Busy week ahead

It's going to be a really busy week for me!

First of all I'm going to Devoxx in Antwerp which is one of my favorite cities in Belgium.

There will be Conferences, BOFs, talks about Clouds, BPM, Scala, Architecture, SOA, Java…



Well, I think the logo correctly expresses the absolute ehhh.. mesh(?) that this conference is going to be.

Second of all, there will be an update to the platform @work early Monday morning which I will have to support remotely.

This should prove to be an easy task, but still..

Last but not least, the final stage of my first *BIG* project as an IT Architect is also starting this week. Hurray for me, it seems to be going better than anticipated!

As a personal (added) challenge, I am trusting some colleagues to be able to follow my project plan and deliver the results in time and with quality. Delegating as never been my strong point, but this is how confident I am right now.

Well, that's it for now, I will keep you posted on significative developments.

Tot ziens!

Gran Turismo 2009

So I've bought a little car and decided to take a tour of central europe for this vacation.


View Larger Map

I have decided on the way there, but not on the way back.. So far, I have spent a night in Hanover and got to Berlin a couple of hours ago. From what I've seen so far, Berlin is one of the most beautiful cities I have been in. It's nightlife is very diverse and there seems to be a little bit of something for everyone, just like home (eheh) but with a twist that makes it very different from the night in Amsterdam. It's still hard to explain the differences but I like it here more than I had anticipated

this is in Hanover....

and this is in Berlin....

and by the way, this is my little car (actually.. mine is black, but you get the picture)

*All images courtesy of Wikipedia because I'm a terrible photographer

slow day

Google passa a batata quente*

Nas palavras imortais do BB Marco "Nao sei o que andas a procura, mas arriscas-te a encontrar" (Possivelmente a frase nao sera tao imortal quanto isso, uma vez que nao tenho a certeza da citacao estar correcta)

A ideia nao e nova, mas lembrei-me de ver o que e que os desocupados que aqui vem parar andam a procura.

copy run start - Experimenta sem o t no fim. Se correr bem copias a configuracao actual do teu Cisco para a memoria de maneira que no proximo reboot elas nao sao esquecidas.

"list of things white people like" - Isso e aqui

0211fb618b98d794165ceb6dc8f38fbb7d260c1d28dcffc5dd70938fd723222e574ef558f1939482 - Oi?

codigos para desbolquear canais para adultos na meo - (E cerca de 100 variacoes desta query) Experimentem paga-los. There is no such thing as free pr0n.

meo ver conteudos gravados na segunda televisão - Tens de desligar a primeira. Parvo, nao e?

como limpar a cache do teu browser - Do meu? Basta pedires.

o significado segafredo em italiano - Punheta a frio. Ajudou?

what does omoos mean - Se for humus, ve aqui Se for Omoo, E um livro do Herman Melville, sequela do Typee. No meu blog e uma referencia aos comentadores.

Krav Maga - (e referencias a tecnicas, Paulo Pereira etc) - Gosto muito. O mestre Paulo foi das pessoas que mais me marcaram ate hoje (e nem tou a falar das nodoas negras). Para informacoes mais serias procurem aqui ou aqui

*homenagem a uma das minhas blogueiras favoritas. Hey, they say it's the highest form of flattery. Right?

Finantial advice

Because I recognize we all live in troubled times, I've decided to share some financial advice I got recently from one of my company's admins*.

If you had purchased £1000 of Northern Rock shares one year ago it would now be worth £4.95 . With HBOS earlier this week your £1000 would have been worth £16.50.

£1000 invested in XL Leisure would now be worth less than £5 but if you bought £1000 worth of Tennents Lager one year ago, drank it all, then took the empty cans to an aluminum recycling plant, you would get £214.

So based on the above statistics the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

*actually it was a NT Admin

Saturday Summer Sail (UPDATED)

Unfortunately it will be a dutch summer...

But I will update this post with some photos!

Ich wuenschte du waerst mit mir da gewesen

Some pics from the Amsterdam gay pride night out. Lekker dings all of us, i know.

you call _that_ dancing

andy comes out (a bit)

lekker lekker lekker

Major Matze and his woman

choose what life?

me and Connie

Thanks for the (good) photos Matze.

Now all I need is time.

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.
A cloud hangs over me, marks every move,
Deep in the memory, of what once was love.

Oh how I realized how I wanted time,
Put into perspective, tried so hard to find,
Just for one moment, thought I'd found my way.
Destiny unfolded, I watched it slip away.

Excessive flashpoints, beyond all reach,
Solitary demands for all I'd like to keep.
Let's take a ride out, see what we can find,
A valueless collection of hopes and past desires.

I never realized the lengths I'd have to go,
All the darkest corners of a sense I didn't know.
Just for one moment, I heard somebody call,
Looked beyond the day in hand, there's nothing there at all.

Now that I've realized how it's all gone wrong,
Gotta find some therapy, this treatment takes too long.
Deep in the heart of where sympathy held sway,
Gotta find my destiny, before it gets too late.


Joy Division - twenty-four hours

By the way, and because I don't like anyone to feel bad for me... This past few nights I've had the very best time in a very long time. Thank you Siouxie. Getto rocks! Amsterdam rules!

Let's get the party started!!!!

help me i'm in hell

My kitchen is dirty as hell.. i swear i can hear voices that are either satan trying to tell me something, or the plumbing needs fixing.

The lyrics of Shortbus pt II

Is you is or is you ain't my baby
Well, the way you're acting lately, well it makes me doubt
You were still my baby, baby
But it seems like my flame in your heart, well it's just gone out

A man is a creature
That has always been strange
Just when you're sure of one
You'll find that he's gone and made a change

Is you is or is you ain't my baby
Well, maybye my baby found somebody new
Or is my baby still my baby too

Anita O'Day - Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby?

The lyrics of Shortbus pt I

I walk a tight rope
and live with a high hope
that somehow we still feel the same
through this catastrophe it's quietly telling me welcome that first word again

I don't care if the worlds upside down if you're lost or you're found
I know your feet will stay far from the ground
If you just stick around

I know the shots you call gentle
cause I could fall and break
you'll hear what they say

I read between the lines
It's just like a hate crime
And tell me the dateline today

I don't care if the worlds upside down if you're lost or you're found
I know your feet will stay far from the ground
If you just stick around

Scott Matthew - Upside Down

We drink and dance and smoke and die of a stroke

... living like steamers, some sirens screamed and we started singing: nous sommes derrangés toujours par des mirages, mais ça fait réver plus, ça donne du courage! Jungle life is quite absurd if you haven’t got a knife!



Mais letras de JPS aqui

Ah well... you know...

Ich hoffe dass diese Nachricht Dich erreicht, wo immer Du auch gerade bist.

yesterday a fever, tomorrow St. Peter

Real friends

Beautiful bride

Yet another real friend

Best view of the city

Ou como eu digo, ontem Manique, amanhã Munique.

A proposito, sim estou em pulgas com o iPhone v2.

Lisboa

Hoje volto a ver a minha amada Lisboa. Ou como diria o Cartman, "Screw you guys, I'm going home!"

O casamento da minha melhor amiga vai-me fazer perder a Amsterdam Tattoo Convention... mas vai ser muito bom voltar a Portugal, mesmo que seja por pouco tempo. Ou se calhar por causa disso mesmo.

Ok, I got an early start

Anjo

Eu não acredito em milagres. Se acreditasse tinha pedido para Deus te colocar no meu caminho mais cedo.

a month later

Its hard to believe just how fast a month as gone by.

I arrived in Amsterdam on the 7th of april, so actually it's been a month and a week but I somehow only remember a couple of days so it's a month give or take.

It's been quite the adventure as you will know oh faithful reader. I met some rather interesting people and I was in some weird scenarios sometimes, I was given very much by some, and only the cab drivers have taken more than I was willing to give.

I started working with Blackboard on the 15th and have been helping improve customer support^TM ever since. The feedback we (myself included) have received from our customers recently is amazing. I am proud of being part of such a wonderful group! Go EMEA team!

you can find more of these here

People who know me well, know that I like to laugh about myself and all things surrounding me, this has helped me to deal with some of my adaptation issues. Also, knowing me well means that you're expecting me to bitch about everything that bugs me about my new job. I can't. NDAs and shit like that would probably get me fired.

As a personal experience, working abroad has been just super. It's all about the people you meet and the way you approach situations. I mean, I know so many souls who might be given everything but only notice they should have been making the most out of it when it's taken away from them... That is just stupid! But these guys and gals always have to learn by themselves, so please, be my guest and bang your head as much as you can if the shoe fits.

So, yes, I would definitely recommend moving abroad to just about anyone.

Also, and getting more personal here, I was given the greatest presents ever on my birthday. The one on a little bridge over the Herengracht is the one I will treasure for ever. It's my personal little schatz so I'll keep it just for me for as long as I can... Or sunday. That and the story about my friends playmate girlfriend. We're such lucky bastards aren't we?

As a final note, I'd like to promise all those who used to come here to read my techie ramblings (ok, the one guy) that I'm readying a post on SQL Server Performance, and it should be done soon... so if that's something you're into feel free to come by late next week.

I also have drafts on Netbeans 6, building a Ruby API for tarpipe (which, incidentally I've pitched to some guys here) and JVM tuning. So I haven't totally forgotten that this is a geek blog. I just need some time to get over the city where you can't help but fall in love several times a day.

Decisions

Must be made. And you only know if you were right when it's done. Yet sometimes life makes it easier on you.

For instance, I was planning on going go to Osdorp's Library event on Portugal and portuguese culture tomorrow. Maybe meet up with some countrymen (and women) and basically see what's up.

But then I got an invitation for dinner at Fifteen. If you don't know Fifteen, than the naked chef hasn't caught up with you yet. It will. It's inevitable.

Well, since it's on the company dow, I really have no choice. If I had it would still be the same, I guess.

Does it make you cry?

A day at D's

Lazy sunday again.

Since spending such a bright, sunny day at home seemed like a waste of time, I gladly took the opportunity to go over to D's house and hang around for a while. Time passes much faster when your having fun with some friends.

After helping M fixing the wireless on D's laptop (You just knew it, right?) the day started getting much more interesting. Having conversations with other expats is always amazing because you find yourself less alone when others share their experiences and it's not awkward at all to say that you miss what you left behind and that sometimes you are afraid to fail.

So, and because I'm late for a date with some ice-cream in the park, what do you get when you mix a Portuguese guy with :
- A Bosnian-German hotty hostess;
- A Turkish-Bulgarian couple (yes, the undead terrorist and his wife);
- A Bosnian sweet;
- A Swedish-Syrian techie-babe;
- A German neo-teenager;
- A very sunny day;

Don't know? Care to guess?
- Great food and an amazing day;
- Wine and Laughs;
- Sex and the City would be dialogs;
- Work done;
- All of the above, but in reverse order;

Need clues?

Cigarettes, coffee, chilled white wine. Arabic veggie food. Jazz.

Talk, talk, talk. Smiles, laughs and toasts. Stories and hopes. (edit) And no more boobs

Thank you

Obrigado a todos. Deram-me a melhor prenda de aniversario (das que eu posso falar, pelo menos) de sempre!


Então e agora quando é que vêm cá fazer-me uma visita?