My first and last stops in New Zealand were in Auckland, where I stayed with Mark and Annie (Mark is Woodstock class of ’78, both have been on staff), though we barely knew each other – we may have met during one of my visits to the school, and Annie and I worked together (at a distance) on the Woodstock history, but none of us remembers too clearly.
At any rate, Mark picked me up at the airport upon my arrival from Brazil (via Buenos Aires) and remarked: “Whenever I come to the international terminal, it’s to pick up someone I don’t know.” Woodstockers are like that.
The statue of a woman on the rock in the water commemorates a local legend for which the town is named. “Whakatane” means (roughly) “does the work of a man” – she single-handedly saved a big war canoe from slipping out to sea. Or something.
@ThinGuy no Best Buy close enough to this campus, I fear. Must remembr to gt a 9 v battery tonight in reply to ThinGuy#
@jonobacon » FemCamp: Sessions & Reflections http://bit.ly/PjBXS – I can try to find the name of the woman who spoke on opensource #
Italian bloggers on strike today against a proposed Internet gag law in Italy http://bit.ly/6c4Lo – would help if someone translated this! #
@jonobacon I could talk for hours. ; ) Start by asking why I left Italy… You should come to Grace Hopper in October, too. in reply to jonobacon#
another reason I left Italy: 1. that actually WAS my most recent salary in Italy and 2. rampant tax evasion (not by me) http://bit.ly/jBqQt#
just been advised that I should redo the expense report I have aready spent >6 hours on because it “may be corrupted.” There are no words… #
@AmberCadabra there is no canonical length for online text or video – use what you need to cover the topic – no more, no less in reply to AmberCadabra#
I am SO going to need a drink tonight. Or several. Let’s see whether my date makes it to Brisbane. #
there are many things I will miss about Sun. Our expense reporting system is emphatically NOT one of them. #
more lessons: slides full of text/busy diagrams work poorly in online streaming video, but also work poorly in the room #
@dfugate OTOH, just saw a slide on Sun/Intel collab featuring multi-ethnic people who don’t work for either in an office I don’t recognize in reply to dfugate#
^ birds (including parrots) flock to their evening roosts at the Queensland University campus
one more hour of conf, then reception, dinner and… cricket? #
^ now I know why Terry Pratchett called his Australia-analog “Fourecks”
Panel – Secure Software Engineering / in-kernel SecurityCristina Cifuentes, James Morris, Fernando Gont – live on http://bit.ly/a9GCb#
lively discussion on computer security and education #
“Everything’s written in C eventually.” Gets a big laugh from this audience. #
glad the conference day is almost over. Very tired. #
Brendan talking about kernel engineering culture shock in the US: http://bit.ly/LH3oo#
awaiting my flight at Brisbane airport (to SFO via Sydney). Was up til 3 am watching cricket. I may have learned a thing or two. #
ending the overseas portion of this trip. My favorite part has been getting the right smart people together to make wonderful things happen #
what I learned about cricket last night did not include the definitions of “googley” and “hat trick”. #
Note: Aussies really do say “No worries” a lot. And you can taste wine in Brisbane airport at 9 am (no, not gonna). #
@ThinGuy I did, but about to board a plane to head back. Met lots of great people, hung out with some great “old” ones. Kernel Conf great. in reply to ThinGuy#
Waiting to board flight in Brisbane at 10:30 am Friday. I will arrive in San Francisco on Friday at 10:15 am. Let’s do the time warp again! #
@metadaddy with Ambien, I can sleep, even on planes. This stuff has changed my life! It’s a whole new order of jet lag management. in reply to metadaddy#
asked Ross about her impressions of Italy this trip. She’s alarmed by a rise in anorexia, including a couple of friends of hers. Scary. #
Milan first city in Italy to make alcohol illegal for under-16s (in Italian) | Reuters http://bit.ly/k4CEQ#
Lessee… everyone is meeting at 7 in the lobby. I have two hours to nap! #
Marriott fail: no makeup mirror. Even the Quality Inn in Porto Alegre had one! #
@lskrocki I’m so blind that I can’t see to put on makeup unless I’m about 3″ from the mirror. This is hard with a bathroom counter 3′ deep. in reply to lskrocki#
okay, that’s it, lack of sleep has officially caught up with me. Dinner at Mezcal was good, blood orange magarita aside (too sweet) #
@markwilliams we’ve learned from stats that traffic to a project can be v diff from *perception* of project’s health. Always measure! #clsin reply to markwilliams#
The best down time I’ve had on this trip so far was a visit to David and Sally Kibblewhite (who had been my teachers at Woodstock School) in their beautiful home in Opotiki, on New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty. The weather was beautiful: I finally got to see some sunshine after days of clouds and/or conference rooms. But there was something strange and unsettling about the light. Was my body, tuned for the high sun of the northern hemisphere summer, rebelling against the return to short winter days? Or was it that the sun was on the wrong side? I never did figure it out. I also would not have said that I knew much about the night sky, but that, too, looked wrong. I did finally see the Southern Cross, which included the brightest star I’ve ever seen in any sky, anywhere.
