Test

This is a test, using HBlog. In order to see how labeling works...

New blog app

So I downloaded this app called HBlog for Windows Phone. It's basically as simple blog writer for Blogspot. You can even add photos they say. I haven't tried that yet. So a blog writer for when you are out there somewhere and  maybe due to a slow internet or your limitation of bandwidth for this month is closing in on you and you can't or don't want to load the whole Blogger webpage in order to write something that is too long for Twitter or is missing a picture for Instagram. Since my mother tongue is not English I write way too long sentences.

I really don't blog that much any more bit having the possibility to do so on the run is something that makes me feel comfortable. I like to be preprepared. It's a part of my personality.

BBC Radio 1

I'm a fan of BBC Radio 1 and that lead me to download BBC iPlayer for Windows Phone. Yes I have found Radio 1 streaming apps elsewhere usually they do not work that well. Well I knew the TV part would be disabled outside the UK on it. But I was hoping the radio part would work. The radio part didn't work either. So it was basically at TV and Radio schedule for BBC.

Also from the time I downloaded it last night until I uninstalled it this morning I had about 200 % increase in battery drainage per hour. It drained half my battery in 12 hours while I was sleeping most of the time. Maybe it has something to do with it being used outside the UK or maybe it's just poorly updated which some of the user reviews said. Anyway I'm not trying that again.

Social networking

I like Facebook. It has brought people I would not otherwise have any contact with  into my online social network. And it's great for getting updated on what you friends and relatives are doing. And planning social events with other people  without it is virtually impossible. I would even say that is has become as important as your phone or TV. You can live without them but it will make life very difficult.

BUT once you have gotten everybody on board it has sort of turned into this little village. And little villages are full of gossip, showing off, drama, people spying on each other, small close knit friends groups that shun outsiders and people with a different opinion or lifestyle than theirs and so on. And frankly it's crippling creativity.

So I've been looking at alternatives. And the result is more blogging (right here), more tweeting and a bit of instagramming. Yes Facebook does have everything but somewhere along the road it turned into a utility, just like your washing machine. You need it but the entertainment factor has plummeted.

Twitter and Instagram are fairly simple and yes I know the later is owned by Facebook. But in all their simplicity they are fun. Last night I took a picture in the dark of the backyard ice rink I've built the last few weeks and put it up on Instagram and you know what, it felt like fun. I haven't had that feeling for Facebook in years. And you can automatically share your tweets and Instagram photos to Facebook.

And when it comes to creativity, I had a great blog. I used to love updating it every day. And I had always something to write. That is creativity and I guess that is what I'm trying to get back to...

Backyard Ice Rink II

Since the later 2/3 of December and the  first one and a half week of January was warm. Warm as in around +5 C every day, no snow to be found anywhere and my first backyard ice rink was well gone before Christmas. Well winter came and the last two weeks has been around -15 C every day, sometimes as warm as -2 C and sometimes as cold as -25 C but -15 C seem to be the standard temperature.

So without too much trouble it was easy to create another backyard ice rink, the second one this winter. And I learned a few things more about creating the ice. -5 C is bit too warm. The water doesn't freeze fast enough and it tends to melt too much of the already made ice so you get bubbles and it may break trough the ice wall on the sides. You make one to contain the water as you make the ice thicker. -20C and colder is too cold. If you want lots of thick ice and a good ice wall it's great. When you have come to the other end of the ice rink the first part you have hosed down has already frozen over. And also if you get a lot of water on it so you get wave movement on the ice those wave pasterns can also freeze over. Not an even smooth ice but great for building mass. -15 C is ideal, you get all of the water you want on the ice and and it freezes slough enough to build a smooth surface.

Backyard Ice Rink

Last week winter came and the cold temperature cam in the weekend and in the beginning of the week. It was around -15 C. So it was time to to start constructing our wintery backyard ice rink. Well perhaps not so much constructing. More of shoveling a bit of snow and standing there with a water hose morning and evening. It looked great.

But yesterday it was raining and today it's  +5 C. It would be even better if it froze over now but according to the weather forecast that wont happen until the weekend. The freezing temperatures will also only last over the weekend. After that we got more warm weather. Well I hope they are wrong, because in this weather it wont be much of an ice rink by Christmas.

French vs Japanese or?

We had two French cars, a Renault Grand Scenic and a Citroen Xsara Picasso. We traded in the Citroen for a Nissan Qashqai. The trading in part is a bit complex but never mind that, at some point we need to find a car that you you don't have to google in order to spell.

Anyway the Nissan is great, almost new and basically a Renault since Nissan and Renault made the engine together and both use it. We needed a smaller car, no need to drive around in 2 family cars. A crossover SUV is no family car. It is smaller than the Citroen and you can still put a fairly heavy trailer behind it so it fitted or needs and we got some extra features which we would have never gotten in a Toyota Yaris. It's safe and you sit quite high. So yes, liking it.

Do I really need to start blogging again?

I joined a couple of blogging communities over at Google+ simply called Blog Community and Blogging. I posted a comment on one of them so I guess I'll have to make some effort to actually start blogging again. I know I sound like it's a tedious chore but blogging was fun. I really liked it. I just haven't done it actively in a few years so I feel a bit rusty. I am a bit rusty.

But  finding some fellow bloggers to share your blog with and read an comment there is what every blogger need. A sense of community. So this could work because this is an actual blog post...

I'm back

Well I still like this blog too much to move over to Wordpress. And I really don't blog that much more because I got a smart-phone now. Not to mention that the Wordpress app for Windows phone really doesn't work that well and I got Twitter to work here on my Blogger blogs and most of my old readers do follow this blog.

One blog

I'm going to try out WordPress for a while. I'm not saying it's going to be permanent but having 3 blogs over here that is never updated isn't what anyone would call blogging. Maybe I should try to concentrate on one:

Daily Life in Finland

My neglected blog

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

Same old, nothing new really. I'm just reminding myself I got a blog and found that the first few lines from Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence was rather suiting for that...

My blog

Ooops I think I forgot to update for a while. But my blog is like a good old friend. Always listening to what I have to say although it's been a while.