The day I joined Facebook

This is part of my diary, from approximately the day I joined Facebook
on the Internet. Facebook is a social portal, where you can meet friends,
discuss things, and have fun. Among other things. It’s interesting site,
and currently as I’m writing this in February 2008, Facebook is gaining
a lot of users and media attention.

It’s a rainy Tuesday on October 2007. We ordered a honeymoon trip
on Internet to Thailand’s Hua Hin. I spent the whole day at home today.

Yesterday I was really tired for some reason. My wife left to work early,
ja I stayed sleeping. Mikael called about 10AM; I’d mumbled something
into the phone and said I’d call later. I’m really bad at conversations
when I’m tired.. Especially in the morning.

We’ve had some power outs here in Klaukkala; yesterday, today and
tomorrow coming one up.
These are regular maintenance work and so notifications have come
beforehand by paper. They’re improving the local electrical distribution network.

I went looking for a new laptop yesterday. Last Saturday we went
looking for a new phone to my wife, since the current Nokia 6280
has had some bugs. On the same trip we noticed that many laptop
providers are coming out with cheap models, ranging from 800+ euros
to around 1000 euros. I’m not so involved with current goings in
hardware development, but could see that the overall performance of
these laptops wasn’t bad at all.

Well, yesterday I went to see the machines and talk more about the details.
I said I’ll be using the laptop for both work and home use,
and if the price difference is one to two hundred euros, then I’ll
take faster and more effective machines instead of a cheaper one.
Finally the decision came down to a HP T7100 Pavillion, with Vista
Premium. It’s got 2 gigabyte RAM, 120 GB hard disk, 4 USB 2.0
ports, and the normal interfaces: integrated video adapter,
internal WLAN card, RJ-45 (Ethernet) port, sounds, and bluetooth
connection. Vista is a somewhat raw still, I’ve been wary of
switching into it, but in the long run I think early adopters are
benefiting from the choice. Vista will eventually rule the
corporate world, in 2-3 years time. According to a poll made in 2007
here in Finland, about 20% of companies are going for Vista during
2007. The rest are looking for what the initial experiences are.

About the phone I mentioned earlier: The shop clerk at Gigantti
megastore knew about a place definitely worth visiting if there’s
bugs in the cellular. Air-Photo at Helsinki-Vantaa airport has
over ten years of experience with maintaining cellulars, including
Nokia ones. I browsed the net looking for Nokia 6280 bugs, and
it seems these jammings, bootings, and power offs are somewhat
known issues with the particular model. The maintenance guy
said that the software is still sometimes a bit raw, coming out
in quite a speed, so there are some bugs occasionally.

I left the phone at the maintenance, and it came back two weeks later
fully functional. We’ve got a 50 euro spare Nokia at home, so my wife
can use it for the time being. The most important thing is not
to spend any extra by buying a new phone for nothing. If they can
fix the older one, it’s good. I don’t like the buy-and-trash
culture, where consumer electronics seems to be going. Unfortunately.
I’d like to see the good old engineering discipline raising its head
also in the maintenance and fixing of apparatuses. Like watch goldsmiths,
they have a fine craft.

Joined Facebook.com today. 5 friends have done it already.
Later I’ll try to write more about Facebook. Cheers.