caillou’s blog

… the first night with lou was pretty hard. she woke up often and seemed very unhappy. in the morning, she got up just as troubled and whiny. she had a very difficult first day. anything was enough to get her to cry. and it was almost impossible to calm her down. she looked so sad. only good moments: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

this kind of got me scared. i found myself counting the days and nights left before we could go home. damn, we both were missing rachel…

but the second night went much better, except of the part, where she fell of the bed. and when we got up, i had my good old lou back. she was smiling and happy. still a bit scared of the dog, but ok.

today was fantastic. in the morning, we went to a ti-ti nalle concert. there we basically did nothing else but laying around and cuddle. after a long nap, we went to the beach and had a lot of fun.

i made videos of these moments on our second day. check’em out. lou looks as good as always and there are some very typical finnish scenes…

lou at ti-ti nalle concert from caillou on Vimeo.

lou on nokia’s beach from caillou on Vimeo.

… and when the bus left the airport for helsinki i noticed that i had lost lou’s bunny. if you have children and ever lost their favorite stuffed animal, you might imagine how i felt and understand the drastic measures that followed.

i jumped out of the bus on the next stop and ran back to the airport. i didn’t matter the heat or the weight of my luggage. my only thought was with the bunny. where and how did i loose it? did i really have it, when i left the airplane? oh, i ran fast.

at the airport, i got sent from the information desk to an office, from there to a phone in a hall…

i dialed 1 and no one picked up the phone… i dialed 1 again… this time too, no one picked up. i started noticing that people around lookt at me in a strange way. i dialed the 1. i also noticed that i was really sweaty. some one picked up the phone…

after 5 minutes, someone picked me up, and brought me to the luggage delivery hall. and there it was. lou’s purple bunny.

lou at the tampere playground from caillou on Vimeo.

time passes at a pace that seems to grow exponentially. just yesterday we stepped out of the plain that took us from BKK to zurich. and, on the other hand, the trip to thailand is almost forgotten and normal life is about to become boring all over again …

this can only mean one thing: it is time to finally open up that suitcase we brought home from thailand. throw away all these souvenirs that have no more meaning, do some laundry and fill up that suitcase again.

and then, lou and myself will attend what seems to become a tradition: our yearly father/daughter vacation in finland. visit some dear friends and family, attend a wedding, maybe two. then come home and get back to work. and then, forget it ever happened.

meanwhile i updated this blog, to its newest version and fixed the comments system.

that way, you’ll be able to see some pictures of our trip and leave comments, if you appreciate any of this. and i will be able to look at this site, once in a while, and remember that once, my past was a plan.

with lou asleep and my grilfriend at the world famous montruex jazz festival, i finally got to enjoy our brand new internet connection.

and what’s better than spending an evening watching trailers?

here is the selection of movies i’ll be looking out for in the next few months:

• american teens [trailer]
• baghead [trailer]
• boy a [trailer]
• burn after reading [trailer]
• choke [trailer]
• the curious case of benjamin button [trailer]
• vicky christina barcelona [trailer]

what are the movies you are looking forward too?

here is a link list about the techtalk on merlin mann’s inbox zero i just held at liip:

• the slides
• 43 Folders Series on Inbox Zero
• merlin mann’s twitter
• you look nice today, best comedy podcast ever, featuring merlin mann
• joel spolsky’s blog
• stackoverflow podcast, featuring joel spolsky

and, if you want, you can hear what merlin mann has to say about his slides by looking at the presentation he held at a google techtalk:

every time i move from one apartment to another, i get rid of stuff.

just like splitbrain did, i worked on reducing material that can be digitally archived.

i sold many things on e.bay.

i gave away things.

but every time there is this clutter seem to be moving from one flat to another, only to never look at it again. splitbrain categorized clutter as follows:

1. They look nice and decorative
2. They might come in handy some day
3. They were a present by someone
4. They are still in good condition, throwing them away would be a waste
5. They have low value, selling them on eBay wouldn’t be worth the time
6. They usually have some place on the shelf and only become a burden on the next move

when thinking about the clutter problem, a came up with a definition, that seems to include all these items:

most clutter consists of material, which helps me remember my past. it consists of “memory keys” which are necessary in order to remember events of my past life. by throwing them away, i would loose this my memories.

this, above all, is the reason why i keep some of my childhood toys, a stone i picked up in a holiday when i was 16 and in love, the dictionary my late father gave me when i was 8, my first pair of Dr. Martens boots, the crucifix i got at my communion, etc…

it took me quite so time to understand, why i was attached to clutter. but once i did, the solution was most obvious: digitally archiving clutter

1. take a picture of these items.
2. tag the picture with “memory.key“.
3. trow the item away.

that’s it. problem solved. the obvious benefit is: i get rid of clutter. i have more space. thus i feel good.

but there is a much more subtle benefit to digitally archiving clutter: i can dig into my memories at any given time. without having to go to a stinky, humid cellar. whithout having to any effort. and by having the pictures displayed in my screen saver, these things are always with me

wasn’t that easy?

lou and the other girl from caillou on Vimeo.

lou’s new hairstyle from caillou on Vimeo.