A NEWCOMER Amaia landed in Ipswich late 2006, possibly early 2007. She brought in her bags the essence of a sun-drenched Spain, the mellow flavors of the Mediterranean, and  the singing accents of the Sierra Nevada. Or so would the poet at the height of the XIXth century’s Romanticism have rambled. This was the time when Byron roamed about a neo-classical Greece while Garibaldi fought for his revolutionary ideals in nearby Italy.The truth is, however, not so grand. Amaia is in fact from Northern Spain. Her home province is probably quite the climatic opposite of Suffolk: where Wolsey’s homeland is known for its dry weather in the UK (relative dry weather, we are after all in a very humid – […]

In a couple of days, I will be lucky enough to jet off to – arguably – the capital of the Midwest, Chicago. The original intention of going there is to attend a conference, IFIPTM 2009, at Purdue University 2 hours South of Chicago.But before the conference is due to kick-start, Theo and I will unwind in the Windy City to the rhythm of Blues music as Grant Park is hosting the city’s yearly Blues festival.I hope to update my blog during the week. Look out for life musings and technical notes from the conference.

On this glorious sunny (by Scottish standards) day in June, I made my way to the e-Science center (centre) to attend day II of the BEinGRID review. BEinGRID is the EU’s largest IST project involving 90+ partners. Unfortunately, with a project this big, the conference only came equipped with a mere couple of electric sockets. Well yes, this is the home nation of Alexander Graham Bell, not sparky Ben Franklin or luminous Thomas Edison. No plug, no laptop. My battery was flat dead. Surely the goblins and ghouls of possibly Britain’s most haunted capital must have sucked it raw during the night leaving me desperately stranded at the back of the conference with little solace. Comfort did come, though, in […]

And so the ominous day comes along. Friday, October 17th, 2008. 3 p.m. Business as usual. The sun is shining out there or is it simply the knowledge that tomorrow I will be jetting off to Naples for the first time in a month? A meeting here and there swipe the morning hours away. NATURAL ELEMENTS And then suddenly the weatherman turned evil wizard unleashes terrific thunderbolts, the entire building trembles, and heavy showers lash the windows of my ground-floor office as I read the very simple French words Laurine has written me on MSN (of all places).Now, of course, it is still sunny outside – need I mention it? The weather only ever matches the main character’s mood in […]

Not many things I do have an ending. As a matter of fact, if one was to stick one big scarlet-lettered sign on myself to designate my most flagrant flaw, it would be this lack of perseverance, this ability to start one too many things and never wrap them up.One such thing was my relationship – can’t complain really – an ongoing relationship is like a gift from above. It doesn’t happen every day. It’s simple true bliss. Warm and cozy, comfortable and reassuring. It’s all we hope for, after all, to be wholly and unconditionally loved by someone we love in return. The given relationship sprung from an incidental meeting between two individuals of – oddly enough – the […]