Stuff

Well, it rained for the first time in a month or so yesterday (the last time was on the way to Phoenix, Arizona from L.A.). Proper rain, mind, none of your namby pamby mizzle- lightning, thunder, the works. I’ve always wanted to take a photo of lightning so I went up on the roof and took several 16 second exposure, low aperture shots, it took about 5 attempts, but i got one. . It’s far from perfect, i was holding the camera as still as possible with no tripod, aiming at the sky. Next time I want a city scape with forks of lightning above it, like this second pic, which has had a few minor photoshop elements added, and features at least one deliberate spelling mistake…

Had a nice chat with Sally t’other night. The bunnies have become tunneling machines, and their run looks like a building site. Lulu’s the main culprit and he wouldn’t even stop digging when Sally stared at him. So Sally, bless her, went to All American to get chicken wire to go under the run and installed it all herself. Nice one, KilcarSally

Today the plan: Update my CV, pick up the laser printer from the repair shop, pass by an English school that’s looking for gringos as part of the part-time non-teaching staff, get agaveweb.com off the ground. Finalise me postcard size ads and get them to the printer, bulk email the lake Chapala non-profits… Work out why we’re getting so many phone calls that either hang up (I think our number is v. similar to the Cuarenta Principales (top 40 radio station…) or are banks/ loan sharks/ lawyers wanting to find the previous occupant… Anyroad, more news as, when or if it happens. Cheers, gwyn

So tomorrow, AgaveWeb.com, (or was it webagave.com?) should be up and running, and I can spam all the local NGOs with my business proposals. I hope the 2 dollar a month hosting plan I found isn’t too bargain basement. Still it’ll give me a chance to try out movable type, a blog engine which leaves this creaking GreyMatter one far behind. If I can migrate the files from here, then I’ll probably change to M.T. with all its bells and whistles.

I’ve just shoved a load of new photos up onto flickr. Here’re some faves:

Worcestershire Sauce, and since the pronunciation of Worcestershire in Spanish goes something like this wore sayst air esheeray, it’s branded as salsa ingles- English Sauce.

Stepped on a lemon by accident, then took a photo before the ants carried it away…

Been playing quite a bit of guitar of late. And having MTV and VH1 means I can strum along in my idle moments.

Christmas has come early in Garibaldi street…

So on Sunday we discovered the Mercado de Santa Tere, which has all the usual trappings of a Mexican market. Among the highlights was a cardboard box of multicoloured (dyed) chicks and baby ducks, reds, blues, you name it… The main thing though is that it’s every Sunday and only about 10 blocks away so I’m chuffed about that. I noi longer have to worry about my artificially coloured poultry needs.

Got a job yet? I hear you heckle. Well, I’ve approached a few local charities by email and no response yet. I tracked down one of them’s address- ASOCIACIÓN MEXICANA DE APOYO PARA LA DIGNIFICACIÓN INFANTIL- but there was no one there and their email bounced back at me. Either they’ve stopped supporting the dignification of infants or they’ve moved. Oh well, not to worry. I’ve also applied to translate English documents on running urban parks into Spanish. To be a corporate event photographer (”must have own camera, transport, 23-29 yrs of age…”). I phoned about a classified ad for English speakers which turned out to be for teachers. That is a last resort and then some. I even asked for more info about tour guide opportunities in the Art Museum of Zapopan, and researchers too. It’s early days though and I’m still involved with the ongoing brand development of www.nourishingnutrition.com and Diseño Web Agave. Mexican websites seem to be a little heavy on the Flash intros and animated GIFs. It’s like the bad old days, I may have to brush up on my Flash skills, if you can’t beat’em. and all that.

I love reading the classified ads for employment. There’s no equal opportunity employment PCness. If anything it’s “absence of political correctness gone mad”. Typical ad:
Wanted:Secretary. Female. Aged 18 to 25. Good Looking “buena presentacion”. Single. No kids. Send CV and photo to…

Oh and Tewbewks, the battle continues, post your babycal scores to this one…

Grand chat with Bert, Stu, Anne (& me and Sita, hence 5) today via the interweb. It involved bert using his headphones as a mic, having Anne and Stu on speakerphone and bert with his head I’m not sure where. A webcam was involved for a bit too. 2005, who’d’ve thought it? Jet packs and protein pills tomorrow…

I hope you get your head around the 7 hour or so time difference, Annelise and thanks for the shout out in yer blog and all the encouragement in the comments. I’ll probably never make it to Oklahoma, because I couldn’t deal with having Oh What a Beautiful Morning buzzing round my synapses all the time…

Yesterday night Jose (driving) and I got pulled over by the police for no reason at all. Long hair, probably… Can’t they just leave us kids alone? No breathaliser or nowt, just flinging accusations at us and going through our pockets, frisking and all that. They found my PDA stylus in my wallet and were convinced it was a hash pipe of some kind. Mais non… Anyroad Jose talked his way out of everything and all was well with the world once more. Probably won’t be the last time. I used to get searched occaionally walking the 30 blocks from CEPE to the Casa Internacional when I was here last. They used to be concerned about my dictionary in me backpack, and my lack of photo ID. This was way back when when UK driving licences were scruffy-looking green printouts with a signature as proof of ID. The way things should be, I reckon… but I digress… luckily I’m such a clean-living example of humanity they can’t pin nowt on me. (please do not abuse the comments section)…

Today found us at the Tianguis Cultural, a hippy market full of Batique, bongos, tie-die and pirated CDs/DVDs. I got some Cure stuff as they’re enjoying something of a renaissance in my affections, then on to Expo Venta Guadalajara 2005, where Sita made valuable new Tequila contacts. As far as trade shows go, it was a bit pants, erring on the side of quantity over quality, but at least Sita got to pose with the Panqui man.

Had a bit of a nap, did some designy stuff, guitaring, went out for tacos al pastor at the “Santa Cruz Taqueria” (Always end up at the Holy Cross, Seville, California, Gwod…), and then scrabble, vino and more El Rival Mas Debil. We’ve found an online classified ads for students in guadalajara and might be off chasing up some leads on shelving tomorrow too.

I’ve been mightily impressed by the efficiency of TelMex’s DSL service. Ordered it Monday morning, modem arrived Tuesday and plumbed in by Thursday. I’d’ve had it going two hours earlier too but I had to ring the help desk as it didn’t like my password (beautiful renditions of ‘Octopus’s Garden’ and ‘Oh, Darling’ on hold though).

The phases have been pretty much: travel 1700 miles, find a house, meet up with old friends, fill house with furniture, get DSL & cable, get studying/working. We’re entering the last stage there. But over the last week or so have really got to know the city well just from running errands. Last time we were here (2 years ago) and it was all public transport, and when I was here in 1998, even moreso. Driving is a lot easier than it was made out to be. The only real challenge is from the whole tope (speed bump) vs traffic lights thing. One obviously on the ground and ready to put your steering and suspension out if hit at over 10 mph and the other hanging stupidly high and keeping your vision off the ground. If you’re looking for street signs as well, that puts another hazard in yer way. Yet I managed to drive with a flat pack office desk, 4 plastic chairs and a table from Plaza del Sol to our house in rush hour yesterday, so all’s well. Maybe I’ll add ‘Guided Tours’ to my already eclectic business card.

Plenty of room for visitors, book your flights to Guadalajara now and we’ll pick you up at the airport… It’s still gorgeous weather too.

Skyped me folks yesterday, and was informed that Dad had made another foray into photoshopping. I’ve got this creation of his as my wallpaper for now.

The house is looking like a home. Albeit a huge home. Stuart enquired as to why we{d need 3 bathrooms, and he may have a point. Basically, for a hundred bucks extra per month you can have a much bigger house than you´d get with an apartment and we´re in a grand area and you can walk to everywhere and there´s public transport and a roof terrace thing and and and. No can´t really justify the 3 bathrooms. Technically they´re 2.5 anyway.
Maybe Internet by Friday hopefully…
I can{t upload to flickr from this interweb cafe place, so once the FTP thingy{s finished, there{ll be some photos of our recent adventures here. And finding all the slashes and brackets for that hyperlink was nowt too easy… Anyroad, skype us soon. All the best, gwyn

Quite a day acquiring: a bed, mattress, boiler, sofa, seats and other stuff… Skyped my folks, got skyped by Sita’s folks and now it’s time to relax…. I entered my high score in this addictive little game I linked to below, and i saw Matt’s score below me. Glad to know I’m not the only one who knows how to have fun on a Saturday night. . Cheers, Tewbewks, I’m sure the Playstation II version is in the works.

And it’s in a lovely area, spacious, room for a schipperke if need be, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, office, kitchen, roof, terrace, locked parking area, sound enough neighbours, but no internet connection just yet. Expect radio silence for a week or so, except the occasional blog from interweb cafes maybe. It’s going to be a fun weekend finding bargain furniture and moving in. Wish us luck. If you haven’t looked at the pix from the other day it’s this one

While there’s not much in the way of blogging, have a look at this here optical illusion
And I’m quite enjoying this game too.

Bienvenidos a casa, Mum and Dad. Looking forward to your Tenerife pix. Cheers- G & S

Another hiccup. Today we were due to meet and sign contracts for our lovely house. Fortunately or unfortunately on our way to Tonala, I picked up the paper and on the front page was: All traffic from Lopez Mateos (huge main thoroughfare in Guad) to be diverted by Your New House while they build a tunnel (!) on LM. So fearing another Seville scenario (where the week after Sita moved in with a year contract they started to demolish the hotel 1 metre away for 6 months, then rebuild it, at 6:30 am each and every morning) we phoned to say we’re not going to take this house. Which is a shame, but it just goes to show that the 7 pesos (35p / 65 cents) I spend on El Informador each day are justified.

The weather’s lovely though, for what it’s worth. And I’m enjoying constant emails/ comments/ guestmapping from my folks who are on ‘oliday in Tenerife right now, becoming more and more fluent in the old Español each day.

Still waiting on contracty people for the house, so in the meantime, I’ve been designing meself business cards, making a few changes & additions to the nutrition site I’m doing, and how’s this look for my new sublegal Mexican enterprise: Diseno Web Agave?
Agave’s the plant they make tequila out of, and for the record, Fionuala, its sap is said to have similar healing properties to aloe vera.

Argh, we knew it was all too easy. Our mate can’t get his hands on some vital documents he’d need to co-sign with us. Well that’s his story, and I, for one, believe him. So we’re negotiating away with the land lords and waiting for other potential co-signers to call us back. While we’re waiting, I’ve penned a review of Jonathon Strange and Co. Click here to go to the patented GwynUnlimited book review page, where everything I read is all about me.

While watching telly last night we were dismayed to see that Mexico’s top scientists have cloned Anne Robinson (off of The Weakest Link (El Rival Mas Debil))). Same voice pattern, hair, Gestapo jacket and she even winks at the end. God help us all. At time of writing I don’t know whether she’s a recovering alcoholic too though…

We went to the Baratillo market today, it was nice to get there in our own car rather than public transport. Didn’t buy anything but saw some cheap beds. I and got SPSS 12 for Sr.Barba. There’s a load of pictures from there now added to the Mexico Flickr set I’m making.

We tried to see Wallace and Gromit yesterday, but they only had the dubbed version in the cinema and the voice is muy importante, so I’m going to hold out till there’s a subtitled version. Fought the temptation to buy the wobbly smuggled camcorder DVD of it too. You have to support British directors and all that.

Just to freak out the cleaning staff, click here for what might well be a live photo from our balcony… It’s too dark at the minute, but every 30 seconds it should refresh. It’s GMT minus 6 hours for the record here. To refresh the screen, hit “F5″

There’s a few more bits and pieces to sort out but hopefully we’ll’ve moved in by Tuesday. It’s got 3 big bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a good-looking kitchen, a tiny little garden, a huge downstairs living/dining room with tons of light. There’s a family-owned corner shop downstairs so it’s safe as you like and we’ll never have to be stuck without coffee or papayas. I’m amazed that all it’s taken so far is a 20 dollar deposit. Anyroad, we’ll soon be ready for receiving guests. There’s just the minor step of acquiring furniture for the place. & a fridge. & a washing machine…

I’m loving driving around the city, once you learn to ignore the speed limits and give taxis a very wide berth, it’s pretty easy. Last night we caught up with Jose who’s no longer working at CEPE and hasn’t changed a bit. We found a packed Irish-theme pub with local microbrewed beer, “Minerva” oscura y clara, which would have been grand if it weren’t so busy. Next door to the pub a pseudo-uncle of Jose’s has an office where he sells top of the range sound equipment so we had a few chelas there and shall be returning next Friday for an evening of auritory exploration, polite conversation and drinks with a group of people who share new music. Then on to some loud club full of younguns with a DJ and a two for one offer on Tequila con (e)Squirt and finally another more sedate club where we could hear stuff. T’was a grand night. This evening I think we’re off with Cesar… Stay tuned.

Might be off to San Juan de Dios (Mio Que Compre?) or Taiwan de Dios this avo. I was alarmed to read it’s gone from 180 pirate-goods stores to 30 in just a year. You have to wonder what’s replaced them.

I’ll be printing out Stu’s novel too to cast a critical eye over. It’s hard to tear myself away from “Mr Norrell & Jonathon Strange” though which is, frankly, excellent stuff. It’s basically Harry Potter for grown-ups. A review will be forthcoming…

Click for bigger… Today we got a mobile phone, bargain price and wandered around looking for “Se renta” signs. Anyroad, there’s a few more pix of the hotel on Flickr too and if you’ve downloaded Google Earth (Finally, Geography’s fun…) click on this link and open the file to fly as if by google-powered magic carpet to our posada in Guadalajara, Mexico where we’re staying for the next couple of days.

Here’s a few photos from the trip south. I’ve just come over v. tired and shall elucidate later, but in summary: Gorgeous landscapes from the border on downwards, very easy crossing, no major problems with the car, have met tons of tidy people already, i drove and sita was the official navegator/photographer. Just gave Jose (an old mate of mine) a ring and we’re meeting up tomorrow. Had a successful skyping with Sally, Martin and Margie (even heard Atticus in the background). Stay tuned for more events as they happen. Glad we’re no where near yet another Category 5 hurricane down Chiapas way. Benditos.

Just arrived, still moving stuff in… this is a temporary stopping point (in Guadalajara), but it has wi-fi. gorgeous weather, and all you’d need. The flat hunting starts tomorrow. Might blog a bit later. Am well happy…

Sita’s holding her own in an increasingly heated discussion on house ownership and annual salaries and I’m going to finish off the packing. This will probably be the last post for a while as I’m packing up the laptop along with everything else. Wish us luck and hopefully the next post will be from Guadalajara, Mexico querido y lindo. Cheers