Pix from yesterday’s expedition

I’m of to work, just saw this story about UK’s puritanical views on language:
The Australian: Ad too bloody blunt for Brits [March 10, 2006]

First picture I ever uploaded to Flickr? It was this one 3 and half years ago.

Mexico’s having a national Flickr convention in Guadalajara tomorrow. Flickrites are flying/bussing in from all over and converging on GDL. All my mates’ll be meeting up, wandering round with cameras, meeting interesting people, sharing photo ideas, techniques, badges, possibly T-Shirts… and trying to sort out hugely complicated bar tabs. I wish them all the best. And am just a little jealous.

It had just started to pour down so we though we’d head for the bookshops in Chapultepec and then a restaurant, so we jumped in a taxi and checked out the bookshops for some scholarly tomes and investigated the space where Sita’s doing her talk next week. All v. nice though they didn’t have the books we were after. Anyroad, then it really started to piss it down, vertical sea type stuff with hail and all, and within a matter of minutes cars were practically floating past. A bus crossed the central reservation and everyone went searching for higher ground. After an hour or so it stopped but the streets were still rivers and it became an urban jungle type scenario having to edge around walls and find lower waters and all that. Quite fun, but I soaked the only shoes I own (except me flip flops). Anyroad we went to Funicular to eat and then Sita stayed home and watched crap on the telly and me and Jose went round Fernando’s for snacks and ales and met some more really sound friends of theirs. Fernando shot some nice footage of the floods and if he sends it to me as promised I’ll post it… On the way home I had my first tacos de carnaza in Av. Americas, and they were surprisingly good, even though you can eat anything at 3 in the morning and it’ll taste good. “Al buen hambre, no hay pan duro” can be your Spanish phrase of the week… “when you’re really hungry, there’s no such thing as stale bread” is a rough translation.

And for your word: naufrago – Shipwrecked person.

Jose’s been trying to persuade me to put this one in too, but I’m buggered if I can translate it decently: El que es perico donde quiera es verde y el que es pendejo donde quiera pierde. Literally: “He who is a parrot, wherever he goes, is green, he who is an idiot, wherever he goes will lose”…. more loosely, “A parrot will always be green and a loser will never win” and looser still “You are who you are no matter where you go”. It doesn’t quite trip off the tongue for me mind…

Plans for today, you ask? Translate a load of Sita’s talk, and then Superman and bowling/pool. Stu and Anne rang me this morning at 9:30 when I was fast asleep, but it was 3:30am their time in NZ so I couldn’t complain. Nice to reverse the situation a bit there. That’s yer lot for now. Sorry bout the lack of posting lately, I’m all involved in the LAUlens site, trying to get it to do discounts on bulk orders and suchlike, and am back updating one of my first sites from 2 yrs ago, GO joven. Have a grand weekend, cheers : )

…this afternoon. From this point on in the blog, and the real world, she’s Dr. Sita.

Sally & Martin are down at the minute and we’re off for breakfast in a moment. Lots of pictures coming this way in 24-48 hours.

Hasta pronto!

EDIT:

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE CONGRATS. We’re still celebratin’ more soon, including this photo…

A couple of weeks ago I got thoroughly fed up with WalMart, it’s the nearest supermarket to our house and Guadalajara’s only supplier of Portabella Mushrooms (casi regaladas). It was over a special offer on Heineken, but I digress. Anyroad, I’ve been boicotting it for 2 wks, but I just saw this on cartalk.com’s site and think I’m going to change my tactics….

The following letter was sent to a long-time patron of a local Target store. After receiving this letter, she vowed that she would NEVER take her husband shopping with her again!

January 12, 2006

Re: Mr. Bill Fenton
Multiple Complaints

Dear Mrs. Fenton,

Over the past six months, your husband, Mr. Bill Fenton has been causing quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this type of behavior and have considered banning the entire family from shopping in any of our stores. We have documented all incidents on our video surveillance equipment.

Three of our clerks are attending counseling from the trouble your husband has caused. All complaints against Mr. Fenton have been compiled and are listed below.

15 Things Mr. Bill Fenton has done while his spouse is shopping:

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people’s carts when they weren’t looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the restrooms.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official tone, ‘Code 3’ in housewares….. and watched what happened.

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and asked to put a bag of M&M’s on layaway.

6. September 14: Moved a ‘CAUTION – WET FLOOR’ sign to a carpeted area.

7. September 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he’d invite them in if they’ll bring pillows from the bedding department.

8. September 23: When a clerk asks if they can help him, he begins to cry and asks Why can’t you people just leave me alone?’

9. October 4: Looked right into the security camera; used it as a mirror, and picked his nose.

10. November 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, asked the clerk if he knows where the antidepressants are.

11. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously loudly humming the “Mission Impossible” theme.

12. December 6: In the auto department, practiced his “Madonna look” using different size funnels.

13. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browse through, yelled “PICK ME!” “PICK ME!”

14. December 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumes the fetal position and screams “NO! NO! It’s those voices again!!!!”

(And; last, but not least!) 15. December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door and waited a while; then, yelled, very loudly, “There is no toilet paper in here!”

Check back for updates on this… ; )

In other news… agaveweb.com/lens and 3 wks to the next road trip to gringolandia…