Personal Ramblings of a Nutty Swiss
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Hello Google!
October 16, 2015Exciting news! After 3 years and a few months, I am leaving Twitter. I’ve accepted a position with Google, working as an SRE in the GCE side of their business. As some of you know, Google and I have had a long and interesting recruitment history, but we’ve finally decided to give this a go. :) To say that I’m stoked would be an understatement. I’m very excited, and very terrified at what the future holds...
Mitigating Burnout, Vacation in Canada, 2015 Edition
June 23, 2015In a previous blog post I talked about the fact that I was getting burned out. Much has happened since that time, some good, some bad. The best part that has happened to date, is that my management chain listened to my voice, and three separate levels of management actually encouraged me to take a vacation. So about 10 days ago, I booked a ticket to Canada to relax, see my friends, and unplug...
Recognizing Burnout
April 12, 2015One thousand days. Or in more common terms, 2 years, 8 months, and 27 days. That’s how long it took to go from excited, all-in, learning like there is no tomorrow, to today. Today things are very different. As matter of fact, writing this is very hard. Both the energy and ethusiasm required, as well as the emotions present make this a rather difficult thing to do. But as they say, recognizing your issue is the first step to recovery...
I won't apologize for where and what I am
April 13, 2014Not too long ago I moved from the wilds of Canada to San Francisco and started a new job with A Tech Company. In many ways, I consider myself to be one of the luckiest people on earth. I have a job I love. Every day I get up, wanting to go work. I get to do all the things I’ve dreamed about for many years. As I’m sure many people in the Bay Area know, there has been growing unrest between the “have” and “have nots”, between the “techies” and the “common folk”...
Goodbye, OpenBSD
February 8, 2014Today I wrote a short note to the OpenBSD Hacker’s email list announcing my formal retirement from the project. In every way imaginable, I’ve been dormant for a number of years now. Most of my contributions were small, little pieces here and there. Why did it take so long for me to retire from this venture? My adventure with OpenBSD started during my University time. Having tried NetBSD, and a number other Unix like systems (386BSD anyone?), I was drawn to OpenBSD as a place where clean code was welcome...
Beautiful San Francisco
November 12, 2011For the past 4 months I’ve been working at Twitter. All I can say about my work is that I’m completely stoked and excited to be working with team I am working with. Most double #awesome. However, these posts are not meant to be about my work. They are here to express my feelings, thoughts, and emotions about life and my own self. Reflections on what has happened, and an outlet to how I am feeling...
Twitter Move
July 5, 2011After 13 years, 7 months, and 20 days, I’m leaving the University of Alberta. With just a scant 32 days short of 5000 days, I’ve accepted a position with Twitter Inc. in San Francisco, and hope to be living somewhere in the green’ish circle below. To say that I’m excited would be an understatement. I’m stoked, and completely terrified. What wouldn’t life be without a bit of both?..
我, 想你了
January 16, 2011黐線 鬼佬, the crazy white guy, wishing he could read, write and speak a few Chinese dialects. The world certainly is not easy. Meh! I shall go and watch some more Cantonese movies with sub-titles, at least I will train my ear some more and catch more of the HK slang that I miss hearing...
And when it rains...
November 16, 2010I’m completely stunned. Today I found out that one of my dear friends decided to end his life. It has been 6 weeks since Robby decided that his life was not bearable anymore, and instead of continuing to live and fight, he decided to end his life while he could still remember the good times. Robby was one of those brilliant minds you get the privilege to meet maybe once in your life...
Lots happening...
October 31, 2010Life has been busy of late. Between spending time in four different countries over the course of 3 weeks (on two different continents), and trying to keep up with work/school, things have been a little hectic. The two days I spent in SJC and MTV/SFO were very nice. The weather is always nice in California. Nothing exciting, but always nice. It was even better catching up with old friends in the area, and take a nice drive through SFO in the middle of the night...
Interview...
October 6, 2010Slowly the details for my interview in MTV are coming together. This time around it seems like a lot of hassle and a lot of crossed wires in the travel department. On the one hand I’m actually excited to be going back to California for a couple days. It will be nice to be away from here and focusing on a few other things, if only a short time. I also hope that I’ll be able to meet up with 2-3 of my old friends, one of them back from my undergraduate days...
Stunned...
September 29, 2010There are times when I am literally stunned. You think that you know people. You think you know your friends more and then you find out that all your assumptions are just that. Bogus crap. In the end you stand alone in this world. Your views are shared by only one person, yourself. That sucks. Big donkey balls. So how do you fix or solve this problem? Well, you can try to talk to the people involved...
Saving Face
September 19, 2010I’m a sucker for the emotional roller coaster that movies can put your mind on. The endorphin rush and other chemical changes that a simple movie can induce is one of the reasons I like them so much. I’m easy, as they would say. Most movies can make me laugh, cry, and in general will tug at my heart and soul with ease. When I was younger, and had more time, I would read lots of books, and after some time I would not see the words on the page anymore, but see pictures, moving pictures of what was being written on the page...
Types of Dimensions of Relationships
September 13, 2010Over the past few days I’ve been coming to the realization that there are a number of different dimensions to each relationship we have with people. Some people are friends. You take the friend vector, and they lie somewhere along that vector. They may be mere acquaintances, or they may be very good friends. In many ways, there are many good things about these types of relationships. They are around when the proverbial bad times hit the fan...
More song, more emotions...
September 6, 2010Another song that has been a powerful means to get me to clear my head and listen to my heart has been the song “one”, sung by Faith Hill. This song pretty much talks about much of what I have been feeling over the past few years. Many people would tell me that my trying never amounted to much. I realize that I am a unique individual, someone with very different views on many of life’s questions...
Music soothes the soul, may the souls of earth continue onward...
September 4, 2010Much of my life I spent alone, weather by choice or by chance, either way, I’ve come to terms that I am a solitary soul. From an early part of life, I’ve come to know that music was one way to soothe my emotions. It was one way for me to express myself, to be able to cry the tears that needed crying, to laugh, sing, and dance to the tune that my heart was singing...
Bon Voyage, my friend...
September 3, 2010Today I got the distinct privilege to say goodbye to a friend of mine. We only got to spend a short time together, but we both made each other smile. Life is unsure, and we may not meet again, yet I am hopeful that in the end we will see each other again. May life treat you well, keep safe, and drop me a line once in a while so I know you’re alive...
Calm reflection, peace, and other musings
August 29, 2010Today is quite a sucky day weather wise. The days of 20C+ are most likely gone for the year, and all we have to look forward to are the arrival of the cold and quiet winter days ahead. Funny thing is, I’m actually looking forward to some of that. The past few years of my life have been somewhat tumultuous, and I am yearning for simple, quiet, peace. In many ways, marriage between two people is three edged sword...
Liebe, Love, Amour, Amore, 爱...
August 28, 2010Life is beautiful. Here are various thoughts running through my brain. Largely unfiltered, spewed on these pages for the masses to read and comment on should they so choose. I write them here in the hopes that I may find solace, peace, and a calm soul. I grew up in both Switzerland and Canada, and have spent most of my life traveling between both Europe and North America. I’ve traveled to some extent in Asia, and enjoy the peaceful exploration of new locations both alone, and with good company...