I will be at FOSDEM - Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting - in Brussels, tomorrow Saturday 02/07 and the day after.

This year MySQL™ has a Project Stand and a Developer Room, with many interesting talks scheduled.

For me, that’s a nice occasion to meet the European part of the MySQL™ Community Team as well as other SUN™ employees and developers.

Here’s a Google map of my way to Brussels:

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I was looking for some info on liveblogging art this am because I never did a similar activity and was wondering if I am able to do it in the next confs I’m gonna taking.

Liveblogging means taking notes about a conference session you are listening and share the main concepts of the talk with people who are not present in the room.

I’ve found some tips on how to start a successful liveblogging session and tested a cool platform: http://www.coveritlive.com.

You know, liveblogging at a conference is very important for people who can’t attend it. It helps, among with pics and videos, to smell the great atmosphere you can breathe in a community event.

I think things are evolving well from this side.

If I am not mistaken, the most easy way to liveblogging is to create a short blog post during the speech and publish it at the conclusion of the …

On August 22 2008, after reading a post by Lewis Cunningham, I did for the first time a quick evaluation of iCloud, an Internet Operating System by Xcerion.

From a User prospective, an O.S. is a set of applications and a kernel - i.e. the basis on which other applications run. An Internet O.S. is an O.S. that runs in the cloud. You have to image a Desktop with its own icons and a “start” toolbar - running on your browser.

When you double-click on an icon the application linked by that icon will be opened. You can move the window, resize it, maximize it and minimize it - all within your browser.

If you maximize you browser (F11 if you use Internet Explorer) an external …

It was a clear sky in LA, but looking down, the city seemed to be covered in smog. After working on Sql Server 2008 material in LAX airport for a while, I boarded a turbo-prop for San Jose. Landing time was windy, so it was a bit bumpy. The only flight attendant, Cindy K, joked that “United throw in a few rides free of charge”. She was helpful with my luggage, with an easy smile.

So I checked in Radisson Hotel around San Jose airport afterwards. I booked the hotel through HotWire. It was a sweet deal, around 60 dollars per night. HotWire is a great site, especially for hotels. I’ve used it three times, all pretty satisfied.

Google map is awesome. It even provided me with information on how to get to Santa Clara convention center via public transportation. So I walked to the Gish station, saw Mexican, Moroccan, Japanese, and Chinese restaurants along the way, and got to the Santa Clara convention center in a jiffy. This is the …

“There?s no shortage of smart, employable IT workers. There is a shortage of flexible employers who are willing to hire people who don?t match an exact, niche profile or have a very specific skill or type of experience.”

I’m not sure I agree with her, just like there really is no shortage for skilled workers, there are a lot of companies that are willing to train and mentor. What’s happening is that the people who need to be trained/mentored are asking for salaries that would say they don’t need to be trained and mentored. The companies that are crying about the shortage, usually don’t pay well enough, or are in not so prime locations anymore. A company wants to pay 2001 prices for someone with 10 yrs of experience, in an area that is over priced real estate wise, or the commute to the office is horrible, this prevents the qualified, highly skilled people to not want to work.

When I lived in …

It's been a while since I've written. Sorry to all 1 of my fans :). I am just very busy with work. So, two things.

First is a blog my friend Joel started: http://www.browserlessweb.com/ . I suggest reading it, it's not PHP or MySQL centric, but the things he talks about should affect anyone who reads this blog.

Second item: My Employer is looking to hire some people

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• You need to be in Herndon, Virginia, or within driving distance. (no telecommuters, no relocation package)
  
• You must have good working experience with PHP in an enterprise environment (very high visibility site).
  
• We will not hold your hand in a linux environment. You must be comfortable with vim, emacs nano, joe,jed, pico whatever.
  
• Some experience with teams larger …

Ok, if you're reading this.. you'll notice the new look. Things that have changed.

1. 
   
2. New Server : Single processor, less powerful than before.. but this has less traffic.
   
3. RHEL 4 : Redhat Enterprise Linux 4
   
4. PHP 5.1 : Custom built version of PHP 5.1
   
5. MySQL 5 : Upgraded to MySQL 5
   
6. S9y : Changed backend from Wordpress to Serendipity.
   

Why did I do this ? Because I can, and because my other server is being used for mail. It's also close to a new year, so I wanted to turn a new leaf, try something new, and have some fun. Resolutions for next year (in no particular order)

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• Learn more JavaScript so I can do more "AJAX"y stuff.
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This sucks. I don't know how else to put it. My friend Wyatt Ammon is no more. Gone. He left in July, to do some good for the world. He joined the PEACE Corps. So, today I get a call, saying Wyatt Ammon is no more. It's strange, I think he was two years younger than me. One of the nicest guys I ever met, a kindred spirit. He tried very hard to beat me at tennis, we had agreed to play again in two years, once he was back from Zambia. When he left, I figured it was just a temporary thing, we all thought, we'd see him again in two years. But, I guess we won't. This blog belongs to one of his friends. I guess it's good that atleast he didn't die a horrible tortured death, nor did he suffer in bed for a long time, that should be some consolation I guess. But.. Wyatt.. is gone.. no more beers after tennis, no more talks about what life …

This sucks. I don’t know how else to put it. My friend Wyatt Ammon is no more. Gone. He left in July, to do some good for the world. He joined the PEACE Corps. So, today I get a call, saying Wyatt Ammon is no more. It’s strange, I think he was two years younger than me. One of the nicest guys I ever met, a kindred spirit. He tried very hard to beat me at tennis, we had agreed to play again in two years, once he was back from Zambia. When he left, I figured it was just a temporary thing, we all thought, we’d see him again in two years. But, I guess we won’t. This blog belongs to one of his friends. I guess it’s good that atleast he didn’t die a horrible tortured death, nor did he suffer in bed for a long time, that should be some consolation I guess. But.. Wyatt.. is gone.. no more beers after tennis, no more talks about …

IE More Secure Than Mozilla? Just reading this thread on our favorite unbiased source of “news” for nerds. The poster would like us to examine some valid points, namely IE’s integration with the OS, and the higher “caliber” if you want to use that term, of bugs or flaws. Secondly, the point about the ability to uninstall firefox. He goes on to say that the report uses extremely flawed logic, and that Symantec is shilling for MS. I’d say a little bit of both is happening, and it’s happening by Symantec AND the poster.

My beef, I guess is with the statement that because it’s open source, the large number of eyeballs will make the code more secure. Sure, for the next version.. but who will upgrade ? How do you force someone to upgrade ? Sure, the latest and greatest is secure, but I have to routinely upgrade FF for my friends and …