I’ve figured out a few more bus routes today with only one major mistake. The 37A is not the 37 just for the record and after leaving the house at 9:30 got back around 15:00ish. Luckily I have my trusty new gadget loaded up with ‘8 out of 10 Cats’ episodes and the hours flew by. I looked into Flash courses, caught up with a translation place, had a coffee at Madokas, perused the ‘Importaciones’ level of San Juan de Dios and checked everything was functioning as I left it 3 wks ago. Some of the areas in town were chock-full of parents and kids buying their school supplies for the new term. Thank diosito I don’t have any teaching hanging over me. (good luck Meg, btw).

The iPAQ camera is 1.2 megapixels, but the quality is far from perfect. It’ll do nicely though for quick snaps rather than full-blown photography outings with the tripod and everything. I even dared get it out in SJ de D, to the right is a barbacoa-style tacos al pastor stand, with fine tasting cheap tacos (3.5pesos each, =30 cents, 18p). Bargains every one… Too early to tell for the usual gastrointestinal side effects, but keep checking back and I’ll give you an update later. Another thing is my new tinted sunglasses make everything look like you’re looking through the orange stuff they put in post office windows/ chemist shops at the world and makes it very difficult to spot cars that look like their surrounding. And doubles the apparent amount of taxis in the road (white cars look yellow too…).

Friday’s Spanish-word-of-the-week day in theory, so let’s have a think… erm… “cotorrear” keeps cropping up. I rarely use it ‘cos I can’t roll my ‘R’s but it means ‘to chat’, natter, put-the-world-to-rights, catch up on stuff, sort of thing. Not so widely used in Spain if memory serves (charlar is more common), but the verb of choice round these parts.

There’s been a fair old hiatus on the film review front so what better time to start from scratch as I reckon I’ll be spending a goodly few hours a week round the local cinepolis. Old mini reviews have been banished to this page. And the new ones will pop up in the Iframe on the right as per normal. Just got back from watching Miami Vice, I was hoping to see Nacho Libre but there was only the dubbed version available. Anyroad, not bad at all once you get over Colin Farrell being in every shot.

Book and music reviews never really did take off so there’ll probably be no more of them. Feel free to ask me what I’m listening to or reading at any point if the comments are slow on an entry. Anybody out there have any recommendations for music? There was a rumour the Russians were going to stop supplying cheap MP3s some time soon and I’m up for using up my credit…

So I had one of the easiest flight and immigration experiences yet and am back settled in Guadalajara querida y linda. The only upset being my fault, as I somehow only packed one trainer, so it’s sandals for me for the next 6 wks… Yesterday was Jose’s birthday and he invited me out with his family for his cumpleanos meal to the Argentine restaurant El Tango in Chapalita which had great food. It was grand to be able to hang out with friends on my first day back, a lovely welcome. I nipped over to Cinescopio today to catch up and all seems well over yonder. I’ll be giving my site (agaveweb) an overhaul today and designing some new business cards and suchlike. I’ve taken over Sita’s office but I’ve been warned not to get too comfortable… I am though. Anyroad, vaguely jetlagged but nothing serious and plenty to be getting on with.

This arrived in my inbox t’other day, and since I’ve no photos to post with this entry, have this vaguely-photo-related “Integrity Test” in its stead.

This test only has one question, but it’s a very important one. Please don’t answer it without giving it some serious thought. By giving an honest answer you will be able to test where you stand morally.

The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation, where you will have to make a decision one way or the other. Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous.

Please scroll down slowly and consider each line – this is important for the test to work accurately.

You’re in Florida… In Miami, to be exact… There is great chaos going on around you, caused by a hurricane and severe floods… There are huge masses of water all over you… You are a CNN photographer and you are in the middle of this great disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless.

You’re trying to shoot very impressive photos. There are houses and people floating around you, disappearing into the water. Nature is showing all its destroying power and is ripping everything away with it.

Suddenly you see a man in the water, he is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken away by the masses of water and mud. You move closer. Somehow the man looks familiar.

Suddenly you know who it is – it’s George W. Bush!

At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him away… forever. You have two options. You can save him or you can take the best photo of your life. So you can save the life of George W. Bush, or you can shoot a Pulitzer prize winning photo. A unique photo displaying the death of one of the world’s most powerful men.

And here’s the question (please give an honest answer)

Would you select colour film, or go with the simplicity of classic black and white?

LAX-GDL Plane Evacuated

Two days of walks in a row for lucky young Atticus. The dog beach in Venice or somewhere and round Wilderness Park in Downey… First skype on the pocket PC to a foreign country landline today. And manana I fly LAX to GDL. And that’s it. Ooh. And I have new sandals and trousers.

It’s news like that last paragraph that keeps y’all a-comin’ back, admit it… 🙂 Certainly can’t compete with my folks who’ve just made a fairly large purchase (happy new house, B & A!)

Spanish word of the week (for last week): ‘tiritones’ from tiriton: a shake of the head as if shivering, a frequently used Chilenismo from Martin who uses this classification system for bad wine. If when you take a sip you shake your head three times it’s a Vino Tres Tiritones. The less tiritones, the better, obviously. He also has a nice adjective for wine that you’ve stolen from someone else’s glass too: vino besado, kissed wine.

how geeky/cool is this? i just turned the tv on with it too! v.v.happy

And back to the joys of real keyboards! Rob and Jon from TopOfThePods did a show on uses for your PDA about a year ago and apparently you can embed them as Flash, here we go:

powered by ODEO

UPDATE: Apparently you can but only in a pinky and perky stylee… back to the drawing board
UPDATE 2: Here’s a link to the mp3

And, especially for Matt, try and get past level 27 on this here Flash game… Consider yourself served…

We got back last night from our Bay Area Tour, Summer 2006… and it excelled in every way. First off we went round Meg’n’Matt’s and sampled the oenophile delights of their trip to Italy and various vineyard visits while learning the ropes of the home version of Dance, Dance, Revolution. There are videos of us jumping around in the living room to Block Rockin’ Beats and Crazy in Love but I neglected to get the appropriate waivers signed so they’re probably not going to on the blog any time soon. Despite the back button on the floor carpet not being too sensitive we managed to give the downstairs neighbours a close approximation of what the next big seismic disruption in Oakland might very well feel like. Day 2 we went to the Bay Area beauty spot known as Kronkite Point (sp?) where we got hitched, and soaked up the views and listened to the Tunnel Singer who sings. In tunnels. Then for a few swift pints and table football and then to Berkeley for our annual bluegrass dose. Afterwards food, drink and dance, dance continued into the early late hours.

Monday was off to Santa Cruz to catch up with mates and some academic stuff too. We had a few ales in Red with some friends and left for Tanya’s before it turned into something variously described as a frat boy meat market / hell hole. things have gone downhill since we left. Luckily Tanya’s was as welcoming as ever and, aided by Liz, we cleaned her out of cheese and beer and went back to the hotel. For day 2 in SC, we did the traditional walk along Westcliff and gawped at surfers. The breeze was in just the right direction to be able to hear those in the water spouting their Keanu-Reeves-circa-1989isms at each other, but they’re fairly photogenic so I’ll let them off. I picked up some orders from downtown (unchanged, but no Umbrella Man), so Victor I’ve got your books and that’s one more thing off of Jose’s list of things to do. Tanya made an unparallelled veggie bbq with all the trimmings including her Torte ™ made to exacting standards and one of the best desserts. Evah. T’was also grand to see Becky, Scott and their kids and Heather & Gayle. T kindly let us stay in her apartment while she slept on the floor. Over and above the call of justice, THANKS!

Next day: I spent the morning relaxing in T’s garden finishing About a Boy again. Very readable especially fuelled by gourmet coffee and then later we went to Piedmont for continued merriment, dog walking and BBQery (far from veggie this time). The whole gang turned up but I left my camera in the car which was down far too many steps so no photos of Jerrod’s mad meat-cooking skillz nor Chili the cat and his ‘paunch’.

Yesterday we had a long drive from SF to Downey. Full of lorries and dim-witted drivers who refuse to change lanes, while listening to the sounds of the latest fall-out from Heathrow on NPR. I understand the no liquids bit (although some airports clearly don’t) but no books seems a bit excessive. I’ll be flying Virgin Atlantic next time if I have to soley rely on the plane’s entertainment as I’m buggered if I’m sitting through another Jennifer Anniston/ J-Lo film marathon to pass the 11 hours with nothing to read.

Full flickr photo set of the last few days here

Other news: last week saw Taladega Nights or some such, the most willfully stupid film I’ve seen in a while with the worst French accent ever committed to celluloid. Thoroughly recommended. I’m intrigued to know what the Spanish title will be…

So on Thursday we had our 4th anniversary and went out for a smorgasbord Italian meal at the new eatery in Downey Landing, just down the road (though, being L.A., we drove…). If you find yourself there, we recommend saving the coupon from your local paper and getting the free artichoke and cheese bruscetta dip thing followed by shrimp and chicken pasta (spicy). Bring the majority of it home in a doggy bag and you’ll have good eats for days. We also went out to Stox for breakfast with Sally famed for its coffee and hash brown (fried grated potato mass). Here’s a cut-out-and-keep guide to how we’ve celebrated so far.

1st Anniversary: Guadalajara, Italian Meal.
2nd Anniversary: On a plane coming back to CA from Amherst MA
3rd Anniv: Went back to Kronkite point where we got married for a wander and then a meal in the restaurant where we celebrated
and 4th see above…

We’ve been doing the occasional odd job round the house too even though Sally & Martin have done the lion’s share of moving work… Reorganised the garage, dug up the grape vine, painted bits and pieces in the old house, painted the roof with reflective white paint to try to bring down the ambient temperature, reminded Atticus what walks are and other small stuff. Anyroad, today, which is Sally’s birthday, we’re giving her the gift of having her house back for a few days and are heading North to visit several old haunts and see our mates, back Thursdayish.

Still have some web work to take care of, and also whether to put in a bid on a 100% Flash catalogue site. It’s a bit intimidating but I could learn some new stuff. I have an hour or so to make up my mind. I’m erring towards not quite ready for it yet but we’ll see if some toast and coffee changes all that…

In other news, Sita just forwarded me this article from the SC Sentinel, Teachers continue to flee Scotts Valley… Good to know I’m actually part of a larger tradition…

And since I might not manage much in the way of posts in the next few days. Here’s a link to a a game (click on geartaker) that I pretended to be playing as I kept an eye on the cable installation bloke yesterday. My high score’s nothing to write home about.

I’ve just ordered another all-singing, all-dancing Pocket PC. The plan is to use it for photography, videos, mp3ery, skypery and general messing about on the web. Blogging even. I’m extremely excited about it all. Should arrive in a few days time, end of the week maybe. After my Palm Zire 72 experiences I’m a little wary but I’ll soon get over that. Behold the glorious dawn of: IPAQ rx3715 Catchy name, no?

Got me tickets back to MX too today, Alaska Airlines no less, chosen primarily for the nice, cool, frozen imagery their name conjours up to this sweaty, overheating, ennervated Expedia user… Righty, off to tea… Don’t forget to comment…

Atticus has learnt a new “trick”. In his haste to get out of the house and go cruising the streets of Downey, he helps Sally carry her handbag. What he lacks in talent, he makes up for in charm…

Still no tickets back to Mejico yet, going to give it another try tomorrow as they’re a tad on the pricey side and ideally I’d like an indirect flight that spares me the usual LAX inmigration antics.

We’re 100 km from the border in Santa Anna and today we’re crossing over. The trip’s been fine so far, but very wet, including one section where I reckon we hit the tail end of tropical storm Eliana. Also, every fitozoological/military stop point has pulled us over for a hand search of our car which doesn’t bode well for crossing the frontera in record time. Maybe it’s time for a hair cut…

My dad’s been soaring about the fields of Somerset in a hot air balloon (globo aerostático- Spanish word of the week!) and has posted some lovely pix on Flickr. Click on the picture to find yerself looking at the slideshow.

I think we’re all pressied up thanks to a quick trip to the craft market. I just had a chance to explore the non-markety bits like the cemetary which is a much less grand affair than Guadalajara’s Panteon before Sita called me on the mobile to say she was done shopping. Now we’re back and preparing for a BBQ this avo with a few mates of our before we leave.

Last night we stayed in and had a lovely meal cooked by Sita then watched Good Night and Good Luck, George Clooney’s take on CBS during the McCarthy witch hunt years quickly followed by one of the bleakest documentaries I’ve seen (at that includes the bloody penguins) called Darwin’s Nightmare all about the extreme poverty in Tanzania around Lake Victoria. I’m a bit behind on my reviews right now, but I’ll have a stab if I get the chance on the road. If you find yourself feeling far too positive about life and the world in general, Darwin’s Nightmare will take your serotonin levels down a few pegs…

Fernando’s flood pictures taken from his apartment, cunningly 3 floors above the destruction. He was all ready to go surfing at Plaza del Sol till the hygiene aspects of such a mission were pointed out.

Just found out Kathy and Vance have a Lewis Carroll inspired blog (thanks for the comment, Kathy) http://siximpossiblethingsbeforebreakfast.blogspot.com/ Looks like they’re off to see that rarest of things, Edinburgh on a sunny day… Enjoy : )

Sita’s talk on Pancho Villa, Tequila and Mexican National Identity went down a treat. So we celebrated…

Our good friend, Ana, gave us a molcajete t’other day. It’s a volcanic rock pestle and mortar type thing crucial to Mexican cuisine. We christened it yesterday when Berta came round to make salsa and go over Sita’s talk for today. The next stage is experimenting with different chiles…