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Birdy - Skinny Love

One of my favorite songs of the past 6 months. So pure.

Anouk - Lost

I just love this song.

Movember 2011

It is that time of the year again: Movember!

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces around the world. With their Mo’s, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. One in two men will be diagnosed with cancer in his lifetime, and one out of six with prostate cancer.

Like last year, Acquia's "Mo Drupal" team wants your support as we put our faces to work for this great cause. The Acquia team mo'ed its facial hair on November 1st and for about a week now we have practiced the virtues of fine moustachery, immaculate grooming and growing a moustache for Movember.

For the entire duration of Movember, no hair shall be allowed to grow in the goatee zone - being any facial area below the bottom lip. The complete moustache region, including the entire upper lip and the handlebar zones, will also remain completely shaved. Rest assured, photos will follow!

By growing a moustache, we become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. We raise awareness by prompting private and public conversations about cancer. In addition, we raise funds by seeking out sponsorship.

If you'd like, you can join Acquia's "Mo Drupal" team or you can support me in this cause.

It’s hard to get men to talk about prostate and testicular cancer, yet many of us will be diagnosed with it in our lifetime. The brilliance of Movember lies in its appeal to some basic masculine qualities, such as playing on a team, and competing with others. As a man, it’s easier to show your support for such an important cause if you’re doing so with a group of other men, all wearing a silly moustache. Give these guys a break and make their efforts worthwhile by supporting us! Thanks!

Craving a taste of home: Belgian lunch

I've been living in the US for over a year now but am currently in Belgium for a short vacation. For the past year, I've been craving a taste of home; not all Belgian food is available in the US and even when it is, it can taste differently.

When we arrived in Belgium this weekend, my mother prepared us lunch. It tasted so good. Nothing like eating at home. The foodie in me was reminded of all the things I miss, and the photographer in me wanted to take some pictures to remind myself once we're back in the US.

Which foods do you miss from your home country or home town?

Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch

Counting Crows - Colorblind

This song and I go way back. To me it's one of the best songs ever made.

My week in review: week #2

I'm tracking my work related activities because people often ask me what my days look like. For one month, I'm posting a weekly summary of my work week (e.g. Monday - Friday, not including weekend work). I'll post four summaries in total as that should give people a good sense. This is the summary of the second week. You can compare it with the summary of the first week, if you like.

Activity Organization Hours Comments
Business development Acquia 5 Meetings with (potential) partners
E-mail Acquia 5
Human resources Acquia 2.5 Interviewing potential hires
Management meetings Acquia 2.5 Weekly status meeting with updates from sales, marketing and engineering.
Staff meeting Acquia 2.5 All company update meeting
Product / engineering management Acquia 5 Reviewed marketing, sales and engineering progress of different Acquia products, and brainstormed about resource allocation
Transportation Acquia 12 Driving to work and trip to Washington DC
Writing code Acquia 0
Preparing presentation slides Acquia 2 Gave 2 presentations that required preparation. Fortunately got some help from marketing.
Attending conferences Acquia 6 Gave one keynote at a cloud event, and gave one presentation at 360info/AIIM in Washington DC
Blogging Drupal 2 Wrote 3 short blog posts
Drupal 8 initiatives Drupal 4 Talked to potential initiative owners for Configuration Management, HTML5 and Design
Drupal Association Drupal 1 Started planning a face-to-face meeting with the Board of Directors in early May
E-mail Drupal 7
Reviewing Drupal core patches Drupal 2
Press interviews Drupal 1 Did two short interviews about Open Source and online collaboration
Writing code Drupal 0
E-mail Mollom 2 Helped close two large new customers
Product / engineering management Mollom 1 Refined our engineering methodology and reviewed some user interface designs
Writing code Mollom 0

Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind

One of my favorite songs in the past 12 months. What a monumental tribute to one of the greatest city in the world. Love it!

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