There are several things that I like about this writing business, but one that really suits me well, is the fact that I don't have to have an office that I have to go to write. I can just open my laptop cover and start typing. Well, sort of.

Here are a couple of my offices during this trip. The first one is the one where I typed the iihf.com game reports, and the second one is my hotel room. Not much glamour in this line of work, believe it or not.

The suitcase is wide open on the living room floor, pretty much packed. I've got my essentials, my T-shirts, jeans, underwear, suit, shirts, shoes, and books to take me through the hockey world championship extravaganza in Switzerland.

How many pairs of jeans would I wear at home in the next three weeks? Probably 1.5. How many T-shirts? Probably just six different ones, but with a good rotation, and yes, washed in between uses. Why do I then pack 4 pairs of jeans and 15 T-shirts?

Because you never know, that's why. Better safe than sorry.

I've read two books in the past three weeks, which - on a rotating weekly average - is a record for the 2008-09 season, but for the trip, I've packed three novels, magazines, and hockey stats books.

Because, let's face it, covering 32 games in 17 days - with two off days which aren't really off days because those stories won't write themselves - is a walk in the park and I'll mostly be just reading and changing clothes.

So, for the next 20 days, I'll be blogging, twittering, and skyping from Berne, Switzerland about all that, hockey, and how to travel light right here, a little here, twittering here, and blogging some more on THN's site.

But right now, I'm already looking forward to coming back home in 20 days. And I imagine walking through those huge doors at the Arlanda airport, and seeing Jessica and the kids waiting for me, she holding a fresh caffe latte in her hand, and the kids dancing and singing songs about the best dad in the world. (Me.)

And we came to the end. After 19 days in Quebec, with 29 games covered, I climbed down the 89 stairs from the Colisée Pepsi press box for the last time, in a hurry to get to the mixed zone to get the players' comments.

Then, just a couple of last things, and we were done. Check out www.iihf.com for our full coverage over the past three weeks. Some of that came from here:

Yes, yes, I've added another blog to my blogroll and under "Risto writes." Check it out: hockey.com.

Today, I suddenly realized that I didn't become a pilot, a policeman, or a pro hockey player like I thought when I was a kid. Didn't become a rich businessman like I thought when I was in business school. Didn't even become a media consultant like I was told to say to clients when I switched careers for the first time.

I'm a writer. This is what I do.

Even on a Sunday.

Moderated a roundtable discussion today, the topic being work atmosphere at a Swedish company. By the end of it, I asked the participants to give some pointers to the readers (in the same company across the world) on how one person can make the atmosphere better for everybody.

"Just be happy and stay positive," said the first.

"Yeah, I say the same," said the rest.

So easy. To forget.

There's no such thing as free lunch? Maybe. But there sure are free breakfasts, I just came back to the office from one. Not only did I get breakfast, I also got material for Scanorama's Web & Tech, a soccer ball for my kids, and a calculator for my wife.

Gotta love Canon and their wonderful EOS 450D camera, recommended price of just 900 euro, including the 18-55 mm IS lens!

(There, now we're all happy).

A freelancer is always pitching stories or he'll be out of business. Or, he'll slide into a business he really doesn't want to be in.

Pitching stories is actually a lot of fun. It can be stimulating on many levels. One part Sherlock Holmes, one part Stephen King, two parts Home Shopping Network spokesperson.

First you need the idea.

» Continued

When I'm not working on this blog - writing new entries, adding links to the sidebar, spamming my buddies with links, selling ads, chatting with celebrity bloggers, designing T-shirts to be sold on the blog and so on - I work.

I write.

Like this:
» Karalahti in limbo (iihf.com)
» Hey, ref! (nhl.com)
» Suhostelua and another column about the European league (sm-liiga.fi, in Finnish)
» Belfour carries Leksand (iihf.com)
» The one below, Where's Hankenstein?, on nhl.com.

and then another column, another story about Belfour, but those were for real magazines, the kinds that are printed on paper, so I can't link to them.

If you do, then maybe you want to run out and get the latest issue of HOCKEY, a magazine published by the Swedish hockey federation, and curiously enough, the only magazine covering Swedish and international hockey in the country.

So, grab your coat, and get the mag. Look for these two spreads:



Have fun.

Now, I know that you, my loyal reader, have read all the blog entries on NHL.com, and for that, I am grateful. But maybe you have a friend who hasn't or maybe you've missed something, or can't find the older entries on the Web anymore?

Here's a thought:

Get your friend a copy of [edit:] Off the Post: hockey stories from across the world, a 150-page paperback that'll be out in the fall. It'll include all the nhl.com blog entries posted in 2006 and 2007, plus a few new short pieces.

Pre-order yours now, for 9,99 dollars, Order yours now by sending me an email with Off The Post in the subject title. Price: 14,90 euro.

Thanks.

It's as easy or hard as writing for a printed magazine. Who said writing was easy anyway? A writer colleague of mine once said that a story doesn't exist until it's been read. It's the reader who decides what works and what doesn't. Same with the Web. And I think people have showed that they can read stuff off of a screen as well -- once they have decided to read something.

The question's not how to write for the Web, it's more about whether you should write for the Web at all.

More about this on Tuesday, after the Finnish Custom Publishing Day.

Edit: here are the slides.

Edit 2: NY Times chairman Arthur Sulzberger: "I really don't know whether we'll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don't care either."

Got this link from a friend of mine today. Excellent piece (by Garrison Keillor), and an idea I can subscribe to.

» Continued

I have quite a few feeds in my FeedDemon but often I just read the blog entries and skip the comments. The other day, I did visit Malcolm Gladwell's site because he posed a question about Enron there, and I wanted to see if somebody had answered him.

» Continued

This from The Guardian:

3. Being noticed is not the same as being remarkable. Running down the street naked will get you noticed, but it won't accomplish much. It's easy to pull off a stunt, but not useful.

More here and even more here.

Anybody know if there's a way to count the total number of words in several Word documents (without opening them all and adding them one by one)?

No, I'm not going to write about some site every day, but this is pretty good.

Old Version:

We believe that every computer user has the right to use a version of the product that he or she is most comfortable with, not the one dictated by the software developer, so we provide access to the files that are no longer obtainable.

Currently including 1355 versions of 125 programs.

Trust is hard. Being afraid is easy.

Today, I interviewed an executive at Swedish Vattenfall, about an incident they had a nuclear plant, and their analysis of it. He said all the right things, they are doing all the right things (investing more money, adding staff, easing up on the pressure on people there, etc.) and yet, they're not going to get recognition for it.

» Continued

I'm working on a story about the cultural differences with the concept of time and I was wondering if you'd have some ideas. How does the Western concept of time differ from the Eastern one? Are the Germans always on time? Who's always late? And so on.

Leave your ideas in the comments. Thanks!

I always thought that Finns were the only nation in the world where the crew cut was still alive and kicking dandruff. In fact, I still do. I think it's because of the structure of Finnish hair: straight as an arrow.

What does that tell us about Finns? Well, for one, that they talk sraight, that they care less about style and more about how easy it is to take care of hair, and that they are fascinated by discipline. Not only that, Finns love discipline.

Well, maybe you can't tell that just by looking at the number of crew cuts in Finland, so you'll just have to trust me on this.

I take this knowledge with me to Gävle tomorrow when I go to meet Leif Boork, former Team Sweden head coach, and now coach of Brynäs in the Swedish Elite League. He's known to be a straight shooter who runs a tight ship.

He's got Sweden's most famous crew cut.

This is me:


And here's my story, neatly inside a pdf file. Enjoy.

Risto's CV

CV as a pdf.

2003- Finnjewel Oy
Founder, CEO

* freelance writing
Hockey: The Hockey News, ESPN.com, nhl.com, IIHF.com, Jääkiekkolehti, MTV3 (Finland(), Hockey (Sweden), Champions Hockey League
Other: Scanorama's Web & Tech editor, general business writing, profiles
Translated a youth book series (of 12 books) from Swedish into Finnish

* Editor-in-chief and publisher of Hockey

* magazine/Web projects
Examples: Assa Abloy, Universum

www.finnjewel.com

2002-2003 Kynämies Oy Helsinki, Finland
Managing Editor

* Managing editor for seven customer magazines
* Concept for award-winning Ekonomi
* Editorial team leader

www.kynamies.fi

1998 - 2002 Appelberg Publishing Agency AB Stockholm, Sweden
Managing Editor

* Project manager for M-real's international customer magazine. Including start-up of the magazine.
* Editor at Ericsson's global customer magazine On.
* Project manager for internal communications for Ericsson Consumer Products.
* Created several communications platforms.
* Marketing Appelberg in Finland
* Created and relaunched Appelberg's marketing communication material
* Member of Appelberg's New media group

www.appelberg.com

Other current projects:
Translate The Game by Ken Dryden

1995 - 1998 Canadian Embassy Helsinki, Finland
Business development officer

* Promoted Canadian exports to Finland: Areas of responsibility: sporting goods, environmental technology and forestry, among others
* Helped several companies find partners in Finland. Example: Circul-Aire, an air purifier manufacturer in Quebec.
* Launched the Embassy's first Web site.
* Also wrote several country reports on different sectors.

1992 - 1995 Freelance (editor and translator) Helsinki, Finland
(Homme Habile; founder)

* Editor and translator for Egmont's hockey magazines (Inside Hockey, Pro * Hockey and Finnish Beckett's) from Norwegian/Swedish into Finnish.
* Market research and analysis for several Finnish companies.
* Marketed a computer-based hockey coach's tool, Hockey Manager, in the Nordic countries.
* Translated (from English into Finnish) and edited five books for Karisto Oy; one Formula 1 book and four NHL Hockey books.
* Worked on a consultative basis for the National Hockey League during International Challenge 1994 event and World Cup of Hockey in 1996.
* Wrote and translated articles for the official tournament program. Also did research about hockey in Europe.
* Contributor of the EuroReport hockey site.

EDUCATION
1986 - 1991 Helsinki School of Economics Helsinki, Finland
M. Sc. (econ.)

Major: marketing
Minor: law
Enrolled at the HSE as a post-graduate student, research topic: Sponsorship. Did a study on "sponsorship's effect on brand loyalty among hard-core fans of the sponsored teams" for Finnish Hartwall, sponsor of Jokerit, Helsinki, in 1993.

www.hse.fi

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Finnish: native language
English: excellent
Swedish: excellent
Spanish: basic skills

INTERESTS AND HOBBIES

Hockey, writing, sports in general, sports business, "ideas," and travel

Risto Pakarinen is a Finnish freelance writer, and an entrepreneur, based in Stockholm, Sweden. His articles have been published in, for example, The Hockey News, nhl.com, SAS's in-flight magazine Scanorama, ESPN.com, Fast Company, iihf.com, and numerous Finnish and Swedish magazines.

In May, 2008, he covered the hockey World Championship for the International Ice Hockey Federation's website at www.iihf.com.

He is also the author of two books of non-fiction: Joukkue vailla vertaa ("A Team Like No Other"), about Finland's first hockey world championship team, came out in May 2005, and Off The Post: hockey stories from across the world, in November 2007.

A former employer described him as "creative, customer-oriented, committed to his work and the company, loyal and a driving force in projects. We would in particular note his role as an opinion leader among the staff, and his hard work on tasks that were above and beyond the call of duty."