First off, welcome international readers! I know this is coming late but finally I’m going to start writing in English as well (maybe even other languages). It’s taken many complaints but finally, I surrender… This blog was initially started to keep family and friends updated; but I’m not even sure how many of them still read this blog, since I’ve been inactive most of the time this has been up. Anyways, what to say now? Well I’m going to make a short summary since May: Tampere is still the same old same old… the summer was very nice and quite sunny. My parents came from Brazil for an Eurotour and I guided them through Finland, Stockholm, Paris, London, Athens, Santorini, Rome, and Venice – needless to say it was an amazing trip. Then I started working for a new company in August, called Tieto – and the job is nice. In September I went to France, spent a week in the south cost visiting Marseille and Aix en Provence – two really amazing cities, specially the latter. In that same month I went to Spain, to visit two friends in Barcelona. After these long summer vacations I’m back in the office, working my days in a Nokia project for Windows and S60 (phones). I got promoted and a raise! 
Soon after I got back in the routine, the weather started getting shitty. Dark, cold Tampere was back in its normal shades. Right now we’ve got -3C and there’s ice everywhere – but I still bike to the office every morning. Almost forgot to mention that in October I moved to a really cool and big flat which I share with an italian friend – Roberto. I now live at a comfortable 10min walking distance from the office! So this year it seems that we will have a white Xmas! But I’m going to Brazil on dec.23rd so I won’t see it! Say it, have I got the worst luck or what!?
About school – I haven’t been at UTA since February. There are no more classes to take – only the thesis writing do be done. I still hang out with some international students though (inevitable) and it’s fun most of the time. There’s a bunch of them leaving during this next week, you know the drill… My thesis is about human-computer interaction, finger detection and gestures. What I’m doing is: I use the Nintendo Wii Controller to “see” your fingertips, and basically interpret them as pointers. So it’s like your fingertips replace the mouse. Why this is interesting in terms of research?1)Nobody knows if using fingers is an efficient or feasible way to interact with computers; 2)nobody know how effective it is; 3)the technology still needs to be explored and exploited.
In between work and school, “we” still hang out at Cafe Europa some days in the week, as you can see…
Carlo, Elena, Carlos
Rob lost a shoe
Needs a hug
Marco, Roberto, Riki
BTW, I’ve officially invented a cocktail for Cafe Europa – these guys call it “the Carlos”. You can see it in front of Roberto here.
- 2cl Baileys
- 2cl coffee licquor
- hot chocolate
- whipped cream
- cinamon topping
And it’s a great drink!
