tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-99147282024-03-07T10:48:47.945-08:00Random thoughtsEnjoy my blurbs about work, life, politics, and other things with no specific agenda.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-48712895108827786662009-09-12T00:18:00.000-07:002009-09-12T00:28:19.030-07:00Flash Talk is live at the app store<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLpp1AOkIZNj7IbPcAP0OIDQrT4UMf7H4YCzIaKWI1ZAa2b9XDUjn2dIiHz5Ch-GpcJ60G6PIP-RFfpB3-jZ_JjGa8p5xFOAxxixZaCYU8X6nhCmWB0ZccxyEO3n-pQMxh_LF8/s1600-h/FlashTalk02.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLpp1AOkIZNj7IbPcAP0OIDQrT4UMf7H4YCzIaKWI1ZAa2b9XDUjn2dIiHz5Ch-GpcJ60G6PIP-RFfpB3-jZ_JjGa8p5xFOAxxixZaCYU8X6nhCmWB0ZccxyEO3n-pQMxh_LF8/s320/FlashTalk02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380479286479378706" /></a><br />My friend Zeki and I wrote an iPhone application: <span style="font-weight:bold;">Flash Talk</span>. It was approved today by Apple. Check it out in our website at <a href="http://www.benchplay.com">http://www.benchplay.com</a>.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-11253253388874252562008-03-17T23:19:00.000-07:002008-03-17T23:22:01.079-07:00Green Monday...After 1739 days the wait is over. It was a green Monday, after all.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-85623193084349632762008-01-15T21:53:00.000-08:002008-01-15T22:42:54.207-08:00DRM stops innovationThis time the predictions have turned into reality. DRM (Digital Rights Management) is stopping innovation.<br /><br />The RIAA and the big music industries have been fighting a big fight against consumers, and the music companies have been realizing that fighting the consumers is not a good idea. Aligning themselves with the consumers will make everyone happy. Capitalism rules apply: if nobody wants to buy it, then there will be no product to sell.<br /><br />This fight will now move to the TV realm. In one year the entire broadcast will switch to HDTV. This is being forced on us, consumers, but, unfortunately, we're not going to benefit from it.<br /><br />Dozens of appliances will cease to work, or will not work correctly, and we're forced to upgrade if we want to get "any" TV. The HDTV Converter costs more than the voucher we're getting, and it doesn't allow our older appliances to work. Cable TV companies will force you to upgrade to their digital services, which are more expensive than the regular services.<br /><br />In essence, we're paying, and paying a lot, for what? Many say there's an advantage to HDTV, the picture is better, etc; but at what cost?<br /><br />HDTV comes with heavy DRM. Current TVs and devices will not work without a conversion box, or they have to be fitted with the CableCard. CableCard will only be installed in "select" devices, and those devices have to be approved by both the CableCard consortium and by your Cable company.<br /><br />That's where the DRM comes to light. Today, with regular TVs you have your VCR, you have DVRs, and lots of flexibility with those. Many DVRs allow for you to burn your programs to DVD or even to transfer it to your computer or iPod for portability.<br /><br />None of this is possible with HDTV. Just look at the Tivo HD specs. It does not support a fraction of the features of the regular Tivo. Also, the broadcast companies can lock a program from being recorded, copied, etc, adding even more DRM to it.<br /><br />In essence, HDTV brings loss to all our TV watching freedom. We cannot record our shows to watch later, unless we "pay the fee" of the certified device we can use; we lose the freedom to take the TV show to other devices for watching on the road. It took us so long to get to where we are, and now we lose it all again. Watching TV in 2009 will feel like 1980's again...<br /><br />So, tell me, why should I switch? In the end, I would be paying more, to have less...Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-46681773165030474142007-09-10T21:07:00.000-07:002007-09-10T21:12:19.779-07:00Sweetwater Saloon is closingIt's very unfortunate that The <a href="http://www.sweetwatersaloon.com/">SweetWater Saloon</a> is closing down. This past weekend I saw the <a href="http://www.jamesmoseleyband.com/">James Moseley Band</a>. It was a great show, and I'm really going to miss this great place!Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-10463950323926086522007-09-10T21:01:00.000-07:002007-09-10T21:06:04.355-07:00Fortune PondMy friend Zeki makes great cellphone video games and he also has some great Flash games on his website. Here's <a href="http://puzzoo.com/FP/Fortune_Pond.html">Fortune Pond</a>.<br />Try it out!Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-37638377592974325752007-07-23T09:45:00.000-07:002007-07-23T09:57:36.945-07:00Air Safety compromised in BrazilThe <a href="http://www.ifatca.org" target=_new>International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Association</a> has declared Air Safety is compromised in Brazil. <a href="http://www.ifatca.org/press/180707.pdf" target=_new>Read more...</a><br />Here's a <a href="http://www.ifatca.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=831&sid=e66b4bae6d8f7f4366fbf570b9a45875">post</a> describing the problem in detail, way ahead of its time...Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-78004926252666465002007-07-18T15:30:00.000-07:002007-07-18T18:42:33.675-07:00Brazilian government inefficiencyYesterday there was a tragedy in Brazil. An Airplane with 186 people crashed while trying to land in the downtown airport in São Paulo, killing everyone on board and several people on the ground.<br /><br />This accident was predicted. The government continues filled with corruption, is motionless and as usual, everything ends in Pizza (a common Brazilian joke).<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.sfgate.com">SF Chronicle</a>, through the <a href="http://www.associatedpress.com/">AP</a> finally published a <a href="http://feeds.sfgate.com/~r/sfgate/rss/feeds/news/~3/135074343/article.cgi">very nice article</a> about how bad the Brazilian government is. <a href="http://www.cnn.com">CNN Money</a> also has <a href="http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/IBD-0001-18237348.htm">another great article</a>.<br /><br />As <a href="http://www.folha.com.br">Folha</a> says, what's next in Brazil? An Energy Crisis? A crisis in the Ports? That won't be news, that will be, again, "I told you so" scenarios.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-62230933345356581742007-06-14T19:53:00.000-07:002007-06-14T19:59:21.522-07:00Open letter in favor of Net NeutralityCompetition is at the heart of all our telecommunications. It's what brings innovation, lowers prices and ensures quality of service.<br /><br />This is failing lately. In my residence I only have access to one cable television provider and one telephone provider. This means there is no competition for these services, and I have to take the current market options, without a chance to bargain or even request better services.<br /><br />Net neutrality is not different, except that it moves the competition from my house to a couple iterations below. But it will affect me, the customer, directly, and more importantly, monetarily.<br /><br />For instance, without net neutrality, my ISP may opt to charge the services I use a fee for the availability of the data, or a fee for faster access to that data. This means that if I choose to access certain type of information I may have to pay for it, even directly to the ISP or to the content provider.<br /><br />I for instance work from home eventually, and would have to pay a premium price for accessing the VPN at my work, or my company would have to pay a premium to allow us to work from home, more than they already pay today.<br /><br />What's interesting in the Net Neutrality discussions is that the ISPs do not consider the fact that the content providers already are paying a premium for their backbones - in most cases, the backbones or the fiber optics connections are owned by the same telecoms who own the ISPs. Why would a company need to pay twice? Once for a large backbone with large capacity to be connected to the Internet, and second, for the ability to reach their customers who are on the other side of the fence.<br /><br />I'm more afraid that the lack of choice in competition is what is going to affect us users in the future. Today there are a few options in DSL, but only 1 cable modem provider. The DSL options rely on a "land" line, which makes DSL competition harder, given that I only have access to 1 phone provider. If I compare the prices between the options I have, there's no competition between the telecom DSL and the others, given that they have to pay a premium to the telecom already. And instead of seeing more providers appearing in the market we actually are seeing less and less providers, either due to merges, or due to the fact that many have to rely on the few telecoms in order to reach us, the customer.<br /><br />What happens when the content providers are also the owners of the large broadband companies and they then decide that any traffic from a competitor will be submitted to a premium charge? How is that democratic? How different is that from totalitarian regimes which censor the content available to their citizens?<br /><br />Since the FCC and those against Net Neutrality are considering the broadband competition as a way to ensure Net neutrality is not needed, then there's something wrong, because there isn't "open" competition.<br /><br />All that we can do is try to educate and hope that those making the decisions are able to do so with enough information and without the bias of those who would benefit from the changes in the system.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-90441787246880500052007-04-28T12:30:00.000-07:002007-04-28T12:53:36.155-07:00How can Doctors and Dentists get by with so bad service?You schedule an appointment for 11am. The receptionist grabs your credit card number because if you do not show up you are charged 75$ for a no-show. She tells you nothing about the appointment - nothing about what is going to be done, no pre-requisites, nothing.<br />You show up 10-15 mins early because you already know (nobody told you) that you have to fill in this LONG questionnaire about yourself. The 10-15 min early is "common knowledge" about doctors.<br />Once you fill the questionnaire it's 11.05 and you think you're doing good for a on-time appointment.<br />That's where you're soooo wrong. You sit and wait - and you also understand why they have such a large collection of diverse magazines there. You read one, two, three from head to tail, and when it's 12.30 they call you in. There's a light at the end of the tunnel, you wonder. No, it's just a service light in the middle of the tunnel.<br />They take your vitals, and the doctor spends no more than 10 mins with you and sends you back to the waiting room.<br />That's already 12.45 and the nurse who was going to take your blood and give you your shots goes for lunch. But before going she tells you she needs a urine sample. BTW, nowhere nobody said that, so of course you're not ready for it. Plus, it's almost 1pm and you didn't have lunch. It's OK, though, you're healthy, so you drink 4-6 glasses of water in the 30 mins she was out for lunch.<br />Before she's back, they realize you've been there for 2+ hours and send the other nurse to attend you. It's 1.15 and you're back in the room again, and now you desperately need to go to the bathroom, but you wait - the new nurse goes over your file and starts reading it to find out what you need. You tell her what you need - can't afford to wait longer.<br />You get your first shot and the other nurse comes back from lunch and sends the one that was taking care of you to lunch - another 5 mins lost. She draws your blood and gives you the 2nd shot. You finally make it to the bathroom, collect the sample, and you're back at the reception. It's now 1.45, and after 15 more minutes you pay them and you're ready to go.<br />No, wait, you have to come back on Monday to get the paperwork and the results - nobody told you that either. At least you now know how long it takes, so you ask them what's the best time - 8.45, and that's when you'll show up on Monday.<br />So, you leave their office at 2pm, when you go grab lunch and now face 45 mins traffic to get back to work.<br />Total time spent: 10.40am to 3pm.<br />Now, do you get 75$ per hour of "delay" in your appointment? A regular company would have discounted the regular salary pay per hour of work lost, but your company is good and does not do it.<br />But seriously, why can doctors get by with such lousy behavior? They could at least have told you they were 1 hour or so late so you could have grabbed lunch and come back later. Or even rescheduled some people.<br />If you had such behavior in your job you'd probably get fired or you would lose your clients.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-15055800085186099922007-04-22T14:01:00.000-07:002007-04-22T14:09:54.680-07:00Panoramic Pictures<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Jya8ChIqejR45sxc6eb4g-nhfasSOyAdomThV1a7bbha554uLS6aiOd-76iVU__jTT-2JmQMQk-sP-8Ukay2SoeApWRu-CBhmQ4YwhbU0MjlAbIZOjeUWCkVvd8hinb71an0/s1600-h/Bryce_Panorama13_sm.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Jya8ChIqejR45sxc6eb4g-nhfasSOyAdomThV1a7bbha554uLS6aiOd-76iVU__jTT-2JmQMQk-sP-8Ukay2SoeApWRu-CBhmQ4YwhbU0MjlAbIZOjeUWCkVvd8hinb71an0/s320/Bryce_Panorama13_sm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5056362576066980498" /></a><br />I took a small cheap tripod on my picture. This tripod allowed me to take sequential pictures using the same point of view just rotating the camera head. Using <a href="http://www.autostitch.net">Autostitch</a>, a panorama stitching software, I was able to stitch them together creating very cool panoramas, like the one you see here.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-39811186261878197572007-04-20T09:02:00.000-07:002007-04-20T09:31:16.744-07:00Key West and MiamiKey West was relaxing. It's a small city and I saw all the key points in a couple hours. I had a few beers at some bars w/ live music, and saw the sunset with all the street vendors that come around in the sunset plaza (Mallory Square). On the way back I found a secret Florida park in one of the keys with this most amazing beach - you walk 300 ft into the ocean and the water is still below your knees. Amazing. I'll post pictures later.<br />Now I'm going back to the basic things in life: eat, sleep, go to the pool, have a drink, eat, have another drink at the beach, etc :-)Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-27206397874986367572007-04-17T10:23:00.000-07:002007-04-24T10:24:12.464-07:00National Parks trip is overI'm finally finished with my first leg of my trip. I drove 1265 miles through 5 national parks in 4 days. What a feat! I took 1.2GB of pictures and several panoramas. I'll have a lot of homework to do stitching them up and getting some nicer prints.<br />Here's a <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=116081153450823257009.00000111cf7a5577b3186">map</a> of my trip.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-4637071279136622492007-04-16T21:08:00.000-07:002007-04-16T21:17:30.098-07:004 days, 5 parks<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivQfB0MYZU70KKHNWCKyuRPGV1GAg_IK_E4QshUyW9nzRm454uBBGNz0FZEfsiF_fR_vYIY0Cqgs9XFipXBwIl74w401n710WauPFD1VSnGX5kAxzk6pCXmqNHq-mxazh4lXza/s1600-h/IMG_3976_sm.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivQfB0MYZU70KKHNWCKyuRPGV1GAg_IK_E4QshUyW9nzRm454uBBGNz0FZEfsiF_fR_vYIY0Cqgs9XFipXBwIl74w401n710WauPFD1VSnGX5kAxzk6pCXmqNHq-mxazh4lXza/s320/IMG_3976_sm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5054244390042467410" /></a>Today I visited 2 parks: <a href="http://www.nps.gov/pefo">The Petrified Forest</a> and <a href="http://www.nps.gov/cach/">Canyon de Chelly</a>. The Petrified Forest was OK. Nothing super special, although the colors of the cliffs and canyons were amazing. I never thought I would see purple ground. Almost exiting the park there's the Painted Desert, which is surely interesting. The pictures are a bit washed out because the weather was a bit damp, but I'll be able to adjust the color afterwards.<br />The Canyon de Chelly was the highlight of the day. It was absolutely amazing. Insane. I'm leaving you with a picture of it, and I took many panoramas too. I got really lucky there today, there was a big thunderstorm and it cleared out as I was leaving the first stop I did at the end of the park - I even got snowflakes there! Then on the way back I got the sun shining clearly in the canyon, which gave me awesome pictures at each viewpoint I stopped at.<br />What's next? I'll probably be away from blogging tomorrow since I will be flying Eastbound, and on Wednesday I will be in Key West. You'll likely hear back from me here on Thursday!Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-91579837495731068922007-04-15T21:33:00.000-07:002007-04-15T21:41:35.052-07:00Grand Canyon<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDRYhJzzaRPuZhCgdYKK74wk5uU5u9VHCt_ZkJaaO627Goj_CrA2SVgU2G5ZmLf5z_n3Fjo0RV-vBAuSuErQK9OFne2p3JZH7KbYrCn6CYf0yYR79_XnJVQpHBcdVGFBliC347/s1600-h/pano.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDRYhJzzaRPuZhCgdYKK74wk5uU5u9VHCt_ZkJaaO627Goj_CrA2SVgU2G5ZmLf5z_n3Fjo0RV-vBAuSuErQK9OFne2p3JZH7KbYrCn6CYf0yYR79_XnJVQpHBcdVGFBliC347/s320/pano.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053881357931772994" /></a><br />The Grand Canyon is, well, gigantic. It's like a super sized big mac version of canyons. Comparing it with the two previous canyons, there's no measurement for size, but the Grand Canyon was not, to my surprise, all that exciting. Bryce had way more "wow" factor than the Grand Canyon. It maybe that I am tired, or also that the weather was not so nice today.<br />Tomorrow is sort of an open day. We'll see where I end up.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-90907750647260281822007-04-14T20:41:00.000-07:002007-04-14T21:23:44.400-07:00Saturday the 14th<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNbqkxW42My9C2iEYZCkYkbMJNWX6ypMUzNkqDtvEZkXK6UaKNviqKYi-QNbidN5oTT-Uct3g19Dczg1-Qk3vhMJVhHNFBZr8DB2i1lIeFrGMzvpRJXbylaLGHGttsRTHxlaTm/s1600-h/IMG_3667_sm.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNbqkxW42My9C2iEYZCkYkbMJNWX6ypMUzNkqDtvEZkXK6UaKNviqKYi-QNbidN5oTT-Uct3g19Dczg1-Qk3vhMJVhHNFBZr8DB2i1lIeFrGMzvpRJXbylaLGHGttsRTHxlaTm/s320/IMG_3667_sm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053505303480237106" /></a><br />Saturday went as planned, and that extra hour from the timezone worked in my favor! I was able to take the scenic route instead of the planned shorter route and it was worth it. There are so many great canyons and landscapes in Arizona. It's incredible. I took so many pictures today that my camera's battery died and the card was full. I'm glad I have the laptop with me. Onto the big canyon tomorrow!Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-32137992379122025272007-04-13T20:48:00.000-07:002007-04-13T21:08:52.793-07:00Friday the 13th<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJks0hi-AJD56AsF8rThDmGnA1avHc8ZDK_rnNq_qaMby5wX35QCymDPMxSc0pJm9UPZS2wXozoOIv81CaMS8Eq8uAlOrAo7zsb7lq1xwUDZ0x2NAMGHUuPDETGl1vk9UjTgeb/s1600-h/IMG_3445_sm.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJks0hi-AJD56AsF8rThDmGnA1avHc8ZDK_rnNq_qaMby5wX35QCymDPMxSc0pJm9UPZS2wXozoOIv81CaMS8Eq8uAlOrAo7zsb7lq1xwUDZ0x2NAMGHUuPDETGl1vk9UjTgeb/s320/IMG_3445_sm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053129326338112546" /></a><br />My vacation started well. The highlight of the day was the fact that I arrived at Zion around 1:30hrs late. I didn't account for one thing: the timezone difference! How smart of me... :-)<br />Apart from that little "vacation" glitch, Zion was an amazing place - I'm probably coming back with more time, and hopefully able to see the canyon in the morning too.<br />I'll leave you with a picture of a landscape that could very well look like Terraformed Mars.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-50450082720230292642007-04-12T12:21:00.000-07:002007-04-12T12:30:07.263-07:00The "New"<span style="font-style:italic;">The new bothers.<br />Why?<br />Because it defies.<br />But, want it or not, the new always comes.<br />And, for our happiness,<br />The new usually wins,<br />And when the new wins<br />The machine of the world turns better.<br />New projects leave sadness<br />To an agenda that doesn't exist anymore.<br />New children always show up to give us a hand.<br />New steps require courage from us.<br />The new is beautiful because it changes us.<br />It takes us to new seasons.<br />The new makes us better people.<br />Because it makes us new people.<br />The new is beautiful.<br />Just like the dreams,<br />The new does not grow older.</span><br /><br />Another one of those internet things that keeps spreading. This text is part of a campaign for a Brazilian auto maker. If you want the original version in portuguese, check it <a href="http://jujunyc.blogspot.com/2007/04/o-novo.html">here</a>.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-48597868866268797222007-04-05T16:45:00.000-07:002007-04-05T16:46:24.581-07:00I'm Yelping!Check my reviews:<br /><br /><a href="http://alexbicalho.yelp.com">Alex' page @ Yelp</a><br /><br />My goal is to review at least 1 place per week this year.Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-69794087823781855352007-04-02T10:28:00.000-07:002007-04-02T10:33:50.322-07:00April FoolsDear friends,<br /><br />I am not leaving, I am not planning to leave, and I wouldn't become a politician.<br /><br />Thanks for your love and support. I've got so many e-mails and calls from my friends and I still think some friends are still thinking I am leaving.<br /><br />Cheers!Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-11425204260845830722007-04-01T01:43:00.000-07:002007-04-01T23:32:08.426-07:00Things change when you least think about itDear friends,<br /><br />It's with great sadness and at the same time great joy that I share this with you. After 6 years and 2 months in the US, I decided to quit my job and change careers. I'm leaving the US and I am running for a State office position in Brazil.<br /><br />I am greatful for having had a chance to live in the US, where I made great friends; matured as a person and learned so much about (office) politics that I now think I am ready to do something that might change the world positively.<br /><br />This decision was made after I got home from dinner and one single Vodka drink at a random bar in the Marina, but I think it's the right thing to do, given the fact that life here in the US has given me pretty much everything it could so far, and there's nothing I haven't done in this city yet (except for visiting Alcatraz).<br /><br />In any case, I appreciate the support of all my friends, family and colleagues who will be helping me in the next few steps in my life.<br /><br />Some of you maybe surprised at this decision, but some will remember one of my great friend's dream of becoming a dictator of his own island - Florianopolis is an Island, running for State office is just one step towards the dictatorial takeover which will come a couple years after.<br /><br />If you'd like to support my running for office, log onto my website: <a href="http://www.origamy.com.br/alexforstate.htm">http://www.origamy.com.br/alexforstate.htm</a><br /><br />God bless us all,<br /><br />-AlexAlex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-54694412076300202182007-03-24T13:11:00.000-07:002007-03-24T13:24:42.048-07:00March BirthdaysIt's interesting that end of Feb, March and beginning April is where almost half of my friends' birthdays are. Just in March I had 14 birthdays! It's fairly interesting...Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-26067858884155748622007-02-26T16:09:00.001-08:002007-02-26T16:09:34.144-08:00A nice Autodesk Impression reviewCheck it out:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.3dallusions.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=241&Itemid=72">http://www.3dallusions.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=241&Itemid=72</a>Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-1171488764668297082007-02-14T13:31:00.000-08:002007-02-14T13:32:44.710-08:00Happy Valentines day!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/2499/743/1600/458454/969821970405_0_ALB.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/2499/743/320/408245/969821970405_0_ALB.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Happy Valentines day!Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-1166163213837188942006-12-14T22:10:00.000-08:002006-12-14T22:13:33.846-08:00Brazilian congressmen double their own salariesIn a country where the minimum wage was just raised to R$ 350,00 per month with fierce fight, the congressmen raise their salaries from R$12847,00 to R$24500,00.<br /><br />This is INSANE! ABSURD! Brazilians, reunite and go on strike, start a revolution, stop everything you are doing, because this is absolutely insane!<br /><br />More information, in portuguese, here:<br /><br />http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u87753.shtmlAlex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9914728.post-1166078920737450722006-12-13T22:42:00.000-08:002006-12-13T22:48:40.746-08:00Rudy and Heather Wedding - PicturesPictures from Dinner with Rudy and Heather's families and friends.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/2499/743/1600/807721/IMG_3225.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/2499/743/320/665641/IMG_3225.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Heather's mom (left) and Rudy's sister (right).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/2499/743/1600/658701/IMG_3229.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/2499/743/320/279712/IMG_3229.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Rudy and his dad<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/2499/743/1600/115049/IMG_3230.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/2499/743/320/815129/IMG_3230.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Heather and her friends Olga (left) and Michelle (right)Alex Bicalhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12326767964757110849noreply@blogger.com0