Talking about … new technologies

So, people … look at the photo. I am waiting your comments! What do you think about it? It is really true? Soon I will tell the story.

Two years of IT column! Happy anniversary!

Today was the two-year celebration from my first column in “Timpul Liber”, the Thursday supplement of Romania Libera newspaper. There are two full years without skipping a week because of one of my departures or holidays. Or even I was far away of Romania the column was there, in 45th page of the supplement. There were, if I remember well two times when the column was moved to the 47th page - both times because a commercial for Traian Basescu (first for Bucharest elections and then for the presidential elections).

I don’t praise my self too much. I know that not all my articles were good. I know that I had mistakes in the way of writing or in the way of gathering my information. There were times when I was out of the country and remembering that I forgot to write the weekly material I was creating it in the train. I am not proud of this … because I know those stories were not my best material ever. Sometimes I think I have to do like George and make the Saturday the special day of the week for writing articles, replying to the readers and up dating the site. But who knows when I’ll be able to define this kind of day. In the last two years I chose to be always in the move … And maybe this I’ll be doing for some more years now on. So, my readers will still have to enjoy my bad-writing-on-the-plane-or-on-the-train-or-from-the-middle-of-nowhere.

Trying to add all the things that happened, of course, things related to the weekly column I can say the next few things:
- I have made a 65 year-old reader to create and e-mail account on Yahoo!;
- I made some people in their 50’s to convince their children living in other countries to use on line messengers for keeping in touch;
- I’ve learned new things my self;
- I’ve build three versions for the web site where I am uploading also the articles from “Timpul Liber”. Now I am finishing the fourth – hopefully I’ll be a very busy person in the next year so probably no time for new versions.
- I bought most of the Thursday the newspaper because I wanted to have the supplement for my collection. I always was too late in the office to catch one of the free exemplary of the supplement.

Things that I haven’t accomplished yet:
- improving my writing and became a very good and famous IT advisor (like people from The Observer);
- never asked for a chaging the title from “Dictionar de adrese pe Internet” in whatever else sounds better ;
- Forgot to send a letter to one of my readers that asked me via traditional letter some advices and also he told me he likes Naples; I’ve put in an envelope some postcards, together with my answer at his questions, but I never went at a post office. And when I remembered was too late because I didn’t find the letter anymore;
- Never brought flowers to all my females-colleagues;
- Never took out for a beer the one that inspired me … and that put me the Netscape Composer into my hands (God, I hate that program!).

Never is too late???

Pazzesco-amore degli italiani per Sudoku

Italians got crazy about a new game called Sudoku. The Italian press is full of Sudoku puzzles and there are even some forums. Here is one of them: Corriere.it/Sudoku forum

I also observed the phenomenon in the british press too. For example The Guradian has a book with Sudoku puzzles that you can find just “in a good bookshop”.

Here are some web sites where you can play this game on line:
http://www.websudoku.com/
http://www.sudoku.com/

Sudoku, sometimes spelled Su Doku, is a placement puzzle, also known as Number Place in the United States. The aim of the puzzle is to enter a numeral from 1 through 9 in each cell of a grid, most frequently a 9×9 grid made up of 3×3 subgrids (called “regions”), starting with various numerals given in some cells (the “givens”). Each row, column and region must contain only one instance of each numeral. Completing the puzzle requires patience and modest logical ability (although some puzzles can be very difficult). Its classic grid layout is reminiscent of other newspaper puzzles like crosswords and chess problems. First published in the United States, Sudoku initially became popular in Japan in 1986 and attained international popularity in 2005.

The word Sudoku means “single number” in Japanese.

Italy - bomb threat effects over the flights

Italy. And after a nice trip & staying in Berlin there should be problems with the flights when I am leaving for a nice free time period – let’s not name it holiday cause I will still be working some time.

I am flying for the second time with Blue Air. The plane should take off around 18.30. But because the aircraft that should take me to Rome its arriving with a delay from Heraklion (strange coincidence!) we are taking off at 19.30. About the flight there are no many things to be commented. Just the thing that when I’ve made my check in the woman (sawing my passport full of stamps) said that she gave me “a special sit” and the crew members will tell me what is about. After the boarding, one of the crew members and she told me that my sit is next to the middle “exit door” and she asked me, in case something will happen and there should be an evacuation, me to become “part of the crew” to take the door off and to help everybody to get out and then to leave the plane with them, at the end. Cool, right???

I didn’t took the “door” off from its place but there was another bad thing happened. The captain, after he started the landing, he said that we will arrive on the big airport of Rome (Fiumicino – Leonardo da Vinci) not on the small one where the flight should landed after its established route. There were some weather issues and the small airport was closed and all the flights (Ryanair, Easyjet, Carpatair) were re-routed on Fiumicino airport. Anyway, we landed. We find out that there was a bomb threatening on Ciampino airport.

On the airport a completely mess because off all re-routing. We had to wait for 2 and a half hour to take our luggage. But we were one of the lucky people.
For example people from Alitalia flight AZ207 coming from London were not there to take their luggage, and most of the bags were taken from the luggage lane and putted in a corner of the hall. People coming from Istanbul with a Turkish Airline flight were there for 7 hours waiting for their bags. When bags came they started applauding and yelling happily. In the end the bags of all re-routed flights started coming out, but all together and everybody had to be very carefully what piece of luggage will take.
It was almost 23, Italian time, when most of us left the airport with a train that was going to the Roma Termini (Rome’s main train station). It was too late for catching any train. Hundreds of “lucky flyers” were preparing for a very long night in a big train station. Women with children, teenagers, full families or workers coming from Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Romania where waiting to reach their destinations with 5 am first trains.

I’ve found many things about one woman from the Blue Air flight. She was with her sister that lives in Italy for almost 15 years old. Both of them were interesting persons. Was nice I had them with me and time passed easier. I even interact with some british people that asked me an apple for their child and, believe it or not, they knew that Bucharest is Romania’s capital.

Berlin is melancholic. Berlin is cool.

First of all I am sorry for the delay of posting my first impressions about Berlin. It is a very busy schedule and no time for writing during the day. And during the nights I am too tiered for something else than sleeping.

Berlin here I come!
My flight to Berlin was operated by Malev Hungarian Airlines. One flight from Bucharest to Budapest and one from Budapest to Berlin (quite of logic I suppose). For the first time in my life I was late at the airport and I didn’t catch a window sit (for the first flight; on the second there was still some window seats available). The flight was operated with a new Boeing 737-600, with a lot of space for my feet. The main problem was that they couldn’t provide me some earphones, because they don’t have anymore. Other passengers leave the plane with the earphones. HUH! The second flight, the same type of aircraft, window seat and a taking off registered with my digital camera. Here it is.

2 hours later: Tegel Airport – Berlin; Sun. No wind. No rain. Black fancy car for transfer to the hotel. A 4 starts hotel. I have a double big-big-verybig bead. The room looks too cool to be true. Anyway. I don’t have time to spend on looking around because I have to be in the hall in 5 minutes. Dinner will be served in a traditional German bar-restaurant. The food was great.

No supermarket! We have gas stations!
Then from 11pm till 3am I was with three of my colleagues to find a shop, a supermarket, a non-stop-corner shop. Nothing!!!! Here everything gets closed at 8pm. And by the way Sunday almost nothing is opened. In the end we found a gas station from where we bought something to drink, chocolate and biscuits.

Bikes.
Everybody run a bike. Or anyway almost everybody. Young, old, business man or not, lots of people are using bikes to reach their school, office or whatever. This is because they know that if they will take a car they will not find a parking place. So… they are smart!

Sunday, July 3 – Berlin tour
We saw Potsdam and Berlin. Nothing much to be said here. Just see the photos.

Liberty at Berlin!
Berlin is nice. Here are not street-dogs or beggars. The UBahn (metro) and Sbahn (bus) are running all day long, 24 hours a day. But there is 2 euro a one-trip ticket!!! The thing is that if you want to have night-fun you can stay till no more than 1am at a restaurant or you can go in a fancy-shmancy place where you can dance after you have paid 10 Euro for the entrance and 7 Euro for a beer.

Also, here is the first city in Europe, where I have seen men and female couples, keeping on their hands or kissing in the middle of the street. Here are also some cinemas with “straight” and “gay” movies. (Another one I saw it is in Naples).

In Germany you are allow to drink and to smoke on the streets and in other public places. Prostitution is not an issue here. Girls, he-females or she-males can be picking up from the streets. Prices? Don’t know!