Italiaspanglish

I'm writing this post from a hotel lobby in madrid because they can't get my internet working in the room. This trip has been cool, 10 mins after checking in the hotel caught fire and I was evacuated. The ethernet port in my first room was dead so they downgraded me because all the better rooms were full. Second room and mac address is being rejected by the hotel system because it says I just checked out. On the plus side, the guys in the spanish office are a lot of fun, and the hotel comped me a huge plate of mixed ham ( ham is a big deal to the spanish) and a bottle of wine to make up for the other issues. I think I can safely say that 2 years ago I never would have pictured myself nursing an overpriced beer in a hotel lobby in madrid, writing blog posts using wifi, and compaining about having to evacuate because of fire. The worst thing about this trip is actually that it's playing hell with my ability to speak any language, Every time I reach for a word in spanish it comes out in italian, and my english sounds like transliterated italian and spanish. At least I can understand most people. Life is odd, but good, damn good.

One URL to rule them all, one search engine to find them, one index to bring them all, and in the browser bind them

Well folks, it seems to have happened. I now have a consistent start point for every time I open a browser in the morning. Google has made a portal and it should scare the hell out of microsoft, yahoo, and aol, cause hell, I'm for it but it still give me the willies.

RoadTripper

"You can never go home again, and the world is an alien place." However you can roadtrip there with a bunch of friends and acquaintences from middle school, and talk about how everything's changed. This summer I will be driving with an elite crew of former brightonians from NYC to the 716 yo. That's right we'll be hittin up Rochester NY, Brighton specifically, and possibly continuing into Canada to give love [America] a bad name. I've wanted to do a rochester related roadtrip for some time, if only so that I could experience that specific moment where you get the full realization that where you came from is gone, plenty of things are the same but you or your hometown have irreversibly changed, and I think a road trip beats a flight cause it builds the anticipation. It'll be a hell of a good time if I can get enough of the key faces back together, amazingly enough I have managed to stay in touch with a few of these people since I left rochester 11 years ago,without seeing some of them in the flesh for nearly a decade. I can't wait to hit the place, I'm already planning on going to a few clutch eateries out of nostalgia ( swiss chalet, dac hoa, the coal tower, aladdins, house of poon (no joke, though many will be made)).
hrmm I'm really beginning to think my life is way too centered around food.

24 hrs in the Cote d'Azure ( beats 2 days in the valley)

Last Saturday I flew out to Nice to visit the folks, and thanks to bad ticket prices and various strikes, my flight out was scheduled for 24 hrs later. Thanks to exceptional timing I got 3 great meals with many snacks between, 2 good walks around antibes, and plenty of time to hang out with the folks. All and all it was a fantastic weekend, hell I even got a tan. The weather was fantastic, and it was exactly what I needed to unwind a little. Between travel and involvement with a few projects I was starting to get crushed under the load, it's amazing what a little fresh air, a few walks, and a lot of rich french food can do to make a man feel like a million bucks. I'd say I'm now completely re-energized and ready to deal with the impending shuffle and travel over the next few weeks (including a new country, a new apartment, throwing a couple parties, and potentially a couple new projects). I just have to manage to do a weekend like this once every month or so and I'll be fine.

Roadtrip plans coalesce

So thanks to the following travel blog: Montreal| Gridskipper and Tommy Sh'Oaks' insistance, my first summer point to point has been decided. NYC to Montreal for some good cheap canadian livin on the weekend.
I have decided to break my summer vacation into a few small road trips. For other destinations I'm thinking...the south east ( got some friends in florida), maybe more northeast to see those ivy kids, and finally there's a chance of a wild DC to austin trip with the legendary R. Agamemnon Yang. Vegas and New Orleans were thoughts, but I think I want to avoid obscene heat so I'll only hit sweaty climates where I have a few friends.

On the road

I was feeling a little homesick hanging out in Heathrow yesterday waiting for my flight back to bella Roma (there's no place like Rome), so I decided to get a book that would exacerbate, or alleviate it. I picked up Kerouac's On the Road at an overpriced Heathrow bookshop and dove in.


I was diggin on the book for a couple hours when it occured to me that I've probably seen more countries (if you include principalities) than states. I think it's about time to change that. Given that I now have friends in all sorts of unusual places like Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Conneticut, and even DC, it may be time for a roadtrip. I have decided that if I get some time off from work in August (Italy is completely shut down for two weeks) I will actually drive through, dare i say it, red states and fly-overs.


If you guys have any one horse town recommendations, or favorite koa sites, just drop em in the comments.

Can you say bacon? I knew you could.

Yes folks, it's another CoDvG. Check out these sweet band-aids def worth a look see.

Once a fratboy...

Okay so I know I've been out of college for a few years, but it has come to my attention that the coolest piece of jewlery ever created is only 10 bucks on thinkgeek. That's right, for only 10 dollars you can be opeining beer bottles with less effort than ever before. I really shouldn't get one of these, but it really is sweet so we'll see how long I can resist.

Not Pr0n: you guys should play this game

Ops

Ops: The last 10 seconds in the life of a storm trooper, it's a brilliant kubrick meets tarantino meets homestarrunner sketch ( link lifted from screenhead)

Things come full circle

Last night I was in our London office at about 11pm with a couple co workers, and we decided it was dinner time. After about 5 minutes on local google it was clear that delivery pizza was our only option. After checking a few sites we finally found one that was open...
Flash-back to Rochester, NY early autumn one year in the late 80's. I'm eating at a little crappy pizza place on winton north of east avenue called Captain Tony's , and I think to myself, "self, you'll probably never eat here again."
I was wrong, the only pizza place that would deliver to the office after 11 was Captain Tony's Pizza and Pasta Emporium (found at www.captaintonys.com). Yes, this amazing woldwide franchise seems to be the only link between such glamourous locations as London, Rochester NY, and Quartz Hill CA. I really hope this isn't some strange portent of my impending demise

Rockin out in London

This city shuts down early, real early. I haven't had much time to explore, but it looks like if you don't want to go to a club, you are SOL for anything to do after 11. All of the bars, restaurants, and cafes are locked down at 11 or so, and with the ridiculous pricing, I'm finding it hard to get into this city. Last night I had a great dinner ( oysters to start, grilled monkfish, and a dill vodka), but what should have cost 40-45 bucks, came in around 40 pounds. So long as you don't pay attention to the currency everything looks right, but I'm paid in dollars, and convert prices compulsively, so it's a little rough. I'm gonna reserve full judgement till I get a bit of time to really get to know the city, but it's no Rome (which I fell in love within a day of walking around).