January 11, 2003
Finding my group
I think a huge part of my failure to love Germany has not been finding the right crowd. That finally changed.
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| Look at me go |
I guess one of the signs that I'm comfortable with a group of people is my ability to drink with them. Normally paranoia (or better judgement) gets in the way. On Friday, however, I went to Plaka with Phiniki, Maja, Boon-Chung, Iman, and Wei-Wei, and drank quite a few Uzos. Iman and Maja weren't drinking any of theirs so I helped them out a bit.
Then it was wandering off with Phiniki to meet up with her Cyprian friend Huseyin. We went to a government-run furniture facility, reminiscent of the Salvation Army but not religiously affiliated, and free. This small house on the northern outskirts of town has furniture and household goods. You can take what you want, and leave whatever donation you think is reasonable/you can reasonably afford. Not much was left, but Huseyin reports that a shipment comes in Saturday morning...
They are an interesting pair; Phiniki is a Greek Cypriot and Huseyin is a Turkish Cypriot. So last night, the Christian, the Muslim, and the Boddhisatva talked politics and religion from 6:00pm until 3:00am. It was an eye-opening experience, as I've never had a candid talk with a Muslim about his religion. I also learned quite a bit of the history of Cyprus. I've done some poking around last night and have come across a pretty informative article on the "real" history of Cyprus. Once again, the United States can be at least half-blamed for troubles there; our plans were to keep the island divided in case of invasion by Russia or a Greek Cypriot socialist church leader. Both possibilities would have lead to the loss of a key American base in the Meditarranean.
Ohwell. Phiniki and I went back to this place this morning, but it was closed. I need to go this week, as they have a kitchenware section with some pots, pans, plates, and glasses, all of which could help minimize my moving expenses...
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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Stealing the Network
I first bumped into the Stealing the Network series when reading the exploits of Joe Grand, one of the book's many hacker authors.
The 'Stealing the ...' series of books follows a rather disparate group of computer hackers as they help a former NSA spook (many of them unwittingly) gather the money he needs to retire.
The stories themselves are not fantastic fiction. The writing is uneven and choppy, the characters are stereotypical and not very well thought-out. What is fascinating about this book series is the technical accuracy of the exploits (at some points *too* accurate, with screen shots and step-by-step instructions).
It's a great series to read if you're a system administrator, or just getting into the wonderful field of computer security.
Rated 
by reid
on March 06, 2011
by reid
on March 06, 2011
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Close to the Machine
Ellen Ullman is one of those authors that somehow avoided my radar. Until now...
Close to the Machine is less a book than a collection of loosely related personal anecdotes from Ellen's time as a very rare thing -- a successful female bisexual independent computer programming consultant.
In the course of her work and relationship life, she learns hard lessons about programming, running a business, being lonely, and loving the wrong people. I found it particularly poignant being a crypto-nerd with difficult times in relationships and a more-or-less NDA'd, secret work life.
This book is a must-read for anyone into running their own business, programming, or anyone dating a person that is a business-a-holic or programmer.
Rated 
by reid
on November 23, 2009
by reid
on November 23, 2009
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The Long Trip Home
I had the joy of dining with the author in Florida. We went to a little Brazilian BBQ where he spoke with our waitstaff in (what I can only assume was) flawless Portugese.
Brian Wyllie spent 1969-1971 living in Brazil working for the Peace Corps. His recent book outlines his trip back to the United States via Bolivia, Peru, and the Carribean chain, by way of bus, train, and sailboat. The format comes spattered with observations from the modern day, and makes me think, "this must be what John McPhee's journal looks like."
The trip sounded like a fantastic one, but I was left wanting more detail...where did the gun (being snuck through customs in a variety of places, no doubt) come from? And how did Geneve's hair smell? Alas, we'll have to wait for another book to find the answers.
Rated by reid
on April 16, 2009
by reid
on April 16, 2009