Brocauliflower
This unholy vegetable was sitting in the overpriced organic market in Alameda.
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…
Pampas
There’s plenty of clumps of Pampas Grass growing in Alameda, CA. But I can’t for the life of me remember how this one was lit…
Gnarls Barkley… I Love Mary
My latest favourite song:
I don’t know if it’s a cover, a single or anything, but it’s catchy and fun. Fair play to ’em.
Other news in brief, Friday was tequila tasting, Saturday wine tasting, today 2nd hand camera lense testing & catching up with a mate from GDL. In between all that I’m upgrading blogs to the fancy new 2.5 wordpress platform and getting my photoblog off the ground again with a different taxonomy and some ajaxy goodness. Shall announce it soon enough. Back to Y! mañana, but I’ve found a few shortcuts to get there and back quicker…
Photoshop’s gone Web App 2.0
And it has some very fancy Flash gallery options. Think I’ll stick to Flickr and Picasa locally though.
Early stages yet though, but it could be very hand if you need to quickly shop something on a friend’s computer.
Chez wig-leaf
Quick post before the weekend… a lot of readers of this blog probably already know Scott and Becky. If you’ve found the time to check up on my latest posts over here, you may also wish to spend time over Scott’s site, Wigleaf.com which is rapidly becoming the place to publish your microfiction and chameleon car videos.
Happy Easter in a day or two, and have a picture of the blossom from the cherry tree outside in the interim…
Cow magnets
Flash recently alerted her readers to the existence of cow magnets. Which I think is delightful. I’m pondering ordering the Bessie Bovine explains all educational package (ages 6 and up)… Nothing worse than Hardware Disease… particularly relevant for Michael Eavis and his surfeit of tent pegs apparently.
So yesterday we wandered over to Berkeley Marina, a place I’d been before back in the dark old days as a NGO program manager for various conferences. It was nice to reclaim it as a site for walking and photography rather than learning about sustainability and human resources. We wandered along the lengthy pier and then had a Flip This House marathon evening with the remains of Meg’s surplus wine from the night before.
This morning we helped shift a few boxes for T’s move-in over in Oakland and discovered the delights of Zachary’s pizza and I had my first ever go on a Nintendo Wii. This afternoon, we’ll probably get out to enjoy the sunshine somewhere local and stockpile vitamin D for the deskbound coming week.
In Taunton’s local rag, The Gazette, there’s a first for local small-town journalism. At the time of writing, they managed to publish a headline for an Easter Extravaganza without resorting to spelling it Eggstravaganza. Which I think is laudable and without precedent. Maybe they’re moving upmarket or have just hired a new staff writer…
Santa Cruz Redwoods 2008
Sita bumped her foot in the middle of the night somehow and wasn´t up for driving to SCruz, so I chauffeured. Here´s a 3 shot panostitch of the redwoods. Click the pic for different sizes. I´m considering printing this poster-sized.
Office 2007…
Yeah, this is an advert for Microsoft, but it’s funny and stars Amy Sedaris…
Office 2007 is a pretty good product too…
Dog is my copilot
This photo still looks a little odd to me, having learnt to drive on the right side of the car… Also, please note the cleanliness of his fur after a visit to his usual L.A. stylist.
Made it back in from LA a couple of hours ago. Lovely to see the in-laws as always. Also on the way down all the thousands of acres of fruit trees (cherries? apricots? peaches? ) were in blossom and it was stunning. 2 days later and there was less of it, but Sita was driving so I could wave my camera at them. The less blurred ones are over at Flickr.
Also I liked the art display on our traditional visit to the 99 cents store,
Gursky’s photo there sold for $3.3 million a few years ago.
Politically active parents
I read this article this morning in me RSSes but failed to notice a picture of me dad in it. Mum’s off to the right apparently.
I really hope they don’t shut the Kingston post office, it’d be a real loss to the village. And nowhere else sells KSM-themed key chains…
Sod it
Yesterday I went to Home Despot to pick up turf, but since it’s got a very limited shelf life they only have it in the mornings. So I had a wander round the area and took an a bunch of photos that I’m preliminarily calling “If life gives you girders, make irn-bru“. Here’s the link to the pix. And here’s my fav:
This morning I went to get the turf and practiced pronouncing the Americanese for it in the car, sod, pronounced sard. Here’s the b4 and after:
You may also see notice new bushy fern things which were advertised on craigslist.org for free, heather or lavender, the beginnings of a honeysuckle and solar lights which may stop working once the walnut tree gets its leaves on and casts the entire endeavour into shadow…