vacation 2010 - Part 2: Brussels, Metz, Home

After part 1 last week which was about our stay and adventures in the Netherlands the first week. Here the second and final part of our nice vacation, this second week we left the Netherlands for a few days.

Friday 13th of August 2010
After test driving Arnold's old white Volvo for a couple of days already we were convinced enough to take the old-timer with us on our roadtrip. First destination Brussels, Belgium. With our fuel tank full of petrol we went on our way. We had some plans to go stop (...)

Vacation 2010 - Part 1: The Netherlands

So you had to wait a while to get into all the updates around my vacation with my girlfriend but here is part 1 out of 2 of the two week vacation. This blog will cover a summary on our experiences in the Netherlands. On the 5th of August my vacation break finally started after weeks of hard work and with some goals in mind we tried to add some extra value to it.

Goal #1 Visit 4 countries in 14 days.
Goal #2 Introduce my girlfriend to my family face-to-face.
Goal #3 Have a good time with my friends during the Sneekweek
Goal (...)

The vacation countdown

Three more workdays before the vacation time starts. It's not going to be easy, those three work days are long and critical workshop days at the customer site. Which means a lot of hours on the job and not so much time for anything else. But I try to look at it from the bright side and I know my vacation will feel extra deserved after those 3 days.

But let's not talk about work, good things have happened during the last week. And if you follow me or Krista on Facebook, no she is not pregnant! So that (...)

Ilosaarirock 2010

Yesterday I already uploaded the photos of the festival. Now here is the story that comes with it. I started the trip to Ilosaarirock 2010 on the Friday around 3PM. Mari was driving her car to Joensuu and me and Tommi were the lucky ones to drive along and saving this way a lot of bucks, because trains are expensive vehicles to use in Finland. The drive took about 6,5 hours but included multiple stops and some sightseeing. I know saw the water dams in Imatra (Eastern Finland), very near to the Russian (...)

My 'brother' visiting in Helsinki

Oh my it has been a while once more... But for good reasons! Even though I had my well deserved one week off from work last week, I had plenty of stuff to do. For example my brother from another mother (and father), Druss came over for a visit.

I picked him up on Saturday (not last, but the one before) from the train station and after a short detour we brought his stuff to my place and went to the 'ELMU:n Kansanjuhlat'-festival in Alppilapuisto. We hung out there in the sun, listening to some good (...)

Slow down Troj

Work

I'm still on the project and even though yesterday was one of the deadlines, the work isn't finished yet. Yes this is me apologizing for letting you wait almost 3 weeks for a new blog from my side. Work got in the way and will now and then continue to do so. C'est la vie! It has been a crazy last 6 weeks and I worked about 280 hours where normally I would work only 225 hours. But the project is interesting and the team is nice and everything so work-wise it isn't so bad. Private life wise (...)

The art of Baking

After the successful baking of the rhubarb pie two weeks ago. I want to challenge myself into creating some other things with egg, butter and tons of flour. So on Friday I browsed the internet for recipes that fit my level of baking skills. On Saturday I went to the shop to buy all the missing ingredients and activated my baking mode.

The desired end result were Fryske Dúmkes (Frisian Thumbs - cookies) and a Raisin bread. First I started with the quickest recipe the Fryske Dúmkes. It's really a straight forward thing to do according to (...)

What the f*ck is wrong with you Dutch people?

Ok this was to be expected. Yesterday the Dutch people had the opportunity to shape the future of their country. I already voted two weeks ago per snailmail, but all Dutch people living in the Netherlands could vote yesterday. And unfortunately they did. The good news is that the party that can count for my vote won 3 seats and can now count on 10 out of 150 votes.

But the thing that worries me the most from the results is that the party of 'Liberty' won 16 seats. Populist Geert Wilders who is actively (...)

Running season has started

Maybe before I start I have to clarify the definition of the verb running, in my context that basically means 'jogging' until I can't go anymore, short walk to rest and some more jogging.

In April Krista and I started the running season. I never ran any KM in my life (if I don't count my soccer career until my 12th birthday) so the first time was, well needless to say, quite horrible. I couldn't run a 300m without excessive breathing and acidy muscles. We ran about 6,3KM which was also probably (...)