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Performance projects in the Summer of Code:
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Yesterday afternoon I started getting a pretty bad toothache in my upper left wisdom tooth. So Oralia and I ran out to the dentist: I'm getting my upper wisdom teeth extracted on Friday. Sigh.
And by the way, I miss our excellent dentist from Mexico City. She always had interesting conversation, or interesting monologues when your mouth was propped open, with the virtue of pausing from time to time to let you think. The dentist to whom we got recommended here in Xalapa just talks and talks and doesn't stop.
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On Saturday I gave a talk at the GULEV Free Software Conference Day, titled "Se solicita taquero con ganas de trabajar". The idea was to give students an idea of what kind of knowledge and skills they will need when they enter the workforce. Leo also gave a talk on using free software to implement Web 2.0 sites.
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Rasterman has two very cool additions to Memprof: a graph to show memory usage over time, and a graph of where memory gets allocated.
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Summer of Code: I'm mentoring Manu Cornet, who is recognized worldwide for his "Add to panel" dialog and the awesome Texturize plug-in for the GIMP. Manu will be hacking GTK+ for the One Laptop Per Child project.
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On Saturday we went to Orizaba so that Oralia could take a test. While she was busy, I hiked up Cerro del Borrego, a small mountain on the edge of the city. I remember doing the same hike with my dad when I was a teenager, and it was very tiring that time. It seemed like we took hours to get to the top. This time, it took me 33 minutes at a brisk pace with a couple of 5-minute stops for photographs.
Also, when I was a teenager, I could barely swim 500 meters. Oralia and I have been going to a swimming pool here in Xalapa for about a month. Yesterday our teacher had me do 750 meters practically non-stop, and it didn't feel very tiring. I don't know how my body suddenly got better, but it's a nice feeling. It's probably the food.
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Oralia and I have perfected the art of making Spanish tortilla, filled with potatoes and chorizo.
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It is 31°C in the shade today. It is even warmer inside the house.
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We've become addicted to thinly sliced onions with lime juice and bits of pickled habanero peppers. Sprinkle those on refried beans. Mmmmm.
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This year the GULEV conference happens early, on May 25–27, in Xalapa instead of Veracruz. I'll be giving a talk for newbie contributors to free software.
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I'm the last person to notice that Linux 2.6.16 got the ability to wipe the buffer cache. This will be great for profiling: now we can actually automate the profiling of cold startup, instead of doing a reboot between each step.
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With the spring heat and the first rains of the year, a family of toads has taken our garden for a home. They only show up at night, as they like to approach the light from our front door. So far I've taken two little toads and a big one to an empty lot a few blocks away. There is still a large one roaming around, but I haven't been able to catch it.
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Beautiful vegetation around the waterfall of Texolo:
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More critters. Oralia and I had never seen a furry moth:
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Are you a student? Would you like to make 4500 dollars and learn a lot? You can participate in this year's Summer of Code! There are many areas where you can contribute in GNOME. I'll be mentoring some performance-related projects. Read the basic instructions on how to apply for the Summer of Code, and remember that the deadline for applications is on Monday, May 8, so sign up now if you want to participate!
