Semana de formación en Montpellier

Semana de formación en Montpellier.

Además de la formación en el PSSC hemos estado visitando la ciudad calle arriba y calle abajo.
Se puede decir que es una ciudad bien bonita que tiene mucho más que mostrar que la Place de la Comedie. Me sorprendió gratamente la universidad de medicina, que se encuentra anexa a la catedral.

Por cierto si visitáis esta ciudad no olvidéis en comprar aparte de los consabidos quesos y vino, la Brandada de Bacalao.  Está realmente buena.

Por lo demás es curioso descubrir que una parte grande de la ciudad fue construida por un arquitecto español no hace demasiado tiempo atrás. El arquitecto es Ricardo Bofill (padre) y el barrio se llama Antigone.

El barrio es curioso porque parece inspirado en la antigua Roma y me comentan que tiene defensores y detractores por partes iguales debido a su curiosa estética.

John Gerrard & Lunch

This weekend has been quite amusing. During one visit to IvoryPress we have been introduced to John Gerrard work. The event was presented by Norman Fosters wife Elena Ochoa.

Basically he is an unusual photographer that creates "live" art based in  photos that create 3D infography.
Quite amazing, but for the techy that lives inside us it is not so different to any modern game from ElectrnicArts. With a lot of work and quality of course but the same principles and less "live".
Anyway after the interesting event we met an old friend who is living in the neighborhood and we faced restaurant that we where willing to visit after a very successful dinner two Christmas ago.

Don't do it. Second parts never were good. Horrible meal and not very good desert. Something to forget. Never again! Nunca mais!.

Una opinión basada en un dato.

Muchas y muy variadas tonterías se están diciendo y escribiendo sobre la limitación de la velocidad máxima en las autopistas de este país.
Hay gente a la que le parece bien la medida, regular y mal, para todos los gustos vamos. Yo por mi parte quiero ejercer mi derecho a expresar mi opinión y como tal aquí lo hago:
Justificación de la medida
El Gobierno está justificando la medida debido al encarecimiento del barril de petróleo (por causas en las que no voy a entrar, aunque da para una novela de Umberto Eco). Cada 10€ que sube el barril se ha de pagar una cantidad ingente de dinero que sale de nuestra economía y no repercute en nuestro crecimiento.
Duración de la medida
Cuatro meses prorrogables (hasta el 31 de Julio)
Estudio práctico de la efectividad de la medida
Este fin de semana hemos ido desde Madrid hasta Almeria (unos 600km), hemos hecho unos kilómetros allí hasta y desde Aguadulce (unos 100km repartidos en varios viajes) y vuelta a Madrid (600km más).
Durante los primeros 600km no estaba vigente la limitación a 110km/h por lo que se podía viajar a 120km/h.
A la vuelta, un 70% (redondeando a unos 400km) estaban ya con señalizaciones a 110km/h que fueron respetadas por mi.
A la ida el ordenador de mi coche (diesel) marcó 5.6 l/100km, lo que es un consumo bastante ajustado.
A la vuelta el mismo ordenador marcó 4.5 l/100km, lo que es aún mejor.
Hay que decir que Madrid está a unos 550m por encima del nivel del mar por lo que la ida puede considerarse como bajada y la vuelta como subida.
Matemáticas
Con estos datos en la mano la reducción de consumo representa alrededor del 20%.
Por supuesto el viento a favor o en contra puede haber jugado un factor importante, así como la calidad del combustible y / o otros factores que no se me ocurren ahora.

Conclusión
La medida puede ser efectiva tomando como ejemplo esta experiencia.
La mayoría de los que me adelantaron en la zona limitada a 110km/h eran grandes 4x4 y coches de alta gama que podían haberse beneficiado de la reducción de consumo pero que NO QUISIERON hacerlo.
Mi opinión personal es que se viaja mucho más cómodo a 110km/h y el aumento del tiempo es mínimo.
Se debería multar como se hace en los países escandinavos. Si a un trabajador le pones una multa de 100€ a lo mejor le estás quitando el 10% de su sueldo por lo que se librará muy bien de correr.
Si esto lo haces con "un rico" la paga y pasa de todo y vuelve a hacerlo mañana.
Si al "rico" le pones una multa por el 10% de su sueldo (sea el que sea) seguro que se lo piensa tambien muy mucho.
Escandinavización YA!

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Vinter, Negua, Winter, Invierno

Este invierno parece que está más caliente que nunca en ciertas partes del planeta, con dirigentes políticos yendose a.... otro sitio.
Solo espero que lo que vaya a venir sea mejor que lo que ya se fue.

Y mientras nosotros en Madrid esnifando contaminación a lo bestia.
Si no te crees lo de la contaminación sigue este enlace y alucina.
http://www.20minutos.es/carta/948237/0/contaminacion/madrid/capital/

New Office

Not everyday you get a new office, but when it happens I am at least always worried about where it will be and how the views will be.

In this case I have been lucky. Views to the famous -Icannotrememberthename- hotel and the White Towers which are not even white but... who cares? At least they are not Faulty towers :-D I know noooothing! I´m from Barceloooona! (if you don´t understand thos joke just try to see Faulty Towers (the series).

This is a mini post so nothing more for now.

Fragonetaaaaaa de malacatoooone senoraaaaa

Este fin de semana Gilda y yo hemos tenido una nueva experiencia trans-portística. Hemos recorrido 1200km en total con la finalidad de mover unos muebles "pre-loved" o mejor dicho "yet-loved" de nuestra residencia habitual a la casa de la playa ... :-P

El viaje se preparó concienzudamente (en una tarde) y el viernes fuimos a recoger la fragonetaaaaaaa. MADRE MIA!!! qué fragoneta!!!.

Conste que mi experiencia anterior con furgonetas es cero. Nunca me había subido en ninguna, por lo que no tnego punto de comparación entre ellas. Lo que si tengo es un punto de comparación entre esta fragoneta y unos cuantos coches...

Conducir.... se conduce como un camión, con el volante muy horizontal y girando el volante como en las películas de camioneros, casi me daban ganas de ponerme en camiseta de tirantes y llevar un puro en la boca. Afortunadamente hace muchos anos que dejé de fumar.

Bueno, pues el viernes estuvimos durante casi 4 horas llenando la fragoneta de "cosas" sobre todo de "cosas gordas" de las que no caben en el maletero de un coche.

El sábado por la manana nos levantamos pronto (ejem ejem) y salimos disparaos para Almería.... bueno disparaos disparaoss..... porque la fragoneta en cuestión tiene un motor de 2.3L Turbo Diesel, pero en cuanto llegaba un repechillo.... pero bueno, los 120km/h los pillaba sin demasiados problemas y con el sistema de velocidad automático, fuimos todo el rato que pudimos a velocidad constante. Una gozada de sistema oiga.

El ruido de la fragoneta es ensordecedor, te duelen los oidos tras un viaje tan largo. Encima consume como una mala bestia, 12.5L a los 100km en la ida y 10L en la vuelta. Casi ná.

Ya en Almería, nos dieron de comer en casa de Gilda a cambio de una breve consutoría informática (Se hizo lo que se pudo, pero una máquina con tantos anos.... gracias a que llevaba 1GB de RAM que sinó eso no deja de ir mal ni de cona, y aún así...).

Tras la consultoría nos fuimos a casa de Gila y descargamos todo el material en ... 30min!!!!! debe ser que 4 hacen más que 2 pero vamos la diferencia fue brutal... supongo que el poder llevar la lavadora en carrito y no a pulso marca algo de diferencia.....

Esa noche cenamos en un sitio "guais" de Almería (ver el capítulo X de mujeres ricas) y nos fuimos a dormir.

Al dia siguiente nos levantamos con una temperatura que casi permitia desayunar en la terraza. Con camiseta de manga corta se estaba genial... manda güebs con el cambio climático (o a lo mejor los inviernos de Almería siempre han sido así yo que sé).

Con las mismas nos volvimos pa el puntorro tras reponer combustible orgánico personal en el msimo sitio que el día anterior.

Bueno, ahora vamos a estar sentados en el suelo durante unos días hasta que nos traigan el recambio a lo que hemos trasladado pero eperamos que mereza la pena.

Ale, a pasarlo bien.

Chillida Leku

Following the help call from Chillida Leku´s management a lot of people has decided to visit this now classic place. 

Gilda and me were between those ones who came to visit it before it was too late.

Looks like the scarce number of visitors has driven the museum to a really though condition and they are planning to close doors the last day of December. 

I  really hope this will never happen since the Basque Government will not allow this one to fall. 

Came on Francisco, do something just for one time!!

The place is a real dream, located in a green hill (there is any other type? ;-) near the very well known city of Donostia (San Sebastian). It contains several sculptures and strange iron art which I really cannot understand very well. 

What I really was amazed to see was his Caserío (old style basque house) which is a really pice of art. It is really spacious and has been recently renovated so it looks really nice.

I recommend everyone to visit this place since this was one of our most well known artists. Not very well known here but quite well known outside of the Iberian peninsula.

As always it is very difficult to be a prophet in your country.

:-(

Finally at home again

News from HR Spain: 0
Stress level: highest


The trip from Saintes to Madrid was quite straight forward and without too many issues.


We crossed the border next day and reached first Irun to visit family and then Gasteiz (The unofficial capital of Pais Basque).
Gasteiz was as usual, a bit chilly and eager to start raining. Not a big deal.


Note: The photo here is not from that day, it is from some weeks later, but as I am a big fan of Clint Eastwood I have decided to include it. Make my day foreigner!! :-P


As my mother was on another trip to somewhere else and we were in a bit of hurry we decided to continue to Madrid (a.k.a. "El puntorro" in the truck drivers slang) to finish a trip that even if was finished in few days was starting to feel a bit long.

Final destination : Madrij
Total km done: 810 km
News from HR Spain: 0.
Stress level: High but at home.
More posts: coming soon.

Absolute vacuum (Part 3)

Intermediate origin: Koblenz (Germany)

News from HR Spain: nil
Stress level: high plus two broken bulbs.

Probably you will be asking yourself about the meaning of today´s title, "Absolute vacuum". Well, this is just what you feel when you are driving down a german runaway and a Ford focus RS overtakes you at 250+ km/h and your car starts being attracted to the Ford´s trail. Also you can substitute the Ford with any big van brand name, but in this case it was really outrageous given the sudden of the happening and the roar its engine makes.

Koblenz looks like a nice place to be but with the big bill we had to pay we were not in the mood of playing the tourist role that day. So, after being punished at the hotel with the expensive bill we decided to leave Oktoberfestland and head south again. 

TomTom --> Navigate to.. --> Point of interest.. --> POI near me --> Skoda Car Repair

1.5km later we arrived to a big Audi - VW - Seat - Skoda dealer were we asked a very nice german guy about our problems replacing the front bulbs. He looked a bit surprised at first but quickly showed us how to replace the front bulbs in around 60 secs just taking out one screw and taking out also the whole headlight.

He was really really nice and refused to get paid for his 2 minutes help :-) Skoda is again highly recomended. At Audi Spain I would have had to pay at least 200€.

Anyway we started again driving south and reached Luxemburg.

Atchumm!! (sneeze)

Now we were leaving Luxemburg and entering France.

Good thing to have the speeding radars marked by TomTom. Just aftern entering France we found 4 radars in half an hour.

Now we were in Carla Bruni´s country. 130km/h speed limit and a lot of traffic. We were quite observant because of the looks we had and we didn´t want to be deported... who knows... ;-P

From the nothern frontier to almost La Rochelle we drove with no incidents at all. Just expensive petrol (even more than in Germany).

There we found a horrible and not so cheap (price wise) but very cheap (quality wise) french hotel.

A combination of too many frenchies and too little hotels forced us to take it. Also as we were quite close to Bordeaux we just rested and hoped for a better day.

A day to forget. The only good thing is that now we had two working frontlights.

Intermediate destination : Saintes (France)
Total km done: 2^10 km
News from HR Spain: 0.
Stress level: High plus one expensive hotel plus a horrible hotel.
Hotel quality: Bad, Price: Moderate.
More posts: coming soon.

I landet av korv ätare (Part 2)

Intermediate origin: Lübeck (Germany)
News from HR Spain: zero
Stress level: moderate plus a broken bulb.

That morning we woke up in "The Excelsior" at Lübeck. Even if you are thinking WOW! because of the name of the hotel please rethink it again, since it is just a three starts hotel, not bad at all but not what everyone has in mind when hearing that name.

Anyway I can recommend the hotel, so we left the car in the hotels garage and headed to the center of the village to take a closer look at it. In just one word: NICE (F. --> not the town in the south of France but the adjective).

Lübeck is a old commerce central point that has managed to keep some very good looking buildings. It looked to me like a swedish town with a lot of baroque architects.  BTW, the main church construction history is really interesting and also good to know if you are not so kind of visiting churches ;-)
Anyway, it is a place worth visiting. Also Hamburg is quite close so if you have never seen a massive ship in a massive port with massive number of containers and massive everything, then you have the perfect excuse to take some days off and visit Hamburg + Lübeck.

A bit late after walking down the main streets of Lübeck we were on the road again and forgetting last days happenings we headed south.

At this point of the story I have to explain that some years ago, during a visit to Stockholms Town Hall, I  bought a small present to Gilda in the form of a keyholder named "Emily". It is a small angel like figure with a small Swarovski like glass in the middle. She enjoyed this keyholder for a long time but one day she lost it, and even if I could find a new one in the same place it was not exactly equal so we decided to go to the south of Germany and find the warehouse where they build them (or bring them from China...)
Unfortunately the GPS sent us through multiple 3rd level german roads and when we found the place it was late, it was closed and we where in the middle of nowhere in the german mountains so we selected a close town where to find the next hotel.

Now the day was starting to fade and the only healthy headlight of my car decided to die and we were left in the most absolute darkness.

With only the position lights and after 1 hour of trying to reach a hotel in Koblenz, we managed to find a Mercure hotel. Unfortunately they only had one double room left and it was incredibly expensive. As we had no lights (not in the car not in the brain after driving one hour as a dark ghost car) we settled down for this night. Now I have 2xx€ less but I am member of the Mercure VIP guests....

Intermediate destination : Koblenz
Total km done: 650+-n /n[10-100]km.
News from HR Spain: no.
Stress level: High plus two broken bulbs.
Hotel quality: Good, Price: Expensive.
More posts: coming soon.

Run Like the wind (Part 1)

As therapy for digesting what is going on those days and I will disclose soon I have decided to describe the trip min flickvän (aka Gilda for blogging purposes) and I have done across half Europe recently.
Also if I can get a smile from anyone my objectives will be completely fulfilled.

Day 1, wake up point: Stockholm, stress level: moderate. News from HR Spain: 0.

As most of you already know I decided to take my car with me so I could transport all the stuff I have gathered in those last three years to Madrid. As good IBMer I decided that something could go wrong and took with me most of my clothes in my last flight to Spain (20kg max as I had to check in my luggage) so I could get now enough space in the trunk and not look like gipsys (we had to cross france so we wanted to be very careful ;-D ).

We woke up really early and started to put everything in the trunk. Three hours later we had to discard some cardboard boxes (bye bye Gitar Hero box) and could fit finally everything as a complicated tetris in the trunk and over the rear seats.
Thanks God VAG group makes good cars with heavy duty suspension systems becouse the car looked like starting to jump at any moment. The rear of the car was closer to earth than any youngster modified car after watching The Fast and the Furious cuadrilogy.

Once on the road (11:00am) we switched on the GPS and headed south, good weather and normal traffic. Malmö, here we go!

First stop in Stavsjö, for some light lunch and last minute shopping.

By the way, it looks like a nice place to stop if you need to take a rest in your journey. Highly recommended.

Once we recovered we headed south again, not without almost going back to Stockholm since the road signs are not very clear and I had to do a slightly "extrange" turn to get the right direction.... hope nobody saw us, I still want my 14 points in my driving license.

Without any other incident and one tank refill we reached Malmö but as we already have been there and it was still early afternoon we decided to cross the bridge and head towards Deutschla... Denmark.


I have crossed this bridge three times now but I am still impressed about it. It is a magnificent structure. No doubt about it.

When we were at the beginning of the bridge I looked backwards and I could see Sweden dissappearing... I have to admit that my throat turned dry and something punched into my guts... but let´s be possitive, it is a "see ya!" not a "good bye!".

Hi Denmark! Heavy traffic and a lot of people smoking in their cars... disgusting :-P so we crossed Denmark and reached Rödbyhavn. As the intelligent person she is, Gilda suggested to find a hotel there and sleep until next day, but as the not so intelligent person I am I suggested crossing the channel with the ferry and sleep in Oktoberfestland.

As she was probably a bit tired she agreed and we went to the port terminal, after fighting with the damn danish guy in the tickets selling point (it is incredible, he even didn´t try to speak in half english!!) we parked inside the ferry. At this point I have to say that we were almost alone, just a couple of eastern language speakers, some Oktoberfestlanders and a group of countryofthefreedomlanders :-P.

The ferry reached the other shore quite fast and we jumped into the car. In front of us there was a van filled with the north americans (those looked like the intelligent ones since they were driving a van with manual gears...) and there our problems started.
How many times do you switch off the lights of a swedish car? answer --> never
But I decided to switch them off (you only have to select the position lights to switch them off) and then switched them on again. Damn decision!!, one strange simbol appeared in the dashboard featuring a switched on bulb.... after some neuronal work I decided that it could mean that the car had detected that I had switched off the lights and as it was quite dark so it was asking me to switch them on again.

So we drove out of the ferrys belly and drove towards Hamburg. I thougt then... I have to be really tired since I can see very little... and after five min we realised that no, the problem was of course as most of you have already discovered that it was a broken front bulb :-(

With half of the lights we headed towards a hotel. It is incredible how far away are hotels when you need them. Anyway thanks to TomTom`s database we found a nice hotel in Lübeck. The guy in the reception was just like John LeCarre´s "The night Manager" so I decided not to let him keep any envelope for me ... (You have to read the book to understand this one). I will talk more about it in the next post.

Intermediate destination : Lübeck
Total km done: 920km plus some stupid kms done in the wrong direction in Oktoberfestland while trying to reach the hotel.
News from HR Spain: nol.
Stress level: moderate plus a broken bulb.
Hotel quality: Good, Price: Moderate.
More posts: tomorrow.