Back in LA

I saw a crash in front of my eyes in Mountain View a few days ago and another one in downtown LA yesterday. Five crashes on the freeway between San Diego and San Francisco. People crash a lot in California. Why might that be?

Anyway, I had the opportunity to visit the Zerply office which is based in the 500 Startups office in Silicon Valley and I got blown away. The drive these people have in these startups is incredible and I was lucky to see how it all works and how everybody helps each other out. If you ever have an idea for an Internet company that you believe in, contact 500 Startups and if your idea gets picked to the program, you'll get accelerated towards investors so much faster than doing it on your own.

I had to say goodbye to Ethan, Justin, Christofer, Linn, Eliza, Josef and Martin at Zerply eventually because I was bound to get back to San Francisco. Took the Caltrain back for $6.75 and witnessed the fog descending from the mountains looking like an avalanche, a view that I have to get to see again. That's going to be next year though, because my time is running out. I visited the Chrome (bags) store on 4th Street and got myself a nice new Anton bag. If you ever get to SF, you can pick all the colors in your messenger bag yourself and get it sown on site for about $30 extra. Time was running out though and I had to find my way to Oakland.

I found a ride share to LA the evening before and ended up paying $30 to get to Union Station, a 7h ride in a Toyota Camry.

Yesterday while I browsed through downtown LA, I got offered a couch to sleep on, but had to turn it down because I already had a place. I like the people in California. The moment you tell them you're from around the world, they start offering their couches places to sleep on.

Last night I prepared a dinner for 9 people in Altadena, LA, which turned out to be a winner! Today I woke up 4.25am to drive to the airport to drop off some very nice and friendly people. Now I'm sitting in Corner Bakery in Westwood finishing off my breakfast. Why? Because I gave my first breakfast from Ralph's to a homeless guy. He got happy which made me happy. Three and a half days to go of this adventure.

This trip has seriously been the best one I've ever been on and I'm sad it's going to end soon. Couch surfing and Craigslist (Ride sharing) at least in California is the best way to meet local people who will show you around and share their stories. Try it!

Couchsurfing and Ridesharing in California

While trying to figure out what to do after Comic-Con I was pretty sure I wanted to see San Francisco so instead of heading to Amtrak's website I typed in Craigslist in my browser and more specifically the Ride Sharing part. I found Asad and his Ram 2500! It cost me $50 and way more fun than a train ride. Definitely check it out when in the states.

After an interesting ride from San Diego to San Francisco I can honestly say driving across the state is somewhat a boring thing, mainly because the Interstate 5 is a pretty straight road through the desert and it takes forever! The views: Corn field, Cow farm, Corn field, Cow farm etc. But luckily I was able to continue my couch surfing extravaganza in SF and not only that but get an introduction to the city the following day! Thank you Mena!

Furthermore I was in contact with a guy called Ethan from Zerply and I'm visiting their house in Mountain View right at this moment. Tomorrow's going to be an interesting day visiting their office. I'll tell you more about that later.

For now, in-joy some pics from the past few days.

 In the desert getting food!

 Experiencing the sunset in a Dodge Ram 2500 in the desert

 Asad and Mena

 San Francisco streets

 San Francisco streets #2

 Alcatraz in the background

 Ocean side fog - one side of the city might be like this all day whereas there's sun on the other side

 Bay Bridge in San Francisco

 Caltrain towards Mountain View

San Diego - Coronado Beach

ComicCon 2011 so far - no pics

Big Bang Theory cast - check.
NCIS LA cast - check.
Some of Dexter cast - check.
2 Broke Girls cast - check.
Person of Interest cast - going to be checked tomorrow.
Shameless cast - check.
Jenna Morasca keeps calling me a young Dexter. I'm flattered - check.
Having fun - check.

California trippin!

Hi. I'm in California. San Diego. Less than a week ago I was in Finland. So HA! Seriously though, got my ticket 6 days before take off, not really sure what was going on. But... As they say, things get sorted out in the end and so did this one.

My mind blowing itinerary:
Helsinki - Stockholm (ferry, had a few coffees and got myself a cabin to sleep in)
Stockholm - Transformers 3 (the movies)
Stockholm - London (mind blowing flight with a free sandwich)
London - New York (tried to make friends with random swedes at the airport, but they turned out to be boring, self-centered typical swedish girls. sat next to a big new yorker on the plane and it took forever. free meals and as much alcohol you could ask for without being ashamed of yourself. I saw the movie Paul. And How I met your mother. And read a book.)
JFK (terminal 7, how to get to terminal 8? By bus. F*cking AC inside, better outside. Slept outside. I slept outside on a park bench in the middle of the night outside of JFK in New York! Checked that off my bucket. Still have my intestins left. And my money. And my underwear.)
New York - San Diego (No free food, only diet coke. What? Come on American Airlines! YOU SUCK! It's a 5 or whatever hour flight and a sandwich costs 10 dollars? Moreover a girl with an incredibly piercing voice sitting behind me. Discovered the pearl 15 minutes after I fell asleep. And woke up. And couldn't sleep anymore.)
San Diego (Got my bag, heard nerds talking about getting a cab and asked if I can share. I could. For free. I love ComicCon!)

Now I'm couch surfing through California, so feel free to host a random Finnish guy with a weird sense of humor and a crazy lust of being himself, instead of a fake Hollywood gold digger. In-joy!

Zerply - Ever heard of it?

Amid my bike building extravaganza a few months ago I was introduced to this intriguing thing called Zerply, which at the time was only accessible to certain specially chosen beta testers. That's what I thought at least. I wanted to be special so I cried out for an access through Twitter - and got one. Brilliant!

But what on Earth is Zerply? Not only is it a word that sounds like rugged Polish or an onomatopoetic sound off a sewer when it has had a bit too much, but somewhat a game changer regarding the ways of presenting your professional skills, in simple words an eye-friendly, online CV.

The magic starts by signing up at zerply.com, adding your educational and professional past and present, choose a layout for yourself and start making connections with other Zerply users. Easy, efficient and fun. You just might find that special web designer for one of your projects or somebody who shares the same ideas professionally as you do. There are different layouts to choose from and although there isn't an infinite amount, like there is ammunition for the fire thrower in Doom, you'll most probably find your favorite.

The effect had to be tested so I threw my online profile out to an employer and he actually got interested. Sadly I already had a job though, so I couldn't fully milk the Zerply cow on that occasion, but I will continue not only making my life easier CV wise but be more appealing in the eyes of future employers and people in general. Moreover, you can get one of those superb "Endorse me" buttons on your own website! Make yourself known out there.

Because in the end, who of you HR people really enjoys reading paper CV's built together on Wordpad, Word or even Notepad? Colored paper with fancy origami roses, scented like my mother isn't the head turner anymore. Zerply is.

In-joy!

I haven't been around a computer

The title says it all. What can I say? Finnish summer out in the archipelago. Who wants to sit in front of a computer when you are surrounded by cows, sheep, superb people, the sea and relaxation all the time? Not me.

Apparently it's been over a month since the last post and I'm sorry for that. During that time I've driven over 1,400 km, sold my bike, sold my phone, worked at our summer house, enjoyed an awesome summer, eaten well, slept a lot, talked less, been trying to figure out what to make out of myself, graduated and burnt my face a couple of times.

Oh, I'm going to California on Monday. Awesome-ness will occur!

In the waiting for the next amazingly interesting post, in-joy some pictures from Högsåra Day, 13th July 2011.