Has Oulu International School started teaching Rubber Technology?

When I was studying Polymer Science and Technology in the London School of Rubber Technology, England in the early 60s, my lecturer in Rubber Technology used to say that formulating a rubber mix was much like cooking.

A pinch of this and a pinch of that.

When a rubber tyre is being made, it consists of several components, the carcass and the tread being the visible outer ones. The tread is the thick rubber around the tyre which carries the moulded pattern which defines the type of tyre it is - for wet use, for snow, for ice, for racing, etc.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this yesterday on the Introduction TV Screen when I went to pick up Samu from the Oulu International School (OIS).



It appears that the OIS CHEF is teaching the kids to cook the formulation to produce treads in the Happy Chef's Club! Rubber is a messy profession, quite unlike plastics, but I guess one can make a living out of it!

Well done OIS! :-)

But the signs (there are two of them I have seen) in Oulu which really give me a thrill are the ones at the International SAS Radisson Hotel -

A Quest for the Guest?

Please do send me pictures of signs which are fun.

I Wish You a Sandpiper

Posted on all my major blogs.

I received this in an email from Joan & Kevin Dean.

Thank you for sending this to me as I am blogging it exactly for the reasons outlined in this story.

I Wish You a Sandpiper


The . Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

The Sandpiper by Robert Peterson

She was six years old when I first met her on the beach near where I live. I drive to this beach, a distance of three or four miles, whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sand castle or something and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea. "Hello," she said.

I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child. "I'm building," she said. "I see that. What is it?" I asked, not really caring. "Oh, I don't know, I just like the feel of sand." That sounds good, I thought, and slipped off my shoes. A sandpiper glided by. "That's a joy," the child said. "It's a what?" "It's a joy. My mama says sandpipers come to bring us joy." The bird went gliding down the beach. Good-bye joy, I muttered to myself, hello pain, and turned to walk on. I was depressed, my life seemed completely out of balance. "What's your name?" She wouldn't give up.

"Robert," I answered. "I'm Robert Peterson." "Mine's Wendy... I'm six." "Hi, Wendy." She giggled. "You're funny," she said. In spite of my gloom, I laughed too and walked on. Her musical giggle followed me. "Come again, Mr. P," she called. "We'll have another happy day." The next few days consisted of a group of unruly Boy Scouts, PTA meetings, and an ailing mother. The sun was shining one morning as I took my hands out of the dishwater. I need a sandpiper, I said to myself, gathering up my coat.

The ever-changing balm of the seashore awaited me. The breeze was chilly but I strode along, trying to recapture the serenity I needed. "Hello, Mr. P," she said. "Do you want to play?" "What did you have in mind?" I asked, with a twinge of annoyance. "I don't know. You say." "How about charades?" I asked sarcastically. The tinkling laughter burst forth again. "I don't know what that is." "Then let's just walk." Looking at her, I noticed the delicate fairness of her face. "Where do you live?" I asked. "Over there." She pointed toward a row of summer cottages. Strange, I thought, in winter. "Where do you go to school?" "I don't go to school. Mommy says we're on vacation."

She chattered little girl talk as we strolled up the beach, but my mind was on other things. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed. Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no mood to even greet Wendy. I thought I saw her mother on the porch and felt like demanding she keep her child at home. "Look, if you don't mind," I said crossly when Wendy caught up with me, "I'd rather be alone today." She seemed unusually pale and out of breath. "Why?" she asked. I turned to her and shouted, "Because my mother died!" and thought, My God, why was I saying this to a little child? "Oh," she said quietly, "then this is a bad day." "Yes," I said, "and yesterday and the day before and -- oh, go away!" "Did it hurt?" she inquired. "Did what hurt?" I was exasperated with her, with myself. "When she died?" "Of course it hurt!" I snapped, misunderstanding, wrapped up in myself. I strode off.

A month or so after that, when I next went to the beach, she wasn't there. Feeling guilty, ashamed, and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up to the cottage after my walk and knocked at the door. A drawn looking young woman with honey-colored hair opened the door. "Hello," I said, "I'm Robert Peterson. I missed your little girl today and wondered where she was." "Oh yes, Mr. Peterson, please come in. Wendy spoke of you so much. I'm afraid I allowed her to bother you. If she was a nuisance, please, accept my apologies." "Not at all -- she's a delightful child." I said, suddenly realizing that I meant what I had just said. "Wendy died last week, Mr. Peterson. She had leukemia. Maybe she didn't tell you." Struck dumb, I groped for a chair. I had to catch my breath.

"She loved this beach, so when she asked to come, we couldn't say no. She seemed so much better here and had a lot of what she called happy days. But! the last few weeks, she declined rapidly..." Her voice faltered, "She left something for you, if only I can find it. Could you wait a moment while I look?" I nodded stupidly, my mind racing for some thing to say to this lovely young woman. She handed me a smeared envelope with "MR. P" printed in bold childish letters. Inside was a drawing in bright crayon hues -- a yellow beach, a blue sea, and a brown bird. Underneath was carefully printed: !A SANDPIPER TO BRING YOU JOY.

Tears welled up in my eyes, and a heart that had almost forgotten to love opened wide. I took Wendy's mother in my arms. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," I uttered over and over, and we wept together. The precious little picture is framed now and hangs in my study. Six words -- one for each year of her life -- that speak to me of harmony, courage, and undemanding love. A gift from a child with sea blue eyes and hair the color of sand -- who taught me the gift of love.

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NOTE: This is a true story sent out by Robert Peterson. It happened over 20 years ago and the incident changed his life forever. It serves as a reminder to all of us that we need to take time to enjoy living and life and each other. The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less. Life is so complicated, the hustle and bustle of everyday traumas can make us lose focus about what is truly important or what is only a momentary setback or crisis. This week, be sure to give your loved ones an extra hug, and by all means, take a moment... even if it is only ten seconds, to stop and smell the roses. This comes from someone's heart, an d is read with many and now I share it with you... May God Bless everyone who receives this! There are NO coincidences! Everything that happens to us happens for a reason. Never brush aside anyone as insignificant. Who knows what they can teach us?

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SANDPIPERS Scolopacidae

Sandpipers are a highly diverse family which include the ground-dwelling snipes and woodcocks to the highly pelagic Red Phalarope Phalaropus fulicarius. Biochemically they seem to have arisen from a single ancestor but underwent an explosive evolution in the early Tertiary after a great wave of extinctions in the late Cretaceous period (Piersma 1996). Today, the wide variety of sandpipers, and the close relationships of many, present numerous identification challenges. The identification literature alone is impressive. Further, the beautiful patterns and colors on juvenal-plumaged birds are among the most striking in the world, while the striking breeding plumage feathers serve to camouflage adults on their breeding grounds on the arctic tundra. Many of these arctic breeders spend the non-breeding period well south of the Equator, brightening the lives of birders in the austral summer (our winter).

Worst Internet Service Provider - DNA

(Posted on Jacob's Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.)

It is rarely that I post a Worst Buy Report but this is one which certainly deserves mention.

In November 2007 I informed DNA, my phone and Internet Service Provider (ISP) that there was something seriously wrong with my fixed phone line as it appeared that someone else was using it. There would be a regular tinkle many times a day, as if someone was putting the phone down.

DNA did not even register this complaint. This problem continued till, finally, on the 21st of February 2008, my fixed IP (full rate) internet connection stopped working.

I immediately contacted the Help Desk (0600 39 6900) and spoke with one of the Operators on duty. He tried to fix the connection but failed.

I was asked to take the Cisco ADSL Modem provided by Oulu Telephone Company (Oulun Puhelin OY) and have it tested at the DNA Shop on Torikatu.

They tested it and gave me a replacement, a Siemens Speedstream 4100.

I hooked this up and found the same problems persisted in that I could see I was online but was unable to reach the internet.

On Monday 25th 2008 I spoke with a Help Desk Pperator, Mr. Miikka Parikka. He went through various procedures with me and finally decided that he would have to tell the Service Engineers to take a look at the line as he was unable to resolve the issue.

Despite my protestations that from 2001 onwards I had been using the DHCP protocol to connect to the internet, Mr. Parikka insisted that I use the PPPoE. No doubt we always arrived at the same result as we had over the previous 7 years, “PPPoE Server not found”.

All the time since 2001 I have been using DHCP as I have had a fixed IP number. I reported that what was happening was that when I used the DHCP protocol I was being assigned a dynamic IP, and even with that the internet connection was not working.

I spoke to Help Desk Operators every single day that week, each time a different one, and each time they said they would call back.

Not one of them ever bothered to call back.

Then came the first shock when I spoke the Help Desk to a operator named Ms. Leena Nissonen on 3rd March 2008. She revealed to me that no work request had even been sent to the Service Department by any of the operators that I had talked to during the previous 10 days. This included Miikka Parikka, Jarkko Koivunen, Petri Savonen, Petri Salonen, Jari Anttila, Tuominen, Tony Munto and Jari Tuovinen.


This showed the callaous and irresponsible behaviour among those who man the Help Desk at DNA.

Leena Nissonen gave me a different phone number to contact, 0800 500 5000, which was the direct line to the Service Department to verify that they were doing the job.

I dialed the next day to find out what was happening. The lady operator who took the call said the work order had just been received and they were designating THEIR service engineer to look at the line.

I asked for this lady’s name, but she refused to give it to me.

For the next week I rang this number daily and they said that THEIR service engineer was on the job and they would call me back.

They never did call back - not even once.

Finally, on Monday 10th March 2008 I received a call from a service engineer I knew. He had handled a similar incident in 2003.

“Eric” told me he had been testing the line and he had found several major errors. After a few hours he rang me to tell me that he had found numerous problems with the line and he had corrected them. He suggested that I should try the connection when I got back to my computer.

When I tried the computer, however, I found that exactly the same problems continued. There had been no improvement.

So it was back to the Help Desk and several attempts to get the computer connected to the internet.

In the process I was referred to the Customer Service Section at the phone number 0800 300 400 where my original my user id and the password were changed as they thought that could have been the problem.

Even with this there was still no internet!

Again it was referred to the Service Group.

On Thursday 20th March, I spoke with a lady who said she would handle the matter before the Easter weekend and call me back. When nothing happened all day, I called again and spoke with the same lady who said she was on the job and she would call me back!

No call materialized, so again the entire Easter weekend I was without the internet connection.


On the Tuesday, when they were back at work after the long Easter recess, I got to the Service Group again. The guy who answered got a bit of an earful from me, especially as he refused to give his name. I really let fly accusing the Service Department of hiding behind anonymity because they were just an inefficient bunch of guys who did no work to solve anyone problems.

That really hit the mark as “Eric” turned up with his computer and tried the internet connection with HIS laptop to find the connection just was not working.

So Eric went back to the switch-box. He located the major problem (in the Gateway) and finally got the internet working, but...

The connection worked only using PPPoE. The IP was not static, which is what I have contracted for. It was a dynamically generated IP. Also the speed of the connection was not what I had contracted for but a measly 400 kbps. on download and about 160 kbps for upload. My contract is for the full rate ADSL connection which I was told is 8 Mbps and 1 Mbps, respectively. I was getting 1 / 5th to 1 / 20th of what I was paying for.

In the month of February I had to revert to my internal modem (56 kbps) and an alternate telephone line which cost me an additional € 55 to keep the internet for just 10 days for my essential work! In March I bought a wireless modem from Elisa at a cost of € 199 and with that and my 56 kbps internal modem I have been able to keep my essential work alive. (I have not yet received the bill for my modem access for the month of March!)

It is interesting that Eric is not an employee of DNA but of ELTEL, which DNA uses to rectify problems online.

In short, the DNA organisation could do nothing for the last one and a half months to rectify any problem as they have no one who is competent to handle this problem and they depend on an outsourced service too fix problems.


There have been letters to the Editor in the local newspaper giving more incidents like mine.

Finally, I got the internet connection working, not as a DHCP connection but only as a PPPoE service and with that I have been unable to use my router with which all my computers could access the internet.

I used several services to check my internet speed and it remained low, but also surprisingly the IP address was not my Fixed IP but a dynamically accessed one.

When I contacted the Help Desk they could give me no answer but asked me to contact Customer Service. When I contacted them I found they had given me the new user ID and password but failed to transfer this to my Fixed IP!

At long last they did that and using PPPoE I was then able to access the internet but only at the slow speed.

It should be noted that EVERY TIME I spoke to the Help Desk I had told them to inform the Billing Section of this problem. I even physically visited the DNA Bills Section and lodged my complaint, whereupon a guy there asked me to make my complaint online, which I had promptly done!

Then on 1st April 2008 (almost a mointh and a half since the problem originated) I got this email from one Ms. Aspa Pohjoinen as follows:

from "aspa.pohjoinen@dnaoy.fi"
to jmatthan@gmail.com
date 1 Apr 2008 16:29
subject internetconnection

Hyvä asiakkaamme.

Ohessa linkki, jolla tähän palautteeseen voi vastata. Älä käytä sähköpostin vastaa-painiketta,
sillä se ei ohjaa vastaustasi perille.

https://palaute.opoy.fi/r?aw=2008-03-14_16X07X37.511201&p=13QP01c

Vastaus palautteeseenne

Thank You for Your feedback. Yesterday You phoned and I repaired Your dynamic ip username.

There have been some troubles at the gate during the time 19.3 to 25.3. Installing man has
repaired it at the 25th of March.

We give You 50% back of Your monthly broadbands fee (24,50€) on Your next fee, which You will get
on April.

Ystävällisin terveisin,

Asiakaspalvelu

DNA Palvelut / Pohjois-Suomi
Arkistokatu 4, PL 30
FIN-90101 OULU
p. 0800 300400

http://www.dnaoy.fi

The fact that my internet connection was DEAD for over a month and a half was most conveniently ignored.


This blog entry is to show you without doubt that the worst Internet Service Provider in Finland must certainly be DNA. They have no competent persons in any department, they hide behind a screen of anonymity and when it comes to servicing the faulty line they do not even have their own service engineers but depend on outsourced persons!

Oulu - India Crazy Love Express?

2008 Crazy Days were here again.

I drove up to Stockman on my scooter on the opening day of the Crazy Days, Wednesday 2nd April, and found four little Indian boys who had been standing at the head of the queue.

They were waiting to get the tokens so that they could buy their cheap Finnair tickets to Delhi / Mumbai, € 395 from Helsinki (€ 465 from Oulu).

I arrived a little after 7 am. I had carried a small bag of biscuits for this tired set of guys who had been standing there from 5 am.

Reason for this show of enthusiasm - though not said, I believe that they were on their way to India to meet up with prospective brides.

Market value must be high as they are in a foreign land!

However, I know that some of these boys are not interested in the monetary aspects of marriage but want to find a suitable partner, preferably an engineer.

Best of luck guys!!!

Wonder why none of the single Indian girls here in Oulu were not en route on this gravy train?

Knowing how it feels to be LOVED!

Yesterday was a strange day. Joanna rang me early morning to tell me that I should take Samu to school as he was going downhill skiing and would I look after Daniel at our home as she had to go to town?

She was over before noon to leave Daniel.

Daniel, Annikki an I did several things including taking Daniel to the City dump to get rid an old TV and to the Tropical Spa to make sure the arrangements for one of our Indian Groups in Oulu were OK for the company party. When I came out of the Spa I found I had a flat tyre. As usual, my good friend, Kamu, in the spirit of CHAFF rushed to help me as I was not carrying my silicone foam repair kit.

Joanna rang me to tell me that she was very tired and would I keep Daniel till we picked up Samuel from the school and then came over so that we could go out for dinner to celebrate my birthday.

I passed by her house at about half past five and I was surprised to see Ildikó and Ilari's car parked in the driveway, but thinking that they were off for a holiday, they may have dropped in to say goodbye, it did not register. When I dropped in at the International Centre (Ville Victor) I was puzzled when Shahnaz said she would see me in the evening! Again, that did not register!

Well, the email I sent out today below explains it all and the composite picture made out of photographs taken by grandson Samu show some of the the people who made it such a great day for me.

Dear Findians, O-Indians, Chaff Participants, 59er Cathedralites, Other Cathedralites, Stephanians and many other friends all around the world,

Yesterday, I was given a great lesson - knowing how it feels to be LOVED.

As I reached the turning point to my senior years, the outpouring of love from all corners of this globe gave me a lesson which made me feel that a new era of my life is opening.

Thank you to all of you, some on the groups, others directly, others by text message, who took the trouble to communicate with me on my 65th birthday.

Ashok, as I took early retirement to help her look after Annikki's mother, I have been enjoying all the benefits and now move from half to full pension. So, I was already enjoying all the free benefits of a social security system I was taxed into the earth for when I was working!

From our daughter's family in England, Susanna, Chris and Asha, Hasnain and Willie in Toronto, Bill Patel in ???, Barbara from Italy, Ellis in New York, Ashok, Percy, Ooky and Rivca, etc., etc, etc., in Mumbai, friends from Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Chennai, Bangalore, Tokyo, London, New York, and of course Oulu, I received personal greetings. (Sorry I am not mentioning all of you as I still have not had the time to go through all the messages.)

It will take me some time to respond personally to all of you, but respond I will.

But the height of my birthday was a surprise party organised by my daughter and her husband in her home in Oulu. Neither Annikki nor I had a clue till we arrived at her home and found a string of cars parked outside. As I walked in, there was a steady stream of friends, a veritable United Nations, Australia, China, Finland, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Peru (in spirit), Turkey, Venezuela, trooping out to greet me.

Ilari gave a profoundly moving speech which had me in tears and Ildikó gave me the gift on behalf all the persons from so many organisations that I felt overwhelmed. I was in shock and was hit even harder by giving me a birthday present that I really love and need - a Canon Digital camera - so that the photographs on my blog and groups will improve! Burcu, Bala and Sameer gave me their own presents. Thank you all.

It was a bring your stuff party so we had some really great grub and the spread was enormous, so much so that Joanna forgot to take out the delicious chicken salad from the fridge!


Top Row: Joanna, Samu, Daniel;
Second Row: Ilari & Tony, Kiran & me, Andy;
Third Row: Shahnaz & Yrjö, Benjamin, Sreekanth, Ani with Maria;
Bottom Row: Elina & Ildiko; Burcu, Bill.
Missing: Annikki, Bala, Pooja, Mani and Anusha, Mathias, Sameer,
Vishu, Esa, Manuel, Osku

My sincere thanks to Joanna and Tony, Ildikó and Ilari, Pooja, Mani and Anusha (who drove down all the way from Raahe (80 km away), Shahnaz and Yrjo, Andy, Ani, Bala, Benjamin, Bill, Burcu, Elina, Esa, Kiran, Manuel, Osku, Sameer, Sreekanth, Vishu, nephew Mathias who just happened to be in Oulu, grandchildren Samuel, Daniel, Maria and above all my dearest of dearest, Annikki for making it such a wonderful birthday.

--
Jacob