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Drunken Russian Forest Fires

We chatted with some folks on the ferry ride to Suomenlinna yesterday, and they explained the smell of smoke that lingers in the air in Helsinki. Apparently there is a huge forest fire in Russia and the wind blows the smoke over. Many asthma sufferers have had to go to hospitals. So Russia doesn’t feel like fighting the fire and instead are letting it burn. “Finland” is pissed and has repeatedly offered to put out the fire themselves. Russia doesn’t want any help, and some speculate its because Russia had planned to cut down that forest anyways and build on More >

Helsinki, Day 2

Day 2 saw us doing a little shopping and sightseeing, namely the island fortress of Suomenlinna.

I laughed at the English on this.

Beautiful downtown Helsinki, (it doesn’t get any busier here than this)

Wierdest bike ever

On the ferry to Suomenlinna

No better church than one guarded by cannons

Europe’s so ancient and awesome

Hehe.

No Finnish vacation starts without Sauna.

*lots more available on flickr, check “Trip to Finland 06″

Helsinki, Day 1

I’m told Musta Pekka translates to “Black Peter”.

Remains of our Mexican meal at Santa Fe

My lovely wife Maija, and our gracious host for a few days, Suski.

Central bus station

Flying over Finland

Clouds over the Atlantic

On board the flight

Waiting in Toronto

Finns as far as the eye can see

Sitting in Lester B.

Finnair only had one check-in counter open, so we’ve just sat down after being in line for almost 2 hours. Boarding should start any minute and we’re due to depart at 16:55.

Just skyping my Mother now. See you all on the flip side.

Pee & Tee

I guess there’s nothing quite like a Lazar wedding. Anyone who was at Pete’s wedding yesterday will understand (though I don’t know if Liz’s wedding was quite as eccentric). They tell me I’ve known the Lazars most of my life, but I don’t really have any memories of them except for the last 6 years. Such are parents friends sometimes.

To those who weren’t there, highlights included a dog in the wedding party, breaking of the glass – Jewish style (Pete’s Dad, as it turns out, is Jewish), uncontrollable weeping from Pete, elaborate stories (read: lies) from Pete’s Dad, inflatable boobies, More >

Nissan Skyline on the streets of Toronto

New Zealand is all about sports cars. You really don’t see the pickup trucks and SUVs that we have over here, at least not in the volume you do here. It’s a farming country, so pickups are farm tools. What New Zealand is really into is small fast cars, examples being the Subaru Impreza, the Mitsubishi Evo (Lancer Evolution), and Nissan Skyline.

Some info on the Skyline:

In 1989 Nissan debuted the GT-R to compete in the JTC (Japan Touring Car) Group A racing series. The GT-R was undefeated in its first season. 4 years running the GT-R won the championship in More >

Israel vs Hezbollah

Are you guys watching this crazyness?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/13/mideast/index.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13823680/?GT1=8307 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13836908/ http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885991246&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Molson Grand Prix, care of CDW Canada

My sales rep from CDW took me (and my brother) out to the qualifying round of the Molson Grand Prix yesterday. I’d never even been to the Exhibition grounds, let alone the Grand Prix. The CNE and the various events that take place in and around the grounds have always eluded me, and will do so this year as well because of our trip to Finland next month.

Last year – I’m told – a few days before the race one of the cars lost its sponsor, so a quick bid was put in by CDW. They won the sponsorship, so the car More >

Romantic Getaway Long Weekend 06

Nous sommes arrivees a la Ville Marie vendredi, or better known in present day as Montreal. Its been pretty romantic, although with some disruptions from Jonathan’s work. So the only un-romantic bits have been him fixing things on the computer, defragmenting hard drives, and answering questions. But we have been able to capitalize on cuddling time so that has been amazing. You know those couples who sit on the same side in the restaurant benches (instead of across from eachother) so they can hold eachother while they eat. Yup that’s us, sorry Beth… I know those customers used to make More >

Wireless High Speed Internet

I just wrote this long witty post about how I’m using my laptop and internet on a TTC bus. And then I lost it. I hate technology.

But where does the bartender go to party?

Maija and I took in another Methodology gig last night. Technically her first, but my second. It was at Bar Italia in Little Italy. Twas a nice albeit small establishment with dinning/bar on the first floor, and bar and stage on the top floor.

Melissa Bathory played first, singing solo vocals supported by an acoustic guitar. She was decent, but nothing that really stood out to me. Her voice was a little loud in the system, but that wasn’t her fault. Freeflow played next, a band from Vancouver who Methodology bumped into and asked to play with them. They had a fun sound; part rap More >

What you can do to help

No, not help me in my wedding prep…

Help those in New Orleans and thereabouts, affected by The Flood.

Along with a whole bunch of other ways to support, here is my favourite (and the one I’ve done):

Bungie Software is Selling a Fundraising T-Shirt

Buy it, like the good loving human beings you are.