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It's only been 3 months since the last time I wrote anything on here, which by the gaps between my other posts is actually a really short break! I am currently on my way to Singapore, with 2 hours to go and feeling like I might puke, probably the tiredness, jetlag, 13+ hours in a plane and sleep deprivation, or I'm just having a bad day! It's been more than 9 years since I last visited Asia, although I'll only be in Singapore for 3 days with another 3 in Hong Kong before a 14+ flight to London to connect to get back to Scotland, I'm so fortunate and grateful to have this privilege. I do think 10-11 hours is my limit for no sleep flights and should also plan better my arrival times so I get there in the morning, and can sleep on the flight, oh well, maybe next time... The AWS Summit in London was fantastic, and I just wrapped up writing a blog around it actually. It's much more my vibe than re:Invent, and since London is 1 hour away, think I'll take that to L

It's been a while, and no, not a published book author just yet, these past months since September things have been a bit relentless to say the least. Last time I was writing it was from Berlin and it seems so far away! Since then a lot more travel has happened, I've met my new team members which are more than I could've asked for, bright, driven and passionate people that make my first year as a manager far easier than I expected! I spent more time in the US with trips to Texas X 2 that were less hotter than before, one in September for my expert engineer program and our developer conference, where I spent some great quality time with my team's and one in February of this year that far more demanding work wise but I still got a tan at the deck pool of my hotel and watched the Superbowl on the Cowboys plaza huge screen!  Towards the end of the year I also was lucky enough to go to Las Vegas for the biggest cloud conference, re:Invent, and my partner came with me, which

This time I'm back even sooner, after only 6 months since the last digital letter to the universe (aka blog post) I'm yet again in an airport, life is slowly getting back to what it was pre-pandemic and so is travel, so surprise surprise, my blogging memory is returning too! I think a few years ago I mentioned how airports make me reflect and think a lot about life and everything that happens, that I'm sad, grateful or excited for. Here we are again, more importantly, here we are after 10 years exactly (give or take a few days) from when I moved away from my home country, Romania, and took the biggest leap of faith in myself and the universe making it all happen! It's been a heck of a ride and it brought an immense amount of things, people, places and knowledge I never even dreamt of. Last night, coming back with some of my friends I made through some miraculous match of fates, we were discussing life and youth and doubt and how everyone says your 20s are your best year

Well, this time it took me less than 2 years to return, actually, just a bit over 1 if we're counting! This new year has found me in a new year of my life too, almost at the 30 mark, so I thought it's about time to sit down and write down what's been happening and where we are in this new year, 2022. Now the good news is that the pandemic restrictions are starting to lift across the world, the even better news is that I'm typing this from my newly setup office by our lovely Dave, in the newly acquired house I purchased in June 2021, who knew that it will all work out after writing that last post in May of last year. The list of achievements doesn't stop there though, indeed, the MSc has been completed with a distinction, unfortunately, no graduation yet, but guess what, I just got an email today that it might happen in July 2022, yes, apparently it's never too late to wear a silly gown and shake hands (although after the pandemic not sure how much handshaking wi

 So... It's been a while old friend. I guess it's been longer even than before. These past few days I kept on thinking about this little part of me that lives in here and I realised it's been a long time since I wrote anything creative or of mine. I mean I haven't written anything in here since May 2019, 2 years as it were, and how much has changed since then and in reality how little too. I'll try to do a recap, since that's what these post are more and more, a way for me to summarize the weird, wonderful and wounds of the time that passed in between writing anything. I think also because I've been on a month long holiday from work, the first I'm a year I have made a commitment to read at least 2-3 books and finish craft projects. I am happy to report I did all of that and more and my mind is a calmer place for it 🥳 Now since May 2019 I've only been home to Romania once, which sounds strange but it will make sense soon. After May I started a new ro

So I have a new post on Medium about my experience of GitHub Satellite 2019, which I was lucky enough to attend :) You can find the full experience and highlights HERE . It was an amazing experience, the conference was very different from all I have been to, the talks were amazing and inspirational, the speakers were all very friendly and passionate, the attendees were excited and very easy to strike a conversation with, the food and coffee / ice cream were the bomb and the location as eclectic and wonderful as Berlin's best. Some exciting things have happened in between all the 3am starts and flights and exams and all. Let's round them up. Firstly, I have finished all my coursework and exams for my first year of my part-time MSc Computer Science and hoping all the results will be good results, but will find out in July for sure. Next on the list, I have a new job, the same company but different role, I am moving from the cognitive assistant developer/engineer and conversa