When I was about 13 years old, I went to see a movie called "Our Man Flint." A lot of the gadgets of this American James Bond fascinated me, but none so much as the mobile phone in a suitcase that had a funny distinctive ring that I remember clearly to this day. What a terrific gadget. A TV show called "Burke's Law" from about the same time starring Gene Barry (a favorite of mine due to his previous TV show "Bat Masterson") as a millionaire cop who drove around in his chauffeur driven limousine to solve crimes included the rich man's toy, a car phone. Of course, in "Star Trek," Captain Kirk would flip open his tri-corder and tell Scotty to beam him up.
Who would have guessed that fictional device would become common place only a few short years later? My Nokia phone flips open like Kirk's tri-corder, although it is smaller and more modern-looking. I don't use most of the features, but it is truly an amazing piece of equipment, with a camera included at no extra charge. Come to think of it, there was no charge, other than agreeing to pay the tax and then for the monthly service fee. Something beyond the reach of millionaires became free when the future arrived.
I'm not sure what kind of mobile phone you own, but I always go for Nokia, because they seem to have better battery life. Nokia phones always have given me clear sound and good reception on the ATT network by my house. I'm not sure if you have a Nokia cell phone, but whether you do or not, what nation do you think is Nokia's corporate home?
I always thought Nokia must be a Japanese company, but I recently discovered it is Finnish. Perhaps I am easily amazed, but I was really quite surprised.
Finland, of course, is located by Russia and Sweden. In fact, Finland was ruled by those countries at different times in its history, which you can read more about in my blog by searching on Helsinki.
The citizens of Finland took advantage of the upheaval of the Russian revolution to gain independence for their country. Almost a century later, Finland has the highest standard of living for its citizenry of any country in the world. I've only seen Helsinki, but it is beautiful and clean.
How did Finland become such a great place to live for the average citizen while Russia, which had much greater wealth which they sought to divide among its citizens, went through a lot of long, hard years?
For what it's worth, you might try to find a recent issue of "Fast Company" which included an article about Nokia at the library. The head of Nokia made some bold statements, like his intention to make Nokia the largest media company in the world, which met with lots of skepticism. He backed up his position by adding that Nokia was the largest cellular phone company in the world today, but in 1990, it was a tire company. That is the key. Contemplate success. Plan your future and become it.
Now that your future is secure, where do you want to go to celebrate? There's a great big beautiful world waiting for you to discover it. Remember, better service leads to better trips.
