Wonderfully true.. (http://www.wulffmorgenthaler.com/default.aspx)

Last week I have added yet another feature on the already extremely complex social life I’m displaying. I congratulated myself for joining Facebook, and made a mental note to inquire myself on the possible reasons this endeavour has not materialised itself earlier.

And yet, a awkward feeling of anxiety creeps around …the question is: “now what?”. I only have two networks open, about 21 registered friends (F-book friends, that is), run five apps, received two posts on my wall (of fame?) replied likewise, filled a couple of quizzes and checked out a handful of profiles.  This is where my relational abilities stopped.

I haven’t poked, superpoked, bitch-slapped, zombie-bit, highfived, creeped, stalked, thrown sheep, pet(!) anyone or anything. It is not in my nature to do these things in real life (whatever meaning that might have), and I have no such intention to start now. I did not share any embarrassing pictures, didn’t tag myself in anyone else’s, didn’t send goldfish, didn’t update my status five times/minute, didn’t post videos, and I feel guilty for that.

I fancy I’m pretty savvy with today’s tech peripherals, and means of using them. However, at some point, I have to draw a line, between usefulness and pure digital hedonism. I just can’t keep up with all the demands that an online social lifestyle in imposing. There’s only so much of my time I can dedicate to my LCD; people need me more.

There are plenty of online products that aim to help me with every aspect of my social, professional, emotional, artistic, leisure, aspect of my life. I have three e-mail accounts -for bulk mail, personal, and work-related issues. Two instant messaging applications help me stay in touch, make online calls, send smileys and emoticons(!) and share my status.  Two other web-sites offer to remind me of friends’ birthdays, public and religious holidays, and send seasonal greetings.

When it gets to photos, things get complicated. I had a Ringo account, which I discontinued to use, because it turned into a dating and  spamming site; it also imposed restrictions on the number and size of uploads, album-sharing, etc.  Weird people tagged my photos and linked them to theirs for no purpose. Switching to Flickr seemed a good move. The interface is much friendlier, intuitive and well organized. There’s even an upload engine, that effectively sucks up your photos and posts them. The caveat: with guest user accounts, there’s and upload and size limit. Also, they have a maximum of three albums which you can use to organize your photos, and you can’t group them into collections. Since my quota for this month is gone, don’t expect any new stuff -in case you are regulars on FLickr.

I keep a photo portfolio on Photo.net, which is a high-standards dedicated photographic community. I still have a guest user account, which somehow restricts the features I can use and limits the number of posts. Upgrading to a premium user account would cost about 60$ for 36 months, and allow unrestricted freedom to display and exhibit. The real gain is, however, the chance to get feedback, critiques, comments, reviews and suggestions, and to network with pros, connoisseurs and aficionados in the field. This is the Mercedes of photo websites.

When it comes to news, nothing beats my trusted Google RSS Reader, properly attuned with nearly 200 feeds . I also have bookmarked almost 40 sites (neatly grouped into categories) that don’t run RSS feeds, but nevertheless might be interesting to check out.

Briefly, I also have user accounts on IMBD, YouTUbe,  Virgin Radio, E-bay, Amazon, Readers’ Digest, and several more.

All the above mentioned sites, programs and applications demand time and attention, which I can offer in short supply. There are always updates available, e-mails to reply, things to post, picts to see, short movies to forward, and countless profiles to check out, tag, link, follow, evaluate, respond, edit and manage. It’s almost a full-time job. Hence, the feeling of anxiety I have mentioned earlier. Am I enough up-to-date? Did I forget someone’s profile? Have I replied to that last Superpoke?

Keeping up with all these drains my imagination and energy. Even this post is written on the space WordPress has kindly allowed me to call my own blog. Therefore Facebook, as far as I see it, is just another nuisance, time-consuming, with a mediocre interface, and not entirely compatible with my browser.

Warning! Any attempt to poke, superpoke, throw sheep, bitch-slap, highfive, wall, stalk me, or otherwise  any similar facebook-ish delicious-ian, ringo-nian, digg-ish  activity shall be seriously disregarded or even pass unnoticed, unless specifically approved of by yours truly.

Happy networking!

P.S. Check out this article, and also Markus’ opinion on this.

On the other hand, I’ve had wonderful experiences at concerts; these rather confirm the rule I have stated.

This weekend I went to see Scorpions in concert, one of my favorite bands in highschool. The concert took place in the Main Plaza in Sibiu, which is not a very suitable place, since rock concerts are rather held on stadiums, open fields, meadows and such.

Apart from being about 40 minutes late, the band offered an exceptional and truly professional performance. The opening act was performed by Compact, a Romanian rock band from the early 90′s -with simple, no-nonsense and appealing lyrics and music. The kind of music you can listen to yourself, and buy one of their cd’s as a present for your folks, without fear of offending in any way. Their style is kind of a combination of Eagles, Smokie and Queen.

The main act was powerful, an 2-hour combination of light shows, drum solos, screeching electric guitars, and a flawless rock music. Although Scorpions are better known for their lyrical ballads, they displayed their more energetic side, entertaining a crowd of about 10,000 with a sample of classic 90′s rock; they have also featured some releases from their latest album.

The crowd went delirious on such classics as MRs. Holiday, Still loving you, and of course, Wind of change. I should point that all ages were represented, from toddlers with their parents, high school die-hard rockers, and aging nostalgics. Plus a bunch of middle-age people you would normally not picture to encounter at a rock event.

The crowd behaved decently, apart from the omnipresent pack of teenage hardcore rock fans, properly inebriated with an endless supply of cheap beer, vodka and Red Bull stashed in their backpacks, who vocalized their eternal admiration for a particular tune.

Should I mention that the entrance was free?

All in all, it seems that rock’n roll is not dead, which is a good thing, providing a touch of class for ears tired of pop radio hits.

More pictures available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/15329392@N02/sets/72157603135394354/.

Also, I’ll try to write some brief descriptions, and give links to more elaborate and  practical information.

This is not supposed to be a replacement for a tourist guide or an info booklet; nor does it cover exhaustively all there is to know about these destinations. Instead, it gives a rather personal glimpse over places and people.

Finland is  large-sized and sparsely populated, heavily forested and increasingly urbanized, sometimes monotonous and mostly surprisingly diverse. There are about 35 national parks, from marine to deep forest, from a cozy walk to a challenging trek, which tells a lot about the diversity and beauty of the Finnish scape.

Helsinki is the capital and the most important city, both in terms of population, economy, culture and tourism. I find Helsinki a very friendly, walkable and pleasant city -as a tourist, at least. Touristic infrastructure is vast and complex. Guides, maps, brochures, leaflets, pamphlets, fliers, ads, touch-screens, and most of all, friendly locals go out of their way to help.

Public transportation is extensive and reliable: trams,buses, subway and rent-a bike are available in a complex network. Yet walking is always an option, especially in the downtown. As the city expends on several nearby islands, ferry services are also available, even recommended during the summer.

There are plenty of attractions, venues and happenings to choose from; August is a very busy month. A connaisseur tourist  would “shop” in advance for tickets, discounts, maps, opening hours, and generally come up with an action plan. I the three weeks I have spent over there, I barely managed to visit about half of the places I planned initially.

For the average Central European tourist, I find Finland, and Helsinki in particular a bit pricey. I won’t go into details, but as your average rule of thumb, everything costs almost double than in Germany. And to think that Norwegians organize shopping trips to Finland, because they find it much cheaper..

Finns are hype about their products, which are well worth all the praises. Finnish design and architecture, along with Nokia, are prime commodities for export, and  subject of intense pride. Marimekko is a cult brand; I also heard that Finnish cartoons are the buzz on the Japanese market. Make sure to check the latest happenings in these areas.

I would say that that the thing I love most about Finland and Finns, apart from the stunning outdoors, is the striking duality of the high-tech, fast-paced and post modern hype and the rural, folk influences integrated in the daily lifestyle.

I would surely love to return anytime to Finland.

There are many things which can take you by surprise, and weather is one of them. Also, there are things that you can control, and things that just happen. In order to minimize the presumable unpleasant consequences of the unpredictable, precautions must be taken, and plans must be devised. Adaptability is essential.

This weekend, we were planning a hiking trip, on the high alpine plateaus of the Fagaras mountains. Specifically, drive as much as possible on a dirt road in the forest, leave the car at the base of the mountain, then hike up the ridge to reach Negoiu mountain lodge (aprox. 1450m).

We reached the pole marking the beginning of the trek at around 8:30 pm, cold and constant rain falling in the dark forest. The ascension itself did not pose any major problems, since all five of us were equipped with headlights, raiwear, and high spirits. After we have passed 1000 m altitude, rain began to change into snow. After 1.5 h we reached the high alpine plateau, arctic weather surrounding us in a surrealistic landscape.

The next morning, thick and heavy blankets of snow smothered the trees, making them look like candles in the mist; no more that 50 m of visibility around. Fine particles of snow kept falling throughout the day and the next morning, occasionally scattered by the wind. After breakfast, we hiked up towards Serbota peak for about an hour, until thick fog and snow blown by the wind determined us to seek the cover of the forest.

Hot tea and a hearty lunch filled the next hours; while the others were resting, I took a short walk to shoot the picturesque bridges of the Dragons’ Path. As the day light was fading off quickly, I headed quickly back to the lodge, more hot tea and cozy chatting being the highlight of the evening. The lodge keeper, as we were the only guests, kept us awake for hours with stories.

We departed on Sunday morning around 10 a.m., while still snowing outside. In the forest, we were falling at some points in snow up to the knees. Branches heavy with sticky snow were cracking, and more than once collapsed under heavy loads of frozen snow and powder. We hurried downwards, worried about the car and perspectives of returning to civilization.

Not the most encouraging sight awaited us; the car was encapsulated in a 40 cm snow shell. For the next three hours, we struggled for every meter; pushing or turning the car, shoveling snow, running back and forth, and generally trashing up the fresh snow. To make matters worse, boulders, frozen streams, potholes and fallen branches were hidden under the snow. At 3 p.m. we finally gave up; we had no more than 3 hour of daylight left, and only covered 5 km of the 22 until the motorway. The decision to leave the car and head forward at full speed was resolved quickly; it took another 30 minutes to settle the car in a safe spot.

After another hour of walking, the cellphones became usable, and calls were made to inquire about possibilities of transportation. Luckily, we found someone with a car to pick us up at the nearest village. Another two hours in the fading daylight, snow turned into mud, climbing fallen trees and dodging potholes, the village seemed further than ever. The good news, tracks of car tires were visible in the snow. Finally, our transportation arrived. Warm food and hot coffee awaited for us in Sibiu. And about three more hours of driving on the busy highway to Cluj.

The outcome was a backpack full of wet mountain gear, sour muscles, dehydration, some tensed hours, a monumental appetite, and about 1 GB of pictures. All in all, a nice weekend adventure for a bunch of urbanite yuppies. More pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/15329392@N02/sets/72157602634724762/.

His point is that these are the sort of questions that will cost you a job for which you presumably were qualified. People who ask such questions will forever remain applicants, without a chance to move even to the status of candidates. I’ll make a brief selection.

An all-time classic is “do you drug-test” -there seems to be no conditions that justify raising such suspicion onto oneself. But there’s more:

-is it possible for me to get a small loan?

-what is that your company does?

-how many (insert the name of an ethnic group) you have working here?

-what is the zodiac sign of the company president?

These are just ridiculous questions -in fact so ridiculous that I can’t possibly imagine anyone being interviewed for a job and really uttering these questions.

“Is it easy to get away with stuff around here?” -I can only associate this question with characters from comedy movies, like Clerks, for example.

My absolute favorite is “do you provide employees with gun lockers?”. I leave you to create your own imaginary candidate, and a suitable situation, in which this question could fit. Personally, I see a combination of Yosemite Sam and Dick Cheney.

Compared to this, the “will my office be near an ice machine?” barely sounds like a baby’s whining.

I leave you to create your own -or maybe share your own- dumbest question you ever asked during an interview.

I have yet to explore new frontiers, uncharted territories, and push the humanity’s geographical limits. The sources of the Nile have been gloriously pinpointed, the Antarctic icecap has been crossed, and the prairie became country club golf courses. In this sense, there is little out of the ordinary for a contemporary traveller to do. Nevertheless, I feel that even modern travelling can provide sufficient challenges, hurdles and surprises for your average urbanite.

My latest experience -or adventure I should say- involves a long distance night train. But I should explain first. As everyone recalls from my last post (heh, I already fancy devoted readers) I was eagerly waiting for the arrival of my new camera. Disappointingly, it arrived only to discover a few moments after turning it on, that it has serious malfunctions. The CF card slot was damaged -two or three of the pins were missing. In other words, no pictures could be stored on the memory card. I digress here a bit to state that this sort of malfunctions can only be discovered once you start actually using the camera. No employee from the electronics department of your shopping mall would ever run a test on a camera with an actual memory card -that is, if they would bother to turn it on for you. More likely, you will rely on their outside appearance, on the seal on the box, and the trust you have in the brand, the manufactures and the retailer. Another point is that such malfunction is occurs ALWAYS during the fabrication process; therefore, no matter what the clerk will tell you, they will have to replace your camera, or otherwise reimburse you. The good side is that it occurs very rarely -I could find browsing forums and chatrooms only one other similar story. After all, Canon is a reputable brand, and most of their products are manufactured or assembled in Japan.

Back to the train story, I decided to go to Bucharest myself, to exchange the camera. This was a hastily decision, I didn’t have time to book train tickets. I was really running out of patience, and feeling very frustrated to have the camera so close, and yet unusable.

There were tickets left only for one train going to Bucharest, the 22:03 express. I bought a 2nd class seat, planning to sleep throughout the eight-hour journey. The train arrived on time, already full. I should explain that this was a Friday night train, and therefore full of students and temporary workers returning home. I was happy to seat with only four other people in an eight-seats compartment.

People were still fidgeting with their luggage by the time the train left. We barely settled, when at the next station, another horde was waiting on the platform. The omnipresent old lady walked in our compartment, with a duffle bag of respectable proportions, and presently asked to be accommodated by the window, facing the direction of the train, for fear of terrible motion sickness. We complied reluctantly, and tried to get back to sleep as soon as possible.

Heat became unbearable, but the old lady protested every attempt to open the window. At the next station, we got ourselves the omnipresent drunk vagabond. This was the kind of guy who wears a parka jacket whatever the season or temperature. He didn’t take it off in the train. I think he did us a favor.

We were quick in dozing off after this unpleasant interruption, when something started cooking. I mean, literally; I’m sure it was the drunk’s parka. He was sitting right next to the heater, and an odor of overtoasted bread started to invade the compartment. It didn’t seem to bother him though. We opened the window, old lady protesting furiously.

Next stop, about half way, a sporty-looking fellow, followed by a shy chick demanded their right to be seated. This was 25 past 2 AM. The sporty guy, without much etiquette, kicked out the drunk, seated himself, then remembered something, thought for a while, a ray of inspiration struck his porcine eyes, and offered the seat to his shy female friend. He managed to sit on his bag, making sure to crush the old lady’s feet. An exchange of polite remarks followed, generally concerning religion, anatomy, relatives, and one’s place in the universe. Peace was restored.

The drunk started hickuping once the train reached the high mountain pass. He claimed the altitude, the speed of the train, combined with the dark night were responsible for his unstoppable hick-up. He self medicated by means of a bottle of schnapps stashed in his parka.

At 6:40 AM we reached the North Railway Station in Bucharest. I acknowledged this when the sporty fellow removed ostensibly the bag I was sleeping with my head on. Claiming to be in a hurry, he almost forgot his girlfriend, sleeping in the train. Then the train stopped abruptly, sending the himself and his bag on top of everyone. He grinned and claimed this was a “Bucharest welcome”. Then him and the old lady resumed their exchange of polite remarks.

I was already by the door, trying to put as much distance as possible between that train and myself. The smell of the drunk’s parka followed me for many hours. Outside the train station, a guy offered me a cab ride, when I refused he asked me why did I come to Bucharest in the first place. Well…

I am the first to acknowledge and appreciate the advantages and benefits of the internet concerning purchases of merchandise. Frequently, I’m making reservations, buy tickets, shop online, or otherwise use the web to speed up processes which would regularly take several hours or days, involve travelling distances, queueing, and generally wasting time and resources.

I’m also sure that everyone has had, at least once, one less that happy experience with paying money over the internet. Specifically, I will write about my odissey with trying to buy a camera online.

I was looking for a very specific product, the new (then) Canon 400 D -or Canon Rebel XTi , as it is known on the other side of the pond. Naturally, you look around, to find the best deal. And by the best deal, I mean reasonable quality, at a fair price, and decent shipping and insurance fees. For this particular product, there is a wide range of offers available.

While surfing around, I stumble on this website, where they were selling this camera for a suspiciously low price; I mean, almost half form the regular stores. The place seemed allright, and I was quite close to placing an order, when luckily I found this on a forum. I recommend anyone who has had doubts about online shopping to read this first. If you follow the links given there, you can find surprising facts about online stores you would otherwise perceive as very respectable and secure. Naturally, I congratulated myself for being cautios. First lesson learned.

After finding a different offer, on a respectable site, with hight ratings, I’ve placed an order. The thing is, I wanted my camera delivered to a different address than the billing address. This created havoc, as apparently the German clerks could not understand why in the world would anyone want stuff to be delivered in a different place than home. Or, for that reason, why would your banking address be different than the physical address. As a result, it took me almost a whole month -not exaggerating- lengthy emails back and forth, and considerable disregard for English and German grammar rules, until I’ve managed to get my money back, and still no camera. Second lesson learned -don’t mess with ze German mindset.

After fixing the billing address problem, I make a third attempt to buy the desired camera, careful not to repeat the previous mistakes. Everything went well at first -that is, I’ve asked my cousin from Germany to buy it for me, and then send it over with her brother who just happened to be on a business trip around there. Except, they apparently needed a second confirmation for delivery -something sort of like “do you really, really, …, really want to buy it?”. As a result, my cousin returned empty-handed and with bad news. Third lesson learned.

Consequently, I decided to buy it the old-fashioned way -cash. Except, the guy who is selling the camera lives several hundred of kilometers away, and absolutely hates the local postal services provider. The problem seemed unsurmountable at first, until I learned that a colleague of mine will take a trip to the capital, and she could pick up the camera for me. Yeeey!

Right now, she has just sms-ed me that she is on the train back home, having the much desired camera in close possession. Given the previous experiences, I’m still playing cautious, not being overenthusiastic about the whole deal. I mean, it’s a long train journey…lots of things can happen.

I’ll let you know how it ends.

Mind mapping software is just that, a little piece of code which helps you build a mindmap. Before discovering theese little treasures, I was working the ol’ fashioned way -paper and pencil that is. Which is not as bat as it sounds, since it gives you flexibility, creativity and proximity to your ideas. Highlighters, markers, crayons can add a bit of color. The problem is, when these little pieces of artwork need to be transposed into an Office or Correll document.

Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint have options for charts and diagrams. I find them useful only for the simplest tasks. To depict more complex relationships between objects and categories, these commands are rigid and using them can be frustrating. In my opinion, they fail to help you achieve just that -a mindmap.

I have recently discovered several programs which give you a whole new range of options to draw a comprehensive and clear mindmap. For example, Cmap is a free software provided by IHMC, which is best used for explanatory purposes. FreeMind can be ideal for displaying relationships between categories. SmartDraw and VisualMind from Mind Technologies give you a bit more variety, mainly for professional business and industrial users. Also, you can find useful instructions on how to build a structural mindmap here.

Personally, I find that the software provided by Cmap fits best my needs, gives me sufficient flexibility, yet it is user-friendly -and the results can be incredibly satisfactory.

As the last bit, I have to give credit to this resource which I just happened to stumble upon -a library for mindmapping software! Happy Mindmapping everyone!!