Shaneland

I’ve been in Düsseldorf for the last couple of days.  My previous experience of the city has been limited to the old town, Bilk and a bit of the river front, so this time I wandered further and made it to the Japanese section of the city.

It’s pretty small and many of the stores are “Asian” rather than specifically Japanese.  Even the Mitsukoshi is an outlet rather than department store, and stocks brands that can be bought a few hundred metres away in the main shopping district.  On balance, areas like Bilk have more charm. With the eclectic mix of bars, restaurants and quiet streets it represents the best of this city in a very compact area.

But hey, let’s not complain too much.  There are few cities in Europe where you can get so much sushi at such a low price.  It’s not quite as spiffy as the seafront in Tottori, but it’s not bad for a location 9,000km geographically removed from the true home of miso soup.

I recently met up with Adriaan in The Netherlands.  We drank beer, we played chess, we ate junk food.  We also talked about compiling KDE, geopolitical developments and international communication.

As I was leaving, Adriaan entrusted me with two bran muffins he had baked.  Naturally I was suspicious of foul play, but my inherently trusting and slightly greedy side got the better of me.

I took the muffins.  I ate the muffins.  I was impressed by the muffins.

Adriaan, as well as sailing, inspiring young people with Codeyard, looking after kids and being VP of a huge Free Software project, can cook.  Shocking, unfair and true.

I will see him again on the 19th of September.  I must compete.  My shufu (house husband) abilities have been challenged.  This is war…

I’m interested in colours.  I’m also interested in Japan.  These two things came together when I started to play around with Wordpress themes.

The basic idea: make a theme with traditional Japanese colours.

The complex bit: try to ensure the theme is easy on the eye.

I eventually settled on two colours.  The background is called sakura-iro and uses the hex value #fef4f4.  The title background and menu title background is called namari-iro and uses the hex value #7b7c7d.  The black borders are plain black, hex code #000000.  In case you are wondering, ‘iro’ means colour in Japanese.

Reactions to the theme have been interesting.  Some people liked it, some people hated it.  There didn’t seem to be much of a middle ground.

I’m a controversial guy.

In late 2006 I left Ireland (via the UK) and moved to Switzerland to run the legal affairs of Free Software Foundation Europe, a non-profit organisation that promotes freedom in technology.  My job includes all sorts of fun; networking, public speeches, negotiation, legal issue resolution and generally building cooperation between diverse parties.

The legal project I run has been a big success.  FSFE now facilitates the largest Free Software legal network in the world and all types of interesting initiatives are under way.  Well, interesting is a relative term.  It depends on what you are interested in.  However, if you love processes, contractual language and management science, then what we do rocks.

Switzerland has also been an interesting place to live.  My house is in a peaceful suburb 12km from the centre of Zurich and on fine evenings it’s a nice walk home from the office alongside the Sihl river. The office itself is beside the main train station and is a short stroll from the old town or nearby parks.  Switzerland is easily one of the most comfortable and beautiful places to reside in Europe.

Working to make a big project and a bigger network grow has taken a lot my time and energy.  However, I have had the good fortune to experience a whirl of locations, languages and interesting foods. [1]  I will place photos and detailed stories on this site shortly, though as a teaser let me say that I’ve created wonderful memories of Germany, Italy, Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Romania, Brazil and the USA as part of my travel.

[1] I think the most interesting food experience was finding out that the nice tofu in Romania was actually pig fat.  Note to self: in future ask “what is this?” before biting.

Well, I’m back. *clapping*

It’s been two years since this site was active.  This is mainly due to being busy founding a pan-European legal network and other stuff like that. Quite a lot has happened and from tomorrow I’ll play catch-up with this blog.  You can expect a mix of technology, politics and travel in my posts.

Here’s to the future…