Sonera:” At last I can switch my cable tv”

Sonera is pushing into cable tv market, which has been dominated in the metropolitan area by Welho. Soviet themed graphics inspire freedom and choice, like they did in the communist era – and we all know what the reality was. What Sonera is against is a cable company which has excelled in customer satisfaction at least in broadband services. They have also done changes and innovations in tv-services and are capable of making swift turns if push comes to shove.

So going against incumbent in good positions and good customer relationships. Unless Sonera is able to make offers customers can’t really refuse, they are up for a big fight. In the past few years Sonera has invested milions of euros into fiber cable network around the city and now they are making aggressive pushes, trying to reach even 10% market share within a year. This is a good thing, for the competition.

Sonera has just included our house in their fiber network, which means that in near future it should be possible to get 100 megabit internet connection as well as cable tv from Sonera. At the same time I bet Welho will be sending their offers to our housing company and suggest that our company would be connected also to welho network. All and all it will mean better offers in price terms for us consumers.

Cafe Stringberg FTW!

If restaurant’s dessert menu lets you down there are few good cafes in Helsinki which can cheer you up. One of those places is Cafe Stringberg on Esplanad.

These pictures don’t do justice to the place as it was almost empty with only few customers, but then again going there on friday evening in late hours will give you nice privacy and ability to hold hands and be as sugary or romantic as you want.

Decor in the cafe is classy and still quite cozy. Earlier during the day now almost empty displays are filled with cakes, sandwiches and other necessities that urban animals need.

Our first selection was Almons chocolate cake, which reminded me of Daim-chocolate — which is definitely not a bad thing. But as a fan of Daim it seems than almond + chocolate combination is associated premanently to Marabou Daim.

Second cake was mango white chocolate cake, which reminded to both of us that Leena made as good or even better tasting cakes.

Cakes. You can’t go wrong with cakes.

Omenapuu – not so bad, actually quite nice for a family restaurant

Omenapuu is old school family restaurant. I thought I would not have any reason to visit Omenapuu in any time soon, but yesterday we were hungry and eateries we preferred were packed, hence we took stairs to the upstairs and entered Omenapuu. To our surprise also Omenapuu was quite full, mostly with middle aged people in small groups – already getting a bit intoxicated as chatter and bursts of laughter from time to time drowned your own thoughts. But in general the restaurant felt quite cozy and comfy and we decided to stay.

To drink we chose bottle of white wine ( VDP Vendanges d´Antan Blanc ), which was on special price just like in König. 19,90 for decent white wine in restaurant is quite good value for money in these prices. Once again as we were just having a normal friday dinner after work, we did not put any effort in choosing anything more special, especially as we were not expecting anything spectacular from the food either.

From the menu we chose two simple dishes which proved to be very good choices though also other dishes that were carried and served in other tables looked like rather pleasant options too. However my observations were a little bit distracted by my hunger, so in that state almost any ready to be digested plate looks good.

Owen potato and salmon. On the menu dish was designed to be served with mushroom sauce, but for this we asked it to be switched into bernaise sauce.

Entrecote and ceasar salad with red wine sauce.

Entrecote was made from a good piece of meat, cut into approx. one centimeter thick steak and fried quite perfectly to medium. Steak was juicy but in 20/20 hindsight I might have enjoyed even more if it had been medium minus, just a little bit more juicier. Combination with ceasar salad was interesting variance to normal selection of potatoes in different forms and kudos for that to the restaurant.

But once again both of these dishes were something that we could have done easily on our own at home with little or no preparations. Great beef can be purchased for 20 euros kilo at the market, ceasar salad can be purchased as ready made ( just mix parmesan and crutons with the salad ), rosamunda potatoes are available in almost any store, salmon filee from the market and good enough wine sauce can be purchased also ready made or done while cooking everything else.

In König I valued the atmosphere of the restaurant, which had a touch of class and you could justify spending more than 60 euros there to yourself. In Omenapuu we spent the same amount of money, but got a little less, even though food was good, service was fine, wine was fine, atmosphere was ok and they even had a pianist playing ever green jingles from Beatles and others.

Dessert menu was plain old boring, so we decided to walk over to cafe Strindberg to get tee and cakes.

So next time for the same price range I will prefer König or even La Famiglia, but most likely will now stop again for some time frequent visits to ‘normal’ restaurants and put more effort into visiting less frequently but with much more joy places like Demo, Mecca, Postres and Chez Dominique. I’ve become such an old fart already that I realize the value of money and can taste the difference in good food and great food. Like I said before, 200 euros spent in Mecca can be totally worth it – if it is an experience that you will remember months afterwords.

City: Best Pizza in Town? Pizzeria Palmeri

City magazine lists annually best service providers in forty something categories in Helsinki – and traditionally getting the seal of approval has also meant that the service is something exceptionally good. However this time their decision on best pizzeria is definitely arguable.

Pizzeria Palmeri is very non descreptive pizzeria quite close to the Sörnäinen metro station. I’ve visited the establishment on couple occasions, but never have really thought anything special about it. It is a pizzeria just like any other.

Based on the review on City magazine I was practically forced to go back there and see whether the seal of approval is based on any merit at all. On one cold and dark evening I decided to enter Palmeri and see what they had to offer. My selection was kebab pizza ( kebab, salami, cheese and red onions ) and yesterday’s news paper.

Noteworthy on the image, article at the bottom: ” 300 000 euros bill to public healthcare for gastric bypass surgery”

And the pizza? It was decent normal pizza but in no means could I give raving reviews and say that Palmeri would be the best pizza shop in Helsinki. Honestly I have to wonder how drunk those who have voted Palmeri to be the best one have been? Palmeri is not a bad choice for your pizza needs, but for smaller prize or in better atmosphere you can get pizzas in the same neighborhood – depending on your preferences.

So the quest to find the best pizza in Helsinki is still open.

Bagpiper attacked in Helsinki on saturday

Just read on the news that someone had attacked bagpiper in Helsinki city center on saturday evening. We saw this one bagpiper around 3 AM near the railway station – and even though he did not play Stairway to heaven or Metallica’s One – the thought of attacking him never crossed our mind.

Apparently others have much harder stance on what should be played on the streets of Helsinki.

Too cool for school – saturday night at Punavuori and Helsinki center

You know the type. Guys and girls who just seem too cool for school. Not hipsters, but way beyond hipsters. People who don’t follow but define fashion trends, people whose aura make you blink and smile in awe. Punavuori is the natural habitat for those people, and on saturday we were on a Discovery Channel journey through the Design District, visiting also Punavuori for a while.

First intended stop was Restaurant Cuba ( Viva La Revolution! ) near the borders of Punavuori – but it was packed, so we had to leave drinking sparkling wine in Cuba for another time. Cuba seems to be these days very popular after work hang around partyplace and clientele is filled with twenty to thirty something cool young professionals. As specialities you can order Personal Jesus to work as your entourage’s personal wine waiter ( 1200 euros ) or trash a chair like a rock star for mere 500 euros.

Uudenmaankatu is the lifeline of Punavuori and we quickly looked into some of the most popular destinations along the street. Restaurant Demo was already almost empty, having only one or two couples finishing their dinners. Demo is one of the three or so Michelin-star restaurants in Helsinki and voted as the second best restaurant in Helsinki right after Chez Dominique. For 58 euros per person you can eat very interesting menu, including cheese selection and desserts. Add two good bottles of wine and the total sum for four person dinner runs to 400 euros.

Bar Nr. 9 on the other hand was already semi filled, meaning that we wouldn’t have had chance of getting any place to sit. Bar nr. 9 is one of those really cool and actually also really nice places to hang around in Helsinki. Interestingly it is also moderately priced compared to many other bars and cafes around the city, so if you are on a budget and still want to spend some quality time in Helsinki, Bar nr. 9 is a nice place to see people, eat a little and drink a little.

Eventually we ended up going into Motellet. Cozy sofas and chairs along the window wall creates interesting fishbowl environment, where you can pose with your friends to those who walk by. Stylish interior and lounge atmosphere is really cool, but longer drinking sessions at the bar will eat your budget away.

After Motellet we decided to check out the general atmosphere around Annankatu and Iso-Roobertinkatu, both of which are homes to many small bars and clubs.

For example noteworthy places on Iso-Roobertinkatu or close to it are:

We Got Beef – famous hipster bar and a look at lifestyles in Punavuori

Playground – club for electronic and dance music situated in the place of legendary club Rose Garden.

Swengi – Cool karaoke nightclub with young people singing and having fun.

DTM ( Don’t tell mama ) – Gay bar that is famous for good parties.

Lost and Found – Hetero friendly night club

Hiutale Bar – Hipster bar with live dj playing music on most evenings. Hiutale bar has also sister bar in Kallio.

And so on. The area is lively and filled with places to see and go to. As a testament of area’s virility you can find the only Beate Uhse in Helsinki from here:

Iso-Roobertinkatu is also home of The Gentlemen’s Club - international striptease bar that will pick you up for free with a limousine in Helsinki city center area.

With all these opportunities and possibilities we decided to be quite boring, and went to beer restaurant William K.

Few beers and snacks later we were ready to continue our journey along Annankatu and make further decisions about next places. Two real gems on Annankatu are located right next to each other: cocktail lounge A21 and rock’n'roll bar Bar Loose. Both of them definitely worth while a visit or twenty.

This time however we just had to walk by, as Loose had queque and we were on a mission to escort our friends back to the Kamppi bus station on time. Visit into A21 would have been fatal to the schedule, and to the budget.

At the end of Annankatu when we arrive back to the city center, we walked right into a new cluster of great bars. In Kamppi district you have a great selection of places to go in just few hundred meters apart from each other.

Tavastia Club is the most famous rock’n'roll club in Finland, which these days runs also saturday disco aimed at clubbers instead of rock’n'rollers. For 5 euros you get to dance your heart out all the way to 4 am. We really wanted to go there, but popularity of the event has surprised everyone as the queque was atleast 100 meters.. again.

Right opposite of Tavastia is a new lounge bar Crush which we didn’t feel like visiting again. One time was enough. Other as boring options would have been Tiger, which unfortunately had also terrible queque, Armas which had also long queque and is never worth the time, The Circus which did not have any queque ( which should be signal enough to not to go there ) and Jenny Woo with moderately short queque of only few persons. As the bouncers escorted very intoxicated and bubbly young girl out from the club, we did not have our hopes high up, but decided to give it a shot and see what Jenny could offer us tonight.

Jenny was definitely good choice on saturday as the club was moderately packed, but had still sufficiently space for people to hang around, dance, talk and have fun. Jenny’s speciality is large sofas all around the club, which allow people to slouch, lie down, rest and hang around in really comfortable and cool settings. After work prices in the early evening guarantee that by the time actual clubbing starts, the club is filled with people who are in the right mood to party.

The thing that separates Jenny Woo from the competition – at least in my mind – is the atmosphere of faving fun. Jenny Woo does not take itself too seriously and neither do the party goers.

Yes you can see really good looking people having good time and dancing in any of the city center clubs, but in Jenny people seemed to be genuinely having a good time – not just posing around and trying to look cool.

These days Jenny Woo offers free food every Friday after work and sells also really cheap glasses of sparkling wine. See you there.

Stake weeks at restaurant König

I’ve always liked König. It is pleasant restaurant situated in the heart of the city and service has been excellent. For fifty some euros you can eat a decent three course meal in good looking setting and even impress your dates with your smooth chit chat with always so pleasant waiters and waitresses. And even though König has just renewed their menus, we knew what we were going to eat even before we entered the restaurant. We were on a mission to eat red meat and drink red wine.

Our entourage chose their targets well and between four of us three chose to enjoy 200 grams of entrecote where as one of us decided to be a lone cowboy and choose chateaubriad.

Though I might have preferred to drink a little more stronger tasting wine, we opted to drink few bottles of moderately priced french red wine ( VDP Vendanges d´Antan Rouge ). In this economic climate it would have been too much to invest more than 40 euros per bottle to good wines in restaurant, especially since the markup in wines is horribly high in restaurants. For example nice sparkling wine from Luxemburg which costs 12 euros in Alko, is sold for 35 euros in restaurant. However at the same time markup in champagnes is much smaller, Lanson Brut Blacklabel is 40 eros in Alko and 50 – 60 euros in restaurant.

But back to the main issue: food.

Everyone seemed to like their dishes and I was really satisfied with my entrecote, which was served with potato wedges, bacon, beans and ajovis-hollandaise sauce. Even though it has been ages since the last time I ate a stake I hadn’t lost the lust for good piece of medium fried stake. 200 grams of beef was sufficiently large portion for each of us to make sure that we weren’t hungry any more, but also has some room for desserts.

Contestants for the best dessert were:

White chocolate and Swiss chocolate ice creams.

Creme caramel.

Baked icecream.

Jury is still out whose dessert was the best and most likely we will have hung jury on the subject. On the other hand everyone could agree on that König is a very decent restaurant for middle class clientele with great atmosphere and definitely worth additional visits later on. This visit was also reasonably non expensive as bottle of red wine, two entrecotes and two different ice cream portions were 65 euros. It is not cheap or free, but reasonably priced dining out – only 20 or so euros more expensive than dining out in hamburger restaurants like Memphis or Amarillo.

Daily dose of evil

Citibank raises credit card interest rates to almost 30% ( http://market-ticker.org/archives/1537-Hisssss-Citibank-Overpressure-Warning.html ).

IBM Senior VP accused of insider trading with a hedge fund ( http://www.cringely.com/2009/10/no-joy-in-mudville/). What makes this news interesting is that the accused person was groomed to be the new CEO and he was the architect of IBM’s LEAN-program which has cut lots of american IT jobs.

Global solidarity and economic sustainability

Throughout the history of mankind many surges of economic growth have been built on top of oppression of people and advances of technology, especially since technology has made it faster, easier and cheaper to oppress other people.

Globalization has brought lots of good into the world and has allowed companies and humanity to tap into unused or underused resources around the globe, but at the same time it has distracted us as humanity from larger questions about the world and sustainability of the economy and our way of life. Globalization has allowed us to live over our means, as the true costs ( economic, social and environmental ) of production of goods and services has been absorbed somewhere else.

As globalization has started to show it’s effects in western countries by destruction in old employment opportunities and low cost competition from abroad it will interesting to see how it changes our perception of life, work and everything. There are global restructurings under way and no-one seems to yet know what the future will be and what will the future social contracts between citizens and countries or employees and companies be. However it is clear that countries will struggle with their social responsibilities ( services, retirement etc. ) as the growth that should be used to fund prior commitments is no longer given and opportunities for growth through oppression become more scarce.

As we are using global resources, have global workforce and global problems old nationalistic contracts and viewpoints on competition as a zero sum game should be thrown out and new ones should be figured out. It is no longer sufficient to solve problems only locally as in interconnected world someone else’s problem will be also our problem. It will be interesting to see, whether we will be able to find some kind of global solidarity and create models for economically sustainable societies that are not based on continuation of oppression.

And you don’t even need to be a tree hugger to want that.

Snow Leopard – IPV6CP: timeout sending Config-Requests

I’ve been using Nokia N95 8Gb as modem via Bluetooth and been annoyed that my internet connection freezes from time to time. Sometimes it takes 2 hours, sometimes just few minutes or half an hour. In the log I get following lines:

Sat Oct 24 12:23:11 2009 : sent [IPV6CP ConfReq id=0x1 ]

Sat Oct 24 12:23:14 2009 : sent [IPV6CP ConfReq id=0x1 ]

Sat Oct 24 12:23:17 2009 : IPV6CP: timeout sending Config-Requests

Few Google searches revealed that the phone might not like about IP6 config requests and loses interest in co-operation, but on Snow Leopard there isn’t a way to configure TCP/IP properties on Bluetooth connection in Network Preferences panel. It used to be, but no more.

Wonder if I can make the configuration somewhere to a text file. However haven’t yet found instructins on where and how to do it.