Tag Archives: other travel

The Twitter Diaries: 2009-07-05: New Zealand

  • half an hour before time to go to the airport for the start of a very long trip (tho, as it turned out, probably not as long as the last) #
  • I’ve been either working or traveling (or both) for the last 13 days without break. No wonder I’m tired. #
  • still 3 hours to kill in Buenos Aires airport… #
  • coming into Buenos Aires airport, we were all scanned with an infrared camera for fever. But, unlike a week ago, not required to wear masks #
  • a whole family traveling from Porto Alegre on the plane were wearing orange sort of conical masks – they looked like ducks #
  • but very few people I’ve seen so far are willingly wearing masks at all #
  • after drowning in people from all over south America in the Sun stand for four long days, whatever’s out there, I’ve been exposed. #
  • oh, there are the duck people at another table. I wonder if they’re going to Auckland, too. #
  • Buenos Aires airport tip: free wifi available in La Banderita restaurant near gate 12. Nowhere else that I’ve found so far. #
  • running on reserve power, both my laptop and my body. And still >2 hours to boarding. #
  • We may overfly Antarctica, not sure if there will be light to see it by. Losing a day somewhere in there, I’ll arrive Tuesday morning. #
  • woot! found a power point to connect to that’s still within wifi range of the restaurant. Sitting on a hard, cold floor, oh well #
  • @lskrocki will do. FISL was amazing – so much enthusiasm! I was pleasantly surprised at how much demand there is for knowledge about video in reply to lskrocki #
  • ow ow ow. 4 long days of being mostly on my feet makes me feel like a very old woman, at least in my joints. Hard airport floor not helping #
  • @reiger not yet, I’m afraid. Will be back in the US in time for OSCON, possibly sooner. Then… we’ll see. in reply to reiger #
  • @NathanFillion trying to SPAM (Spend Paul Allen’s Money). Well, he’s supplying telescopes for SETI, surely needs gear to go with them. in reply to NathanFillion #
  • race against time: will my video of President Lula finish uploading to YouTube before my flight is called? And will I still have time to… #
  • a lot of people looking at me funny. Is it because I’m sitting on the floor or because I have a laptop? Girl geek here, folks! #
  • video uploaded! Keep an eye on http://www.youtube.com/deirdres for it to finish processing. I gotta get on a plane about now. #

  • in Auckland, finally got online, but will probably crash for a nap soon. It was a loooong trip. #
  • President Lula of Brazil Meets OpenSolaris http://bit.ly/31KNwS
    (rough cut uploaded from Buenos Aires airport) #
  • NB a clip of our guys with Lula made it onto Brazilian national news, but I suspect I got better footage – the press was outside a fence #
  • was a forced witness to a weird “shipboard” romance on the plane last night. They had evidently met for the first time at BA airport… #
  • …they boarded together, chatting animatedly, she bulldozed the young woman who was supposed to sit next to her into switching seats… #
  • …so he could sit next to her. They chatted much of the night, he mentioned a wife. I went to sleep. Woke up, they were making out… #
  • …The tone of everything I couldn’t help overhearing seemed to indicate a swept-away love at first sight. Maybe he was unhappy in marriage #
  • …who was I to judge? But, as we all walked into the terminal, I heard her say: “I’m so glad I found you. The trip would have been boring.” #
  • …and that seemed to be that. When last I saw him, he was standing alone, waiting for his luggage. #
  • Have learned that, in Maori, WH is pronounced (roughly) FW. Which makes telling people I’m going to Whakatane tomorrow a little tricky. #
  • @debworks nope, Viareggio isn’t particularly near us in reply to debworks #
  • @Padmasree sadly, there is one thing telepresence can’t overcome: time zones #clsf in reply to Padmasree #
  • last week’s Tweet roundup, with photos added: http://bit.ly/yop1i #
  • @Britopian I recommend EventBrite for event registrations – was very happy with the power, flexibility, and results (on free events) in reply to Britopian #
  • @bklein34 that’s what you get for speaking in public on the subject. ; ) in reply to bklein34 #
  • @vdotw the mail server is very in-and-out for me right now in reply to vdotw #
  • Gotta love the kiwi sense of humor …and I’m flying this airline today, for the first time in my life -http://bit.ly/V7qHf #
  • I like to buy souvenirs that truly represent a country. In Rio Grande do Sul, it was a mate’ cup (with metal straw and tripod stand) #
  • …in New Zealand: lovely warm wool socks! #
  • @glynnfoster don’t tempt me with Ugg boots – 2 pairs already, I adore them! Merino also sounds excellent, tho little opp to wear it in US in reply to glynnfoster #
  • @mjabali thanks, will use that link when I get around to writing about this in reply to mjabali #
  • breakfast: toast w/Vegemite (which I learned to love long ago), coffee, kiwi fruit, Zespri. My host’s uncle originally named the kiwi fruit. #
  • will Franken have to make up all the Senate sessions he’s missed, or can he test out of those? #
  • learned in Brazil: having a mascot is important here. Gnu & Tux were v popular on the show floor. But what can we do with bubbles? #
  • @glynnfoster come to think of it, are Ugg boots cheaper here than in the US…? in reply to glynnfoster #
  • @robbogio yes, I understood quite a bit of Br Port, though reading was easier than hearing in reply to robbogio #
  • @missbhavens so how close is the big day? in reply to missbhavens #
  • I think I saw the Southern Cross for the first time last night, out the bathroom window. #
  • @dave_enz wow, I feel so popular! I’ll be working on the presos this weekend. Enjoying the Kibblewhites & their lovely home in reply to dave_enz #
  • @robbogio pretty much, but I’ve had practice – known lots of Kiwis for years, so i’ve heard of things like “pikelets” before in reply to robbogio #
  • I completely understand why people fall in love with New Zealand. Much gorgeousness packed into one very small country. #
  • @metadaddy nooooo – jumping from a great height with a rubber band around my ankle definitely not me! in reply to metadaddy #
  • had to move away from the fire – too sleepy already. My body knows that it’s 3 am in Brazil #
  • troubleshooting audio issues on a friend’s Dell desktop. Do I trust this Windows automated troubleshooter thingy? #
  • boh. Dunno what I did, but something worked. We now have sound. #
  • highly amused by my life. “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” #
  • RT @bicyclemark well. here it is for what its worth. Hilter Learns of Michael Jackson’s death. http://bit.ly/16djgP LOLOLOLOLOL! #
  • about to take the Kibblewhites out for a thank-you dinner. Wearing the amazing jasper necklace I bought in Porto Alegre #
  • how convenient! seminar venue is only 1.6 km from Sun’s Wellington office. I can get started on what will be the expense report from hell. #
  • I’ve taken to checking twitter before news.google.com. I get the news here faster. #
  • leaving the beautiful Bay of Plenty today for Wellington, which may also be beautiful but will be chilly and wet. Where’s that NZ merino? #
  • @SteveEdiger @jonasthaler Amal keeps telling me “To keep your job, make sure you impact the bottom line.” ; ) in reply to SteveEdiger #

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The Twitter Diaries: 2009-06-28: Brazil

  • Lynn & I are in Montevideo, transiting to Porto Alegre. Guy took our passports to print boarding passes, hopefully will return with them! #
  • in Montevideo airport, soon to board for Porto Alegre. We already know that our luggage is not with us. Slim chance it got there before us. #
  • @debworks yup, had a change in my carryon, but a few key items are in the still-missing suitcases in reply to debworks #
  • sitting in hotel lobby with wifi, I can get email and use Twitter, but can’t get a browser to work. ??? #
  • @ben so I’d need to get the proxy address? in reply to ben #
  • Twitter is what you do when you can’t get to your blog… First, food. Dinner was strawberry caipirinha, liver salad, carrot/apricot soup… #
  • breakfast was slices of very good mango and papaya, fresh crusty bread. Our bus for the campus tour is late, so we’ll just go on eating… #
  • before dinner, we had to shop for clothing in case our suitcases don’t show up today. 2 luxe malls look much like malls anywhere. #
  • Porto Alegre, at least the parts I’ve seen so far, is cleaner and more elegant than most Italian cities. Architecture mostly concrete. #
  • everyone disclaiming responsibility for getting our suitcases to us. American Airlines #fail Let’s hope American Express can make it happen. #
  • hotel rebooted their router, that has fixed the problem #
  • @alecmuffett sorry to hear it. in reply to alecmuffett #
  • moving 2000 mini soccer balls (with Sun, Glassfish, etc. logos) from bus to Mauricio’s hotel room. Silly photos to follow. #
  • it’s 2:43 am in Porto Alegre, I’ve been awake since 5:30 this morning, trying to trace the bags myself because everyone else is NOT helpful #
  • remind me never to fly American Airlines again. They seem to be far more anxious to avoid responsibility than to help their passengers. #
  • NB i wasn’t tracing bags all day, we were doing an OpenSolaris conference at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul. #
  • hallelujah for good customer service! our corp travel department got an answer out of AA, now we know the bags went to Sao Paolo #
  • lesson: the free AmEx assist svc you get because you’re a cardholder? Not very useful. “We’ll call once a day to try to trace your bags.” #
  • !#$%^#$%^$%^ Clear ceases operations. That’s going to make my traveling life that much more difficult. #
  • Cut off from Twitter yesterday – the uni wifi blocks Twt, YouTube, and Passpack (?!). Show went well, including my extempore talk on video. #
  • hotel offers wifi in lobby, only wired in rooms, but USB/Ethernet for my Air is in the missing luggage. Leeching off a neighbor’s Linksys #
  • @jowyang I don’t always need Clear, but it’s saved me a few times, well worth the price I would have paid to renew it in reply to jowyang #
  • I can has baggage! #
  • @ckoontz Clear was actually a very useful service, at certain times and from certain airports. I had just made up my mind to renew, damnit! in reply to ckoontz #
  • 3 suitcases of expensive equipt, all opened (by customs in Sao Paolo – TSA locks not broken). Amazingly, only casualty 1 iPod. #
  • @willsnow did they get to tell the great story to the right peOple? I really want the world to know what a fantastic job they’ve done. #
  • RT @fschupp: @BigAdmn …. “Will some1 of your crew be @ OSCON?” Some others of us will be glad to represent for our Big friends at OSCON #
  • still figuring out this public speaking gig, but I’m getting a lot of practice this month! #
  • BTW, what sadist came up with the 2-5-2 seating on Boeing 777s? #
  • @SteveEdiger how does that confuse the police? in reply to SteveEdiger #
  • interesting to see how my Italian does and doesn’t help with understanding Portugese. Can understand a lot in writing, less in conversation. #
  • RT @Britopian RT @bobduffy: CIsco says employees own their own brand and followers on Twitter… Also true for Sun. Hard to see it elsewise #
  • turns out I wasn’t supposed to drink the tap water here… Then why did they provide glasses in the bathroom? Oh, well, lose some weight… #
  • had dinner with Aaron and Eduardo. Meat is awfully good here in gaucho country (home of churrasca) – good thing I’m not vegetarian! #
  • up early for the first day of FISL. We’ll all go together in a bus. This is like being on a school trip, but for grownups. With alcohol. #

  • on the very busy #FISL show floor. Aaron & I were interviewed by Radio Software Livre about using video to communicate about open source #
  • installing Flash plugin on the Internet cafe machines #fisl so we can show our Portugese-subtitled videos #
  • 1st day of #fisl winding down. The Sun booth has been thronged with visitors most of the day #
  • #fisl is one of the most frenetic conferences I’ve ever attended, with 1000s of young people eager to learn. Or at least to score a free T. #
  • real Brazlian churrasca – that was probably the best meat I’ve eaten in my life. The caipirinhas didn’t hurt, either. #
  • @Britopian most played song? there are so many… Tonight’s theme song was “The Parting Glass” by the High Kings #soccrm in reply to Britopian #
  • frustrating when an organization which has NO idea how much is said about it in the rest of the world really screws up. (Not Sun) #
  • Charlaine Harris books apparently the same as Laurell Hamilton, only set in Shreveport (?!?) instead of St. Louis. The point being…? #
  • @glynnfoster I’m going to get to taste all this good stuff you keep braggging about, right? in reply to glynnfoster #
  • @glynnfoster I’ll take that as an invitation. ; ) in reply to glynnfoster #
  • @ethang thanks for streaming [our talk at FISL] – wish Id known in time to let people know. in reply to ethang #
  • talk went well, about 100 people, much more than expected since we were up against Peter Sunde of Pirate Bay #
  • very upset that our video subtitles are not working when we have a great opp to show them at FISL #
  • Sun booth thronged with people wanting t-shirts. Should I go help or stay out of the way? #
  • @nonstick for these students, we+re cool! in reply to nonstick #
  • @Crescenzo the getting famous plan requires the cooperation of at least one other person… in reply to Crescenzo #
  • @jowyang in the time and place I went to high school, even land lines were nearly non-existent http://bit.ly/kTJ9L in reply to jowyang #
  • #fisl done for the evening (not that the crowd is leaving…). tomorrow will be even bigger – President Lula will attend! #
  • another exhausting and exhilarating day #fisl. Looking forward to food and cachaça tasting tonight, thanks to our colleague Eduardo. #
  • lost my bit.ly login and their password reminder isn’t working. #$%#% #
  • last night saw O Teatro Mágico – http://bit.ly/A8IuM – wow! Get the music for free (they want you to) here: http://bit.ly/9GYOa #
  • #fisl security for the president’s visit is causing inconveniences #
  • #fisl we are not doing t-shirt madness today – the mob would freak out the security people #
  • #fisl – 4 Sun talks in a row in room 41A, starting with Brian Leonard on Virtual Box at 9. Simon Phipps and the Webmink show at 10. #
  • #fisl if you want t-shirts or soccer balls today, attend Sun talks! We’re not doing giveaways at the booth due to security issues #
  • Brazilians are very creative with names. Best I’ve seen so far #fisl are Chrisnamurth and Darvin #
  • #fisl Today people have to work for their OpenSolaris t-shirts, either installing the OS or attending a talk. Result: crowded booth! #
  • OMFG. I get to film the president. #fisl #
  • #fisl now past security to the vast emptiness of the rest of the show floor (mostly roped off – Sun booth got most of todays traffic) #
  • #fisl Sun has prime real estate today, right where the virtual red carpet turns. #
  • #fisl Running fullscreen Portugese subtitled videos on the Internet cafe machines right along the presidential path. Talk about eyeballs! #
  • #fisl Im one of about 300 people on the show floor, a select much fewer are in the conf room and will speak with him, including Simon Phipps #
  • #fisl a set of uniforms just walked down the ropeway- maybe the pres is on the way, finally #
  • #fisl asked not to get in the way of the press. Sweetie, I AM the press. I represent the non-maintstream media. #
  • #fisl today I wore my bright green I”m Blogging This for Sun t-shirt. didn-t know how appropriate it would be #
  • #fisl our Brazil team fucking ROCKS! Wait til you all see the footage! #
  • #fisl our rockin’ Brazil user group leaders with President Lula: http://bit.ly/eK6zK #
  • multiculturalism gone mad: a Brazilian soap opera set (mostly) in India: Caminho das Índias http://bit.ly/q22c #
  • RT @jimgris: OpenSolaris at FISL w/ Brazil’s President Lula Da Silva. Outrageous! http://bit.ly/19rIvh – yup, them #
  • RT @jimgris: OpenSolaris at FISL w/ Brazil’s President Lula Da Silva. Outrageous! http://bit.ly/19rIvh – yup, them’s our guys. They rock! #
  • have I mentioned that I love Brazil and especially Brazlians? Can I come live here? #
  • didn’t go to the #fisl speaker dinner with 400+ open source luminaries (sorry, Simon!). Too tired to speak coherently. #
  • instead had pizza, wine, and giggles and belly laughs with Lynn & Teresa. #
  • did talk earlier today with Elizabeth Garbee in the speakers’ lounge. What an amazing person. #
  • @DavidHowell very glad to hear that life is good for you! in reply to DavidHowell #
  • okay, need to wake up enough to run some useful Omniture stats for the boss. #
  • last day of #fisl, even longer than the others. <groan> All the activity in the Sun booth is great, but exhausting for the staff. #
  • @ceri what have you guys been doing with WOSUG? (I think you’re the right person to ask about this…) – page views through the roof! #
  • #fisl schwag score – very cute Firefox t-shirts! (it helps to have something to trade) #
  • Waiting for #fisl closing ceremony to end. Don’t understand it and I’m hungry! #

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Hurry Up!

Yesterday we were in Santa Cruz do Sul, RS, Brazil, for a student conference on OpenSolaris. We had some time in the afternoon to sight-see (then were working again from 6-10 pm), including a walk to the cathedral.

Along the way we were highly amused by this animated crossing signal, which Jogo told us was manufactured, along with some other experimental traffic control systems, in a nearby town.

The soundtrack was provided by a car cruising the neighborhood with a loudspeaker on top, advertising something.