I can’t dance for the life of me. Especially frustrating is the fact that I’m from Puerto Rico and I can’t dance Salsa, or anything else for that matter. I can dance to Smeels Like Teen Spirit though, but that doesn’t really count. You see, there was a pivotal decade where I left Puerto Rico to live in Michigan, and it was during the crucial years of high school and college, where most kids learn to dance. My time in the Midwest was not in vain.  In return I learned to love Bob Dylan, Brooks & Dunn, and Garth Brooks, but I don’t usually admit to it in public.

Having been away for college, I came back to see that all my grade school buddies had turned into America’s Got Talent superstars, so it became increasingly difficult to show my nonexistent moves on the dance floor. Consequently, I’m one of the few people from the Caribbean that, after spending more than a combined 25 years of my life there, can only dance like the typical white man with an overbite.

That’s how I ended up in a Salsa class in Cambodia…
Continue reading Stop whining about the tourists →

Getting a Thai massage has been at the top of my TO-DO list every day, but for some reason or another, I’ve been unable to succeed in this seemingly simple task. I mean, all it takes is an hour of interrupted time while I lay in silence, but alas, I’ve failed. Blame it on Chiang Mai. I seem to have fallen into the black hole that is Chiang Mai, where people are kind, food is cheap, activities are plenty, and fascinating travelers are the rule rather than the exception.

If I had five cents for every time I heard the phrase “digital nomad” in the past week, I could probably upgrade to a penthouse suite in my hotel.  Unbeknownst to me, all the cool work-from-home kids have been living here, and I’ve been stuck in an RV traveling around the U.S.  That’s about to change!
Continue reading No massage for you! →

I’ve been backpacking around the world since 1994, and having all this free time with my aforementioned leave of absence, has made me realize that there’s this wealth of traveling information I have unconsciously accumulated over the years. I’ll try distilling a few fragments over the next few months, but I’d like to comment on what seems like intuitive knowledge for me but is somewhat lost on most guys from the looks of it.
Continue reading A guy’s guide to traveling women →

My 5th grade report card came back with the phrase “consistently uses time wisely” plastered on the behavior section of the card addressed to the parents of Aldy Hernandez. I knew I was in trouble. I didn’t know what “consistently” meant, but judging from what was usually scribbled in the behavior section, I was sure it involved being grounded. I didn’t know what “consistently” meant, but I sure knew what “potential” meant, as my reports cards usually had some variant of “Aldy has the potential to become a top student if only…[he would stop talking during class, not get into fights, refrain from pulling girls’ hairs, etc etc]”.
Continue reading So long and thanks for all the fish. →

Over the years, I’ve noticed that regardless of the work I’m thrown at, I usually get my work done, and more often than not, I get it done on time. However, there are a plethora of engineers that are wayyyy better than me. After all, I get to work with some of the brightest engineers I’ve ever met. Interestingly, however, not all of them get their patches in, or their work done in a timely fashion, which has got me thinking… call it old age, reminiscing, or too many beers.  What makes it easier to ship things on time when you need to appease so many people in an open source project?

I’m actually quite happy to be surrounded by very smart people. That in part, has been part of my secret. Surround yourself with people much smarter than you, and entice or coerce them to review your work. Everyone’s better in the process.

A colleague once told me, “in our industry, smart is a dime a dozen, but people you actually want to work with… that’s a very small subset”. I really hope he meant me. Then he added, “and people that also ship stuff on time– that’s very rare”. And that has been my goal at work for a long time: be that guy– be the guy that ships stuff on time, and is a joy to work with (well, mostly ;-)).

Continue reading Play nice and bait the nerds →