Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s

San Diego reclaimed by portuguese troops, close to Cabrilho's national monument in Point Loma.

Milestone 250

Just reached a nice round number in my practice runs: 250 km and counting only since early this year. Actually, this was in even less than 6 months, because my first log dates back to the end of January!
Thanks to my brother Alexandre, that gave me a Nike+ accessory for my iPod last Christmas, everything is properly logged so that I can brag about it :)


Last minute news: just stop by the mailbox, and Arnold has finally decided to send me my definitive California driver's license. Thanks Terminator!! Now I don't need to carry around my passport whenever I want to drink a simple beer! You can't imagine the ordeal that was to have this done. Folks at DMV are somewhat complicated and disorganized. I was waiting for it since end April. I'm thinking about suing them...
...this "American way of life" is starting to get to me!

André Teixeira Puga

Hoje é um dia triste para mim. Estou certo que não estou sozinho neste sentimento. Alunos ou colegas do Professor André Teixeira Puga estarão certamente comigo neste dia em que ele nos deixou. A faculdade onde o conheci (FEUP) perdeu um dos que, na minha opinião, era um dos seus mais competentes professores. Isto claro, sem falar na qualidade do seu trabalho como investigador. Foi sob a sua orientação que fiz a minha tese de mestrado, e foi ele um dos principais motivadores na minha vinda para a UCSD. Devo-lhe muito. A minha curta carreira de investigador terá sempre a sua chancela. Recordo com saudade as diversas tardes de Sábado ou Domingo que passámos a trabalhar na minha tese. A minha motivação? o canudo. A do André? o puro prazer de ensinar!

A vida é mesmo assim. Há coisas com as quais não contamos... e esta, para mim, foi pura e simplesmente um choque.

Caro Professor, amigo André: até sempre!
do seu aluno, Zé Maria

final's week

at last... the final's week for the last quarter of the academic year is about to begin! I can't imagine how time went so fast.

Today in the afternoon, I was just thinking a little bit about all the amazing experiences I've been living this year. Not forgetting some frustrations along the way... but then again, looking back it's incredible the amount of knowledge I've acquired. For those of you that think something like: "oh yeah... he works on computers", it may be complicated for me to explain how broad of an area the "computers" are. You might not be aware, but I've slightly deviated from my original major. Come to think of it, I guess I've never really worked in what my degree was supposed to prepare me for: software engineering/computer science. As such, it's easy to understand that my potential learning curve is bigger than those in the field for years (if I am willing to open my mind). I must admit, I take a lot of pleasure in going back to school. Although I keep complaining about midterms, finals, homework... I could do this for life :)

People often ask, but what exactly do you do after all? And I always have problems explaining this. When I do try to give an explanation, I always end up with this feeling that the message didn't get through... Perhaps I use too much technical jargon. Computer vision, machine learning... what is this stuff? I guess there is no better explanation than to actually show an application. Here is a cool video with a projected vision for a known game controller.

a tour to Garnett peak

Today I felt somewhat compelled to write something in here. It's been so long since I last reported...
Let me tell you about a small road trip towards East: Garnett peak (Northeast of Mt Laguna)

It's a small elevation (1800m) Southeast of La Jolla. It's around 80 miles drive, and then 2 hours walking an easy trail. On a clear day, facing East of Garnett's, people say you can see all the way to Arizona. I can't vouch for that, but the view surely is overwhelming. And downwards, facing South, you can see Mexico too. It's an enjoyable hike, nothing too demanding. On our way upthere we stoped over at Pine Valley to buy a forest parking permit. It's a bit ridiculous to have such a thing for a huge park, but that's how it works around here: you need one of those in any national park to avoid a citation. Pine Valley is a realy small town but, as any typical american inland town, it has it's own road restaurant. The environment on a Saturday afternoon is a must! The parking lot packed with Harleys, and the restaurant crowded with leather jackets. Really ... a must see for any ocasional tourist.

The hike in itself went without any sort of trouble... except for the rattlesnake we bumped into on our way downhill. But, politely, we decided to go around her as she seemed a little bit upset.

I have two more weeks of instruction, then the finals... and one year is almost over. Impressive how time goes by!

Looking forward to see you all soon!

TETRA-CAMPEÕES!

Mother's day

First of all, my homage to all Mother's out there. Today is your day! At least in Portugal, because in the US, as in many other countries, Mother's day is just in the second Sunday of May.
In particular I would like to pay my respects to my Mother. In some sense Mother's day is a sort of a family day as well. So one tends to miss the family more in these days. At least that was my case. Fortunately (or maybe not) I had a special "entertainment" for this Sunday afternoon: grading homework for my advisor's undergraduate class (Digital Signal Processing II).


I just finished with the grading (the picture was in the beginning, hence the smile), and I'm taking some time to write a few words before going to bed. The class did well. I must say I'm a lenient guy in what concerns grading. Perhaps because I'm still taking courses myself... who knows! I'm what they call an easy-grader.

Last weekend I had the La Jolla half-marathon. Didn't yet had the opportunity to talk about that.


Got myself a new medal for the club's rich spoil (Veteranos do Parque da Cidade). I've participated in enough events like this not to be surprised easily... however, after crossing the finish line they gave us the usual stuff (a medal, some water, energy drinks, fruit) and then we were sent to something called the "beer-garden". Not surprisingly this was a rest area sponsored by Budweiser were young and veteran runners could have a couple of nice cold beers. Around 9.30am!! It's a damn good idea! We should this in Portugal as well. The thing is that in this race there were no big names, this seemed more like a social event rather than a sports event. Whereas in Portugal we usually have a couple of big names (national and international) to spice up the race.


Quite honestly, I can almost picture myself having a beer with Samuel Wanjiru or Haile Gebreslassie in the end of the LA marathon next year...