Sunday, July 19, 2009

You're the Best

 Remember that time I won the Stanley Cup?

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Italy & ECOOP


Italy-2009-3
Originally uploaded by DixiePistols.
Well I'm back! Last night I returned from Italy on a Milan-Atlanta-Pittsburgh flight. Overall, the trip was great! Here's how it went down:

First off, I took the Pittsburgh to Paris flight. It was really great to fly direct to Europe and even thought it was a relatively small plane (757) they had those awesome TVs where you get to choose your own movie, TV & music, which made the flight fly by.

Genoa is a cool city. At first it looks pretty grungy, but the old city, with its tiny alleyways and the port on the Medditerranean were wonderful and made up for any other low points. We took full advantage of the Italian tradition of pre-dinner drinks, and I met a bunch of cool people from the conference.

The conference itself was also interesting. My workshop paper was fine, and ECOOP had more papers that I actually want to read than any conference I've ever been to before. I would say that 10 of 25 papers were interesting, when compared with the normal 3 or 4. Also Simon Peyton Jones gave a keynote, and I finally understand Haskell's Type Classes!

After Genoa I met up with Amy, a friend studying in Italy. We went to Milan for one day, which was fine, and then we moved along to Domodossola, a small city on the Swiss border in the Alps. I didn't really know what to expect, but we had an amazing time. There were two big highlights. First, we went to an Italian/Mountain folk festival where we ate ribs, sausage and listened to Italian folk music which was kind of like polka. The sausage was definitely the best I have ever had in my life! The next day we went to Lago Maggiore, the biggest lake in Italy. While it was full of European tourists, the scenery was awesome, so I didn't care. There were three tiny islands that we visited with palaces & gardens. The whole thing had the feeling of a Greek village. Definitely awesome.

Italy's great, and sometimes I sort of forget that. I definitely prefer the smaller places we went to over, say, Rome which is hot & crowded (but still great). It's great to be back!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Made it to Genoa

So I am in Genoa!

Haven't done much so far, but I guess I found the hotel's wireless. The flight was really neat. I really enjoyed taking Delta from Pittsburgh to Paris, and the flight was mostly full, so I guess that's a good sign for Pittsburgh. We also had on-demand video in the seats, which makes all the difference.

Here in Genoa the weather is nice & sunny but humid I guess. I've been stuck in this organizational meeting for the student volunteers at ECOOP, and frankly it's not quite the streamlined operation I'd hoped it'd be, but whatever I guess I can't complain since it looks like I won't have too much work to do.

More when I do it! 

Thursday, July 2, 2009

More Sick Hits! Trip to Italy

This is going to be a short entry, because I am just to about to go to a group meeting, and my parents are in town, so I'm running around like a crazy person. But I need to make you aware of some important facts!

Number 1! Sick Ridiculous and the Sick Ridiculous have released two new mega-hits! You may have already heard over on Tom's blog-o-sphere, but have recorded two recently custom party songs (because, as you know, we write a new song for every party where we play!). The first song, Come With Me Iff You Want to Live, is about how in the future, man is at war with robots, and how a universal health care plan is man's last line of defense. We wrote it for a party at Gabe's house. The next song, Hurricane Dan (2006), is about a Hurricane. Specifically Hurricane Daniel, which hit Hawaii. We wrote it for Katrina's graduation party. It rocks, if I do say so myself!

Also, I am leaving for Italy on Saturday. I am super jazzed. I am going to Genoa for a conference (ECOOP, where I have a workshop paper, and another paper that I co-authored). Should be a blast. I am also going to travel around just a little bit after the conference is over, so wish me fun. I'll tell you all about it when I get back!