In a few short weeks, Sarita’s book will be launched (and ready for christmas stockings everywhere). In the meantime, in addition to our Tequila Quiz, I’ve wrangled an introduction-to-computer-science-client-side-javascripted Tequila Name Generator… behold!
Nada con exceso porfa…
Put your tequila talents to the test: http://agaveweb.com/msg/tequila-quiz/
If you can think of any other good questions / multiple choice answers, please comment them here, or email.
The problem with not posting for a while is that it builds a certain level of expectation that the next post will be somehow life-affirming and brilliant. But there comes a time when you just have to bite the bullet and shove something up so that rumours of the blog’s demise don’t get too out of hand. Consider this preamble a gentle invitation to lower your expectations, dear reader.
Two items jostle for the title “News of the Fortnight” round our way:
Sita is handing in her first draft of her dissertation today. It’s sociomological dynamite. No, it’s more alliterative than that. It’s Social Science Semtex. It’s going to change the way people enjoy Mexican beverages both nationally and internationally. And then some. It has something for everyone and shall be available from all good university libraries very soon. Seriously, in my capacity as someone with a 2:1 from the University of Wales’ Hispanic Studies dept., let me assure you it’s an entertaining and academically thorough addition to the canon and would make the perfect late Spring gift. If you’re reading, Sita, you can use that on the cover. Pepper it with any of the following too: “five + years in the making” “tour-de-force” “you’ll never look at tequila the same way again” “Contains the unedited ¡Mary Poppins! ¡Mary Poppins! ¡Mary Poppins! anecdote…” “A sociological treasure you’ll keep coming back to…” & “I even read the foot-notes”
Can’t believe we’re this close to finishing… and I couldn’t be prouder of young Sita.
Big news #2: Return to Guanatos… This time it’s personal.
I’ve spent enough hours working in front of LCD screens to warrant a trip back to Guadalajara to catch up with my good friends who refuse to buy land line phones so I can ring them… I’ll be there from the 20th to 26th of this month and, frankly, can’t wait. I’ve had requests for “smuggled goods” and “weapons” in reponse to the question, “does anyone want me to bring anything down for them from gringolandia”. As of yet no one has asked for gringas, which is the traditional reply. But it’s probably only a question of time. So get your orders in now to save a few bucks and playing the Mexican postal lottery. Soonish I’ll post some kind of itinerary, but I think it’s safe to say Tuesday: La Fuente. 6pm to closing…
And now once again, back to matters more prosaic.
If you have a blog, I’ve found out you are contractually obliged to mention Vampire Weekend. Turns out I’m not the first person to notice the Vampire Weekend / Ski Sunday similarity, but I might just be the first to post videos of both songs for you to draw your own conclusions. Left: Vampire Weekend M79, Right: Ski Sunday (Bach goes Pop)
Can’t get enough of it. Thanks to another ongoing, but separate investigation I’ve got the theme to 80s/90s nonsense-fest, LoveJoy ringing round my synapses too. That glissando electronic bit gets me every time…
Newquay Steam Cider
Bert sent me a picture of our tipple of choice that he saved from 1993. It was one of the few vegan/vegetarian ciders out there and lethal at 8+% alcohol. I wish they still made it. Another thing that brought back memories of student life is a repository of Fruit Machine games you can download & play on your PC. Snakes and Ladders/ Andy Capp / Road Hog are the best. Anyone know if trivia games are available somewhere too?
Doc the big dog is with us for another 24 hours since Jerrod’s stuck wherever it was he went. Doc’s been pretty good on the whole though he’s a bit possessive of his food, but generally is a calming influence on our hyperactive little mutt. They certainly love their play dates at the dog park, and the other day it was actually nice to watch the sunset while they did their canine stuff. Here’s a picture…
[flickr]photo:2462934265[/flickr]
Mexico 501’s published another excerpt from my Moving to Mexico post along with other ex-pats, and is a nice read if you’re into that kind of thing. Still not sure why it’s called Mexico 501… Either it’s a directory enquiries reference or an invitation to a long darts game.
And that’ll be all for now. Though I’ve slacked off on this blog, I’ve managed a photo every day or so at me photoblog. So you can always check over there if this page offers slim pickings. Cheers!
And Jesse, let us know if you do ever get to place WAFQ or QFQQ or whatever it was in Scrabble. With a picture or screen grab please. And a photo of your opponent’s face as all hope drains from it. Ta 😀
It’s been an off week for the Scrabble, the nadir being this game where I was outclassed by a far superior player who nonchalantly placed WAQF on the board. I managed to pluralise it with a bingo (daisies, I’m in red), but still… It came out of nowhere and put me right off. I hope I can similarly demoralise my opposition with the same word one day.
Sita’s in SCruz again today teaching the younglings the basics of sociology. I’ve no right to complain about my commute to Santa Clara when she’s going the extra mile to Santa Cruz. Hopefully in September all this will be nothing but a distant memory and everything’ll be walkable or MAXable. Talking of SC, they just got donated a load of Grateful Dead memorabilia and stuff. “This is the first step toward having a library that is a destination for scholars interested in studying an important aspect of America’s vernacular” spluttered UCSC music professor Fred Lieberman. People will be studying tequila next… All a couple of days after another important Santa Cruz event. No relation I’m sure.
Last Sunday I went on a Flickr tour to the local abandoned Naval Base, and here’s the photos I took. They’re a bit abstract cos it’s not the most exciting of areas, but there was a nice light which I think I captured in one or two. My favourite is the interior shot of a warehouse and since it’s in portrait orientation, I’ll post it here because I’ve yet to configure my photoblog to display them right.
[flickr]photo:2429553001[/flickr]
Sita’s folks have just made a big purchase in North Downey… email if you’d like more info on that teaser. And CONGRATULATIONS if you’re Martin or Sally.
And that’s the news. File the rest of this post under geekery.
New features on this blog:
Due to public repridemand you don’t have to risk losing your comment and swearing at your computer any more when the “enter these squiggly letters” spam detector is playing silly buggers. However, if you want to write a comment and have your own icon appear rather than Atticus staring lovingly back at you, you can sign up for a gravatar. Then any comment you left in the past should display the picture too. And not just in this blog neither.
Apparently video comments are going to be the next big thing, but I don’t think any of us are ready for that just yet. Meanwhile, as a stepping stone or gateway drug, if you prefer, upload yer avatars and make the comments look even nicer than they already are.
The top emailed articles list on the left is probably going to be replaced with a “Most Polemic” list, ie. posts with the most comments, as, understandably, people are not rushing to email posts to each other. I think it’ll stay on the photoblog though, which I’m starting to really like. I might get round to making themed e-cards for birthdays, weddings, bah-mitzvahs, quinceañeras…. and maybe branch out later into printed cards. Just ideas, just writing them down. May not happen.
Alrighty, thanks for stopping by again, now go off gravitarise yourself. Cheers!
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:
Minus points:
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).