Did you know Steven Seagal ...

… was the martial arts coordinator in the "Never say never again" James Bond film and broke Sean Connery’s wrist while showing him how to perform a martial arts move?

James Bond is a sissy!

What am I up to?

Good question! I started thinking about the different choices available and there was only one option: to start drinking beer professionally or to get depressed … two options: to start drinking beer professionally , to get depressed or to buy a weapon and then going into a killing spree … three options: to start drinking beer professionally, to get depressed, to buy a weapon and then going into a killing spree or to put all my energies into starting my own little thing developing web based games and stuff … five options … anyway! I went for this last option … even though I was pretty tempted by some of the other ones … choices, choices … :-P

And I have started already: you can see that I am a bit more active with the blog and I also started a web site thingy in www.framiq.com with a bit of a software development experiences blog but that I am also going to use as the place where the games themselves are going to go. Finally let me give you a quick glimpse of what the first game thingy is going to look like:


It is going to be a space exploration themed game, as you can see. This is a pre-alpha screen shoot with temporary graphics and I still haven't optimize it for mobile browsers. So the appearance is likely to change a bit/lot. Also, it is still going to take a couple of months (finger in the air) before I have a version I am happy with … this is just a "prototype" and if one thing I have learned all these years in software development is to never ever rush the deliveries and to never ever send software not properly tested out of the door!

So, be patient … I am! :-)

What happened during this five months?

Quite a few things … and nothing!

As you know I sold every single thing I had in the UK, put the rest of my belongings on a single suitcase and moved to Brazil for this nice job with high hopes and expectation. Well … it didn't really work that well … I found myself in the middle of a mix of economic crisis, company without clear goals, desperation, people with secret agendas and people giving up. So, the high hopes broke and the expectation turned into disbelieve … and I though: "Ups!" :-)
Thanks God (not literally though) mentally I am stronger than Yoda so I put myself together and waited patiently until it was the right time to leave. And that is what I have been up to this time: waiting, doing my numbers, looking at the options … unfortunately I wasn't really on the mood to update the blog that much! :-D

So, recommendation number one: don't ever sell all your things and move to a different continent!
Recommendation number two: think before you act, even if it means delaying the acting and having to put up with thinks you don't like for a while. :-(
Recommendation number three: don't spend a single second more than necessary not being happy! :-)

I am back!

I know I haven't written anything for five months, sorry! As some of you know and the others can imagine they haven't really been the best five months of my life … but I am back!

First thing is that I am going to change a bit the focus of this blog thingy and make it a bit more general, so, not only about Porto Alegre but about my life in general. Yes, quite a lot of people have told me already I should write a book about my life … well: I work/worked with computers so I'll write a blog instead :-P

You know me, you know my style, … it's going to be worth following! :-D

Things you don't learn by just going a week on holidays

Did you know that the Brazilian bus drivers wait for you if they see you running to catch their buses? And, believe it or not, these 10 extra seconds don't add any delay to the overall bus timetable. The only thing they add is a big smile in people's faces and contribute to a better mood when going to work.

So, could you, freaking London bus drivers, take good note of that! Thank you ...

Brazilian disguise

Anybody going to live in a different country has the problem of looking a bit out of place.
At the beginning it is because you are marvelled for everything you see: "Oh, a weird bird ... oh, a strange tree ... oh, a dodgy vagrant, ..."
You look lost even with a map: "Excuse me, could you tell me where is the north?"
And you get into the wrong toilets: "HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII"

But once you have a bit of practise and you don't do all these sort of things how come the locals can still tell you are a foreigner with a quick glimpse?
(In some countries you cannot do much about it because it depends on your racial background, but not here in Brazil, specially in the south, as they have people descending from absolutely everywhere in the world)

So what is the trick?
Let me present you: THE HAVAIANAS! Yes, with this footwear (and as long as you don't open your mouth) you are going to fool even the customs police.

And the best thing is that these kind of flip-flops have many different uses ... they are like a Swish army knife, Brazilian style ... more on that topic in the future! :-)

The difference between Brazil and the UK is ... 39!

Quite a lot of people have been asking me what is the difference between Brazil and the UK and I didn't really know what to say ... well, I finally have the answer: the difference is 39!

Unlike Douglas Adams' calculation of the "Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything" (42, btw) I am going to tell you the logic reasoning behind that conclusion! (because I am an engineer and we don't do things at random like writers!)
I haven't been sunbathing or anything but as you can see in the picture by just by walking around the streets I had some of my natural skin colour back. So, if you take this black and white picture, you pick the colour from my neck (Brazil) and subtract the colour from my back (UK) the difference is about 39 (in absolute value and in a 0 to 255 scale, of course! :-P)

Voilà: yet another mystery solved! :-D

Things you don't learn by just going a week on holidays

The traditional "coke" of Brazil is called "guarana" ... same sort of waking you up a bit effects but probably a lot more healthier and with a complete different taste. Most of you have experienced it a bit because "red bull" is based on the same thing but more concentrated.

They have normal coke as well, nobody worries!

Deliveries and things in general

First experience with buying things and having them delivered ... not good, not bad: different!

The first thing to know is that here in Brazil traditionally there is always supposed to be someone at home. Could be because you have some elder/younger member of the family living with you, the empregada, etc. That is good for the delivery companies because they can come round more or less at any time, any day and there is not much problem ... that is unless you are one of the odd people round whose house is empty during the day.
So, don't expect to be able to choose much about the delivery day itself ... even less about the time.

The second thing to know is that a delivery estimate, as the name say, it is an "estimate" in the most strict of senses. Actually you can be pretty sure that nothing is going to arrive that day ... neither the day after ... :-) Get always in touch with the delivery company by phone (a few times) to find out when things are comming for sure.

Actually this pretty much applies to most latin countries ... I should have known better rather than waiting patiently for 13 hours ... :-)

Things you can learn by just going a week on holidays but it takes a couple of months if you are a computer engineer

The other day I discovered that when you are introduced to a girl the correct thing to do are three kisses, two the very least ... and yes, you can start counting when this blog started and you will see it took me about two months to find out: welcome to the exciting life of a computer engineer!