José y sus andanzas

Careful planning is boring

2009-10-19T08:24:00.003+02:00

This is was the comment on the update done by a developer of the time zone data for my operating system. This is regarding the no-DST (daylight saving time) decided 48 hours before it was going to take place...

In my opinion as you may know from several of my posts, using DST in summer is very attractive, since days seem longer and one can enjoy more, specially during holidays. And there is an effective saving in electricity, not more than 2% (just do the math for a second, you cannot expect more), but it is something.

The opposition is based in mainly two points:

* "Argentina is already using DST all-year long". If you look at the time zone maps, it is true, compared to the rest of the region. This is something subjective. Looking at the very same map you'll find lots of countries with the same "inconsistent" policy (e.g., Spain, France, some portions of Russia). In the end, it each country decides what is best and sets in stone. For those using this excuse, DST should be undone in winter time. Just think for a second, at 5:30pm will be dark.

* "The human organism gets harmed because of the shocking change of ONE hour! Moreover, it is not acceptable to have long evening, getting dark at 11pm!" (they even use some irreproducible names for some biological cycles that I've never heard before). This is bullsh*t. Europe, USA, Mexico, and even Brazil use DST and as far as I know, people don't get some sort of mental shortage because of the time change. It's true, you feel weird for a few days, but after you get used to it that's it! You have to do things according to the clock, not just regretting the change of time.

Anyways, as I said, any country is free to decide upon the time zone, DST and all this. It'd be nice that at least in certain things we are consistent. It is not only about moving the time or not. Computer systems, airlines, all the world around us is expecting to have a logical policy in this kind of stuff, there shouldn't be much fuzz about.

It is hot! (well, it was)

2009-08-21T09:28:00.004+02:00

I must post this image:

It's a temperature graph of The Netherlands, yesterday. It was a hot way with feels like temperatures of 37°C, a once in a long time experience (I had a similar experience a time ago).

As you may have noticed, I call 'experience' the occurrence of such events, so it must be understood that such weather conditions are extremely weird in here.

I must say that by today the weather is 'normal', it was a 'one-day experience'.

Image source: buienradar.nl

Pro photography, an initial attempt

2009-07-20T22:51:00.005+02:00

Recently, I started being a bit more involved with the subject of professional photography. Even though I reckon that I'm very far to getting there, I have to ever start.

A few weeks ago we bought a new DSLR camera (aka big cameras looking like the professional ones) Nikon D5000 with a AF-S VR 18/105 lens. I must admit once more that I'm still getting to know all the meanings of all the abbreviations and what is their role when taking a picture...

So let me start with one of my first shots.

This picture was taken with the afore-mentioned beast, and post-processed with GIMP 2.6 on my desktop computer running Ubuntu. It was at a barbecue last weekend. Looks good, although it could have been better :)

Back in blog

2009-07-19T12:48:00.003+02:00

It has been a long time without a post. Excuses? Well, a lot: As most of you may know already, I'm writing up my thesis which is not at all an easy thing and consumes all my time. I (well, we I must say) have been traveling overseas and within Europe, and have a lot of things in the agenda. I hope I can update all of this in the blog...

And for all readers and people missing my posts, thanks a lot for comments received verbally as well as via emails, I don't promise anything but little by little I'll come back to it :)

Tears and more tears

2009-01-25T23:25:00.005+01:00

Do you remember this post? A long away I described the issue of handling serious situations when I have to speak in English. At the moment, a just a little has changed, and most of the text in bold holds. I still have to deal with my double personality, the basic and stupid monkey who whispers some kind of English, and the almost buried original myself, who is degraded and becoming basic.

The reality is that I cannot settle down with the secondary language, but I don't have to give up, at some point I'll be successful, at least I have some hope. Just wanted to bring back such a nice post.

BTW, my excuses for the sloppy writing in all my previous posts. Even though I double check them before pressing the publish button, I can find misspellings, grammatical errors and non-sense expressions.

Shivery weather

2009-01-15T21:48:00.007+01:00

It is true that in Romania, last Christmas, I experienced temperatures bordering the -20°C. It's difficult to explain what it feels like to go out and one of the sudden experience a drop in the temperature of at least 40°C. Imagine that someone is trying to pinch some needles on your forehead, and this is more or less what you feel.

Even though it seems like the end of the world to be at -20°C, is not. The body gets used to it quite fast. For me it was a matter of 4 or 5 days to get to the point where I felt comfortable in such conditions. There are other factors as well: the floor in a open sky location gets a layer of ice that sometimes may be deadly slippery, the cars become slays and if it snows you cannot watch up unless you wear a suitable cap.

Getting used to this cold is relative, as I was wearing underpants all the time. Only once I didn't and I regretted. It's like the needling sensation on throughout your legs! Never try to go without a cap or scarf, after a while you'll be regretting. But the body gets comfortable at some point, and you don't look scared.

Right after this cold training, the polar cold wave entered Western Europe. This meant some snow at the beginning which is fun somehow(1), but later the skies clear and the real fun starts. In Eindhoven, we got 4 days with temperatures hitting the -18°C mark. I thought I was used to it, after the Romania experience, and so bravely I decided to ride my bike and go to the university. What a suffering! The freaking cold enters every single minuscule pore of your clothing, feeling like hundreds of needles pushing in you!

I went back and forth to the u, and I'll never repeat the experience that cost me a contracted back. The following map illustrates how the temperature figures were one of the shivery days.

Source: Buienradar.nl Eindhoven is at the south with -14°C.

(1) Except if you have to drive a car with 15cm of fresh snow and drive 500m in 30'. We experience that :(

Christmas break in Romania

2009-01-11T22:59:00.004+01:00

Last Christmas were the most special ones ever, as I went to visit Iulia's paradise(1). We stay all days but one in Braşov, the first day in Bucureşti. At this opportunity I have the chance to meet her parents, with the seriousness that this implies. Also, I met her friends who were constantly asking for us, taking to different places, and enjoying with us our stay.

For me it was the chance to experience both a real winter and a real Christmas, like the ones we see in the movies, or in the Christmas postal we get during this time of the year. The temps were on average around -8°C, with peaks down to -20°C. I have to admit that at the beginning I was quite frightened with such a cold, but slowly I got used to it, wearing underpants, gloves and the unmissable scarf. We did some winter sports, like skiing(2) and going down the hill with slay.

I also tried everything from the Romanian cuisine, honors go to Iulia's mom who delighted us with very delicious dishes. Someone asked me to enumerate the things I don't like and there is only one: one kind of cheese that tastes as butter milk. The rest is excellent.

It's difficult to explain everything that happened in a few lines, it was a very nice time for us of joy and discovering for me. I leave a link to a photolog I made while I was in the trip. You'll have a chance to see a little bit by yourself.

(1) This is the name given to Braşov by Iulia.
(2) To be honest, I barely managed to get skies on and off, and turn around me. It's not as easy as it seems.

A failed jump

2009-01-07T23:09:00.002+01:00

Look at this video:

Two Israeli tourists decided to jump off the bridge of the Cabra Corral dike. The video is really impressing, specially for the panic scenes of the spectators.

6 months

2008-11-29T00:00:00.005+01:00

Today it is 6 months since I started dating Iulia.

In this 6 months were quite challenging for us, we have lived brand-new experiences for the two of us: knowing that each thinks of each other at the same time, sharing unlimited time talking about each other, planning our future, helping each other with the weakness and celebrating achievements of each other. There were difficult times as well, specially when we have been away from each other for long (and seemingly endless) periods. We're learning to be one entity with two parties.

My life is changing, and I do suspect where we're gonna get, and I'm gonna do my best to make you happy, to be together, and to love you a lot, my sweetie.

PS: The real gift is in my old backpack :)

A summer vacation

2008-11-23T19:34:00.002+01:00

I must admit I'm quite careless with my blog. The thing is that at some point one has to prioritize some things over others, and that's why my blogging activities has been reduced to a bare mininum almost null.

Anyway, I'll try to catch up and revive the main aim of this blog: to keep update all of you about my activities at this side of the ocean (for all my friends on the other side).

Let's go to the point then. This post is about last summer, where my parents came to visit me. They stayed in Europe for a period of 3 months, of which 2 I spent with them. We decide to take most of the chance they were here, so we did some crazy things. As the flew into Barcelona, I went to meet them and come by car to The Netherlands. This was our itinerary:

Ver mapa más grande

We stayed overnight in Lyon where we did some sightseeing in the city. The day after, we arrived to Eindhoven, stopping at midday in Luxembourg.

My parents stayed at my place for one month that we spent traveling of course. We went to places as Cologne, Aachen (in Germany), the punt of the three countries (D-B-NL), Middelburg, Kinderdijk, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Den Bosch, Maastricht, Liège, Verviers, Leuven, Antwerp, Gent, Brugge, among others. As I was coming to the university, Brenda y Alberto, friends of mine and the family already, took them out to visit places in the surroundings of Eindhoven. Thanks them a lot!

In the way back to Spain, we passed by Paris where we stayed overnight. The day after passed by Andorra, to stay a few days in Barcelona. Then, following the route of the Mediterranean, we went to Tarragona, Murcia, Lorca, to finish our trip in Pedro Martinez, the village where my father was born. There, we stayed for the main celebration of the town with most of our relatives. We also travel around the village, like going to Granada and Almería.

Of course, in the meantime, I had to come back to continue with my obligations, while they continued enjoyed, with the very nice companion and support of my relatives.

This trip was the best gift I could ever have done to everyone, this was as thanking them for all they always have given me, all the love they could give. Thanks a lot to them, and all who cordially helped us to have a very nice time.

Return trip:

Ver mapa más grande

Horario confundido

2008-10-16T20:34:00.008+02:00

Ya se lo venía venir: el quilombo por el horario... la verdad que me dediqué a leer noticias al respecto, y todas me causaban risa.

Opiniones como "no se puede dormir bien", "qué absurdo que haya claridad a las 10 de la noche", "me voy a dormir tarde por culpa que se hace de noche más tarde y al día siguiente me duermo en el laburo". Todas esas opiniones son absurdas, sólo hay que preguntarse cómo hace la gente que vive de Río Negro para el sur en el país...

"Estamos usando un huso horario incorrecto, tenemos que usar el GMT-4". Simplemente hay que hacer unas cuentas y darse por aludido que eso no es usual a nuestras costumbres: en invierno (que es cuando se debería usar sobre todo) en Salta estaría de noche a las 17:40... Y todos aquellos que se quejan porque con el GMT-2 (que es que usará la mayoría del país) se hace de día recién a las 7, les informo que en invierno con el GMT-3 (del cual nadie se queja, porque es un horario de verano, viendo nuestra posición global), se hace de día a las 7:20... Así que todas son opiniones absurdas, basadas en oposiciones de índole política.

Veremos las consecuencias de tener un país partido en dos horarios, mucha gente va tener que estar sincronizada con Buenos Aires de todos modos. Todo basado en decisiones populistas, lejos de venir del sentido común. Al final, alguno de los dos horarios va a ganar... Todo como si fuera un partido de fútbol, te pregunto, vos, ¿de qué lado estás?

Actualización: La verdad que estoy leyendo casi todos los artículos relacionados al tema. Al final, uno con el cual me identifico en su mayoría "Sol de noche". Para mí, no hay placer más grande que anochezca a las 12 de la noche (obviamente, que amanezca a una hora razonable), el día se hace largo y disfrutable, sobre todo si hay buen clima. Irse a dormir a una hora razonable no estar cansado al otro día, queda en cada uno... Me encantó (por desgracia para los argentinos) la parte en la que se habla en la que nos quejamos de todo, y no empezamos a aceptar cosas que en otros lugares del planeta son normales.

Otra actualización: Para terminar de embarrarla: "Doce provincias quedaron exceptuadas del cambio de hora". No quedan dudas que lo que menos prima en estas decisiones es el sentido común... Según dice se exceptúa a ciertas provincias en las que el consumo energético no es sustancial comparado con el total del consumo (lo que es cierto de alguna manera). Lo que seguro no se van a ahorrar son dolores de cabeza al tratar de coordinar algo en la que se involucren dos provincias con diferentes horarios... A todo esto, el 15 de marzo habrá quienes quieran poner a estas doce provincias en GMT-4... por lo menos ya que nos acostumbramos a tener dos horarios que sea en todo el país... O el resultado será que todo el mundo a la misma hora y a dejarse de joder.

Problemas que seguro aparecerán: ¿a qué hora comenzará el horario pico o no pico para las compañías telefónicas?, ¿el horario de protección al menor?, si alguien tiene que viajar de Salta a Tucumán, ¿se dan cuenta que el viaje es una hora más largo? (una hora más corta en el sentido contrario).
¿Vieron a Jujuy como quedó descolgado?

Fuente de la foto: Desde el domingo, habrá dos husos horarios 26noticias.com.ar

Muy encriptados, y no los saben usar

2008-09-07T23:33:00.002+02:00

Leyendo este artículo "Calor, sismo y corte de celulares" donde se relata, entre otras cosas, la salida de servicio de un servidor de la compañía de teléfonos celulares Personal, puedo rescatar la siguiente cita, correspondientes a las palabras de la persona de RRII de la compañía, explicando el por qué de la salida de servicio de los servidores:

"son equipos de alta gama tecnológica que vienen muy encriptados"

No sé qué tiene que ver una cosa con la otra (que algo funcione bien a que soporte encriptación), pero es evidente que esta gente se las vio negras para poner a funcionar el servidor de nuevo, a lo mejor porque efectivamente para los operarios lo que esa maquinita muestra son textos indescifrables...

En fin, me gustó además la moraleja de la nota: El sistema está encriptado. ¿Quién lo desencriptará? El desencriptador que lo desencripte buen desencriptador será.

Un paseo por la UNSa

2008-09-07T23:20:00.004+02:00

Otra vez TN y la gente me llevó de paseo por algunos de los lugares a lo que solía frecuentar, la Universidad Nacional de Salta.

Es una marcha en reclamo de recomposición salarial, pero si escuchan y observan el comportamiento de los que enviaron el video, más que ser una manifestación por reclamos de salarios, parece ser un recreo...

Fuente: RECLAMO EN LA UNIVERSIDAD DE SALTA

A brief summary: This video is about a demonstration taking place at my former university. But the video has some funny dialogs that, instead of a demonstration, it seems like a break for the students...

A bent weekend

2008-09-02T23:11:00.005+02:00

A combination of nice and warm weather (sunny, 28°C), a good place (an amusement park), good friends and colleagues were indications for a very spectacular weekend. In fact, it wasn't for me at all :( This would be a perfect post for the fish's blues...

This weekend, we went to Efteling, an amusement park near Eindhoven with all kind of attractions: roller coasters, boat raft, and all kind of kermis-like things. Great! I enjoyed a lot until I got off the Python (plattegrond -> Ruigrijk -> Phyton), a very nice roller coaster. Everything went well, despite some natural fear before riding it, I enjoy the ride very much. I was even thinking of doing it once more! But when I tried to turn my neck to the right, oh oh a pain started to disturb me a little bit. It continued extending quite fast actually, so just for precaution, I made a visit to the emergency service at the park. I wasn't in a happy situation, but they didn't help quickly either! I had to wait for about one hour to get to a doctor who did some checking on my neck, and confirmed a muscular contraction in its right side. It was something like a torticollis but much worse. So imagine that I had to keep my neck completely turned to my left without even being able to turn it a little bit to the left, with a very limited up and down motion. The doctor just prescribed me some painkillers and basicly send me home to have rest.

Okay, okay, I don't blame them for my bad luck, but at least, they could have more staff to solve more quickly these kinds of situations, and for example, let my friends continuing enjoying the day as they were waiting for the diagnose of my apparently serious problem.

Anyway, after it, I was condemn to wait seated while my friends were in the attractions which I couldn't join, as I basically was unmobilized... Even though this very bad experience, I appreciate that they kept watching at me, taking care of me. And somehow, I acknowledge that I spoil such a nice day a little bit...

After the come back home, an open pharmacy needed to be found. The one opened was next to the emergency entrance of the Máxima medisch centrum, a local hospital. As the painkiller I had taken didn't make much effect on me, I went to visit a doctor there. The very same story as before: I took about one hour to get a diagnose (the same as before, luckily). Feel forms, answer questions to the receptionist, and bear the jokes of the nurse who knew I got my bent neck in an amusement park. Thankfully, I was with a friend, and we had the time to talk and get update for the hour I had to wait for the doctor to come and just tell me go home and take these pills...

As a mental note: what would have happened if my injure was something really serious that required quick action? Nothing, the Dutch way of acting in this kind of situation would've condemned me to the worst... I'm not saying it based on this single incident, but on the many I've heard of...

In a nutshell, financially speaking, I have lost 27€ for the entrance to the park, 15€ in food inside the park, and around 71€ in medicines which aren't covered by my insurance company because of the new regulations in Netherlands(1). That is, I spent 100+€ for a bent neck, but there was good weather(2)... Of course, I should tell you that I slept on Sunday until 4pm because of one of the muscular relaxing pill. A wasted weekend...

(1) The first 150€ that you spend in health services are from this year under your account, this is the new regulation. But they were good enough to not to raise the monthly fee (100+€ in my case). Isn't it an implicit cost raise?

(2) I quote someone say of today: "It seems that summer started this year on August 30th!!" to what I replied "... and it didn't lasted more than 3 days..." Yesterday already started to be chilly and today it's raining like crazy (current temperature is 12°C)

Pictures soon, so you can laugh with me, not at me...

Update: One photo of my bent neck, taking it with some humor. Thanks Kathie for it!!

Privacy issues

2008-08-27T23:00:00.006+02:00

To my surprise, many people have asked me to update my blog, continuing updating about my experiences and anecdotes. I feel after these comments that this blog is accomplishing its goal of bridging me and you; my friends and family.

First of all, I should say why I couldn't get updated my blog: the excuse is that I have been very, very busy, not only work-wise, but also with my family, besides some other personal stuff. I'll update opportunely on each of these things.

But now, let me pose a thought I've been having from a long time ago. It's about the privacy and exposure of oneself by keeping updated a blog, or any webpage of public access. Fortunately for me, I'm very much aware of these issues and their consequences. In fact, it isn't that difficult to find posts in the same blogs, or comments from (in general anonymous) the public reading each single post published. Or any insulting comment as well, which is removed my the blog owner eventually. So far, I've been lucky and didn't have many such bad experiences, while I know that it happened to friends and people I know through blogs/social networking pages.

It's also funny to see how some (I'd say most of) people really aren't aware of these issues and, mainly, of their consequences. I have fun eavesdropping people in facebook, getting to know what is going on the parties they go, how their mood is, and even how their relationship is doing. A time ago I commented about the messenger nicknames, this is reflecting many things about people's private life in many many cases.

As a matter of fact, I've been taking some actions to protect myself. Along these actions, I try to be somewhat anonymous, just a guy called José born in Salta, living now in Eindhoven, studying at the local university. I stopped uploading pictures of my recent activities, or at most I only upload a few as decoration of my posts. I've stopped anticipating my future activities or plans. Even when I admit that I have an account in facebook, and in any other social contacts portals, I just have an account to gossip about the other people. And believe me, it's more effective than the so conventional mouth-to-mouth gossip. Nowadays, there are some ways to gain some privacy, though. But either, they are minimal, or people don't know how to activate them in order to minimize exposure.

To summarize, I like the impact this blog is having along my friends, relatives and family. It also put in contact with many unknown people who requested me some information, for instance. The moral of this post is that you should be aware of the risk it takes to be more popular than if one wouldn't have a blog, or an account at any social networking spaces. Now, tell me what you think about this, and if you had or know of any experience with this new way of getting in touch with people.

Hup Holland Hup!

2008-06-17T23:19:00.003+02:00

Let's party! The Dutch football team is performing quite well in the UEFA European Championship, (Euro Cup 2008). It defeated Italy, France and Romania with very good scores. Remember that Italy and France were the two best teams in the last World Football Championship! Of course, the excuse for celebrating is just there. For every match people gather in a pub, at home next to a barbecue or with some pizzas. Tons of beers and the very good mood that characterize Dutch people.

It is so high the excitement that they even reflect their happiness in the food. At the canteens of the university even the food becomes orange, the national color! Something that caught my attention was that the healthy sandwiches (gezond broodjes) which normally have cheese, lettuce, tomato, boiled egg and ham, this time they had mandarins! So, I was curious and decided to try one of them. And this is how they look like.

Unfortunately, I didn't find it delicious at all :( But at least I joined the celebration in some sense...

Una de El Tribuno

2008-06-10T09:26:00.002+02:00

Me causó un poco de risa leer este titular...
No sé, me dio la idea de que los pobres habitantes los están tratando como ratas. Me hizo acordar a los ciclos de Ética periodística de CQC...
Aquí la noticia original.

Leisure Trips Part II

2008-06-03T22:04:00.018+02:00

The another trip I mentioned in the previous post was this, going to Scotland. The main goal was to hike the highest mountain in the UK, the Ben Nevis. Together with some friends, Rogelio, Ángela and Iulia, we went into this adventure.

We flew into Edinburgh and from them we took a rented car to go to Fort William, the town just at the base of the mountain. The first experience for the drivers, and also for me, was to get used to the right steering wheel, and driving on the left. Everything is symmetric, even getting into a roundabout, or drive slowly in the left, overtake from the right. Just weird... Even our drivers would go to the other side of the car, as a left-sided steering wheel car! Luckily our drivers got used to it after some hours :)

The Scottish outback is just great! It resembled me the Puna grassland, but of course, we never went higher than 400masl.

The D-day was the second day there. It started raining quite hard, but later we sunshine started breaking through the fog and the clouds, and we have a very beautiful date hiking the mountain up. With this pictures you can see how excited and happy we were at the beginning.

Later, our faces were reflecting the tiredness...

We got encouraged to go further when we saw the top of the mountain, an incredible experience, provided that you are very exhausted by then!

On the top, everything was just joy and hungriness :) We had lunch, took all pictures for the record, and went down again.

Of course, the going down wasn't as exciting as the ascent because we were already very tired, but the landscape was there to be just contemplated... as going up we had some foggy conditions.

The figures: we climbed up 1300m approx, that's the height of the mountain, but we start from the sea level, so we climbed all its height. It took us 4:40h to get to the top, and 4h to get to the base back. That day, after a very desired warm dinner, we went to bed at 21:40 (time that we just got to the hostel).

The day #3, we continued our trip, a bit improvised, though. We went all the way north-east to Inverness, driving across the Loch Ness. (Un)fortunately we didn't manage to meet Nessy...

In Inverness, after some beers, we wandered around the city, stretching our soring muscles, specially those in our legs! In the evening, we drove all the south to Edinburgh, talking about very spicy topics ;)

In Edinburgh, we had a hostel just in the coast of the North sea, so we decide to go to the coast, and drink some authentic Scottish whisky! It was so cold that all the whisky we drank served to warm our bodies up. Each of us took a quarter of a bottle on average, and I think that at least I wasn't as drunk as I'd have expected...

The day after, the obliged driving over an English car. So did I over a not so busy road next to our hostel :)

And of course, the tour through the downtown... The main attraction the castle. As you can see, the weather played a very nice role, sunny although it was very cold.

The final day, we just had to back home... having very nice memories of this fantastic trip, the four of us as a group spent a very nice time, enjoy 100% every moment. Thanks all of you guys for thaaat(1)

All or most of the pictures are gently provided by Iulia following this link. Thanks a lot!

(1) Common sight for Scotts: every time they are sorry, they say "sorry for/about that", with the 'that' quite stressed. We even laughed when someone was sorry... just funny :)

Leisure Trips Part I

2008-05-27T21:26:00.010+02:00

After some time, finally I managed to find some time to sit and write. The question is of course what happened? Just some trips, quite some work, and some social life. Indeed I'm supposed to work now, but I don't feel like doing that, I feel actually sleepy, tired, then let's write something.

Back to the end of April, some cousins came to visit me for the second time, I also took some days off, and we traveled a little bit, through Holland, we visited places as De Keukenhof, the huge park full of tulips and many other flowers I visited 2 years ago.

We also went to Gouda, the town where the Goudsekaas (the Goudse cheese) is originally from. Also to the capital city of the Noord-Brabant province, 's Hertogenbosch.

As as it couldn't be less, on April 30, we went to Amsterdam to celebrate queen's day. I did this already last 2 years, but every year it is a different party. Too crowded according to my perception.

From there, we flight into Prague, and during two days, we visited such a beautiful city. The people a bit rude though, but we had a nice time walking through its streets, going to restaurants, and more walking!

After that, they came back to Spain, and I visited a friend in Bonn, the birth place of Beethoven. I had gone to Köln which is just "next door", but this small and peaceful city is gorgoleous! It just coincide with the Rheininflammen, an exhibition of fireworks that takes all the Rhein river long. Together with her friends, we had a nice time. Here there are some more pictures by my friend.

That week I enjoyed a lot, ended very tired, but after 4 days just another trip was going to come... this, for a future post :)

İstanbul

2008-04-22T21:29:00.021+02:00

What a wonderful city! Between Europe and Asia, Istanbul is the city I went lately. A treasure for humanity, three cultures shaped it to make it unique. I still can't find the words to describe how beautiful the city is. To this, I should add all the wonderful people that inhabits it: just a mixture of cuteness, politeness and trickiness. The monuments it holds are just impressive and far unique for a city. Its traffic is also a mix of adventure, irritation and illegality. Of course, this trip couldn't have been the same without the companion of two of my colleagues at the university, Peter and Sebastiaan. To give some impressions, let me elaborate more in some experiences I had, in a somewhat chronological order.

* Sleepy taxi driver.
Just arrived, after some waiting, going to our hostel, our first adventure starts. I wanted to look at the city with more details, I decide to go to the front seat of the van that transported us. After some minutes in a traffic jam, the driver starts falling asleep, to what I reacted giving some conversation. After pointing out that he looked tired, he asked whether I had a driver license and after my positive answer, he offered me to drive the van to the hostel! I scarily denied, and after all, we safely arrived!

* Attracting/sticky sellers.
Every time we walked in front of a bar/restaurant/shop someone standing outside will persuade to sell something... the game was to convince the prospective customer with different techniques. One of them will explain us everything he had to offer in the restaurant in everyone's language: Dutch, Spanish (in our case) but also French, English, Italian... not only that, the spontaneousness to make a topic conversation.

* Tulips all the city around.
Do you think that Holland is the paradise of tulips? Well, yes, but the only one place! During our stay they were celebrating the tulip festival with different kind of tulips, figures made with them everywhere! Most of tulips were imported from Holland though :)

* Topkapı Palace.
Main residence of the sultans during the Ottoman regime, it holds many antiquities, and beautiful building as well.

* Basilica Cistern.
A cistern basilica-shaped, ordered by a Byzantine emperor. Very well restored and a nice atmosphere. Two Medusas were used as support of one of the pillars.

* Grand Bazaar.
It's a big market place, a mixture of a flea market and some tend shops. The structure of the building is unique, and sellers quite smart: bargaining is mandatory, and giving up early would follow by some subtle teasing... Even more surprising is that *all* sellers will address me in Spanish, without opening my mouth at all!

* Black sea.
Istanbul is just 30km away from the Black sea which at a first glance seems to be close and easily reachable. It is indeed a short distance, but took us 5 hours to get there. First, because noboby really knows how to get there, specially by public transport. After figuring out how to get closer and closer, we didn't count on the traffic jams: we were going for nearly 2 hours at walking speed. By chance in one of the intermediate stops, we saw a bus with a sign to go to Kylios. After some time, we finally arrived. It was a dreams made true for me, although the beach isn't the great thing. In any case, I could dip my toes into its sand...

* Cheating taxi drivers.
When you take a taxi, you would definitively be fooled. They will, for example, magically make the tachometer run up very fast and sudden. Also change the banknotes when you pay them. Fortunately, we were aware of this issue and we weren't teased. In a sense, we tried to avoid taxis to avoid stressing situations...

* Taksim square and Beyoğlu district.
This is the very city center in the European side. Woohh I can't explain how vivid is this part of the city: full of people at any time! Bars, discos, pubs, restaurants all over this portion of the city, the indisputable heart of it. BTW, going to discos is quite expensive: 5€ for a 330cl bottle of normal beer!

* Golden Horn and Bosporus strait.
We also took a boat trip to have a view of the city from the sea side. We crossed under the two bridges that communicate both continents. Under the bridges on the Golden Horn there are fishermen getting some fresh fish, I think as a hobby.

* Aya Sofya.
This is a Christian church converted into a mosque by the Ottoman occupation. Interestingly, from inside it looks like a church, but full of Islamic symbols. Aya Sofya means Holy Worship, not Saint Sofia as sometimes is translated into.

* Blue mosque.
Situated in front of the Aya Sofya. It has very beautiful internal decoration with blue tiles. Its yards are just huge and imposing.

* Time to pray.
One thing that really makes this city to belong to a Muslim religion are the praying songs played 5 times a day across the city from (I guess) each mosque. Here I recorded a video to make you feel what it is like. People, though, don't pay much attention to it, a few really go into the mosques to pray, getting cleaned at the faucets located outside some mosques before entering to pray.

* Turkish bath.
We couldn't have left Istanbul without taking a hamam. First 15 minutes in a hot room (86ºC, 30% humidity) and a shock slump into cool water. Later, lay on a marble bed, receiving splashes of cold and warm water and a scratchy massage. After we are covered by foam and a complete corporal massage follows. Finally, you are so relaxed that you must go to bed!

* Nargile (Shisha, hooka or water pipe)
Nothing compares to sit on a street of Beyoğlu district and enjoy a water pipe. This usually comes with some flavoured tobacco, like apple, banana, orange among others. It is a quite relaxing activity, accompanied playing black gammon. It would be strange that some strangers join you at the table to tell all their adventures in Istanbul.

* One city, two continents.
This is yet another magic thing about Istanbul: it is divided by the Bosporus strait which separates Europe and Asia. It is all an experience to cross a bridge and being in another continent.

Just to make a summary: the best city I have ever visited! It defeated clearly to Barcelona who was among my favourite cities.

BTW, and although it is not mentioned, this was a business trip, but we took some days off to do some sightseen. And this explain why I went to a workshop in another continent and came back to Europe in a few hours :)

I'd like to thank Peter and Sebastiaan for providing most of the pictures in this post and their very nice humor sense, kindness, support and companionship.

PSV kampioen

2008-04-21T22:08:00.005+02:00

Así es, por (al menos) tres veces consecutivas, PSV Eindhoven resultó campeón de la liga holandesa de fútbol. Justo pasábamos con un grupo de amigos por el centro de la ciudad cuando el partido decisivo se iba a jugar. Lo vimos y, como no podría ser menos, celebramos! Boeren!, boeren!, boeren!(1)

Actualización: Natalia mandó su reporte periodístico a La Gaceta de Tucumán. La nota está aquí.

Indeed, for (at least) the third consecutive year, PSV Eindhoven has resulted champion of the Dutch football league. It happened that together with some friends I passed trough the city center when the deciding match was going to be played. We watched it and, of course, join the celebrations! Boeren! boeren! boeren! (1)

(1) Boeren (se lee buren) significa campesino en holandés, y es la forma en la que los fanas de otros equipos emplean para referirse a los seguidores del PSV. Comenzó como un insulto, pero los del PSV se lo tomaron con humor, y es una forma muy orgullosa de identificarse...
(1) Boeren means farmer in Dutch, and that is how the team is informally addressed by other fans from other teams like Ajax. It started as an insult but PSV followers took it as a proud way to identify themselves...

Una experiencia rara = A rare experience

2008-04-18T19:09:00.003+02:00

Hoy hice algo que no se puede hacer todos los días: estuve en el continente asiático por 10 horas presenciando un workshop, y me regresé a Europa inmediatamente...

Today I did something that one cannot do everyday: I was in Asiatic continent for 10 hours attending a workshop, and came back to Europe strait away...

A "round" trip

2008-03-28T23:57:00.010+01:00

Last weekend was Easter and almost everybody over here, we fled away. With Rogelio, Ángela and Paty, some friends, we went a tour to nearby cities in Germany, France and Luxembourg.

Our first stop was in Frankfurt, what a beautiful combination of modernism and the very ancient style. Of course, we didn't leave without tried the very well-known Frankfurt sausages.

We continued on to Heidelberg which is just the nicest city I have ever visited. A very nice downtown area, combined with some hills, plus the snow that accompanied us all the way along our trip.

That was time to cross the border and go to a most Latin country, finally, after a long time I was missing it. We stayed in Nancy, and before passed by Metz. We liked a lot the main square, and ate a very nice fondue! The morning after, a nice and huge breakfast at the Excelsior brought to my memories those days I went to have breakfast to a bar in Argentina. The same coffee, the same croissants and the very same pistolets with jam and butter.

After that, we wandered through Luxembourg, a very nice combination of a modern city and at the same time a very small village. Impressed of the only 3% VAT, cheap gasoline and smaller than we thought, we suddenly ended up in Belgium, after queuing for filling the car's tank.

The night felt, and the snow as well. In Ardenes region the snow accumulated over the pavement in the highway was a few centimeters thick (±10cm I'd say).

A common factor in the trip was that we visited all churches we could, and we were amazed with all of them.

We all agree that we enjoyed ourselves a lot, and I hope we can repeat the experience of traveling soon!

Note: I owe pictures of the latest places we visited, I'm awaiting my friend to submit them. Hurry up!

El PSV apoya a la Feria del CLO = PSV supports the CLO's fair

2008-03-27T20:33:00.004+01:00

La semana pasada fui a un entrenamiento del equipo de fútbol del PSV. Nos juntamos con gente del CLO para hacer algo de propaganda a la Feria Latinoamérica, que será en junio.

No fue nada especial, ya que esperamos mucho sufriendo el clima bien frío, pero al final todos los jugadores latinoamericanos salieron en ropas bien veraniegas para tomarse algunas fotos con nosotros.

Más allá de la lluvia y del resfriado que me gané, la pasamos muy bien. A propósito, hay un artículo en la página oficial del club PSV.

Last week I went to a PSV soccer team training. We gather together with the CLO to advertise the Latin American Fair, coming in June.

This was nothing special, as we waited outside suffering an extreme cold weather, and in the end all Latin American players came out in very summery clothes to take some pictures with us.

The most important news was that all these players gather some money to sponsor the fair which is a very nice thing to highlight from them.

Despite the rain and the cold I got, we enjoyed ourselves a lot! BTW, there is an article at the official PSV webpage.

Inundaciones cuasi-cómicas

2008-03-11T22:03:00.004+01:00

Las inundaciones en Salta, sobre todo en el norte de la provincia están causando estragos, como así también, en menor medida en el valle de Lerma y supongo que en el resto de la provincia.

A propósito de ello, hoy por hoy puedo vivirlas como en carne propia, viendo videos, fotos y toda serie de noticias al respecto. Hoy ví este video, y en el medio empecé a pegar carcajadas, pero no porque lo que se muestre sea gracioso, sino por lo que se escucha.

Fuente: EL DESBORDE DEL BERMEJO

Creo que es un poquito irresponsable por parte de los editores de TN y la gente publicar videos sin ni siquiera verlos antes, ¿más cantidad que calidad tal vez? En fin, lo mismo me divertí con el diálogo, sobre todo cuando pasó un tiempo que no escuché el tonito salteño.

El duende, buh! = A goblin, buh!

2008-03-10T00:00:00.001+01:00

En el diario leía hoy la supuesta gran conmoción causada en la localidad salteña de General Güemes cuando algunos jóvenes registraron estas imágenes:

Today I read at one of the local newspapers from Salta, the great confusion among the inhabitants of a town in the province, General Güemes. Some guys could record this:

Sí, de hecho shockeante. Pero estos muchachos no fueron lo suficientemente inteligentes para publicar sólo uno de sus intentos de la grabación, ya que otra versión ha sido publicada. Hay una segunda versión de la mismísima situación, donde una linterna se usa para iluminar al "duende". De todos modos, buen intento y son buenos actores, ya que la conversación y situación parecían bien espontáneos.

Yeah, indeed shocking. But these guys weren't smart enough to publish just one of their performing tries, as another version leaked. There is a second version of the very same situation where a lantern is used to illuminate the goblin. Anyway, good try, and good actors by the way, the conversation and situation plot look quite spontaneous.

¡A votar! = I voted!

2008-03-09T23:06:00.006+01:00

Lo hice en su momento con las elecciones argentinas, y como poseo la nacionalidad española, usé mi derecho a votar en estas elecciones presidenciales españolas. El sistema es bastante fácil y cómodo. Se reciben los votos y sobres por correo, y una vez que se tiene la elección hecha, se procede a preparar el voto y emitirlo siguiendo una rigurosa lista de pasos. Se pone todo en un sobre más grande y se envía por correo certificado. Junto con esto, se realiza una declaración de gastos, para pedir el dinero correspondiente a los gastos de emisión.

I did it for the Argeninean elections, and as I also have Spanish nationality, I used my right to vote in this Spanish presidential elections. The system is quite easy and comfortable. You get the votes and the envelops by post, and once you make your mind and take a decision, you proceed to prepare your ballot, and cast it following a very exhaustive list of steps. You put everything in a bigger envelop and submit it by certified mail. Together with this, there is a reimbursement form, where you explicitly ask the money back for the cost of the submission.

La última vez que voté para alguna elección en Cataluña, para l'estatut, siguiendo el mismo procedimiento también solicité el reembolso. De hecho obtuve un cheque con algo de dinero para hacer frente a los costos de depósito. Pero mi sorpresa fue que tales costos eran mayores el valor del cheque. Por lo tanto, tuve que pagar de mi bolsillo los costos por mi derecho a voto. Espero que esta vez las cosas cambien un poquito...

Last time I voted for some election in Catalonia, for l'estatut, via the same procedure I also ask for that reimbursement. I did get my check with some money extra to afford deposit costs. But my surprise was that such costs were higher than the amount that the check was for. Therefore, I had to pay for my right to vote. I hope this changes a little bit now...

Trabajar en casa = Working at home

2008-03-06T22:39:00.004+01:00

Ser un doctorando (o estudiante de doctorado) tiene sus cosas buenas y malas como en cualquier otra ocupación o profesión. Esto es algo de lo que quiero hablar en un par de posts desde ahora.

En este post, voy a hablar sobre algo que está bueno desde mi punto de vista. Como el trabajo es mayormente intelectual, no importa adónde está uno, es cuestión de producir resultado en una forma más o menos eficiente. El parámetro de eficiencia es determinado por uno mismo, y es posible que haya algo de presión de un supervisor o algunos colegas, si es que hay alguna actividad conjunta.

Como este es el caso, tengo alguna libertad para quedarme en casa y trabajar desde allí directamente, junto con los pros y contras que eso implica.

Entre los contras está que no hay con quién hablar durante las pausas necesarias, y que no hay obligación de respirar el aire fresco en la mañana.

Las ventajas, por lo menos desde mi punto de vista, compensan a las desventajas. Por ejemplo, no hay que vestir algo decente, un piyama es suficiente, junto con algunas pantuflas bien cómodas, y un peinado bien descuidado. Puedo escuchar la música que quiero y al volúmen que se me antoja. Y más importante, puedo tener mis almuerzos bien lujosos como estos.

Being a PhD candidate has different good and bad things, as in any other occupation or profession. This is something I want to talk about in a couple of posts from now on.

In this post, I'll talk about something is good from my point of view. As the work is mainly intellectual, it does not matter where you are, it's just a matter of producing your results in a somewhat efficient way. The efficiency parameter is mainly set by oneself, and it is possible to get some pressure from an advisor, or colleagues, if there is some joint activity.

As that's the case, I have some freedom to stay at home, and work from there directly, along with all the disadvantages and advantages that implies.

As disadvantage you have that there is no other people to talk with during the necessary breaks, and that there is no obligation to breath the fresh air in the morning.

The pros are, at least, for me, compensating the cons. For example, you don't have to wear something decent, a pyjama is good enough, along with some comfortable slippers, and a completely careless hair style. I can listen to music I like, and at the volume I want. And most importantly, I can have my own luxury lunch like this.

Trabajar en casa es una posibilidad que no todo el mundo tiene. Y si me aparto de lo académico, esto es algo que voy a extrañar mucho.

Working at home is a possibility we have that not everybody has. And if I quit academia, this is something I'll really miss.

Un día especial = A special day

2008-02-29T23:13:00.004+01:00

Bueno, sólo quería dejar un mensaje en un día tan singular: tendremos otro día como este dentro de cuatro años. ¡Espero que lo hayan encontrado especial también! ¡Y que tengan un feliz año bisiesto!

Well, just wanted to leave a message in a singular day: we will be in it again in four years. I hope you also found it special! And have a happy leap year!

Daylight saving time

2008-02-18T21:46:00.004+01:00

Well, well, well. This a hot topic in Argentina, something extremely normal in any other serious country, and still I don't understand why we don't accept this at once. A short overview: Argentina started in late December 2007 to apply a daylight saving time scheme, which just consists in moving the clock one hour forward. In mid March, the clock will be set at the conventional time zone.

Argentina uses as conventional time zone the GMT-3 which is theoretically within the parallels 45°W to 60°W. Unfortunately, Argentina ranges from 52°W (in Misiones province) to 73°W (south in Santa Cruz province). The country has a very nice conic shape, and it more or less fits in those parallels. This means, we only have a correct time to the east of the parallel 60°W, which is if you look at the map, crossing the cities of Santa Fé or Rosario. Therefore, geographically we should have the time zone GMT-4 because most of the territory fits in there, or rather, have two different time zones.

I don't think that having two times zones would help: the country will be divided in two zones, something that is a hassle. The most "democratic" (and geographically) correct solution would be to switch all the country into the GMT-4 and the problem is over! An intermediate solution might be to adopt the GMT-3:30 zone.

However, if you look at the number of inhabitants that are inside the GMT-3 zone, things change a lot. Cities as Buenos Aires, Santa Fé, Rosario, all the litoral, and the east of Buenos Aires will be included in there. Therefore, most than 60% of the population of the country. From this prospective I see quite logical that the entire country binds to this. It is even possible to include more than 80% if we just consider the 65°W parallel, which is reasonable as error in the time zone (see below).

And this is not silly at all. Just taking a look to the European map you will see it. Spain is mainly into the GMT time zone. However because some other things, to maintain the proximity with the rest of the continent, they adopt the GMT+1 as the rest of the continent. Portugal, however, doesn't think in the same way.

Independently of this, the thing is that in all this countries adopting the daylight saving time is made in order to get that: save daylight, and therefore save money which otherwise would be spent in having the lights turned on one more hour in the evening.

In Argentina, instead of taking it so easy, we make more complicated than it is. An entire province in the middle of the country for mere political reasons just decided to go back to the normal non-daylight saving time. If they would be coherent, they would have to go one hour further back in winter. But they won't.

But now, reading a local radio web page, it turns out that a village (less than 1000 inhabitants) in the middle of Salta province has decided to go back the clock as well. LOL, that is all what I can do...

In summary: I think that having GMT-3 as normal time is not that hazard as many people say, on the contrary it indeed helps to take advantage of the daylight very well, not only from a energetic prospective, but also from your normal life. The fact that it is night one hour later means that you have one hour of daylight for you.

Links:
* Countries and the DST

(en castellano):
* AMBLAYO NO SE ADHIRIÓ AL CAMBIO HORARIO
* Buena reseña en el blog de Adrián: Cambio de horario (por eso ni me gasto en la traducción al español de este post :P)

Reporte del clima = Weather report

2008-02-17T23:36:00.006+01:00

De un tiempo a esta parte no he posteado nada relacionado con el clima. En líneas general, este invierno es bastante lindo, más calentito que los promedios, pero no mucho más que el año pasado.

Desde hace una semana y media no ha llovido, y esto está buenísimo. Muchos de estos días han sido demasiado soleados de hecho con temperaturas rozando los 14°C el pasado fin de semana.

It has been a long time since I didn't post something related to the weather. In general lines, this winter is quite mild, warmer than average, but not much as last year.

Since one and a half week there has been no rain, and that is excellent. Most of these days have been very sunny indeed. The temperature rose up to 14°C last weekend.Luego, vinieron tres días de una neblina bastante pesada. La visibilidad se redujo a sólo unos metros, pero más notable fue a temperatura que bajó hasta 1°C de máxima.

After that, three days of a very heavy fog came. The visibility was reduced to just a few meters, but more noticeable, the temperature drop off to 1°C the high.

Luego, el sol de nuevo pero muy frío. La temperatura cayó hasta los -7°C este domingo, y durante el día se mantiene debajo de los 5°C. Pero bueno, no está lloviendo y eso me hace feliz desde el punto de vista climático :)

After the fog, sun again, but also very cold. The temperature went down to -7°C on Sunday! And during the day it stays below 5°C. But anyway, it is not rainy and that makes me happy weather-wise :)

Mensajeando = Messaging

2008-02-15T22:53:00.003+01:00

Durante esta semana y como una pausa al trabajo, estaba en el chat con una amiga que vive en Perú. Empezamos a hablar de temas al azar y a un determinado punto yo empecé así:

J - Dio' mio... en que estamos perdiendo el tiempo
L - JAJAJAJAJAJAAJ
AMISTADDD
J - si es cierto :)
L - PORSUPUESTO (sic)

Y esta situación tan simple me hizo reconsiderara mi postura con respecto a conversar con un mensajero. Solía considerarlo una mera pérdida de tiempo. Pero, desde que estoy lejos de todo el mundo, esta es la única manera de ponerme en contacto de una manera decente y estar en al tanto. Desafortunadamente, los correos electrónicos no tienen el mismo efecto, aparte que es difícil tener una comunicación más o menos de ida y vuelta.

Por eso, últimamente me ven más frecuentemente en línea, aunque casi siempre con el estado de ocupado. Sin embargo, podría empezar una conversación con mis contactos. También es cierto que debo trabajar alguito, pero no se preocupen evitaré caer en las manos de la droga del chat!

During the week and as a break to my work, I was on the chat with a friend of mine, she lives in Peru. We started talking about random topics, and at some point it went as follows:

J-my God, we are wasting the time
L-hahahaha
Friendship
J-you're right :)
L-of course!

And this very simple situation made me reconsider my position with respect to chatting by messengers. I used to consider it as just a mere waste of time. But, since I am too far from everybody, it is the only way to stay in touch in a decent manner and be updated. Unfortunately, emails do not have the same effect, apart from the fact that it is really hard to have a somewhat fluent back and forth communication.

That's why since the last days you see me more often on-line, although I almost always with a busy status. I may, however, just start a conversation with my contacts. It is also true I must get some work done, don't worry I'll avoid getting trapped by the chat drug!

Un poquito egoísta

2008-02-14T08:50:00.003+01:00

Ayer leía esta noticia:

Graciela Marucci, propietaria de un hostal de nuestra ciudad denunció los serios inconvenientes que se están produciendo en el sector turístico a raíz de la información que trascendió a nivel Nacional sobre las inundaciones en el Norte de la Provincia.

Enero y Febrero son los meses de mayores ingresos por parte del sector turístico a nivel Nacional, la recaudación de los mismos sirve para sustentar los meses subsiguientes, pero la información que trascendió a nivel Nacional afecto fuertemente y provocó la caída de reservas.

Hay una preocupación del sector por que destacan que la Dirección de Turismo no colaboró para contrarrestar la difusión mediática difundida por la prensa Nacional, teniendo en cuenta que la situación climática y de inundaciones en el norte dista mucho con lugares turísticos de la ciudad o del interior como Cafayate, Cachi y demás.

Ya se fueron enviadas notas al Ministerio de Turismo para que se tomen cartas en el asunto y todavía se están esperando las respuestas- destacó Marucci.

Fuente: EL ALARMISMO DE LA PRENSA NACIONAL ALEJA EL TURISMO DE SALTA

No sé por qué me pareció un poco egoísta, y lejos de ser solidarios con la situación y aportar ideas o exigir que quienes tienen que resolver los inconvenientes por las inundaciones, lo hagan.

Al margen de ello, en lo que respecta a la ciudad de Salta y Valle de Lerma ha estado lloviendo impresionantemente mucho, con la consecuentes inundaciones en la misma ciudad. Por lo que si yo fuera turista y tengo que elegir un lugar donde llueve mucho y se inunda, no voy. Me parece natural la reacción.

Y el periodismo nacional (y provincial) realmente no informa precisamente dónde se producen las inundaciones. Es totalmente cierto que las inundaciones que trascendieron por su evidente gravedad han ocurrido a más de 400km de los lugares turísticos.

Inencontrable

2008-02-05T22:25:00.000+01:00

Esta fue la charla que tuve con un amigo, salteño él también:

- Che, necesito la página web de la veloz del norte(1).
- Este... google: veloz del norte salta, y seguro la encontrás.
- Llevo media hora probando y nada.
- No puede ser, tiene que salir en google con algo así.
- Te digo que probé con todo y nada, no puedo encontrar la página web.
- Ya la busco yo y te aviso.

Pues, si bien me llevó un par de minutos, me volví mono tratando de encontrar la dirección de la página web. ¿No me creen? Prueben ustedes mismos.

La encontré por que me acordé del jingle de la propaganda de la veloz, que decía y repetía miles de veces el número de teléfono: 0800444-VELOZ, ¿se acuerdan? Pues bueno, ese fue mi criterio de búsqueda: 08004448356 (ya que la Z es redundante).

Lo peor es que la encontré al toque porque el resultado que tiró google no era el de la página, sino otra página en cuyo contenido salía visible la página, que entre tantas vueltas es http://www.lavelozcallcenter.com.ar/

Mal por los diseñadores de la página, que si bien no fueron muy inteligentes eligiendo el nombre de dominio, ya que el obvio lavelozdelnorte.com.ar está registrado bajo un fantasma (ver en http://nic.ar), por lo menos podrían haber diseñado el portal de tal manera que cualquier búsqueda de google conduzca al sitio. Me pareció gracioso, por lo inesperado del suceso.
(1) La veloz del norte es la compañía de transporte más reconocida de Salta, y prácticamente tiene el monopolio del transporte de media y larga distancia de la provincia.

La noticia más importante = The most important news ever!

2008-01-30T20:36:00.000+01:00

Incluso en grandes cadenas de noticieron hablan de 'Rabita', una gallina en México que pone huevos verdes.

Gente, en los Andes y alrededores, es raro que una gallina no dé huevos verdes. ¡No entiendo por qué tanta disfusión a una cosa tan sin importancia!

Even in CNN, BBC and main media broadcasters are talking about 'Rabita', a hen in Mexico that has laid green eggs.

People, in the Andes mountains it is very strange that chicken gives no green eggs.I still don't understand why so much repercusion to such an unimportant thing!

El Desafío de Verano 2008 = The Summer Challenge 2008

2008-01-28T22:52:00.000+01:00

El evento se anunció hace tiempo, en agosto, y hubo un recordatorio antes que me vaya a Argentina de vacaciones. El desafío de verano fue un desafío y todo un éxito, salvo por el hecho que hubo sólo cuatro participantes. En realidad, cuatro bicicletas participaron, dos de las cuales fueron usadas continuamente por mi hermano Nicolás y yo. Las otras dos fueron ocupadas por mi tío Manuel (tiuu), quien pedaleó casi un 70% del recorrido; mis primos Matías y Fernando; mi hermana Isabel y su novio Nicolás.

The event was announced back, in August, and there was a reminder before I went to Argentina on vacation. The Summer Challenge was indeed a challenge and all a success, except for the fact that there were only four participants. Actually, four participating bikes, two of them were continuously riden by my brother Nicolás and myself. The other two were occupied by my uncle Manuel, who pedalled more almost 70% of the route; my cousins Matías and Fernando; my sister Isabel and his boyfriend Nicolás.
Nicolás, el tiuu, Fernando y yo comenzamos la aventura desde la Posta de las Cabras, un par de kilómetros antes de Alemanía. Empezamos a las 10 en punto de la mañana. Mi hermano Manuel nos condujo en el auto hasta este punto y nos hizo el aguante todo el camino, y tomó la mayoría de las fotos.

Nicolás, Manuel, Fernando and myself started our adventure from the Posta de las Cabras (Spanish for goats' post), a couple of kilometres before Alemanía. The starting time was 10 o'clock. My brother Manuel drove us by car until this point and supported us all the way, and took most of the pictures.

5 kilómetros adelante, mis primas Isabel y Rocío con sus respectivos novios nos encontraron en medio de la ruta.

5 kilometres further, my cousins Isabel, Rocío and their respective boyfriends found us in the middle of the road.

Justo antes de llegar a Alemanía, Fernando nos dejó, siguiéndonos luego en el auto junto a mi hermano. Haciendo paradas cada aproximadamente 5 km más o menos continuamos hasta la Garganta del diablo, donde tuvimos la parada del almuerzo. Justo unos kilómetros antes, mi tía Gaby nos alcanzó en auto, y nos trajo el delicioso pollo al spiedo para el almuerzo.

Just before arriving Alemanía, Fernando left us, following thereafter by car together my brother. Doing some stops every 5 km more or less we continued until Garganta del diablo (Spanish for devil's throat) where we made the lunch stop. Just a few kilometres before, my aunt Gaby reached us by car, and brought us the roast chicken for the lunch.

Luego de esto, mi tío Manuel nos abandona, porque se acalambró cuando quiso golpear un perro que vino a mordernos durante la mañana. Se nos re-encontró en Tres Cruces. Mi hermana hizo 5 kilómetros desde la Garganta hasta las Tres Cruces junto a su novio. Desafortunadamente para ella, esta es una de las partes más duras de la ruta, la pendiente es muy pronunciada.

After that, my uncle Manuel left us, because he got a cramp in one of his legs while trying to hit a dog that came to bite us during the morning. He re-joined us in Tres Cruces (Spanish for Three Crosses). My sister rode the 5 kilometres from Garganta del diablo to Tres Cruces together with his boyfriend. Unfortunely, this is one of the hardest parts of the route, the slope is quite pronounced.

Luego, continuando hacia abajo fue increíble. Alcancé unos 55.7 km/h, mi hermano y los demás un poco más. No pude mejorarlo porque había unos camiones en la ruta mientras yo descendía. Seguimos la ruta, con un ritmo regular, con subidas y bajadas, disfrutando del paisaje un montón. Pasamos por algunos escenarios naturales como el Sapo, la Casa de Loros, el Obelisco, los Castillos.
Then, the going down after Tres Cruces was incredible. I reached 55.7 km/h, my brother and the others a way more, I couldn't do better because there were some trucks in the road while I was descending. We continued the road, in a regular pace, with ups and downs, and enjoying the sightseeing quite a lot. We pass by some natural sceneries like el Sapo (the frog), casa de loros (parrots house), el Obelisco (the obelisk), los Castillos (the castles).

En determinado punto hubo una subida bien pronunciada y difícil. Se llama El Paso, justo antes del obelisxo. Luego de pasarla nos juntamos para planeas nuestros movimientos. Nos desviamos del pavimento para arribar a Aninamá (nuestro destino final) en línea recta. Este es un camino de tierra y la mayoría de las pendientes son para arriba. Fue dificíl mantener un ritmo razonable. Se hizo difícil continuar debido al cansancio acumulado. A 15 km de llegar, mi hermano fue en el auto a ver el estado del camino. Volvió con malas noticias: el camino estaba cortado por una creciente del río que lo cruza(1). Además, una de las bicis se rompió, y debido a la imposibilidad de llegar en bici a Animaná, abortamos el tour. Arribar a Animaná significaría volver al pavimento (unos 7km), ir a Cafayate (24km) y volver a Animaná (10km). Así que nos quedamos ahí nomás.

At some point there was a going up quite hard, it's called el paso (the pass, or passage), just before the obelisk. After passing it, we gather in the castles, and planned our next movements. We diverted the pavement, to arrive to Animaná (our final destination) in a straight line. This is an unpavemented road, and most of the slopes are going up. That was hard to keep a reasonable pace. Added to the accumulated tireness, it became hard to continue. 15km before our final destination, my brother went by car to check the rest of the road. He came back with bad news: the road was interrupted because of the high level of the river that crosses over it(1). Besides, one of the bike was just broken, and due to the impossibility of arriving by bike to Animaná, we aborted the tour. Arriving to Animaná would have meant to come back to the pavemented road, 7km, and then 24km to Cafayate, plus 10km back to Animaná. So we gave up.

Estas son las estadísticas del viaje: (el GPS iba conmigo)

These are the statistics of the trip: (I carried the GPS)

Y esta es el corte transversal de las pendientes del camino, con respecto a la altura sobre el nivel del mar.

And this is the morphology of the ground, with respect to the altitude above the sea level.
Fuimos albergados en la casa de la familia Salas. Cominos un delicioso corderito en la noche, y más tarde nos fuimos a la fiesta de los artesanos en San Carlos. Aunque los ciclistas estábamos cansados, nos fuimos a dormir a las 6 de la mañana, luego de mucha fiesta.

We were hosted at the house of Salas family. We ate a delicious lamb in the evening, and late in the night went to the Handicraft feest in San Carlos. Although the bikers were tired, we went to bed after 6 in the morning after partying a lot!

En resumen: la pasamos muy bien, no sólo los ciclistas, también los asistentes de equipo quienes nos dieron todo el apoyo psicológico, líquidos y comida. En casa de los Salas tuvimos un recibimiento espectacular y nos trataron de 10. Personalmente, agradezco especialmente al Coco Salas y su familia por tan linda recepción, y solamente disculparnos si fuimos más de lo que esperaban (ahora sumo 18 invitados en total). Otro agradecimiento va para mi tío Manuel quien desde el principio realmente hizo lo más que pudo para llevar a cabo el tour. Él jugó un papel importante en la mayoría de los preparativos del desafío. Y todo los demás que de una u otra manera que estuvieron metidos en el evento. Quiero repetirlo para el año que viene, así que aquellos que tuvieron miedo de unirse: no nos pasó nada, estamos vivos :) ¡Hasta la edición del año que viene del desafío de verano!

In a nutshell: we enjoyed a lot, not only the bikers, also our co-equippers who gave us all the psicological support, liquids and food! At Salas' house we have the warmness and a nice treatment. Personally, I especially thank Coco Salas and his family for such a nice reception, and just apologize if we were more that what you expected (I count now 18 guests!). Another acknowledgement goes to my uncle Manuel who really did his best to carry out this tour from the beginning. He played a crucial role in most of the preparatives of the challenge. And all the others that were involved in this event. I want to repeat it next year, so those who were afraid to join us: nothing happens to us, we are alive :) Until the next year's edition of the Summer Challenge!

(1) En el valle Calchaquí llueve unos poco días al año y en general no llueve mucho. Por esto, no se hacen puentes sobre los ríos. Este año fue más lluvioso que lo normal, y los caminos se vieron cortados por esta razón.

Actualización: sólo agregué la fotos del obelisco.

(1) In the Calchaqui valley only rains a few days during the year, and in general is not much. For this, bridges over the rivers are not built. This year was more rainy than usual, and so the roads were interrupted by the rivers.

Update: Just added the Obelisk picture.

Terug in NL

2008-01-24T23:22:00.000+01:00

El título quiere decir 'de vuelta en NL'... con una mezcla extraña de sentimientos, estoy de vuelta, para continuar con mis obligaciones. Por supuesto, les debo muchas explicaciones sobre mi viaje a Salta. Lo que puedo anticipar son varios posts que quiero compremeterme ahora a desarrollarlos: naturalmente hablaré del desafío de verano bicicleteando a Cafayate (por cierto, todo un suceso), el turismo burocrático, el huso horario de verano (del que tengo un post en retrospectiva), los malos vecinos y algunos posts relacionados a escapaditas cerca de Salta.

Como es obvio luego de 7 semanas de vacaciones, tengo muchas cosas para hacer. Así que a medida que me voy poniendo al día con ellas, acomodo mis fotos(1) y me re-adapto a NL, lo voy a ir haciendo. También prometo ponerme al tanto y meterme de nuevo con los blogs de amigos y la actividad cibernética en general :) Y más importantemente, ¡dar mi examen de holandés en menos de una semana!

(1) Como no puede ser de otra forma, las leyes de Murphy se aplicaron a la perfección: justo antes de grabar un CD con mis fotos ordenadas, la computadora no arrancó. El resultado: todas mis imágenes dispersas en tarjetas de memoria, pendrives y otros CDs.

The title means 'back in NL'... With a mixture of feelings, I'm back, to continue with my duties. Of course, I owe you lots of explanations about my trip to Salta. What I can anticipate are various posts I want to commit to now. I'll naturally talk about the summer challenge biking to Cafayate (all a success, btw), the bureaucratic tourism, the daylight time zone (for which I have a post in retrospective), bad neighbours and some related to my getaways around Salta.

It is obvious that after almost a 7-week holiday, I have lots of things pending to do here. So, in the meantime that I accomplish them, sort my photos up(1) and get adapted back to NL, I'll be doing so. I also promise to get updated and reinvolved in some friends' blogs and all the cybernetic activity :) An most importantly, give my Dutch exam in less than a week!

(1) As cannot be otherwise, Murphy laws applied in my case: just before burning a CD with all my pictures sorted up, the computer didn't boot at all. The result: all pictures disperse in memory cards, memory sticks and other CDs.

Summer Challenge 2008 (actualizado/updated)

2007-12-02T10:46:00.000+01:00

Hace un tiempo, propuse hacer una bicicleteada desde Salta hasta Cafayate, unos 200 km. Recibí muchos comentarios de todos tipo, desde los más negativos (yo paso) pasando por los neutrales (lo pensaré, pero me tengo que entrenar) y los positivos (seguro, ¿cuándo es?). Por supuesto que la mayoría de los comentarios fueron neutrales y negativos, así que me decepcioné un poco.

Para mi sorpresa, alguno de los que respondieron positivamente han empezado a tomárselo bien en serio y ya están entrenándose, y hasta hay una fecha inclusive. También, por una cuestión de seguridad y precaución (ya que 200km no es una distancia corta), ellos decidieron partir desde Coronel Moldes, acortando el camino en unos 90km, y evitando para parte más transitada de la ruta.

Por lo tanto, lo voy a hacer, acompañado de más o menos 10 personas. Así que si sos uno de los negativos, o no te has hecho la idea todavía, empezá a entrenarte como yo lo haré. Estoy seguro que lo pasaremos bien y vamos a disfrutarlo!

¿Cuándo? Sábado, 13 de enero de 2008.
¿Dónde? Coronel Moldes.

Todavía podemos arreglar cómo llegar allí, y muchos otros detalles, comentando este post, por email, por teléfono o personalmente. No importa, cómo el punto es hacerlo. Aquí les dejo unas fotos que encontré el flickr (cliqueá sobre ellas para ver más) de gente haciéndolo. Espero verlos por allá corriendo juntos!!

Actualización (8/12): Obviamente, aún no es claro si lo vamos a lograr. Lo que es seguro es que vamos a tener un equipo de apoyo (o socorro), que si no llegamos al destino, ellos van a hacer la ruta en sentido inverso hasta que nos encuentren :) (espero que vivos!). Y vamos a tener algunos mates a la llegada. También, la estadía en Cafayate y la vuelta no están claros. En el peor de los casos, podemos quedarnos en un camping y volver el día siguiente en colectivo (o en bicicleta, quién sabe). Sugerencias son bienvenidas.
A time ago, I proposed to do a cycling tour from Salta to Cafayate, about 200km. I got comments of all kinds, from negative opinions (I pass) going to neutral (I'll think about it, I have to train for sure) and rather positive ones (sure, when is it?). Of course most of comments were both neutral and negative, so I felt a bit disappointed.

For my surprise, some of the positive answerers have start taking it very seriously and they are already training for the challenge, and there is indeed a date scheduled. Also, for a matter of safety and precaution (as 200km is not a short distance), they decided to departure from Coronel Moldes, shortening the total path for 90km, and avoiding the busiest part of the road.

Therefore, I'm going to do it, accompanied by more or less 10 more people! So, if you were one of the negative cyclers or didn't make your mind yet, start training as I will do! I'm sure we will have a very nice trip and enjoy a lot!!

When? Saturday, January 13th, 2008.
Where? Coronel Moldes

We can still arrange how to get there, and many other details by commenting this post, by email, by phone, or personally. It doesn't matter how, the point is doing it! Here there some pictures I've found in flickr (click on them to see more) of people doing it. I look forward to seeing you there!

Update (8/12): Obviously, it is still not clear if we will make it. What is sure is that we will have a support team keeping track of our movements, if we don't show up at the final destination, they will do the path in the inverse direction until they find us :) (I hope alive!). And we will have mates at the final destination. Also, staying in Cafayate and the way back is not clear how will be done. In the worst case, we can stay in a camping site and come back by bus (or cycling, who knows!). Suggestions are welcome!

Un poquitito irresponsable = A little bit irresponsible

2007-11-24T10:33:00.000+01:00

En general, no soy de incluir en este blog las noticias que leo, pero esta me generó una mezcla de risa con bronca, una sensación extraña...

Generally, I don't include news that I read, but this one particularly caught my attention, and generated on me a mixture of sensations, between laugh and angriness...

Es increíble la falta de límites con las resposabilidades de uno.

It's incredible the lack of limits to the responsibility.

Fuente/Source: MALAS NOTICIAS AL VOLANTE

Una escapadita = A getaway (2)

2007-11-21T23:34:00.000+01:00

Hace un par de semanas me dí cuenta que aún tenía 1½ días de vacaciones, así que pensé que nada mejor que gastarlos. Así lo hice, y me fui a Granada para 'devolverles' la visita a mis primos. Este un resumen de lo que hicimos:

En la noche del viernes salimos de tapas.

A couple of weeks ago I realized I still had 1½ days of vacations, so I thought it could be a good idea to spend them. So did I, I went to Granada to 'reimburse' a visit to my relatives. This is a kind of report of what we did:

On Friday evening we went out for tapas.

El sábado, caminamos en el casco céntrico y visitamos museos y la catedral. En la tarde, un almuerzo bien fuerte, seguido de una visita a la cumbre de la Sierra Nevada. En la noche, no había más energía para seguir de joda, así que el cansancio decidió que era mejor descansar. Queda pendiente conocer la noche granadina.

On Saturday, walked around the downtown and visit some musea and the cathedral. In the afternoon, a huge lunch, followed by a visit to the top of the Sierra Nevada. In the evening, there was no energy to continue hanging out, so our tiredness decided it was better to have rest. It is pending for me to know the night-life in Granada.

No fue una lástima, porque el domingo temprano salimos a dar una vuelta por las Alpujarras. Es una serie de pueblitos a la orilla sur de la Sierra Nevada. Obviamente un camino no muy recto nos llevó a los pueblos, donde tuvimos un almuerzo típico allí arriba, y puedo decir que las vistas panorámicas son inceríblemente espectaculares. De nuevo abajo en Granada, hicimos una visita flash a algunos familiares, y volvimos a casa de mis tíos a continuar con una charla muy agradable que duró durante todo el fin de semana.

It wasn't a shame, because of Sunday early we went to a round trip to the Alpujarras. This consists of a series of small villages arranged on the southern edge of the Sierra Nevada. Obviously, a not-so-straight path brought us to the villages, we have a typical lunch up there, and I can say that the sightseeing is incredibly beautiful. Down in Granada, we made a flash visit to some relatives, and go back my cousin's home to continue a very pleasant chat all through the weekend.

El lunes, como todo el mundo tiene que trabajar, junto a mi tía hicimos unas compras en la mañana y luego partí a Málaga, donde luego de una caminata de 2 horas fuí al aeropuerto a tomar mi vuelo de vuelta a Holanda. Casualmente encontré otros chavones que también venían a Eindhoven, y experienciamos la aventura de casi perder el último tren.

En resumen, con mis primos y tíos la pasé de 11, muchas gracias por su compañía, buena onda y calidez. Y ahora, me deben una visita aquí abajo, ¡eh!

¡Ah!, a propósito, llovió justo el día después que me vine }:D

On Monday, as everyone has to work, together with my aunt, we did some shopping in the morning, and later I departured to Málaga, where after a 2-hour wander I went to the airport to take my flight back down to Holland. Casually, I met some other guys also coming to Eindhoven, and we experienced the adventure of almost missing the last train.

Overall, with my relatives I enjoyed quite a lot, thanks to them for their companion, kindness and warmness. And now, you owe me a visit down here!

BTW, it rained the day after I came back :D

Un banco de arte = An art bank

2007-11-08T00:48:00.000+01:00

Hace un tiempo intercambiamos oficinas para estar cerca del grupo de códigos y criptografía de la universidad. Toda esta mudanza significó mover todo el mobiliario de las oficinas. Por supuesto que los ex-ocupantes de mi actual oficina se llevaron todo con ellos: cuadros en la pared, una planta y hasta creo que un par de pizarras. El punto es que la pared de mi oficina quedó llena de agujeros como si hubiera sido baleada.

Mi colega y yo no nos preocupamos mucho en la decoración, ya que nos sentíamos bien, tan pronto como pudiéramos trabajar tranquilamente. Sin embargo, más de una vez tuve que ver las caras de la gente viniendo a mi oficina como diciendo que 'esos agujeros no se ven bien'. Luego de hacer este comentario a una colega, ella me dijo que podríamos decorar un poco la oficina pidiendo prestado un poco de arte del banco de arte de la universidad. ¿Qué?, ¿un banco de arte? Sí. Fue cuestión de hacer una simple llamada y arreglar una cita para ir y elegir algunos cuadros para colgar en la pared, con la motivación original de disimular los balazos. Y no nos arrepentimos ya que la oficina luce un poco más acogedora y como si fuera una oficina.

Con la idea de publicitar el banco de arte, la revista Cursor publica esta semana un artículo en la página en inglés sobre el tema. Fui entrevistado y pueden leer la entrevista aquí. Es muy divertido cómo varía el concepto de arte y su propósito entre diferente gente. Diviértanse con el artículo y también con mi imagen de 'hombre mirando al sudeste'. Aquí se puede bajar una versión pdf del ejemplar del Cursor.

A time ago, I swapped office to be closer to the coding and crypto group of the university. All this movement meant also to move all the furniture in the rooms. Of course, the ex-inhabitants my current office took with them: frames on the wall, a plant and I guess also some whiteboards. The point is that the wall of my room really ended up full of holes looking like gun shots.

My colleague and I didn't care too much in the decoration of the room, as we feel nice, as soon as we are able to work peacefully. Nevertheless, more than one I have to see the faces of people coming to my room like saying 'those holes don't look good'. After doing this comment to an colleague she told me that I could decorate a bit the wall by borrowing some art from the bank of art of the university. What? An art bank? Yes. It just was a matter of calling them and make an appointment to go and choose some frames to hang in our wall, with the original idea of dissimulate the bullet holes on it. We didn't regret as the room looks a bit more cozy and like an office!!

Advertising the art bank, the Cursor this week publishes an article in the English page about it. I was interviewed and it can be read here. It is very funny how the concept of art and its purpose varies from different people. Have fun with the article and also with my picture of 'man watching to the south-east'. You can also get a o pdf version of the newspaper here.

Una escapadita = A getaway

2007-11-03T00:56:00.000+01:00

Actualmente en mi carrera de doctorado es muy común que tenga que planear viajes fugaces a workshops o conferencias relativamente cerca en Europa. Esta vez fui a una reunión de un grupo de trabajo financiado por la UE donde algunos especialistas discuten sobre temas de investigación en mi área, hacen una tormenta de ideas y tratan de obtener resultados a partir de esto. Además de eso, el vínculo social se hace fuerte y se convierte en la base que favorece los trabajos conjuntos de excelencia. Y no es un demagogia, es cierto.

No hablaré mucho de los tecnicismos pero sí de los lugares que he visitado. La reunión fue en Salerno. No es una ciudad grande, en el sur de Italia, no muy turística en donde el estilo de vida típico de los italianos puede percibirse tan sólo caminando entre sus calles.

Currently, in my PhD career it is pretty common to have to plan rush trips to workshops or conferences somehow close in Europe. This time I went to a meeting of a working group financed by the EU where some specialists discuss research issues, brainstorm a little bit and try to get results out of that. Beyond that, the social link becomes strong and is the basis towards joint work of excellence. And this is not a lobby, it is true.

I won't talk too much on the technicalities but about the places I visited. The meeting was held in Salerno. This is a not so big city, in the south of Italy, not so touristic, rather, not so full of tourists, where the typical Italian lifestyle can be perceived by just wandering through its streets.

Luego que las reuniones terminaron, tuve algo de tiempo para visitar algunos lugares. Primeramente, fui a Pompeya y visité, por supuesto, las ruinas de la antigua Pompeya. Me quedé atónito de ver todo lo que esta gente había logrado en el año 79 de nuestra era cristiana.

After the meetings finished, I had some time to visit some other places. Firstly, I went to Pompei and visited, of course, the ancient Pompei's ruins. I just was astonished to see all what these people had achieved by the year 79 of the Christian era.

Luego de eso, seguí la ruta hacia mi destino final, pasando por Nápoles que solamente conozco desde las vías y su estación, en donde tuve que correr para alcanzar mi tren a Roma. Las vías entre Pompeya y Nápoles es espectacular, van pegadas a la costa.

After that, I followed the way to my final destination, passing by Naples which I only know from the railways and its station, where I had to rush to get my train to Rome. The way between Pompei and Naples is just spectacular, the railways go just next to the beach.

Roma dije, sí. Pasé una noche distinta porque por primera vez estuve en un hostal, compartiendo un cuarto mixto con otros 5, adolescentes en su mayoría :S De todos modos, el día siguiente, caminé todo el día en Roma: el coliseo, y la Basílica de San Pedro. Sin palabras para describir estas maravillas arquitectónicas y todo lo que Roma tiene para ofrecer. Millares de turistas, construcciones antiguas por todos lados.

Rome I said, yes. I spent a night, rather particular for me because I stayed at a hostal, sharing a mixed room with other 5 people, teenagers most of them :S Anyway, the day after, I just wandered in Rome: colliseum, and Saint Peter basilica. No words to describe these and all what Rome has to offer. Plenty of tourists, ancient constructions everywhere.

Y para hablar un poco de Italia, sólo puedo decir que me sentí como en casa. La gente habla como nosotros lo hacemos, en italiano pero no es el problema para nosotros. Solamente me dediqué a hablar con un acento argentino bien acentuado y pasé desapercibido. La pasé bien en este viaje, aunque como siempre digo, no me termina de convencer tener que ir solitariamente por todos lados.

And as for Italy, I just can say that I felt at home. People just speaks as we do, with the same intonation therefore it is not a big issue for us. Just speak with a very stressed Argentinean accent, and we are Italians. I just got a lot fun with this trip, although I was alone, thing that still doesn't convince me at all.

Las elecciones = The elections

2007-10-31T21:04:00.000+01:00

El domingo pasado, como todos lo saben han habido elecciones en Argentina. Por supuesto que participé desde Holanda, votando naturalmente. Mis opciones de elección fueron lógicamente bastante limitadas: presidente y diputados y senadores nacionales. Fue fácil y no tan engorroso como en Argentina: una hoja por categoría con todos los posibles candidatos donde tenía que marcar con una cruz mi elección. Sólo eso. De hecho que también fue una buena oportunidad para conocer a los argentinos de por estos lados, y como era temprano, disfrutar de un chocolate :)

Natalia de Tucumán publicó un artículo en la página web de un diario que ilutra bastante bien el ambiente electivo por estos lares. Aquí está el link: http://www.lagaceta.com.ar/tucumanos/notas.asp?id_nota=242320

Luego estuve en casa, siguiendo las elecciones a través de una radio salteña. Y rápidamente empecé a notar cómo ciertas cosas me incomodaban, como le debe haber pasado a más de uno. En mi situación uno empieza a hacer comparaciones y verlas de otra manera, supongo que debido al hecho que ya conozco 'algo más' sobre las elecciones. Sólo les cuento algunas cosas que más me molestaron.

Una de ellas es el derecho que uno tiene para decir su voto antes de poner el voto en la urna porque sino es invalidado. Pienso que uno tiene un derecho a mantenerlo en privado, pero ¿cuál es el problema en decirlo en público? ¡A lo mejor se puede influir a otros votantes! Vamos, cada uno debería ser lo suficientemente racional para hacer su elección. Esto no significa que uno puede publicitar cierto partido político, o ser molesto.

Otra cosa que me molesta mucho es el hecho que cada partido debe tener cuidado de sus votos en el cuarto oscuro. Por lo tanto, un partido pequeño que no tiene la infraestructura política de soportar esto no puede asegurar a los electores que elijan sus candidatos. El derecho a elegir es eso, un derecho. Así que pienso que la justicia electoral debe garantizarlo y no dejarlo en manos de los partidos. Esto quiere decir que partidos grandes pueden simplemente tirar las boletas de los partidos chicos y ya está, no hay elección justa. Una solución rápida puede ser implementar algo como un formulario uniforme donde cada uno puede marcar con una cruz al partido o candidato que uno quiere votar. Y más se me subió la bilirrubina cuando lo escucho al ministro del interior justificando la falta de votos de partidos chicos como una responsabilidad de cada partido político. De esta manera, no hay garantías de una elección justa.

Y, para finalizar, no entiendo a los candidatos que empiezan a consagrarse ganadores basados en escuestas a boca de urna sin esperar a los resultados oficiales. ¿La insitencia cambiará los resultados de la elección?, me pregunto.

De todos modos, creo que tenemos que agradecer que podemos elegir a unos representantes, hay mucho para mejorar, y espero que se haga cuanto antes (aunque algunos grupos no sean los beneficiados).

Actualización 1/11: Hubo una cobertura interesante por algunos blogs amigos:

* Elecciones reñidas en Salta

* El Tribuno Independiente

Last Sunday, as most of you already know, there have been elections in Argentina. Of course I participated from Holland on them, voting naturally. My election options where logically limited: president and national deputies and senators. It is easy and not to messy as it is in Argentina: a sheet for category with all possible candidates, where I have to mark with a cross my choice. Just that. Of course it was a nice opportunity to get in touch with some other Argentineans hanging around, and as I was early, to drink a chocolate!

Natalia from Tucumán, published a report on a newspaper's web page that illustrated very good the election mood over here. Here is the link: http://www.lagaceta.com.ar/tucumanos/notas.asp?id_nota=242320

I stayed at home afterwards, and I followed the elections in Salta from the radio. And quickly I started to notice how some things bittered me, as it must've happened to more than one. In this situation one starts making comparisons and looking them at from other perspective, due to the fact I already know 'something else' about elections. I just will tell you some things that really made me upset.

One of them is the obliviousness of the voter when voting. It is not allowed to say nothing about your mind before you cast the envelop in the ballot box. Otherwise, your vote is invalidated. I think that you have the right to not say anything about your vote, but what is the problem if you want to give it away?! Perhaps you may influence other voters! Come on, everyone should be rational enough to have made its choice. This doesn't mean that you can advertise certain politician, or be disturbing.

The other thing I really got upset at was the fact that every party must take care of their ballots in the dark room. Therefore, a small party which doesn't have the political infrastructure to support this cannot assure that the electors can choose it. The right to elect is that, a right. Therefore, I think that the electoral justice must warranty this, and not leave it in hands of the parties. This means, larger parties may simply drop out ballot of smaller competitors and therefore there is no fair election. Something like a uniform form where one can cross in the party or candidate one wants to vote is a very straightforward solution. I even got more upset when I heard the interior minister justifying the lack of ballot for small parties as a responsibility of each party! This way, no warranty of fair election there exists.

And, just to finish, the fact that certain candidates start basing their victories on after-voting polls. And not really waiting to official results. Will this insistence change the result of the election?!

Anyway, I think we have to be thanked to the fact we can elect our representatives, there is much to be improved, and I hope this is done asap (although some groups will not be benefited).

Otoño = Autumn

2007-10-20T21:34:00.000+02:00

Hace un par de días, estaba andando mi bicicleta y encontré este fantástica vista.

A couple of days ago, I was cycling the bike and found this fantastic spot for a picture.

Así es como el otoño es aquí, ¡aunque ahora está bastante frío! Días más cortos, más fríos, nos preparamos para el invierno largo, oscuro y frío :(

This is how autumn looks like over here, although now is rather cold! Shorter and colder days, we are preparing ourselves for the very large, dark and cold winter :(

Lichtjesroute

2007-10-20T20:53:00.000+02:00

Hace un par de semanas, Franca, la editora de la página en inglés del periódico semanal de la universidad, invitó a algunos estudiantes y empleados internacionales de la universidad a seguir la lichtjesroute en bicicleta. Esta ruta consiste en muchas figuras armadas con bombillas en la calle, puestas de forma tal que arman un circuito que puede hacerse en auto o bici. Este evento ha sido una tradición en Eindhoven desde 1948, como una manera de levantar el ánimo a la gente justo después de la segunda guerra mundial.

Así lo hicimos, y seguimos la ruta completa en bicicleta, un total de 23 km. Por supuesto, hubo una nota al respecto, y aquí hay un link con la versión electrónica:

http://www.tue.nl/cursor/internet/jaargang50/cursor04/news/news.php?page=e1

Hay algunos comentarios que le hice a Franca que se incluyen en la nota. También hay dos fotos, en las que yo aparezco en una! ¡Los desafío a encontrarme!

A couple of weeks ago, Franca, the editor of the page in English of the university newspaper, invited some international students and employees from the university to follow the lichtjesroute by bike. This route consist of plenty of figures made with bulb lamps on the street, all of them arranged in a circuit that can be done by car or by bike. This the event has been a tradition in Eindhoven since 1948, as a way of making people happier just after the world war II.

So did we, we follow the entire route by bike, a total of 23 km. Of course, there was a report out of it, and here is the link of the electronic version:

http://www.tue.nl/cursor/internet/jaargang50/cursor04/news/news.php?page=e1

Some comments I made to Franca are in the report. And two pictures, I am in one of them! I challenge you to find me!

Actualización 1/11: Aquí va la solución:

Blog Action Day: Resource deployment

2007-10-15T00:13:00.000+02:00

This will be my contribution to the Blog Action Day. In this opportunity I will express my opinion and what is going on with some environmental issues in my country, of course from the point of view as a foreign resident. The subject is about the deployment of natural resources in Argentina. There are two well defined opinions in my country. Namely, the ones that want to preserve all natural resources, leaving them untouched (from now on, preservationists); and, on the other one side, as you imagine, those who are in favor of their deployment (from now on, producers).

Both thoughts have some good points. The preservationists want to protect all natural diversity, including flora, fauna and native people, and the ultimate goal is to look for the natural equilibrium of the environment. The producers say they can improve the economical situation of people in general by generating many jobs, and producing a chain effect in the general economical and financial scheme.

And the bad points: with the preservationists' point of view it should not be possible to do nothing else than a subsistence life pace, just receiving what we can get barely from the earth. The producers though, go to the other extreme, where the money is above everything.

In my country, now everything what is done in environmental matters is more merely is in the extreme case of the producers: just get as many money as possible. Money that is distributed among a few capitalists, generally foreign capitals. There is a very small fraction that comes back to the 'town' in form of taxes that in general is in the hands of corrupted politicians that use this resources to their own interests, when this taxes should be destined to diminish the impact of the deployment of the natural resources. Even if this revenue were re-invested as the to do so, the amount is ridiculously small.

One example are the mines in the province of San Juan. There some foreign companies are deploying thousands of hectares. The taxes that the government perceives are used to finance the so-called environmental police, which main task is to control that the companies are working according to the standards. This companies are literally tearing down all mountains, extracting some minerals which are preprocessed at the mine site, and taking out of the country all the precursors for the metals. This preprocessing means taking millions of thousands of clean water and pouring it back into some contention lakes. This lakes leak all this very heavy metals into the subterranean water curses. Meaning this, poisoning all inhabitants down river, and producing a devastating desertification process over there. And the most funny thing: the precursors for metal are exported, and the pure metals, after the corresponding process are imported to the country, to a cost ten times greater than the precursors. All this at the benefice of at most 40 work positions...

In my province, Salta, is very common see how the native forest are destroyed and converted into cultivable surfaces without any minimal environmental impact prevision. Such a lack of previsions is producing plenty of floods every summer, as the rain doesn't have any contention as it used to have. And all this, to cultivate soy, which is completely exported, receiving as taxes some important revenues which as I said are used as a political mechanism that feeds the corruption in the hole country.

In the middle, there are some activist groups, as Greenpeace, which try to call the attention to the population about these issues, using very controversial means to stop all this, and without any apparent results so far.

But in any case, I think that we must find a point in the middle of this two antagonistically different directions. There should be real deployment of such resources, from the beginning to the end of the production of the end-consumer chain, as in any other serious country. This way, there will be more profit for everybody in general. There will be enough money to reduce the (possible) negative effects to the environment. There will be much more work: in the production chain, in general the last part of it is the one that does so. And there will be more economical movement in general, which in the end is the things that makes a country to be prosper and with a growing economy. This is done, I think in every 'first-world' country. Unfortunately, these are the countries that don't care doing nasty things in 'third-world' countries. And even more disappointing, is the fact that in the latter countries all the nasties are possible because there is a very institutionalized corruption which takes advantage of it at the cost of the future of the common people.

Maybe, too many words, maybe without any sense, but this is at least what I think to the respect.

De museos = About musea

2007-10-08T00:19:00.000+02:00

Este fin de semana hice una vuelta de museos organizada por la Asociación de Estudiantes Internacionales de Eindhoven (ISN/e). Junto a alrededor de otros 20 estudiantes fuimos a tres museos. Por supuesto, fuimos de uno a otro en nuestras bicicletas.

La primera parada fue en el Museo de la DAF. DAF es una fábrica bien conocida de camiones, autos y ómnibus. El museo lo lleva a uno a través de la historia de la compañía desde sus comienzos en la década de 1920 hasta la actualidad.

This weekend I went to a Musea-tour organized by the International Students Association Eindhoven (ISN/e). Together with around 20 other students we went to three musea. Naturally, we commute between them riding our bikes.

The first stop was at the DAF Museum. DAF is a very well known maker of trucks, cars and buses. The museum brings one to trough the history of the company, from its beginnings in the 1920's to the current days.

La segunda parada fue el Museo de Philips, también conocido como fabriekje (la fabriquita). Ubicada en el lugar donde Philips empezó la elaboración de las primeras bombillas, la visita guiada nos introduce en el proceso primitivo de desarrollo de las bombillas hasta llegar a nuestros días.

The second stop was at the Philips Museum, also known as the fabriekje (the little factory). Located at the place where Philips started producing his first lamp bulbs, the guided visit introduces us from the primitive development process of them, to the one employed nowadays.

Y al último, pero no por eso menos, el Museo Medieval. Este museo está en el medio de los Genneperparken. Hay un grupo de actores quienes constantemente muestran cómo se vivía en la edad de hierro y en el siglo XII. Es un concepto diferente de museo.

And lately but not least, the Medieval Museum. This museum is in the middle of the Genneperparken. There is a staff of actors who perform as they were living in the iron age and in the 12th century. It is a very different concept of a museum.

Allí, encontré algo que disfruté un montón. Luego de más de 15 años me subí a unos zancos. Descubrí que aprender a caminar con ellos es como aprender a montar una bicicleta: tenés que desarrolar la habilidad de hacerlo y nunca lo vas a olvidar. Muchos intentaron caminar con ellos, pero fallaron porque no es tan fácil como parece :)

There, I found something I enjoyed a lot. After more than 15 years I walked on stilts! I found out that learning to walk on them is like learning to ride a bike: you have to develop the ability of doing and you never forget it. Many tried to stilt, but failed because it is not as easy as it seems :)

Actualización (20/10): Aquí está el link con nota en Cursor, el periódico semanal de la universidad:
Update (20/10): Here is the link with the report in the Cursor, the university newspaper:

http://www.tue.nl/cursor/internet/jaargang50/cursor06/news/news.php?page=e1

Cuestiones de idiomas = Linguistic matters

2007-10-05T22:14:00.000+02:00

Desde que llegué aquí empecé a estar en contacto con mucha gente de diferentes países, culturas y por supuesto idiomas. Me gusta estudiar las diferencias y similitudes entre los idiomas, especialmente cuando ellos están geográficamente relacionados. Así es que en este post voy a dar un pantallazo de algunas curiosidades al respecto.

Lo básico que noté es que el nombre y pronunciación de la letra A. Hasta donde pude ver, en todos los idiomas excepto en inglés se pronuncia como /a/ y no /ei/ como en inglés. Esto indica lo difícil que es pronunciar algo en inglés. Incluso en persí, la pronunciación de la primera vocal es /a/-

Otra característica muy especial de cada idioma es la asignación de género a las cosas. En inglés es fácil: todo lo que es un objeto es algo sin género, y siempre se usa el mismo pronombre (it) o artículo (the). A veces, hay un sustativo distinto para un animal macho o hembra, como rooster (pollo), chicken (gallina), o bull (toro), cow (vaca) por ejemplo, pero el pronombre y artículo es 'it' y 'the'. En otros idiomas, como el castellano o cualquier otra lengua romance todo es o macho o hembra. La dificultad se presenta entonces en identificar el género de algo, que en general se aprende de memoria. En otros idiomas, como el alemán o ruso, sin embargo, hay un tercer género, llamado neutro. Así que por lo tanto hay cosas que son hembra, otras son macho y otras neutro. En holandés, hay dos tipos de objetos, dependiendo del artículo que se use. Los objetos pueden ser objetos 'de' o 'het' (het se llama neutro), y dependiendo de esto se arma la conjugación en algunas oraciones. Por ejemplo, de tafel (la mesa), het boek (el libro). Decidir si es un objeto 'de' o 'het' se tiene que aprender de memoria. Y para volvernos locos: por ejemplo, en alemán el sol es una mujer, la luna es un hombre, mientras que en castellano es al revés...

Y para terminar esta serie de hilos de este estilo, estudiemos el sonido de los animales. Los animales hacen ruidos de diferente maneras en diferentes idiomas. Por ejemplo, gente hispanoparlante dirá que un perro dice 'guau', mientras que un turco dirá que los perros hacen 'cof'. Y sobre las vacas, le pregunté a mucha gente. Todos me dicen que las vacas hacen 'muuu' mientras que los holandeses dicen que las vacas dicen 'buuu'. Y sin sorpresas, los fantasmas en el primer grupo dicen 'buuu' mientras que los fantasmas holandeses se dicen 'muuu'... Y como ilustración dejo este poster de una asociación de defensa de los animales que encontré en Ámsterdam. Dice esto "Quiero ser libre dijo la vaca, pero lo único que escuchamos fue buuu" (oe en holandés se pronuncia u)

Since I came here I started being in touch with many people, all of very different cultures, customs and, of course, languages. I like to see the differences and similarities among languages, specially when they are geographically related. So, this post will try to give an overview of some curiosities regarding this.

The basic, of course is the name and pronunciation of the letter A. As far as I can see, in all languages but English it is pronounced and named as /a/, not /ei/ as it is in English. This is just an indication of how difficult the pronunciation in English is. Even in Persian, the pronunciation of the main vowel is /a/.

Another very specific feature of each language is the assignation of genre to the things. In English is kind of easy, everything that is an object is considered something asexual, and there is where the pronoun 'it' and the article 'the' are used. Sometimes, they have a different noun for a male or female animal, like rooster and chicken, bull and cow for example, but the pronoun by default is 'it'. In some others, like Spanish and all Roman languages everything is either male or female. The difficulty in this is to find out what the genre of something is which in general has to be learned by hard. In some other languages like German or Russian, however, there are a third genre, called neutral. Therefore there are things that are male, female or neutral. In Dutch, there are two different kind of objects, depending on the article they use. They can be 'de'-objects or 'het'-objects (het is called neutral), and depending on this, you have to make a correct conjugation in a sentence. For example, de tafel (the table), or het boek (the book). Whether something is a 'de' or a 'het' has to be learned by hard. And we can make us crazy: in German the sun is a she, the moon a he, while in Spanish is in the other way around...

And just to finish this first post of a series of this style, let's go to the sound of animals. Among different languages the animals are listened differently. For example, for Spanish people, a dog says 'guau', but for a Turkish it says 'cof'. I asked many people about the cows: almost everybody replied to me with a 'mooh', whereas in Dutch they say 'booh'. No surprisingly, for a Dutch person, a ghost would tell you 'mooh' whereas in any other country a ghost would say 'booh'... I leave as an illustration this poster (see above) I found somewhere in Amsterdam of an association for animal rights. It says, "I want to be free, said the cow, but we hear nothing more than booh" (oe sounds like oo in boom)

A 'relative' week = Una semana familiar

2007-10-02T22:07:00.000+02:00

Last week, Encarni, Alex, Rosa and Rafa came to visit Holland. They stayed at home of course, and during the day traveled through the surroundings. Namely, day 1, Eindhoven; day 2, Amsterdam; day 3, The Hague, Delft and Rotterdam; day 4, Antwerp (see picture below), Brussels and Brugges; day 5, Maastricht, Drielandenpunt, and Aachen. Besides that, we went on Thursday night at the city center, on Friday evening to follow the lichtjesroute, and because we (specially them) were so tired skipped pubbing on Friday night. Finally, they went back on Saturday morning, and it was really a pity that for some reasons they couldn't stay on Saturday and Sunday.

I enjoyed a lot, so did they. For me was a sort of routine breaker, as I had a very busy week work-wise. But in the evenings, we spent very nice moments. Thanks a lot for your good humor sense, and if I couldn't give you more, it is because it was out of my possibilities. Thanks a again, and I hope to see you again and enjoy ourselves again. I'm content!!!

La semana pasada, Encarni, Alex, Rosa y Rafa vinieron a visitar Holanda. Estuvieron parando en casa por supuesto, y durante el día viajaron a través de los alrededores. Es decir, día 1, Eindhoven; día 2, Ámsterdam; día 3, La Haya, Delft, y Rotterdam; día 4, Amberes (ver foto arriba), Bruselas y Brujas; día 5, Maastricht, Drielandenpunt y Aquisgrán(1). Además de esto, fuimos juntos a la noche del jueves por la noche en el centro de Eindhoven, el viernes a la tarde/noche a seguir la lichtesroute, y por porque nuestros cuerpos (especialmente los de ellos) no daban más, no fuimos de bares el viernes a la noche. Finalmente, se volvieron a España el sábado por la mañana, y fue una verdadera pena que por diversos motivos no pudieron quedarse ese sábado y domingo.

Yo la pasé muy bien, lo mismo ellos. Y para mí fue una especie de rompedor de rutinas, porque tuve una semana muy complicada y ocupada en el trabajo. Pero en las noches, la pasamos muy bien. Muchas gracias por su buen sentido del humor, y si no les pude dar más es porque no pude. Gracias de nuevo, y espero verlos pronto y que la pasemos bien de nuevo. ¡¡Estoy contento!!

(1) Esta ciudad se llama Aachen en alemán e inglés (creo). Aken en holandés y Aquisgrán en español, y Aix-la-Chapelle en francés... un día de estos pongo un post al respecto...

The busy month

2007-09-22T23:33:00.000+02:00

As I anticipated, these weeks have been very busy for me. What I can tell is that the Dutch course is on the way, getting struggled with the synopsis of the language, but going on. Also, my bathroom at home was reformed, with three pictures are the before, during and after construction.

Personally, I didn't enjoy at all this two weeks: my provisional bathroom was at the first floor of my building (I live at the fifth), and I had to share with I don't know who besides the guys working on the construction. My complaints about that were in vain, nobody from the housing company care about the not so nice situation I lived... but in any case they reacted and gave me a very practical solution:

Of course, I didn't use this, and note this is just at my kitchen and living room...

But not all are bad news! I got a visit last weekend. Carolina, a friend from Colombia I met in Chile who now is doing her PhD in Bonn. We just went out Friday night where we danced a lot! On Saturday time for a walk in Amsterdam, and on Sunday, just a relaxing bike tour around Eindhoven. I know she didn't enjoy much this tour, as she is not used to bike, and specially she is not used to bike 30km at once! I hope she overall liked her visit down here. This self-portrait was taken at the Dam Square in Amsterdam.

And this weekend it is time to tidy up things at home, while also helping some friends to move. And as if these were not enough, yesterday I went on biking tour of the 'lichtjesroute' (lights route) which I'm planning to repeat by car with my cousins from Spain who will visit me next week. I exhausted, that's why I'm lazy and owe the translation to Spanish :)

Update (29/09): Carolina sent me an album with her pictures.

A sweeter life

2007-09-08T21:43:00.000+02:00

Today I was reading one expat's newspaper from The Netherlands and after a long time I felt identified a lot with one report. Before reading it, let me tell you that some time ago I started adding something sweet to my dinners (as a dessert or a fruit) thing that in general I didn't use to do so often. I also have been buying lots of candies and have them all the day long.

What is special with this, read the report:

Dutch seek consolation in sweets

AMSTERDAM - To make them forget the rainy weather this summer the Dutch en masse sought consolation in sweets. Figures published by marketing research agency AC Nielsen showed that more sweets, chocolate and biscuits had been sold this summer than usual. The agency confirmed this in the daily nrc.next.

Sales figures of small and large bars of chocolate rose by 14 percent while those of chocolate sweets went up by 11 percent. The total turnover of chocolate increased by 10 percent to EUR 73.5 million.

Biscuits were very popular with Dutch consumers (up 10 percent). Liquorice too was favourite in rainy Holland and saw a rise of 4 percent.
Click here!

A spokesperson for AC Nielsen said that the weather always has an influence on eating and drinking patterns of people. Last year when we had a hot summer the sales figures of lemonade, beer and ice creams were higher than usual.

Source: http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=43666

LOL, how weather affects our behavior... And something to eat more sweets: according to the Dutch Meteorological Center, this summer has been warmer than the average records... In summary: a very depressing, forgettable summer...

Una agenda apretada = A busy agenda

2007-09-01T19:12:00.000+02:00

¡La hora de trabajar ha llegado! :) en realidad, voy a tener más actividades que las usuales tareas de investigación. De hecho esta semana ya empecé a dar clases: la asignatura es matemáticas básicas (algo como Análisis I para los de la UNSa), y por supuesto que lo tengo que ahcer en inglés aunque tengo que responder las preguntas en holandés de mis estudiantes que a veces entiendo. El curso durará un mes, los contenidos son bastantes densos, pero veremos cómo nos va.

La segunda actividad tiene que ver con el inicio de mi curso de holandés: luego de más de un año y medio creo que me siento lo suficientemente seguro como para comenzar a jugar con el idioma local. En general, puedo entender a un muy alto nivel de lo que tratan que las conversaciones o los textos escritos. Por supuesto que ni confío en mí en la mayoría de los casos, especialmente cuando se trata de cartas importantes. Pero en general me doy maña para entender. ¿Hablar? Ni una palabra, dificilmente puedo decir goedemorgen (buenos días) o doei (como el chau nuestro). Aunque hoy aprendí que un tasje es una bolsa de plástico :) No es un idioma fácil y no es fácil de aprender cuando la gente cambia a inglés ni bien sospecha de tu acento o cuando estás sudando porque no podés decir ni una palabra... Vamos a ver cómo va. En lo personal, voy a experimentar el aprender un idioma mientras vivo en el país en el que se habla. De más está decir que va a ser una forma muy importante de sentirme más de este país...

Y bueno, esos son los nuevos eventos en mi agenda que van a tenerme un poco más ocupados que lo normal }:)

Actualización (08/09): Los invito a leer los comentarios de este post, se hacen varias reflexiones interesantes...

Time to work has arrived :) Actually, now I'll have more activities to do than my usual research tasks. I already stated teaching: the subject is basic mathematics (mainly concentrated in calculus), and of course I must do it in English although I have to deal with some questions in Dutch which sometimes I understand. It will last one month this course, the contents are quite dense, but we'll see how it is going on. The second main activity will be that I'll start studying the Dutch language: after more than 1,5 years I think I feel confident enough to start playing with the local language. In general, I can understand at the very high level what a conversation in Dutch is about, the same for a written text. Of course, I cannot trust myself in most of cases, specially with letters I got, but in general I can manage to understand. Talking? Any word yet, I hardly can say goedemorgen (good morning) and doei (Brabants word for bye). Although today I learned that tasje is a plastic bag :) It is not an easy language and it is not easy to learn as many people just switch to English when they detect on you some accent or that you're being struggled to speak... We will see how this goes. Personally, I will experience learning a language while leaving in the country where it is spoken. It is not necessary to mention that will be an opportunity to have a belonging feeling to this country...

And that are essentially my new items in my agenda which will really make me more busy than usual }:)

Update (08/09): There has been an interesting discussion on the comments. Unfortunately, they are in Spanish, but I'll post a spare thread on that matter soon.

Salta-Cafayate Summer Challenge 2008

2007-08-27T22:11:00.000+02:00

Since a time ago I have become a bit more active in my bike: I do mountain bike at least twice a week and during the last three weekends, together with some friends, we went to cycle around, doing on average 60km. Since I came back from Argentina last January I cycled about 1200km...

The day after of one of this trips I was on the chat with Gonzalo and talking him about this, he commented on many people doing the way between Salta and Cafayate by bike, and at that moment the temptation was immediate.

De un tiempo a esta parte me volví más activo con mi bicicleta: hago al menos dos veces a la semana algo de mountain bike, y en lo últimos tres fines de semana he salido a dar unas vueltas paseando algunos amigos en nuestras bicicletas, haciendo un promedio de unos 60km cada vez. Desde que volví de Argentina mi bicicleta acumuló unos 1200km...

Al día siguiente de uno de estos recorridos, estaba en el chat con el Pescau y comentándole esto, me tiró el comentario de gente que se va desde la ciudad de Salta a Cafayate en bicicleta, y en ese momento la tentación fue inmediata.

Besides, he sent me some images from Google Earth which more or less depict the path to follow (in the pictures the north is at the bottom):

Me mando algunas imágenes bajadas del Google Earth, que más o menos depictan el recorrido que se debe seguir (en la imágenes, el norte está abajo):

It is about 183km, leaving from Salta city at 1182masl and arriving to Cafayate in the hearth of the Valles Calchaquíes at 1685masl. The track o relief is more or less flat, there are ups and downs all the way in the path (as fas as I remember from my trip by car).

As you'd be imagining, my idea is to do it by bike. I don't know what you think about it, there is enough time for training and prepare to make an attempt. According to my newbie experience, going to a pace of 25km/h is doable, what implies that the entire trip can be made in 10 hours, including stops for resting and having some liquid. Of course, the way back will be by four wheels :P Also, a assistance team can be formed which can meet us in the middle of the route to see if we still are alive...

Obviously, I won't do this alone, but if someone of you joins me, why don't start to plan it from now on, what do you think? And feel free to distribute this announcement and find people to join us. If you've never met us, also feel free to contact us here. Suggestions are very welcome as well!

Update (08/09): It seems I'm not the only one who is crazy: In this report some guys are planning to do the route Salta-Cachi, around 157km but the altitude difference is incredible: Salta is at 1182masl, half way, Piedra del Molino is located at 3690masl and Cachi itself is at 2300masl. So, I'm not that crazy... moreover they title this as a spare time activity... BTW, here is the link http://www.nuevodiariodesalta.com.ar/diario/noticias_v.asp?7719

Son unos 183km, partiendo de la ciudad de Salta a 1182msnm y llegando a Cafayate en el corazón de los valles Calchaquíes a 1695msnm. El terreno, o relieve es más o menos chato, hay subidas y bajadas en general en todo el camino (por lo que recuerdo de hacer el recorrido en auto).

Y como ya se lo están imaginando, la idea es hacerlo en bicicleta. No sé qué les parece, hay tiempo para entrenarse un poquito, y hacer el intento. Por mi muy novata experiencia, a un ritmo de 25km/h promedio se puede hacer, lo que incluyendo paradas de descanso y todo, puede llevar a lo sumo 10 horas. Hay que llevar mucho líquido, y de más estar decir que la vuelta es en cuatro ruedas :P De todos modos también se puede armar un equipo técnico, que nos podría alcanzar en la mitad del camino para ver si todavía estamos vivos.

Yo obviamente solo no lo hago, pero si alguien de ustedes se anima, por qué no empezar a diagramarlo desde ya, ¿qué les parece? Y sientanse libres de difundir este anuncio y buscar gente que se nos una. Y si ni nos conocés, también no dudés en contactarnos aquí. Sugerencias, ¡también son bienvenidas!

Actualización (08/09): Parece que no estoy taaan loco, o no soy el único por lo menos: En esta nota unos chavones están pensando en hacer la ruta Salta-Cachi, cerca de 157km pero la diferencia de altitud es increíble: Salta está a 1182msnm, a mitad del camino, en Piedra del Molino se está a 3690msnm y Cachi mismo está a 2300msnm. Así que no estoy tan loco... además ellos titulan esta actividad como algo recreativo... Les dejo el vínculo http://www.nuevodiariodesalta.com.ar/diario/noticias_v.asp?7719

Cycling tour

2007-08-26T21:58:00.000+02:00

In our daily chats at the university during lunch, the idea of doing a cycling tour came up a couple of weeks ago. We started exchanging some emails and putting ideas on where, when we could go, etc. This is the final email from Jan telling all details of it:

Dear all,

Over lunch we've discussed the plans for a bicycle tour this Sunday.
We settled on a tour along the "Malpie" heath to the south of Eindhoven.
Bring your own lunch, which we will have somewhere along the route.

date: 26 August
time: we leave at _exactly_ 11:00 from ******* (my address),
where you can have coffee between 10:00 and 11:00.

If you join but haven't confirmed so (neither orally nor by e-mail),
then please mail or tell me. If you'd like to include others in this
invitation, please forward this mail to them.

Address: find "********" on http://maps.google.nl/
it's in a black flat (one of four) called "Zomer"
(guess the other names :-)
phone: 040-########
cell phone: 06-########

Rianne, should we pick you up in Waalre?

Best,

Jan

And so did we. Let me tell you that the weather was kind of good (heavy fog in the morning, mostly clouded in the afternoon, temperatures averaging 20°C), the path we followed was very nice (some forests and heaths) and very nice routes.

We did some stops, just to drink some liquid and continue, one stop for having lunch and very in the end of the trip, we ended up into the Fiets Café near Aalst.

We enjoyed ourselves and a promise that we will do a new cycling tour in the future has been widely accepted. Of course, we will regret a bit tomorrow, as we will notice some pain after cycling about 57km...

Cambio de look = Look change

2007-08-25T15:41:00.000+02:00

Hoy fui a la peluquería. Este es el antes:
Today I went to the hair saloon. This is the before:

Y este es el después:
And this is the after:

¿Estoy loco? Seee, un poquitito :P
Am I crazy? Yeah, a little bit :P

Actualización (29/08): Algunas cosas han cambiado: está fresco allá arriba, y el champú no hace espuma...

Actualización (01/09): Aunque no lo parezca, muchos ni me reconocen y me tengo que volver a presentar... está bueno porque a veces quedo de incógnito :D

Update (29/08): Things have changed: it's cold up there! and the shampoo doesn't make any foam!

Update (01/09): It is unbelievable! many cannot recognize me and I have to re-introduce myself... it's kind of cool 'cause sometimes I'm an unknown :D

There is a thing in my pocket...

2007-08-23T22:09:00.000+02:00

There is a thing in my pocket, but it’s not one thing, it’s many. It’s the same as other things, but exactly like nothing else. It has an eye and an ear that shares what billions hear and see. It’s not a living thing, but if you feed it, it will grow. It can rally the masses, it can silence the crowd. It can speak a thousand words but it has no voice. It can find you the places, so you can't get lost. And it can let others feel what you’ve just been touched by. There is a thing in my pocket, but it’s not one thing, it’s many.

I'm delighted and too excited with this thing...

Update (01/09): BTW, this thing has already been in my pocket since the day I published this post :D I should say: in-cre-di-ble thing!

A bad day

2007-08-21T00:31:00.000+02:00

Today was a day quite special, everything went bad. Let me tell you what happened.

* I arrive at the university, log on to my computer and surprise: the system goes quite slow and my network wire is not working. Half an hour to solve the issues: use the wire of my room mate and reboot my computer (after almost two months up).

* I want to correct an error in the 3D acceleration of my graphic card. I follow the tutorial, all is good except the last step: my computer doesn't have graphic interface. I manage to start in a very rudimentary way, and try to find out what is going on. I get an email: I arrange an appointment at 3.

* Go to lunch, thinking what could be causing the trouble. Before I started touching anything, I have Xgl running together with Beryl. Now, I have a rudimentary gnome. It is awful! Read, google, repeat the tutorial.

* It is time for the appointment, I go to the office we should meet. It is 3:30 and nobody shows up. I go back to my office and read carefully the email: the appointment is for tomorrow. I get mad. Continue searching to solve the problem with my computer.

* Meanwhile, I try to reach by phone to my parents. The phone rings and rings, and nobody picks the call. I insist in finding the solution to the problem with the driver of my graphic card.

* I give up, decide it is time to work (it's 4:30pm). I read the paper, and meanwhile I check again the thing with the driver, and I got what was causing the problem: a conflict of version between driver and the kernel driver. I solve the problem: I leave the computer just as it was in the morning. The supposed error was just a bad understanding from myself.

* Time to work! But it is now 6pm, I'm exhausted, hungry and a music festival in front of the university, it is making noise, it doesn't make sense to stay here. When coming back home, I observe, the day is ok, 20 degrees, some rain in the vicinity which makes the air a bit humid and great to do some mountain biking. Decision made! Now, I go to do mountain bike.

* I enter the track in Best, it started to became wetter and wetter: after 5 minutes, I find out that all the rain fell here. I became muddy and wet, but badly muddy and wet. I go to the second track: it is just as wet as necessary to make it perfect. I kind of regret to have chosen this track first.

That was my day. And apart from all the above, it was Monday... a forgettable day.

Breaking news (21-08): I found out what has been going on with the cut of my internet cable: I was detected of downloading copyrighted material using e-donkey. They unplugged my cable to be sure of that. I didn't complain on that (because I exchange the wire of my roommate), but the guy from the computer facilities just came to let me know this. I got a warning: I cannot do it anymore, it is prohibited by the Dutch law. To be honest I didn't suspect on that as the reason, but anyway, let's follow the rule, apologize for not doing things right and let everybody (including me) be happy. And most interestingly, I haven't turned up e-donkey because of all problems I faced yesterday. Now, it is funny how this guy said to me: "those things you can do it at home, this is none of our business (...) The law does allow the exchange of music files but is doesn't allow videos files.". But if it is prohibited all across The Netherlands that also includes home, and why it is applicable for videos and not for movies. I'll investigate on this and try to avoid legal sanctions.

Día de acción del blog = Blog Action Day

2007-08-19T23:14:00.000+02:00

Esta es una buena idea y la estoy apoyando. Sólo hacé clic en la imagen y leé de lo que se trata.

This is a good idea and I'm supporting it. Just click on the image and read what this is about.

Give me the money back!

2007-08-18T02:09:00.000+02:00

Some weeks ago I went with some friends to the beach and we went by car. As we cannot go to the beach with the car we have to park it in a parking lot. After two hours of traffic jams we managed to find a place and come to the beach to enjoy. After all fun and joy we return to the parking lot to take the car and come back home.

So, after queuing a quarter of an hour to pay, I decided to do so with my credit card, just to make it fast. And indeed it was faster than we had imagined: the machine took the card and put it out in nothing of time. But the parking was paid. We were happy.

A time after, checking my financial situation, I checked my credit card balance too: Surprise! the parking had been charged twice. So, I started with all the bureaucratic circuit to claim my money back.

First I called the credit card bank. They asked me to contact the company that charged twice and ask them gently to reimburse the money incorrectly charged. If after this inquire I didn't have a satisfactory reply, we could start a formal reimbursement claim.

Second, I tried to find out which company is managing the parking lot, or at least the automatic payment machines. I googled, and googled and didn't find anything. So, as a intermediate step, I decided to make a complaint to the municipality, asking for the information I was looking for.

Some days past and no response. Some further googling and no luck, no way to get in touch with the parking company. Therefore, I asked to proceed with the reimbursement complain from the bank. They sent me by post the forms to fill in and initiate the complaint.

The days I got such forms, I got a response from the municipality:

Dear Mr. Villegas,

You posted a message at www.denhaag.nl about paying for parking in the corner of the Zwolsestraat and Harstenhoekweg. The pay & display machines outdoors in this area don't accept payment by credit card. For this reason it is difficult to address your question properly.

This brings me to the following. An explanation might be that you parked your car in the indoor car park Parking Scheveningen Bad. You may find this facility on the Internet at: www.parkerenscheveningen.nl . The company operating this car park is:

(...)

I got a phone number to contact the company. So did I, and surprisingly I talk to a guy who was in charge of the reimbursement of all affected people by the machines. They were going to credit the money back in a couple of days, I just had to wait and the money had to get back.

And, guess what, the money got back. The credit the second (and wrong) charge and the procedure was in practice finished.

This is just an example of how the problems must be carried out.

* You have to be patient, very patient. It took me three weeks in total to get what I wanted to.

* In all moments, the involved people just tried to make me happy, especially the guy from the guilty company. No excuses, just recognized their error.

* The drawback: I spent some time searching, talking on the phone and stressing myself thinking about how stupid I was by using this automatic payment machines.

* It was only for 10€... but finally I got what it was the correct thing.

La burocracia = The bureaucracy

2007-08-13T22:31:00.000+02:00

Desde que vine aquí he escuchado muchas quejas sobre la burocracia por todos lados de este país. También me he quejado en su momento al principio, tal vez por el choque cultural, pero de un tiempo a esta parte me acostumbré. Simplemente tenés que hacer todo a como se dice y más o menos se hará así.

Mucha gente se queja sobre esto. Se quiere más flexibilidad y que las cosas se hagan de una manera más simple, con sentido común más que aferrarse a las reglas. Esto es bueno, especialmente para mí, ya que vengo de un país donde las reglas son un mero adorno y todo el mundo hace lo que se le viene en gana.

El problema aquí es que muchas veces nadie tiene conocimiento de las reglas, y se empieza a aplicar la regla como se piensa que es. Y luego, los problemas empiezan porque generalmente la interpretación de la regla es por lejos irracional.

Ahora les contaré algo que me pasó hoy, es un simple e inofensivo ejemplo. Tenía algunos problemas con mi cuenta de usuario en la universidad así que fui a la mesa de ayuda de informática, conocido como BCF. La principal razón de mi vista estaba resuelta (como un ejemplo más a las leyes de Murphy), y aprovechando la visita a esta oficina me acordé de otro problemilla en el que me podrían ayudar.

El tema es el siguiente: tengo una cuenta de usuario que es jvillega y quería que me la cambiaran a algo con más sentido, como josevillegas o simplemente jvillegas como para tener una buena dirección de email con ese nombre de usuario. Aquí es donde las contradicciones empiezan.

El chavón que me atendió me dijo que no hay problema, que lo podíamos hacer en ese mismo momento. Sólo me preguntó que si estaba seguro porque todos mis datos actuales se iban a borrar. Le dije que no estaba bien seguro pero que me diera unos minutos para chequearlo y luego proceder con el cambio.

Ahí apareció una especie-de-jefe a quien el chavón le comentó lo que iba a hacer. ¡Imposible! dijo. Aquí es donde las hilachas holandesas aparecen: "El reglamento dice que el nombre de usuario debe estar compuesto por la primera inicial del nombre más siete caracteres como máximo del apellido". Luego de explicarle que el nombre de usuario actual suena estúpido como para una dirección de email, y que es sólo una estúpida letra la que marca la diferencia y bla bla... sólo se limitó a justificar la regla... no hay forma de saltarla. Luego de unos minutos de absurdas explicaciones y justificaciones dije ma' sí, hacé lo que quieras...

Sólo un pensamiento de mi parte: este es de hecho un ejemplo insignificante y estúpido en el que las reglas sólo generan problemas. Para ellos es simplemente apretar un par de teclas para hacerlo y todo el mundo está contento. Además no es un gran problema administrativo el que se genera como se lo estaba pintando. Sin embargo, porque el reglamento está ahí, lo tenemos que acatar. Es un ejemplo muy boludo, pero en próximos posts voy a contarles algunas situaciones vividas por mis amigos que son completamente locas.

Luego voy a tratar de nuevo: Voy a ir cuando haya otro chavón atentendiendo, pidiéndole que lo haga bien rápido porque lo necesito urgente. Nadie se va a dar cuenta luego y voy a lograr mi cometido. Desafortunadamente esta parace ser la única manera de lograrlo :)

Actualización (16/8): Obtuve un nombre de usuario más decente para mi página personal http://www.win.tue.nl/~villegas Parece que la webmaster no es tan quisquillosa aplicando las reglas...

Since I'm here I've been hearing complains from people about the bureaucracy, everywhere in this country. I have complained too at the beginning of my stay but from some months to now I somehow got used to it. You have to follow what the rule says and generally everything will be carried out according to the plan.

Many people, though, cannot stand this. They require more flexibility and that all things should be carried out with common sense more than everything sticked to the rules. That is good, especially for me as I came from a country where the rules are a mere decoration and everybody does whatever he/she wants.

The problem here is that many times nobody knows how the rules are, and they start applying them to what they think the rules are. And then, problems start, generally because this understanding is far from a rational one.

In this post I tell you something that happened today actually: after some troubles with my user account at the University I went to the Bureau of Computers Facilities, a.k.a. BCF. The main reason for my visit was solved (Murphy laws always hold in this situations), and taking advantage of my visit to that office I remember another issue on which they could certainly help me.

The thing is the following. I have a user name which is jvillega and I wanted to change it to something more meaningful, like josevillegas, or simply jvillegas in order to have a nice email address with that user name. Here the contradictions start:

The guy who first attended me told me no problem, we can do it right now! Just asked me whether in my current account I have any sensitive data (because they were going to be erased). I wasn't so sure, so I asked him to give some minutes to check it, and then proceed with the change.

Then a kind-of-supervisor showed up, to whom the guy commented what he was going to do. He said impossible! Here is where the Dutch bureaucratic felling appears: "The rule says that the user name must be composed by the first initial followed by seven letters of the family name." After explaining that the current user name for an email address sounds silly, that is only a stupid letter which makes the difference and bla bla... he just attached himself to the rule... there is no way to jump it. After a few minutes of absurd explanations and justifications I gave up...

Only a thought from my side: This is a very stupid example when the rules are only generating problems. For them is a key stroke away to have everybody happy. Moreover it is not a big administrative issue as he tried to paint it. However, because the rule is there, we have to stick to it. This is a very stupid example, I'll start in coming posts to enumerate some others situations experienced by some friends which are really silly.

After this I'll make a new attempt: I'll go when some other guy is behind the counter and ask him to do it very quickly that I need the change asap. Then nobody will realize and that is, I'll accomplish my desire. Unfortunately this seems to be the only way out :)

Update (16/8): Finally I got a more decent user name for my web page account: It's http://www.win.tue.nl/~villegas It seems they aren't so strict applying rules...

A strange star

2007-08-12T11:23:00.000+02:00

I was with a friend at home watching the supposed star shower this weekend from my balcony. The sky was totally clear, very unusual. While trying to see any star falling in the sky we have this conversation:

-Look at this moving star
-Where?, I cannot see anything
-There, it is like a big plane, do you see it?
-Where?!?
-There (I point to it)
-Ah, yeah, it is big, it could be a satellite
-I don't know, it is too big and it is not a plane because it doesn't have blinking lights
-Maybe it is a plane, but anyway it is so big, eh?
-I don't think it is a satellite, for me satellites are fixed from our view
-No, it depends in which orbit they are.

And we watch this light moving from west to east. As he is a bit fun of all this stuff, he checked the visible astronomical events at http://www.heavens-above.com And this was the ISS, namely the International Space Station. So, we saw the ISS, and now I was laughing for all the conclusions we were drawing.

BTW, this web page is very interesting. It says where and when watch all this satellites and flying stuff. Very interesting, now I'll regularly check to see the Irradium satellites which reflect the sunshine at only one point, like a flash. Although I think it is very unlikely to happen: the satellite must pass along Eindhoven and more importantly, the sky must be clear... But to all curious guys, register at heavens-above and tell me what you can see in other places with better visibility...

Update (14/8): As it couldn't be otherwise, the sky was covered to watch the stars shower. See report from Expatica

"Él" Verano = "The" summer

2007-08-06T22:47:00.000+02:00

Yeah, finally summery weather. This has been one out of a few weekends (actually 2 or maybe 3) with a really good weather to hang out and do just nothing. This time, as it couldn't be otherwise, I manage to do something. This is one email I sent over to some friends, after my proposal to do something and having got an offer from couple of friends.

Hi everybody!

I haven't received any confirmation from you about going to the beach as I individually told you. I'm going to, together with a couple of friends. They suggested to go to Vrowenpolder, it's close to Middelburg very to the south-west of The Netherlands. The trip by train is about 2 hours 'cause of bad connections :( But the sea water seems to be a bit warmer than the rest of beaches, it's more to the south that the most famous ones and closer to the Caribbean :)

So, there are various alternatives to reach there. The easiest is by car, but we don't have enough room to get there by car :( and surely there will be plenty of traffic jams on the way.

The next (for lazy people) it's to go all the way by public transport: train to Vlissingen, and then bus to the beach. We have to be careful with this alternative as this latter bus runs every 2 hours! Check 9292ov.nl for schedules.

The one that I prefer is to go by train to Middelburg, and from there go by bike to the beach. It is a short ride of about 10 kms to Vrowenpolder.

Once there, the plan is do nothing, just lie on the sand, take some sunshine to get some sun tan color! You can bring playing cards, or any other entertainment that doesn't require too much concentration. I'll bring some mate (Argentine tea), cookies and snacks. Afterwards, we can find a place to have dinner if you want, or bring our sandwiches to the very Dutch style :) And that's essentially the plan.

One thing I'll ask you is to confirm who are joining me. In case nobody comes, I can go by car with my friends (the laziest way :P), and I have to wake up early (we leave at 9am!!). So please, let me know asap. Any other suggestions are welcome, you can invite friends, and people that want to enjoy the seemingly last summery weekend of this season in the low countries :'(

Keep in touch, and greetings to all of you.

And with Natalia-tuc, Pepijn, Gustavo and Colina we went to Vrowenpolder, very to the south-west in The Netherlands. Temperatures soaring around 30°C, very mild water (not cold at all I should say), and not too many people as it happened in the traditional beaches. The drawback: the traffic jams, but despite this, we manage to find conversation topics, a good radio to listen to, and now, I'm creaming my skin after too much sunshine :)

PS. I cannot find pictures from yesterday's other beaches. They were extremely crowded!

Update (9/8): Pics available at my photoblog ;)

Another update: the good weather lasted only that very weekend and it couldn't be otherwise. It's really depressing, too depressing indeed. Some links on news about it http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=42425

El cambio climático

2007-07-25T23:11:00.000+02:00

Todos sabemos y padecemos los avatares del cambio del clima. Hoy por ejemplo son noticia las altas temperaturas en el sur europeo, trayendo consigo incendios forestales y muertes. En Inglaterra, se están ahogando, las lluvias los están golpeando con todo. En Argentina, va como la tercera ola de frío polar que afecta al país, con fríos que no se vivieron en casi un siglo.

Y por aquí, pues todo mal, un verano más lluvioso de lo esperado aparte de frío. A todo esto le sumamos que en abril hicieron 30°C, no llovió en 45 días seguidos, y ahora nos encontramos con el panorama totalmente opuesto. Sumado a que el año pasado, en julio, tuvimos temperaturas de 36°, y este año es raro si sobrepasamos los 18°. En Salta, el año pasado raramente hubieron un par de heladas, cuando en lo que va de este año se han sobrepasado las 20. Ni hablar de las lluvias del pasado verano salteño, que fueron excesivas rompiendo todos los valores esperados. Y así, en todas partes del mundo vemos que algo está pasando en materia climática.

Luego de mirar los titulares de los noticieros, escuché esta canción, que viene al pelo con esto. Ojalá que ya no sea tarde...

Madre hay una sola

Ciudades gigantes, enormes cloacas...
viajan torrentes hacia el mar, de un amor que huele mal.
Como anunciándole al cielo, nuestro destino
se ven las marcas de la muerte, por las ventanas del avión.

El progreso fue un fracaso, fue un suicidio...
la ansiada prosperidad, fue el más pesado vagón.
¿Para qué un juicio final? si ya estamos deshechos
una explosión natural, hará una gran selección.

Yo te agradezco... porque aquí estoy
vos sos mi única madre, con alma y vida hoy venero tu jardín.
Te agradezco... aunque me voy
avergonzado por ser parte de la especie, que hoy te viola en un patético festín.

No te libraste de nosotros.
Nuestra desidia... fue por tenerte regalada, el creer que no valés nada.
Estás pariendo hijos ciegos, estás cansada.
Aunque tus lágrimas saladas, nos pueden ahogar si querés.

Los pocos que te aman, no tienen fuerza.
Como reliquias se pasean, sólo paquetes de turismo son.
No hay más amigos que el sol, no hay más ofrendas,
sólo este ataque mortal, al medio del corazón.

Yo te agradezco... porque aquí estoy
vos sos mi única madre, con alma y vida yo defiendo tu jardín.
Te agradezco... aunque me voy
avergonzado por ser parte de la especie, que hoy te viola en un patético festín.

Te agradezco... porque aquí estoy...

Letra y música: Bersuit Vergarabat. Fuente aquí.
¿Ustedes que opinan al respecto?

Día del amigo = Friend's day

2007-07-23T22:47:00.000+02:00

El viernes pasado fue el día internacional del amigo. Es un invento argentino, basado en una razón un poco estúpida. El inventor envió muchas cartas a personas al azar alrededor del mundo en ocasión que el hombre llegaba a la luna. A pesar del vínculo no muy aparente del hombre en la luna y los amigos, ese día es muy celebrado en Argentina. Para dar una idea, este día es comparable a navidad, todo el mundo sale luego del trabajo para juntarse con los amigos, compartiendo un asado o yendo a restaurantes o discotecas para disfrutar un buen momento. Es la mejor excusa para reunirse, charlar, salir y todo con amigos.

Como no lo podíamos perder, el grupo de amigos argentinos de por aquí lo celebramos. Salimos a cenar a un restaurante pasando un muy lindo momento. Luego, salimos de pubs, bailando un poquito. Y luego, de vuelta a casa. Está muy bueno que podemos estar como en Argentina, pasándola bien, hablando en argentino y celebrando todo.

Y en Argentina, algunos de mis amigos en Argentina celebraron el día doblemente. Mi amigo Sebastián se casó ese mismo día. La crónica, en el blog de Adrián.

Actualización (24/07): Algunas fotos del evento publicadas en mi fotoblog.

Last Friday was the international friend's day. It was invented by an Argentinean with a very stupid excuse. The inventor sent letters to random people around the world after the man first arrive to the moon. Despite the no so apparent link between the man in the moon and friends, that day is very celebrated in Argentina. Just to give you an idea, that day is compared to Christmas, everybody hangs out after work with friends, sharing a barbecue or going out to a restaurants or discos to enjoy. It is the perfect excuse to meet, chat, go out and everything with friends.

As we couldn't miss it, the group of Argentinean friends over here celebrated the friend's day. We had dinner at a restaurant and spent a nice time. After that, we pubbed and danced a bit. Later, go back home. It is very nice to know that we can be as in Argentina, having a nice time, speaking Argentinean and celebrating everything.

Just to mention, some of my friends in Argentina doubly celebrate this day: my friend Sebastián got married as well. For more details, check Adrián's blog (in Spanish).

Update (24/07): Some photos of the event published in my photoblog.

Mi cumpleaños = My birthday

2007-07-18T23:42:00.000+02:00

Ayer cumplí 26, si, una edad mayor... A pesar de estar bastante lejos de mi familia, amigos y Salta pasé muy bien en realidad. Recibí SMSs de mis padres, hermanos y hermana a las 12am, y de algunos amigos bien temprano en la mañana. En la universidad, como es la costumbre para alguien que cumple años, llevé unas tortas a las pausas de café y te de los martes. La idea es que cada uno felicita al cumpleañero y esto les da derecho a tomar café y comer torta, mientras se mantienen conversaciones aleatorias. Muy formal para los estándares argentinos, pero está bueno una vez que uno se habitua.

Además de todos los preparativos de la pausa de café, trabajé como un día normal, con la diferencia que estuve respondiendo muchos emailes de felicitaciones (y hasta un comentario sobre el partido del domingo) y algunos mensajes del M$N, ya que luego de un largo periodo de tiempo me puse como conectado para chatear un poco. También M$Nié con un amigo de Argentino, que ni se dio cuenta que era mi cumple, pero está perdonado porque se está casando el fin de semana que viene y está como loco con todos los preparativos.

En la tarde, como sobraron algunas porciones de torta, invité a mis colegas a que la liquidemos, mientras tomábamos algo de te y mate. Me recuerda buenos momentos, cuando comenzamos a tomar mate y charlamos de cualquier cosa que venga a la conversación. Estuvo bueno. A algunos de ellos le gustó (o por lo menos se tomaron unos cuantos mates) y trataré de hacerlo un hábito (tomo mate para mantenerme despierto luego del almuerzo casi todos los días).

Más tarde, un amigo me invitó a comer a un restaurant, pero la rechacé porque me hubiera gustado mucho hacer algo con todos mis amigos juntos (espero que me haya entendido :)) Todavía no me siento preparado para organizar algo, pero prometo que el año que viene algo voy a hacer. Pero bueno, luego de trabajar hasta las 7:30pm, y de llegar a casa, miré a mi bicicleta y como el clima estaba idealmente bueno, me pregunté, por qué no. Así que terminé mi día haciendo mountain-bike, tratando de mejorar mis registros de tiempo (que los mejoré podría decirse).

Luego, algunas llamadas de teléfono en la noche y alguno que otro email y SMS recibido, como así también saludos en mi blog, preguntandome cómo se siente cumplir años en verano. Bueno, siendo honesto, nada especial, el clima no está taaan cálido, pero uno puede estar de remera y pantalones cortos, cosa que es difícil en Salta, especialmente luego de una ola de frío polar.

Este fue el resumen de mi cumpleaños. Muchas gracias a todos por estar allí, aguantándome y teniéndome en sus mentes. Ahora subo este post, y empiezo a responder algunos correos que todavía no he respondido.

Yesterday I turned 26, yeah! quite an age already. Despite being quite far from my family, friends and home town I spent it quite nice actually. I got SMSs from my parents, brothers and sister at 12am, and from some friends very early in the morning. At the university, as it is a custome for someone who is turning years, I brought some cakes to the Tuesdays tea/coffee breaks. The idea is that everybody congratulates the 'birthdayer' and this gives right to them to drink and eat cake, while holding random conversations. Quite formal to Argentinean standards, but nice when you get used to it.

Besides all preparatives to this coffee break, I worked as usual, with tthe difference that I've been replying incoming emails of congratulations (and an email about the Sunday's football match) and some M$N messages, as after a long time I put on-line to chat a bit. I also M$Ned with a friend from Argentina, who didn't notice my birthday, but he is excused because he is getting married this coming weekend and is like crazy with all the preparatives.

In the afternoon, as some pieces of cake still remained, I invited my colleagues to get rid of it, while drinking some tea and mate. It resembles good memories, when we started drinking mate and chatting about whatever comes to the conversation. It was great! Some of them actually liked (or at least they drank a few mates) and I'll try to do it a habit (I drink mate to stay awake after lunch almost everyday).

In the evening I got an invitation by a friend to eat in a restaurant, but I declined it because I'd have liked to do something with all my friends together (I hope he understood me :)) I still don't feel prepared to do it, but I promise next year I will. Anyway, after working until around 7:30pm, and arriving home, I saw my bike and as the weather was mildly great, I asked, why not! So, I finished my day mountainbiking, and trying to break my own records on the tracks (quite improved btw).

Some more phone calls in the evening and some others emails and SMS received. Also, some greetings in my blog, asking me what it feels like having my birthday in summer. Well, being honest, nothing special, the weather is not that warm, but still one can be in t-shirts and shorts, thing which is quite difficult in Salta, specially nowadays, after a polar cold wave.

That was my birthday digest. Thank all of you for being there, supporting me and having me in your minds. Now, I'll submit this post, and start replying some emails that I haven't yet.

El verano de verdad = The real summer

2007-07-16T22:08:00.000+02:00

Luego de casi un mes de verano 'oficial' hemos podido disfrutar de un buen clima. Temperaturas cerca de los 30°C, algo de sol y aquella tan extrañada sensación pegajosa por el calor. Estoy contento y feliz aunque los holandeses no paran de decir 'está muy caluroso'. Vamos, no hay nada tan lindo como esto. Por desgracia no va a durar mucho, hay algunas tormentas en todos los alrededores de Eindhoven y las temperaturas están bajando...

Y tomando ventaja del buen clima, con algunos amigos fuimos a Scheveningen (la Mardel holandesa) a la playa. Llegamos tarde (tipo 6pm, luego de algunos atascos de tráfico), pero la playa estuvo de 10, soleado, cálido y mates mediantes. Luego de la puesta del sol, y una caminata a lo largo de la playa, nos volvimos a casa. ¡Bárbaro! Y el día anterior, un mini-tour por Bélgica (Bruselas y Brujas)(2). El clima se comportó de 10, pero es una pena que dure tan poco.

After a almost one month within the 'official' summer, we have enjoyed a very nice weather. Temperatures near 30°C, some sun and that missed sticky sensation because of the warmness. I feel happy although many Dutch just say 'It's too hot'. Come on! nothing so nice like this. Unfortunely, this will not last long, there are storms all around Eindhoven, and temperatures are dropping down...

Taking advantage of the good weather, with some friends we went to Scheveningen, to the beach. We arrived late (6pm, after some traffic jams), but it was OK, sunny, warm and mates(1) in the middle! After the sunset, and a walk along the beach, came back home. Cool! And the day before, a mini-tour through Belgium (Brussels and Brugges)(2). The weather behaved very good. It's a shame it only lasts so short.

(1) Typical South-American beverage (a post on it soon!)

(2) Actualización/Update (24/7): Fotos publicadas en mi fotoblog/Uploaded photos in my photoblog

De señales de tráfico = On traffic signals

2007-07-12T22:11:00.000+02:00

Desde que vine a Holanda encontré que las señales de tráfico son muy diferentes de las que uno se encuentra en Argentina. Así por ejemplo, nunca te vas a topar aquí con señales como estas, primero porque no se usan las señales de rombo amarillo, pero principalmente porque no hay muchos lugares con curvas, montañas (por los posibles derrumbes) y hay muchas autopistas, así que la señal de no adelantarse casi ni se usa.

Since I came to Holland I have found very different traffic signals from what one could find in Argentina. For example, you will never find signals like these, first because they don't use yellow romb signals (very American style), but mainly because there are not many turns, mountains (for casting down hills), and there are many highways, so the no overtaking signal is almost not used.

Aquí, hay algunas algo extrañas y graciosas: se prohíbe que las mascotas hagan sus necesidades cerca de la playa.

Here, there are some which are pretty strange and funny: they prohibit puppies to do their necessities near the beach.

O, anuncian que hay un cruce de ranas bajo la ruta. Y es cierto, hay puentes especiales para que las ranas crucen la calles sin que sean aplastadas por autos o bicis.

Or, they announce that there is a frog cross underway. And this is true, there are special bridges to allow frogs to cross the street, without being smashed by car or bikes.

Pero la más graciosa que encontré fue la siguiente. Esta anuncia que hay gatos que podrían cruzar la calle. Cuando vi la señal lo pude comprobar: habían unos cuantos gatos en los alrededores.

Sin pensarlo mucho, me di cuenta que esta sería una señal muy útil en Argentina (y países limitrofes) para identidicas donde viven los políticos. Por ejemplo, esta señal podría ser una advertencia que en el área los conductores de autos o bici pueden disfrutar de una muy linda mansión, o que hay una entrada de un country en las proximidades...

But the funniest one I found was the following. This announces that there are cats that might be crossing the way. When I saw the signal I could really check it: there was quite a number of cats in the surrounding area.

Without thinking much, I realized this would be a very useful signal in Argentina (and surrounding countries) to identify the area where politicians live. For example, this could be a nice warning signal that in the area the motorists or bikers could enjoy a very luxirious house, or that a country's entrance is upcoming...

(Para los que no entienden, resulta que en Argentina a los ladrones se los suele llamar gatos. Y un político en en general un gato...)

(For those who doesn't know what I mean, a thief is usually called a cat in Argentina. So, a politician is in general a cat...)

Por fin, sin humo = Finally, no smoke

2007-07-08T13:40:00.000+02:00

Hace un par de días a la hora del almuerzo con algunos estudiantes de la universidad, me enteré de una nueva ley que comenzará a regir el año que viene: estará totalmente prohibido fumar en lugares públicos cerrados donde hay gente trabajando. Esto se aplicará a restaurantes, pubs y discotecas.

El principal espíritu de la ley es proteger los empleados no fumadores quienes en estos lugares se vuelven fumadores a la fuerza. El efecto secundario es que los clientes no fumadores no fumarán mientras están en estos lugares.

La única forma de permitir fumadores es preparando un salón por separado donde ellos pueden estar. Si quieren que algo se les sirva/pedir algo, deben ir (sin cigarrillo alguno) al área libre de humo y pedir lo que quieren.

La desventaja de esta ley es que a los lugares pequeños no les es posible preparar ningún salón separado para fumadores, y por lo tanto no se podrá fumar, perdiendo a los fumadores, que preferirán ir a lugares donde puedan disfrutar de su hobbie de generador de humo.

A pesar de las contras de la regla, espero ansiosamente de vivir la experiencia de estar en una disco y volver a casa sin olor a humo. Personalmente, pienso que es una muy buena ley que pretende proteger a los no fumadores, ya sean trabajadores o clientes, quienes hoy por hoy se ven forzados a ser fumadores, siendo expuestos a todas sus consecuencias dañinas.

A couple of days ago, at lunch time talking with some students of the university, I learned of a new rule that will start running next year: it will be totally prohibited to smoke in indoor public places where there are people working. This will apply to restaurants, pubs, and discos.

The main aim of this law is to protect non-smoking employees who in those places they become smokers by force. And the secondary effect is that non-smoking customers will not smoke when being at these places. The only way to allow smokers is preparing a separate room where they can stay. If they want to be served/order something, they have to go (with no cigarette) to the smoke-free area and order what they want.

The drawback of this rule is that small places are not able to prepare any smoking separate room, and therefore they will be smoke-free, loosing the smokers, who may only go to places where they can enjoy their smoke-generator hobbie. Inspite of drawbacks, I look forward to live the experience of being at a disco and go back home without smelling to smoke.

Personally, I think this is a good rule that pretends to protect non-smokers workers and customers who nowadays have to be forced-smokers, and be exposed to all the smoking harmful consequences.

Canción de amor propio

2007-07-07T19:06:00.000+02:00

Cuando uno está tanto tiempo solo, sumergido en tanto estudio, al final se da cuenta que de social mi trabajo no tiene nada. Es un trabajo autista, una carrera contra uno mismo, tratando de conseguir resultados innovadores antes que a otro se le ocurran. Obviamente, estas condiciones de trabajo le deben gustar a uno, y a mí me gusta, sino me hubiera ido de aquí hace rato.

Los fines de semana, trato de ocuparlos en su mayoría en actividades que no tienen que ver con el trabajo, con una calidad más social, haciendo compras, andando en la bicicleta de montaña, todo menos estudiar (salvo contadas ocasiones en las que no queda otra). Muchos de ellos se reflejan en este blog. Pero así y todo, hay un tiempo en el que me encuentro solo, y en el que reflexiono sobre todo. Sobre todo.

También me volqué a escuchar música, y en particular en mi idioma. La música en inglés la entiendo, pero debe haber un proceso de sedimentación como para entender lo que se quiere decir que aún no he logrado adquirir. Y de música va este post...

Esta es una canción de Ismael Serrano, simpática y dedicada a todos aquellos que no tenemos con quien gastar el amor que tenemos adentro...

Canción de amor propio

A veces me desdoblo y me digo al oído:
"¡Qué bueno respirar, sentirte vivo!
¡Qué bueno que te cruces por mi camino!".
Rodeado de un espejo circular,
soy feliz con esta esquizofrenia tan particular.

¡Qué grato es encontrarme vaya donde vaya!
Por más que me cuento mis chistes
siempre me hacen gracia.
Si me voy, si me duermo, la vida se apaga.
¡Qué potra saber que siempre me seré fiel!
¡Qué suerte desde un principio caerme tan bién!

Y voy y me levanto cada mañana,
feliz y seguro.
Me hago el desayuno,
me lo sirvo en la cama,
y allá voy,
menudo soy,
me dedico un arrechucho:
sexo seguro,
sin riesgos, sin contemplaciones,
dudo que nada me satisfaga mejor que un servidor,
menudo soy para el amor.
Y que le voy a hacer si la gente
me condenó al olvido, a ser autosuficiente,
si con eso sobrevivo, que no es poco,
mejor loco que mal acompañado.

¡Qué bonita, qué divertida es conmigo la convivencia!
¡Descojonarme de mi última ocurrencia!
Y esperarme despierto, vuelva a la hora que vuelva,
o cocinar para mí mi plato favorito,
no encontrar en el baño más pelos que los mios.

Sólo yo controlo, sólo yo determino,
mis hábitos de higiene.
Lloro en mi hombro cuando nadie me entiende.
Si me siento solo miro a la luna,
me juro amor eternamente.
Rodeado de un espejo circular,
soy feliz con esta esquizofrenia tan particular.

Y voy.

Y voy y me levanto cada mañana,
Feliz y seguro.
Me hago el desayuno,
me lo sirvo en la cama,
y allá voy,
menudo soy,
me dedico un arrechucho:
sexo seguro,
sin riesgos, sin contemplaciones,
dudo que nada me satisfaga mejor que un servidor,
menudo soy para el amor.
Y que le voy a hacer si la gente
me condenó al olvido, a ser autosuficiente,
si con eso sobrevivo, que no es poco,
mejor loco que mal acompañado.

Letra y música: Ismael Serrano. Copiado de aquí

... y que espero a que aparezca la persona elegida para compartir todo eso que tengo adentro... o al menos me espabile...

Apareciendo en los medios (de nuevo) = Appearing on the media (again)

2007-07-04T09:23:00.000+02:00

Sigamos apareciendo en los diarios. Esta vez, Natalia envió unas fotos a la Gaceta de Tucumán de Ceci, Pepijn, Eric y yo. Las fotos son de cuando estábamos en la Feria Latinoamérica. Cliqueá en el recorte para ir al artículo.
Let's continue appearing in newspapers. This time, Natalia submitted a couple of pictures of Ceci, Pepijn, Eric and me to La Gateta when we were at the Argentinean stand in the Feria Latinoamérica. Click on the picture to go to the published article.

Listo para publicar = Camera-ready

2007-07-03T12:00:00.000+02:00

Finalmente, ayer terminamos y enviamos la versión publicable de nuestro artículo para ISC'07. Sólo para ilustrar lo complicado de lo que pensamos, esta es una foto de la pizarra en mi oficina. Explicaciones a pedido :P

Finally, yesterday we finished and sent the camera-ready version of our paper for ISC'07. Just to illustrate how hard we have to think, this is a picture of the whiteboard in my office. Explanations on request :P

Vientos de agua

2007-07-02T22:17:00.000+02:00

Buena serie si las hay... me enteré que existía de casualidad. Así que la empecé a seguir, y en el medio de todo me enteré que se ganó muchos premios Martín Fierro(1).

Para los que no la vieron y/o oyeron de la serie, trata de las historias paralelas un asturiano que emigró a Argentina en la década de 1930 y de su hijo, quien en 2001 decide ir a probar suerte a España, dada la mala situación económico/social de Argentina.

La historia está excelentemente preparada, montada y descrita. Las historias son realmente paralelas, salvo el contexto temporal de tanto el padre como el hijo. Por desgracia, sólo duró 13 episodios en Argentina (en España lo levantaron al tercero). Ni hablar del elenco de primer nivel.

Personalmente me sentí doblemente identificado: las historias del padre son en gran mayoría las que me contaba mi abuelo cuando yo era chico. Fue muy emocionante ver en la tele lo que alguna vez me contaron. Por otro lado, las andanzas del hijo en España en estos tiempos me trajo a la memoria muchos momentos que viví cuando mis padres (y hermanos por detrás) emigraron en la misma época.

Muy buena historia, y aclaro que no soy amante de la TV o cine, pero esta serie me atrapó. La recomiendo. Nuevamente repito que es una lástima, la historia tiene un final forzado, debido a la falta de audiencia. Cada día entiendo menos qué es lo que está pasando con la TV, tanto en Argentina como en España... una verdadera pena.

A propósito, ya no tengo en qué matar mi tiempo libre, ¿alguna serie buena recomendable y en castellano para ver?

Links:

* Vientos de agua en wikipedia

(1) Son como los premios más representativos (y controvertidos) que se usa como parámetro para premiar la calidad de los programas de radio y televisión argentinos.

¿Dónde está José? = Where is José?

2007-06-29T13:41:00.000+02:00

Este es el recorte del diario de la bicicleteada sobre los españoles en Eindhoven.

This is the news report at the newspaper regarding the biking about Spaniards in Eindhoven.

Con mucha imaginación se puede ver que aparezco. La crónica está bastante completita, pero hay que leer holandés :D

Having too much imagination you can find me in the photograph. The report is quite complete, but you have to read Dutch :D

Y, ¿¿¿dónde está el verano??? = And, where is the summer???

2007-06-27T22:19:00.000+02:00

Este verano a llegado en teoría. Desde que empezó la temperatura no ha subido a más de 18°C. Además ha estado lloviendo todos los días, todo el día, y hoy hacían 8°C en la mañana. Y como si no fuera poco, ha estado ventoso.

Pero luego de pensarlo un poco me doy cuenta que estas son las condiciones normales del clima para la región y la estación. Lo que pasa es que el clima fue muy calido... Pero de todos modos, me iba gustando el clima de aquí, en especial durante la primavera (el invierno estuvo bárbaro también), pero de nuevo me doy cuenta que el tiempo es como esto. Como se dice en otro país, es lo que hay...

PD: La imagen muestra el acumulado de lluvia de ayer.

This summer has arrived in theory. Since it started the temperature didn't soared more than 18°C. Besides it has been raining all days, all the day, and today it was 8°C in the morning. And, as it were not enough, it's been windy.

But after thinking a bit I realize that these are normal weather conditions for this region and season. What happens is that the weather has been being too mild... Anyway, I was liking the climate and specially this spring (and winter was great as well!), but now I again realize it is like this. As in some country it is costumary to say, it is what we have...

PS: The image shows rain accumulation of yesterday.

SAETA, SAETA

2007-06-24T20:54:00.000+02:00

En esta nota [1] del diario El Tribuno se entrevista a uno al gerente de SAETA, la compañía estatal (para cuando hay que gastar) y privada (para cuando hay que cobrar) que opera el transporte urbano e interurbano en Salta.

En síntesis: el tema es que pusieron unas máquinas que leen tarjetas magnéticas con los cuales los pasajeros pagan el boleto. Son muy novedosas porque ni siquiera requiren contacto físico. Ahora resulta que pasa que las máquinas no andan en algunos casos, entonces, no dejan subir a los pasajeros, quienes compraron y recargaron sus tarjetas. Por ejemplo, ver [3].

El tema es que ahora van a poner un empleado más por bondi (los que tienen las máquinas problemáticas) para comprobar que ningún pasajero se quiere hacer el vivo y subir, por ejemplo, con una tarjeta descargada. El tema tiene dos matices:

* Si un usuario pagó y se adaptó al nuevo sistema, no hay por qué demorarlo porque las máquinas no andan.

* Si un usuario sabe que la máquina no anda, se va a querer hacer el vivo y subir sin pagar.

El tema es que no creo que el colectivo sea identificable desde afuera como para despertar a los vivos (que no faltarían por supuesto).

Así que muchachos de SAETA, háganse cargo del nuevo sistema de transporte, y multen en serio al que sea responsable de que las máquinas anden.

Sólo una corrección: yo estuve en Barcelona hace poco y NO hay ningún sistema parecido al que Luis Yanes dice. Ahora, si mal no recuerdo el sistema fue implementado en Mendoza. Chequeé un poco la información y resulta que lo dejaron de usar a finales de 2006... no vaya a ser que nos entregaron un muerto... (Ver [2])

En fin, creo que el sistema de transporte no está teniendo una solución integral, todo se basa en parches parciales, que al final de todo van a terminar en una regresión hasta antes que SAETA fuera creada... esa es mi sensación desde bien lejos...

Lecturas:
[1] Nota en el diario El Tribuno edición digital
[2] Ciudad de Mendoza - Wikipedia, sección transporte
[3] Algo relacionado en el blog de Fede

OffTopic: el clima está horrible, y me dediqué a publicar posts en mi blog :P

Publicidad con sonido cuartetero = Advertising with Argentinean rythm

2007-06-24T20:10:00.000+02:00

Desde hace un par de días hay una propaganda en la tele con un tema musical argentino de fondo. Mírenlo:

Since a couple of weeks, there is an advertising on TV with an Argentinean song as background music. Watch it:

Es la Mona Giménez, un cantante de cuarteto. Si estuvieras en Argentina la vas a escuchar muchas veces, tantas veces que te vas a cansar en unos días. Pero cuando se está afuera, uno le da un valor diferente a las cosas... Gracias Naty-tuc por la búsqueda ;)

A propósito, ayer fui a una disco y tocaron un tema de Argentina. Fue en una disco, no afuera en los escenarios de la Fiesta de la lluvia, perdón del Sol. todavía estoy tratando de ver por qué se llama así. No me gustó este año ya que el clima no acompañó.

It's la Mona Giménez, a 'cuarterto' singer. If you were in Argentina you will listen it many times, as many that you will get tired in a few days. But when you are abroad, you give different values to so small things... thanks Naty-tuc for the searching ;)

BTW, yesterday I went to a disco, and they played one Argentinean song! It was in a disco, not outside in the stages for the 'Fiesta de la lluvia' (Party of the rain), sorry 'sol' (sun). I'm still trying to figure out why it is called this way. I didn't like this pary this year as the weather didn't help at all.

Castellano rioplatense

2007-06-24T18:58:00.000+02:00

Ese es el nombre técnico del dialecto que hablamos en Argentina. Hay muchas cosas que a los países los hacen distinguibles, por algo son países. En nuestro caso tenemos la particularidad de haber adoptado una deformación del castellano. Entre ellas están el yeísmo (pronunciar las 'll' e 'y' con con fuerza y hasta sin distinción), el seseo (no hacer distinciones entre 'c' y 's' en la pronunciación) y el voseo (modificación de la conjugación en la segunda persona del singular cambiando el tu por vos). En la wikipedia vas a tener algo de detalles más técnicos.

Lo curioso de esto es que algunas de estas deformaciones no son propias de la cuenca del Río de la Plata, sino que hacen extensivos a otros lugares. Pero, si mi ignorancia no me engaña, creo que en ningún otro lugar se acepta tanto. Con esto quiero decir que no sólo se usa verbalmente, sino que se practica en los medios gráficos. Para que tengan una idea para los que no son argentinos (o de alrededores) las publicidades, los sitios web y todo tipo de expresión escrita se escribe en rioplatense. Pues este va a ser el tópico de este hilo.

No es tan complicado, lo pueden probar ustedes. Por ejemplo, el portal de Yahoo Argentina está escrito en rioplatense. Tomé una página de ejemplo, y la comparé con Yahoo España:

Luego me fui a la página de Movistar, una empresa de capitales españoles. Aquí la comparación:

Cuando Movistar impulsó el cambio de logotipo (hace unos 3 años) su campaña publicitaria se basaba en expresiones como elegime, buscame, etc. La campaña fue a nivel internacional, en los países de habla hispana donde esa compañía opera. El punto aquí es que las publicidades en castellano puro eran aplicables (sino aplicadas) en toda Latinoamérica, salvo en Argentina, donde tuvieron al menos que cambiar la conjugación para que esté en rioplatense.

Di estas dos compañías por dar unos ejemplos, pero lo que sí es seguro que ningún portal se va a dirigir en tu sino en vos. Aquí les dejo una seguidilla de cosas que encontré en la web relacionado con esto.

Pero voy a seguir con este tema, es algo que nos distingue a los argentinos, en general para el mal sentido, pero es algo que escapa al alcance de este post, ya voy a pensar en alguito y publicarlo.

This post has to do with some differences between the Castillian spoken in Spain and the Castillian spoken in Argentina. This difference is informal and exists in most of countries. It's only used by people when they communicate, but in general does not go beyond this. In Argentina it does: here I have shown some examples and comparisons for some webpages. It does not make any sense to explain this but I guess this kind of things exists in other languages as well (I know of that from Dutch and Flemish). For reference you can check wikipedia. This is a topic that really interest me, I'll publish new posts in the future concerning this for sure, because it is the main thing that distinguishes us from the rest of Spanish speaking people.

Bicicleta con barro = Muddy biking

2007-06-19T23:16:00.000+02:00

El sábado pasado el clima se comportó de una manera que realmente molestaba: llovía, luego sol, a los 5 minutos algo de viento y lluvia de nuevo, y esta serie de eventos se repitió indefinidamente. A pesar de esto, Pepijn y yo decidimos salir con nuestras bicicletas al bosque y hacer algo de ejercicio físico (de lo contrario, vamos a seguir creciendo a los lados...)

Last Saturday the weather was a bit upsetting, because it rained, later there was some sunshine, after five minutes some wind and rain again, and this series of events successively repeated in a endless loop. Inspide of this, Pepijn and I decided to hang with our bikes to the forest and do some physical exercise (otherwise, we will continue growing to the sides...)

Este fue el resultado:

This was the result:

¡Llenos de barro! Como pueden observar, Pepijn no trato de esquivar los charcos. Pero al fin, hicimos ejercicio y contribuimos a adelgazar nuestras siluetas.

Full of mud! As you can observe, Pepijn didn't try much to avoid puddles. But anyway, we did exercise and contribute to narrow our body-shapes.

Spaanse Brabanders

2007-06-18T22:50:00.000+02:00

El domingo pasado recibí una invitación a través del CLO para participar de un evento organizado por la municipalidad de Eindhoven sobre la presentación del libro "Ik kwam met een koffer van karton" de Geertje van Os en el que se cuentan historias de los inmigrantes españoles que vinieron a Eindhoven a trabajar para Philips durante la década de 1960. En el evento fueron invitados el embajador español en los Países Bajos, la vice-intendenta de Eindhoven, la secretaria de comunicación y promoción de Eindhoven, la autora del libro y público en general.

Last Sunday I got an invitation to go via the CLO to an event organized by the municipality of Eindhoven about the presentation of the book "Ik kwam met een koffer van karton" by Geertje van Os which talks about the stories of Spanish people who came to Eindhoven to work for Philips during the 1960's. In the event were invited the Spanish ambassador in The Netherlands, the vice-major of Eindhoven, the secretary of comunication and promotion of Eindhoven municipality, the author of the book, and public in general.

El evento consistió en hacer un recorrido en bicicleta por los lugares más emblemáticos de los españoles en Eindhoven. Empezamos en la estación de trenes de Eindhoven, en donde hay una estatua de Frits Philips, el que tuvo la idea de traer los españoles.

The event consisted in visiting by bike the most significant places for Spaniards in Eindhoven. We started the track at the train station of Eindhoven, where there is a statue of Frits Philips, who was the one that propose to bring the first group of Spaniards.

Luego, nos fuimos a la actual oficina central de la policía de Eindhoven, lugar donde la oficina de inmigración solía estar y donde los españoles tuvieron que hacer sus primeros trámites y papeleos.

After that, we went to the nowadays Police main office, where the migration office used to be and where Spaniards had to do their first official procedure and documentation.

De allí, fuimos a la entrada de las instalaciones principales de Philips, donde los españoles trabajaban principalmente haciendo trabajos pesados, como poner en cajas de cartón los televisores inmensos y pesados, de ahí es donde viene el título del libro.

Later, we followed the route and arrive to the Philips main installations, where the Spanish people used to work, mainly doing heavy works, like packing the huge old televisions on the carton cases, that is where the title of the book comes from.

Luego llegamos a una de las asociaciones españolas, "El círculo español". Bailaron algunas sevillanas, habían buenas tapas, vinos, y cafés en el bar. Hubieron agradecimientos al embajador (recién se nos unió aquí porque hubo un atasco en el camino a Eindhoven), discursos. Luego más tapas, pulpo, algunos quesos, jamón serrano, y continuamos la ruta.

Then, we arrive to one of the Spanish associations, "El Círculo Español". There were some Sevillanas, tapas, wine and coffe at the bar. Some speeches, greetings to the ambassador for his presence (he just joined at this point the route because of a traffic jam in his way to Eindhoven). After some pulp, cheese and Serrano ham, we continued the route.

Gelderlandplein, conocida como la "Plaza España". La mayoría de los españoles vivieron en los alrededores de esta plaza.

Gelderlandplein, usually called as "Plaza España", the Spain square. Most of Spaniards happened to live in this neighborhood.

Luego de un recorrido por el barrio, llegamos al Evoluon. Esta construcción con una fachada un poco loca fue el símbolo del progreso durante los sesentas. Se ubica justo al lado del barrio de los españoles, y fue usada con la principal foto en las postales que se enviaban a la familia en España. Se usaban expresiones como "estamos en el futuro", o "mira en qué se gastan el dinero los holandeses porque todo va de maravillas".

After some ride through the Spanish neighborhood, we arrived at the Evoluon. This very fancy-shaped building was a symbol of progress during the sixties. As it is located next to the Spanish neighborhood, it used to be the main postal card of Spaniards to their relatives in Spain, and expressions like "we are in the future" or "look in what Dutch people spend the money because everything goes more than nice" were the typical writings on familiar letters.

Seguimos en el Centro Español. Fuimos recibimos por algunos españoles, comimos unas gambas, rabas, tapas, jamones serranos, tomamos vino, etc. Puedo afirmar que fue más que delicioso.

Later, we came to the Centro Español. We were received by some Spaniards, we had some tapas, rabas, wine, gambas, jamón serrano, etc. I can say it was more than delicious.

NdelA: Me olvidé de sacar una foto en el centro, pero esta es cerca, cuando íbamos en bicicleta.
NbyA: I forgot to take a shot in the Spanish place, but this is close, when we were riding the bikes.

Siguiendo con nuestro apretado itinerario, llegamos al bar de Marcelo, llamado "Costa del Sol" donde luego de leer un muy lindo poema dedicado a Marcelo y todos los inmigrantes. Comimos paella con muchos maricos.

Following our very busy schedule, we got in the Marcelo's restaurant, called "Costa del Sol" where after reading a very nice poem dedicated to Marcelo and all inmigrants, we ate paella, with lots of mariscos.

Para terminar, visitamos "Don Quijote", un almacén de venta de productos tradicionales españoles y de muy buena calidad. Por supuesto que conocimos a los dueños, un poco de su historia, y seguimos con quesos, jamones, cava y muchos otros productos regionales.

To finish our track, we visited "Don Quijote", a store with many traditional and very-high quality products from Spain. Of course, we got to know the owners, a bit of their history, and continued with some cheeses, hams, cava and many other regional products.

Al final nos volvimos al Stadhuisplein, donde cada uno se fue a casa, luego de unas horas conociendo el mini-mundo español en Eindhoven.

Sólo una reflexión:de acurdo a lo que los españoles me comentaron, parece qye durante los sesenta la situación no era como lo es ahora: era difícil integrarse a la sociedad holandesa, y es por eso que se unieron y formaron su propia sociedad cerrada como una forma de ayudarse. Hoy en día, las cosas son diferentes, por lo menos para mi percepción y lo ratifica lo que los españoles ven hoy.

Una cosa que me causó mucha gracia fue el estilo holandés de organizar, teníamos una agenda con horarios para todo. En los lugares españoles, en cambio, estaban relajados y disfrutando del momento, a tal extremo que en todos los lugares donde había comida, teníamos que salir a las corridas masticando la comida mientras desbloqueábamos las bicicletas para seguir la ruta. Aunque tratamos de convencerlos de relajarnos y disfrutar el buen momento, no lo pudimos lograr, corriendo para tratar de llegar a horario al siguiente lugar. Personalmente lo disfruté un montón, al margen de haber llenado mi estómago, conocí muchos españoles y un poco de la historia del lugar en donde estoy viviendo.

At the end, we came back to the starting point at Stadhuisplein, were everyone followed its way back home, after a few hours of knowing the Spanish mini-world in Eindhoven.

Just a reflection: according to what Spaniards told me, it seems that during the sixties the situation wasn't how it is now: it was much more complicated to get into the Dutch society, and as a way to help themselves they joined and formed their own closed society. Nowadays, though, things are different, at least from my perception and what this group of Spaniards say.

The only llamative thing I really had fun of, was that at the best Dutch organization style, we had an agenda, and timetable for everything. At Spanish places, however, they were relaxing and enjoying the moment, in such a extreme way that in all places where there were some food served, we had to run away bitting the food while unlocking the bikes to continue the track. Although we tried to convinced them to relax and enjoy, we couldn't make it, running to try to get on time to the next place. I enjoyed a lot, met lots of Spanish people and knew a bit more about the place where I am living.

Se va la segunda... = The second is up...

2007-06-14T20:33:00.000+02:00

Se va la segunda publicación. Así es. El invierno pasado mi primer artículo fue aceptado, luego de un gran esfuerzo junto a un colega y mi supervisor por supuesto, lo enviamos. Va a aparecer en ISC, una conferencia que tendrá lugar en Valparaíso, Chile. Mehmet va a dar la charla el mes de Octubre próximo.

Recibimos muchos comentarios de los revisores, y por lo tanto todavía debemos hacer mucho sobre la versión enviada para que esté un poquito más decente...

What is the second? My second publication. Yeah! Last winter my first paper was accepted, and after quite some effort, together with a colleague of mine and my supervisor of course, we submitted it. This will appear at ISC, a conference that will take place in Valparaíso, Chile. Mehmet will give the talk coming October.

We got quite a lot of comments from reviewers, and so we have to still work on the submitted version to make it a bit more decent....

Feria Latinoamericana 2007

2007-06-06T21:03:00.000+02:00

Estimado visitante,

En este vínculo

http://saltajose.multiply.com/photos/album/23

va a encontrar la foto que se sacó en la Feria Latinoamérica el 10 de junio de 2007. Encuentre su foto usando el código que le dimos anotado.

Muchas gracias por su visita, esperamos que la haya pasado bien, y ¡esperamos verlo el año que viene!

Atentamente,

--
Organizadores del puesto argentino

Actualización 14/06: Contribución de Naty-mdp con fotos de la feria. ¡Gracias!

========

Dear visitor,

At this link

http://saltajose.multiply.com/photos/album/23

you will find the photos that have been taken to you at Feria Latinoamérica on June 10th, 2007. Find your photo using your photo code we wrote down to you.

Thanks a lot, we hope you enjoyed the party and we look forward to seeing you next year!

Best regards,

--
Argentinean stand organizers
Update 14/06: Contribution by Naty-mdp with some picture in the festival. Thanks!!

=========

Beste bezoeker,

Op deze website

http://saltajose.multiply.com/photos/album/23

kunt u uw foto(s) vinden gemaakt tijdens de Feria Latinoamericana van 10 juni 2007.

Om makkelijk uw foto(s) te kunnen vinden, kunt u gebruikt maken van de code die u tijdens de Feria heeft ontvangen.

Bedankt voor uw bezoek!. We hopen u een goede tijd heeft gehad en we zien u
graag volgend jaar terug!

Met vriendelijke groeten.

--
Het Argentijnse team
Update 14/06: Fotos van Naty-mdp op de feria. Bedank!

Sobre los apodos en M$N = On M$N's nicks

2007-06-01T23:46:00.000+02:00

Me considero un usuario pasivo del M$N: la mayoría del tiempo estoy invisible. Hace un par de semana me puse a escribir los nicks y frases de mis contactos. Como podrán ver, uno puede deducir en qué andan, estados de ánimo, etc sin ni siquiera chatear con ellos. Aquí hay un par, por cuestiones de privacidad, retiré los nombres por nombres genéricos.

I would consider myself a passive M$N user: most of the time I'm invisibly connected. A couple of weeks ago I decided to write down most of nicks and phrases of my contacts. As you could see, you can figure out about their lives, mood, etc without even chatting to them. Here there are a few, by privacy I substituted name for generic ones.

Deportistas:

por Dios! 7 a 0
Si Si Siguiente ronda, Bolivar 0, Tocula 2!
Soy del santo hasta que me muera!!
q grande Boquita!
Toluca mi + grande amor
Esperando x el milagro Siempre Toluca, siempre Cardozo! Regresa Jose!!

Frases:

El amor y la sencillez callada diciendo menos, hablan más...
El amor es cosa de otros!!
Las cosas no hay que hacérnolas más difíciles de lo que parecen
Hoy puede ser un gran día, duro con él!

Sociales/mensajes:

Fulano me fui al centro con las girls
Perdi mi Celu! buahhh!!!
nog 9 dagen en dan ga ik naar LA!!
numero de mobil nuevo!!
Estudiando como un H.P.
Ik heb zin in een biefstuk
I wanna shine on in the hearts of men...
Fulano nos fuimos a celebrar el dia de la reina a Amsterdam
Nos vemos en Córdoba!!
Nació Mengano
Fulano me fui al parque con las girls
Als de kat van huis is...
erg leuk weekend gehad!!! :) :) ben koffer inpakken!
@ Univar.R'dam.nl
Nada, de nada
Habitacion $4000, honorarios $2000, insumos $3000, estar hospitalizado 2 dias no tiene madre!
Tengo que dejar de malgastar mis energias...
Mengana is today 3 months old!!!! Happy B-day Cuñis!
@Eindhoven
Ehr... We can still make it, right Fulano? right?
que jamon
Dejalo ahi, no mires atras, no preguntes porque...
Do Not Disturb
I love my baby boy
Yo No SuFrO dE lOcUrA, lA vIvO
Toy donde Sultana
Ani oev otaj Mengana
Feliz dia de la madre mami!!!! Fulado, te quiren mengana y perengana
Hoy Havana con las girls!!
Así tenía k ser y así es mejor...
Ens traslladem!!

Así que, ¿cuál fue el apodo más gracioso o explicíto que alguna vez hayan usado o visto?

So, now, what was the funniest or most explicit nickname you have ever used or seen?

Cansado de descansar = Tired of resting

2007-06-01T23:20:00.000+02:00

He estado unos días ausente del blog, principalmente porque estuve en Barcelona por unos 16 días. Visité algunos familiares y amigos, a la vez que asistí a Eurocrypt en el medio.

Así que, con la familia la pasé de 10, recargando la necesidad de estar en contacto con la gente más cercana. Aparte de actualizarme con los últimos acontecimientos (familiares), me trataron con mucho cariño. Para ellos, ¡¡muchísimas gracias!!

Con respecto a la conferencia, todo el mundo sabe que estos eventos son meramente sociales: es una muy buena oportunidad para conocer y encontrarse con gente trabajando en criptografía, e intercambiar ideas. También es cierto que hay muchos eventos sociales como excursiones (al Mont Juïc y Bodegas Codorniu) y hasta una cena de gala (con un espectáculo de flamenco) para complementar a las cuestiones técnicas.

Y... apenas de regreso a Eindhoven, asistí a un simposio local. De neuvo estuve en un lugar relajante y placentero, para escuchar sobre las tendencias en matemática (y cripto) de los lugares cercanos.

Por todo esto, ahora estoy cansado de estar relajado y disfrutar, y de ahora en más me temo que es la hora de trabajar duro de nuevo y tratar de tener resultados para pasarla bien (de nuevo) pronto :)

I've been away a couple of weeks, you might have noticed it with my blog. I went to Barcelona for 16 days. I visited some relatives and friends there and attended to Eurocrypt 2007 in the mean time.

So, with relatives I spent a very nice time, recharging the need of keeping in touch with the closest people nearby. Apart of getting update of the latest (familiar) news, they really treat me in a very lovely way. To them, thanks a lot.

With respect to the conference, everybody knows that these events are merely social: they are a good opportunity to get to know, meet people working in cryptography and exchange ideas. It is also true that there are many social events, like excursions (to the Mont Juïc and Codorniu Cellars) and a gala dinner (with a flamenco show) to complement the technicalities.

And... just after coming back, I attended to a local symposium. I again went to a restful and pleasant place to hear about the latest trends in mathematics (and crypto) nearby.

For all this, I now tired of being relaxed and enjoying, so I guess it is time to work hard again and try to get results to have a very good nice time (again) soon :)

Salto de balcones = Balcony jumping

2007-05-11T00:08:00.000+02:00

Miraba televisión cuando de repente alguien llamó a la puerta. Pensé que el volúmen estaba alto, disimulé bajandolo un poco (en realidad lo puse en mudo :D). Así que estaba asustado, un muchacho bastante preocupado, lo ví por el agujerito de la puerta. Insistía en golpear mi puerta, así que me decidí a abrir.

No estaba solo, estaba con una chica, él empezó a hablar en holandés. Cuando terminé, como no había entendido nada, le pedí que si podría hablar en inglés. Quería saltar por mi balcón al balcón de la vecina (la chica acompañante): ella se había olvidado las llaves en la mesa, y cerrado la puerta estando afuera. Les dije que no tenía problemas, sólo que tuviera cuidado. Así que saltó de mi balcón para caer en el balcón de mi vecinita... Cosas que sólo me pasan a mí...

I was watching television and suddenly someone knock at my door. I tough the volume was high, so I dissimulated and turned a bit down (actually I muted it :D) So, I was scared, a guy looked quite worried, I saw him through the small hole in the door. He insisted knocking, and I decided to open.

He wasn't alone, was together with a girl, he just started speaking in Dutch. After he finished, I hadn't got anything, I ask him to speak me in English. He wanted to jump from my balcony to the balcony of my neighbor (who was the girl): she had forgot the keys on the table, and closed the door being outside. No problem with me, I said, just be careful. So, he jumped over my balcony to get into the neighbor balcony... Things that only happen to me...

¿Discriminación? = Discrimination?

2007-04-28T23:49:00.000+02:00

Anoche salí de bares con un amigo. Decidimos entrar a uno de los tantos bares en el Stratumseind y este fue el diálogo con uno de los gorilas de seguridad en la puerta: (traducido al castellano, todo fue en inglés)

- (Algo en holandés que no entendí)
- ¿Podrías hablar en inglés por favor? No hablo holandés.
- ¡No podés entrar!
- ¿Por qué?
- Porque no hablás holandés.

Y el chavón se fue al joraca(1) cuando le decía que esto era un claro acto discriminatorio. No quise discutir más, no tenía sentido, pero me calentó la actitud del vago este...

Pasa muy a menudo que cuando voy solo o con otros vagos y no nos dejan entrar. La razón: hay demasiados hombres adentro, y en algún sentido es lógica la respuesta, vas a salir rápido... Pero lo que este individuo hizo anoche no habla bien de los muchachos de seguridad holandés. Una pena.

Obviamente, a los lectores les digo que estén preparados cuando traten de entrar a 'Insiders'. Sea esto un escrache público y un punto negativo para esta disco.

(1) joraca=carajo

Last night I went pubbing out with a friend. We decide to enter to some of the pub in Stratumseind and this was the dialogue with one of the security gorillas at the door:

- (Something in Dutch I didn't get)
- Could you speak English please? I don't speak Dutch.
- You cannot come inside!
- Why?
- Because you don't speak Dutch.

And the guy went away when I said that this was a clear discrimination act. I didn't want to go further, didn't make any sense, but it really upset me his attitude.

It frequently happens to me that when I come alone or with other guys that they don't allow us to get in. The reason: there are too many men, and in some sense you can think that it is logical the response, you will be back outside in a while. But what this guy did last night does not speak well of Dutch security staff. A pity.

Of course, to all those readers, be prepared when trying to get into 'Insiders'. Let this be a public complaint and a negative point to this disco.

Las dos Saltas = The two Salta's

2007-04-26T22:18:00.000+02:00

Se me hizo costumbre leer los dos principales diarios de Salta. Ellos sonEl Tribuno y Nuevo Diario de Salta (conocido con el diario chiquito). Muy seguido me encuentro con dos visiones totalmente distintas de la misma noticia. Para los que no saben, el dueño de El Tribuno es el hermano del actual gobernador y por lo tanto los comentarios y la forma de redactar las notas se hace de forma tal de hablar favorablemente de lo que es conveniente para el gobernador. En el otro extremo está el diario chiquito totalmente en oposición a lo que El Tribuno publica, teniendo hasta una inclinación muy de izquierda que muchas veces dista de ser realista.

Así que más que estar informado, tengo que promediar las noticias para imaginar lo que realmente está pasando. También chequeo algunos portales de radios, pero todas tienden a ser congruentes con El Tribuno y el gobierno, pues reciben mucha propaganda oficial desde el gobierno. Una lamentable pena: parece que no hay medios independientes en Salta. Eeeen fiiinn (muletilla copiada de alguien)

It is a costume for me to read the two main newspapers from Salta. Namely, El Tribuno and Nuevo Diario de Salta (alias El Diario Chiquito). Often, I read two different perspectives for the same news. For those that do not know, El Tribuno is owned by the brother of the current governor and therefore the comments and redaction of news are done to talk favorably of everything which is of interest for the governor, of course. On the other hand, el diario chiquito is totally opposite to El Tribuno, and even more, has some inclination to give left-wing opinions, which in many situation are far to be realistic.

Therefore, more than get informed, I have to average the news, and imagine what the real story is about. I often check some webpages of some radios, but all of them tend to be in agreement with the current government actions, mainly due to the juicy official advertisement they get paid for. A complete pity: there seems to be no independent media in Salta. Eeeh hee... (typical Dutch sigh)

José en China

2007-04-24T21:36:00.000+02:00

Así es, yo en China, una experiencia increíble. Bueno, pasé una muy linda semana, no sé si me voy a dar mañas para contar todo. Separemos todo en "actividades".

Yeah, me in China, an unbelievable experience. So, I spent a very nice time, and I don't know if I will manage to tell all about that. Let's separate everything in "activities".

Conferencia: como todos saben, fui a China para dar una charla en una conferencia, PKC 2007. Para mí la organización estuvo fabulosa, todo arregladito, todo en horario, y las charlas fueron de un alto nivel a pesar de algunos problemas de pronunciación (¡yo incluído!). Mi charla fue, a mi entender, "lo suficientemente buena" en el sentido que la dí en tiempo, sin dejar lugar para las preguntas de la audiencia... una pena. La conexión a interner no era buena, pero no me era indispensable.

Conference: as you know I went to China to give a talk in a conference, PKC 2007. For me the organization was great, everything arranged, all in time, and the talks were of somewhat high level despite of some pronouncing problems (me included!). My talk was, to my understanding "good enough" in the sense that I gave it just in time, without time for questions for the audience... a pity. The internet connection wasn't good, but for me it wasn't indispensable.

Pekín: Pensaba que la ciudad era algo chica comparado a los estándares chinos. Pero no: 15 millones de habitantes e inmensa. La ciudad luce moderna: rascacielos con ventanas espejadas. Las calles son bastantes buenas, la infraestructura es en general muy buena. Hay muchos sitios en construcción debido a las olimpíadas en año que viene. El tráfico es un completo desastre: los peatones, bicicletas y autos por todos lados, nadie respeta las señales o pasos peatonales. También es ruidosa: sólo bocinas y motores por donde sea. En las autopistas los conductores es como que se barajaran, de un carril a otro y bocinean por las dudas...

Beijing: I thought the city was rather small compared to Chinese standards. But not: 15 million inhabitants and a huge city. The city has some modern looking: skycrapers with mirrored windows. The streets are quite good, the infrastructure in general is very good. There are plenty constructions sites due to the olympics next year. The traffic is a complete mess: pedestrians, bikes and cars everywhere, nobody cares about traffic lights, signals or pedestrian passes. It is also too noisy: just horns and engines noise everywhere. In highways drivers just swap lanes randomly and horn just in case...

Fui junto a colega mío. Pasamos 3 días haciendo turismo:

I went together with a colleague of mine. We spent three days just doing tourism:

Palacio de verano: el primer día de una estadía en Pekín nos fuimos al palacio de verano. Fuimos allí para evitar el jet-lag(1): partimos de Schiphol el domingo a las 5pm, arribamos a Pekín el lunes a las 9am (hora local, +6 c.r. a Holanda). Así que nos quedamos despiertos hasta las 10pm este día para adaptarnos a la zona horaria. El palacio de verano es un parque inmenso con un lago y muchos "castillos" al estilo chino. Nos tomamos un bote para ir a una isla en medio del lago. La pasamos bien, a pesar de estar cansados.

Summer palace: the first day of our stay in Beijing we went to the Summer Palace. We went there to avoid the jet-lag: we departed from Schiphol on Sunday at 5pm, arrive to Beijing on Monday at 9am (local time, +6 w.r.t. Holland). So we were awake until 10pm this day, to adapt to the time zone. The Summer Palace is a huge park with a lake and some Chinese-style "castles". We also took a boat to go to one island in the middle of the lake. Despite of being too tired we enjoyed.

La gran muralla: Esta excursión estaba incluída como una de las actividades de la conferencia. Qué puedo decir: un sueño cumplido. Es impresionante y mágico, gente por todos lados (es un lugar turístico :S), muchos vendedores, donde el regateo es la forma de acordar el precio. No hay palabras para describir este lugar.

The Great Wall: This excursion was included as one of the activities in the conference. What can I say: an accomplished dream. It is impressive and magic, full of people (it is a touristic attraction :S), many sellers, where the bargaining is the way to deal the price. No words to describe this place.

Jardín botánico: Este es el equivalente al Keukenhof en Holanda, pero mucho más enorme, y un poquito descuidado debo decir. Está pegado a unos cerros que escalamos. Caminamos alrededor, tomamos fotos, y disfrutamos el silencio y la paz (lejos del ruido y la gente tratando de vender lo que sea.

Botanic garden: This is the equivalent to the Keukenhof in The Netherlands, but much more huger, and a bit careless I should say. It is next to some hills which can be climbed. We just walked around, took pictures and enjoyed silentness and peace (away from noise and people trying to sell whatever)

La ciudad prohibida: Esta fue la "casa" del emperador donde el acceso era limitado a alguna gente 'especial'. Muchos edificios, jardines internos y mucho espacio para el emperador para disfrutar de sus esposas. No me gustaría ser el emperador, excepto por el hecho que tendría como 30 concubinas... A un determinado punto es aburrido, la arquitectura es simplemente igual como en cualquier templo. Habían algunas exhibiciones adentro. Como muchos dicen, yo estuve allí...

Forbidden city: This was the "house" of the emperor where the access was limited to some 'special' people. Many buildings, internal gardens and much space to the emperor to enjoy his wives. I wouldn't like to be the emperor, except for the fact I'd have more than 30 concubines... At some point it is boring, the architecture is the just the same as any temple. There were some exhibitions inside. As many say, I've been there...

Regateo: esta es la forma de acordar el precio de casi cualquier cosa que compramos (excepto, p.e. en taxis o restaurantes). Una vez que mostrás interés en algún producto, el juego empieza: el vendedor te dice un precio irracionalmente alto, que tenés que rebajar (en general al 10-20%). Luego, los vendedores van a tratar de convencerte que el precio que ofrecés is simplemente ridículo y te da una "oferta especial" que sigue siendo alta. Luego, mejorás tu oferta. Y este juego sigue hasta que se bloquea. O aceptás la oferta del vendedor (que es alta) o te vas sin comprar. En algún punto, incluso si estés lejos, el vendedor aceptará tu oferta diciéndote que sos un mal tipo o algo por el estilo. El proceso puede durar como 30 minutos, es bastante cansador pero a la vez divertido para ambos, las bromas están siempre ahí.

Bargaining: this is the way to agree on a price to almost everything you want to buy (except in taxis or restaurants). Once you show interest in some product, the game starts: the seller just tells you an unreasonably high price, that you have to drop down (in general to the 10-20%). Then the sellers will try to convince you that the price you offer is just ridiculous and gives you a "special offer", which is still high. Then you improve your bid. And this game follows, in an interactive way until it gets blocked. Either, you accept the offer by the seller (which is always high) or you step away. At some point, even when you are far the seller will accept your bid, telling you that you a bad guy and so. This process can last for almost 30 minutes, it is stressful but at the same time funny for both, the jokes are always there.

Bueno, esto es un simple reconto de lo que viví en China. En futuras publicaciones les voy a contar más. Las fotos ya se vienen... no sean impacientes...

Well, this is a brief account of what I lived in China. In future posts, I'll tell you more. Photos are coming, don't be impatient!

Actualización 26/04: Ya están disponibles las fotos del viaje, visitá mi fotoblog. También algunos fotoblog externos. Fotos de Eike cuando fuimos a cenar, y los bocadillos eran un poquito grandes.

Update 26/04: Photos available since now, check in my photoblog. Also, photos from external photoblogs: Pics by Eike when went out for dinner and the dumplings where a little bit huge.

Una primavera de verdad = A real spring

2007-04-12T22:54:00.000+02:00

Sííí, últimamente parece qye no estoy viviendo en Holanda: desde hace 3 semanas no ha llovido ni una gota. Además de estar soleado, las temperaturas están subiendo por encima de los 20°C. Y aún más, este fin de semana se pronostican 26°C para este domingo. Mientras tanto, disfruto de salir a anda la bici (en cuanto tengo unos segundos libres), tomando sol(1) y mirando las puestas del sol desde mi balcón. Algunas fotos aquí para que vean lo que digo.

Yeah, lately it seems I am not living in The Netherlands: since 3 week it hasn't rained any drop. Besides of being sunny, the temperatures are soaring more than 20°C. Even more, this weekend, 26°C are forecast. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying by cycling my bike (whenever I'm free for a few seconds), taking some sun(1) and watching sunsets from my balcony. Here some picture for you to know what I mean.

(1) Bueno, tomar sol dentro de casa, detrás de la ventana :P
(1) I know, this is not the proper expression, but I appeal to your common sense. And actually I do it behind the glass of my window...

Viajes, deadlines y pascuas = On travels, deadlines and Easter

2007-04-07T10:33:00.000+02:00

Esta semana ha sido una semana muy diferente a cualquier otra: empecé yendo a Louvain-la-Neuve en la parte de habla francesa de Bélgica. Me impresionó este país al ver que la gente común del norte (de habla flamenca) y el sur (de habla francesa) no pueden comunicarse. Bruselas está en el medio, y todo está en ambos idiomas: anuncios en los trenes, propagandas, diarios y ¡todo!. Diferente a lo que pasa en Barcelona: la gente puede entenderse y los idiomas son algo similares... no fui sólo de viaje, con un colega fuimos a una reunión, se trataron temas de investigación muy específicos, con lo que no tiene mucho sentido hablar mucho más de esto.

El jueves, de nuevo en Eindhoven, enviamos un artículo. Trabajamos realmente duro durante todo el día, encontrando resultados en este último día, e inclusive en el último minuto. El tiempo límite era a la 1a, enviamos la copia definitiva de nuestro artículo 5 minutos antes. Crucemos los dedos para que lo acepten...

Las vacaciones de pascuas empezaron el viernes. Es raro porque a diferencia de Argentina, aquí es un día de trabajo normal (excepto en algunas pocas compañías, escuelas y universidades), ellos cierran 2 horas más temprano y eso es todo. El sábado y domingo son días normales, y el lunes es el único que es feriado para todo el mundo. Estoy en casa, no he planeado ir a algún lado. Razón: tengo que trabajar, pero tal vez vaya a algún lugar aquí en NL... no está decidido todavía. También tengo que preparar una charlar, la charla más importante desde que empecé mi doctorado: finalmente estoy viajando a China... no se imaginan lo nervioso y ancioso que estoy (para más datos, ver este post)

This week has been really different to any conventional week: I started going to Louvain-la-Neuve in the French speaking side of Belgium. I really got impressed of this country to see that common people from the North (Flemish speaking) and the South (French speaking) cannot communicate. Brussels is in the middle, and everything is in both languages: train announcements, advertisement, newspapers, everything! It's different to what happens in Barcelona: people understand each other, and the languages are sort of similar... I didn't go just to travel, we (a colleague of mine and I) went to a meeting, very specific research subjects were considerer, doesn't make sense to talk much more.

On Thursday, again in Eindhoven, we submitted a paper. We really work hard during the entire day, finding some results this very last day, and even in the very last minute. The deadline was at 1am, we submitted the definitive copy at 5 minutes before it. Let's cross the finger and it gets accepted.

Easter holiday started on Friday. It is strange, because unlike Argentina, here is a working normal day (except for a few companies, schools and universities), they close 2 hours earlier and that's all. Saturday is a normal day, Sunday is that, a Sunday, and Monday is the only entire holiday for everybody. I'm at home, haven't planed to go somewhere. Reason: have to work, but maybe I'll go to know some places in NL... not decided yet. Also I have to prepare a talk, the most important talk since I started my PhD: I'm finally traveling to China... can't imagine how nervous and anxious I am (for the history on this subject, check this post.)

Un robo involuntario = An involuntary steal

2007-03-31T22:55:00.000+02:00

Esta semana me fui estaba por un negocio y vi un router wireless a un buen precio, y como tengo una computadora de escritorio y no me las arreglé para compartir la internet de forma inalámbrica, me pareció un buen precio. A la vez me compré otra placa ethernet para la PC de escritorio: la idea era que ésta esté conectada a internet usando una placa ethernet, y a través de la nueva placa al router, y desde el router tener internet sin cables. El router también funciona como switch.

Así que probé el router conectándolo primero, y probarlo. Funcionó muy bien. Y más aún, con la función de reenvío de puerto, puedo conectarme a la IP desde afuera al router, y desde ésta a mi computadora directamente. Así que la nueva placa ethernet la devolví (1). Bueno, configuré mi red inalámbrica y acceder a ella con mi laptop. Todo bien, y en menos de 5 minutos. Por supuesto que dediqué un poco más de tiempo para asegurar la red, para evitar que gente como yo use internet de los vecinos (2). La testeé y todo fue bien. Hacer todo esto es muy fácil: se hace a través de cualquier navegador a la IP del router con una muy buena interfaz, todo fantástico.

La primera cosa que hice fue cambiar la contraseña estándar del router (desde mi computadora de escritorio). Luego lo probé desde mi laptop: las cosas empezaban a ponerse extrañas: la contraseña no había cambiado, por lo que lo cambié de nuevo. Más cosas extrañas: las configuraciones que cambiaba desde mi computadora de escritorio no se reflejaban cuando accedía desde mi laptop...

Una cosa que al principio me decepcionó un poco fue que la conexión inalámbrica no era tan rápida. Pero lo suficientemente rápida. Así que ayer, quería ir un poco más allá con la configuración de seguridad: activar el filtrado de dirección física. Esto hace que nadie más que las direcciones especificadas se puedan conectar al router. Así que lo configuré desde mi PC y luego lo intenté desde mi laptop: trabajaba bien. Luego, probé bloqueando la dirección de mi laptop, y no se conectaba obviamente. Luego de algún tiempo, sin embargo, mi laptop se conectó. No entendía nada.

Esto es lo que pasó:

This week I went to a shop and saw a wireless router at a very nice price, so as I have a desktop computer at home, and couldn't make to share the connection by wireless and use with my laptop without wires, it seemed to be a great deal. At that time a bought another ethernet for the desktop computer: the idea was to have connected that computer to my cable conection using one ethernet card, and through the new one to the router, and from the router have wireless internet. The router is also a wired switch.

So, just to try the router I connected it first, and test it. Worked fine! And even more, with a port forwarding function, I can connect to the IP from outside to the router, and from it to my desktop computer directly. So, the another ethernet card was returned to the place I bought all this (1). Well, I set up my new wireless, and access it from my laptop. All nice, and in less than 5 minutes! Of course, I dedicated some time to secure the wireless, to avoid people like me who use internet from neighbors (2). I tested and all was right! To do all this set up you is easy: connect from any browser to the IP of the router and everything with a nice layout, all nice!

The first thing I did was to change the standard access password to the route (from my desktop PC). After doing it, I tried from my laptop: things became strange: the password didn't changed from there. So, I set it up again. More strange things: settings I changed from my desktop PC didn't appear when accessing the router from my laptop. Strange!

One thing that somehow disappointed me a bit was that the wireless connection wasn't so fast. But yet nice enough. So, yesterday I wanted to go further with the security of my wireless: I want to configure a MAC address filtering, this means that nobody else can connect to the router than the specified addresses. So, I configured it from my desktop PC, and then I tried to connect from my laptop: it worked! Later I tried blocking my laptop, and of course didn't connect. After some time, however, my laptop got connected! I didn't understand that.

This was what happened:

Mis vecinos compraron el mismo router, pero uno de ellos no puso nada de seguridad. Así que mi laptop se conectó a esta. ¡Aja! Entonces me di cuenta de lo que estaba pasando antes: en vez de estar conectado a mi red, estaba conectado a la de mi vecino. Cambié todas su configuración y hasta la clave de acceso. Así que desde el martes he estado usando esa conexión en vez de la mía... En otras palabras, estaba robando internet de nuevo...

Otras cosas que pasaron antes:

Cuando hacía ping a mi PC de escritorio desde mi laptop obtenía respuesta: en realidad estaba comunicándome con la de mi vecino.

Cuando hacía ping a mi laptop desde la PC no había respuesta (sí, mi laptop no estaba en mi red).

Me parecía muy raro que para loguearme con ssh a mi PC tenía que hacerlo desde afuera, usando el reenvío de puerto.

De todos modos, lo entendía un par de días luego de haber configurado el router.

(1) Uno de estos días les contaré como funcionan las garantías de satisfacción. Si no te gusta algo, lo devolvés dentro de los 14 días y ya está.

(2) El año pasado viví de mis vecinos en lo que a Internet se refiere.

My neighbors bought the same router, but one of them didn't configure any security. So my laptop connected to this. Aha! then I realized what was happened before: instead of being connected to my wireless I was connected to my neighbor's. I changed all his/her configuration, even the password. So, since Tuesday I've been using this connection instead of mine... In any words, stealing internet again...

Some other things that happened before:

When pinging my desktop from my laptop I got response: actually I was pinging my neighbor's PC which has the same (default) IP.

When I ping my laptop from my computer, didn't worked (yes, I laptop wasn't in my network).

It really seemed strange that to login with ssh to my desktop computer, I had to do it from 'outside', using the port forwarding.

Anyway, I really understood everything just a couple of days after I set up the router.

Just as aside comment, this wasn't the only Murphy-like thing: I also bought a GPS receiver. I changed to some other. They didn't worked near my house, and I thought they were failed. Actually, it was a matter of patience: after 5 minutes waiting, the GPS found the position. I realize of it because I googled about this issue. The thing I have the most expensive GPS receiver, because if my impacience.

(1) One of these days I'll tell how the satisfaction guaranties work here. If you don't like something you bought, in 14 days you can return it.

(2) Last year I was connected to Internet using neighbors' wireless.

No es que tenga algo en contra pero... = I have nothing against but...

2007-03-25T23:49:00.000+02:00

Hoy como siempre, estaba chequeando el pronóstico del tiempo para mañana... y observé lo siguiente...

Today, as usual, I was checking the weather forecast for tomorrow... and I observed this...
Este es sólo otro de esos posts en contra de algo que tiene que ver con Brasil (cf. ver aquí): De acuerdo a este mapa, Brasilia, la capital del país está en el centro de Bolivia...

Nada en contra de Brasil o los brasileños, sólo coincidencias... A propósito, una muy buena semana entrante respecto al clima... ¡Yeah!

This is yet another post against something related to Brazil (cf. see here): According to this map, Brasilia, the capital city is in the center of Bolivia...

Nothing against Brazil, or Brazilians, just it is a coincidence... By the way, a very nice upcoming week weather-wise... yeah!