Note: The older the entry, the unlikelier outside links are to work.

You've probably noticed that we've become even less frequent in updates than normally. That's because once again, the weather in Finland has been surprisingly good over the month, which makes sitting in front of a computer much less appealing than it really is. It's not that updating takes that much time, but usually updates are about something we've found on the net. And it's that kind of browsing around that takes forever. In Kekkuli, we go for quality, not quantity, which is why we don't even try to update every day: there isn't that much good stuff around. At least if it's just the two of us trying to come up with something. So either face the fact that it's going to be a bit more quiet kekkuli-wise over the summer, or even better: if you're stuck in an office over the summer with nothing to do but surf, send us good stuff that you find so we can put it out for the world to see (or at least the three people that visit). We'll give you credit or not, any way you want. For now, amuse yourself by putting silly search queries into Google's image search. There are some fucked-up pictures out there. Let your imagination fly!

I hope you have been following the football world cup lately because it sure has been interesting to watch. Teams such as Spain and Italy are out mainly because of arbitration mistakes, and so, besides the happy little fellow on the picture (English?), I’m sure a bunch of us Europeans feel the same way towards the whole event and the way things have been going. Fifa has a lot of room for improvement. For one, they could take it easy with the corruption. Or at least pay us off so we would keep our mouths shut. Corruption sure is a terrible thing.

So the world cup is in its last week now and oh my what teams we have left. I don’t know about you but the possibility of a final between Korea and Turkey is not the one that makes my emotions sizzle with excitement. Of course ever since the best team in the tournament, Mexico, were unluckily kicked out, my interest has been vaining anyway. If Germany makes it to the final, a quick trip to Munich could be in place. Not only would it be good to check the sights in advance for the next world cup in 2006 which will be held in Germany, but to also try the local beer in big jugs. Always a good compensation for a lousy football result. Cheers.

Last Thursday I had the priviledge of witnessing (not hard if sitting on the stage, performing...) the first concert of a band I'm sure we will be hearing more about in the future. The Four Happy Incas gave their first public performance in the island of Saarenmaa in Estonia. There were about 20 people in the audience and most of them piss-drunk, but still the reception was quite good. The quality of the music surely has some room for improvement, but if guys who sing like Enrique Iglesias can sell millions of records, surely the Happy Incas can too. The band plans to open a fan-mail section right here on kekkuli soon, so all you fans out there, have patience!

Ditto on my yesterday's entry: Now they're in the quarterfinals already. C'mon, let Mexico feel good about themselves in at least one sport.

So USA made it to the second round in the World Cup. Nothing wrong with that, except that since the US is good or top-class in almost every other sport in the world, football has always been a refreshing break from American dominance. Not that there's any great danger that the US will win the World Cup anytime soon, but c'mon: let the Portuguese feel good about themselves in at least one sport.
Of course, everything's relative: the US's 40 gold medals (not to mention China's 28) in Sydney in 2000 compare poorly per capita with Cuba's 11. But more than that, olympics is another reason why the European Union should evolve into a supranational superstate: counted together, the EU countries won 79 gold medals. Or imagine what the EU football team would look like? Or ice-hockey? Outwhelming dominance, I'm telling you. Of course, the likelyhood that Italian and English players will play in the same national (hockey) team is somewhat smaller than all the US states sending their own separate teams to the olympics. And in the not-so-distant future this bickering will be pointless, since China will overrun all sports competitions anyway. The US and EU would have to team up to counter that.
I would say sports make for a pretty good analogy to foreing politics.

More sports-related yet-strangely-abstract yet-strangely-amusing writing can be found on Aki Riihilahti's home page. A Finnish football player playing for Crystal Palace, he's gotten something of a reputation as an intelligent athlete. I guess they're so rare that once one is found he's immediately a celebrity. Riihilahti's site has definitely much to do with his popularity, it makes for fun reading. And apparently it's quoted often in several English papers. This very moment I'm writing this he's commentating the Spain-Ireland game for Finnish tv, in case you were interested. Probably not.

Even before my mobile phone operator decided to renew all of its customers' SIM-cards into new ones that wouldn't work on my phone, I had started to see some of the curses of modern communications. I'd write something about the SIM-card debacle, but it's just too confusing and stupid to put on paper (should that be "on screen"?) Besides, I have a more annoying thing on my mind to bitch about.
Maybe this is merely a Finnish phenomenon, but with mobiles being popular and getting more so all over the world, I'm sure the same thing occurs elsewhere as well. What I'm talking about is a terrible disease called mobile autism. This is a term I just coined with no interest at all for political correctness. The symptoms are:
-unable to make any decisions regarding the future anytime beyond the next five minutes. Example 1: "Yes, I'd love to see you tomorrow, I have absolutely nothing else scheduled. I'll call you tomorrow so we can agree on an exact time." Example 2: "Ok, so we'll go to the movie starting at 18.00. I'll call you sometime before that so we can arrange where to meet."
-unable to understand the term "agreed meeting time". Example: "Hey, I'm just calling to say I'll be fifteen minutes late. Oh, you're there already? Well, good thing we have these phones so I could let you know."
-unable to ask questions speaking over a phone. Example: SMS-message received: "What time were we supposed to meet?" (countersymptom: frustration that you have to type on that tiny keypad or make a phone call you pay for just because the mobile autist was unable to remember the meeting time and was unable to call you and ask).
-unable to realize there's anything wrong with the aforementioned symptoms.

I'm not saying I don't do some of these things myself, but if you notice yourself having three out of four of these symptoms over a short period of time, it is very likely that you're suffering from mobile autism. Even if you think it doesn't matter, that you're happy to live with the symptoms, you face the risk of being severely mutilated by someone who disagrees. Unfortunately, mobile autism is spreading at an alarming rate and it seems likely that a majority of the population will suffer from it by the year 2007. It also seems likely that by then I've committed suicide and/or mass homicide. No, I don't take this lightly.

Yes, Im back, although Im quite sure nobody missed me that much (did either of you?). But no time to worry about that. No time to do anything but party and the only celebration truly worth mentioning here is but of course none other than the Football World Cup 2002!!!. I myself have been glued to the television for the past week, and will do so for the rest of June. Never mind the beautiful sunny weather outside (which occurs here in Finland about once a decade...) or the fact that I had to quit my job in order to have a better time zone where to watch the games from (trust me, watching games which are played in Japan, while sitting in southern Chile is a real bummer). So, visit the FIFA website and keep on cheering for your favourite team. Or just cheer for Mexico, as I do. Brazil and France will be out anyway. No betting on the safe horse this time! hah!

Oh hell, I will mention it after all. Somebody else who has been celebrating is of course the out-dated whateverhernameis Queen of England. I think its the 50th anniversary of the last time she did her own shoelaces. Seemingly there was a good party in England. Watch how she rocked with her royal family! (When you look at Prince Charles, it makes you think that somebody in the royal family knew somebody in the royal family... if you know what I mean...)

And as the obligatory travel note, I must share my pride with you all, as I have a new baby! Yes, I just bought myself a new car. Actually it is a very old car, but who cares. As Im on sabbatical, I think I will take a lovely tour around Europe, or at least the Baltic countries. Ah, Lithuania in the spring... And before I go, I better go refresh my driving skills. You do the same.

Damn, it looks like this site is becoming increasingly like a badly-written travel brochure. We'll have to try visiting places which we hate, so we don't have to recommend them here on the site.
But Ireland: if you go there, don't go for the weather, which is exactly as described in popular legends. Rain, no rain, rain again, all in 15 minute intervals. Sure there was some sun now and then, but not for long enough to really been enjoyed. Maybe I was just visiting at a bad time of the year. That's what they tell everyone. All I know is, for the first time ever, it was warmer coming back to Finland from abroad.
So why should you visit? I can't give you a fool-proof answer, but I think Guinness and Irish whiskey will suffice to many of you. Supposedly, both substances taste the best closest to the source. And I have to say, even I, who hasn't really liked Guinness that much before, started liking it after a few pints. The stuff just looks so good you have to order it. The whiskey, though, is still not my thing, although they did succeed in convincing me that Irish whiskey is the best of the lot.
For those of you that aren't into the alcohol thing, I'd have to say that it's just a really, really cool place.

What was that I said about badly-written?