Oiling My Ears

Each year usually by the time November rolls around, I take out my SAD light box and sit in front of it regularly each morning. Otherwise I'll feel lethargic and uninspired and my brain goes foggy. If October is grey and rainy, though, I usually start using my SAD light box that month. This year was crazy in the way that I had to use this lamp already in July as this year's summer was so grey and rainy. We're now down to 6 hours of daylight and it's getting rapidly less and less as we're approaching Christmas. I noticed that a few people have already turned on their Christmas lamps when we drove around the other week LOL!!!

Ever since we got back from Malta, I had been dealing with sinus problems. The nurse prescribed me a stronger type of antihistamine and the doc prescribed me four bottles of nose spray that I could use long-term (though I prefer not to!). I only bought one bottle first and I'm now down to 4/5th of it and I had been trying to figure out a way to stop using it. You see, when I had my days off, I could get by without using it, but for work, I needed an optimal mental capacity so I could focus on work and communicating in Finnish, so I had been using the spray for work. I had also tried other means: Neti Pot, nose oil, steaming my face. The pressure between my eyebrows and along my upper teeth kept coming back. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...

In the end I tried something else: oiling my ears. I took a Q-tip and oiled each end with baby oil and then just shoved it into my ears. The weird thing is that it has worked pretty well so far! I've been doing it for a week and I haven't had to resort to using the nose spray at all and the pressure is 90% gone. Strange but true, eh? :-D

It's been snowing again for the past few days. Yesterday was the first time I had to shovel the yard and today I'll have to do it again. It's good to be forced to get out and do something physical in winter. It was kinda heavy to shovel the snow as the temperature was 0'C and the snow was very wet. A thick pile of dry snow will be less heavy than a thin pile of wet snow.

Here are some Winter Wonderland photos I took when I walked back from work:

Here's also a video clip of downtown Sodankylä taken by Samuli Korvanen:

Day 1 of Training

INTERESTING!!! That's what I can say about being a helper at the library he he he...

First I was introduced to everybody who was there, then I had to wait for my trainer for about 10 minutes. She came and then showed me around the place. She told me about how they organized the shelves and the books on the shelves. Then she told me about the process of putting the books to the shelves: they had to find out what the books were, then they had to put plastic covers and bar code label and some other label. Then they had to register the books to the bar code machine before putting them on the shelves. Old books were put in their small warehouse. It was COOL to know all these things!

My first task was to return the returned books to the shelves. Then I had to organize Christmas books on a special shelf. Then I was told how to use the bar code machine as they took out some old books from the warehouse. Then I was told to stamp plenty of old cassettes with the label "taken out".

So it's been FAR busier than my other two training experiences. I just hope it keeps up he he he he...well, even if I don't have too much to do on other days, I can always read something as they have SO MANY books he he he he...

Anyway, let me share some more pics taken from last weekend!

First pic: this is something I WANT for myself!!! See that red sled where the little girl is sitting? I WANT ONE!!! I want to sit on it and slide down the snowy hill one day he he he...Actually, it's also VERY practical to drag your son/daughter on the sled while going out, unless your kid acts up and runs away HA HA HA HA HA...


Second pic: The Kitinen bridge (near downtown Sodankylä) and its frozen river.


Third pic: These birds are flying around the bridge-river area and then they landed on the frozen river for a little while. It was a BEAUTIFUL sight as they flew here and there together as a group...mmmm...





OK, I'll blog-hop tomorrow as I'm pretty tired now he he he...

Downtown Sodankylä Video Clip

On Saturday I took a video clip of downtown Sodankylä, especially the main street he he he...and I tinkered with it a bit. I managed to add some music (since my microphone doesn't work anymore, so I can't record any sound or voice) and a little bit of info about the places there. You can see one part of the river which pics you loved so much from my previous post. However, make sure you brighten up your monitor since I took the video when it was around 8 pm, so it's a little bit dark ha ha ha ha ha...

In the video clip you can see how "small" Sodankylä is HA HA HA HA HA HA...

The song is "Will You Be There (In The Morning)?" by Heart. Enjoy the video clip!!!