Redbook authors unite!!

Last night while I was updating my blog, someone signing on to MSN at around 10:30pm caught my attention. It was my friend Gustavo, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But his name said "Gustavo Pecly, in Raleigh, NC". so I immediately sent a message to him. It turned out that he is up in Raleigh for a business meeting and was flying back today. We arranged to pick him up after his meeting at 2pm and what a great time we had.

4 years ago, in Boston, during the Soccer World Cup, we met, writing the IBM Redbook "Domino Designer 6: A Developer's Handbook." The team - Gustavo, Rune, Tommi, Pekka and I formed friendships that have stood the test of time. I felt out, being in South Africa, and far from everyone else. Rune and Tommi have met up a few times, and then Rune saw Gustavo and Tommi at the annual Lotusphere events. Although I have chatted online to the guys, today was the first time that I have come face to face with a fellow author ;-) Gustavo looked exactly the same as he did 4 years ago. Liesel and Nathan came with, and we went to the Southpoint mall. It was such a great time of catching up and remembering "the good old days." Gustavo bought us some Cinnabons (Rune/Tommi, remember them in Boston??). These were the first Cinnabons I have had since landing in the USA 6 weeks ago! They were still as good as I remembered. After taking a couple of photos on Gustavo's phone, it was time to take Gustavo to the airport for his flights back to Rio. The reunion we had was even sweeter than the Cinnabons!

Tomorrow I hope to put in the photos that Gustavo took today (once he e-mails them to me.)