Travel

2008 Australia – Money

Posted on by tarus

Australia has the prettiest paper currency in the world.

Well, I think technically it’s made of plastic, but it is gorgeous. Each denomination is a different, bright color as well as a different size, and for protection from counterfeiting there is a clear, embossed plastic window (different for each bill) in the lower corner. Sure, the Euro is similar but it just doesn’t work as well, and we’ll just ignore US currency, although once drab it had a sort of stately elegance but has now turned into a hideous mashup of bad color and worse design. Some compare counterfeiters to artists and I guess the goal was to make money so ugly that no artist would want to copy it.

Australian coins, on the other hand, are less than perfect. There is no penny (amounts are rounded to the nearest increment of 5) and sub-dollar amounts are silver, while the dollar and two dollar coins are gold.

That is pretty straightforward, but the sizes are all wrong. The 50 cent coin is about the size of a small truck tire, and the two dollar coin is tiny – about the size of an American dime (but thicker). I didn’t think I had much change at lunch because of all the little gold coins but it paid for my meal and then some.

On another good note the US dollar is rallying lately and thus the exchange rate has dropped in my favor. Let’s hope it stays that way at least for the next couple of weeks.

Today was my first day at the client site, and it went pretty well. They had a place for me to sit and I was given a fancy key card/badge so I can come and go as I need. The downside is the network is pretty locked down and I’m having to use a Windows box as a desktop. I use putty to ssh into the OpenNMS server and IE (gasp) as my browser.

Does anyone else have the issue when looking at the OpenNMS main page on IE that the outages box and the categories box are right next to each other, with no space, but if you slightly resize the window the space magically appears? Seriously, our webUI may not be the best but that just bad rendering on IE’s part. I’ve thought about installing Firefox but I figure I am exposed to IE so rarely I might as well use it to note any weirdness.

I was pretty well adjusted to the time until yesterday, when I lay down for a short nap and slept 14 hours. It actually works out pretty well, since I can get up around 4am to 5am and communicate with the US before heading out to the client, and there isn’t much for me to do in the evenings. Still hoping to get some folks together on the 20th.

2008 Australia – Old Friends

Posted on by tarus

For the first year I maintained OpenNMS, I worked out of my house. It took a little adjusting, mainly to the lack of human contact. My wife has a career of her own and thus I was home alone for most of the day. I related to the rest of the world through IRC and mailing lists.

I’m not sure how I made it through that first year. Luckily, the nascent OpenNMS community was there to help, and I had my friends at the Triangle Linux Users Group (TriLUG) as well.

Unless you’ve experienced this, it is hard to describe. I was once arguing with the CEO of another open source project (one with the “hybrid” business model of community [open] vs. enterprise [closed] versions) who viewed the code his company produced as a gift to the community, and not really community developed. He was proposing some changes to what would be in the open vs. closed versions of his software and I asked him what his community would think of it. He replied “if the f***ers, don’t like it, f*** ’em.”

This really pissed me off. I replied that it was much different with OpenNMS, because when it was just me, it was those “f***ers” who kept me and the project going when there was nobody else. That is part of the reason I am so adamant about keeping OpenNMS open.

Anyway, my main interaction with large number of humans was the monthly TriLUG meeting. I’d get there early, chat, stay for the presentation and pizza, and once we got kicked out of the room, stand in the parking lot chatting for another hour or two.

One of the key organizers of TriLUG in those days was Jeremy Portzer. Right about the time OpenNMS started taking off he took a job with Blackboard in Washington, DC, and about 18 months ago he transferred to the Sydney office. Since I was down here we decided to meet for dinner last night.

It was nice. I got to meet the Blackboard team in Sydney (there are other employees spread across the country but most work from home) as well as spend some time downtown. I took the ferry from Parramatta to Circular Quay and then walked to the high rise building where the office is to meet Jeremy. We then got some beer a local pub (I tend to drink VB when I’m here) and then had a great meal at a restaurant on The Rocks. While you can’t really see it in the picture above, this was what we were looking at as we ate.

Jeremy also hooked me up with a SIM card so that the phone that Alex gave me would work here. We stopped by his apartment to get it on the way to the train station. He has a really nice apartment, small but with a great view, and a large balcony that overlooks Central station from 12 stories up.

I hoping to meet other folks while I’m here. I’m going to be in North Sydney on the 20th and I want to see about getting a group of people together for beer and conversation. If you are local and want to help me organize it, please drop me a note. I’m thinking we can meet somewhere central, perhaps back at Circular Quay. I’m open to suggestions. That, and more beer, of course.

Well, That Wasn't Too Bad

Posted on by tarus

I just dropped AU$245 for a month of internet access at the hotel (it was the best deal). The hotel itself came through and not only had early check-in for me they upgraded me to an “Executive Spa Suite”. So now it’s downstairs to grab a little something to eat and then nap time.

It should be easy to sleep – Sydney seems to have inherited London’s weather – cool and damp.

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here

Posted on by tarus

I’m writing this from LAX, where in 180 minutes I will be crammed into a big flying tube for about 15 hours with 300 of my closest friends.

Envy me.

I really like visiting different places, and I’m surprised at all the amazing towns and wonderful people I’ve met solely through OpenNMS. But, seriously, sometimes the air travel is a drag.

For example: at RDU today I saw a used diaper rolled up sitting on a chair. C’mon people, it’s an airport, there are trash cans every ten feet. What kind of rude, ignorant slob would leave a diaper out like that.

Heh, which reminds me. Children shouldn’t fly until they can drive.

My secret to healthy flying is Zicam and washing my hands every chance I get to the degree that I could enter an operating room and not cause any problems. So far so good.

Next post from Sydney.

Sticker Shock

Posted on by tarus

It looks like I am going to be in Australia for the month of August.

I love Australia, and when I was there in 2004, Sydney replaced San Francisco as my favorite city. But the 15 hour flight from LAX to SYD is murderous. Seriously, I can deal with long flights but 15 hours in coach is painful. On the way back I watched Return of the King three times in a row and the flight was barely half over.

So I thought, hey, this time I’ll fly in business class. Yeah, it is more expensive, but should be worth it.

I went and looked up the price on American: over US$19000.

What? That is the price of a car. For this post I decided to just price a flight in business from LAX to SYD (versus all the way from RDU). It came to US$18700 with taxes, round trip.

If we assume that the round trip is 30 hours or so, that comes to around $623/hour. That’s outrageous. You can get over three hours of top-notch OpenNMS consulting for that. Heck, Elliot Spitzer doesn’t spend that hourly rate (well, at least for 15 hours straight).

Who pays this? I really can’t imagine doing it. Well, I mean if I was Tiger Woods and made millions, US$19K might not seem that important (and I’d probably upgrade to First for just $5K more), but from a business standpoint?

I had a friend say “well, just charge it to the client”. I did think about it, and if it was under $10K I would have even suggested it, but it was almost twice that. For the difference I figured I could fly out in coach a couple of days early, stay in the most expensive hotel room in Sydney, dine on endangered species and still come out ahead.

Sheesh. $19K for a plane flight (well, two). So I’m in coach for a fraction of the price, heading out a couple of days early (staying at the Courtyard) and the most exotic thing I’ll eat is kangaroo, but at least the client will come out ahead, which means they can buy more OpenNMS stuff.

So, am I an idiot for not charging the client? What’s the most expensive plane ticket you’ve purchased?

Customer Service Stories: Etymotic

Posted on by tarus

I started maintaining OpenNMS in May of 2002. By early 2003 the company was doing well enough that I decided I needed a little reward for all of the 80 hour weeks, so I bought a 12″ Powerbook the day it was announced, and I also ordered an iPod.

Back then I traveled as much as I do now, and having something like an iPod helped make the trips more pleasant. However, I wasn’t happy with the default earbuds when it came to dealing with the noise of the aircraft cabin. All the road warriors were buying the Bose noise-cancelling headsets so I decided to check them out.

I didn’t like them for two main reasons. First, they were large. When you schlep bags through airports for a living you want things as small and light as possible. Second, they required a power source. I am constantly being let down by my battery powered devices and I didn’t want to have to deal with another one.

It was then I learned about a company called Etymotic. They pioneered the idea of audiophile-quality in-ear headphones. Think of it as earplugs with amazing sound. They basically block out all sound waves except for that which comes through the bones of your skull, plus they are lightweight, small and require no external power. Most of the reviews I read had the Eymotics beating the Bose hands down.

Ben Reed had gotten a set of ER-4Ps and he let me try them. They were as amazing as I had been lead to believe. While they don’t block out all sound, as long as you have something playing through them you really can’t hear anything else.

So I bought a pair. At the time they were a little more expensive than the Bose (around US$350) but they saved my sanity on more than one occasion. Now when I sit down on a plane and notice the infant (or infants) in the row next to me, or the loud group of college students, or practically any other possible source of noise pollution, I smile, put in my 4Ps, and relax.

Now something like 300,000 air miles later, my 4Ps had seen better days. The insulation had rubbed off in a few areas, but the death knell came on my return from Europe when the right earphone went out.

Grrr.

So I called up Etymotic and found out I could get them repaired for about US$50. Off they went, and a week later I received some bad news. After the cables were replaced, they tested the 4Ps and found some slight distortion on the right earphone. Since they have to repair them in matched sets, they just decided to send me a whole new set of 4Ps.

Wow.

That’s what I call customer service, especially with a product this expensive (although they’ve come down in price about half since I bought mine originally). If you’re looking for some high quality headphones, please check these out.

Europe 2008: Home

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Well, I made it home, and after 14 hours of sleep I’m feeling much better.

We flew out of Heathrow Saturday morning with only a half hour delay, and arrived in Raleigh with warm temperatures and fuel prices that had increased 50 cents a gallon while we were gone. They are still a long way from the US$10-US$12 a gallon in Europe, but we’re getting closer.

Some statistics:

Countries visited: Five (Six if you count a layover in Denmark)
Number of days gone: 15
Number of different beds: 11

Planes: 8
Trains: 11
Automobiles: 6
Buses: 6

There were only three flight delays and they were minor, and my bag managed to find me the whole time. We managed a total of four OpenNMS seminars, and I think they were well received.

All in all an amazing trip, but not something I would want to do again unless I could add a day between each country to recover.

Europe 2008: Paris to London

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Because of the train strike I rebooked our travel from the train to an airplane from Nice to Paris, and then we took a bus into the city. It dropped us off near the Arc de Triomphe.


Me and the Arc de Triomphe

A friend of mine has a nice flat in Paris in a great location, so we decided to stay there instead of another hotel. It’s really refreshing to be in something that is more like a home than a hotel room, and we were even able to do some laundry. If you want to live like me, you can rent the same place if you are ever in Paris. Be sure to use the “friends and family” rate and say you know me from OpenNMS.

Today we woke up and took the Metro to La Défense, one of the main business centers in Paris.


Victor Hugo Metro stop

As we were waiting for the client to come and meet us in the lobby, I was looking through their annual report. They had revenues of 50 billion euros last year.

Wow.

When we first started this OpenNMS thing, we thought that the people who would want to use our software would be smaller companies that couldn’t afford OpenView or Tivoli. It turns out it is the large companies that can’t afford them, and they are really drawn to the aspect of zero software licenses as well as the flexible framework that OpenNMS provides.

We’ve done work in France in the past, but this project will definitely increase our involvement in that country, and we hope to have some French-centric resources available soon.

After a nice lunch we returned to the apartment to do some e-mail before heading back on the Metro to Gare du Nord, one of the main train stations (and yes, every time I was on the subway Berlin’s “The Metro” was going through my head). From Gare du Nord we took the Eurostar train to London.


David looking out at the land speeding by.

This train will do 300 km/hour (about 186 mph) and the French landscape just flew by. We were going so fast that the longest trains we passed coming the other way were there and gone in less than 3 seconds. Tunnels bothered me, because I would feel some uncomfortable pressure in my ears every time we went through one due to air compression.

That part was pretty fun, but it took us 2.5 hours from arriving in London to make it to the hotel near Heathrow. I hate Heathrow, and I wish American would go back to Gatwick.

But that’s not gonna happen.

So tomorrow it’s back to the USA. I’ll post a little more over the holiday weekend. Have a great one.

Europe 2008: Scenes from Nissa

Posted on by tarus

[Note: the following post has little if any OpenNMS content, so feel free to skip it if you are not interested in my travels]

On my last day in Nice I actually spent some time visiting around the city. People talk about the luxury of the French Riviera, and they ain’t kidding.

On Thursday it was the perfect temperature (69F/21C) with sun and a nice sea breeze. The coast is very scenic, but the beach is made of rocks instead of the sand I’m used to.

There is also a lot of architecture in Nice. The municipal library is home to the museum of modern art, and there is a huge “blockhead” sculpture outside next to the garden. We were told that you could get up inside it but both the library and the museum were closed when we were there.

Wednesday night we ate at some tourist trap in old town called Le Grand Blue or something like that. I paid €25 for a small plate of chewy, fried calamari. I usually avoid touristy places when I travel. I tend to look for small, local restaurants with lots of people in them. Rarely has that method served me wrong.

Speaking of traveling like me, if you want to come to Nice, book a room at the Little Palace Hotel (I use Venere.com). The hotel is run by a father/daughter team and it’s clean, inexpensive and centrally located. It also has decent free Wi-Fi. Skip the breakfast, though.

To get there, fly into Nice and take the number 99 city bus to Gare de Nice. It’ll run €4 and it will drop you off at the train station. With the station at your back you are looking down the road that leads to the hotel. Cross the street, go to the right and take the stairs down (which will send you back to the left), then head straight for 7-8 easy blocks.

For lunch I ate at McDonalds, making France the tenth country where I have had a Big Mac, Coke and fries. David’s daughter Jess ordered “Le Royale with Cheese” which made me wish I had thought of it first.

While I don’t often shop for souvenirs, I did find a Harley Davidson dealer in Nice and I had to buy a T-shirt with “Harley Davidson” on the front and “The French Riviera” on the back. It inspired me to start a Motorcycle T-shirt for OpenNMS polo shirt trading program.

After sightseeing, Dave and I headed for the airport for the flight to Paris. Just one more plane ride left after that one and I’m home.

Europe 2008: Yeah, But We're *Huge* in Sweden

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For the end of the first day of TMW, Nokia Siemens hosted a “networking event” at a medieval castle situated up on the hills that surround Nice.

Unfortunately, they didn’t count on road construction so it was taking the buses over an hour to get there from the convention center. While Craig and I were waiting in line, we had a pretty amazing conversation that went something like this:

Stranger: Excuse me, where did you get that shirt (pointing to Craig’s OpenNMS shirt)

Craig: Oh, I work with the OpenNMS project.

Me: I have one too.

Stranger: Oh wow, I read your blog!

Me: What?

Stranger: I read your blog on OpenNMS.

Me: I don’t believe you.

Stranger: Then let me ask “How are you feeling today?”

Me: Wow.

Seriously, if I thought people actually read this thing I might put a little more effort into it. I don’t really care about things like “hits” and “downloads” as a measure of success, so I really haven’t checked to see if anyone reads it. Perhaps I should, and maybe I should be a little more “politically correct” while I’m at it, too.

Nah. (grin)


Me and Carl doing da gangsta OpenNMS sign, yo

The stranger’s name was Carl, and he and his friend Jan work for a company in Sweden called Tail-f Systems that provides tools for networking device manufacturers to build network management systems to implement the standards required by large enterprises and carriers. The name comes from the Unix command “tail -f” which is a basic method used to monitor logfiles. Cool, huh?

Anyway, we finally made it to the castle and had some decent food surrounded by people in period costumes (shades of the festival in Andilly). There were people on stilts, musicians and “demonstration areas” focused on aspects of medieval life.

I went to one of the demonstration tables and picked up a crossbow. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand the instructions and proceeded to shoot the target in the face (I missed the fact that the other targets were apples). After being corrected by the host of the booth (“you shoot my son!”) my next two shots took out apples, and this was captured by one of the cameramen for TelecomTV. Three for three, not bad for a fat geek with bad eyesight.

More on my thoughts about the conference tomorrow.