We, the Kalliola family, spent extended Easter holidays in Taivalkoski. The raison d’être was baptism of Sanna’s younger brother’s daughter, really heartwarming celebration of a new family member.

We also visited two skiing resorts near Taivalkoski: Iso-Syöte in Pudasjärvi and Ruka in Kuusamo. There were no snow to speak of on the ground, but the resorts were well prepared and almost all slopes were open and all lifts were operating. There were surprisingly lot of people, too.

The weather was warm and sunny, so the surface snow on the slopes melted quickly into slush and the skiing conditions deteriorated quickly. We hit the slopes early in the morning and got three to four hours of decent ski time. The boys spent most of their time with snowboards on Iso-Syöte and then Aapo promptly got sick. So, I and Sanna had a rare opportunity to ski together without anyone hassling around. It was surprisingly nice experience.

When we got back to Espoo, the temperature was at least +15C and I felt awkward hauling ski-bags around.

I’ve just booked flight tickets to Joensuu and back, and I’ll be travelling just before Easter to visit Ilomantsi for lecturing and hands-on training session. I’ll be in the city for about 20 hours and most of that time either in Ilomantsi, on my way to and fro by car, and sleeping. So I cannot visit my parents in Polvijärvi, as I would just have a short sleepover without any chances of interaction. This will result in another hotel night in Joensuu.

I decided to try a “green” hotel in the city centre. They claim to be eco-friendly on their website, but I’m still a bit unsure what that actually means. Hopefully the green experience will be delightful also from the normal traveller’s point of view.

I’ve been lecturing in North Carelia University of Applied Sciences in Joensuu during the past two years. My typical trip includes me visiting my parents in Polvijärvi, about 40 kilometers from Joensuu, and spending a night there. If the course is near a weekend, I might extend my stay and bring the boys with me.

I was once again visiting Joensuu yesterday, but the trip was different. My parents are on the Canary Islands with my younger sister and her family, so the house is empty and nobody could pick me up from the railway station. I decided not to travel to Polvijärvi with a bus, as the timetables were not that optimal (very typical situation, by the way), but stay in a hotel in Joensuu.

I’ve lived in the neighbouring town for more than half of my life and visited Joensuu several times a year after moving to Helsinki region, and I’ve never stayed in a hotel in Joensuu. Needless to say, the experience was weird. I was in a familiar place, but the setting was different. For example, I’ve rarely walked across the bridges from the railway station to the city centre, and I rarely eat in a restaurant in Joensuu. Now I felt partially like a tourist and also somewhat like a local. It was wonderfully refreshing.

I’m going to visit DrupalCon in Chicago in early March. I haven’t been in conferences in USA since JavaOne 2002, so I’m actually waiting for the occasion. Three days of geekery and one day of business, in reversed order, though.

I’ll fly to Chicago on next week’s Saturday and fly back on Friday, being back early Saturday. It has been more than three years that I’ve flown intercontinental flights alone, so I’m also waiting for the flight — some coding, some music, some reading, some boredom — but uninterrupted. Such a bliss.

I’m going to take a short break of everything with my family, and go for a few days skiing trip to Tahko — about 500 kilometers north of Helsinki.

We visited the place almost exactly two years ago, and felt that it has a good set of services, such as big slopes, restaurants, a spa, ice skating on a lake, and so forth. It is also pretty close to Helsinki, so you can actually drive there in half a day.

The only worry is the weather; the temperature might be around -20C and skiing might be chilly…

We’ve been pondering on our holiday plans for a while now without any major breakthrough. The problem began when our trip to Japan and Korea was cancelled because of my sickness.

The life has been very hectic — busy due to positive reasons, but busy anyhow — and none of the ideas we’ve been toying around have been lucrative enough. One of the ideas was to go somewhere south where sun is shining, sky is blue, and the ocean is azure. Like Mauritius, Thailand, or Dubai. Unfortunately, all destinations so far have had some issues, either with the location (too far or too central), cost, quality, reviews in Tripadvisor, etc.

I know that all of these sound like excuses — that they are — and we are procrastinating. True.

Finally, yesterday we found quite a good combination that provides both relaxation and action. The cost and the quality are all right, we’ve been there before. The place is a local ski resort near Kuopio, about 450 kilometers north from Espoo. So, we decided to ditch the sun and have a mini-vacation in the cold.

The winter wonderland has recently become a slush wonderland. The temperature has been hovering just above zero for a week or so now, and everything is either slippery or mushy. Rain, sleet, or wet snow is falling every day from the sky, so weather is quite depressing. A typical Helsinki winter, it seems.

On the other note, I’ve had a couple of evenings off from work. The end of the year typically causes a lot of work related hassles, and running two companies doubles the effort. The situation has got better this week, and I’ve been able to focus on real productive work, and pay attention to not so urgent needs — playing with kids and legos, reading books, etc.

Last year was good for Exove, and this year is hopefully even better. At least it has started way better compared to 2010, and I’ve booked already several trips to customers in Eastern Finland. I’ll get to visit my parent’s home, they meet grandchildren, and some business is conducted. So far, three trips. Maybe more to other destinations — my drive to sell has been quite high recently, so things hopefully start to move even faster.

I, Sanna, boys, and my parents are going to Tallinn on Thursday (me) and on Friday (everyone else) to stay until Saturday. We were first planning to go already on Thursday (and me on Wednesday), but Tallinn was almost fully booked (!) and we couldn’t get enough rooms from our desired hotel.

The aim is to spend some relaxing time in the medieval city; eat well, visit one museum, shop a little, and spend considerable amount of time in the hotel’s mini-waterpark with good kids’ pool and several different saunas.