We have a bring-a-dish Vappu eve brunch on last Friday noon. I volunteered myself to prepare Malaysian satay (A-Jin’s version, supervised by my wife) for my colleagues. I received many great feedback from my colleagues regarding my satay, haha. I’m glad they like it.

On 1st of May, we have BBQ in the nature reserve park, Arboretum together with our friends here. The park is also a good for bird lovers. There are two birdwatching and viewpoints towers which you could enjoy the scene and also appreciate the natural. Many locals are here for birds watching.

A bit pity was, the weather was windy, shower and cloudy. If the May day weekend will be good for outdoor activities.

TechTags Plugin [ May day | Vappu | Nature | bird watching ]

Weather of last week was freezing cold. It was -16 to 18°C during weekdays and -20°C during weekend. Yet, after foggy evening in last weekend, branches of trees are cover with a layer of snow make an amazing beautiful snow scenery. Local say this scenery is rare and it might happened once in decade. Sharing with you the scenery.

TechTags Plugin [ snow scenery | foggy day | trees ]

Wishing all of you Merry Christmas and a happy new year. May your dreams come true and healthy life! Hyvää joulua ja onnellista uutta voutta!

TechTags Plugin [ Merry Christmas | Happy new year | Hyvää joulua | onnellista uutta voutta ]

Later, I learned from my former and current colleagues, when birds familiarized to a certain feeding location they aren’t really able to find a new location if the feeding is discontinued during Winter. Ah…I sensed the commitment! Okay, okay, I will continue to feed them along the Winter.

[techtags; bird feeding, great tit, winter]

For our flat decoration this time, I have my paintings and seal carving works flamed and put them on the walls. Yes, I brought them all the way from Malaysia to here during our last trip back to Malaysia in June.

TechTags Plugin [ busy | new flat | moving ]

In May, I started travel between two counties daily with train which daily life my wife already had for 15months. I saluted her patient for this. After I join her path, we decided we should move to somewhere a bit nearby because the traveling expensive for both of us in this way is too expensive. Therefore, it is wise to move from current county to another county.

In July, we got the offer for apartment in Helsinki and we moved. House moving is a painful job especially you move to somewhere 200km away from your current residence, Turku. We would like to express our heartiest appreciation to our friends in Turku for their help during our house moving. Without them, it is a mission impossible.

TechTags Plugin [ busy | new flat | moving ]

These paintings were kept in cupboard for years. Luckily, they find themselves nice frame and nice location on the walls too.

This drawing is on the wall next to our bedroom.

This one is on living room’s wall. The largest painting.

This standstill painting is in my office now.

If I have time, I try to upload marble seals I have carved before. Yes, I like carving and pottery.

TechTags Plugin [ carving | drawing | sketching | pottery | clay | yin zhang | seal | marble stamp | painting ]

When you rent an apartment or a room, have you ever encountered that you are forbidden to do things as below?

• tenant is forbidden to paint any walls
• tenant is forbidden to screw or nail anything to the walls
• tenant is not allowed to fix or drill anything that penetrates the protective coating on the wall in the toilet and bathroom. [......]

These terms and regulations maybe quite common for rental house or apartment or room. We just moved from Turku county to Helsinki county. Yes, we have same terms and regulations for our newly rented apartment. In this apartment, we are restricted by these terms and regulations.

However, we are curious, previous tenants seem not care nor worry about these terms and regulations. They left behind many holes and hooks on the walls in living room, bedroom and worst in toilet. Of course, we can ignore these as long as we pay the damage repair later when moving out. But, will you do that? I really believe the invoice will be unbelievable expensive, well, don’t forget the 22% VAT here.

I came to learn 3M command adhesive strips in Turku at Euromarket supermarket (no longer there) near to Kupittaa railway station. I started using these strips since then. When I learned we were going to move soon, I bought several packs of these strips there. Unfortunately, I can’t find these strips in other Finnish supermarket like Anttila, Kodin ykkönen, Prisma, K-CityMarket in area nearby our new apartment. Shame, I have to ask friend of mine in Taiwan buy more these strips which can support for different weights and post them here for me.

I used these strips for many purposes, at least to me it is not restrict to use together with hooks only.

Living room

I have my sketch drawing framed in a 70 x 100cm Ribba picture frame (bought it from IKEA) then hang it with 3M Command adhesive strips.

Main entrance

When we enter our apartment, immediately us is the first aid box. Call me superstition but that feeling is not right and comfortable at all. We decided relocate that first aid box aside then replaced with a picture bought from Anttila. Yes, I used 3M Command adhesive strips to serve our purpose.

Toilet and bathroom

Toilet and bathroom of our apartment is rather small. Therefore, wall shelf or rack will be useful in this case. I bought several MOLGER wall shelves from IKEA for that purpose. Unfortunately, we are forbidden to drill or make holes which will penetrate protective coating on the wall of the toilet and bathroom. Thus, these 3M strips are useful to serve my objective. I’m thinking to have shower foam support next to the shower. But, to do this, I must use water proof strips. Shame is, I can’t find this kind of strips here. What I do? I asked friend of mine help me bought them and then post to me from Taiwan. I received those strips bought over from Taiwan yesterday and I have the shower foam support attached on the wall with water proof Command adhesive strips.

Kitchen and bedroom

I also have the MOLGER wall shelf installed next to mirror in our bedroom with that Command adhesive strips. By the way, our mirror in bedroom is attached on the wall with couple of Command strips too. For our kitchen, we found that there is not enough power plugs for our electronic stuff, therefore, I installed couple of power extension cables on the walls. Again, we are not allowed to drill or nail anything on the walls, thus, these strips serve my purpose well.

I also used these strips to install clothe hooks in our bedroom and curtain holder on ceiling of our living room in order to make mobile partition for our kitchen and living room. We have open kitchen and living room, mobile partition is good for us when we need more space for certain occasions.

I think you maybe have experienced that mess leave behind by many sponge double sided tapes? That’s why I prefer to use 3M Command adhesive strips since I encountered it. It is easy to remove without leaving any mess behind or damage to surface of the wall. I don’t deny these strips are a little bit expensive. Those strips (12 strips) I bought from Euromarket is cost about 4euro per pack. If more and more people know this product and using them perhaps the price will be reduced? That’s why I’m sharing my experience here with hope.

Do you have other innovations of 3M command adhesive want to share with?

TechTags Plugin [ double sided tape | sponge double sided tape | 3M | Command adhesive strips | IKEA ]