Distractions, reflections

The 2-plus-day innovation workshop for the Rendez project brought together researchers from three countries, near the historic town of Porvoo. The welcome dinner was hosted at the Wanha Laamanni restaurant.

This winter, there hasn’t been much snow in Finland, but the weather was cold and cloudy. The workshop was centered at historic Haikko Manor, just southwest of Porvoo.

 Read more... (214 words, 7 images, estimated 51 secs reading time)

In my travels, I’m usually happy to just get around the city that I’m visiting. There’s usually plenty to do around most urban areas — museums, markets, hangouts — and I get to know the local streets (on my folding bicycle) or local transportation. On my trip to Finland last November, I was feeling pretty burned out — even missing the outbound flight — and the dreary weather encouraged me to stay in the hotel and just work. (This was just before I figured out that I was having problems with my vision and would need a cataract surgery, so the whole situation may have foreshadowed that I was turning agoraphobic).

Usually, on one of the weekend days of my visits, Karlos and I usually take some time off, visiting Kiasma, or just having lunch and walking around the city — but we set a bad pattern on the last trip. In November, he first begged off going out because he was trying to meet a deadline in editing a book, and I then later begged off a dinner because I had to prepare for a lecture. Toward the end of that visit, we did get to meet for a nice dinner, but winter was setting in pretty early for other activities. I think that this trip is my eighth visit to Finland since 2003, but unusual in a strong probability for sunny weather and long days with light. I had suggested to Karlos that we might take the drive to Porvoo if the weather stood up.  Read more... (714 words, 3 images, estimated 2:51 mins reading time)