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| The beautiful view from the Mayan Palace, Mexico |
2015 was a wonderful and probably the best-so-far year for me. This year had traces of a few previous years, remarkably 2013. Abiding to my tradition of writing an annual summarizing post, I am listing below a few things that made my 2015 interesting. The list is in a random order, and the order does not represent anything.
1. Data Quality (QD) module.
I never thought I will start this list with a course I did at the university.
I never thought I will start this list with a course I did at the university.
It was a remarkable experience with a party atmosphere.
3. Graduating. Twice!
This year, I graduated from my masters double degree, from IST Lisboa and KTH Stockholm, and attended two graduation ceremonies (in Portugal and Sweden) to receive the degree award.
This year, I graduated from my masters double degree, from IST Lisboa and KTH Stockholm, and attended two graduation ceremonies (in Portugal and Sweden) to receive the degree award.
4. My comeback to FOSS.
It was always in my new year resolutions in the recent years. This year I got active with OpenDaylight community, leading the Messaging4Transport Project, and also created an OpenDaylight user group in Lisboa.
It was always in my new year resolutions in the recent years. This year I got active with OpenDaylight community, leading the Messaging4Transport Project, and also created an OpenDaylight user group in Lisboa.
5. The HOT Summer in multiple beaches, across continents.
Enjoyed the Beaches in Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Sweden, Italy, and Croatia. Portimão beach in Portugal was unexpectedly pleasant.
Enjoyed the Beaches in Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Sweden, Italy, and Croatia. Portimão beach in Portugal was unexpectedly pleasant.
6. Floating in the water with fish, in Maldives
It was a clean water beach of an uninhabited island of Maldives.
It was a clean water beach of an uninhabited island of Maldives.
Who dislikes them?
8. OpenDaylight Summit in Santa Clara.
I never thought I will have this much of information from a single conference. This was my second time to SJC, and first time to encounter a delayed flight and changing the flights to avoid missing the connecting flight.
I never thought I will have this much of information from a single conference. This was my second time to SJC, and first time to encounter a delayed flight and changing the flights to avoid missing the connecting flight.
9. God Ganesh Temple, Colombo-04
And getting soaked in the rainy night in Colombo.
And getting soaked in the rainy night in Colombo.
10. Cooking for my parents in Sri Lanka.
I have cooked for friends many times before. But first time for my mom and dad. That was truly remarkable. I missed this during my 2013 visit (and I was not capable of cooking before 2013. :) )
I have cooked for friends many times before. But first time for my mom and dad. That was truly remarkable. I missed this during my 2013 visit (and I was not capable of cooking before 2013. :) )
11. A long walk in a burning day in Belgrade.
Until that point, I was under the impression that nothing can burn me.
Until that point, I was under the impression that nothing can burn me.
12. Ljubljana.
I was impressed by the river side wifi and game meat. :)
I was impressed by the river side wifi and game meat. :)
Higher than the last three years combined!
14. Backpacking to Andorra.
Never thought I would be able to go light weight. An achievement of the year for sure.
Never thought I would be able to go light weight. An achievement of the year for sure.
15. A helicopter ride in a pleasant winter day.
Fly over the Tagus River.
16. More presentations!
First time I presented my work in another university as a guest speaker. My presentation at ASU, in Tempe for IC2E 2015 was remarkable. Loved that conference, and active involvement and enthusiasm from the participants during many of the presentations.
17. A late summer vacation in Sri Lanka.
Not really a vacation. I was getting married. Also experienced being a 'tourist' in Colombo. Never felt like a tourist in my own country before.
18. My first short-term scientific mission (STSM) at the University of Rijeka, Croatia.
Lots of research during the weekdays and lots of travels during the weekends.
19. Long flights.
This year I had many long flights.
20. Stockholm, once again!
It was loads of loads of loads of memories! I actually went to Stockholm twice this year. But somehow missed Kista during both trips.
21. Kayaking once more from Fejan!
Never did I guess in 2013 that I would visit this place for another EMDC Summer Event.
22. An unhealthy lunch in Trst, Italy.
All while keeping an eye at the hungry, persistent, and bullying seagulls.
23. Planning for the events in 2016 starting from early December!
Already have 3 confirmed events in my list in Berlin, Portland, and San Francisco.In addition, have a planned trip to Shenzhen, and planning another long term journey to Atlanta. Many of these events are outcomes of the collaboration with Emory BMI. It was a pleasant surprise that we got many papers as outcomes, which I am in fact going to present in 2016. We have 4 accepted papers; 3 to be presented - MediCurator, Data Cafe, and SPREAD, and MEDIator already presented.
24. Barcelona once more.
This was my first EMJD-DC Spring Event. I was nice to meet all my EMJD-DC colleagues for the first time. We are so distributed - In Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and Sweden.
25. Renting a whole apartment.
No more apartment sharing. More privacy.. ^_^
26. Random walking in many new cities alone.
Often with a map. Often without; asking strangers for information. It felt like a virtual reality game, finding random places with no knowledge of the local language. May be an increased level of confidence? Well, to be fair, many of the youngsters I met in these cities speak better English than me.
27. Some successes (xSDN, ∂u∂u, Cassowary, MEDIator, Data Cafe, MediCurator, SPREAD, ..) and some failures (SDCO, S²DN, RAVANA, SMART, FIRM, ..), and... some mixtures (SENDIM, ..).
I am talking about my projects, if you are confused.
28. Spring flowers in Frankfurt, Germany
First time I presented my work in another university as a guest speaker. My presentation at ASU, in Tempe for IC2E 2015 was remarkable. Loved that conference, and active involvement and enthusiasm from the participants during many of the presentations.
17. A late summer vacation in Sri Lanka.
Not really a vacation. I was getting married. Also experienced being a 'tourist' in Colombo. Never felt like a tourist in my own country before.
18. My first short-term scientific mission (STSM) at the University of Rijeka, Croatia.
Lots of research during the weekdays and lots of travels during the weekends.
19. Long flights.
This year I had many long flights.
20. Stockholm, once again!
It was loads of loads of loads of memories! I actually went to Stockholm twice this year. But somehow missed Kista during both trips.
21. Kayaking once more from Fejan!
Never did I guess in 2013 that I would visit this place for another EMDC Summer Event.
22. An unhealthy lunch in Trst, Italy.
All while keeping an eye at the hungry, persistent, and bullying seagulls.
23. Planning for the events in 2016 starting from early December!
Already have 3 confirmed events in my list in Berlin, Portland, and San Francisco.In addition, have a planned trip to Shenzhen, and planning another long term journey to Atlanta. Many of these events are outcomes of the collaboration with Emory BMI. It was a pleasant surprise that we got many papers as outcomes, which I am in fact going to present in 2016. We have 4 accepted papers; 3 to be presented - MediCurator, Data Cafe, and SPREAD, and MEDIator already presented.
24. Barcelona once more.
This was my first EMJD-DC Spring Event. I was nice to meet all my EMJD-DC colleagues for the first time. We are so distributed - In Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and Sweden.
25. Renting a whole apartment.
No more apartment sharing. More privacy.. ^_^
26. Random walking in many new cities alone.
Often with a map. Often without; asking strangers for information. It felt like a virtual reality game, finding random places with no knowledge of the local language. May be an increased level of confidence? Well, to be fair, many of the youngsters I met in these cities speak better English than me.
27. Some successes (xSDN, ∂u∂u, Cassowary, MEDIator, Data Cafe, MediCurator, SPREAD, ..) and some failures (SDCO, S²DN, RAVANA, SMART, FIRM, ..), and... some mixtures (SENDIM, ..).
I am talking about my projects, if you are confused.
28. Spring flowers in Frankfurt, Germany
The flowers are beautiful in Spring.
29. International border crossings by land, and long bus rides.
This includes US <-> Mexico, Croatia <-> Slovenia, and Croatia <-> Serbia. Never really did this before this year (not counting Sweden <-> Denmark (2013) and Spain <-> Andorra (2015) as real borders due to the Schengen open visa policy).
30. Multiple plots and locations. Spent most of the time in Portugal, with one month each in Croatia and Sri Lanka, in the mid-year.
Other short-term locations include US (twice), Mexico, Germany, Sweden (twice), Spain, Andorra, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, and Maldives. This made 2015 a year full of travels for me.
Thanks for reading my list till the end. If you are really interested, you may also read the blog posts on the previous years as well.
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