Behold thy nourishment !!!

Grey is carbon, blue is nitrogen, red is oxigen, white is hydrogen.
Basically this is it.
Duck tape can hold the world together (or so some claim), but caffeine gets it moving.
Still tired from the trip and the jet lag, but my dearest co-workers managed to save a lot of work for me! Aren't they sweet? Three days of problems and I still have a lot of things in the "inbox".
Well, I'm off to get some more coffee, by the way things are moving I probably will have to stay here until late.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is an American tradition and as such it is not celebrated elsewhere, however for the last five years I've been in the US during Thanksgiving Day (except for last year, but we'll get there).
Since the first time this happened and for three years Good Half and I would have a first dinner at some friends, who wouldn't take a refusal to their invitation unless if caused by dire events, and a second dinner later the same day at other friends' place.
Although the difference in schedules allowed this to happen, one 'dinner' at 2PM and the second at about 9PM, anyone who has ever been to a Thanksgiving dinner knows it is a very dangerous "sport" to go through two such dinners on the same day.
Well, this year our friends of the 2PM dinner have moved to the East coast and so we couldn't make it to their dinner.
This was rather sad. We missed them a lot. And those of you who are thinking we simply miss the food are wrong.
The fact is we really love H&M. H&M are a terrific couple.
Last year I wasn't able to make it to their dinner, in fact I didn't make it to the US in November because my father was terribly hill and the doctors said he wouldn't make it past the end of November. The doctors were wrong and he is doing ok right now, for those of you wondering. Well, in March I went to Corvallis and guess what, H&M invited us over for dinner (normal, usual between friends, we get invited for dinners all the time and we invite people for dinner all the time too). What is not normal is for a couple to prepare a full Thanksgiving dinner as a surprise for me to make it up for missing the real one.
That should give you folks an idea why do we miss'em so much, they are the kind of friends who really go out of their way just to put a smile on another friends face.
As GH's work in the US comes to an end we rejoice with the idea of being together again and of not having to support two houses and a lot of trips back and forth. At the same time, this will also mean seeing some of our friends less than we'd like to.

Holidays Synopsis

My holidays started with a rather uneventful journey to one of the most boring places on Earth: Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
I won't go as far as to call Corvallis a one horse town, but the truth is the place is rather quiet to say the least.
Most of the city life, certainly most of the cultural life, runs around Oregon State University.
In times like November, when the students who are still in town are busy with exams and reports, most of them swarming the library, there isn't much action around. The ones who are not busy simply leave town to travel home for thanksgiving.
The one good thing about it as a destination:
Good Half is there.


After a few days in Corvallis we headed North to Portland to spend our 10th anniversary there.
We didn't want to stay at friends' places so I got us a room at the Hilton, in downtown Portland. Although we love our friends we wanted some privacy, just the two of us in a 'not so strange' town. Staying downtown also meant most of the time neither of us had to drive, we could walk almost everywhere we wanted to go and also there is always the lightrail (MAX is free in the downtown area)

It's always nice to revisit a few places in or around Portland, like the Multnomah Falls, the Saturday market, the Classical Chinese Gardens in Chinatown.





Places to eat around town: Alexander's; Todai; Ruth Chris' Steak House; Fong Chong.
After a couple of days we headed back to Corvallis. She still had a lot of work to do so I had to keep myself busy some of the time (by escaping to Meadows to snowboard for example).
The weather was weird for this time of the year, warm and sunny. That and the lack of rain added up to crunchy and hard snow on the slopes. That and the fact that I am really a lousy boarder resulted in having aches in muscles I didn't even remember I had.
Going over my head trying to tack trails above my level just to keep the pace with the guys also didn't help, after all they go there two to three times a week every week of every season...



Unlike our usual holidays we took very few pictures though. I guess the fact that we were revisiting places had something to do with it.




Tags:photo Oregon

Home again

Too tired and jet-lagged to post anything decent... I'll try and catch up on you folks to keep myself awake.

Weekly photo

According to this site it's a Stellar's Jay.
If you ask me it's getting to be kind of a nuisance, with all the noise it does right next to our window. The only time it goes away is when I try to take his picture, it's camera shy perhaps.

Tags:Oregon  photo

Weekly Photo

Thank you all for your comments, the trip was quite uneventful and I got here safely.
We've been a little busy and probably will continue so. I guess you can all understand the absence of new posts...
This is at a friend's backyard, here in Oregon. Glad I made it in time to see some of the fall colors.
Another good news is that Mt. Hood-Meadows will be opening next Friday, this means snowboard!!! Yes!!! It also means less time near the keyboard... we can't have everything.



Tags:Oregon  photo

Writing Rest

YES ! ! !

It's vacation time for yours truly.
I'll be on my way to Oregon, where Good Half awaits me.
Posting and reading other blogs will be irregular for the next three weeks.

Buyers ALWAYS have another choice!!!

Take a good look at this piece of news. So basically what the guys at SONY are telling us is that they will go on packing rootkits in their products and if costumers don't feel comfy about it they will have to ask them to have it removed.
Now let us suppose we're talking about an audio CD. When you buy an audio CD and play it on your computer do you check the little book that comes along in the box to check whether it brings an EULA? And how can a costumer know if that audio CD has installed a rootkit if the rootkit is extremely hard to detect even by professionals?
When does someone who sells me a product earn the right to take over my computer?
When does someone who sells me a product have the right to sneak into my house?
If I accept this, next I will probably be accepting the grocer can check if I am also buying taters from the competition.
Companies have the right to fight piracy. That right however can not supercede the buyers rights.
Anyone who knows what a rootkit is will take only one action when faced with one: format the disk and re-install the operating system.
The choice is very clear to me: boycott SONY products. If they have no respect for the consumers, the consumers can show them a company can not survive without clients. And I don't mean just boycott products that carry these rootkits, I'll stop buying SONY, even if we're talking batteries or CD players.

Will you be buying stuff from them?

Tags:technology

PS: Here goes the worst part of it, all these artists are released by Sony, and any audio CD might carry their new DRM.

Getting bald...

...really is nothing compared to this!!!
Thousands of years of grazing and stomping, that bit is known.
But the cattle is long gone. Shouldn't mankind take a good look at this and start doing something to fight the desert growth? This is what is happening. The United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, they all have showed the world that with money to invest the desert can be pushed back. Now is the time to do it.
This should also be a warning to those allowing the destruction of Amazonia.

(image credit: NASA)


Tags:environment

It hatched

The egg hatched into some bird-like being. I wonder what it will grow into... if anything. For the time being it kind of looks like a flamingo. Well, guess for now I'll just leave it there as the Twilight Zone's pet.

PS: Is this any better? Is this a proper habitat? Hope so...

PPS: It got named, PINKY. For all those who haven't found it just scroll down this blog and look at the sidebar.

Student times nostalgia #2

For those of you who liked the previous serenade here goes some more...

Lendas do Rio Douro (Douro River Legends)

As ondas do Rio Douro a correr Vêm cantando baixinho Passam nas margens de leve a bater Com amor e com carinho Barcos Rabelos passando a vogar Com as velas remendadas Lendas antigas nos fazem lembrar Contos de reis e de fadas Conta a lenda que o nobre moiro À noitinha ia namorar Com as ninfas do Rio Douro ao luar As águas levam segredos p'ró mar Das moças namoradeiras Porque nas margens os ouvem cantar Às bonitas lavadeiras Dizem que quando aparece o luar Em noites de lua cheia As ninfas do rio Douro a cantar Dançam o Vira na areia

The running waves of Douro River Come whispering a song Softly taping the margins With love and tenderness Rabelo boats sailing their way With sewn old sails Old legends remind us Tales of Fairies and Kings Legend has it the noble Moor By nightfall wouls flirt With Douro river mermaids by moonlight The waters carry secrets to the sea Of the flirting young girls Because they are sung on the sides By the beautiful washer girls People say when moonlight appears In full Moon nights The Douro river mermaids singing Dance the Vira on the sand.

by azeiTUNA

Noites de Ronda (Serenade Nights)

Ao longe o Sol repousa Solta-se a brisa surge o luar já no céu estrelas dormem amores antigos venho recordar Se a noite fosse minha Não tiraria dela o luar Para qu’em noites de ronda Teu suave rosto Possa iluminar Escuta meu amor Esta canção Todo o ardor da minha paixão Vem à janela ouvir cantar Noites de ronda te venho murmurar Não é meu teu olhar Negro como a noite que passa e não finda Sem me ouvires cantar Peço-te um sinal Solta uma lágrima amarga Quando o nosso amor findar

Far away the Sun rests The breeze gets loose Moonlight appears Stars sleep in the sky yet I recall old passions If the night were mine I wouldn’t take her the moonlight So on nights of serenade Your gentle face It can shine on Listen my love This song All the flame of my passion Step to the window listen to the song A serenade I whisper to you It is not mine thy look Dark as the night That passes and doesn’t end Before you’ve heard me sing I ask you a sign Drop a bitter tear When our love is over

by azeiTUNA

(To download the mp3 files click on the song titles, working only for a week)

Tags:Portugal