Austin nights

Happy Birthday to me

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As not a single reader knows (not that I have any), my birthday was last Monday, May 3. That makes me 26 years old, although I look 30 and feel 40.

It was a fun birthday, besides going out to luch with some co-non-workers, we went to Cain & Abel’s (a bar in west campus). It was also Michael Margolis’ goodbye party from Austin. Goodbye Michael.

On Saturday, against the weather reports, we had a barbecue (carne asada) at the pool. Here’s the invitation text, which I paste here because I thought it was funny:

(English translation follows)

Queridos compañeros, amigos, conocidos y demás:

Como todos ustedes saben, a pesar de que físicamente sigo siendo tan guapo y jovial, el paso del tiempo no se detiene. He llegado a mis veintiseis (26) primaveras en contra de todos los pronósticos.

Para celebrar este acontecimiento, el díaa del albañil (3 de Mayo también), la victoria en la batalla de Puebla (5 de Mayo), el día del trabajo (1 de Mayo), el fin del semestre y hasta el día de las madres (10 de Mayo)… nos vemos este sábado 8 de Mayo 4:00 PM en las albercas aledañas a mi departamento situado en 12370 Alameda Trace Circle (Arrowood 133 – Riata) para una deliciosa Carne Asada (BBQ – para que salga bien en la traducción).

Preguntas frecuentes (FAQ)

1. ¿Cuando cumples años? Demasiado tarde. Ya cumplí.

2. ¿Puedo llevarte un regalo? Pero ¡por supuesto!

3. Se rumora que Jack Zagha va a manejar 30,000 millas desde California para estar en tu piñata. ¿es cierto? Si. Y se le agradece pero no le voy a reembolzar la gasolina.

4. ¿Qué va a haber de comer? Lo que traigas. Es decir, cada quien trae su comida. Aquí tenemos asadores para preparar todo.

5. ¿Y de tomar? Que bueno que lo mencionas. Todo tipo de bebidas – cerveza, ron, Tequila, CAGUAMAS DE CARTA BLANCA, vodka, sabrosísimo aguardiente, etc. será muy agradecido. Como dicen los de la Trinca: Más vale que sobre y no que falte.

6. ¿Debo llevar traje de baño? Si. Aquí tenemos alberca, piscina y pileta, además de un jacuzzi.

7. Chido. ¿Para más dudas a donde me comunico? A mi celular 512-7969157 o mándame un email.

8. ¿y si el clima esta muy feo? Los organizadores estarán monitoreando los pronósticos del clima… si la cosa se ve mal, ya hay un plan alternativo ultra-secreto que se les anunciará por lo menos el día anterior.

9. Quiero llevar unas amigas, ¿no hay bronca? Eso lo decide el interventor de gobernaciín Daniel Jaramillo. Mándenle las fotos de las amigas a él.

10. Marcos, siento decirtelo pero en realidad nunca me caíste bien. Lo sospechaba. No importa, tú ven de todos modos y habla mal de mí a mis espaldas ¡te la pasarás a todo dar!

Gracias y espero verlos el sábado

Marcos

English google translation follows… if you don’t read Spanish AND you don’t understand google automatic translations…. well, that’s too bad.

Dear companions, friends, known and others:

As all you know, although I physically continue being so handsome and jovial, the passage of time does not stop. I have arrived at my veintiseis (26) springs against all the prognoses.

In order to celebrate this event, the day of the bricklayer (3 of May also), the victory in the battle of Puebla (5 of May), the day of the work (1 of May), the aim of the semester and until the day of the mothers (10 of May)… we see this Saturday 8 of May 4:00 p.m.in the ponds bordering to my department located in 12370 Alameda Trace Circle (Arrowood 133 – Riata) for a delicious Roasted Meat (BBQ – so that it comes out well in the translation).

Frequent questions (FAQ)

1. When you turn years? Too much late. I already fulfilled.

2. I can llevarte a gift? But of course!

3. It is rumored that Jack Zagha is going to handle 30.000 miles from California to be in your piñata. it is certain? Yes. And it is thanked for to him but I am not going to him to reembolzar the gasoline.

4. What is going to have to eat? What you bring. That is to say, every one brings its food. Here we have grills to prepare everything.

5. And to drink? That good that you mention it. All type of drinks – beer, rum, Tequila, CAGUAMAS OF UNLIMITED POWER, vodka, sabrosísimo aguardiente, etc. very will be thanked for. As they say those of the Lashing: More bond than on and not that lacks.

6. I must wear bath suit? Yes. Here we have pond, swimming pool and sink, in addition to jacuzzi.

7, Chido . For more doubts to where I communicate? To my cellular 512-7969157 or mandame an email.

8. and if the very ugly climate this? The organizers will be monitoreando the prognoses of the climate… if the thing is bad, already is an ultrasecret alternative plan that will announce at least the previous day to them.

9. I want to take friends, is no quarrel? That decides the government inspector Daniel Jaramillo. Send the photos of the friends to him.

10. Marcos, I in fact never feel to tell you but I never liked you well. I suspected it. It does not matter, you they see and speaks bad of me my backs anyway you you will pass it to everything to give!

Thanks and I hope to see you SaturdayMarcos

(PS: no Mexicans were harmed in the automatic translation of this text. Hope you can make sense out of it – Ed.)

I received some clever responses too:

(Spanish translation follows)Happy Birthday! I will be there on time (Israeli time that is…) what shell I bring? Assaf

Spanish google translation follows… if you don’t read English AND you don’t understand google automatic translations…. well, that’s too bad.

¡Los Cumpleaños felices! ¡Estaré yo allí a la hora (tiempo israelí que es. ..) lo que pela trae? Assaf

Michell Totah sent this cheerfull message:

NOW…THROUGH 3 PM…SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE IN AREAL COVERAGE ACROSS THE HILL COUNTRY AND SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. THE RAIN WILL MOVE NORTH AND NORTHWEST AT 10 MPH. RAINFALL AMOUNTS WILL AVERAGE AROUND ONE QUARTER INCH WITH ISOLATED AMOUNTS NEAR ONE INCH. Rest Of Today Chance Of T-Storm Hi: 80 deg Lo: 65 deg POP: 60% Mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms likely. Highs near 80. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 60 percent.

Weather turned out ok though. It stopped raining at 4:00 and the sun came out and quickly dried everything. That didn’t stop people from getting mud all over my apartment.

Alejandro Muleiro was quick to request permission to invite her friend:

Estimado Senior Interventor, expongo a continuacion una lista de lindas acompaniantes para el fiesta del Sabado a su criterio.

Atte:Alejandro Muleiro

Unfortunately, the girl did not show up. She had to go work at the strip club to fill in for a sick dancer. Sucks to work on a Saturday, doesn’t it?All in all. thanks to everyone for showing up and doing all the cooking. Also thanks for the various gifts (speaking Simpsons opener, authentic mole poblano, hauled all the way from…. Puebla, what else. And of course, pictures are available. Most of the people in there I’ve never seen and I had to give them $10 to make it seem like I have friends.

Falafel and more

An evening with Ehud Barak

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Last night, I went to a conference by the ex-Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Ehud Barak at the University of Texas, in the LBJ Auditorium.
First thing I noticed, when I got there, is that security was tight. There was a very long line outside waiting to be screened with metal detectors, etc. I don’t know if this is customary for this kind of events (it wasn’t like that last year when Bill Clinton spoke) or if security was specially tight because the speaker is an israeli ex-Prime Minister.

Second thing I notice, is lots of people wearing t-shirts from different jewish or pro-Israel organizations (i.e. Hillel, Texans for Israel). Many “I love Israel” t-shirts too. Also, lots of people wearing pro-palestinian t-shirt with flags and kefiahs around their necks. The atmosphere was very politically charged.
I sat three rows from the top. The second row behind me was left empty, even though the auditorium was packed. In the last row sat 8 or so people that looked like UT students. They were there to protest, I assume, Israel’s policies regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Too bad Mr. Barak is no longer the Prime Minister, nor is he even a member of the Knesset anymore. I guess they wanted to make a point. They stood up with their backs to the speaker during the full length of the conference, about two hours. They were, at least, mostly quiet.
The conference was interesting, but nothing groundbreaking for someone who is familiar with Barak’s ideology, and has kept up with the news for the last years. He has a very very strong Sabra accent… surprising for someone who went to the University in the US. He talked about Iraq (good), about unilateralism in the international scene (bad), terror (bad), war on terror (good), Camp David, Yasser Arafat, Gaza Pullout, etc.
To me, the most interesting part was at the end, during the Q&A part. The organizers took written questions, screend (censored?) them and passed read some to Barak. Stupid things like “Do you have a cowboy hat?”. What a waste of time. Barak then stopped the guy questioning him and said, more or less:
“I see there are some palestinian supporters here, let’s let them ask questions.”
A guy sitting somewhere in the middle of the auditorium immediately jumped up and asked, in an aggressive tone, about settlement policies during his government, and about the negotiations in Camp David, arguing why he never revealed maps detailing his offer to Arafat. Barak answered all the questions and talked about some of the things that happened, like how Clinton was infuriated with the outright, complete rejection of the offers even as a basis for negotiations. A second student, wearing an israeli shirt was next to ask a question, but Barak cut him, saying he wanted to give a chance to the supporters of the palestinians to speak up. So a third student, wearing a “Free Palestine” t-shirt stood up and asked, in an educated and eloquent manner, on how Israel can reject, on a moral and legal basis, the right of return of palestinians to Israel proper. Barak’s answer was good, going back to his childhood begore the establishment of the State of Israel, the UN’s partition plan, the War of Independence and jewish refugees from the time other arab countries got independence.
All in all, it was a very interesting conference. I was, perhaps not surprised, but happy to see Barak in speak straight, concise and to the point, as he is known to do. However, I was somewhat surprised to see such a heavy atmosphere surrounding the whole event, where a lot of people did not go to listen but to make a political statement. I never experienced it at this level back in Mexico… not even in Israel. These last days, there has been a marked increase in antisemitic posts to my other website, some of them outright attacks on jews that we had to delete from the message forum and block accounts and things like that. This is the worse it’s been since the website was placed online three years ago. Makes you think.
My friend Jason Schwartz presented him… cool. He’s also mentioned in this article.
NI Eagles!

NI Eagles win Austin City League

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Yesterday, with a 5-0 victory over T2, the NI Eagles win the Austin Soccer City League Division 3 championship (after moving up from Division 5 and Division 4) with two games to spare. We will be in Division 2 next tournament.
Sadly, I have been out for most of this league due to a nasty foot injury. Oh well…. hopefully I can rejoin the team soon.
Congratulations to all of the team for an incredible season! (and to Boris our imposing goalkeeper for scoring his first goal with the team).

Film Critic

And I shall purchase it… again.

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It’s now (almost) official:


After years of waiting, hype and hope, the rumors can at last be laid to rest: the holy grail of DVD will finally be released this September. Yes, it is the original Star Wars trilogy: Episodes IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (which many regard as the best in the series) and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Yep… the original Star Wars trilogy will finally be out on DVD!
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away I owned it in Sony’s defunct Beta format, dubbed in Madrid Spanish… While I doubt this will beat hearing princess Leia call out for help in that sexy accent (“Aydame, Obi Wan Kenobi… eres mi nica esperanza…”), the better quality of the video should make up for it. After that I’ve had it in VHS, VHS Special Edition, VCD and DiVX.

Now, what do I do with those taiwanese Video CDs?

My Blog

New .mac sidebar!

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Integration nirvana! (well not really)…
I have created a small and simple php script to extract the links from my .mac account so I can put them in the sidebar.
I have called it:

dotMacToSidebar.php

And it works! I will make this available freely, as soon as I can clean up the code. But if you need it sooner, just post a comment and I will contact you.

Cool!

This was inspired by a comment from avid reader Moran Tzaban, who pointed out it was really hard to dig through the posts to find the photo albums. Thanks!

No ugly people were harmed making this blog.