just a place in the sun

I want one!

2007-03-18T17:51:00.000+01:00

Back in Brussels for a couple of days and I'm playing with my mum&dad's new iMac. I loooove it and really want one. The only problem is that we have nowhere to put it at home in Barcelona. Buying a new flat is an option worth considering if we'll be able to have a new iMac...

Talking about things I looove and really want to have NOW (pronounce as Jack Bauer whenrequesting a chopper), and what I consider to be the ultimate anti-iPhone. A 3G phone, with a 5 Megapixel camera, Wifi, Bluetooth and... GPS! OK it definetely does not look as good as the iPhone, but you can do a lot more with it. Have a look here and let me know what you think.

That's it from Brussles. Ciao!

Enough about IT, let’s talk about something else…

2007-03-01T13:06:00.000+01:00

I remember when I first started hearing stuff about this climate change thing. I can remember I was still at school, which means that it was a long time ago. And if a school kid heard about it the scientific community must have been hearing about global warming for decades.
Now all of a sudden it’s back on the front pages. Is someone planning to run a big charity concert about it or what?
To me the real problems are 2: in general it is commercial operations that generate most of the pollution and if we want to change this it’ll take some serious culture change globally. This second point is really tough as no global organisation has enough power to actually push such a change. Can you imagine the UN trying to do something like that? Well, they did try, but the Kyoto treaty is still not enough, not all countries have agreed to it and the sanctions are not 100% clear to me. I would advise you to watch “The Corporation” a very educating documentary.
There is also a major problem with growing economies like India or China. The reasoning is that if such countries, with their huge population reach a level of comfort (I don’t know how to call it) we’ll face massive problems. I was reading sometime ago that if all Chinese people were to use toilet paper, we’d have to chop-off most of the forests in the world. The same sort of reasoning would work if car ownership in India reaches the same levels as in Europe. So what can we do? Tell these growing economies that they’ll have to comply with 1 car per family? Based on what? We (the Western civilisation) have promoted this sort of world. We have told these countries “work hard and you’ll get your detached house in the suburbs with a gas-guzzling car in the driveway!” This is probably the reason why people are working their arse off in these countries, to one day get to our level of comfort.
So what do we do? Why should we tell these countries that they should care about the environment? And shut down their obsolete production plants for heavy industry (which by the way we sold them after Kyoto) because they pollute too much? Why should we tell them to invest in renewable energy if we don’t? See the problem?
Any ideas on how to fix this? Well, we’d have to seriously re-think the way we live today and only when we will have changed we will be able to preach to growing economies. The problem for me is that cultural change takes generations, and right now it doesn’t seem like we have a lot of time. How long is it going to take before we don’t feel like your car is the reflection of your personality? I mean cars in particular haven’t really changed in the last 100 years. We didn’t have (or maybe it was just starting) phones 100 years ago and now we (supposedly) can browse the web at super-fast speeds from anywhere. How is it possible that cars are still using the same 4 wheels, on rubber tyres, moving thanks to a combustion engine? Seriously, what difference do you see between a Ford Model T and an Audi Q7? They both have 4 wheels, a combustion engine and are designed to go on tarmac.
Ideally we should give the example. “yes, we tried the 1 car-per-person, but it’s not working: congestion, pollution, etc. It’s not worth it. Invest heavily in public transport!” But we’re not doing it, so why should they do it?
When we went to Jamaica, I remember drinking (lots) of RedStripe in very old bottles. These bottles must have been re-used hundreds of times. Brilliant! Why throw it away and pretend that if you put it in a recycling bin, thanks to some sort of magic we’ll be able to get a brand new bottle out of it, without having to waste any energy? I guess Germany is the only country I know where this approach is taken seriously. But how are we going (or who is going) to tell Jamaicans that they should stick to their old re-used bottles of RedStripe instead of getting a new bottle each time? They want to be like us and be able to drink their beer in a brand new bottle every time!
Personally I don’t consider myself as being exceptionally environmental friendly. Yes I do fly a lot (but it’s for work and I will now STOP travelling –lookout for my suitcase on ebay!) and our flat being old, is not the best example of an energy saving one. I also tend to have quite a few gadgets pumping power 24/7 and my motorbike probably pollutes as a medium-sized tanker.
On the other hand I don’t have a car and only use my bike a few times a week, don’t eat red meat everyday, I shop at the local market (trying to buy only seasonal products) I try to recycle most of our trash (mainly packaging), I tend not to leave chargers plugged if not needed. Does this make me an eco-freak? I really don’t think so. Does it make a big difference? Definitely not! So why am I doing it?
Good question. It is not for good conscience, that’s for sure. I guess that many of the problems we have today need a complete re-think of how we live: what we eat, how we get around town, what we do with our trash, how we use new technologies.
So, here’s the million dollar question. Who should sit down and do something about it? Actually even better, who has the power to do such a thing? The UN? Wal-Mart? What do you think?

3GSM in Barcelona (yes it is that time of the year)

2007-02-14T14:11:00.000+01:00

Barcelona has literally been invaded by 60,000 people attending the 3GSM conference. Needless to say that if you put that together with Valentine's Day tonight it will be absolutely impossible to eat in a restaurant in Barcelona.
Overall, except from hotel fully booked and big chauffeur-driven cars the only real impact of 3GSM on the city is this weird constant presence of business people everywhere.
Those of you who've been here may have noticed that you can see a bit of any urban tribe known to humanity (from proper from lads from Leeds on a stag weekend all the way to hardcore catalanist environmentalists- don't ask me who they are). Right now the business people on business trip tribe are definitely a majority. You can recognise them in 3 easy steps: they always wear their conference pass, they only wear black suits and they have really cool mobiles (but they still manage to get lost looking for that authentic restaurant).
At the time of writing this post I haven't seen anything new or really exciting. Nokia integrating youtube? So what? Shouldn't you be able to access and view any youtube clip with any decent mobile? Sometimes I struggle to understand whether I am being too cynical or whether new technologies are always put on hold in order to figure out how to charge users first.
Unfortunately the only company I'd really like to see demo their new products is not here. Apple can actually take the luxury of not showing up at this kind of events and only run their own shows.
Anyway, that's all from Barcelona, capital of mobile communication, (but just for a couple of days).
Ciao

2 links worth checking out about the iPhone

2007-01-11T11:17:00.000+01:00

Things the iPhone can do for you
And even more...
ciao

Happy

2007-01-11T11:08:00.000+01:00

Today I'm happy. Just plain happy. I feel relieved not to be addicted to Apple anymore and feel comfortable in criticising their products (and not just adore them-see previous posts). Just happy. It looks like we've found a place for the wedding and both Teresa and I agree that it's just the perfect spot. Happy. I'm flying back home today (which always makes me happy). I managed to survive to a full year in my current role and bill a lot of customers (more than I was supposed to). Just happy. Tonight I'll be going out with one of my friends who's just moved to Barcelona (not to forget the others that were already in Barcelona). I know it's a very selfish thing and probably not even PC, but today I just feel happy.
Here's an interesting article on how Apple managed to keep the iPhone secret for so long… The human cost of keeping the iPhone secret.

a few links about the iPhone

2007-01-10T12:03:00.000+01:00

If you read the links below you'll see I am not the only one asking questions about the iPhone...
The 5 worst things about the iPhone
Full report from the BBC
Report on Cult of Mac blog (wired)
Report on The Reg

Apple catching up with what customers want

2007-01-10T11:28:00.001+01:00

So, they finally made it. It's only been what? 3-4 years? Maybe something like that. Apple Inc (not Apple Computer Inc anymore) has released its first iPhone. There's a lot I'd like to say and there's even more being said in blogs, news sites all around the world, so if you don't mind I'll skip the obvious "wow it's the coolest phone ever made" comments to get straight to the point.

The iPhone is still 6 month away from its US release. It will be sold with a 2-year contract only… This means that some claver people will make a good share of money by purchasing bulks of iPhones and then unlocking them for other operators.

When will it be available in Europe?
The fact that it's not going to be available in Europe pisses me off but on the other hand it could be a good thing. Personally I don't see the point for this iPhone if it's not running on 3G. Hopefully by the time it's going to be rolled-out in Europe it will be a 3G phone… Let's also keep in mind that if Apple wants to take the same approach as they have taken in the US, they'll have to find either a Europe-wide operator to support it or sign deals with individual operators in each market. Needless to say that's it may take a while before we'll see our streets full of iPhones.

Key functionality still missing.
If you take a closer look at the iPhone, once the "wow, I NEED one of those" effect is gone, you can start see some flaws. First of all the iPhone can only be compared to a nano. It has a 4-8Gb memory and with ipods getting closer to 100Gb it seems a little small. Connectivity is fine, but as said above I'd like to see a 3G version of it and wireless synchronisation is not part of the package. What's the point of having internet access if it's going to take longer than drawing the page yourself? Other things I don't like is the fact that the battery is not removable (those of you who had a bad iPod experience know what this means- ie apple overcharging you to change a battery or telling you to get a new iPhone), the memory is not expandable and as usual Apple will keep a tight control on what can be used on the iPhone and what can't.

And now for the killer: do we really need an iPhone?
Let me explain a little bit better. I do love gadgets and I do like some things in the iPhone. A wide screen is clearly a good idea and the touch screen seems quite a step forward for Apple. My point though is about this sort of device. If you're travelling and know you're going to spend a lot of time in a plane/train then take your iPhone with you and enjoy the trip. The point I want to make is that when you're going down to your local for a pint with a couple of friends (or was it a couple of pints with a friend?) do you need to carry your iPhone? If you have a closer look at it you'll see that it's quite a big thing to stuff in your pocket and you don't want to put it in your back pocket (just in case you forget about it and sit on it).
The pub example is just a stupid example, but I think that as there are times where you need full connectivity and all your music/videos/pictures, etc, there are times when you just need a phone. It would be great to be able to use seamlessly 2 different devices for instance. I'd love to be able to take the iPhone on my business trips and watch a movie in the plane, but if I'm going out at night I'd like to pick up my smaller (and a lot less flashy) nokia 6230 instead (as long as I can get the address book synched with my iPhone or my Laptop).

So who really wants an iPhone now? ;o)

That's it for now. I'll keep on looking around see if I can find interesting comments about this new apple must-have accessory.
Take care.
iacopo

2 beers and some innovation

2007-01-03T16:18:00.000+01:00

I had a fun chat with my cousin a few nights ago in Brussels. Not that any of you is interested in reading rubbish my cousin and I talk about when we have a couple of beers, but for once I think we were talking about something worth mentioning. I am not pretending to be an expert of any kind, I just read www.wired.com, www.theregister.co.uk and a few more publications that give hints about what's going on. Below are some thoughts about that chat we had even though the end of the evening is a bit blurry in my memory, so let's say it's just what I think. Leave my cousin out of it.

He started with a question like this: Innovation. Where is it going and what will it deliver to the end consumer? (again that's what I remember being the starting point)

First of all we have to recognise that innovation today is marketing driven and not technology driven. There is a big difference. It means that a new product will be launched only when it's clear who to sell it to and how to make money out of it. I know that it sort of makes sense but it would make a lot more sense to deliver the technology to the end users and empower them to make choices on how to use it.
When a new technology comes out (eg UMTS, WiFi, VoIP...) people think about how it's going to be used and how you'll be able to bill customers. Unfortunately if you leave it to companies to define the services to provide users with they'll have something very clear in mind: how can I bill my customers and where am I going to make more profit.

Here are a couple of examples that explain a little better what I mean.

SMS - for a while SMS were widely ignored by mobile phone users. When mobiles became popular enough for teenagers to start using them the whole SMS thing took off. The functionality was there, but probably the first mobile users were business users who didn't need a cheap way to communicate simple text-based messages ("who cares, my company is paying for it" sort of thing). The user base changed and so did their needs. SMS today are stupidly expensive if you compare the amount of information you send out with the price you pay. Mobile operators understod that SMS became a valuable service for mobile users and started charging a lot more for it.
From Wikipedia "Despite the low cost to the consumer, the service is enormously profitable to the service providers. At a typical length of only 190 bytes (incl. protocol overhead), more than 350 of these messages per minute can be transmitted at the same datarate as a usual voice call (9 kbit/s)."

Wifi at Starbucks (Full story). that's a very good example and I'll have to give all credits to wired (again) for that. Most of the cost for Starbucks to set-up wifi access in their cafes (can we call them that?) is around billing customers. You need, of course, a billing system and a helpdesk in case things don't work, things that you'll pay for when purchasing your right to access the wifi connection. My point is that if the objective is to provide (bad) coffee drinkers with internet access, wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just give wifi access for free? If it's not working, well, tough shit, you'll have to come back later instead of paying for it and knowing that the biggest chunk of it will go into paying for the billing system. By the way, to set-up and run a wifi hotspot costs 20 euros a month... To me this is a clear example of technology misuse.
To take this one step further, shouldn't we consider internet access as one basic utility (as water, gas, health system) a government should provide its citizens with? Why don't we leave entrepreneurs create new businesses without making stupid money on our back for what should be considered a basic service. In the US some cities are starting to roll-out city-wide wifi coverage creating a new trend supporting the idea of having cheap/free internet access available city-wide.
I'll go even further to say that there should be economic areas that should be free from market economy. Why is water distribution supposed to deliver a profit? Access to clean water should be a human right (isn't it already?) instead we give all the infrastructure we've build over decades to a private company for a short-term profit. The only reason for a company to exist is to generate profit (sooner or later). How can an organisation based on such principle be in charge of what should be a human right? I'd rather be sure and have someone who only has the well-being of consumers at heart in charge of it. Even if this means a less efficient company (which is not always true). I could use similar arguments for motorways, the health system, trains, electricity, gas, etc. Why an electricity company has to make a profit? Can't it just deliver electricity? Hospitals should just take good care of sick people, shouldn't they?

WiMax - great technology, but will probably put out of reach by having UMTS-style auctions for a few licences. WiMax is the next generation WiFi, with a much higher bandwidth over Kilometers not tens of meters like WiFi. This sort of mobile bandwidth will definitely enable users to have a really fast and mobile internet access. This is the theory. What seems likely to happen is that licences to operate with WiMax will be auctioned for tens/hundreds of millions. Only well established (or well backed) operators will be able to afford such licences, and guess who will be paying the bill? You, the end user. Some may claim that UMTS-like auctions will bring a lot of much needed cash to governments but that's in the short term. On the long term the consumers will pay for it. So is the government (understand the people they represent) going to be richer or poorer auctioning wimax licences? A lot poorer. Think that companies will have to obey to the universal law of ROI and you will end-up paying for it.

Look at UMTS now. It was supposed to deliver fast-ish mobile internet access. Operators spent billions in licences as it was supposed to be the future and now we're heading towards WiMax while UMTS penetration is still very low*. I think that operators were presented with a whole new market and instead of trying to understand what people wanted to do they concentrated on how they could bill them. Completely different approach. End result: many people will tell you that UMTS services are very expensive and very little used.

*When I say penetration for UMTS is low I mean that I haven't seen that many non-business users firing up their laptops in a bar and get their fast internet access or PDAs, no grannies doing video-conferences in the streets.

As you see my cousin and I had quite a chat and definitely more than a beer...At the end, the conclusion was that I'm not expecting to see something thought, designed and tested by consumers. I know companies have to generate a profit but there is only one clever ways of doing this. Put the user first. Let them decide. Let them have a go at what you think they need. Get the consumers onboard. Companies just don't understand that hundreds of their top customers would be flattered to be invited to give their opinion about a new product or service. Ferrari has done it and has even achieved to get customers to pay (a lot) to do it (read here), but they're Ferrari, it's a different story. Just in case someone working for Nutella is reading this, I am free to run any sort of quality control tests on Nutella.

Enough for today. I have to go play with my bike now.

ciao

Holidays

2006-12-19T10:06:00.000+01:00

All,
as you may have heard we're getting married which means that I'll have even less time to update this blog as we still have to organise everything. Find below a few links that should help you cope with the remaining days of work for 2006 (I'll try to publish more stuff). Otherwise I'm off work until 9th January. So happy... well that's it for now. See you later.

I just love this!
Italian online lottery? Fugghedaboutit
science vs fiction
Do you remember Helene et les Garcons? Well, here's an episode you may have forgot about. (French)
the vatican in serie A?
Alternative TV (and if you have kids too young to watch TV try this)
the perfect xmas gift: la barre de faire (French)

I know, I know, I know...

2006-12-01T18:04:00.000+01:00

I haven't been very good at keeping this blog up-to-date, I know. I am here today to tell you a good news. We're getting married. Yes we are. And you'll be able to read about how to come and how we're coping with organising the thing on this blog: http://gettingmarriedinbarcelona.blogspot.com
Looking forward to see you there.

p.s. this doesn't mean I can't continue updating this blog... Actually I shouldn't have anything to do this month (except from organising the wedding, of course) and I've got a serious amount of links and other stuff I'd like to share with you.

working from home...

2006-08-08T15:00:00.000+02:00

quiet Tuesday
Having a quiet Tuesday at home. After 2 days in rainy Brussels, I'm back home and enjoying a quiet day of wfh (work from home). What a perfect time to update this lonely blog! As I don't really feel like writing today I'll just post some links I've found this morning. I thought they were too good not to.
not working? How not to get caught!
good French cartoon (doesn't happen v often)
The real C4 ad
When is coming out gain? Seriously, when can we get one of those?
Actually I want this one
Want to see what coke does to you?
that's it now! Back to work

Headbutt

2006-07-11T11:52:00.000+02:00

Well, nothing makes me happier than people asking me about this blog: somehow I am pretentious enough to think people actually do take the time and read my rants about bureaucracy or click on any stupid link I may found. On the other hand, it's been a while since I last updated it, so every time I hear something about the blog I just skip it because it reminds me of how bad I am in updating it. The main problem is that the longer I wait the better the post must be (in order to justify the wait), so I absolutely need to publish something NOW!

so what's up? Got anything new to say today? Well actually yes, I do. Don't worry I am not going to say anything about yesterday's game. It was stressful (as any final game should be) but we won (for once) and we're happy about it. The only thing I am still curious to discover is what must have zidane heard to get in such a state? I mean, after more than a decade playing professional football at the highest level, it's your last game , you're in the world cup final, you're in extra times about 10 minutes away from the penalties… What can anyone say to make headbutt a player hoping no one sees you? I mean I guess it must have been something more than "You frenchies, go stuff yourself with frogs and snails!" but what? When the game finished yesterday, after 5 minutes of shouting, this question started going around my head "what did he say?". First thing I did coming back home was to check all major news sites but none had any information. Today I checked again and the best I could find was published on the Guardian: apparently Materazzi called Zidane a "terrorist". Hummm, not buying it mate! Terrorist? How is that supposed to make you lose your temper and head butt someone? Nah, I don't buy it. I'll keep on checking papers and sites, hopefully in the next couple of days it will come out and we'll all know. For now the quest continues! -Thanks God I said I wasn't going to talk about the game!

Concerning my bureaucratic adventures here in Barcelona (I am actually in Brussels today, but you're not supposed to know) we're still a long way from the finish line. In Spain everybody has a NIF, which is a national ID number. They ask you this number everywhere and for anything. I did get this number after several visits to great examples of public service efficiency and felt good for about 3 days. Well, after 3 days they told me that I did have my number but if I wanted to have a real ID card I would have to start all over again. My obvious reaction was "who cares, I've got the number, why would I need the ID card?". Well, as you're asked for a proof of ID every time you use your credit card, you end up carrying your passport with you all the time… And yes, when it gets hot like now keeping your passport in your back pocket for a whole day is the best way to make sure it'll never survive the 5-year life expectancy planned for it. So in early June, I decided to get in the queue to ask for an ID card. Now, in order to get this ID card, you think it wouldn't take too much: you already have the number, getting the card should be a formality. WRONG! First of all they gave me an appointment for September 4th! And apparently it'll take another 3 months after that. I'll let you know but if it really takes that long I'll never take the ID card with me anywhere: I'll be too scared to lose it! That's for the Spanish side. In the Italian side the consulate has given us an appointment on 1st August. If we're lucky, 2 weeks after that we should have all the paperwork to go to the town hall and start all over again. I think we'll get married in 2010!

In a pure masochistic move, as I didn't get enough pain out of my bureaucratic experiences, I decided that I would complicate my life a little more and buy a motorbike in Brussels. By the way now that I am writing this I realise how plain stupid I am sometimes. One could think that Europe is working for things like that and buying a bike in Brussels to have it shipped to Barcelona and get Spanish plates, shouldn't be too difficult. Well, you're wrong! If you're thinking about doing anything like that, just stop. In Italian there's a say: "Mogli e buoi dei paesi tuoi" that can be translated by "You wanker! Why on earth would you want to buy a bike in Brussels when you live in Barcelona? Did you not read your own Blog or what???" Anyway, 2 months down the line I am riding it, even though I only started riding it a couple of weeks ago and I still have a temporary plate. Why did I do it? I still don't know. I think that one evening, after downing a few drink I'll tell myself a few things and will end up punching myself for being stupid and not reading my own blog!

Well that's it for now. I'll try to keep the blog updated and even though I have made it clear that I am a lazy bastard. Right now I can only think about the few days we're going to spend in with Teresa to recover from all the stress of the last 12 months. I think we really disserve it!

P.S. Just spotted on an Italian site some interesting news about the head butt situation. Apparently Materazzi said something about Zidane's sisters. Now this makes a little more sense than the terrorist option... here's the full story (in Italian)

Call me lazy, because that's what I am

2006-03-01T18:38:00.000+01:00

Not a lot of time but I went through a couple of v cool links I want to share with you. Here they come:
Love is clearly blind
what to wear for a product launch
what we'd have liked to see being launched
wired meets Milan. weird and weirder
Even I could be a model with a bit of photoshopping (go to the portfolio section)
What we'd like microsoft to give us NOW (to see exactly what it is click here even though this promotional video is supposed to be a year old...) Let's hope MS will one day deliver something we'd actually like to have.

I do, I really do want to...

2006-02-10T16:37:00.000+01:00

Actually, while publishing the links below I though "wait a second I actually have something to tell (alvise, of course, as he's the only one reading this)". It's half way between funny and depressing. Just like Italy. I just wish I could just laugh about it, but I usually get quite sad when thinking about how bad the country is doing. Don't worry I won't turn this short post on a depressing analysis of Italy.
As you know Teresa and I have been going out for way too long and I still feel very strange when having to explain it to people who don't know her. If I say my girlfriend, it sounds very teeny. When I say partner, I can read on people's faces "I didn't know he is gay!" and using terms like fiancée makes me feel from another century. So, ok, sometimes I just cheat and say "my wife, Teresa" or things like that. The problem is that most of the time I want to laugh when I hear the word wife coming out of my mouth. So what to do? Well, one thing that would help is probably just getting married so it'll be true when I say she's my wife.

All I need to get married in Spain is a piece of paper confirming I've never been married so we can go and check at the town hall when we could get married with Teresa. So off I go to the consulate hoping to get the certificate straight away. Easier said than done… As I've only registered myself at the Italian consulate 1 month ago, my complete file hasn't arrived here yet. So there is no way they can confirm I am actually single. Well, I struggle to understand why the consulate of my government is not able to confirm I'm not married, but that's not even the best part. The transfer of my file from Brussels to Barcelona will take…. 3 months!!! Yep. I guess it's some kind of cost cutting and the files are sent by pigeon or somebody is actually walking from Brussels with my file under his arm… I was speechless when they told me. The other amazing thing is that knowing you're not married is not enough to get married. You actually need another certificate, which I think was completely made up by the Italian bureaucracy just to waste time. I have to say I love its name though. It's called "Certificado de capacidad de matrimonio" for which you have to provide the same documents which I'm not going to bore you with. Of course Teresa thought I was making it up only to delay the actual wedding, but (and I am not kidding) there's a 2-month wait in order to get this second certificate… Not kidding.

What pisses me off is that if Teresa and I were to wed in a catholic wedding (not a civil one) we wouldn't have half the problems we're having now. I guess the connections between the Opus Dei and the Vatican work better than the EU!
Anyway, I seriously hope to be able to post a wedding date soon on this blog and hopefully we will have sorted out all the paper work in time for Spring 2010! Keep your calendar free! Otherwise we'll just go to Vegas and get married by an Elvis impersonator!

Keep your fingers crossed, I'll keep you posted.

just for alvi

2006-02-10T16:05:00.000+01:00

OK, thanks to Alvise's feedback this has now become the most exclusive blog. I am refreshing it only for one person (the only one asking for more ;o) so this must be the most exclusive blog ever. Alvi, enjoy.
Topolonia's PM…
One house…
How to waste time with google earth
The next iPod
Apples with more colours…
Scented mp3 players?
Clever piece of technology for iPod/PSP addicts
How exactly am I supposed to use this while speeding down the road? Can you imagine setting up an address while trying to avoid the lorry cutting you off?
Is steve jobs really a star? Well, it looks like it from these posters
One of the best things going on. Google and Skype just pushed around $20M into it.
The only way not to miss your stop

2005-11-29T23:34:00.000+01:00

First of all I'd like to thank my friends. Sometimes they can piss me off so much I have to write about it…

Working in technology and loving gadgets I think I've always tried to be aware of what was going on: latest technology, market trends and stuff like that (initially this blog was supposed to be about that-but then in order to look fir stuff to put here I end up spending hours reading other people's blogs). On the other hand I know when to go Lo-Tech, and that's when I'm with my friends. There are few people with whom I have been able to share my passion for technology (big up to the ComWiFiNet massive!!!). So generally when hanging around with friends I am pretty Lo-Tech. This doesn't mean my friends still don't know what google is, but some of them may have troubles in defining what a blog is.

The funny bit for me is looking at how painful technology upgrades can be. Right now, after years of emailing to a growing list of email addresses (some of which are out of date-right fede?) they decided to enter the fantastic world of distribution lists. When you forward a funny email to a few friends it doesn't really matter whether you've missed somebody, because it's more than likely that you'll receive 2 copies of it! Same when using a bcc mailing list (where all recipients are put in bcc) but with an extra inconvenient because at the end you don't even know who to forward the email to (and everybody ends up receiving it 3 times). So comes the time of wanting to sort the mess out and go for something better to make sure to include everybody: the distribution list.

Of course adding someone to the list is really integrating them as part of the team or group rather than specifically communicating something (whether it is an invitation for dinner or a football game). So that's when the problems start (and I start enjoying it).
As in every social group you have a bunch of people who will be the core of it because of their interactions with the other, history, etc. But you will also have a bunch of people who are not part of that core, or are in the process of becoming part of it…what to do with them? Let them to be part of the club or not? Create 2 different distribution lists? Fine, but who will manage them? When can somebody be added to the list? Is there a test to take or a fee to pay? As I am writing this bit, most of my friends are exchanging emails about what to do and how to sort this mess out. I laugh. They'll never make it, and that's also why I love them (and sometimes hate them).

There are solutions in terms of technology on how to manage online communities with address books, message boards, links to skype, etc. But this would require for somebody to take the lead on this and actually invest some (precious) time in managing some sort of community portal (where the different sub-groups could have access to different areas, etc). My main justification for not doing this myself is really that chaos is part of who we are. Even if we do set-up a community portal it'll look like shit after 2 days because everyone will have made some changes just for the sake of it. The other reason for not doing it is because most of what we talk about is generally rubbish. Organising dinners or commenting on the latest Roma score don't justify a community portal to me. Does it? What do you think?

One more thing. People have been asking to see more pictures on this blog. It's a fair point and I'll try and publish more pictures. After only 7 weeks we have finally received some bits of furniture and the flat should start looking more like home now.

For those of you who are not only here because of the above, here's a selection of links you may be interested to check out. Nothing serious of course.
Who would want to ban Homer?
My first hard drive?
Can I have a quick one?
Is this a trend?

iPods. Once a year or once in a lifetime?

2005-11-08T18:47:00.000+01:00

I know you guys don't give a shit, but as this is MY blog I can do what I want (and as nobody's reading it…). I started this discussion with a friend by email and have been thinking about this for the last couple of days. When you buy an iPod, is it for life or is it until our friends in cupertino decide to release another functionality (probably already existing on your iPod but simply disabled for marketing purposes). Well, to me it kind of goes back to the basic principles not only of IT but life and how you deal with it. In a recent visit to a website promoting free-ish wifi access (www.fon.es) they asked whether you wanted to be a "linus" and share your wifi access point with all members of the community (and benefit from their access point when you're somewhere else) or whether you wanted to be a "bill" and actually get paid for people to use your access point. It's a bit the same thing, but instead of a linus and bill it should be "trabant" (you used to only need one in you entire life) and "footballer's wife" (you have to change it every 2 years -the silicone is not covered by the warranty after that). What are you really interested in? If you just want an mp3 player that works and has a decent battery life, then you know you won't need to upgrade your ipod (or anything else) every year. If what you're after is for people to check out your latest gadget even though you have only uploaded 3 songs in, it is a very different thing. Your ipod is not going to stop working when a new one comes out, but on the other hand I will have some problems in trying to watch a movie on my ipod.
So what's the point you must be thinking! Shall we? Shall we not buy the latest ipod? Well, it's good to see I can bullshit my way through and this piece was only to auto-convince me that I actually DO need a new iPod and retire the 2002 one I'm using currently. C'mon how can I resist the new nano? Well, based on the image below I should be able to resist, but I don't think I will...

And if you're looking for something cool (and huge) to go with your nano, here it is: http://www.macally.com/spec/ipod/mtunen.html

Mullets? Why???

2005-11-07T19:51:00.000+01:00

I'm not even trying to justify my very inconsistent web presence anymore. I'll just blame Telefonica for still not having internet access at home. Well, it's been a while indeed and even if I did not become a DIY hacker (as other people did lately) I had to face a few DIY challenges. For most people it would be as easy as it is for me to back up my hard drive, but when you've always avoided any direct contact with DIY even painting a room white or doing a couple of wholes in the walls can be a huge challenge.
First of all I'd like to sincerely thank the "ferreteria" on Ronda San Pere! It's one of these old fashioned shops, that are becoming increasingly difficult to find because they're not part of a chain. When you enter it, you start to feel there's something different and it only takes one question to any of the sale assistants to understand what I'm talking about (I think it's worth mentioning that all people working in the shop are easily over 65). When you ask a naïve question the answer is the same most of the time :
- let's see. How many times have you done this?
- well, none, this is the first time, so that’s why I'm here buying the tools and stuff.
- Right, so let's start at the beginning.
That's when a 30 minute lecture on how to change your lock or how to drill a hole in the wall starts. You can say whatever you want, the guy's not stopping! The shop could be on fire, he won't stop. So I see what you're thinking: fine, you've found a shop where they take time to explain you a bit what you actually have to do. There's more. The lecture is only the first step in the "DIY for idiots with 2 left hands"! After the lecture, comes the workshop! Right, the workshop. The last time I had to drill a few holes in a thin wall made of some sort of concrete boards. Well, I ended up practising with one of the guys making holes in the shop before they let me go home and actually drill some in my own walls! It's a package they sell really: not only tools and materials but also a lecture and a practice workshop! I owe the people in there big time! They are currently overtaking Steve Jobs in my classification of "people who inspire their customers".

Except from the excessive DIY (even changing a light bulb is considered DIY to me) we've had some time to go out and explore barcelona. There's one thing which I'm honestly struggling with lately. I know in parts of the world it is considered absolutely normal and sometimes even virile, but I didn't think barcelona was going to surprise me with its mullet culture! What is wrong with people? There seems to be a clear trend of people either wishing they were rednecks! Or maybe they're just trying to rebel so hard against everything, they found out that a mullet goes pretty much against any sense of taste or style so they adopt it as their uniform. Don't know, I'm still trying to figure this out. I wish I could show you some pictures, but I invite you all to come over and see it yourselves! Mullets? Why??? I'll have to figure that one out. If you have any ideas, please let me know!

random collection of links

2005-10-20T19:21:00.000+02:00

For once, let's start with the geeky corner.
Many of you will have heard about the new iPod that came out last week and to tell the truth I was quite excited (as with any new apple release). Once the first images start coming out and the details of the new iPod were clear I have to say I was a bit disappointed. If apple really wants to be the market leader it's clearly under delivering. Let's not forget that apple started in the mp3 player market when some established companies had been producing such devices for a while. And now, instead of feeling the pressure of other companies like Sony (with the PSP) it's just allowing you to see a limited amount of content on a stamp-sized screen… Well, sorry but not good enough for me. Here's a link (please, please read it) about Apple's latest move and why it's rubbish (I completely agree with the guy who wrote it so why try and rewrite it? So I get more time to talk about life in barcelona). Click here
Anyway, there are more radical people than me and as I'm getting a bit less excited about Apple, other take this feeling to the extreme. Check this link out
Wireless internet access: a right or a privilege?
One more thing before I start ranting about mortgages or plumbers. Gmail. What comes to your mind when you read GMAIL? It's likely that you'll think about the free google email service. Now Gmail will have to be renamed Googlemail in the UK because some company had been using the term gmail and registered it as soon as google announced their free email service. Now I don't want to seem simplistic, but if you were to run a UK survey you'll find out that more people associate gmail to google than to some sort of banking application. Of course both companies couldn't find a friendly way out because if you think Google needs something from you, you will think you've just won the lottery! Anyway, I respect Google (because they're not evil-yet) and I like my gmail account to stay as it is. Read more about this here
Last link for today (I just couldn't resist). Hasn't got anything to do with IT or computers, it's just about bullshit.

So how is it going in barcelona?
Well, we're slowly getting used to the idea that the flat we moved in is our new flat. We're buying some furniture and even better we'll start our first bit of DIY ever (if you exclude putting together some Ikea wardrobes). So quite excited about spending the weekend painting because I've been collecting corporate T-Shirts for the past 5 years in the hope that one day I would need them for a bit of DIY! If you have any tips about painting please let me know, it could save me from savaging our new flat. Apart from that not a lot of news. I'm spending 5 days a week away from home (and teresa) but things should get better and I should be able to start organising my time a little better and even spend a whole week in barcelona, yahoo! We're still missing the internet connection from home and it'll soon be 2 months of no internet for me… For those of you who know me, you can understand how I am feeling right now! That's it for today. I really need to get out of here.

bye bye frizzy

2005-10-11T19:05:00.000+02:00

I really don't know how to explain this but sometimes you see scenes that really summarise a state of mind or (in this case) a city. I don't know how to call this thing, but you'll understand as soon as you read the next few lines. I saw a scene the other day, on the way back from work, that really summarise the mentality of people over here. A young couple waiting for the train at a tube station. Both smoking (even though you're not supposed to smoke in the tube). Train approaches the station. They look at each other and ask whether to wait for the next train to finish their fag first… That's quality mate! Compared to the email I received from charlie (see below) it really makes me think I am clearly in a different environment.

Well guys you'll be happy to know that we've moved in all of our stuff in the new flat! I say happy because it means we won't exploit you as we did use some of our "local" friends. It wasn't too bad and we've thrown away quite a lot of stuff. The thing is that we still need to buy a lot of furniture. Not really a lot as the flat isn't that big really, but we have a few things on our shopping list. It's just a matter of agreeing on the priorities… (wifi music broadcasting around the flat being a top one of course!).

Concerning other news, there isn't much time for anything else really. When you spend your day in the office and your evenings opening boxes you wish you never opened… I know it's a natural process but getting rid of stuff after it's followed you across Europe isn't just that easy. For instance we used to have a very old fridge in Mozart street. I really loved the old thing. I bought it when I was still a student in Lyon for £30 and it followed me from Lyon to Brussels, then on to London and now Barcelona. But as we now have a new equipped kitchen, there is no need for the old fridge. I know it's old and we did use it for a while (even though according to teresa, it just doesn't work anymore) but how can I dump something that has lived in as many countries as me? It hasn't been an easy decision and I only gave up because I already convinced teresa to keep so much rubbish (starting with my trainers) that I couldn't really manage to convince her on this one… and our terrace is definitely not big enough to justify a dedicated beer fridge. Sniff sniff.

Geeky corner
Well, won't bore you with more house moving shit. Just one last thing before I go. Tomorrow apple is announcing some new products apparently. Some say it's the new powerbook range others say it's going to be the video iPod, just in time for the holiday season. Whatever it will be it'll be something I really need and can't live without. I can tell you!
Here's something I've seen on a site and I can't resist sending this around. Probably the best way to carry your laptop around here

Test to know it's time to leave London...
1. You say "the City" and expect everyone to know which part of town you are talking about.
2. You have never been to The Tower or Madame Tussauds but love Brighton.
3. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Shepherds Bush to Elephant & Castle at 3:30 on the Friday before a long weekend, but can't find Dorset on a map.
4. Hookers and the homeless are invisible.
5. You step over people who collapse on the Tube.
6. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multilingual.
7. You've considered stabbing someone.
8. Your door has more than three locks.
9. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
10. You call an 8' x 10' plot of patchy grass a garden.
11. You consider Essex the "countryside".
12. You think Hyde Park is "nature".
13. You're paying 1,200 a month for a studio the size of a walk-in wardrobe and you think it's a "bargain".
14. Shopping in suburban supermarkets and shopping malls gives you a severe attack of agoraphobia.
15. You pay more each month to park your car than most people in the UK pay in rent.
16. You pay 3 pounds without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28p.
17. You actually take fashion seriously.
18. You have 27 different menus next to your telephone.
19. The UK west of Heathrow is still theoretical to you.
20. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.
21. Your idea of personal space is no one actually physically standing on you.
22. £50 worth of groceries fit in one plastic bag.
23. You have a minimum of five "worst cab ride ever" stories.
24. You don't hear sirens anymore.
25. You've mentally blocked out all thoughts of the city's air/water quality and what it's doing to your insides.
26. You live in a building with a larger population than most towns.
27. Your cleaner is Portuguese, your grocer is Somali, your butcher is halal, your deli man is Israeli, your landlord is Italian, your laundry guy
is Philippino, your bartender is Australian, your favourite diner owner is Greek, the watch seller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was African, your newsagent is Indian and your local English chippie owner is Turkish.
28. You wouldn't want to live anywhere else until you get married.
29. You roll your eyes and say 'tsk' at the news that someone has thrown himself under a tube train.
30. Your day is ruined if you don't get a copy of Metro on the way to work.

One last thing. I got the date wrong for Baby Swarup. Apparently he's more like his dad when it comes to be on time ;o)

baby swarup, welcome home

2005-10-05T18:02:00.000+02:00

Well, I really don't know where to start from today. First of all it's been 2 weeks since I last updated the blog and then because so many things happened lately. Well, first things first. Teresa and I are now officially on the property ladder and we owe the bank quite a bit of dough. We got the keys for the flat on Monday after 2 hours of paperwork and signing any possible bit of paper on the table. We're planning on moving in on Saturday or at least move most of our stuff in there by then. Flat is fine right now, it won't need any works to start living there, it's just very empty (thank god it's not very big :o)

As promised here is a picture of it:
You love that wallpaper, don't you? Of course to see the rest you'll have to get your ass on a plane and come visit us in barcelona.

By the way, now that we're moving in, it means that we should only be a couple of weeks away from getting internet access set-up at home, which is one of the things I've been missing the most. It should also make my life much easier to update this blog and let you know how things are going for us. Rob I initially wanted to set-up a community wireless network in the building but as the average age of the people living there is over 75 it may take me a while to convince them on board… I'll try it in a while, see how it works.

The other thing that happened last weekend was seeing Ben (probably my first drinking buddy ever-and not the Ben I used to live with) in Barcelona. It was not planned at all and we hadn't seen him in 2 years at least which made it even better. It's good to see that your real friends are always there and when you see them again it's just as if you left them a week before. The funny thing is that he somehow (long story) introduced me to a gang of Italian architects living in barcelona. There are quite a few of them and we all seem to live in the same area… Weird coincidence, but excellent starting point for our social life in barcelona. For another strange set of connections I also met Rori, who reads Wired magazine and we spent a while talking about IT/CRM/Internet/mobile and gadgets. I was not ready for that, I thought Rob was the only person I could have that sort of conversations with, but she proved me wrong. Things you discover on a night out in barcelona... Just to finish about the weekend I want to mention (so you understand how I was doing) that I was so happy to see normal Italians (ie not lazio fans nor berlusconi's) in barcelona that I took something like 5-6 phone numbers (girls' only of course) and we ended up with ben on the roof terrace of the building we where in, crashing at another party. I know it doesn’t make much sense now but it seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. Well I'm sure a lot more went on but as usual my memories of that night are a bit blurry. I just remember a very good tapas bar (grazie chiara), even though you don't have to be in a rush, a house party full of Italians, another house party with a big terrace where I didn't know anybody but they had more booze and a lunch at the in-laws the next day with a big headache.
To all of you out there, get your ass in a plane if not to see the flat and stay with us, for the mind blowing nights out you will have in barcelona!

Other news include the nano cock-up which I enjoyed reading about and here's a good link on how to check your ipod is really crash-proof. click here And now maybe even a Video iPod, check this out click here but the biggest news of the day is with no doubts the birth of baby swarup. It was scheduled for today and if the baby is as on time as his mum always is, he'll be coming out perfectly on time (or even a bit early, just in case). Ale, Anil, big kisses from barcelona!

Clean Slate

2005-09-19T13:26:00.000+02:00

(And I thought things were going to change…)

Part I
I know it’s been a week already but until the flat-thing goes through it’ll be difficult for me to do more than this. Anyway, I want to share with you my experience as I come back from my first team event. For those of you who remember it, I have a history of team meetings with my team at Mars that were a complete piss-ups. It usually involved flying 15 people somewhere and making sure to get very drunk in between a presentation about what our strategy should have been, a dinner and a hangover. The point I’m trying to make here is that at Mars we used to have very alcoholic team meetings and some of you guys may even remember some of the stories: senior manager getting involved with the cutie in the team, a guy in hospital going through skull X-Rays and not remembering anything the next day, people losing bits and bobs (that was me) and much more. A lot of young people, in a foreign environment, able to write-off unlimited expenses and with (old school) alcoholic managers, you can imagine what the end result is. Not good for the concentration level but clearly very good for building up the team spirit. I still keep very fond memories of those events and lots of stupid pictures. Here’s one (the lucky guy getting licked is me and the other one was a manager!)

Now that I started the new job, you can imagine what went though my mind when I was told about the annual team meeting. In my head this should have been the opportunity to get a fresh start, a clean slate. Drink a couple of glasses of wine at dinner (not to be completely dumb and be in the same spirit as the rest of the team) but clearly avoid the killer night out on my second week. Well, I’ll blame a series of coincidences more than anything else, I swear I really wanted to keep it quiet. To start with the team event was in Strasbourg. Now the only thing I know about Strasbourg (because of my frequent business trips over there) is where to eat, where to have a drink and where to get stupidly drunk. When the word spread that I knew where to go and what to do, I had little choice but give in to my new team mates hoping at least I’d get their appreciation for sharing my expertise. I guess I did, but not without paying the price for it.

Apologies in advance to the Alsacian posse reading this blog but to tell the truth Strasbourg is not the biggest party town ever. It is a mid-sized French town with a German spin to tell the truth. And the bars you find in Strasbourg are consistent with the spirit of the city. So we got to this place (bar des aviateurs) and on a Wed night there isn’t a lot of people out in town at 1 in the morning. So the bar was fairly empty. General mood was getting calmer because we left the restaurant a while before so the alcohol level was clearly going down. Feeling guilty of not delivering what was expected by my new team mates I really only had one way out. The round of tequila shots. Ok, it was my idea, but I just wanted to kick-start the evening (or the end of it) in the hope people wouldn’t remember about the crappy bar. It all went wrong when the initial round was followed by many more (but they switched to jagermaster). 3 hours later we closed tha bar and made our way home. Next day I had the worst hangover of my life. Serious. Fat boy Eddy did train me to get around a couple of shots of jag but nothing close to what happened in Strasbourg. The worst part is that as only a few (selected) ones came with me, the next day everybody wanted to repeat the experience with me. Well, guess what, it did happen again. We got very drunk again. No surprise there. I hope I demonstrated the team my capacity to deliver under any circumstance. This time though I stayed clear of jag (or nearly) and the hangover was soooo much nicer. Anyway all I wanted to say is that I was given an opportunity to start a new reputation and it just didn’t work. To blame Strasbourg would be easy, I’ll blame my (stupid) idea of pleasing everyone…

Right now I’m on the plane and I feel like absolute shit. Needless to say that tonight I won’t be able to get to bed early because we’re seeing some friends for dinner. Even though it’s got a limited interest I’ll publish a couple of pictures about my first team meeting, but one thing I’ll clearly remember is never to drink jagermaster again!

Part II
Back at Victor’s workshop/gallery to steal a bit of bandwidth. It’s Monday morning and instead of being in the office or on a plane I’m kind of chilling out after having done quite a bit of paperwork. Well to tell the truth I had to take a day off in order to deal with all the bureocracy and hope that’ll be it, but I know they’ve got more in store for me. The good news is that we now have a date for signing the final contract and getting the keys (so the time you guys can come and stay at ours is getting closer). Time for me to go now. See you guys soon.

Part III
Nearly forgot. I’ll be in brussels this week. I’m coming up for work on Tuesday morning and off on Thursday. I don’t know if I’ll have much free time, but if any of the bxl resident is up for a drink on Wed, give me a shout. ciao

Summer fling

2005-09-09T16:53:00.000+02:00

What did you really think this was only going to be a summer fling? Well you were wrong. Very wrong. I’m still keen on letting you know how things are going for us in Barcelona. The thing though is that now that I have started working I have less time and when I get back home, we don’t have internet access. On the flat front things are moving forward and with teresa we’re hoping to be able to move in soon. After that we’ll still have to wait for a phone line and an ADSL connection to be activated… Anyway my point is that after spending 5 days with my work laptop, the idea of going to an internet café to update the blog doesn’t really excite me!
Today I’m squatting Victor’s internet connection. He’s setting up a very cool coop of art & design in the very trendy area of “el born” in Barcelona. link to mercado
So what has been going on? Well, right now I have a lot to learn for my new job so I’m spending most of my time at HQ in Germany. I still can’t say much about my job because I still haven’t had a chance to speak to my line manager. I’m sure I’ll find out soon. The funny thing though is that here in sunny Germany it’s really hot and sunny, while Barcelona has been experiencing miserable weather, lots of rain and TORNADOS! I’m not kidding. Check out the pictures, here

On a happier note, today is our 11th anniversary with Teresa (and I though it was a summer fling! ;o) Actually, we’re not really sure… We picked this date with teresa because we just couldn’t figure out when we started going out (something to do with Tequila) and we needed a symbolic date to be able to celebrate it. If you know me you’ll know teresa has no chance of getting a romantic dinner or anything as I don’t really believe in anniversaries or valentine day…and by now she got used to it. It’s much better to give presents when people least expect it, the surprise effect makes the whole difference!
How boring is it to go out with your partner on Valentine’s day? Go to a restaurant and it’s only tables for 2 booked over a month in advance, dimmed lights and the whole shebang. Girls know they’re going to get a present (bought in the 30 minutes before the date -most of the time) and guys are just thinking about getting laid after all their romantic effort. What? Me? Cynical? Really???
Nah, surprise is the only way forward.

So I hope I have surprised the very few of you who still check out my blog, by updating it this morning.

Bit of geeky stuff (rob I really miss you!)
Well, I really can’t resist and I have to talk about it. On Thursday at 18.00 GMT Apple announced 2 new products. One’s rubbish and the other one is brilliant 8at least that’s what I think). The rubbish one is the Apple/Motorola phone. Come on, would you really show up with that? It looks like a white version of a cheap brand less Korean phone (no offence to the Koreans reading this blog!). Ok you can download an mp3 from the iTunes store, so what? How often is it going to happen to you to really really want to listen to a track and not be able to resist going home and download it for free? I want to see Kazaa or Acquisition on my phone, then I’ll be downloading that track I heard when that car passed by! But my main criticism is still about the handset itself. One thing you may have noticed about all Apple products is that they are beautiful objects, whether you think they’re useful or just a way to show up, they’re sleek and people turn their head when you open your Powerbook in a plane. This iTunes phone is just plain ugly. Ok, ok, it’s not a 100% Apple phone, it’s only got the capability to download tracks from iTunes. Still, very dangerous for Apple to be associated to such an ugly product.
Thank god Steve had another (unexpected) surprise. The beautiful ipod nano (replacement of the ipod mini). Now that’s a product Apple should be proud of, at least in terms of design. It looks as sleek as any Apple product should be! Looking forward to play with one of those. Still too far away from x-mas or my birthday though!

First day

2005-09-03T11:02:00.000+02:00

Well, this is really no surprise but it is tough to start working again after a month off. I have started on Thursday my new job. After being given the survival kit of any consultant (that's a laptop and a mobile phone) I spent my first 2 days meeting the people in the Barcelona office and having coffees. Not much else, really. My last job was located in North Acton (for those of you who don't know London, it's a very ugly and depressing place) and now I'm in the Torre MAPFRE. I could try and explain what it is, but a picture will save me a couple of lines so here it is : click here . I'll take my camera to work next time I'm in the office to show you the view... Amazing! On the funny side, after 9/11 the only 2 buildings in Barcelona to be on the "potential target list" for terrorist attacks were the MAPFRE tower and the World Trade Centre of Barcelona. And guess where Teresa works? Yep, got that one right, the WTC!

One thing which is frustrating (or irritating, depending on my mood) is that because of its location, around my office you only see people on their way to the beach: flip-flops, bikini or shorts and shades. When you're dressed to go to the office and carrying your laptop, it doesn't feel right! On the other hand as we don't have a canteen, we usually eat in one of the restaurants sitting around the harbour. Can't complain about that. Nice food, served in a very pleasant environment, I never had that sort of treatment in any of my previous companies.

I can't really say much about the job itself, mainly because I haven't met anyone I'll be working with yet. From Monday I'll start the real work and I'll be away from Barcelona from Monday until Friday. No big surprise there, I knew it was going to be like that and I don't complain. I guess I'll have more time to write on the blog!

Enough about work though. For those of you who are interested, the flat thing is moving forward. We should get a surveyor to have a look at it on Monday and hopefully by Saturday we should have some sort of ideas of what kind of mortgage we can get. Right now both Teresa and I are desperate to move into the new flat. Of course we're tired of not having a place we can consider home (and that's been going on for a while now) and also because everyday we think about how to set-up the flat and start coming up with ideas. It's like a torture, because we don't have the keys yet, so all we can do is speculate and not only we love it but we just can't seem to be able to stop. The latest big one is which room to use as a bedroom and what to do with the other one...

Enough said. I have to go now because I still haven't opened a bank account and if I want to be paid this month I'll need one. I'm off but will be back sooner than you think.

I am a resident (and I can't DJ)

2005-08-31T12:16:00.000+02:00

That's it, I am officially a resident of the sunny town of Barcelona. A bit of paperwork and a bit of queuing did the job. Surprisingly the queuing didn't involve any pushing or queue jumpers. Maybe they're all still on holidays.
Today is my last day off before I start my new job. Of course I'd love to spend another 6 months recovering from the flat-hunt (ok, it only lasted a week, so what?). There isn't much progress on the mortgage front simply because things are supposed to be moving slowly. I just know that I really want to move in asap and start living normally again with Teresa. Re-open all those boxes that have been sitting in a cellar for the past 9 months. It'll be like xmas in October for us! I don't even remember what we did ship to Barcelona. At the end of the day the whole process will have been 11-month long but it included finding a job, moving from London and buying a flat here in Barcelona. Still too long for me.
Barcelona now is nearly back to normal and it feels somehow natural for me to start my normal life of waking up in the mornings and go to work. I'm curious to see how much time I'll actually spend in Barcelona... I'll (of course) let you know.
With Teresa we've met a couple of friends from uni who are now living in Barcelona (actually they've been here for 3 years already, bought a flat and got married. Sounds familiar? ;o) . When you see somebody after 5 years you really don't know what to expect. We all change and in 5 years you can become a completely different person than what you were... Well, it was a very pleasant surprise to see that even though we've all changed, there's still some kind of connection. I was supposed not to mention something they said during dinner, but I just can't remember what it was. Something about somebody breaking up with someone. Just can't remember, the wine must have been good (it did work for me).
Ok guys, I'll probably have much more to say tomorrow about my first day at work, but for now it's time for me to go get some food and probably a nap. Teresa is not coming back until 5 today and I can see from here the 3-hour super power nap coming...
ciao

barcelona is waking up

2005-08-29T12:49:00.000+02:00

while all of the UK readers (that's about 2 people) are still lying in bed or getting ready to go out to the NH Carnival or other festivals, here in barcelona there is a very good news: the city is waking up after its summer siesta! It reminds me of a French track from Jaques Dutronc (Il est 5 heures, Paris s'eveille) and it really works for barcelona as well. Shopkeepers are busy cleaning their shops, traffic jams start appearing around the centre, restaurants proceed to the biggest clean-up of the year. It's the beginning of a new "day" for Barcelona, and I'm happy to be here.

Being here in August hasn't really been a choice. I only had a month to put into the flat-hunt and I know that from the day I'll start my new job I'll be lucky if I spend 2 days a week in barcelona. Still, it's been a good introduction to the city. Its emptiness has somehow made it easier for me to get to know it (less information to process probably). Now the funny thing is that everything is changing. What you thought to be a quiet street with a bakery is actually full of restaurants or local shops (for local people!). So the town is going through this awakening of its social life. Brilliant!
On the other hand to be completely honest it scares me. I thought that in a month I could get to know the (small) area where we're currently staying, but now, every time I walk down the streets I see new shops, restaurants I had never seen before. I makes me think I still have a long way to go... But the sheer amount of bars and restaurants gives me the impression it'll be a huge task. Any volunteers to help?

Now that barcelona is finally waking up, it's also time for me to trade my holiday T-shirt for a regular office shirt. Yep, my first day in my new job is only 3 days away and I have the impression I just arrived from london. Well, we've found a flat in the meanwhile but it still feels like I haven't been here that long and I could do with an extra month off. From what I'm getting I don't think I'll see much of barcelona when I'll start working but on the other hand when I'll leave the office (wherever it may be) on Fridays afternoon I know I'll be on the way to what many people consider a holiday destination. So at least I won't be flying back to rainy london (sorry for the londoners reading this you know I don't mean it!).

Anyway, good to see I can freestyle so easily. I was writing an email to one of the top 3 readers of the blog this morning and I mentioned the lack of ideas for today's post. Just realised I wrote enough to call for a break. I'm off to the next door terrace for a coffee in the sun (that's what it's all about, just a place in the sun ;o)

Crazy people in barcelona

2005-08-26T11:37:00.000+02:00

There are indeed a lot of them (crazy people). Yesterday walking around town I spotted twice the same guy riding his bicycle wearing only a pair of sunglasses. Yep, sunglasses, not pants! He wasn't even a young person -possibly going home after a heavy night of drinking. Middle-aged man seemed pretty normal to me except that he was naked. I also read yesterday how the local authorities have shut-down some 30 odd afters. Now I don't exactly know how afters work (usually by the time you think about those I'm well passed-out) but it didn't sound 100% normal to me to read about afters opening around 5-6am and going on until 1-3pm... Ok, this is not about crazy people going out. I was reading how some people actually wake up early to go to thses places. Can you imagine setting your alarm clock at 5.00am only to get your dancing kit out and go party with people who've been doing this for the past 6 hours? How weird must it be to mix the taste of toothpaste with your mojito? I haven't tried yet and the simple thought of setting my alarm at 5.00am brings bad memories of Mayer cars waiting in the dark and cold British morning and flights to stupid places at very stupid times. So don't insist I'm not going to do it.

More crazy stories now with (possibly) a good news. We have put a deposit down for a flat here in barcelona. I know, it's crazy. Pictures will be published very soon. I felt really weird signing those papers. It really felt like getting married in front of an estate agent. Very strange feeling. On the positive side now we've got a flat we like no more estate agents. On the other hand, welcome to the world of bank managers!

I should have checked how things work in the UK but over here it is very difficult to get any information out of a bank. They don't even have leaftlets to tell you about their rates or charges. I've tried a few banks already and the message was always "everything is negotiable. Why would I give you a leaflet if that's not what you're going to get?" Fair point, but then it makes it absolutely impossible to compare offers from different banks. The amount of paperwork you have to go through just to get an offer just makes it impossible to get more than 2 offers (unless you don't care about giving all your personal and financial information to banks you'll never work with). So just pick a couple of bank based on the colour of their logo (with teresa we picked a red one and a blue one, just to be PC) and see how it goes.

Time for me to go for my first meeting with a bank manager (the blue one today). Let's see how it goes...

do tourists have to feel guilty when they leave?

2005-08-24T11:46:00.000+02:00

Why is it tourists always feel guilty on the last day of their holidays? Yep, you've guessed it, our first batch of visitors is leaving us today and they're going through the typical tourist syndrome. "Why haven't I seen more things? More museums, more architecture, more everything about this place?" It is kind of normal. Whenever I go somewhere for the first time and only have 3-4 days to stay I just hope to get an overview of the place. There's no way I can kid myself to believe I can visit all of it and still go out at nights! Must be some sort of guilt afflicting everyone of us. Actually not everyone, just the lazy ones. The organised kind of people will manage to tick all the boxes on the tourist must see list, but if you're a lazy bastard (like me -and most of my friends) you can't hope to go out and get that extra bottle of wine after dinner, because you're enjoying talking rubbish after dinner while sitting in a nice terrace and still pretend you're going to wake up at 8.30 to go visit a museum, right? At least that's how I see it and I know about it. At the end of the day you'll only get the spirit of a city by living there or spending a lot of time there, otherwise you'll only get some random snap-shots of what a guide thinks the place is all about.

On the other hand if you could visit a place in a couple of days and live all you have to live there, then we'd all be visiting places like Japanese tourists do. Get there, take a couple of shots, have somebody (or a book) to tell you a couple interesting facts you'll be able to use at a dinner party and move on to the next place to visit. Not my idea of tourism.

Now, I don't mean to write this to piss you off (if you work in an office, please don't read this, you'll hate me) but I'm going back to bed. I'm very tired and wheather is not very nice, so I'm off for a quick nap. ciao.

What day is it again?

2005-08-23T11:48:00.000+02:00

What? You came to the office yesterday hoping to ease the kick-off of the week by reading some silly stories about me and didn't find anything new on the blog? Well, it's tough when you're on holiday to remember it's Monday! Teresa is my only reminder that normal people actually go to work in the morning. Have to say though that Teresa is actually doing the "Jornada intensiva" which means starting at 8.30 an work with no breaks until 3.00 and then go home, have some food, a bit of a siesta and off you go!

well, as said earlier in the blog, we're having our first batch of visitors here in barcelona. Even though we're still in a (very) small temporary flat, we've managed to squeeze in. I'd like to tell you just one small detail about one of the visitors. I don't like to name the people I speak about, but Marco Fallas has been the first person I've ever seen asking for his drink to be a bit more charged... In Spain??? You have to be crazy! These people will happily pour large amounts of whisky in your drink... Asking for more is asking for trouble, and that's what Marco got! -sorry Marco, had to cover this in the blog. By the way I'm writing about this only because I know it'll take a couple of weeks for him to actually check out my blog, so I'm safe for now!

I also received some feedback about the Notting hill carnival. Michelle mentioned another festival going on during the August bank holiday. Here is the link: www.getloadedinthepark.com have to say it's got a nice lineup and I wouldn't mind changing the beach in barcelona for a good day out in london (just for that one day though). As we're talking about festivals, I'd like to mention what I found to be one of the coolest (or most refreshing) way to spend a summer day in london. I know you've just missed it but it's still worth mentioning (maybe for next year?). It's organised by the Innocent people (the smoothies guys) and it's in regents park. It's FREE and it's got a very nice vibe, bookmark this link so you're sure not to miss it next year: www.fruitstock.com And just to finish the festival discussion, if you really want to get plenty of music in your ears, a nice tan and lovely food, then there's only one way forward (and again if you missed it this year think about it for next year) www.fiberfib.com www.fiberfib.com Great bands, sunshine and gigs going on until 6am. It's brilliant to see British bands playing there because they're just not used to play so late at night by the time they're on they're all very very drunk.

This blog is not supposed to be about festival, but getting used to living in barcelona! Walking around here is very weird in August. Typically, anyone who can escapes the city for at least 2/3 weeks in search of fresh air or empty beaches. So who's left in barcelona? Not many people. If you get out of the tourist areas, you'll find empty roads, closed shops and restaurants and a very strange feeling of emptiness. Italy has got a very similar problem (cities getting empty in the summer) and I still remember when I was a kid you could find in the newspapers the list of shops open in Rome in the national newspapers. Not kidding. It was tough to survive. Nowadays things are slowly changing but August is still the biggest holiday month. Can't remember why I was telling you this (sorry guys I just woke up) but the point I wanted to make is that you only see tourists or local people who are pissed off for not being somewhere else. What I wanted to say is really about something else. Walking around barcelona there are 2 things that will be following you everywhere: groups of tourists and the constant smell of fried fish... When it's really hot and that smell is a real killer, believe me.

Right, time for me to go. Take care and see you soon.

PS I don't want to say anything until the deal is completed, but it may look like we've found a flat we like. Now the difficult bit of the process starts: re-visit the flat to make sure we really like it, try and get the price down and then find somebody crazy enough to leave us the money to buy it. I'll let you know how it goes but for the time being forget about it, I'll deny having talked about this under torture if I need to!

just one more thing

2005-08-18T14:00:00.001+02:00

for the first time in 2 weeks I've had a chance to browse the web for longer than 30 minutes in an internet cafe. Today I'm in teresa's office, in a very nice meeting room with free wi-fi access. While writing the last couple of lines though, I've realised I should apply to the title of "saddest living bastard": for once in my life I get a month off, what do I do? spend it in an office! I think I need a break, so no post tomorrow. For the thousands of you who just can't survive without my blog, here are some cool links to keep your scrolling wheels rolling.

Have fun and don't stay too long in the office (for those of you who are working-or pretend to)

What people are prepared to do for a cheap laptop:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/17/ibook_sale_stampede/

I'll never get enough of this guy: a misunderstood statesman, a great singer, a genius!
www.reuters.co.uk/

A bit of wi-fi won't hurt...
http://www.popsci.com

Easy on the volume wheel
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4162028.stm

day 10

2005-08-18T10:22:00.000+02:00

It looks like even though we haven't even found a flat yet the first batch of visitors are on their way here. For those of you who know them part of the Fallas clan (emine & marco) are coming to barcelona. I hope this'll give me a break from visiting flats. The thing is that they are coming by ferry from civitavecchia. At first I thought it was some sort of joke but it's not... they will actually spend nearly 24 hours on a ferry to come over. I think it deserves to be mentioned for 2 reasons: dedication and total lack of planning -of course, buying your plane ticked the day before leaving doesn't ensure you to have the best possible rate. Again, at first I thought they were kidding but on the other hand that's why I like my friends, they still manage to surprise me and just comfort me in the idea they're all crazy!

In terms of news from barcelona, I am starting to get used to it. I have to say (and I hate cliches) it has taken me a bit to get used to see people having a beer with their sandwich at 10.00am while I'm sipping my cortado or smelling cigars only to realise the guy sweeping behind me is actually enjoying a cigar while doing it. No major culture shock, just minor differences that make you realise you're in a different place now.

Being very jealous of alvise's pictures I have published a couple myself just to remind you who I am. You can check them out on http://homepage.mac.com/iacopo/PhotoAlbum7.html OK, you won't see anything you haven't seen before but at least I can pretend to provide you with multi-media content ;o)

Well, time for me to leave you, I've got a flat to go visit.

P.S. did I mention it's still raining here? One more day of this and I'm jumping on the first plane to london!

day 9

2005-08-17T15:23:00.000+02:00

Well, I've been telling you a lot of stuff lately and I'd like to take this post to talk about you. I know that there are probably just a couple of people reading this blog regularly and based on your feedback I think I know who those people are. As anybody working in CRM (customer relationship management -yep, sounds bad, but it's my job) knows you have to give your most valuable customer special treatment to make sure they come back. First of all I'd like to give you a like to some of the best non-professional photos I've seen lately and even though I know it's only because he's got a very good camera, I still think it's worth mentioning. Alvise is a friend of mine since I was 3 and is now in Cameroon. He's publishing his pictures on this site http://www.flickr.com/photos/alvi/ and it's worth having a look at it. Again, I don't think the merit is his, but maybe we'll convince him to buy an even more expensive camera so he can take even better pictures.
Rob is the only one actually publishing comments and just for that it's worth mentioning this lovely/geeky/charming character I will really miss (yep, you guessed it, he's in london and I'm not anymore). I already mentioned the excellent work he's doing with wi-fi technology and not-for-profit approach. But check it yourself on www.comwifinet.com
Now that I've covered the majority of the reader community (and I hope those of you who feel like I forgot about them will react by posting a comment -I said posting a comment, not crying, Alexandra!).
News from Barcelona then. Well, for those of you who know Spain a little bit, you know that every village or town in Spain has a week worth of fiestas where the town goes crazy and the party goes on for a week. Every town has then got its own speciality like the bull run in Pamplona, for instance. This tradition has been lost in big towns like Barcelona, except from the district of Gracia, where every year they celebrate a week of parties, concerts, workshops and much much more. And guess what? It started 2 days ago! So we've been going with Teresa and we just love the feeling. Everybody is happy (possibly a bit tipsy) and hangs around the many squares of the district. To have an idea check out this link http://www.festamajordegracia.org/ and if you feel like you may want to give it a go, well, you know you've got friends in Barcelona where to stay!
It's nearly 4, time for lunch! see you soon.

day 8

2005-08-16T12:04:00.000+02:00

Ok, I know what you're thinking: iacopo (as usual) had a go at writing a blog but lazy as he is it just lasted a couple of days and that's it. You are wrong. I have a perfectly good excuse not to have updated the blog in the last few days. Well... I just went to the beach! This is one of the selling point of Barcelona -at least for me. It takes the same amount of time to go from Queens Park to Waterloo (on the bakerloo line) than going from Barcelona to Sitges. Sitges is a seaside village/small town where at the beginning of the last century the rich people from Barcelona used to spend the summer. This means that it is not the horrible seaside resort many people think of when you mention the Spanish coast and it's literally 20 minutes from the centre of Barcelona. The other cool thing about sitges is that it is a gay hotspot. Now as many of you know (I hope) I am not gay, so why am I getting all excited about a gay resort? Well, the thing I find very unique about Sitges is the tolerance you can see. It's the only place I know where you see the typical Spanish families (kids, parents, grandparents, dogs, etc) walking along side with 2 tall Germans wearing leather underwear, cowboy boots, no t-shirts and pierced nipples! Did I see anybody go "how disgusting! Why do these people come here to spoil my holidays"? No, not at all. A lot of tolerance, a bit of humor and we can all share the same beaches and restaurants -that's the spirit. It was actually quite funny to see the Spanish grannies sitting on the terraces doing a bit of people-watch looking at hardcore gay tourists walking past!

I am now back in barcelona (after a long 20-minute journey in an air-conditioned train) and back to visiting flats and banks. Thank god I found out a bit of Jamaica is coming to barcelona. This will be my first summer without the notting hill carnival and the gladiators are coming to play here tomorrow. I think it'll be a good substitute to my favourite sound system and resident at the notting hill carnival Roots & Culture (http://www.rootsandculture.co.uk/). If you happen to be in london and want to see the carnival, do check out the R&C sound system on lemmington road and westbourne park road. big up to the roots and culture sound system! By the way the also run the University of Dub in brixton every month, which is the best substitute to the notting hill carnival.

Well, guys, I guess I better be going to see some other estate agent... I just love the way they treat teresa like shit for being spanish, a women and most of all for cutting their bullshitting. Me on the other hand they just love me, I'm foreign (so they think I've got more money), I'm a guy and they think I just don't get their bullshit. I just love it. Last time I went with one of those disgusting estate agents (and teresa wasn't there) the guy started telling me how he was going to go to cuba with 7 of his single mates simply to go screw Cuban girls. Now how can I buy a flat from a guy like that? I just wanted to leave... So you can understand my excitement...

I promise I'll be back tomorrow. See you soon.

day 4

2005-08-10T14:20:00.000+02:00

If there' s one thing I'll miss from london it' s certainly its queues. When in the UK you just don' t realize the effort people put into queuing. When leaving London last Sunday, I queued to hand my phone back to the Carphone Warehouse, I queued to buy my Sunday papers, to check in, to go through the security checks, then the passport check and again to buy a sandwich and to board the plane. In all this not once somebody has tried to jump the queue... something you'll never see South of the channel ;o)

Anyway my objective with this blog is also to let you know how it goesovere here. Well, I'm trying to visit as many flats as possible which means having to deal with the worst professional categoryry ever: estate agents! I just can't stand them -at all! Teresa and I have moved yesterday into a flat which we rented for 2 months hoping it'll take us less than that to find a flat to buy. Up to now it hasn't been very successful, but again I've only been visiting for 4 days... That's about it really, I'd rather not tell you about how bad estate agents are, because you all know it. As andrea put it in his comment: "who am I kidding?" I'm just enjoying being here, having a bit of time to get to know the town before starting the new job and have an excuse to go around looking at buildings. That's about it really for now. Of course we try and make the most out of it with teresa and I'm slowly getting used to have lunch after 3pm...

day 3 - a bit of wireless

2005-08-10T13:53:00.000+02:00

I´d like to start with a big up to the free wi-fi posse! Now that I´m homeless and connection less I can only thank the people who allow guest users on their wifi networks. I checked and hotels charge up to 18€ for 30 minutes of connection! I therefore decided to go for cheap internet cafe (0.6€ for the same connection time) and it saves me from carrying my laptop -which is a good thing when it´s 30 degrees outside...
Looking for information about wi-fi in barcelona I think I found out (I say I think because the article is in catalan and I´m still not sure I really understand it ;o) that the local authorities did set-up free wi-fi hotspots but were stopped by what seems to be the authority for telcos because of unloyal competition with commercial ISPs. Sad, isn´t it? Private corporations telling the local governments what to do... If you want to see how good you are in catalan, just click here http://www.lamalla.net/canal/digitalia/bitsel_lania/article.asp?id=173446

Anyway, the district of Gracia is now trying bluetooth, not to provide internet access (they´ve learnt the lesson) but to push practical and admin information out to the people. Good, but when you know what can be done with a non for profit approach, brilliant people and a bit of technology check out www.comwifinet.com

day 2

2005-08-09T10:12:00.000+02:00

well, I´m still considering a refund. Weather is still not very nice, but I´ll try and be patient. Right now I´m trying verty hard to visit flats because in about 3 weeks I´ll start working and as I don´t know the details of my new job I don´t know how much I´ll be able to visit.
To tel the truth estate agents are probably the category of people I like the least (except from lazio supporters). they either think you´re blind or just claearly take the piss. I know it´s the same everywhere and everybody goes through the same, but I really can´t stand them. Anyway, I´m off from this dodgy internet cafe because my fingers are sticking to the keyboard and the smell is not exactly perfume...
Speaking of which I was surprised to see that barcerlona had a 1700s make over yesterday. They are currently shooting a big american production featuring dustin hoffman based on the book The Perfume. Of course the first flat I had to visit was just in the way of the shoot... and needless to say that even though you can´t capture the smell on camera, they did make sure all the actors were feeling it. For anybody who´s been around the centre of barcelona youknow that smell is always present, well yesterday was like the world cup of bad smell...

2005-08-08T13:00:00.000+02:00

Who am I?
My name is iacopo and I've just moved to barcelona, from london. I have been living in london for nearly 5 years before deciding to move somewhere different. I work in the IT side of CRM projects and have been doing so for the past 5 years for several companies in the UK and now in Barcelona. I speak a few languages but as I always say I have no merit for that whatsoever. I also enjoy any sort of good music (from 60s bossa tracks to industrial strength jamaican dub, and much much more), apple macs, motorbikes and mainly lazying around and try to enjoy this short period of time we're allowed to spend on this planet. Some of my friends also tend to take the piss calling me imelda for a completely normal passion for trainers (you can never have too many). even though my mum and my girlfriend have been trying for years to change that I still shipped 2 boxes full of trainers on ly to barcelona. There is so much more to say -not easy to summarise yourself in a few lines- but as most of you know me, I think I'll leave it here.

What is this about? Or is it just to keep the stats up and keep on creating a blog a minute?
Well, I'd like to keep in touch with so many people that I would need a proper email engine to manage different mailing lists. So I thought putting together a blog would save me some time and allow you guys not to feel guilty for nopt answering my emails ;o) I'll try and let you know how things are going on over here. I hope to share with you my experience of moving to (yet) another country.

so what's going on I think is so interesting that it's worth publishing on the web?
Well not much really, and to tell the truth the same applies to many internet sites (what on earth are they going on about?). But I realised this is going to be the easiest and somehow the most efficient (it always sounds weird when I use this word outside the office) way of keeping in touch with the many friends I still have in london.

Day1
Not exactly what I was expecting. I'm actually considering moving back to london. Why? Well there's no sun over here. Sky is just as cloudy as london. Shall I ask for a refund?