Uninteresting life

Palma Airport

2010-04-20T11:06:00.001+01:00

This is how Palma's airport looked like when skyes cleared for flights.

Palma by night

2010-04-19T23:41:00.001+01:00

Salzburg Airport

2010-04-19T23:27:00.003+01:00

Mozart Airport on the way to Palma. Traveling with a fly that used to race in Formula 1.

2010-04-19T23:27:00.001+01:00

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2010-04-19T23:24:00.003+01:00

To Munich

2010-04-19T21:25:00.002+01:00

This train was late, full and had to stop during the journey to Munich. I made all the trip standing or sitting in my trolley. I got to Munich 2 hours later that expected. I entered the hotel (because I lost myself in a new town) at 5.09am.

Gottingen

2010-04-19T21:20:00.005+01:00

This is half way to Munich. A town I knew nothing about in the middle of Germany, a train station already closed (it was after midnight) and some passengers waiting for another train that was late 90 minutes.

At this point I already had an hotel booked in Munich thanks to the help of my travel agency (Clubtour) who provided me with support in this journey.

Now I know something more about Gottingen, it has an University which gave us some important developments in maths the last century and made others think about complex problems for years.

Berlin

2010-04-19T21:20:00.004+01:00

The journey from Warsaw to Berlin was interesting. I was in the same compartment whit 3 British. They where also trying to get home. At this point we all thought our best option was the night train from Berlin to Paris. But before we got to Berlin we crossed the polish/german border. I didn't imagined that inside EU we still had border and police control, but we do. It was a little surreal. Also, still in Poland I saw two deer in two different fields. Interesting...

In Berlin I only got to see something from the train window but it impressed me. I would like to come back one day.

The tickets to Paris where sold out for days, so I went to Plan B. getting to Munich. This was the train that would take me half way there during the night, an ICE (Inter City Express).

Old town in Warsaw

2010-04-17T21:13:00.002+01:00

I had time to spend in Warsaw, so I decided to go to the Old Town. I was impressive, not because of the monuments, they are ok, but not marvelous. It was the moment that Poland was living. Almost every street had a church with a funeral going on inside.

People where staying in lines for 10 and 14 hours to pay the respects to the President. Military where giving water to those waiting. The silence was everywhere, no cars and lots of people standing in silence or crying in murmur.

Warsaw

2010-04-17T17:11:00.004+01:00

When I got to Warsaw I had confirmation that my flight was cancelled (that was not a surprise), so I started to think in backup plan to get me home. But first things first, find a place to sleep and prepare the journey. This is my hotel there, near the train station.

After I got a room I tried to get a train ticket Berlin, which I got for next morning.

Start of an adventure

2010-04-17T09:32:00.003+01:00

A couple of days later (see below) I was in Lodz, starting my trip home. At this point I already knew that there was a lot of problems with air traffic and with Poland.

When I arrived in Poland some days before the plane touched ground in the middle of more or less loud screams. After I saw a country mourning the dead of a tragic accident in Russia. The country was filled of white and red flags topped with two black ribbons. The airport was receiving a plane every three hours with more twenty bodies. Then they stopped doing that on the account of the cloud of ashes from the volcano.

All over Poland people stopped working and companies closed.

I asked my driver what they thought about the crash, was it really an accident? He told something I will keep in my mind. He answered "We don't say that", but the silence that followed implied that they where thinking other things. He then said that some people where speculating about the altimeter on the president plane...

Strange and deep people those of Poland.

This picture was taken in the morning at the Lodz train station. That was my train to Warsaw.

Frankfurt airport

2010-04-15T10:10:00.005+01:00

I love Frankfurt airport. It's the most efficiently run airport I know. And we get to seat drinking free coffee in the middle of the planes while we are waiting ....

This was my first stop in a trip to Poland. The day the volcano started the chaos in Europe. At this point I didn't knew nothing about it. I got up at 4.00am to go the Porto airport and all was normal.

Coming back to the old subject of gay marriage

2009-12-27T03:31:00.003Z

Some time ago I posted some comments in a blog from my friend Susan about gay marriage, basically I said all marriage should be forbidden and that would make the all point of gay marriage obsolete. I still think marriage is a source of huge problems in society. We have family courts, divorce courts, you name it. Then you have the question of heritage, who takes precedence in the spoils of a life. Even the dead can't have a complete saying on what used to be his belongings. Without marriage people just would have to be more conscious of their own life and how it could affect others.

But that's old news. Today I want to be a little more pragmatic and forget that line of thinking. For two reasons. The first one is that people want to marry, whatever the consequences are and the second is because in my country (Portugal, for those who don't know it) is getting ready to approve a bill making possible gay marriage. And I am all in favour of it.

But before I want to tell you a story that was in the newspapers a couple of day ago. One gay uncle was awarded custody of the nephew because the parents are unfit for the job. That was a victory of common sense over prejudice. I am waiting for much more decision like.

Gay marriage can be a great thing for heterosexual fathers. Today a a father facing a divorce is a person fighting prejudice. In a divorce the mother is side getting all the attentions. She's the one that will probably get the custody, she's the one that probably will get the family house and will be awarded some monetary compensation for all of this.

Of course I think parents must provide for the kids. After all it was their decision to have some, not the other way around. What I am against in the fact that even before the judge meets the parents, he already decided that the best interest for the children is to be with the mother and visit the father on the weekend. I know there are good and bad fathers, but there are also good and bad mothers, and I want to believe that most of the times there are good parents. So, why should one have and head start in a divorce?

Now imagine a gay divorce with kids. What type of prejudice will be used to decide? I think it will be interesting to see...

Being pragmatic, gay marriage is a big leap for society, is a big leap against all prejudice based on sex. It will force the most traditional parts of our society to start thinking on merits of people instead of the rules of proper behaviour. Please gay people make a lot of marriages, have a lot of kids and some divorces. The rest of us should thank you for that.

House in Porto

2009-10-26T11:33:00.002Z

Rainbow in Famalicão

2009-10-22T10:38:00.002+01:00

Driving at the sunset

2009-10-12T19:13:00.002+01:00

Driving at the sunset 2

2009-10-12T19:11:00.002+01:00

Driving at the sunset 3

2009-10-12T19:08:00.002+01:00

Douro river 2

2009-10-04T19:01:00.005+01:00

Douro river

2009-10-04T19:01:00.004+01:00

Vintage House in Pinhão

2009-10-04T18:49:00.002+01:00

Alfandega - Porto

2009-10-01T14:10:00.002+01:00

Paris

2009-09-18T22:50:00.001+01:00

Rainbow in Lille

2009-09-03T17:15:00.001+01:00

Lille

2009-09-02T21:13:00.001+01:00

Lille

2009-09-02T21:12:00.001+01:00

Vila do Conde

2009-08-24T19:37:00.001+01:00

Vila do Conde

2009-08-24T19:32:00.001+01:00

Algarve

2009-08-11T19:07:00.001+01:00

Happy moment

2009-04-28T10:24:00.001+01:00

STAR TREK

2009-04-27T11:18:00.001+01:00

The nature of light

2009-04-23T15:48:00.001+01:00

How about ghosts? do you believe in them? Can you imagine an universe where they exist? Or it's better if they don't? Those thoughts came into my mind after several days of wandering into quantum science fiction.

When I was a kid I spent several days looking into Einstein's relativity. The fourth dimension was kind of magical. What was that? Why it was so important? Why I could not find books that explained it in a manner anyone could understand? Somehow I managed to to get a glimpse of the theory and the importance of the subject.

This theory was based on a premiss, that the speed of light is constant. Because light speed is constant (it's almost the same as saying that information speed is constant) we have to adjust time on the speed of the subject, the fourth dimension. Of course the theory is more than that, it was also about gravity, the geometry of space/time and E=mc2, the energy/matter formula of nuclear age.

Latter I found quantum physics. This was stranger than life. It looked like something out of a mad man's delusions. The problem is that it made predictions that worked. Today the "Graal" of physics is the unified theory. It's far away and I imagine it will be away for a long time.

What I found most interesting about quantum physics it's one of the question it asks, it's an old question, almost mystical, "What is the nature of light?".

We got many answers already, just to get more questions after. Now we have a duality to explain. The photon, the basic amount of light, can be thrown at something an it will break, but if just one goes through a grid it will create an interference pattern on the other side, just like it had a ghost travelling at his side. So, does light have ghosts? What is light?

Rainbow

2009-04-07T07:51:00.001+01:00

Hold my hand

2009-04-03T00:07:00.002+01:00

A story I found in the web....

Hold my hand

Little girl and her father were crossing a bridge.
The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter, "Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don't fall into the river."
The little girl said "No, Dad. You hold my hand."
"What's the difference?" Asked the puzzled father.
"There's a big difference" replied the little girl. "If I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go. But if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go."

Niege 2

2009-02-21T12:08:00.001Z

Niege

2009-02-21T12:07:00.001Z

Prison Break - Next season

2009-02-12T11:22:00.002Z

Paris

2009-02-10T16:29:00.002Z

Eiffel tower

Paris

2009-02-10T16:26:00.002Z

Eiffel tower

A day to remember

2009-01-10T03:50:00.003Z

I have my mobile phone set up with two alarms in the morning. One for 7.00 and other for 7.30. I always need an hour to get ready for a new day. Today it started very badly. The alarm shouted at 7.00, I woke up but was so tired I decided to roll the other way for a little more. I have been working home on a new site and only went to bed at 4.00 am. I woke at 8.16. If the alarm was working I don't remember. The point is that I have scheduled swimming at 8.00 Tuesdays and Fridays, and I missed one.

I love to swim, the peaceful sound of the warm water passing in your head works miracles for me. And I need the exercise three times a week (I also go on Sundays, but I don't have an hour booked), it's the only time I have to get my ass out of a chair.

Because I was late and tired I just rolled over again, not thinking was I was doing. The result was that I woke up late. A lot late. I had a quick shower and opened the room windows. It was snowing this morning. The last time I saw snow, real snow like today, here where I live, was like 20 years ago. I just smiled, I couldn't stop smiling. Later I was driving for work smiling again just because of that gentle, small snow falling.

It was funny because the day before I had to make a text about the Winter, for that site I am working on, and I wasn't getting in the mood. At some point I started talking with a friend in a far away land and asked for help. That came in the form of pictures of a snowman. I remember envying the snow. And today I get snow here. I know, not enough to make a snowman, but it was snow.

Yesterday I managed to make the text and today I kept working on the site, not much, because I am waiting for some graphics for our designer. I worked on the domain setting and stuff like that. After dinner I updated my Linux machine with a new kernel. While I was working I was listening to Katy Cheova, she's a Russian singer that I like, until I got bored and started looking for more songs. I wanted something that I didn't listened for a long time.

Now I am listening to Dire Straits and remembering some younger days where life was easy, even if I didn't thought so at the time. Where my main concern was holding a girl in my arms during a slow dance. Yes, I am that old. My early teenage Saturdays where spent dancing in my friends houses at the sound of Pink Floyd, Dire Straits and Rod Stewart. It was also the time where U2 sang "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" in all charts. Later I developed a more heavy and less mainstream taste for music, but I still find "Sultans of swing" a refreshing song.

One thing I never lost was a strong love for songs that tell a story. That's why I listed to exhaustion the first album from Bon Jovi. They had great stories. I remember being mocked for listening to some band of hairy guys that had an album called "Slippery when wet" with photos of the workers of a Canadian brothel washing cars. By the way, one of the songs featured some strange monkey like sounds and was called "Living on a prayer". The monkey sound didn't helped much to my reputation. Another problem was listening loud to "Social Disease" with my mother home. In the beginning of the song the girls from the photos gave a little help recording some very nice girlie sounds. Now it's time for "I'd die for you". It's difficult to express how much that song made me what I am now. I really believe that one should die for the love of our life.

After it's "Never say goodbye", a good song to finish this post, it's about remembering teenage days and school love.

Graffiti

2009-01-09T12:10:00.003Z

Snow

2009-01-09T12:08:00.003Z

First time in twenty years :). Snow in Famalicão.

Christmas gift

2009-01-03T02:18:00.001Z

It was Christmas eve. I was in bed relaxing a morning sleep. I got a phone call in my mobile. I have the very bad habit of sleeping with it in my bed side table. Anyway, it was work. Some emergency i had to sort out because it's not Christmas everywhere, in this case it was Turkey. I got up and went to the office. After some mails and phone calls i was able to know a little more that i new before. I had to wait for lunch break to end to know anything valuable. Almost no one was working in Portugal, and certainly none in our company. I had to get some food while i waited. I didn't had any breakfast.

There is a small place in front of our office where i get my morning coffee. It's a place where the market workers go. Sometimes, when i am having my coffee they are already eating their lunch. At Wednesdays they open as soon as 2 in the morning. I know that because i had to work late and even, sometimes, all night.

I went to that place, sat at the counter and asked for some food. They got me one of the two choices for the day. I eat all of it, i was starving. The woman serving came to me and was going to ask if i liked it, when she saw the empty plate, she din't. Instead she just told me "Of course you liked it, you are one of ours."

That was my Christmas gift.

Tinkerbell

2008-12-14T02:55:00.003Z

I was in EuroDisney a couple of week ago with my daughter. We got there at the of the afternoon and we managed to a little less than a hour before close in the first day. It was raining and it was also a weekday, so it wasn't crowded. My daughter wanted to go and ride in Peter Pan (it was the second time she went to Disney). We did that just before closing because we first went to a Small World and got a cup ride.

My daughter loves Tinkerbell. She loves fairies. I must say that i also like the Peter Pan ride and my favorite character in that movie is Tinkerbell. How can anyone not like a sexy little fairy with a temper?

In the second day she found out an X-wing fighter. We already saw together the episodes 4 and 5 of the Star Wars saga. It was a time she was having trouble adapting to school and the discipline of a new teacher. She loved the movies and she learned a lesson. So, she wanted to go on that ride too. Her favorite character is R2D2. On a smaller extent C3PO also. She's not very found of Princess Leya of Luke or Solo. She loves the small robot that's a center piece of all movies.

Today she came home with a movie for us to see. It was the Tinkerbell movie. We agreed that she could see that if she had all her soup at her grandmother house, then we would go an shop some stuff, including dinner. She agreed only if i made her a magical dinner. It's a movie about fairies ...

I made some scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and chips of Parmesan cheese and cutted if small pieces some fruit and prepared a chocolate fondue for us to eat during the movie. It was fun, the movie is fun and teaches a little lesson (always important if you have kids).

Watching the movie i learned one very amusing thing about Tinkerbell that made me love her even more. I can now say that she's one of my heroes. Tinkerbell is the Uber-geek of fairies.

Little girl

2008-12-08T16:33:00.002Z

Mother and daughter

2008-12-08T16:31:00.002Z

Waiting

2008-12-05T21:44:00.002Z

Loucura

2008-12-04T00:54:00.001Z

A loucura é uma coisa estranha. Parece um parvoíce dizer isto mas a verdade é que a loucura engana os loucos e os outros. Engana ao ponto de não sabermos quem é que está mais perto da realidade, se os loucos se os outros. Se tivesse que dar uma definição genérica de loucura (não técnica) diria que é o alheamento da realidade, o viver de acordo com regras não baseadas numa concepção fundamentada do real.

O engraçado é que as pessoas podem ser tão convincentes que transformam a realidade com simples frases de modo a servirem os seus propósitos de tal modo que os outros é que passam a ser os loucos. Hoje aconteceu-me uma dessas situações. Uma pessoa resolveu comporta-se de formas que a vergonha me impedem de descrever e, ao longo da sessão de parvoíces, insultos e agressões, foi sistematicamente afirmando que não tinha feito nada, que os que aconteceu não tinha acontecido.

Não foi isso que me assustou. Infelizmente já começa a ser habito este tipo de atitudes da parte dela. o que me assustou foi eu ter de fazer um esforço para me lembrar do que tinha acabado de passar de cada vez que ela dizia o contrário com uma convicção inabalável. Não se tratava de mentir, tratava-se de realmente se convencer do que dizia. Trata-se de moldar a realidade em função das necessidades a um nível profundo. Ela acredita que aquilo que fez, não fez. Ela muda a realidade com que vive à medida que vai acontecendo.

Isto deve ter alguma designação técnica no âmbito da psicologia. Acredito que não seja caso virgem, mas uma coisa é um saber abstracto, outra é sentir na pele, é sentir a confusão que se instala na nossa mente ao ser confrontada com as situações. Eu tive de fazer um esforço para me agarrar à realidade. Eu não conseguia acreditar no que estava a acontecer-me. Aquilo tinha existido. Como é possível segundos depois acreditar no contrário ?

Steve Jobs at Stanford

2008-11-28T11:21:00.001Z

Hoje apetece-me

2008-11-23T02:12:00.000Z

Hoje apetece-me. Apetece-me escrever em Português. Já não o faço à muitos anos. As últimas linhas de que me recordo devem estar magneticamente registadas nalgumas disquetes cheias de pó perdidas nalguma gaveta da casa da sogra. Não sei o porquê deste súbito impulso de escrever na língua materna. Alguma coisa se terá passado hoje que me fez redireccionar a forma de pensar. Não deixa de ser engraçada toda esta vontade. Será que os meus votos de início de ano se irão finalmente concretizar? Será que estou de novo a fantasiar vontades esquecendo a realidade, mais conotada com a palavra em Inglês? Não sei... Não me interessa. O que eu quero é escrever. Escrever em Português, nem eu sei o quê. As palavras vão passando para o teclado, por vezes de uma forma pouco ordeira, que me obriga a voltar atrás com alguma regularidade, de uma forma constante e sem objectivo.

Estou a escrever e a ouvir música. O ritmo ajuda a manter os dedos em movimento, a canção neste instante é o Danúbio Azul. Sempre achei piada ás valsas de Strauss. São tão leves e primaveris que me deixam sempre bem disposto. Deus sabe o que eu preciso de ficar bem disposto. Se fosse outro dia já teria embarcado na deixa e começado um choradinho acerca das minhas misérias. Hoje não. Hoje estou a escrever em português.

Acabou a valsa e começou Sonic Youth. Isto não, não estou com vontade. Passemos á frente e voltemos a temas mais clássicos com Bach. Mas não dura muito tempo, esta versão é muito moderna para ser apreciada. Estranho, a Last.fm costuma acertar com o que eu quero ouvir, mais até do que eu próprio. Hoje não, tenho de estar constantemente a mudar de faixa. Agora passei para Tears For Fears. Uma das primeiras músicas da minha adolescência. Do tempo da descoberta do Top of the Pops, ou do equivalente à época na televisão estatal, única e de dois canais, embora apenas um tivesse cobertura nacional.

O que me faz lembrar as disquetes. Palavra nova par alguém com a minha idade. Quando aprendi a escrever não havia disto. Muitos textos escrevi á mão e perdi em qualquer recanto das diversas fases do crescimento de uma personalidade. Transcrevi alguns depois num computador Olivetti com apenas uma drive de 3 1/2 e 640kb de ram. Tanta palavra nova, tanta medida nova. Esse não foi o meu primeiro computador, foi o segundo. O primeiro foi um ZX Spectrum 48k. Agora tenho mais capacidade de processamento no telemóvel do que nas duas máquinas juntas e 1000 vezes mais espaço de armazenamento disponível. Evoluções.

Lembro-me de ir para uma pastelaria em Santo Tirso no final das aulas, devia ter uns 16 anos, escrever num caderno ou em qualquer folha avulsa que estivesse a jeito. Esse tempo roubado com a desculpa de perder a camioneta foi intenso. Foram dias em que as emoções se encontravam à flor da pele, a serem descobertas pela primeira vez. Tão superficiais estavam que transpiravam para as folhas guiadas pelas esferográficas. Não escrevia com tinta, escrevia com alma destilada pela pele.

Agora estou com a Primavera de Vivaldi. As Quatro Estações são uma das minha peças preferidas. Não consigo ficar indiferente quando a ouço. Realmente hoje estou com uma disposição diferente... Se calhar é como o Bob diz, aquele com apelido de Dylan, a resposta está no vento que passa. Será que nos basta ouvir o vento para encontrar as respostas? Será que precisamos de respostas? Muitas vezes tenho dito que a resposta está na pergunta. Acredito mesmo nisto. Se tenho alguma fé, além da necessidade de apoio espiritual nos dias apertados, é a de que a pergunta arrasta a resposta. Estão ligadas de uma forma inconsciente, mas disponível para os atentos, aos que se interrogam acerca do que os motiva.

Carmen, Marcha do Toureiro. Outra peça com vontade de ser ouvida. Hoje a minha filha esteve a ver o recital da escola de música de uma amiga. Não posso dizer que tenha ficado impressionado com as actuações. São criança normais com o gosto da música. Só isso já vale muito, mas apenas esse muito. No final fomos jantar quatorze pessoas, pouco conhecidos, sem grandes denominadores comuns. No fim do jantar fomos a casa da miúda da música. Serviu para sair de lá com um rebento amarrado a um violino. Não é que me importe, até gosto. Mas não foi isso que fez com que eu quisesse escrever em português.

Agora é uma Sonata ao Luar a propósito da qual uma vez Virgílio Ferreira disse que o gosto dos outros lho tinha tirado todo. Adoro esta frase. Quanto a Beethoven, só posso dizer que fico sempre impressionado com a forma como constrói imagens com sons. esta peça não se podia chamar de outra forma, não faria sentido com outro nome.

O que se passou então. Se calhar eu sei, se calhar não quero saber, se calhar não tenho coragem para o assumir pois não já não sei sentir. Se calhar tenho primeiro de voltar a aprender, a descobrir as emoções que enterrei com as opções que fui fazendo ao longo dos anos. Talvez esteja de novo a destilar palavras que passam pelos dedos para um écran. Outra palavra nova. Nem sequer poderia estar bem escrita da forma como aprendi esta maneira de juntar letras.

Estou a ficar com frio. Estou a ficar sem tempo. Quando o dia nascer quero ir para a piscina. Preciso de voltar a nadar. Mas fico, pelo menos até acabar Brahms...

My Tarot card

2008-11-12T12:39:00.001Z

You are The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon's Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Bionics

2008-11-04T00:04:00.003Z

I am attending today and tomorrow a conference about bionics. It's not juts about proteases, but about the most general definition of bionics, the study of nature's process and forms so they can be applied to technological process. Today we talked much bout forms, it was a day of architects and buildings, including the bionic tower.

We also talked about photosynthesis and sun's energy in photo voltaic cells. It was a interesting day. Tomorrow we are going to talk about textiles, and specially about swim suits, two of my favorite subjects. But the last presentation of the day was about reconstruction of human tissues, for replacing skin and bones. It's already commercially available human synthetic skin for replacement of injuries.

When i got home i was checking my feeds and i found this video.

Watch CBS Videos Online

I think it can give us some sense of hope.

New times

2008-10-27T01:27:00.001Z

It's strange and changing times we live now. The economy is collapsing and no one seams to know what to do. But it shouldn't be such a surprise, it was expectable. We need to pay for what we spent.

For me, the first years of this nightmare where the last ones of the 80's. The fall of the Soviet Union left a void that needed filling. The United States shouted the world all of their glory as champions of the new order. How the free market economics conquered communism. It might have been like that, but i think it was not the capitalism that conquered Russia, it was the Russians that got fed up with dictators.

After the fall of the soviets we entered an era where market freedom and spending where considered the driving force of wealth. Markets would regulate themselves and seek balance. Credit was given so people could have more and more things. No one thought about the consequences and the sustainability of such processes. As one friend once said, we started selling hamburgers to each others.

This week i went to buy a sweater for my daughter. When i got home the bag was empty. Because i saw the girl in the store put the sweater inside i thought i was robbed. I wasn't, it was a case of mixed bags, and in the nest day i got the sweater back. But the incident made me think about why stealing. I can understand stealing for survival, i can even understand stealing to keep and addiction. I don't agree, but i can imagine the needs. But stealing for a label? Is that possible? Unfortunately the answer is yes, as we all know.

Armed with market fundamentalism, fueled by the ideological victory of the cold war, shifting production to cheap countries, and credit to buy all we could imagine, how can anyone be surprised by the consequences? People is stealing just to show of labels, savings are forbidden, cheap production abroad allow us to buy more and keep a profit. But are we creating money, or just spending what we have?

The results are here, we just created the expectation of money, and sold that to spend more. Now is time to pay back and remember what Marx and Engels said about the production of wealth. It's labor that makes it.

Unlike the markets, that are driven by the war of making money, where there must be a winner, real growth must be made somehow, and that takes the use of labor, the use of energy to compensate entropy. Communism gave us some of the worst governments of the last 100 years. Capitalism gave us the worst economics of the last 100 years. They both lost and we need new times.

What i wish for the best

2008-10-06T00:39:00.003+01:00

I just listened this song again today. I used to watch this concert on DVD with my daughter when she was two or three years. I hold her in my arms and sing this song to her.

I do hope she can be like that and more.

Peter Schiff on US economy

2008-10-03T10:39:00.001+01:00

Fátima

2008-08-22T13:43:00.003+01:00

Charola

2008-08-22T11:07:00.003+01:00

I am writing this more than a month after. I needed a little distance to write about the visit to Convento de Cristo. It was strange. I got more and less than i what i was expecting.

Convento de Cristo is really worth a visit. It features a lot of interesting and intriguing stuff. It's a place with arabic names for places, with a special architecture and a lot of history. I learned a lot from the place. One of the most interesting was that one of most important the courts in portuguese history where held there, the one that settled the transition to spanish monarchy. It was strange to be on the same roofless room that held the kings and knights for such an important event. It was even stranger to see that they never finished the room after that day.

I found interesting the division between upper and lower floors, up for the knights and lower for the monks. I found interesting the tomb of a free mason inside the convent and the water reservoir.

I got disappointed because i didn't had the change to see the Charola. It was one of the reasons of my travel. Maybe it was not the right time for me to see it.

Tomar

2008-08-21T22:31:00.003+01:00

I left Viseu after lunch and tried to follow the N2. It proved to be impossible. The road just does not exist anymore, except for some very small parts. The surprise was that the road was leading me to Coimbra. When i started this journey i didn't wanted to go to Coimbra. It's a part of the other way to Santiago. I had no choice, i had to go there. I even thought it would be workable the road through Arganil, but they just are a labyrinth of small mountain roads. I would just get lost in the process.

Coimbra is the home of the oldest (at least we learn that in school) university in Europe. It also has a cathedral and army outposts. It was also the first capital of the new Portuguese kingdom, just after Guimarães. I never got to Coimbra, i had to choose to go in the new IC3 to Leiria or the A1 to Fatima. I have chosen Fatima because i new the road, even if i would pass through Fatima before getting to Tomar. It was a mistake. the new IC3 was the most probable track taken when using the more interior route.

I managed to get to Tomar at the end of the afternoon. I looked for an hotel and i had only one viable choice, it was the "Hotel dos Templarios", Templar Knights hotel. It was getting promising. Tomar is a nice town and deserves a visit. They have a small river, the Nabão. In the banks they have a park with some old Arabic hydraulic works and an old metal work. This was getting more and more interesting, even before climbing the hill leading to "Convento de Cristo" inside the templar's castle.

I had dinner, watched the transmission of the triple jump final where we got a gold medal and went to bed. Next day would be the most important of this journey.

Viseu

2008-08-21T14:57:00.004+01:00

I left Lamego and followed the N2. It struck me that N1, our most important road, from the times before highways, was one of the Santiago routes, and N2 was the other. Again, i was trying to follow N2 to Lamego, but it proved impossible, at times it was reused as an highway, so i ended up lost in Aquilino Ribeiro lands. He once called those places "terras do demo", the land of the devil. It seams appropriate, they to exhale a pagan's magical aura, and i can only imagine how it was going trough them in the times before roads and cars and electric suns.

I managed to get to Viseu before lunch. Took a small walk in the town an decided to have some food in a restaurant in front of the cathedral. After lunch i went to the visit it. It´s a big building with an administrative complex stating the power of region in long ago days. They have a statue of D. João II, the Perfect Prince, holding a book. He was the king behind D. Henrique, o Navegador, the one that used the power of the Order of Christ to make Portugal the first global power this world saw. We will find him again later in Tomar. The cathedral also had one thing interesting, like in Amarante they have the remains of S. Gonçalo, they have the mummified arm of of S. Teutónio (linked to Afonso Henriques, first king of Portugal and possibly a Templar knight).

Going to the N2 again i noticed i had to go to Coimbra, and that it was going to be an eve more difficult task. Again, new roads have taken over. But before i left Viseu i passed through another army post in another concentration of the three power, the cultural, the army and the secular stating the importance of the place.

Lamego

2008-08-21T10:42:00.004+01:00

Coming back, it was time for my pilgrimage. I talked about it before in this blog. It's something that i have to do alone. I started yesterday and arrived in Lamego by dinner time. I only found one suitable hotel and it was full, so i had to pay for more expensive room. It wasn't in my plans, but that's better than to sleep in the car or in some dubious place.

Before i was in Amarante, stopped there to see the cathedral and the bridge, then i went to Regua. I almost had a car accident. Some guy didn't saw me when i was overrunning him. At least he was nice enough to say he was sorry and apologise. I can't tell that from a lot more people these days. But i managed to get to Lamego. Today i am walking in this town. I want to see the cathedral, but i am also curious about this town. It was a very important Portuguese town some years ago. I am following one of the Santiago routes in the opposite direction of the usual way. Amarante and Lamego are in that route, and also my home town, Guimarães. That's one of the reasons i choose this route. The other is that i believe it was the original route taken to to reach Santiago de Compostela but, of course, i can't prove that. It's just feels right to me like that.

Lamego is frozen in the Portuguese late 70's. The people also look like all have reached their best at those days. The problems are those of a Portugal coming out of the closet and starting to deliver people the basic commodities of modern living. But it really was an important town, they have a cathedral, a castle, a Jesuit's college that still prepares a lot of the top theologists in Portugal, regardless of the little demand for that profession, and a permanent army detachment.

It felt like coming back 30 years, very weird...

Playa Blanca

2008-08-17T15:48:00.001+01:00

Lanzarote

Camellos

2008-08-13T16:08:00.003+01:00

Lanzarote

La Geria 2

2008-08-13T16:07:00.002+01:00

Lanzarote

Montañas del Fuego

2008-08-13T16:06:00.003+01:00

Lanzarote

La Geria

2008-08-13T10:41:00.003+01:00

Lanzarote

Funeral

2008-08-07T16:25:00.000+01:00

Last week i attended a funeral. It was a friend of my family. The last person that still called me by my kid's name. He was simple person, one of his the most notable aspects was the hands. They where big hands, working hands, used to handle chemicals and dirt. They where also hands that could easily kill a chicken or gently place an egg back into the nest.

My friend was a simple person, but he lived as if he knew something very important. He was always balanced and happy. He had cancer, but you couldn't tell from talking to him. For him a disease was just part of life, something that one must embrace and learn to accept.

I tell again, he was a simple person, a textile worker that supported his family with two minimum wage jobs and loved to work the land, but he was also a great person. Just as an example, during the memorial service the priest never stopped crying.

He was great because he knew how to live a complete life.

Hot day

2008-08-04T13:51:00.002+01:00

Anonymous comments

2008-07-28T19:46:00.001+01:00

This is an update on my Reiser article. I felt the need for this because of two reasons, the first is that Hans Reiser lead the authorities to a body, that he claims to be his wife, in order to get a reduced sentence. The second was a comment. I must say a love arguments. I even push, sometimes, my opinions a little too far just to get feedback, but a have a special place in my heart for Anonymous comments. I got this one:

"This is Typical Linux Behavior. Commit a crime and blame it on everyone else. Never take responsibility for your actions. Do you really want us to believe that an innocent man is going to get railroaded by the system? We have the best legal system in the world. Name me a better one. Whats that? That's the sound of silence! No wonder I see sites like PromotingLinux.com dispelling the myths."

My reply is as follow:

Dear Anonymous,

I would like to express my gratitude for your insightful comment. I must say that i completely agree with you when you say that is my article tries to be in tune with what you call "Typical Linux Behavior". I do try to respect everyone's freedom and the right to a proper justice. Of course i don't want you to believe Hans Reiser was innocent, he was convicted, but i don't feel the need to convict him outside the proper place, outside the court rooms and the law.

Regarding the legal system, i must point out that i am Portuguese, a very old and democratic nation. Our legal system has some glitches, as i point out, but i don't imagine you being Portuguese. Then, correct me if i am wrong, our legal system is not really ours, it's your legal system, the one that is the best in the world. I must say i have a problem with the "best" when it's an excuse for not trying to achieve a "better". Even if your's is the "best" i am pretty sure it can be made "better".

About the site PromotingLinux.com, i had a very good laugh there, i do recommend it and i think it's very revealing that you call a site "Promoting Something" and then do the opposite. I guess that's what you mean by "taking responsibility for your actions"

My best regards,

Paulo

Hacking the brain

2008-07-26T02:36:00.001+01:00

I don't know if it's because i am a little drunk on the Swedish vodka or just the headache, but i feel the need to write about this. I been with the subject in background for some days now. I guess it's time to come out.

I am reading "Shismatrix", from Bruce Sterling and thinking about "Snow Crash", so the question is appropriate, "Can we hack the brain ?" I mean can we directly alter the flow of thought by external means, like in a stack overflow ?

My bet is that we can, and we do it, even if we never noticed it.

It keeps popping into my mind two things. One is the warning on some video games, something like "This video game can cause epileptic attacks on sensitive people". The other is that our eyes are part of our brain structure. As we can see there is an entry point and a input method, we just need the know-how. When we get the know-how maybe we can make brain software virus and control the flow of a people's thought and actions.

There is also one very primitive method that we all now about. it was used in advertising and dropped by law, it's the subliminal messages. If we think about it they do change our programming by stealth means, they do change our brain's behaviour. So, now we have two methods, and one was good enough to be used commercially.

Maybe i am just a little drunk tonight, i can't imagine myself being comfortable using anti-virus goggles.

80´s

2008-07-09T00:22:00.003+01:00

Today was very funny. A friend who was lost for some weeks came to MSN life. The news is that she married. She found a guy in vacations and less than a month latter she´s married. It made me very happy. She deserves that.

I also managed to get the pictures and musics all sorted to my daughter´s end of school year party. It was my brother in law birthday. So, again, dinner with friends.

After dinner i went to the next door bar to take an expresso. They where listening to "Golden Brown" from "The Stranglers". I was a surprise and i told the girl that. She told me that they compiled a CD with a lot of 80´s hits and they where listening to them. We started to talk about music and i went home with a copy of the CD. I am listening to it now as i am writing.

There are many memories in those songs of when life was easy, even if it didn´t seamed like that.

On of the song is "Mary´s prayer" from "Danny Wilson". I just remembered a time where there where only two discos near by. One was in the basement of an hotel near the beach. I spent the summer in a town about 5km away and there wasn´t a direct road connecting both. I remembered coming back home alone at 5am, after the disco had closed, on foot by the beach. It was the fastest way and the best way.

I guess i had a ended up with having a very nice day.

The time to move out and move on

2008-06-24T12:13:00.001+01:00

It's bean a while since i last wrote something. Many things happened in my life, some good, most of then just plain annoying. I was in the Linkin Park concert, i took some pictures at a fair, and that was the it regarding this posts. In the other part of my life i had some work done, some personal problems suffered improvements and move forward and i had some birthdays on the way.

I am listening to "The river", the live version from Bruce Springsteen, those who know me know that this means something, this song is my Prozac. I am in a phase where i just can't focus anymore in anything. My wife is driving me crazy, and know she got the help of her family. Yesterday i got a coffee whit two friends, one was my brother in law. He was saying that he just was going home that night because he wanted to be with his kid, otherwise he wouldn't even bother to do that.

I can't even start to understand why people become like that. Not my brother in law, him i can understand, it's the wives i can't begin make sense of. I only have one explanation, hormones and stupidity. I know that one of them, who has some of the worst personality i know is going to menopause. She the type of person that wants to be always better than the others. Because she can't be better, then she makes others worst. It's like a Calvin & Hobbes strip where Calvin says the best thing about felling bad is putting other worst. Calvin at least had two excuses, hes a kid and a comic book character. After working on the background to ruin my marriage, she's know working on my brother in law marriage. I know i can't prove that, but i just know how people are.

Everyday i take a walk after dinner with my mother in law. She likes that and i don't mind. But lately i started to notice some strange things happening when i got home. I made some tests and just found out one very interesting thing. As soon i left my mother in law, she would call my wife and tell her, in her own way, what we have talked about. Of course, they operative words are "her way". I was writing this wen i got an angry call from my wife. She wanted to know where i was having lunch, why i wasn't going home, that is, my mother in law's home, for lunch. I just said i wanted to go out, she went ballistics. It seams that it's a great insult not to be under the complete control of the family.

They just don't know me. I am a person that does what he says. Today i am going to get a tattoo in my arm, a dragon that i draw myself. I am going to do it for several reason, one is the meaning of the dragon. It's a statement of ignorance, it means that i understand i am old enough to know that i don't know it all. For me it's also to brand in the flesh a turning point in my life. I wanted to do that in 21, the summer solstice, but today is also an important day for me. Today is when we celebrate the summer solstice in some places, it's Saint John's day. I had many important events in this day in my life.

I know i will miss a lot, will loose a lot, but after i say i will do it, i do it. I usually don't say what i don't think, what i haven't thought about for a long time. For me it's the time to move out and move on.

Linkin Park

2008-06-11T19:15:00.002+01:00

Not just but also why i like Linkin Park.

Summer fest 2

2008-06-10T22:04:00.002+01:00

The start of summer in Portugal is always spent with popular festivities. The first one is Santo Antonio, at 13 of June, then, my favorite, São João at 24, after is São Pedro. It's summer solstice disguised as a church fest.

Summer fest

2008-06-10T22:02:00.002+01:00

Twelve rules

2008-06-09T01:40:00.000+01:00

I was looking for something to tattoo in my right arm when i came across this, The Twelve rules. They are as follow:

1. Follow the heart.
2. There are no secrets.
3. Laugh at the cleverness of the beast and the beast will defeat itself.
4. Death is nothing to one who does not fear death.
5. Love, in the pain of its loss, is finally gained, for the first time.
6. You, yourself, are your only teacher.
7. Kindness is cruelty, and cruelty is kindness.
8. Stop for charity, no matter what the cost, and there will be benefit instead of cost.
9. It has all happened before.
10. There are no prizes worth having.
11. The ultimate quest has no ending, and that fact is what gives the quest its ultimate value.
12. Tie two birds together and they can fly if they become one.

I just had to post this, even if it's not mine.

My old friends are old !

2008-06-07T12:43:00.003+01:00

I usually don´t take track of concerts, that´s why i almost never end up going. When i find there is something i want to attend, it´s sold out. That was the case of Linkin Park in Rockin Rio Lisboa last night. So, you can imagine my surprise when, literally, two ticket landed in my lap thursday at 23.30 for m to try to sell them. I looked at the tickets, saw the date, and run to the net to check if they where for Linkin Park. Lisbon is 350km from where i live at the concert started at 1.00am.

I started calling friends to see if someone wanted to come with me. I continue next morning. My younger brother even sent mails to all of his friends. The results where very interesting. They all had some kind of problem, work, wife, kids, a wall to build in the garden... You name it.

They just are old, all of them !

One of my friends, she´s pregnant, was even attending a afternoon session of the "Sex in the city" with another pregnant girl. What can be older than a movie about fulfilling the fairy tale marriage at 50 after lots of anoretical diets, lots of surgery, lots of makeup and lots flashy clothing. And now my wife wants me to take her to see Madona in September !

The fact is that i went alone last night, left at 18.30 and got home at 6.30. And the only thing i lost was my voice.

Heart and books

2008-06-03T01:21:00.002+01:00

I haven't written much last week. I had one of the most difficult weeks of my life. It was not very hard regarding the things i had to do. I knew what it was expected and what i should respond to. But it was difficult. I had some work problems that i had to be sure they would be solved, and they did. I had some personal problems that i had to attend, that i did but where only partially resolved. They will need a part two and probably also a part three.

I have a heart condition that i need to be careful with. My heart sometimes just starts running fast and doesn't comes down. Two year ago i was snowboarding in Sierra Nevada and i had ended up in the hospital (it wasn't the first time) with doctors trying to get my rpm's under 100. I was at 140 at rest. Last wednesday i felt very bad after a stressful three hours wait. Well, i know i will die someday, it can even be in the next second, one never knows. My point is that i am something, i want to leave something and i must do it slowly and fast. I must go slow or i will die fast, and i must not loose time or i might never to it.

Some of the most important parts of my life are the books i read and the books i own. I have some special books and i read some important books. I read classical books, science fiction books, and some not so good books, just to pass time. I read books to learn, i read books to be a better person, i read books just because i wanted to read that book. I also have some books that i own because they are interesting to have. I have three special ones in that category, one from 1903, other from 1940's and other from the 50's. They all are about textiles and cotton. I like most the 1903 one. It's about dyeing cotton with kaki dyes. It was originally written by some german guy, but the british tough it would be important for them to make an english version of the book. The reason was very simple, it was important to prepare armies for the coming war, and the new armies needed new battle uniforms that could blend more easily with the ground, and they couldn't allow the germans have all the knowledge. It's interesting to follow the arguments in favour of the kaki process against some of the new (at the time) synthetic dyes regarding colours and colour fastness and price. Which where more suitable for tents and which was better for uniforms. This book also has a lot of fabric samples attached. They are pieces of cloth with more than 100 years.

I survived another week, another day and somehow can still old in my hands 100 years of time. Just a small part of those 100 years, but even so, a lot and i want to leave some for the next 100 years.

Relationships

2008-05-27T20:37:00.001+01:00

There are many relationships, theoretically as many as the possible combinations between everybody in the world. That's a very large number. But we can group, classify and try to put some order in that number so it can become a workable matter. I have been very concerned about the way people interact and relate to each other because of professional reasons. Then i just took those things i learned into my personal experience.

I love to work on projects. You give me a problem i will give you a solution and i even implement the solution for you. I am very good at it. If i can get enough resources and freedom to use them almost every time will deliver.

One of they key factors are teams. I used to work alone, but it just not practical many times, and in the end i must hand over the work done, so i need to prepare teams. One of the accepted truths about teams is that the best people in a given field putted together are not necessarily the best team possible. This is very clear, if two of them just don't get along it will destroy the team, even if both are genius in the work they do. Another problem is that people that go along perfectly many be unable to work together, they might just be too distracted with each other personal problems that they just don't focus in the tasks to be done.

What i have found out is that persons are social animals. If we get two of them together they change behaviour. One influencing the other. The key for a successful team is to manage those interactions. To get the team's society to work for you goal. That way people will be working naturally as you want with the best possible results.

Translating this into dating and marriage, we get a very simple team of two people (just need to get rid of love and all those annoyances in this very theoretical proposition). For many years those teams used to be functional teams. Father worked, mother took care of the house. They just didn't got involved with the other functions. And if you managed to do your part good enough for the other, it will be a team that could last forever. My fathers are just like that and perfectly happy with it.

But modern world just don't allow this anymore. Today is the time of sharing and democracy. It's also the time in which both parents must work and take care of the house and kids. The functional team is no longer an option. We need another type of team.

One interesting aspects of teams is that they develop feedback reactions. They can be positive, one's reaction to something can increase the original action, or negative, one's reaction can decrease the original action. This is one of the most important aspects in a relation today. If you forget about feelings, you will notice that in the functional relation, the main factors are your skills as mother and a father. How good can you take care of the house and kids and how good can you provide for your family. Today that's not the issue. Today we must work with the feedback concepts.

One of the things i learned by looking at me and my friends under this perspective is that the fate and status of their relation is based on the way the influence each other. That sound common, and is easy as that, we just tend to forget about it. Many times we see one just exacerbating the other's faults and reducing the other good points. That relation is going to be a disaster. A good relation today is one that, besides feelings, make out the best on the other (positive feedback on positive points) and reduces the other not so good personal characteristics (negative feedback).

This kind of relation is more demanding, is more difficult to find, but it's much better. At the end you will be better that when you started, not just a better father or mother, but a better person. It might be an harder road to find someone like that. Maybe it will even lead to some errors on the way, but it's better in the end.

The beach 2

2008-05-25T20:01:00.003+01:00

The beach

2008-05-25T12:09:00.003+01:00

Europe's west coast again.

More sea

2008-05-25T11:44:00.002+01:00

Palácio da Pena 2

2008-05-24T16:09:00.003+01:00

Palácio da Pena

2008-05-24T15:38:00.002+01:00

My sea

2008-05-23T14:27:00.002+01:00

Europe's west coast.

Forte de Peniche

2008-05-23T14:14:00.002+01:00

This fortress also served as a prison. One of the most notable prisoners was Alvaro Cunhal, a communist, painter and writer. He managed to escape from there and returned Portugal only after the 25 April Revolution.

Dinosaurs

2008-05-23T12:13:00.002+01:00

Friday morning was spent looking at dinosaurs and learning how to clean fossil bones of dinosaurs at Museu da Lourinha.

Driving

2008-05-23T10:16:00.003+01:00

This weekend is bigger, it's four days long. I am driving to am hotel north of Lisbon, near Obidos and Peniche. We are going to be based there for three days of rest and, hopefully, fun. It started fine, it was raining and my wife just forgot to put new tires, so i was driving an SUV in the rain (which equals no radars) at more than i should with slick tires. Fun.

Being selfish

2008-05-20T02:28:00.002+01:00

I am looking at this screen for some hours now. I need to write, i want to write, but i just wandered through MySpace, Facebook, Hi5 and all my feeds, even my mail today where quiet. I just had one real problem to solve, so i guess it was an easy day. The only interesting thing i had to do was to prepare an interview to a journal. They want to make a piece on the company i work for, specifically, in the work i am doing for that company. It's good to be recognized by those in the same field.

I haven't placed a post since five days now. It's just too much time. I have been doing some upgrades (and downgrades) in my laptop to get a webcam working with Skype. I must say i do have a very strange setup, it's a Gentoo AMD64 box running in 64bits. I guess i was asking for trouble since the beginning, but i like the challenge. So, the weekend was for this process.

Now i am listening to Rolling Stones, i listen a lot to music. I must have some kind of soundtrack to be able to function correctly, to setup my pace. This headphones are also very helpful, they are very comfortable, the PlayStation Portable type. The song i am listening is "Anybody seen my baby", next is going to be "Angie". They are some of my Stones favorites.

I didn't liked The Stones except for those two songs. I even heated Mick Jagger. It was just impossible for me to look at his face performing. Now i can listen to them, even like some songs, and recognize them as one of the most important rock bands of all time. I am listening to my music collection one song at the time, grouped by artist with no special order. After Rolling Stones will be Talking Heads. Let's see what tomorrow will bring with that soundtrack...

Getting back to Mick Jagger, i didn't liked him and now i can recognize them. I know this as to do with me growing up. And yes, i am still growing and learning everyday. There was a time when i had problems with expressing my most personal feelings. I even had problems accepting them. I am working on that and i can say i am much better now. I still carry a lot of reservations, but at least i can level with myself on those matters.

One of the problems of trying to be too good is really that. You just end up in a world that doesn't exist, trying to solve everybody problems, respecting others more than yourself. One thing i learned, people don't want just more that a little you can give them, sometimes they just want more of what you need and less of what you can give them. And, of course, it's even good for you. I didn't liked Jagger because he was selfish and showed it in your face. Now i know you must (sometimes) be selfish and publicize that.

Wish you were here

2008-05-14T20:36:00.002+01:00

This one has to be quick. I have been lazy this last days and tonight i want to go over some more Russian lessons. I got a gift today, it was a song called "Heart half full" by Ty Herndon. It's a song about a lost love in the day of separation. I guess it's difficult to know how to conduct one self in those moments. Men are particularly unwise and always end up doing the wrong things. I know i will. I am in the middle of one of those situations, just not in the day of saying goodbye. And we will never can do. We have a daughter.

Unlike the song i know my way. I don't have any doubts about what to do. But, like the song, i also didn't wanted how things turned out. When i married i felt it was forever. It won't be. People change and go different ways. They start by changing how they see the world and end up in different ones.

Strangely (or not) i also got another song last week. It's by George Strait, and already talked about it last Friday. It's about my kind of love, the one i gave. Then i found one thing, it's not enough to give that, you must get it back also. I know it sounds selfish, but it's true. If it's not like that you will end up putting much more than what you get back and people will start to get you for granted. After they will abuse you, they will loose respect for you because they cant't love you like you can love them.

It took me more years than those i like to remember to learn that. One of my faults is being stubborn, and i guess it was one of those situations. Another song that got into my mind last night, and stayed there, is "Wish you were here" by Pink Floyd. I had just forgot about it, but, last night, i was killing a little time alone answering some music questions when it crossed my path.

When i think of it maybe it's not so strange...

Check my blog at Uninstersting life

12 May - The end

2008-05-13T00:03:00.003+01:00

This is the church after ceremonies had finished. This one is in a small town where i live.

12 May - Video

2008-05-12T23:49:00.003+01:00

13 seconds video. It was only cut so i could post it directly from the phone.

12 May - Looking up Rua direita

2008-05-12T23:22:00.003+01:00

Looking up Rua direita. It's easy to find some rude and simple people with tears in their eyes just watching the other pass by. The emotions are that strong this day.

12 May - Rua direita, from the top

2008-05-12T23:20:00.003+01:00

Starting to go down Rua direita.

12 May - Candles

2008-05-12T22:10:00.002+01:00

These pictures where all taken with my mobile phone and sent directly to the blog, no editing, nothing. The time shown is the time they where taken.

Even kids come, this girl was on taken by his father.

12 May - Before the start

2008-05-12T21:41:00.005+01:00

Those designs in the floor are made with flowers, wood, sand and grass by the neighbors. The total length in this town is about 3 km. This photos was taken in the old street, called Rua Direita.

The next video is from last year's 12 of May in Fatima's sanctuary.

Friday

2008-05-11T02:41:00.004+01:00

Last friday i was coming home thinking that i learned something that day. I learned about ambition. One of the things that i get criticised a lot is my ambition, or better, my lack of it. I never felt that as being really fair. I always striven to be the best professional, to be the best person i could. It's true that i never cared much for money and power, but that shouldn't be the only defining factor for considering one person as an ambitious one.

It's not. But i really never was very ambitious. All i got, i got easily. I didn't needed much effort to get recognition in my line of work, and i have always been a nice person. I guess it's my nature to care for others.

I was driving and thinking about friday. During last months i have conditioned to hate fridays, specially the end of the afternoon. The problem is not friday, it's the weekend. I can't wait for monday and the week just flies by. Strangely i have more time for what i want during the week. An what i want is to have my computer running in front of me all the time. Of course, it's not about some hacker addition, it's about being connected, feeling someone closer.

My life as not being easy lately. I had made some decisions that will change the way i live and also they way many people think of me, including my daughter. Those decisions are under implementation. I want to get them all done until the end of the year, if possible before that.

The ambition i am talking about is not money or power. It's about one thing i thought impossible. It's about missing something you never had to miss. That's why i never had ambitions before. I always had what i wanted to achieve. Now i missed something i didn't had. How can that be possible? It intrigued me so much, and it was hurting.

I did what i had to do before coming home, basically, took some pictures of the sea and boats. I was driving, feeling bad, listening to Nina Simone's "Angel of the morning" in my car, when i saw the strangest rainbow i ever saw. It was just a piece of one, a very small part of a rainbow in a day without rain and almost no sun. I had my camera in the front passenger seat. Stopped and managed to take a picture of it. It's almost impossible to see it, but it's there. It gave me hope to fulfill my ambitions.

Now i am writing this and listening to a song i got in the mail. It's from George Strait, called "Cross my heart". It's in replay mode, i am listening to it continuously for more than 2 hours now. Thanks, i will make those words my ambitions.