My Thin Red Line

My Business Class

2006-01-18T20:13:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday marked a momentous occasion for me: my first business trip! Strictly "work-related," I was flown out to sunny San Antonio to sit through a conference for drug company sponsoring research on a new medication to treat insomnia. I was surrounded by the créme-de-la-créme of sleep scientists, many of whom were essentially the founders of the field. Now I know what you're thinking--the drug companies are evil, he's turned to their side....In fact, I was a bit worried that I was commiting treason upon myself because of the negative image I've long held of the drug industry, but having sat through the proceedings, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the researchers take painstaking measures to ensure quality control and have as their foremost concern to ease people's pain. It is a shame that virtually every drug manufacturer inflates their budget by about 100% just by reporting numbers from R&D, even though every year they are able to write those costs off as tax deductions, dollar for dollar. And there is something to be said for the fact that they shacked us up at a spa/resort and practically force fed us gourmet food any time we weren't in session, but I figured hey, I've been stuck in the dreary ol' Chicago winter for a couple of months now and I deserve a vacation.

Aside from the drudgery of sitting in closed-door sessions on Thursday and Friday morning, I was able to take advantage of the finer aspects of the environs. Like the jacuzzis, king-size down beds, Lone Star beer, and the Alamo. By the way, the Alamo is totally NOT what I was expecting it to be. I had this mental image of it being out in BFE, kind of like the wedding chapel in Kill Bill, complete with tumbleweeds blowing by, but no, it's right in the middle of downtown San Antonio. Literally, you turn a corner from the main artery through downtown and it's right there. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to see it, but it turned out that the dinner function held for us on Friday was only about a block away. Not only did I get to see the Alamo, but I was able to rub elbows with the higher-ups, namely Phyllis (my boss/PI) and some esteemed PhDs.

Some other highlights from my trip: open-bars, the 65-year-old Panthers-loving woman who knows more about football than I ever will, fresh air, the world's largest collection of antlers and trophy heads, 20 million pillows, and 12F. God bless 12F.

Currently, I am nursing my poor hip back from a nasty spill I took while cycling with Scott last weekend. When attemping the turn on the LSD path near the Drake, Scott and I hit a patch of black ice. Yes, that's right, I was outside cycling when it was cold enough to freeze water. I saw a fellow cyclist carefully tip-toeing off to the side (actually, he wasn't much of a "fellow" since he didn't even try to warn us) only before it was too late--with my narrow roadie tires, my bike slid out from under me, and Scott, merely from trying to avoid me, went down as well. Ow. I shouldn't have even gone for the damn ride in the first place; it was far too cold, and I wasn't wearing nearly enough layers. I had to take a break at Scott's place to warm up, since frostbite was most definitely settling into my poor toesies, and to borrow some extra layers in order to actually make it back home alive and still slightly thawed. Despite my now-black-and blue hip, Sus luckily suffered no injuries.

Oh, and 24 totally kicked ass, by the way. I don't care what anyone says, Jack Bauer is da man. I don't know how they keep doing it. Scrubs is also back on the air, which I am also very excited about. This season is out of control. So many memorable lines. And FYI, if any of you ever wondered why all my blog entry titles begin with "my," it's from Scrubs. All the episodes are My-something ("My New God," "My Myocardial Infarction," etc.). Those of you who actually knew that, you just earned 5,000 points in my book.

P.S. - My dog thinks the wood chairs are his new bone. We discovered he's been knawing at the bottom rungs at night. Anyone who knows of a completely indestructible, soft chew toy, I will be indebted to you forever.

The following takes place between 6:55 PM and 7:00 PM

2006-01-15T18:56:00.000-06:00

News flash--24 has officially returned. Everyone tune in. Do it now.

My Motivation

2006-01-08T18:21:00.000-06:00

Am I nuts to attempt a triathlon this fall? Part of me screams, "yes," but another larger part says I could realistically perform. I might not be a gold medal contender, but I mean, I did erg 42,195m two years in a row, right?

Scott, my buddy now at NU Med School, and I are talking about entering the Chicago Triathlon in August. Originally, he had informed me of the Lymphona & Lukemia Society's sports event fundraising, which would require thousands of dollars in fundraising in order to attend either a marathon, triathlon, or century ride. Realistically, with my job, that would be a high milestone to reach, so I will have to get all the details from the organization before I can make a commitment. In any case, I can still register for the Chicago Tri by myself.

Training for this would give me a reason to get off my ass every once in a while and work some physical activity back into my lifestyle. Ever since I graduated and left crew in the dust, I haven't done much in the way of exercising. All I've needed is some simple motivation, and I believe this hits the spot.

1,500m swim, 40,000m bike ride, 10,000m run, check.

In other news, the new season of 24 begins next week. I am literally on the edge of my seat here writing this, in anticipation of the premier. I know, I'm obssessed. So sue me.

My Spanish Roots VII

2006-01-01T22:31:00.000-06:00

Tues., 11/9

Lots to recount…

The Thursday before Halloween, Paci, Rafa, María, Jon, and I started at Cubil, then proceeded to a champagne/chupita bar somewhere behind Betis. They all got high, then we to Betis where Jon reclaimed his umbrella. We tried to go to one of the bars there, but I for some reason was negged since they asked me for my ID and it was the one night I happened not to bring my license (I was the only one they asked, argh. Reminiscent of past theater experiences...). We chilled at Fundición, where we ate sunflower seeds and stood in the background as Paci and Rafa had a lover’s quarrel. And that was that.

That Friday, we went out with the high school girls again to Atrevete, the same place we met them last time. It was equally as fun, except for the 12-year-old assassin and his posse. Apparently this kid will “rob you then kill you if you even look at him.” Even the cops knew him. Kind of funny, but not really…

Two weekends ago was the group trip to Granada. Except for those who had already made plans to go elsewhere that weekend, everybody else in the program went to Granada. It was a very fun city. Its "skyline" is most famous for the giant Alhambra palace. SBC hooked us up with 4-star accommodations in the city—at least they splurged a little there. No, but the trip was well planned. We spent about an hour waiting in traffic to get to our hotel, then checked in, although Jon and I didn’t get our room until several hours later since not all the rooms had been prepared. In the meantime, we chilled with the Sweet Briar chicks (Bea, Olivia, Holly-Lane Riley, and Tory…I think they’re all from SBC anyway). After chowing down on some bocadillos, we hopped on the bus for an afternoon tour of Granada’s biggest chapel and the oldest part of the city which runs along the cliffs where the Alhambra is situated. We had the option of hiking down from the elevated part of the city where we were dropped off, so we took it. Most of the afternoon was a blur, as the guys in our little group decided it would be a good idea to stop by a supermarket and each get some booze for the way down. We each had either 40 of good-ol Alhambra beer or a liter of wine (beer for me, personally). And since we hadn’t eaten much, it was quite an intoxicating trip down. Possibly the best part of the trip back down to the hotel was stopping at a falafel shop to get some doner kebab that, probably because we drunk, tasted like heaven. I talked with Josh a bit about his apparent withdrawal symptoms from not having played his guitar in a while (looking at tabs at internet cafes, getting the shakes, etc.); he and I will jam in the near future since I brought my baby along.

The meals were out of this world at the hotel in Granada--it was all buffet-style. I honestly ate the most I’ve ever eaten here in Spain. Four full plates, I think? Anyway, after dinner I went to chill in Bea and Olivia’s room (both of whom were in towels when I entered, still need to get the picture they took...) and continued down to Cruzcampo Especials. Lots more people showed up, and I went to wake up Jon who had taken a nap. We had about 20 people smoking and drinking in the room, breaking the program's three main vacation rules in the process. We later tried to go out clubbing, but it turned out to be a bust. Lauren tried to assume leadership and started asking Spaniards for directions to this bar which was way out of the way. We eventually found it, no thanks to her directing, however. With Matt macking Bea that night, and my buzz wearing off, I didn’t feel like staying long at the Chupeteria bar, so I cabbed it back with Karli, Zach, and a few other people and crashed hard.

The next morning I proceeded to stuff my face at breakfast, then hopped on the bus again for the Alhambra tour. It is indeed a spectacular palace, and our tour guide (Raúl I think is his name, although I never found out for sure) was one stylish dude, all decked out in outbackapparel. We also toured the adjacent Jardines de Generalife. They didn’t quite compare to the Florencian Boboli Gardens, but they were still very pretty. Lunch came as a surprise--another buffet--since I thought we were just getting back on the bus and heading home directly after the tour. But again I stuffed myself, and our table with all guys recounted our favorite childhood cartoon/TV shows while getting boozed on wine that was donated from every which table that found no use for it. Then we went home, and all the wine-takers fell soundly asleep.

The following night was to see the Halloween celebrations on Betis/in Boss, but it turned out to be a huge debacle. All the high-schoolers we had made friends with weren’t able to get in since apparently el jefe intended the free passes to be only for Americans, so the bouncers were making up excuses not to let the kids in. Of course, the kids got mad. Maria and I tried to make our way to the front of the line, but as soon as we did they took away the list we were on and things just went downhill from there. One of the kids threw a glass at the entrance door; the bouncers went out into the crowd to find the perp, and after not finding him they decided to close down the bar (this at only 1:15 AM). Jon, Antony, Irene, and her friends had already entered. I couldn’t find them even though I tried texting/calling Jon a few times, but to no avail. Maria and I decided to go to Madegan’s to get a beer and wait and see if we could find them, but we never did. We tried to wait in line to find a cab at the Betis Plaza, but the line was huge, so we decided to walk across the bridge and a bit north to find one that would take us to a club to meet Chuti. But there were no taxis to be found at all. Neither were any of the cab companies answering the phone when we tried to call to reserve one. Maria told me that had never happened before. We ended up walking all the way to the university and catching a bus the rest of the way back. Oy vay. Jon felt bad, but was able to deal with all the jokes that consequently poured from Maria's mouth the next day.

As of right now I can’t remember much of what happened MTWTh—mostly just classes and rowing, I think.

Tuesday night was the election. Flaherty’s was having live CNN coverage with some drink specials (which I didin't find out about until it was too late). I chilled with Mallory and Emily for a bit to watch the initial coverage, then moved into the giant party room after they left. I stayed until just after 4AM with Jon, waiting to find out Florida’s results, but they didn’t end up calling it until a day later. The results make me sad, and pretty much everyone else here. And I’m mad at my family for all voting the other way >:o Florida once again dicked over the country. I decided not to out Wednesday night since I wanted to make my EU class. We had a big discussion about the likely election results (no winner had been declared at that point), and talked a bit about the new EU constitution.

Friday I met up with Lito, Aunt Vicki, and Aunt Linda who had planned a three-week trip to Spain way back when. I took the bus to meet them at their hotel on the outskirts of Seville, and then came back to Conci’s place to have coffee and meet the family. Maria, Conci, and Benito loved them all, especially Lito, who they said is the “perfect grandfather.” He knew exactly how to deal with Benito, since I warned him he was reminiscent of Jon. Conci had a dinner date, though, so we exited after a little while and tried to find somewhere to eat. However, this was at around 8:00 PM, an hour during which I had never really tried to go out to eat dinner here, and it didn’t even occur to me that the bars/restaurants would be closed. We ended up going by Cubil, which had just opened its doors at around 8:45. We were able to order lots of tapas and sangre, which hit the spot. After seeing the family off, Jon and I went back to make some sandwiches and get a good night’s sleep before the big canyoning trip on Saturday.

We had to get up quite early—5:45, but no earlier than during crew season, of course. DiscoverSeville had set up a hiking/canyoning trip in the mountains of Málaga. This was perhaps the greatest adventure I've ever had. It was a bit disconcerting since we really didn’t have much of an idea what “canyoning” entailed, or what part of the country exactly we would be traversing. Aunt Vicki had scared Jon and me when recounting cousin Mike’s story about body surfing in rocky waters, and reading a newspaper story of his former canyoning guide and his group who died during a flash flood on one trip. Luckily, our experience didn't end up that way.

We hiked up a mountain in one of Málaga’s national parks, near the highest peak in the southern province. It was quite steep for the first part, and kind of awkward having to hold all the gear in the process, but we made it all right. After reaching the top of our route, we took a snack break and then put on our gear. Everybody had a bit of trouble getting on the wetsuits, especially me when I unknowingly put it on backwards at first. The whole trip down was amazing—we hiked in varying depths of water and did some rock climbing/repeling down the breaks in the descent that were too high to simply walk down. It ended up taking much longer than it should have, although I could tell it would be well past the original intended departure time since we had to wait so long at the kinks where we had to rock climb down, one person at a time. Echoes of the bus driver’s joking banter with us before kept sounding in my head, that if we weren’t there at 5 PM he would leave. At the last descent, they didn’t even bother with hooking up a rope to descend—they simply stuck us in a hole under the rock that was about knee high and slid the rest of the way down. It was quite exhilarating, though—never had been rock climbing. Nor had I ever worn just boxer shorts and sneakers. That was interesting, changing clothes with everyone on the side of the road.

That loaded turkey bocadillo tasted sooo good afterward. On the way there and back we happened to stop at the big Spanish-style rest stop that we had frequented on the Granada trip, or rather what Jon likes to call “hell.” All that jamon serrano hanging on the walls, in addition to the alien mannequins, is indeed disturbing. Several people went out in Seville aftet we got back that night, but I decided not to go, as I had made a whimsical decision to go to Jeréz with a few people the next day.

There were only 6 of us who went—Elliot, both Rachels, Luisa, Ashley, and I. It was just a quite train ride via the Cercanía to Jeréz de la Frontera. We took a full tour of the Gonzalez-Byass/Tio Pepe bodega (the same place that Lito & Co. toured, I think), led in Spanish nonetheless. The smells in the barrel rooms were positively intoxicating. The tour was very well designed, lasting over two hours, and culminating in wine-tasting with tapas. We were the last ones to leave, along with a numerous, friendly Spanish family with whom we chatted for a long time. The bartender was very gracious, constantly giving us more chips/tapas and refilling our sherry . The family ended up accompanying us to a good tapas bar nearby, after a quick stop to the expansive Tio Pepe gift shop! They thought Elliot was a riot, though, even offering to set him up with some of their rather attractive daughters. It was definitely worth the day trip.

No study abroad trip would be complete, I imagine, without a little trouble back at the home school. I had had this financial hold on my account for a long while, stemming from Dad’s unemployment and long time away from home on job training. It eventually threatened to complicate my registration, so I put the pressure on Dad to resolve things on his end. After some discussion, it fell on me to write a rep from student accounts asking for a release on my account, but after a follow up email and two calls, I still hadn’t gotten a response by Monday, when I was supposed to pre-register. However, Dad was able to get in touch with him two hours after my appointment time, and I was able to clear up the problem and register, and now things are okay for now. Phew!

Maria and I had a fun time last night sharing my pictures from trips here as well as ones from home. She and the family especially got a kick out of Jon’s infamous pigeon video, heh. Benito and I also started a game of Risk. I thought I would win at first, but María entered to help Benito out, and I’ve been losing pretty hard since then. I don’t know how much longer the game will last, but hopefully things will improve for me! Jon and I played chess last night, too. He got frustrated after beating him every time since he hates to lose in general :p. Oh weeelll…

Got to go heal the hands from rowing. Es todo for now.

Lito and Me in Torremolinos

Cousin Linda, Aunt Vicki, and Me in the caves beneath Nerja

The Alhambra Fortress at Granada

El Palacio de Leones, inside the Alhambra

Alhambra Garden

Jon and our rugged Alhambra Tour Guides

The many barrels of sherry at the Jerez de la Frontera bodega

Everybody in Jerez gets some wine, even the mice...

My New Year's Resolution

2006-01-01T21:01:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year 2006 to all! One of my new year's resolutions is to keep better records on here. And since it's winter, that wonderfully depressing time of the year in Chicago when one is forced to stay indoors 3/4 of the time, I have no excuse. Anyway, in an effort to recapture all the events that have taken place since my last update, I offer snippets of the most memorable goings-on:

*Ryan, my cousin from FL, and Chad, my cousin on the westside, and I kicking back four rounds at a Loop bar, reminiscing about our youthful day and those in our family who've left us

*Chad hanging upside down fifteen feet about ground, riffing on a guitar

*Grinding on stage with the lead actress in a play

*Piss-drunk on Division with Ryan, who still manages to pick up some ladies

*Hearing both sides of the story when Uncle Ron crashed Uncle Mike's car

*Snow "falling" sideways, and my mom loving it

*...My dad and I hating it *Meeting my cousin Sean's new baby!

*$100 lobster

*Spending just two hours with best friends in Florida and once again being reminded why, no matter what, nothing will change, ever

*Also, for unrelated reasons, being reminded why I left that state in the first place

*A full-on intellectual debate with my brother's fiancée about politics, religion, philosophy, and evolution

*Realizing I'm even more different from my family than I ever knew

*Catching up with my old piano teacher/mentor

*Admitting to my mom I'm no longer a Catholic at 1 AM

*Leaving my baby for six days, but knowing he was in good hands

*Getting a Christmas bonus!

*Spending my first New Year's outside of the eastern time zone with good friends, good booze, watching fireworks over the skyline, all while wondering why they ever let Carson Daly host the New Year Special in the first place

Throughout this nasty winter--and I'm not just bitter, it's actually the coldest start on record--I have tried to keep in mind that spring is but within a few months' reach. Especially now that I'm out on my own, it truly gets rather melancholy around here sometimes, but I try to get the endorphins going by running with Alexei when weather permits and playing a good tune on the ol' six string. I can't wait until biking season begins again. I was very tempted to take Sus for a spin, since there was actually no ice on the roads and temperatures warmed a bit, but in fact it's still a tad too chilly to have an enjoyable ride. Soon enough...

In spite of this rather dreary season, I am also warmed by the thought that not two years from now, I will likely be venturing out west to start grad school. At the moment, the University of Arizona is at the top of my list. I recently got to talking with my Uncle Ron, who is a PhD at a research institute in Phoenix, and discovered that he is on several boards and is in constant contact with several professors in the area. He could wield some serious clout for me when the time comes next year. I plan to fly out there this summer and go with him to meet some of my would-be mentors. Even though I am just finding my groove at work, I know I will definitely be ready to move on to bigger and better things by that point.

In the meantime, I will have to settle for a free "business" trip to Texas next week. GlaxoSmithKlein is holding a conference for a new insomnia/drug study, in which I will be involved. They are providing free airfare to and from San Antonio, lodging at a resort & spa, and dining for three days. I get to be that guy flagging down the driver holding up a sign for me at the airport. When Lukas, my co-worker, asked if I would be available to come, naturally I obliged.

In the absence of a new Family Guy episode, I shall now instead curl up with a good book and read until I fall asleep. Because God knows there isn't much else going on around here tonight.

My Simple Life/Spanish Roots VI

2005-11-16T00:33:00.000-06:00

Today was a curious day.

First of all, it's the first time this year that it's truly felt like the seasons are changing in Chicago. The transition seems to have come at a very late point this year, although every successive year I'm here, it seems to be warmer and warmer in general. This probably isn't the only place on earth that's seeing this, though. Regardless, I was up the creek without a paddle tonight as I was exiting the hospital and discovered the wind had become particularly chilly and strong, and I had no hat or gloves. Will bring those next time.

For the first time, I have become aware that the word "sleep" has lost all usual meaning to me. Maybe it's the nature of my job, watching the latest subject pass out, my becoming a sentient observer of something I am indeed so used to experiencing myself but in a subliminal manner; or maybe it's from seeing everyone's away message tonight--"sleeep," "sleepy sleep sleep," or "sleep--highly recommended"--at 2 AM while I'm still wide awake. To me, sleep has become something amorphous, ethereal. My rhythms have been altered as of late, forced to adjust to the variable nature of my work. But I've found I can easily adapt within a rather short period of time, confirming a process that will likely help me the rest of my life. (Speaking of confirmations, many things recently have been confirmed that I never would have expected.)

Today, I was doing some reflecting--something I'm not so prone to doing since I have essentially zero concentration skills-- and overtly realized that I am coming to a point in my life where simplicity is the name of the game. I believe I have become a bit too materialistic and am searching for ways to purge myself and focus on bigger and more important things I may have missed during my first twenty-one years this planet. Accordingly, I am trying to get rid of a bunch of shit in my apartment (although, granted, a big reason is that I don't even truly have enough space for everything in the first place). I've even been toying with the idea of relocating to a more rural area for grad school and beyond, a move I never previously entertained at all. Part of me still isn't completely happy here, although--don't get me wrong--I am happy to have a secure job and not be living in that abonimation called South Florida.

P.S. - The 147 is the bane of my existence.

More from my Spanish Roots:

Fri., 10/22

I must say I’m in a much better mood than last time I wrote in here. I am back into the swing of things. The weekend should be pretty fun. Tonight, the other guys and I are having a group intercambio/botellón with some Spaniards (hopefully some chicas). I don’t know where we’ll end up, but it’s more fun that way, no? Tomorrow, SBC has a group trip to Ronda. None of us is quite sure what’s there, nor does our family know too much either since they haven’t been there themselves, but I’m sure it’s worth an all-expense paid daytrip.

I’m bummed Mandy won’t be able to make it here! I knew something would go wrong—she always puts off things much longer than even I am prone to do. I wouldn’t have paid $/euro350 in any case, though. And no other weekend will work for her. There’s a very, very slight chance I could see her in London for the Puente, but that’s highly unlikely. I’m excited about Ireland, though, and now maybe Scotland. It looks like I’ll end up going to Cork, Dublin, Blarney, and Edinburgh. The price is right for the airplane tix and we'd have free lodging with Jon’s friends in Dublin and Edinburgh. As soon as Jon confirms plans with his buddy in Scotland, we’ll book the tickets.

I also made contact with the “Club de Remo”/Rowing Club today. I’m pretty sure I will choose the 3x/wk option. For a non-collegiate center, It’s a fairly nice place—a full erg room and bay right across from the dock. I will get to learn to scull in a single, and maybe join a double if Sarah or Zach goes, or if I meet someone else there on the same schedule as mine. Quite exciting.

Mucho ruido, poca nuese = all bark and no bite

Operación gamba = paper-bagger

I’m getting quite annoyed with Jon’s girlfriend calling so much. I guess I should be understanding right now, as the RedSox are in the World Series, but damn, I need some shuteye! But yea for the Sox.

Thurs. 10/28

So the intercambio with the high school people went well. By high school people, I mean 7 17-to-18-year old chicas. I am quite infatuated with Mamen (combo of María and Carmen—cool, huh)--just ask Jon. Paula was the ringleader on the Spaniards' side who set everything up. Apparently she told her friends there would be girls from our program going too, but she lied to get them to come because she knew they wouldn't come if they knew it was just us guys: Harry, Jesse, Zach, Antony, Jon, and me. We had a great time, though. After the awkward period of initial introductions, we proceeded to botellón in a neighborhood where there’s an underground 24-hour liquor store, and in Triana/Feria, where Jon and I got lost two weeks ago. I, as well as most of the other guys, were “más ciego que un tropo.” Jonito and Antonio went to their high school today to give a presentation about Halloween, and to hand out passes for the crazy Halloween party at Boss this Sunday. We’re supposed to party with them tomorrow night as well—fun times! Also, tonight, Jon and I are supposed to go out with Paci and some other Spanish people.

Saturday was the daytrip to Ronda. Most of us were pretty hung over, and I almost didn’t get out of bed that morning; the only thing that made me do it was that Jon wanted to go :p Anyway, there wasn’t too much to do there, but nonetheless it was precioso. Ronda mainly earns its renown from Hemingway's literature about, and vacations to, this quaint city overlooking the countryside. We did a walking tour of the old city, mansions, and bullfighting ring, then had lunch and a little free time. Lunch was cheap and yummy at one of the local tapas bars. Jon, Antony, and I then took the hike down to the near-bottom of the Puente, to behold the gorgeous view of cascading waterfalls that pour out from under the main bridge. I probably took one of my best pictures ever there.

And I finally began sculling in Sevilla. My first day was Tuesday (Monday was pretty rainy). Other than a quick ten minute mini-lecture of sculling-to-sweeping comparison, I was pretty much on my own to learn the new technique. Sergio, el jefe, told me his place is kind of “anti-gimnasio,” which probably isn’t the best method, but hey, it’s the only place I could find that wasn’t too hardcore for my schedule here in Spain. I’m getting the hang of it, though. After figuring out the height and set differences (left hand over right), I got the hang of it. I’ve notice my right side is a bit stronger—either that, or I’m still digging on one side, because I continually steer to starboard. The river is perfect for rowing, though—no wonder it’s a world-famous center. Plenty wide and straight for the most part. The FISA world champsionships were held here a few years ago. Today, I cut a path south through the main party of Sevilla, passing some boats and other tourists on the bridge who took my picture J. Later, I went north, where it’s a perfect straightaway. I’ll probably only scull for one month instead of two, since it won’t pay off with my short schedule in December. But it’s worth it!

I’m having a bit of trouble with my absentee ballot. I sent in what I thought was the official ballot over a month ago, but Monday I received a second ballot that looked even a bit more official. I’m confused since the first one didn’t have any indication that it might have been a sample ballot. I’ve been trying to calling the elections office back home but every time I do it says that all circuits are busy. I left a message on my mom’s phone this afternoon—hopefully she will have gotten in touch by the time I call her tonight. I can’t believe the election is in less than a week…

Carbonería is quickly becoming the hangout spot for our clique. I hope we don’t go there much more, though—it’s really noisy and smoky and you can’t really hear or see the flamenco unless you have one of the coveted few seats up close. Monday night, Jon and I went to meet Becky and her boyfriend who was in town, and Emily and Mallory. They kept asking me about my “girlfriend,” whether I had one, etc.--interesting… Tuesday night I went with Jon and María to meet Antonio and Zach for their FunkyClub “business” meeting, i.e. free beers and more Carbonería/Bar Levies. ¡Muchos pases por gratis con copa esta vez!

El puente de Ronda

Gateway to Ronda

Plaza de Toros

My Working Life/Spanish Roots V

2005-11-13T14:23:00.000-06:00

OK, so it's been a while. But honestly, that's probably because, aside from a select few instances, nothing much worth writing down has happened. I've been working full-time for about four months now, and although it feels great to be fully self-sufficient, I'm living a very different lifestyle, one that took some getting used to. It was a definite shock only after I had settled into my new place when I realized that I really am on my own. I truly am at a crossroads in my life; things are changing fast, and I've tried to keep up. I buzzed my hair fairly short, got a dog, and joined a cycling club, among other things, perhaps as a internal means to match the external pull of vertigo I've been experiencing.

For a while, I had been falling into the trap of letting work completely envelop my life because I thought that was the only thing that mattered at this point. However, as of late, I have become aware of the fact that work is only one of several aspects of my life now. Most of those other aspects are preparation for the future (although I try to be cognizant of the present). I am preparing for grad school. I have started saving for retirement. I am trying to rub elbows with the higher-ups at work in order to cash in next year. I am spending countless hours thinking about what I will say at my brother's wedding in a few years (I still cannot believe he is ENGAGED).

Regardless of my recent cheerlessness, I have become very independent, even more so than I ever was in college, which has its pros and cons. It's beneficial in that I am forced to seek out interaction with other people in non-traditional manners, a lesson I probably did not fully develop before. However, I do get a bit lonely down here--the ultimate irony of living closer to a metropolis of three million inhabitants. You see, since I graduated early, most of my friends are still in college. Now that I live much farther south, it's not so convenient for me to see them, and vice versa. Plus, our schedules tend not to coincide with one another. My roommate is also gone more than half the time.

Sometimes I just feel like I grew up way too fast. I am trying to apply the brakes, though, and still enjoy my youth. In any case, I have Alexei, my new dog, to keep me company :)

My brother did come up to visit me a few weeks ago. After his vacation with Devon in LA, he hopped on a plane to Chicago to stay with me a few days. It was his first time in the area, and it sure wasn't long enough! Unfortunately, he had to be ready to report to base in West Palm only a few days afterward, but I'm glad he was able to squeeze some time in up here. I showed off NU and a bit of downtown to him, but mostly we just reminisced about the past and celebrated the near future. And of course we were able to fit in a few rounds of Halo between.

I also have fun plans for the holidays. Ryan, my cousin in Palm Beach, is coming up for Thanksgiving. We're going to tear up the city, and in the process hopefully meet up with my other cousin, Chad, who lives on the west side. This Thanksgiving will have been two years without my family's Thanksgiving smorgasbord. But I booked a flight home for Christmas, so I can make up for it then. My parents--and a bunch of other family, actually--are also coming up the first weekend in December, ostensibly for a play that Chad is helping to put on, but I like to believe it's mostly to see me : ) It's also my Dad's birthday that weekend, so the next month will be chock full of good ol' family fun.

After the end of 2005, who knows what dreams may come. 2006 is a new year, likely bringing even more change.

P.S. - I currently have what some may consider an unhealthy addiction to bluegrass, wine, and The Apprentice. I don't care what you say, though--each is strangely intoxicating to the point of ridiculousness.

P.P.S. - I haven't forgotten my Spanish Roots journal:

Thursday, 10/14

Another long delay in the journal entires, thanks to my near-perfect trip to Italy. It was quite a blast, and spending it with the friends I’ve made on this trip as well as with Mandy made it even better. Despite the debacle of the return leg of my trip (missing my flight, unsympathetic attendants, sleeping overnight in Fiumicino, having to take overnight train from Barcelona--see below for the full story), I had a blast. I spent the first two nights in Rome, mostly just with Mandy. We stayed in a hostel very close to the Vatican. The last three nights I was in Firenze, AKA Florence. I stayed at Mandy’s place and but spent most of the time with the rest of my Sevilla amigos as well as Mandy.

The first night in Rome, Mandy and I went out for some wine and panini at a local bar. Friday, we toured Vatican City, Castel Sant’Angelo, Piazzas Navona, and Popolo. Dinner that night was amazing—we ended up eating with two local Italians, Giuseppe and Angelo. They practically force-fed us their fresh calamari and eggplant, they were so generous. I was very proud of the fact that together, the four of us managed to communicate in four different languages (English, Italian, German, and Spanish). It was the one time I’ve gotten to practice my German outside of class. Halfway through the meal, I became pleasantly drunk from the Chianti we had with dinner and Cabernet we bought at a true bodega at the Piazza Popolo, so that made it even more fun. After dinner we proceeded to explore the city in the best way possible--by getting lost! We were trying to find the Pantheon to meet up with Jon & Co and ended up taking a very roundabout path. The others never did arrive, however, so the two of us went back and crashed.

Saturday, we took the Metro down to the Ancient City. The ride was fairly crowded and was highlighted by the arrest of four young female pickpocketers. It was probably the best expression of justice I have ever seen--two cops boarded the train immediately after the theft and fully embarrassed the girls by shouting “pickpocketers, pickpocketers” aloud in front of everyone on the train. Anyway, during the day we toured the Roman Forum, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Piazza di Campoglioni, and the Wedding Cake monument/museum. Then we picked our bags up at Colors Hotel and caught our evening train to Florence at Termini Station.

It was a fairly long ride, but we spent the first half talking to an elderly American from North Carolina, who ironically had attended school at NU’s seminary, then later lived in Louisville. Mandy and I ate at a nice tratteria, where I had one of the best calzones, before arriving at her flat.

Her apartment is extraordinary. All of the culinary students are guaranteed a place with a nice kitchen, and you know if it has a nice kitchen, every other amenity is nice as well. My sleep that night was interrupted by the frantic phone calls of Antony, Whitney, her boyfriend, and Zach, as Zach, Whitney, and Jon apparently had been kicked out of the hostel and were trying to find another place to stay. They ended up finding a Best Western, even though Mandy offered to take them in.

Florence ended up having fairly crappy weather--it rained the whole time--and of course I had forgotten to pack my umbrella in my backpack. Florence is a lot more chill than Rome, but the atmosphere is unequalled. Mandy and I toured the Borgello museum, went to mass at a local church (all in Italian, very short), passed through a bunch of piazzas (Vecchio, Repubblica, and Signora), walked across Ponte Vecchio, then met up with the rest of the gang at the Accademia to view the David.

The David is awe-inspiring; as Zach put it, “it inspires homosexual tendencies.” Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures--security confiscates your camera if you do--so I have no real record of it. We had lunch at a tratteria that Mandy suggested, where it started to rain again. Mandy split, and I went with the others to wait in line at the Uffizi (since I found out it is closed on Mondays), but we discovered the wait was 3 hours, which would’ve given us ~20 minutes to see things. Thus, we scratched it, and proceeded to look around at some plazas, stop at a café. Then I split with Jon to head back to Mandy’s.

We killed time by shopping for wine and other uniquely Italian items, then went back to Mandy’s place. Earlier, Mandy had offered to have a dinner party for everyone, so we helped her find some last minute ingredients. I was Mandy’s assistant chef, and we had everything prepared in time for the “guests.” Everyone is now completely in love with Mandy. She made a very good meal. We had mozzarella and tomatoes w/ olive oil, salami, and brie/crackers to start, spaghetti carbonara for the main dish, and biscotti w/ vin santo after-dinner wine for dessert.

Mandy was gracious enough to let Zach, Whitney, and Jon crash at her place for the night. The following day we went to the Santa Croce church to see lots of famous dead bodies (Michelangelo and Machiavlli to name a few), then saw the Duomo and Baptistery. The Duomo has the most amazingly intricate façade, yet the interior is ironically starkly bare. We wandered for a bit, then Jon, Zach, Antony, and I walked to the Synagogue, but I decided to stay outside (not being Jewish, I didn't have much of a desire to see it as the others) in order to call my parents and Mandy, since we were to meet up with Mandy later. The rest of my buddies decided to take the train back directly afterward, however, so I met Mandy for gelato.

We then toured the Boboli gardens. The main highlight of the gardens was a hilarious statue of a fat, naked Bacchus riding a statue. It took forever to find it, however, since it was poorly marked. I did get to practice my Spanish with some other Spaniards who were trying to find the statue. In fact, most people we met along the way were also lost trying to find it. We had originally planned to hit up the Piazza Michelangelo afterward, but it ended up being too far to walk for our level of exhaustion. Instead, we ducked back in Mandy's place and cooked some fresh prosciutto pasta and sauce and watched School of Rock and 13 Going On 30 (there were three girls living in the apartment, what could I do?). I crashed hard, and the next morning, began the complete disaster that was my trip home.

I purposely bought my return train ticket to Rome on the way into Florence with plenty of time to spare in case there was a delay. In fact, there was a delay the morning of my return train ride, but the delay was well past any length I could have imagined for what is supposed to be one of the best rail systems in the world. The train was already over an hour late getting in, and I thought I would have just enough time to make my flight. Once we got to the outskirts of Rome, though, we slowed down and just crept the rest of the way. I was shitting my pants, knowing I had only 10 minutes between Termini and the airport to make my flight at the scheduled time. I kind of got ripped off by the cabbies (I probably should have negotiated with the real RadioTaxi people) but I had no time to negotiate effectively. I knew once I hopped in the cab that my only saving grace was that my flight would be extremely delayed like the one from Málaga to Rome. Of course, that didn’t happen, and I missed my flight.

After getting the runaround many times by a mix of sympathetic and downright unhelpful Alitalia attendants, and waiting around for the elusive “supervisor,” I was able to get myself on the wait list for the evening flight back to Madrid. Tuesday, however, was a Spanish holiday, so all the flights into Spain (3 to Madrid, 2 to Málaga, 2 to Barcelona, and 2 to Sevlla) were severly overbooked. I never made a seat on the Madrid flight, and the only spot they could guarantee me was the next day at 9:05 AM to Barcelona, so I took it. Fuck, I had to take whatever I could get, right? I was probably the last person to eat dinner at the airport that night, as they were closing up shop right as I was scarfing down the last of my pizza (what the hell was on that pizza, anyway? That was the most disgusting pizza ever).

Fiumicino Airport and I got really close that night. It was probably one of the longest nights of my life. I tried to read to keep myself occupied, but I was too anxious, nervous, and exhausted to concentrate for long. I “slept” alone in terminal B, suitcase under feet and backpack under arms, sans pillow, which meant I never got real, deep sleep. After 5:30 AM the crowds started to roll in again. I got breakfast at the café, where I ran into Allie and Lauren who were waiting for their flight. The flight to Barcelona went off without a hitch, even though I couldn’t really sleep on the plane. I took the train from the airport to Barcelona-Sants train station, and discovered the only other flight that day to Sevilla was a night hotel train. I had no other choice: I booked it, put my suitcase in a locker, and bummed around the surrounding outside park at first, then read and shopped (one of the nicer shopping centers, I must say) until my train arrived.

My cabin was shared by one younger and two older Spaniards. We all pretty much crashed as soon as we got settled. One, or maybe both, of the older men had some crazy BO, but I was too tired to let it affect me for long. I slept soundly for 9 hours until we rolled into Sevilla at 8:45 AM, then made the last leg home via autobus. The plan was to sleep as long as possible when I got back to Conci's place, but my rest was interrupted by a phone call from Noelia, frantically concerned that I hadn’t signed my matriculation form. **The administration has been less than stellar in giving us information plenty of time ahead of deadlines, but luckily they stretched this one out (and the Granada one).

Anyway, it was good to be back, able to sleep in a stationary bed with pillow, and eat some of Conci’s home-cooked food. As many people pointed out to me, “lo que no te mata, te hace más fuerte.” Now, to share the story with my parents…

This weekend will probably not involve ANY traveling whatsoever. It’s the only weekend for which I never really had definite plans for a trip anyway. I slept hard last night, and will probably take a gigantic nap again this afternoon. I need to get more of my pictures uploaded to share with friends and family, but I won’t be able to until Monday since the office is close through the weekend. I might burn them to a disc like Dad suggested and send them home.

Oh, I’m kind of upset that I probably won’t be able to do guitar lessons here. The schedule is Tues./Thurs., right in the middle of my translation seminar. I’m already missing that class at least 3 times. If not guitar lessons, then maybe rowing. Get off your ass and go! It’s just so far away…we shall see.

St. Peter's Basilica

Mandy seducing Nile

Il Coloseo

Dinner with Giuseppe and Angelo

Ponte Vecchio Locks of Love

Il Duomo

Bacchus pissing over the head of his trusty shelled steed (yes, there's actually a stream of water coming out of it)

My @#!&!$#

2005-10-24T16:45:00.000-05:00

MY BROTHER IS FUCKING GETTING MARRIED NORTHWESTERN IS A RANKED TEAM AND WILMA JUST ATE PART OF MY PARENTS' HOUSE WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IS THIS PLANET EARTH HOW CAN HE AFFORD A RING I CAN'T EVEN AFFORD A PAIR OF PANTS RIGHT NOW AND I'M NEVER GOING BACK TO FLORIDA THIS IS AWESOME/NOT AWESOME/BITTERSWEET CONGRATS JON AND DEVON FUCK YOU WILMA AND GO TEAM.

That is all.

My Rocky

2005-10-19T01:21:00.000-05:00

You know they're coming out with a new Rocky, right? Rocky Balboa, the 6th reprisal. Yo, Adrian!

It's now 1 AM +, I'm at work, and now of all times I decided to come back to this thing. I've really got no excuse anymore. Just got to stop being lazy and keep at it, right? Right.

The coffee I just made is pretty strong and while it is succeeding in its primary function--to keep me awake through the literally dark and dungenous hours of the graveyard shift--it is fucking with my mind and body. Or maybe it's my topsy-turvy sleep that's doing that. Cause and effect, Neo. Yuh.

I've got to get back to wiring this mofo. As my brother would say, "l8tes."

My Pound Puppy

2005-10-01T23:06:00.000-05:00

And still I don't have a reliable internet connection. Damn you, Linksys!

But I don't really care. It's nice, because I've gotten back to the finer things in life, like enjoying a good book, which I haven't done in a while.

And it also left time for me to realize that I wanted a dog. I pondered it for a week or so and decided it was time to get a more permanent companion in my life. Deanna and I agreed to make time today to visit the shelters downtown. The first place we checked out, The Anti-Cruelty Society, actually had NO dogs whatsoever left for adoption. It was an abnormally weekend, a bittersweet situation for us. But I'm glad we didn't make a premature decision, because we had much more success at the next place.

The Animal Care & Control Center (basically the city pound) had a much greater selection. After much productive debate and discussion with Deanna and the kennel managers, we finally decided on a wonderful Rhodesian Ridgeback mix. His best feature is perhaps his big, piercing, creamy golden eyes. I named him Alexei, after the main character from my favorite book, The Brothers Karamazov; he's wise and reserved yet youthful and energetic. He seems to be fairly well potty trained; does not bark unless he sees and hears other dogs barking; and is not awfully hard to walk, although he does zig-zag a lot, something that, among other things, just requires a little obedience training. We were a bit concerned about his size at first, as he is 45 lbs., but after discussing it with the employees, we decided he was just small enough to do fine in our apartment. He was playful all through the evening--I went out and bought him all sorts of toys and other basic necessities after we got him--but now he's completely tuckered out, having passed out in the corner on his blanket which he's already gotten used to.

So, without further ado, here is Alexei!

My Finish Line

2005-09-19T16:54:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd share the picture that was taken of me at the finish line of the Nike Run Hit Wonder 10K last week. Do a search by bib # for 2233. I should be 4th row, 1st from left.

Bryce, one of the other guys I work with (search for 1635 for him, also an entertaining pic) told me I looked like Johnny from The Shining. Yup, I was glad to get that over with.

My Round the Clock/Spanish Roots IV

2005-09-17T22:28:00.000-05:00

Whew, will the errand running ever cease? I feel like I've had barely any free time on my hands the past week and a half. I am back to a mostly normal work schedule for now, and most of my time after work is split doing home improvement and making all the phone calls that need to be made during non-peak hours since Sprint is a fucking pain and won't let me switch plans, grrr. I was out until 10pm two nights ago, didn't get to sleep until midnight, then had to wake up at 3 AM to be at the hospital for a few hours (an exception to the above), so I was a bit burnt out by Friday night. I took a nap today, though, and I feel recovered. Despite all the chaos, I do feel quite accomplished. In the past few days, I (and Deanna in some cases, accordingly) finished painting the dining room, picked up a nice TV, retrieved the missing part to the desk I bought last week, got the cable/internet working, squared away plans with my dad for what to bring up, stocked up on plenty of food (decent this time), changed bank accounts, and opened up my first investment portfolios. I even cleaned a little. Normally, I am fairly tidy, but when my free time is limited, I would rather choose something else besides scrubbing a tiolet bowl.

While my free time has been limited, I did have a chance to accompany Scott on his maiden voyage on his new Jamis Quest bike. We ended up taking the lakefront path way south, which I've never traversed. I should get down that way more often because it is just as absolutely gorgeous as the north side, and there are about 75% fewer people. That equals faster riding and more fun times. Scott was pretty burnt out by the time we turned around, but give him a few weeks and I think he'll give me some good competition.

Last night was pretty chill. Deanna invited me to go out with her and some friends, including Sarah, who is practically our third roommate now :). We were originally going to go to Sarah's friend's place, but when we found out that it was off the blue line on the NW side, we promptly changed our plans and stayed in Andersonville instead. Deanna, Sarah, and I hit up Hopleaf, an awesome bar with over 300 beers to choose from! I chose an Oatmeal Stout and Demolition Ale, fine selections if I do say so myself. In fact, Mandy and I talked about going out tonight and might start there as we bar hop along Clark. We'll see where the night will take us.

Speaking of Mandy, breaking news is that her beaux, Gebler, is leaving to go work in Germany for 3 months starting next week! So we'll try to wash away her sorrow at least for tonight.

Oh, and check out Pecker's study abroad blog. He and a lot of other buddies from college are partaking in the wonderful, extravagant party that is Europe. May they see just as many wonders and have as many hedonistic adventures as I did.

And with that, Pt. IV:

Sun., 9/19

The symphonic orchestra on Friday was great. The acoustics are perfect in that hall—I could hear every note. I went with Jenn, Michelle, Maryanna, Steph, and Carly. So many women on this trip. Not a bad thing.

Literally all of the women in Spain are gorgeous. But beware: every Spanish girl is inherently younger than she actually looks. It’s all in the way they: a) dress, and b) walk. Our culture teacher was discussing sex roles in Spain, and how men used to be the “lanzadores” who jumped on women, but nowadays it’s the exact opposite. I have no problem with that.

Friday after the concert I just went home, read for a bit, and crashed. Jon left for Madrid, so I had some real down time, I wasn’t exactly feeling great so I rested up and felt fine afterward. Actually, several kids on the program have fallen extremly ill--likely due to the extreme culture shock, adapting to the different day schedule and partying until 4AM for five nights straight. I consider myself lucky enough so far not to have caught the Seville bug--the bad kind, not the good.

Saturday, most of the JYS kids went to Córdoba. It’s a picturesque, heavily Arab city, with the famous Mezquita at its center, flanked by rows of orange trees and numerous columns, and boasting the gigantic circular arches that are so indicative of traditional Moorish architecture. After the trip, I had my first dinner completely alone at home; Maria, Irene, and Conci all went out. I ended up going out with Liz and some of her friends in her program to Plaza Alfalfa. This time, I didn’t get lost, AND Catedral, an undergound club most famous for its beds in windows was bouncing. I thought it was a myth, but I now know it’s for real. But Liz’s friends are extremely dramatic, and hopefully I won’t become involved too much.

Today will probably be another low-key day. It seems the family didn’t go to church for once. I awoke to the sound of the house phone ringing and the door banging. It turned out to be Conci, who apparently had forgotten her key and was stuck outside for an hour after having bought some bread—¡pobrecita! I wasn’t exactly sure if I should have answered the phone at first, in case it was someone else (we were told not to answer it anyway), and I figured if it was someone I knew they’d have called my cell, but nobody else woke up to let her in so after much stirring and grumbling, I took the initiative.

Mon., 9/27

I haven’t written in a while because for the longest time I couldn’t figure out how to recharge my computer battery, but it turns out the converter I had was actually for use with a lower -wattage battery, and Jon’s adapter works fine, so I will just borrow his indefinitely.

Anyway, we just got back from a spectacular trip to Lagos (LAH-gohsh), a beach resort town on the southeast coast of Portugal. DiscoverSeville, a Seville-based event planning company run by two recent American graduates, had the trip planned down to a T. We left Friday after fully concluding orientation (which took waaaay too long) and the entrance exam (whose proctor was extremely long-winded). We rolled in around 3:30 PM local time (Portugal is an hour behind, on GMT), anxiously awaiting the chance to hop off the bus and onto the beach.

Unfortunately, I had started to feel under the weather after waking up Friday morning, as it was apparently my turn to feel the effects of three weeks of partying hard. I took some Vicadin and Advil and a few cough drops with me, though, and I made it through the weekend OK. After changing, we headed to the Praia Dona Ana, renowned for its postcard-worthy “acantilados,” or cliffs. We played some football (the American kind) and tanned for a bit.

Afterward, the group went out for dinner at a really nice place downtown. I scarfed down an amazing cut of swordfish, and proceeded to vacuum the girls’ plates around me. Then, Sarah, Lydia, Margaret, and a few other people and I went bar hopping. Someone had recommended The Old Tavern as a good place to meet enthralling young tourists like ourselves and locals alike, but we arrived way before everyone else and found only the bartender and five 40-year-olds dressed in black biker outfits. Neat. We quickly moved on, but later found that we apparently we missed out, because by the end of the night the rest of our group had arrived and ended up dancing on tables.

We hit a few more bars, including Eddies, where we met a nice Irish man named Firn who recommended all the bars, naturally, we had already been to. Lagos really is a black hole for Australians and Britains especially. We learned that Firn and a few other people we met in Lagos had come with the intention to vacation for only a few weeks several years back and just never returned home. Now Firn spends half the year working at a bar and the other half skiing in the Alps. Why can't I do that?

Much to our annoyance, we were overcharged for our taxi ride home. It's tought to get a steady rate, especially as a tourist, since there are no meters in any Portuguese taxis. Nor, by the way, are there any radio stations that don’t play music in English. Also, the Portuguese have everything translated into English and German, but not Spanish, apparently to demarcate their culture and territory against their towering Iberian neighbor.

Saturday, we took a spectacular boat ride off the coast on these sweet, old-school schooners. The mates made a particularly scrumptious lunch complete with yummy, tangy sangria, which was impressive considering they had to accomodate several dozen kids. We dove in crystal-clear waters, and meandered in and out of the cliifs on smaller boat tours—quite scenic. I took an extremely long nap to reenergize myself afterward.

I awoke to find that most of the group had already left for dinner downtown, but was saved after running into Bea and Amanda in the lobby who were on their way to dinner. I tagged along and spent most of the night with them, Carly, Patrick, and Olivia. Olivia, Amanda, and Patrick, the resident gay in our group, shared more sex stories than I would have liked to have heard, including some from the previous night. Since I was still feeling somewhat low, I didn't end up drinking too much, although I couldn't pass up the two free shots Bea and Amanda offered me throughout the course of the night.

After being denied a cab ride home in a van (bastards), I made the walk back, mostly uphill, while supporting an intoxicated Bea who was battling with stiletto heels. We all made it back OK, except the American style party that had been thrown was already dying down, so I didn’t stay too long and quickly went to sleep.

The next day was chock full of bad boy surfing. I had been wary of going because of my health, but decided it was worth it to live in the moment to the max, and worry about the aftereffects later. We made the trip to a beach out of town in surf style, meaning 15 year old vans and jeeps with converted hoods. I sat in the front the whole time trying to fix the dying radio. My discomfort in this decrepit piece metal on wheels was balanced by the thrill of rugged offroading. We made a stop atop the edge of the cliff above the beach which held a breathtaking view of the sea below, then descended down the sand.

I was El Rey de las Olas on the waves. I spent more time in the water than anyone else in our party. The waves were pretty huge to begin with in the morning (just about my height where we started), and got larger as the tide came in. After drying off and eating lunch, we all began to feel fatigue set in and chilled by the bar until the surf instructors readied the jeeps/vans. We all showered out by the pool at our Lagos hotel and boarded the bus for the ride home, which turned out to be pretty long as there was traffic on the highway coming into Seville.

What else happened in the week before that…I can’t remember, I didn’t go out too much right before the Lagos trip since I and a lot of other people were just plain feeling exhausted from the past few weeks.

Wednesday night was a quasi-disaster. Since Jon became a promoter for FunkyClub (foonkey-cloob), a nightclub outfit, he had acquired free passes to Boss, their main venue, so we invited María, and her best friend, Chuti, to go with us. We worked it up by saying it’d be free and we’d buy them drinks. Jon and Antony, the other American promoter and fellow Northwesterner, had to go arrive early in the night and iron things out with el jefe, so I went with María to a bar where Chuti works. After downing a few glasses of Cruzcampo, we took a taxi to Calle Betis and continued drinking there. When we passed Boss at 12:15 there was no line, but by 12:35 the line had suddendly balooned , as apparently everyone in JYS and else and their mothers who had free passes decided to go at that time. I ended up standing in line with Maria and Chuti for just over an hour, trying to get in touch with Jon multiple times to no avail, but they didn't want to stay any longer, understandably. So we just went bar hopping. Maria blames Jon (as per their “Guerra” =P) for abandoning her. Tear…

Anyway, classes started today. Classes are supposed to be places where people study, right? And I am in a STUDY abroad trip. Apparently that term is quite ephemeral, as we’ve had 3 weeks of vacation, and on the first day of classes, two of my three professors didn’t show up. In her apologist response to defend the Spanish educational system, my Señora’s excuse was that since American students have an “actitud relajado,” the professors who teach American students are permitted to have one too. Touchée, Conci, touchée. My first seminar in the morning was nice pretty agreeable, though—only 4 people attended, and the professor is very amiable and flexible. Later, I visited the new JYS office. It is quite posh for Spanish standards. They just got the internet working and put in four new desktops, though I can see this becoming a problem as all of us vie for computer time. But no more internet café bonos for me. Now that I figured out how to charge my battery, I can send pictures out to people also.

Tomorrow I shall go investigate options for guitar lessons and try to call the other rowing center whose number I got from an advertisement in the JYS office in la Universidad.

Mezquita interior, Córdoba

Praia Doña Ana, Lagos, Portugal

Cruising in Style

El Rey de Las Olas

My Run Hit Wonder

2005-09-14T17:12:00.000-05:00

Wow, I actually have time to make a post at work. I'm still sans internet at home until Friday when the cable guy comes (although I have been mooching off a very weak but very convenient wireless signal somewhere in the area). We still don't have a TV yet, but I'm trying to strike a deal on craigslist. Craigslist is a godsend. It hasn't been so bad without a unit, though. In fact, I don't really watch TV that often. All I really want it for are movies, the few select shows that I watch, and my Xbox.

Last night, I participated in Nike's Run Hit Wonder downtown. It's an annual race event sponsored by Nike (duh) where you can either enter for a 5K or 10K. Of course, I did the 10K =). Normally, I wouldn't have thought to take part in any kind of running event; running pains me way too much compared to other sports, and the blisters I incurred on my feet are still healing. But a few other guys in my lab had signed up for it, and one of them, Tjoson, had to forfeit his spot for a "more important" med school interview, so he offered me his spot. Missing out on the crew racing from college, I couldn't refuse.

The course was amazing. We ran up Coumbus, zig zagged through upper and lower Wacker Drive, back around down the lake shore/marina, around the aqarium, back to the start line. It was great to run at night, not only because it was a rather hot/humid day, but also because you could run through the night-lit buildings. The Blue Cross/Blue Shield building was lit up such that the south side's windows read "Run Loud"--Nike's race slogan. I got to see Mia Hamm, too, which was cool.

It has always been a small fantasy of mine to run in a race only to be able to chug some water at the hydration stand, splash it all over me, and then recklessly chuck the beaten cup to the side. And last night I was able to do that =).

In other news, Deanna and I are almost done painting our new place. We wanted to make it feel like something of our own. We chose what we thought would be appropriate colors based solely on paint chips, contrary to my mother's advice, and we probably should have listened to her, because the first color we laid in the living room came out WAY too bright. But all is good. We found a solution. And even if it doesn't turn out perfect, it will at least keep us in good spirits during the winter.

Deanna's parents came to visit last weekend. I kept making fun of D because she slipped into Minnesota accent mode; every time she said "bag" or "rag" or "tag," I made her repeat it, much to her dissatisfaction. Her dad was kind enough to lend me his tool set, notably his drill, which I needed to put some things up on the wall. (Note: apparently EZ drywall anchors do not screw into plaster walls. Bad iea.) It's great to actually be a working man around the house. All that stuff Dad and Tool Time taught me is paying off.

My room is slowly coming together. I'm still sleeping on an air mattress, and will be for even longer now that my parents informed me they won't be coming up until Oct. 1 with the rest of my furniture, but in the past few weeks I've acquired a nice desk and sold my A/C unit, so there is enough space for now. I can't wait to get a nice big bed again, though.

Seasons are changing around here. The weather has been wacky--it was so hot yesterday, but cool enough today to herald the beginning of Chicago fall--, college is back in session, and new people are starting in our lab while others are moving on to bigger and better things. Lots of college buddies are going abroad, and crew camp is starting up again (I'm so glad that's over with--I'm content to watch from the sidelines now). It's definitely a different world now, but there are still some solid things in my life to fall back on. The funny thing is, I've realized this point in my life is basically a bridge to the next phase of school, whence I will be dumped back into even greater academic rigors. It's nice to have the time off, though. I've already gotten great advice and good experience through work. I highly recommend a year or two off.

Scott just bought a new bike, so I'm going to help him assemble it after work today. I'm glad he's getting into cycling, because now I will have a partner downtown to ride with.

My Rant

2005-09-03T17:07:00.000-05:00

The situation down south is utterly embarassing. I've been politically apathetic in the past, but this is just inescapable. Two heavily preventable watershed events in one decade--amazing. Screw 9/11, the repercussions here will be far more extensive. It's far more fundamentally serious. I hope some positve change will come about. I'm too frustrated, and concerned with finishing moving, to explain myself, but see here:

Anger, eloquence mark TV coverage of hurricane Katrina's aftermath
this is FOX NEWS, guys, what does that say about how serious this is?
Craigslist -- search for "race" and/or "looting"
Ted Koppel Rips, Rips RIPS Michael Brown of FEMA on "Nightline"
The big disconnect on New Orleans
Rapes, killings hit Katrina refugees in New Orleans
Budget Cuts Delayed New Orleans Flood Control Work
Agencies drilled for 'worst-case scenario'

And this is our commander in chief 2 days after the hurricane hit:

Glad to see he's concerned and getting down to business.

Finally, put this into perspective: Bush actually admitted that things weren't perfect for once. This has to be serious!

My Big Move

2005-09-03T01:37:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, I will be moving out of my sublet and into my nice new place closer downtown in Andersonville. I'll be out of internet service at home for a little while--although I will have access at work during short breaks...oh, who am I kidding, I'll be messing around online at work a lot--until the Comcast technician comes the week after next to install our cable. He would have come next week, but Deanna's little bachelorette party at our place got in the way. I told her she should just have the cable guy strip. No, I will not be there, although Deanna said she and the girlies wouldn't mind if I took the cable guy's place...

While I'm glad I am finally moving tomorrow, I must say the exact moving date was up in the air until today. At first today, I was put out after receiving yet another call from the body shop telling me this time they still had to install the temperature control unit and it would take until next Tuesday or Wednesday. That's three weeks after I delievered it to them, and two weeks after they originally told me it would be finished. I know for sure by this point they are just jerking me around, making up excuses for not being able to finish on time. And this is the place my insurance company (which is actually quite good) recommended. I knew the guy on the phone was lying through his teeth, because I told him I absolutely had to have a car this weekend to move, and that the shop should pay for a rental until I get my car back, and he quickly acceded. So fortunately, I do have ample transportation, although it is limited space (I got a Hyundai Elantra.

Tomorrow is going to be one extremely busy day. I'm taking Eviatar to the airport in the early morning. Then, I have tentative plans to pick up a TV I saw on craigslist (hey, at least I can watch movies and play XboX before the cable comes). And then I have the rest of the day to move. I don't have too much stuff with me, as my parents are bringing the remaining furniture and clothes up in a few weeks, so it probably won't be more than two car loads.

Oh, and I got to see Scottiyang and his new place in Onterie (on Erie, near where I work). He's got a sweet pad with one other buddy in med school with a beautiful view of the construction plank blocking his window. Lovely. I'm excited, because I got him excited about cycling, in pretty much the same fashion that Eviatar got me into it. He'd been thinking about doing it, and he seemed much more interested after hearing that I'm really into cycling now. Eviatar is abandoning me for *more important* things, like going back to school. Thus, I will not have a bike buddy to work. So hopefully Scott can fill that void.

Enough writing--I have to be up in 5 hours!!

My Gas

2005-08-31T21:52:00.000-05:00

I'm going to take a moment to be Time magazine:

3.49

The price in dollars per gallon of unleaded gas at a Marathon gas station on Sheridan Rd.

The effects of Katrina are really being felt in all regions. I remember the days of high school commuting when $1.49 was "getting expensive." Luckily, prices are supposed to stabilize or even decrease slightly over the next few days. And, in an ironic but also lucky fashion, I don't have to worry about filling up because I still don't have my car back.

The body shop was supposed to have it done in five-to-six days total. That was before they found out the new dashboard they had to order for my car was broken in the mail. Last Monday was the new ETA. Monday rolled around. I called, wondering why I hadn't been contacted, and they informed me that the second dash they ordered also broken in transit. I couldn't believe it! They really need to change carriers, or the shipping service needs to draw up some new methods for packaging. This means, however, that even though there is only a quarter tank of gas left, I am *forced* not to pay for it. Shame.

In other news, Hugo Chavez, in an obviously politically motivated move, is offering discounted gas to poor victims of the hurricane. Did you know a full tank of gas only costs $2 in Venezuela? And they'd be getting it for half that. If the president lets him. If the president doesn't kill him first...

Seriously, though, my heart aches for these people. The news clips and photo blogs are awesome (literally). I saw some heartwrenching videos on CNN that made me cry. I'm torn, because part of me really wants to go volunteer down there, but I can't just pick up and leave. I'm not quite sure what to do, because I can't exactly afford to donate a lot either (although any little bit will help). As such, I feel a bit guilty, but I'm sure it's something a lot of Americans are feeling right now as well. I guess doing anything you're realistically able to is worthwhile.

P.S. - Grrrr...

My New Work/Spanish Roots III

2005-08-30T21:31:00.000-05:00

Ah, how different it feels to be working during the day. We have no subjects coming in for a while, so it's back to the office environs for me. I must say that it is terrible having to sit in an office chair in the afternoon--I get so sleepy and can barely concentrate. (Are you noticing the ironic pattern with my work here?) I've got a bunch of new tasks to accomplish. It's always good to be challenged, especially when you're having fun doing it.

And wow, have you seen the footage of the hurricane's aftermath? It looks like a wasteland--I really feel for those people. What really struck me was when one reporter poignantly noting conditions were so bad that the rescuers themselves had to be rescued. Emotions must be running high there.

___________________________________________________________________

Here's another journal installment...

Wed., 9/15

Monday night I chilled with Liz (from Washington) for the night. I wanted to head to Carbonería, but we got a bit lost and ended up at a nice bar at the beginning of the street where, unbeknownst to use at the time, Carbonería is also located. I later found out that we in fact walked right by it, but there is no signage; there weren’t many people entering at the hour we arrived, and right now no one hangs out inside—they are out back on the patio during the summer, since it's way to hot to accomodate a crowd indoors. Oh well.

Tuesday night was the Paco de Lucia concert. Era fantástico. He did not disappoint. The particular style of music calls for three cantaores, or backup singers. Two of them were female, and one was an older male with the biggest gray hair you've ever seen. The vocals are an acquired taste, but you learn to appreciate its fit. The concert got a little repetitive 2/3 of the way into it, but it picked up again toward the end. He is a phenomenal guitarist. He can pluck those strings so fast and fluidly. I’m excited to start lessons once orientation ends and see if I can't learn the flamenco-inducing motions.

I finally found a Marsans travel agency and peeked in for the first time, after catching the bus. The flights for the “puente” weekends were much more expensive than I thought, but I don’t know when else I would make my bigger trips, so I might just take the ones I found at Marsans. I will have to check prices online later, though.

Tonight I am going to stay in and catch up on some sleep. A bunch of people are heading to Tribal again, but if last week was any predictor of tonight, I will be out waaaay late again tonight for the third time, and I don’t think I’d last tomorrow. Thank God for these siestas.

Compro poco cocos porque como cocos pocos porque I’m already lost…

*acantilados=cliffs

Fri., 9/17

Ugh, it’s so hot in our room again. Jon and I share a room at the end of a hallway that receives the least amount of circulation possible. And living in the hottest city in Europe, that's a big disadvantage. We need to buy a fan, or just continue to borrow the one in Conci’s kitchen.

Last night was kind of lame. We went to the Alfonso botellón again, but this time no one had alcohol and we wandered around aimlessly until we found some American girls. We talked to them for a bit and headed back just as the party was getting started, ironically. Must bring the alcohol again next time…

Meals with the fam continue to be fun. The conversations are always entertaining, even if it's sitting back and listening to the family banter. And Benito never fails to exhibit his spasdic self. He is very misbehaved, yet his mom doesn’t always reprimand him; in fact, she usually laughs at his immature behavior, so I wonder if he's ever going to grow up. But who am I to criticize the culture here. I mean, everyone here smokes two packs of cigarettes a day and still manages to live longer than the average non-smoking Americans :p

Tonight I shall head out to a symphony concert at the Teatro de la Maestranza (which boasts the best acoustically engineered concert hall in Europe). Hopefully the tickets will not be too expensive, especially with the purported student discount. The theater's house band is supposed to be particularly talented, so it shouldn't disappoint.

I am really looking forward to the trip to Lagos, Portugal, next weekend. The more I hear about it, the more it sounds like a real blast. It's free (even though we technically already paid for it in up front in the program fee) for a boat excursion around the rocky coastline and two nights in sweet hotels right near the waterfront, and only 30€ more for a surfing excursion—wet suit, board, and group trainer for an whole day. We are kind of jealous of the kids in other programs, though—they have several other excursions included in their program to nicer citiesfarther away like Barcelona and Madrid with nights over in hotels. It’d be nice not to have to pay 100€ for a train ride to the capital. Oh well…

My Prayer/Spanish Roots II

2005-08-28T15:50:00.000-05:00

Pray for the folks down in New Orleans, because it looks like that city is going to be demolished. 175mph winds--that's absolutely amazing. I think that's worse than Andrew. CNN reported a worst case scenario would be most of the city under 5 feet of water. Unfortunately, from the looks of things, it doesn't seem like many people in the area are taking it too seriously, as many of them are relatively new to the area and have never experienced a hurricane. The Weather Channel showed many people still walking around outside and driving by the coast. I hope they move their asses soon.

Anyway, more from el diario...

Wed., 9/8

Last night opened my eyes to what is perhaps the real flavor of Sevilla. After searching fruitlessly through the endless nooks and crannies that comprise the city's streets for a good half hour, we finally found Tamboril, a recommended local sevillanos bar. But some in the group decided it wasn’t a good joint and went to Calle Betis for someone’s birthday. A few of us stayed behind, and we were glad we did. After trying the manzanilla Dad’s friend suggested way back when, we watched as the guitarist tuned up his strings and warmed up his vocal cords. Then the lights went out; he perched in front of a glass case containing a statue of the Virgin Mary surrounded by candles, and sung some heavily emotional songs. We thought we had the crappy seats as we returned to a separate little alcolve, but it turned out that the real party was in that section. Avery, Michelle, Maryanna, and I had front row seats to the guitarist and backup singers/rhythm, as the local women (and some men) performed the sevillanas/local dance style. It was very intimate, and I’m sure Jon and the others will get back there. I can’t wait to start taking guitar lessons.

Classes are already getting boring! We’ve learned all of this stuff before, but I guess it’s good to get a crash course. I never know what to do in the evenings. I need to get to the post office and find out about this Paco de Lucía concert, but other than that I can do everything else while I’m out with the group. Oh well.

Lunch was all quite entertaining today. We conversed a bit more than normal. Maria told us how she enjoyed when we *tried* to talk in Spanish; Jon embrassingly acceded that Maria “es gordo” after being tricked by Benito; and Benito/Maria shared some Spanish tongue-twister (toblalenguas?).

Mon., 9/13

Or should I say 13/9—I got so confused by that when setting up my cell phone!

The past few days have been a blast. Thursday, we went to Itálica, an ancient Roman “anfiteatro.” It wasn’t as interesting as it probably could have been, since much of the ampitheater was closed for renovation, but we were able to walk around the center floor and tour the house ruins surrounding it. I can’t remember what we did that night, if we did anything eventful at all—ah yes, some people went to Tamboril, while I stayed back and got ice cream since I had already gone two nights ago.

Friday was another day of boring classes, but the real fun kicked in that night. A full-fledged botellón party took place in some Plaza near el Parque de Maria Luísa. It was sick—we got there around midnight and this place kept filling up until it was flowing over into the streets. (People were lighting up hash and drinking in cars and the police always drove by without doing anything :p) There must have been over a thousand people. I got a bit mixed up with where everyone was going, but collected on a 5 euro bet with Jon that I could be level-headed enough to find our way out.

Saturday, the class took a bus trip to the city of Carmona. It was very picturesque, but we were all bitter because of the scorching heat under which we walked for most of the time. We toured the ancient Necropolis--interesting from an archaeological point of view, but otherwise kind of bland. We got some good snapshots on top of the Alcázar and tasted some fresh churros con chocolate and freshly-squeezed orange juice, mmm. Later, Erin, Jon, and I tried to gain entrance to the last concert in the Alacázar Jardines but they were sold out. We ended up just chilling at a bar close to home. There were two rather large, beastly dogs who were drooling and literally sat around each other (they later became some of our best friends in Spain :). The joke of the night was on Jon, who asked the bartender: “¿Tiene Cruzcampo [the only beer that Sevillanos drink, as it is mass-produced in Seville)?” to which the bartender replied, “Antes de agua?” and a roar of laughter ensued, haha.

Sunday, a group of 20 or so JYS people decided to make the train trip down to the beaches of Cádiz. It held a gorgeous backdrop as we floated in the Atlantic Ocean and sunbathed. It was pretty crowded, and we probably could have found a better beach, but we were lazy, and I had a good time. Some of us decided we will make a day trip to Jerez de la Frontera, a city we passed by on the train ride down, since the program decided to cancel a previously scheduled trip there.

**Notes: ¡Juevos de choco ≠ juevos de cadavers!

Today we made some preliminary cursos concertados decisions. We also found out that the trip to Ronda has been rescheduled, thus opening up that 5-day weekend for some sweet traveling. [JYS, our study abroad program, was plagued by bureacratic battling and miscommunications about scheduling.] I will have to book my flight to Italy to see Mandy for that period.

Not sure what’s going tonight—I will probably check out the travel agency, and then go from there.

Anfiteatro de Itálica

Mosaic floor, depicting saints of the days of the week, from housing that used surround the ampitheater.

Gateway to Carmona

Me, on top of the Alcázar

Necropolis

Playa de Cádiz

My Spanish Roots I

2005-08-28T01:40:00.000-05:00

I have decided to begin reposting (most of) my journal from Spain. I was reminded of my intention to do this by Peter, who's setting one up for his upcoming term in London (link to come soon). I had been meaning to do it, especially since I started posting on another site but my efforts to maintain that journal failed. Had I known about blogging, I would've done this while I was in Spain, but alas, this posthumous recollection will have to do. I will post the excerpts periodically, and will inserting relevant pictures to spice it up the way it was really meant to be. However, the text is, for the most part, unedited, so if some of it is vexing or surprising, tough noogies.

**Note: While trying to find the soft copy of my journal, I flipped out for a good half hour because I couldn't find it and thought it had been deleted when I reorganized my study abroad documents (i.e. deleted mostly everythign that I thought I'd never need again). Turns out I had just moved it to the new hard drive I bought a few months ago :p.

So without further ado, here are the events as they unfolded during my wonderful term abroad in Spain...

Th., 9/2/04

First day in Spain! Flights were long, but the dinner immediately followed by breakfast on the Iberia flight helped get my stomach, at least, acclamated to the new schedule.

Bug in the food!

People forewarned me about the extent of smoking in Spain, but it was still surprising and amusing to see the customs agent light up a smoke right in front of me while stamping my passport. The airport has “designated smoking areas” in the middle of departure gates, and the RENFE trains have smoking cars, hah.

Saw my cousin Shawn—his wife, Jenn, is pregnant. Saw their home, went to Nick’s pizzeria and had a wonderful lunch with Shawn, then he took me to the airport--big help, since I had to transfer from LGA to JFK.

International check-in is its own city. Met and talked with a Moroccan woman and her family.

Concepción Pineta is my Señora. Benito, Irene, and María, plus “la abuela” (still haven’t met her). Jon Krieger is my roommate—he’s a cool dude, from Boston. We had lunch with the family, then napped much longer than we should have, then went out and did an initial tour of the area. We are spoiled because we are extremely close to the university—about a 15 minute walk max. We saw the Parque de Maria Luisa, the Plaza de España (gorgeous—tons of brick with tile/mosaic inlaid), and the edge of the university. Everyone here owns the same, small, fuel-efficient car. Nothing like

America

. The architecture and landscaping are totally different as well.

First day of orientation tomorrow…

Concepcion, Irene, & Me

Maria and Jon

Universidad de Sevilla

Maria Luisa Park

Tues., 9/7/04

Computer battery has been giving me problems. Seems to be OK, though, as long as it’s continuously plugged in…

Lots to recall…Hurricane Frances hit, and apparently affected the entire state of FL since it was so large. Family has been without power, and Mom is waiting to see Grandma in the hospital since she took a spill (nothing to do with the hurricane, ironically). I hope the cleanup process goes well there.

Sevilla continues to impress. We had a bit of an adventure on Saturday. Plaza Alfalfa (tiniest street yet filled with throngs of people) was so fun—not so Americanized like Calle Betis, which we visited Friday night. I was chatting with this girl Liz for a bit, and finally broke the ice with the Kappa girls. Btw, have to try Coconron or whatever that drink is called… Anyway, we decided not to go back the way we originally came (whose bright idea was that?), got lost in the sidestreets, and ended up by the river WAY north of my place. We heard someone in our program got mugged, too, so we were on edge. Luckily, the taxi ride home was cheap.

Calle Betis, site of many a drunken American

The siesta is the greatest invention since the bed. I just took one and am now reinvigorated for the night. Not sure what I’ll go do. I need to sign up for rowing and guitar lessons soon. Zach said he might end up rowing with me. That would be quite an experience.

On Sunday, Jon and I awoke to Maria, Irene, and Concepcion dancing to loud Spanish music while cooking lunch. What a fun bunch. The meal was spectacular, as usual. The food is always something new, which is much different apparently from what most of the other students on our program experience. Their Señoras tend to recycle food, or in some cases, not prepare anything at all (neither of which they’re not supposed to since we’re PAYING THEM FOR EVERY MEAL). Benito has returned from visiting with his father (Jon and I suspect Concepcion and the childrens' father are divorced/separated, but we didn't ask) and is always entertaining at the dinner table. He told Jon and me a “chiste" about Pringles—we couldn’t understand it all, but still laughed after deciphering something about farts and not being able to stop once you pop.

Sunday night we just chilled at a local heladería near my place. Jon has always wanted to get some ice cream there ever since we started walking by it on our way to the university. We also joke that the Noctalia mattress shop is never open, even though the lights are always on. It was a big to-do when we saw it open yesterday.

Classes are in full swing at Los Geranios. The teachers are cool. Nohemi, the grammar teacher, is the smallest darn Spaniard you’ve ever seen. She has the typical, fiery Andalusian temperament and blinks constantly, so much so that it’s distracting. Miguel, the convo teacher, is the traditionally stern but fun Spaniard teacher (NOTE: toward the end of the program, it became obvious that he was indeed one giant Antisemite), always wearing his Lacoste vest and everything. Maria Jose, our culture teacher, is also quite fun. She suggested us a bunch of fun sights, restaurants, and clubs in town to try. The big joke now is that Antony is a pot-smoking drunkard after admitting to having gone to a Botellón (illegal, full-on liquor store--these things are AMAZING). And by the way, there are no open-bottle laws here. The school has this German Shepard, Lobita, in a corner that’s always peering out at everyone and trying to make friends.

Alphas and Betas toured La Catedral/Giralda. The edifice is amazing. The altar backdrop has all these carvings wrought with gold (retablo). We took the 30-something-story trek up La Giralda to get an amazing view of the city. This tower has no steps as we're accostumed to; father, it has 45-degree slopes going up every corner. Apparently, it was built so that sentinels on horses could reach the king at the top. We all find it quite amazing that you can be partying and drinking right across the street from the third largest catherdral in the world.

The weather here has been ungodly hot during the day, but cool enough to enjoy a good time out at night. The entire city can’t wait until it cools down end of October.

Last night we took off to rest up, but tonight we shall get our fill of cultural festivities by watching flamenco at El Tamboril. I’m excited.

La Giralda

Seville's Cathedral, 3rd Largest in the World

My Scenic Route

2005-08-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

I just got back from the longest bike ride I've taken yet: 2.6 hours. That may not seem that long to you pros, but this is only about the 8th ride I've take. Along with Ev, I explored a new bike trail way north through Highland Park and Lake Forest, Pecker's hometown. That area is very scenic, and has some good open straightaways to do some serious pedaling on. The only other ride I've taken that compares in terms of length and comfort is the first one I ever took when I went camping in southern IL a month ago (check out the pics below). That was some smoooooth riding.

I'm going to go scrounge for food again for the third night in a row because I've run out of decent meals and my car is still not back from the shop for me to take to take to the grocery store. The body shop had to order an entirely new dashboard, but the first one that came in the mail broke. Wonderful, just wonderful. It'd better damn well be ready by Monday.

_____________________________________________________________________

Camping Trip Pics Check out the peacock in someone's driveway...

...and the emus in someone's backyard!

My Would-be Gang Neighbors

2005-08-27T02:42:00.000-05:00

So I'm up again in the middle of the night, feeling the residual effect of having worked the entire night Wednesday. Among the random sites I've found while surfing the net tonight was this one about Rogers Park. I am REALLY glad I didn't end up moving there--I knew it wasn't the best neighborhood, but I didn't realize it was that bad. Thankfully--as I've mentioned before--we have a much better place in a safer, less druggy area farther south. In fact, we just signed the lease and got the keys today. The moving fun begins next week!

My New Online Toy

2005-08-25T06:18:00.000-05:00

In the midst of surfing on this, the 4th testing session interim of the night, I came across this. Awesome! Google Maps now has some competition. And MapQuest, who even knows why they're still around.

My Confusion

2005-08-24T12:37:00.000-05:00

Normally, I don't enjoy discussing politics, but I do find it amusing and it confirms my cynicism when a politician says one thing on the record, and then tries to cover it up by saying the exact opposite. Take Pat Robertson's recent incendiary remarks over the idea to assissinate of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez:

Me: Mr. Robertson, you recently openly called for the assissanation of a top government official. What do you have to say for yourself?
Mr. Robertson: I didn't say "assassination." I said our special forces should "take him out." And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP, but that happens all the time.
Me: Oh, you were misinterpreted, were you? But I thought you said...let's see, ah yes, "If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war." How is that misinterpreting you?
Mr. Robertson: Uh...uh...banana hammock!

What a douche.

In other news, Tropical Storm & Soon-to-be Hurricane Katrina is heading right for SE Florida. Yet another reason I'm proud not to call FL home anymore. Really, folks, I don't know why you all think it's paradise. Have fun with that cyclone, everyone!

My Marine

2005-08-24T00:42:00.000-05:00

Right now, my brother is holding the fort in the middle of the desert in California at 29 Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. That bastard is firing M-16s and getting the workout of his life while I'm getting EEG paste stuck underneath my nails. I'm still learning all the military jargon ("trash" = "stuff," as in "Bring that trash with you," and "cover" = "hat"), having to decipher 1/3 of the words that now come out of that boy's mouth, but I have uncovered that he is finishing up his Military Operations Specialty training as a radio field operator at 29 Palms, then going on inactive status to finish his bachelors, then going back to train in the officer flight program, where he'll one day be flying some bad-ass planes. What a track. The best part is, though, he's finally coming to visit the big brother in Chicago after he gets out of Cali! This will be his first time up here, so I'm excited to see him and show him around. Can't wait.

In the meantime, here are some photos of him to peruse. I'm proud of you, bro!

Pvt. First Class, soon-to-be Lance Corporal, Jonathan Ortiz, shaking the hand of General Hagee, Commandant of the Marine Corps & Joint Chiefs of Staff member. In other words, he's the top dog. (Jon told me not to make fun of him in this picture, but I think we can go ahead and laugh at his goofy teeth anyway.)

Group shot in camis (Jon is third from left).

My EKG

2005-08-24T00:08:00.000-05:00

Tonight at work, I got my EKG (electrocardiogram) recorded, for free! I even got to take the paper recording home as a souvenir. See, the head nurse needed to train some other nurses to use a new EKG machine. They always test their equipment on young, healthy, preferably handsome men, and well, hey, who are we kidding, they natrually came to me first. Why am I so happy? Well, besides the fact that I got to show off my hot torso to the gawking nurses in a socially acceptable manner, it's just that the little things keep the world going. Especially the world at work.

It is especially helpful when one of your subjects withdraws from a study halfway through the protocol. One Jane Doe decided last night that the blood draws for 816 were too much (we told you three times in screening what you'd be going through, lady, and you had already had draws twice) and wanted to be discharged. Of course, we had to let her go, but it's always frustrating when someone bails out, and proceeds to take their compensation pay with them anyway. Sleep well!

On a more positive note, things are rolling along with my new place. Tomorrow, I will place the order for the utilities to be turned on, and this weekend Deanna and I can start moving in. It'll be wonderful to have a place finally to myself (well, with a roommate) to call home--not home away from home. To finally arrange it how I want and throw parties how I want and do whatever the hell I want, when I want. Speaking of wanting, we are desperately lacking a television and painting materials! If anyone reading this has a TV for sale and/or painting brushes/pans/throwcloths/dipsticks/whatever to lend, please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated!

My Random News Story II

2005-08-23T12:17:00.000-05:00

Wedding sting hits smuggling ring

This is the stuff of movies.

My Mouse Trap

2005-08-22T00:51:00.000-05:00

Yes, there is a real, live mouse running around in my apartment. I caught it out of the corner of my eye and thought first, "Wow, that's a really large cockroach." But a cockroach it is not. I thought mice only invaded homes with gaping holes in their walls or any place in the movies. Have no fear, the mousetrap has been set. According to my roommate, mice prefer peanut butter and Nutella. I can't say I have much experience in this area, so I will take his word for it. If there is a dead mouse in our dining room tomorrow, I think I'll make him take it out.

I was going to go for a bike ride today in this beautiful weather, but I needed to make some minor adjustments to my bike, and my attempt at handy-man repair failed. I adjusted the brakes fine, but after trying to adjust the derailleurs, I just made things worse. Now the spacing is off and it just makes a lot of noise. Guess I'll have to make a trip to the LBS tomorrow for some fine tuning before I take Sus out for another spin. Sus is my trusty stallion, dubbed as such after a suggestion from Eviatar, the local Hebrew expert.

See, when I got the bike used, it came with decal letters on the top tube that spelled "Jesus." I don't know exactly why the lettering was there, but I must say it was pretty cool riding around on the son of God for a while. Unfortunately, the letters "J" and "E" somehow came off today as I was riding it around the block. Now, it only spells "SUS." My first reaction was, "this sucks, grovel at a Sus." But, as I discovered from Eviatar, in Hebrew, "sus" means "horse." Not exactly comparable to having the Holy Spirit under my control, but empowering nonetheless.

And I have been playing way too much Halo 2. I finally hooked up the Xbox after four or five months of not having a TV, so I'm making up for lost time. Make all the cracks you want, but it is addicting. I should probably budget my time a little bit better, though, dedicate a little effort to more important things, like, say, getting into graduate school. Yeah, that'd be nice.

Re: My Great Seat

2005-08-20T00:35:00.000-05:00

More than two million people will converge on Chicago's lakefront near the North Avenue shore tomorrow and Sunday for the annual Air & Water Show. That means more than 2/3 of the country's third largest metropolitan populace will be on one beach this weekend. That's like trying to fit the entire population of Cuba on one boat. I'm kind of glad I'm not going. I already got my sneak peek this week from my office anyway.

My Internet Doesn't Work

2005-08-19T09:27:00.000-05:00

...which put me in a slightly sour mood last night. You know you couldn't live without it either. The only way I can work online is at work. I'm not completely sure why it's decided to crap out on me, but I did discover that during the whole time in my sublet, I had not been using the wireless router supplied by my roommates, but rather someone else's. They must have found out that I've been using it and somehow discovered a way to kick me off, even though they don't have a password. I don't know much about that stuff, so I could be wrong. All I know is that the router in our apartment does have a password, but I don't know it, and the one girl who does is out of town until next week. Guess I'll have to wait until then...

In spite of that, I must say I am now in a good mood, feeling fully refreshed and reenergized after biking into work for the first time. I would've started a few weeks ago, but my less-than-stellar health and lack of knowledge about the route prevented me. It was a great ride, though--gorgeous skies and scenery--and I will try to do it more regularly, at least until winter rolls around. Skidding on the ice on a 23cm tire is not something I'd like to experience.

My Nap Time (I Wish)

2005-08-18T16:46:00.000-05:00

Must...stay...awake.

Now that I'm starting to work the days again, I'm having to readjust my body clock yet once more. I'm getting plenty of sleep yet I'm so goddamn tired. The irony, of course, is that I work in a sleep lab. I should be able to figure this out, right? Probably not, since I work nights again next week. Whoopee!

I'll have to get my energy back up for the big move at the end of the month, though. Yes, I finally got my first own residence (old news). A nice 2-bedroom place on Winona St (see right), on the border of Uptown and Andersonville right off of Broadway. Deanna and I got our credit approved (surprise, surprise) and now all that's left to do is get the keys and start paying the rent. We're hoping we can get in a few days early to paint and take measurements for furniture and such. My original plan was to move most of my stuff Labor Day weekend when my parents would have arrived with all the furniture, but due to my dad's eye problems, there may be a slight delay...

P.S. - Chipotle: my mind said let's go, but my heart is saying oh, no.

My Quizzical Rambling

2005-08-17T23:55:00.000-05:00

Time to step up to the challenge. Face it, don't run away. Dedicate time to it and you will be rewarded. What you want is out there. Turn negatives into positives. Carpe diem.
(If you're wondering what this means, remember--it's not for you, it's for me.)

I hate that I do my best thinking when I'm laying in bed waiting to fall asleep. It's a nasty cycle, because then I'm unable to fall asleep as fast--occasionally I even have to get up from bed to write something down--and then I can't function well and critically think during the day, so it just pushes it back to night. Just another thing to drag me down.

My Random News Story I

2005-08-17T22:49:00.000-05:00

Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to wife's vagina

My Shock Treatment

2005-08-17T21:26:00.000-05:00

Conversation with my Dad today:

Dad:...[after chit-chatting] So I have something to tell you. I'm blind in one eye.
Me, after picking myself up from the ground: ...What?!
Dad: Yes, my retina fell off.
Me, after picking myself up from the ground a second time: ...Excuse me? Are you seriously blind or will it heal?
Dad: Oh, it's only temporary.
Me: Oh, thank God.

Yes, you read that correctly, his retina fell off. Apparently, it's not extremely rare. With age, people's retinas apparently just do fall off. And apparently it can be fixed. The surgeon gave a good prognosis, said he had an extremely good chance of success since the macular region stayed attached. All that's required is a month's healing time and an eye patch. I really wish I could see my dad in person wearing an eye patch. My mom says she's nicknamed him Blackbeard. Arr!

[later in the conversation]
Me: I guess you can't work or drive for now.
Dad: Yeah, I'll be out for a month. But I'll still drive.
Me: You realize you'll barely have any depth perception...
...........
Russ: Remind me not to drive around West Boca then.

My Thank You Card

2005-08-17T18:16:00.000-05:00

I like my job. The following thank you note (plus chocolates, but I can't/won't share those) from one of my recent subjects is one reason why:

"Dear Mr. Nick,

Thanks a million. I have never had anyone place electrodes on my head as precise as you. It truly was perfection! Thanks for the company and the courtesy laughs!

Always,

Carol"

That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me in a while. Thank you, Carol.

My Great Seat

2005-08-17T14:56:00.000-05:00

Warmups for the Air & Sea Show have apparently begun. The planes are doing fly-bys over my office building. I'm obviously not getting very much done right now.

My Commute I

2005-08-17T11:04:00.000-05:00

On my commute to work downtown this morning, I espied a rather curious person. As the bus turned west off of Lake Shore, there, on the sidelines of the Northwestern tennis courts, just 20 meters off port side, was a woman with the most gigantic breasts I have ever seen. You might be thinking, "men, so typical." Normally, I would agree with you. But trust me when I say this was no triviality. EVERYONE on the bus turned to look--men, women, and, if I can trust my peripheral vision, the bus driver. I thought this woman was packing water balloons or wearing her backpack backward or something, but no, boobs. She looked about 50, but lefty and righty definitely were younger. And the worst part about it was that she was about to play tennis. I'm sure that would have been quite a match.
______________________________________________________________________

Question: why is it that two bus drivers honk and/or wave to each other on the road, but only if both work for the same company? I noticed it in Europe, and it happens here too. In Chicago, Pace/Pace = friendly, CTA/CTA = friendly, but Pace vs. CTA = unfriendly. Is the rivalry that fierce? At least there's some amity on buses, though, because it never occurs among taxis, whether the drivers work for the same company or not. They just drive around like zombies and don't seem to pay attention to anything except getting to the passenger's destination and beginning their next waiting session.

My Sanitation Exclamation

2005-08-16T15:58:00.000-05:00

I knew it was bad, but after reading this, I never want to ride the El again. Unfortunately, I am inelastically bound to taking it at least a couple of times per week. Seriously, don't click if you live in Chicago. Do not push the big red button.

My Monthly Budget

2005-08-16T13:54:00.000-05:00

...is tighter than a thirteen-year-old. I mean, I will have just enough money left over at the end of every month to splurge on a six-pack and a movie. I will probably have to make newspaper double as TP--oh wait, I don't even get the newspaper. Shit.

OK, it's probably not that bad. But seriously, even though I am a full-time working man, that doesn't mean I can leave everything in my past behind. In fact, now is when I start paying for college! And it will take even longer than I initially anticipated to pay everything back. Plus, I can thank the wonderful homeless junkies of Evanston for breaking into my car, forcing me to give up my four wheels for over a week and delve even deeper into my wallet than I probably should otherwise. Woohoo. But I know there are other people who are in the same situation, so I should stop whining.

At least I got my money back from that loser on eBay who never sent me my stuff... Bastard.

My Introduction

2005-08-16T13:41:00.000-05:00

Welcome to this, the most recent of many attempts to start some kind of online record of myself. Let me just make the caveat that this will not be some galavanting exposé to follow in the cliché of burgeoning, pretentious bloggers all across the digital world. I will not go on drawn-out tirades about how poorly the economy is doing or how our healthcare system is deteriorating (although I may mention them briefly :). I don't assume to know much about that stuff anyway; in fact, I assume to know very little, and after the continually depressing state of affairs we have seen in the last several years, I have become more politically disengaged than ever. Rather, this is simply an experiment to record the ongoing episodes, experiences, changes, issues, and idiosyncrasies in my life. I don't care if you don't read anything past this line, because this is more for me than it is for you. So get lost, or not.

With that being said...

enjoy the show.