In honor of last weekend's trip to the WIndy City, this week's video: Sufjan Stevens's Chicago. This was the best video I could find for this song. The album version is also worth a listen. Enjoy.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Part II: How We Came to the Gran Via
Today - part two of my "moving" trilogy.
or
"From Tundra to Playa."
For those of you asking, “Why is he writing this?” The answer is - I don’t know. Maybe just because it was a big even in my life and I want to remember it. Perhaps I am working through the trauma in preparation of moving again this summer. I promise I will try to refrain from turning my blog into a one year delayed journal of 2007. Although that might be interesting.
After the first half of our move, everything except the 100 pounds we were taking with us in our suitcases was stored away here in Minnesota. We arrived in Barcelona and began the second part of the move - finding a place to live in what has to be one of the most over-crowded cities in Europe.
Those first few days in Barcelona were some of the more adventuresome we had in our six month stint in Europe. We had no idea what we were doing. I came very close to going down to the front desk at the hotel we stayed at the first night, and embarrassing myself by asking, "how do we turn the lights on?" Turns out you had to slide your room-card-key into a slot in the wall to activate the electricity in the room. Getting around was a major hassle. We were not aware of how affordable the taxis in Barcelona are so we hauled our stuff around Barcelona on the public transport system, which was great, albeit crowded.
We spent the first night at a cozy but nice hotel. I liked it. It had the nicest bathroom I ever saw in Spain.
Next we moved to a hostel near the Plaza Catalunya in the heart of the city. It was difficult to even know where to begin. Being completely lost, I went and spoke with a very helpful woman at the University about finding a place to live. She called a guy she knew who rents apartments to see if he had anything available. He did. It wasn’t much but was better and cheaper than the “Backpacker’s House” hostel we were staying in. At the time, we were pretty appalled at the hostel. Looking back, it wasn’t that bad. It's funny how travel can change one's perspective. At the time we were desperate to leave the hostel and even though it meant another across town trip with our 100 pounds of luggage on the public transportation system, we were thrilled to have found a temporary apartment. This first apartment in Spain was called “El Chiquito.” For those of you who don’t “hablo espanol”, that means, the Chiquito. Sorry, bad unoriginal joke – just couldn’t help it. Here are some pics:
Perhaps you can see why it’s called “el chiquito.” The above photos are of the bedroom, living room kitchen, and water heater.
We loved the neighborhood, and enjoyed the time we spent there but, but it was just a wee bit small, had no windows, and just wouldn't work to try and live in for six months. We looked hard for another apartment; with little luck. Fortunately, the extremely helpful woman from the University who helped us find el chiquito was also looking. She found an add in the Spanish equivalent of Craig’s list and forwarded it.
That’s how we ended up finding our place on the Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes. The street was as big and as important as its name indicates. Our apartment was great. It had a small cave-like bedroom, and a combined kitchen and living room. The kitchen part of the room was pretty limited. It did not include water – for that we had to go to the bathroom, which came equipped with a small dishwasher. The terrace overlooking the Gran Via more than made up for the no water however. Ahhh, I could wax nostalgic about it for hours but won’t - for now. Check the photos:
Coming Soon: The final installment of the moving trilogy – “Moving on Up: Our Current Abode.”
or
"From Tundra to Playa."
For those of you asking, “Why is he writing this?” The answer is - I don’t know. Maybe just because it was a big even in my life and I want to remember it. Perhaps I am working through the trauma in preparation of moving again this summer. I promise I will try to refrain from turning my blog into a one year delayed journal of 2007. Although that might be interesting.
After the first half of our move, everything except the 100 pounds we were taking with us in our suitcases was stored away here in Minnesota. We arrived in Barcelona and began the second part of the move - finding a place to live in what has to be one of the most over-crowded cities in Europe.
Those first few days in Barcelona were some of the more adventuresome we had in our six month stint in Europe. We had no idea what we were doing. I came very close to going down to the front desk at the hotel we stayed at the first night, and embarrassing myself by asking, "how do we turn the lights on?" Turns out you had to slide your room-card-key into a slot in the wall to activate the electricity in the room. Getting around was a major hassle. We were not aware of how affordable the taxis in Barcelona are so we hauled our stuff around Barcelona on the public transport system, which was great, albeit crowded.
We spent the first night at a cozy but nice hotel. I liked it. It had the nicest bathroom I ever saw in Spain.
Next we moved to a hostel near the Plaza Catalunya in the heart of the city. It was difficult to even know where to begin. Being completely lost, I went and spoke with a very helpful woman at the University about finding a place to live. She called a guy she knew who rents apartments to see if he had anything available. He did. It wasn’t much but was better and cheaper than the “Backpacker’s House” hostel we were staying in. At the time, we were pretty appalled at the hostel. Looking back, it wasn’t that bad. It's funny how travel can change one's perspective. At the time we were desperate to leave the hostel and even though it meant another across town trip with our 100 pounds of luggage on the public transportation system, we were thrilled to have found a temporary apartment. This first apartment in Spain was called “El Chiquito.” For those of you who don’t “hablo espanol”, that means, the Chiquito. Sorry, bad unoriginal joke – just couldn’t help it. Here are some pics:
Perhaps you can see why it’s called “el chiquito.” The above photos are of the bedroom, living room kitchen, and water heater.
We loved the neighborhood, and enjoyed the time we spent there but, but it was just a wee bit small, had no windows, and just wouldn't work to try and live in for six months. We looked hard for another apartment; with little luck. Fortunately, the extremely helpful woman from the University who helped us find el chiquito was also looking. She found an add in the Spanish equivalent of Craig’s list and forwarded it.
That’s how we ended up finding our place on the Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes. The street was as big and as important as its name indicates. Our apartment was great. It had a small cave-like bedroom, and a combined kitchen and living room. The kitchen part of the room was pretty limited. It did not include water – for that we had to go to the bathroom, which came equipped with a small dishwasher. The terrace overlooking the Gran Via more than made up for the no water however. Ahhh, I could wax nostalgic about it for hours but won’t - for now. Check the photos:
It doesn't look like much, and indeed it wasn't, yet it was perfect, and it taught us how little we really need. We're currently going through an ongoing process of down sizing our current lives and the amount of stuff we have. Hopefully our next move will be much easier than the last.
Coming Soon: The final installment of the moving trilogy – “Moving on Up: Our Current Abode.”
Friday, February 22, 2008
Anyone Else Think This is Awesome?
First, check out this.
Wow. I guess it's just my inner nerd, but that story is awesome! Something you may not know about me is that if I could go back and start college over again, there's a pretty good chance I would become an archeologists. I've felt that way ever since reading Jared Diamond's Collapse.
Wow. I guess it's just my inner nerd, but that story is awesome! Something you may not know about me is that if I could go back and start college over again, there's a pretty good chance I would become an archeologists. I've felt that way ever since reading Jared Diamond's Collapse.
Fight Outta You
Here is this week's music video. It's a song I listen to on a regular basis for inspiration when law school's kicking my ass. Cheesy? Yes. Do I care? No.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
It Was Terrible, But So Worth It.
Since my return to the blogosphere there has been a lot I have wanted to write about but just didn’t have the time. I still don’t have the time, but I realized that if I let that keep me from blogging, I will never blog. It will be torfeasance 2007 all over agian. All I would ever manage is the weekly music video which, while cool, is not quite what I want this blog to be. So, I've got some catching up to do.
The first thing I wanted to write about but didn’t was the one year anniversary of our move to Barcelona. It was a year ago Jan. 26th that we did the big move out of our apartment. It was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. Moving at all in Minnesota during January is nuts. But moving extremely large and heavy furniture that, seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time-cause-you-got-an-employee-discount, but has been a major pain in the ass the four times you’ve had to move it in the last four years, that's jsut bat-shit insane. Oh and I can't forget to mention the ninety-seven boxes of books. And the boxes of stuff that we moved from Utah but never took out of the moving box in a year and a half of living in Minnesota. Obviously that’s some real crucial stuff.
First we strapped the piano into the trailer to be taken to the in-laws in Marshall. Thank goodness for them and their help. Had we not been able to send the piano with them we would have been really screwed. Next we proceeded to move everything we owned to the vacant small upstairs bedroom at the house of a guy Patty knows through her work. I’m not sure if he knew what he was getting himself into, but he’s a great guy and we lucked out in being able to store our stuff at his place for a very reasonable rate. The scary thing during the move was that we didn’t know how much would fit in the upstairs bedroom. As it turns out most of our stuff, and even some of our furniture, made it in. The room was packed floor to ceiling and wall to wall with boxes, boxes and more boxes – it was pretty crazy. The big furniture took up a pretty sizable space in his garage, and Jay took the couch. All in all it was an exhausting and as I mentioned above, traumatic, experience. I never want to move again. Seriously. Unfortunately, I’m beginning to get a strange hunch that we may be moving again soon. I graduate in May and who knows where we’ll end up?
So, the move was crazy. I wish I had pictures. As bad as it was though, it would have been a whole lot worse if not for our friends and family. And, as bad as it was, it could have been so much worse. We got lucky with the weather. The weekend we moved, coincided with a January thaw here in Minnesota. The daytime high was something around a balmy thirty five-degrees. One week later it was so cold there was talk of cancelling some of the festivities at the Winter Carnival in St. Paul. When it’s so cold there’s talk of cancelling the annual celebration of the snow, cold and ice, that’s pretty bad. It really hit home this year how lucky we got moving last year. We’ve had plenty of well below zero temps with wind-chills down to negative forty. That’s just scary cold. This morning it was five degrees. I walked outside and commented on how warm it was. Only in Minnesota! Tomorrow – the flip side of the move – Barcelona, el chiquito, and El Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes! (with photos.)
The first thing I wanted to write about but didn’t was the one year anniversary of our move to Barcelona. It was a year ago Jan. 26th that we did the big move out of our apartment. It was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. Moving at all in Minnesota during January is nuts. But moving extremely large and heavy furniture that, seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time-cause-you-got-an-employee-discount, but has been a major pain in the ass the four times you’ve had to move it in the last four years, that's jsut bat-shit insane. Oh and I can't forget to mention the ninety-seven boxes of books. And the boxes of stuff that we moved from Utah but never took out of the moving box in a year and a half of living in Minnesota. Obviously that’s some real crucial stuff.
First we strapped the piano into the trailer to be taken to the in-laws in Marshall. Thank goodness for them and their help. Had we not been able to send the piano with them we would have been really screwed. Next we proceeded to move everything we owned to the vacant small upstairs bedroom at the house of a guy Patty knows through her work. I’m not sure if he knew what he was getting himself into, but he’s a great guy and we lucked out in being able to store our stuff at his place for a very reasonable rate. The scary thing during the move was that we didn’t know how much would fit in the upstairs bedroom. As it turns out most of our stuff, and even some of our furniture, made it in. The room was packed floor to ceiling and wall to wall with boxes, boxes and more boxes – it was pretty crazy. The big furniture took up a pretty sizable space in his garage, and Jay took the couch. All in all it was an exhausting and as I mentioned above, traumatic, experience. I never want to move again. Seriously. Unfortunately, I’m beginning to get a strange hunch that we may be moving again soon. I graduate in May and who knows where we’ll end up?
So, the move was crazy. I wish I had pictures. As bad as it was though, it would have been a whole lot worse if not for our friends and family. And, as bad as it was, it could have been so much worse. We got lucky with the weather. The weekend we moved, coincided with a January thaw here in Minnesota. The daytime high was something around a balmy thirty five-degrees. One week later it was so cold there was talk of cancelling some of the festivities at the Winter Carnival in St. Paul. When it’s so cold there’s talk of cancelling the annual celebration of the snow, cold and ice, that’s pretty bad. It really hit home this year how lucky we got moving last year. We’ve had plenty of well below zero temps with wind-chills down to negative forty. That’s just scary cold. This morning it was five degrees. I walked outside and commented on how warm it was. Only in Minnesota! Tomorrow – the flip side of the move – Barcelona, el chiquito, and El Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes! (with photos.)
Thursday, February 14, 2008
For My Valentine
I went a week without blogging but there is a torrent about to be released here at tortfeasance. First, however, here is this week's music video. In honor of Valentine's day and dedicated to mi media naranja. Enjoy.
For those of you (of the four people that might read this) that aren't familiar with Mr. Manu Chao, you should check him out. He's different but definitely awesome. On a personal note, I believe that Manu Chao is the embodiment of Barcelona. This may just be because it was in Barcelona that I became reacquainted with his music. I think its more than that however. Listening to his music, in a very real sense is to experience life in Barcelona. This got me wondering if there are any other musicians who embody or personify places. This goes beyond mere association, like Seattle with Grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, etc.) to something more. You tell me folks - are there any musicians, singers, or bands that personify a place for you?
For those of you (of the four people that might read this) that aren't familiar with Mr. Manu Chao, you should check him out. He's different but definitely awesome. On a personal note, I believe that Manu Chao is the embodiment of Barcelona. This may just be because it was in Barcelona that I became reacquainted with his music. I think its more than that however. Listening to his music, in a very real sense is to experience life in Barcelona. This got me wondering if there are any other musicians who embody or personify places. This goes beyond mere association, like Seattle with Grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, etc.) to something more. You tell me folks - are there any musicians, singers, or bands that personify a place for you?
Friday, February 08, 2008
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
February Is For Lovers
This has been a hard week for me. I am hoping that Feb 1 – 14 will be the hardest two weeks of the semester (although I’m sure finals won’t be a walk in the park). I can not possibly do everything I have to for school this week. I won’t go into all the details, but trust me – it’s way too much. All that school work and the accompanying stress makes it hard to focus on or think about anything else. The balanced life I so desperately want and strive for once again merely falls by the way side. No time for exercise, no time for adequate sleep, no time for friends, no time for hobbies or interest, no time for art, books, news or anything else outside of law school. I really shouldn't be writting this blog right now. In addition to all of that fun, I am conducting an on-going job-search in a flooded market - just as the country plunges into recession. On top of that my grandma died on Tuesday and I can’t afford, in terms of either money or time, to go to Utah for the funeral tomorrow. Tough times to say the least.
Even though things are extremely difficult right now I take consolation in the fact that I have a lot of good things in my life. I have great friends, who always welcome me back despite my complete inability to keep in touch. Overall, I am in pretty good health, even if law-school is taking its toll. I have a treasure trove of happy memories to fall back on during tough times. Most importantly I have a wonderful wife who is my rock and anchor throughout everything. She reminds me that life is so much more than the current crisis I feel is about to swallow me whole. We have been through a lot in the last year. Challenges and adventures of all kinds. One of the most important things I learned last year was that together Patty and I are greater than the sum of our parts. Life happens but by relying on each other and remembering what we really want out of life we get through it. Next week will be the four year anniversary of our engagement. Tonight as I grapple with doubts about whether or not I'm going to make it through the next eight days I am so glad I made that decision to ask Patty to marry me – and so glad that she said yes.
Even though things are extremely difficult right now I take consolation in the fact that I have a lot of good things in my life. I have great friends, who always welcome me back despite my complete inability to keep in touch. Overall, I am in pretty good health, even if law-school is taking its toll. I have a treasure trove of happy memories to fall back on during tough times. Most importantly I have a wonderful wife who is my rock and anchor throughout everything. She reminds me that life is so much more than the current crisis I feel is about to swallow me whole. We have been through a lot in the last year. Challenges and adventures of all kinds. One of the most important things I learned last year was that together Patty and I are greater than the sum of our parts. Life happens but by relying on each other and remembering what we really want out of life we get through it. Next week will be the four year anniversary of our engagement. Tonight as I grapple with doubts about whether or not I'm going to make it through the next eight days I am so glad I made that decision to ask Patty to marry me – and so glad that she said yes.
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