To read is something that I always enjoyed a lot, but during the last weeks I just devoured pages after pages (for no aparent reason whatsoever)… It started by these two last week and this week I read La Colmena* by Camilo José Cela (a Spanish literature Nobel prize winner). The book, borrowed from a friend, depicts the Spanish society in the post civil war period in a very interesting way. Composed of a lots of short everyday episodes of society, what the book lacks in a continuous argument it provides by giving the reader a very interesting description of the spirit of those living in Madrid.
Another book that also provided a somehow crude vision of society was Last Exit To Brooklyn by Hubert Selby, Jr. In this case, the problems of society described are presented in a much more violent way.
Both books proved to be very controversial when they were published. The first was prohibited in Spain due to censorship, and the second originated a court case that lasted several years facing charges of obscene publication act.
* The original title is La Colmena (or The Hive), but I read the portuguese translation A Colmeia.
I learn a bit about my reading habits, likes and dislikes. Usually I take down a book at a time, from beginning to end without stopping or interleaving books. Although a great fan of crime novels, I reading all sorts of literary themes expect when it comes to historical romances where I really need to get motivated to start.
In spite that, a long time ago I got introduced to the works of Peter Hamilton in the form of Pandora’s Start. This sci-fi novel didn’t get my full attention right from the start but things picked near the middle. Unfortunately, when the story was getting good I took the book with me in for a working travel (to fill the void while traveling) and the book was forgotten in the nightstand in a lonely hotel room.
Realizing that the book was lost, and with no time to get it back the best way to avoid a lonely voyage home was to buy any available book right in the nearest bookstore. The selection fell upon a crime novel by Stieg Larsson called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Unlike the previous book, this novel good my full attention and after no more that 24 hours of intensive reading scattered over 3 or 4 session the book was completed. I have to suggest this excellent novel, the first of a trilogy published postumasly, to anyone who enjoys a good novel.
It turns out that I really prefer crime to sci-fi, but I didn’t abandon Pandora’s Star. A ‘used’ issue is already on the way from amazon.
Today was a hard day!
I’m usually a jack of all trades (and for sure, master of none) always ready to lend a helping hand whenever a problem or issue is raised at work. Today was one of those days. A day that started at full speed, with almost constant interruptions and no time to focus on my own tasks.
I left the office with the sense that nothing had been produced. Let’s hope tomorrow is a better day.
Here are some goals/improvements that are expected for the near future:
- Improve Team Management Skills
- Investigate Agile development techniques
- Read available training documentation on the subject
- Learn about methods to organize meetings
- Increase Technical Management Functions
- Schedule specific weekly period to pay 100% attention to ongoing technical tasks
- Improve Technical Knowledge on Optimization
- Investigate optimization techniques for algorithm optimization (e.g. parallel processing)
- Apply these optimization techniques on the ongoing algorithms
- Produce some notes on the subject
In three months there will be an evaluation of ongoing tasks (still to be specified).
The last visit visit to the Zoo had been more that fifteen years ago. But out of the blue A. suggested a quick visit during the weekend. Nothing was arranged otherwise, so we went to the Jardim Zoológico de Lisboa.
The only thing that wasn’t new was the location. Placed well inside the city of Lisbon, it provides some green shades to the city and rest to the visitors. The rest was new, everything seamed to be different from what I remembered. We had a good time visiting tigers, elephants and giraffes. The aqua show was fantastic with the sea lions and dolphins. With some luck we escaped the few drops of rains that fallen during the lunch hour, by being inside the restaurant, and returned to our visit right after.
A. had a great idea. Thank you.
