new apartment!

Will sign the contract tomorrow and receive the keys so I'll move in by tomorrow night! :-)
The ocean view from my balcony will make some folks jealous hehe.
Slowly things are moving along in terms of getting settled in here. Still plenty to do. Gotta check what stuff I need to buy for the apartment and what stuff that's already in it I won't be needing.
It's quite nice that it's already furnished and has all kinds of things like pans, cutlery, towels, bed sheets etc. This helps keeping spending costs low for the first few months.

I'm working on getting TV and internet at my new home address but apparently I couldn't choose the 100 mbps option since there's no fiber available at my address. So it will be 20 mbps ADSL. Oh well. Internet speed at work is fast so if I need to download anything I can do that at work and install at home.

Been trying to follow/watch the Steelers games but it's a challenge since the internet connection in my room in this students' residence is total crap. Won't have internet at home for the upcoming Halloween game against the Saints. That sucks but the game's also at 1:30am so I guess at least I won't be sleep deprived at work...

I know I should take some more pics, will see what I can do with my webcam. That option is easier/cheaper than using my cellphone and sending cellphone pics to my email address etc.

The weather is still unbelievable. Around 25 Celsius (80 Fahrenheit), sunny and pretty hot. In late October. Just crazy haha.
Hope all the Dutchies and yinzers are keeping warm :-P :-P

Funchal - Madeira

I finally obtained a new position a few weeks ago as a research scientist at the university of Madeira. I flew to Funchal last Thursday (Oct 14) and was picked up by a Dutch colleague :-)

I checked into the students' residence from which it's a 10 minute walk to the main bus hub where I can catch a bus to the university. It's only a 15 minute bus ride but there are many hills here and the roads are anything but straight. Quite a change from the straight roads in Pittsburgh! With the obvious exception of Beechwood Blvd ha.

So far I've gotten an office and they've already added name tags outside the door so no more running into cleaning ladies who are surprised to see a new guy in a nameless office lol.
Also got a fiscal number, the equivalent of a SSN in the US and opened a bank account. My bank card is a temporary one which will get replaced soon. There's no money on the Portugese account yet so it's all good. I bought a new cell phone on Saturday, a Nokia 5230 with lots of cool features that I'm currently not using haha. Right now just calling and texting is fine but I might want to update to use some of those cool features in the future.

The main agenda point right now is finding an apartment. Quite a challenge since the language barrier is a serious issue. One real estate agent thought I was American because of my accent :-)
But no worries, I have this student residence room booked until Nov 1 so I've got some time to find a nice place to live.

Not much work yet since I'm busy getting settled in but I've met several colleagues and it seems the Madeira Information Technologies Institute (www.m-iti.org) is a pretty international place with people from 28 different countries.

I'm scheduled to give an introduction talk on Friday. Should be interesting to see how people will respond to my American ways of presenting and the content of the talk. I've pretty much finished the slides but I might make some changes depending on if I get a better sense of what will appeal to people here. I should meet some more colleagues this week since several were at a meeting on the Portugese mainland last week.

I'll definitely have to take a Portugese language course (or two!) to really fit in here. It's kinda funny when you're so used to being able to converse in English pretty much everywhere I've been.

Oh, here's a pic of the view from the rooftop on the floor where my room is. Not bad eh? ;-)
 

Revival of blog :)

The long winter of hibernation has finally come to an end! :D
I'll be moving to Madeira soon so there will be many more updates to this blog.
Not that I'm expecting anyone to still be reading it haha.

I pull off the road
East of Baldock and Ashford
Feeling for my cell
In the light from the dashboard

Hissing from the road
The smell of rain in the air con
Maybe check the news
Or just put a tape on

Lighting up a smoke
I've got this feeling inside me
Don't feel too good

If I close my eyes
And fell asleep in this layby
Would it all subside
The fever pushing the day by

Motor window wind
I could do with some fresh air
Can't breathe too well

(She waits for me. Home waits for me.)

I guess I should go now
She's waiting to make up
To tell me she's sorry
And how much she missed me
I guess I'm just burnt out
I really should slow down
I'm perfectly fine but
I just need to lie down

We'll grow old together
We'll grow old together
We'll grow old together....

My girlfriend says
That I need help
My boyfriend says
I'd be better off dead

I'm gonna get drunk
Come round and fuck you up
I'm gonna get drunk
Come round and fuck you up
And you can't help my life
But you can hide... the knives

My girlfriend says
That I'm confused
My boyfriend says
That I'm bad news

All people are shit
Bad trip tattoed on my brain
All people are shit
Bad trip tattoed on my brain
And you can't help my life
But you can hide...

I wanna crawl up inside you and die
I wanna crawl up inside you and die
I wanna crawl up inside you and die
I wanna crawl up inside you and die

And you can't help my life
But you can hide the knives
And you can't help my life
But you can hide... the knives

You must feel frustration
'Cause you mind feels such temptation
And your ways appear a total lack of faith

You may feel elation
At your body's re-creation
And that joy you need, restricted by one thought

Are you forever - loss of purpose in a passive life
Are you forever - pale, regarded as a waste of time

High times are courageous
But in truth they suit no purpose
Induced, reduced, unable and afraid...

Can you feel rejection
And a lack of motivation
And the joy you need restricted and delayed

Are you forever - loss of purpose in a passive life
Are you forever - pale, regarded as a waste of time

oasis

I've long debated posting on this blog about Randy Pausch, a former CMU colleague who passed away due to pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008. While Randy was in the same department (HCII) as I was the past 4 years we never met. When the news about his cancer came out he sent out frequent email updates which always ran shivers down my spine.

I also vividly remember the day when the sad news arrived in my mailbox that after a 2 year battle Randy had finally passed away. I was at the CogSci conference 2008 where I had just received a best paper award and the next morning opened my inbox and read the sad email. But there was also an email from my colleague Ryan Baker who had just become first time father of a beautiful daughter.
The circle of life cliche and song rang in my head and I know Randy was a big fan of cliches as well as of "The lion king"! :-)

I would have gone to see his last lecture but at that time I was in the Netherlands to renew my US visa. It wasn't until recently when I finally watched his last lecture on youtube. You know how it goes, always an excuse of being too busy to just sit down and watch it. And I'm really glad I did because his moving and inspirational talk gave me some more perspective on my current jobless situation.

People often ask me how I feel about being back with my parents. I always half-jokingly reply that it feels like being in the twilight zone. Honestly though, I'm pretty relaxed about it and all of us are trying to make the best out of it without getting on each other's nerves too much.
Furthermore, the current situation gives me the chance to self-reflect and re-evaluate things which can't be bad.

I'm at 18 solid applications and have gotten 9 rejections so far. As Randy said the brick walls are there to show us how badly we really want something. Right now I still happily bang my head against the brick wall in hope that at some point it will crumble. Or indeed, until someone comes along to throw me over.

Here's to Randy Pausch and the wonderful life lessons he gave us!