Day 109 The World Wide Web

I have become so used to using the Internet to find information that I simply cannot imagine how people in the past can live their lives without the access of the world wide web.

Say for example, I had a sore throat yesterday, and I googled how I could get rid of it. I was doing a case write-up the other day, and I searched the Internet about case-related info. I can so easily send any documents to anyone with the help of e-mail attachments without fiddling with the fax machine and mail. Everything is within our finger-tips. I bet if people from the 18th century time-travel to 2010, they will be shocked.



It was on the Helsinki Times last week that "by year-end 2015, all residents in Finland will be equipped with high-speed internet connections". This was the target set by the Finnish communications ministry. The plan was to offer Finland residents a minimum of 100 megabytes per second by the end of 2015 such that users will be able to expand at-home businesses and other small businesses. I think it is quite brilliant that they are doing this!

I have this theory that with the Internet, our lifestyles can be quite different than the lifestyles that our parents lead. There is this blogger/writer/entrepreneur called Tim Ferrriss , who wrote a book called "The 4-hour workweek". It says that you don't really need to stay on your desk from 9 am to 6 pm (or not more), because of something called the automation. Money is not generated by the period of time that you work, but generated also when you are not working. Say a blog, you just have to update it, then if you get enough traffic, and googleads pays you, then you are generating income even when you are not working at all. Hm.. I think I should do the same with my blog.

Ah... the power of Internet. Let me devise a lifestyle that can fully make use of it!

Day 40 Can Levi get any prettier?

This blog entry is dedicated to my sister, who had her birthday on 11 Feb and probably had no time to celebrate because of her exams. Happy Birthday Jac, I did not have time to wish you a proper happy birthday because I was busy preparing this clip for you. Hope you like it!



What really shock me most about Lapland is the amount of trees I see here. Seriously, the number of trees I see in a day in Lapland is more than the number of trees I see in my entire life in Hong Kong. Staying in Lapland, I feel like mother nature is wrapping her arms around me. Everyday, I see trees, snow, rising sun and more trees, not sky-scrapers and concrete buildings.

I am enjoying myself here, seeing the nature, but I think that it is a bit too quiet here. I saw some houses in the middle of the road, and really, in the middle of nowhere. I don't think I can ever imagine myself or anyone living there, where you have to travel for hours and hours for school, work or even for groceries. I was actually a bit shocked to see that there are people living in the middle of the road.

But still I love it here so much. When I retire or am extremely sick of Hong Kong, I think I might spend some time back in Levi or anywhere in Finland.

Day 34 Asians taking photos

Ever wonder why Asians, particularly Koreans, Japanese and Chinese, love putting up their "V" sign when they take photos? (Nope, they don't stand for peace or anything.)

(Photo: in casual snapshots.)

(Photo: or even in business suits at a business event.)

I was talking to a bunch of non-Asians and this topic came up. We came up with several reasons for it:

1. It resembles chopsticks. Asians use chopsticks, so I guess sticking two fingers up means "oh yea, make no mistake, we use chopsticks, not forks or knives". The typical Asian pride in using dining utensils different than westerners, and of course, we love to show off our dining habits.

2. Those two fingers are the most powerful fingers. Why? Well, as Asians, we all know kung-fu (a drunken Finnish man on the bus kindly reminded me of this by repeatedly asking me whether I know kung-fu), so when you want to attack someone on their eyes, you stick up the two fingers and poke into their eye-socket. So I guess this is another way of celebrating our powerful fingers.

3. Also related to our kung-fu move, that's the one finger stand. Technically we should only stick up one finger when we take photos, but I guess Asians, particularly Chinese, are humble and don't want people to think we are number 1 or something by sticking just the index finger. So we stick out two fingers and say "V" instead.


But of course, these are only speculations, the history of the "V" sign and the reason for its popularity are unknown. This is just one of the great oriental mysteries that makes the east so mysterious to the blue-eyes.

Just joking!

Day 25 Business ideas in Finland

Coming up with new business ideas is one of my favourite things to do, when I am on the bus, when I have nothing to do and when I am alone in my room. I have always thought that foreigners in a country may do particularly well in making money off the local people because they always seem to have a newer perspective to things that seem routine to locals.

Here in Helsinki, I have come up with some business ideas, they are for fun, of course!

"Slippery road ahead" sign

Roads here are super slippery! especially when you enter an indoor area and there is melting snow right on the edge. Seriously, I have slipped like multiple times in situations like this, and funny enough, I have yet to see a single "slippery road ahead" sign here! Making these signs may not be possible because I will have to compete with factories in China that most likely employ child labor. But still, I can buy cheap from those Chinese factories and sell them here. I bet like every single store here needs one of these!

Diet food

Here in Helsinki, I don't really feel the diet craze. The Fins eat carbs, like lots and lots of carbs here, e.g. bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. In school cafeterias, you can take as many pieces of bread as you like in a buffet-style table. Oh, and they love butter as well, like lots and lots of butter! Funny enough, if you go grocery shopping, even in the city centre, you rarely see any diet products there.

So I am thinking of starting my own health brand here, it will be much like the US's weight-watchers or something. I will also have my first-mover's advantage too (haha, that's business school for you, I know all these fancy words!). just an idea. People here are not obese or anything, but the idea of dieting is something you can embark even when you are stickly thin!

I will leave the two ideas here, and more to come! but I don't want to bore you with it!