The schedule for Code BEAM Lite NYC has been posted, and I’m on it. I will be the first talk after the keynote, so that’s exciting! I’ll be doing a new talk this time, on adapting how you think about algorithms when shifting from an imperative programming mindset to a functional programming mindset.

This’ll be my third time speaking at a Code BEAM event. Relatedly, the recording of my talk in Mexico City has finally been uploaded to YouTube. Code BEAM recordings tend to be posted shortly before the following conference of a similar type (ie, that was a Code BEAM Lite and this is a Code BEAM Lite), probably to build excitement for the next one. Unfortunately, the audio isn’t great, but if you want to hear what I sounded like doing public speaking in Spanish a year and a half ago, there you go. In the Spanish version, I took into account feedback from when I did it in 2022 in English, adding a more substantial introduction.

PyCon US is going to be in my hometown this year! I don’t live there anymore, but it’ll be a nice chance to spend a weekend in downtown Pittsburgh, sort of playing tourist. (I think we can all guess that visiting my parents in the suburbs is nothing like “playing tourist,” right?) The convention center overlooks the Allegheny River, and I don’t think I’ve ever actually been inside it. The view should be good.

This past weekend I went to Miami for the Conexión International Queer Tango Festival, and I had a blast!

Due to tornadoes in Florida, my flight was delayed, so I missed the opening performance, but I made it to the opening night milonga (dance party) and met some new friends there.

Friday, I really overdid it. I took like 5 dance classes and then went to that night’s milonga and stayed until I don’t know what time at night. In any case, walking down the hostel stairs the next day for breakfast was painful. I decided to have a more relaxed Saturday; I took a musicality class, went to the beach, came back for a panel discussion, then had dinner and a cortadito before that night’s milonga. That cortadito was very helpful since they decided to keep the milonga going until 3am instead of the scheduled 1:30.

At the end of part 4, I said I’d decided to round off my world travel by visiting my colleagues in Argentina.

Buenos Aires

I spent the week before Thanksgiving in Buenos Aires. Finally, my spouse got to come along on one of these trips.

We learned you should not arrive in Buenos Aires on a Sunday. Nothing is open. No, you can’t buy a sube (metro card) to ride the subte (metro). No, you can’t go to Western Union to convert your dollars to pesos. You want to eat breakfast? There are two restaurants within 4 blocks that open before noon. But the weather was lovely, so we spent the morning sitting in various parks, enjoying it, and marveling at the telecoms cables draped from building to building.

Dance

I’ve never been one to dance at weddings. I was fine dancing ballet as a kid because I was told the order of steps to do. And at SCA events, I’d participate in the medieval English country dance. Again, there was a sequence of steps to memorize. But improvisational dance? That was not me.

I decided it was time to get out of my shell and learn how to dance without a script.

When I left off in part 2, I said I spent July circumnavigating the globe. Also, I mentioned that I had started studying Swahili.

Kenya

Nairobi

My group of Quakers (Baltimore Yearly Meeting) is associated with both Friends General Conference (more liberal, no pastors) and Friends United Meeting (often more conservative, usually pastors). Every 3 years, FUM has their triennial. Ok, that’s obvious in the name. Anyway, the largest group of FUM Quakers is in Kenya, and it was their turn to host. I arrived a day early and met up with one of the other Baltimore folks for a visit to the Giraffe Centre.