Ahoy!

15:27 < Guerrrrin> abrotman: it's not talk like a pornstar day
15:27 < Guerrrrin> thank goodness

Aye, but we could be havin' a Pornstar tide too!

When I looked at the definition for "cockroach" in dict.org, I thought I found an entry that was either meant to be a bad joke by one of the WordNet database authors or some kind of easter egg in the dict web interface. It took me three reads to realise my error.

I really, absolutely dislike cockroaches. The thought of having them as my domestic pets made me feel ill.

But I like this one a bit more than the average. :)

Oh yes

Our avid readers had been waiting for this for months. The wait is now over!

Jacobo did it again, and JM International issue #2 has hit the Internet. Enjoy!

Researchers from the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula have just informed that after many, many years of populating Galicia, dinosaurs are finally extinct in the area.

"It's a very special moment", said one of the scientists, "as we had expected this to happen many, many years ago, but the last specimen, a small 'Fragasaurio', never gave up".

Local journalists try to analyze the new situation, as it's the first time without dinosaurs running around since the Galician autonomy started.

"We... we feel like a void. This land has been ruled by dinosaurs since the late 30's and suddenly, they are no more!"

Even if it's expected that some members of the "Friends of the Dinosaurs" tribe will whine loudly about this for a few days or weeks, nothing can stop the Galicians from having new leaders who might bring some changes to the area. Congratulations!

After dato unveiled the existence of the JM magazine, its editor jacobo got an overwhelming number of subscription requests and inquiries about the dates for a second issue.

I'm sorry to announce that the reason for the delay of the new issue was that JM has morphed into JM International, which now targets a larger audience in the Internet. Oh dear.

Coming back with Rambonabo from the cinema, where I watched Episode III for the second time (this time I didn't pay for the ticket), we learned from the radio the results for the French referendum.

I was pretty confident about "No" winning, and I'm happy to see it was by a quite acceptable margin, given how high participation was. I don't know how the process continues now that a key member has rejected the current text. One would hope France would start pushing for changes in the Constitution with the goal of writing a new version that makes some people that today voted no happy, and that would be voted again. What doesn't sound too "democratic" is what Giscard says needs to be done: to vote over and over and over again until the "Oui" option wins.

I'm still a bit perplexed at Spain's results for the same vote. That did suck a bit. Not only for the final result, but for the overwhelming percentage of votes supporting "Sí" in our referendum. Were the 80% of the (not that many) people who voted informed about what's in the Constitution? Do they know that if they find out a bit later, after it's approved, that they don't really like this or that bit, it's virtually impossible to change it?

Ok, it's this day again. I feel like last time happened very recently. This last year has been full of new experiences.

Just two weeks before turning 26 I got my current job at the Conselleria de Cultura to work on LliureX. This has been my first "real job", so there have been quite a lot of experiences involved.

LliureX probably meant the end of my very active triathlon activities. Not long after starting there, demotivation appeared and I started to train less and less, until, in Oxford, I decided I would try to do a "different" season this year. The truth is that I haven't tried regularly at all, and still haven't participated in any competition.

Oxford takes me to the third of the big events of the last year. From not having travelled too much in my life, to a sudden burst of travel opportunities throughout the year. It started with Canonical inviting me to their first "official" conference in Oxford, for two weeks over August. I also was in Manresa for a few days during the summer. In December, I was happy to be invited to the second Ubuntu Conference, this time in Mataró, making the travelling not so exciting (just about 400 kilometres away :) but the conference itself was very nice, including Deaths in a bag my first experience with the Ubuntu virus, and the very early morning runs with the incredible kiko.

The 5th of March I went with Carlos to London, for more fun with the Launchpad/Rosetta people. Soon after, on late March, I took my first vacation in years when I went with Brande and Núria to the Telemark, in Norway, where I spent a fantastic week. A full blog entry on that is still being scribbled, *sigh*. Soon after I was hopping into a plane to Sydney, after a crazy travel planning. Before all of this fun I had been a handful of times outside of Spain, so I guess this year really made a difference in that regard.

Other big things happening during the year were me finally moving out to a flat with two friends, now that my economic independence let me do it. The lack of triathlon training, and the free time this provided, might have had something to do with the recent improvements in my relations with the other gender, which has had me quite happy for a few months now.

I'm not looking forward to getting closer and closer to being 30 years old, but if next year is going to be as good as this one, I'll have little to moan about...

Today was the last chapter of a story that started quite ok, then got a bit worse, and ended with the last of my Wisdom teeth extracted.

Again, the operation went quite ok, although this time, the doctor couldn't just cut the tooth in two and extract both pieces separately... he had to open with a scalpel, take it out and sew the crater. Oww.

Now I sit in front of the monitor, feeling how the pain killers are wearing off, and imagine how long tonight will be... :/ Officially I can't spit, wash my mouth or eat anything hot. Unofficially I basically can't eat much for now. It's great timing, as I have a dinner today, another one with my cousins tomorrow, and in a few days, hopefully a birthday party.

Next steps in my dentist adventure is probably to get some very nice looking bracers. Oh yes!

Throughout the Ubuntu/Canonical conferences I've become used to hearing some Aussies speaking, and learned a bit about their funny accent (yeah, don't comment about my English accent, that is out of the question). I still have trouble understanding a few words due to the difference in vowel pronunciation, but I thought I was more or less used to the accent.

This morning I went to an Information Desk as soon as the customes dudes let me out, to ask what would be the best way of reaching this hotel at that time. When suggested taking a taxi, the woman said that there would be very little traffic today, as they were celebrating a National Holiday called Insect Day. "Wow, you've got a holiday called 'Insect day', that's cool!", I told her, thinking it's a day these Aussies dedicate to their wildlife, and wandered off to the taxi area. Just before getting there, I thought "good, at least until now I haven't had any problem with understanding their accent"...

During the taxi drive from the airport to the hotel, the taxi driver again started talking about Insect Day, and that many areas in Sydney would be closed for the parade. I asked him why the holiday was called like this, and he said he didn't know the details, but was something related to WWWII (while it's really related to WWWI). This was puzzling: they have a big parade for Insect Day, which is something related to the World War?

A bit before arriving to the hotel I finally saw a traffic panel announcing blocked areas for ANZAC Day, and suddenly everything made a bit more sense (still didn't know what Anzac was, but it obviously wasn't about ants and bees).