Tag Archives: Italy

Gliders, Italy and Androids

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What an incredible summer and it is funny how it all started.  I found myself without a job at the end of April.  A week or two later I started a crazy schedule of fencing, archery and hiking amongst the usual day-to-days at home.  I even got to try out some serious tree climbing and zip-lining.  And I met new friends at a retreat and a number of parties too.  I even got to hang out with and host Anna and Behnaz, two friends from Montreal for over a week.

At the beginning of July, after months of preparation my brother, Martin went for the Air Cadet’s gliding summer camp.  After over 6 weeks of intensive work, training and practise, my brother can now legally fly a glider by himself.  I am incredibly proud of him and we now have a real pilot in the family.  Wow.

The past month and a half I had the honour and pleasure of hosting one of my very good friends from Italy, Laura.  Laura came to visit us, see Canada and learn English.  We did that and a whole lot of hiking, sightseeing and partying in Toronto, Niagara, Tobermory and Hamilton.  And her English became a lot better too.  I am so thankful that you came Laura and I hope you enjoyed being with us as much as we having you over.  Thanks!

After a full summer, I’ve come full circle.  About three weeks ago, I interviewed and got hired as a mobile developer for Web Impact.  I get to work on building Android mobile applications in a great environment with awesome coworkers.  I have always wanted to get into mobile programming.  But I never imagined that I would be doing what I get to work on.  Unfortunately I can not disclose the details of what I am working on and the technology behind it.  However I can say that the technology and the way we apply it is how I envision the future of mobile, web and desktop computing will look like.

This year has been an amazing ride so far.  And from what I can tell there is even more awesomeness in store.

Its Been a While

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Wow, its amazing much one can do if one sits down and just concentrates on a single task.  Yesterday proved a rather productive day, in terms of writing correspondences.  Also I managed to get a fair bit of writing and coding done too.  I apologize for everyone who expected me to answer back sooner.  Some days just become busy for no reason.  Some days you put off everything, wishing that somehow procrastination will make the problem go away.  Some days you can finally go forth, wince, and tackle that pile of work that just stacked up.  Tackling yesterday’s pile of put off correspondences was not pleasant.  It was not because I had write anything less than pleasant or controversial.  It just felt that way since I let things slide for the past couple of days.

Anyways, I’m still working to reconnect with people.  I’m still trying to churn out writing that I should of done ages ago.  But now I’m actually seeing some hope that I can get to cracking on one of the big projects.

I have reconnected with Siobhan who I haven’t talked to in ages.  I did sorely miss talking to her.  I’m keeping in touch with old friends, university acquaintances and ex-co-workers.   Or at least trying to.  The hardest people to keep in touch are the ones who I need to communicate in Polish or Italian.  Language can be quite a hurtle, if you don’t feel 100% fluent in it.  But things have to be done, and I’m taking pains to do so.

Chilling in Umbria

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Okay. I admit it: I have been too lazy to write updates in a while. Instead I am enjoying the “high” life in Terni, Italy. Mostly just learning Italian (Mia italiano e povero, perche sono canadese e non sono italiano.) via translation from Polish (yes, its doable), travelling and chilling. Travelling certainly expands one’s perspective of the world. I learned how a subtropical climate looks and feels. I learned why siesta is a great idea and a great excuse for sleeping in the middle of the day. I learned how difficult it is to learn a new language. I even may have experienced how its feels to be desired. Apparently my profile resembles that of Tom Cruise’s. w00t!

Anyways, I could not describe all the things I experienced in this past week. Or I could of just grown truly too lazy to exert myself. The hot, dry Mediterrean sun has that kind of effect on a person. Or I might be enjoying Terni and its welcoming people too much. Its funny, how my Northern European attitude towards at least some form of organization, is seen as workaholism by Italians. Seriously, guys wanting to clean up after my own mess and me being lazy are not mutally exclusive.

Its getting late. Maybe I will write more tomorrow. Maybe.

Too Much Trip Planning

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Its late, but I feel obligated to post at least a short blog post. I wanted to write the article today, but time did not permit. Hopefully, I will have more time tomorrow.

Anyways, I started the day with the hope of completing a good chunk of the “landscaping” project. But I started late in the day. And then we got a call from Ewa from Poland. The rest of the day shaped out into a long day of buying airline tickets. So its official, I leave for Poland and Italy, late June. No going back now.

Tomorrow, I will try to accomplish all the work I was supposed to today. Too sleepy to think or continue now. Night.