I want this

I want this:

Meresuu Spa

I was yesterday and today at Meresuu Spa and Hotel in Narva-Jõesuu for a seminar and I really liked the place.

The Spa has all you need for relaxation. There are a number of different pools and saunas and some I really liked. The buffet food was exquisit, the rooms are spacious and included a small minibar filled a few free(!) drinks. There is a nice cafe in the basement.

Highly recommended.

Change has come to America

Barack Obama winning the US elections is a good thing it seems. People need hope in difficult times and Obama provides this. Now all that remains to be seen is how President Obama fulfills the high expectations and whether he is able to motivate and inspire people to make what he talks about a reality.

Hopefully Obama’s election has a world-wide impact and it inspires new kind of politics all over the world, including here is Estonia.

Heal the world, make it a better place, for you and for me, and the entire human race.

Flashback from 1992:

Election Day in America

Hopefully Barack Obama will be elected and he will be able to push everyone to make the world a little better place.

In the pocket (Taskus)

I have been in Tartu yesterday and today. I had quite a lot of spare time, which I mostly spent in the brilliant new shopping and entertainment centre Tasku. I found some great things: the Rahva Raamat bookstore, where I bought two books (in order to learn French I bought Michel Houellebecq‘s “Les Particules élémentaires” and in order to satisfy my abnormal craving for Michael Jackson related information I bought Randy Taraborrelli’s “Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness”. The café at the bookstore, called Cookbook also serves great Chai. Tartu also has Estonia’s only Celio shop, where I bought a fedora and some other things. Celio is great, as it only has clothes for men and those clothes are relatively cheap. If you are after more expensive stuff, the centre also has Pepe Jeans, Levi’s Store, Blend of America, Guess, Esprit and others. There is an Apple authorised reseller iDream as well.

But the best thing about Tasku is the multiplex cinema Cinamon, which has reasonable prices and where I saw 2 great, but diametrically different films. On Saturday I saw “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” which was wonderful, although perhaps for me already a bit too fast-paced. It used the same formula that worked well for the wildly successful made-for-TV previous intalments and it translated into the movie screen rather well. Kenny Ortega is a genius. The songs perhaps could have been a bit better, but on the whole it was great.

Today I saw the Estonian film “Detsembrikuumus (December Heat)“, which I actually liked even more. Estonian films have gone a long way, and I really think the film was brilliantly done and acted. I especially liked Tõnu Kark, but the whole experience was so good. The film is about the attempted Soviet coup in Estonia on 1 December 1924, but there were references also to today’s challenges throughout the film.

I used to dislike Tartu, but now I cannot wait before I can return here. The Tasku centre is a worthy addition to the magic of Tartu.

Corporations for Human Rights

Usually when large multinational corporations are referred to in the area of human rights, it is mostly related to abuses of these rights (or rather businesses putting their immediate profits ahead of other issues). However, in this instance two companies have publicly come out in support of human rights in the matter of gay marriage in California, where a vote will be held together with the presidential elections on whether to amend the State Constitution to eliminate the right for same-sex couples to marry gay. On Friday Apple announced that: 

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

Google had announced their opposition to the constitutional amendment last month. 

By conventional wisdom, it is usually a tricky thing for corporations to be involved in what may be perceived as political matters, as there is the worryl that potential customers may be put off by this. However, I think that this paradigm is changing and people want to consume products by companies that have a positive brand value. Apple and Google have generated a lot of good karma for themselves, hopefully more companies will follow suit and step up for what they think is right. In the long run it brings more loyal customers and therefore also profit.

The Cartoons of My Childhood

I was surfing around the web and discovered the Smurfs had a 50th anniversary yesterday. I wanted to highlight some of the cartoons that I watched (and I did watch a lot of TV as a child). In addition to the smurfs there were 2 great shows that were important in shaping who I am.

Once upon a time … life was a brilliant and educational cartoon about the human body:

Maya the Bee:

I watched all of these shows on Finnish TV, of course, as I was born in the early 1980s.

I am renting out my studio apartment

Imagine:

• being able to get on or off the boat to Helsinki or Stockholm and walk a few minutes and be home;
• having breakfast at the Fashion café opposite your home or nice and cozy Tiigrikäpp; 
• working at World Trade Centre and going from home to work in one minute; 
• partying late in the Old Town or in the City Centre and not having to worry about getting a taxi or public transport;
• going running or rollerskating to Kadriorg or Pirita.

This all and more is possible when you rent my city centre apartment where I lived for two years. I have refurbished it and am renting it out now as I have found another place to live.

You have to pay me 5 000 4 500 Estonian kroons (ca 320 288 euros) per month plus communal costs. 

Drink tea, it is healthy

Apparently, drinking tea is healthier than drinking water. Unknowningly, I have led a rather healthy life in that respect, since I consume tea more than any other beverage. According to this article by BBC News UK nutritionists found already in 2006 that “[t]ea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers.” This news has for some reason been picked up today in ‘the blogosphere’.

Meaningless test

Your result for The House, MD Personality Test…

Dr. Gregory House

60% Eccentricity, 55% Confidence, 40% Kindness

Take The House, MD Personality Test at HelloQuizzy