Sunday was the first day of actual talks. The night before,
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ze_dinosaur had arrived and so we hunted for breakfast together. We walked out and found Jesus who was walking towards town. We opted to follow him to the mercado in the town just outside the side gate of the resort.
We walked into the market and down some stairs. There are just little stalls where people were selling hats or CDs or pots or clothes. When we walked a bit further, we found a covered area where sweet-smelling smoke swirled everywhere. We sat down on a bench with a thin counter in front of us and someone came back with menus. I ordered a chorizo quesadilla and a glass of horchata. They were very fresh and very, very tasty.
I went to the Torre Parlimentaria where the welcome speeches were happening. Mexico has been very warm and sunny, which means dehydration and sunburns. The tower is air-conditioned, so this was a very welcome environment.
We sat through a talk where Simon Phipps from Sun announced work he's done with Sun to get more and more software opened. He seems to be very enthusiastic about Free Software, which he mentioned specifically, so I hope he does well with his persuasions within Sun.
I no longer remember what I did after this. I think I might have walked around a bit before having the caterred lunch. I've been eating these sponsored meals for a couple of days and they've been rather substandard. Sure, they're edible and doesn't make anyone sick. But it's insipid, because they're trying to put out European style meals, which the kitchen doesn't know how to do. Since I'm travelling, I'm totally going to eat tasty local food, which I won't be able to get in Canada.
At lunchtime, I bumped into Filipe whom I met at OLS last year. He introduced me to his Brazillian friends and we discovered that Tiego and Tassia who are studying in Montr al. I promised them that we'd get some Debian get-together in early June, before they leave.
It's rather warm right now. The temperature goes about 30 C every day, but the humidity is always close to 30% so it doesn't get very sticky. But it does make such things like ice cream more important. Interestingly enough, lots of American products are for sale in Mexico, but under completely different brand names.
After dinner, we went to the HackLab which is a building set up to encourage people to work with their computers. There are plenty of tables and chairs, with extension cords sprawled everywhere. I sat down for a game of Mao, and then got up several hours later. I wandered outside, where people were hanging out on the veranda, so I sat down on the grass in a circle and chatted with people until the early hours of the morning.
Debconf, you're so bad for my health.
Please, when you see Gunnar, and if it is not too hot, hug him and tell him it is not all that bad. The internet connection is overrated, and we are enjoying in the pool seeing Ganneff taking a swim.
The hacklab closing time is now open. There are some instructions hot to close the place by calling reception and asking them to do it for you. YOU CANNOT LEAVE THE PLACE BEFORE THEY CLOSE! So call, wait, watch, leave, Mao, sleep.
During this year's Debconf I have been quite unproductive taking pictures.
The few I have managed to take are mostly irrelevant and with low to null artistic value (except one or two).
One of the reasons is that I brought my small camera (Canon IxusV2) instead of the 350D to avoid carrying too much wait, but the other might just be the weather.
It is so hot that the minimal amount of exercise will make me sweat, so I tend to move less. I dislike to feel wet, does not matter if it is because of the sweating or because of getting to the swimming pool.
Which reminds me we arrived to the conclusion that naked swimming should be mandatory.
PS: JoeyH: they have a sauna here. After some long discussion the guy at the gym said to Amaya: "Oh'right, you can be naked in sauna if you are alone and you put your swimming suit on if someone comes in." So it is not a REAL sauna ;)
After cutting my hair with Damog's machine, I have come to the realization that I have little hair on the top of my head.
I am officially growing up.
So maybe I should stop telling bad jokes.
Oh, Jesus!
This is a message sent to debconf-announce, pretending to be a small introduction of how you are to behave in MX, to avoid problems interacting with other people.
The hacklab closes at 9:00 during debcamp and at 00:00 during debconf (although it might change now that food is served in the restaurant close to the hacklab). After that the only places that can be occupied are the pool area during the week and the backyard of the hotel buildings, where the backet fields are.
Swimming after 6 is absolutelly forbidden, so dont even try to do it naked (you face being expelled from the whole debconf by the hotel).
This place being a vacacional centre is occupied by families during the weekends (mostly) so we have to interact with non-geeks and non-grownups. Avoiding the just-learnt swear word in Spanish while having lunch has a bonus glass of water for breakfast.
Talking about breakfast... Is not included in the food, so everybody has to find its way out. The same restaurant offers a set of 4 combinations which include juice, cafe, fried mashed beans and a selection of 4 differenf dishes on each (scrambled eggs mexican style; fried tortilla chips with tomato sauce, cream and chicken; ...
The restaurant also permits ordering a la carte things. Please, ask a Spanish speaking person to help you if in trouble.
For the more adventurous, there is a small market outside the Oaxtepec complex where you can have an incredible breakfast with local food and delicacies for some 40/50 pesos (3euro). Keep in mind that they use local ingredients and ways to prepare the food, which includes the use of tap water to wash the dishes, and frying the tortillas and gorditas in the same "plancha" (heated metal plate) where they cook the beef and other animal meat. Avoid getting into arguments about those details with the locals, since it cannot be changed.
After few bad experiences we have been informed by the hotel staff that the toilet paper has to be dispossed in the plastic bins you will find beside the toilet bowls. Otherwise they will get stuck and you dont want 6 people on a room not to have a toilet to use, do you?
It is hot and sunny, so do NOT forget sun protection creams. We have few cases of skin burns.
Finally, remember that waiters expect and live of tips, so dont forget to leave a 10% of the total cost on the table when you leave.
On friday the 5th I started my trip to MX. I am assisting to Debconf 6 from the very first day, so that I can help the local team (at least with translations and such).
I arrived to the airport early, so that I didnt have to suffer last minute stress if I see that the line is way too long and I have too little time to catch the plane.
It all started fine (well, I forgot my keys at home when taking the dog for a walk, but I managed to reach my girlfriend and she came back to open the door for me).
I must be the worst traveler in the world, since I seem to be causing only problems. Or maybe is that I question too many things that are the status quo and seem reasonable for other people.
From the begining. It was check-in time, and the lady ask me about my hand luggage. I mentioned that since my friends were going to be waiting for me at the airport for almost 2 hours, I had prepared all my stuff so that I was not carrying anything dangerous in my two backpacks. Heck, I even left behind the regular tools that I carry with me, including the nail scissors,...
The lady said it was not possible. "Sir, you can only carry 8 kilos of hand luggage". I looked around and saw people with lighter bags, but bulkier than mine. "Sorry, but, what is the reason? My luggage is smaller that the regular luggage, and I just need to get out asap". "Security reasons, sir". "Could you describe those reasons?". "... ... (surprise face) Security, sir. I would like to travel with my 20 kilos os luggage with me, sir". Yeah, sure. I am happy about that. I dont recall going away for such an extended period with such an small amount of things.
When did all this madness start?
Well, she did not manage to give me any reason why I could not take my things with me, but she got her sweet revenge. She put me on the back of the plane, with a guy who had at least 50k more on than I, although we both paid the same price for the ticket. I wonder where the security reasons are then, for those 50k...
(Mental note: add to the travel checklist not to EVER forget deodorant and to take a shower before leaving home. Two showers. I had enough torture with the guy beside me...)
The nice part of the flight was that for the first time i traveled on a Jet. Boy, is nice.
Landed in Germany. The plane went to park on the backyard of the airport. We had a long 10min trip back to the terminal.
The check-in for the plane to MX was a full hour set in advance, so that the HUGE amount of people that fits on one of those 747 had the time to show (for the 10th time) the passport. But looking aroung one wonders again where those security reasons not to let me carry my 8 kilos of luggage are: people around me had bought nearly their year salary on duty free stuff that wights more than 15k.
Oh, boy, now I am confused. Is it so that someone has decided to add a rule in the name of security at some point after 11/9 and they forgot why? What difference does it make to get the luggage with 8 kilos from outside the terminal than from inside?
As a side note, one can see that mexicans still keep much of the Spanish attitude. The speaker goes on, a man speaks in German and explains that people with children will board before anyone else. Nobody has understood anything, but they are already piling before the boarding gate. Once the man speaks in English, only the ones who dont understand English still await impatientily at the gate, mostly disturbing the check-in procedure for the flight, which will probably be delayed because of that.
The second part of the trip was a bit more relaxed... I will skip the story about the looks-like-it-is-not-her-day flight attendant who could not understand a shit, and will only mention that when she served me a light coke and I handed her the empty can for dispossal, she gave me another full can with a face of "take-this-and-shut-up,dont-you-see-i-am-not-having-a-good-day?".
I did not know Mexico was in the south hemisphere. At least that was the reason given for the satellite-linked internet only working the first three hours, although we were flying through Greenland, Canada, USA and Mexico's gulf for the 12h of flight, and Mexico IS on the (using the lonstanding critizised convention of not putting the map upside-down and say that is the right possition) north side.
After landing it was a bit of rush, until I had to wait for my luggage, which of course came after waiting for almost 40min (Revenge of the Check-in Lady, take three... hi, if you read me). The people who create those inmigration forms MUST have short names. They have a big horizontal box with small vertical lines on the boxes to put your data trying to force you to put every character of your name in one small designated area. So there you go: "J E S U S _ D A N I E L _ C L I M E" That's right. Not even my first surname fits. Forget the second. This are the times that a friend of mine comes to mind: Enrique Garcia-Villarubia Gomez-Limon (Hi, if you read me).
After all this I went out to find Amaya and h01ger waiting for me. We met Ganneff, Stockholm, Sam and Jeroen, and Damog, along with Agi, were coming right after picking up the van.
We put Ganneff and Stockholm on a taxi and sent them to Oaxtepec, and left the airport for some dinner.
Mexico is BIG, BIG, BIG. After driving for more than half an hour we got to a bridge from where you could see the city lights. And still, they were covering the horizon. HUGE. That realization is something I have not digested yet. Some local beers and tacos made the end of the night and we headed to Hector's place, where we were going to spend the night.
From a not so negative point of view, the whole experience has been positive, and enlightening, to say it mildly. The food is mostly spicy. It could burn hell. Amaya is trying to get use to it by eating an insane amount of hot stuff but I refuse to do so.
For the scared (hi, helix) I have not managed to get anything from the tap water. So nobody is dead, yet, although rumor has it that some are in comas.
The net is here, although the roundtrip values are not very exciting.
Mao has visited already the place, and said it is here to stay.
Summary for the ones to come: this is HOT. I mean, really HOT. Forget your long jeans and bring shorts, even if you dont like to show your legs, sun screen cream, t-shirts, deodorant, swimming suit, and keep a bottle of water all the time with you.
Food is served at a more sensible time than in Finland: 02:00h and 20:00h.
See you in MX.
Jesus Climent asks for a "
client/server solution for my bookmarks", which I read as "
del.icio.us clone". As the comment feature is not available on his blog, I answer with another blog post.
I know of the following Free Software del.icio.us clones:
- Scuttle (PHP, GPL)
- Rubric (Perl, Artistic license + GPL)
- Insipid (Perl, GPL)
I haven't tested recent versions of any of those, but I'll give scuttle another try soon, as I have wanted my own local del.icio.us for quite a while...
Dear lazyweb.
I want a client/server solution for my bookmarks. I want a way to use the same ones from any web browser (even if I need to install plugins in all of them) that every time I save a bookmark, it stores it on a server, and every time I start the browser (or make a special request via keyboard combination) it refreshes the bookmark list.
XBEL and delicious might be a solution but I need to keep some bookmarks internal at work, so no public service can be used.
A small client/server solution (with or without network capabilities, but of course with authentication and encryption if it can work over the net) would be perfect.
Thanks.
As read in
http://www.todosafavordelcanon.es/insuficiencia.html (Spanish only), one of the Spanish groups that "defend the artists and their rights", Asociaci n de Compositores y Autores de M sica (ACAM, translated as "Music Composers and Authors Ass.") claims that ADSL lines and hard disc drives should pay the "private copy" levy imposed in Spain, because "[they] are sold for and thanks to the music".
Now, WHAT THE FSCK are all those Debian packages doing in my hard disc drives? And who put them there?
Can anyone stop the
madness? Or am I the only one who feels sourrounded by stupid business practices?
Please, if anyone recalls or can find a more globally orchestered manouver to protect a business model as it is happening with the recording industry (with laws being introduced in as many countries as it is being done), ping me.
