King of Finland

“The Crown Princess waved at me!”
– Son, outside the Royal Castle in Stockholm, June 19, 2010 at 6 pm

We made the trek from our Stockholm suburbia to downtown Stockholm, the self-proclaimed Capital of Scandinavia, now, thanks to the Royal Wedding also doubling as the love capital of the world. The subway ride was free partly to make sure no idiot – especially a Finnish-born idiot – would decide to drive to the city, and partly because the Princess herself wanted to keep her wedding as environmentally friendly as possible.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

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A backstory

In hindsight, it was obvious. The unwillingness to admit a mistake and the bossy attitude were there. He even had that certain look, that posture, the quick step in his walk, and the majestic jaw – a “Disney jaw” his old school nurse had called it, the same one who always said he’d grow up to be Somebody.

Beep.

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To boldly go where Newman has gone before

A few days ago, I heard an interesting radio show about an experiment some Washington Post reporters ran, on themselves.

So when eight Post reporters got to talking about their attachment — no, addiction — to their BlackBerrys, phones, Twitter and Facebook, it was only natural that someone said, okay, let’s go without, if only for a week. No Web, period. If you need to talk to someone, do it in person or by phone.
Everyone got excited: What would our friends and loved ones think if we didn’t respond to their texts and e-mails? Would we be able to do our work? Could we make it five whole days?

Some of them did.

A dramatic photo here.

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NHL.com: A sleep-deprived nation cheers for its heroes

Here’s one from NHL.com. Click here if you want to see it as is in the wild, or keep reading below.

Back in the day, when Finns dominated the world’s car racing circuit, an adage was born: “You need a Finn to win.” It hasn’t been as apt in the NHL, with only seven Finnish Stanley Cup winners, and with the first three earning their rings with the same team, the Edmonton Oilers dynasty of the 1980s.

No words.

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Coming out of the dark

Last week, I shared an elevator with a Russian man who was wearing a pink pullover and pink pants. We shared the elevator going down and I went to see if I couldn’t find a place where I could buy chips and a Coke, he to see if he couldn’t own the dance floor at the Piano Bar in the lobby.

He was successful. I wasn’t.

A big man.

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