Hail’s so rare, I’m having trouble thinking of the Spanish for it…

… but the free minibus made it much easier. Miserable weather we´re having at the moment. Cold. Rain. Cold. However for the first time in ages I live in a house with a bath. So I´m going to have a soak and make a start on Wintersmith which I suspect is a Terry Pratchett novel aimed at children.

I sent this link to a friend who´s expecting today. Pass it on to anyone you know in a similar position.

Also, have a picture of the view across to South San Francisco from our little island.

And Ed’s using my Flickr account to host a few images from his travels round the bottommost parts of the Americas…

Here’s one –>

Bariloche gets it wrong

Via BoingBoing

The Halen’s synth track was played back a semitone and half out for some reason… This is the resulting trainwreck. I’m fond of the track cos it’s in one of my favourite films, Herbie– Fully Loaded (2005).

Swedish disaster site.

What can I say? She surpassed even my high expectations singing her little heart out and shaking it like a poloroid picture for a good 2 hours. Because of the rain, lack of infrastructure and tapatian penchant for heading to these things at the last minute it took a few hours to get there (normally a 30 minutes journey), involving a tire change among other things… so she waited for most people to arrive before taking the stage. “”Es un honor estar en la casa del gran Vicente Fernández. Gracias por su paciencia por el retraso. Espero que la pasen bien, que canten y bailen”” Gracious to the last. That means that all the reviews in today’s local papers start with this info and her first song, and that’s all they could phone in before going to press…

I definitely wouldn’t have been able to get me camera in, but there were enough mobile phones for some photos to surface soon. 20,000 people were there and it felt like it. I happily joined in with songs way out of my natural “range” and it was a fun smiley evening out with a lovely atmosphere and stellar presentation. Thanks to all the many people who got it together to make it happen, Javier, Meghan, Luisa and co 😀

For those of you interested in the set list, this is nicked from Wikipedia with a few edits “#”s denote my top 10 favourites choons:

* Estoy Aquí #2
* Te Dejo Madrid
* Don’t Bother #10
* Antología #8
* Hey You
* Día de Enero
* Inevitable #7
* Si Te Vas #9
* Obtener Un Sí
* La Tortura # (And yes she dances just like in the video in the last post but one, where does she get the stamina?)
* No #1
* Suerte
* Whenever, Wherever #6
* La Pared
* Pies Descalzos, Sueos Blancos
* Ciega, Sordomuda #4

Encore:

* Ojos Así #5
* Hips Don’t Lie #3

Morissey’s next on the list for world class concerts… We’ve got people waiting for the phone lines to open as I type…

I almost knocked myself out cold yesterday afternoon trying to throw a towel up onto the landing. I was in the act of throwing then suddenly a loud noise, bright lights and me wandering dazed around the room holding me head. So instead of Shakira photos today, have one of me with my special icepack fashioned from my headphones, two plastic bags and the contents of me freezer:

And here’s today’s wanderings around town trying to find an exhibition on “Tequila- Que haría sin él” and then some (quite a distance…)

I exchanged the video card at circuit city and am again revelling in dual-monitor-livin’-in-the-future type computing. Looking forward to being able to have music/radio/video while working on other apps, it ties up much less RAM so I can multitask more easily.

Other news… We have a guest at home, another world-renowned sociomolologist, arrived yesterday, leaving tomorrow. Had an impromptu barbecue in her honour. Bunnies are still well. Sita’s got all kinds of important grant applications finalised thanks to her incredible catholic work ethic. Me Mum’s coming over in November. New job’s learning curve appears to be lessening. That’s sort of it for now, might manage a review or two this weekend. I’m just finishing Al Franken’s “Why Not Me?”, another book which pays off after a slow start.