Category Archives: bio

The Twitter Diaries: November, 2008, part 1

Barcelona: Casa Battlo

John Cleese nails it: http://tinyurl.com/18r (thanks Indecision!). I never knew what “berk” exactly meant til now…

once again, as so often, filming stuff I do not understand (nor ever will). At least this hotel has decent free wifi

The term “patriotism” makes me heave. Let’s all just be proud and supportive citizens of our one and only PLANET, okay?

@stephenfry that begs to be a Cole Porter lyric

@webmink can’t say Esquire is wrong [in their Obama endorsement article], sadly. I would like to be proud to be American. Kinda hard right now.

Qwitter is a very instructive tool. I am amazed by the tweets which apparently inspire people to unfollow me. Maybe there’s no correlation?

@tgardner that would be incredibly good news [Ryanair plans cheap tran-sAtlantic flights by late 2009] for me and my transAtlantic family. We can already get from London to Bergamo cheap

just queued up the iGoogle weather widget with all the places I’m going to be in the next 3.5 weeks. Fortunately, all warmer than here

beautiful: http://tinyurl.com/5eej54

@missbhavens …and it’s not even the eve yet. Camomile tea. Or, better, scotch

I hope someone, somewhere, has good video of Rickman and Duncan in “Private Lives” in 2002. Saw it on stage in London. Magic.

@ThinGuy take them [the kids] with you. If they’re annoying enough, someone will bump you to the head of the line. ; )

upcoming travel: San Diego (FAST) Sat-Mon, Las Vegas (CEC) Tues-Weds, MPK (Forum) Thurs, Austin (HPC Consortium/SC08) Friday on

Stewart and Colbert advertising on my site. I love it!

photos of Barcellona’s Parc Guell

Heidi Klum as Kali http://tinyurl.com/6k8tr3

@missbhavens really, truly LOL! thanks, needed that. FYI, daughter full steam ahead on nursing – wish her luck in chemistry 101~!

@AmberSafa it’s a lot cheaper [anger management] if you take it out on unused clay flowerpots – they shatter very nicely

here’s Waldo! http://www.fotolog.com/ross…

another night of poor sleep. I hope tonight I’m awake for better reasons.

vloggers: here’s a chance to make money off the footage you know you’re going to shoot today anyway http://www.the44thpresident…

@ThinGuy re. gym, very true, but not everyone has time time or money for it. Even eating well is expensive.

@koberoi was thinking of publishing a guide to pronouncing Indian names so people stop calling you Cool Dip

@italylogue got a request from a documentarist for footage from everywhere in the world, sent it out here to vlogger buds

@seancarlos you can kiss my hubby for me there, er, no, maybe he wouldn’t like that…

@rosso okay, YOU can kiss my hubby for me

a colleague is whistling “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow…”

@jeffreytaylor I was listening to Hairspray, which seemed appropriate

@dfugate myself, I was listening to Hairspray.

love working at a multinational. Office neighbor is wandering the halls speaking on his bluetooth headset about “supairclass” (he’s French)

@jeffreytaylor another good one: http://www.fivethirtyeight….

@DavidHowell absolutely, I will be weeping like a baby either way.

@jeffreytaylor Dole going is a win for us atheists. Sort of.

@DavidHowell you saw this, right? http://www.beginningwithi.c…

exhausted, relieved, in tears of joy. I can has sleep now?

@comay amen to that!

no delete in Twitter right now – I hope they bring it back, that could be dangerous

@SaraD Everyone seems to forget that he’s only half black. Hmm… Constantly referring to him as black, is that racist?

@c_bright I didn’t do much [for the Obama campaign], but was happy to contribute what I could

gonna listen to the Sun annual meeting http://www.sun.com/aboutsun…

@FakeSarahPalin thanks, you were great. (and I mean the fake one, not the real one)

really sad about Prop 8, though.

@giovanni who’s stopping conservatives from speaking? I, for one, am willing to listen.

@giovanni I’m surprised. They haven’t done so up to now.

first time I’ve ever listened to a shareholder meeting. Have the feeling nothing important gets done here.

a multinational, bilingual girl votes for a multi-everything guy: http://www.fotolog.com/ross…

nailing down party details, processing video and uploading it to be transcribed, trying to remember where I left my head

one of my favorite restaurants in the world just sent their December menu. Hungry!

Berlusca strikes again: “Obama is young, handsome, and tanned”. http://tinyurl.com/6a3acq

Berlusca also wants to “offer advice, as an old man to a young one [Obama]”. My advice would be to stay the hell away from this buffoon

@dons_light not yet. May show up on http://www.ansa.it/site/not… or http://www.corriere.it/ (English)

@tgardner one reason I never got around to getting Italian citizenship: I would have been legally obliged to vote there

for those who wanted to read Berlusca’s words in English: http://tinyurl.com/67lza5

babysitting a video camera, anxiously awaiting a hot lunch (these floor-to-ceiling windows are damn cold!)

moving my highly popular Italian slang pages to WordPress. Lots of tedious link fixing

@darios at least we Americans will soon be able to stop apologizing for our president

@tgardner see you there! I’ll be the one running around with a video camera

travelling tomorrow. Looking forward to the San Diego Zoo on Sunday – need a break from the people, talking to the animals will be perfect

@Halcyon cable boxes are actually pretty dumb (because cheap) and don’t have the circuitry for things like USB

@zephoria yeah, kinda makes me want to go work in Washington

any recommendations on a good FTP client for Mac? finding Filezilla too flakey

thanks for the recs, everybody – Cyberduck is great!

@jeffreytaylor thanks for that link [to Obama campaign backstage photos] – very cool. But I wanna see Barack and Michelle kiss!

Waiting to get food at Denver intl

@jowyang just met somebody who based a whole business on that

Heading for downtown San diego in hopes sunshine and food will make me feel better

Wow I could take a tram almost to Mexico

@KermitRocks Guess it folded he works for sun now. Had domains like ringtones.com, cycled traffic between them. pornies do the same I bet

@jowyang talk to my friend @seancarlos about that. He helped me build great seo

@jowyang …based on real content I hasten to add

@KermitRocks the black hat stuff prob doesn’t work anymore anyway. But building relationships and content takes a lot of time

Gets dark very early in sandiego this time of year

Time to go hang with the geeks of LISA

@ThinGuy I will be there [Las Vegas] tues to thurs for cec. Meet up?

@KermitRocks yup. Glad I started my site in 2001

enjoying a windy cool day at the San diego zoo

just back from a lovely day at the San Diego Zoo. Nice to not think about technology for a few hours

Hmm. Qwitter says @pandemia has unfollowed me. Luca, what’s up with that?

yeesh is there anyone at Sun NOT working this weekend?

Sun has a powerful army of bloggers. If we can only get at least some of them marching in the same direction. ; )

oh dear. the OpenOffice spell checker doesn’t know what to make of “www.opensolaris.org”, suggests “irresponsibleness”

I’ve Been to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo…

@lskrocki yes, indeed, but if we can get all these lovely different voices to sing in chorus now and then…

…and we’re off! http://tinyurl.com/6l3k3u

@timbray nah, the Amber Road stories all hit at the same time. Embargo ended at 12:01 eastern.

filming an all-day ZFS workshop at LISA, while aggregating blog posts about the Sun Storage 7000 launch http://blogs.sun.com/storage/

@jeffreytaylor ouch! good severance package, I hope?

thanks @rossohttp://notspeakinginmyname…. a very cool statement of what real Italians think (not corrupt, wealthy, stupid politicians)

@mmcallen aww, sorry to hear it. But keep trying.

geek humor: http://tinyurl.com/62dljm (I’m a geek – I love it!)

finally got 50 UT students coming to our SC08 party in Austin. Woulda been embarrassing not to have them – the t-shirts are burnt orange!

it’s the Bryan and Mike show! http://tinyurl.com/yr72th

very cool to see so many Sun folks in the chat channel on http://tinyurl.com/yr72th , answering questions

nice to see my bud Ben Rockwood up there, but I prefer him in a kilt

short night, long day – want beer! (and food)

in the laptop lounge, catching up before travel. LISA has the best wifi of any conference I’ve ever been to. Must be that sponsor

San Diego airport has free wifi. Cool.

@davest and Denver, and Las Vegas last time I looked. Definitely a huge plus in any airport.

an Italian man with a really bad haircut is travelling on this flight to Las Vegas

@tgardner glad to hear it [good weather in Las Vegas], about to get on a plane to come there

Awaiting bag at las vegas. Remembering why I hate this place. No, it’s not the baggage

@ThinGuy sounds good. I like vegas better when I manage to find real natives

awake and working in Las Vegas at 6:30 am. Yeah, sure, my job is sooooo glamorous.

too many steps to United online checkin. Stop giving me “special” offers, I’m in a hurry!

@ThinGuy sorry I missed it, ended up too tired. I’m filming the HPC track this morning/aft, speaking at BoF this evening. drink in between?

filming a great deal of detail on High-Performance Computing. Sun: we do cool stuff.

anyone at CEC, come to the blogging BoF this evening 8-9. I suspect the fur is going to fly. ; ) [It did.]

my friends in marketing owe me a drink. Or three.

@alexiaco mi ricordi che dovrei aggiungere SOLA al mio dizionario di slang italiano. Come lo traduresti esattamente?

@caseymckinnon the delete function [in Twitter] has been coming and going for days

finally seeing the new GUI. wow. so much for the theory that Sun sucks at GUIs.

@davest hospital? Okay now ?

Mildly depressed today. Lack of sleep not helping. Why do we have so little faith in each other? Just makes life sadder

@jeffreytaylor cause change in Italy?I wish him luck. India will be a lot easier

@jeffreytaylor subscribers to what? I’m missing context on who this guy is

“It takes a while…”

if the phone in this flex office is ringing for me, I’ll be seriously creeped out

about to moderate chat for my boss’ talk on Managing Scalable Storage Environments with Solaris http://www.ustream.tv/sun

@ThinGuy @smaragdis the way this week is going, I’m lucky so far I’ve only lost my beloved pashmina scarf

France’s response to Berlusconi idiocy: http://worldmeets.us/journa…

argh! no one ask anymore questions – they turn the camera on me! [while I was moderating the UStream chat]

wow, the camera really does add pounds. what I see on Ustream is not what I see in front of me

@lbridenne76 looked more like 20 pounds to me! But women tend to be more sensitive about that

spam email from “mr nice”. somehow not convincing

Lynn finishing up her talk, then we’ll go to SFO to catch the last plane for this week – then I get to stay on the ground for 7 whole days!

@Halcyon beautiful! http://flickr.com/photos/ha…

Ross cooked a great Italian dinner for 8 Sun colleagues last night. Everyone a bit edgy though mostly optimistic [about reorg news]. Change is needed.

“…international diplomacy would change if more public figures actually said what was on their minds.” http://tinyurl.com/579ot9

filming Andy Bechtolsheim. No, I’m not going to give you any details. NDA.

@jeffreytaylor cool! see you on my next trip to the area [San Francisco] then, in Feb

oh, well, if you want details [on Andy Bechtolsheim’s talk], follow @sunhpc

what?!? surely there’s a tech fix waiting to happen here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008…

my “glamorous” job

The Twitter Diaries: October, 2008, part 2

@rosso well, damn, you couldn’t have waited for me? ; )

“…open source is on a run away adoption curve and will relegate companies relying on software licensing revenues to history’s scrap heap.”

caricature artist in action

@missbhavens that would be way worse if there were flies already on them

Looking for cupcakes and Wiis. Don’t ask.

@alanc actually, I was just wondering whether there’s any beer left in the lab fridge over here at BRM…

Does anybody really care about politicians’ sex lives? So bored of the panting hypocrisy around these things.

came home to find flowers had arrived from my dad. Very sweet.

@jowyang your equation would need to take into account the many countries where there are few pianos and very few tuners

@billstreeter almost as scary as the larger version

@Cinegage I have rarely seen anyone as vapid-looking as that Bachmann

looking forward to chatting with my vlogger buds in 12 hours. hope I can wind down enough to sleep tonight. beer wore off

“Republicans Rain Negative Automated Calls on Voters in Swing States” – glad I don’t have a home phone! only the Obama campaign has my #

The Streets of Colorado

just back from videotaping people about why they’re working for the Obama campaign. Powerful stuff

wow, I’d be cringeing if I were from Johnstown PA http://tinyurl.com/65z5tm This is not the America I want to be part of

my Obama volunteers video is compressing now.

“Why I’m Volunteering for Obama”

@ThinGuy I am SOOOO jealous. Saw him in Austin and embarrassing number of years ago

@jowyang probably basic salaries for wait staff are actually enough to live on in Japan. Also helps when businesses are family-owned.

if I ever watched TV with ads, I wouldn’t right now: http://www.nytimes.com/2008…

I hardly need to look at Google News anymore, let alone TV. I get all the important stuff, including good links, from my Twitter buds.

“…all towns have values, not just small towns…” – Why isn’t Colin Powell running for president?

some actual data on votes: http://tinyurl.com/4ofnwj

I got the band I wanted for the SC08 party: http://www.thesinghsband.com/ yay!

it’s warm enough tonight to have the windows open, so I can hear coyotes yipping down by the lake. American wildlife amazes me

@DavidHowell Americans’ Phobia of Socialized Medicine

@Cinegage botched healthcare happens everywhere, regardless of system. No system is perfect, but some are fairer than others.

Jon Stewart, my hero: http://tinyurl.com/6j7pvt (born the same day as me, too)

@DavidHowell gee, I had no idea I was so divisive. ; ) for anyone who’s wondering, here’s the URL Americans’ Phobia of Socialized Medicine: 

@DavidHowell it would be more interesting if @edubya put a comment on my article

@Cinegage for the value of “better” where better= “available to all”, yes, it’s better

@Cinegage why shouldn’t health care be a universal right? Clean water is. Police and fire protection are.

@cristianconti mh, potrebbe sempre cambiare in peggio. E’ questo che vorrei evitare.

@Cinegage so that should only be available to some people? it ain’t easy, but other countries manage to share that wealth of skill

supportive working environment = your boss provides whiskey (the good stuff) and chocolate on request

@Cinegage again: no system is perfect, but this system could be a lot more equitable

just had a thought: constitutionally, what would happen if McCain dropped dead before election day?

@deirdresm yes, but who then gets the position? The VP-elect?

@lbridenne76 in reference to the whiskey? dunno about the best job (tho I love it), but certainly one of the better bosses

the kids gunning down the road are probably in the same van I noted earlier with a grenade sticker on the back window. American yobs.

I feel sick: http://tinyurl.com/56zz33

why expats go to a lot of trouble to vote: http://tinyurl.com/64hhr6

contemplating an escape to an island

@trine Nope, someplace warm, where I can drink vanilla rum on a beach and sleep a lot

@Chuckumentary does anyone ever ask these people (a) define socialism and (b) why is it so scary?

ugh. Apple hold music is a really smarmy version of “Forever Young”. Some songs just don’t need to be redone, ever.

I need a Halloween party to go to so I don’t have to spend all night giving candy to kids. Yes, I am the Halloween scrooge

crunching video of Bill Moore talking about SSDs

came home early for a rest, last-ditch attempt to shake this cold. I can’t be sick now!

“Are we like getting closer and closer to like socialism and stuff?” http://tinyurl.com/6j7pwk

are any of my followers TCKs? http://www.beginningwithi.c…

(actually, can think of two off the top of my head – Tim Bray and Rick Ramsey aka BigAdmin)

the Google news thumbnails showing Palin are starting to look like the ones I used to see for Hillary: strident, ugly, aggressive…

@dfugate I assume you meant INcompetent beauty queen…? ; ) yeah. I don’t like her, but this treatment looks misogynist to me

video: The Solid State Storage Revolution, Andy Bechtolsheim: http://tinyurl.com/6bsj67

revisiting very old pages as I (slowly, painfully) move my site, here’s a classic

@markramsey wow, that’s amazing. My dad, 69, ran the (failed) campaign to try to elect a black mayor in Beaumont, TX ~1965

looking at very complicated travel arrangements, but worth it if we can make it work

tired of everyone claiming to be or know or speak for the “real” anywhere. There is no single reality, or viewpoint, anywhere in the world.

In the office, trying to believe I’m not really that sick. Have to fly to Minneapolis this afternoon.

today’s vids on http://blogs.sun.com/storage/ – ZFS Boot in Solaris 10 Update 6, Flash Performance in Storage Systems

Twittamici italiani: figlia cerca forum dove italiani discutono l’elezione americana. Lasciate un messaggio http://www.fotolog.com/ross…

comment on my site: “you say litrally WAY TO MUCH it annoys me so yea just thought id let you no” Uh, honey: writing about TRANSLATION

just got a call from the Obama campaign in Alaska. We Colorado voters are certainly getting a lot of attention.

Always pleased when I put friends together and they really click. Two martinis make me very mellow too

geez, I’m missing all the fun in CO – could have gone to a “Women for Obama” house party with Kevin Costner Monday. And missed Hillary yday

rebuttal to Palin’s fruit fly remarks

@Cinegage given the hysteria over the label “socialist” in the US, neither side can admit that their proposals and actions are, in fact…

@italylogue for many years Castroni was the only place in Italy to get exotic spices, that’s far from true anymore

the smells of a Minnesota hot dish lunch are overwhelming

feeling like crap. Maybe I can take a day off and sleep on Friday before filming all weekend…

“If Italy managed to make everyone pay taxes, or collect only half of the 100 million euros evaded, it would be a very different country.”

for my fellow antique business machines fetishists: http://tinyurl.com/5twrze

Arrived Denver too tired to stand in the aisle as usual. Learning experience?

@Happen2bBlack I’m not typical but i consider the attempt to define “real” Americans, unamerican

moving into a new office. Windows! Sunlight!

@italylogue thanks, enjoyed that!

temp over at NREL http://tinyurl.com/6o8lgz is climbing rapidly – something on fire over there?

@ThinGuy Halloween is Nevada Day? There’s something way too appropriate in that, at least as concerns Las Vegas.

home sick, trying to wake up enough to face a long and very complex mail-in ballot (which I will hand carry in)

trying to understand the welter of amendments and referenda in this Colorado ballot

next up: benefits enrollment. Life is way too complicated.

I went, I saw, I voted. Well, turned in my mail-in ballot by hand. (I’ve been living in Italy, I don’t trust postal systems.)

interesting the number of people who are photographing and posting their completed ballots this year

thoughts for the day: http://tinyurl.com/5kz2hv and http://tinyurl.com/yfaqsg (need I say it: tongue in cheek!)

followed this http://tinyurl.com/6l6dfx to https://implicit.harvard.ed…

dunno why I’m subscribing to food blogs. No time to cook anymore.

at least for me, online ad revenues are plunging. Traffic is up, clicks are up, but earning is way, way down. Damn.

my feelings exactly: http://tinyurl.com/5jfzhj

!@#$@!#$ Dopplr doesn’t know where St. Barth’s is. Trying to send me to Arhus, Denmark. ?!?

dopplr is missing the entire FWI?

@smaragdis if you continue trying to give her freedom, yes. Worked with mine! (19 now)

I’ve been heroic enough for today. Let this next video finish uploading and I’m outta here. Besides, working Saturday and Sunday…

harangued my daughter about why this would be a really bad time to walk away from a scholarship.

the Obama campaign has done some of the cleverest marketing I’ve ever seen. My marketing hat would be off even if I didn’t want him to win

we’ve lost a great one: http://tinyurl.com/5akmem

The Economist endorses Obama: http://tinyurl.com/5gl2yg

@trine I once saw a pediatrician dress up as a beaten baby.

"Why So Serious?"

E` tutto il giorno che si sente parlare dell’uragano Ike.
Secondo le previsioni Austin dovrebbe ricevere solo un po` di piogga che dopo l’afa di questi ultimi mesi puo` farci solo bene.
Una folla di persone spaventate o forse speranzose che arrivi la fine del mondo, riempie i supermercati svuotando scaffalate di cibo creando una sorta di uragano umano dentro il supermercato.
E` Venerdi.
Batman mi sveglia, come promesso, con un caffe` espresso dalla mocha che gli ho regalato e un bacio. Deve andare al lavoro.
Dormo altre 3 ore nel suo letto che, a questo punto, preferisco al mio.
Venerdi passa in fretta tra una commissione e l’altra, la geniale idea di dipingermi le scarpe e il primo tentativo di trovare lavoro in un ristorante italiano.
Dalla sera prima quando mi ero addormentata piangendo nelle sue braccia a oggi, tutto sembra migliorare e mentre il resto del Texas e` in panico per via di Ike, io sono felice di questo vento che tira sempre piu` forte.
Dopo un’ottima cena a casa e qualche bicchiere di vino rosso che, concordiamo io e April, ci fa amare tutto di piu`; ci dirigiamo verso quel lato della citta`: il lato dove c’e` quella casetta sporca con un cane bianco e un tappeto elastico nel giardino.
Saltello dalla macchina alla porta verde acqua che apro entusiasta sapendo che dietro ci sara` lui, seduto sul divano.
I nostri sguardi si incontrano. Non lo vedo da stamattina eppure non riesco a non sorridere dalla gioia appena rivedo il suo viso.
“Che bella che sei”
“Grazie”
Bacio

April e Billy escono, io e Griffin decidiamo di trattarci bene con un po` di sani, brutti vizi. Compriamo delle birre e un pacchetto di sigarette, parliamo del piu` e del meno.
Gioco con la cintura di Batman.
“Al lavoro me la invidiano tutti”
“Io odio il tuo lavoro, quando ti vengo a trovare mi guardano tutti male”
“E` perche` sono gelosi di non avere una ragazza come te che fa regali cosi belli!”

Tiro su il tappo della birra e la colla che e` poggiata sul tavolo.
“Questo tavolo… la nostra prima conversazione e` stata su questo tavolo” Ricordo che mi disse che sarei dovuta tornare a darci un contributo artistico.
Appiccico il tappo di fianco alla collezione di altri tappi che ci sono appiccicati e procedo a scrivere con la colla i nostri nomi in sanskrito.

Ci sediamo fuori, il vento fa ballare i rami e cadere le foglie. Tutto attorno a noi e` scosso e spaventoso eppure noi rimaniamo impassibili. Abbracciati e uniti, in una maniera che ci viene fin troppo naturale.
Siamo il dettaglio che contrasta l’intera immagine, quello che lascerei colorato in una foto in bianco e nero come per sottolineare cio` che non ha bisogno di essere sottolineato.
Tutto e` cosi perfetto che nessuno direbbe, guardando la foto, che poco dopo io saro` sdraiata sul cemento macchiando il vestito di April di mascara mentre piango come il giorno che sono nata.
Riapriro` quella porta verde acqua per l’ultima volta in un disperato tentativo di aggiustare qualcosa che non e` rotto ma semplicemente non c’e`.
Sei sicuro?
Penso proprio di si.

Sono sveglia di notte fonda con la testa che esplode e gli occhi che bruciano. Mi saro` lavata i denti 7 volte ma il sapore di amaro non vuole andarsene.
Alla fine l’uragano Ike ha colpito solo me e io non vedo l’ora che inizi a diluviare cosi potro` danzare sotto la pioggia e far finta di essere in India o in qualche altra parte del mondo dove non esiste Batman.

La Verita`

e` che non so COSA voglio.

Mi ritrovo catapultata da una parte all’altra del mondo in un arco di tempo troppo breve per rendermene conto.
In ogni posto il mio comportamento e` modificato dalle circostanze e non riconoscere me stessa mi fa sentire ancora piu` persa. Mi aggrappo alle piccole cose che sanno di stabilita` e di casa: una pasta al pesto, una canzone di Vasco Rossi, un film di Bollywood e un po` di incenso!
Ma che cazzo di miscuglio sono?
E dove cazzo sono finita?
Ma soprattutto COSA VOGLIO?

Almeno Dicembre arrivera` in fretta e potro` di nuovo mimetizzarmi coi Lecchesi; e se ancora saro` reduce dallo shock culturale e la mini crisi esistenziale… almeno potro` berci sopra senza dover temere l’arresto!