sesam.hu

Engineering Manager | Trail Runner | Stockholm, Sweden

Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Maybe, just maybe, I shouldn't have done things.

Such as writing a journal (or blog), because now everyone knows what I think. Even retroactively. Even if I delete it, thanks to Google cache. I probably shouldn't have posted pictures of me either, because now everyone knows how I look. Or for that matter I perhaps should never have registered to social networking sites.

I'm too open, and - if anything - the more you know something or someone the less interesting that person is.

Or for a more serious consequence one day I might be denied a job just because of this carelessness.

After all the smart thing to do is remain anonymous.

Psychedelic Chinese Law

David was right and Chinese Law class is unbearably boring. It's especially cruel for being the first class in the morning, when people (or at least me) are comatose enough without being sedated by a monotone speech about law philosophy. Nevertheless there was an interesting improvement about five minutes ago, when the class turned into a semi-psychedelic show: the professor's laptop connected to two screens on each side turned on its screensaver, parallel lines in all colours of the rainbow tilting and transforming in random directions. All we miss are some drugs now.

Welcome to the Machine

So I was frustrated by school and wanted to post a video. However, TinyMCE (the visual editor of WordPress) decided to bail on me and stopped loading. I had no choice but to research the problem and found out that mostly it's an issue with the server (boy was I surprised...NOT), and it can be caused by the content provider switching off the realpath function.

The fix described here didn't work for me though. (It's outdated as well, the file is called tiny_mce_config.php rather tiny_mce_gzip.php and it looks completely rewritten. I'm not even sure the realpath function would be an issue anymore.) Apparently it was not StartLogic's fault.

Then I remembered that Viper's Video Quicktags plugin - which is awesome and lets you post videos with valid code - didn't update too well due to the previously mentioned (QQd) server problems. I manually updated the plugin and - surprise - everything loaded fine. So... it was the host's fault after all. If the servers hadn't got the speed of a rheumatic snail on sedatives and the stability of a domino tower built onboard a ship in a thunderstorm I'd never have got this error.

Anyway, after a hour or so of googling and fixing (sounds shorter and easier when just blogged about) I'm even more frustrated. And however lame it is to post videos instead of actual posts...

[youtube]http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=DMvl2cWMIOI[/youtube]

Japanese Girls Every Day!

It was worth visiting index.hu today. I'll know what to link when someone asks the mandatory question 'and how are Japanese girls?' again...

There And Back Again

This last one was one of the more interesting trips I had.

It was doomed from the very start. The check-in lady insisted that 24.6kg is too much for my suitcase and I should remove some items to make it under 23. So I reorganised my luggage a bit, putting a few things in my backpack instead. The overall weight of the airplane didn't change but at least the check-in staff was satisfied. Anyway, after this I was informed that she cannot give me a boarding pass for my Amsterdam - Osaka flight, but I shouldn't worry, this sometimes happens and it will be fine. I'd just have to pick it up at a transfer desk in Schipol.

Then I couldn't board on time. In Ferihegy two gates use the same jetway and our neighbouring gate's Lufthansa flight was delayed and the plane took up the parking space. As a result we needed to be transported by bus to our aircraft which stayed on the runway. This caused some delay and afterwards there was some idling before taking off as well due to the clogged European airspace - or so the captain told us. This all added up to forty-five minutes of delay.

This made my situation in Schipol quite dire with not much time to get a boarding pass, get through passport control and board. At the transfer desk I was told that my flight to Osaka was overbooked and I should make my way to the gate and wait there. or I could just volunteer to stay in Amsterdam, which I didn't.

The only problem was the mile-long lines at the passport check. Only half of the booths worked, and only one of them was for EU passports. And that didn't matte much because non-EU people still queued up and they weren't challenged either. Right in front of me were three Kazakhstanis.

When I arrived at the designated gate there were already two Dutch there waiting. KLM representatives assured us that they are very sorry but the flight was overbooked and we'd have to wait until everyone boarded to see if there were any spaces. As time passed the Dutch guy and girl were allowed to board. That left me and three Germans who arrived after me stranded. I caught a glimpse of my luggage being offloaded then the plane left.

Us unlucky ones were escorted to a nondescript door at a far corner of the airport which hid KLM's offices. We received food vouchers for €15. When we got back from lunch tickets were waiting for us to Osaka with a transfer at Pudong Int'l Airport, Shanghai. Which didn't sound too bad except for the almost eight hour wait there. To be honest I imagined my first visit to Mainland China a bit differently.

However as compensation we were given several things: a phone card for a five minute call anywhere in the world, another food voucher for €10, a discount ticket for any KLM flight for €50 and finally a cash card for €600. This was the point where I decided it wasn't all that bad after all. The compensation almost amounted up to a whole return ticket home in winter. Also for the long-distance flight to Shanghai I was upgraded to Business Class once again.

I slept through almost the whole trip to China due to the awesome seat. Only if you have endured the confinements of cattle class for 10 hours can you properly appreciate proper legspace. Food was - once again - excellent, and this time I snatched one of those bibs with a buttonhole I liked so much. (I just found out it's called a bib rather than a serviette, or so I think.)

In Shanghai the three Germans and I had to go through immigration, because our connecting flight was scheduled to leave from another terminal. We were even supposed to fill in a landing card, why though it was beyond me. Then we got a little red stamp and continued to pick up our luggage.

But the suitcases never came. Originally the KLM representative told us that we might need to pick up the luggage in Shanghai and check-in again with it but she wasn't sure. In Shanghai however everyone agreed that we must do so. Chinese regulations don't allow luggage to be automatically loaded to a connecting flight. We consulted the lost baggage desk and they sent us to Terminal 2 saying that it was OK and our case was an exception. In Terminal 2 the Air China staff insisted that we went back and looked for our bags because it's impossible that they were transferred. In Terminal 1 the KLM people told us that the bags will be in Osaka. What they all agreed upon was that they had no idea actually where our luggage was. Also, mind that these terminals are a long walk from each other...

We finally gave up and crawled back to T2 to wait until we could check-in for Osaka. I tried one last time at the check-in desk to squeeze out some info about the bags, and that was where we first heard the option that the suitcases might be shipped the following day on the same KLM flight we missed.

However, to ease our discomfort we also received an invitation to the Business Class lounge in the transit area. Considering the five hours we still had to wait at that point, it was the least they could do. I was only afraid I'd get so used to this treatment that next time I fly as a pleb again it'll be a shocking experience.

Random interesting information from Shanghai: a bottle of Pepsi costs 4 Yuan, they seem to use 220V mains, the public phones had the sickle and the hammer on their screens and the Business Class lounge has free food and beer, even wifi, for the tired travelers.

Finally our flight to Osaka was pretty much uneventful. The only thing worth mentioning that ANA planes all seem to have cameras outside which they switch on for takeoff and landing so the passengers can see what the pilots see. Landing to KIX is somewhat scary: the initial lights that mark the runway are on a small pier-like construction in the water and until the very last second it seems like the plane would just crash into the sea.

We landed fine of course. And - as service-orientated as Japan is - there was already a girl posted with our names at the jetway to inform us that our luggage will indeed arrive only the next day. Which turned out to be lucky, because unlike ever before this time my backpack was investigated by the customs officer. She was quite strict and businesslike too, even leafed through the pages the book I had. I still have no idea what made me suspicious. She asked if I left Schipol so she might have suspected that I'd try to smuggle drugs in. Or maybe passengers from China are per definition fishy.

The bad weather seems to follow me though. As I'm writing this it's raining, as it had been more or less since I arrived. Au contraire, as soon as I left Hungary it's all Indian summer there.

Miscellaneous Info

I am aware of the fact that the site is painfully slow, bordering unusable. Sometimes it just times out for me completely. StartLogic insists that this is temporary and they are in the process of upgrading the SQL server:

The slowness is temporary; we have an engineering project going on adding new discs to the MySQL server; this should help this situation greatly. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.

To be honest I have my doubts. Also, it's been going on for weeks now. Anyhow, if you have trouble reading the posts please try the SeSam.hu RSS page, which is a lot faster.

Message in a Blogttle

Being home I concluded that blogging is a lonely occupation. There weren't many updates because I had people to meet, places to go and stuff to do. This was my last day at home, so from Sunday, when I arrive, things will be the same. At least some, while other things will be completely different. Nevertheless, stay tuned. :)

Free Music is Sexy

Ain't it? Well the Netherland-based Silence is Sexy certainly thinks so. BH stumbled upon this release on The Gathering forums, since their keyboardist, Frank Boeijen, plays on three of the tracks. To quote the band:

Music is just like love, you have to share it. That's why we give away our new album This Ain't Hollywood for free.

I think it's pretty good indie rock. Recommended for fans of Snow Patrol, Coldplay, The Bravery and alike.

You can download the full album in mp3 format plus a booklet and the cover image in a zip archive. Alternatively you can find the album on Mininova if you're into torrents. Last.fm offers all the tracks for listening through their radio, too. 

And if you like what you hear, the first album of the band is available under similar conditions.

In Memoriam Richard Wright

[youtube]http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=3DXCHa9BYfE[/youtube]

"No one can replace Richard Wright."

New Gathering Album Spring 2009

But... who's this girl?

The new vocalist? Someone's girlfriend? Or just an innocent bystander? Hans is so evil! :evil:

pics (c) Gema Perez