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hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:00:16 GMT

Another day at work with mostly gradually working with inching thesis towards completion. It is now practically a week since I arrived back from Germany, and I will start off my travel report with first part concerning time until arrival at Suhl on EF early arrival day.

Thursday 20.8.

Rather quick packing and preparation as much of Wednesday was spent resolving a vacuum cleaner repair issue, the Electrolux used for about a decade at home stopped working. Rather tedious dismantling proved fault to be as suspected, worn-out carbon brushes in the motor. Attempted to order new ones already on Wednesday, but had to call a shop again on Thursday to get new brushes ordered. In the meantime parents had already purchased a new Dyson, thus causing the repair to fortunately become a secondary issue, as dismantling the brush holders has later proved to be very hard to accomplish.

After quick packing about only slight oversight was that I accidentally left behind the additional films and film holder for medium format camera (I had loaded one new 220-format ISO 400 negative film in the camera itself fortunately), otherwise practically everything I intended to take along also was there. In the afternoon I proceeded to travel by train to Helsinki area, taking local train to Malmi. I was going to stay for some time at Kisu's place before going to the airport for early morning flight the next day, or so I thought.

I had a map printed out to help me find my way, but I got at first slightly lost and spent some time walking up and down the railway station area to get oriented as to where I was going. With the fursuit transport box this was rather good physical excercise if nothing else, it could be noted playfully. Afterwards I found my way and arrived at Kisu's apartment. After very nice evening, early in the morning I took taxi to the airport.

Friday 21.8.

Arriving at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport there was a rather confused look at the display for departing flights, as there was no flight with the number I was intending to board. A quick consideration and checking my papers proved the fact, I was exactly one day early. This quite surprising oversight had apparently resulted from some kind of misinterpretation on my part. I quickly inspected rest of my reservations, all of them were correct and the misinformation was thus clearly of very recent conception.

Afterwards I thought about my options, making the decision to call Kisu and ask if I could come back. This was agreed to, and I'm greatly thankful to Kisu for accommodating my quite sudden 'extended prologue'. I took taxi back and fell asleep, by now quite well exhausted as I had originally intended to sleep during the flight. Afterwards I gradually woke up during late morning. With Kisu gone to work I spent early part of the day watching older BBF convention videos, not having seen many of them before at all, as it is quite unusual for me to download any video content at home.

I also thank Kisu for bringing me pizza during his lunchtime. Altough maker of the pizza had not been especially concentrated and had also placed three shrimps on the pizza, being strongly allergic to seafood I had to first cut out 'exclusion zones' around and including each shrimp to be sure that there would be minimal to no contamination.

After a relaxed afternoon on my part Kisu arrived back from work, and some time later Angelo arrived to take pictures of Kisu's newer fursuit. I had not met or heard of Angelo before, so it was nice to meet him. After Angelo left, we went to buy groceries and cooked a potato-based meal. This proved to be such a filling dinner that both of us were a bit sleepy during the evening. I browsed through older pictures from early EF 1-6 during the later evening, and went to sleep for some hours to be well awake at the airport.

Saturday 22.8.

New attempt at taking the flight to Frankfurt, this time everything went well at the airport. After dropping off the fursuit transport box to baggage drop and passing security check I mostly walked around the slightly renovated airport and rested at the departure gate. I playfully tried watching the plane being prepared for departure to see if I could see my transport box being loaded into the aircraft, but they apparently used the standard hold containers for luggage, so there wasn't too much to see in that respect.

Flight went well, and I had a couple of hours of margin at Frankfurt airport before the ICE train to Nuremberg would depart. This year I had decided to fly only to Frankfurt and travel onwards from there by train, as the airport has a railway station of its own and thus it is easy to board a high speed service to elsewhere in Germany directly from the airport. One detail that would be very nice also at Helsinki-Vantaa, and apparently it has been planned for in the coming decade, to also have rail service at the airport.

I spent some time photographing the ICE trainsets around the station platforms before the train I was to board arrived. I had bought first class tickets as I got a good discount for purchasing early and for a specific train, so price was well tolerable even in first class. Generally the first class accommodations were nice, with coffee service directly to the seat. Also the seating was comfortable, especially in comparison to Finnish railways Pendolino high speed trainset.

I also went for a sandwich at the dining compartment, but found the accommodations there to not be as much to my liking, somewhat resembling the dining area of Pendolino trainset here. My favorite rail-based restaurants are still easily the older dining cars of Finnish railways, especially the ones that nowadays have a seventies theme in them, with older style stools also reinstated.

After a relaxed rail journey I arrived at Nuremberg railway station, finding noisy soccer fans populating the station hall, apparently there was a match scheduled later in the day. I took the subway train to the station accross the street from the hotel I have usually stayed at in Nuremberg, mostly due to its very practical location, accross the street from both the old town center and a subway station. After leaving my luggage to the hotel I walked to the old town, going up to the castle and sitting down for some time.

I didn't yet take a camera along, but was rather just again taking a look around at first. From the castle I proceeded back down to closeby the marketplace. Afterwards I went to eat, having bratwurst at the place I do consider the highest quality of those I have tried around the town. I proceeded back towards hotel, along the way buying some groceries and soft drinks for the hotel room for later evenings there. Slightly before seven in the evening I arrived back in my hotel room.

The room was the same which I had gotten also last year, otherwise comparatively tolerable room, but the view out of the window prompted my brother to playfully suspect last year that it was actually a hotel in mainland China. View opens to courtyard between buildings, towards balconies enclosed with wire fence to prevent birds from entering. Many of the balconies themselves mostly serve as storage for old household items and other rarely used things. I fell asleep rather quickly, especially as it had been a quite long day with the early morning flight.

Sunday 23.8.

After breakfast in the hotel I left for old town, this time with camera. My main intent for the day was to take the guided tour of the castle to get to visit the imperial chapel and other parts of the castle accessible only by buying a ticket and following the guided tour. I had not gotten around to do so during earlier years at the castle. I bought a ticket and at first visited the castle museum, main exhibits of which concerned weapons technology in medieval and early renaissance epochs. As such rather interesting, with also items discovered from castle grounds themselves on display.

Afterwards I climbed into the round tower, noticing 'graffiti' scratched into sandstone blocks inside the tower with dates going back to late 18th and much of the 19th century. A rather interesting detail as such, even if in a way reminder of 'undesired' behaviour of earlier times. More modern markings were well presented in the wooden walls inside the observation platform itself. The elevation of the tower gave nice view over the old town and further into the city itself. I did succeed in photographing to all directions with some waiting and careful positioning of lens between the iron bars on each window.

Before the start of the guided tour itself I took some time to take a few frames around the castle grounds with the medium format camera. Afterwards the guided tour started, and it was easily interesting enough to be worth the 5 euro entrance fee. The guide explanations themselves were rather generic, but the architecture and interiors themselves were highly interesting. Some parts had of course been lost in the war, but much of the imperial quarters had remained in considerably original condition.

Especially the well-known double chapel was rather interesting, with lower area for less important people, higher area for nobility and separate area for imperial family themselves. The early romanesque style and use of perspective and light made the architecture impressive, but comparatively small quarters and size of the tour group made any proper photography close to impossible with people blocking much of the view for any wide-angle picture. Last part of the tour visited the deep well, an impressive achievement with the technology available back in 14th century to construct a 47m deep well.

After the guided tour I went to eat at a restaurant located at one side of the old town council hall, having a traditional local beef dish. Afterwards I walked around to visit some of the churches around old town I hadn't been in or photographed before, and took some time to sit in the castle gardens and take some photographs also there with the medium format camera. The day was very warm, and I stopped to have ice cream before leisurely walking back to the hotel in the evening.

Monday 24.8.

After breakfast I first made my way to the railway station, printing out the timetable for Tuesdays train to Suhl. Afterwards I walked to 'SH Foto', a very well-equipped photography equipment shop closeby to the railway station. My brother had some intentions to buy a 105mm Nikon lens, but no specific models he was after were available. Generally there are very rare lenses and cameras often available there, for example Leica special models and such lenses as Nokt-Nikkors, which are generally quite hard to find. I bought a case for my brother's Pentax 50/1.4 lens I had again taken along (cost all of 6 euros, old Sigma leather case that fits exactly), both for practicality and to ensure it stays in good condition.

Afterwards I walked back to the old town, stopping at hotel to drop off things and rest for a moment. Then I went back to the old town to go around the shops, getting an alarm clock for more practical wake-up, and buying chocolate and such to take back home, bringing higher quality confectionaries back from travel being practically a requirement at home. I looked into also some other purchases, and walked around the old town otherwise.

I went to eat in the cellar restaurant closeby that is practically a tradition for me at Nuremberg, I also had the same steak dish as every year before. After nice dinner there I continued to look around shops a bit more before going back to the hotel. Packing for traveling to Suhl was quickly finished and I fell asleep. I had originally entertained the idea of doing an excursion to Würzburg to visit the prince-elector palace there, but due to actually having one day less than I had thought at one point, I mostly visited places in Nuremberg I hadn't seen before.

Tuesday 25.8.

After breakfast at the hotel I proceeded to the railway station with all luggage, again having a couple of hours of margin, causing a rather long wait, but ensuring that no surprise could cause much issues with getting to Suhl as intended. I placed my transport box in a bit more silent corner in the station area and used it as a portable bench, much of the time just observing the traffic around the station while sitting there.

When the time came, I went to the platform well in time and boarded the regional traffic trainset, changing over to a diesel-powered trainset at Würzburg. Last year same occurred at Schweinfurt, but due to track construction work the route was different this year. Also the usual bicycle transport roulette went better this year, last year I was pushed to rather cramped position with my box due to all the bicycles placed in the train vestibules, this year the situation was better with a few bicycles less, and I actually had rather comfortable position.

After final hours of the rail travel I arrived at the Suhl railway station, and into conclusion of this first part of the travel report, as well.

Now having finished the report I had started earlier at home, it is now time for me to go for lunch before continuing the day at work.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:24:44 GMT

I'm back at work for the second day after returning from EF. This year was a very good one altogether, and also my pre-EF tour at Nuremberg was nice and rather relaxing. I will write a more detailed report in a few days. Otherwise it is still rather silent at work, most of the co-workers are elsewhere, but as far as I know, the problem that has prevented me from finishing my thesis has been solved, I only need to find out details once possible. I'm rather determined to also otherwise get out any remaining issues and submit thesis to see if any additional changes are still required.

I have again somewhat started to consider a specific travel laptop as I usually do not take along any of the units I use around locally, partially due to durability and usability concerns. This has led me to somewhat consider a slightly earlier Pentium III-class Panasonic Toughbook platform as one possibility, with rather good performance, moderate prices and high durability. I also need to visit the customs office today, as finally a package ordered by my brother has arrived. He bought a rather rare device meant to synchronize speed of two Nagra III magnetic tape audio recorders, useful for him as he records environmental sounds as stereo tracks through use of two mono recorders. The equipment was shipped from Australia with surface transport already back in June, and had arrived only a few days ago.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:51:58 GMT

Progress with thesis has been rather slow lately after returning to work, but there fortunately isn't anything else remaining before graduation. I will probably be leaving work earlier today and going to Helsinki to watch Kraftwerk and Aavikko live. I bought a ticket already months ago, but I didn't really decide until today that I would indeed be going, as getting back from Helsinki to Jyväskylä by the time the concert probably ends isn't especially easy, having to take a night bus back. Also that the weather seems to be rather good affected my decision, if it would have been as rainy as yesterday, I probably would have been less likely to go.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:29:37 GMT

Vacation ends early next week, albeit I do have a few days of vacation before traveling off towards EF. Not much progress has been made with getting thesis finished, as I can't get final simulation results for the thesis until the problems are resolved by others. I still need to wait somewhat until I'm able to add results and write the conclusion chapter, then I can submit thesis again for feedback and it shouldn't be far from finished , then.

Otherwise, I got new fursuit transport box a few days ago, choosing a German Army surplus aluminium box. It took nearly a month and a half to arrive in mail, clearly economy transport indeed, but here delivery time wasn't the issue. It is very sturdy, and with two latches, full length hinge and two straps to hold the cover, it for sure isn't going to be detached from the box. Similarly the box itself is well made, and for sure is going to survive luggage handling much better than the plastic box, which often arrived with corners dented in, but fortunately didn't shatter. The box needed a good cleaning, though, having apparently contained some kind of anti-chemical warfare decontamination equipment. The decontamination solution must not have been a pleasant chemical, judging from the strong scent left behind in the box. It took quite some cleaning to get it out. Below I'm working with cleaning the box a few days ago.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:15:31 GMT

Last week was more of vacation, even if rather often occupied with kitchen renovation here. The ceiling now has new wood paneling instead of earlier somewhat faded wallpaper, with a white, slightly transparent surface treatment leaving some grain of the wood visible, it is a rather elegant ceiling solution. Also new light fixtures were installed, altogether with improved results, especially as the light-colored ceiling makes the area nicely a bit more bright.

My attempts with getting the record player to function properly haven't progressed mostly at all, I called today earlier about the stylus and the order hadn't even been forwarded to Denmark to Ortofon, for reason or other. I did today receive the standard type SME carrying arm for 1/2-inch mount cartridge, but had no mounting screws left, so couldn't test that one out yet (with an Ortofon 500-series Mk. II cartridge I also have). By now I'm somewhat considering actually ordering a 530- or 540-type stylus for the cartridge rather than persisting with the integrated carrying arm, but can't be totally sure as couldn't test the other solution yet (a minor possibility exists that the distortion is a problem either with cabling/connections or some odd mechanical issue outside of cartridge/carrying arm/stylus influence, but it doesn't seem probable).

My access to workplace was enabled again still during the Friday I discovered the issue, and I was there for part of that afternoon. Afterwards haven't yet gone back there, as situation hasn't changed with ability to obtain the final results. Otherwise thesis isn't mostly missing anything, so once I can run the final simulations, I should be able to put it together for another round of feedback with a few hours of work at most.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:33:23 GMT

Last week or so have again been continuing to work with finishing my thesis for MSc. There isn't much missing, but currently I haven't yet been able to produce the final results due to technical problems, which I can affect only to a degree myself. I also today tried to arrive to workplace after two days away only to find out that despite my efforts to make sure that my access would extend to this month as am not yet quite finished with thesis, my key had been disabled. I wrote a few mails, but of course, most are on vacation now, and my vacation practically starts today. I still would need to be able to go to work now and then to finish the thesis, so I need to try to ensure the matter is taken care of despite vacations.

Currently am sitting at the students board room, unable to get to workplace, and it has been quite a while indeed since I've had time to sit down and have coffee here, several months at least. Nobody else is around, though, most students having traveled home for the summer. It is a bit surprising compared to the time when I was fully a student, I would spend a lot of time here between lectures and otherwise, and even wrote my thesis for BSc here for the most part. I found it easier to concentrate also in the writing here despite company and relaxed atmosphere than at home for some reason.

I have been also lately trying to fine-tune my record player (Technics SL-1100 with SME Series III tonearm and SME-Ortofon 30H integrated carrying arm/cartridge), as there is some distortion occurring on very loudly modulated passages, mostly on left channel. I did order a new stylus, as I had intended to do that anyway, the cartridge having been delivered with cheaper stylus (Stylus 10 instead of 30 which the cartridge usually uses) of slightly questionable condition. I'm somewhat concerned that reason might be somewhat hardened cartridge suspension, in which case I need to look for the usual 1/2-inch mount carrying arm and set of balance weights, as the tonearm wasn't unfortunately delivered with all the accessories (albeit, for the price paid for the tonearm, not a major issue to obtain them separately). I will be trying a bit later today to see if anyone is around at the workplace to let me in there for the afternoon.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:53:16 GMT

Just arrived back after dinner and sauna at the hotel area with people from work. The day was a bit of a disappointment in terms of the main feature, no golf. As we arrived to the course, it rather immediately started to rain, and rain came pouring down for the rest of about 45 minutes we waited at the club building before deciding that it wasn't viable this time. We went to play pool for the rest of the afternoon, and it was rather nice, but it would have been interesting to try golf out. I had some birthday cake at home with family after arriving back and am probably going to fall asleep in some time, still, a good day mostly.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:00:29 GMT

Birthday it is, then. Woke up as rather usual and got to work, where am now starting the day. Today isn't very usual, though, as coincidentally today is activity day at work. Golf has been organized for the evening, and afterwards use of a sauna has been arranged for at Hotel Alba closeby to the university buildings. I haven't ever really tried real golf except a few attempts at range long ago, so I do suspect that it will be rather interesting.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:49:36 GMT

I got feedback from the other person who was supposed to provide feedback for thesis. It proved to be no feedback as such, mostly only positive remark, thus not at least helping much with developing the content for final version. Otherwise the week has begun rather usually, there is still some work left before the final results and some verification material can be added, but otherwise, it isn't far from completion.

In other matters, last week I received two new chargers for the phone, so it has been back in use now without any problems, only the transport box issue still awaits solution, of course it is much less pressing as it needs to be solved by EF. On a less fortunate note, this year I couldn't go to Lahti railway day that was on Saturday, not that there would either have been the steam train from Helsinki due to more strict traffic regulations now in force. I intended to go to the event itself, but as rest of the family also left on the same weekend elsewhere for a dog show, someone had to stay behind to mind the rest of the dogs. Later it transpired that my brother decided on the last moment to stay home after all, but unfortunately it was too late to arrange to go by then. Also weather was rather cold, though, so it wouldn't have been as nice as two previous railway days, both of which had very good weather.

A bit different, namely botanical matter has also been in my attention, after a few attempts at growing kiwi and always getting them about 10-15cm tall before they inevitably withered, no matter what I tried, I decided to try a different plant to start with. This year I'm trying to grow lemon, and have this far gotten encouraging results:

I moved them to separate pots on the weekend, and they have grown slightly more since, so I do hope I do succeed in getting them to survive also over the winter, but time will tell.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:42:20 GMT

Week at work was rather uneventful, as I haven't yet received feedback for my thesis from one of two persons who should give such. Feedback from the other I've already accounted for in the current version. Otherwise it is currently about getting the rest of the results for, and then it should be rather ready for more final review.

As the weather was rather advantageous today, I washed my fursuit and it has dried out outside rather well, so Radium is now all nice and fresh again. Of the items lost when the cover of the transport box was lost by the airline, I've already ordered two additional chargers for the mobile phone I currently usually use (Motorola StarTAC 130), fortunately chargers for such an old model didn't cost much anything, either (10 euros for two, including postage). Otherwise I need to look at either a new cover for the current transport box or a new box by EF, as the current one of course isn't usable without the cover.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:18:47 GMT

Today I returned around 6am today from Confuzzled, coming on the night bus from Helsinki-Vantaa airport, having slept on the bus at least somewhat I just turned around at home and went to work for the day. Was a slightly tired day to a degree, but as what I currently mostly have to do is finishing only my thesis with all required courses done, I continued along with it rather well. As I have all required courses done, it should also mean that it is at most a matter of a month or two to graduate for MSc, depending on how long it takes for the thesis to be accepted once final version is finished.

But, to give a bit of a report of Confuzzled and things related, I will write a bit of day-by-day narrative of main occurrences and some related details. So, let's start:

'Failing to Arrive Twice - or - Confuzzled 2009 and Five Wonders of International Luggage Transport'

I started my journey practically on the evening of Tuesday 19.5., packing and forgetting mostly about only the separate silver fox tail that has been along only sporadically on conventions also this far. Not that I wouldn't like to take it along, or wouldn't have enough space in my transport box, but, I have often simply forgotten it to hang on a shelf post. That happened this time, but otherwise I had along all I thought I would need. I went as usual to work for Wednesday itself and then took train to Tampere, staying there overnight with a local contact (thanks go to Pahartik the rat for pleasant evening at Tampere). After a few hours of sleep, going to the bus towards central Tampere to catch the bus to Helsinki-Vantaa airport, trouble started for the first time. Thursday of course had special schedule in force (being a holiday in Finland), but at the time we thought the bus intended to be taken would still be in operation. It proved quickly to not be the case. After a short consideration, taxi was called forth, and actually seemed to arrive under one minute of call, being a bit of a surprise since after all, we were not in most central Tampere. As I was getting onboard, we asked if it was the one called for, which proved to not be the case. Somehow it had just otherwise stopped to see if we were in need of transportation. Off I went to the Tampere bus terminal, and just made it to the bus to airport (I later learned that the taxi called for had arrived around two minutes later, possibly having been too later to make the airport bus anymore).

Arrival at the airport, with a margin of somewhat over an hour before departure. I had considered a bit how much to leave margin, and at times it has been claimed as sufficient, and it would have been convenient due to not having to use a taxi. Both proved wrong very soon. There was a queue in the foreign departures terminal long enough to practically all the way outside. It was always a far cry to make the intended direct flight, I had simply decided on too little margin altogether for the amount of people leaving at the time, and the slowness of check-in for reason or other. I got to the desk at the about same minute as the flight departed. After a bit of a run-around I was told that I could transfer my flight to Friday for modest cost of 268 Euros, reason being that only place in business class apparently remained for all of the week, quite much. I asked about other routes, only to be told that I'm allowed to take only the direct flight on that ticket, as I had suspected. After a short round of calls to see if it would be viable to overnight at Helsinki or closeby, it didn't seem to be the case. I proceeded to inquire about getting altogether new set of tickets, and the price was somewhat higher than changing the original flight for Friday, but it seemed to be the best solution at the time.

The new flight was on KLM and left several hours later (late in the afternoon rather than morning). I proceeded to eat and then wait for the new departure time and that far everything went again well. This time there was a connecting flight at Amsterdam, and no trouble occurred in catching the connecting flight to Manchester, arriving there around 6pm that evening. Unfortunately again my fursuit transport box failed to arrive, same had happened when going to Eurofurence last year. Thus I went to make the necessary paperwork, and succeeded in filling it out except the postal code of the con-site. I was told to call once I had the postal code to add to the information so the luggage could be delivered. Then I took the train from airport to Piccadilly railway station and walked from there to Castlefield to the convention hostel, not being in any hurry and having only my hand luggage now with me, so I again looked a bit at the city along the way, having walked that route also last year. I arrived at the con-site and checked in as early arrival, placed to same room with Bradhound, Kal and PhoenixBehemoth at the time. I was told then that I would have to change room come Friday morning, but it proved that only PhoenixBehemoth was moved to another room, and nofur ever arrived to the fourth place in the room afterwards. I also asked from the reception about the postal code of the premises and got a stationery that had the full address. As the call center for luggage issues was open until 8pm and it was around 7pm then, I made the call and tried to add the information to the request. At first I was given a different reference code, apparently the desk at the airport had just written the luggage tag number instead of reference code, so it took a while to sort it out. Then I give the postal code, am asked for it again, and then told it is incorrect. I again give it and ask back that the correct digits have been understood. No use, I'm explained that they have a web site to check it, and it isn't valid. After some discussion over it, I again re-iterate the location and name of premises and ask if that is enough. No decisive answer is given, and the call ends with suggestion to call again tomorrow morning.

I walk by myself to eat something before going to sleep for the day, by now somewhat tired for the day. Ending up at a place apparently a restaurant-type place albeit the not especially quality-assuring name 'Pizza Express', which would more point towards very fast food variety of pizza. Actually the style of pizza on list is indeed to a certain degree more restaurant-like, but unfortunately I succeed in picking a variety with very strong chili-like ingredient to it (description seemed to imply rather more of softly hot flavour), and albeit used to rather strongly spicy food at times, it is a bit much and takes quite some time to eat most part of, even if having removed much of the ingredient itself to the side of the plate. Fortunately it was still edible with some patience, and at least reduces hungriness, even if much of the flavour otherwise is masked by the intensely hot effect, which I do not at least usually either associate with Italian style of pizza. Afterwards I proceed back to the site and walk around a bit before retiring to sleep.

Friday 22.5. starts with early 7:30 breakfast, and I do make it in time. During the day it is mostly new arrivals for the actual start of the convention, finding out before the actual registration that I do not need to change rooms, when we were asking about it at the reception with Kal, getting the keycards re-programmed for the whole weekend. Friday is somewhat rainy and I do not wander outside the con-site itself early in the day. During the morning I make another call to the call center to inquire about the luggage, and this time I do get a much more decisive male attendant, and it is quickly found out both that the address is in correct form (whatever happened with the invalid postal code?), and that my luggage has been located in Amsterdam, and will be delivered during the afternoon. I especially inquire if I still need to call again to arrange delivery, but am assured that everything is in order and I only need to wait for the delivery. I do meet many of the arriving furries I know from before, and the day goes much more pleasantly than Thursday altogether.

After official registration time is spent in the lobby with others, and late in the afternoon also the fursuit transport box arrives and I get promptly informed of. Somewhat ominously it is wrapped into white plastic covering, and it soon proves to be the case that the cover has been lost altogether. With some help I carry the box upstairs and check what remains, fortunately only two small items are missing, charger for my mobile phone and the padlock for a locker in the room itself (the key for the padlock it still there, though). After inspection it proves that everything else packed both remains, and is in good condition, but the loss of the cover altogether causes a new problem, either a provisional cover needs to be constructed or new box obtained to be able to travel back. On suggestion from Pepsi Pooch who has been helping along, Furble is quickly consulted and provides a tip on location of Staples and other stores to get supplies from for the issue (thanks go to both). I do also make a call to inform airline about the problem, but am simply told to file a claim within 7 days, which was about what I expected. I do make the walk during late afternoon to see if I can find the mentioned shops, and indeed without any specific trouble do find my way there. After some inspection of options for a new box, I do find ones large enough, but they aren't really of the style commonly used, but have rather lightly opened latches, are mostly transparent and have a single-layer non-reinforced cover, which I suspect might not take it too well to have baggage thrown upon. After inspecting my options for a new box, I depart back to con-site.

The BBQ proves to be more of Burger-Q at the inside dining area, and is rather enjoyable to sit down for, especially by now rather hungry albeit having had a sandwich at the site bar some time earlier. After the opening speech and Burger-Q there is a furry Pub Quiz competition as last year. The format is slightly different, though, with this time teams of five writing down their answers and highest-scoring team getting a round of free drinks. I took part, and we did moderately well, ending with 22 points against 27 for the winner, if I remember correctly. Later in the evening I sat down around the lobby and bar area, and talked especially with Feera Fox, who I had met for the first time earlier in the day (thanks go to Feera for relaxing evening).

After a well-slept night the breakfast on Saturday 23.5. is at the later 8:30 starting time, and again I make it well to the breakfast. After breakfast I do watch the Guitar Hero/Rock Band being played in the bar area for some time, going around the lobby a bit now and then before lunch. After lunch I go to queue to the dealers den once it opens, having time before the Fursuit Gameshow (or Furrylimpics as termed here). Afterwards to get out as Radium and compete, the games do mostly work rather well (albeit looking for the hidden pieces in the puzzle one was quite challenging). After all the games there is a close-fought tie-breaker, in the end the red team also Radium was part of won and the winning team received gold medals.

After coming back I mostly was around the lobby area until dinner-time. After the dinner for the evening we sat in the lobby in very good company, with Avon (who I had met during the day for the first time), and, varyingly at least Fuzzywolf, Wolfer, Mooie, Kal and others. Afterwards the dances for that night started with Graafen playing a short set of rock/metal music. Afterwards SWolf played at first 70s and 80s, moving later to House/Hardcore, until the dance ended with effect reminiscent of hitting a wall with a rocket-sled, simply suddenly ending in middle of a song. Once a very sudden end had come to music, I retired to sleep for the night, having danced practically all of the time music was being played.

Sunday 24.5. arrived, and again breakfast was proceeded for with success. After breakfast I watched the Fur-E-Okie for a while, and then moved upstairs to be ready to come down as Radium for the fursuit bar games. This year's edition was also great fun to take part in, teamed together with Vin the weasel. We did try our best, but the games didn't especially go our way, but it was very good time trying. After arriving back it was about time for luch. After lunchtime I went to photograph the 'Badger' (fursuit) parade somewhat rather than taking part in suit myself this time. I did get some rather good photographs from the front as the suiters went by in the beginning. After the parade I mostly wandered around until dinner, in addition to going to Staples again, which fortunately was open on Sunday. There scissors, packing tape and roll of corrugated cardboard were obtained for the provisional cover.

After dinner Art Auction was in order, and having earlier inspected that the only item I had pre-bid on wouldn't go to the auction, I did otherwise make a few bids, but in the auction itself didn't win any of the items. Albeit the very warm atmospheric conditions in the area, it was rather fun to behold again. Afterwards apparently also the rather warm temperature endured though did take its toll, and I had trouble staying awake much longer after the auction. I sat down with Avon and others again before the dances, but kept mostly phasing back and forth towards falling asleep (my apologies for not being much at all to talk with at the time).

I went upstairs for a while to decide whether to fall asleep or go to dance for a while. I did go out to dance as Radium for some time. Afterwards I retired to sleep, for reason or other not really anymore awake at the time, fell asleep quickly. Monday (25.4.) morning and the early breakfast at 7:30am again. This time I didn't make it to the breakfast, though, having woken up in time, but then fell asleep again until breakfast was over. Thus I went directly to the slow-moving auction pick-up queue, picking up the EF9 Stage Crew badge I had bid for, finding it a rather nice convention-historical item to have. Afterwards it was time to construct the provisional cover for the fursuit transport box, which turned out rather well with use of corrugated cardboard from roll wide enough to cover the box, and a lot packing tape to keep it all together. When cover was finished and written contact details on, additionally with instructions to handle the provisional solution with according care, I checked out and was around the lobby for some time.

I started my way towards the airport around noon, and after walking some way up the street by myself, I noticed that Mooie, Wolfer and Kal were coming slightly behind me. I joined them, and we made way together to the airport, taking train from Deansgate station to the airport. We ate at the airport, which came well-needed after missing the breakfast. Afterwards I had slight confusion about which terminal my flight actually left from, but fortunately help was obtained and after goodbyes I moved on to Terminal 2.

From there on the return flight went without any mentionable problem at all, and when arriving at Helsinki-Vantaa, the fursuit transport box arrived also and even the provisional cover had held through luggage transport without any problems. Only problem was that I just and just missed the earlier bus towards Jyväskylä due to the time the flight arrived, and had to wait two hours to catch the later one, arriving at Jyväskylä at 5:40am today.

Additional special thanks and hugs go out to Bradhound and Kal for being great room-mates, and to Kal, Mooie and Wolfer for being very good company when going to the flight back home.

-hHp

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:24:24 GMT

I returned home around 4am today, due to time I arrived and transportation concerns I didn't yet go to work today, as I could have slept all of about two hours before having to catch the bus to work at 6.30am... Fortunately I did at work mention that I might not arrive yet for tuesday, so I will get to work tomorrow, much better rested now.

EF was very nice also this year, and I did probably more fursuit outings for events than at any con before, as I did take part in two skits at the fursuit show, took part in the fursuit gameshow (second place in team with KuddlePup), went out for the parade (very first time I ever did go to the parade at any con, actually), went out for some time in suit at both dances and did a couple of non-event-related outings.

I had unfortunately arranged my travel plans without taking into account the dead dog party, so I practically missed most of the sunday as I already started my way back on sunday afternoon. In retrospect it wouldn't have mattered much as while traveling by train towards Nuremberg I began to feel comparatively sick. Afterwards the sunday evening was very uncomfortable with apparent con crud. Slight fever, sore throat and feeling generally somewhat sick made for more demanding time getting to Nuremberg to spend the night before catching flight to Helsinki on monday.

Fortunately on monday morning I felt again in nearly normal health and started my way towards the airport in better mood. Long day of travel commenced, after arriving from flight to Helsinki taking bus from Helsinki to Jyväskylä, and finally taxi to home from Jyväskylä. I left unpacking for morning and fell asleep quickly, waking all well this morning.

Albeit the slightly uncomfortable return trip, it was for sure a very good vacation, and I do feel well motivated returning to work for tomorrow, my thesis also having progressed well aside of work. For now I should probably go to have more to eat, especially yesterday not having had the possibility due to traveling most of the day.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:07:01 GMT

It has been a quite busy spring and early summer with thesis work. I did get a thesis workplace, and have been doing research work on system level simulations of mobile communications as work with my thesis from the same subject. I did complete my practical period and otherwise came very close to having everything but thesis done by the deadline for graduating with the old requirements in place. With thesis it proved that schedule to have it ready by about this time in the summer simply wasn't realistic, writing besides work and obtaining research results to include in the thesis do take their time.

Fortunately it seems that it won't be a too strenuous effort to graduate by the new requirements, either towards the end of the year or by next summer. Also my successful effort last year to have the bachelor's degree done will help somewhat as I have a complete degree to include rather than separate courses some of which could possibly be required to be done again, were they not included in a completed degree.

I will be starting my way towards ConFuzzled on Thursday evening, still finding myself maybe slightly uncertain, having never before traveled to UK and it being a new con I don't have too many specific expectations. I do now have new photographic equipment to replace the Praktica that broke last summer. I first bought a Pentax ME Super as a secondary camera, my brother bought it from me as he liked it very much. So I bought the next model, Pentax SuperA with the rare Motor Drive A.

I also have invested a bit in medium format photography, my brother having gotten himself a Pentax 6x7 (very early late 60s model with no mirror lock up and oldest style film loading) got me interested in trying medium format for different camera handling and high picture quality. I had more interest in a Hasselblad-style camera rather than the large SLR format of the Pentax. I did look at Hasseblad 500C/M, but didn't find the square 6x6 picture format and comparatively costly leaf-shutter lenses desirable features, so I did put together a Mamiya m645 1000s system with 45mm lens and PD-prism finder. I have this far tried it for only about two films, but it seems to work very well.

Of course one matter making medium format viable to work with is the fact that I and my brother do now develop our own films ourselves. Having obtained neccessary chemicals and equipment we do now routinely develop both our C41 process color negatives and E6 process color slides ourselves. I have found developing color quite easy once the correct work methodology has been practiced, especially what comes to maintaining both the chemicals and the film at correct temperature for processing, critical issue for obtaining correct color rendition.

It has been a bit different start of the summer altogether, as I don't have too much vacation from thesis work. This year being the first summer when I have continuous work rather than varyingly going to electronics repair work when needed. It has taken a bit of adjusting to, but it seems that it will mostly be a very nice summer still. Now I will continue to get ready for tomorrow at work and then to sleep, tomorrow evening I need to mostly pack as I will be leaving for ConFuzzled in the evening on Thursday.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:54:39 GMT

Has been quite a while since I've written an entry. Generally the time in between hasn't been mostly too much to describe, though. I've been occupied with studies and work, varyingly both at the electronics repair place, and also at times with the university faculty for different project tasks to have practical orientation period completed to hopefully graduate by summer. By now it does begin to seem like a considerably realistic target if everything goes well, as studies have been progressing about as I had intended.

I've been to some degree concentrating on organic chemistry as my secondary subject, as there aren't too many information technology courses remaining that I would either need or really could take. Otherwise I need to choose a few courses more, and write my final thesis during the spring, and then about everything required for graduation should be done with. So it does currently seem like the situation with studies has developed in a good direction (through hard work, of course) even while faculty politics has at times caused some difficulties.

Working through last year also made saving a comparatively good travel budget for next summer a possibility, and if everything does go well, both EF and ConFuzzled are to be in my program for next summer. I chose ConFuzzled partially as I do have an interest for seeing a bit of UK, never having been over there before. Otherwise it will probably be a quite busy springtime with studies and work continuing, and strongly hoped that graduation will be possible by summer.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:26:22 GMT

It has been a quite uneventful late summer in general, mostly been occupied with work and a kind of project I was attached to at university to complete practical period required for graduation. Work has been quite busy in general, and actually made a record what comes to both units repaired and earnings, making previous month my most productive at that place of work. The project I got attached to at university has been everything but easy to work with as I seem to get suddenly pushed to consult on things that each time are in a different direction outside my specialities. Having already worked with such varied subjects as analytical geometry and workflow management I tomorrow have to actually try to do a systems evaluation, apparently everything coming up that isn't what I have specialized in...

I did choose courses I will be doing this autumn, and by now it does seem quite realistic indeed to graduate by next summer, I just need to find a subject about which to write my masters thesis, probably having to contact people who nowadays work in different universities due to embedded systems practically not existing anymore as a line of study in my own faculty. Tomorrow studies will again begin proper, going to be a quite busy day tomorrow, so probably will be going to sleep early. For now will relax for practically last day of vacation.

I did also finally find time to yesterday get around and photograph the new back stripe arrangement on my fursuit. (I apologize for the slightly odd position, it would have probably looked better from other directions than behind):

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 18:37:03 GMT

My summer has been mostly nice this far, even if a bit uneventful at times (partially caused by a quite rainy weather pattern). I did in mid-June go to a steam locomotive-powered museum rail travel on the route Helsinki-Lahti-Helsinki, steam traction being provided by Hr1-class heavy passenger locomotive. Pictures might be provided at a later date once I get the film developed, I finished it only yesterday, in somewhat unfortunate manner to be mentioned later in the post.

In July I did visit Junkvist for a weekend and had very good time indeed there. We also did modify my fursuit, replacing the somewhat weak airbrushed stripe on the back with longer black fur, which does at least in my opinion give a much nicer definition to the color pattern from behind. Big thanks again for help with it! Afterwards most of the remaining month of July and beginning of this month have been spent either at work at the local electronics repair place or at home without too much to do, so it has been a bit uneventful if demanding repairs after lightning strikes don't count.

Yesterday I did go to photograph the rally cars as they went by from closeby larger road on transition to service area from last special stage that day. I did get good pictures of most of the top competitors, using up remaining film in both of the camera bodies I normally use, at which also the slightly unfortunate happened. My recently acquired Practika MTL5B broke on the last frame of the film, thus having lasted exactly 36 actuations, that having the first film I put through after getting it used. It works now like B-setting would have been selected all the time, but the longer shutter times also time themselves if shutter button is released before the time ends... I apparently have to take it apart some time and see what has gone wrong. A bit unfortunate as I had just found the Practika to have been quite a bit better replacement for the Zenit I had used for a few years as my secondary camera body, I couldn't get the USSR product to hold light totally no matter what I did, producing stripes on pictures when sun was behind me or directly above.

Apart from those mechanical troubles and quite rainy weather, my summer has been quite nice this far, and of course with the somewhat longer vacation out of university will still continue for nearly a month, even while I need to look at what things I need to do quite closely to be able to graduate next spring, which I very much aim for. But for now to continue the evening and probably go to sleep quite early, as I again will be going to work at least for tomorrow.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:56:45 GMT

Today I did wash my fursuit. It was in need of washing after EF last summer both due to somewhat poor conditions at the room I was in for getting it to dry between events, and lack of proper disinfectant to spray it with to inhibit later fouling (I need to obtain proper disinfectant soon). I at first was slightly puzzled about how I was going to accomplish washing it with the washing machine here far from robust enough to be able to handle such a load (and the non-detachable tail made it also otherwise a quite demanding proposition, also taking into account I didn't really want to machine-wash it), and as the house has no bath-tub, I had to think for a while about where to wash it. Then I came up with the simple solution of using the transport box for the purpose.

It did go well, and as the weather was beneficially warm for drying the suit, it is now all nice and fresh from washing and drying outside, so I do feel quite accomplished that I got up to doing it. My brother also took a picture of me washing it, it could be playfully noted that I seem to look very concentrated about it:

For now I'll be relaxing for the rest of the evening today. Will be at work for tomorrow and friday as the owner of the shop is at a ship cruise vacation.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:39:37 GMT

Had quite a busy spring with studying and work, but now everything is done with until next autumn. I did finish my bachelors thesis (subject was Multics and it's significance in the history of computer systems) and just got informed that I passed also the maturity exam. Now I just need to fill the appropriate forms and university will declare my bachelors degree. I will of course directly continue to a masters degree, but it is a very good intermediate step to have a finished degree in case any difficulties with graduating should arise due to faculty politics or otherwise.

Otherwise there are several projects I'm more or less working with, I've designed and am building a vacuum tube-based audio amplified from different tubes I found from work (an electronics repair shop having existed very long time at the same location has left a large old overstock of parts mostly used in vacuum tube-based television sets), using the slightly unconventional combination of two PL504 as power stage, two EY500A as rectifier diodes for anode voltage, two EF86 as pre-amplifiers and two ECC84 to form a phono pre-stage. All the tubes used are Philips or Telefunken vintage examples, and I do expect interesting tonal results from the design.

Otherwise I've been still at work randomly, depending on whether there are enough devices to repair to warrant going. Otherwise I've been mostly trying to get used to being on vacation. I've also planned to travel on the first steam-powered museum train to traverse the new track built to shorten rail distance between Helsinki and Lahti. I did reserve a place well in time about two months ago, and if nothing catastrophic happens, I will be going. Otherwise I haven't yet specifically decided about travel plans for the summer. But for now, I will be continuing the evening.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:54:05 GMT

This week is quite much the first normal week after the christmas break, so I've been again getting things ready for studying. I did have the safety examination for chemistry laboratory courses last week, apparently did pass, but it was very easy with mostly having to recognize warning labels and such things one has the absolutely know to be able to operate safely in such an environment. Studies have been progressing well, and I very probably will graduate this spring with what would in English be called a Bachelor's degree, but I will immediately continue on to Master's degree. It is good to have an intermediate one though, especially with the faculty trying very hard to cancel my line of study, so I can move elsewhere if absolutely necessary without mostly any losses of already done work due to having one already completed degree which has to be respected in similar manner in all universities compared to individual courses, which can be lost or credited only partially when moving to another university.

Otherwise it has been a bit uneventful still for the beginning of the year, the PS2 proved very much a runaway success at the coffee room especially after I did succeed in putting together a working SNES emulator disc, at first I did put all the files into the root directory and succeeded in making only discs that didn't boot. I did learn after a while that PS2 filesystem allows only 32 entries in the root directory itself proper, and after tackling the issue I did get a bootable disc immediately. I also have contemplated plans for this summer, unfortunately not able to go to EF (or any other con for that matter) this year due to financial limitations, but will probably be able to do a tour of Finland by train and photographing locales I have traveled less in along the way.

Otherwise I think I'll be continuing the evening for now, but here we have a somewhat belated (christmas tree is still inside here, though) christmasy picture of my fursuit, Radium:

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 21:55:39 GMT

So, it has been a while indeed since I wrote here. Soon it will be a new year and I will indeed try to remember to write more about things. Mostly the end of the year was uneventful, excepting going to EF. It was a very nice trip, and I will probably be posting some photographs once I actually get around to scan all the negatives. Otherwise I mostly spent the autumn with studies, which of course isn't made any easier by my line of study (embedded systems) constantly trying to be cancelled by the faculty leadership before I graduate.

My holiday season has been very uneventful due to mostly staying at home, didn't have too many plans to go anywhere, so I've been mostly working with some projects left over otherwise and taking it easy for some time. I did repair a Playstation 2 to replace the original Playstation I installed at the students board coffee room. Having been a runaway success it was apparent that if I had time to build a PS2 from leftover systems, it would be a good addition.

This year there has fortunately been much less problems with power around here, but that is of course especially explained by the nearly total lack of any snow for most of the time this far, so there hasn't been any snow load on the power lines to cause problems either. It has been fortunate in the sense that I still have the same slightly poorly reliable hard disk on my main desktop, as it still works very well as long as I can get it to spin in the first place.

I did also today order the Dargaard - Eternity Rites CD, as I have for some time wanted a better quality copy of that album, it didn't cost too much either, about ten Euros so I would consider it quite good price. I think it is time for me to get to other things for now, so I'll be writing soon more.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 21:11:43 GMT

It has been a while since my last entry, have been in between still slightly busy with studies, but it is fortunately slowly trailing off by now, I'm still doing one course, but otherwise did pass every course I had and am mostly now on vacation. Did pass also the last mathematics course, and thus don't have to study any more mathematics during my whole remaining university career. The course I'm still somewhat working with is a practical VHDL programming course mostly, it is somewhat of a new world for me, as I never before had programmed in VHDL at all, so it did at first take somewhat of a quick learning period to get used to the clearly ADA-derived language and otherwise get used to designing FPGA-based systems, but I by now am doing well with it already.

I did also get my fursuit some weeks back, and apart from some resolvable issues it is a nice suit and I do like it, I might post a picture in some time when I have a good picture, as I currently haven't yet really had a possibility to take a good picture of the silver fox. Otherwise I've had some small projects like building a custom keyboard for a VT420 terminal and otherwise moving things around here some, but mostly there isn't too much to do anymore, still have to of course work some with my thesis, but it fortunately doesn't take much time anymore.

It is my birthday tomorrow (or as it is past midnight, it could rather be said today), I'm not sure if I'm going to do much anything special, have to get up very early tomorrow to go to the university to work some with the VHDL course, but otherwise don't at least yet have any specific plans for tomorrow, might possibly celebrate somewhat at a later date in some form, not totally sure. But now, to finish things for today and go to sleep as tomorrow morning will be quite early.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:11:41 GMT

It has been again quite busy with studies for some time, but now there isn't much else left than two exams and writing about half of my thesis, and then I'm done for this spring. I have the exam of the final maths course on wednesday and exam on digital logic design on friday, after that I can probably finish my thesis easily by concentrating on it for a week or so.

I'm by now quite a bit waiting to get my fursuit, it was shipped early last month, and due to shipping costs, I did choose quite a slow shipping option, so it will probably take still some time, but it is indeed close to getting it by now probably. Otherwise I've also mostly reserved everything needed to go to EF, so I will indeed be there this year.

By now I'm quite a bit waiting to get off studies for the summer, it has been quite a busy spring with studying, so I haven't had too much time for else. Fortunately there isn't much work left before getting done. But now, to finish things for today and go to sleep, tomorrow morning will again be early, fortunately only three early mornings left very probably.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 22:19:18 GMT

Whew, it has been quite a while since I last did write here. Quite a few things have happened since then, generally studies have progressed well, I did even pass the maths course that has been bothering me for two years or so by now, so I now only have one maths course left of the whole university career. I did also keep my seminar presentation, again on Multics computer system and did pass the candidate seminar easily. I've also passed a few other courses, and have made progress with my thesis, so studies have been in general progressing very well, it could even be said.

Otherwise there has also been interesting development, especially what comes to my fursuit project. I haven't decidedly really released too many details publicly at least yet, but I can tell that the suit is finished by now, looks very nice and if everything goes well, I should be getting it in a few weeks or so. I'll probably post a more detailed post about it then, we'll see. Tomorrow morning will be quite early one again, so I think I'll be curling up to sleep soon. But now, to at least finish things for today.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 21:03:28 GMT

This week has again been quite busy what comes studies, but I've also succeeded with all I've needed to do. I did today have hold a presentation at the obligatory Swedish course about Multics computer system and did get good feedback about it. I also did get results from the chemisty exam I mentioned in the previous journal entry, and I did pass it with a very good grade.

I also did register for EF immediately in the beginning of the week when the registration became available and if nothing goes too wrong, I should indeed be able to make it there. Otherwise I haven't yet had too much time to work with my thesis due to other things with studies that have required my attention more urgently, but I think I'll be able to put together a few pages during the weekend especially with tomorrow off to relax a bit on.

I and my brother did have quite an amusing project with refilling inkjet cartridges, it proved to take quite some effort to at first drill the cheaper replacement cartridges a bit so that one could add ink there at all. After we did finish filling all seven cartridges, only two of them worked at all. We were very baffled for some time until we did understand today what was happening.

The reason was that actually we had neatly taped the hole we made closed. This was creating a sealing tighter than the original plastic plugs I had drilled out, which of course stopped any air from entering the cartridge to replace the ink that would come out. This of course made it impossible for any ink to come out from most of the cartridges, the two that worked were the ones where the tape had stuck poorly to the plastic. After understanding to make small hole to the tape covering the filling hole all of them work finally.

I think I'll be staying up still for some time at least with tomorrow off, so I'll for now be continuing the evening before curling up to sleep.

hhpuuppo@cc.jyu.fi — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 21:58:12 GMT

The last two weeks have been quite uneventful mostly, I've continued with studies and otherwise have been slowly getting things together to begin writing my senior thesis this spring. It has been quite busy with studies for most part, so I haven't had too much to consider other things.

I did today take time to at least try repair my favorite serial terminal, an Olivetti WS-685 that was struck by lightning last summer, but it proved after repairing the power supply that the logic board is actually broken as the discharge had hit the internal ground plane and broken whatever from the logic board so that it doesn't output video to the monitor part anymore. Afterwards I did for a change install a Macintosh Performa 6400/180 to serve as a text terminal instead of the HP X-terminal that was too large for the table, the large display not leaving enough space to use it well.

My fursuit has also been progressing nicely, and if everything goes well, I should be getting it by late march or thereabouts. It also does seem more and more probably that I'll indeed be able to make EF this summer if nothing catastrophical happens. I will be having a chemistry exam tomorrow, so I did spend most of this weekend studying for that. But now I'll be finishing things for today and curling up to sleep as tomorrow morning will be quite early.