Viva Espana!

As it happens every couple of years, I become a bandwagon football fan of some country, generally a European country. At the moment it is Spain as I was just there and also because they’re playing great football right now and are in the Eurocup finals.

Generally my fanship includes learning about several of the players, what club teams they play for, some interesting fact or two about the team (did you know Spain hasn’t been in a major finals in over 20 years and are regarded as one of the biggest underachievers?), and most importantly displaying my support for the team.

I prefer to go all out with displaying my support and so I’ve hung the Spanish flag from my apartment. Now all those walking down Polk Street will see the flag and think to themselves ‘Wow that Spanish guy living there must be so excited about his team.’

Alas I must go now and find where I’ve stashed my red Spain football jersey.

Lucent Chess Team

I found this great picture today as I was looking up a former co-worker from Lucent. I worked on a project in Riyadh the summer of 1998 and my project manager was Rafe Shenouda. He was (and I presume still is) an ardent chess player. He had brought three sizable books on chess strategy to Riyadh and he’d hold court by the pool side, dismissing one player after the next.

He is Egyptian and has spent a lot of time there, so I figured he’d be a good person to ask to get started as I am looking to spend a few months there.

But I digress…here is the great picture. Rafe is on the left. Who wouldn’t want to work at Lucent?

Camino video

Here’s a short video I made of my Camino.  The song is ‘Half the World Away’ by Oasis.

Into the Sahara…and back

I’ve got one day left in Morocco as I’m flying to Madrid tomorrow night.  Boo.  It’s only been two weeks since I got off the boat in Tangiers but it feels like two months.  Tangiers to Chefchaon to Fez to Marrakech to the desert and now I’m back in Marrakech.  I spent 3 days/nights in the Sahara with a guide who spoke only Arabic and a camel that tried running away every chance he got.  In the end we made it but there was one day I seriously thought the camel had run away for good and we were f’ed in the middle of the desert under a 120 degree sun.

It’s the first trip I’ve ever made with zero planning.  No guide book, no maps, no idea about distances or what to see.  The Camino taught me the difference between planning every minute detail versus planning just what you need to do next, and then taking it from there.  And it turned out to be more relaxed than most trips I’ve taken.  Usually I’ve got stuff lined up to see and hotels to check into, and I start to stress out inevitably about not seeing everything or something going wrong, etc.  But when you don’t have any obligations and you believe you will find a place to stay and you believe things will work out, then maffi mooshkeelah (no problem).  In Europe it’s easier to do this because you can buy last second tickets at reasonable prices.  They don’t gouge you like they do in the U.S.  I bought a one way from Marrakech to Madrid for <$100 on Easyjet. 

I’m trying to think of some interesting stories to share here but I guess I’m not in the right mood for it at the moment. I think I’ve got a case of the end of vacation blues.  I don’t want to head home just yet.  I could easily continue traveling from where I am today for another 6 months.  Why not?