… although the unicode lettering of all the entries is buggered up and I´ve no idea how to search and replace weird accents on a MySQL database. That´s my next project…

Never mind, it´s not like people read the archives anyway.

So what a weekend, Meg, Matt, Matera, Bowling, Pool, Sexual Diversity Parade, “Clubbing”, Tequila, tequila and even Lucha Libre. Then spectacular thunderstorms, power cuts and blog outages then last night Monica and OCD´s farewell gathering (they´re off on Thursday at the crack of dawn). I´ve got lots to catch up on but at least the heat should no longer be an issue… I´m wearing a long sleeved t-shirt today for the first time in 8 months you´ll be delighted to hear.

Meanwhile, in Gwod, we fit A LOT into yesterday. Flickr more or less sums up the first part. Part II was going out at 11h30 pm just like all the hip young Tapatians ready to party, but finding the music a bit too loud and settling for a night in playing Jenga and eating chocolate biscuits.

Matt’s permanently surprised with the number of cars that A) he’s never heard of and B) are allowed to circulate on the roads…

via BoingBoing.net:

Stop whatever you’re doing and click on the flash video player thing above… Doesn’t lose its magic no matter how many times you play it.

Other news: Just removed Larsen B ice shelf from our fridgefreezer and what with the drizzle and half a metric ton of ice in the front garden, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I have to say that I haven’t, but at least 900,000 Brits per year have according to this spurious report (in Spanish). That’s why, if you ever move to Mexico, pick yourself up a pay-as-you-go phone from OXXO or similar for about 20 quid (40 bucks) and buy fichas (credit) every now and again to keep it juiced. They’re sturdy, have a long battery life, come with Snake preinstalled and once you work out how to turn off Spanish predictive text you’re laughing.

So of late there’s been a bit too much navel gazing going on so this post is an attempt to redress the balance by sharing some links away from the agaveweb empire…

I really enjoyed this article on 10 common photography mistakes. Most of them are pretty self evident but when driven home with good examples it’ll make you think before your next trip out with a camera. Next time I’m in an agave field (Saturday, I think), I’m going to try a fair few shots lying on my stomach… Also found some good advice for taking group shots.

One of b3ta’s finest moments is this picture evidence showing evolution to be lie. Behold the Microsoft Big-assed-table, Chilean Lake Missing, and The Onion’s back on form too.

And this just in today, JWood’s coverage of El dia de los Locos in San Miguel de Allende, is great. Especially the Osama bit. Well worth a read, today and every day.

Alright, self-absorbtion should resume with the next post prob’ly. A bientot.

are coming to town v. soon. Highlights to follow…

So what else is going on round Garibaldi way, well I’ve been slaving over a hot computer, luckily this time not mine but Meghan’s. It was suffering from being about 2 years old and needing declogging. I got meself a bottle of tequila and some lovely furniture from Tonala for my troubles. And now it’s behaving itself slightly better…

And that’s about it. Daniel’s just finished cooking some kind of pasta affair so we’re off to devour that. May blog a bit later though this evening I threatened to put the Shaun of the Dead DVD on. British comedy at its best. But not for everyone apparently. Hot Fuzz was fantastic too.

…properly last night. Thunder and see-it-with-you-eyes-shut lightning woke me up at around 3 am. I went downstairs to check on Atticus but Sally beat me to it (he was fine). I couldn’t get back to sleep after that, but on the plus side, I got to see Legally Blonde on the telly again, and The Mummy. I think I dropped off for 10 minutes or so and then at 6:30ish took Sally and Martin to the airport. It stopped raining soon after and we had one of the freshest, nicest mornings in a long time. If memory serves me correctly we’re probably due for another cloudburst tonight. Just checked me blog, it’s almost exactly the same day as last year that the rains came, who’d’ve thunk it?

Anyroad, have some feel-the-freshness pix from the jardín this morning:

Yesterday we took M & S to tequila, while they went on the obligatory Cofradia tequila factory tour, I drove off to a few tiny little villages and headed into the fields to capture a bit more of the agavero landscape. Here’re me faves:

Not sure I ever mentioned that we’re having an article published in a US journal on food and drink, Sita’s words and my pix. Go Team Tequila!

… a freelance gardener showed up in the nick of time and made our 3m x 10m stretch of prime agricultural land look more than half decent. He even managed not to mangle our agaves when he strimmed the lawn, which is something of a first for hired help. Maybe it’s because they’re starting to look a bit fiercer, we’re a mere 6 years from harvesting it to roast, pulp, ferment and distill into the finest tequila Calle Garibaldi’s ever produced. He also knew what he was doing when he took on our nispero tree (if that’s what it is…) which now cuts a fine figure and decorates rather than ominously looms over the yard. Atticus, needless to say, is loving it. Back in Downey California, he was all about running round and round and creating canine crop circles. Now he’s adapted to a straight line which he runs down, executes a perfect leap into the wall and launches himself back along the line Olympic swimmer style, hence the new trench all along the wall. Maybe he’s trying to communicate with aliens in binary…

Sally and Martin arrived Thursday afternoon with no problems at all and a suitcase stuffed with gourmet goods such as Irish Mature Cheddar and California Zinfandel along with half a metric ton of doggy treats. The reunion was as joyful as you like and we dined that night at the Santo Coyote, which has recently hiked its prices up, the average meal now costing about 195 pesos. Still excellent food mind. Yesterday we went to San Juan de Dios to shop for watches, craft, fruit and DVDs. Had a coffee in the centre of town. I asked for a mug of café americano and an espresso to put in it to boost it a bit. In a Lost in Translation moment I duly received my espresso and an empty mug to put it in. I’ve no idea what they thought I was planning to do. Maybe they thought I had a special shaped mouth which couldn’t drink from small espresso cups. Anyroad, no worries. Then I had a business meeting of sorts about a website, luxury jewelry for the European market… anyway, part two of the Guadalajara Holy Trinity of restaurants in the evening, El Sacromonte, where the robalo (sea-bass) is highly recommended… Possibly La Matera tonight to complete the trio.

The plan today is to go back to Tequila and not interview anyone for a change. I’m looking forward to it even though we only went three days ago. And then in the afternoon, apparently Michael Moore’s latest film, Sicko, has “leaked” onto the web…

This post needs some photos but I haven’t downloaded the latest yet… but have I mentioned I’ve got A NEW PHOTO BLOG =P