This weekend I am in Florian?polis with my new friends. Two nights ago in Sao Paulo, Paula and Juliana issued many statements to the tune of “Have you tried _______ yet? You haven’t? We need to fix that.”
It all began with a simple glass of Caiparinha and went downhill from there. By “downhill,” I mean there was no further effort required, except to remain vertical. Halfway through my first glass and I was about as tipsy as I can ever remember being.
The next day Juliana and I made our way to Florian?polis. Despite the name and the similarity of its flag to that of Greece, I haven’t found any other connection. After a brief settling period (a few minutes) we headed out across town to catch a boat to a favorite restaurant of my hosts. The service was good and the food prep was slow, but definitely worth the wait. We ate freshly fried shrimp and several other Brazilian delicacies that I’m still wishing I had more of now. Another of those “have you tried” topics was Brigadeiro – sort of like Brazilian fudge, but not as thick. As luck would have it, a woman who makes and sells it every day just happened to be passing by the restaurant where we were seated, so naturally I had to buy a bunch, and boy is it tasty. We’ll be making and selling this at Breaking Grounds next month.
The Brazilian Coffee Shop, Aikido, Internet Scene
As I recover from a great aikido class last night, my body still asking “why the hell did you do that to me,” I am sipping a cappuccino (with the obligatory whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and Jimmies on top), finalizing the rest of my flights around the country for the coming month. The coffee shop I’m sitting in is playing what sounds like the greatest hits of the 80’s (“Alive and Kicking,” “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Pride (In the Name of Love),” etc.). Continue reading “The Brazilian Coffee Shop, Aikido, Internet Scene”
OpenDNS vs. Google Public DNS, in Brazil
Just for kicks, I decided to see what Google’s Public DNS performance was like compared to that of OpenDNS, while abroad. I’d heard OpenDNS was faster in the US, and Google overseas. While ICMP reply times are certainly not the only indicator of performance, it’s safe to say they are a very big one. Here are the results: Continue reading “OpenDNS vs. Google Public DNS, in Brazil”
Brazil – Days 6 & 7
Yesterday was a relaxing Sunday. Continue reading “Brazil – Days 6 & 7”
Ice Cream
S?bado no Mercado, Ent?o em Casa, Maring? Park, and a Party!
This morning, we went to the market to buy (a ton of) food for the weekend. See attached.
Apologies for some of the pictures being rotated wrong – I uploaded them before reviewing.
Wine time!
After lunch, and the obligatory nap, I struck out alone in search of adventure. I settled for coffee and conversation in a coffee shop. Upon returning, my host informed me that he was going out for a walk, so I repeated the process, this time around Maringa Park – what’s left of some rainforest that used to be here.
Party time!
Upon our return, Edna asked if I had a suit. I told her I did not, and asked why. I was informed that there is a birthday party for a 15 year-old girl this evening, (apparently quite the event in Brazil), and asked if I wanted to go. I got squeals of glee when I said yes, and “ooos” and “ahhs” when I donned Gilberto’s suit jacket, which fits me quite perfectly.
Day 5 – (Rained) Out and About
Today’s plan was to book the rest of my flights and spend the afternoon at the country club before attending a party this evening. (Yes, I know – life is so rough.) Unfortunately, almost nothing has gone according to plan, so far. Continue reading “Day 5 – (Rained) Out and About”
Videos: Maringa at Night and Dinner, "Japanese Style"
Maringa at Night
Dinner, “Japanese Style”
Brazil Day 4 – Business as (un)Usual
Today, I
- reviewed a client’s firewall log reports for the month of October,
- gave some direction to the rest of the Paradigm crew on some niggling issues,
- assisted a client with transcoding a video for inclusion in his PowerPoint presentation tomorrow,
- assisted the same client’s network support crew with a recommendation on how to securely provide wireless Internet access to his patients,
- performed a cursory penetration test of a wireless network (yay, WEP),
- assisted with the same client’s home/office PC, as its email ceased working when his Outlook Express inbox eclipsed 2GB, and finally,
- assisted one of same client’s staff with translation of some medical forms from English to Portuguese,
- made two new friends in IT, and discussed various issues, network service solutions, including Astaro, CloneZilla, Debian, and Squid.
The difference between this any any other normal day is that I did it all from Maring?, Paran?, Brazil.
The Quest for a SIM Card
Not having Internet data on my iPhone kinda bites. I’ve got GPS, and the ability to take pictures and videos and compose emails of things that I see and experience… and no way to use them unless there’s open WiFi. Unfortunately, a lot of folks around here actually lock down their networks (good for them, bad for the casual traveler in search of a few kilobytes of data to find out where the heck he happens to be).
The first step was finding a cell phone store. Despite what I’ve heard about the crime rate in Brazil, everyone on the street seems pretty comfortable and casual so I figured I’d be fine as long as I paid attention and didn’t wander down the wrong street. If you’re reading this, I didn’t.
I found one store that was closed, stopped two women on the street and asked if they could direct me to another one (which was just a couple of doors away). Although the store does carry GSM phones and SIMs, and has a pre-paid plan with unlimited texting, Facebook, and Twitter, my iPhone didn’t work with their SIM. It looks like I forgot to unlock it after jailbreaking it this last time around. Oops! So I just followed these handy instructions to unlock the phone again. Of course, I can’t test this until I get another SIM card when my host returns and I can borrow his Nokia to verify.
Yup, you can take the tech-geek out of the country, but you can’t take the… wait, that’s now how it goes.