Reading on buses and subway trains is one of my favorite pastimes. I used to take a bus that took 35 minutes to get to work, instead of the train that only took ten, for three reasons.

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Everybody was afraid of her. Just the sight of her on the balcony, shaking her fist at kids who dared play soccer on her lawn – technically, the lawn of the entire apartment building, but who’s to argue with Mrs Hellgren – and making sure no garbage was ever left sticking out of the garbage cans.

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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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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.

Sure, the two customers in front of me were kind of difficult. Like, both asked questions. But I was in a hurry because I had just snuck out of the movie theater to get some candy for me and my son.

So every second counted.

And the only person behind the counter is a guy who’s really slow. So slow that I was actually trying to make eye contact to send him a stinky eye. But he’s just working there, so he’s not in a hurry.

When I finally get to the counter, I see a sticker on the cash register. Somebody – a frustrated customer? a scheming colleague? – has pasted a sticker with the text, “snigel” on it.

Swedish for “snail.”

Either he’s got a reputation, or he’s trying to attract dyslexic women.

A well-deserved break, even if I say so myself. Be well.

If you believe this:

“Police in Finland believe they have caught a car-thief thanks to a DNA sample taken from a sample of his blood found inside a mosquito.”

then I guess you have a hard time believing the suspect who said that

he did not steal the car, saying he had hitchhiked and was given a lift by a man driving the car:

First, a conversation with my Dutch colleague.

Me: I just had a huge insight. Huge.
Dutch: What is it?
Me: You know how people always say quitting is the easy way out? Well, it’s not. Quitting is really hard.
Dutch: Yes. Who says quitting is easy?
Me (sheepishly): They just say so.
Dutch: Who’s they?
Me: People.
Dutch: They’re wrong. Quitting is not easy.
Me: I know!

Then, my two lessons:

1. Quitting is not easy.
2. Huge insight may not be so huge.