Tiago is now officially an ASF committer!
True to the proverbial "feather in the cap", I have been promoted to committer with the project I have been participating on during the last few months, Apache Derby. There's not much to say except that it feels really good to have your hard work recognized 
Apache Derby is a great project with a really nice community of helpful people and it was through Derby that I have participated and successfully completed the Google Summer of Code challenge for two years in a row! It's always a great challenge even to the sharpest mind and most advanced skills because this is an extensive project that has already been around for more than a decade. Over this period different developers have participated on it which adds to the challenge of reengineering and simple engineering of new features when the need arises. I can't say this is a disadvantage though as it is an excellent way of being exposed to actual production code from an IT giant (Apache Derby once was IBM Cloudscape). It's also exciting because the changes that you make will actually have an impact on the thousands of people that use Apache Derby and for this reason all changes have to be done with most care to keep Derby's performance up to the challenge as well as to ensure that all standards are kept.
With this said, I'll just leave here the link to the "historical" vote in the ASF list
http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/db-derby-dev/201008.mbox/<4C6F038C.7080708@sbcglobal.net>
‘Ay up me duck!
That's right folks, despite not having given hourly updates on my trip to England, I am finally here; safe and sound. The trip was quite on the wire but everything just fit perfectly. The flight arrived a little bit late which meant we had to rush over to the correct bus stop within Heathrow but luckily this Taxi Assistant guy pointed us (me and my parents) in the right direction and off we went. With sandwiches bought in-between and eaten right at the bus stop, also with the anxiety feeling peaking a little over what's normal. Still, there really was nothing to be anxious about. The bus came, we put our luggage in the trunk and off we were. It was quite tiring to take a 2.30h flight but ahead of that we still had a 2 hour bus trip to Leicester. (Buses are better in Portugal by the way!)
Then once we arrived in Leicester we had the taxi dance; pretty much hopping from taxi to taxi so that we could get to where we wanted. Leicester is quite huge so going from the city center to, say, my accommodation at Mary Gee houses really is madness; it's about an 1 hour walk. Add the fact that we didn't know the city and that the GPS in the iPhone simply sucks balls when you are on foot, and we had but no other choice than to be driven around by some funny Indian men (one of which didn't even know where Ratcliffe Road was!).
By the end of the day I had one burst blister on my heel and we were all pretty tired. The hotel also felt kinda sleazy but the receptionists were all very friendly and we also got free breakfast which was pretty good.
On the next day, my parents had to leave, which translates as: "on the next day, it was weeping day". We were at Morrison's and they had to go to the city center, so that meant it was time to split. They were going to take a taxi and I was going to go back to my accommodation by foot. It was kinda sad but we all knew that this is for the best and that this will actually be great for me! I'll be Tiago Espinha, MSc in one year from now which is really exciting! Master Tiago... yeah, I like the sound of that 
After that I've been having a blast. Hopping from event to event, meeting new people, English, French, Bulgarians, Swiss, etc and it's been quite great. The fun's about to end though (or to start, depending on your point of view) and my induction week starts on Monday, with departmental registration.
All in all I'm really looking forward for this experience and sometimes I come to myself and I can't still believe I'm in the U-friggin-K! But it is true, I'm here, with the cloudy and freezing weather included.
That's all for today, so cheers!
Story of my Life
Today, I bring you something that happened with me recently and that I think it is worth sharing.
As some of my readers may know, I applied for a Master's degree in Advanced Software Engineering at the University of Leicester. As of a couple of months ago, I received a letter saying I had been accepted. The said letter was a conditional offer from the University, where the condition was obtaining my current degree (BSc in Computer Science) with an average grade no lower than 65%.
"Perfect." - I thought. 65% in a 20 point scale represents 13 points, which would be totally doable with my 14.2 points average.
Still, just to be sure, I decided to e-mail the Post-Graduate Admissions Office to assert how much would 65% be in my scale. For much of my surprise, I am told that 65% actually corresponds to 16 marks in my grading system. I was shocked. This meant that my goal simply could not be done...
I e-mailed the PGA office back, asking whether that hadn't in fact been a mistake. Some days passed. Since the last time I e-mailed the PGA office it took them some two weeks to come back at me, I thought I'd send in the artillery and decided to call them. The lady who picked up my call didn't know how to help me but checked with a colleague who told her that I would have to contact the UK NARIC if I wasn't happy with that grade comparison.
So I did. I e-mailed UK NARIC, only to realize that this is actually a paid service in the UK that provides people with comparison statements between systems in foreign countries and the UK system. Without being very helpful, their reply mentioned a £40 fee for requesting such a statement, without a warranty at all that I would get in at Leicester in the end.
In the same day (yesterday), I also decided to e-mail my course coordinator (Prof. Patrício Domingues) at ESTG; I thought that perhaps he could help me and he did in fact help me. He provided me with a link to the Portuguese Republic Diary (Diário da República) where it clearly states that the grade range of 60% through 69% in the UK corresponds to 16 marks in Portugal. Bummer. It was all going down the drain... but I wasn't just about to give up. There was one last option: having my entrance requirement lowered.
The last thing I did yesterday was e-mailing Ms. Stacey March, from the Department of Computer Science at Leicester. She'd been the one to announce that I had been accepted so I thought that she could help me in this situation. In my second e-mail, since the artillery had failed before - I had to send a nuke. And so I did. I factored it all in. I mentioned the fact that on the entry requirements it says that the applicant should have a good Second Class degree, and that Second Class is actually divided in the First and Second division (60 to 69% and 50 to 59% respectively). So technically I do have a Second Class degree with my 14 marks. Plus, I threw all that I have left at them: my work experience at Omerta, the one-month job I got in Leiria, the fact that I am currently engaged in the Google Summer of Code program, and that I still am a Microsoft Student Partner. That, on top of the fact of having scored much higher than what's required in the TOEFL exam.
An hour ago, I had a surprise. The PGA office was e-mailing me, notifying that they reviewed my transcripts and together with UK NARIC they agreed that I would be accepted with a minimum of 13 points in a 20-point based scale.
YAHOO!
Essentially I feel like I was accepted twice...
Till the next time 
Master’s Degree
Alright people, this is really happening . Today, I got the final acceptance letter from Leicester's Postgraduate Department. They provided me with a conditional offer where the only condition is that I finish my degree with at least 65% of overall grade average. This is totally feasible since my grade average, last I checked, was of 14 marks in a 20-point scale, which rounds to roughly 70% in a loose conversion.
Cool, hey? Now let's just hope those money leechs at the bank will loan me the money I need!
Just on a little background, I'll be taking the Advanced Software Engineering (MSc) course at the University of Leicester, with a start date of September 28th 2009. When I'm done, I'll finally be a jack of all trades and a Master of Advanced Software Engineering
Google Summer of Code 2009
I know this post comes a little late and all but I still had to mention it on my blog. It turns out I am repeating the stunt again. After being turned down by Google last year, I decided I would try to apply once more this year.
Since last year I still had the change to get acquainted and get the logic of Apache Derby, I thought it would be wise to apply for the same project, and so I did. After all I do have an education on database management and also on Java, which are key for a project like Apache Derby. On top of it all there's also my tutor from last year; despite not having been chosen I still had a tutor who helped me all the way through. Kathey Marsden agreed to be my tutor again this year and that is a plus for me because I know upfront what I can expect.
So, the application period is over and my application is submitted. The results should be out on April 20th and I have my fingers crossed for me to get picked
What’s hot?
I am certainly not. My life's about to get shaken up a little and I am going from idleness to a rather busy period, or so I believe.
At this point I have decided I will be applying once more for Google Summer of Code. I applied last year and sadly, didn't get approved. Still, I stuck around an open source project and actually got to do some work on it. The experience was invaluable and I am going for the very same project again. My experience will be a plus and I really am looking forward to be part of GSoC'09.
At the same time, I am having to do research for my final school project: analyzing and proofing the eXplicit Control Protocol (XCP). As exciting as it may sound, it gets a little demotivating when the true goals of our project are, to say the least, blurry. Still, I am aiming to do the best I can.
Still on my thought currently are two school subjects:
- Decision Support Systems - The labs on this subject are turning out quite interesting. The definition of DSS is interesting and it is fascinating to get your hands dirty with data warehouses and with extreme load scenarios. The theory however is kinda boring and dull...
- Enterprise Information Systems - Good ole SAP. It looks like this subject will be extremely intensive and will require a lot of work but it is certainly a nice challenge. Having SAP in my CV will also be a massive stepping stone for the future as SAP consultants are not only very well paid, but the position is also always in constant demand.
For the near future I also have some extra-curricular plans. I have volunteered to be part of the FITEC event, so that should be interesting.
And that's all folks! I better go get some sle.....get back to work I mean!
My First MSP Experience
Here I am again, this time writing about my first experience as a Microsoft Student Partner, or at least as an MSP-to-be 
.
This wasn't exactly planned, instead it was Rodrigo's idea to invite me to come along. Rodrigo is the current MSP at ESTG Leiria and for the next year, I will be "taking his place", hence the invitation with the purpose of getting me into the spirit of the thing.
The plan was to visit a children nursing house in Leiria. Basically it's a house where children are sent to when they either have lost their parents or when their parents simply can't support them in a good environment. So we were to visit the said house and offer them a brand new XBOX with 2 games. We did so and everyone was happy, we were happy for having done the good deed of the day, the kids were happy because they had been given a new toy.
After some conversation regarding some basic courses we will also be providing the children with, we all came back home. Not much was settled regarding these courses, since the holidays are ending and the whole school fuss is starting to spin again, so there aren't many certainties regarding schedules yet, but this will be the plan for the upcoming months: arrange for the children to be taught basic notions on Windows and Word.
I'll keep the news coming as I have them.
I'm also posting a password-protected post with the pictures from this event, just to make sure that only allowed people get to see them, as I'm not the only one in them.
The Birthday Gift
This post comes more on the personal edge. Actually, it's more like me showing off something and being damn proud of it but hey, I am of the opinion that an image is worth for a thousand words, so here go two thousand words for you to read! On a little background note, this was my best friend's birthday gift .
So with this said, thank you very much Katy and let's get on with the images, shall we?
- Wristwatch Front
- Customized Back
Stargate Atlantis comes to an end…
Those of you who know me well, know that I am an avid fan of everything that is Stargate related. Yes, I watched the whole 10 seasons of Stargate SG-1 and I have followed every single episode of Stargate Atlantis so far. It is simply a show I cannot get enough of.
Still, the tv network SciFi seems to be determined in upsetting me and all the Stargate fans out there. First they pulled the plug on SG-1 and now, they decide to do the same on Atlantis' , as soon as its fifth season ends. What are the true space fans supposed to watch now?! Battlestar Galactica? I'm sorry, but I'm a little over sneaky women in red dresses, and the whole worthless drama surrounding that tv series which was so promising to start with.
Well, not all hope is lost though... Apparently a new Stargate series is on the making, this one of its name Stargate Universe. According to tv.com this new series will be about a «a group of explorers board an abandoned, Ancients-built starship called The Destiny» *raise eyebrow*. I was a little bit excited at the prospect of a new Stargate series since I had known about it for a while, but what I did not expect was the sudden decision of shutting down Atlantis - now, with this information regarding Universe, my skepticism is through the roof. A Stargate series without travelling through Stargates? Err... is it me or something does not match?
Unless of course, The Destiny is small enough to fit into the Stargate, but then it is most likely a puddle-jumper, and that would be utterly boring. Maybe I'm being too harsh but I think that SciFi is inevitably killing the original spirit of the Stargate. Give us something new, but not that new...
On the streak of good news reasonable news is the fact that the Stargate fans will also have the MMORPG game coming out relatively soon. Once again however, the game isn't overly based on the tv show and whilst I am excited to try it out, I'm also taking it with a grain of salt.
According to an interview carried out by GameSpot, it seems that Stargate Worlds will actually be some sort of World of Stargate.
This means we can't keep retelling the story of SG-1. We're going to let players choose from seven archetypes--Jaffa, Goa'uld, Asgard, and human soldier, scientist, archeologist, and commando--when they create a character.
Ah well, thank you SciFi for killing my inner-child 