72 posts tagged "personal"
WFH in 1998
The heated “Work from Home” debate of 2024 brought me back memories of my first programming job, when I joined a small “dotcom” startup in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and for the first few months of my employment I quite literally worked from home… in 1998.
20 Years Blogging
On Saturday, November 6th, 2004, I wrote the text what would become my first blog post. It’s in Spanish, and I wrote it on my beloved iBook G3 near a boarding gate at the Ezeiza International Airport, after having spent a long month in Buenos Aires visiting family and friends.
32 Years of PC Configurations
I’ve been keeping track of the various characteristics of personal computers I’ve owned during the past 32 years, and here’s a table comparing those data points.
Ancestors from Geneva and Beyond
I’ve already written about my grandmother Herta, about one of my Polish ancestors in the 16th century, and about how my four grandparents arrived to Buenos Aires at various points of the early 20th century. Now it’s time to learn about some great-great-grandparents from the side of my maternal grandfather.
Use a Bidet
One of the things that I missed the most when moving from Argentina to Switzerland in 1991 wasn’t the meat, nor the alfajores, nor the dulce de leche, but the humble bidet in every bathroom.
Aliens
So this is an unusual topic for this publication, I agree. In almost 20 years of blogging I have almost never ever talked about extraterrestrial life, but for various reasons I’ve been pondering about it lately, and here go some thoughts and beliefs in no particular order.
When My Grandparents Arrived to Buenos Aires
An article on the Argentine newspaper Clarín prompted me to visit the CEMLA search engine and search for the arrival details of my grandparents migrating to Buenos Aires, and guess what, I found them.
Scaramuzza Plays Liszt
Roberto Scaramuzza, a piano tuner by profession, a resident of the very porteño neighborhood of Coghlan, got off vehicle 12 of bus line 133 on February 4, 1965 at 22:14 at the corner of Olazábal and Rómulo Naón, stunned after a 45-minute trip from Liniers.
Do You Feel It?
All around me, things are happening at an accelerated pace compared to last year. People I know are changing jobs, taking trips they never thought they’d take, creating new things, starting new ventures, and moving on to new phases in their lives.
The Core Idea of this Blog is Migrations
This blog, made of writing pieces I published online in various formats since 1996 to today, is the reflection of the various migrations I’ve experienced through my life.
El Imperio Contraataca
On the early afternoon of Saturday, January 3rd, 1981, my mother took the 7-year old me to the “Atlas Belgrano” cinema in Buenos Aires (near the corner of Cabildo Avenue and Juramento street) to watch the recently released “The Empire Strikes Back”.
1996
My life rebooted in July 1996; the day I decided to drop out from college, to get my driving license, to start going out at least twice a week, and to take a sabbatical from everything. Yes, I pretty much took all of those decisions at the same time.
Kosmaczewski's Law
I was talking recently with Graham and an observation came to my mind, one that I hereby state as Kosmaczewski’s Law: “The flow of knowledge is inverse to the flow of fascism”.
Serving in the Swiss Army
This week it’s been 30 years since I first joined the Swiss Army. Involuntarily, that is. I had just finished my Maturité exams, and had subsequently enrolled as a student of Physics in the University of Geneva.
Memories of WWDC 2008
Exactly 15 years ago, on Monday, June 9th, 2008, I published a blog post with a picture taken in the big room of the Moscone conference center in San Francisco, waiting for Steve Jobs to introduce the iPhone 3G to the world at the annual Apple World Wide Developers’ Conference 2008.
The Oldest Web Pages I've Made Still Online
Exploring old backups I came across the links to the oldest websites that I’ve made, between 1997 and 1998, as part of my work at FIS, 25 years ago.
Cholila
Cholila is a little town in the province of Chubut in the middle of Argentine Patagonia inhabited by around 2000 souls. It is mainly known for its National Barbecue Festival and because Butch Cassidy lived there for a while.
Editorial Kapelusz
One day, on a rainy Saturday evening in the autumn of 1989, I taught myself derivatives and integrals. Yes, I know, I didn’t have many friends back then, talk about peak nerd stuff.
The Book I Never Wrote
I’ve written and published a few books. But if you look carefully online, you’ll find one book with my name on it, even though I haven’t written it. This is the story.
My First PC
I got my first personal computer 30 years ago this month. It was during the summer of 1992; I had just finished my first year of studies at the Collège Sismondi, and it was the first summer after we arrived from Argentina that looked like a real holiday.
My Biggest Failure
Although not my preferred genre, there’s a few business books I’ve read that I reread a few times, and I keep recommending them again and again.
Ukraine
It has been hard for me to think about anything else than the Russian invasion of Ukraine since last week; it is also hard for me to write about it.
Languages
I have the immense chance and privilege of being fluent in three beautiful languages such as Spanish, French, and English.
Managing Professional Decline as a Developer
My friend Gabriel Garcia Marengo shared a great article by Arthur Brooks a few weeks ago, and it prompted me to reflect on how developers cope with age.
Radio Silence
I have had three episodes of burnout in my professional life, in three consecutive years.
Joplin
Note taking is very important to me. I keep everything in my notes, from ideas for blog posts like this one, to code snippets, to web pages, to plans of never started businesses, and so much more.
No Cookie Popup
After eight months of playing with this pure HTML website, the only thing I can say is: why didn’t I do this sooner?
The End of the Tunnel?
From a Swiss perspective it would be easy to think that the COVID-19 crisis is reaching its end.
Vaccines and Software Developers
I am a bit tired and disappointed by the attitude of many in our industry, people supposedly eager to test new technologies and “move the human race forward”.
A Compilation of Old Blog Posts
Looking inside some old archives I came across my first attempt at a book.
Ham Is to Hamsters
I published my first web page in the server of my university.
COVID-19 Vaccination Progress
The (low) speed of the COVID-19 vaccination in Switzerland is infuriating.
Growing as a Developer
You will outlive IDEs. At some point you’ll find them bloated, slow, clunky.
Pascal
From 2013 to 2019 I lived in a small town, thirty minutes north of Zürich by train, called Schaffhausen.
Teaching
In November 2015 I attended the DO iOS conference in Amsterdam.
Mentors
I have had the tremendous chance of working with incredible programmers through the ages.
Opinionated
Programming is a very opinionated activity. Unfortunately, those opinions are seldom based on facts, and most of them are futile, and lead to stupid arguments on Reddit or Hacker News or the comments section of a blog.
Thirty Years
As the taxi rushed away from my old home along Avenida del Libertador, I looked through the rear windshield for one last time.
Touch Typing
Probably the single most important skill that has always helped me when dealing with computers is the ability to type without looking at the keyboard.
Programmable Calculators
As far as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by computers.
How to Desperately Suck at Cliches
I was born in Argentina. This fact, all by itself, provides a rather unlimited amount of smiles in every person I meet.
VSHN.timer
Since August 2019 I took the duty of publishing a weekly series of blog posts called “VSHN․timer”.
Reboot
I started my first blog in December 2004. But that was not my first website.
A Quest For A Better World
This is the presentation I gave at the third App Builders Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, April 17th, 2018.
The Developer Guide to Migrate Across Galaxies
This is the presentation I gave at the second App Builders Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, April 25th, 2017.
Being A Developer After 40
This is the talk I gave at App Builders Switzerland on April 25th, 2016.
Ten Years
I’ve been blogging for 10 years now. From Movable Type to Wordpress.
Global Conscience
Our objective is global awareness. It is our ultimate goal.
On the Kindness of Nordic People
There’s this common but, in my opinion, largely unfounded idea among Mediterranean people that Nordics are “cold,” so to speak.
Talking to Strangers
I’m not the kind of guy that enjoys talking to strangers.
Auto Portrait
I’m looking for the face I had, before the world was made
I Hate You, Airline Industry
I hate flying. I hate airplanes. I hate airlines. I hate crews.
Swissair
When I was a student in university, I used to work in Geneva Airport, aka GVA, as a part-time luggage handling employee, an “auxiliaire” as we were called, in a now extinct company once called Swissair.
Kuroshio Sea
This is probably one of the most mysterious and beautiful videos on the web.
Tweeting Without Twitter
During my flight to WWDC this year I could not really sleep, and the 12 hour flight was the source of memorable tweets that will never make it to Twitter.
Color Sin Dolor
viejita, te fuiste durante la mañana del 15 de marzo del 2010.
Suecia
en suecia, al menos en göteborg, hay luces en cada ventana.
Blessed
I’m blessed. This post is about life, about the tiny little things that make our current world a great, truly enjoyable experience.
Quotes
A small compilation of quotes I’ve put below the header of this blog during the past few years:
Master
I’ve sent the final version of my dissertation to the University of Liverpool.
Democracy
What amazes me most about democracy is that: Most people associate it with just “voting”.
Creative Processes
It always start with a white space, like this blog post.
A Simple Recipe for Podcast Success
I am subscribed to quite a few podcasts and screencasts here and there.
akosma
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/ifstoneinterview.html Homer calls them akosma. This is the negative of kosmos, whence our words “cosmetics” and “cosmos” derive.
What Happened to Dr. Dobb's?
I have been a big fan of Dr. Dobb’s magazine for years.
Why do I prefer OpenOffice, NeoOffice, or AbiWord?
I use OpenOffice (for Windows and Linux), NeoOffice (on the Mac) and AbiWord (in the three OSs) more often than Microsoft Office, and I many people recently asked me why.
A Happy Couple
My wife Claudia and me (courtesy of South Park Studio)
Craving to Read, Back to Commuting?
I’ve got a couple of books on my desk that I’m craving to read!
Virtually Anything
What’s the hot word these days? Virtualization. Even December 2006’s issue of Dr.
Starting a New Adventure
So here we go again. Last week I started my new job, as Software Solutions Consultant for Getronics, in Lonay, near Lausanne (where I live), Switzerland.
Who Is This Guy, Anyway?
All of a sudden you happen to be browsing some weirdo’s website, plenty of blogs and some of them speak about software development.
Asteroid
It turns out that there is an asteroid (number 15609) named “Kosmaczewski” (well, that won’t surprise many of those who know me too well…) Here’s the story of how it happened, taken from this document: