Thoughts of today

For my friend

2010-01-18T14:50:00.002-06:00

Friends are like poems

Waiting to be read

They have beautiful rhythms

and a message within

If you read like a theorem

you'll be superficial and thin

But if you look through a prism

You'll see amazing things

Flowers, rainbows, and esteem

All their hopes and dreams

And you're forever charmed-in

Mini city

2008-02-14T04:25:00.000-06:00

http://elisbeth.myminicity.com/

Not black and white

2008-01-03T02:23:00.000-06:00

Music continues to be one of people's favorite forms of entertainment. We listen to it on the radio, computer, MP3 players; go to concerts and so on. With the advent of broadband or fast Internet, file sharing softwares grew in popularity everywhere. In spite of their several legal uses, users started sharing copyrighted material, and that was how Napster, Grokster, StreamCast's Morpheus, Limewire and many other peer-to-peer (P2P) software companies became the target of numerous lawsuits from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Are these companies to blame for users copyright infringements? They don't think so, often citing the Betamax case. Napster and Grokster, however, along with other companies, no longer exist. Napster has become an eMusic Store, selling digital music; and Grokster web-site has become an anti-P2P technology campaign holder, shamelessly threatening whoever goes to the website with the message: "The United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that using this service to trade copyrighted material is illegal. Copying copyrighted motion picture and music files using unauthorized peer-to-peer services is illegal and is prosecuted by copyright owners. There are legal services for downloading music and movies. This service is not one of them. YOUR IP ADDRESS IS XX.XX.XX.XX AND HAS BEEN LOGGED. Don't think you can't get caught. You are not anonymous."

This strategy, known as Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) is aimed to prevent users from downloading illegal material. But don't worry, you are still anonymous. Website owners can utilize a simple computer command to discover the IP address of anyone accessing it. However, only a subpoenaing of your ISP provider can find out who owns that IP address.

I do not have an opinion on whether these companies are guilty of helping copyright infringement. On the one hand it is easy for the user to do it using their software; on the other hand, it is also a legal business model. I guess it depends on the original intentions of the owners, but who is to know?

My problem with RIAA, MPAA, and record labels is that, now that their business model is being threatened by another kind of model-the (legal) online music stores-they try to apply their FUD tactics so that consumers keep giving them money. They spent millions of dollars trying to implement Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology onto their CDs and DVDs, increasing the price of their products, just to realize that computer savvy people, encouraged by the raise in prices, still found a way to bypass the technology. Also, what is the cost of a digital music file? Close to zero, since it can easily be copied.

Then I ask, why does each song have to be so expensive? (Yes, I consider $1 per song expensive. I currently have a list of more than 300 songs that I heard on the radio (and also Internet radio) that I would like to download. I am definitely not paying $300 for those. I would not mind though, paying $10 or even $20 for a bundle of 50 songs). In addition, why invest so much in DRM technology? If I am paying for my music, that means that I chose not to download illegally and most probably I am not going to share it illegally.

If you think that when downloading cheap music from the internet is hurting the artist, you are misinformed. An article from Rolling Stone demonstrates how the artist gets only $1.60 for a $15.99 CD. If you want to support your band, buy a ticket to their show!

Although I know that buying a CD from my favorite band doesn't necessarily mean that I'm helping the band, I still enjoy buying CDs from these bands over downloading them. Why, people ask me, don't I download their songs (as in, get it from free on the web)? To put simply: It's a different medium! I get a cover art, I get lyrics, I get something to hold to when listening to their songs, and something to bring to their concerts to try and get their autographs! :) Also I found out that I get more into the band if I actually have their CD rather than having all the album songs downloaded. But again, I'm not gonna buy the CDs of all 100 (random number) bands I enjoy, cause then I'd have to sell my car.

Luckily, nowadays there are many options: Internet radio, Youtube, and many song services popping up all over the web (although I'm not sure of the legality of many of them). My favorite internet radio these days is Pandora.com, where you can seed it with a song or artist you like, and it will not only play songs from that artist, but also from other artists whose sound is similar to your original seeded artist or song. I already discovered many other artists I like because of it. On the flip side, Pandora is only available in the US. Once in a while, though, I wanna listen to a particular song (something you can't do in Pandora), then I resource to one of those places that I’m not sure of the legality to listen to it a couple of times.

Some other times, I wanna burn a CD with some of these songs that I like best, to listen to it on a trip, for example. Then again, I resource to some other means of getting MP3s, that RIAA wouldn't be happy about. But, don't worry RIAA, you can't add these 20 bucks to your calculations of how many dollars you are using, cause even if I couldn't find them for free (or with friends) I wouldn't buy them (and once in a while, I'll buy the CD one of these bands whose songs I downloaded, for the reasons I explained above. After listening to it for several times and enjoying it, I wanna get more stuff from them).

Some e-music stores are now starting to sell DRM free mp3s, which is a step towards the right direction, in my opinion, such as Amazon, emusic.com, and iTunes. Start offering songs for 10 to 50 cents in a clean MP3 format and I'll start paying for my downloaded songs. Maybe when I get a real job, I'll be able to afford the 1 dollar a song...

So yeah, this is not a black and white world.

Andre

Ps: By the way, last year, one of my favorite bands came to town. I bought their latest CD, took the CD cover to the show, and had it autographed by all band members. Now that is an investment!

Pps: Just to be clear: downloading copyrighted material is illegal, whether you get caught or not.

More on crazy weather

2007-12-17T20:38:00.000-06:00

That's me, by the way

Winter is coming

2007-12-01T09:20:00.000-06:00

Just this was interesting to post. We're having rain, ice, and snow at the same time. Fun times.

Check out the red banner in the middle of the picture. Here in the US they have a system for weather conditions and what threats they bring. Different levels mean how likely to happen or dangerous a weather event is. When one of these events is a threat (Tornadoes, Thunderstorms, floods, etc) the meteorology center issues the alert and it is broadcast on TV, radio stations, etc. Check below what 'warning' from the red banner, means:

Winter storm watch -- A significant winter weather (i.e., heavy snow, heavy sleet, significant freezing rain, or a combination of events) is expected, but not imminent, for the watch area; provides 12 to 36 hours notice of the possibility of severe winter weather.

Winter weather advisory -- When a significant winter storm or hazardous winter weather is occurring, imminent, and is an inconvenience.

Winter storm warning -- A significant winter storm or hazardous winter weather is occurring, imminent, or likely, and is a threat to life and property.

[from weather.com]

Back in NE

2007-09-20T09:20:00.000-05:00

FYI

August 29th I arrived back to Nebraska! I had a great time at Google! Such a great company, in spite what you might have heard! I was amazed with the company culture and environment they provide. They go the extra mile to do no evil!

Back in my masters, only taking 1 class, and research starting slow but accelerating steadily! Semantic Web! Cool stuff!

Stay tunned (or not, since I rarely post)!

Yours Truly

Programmer's Day

2007-09-13T11:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Programmer's Day to my fellow programmer friends.

http://www.teachersparadise.com/ency/en/wikipedia/p/pr/programmer_s_day.html
http://knightknetwork.com/2007/09/12/programmerdayinfo-launched/

Andre

Videos

2007-06-06T23:17:00.000-05:00

Blizzard while driving in Colorado.

This was three weeks after I started practicing fencing.
No technique, but great instincts.

Snowboarding and trying to jump. It's harder than it looks! :(

Practicing my ice skating backward strokes!

Short stories

2007-06-06T08:01:00.000-05:00

I've just created a new blog to post my short stories. I've been wanting to do this forever now, but never found the time, or the patience. I posted two stories I wrote a while ago, one in English and one in Portuguese, and I have three more on the oven. I haven't written anything for some time, but I think this Summer I'll be able to finish those.

Feel free to comment, criticize, praise, etc. I won't mind any of those.

---------------------------------------------------

Finalmente eu criei um blog pra colocar meus contos. Eu tava querendo fazer isso faz tempo, mas nunca tinha tempo ou paciencia. Coloquei dois contos lah, um em ingles e outro em portugues, e eu estou escrevendo mais tres historias. Eu nao trabalho nelas faz tempo, mas quem sabe nesse verao eu terei tempo de terminar uma ou duas.

Comentarios, criticas, cumprimentos sao bem vindos.

Andre

http://spaceandmindstories.blogspot.com/

How to get ready for a Summer Internship in four days

2007-06-02T20:59:00.000-05:00

This text is a week old:

Life just doesn’t stop! Right now, I’m in Sunnyvale, California, for my summer internship at Google (at Mountain View) and I’m staying here until end of August. I’ve been here for a week already and I’m loving this place. This place: California, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Google, you name it.

Some interesting first few days. First of all, when I arrived, Friday, May 18^th, I didn’t have a place to stay yet, so I rented a car at the airport and made sure I got one of those GPS systems (great help, highly recommended when you’re not familiar with your surroundings). My target? A furnished one-bedroom apartment. I had a few addresses I found online, which I inputted in the GPS system and off I went. Friday, however, wasn’t my day, since I only found overpriced and places that didn’t have vacancies–if I found the place at all, or the manager!

When business hours were over, I found myself my secondary target: an inn to spend the night. Evaluating my progress that night I realized that all I had was an appointment to check out an apartment on a nearby town, because the rude manager was sooo busy with some paperwork and oblivious to my presence there that all she could say was: “I only show apartments by appointment.” So there I was holding her card, which I promptly ripped in thousand pieces. It was overpriced anyway. What an unproductive Friday, and I’m not even considering the fact that the inn that I was staying, which was said to have wireless Internet available in all rooms, in fact didn’t. When I talked to the manager, he told me that the wireless thingy was supposed to be working in every room. After a couple of frustrated trials, I ended up with my laptop hooked up in the pool area, with a huge extension cord that was plugged in where the sprinkler system was before, because my laptop battery only last 15 minutes, tops. I made sure I found several more addresses online to look for the following day, so I didn’t have to worry about Internet again.

Oh yeah, let me tell you about my cell phone! Before coming here, I decided to buy a real cell phone so I could talk to people even when I was not home. I shopped around and found that Cricket had the best deal: 55 bucks per month and you have unlimited minutes on several different cities around the US (these cities were marked by a dark green spot on their coverage map) and the map clearly indicated that Lincoln, Nebraska, and San Francisco, CA (and San Jose) areas were covered by several dark green spots. If you were on transit, you could still use 100 minutes (200 minutes for a mere 5 extra bucks per month) for roaming service, on the wide area in light green (almost all the

is covered in this light green area, in their coverage map). This plan sounded perfect for me… too perfect to be true. Throughout the time I was driving around San Jose-San Francisco areas, whenever I used my phone I got a message saying that I was roaming. It turns out, that the dark green spots in California were for cities about one hour and a half from the San Jose-San Francisco areas, such as Modesto and Fresno ( I know cause I dug up the info on their web page). False Advertisement red flags were going up like crazy in my head. I emailed them my resentment, protesting my consumer rights to no avail, not even a reply back telling me how stupid I was. No worries, they’ll be hearing from my attorney soon enough.

Saturday was a lot better, not perfect, but better. What I had to do, however, was to drop the furnished requirement, since I wasn’t being lucky there. The only furnished apartments I had found were from Corporate Housing business, which meant they were incredibly, ridiculously expensive. With this new mind frame, I actually was able to find some (unfurnished) apartments to go into. I found out that the best places were found while going from one address to the other and just stopping by and checking them out, which was exactly how I found this one that I really liked. The manager told me that she could hold it for a couple of day, if I paid the application fee and the deposit. I wanted to keep looking, because it was still a little expensive for an empty apartment. After checking out a couple more addresses, I started getting tired of this whole thing, and instead of spending two more days (my internship would start on Tuesday) looking for the perfect apartment, I could save the money on gas and inns and spend it on furniture. I called, then, the manager and told her I was moving in that same day. After a quick stop at Wal-Mart to get the basics (such as an inflatable bed) I was in my new apartment.

Sunday and Monday were days for me to find stuff: a real bed, a desk, a table, a sofa, a TV stand, and a TV, and so on. I drove for two days, looking for garage sales, yard sales, and furniture people would advertise on a weekly ad magazine. I found all the things above, except the sofa and the TV things. I did find however, one of those extendable, reclining chairs that goes by the sofa. In place of the sofa, two body pillows can be found trying to look like something that people can lie down, but failing miserably. I think I need some more pillows if I’m not getting a sofa. It’s funny, because if you sit on the chair or lie on the pillows, you stare at nothing but an empty wall. I did actually stop by at Best Buy to buy a TV+DVD set, but I’m not paying 200 bucks for one. I’m gonna wait till I find something interesting on craigslist or something like that.

Thus I started my internship, bags still unpacked, computer desk and dining table disassembled, and the only things put away from the supermarket were those that are now in the fridge. Some busy first four days. Oh, did I mention that I had a nice tan on my left arm?

Andre

Lucas!

2007-06-02T20:17:00.000-05:00

My favorite nephew was born on May 15, 2007, with curious eyes and a coolness that will rock this world (I can tell ‘cause I’ve seen the pictures!). Colorado (not a reference to the state, but to the soccer team) since day one, he’s known to enjoy the best life can offer, the best as he can, sleeping and eating all day long. :)

Lucas, I’m dying to meet you!

Your drooling uncle.

Andre

Trip to Utah

2007-05-12T15:07:00.000-05:00

On the first day after my classes were over, we were on the road to Salt Lake City, Utah, to spend a couple of weeks with our friends Carlos and Adriana. Plans? Snowboard, snowboarding, snowboarding. Getting there was quite an adventure already, though. It all started, early morning on Dec 17, 2006. Very early morning. 4. a.m., local time. Internacional played the FIFA club World Cup Final against Barcelona, supposedly the best soccer team. Internacional was to prove it wrong. And it did… for 10 minutes, then Barca started dominating the game. Barca tried and tried, but found an untrespassable Colorado. Then, at the end of the second half, one of soccer’s maximums came to light. If you don’t score, you’ll get scored (or something like that). And in a fulminating counter attack, 8 minutes before the end of regular time, Inter beat Barca 1-nill. The world is red; Inter is the new World Champion; and I’m a happy driver.

Off to Utah, but going there wasn’t going to be a straight trip. There was Wyoming on the way. Actually, there were winter road conditions on the Wyoming way. More specifically, there was snow on the winter-y road on Wyoming. Only one more time, there were four trucks, entangled on the Wyoming road, snow-crashed in the winter. Solution? An U-turn. If you have a map, you'll see what I mean. About an hour west of Cheyenne, the aforementioned event took place and all the roads going west were closed. Asking around, we found out that it would take probably more than a day to clean up the mess. Then, instead of waiting, we decided to go back to Cheyenne, go south to Denver, take west on I-70, then go north again on I-15 by I-28. So after a detour of more than 5 hours, the 12-hour trip became a 18-plus-hour trip. Sorry Carlos and Adriana do disturb you at 5 a.m. You guys are great hosts!

In spite of all road adversities, we got there safe and sound, and had lots of fun in Salt Lake City. We played in the snow. Some of us snowboarded, some of us skied. We played 8 and 9 ball. We even had a pool tournament going on. We had some heavy board-games action going: Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, and Bohnanza (hey, I'm a geek of some sorts, remember? I don't deny it). Wii and X-box. Christmas gifts. 3 National parks!! If you can't go to them all, check out the Arches Park! You cannot miss that one! So, so amazing.

All these pictures can be found here.

Everything was perfect. Guys, I just wanna say again. You rock! Whenever you wanna come to Nebraska to... er... check out our corn fields(!), you know that you're gonna have a warm welcome! Mi casa, tu casa!

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and we soon got some really nasty weather on the road again. 25 miles/hour on the highway? Yeap, you hear it right!

Home for the new year's party. More on the next post.

Andre

A New Life

2007-05-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

Wow. Almost 7 months. Well, I've been busy. Also, there are many, many things to tell.

Last year's semester was pretty intensive; lots of projects, programs, papers, and tests that drove me crazy. I didn't know back then, but it wasn't too bad compared with what was to come. But before going there, let's talk about some good news!

Remember that I said on October last year, that I had some great news that related to me? Well, here it comes: Lucas, my brother's first son, my first nephew is going to be taking his first breaths some time by the end of this month (May). :D We're all very excited about him. He's going to be the first Canadian in the family, and our mom's flying across the globe to be there with her first grandchild. I wish I could be there as well, but I have one little problem that prevents me from going. No, it's not money. Well, not just money. The real problem is California! More about it later (I always say that, but the later never comes. This time it will).

Well, Lucas, welcome to life! We're all expecting you full of love. Don't believe when others might say to you. Life is beautiful! Life's what you make of it. Grow and be great!

Love,

Uncle Andre

On Lincoln - Sobre Lincoln

2006-10-14T05:13:00.000-05:00

Well, if you thought I was going to write and post some pictures about Lincoln, you were half-right. There are some comments and pictures about Lincoln, but it wasn't me who wrote and took them.

Victor, another brazilian who is also doing his Masters in Computer Science, did something that I wanted to do for some time now. To get a camera and take random, curious pictures of the city. I'll eventually do that. Meanwhile, take a look on what he has to say about Lincoln on his blog.

Cheers,

Andre

Software Engineering Team

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Bom, se voces estavam apostando que eu fosse escrever e colocar umas fotos de Lincoln… ganharam meio ponto. Tem alguns comentarios e fotos de Lincoln, mas nao foi eu quem os fez.

Victor, outro brasileiro que tambem esta fazendo mestrado em ciencia da computacao, fez uma coisa que eu queria fazer ja ha algum tempo. Pegar uma camera e rodar pela cidade tirando fotos. Um dia eu ainda pretendo fazer isso, mas enquanto esse dia nao chega, de uma olhada nas fotos no blog dele.

Ateh mais,

Andre

Equipe de Engenharia de Software

On being (only) a Master's Student

2006-10-03T00:27:00.000-05:00

In a nutshell, last five weeks were hell! Not getting enough sleep, working and studying late everyday... At the time that I was done with my SCC classes, I was already late with several assignments for my UNL classes, which ultimately took most of my time last week and it will keep taking it until tomorrow. The only reason I’m writing in my blog right now is that I just submitted a class assignment that was due at midnight (I might have sent it through before, but my watch was showing 00:02! Oh well!) and I’m not sleepy.

Anyway, I just thought I’d update this, since it’s been forever, I still have tons of things to write about from when my parents in law were here, and about sports, and ohh… I have some great news to talk about! It actually is not mine, but it relates to me as well! Stay tuned!

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

As much requested, here goes the portuguese version:

A pedidos, aqui vai a versao em portugues (sem acento, porque o teclado eh americano, e sem garantias que a traducao eh literal)

Sobre ser (somente) um mestrando

Resumidamente, as ultimas cinco semanas foram um inferno! Nao dormindo o suficiente, trabalhando e estudando ateh altas horas da madrugada toda a noite. Quando acabei as aulas da SCC, eu jah estava atrasado com meus trabalhos pras aulas da UNL, que acabaram me tomando todo tempo da semana passada e vai continuar tomando ateh amanha pelo menos. Ateh a unica razao de eu estar aqui escrevendo eh porque eu acabei de mandar um trabalho que era pra entregar a meia-noite e nao estou com sono, mas acho que acabei mandando uns 2 minutos passada da meia-noite. Fazer o que, neh?

Mas, de qualquer forma, estou escrevendo hoje porque faz mais de um mes que nao escrevo nada. Estou altamente atrasado com minhas novidades (que a essa altura do campeonato, de novo, nao tem mais nada.) Tenho que acabar de falar de quando meus sogros estavam por aqui, sobre esportes, e ahhhhhhhhh, tenho uma otima novidade! Na verdade nao eh minha, mas me afeta tambem! Fiquem atentos!

Um super abraco!

On being a Master’s Student

2006-08-27T08:45:00.000-05:00

Short version: a week ago, on Friday, August 18th, I was accepted to start my Masters program in Computer Science at UNL (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and on Monday I had the first class! Talk about last minute!

Long version: As I wrote in one of my first posts, since February I was working 20 hours (and up to 40 hours during the summer) in my area, that is, developing software in Java (in short). And about 2 months ago, my boss tried to fill the paperwork to hire me as a full-time employee (and change my visa to a work visa), but, again, as I much described in the mentioned post, the cap was reached before we had a chance to submit the documents.

After that, my boss and I talked and, since he is also a university professor, he said he could offer me an assistantship towards a Masters program and I could still be doing the same thing I was doing, except this time, through the university. That sounded great!

A master’s degree was never really one of my aspirations, but since becoming a full-time here is incredibly difficult (if you don’t have the right connections at the right time), the idea started growing in me.

This was beginning of July, and Fall semester would start after two months, so I would have enough time to gather all the required documents. Although the deadline to Fall registration was already past due, my boss/advisor said that there were ways for me to start right away.

After two months of sheer agony, and after I've already given up, on the last business day before classes, I was accepted to start my Masters Program. But don't get me wrong, I submitted my documents in no time, but I also needed three letters of recommendation, but they took all that time to arrive. Lesson learned, when three letters of recommendation are needed, ask five people to write one for you.

But all is well that ends well, so here I am, a Master’s student at UNL, one of the most prestigious computer science colleges in Software Engineering (the most, as I've heard) and ready to roll.

Oh, I'm still planning to finish my studies in Business Administration at SCC as well. For another 4 weeks, I'll be having classes at UNL (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) and at SCC (mostly online work, but also some Tuesdays and Thursdays). After these four weeks, I only have four more classes (one class per quarter, which adds up to another year) to graduate from SCC and get my Associates Degree in Business.

So I'm still going to be pretty busy for at least a couple of years (next four weeks will be hell), but I'll survive, I think! Come here again in four weeks to double check that! ;)

Andre

"…learn as if you were going to live forever."

On being the Champions

2006-08-25T19:46:00.000-05:00

a wee bit late but...

WE ARE THE AMERICAN CHAMPIONS

Campeões da America!!

"Glória do desporto nacional
Oh, Internacional que eu vivo a exaltar
Leva a plagas distantes
Feitos relevantes
Vives a brilhar
Correm os anos surge o amanha
Radioso de luz, varonil
Segue a tua senda de vitórias
Colorado das glórias
Orgulho do brasil

É teu passado alvirrubro
Motivos de festas em nossos corações
O teu presente diz tudo
Trazendo à torcida alegres emoções
Colorado de ases celeiro
Teus astros cintilam num céu sempre azul
Vibra o Brasil inteiro
Com o clube do povo do Rio Grande do Sul"

"Dá-lhe
Dá-lhe Colorado
Com muito orgulho
No Coração"

For those who not follow soccer, Internacional, the team I root for, won the most prestigious South American Championship: The Libertadores Cup. It was the first time we won it, so we are very, VERY excited! And we can make fun of our eternal rivals: Gremio. My mom roots for them, so as you've guessed I made fun of her, in the good sense of it - Right mom? ;).

Here's a good blog to check, once in a while: bola vermelho or ball red. Thanks Cassio for the heads up.

Now, Japan, here we come!

Intermission

2006-08-10T02:09:00.000-05:00

I have been using meebo as my default instant message client for a while now, and it's impressive to see their growth in quality and the maturity they've reached in such a short period of time. Their latest tool just blew my mind. This is by far the coolest blog widget there is: Meebo me. Check it out yourselves by chatting with me while you read my posts. I'm usually logged in Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., GMT -5.

No one can keep these guys from success. Google beware!

On ways to keep yourself busy – Part I

2006-07-24T01:07:00.000-05:00

Remember when I said that I was going to post more often? Well, not quite. I’ve been ridiculously busy lately. So here’s what’s been happening.

On May 28^th, Andreia went to Brazil and on June 15^th brought her parents with her to spend two months over here. It’s been great to be eating some real food for a change; neither Andreia nor I have much time to cook decent meals. The usual special at home is Frozen Food. But now we’ve been enjoying rice and beans, rice and steak (carreteiro), charcoal barbecue (it’s what is the closest to the Brazilian churrasco) and all the stuff that all Brazilians are fans.

During the weeks, we try to keep seu Orlando and dona Elza, my parents in law, busy. Since they don’t speak English and we work all day, we got an Internet package from TV Globo so they can watch Brazil news and our famous soap operas (which I hate, by the way). When we get home from work, there is usually some card playing or some board games action. Quite fun to do that with four people rather than two!

During the weekends we try to diversify. Here’s what we’ve been doing:

June 18^th

During the world cup, we got together with a lot of the Brazilians that live here. This particular game was Brazil x Australia, and after 90 minutes of plain agony, we were somewhat happy with the result. Even though we beat them 2 x 0, we didn’t play so well, but there’s always hope, right? The next few games would prove us wrong! Well, enough about soccer. :)

June 25^th

We went to a resort nearby called Wildlife Safari, and as you have guessed, you drive around it and see animals in their somewhat natural habitat. We love this place: it’s a 20 minute drive from home, the entrance fee is not expensive, and you can either drive around or hike through the trails that are there.

Driving around you can see elks, deers, pelicans, bears, wolves, cranes (a typical large bird from North America), pronghorns, and bisons.

The picnic areas are also great. Plenty of space, plenty of shade, a perfect spot for stop and some food. A great day to be outdoors.

Much more still to come… I’ll keep you posted.

On students organizations

2006-07-08T18:20:00.000-05:00

While taking Business classes at SCC, I found out about this student organization called SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) and fell in love with it.

Just like AIESEC, SIFE is a student organization that provides opportunities to participant students to develop their potential so as to have a positive impact on society and on their careers.

AIESEC does that in the form of offering students exchange programs that enables students to live and work in another country. That experience is unique and enables the student to view things from a different perspective-the new culture he or she now lives in-which ultimately open the student’s eye to a broader understanding of different cultures, life, and everything. SIFE is a more hands-on organization, achieving similar results by having the students developing community outreach projects in 5 topics/criteria: Market Economics, Success Skills, Entrepreneurship, Financial Literacy, and Business Ethics. By working in teams to develop these projects, students acquire leadership and teamwork skills, ethics, and a better understanding of the business world; and at the same time, having an immediate impact in their communities; changing the world, one project at a time, as I like to say.

Having being part (in a way or another) of both organizations, I can vouch for both as top class, high quality group of peoples.

Our SIFE team at SCC is quite a unique group of people. I made some really good friends there, and since almost everyone graduated from the college it’s only fair to say that I’m going to miss all of my former teammates, especially Carlos, George, Kashka, Khush, Malika, Quanetta, Staphanie, and Vito. Big salutations to our fearless faculty leader, our Sam Walton Fellow Deb Gaspard (a.k.a. Mama Bear), I take my hat off to you.

If you want to find a way to get more involved in your college or community, if you want to have some volunteering experience in your résumé, if you want to meet successful people, or simply if you like to help others, check if your university has a SIFE team or an AIESEC team, if it doesn’t have one, help create one*.

On a side note, for some reason, I think that SIFE is more popular than AIESEC in the US, and AIESEC is more popular than SIFE in other countries. But that’s probably a false statement since it’s a generalization. I can only confirm that that’s what happens in Brazil (actually only in Porto Alegre). If you know better, please leave me a comment on this topic.

More specifically about SIFE now: Let me just say to you that there’s no way of not falling in love with this organization, other than all those things I just described above, you’ll also get a felling of accomplishment that you never felt before. On two particular projects I participated, I really felt that (which raises a really good discussion on how really altruistic a gesture is, if you only do it for personal accomplishment, but this is a topic for another discussion). Here are the projects that I’m shamelessly proud of: our financial literacy project, Money Talk$, we presented a workshop for abused women on the local Friendship home for battered women. We taught them the basic principles of banking and financial planning. Check me out in this picture creating a life line (I’ll live until 95, according to my plans =D ); and our World Day event, where we gave 4- and 5-year olds, college students, and faculty members, a initial contact with the economy and culture of a total of 10 different countries.

How SIFE can help your résumé? Easy! Every year there are regional, national, and an international competitions, where teams make a business presentations to judges, who decide who did a better job on applying SIFE 5 criteria to their projects. In these events, there are tons of companies that are there to hire SIFE students to their top positions (from management up). Companies like Walmart, Conagra, RadioShack, Kraft, BIC and many others are always there recruiting, because they know all the qualities and skills that a student gathered in being part of a SIFE team. Competition itself is a big thing in SIFE, winners get awards ($$$), and so forth. But even if you take off everything I just mentioned, it's a greate experience just being there!

Call me a dreamer, an utopian, or whatever you like, but I believe that there is goodness in everyone and that everyone can help create a better world. I like to believe that with SIFE I have helped at least a handful of people. Add what I learned in SIFE with what I learned through AIESEC, and I'm confident that I won't stop there. In specific, I have some good plans to Brazil, my homeland. I’ll write more about that later. I’ll leave you with some pictures of the awards ceremony/party in the final days of the SIFE National competition in Kansas City, Missouri, 2005 (I'll owe you some 2006 pictures), and a quote I read during the the 2006 ceremony:

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion - Thomas Paine.

*: if you are interested in starting a team, please contact me.

On not updating my blog as frequently as I wanted

2006-07-08T18:13:00.000-05:00

What can I say? I’ve been busy, busy, busy. I’ve also been lazy, lazy, lazy. I’ll try to compensate by posting some two or three posts this week and hopefully, you’ll forgive me…? There are some good news coming up, and some old posts that I finally took the time to write, and some really cool pictures from cool places that I’ve been. Talk to you all soon.

On the irony of summer

2006-06-04T04:41:00.001-05:00

Branched Oak Lake Park, May 27, 2006

Don’t you hate summer? The unbearable heat when you first get in your car; the lazy Sundays, all the energy spent on air conditioning… I could go on and on with that list. Obviously I am a winter kinda guy. Well, off course I am not counting spring or fall, because weather is much more mild in those seasons than the other two. But comparing just summer and winter, I am winter all the way. When you’re cold, you can always put another layer of clothes to keep yourself warm, but when it’s warm, there are just so many layers you can take off.

People will try everything to trick the heat. They will get together in the park, prepare a barbecue, and have steak, pork, chicken, sausage, and lots of sodas (alcoholic beverages are prohibited in parks).

And then, when you’re full, tired of playing soccer, and sweaty, you have to go to the lake to freshen up (especially if you can get there without finding any unexpected surprises). That cold, chilly water will make your bones shiver.

After everything is over, you then have to pack everything back up, and you might end up going to see the rest of the lake and finding a spot to wait for the sunset, either standing or sitting, waiting patiently.

People will get bored and start to try some tricks with the camera.

Oh, I hate the summer! Let the winter gods come soon to bring a smile at our faces with their white gold and with the joy of being alive!

On the world being flat… I mean… small!

2006-05-26T00:42:00.000-05:00

Living 6162 miles (9916 Km) away from home, I would never think that I would see a very good friend that I have since childhood.

He is taking his PhD in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is fairly closer than before, but still 798 miles (1285 km) away (a one-day trip, a very long one-day trip). Guess, what? Carlos made that trip… in one day. He and his friend, Dave, were driving to the east coast (They are doing summer internships in New York and Massachusetts, respectively) and decided that Lincoln was a good spot for their first day stop. Lincoln population’s IQ suddenly doubled.

But again, even geniuses err. They were supposed to arrive May 2^nd, at 9 p.m., but only arrived at 10 p.m. I know! Time zones are such a pain. =D

Too bad we only had a couple of hours to chat, but understandable, since they were tired from the trip and were going to hit the road early next day.

That encounter made me very nostalgic for the next couple of weeks. It reminded me how far I am from things I once knew and people I once saw often. Of course he’s in the same boat as I am, but still, memories of things past and projections of things to come made me wonder if these two worlds (or were there three?) would ever meet.

But the answer was obviously right in front of me: I was once more hanging out with a friend that I hadn’t seen for several years. The facts that we are both in a different country and talking in a different language are irrelevant. Those are only different flavors of the same occurrence.

Interesting fact is that I have friends living in Europe hanging out quite often, whereas other friends back home don’t talk to each other for months at a time. Distance, as it seems, is relative, and the world becomes even smaller for people who long the trip.

On working with children

2006-04-29T18:05:00.000-05:00

Whenever I used to see a kid crying on the streets or at a grocery store, I would think: “Gee, can’t the parents see their child is crying and he (or she) needs at least to be acknowledged?” I would think that it was another example of bad parenting. Simple as that.

Well, what did I know back then? I’m not a parent and I never had young relatives close enough to me to be a part of their upbringing. But now, having worked part-time for a year for the Child Development Center at SCC, the college as I am attending, I can say that I’ve learned one or two things about children.

I worked with four and five-year olds and I loved it. Of course that on my first day, well, at least on my first month, I had no idea what I was doing. Watching the other teachers and asking questions helped me to understand what I was supposed to do.

Humans are a smart species, despite of not looking like that in a lot of instances, and my proof to that is children. Children’s little brains are just developing, trying to create some logic from all 5 senses of input by translating those into I don’t like that, bad, good, not so good, let’s do it again, or I want more chocolate.

But that’s not being smart. Being smart comes from all the clever ways they try to get more of these sensations that make them feel more comfortable and satisfied, and the ways they try to avoid the other category. Of course that the most effective technique of doing both ways is the emotional: crying. I’m hungry, I need attention, I want that toy, I don’t like broccoli, and I want more chocolate are good examples of when they try to use that. If it works once, their little computer says: “let’s try again, if it works, it might be a pattern that always do.” That’s when parents get in trouble, because it’s usually easier to say yes than it is to say no.

With the kids in the day care, if they crossed their limits-and we reminded them of their limits everyday-we would tell them to sit in time-out (some people call it the naughty place). The ones that rarely get a time-out would often cry a little bit, worried that they were in trouble. The ones in the middle of the curve would slowly sit to the appointed place and wait patiently until we talk to them. The last group, including some kids that were in time-out at least once a day, would go only after complaining, appealing emotionally, making you run after them, or even kicking you in the shin. The important lesson I was learning was that they need authority. You have to let them know that they are not running the show.

Among other things, children need attention. The phrase I most heard at the day care was “Watch this” followed by a trick the kid had never tried before but acted like he or she invented it, such as jumping. Children need parent’s attention. I don’t care if your job sucks, or if you’re tired, or if you got tons of work to do at home: find time to spend with your kids, or else they’ll find the so needed attention elsewhere.

Children will push buttons; will learn what works and what doesn’t; will test the limits set to them to see if maybe this time is OK to put their hand on the hot stove. Some lessons are easily learnt while others that don’t have such a painful outcome require good parenting skills. Children need limits. And if parents don’t establish them, they will keep expanding theirs to every possible direction as they grow.

So, ask me again if I think parents ignoring their child’s cry are bad parents. Well, they could be. But if they acknowledged the fact already, and they’re trying to show their child that crying is not the solution for everything… that’s one more kid with a better chance in life.

You might be thinking that that’s easier said than done. Probably, let’s see what happens when my child is crying for a toy at a department store.

On being back to school

2006-04-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

First day of school, Jan 4^th, 2005, after 2 years without stepping into a classroom, I was unbelievably overexcited about going back to college, like a six-year old going for the first time to learn how to read. The anticipation of opening the last gift, annoyingly wrapped too many times to make your life harder, the ecstasy realizing it is the much expected toy. Ahhh, how happy can a six-year old be!

You should have seen my disappointment, though, when on that same morning, I find out that it had snowed a lot-A LOT-during the night. I called the college, and the recorded voice confirmed my worst fear: it had closed because of the snow storm. The world had just ended: the new toy had no batteries!

With nothing better to do, I patiently waited the day to be gone, minute by minute. The sun slowly creeping down the horizon, like a video of an unhurried turtle, played in slow motion, lazily walking towards a never-ending corridor.
…

But all’s well that ends well. School started the following day, and it has being going great ever since. I loved all Business classes I took, but one. Which is a good rate, I think! It’s way better than the rate for my first degree. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do. It’s just that I had to study so many different areas (and I didn’t care for a lot of those) and some of the professors didn’t have much teaching skills… or maybe it’s just me who has changed. I’m 7 years older than I was when I started my first degree. Knowledge is a privilege… and much more expensive in this part of the world. I consider myself more mature towards education, and not only because now I have to pay for it. How many times I asked myself: why didn’t I pay more attention on class X when I was a Computer Science undergraduate? When you are a freshman, just out of high school, you take a lot of things for granted. If only I had paid more attention. If only I had studied for that exam. If only I had been more involved with school. If only!

I want to use what I’m learning now in the business life. And I know, when my time arrives, I’ll do things in a better way.

In whatever area you choose to be, be an entrepreneur. Question how things are made, suggest how to improve it, but most importantly, do something that you like to do, and I’m pretty sure you’ll be darn good in it!

“Live as if you were going to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were going to live forever!”

On looking for a job

2006-03-25T20:34:00.000-06:00

Well, it's really hard to find a job (in my area, that is Computer Science, Java programming) at the US when:
1) Your current visa doesn't allow you to work, and you need to find an employer who will sponsor a temporary worker visa (H1-B);
2) You're not living in a big city;
3) You don't have any contacts in your industry.

2004 was really tough. At least until March. I was looking for a job, posting my resume (which I thought it wasn't too bad) all over the place, getting emails and phone calls from employers; even a few interviews. The visa barrier, however; was unbeatable.

After March, things got even worse. That was when I learned that the H1 visa cap was reached, meaning that the immigration services had issued all H1 visas they would for that fiscal year (2004 fiscal year goes from October 1st, 2003, until October 1st, 2004). It was right when I started to contact the right people and get a little networking going. From then on, 2004 wasn't looking too good.

Until October, I didn't have much to hope for, so I tried to keep myself busy. I bought a laptop, and started to do some home programming projects to keep me up to date with the technology. Knowing that no employer would contract me before I could actually start working (Oct 2004), I patiently waited until August, when I started the job hunt again. To my disappointment, on October 1st, the first day of fiscal year 2005, the cap was reached again, and I hadn't been able to get a job again. What it was bad, it just had gotten worse.

Since I wasn't planning to be sitting around for another whole year, with no prospect of things being different, I decided to go back to school.

I always wanted to take business classes. It'd be handy when I start my own I.T. company, so I looked into MBA courses and other related degrees. I quickly gave up getting a masters degree, though: too expensive. So I find out about Southeast Community College, a stated funded college, way cheaper than regular universities, providing 2-year Associate degrees. Their program looked good, I'd get all the info I'd need to run my business.
I flew to Brazil, got a student visa, and by January 5th, I was back in school. Please check my next post: "On going back to school."

I quickly learned that, as a student, I could work part-time on campus. I got a tutor position in the computer lab. I helped other students with whatever help they needed. I even tutor some students in Java, since they were taking classes for the Microcomputer's program. It was nice to finally earn some money, but the problem was that they only wanted me 4 to 6 hours per week, and I could work up to 20.

And to everyone's surprise, including mine, I got another position at the college's day care. Read more on that on my future post "On working with children."

For almost the whole of 2005, I was taking business classes, computer tutoring, and working with children. I did not forget, though, that on October, another fiscal year was going to start. Earlier this time, on July, I started looking for full-time jobs and companies that would sponsor the H1 visa for me.

I got a good contact with a company willing to do exactly that. I compiled all the documentation, paid all fees, and by August 10th, I had it sent to Immigration. My application, however, got there a few days after the cap was reached. All H1s for fiscal year 2006 were gone even before the fiscal year started.

I then applied and got a permission to work off-campus (well it's a whole lot more complicated than that, but let's leave at that. This post is already too long, anyway). With my permission on hand, I now could work off-campus, at least part-time. After my first interview with an IT company that develops software in Java, finally, after two years of trying, I got a job in my area.

On writing in English

2006-03-12T05:14:00.000-06:00

I can see some people back home complaining about my writing in English.

Let me explain in advance, why that is:

First of all, I'm an avid reader as my dad. I read from 6 to 10 books every year and listen to audio books when traveling (you should try it, by the way). And guess what, the books here are in English.

But I started writing in English when I took a Composition class for my Business course. Of course I had to write all my short stories in English, as well. I even wrote a couple of short stories that I really liked. All with the encouragement of my instructor. I don't have to say that I got an A on that class, and considering that some other American students got Bs and Cs, I figured that my writing wasn't too bad.

Well, after reading one particular sci-fi short stories book, I thought that maybe I could write some stories of my own. I had some ideas already, so I sat down and wrote two stories. By that time, I actually wrote one in English and one in Portuguese. The Portuguese one is about to be published in a fanzine called "Notícias do fim do nada" (literally, News from the End of Nothing). But, having read Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, I had dreams of greatness of getting my stories published. So I took them to one of the writing tutors at SCC, and I asked if he could proofread them (being a student has it advantages). But hey, how is he going to help me with my Portuguese story?

For some people it's hard to understand, but English is the language I speak and write everyday and therefore it's only natural being comfortable to write in it and to practice it.

Don't worry, I'm not becoming American. But what's the point of living in a country and not trying to understand its culture. I've met a lot of foreigners here that still act as if they were still in their own countries. Hey, more about that later.

On living in Lincoln, NE, USA

2006-03-11T19:59:00.000-06:00

Having just started my blog, and being living in Nebraska (check map) for more than 2 years now, I have a lot of back tracking to do.

I'm originally from a city with 1.2 million people. First time I realized that Lincoln had only 0.2 million, my first thought was that I was going to the middle of nowhere. Ask anyone from the US outside Nebraska and they'll pretty much agree with me. But let's not jump into conclusions just yet. By the way, this is a big city for Nebraska standards.

After a while you come to appreciate the small town atmosphere the city has. No hectic traffic, that is, no honking, no crazy drivers... and no buses. But hey, you can buy a car for $400, so that's not too bad. The city has several parks, lots of outdoors activities, and a football team (American football, that is) that drives all Nebraskans crazy. The stadium becomes the 3rd biggest city on every single game, they've been selling out since the 70s or something, and all that for a college football team. I still cannot understand that. But I bet they also cannot understand why we love soccer so much, so I guess we're all good.

Anyway, sports is a whole different subject altogether. To almost everyone from my culture, a ball game means only one thing: soccer. Here, the diversity of sports played and cheered for is big: Football, basketball, baseball, softball, hockey (ok, maybe not hockey). We do have a hockey team here, the Lincoln Stars. I have no idea of what kind of league they play, but, having lived in Canada and having watched NHL games there, I'll pretty soon become a Lincoln Stars fan.

This is actually a very interesting fact. The incentives to sports here is huge. Even high school leagues here are appreciated, on every sport. Even four-year olds get to go to tournaments and kick a soccer ball around with parents cheering and expecting their children to score. Ok, maybe that's too much. But the point is that competition here is so important, that it's no wonder the US has good athletes in every single sport. Just check the Olympics.

I kind of got off-topic, but it's hard to talk about the city without talking about the culture it belongs. I'll add more about the culture later.

On blogs

2006-03-11T19:46:00.000-06:00

I was never really into the whole blog hype, but ever since I read a friend's blog, I have to admit, it's really handy. She was away in a trip and insted of emailing everyone about her 'adventures', she'd just write them in a blog. She had to send its link just once, and voilà. No more emails clogging everyone's inbox with news from her trip.

And another reason for doing this is, because I'm living abroad, I figured this would be the best way to keep everyone informed of what I've been up to.

So, blogs are not that evil. There you go, I've said it.