Andi Egloff's Weblog

It's that time between Devoxx and JavaOne... Need a little boost?

I enjoyed this video of a cool surprise for onlookers at Antwerp central station; if you've been to Devoxx the location might look familiar albeit less christmassy; it also might make you reminisce about the great time you had at Devoxx ;). Don't fret, lots of us are hard at work preparing for the next big show to satisfy that java conference crave...

Posted at 10:01PM Apr 17, 2009 by Andreas Egloff in Personal  |  Comments[1]

Five things most people don’t know about me

Mark White just got me in a game of blog tag. Ehmm… thanks? Actually unlike a traditional chain letter I must admit I enjoyed the ability to explore my tag ancestor’s replies to “five things most people don’t know about me”, so I feel compelled to participate in this one.

So here are five things most people may not know about me

1. At age 17 a friend and I took trains from Switzerland down to Northern Africa - Morocco. We rented a dirt bike in Marrakesh to travel over the Atlas Mountains and into the Sahara desert. The way we chose Morocco as the destination? It was the furthest south you could go with an InterRail pass - a pass to travel Europe by train.

2. It may not be a big secret that I'm a car nut, but few may know that I can blame my dad for part of it. For example as a learner driver he let me practice on a 1948 Allard L Type, and I enjoy the hands-on experience of driving a 1929 Packard roadster with its unsynchronized gearbox. So you can’t just get me going about what the best driver's car is at the moment - or what parts would get your Evo moving – but I also have a soft spot for vintage cars.

3. As a kid I thought using computers purely for business tasks constituted computer abuse. Not surprisingly I was a big supporter of the Commodore 64/128 and Amiga - which I still own.

4. I was trained as a machine gunner and driver in the Swiss army. At age 16 the government gave me the first fully automatic rifle to take home - and I didn't think it was strange at the time. To take a job in the US (and other countries) I had to apply for leave.

5. In Nepal I learned how to bathe an Elephant in the river without falling off when he lies down

Now on to tag 5 others – you’re “it”: Jean-Francois, Binod, Arun, Harold, Todd

Posted at 09:37AM Jan 05, 2007 by Andreas Egloff in Personal  |  Comments[1]

Coding with attitude

Just received this funny link to The Commentator, an automatic comment generator for your code.
Well, funny in the same way Dilbert is funny if you've been there :)

Posted at 11:43AM Nov 30, 2006 by Andreas Egloff in Personal  |  Comments[2]