Entries Tagged 'redhat' ↓

I found this silly add today in the Outback parking lot (real numbers and website address blurred so you don’t spam him saying how stupid he is).

Usually I don’t give big comments on my meals, but this one was interesting. We went to the Outback, and I ordered an Outback Special medium rare. For some unknown reason, they got me medium well. Of course I didn’t accept it, so I called the waitress and threw a silly excuse: “I think you misunderstood me, probably because of my accent, but I asked medium rare, not medium well“.

She said she was sorry, and she ran back to the kitchen. The manager came to our table right away and asked if everything was good. The other guys, which were already eating, all said “yes”, and I said too, but he looked at me and we had this brief conversation:

(Mgr) No, I know about your problem, don’t worry. Can I get you something, like a soup, fries, onions, etc?
(Me) No, never mind, I’ll just wait here.
(Mgr) What about a beer?
(Me) No, I’m good.
(Mgr) It’s on the house.
(Me) Magic words!

So he brought me another can of Guinness. Very good beer, by the way.

I can tell you for sure: in some restaurants they would only look at you and say “sorry sir, we’ll try to get it right next time”. Well, Outback’s kind of attitude is what I expect in a decent restaurant. I hope they also do it in their restaurants in Brazil.

A terra do Tio Sam tem algumas comidas bem esquisitas. Hoje eu provei um tal de “Slim Jim” ([Wikipedia]). Essencialmente é carne de porco e de frango processados, comprimidos em um tubo estreito e longo que parece um salame bem fino (sem trocadilhos, por favor). O gosto é forte e apimentado, o pessoal aqui diz que é a comida mais artificial que você pode comer. Parece que vai bem com uma cerveja, vou levar alguns pra experimentar mais tarde.

Acabei de saber que a Polícia Federal está fechando o cerco sobre os contrabandistas. Agora para sair do país com produto importado, parece que agora você precisa apresentar nota fiscal. Apesar de não haver fiscalizacão na saída, a coisa pode complicar na entrada, já que você vai tentar entrar com um equipamento sem ter como provar que saiu com ele (ou seja, vai ter que pagar imposto, se te pegarem).

Bom, da última vez que eu chequei no balcão da Receita no aeroporto de Guarulhos, o agente disse que não eu não ia precisar pois meu laptop mostra claros sinais de estar (bem) usado (tem uma lasca quebrada no case, do lado do teclado, além das manchas onde se apóia as mãos). Vamos ver como vou me sair na entrada quando voltar ao país.

Yes, I’m here again. Waiting for a connection flight in the JFK airport. The last time I traveled I didn’t write anything about it, but I think something will show up in this blog this time. So let’s start with the interesting stuff about the travel from Brazil to USA.

My original flight was supposed to be from Sao Paulo to Atlanta, but when I was in the check-in line, they informed me about overbooking, and proposed to switch flights to New York. The proposal was interesting, since I would be arriving my final destination (Raleigh) about 3 hours earlier. But they didn’t have alley sits, so I turned down the offer (I don’t like 9h flight on a window sit, it’s not good for the legs). So I just checked in, like going to Atlanta.

When I was on the x-ray line, they called me through the airport speaker (never heard my name so loud).. I came back to the Delta desk, and they said they had a cancellation, and I got my corridor sit. “Ok, do what you need to do”. Tickets changed, let’s go.

I got lucky! The cancellation was for two, so I got two seats all for me (I could even lay down!). The flight was very good. Not as good as my flight to the UK by Air France (and returning by KLM), but much better than my last trip to US by American Airlines. Airplane clean, acceptable noise level, well educated and courteous crew, and good food. Except for the fact that both companies use a big screen in the wall that is shared with everyone in the business class (while Air France and KLM provide individual screens), the movie was good (Ocean’s Thirteen).

And since nothing can be perfect, when I arrived JFK I got a delayed flight. My connection to Raleigh has been postponed from 8:30am to 11:30am, and now I’m sitting at the airport browsing around the internet (nothing interesting to do, and I can’t leave the boarding area). At least they gave me a breakfast voucher.

Now you know why I was messing with my backpack yesterday.

Well, that’s it for now. More to come during this week. Stay tuned.

I love the company I work for. Cliché?

The office (Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil) Company’s headquarters (Raleigh, NC, USA)

I’ve posted on Flickr some photos that symbolize my recent trips:

Oh, yeah. Good times.

Definition of “irony”: (…) (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity. (…) (Webster).

I ask to the usual readers of this blog (which now are so few): what did you think when I said that I was working for Red Hat? Some of you, as I, think “oh, nice chance to get more involved!” … … … Not!

Well, I gotta say that it is not because of lack of opportunity or resources. We’re all free to contribute whenever we want, the way we want, just like a community member. It makes even easier (in theory) because you’re somewhat near the core developers. The thing is, for me, it lacks one of the most important things in a voluntary work: time.

On my last job I had a hell lot of free time, that’s why my contributions came so fast and so furious. Now it happens that I’m working 14 or even 16 hours a day (counting from the time I get out home to the time I get back), and it makes a lot difficult to contribute with something meaningful when you can only work on your contributions 2 hours a day.

I’m not complaining, not at all, it has been a great pleasure working for Red Hat, but the level of commitment necessary to fulfill my internal workload has been massive. Everyday I am more and more happy that I have made this choice, because there are lots of interesting things to do, and with great support from the bosses. That’s what makes you happy about your job: do something you like, in a company with great leadership that cares about the little guys.

By the way, did I mention that I’ve been traveling a lot? Well, I’ve never get the chance to travel abroad once every two months, so it’s been “a lot” for my standards. I’ve already been to Guildford/UK, and Raleigh/USA. Next week, I’m going to be in Buenos Aires/ARG.

Moving on. Life’s good, and we need make it worth.

That’s official! It’s my first day on Red Hat! I’ve been hired as a Help Desk Engineer, and I’ll be working at the São Paulo office in Brazil.

No. I have nothing to do with RHEL itself. I also have nothing to do with Fedora. Let’s say I’m just an internal support guy, but I’m very happy about it.

Remember my last post called “Sao Paulo: Day 1“? Since I’ll be based in Sao Paulo, I had to move from Maceio to the big city. It’s been quite a challenge, because many things in Sao Paulo are really expensive, and even the shortest path to somewhere can turn into a big journey because of the constant traffic jams. But I hope to have that all sorted out pretty soon. It’s just a matter of getting yourself into the city’s own speed.

Want to know something that is really interesting? My very first day on the company has been on Red Hat Europe, in the very nice city of Guildford, UK. That just rocks! My fist day here, and I already had to travel abroad. How cooler can that be?! I’ll stay here for two weeks, then I’ll get back for my regular work hours on Brazil.

Think about a happy geek.