I’ve been finding it hard lately to not smoke, tempted to bum a cigarette or even go out to buy my own. When I quit last year, I found a lot of the so-called benefits to be untrue (unsurprisingly, given how anti-smoking society is) - my skin got much drier, the world smelt a worse (I’ve always had a really sensitive sense of smell), and I was sick for most of the winter. When I started cycling to work in the spring, I found that my lungs seemed to burn just as badly at the end of the journey, and it took me several months to get my speed and average journey time back to the level it was at when I smoked.

But there are advantages, and to encourage myself to stay a nonsmoker I’ll list them:

• I don’t have a constant cough, nor need to keep on clearing my throat


• I don’t feel self-conscious around nonsmokers about how I smell


• though my skin is drier, it wasn’t exactly dry to start with, and now after moisturizing it looks much healthier than before


• I can sit in a three hour meeting without fidgeting, and can face long journeys without having to work out when I can next smoke


• my teeth are much much whiter now --> this is because of all the gum I chew, I think, instead of any lack of nicotine


• now that I’m fit, I’m fitter than I could be as a smoker, my lung capacity is greater, and I probably feel much better


• I can be quite cutting to the smug anti-smokers


ETA

• My neighbour smiles at me instead of scowls at me

Current Mood: moody

In which I abandon all pretence of reviewing all the books I read, and just pick some interesting ones to talk about.

46) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
        audiobook read by Simon Vance

49) The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Steig Larsson
        audiobook read by Simon Vance

The funny thing about joining audible.com is that it is the one place I am most likely to hear about the latest fashionable books and trendy reads, literary or non-literary. So, if I’m going to get the latest hot books, they will almost always be in audiobook format.

Which is okay! I’ve now figured out how to judge the narrator before I buy, so that I don’t have to suffer through the worst and dullest offerings any more, and given how little spare time I seem to have, combining reading with other activities, like cooking or housework or cycling to work, is a great thing.

All this is just to explain why I didn’t get near Stieg Larsson’s books until last month, and then listened to both back to back.

For people who have been living even further under a stone than I have, Stieg Larsson was a Swedish activist, journalist, SF fan, and writer who died tragically young in 2004, and whose three novels have been published posthumously to massive acclaim. They are currently being adapted for TV in Sweden, and the first has been released as a film.

Dragon Tattoo is indeed a great book. Simon Vance reads wonderfully, distinguishing the characters without caricaturing them, and to my amateur ear with a good Swedish accent when required. I was completely hooked; the story developed at a satisfying pace, the PoV characters of Blomqvist and Salander were interesting and sympathetic without being inhumanly perfect. I did not see the ending coming, although (avoiding spoilers) I had my suspicions of the alibi. I liked how the real ending was not with the resolution of the whodunnit but with the resolution of Blomqvist and Salander’s relationship, and I liked how neither of these resolutions (nor the third resolution which I can’t mention without spoilers) was too happy or perfect.

I bought Played With Fire even before I finished the first one. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment. Vance’s reading continued excellent, and it started well, catching up with Blomqvist and with Salander, following Lisbeth’s adventures in the Caribbean. But then it started to come apart and to lose my interest. One problem was that there were too many PoV characters to make an easy listen with only one narrator. I often found that I had to scroll back a couple of minutes to the start of a section to remind myself of whose eyes we were seeing out of, and then sometimes I had to think carefully to remind myself of who that character actually was.

But it goes beyond the audio format. The lines were drawn too broadly, with the good guys being too good, the bad guys having no redeemable feature, and the ease with which you could tell one from the other: if they supported Salander or not. Considering that she is supposed to be an asocial near-autistic, I found it unlikely that so many people would like her. One of the plus points of Dragon Tattoo for me was that Erika Berger, definitely one of the good guys, didn’t really like Salander - this is reality, perfectly kind and pleasant people, people you would be great friends with if you knew them, don’t like people with personality disorders.

Except that actually, Salander stopped showing any signs of her anti-social disorders when she got back to Sweden. She was polite to people. She was considerate. When she didn’t manage to foresee all the consequences of her actions, she chided herself for being inconsiderate, for crying out loud! Okay, one theme is that she has been badly misjudged, I accept that, but I still contend that the Salander of Dragon Tattoo is not the same person as the Salander of Played With Fire.

And then there’s the ending. The resolution of the plot I actually thought was pretty satisfying - some of the more outlandish elements made perfect sense, and the background to Salander’s life was logical, shocking and rang true. But. The resolution of the action, that was verging on the ridiculous. I’ll avoid spoilers, and just say : oh come on.

My book blog stopped back in January on book 5, instead of filling you all in on everything I have read since then, I'll blithely pretend that there has been no break at all.

43) The Inferior, by Peadar Ó Guilín

Whatever I say here actually won't do justice to this book, so I won't try very hard. This felt fresh the way a lot of SF doesn't any more. The world building was extremely deft, sucking me in until I began to blink on finding myself back in our own, less interesting, less stressful, world. The characters were interesting, although I think the best thing about characterization was the sheer range of different types. I can't quite chase that thought to its conclusion, but it was something that helped make this book stand out.

I don't know if The Inferior is aimed at YA or adults, the content is pretty difficult even for this old adult to handle at all times. The packaging suggests YA, however, although there is a small warning that it is not suitable for young children - this should be a big warning.

In the interests of full disclosure, Peadar is, or was, a friend of an ex-boyfriend of mine, and there are other people we have in common. I met him once or twice in College, over ten years ago, although I bet he doesn't remember me. He was an unpublished but very good writer then, it's great to see that he's continued and is now published.

44) The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan (audio book narrated by Ron Perlman)

This one, on the other hand, was probably the most disappointing book so far this year. I heard del Toro interviewed on the Front Row podcast, talking about The Strain, and thought it sounded interesting.

It isn't. It was supposed to be about a virus that causes vampirism, but actually the virus (which is actually visible to the naked eye) turns people instead into zombies, or something much more like a zombie than a vampire. I had trouble following most of the plot, since my mind kept wandering, and the narrator has not got the most interesting voice I've ever heard, but I'm still not happy with the explanation for why the world wasn't long okay overrun by these zombie/vampires. It is book one of a trilogy - and luckily nobody can make me have anything to do with the next two books.

I am reading (yet another) Swedish detective novel translated into English at the moment, and I find that I'm thrown by some of the translation.

As you might guess, it's to do with the translation of the units of measurement from metric (I assume, but I'll get back to that) to imperial.

First thing is, I have taken to the metric system like a duck to water, and faced with an imperial measurement like 3 feet, I will automatically convert it back to metric. And, efficient person that I sometimes am, I regret the time that the translator spent that I just had to undo.

Then, I'll try to figure out what the original metric number was. "About sixty miles" probably started out as "about a hundred kilometres" (except in Swedish ;), I don't have to think about that one, but "around four feet" takes a bit more consideration.

Which isn't to mention the conversions that I can't do in my head, notably from Fahrenheit to Celsius, or anything to do with weight. Actually, on the subject of weight, even when I lived in Ireland and weighed myself in stones and pounds and ounces, I could never remember how many of what were in what - I mean, was it made deliberately confusing with a mixture of sixteen and fourteen? - and I can't even take a guess at it now!

And, I also get thrown because it sounds so odd for a Swedish character to be thinking of miles, or talking about pounds. I find myself wondering if it is a character note, if there is some plot element that has the character using the imperial measures instead of metric. As I would if I read an American book with a character talking of the temperature in Celsius, because I know what units they habitually use, and to use others is strange or at the least unusual.

And then I almost set the book aside when I read that the footprints were size 11 1/2. Whose size 11 1/2, for pity's sake?? What does that mean? Since the intended audience of this book is not me, nor is it Swedes, then who is it and what system do they use?

I'm being slightly disingenuous. The audience is obviously American (despite it being a UK publication), and in fact I discovered thanks to this page that size 11 1/2 is pretty standard (if still pretty much a blank for me, I have trouble remembering my own shoe size never mind understanding others'). But then if all of this is translated so as not to confuse the reader with strange and alien terms, why leave the currency as Kronor?

... TV series to watch on DVD

(this actually rhymes. Ignore the scansion.)

So, I ran out of Battlestar Galactica episodes* to watch about a month ago, and decided to finish Angel Season 5. Unfortunately, Angel Season 5 does not hold the smallest tiniest candle to BSG, and I have rowed barely 10km since I switched. I need to find new TV to watch! Help me out here!

The thing that made BSG such perfect rowing viewing is that it was completely absorbing. I really needed to know what happened next, and with a strict rule that I could only watch it while I rowed, I got a lot of rowing done. The characters were appealing and interesting, so I liked spending time with them, and watching the episodes back to back was possible because of the very clever foreshadowing that was done.

I don't want to point people in a particular direction with their recommendations, so hopefully from the above you can gather what kind of thing I'm looking for.

* To clarify about running out of BSG episodes, I mean that season 3 is finished**, and I am waiting for season 4 on DVD. I'm only waiting a week, now, but pretend that I'm waiting a month because I forgot to post this entry :) Also, it will be worthwhile having the next series lined up for when I finish season 4.
** Please don't spoil season 4 for me. Please. I knew most of the twists in season 3 because of careless talk online, and it really impacted my enjoyment.

I'm going to be optimistic and say that the precipitation earlier was whitish rain, not sleet, and that the sparse white things I saw drifting on the wind this morning were due to a bird fight overhead. Not snow. Oh no.

Because, in the last few days, Spring has aggressively arrived in Helsinki. I know all the signs.

1) What used to be fields covered in snow are now lakes, with areas of farmland around the edges. And ducks. I love how ducks have this flexible view of what is a suitable body of water. "You may call this a puddle," they seem to say, "but I call it home."
2) The weather feels much colder, while actually being warmer. This is because I am (as stated above) an optimist, and have retired my winter coat and clothes too early.
3) Every walk ends with me lugging a martyred-looking Tesla into the shower because she is up to her arm/legpits in mud and freshly thawed horseshit. Now that she is over two years old, and officially grown-up, there is not one single thing about the shower that she likes anymore. I would feel guilty, except that there is plenty she still likes about sitting on my pillow, so there is no room for me being soft.
4) There is litter everywhere. Months' worth of it, hidden under successive layers of snow, and now revealed in its entirety. I call it "the sins of Winter". Not just litter. Dogshit. Drunken pukes. Mysterious piles of I-don't-want-to-know.
5) Similarly, the whole Winter's worth of grit for paths is now all in one layer on top of the path. Luckily it is still wet out there, but in a few days of fine weather the air will be filled with the dust from it and wearing contact lenses will become hazardous.
6) Everyone is much more cheerful.

March
Distance: 91.3 km (cumulative 161.7 km)
Average speed: 11.98 km/h - slower than in February, but the pace is much more maintainable, witness the extra 20 km I rowed

Distance left to Kinsale: 2948.4 km
Distance left to Sweden: 228.9 km

Current location: At the end of the month, I was just 1.5km short of the end of the motorway in Turku. I'm irritated with myself, but I just could not get myself that extra distance to make the milestone. After this evening's row, I'm now through the city and heading for the ferry port at Naantali.

Conclusion: great improvement from last month, still room to do more

Milestones
So, I hit the 100km mark since my last update, I reduced the distance left to under 3000km, and now I have completed the first of the (many) long stretches on the journey. I'm glad I didn't find it too unmotivating to have no real landmarks to pass during the trip, as soon I will be facing the cross-water trip to to Kapellskår in Sweden, 213km of it, and then I will be spending the rest of the year on Swedish motorways.

Current Mood: tired

I need to save this for posterity.

Poll #1362650 It's not fat it's fluff
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

Which is healthier?

Current Mood: irritated

February
Distance: 70.412 km
Average speed: 12.17 km/h or 202.85 m/min (which is pretty good, actually)

Distance left to Kinsale: 3039km
Distance left to Turku: 92.7km
Location: On the motorway to Turku, nowhere very interesting

Conclusion: could do better

My body has turned into a strange shape. I have (for the first time in my entire life) huge muscles around my neck, shoulders, and upper arms. My elbows and wrists are solid, strong, I feel like I could punch a wall and only hurt my fingers*. Then, moving downwards, I still have a flabby belly, fat layered over my hips and arse. My legs, however, have big solid slabs of muscle, and my knees are pretty strong.

I'm not sure if this better than my previous "spider-shape", skinny arms and legs with a flabby mid-section. I've started doing the two hundred sit-ups program to tighten up my midriff, and I need to add one more activity to improve my general flexibility.

I started well this month, then somehow I got caught up trying to improve my overall speed each session. The muscles between my shoulder blades, the same ones that tense up when I use a computer, got to have a permanent tingle in them. I stopped altogether for a week, partly due to laziness, partly due to pain. I need to either do many more short distances and work on my speed, or else do longer distances and not worry about how slowly I go. But I'm a high need achiever, and there just aren't enough milestones to keep me happy**. It's just a matter of finding the balance, though, and the overall project is definitely useful as a motivator.

*I won't put this to the test. I am a coward.
**A whole month, and I haven't passed any of my milestones***.
***The first one will be when there are less than 3000 km left to go.

You know what I really don't like? I really don't like France 2 showing three quarters of a rugby match, and then passing the coverage over to a channel that I can't get.

I'm listening on internet radio now.

Current Mood: pissed off

This article in the Irish Times grabbed my interest.

A website designer found a bug in Ryanair's web site and blogged about it. Ryanair employees left several rude comments on the blog entry, including one fairly threatening one. Ryanair has now officially responded with: "It is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm it won’t be happening again."

I'm going to comment on the bug itself (and what I as a professional tester would interpret from finding it,) tomorrow or over the weekend. Although I am just really tempted to organise a Bugfest for their website and live-blog it.

I wonder if it would count as malicious activity...

I had hoped that by yesterday I would be able to reveal the happy ending to the laptop saga. But it was not to be, and although I am not quite at the ending just yet, it now seems certain what way this will go.

Now, it wasn't clear from my entry on Monday that my ex-laptop was my work machine. I ran around the corner to the nearby Apple Dealer (MacBook Pro 4GB, pre-solidbody model, but only a few months old for all that.) Their technician looked at it over night, and pronounced it a deader, swapped out the hard drive and the battery into a spare MacBook Pro they had while they waited to finalise the order for a replacement.

I talked to my boss, he talked to the guy in Purchasing, and the Apple Dealer called me to say that everything was going great, she needed to get one final confirming email, and then I'd have a brand new MacBook Pro, solid state body, sexed up display (which actually I don't like, but anyway), etc etc.

The odd thing was, for completely bogus reasons that don't belong in this post, the company had stopped buying new Macs a couple of months ago. I thought that Purchasing would have known this, and felt all clever for having found a way around the block. I hadn't gone quite as far as encouraging everybody else to fling soup into their machines, but it was something I had been considering for next week.

My boss arrived in my team room this afternoon with a long face, and I knew that my workaround plan had failed. He saw how unhappy I looked in response, and started trying to find another way around it.

"Can you even do your work without a Mac?"

We all pulled faces, and muttered, and I admitted in a small voice that yes, I could (and I used to - it was just much more unpleasant), but he went off anyway in search of a Mac. After all, transferring apps and files from one Mac to another is trivial, while migrating to a Windows box will probably take me a week.

So, he found a Mac for me, a temporary old MacBook with 2GB of RAM for a month, until someone leaves and I get his MacBook Pro. And it could be a lot worse, of course, but my evening plans were originally to pick up my new shiny machine from the Apple Dealer and copying my apps and settings and documents, so the revised plan of grumbling on LJ, doing some housework, and then rowing just isn't up to much.

Current Mood: listless

Yesterday I was working from home, all set up on the kitchen table where I could stare out the window at my neighbours going past, where I was close to the kettle, where I could easily make myself some toast to nibble, or something else to eat, as I continued working.

My plan was that I would heat up the soup I made over the weekend and eat that "at my desk", then later take a break and go for a walk with Tesla. She's in heat again, and needs a lot of exercise, while paradoxically she actually gets less exercise because we can't chance letting her off the leash.

Anyway, that was the idea, I would spend my lunch break with Tesla as opposed to actually lunching.

And then I threw an entire bowl of soup over my laptop. RIP.

Current Mood: irritated

We all had our ski masks and sawed off shotguns
But how do you plan for a bank full of nuns

I guess we panicked - we all have taboos
And they were like zebras; they had us confused
We should be in condos with oceanfront views
But instead we're most wanted on the 6 o'clock news

- Bank Job, Barenaked Ladies, from the album Barenaked Ladies Are Me

Current Mood: giggly

In a perfect world, the shop I saw from the bus today called Imperial Nails should be an ironmonger. This not being a perfect world, it was instead a beauty salon.

Then again, perhaps Imperial Nails are similar to Imperial Stormtroopers, in which case the real puzzle is, which empire is training its nails in Helsinki, of all places?

Current Mood: curious

Personal training is now a luxury in Donegal.

(From an article in the Irish Times about, what else, the recession.)

I have missed a whole part of Irish history, that time during which personal training was not a luxury in Donegal, and I feel robbed.

(and over the latest insecurities)

Over 30km into my rowing trip to Kinsale, on the motorway to Turku. Last night I had a really good session of 9km, last week I think I was still a bit sick as doing even 2km seemed difficult at times.

I picture the scenery in my head as I pass it, the motorway is empty of cars and I am facing backwards. Facing backwards going down hills, even in my mind, is pretty nervewracking. Sometimes I picture crowds lining the road, cheering me on.

Mainly, I watch Battlestar Galactica Season 2 on the computer, because the motorway to Turku is not very interesting and I am going so slowly that I need something else to keep me rowing, instead of doing something else.

I decided to publish the spreadsheet tracking my journey. In the unlikely event that anyone wants to follow that closely. Or indeed, wants to see how much I obsessively fiddle with spreadsheets.

Being good this week:
- 15km rowed so far
- two chapters read of Aaresaari ('for foreigners' translation, not 'for Finns' translation)
-- about sixty new words learnt
- home made vegetable soup being eaten at lunch instead of fattening canteen lunch
- favourite meals cooked for both my husband and my dog
- finished book of feminist essays by Angela Carter

Being bad this week:
- gave in to craving for cheddar and brie on Monday
-- half a kilo heavier than last week
- still not being very productive at work
- got very cranky on Tuesday
- reading trashy crime novel

However, I still think that on balance I am improved.

And on a side note, I find it really weird that the books published in Finnish for people learning the language are all translations of classics in English.

I will take a break from swearing at my test tools (temperamental bits of hardware and software that have the potential to make my life a joy, if only they would stop making my life a misery), and point out that I have changed my icon.

The old one has been about for five years or so, and high time it was changed. I took this picture (a still from a video) on my phone on Saturday, while I was out walking Tesla. It is reassuring to note that I look exactly the same as I did when I was twelve.