Thursday, May 31, 2007

Free $25 for the first 11 people.

If anyone wants to pick up a free $25 Visa debit card by signing up with a Sprint cell phone plan, like the SERO plan I just signed up for, leave your email address as a comment. I will email a referral to the first 11 people. If you write your email address as email(at)address.com you should be able to avoid those pesky spam-bots.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Phone Service Upgrade.

Well, I've finally done it. I decided to ditch the land phone line and go with only a cell phone. I read about a great deal on My Money Blog and decided to take advantage of it. Here's what I get: 500 minutes/month, nights and weekends start at 7p, unlimited text messaging, unlimited calls to anyone in the Sprint, Nextel, or Boost network; and unlimited data for my new Motorola Q phone for about $30/month. Also, this phone can be used as a modem for your laptop or desktop according to the Sprint site. What Sprint doesn't tell you, from what I've read on other sites, is that you have to purchase some software for the phone from them for about $40 to be able to use that feature. I've also read that software called PDAnet will also allow you to do the same thing for about $34. Does anyone know of a cheaper equivalent to this software?

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Netflix Downgrade.

I just downgraded our Netflix rental plan from 3 at-a-time (unlimited; $17.99/month) to 2/month ($4.99/month). I did this partly because I feel like getting 2 movies at a time (my share of the plan) is a bit much for me and I'm not getting my money's worth. I also feel like I should be doing more work and reading more books. I even have 2 computer games that I haven't even opened yet. These are all secondary reasons though. I mostly wanted to downgrade because I recently rediscovered the public library. I'm amazed at the dvd selection the library has. They not only have a lot of interesting documentaries but also a lot of Hollywood movies... and recent ones too. Best of all you can borrow them for a week for free! Just recently, I borrowed 16 Blocks starring Mos Def and Bruce Willis. Our library even has The Alien Quadrilogy! We also get "rent one, get one free" coupons from Blockbuster every so often, so I don't think we'll miss out on any new releases.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Pictures of Oulu, Finland.

Here are some pictures I took of Oulu, Finland.

This is a lake near my friend's (Raine's) apartment, where I stayed.












Here's Raine hard at work in the living room.


These are pictures of a concert we went to at the best bar in Oulu, 45 Special. The band is called Viikate (Scythe, in English).

















May 1st is Vappu, a national holiday in Finland. The college students have a hazing ritual for the first year students that culminates on the day before Vappu with a "baptism" in one of the rivers in downtown Oulu. After having lunch downtown, we went to the park to check out the festivities.

Here's my friend A.J. trying to look suave.


Here's Raine giving the horns of satan.


Here's Pertti doing the same.


The divers didn't show up yet, so the "baptisms" took place in a pool filled with river water instead of the river itself. The scaffolding had a collapsible platform for the students to sit on. It was then released, sending the person into the pool of frigid water.













The divers finally show up and they are now setting up the slide for the real "baptisms."















I was told this says, "the police are your friends!"


After the festivities, we met up with some of Raine and Pertti's friends and went to a bar and played cards.

From left to right are Pia, Kari's girlfriend (I forgot her name, sorry), and Kimmo.


From left to right are Kari, Raine, Pertti, and A.J.


Here's my friend Eero.







This is Raine's good friend, Jyrki (I think that's how you spell it).