Countdown starts
November 29, 2007 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
39 daystill vacation
I’m designing a small website for a firm that organizes conferences and marketing events. It’s a little business and they only need some static content online to show their potential customers, so it’s short work. Now why do I get these things at the end of spring and not, say, during the coldest part of winter, when I’d be happy to stay coding indoors all the time, a cup of hot tea on my desktop?
Anyway, the job is good for some extra cash, and I’m going to need that cash. I’m going to a palyndromic place in January and, though I initially planned on taking 2 weeks off work and staying 12–13 days, I’ve been wondering it might be better to use the full 3 weeks I have available and just stay there until I have to go back or run out of money, whichever comes first […]
Discovering Bolaño
November 28, 2007 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
In a recent copy of the New Yorker that made its way here to BA (thanks to Ian’s mom), I stumbled upon a short story called The Insufferable Gaucho. It’s the story of an honorable old lawyer from BA who ends up hunting rabbits in the pampas. I loved it: I laughed, I cried.
I’d never heard of the Chilean author, Roberto Bolaño (pic’d), so I went looking for his work at our local bookstore. There
fiat tenebras
November 28, 2007 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
Jeff has an ongoing series of posts about the city that fades away. Sometimes I feel like it’s a losing battle… I rarely leave the apartment without my camera since there’s always something in Buenos Aires that has radically changed or worse, is no longer there. We may not be able to stop the destruction of the city’s heritage, but at least all of us can document what’s left for the future.
Somehow this optical shop in the banking district survived. I posted the first photo 2 years ago. Not sure when it happened, but the fantastic sign has now disappeared. Makes me wonder how much longer the building will be there:
Other Places Have Deer Hunting Season
November 28, 2007 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
Yesterday, here in Buenos Aires, Simon Wiesenthal Center director Efraim Zuroff launched Operation Last Chance, a round-up of still suelto Nazi war criminals around the world. Why launch that here? Well, up near the top of the Nazi list is Dr. Aribert Heim, now 93, the former camp doctor of Austria’s Mauthausen death camp, where Simon Wiesenthal himself was almost died in 1945. According to a
Almost tobacco-free
November 28, 2007 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
Good news for us fresh air breathers: non-smoking regulations are respected in most places in Rosario. Research conducted in May, in 34 enclosed public sites (bars, restaurants, pubs and universities), showed that 87% of them had a very good air quality, and that smoke-free rules were kept. The remaining 13% are mostly nightclubs, where controls are non-existent and self-restraint has apparently not caught on. People also smoke in university rooms during class.
I’m surprised at how people have become accustomed, in a matter of months, not to smoke in enclosed spaces. In a country where flaunting the law is done so casually, the degree of common courtesy shown by smokers even in places where no serious control is to be expected is astonishing, in a good way. Other people I’ve spoken to feel the same. This has to have an effect on the habit. Former chain smokers are now choosing to […]
edificio argentino
November 27, 2007 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
I always seem to be drawn toward the Microcentro anytime I wander out for a walk. How could I not be? It’s the oldest, densest part of Buenos Aires. Even though there’s nothing left from the city’s earliest days, there’s been no serious attempt at conservation & it’s filled with hordes of people during the week with just as many buses… well, you’ve got to love it. If you pay attention, every visit can reveal something new. I’ve walked those streets 100s of times & still discover hidden treasure every time I go.
But as much as I love downtown, there are some parts that I could do without. The pedestrian section of Lavalle easily comes to mind. Worse than Florida street & decaying daily, I can’t imagine how it gets into guidebooks. If you’re looking for the mythical Paris of South America, it can’t be found there. But on Sunday […]
Stop building towers / No a la construcción de torres / Parem de construir prédios / Arretez la construction des bâtiments
November 27, 2007 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
I really hate to see nice old houses being demolished and towers being built instead. If this continues, Palermo Viejo will definitely loose its charm. I can’t believe there is no control over this type of demolition and construction in the area, as well as in many other neighborhoods of the city. It makes me really sad to see how the vicinity is changing. What do you think?My neighbors from http://www.palermoviejo.com and the Sociedad de Fomento de Palermo Viejo (Neighbors Association of Palermo Viejo) wrote more about this subject.
Watch the following video (by http://www.protocomunacaballito.blogspot.com/).
*
Realmente odio ver la demolición de casas antiguas para que construyan torres en su lugar. Si ésto continúa, Palermo Viejo perderá definitivamente su encanto. No puedo creer que no haya ningún control o prohibición sobre estas obras en el barrio y en otras áreas de la ciudad. Me pone muy triste ver cómo los edificios van […]
November 2007 Roundup
November 27, 2007 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
I don’t think I have gone so long without writing and for that I apologize. It’s not laziness, writer’s cramp or apathy. I just have way too much going on right now. So I thought maybe I could sum it up a little bit in this post.
I managed to loose a long time client and then get them back. I have a client with a chain of locations throughout the city that manages to get into cash flow problems around this time of year. We find out on payday when we get a check payable for 90 days (Ouch!). I overreacted and they didn’t take it well and we eventually kissed and made up, all in the same month.
I have been flying to Uruguay, Chile and Cordoba to meet with a mixture of new, current and potential clients. This sounds more glamorous than it really is. I get to experience […]
Camping in the pampas
November 27, 2007 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
A revelation: Camping in the pampas is a convenient way to keep toddlers far from city traffic + let them tip sippy cups wherever they want (outside the tents). In sum: 6 adults + 5 children under the age of 4 put up 4 tents for 1 night. Henry’s still obsessed with Dr. Seuss’s “The Foot Book,” but gauchos in trucks, hot-air balloons, grilled steak, other kids and wide-open spaces distracted him
recent graduates
November 26, 2007 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
As the end of the academic year approaches, military graduates also finish their studies. Since the naval academy was established by Manuel Belgrano in 1799 prior to Argentina’s independence from Spain, the Navy pays lots of tribute to him. It was the Cruiser Manuel Belgrano that was sunk in the Falkland War, killing over 300 sailors (about half the total number of Argentine casualties). The school’s main function today is to train the merchant marines.
Since Belgrano is buried in the patio of the Iglesia de Santo Domingo, recent grads go to mass there as part of their end of year festivities. They were having lots of fun, & I’m always a sucker for pomp & circumstance:
Categories
Archives
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- May 2004
- November 1999
- December 1969