Clichéd, maybe, but I like the almost sugar frosted look about them.
Waqf WTF?
It’s been an off week for the Scrabble, the nadir being this game where I was outclassed by a far superior player who nonchalantly placed WAQF on the board. I managed to pluralise it with a bingo (daisies, I’m in red), but still… It came out of nowhere and put me right off. I hope I can similarly demoralise my opposition with the same word one day.
Sita’s in SCruz again today teaching the younglings the basics of sociology. I’ve no right to complain about my commute to Santa Clara when she’s going the extra mile to Santa Cruz. Hopefully in September all this will be nothing but a distant memory and everything’ll be walkable or MAXable. Talking of SC, they just got donated a load of Grateful Dead memorabilia and stuff. “This is the first step toward having a library that is a destination for scholars interested in studying an important aspect of America’s vernacular” spluttered UCSC music professor Fred Lieberman. People will be studying tequila next… All a couple of days after another important Santa Cruz event. No relation I’m sure.
Last Sunday I went on a Flickr tour to the local abandoned Naval Base, and here’s the photos I took. They’re a bit abstract cos it’s not the most exciting of areas, but there was a nice light which I think I captured in one or two. My favourite is the interior shot of a warehouse and since it’s in portrait orientation, I’ll post it here because I’ve yet to configure my photoblog to display them right.
[flickr]photo:2429553001[/flickr]
Sita’s folks have just made a big purchase in North Downey… email if you’d like more info on that teaser. And CONGRATULATIONS if you’re Martin or Sally.
And that’s the news. File the rest of this post under geekery.
New features on this blog:
Due to public repridemand you don’t have to risk losing your comment and swearing at your computer any more when the “enter these squiggly letters” spam detector is playing silly buggers. However, if you want to write a comment and have your own icon appear rather than Atticus staring lovingly back at you, you can sign up for a gravatar. Then any comment you left in the past should display the picture too. And not just in this blog neither.
Apparently video comments are going to be the next big thing, but I don’t think any of us are ready for that just yet. Meanwhile, as a stepping stone or gateway drug, if you prefer, upload yer avatars and make the comments look even nicer than they already are.
The top emailed articles list on the left is probably going to be replaced with a “Most Polemic” list, ie. posts with the most comments, as, understandably, people are not rushing to email posts to each other. I think it’ll stay on the photoblog though, which I’m starting to really like. I might get round to making themed e-cards for birthdays, weddings, bah-mitzvahs, quinceañeras…. and maybe branch out later into printed cards. Just ideas, just writing them down. May not happen.
Alrighty, thanks for stopping by again, now go off gravitarise yourself. Cheers!
Oranges are not the only fruit
There’s limes too, f’rinstance. Citric goodness provided by Daniel & Monica’s back garden.
Coastal flora
Set the magenta controls for overdrive. (From Alameda’s golf course. Looking in through the fence.)
Next stop: Portland
Sita accepted Lewis and Clarke’s offer last night for a post-doctoral position in their Latin American Studies dept. It’s a one-year gig, but they’ll be paying for our moving expenses (U-Haul for our craigslist furniture and limousine for the schipperke). We’re very happy about all this. If you’ve ever written an email to Sita, you may have received a letter this morning about it, if not… Sur-prise!
This also means Sita will finally be Professor Sita with the hat and everything sometime in June with a PhD signed by none other than California’s own Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Oregon is a surprisingly cool place with lots going on, plenty of bars, music and has all manner of parks, dormant volcanoes and borders with Canada to explore. So it’s all good. And keeps our record of never staying in the same zip code for more than 10 months at a time unbroken… It’s still 8 hours behind GMT but maybe the change of scenery will encourage friends and family from t’other side of the pond to visit us again.
The problem with California… and it has many… is that it costs a small fortune to live here. You’re paying a premium just for the privilege of living here and after a while it starts to grate. Especially if you’re not out and enjoying the surroundings to the fullest and just treading water in the (su) ‘burbs. It’s like living in the carpark of Disneyland but paying for a family ticket every day. And it takes an hour to get anywhere in the carpark. And all the cars look the same. And you’ve got a dog. And you were never that keen on Disneyland in the first place. Yeah. Reading back, it’s Just like that.
Talking of dogs. Our neighbours have started feeding the squirrels in the back garden so they’re often running around our little green patch like they own the place. Of course, they don’t own it. Nope, that title belongs to one Atticus Gaytan-Fisher. And he’ll defend the place even if it means flailing blindly against a ground level window until it shatters into small pieces like what happened this morning.
Plus points:
- He didn’t hurt himself.
- We live one block away from the DIY shop.
- It was squirrels he was after, not the neighbours or landlord.
- I’ve learnt how to replace windows in Victorian style homes and shall put up a page advertising this new service at agaveweb.com soon enough. That’s if Kevin Fennelly isn’t available.
Minus points:
- He didn’t hurt himself.
Not a scratch. No lessons learnt whatsoever. So I’ve put up cardboard in front of his office windows so he is less apt to throw himself at them. That’s the theory anyway. He’ll probably just start tunnelling.
This evening I’m meeting Fernando from Guadalajara in Amoeba records, San Pancho so I might have a power nap now so I can hit the ground running later over the Bay Bridge. So there you go. Life in the fast lane, Alameda (25mph max).
Skip the first 5 paragraphs. Skim the rest.
I finally got round to updating the many WordPress blogs on this site to 2.5. Somehow along the way agaveweb.com‘s database disappeared, but luckily google had cached the site and copying and pasting was ridiculously easy in the visual editor. The pagerank might suffer, but it’s better than total collapse.
Anyroad, while updating I added a couple of new features to the blog. Namely the “email this to a friend” link at the bottom of each entry and page caching for faster loading. Also my photoblog is probably about another week away from being resurrected, plastered with more google ads than before and with smaller pictures!
[flickr]photo:2420485044[/flickr]
Now I can insert photos from my Flickr stream with a great little plugin which also uses lightbox… Go on, have a click on the chameleon car above and thrill to the ajaxy goodness… That’d be a good scrabble word.
I had to transfer the links in the blogroll by hand, so if I’ve missed you off, it’s by accident and shoot me an email and I’ll add you right back. On the plus side, there’s now categories once again.
I’ve been using FireFox 3.0 Beta 5 for a week now and can’t recommend it enough. It’s faster, stabler and altogether more of a gem. Favourite feature you ask? The address bar and its in-built search function. Once Firebug works on it I’ll be uninstalling FF2.5.
Sita’s had some big news lately which may well necessitate another move later in the year to a place beginning with P. Get in touch if that sounds intriguing. We’re still in negotiations but it’s looking very promising.
Yahoo! can’t make their mind up as to when they need professional English speakers, so unless I get yet another email I’ll be in Santa Clara next Monday…
We’ll probably be going to Downey in a week or so to catch up with Sita’s dad who’s had a very painful run in with gallstones and a spell in hospital. He’s on the mend now though, but we wish him all the best.
Just came into a load of new albums. In no particular order: Goldfrapp, REM, Portishead, Vampire Weekend, & Hot Chip. Most of which I’m enjoying no end and it’s reassuring I haven’t stopped liking new music just cos I’m 33.
While I’m youtubing… here’s Vampire Weekend
And another photo!
[flickr]photo:2420478618[/flickr]
You’re forgiven if you choose not to send this post to a friend. Cheers!
Moving to Mexico
I just got asked to write a bit about our time in Mexico for a blog on “Learning to Live in Mexico“. Here’s what I wrote:
What prompted you to move to Mexico?
My wife’s a sociology grad student and is writing her PhD dissertation on “How Tequila became Mexico’s national drink”. Her research naturally led us to Jalisco, Mexico, home of Tequila and also the place we met 10 years ago when I was studying as part of my undergraduate degree in Spanish. We thought we’d only be there for a year but managed to extend the stay after she won various grants and scholarships.
What was the biggest thing you had to adjust to in Mexico?
To be honest, I feel just as comfortable in Mexico as where I grew up in the UK or have lived in the US, if not more so. It’s actually quite hard to think of anything that really needed adjusting to.
Witnessing levels of poverty absent or hidden in other countries, like kids of 7 selling chewing gum on the streets or flowers in bars late at night is something you never fully get used to and there are constant reminders of the huge divides and contrasts of a modern Mexican city like Guadalajara. That would be the major thing, and everyone has their own way of assuaging their first-world guilt.
On a more prosaic level though, some people take a while to get used to the food, I never had any problems and ate food from street vendors almost every day (the trick is to look for places with queues of locals). Drinking bottled water was new to me and having the water guy deliver gallon bottles every few days was odd at first but it’s not exactly life-changing. Driving can be tricky at major intersections, but despite Guadalajara’s ever rising levels of traffic, it’s still nowhere near as dangerous/ frustrating as it is getting from A to B in the SF Bay Area. Paying tolls to use decent motorways does take some adjusting though. If you’re planning a long journey you’ll need a lot of cash handy to pay the tolls for the extremely modern, well-equipped roads. However you can plan ahead with a handy new web tool from the Transport Department’s website that tells you how much the charges will be.
If you had to leave Mexico and go back to your old lifestyle what would you miss most?
The people. A more welcoming, genuine, friendly and fun bunch of people you’d be hard pressed to find. I was welcomed into many homes, shown so many local events, foods, drinks, sights. Everyone has ideas of what to see, where to go and also show an interest in where you’re from and your own culture. I already had a few good Tapatian (from Guadalajara) friends when I arrived, but met many new people who still keep in touch 5 months after we left, offering us places to stay on our next visit (hopefully soon).
I also miss pay-as-you-go cell phones… you buy your fichas (credits), use them, recharge them. The way things should be… None of this dollar a day use it or not malarkey…
What advice would you give to someone considering moving to Mexico?
Make an effort to meet people & learn Spanish. There are all kinds of classes, events, forums and suchlike where you can make your stay infinitely more fun. I met a ton of people via the photo sharing site flickr.com and went on phototours with them to places off the beaten track with local guides and had a great time in cantinas and bars afterwards talking about Mexico and photography. There are also ex-pat sites such as chapala.com where you can meet folks, learn about local events and ask questions. Blogging and commenting on other people’s blogs is also a great way to make your friends at home jealous and a good way to meet folks in the area. I also signed up for seminars and classes on computing (PHP) and photography which were great for meeting people and learning useful things.
Also, buy a cell/mobile phone on day one. It’ll set you back about 40 bucks then you just recharge it with credits. It’ll be handy for not getting lost, enquiring about housing/accommodation, keeping in the loop with friends about what’s happening, meeting people, being ready for any transport breakdowns and all the usual… You name it…
Above all though, move on from considering moving to Mexico and just DO IT!
Need more persuading? Here’s a post on my Top 7 things to do in Guadalajara.
El Genio de Elias
Hover your mouse over the above image to see Elias‘s beautiful watercolour rendering of my butterfly pic. And if you’re feeling brave, click through and leave a comment in Spanish 😉
I wish I could draw.
Landmark scrabble moments part XXXI
I’m chuffed when I score over 400 in a scrabble game. In this game the tile fairy came up trumps and I got zincs on a triple with the z on a double letter netting me 110 odd, then a couple of bingos. My tiles are blue… Final score: 504
Dubious words include: goral, maes, skaw and ala, but they’re all valid.
This blog’s been a bit abandoned of late more due to an overload of work and little time to update it but in brief, saw Carrie Fisher’s show Wishful Drinking last Thursday. I hope to get round to a review. Not impressed would be the gist of it, but at least she put on the Danish pastry wig and recited the Help me Obi Wan Kenobi ‘monologue’… Almost finished Life on Mars series II and am looking forward to Ashes to Ashes. We’re off to Portland for a bit and have found a dog/housesitter. Yahoo!’s on and off… And some new sites to show off coming soon. Hasta pronto!
Hypercube rotating in 4D, or something
While you’re waiting for something worth reading in these pages, have a stare at this…
