Asparde. Ivan's blog

Mi otro blog

2011-01-11T17:50:00.003Z

Este es mi blog en WordPress:

http://asparde.blogspot.com/

Mi comentario

2011-01-11T17:47:00.001Z

Este es mi comentario en el blog del profesor:

Entrada para slideshare

2011-01-11T17:42:00.001Z

Esta es una presentación de Slideshare:

Presentacion

View more presentations from ivanlledo.

Entrada TIC

2011-01-11T17:39:00.003Z

Hola,
esta entrada es para la asignatura TIC del Master de Profesorado de la UMH.

Tengo el siguiente enlace a videos de Youtube:

My Birthday in Alicante

2009-02-14T18:04:00.004Z

I turned 30 last 6th of February, and to celebrate this remarkable date I flew to Alicante, so I spent those days with my girlfriend and family. In a sunny morning, Sarah and I visited one of the two castle that custody the city of Alicante. This is the Santa Barbara Castle. I hope you will enjoy these beautiful pictures:

To this end, I think the next picture shows how I feel:

Push it to the limit!

2008-12-15T21:18:00.002Z

Song from Scarface soundtrack.

Christmas

2008-12-02T15:16:00.002Z

This year I will spend Christmas in Germany, as I promised to Sarah. However, I will be in Spain for New Year's Eve. We still don't have any plan for that night. I have to be back in the UK by the 8th of January, so I am taking my inbound flight on the 7th.
I am really looking forward to enjoy my German Christmas. It will be the first time I spent those dates in Sarah's country. Last year I stayed in Spain since I had to finish my dissertation. This year I will meet up with Monika and Mario, and that's always good news. A big hug to them.
I really feel like going home too. I kind of miss my home town, its promenade, its beach, and its atmosphere. However, I can't complain, since I am really enjoying England.

Job

2008-12-02T14:39:00.006Z

I have been in the UK for over two months now, so I think it is the moment for an assessment of my time here.

I moved back into England because I had the feeling that I would find better opportunities for me to develop my career, and because some problems made my stay in Madrid a bit hard to bear. Now I am working for a small company that creates applications for the administration of large computers networks. I am quite happy with this job, and I think I will acquire quite a good experience here. At the moment I am working on the field of databases, trying to find matching patterns within lots of data. I enjoy my job very much, and I look forward to seeing where it takes me.

So I can say that I don't regret having moved into the UK, and I believe it's been a good choice.

BU Graduation Ceremony 2008

2008-11-08T23:50:00.004Z

English
This week I have attended the acts of my graduation. On wednesday Sarah and me attended the graduation ceremony, and we went to the ball on Friday night. Both the ceremony and the ball were held at the BIC. The ceremony was a great moment to remember. I specially liked when the guy remarks "with Distinction", hehe, it makes me feel proud.

You can watch the video of the ceremony(DEC School) on the BU website. For my friends on Facebook, I have uploaded some photos and a video of the ceremony, when I collect the title.

Me and Sarah have really enjoyed these days in Bournemouth. As you can see I got dressed as the occasion required. Thanks Kit for the advice on the suit.

Now it is like something has been acknowledge, and my mind starts realising that something has got to its end.

Spanish

Esta semana he tenido los actos de graduación del master en la Bournemouth University. Han sido unos días bonitos en los que uno analiza lo que ha conseguido en este tiempo. La ceremonia de graduación, que tuvo lugar este miércoles, fue una experiencia nueva para mí, y sabiendo que lo sería, no me la quise perder. Uno siente una cierta gratificación cuando su nombre es nombrado en un acto solemne, y encima se subraya la nota adquirida: "with Distinction". Sarah vino a Inglaterra para asistir al evento.

He colgado en Facebook un vídeo y las fotos que tomamos tanto en la ceremonia como en el baile, que fue el viernes. En este enlace podéis ver el vídeo completo de la entrega de títulos a la DEC School en la página web de la BU.

El baile estuvo bien, pero me dio la impresión de que sólo acudieron alumnos de under-graduate, ya que no vi a nadie de master. Pero sin duda fue el colofón a algo que termina, y que ya parece muy lejano. Es un reconocimiento también.

Careful: Elderly People

2008-10-25T15:28:00.002Z

No doubt: this is England... Such a traffic sign was seen near Chichester, probably the smallest city in Britain.

Hehe, enjoy your journey.

BBB

2008-10-04T21:01:00.005Z

Spanish
Éste es el dispositivo de mis sueños en estos momentos. Ha sido una cosa casual, espontánea y subita, pero me ha pegado fuerte. La idea de poder utilizar Skype mientras paseo por los alrededores de mi casa, realizando llamadas internacionales a tarifa plana, me parece sencillamente fascinante. Si a eso unimos el poder abrir y modificar documentos descargados de los correos, las funcionalidades multimedia, y la inclusion de un GPS, que podria utilizar en mi coche... el resultado es un deseo irrefrenable por conseguir esta joya.

A partir de ahí, he ido alimentando este deseo mediante la visualización de algunos vídeos. Aunque en su comparación con el dispositivo de la manzana, el BBB salga perdiendo en algunos aspectos, eso no me ha hecho cambiar de idea. Os dejo la comparación para que saquéis conclusiones.

English version
This is the device I am longing for these days. It's been something casual and sudden, but it hit me to the bone. Just thinking that I would be able to make international calls at a flat rate via Skype whilst I walked around nearby my house, simply appeals me, it is just brilliant. If we add the ability to open and modify docs which have been previously downloaded from our emails, the multimedia features, and the GPS fitted, which I could use in my car... the result is an irrepressible desire to get this gem of a gadget.

I have been encouraging this feeling with videos such as this, and despite the comparison with the apple's device is not favorable to the BBB, I leave you with the video below so you can reach your own conclusions.

Bye, bye Madrid... hello Portsmouth!

2008-10-02T14:13:00.007Z

I have moved back into the UK. After a careful consideration I decided that I preferred to work by the Jurassic Coast, rather that in the capital of Spain.

I live in Portsmouth now, in Southsea. This is the only city-island in the UK, as stated in Wikipedia. It is a nice city located in the South East coast of England. Near Bournemouth, Southampton, and not far from Brighton or London, it is a good place to live. I found a nice host family to live with, and a job in Chichester; it is an easy commute.

This is my face after having driven 1.660 Km in two days... The picture was taken from the ferry, at Le Havre ferry terminal.

Greetings to my friends, who I haven't seen for a long time. And a special hug to Sarah, who copes with me in any situation.

Working in Madrid and a little breakdown

2008-07-03T08:08:00.003Z

I have been quite busy lately so I had no time to keep the blog up-to-date. Some things have changed in my life. I finished my job hunt when I had some good offers in Madrid. So I chose one of them and started working for an IT consultancy company.
That implied moving to Madrid, more precisely to Torrejon de Ardoz. I started working in June, and I used to come down to Alicante almost every weekend. Last Friday after driving all my way home, right after arriving to Alicante, I felt a bit unwell so I went to hospital.
Having waited a while for tests and analysis I had an operation of my appendix. So now I am healing at home. I guess I will have to rest at least two more weeks. I think I was lucky for noticing this pain when I was at home for the weekend, so I can be heal at home with good food and being with my family.

Congratulations to all the football fans. Spain is the European champion, and the Spanish National Football Team is the first on FIFA's ranking.

Are you Googleable?

2008-04-10T07:29:00.003Z

I guess this is a typical entry on every blog. Blog writers are usually people who have other profiles on the Internet. That is my case too ;) I used to be a member of Neurona, and I also had a profile on Xing. These two companies merged into Xing, so herein is where I have one of my profiles. It has a market place where you can apply to job offers, and professionals are able to approach you and offer you a job, like it happened to me.
I have recently created another profile on the internet. This is on LindkedIn. I think this network is the predominant option in the UK. I still have to complete my details and update my professional background, so if you go and have a look, it will be incomplete.
I also use Facebook, mainly to share photos and comments with my friends, but I don't give it a professional use.
So now if you want to find me, you just have to google me.

A new Ubuntu release is coming up!

2008-04-06T16:10:00.003Z

You can see below the time remaining for the latest release of Ubuntu to be available for downloading. I think I have commented before my interest on this operating system. After I installed it like a year ago I began to use it and I got impressed. However, it's been since last month when I have started using it regularly. The current version is specially impressive. It recognizes my Wi-Fi card and makes it work without problems in WLAN with restricted access, which didn't work with other versions.
On the other hand, unless you have all your favourite programs installed and ready to be used on your laptop, you wouldn't use an o.s. for everything. This is my case. I have happily been able to install Skype, aMsn and other software and now I don't need any other o.s. ... well, there are always exceptions.
The performance of my laptop has been dramatically increased with Ubuntu. It is amazing how it handles opening windows and several programs, or instances of programs (such as Skype) being run concurrently. It is really impressive.
As a conclusion, I recommend Ubuntu to everybody. Enjoy it!

New flat

2008-02-21T09:59:00.003Z

Hey!! This is what our new flat looks like. It is located in Playa de San Juan (Alicante). Just two streets behind the seafront, really near the beach. It is a really cosy flat with a warm atmosphere.

Job applicant

2008-02-04T11:19:00.001Z

After handing in my thesis, I'd have liked to enjoy relaxing a bit and just laying on the sun or something... It has not been this way, I got a terrible cold and I am still recovering from it. Anyway, I seize my time at home to look for a job. I am interested in a job about WiMAX technology, which I have learnt during the time I was preparing my project.

Now I have a bit of time to catch up with normal things I used to do before I put hands on my project: reading, watching films, listening to music... So in the meantime I am trying to relax these days, while I try to find information about companies that offer WiMAX in Spain.

Regards.

MSc done.

2008-01-25T22:50:00.000Z

Yes! MSc done. I was looking forward to posting this. I have submitted my masters thesis today and performed the presentation. My two evaluators were very impressed, specially my supervisor, who said he rarely had seen such a complex project. My project was finally titled "Analysis of the PKMv2 messages exchange during IEEE 802.16e handover". Thanks Marina.

Yes, MSc done. I will leave Bournemouth tomorrow afternoon, but I will probably be back for my graduation ball, when I will receive the title.

MSc Networks Management by Bournemouth University... done. I am off to bed now.

Thanks Sarah for supporting me at all times, from the beginning until the end of this journey.

Greetings.

Pics of the weekend in Valencia

2008-01-01T12:28:00.001Z

It was a windy day, this was Sunday, after the dinner.

This a typical valencian house in El Palmar.

This is the typical spanish geek.

And this is Sarah in a scene from "Winter in Venice". :)

And this is the paella we had between our chests and backs after a while.

Back to Bournemouth

2007-12-30T18:16:00.000Z

Merry Xmas!! Well, a bit late, sorry. Happy new year!! It's been a long time... I always say this at the beginning of a new post. This is getting boring...
Next month I will fly to Bournemouth for the presentation of my MSc project. Everything is going alright but I still have a lot to do. Anyway, I am quite happy about how things are going. Many doors are being opened for me. But I can't tell much more yet. Here is the map where you can see Bournemouth. I had a great time there and I look back on it quite often.

View Larger Map

I hope I will tell you some good news soon. Wish me luck.

Ah, two weeks ago Sarah and me spent a weekend in Albufera, Valencia. We had an awesome time. We visited El Palmar which is a town surrounded by the water from Albufera. Albufera is a kind of lake just next to the Mediterranean. It is a National Park due to its wild nature and species, which make this place a unique environment. It is full of nice restaurants where visitors can eat the most fresh fish which comes from the water just behind the back door. Try the all i pebre.

Have a nice holidays.

An Ubuntu computer for less than $200

2007-11-13T20:11:00.000Z

You can find this article following this link. This computer is based on the gOS operating system. It is worth to have a look.

One more step towards the universalisation of technologies.

Community Broadband, article in Research Channel

2007-11-10T10:00:00.001Z

This is an interesting video about the broadband development within the urban environment. Worth to watch.

Community Broadband - Facing the Real Issues

Group on Facebook in protest for the education loan

2007-11-01T18:17:00.001Z

You can read all the information about this group from this link of Milkround news.

Welcome back

2007-10-30T12:09:00.000Z

I don't usually comment about my day by day life... but I reckon this is funny enough to be told.

Since I am back in Spain a lot of unexpected things have happened. The first thing I wanted to do was to pass the ITV (MOT in Britain) to my car. The surprise arrived when the technician told me very kindly that I would't pass the inspection until I change one of my front tyres.

The thing is that I had replaced one of my front tyres in UK since it got flat. Once at the garage, the mechanic used a new tyre which was same make, same model, same size, but different speed index. I had to replace the tyre, which was barely used, and I had to pay for a second inspection... too bad.
I have to say that these tyres are really good.

Just a week before that, the police towed my car because I parked in an unauthorised place when doing some paperwork in Alicante. Of course I had to pay the fine :-(

Hands on my project... I need a new desktop, since mine suddenly doesn't work, and anyway it is too old to carry out the the stuff I need. But why does my desktop not work? I wonder why... maybe the motherboard... maybe the memory... perhaps the processor... dunno!

I decided to buy some parts from an online shop. But when the parts arrived... the DDR2 modules didn't work... time spended sending them back to Madrid. I was lucky after all: they replaced me the parts with no cost and within a few days.
However, I don't want to mention how many hours I spent trying to install the operating system, and being let down by the computer, which got frozen once and again...

It is amazing how computers evolve so you can never make use of some parts you used to keep. For this new computer I could not even use the same power supply I had, memory, or even graphics card... Everything is different now.

After everything was sorted out, the radio-cd set of my car doesn't work. I have a look at it and nothing... After having taken it to pieces, I found out that the flex ribbon cable was cut. At least I didn't need to buy a new stereo, since I found a shop where the cable was available, and it was not too expensive.

It'd have been a pity if I had had to replace the whole device. It is worth it to have a look to see what's wrong with electronic devices.

You can imagine... this has been a hard month, heheh. Now things seem to get better. Working on WiMAX now, I would like you to see this interesting video about what this technology can achieve for you.

This video has been taken from wimax360.com

You can see the pictures I took during the fiestas in my town. We enjoy although I didn't have much time for it, since I was working on my project. A big hug to July, who came from Madrid to visit me.

Ah, I recommend the following dictionary. I have found it in Alicante. It has translations to Spanish, English, French, Italian and German. A visual dictionary, perfect for engineering or technical translations. I found it really necessary, and its pictures are impressive and very descriptive. It has been my present to Sarah

Cheers.

Bombay little superstar

2007-10-28T18:00:00.000Z

Pay attention at the face of the dancing kid, and the others too. Amazing.

But this is not all... This is a great remake. Enjoy it.

And a video with the best moments of the Bombay little superstar.

See what I've found!

2007-10-14T21:20:00.000Z

Bournemouth: the video.

9 d'Octubre

2007-10-09T08:07:00.000Z

Today is 9th of October, the day of the Kingdom of Valencia. I live in Alicante, which is a part of the Region of Valencia (aka the Valencian Community). Every 9th of October we celebrate the foundation of the Kingdom of Valencia, which happened such a day of the year 1238 when the king Jaume I conquered the city of Valencia by defeating the moors.
This day is celebrated in every city and town of the Valencian Community. We are living this celebration in my town, Campello. Last night we saw the Correfuegos (fireworks runner), from 12 until around 1.30 am. The fireworks ended with a castle of fireworks, which is similar to those in Bournemouth, but much bigger. Today there are acts prepared from the morning until lunch time. We will attempt to have paella for lunch, which will be given away in the square.

I hope you get to know a little bit more about my town and the area where I live. I will try to visit as many places as I can so I will seize my time and show the most to you. Friday this week the celebration in my town starts. Those will be the fiestas of my town. They take from the 12th until the 15th of October, and I will post some pictures. Shame last night I did not take my camera with me.

Sarah's got a job!!

2007-10-08T14:52:00.001Z

Hi there!
This news deserved a new post, so here we go: Sarah, after two weeks with me in Alicante has found a great job as a translator in a clinic. She has to deal with patients from Germany and English speakers. It is a very interesting job since she is learning a lot about fertility issues, and the tasks she is involved in are diverse.

As you may know, Sarah speaks Spanish, although she is not fluent. She studied Spanish at uni, but she had not practised it since then, four years ago. That's why this job is a great achievement for her. But this is a long term process.
After the first week in Spain, in September last year, she became more fluent. I decided to speak to her in Spanish so she would be able to improve. Moreover, she spent time studying by herself terms in Spanish for improving her CV and reflecting her achievements and skills.
Now you can see the results! ;) hehe

Congratulations Sarah, you deserve it.

And congratulations to Antonio and Katie, who had found a good job in London. I hope to see you soon.

Hasta la vista, Bournemouth

2007-10-01T16:12:00.001Z

Nearly two months since my last post...

As many of you may know I left England late July. I decided to leave the country and move to Spain for many reasons, and until now I couldn't find the moment for updating my blog.

Sarah and me decided to leave England and spend the last month of the summer in Germany, with her family. She hadn't lived with her parents since they moved to Italy four years ago. There I would have time to finish my studies before we move to Spain for good. We were so fed up with this summer in Bournemouth that the decision was not difficult. Moreover, once I started doing my assignments, I realised that the only possible way to do them was quitting my job and taking at least one month holidays.

So, finally, the 28th of July we left the house we lived in Poole to drive 1200 Km down to Margetshausen, close to Augsburg (Germany). I said that the decision wasn't hard at all, well... the difficult bit was quitting my job. I liked it very much and it was an important achievement for me, after 2 years in England. I learned a lot during the time I worked there, thanks to my colleagues. I want to thank Paul and Anne their help. It was really nice working with them, and they made the possible for the language barrier not to be a problem.

The trip to Germany was hard since we took the ferry at 2 a.m., and after a few hours in the mainland, our bodies needed a rest. Moreover, we decided to stop in Brussels, which I reckon was a mistake. The city was nice, but the signs were so escarce that we got lost easily and went round in circles during nearly two hours. Roads in Belgium and Luxembourg are really good, the best in Europe. So are they in Germany, but they are always under maintenance works and traffic was very slow. A big hug to the Belgium girls I met in Bournemouth: Nadia, Nadia2 and Samira.

I just went back to England the first week of September to submit my assignments and take my last exam. Now I have finished all the subjects, and I only have to do the project.

This is Sarah in Belgium. She drove most of the way to Germany.
The week we spent in Bournemouth after the summer was very nice. I was gladly surprised: the weather was wonderful!! One of the reasons why we left England was because we couldn't cope with that weather any longer. It rained day after day and our time there was becoming depressing. We stayed in a flat in the Triangle, and everybody was very nice with us. Thanks to Anna (and her syster), Justina, etc. We were very happy to see Monika back too. I have to say that she and her boyfriend Christo are amongst the nicest people I've ever met. We enjoyed a lot going to the tapas bar where Christo works. He is a great chef and prepares very nice tapas. I think I am already loosing my English since it is becoming very hard for me to write.

After that we left Germay and drove the way to Spain. We drove during two days and 2000 Km. This is the route we followed:
I enjoyed as much as I could in Germany, but it was a bit difficult for me since I had to study quite a lot. Beer and food were really good, although I am very special regarding to food. Thanks to Sarah's parents for making me feel like a part of their family. And Tobias, Judith, Lara and Leon too.

The first stop in Spain was in Barcelona. Driving along the highway I decided to stop in an industrial state, and visit a typical restaurant for workers. Not posh, not air/con, but cheap and tasty. Sarah liked it a lot, and I noticed the difference of living in Spain: two courses, paella and pork chops, drink and coffe for 9€. I missed this a lot.

Once in Spain we had quite a few hectic days, trying to sort out all the paperwork for Sarah to be able to work and have some rights, hehehe, in Spain. Most of you have worked in a foreign country and know what I am talking about, but I have to say that in Spain the burocracy is quite chaotic, and queues are long, very long...

I can't think of anything else to tell right now. Well, there is something, very important, but I reserve a whole post for that news.

A big hug, and thank you all for following me from this blog.

Ivan.

Short update

2007-07-08T20:34:00.000Z

Last news about my life are the high mark in my Project Proposal (75%), and my recent moving.

It seems like the path to the project is clear now. I "just" have to know the submission dates of my last two assignments, so I can start working on my project after that. My Project Proposal about Evaluation of WiMAX security threats in a realistic simulation environment has been marked and approved by the lecturer of Research Methods, although that was a first draft and I still need to write a refined proposal fixing some vague points, and hand it out to my project's tutor.

About the moving... Well, Sarah and me have just moved to a house in Poole. We moved in yesterday, and we'll share the house with the owners, an English couple, friends of us.

I will upload the last photos taken in Spain, when we were there last May, but I am working with Linux now and I have to install a Flickr uploader, or the Flock browser, which includes one. I also want to post something about what I am doing on my job. I will put it off till I have some spare time. I am really enjoying as I am learning a lot about databases, internet programming, backup and recovery.

Cheers.

Step by step... and new job!

2007-06-11T20:25:00.000Z

Wow! it's been a long time since last time I posted. Well, basically, after two holidays of one week each (last one in May), and Javi's wedding (I will upload the pictures), three assignments and an exam... little to say, and a lot, at the same time.

As it was forecast, last month was crazy at uni. Five assignments and two exams in 6 weeks... Fortunately, I got two distinctions so far, out of three assignments, and I passed one of the exams. However, I still have the other exam and two assignments to do after the summer. Why? the thing is that I got a new job, and I didn't have time to complete my masters in June. Moreover, I still have to do the project.

Step by step, I will talk about my project. I have decided to do the project on a simulation of a WiMAX network within a realistic environment, in order to prove the feasibility of Denial of Service and impersonation attacks. I still am waiting for the mark of my project proposal, so I can't tell more at the moment.

Regarding to the job, I finished my contract with Bournemouth University as a note taker by the end of May. Then, the last week of May I had an interview for a position as Junior Database Support, for the Hampshire PCT, in Southampton. They offered me the job and I accepted, so since the 4th of June I have a new job. That's quick and easy, isn't it?

OK, wish me luck, and see you later.

Already in Alicante

2007-04-13T21:48:00.001Z

Hi! here at last. I never thought I would say this but the weather in Bournemouth is better than in Alicante!
It is quite cloudy and not warm at all. People in the plain regret having book the flight this week, since the forecast is rain for the next days. This is good for Spain, though.

Anyway, I don't care. I am at home, I've had dinner... and it is worth it. Tomorrow I will call some of my friends, go shopping, enjoy the family and have fun.

See u soon.

One week in Spain after Easter

2007-04-12T09:19:00.001Z

Well, Semana Santa (Easter in Spain) has finished. Spain has lived with passion these emmotive days. Hundreds of cities all around Spain live the procession of Christ, regret his death and celebrate his resurrection. In this link you can see some of the pictures people have sent to a digital newspaper. I missed it this year too... but I had to study and flights were really expensive those dates.

Even though, I am going one week to Campello (Alicante) for holidays. I hope I will enjoy my family, the food and everything I miss when I am here. I will be back by the 23 when I will face up the final sprint at uni. Wish me luck!

Dedicated to Sarah

2007-04-11T19:10:00.000Z

Si en el firmamento poder yo tuviera,
esta noche negra lo mismo que un pozo,
con un cuchillito de luna lunera,
cortaría los hierros de tu calabozo.
Si yo fuera reina de la luz del día,
del viento y del mar,
cordeles de esclava yo me ceñiría
pot tu libertad.

¡Ay, pena, penita, pena -pena-,
pena de mi corazón,
que me corre por las venas -pena-
con la fuerza de un ciclón!
Es lo mismo que un nublado
de tiniebla y pedernal.
Es un potro desbocado
que no sabe dónde va.
Es un desierto de arena -pena-,
es mi gloria en un penal.
¡Ay, penal! ¡Ay, penal!
¡Ay, pena, penita, pena!

Yo no quiero flores, dinero, ni palmas,
quiero que me dejen llorar tus pesares
y estar a tu vera, cariño del alma,
bebiéndome el llanto de tus soleares.
Me duelen los ojos de mirar sin verte,
reniego de mí,
que tienen la culpa de tu mala suerte
mis rosas de abril.

Hace casi dos años

2007-04-10T22:54:00.001Z

Pues sí. Ahora sí que cuando miro las fotos me parece que haga muchísimo tiempo. Sobretodo de las primeras, las de Julio o Agosto de 2005, cuando llegué a Bournemouth.

Esas fiestas que hacíamos en la Tregonwell... esos amigos polacos...

Esos primeros dos meses en la Glenfern House...Esas belgas, que siguen en Bournemouth...

Ese verano trabajando en el Pier... aquí estoy con mi amigo Gregory, el que visité en Cracovia. A él y a Agata, que aparece más arriba en la foto también con Rafal. Jarek y Asia.

Javi y Eva, Laura, los suecos, Gosia y Asia de Szczecin... Luego vinieron a vivir a la Tregon Antonio, Rebeca... el invierno fue incluso mejor que el verano.

... Marcel, Elena, Nadine, Nacho, Roberto, Francis, Carlos, Yukari, Rye. Esos viajes a Swanage con el coche a pasar el día...

Blanca, Katie, Antonio, la gente de Russel-Cotes...

Jorge y Pachetis. Henry. María de Villena y María de Lugo. Pamela. Tuba. Pero la persona que más eché a faltar es Michael el Chino Cabrón...

Is China a part of Taiwan?

2007-04-08T15:29:00.001Z

In the blog of M. Varsavsky (an argentinian business man who is settled in Spain) the author comments the strange relationship between China and Taiwan. It is commonly believed that Taiwan wants to achieve the independence from China, but this is not very accurate. The video is in spanish only.

In fact, they had the chance to be proclame the independence and they refuse to do it. Why? because taiwanese government considers itself to be the legitimate representatives of the chinese people. The governors of China settled in Taiwan when Mao Zedong became the Chinese Marxist military and political leader. Therefore, Taiwan looks at China as the rebel "province" and they look forward getting it back under its control.

The thing is I know this but I don't remember why. Maybe Jackson, a Taiwanese guy I know, told me.

You can see Jackson in this picture. He is the only guy besides me. The girls are Sarah and some Korean and Chinese whose names I don't remember.

El blog como herramienta empresarial de comunicación externa

2007-04-02T17:38:00.001Z

El pasado jueves estaba tomando apuntes en una clase de Public Relations, cuando en una pregunta de examen el alumno tenía que escoger cuál de las opciones era era un medio de comunicación empresarial a nivel interno. La respuesta correcta era una extranet.

Algunos alumnos no lo entendieron y argumentaban que:

Si es extra-net, cómo podía ser un medio de comunicación inter-no? Interno será una inter-net!

... Es gracioso. Alarmante que estudiantes de carrera británicos no sepan el significado del prefijo inter, diferente de intra. Pasemos página.

Lo que me llamó la atención es que entre las opciones de comunicación externa figuraba el blog de la empresa. Es alucinante cómo en poco tiempo el fenómeno de los blogs ha pasado a ser un medio empresarial para la difusión de información relevante de la organización a los stakeholders.

Incluso podría ser utilizado como medio de comunicación interno. Si se piensa bien, puede ser incluso más eficaz que el correo electrónico, ya que el blog siempre "está ahí". Es una página colgada en un servidor, que no es probable que sea accidentalmente borrada (como cuando tienes que reinstalar el s.o., se te borra el disco duro, etc.). Los empleados ven en un tablón a qué hora es la reunión, etc. No sé, es cuestión de tiempo que se te ocurran un montón de ventajas.

Outbound flight to Spain

2007-04-01T18:28:00.001Z

Finally I book my outbound and inbound flights to spend part of my Easter holidays in Spain. I will be flying off the 13th of April and I'll be coming back the 21st using the re-established service Valencia-Bournemouth.

The first flight I took to Bournemouth (back in 2005) was from Valencia. I remember I spent the night at Gemma and Jordi's flat. It seems to be ages ago... when I was working at the pier and everything in Bournemouth was awesome to me.

I will do a proper post showing some of the best places in Bournemouth. This city is located in one of the most beautiful areas in Dorset, the South West. Here a little sample:

Más que Vista, hay que tener ojo!

2007-03-31T18:13:00.001Z

Es el mismo cuento de siempre: un nuevo parto de Microsoft ingeniado en conjunción con los fabricantes de micros para forzar el despegue de ventas de la nueva hornada de hardware de turno. Pero... ¿realmente vale la pena?

La opinión mostrada en varios artículos de opinión es que el nuevo Vista no se muestra tan claramente superior y "necesario" para la informática doméstica como lo fue XP. Al mismo tiempo, la fuerte entrada en juego de la nueva distro de Linux - Ubuntu - hace temblar crujir los argumentos de innovador, que alegan los de MS. Linux, al ser software abierto y libre, se actualiza a diario. Algunos aseguran que tal vez para cuando salga la siguiente versión de Windows, Linux ya habrá alcanzado un nivel de innovación y manejabilidad que será muy difícil de ser igualado por un software de pago, cuyas versiones salen al mercado tras un periodo de desarrollo de 5 años.

Yo no soy un fanático de Linux, pero ya he probado la Suse 10.2, y la última Ubuntu, y no me han defraudado nada.

Esta última ni siquiera necesita ser instalada. El mismo CD de instalación es un LiveCD que se lanza desde el mismo momento que lo insertas. Me configuró todo en mi portátil, hasta la tarjeta Wi-Fi, y se conectó a la primera red inalámbrica que encontró. Y con Firefox funcionando.

Muchos son los defectos y peligros que auguran los que han probado a fondo el nuevo Vista (su cortafuegos y alertas del sistema incitan a su desactivación, al ser este demasiado intrusivo y poco predictivo), su instalación es eterna y llena de contínuas demandas de atención al usuario, el mínimo de ram parece ser de 1 Gb (no sé cuánto ocupa en el disco duro)... todo son virtudes. Aún así, esperaré a probarlo, aunque por ahora intentaré adentrarme cada vez más en el mundo Linux.

Ah, Dell empezará a vender sus ordenadores con Linux preinstalado como opción.

Tuscany, South Tyrol and Bavaria

2007-03-26T20:09:00.001Z

I made a mistake stating that Sud Tirol was a part of Austria. As I checked in Wikipedia, it is an autonomous province of Italy. By the way, this is a nice map of Europe:

This picture is copyrighted by and part of the "EU location" map series created by David Liuzzo

In the next picture it can be observed a map of the provinces of Italy with Sud Tirol highlighted:

Next to the map of Italy, it can be observed the region of Tyrol, whose southern part is now a part of Italy (Wikipedia, 2007)

The atmosphere I felt in Sud Tirol (name in Italian) was relaxed and sophisticated. We had dinner in a Chinese restaurant wherein the waitress spoke Italian.

Bavaria is an awesome region in the South of Germany. Amongst its cities we can find Augsburg, which I personally liked very much. The city got its name from August Caesar. In Spain, something similar happened with Zaragoza. That city from Aragon, a region located at the North-East of Spain, got its name from Caesar-Augusta. The use of the language did the rest.

Above, a map of Germany wherein Bavaria is highlighted. Another interesting aspect of this trip was having a taste of the different dialects spoken in Germany. In this link you can see the dialects spoken in Bavaria. They can also be observed from the map above (right): Bavarian (blue), Franconian (green) and Alemannic German (red colour).

However, I am very proud of my country: España. I hope I will go back soon.

Now, my first aim is to finish my MSc (hard work it is taking me). After this I'll go to Spain with Sarah. But I want to study German maybe someday I will go there for a little while. Who knows... when I came to UK to study a masters degree... hehehe, not only me laught of that. Now here I am. Things didn't go that bad though.

BourneFree is born!

2007-03-12T13:30:00.000Z

BourneFree is a new website where you can find a handful of interesting news about Bournemouth and all around the world. Please have a look and state what you reckon.

These days corridors are getting very crowdy at Bournemouth University. We have the Student Union elections, and every week there is a lot of events that representatives try to support offering you a lot of information and liflets.

Honestly, I am not into that sort of stuff, but if you have spare time you can have fun.

Exams results

2007-03-10T22:29:00.001Z

Well, good news: I have passed all my exams. Since talking about details and minutiae won't be of interest of the majority of you, I will say that I have got two merits and a passed. Likewise the overall marks are pretty similar. This is not too bad if you take into account that I have been working all the semester and I didn't have much time to prepare my exams.

Now I am working on my project. I am just try to do some research on the literature review about some topics I am juggling with. I will let you know when I have chosen my topic.

Mobile Applications Development, Network Design and Network Management are also pushing me to study... I am running out of energy. Since I am back from Germany I don't know who I am :(

OK, back to work!

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Back from holidays

2007-03-03T12:17:00.001Z

Well, we are back. After one week and many miles we are back in Bournemouth. It's been an amazing time. First we went to Italy wherein we spent two days. I loved food and the atmosphere. Sarah's family was the best all the time. We arrived on Thursday and, after doing the moving on Friday, we left on Saturday head to Germany. We spent the night in South Tirol (Austria). It was beautiful. Sunday evening we arrived to Germany, were Sarah's family lives now; close to Augsburg (Bavaria).

We visited the city and quite a few places, including cafes... ummm I love German cafes. They have a genuine atmosphere, and sweets are delicious. I'd never have thought I would like Germany so much, but I really enjoyed this trip.

Of course, Sarah was looking after me at all times, and helping me not feeling awkward, because I was surrounded by German speakers all the time!!!

Once in the town in Augsburg (I don't remember the name and Sarah is not here, sorry) we helped with the unpacking. We still had time for enjoying and finally Wednesday we visited Munich, staying the night in a hotel. Once there, Andi was a really nice guide. She showed us the best places in the city. Munich is a city full of huge, massive monuments and buildings. Seriously, you can feel like an ant.

I have pasted a photo I took of the City Hall, it is similar to the one from the post about the trip. You can see all the pics in the flick square at your right hand.

To conclude this... an awesome time. Thanks Monica, Mario, Tobias, Judith and Andi. And thanks Sarah.

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The power of information

2007-02-17T19:32:00.000Z

This post is related to the previous one. I do not remember where I gotthis link from, but it gives us an idea about something some of usbelieve since some time ago.
All of us know Google. It is easy toobserve how much information can gather such a search engine. Now, afilm tries to bring some light over the most tremendous business in theinternet.

Ladies and gentlemen: The Master Plan

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There's no computer security, but acceptable grades of insecurity

2007-02-17T17:22:00.000Z

The level of chaos reached in the field of information security and privacy is very high and has walked thorough the acceptable threshold. I recommend everybody interested in computer security to read the next article from Security Absurdity called Security Absurdity: the complete, unquestionable, and total failure of information security.

Security is a major factor to be considered in every information transaction. But it is being assumed that the environment we are set in is secure. However, a professional should consider that the mean is not reliable, and therefore, our information is at danger. There is the danger to be tampered, to be lost due to a disaster, or even to be stolen and sold to the best bidder.
I found these issues very interesting while studying the subject Internet Systems Management.
Our information is not only an aim for hackers because they want to make us to have a bad day. Competitors look forward to get our information in order to get advantage towards our business. This is something we all must bear on mind.

The article talks about the boiling frog syndrome we all are suffering. This comparison reflects the current situation by which companies are used to suffer attacks to their information integrity and security, and think this is an standable situation. But little by little this situation is getting worse, and it is reaching a very dangerous threshold.

Thanks to the lecturer of ISM: Peter Merchant, for the link.

Cocinero, cocinero

2007-02-15T13:35:00.000Z

Some old Spanish films are priceless. Most of them are based on the songs of outstanding singers. The guy in the following video is performing a playback of a song from Antonio Molina: "Cocinero, cocinero". I think it is worth it to watch it.

Trip to Italy and Germany

2007-02-14T19:06:00.000Z

Yes! on road again. Sarah and me are flying off next Thursday. We shall spend one or two days in Tuscany (Italy) and then depart to Bavaria (Germany) by car. Flying from Bournemouth to Pisa is really cheap. The inbound trip will be Munich London Stansted.
I hope I will meet Sarah's friend Andy in Munich. But do not worry Andy, you can speak German, or even Spanish...

You can see Munich's town hall tower in this picture:

After exams and the end of the first semester I think I deserve some days of relax. I am still waiting for the results of an assignment and the three exams I took. I think I didn't do too bad, after all. Now, I will be one week away from uni and stress. I hope lecturers won't give any important information or any tight deadline for an assignment during that time. One never knows in a masters.

Next time I would like to visit Berlin. Maybe a friend from Benidorm (Spain) will come (won't you, Antonio?). Maybe next summer. There is another destination I wouldn't like to miss out: Scandinavia. Sweden or Norway catches my attention since last year. Me and Antonio Pana were about to go last summer, when we pretended to spend the summer working at a farm in Norway, hhehehe, crazy guys.

How are you getting along with the assignment?

2007-01-13T11:53:00.000Z

This has been the most asked question since I started the masters. In the Electronics and Networks Framework, we had an assignment every an average time of three weeks, some times the period is shorter. I have passed the first two assignments: TCP/IP Applications and Comm. and Networks, and am waiting for the results of the third one: Internet Systems Management.

Right now I am working on the Wireless Networks assignment, and the second one for ISM.

In the WN assignment, I have to design the infrastructure of a wireless network for a hospital, as well as the applications (mobile and stand-alone) to automate the process of appointment making and updating. For ISM we have to discuss the ethical implications in the supply chain of a company whose provider is a manufacturer in the far east... interesting, don't you think?

Greetings to my classmates Sally, Mohammed, Ruben, Chao and Elijah.

Christmas finished... I am back in Bournemouth :) :( ??

2007-01-13T10:23:00.000Z

Yes, as mentioned, I have spent my Christmas holidays in Alicante. Running all the time between Campello, Alicante, Alfaz and Benidorm. I as about to go to Valencia to pick up Sarah, but Jordi was there to help us (thanks Jordi).

I spent Christmas's Eve with the family of my brother in law. Both dinner and atmosphere were really nice, I had a good time indeed.

Sarah came from Tuscany the morning of 28th, so we spent New Year's Eve together, with my friends from Benidorm. In the meantime, we had a good time in Campello, where the weather was so nice... around 20 degrees all the time. You can imagine how depressing was being back in Bournemouth :(

But it is OK! Now back to study and to do assignments again, prepare the exams for February, etc. Sarah and me came back to Bournemouth on Friday the 5th. We miss the Reyes Magos in Spain, it was a pity.

Well, I didn't mentioned that since November I am working for Bournemouth University, as Educational Access Assistant. Yes, as you can guess I quit my job in the cafe, since I was not able to get along with such amount of work and my studies at the same time. You can read it as written in my CV:

Nov 2006 – Present
Bournemouth University

Educational Access Assistant & Student Ambassador. Bournemouth (UK)

I provide assistance for students with additional learning needs. This involves attending to lectures as well as taking and editing notes for their use by the student.

Member of the welcoming team. Responsible for introducing new postgraduate students the equipments and facilities of the campus.

OK then, show must go on.

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Christmas in Alicante

2006-12-23T19:47:00.000Z

Wow!! after a bloody busy period studying and working I took my deserved holidays and a flight to Alicante. At last at home! :)

Well, I don't really live in Alicante, since my home is in Campello. Alicante is the capital of the province where I live. You can find a link to Campello in Wikipedia in a previous post in this blog.

I am having a good time with my nieces Tamara, Blanquita and Celia. And I am looking forward to hug Aitana and Veronica, who I will meet next Monday. You can see pictures of all of them in this blog and the Photolog.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas and the new year will bring you loads of good moments. Happy Christmas !!

Javi and Zuza

2006-08-20T22:32:00.000Z

Javi is a guy from León (Spain) who was one of the tripod which came to Bournemouth in summer 2003 "just for holidays". In that time we didn't speak a word of English, and the best job we found was as a kitchen porter. It was our first summer in England, and we enjoyed, despite of the hard work. The following summer they came back to Bournemouth, but I had to stay in Spain because of work. Then Javi and Zu met each other, and in January 2005 Javi move to Poland with her. That's love, isn't it?

Now they are in Edinburgh (Scotland) but is coming to visit us in a few weeks. Nevertheless, he is settled in Szczecin (Poland) where is living with his girlfriend Zu. What can I say about Zu?... She is a lovely girl who madly, deeply in love with Javi (dlacego??: newiem). And all that came because in her opinion he takes after Bruce Willis, hahahhahahhah Who can understand girls?????? :DDD

It was very funny when last summer Javi was back in Bournemuth and he was already fed up of hearing Polish everywhere. He didn't know that the most important colony in Bth are Polish. He worked again in Best Break, surrounded by polish people.

Anyway, Javi is one of the best persons I've ever met, and so is Zu. I would like to live in the same city as u do, but at the moment it is not that easy.

This girl is Zuza, from Poland (where abouts in Poland?? newiem). It is a pity she is not able to visit us in Bournemouth because she has some exams coming in Poland.

I met her in Szczecin, Abril 2005, when I was on holiday with Bruno and Laura. I wanted to visit Javi, to whom I hadn't seen for one and a half year. We had an awesome time thanks to them, who showed us the city and partied with us.

We miss u.

Jose in Bournemouth

2006-08-20T22:06:00.000Z

This is Jose from Campello, my town. He is brother of Bruno, my flat mate, and is here to study English, but he never studies, actually. He is attending the English school with me, but sometimes we play truant and go for a coffe to the café next to the school.

Here we can see how much he thinks about the world in general and himself in particular. Nevermind, he is the average 16 boy from a small spanish backwater. He is very happy to be here, enjoying his time and having fun. Well, somehow, because he is not allowed to get in clubs yet, he is underaged. Can it be a worst thing to be in Bournemouth?? ;)
Now is Jose who writes...

Un comentario from Jose: mi clase de la escuela de inglés es una coctelera peor que la serie de "aqui no hay quien viva". Hay coreanos, polacos, turcos, colombianos y "moros" ah!!! y un brasileño que se a puesto tetas y se cree tia aunque tenga una cara de macho. Un coreano viste de cowboy con su sombrero y todo, y el otro va con unas paperasssss.... vamos que hecha un aliento a mañanero que se te revuelve el estomago. Bueno y mas cosas pero son muchas, hecharle imaginación.

Un comentario 2 from Jose: Vamos a hablar sobre la gente de Bournemouth. La gente de Bournemouth es rara, muy rara. La gente que va al café del museo donde trabaja Bruno e Iván es de lo mas tétrico, por decirlo de alguna manera. Son gente del tipo asustada, que te miran con cara de pánico cuando les preguntas que tipo de café quieren. Aquí podéis ver una imagen del café, es el Russel Cotes Museum Café:

Un comentario 3 from Jose: En cuanto mi, me gusta viajar y conocer gente, auque después la odie. Me gustaria ir a Los Ángeles (USA)...

ver sus rascacielos...
y visitar Hollywood.
También me gustaría visitar Nueva York, y asÃ ver sur rascacielos, ver los museos y tiendas, visitar los típicos barrios de Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan y Broadway con sus lugares famosos. Aquí podéis ver algunas fotos y deleitaros con sus vistas.

Bueno, termino aquí mi artículo en el blog de Iván. Espero que os haya gustado, quizá compartáis alguna de mis aficiones y gustos. Espero poder venir a Inglaterra de nuevo, y así publicar algo más. Hasta pronto!!
Jose Peris
Bournemouth

Antonio in Australia

2006-08-19T22:35:00.000Z

Our friend Antonio is in Australia. He'd been in Bournemouth for nearly one an a half year, and he finally moved out to study a Masters Degree in La Trobe University in Melbourne.

We used to live in the same hotel, share room for a few months, and be flat mates.

You can read about his life in Australia here, or in the permanent link which is in my blog.

He found here the nicest dutch girls I've never met, who changed the heading of his life, the good way, in my opinion. She is Katie, and her blog is in a link as Tinkelotje's.

Good luck Antonio!! All the best.

MSc Networks Management

2006-08-19T18:54:00.000Z

As many of you are aware, I moved to England to study a Masters Degree in Telecommunications, which is the subject I studied (Engineering of Teleommunications, Networking Speciality) in the Politechnic University of Valencia, Spain.

I was supposed to study the MSc Web Business Systems, but I got an e-mail few days ago telling me that the course I was going to study is not running this year in Bournemouth University :( Thus, I had to chose another course among the offered in this University, because I think it has a big range of MSc to do with Electronics, Networking and Computing.

Finally I chose the MSc Networks Management, for which I am suitable to be accepted and is an enhance of my Bachelor Degree. I was helped by the leaders of two departments of the School of Design, Engineering and Computing so as I was able to make up my mind in a matter of days.

I hope this is will be a succesful year and I will enjoy the experience of living, working and studying in United Kingdom.

Un saludo a mis compañeros de carrera Antonio Galiana, Jordi DeGroot, José Pardo, J. Pascual Ventura, Alexis Fracés, J. Carlos González, Santiago Lillo y Sergio Vilches. Un saludo a todo Campello, si hay alguien de allí que deje un comentario.

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Spanish teacher

2006-08-18T18:42:00.000Z

Yes, I've become a Spanish teacher. Since last July I am delivering lessons. At the moment I have three costumers. One is on a conversational level, and two more on an elementary. It is a nice experience indeed. I like dealing with people and everybody has something to teach you. This is one of the advantages of living in England.

Trip to Cornwall

2006-08-18T18:32:00.000Z

Two weeks ago (I know, I don't keep my blog up to date) Sarah and me visitted Corwall, the South West of England. Of course we tried the autoctonous Cornish Pasty, not bad to be English ;) The place is amazing, (http://www.cornwall.gov.uk) plenty of breath-taking landscapes, beautiful fisherman's villages, cottages and old boats in the docks... We went to Plymouth and Polperro, through Torpoint and Looe. Next week I will post some pics of the trip.

It's been a good escape and we had two very relaxing days. I think I needed it. Working in the cafe is getting hard as the end of the summer is coming. It is bloody busy now!!

I hope will update this blog more often, but the thing is that I am working a lot lately, and busy sorting out some affairs of to do with University.

Viaje a Cracovia

2006-06-20T18:29:00.000Z

En Mayo dos amigos y yo nos fuimos de vacaciones a Cracovia (Polonia). La excusa era visitar a unos amigos de allí que conocimos en Bournemouth en verano pasado. Yo ya había estado en Polonia en Abril del año pasado, en Szczecin, donde vive un amigo mío de León y su novia polaca. Pero Cracovia es diferente, más turístico si cabe, más caro también, la ciudad está muy cuidada, sobretodo el casco viejo. Muy monumental, hay muchas catedrales.

Polonia es un país muy católico. Estuvimos allí una semana antes de que lo hiciera el Papa. Lo más llamativo que vimos fueron las minas de sal y Auschwitz , el campo de concentración.

Aquí estoy con mi amigo Jesús de Benidorm. Bueno, no sé si he dicho que soy de Campello (Alicante), que se sepa.

Bienvenidos a mi blog!

2006-06-18T22:12:00.000Z

Hi! welcome to my first blog. I am a spanish guy who is living in England. This is the first post so it is a sort of introducion of myself. That in the picture is me in Swanage, a little town at around 50 Km from Bournemouth, the city where I live.

Now I can show you what I do with my life, and what I don't ;) I've just come back from a two weeks holiday in Spain, so I am not used to England... I hope I will have time to post everything interesting that happens to my and my folks in Bournemouth and in Alicante, where I am from. I wish you liked this site.

Hugs and kisses.

Ivan