A simple blog with the humble ambition of keeping in touch with friends scattered around the world, as "home" is more and more a vague concept. Motto: If-I-am-ever-in-your-neighbourhood-lets-go-for-a-beer!
Monday, January 29, 2007
Present trends... (I)
Uga!
Quick thoughts from a weekend partially spent in the couch...
Trends - TechnologyWeb 2.0 Ok, checking out what CNN is doing in Davos I come across a debate on Web 2.0, blogs, social networking sites etc. What was "new" for me in this debate? Second-life, a social game where people create an avatar to live another life... I had heard of other trendy games like World of Warcraft (a friend is getting married in a game where a few years ago I was killing Orcs and their bastard allies...) but this second life thingy really hit me... Reuters has a news office there... there are protests being staged by Le Pen's party... obviously real money is flushing around related with acquisitions inside the game (nothing new here...)... But what really impressed me is that there are people living a second live virtually with a lot more motivation and eagerness than living their own life in reality. Under some circumstances, I can understand this, but it awes me the kind of success these games are having...
CNN reporting on Celebrity Big Brother UK Apparently, an indian star that was discriminated in that show, won. This was reported in CNN as a last minute news...
Real concerns... China vaporized one of their own satellites with a missil... Star Wars will be back soon...
Nephews The latest MSN nick of my 11-year old nephew... "Why love can be so painful???" Poor kid!
Yet another Madrid weekend, yet another rambling through totally opposite types of night entertainment this city has to offer...
Thursday saw the innauguration of the G-8 Madrid, a group of not necessarily 8 bachelors, committed and not-committed that once a month will go out, enjoy nice cheap food and indulge in one of the most mythical Madrid weekly events, the Palacio Gaviria's international party! Whoever has ever studied in Madrid, knows what I mean... But before the usual feminine thoughts regarding this event start popping up (ooohh so childish!! ooohh so old fashioned!! etc etc!), the intention of these events is two-fold... ... celebrate the wedding of 2 of the Founding Fathers of this organization, getting married this summer; ... provide to non-committed a learning opportunity with the committed, that can share their wisdom on the opposite sex;
As you can see... a very honest and well intended event!
Friday, saw me skipping a party due to 38'C temperature, so, DVDs, tea and a blanket!
Saturday, with a severe case of homephobia, I was invited to check one of the new poshy places in Madrid, that, as I gladly found out, is located less than 10 min away from my front door (a dangerous conclusion...). 5 min outside waiting for a friend was enough to get impressed with the place (judging from the attendance...), but once in I quickly remembered why I love Madrid, even if it is 400 Km away from the sea... Good company, not too many drinks, good music and awesome sights... Quoting a friend, in this level, one never gets results, but at least we go home with washed-up eyes and a smile ;)
I believe we all go through different drinks stage through the years... At list in my case... ... beer is usually the start of this odissey, and it just bever goes away, ... Vodka is a usual second step in the world of drinks, ... then really nasty stuff, alcoholic bombs (shots) is the third step, until one realizes it is just not sustainable, ... Martini stage, Gin w/Bombay stage... been there done that! ... some hickups of Vodka/Red Bull when our body is just not holding on at night as it used to,
Note - Don't take me wrong, I don't mean AA level stuff, but the typical first drink one gets when we go out at night beyond the usual meal beer/wine... Drinking responsibly is a motto, recent, but a life motto! After last Saturday, I realized that I have moved a step ahead and am now not only on the drinking but also on the producing phase of... Caipirinhas!!
Saturday night, armed with my Braun Mini-Pimer 5000 ULTRA-PRO ICE DESTROYER, I went to a friend's house warming party and was able to pull-off >40 Caipirinhas as welcome drinks, one by one starting to get people happy, with generally quite positive feedback (measured factually by the requests for repeats!). This is now certified as an official Cruz-Tours service ;)
Merhaba! Sentence of the week: "I read Playboy for the same reasons I read National Geographic: I like to see pictures of places I will never visit..." (Annonymous)
And as for New Year resolutions... Advice from one of my favorites! By Jim Davis
A few random thoughts about this festive season...
* Global warming After yet another news report about the massive grave we are digging to the next generations... Me: So F. (my 11 year old nephew), do you know what is global warming about? F.: Yep... It is what is going to kill us all. * Risk Following my principle of avoiding giving anything related to video games to my nephews, I bought to my godsun the newest edition of RISK (the board game...). To my surprise, "they" have totally innovated the game, introducing 4 different types of objectives that can be achieved at a maximum of one per play and the added difficulty of the last one becoming public to all players! If this was already a tough game, now it is even tougher!!
Still, I fulfilled my Godfather role and was the first player to destroy my Godsun, within 4 plays :))
* Top SMS messages I will underline 2... - "A wise chinese proverbe used to say - my son, happyness lies in the small things of life... a small mansion... a small yacht... a small fortune..." - "Friends are like the police road radars: although you can't see them, they are THERE!" JfD Muchas gracias!
* Alcohol test My New Year's party was the usual house party with friends, this year in Sesimbra, a small town 60 Km south of Lisbon, by the sea (a MUST!). Driving back at around 6AM I was stopped before the "San-Fran" bridge by yet another police check... Policeman: So Mr. Cruz, have you drunk anything tonight? Me: Yes officer... Wine during dinner (I strategically avoided the standard drunk-person answer - "I only had 2 little beers" Policeman: Ok, can you please perform the alcohol test? Have you done this before? Me: Obviously... Pfffffffff Policeman: Here it is... thank you... you can go on!
This time I had fun, a few drinks during and after dinner, but nothing else after midnight... and the result was 0.00... My metabolism is kicking ass!! A good way to end the first night of the year ;)
