Tornado in Nashville

This afternoon I experienced my first tornado. Fortunately it missed the hotel but not for much. It's pretty powerful stuff. From my floor I could not see three yards from out of the window. At some point I had to go to the inside room because it was a bit scary.

Ben's presentation

I'm very happy because my student the a very good presentation at the conference. It's nice to see your student doing well. I was worried because since yesterday he has been very nervous. Yesterday I took him to drink a beer. Nothing better than a beer to relieve stress. lol

Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar

Last night my student and I were planning to go to the BB King restaurant but it was closed. So the second best option according to most websites was the bourbon street blues and boogie bar. The atmosphere was nice and the place really looks like a traditional blues location. Unfortunately we were very hungry and the food there was not good. On the website the menu looked great but it was false advertisement. They had only about 40% of what the menu on the website had and it didn't taste that good. I could come val there for the music but never to eat. :)

Conference

The conference here in Nashville is going well so far. Nothing too exciting but some cool talks. My talks are both tomorrow (Tuesday).

Not quite country music

I got here to the country music restaurant and it seems to be closed. I'm waiting in the restaurant in front called Sambuca. The problem is that this place is very nice. I'm at the bar. Good service. Good appetizers. And some very nice brazilian jazz. Maybe Nashville is not so bad after all. This place looks very civilized. Much better than any bar we have in Melbourne. :(

Country music here I go

I really hate country music but being in Nashville I can't avoid so I'm leaving to check this restaurant where they have a bluegrass jam. I swear, if they sing I'll leave. If it is instrumental I might stay. At least it is free.

Going to Nashville

I'm on my way to Nashville to attend an IEEE conference. I'm gettig tired of these conferences. It's just too much work and very little reward. I could now be in Florida and see Kalil play soccer which is definetely much more fun. Anyway, next time I'll fly to my presentation and fly back on the day after. What makes it harder to arrange is that the conferences don't publish the program far in advance so we don't know which day we are presenting until it is too late. :(

Party @ the Menezes'

I'm been quiet the last few days because I'm not in Boston. Yesterday we had a good party in my house. It was great to see our friends. Unfortunatelly Sebastien was missing; he was in Nashville (to where I'm heading while I write this). We had quite a lot to drink and eat. We cooked Vatapá and some chicken sausages. I guess people liked it because there were no leftovers ;)

With my family

I arrived yesterday and spend the night talking with Kalil, Adele and Sarah. It's great to be back!! Today I went out with Sarah to have lunch out. The weather here in Florida is just great. Actually better than in Hawaii. Hawaii is more beautiful but Florida has a better weather.

In Florida!!!

Hurray. I'm here!! Plane just landed. Looking forward to the party on Saturday. See you all there.

On my way to Logan

Florida here I come!! I'm on my way to Logan airport here in Boston. Not long now until I get home.

Almost in Florida

I'm packing tonight to go home. I'm happy to go there and see my friends and of course my family. Can't wait to be there. Saturday we're having a party in my house. I'm sure it's going to be fun because Jerry and I will make sure everyone swims. So again. Be prepared!!

W.

I finished watching the movie W yesterday. The movie is quite nice because it now only criticizes Bush but also shows his human side. The movie depicts him as a guy that really thought he was doing good to the country but at the same time being weak and going with the others decision particularly Cheney's. Overall it is a movie worth watching.

3.5 hours of Squash

Just finished playing 3.5 hours of squash. I'm very happy because my knee took the stress. So DeLo (the doctor) may not be as bad as I thought. Maybe he did fix my knee or maybe the knee just got fixed by itself with time. I was finishing playing when one of the organizers of the squash team here called me to hit some balls with him. I could not refuse :) My arm is so sore that I can't even move it. But at least the knee is fine. Who cares about the arm. lol.

The Punisher 2

The second movie from the punisher is out. I live super-hero movies particularly from Marvel but this one is a disgrace for their name. After the concert yesterday I decided to go home instead of my usual place (Cambridge Common). How I regret! The movie is one of the worst movies I've watched in my life. It consists of unnecessary use of graphic violence for no reason at all plus the terrible acting of a group of unknowns. The actor that did the punisher is not that bad, just a bit bad, but the others, OMG!!! The so called "jigsaw", the vilain, and his brother managed to display the worst acting I've seen ever. Please DO NOT rent it. It is a waste of money. I'm glad I watched for free and even in this case I still think it was a waste.

Cassandra Wilson

Musically speaking the concert was excellent. No complaints. But unfortunatelly Ms. Wilson herself does demonstrated that she is a bit bitchy. First she almost made a scene because a woman took her picture (without flash). It's hard to believe why she wouldn't like it since she "sign" to be known. Doesn't she know these fans are the ones who will eventually buy her music. In my mind she should be happy that people want her picture!! Next she did not give us an encore and that as a first here at the regattabar. Finally she left and didn't stay to sign and talk to fans which is again unusual at this jazz bar. So I'm divided on my opinion of her. She is a great singer but she needs to be careful with this kind of attitude. There is up reason for it.

Border cafe

I'm at this mexican place called Border cafe. The place is really really full. I hope this place is as good as they say.

SAT results

I can't tell you how proud I'm from Kalil and that his SAT result granted him this opportunity to spend the summer on this TIP program from Duke. I'm very happy and it will be a great opportunity for him. I'm sure it will be hard but I'm also sure he will enjoy. Well done Kalil!

Going to Harvard Square

I'm on my way to Harvard square. I'll try to find a good bookstore and maybe a music store. Today I didn't fell like working. Can't explain why. So why fight it?! I'll do different things and later go to Cassandra Wilson's concert at the regattabar. Tomorrow it is back to work.

Children See, Children Do....

I have not been posting a lot... but will try to come back and do it. I just came across this video from a campaign in Australia. It makes you think. Even for some of you who do not have children, we have to remember that we are all part of a society whose main responsibility is the education of our children. They are the future.

Boobs

Should I be writing about this? Anyway I hope Sarah doesn't get upset after all the boobs were not mine and I have nothing to do with them :) This is what happen when you live in a big city. Just now 2 African Americans, I mean black, girls left the train and decided to flash their boobs!!! Wow!! What I'm surprised is that they looked like shit. Horrible!!! I guess this is always the case right? You have something interesting to show you don't. :). Anyway this would never happen in Melbourne, would it?

Dark

The interesting thing of leaving in a large city is the kind of people you find onte streets, the train, etc. The diversity is amazing! But some of them are just too much. Like the couple in front of me on the train. I don't know how they called these people here in the US but we all seen them. The dress in dark/ black clothes, have many piercings, have chains attached to their clothes, and try to look mean! I say try because in reality they are just nerds. Dress them on normal clothes, cut the hair and remove the piercings and the truth comes out. Is it so bad just to be a need to the point that one has to dress like this. People say it is a statement of defiance. I don't believe it. They are just nerds trying to fit on a society that doesn't accept them as nerds. They then put on this face of "bad guys". But there is no way out. They are anything but "bad guys".

Back in Boston.

I'm back in Boston. It's nice to return. In 1 week I'll be in Florida :) I miss everyone.

30 minutes to Atlanta.

Just 30 minutes left ;). I read quite a bit and listened to music. Also I managed to sleep for about 2.5 hours!!! First time for me. I look forward getting out of this plane and stretching my legs.

6 hours to Atlanta

So far I've managed to read a bit of my book and had dinner. Yes, Delta served dinner for free. I thought we'd be having jus peanuts again. They are showing the 007 movie. The same movie they showed when flew to Hawaii. The only problem so far is that someone around this area here does not stop farting so every 15 minutes we have to resist the awful smell. lol. It's 12:45am in the east. I'm yet to sleep. Maybe I'll read a research paper and see if this helps ;)

In the air. 8 hours to Atlanta

I'm in the air. The plane left Honolulu on time which is a first for me with delta. Now I just have to wait 8 hours to arrive in Atlanta and then another flight to Boston. Why do nice places have to be so far? :). We should have place like Hawaii of the coast of Florida. Maybe the Bahamas are like that. We should check it out some day.

I'll try to write as we progress on this flight. Now I'm going to try to finish the book I'm reading: Emergence.

Big Island. Hawaii.

I'm at the airport returning to Honolulu. Tomorrow I fly back to Boston and in 1 week i'll be in Florida ;). The big island is, like all the other islands here, beautiful. Just amazing. Yesterday was a bad day because we were not very lucky. We went to Mauna Kea to the observatory. It was really cold up there. 23F plus winds of 40 miles per hour. Cold!!!! The we went to try to see the lava flow in Hilo. Why was it a bad day? Well, first my friend broke the car. He didn't see a rock and the car lost all engine oil. The rock was huge!! And he didn't see. I was not surprised because I noticed after 10 minutes of his driving that driving was not his strong skill. Next time I travel I drive, no matter what!! Maybe I can live with other people driving but they will have to drive fast or at least respect the limit. My friend was driving at 40 m/h on a 55 m/h limit!!! Then after taking 2 hours to get to the lava flow (on a trip that is supposed to take 1 hour) we could not get in because there was an evacuation in place. My friend said we had bed luck because it was Friday 13th. I say we had bad luck because I as not driving. ;)

Today the day was better. But again what was supposed to take 3 hours to do took 5 because he drives like a snail. At least the people at the resort allowed me to check out late (6pm) and I had some time to swim and snorkel.

While snorkeling I saw 2 huge green sea turtles. Very nice!! They get really close to you it is awesome. Sorry Cheryl, I can't deny it was good ;)

Presentation

Yesterday we had the first day of the conference here in Hawaii. It went very well. I also had my presentation which means that I can now focus moreon campaining for my SIGAPP election. By the way, Jerry and Caroline, do you want to become SIGAPP members? If you do you can vote for me in June. LOL. It's $8 to become a member for 1 year.

At Hilton

Wow! What a room. My room with bathroom probably has about 900 square feet. 3 queen beds a desk and porch twice the one in my house. I'm officially impressed. :)

Blow dry my shoes

Yesterday I went to this bike ride down the volcano here in Maui. The ride was nice but it was raining during the entire ride. The result was that the only pair of shoes I brought here was soaked. By the time I got I the hotel and took it off the smell was "not very pleasant" lol. Without knowing what to do and in need of a dry pair of shoes, I was left with only one option: use the blow dryer. I took it and place it inside the shoe and turned it on. After about 15 minutes it was dry :). So I did the same thing with the other. I thought that was the end of the story for these shoes but today I acidently steped on mud! Yes, so the shoe that used to be white and dry, is now brown and wet. I thought about getting rid of it but in 5 days I'll be going to see the lava flow and I'll need something. So maybe I'll just throw it in the lava before I return :)

Thai food in Hana, Maui

I just arrived to Hana. Very nice small town but not may options to eat. But driving around I found this backyard ofva house selling thai food. I hope it is good because I'm starving. ;)

Cameras. Love them or hate them

I hate because they always break at the wrong time. I'm coming down the mountain in a beautiful scenery. Then after 4 pictures, the camera just break. Just like that. I had to I get another camera afterwards because I still have a few days left here.

On my way up!!

The ride in the car, up the hill, has started. The bad news is that it is 28F on the top. So it's going to be colder than I thought. Let's see what happens. At least we get some rain gear. This will be fun!

Kalil scored 4 goals

Hank just wrote on my facebook that Kalil scored 4 goals and played really well. I was very happy with the news and called him. Kalil told Hank that maybe I should not go to the games that often. I guess he is right ;) I called Kalil to congratulate him but as always he was not very excited. I guess he thinks scoring 4 goals is no big deal. If he's right, he'll have to score 4 again next game. LOL

Maui bike ride

It's 8:50am here and I'm going all the way to the top of the mountain (7000ft approx) and ride a bile down. It can take up to 5 hours to complete because it is a 35 miles ride. I hope I'll survive but since it is going down, gravity should help a lot. :). I'm going with this company: www.mauibikeride.com

Going to Maui

I'm at the airport to go to Maui. I'll be 3 days there. I hope to do some work while in there since here in Oahu it was hard. I was at a friends house and I didn't have Internet connection. Hopefully I'll have some in my hotel in Maui. The flight leaves in about 1 hour. Yesterday I went to pearl harbor. To be honest I didn't like much. I don't like these war things. But before I went with Sascha to Hanauma bay. That was incredible. The water was a bit cold but the place is beautiful. We can see many fishes (hey Wayne, in this case it is fishes for sure, not fish. ;) ). We stated there for about 3 hours. For lunch we went to a Hawaiian restaurant and I had two local foods: laulau and lomi-lomi. Very good stuff. I'll try to cook laulau to the guys in a future party.

Hawaii

Got here yesterday. So far the place seems as nice as people say. It actually fells a bit like Brazil. Today (wed) I went all around this island (o'ahu). I started by going to Waikiki where they have a nice marked. Then I went to may places like Sandy Beach, Sound Beach, then to Waimea. The waves at waimea are just unbelievable. Most of them were about 3 times the height of a man, so I'm assuming it was about 7 meters. The ocean here is very blue, as blue as I can imagine. Just beaultiful.

Tomorrow. I'll go to a snorkling place which is supposed to be very nice. I don't think I can spell the name but it is supposed to be good. I hope so. :)

I did some snorkling today at waimea. The water was a bit cold but bereable. I'll try to post pictures as soon as I get access to the Internet on my computer.

Ronaldo in Salt Lake

After a 5 hour flight, I arrived in Salt Lake City. The flight was good. Now we're waiting for the gate to become available. Now there is a very loud Brazilian woman on the cell phone and it is annnoying. Typical Brazilian. lol

So far, so good!

I'm at the gate and so far it appears the flight is on time. I have a short connection in Salt Lake so this thing must leave on time ;). Don't want to just stay in Salt Lake. Do they have snow in there? I hope not. I'm now starting to agree with a joke I heard once in which snow was called "white s$&t". LOL.

On my way to Hawaii!

This time I think it will work. I'm on the airport on my way to Hawaii with a stop on Salt Lake City. Hopefully the flight will leave on time. Let's see...

Police sliding...

Yesterday we had the snow that canceled my flight.... :( I'm going this morning.. but one thing was interesting. I was walking back home on my street (College Av), on the snow, a lot of snow, when I hear this siren of a police car. Then I started to look where it was coming from. For my surprise the police car appeared on the top of the road coming in my direction completely perpendicular to the road, sliding on the snow. At first it was kind of scary because it was coming towards me but when I realized it wasn't really going to hit me I could stop laughing until I got home. The funny thing was the car coming sideways and the officer inside desperately trying to control it. He didn't and smashed on the car parked 6ft from me and also on the parking meter. I couldn't take a photo yesterday but I took one this morning of the meter. It was so funny that it was almost worth it not going to Hawaii (not really). It was also funny the guy in front of me, walking on the sidewalk. When the police car hit the other, he didn't control himself and shouted: "Oh Shit!!" :) Now that I think of it, I think the officer turned the siren on to warn people to get out of the way... He was completely out of control. Just wished I had a video camera there to put it later on youtube.

I hate snow now...

After several snow storms I was already getting upset with it. But now I hate it!!! My flight to Hawaii was cancelled because of this terrible weather. :( I'm trying to see if I fly on Tuesday. I hate this... I was really looking forward to going to Hawaii and now I lost one day there... :(

Hangover

I think I drank last night more than I should have. I had some beers at the Cambridge Common and walked home. There is something about walking at night in a city that fascinates me. I used to do that a lot in Brazil when I was younger, coming back home after a long night. Unfortunately there we can't do this any more because if you do you will die. However here in Boston one can still do that. I like it a lot. And this is the reason why I always walk home after I go to Cambridge Common. With the iPod the walk is even more pleasing.

Gnossiennes No. 1

It's been about 1 hour since I arrived in my room. It's 2:24am. I'm listening to this piece (subject of message) for the 9th time. You need just a couple of beers to realize how beautiful this piece is. I could literally sit here until the morning listening to this piece on repeat. :)

As good as it gets!

McCoy Tyner's concert was amazing. It really doesn't get better than this. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures. Of course he is not as young and versatile as before but he still can swing. It was a great experience.

McCoy Tyner

I'm at the regattabar for the McCoy Tyner concert. It is very exciting given that I'm sitting 6ft from the guy. McCoy Tyner is probably the most important jazz musician I have ever seen. He is one of the greatest jazz piano players of all time. This will be a unique experience. The concert starts in 10min.

Almost ready to go to Hawaii

Just got my snorkeling gear. Now I need to pack. I wish Sarah and the kids were going with me. But if Hawaii is as good as they say, I'll be back there with them :)

Please!!! not Paulo Coelho

I'm riding the T and the person in front of me is reading a book from Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian writer. The problem is that he is one of the worst we have! Why is this always the case? That some of the worst things become very popular?

Routine...

I just got home and speaking to Sarah she asked me to post my routine here in Boston. She thought it was interesting because I told her I fell sometimes I'm in the Pink Floyd the Wall movie where the kids just march like machines. So here it goes...

I wake up at 8am. I stand up to get the phone (the alarm). I go back to bed and check to see if there are important emails and to check to see if Jerry made his move on the chess game. The answer is normally no and yes respectively. I make my chess move. Then I get the towel, put some toothpast on the toothbrush and walk to have my shower and brush my teeth. I come back after the shower to the room. I eat a cereal bar and drink some water from my aluminum bottle. I dress up, take my iPod, iPhone and wallet. Put the music on the iPod on random because I want to check some music I haven't heard yet. Walk for about 10 minutes to the T station. Go down the stairs and wait for the train. While waiting, I take my iPod, put it on random classical music because I have to read. I take my book and start reading waiting for the train to Braintree. The train arrives and I go to the fourth door from the end of the train (closer to my exit). I stand right where the door of the train will be when the train stop to be the first to get in and have a chance to get a chair. I must get a chair because I have to read. I sit, and read for about 35 minutes when I arrive at Downtown Crossing. I leave the train but I don't put my book away. I hold it because it is a short walk to the Orange Line to get the train to Forest Hills. I sit and wait for the train while continue to read my book. When the train arrives I walk to the fourth door from the front of the train. This door will be right in front of the escalator when the train stops at Ruggles station (Northeastern University). I also know where the door is so I normally get a sit and continue to read my book. When the train passes at Back Bay station it goes above ground so I can check to see if Jerry made a move on chess, he normally didn't. I arrive at Ruggles and walk for about 5 minutes to the Physics building. I take the largest elevator because the other doesn't go to the 5th floor. The elevator has a problem, so it always stops on the 3rd floor for about 5-10 seconds. But it continues after and I get to the 5th floor. I'm normally the second person to arrive, since Sune arrives before me. I place my coat on the chair, plug my computer to the power outlet and to the large monitor. I then go to make my latte. I fill my mug with milk and put on the microwave for 2 minutes. When there is 45 seconds to the end, I turn the espresso machine and make a one shot of espresso. It takes it about 40 seconds. So my milk and espresso are ready at the same time. I pour the espresso on the mug full of milk: latte is ready. Go to the desk and check my email and a lot more of some useless stuff. If I have something, I write on the blog. By this time it is around 11am, I stand up and go to the espresso machine and take a shot of espresso. Back to the desk and start working on whatever I decide to work on that day. At 12 noon (sharp), people come to my office to ask if I'm going to get lunch. The answer is yes 99% of the times, and also 99% of the times we go to the burrito place, Qdoba (I'm starting to hate burritos!!). Buy the burrito and bring it back to the lab where we eat and talk about movies (most of the time). At around 1pm lunch is over and we all go back to work. I work all afternoon but just before that I check to see if Jerry made a move on chess, he normally did. I make my move. Work until around 6:30pm when I normally go to the gym to play squash. There I play from 7pm to 8pm. Have a shower and head back to the lab. Before though, I pass on the small grocery store and buy bread, cheese and ham. I get to the lab and make a sandwich. Work again until around 9pm. By then I call Sarah and try to speak to her and Kalil, sometimes I call at 8:30 to speak to Adele too. After the call I work until 10:50. I take my aluminum water bottle and fill it with water (for the next day, go to the top of this text). Walk to Ruggles station but before I put my iPod on shuffle all songs. No matter how much I try, the train normally has just left by the time I arrive at the station. I wait 15 minutes for the next. I can't read anything, just walk around because it is an open station and at that time cold "as hell". When I get on the train I get on the 3rd door from the end. Sit, get my book and put the ipod on shuffle classical. I read my book but I always have to be careful because the train is faster now and I can't miss my exit. I leave the train at Downtown Crossing and run to the other train because if I don't run I miss it. Run to the 6th door from the front of the train because upon exiting the train I'll be in front of the escalator. Sit (no problem finding sits at this time of the night). As the train passes on the station Charles MGH, I check the iPhone to see if Jerry made his move, he normally didn't. I arrive at Davis Square (my station) and walk home. This time I walk slowly because I'm tired. I always cross the street in front of the library (two blocks from the station). When I get home, I change, use some lotion for the skin because it is really dry here and I was having problems. I sit in the computer and check my emails again. After that I read a little more (many things) and if it is Friday night I go to hulu.com and watch the Office. Go to bed. If I can't sleep well I drink half a glass of wine and sleep. After that is go back to the top and start everything again!!!!!

THIS IS WHAT I CALL ROUTINE!!!

Institute for Contemporary Art

I went this evening to the Institute for Contemporary Art here in Boston. The are having a special exposition of the work of Shepard Fairey who is the artist responsible for the Obama sign you can see here. Once you see the exposition you really understand why the poster is the way it is. It reflects Fairey's work since his beginning. Interestingly enough, this was the first time he did a poster of a political figure in support of him/her rather than to criticize. The exposition is worth going to and if you're around Boston go on Thursday after 5pm: it's free!! More works from Fairey can be seen in this page from the ICA.

John Abercrombie photos

As I said yesterday, the concert was awesome. Here are some pictures. The band was John on Guigar, Gary Versace in the Hammond organ and Adam Nussbaum on drums. Both John and Adam are very well known but I didn't know the organ player. 

However he impressed me in a good way. Very consistent and 

showing complete control over the instrument. His solos were 

solid. We might start seeing him around more often. After all he is already playing with some of the greats such as John and Adam. 

John Abercrombie

I just arrived from John Abercrombie's concert. It was a nice set with the trio playing in a good sync. It was an organ trio (guitar,drums,organ). They played for about 1:20hs. The organ player I did not know but he was amazing. In fact, playing that "thing" must be hard with you having to use your feet also. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures. Now I have to check if Jerry made his move on chess. ;)

John Abercrombie

This evening I'm going to John Abercrombie's concert also at the Regattabar. The only problem is that the concert is at 7:30pm which IMO is just a bit early for a concert. In any case, I expect it to be a good concert. He will play in a Organ Trio. 

Jacky Terrasson Pictures

I'm posting some pictures from the Jacky Terrason concert last Saturday.

Singing and drunk

It's Monday and this young guy on the T is drunk as he'll and singing his music as loud as he can. What kind of person gets drunk luke this on a Monday?! what kind of life this guy has to make him need to do this just to get some attention? I'm glad this place is more civilized because had it been in Brazil, someone would have told him to shut the f... up already.

Cold again

Today it got very cold again. It's 20F!! I thought the worse of the winter was over but I guess I'll have to endure a few more weeks of winter. Thankfully I'm heading to Hawaii on Monday and that should be a change... I hope!

Emergence

This is the title of the book that I started to read. It deals with the issue of organized complexity that is pervasive in all aspects of life. The book sound very interesting thus far as it is discussing an area that I like a lot: swarms. The book is not written by a scientist but the author does seem to have some understanding of the scientific process.

Working late

Friday night, I was working late here in my room and decide to try a new picture for my profile on facebook. Here it is. I guess it just shows my read eye. I hope this is proof that I'm working until late rather than doing other stuff. LOL. The facebook picture will not be that one though.

After Lunch

The lunch with Pat Bond and his son, Brad, was really pleasant. The place, Skipjack's, has a jazz brunch and the band was actually good despite my fears since I tend to dislike "local" jazz bands. For experience this always tend to mean, "a band that is local and really doesn't know how to play jazz but wished they did". The restaurant is kind of upper class like but the food was good. The location in boston is also nice for a walk. Today was a bit cold but I guess it will be good when Sarah and the kids come here during summer. The picture is from the trinity church which is just in front of the restaurant on Boylston street. 

Lunch with Pat Bond

I'm off to have lunch with Pat Bond, a colleague from FIT. He's retired now and leaves close by. Nice place to retire by the way. :)

After the concert

The concert just ended. Great stuff!! Jacky terrason, as the other guys I've seen at the regatta bar, stayed after the concert to talk to us. Nice guy and as I expected a great virtuoso. Well worth it. It became even better because everyone got a free CD from Cassandra Wilson. It was good value today. LOL.

Jacky Terrason

I'm at the regatta bar for terrason's concert. He is an incredible pianist and I'm really glad to have a chance to see him live. I hope he is as good live as on CDs. I have a couple of CD covers to see if I get him to sign.

Skeptic Blog

I found a skeptics blog which has received a lot of attention, including links from Richard Dawkin's website. If you like skeptic magazines and such you'll love this blog: Skepticblog.org. I'm also placing a link on my list of blog on the sidebar.

Indian restaurant

I found this nice Indian restaurant around close to the university. The food is good and cheap. The only problem is that I've been here three times already and the small buffet always has the same things. Some change would be nice.

Party and Work

We walk in the lab a fine line between work and party. What I mean I that people celebrate every possible thing but at the same time they work like no one else. This is a good path to walk because while partying you don't forget who or what is paying for all that: productivity. People don't produce they don't get the benefits of it. Nice trade off.

Python...

Jerry told python is easy... I hope so. I'll google it but I need to learn this fast!!!!

More snow around here.

Yesterday we a some snow while I was coming home we got some more. This time I managed to make a couple pictures from the street here around the corner. I had to go there because it was really deserted and thought the pictures would be okay. It's hard to take pictures when your hands a freezing but you at least get the idea.

Python anyone?

Does anyone know how to program in python? I'm going to have to learn fast because I need to run a package called networkX on some of the complex networks I'm building. I just hope it is straightfoward as I don't have time to learn yet another language. :)

Pizza time!!

Today we're having the joint seminar between BU and the lab here. As a result we had free pizza. Free is always good but the pizza and sale they order here is simply great. No Pizza Hut stuff, but real Italian pizza.

Portrait of the Brazilian Music

Yesterday I had a good conversation with the owner of a brazilian site about music. The idea is for me to get the database of composers, musicians, etc from Brazil and create a portrait of the Brazilian music. Let's see if this flies. If it does it will be quite interesting because I like music and the network stuff.

More about Mozart

The program was extraordinary. The work done by the BSO to educate us on classical music deserves credit. For every concert, they prepare a booklet with a detailed history of the music being played, the composer, the conductor's opinion about the music, and more. All that for $20 is a very good deal!

Mozart @ the BSO

So far, the Mozart program at the BSO is quite good. Much better than the Verdi opera.

Database meeting

Everywhere meetings serve no purpose. Even here we are in a meeting about the database here and no one looks interesting. Most people just want to get back to work ;)

Late start

I didn't not hear my alarm clock today. I don't know what happened. Maybe I was just too tired from yesterday. The result is that only now I'm on the T heading to work. Not good enough. :(

CompleNet

I've been working like crazy since yesterday to finish the organization of CompleNet. A workshop that we are organizing in Catania, Italy. So far it has been a success but it requires dedication from all parts. Unfortunately, the authors of this year's edition are very used to having papers published in the same way as computer scientists. So it has been a learning experience.

Nothing like it

There is nothing like it having two gay (men) couples kissing in your train car, in feont of you after a long day work. Seriously, I don't deserve that. LOL.

Photo uploading

Just managed to upload some photos from the New Year's Eve and Obama's inauguration party at Cheryl's. I hope you guys like it.

An unlikely event

Here is a picture with two friends from the lab. This is not likely to happen very often because we have a Brazilian (me), an Argentinean (Julian) and an Italian (Luigi) on the same photo. Given the history of these three countries in soccer is is hard to get three of us on the same picture enjoying a glass of wine.

Donald Harrison

I finally found sometime to download the photos from my camera so here a couple of pictures from the Donald Harrison concert in Washington, DC.

Going home

I thought about going to a pub to drink a Guinness but I think I'm just going home. I'm tired today.

Happy Valentine's Day

Just spoke to my valentine :). I wished I was there in Florida. Since I can't I have to go back to work. I'm my way to the lab. I woke up a bit late today, but that is life.

Tavern

I'm on this tavern bar on central station. Nice place and they are showing the basketball all-star game. 5 researchers from the lab are here. This is the first time that they are actually not talking about work. I guess they are humans after all. LOL.

Skype

I have been talking with a lot of people I haven't spoken in a while. It's nice. Yesterday I spoke to Mano for quite a while and this lunch time I spend sometime talking with my cousin from Rio de Janeiro, Holberi. It nice how the technology approximates us. My cousin I haven't spoken in many, many years.

Harvard

Sometimes a beer is not so bad for you. After a couple of beers this evening I think I achieved two things. The first is to get the opinion of a professor at Harvard from an idea I had for research. The second is another possible invitation to give a talk there. So who said beer is bad for you?!

Muqueca today

A person here in the lab is leaving and some of us will go to Muqueca restaurant for a farewell party. Look forward eating some nice food. We'll be there around 8pm.

Hawaii Hotel... Free :-)

I just booked my trip to Hawaii. The nice thing is that I got a free night from hotels.com and I used to book a room in Kona Big Island. The place is called Mauna Lani Resort (photo). Check their website here. I'm flying from Honolulu to Kona and back for $80. So I'll go there, see the volcano, sleep and stay in this hotel and back to Honolulu on Saturday night. On Sunday, I fly back to Boston. I hope this place is as nice as everyone say.

Patricia Barber

Last night I went to the regattabar for the concert of Jazz pianist Patricia Barber. What a disappointment!! She has a very nice, well controlled, voice but in terms of jazz she is very weak. She tried to look cool by making faces and such when she plays the piano but the quality is simply not there. The band that played with her only made it worse. The guitarist looked like he was playing on a funeral or something. I'm glad it was very expensive. The only good part of the concert were the two songs from Cole Porter that she played: Ce Magnifique and I've Grown Accustomed to his Face. She also played one of my favorites songs of all time: Blackbird (Beatles), but she managed to make me dislike it.

Happy Darwin's day!!

200 years ago today one of the most important scientists in history: Charles Darwin. 150 years ago he published his most important work: On the Origin of Species. Happy Darwin's day!!!!

Jazz tonight

I think I'll try to go to Patricia Barber tonight. I heard she is a good jazz piano player. Let's see.

Mac is back!!!

I have my mac back. I'm so happy to be able to do some work. I missed it. Here my mac is my only friend :)

Early-start day

I'm still without my computer butbim trying to do some work. It's hard becase I have a lot of code to write. Apple promised the machine yesterday but didn't fulfill the promise. I hope I get it today. I'm quit behind on the things I have to do. I got here to the office at 8:15am today which is my record :). Not bad given that I went to bed at 1am.

More squash and no mac

I've played squash today for about 45 minutes and my knee was fine :) in fact today as a day or not much work because in the afternoon we went to watch the soccer game between Brazil an Italy. Brazil won 2x0. Then I cs back to the office and despite Apple promising me to give mac back I got nothing. :( Hopefully I'll get it.

Boston library card

I got my library card this morning and hence I'm now an official resident of Boston. LOL. The library is huge and you can find any possible book you can think of. Kalil would love it also because you can get a lot of music (piano) scores from every kind of music, from Rachamaninov to Beatles. I believe they also have free wireless so I might go there to work sometimes if I'm bored here.

Significantly significant

At at talk here in the lab a candidate jus wrote on the slides that
the results are significantly significant!! At least this tells me
that not everyone interviewing here is as good as they all seemed to
be up to now.

This one you may not understand

Sorry. This one has some Portuguese. Learn it or forget about this post :).

Gatinha you must hear the song entitled "teu nome mais secreto" particularly the part that goes more or less like this

Não sei, não sei mais nada
Só sei que canto de sede dos teus lábios.
Não sei, não sei mais nada.

This is exactly how is feel now. :). But the whole song is beautiful. Listen to it!!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

No mac for you!

My mac broke the Ethernet card and now I have to work the old fashion way: manually! I hope apple gives it back to me soon.

Ronaldo (back) in Boston

I went to my room, left everything there and I'm now on the T going to the lab. Looking forward doing some work.

Last night

I'm currently on the plane on my way back to Boston. Yesterday I went with Paulo to a concert from Donald Harrison Jr. a sax player from New Orleans. The concert was very good. I'll later post some pictures from the concert. I now have a proper camera with me so the quality of the pictures should improve :)

Late with Bill

I think I'm back on track. The last few days here in Washington DC were not as productive as I thought. Well when you have to work from 8am to 6pm non stop it is hard to think about anything else. Fortunately I've made the right decision today and decided to work a bit late. Paulo is not here so it is easier. Right now it is my paper and Bill Frisell playing Poem for Eva. If you haven't heard it before just get it. You'll be happy.

Ronaldo in Washington

I'm on my way back to Boston but had first to stop in Washington DC to reviews some proposals to the NSF. I'm flyin to Boston on Sunday morning. So far the review process went pretty smooth. Paulo is here and trying "hitting" on a ex-fiancée of another friend of mine. LOL. I was partially responsible for the other engagement but I don't have anything to do with this one. I'm waiting tower what happens.