Obama has done it! It is a great time for America!!!

As you all know, as the world knows, Barak Obama has won the US presidential election.  He has won by a landslide 69% t0 23% with Ralph Nader and other independent candidates taking minor percentages of the vote.  As you all are reading or have read, this is historic.  Voter turn-out was very high, I think the highest since 1908, the next president will be black, with a muslim and African immigrant background.  Obama really represents America.  He is intelligent and willing to learn what he needs to know to do the job.  I have found many Americans like this. I think America can be proud of itself again. I think America can now re-position itself in the world. One of my colleagues said that it was a great day for democracy.  Ok – but the same democracy elected George Bush twice, with a close enough margine either way that it was possible to create questions about cheating or rigging the vote.  You can’t rig the vote when the margin is 69% to 24%!  Many people who never voted before came out to support Obama – something that the polls up to the election largely ignored.  It was surprising to watch Obama pull away from the debates with Hillary Clinton and actually begin to create some policy platforms for domestic and foreign policy that he could (very effectively) communicate to the electorate.  IT WAS A VICTORY FOR IT NETWORKING!!!  In the end there were a few dissapointed people here in the office, but actually not many voted for McCain after seeing a couple of months of Sara Palin.  There are a lot of us that watch Saturday Night Live, and nobody wanted to see her do that.  There was a lack of seriousness about their campaign that pulled people away in the last months. That’s not my observation, that’s talk around the coffee machine at work.

My mum (Canadian) now says that Canadians will wear American flags on their clothing and backpacks when they travel abroad so as not to be confused with people from the country of Stephen Harper (Canadian Prime Minister).  Heh heh.  I think the message that Obama represents will help other countries in the world adjust their own political “levels” of quality.  Not everywhere, of course, but in some countries.  Maybe Italy too!  I heard about a month ago that Al Queda would have supported McCain because they need the enemy to boost recruiting. It is hard to fight against this president.  The middle east may have better days ahead of it.

Let’s hope that Obama is up to the task – he sure seems willing to try!

Good luck!

Let’s take advantage of wordpress’s polling function! Here’s a poll!

California

Things are happening quite fast here. It’s a fast-paced world! I’ve been job-hunting for a little while now, but with everything else going on, it seems like everything is moving at the speed of light. I GOT A CALL TO HAVE A JOB INTERVIEW IN SAN DIEGO! I’m really nervous. No thought of vacation this year! First the final presentation for the department here, and now possibly making the move to California! This is great! I’m nervous! Anyway, the interview isn’t for a couple of weeks, which is good because this is a big country and San Diego is a long distance. It will take me a little time to organise this.

I’ve asked Frank to help me prepare for the technical part of the interview, and he thinks I’ll do fine. He says they don’t usually call people who they think could not do the job. He also reassured me that my references were good. Wow! I’ve never been to California, and I could possibly LIVE there! This is a big year. I need to calm down. Going to California means changing my visa to a different form of work visa, finding a place to live (I guess I have practice) and settling into a whole new life – AGAIN! OK – let’s go!

On the down-side, I’ve been talking to Janine about it and she’s really encouraging, but it would stink to have to leave her right now. Maybe she could find something to do out there, but I suppose it is selfish of me to think that way. The point is, as Frank said a while ago “kid – yer twenny too – ya godda get sum experience!” It’ll all work out. I’ve been so fortunate here, I really have.

The expression of the day is “DUDE!” (pronounced “dood”). This is a term used by surfers to address each other, the way some people use “man”. They might say “hey dude, what’s happening?” to mean “hi, how are you?”. When used emphatically, it means “GREAT!” Frank has been making jokes this week about me becoming a surfer. He gave me a movie to watch “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”. It was really funny, and I understand why he makes fun of the surfer way of talking. heh heh “surfs up!”

Getting ready for the presentation

Well, Frank wasn’t really joking. When I finished up the report on my part of the project, he asked me to present the final presentation of our project to the board of directors. I’ll be honest – at first I said I didn’t want to. It was one thing to give the presentation to the department directors – I see many of them every day. Some of them come out with us for Friday beer. The board of directors is a different thing altogether. Frank says that it’s fine, because the project has produced good results and has the support of the primary department directors – particularly James Conlon. Mr. Lundgren liked the idea – so there’s a bit of pressure to do this. I suppose it will be a good experience, but I’m not thrilled with the idea that I have to represent the whole team. It makes me uncomfortable to think that I’ll be giving the information, but Frank will be answering many of the questions. It’s a little strange. Anyway – carpe diem? I have accepted. It is a great compliment, and a useful experience. I’ve started to think about what to do next, and after this I may have time to think about it!

On a lighter note I had a great Valentines day. I got a mysterious card yesterday in the office with nothing but a time and place written on it. Having some idea who it could be, I went down to the waterfront at the time indicated on the card (freezing cold weather, it’s been about – 10° to – 12° during the day for the last week or so, but that’s normal) and found Janine with a barbeque! She’s nuts! It was tonnes of fun though, although it’s hard to recongise everyone with their big coats on! Anyway – we barbequed hot-dogs by Lake Mendota on February 14th – with everything frozen. I’ll never forget it! Janine is fantastic! – Nuts – but fantastic! It’s a good thing I’m used to the cold in the high Appennines!!! We used to do that with friends in “high school” in the winter, near Monte Cucco. (don’t tell the Corpo Forestale!) Anyway – what a great evening. I suppose I accepted to do the presentation because I was in such a good mood! Today should be hard, as I went to bed quite late, but I feel great! It must be the theraputic effect of the cold weather!

Today’s expression is “scared sh*tless” – it means to be really scared! (for the presentation – hot-dogs anyone?)

Halloween!!

Wow! It’s been busy here. I’m looking forward to tonight. Some friends of Frank’s are having a halloween party and have asked me to come too. We’re all supposed to dress up, but I haven’t had time to think about it. We were talking about it last Sunday at “brunch” (I’ll really miss brunch when I go back to Italy!!!) and I was thinking about dressing up as a pirate or bandit or something, but then I thought that I should be something funnier – so I’m going to dress up as an alien. I’ve got some attenae that I made from a coat-hanger, and make-up is no problem, but I’ve got only a couple of hours this evening to find the rest of my costume!

Work is really busy. The pace is very fast here. I’ve got to give a presentation next week about our progress. I must say, I’m really nervous. It’s one thing to work on this and have successes and failures in our office, by now I know everybody pretty well. Next week, on the other hand, there will be various office and department directors. Frank said that I should give the progress report because the other directors will probably be nicer to me than they would to him! I told him that I would play a Halloween trick on him if he made me do it, but he is making me do it anyway. I suppose it will be good for me.

I’ve never really spent much time doing presentations like this. I suppose the most public thing I’ve done is this blog. I’m supposed to use power-point too. Anybody have any suggestions? Anyway – tonight is Halloween, so I’ll worry about this tomorrow.

It’s nice here, there really is the tradition that all the little kids dress up and go “trick or treating”. They go to all the houses dressed in costume and carry little bags or plastic pumpkins that the people at the houses put candy in. It must keep the dentists busy!!! Actually, Frank was saying that some people get carried away or get violent etc. at halloween, so parents are sometimes scared to send their kids to strangers’ houses. He said that when he was a kid it was a lot nicer and calmer. Anyway – it still seems like fun to me. Is anybody out there going to do anything for Halloween? It reminds me of Carneval back home, but the costumes are really more “creepy” (that means scary but in a way that makes you a bit nervous and suspicious).

The technical side of work, on the other hand, is progressing. I really can’t keep my mind off it!

The expression of the day is: “to be wound up” (pronounced “waound” up) – it means to be nervous and excited about something. I’m wound up about this presentation.

Urbino’s Web Radio

Congratulations Big Brother!

This evening at 6 pm Urbino time, Alessandro Bogliolo is hosting the public listening of the 1st hour of programming for the University of Urbino’s web radio project. I worked on this in the early stages, and just want to say how happy I am to hear that its now going live! Congratulations everyone! Good work!
I think the link is www.radio-campus.it. But if that doesn’t work after this evening, the link will be on the UWiC web site. I want to listen to it too!
Again – good work everyone!

News from Home

Hi everybody!
Marco has rightly reminded me that classes have begun at the University of Urbino, which means that Prof. Bogliolo’s on-line students have been told about our “Big Brother”! So welcome back to classes – all the way from Madison Wisconsin!!! Thanks for the reminder Marco! Welcome to virtual Urbino Kate! Hey Kate, my mum told me that there is the Madison Pro Arte Quartet performing in Urbino for the students – did you know anything about this? What a coincidence!!! Here’s the link from the University of Urbino page. From the programme it looks like they’re playing Beethoven. Cool.

http://www.uniurb.it/it/portale/index.php?mist_id=0&lang=IT&tipo=LRT&page=246&evntID=538

That should get you there! I believe they’re playing tonight at 6 pm (that’s 18:00 for you back home). It’s funny – here the time is all on the AM and PM scale. It’s really commonly used in the United States. I remember a few weeks ago when I arranged to have coffee with Kate – I still used the 24 hour clock and she asked me if I was in the army or something. Heh heh – I suppose it does sound military once you get used to the 12 hour clock. Some of my colleagues gave me a hard time for that too. Anyway – now I’m a 12 hour man!!! Doesn’t that give me twice as many days in the week?

Oh – I’m at work now – and have just been “discovered” by my colleague Frank – he says “hi to all you Italians over there in Italy” and Bob – get back to work!!!”
More later… The expression of the day is “to get busted” – it means when someone catches you doing something you shouldn’t be doing!!! heh heh
Actually – Frank is an easy going guy – and I wouldn’t want to tell you how much he KEEPS HIS CHAT WINDOWS OPEN WHILE AT WORK!!!!

(Bob is a moron)

Ok – that was Frank. it’s getting silly here – I’ve got to go! Welcome and welcome back everybody!!! Feel free to comment and ask questions!!!

It’s funny sometimes how once you begin doing something, all sorts of other things seem to connect. This is really

What a week!

Whew! Busy week! I started my job on September 4th – as the 3rd was labour day. Labour day is the workers holiday in the United States, but I don’t think it has the same connotation in the US that is has in Italy. Here’s what I found about it on Wikipedia:

Labor Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in the United States since the 1880s. The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations” of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

Today Labor Day is often regarded simply as a day of rest and, compared to the May 1 Labor Day celebrations in most countries, parades, speeches or political demonstrations are more low-key, although especially in election years, events held by labor organizations often feature political themes and appearances by candidates for office. Forms of celebration include picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays, water sports, and public art events. Families with school-age children take it as the last chance to travel before the end of summer. Some teenagers and young adults view it as the last weekend for parties before returning to school. However, of late, schools have begun well before Labor Day, as early as the 24th of July in many urban districts, including Nashville and Atlanta. In addition, Labor Day marks the beginning of the season for the National Football League and NCAA College Football. The NCAA usually plays their first games the weekend of Labor day, with the NFL playing their first game the Thursday following Labor Day.

I didn’t do much of anything myself, but I did go back down to the lake again which was nice. I saw on Dane101 that there’s a place called Salmo pond that is great for swimming, so sometime I’d like to get out there, but it’s a bit far.

Saturday, however, I went to the High Noon Saloon on the corner of East Washington street and S. Blount St. (not too far from where I live) to listen to live music. There was a band called Numbers, and some other bands. Not a bad show. Numbers was kind of like a cross between the B-52’s and punk. Fun. They complemented one of the other bands pretty well too – Thieves on Holiday – again – punk alternative garage type stuff with a decent female singer.

Here’s a couple of pictures of the place:

On Saturday at 9:30 they have a CD release party for a band called Flameshark – I looked at their website, and they seem pretty good. I’ll probably go. It’s important to establish your pub – right!?

Also, and much fun, I met Kate! She reached me through Facebook and we met at Mother Fools for coffee. This is a music/coffee shop – big coffee! Kate – it was great to finally meet you! It’s nice to put a face to the name! The coffee was good too. I probably babbled too much about computer stuff and the on-line course in Urbino that my blog is being used for. Anybody want to register for Computer Science on-line at Urbino? There will be a heavy Madison Wisconsin content!!!! The link is: e-learning.sti.uniurb.it .

Registration closes October 5th.

Well, that’s enough for now – I’ll write about my first week at work later. I had a nice interview with my department director – nice guy. People seem very friendly here, if a bit reserved.

Today’s expression is: “he’s not playing with a full deck” – it means that a person does not have all of their mental faculties. The word deck refers to a deck of playing cards – like for 3-7 or scopa – but they use the English cards (2-10 JQKA).

Later taters (I heard that at the High Noon – it means bye! Taters are potatoes)

(Micro)WaveCamp

Finally I found where the torrid summer was waiting for me: in Sesto Fiorentino last week at the WaveCamp!

As soon as the organizers realized that the temperature inside the MediaCenter tent was well above 40 C, and that nobody was around in the morning, the schedule was dramatically changed and the WaveCamp was renamed MicrowaveCamp, being much more affected by the sun than by the sound.

Nevertheless, the barcamp was interesting and the Saturday afternoon session was great, with at least 3 worthwile speeches:

1. the analysis of network infrastructures made by Stefano Quintarelli;
2. the announcement of the cooperation between FON and the University of Urbino, made by Alessandro Bogliolo (see the picture below…) and Stefano Vitta;
3. the discussion with Manlio Mallia, a SIAE representative, about copyrights and new media.

Alessandro Bogliolo talked about the role of open wireless access networks in the diffusion of web communities, and conducted a comparative analysis of FON and UWiC. FON is creating a worldwide community of users who share their own internet connections. UWiC is creating a regional dense community of users who can access free wireless services without even going to the internet. The objective of the cooperation between UWiC and FON, which has been announced at the WaveCamp, is twofold:

1. creating a worldwide dense community by offering open access to free services worldwide
2. developing a worldwide wireless campus offering wireless connectivity worldwide to university students.

I hope both goals will be met very soon!

From Manlio Mallia I’ve learned that SIAE fees are not too high for a non-commercial web radio. That’s good news for URC@!

The entire session was streamed by robingood.tv in real time, but I’m not sure that the videos are still available on the web.

My camera didn’t work (probably because of the temperature, since it is working properly today) but I found great pictures of the event on flickr, like this one

which is highly representative of the status of the campers, this one

where miss wavecamp wears very well a nice UWiC top, and many others.

WaveCamp

Tomorrow the 3-day WaveCamp hosted by the Italia Wave Love Festival starts in Sesto Fiorentino.

Sesto Fiorentino is not too far from Gualdo and I expect the WaveCamp to be present alot of ideas and learning opportunities in the field of web radio. So I decided to go for the weekend.

I knew that people from the UWiC lab would have been there as well, but only a few hours ago, when the preliminary program has been published, I learned that Alessandro Bogliolo (UWiC) and Stefano Vitta (FON) will announce a cooperation agreement between the University of Urbino and FON (the largest wireless community worldwide) to study the relationships between open wireless access networks and Web 2.0. That’s great!

The presentation by Bogliolo and Vitta is scheduled for Saturday morning. I’ll take notes and prepare a post for the blog!

A good start for the web radio

As announced, I went to the radio aperitif on Wednesday, even if Urbino was not exactly on my way back from Rome… Here are two pictures. I’m the one behind the camera…

It was fun. There was a fair amount of sangria, all kinds of coktails, a good DJ, good music, and a great enthusiasm. The web radio guys are making a flying start. The aperitif was meant to involve as many students as possible to the project. They say that at least 100 students are needed to guarantee that the web radio will work 24 hours per day…

Last night all the students engaged in the speaker contest did a great job.

They also asked students to propose a logo and a jingle for the radio. Both things are out of reach for me.

The web radio will be on air in October. It’s time to start working hard to make it work. To join the team just write to webradio@uniurb.it. It really is interesting and fun, so – the more the merrier!