MPY

Spiritualized

2009-01-16T18:59:00.003+13:00

Great concert in Auckland, 13th of January.
J. Spaceman is the man!
Picture taken with my mobile phone from the first row... without any zoom)

Maxime is growing up...

2008-06-26T12:21:00.002+12:00

Some photos of Maxime

2007-11-29T16:54:00.001+13:00

It's a girl! - 28.10.2007

2007-10-28T09:19:00.000+13:00

We're happy to introduce our baby, the cutest baby in the world! Ain't she cute! B

King Kimi

2007-10-23T17:32:00.000+13:00

...everyone does it so, I have to blog about it too!
Woo hoo... Great job, Kimi!

New Photos

2007-09-16T18:17:00.000+12:00

Tikao bay

Mt Olympus

It's been a while...

2007-09-15T16:34:00.000+12:00

(Lyttelton tunnel)

...yeah. It's definitely been a while since I've posted anything on here. I guess I just haven't had enough time. I'll try to post more in the future...

New job

2007-08-08T16:59:00.000+12:00

It might not be the reason I haven't posted anything in a while, but I recently started another job. I'm doing sales & marketing at Motoworks. What do they do? Import motorcycles, accessories etc... and I must admit that it's a pleasure to be working in the moto industry once again.

What do you think about their logo? Not too bad is it? (I made it...). Website is on the way too... a few of them actually.

The moon man

2007-06-30T18:35:00.002+12:00

I've never seen the moon this bright. It was pretty amazing! (photo by me)

Did you know that the moon looks different from the southern hemisphere? Look at this picture to compare: Northern hemisphere

Here's another one:

MPY does Canada

2007-06-24T10:44:00.000+12:00

Another website I've designed done lately.
www.fxbikes.ca

Need a pair of new skis? (off-piste)

2007-06-20T14:29:00.000+12:00

Winter has arrived here down under in NZ. And the skiing season has officially opened a few weeks ago. And if you need some excellent new skis... I recommend Kingswood Skis from Lyttelton, NZ.

I love their logo too!

Sign language

2007-06-12T13:07:00.000+12:00

Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

Who says Finns are not good communicators? The video is a few years old, but it's a funny one... (click play to view video)

Queen's Birthday

2007-06-05T10:43:00.000+12:00

... and the view of Lyttelton Port by night.

Yesterday was a day off for everyone in New Zealand. The reason for that was "Queen's birthday", which is an official holiday down here. But the weird thing is that it isn't the right date, and they don't even celebrate it in England!

But I don't care... if I get a longer weekend celebrating The Queen or... Benny Hill, it really doesn't matter who it is - I won't complain.

God save the Queen!

Just another evening

2007-05-31T16:36:00.000+12:00

Did you notice they have removed the telephone/power cables from our view? Probably not ,unless you've been visiting us down under! Ok, you can still see them to the right, but they used to go in front of our view. They removed the cables a few weeks ago, and amazingly it took us a day or two to notice it. But I'm pretty happy without them I must say...

Big improvement compared to Finland

2007-05-30T15:28:00.000+12:00

The motorcycle season that is! Or more precisly, the length of the motorcycle season. Today, two days before "winter" it was almost 20 degrees and the Honda GB 400 TT was running smoothly along the mountain roads. I don't miss winter at all... except for the first snow perhaps!

And tomorrow no signs of winter either... the weatherman says 20 degrees, although I've learnt not to trust them in New Zealand at all!

MPY movie of the week

2007-05-17T13:15:00.000+12:00

I rented this movie 'Lucky Number Slevin' last Tuesday (half price Tuesday, he hee), and I had absolutely no expectations. Didn't know anything about it except that Bruce Willis was in it. But had I known at that time that the director had also done Gangster No 1, that might have changed.

It's a good and funny movie, and Josh Hartnett (every girls favorite) is even really good in this one. He reminds me of a young Brad Pitt. Go rent it at a DVD store close by....

Another funny story... we almost didn't rent this movie because the DVD cover was so ugly (they use a different one in Australasia than the one to left, which looks good). All that brings me back to 2001, when I went to look at 'Gangster No 1', just because of the cool poster! Moral of the story,... make it look good at least!

More about the movie here. I don't care too much about doing complete reviews... you just have to trust my word... or check out imdb.

Go Napoli!!!

2007-05-16T14:31:00.000+12:00

A striptease by 72-year-old actress Sofia Loren could be one of the more outrageous ways that Napoli fans will celebrate if the team are promoted to the Italian top flight this season.

Loren, a movie sex siren from the 1950s and 1960s, is a big fan of the Naples club who have fallen on hard times since winning their first Italian championship 20 years ago.

"I hope that Napoli win these last few games. You watch if we go up I will do a striptease," she told Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview Tuesday. "The fans have a total passion, the city deserves promotion."

Napoli are third in Serie B, Italy's second division, and have five games left to force their way into the top two or face a promotion playoff

you can find the article here. I'm not making it up!
....
Well, I actually wish she was at least 50 years younger... or even 40 years... or 30 years.

Go Napoli Go!

Auckland

2007-05-14T16:36:00.000+12:00

Yesterday we came back from Auckland. It was my first time there (unless you count driving through the city a few months earlier). I don't know what I expected, but Auckland was much nicer than expected. I'm not a real fan of bigger cities anymore, but this one didn't feel too big, and it was quite easy to escape the stress. But it's always nice to get back home to Lyttelton. I don't know if I'm the the only one, but whenever I go somewhere on vacation or whatever, early on the last day I always feel like going home. It doesn't matter how long the trip is 2 days or 2 months... last day I just wanna go home.

And another pic...

Happy B-day, Andy!

2007-05-10T12:11:00.000+12:00

He's the really old chap to the left of the other two guys.

Football movie for art lovers, or art movie for football lovers?

2007-05-10T12:01:00.000+12:00

Yesterday I went for a special screening of the movie 'ZIDANE: A 21st CENTURY PORTRAIT'. And it definitely was one of the most special movies I've ever seen. I didn't know what to expect either.Well,it was a full game of football (Real Madrid vs. other Spanish team), 90 minutes, and the only person they followed was Zidane, and not the ball as usual. So it was weird for sure, but also really enjoyable thanks to the good sounds/music etc. They did have some nice camera angles as well. However, I was still surprised that no more than 3 persons walked out of the movie theater, i.e. this movie is NOT for everyone. And it sure helps if you're into football.

Read more about the movie here

Another website

2007-05-03T14:32:00.000+12:00

Recently I finished another website. This time it's a New Zealand Mechanical Engineering company called 'Motovated'. Yes,... motovated. Not motivated, although I bet they're that too.

Go to www.motovated.co.nz to check it out... and if you need any Engineering design and analysis services, I think I might know someone in that field...

Weird sheep pictures and a pole with a hat

2007-04-15T11:59:00.000+12:00

Do you ever feel like you're being observed?

"Look at that weirdo with the camera!"

Training for Sunday's rugby game. He was fast!

??? (not photoshopped, I promise!)

Happy Easter!

2007-04-06T14:19:00.000+12:00

At around this time of the year many people paint eggs.

But not us.

E. and I decided to paint beer bottles instead. It was a lot of fun, but it could've been more fun at this stage, if we would have used the same technique as for painting eggs, I'm talking mainly about the process of emptying the eggs.

But I know I will empty these "special" easter eggs in a few days.

Aren't they beautiful!

Catching up

2007-04-05T12:57:00.000+12:00

I've now uploaded some of the photos I took on my 30th b-day.

You can see all the photos here. Or you can also reach that page by going to my website and clicking the 'MX' page.

Some of those hills were so damn steep that it was really scary to ride them down. Up is always easier. You just try to go as far as the bike and your skills will take you, and not worry about getting down. They don't build hills like THIS in Finland. (not me in the picture, I'm the photgrapher higher up of course!)

NZ ART

2007-04-02T16:43:00.000+12:00

That's a real Malcolm Terry that is covering a wall in our living room. And we love it! Thanks Malcolm.

I'd tell the big amount of the readers of this blog to go and have a look at his other works, but he doesn't have a web page yet.

(Don't bother enlarging this picture, you'll just see how messy our sofa is).

A few landscape pictures

2007-03-31T12:57:00.000+12:00

Today I put 70km on the bike and all of it was on winding roads (check the photos below). That was probably the longest ride I've ever done... yes, I'm a beginner on the road (not in MX though). But it sure was lots of fun! The good thing is that you don't get arm pump on a road bike, at least not on a single cylinder 400cc bike.

Christchurch in the background

Check out the sweet road!

I saaaiiiid, "Check out the sweeeeeet road!"

Lyttelton in the background on the left side

... and a photo without the bike for the "normal" people. Whoever or whatever that is...

Another hint

2007-03-25T10:12:00.000+12:00

The rider on the poster is not me, and this specific bike isn't mine.

:-)

2007-03-24T15:57:00.000+12:00

I'll give you one hint why I'm smiling...

Four boobs are better than two? I guess so...

2007-03-22T21:44:00.000+12:00

New Zealand Tries To Breed Sheep With Four Nipples

New Zealand scientists are trying to breed sheep with four nipples instead of two to cater to a growing tendency of ewes to have multiple births, it was reported Wednesday.

More ewes are having triplets, but one of the lambs usually struggles to survive because it cannot get enough milk from its mother, the Otago Daily Times reported.

"A triplet, if he is the runt of the litter, is usually doomed," George Davis, a scientist with the state agricultural organization AgResearch, told the paper. "If one triplet is light, his two litter mates can bully him out."

Davis said that 10 years ago, the average New Zealand ewe had one lamb, while today 100 ewes produced 120 lambs between them.

New Zealand is one of the world's biggest producers and exporters of sheep meat.

I didn't make this up, I promise... click here

F1

2007-03-18T09:56:00.000+12:00

It's a few hours til the first race of the season and I still haven't found a place to look at it. I've tried googling sports bar F1 in Chch, but to no avail. Well, maybe it will be boring as usual and Kimi retiring, so maybe I won't be missing much...

Anyway, just wanted to say "Go Kimi Go", "Go Heikki Go" and "Go Nico Go"!

One hit wonder...

2007-03-16T16:34:00.000+13:00

I bet everyone remembers this latino song by OMC - 'How bizarre'.

But a few weeks ago I actually found out that the singer/band is from New Zealand! Check out the video, it brings back memories from the '90s... "how bizarre, how bizarre...". I heard he's trying to do a come-back now. Yep, he's out of $$$s. Even though today he still gets about 25,000 euros per year in royalties from this song.

We're not that different after all...

2007-02-21T11:06:00.000+13:00

New Zealand & Finland

What an adorable couple! Aren't they cute! :-)

Click here to read the article

Here are a few things that stood out in the article (if you're too lazy to read it all):

- While New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote, Finland was the first country to introduce equal and universal suffrage and full political rights for women.

- Both countries are similar in size and population. Finland is the third most sparsely populated country in Europe with 16 people per square kilometre. It has a population of 5.2 million. (NZ = 15 per km2, population 4.2 million)

- Ms Halonen said there were many similarities between Finland and New Zealand - " Both were small in size and were investing in quality, not quantity, technology."

That probably why I like living in New Zealand too. No matter where I go, the head of the country is always good looking! RRrrrrrrr...

Ice. And lots of it.

2007-02-19T17:28:00.000+13:00

Fox Glacier

To go where no man has gone before! (Just lots of tourists and guides. They don't count do they?)

Ice, ice baby!

It's a long way up! And no, we didn't go all the way up. Too dangerous they say.

Even though it's summer here, there's still lots of ice on the ground :-)

If you want to learn more about Fox Glacier. Click here

This was just a preview of a bunch of photos I got on the hard drive. Lots of photos from Fiordland, West coast, Fox Glacier,etc. Penguins, waterfalls, dolphins, mountains, beaches and much more. I'll try to put them on my website some day.

And a new look to my blog, if you didn't notice!

The latest gadget

2007-02-13T11:52:00.000+13:00

Swiss army sunglasses - for all the nerds out there!

Just a perfect day...

2007-01-08T23:52:00.000+13:00

...Drink Sangria in the park,
And then later, when it gets dark,
We go home.

Happy birthday David (Bowie), Elvis (Presley) & Me!

30.

Catching up with some old photos

2006-12-28T17:43:00.000+13:00

Finally I've had some spare time to "develop" our North Island photos, which were taken in November. It sure takes a lot of time to go through over 300 pics! Well, just click this link and click the first picture. Voila!

A few Rally pics are included as well. Enjoy!

Feliz Navidad

2006-12-24T15:09:00.000+13:00

Feliz Navidad Feliz Navidad Feliz Navidad Prospero año y Felicidad. I want to wish you a Merry Christmas I want to wish you a Merry Christmas

..eller GOD JUL!!!!

I love Bond. James Bond.

2006-12-11T21:33:00.001+13:00

Video-Vroooom!

2006-12-07T19:34:00.000+13:00

On the beach! The 90 mile beach. Starring me and E.

Under the mountain or over the mountain...

2006-12-06T16:13:00.000+13:00

... that's the question that I have to ask myself when choosing which road to take to work (or coming home) with the motorcycle. Today I had a real blast on the way home. I felt like Valentino Rossi in the mountains,... well, not really. Yes, that was the "over the mountains" option. But I'm just riding carefully and enjoying it, but it feels good to "fly" again.

The "under the mountain" option will never be this good... unless it rains. Then the tunnel will protect me at least for a while. That's 2.4 kilometers.

Did I mention the view from summit road is damn good too? Well, it is.

Bond. James Bond.

2006-12-02T17:08:00.000+13:00

Not sure if Casino Royale is already out in theaters in Europe, but it won't come out before the 7th of December down here in NZ. But at least I've heard it's good. Some even say really good. And that's a very welcome change since the last few Bond movies have been really worthless.

But did you know that!
- Bond began the tradition of introducing himself as "Bond. James Bond" when he sat down at a card table in Dr No because a woman introduces herself as "Trench. Sylvia Trench" and he replied in the same way.

- Bond has one child - a son named James Suzuki. His mother is Kissy Suzuki.

- The piece of music that we now know as the James Bond Theme was originally called Bea's Knees.

- George Lazenby was a car salesman before his one-time appearance as Bond.

Click here for more

A movie worth seeing

2006-12-02T17:00:00.000+13:00

The Frighteners (by Peter Jackson)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0116365/

It's not excellent, but what makes it good is that most of the film is filmed in Lyttelton where I live. All the scenes where you can see the sea is from Lyttelton, and in some scenes they are only a few hundred meters from where our house is.

A new TT in my garage

2006-11-29T11:56:00.000+13:00

Well,... it's not new, and it's not an Audi, and it's not my TT, and I don't have a garage. But I do have a Honda GB400 TT, that I borrowed from a friend. So the next 6 weeks I'll be driving up and down the mountains of New Zealand with "my" new bike.

But I do love this bike!

I'll add a pic when I have time.

MX

2006-10-23T20:11:00.000+13:00

NZ MX National -Timaru

Click the image to see my photo album from the Timaru MX race. It was a beautiful day out in the countryside, maybe a bit too windy and dusty... I'm still finding sand in my ears :-), but who cares... motocross rules. And it gave me a chance to try my new camera, which did pretty well considering the dusty conditions.

Lamp/Lamp

2006-10-19T15:59:00.000+13:00

What a bright idea! I want one of these! And I've got just the perfect spot for it in the house.

Too bad they don't sell em in NZ. Only in Japan.

101 Must Do's in New Zealand

2006-10-02T21:53:00.000+13:00

Man! So many places still to visit... Here's a list of 101 of the best places in Kiwiland.

Click here

Where should I go next? :-)

Sony

2006-09-27T14:07:00.000+12:00

I finally bought a new camera, and it's another Sony. I guess 6 years from our old digital camera was enough... but 6 years is pretty damn impressive from a technology gadget these days. Now all I need to do is to go all around New Zealand again to take the same pics. Sound good to me, I don't mind doing that!

And with 12x zoom it should be easier to take photos of those penguins too.

ZWEI

2006-09-20T14:08:00.000+12:00

Today, the 20th of September, it's 2 years since I arrived for the first time in New Zealand. And everything's still awesome, no complaints at all.

So, what has happened in two years? I guess a lot... travelling, seeing new places, adding 25,000 km on the car (road trips rules in NZ!), learning to drive on the wrong side of the road (still feels weird), living in three different places, buying our own house (and loving it!), working at FX Bikes (www.fxbikes.com), meeting crazy people, eating good food, drinking lots of excellent New Zealand Pinot noir... and much more.

But did I mature? Probably not.

New photos

2006-08-31T17:58:00.000+12:00

There hasn't been much action on my website lately, so I thought it was time for some new photos again. The "new" person on some of the photos is E's brother Ben.

And tomorrow it's the first day of Spring! 1st of September. I'm looking forward to summer, because the winter has been relatively long, not Finland long, but still pretty long.

Click HERE to check out the pics

Let's get ready to rumble

2006-08-15T12:44:00.000+12:00

Something new, at least for me, happened last Sunday... a small earthquake. At first we were not sure what it was that made our house vibrate a little bit. Then we checked out on the net, and yes it was indeed an earthquake.
Magnitude: 5.9, so it wasn't such a small one, but it was more than 200 km from where we live.

http://www.geonet.org.nz/x2609766g_l.html

Bachelor party

2006-07-31T18:27:00.000+12:00

This is my good old friend Niklas, who is getting married soon. Nice beard! Picture taken at Niklas bachelor party by Mr. R!

Someone had to put this nice picture online. And there it is! He hee!

Home

2006-07-22T12:48:00.000+12:00

Yes, the pics are finally online! Just go to my website and check out the latest photos of our house.

Back in the USS... NZ!

2006-07-12T19:58:00.000+12:00

Thanks to everyone for making my 3 weeks in Finland really great! You all know who you are.

But it sure is nice being back in the new home. Damn, I love it!

Nothing new here...

2006-06-21T19:41:00.000+12:00

...because I'm too busy looking at football! Heja Sverige! And I'm also enjoying the hot weather in Finland.

18 beaches, 60 Georges and 50 queens...

2006-06-01T13:59:00.000+12:00

New Zealand adopts postcodes.... det var på tiden!

New Zealand is catching up with the postcode — several decades after the system was introduced in most other Western countries.

'If you talk to the average person on the street in New Zealand and ask what a postcode is, they wouldn’t have a clue,' Richard MacLean, of New Zealand Post, said. Sorting has been largely based on street addresses. 'We got by quite well for the most part of the 20th century,' Mr MacLean added.

The new system is partly a response to population growth and to the increase, in cities, of apartment developments, which sometimes duplicate street names. It is also intended to overcome mix-ups caused by the popularity in New Zealand of beaches and royalty - there are no fewer than 18 Beach Roads in Auckland, and the country has 60 George Streets and 50 Queen Streets.

Every household is being given an information sheet about the postcode system.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2205586,00.html

Home sweet home

2006-05-28T18:53:00.000+12:00

Aaaaaaaaah... it's nice to be home in the new home. I love this place, the sea view is awesome. After a weekend of moving, it's feels good to have all your belongings in one place. Damn, my back hurts... and my arms and legs! E sure likes heavy literature... No new pictures yet though. We've been too busy moving in. Maybe sometimes next week.

Not many people know about this...

2006-05-14T17:22:00.000+12:00

..NO! I'm not gay.

We just bought a house. Yep, a house. A real one, with a seaview.

Crazy.

A paper version

2006-05-11T09:49:00.002+12:00

Yesterday I got two samples of the City Nöjesmagsinet with my interview in it. I didn't realize before that it's a A3 size full page for the article on me and FX Bikes. Now I need to frame it... or maybe not.

Paivansankari

2006-04-27T22:34:00.000+12:00

Grattis, grattis HPY! Joyeux anniversaire Helene! Hyvää syntymäpäivää Helene! Happy Birthday Helene!

Vi visste inte vilka blommor du gillar, så vi ger dig hela botaniska trädgården!

Micke och E.

Takakesä?

2006-04-21T15:40:00.000+12:00

Scientists are working on a new concept to explain what is going on in New Zealand. They call it "takakesä".
No further comments were given, as all the scientist are on the beach.

27 degrees today. Lovely!

I'm famous! Yes, I really am!

2006-04-20T17:01:00.000+12:00

This article was published in Nöjemagasinet, which is a free newspaper (a la City-lehti) in a few bigger Swedish cities. Funny stuff! Click the image to read all about me... (and FX Bikes).

Download the whole magazine here (about 15 MB - pdf)

New photos from the Easter weekend

2006-04-17T17:36:00.000+12:00

...fresh from the oven! And the weather was really, really nice too.

Click here for some new pictures...

Glad Påsk

2006-04-13T15:41:00.000+12:00

About bloody time...

2006-02-27T14:40:00.000+13:00

Finally the new photos are online: click here

I guess the warm summer weather makes updating websites slower. 27 degrees today. Not too bad. Well, anyway... enjoy the photos!

Back from another awesome trip

2006-02-08T22:07:00.000+13:00

Photos will appear as soon as possible on my website. But it takes a lot of time to go through 200 photos. 10 days - beaches, walks, whales, seals, waterfalls, kayaking, hot springs, more beaches and so on... and soon more guests will arrive! Looking forward to it!

www.mpydesigns.com

2006-01-19T20:02:00.000+13:00

...is online now!

Coming soon...

2006-01-11T19:31:00.000+13:00

MPYDESIGNS.com

Fiordland

2006-01-04T20:10:00.000+13:00

Fiordland - kanske världens snyggaste plats! Mera foton på min hemsida... direktlink -> http://www.freewebs.com/photonz/

Juldagen...

2005-12-26T20:39:00.000+13:00

Min nya "barbie" i bakgrunden. 28 grader varmt... life's good!

Nu är det jul igen, och nu är det jul igen...

2005-12-24T18:23:00.000+13:00

Och det goda vädret kom idag. Shortsikeli! 25 grader och solsken! Woo hoo...

God Jul - Merry X-mas!

2005-12-21T18:56:00.000+13:00

G'day mate! Sydney

2005-12-11T13:47:00.000+13:00

Jep... Australien är inte helt fel heller. Crikey!

Mera foton på min hemsida som vanligt. www.mpydesigns.com

One more...

2005-11-26T13:59:00.000+13:00

Strong fella we spotted on the north island.
MPY.

MPY - why?

2005-11-02T18:58:00.000+13:00

MPY - why? Well, someone ate my forum. A small snack for cyberspace. Blog, blog.... blog.