Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:32:35 Customizing the XO image Bryan asked to write something about the XO-customization build process for OLE Nepal. See this post as the second installment of the OLE Nepal deployment series. < ... > two comments


Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:42:59 Shielding against fate As written before, at the moment we've got two pilot schools, fairly close to our office. We, them and the Department of Education are connected to eachother through a simple network. If something goes wrong software- or hardware-wise, or we need to upgrade XO's, it's fairly easy for us to come over and fix stuff on the same day. < ... > four comments


Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:27:44 Deployment preparation So this summer we're gonna deploy a few thousand XO-s in around 15 schools, in around 5 districts in Nepal. How are we preparing for it? < ... > one comment


Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:25:36 Moving along The path from the ring-road to my house is littered with speed bumps. It's ridiculous. There are nine of them all about 20 metres apart. And that's on a road that's really some sort of shopping street for the most part, and the road is to small to be able to drive fast in anyways. < ... > zero comments


Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:44:24 Cheers to relief-aid Since I'm living here all by myself in my beautiful three-storey Bagdol abode, I've been looking around for a new place lately. Preferably with some other people, cause I don't really like to live alone. Yesterday I went to check out an apartment very close to my work. I would/will (I dunno yet) be living with two Australian girls from the Hash and so we talked a little the evening I was there. One of them is involved with the flooding that happened some months ago in the east of Nepal. She told one of those classic stories of social horrors that's hard to comprehend for us mere worker bees. < ... > zero comments


Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:31:54 Boring work-description Well, you might not have suspected it from my blogposts of late, but I AM actually here in Nepal to work. Since I don't read much on the net about the inner workings of the XO deployments, I thought it would be nice to spend some brainpower and time on our rapidly expanding deployment-NGO-startup. Consider this an introductinary post. I'm a sucker for framing, so the following will perhaps be a bit to general for the acquired taste you undoubtedly have, but subsequent posts will bite more into the flesh. Is the plan... < ... > six comments


Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:45:32 Taxi driver Yesterday I took a cab-ride out of my previous life. From the tourist district Thamel to my place in Bagdol, about 15 minutes away, but not before the driver delivered Anoek at her place in Leinchaur. Beforehand we haggled the price down to 250 rupies (100 rupies ≈ 1 euro). After the Anoek-drop-off, I got into somewhat of a surreal conversation. < ... > three comments


Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:31:28 Hedonism As I'm writing this, I'm sipping on some rum and I'm smoking some cigarettes, alone in my house. I'm tired. My mind made this night the of the end of so many things, that I think I must have blown some symbol-repression fuse. < ... > seven comments


Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:38:16 Hard science tells you like it is Any respectable blog has book recommendations. Or should have. This is a bold statement, I know, but someone has to make it. I won't defend it now. I might never. But this IS a respectable blog. No controversy in that statement. So where's the book review? Right under your noses. Read on brothers and sisters: < ... > zero comments


Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:51:47 I can be a tourist too! I can! Really I can! I've been here since the end of February and I've been fighting tooth and nail against going on trips, seeing temples or doing anything smelling like fun, except for sports or going to the occasional party. God knows why. Or does he? Well, last weekend I did something wild: I actually did something! < ... > four comments


Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:26:37 Bike Dev got a new cycle today. A crappy-cheap Chinese one, like me. And while the state of mine has stabalized a bit over the months, his problems are just starting. Now I don't want to piss over Chinese mountainbike makers, but in the 24 hours that Dev had his bike, he broke his back spoiler, and his bike stand became so loose, it moved to stand position while riding; which can have fatal consequences when taking the wrong turn. < ... > two comments


Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:35:30 side-tracked Yet another year went by without me having a chance to go to the European Common Lisp Meeting. And I had so much hope for this year. Finally the stars seemed to have aligned themselves in a perfect constellation: Got that Lisp job? Check! Employer willing to pay your trip? Check! Got the money to pay for your own ticket if all goes awry? Check! < ... > four comments


Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:19:29 Epaati: The Best Damn Educational Software for Nepal Ah, I can still remember the day we got the first computers in our school. Not just any school mind, but my school. And not just any of my schools, but my primary school. The school where even the lightest of impressions would burn into your naked soul until it hit the bone. < ... > zero comments


Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:58:46 Hash trash 1534 (and an open letter to the GM) GM! Why has thou forsaken us? Hashes of late have been spiraling out of control! For all of mankind's clamors for democracy and mob rule, the hashes here in Kathmandu make it clear that the only thing we really need is an iron hand that smites us with insults if we forget our place. < ... > two comments


Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:10:03 Holi .... (fill in the dots for a prize) My baby left me. There, I said it. Run dear reader, before this text will drown you in melancholia and the darkness will immerse you so definite you will die. My baby left me for a better future and I am stuck in the here and now, struggling with the consequences. < ... > zero comments


Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:20:14 Power to the office clerk! As it is I’m working for Stix.to in Kathmandu. That is to say half my time goes to Stix.to and half my time goes to OLE Nepal, the local organization that is going to implement a computerized school program with the help of OLPC laptops. I’m working most of my time in the OLE Nepal office. < ... > three comments


Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:32:07 Hash In Sweden I kinda stopped exercising. My biggest excuse was that all the people I knew were lazy bums. Which i still think is a fair point to make. Somehow I thought it would be different here in Kathmandu. It is different. < ... > six comments


Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:49:20 Everyday life Since I so deftly sidestepped the proceedings of my arrival in the last post, we save ourselves from having to read boring subjects like the mad, mad, mad! driving behaviour of the local traffic participants and we can go straight to the description of the drudgery that is everyday life. < ... > six comments


Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:45:24 To Kathmandu It's Sunday, the power is down, I've got a hangover, the sun is shining... What better time than this to writing down a summary of my Nepal adventures on my lovely XO (laptop). < ... > two comments