Today, I got an offer I think I’m not supposed to refuse. That’s kind of scary.
Scary fun.
An offer I can’t refuse
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Author Archives: Risto
Heart on the sleeve
The Toronto Star ran an interesting piece.
Now a group of influential NHL players that includes New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur, Dallas’s Marty Turco, Detroit’s Dominik Hasek and Edmonton’s Dwayne Roloson want the league’s – and inevitably the Leafs’ – uniforms altered again. [S]everal NHL goalies have asked the league and its players union to consider starting a so-called Goaltender’s Club. Revenue-generating initiatives for the club could include placing a corporate logo on the jerseys of the league’s 60-odd goalies.
That’s right. A corporate logo on the jerseys.
Go long
The other day, I interviewed a Swedish idea guy about innovation. He was all energy, all passion, all ideas. And a lot of quotes by famous people.
This is one he threw at me:
The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
“Michelangelo said it,” he added.
Michelangelo would have made a great coach.
My name is Persson
Tonight, my wife and I had dinner at a sweet Italian restaurant in Uppsala, after an energetic show by Jonas Gardell, a Swedish comedian (and author and entertainer).
In the table next to us, there was a group of young girls getting ready for Friday night, giggling and chatting as only young girls can. All of a sudden, I saw a man lean against the window, trying to talk to the girls.
Water under the bridge
March 28, 2008 is the 10th anniversary of my relationship with Stockholm, give or take a few years that I spent with my first love, Helsinki. Time flies. This is a shot I took today, I’m sure you can appreciate the beauty of Stockholm.
She’s still beautiful to me in that classy kind of way. She keeps surprising me, she brings me up when I’m down, and she carries me through the dark winter wrapped around in her silent strength and radiance that gives me hope of a better day. She makes me laugh, she makes me feel good about myself, she makes me proud, she makes me skip on the streets, and she gives me a sense of a purpose.
My wife, that is. She celebrates her birthday today, on Valentine’s Day, as always.
But Stockholm’s pretty damn nice, too, as cities go.
NHL.com: Remember 1994
Here’s my latest from nhl.com. Click below to get to the text, or click here to get to nhl.com.
I quit
Quitting is underrated. When you’re in the position to say those magic words, it’s a pretty powerful feeling. When you do it for the right reasons.
I once had a boss I really didn’t like that much. When it was time for me to leave the company, and I had got a new job, I waited a whole week before giving my one month’s notice. The plan was for him to do one more annoying thing so I could stand up, raise my arms, and say, “That’s it! I quit!”
And nothing could have changed my mind.
Well, that was his good week, so on Friday afternoon I had to go to his office and just tell him that I was leaving.
He looked up from his papers, smiled, and said: “Good for you.”
“I know,” I said.
Show your colors
Sony Ericsson introduced its new mobile phones at a press conference in a Stockholm hotel today.
This time I missed the free breakfast but instead, I learned something.
IIHF.com: Life of Fabian
Here’s yet another little story about the amazing Fabian Brunnström. Well, amazing as in, “how come this kid’s never been drafted or played in a junior national team.”
Instead, he returned to his alma mater in Jonstorp, and took the keys to his fate in his own hands. Literally.
Brunnstrom got the keys to the Jonstorp hockey rink, and he would practice, practice, practice. “I had three or four practices a day. I practically lived at the rink,” he says.
Read the whole story here.
My brain is right
This interesting experiment has been doing the rounds around the world as a quick way to see if you’re “left or right brain,” i.e. which side of the brain is the dominant one.
If the girl in the image (below) moves clockwise, you’re right-brain, if counter-clockwise, you’re left-brain. “Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise.”