Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Can not be better than that.

We (Maria, Yves, Tara, Kathy, Jayne, Paul and me) went last Monday 29th to the John Butler Trio concert at the Canberra University. Two words: fucking good.














Peace, love and union.
Or something like that.

And the big stadium is already waiting...


Picture taken in front of the Maracanã stadium. It's saying: new Maracanã. Where the 2014 world cup final will be held (or something like that) :) See you there!

Bras(z)il 2014 !!

Congratulations to Brasil, they will host the World Cup in 7 years time. I am already saving money for being able to attend what will be remembered as the Maracanaço II: Argentina winning the final 2-1 to the hosts :)




JP

Featured music: Mazzy Star

Mazzy Star were Mexican-American Hope Sandoval (from East LA) and David Roback. They were the most representative band of dream-pop from the 1990s. And... I don't know, I like the music. It's quite 'easy listening' (is it?). Enjoy.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Canberra, 2050 a.D.


The other day, Michael Costello, chief of ACTEW , made a very grim statement about the ACT's future. He said that if severe drought persists, Canberra will eventually cease to be a viable place to live in. So, as in JG Ballard's famous novel, The Drought, people would end up moving to the coast, and 'screw the capital'.
Of course it would be a political disaster and a great blow to aussie pride, but I think it's not a matter of 'if' but 'when'. Desalinized water is what some are counting on as the providencial savior. But it's expensive and the coast is far. So everyone would move anyway when they see the first water bill.
Hence, I will put forward my pilot project for the new capital. It will be equally distributed throughout the whole country. O'Connor is to be moved to Cairns. Uni, of course, will go to Sydney. Thus, I'll be forced to work from home. Weston Creek goes to Perth (sorry Juan, it'll be a long way to soccer training). All of South Canberra goes to Adelaide, where they'll blend nicely with the locals. And the Parliament House will sit on top Uluru (a.k.a. Ayers Rock), as a strong political statement from Howard to the Aborigines: 'I've got the power, suckers'.


Addendum: If you want to see a place where this happened before, go to Fatehpur Sikri, India.

Some play in the major leagues


Cheers man. When are you signing autographs?

Monday, October 29, 2007

Poll results: Cheers Barney

Yes, he is a classic. Of all the Simpsons characters he's certainly the most philosophical and sensitive. Anyway, there were votes for many characters, so each one seems to find identification with a different one. Maybe the secret of the series' success?

Beach volley ball


Days are longer, temperature higher guys fit :-/
anyway...
The beach volley ball season has to start this week!
We don't have a proper beach in Canberra, but we do have sand, a net and a volley ball.
Those who are interested in join us, the season will start this Thursday after work at Dickson pool. More info soon...

Thank you very much mates! – Gracias totales!

We want to thank Matt, David B., José, María and Nano for the enormous hand they gave us last Saturday moving our stuff to the new place. Also to Kathy for the chocolates and to the owner of the house (who will not see this, but anyway...) that left a bottle of champagne for the housewarming*.

So ... a housewarming party is coming soon!

Have a nice week.

J&L

* The bottle has gone, forget about it.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

"Barrero Guerschman Duo"

Dance the La Bamba

Dance the La Bamba
It´s necessary to have a little grace (style)
A little grace for me and you

Up! Up!
Up! Up! I´m for you
I´m for you
I´m for you

I am not a sailor
I am not a sailor, I am a captain
I am a captain
I am a captain

Thursday night at the Old Canberra Inn Karaoke...

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Canberra Girls



Not all Aussies, but Canberra Girls all the same....

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

drinks Thursday

hi everybody - i'm heading out of town for five weeks on Saturday so how about we get together for a beer and a game of pool at the Old Canberra Inn 7pm Thursday. Oh and best of luck to Yves who's having both wisdom teeth removed Wednesday(?)......ouch.

23 Mirning Crescent, Aranda, 2nd part

OK guys, it's official now: we will live in Aranda for the next 12 months.

Moving out this Saturday, any help will be welcome.

I promised an esky full of cold beers
(only for those able to lift the fridge to the truck with no help).



JP

Homeward Sound

Despite spending weeks at sea as larvae, potentially scattered over many kilometers, young coral reef fish find suitable settlement habitat and in some cases return to their natal reefs. We report that some dominant families of larval reef fish use the sounds made by fish and shrimp resident on reefs to help them locate and settle on reefs and that some fish groups use specific components of the reef sound to guide their behavior. These findings could offer potential for active management of reef fisheries.
Stephen D. Simpson, Mark Meekan, John Montgomery, Rob McCauley, and Andrew Jeffs (8 April 2005)

Science 308 (5719), 221

One Out Of Ten (A Classic Commercial)

Monday, October 22, 2007

Interesting... but what about the sound they make?

Following our discussion, this is the article/report about corals and the moon light.


Science 19 October 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5849, pp. 467 - 470
DOI: 10.1126/science.1145432


Reports

Light-Responsive Cryptochromes from a Simple Multicellular Animal, the Coral Acropora millepora

O. Levy,1 L. Appelbaum,2 W. Leggat,1 Y. Gothlif,3 D. C. Hayward,4,6 D. J. Miller,5,6 O. Hoegh-Guldberg1,5

Hundreds of species of reef-building corals spawn synchronously over a few nights each year, and moonlight regulates this spawning event. However, the molecular elements underpinning the detection of moonlight remain unknown. Here we report the presence of an ancient family of blue-light–sensing photoreceptors, cryptochromes, in the reef-building coral Acropora millepora. In addition to being cryptochrome genes from one of the earliest-diverging eumetazoan phyla, cry1 and cry2 were expressed preferentially in light. Consistent with potential roles in the synchronization of fundamentally important behaviors such as mass spawning, cry2 expression increased on full moon nights versus new moon nights. Our results demonstrate phylogenetically broad roles of these ancient circadian clock–related molecules in the animal kingdom.

To read the complete article follow this link (it'll work only if you have access to Science)

Some empanada from 'El Cuartito' anyone?


23 Mirning Crescent, Aranda

G'day everyone,

Start remembering that address, because it looks like that's the place where we will live for the next 12 months.

Housewarming party coming soon.

We will probably move next Saturday, I will call for hands to help moving the heavy stuff. Will let you know.

This is the ad in all classifieds: http://allhomes.com.au/c/ah?a=spr&p=87155

And (you know me) a map:


View Larger Map

have a good week

JP

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Featured music: Egberto Gismonti


With some delay again, I proudly present you the Brazilian virtuoso Egberto Gismonti. He was born with a gift, but on top of that he studied music with no other than Nadia Boulanger (!). This guy is a 'MacGyver' of music, give him a pen, a rubber band and bubble gum and he will play it.
Interestingly, he struggled for years and years to buy the copyright of his huge musical production off EMI International. He succeeded, but that's not quite it for him. In his own words:

“In the last 3 years I have been working to get permission from the great copyright powerhouses such as ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors y Publishers) and GEMA (Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights) to allow people to download my entire production for free. Why do I want to give my music away? Because after more than 30 years as a professional musician I know that the real responsibles for all I have done are the people who enjoy my music and attend my concerts and buy my records, not the companies that produce them. I would love to see the day when music and books are free. In Brazil, a book costs 20 dollars. The same for a CD. That’s absurd. As a producer, I know a record cannot possibly cost that much. In a world like the one we live in, the only way to make our art transcedent is to make the financial question become irrelevant.”

Wow.

Enjoy.

Watson strikes back


Published: 19 October 2007 ,The Independent

James Watson: To question genetic intelligence is not racism

Science is no stranger to controversy. The pursuit of discovery, of knowledge, is often uncomfortable and disconcerting. I have never been one to shy away from stating what I believe to be the truth, however difficult it might prove to be. This has, at times, got me in hot water.

Rarely more so than right now, where I find myself at the centre of a storm of criticism. I can understand much of this reaction. For if I said what I was quoted as saying, then I can only admit that I am bewildered by it. To those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologise unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief.

I have always fiercely defended the position that we should base our view of the world on the state of our knowledge, on fact, and not on what we would like it to be. This is why genetics is so important. For it will lead us to answers to many of the big and difficult questions that have troubled people for hundreds of years.

But those answers may not be easy, for, as I know all too well, genetics can be cruel. My own son may be one of its victims. Warm and perceptive at the age of 37, Rufus cannot lead an independent life because of schizophrenia, lacking the ability to engage in day-to-day activities. For all too long, my wife Ruth and I hoped that what Rufus needed was an appropriate challenge on which to focus. But as he passed into adolescence, I feared the origin of his diminished life lay in his genes. It was this realisation that led me to help to bring the human genome project into existence.

In doing so, I knew that many new moral dilemmas would arise as a consequence and would early on establish the ethical, legal and societal components of the genome project. Since 1978, when a pail of water was dumped over my Harvard friend E O Wilson for saying that genes influence human behaviour, the assault against human behavioural genetics by wishful thinking has remained vigorous.

But irrationality must soon recede. It will soon be possible to read individual genetic messages at costs which will not bankrupt our health systems. In so doing, I hope we see whether changes in DNA sequence, not environmental influences, result in behaviour differences. Finally, we should be able to establish the relative importance of nature as opposed to nurture.

One in three people looking for a job in temporary employment bureaux in Los Angeles is a psychopath or a sociopath. Is this a consequence of their environment or their genetic components? DNA sequencing should give us the answer. The thought that some people are innately wicked disturbs me. But science is not here to make us feel good. It is to answer questions in the service of knowledge and greater understanding.

In finding out the extent to which genes influence moral behaviour, we shall also be able to understand how genes influence intellectual capacities. Right now, at my institute in the US we are working on gene-caused failures in brain development that frequently lead to autism and schizophrenia. We may also find that differences in these respective brain development genes also lead to differences in our abilities to carry out different mental tasks.

In some cases, how these genes function may help us to understand variations in IQ, or why some people excel at poetry but are terrible at mathematics. All too often people with high mathematical abilities have autistic traits. The same gene that gives some people such great mathematical abilities may also lead to autistic behaviour. This is why, in studying autism and schizophrenia, we believe that we shall come very close to a better understanding of intelligence and, therefore, of the differences in intelligence.

We do not yet adequately understand the way in which the different environments in the world have selected over time the genes which determine our capacity to do different things. The overwhelming desire of society today is to assume that equal powers of reason are a universal heritage of humanity. It may well be. But simply wanting this to be the case is not enough. This is not science.

To question this is not to give in to racism. This is not a discussion about superiority or inferiority, it is about seeking to understand differences, about why some of us are great musicians and others great engineers. It is very likely that at least some 10 to 15 years will pass before we get an adequate understanding for the relative importance of nature versus nurture in the achievement of important human objectives. Until then, we as scientists, wherever we wish to place ourselves in this great debate, should take care in claiming what are unarguable truths without the support of evidence.

The writer, a Nobel prizewinner for his part in unraveling DNA, is chairman of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the United States

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Highlights

Highlights of our trip to Argentina, Fiji and Auckland. First of all, I won't say/write anything about the wedding and I don't want to make this post too long because I know nobody will be keen on read it. Let's see the top 5 hot-moments of the trip:

top5: The great time we spent snorkeling and drinking beers in Fiji. In Spanish: Rascada de panza a 4 manos.
top4: Jose and Maria rescuing us (6:30 am at 100k from Canberra) in our way to the airport.
top3: The mess in Ezeiza airport and the US$100k that were stolen from the security bag.
top2: sanguchitos de miga (dobles triples con matenca o mayonesa), mates with friends, alfajores, beeers, wines and nightlife, and the best of my country: asados with family and friends.
top1: The day the All Blacks lost against France we were in the airport in Auckland and as soon as the game finished Juan went to the Adidas shop asking if the price of the shirts were cheaper ... no no no no... in my neighborhood that means 'fight'. He survived.

Have a good day!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Photo lovers

For those that love photography, this is a blog to get in touch with people that love it too.

http://photodiscussionis.blogspot.com/

Hasta luego!
Lu

Monday, October 15, 2007

Regis' videos shown during the wedding

Hi there!

I think Régis included in his email all of you who regularly read the blog. I am including his videos here anyway.



VIDEO:





GREETINGS:



Si Si Comrade Curtin!


Whilst on a recent holiday in Buenos Aires, Mr Shaun Curtin was snapped outside the Communist Party headquarters in Sarimento. Sources close to Mr Curtin maintain that he was on a 'purely diplomatic mission', eager to discuss ideological positions and political philosophy. Exactly what position Curtin took in these discussions remains unclear. It seems that during Curtin's visit to South America, he exhibited some mysterious behaviour. One source travelling with him, a Dr Giger, reported Mr Curtin hooded and disguised as a Jedi Lord. "Shaun was acting very strange, he gets into the taxi saying 'follow that cab'. It was just so.....weird." Exactly whom Mr Curtin was following is unknown. Curtin is well known for his outspoken views on Marxism, Trotskyism, Stalinism, Capitalism, Secular Humanism, Doing The Housework In Stilettos, and more recently, Elephant Vaginas, but THAT my dear friends is another story........

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Axolotl


A short story by the Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar.

There was a time when I thought a great deal about the axolotls. I went to see them in the aquarium at the Jardin des Plantes and stayed for hours watching them, observing their immobility, their faint movements. Now I am an axolotl.

I got to them by chance one spring morning when Paris was spreading its peacock tail after a wintry Lent. I was heading down tbe boulevard Port‑Royal, then I took Saint-Marcel and L'Hopital and saw green among all that grey and remembered the lions. I was friend of the lions and panthers, but had never gone into the dark, humid building that was the aquarium. I left my bike against the gratings and went to look at the tulips. The lions were sad and ugly and my panther was asleep. I decided on the aquarium, looked obliquely at banal fish until, unexpectedly, I hit it off with the axolotls. I stayed watching them for an hour and left, unable to think of anything else.

In the library at Sainte-Genevieve, I consulted a dictionary and learned that axolotls are the larval stage (provided with gills) of a species of salamander of the genus Ambystoma. That they were Mexican I knew already by looking at them and their little pink Aztec faces and the placard at the top of the tank. I read that specimens of them had been found in Africa capable of living on dry land during the periods of drought, and continuing their life under water when the rainy season came. I found their Spanish name, ajolote, and the mention that they were edible, and that their oil was used (no longer used, it said ) like cod‑liver oil.

I didn't care to look up any of the specialized works, but the next day I went back to the Jardin des Plantes. I began to go every morning, moming and aftemoon some days. The aquarium guard smiled perplexedly taking my ticket. I would lean up against the iron bar in front of the tanks and set to watching them. There's nothing strange in this, because after the first minute I knew that we were linked, that something infinitely lost and distant kept pulling us together. It had been enough to detain me that first morning in front of the sheet of glass where some bubbles rose through the water. The axolotls huddled on the wretched narrow (only I can know how narrow and wretched) floor of moss and stone in the tank. There were nine specimens, and the majority pressed their heads against the glass, looking with their eyes of gold at whoever came near them. Disconcerted, almost ashamed, I felt it a lewdness to be peering at these silent and immobile figures heaped at the bottom of the tank. Mentally I isolated one, situated on the right and somewhat apart from the others, to study it better. I saw a rosy little body, translucent (I thought of those Chinese figurines of milky glass), looking like a small lizard about six inches long, ending in a fish's tail of extraordinary delicacy, the most sensitive part of our body. Along the back ran a transparent fin which joinedwith the tail, but what obsessed me was the feet, of the slenderest nicety, ending in tiny fingers with minutely human nails. And then I discovered its eyes, its face. Inexpressive features, with no other trait save the eyes, two orifices, like brooches, wholly of transparent gold, lacking any life but looking, letting themselves be penetrated by my look, which seemed to travel past the golden level and lose itself in a diaphanous interior mystery. A very slender black halo ringed the eye and etched it onto the pink flesh, onto the rose stone of the head, vaguely triangular, but with curved and triangular sides which gavie it a total likeness to a statuette corroded by time. The mouth was masked by the triangular plane of the face, its considerable size would be guessed only in profile; in front a delicate crevice barely slit the lifeless stone. On both sides of the head where the ears should have been, there grew three tiny sprigs, red as coral, a vegetal outgrowth, the gills, I suppose. And they were the only thing quick about it; every ten or fifteen seconds the sprigs pricked up stiffly and again subsided. Once in a while a foot would barely move, I saw the diminutive toes poise mildly on the moss. It's that we don't enjoy moving a lot, and the tank is so cramped we barely move in any direction and we're hitting one of the others with our tail or our head --difficulties arise, fights, tiredness. The time feels like it's less if we stay quietly.

It was their quietness that made me lean toward them fascinated the first time I saw the axolotls. Obscurely I seemed to understand their secret will, to abolish space and time with an indifferent immobility. I knew better later; the gill contraction, the tentative reckoning of the delicate feet on the stones, the abrupt swimming (some of them swim with a simple undulation of the body) proved to me that they were capable of escaping that mineral lethargy in which they spent whole hours. Above all else, their eyes obsessed me. In the standing tanks on either side of them, different fishes showed me the simple stupidity of their handsome eyes so similar to our own. The eyes of the axolotls spoke to me of the presence of a different life, of another way of seeing. Glueing my face to the glass (the guard would cough fussily once in a while), I tried to see better those diminutive golden points, that entrance to the infinitely slow and remote world of these rosy creatures. It was useless to tap with one finger on the glass directly in front of their faces; they never gave the least reaction. The golden eyes continued burning with their soft, terrible light; they continued looking at me from an unfathomable depth which made me dizzy.

And nevertheless they were close. I knew it before this, before being an axolotl. I learned it the day I came near them for the first time. The anthropomorphic features of a monkey reveal the reverse of what most people believe, the distance that is traveled from them to us. The absolute lack of similarity between axolotls and human beings proved to me that my recognition was valid, that I was not propping myself up with easy analogies. Only the little hands . . . But an eft, the common newt, has such hands also, and we are not at all alike. I think it was the axolotls' heads, that triangular pink shape with the tiny eyes of gold. That looked and knew. That laid the claim. They were not animals.

It would seem easy, almost obvious, to fall into mythology. I began seeing in the axolotls a metamorphosis which did not succeed in revoking a mysterious humanity. I imagined them aware, slaves of their bodies, condemned infinitely to the silence of the abyss, to a hopeless meditation. Their blind gaze, the diminutive gold disc without expression and nonetheless terribly shining, went through me like a message: "Save us, save us." I caught myself mumbling words of advice, conveying childish hopes.They continued to look at me, immobile; from time to time the rosy branches of the gills stiffened. In that in­stant I felt a muted pain; perhaps they were seeing me, attracting my strength to penetrate into the impenetrable thing of their lives. They were not human beings, but I had found in no animal such a profound relation with myself. The axolotls were like witnesses of something, ­and at times like horrible judges. I felt ignoble in front of them; there was such a terrifying purity in those transpar­ent eyes. They were larvae, but larva means disguise and also phantom. Behind those Aztec faces, without expres­sion but of an implacable cruelty, what semblance was awaiting its hour?

I was afraid of them. I think that had it not been for feeling the proximity of other visitors and the guard, I would not have been bold enough to remain alone with them. "You eat them alive with your eyes, hey," the guard said, laughing; he likely thought I was a little cracked. What he didn't notice was that it was they devouring me slowly with their eyes, in a cannibalism of gold. At any distance from the aquarium, I had only to think of them, it was as though I were being affected from a distance. It got to the point that I was going every day, and at night I thought of them immobile in the darkness, slowly putting a hand out which immediately encountered another. Perhaps their eyes could see in the dead of night, and for them the day continued indefinitely. The eyes of axolotls have no lids. I know now that there was nothing strange, that that had to occur. Leaning over in front of the tank each morning, the recognition was greater. They were suffering, every fibre of my body reached toward that stifled pain, that stiff torment at the bottom of the tank. They were lying in wait for something, a remote dominion destroyed, an age of liberty when the world had been that of the axolotls. Not possible that such a terrible expression which was attaining the overthrow of that forced blankness on their stone faces should carry any message other than one of pain, proof of that eternal sentence, of that liquid hell they were undergoing. Hopelessly, I wanted to prove to myself that my own sensibility was projecting a nonexistent consciousness upon the axolotl. They and I knew. So there was nothing strange in what happened. My face was pressed against the glass of the aquarium, my eyes were attempting once more to penetrate the mystery of those golden eyes without iris, without pupil. I saw from very close up the face of an axolotl immobile next to the glass. No transition and no surprise, I saw my face against the glass, I saw it on the outside of the tank, I saw it on the other side of the glass. Then my face drew back and I understood.

Only one thing was strange: to go on thinking as usual, to know. To realize that was, for the first moment, like the horror of a man buried alive awaking to his fate. Outside, my face came close to the glass again, I saw my mouth, the lips compressed with the effort of understanding the axolotls. I was an axolotl and now I knew instantly that no understanding was possible. He was outside the aquarium, his thinking was a thinking outside the tank. Recognizing him, being him himself, I was an axolotl and in my world. The horror began -- I learned in the same moment of believing myself prisoner in the body of an axolotl, metamorphosed into him with my human mind intact, buried alive in an axolotl, condemned to move lucidly among unconscious creatures. But that stopped when a foot just grazed my face, when I moved just a little to one side and saw an axolotl next to me who was looking at me, and understood that he knew also, no communication possible, but very clearly. Or I was also in him, or all of us were thinking humanlike, incapable of expression, limited to the golden splendour of our eyes looking at the face of the man pressed against the aquarium.

He returned many times, but he comes less often now. Weeks pass without his showing up. I saw him yesterday, he looked at me for a long time and left briskly. It seemed to me that he was not so much interested in us any more, that he was coming out of habit. Since the only thing I do is think, I could think about him a lot. It occurs to me that at the beginning we continued to communicate, that he felt more than ever one with the mystery which was claiming him. But the bridges were broken between him and me, because what was his obsession is now an axolotl, alien to his human life. I think that at the beginning I was capable of returning to him in a certain way, only in a certain way-- and of keeping awake his desire to know us better. I am an axolotl for good now, and if I think like a man it's only because every axolotl thinks like a man inside his rosy stone semblance. I believe that all this succeeded in communicating something to him in those first days, when I was still he. And in this final solitude to which he no longer comes, I console myself by thinking that perhaps he is going to write a story about us, that, believing he's making up a story, he's going to write all this about axolotls.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Trivia

What's the difference between the All Blacks and half a pill of Viagra?



At least the Viagra will give you a 'semi'


Monday, October 8, 2007

On guys wearing pink shirts

Pink is a feminine colour. Pink shirts are feminine. Pink is the colour worn on the dresses and clothing of the fairer sex to remind us of the sacred treats inside.

So gentlemen, although though some girls may think that some guys look good in pink, before you don the pink to face the world ask yourself: how do I really feel?

Mario Cippiolini (centre left) is one hip, cool dude.
And the Lion King does not wear pink.

Con el corazón: Argentina 19 - Scotland 13

It was worth waking up at 4:30 am to see the Pumas wrestle Scotland. Heart -stopping last 10 minutes played within diving distance from the Argie in-goal, but the Puma 'claw' overcame again. As for me, I'm quite happy we made it to semifinals, faring better than the Wallabies and the 'World Champions', hohoho. I think only a miracle could put Argentina in the final, since the Pumas have never (ever!) beaten the powerful Springboks.

If Argentina beats England in the final, then not only God exists, but He is Argentinian.

Vamos Los Pumas CARAJO !!!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

hectic days

Hi all!!

I am writing from Auckland airport, waiting for our flight to Fiji. France have just defeated the All Blacks and a French guy paid a beer for all the people watching the game. Leah, Silvio and Anne are flying to Sydney at the moment, an hour ago we were sharing breakfast when the game looked easy for NZ. I would like to see Anne's face when she arrives and knows that France made it. We were also surprised to know that the Wallabies lost to England, that's a shame.

We should be in Fiji already. There was a strike at Bs As airport on Thu night and all flights were cancelled. We had to re-schedule our flights, but we could finally travel last night. We will lose one day of our honey moon :(

chau!!!

see you all next week

JP & Lu

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Gay Top Gun




Is this classic movie a Gay Manifesto? Quentin Tarantino opens our eyes.

Featured music: Blonde Redhead

With some delay (sorry for that), I bring you a new music feature. This is the New York-based band Blonde Redhead, composed by Japanese vocalist Kazu Makino and Italian twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace on guitar and drums. Nice sound, reminiscent of Garbage in their good times. Enjoy.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

missing him (sigh!)

Back to normal (slowly)

Hi there!!

Now that we tied the knot, things are slowly going back to normal. We have been veeeeery lucky with the weather, last Sunday was a lovely sunny and warm day and everybody enjoyed the party as it was in a "Estancia" with a big park and a lake. On Monday morning very loud thunderstorms woke us up and we had a rainy and horrible day.

We will upload some pictures to the web ASAP, but for the moment you can check some pics from my aunt (party, civil ceremony and cocktail), and from Lu's friend Vicky.

In the meantime, the Pumas keep writing history. They played against Ireland on Sunday, exactly at the same time when the ceremony was going to start. The beggining was delayed 30 mins (many people was still arriving) what allowed me to watch the first 30 mins in the room, and when the ceremony finished some of my friends found a TV and watched the last 20 mins. I obviously forgive them, as I would have done the same in similar circumstances :)

Now the Pumas play against Scotland and they can win. I can see them in semis playing against the Springbocks and (why not) in the final playing against the Wallabies (or the All Blacks?). I only hope to have a TV available in the resort in Fiji for watching all these games. I couldn't avoid the consumerist rugby induced fever and I bought a pumas polo shirt that I hope to proudly wear in 3 weeks when Argentina wins the WC. Last thing about rugby: to give you an idea of what the feeling is like here in Arg, the soccer derby (River-Boca) that will be played next week was rescheduled in order to allowing people to watch the rugby game on TV. Have a read to this post.

We'll probably be out of touch till Sat 13th while we enjoy the tropical weather and transparent waters of the Fijian beaches.

chau!! see you soon.

Juan P.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Tying the knot

Hi all!!!

It finally happened. Last Friday we tied the knot (for the Argentine law) and on Sunday we had an amazing party.

We want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all the boys and girls who came here and also all who participated in the video: Salva, José & María, Birte, Matt, David, Yves & chook and Nano. It was really funny and emotional. There was not a dry eye in the house.

check out some pics:



We'll be out to Fiji in 2 days. We are looking forward to catch up with all of you guys in 2 weeks in Canberra!

A big kiss and hug from us and also from all the "Aussies" down here in Buenos Aires. Lots of Tango , food , party and more food. And meat.

chau!!!

Lu & Juan