February 6, 2007 · 12:18 pm

Hace ya un año desde que nos fuimos de camping

Hace ya un año desde aquel famoso fin de semana que pasamos de camping en Alcobendas. Fueron tres noches que pasamos hasta las 5 y pico de la mañana en el salón de reuniones de las oficinas de FON para preparar el lanzamiento de nuestra página web y anunciar que FON había recibido unos 18€ milliones de Google, Skype, Index Ventures y Sequoia Capital.

En aquel finde histórico, aún éramos muy pocos: Diego C, Berga, Cobra, Mayte, Guillermo, Joan, Teo, Iurgi y yo. El domingo vinieron a echarnos una mano Martha, los dos Antonios, y Karissa. ¡Que tiempos aquellos! Ahora somos casi 100 empleados en total.

Esta noche hay una fiesta en el Teatro Lara para celebrar el aniversario, y algunos de nosotros los celebraremos de forma muy especial, recordando aquella tienda de campamento en Alcobendas y las siestas echadas de bajo de la mesa de reuniones.

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February 4, 2007 · 4:37 pm

Rose Superstar Back in Town, Again!

Ayer volvió Rose Superstar a Madrid por segunda vez en tres semanas.  Pero
en esta ocasión ha sido para jugar contra el Rivas Futura donde juega nuestra amiga Elsa. Y ¡vaya partidazo! Aunque el Barça nunca realmente perdió el control del partido, fue un encuentro emocionante donde el Barça ganó 72-83 y nuestra Rose Superstar anotó 15 puntos (12 de los cuales fueron triples) en una actuación brillante.

Después del partido nos fuimos Laura, Rose, Rocío, Fran, Alex, Elio y yo acompañados por Elsa, varias jugadoras del Rivas, Mijana del Barça y otras por ahi de marcha. No recuerdo la última vez que lo pasé tan tan bien, ni que hice tanto el ridiculo.

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February 2, 2007 · 4:07 pm

The Widening Gulf

This week’s Economist has an interesting article about the internal battle within the Muslim world between Sunnis and Shiites that is being taken advantage of by various political leaders. As I mentioned in an earlier post about Maalouf’s Samarakand, these tensions have a deep historical tradition. What is particularly curious is how the US, with its support for Sunni governments, toppled Sadam in favor of the Shiite interests in Iraq, inevitably giving rise to Iran’s geopolitical resurgence.

In any event, here is the article:

Continue reading →

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February 2, 2007 · 9:16 am

Balancing Words and Sound

Van Gogh: Gaugin's Chair

Since finishing The Idiot on January 2, I have since read Naguib Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley, Amin Maalouf’s Samarkand, Paul Bowles’ The Spider’s House, and The Last Friend, and on Tuesday night I began Amos Oz’s Fima. Yesterday, I just got a package from Amazon with two more books from Maalouf and another from Mahfouz.

Now, I am in a phase where I just can’t stop reading (mainly novels written by or about the Arab world). The problem is that I have trouble striking a balance between my passion for reading and my passion for music. And I can’t do both at the same time. When I listen to music, I can’t concentrate on reading. Furthermore, since Christmas, I have also purchased the following music:

Sam Rivers: Counters; Blue Mitchell: Things to Do; Carole King: Really Rosie; Dee Dee Warwick: I Want to Be with You; Terry Callier: Speak Your Peace; Johnny Cash: Walk the Line; Eric Dolphy: Out There, Last Date, and Outward Bound; Duke Ellington: Black, Brown and Beige, and Such Sweet Thunder; John Coltrane: The Complete Africa/Brass Sessions, The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Sessions Live, and Coltrane Live at Birdland; The Jazz Renegades: Freedom Samba; and Charles Mingus: The Great Concert of Charles Mingus.

It’s difficult to take advantage of the investment in words and sound all at once, and yet I don’t have the patience to stop surfing Amazon.

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Filed under Digressions, Jazz, Literature

January 29, 2007 · 12:59 pm

Defensa Curiosa

Acabo de leer este artículo curioso (a continuación) donde un acusado de violación alegó en su defensa que violó a su primo por confundirle con su novia.

Ahora me preocupa que la gente puede usar defensas parecidas con el router WiFi La Fonera, que es fácil de instalar (casi plug and play), y con ello compartes un poco y ganas mucho. Los manueles de instrucciones son muy buenos y los insoportables de Soporte ayudan mucho con cualquier dificultad. ¿Pero confundir el primo con la novia? Esto nos va a exigir publicar una nueva lista de precauciones de seguridad y de responsabilidades civiles y penales. Que nadie se equivoque de puerto al instalar La Fonera.
Continue reading →

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January 26, 2007 · 8:14 pm

My name is Iñigo Montoya

Have you ever seen The Princess Bride? This is a pretty funny movie that first came out back in 1987. There are a couple of hysterical and memorable lines including the repetition of the sentence, “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.”

Strangely enough, on my way home from work this evening, I walked past a day care center where two kids jumped out into the street play fighting with swords made from balloons. One of them stopped suddenly, looked at the other one in the face, and said in Spanish, “Me llamo Iñigo Montoya, mataste a mi padre, preparate para morir.” I thought this was just too much. It is nice to see that something that made me laugh 20 years ago in a different contintent is making kids laugh today here in Spain.

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January 25, 2007 · 11:31 pm

Time and Distance

I am about half way through The Spider’s House by Paul Bowles which takes place in 1950s Fez, and I just read this sentence:

Even the smallest measure of time is greater than the greatest measure of space.

This immediately reminded me of “Being and Distance“, the first post that I ever entered into this blog. “Being and Distance” is fictional prose about how the measure of distance in kilometers (spatial terms) is ontologically irrelevant without factoring in all of the other essential things that one has to traverse through space and time (i.e., all that we gain or lose during our course of travel). In any event, the above quote pleasantly brought me back to my first blog post, almost a little more than 11 months ago. It also made me feel like I was not completely out of my mind when I wrote it.

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January 25, 2007 · 9:21 pm

Apartheid in American Cities and Suburbs

My bro has just published another article on the Safe Democracy website. This one is entitled “Is Urban Revitalization Tantamount to Redlining” and discusses how gentrification and urban revitalization projects in American cities are once again segrating cities for the sole benefit of the rich.

These videos are of the Cross Bronx Expressway that I made along with others in the Bronx.

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January 25, 2007 · 6:36 pm

La Reina de Úbeda en la Nieve

La reina de Úbeda, mi querida Laurita, se ha levantado hoy con su ciudad, Patrimonio de la Humanidad por UNESCO, cubierta de nieve.

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January 24, 2007 · 6:31 pm

Member of a huddled mass


Two weeks ago, I took part in phase one of renewing my Residence and Work Permit in Spain. The first phase was comprised of filing a request for renewal which I was able to complete in Alcobendas in only 2 hours. Today, I completed the second phase which required me to file paperwork and get fingerprinted. This took me to Aluche in south western Madrid about 45 minutes away from my apartment on the metro. Maybe it was fate, but today was the coldest day so far this year in Madrid, and I waited in line for 3.5 hours outside (and in the shade). By about 1:30pm, I was getting a bit nervous because I was about the third in line to go into the building when it looked like they weren’t going to allow anyone else proceed until after their 2 hour lunch break. That would mean that I would have to wait an additional 2 hours in the cold. Thankfully, I was allowed to enter and was the last person to get fingerprinted before the lunch break.

Now I only have to wait 40 days to return again to Aluche to retrieve my new Residency Card. Yeah!!! This is valid for 2 more years, and then I get to start all over again.

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