The Twitter Diaries: December, 2008, part 1

all this and I’m supposed to do Christmas shopping, too? Amazon to the rescue!

night before my last day in St B. Hasn’t been totally a vacation (worked every day), but I do feel refreshed, ready to plunge back in. Sorta

“Many posts are in … countries where various discomforts exist and American-style amenities and e-mail are unavailable. ” FSOT guide

@zephoria re copy editors, yes, even the Economist seems to have lost some, to my shock and horror

@davest depending where you are, e.g. United checkin area, it may be quicker to walk.

2 things re. this article : 1. the headline puns are passe’ 2. spot the Freudian slip!

doing some very tedious stat work, half listening to some amazing live music

In Manhattan most of Wednesday. Who wants to meet up?

last morning in St B after a very late night. I was going to sleep later, but there was a goat bleating outside my window

On my way to jfk to fly to Austin, collect a suitcase, and on to Denver tomorrow. Mpk again sometime before we go to Italy for Xmas dec 18

@ItalyArtTravel home in lecco on lake comp plus abruzzo where my mil lives

In spite of actually having worked every day of it, the “vacation” was refreshing. I’m Coming back loaded for bear, so watch out!

@jeffreytaylor did that building complex [capitol in Dhaka, Bangladesh] finally get finished? when we were there in 1976 it was a deserted construction site

back in Austin, briefly

10 minutes of Christmas shopping on Amazon

about to leave for the airport for the last leg of this very long trip. The next one may be as soon as next week, but will be much shorter

I want a “never tell me this again” check box for airport announcements.

Shuttle driver [taking me home, finally] returning to terminal for 1 more. My generous spirit wars w/ knowing this will make the trip even longer

@missbhavens thank you for your constant ability to make me laugh, often when I really, really need it

back in the office after a month on the road, wading through expense reports and producing video

Hey friends in Italy I’ll be back on the 19th. Let’s make plans to meet!

Enjoying the Colorado sunshine while my friend raids Borders. Sometimes I actually manage to sit still for a whole ten minutes

leaving those blue, blue waters behind

came home sick with a sinus infection. Feel like my head is going to explode

ooh, here comes the snow!

watching the temperature plunge at http://tinyurl.com/6o8lgz

not returnable

@anildash “woah” is how Tin Tin’s dog Snowy barks (in English). I always wondered how that was supposed to be pronounced.

for the 2nd time, email from a Harker School student asking permission to use a photo from my site. That school is teaching great netiquette

@jeffreytaylor you’ll always be welcome to come enjoy the view from our place on Lake Como

@jeffreytaylor glad to hear it. The view’s not bad here in Colorado, either!

sometimes, to survive, you need a change of environment

Chelsea Bluegrass

editing video and running stats. As so often

@webmink examples?

for anyone who’s really, really into storage (and video)

magician at work: http://tinyurl.com/5ppojd

@lbridenne76 @smaragdis Might be a good idea but I want easy, comprehensive, aggregated stats. I spend too much time running numbers

@trine I hope that is less serious than it sounds

trying to get into the <shudder> holiday spirit.

I am all out of cope

@missbhavens tell you what, I’m just gonna come live with you!

an enlightened reader writes me: “get that Obama crap off this Italian website!” Obviously not reading too closely

@jowyang I used to “follow” people on the Usenet, with mostly positive reactions: http://www.beginningwithi.c…

@jowyang I think it would depend largely on how it’s being used. e.g., Amazon deals is exactly what I expect, so it’s not spam

mathematician Serge Lang used to make the world’s best eggnog for Yale Xmas parties. He used Courvoisier. That sounds perfect for tonight

yet another crisis tamed, at least for the moment. Home with eggnog.

really, really glad I have a weekend of nothing much to do. Physically and emotionally exhausted.

@jeffreytaylor [a friend who had just left Paris to move back to the US] best to concentrate on the upsides right now. 24 hour groceries, for example.

@divinacucina I call that an epic tourist fail

need to do a bit more Christmas shopping (SIL and MIL), video editing, pack for next week’s travels

@tara_kelly . You’re providing info they need, if that also happens to be self-serving, that doesn’t make you evil.

@lskrocki weird. The US medical system never ceases to amaze me.

the anti-Obama guy emailed me again, accusing me of being neither Italian (never said I was) nor American (which I am). WTF?

Overheard in the mall: “yeah, she’s not gonna have a big butt forever”

survived a day of shopping. I don’t usually have the stamina for this most American of sports

@anildash You’ve been reading Terry Pratchett, I take it.

learn in Italian in Song: Acqua Azzurra, Acqua Chiara

@markingegno hai bisogno di sostegno morale?

@anildash start with “Hogfather”, which is seasonal and makes exactly the parallel you did: grim reaper = Santa Claus. Wildly funny, too.

providing Momly reassurances to the kid. Could use some of the same myself.

@jscusc on a Saturday night, no less. Why ARE you working?

@ThinGuy bring them out to Colorado. the 1-2 inches predicted looks like 4 to me already

@stephenfry So glad to see you & Hugh are still friends. Hear there’s a lot of snark about him in the UK.

@ThinGuy Five?!? wow. In my book, just /having/ more than one is incredibly brave.

don’t know why the neighbors are shoveling/snowblowing their sidewalks and driveways. Snow still coming down hard.

@Halcyon thanks, eggnography.com was fun!

Pandigital photo frame for mother-in-law’s Xmas present looks pretty snazzy. Whole family will contribute photos.

@glynnfoster depending, might still be better than no project at all. Here’s hoping for us warm ‘n fuzzy community types.

@glynnfoster having a job I can be passionate about is why I left Italy. Here’s hoping I get to keep it!

@glynnfoster Happy to say it has been.

@glynnfoster er, has been noticed.

Mom’s tech support, at your service

it’s 1 F here, – something with wind chill. And the neighborhood kids are going sledding. Don’t think I’m cut out for Colorado

transferring old posts about Christmas in Italy to my new WP site.

last night’s SNL was so bad even Hugh Laurie couldn’t save it. Do they not have writers anymore?

@macsun heading there tomorrow myself. Forecast is warmer, but also wetter

two concalls then a shuttle to the airport. Guess I better hurry up and eat some lunch

“Homei Chinese food $1 a scoop” sounds absolutely alarming

“The most typical case is when a number of residents group together to complain about the aroma of Asian cooking” http://tinyurl.com/5c74dm

The Twitter Diaries: November, 2008 part 2

about to go offline for the rest of the day to make final party arrangements from web

…and a good time was had by all from web

@c0t0d0s0 sorry I missed you [at CEC], too. It was a crazy week. Still is. from web in reply to c0t0d0s0

@thepartycow anything with bacon tastes good! from web in reply to thepartycow

running the stats to see who won the blogging contest. from web

<sigh> Italian university reforms – be sure to read the comments! 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) from web in reply to c0t0d0s0

@c0t0d0s0 …and then I’m gonna make like a sheep herder and get the flock out of here! from web in reply to c0t0d0s0

The Glamorous Life (revised and expanded) 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. from web

Touring TACC, should get some cool tho very noisy footage from twitterrific

Sc08 winding down. Everyone’s exhausted from twitterrific

quoted in David Pogue’s column today, see if you can guess which one was me: from web

the long run of conferences is officially over. A meeting or two tomorrow, then off to St. Barthelmy on Saturday. Total collapse first from web

need a cheap, funky venue for an OpenStorage Summit in SFO, Feb 23rd. Suggestions? from web

biker babes and others on the SC08 show floor from web

Austin airport waiting for a flight to jfk. Tomorrow on to st Barth’s! from twitterrific

On the way to overnight with a classmate in NYC. Ross wants to go out. from twitterrific

Another bat out of hell taxi ride in new york from twitterrific

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

…have to admit that being in a tropical paradise doesn’t help! from web

@tgardner totally not watching Rachael Ray. Why, is she doing something we should actually care about? from web in reply to tgardner

Video stats completed & sent. Time to pour another shot of vanilla rum and go help cook Hindustani khanna 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. from web in reply to pizzocalabro

@pizzocalabro thanks for the reminder- haven’t read Cleolinda in AGES. 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. 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! from web in reply to tgardner

island wifi 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) from web

@missbhavens check out this one: http://www.beginningwithi.c… from web in reply to missbhavens

this is India’s 9/11. Have any Americans even noticed? Hello, people! This matters! from web

role call of friends in Mumbai okay so far, tho one of the police commissioners killed was the relative of a schoolmate. from web

@rosso thanks for the links on Mumbai – very helpful. 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. from web

But she also said “I don’t want to be walking around with someone who’s a target”. from web

Then she asked me: “So when are you coming back to India?” <wistful irony> 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 sites from web in reply to trine

@pandemia se vuoi qualche appunto dall’esperienza Sun, fammi sapere from web in reply to pandemia

today I’m 46 and my entire life is in question. Interesting times, I guess. from web

@ThinGuy thanks. Not getting laid off would be a good start. 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 data from web in reply to lucaconti

battery meter on my Air doesn’t know where it is anymore from web

oops 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! from web in reply to ThinGuy

Suketu Mehta says it for me from web

morning-after soreness from yesterday’s car misadventure. ow, ow, ow. Need a massage, maybe. from web

@jscusc from where I’m sitting, the tropical trees and bushes look amazing without snow. ; ) from web in reply to jscusc

the evening ended with a house concert including http://tinyurl.com/6pru87 from web

@pippawilson ma anche il vice-versa! from web in reply to pippawilson

Obama and his cabinet, TCKs from web

contemplating: if I get RIFfed by Sun, could I get a job in India? China? Hmm. 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 9/11 from twhirl

@c0t0d0s0 no particular reason, and thanks for the compliment, but surely that’s what we’re all thinking right now. 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. cardamom 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 clove from twhirl in reply to pizzocalabro

Zhong Wang on COMSTAR and FCoE

Zhong Wang speaks at Storage Networking World (April, 2008) on COMSTAR Solaris-Based Storage Device.

filmed & edited by Deirdré Straughan

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Deirdré Straughan on Italy, India, the Internet, the world, and now Australia