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The Twitter Diaries: 2009-03-01

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view of San Francisco from 36th floor of the Grand Hyatt

^ view of San Francisco from the 36th floor of the Grand Hyatt

  • in 5 years, SETI will need 918 Exabytes of data storage per year #
  • 2005 SETI began R&D on the Allen Telescope Array, funded by (among others) Paul Allen #
  • 42 dishes today #
  • within 5 years will have 350 dishes #
  • Sun’s Greg P. guided the spec’ing of the next generation -Software Defined Radio Telescope #
  • panel discussion Code to Currency: Experience sharing from commercial open source vendors. (Zmanda, Pentaho, Alfresco, Smugmug confirmed) #
  • talking about commercial and open source at http://fm.ea-tel.eu/fm/658d38-16328 #
  • today’s astonishingly appropriate LOL critter: http://tinyurl.com/bd7q4v #
  • coming up: a case study on storage for neuroimaging #
  • Alex Barclay on the Laureate Brain Institute – tasked to find root causes and treatment of neurological disorders #
  • streaming at http://fm.ea-tel.eu/fm/658d38-16328 #
  • @wanderingitaly weird considering that Venice has outlawed water bottled in plastic in reply to wanderingitaly #
  • Alex describes a very complex storage situation requiring no downtime, a wide range of users on a wide range of platforms, heavy data… #
  • “the ability to look at our data load is incredibly important to us.” #
  • Adam Leventhal on ZFS, Cache, and Flash, streaming on http://fm.ea-tel.eu/fm/658d38-16328 #
  • @reiger it was good in reply to reiger #
  • @reiger and thanks for checking on your time in reply to reiger #
  • @storage_summit maybe next time we can run two days. ; ) in reply to storage_summit #
  • The summit went well. I am very tired. #
  • happy that the Open Storage Summit went so well. But desperately in need of a three-day nap. #
  • @craigmorgan thanks! glad to know it was useful. Maybe next time you can join us in person. in reply to craigmorgan #
  • getting ready to meet Jeffrey for lunch, OpenStorage BoF session tonight, then dinner with our marketing buds. #
  • Tired of phrases like “this economy” and “current evironment” #
  • @jowyang I saw my 1st Buffy fanvid at a con in 2001; the concept wasn’t new even then. #
  • @deirdresm would lunch tomorrow work? I’ll be in menlo but no car #
  • @Halcyon looking forward to meeting you there! [at SxSW] #
  • Twitted on the iphone is like having friends in my pocket #
  • Dad’s back in the hospital. When I don’t hear from him for a while, I know things aren’t going well. #
  • @jeffreytaylor I would so be there… And check this out: http://www.projectbandaloop.org/ in reply to jeffreytaylor #
  • Pho for lunch + silk blouse = dry cleaning bill #
  • @jeffreytaylor <smugly> the founder is another Woodstock School alumna #
  • @italylogue better not be too eficient. You’ll scare them 😉 #
  • Ross needs to test drive but doesn’t have a car/ride to get to the dealerships. As I expected, at least one is happy to come to her. #
  • @reiger it was great to see you! in reply to reiger #
  • @ringae uh oh, what’s up? in reply to ringae #
  • Thinking about what to do with my hair before sxsw #
  • @italylogue haven’t figured out my full schedule yet. If it doesn’t conflict with anything work- related #
  • Did I mention that my daughter got her driver’s license this week? #
  • @noebie mine is 19, they can’t start til 18 in Italy. Saves nerves ESP as they start drinking at 14! #
  • A long full week is almost over. Next up: CO front range girl geek dinner march 5th #
  • building my SxSWi schedule. Wow, so much to do! Definitely need backup to get everything covered. #
  • my work week started last Sunday, so my body has decided it wants today off. #
  • weekend with Woodstockers : staying with Brinda at gorgeous geodesic dome house in the Santa Cruz mountains, dinner with Tanvir & others #
  • paradise lost: http://tinyurl.com/c2s7fs #
  • get thee behind me, migraine. #
  • @ContemplatingIT if that’s the case, I’d be happy to review the Drobo from the point of view of a longtime heavy user of home archiving ; ) in reply to ContemplatingIT #
  • just referred a bud to Sun Startup Essentials http://www.sun.com/emrkt/startupessentials/ Anyone else? #
  • okay, that was weird. Just got a spam call on my iPhone in Spanish #
  • @ContemplatingIT I probably wouldn’t actually have time to review it anyway, so you’re safe. ; ) in reply to ContemplatingIT #
  • @AKNickerson maybe I should start “Italian slang word of the day” tweets, but that might not give the right impression #followfriday in reply to AKNickerson #
  • @italylogue I need to figure out how to manage two Twitter IDs. in reply to italylogue #
  • @AKNickerson The slang I have is mostly profanity, which accurately reflects how young Italians speak in reply to AKNickerson #
  • the transcription team is having a hard time with all the different accents at Sun. I hope they get used to it soon. #
  • returned my Ethos Water bottle to Starbucks for 5 cent deposit. They had never seen anyone actually do that before. #
  • 64 people signed up for the Front Range GGD now. #
  • Excellent lunch of grilled veg at the California cafe in los gatos, made specially for us by chef Taylor boudreaux #
  • @gapingvoid only Europeans are allowed to say so #
  • @missbhavens there is nothing irrational about fear of flying roaches! #

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Home Making

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^ Memories, new and old: An embroidered silk hanging from the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, Delhi, which I bought during an epic shopping spree with Yuti, and the decorated tin trunk I bought in Mumbai from artist Rashmi Dogra while visiting Deepu, combined with an American mission-style dresser. The objects on the dresser include figurines bought at the Crafts Museum in Delhi, diyas, a piece of driftwood from Gouverneur Beach in St. Barth’s, and a photo (in a Kashmiri frame bought in Mussoorie) is of Rossella and friends in a Woodstock production of The Taming of the Shrew. On the wall to the right you can see the edge of an appliqued wall hanging I bought with Sara during a visit to Mumbai.

I’ve been residing in Colorado since last March, but during that time have been traveling so much that it’s taking a while to get settled. What I’ve done so far towards setting up my home reminds me of my college days: starting from scratch in a new place with limited personal space, trying to keep spending down, while surrounding myself with objects rich in memory. I’m enjoying the opportunity to decorate all of my space in my own way, instead of having to find niches among Enrico’s family heirlooms.

I’m living in a large suburban house with a Sun colleague, Kathleen, from whom I rent two bedrooms and a bath. We share most of the house and fixtures, which saved me an enormous amount on kitchen stuff and furniture. I didn’t even have to buy beds, thanks to Kathleen (who had a single bed waiting for me, made even, the day I arrived) and Dan and Karen, who gave me a king-sized futon (which Dan delivered and carried up the stairs, bless him – the thing must weigh 200 pounds).

My furniture investment so far has been minimal: a dresser, a desk, second-hand bookshelves, and, just recently, a chair to go with the desk. It’s a pity there’s no Ikea in Colorado, but there is American Furniture Warehouse.

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The Shaker desk above came from a very nice furniture place (not AFW), but was on sale cheap, probably because the drawers stick. Furniture needs to be tempered for Colorado, or the dry air can cause such problems. The prints are from my beloved Elfquest, something I’d been meaning to buy for a long time.

I wasn’t using the desk much til this week, when I finally got around to getting a chair so that, if I’m stuck working at home because of snow, I can at least be comfortable. Yes, I use two computers at once. Often I do email etc. on one while the other is processing video.

This is in my “office” room, along with the single bed and:

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The painting is from/by Ross. Sue and Jack should also recognize gifts from themselves in this photo!

The larger room, in addition to the dresser shown above, contains:

painting by Rashmi Dogra

This painting by Rashmi Dogra illustrates icons of Indian life common 20 years ago. She was amused that I wanted this painting – none of her usual Mumbai clients were interested in this kind of nostalgia.

img_5718

Above the bed I hung a length of ikat material bought at Dilli Haat. The window treatments are curtains from an American chain with torans from a SEWA store in Delhi.

I’ve been decorating with photographs, some of friends and family:

img_5719

…some travel photos that I never got around to printing before…

img_5722

Thanks to Donna and Sarah for the housewarming gifts (though they don’t even know each other, they picked the same picture frame, in different colors):

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^ photos from Viterbo, taking during the Imaging in Italy tour I did a few years ago. I have so many great photos from that trip…

img_5716

^ these are from our visit to Jaipur

img_5717

^ another piece of Indian nostalgia, this time purchased on a trip to Mumbai’s Chor Bazaar (Thieves’ Market) with Deepu. The guy in the red shirt is Amitabh Bachchan, by now the grand old man of Indian cinema. Nowadays, such an ad would be for a luxury car, not a bicycle!

I’ve still got plenty of space to fill, but am in no hurry to do so. I don’t mind the relative emptiness, and I prefer to buy things over time, making each purchase significant, not just a way to fill space. (I only bought the dresser after several months, when the lack of drawers began to seriously annoy me.) But what I do have in here already helps it feel like home.

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Divorcing Italy

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Rossella and I returned to Italy the week before Christmas, having been away since June 30th. That was the longest period I’d spent out of Italy in 18 years.

I was uneasy about this re-entry, expecting it to be traumatic. I thought I would be making a decision about whether I would ever willingly live in Italy again (not right away, but maybe, someday), and I didn’t expect that decision to be easy. But, in retrospect, I had probably made up my mind months – even years – before.

The immediate impact wasn’t good. I arrived exhausted (Rossella can sleep on planes; I am not so fortunate). We hadn’t even left the airport before Enrico was telling us about a typically Italian bureaucratic kerfuffle that had arisen just that morning and had him worried.

The weather was terrible most of the time I was in Europe: cold and gray, with unusual amounts of snow even for northern Italy. The humidity sank the cold into my very bones; I felt colder in Italy than I ever do in Colorado, where the absolute temperatures are often much lower.

As usual, we spent Christmas in Roseto degli Abruzzi, the small seaside resort where Enrico’s parents retired years ago. As usual, the town was dead and depressing in winter. As usual, Ross was agitating to leave almost as soon as the Christmas presents were opened, and I couldn’t blame her, especially when she learned that a friend’s mother had died.

We returned to Lecco, where I felt trapped by bad weather and my fear of driving in Italy (I may someday get used to this, if I could only have an automatic instead of a stickshift…). I realized that I had been feeling trapped for years.

Moving to Lecco was a good decision at the time. Milan’s pollution was killing me, Enrico’s job would be mostly in Lecco, and it was a good place for Ross to spend her teenage years – she had a lot more freedom there than we would have felt safe for her in Milan.

But Lecco is also a small, typically introverted Italian town. There’s not a lot to do there, we have hardly any local friends, and those tend to be busy with their jobs and extended families. We have given lots of dinner parties, but we rarely get invited back. With Ross gone, that leaves a lot of time when it’s just the two of us.

Lecco isn’t the only problem. By any measure, my career opportunities anywhere in Italy are scarce. I’m middle-aged, foreign, female, and opinionated, in a country where it is legal to specify “young and good-looking” in a want ad, and the current prime minister has appointed former showgirls of questionable qualifications to his cabinet, for very questionable reasons.

In “shocking but not surprising” news, a friend told me she recently saw a documentary on PBS which stated that female employment in Italy is at its lowest since WWII. I haven’t yet found any online corroboration for this, but do know that equal opportunities for women in Italy are nearly non-existent.

High-tech doesn’t do well in Italy, either. Although it’s a G8 country, Italy is only number 25 in an Economist Intelligence Unit ranking of IT competitiveness. In other words: not much original is going on there. Many large American/multinational high-tech firms (Cisco, HP, Sun, Microsoft) have offices in Italy, but those are primarily sales and support sites, not places where someone like me is likely to flourish. And they’re mostly in the suburbs of Milan, which would be at least a two-hour commute from Lecco, and put me right back into the pollution that was causing me so many health problems before.

All of these factors have been on my mind for some time. I’ve found lots of evidence to support my negative assessment of my chances in Italy. I freely admit to bias, but can anyone show me evidence to the contrary?

The upshot of it all is that I’m angry – very, very angry. And bitterly disappointed. If anyone should have done well in Italy, it was me. I speak the language fluently. I understand the culture. I gave one hell of a lot to Italy (including a horrendous amount of taxes on my American salaries), and got very little in return except years of frustration and underemployment. In the end, the only way to stay would have been to throw away 20+ years of work experience – work that I truly love – and do something that merely exploited my foreignness: teach English, run tours, write “Under the Lake Como Moon”, etc.

That I will not do.

So I’m divorcing Italy.

Not my Italian husband, mind. Living apart has been very hard on both of us but, for the time being, we’ve decided to try to stick it out.

But I’m definitely divorcing Italy. I’ll visit, as long as Enrico and friends and family are there, but I don’t expect to ever live there again (NB: I’ll be surprised if Ross does, either).

This decision comes with a raft of emotions, probably similar to those surrounding a divorce. Anger. Betrayal. “I gave you the best years of my life!” Sadness. Grief.

Italy has a lot going for it still, and, for some people, it’s their ideal place, even if they weren’t born there. I don’t deny that nor attempt to dissuade them. But, for me, it’s over. And that would be a painful revelation even without the complication of an Italian husband who still lives and works in Italy.

So if I’m not very enthusiastic (to put it mildly) about Italy these days, now you know why.

NB: A year and a half later, I left Enrico as well.

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The Twitter Diaries: November, 2008 part 2

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about to go offline for the rest of the day to make final party arrangements7:11 PM Nov 16th, 2008 from web

…and a good time was had by all 12:14 AM Nov 18th, 2008 from web

@c0t0d0s0 sorry I missed you [at CEC], too. It was a crazy week. Still is.8:11 PM Nov 18th, 2008 from web in reply to c0t0d0s0

@thepartycow anything with bacon tastes good!11:25 PM Nov 18th, 2008 from web in reply to thepartycow

running the stats to see who won the blogging contest.11:40 PM Nov 18th, 2008 from web

<sigh> Italian university reforms – be sure to read the comments!11:55 PM Nov 18th, 2008 from web

@c0t0d0s0 have to survive 2 more days of SC08 (didn’t do much on it today, another student party that we sponsored to attend tonight)11:56 PM Nov 18th, 2008 from web in reply to c0t0d0s0

@c0t0d0s0 …and then I’m gonna make like a sheep herder and get the flock out of here!11:56 PM Nov 18th, 2008 from web in reply to c0t0d0s0

The Glamorous Life (revised and expanded)1:12 AM Nov 19th, 2008 from web

trying to remember when I last had a full day off, let alone a weekend. It’s all catching up with me now.4:47 PM Nov 19th, 2008 from web

Touring TACC, should get some cool tho very noisy footage6:29 PM Nov 20th, 2008 from twitterrific

Sc08 winding down. Everyone’s exhausted8:31 PM Nov 20th, 2008 from twitterrific

quoted in David Pogue’s column today, see if you can guess which one was me: 11:09 PM Nov 20th, 2008 from web

the long run of conferences is officially over. A meeting or two tomorrow, then off to St. Barthelmy on Saturday. Total collapse first4:02 AM Nov 21st, 2008 from web

need a cheap, funky venue for an OpenStorage Summit in SFO, Feb 23rd. Suggestions?5:31 PM Nov 21st, 2008 from web

biker babes and others on the SC08 show floor8:48 PM Nov 22nd, 2008 from web

Austin airport waiting for a flight to jfk. Tomorrow on to st Barth’s!10:50 PM Nov 22nd, 2008 from twitterrific

On the way to overnight with a classmate in NYC. Ross wants to go out.4:10 AM Nov 23rd, 2008 from twitterrific

Another bat out of hell taxi ride in new york2:34 PM Nov 23rd, 2008 from twitterrific

woke at 6, slept again il 10, still utterly exhausted. Going to be hard to pull together numbers today.4:02 PM Nov 24th, 2008 from web
(I wasn’t entirely on vacation…)

…have to admit that being in a tropical paradise doesn’t help!4:08 PM Nov 24th, 2008 from web

@tgardner totally not watching Rachael Ray. Why, is she doing something we should actually care about?12:45 AM Nov 25th, 2008 from web in reply to tgardner

Video stats completed & sent. Time to pour another shot of vanilla rum and go help cook Hindustani khanna1:19 AM Nov 25th, 2008 from web

@pizzocalabro thanks for the giggle – I needed that. Can’t figure out whether I want to see Twilight. Just read the book. Enh.3:59 AM Nov 25th, 2008 from web in reply to pizzocalabro

@pizzocalabro thanks for the reminder- haven’t read Cleolinda in AGES.4:50 AM Nov 25th, 2008 from web in reply to pizzocalabro

listening to the cries of a lost goat kid, and the deeper, hoarse bleats of its distraught mother. They’ll find each other.2:42 PM Nov 25th, 2008 from web

St. Barthelemy: The Return from web

@tgardner run too much with the beer dogs & you soon become a much bigger dog than you were. I wish I hadn’t learned to like beer!5:08 PM Nov 25th, 2008 from web in reply to tgardner

island wifi4:08 PM Nov 26th, 2008 from web

the problem with having a huge international family is that there’s always something scary going on near someone you love (Mumbai, now)9:38 PM Nov 26th, 2008 from web

@missbhavens check out this one: http://www.beginningwithi.c…12:10 AM Nov 27th, 2008 from web in reply to missbhavens

this is India’s 9/11. Have any Americans even noticed? Hello, people! This matters!4:35 AM Nov 27th, 2008 from web

role call of friends in Mumbai okay so far, tho one of the police commissioners killed was the relative of a schoolmate.2:04 PM Nov 27th, 2008 from web

@rosso thanks for the links on Mumbai – very helpful.2:22 PM Nov 27th, 2008 from web in reply to rosso

an Indian friend is sad that her Australian friend can’t come visit now – he’s too high-profile.2:28 PM Nov 27th, 2008 from web

But she also said “I don’t want to be walking around with someone who’s a target”.2:28 PM Nov 27th, 2008 from web

Then she asked me: “So when are you coming back to India?” <wistful irony>2:29 PM Nov 27th, 2008 from web

@trine email seems to be normal, but I couldn’t get thru to a Mumbai land line from Skype last night, nor watch any Indian news video sites3:49 PM Nov 27th, 2008 from web in reply to trine

@pandemia se vuoi qualche appunto dall’esperienza Sun, fammi sapere5:08 PM Nov 27th, 2008 from web in reply to pandemia

today I’m 46 and my entire life is in question. Interesting times, I guess.3:31 PM Nov 28th, 2008 from web

@ThinGuy thanks. Not getting laid off would be a good start.3:41 PM Nov 28th, 2008 from web in reply to ThinGuy

@lucaconti @pandemia (non mi follow su nessuno dei 2, non posso messaggiarti). Cmq dipende dal giorno, non ricordo la data3:45 PM Nov 28th, 2008 from web in reply to lucaconti

battery meter on my Air doesn’t know where it is anymore6:18 PM Nov 28th, 2008 from web

oops10:30 PM Nov 28th, 2008 from web

@ThinGuy no worse than the many times I’ve fallen off horses. Could use a good neck massage, but that’s about it. Happy birthday to me!1:19 AM Nov 29th, 2008 from web in reply to ThinGuy

Suketu Mehta says it for me9:58 AM Nov 29th, 2008 from web

morning-after soreness from yesterday’s car misadventure. ow, ow, ow. Need a massage, maybe.11:22 AM Nov 29th, 2008 from web

@jscusc from where I’m sitting, the tropical trees and bushes look amazing without snow. ; )4:28 PM Nov 29th, 2008 from web in reply to jscusc

the evening ended with a house concert including http://tinyurl.com/6pru877:02 AM Nov 30th, 2008 from web

@pippawilson ma anche il vice-versa!3:56 PM Nov 30th, 2008 from web in reply to pippawilson

Obama and his cabinet, TCKs6:41 PM Nov 30th, 2008 from web

contemplating: if I get RIFfed by Sun, could I get a job in India? China? Hmm.6:46 PM Nov 30th, 2008 from web

A friend writes: “A lot of the children at…the most elite and oldest school in Bombay have lost one or both parents” – truly India’s 9/117:13 PM Nov 30th, 2008 from twhirl

@c0t0d0s0 no particular reason, and thanks for the compliment, but surely that’s what we’re all thinking right now.7:20 PM Nov 30th, 2008 from twhirl in reply to c0t0d0s0

@jowyang re chai, make your own! recipes vary, but most involve boiling milk, water with tea, sugar + spices esp. cardamom11:35 PM Nov 30th, 2008 from twhirl in reply to jowyang

@pizzocalabro any kind you like, but plain black, not flavored. You’ll want to use a strainer for the spices, e.g. cinnamon stick and clove11:48 PM Nov 30th, 2008 from twhirl in reply to pizzocalabro

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Words of Wisdom from Irish Taxi Drivers

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Taxi drivers the world over are usually gregarious and interested in people (it’s more or less a job requirement). I even met one, years ago in the US, who told me he was driving a taxi to gather stories for a novel he wanted to write.

I’ve just made a flying (in all senses of the word) visit to Dublin, which required four or five taxi rides between airport, hotel, and office, so I had ample opportunity to learn that Irish taxi drivers are more garrulous than most, and wise and funny with it.

The first one, who took me from the airport to the Sun offices the day I arrived, upon learning that this was my first visit to Ireland (yes, tick another “country beginning with I” off the list), told me:

“There are two things you should never do in Ireland: never touch another person’s beer at the pub – that’s sacrilege – and never call an Irishman an Englishman.”

He then reeled off a list of “stupid questions you should never ask,” attributing most of them to Texan tourists:

  • “That’s a beautiful castle, but why did they build it so close to the motorway?” (A real Texan probably said “highway”, not “motorway”.)
  • “Why is the grass so green here?” – Answer: “We paint it for the tourists.”
  • “When will I see a leprechaun?” – Answer: “After your 14th pint of Guinness.”

After giving someone else on the road a piece of his mind, this driver also explained to me that the Irish swear a lot.

“But it’s not necessarily bad. If someone tells you to fuck off, that’s bad. But if a man at the pub asks a woman ‘Do you want to fuck off with me?’, that’s a compliment.”

…

Of course everyone’s talking about the global economic crisis. Another driver told me: “The economists say it’ll be the worst off we’ve ever been. But that’s only relative. This was a very poor country 10-15 years ago.”

He grew up in a family of nine children, whose sheer number entitled the family to a “medical” card. This meant that, when their father’s weekly paycheck ran out on Thursday, the driver (the oldest boy in the family) would take his mother’s shopping trolley to the “stew house” where he was given a big pot of stew and one of rice to tide the family over until payday (Saturday). “I had two older sisters, but they were ashamed to be seen going to the stew house.”

“Now I own a four-bedroom villa in Torquay, as well as the house I live in here [in Dublin]. If I have to sell the villa because of the crisis, how badly off am I, really? I hate to say it, but maybe this crisis will teach people to tighten their belts. We’ve all become too greedy.”

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