I know I just learned to crochet...

...but I think hardhats are much more my style.

Courtesy of the beautiful Cathedral de Santa María in Vitoria

Que?

Don't you love when random Spanish journalists somehow creepily find out your middle name and mistake it for your last?

http://www.diariovasco.com/20090131/politica/asociacion-victimas-visito-baketik-20090131.html

Or is that just me?

The Jamon y Vino diet

It's no secret that I've been doing Weightwatchers (pretty successfully) since last August. If you are interested in the program, definitely ask me about it. It's pretty phenomenal. But I digress...


I have been traveling for the past 3 weeks, and have been faced the extremely existential question of "to track or not to track." I could worry about the (massive amounts) of food that I was putting into my body, or I could look past it and deal with it when I returned. I chose the latter. And thank goodness. I'm not sure how many of you are aware, but I'm pretty sure that the four food groups in Spain are Ham (Jamon), Wine (Vino), Cheese (Queso), and Fried Deliciousness (closest translation: Croquetas). I threw caution to the wind and prepared for depression at weigh in.

Imagine my surprise when I stepped on a scale last night to find that not only did I NOT gain 100 lbs, but I actually lost .6. Out of pure shock I mentioned this to my leader, and thought that I would never have to speak of it again. However, during "affirmation" time (it's basically AA), my leader turned to me and asked, "Why don't you share your inspirational story?"

You can not imagine how difficult it is to tell a room full of people with weight issues how you had pigged out for 3 weeks and lost weight. I literally broke into a cold sweat, and threw in some crap about walking everywhere to appease the restless mob. I'm lucky that I got out of that meeting alive.

However, I have been intrigued as to what contributes to the success of this "Jamon y Vino" diet. I didn't see many overweight Spaniards, so there must be something to it! I'm thinking of marketing it to Weightwatchers to see what they think. But judging by the angry rumbling of the crowd last night, it might need some time to catch on.

Queremos Obama!

There will be much to update, and soon, about my incredible trip to Spain and the Basque Country this past week. However, as I am swamped with work that has piled up in my absence, I will leave you with a teaser:

After a 6 hour red eye from New York to Madrid (simulated night time < 2 hours), we were all a bit woozy as we awaited our gate assignment to Bilbao. As I glanced toward the information desk (wondering if they might have a pillow and an ambien for a weary traveler), I noticed a flashy screen saver with a word twisting around sporadically, striped in red and white. Curious as to what word might be waving around like an American Flag on a Spanish Information Desk computer, I leaned a bit closer. It was one word, that said so much: Obama.

That's one small step for Windows 3D text, one giant leap for international relations.