Platitude

It appears that some people don't realise that the usual use case for backports is actually using stable and only picking just a handful (at most) of packages from backports, while usually is only one or two packages.

OTOH, testing is about running everything from testing.


Providing automatic backports doesn't mean one is running testing.

I am on the road to DebConf 9

I am writing this from my phone while on the train to the airport. My plane takes off at around 15 o'clock and will arrive in Madrid at around 18 o'clock.

The train to Caceres leaves at 22:25 and arrives around 2 o'clock.

DebConf 9, here I come!

I bought a folding bicycle

For some time I've been pondering about buying a bicycle since it seems my weight has been increasing lately up to about 90 kg, which, for my height and age, is about 20 kilograms too much.

But since I am living in a rented apartment, storing the bicycle was a problem, until I realized I could buy a folding bicycle. When that idea hit me, I literally couldn't sleep until about 6 am and I searched the internet about the options, issues to expect, things to check.

In the end I found a Dahon Mu P8 bicycle someone was selling on a bidding site and, after seeing it I concluded that was in mint shape, so there was no reason not to buy it since the price was half of a new one, while this one was only a year old.

I bought the bike yesterday and rode it to work from the place where I met the person who sold it to me and it was quite an enjoyable experience. I still have to do some minor adjustments (saddle is a little bit loose and folding could be better if the handle bar was in another position) before I can ride it regularly to work, but that's just, well, a minor problem :-P.



Now I have a way to do regular exercise without feeling is a drag, so I expect to lose some weight soon after I start riding it to work regularly :-) . Maybe I'll manage to lose about 5 kilos until DebConf, which would be great.

I'm going to DebConf9

I purchased my tickets and I'll be flying from Bucharest directly to Madrid on the 22nd and I'll be returning on the 30th. If somebody wants to fly with me on the same flights (although only the return seems more possible), please contact me privately*.

Although initially I planned to go with my wife and go on a vacation to Portugal or Spain after DebConf, we later agreed it would be better if we decouple the vacation from DebConf, so I'll be travelling alone.


* Igor, you might be interested in this post, but I won't mind being contacted by other people, too.

gpg signatures sent

I finally managed to resend the signatures to the few people I decided to send them a while back after debconf7.

I actually resent all the signatures I thought I should sign (if I didn't socialize at all with you during debconf or before you shouldn't receive a signature from me).

So, please:

• sorry, if you get my signatures again; if so, ignore
• don't be mad if you didn't receive a signed key from me, I probably don't consider I know you enough to do that yet ;-)
  

Now I can cross one more item on my long todo list. Yay!

This message has emerged thanks to: caff, dato, python's smtplib and rfc822, vi, gpg, exim, linksys, dell, todo(the application from openhand) and blogger :-)

fglrx issues

I know, I shouldn't be using it in the first place, but I had no alternative until recently.

I think I have a really precise image of the development process of the fglrx drivers since I nave been successfuly using sleep with 8.33.6. That went down the drane with 8.36.5. After a month of pain (I don't understand why it took me sooooo long) I decided to go back to the version that worked (which was a package I prepared myself).

Matthew Garrett told me at DebConf that the avivo driver should work for my video card, but it needs pciaccess which is not available in Etch and at that time was not available even in experimental.


At some point I'll probably use avivo, but until then I still want my laptop to be able to sleep... I hope AMD opens those drivers soon.

Back home...

I am writing these words at my desk, at home, where currently there are 33˚C and is a hot summer.

The good thing is that the bad feeling I had before the trip did not materialize into anything but a flight through a turbulent zone in the way from Bucharest to Edinburgh. Now I am tired and I need some sleep.

I know it sounds dry, but really, thanks to all the orga team and everyone who made this happen. This was my first DebConf and it was an unique experince.

Thanks also to Patty Langasek for organzing the day trip. It was worth visiting the island.

I hope to see you next year.

I'm in EDI

Since about 4 hours ago... :-)

first moto lesson

Monday morning I went to the first lesson of motorcycle driving. The instructor gave me a little 125cc motorcycle, as he does at the first lessons. At first I felt weird with the protection gear on me[1], but I got used to it in about 5 minutes.

Next lesson is Thursday morning, then Friday. After returning from DebConf7 I will continue the lessons.

[1] not that the lessons are risky, but the gear is mandatory and is good practice to learn to always wear it

insurance card and debconf

Dear lazyweb,

I have remembered about the European Health Insurance Card too late to able to make it in reasonable conditions[*], so I am thinking of using a regular insurance policy for the period spent abroad.

Dear lazyweb, is there any reason to be worried if I want to make this policy instead of using the card? My reason tells me no, but I want to be in the safe side.


[*] there is a 7 days waiting period for the emission; I work in Bucharest but I have to go to my home county which is 150km away and compared to the tax for the emission, the trip cost is 20 times more expensive

DebConf7 plane ticket 2

I forgot to say, I payed for it yesterday. Now I have to buy another suitcase since the one I bought 2 years ago was ruined by the people which do the luggage handling on the Otopeni port, when I returned from Spain in September last year.

DebConf7 plane tickets

I got the confirmation mail with the flight details. Monday or Tuesday I'll go and pay for it.

Debconf7, here I come

Since I never got managed to reemit my credit card, I was forced to reserve my plane ticket to DebConf7 via phone.

The good news is that, this time I was able to find e-car.ro which apparently has some better search engine since I still found some cheaper (not much) flights than I did in January (I have a printout of the flight I thought of initially).

The price now is NOT a lot bigger than the one I found in January. Back then it was about 400€, now I'll have to pay around 425€[*]. Is not the same set of flights, but I don't mind.

So, now I have these flights:

• BUH - EDI, 16th of June :
• KL1358 OTP, 06:00 - AMS, 07:50
• KL1279 AMS , 09:25 - EDI, 09:55
• EDI - BUH, 24th of June:
• KL1276 EDI, 06:00 - AMS, 08:35
• KL1389 AMS, 09:35 - OTP, 13:20

I would have liked to have a wider window at return, between the flights, but, although there was some flight that left from AMS at 13:00, it was not possible to couple with that flight and keep a low fare :-( . So, my visit to Amsterdam must wait for another occasion.

So,

1. if anybody else will be on any of these flights, I would welcome company.
2. Helooooo, DebConf

Now I'll just have to have the confirmation mail and go myself to do the payment at e-car. Fortunately e-car is somewhere in the center of Bucharest, in the Roman Plaza (Piața Romană).

[*] If this sounds like a contradiction with the previous, is not. Now I found some of the previousely found flights and some new cheaper ones (all "now" prices), but since the booking is done later, all "now" prices are bigger than "January" prices. So if I had done the same booking back in January, I would have payed less; but back then I didn't found the flights I booked now.