Below is a column that ran in the December issue of Scanorama. And here's an image to illustrate it.

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Hi guys, it's the webmaster. Risto asked me to post the following message.

Dear reader,

For years now, I have been busy blogging here at www.ristopakarinen.com, about different kinds of topics. Things that make me laugh, make me cry, make me go hmmm, and things that make me me.

Now, after several emails from you - and you know who you are, I hope so, anyway - pointing out that not everybody loves hockey I think I finally understand what you mean.

A reader from Italy put it this way:

"I love your blog. It's like that convenient store you always run to late at night when everything else is closed. The one friend that's going to surprise you with exotic illegally imported cans of olives that have writing in a language you've never heard of. That one neighborhood store that's also the post office, Ticketmaster pickup, and a bingo parlor."

That's when I realized something had gone awry with my blog.

And I'm nothing if not sensitive to my readers' wishes. Without you, there's no blog. Without a blog, there's no me. Without me, I'm nothing. I'd be like a one hand clapping in an empty hockey arena, or a slap shot into an empty net on an empty pond in eastern Finland. (Nobody lives there, you see).

So, I have decided to split my blogging between hockey and unhockey. I'll keep on blogging here at ristopakarinen.com/home, because home is where my blog is, but I will also launch a new blog at ristopakarinen.com/hockey because that's where the hockey writing will be.

The Puckarinen site is all about hockey. I'll post news, thoughts, my stories that have been published elsewhere, occasional podcasts, my Twitters, and other hockey musings.

Two sites for the price of one is a deal very few media outlets are willing to give you in these economic times. I hope you'll be twice as happy -- even, or maybe, especially, if you only visit one of them regularly.

See you here and there,
R

There you have it. Bookmark both pages.

-- webmaster

It’s not you, Ovie, it’s me. Really. You’re a fine, no, amazing, wonderful player, and a really knee-slapping funny guy, but somehow, in some strange way, I just don’t feel it.

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It's amazing how music can bring back memories. I was thinking about this - and by now you already know that I always have to say where I was when I was thinking something, which, I'm thinking as I sit at my desk looking at the Bobby Orr photo must be because thinking per se is such an usual activity for my brain that I have to geotag it - as I was walking up the hill from the gym last night, listening to a tune.

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Every city has its own special personalities that everybody knows of, but nobody really knows. And while I understand that some people look at them and feel bad, I've always been fascinated by them.

Maybe I've even admired them. The courage. The way they've decided to do whatever it is they want to do. The best ones are obviously the ones that are not dangerous.

Here are some of my favorites:

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The Stockholm Konserthuset, "the concert house", had an open doors day today, in a effort to get kids to come to the city, see the fabulous blue building, try some instruments, and get so totally hooked on classical music it ain't real, baby.

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If I had my wife here, and my adorable kids, my parents, my in-laws, my buddies, a guy who's selling handing out free hot dogs, a pack of new sticks, and pucks, and a vintage Karhu-Kissat sweater, and another guy who's handing out drinks, if Kirk McLean was here to stop try to stop my shots, and Wayne Gretzky to feed those passes to my tape, and if my VacuTacks were brand new, this would have been perfect.

But a skating rink in downtown Helsinki, with the sun shining, and temperature just perfectly freezing, is pretty good as it is.

Here's something to think about:

"Nine-in-ten American adults say most of their fellow Americans are overweight. But just seven-in-ten say this about "the people they know." And just under four-in-ten (39%) say they themselves are overweight."

And I bet ten-in-ten say they could get rid of the extra weight if "they wanted to".

I'm trying to find a photo of a gadget. I think I'll send my email to "General Enqueries", cc to "All Other issues."



Wait. I'm confused again.