I graduated from upper secondary school (high school is the common term) the spring of '94. After that I got accepted in the Helsinki University of Technology in the department of electrical engineering. Though I'm planning to reapply, as my interests lie more in computer science. Wish me luck. :-)
I spent half of years 1994 and 1995 doing my military service. I didn't go to the army though. Instead I worked at the Metsähovi Radio Research Station as what the dictionary calls a "conscientious objector"; instead of military service, I did work that is supposedly good for the society in other ways. (After I left they decided not to actively maintain the web pages; that's why some of the links don't work and they still list me as the webmaster.) After that year of service I also got a summer job there.
I consider myself a hacker -- not in the sense that it's used in the media commonly, rathern that how it is described at the linked document. It's amazing how almost everything described there seems to fit my personality.
If you would like to know what I'm interested in, read my hobby page.
I asked a few friends of mine to write something about me, because you're never the best person to describe yourself. Thanks for your words, my friends.
Wiz asked me to write about him for his homepage.
I, being myself, the fool, said yes.
I decided right up front that if I am to write about someone, I
am not going to lie, nor am I going to dance around the subject, or
otherwise mince words to make sure no one gets offended. I'm not here to
do that; nor should any writer catch himself doing that. It is my
intention to write about him, the way I see him, the way I know him, in
good and in bad, and let the reader draw his or her own conclusions. I
believe that this is the way he prefers it.
I must admit that I'm at something of a loss here. It's hard to
define someone. It's always harder than you think, and after all this
time I should not be surprised when I find myself in this state, but
that's life for you. No, I can't tell you what he's like. How could I
possibly do that without either appearing mean, or ending up saying
nothing worth a damn, or without getting far to sidetracked into
meaningless details?
It is easy to say that someone is like that, or someone is like
this, but in the end, you're either describing something that only exists
in your own mind, or something that may in itself be accurate, but gives
a rather twisted and biased view of that person -- whether in good or
bad.
Hence, I will not attempt to define him.
I will say this, though: He's my friend, and in good or bad, I've
always been able to count on him, despite the fact that he sometimes
manages to annoy me quite a bit -- and, more importantly, despite the
fact that I often manage to annoy HIM quite a bit.
That, I believe, is enough. At least in my book, that goes a long way.
That's all.
Wizzu... what can one say about a Finnish wizard? Plenty! I first met
Wizzu because of irc, and notice I did not say ON irc. I was somewhat of a
newbie to dalnet, and there was something I wanted to bring to the attention
of the people in charge. I proceeded to write a very long email and
mass-mail it to about 10 people who's addresses I got from the dalnet
homepage, Wizzu's being one of them.
Little did I know that there is a *protocol* for doing this type of thing,
and I had broken almost every rule there was, lol! Yet Wizzu was still kind
enough to reply. I got a very long email back from him, explaining the
*rules* of netiquette... and how I had broken a great number of them,
hehehe! But this began our email friendship.
In the following months I got to know someone who is very intelligent,
especially about computers and the internet. He despises wasted bandwidth,
lol, and will tell you in a minute if he thinks you have done this! I have
not yet met him in real life, but I am guessing he is similar in person to
how he is on the computer... very organized and very busy!
Previously I mentioned how kind he was in answering my email, but that only
begins to cover his kindness. My new parents-in-laws are Finnish, and speak
no english... I speak no finnish. When they were coming to the US for their
first visit, I badly wanted to say some things to them in a letter. Wizzu
was kind enough to translate a very personal letter to them for me. To this
day, I don't think he realizes how much that meant to me... thanks again!!!
So many other times he has helped me too, whether it be finding mp3's or
taking a look at something I had on the web. Whatever, I had only to ask,
and Wizzu was there to help in any way he could. Sometimes that help was
just offering a listening ear as I worked through a frustration. The thing
that always amazes me about him, is that no matter how busy he is, he always
finds time to be a good friend!
Of course there is plenty more I could write about him, but then Wizzu would
have to give me the wasted bandwidth speech again, hehehe. Suffice it to
say I think he is intelligent, kind, the best IRCop there is, an all around
GREAT guy! I can't wait to someday meet him in person!!! :)
Mikko is a friendly, intelligent guy with great taste in music.
Mikko is a cool dude!! He's often helped me in a lot of different
situations, be it computer related, or even when dealing with feelings.
I appreciate that.
Maybe he's a bit slow on the studying! ;) - but I dunno if that's a bad
thing...
I really can't say anything bad about Mikko, I think. He's a really nice
guy. That's pretty much how I'd descibe him; a nice and helpful and
caring guy.
What do I know about Mikko?
Mikko is a Wizard. I know. He turned me into a newt. But I got
better...
He speaks a terribly complex, infinitely disagreeable language...
but I speak English too, so that's not so clever.
He lives in an appartment with no phone line, but he does have his
priorities straight... he has a direct ethernet connection to a computer
network in his apartement building.
He trades with folks from Malasia for posters and news about a
band from Ireland.
He should buy a new camera, since he is terribly disappointed when
his pictures of his favorite band (see immediately above) come back to
him out of focus, for no reason he can discern.
Point six: There is no point six.
Point seven: See point six.
He harpoons large bottles of cola in their natural habitat, and
does so fearlessly.
He flies fighter jets without leaving his home (but psychic jet
pilots are a NATO secret, so don't put this on the web site...)
He is extremely tall for a short man, which is not surprising,
since he has been contradicting people since 1937, several decades before
he was born.
Finally, he seems to get along with me. Which is the thing that
makes me think he's *really* strange.
Finally, Jilli wrote a portrait of me, sometime early 1998.