Following the meme…

Not for me nor for Sílvia of course, but for Ona!

She even attended some talks! :)

Sadly we only stayed for some days, more to catch with some of you[1] and the weather was quite hard for her.

All in all a short but intense GUADEC!

It was really nice to meet all of you again. Hopefully by next year Ona is going to speak some so she can send her first paper :D

[1] Now we know that Patri and Calvaris will take care of her for next GUADEC :)

As everyone attending GUADEC is right now enjoying the party at Fléda, and Sílvia and me are missing it for a good reason :) let me give you a tip for the remaining days:

Are you feeling hungry and looking for a delicious place to eat some arabic/vegeterian food here at Brno? Look no longer Kupé is what you are looking for!

Not only the food is great but their stuff is really helpful, they speak perfect English (and the menu is also available in English) and the smoothies are awesome!

Oh and as a late notice:

Triple as for me, Sílvia and Ona :)

That’s what the midwife asked me 20 minutes later after Ona¹, our first daughter, was born (on April 3th).

More photos if you wish :)

And, no, I haven’t smelled any newborn, but man, they smell so great!!!²

Both mama and kid are doing fine, circa usual newborn issues :)

To cope up with all advices/tips that everyone is giving you about rising kids, we found a great book³: Kiss Me!: How to Raise Your Child with Love. Which is the English version of this other one (in Spanish and also longer): Comer, amar, mamar.

It’s amazing!! :)

1. ocean weave in Catalan, and a friend also told us that means beautiful in Euskera [↩]
2. no wonder why cosmetic companies go after placentas… [↩]
3. advised by my sister [↩]

And even better!

TL;DR; Praise Nicolas Delvaux every time you see him, then go check Deckard. An online tool to test translations in Gtk+ (and Glade) based applications. As a translator you can imagine how cool is that!!

You know the scenario: you are at GUADEC talking discussing about how to conquer the world make GNOME even better and then you realize a great idea: what if gtranslator was able to allow you to open glade with the current UI that you are translating with the translations that you are making¹?

Half a year later, you don’t get that, but something really cool, a web based version of that!

Wherever you are Nicolas, if we ever meet, be sure to ask for your beverage of choice, you are more than invited!

Translators out there, be sure to spread this amazing news into your teams!

1. Just like the synctex gedit plugin updates evince to show you formatted LaTeX [↩]

Warning that’s a rant about Spanish voting system, skip it if not interested.

First of all the facts:

• in Catalonia there were elections this past November 25th (2012)
• as we are currently living abroad (Germany¹) we need to register in a special census to be able to vote
• the last day available to register on that register for those elections was October 15th (I could make it, Sílvia couldn’t)
• I got within a weeks time a confirmation letter (you know that dead tree thing that postmans deliver every day) that I was successfully register and that I should because starting from October 30th to November 3th I was supposed to get the actual envelope and all the papers and forms to be able to cast my vote from Berlin itself
• …
• …
• … (yes, that’s a fact I was just waiting, waiting some more, and then even some more)
• elections where held, people living in Catalonia could vote as usual, but not me
• lots of Catalans living abroad complained that they didn’t get the envelope and forms to be able to vote, some got their envelope and papers one or two weeks after the actual elections date² )
• fast forward to January 9th of 2013³ I got a new letter (another dead tree thingie) saying something random about the elections, but was still not the envelope and forms to vote!

So looking at the facts… should I still have some hope left that one of my new years resolutions (be able to vote) will come true?

As a hacker and computer literate I know that it could be feasible to do electronic voting, or even going to the embassy⁴ or even keeping the good old post system, if there was any interest in using it.

The most amazing thing about it is that nowadays, and we have done that already quite a few times, we wake up on the morning in Berlin, take breakfast, pack some stuff in our backpacks and within 4-5 hours (just 2:30 hours of plane) we are in Barcelona chatting happily with our family and friends.

How come the voting envelope hasn’t still arrived at my home in Berlin?!

</rant>

1. Google Maps says ~1900km by car, and a flight takes 2 and a half hours from Barcelona to Berlin [↩]
2. You are supposed to cast your vote, when living abroad, at maximum nearly two weeks before the elections are held, so that your vote can be counted as well [↩]
3. nearly two months after I should got the actual envelope and forms to vote [↩]
4. <sarcasm>Nice and friendly btw. the ones on the Spanish embassy in Berlin, </sarcasm> [↩]