Kitchen saga

Today Mr. G. and me happened to clean our kitchen after, let's say, quite a while. And you can imagine what really happens when two guys share a kitchen for a year. At this point I'd only like to quote G: "and we have a winner". Well, the winners were some potatoes and salad, which had gone bad somewhere around the beginning of February. I wonder, if we continue like this, shall we find some new life forms from our kitchen by the end of the semester...

Eurovision

Can I just do one thing and quote this weekends Financial Times and its article on Eurovision: "Eurovision is an orgy of tacky disco music and instantly forgettable tunes, but it is also a powerful monument to the European project and a barometer of its health." Well, I couldn't have said it better, even the "research" behind the voting patterns, is more than accurate.

Random Thoughts and Reflections

So where have I been and what have I been thinking about? Well, nothing much besides my dissertation. But then again, some interesting things do happen- yesterday for example, I heard a very nice analogy about teambuilding and leadership. A Canadian guy, who I had a conversation at my Economics' teachers farewell party, draw an interesting parallel from the movie Ben Hur. Remember the movie? If so, do you also remember the horserace and the fact how the main character (Judah) built his "team"? He brought together different horses and found a role for all of them in his team- making the most stable run in the inside, the craziest on the outside and etc. I'd like to thank Tim for that nice analogy- I had never thought about this episode through this prism.

Did you happen to read last weeks Economist? I did, although with some delay- somehow I never manage to finish them during the week that they come out- it's just too much information. And the fact that they seem to get thicker and thicker as time goes by, really doesn't help. Anyway, the survey about Poland brought two things into my mind. Firstly, will The Economist ever make a survey like this about Estonia? I'm a bit skeptic about this, just because of the scale of the country. How much do 1,3 million people somewhere in the periphery of the Europe matter? To be honest, not much. But what about the idea of Estonia pushing itself into this magazine? I'm not sure (after reading the report about Poland) that there would be fewer things to talk about- it's just the fact that the significance level on the global level is, can I say, insignificant. Oh, and one more good analogy- history and a river, namely- the young Poles think of the history like a river, which runs under a bridge- it's there, but it's not effecting them at the first instance. And what about IKEA? Enlightening story of how big corporations avoid taxes? Come to think of it- I've always been interested in these kinds of themes...

Initial Dissertation Topic

I've been trying to sort out my dissertation topic for the last two weeks or so and at the moment I have come up with something like this: Industrial Structure and Innovation Activities in Small Countries: The Case of three Baltic States. I'll try to write about underlying assumptions and the research question(s) during the next week, when I have received some more feedback...

A Journey to the End of the Earth

A place were all roads end- the sky meets the sea and the land suddenly cracks before your feet. Something like this must be said about the place that I went to this Sunday- the Seven Sisters County Park. To be honest, the whole experience is too hard to really describe- it was something too strong, too high, and too beautiful. I guess the highest cliffs over there were something like 300m high, giving plenty of room to freefall. And the paragliders courteously appearing in the sky seemed to take 100% out of this opportunity. This sport (if one can call it like that), as I told one of the guys before he lifted off, is full of harmony. There is something special in just gliding through the air, with no "artificial" means helping you- just complete silence...

The Final Salute

A black jeep picking you up at Aubert Park, flashlights and people talking autographs from the man in the drivers seat, that's how my Highbury experience started on Sunday. Strange, but true- I went to see Arsenal's last ever game played on Highbury against Wigan Athletic. And even better, I had the chance to do it with one of the Arsenal's goalkeepers Mart Poom.

The experience, when I look back at it, was quite surreal, especially because I could see all the happenings from within- went on the ground and saw a little bit of the star life one can only seen on TV from very close. All the autographs, all the people orginizing something, were something that I had never seen beforehand. But then again, I had never been to a Premiership match before, especially a match, which had that much at stake- Arsenal was fighting with Tottenham for the last Champions League qualifying spot. I guess Highbury got a very decent farewell present- an Arsenal win together with the qualification. I'm glad of the result- they deserved it at least by looks of that one game. When you would have asked me this question about two weeks ago, then maybe I would have given a different answer (especially by looking at the Arsenal vs. Tottenham game).

But still, with all the stuff going on in the stadium, I was most concerned during and as well after the game about the Liverpool vs. Portsmouth and Manchester vs. Charlton result. Even on the tube it was quite hard to explain to some of the fans that I really wasn't an Arsenal supporter. Hehh, maybe I’m starting to be a proper fan? Hope that doesn't take the form that Hornby described in his book...

Whiskey Night

Yesterday night saw a beginning of a local whiskey club, which had been in the planning for weeks or maybe even months. Anyway, we (seven of us) managed to pull it off at Christians place. Fine conversation starting with whiskey making process and ending with, hmm, different stuff. Bits and pieces about Italian politics were quite interesting and an argument about the role of the state, which as always came down to values of different people. Strange, but somehow I really do not like to argue on this level. I feel it to be to soft ground to walk on and doesn't really contain any real answers.

Well what about whiskeys? We tried four different single malt brands: Glenlivet, Bowmore, Ardbeg and one especially made for Sainsbury. Personally I liked the second one of them, just because it was not too strong as the Ardbeg and not so "pale" as the Glenlivet. Just the right balance and just the right smoky taste, which I still can taste in my mouth if I want to picture it. Dan, the Dutch, guy said it tasked almost like bacon. Hmm, and to a certain extent I guess he was right...

Of Saturday and Sunday

I have really mixed feelings about this weekend- some pieces, which have really positive charges, and some, which do not offer any connotations at all. I must start my explanation from the beginning, at the point when I arrived in London at about 11 AM in the morning. The stroll I took there, mainly walking in the center (in the triangle of Oxford, Westminster and Covent Garden), was like having a stroll in a big shopping mall with all the Gap's, Zara's, Esprit's, Adidas' Starbuck's, Caffe Nero's and McDonald's being pushed onto you... I do not want to say it is bad; I just have a feeling that in some points, especially in the central London, it is just too much. It starts to distort the overall picture and thus doesn't let the underlying message come through. Ok, fair enough, but what I really find interesting to ponder about is the fact that is it always being like that? I do not have the reference period in my back pocket, because of historic reasons, but can anybody answer me? Is it a cumulative effect, or like a straight line for the past three centuries starting probably with the industrial revolution in the end of the 17 hundreds...

Saturday evening at Oliver's and Veiko's place was real fun. Interesting people that I met there- all with different backgrounds and different visions, provided me with excellent food for thought (in many ways). And one of the poshest (at least that is what they told me) nightclubs in London- Kensington Roof Gardens- was also an interesting experience. The fact that it was extra expensive is not a point here- one has to be and try everything at least for the sake of it. What is much more interesting is the people you see in these places; their way of living and stuff like that. And my conclusions: hmm, the games are roughly the same (maybe a bit more "educated"), but actually it really doesn't matter. It's just the level of the game is played that separates them.