From Aztec Ruins to Buffalo Snowstorms

Part 1: Sunny Mexico City and Ancient Ruins (February 20-26, 2005)

• I spent a week in Mexico City to deliver software education and connect with the Latin American open-source community.
• On this trip, I visited the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (UPN) to present a one-day accelerated course on Perl objects. Since some members of my audience spoke Spanish rather than English, I was aided by three wonderful translators. This experience, watching them translate my technical instruction, really made me wish I knew more Spanish. I immediately vowed to continue my CD-ROM based language training to improve.
• I was also invited to present a tutorial and deliver a keynote address at CONSOL 2005 (Congreso Nacional de Software Libre), held at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) from February 22 to 25. The energy of the local open-source and free software community was incredible.
• During the week, we went on a stunning field trip to Xochicalco, a pre-Columbian archaeological site in Morelos, about 24 miles from Cuernavaca. Wandering the high, sun-baked terraced ruins and temples of this fortified ancient city in 70 to 80-degree weather was an unforgettable experience.

Part 2: Freezing, Snow-Bound Buffalo (February 27 - March 5, 2005)

• Directly after my warm week in Mexico, I flew into Buffalo, New York, to conduct a week of Stonehenge corporate Perl training.
• The thermal shock was immediate. I went from walking the warm temples of Morelos in short sleeves to waking up every morning in 25-degree weather with another foot of fresh snow piled onto my rental car.
• I spent my mornings brushing heaps of thick New York snow off the car, shivering in the bracing cold. Luckily, the commute was short: I had only a two-mile drive to work each day, but the contrast of those two back-to-back weeks remains etched in my mind as a quintessential "Forrest Gump" life shift.