Upgrade

Today my keyboard at work has been upgraded!

Actually it was upgraded last week with a similar to this one, but whose keys weren't working properly. But now I got a new one and it works!

So I thought this was worth posting, specially because I haven't wrote anything in a while. And I do have things to write about, but I've been lazy!

Maybe I'll write about those things, maybe not!

But I can share that today I'm going to a musical in London. This will be my second musical in London, and my third in the last three weeks! Today I'm gonna watch "We Will Rock You", about the band Queen (I guess:p)

Gotta go now!

The end of probation

Last week I finished my three months of probation at UNEP -WCMC, I'm happy to announce that I've passed my probation and that now I have a permanent contract with them! =) \o/ (me enjoying the moment!)

This means that I didn't do too bad there at my job and that they are willing to bare with me for a while. And it also means that I'll be staying in Cambridge for that while, so buy your tickets and come and visit me! =)

Today Carlos, a friend of mine, told me that he and his girlfriend will be coming here on the end of the month! It is an awesome feeling to know that! =) And I'm even starting to know the city better now! =P

It's all so white...

Even though this is not the first time it snow this heavily since I'm in Cambridge, it is much faster and easier to post pictures from my mobile phone.

And so I felt like sharing a bit of snow with you! :)

Pictures from my bedroom window, view to my backyard, my work and my workplace window!

It is a shame that in loco the scenario is not as pleasant as it might look in the pictures. In fact it makes it a bit of a pain to walk.. And it will be worst when the snow is replaced by ice. But oh well it is better to enjoy it while it is white and looks fluffy. :p

Sunday Muddy Sunday

Having plenty of parks where one can play football is one of the great things that Cambridge has to offer. This is also something that I saw in Denmark and The Netherlands and that, sadly, is missing in Portugal.

Another nice thing is to see people playing all sort of sports, like lacrosse, frisbee and even cricket. And this is Cambridge that I'm talking about, not a big city of England.

Sunny days

Sunny day in Cambridge is still a cold day, as one can see by the people in the punts wearing coats and chequered throws.

I am still waiting for warmer days to go punting. Nevertheless it is still a wonderful day!

Walking home

Note to self: don't go shopping after the gymn and before dinner.

Second note to self: keep writing and the resist the urge to stuff your face with chocolates and cookies.

Walking Home

When Bentleys and Jaguars pass by, I think and hope that their owners have started as Web Developers.

Visits

One of the best things about being abroad is to have the opportunity to have visits.

If I was in Portugal I would be with my family and friends more often, and I could even have some people that did not live in Porto to pop in and say hello. But I would hardly have people coming just solely to meet me (and Mariana, and London, and Cambridge, and England, and everything else.. But this is my post, so let's pretend that it is solely to meet me). And having visitors is really awesome!

I've already had two visits in Cambridge, since I've moved here.

The first was João a friend from my Faculty in Porto who is doing is internship in Coventry. And the second was Miguel, also a friend from my Faculty, who lives in Porto, or maybe in Lisbon he was not sure yet.

It was really cool to show them around the city and show them where I live. I can imagine that since they were here they know as much about Cambridge as they did before they came. But the truth is that I haven't had the chance to get to know everything or memorise much. But I tried to make their stay pleasant. And this way they have still much to see here, and a purpose to come back here.

Nevertheless it was a real pleasure to have them here! :) I hope they also enjoyed their stay!

PS: this post is also a call for new guinea pigs, I mean visitors, to come to Cambridge. I need to perfect my tourist guide skills! And I'd love to have you test them!

A new way

In an effort to make more posts I am now using a feature from blogspot that allows me to easily make posts from my mobile phone.

Probably not big posts, but it some activity is better than no activity. :)

Até à Próxima | See you next time!

Estou agora a fazer a mala para voltar para Cambridge. É sempre bom vir a Portugal. =) Mas fico sempre com aquele "sentimento de Domingo". Sentimento que me faz voltar aos tempos de infância, quando ia passar o fim-de-semana a casa dos meus primos e depois regressava a casa para me preparar para mais um dia de aulas. Num e noutro caso não me assusta nem me desgosta o que vem a seguir, apenas pontapeia dentro de mim a saudade do que passou. Aliviada pela certeza da futura repetição. =)

Obrigado a todos por estes dias! Um até breve! :)


############

I am now packing to go back to Cambridge. It is always great to come to Portugal. =) But I always get this "Sunday like feeling". A feeling that makes me go back in time to my childhood. When I used to go to my cousin's house for the weekend and then I'd return home to prepare for one more day of school. Now, as in the past, I'm not scared nor sadden for what is coming ahead. It's only that the "saudade" (a strong word for "missing" something or someone, in Portuguese) kicks inside of me. But softened by the assurance that there will be a next time. =)

Thank you all for these days. See you soon! :)

I had a gun in my pocket...

This time my New Year's Eve was a thematic one. The theme of it was "The 50's" (even though it could be extended to the 60th's and the 70th's... And so I decided to dress up in such a way that I could resemble some kind of mobster (or some kind of lunatic). To complete my disguise I took a plastic pistol that I have bought some years ago for some Carnival party. I must admit that the disguise was not perfect, but I think it its job.

And then the "funniest" thing happened on the next day. I had my flight at 9.50h and I took the jacket that I had taken in the previous night to the party... and yes, I forgot to leave the plastic pistol at home...

Strangely (and luckily I guess) enough I only realised this after I passed the security zone. I was already in the duty free shops' area having my breakfast when I remembered that I had the pistol with me! I almost panicked, but then thought that I better not take the pistol with me to London. I thought that if they somehow found that I had a pistol (even if a plastic one) in my pocket they would fire first and ask questions later.

So I went to the security staff and quietly explained that I had a party on the previous day, that I took a plastic pistol with me, and that the pistol was in my pocket... Fortunately they didn't make a fuss of it and just asked me if I had someone with me in the airport. My mother was still there, so I called her and the security guy went to give it to her.

I know that it ended up not being a dangerous at all. But I can only imagine what would happen to me if I was in the US. If I was there I would probably just ditch the pistol in some trash bin or in the toilet, before I got into troubles!

I also don't know how did the pistol passed on the security screening, but maybe it did because it was purely plastic. I hope that it was that. Because the shape was of a real pistol...

PS: When I found out that I had the pistol in my pocket I thought... .oO(what if I just take it out and go into a security guy yelling "I have a plastic pistol, where can I put my plastic PISTOL!!"....)... But I thought I shouldn't be so stupid in the first day of the year.

2009 -> 2010

2009 is over and it is quite strange how hard it is for me to classify it.

Even though it was a year with some deep downs it also had good ups, which, I believe, ended up overcoming the downs.

At this moment I feel that I am a happy person. I have a good job, great family and friends, an awesome girlfriend, and I feel OK. =)

So I think it would be wrong to classify 2009 as a bad year, if I did that I would be looking at it from the negative side, overlooking the positive things it gave me. So I think that it was an even year with a shade of positivism, because in the end it presented me with the tools that I need to build my life and future.

For sure it was a year that changed me, but I hope it changed me into a better person, a stronger person.

Regarding 2010 I don't ask for many ups, I just would love not to have any more downs! And if they end up showing their faces, I hope to have the strength to face them! =)

So I want to wish a Happy New Year to all of you that read me! And I would also like to thank my girlfriend and all my family and friends for their help and support during the downs of 2009. Seriously thank you very very much! =) <3

I would like to say "see you in 2011", but the truth is that I hope to see you sooner than that! =)

In my Home (Bedroom) at last!!

Just wanted to share, before going to sleep, that I've finally moved to my bedroom! =) I have been staying in the place of a cousin of a friend of mine and his room mate. So before anything else I would like to thank João Afonso and Dago Galan for being so nice and giving me a shelter for the last two weeks! =)

My new bedroom is in a shared house. I will be living for (at least) the next six months with two girls and one boy. Actually the boy will move out in the end of December, but he will be replaced by a friend of him. Nevertheless it will still be two girls and a boy.

I've only met two of them, but they seem really nice.

The house is also really cool! It has a big garden in the back, which will look even cooler in the Spring/Summer. It has a big kitchen and a cosy living room. My bedroom is large enough and has a small office attached to it, which is great to host any visitors that might come to Cambridge! =)

I think I will enjoy living here! =) Hope you find the time to visit me!

PS: I almost forgot to mention that from my house to my work is a 12 minutes walk! Which means... more time to sleep! =D And that is a really nice feature!=)

PPS: I also forgot to mention how good it is to move to the place where I will live. Where I will build my space. I came to The UK on the 11th or 13th of October and since then I have basically camped in different places. In my friends Manel's (and his really nice house mates) house, in a small hotel in London, and then in João and Dago's place. I also spent some nights in a B&B in London and some other nights in my girlfriend's college in Cambridge. I must thank very much to everyone that helped me. If you need a place to stay, now I have one to give! =)

One week has passed! =)

After one week working at UNEP-WCMC I must say that I'm really enjoying it! =) I spent the first week doing some tutorials and watching screencasts to get to know better the framework with which I will be working, which is ASP .NET MVC 2.

The people there are very friendly and the overall environment is great! =) They even have a team that plays football every Wednesday at lunch time which I will be sure to join ASAP! =)

But it won't be this week, because from Monday to Wednesday I will be in London to attend to some training in ASP .NET! =) Which I think it will be really cool! =)

I must add that I'm really enjoying Cambridge and that I found the city to be really nice. The weather is not as bad as I thought that it would be, it doesn't rain TOOOO much, but it is quite cold... But the thing that bothers me the most is the sunset time, at 16h the sun is almost gone! But could be worst. =)

I'll try to write some more stuff later! =)

The dawn of a new phase

In around 9 hours and forty minutes a new phase of my life is going to start. I will give the first step in what I hope to be a long (but not over 45years long=P) and prosperous journey. I will give my best to be so!

Yes I'm talking of my first day of work at the United Nations Environment Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) as a Web Applications Developer. I'm quite excited about it!! =)

I found it!

I can now say that I found a job! =) More details after signing the contract... I hope nothing goes wrong =P =).

Applications Forms!

I just want to say that I am a bit tired of filling application forms. Why the hell every single company has their unique application form?! I spent already enough time doing my CV, why do I have to fill everything up again! ... this is so boring :s

But I'll keep on with it. =P

Still in London

Everything is going well here in London. I'm enjoying myself a lot and it has been a great experience so far. I haven't found a permanent job yet, but I'm doing a project as a freelancer. This project allows me to develop my skills and gives me some money to stay around searching for a permanent job. =)

Summing up I think that I can say that at the moment I have at least three jobs... 1- searching for a job, 2- searching for a place to stay, 3- and my freelancer job. So I'm quite busy, which is very good.

I'm so busy that I haven't had the chance to visit London properly. I think I've visited Cambridge more than London, which is not bad, because Cambridge is a very nice city! =) And I know that I'll have the chance to visit London, bit by bit. =) But I think that first I'll need to settle down.

PS: One thing that has surprised me here in London is the weather. I was expecting more rainy days than I got... so I can't even complain about the weather. =) I've even add the chance of seeing the sun a couple of times. Can you imagine that? =P

PPS: I must also share with all of you the joy that I feel about Benfica's latest matches. I hope they can keep up with this great games! =)

Geekness Alert

Context: Java Conference in Krakow.




Note for non developers or geek visitors: Java is a programming language and Ruby is another programming language... =) I hope this makes it clear.

PS: billboard made by: coderack.org

Change

Hi everyone. =)

First of all I want to thank all the readers of the blog who have replied to my last post. Most of you said that there was no real point in creating a new blog, and I agree. Regarding the language I decided to switch to English, as you might have noticed. I think that most of my readers understand English and I know that some potential readers won't follow this because they lack the knowledge of Portuguese. So I decided to make this change.

As someone said in the commentary box I am too lazy to both in Portuguese and in English, but if you think that I should do that, please let me know. And I will think about it.

Someone also said that I would need to change some other things around the blog, but I am feeling a bit too lazy. Nevertheless I will try to do that soon or later. =)

And so this is the post of change. From Portuguese to English and, hopefully, from lack of writing to plenty of writing. But I make no promises, sorry!=) So if you grow tired of coming here every week to look for new posts, just start using some Feed Reader (like google.com/reader, or some other)! =) That way you won't need to come here, the news will meet you there! If you have questions on Feed readers, or on feeds alone, please just ask and I'll try to explain what are they! =)

Before finishing this post I would like to make a small disclaimer:

Ladies and Gentlemen this is a personal blog from a Portuguese dude who thinks he knows how to write in English. He knows that his English could be worse, but it surely could be better. So he would like to ask you to bare in mind that he is not native speaker (or writer for that matter) of English, but he will try to do his best. But please try to understand if you find huge mistypes and strange phrases and statements... sorry! =) If you want to correct my English, feel free, I will thank you!=)

And that's all for now Folks!=)