I ended up making shepherd’s pie based on an old family recipe I found on the world wide wibbly web, with a few adaptations. During my research I found out that I was actually cooking cottage pie, since shepherd’s pie is made with minced lamb not beef. You live and learn. Anyroad, it was well nice and I got to use the Salsa tipo inglesa I blogged about a few weeks ago. And it goes pretty well with tequila, who’d’ve thunk it?

It wasn’t all put together as last minute(ly) as I’d feared because Sita’s first Tequila class only lasted 2 hours, not 4. It was just introductions from the 15 or so people there and reading a few powerpoint slides. So we had time to nip over to Waldo’s Mart (the 99 cent store across the road, well, 13 pesos including VAT) and stock up on extra forks and stuff. It looks like all the people Sita was hoping to interview for her project are coming to talk in her class. Saturday classes run from 10 to 2, there’s no way I could have hacked that yesterday. Sita is made of stronger stuff, it appears.

Next Saturday it’s a field trip to the town of Tequila where there’s a festival of some description going on, I might have to come along for that one. On Friday night we’re going to a Thanksgiving dinner with some teachers from the American school, which’ll be a laugh. Tuesday evening another mate of mine’s coming over for tea and bickies. So the social scene is picking up nicely. The employment scene is also starting up gradually. Jose’s got a few leads, and there’s another gringo graphic designer in the area whom I might be meeting next Friday. Voluntary work appears to be easy enough, though. Sita’s off to staff a creche for the women’s rights organisation today in the town centre. And I’m expecting translation work from the Gwod Metropolitan Park people any minute.

AgaveWeb.com is crawling along, I’m a bit stuck for what to do with the site and need more inspiration. I was playing with rounded corners, first using CSS, then giving in and going back to the dark age of tables. I’ll work something out… Jed themed maybe? A lengthy flash animation of a black tail in bracken, then Jed jumps out, frisbee in mouth into a puddle. The muddy water splashes the camera and a menu pops up with options…. No that has nothing to do with Agaves. I’m open to suggestions…

We planned to see Harry Potter yesterday but Sita was too knackered after a late night and academic stuff, so we watched War of the Worlds on DVD instead. Maybe today… keep your eyes on the “Media Box” on the right for my two cents. Harry III was my first review for this website… June ‘04 seems like a while ago. Well, it was…

and finally, here’s a video currently doing the rounds on the interweb of GTA playing grandma. More non-sequitur-riddled-posts coming soon…

I rock. no really. I do. I’m this close to getting an ecommerce site up and running for a client… It’s taken me the best part of a day, but i’ve done it. nearly. And a mailing list application too. Just call me Mr. PHP. Actually, don’t. Really. Paco will do. Zank evuns for open source…

(see above and click for bigger, if you so fancy) Photostitch couldn’t tell arse from elbow of the view from our roof. I feel reassured about the place for humans in photographic collage again.

Big day tomorrow, we’re having another in our series of “sophisticated dinner parties” and, after consulting my mum by skype about the menu, shall be preparing some kind of regional feast. Maybe photos later.

Lots of good news from the PAPÁS crowd today. Email me if you’re interested… and it’s also nice to see Arturo and me Dad getting along famously in the comments section.

and it turns out there’s a freeware application that stitches together your photos in minutes. Expect lots more photos like this one…

Click the picture for bigger, it’s a composite of 26 photos I took on Sunday standing in the market by la Iglesia Santa Teresita. Browse around on Flickr and you’ll also find pictures from La Barranca, the huge canyon where Guadalajara suddenly comes to a grinding halt. It’s also where the UdeG school of architecture is, so on weekdays the park is full of furtive young couples carrying their blueprints around in cardboard tubes. Lovely.

So Sita’s got her life in gear volunteering for a women’s rights organisation on Sunday and starting a university course on tequila on Fridays and Saturdays. We only heard about it today and it starts on Friday, serendipitous as me dad just said. If I had a job, I might’ve signed up too, but we can’t quite afford it. As long as Sita comes home and gives me word for word recollections of her 4 hour classes each day I’ll get by. For all you hispanohablantes out there, here’s the link to the U de G page.

Well, it rained for the first time in a month or so yesterday (the last time was on the way to Phoenix, Arizona from L.A.). Proper rain, mind, none of your namby pamby mizzle- lightning, thunder, the works. I’ve always wanted to take a photo of lightning so I went up on the roof and took several 16 second exposure, low aperture shots, it took about 5 attempts, but i got one. . It’s far from perfect, i was holding the camera as still as possible with no tripod, aiming at the sky. Next time I want a city scape with forks of lightning above it, like this second pic, which has had a few minor photoshop elements added, and features at least one deliberate spelling mistake…

Had a nice chat with Sally t’other night. The bunnies have become tunneling machines, and their run looks like a building site. Lulu’s the main culprit and he wouldn’t even stop digging when Sally stared at him. So Sally, bless her, went to All American to get chicken wire to go under the run and installed it all herself. Nice one, KilcarSally

Today the plan: Update my CV, pick up the laser printer from the repair shop, pass by an English school that’s looking for gringos as part of the part-time non-teaching staff, get agaveweb.com off the ground. Finalise me postcard size ads and get them to the printer, bulk email the lake Chapala non-profits… Work out why we’re getting so many phone calls that either hang up (I think our number is v. similar to the Cuarenta Principales (top 40 radio station…) or are banks/ loan sharks/ lawyers wanting to find the previous occupant… Anyroad, more news as, when or if it happens. Cheers, gwyn

So tomorrow, AgaveWeb.com, (or was it webagave.com?) should be up and running, and I can spam all the local NGOs with my business proposals. I hope the 2 dollar a month hosting plan I found isn’t too bargain basement. Still it’ll give me a chance to try out movable type, a blog engine which leaves this creaking GreyMatter one far behind. If I can migrate the files from here, then I’ll probably change to M.T. with all its bells and whistles.

I’ve just shoved a load of new photos up onto flickr. Here’re some faves:

Worcestershire Sauce, and since the pronunciation of Worcestershire in Spanish goes something like this wore sayst air esheeray, it’s branded as salsa ingles- English Sauce.

Stepped on a lemon by accident, then took a photo before the ants carried it away…

Been playing quite a bit of guitar of late. And having MTV and VH1 means I can strum along in my idle moments.

Christmas has come early in Garibaldi street…

So on Sunday we discovered the Mercado de Santa Tere, which has all the usual trappings of a Mexican market. Among the highlights was a cardboard box of multicoloured (dyed) chicks and baby ducks, reds, blues, you name it… The main thing though is that it’s every Sunday and only about 10 blocks away so I’m chuffed about that. I noi longer have to worry about my artificially coloured poultry needs.

Got a job yet? I hear you heckle. Well, I’ve approached a few local charities by email and no response yet. I tracked down one of them’s address- ASOCIACIÓN MEXICANA DE APOYO PARA LA DIGNIFICACIÓN INFANTIL- but there was no one there and their email bounced back at me. Either they’ve stopped supporting the dignification of infants or they’ve moved. Oh well, not to worry. I’ve also applied to translate English documents on running urban parks into Spanish. To be a corporate event photographer (”must have own camera, transport, 23-29 yrs of age…”). I phoned about a classified ad for English speakers which turned out to be for teachers. That is a last resort and then some. I even asked for more info about tour guide opportunities in the Art Museum of Zapopan, and researchers too. It’s early days though and I’m still involved with the ongoing brand development of www.nourishingnutrition.com and Diseño Web Agave. Mexican websites seem to be a little heavy on the Flash intros and animated GIFs. It’s like the bad old days, I may have to brush up on my Flash skills, if you can’t beat’em. and all that.

I love reading the classified ads for employment. There’s no equal opportunity employment PCness. If anything it’s “absence of political correctness gone mad”. Typical ad:
Wanted:Secretary. Female. Aged 18 to 25. Good Looking “buena presentacion”. Single. No kids. Send CV and photo to…

Oh and Tewbewks, the battle continues, post your babycal scores to this one…

Grand chat with Bert, Stu, Anne (& me and Sita, hence 5) today via the interweb. It involved bert using his headphones as a mic, having Anne and Stu on speakerphone and bert with his head I’m not sure where. A webcam was involved for a bit too. 2005, who’d’ve thought it? Jet packs and protein pills tomorrow…

I hope you get your head around the 7 hour or so time difference, Annelise and thanks for the shout out in yer blog and all the encouragement in the comments. I’ll probably never make it to Oklahoma, because I couldn’t deal with having Oh What a Beautiful Morning buzzing round my synapses all the time…

Yesterday night Jose (driving) and I got pulled over by the police for no reason at all. Long hair, probably… Can’t they just leave us kids alone? No breathaliser or nowt, just flinging accusations at us and going through our pockets, frisking and all that. They found my PDA stylus in my wallet and were convinced it was a hash pipe of some kind. Mais non… Anyroad Jose talked his way out of everything and all was well with the world once more. Probably won’t be the last time. I used to get searched occaionally walking the 30 blocks from CEPE to the Casa Internacional when I was here last. They used to be concerned about my dictionary in me backpack, and my lack of photo ID. This was way back when when UK driving licences were scruffy-looking green printouts with a signature as proof of ID. The way things should be, I reckon… but I digress… luckily I’m such a clean-living example of humanity they can’t pin nowt on me. (please do not abuse the comments section)…

Today found us at the Tianguis Cultural, a hippy market full of Batique, bongos, tie-die and pirated CDs/DVDs. I got some Cure stuff as they’re enjoying something of a renaissance in my affections, then on to Expo Venta Guadalajara 2005, where Sita made valuable new Tequila contacts. As far as trade shows go, it was a bit pants, erring on the side of quantity over quality, but at least Sita got to pose with the Panqui man.

Had a bit of a nap, did some designy stuff, guitaring, went out for tacos al pastor at the “Santa Cruz Taqueria” (Always end up at the Holy Cross, Seville, California, Gwod…), and then scrabble, vino and more El Rival Mas Debil. We’ve found an online classified ads for students in guadalajara and might be off chasing up some leads on shelving tomorrow too.

I’ve been mightily impressed by the efficiency of TelMex’s DSL service. Ordered it Monday morning, modem arrived Tuesday and plumbed in by Thursday. I’d’ve had it going two hours earlier too but I had to ring the help desk as it didn’t like my password (beautiful renditions of ‘Octopus’s Garden’ and ‘Oh, Darling’ on hold though).

The phases have been pretty much: travel 1700 miles, find a house, meet up with old friends, fill house with furniture, get DSL & cable, get studying/working. We’re entering the last stage there. But over the last week or so have really got to know the city well just from running errands. Last time we were here (2 years ago) and it was all public transport, and when I was here in 1998, even moreso. Driving is a lot easier than it was made out to be. The only real challenge is from the whole tope (speed bump) vs traffic lights thing. One obviously on the ground and ready to put your steering and suspension out if hit at over 10 mph and the other hanging stupidly high and keeping your vision off the ground. If you’re looking for street signs as well, that puts another hazard in yer way. Yet I managed to drive with a flat pack office desk, 4 plastic chairs and a table from Plaza del Sol to our house in rush hour yesterday, so all’s well. Maybe I’ll add ‘Guided Tours’ to my already eclectic business card.

Plenty of room for visitors, book your flights to Guadalajara now and we’ll pick you up at the airport… It’s still gorgeous weather too.

Skyped me folks yesterday, and was informed that Dad had made another foray into photoshopping. I’ve got this creation of his as my wallpaper for now.

The house is looking like a home. Albeit a huge home. Stuart enquired as to why we{d need 3 bathrooms, and he may have a point. Basically, for a hundred bucks extra per month you can have a much bigger house than you´d get with an apartment and we´re in a grand area and you can walk to everywhere and there´s public transport and a roof terrace thing and and and. No can´t really justify the 3 bathrooms. Technically they´re 2.5 anyway.
Maybe Internet by Friday hopefully…
I can{t upload to flickr from this interweb cafe place, so once the FTP thingy{s finished, there{ll be some photos of our recent adventures here. And finding all the slashes and brackets for that hyperlink was nowt too easy… Anyroad, skype us soon. All the best, gwyn

Quite a day acquiring: a bed, mattress, boiler, sofa, seats and other stuff… Skyped my folks, got skyped by Sita’s folks and now it’s time to relax…. I entered my high score in this addictive little game I linked to below, and i saw Matt’s score below me. Glad to know I’m not the only one who knows how to have fun on a Saturday night. . Cheers, Tewbewks, I’m sure the Playstation II version is in the works.

And it’s in a lovely area, spacious, room for a schipperke if need be, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, office, kitchen, roof, terrace, locked parking area, sound enough neighbours, but no internet connection just yet. Expect radio silence for a week or so, except the occasional blog from interweb cafes maybe. It’s going to be a fun weekend finding bargain furniture and moving in. Wish us luck. If you haven’t looked at the pix from the other day it’s this one

While there’s not much in the way of blogging, have a look at this here optical illusion
And I’m quite enjoying this game too.

Bienvenidos a casa, Mum and Dad. Looking forward to your Tenerife pix. Cheers- G & S

Another hiccup. Today we were due to meet and sign contracts for our lovely house. Fortunately or unfortunately on our way to Tonala, I picked up the paper and on the front page was: All traffic from Lopez Mateos (huge main thoroughfare in Guad) to be diverted by Your New House while they build a tunnel (!) on LM. So fearing another Seville scenario (where the week after Sita moved in with a year contract they started to demolish the hotel 1 metre away for 6 months, then rebuild it, at 6:30 am each and every morning) we phoned to say we’re not going to take this house. Which is a shame, but it just goes to show that the 7 pesos (35p / 65 cents) I spend on El Informador each day are justified.

The weather’s lovely though, for what it’s worth. And I’m enjoying constant emails/ comments/ guestmapping from my folks who are on ‘oliday in Tenerife right now, becoming more and more fluent in the old Español each day.

Still waiting on contracty people for the house, so in the meantime, I’ve been designing meself business cards, making a few changes & additions to the nutrition site I’m doing, and how’s this look for my new sublegal Mexican enterprise: Diseno Web Agave?
Agave’s the plant they make tequila out of, and for the record, Fionuala, its sap is said to have similar healing properties to aloe vera.

Argh, we knew it was all too easy. Our mate can’t get his hands on some vital documents he’d need to co-sign with us. Well that’s his story, and I, for one, believe him. So we’re negotiating away with the land lords and waiting for other potential co-signers to call us back. While we’re waiting, I’ve penned a review of Jonathon Strange and Co. Click here to go to the patented GwynUnlimited book review page, where everything I read is all about me.

While watching telly last night we were dismayed to see that Mexico’s top scientists have cloned Anne Robinson (off of The Weakest Link (El Rival Mas Debil))). Same voice pattern, hair, Gestapo jacket and she even winks at the end. God help us all. At time of writing I don’t know whether she’s a recovering alcoholic too though…

We went to the Baratillo market today, it was nice to get there in our own car rather than public transport. Didn’t buy anything but saw some cheap beds. I and got SPSS 12 for Sr.Barba. There’s a load of pictures from there now added to the Mexico Flickr set I’m making.

We tried to see Wallace and Gromit yesterday, but they only had the dubbed version in the cinema and the voice is muy importante, so I’m going to hold out till there’s a subtitled version. Fought the temptation to buy the wobbly smuggled camcorder DVD of it too. You have to support British directors and all that.