A few days ago Photoshop decided not to play nicely anymore. Every time I switched to other application and back, Photoshop hung for a fifteen seconds or so. All windows, including the palettes, were blank and the system was churning something on the disk.

First, I thought the problem to be insufficient memory and killed Photoshop among some other applications. No change. I continued to work and tried to adjust to the delay, as surely a reboot would fix the problem.

The next session showed the same problems. I started to get worried, and checked that the Photoshop preferences are not garbled. No changes there.

Finally, I googled on the subject and still found nothing. Fortunately I kept my eyes open and found out a nifty software called Filemon that logs all disk access. I installed the system and fired Photoshop up once again.

The root cause behind the behaviour was a disk access error in colour profiles. Running chkdsk showed a bad block in C:. After chkdsk had fixed the disk, I was really worried whether Photoshop would start anymore. Chkdsk is not the best tool to correct anything, it just marks the blocks bad and then you have to fix the file level issues by yourself.

I couldn’t believe my luck when Photoshop started without a hitch. There may be some missing colour profiles, but as I’m not using them, I don’t care.

Moda Aleksanteri is a surprisingly fresh fashion store being part in the Moda chain that used to be the dresser for older ladies… Anyhow, Moda Aleksanteri is a sort of a flagship store, located in the prime spot on Aleksanterinkatu in downtown Helsinki.

The selection is tilted heavily to 25-40 segment, nothing too teenager and not too old-fashioned either. The labels are upper middle, such as Gant and Boss, and for once there is a wide variety of selection for both gents and ladies. The shop sells are also accessories, shoes, belts and such.

Moda Aleksanteri, Aleksanterinkatu 48, Helsinki, Finland, +358 9 684 0170

Café Buffo is a nice coffeehouse that suffers from its location in middle of Sello shopping. Would the café be somewhere else, the ambience would be much better. A number of seats is arranged a sort of lounge-like, and there is more feeling of privacy than with normal coffeehouse seating. This helps to keep the noise level down a bit, too.

The café sells both sweet and salty pastries, sandwiches and other café stuff. All normal special coffees are available, as well as soft drinks and juices. Compared to other cafés in Sello, Buffo feels a bit better somehow.

Café Buffo, Leppävaarankatu 3-9 (in Sello shopping mall), Espoo, Finland, +358 9 595 960

I and Sanna made a decision that we are going to go somewhere far far away in the next summer. To be more specific, and to nail down somekind of a budget, we searched for air fares to a couple of destinations in the world.

Unfortunately, we are too early this time. The ticket prices change at the end of March, and currently all specials have to be booked during this month and you have to travel before end of May or mid of June.

Usually we are too late to catch the best fares, or we have to run through a set of loops to get something that distantly resembles our original plans. An infant complicates things even further.

This time, however, we were too early. So, let’s wait to first of April and then continue again. Until then, we’ll keep our fingers crossed to elbows, and hope to get a good deal. Still, I have a hounting fear that the summer won’t have any special prices and we have to travel during September. This is a bad choice, as everyone else is already back from holidays and busily working — a lot of stuff can pile up in a week while you’re gone.

Skuutio is one of the few shoe shops in Kamppi shopping mall. The store is a bit hidden away on the fifth floor that is devoted to young fashion. The store is worth of visit if you are interested in more relaxed footwear — don’t expect to find a pair of classy shoes for a cocktail party here.

The store is small and there is not that much of shoes on display, but fortunately the shoes do look good and trendy. They have Lacoste, Adidas, Fly London and Tommy Hilfiger among others. Some bags are also available.

www.skuutio.com, Urho Kekkosen katu 1 (in Kamppi shopping mall), Helsinki, Finland, +358 9 755 4696

If you are a fan of Japanese design, consider visiting Blippo in Kamppi shopping mall. The store is filled with funky coloured items, such as garments, bags, toys and all kind of things you never knew existed.

Most of the stuff is very cute, pink, round and somewhat cushy, but there are also some scary and or dirty pieces in sale. So check out carefully what your child is wanting to buy, as it may be too explicit for them (but they don’t realise it yet…)

www.blippo.com, Urho Kekkosen katu 1 (in Kamppi mall), Helsinki, Finland, +358 9 737 949

It is almost mid-March and the weather is still biting cold, less than -15 Centigrades in the morning… Usually the snow is melting in this time of the year, but the winter is still going on strong in Helsinki. Fortunately at least sun is shining, so it’s not so dull anymore.

I’ve stayed mostly inside, as it’s a bit too cold for me to enjoy being out. I’ve been extremely busy, too, for various reasons. The bus drivers are on strike, second time during the last 12 months, and thus the highways are quite congested during peak times. All this combined has reduced my free time to absolute minimum.

Mecca is a brainchild of Hans Välimäki, the only chef having two Michelin star restaurant in Helsinki, and Palace restaurants, a big chain of upscale restaurants and hotels. So far very promising…

The restaurant occupies two floors nearby Esplanadi park. The place is designed by one of the foremost Finnish interior designer and uses all shades of brown to create a cozy and warm atmosphere.

The food is an interesting mixture of eastern and western cuisines with a certain twist that sets the portions apart from the rest of fusion restaurants. Sometimes the choices are a bit too complicated, and the ingredients do not bring any additional benefit to the experience. Most of the stuff is just great, especially the desserts are well worth of ordering.

www.mecca.fi, Korkeavuorenkatu 34, Helsinki, Finland, +358 9 1345 6200