Who made who

Posted on May 16, 2009 by Risto

The small path to the gym goes through a tiny piece of recreational area. I want to say forest, but that’s just too grand a word for what is a very tiny green spot on the map, but yes, the path goes through the woods.

It can be scary in the winter, especially when I’m listening to music on my Apple® iPhone™ music player, especially after J told me that the urban predators look for people just like that.

It only takes me a minute to cut through the “forest” – with real living animals such as roe deer and hares – but a lot of different thoughts rush through my head. I know, there’s nothing in the dark that isn’t there in the light, and all that, but yesterday, I walked to the gym in full daylight, and saw three of these shady beasts hiding by the side of the construction site, and my heart missed a beat.

Then I turned on the music and cut through the forest, knowing that I’d be able to outrun the ‘saurs.

Notes

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Risto

Four weeks ago, I was sitting in the same chair I am sitting in now, writing an article, when I once again looked at the Bobby Orr photo hanging on the wall in front of me. It’s funny that the photo is such an inspiration, even if I never saw the game, didn’t grow up idolizing Orr, and don’t really know that much about that particular final series.

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Ristopakarinen.com press release

Posted on May 12, 2009 by Risto

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 12, 2009

RISTO PAKARINEN TAKES A DAY OFF

STOCKHOLM – Risto Pakarinen, writer, hockey writer, blogger, and the CEO of ristopakarinen.com, announced today his plan to take off an entire day. Pakarinen said he will not be working on Tuesday, May 12, 2009, “not even a little bit.”

“After almost 350 different articles in the last year, and having just covered 32 hockey games in 17 days, I feel it’s time for a break,” Pakarinen says.

“It is my firm intention that this blog entry will be the only thing I write today. I will not check my email or spend hours online idly chatting with people, will not text people or sit on the phone all day, but instead I will just buy some food, make some dinner, watch TV, and sleep, possibly read a book,” he adds.

Mr Pakarinen recently returned home from Bern, Switzerland where he had been covering the hockey World Championship since April 24. While the tournament was a huge success for Mr Pakarinen, it was also a trying experience physically and emotionally. He’s confident, though, that a 24-hour break is enough to restore his vigor.

“Oh, I’ll be back tomorrow,” he says.

—————————————————-
For additional information and photos of Risto Pakarinen, please see www.ristopakarinen.com or contact

Hannes Pakarinen, hannespakarinen at gmail dot com

Homebound

Posted on May 10, 2009 by Risto

I like beef and veal. I like steamed vegetables, and I like beans. Rice, pasta, noodles, bring it on, I’m game.

But eating the beef or the veal, with the veggies, maybe some rice/pasta on the side, twice a day, for 17 days, has made me want for some pasta a la Risto, or pizza. And a fresh salad.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You’re always
A day
Away!

Office space

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Risto

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.

Switzerland

Posted on May 3, 2009 by Risto

First off, exactly a year ago, I had no idea how little I knew about Switzerland. Now that I have been here almost a dozen times in the past 12 months, and find myself halfway through a three-week stay, I can see that I didn’t know anything.

What I have learned recently is that the fact that I didn’t know a lot about Switzerland (but thought I did) is exactly the most Swiss thing there is. They’re hard to pigeonhole, those Swiss.

It’s difficult to describe what the Swiss generally look like – they seem to be very outdoorsy – and I get no direct visual association of “Switzerland”, like I get with, say, “France”, “Spain”, “Germany”, or “Italy”. Not immediately anyway.

If I think about it for a while, I can see a huge Toblerone chocolate bar, then cheese fondue.

Which, interestingly enough, I have not seen a glimpse of here. Yet.

I contact

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Risto

Part of the charm with working at an international event like the hockey World Championships is seeing (and observing) people from all over the world. True, with hockey, it’s mostly the white, male part of the population I can observe, but even in that sample, there are some fascinating observations to be made.

Really.

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It’s a sign

Posted on April 26, 2009 by Risto

Traveling can be a lonely business, even if you’re surrounded by people all the time. The biggest number of people I’ve been surrounded by on this trip is 11 417 (capacity crowd) but of course it’d be nice with some familiar faces.

There’s a family legend about one of my father’s hockey trips. It’s not about him, but I think it nicely captures the human need to feel at home. My Dad’s’ hockey team was in the Oldtimers’ World Championships in the UK somewhere. I may confuse this with his trip to the Edinburgh tournament but it doesn’t really matter.

There they were anyway, seeing the sights when a teammate of his said, “Look, there’s a sign in Finnish!”

And indeed there was. The sign said “Coca-Cola.”

Well, see this sign! It says “me”. Made me feel welcome in Bern, Switzerland.

I’m a be-leaver

Posted on April 21, 2009 by Risto

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.)

Don’t blink

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Risto

In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell writes about an experiment where people were given fifteen minutes to examine a student’s college dormitory to gather information about him. Afterwards, they were interviewed, and it turned out that they could describe the subject’s personality more accurately than his or her own friends.

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