Life in the Cold Lands of Mrs. Elizabeth

2006-09-16T18:54:00.001+01:00

Hello all,

I have received some e-mails about updating the blog.

I spent some time thinking about this space. While it was a great way of sharing my experience while in the UK, It was mainly an attempt to learn more about blogs, posting and how I could create a definite space to publish my ideas and discuss them.

I am now "deactivating" this blog. I won't update it anymore, but please don't be sad. I have a good reason to do it.

I am setting up a new space in a domain I own. I have just created a blog @ http://blog.acciolyrosa.com and I would like to invite you to go there and send me your comments. It is on a very early stage where I am still figuring out things like the right layout, links and "institutional" stuff. When you visit, please send me your feedback. I will be very happy to read your ideas and comments and consider them to build a nicer space on this corner of the internet.

For now I would like to thank you all for the time to come here and read my words. I'm much honored to have you as my readers.

All the best!

Daniel

2006-08-29T15:39:00.001+01:00

Yes.. it is time to go. In less than 48 hours I will be flying back home.

As much as I am happy about going back to see my family and old friends, I already miss all of you. From the Wednesday evening matches with the guys from Siebel to the familiar friendly faces on the lecture theater. From the beers at the Student Union to the next morning's hangovers. From the volleyball at Founder's pitch to hot discussions on exam topics at Mccrea 255 before the exams. I will miss you all very much.

In 1st of June 1997, writer Mary Schmich wrote a column in the Chicago Tribune that became famous. The text, entitled "Wear Sunscreen" is just a collection of simple and true advices that we all know are good, but we forget to follow every day.

With my departure coming, I leave this message for you to share a lesson that was reinforced in my time here. Every time I am confused I like to take a look at this video. It makes me realize that life is simple, and being happy depends only on ourselves.

Be happy, that is all I wish for you.

Daniel Accioly Rosa

2006-08-22T16:48:00.001+01:00

Just a post for my football mates...

I want to see everybody on the pitch tomorrow playing like that!!!!

:D

2006-08-22T14:47:00.000+01:00

Hiya...

The music below is one from a singer called "Corinne Bailey Rae". After liking the rhythm, I decided to take a look at the lyrics. Yes, she is right:

"Just go ahead, let your hair down, You're gonna find yourself, somewhere, somehow"

There is a lot to happen in the next months... and for the unknown times ahead, I find the challenge interesting, stimulating and exciting. I'm sure I'll find myself somewhere, somehow... :)

Below the complete lyrics...

"Three little birds sat on my window
And they told me i don't need to worry
Summer came like cinnamon, so sweet
Little girls double-dutch on the concrete

Maybe sometimes, we got it wrong, but its alright
The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same
Oh, dont you hesitate

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song
You go ahead let your hair down
Sapphire, and faded jeans i hope you get your dreams
Just go ahead, let your hair down
You're gonna find yourself, somewhere, somehow

Blue as the sky
Sun-burnt and lonely
Sipping tea in a bar by the roadside
Don't you let those other boys fool you
gotta love that afro hairdo
Maybe sometimes, we feel afraid but it's alright
The more you stay the same
The more they seem to change
Don't you think it's strange

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song
You go ahead let your hair down
Sapphire, and faded jeans i hope you get your dreams
Just go ahead, let your hair down
You're gonna find yourself, somewhere, somehow

Just more than i could take
Pity for pity's sake
Some nights kept me awake
I thought that I was stronger
When you gonna realize
That you don't even have to try any longer?
Do what you want to!

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song
You go ahead let your hair down
Sapphire, and faded jeans i hope you get your dreams
Just go ahead, let your hair down
You're gonna find yourself, somewhere, somehow"

2006-08-19T16:18:00.000+01:00

Hello,

Here I am stuck with my dissertation and no inspiration to write. I think will make it until the deadline, which means I have some time for a post now and then. :)

Well, let me start thanking you all for the awesome response to my request to answer the questionnaire. 525 people went to the website and shared their information on how they use the internet and what security measures they apply at home. This is much more than what I needed and will help me very much to get a good mark in my project.

THANK YOU very much for that.

Apart from that I have been listening to music a lot while I write. Because of that I have been looking into new sources of music, like online radios and getting some new MP3s. Of course it is very easy to get bored with radios playing the same type of music all the time and the MP3s being all from the same old favorite artists. After a while, I decided to see my old archives and found a link to a fantastic service I have not been using for a while.

Pandora is a service put up by the Music Gnome Project. Their aim is to analyze what music genre is all about and for that they offer a free streaming radio! The way it works is that you inform an artist or a song you like, Living Colour for example, and then they play music from that artist and many other songs from similar artists. If you don't like one song that is being played, you just come in and click "I don’t like that music!". They go to the next one! If you like it, you can say: "Hey, I like that music!" and more music will be played in your "station". That way they map what you like and offer you music from similar genres. Is a great way of knowing more music and bands and giving them a hand on their mapping.

So, if you like, point your browser to Pandora and start listening! I'm sure you will like it! :D

Enjoy!

Daniel

2006-08-16T11:09:00.000+01:00

I think this cow is brazilian...

Anyway, drink milk.. :D

2006-08-12T03:57:00.000+01:00

This wireless thing is getting more and more interesting as the time passes... why don't you take a look?

Highfield-Court-Aug-07-2006-1.xml

If you are using windows, open with MS Excel...

Enjoy! ;)

2006-08-10T15:59:00.000+01:00

Dear All,

I have been reading a lot about the Trusted Computing initiative, which is a set of standards that products could follow to be secure. I have also seen a video about it that I would like to share with you:

It is up to you to make your mind. After all "Trusted Computing" sounds great... is it?

Sources: https://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org and http://againsttcpa.com

2006-08-09T11:08:00.000+01:00

I'm writing to tell some news and to ask a favor. Since this is my blog, let me start with the favor. :)

Everybody knows that I am writing up my thesis and it is a research about the Home User awareness regarding Information Security. This means that I need some input from you, Home Users, in my research!

Yes, I AM going to ask you to fill one questionnaire, but it is not one of those boring long ones. It is just a 10 minute survey that can be accessed here. I would appreciate VERY MUCH your help, since this makes all difference in my work.

About the news, I have received the visit of a dear friend. Cristy Fehlberg, the wife of one of my favorite dive buddies and best friends, have come to London on a business trip and I spent an afternoon with her.

It was great to see her again. She looks better than ever (a sign that my buddy is better husband that a fellow diver) and I hope we can see each other again very soon. This can be a little complicated since they are living in Singapore. But nevermind, after the internet distance is not that big challenge to friendships anymore. ;)

Well, that's it. I hope I can bring you more news soon!

See ya!

2006-08-07T06:57:00.000+01:00

IF you ever come around Egham and want to do some wardriving here is what you might find:

Ok, ok... didn't go far away but remember I don't have a car! :D

For those who are wondering what the hell is that this is a map I made last night with the SSIDs for the wireless networks around my area and the probable signal coverage.

Tools for doing this map included Kismet, gpsmap and a couple of pearl scripts to extract the road map from Expedia. I did a "warwalking" exercise, which means walking around the neighbourhood with a 8.5 dBi Yagi antenna and a laptop scanning for APs.

The purpose of the exercise is to get used to the tool and train to be able to audit for rogue access points. About disclosing the map: the signal is in a public area, so I don't thing there is problem.

It was FUN... :)

Daniel

2006-08-03T21:17:00.000+01:00

The coolest thing has happened. After emerging from a fu***** hangover, I'm back on business.

I think this is just the way things are. In order to construct you have to destroy first. And nothing like a good night out to destroy all the laziness and uncertainty I had.

I feel reborn and ready to work. One more chapter done in my dissertation and the survey is almost ready. It is on draft stage, where I am getting valuable feedback from some very good friends I trust.

Today I decided to cook something different for a change. After all, I feel different. Then my sister suggested me to cook some minced beef the way my mom does at home. I thought... nah... I can't do this, but who knows me knows that I'm not afraid of trying. The worst that can happen is everything going wrong.

What happened? It was delicious!!! Take a look at the photo I took.

Apart from that I am back on the gym and feeling much better. Seems that everything is back on track. I just have to concentrate and don’t lose my focus. This experience is almost over and was a great time of my life. Time to finish it and move on. Can't wait to get home...

Ah, I have been listening to music a lot and I "bumped" with this artist by a MSN tagline from a friend of mine (thanks’ Raul!). You may want to check Wax Tailor . It is a French guy who uses samples in their music as music directors use actors. The record is conceived as an orchestral movie between hip-hop and down tempo, where each track is a part of a story.

He says his influences include Doris Day and Nina Simone. Good stuff. I hope you like it. I did. You can listen to the record in the website

Well, that's it. Back to work.

See ya!

2006-08-01T16:31:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

I don't have many news. I'm just trying to concentrate on the dissertation and drinking milk a lot.

How about you?

Got milk? ;)

2006-07-29T20:16:00.000+01:00

YES! I have a GPS.. :)

It's been a while since I have come back from SANS Munich. There, while attending the 601 Track as a volunteer I've got a "SWAT Kit" that contains both a GPS receiver and some wireless toys to perform a IEEE 802.1x audit.

Today, after writing about 1500 words and get bored, I decided to set the GPS up. Guess what: IT WORKS!

Below is a capture of a small tryout I've made using the GPS TrackMaker software (http://www.gpstm.com/) and a small map from Google Earth.

The map is my home surroundings and the blue line is where I was walking while having the GPS on. It was weird to see everybody looking at me in the parking lot with my laptop as a weirdo... nevermind.

When I have some more time I will do a small wireless audit and let you know of the results. Wireless users around Egham: BEWARE! :D

2006-07-28T16:28:00.000+01:00

Btw, Got milk?

:)

Enjoy!

2006-07-28T15:48:00.000+01:00

Hiya...

Nothing new over here...just boring work over my thesis, which is about Information Security Awareness, but focused on the home user. I have been studying the phenomena of the Internet, how it affects the life of the users and why the hell we don't protect our computer properly!

It goes from downloading the AV signatures to installing a firewall or enabling crypto on the wireless network that allows us to use the web in the comfort of our bedroom.

It is not a technically challenging topic, but it is VERY relevant and indeed would fry the brain of most technologists. This is not a 10 thing (by the way, there are 10 people who understand binary, the ones who do and the ones who don't.. :) ) , but something that should be analyzed through user motivation (or lack of motivation) and how complex the systems are. It is simple to say that most of the people can watch TV, but after 20 years most of us don't know how to program the VCR properly.

Anyway, I'm having fun researching the topic and I intend to conduct a survey to come out next week. Of course my readers will be invited to answer.. Let's see how many "collaborators" I will get.. :)

Apart from that what has been calling my attention is the VARIG problem. For you who don't know, VARIG is one of the biggest airlines in the world and it has been bad administered for a long time. The company is bankrupt and it is not flying regularly anymore. That means that around 200 passengers/day are trying to go back to Brazil from multiple destinations in Europe without success. The consequence is that LOADS of people are stuck in airports (including me who wanted to return in mid-august) and can't get to Brazil.

This is just SAD. 10000 people are going to be fired in the next days and let's hope, for their own sake, that can get better jobs in other airlines.

Well, that's it... no more to say.. 8-)

See ya!

Daniel

PS - For those who have been testing my comment moderation tool.. It works! :D

2006-07-22T19:35:00.000+01:00

Working to make the NET a better place.

Wasn't it wonderful back in the days where the internet was "safer"? A bunch of people trying to use the network to exchange information and collaborate.

After some time, businesses realized the potential that the NET represented and decided to take advantage of it. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you don't harm good initiatives that are still around. The net is big and there is space for everybody.

I don't know when and how, but someday I realized that a lot of stuff is wrong. 70% of the e-mails on the NET are wither SPAM or viruses. Organized crime takes advantage of vulnerabilities for get money to fund their illegal activities and companies don't do anything to do better products so this would stop. What the hell?!

I work with information security. I do this because I believe that technology should provide a safer, more efficient and better way for us to do things. I am just trying to make things better, you know? And suddenly a stupid automatic script takes advantage of the fact that my blog allows anonymous comments and posts loads of links to malicious code, hoping that my readers would click and get their computers hostage of some botnet.

A message for those bastards who wrote that script: MY READERS KNOW BETTER! Your comments are already deleted and new comments are moderated. Not that I would censor anything... all comments are still welcome and I will approve anything that is not automated. PROMISE!

Don't let this prevent you from commenting. Your feedback is what keeps me moving to post publicly, and moderating is just a tool I have to prevent these ash**** of taking advantage of my blog the same way they do with a lot of other good tools around.

For a better and safer way to communicate.

Daniel

2006-07-18T15:23:00.000+01:00

Just a message from who is bored:

Drink Milk... :)

2006-07-15T21:54:00.000+01:00

Hi All,

you will find below the last post of my trip to Scapa. This is a small attempt to catch up and update the info on my blog.

You can also find below the Scapa post the video of my trip to Egypt.

All photos of both trips and my trip to Germany, Netherlands and Czech Republic with my brother (World Cup) can be found ate my photo website.

I hope you enjoy!

Daniel

PS - I promise I will try to keep this blog updated from now on.. ;)

2006-07-15T21:22:00.000+01:00

Last Scapa Flow post:

I woke up this morning feeling 100% restored of yesterday’s dive. I don’t know if the problem was the deep dive or just that I was a little sea sick. I went to bed yesterday around 7:00pm and got up today at 8am.

Well… one more day of diving ahead and that’s what matters.

Today’s targets are the Dresden and the Tabaka. We decided to repeat the Tabaka as it was the most enjoyable dive so far. I’m really looking forward doing it again.

The seabed under the Dresden is about 33m. It is lying down on its port side and the amidships is completely destroyed because of the savaging. The bow is still partially intact as the stern. The ship was launched on April 1917 and was of the same Dresden II class as the Coln. She displaced around 5500 tons and was able to reach up to 28 knots.

Her armament consisted of three 3.4 inch AA guns and 4 deck mounted torpedo tubes, apart from her mine layering capabilities. The Dresden carried about 200 mines and had a crew of approximately 600 men.

The ship was one of the scuttled ships, and the interesting part of it is that the Closing, took the Dresden in tow when it was with water almost above its deck in an attempt to bring the ship to shallower waters. The Closing was able to tow her half a mile far away from the Island of Cava, where she sank under 33m of water in 21 June 1919.

The plan was going down and up using the shot line and the Invincible would be around us on the surface to pick us up. We were all using EAN32.

The descent was without problems and as soon as I reach the ship’s starboard I was happy because I expected it to be around 18m and it was at 15. As a matter of fact the seabed was at 31m. Maybe this was because of the tide, but I just felt happy to have a safer shallower dive.

We went to the wrong direction when we came down and I realised that first than my buddies as I could only see the hull to my right arm. I tried to signal them, but they were finning fast, probably trying to get to a specific part of the boat, and disappeared of sight.

As I was using doubles and had loads of gas and no deco time, I decided to go over the top of the boat and meet them in the other side. Slower movement also meant less CO2, which usually hits me in the form of strong headaches when I do much effort under the water. So there I went to the other side, going over the bridge and the metal scrap, trying to identify some parts of the ship. I could see loads of anemone and starfish. Some really big crabs popped out of the holes made by the scrap, making my stomach to give me a hunger signal. :)

5 min later I met the guys by the officer’s quarters and I signalled the OK. I got the response back and off we went to the shot line.

As we approached the ship’s bow I lost the guys again, since the visibility was very poor (4m max). I decided to pop up the SMB since a search would be a waste of time as there was no current and I knew I was somewhere near the line.

When I got to the surface the guys were 20m away and some quick strokes got me closer to them and up to the Invincible.

The water temperature was freezing 9oC and we spent 43 min under. Starting gas 210bar, end gas 130bar. This time I took Tom’s wife mosquito with me as long as the M1. My computer worked like a charm (I set it up as bottom timer). There is nothing like some competition, huh? :D

After the dive we went to the Island of Hoy for our surface interval, as the Tabaka has to be dived on a specific tide (slack water).

The Island of Hoy is the second largest of the Orkney Islands. It is still not very big, being only about 10 miles by 5 miles. It has some hills, and its tallest point is about 480 feet, being the highest of the islands. Hoy also hosts a very interesting war museum. It is the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre & Naval Museum, which is near the area of the sinking of the Royal Oak.

The Museum is housed in the former oil pumping station of the Lyness Naval Base. The Royal Navy left in 1956 and the Centre was opened to the public in 1990. The museum has many attractions, including a small showcase of Second World War equipment and a video show of the fleet scuttling, which happens inside an old oil tank that was cleaned and turned in part of the museum.

In addition to all this, you can also see an original steam pump, air raid shelter, some costal batteries, a 28ton propeller (from the HMS Hampshire – the ship that struck a mine north of the Orkneys, leading to the death of Lord Kitchener) and other original WWII equipment. A MUST!

I have also spent some time paying my respects to the brave men that fought the Second World War, but perished while performing their duties. There is a Royal Navy cemetery that holds the remains of these brave soldiers, including some German sailors that died in conflicts when the scuttling of the German fleet was happening. They were the last causalities of the Second World War. If you visit the wrecks and have a good idea what the conflict was, maybe you also want to pay a visit to these brave men that gave their lives for their countries.

Well… the tide was right and we had to go. After finishing the museum and the cemetery visit we departed to the Tabaka.

I was very disappointed to know that 3 other ships were lining up with divers for the site as well. I don’t like crowded penetration dives, so we all decided to abort it. I was sad since the Tabaka was a dive I was really looking forward to do. We decided to do the Gobernador Bories instead.

I was puzzled by this name. In Spanish the word “governor” is “governador”. I also know that the “v” in Spanish sounds like like “b”. So, in my understanding the name of the ship should be “Governador Bories” instead of “Gobernador Bories”. In Rod Macdonald’s book it is written like “Gobernador”, but I’m still not convinced that this is a spelling mistake.

Never mind about that since the ship is under just 16 meters of waters and waiting to be dived.

The ship is a 2300 ton steamer built in 1882 and sunk in 1915. She stays in the same channel as the Inverlane, and is affected by strong current. That makes the diving a little more difficult, but gives the advantage of making the water clearer, since it brings water from outside the flow. It is a typical Burra Sound’s dive with good visibility (up to 30m!).

One of the good things is that you can use the hull to be protected from the current, and enjoy a good calm dive as you explore the remains of the wreck. The ascent, though, should not be by using a line. Unless you want to be hanging in a join line like a flag in a pole, it is better to use your SMB and ascend slowly as a good captain will follow the divers with the current picking them up as soon as they surface.

The ship sits on her keel, and you can have a fine panorama with a slight list to starboard. Her bow and starboard side of her hull are mostly intact, and there are some good overhead parts that an experienced diver would enjoy. There is light everywhere, which, with the good visibility, makes it a safe and enjoyable dive. The two boilers are exposed and are in the amidships.

Close to the stern, there is a small “sandy beach”, which is an area in the middle of the wreck with no rocks. The light makes a beautiful contrast as we ended our dive and popped our SMBs to the surface.

Again, the Invincible didn’t fail to pick us up on the surface on time… another nice dive for the logbook.

We came back to the flow in the end of the day, telling our stories and talking about another good day of diving.

The next day we dived the Koln and the F2 again. It was our last day. You can find more info about these two dives in:

F2: http://www.divesitedirectory.co.uk/dive_site_uk_scotland_scapa_wreck_f2.html

Koln: http://www.submerged.co.uk/scapaflow_koln.php

We all ended our trip wanting to come back. Scapa is an awesome place! A very good dive site for all experienced divers who love shipwrecks and want something more than just look at fish... :)

More info and all photos I took in this trip can be found at my pics website: http://daniel.videopic.net (Scapa Gallery)

2006-07-12T20:53:00.000+01:00

Hello all,

It's been a long time without posting. I know that a good blog must be updated regularly, but unfortunately I have been very busy lately.

Things going on include the end of the trip to Scapa, the trip I made with my brother and sister in law to Germany (World Cup), the SANS London 2006 and a small trip to Egypt to enjoy some diving.

In the mean time I was working on my project and this consumed most of my time.

I hope, when I am back to England, to update this space with some info and posts and let you know the most important things that have happened to me in the last month.

In the mean time, follows below a small video of my trip to Egypt, with the most important photos. It gives an idea of how amazing the Red Sea is and how much fun I had.

Enjoy!

Daniel

2006-06-03T12:47:00.000+01:00

Second day of diving!

I still have the whole week ahead of me. As the diving yesterday was great fun, it also served me to work a bit on my skills and to trim my gear for the days to come. I feel more confident now, as not only know my buddies skills but also that my gear is 100% and I am “sort of” back in shape.

This came in time, because the targets of today are the James Barrie and the F2.

The James Barrie was a 666 ton Icelandic steam trawler that ran aground while passing one of Orkney’s access channels. Se started to take on water and was abandoned by her crew. This happened on 27th March 1969.

Two days later, the tide “freed” the James Barrie and it started to float on Pentland Firth Unmanned, like a ghost ship. Not bad for a 666 ton ship, huh?

One of Kirkwall’s lifeboats, the Grace Paterson Richie, tried to tow her back to port but unfortunately (or fortunately for us divers) she sunk in Hoxa Sound, off Widewall Bay about a mile south of Hoxa Gead.

The ship is 36 meter long and lies on her starboard side in about 43m of water. Her hull is about 35. It looks a lot like the “Pinguino”, a wreck in Angra dos Reis in Brazil. The sandy bottom and the constant current make the place a very interesting dive. There is almost no silt, and the visibility was around 15m when we went there. The bad side is that the current makes a requirement to dive on slack water, so we had to time our dive well.

I decided to approach this dive carefully, as I didn’t have any Trimix available the 43m seabed was below the reasonable limit. The currents would also require me to make a good effort to reach the bottom, consequently raising my CO2 level and increasing narcosis. I was also feeling seasick, which didn’t help at all!

Ian, the Skipper, dropped a piece of weight that would serve us as an “anchor” for the lifeline. Unfortunately the rope attached to it broke, and we had to also conduct a small “salvage operation”.

We went down slow on the lifeline, trying not to make too much effort. As I reached 40m I felt a little narked. I went up a bit as I looked Tom, one of my buddies, tying the lift bag on the weight and Kevin, my other buddy, floating around. After the dive he confessed he was completely narked… scary.

Tom managed to lift the weight and off we went to the wreck. No penetration, just a 25 min wand around and off I went to deco.

I was using EAN 27, and here is the deco I did:

27m – 18m – very slow ascent (around 3 min)
18m – 1 min
15m – 1 min
12m – 2 min
9m – 2 min
6m – 12 min

Since I set my computer to bottom time I had no problem running that deco. My buddies, because they were using Mosquitoes, preferred to go directly to 6m, so I had to run that by my own.

Didn’t like that of course, and decided to be better prepared for next time. Deco is not something you should do alone. Even not being DIR anymore, buddy dive is something I strongly believe in.

The dive finished without problems. I was the last on in the boat, but I don’t care as long I am comfortable with the procedures I am carrying on.

The second dive was the F2. She was a German destroyer that was scuttled with the fleet. Measuring 76m long, with a beam of almost 9m it displaced 790 tons. It was not a big ship, but indeed an interesting dive. Driven by two twin turbines and two propellers, she could reach 26 knots.

When being salvaged, a Barge (the YC 21) that was holding some of the metal taken from her sank, making a very interesting dive as well. Our plan was to start the dive in the barge and end it on the F2. She lies less than 18m of water and it is indeed an interesting second dive.

I asked Ian to “top up” my mix with air and I set my dive plan to 21%. This would make it safer. We had almost 2 hours of surface interval, but I wanted to take it easy. Besides, the water was cold and I didn’t want to make a bottom time longer than 30 minutes.

Off we went to the Barge. Soon after we went down, the two 20mm anti aircraft guns appeared pointing at us, just like the ship was defending itself from us. Impressive sight and we all approached to inspect that weapon that once was a demonstration of power, and now is just a base for sea life.

The wreck is looming with life. Loads of starfish and coral are all around. The F2 is a little beat broken up. The bow is fairly intact and you can distinguish the wreck until a little after the bridge. After that the vessel has been devastated by blasting and it is hardy recognisable. Only a mass of steel and cables lie all around.

The impressive part is the big 4.1 inch cannon in the front. The barrel is still intact and pointing toward the bow, defying the unknown. Impressive!

After a 34 min bottom time I began my slow ascent to the surface. No deco this time, but a 3 minute safety stop at 6m just for the record.

After this day I was feeling very tired. Maybe I pushed too hard on the deco, maybe it was the seasickness or just the cold water was hitting me. I don’t know what happened, but I decided to eat and go to bed early. Wise decision as the next day we were planning to do the Dresden and the Tabaka again. Can’t wait to get there!

2006-06-01T19:02:00.000+01:00

Hello everybody!

Here I am in “mighty” Stromness, at Orkney Islands! I’m so happy about being here and I can’t wait to dive!

A lot of stuff to sort out and I still have to get to know my buddies properly. Yeah… not very DIR, but what the hell… I’m almost convinced I am not DIR. I’m surely a big fan of Claire Gledders, a great diver and fantastic person, but I am very different from her. If she is the DIR role model I am sure I won’t be able to be like that. I have decided to forget some of the DIR premises for this trip as I think that if I would want to follow them I would not be able to come up here.

Never mind about that… a polemic topic that is being discussed all aver the diving world. I’m not here to talk about DIR or not DIR, just to say to my DIR friends that I will not be diving DIR in Scapa (maybe I am even not DIR anymore…) and I hope this disclaimer will help me to keep my credentials after this trip... ;)

Well, I have promised to say something about Kirkwall and the infrastructure. Here we go: my plane got 2 hours late because of problems in Glasgow, which made me arrive about 5:30pm in Orkney.

When I got to the airport I learned that the information that I got from the web was wrong, and on Sundays there are no buses from the airport to Kirkwall town centre. Also, the last bus from Kirkwall to Stromness would leave in 5 minutes from the town centre, making it impossible to me to catch it.

I managed to find a lady to share the cab with me up to Kirkwall and then paid the rest to Stromenss. The cost was £20, but if I had to pay for everything without sharing it would cost me £31. Please remember that it was a Sunday ride, thus more expensive.

I’m putting below the updated bus schedule for the main island; since I know the information available on the web at this time is not right (I based myself on it and had to take a cab). The information below is extracted from a small leaflet I got from the tourist centre on the Stromness pier:

About the boat: The pier is very small and I had no difficulty to find the Invincible, the boat that I am going to spend these 7 days in. It has a load line of 24m, with all gear you can imagine. The owner, Ian Trumpess, is an ex-commercial diver who decided to take an “easier” life and run a charter. He managed to get a very decent structure, as the boat has everything one might need: comfortable cabins with wash-hand basin, nice galley with a brilliant breakfast made by Fiona (Ian’s wife), 2 bathrooms, a compressor with nitrox on board, loads of space to set up your gear and, of course, a BAR.. :) Yes, there is a bar on board where you can have a nice beer while watching some TV and having a chat with your dive buddies.

The M.V. Invincible is certified under category two as required by the "Code of Practice" and is licensed to carry up to 14 persons, 12 passengers and two crew. Access on to Invincible is via its own gang way leading you onto its shelter deck and down the stairs on to the main deck, no scrambling up and down the pier wall ladders on this one.

The first thing that strikes you with Invincible is her sheer size and the large open deck area with it's two large benches that run down each side of the boat and can comfortably accommodate a reasonably large group of Trimix divers.

The bridge is fully equipped with loads of “toys” and I have extracted a small list from the boat website:

H.P. marine P.C. with it Furno 19 inch monitor, interfaced with the Furuno G.P.S. navigator GP-80 which runs our Sea Map chart plotter. In the bridge at the chart table they also have an M.C.5 magnetometer which interfaces with the Furuno G.P. 500. Other electronics on the bridge include Icom 22 mile radar, Furuno colour video sounder, Wesmar SS390 forward looking drop sonar, ships watch, on board Nokia phone, Eagle intercom system. They also have four VHF radio set, Long Range Railor, Deburg Sailor, a Skanti and a Furuno D.M.G.S. Last, but not at least, a C.B. radio for “idle chatter among skippers”.

The Invincible is fully centrally heated with tons of piping hot water, thanks to the diesel burner located on the bridge in the chart room. I have to thank my hot showers to that… :D

They carry three oxygen kits, one located in the shelter deck and another two up on the bridge. And there's always plenty of O2 onboard, making Nitrox easily available. The Invincible also boasts 240 volt power through out, this is provided from its three phase 15kva generator which is hosed within the shelter deck that also works as a “work shop”, equipment storage and changing area. The nice thing about it is that it stays warm and is a good shelter from the waves while on surface interval.

The galley is full equipped with gas oven, fridge freezer, microwave oven and electric toaster. To the rear of the galley is the mess area fitted with soft upholstery for comfort and large table, the galley also has a T.V. combi for breakfast T.V. or yesterday's video of the Kronprinze.

Below deck there is the accommodation area and the bar. Yes that's right, I said BAR !

The bar really is quite something: stocked with Orkney Ales and good range of optics they even have the pumps and coolers. At the bar there are also some books and printouts from the internet with loads of information about Scapa and the wrecks. While browsing over the printouts I came across the third edition of the Dive Scapa Flow book, by Rod Macdonald. Don’t get the wrong impression by the weird blue line and big flashlight of the fella on the cover. The author managed to do an excellent job by getting all relevant information about the Scapa Flow wrecks. There are some schematics of the ships, as drawings that give you a very good idea of what you will find underwater. 100% recommended and I have already ordered mine at Amazon.com

About Stromness:

Stromness is a small lovely village that goes along the west part of the Orkney Mainland. It has a good pier that receives the ferry and most of the diving boats stay here. Near the pier you have the town centre, which hosts the Scapa Flow museum (a must see!) and a variety of small stores with groceries to Scapa stuff to buy. You won’t be in need of anything “downtown” Stromness. They have a good pub called The Ferry Inn, where good food is served at an honest price. They also have a good selection of ales and beer that can be drank along with locals and visitors that come to the place at night.

You can go down the road to find loads of B&B and some diving shops. Anything for the diver: from a place to sleep to a piece of equipment to replace a broken part of the kit. There is even a shop that does an overnight fix for dry suit seals! Below there is a list of B&BS and Hotels:

The Ferry Inn (Popular with divers) (01856) 850280
Royal Hotel Website (01856) 850342
Stromness Hotel (01856) 850298
The Orca Hotel (01856) 850447

Mrs Thomas, also B&B (01856) 850438
Mrs Brown, private hostel (01856) 850661
Mrs Sinclair (01856) 850469
Stairwaddie Croft (01856) 851032

Mrs Spence (01856) 850949
Mrs Johnstone (01856) 850761
Mrs Kimett (01856) 850681

The Hostel is a good option with rooms about £11 a night (self catering).

The place for overnight fix of your dry suit is Scapa Scuba: http://www.scapascuba.co.uk. They also sell “funny hoods” and “custom dry suits” with figures as Tiger and Spiderman. The hoods cost about £100 and I didn’t want to know how much for the Spiderman or Superman dry suit… Expensive but funny joke…: D

Well… we are here to talk about the diving, right? So let me tell you a little bit about my first dive. As all first dives you fell weird, trying to adjust your weight, trim, buoyancy and all that. The dive was the Kronprinz Wilhelm, or the “Crown Prince”, which was one of the biggest and most important ships of the old German Fleet. It is an almost 300 feet wreck, and you cannot have a full idea about it in one dive. As a matter of fact you could spend a whole week diving this wreck without getting to know it completely.

The Kronprinz was built in Kiel and finished in the end of 1914. It was part of an initiative of the Germans to make the Kriegsmarine sufficiently big to pose a threat to the Royal Navy and, together with other Battleships as the Koenig and the Markgraf, constituted the spine of the High Seas Fleet.

The ship is HUGE. It is so big that it is said that the Kiel Canal had to be specially widened to let her through after completion. She is around 175m long, has a beam of around 30m and a draught of over 9m! She displaced almost 26000 tons. The hull was almost 40cm thick in the thickest part. She also had 5 turrets with 12 inch guns and 14 casemates with 5.9 inch guns and 3.45 inch AA guns, along with five submerged torpedo tubes: one to the bow and for in the beam.

The engine is impressive: three propellers that were powered by 46000 hp turbines that made this 26000 ton ship move over 21 knots. She was manned by 1136 crew and formed part of the Third Battleship Squadron of the Third High Seas Fleet.

She was part of the biggest naval encounter of the First World War: the Jutland battle and survived without a scratch, while severely damaging some of the British ships.

The ship is upside down, with its superstructure stuck in the silt at about 33m deep. The hull is about 20m and it is torn open in at least three places, result of the recovery that followed the scuttling of the German fleet. Our plan was to go down the hull down to 33m and take a look in the superstructure underneath it. After that, swim along it and reach the bow, where the rudder and the propellers are. Of course the propellers were not there anymore, but the rudders were a beautiful sight, followed by a big hole showing the inner workings of the wreck full of anemone. Loads of small spider crabs and some big crabs reminded me that it was time for breakfast.

The high point of the dive was a 12 inch cannon that is lying along port and half way into the silt and full of anemone. The cannon is an impressive weapon and I wouldn’t want to be in a boat that it’s targeted by that. I should always say that, since the wreck is HUGE, we covered just a small part of the hull on the back part of the port.

We did a 30m bottom time and did some safety stops starting from 18m. We used EAN30 as gas and all the divers were using doubles. The visibility was about 5m and the water temperature around 7oC.

The second dive of the day was the Tabaka. This is a 2624 ton. German steamer built in 1909 in Rotterdam. She was a single-crew steamer formerly known as the Pollux and was seized in July 1940 by the Royal Navy and taken to Scapa Flow for use as a block ship.

The idea was to sink some ships on the entrance of the port in order to prevent U-Boats from entering the area and sinking ships that were on the harbour. These, along with the Churchill Barrier, were part of the Scapa Flow defences on the Second World War. You can see here a photo of the block ships as one of the Churchill Barriers was being built.

The Tabaka was initially sunk in Kirk Sound (#1 barrier) where she laid until July 1944, when she was refloated and moved for her actual position in Burra Sound.

She lies upside down, just like the Kronprinz, and it is indeed an AMAZING dive. It is a full penetration wreck, as you cannot enjoy much the outside hull. But the large space inside makes the penetration safe, and the 12m average depth makes it even safer as you have sufficient gas for using the 1/3 rule. The dive needs careful planning tough, as it stays in the channel. This means great visibility and fast current. The skipper told me sometimes this comes up to 6 knots.

Our planning, as this was the second dive, included the use of EAN36 and a very short 30 min bottom time (because of the current). We went down sharply at 12:00 and straight to the bottom.

After a short get around at the hull, we managed to easily find one hole to get in. The visibility was around 12m and the water freezing 9oC. There are loads of portholes and entrances and the light gets in the wreck from all over the place. It is almost a religious experience, as your eyes adjust quickly to the darkness you see what looks like a small chapel. It is just like God is showing you how great architect he is. He managed to build a sanctuary out of a shipwreck, playing with the light that comes in from the portholes and the bars of a decayed bulkhead, all shaped by the strong current that comes in and out of the channel daily.

The dive went without any problems and I was so glad to see that Tom decided to bring his camera. I’m really looking forward seeing the video, especially on the boiler room. There you can see the three boilers on what once was the ceiling. As the ship is upside down, when it sank for the second time the boilers fell from the “floor” and are now a sight to see, as they protect the old steam triple-expansion engine.

In front of it you can still see the commands like pipes of an organ, and the ship’s telegraph is still identifiable, no matter the anemone that is growing all over the place. The front cover of Rod Macdonald’s book (the one with the fella with the blue rope and the one I am using as a source of information for this trip report) shows a picture of him in the Tabaka engine room.

We reached our 30 minute bottom time plan as we were arriving at the stern. Tom launched his SMB and up we went with the current. We had a small problem as we ascended, but this was sorted and nothing bad happened, especially because we were very shallow. Good learning experience, as always.

The Tabaka is a must on Scapa. Dive of the day and a strong candidate for dive of the week. Let’s see what happens as the week develops! :)

See ya!

2006-05-31T16:29:00.000+01:00

It is about time! I’m now on the Glasgow International Airport Lounge to take my flight up to Orkney. The expected flight time is 1 hour and 30 minutes and we will land in Kirwall Airport.

We will fly a small British Airways Saab 340 airplane operated by Longanair, a small local airline which was bought by British Airways in the mid 90s. For the Brazilians reading this trip report, you should compare that to Nordeste, which was bought by Varig in the early 90s.

About Orkney: It is a set of Islands in the north of Scotland. Most people say it is a very beautiful and peaceful place. I’ve been hearing a lot about the beautiful landscape and the cold weather, even during the summer. I was told to expect rain, even tough that is not going to affect the diving since Scapa Flow (where the wrecks are located) is in sheltered waters, just like a bay.

I should stress to anyone willing to go there how far north it is. If you get Google Earth you would be able to see that Orkney is in the same Latitude as the south of Greenland. The distance between Orkney and Glasgow is the same as Glasgow and London. That means a 9 hour train ride from London to Inverness, where you can either have to take a flight or a ride up to Stromness or Kirkwall (the two biggest ports in the Orkneys) via ferry. By plane you can get flights from all over the Europe (including Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick) to Glasgow and Edinbourgh. From there you get daily flights (that means ONE a day) to Kirkwall. The only company that operate these flights is Longanair, so if you want an easy ride up to the north be prepared to pay up to £400 for a return ticket.

If you book early you might get a cheaper ticket (£160). I tought that was a good deal since it was a long way up and I didn’t have a ride. The best way to book, as always, is the internet. You can go to http://www.britishairways.com and take a look.

Well, talking about my trip. I came from Kings Cross Rail Station (London) up to Glasgow Central by train. The ride took 7 hours and the train is very comfortable. It even has power sockets and wireless access to the internet, so I could surf all the way up to Glasgow and didn’t get bored. The ticket price is also very reasonable (I paid £23.10 for one-way), but if you get a ticket be sure to reserve a seat beforehand. Buying a last minute ticket without reserving a seat can give you nasty surprise like having to wait until the next train that leaves hourly to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The trip was very chilled out, and I loved the view of the sea. If you look at the UK map you will see that Glasgow stays on the northwest of London, meaning that the train goes up north (through York) and arrives on the eastern cost of Scotland just before getting to Edinburgh. You can not only see the beautiful fields from the midlands as well as part of the eastern cost, including some small ports from cites as (say name of the cities). A very nice ride if you are not in a rush.

When I arrived in Glasgow I stayed in a friend’s house. Rodrigo is also a student from Brazil doing his LLM in StrathClyde University and was very kind to let me stay in his place, which is in the University Halls of Accomodation during the night. We went out for a beer on a Scottish pub and drank a beer while listening to traditional Scottish music. We met some guys that were working to repair the sidewalk in front of the pub and discovered that they are from Portugal. They set with us and we had a beer. Only in Europe this happens... when would you imagine that the guy that is building the sidewalk will get in the same pub you are and have a beer with you?

They were a bit drunk, of course, but let’s forget about these technicalities and move on because this is not relevant to this trip report. :)

I left Rodrigo’s home about 11:30AM. I’m still very tired and, even tough I had a good night of sleep I woke up very early since the sun is rising about 4:30 AM and setting 21:45. It is a bit odd for me who was brought up near the equator to see this, but that’s how it works: as much as you get close to the poles the sun rises earlier and sets later in summer and rises late and sets earlier in the winter. That’s mean long summer days and shorter winter time… I have to get used to it, since Orkney is pretty much as north as Scotland can get.

I took a cab from High Street to Glasgow International and that costed me £12.50. The distance from Glagsow airport to city center is about 10miles, which made me arrive around noon through the M8. Glasgow is a relatively small town with 600k people. If you take into consideration people that live in the neabouring cities this can go up to a million people. Glasgow is the Scottish Sao Paulo, and Edinburgh, which is the capital, is a little bit smaller. Other interests around here include the Loch Ness lake (imagine how cool would be to dive up there and maybe meet Nessie, the moster?) and the Highlands, which stay up north and is said to be one of the most beautiful places around here. I wanted to go there and understand the story behind (nome do cara do Braveheart), which strangely enough seems not to have the same “hero reputation” that Hollywood pictured on the movie Braveheart.

Glasgow International is a relatively small airport, but it is the busiest of Scotland's three main international airports. Over 40 airlines serve around 80 destinations and, in July 2004, it became the first Scottish airport to handle over one million passengers in a month. My impression was good. Clean, organised and without long cues. Very different from Heathrow! I did my check-in and sat down on the lounge to watch the F1 Race on one of the many plasma TVs that there are available for the passengers around the walls. Rubinho and Massa, of course, were far behind. Nevermind, as Button was not doing well as well.

The other airport around Glasgow is Prestwick. It is very far away (more than 30 miles to the south) and it is very small. The only relevant company I could identify that operates there is Ryanair, which is famous for the £1 flight tickets. You could easily spend more for the ride from Prestwick to Glasgow or Glasgow International than to get up to Prestwick, so I recommend to avoid Ryanair if you want to come up here. Fly to a central airport as this will save you money and time.

Well, I think that’s it for now. My plane is about to leave so it is better to stop here. I’ll write more information to post when I get to Orkney, including about the infrastructure to move around the island and the main ports/entrances.

See ya!

2006-05-27T12:27:00.000+01:00

Hi All!

I’m back after a “long winter”… You can read “winter” as my nice adventure of having to attend to 5 MSc. exams in just one week.

I don’t know why, but I really felt extremely stressed. Maybe is the fact that I am not doing anything else but the masters, or just the fact that they were very hard and covered a broad range of the Information Security subject.

Yesterday one of our friends fainted and gave up. She will have to come back next year to resit the exam as she didn’t have any conditions to attend to it. I felt like when I was running the Rio half marathon. The last 3 kilometres I was really exhausted, but I pushed a little bit because I knew how good is the feeling of completing something as hard and as challenging as the course in Royal Holloway.

One of our friends even had champagne waiting for us to celebrate!

After that we went to a beer in Crosslands, one of Royal Holloway’s pubs in Founder’s south quadrangle. It was a nice sunny day and we relaxed sitting down on the grass. As you can see on the pic it is no Rio beach, but it was good enough + the fact that you cannot have a 18th century Victorian castle at the beach… :)

Well, never mind. It’s done and gone and I am now in route to Glasgow, where tomorrow I will catch a flight to Kirkwall (Orkney). YES! I AM GOING TO SCUBA DIVE IN SCAPA FLOW!!!!

I’m so excited about that! I’ve been reading about this place since before I came to England. The nice thing about Scapa Flow is that it was a Royal Navy base in both the first and second word wars. This mean that a lot of ships were sunk in those waters and they are shallow enough so I can scuba dive!

There is also this story about the German High Seas Fleet, which was as big as the Royal Navy fleet in the end of the First World War. The Royal Navy intended to incorporate the captured ships into their fleet, and the German Admiral was not very happy about it. One day, when the British were doing exercise on the North Sea, the admiral ordered the sailors to scuttle the ships. Can you imagine dozens of ships being scuttled on a small lagoon? Diver’s paradise! :)

Of course most of the ships were savaged but 8 of them still remain under and are accessible for divers. The complete story about Scapa Flow and its wrecks can be read here: http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/jralston/rk/scapa/

I will be staying in a live aboard. I have reserved everything through the Internet and at this time I am not sure about what I am going to find. But I am prepared for everything. As long as they have a power socket for me to plug in the notebook and start working on my project, lot’s of wrecks to dive, food to eat and a bed to sleep I will be more than happy. This is the page of the operator I will be using if any of you is interested: http://www.scapa-flow.co.uk/ . I hope Mr. Invincible is alright... :P

I will be posting more info (like a trip report) as this trip goes on, especially since my notebook was FINALY fixed properly (well… there is a small problem that I found just 1 minute ago, but let’s not talk about it since this topic is really up to give me ulcers). So please watch this space! :D

By the way, I am now in route to Glasgow, where I will take the plane tomorrow to Orkney. I am in the train and I am using wireless internet access. Of course all is unencrypted and I could eavesdrop on which pages that nice blond girl that is sat two seats back is surfing, but I prefer to go talking to her when she goes up for a coffee… One of the things I’ve learned in my like is that geek talk does not impress women very much… :D

So let me go get a coffee now, as I think this might be the time to make a move! ;)

See ya!

2006-05-16T17:04:00.000+01:00

Ok, quick update!

After a long winter my laptop is BACK! :D

No time to cheer... Computer Crime exam tomorrow... c you guys!

Daniel

2006-04-29T19:51:00.000+01:00

Conversation on the telephone this Friday:

Recorded Message: Welcome to Support Services, ATP serving ASUS customers. Please select one of the following options: for support press 1, to arrange pickup of the unit press 2, to ... (2 is pressed)

Recorded Message: Thank you for your call. It is very important for us. Please wait for our next available operator.

(5 minutes passes hearing music as fun as Pour Elise performed by a computer)

Recorded Message: All our operators are currently busy. Please hold and your call will be answered as soon as possible.

(more minutes pass...)

(more minutes pass...)

(more minutes pass...)

(more minutes pass...)

(MANY minutes pass...)

ASUS: Asus UK, how may I help you?

Daniel: Hello, my name is Daniel Rosa and I am an ASUS customer. I have a defective laptop which was supposed to be picked up at my place last Wednesday, but unfortunately nobody came for the second time. Would you help me to understand what happened?

ASUS: Would you tell me your RMA number, sir?

Daniel: XPTO1234

ASUS: Thank you, one moment please...

(almost 7 minutes later...)

ASUS: Thank you for waiting sir. It seems that our courier was unable to reach the address supplied. Would you confirm the address?

Daniel: Yes, it is (My address) Postal Code TW20 0TB

ASUS: Thank you for confirming sir. It seems that we cannot pick up your laptop at this time. Since we tried to get it twice without success we cannot pay again for the courier service to go to the same address.

Daniel: What are you suggesting?

ASUS: We can't pick up the laptop at your address. You will have to provide an alternate address so we can pick it up. Maybe a friend's house?

Daniel: I'm sorry but this is absurd! All couriers deliver things here every day. Royal mail delivers my mail without problems; DHL delivered my world cup tickets yesterday without problems, Parcel Force delivered my bass without problems, why can't your courier find the address?!?!?!

ASUS: I don't have details sir, but our courier uses a GPS. I'm sure he is well equipped to find any address in the UK.

Daniel: But I gave detailed directions how to get here! I even gave my mobile number just in case... and the first time the courier tried to come it said that the place was "closed". This is Royal Holloway's halls of residence. there are 60 people living in Highfield Court and we even have a reception! There is no way it could be closed!

ASUS: I am sorry sir, but the GPS is certainly more accurate than your directions. Also, the courier doesn’t have time to find blocks and knock in your room. It has to pick up packages in 14 cities and certainly cannot find very complicated address. Maybe you can provide a friend’s address with a house number and street name?

Daniel: I can’t believe it! I never asked the courier to come to my room. We have a reception here. A friend had a problem with his Sony Vaio computer a month ago and they picked it up here without problems. Why is that so difficult for you!?!?

ASUS: I am sorry sir, but you have to provide an alternate address.

Daniel: (breathing... taking my time and recovering my patience...) Ok... maybe I can leave my computer in Founder’s reception? You know, Founder's is the main University Building and there is no way your courier would miss it.

ASUS: What is the postal code and address?

Daniel: TW20 OEX

ASUS: I am sorry sir, but the post code TW20 cannot be used for this pickup. We cannot pick it up on the same post code after 2 unsuccessful deliveries.

Daniel: What?! Are you saying you cannot pick my notebook on founders? If your courier can't find founders I want to know the courier company name. This is almost a landmark in Egham!

ASUS: I am sorry sir, you have to give an alternate address...

Daniel: Ok, maybe I can post the notebook to you? I have already spent more than £30 in calls without having my notebook picked up. I think it is easier to send it to you...

ASUS: I am sorry sir, we cannot receive it. We have to pick it up...

Daniel: (counting until 10 silently so I won't course her to the third generation of her family...)

ASUS: Sir?

Daniel: Ok... I'll find another address and call you back.

ASUS: It was a pleasure to help you sir. Thank you for your call!

Well... I have found a friend in Staines to help me with this. But at this time I am wondering about the idea of buying ASUS computers. The notebook is great... service is awful! Btw... help me? When?

Moral of the story is that I am in revision time, without a computer and with a lot of work to do. I'll post more as soon as I have more news.

Btw, below is a photo I took in Infosec Europe, the security exposition that happened in London this week. I was surprised to see a group of Brazilian companies which are willing to explore the Europe by offering their products and services. Nice initiative that I hope goes forward.

C ya!

2006-04-23T21:51:00.000+01:00

Hey all,

Got a break from my studies and managed to sort out some features on the computer center. I mean, I found out a way of uploading my pictures from the digital camera to my RHUL temporary drive… that means that I can now post some pics on the blog.

By the way, if you like pictures I recommend you go to my photo website (http://daniel.videopic.net/). I spent a sunny afternoon to picture the spring arrival @ Royal Holloway. The result was an unexpected very nice collection that pictures how beautiful this place is. Especially in spring, where there are flowers blooming everywhere and the sun is starting to shine again. Cool break from studies.

You can see here a small sample, but the complete collection is available over there.

Another interesting news is that my World Cup tickets arrived!!! Brazil and Australia in Munich… it will be an awesome trip to relax after the exams. I expect to have loads of fun with my brother and my sister in law while we “explore” German in World Cup times.

Well. That’s it. Busy times = small posts.

See you later!

PS – I’d appreciate very much comments about the photos… Did you like it? Yes/No? Why?

2006-04-21T21:34:00.000+01:00

Hi all!

Sorry to disapoint you, but this is a small and quick post just to update the blog:

Good news:
Played a great game with folks from Oracle last Wednesday at RHUL for one of the guy's "testimonial", as he left the company. Pics as usual @ http://daniel.videopic.net

Studies going slow but steady... exams in 3 weeks

Infosec Europe next week in Olympia

Bad News:
My laptop is STILL here and STILL broken... folks at ASUS are begining to annoy me (don't want to comment on that now as this rises my blood pressure to dangerous levels)

Can't get pics out of my memory card because this ^&^*$%"£()^@ lab doesn't have a card reader that works...

There are probably more bad news, but I will spare you from that. :)

Well.. that's it. See ya! (and sorry for the small post)

2006-04-18T20:58:00.000+01:00

That's it! Last post before sending Desmilinguido to be fixed. (For those who don't know, it is the name of my laptop... it is a kind of slang that means a person that is very slim because doesn't eat properly) . I am doing this from an University computer, so there might be missssssspelling on this post.. :P

The courier is expected tomorrow from 9AM to 5PM. As I am a Murphy's friend he will probably show up right in a moment that i will be away... so I can't be away... 8-)

It is a good reason to stay at home studying....

The backup is done since I have bought a 160GB external HDD. Bargain, just £89. (ok, it is a bad joke... everyone knows that there is no bargain for students like me... :P) The brand is LACIE (http://www.lacie.com) , and it has a cool design. Let's hope it works alright as well...

Since the last post I have been studying very much. You know... exams getting closer and the need to get ready. You occasionaly get away a bit to see your friends and get your mind refreshed. I went to a football match to see the new team I support: Fulham! :)

It is a premier league team, and it is on 15th or 16th... but it won over Charlon Athletic 2x1 and that's what matters. The reason I chose it is that this is the ONLY team that I managed to get match tickets... (and of course Chelsea color is Blue and I would never support a Team in blue for obvious reasons - go to http://www.atletico.com.br and find out our rival's colors)

Below follows a pic I took with Marcos Semola, another brazilian security professional that is living in London. He is a Principal Consultant at Atos UK and used to be the head of Atos Brazil Infosec Practice. Besides all professional qualifications (top performer, very competent and intelligent) a good friend who has been providing a lot of good advice and help.

Well... let's go to the photo and.. GO FULHAM!!! GO FULHAM!!! GO FULHAM!!! GO FULHAM!!! GO FULHAM!!! GO FULHAM!!! GO FULHAM!!! GO FULHAM!!! GO FULHAM!!!

2006-04-11T23:35:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

Sorry for the long time without posting. Things here are very difficult these days because my laptop broke in Munich. What happened is that we received a GPS for our Wireless training on the SANS Conference (http://www.sans.org/munich06/description.php?tid=343) and it contained a magnet. That tiny magnet was able to burn something in the LCD, probably the backlight, and I can just see a big black screen when I turn on my computer. The solution is to come to the Computer Center at the University and plug an external monitor to my laptop. I can use it alright, but I have to come to the lab every time and mostly use the computer with students around looking what I am doing. The worst thing is talking in skype. As much as I think nobody understands Portuguese, sometime I get “be quiet” looks from other students using other computers. Well… this is no library and there are no requirements regarding noise. As much as I hate disturbing other people I have to talk to my family and Skype is the tool I have.

Talking about Munich: It was EXCELLENT! The training was first class; I made awesome business contacts and had loads of fun. Never mind working/studying for 13 hours a day, I was in need of such a “dedicated” project and I had the old feeling of a “well done project” by the end of it. Just like the old consulting days.

The top moment was the war walking exercise. As you may know, the track I attended was about Wireless Network Security, so we simulated the mapping of wireless signal using a directional antenna and a 200 mW wireless card. It was fun to go out and capture the signal. After that we created a map on the signal dispersion in the vicinities of the hotel. Later there was a competition to find the access points that were “hidden” using only the antenna and the laptop. Would you imagine 25 students with antennas and laptops going around a 5 star hotel lobby after an access point? The guests had a strange look in their faces... lol

The good news is that I found the access points and won the first prize worth 60 euros!!!! It seems that I had a lot of luck on this trip considering the Lufthansa incident.

The bad news is that the weather came from a sunny Sunday to a snowy Wednesday. 2 cm of snow on the ground ruined my mood and made me leave my sunglasses at home…

As I come back and start getting ready for exams, I cool down a little, dealing with small problems that come here and there. The things that are in my mind is the decision about my return to Brazil (that depends on being successful on finding a placement in the UK and sorting out the work permit), my project (which is kind of late) and the exams approaching.

In the end everything will be alright, I know, but we never cease to be a bit anxious when struggling to get there. It is part of life, isn’t it? :)

See ya!

2006-04-03T04:50:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

Guten Morgen! I’ve just waken up here in Munich and I am about to go to the SANS conference setup.

It is very exciting as this is going to be my first conference. I’ve chosen the Wireless class in preparation for the GCWN certification. This is a good idea since part of the Security Technologies exam I am about to take for the MSc. at Royal Holloway is on wireless networks. Also, because wireless networks are such a popular commodity in today’s IT services, a good security professional has to be full aware of the threats and the possible countermeasures to this environment.

Ok, no more about the conference for now. I will be able to talk more about this later.

Since the last post I went to Allan Paller’s presentation in London. Allan is a great guy. He is the founder of the Internet Storm Center (link para ISC) and one of the lead professionals in Information Security. Allan is also a great presenter and gave a lecture about “improving the quality of your security presentations”. Awesome! That is the only thing I have to say.

To be able to get in time in the hotel I have slept in Joao’s place in London. Joao is another Chevening that is studying Media and Communications at London School of Economics. He is into Telecommunications Regulations and is a very wise guy. Not only a good friend, but also a great contact for the future in Brazil. Sometimes I think the guys at the British Council made a good job selecting some of us for the scholarship.

Joao is also a very good guitar player. He managed to get a band together with some folks at LSE and is playing samba around London. I came just in time to hear him rehearsing with part of the band. Of course I took a picture! :)

When I came back to Egham I played some football and came back to my studies. The big surprise was after I left for the Airport to come to Munich. When I was in the bus in Staines I remembered that I had left my passport at home. DESPAIR! The flight was going to depart at 17:10 and it was already 14:50!!! (remember that you are supposed to arrive 2 hours before for international flights). Somehow I managed to arrive 45 minutes before departure after running around Staines like a moron trying to find a taxi rank.

Nice surprise, the guy at Lufthansa desk was Brazilian and as he calmed me down, he explained that the flight was overbooked. That means that I had just been upgraded to business class and received a 250 Euro compensation for waiting 3:30 in the Lufthansa VIP room.

What a terrible way to end my Saturday: drinking free beer, listening to music and catching some things up on the internet. While I was flying later on I met some friends who are DJs in the UK. They said that they almost played in Florianopolis once but the party was cancelled. Too bad, friends. I hope you have a chance to go there and not only enjoy the nice place Floripa is, but also to meet the nice people we are. ;)

Anyway, it is better to finish up here, as I have to leave some content up for the next days.

See you soon! (and leave a comment! lol)

PS – The video below was a HUGE success. After posting it I had the biggest number of visits on the blog. I will look into adding more like this and putting more “multimedia” content here. I hope you like!

2006-03-29T22:25:00.000+01:00

Hiya,

Just came back from football.... usual 7 a side with weird short and wide goals.

The game here does not have the same pace. It is too violent (sliding tackles are allowed) and there is a lot o running (the player runs, not the ball). The joy here is wining, and not having fun and enjoying the game. Well... at least that is how my friends here say that the game is meant to be played. They are nice guys, but have to disagree with them... :P

But I, even not being the most skilled player in the world, managed to score two nice ones today. That makes me feel happy, after all I don't care about winning, I just care about having some fun and playing some good football...

Joga bonito! (and make the ball happy) ;)

www.nikefootball.com

2006-03-28T01:02:00.000+01:00

Don't know what is happening today... I am feeling a little blue. I think I am a little home sick.
Alfred went to Greece, Paul to France and Inal is going to London with his girlfriend. That leaves me here at the Uni almost by myself. Friday is the last day of the 2nd term and everybody is heading back.

I decided to stay here for Easter so I would study, but maybe it was not the greatest idea... I mean I have the SANS Conference in Munich (http://www.sans.org/munich06) next week, which is going to be great, but I will stay here for almost a month in a deserted campus. Maybe all I have to do is concentrate on work and time will pass quickly. Times always flies when you are busy, but I can't help thinking about home.

I spend time looking at pictures from Rio, listening to Tom Jobim and talking to my family on Skype. What the hell... I think it is just a small phase... I'll get over it. Right now I think it is better to go working a bit and leave you guys with some pictures from my home country that I really like.

C ya!

2006-03-25T20:11:00.000Z

It’s been almost a week since I have posted the last time. I don’t know if I have been very busy or it is just that I don’t feel very excited about doing it. I have to confess that I can’t understand people that come along, read all this stuff and don’t bother to leave a comment. It is so easy! Just click on the “comments” link below the post, write it on the appropriate box and confirm! There you go. You can even do this anonymously so feel free to write anything, from complaining about my boring posts to calling me names. But please, leave a message. :)

Since I have not been posting for some time, I have a lot of stuff to talk, but as I am the laziest guy on earth I will make it quick.

First is to post the picture of me, Rabi and Nikos in London at the (ISC)2 roundtable. It was a meeting from some of the top Information Security executives and we were invited to ask questions about the future of the profession. Not only a very insightful experience, but also a very good networking opportunity. I hope we can all benefit from it in the future.

The interesting thing was the identification of changes in the trends related to hiring Infosec professionals. We’ve come from experience based recruitment to qualification based recruitment. The professionals on the table concluded that today companies look more for CISSPs, CISAs, people who have formal education like MScs, etc, than people who have experience on certain types of products of projects. Good for me. Besides that they reached a lot of other conclusions. If you want to know more, the transcript of the session will be available at http://www.isc2.org/.

The other thing I wanted to talk about is the chicken stew I made. It may sound stupid, but to buy chicken stock and be able to stew the chicken legs was a very big step to me as a cook. As the appearance of the stew on the chicken stock advertisement is much better than mine, I can assure you that it tasted alright, and I didn’t have any health problems after eating that… :P

Last, but not at least, yesterday night was a BLOWOUT. We went to the union again and all I can remember is Jaime carrying a sand bag in the middle of Magna Rd. Whatever.. :)

Well, that’s it for today. See you guys around and please: