Kevin in QuasiLand

New website! http://users.jyu.fi/~kewildri/

2008-05-06T23:11:00.000-07:00

Hi folks. This post is really just a pathetic attempt to get google to recognize my JYU homepage. The address of the homepage is http://users.jyu.fi/~kewildri/

Feel free to stop by. I've updated the citations for my papers (we-ooh that's exciting). Also, any tips on how to get my current homepage to pop up first under a google search for my name would be very welcome.

Home Soon!

2006-07-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks! Well, since last writing, I've been in Poland, New York, and Alaska. I now sit in the Anchorage airport (free wireless!), and though I don't really have the time/energy to give a full update, let me just say this. Alaska is big. And amazing. I've been doing a lot of hiking and eating salmon. I haven't been able to get as much work done as I wanted too, but I still have about a gazillion hours on a plane to work.

Anyway, check the photos as well!

Kevin not in quasiland :(

2006-06-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well folks, this is probably my last post from abroad. I haven't decided yet if I will continue using this blog, but perhaps! Anyway, I'm now in Warsaw, Poland, having just returned from the Bojarski Conference. It was great! The organizers did a fantastic job. I really felt like a king - literally. There was a castle and everything. The math was really amazing too. I learned a lot, including two interesting open problems which are related to my research. My talk seemed to go pretty well, despite the fact that I spelled an important researcher's name wrong (that's twice, dammit!). Anyway, I had a lot of fun hanging with the crowd from Michigan, which has become quite identical to the crowd from Finland. And it seems that soon there will be many Polish mathematicians who are also dubbed "quasifinns".

The next few days will be spent doing math, probably. I have a lot of writing to do for Pekka and also for my dissertation, and I feel very close to a solution to another problem. I must say that about a week ago I really wanted to go home. Right now I'm eager to go home, but I really miss finland. I could use a sauna and a dip in the sea....

More photos are available, as always... here's a bonus:

Busy busy!

2006-06-12T01:33:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty crazy over the past two weeks! I've been to Turku (one of the larger cities in Finland), Porvoo (a small town in Finland), an island (twice), Stockholm (sweden), and now I'm in Helsinki (again). In the meantime, I've been working like crazy on a paper from my research this semester as well as preparing for the Bojarski conference (only one week away!) and trying to find time to work on my dissertation as well. So, rather than give you a blow-by-blow of the past few weeks, I'll let the photos do the talking. Here are a few samples:

Oh Lordi

2006-05-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

Some of you asked me about Eurovision and the Finnish reaction to winning the contest. So here's the deal in brief. (You could also check out this nice explaination from Slate Magazine).

The Eurovision Song Contest has been around for about 50 years. Basically, each country in Europe (this is broadly interpreted - and happens to include Russia and Israel) sends a song and a performer/group and the winner is determined by phone-voting. The contest is broadcast on tv and is widely viewed despite the fact that the performaces are often terrible and most established musical groups shun participation like a trip to the proctologist. The music is often called "schlager" and is either bubble-gum pop or cheesy ballad (one song this year included the lyric "Why do angels cry? Why do babies have to die?"). However, some widely admired music has come out of Eurovision, including some of ABBA's greatest hits. You get the idea.

So some of you have asAnyway, Finland usually tanks badly in the contest, and this year to shake things up a heavy metal bad, Lordi, was entered. This met great consternation in Finland, as the band is basically a Kiss-meets-Freddy Cruger latex-costume band with pseudosatanic rhetoric. They insist that the whole thing is in good fun and that their music is just entertainment. That's not to say the music, or even the concept of the band, is any good. By the way, the title "Arockolypse" reminds me of the classic Mel Gibson flick Mad Max 2: Road Warrior, where the bad guy is introduced as the "ayatolla of rock and rolla". But I digress - some people were pissed.

The contest was two night ago, and before hand the general concensus was accurately summed up by the Finnish TV host when he said, "We'll find life on Mars before Finland wins Eurovision." Sure enough, Finland won, and in fact set a new record for the highest score. Reaction of Finns ranged from "It was just a fluke. Don't worry, we won't win next year" to "This is as important to Finland as peace and happiness in Iraq is to America." My personal favorie reaction was "Lordi is the next Beatles, only uglier and with less talent." Lordi is getting a hero's welcome in Helsinki and will probably not be forgotten by Finns for many years. Their mark on the rest of the world remains to be seen.

By the way, I took more pictures. You can see them on Flickr. Here is a sneak preview:

Repetition: Helsinki, Sickness, Math, Photos

2006-05-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

With my time here in Finland quickly coming to an end, I travelled once more this week to Helsinki for the Joint Centers of Excellence Seminar. There were lots of famous mathematicians there, but the talks were mostly by young people, including me! I talked about the work that Pekka and I have been doing, which has recently decided to somewhat miraculously solve itself (Hölder's inequality is a panacea if applied cleverly enough). However, the talks were only 30 minutes long, so I had to rush a bit and came off sounding a little hoity-toity (ie I just had to pretend that the audience knew what capacity and modulus were). Anyway, it's over, and I have only one more talk left to give before Poland, this time to in the Grad Student Seminar at Helsinki. My title is "What's a quasi-schmasi?" (apologies to John Lott).

Unfortunately, I've also gotten sick again. Suck! Nyt, mulla on vähän kipea kurkku ~ Now, I have a bit of a sore throat (kurkku = cucumber = throat = I love finnish).

The past few weeks have seen a variety of events, including but not limited to: the melting of the ice on Jyväsjärvi, Vapu (labor day), and lots of finnish speaking.

Vapu was really neat. Basically, it's on the weekend of May 1st, and though it is traditionally about labor, it is now more about students and student life. It's starts on Friday with huge parties attended by university students wearing brightly colored coveralls. The different colors represent different majors, and the students studying the same thing party together, in general. As far as I can tell, the main practical purpose of the coveralls is to keep your clothes clean during a night of falling down and puking. Anyway, on sunday evening there is a ceremony in which a "student cap" is placed on a statue of a famous Finn (in Jyväskylä, it was Minna Canth). The student caps are worn on Vapu by everyone who has graduated from highschool - and people really do wear them. It's a really neat tradition - can you imagine if everyone in the US wore their mortar caps once a year?! On monday, everyone goes to Harju for a picnic, and picnic we did, repeatedly.

So, here are my plans for the next few weeks.

Do math like crazy so that I can finish the project with Pekka
Buy souvenirs
Go to Turku and Stockholm
Visit Karoline's mökki (summer cottage)
Write my dissertation
Get to Poznan by June 18th

Don't forget to check Flickr for more photos! Bonus photo:

More Helsinki, Bum Knee, Speak Finish

2006-04-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

So my mother visited for easter, and that was great. We spent a few days bumming around Jyväskylä, seeing the sites, going for bike rides, listening to choral concerts, and drinking beer. We had pretty decent weather, so that was nice. Then we headed to Helsinki for the weekend, and did a lot of sight-seeing. The best part was a visit Suomenlinna, a old military fortress on an island just off of Helsinki. The day was really warm but SUPER foggy, so being on the island seemed other-worldly, with lots of chunks of ice floating by and the city seeming centuries away. Unfortunately, I left my camera in Jyväskylä, so you'll have to wait until my mother sends me some of the photos to see what I'm talking about.

Since then, I've just been working alot. Pekka has another project for me to think about, and there are still some things to work out on the first project we had, and of course there's my dissertation to think about (oh yeah...THAT.) The weather has been really fantanstic...finally kevät tulee (spring is coming). Unfortunately, while walking in Helsinki I managed to really screw up my knee - I think that I've irritated the tendonitis I developed after the Chicago marathon a few years ago. The down side is that it is really hard to do ANYTHING in Jyväskylä without biking or walking a few miles. The up side is that I don't have to worry about running out of ice to put on my knee. Thanks for the bottle of Ibuprofen, Jess! It's been a life saver! For those of you unfamiliar with Finlanomics, a package of 10 pills of ibuprofen costs a little less than $6.

I've started attending a Finnish conversation course. It meets twice a week for 3 hours at a time, which means ALOT of speaking in Finnish. Which is good, but I find that I'm really exhausted after our course meetings. Especially since many of the people in the course have been in finland for a lot longer than I have. No niin...(yeah, well...) I'm trying.

Ok, I'm going to break the cardinal rule of blogging - don't ever say anything negative about anyone - just this once because I'm so fed up. The resident of the third room in my flat recently returned from a semester abroad in Brazil. He's a Finn. He's also the WORST FLAT MATE EVER. Loud, filthy, inconsiderate, ~~unfriendly~~ down right rude, and steals my food and beer. Also blatantly ignores requests to modify his behavior. What the hell? Why can't I live with any of the nice finns I've met?

Sorry. I won't let that happen again. Don't forget to check out my photo stream for some new photos, like this one!

Back in the JKL

2006-04-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

So wow, it's been a while. Where to start? Well, after I wrote the last entry, I went straight to my birthday party. It was great. There were about 10 people there, and ALL were finnish except for Midori and I. However, Midori speaks fluent Finnish, so she gets special honorary Finnish status. I invited lots of other foreigners, but they didn't show. Anyway, the party kicked and Maria and Sanna baked a super-nami chocolate cake, and I got lots of beautiful hand-made cards. The only down side was that the party lasted until 4 am.

"Why is that a down side?", you ask? Well, because I had to be on a bus to Lapland at 9 am the next morning. That day was really rough. I wasn't exactly hungover - it was more of a lack-of-sleep issue. Anyway, we arrived in Oulu and went to a Children's Science Center, Tietomaa. It was sweet - I felt like a little kid again. Sleeping that night was in a church retreat center. We had a great sauna - one of the best I've had in finland, with lots of rolling in the snow in between. The next day we set off for Kemi and a Snow Castle. That was pretty impressive. It even included a hotel, and a bar that could fit 250 people. All of it was made only of snow and ice. Yeah, that's a finnish tourist trap... but cool anyway. Then it was back on the bus to Rovaniemi. We stopped at the Arktikum, a museum of arctic history and science. Sweet architecture. Next was a game of snow football, Jyväskylä vs. Rovaniemi. Unfortunately, our team was dreadfully outmatched - the other team appeared to actually care about the outcome, and not just about falling down in the snow and trying to confuse the other team by fashioning fake soccer balls from snow on the sideline. We had a moral victory with a final score of Rovaniemi 14, Jyväskylä 1. The next day was, filled with a trip to a reindeer farm, a tour of the university of Lapland, and cross country skiing. I went 10km and had a great time. The weather was fantastic and the surroundings were beautiful. The final day was just the bus...

After that, I had one day in Jyväskylä, and then set off for Helsinki. I had such a warm welcome from the math dept there - they set me up in a beautiful flat (way nicer than I could ever afford), and Saara, a student of Kari Astala's, was my host for the first few days. She is working on some really interesting math and is now in Ann Arbor with Juha and Co! Her boyfriend took me to a public sauna which was a really neat experience - mostly old men, and REALLY HOT (~105 C according to the thermometer). I also got to talk math with Stefen Rhode, Kari Astala, Ilkka Holopainen, and David Drasin. I also misspelled Seppo Rickman's name in front of him when I gave a talk (Rickman, not Rickmann). Oops. Luckily, he thought it was funny. Anyway, the 9 days I spent in Helsinki were really productive and I learned a lot of math. I'll go back there in May to give a talk at a small conference they are having.

Since then, I've been preparing for my mother's visit (she arrives in about 1 hour), and taking my finnish final exam. I think I rocked it. Anyway, I don't know exactly what my ma will want to do here, but I'm sure we'll figure something out, and we go to Helsinki on Saturday, so at least there will be something interesting happening there.

Don't forget to check the Photo Stream for tons more photos!

Miss you all!

Birthday, Lapland, Helsinki, Zorn

2006-03-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow is my birthday. As JessRo (a friend from Michigan) pointed out, this is the only time in my life that I'll be 24 on the 24th and 25 on the 25th. I guess that makes me old enough to snore loudly on trains with out feeling embarassed.

I'm throwing a little shindig to celebrate - just a few friends and some chocolate. You know the drill. Show up at 8 and watch the calorie count grow..."Dude, I am SOOOO buzzed right now, pass the 70% cocoa!"

Tomorrow I'm going to Lapland for a few days with 49 other international students. Of these 44 are women. It's going to be interesting. Plans: see the northern lights, go inside a building made entirely of ice, spend alot of time in the sauna, and try not to say anything even remotely misogynist.

I return on Tuesday night. Wednesday will be lots of math, and then Thursday is off to Helsinki to do more math. Steffen Rhode (from Seattle) will be there until Friday, and I'll get to talk with Kari Astala and his student Saara. Should be great! I'll be in Helsinki for about a week. The U of Helsinki folks have been SUPER nice to me in getting this set up. KIITOS!

Ok, I have to go or i'll be late for my party. Maybe I'll write more afterwards and include some photos!

Miss you all!

Ski-Jumping (not me, don't worry), and more hiking, math, and finnish.

2006-03-16T11:16:00.001-08:00

The weather is really starting to change here. There are nearly twelve hours of daylight, and today the temperature was 32F for the first time in weeks. The most startling difference is that it is both very sunny and very warm - usually we only had one or the other. I haven't tried ice-skating on the ice track yet, but I better soon or the ice will disappear!

The past week and a half have been really interesting. I went to Kuopio, a town about 120km north of here, to see a World Cup Ski-Jumping event. It was really, really cold. I was traveling with Gabi, and Austrian who speaks Hungarian, Anja, a half-German half-Finnish woman, and Emmi, a Polish polymath with a disdain for table manners. We arrived in Kuopio around 4pm and were outside in -15F weather for about 4 hours. There were cheerleaders. The ski-jumping was really neat, but I didn't really understand enough about the technical aspects of the sport to make it super fascinating. Mostly, I thought to myself, "Wow. That guy just flew 400ft through the air on skis. I'm really cold. Wow. That guy just did the same thing. I'm really cold." Repeat 80 times. The biggest problem was the feet, because we were standing on snow. And the snow was actually colder than the air. And we standing on it. Around 7pm, we met a friend of mine, Kati, who is a student at U of Jyväskylä who happened to be visiting her family, who lives in Kuopio. She was nice enough to take us on a little tour of Kuopio after the Ski-Jumping, including a visit to an observation tower. After that, we went to a bar where there was a live band - consisting entirely of Finnish ski-jumpers. The music was terrible. But there's something you have to understand here - in Finland, ski-jumpers are superstars. People love them hardcore. And they party hard. These guys were seriously anorexic, and pounding the champagne straight from the giant trophy. It was hard to call them althletes after this - seeing them up close made me realized that they fail the first test for being a "real althlete": if I can beat you up, then you are not an athlete. After that, we crashed at Kati's place, since the only train back to Jyväskylä didn't get back until 4am. Thanks Kati! It was really wonderful to be in a real home after months in my flat with still-blank walls. We ate oatmeal with wild berries for breakfast - normal people, including non-hippies, pick tons of berries in the wild during the summer and freeze them for the rest of the year. Note to self: do this if possible.

Finnish Fact: Everyman's Rights. Why can't America be this awesome?

HIking this weekend was great because of super wonderful weather. We went to Tourovouri, about 5km north of downtown. In attendence were the usual suspects: Maria, Karoline, and Tatiana. It was sweet. We were almost killed by cross-country skiers, but that's better than almost being killed by SUV's, like in Ann Arbor.

I've been working VERY hard on math lately and not getting, well, really anywhere. The problem we're working on is quite hard, I think, and technically a nightmare. I met with Pekka today, and he suggested that I give up and move on to the next portion of the problem and hope that something happens subconsciously in the meantime. I hope this doesn't reflect poorly on me. I just can't solve it. I tried. A lot. I'm just not smart enough. Sigh. Math is hard. Somebody call Barbie - I need someone to commiserate with!

Maybe this will help: I've finally found a decent coffee shop.

I've also become more comfortable speaking Finnish. I now know about as much finnish as I did french after two years of study. I guess that's the benefit of immersion. My goal is to be able to have a real conversation in finnish before I leave at the end of may.

Other big news: I'm going to alaska to visit with family after I return from Poland. Seriously, my internal clock is going to be set to "cuckoo".

Check out my photostream for lots more photos.

I'm not dead yet!

2006-03-05T06:58:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. For some reason, I just haven't been in the blogging mood. But now I am!

So I've been doing a ton of fun stuff lately - and I'll tell you all about it later. First, I'd like to write a little about what I've learned about Finnish culture lately.

The Finns have two words for the english word "friend": kaveri and ystävä. There is an important difference between them. Most Finnish people have only one or two ystävää; an ystävä is a very close friend, one who will probably be your friend for life. There is really strong trust between ystävä - you don't ever have to worry that your ystävä will betray you. Kaveri is more like what we Americans think of as "normal" friends. Most often, a university student will have kaveri that are studying the same thing, or involved in the same hobby. It seems quite rare for people to have "all sorts" of kaveri - and indeed, some Finns tell me that this can be both really nice and really miserable. What's interesting to me is how this friendship structure is related to the "shyness" of Finns. Many people say that Finns are hard to get to know - what I think is just that Finns have a higher threshold for a close friendship. There are probably many reasons for this: Finland is small country so people can stay in touch even if they don't live in the same city, people don't move quite as often, high school lasts until students are about 19 rather than 17, etc.

I have met a TON of people since I've been in Finland, and one of the things that's been difficult is that although you meet lots of cool people, you have only known them for a few days or weeks, and so there is not such a strong feeling of trust and closeness. It has really made me value the friendships that I had back in the US that I perhaps take for granted.

But what has really impressed me in the past couple weeks is that I have met a bunch (>5) Finnish people who have treated me so kindly and honestly that I am now forced to think that all this business of Finns "having a higher threshold for friendship" is just a myth. I am constantly amazed by the hospitality and warmth that I've received from people I barely even know.

On a related (somehow?) note, I was reading an article in the NYTimes about how there are more millionaires in the US per capita than ever before, and how the gap between rich and poor is growing. Many of the Finns that have shown me great hospitality are not particularly wealthy. Despite this, I've felt as if I live a life of real luxury here. There are many things here which are REALLY pleasurable and REALLY affordable. The funny thing is that these same things are available in the US! The people here seem to appreciate the simple joys of life much more than I am used to. Example: Yesterday, I spent the morning going on a run (about 10K - my first in a LONG time, don't worry, my knee is ok) with a friend, then we had a simple lunch of fish, potatoes, salad, and homemade pulla (cinnamon buns). After that, I went to the sauna, did some math, and hit the hay early. It was one of the best days of my life. Who needs a yacht? Why should we feel the need to get rich? Why aren't we satisfied with a moderate lifestyle?

Sometimes Finland is very Zen. I bet Finnish poetry is really good.

Ok, so here's the rundown on the major fun events of the past few weeks.

Choral concert: My friend Maria sings in one of the 30+ choirs here in Jyväskylä. Along with a bunch of friends, I went to the concert celebrating the release of their new album. It was FANTASTIC. Now I don't know much about choral music, but they were really professional, and their music gave me goosebumps. They sang mostly in Finnish, and performed a number of songs composed especially for their group. Afterwards Maria was kind enough to invite me to the after-party, which consisted of lots of food, singing (including a finnish version of "she'll be coming 'round the mountain"), guitar playing, and sauna. Awesome. Also, my finnish teacher was in the choir, so we got to hang a little outside of class. Luckily there is not such a taboo against this as in the US.

I also attended a poetry reading at Vakiopaine, the "bohemian" bar in town - reminded me a bit of Ambrosia. It was pretty cool - almost all in Finnish. I could really only understand a few words here and there, not enough to understand the meaning. But it was nice anyway. After the readings, we engaged in an orange carving contest. Yes, I am still obsessed with oranges. Also that night I met some cool people from Mexico and Spain, but promptly offended them. I decided it would be a good time for me to spend about twenty minutes making fun of "new age" spirituality, including jokes about "vortices" and David Lynch. Not surprisingly, my new friends were going to spend the entire next day at a meditation workshop. I did not anticipate this.

The most bizarre thing I've seen since being in Finland was a concert last week. The band was called "Eläkeläiset", or "The Retirees". They play music in a style called "Humppa", which defies description. My best shot is "polka-punk". It was drums, guitar, accordian, and organ. They also had a table just for their alcohol (which was substantial). Here's the kicker - they played all covers of modern pop music. How did they come up with this? "Hey guys, let's have a band where we play polka-punk covers of Madonna's 'Like a Virgin', Guns'n'roses 'Sweet Child of Mine', and Weezer's 'Buddy Holly'!...What do you mean you don't think it's going to work?" Anyway, I couldn't decide which was funnier, the band or the fans. People REALLY loved it. I had a great time. Also I had a beer poured all over me by a guy dressed up as the "General of the Humppa Army". That's PUNK ROCK!

As a bonus for reading all of this, here is a photo of a calendar that was sent to all of the residents of my housing complex. The theme of the calendar is environmental living. It is really very funny. There are more photos of the calendar in my photo stream. Warning: the calendar contains nudity. But it is funny nudity. Not yucky nudity.

Bikers are Awesome! The NYPD eats it's words, and donuts!

2006-02-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

I am so happy to link to this article. Bikes are the best! Boo to the NYPD for sucking really hard. Basically, the deal is that the NYPD hates bikers and especially the Critical Mass rides, which are times at which bikers all over the world take a bike ride. The rides are not parades - there are no organizers, there are no leaders, there are no floats and no prizes. It is simply a time when bikers get out on the street to remind motorists that bikes are traffic too, and that we have a right to safely use the streets. The NYPD has repeatedly arrested people for biking lawfully during these times and has even resorted to calling bikers terrorists and employing undercover police officers to "infiltrate" the biking community.

Since the article will expire soon, here is an exerpt.

"The city had demanded that they [crit mass riders] be barred from assembling in Union Square Park, the customary gathering point before each month's ride, unless someone obtained a permit. The judge said that made little sense because anyone could turn up in the park and no permit was required for "casual use."

As a practical matter, Justice Stallman wrote, the city did not explain how it could tell the difference between people who were gathering for the Critical Mass rides from anyone else who happened to be in the park. The city's assumption that anyone with a bicycle could be barred "is simply guilt by association," he wrote.

The judge said the city had wrongly argued that the Critical Mass rides were a form of parade or procession that required a permit because the riders "travel en masse." Following the city's reasoning, the judge wrote, "New Yorkers commuting over the Brooklyn Bridge on bicycles during a transit strike could be considered as 'bicycling en masse.' " Such a restriction, he said, raised constitutional concerns.

"Riding a bicycle on city streets is lawful conduct, as long as one observes the applicable traffic laws and rules," he wrote.

See also here, here, and here for "biased" accounts.

Here is a link to an AWESOME group who is helping the poor bikers who got arrested. Kudos!

Hiking, the Lineup, and Really Pointy Shoes

2006-02-17T00:07:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks! Sorry for the long break. I've actually been trying NOT to write in the blog for a week - mostly so that I can feel a little more ingrained in Finland, if you know what I mean. It's not that writing in the blog is bad, it's just that I found myself relying on it a little too much. However, I still miss you all and want to keep in touch. I've also been alot busier this week and have missed talking to lots of people on Skype! Sorry! I hope to catch you all soon

Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who sent me a package (Mom, Toby, Hannah, and ??? - I have one to pick up at the posti today). It is so wonderful to have such great friends and family. It's really appreciated (esp. the adapter and the socks).

Thanks to Toby, I can now post more pictures! Check the Flickr stream for them. I'll put a few more here.

I went hiking this weekend with a few people. We went to Kanavouri, or "Chicken Mountain", about 10k from Jyväskylä. It was really nice. The weather was not too cold and there was alot of snow to play with.

This is Maria. She laughs alot. Here she is being shocked at the aliens which were descending onto Kanavouri (they changed their minds at the last second). She is quite nice.
This is Tatiana. She is from Belgium. She is small but surprisingly stong. Also she makes a mean pasta sauce, and is quite nice.
This is Karoline. She is a Finnish woman whose parents speak Swedish. She is also new to Jyväskylä. She is also quite nice.
I have no idea what this is. The Finns are really strange sometimes with their artwork/public address systems. It, however, is quite nice.

On Friday, Pekka invited me to his house for a sauna and dinner. We had a good time and talked alot of math. We also drank alot. I admit it, my drinking skills are totally subpar. After dinner he showed me one the one of the best movies of all time.

I have finally have some idea about the problem I'm working on. That's good news. Speaking of math, I better get going!

Types of Snow: The sticky wet kind, the really dry cold powdery kind, the hardend ice-ball kind, the frozen and packed down pavement kind.

Race, Identity, Nationalism...You know, small talk.

2006-02-08T06:31:00.000-08:00

In the past few days I've met a lot of Finns. My "source" was CafÃ© Lingua, a night organized by the international center where people can get together and practice various languages. I sat at the English table, because that's where are the Finns were (they're devious that way). Anyway, we had a really nice conversation and I got to practice suomea (finnish) as well. Afterwards, we went to a bar and I got introduced all around. Jackpot!

The people I met were a little older than most of the other international students, and so I seemed to get along better with them (how many undergrads do you know that would enjoy a conversation with me?). We talked alot about politics, and in particular about nationalism, identity, and race. It seems many finns identify with the problems faced by Muslim immigrants to Scandinavia - I have met a lot of finns with one (or two) non-native parent(s). Does this make them less "Finnish"? What impact does this have on their daily life? Is it easier to be "accepted" if you look "finnish" than if you do not? Interesting questions. As the anthropologists would say, "It's more complicated than you would expect, and everything is important."

I was outside this weekend for a while too. I went on a hike with a couple buddies. It was -28 C. That equals COLD F. Despite that it was REALLY beautiful. It is a strange sensation to stand in the middle of a huge lake. We have plans to go to a national park this sunday. It will be warmer this time, I hope!

I've been doing a lot of talking in seminars lately. Last week was a 2 hour study seminar, monday was another 2 hour study seminar, and today was a 2 hour research seminar. Hopefully 6 hours of speaking in 2 weeks is enough for the whole semester. I can't tell if the talks were well received or not, because the finns don't really express emotion about that kind of thing. So I'll just assume that it was the best talk they ever heard, and that they were just struck speechless by my incredible eloquence.

Tonight is a Finnish movie night with my "buddy group". Hopefully it'll be fun, but it's always wierd to watch movies with people you don't know that well because you can't really talk to each other. Despite huge popular concensus to the contrary, I don't think movies are a very social activity.

Ok, time for more math. By the way Toby recently resurrected the Love/Peeve tradition from my old blog (please don't link to my archive in a comment, folks, let the poor thing RIP). In the spirit of "sharing", I'm going to take an idea from her. At the end of each post from here on out, I'll list a category and give three things in the category. For example, Toby wrote

Tea Types: ginger, lemon, green (decaf), white, peppermint

Feel free to comment with your own additions

Here is todays category:

Mug Decorations: collegiate, floral, joke about being over the hill.

2006-02-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the late post. This week has been pretty busy. I've been doing a ton of math, but I'm not sure how productive it's been. I finally had an idea for the problem I'm working on, but the constants keeping going to infinity (math geeks will know how annoying that is). Anyway, lets see what has happened this week.

Well, for one thing, it's been snowing ALOT. There's about a foot on the ground now and it's supposed to continue snowing until sunday, when it will be -25C and therefore too cold to snow. I'm quite proud of my biking skills. My bike, which I've dubbed "The Dingo" is not at all suited to deep snow. It has road tires and metal fenders. You might ask, what difference do metal fenders make? A big one. Today, after leaving my bike outside for a few hours, I found that the wheels were completely immovable. At first I thought the cassette or freewheel had broken, but they appeared ok. Finally I realized that snow had been caught between the tires and the fenders, and since the fenders are metal, the snow had frozen into ice, which had frozen to the tires. Thus, the bike would not move an inch. At the time, I was outside a coffee shop in the city center. Around the corner was the pedestrian mall, which has a heated street (yet another awesome thing about finland). So I lay the bike on its side on the sidewalk, and went to have another coffee. My bike was not stolen for two reasons. A) Nobody steals bikes in Jyväskylä (welfare state + university = no poor people = no bike theft) and B) there is a lock built into my bike which immobilizes the rear wheel. Anyway, after the extra coffee everything had melted nicely and I was off again.

I had dinner with the italians tonight. I thought, "wow, I better impress them with my food skills," so I baked a loaf of focaccia bread this morning (using only a water glass and soup spoon for measuring!) and bought a nice bottle of Chianti. So I was a little disappointed to find them using bottled generic pasta sauce! It was not so yummy. My bread was good though, and they were impressed.

My "buddy program" on tuesday went well. We were supposed to have 4 Finns and 4 Foreigners, but it ended up being 2 Finns and 4 Foreigners. Alas. We went for pizza after the meeting. I should say here, in Finland every pizzeria is more than just a pizzeria. It is also a kebab joint and mexican place. That is to say, no restaurant here (except Soppa Baari) seems to sell just one kind of food. They all feel the need to branch out in strange directions. And the name and atmosphere DON'T always indicate the best food. For example, the pizza at Pizza Maria is pretty terrible, but the kebab is good. However, at Sabor Latino, you don't want to get a burritto without a side of Pepto, but the pizza is decent. I think I'll stick to cooking my own meals.

I am a Patriot

2006-01-30T13:23:00.000-08:00

Not much to report today except that it was a really beautiful day. Maybe 30F and really sunny from 9am to 3:30pm. I woke up at 9 but didn't get to shower before my 10am talk due to a massively badly timed hour-long shower by my flatmate. So I'm a little dirty today. The talk went pretty well, but my jokes were not that well received (are they ever?). I thought for sure John Lott's "what's a quasi-schmasi?" joke would kill'em, but evidently "schmasi" is not a common word in Finland. Who knew?

After that I had lunch with Anna and Haari, two other Ph.D. students. They are really cool and I hope that maybe one day we will become actual friends and not just work friends. But they are both engaged and have "real people" lives, so it's unlikely that they'll have a lot of time to hang. Funny, grad students are more like real people here than at UM, where we basically act like freshmen in college only we drink kegs full of coffee instead of beer, and we dress poorly because "it's ironic" and not "what...this looks good...loser..."

Did you know that I have to delete the word "Anyway" from the beginning of every paragraph (except the first) of every post I write? Well I do. I even had to do it from this one.

I'm hoping to have "American-style" potluck soon. Everybody has been picking on me for being American. Not, mind you, because of our ridiculed foreign policy, ambivalent attitude towards torture, and questionable domestic civil rights policies, but because our food is widely regarded to suck .

So I'm thinking that I'll be able to get a few people singing "America the Beautiful" (ok I don't really want this) by offering a yummy but traditional menu of

Roasted Chicken á la Simon and Garfunkle - a deliciously basted roast with a delicate rub of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Not Limp Bizkits - purely southern biscuits without the slightest hint of urban flavor.
Lemon and Dillweed Infused Green Beans - because dillweed makes everything...yummier?

I don't know if I'll be able to find all the right ingredients, and I certainly am not going to attempt a pumpkin pie (it might look like a pumpkin, but if it is anywhere in Europe, it will not taste like a pumpkin).

My Finnish quiz went ice-swimmingly; we played the fun "grade your neighbor's quiz" game (why don't I do this with my students? mmmm nevermind I remember). I got 39.5/42. Hyvää! (Good!)

Tomorrow is busy, with
a) laundry apointment at 9am (you have to make an appointment to use the washing machine)
b) lunch at noon with a visiting Russian prospective grad student of Pekka (there has to be a better way to phrase that)
c) coffee at 2:30 with the chair of the "Academic Affairs" committee of the student union (I think he has the rough equivalent of my position in GEO)
d) Finnish class at 4pm
e) the "buddy" program at 6pm (where I get paired up with a real live Finnish person who will hopefully become my buddy).
f) do math
g) sleep

Hockey and the Day of Reckoning

2006-01-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

Hi folks. Again, this post will not have any pictures, but not because I didn't take them. My camera batteries finally gave out (after nearly 150 pictures!), and because the charger has a plug with one prong slightly bigger than the other, it doesn't fit my home-made adapter. I'm looking to get another soon - only $4 on amazon dot com. However, something tells me the shipping will be 3 arms and 4 legs. So, no photos for a while.

So what did I do this weekend? Well, friday night was just working. Math, math, math. I met with Pekka on thursday, friday, and saturday! I guess we're making up for lost time. Anyway, I'm a little behind him when it comes to the technical aspects of the problem we're working on. This is to be expected; he is after all one of the most respected mathematicians in this field and total baller. So, I'm trying really hard to get up to speed. So saturday I spent most of the morning doing math, then met with Pekka at 3, and then went to a hockey game with Illka at 5. It was really cool - this one was the top Finnish league, and the match was between Jyväskylä's home team JYP and the first place team Kärpät. JYP got their butts kicked, losing 4-1. BUT there were CHEERLEADERS! At a hockey game! Lest you think that the Finns have completely lost their collective soul and have gone over to the Dark Side, these cheerleaders were not exactly typical american cheerleaders. For one thing, their outfits were not very revealing. But the really telling difference was that there were a couple of fat cheerleaders. GASP! Maybe the purpose of cheerleaders in Finland is not to be eye-candy, but instead to actually lead cheers?! Well, not exactly (there was a fan cheering section with drums and horns for that), but it was a little closer to that than in the states.

So, tomorrow is the day of reckoning. I've got a 2 hour study seminar to give at 10am (I'll be talking about Nagata Dimension again, for those in the know - the study seminar basically the same as the AnSS at michigan, so I figure I might as well recycle talks as well. Maybe I can get it right this time!). Then at 4pm I've got my first Finnish test. We'll see. In the meantime, Pekka has a prospective Ph.D. student coming to visit from Russia, but he can't be around, so I'm going to be playing host a little bit too. Should be fun, but maybe a little stressful.

Finnish phrase of the day: Kuinka vanha sun paras kaveri on? = How old is your best friend?

Physics Lesson

2006-01-27T11:08:00.000-08:00

Usually, when riding a bike uphill, one gets up off of the saddle and leans forward over the handlebars. This is a powerful position which leads to increased efficiency and an easier, faster climb.

This does not work on snow. Mostly because a bike is a "rear wheel drive" vehicle. Removing the weight from the rear wheel causes a marked decrease in traction.

As a result, when climbing a hill in the snow, weight should be kept on the back wheel. The result is a very inefficient difficult climb which quikly tires the hamstrings, which are not usually worked when cylcing.

Learn something new everyday, huh?

Got to admit it's getting better, getting better all the time...

2006-01-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

So today was a good day! I woke up around 10. I had planned to get up at 8:30, but that didn't happen. I find that I'm really woozy in the morning. It's almost as though I'm sedated, and getting out of bed seems simply impossible until 10, even thought I went to sleep around midnight last night. Anyway, I got a call from Illke, my tutor, at 11 asking if I'd like to have lunch with him and his daughter, who is 4 years old (sä olet neljä vuotta vanha). Now, usually I think that little kids are noisy, smelly, and generally not good eating companions. But Emilia was really quite nice! She answered my pathetic attempts at asking her questions in Finnish and didn't yell, scream, or demand tons of attention. Plus, somehow a blond, blue-eyed little kid seems even more über-Nordic than a blond, blue-eyed grown-up, which is kind of interesting. I imagine her growing up to be some sort of Norse God :)

After that, I had some really productive conversations with Kai and Pekka. It's amazing how much better of a mood I'm in when math is going well. When I was playing a ton of trumpet, I had a similar phenomenon occuring: good trumpet day = happy kevin, bad trumpet day = sad kevin.

Here are some wonderful things about Finland
- grocery carts *actually work*. You can even turn them sideways on a dime, and there are never any weird unbalanced, off-kilter carts. And they are well-designed too, with a tall skinny compartment at one end for items that would otherwise fall over, like milk or cereal.
- one can purchase bicycle parts in the grocery store for cheap (a set of replacement brake pads = 1.50 €).
- cars stop at intersections for bikes and pedestrians, even when they don't have to.

I'm feeling much better health-wise today also. Hopefully the insurgency has been defeated...

The "Cold War" Continues!

2006-01-25T07:40:00.000-08:00

Germ Insurgency Grows in Response to Massive Immune Counter-Attack

JYVÄSKYLÄ, Finland, Jan. 25 - At noon today, Kevin's nasal cavity experienced a series of sudden and apparently uncoordinated instances of massive congestion. Several immigrant germ groups have denied resonsibility, but sources close to the germs have revealed anger at recent round-ups of active germ troops. Such protests have sparked fears in the Brain of a violent uprising by recently defeated Finnish germs.

Apparently taking it's cues from the current US administration, the Brain's first recation to the germ insurrgency was to do absolutely nothing while causing immense pain for other body systems in the form of a massive headache. Brain spokesperson H. Thalamus said "The headache is a necessary by-product of the brains ongoing effort to root-out possible germ terrorists." This viewpoint was not accepted by all body parts. The Left Hand said "We feel that this most recent headache is the latest in a string of attempts by the brain to exert dominance over all body parts through torture and coersion." The Stomach agreed, saying that "This headache is a warning: this administration fully intends to expel all foreign residents of the body. How far can this policy go? Look, it's one thing to prevent Finnish military germs from causing further damage, but they're talking about banning even yogurt. Everyone loves yogurt! Besides, the bacteria in yogurt do the jobs that most natural body elements scoff at. We need foriegn germs to survive."

Many body residents recall the disasterous policy banning all Japanese food from the body for years after Body War II. Only recently has the body issued an apology - sushi is now one of the most popular and sought-after foods in many regions of the mouth. The Left Hand, in particular, has been vocal with comparisons to Body War II. However, the Brain insists that current Finnish germs are "enemy combatants" and do not deserve assimilation into body systems.

It now seems that further violence and suffering are inevitible. These recent events have contributed to a growing sense of hopelessness amongst many body systems. According to the pancreas, a traditionally neutral organ, "When it comes to germ warfare, nobody wins."

BIkes, Babes, Booze.

2006-01-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, well, just bikes, actually.

So yesterday was quite uneventful. I woke up around noon, did a few hours of work, went to a coffee shop, did some more math (in the process found a flaw with some projects I thought would come together nicely - oh well). Came home, took a sauna, talked to my mom (hi mom), and went to bed. Ok, that's that.

This morning, I woke up and went to work to see if there would be a seminar today (there wasn't). I then sent a "Really, I can meet with you anytime" email to Pekka, and took off for town. First stop was the used bike store. I met Wahlid, the Sudanese owner. We had a nice conversation. After about 30 minutes, he said, "So, did you need something, or did you just come to introduce yourself?" It was quite funny. Most of the bikes were not in very good condition, and I finally settled on a Finnish brand bike from the 70s. It seemed sturdy at first, but I put it through some not very rigourous tests and managed to a) bust a brake cable and b) crack the rear skewer without even leaving the store. So I told Wahlid that I would buy the bike if we could fix these things. About an hour later I had a pretty sturdy bike for 60 €. The brakes make A TON of noise but the only thing one can really do about that is replace the pads and I felt bad enough making Wahlid do all that work as it was (it was only a 60 € used bike after all, in a country where the cheapest aside from departments store junk cost at least 600 €). So anyway I might get the brake pads replaced soon because I really do sound like a banchee coming down a hill. That said, it is VERY NICE to be back on a bike again.

A few things about the bike. A) Daphne is better. B) I am out of shape. C) Riding upright is WAY less efficient than all hunched over like on a road bike, but way more comfortable. D) I miss Daphne. E) Riding a bike is about 4GHz faster than walking.

Anyway, after that I did my errands in whirlwind fashion. What would have taken me all day only took about 1 hour! I first went to the post-office (to mail my paper ticket back to the states to get it changed so I can attend that conference in Poland) , but was scared away by a really long line. It was lunch time so I figured that had caused the problem, like in the states. So instead I went out to the Mac place to get my keyboard replaced. What was once an all-day affair took only half an hour on the bike! Yay! So I'm typing away on a fancy-schmancy nice new keyboard, with working space bar and all. Back to the post-office and the line was even longer! I waited for a while but then got suspicious - the line was REALLY long and nobody seemed to have packages, just little sheets of paper. So went up to the front of the line and asked the lady in charge of letting people in to the post office what the deal was. She said "Oh, this line is for voting! I had completely forgot that the runoff election for the Finnish presidency was today! Duh. Anyway, I could have gone right in to use the post office to actually send mail with out any wait at all. So I did, and it was uneventful. Then I went back to the math department, did a little work, ate lunch, and headed off to Finnish class, where I learned to say "Mä tykkään puhua suomea." (I like to speak Finnish) and other similar phrases ("Mä tykkään syödä" - I like to eat). After that, I met some friends for coffee and a little chat, which was nice. I talked a lot to the Polish woman who got me lost the other night and we had a neat conversation about authenticity in photography. I was a little out of my league seeing as how she wrote a master's thesis in anthropology of art.

Then home, eating a sandwhich (mmm cheese and "Meetwurst"), and typing in the blog. That's about it.

Health Status: 80%

Oh, yeah, yesterday was -18F. Today was +26F. Finland is weird.

Master of Freezy-ness

2006-01-21T12:09:00.000-08:00

Today I spent an hour and a quarter outside in -20F weather. And I wasn't even that cold! I woke up around 10 (when the sun came in my window - yay!) and after a leisurely breakfast headed out to town in search of a used bike store which was rumoured to be opening today. Well, after an hour of wandering without any luck, I met up with my French-Japanese friend Emilie for lunch at Soppa Baari. It was quite nice. I had a "Russion Fish Soup" which was tomato-based and contained pickles. A little weird, but really good. Emilie had a garlic-cream soup which was also really delicious. And only 6€ each! It sounds expensive by american standards, but it's quite cheap here. Anyway, we had what Emilie called a "Paris-style" lunch which lasted about 3 hours. It was clear that this was not a local tradition - the place cleared out three or four times while we there. The wait-staff didn't seem to mind though. The conversation was quite interesting - we discussed jazz, art, politics, her long distance relationship, and financial dependence on the 'rents. It was the first social contact I've had in a week! Mostly because I've been sick. Unfortunately, I'm not 100% better - I came home today with an aweful headache and still can't hear out of my left ear (it's been that way for 5 days now...). On the walk home I did end up seeing the bike store - but it wasn't actually open today anyway. 9:30 am on monday - I'll be their first customer.

The cold is actually really nice, I think, if you are properly dressed. I wore my boots today with relatively little pain, and was overall quite warm. It's kind of amusing to take off your coat and scarf and see a layer of ice on them from your breath. Emilie took the bus in to town and commented that there was ice on my eyelashes!

Dinner tonight was a really yummy chicken stir-fry with almost (but not) too much ginger. Since I haven't been able to take photos lately (I've been warned numerous times that digital cameras don't play happy with -20F weather), here is a photo of my dinner. For some reason the picture made the brocolli look really weird - I assure you it was a yummy stir-fry and not covered in strange whitish fungus goo.

From Weather.com...

2006-01-20T04:06:00.000-08:00

Current Temp: -18F
Feels Like: N/A

On the upswing, and Further Travels?

2006-01-19T11:30:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling a little better today - not a ton, but a little. I didn't get out of bed until 3pm, but that was mostly because I couldn't fall asleep last night. The cold medicine I took evidently contained 120mg of caffiene per dose (i should have checked the inactive ingredient list before taking the medicine). So it was a scramble to get to Finnish class at 4pm, because the class is a 30 minute walk away. And boy, it was cold! -25C, or -13F! Surprisingly, I think I walk slower when it's really cold, because it's harder to move with all those clothes on. This time I really wasn't that cold - I was well dressed, and I even wore my boots. My foot hurt a little bit, but I think it was worth not getting frostbite. Tomorrow is supposed to be even colder, and they say we'll have -30C (-22F) on the weekend.

So I'm feeling a little better, but not enough to go out to the "Stammtisch" tonight. I've learned my lesson - it's too bad, though, because I'm really curious to see what it is all about. Oh well. There will be other fun things.

Finnish phrase of the day: "Vesihiisi sihisi hississä." ~ "The sea-monster was hissing in the elevator."

In other news, I was invited to be a speaker at the Bojarski Conference in Poland in mid-June. Unfortunately, my flight home to NY is on June 5th. I've sent an email to my travel agent to see about getting things changed. I fear that there will be a big fee, but we'll have to see. Even if I end up having to shell out some bucks, I think it will be worth it to have a week in rural Poland and the opportunity to speak an international conference! Really, my main concern is the hassle that comes along with the travel stuff - I really hate dealing with tickets and fees and visas and all that crap.

Tonight I spent a good hour or so in the sauna. It's so good. SO GOOD! I should have been doing it each day that I've been sick - I don't know why I didn't. For those of you who aren't initiated, here's the deal. The sauna is a wood-paneled room with wooden benches at various heights. In one corner is a machine that heats some rocks to very high temperatures. One throws water on the rocks, producing super hot steam. The steam heats the room, but it is not a "steam room" - the steam quickly dissapates. This process can get the air in the room VERY HOT, above boiling even. It sounds unpleasant, but it is a very relaxing sensation and is quite enjoyable. After a while, one's body says "ok, I've had enough" and then one takes a cool shower in an adjacent room or goes for a dip in the lake. Then one has a cold beer, and repeats the whole process. I usually replace the beer part with water, since I'm always so dehydrated anyway. Clothes are not worn in the process, though it is customary to sit on a towel in the sauna. I'm going to miss the sauna...

"Hey look at me, I'm Finland! I get really cold!"

2006-01-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

That's nice, Finland. Thanks for sharing. I'm sure that the entire world needed to know that in fact, it is really quite cold sometimes in Finland. Like today. Today the temperature was -22C (-8F), without the windchill. Here is a list of what I wore when I had to go out to the math department.

cotton undershirt (the polypro one was dirty)
heavy wool sweater
REI softshell jacket
heavy down coat
boxers
long johns
wool pants
wind and waterproof pants
cotton socks
leather shoes
hat
gloves
scarf

My nose was runny and got a little frozen, as did my eyeballs. My feet were pretty numb - I really hope that I can start wearing my boots, because those little sneakers just aren't going to cut it.

Funny though, it *looked* like a beautiful day. Quite sunny. I didn't bring my camera though, because I knew that I wouldn't want to take off my gloves to take any pictures.

I am still quite sick. This is probably the worst cold I've ever had. I think it's complicated by the fact that it is really very dry in my flat. For example, my towel is bone dry about 15 minutes after my shower. I've taken to boiling a big pot of tea and then putting a towel over the pot and my head. This seems to help, but sleeping is a big problem - I wake up every 30 minutes or so all dried up; this morning I had a nosebleed and was coughing up a little blood (don't worry though - it's not a respiratory thing, it's just that my thoat was really dry). Ok, enough grossness.

I went to Finnish class on Monday and yesterday. Our teacher is a very young (26!) Finnish woman with an amazing command of american slang. "Tomorrow we're going to be in the ghetto classroom in building S, instead of this pimped-out room." MTV is BigBrother, evidently. Actually, she said her husband is from the states, so that's probably the source. So, now I'm slowly learning Finnish. It was difficult for me to learn yesterday though, because I couldn't hear out of my left ear (from being so stuffed up). Finnish seems like a really neat language, and I'm excited to get to learn it a little.

I haven't been doing so much math lately, because I'm finding it hard to get time with Pekka. He's quite busy - and I think I may have been spoiled by Mario, who is just amazingly generous with his time. Pekka had an idea early last week, and over the weekend I debunked it a little - now I'm kind of stuck as to how to proceed. Anyway, there's plenty of work I COULD be doing - I have no real excuse for not being super busy except that I'm pretty ill and I can't really think straight. I'm sure once the term gets going we'll have more chances to talk.

I hope I'll be on the upswing tomorrow. There is a "Stammtisch" tomorrow night for the international students - from what I gather its something the folks at the international center have been working on for a long time and I really wish I could go, but it seems next to impossible at this point (it doesn't start till 10pm). I'm just hoping to be ok for next week, when I might get another chance to talk to Pekka.

Anyway, I miss you all and thanks to all of you who sent get well notes.