Well, I've been busy since I was last on. At that time I was stuck in Dublin Airport, waiting for a flight out. Since then I had to wait another 20+ hours, before I actually got to fly out. That time was spent queuing to reschedule and sitting around waiting. In the end, I flew out on Thursday on one of the last flights to get out that day. I flew a different route than originally planned, via Philadelphia, Toronto and Vancouver rather than just London and Vancouver. I had to spend another night in an airport (Vancouver) and eventually I got here. It's cold outside, their is snow, but it's no worse than it was in Dublin when I left.
So, I got here almost exactly one full week ago. Of course a few days were spent recovering as best I could (a cold picked up somewhere on my travels took a couple of days to shake) and setting up my computers (I only brought 4 with me). I now have my mail server over with me (rsync is a wonderful invention) and I'm working on getting my workstation sorted. I basically run all my work on VMs, which makes it so much easier to move them from one computer to another, but it also makes some things a little slower to do too. Anyway, it's getting there and soon I'll be fully setup.
I've also been chosen to participate on Career Factor. I'll be developing Cloud apps for Microsoft Azure. I'm really excited about this. I have a great idea, which I will share as soon as possible. I'll be using my statistics training along with my extensive big-iron experience to develop an app which should be very useful. More will be revealed at a later date.
But, more importantly, tomorrow I will be getting married to the most wonderful woman who ever walked through my life. Dyani and I are getting married and I am so very excited at the idea. It's the biggest step forward I will ever make in my life and the thing is that I don't have any doubts about it at all. She makes me so happy and I do the same for her. My only regret is that I didn't make it happen sooner. I should have, but life just got in the way.
My mother and sister are here with us for the wedding, and I'm so glad that they could make the journey. They too came from Dublin, but things were a lot better for them than for me. Which we are all grateful for. They've come bearing gifts, actually mostly my stuff, but in this context, they are welcome additions.
Anyway, I've a million and one things to get done before tomorrow, so for now, I must go. I'll post up pictures in the next few days.
And so, I leave you with a quote from Isaac Asimov:
If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Promises, Promises
I know I promised a post about algorithms, but I'm going to leave that until I have a bit more time. In the mean time, I'm just going to post about my last week or so.
On the 21st, I took my sister out on a skip-pad training day and I have to say that the timing could hardly have been better. It was a fun day and we learned a bit more car control, which with the current weather is quite fortuitous. Here in Dublin (which I hope to leave ASAP) the roads are completely blocked with snow and ice. It makes it very difficult getting around, but a little more practice handling a car in a skid has made me a little more confident about driving in it.
Anyway, after our fun and frolics on a skid-pad, I had a seriously busy week preparing to fly to Canada. It's amazing how much stuff one can accumulate over a few years. I'm going to have to do a clean out of all my stuff every year from now on. It's just the only way.
Last weekend (26th through to 29th) I spent over with my eldest brother and his family in Bristol. My sister came over too and my other brother (he's older than me) met us there too. It was great to be with all of my siblings for what may be the last time for a long time. We had fun together, going to a music gig and having a night out together. I have to say that I'm really glad that I did make it over there, even if it did put me under tremendous pressure to do so.
On my way back, we were diverted from Dublin to Shannon because the airport closed due to snow on the runway. It really didn't help my time pressure (every hour was hugely important), but at least I got to see Dublin city centre for one last time before I left for pastures new. The city was covered in snow, with lots of people having a bit of fun throwing snowballs and generally getting into the spirit of the season.
Well, that leads us up to Yesterday, and I have to say that the Beatles said it best, "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away". Actually, that's not true. It was a very busy day, but an important one too. We got to celebrate my father and sister's birthdays. He came by and we had dinner together. I know I'm really going to miss those little family occasions. I'm going to miss so much of my family, but I have another part to add to it and I'm so looking forward to spending the rest of my life with them.
Anyway, I'm sitting here in Dublin Airport, more than 10 hours after my flight was supposed to leave and 13 after I got here. The airport has been shut pretty much all day long and I'm suffering from a serious sleep deficit. Nobody knows when we'll get out of here, but the snow is making irregular appearances to thwart my plans to be with Dyani. Damn, I thought I wouldn't have real problems with snow until I got to Northern BC, but it has come to me. Anyway, at least I'm on the first leg of my journey (well, still in the starting blocks, but you know what I mean). It's something I have been looking forward to for a long time and while a delay of a day or so will make plans at the other end much more challenging, I am still so very excited. It's a new life, a new place and a new career. I'm lucky, I'm happy and I'm tired.
I promise that I will soon get to writing about why algorithm analysis isn't always all it's cracked up to be, but for now I'll sign off and seek out a caffeine infusion.
Good luck,
Neil
On the 21st, I took my sister out on a skip-pad training day and I have to say that the timing could hardly have been better. It was a fun day and we learned a bit more car control, which with the current weather is quite fortuitous. Here in Dublin (which I hope to leave ASAP) the roads are completely blocked with snow and ice. It makes it very difficult getting around, but a little more practice handling a car in a skid has made me a little more confident about driving in it.
Anyway, after our fun and frolics on a skid-pad, I had a seriously busy week preparing to fly to Canada. It's amazing how much stuff one can accumulate over a few years. I'm going to have to do a clean out of all my stuff every year from now on. It's just the only way.
Last weekend (26th through to 29th) I spent over with my eldest brother and his family in Bristol. My sister came over too and my other brother (he's older than me) met us there too. It was great to be with all of my siblings for what may be the last time for a long time. We had fun together, going to a music gig and having a night out together. I have to say that I'm really glad that I did make it over there, even if it did put me under tremendous pressure to do so.
On my way back, we were diverted from Dublin to Shannon because the airport closed due to snow on the runway. It really didn't help my time pressure (every hour was hugely important), but at least I got to see Dublin city centre for one last time before I left for pastures new. The city was covered in snow, with lots of people having a bit of fun throwing snowballs and generally getting into the spirit of the season.
Well, that leads us up to Yesterday, and I have to say that the Beatles said it best, "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away". Actually, that's not true. It was a very busy day, but an important one too. We got to celebrate my father and sister's birthdays. He came by and we had dinner together. I know I'm really going to miss those little family occasions. I'm going to miss so much of my family, but I have another part to add to it and I'm so looking forward to spending the rest of my life with them.
Anyway, I'm sitting here in Dublin Airport, more than 10 hours after my flight was supposed to leave and 13 after I got here. The airport has been shut pretty much all day long and I'm suffering from a serious sleep deficit. Nobody knows when we'll get out of here, but the snow is making irregular appearances to thwart my plans to be with Dyani. Damn, I thought I wouldn't have real problems with snow until I got to Northern BC, but it has come to me. Anyway, at least I'm on the first leg of my journey (well, still in the starting blocks, but you know what I mean). It's something I have been looking forward to for a long time and while a delay of a day or so will make plans at the other end much more challenging, I am still so very excited. It's a new life, a new place and a new career. I'm lucky, I'm happy and I'm tired.
I promise that I will soon get to writing about why algorithm analysis isn't always all it's cracked up to be, but for now I'll sign off and seek out a caffeine infusion.
Good luck,
Neil
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