Monday, September 26, 2005
Off to Iran
Tomorrow I'm going to Iran for a conference. I will spend 3 days visiting Shiraz, before heading to Tehran for the conference. I even have a talk prepared. The following image reflects some of my fears about Iran. I'll allow you to ponder this.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Thursday Already
Not much happening. I'm struggling to write a talk describing my work on reasoning about dynamic configuration of Reo connectors. I've done some minor experiments for the Idaho framework which will replace all of that. I started my Ruby on Rails project, but didn't get too far, because I'm spending too many hours behind a computer. I hope to get some exercise on the weekend, because the weather is uncharacteristically fantastic. Next week I'm heading to Iran. It should be interesting. Maybe it'll get me inspired again, and perhaps give me direction. I'd like to talk to people about my Idaho ideas, but at the moment I feel that they are too underdeveloped.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Idaho, Ruby on Rails, Reconfiguration Logic
Now that I'm a bit out of my slump, I'm doing three things which are of various degrees of importance. Firstly, I'm hacking the Idaho peer (see entry for Saturday, September 17, 2005) in Ruby, am working my way through the Ruby on Rails tutorial, with the intention of implementing my own web application (top secret, in my own time), and am preparing my the talk that I will give in Iran next week on Reconfiguration. I hope that the West are not too hasty with their "might is right" heavy-handedness over Iran due to their nuclear energy program. I'm rather fond of my life and would like to make it in and out without recourse to a bodybag. Come to think of it, I'd prefer that Iran wasn't Iraqued-up.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Remotivated: DIY
Regular readers of this "blog" will know that I've been through a recent phase of demotivation (aka midlife crisis). As of Thursday I feel that I have begun to rise from this slump. The keys were to stop complaining about the things that were wrong, to stop waiting for the right person to come by to talk to about the slump, and to fix what was wrong with the problem.
I should have realised before that this is a fairly effective technique, but anyone who has been in a slump knows that such obvious wisdom will not get them immediately out of the slump.
If it lacks a semantics, give it a semantics. If it lacks an implementation, give it an implementation. If it lacks orthogonal features, pull it apart and find the orthogonalty. This is essentially what I've done: the result will be my own private coordination language, which I'll call Idaho, so that I can say "My Own Private Idaho" whenever I refer to it.
Critical analysis over dogmatism, should be one of our mottos as scientists. We all need our brand names to retain our "fame" and "levels of recognition" and it doesn't hurt for winning grants. But objective thinking should come in there somewhere.
Details remain to be worked out.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
The Number of the Beast
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Flickr
I'm now using Flickr to store my photos. Here's one from way back when. You can click on it if you want.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Mighty McCuskeys - Softball Tournament
For the third year and a row, my friends got together and organized a softball team to enter the family tournament at the local baseball club, the Domstad Dodgers. Our team was called the Mighty McCuskeys, due to the fact that four of our players are McCuskeys, but today we were all McCuskeys, and mighty ones we were. We won 4 of our 5 matches, losing only to the eventual winners. This put us in 3rd place, which is where we've finished for the last 3 years. Everybody played smashingly, and we had nice uniforms and matching caps, too.
Thursday, September 8, 2005
Down the Drain
Before I throw it all down the drain, I'd like to relate a rather strange coincidence. My brother Peter and I visited Belgrade at exactly the same time, without knowing it, and without running into each other. This also reflects how poorly we communicate with each other. (Incidentally, this is the last in my series of abstract photos from Gotland.)
Wednesday, September 7, 2005
Super Unmotivated
Okay. I'm not totally unmotivated, but I'm certainly not being very effective. Maybe I should find another job. I won't do that, for various reasons that I won't write here. I just have to get the present workload out of the way and reassess the entire situation and get moving again. I have drawn some significant squares on my whiteboard. If I extend these to pentagons, then I might really be onto something.
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
End of an Era
The era of free Internet at home seems to have ended. I need comfort food to get me through the evenings without being online:
Monday, September 5, 2005
Some Band
Last night I watched some band at Tivoli. I can never remember their name, so I won't even bother trying to find out what it is now. Their songs are nice, and the crowd really loved them, but their name just slips from my mind. They need something memorable like The Jay Lowlifes, but that name is, alas, taken.
Sunday, September 4, 2005
Cycling, Minis, and a Wall
While I was cycling this morning (40kms), I saw 29 Mini Coopers. The following wall is dedicated to small cars, which are flagrantly un-American. (Bloody liberal Europeans.)
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Weekend (aka Stones)
Friday, September 2, 2005 - Later that day
Slightly more motivated (or Socks (Ink))
Friday, September 2, 2005
Unmotivated (or Glowing Deer in Visby)
Thursday, September 1, 2005
My Life in CIA - Harry Mathews
By far the best book I have read for quite a while. Delicious prose. Compelling story. Funny. Very enjoyable.
Images of Belgrade (and Novi Sad)
Here are a few pictures from my weekend trip to Belgrade.
Firstly, we have the Kalemagdalen castle, which is a wonderful labyrinth in the heart of Belgrade, situated where the Sava river flows into the Danube. The second picture is of a mosaic found on the wall of small church on the castle grounds. The inside of the church is more impressive, but I was unable to photograph it.
Novi Sad is a major town about an hour North of Belgrade. I was under the impression that I had been there 4 years ago when I was in Belgrade, but absolutely nothing was familiar.
Two of the major monuments in Belgrade are the Federal Parliament and St Sava's church. There were many other impressive monuments, and also quite a few which revealed the suffering the city has felt due to years of corrupt rule under Milosovic and UN Sanctions. It was, however, quite clear that things had improved since I was there four years ago.
I have many more photos, but these ought to give a positive impression of the place. In addition to these sights, I can say that the food is great, the folk music at the restaurants in Skadarlija creates a great atmosphere to dine in, the beer can be spoken of in loving terms, and the people aren't too bad either.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Nuts
When I was in Belgrade I heard a story about the use of honey and
nuts, in particular, walnuts, to increase one's performance in the
sack. The issue is a rather complicated one and it is best that
I reveal its intricacies to prevent people being caught by it.
A woman will feel somewhat inadequate and worry that she
may not be woman enough to turn on her man. To overcome any
problems this may cause, she buys her man some honey and nuts to
eat. I'm not exactly sure what the nuts do, but I know that
the aim of the honey is to provide energy.
Being presented with honey and nuts immediately stings the mans
ego, suggesting that he is not man enough for the task at hand.
Assuming that the man recovers from the slight against his ego,
he now is presented with the choice of whether or not to eat the
nuts. Unfortunately eating the nuts to please his woman
reinforces in her mind the idea that she is not woman
enough.
My advice is: don't go near the nuts.
Airport "Literature"
As someone who travels a lot, I find it handy to have a book or two with
me to read on the plane and in the airport. On my last trip I was more
productive with reading and was forced to purchase a book at the airport
(in Zurich). Faced with a rather small selection, I chose Minette Walters'
The Tinder Box, primarily because it was short.
I should now point out that I am a book snob,
though at times this makes it difficult to find books to read when I'm
trapped without a book. I decided to rid myself of this snobbery, first
in Belgrade where the choice of books was fairly small. I opted for
Paul Bailey's A Dog's Life. Although this was a fairly random choice,
I was happy with the book, finding it to be quite a delightful read.
It had been so long since I'd read a crap book that I kind of had
forgotten exactly what they were like. Fortunately Minette Walters' highly
praised rubbish reminded me. Not only were her sentences poorly constructed,
the unravelling of the plot seemed to be ad hoc and even contradictory.
I wanted to tear the book up many times, but didn't for fear that this
would be interpreted as a terrorist act.
I will proudly remain a book snob.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Belgrade Tomorrow
I'm the guy who won't sit still. I'm going places.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Gotland Road Trip
Gotland is known as the Sicily of Sweden and is a fine place to visit for a couple of days, especially if you have a local to show you around. Gotland is known for having "weeks", which consist of loads of people going to the island to get thematically drunk for a whole week. Themes I am aware of are Midsummer, Medieval, Lamb, and Polish week. We were there during Polish week, which wasn't as popular as other weeks. Visby, Gotland's capital, could only be described as sleepy at best. Nonetheless it was lovely.
We (Tobias, Beatrice and I) began our visit with a road-trip to the south of the island:
At speed I was able to test out my new camera's capabilities, capturing the rural architecture as it zoomed by. They even had windmills and minarets:
At the end of our journey, at the Southernmost tip of Gotland likes a rock formation which defies Lonely Planet classification. The best I can do is show you the formation, photographed at almost the correct angle, and another picture as evidence that I was there to photograph it:
The coast stretched Northwards away from us, bidding us to return...
When we returned, Beatrice's beau, the mad Moroccan, Muhammad, cooked us a fine lamb dinner with couscous, salad, and potatoes. Beatrice tried to convince me that the lamb was actually mock-aubergine, but I didn't fall for such nonsense. During dinner Muhammad told us interesting stories about being a tourguide in Morocco and how he came to be in Sweden. We talked about computers.
Gotland - Visby
On our second day in Gotland, we visited the capital city Visby. This is a beautiful city, with a variety of different styles of building and a few ruins:
all encased within city walls - apparently erected by the Germans to keep the Swedes out:
Visby was also full of interesting little surprises.
Back to Work
I'm back at work, but not all that happy about it. Fortunately, I'll be going to Belgrade in two days, so that'll be nice. A holiday to recover from my holiday. Who knows what'll happen there? I have some idea.
I created a page on 43things.com. Nothing fancy there yet, but I reckon being public and explicit with my personal goals will help me achieve them. Anyway, if you want to see my page, it can be found here.
To be honest, I didn't create this to help me achieve my public goals. I saw that Tobias was doing it and I'm just fucking around, a bit frustrated after dropping my laptop (but not breaking it). Also, I like making lists.
Gotland Photos
I took loads of photos on Gotland and still need to shrink them and put the best ones on the web, with appropriate comments.
Friday, August 19, 2005
Gotland ipv Finland
Tobias and I had planned to go to Finland this weekend on the famed drinking boat, but instead we have been invited to Sweden's Sicily (Gotland) for a weekend with Beatrice. Expect some stunning pictures when we return.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Iran trip booked
I booked my trip to Iran to visit (and present at) the FSEN conference in October. After much deliberation I decided to go earlier to take the organised excursion to Shiraz. Given the US's current foreign policy, I think it is wise to visit before Iran is given the same treatment that Iraq received, albeit for less good reasons.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Stockholm - Fun and Games and More Drinking
Too sleepy to write anything about the last few days. Here are a few pictures, nonetheless.
Playing board games (Puerto Rico) with Tobias, Emma, Martin and Ada:
Playing Frisbee Golf with Tobias and Emma. This action shot of Tobias ought to give a good indication of what Frisbee Golf is about, assuming that you know golf.
For Emma's birthday we went to the great Czech bar/restaurant called Soldier Svejk.
Toby and Mada joined us. We all got smashed. Too many pints and slivovica shots.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Stockholm - Crayfish Party
The Swedish Crayfish party is a tradition unknown to me prior to this visit, but it's certainly one I won't forget. The premise is simple: get loads of these guys:
and appropriate plates:
drinks, bottle openers:
and decorations:
Next you populate your table with Great People and toast their greatness.
The party then proceeds with much singing, eating, drinking
(usually in conjunction with singing), telling jokes, more
eating, more drinking, and nasty smelling Danish cheese.
The highlight of the event is the crayfish suck, pictured
below, consisting of sucking the salty water from the
underbelly of a crayfish. The beast is then torn apart
and sucked upon some more, before the tasty flesh in its
tail and limbs is carefully extracted and eaten as slowly
as possible. The party continues ...
and there is much rejoicing, with Swedish and Finnish drinking
songs (and accompanying drinks), and Swedish versions of
popular hits of the 70s, such as "24 Hours from Tulsa",
rendered as "15 Minutes from Eslöv",
and a Finnish version of "Kung Fu Fighting".
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Stockholm - Wheels of KnackBrood
My favourite tasteless food is knackbrood. In Sweden knackbrood comes in wheels of gigantic proportions.
Stockholm - Colourful
For a bit of colour, here is some fruit, both inside and outside.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Stockholm - Status Quo
This is how I am often to be found these days. Watching films. JXTA programming. Not moving. Thinking about you.
Tuesday, August 9, 2005
Stockholm - Very Long Lunch
With the group seen below, Tobias, Thorbiörn, Joc, I had a very long lunch. We talked about Oxford, some work at Sun related to Reo (including a project also called Reo), the Finnish film Star Wreck, and many other things. Lunch began at about 1pm and finished, after relocating to a Belgian beer house, at 6:20pm.
One mildy funny thing happened: some girl walked into the bar and I thought that I recognised her as someone who had appeared in the corner of one of my photos of old town Stockholm. To stun her I showed her the picture. It turned out that she was Dutch and had just been back from Australia. So it seems like the world is an ever-increasingly small place, especial digital cameras to document the fact.
Monday, August 8, 2005
Not Stockholm
Stockholm - Old Town
I have nothing to say yet today. But here are some images of old town Stockholm for your viewing pleasure.
Sunday, August 7, 2005
Stockholm - Gay Pride
This is a self-portrait of Tobias and I watching the gay pride march in Stockholm. And No, we are not gay, just happy. Unfortunately it rained on their parade, but we were safely drinking beer by then. Not much else to report; still on the tail end of my reol midlife crisis. Watching loads of films to recover from it, but more work is required.
Saturday, August 6, 2005
Stockholm - Swedish Vista
The view from Tobias's kitchen window taken
with my new digital camera.
Thursday, August 4, 2005
End of Midlife Crisis
I think my midlife crisis is over. Tomorrow I'm going to Sweden where it's totally unacceptable to have one.
Haiti in Pacific!?!!
FYI, Juan, Haiti is in the Caribbean.
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Midlife Crisis and Alex Potanin Visit
Presently Alex Potanin is visiting. To coincide with his visit, I'm having a premature midlife crisis. Perhaps it could be lack of sleep. Perhaps it is that I feel that my research lacks direction: what problem are we addressing? Perhaps it because I need a holiday. Perhaps it is anonymous being on holiday in Bulgaria. Perhaps it is simply that I keep breaking the 5th string (or the 2nd, I can't remember which is which) on my Reverend Spy.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Jay Lowlifes "Album" Cover Art
The Jay Lowlifes now have an album cover for their latest set of releases.
Skype (or goodbye telecom)
I just wanted to briefly report that I started using Skype which is an internet telephone alternative. After a mild investment in a headset, I've managed to get the whole thing up and running with no effort at all. So far I've chatted with some cute girl in Serbia a few times and twice to my parents' answering machine (which is attached to the real phone network). The whole experience depends quite a lot on how congested the network is, so it didn't always work perfectly. But I think that expensive telecommunications companies, such as KPN in the Netherlands, will become a thing of the past, or in any case, will have to reinvent themselves and drop their prices. The telephone is dead. Long live the telephone (via internet).
Monday, July 25, 2005
100 kms.
Finally, I've got my lard arse into cycling form. I rode 100kms over the weekend which just passed: 40kms on Saturday and 60kms on Sunday. This is by no means impressive, compared to two years ago when I'd easily clock up 200kms in a week. But this year it's been harder to start and my condition is terrible. How did I let myself slip? To be honest, I find it really difficult to keep fit during the winters up here. It was so much easier in Australia, when going outside in winter wasn't tortuous.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Ik ben jarig.
Yes. It's that day again. It's my birthday. People are calling or emailing or sms-ing (aka texting) from all over the world to send me their best wishes. So far there's been wishes from Sweden, Serbia, The Netherlands, Australia, the USA (thanks Michael) and Ukraine. I'm still hoping for a few more, so if you read this, email me, even if you don't know me, even if it's a few days late.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Yet More Jay Lowlifes and Black Toe.
The Jay Lowlifes have added another song to their website. To coincide with this, I managed to hurt the little toe on my right foot severely enough that I am presently unable to wear a shoe on the said foot. To avoid anyone noticing, I've donned traditional academic/German attire, consisting of socks and sandals. The toe is black, hurts quite a bit when I walk (or try to put shoes on), so I might have to venture to the doctor's to see whether it's broken. While this won't affect my guitar playing, I'm afraid there'll be less on-stage antics than before. Backstage antics will remain at their previous levels.
Monday, July 4, 2005
Back from London.
I'm back from my trip to London. It was very productive, especially wrt beer consumption. Go Boddingtons! When 4 of the worlds handful of Ownership Types researchers get together, one might suspect that some Ownership Types related activities were going on. This may have been the case. Or it may not have been. You'll have to wait and see. Check my publications page in, say, 6 months time.
Upgraded to Mac OS X Tiger.
I upgraded my laptop to run Mac OS X Tiger. It is way cool. My productivity will surely decrease significantly now, given all the gadgets and widgets and whatsies.