
**Note:** To all of you that have found this post while searching for a way to copy songs FROM a Shared iTunes Library, [read this](/2008/03/20/surely-that-seems-possible/). If you want to copy TO another iTunes library, then continue.

In my search for a solution to this problem, I have found that many other people find themselves in similar situations. Here's a basic statement of the problem:

- I have a laptop that I use at home but often take with me
- I have a desktop at home with much more storage space than my laptop
- I want to maintain all of my music on my desktop, but keep a subset on my laptop for playing when I'm not on my home wi-fi network.

Add to that my additional needs that...

- I don't even have a monitor, mouse or keyboard connected to my [desktop](http://shop.lenovo.com/us/desktops) machine
- And therefore, I want to control adding music to my library completely from my laptop

The best solution that I was able to find from searching the internet is [this dude](http://kalsey.com/2006/01/itunes_laptops_and_networks/) that has his laptop using an iTunes library on a shared network drive on his server. Then, when he leaves the home network, he has a script to switch to a local library. The worst thing about that setup is that it could be complicated to add songs from your network server to your local library before disconnecting.

My solution is to add new songs to my local library, and then when I tire of them or need to free up some disk space, I _send them to my shared library on the server_. This way, I always have my newest music on my laptop, but if I want to listen to some older songs while I'm at home, I can connect to the shared network library inside iTunes. The trick to my solution is how I send the songs to the shared library, hence the title of this post.

I have written an applescript that will...

1. Take the tracks I have selected in iTunes
2. If any album art has been downloaded from the iTunes Store, and is therefore not embedded in the song file, embed album art into the song file
3. Copy the files to a staging directory on the network server
4. ssh to the network server and run an Automator script that...
    1. Takes all the files in the staging directory
    2. Adds them to the iTunes Library, which copies the files
    3. Deletes the files from the staging directory

### The Script

This is the script that I have on my laptop. If you download it, the part at the top is all that you should have to change. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-31-applescript-to-send-songs-to-a-shared-itunes-library/2511678275_d4680242f8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Applescript">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-31-applescript-to-send-songs-to-a-shared-itunes-library/2511678275_d4680242f8_o.jpg" alt="Applescript"/>
</a>

You may download the script here: [Copy Songs To Archive Server.scpt](/downloads/280/Copy%20Songs%20To%20Archive%20Server.scpt)

If you put the script in your "~/Library/iTunes/Scripts" directory, it will be available from the menu bar when you are in iTunes.

**Note that, for the ssh to work without prompting you for a password, you must set up ssh key pairs.** There are [plenty of pages](http://www.google.com/search?q=ssh-keygen) around telling you how. This is not one of them.

### The Automator Workflow

This the Automator workflow that runs on the server. You have to export it from Automator to be an application.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-31-applescript-to-send-songs-to-a-shared-itunes-library/2512507656_8abd14ebd7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Automator Workflow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-31-applescript-to-send-songs-to-a-shared-itunes-library/2512507656_8abd14ebd7_o.jpg" alt="Automator Workflow"/>
</a>

You can download mine ([AddFilesToITunes.workflow.zip](/downloads/280/AddFilesToITunes.workflow.zip)) if you want, or you can just create your own from the above screenshot.

### Fitting it all together

Obviously, you'll have to edit the applescript to point to the correct staging directory, server, and location of the AddFilesToITunes.app. Then you just select the songs you want to copy in iTunes on your laptop, choose "Copy Songs To Archive Server" from the script menu, and watch them appear in the shared library. You can then delete them from your laptop if you want, and still listen to them over the network. I wouldn't do more than 50 or 100 at a time, though. I've had "This script has stopped responding" timeout errors when I try more.

### Questions and Comments

If you're too lazy or paranoid to sign up and leave a comment here, you can email me at erikwordpressplugins -at- gmail. Happy song archiving!


Applescript to Send Songs to a Shared iTunes Library


The good news is that I finally have [a way](http://www.1pixelout.net/code/audio-player-wordpress-plugin/) to put audio files on my blog now. The bad sad news is that my [little Casio camera](http://www.flickr.com/cameras/casio/ex-z750/) is the best microphone I have, so, to get an audio file, I have to make a video anyway, and then extract the audio. This is just a couple dozen notes that sounded pretty nice together that I discovered yesterday. It resolves nicely, I think.

\[audio:/downloads/279/Ditty1.mp3\]

[MP3 Download](/downloads/279/Ditty1.mp3) (324 KiB)

revver(284240)

[Video Download](http://media.revver.com/qt;sharer=20700;download/284240.mov) (1.06 MiB)


Untitled Ditty


I've flown into New York airports at least a dozen times, and I've never come close to being as lucky as my buddy, [Hubbers](http://www.hubbers.com/blog/?src=erikblog), was for this photo. [![Aerial photo of Manhattan](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-29-aerial-manhattan/518588325_4981f10c47.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/hubbers/518588325/)

Yesterday, I submitted a few of [my](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/162257320/) [better](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/212432510/) [photos](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/162254739/) to this "wallpaper repository" called [InterfaceLIFT](http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/)1. Hubbers, I recommend that you submit this one. And to anyone else looking for cool desktop wallpaper, check out that site.

1You think that name's clever? The name of their company is "L-bow Grease, LLC." Cheeky.


Aerial Manhattan


The other day, I saw this photo-worthy scene. One of the more nicely kept yards in town is bisected by a stone driveway. Sitting in the middle of the driveway, all by himself, far away from the other, bigger plants closer to the garage, was this little guy. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-29-lonely-plant/519587937_e69ad43050_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Lonely Plant">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-29-lonely-plant/519587937_3167a1f602.jpg" alt="Lonely Plant"/>
</a>

**Lonely Plant** - I'm just hangin' out here on the patio.

The title is very apt, but I can't plead complete innocence on the charge of [typosquatting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typosquatting). I mean, surely I can get _some_ traffic for this search...

[![lonelyplant](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-29-lonely-plant/989026551_de76560402.jpg)](http://www.google.com/search?q=lonely+plant "Click to run search")


Lonely Plant


We had some pretty spectacular action in the [Cactus Cam](/projects/cactus-cam/) project over the weekend. We had _five flowers_ bloom _simultaneously_! Apparently most species of cactus bloom at night, so I can't fault the star of our film. I wish I had left the lights on all night that night, but I didn't.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/989759570_985023cc2a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Blooming Cactus Flowers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/989759570_52455df7f7.jpg" alt="Blooming Cactus Flowers"/>
</a>

The flowers began to open at dusk on Friday night.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/988921493_d3c475e402_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3401.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/988921493_882018579a.jpg" alt="CIMG3401.JPG"/>
</a>

And by Saturday morning, they were almost completely open.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/989787368_337e45541f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3402.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/989787368_c255303ce0.jpg" alt="CIMG3402.JPG"/>
</a>

I love those colors.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/989800178_868cf95da4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3403.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/989800178_e53cf35594.jpg" alt="CIMG3403.JPG"/>
</a>

Reaching for the sky!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/988973985_1a5677a43f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Prickly!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/988973985_ff928c313e.jpg" alt="Prickly!"/>
</a>

Prickly! My auto-focus had trouble with this surface. It's hard to judge distance when bouncing light off it. I wonder if cacti are invisible to radar...

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/517576904_ea8cf8183f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Below Two Cactus Flowers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/517576904_932176cf83.jpg" alt="Below Two Cactus Flowers"/>
</a>

**Below Two Cactus Flowers** - The view from underneath two cactus flowers in May, 2007.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/989851636_21f29d4c31_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3411.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-28-five-days-in-may/989851636_f70d2a5ce9.jpg" alt="CIMG3411.JPG"/>
</a>

All five beautiful flowers.

And now, for the feature presentation...

revver(282868)

[Download Video](http://media.revver.com/qt;sharer=20700;download/282868.mov)

I managed to sneak this soundtrack by the Revver Gestapo. It's an instrumental song called _Majestic_, by Journey. I'd link to it, but the song title and artist name return too many other hits. I had to loop some of the acoustic picking at the beginning to make it last a few seconds longer. The snare hit when the flowers open was just lucky.


Five Days In May


I was walking around town the other day and saw these little guys staring helplessly out a shop window at me. Going solely from the [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_(1937_film)), I see that both Doc (with glasses) and Dopey (beardless) are present. I wonder who the missing dwarf is. It seems a little cruel to buy only one of them.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-26-six-out-of-seven/514683799_9c8fb4f64d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Six Out Of Seven">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-26-six-out-of-seven/514683799_0c63371a6a.jpg" alt="Six Out Of Seven"/>
</a>

**Six Out Of Seven** - Garden gnomes, Disney style.

These things creep me out a little. Even if I had a garden, I don't think I'd buy them.


Six Out Of Seven


It has been brought to my attention that those of us out here in the big bad world, far from our homes, braving the scary, dangerous jungle that is _living abroad_, while blogging our hearts out for those back home, are actually competing with one another to have the [Best Expatriate Weblog](http://fistfulofeuros.net/projects/satin-pajama/2007-awards). Of course no one knows about little old me yet, with my not-yet-one-year-old blog. But the secret to internet blogging popularity is having both high quality and high quantity of content. Just writing a couple thoughts down every day with a picture or two has gotten me up over 90,000 words in total in less than a year.

Over the past couple months, I have befriended and/or been befriended by an American living in Slovenia that goes by the online alias _sgazzetti_. My regular readers will have noticed his intelligence and sense of humor from his comments here on my humble blog. As [you may recall](/2007/03/17/toy-boats/), he has a blog, called [Isoglossia](http://isoglossia.com), that has quite a sizable readership. Despite me [telling him specifically](http://isoglossia.com/2007/05/23/pandering-for-the-pugs/trackback/) that I've already voted for him, he still emailed me begging for more votes. Because I like the guy, and I'm pretty sure he'd do the same for me, I'm giving him some air time here and asking that you take 10 seconds and 2 clicks to do the guy a favor.

Here's the email he sent me, with the subject, "CALLING ALL INTERNET PEOPLE: shameless self-promotion":

> Hi Erik--
> 
> I know that you already know this, so if this email looks all prefab it's because I'm trying to make it reasonably forwardable. As you've seen in a recent post, our silly little website, [www.isoglossia.com](http://www.isoglossia.com), has been nominated for an honor awarded by A Fistful OF Euros. This is a reasonably widely-read and -respected Eurocentric blog/news site, so we're pretty agog at having been one of only five sites nominated in our category, "Best Expatriate Weblog" -- why yours was overlooked for nomination in the same category is a question which will torment students of justice for ages.
> 
> Thanks for your vote. We would be happy to see the prize go to any of the other sites in the running, but of course we'd be happiest of all to see it go to us. The odd thing is that while some categories are attracting large numbers of votes, ours is a relative backwater. This makes it conceivable that we could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat -- we started off dismally last and are currently in a reasonably healthy second place. As it stands now, if just a few dozen additional people cast their votes for us we could edge out the Parisian leader. So anyone you could get to vote for us through word of mouth, cheerleading blog post, or forwarding this email message could make all the difference and save me from having to get all sour-grapesy about the faux glory of What Could Have Been.
> 
> Thanks for any help you can send our way. I'll paste in a link for voting below -- we're in the fifth category down.
> 
> [A Fistful of Euros Third Annual Satin Pajamas Awards](http://fistfulofeuros.net/projects/satin-pajama/2007-awards) -- polls close Friday at 20.00 GMT (or something).

I told you he was clever and funny. He came up with a reasonable excuse for pasting me what he sent to all his other contacts and threw in some hyperbolical, nausea-inducing flattery. "Students of justice" my ass. Nothing like an arbitrary award with some voting to turn someone into a politician, huh?

When I'm nominated in 2009, I expect the same kind of promotion from all of you.

Go do it. It'll only take a second.


Best Expat Blog


I was so pleased to see cherries in the supermarket yesterday. They were gorgeous and shiny with a deep red color. As I was consuming them for dessert last night, I was still marveling at how perfect they were. The true cherry archetype. These pictures are "ripe" for some [frame breaking](/2007/04/14/frame-breaking/), I think.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-24-una-cereza-por-favor/989731020_52949c025d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3397.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-24-una-cereza-por-favor/989731020_16bed62bce.jpg" alt="CIMG3397.JPG"/>
</a>

Check out the reflection of the white surface.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-24-una-cereza-por-favor/989732942_d0ffcb75b8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3399.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-24-una-cereza-por-favor/989732942_42c0e97107.jpg" alt="CIMG3399.JPG"/>
</a>

Even these perfect specimens have little blemishes when viewed up close. Profound, that.

Now for a little about the title. The word for "cherry" in Spanish is "cereza", which is dangerously close to the word "cerveza", which, as you probably know, means "beer". Chances are that if you went to a bar and ordered a cherry, they'd know what you meant and give you a beer. And if you went to a fruit stand and ordered a box of "beer", they'd probably give you cherries (since you've probably had enough beer already if you're ordering from a fruit stand).

So make sure you pronounce that V in cer**v**eza. Oh, and you pronounce it like a B. In Spain, it'd be, "ther-beth-a". Cherries cheers to that!


Una Cereza Por Favor


One of the blogs that I subscribe to is called [Mother Tongue Annoyances](http://www.mtannoyances.com/). It's written by a New Yorker that loves the English language and investigating its proper and improper usages. He's moved down to Tennessee as an adult and, thus, has plenty of examples of improper usage to complain about. Occasionally, he'll write a post that isn't really on the general topic of the blog, but more of a personal pondering. Yesterday's was such a post, when he tackled the not-so-simple subject of Fate vs. Free Will in a post he called, [If It Is Meant To Be...](http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=739)

The only reason I'm writing about it is that I left possibly the best comment I've ever left on a blog on that post, and I felt that I must save this gem of reason here for posterity. Obviously, you should [read his post](http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=739) first to give it the most context.

> "Mom, if you believe that our lives are preordained, then exactly who is doing the ordaining?"
> 
> Your fallacy here, ironically, is in your use of the anthropomorphic verb "to ordain". "No one" is a perfectly valid response to that. Do you seek an anthropomorphic reason for gravity or why 2+2=4? No. It just **is that way**.
> 
> Some think that the apparent passage of time is merely an illusion in our perception, and that the future is just as fixed in existence as the past. But speaking in those terms accomplishes nothing. Since we live in this perceived temporal world, it's pointless to speak about it otherwise.
> 
> Even people that claim to be fatalists don't really believe that they have no free will. They still make plans for the future and go to work and decide what to do on the weekends. It's because humans can't function any other way.
> 
> What your mother is doing is rationalizing situations by claiming innocence from lack of control. While helpful in avoiding depression from over-self-blame, it can be a dangerous attitude when you need motivation to "try, try again".
> 
> Religions have formed as they have because of the wiring in the human brain, and the evolutionary advantages of attributing unexplained events to an external, thinking agent. This predisposition to anthropomorphize the unknown is very, very present in our vocabulary and language. Being aware of the intrinsic bias towards religion in our words is very important when talking about these philosophical matters in an objective way.

It's rare for me to have such a moment of Dawkins-like clarity _and_ be able to articulate it so well. The comment even brought the topic back onto the general topic of his blog.

I apologize for my lack of humility here, but that last paragraph is just _gorgeous_!


Fatalism


I'm sure that you all noticed, but politely held back your complaints, about the [Cactus Cam](/projects/cactus-cam/) being down for two days. Thank you for that. This is because the timelapse photography apparatus, consisting of my old Powerbook sitting on a shoe box, sitting on a stool, and my firewire webcam hung out the window, was moved to the other side of the house to film the paving of our street. Our street didn't really _need_ paving, certainly not as much as other streets in town, but our neighborhood is somewhat affluent, according to the local butcher, and the mayoral elections are coming up soon.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-23-road-work/989638170_a7f21575c0_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3388.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-23-road-work/989638170_a6e98e505c.jpg" alt="CIMG3388.JPG"/>
</a>

This is the "before" picture. It was pretty spooky to see this street without any cars parked along the sides. As you can see, there were parallel parking spaces along each side of the one-way street, with an "Is this one lane or two?" lane down the middle. Double parking is quite common at the start and end of school (the entire block on the right is a school).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-23-road-work/989640696_8093bc4ca2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3394.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-23-road-work/989640696_1054d32db9.jpg" alt="CIMG3394.JPG"/>
</a>

This is a zoomed in "after" picture that I took a few minutes ago. It looks like they are going to increase parking by switching to the, more American, method of angled parking spaces, removing the ambiguity about how many lanes the street has. Something tells me that double parking is still going to happen, thereby completely blocking this vital neighborhood artery.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-23-road-work/988807763_f593e69494_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3395.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-23-road-work/988807763_62907d891d.jpg" alt="CIMG3395.JPG"/>
</a>

"Okay, this is where I draw the line!"

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-23-road-work/988822391_b8665d7a7f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3396.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-23-road-work/988822391_4afa3134f9.jpg" alt="CIMG3396.JPG"/>
</a>

Looks pretty good! But then most things do with a fresh coat of paint.

Show us the timelapse already!! Okay, okay, here it is...

revver(276403)


Road Work


This is a simple little ditty that I've come up with recently. It sounds very "Pink Floyd" to me. Hopefully it will be incorporated into a longer song sometime. It's funny that I don't have a good way to share only audio on my blog, so here's a quick video I made. Doesn't the letterboxing make it look about a thousand times more professional?

It's titled a lot like my first ever Revver submission, [GCD Thing](/2006/08/03/gcd-thing/). That was Revver video #46308. This one is #275080, downloadable [here](http://media.revver.com/qt;sharer=20700;download/275080.mov).

revver(275080)

For being such a happy person, I sure do have an affinity for minor chords.


A Minor Thing


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-21-happy-birthday-dad/507606307_271c739089_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Canal Boat Captain">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-21-happy-birthday-dad/507606307_d7427b4e16_t.jpg" alt="Canal Boat Captain"/>
</a>

My father turned 58 on Saturday. Here's a little Flickr tribute to him.  He cooked a paella like the one below for his birthday.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-21-happy-birthday-dad/507579576_fdcd68e325_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Paella Paul">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-21-happy-birthday-dad/507579576_126abf5c2a.jpg" alt="Paella Paul"/>
</a>

**Paella Paul** - Excited to learn about the culture of his son's girlfriend, Paul teaches himself to make the most traditional Spanish dish, the paella.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-21-happy-birthday-dad/507606307_271c739089_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Canal Boat Captain">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-21-happy-birthday-dad/507606307_d7427b4e16.jpg" alt="Canal Boat Captain"/>
</a>

**Canal Boat Captain** - Captain Paul sits calmly with a martini while his crew pulls the long boat into the lock in Stratfordshire, England, in October, 2004.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-21-happy-birthday-dad/507582058_8f08fc0ecf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Whiskey For Dad">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-21-happy-birthday-dad/507582058_26da1973b4.jpg" alt="Whiskey For Dad"/>
</a>

**Whiskey For Dad** - Erik gives his father a bottle of 15-year-old Glenlivet single malt scotch in February, 2006.

Have a good year, Pops!


Happy Birthday, Dad


Welcome to the Javascript Gunner page. This little script that I wrote is an example of the kind of thing that can be done with the javascript [<canvas> tag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canvas_%28HTML_element%29) and a little imagination. Why should your drawings be confined to the <canvas> tag when the <canvas> tags themselves can be moved around the page? **This effect is not compatible with Internet Explorer!!** Download [a real browser](http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/) if you want to see it. It's been tested on Firefox and Safari. It cannot work on IE because it depends on the <canvas> tag and fixed element positioning, which IE does not support.

### What's happening?

Each gunner moves around the perimeter of the web page and fires bullets towards your mouse pointer. That's it. There's no game to it. It's just a demonstration. But that doesn't mean you can't have a little fun with it! If you leave your mouse cursor perfectly still, every bullet will hit it.

### So let's play!

Be careful. It's very easy to overload your browser with too many gunners.

### The Code

You are more than welcome to take a look at [gunner.js](/downloads/268/gunner.js) (12 KiB), download it, and use it on your own website.

<script type="text/javascript" src="/downloads/268/gunner.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">new Gunner(100);</script>


Javascript Gunner


Yesterday, like a good house husband, I was placing the food on the table just as Marga was arriving home, when I had a "I gotta take a picture of this" moment. The light coming in the window and the vibrancy of the colors in the salad made our little chefs come alive. Although they look exceedingly Mediterranean, we bought these in Asheville, North Carolina, a few years ago. Despite being made of clay, they have survived a couple moves with hardly a nick. In my mind, they are very jovial characters and have strong Italian accents.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-18-salad-chefs/503112165_e64ac80d2f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Salad Chefs">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-18-salad-chefs/503112165_a51c5bb133.jpg" alt="Salad Chefs"/>
</a>

**Salad Chefs** - Two olive oil and vinegar bottles that we bought in Asheville, NC, in June 2003.

We decided early on that we liked the chap with the wine and bread more, so we bestowed upon him the much greater responsibility of holding olive oil. Due to the nature of Spanish cuisine, he gets flipped upside down several times a day. The poultry fellow, containing vinegar, really only sees any action around salads.


Salad Chefs


It lasted two full days, but the first flower from the [Cactus Cam](/projects/cactus-cam/) project has finally bitten the proverbial dust. You may notice the change of camera angle. Much better, don't you think? Flower #2 bloomed a day after [her sister](/2007/05/14/first-flower/) is doing her best to stand proud and not watch her inevitable fate happening to flower #1.

revver(271601)

My videos have been freezing halfway through with Revver lately. If that happens, just click a little further along in the timeline, or you can [download it](http://media.revver.com/qt;sharer=20700;download;offline=363ad1cea105f4474f8b19834c9510f49c49e52f/271601.mov) for local viewing.

Just by chance, the song John Mayer song, _Gravity_, came on while I was finishing this post. So I just have to share it with you now. He's got a hell of a voice.

> Gravity is working against me And gravity wants to bring me down

In the end, we all succumb to gravity and wither away. What's important is that we rejoice in our beauty while we are in bloom.


Gravity


Well, my hometown knows about my matrimonial plans. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-15-wedding-announcement-in-newspaper/988096197_a684728310_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Wedding Announcement">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-15-wedding-announcement-in-newspaper/988096197_c252f71c66.jpg" alt="Wedding Announcement"/>
</a>

I'm not surprised that they made the mistake of choosing Marga's second surname. People here get confused with my solitary surname.

My mother expects dozens of people to cut this out of the paper and bring it to her. A strange tradition.

I like how they capitalized "Web". It makes me sound important.


Wedding Announcement in Newspaper


The [Cactus Cam](/projects/cactus-cam/) project has begun to bear fruit. My cactus produced its first flower last night. I'm so proud! <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-14-first-flower/987365035_dff5a152e1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3380.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-14-first-flower/987365035_ec4dcdf12a.jpg" alt="CIMG3380.JPG"/>
</a>

Gorgeous, huh?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-14-first-flower/987378835_be167e57bb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3381.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-14-first-flower/987378835_901f74eafe.jpg" alt="CIMG3381.JPG"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-14-first-flower/988248538_7d8c990568_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3382.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-14-first-flower/988248538_8f08a880c5.jpg" alt="CIMG3382.JPG"/>
</a>

The little guy tried his best to make it for Sunday, which was Mother's Day in the US and my -5 month wedding anniversary, but he just couldn't quite get it open. I'm going to have to explain to the little guy that he's being filmed, and that it would be helpful if he wouldn't flower **_at night_**!!

My elderly Powerbook that is acting as camera man has been a little flaky these past few weeks. Occasionally, he just stops taking pictures. But yesterday, he caught a timelapse of the entire day.

revver(267803)

Available for download, [here](http://media.revver.com/qt;sharer=20700;download/267803.mov).


First Flower


It's lovely and sunny today, but the wind makes it hard to be outside. There is sand in the air, from construction sites and because, well, that's what the dirt is here, that hits hard to the face. Anyway, I took a few pictures...

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-13-windy-sunday/987322977_e1315c6f6c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3376.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-13-windy-sunday/987322977_b1f0bfe212.jpg" alt="CIMG3376.JPG"/>
</a>

Again succumbing to the will of my demanding fans, I have recaptured [this picture](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/987297619/) at [Alan's request](/2007/05/10/fire-near-treto/#comments).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-13-windy-sunday/988204260_51d4e78a50_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3377.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-13-windy-sunday/988204260_262bd9c560.jpg" alt="CIMG3377.JPG"/>
</a>

Some flowers and a boat.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-13-windy-sunday/988158734_a198044ab8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3372.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-13-windy-sunday/988158734_698bd19fde.jpg" alt="CIMG3372.JPG"/>
</a>

This picture is for my mother on Mother's Day. Love you, mum!


Windy Sunday


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-11-friendship/493454438_8a6a2fc470_t.jpg" alt="Amigos Rojos" class="post-thumb"/> Nothing new to post today, so I'm going with a themed Flickr post. Today's theme: Friendship. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-11-friendship/493454438_2d73e278a2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Amigos Rojos">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-11-friendship/493454438_8a6a2fc470.jpg" alt="Amigos Rojos"/>
</a>

**Amigos Rojos** - [Raíºl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_Gonz%C3%A1lez_Blanco) puts an arm around his friend.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-11-friendship/493459218_df85f4daa7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Pubbing in Scotland">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-11-friendship/493459218_d667041e27.jpg" alt="Pubbing in Scotland"/>
</a>

**Pubbing in Scotland** - Erik and Jacob have a couple pints in a pub in Anstruther, Scotland in October 2005.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-11-friendship/493485191_8c3fbc41e9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Jeff and Paul">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-11-friendship/493485191_f0ac450d2a.jpg" alt="Jeff and Paul"/>
</a>

**Jeff and Paul** - Jeff and his best golfing buddy, Paul, in Myrtle Beach in February 2006.

Is there really any better body language of friendship than an arm around the neck?


Friendship


Yesterday was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. As I was doing some errands in town, I noticed that there was a huge cloud of smoke filling the sky. I am the number one source, worldwide, for news about Colindres in English. With this fame, comes responsibility. So I immediately stopped what I was doing and headed fearlessly towards the fire. I got as close as I could without getting wet. It might look like a field of grass between me and the fire, but that's the sound that fills up with water twice a day with the tide. The smoke was coming from a spot across the sound, near the neighboring town of Treto.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-10-fire-near-treto/987227077_1d416ba565_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3366.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-10-fire-near-treto/987227077_c625683f95.jpg" alt="CIMG3366.JPG"/>
</a>

That white building to the left of the flames is a [Bosch](http://www.boschappliances.com/) factory. There was a fire there a couple years ago.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-10-fire-near-treto/987694549_b94fe52c97_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3367.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-10-fire-near-treto/987694549_2fa98cff8e.jpg" alt="CIMG3367.JPG"/>
</a>

There were several sets of flames. So it almost certainly wasn't a controlled burn.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-10-fire-near-treto/987254111_9d80db558e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3369.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-10-fire-near-treto/987254111_3fe4cd78a0.jpg" alt="CIMG3369.JPG"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-10-fire-near-treto/988128690_a5e825b53e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3370.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-10-fire-near-treto/988128690_5549bb4230.jpg" alt="CIMG3370.JPG"/>
</a>

You can see how the plume rises high into the sky.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-10-fire-near-treto/987297619_ca7cb5a0be_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3371.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-10-fire-near-treto/987297619_91aad378a7.jpg" alt="CIMG3371.JPG"/>
</a>

On my way back to my errands, I just had to snap this squiggly perspective looking back at the smoke.

The people I spoke to on the street didn't know anything about the fire. The most information I got was some eavesdropping I did while passing some housewives gossiping in the shade of a tree.

> "This morning, at 9:00, the smoke was blowing in the other direction, but then the northeaster came up and it started blowing right at Treto. I swear, with the factory _and_ the smoke, the poor people of Treto won't be able to open any windows at all today!"

I had already deduced the change of wind direction from the shape of the smoke cloud against the perfectly clear blue sky. But I did learn that the fire had been burning since at least 9:00.

I'd better go clear some space to put my Pulitzer...


Fire Near Treto!


The other night, I watched [Déjí  vu](http://imdb.com/title/tt0453467/), the current best selling movie in the iTunes Store. It stars [Denzel Washington](http://imdb.com/name/nm0000243/), [Paula Patton](http://imdb.com/name/nm1745736/), and [Val Kilmer](http://imdb.com/name/nm0000174/). I'm guessing you've only heard of two of those people. The movie plays on everyone's fantasy of having some superpower, like being able to fly, see through walls, or become invisible. In the movie, the government has invented a device that lets them do all three of these things, only temporally shifted four days in the past. Did you get that? The best example to imagine is Google Earth. What if, instead of maps, Google Earth showed realtime video of the Earth's surface from four days ago, with cars driving around, people walking and talking, etc. And you could zoom down and change perspective to be able to look at anything, or anyone, at any angle! Now imagine that a terrorist attack happened. How would you use this magical device to find the terrorists?

During the entire movie, my inner child was just barely able to hold down my inner physicist enough for me to suspend disbelief and really enjoy the exciting ride of the movie. Just barely. It got particularly difficult when they moved from not simply observing the past to actually _altering_ the past.

The best scene was one where Denzel is driving the wrong way on a busy highway with his right eye, and trying to follow a car that he can see with his left eye through some goggles that let him see four days into the past. An excellent "chase" scene.

The lead actress that you've never heard of has a great career ahead of her if she wants it. She's no Halle Berry, but she's a good actress and she's awfully pretty. Val Kilmer's looking pretty pudgy these days. This film won't get any Oscar nominations, but it's clear that Denzel is in a class of his own. I'd like to see him play a villain once, and not be so darn lovable. Though slightly villainous, his Oscar-winning role in [Training Day](http://imdb.com/title/tt0139654/) was still heroic.

So, to conclude, I highly recommend this movie. I even recommend it to people like my mother and fiancé who dislike temporally awkward movies like [Memento](http://imdb.com/title/tt0209144/) and [Pulp Fiction](http://imdb.com/title/tt0110912/). For the more scientifically oriented viewers, I do forewarn that it takes a conscious effort to suspend your disbelief...but it's worth it.

Not to mention that it would be worth seeing just to see the special effects they can do these days. Incredible stuff.

You can watch the trailer [here](http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/dejavu/).


Movie Review: Déjí  Vu


Colindres is growing at an incredible rate. There are currently at least 10 different apartment buildings under construction. Due to all the construction work, occasionally, they have to cut off the water supply to certain neighborhoods. This happens about every two months, and it's rarely off for more than two or three hours.

Yesterday, the water was turned off to our house from 8:00 to 16:00. That's _eight hours_! When this happens, you normally notice the pressure drop significantly, and then you get about 3 minutes of weak faucet time before it stops completely. I used this to wash my face and hands in the morning, and my hands once during the morning. And then the pipes were dry.

For lunch, we had leftover chicken from [the birthday party last weekend](/2007/05/06/triple-birthday/). This required a few drops of water to reheat, which I had available in a filtering jug that is normally full with a liter or so. By chance, the electric kettle had enough in it for coffee after lunch. So the water shortage didn't affect our food consumption at all.

Where I did notice the effect was in general hygiene. I didn't go to the gym in the morning because I knew I wouldn't be able to shower upon return. By the time the water came back on, the toilet _really_ needed flushing and the kitchen was piled high with dirty dishes. These were the only inconveniences we experienced.

It really got me thinking how much we first worlders take running water for granted. It's just always there. I was going to suggest that my readers try an experiment to avoid using running water for eight hours (waking hours!) like I had to do yesterday, but none of you would or could do it, so I'll be satisfied with this: The next time you touch a faucet, try to have a little "_Man, that's cool how the water comes right outta there when I turn that little knob!_" moment. Then you can go back to worrying about whatever [pyramid-topping](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs) social issue you were worried about before.


Dry Monday


For [my post yesterday](/2007/05/06/triple-birthday/), I tried to upload, to [Revver](http://one.revver.com/), the following video of the birthday trio blowing out their candles. 

I got back the following standard cookie-cutter rejection response due to a copyright violation:

> Dear rasman,
> 
> Oops! Your video "Candle Blowing" is awesome, but are you sure you have rights to that music? We can't accept any videos that violate the copyrights of music artists.
> 
> If you have any questions or feel this video has been rejected in error, please respond to this email with any information that will help us verify that you own or have permission to use this music in your video
> 
> Alternately, you could re-edit the video with royalty-free music and resubmit. Go [here](http://one.revver.com/go/faq#copyright9) for suggestions on royalty-free music sources. Rock!
> 
> Visit the Revver blog for updates - http://blog.revver.com
> 
> The Revver Team review@revver.com

This blew my mind, and it was late, so I shot back this less-than-tactful response:

> You're kidding me, right? You're questioning the copyright of the "Happy Birthday" song? They're just singing it in Spanish.
> 
> I hope to hear back from you soon.
> 
> Erik

And then, this morning, I got back:

> Dear Contributor,
> 
> The Time Warner company currently holds the copyright for the song 'Happy Birthday To You' and its copyright is licensed and enforced by ASCAP. Because Revver pays content contributors, this is considered a commercial use.
> 
> Therefore, any uncleared commercial music in your video is not acceptable for our platform.
> 
> Thank you for understanding. Cassie

One single internet search confirms it. ["Happy Birthday To You" is owned by AOL Time Warner!](http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/birthday.asp) I _really_ thought that was a myth.

One of the things that I like about Revver is that they're tougher on copyright violations than other video services are. But what I hate about Revver is how inconsistent they can be. For instance, is [my guitar rendition of "Happy Birthday To You"](/2006/10/06/happy-birthday-grandma/) so horrible as to be unrecognizable as a copyright violation? What about [my cover](/2006/10/03/gravedigger/) of a Grammy-winning song?? Goofballs!

I still take secret pleasure that [any search](http://www.google.com/search?q=revver+fraud) for Revver's Click-Fraud policy will return my rant against them called: [Revver's Click Fraud Policy: Guilty until proven innocent](http://forums.revver.com/viewtopic.php?t=620).

I think I'll put this post in the [Complaining](/category/complaining/) category. :-)


No Birthday Videos on Revver


This weekend, we went to Mondragon to celebrate the birthday of Marce, (Marga's mother) Alejo (a friend of the family), and Inés (Marga's aunt). Today is also Mother's Day in Spain. We had a big meal at the Extremadura Center, where part of my [wedding](/wedding/) celebration will take place. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986613323_69d02ed537_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3341.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986613323_0c5538e6ce.jpg" alt="CIMG3341.JPG"/>
</a>

From the outside, the Extremadura Center ain't much to look at. It's on the second floor ([third to you Americans](/2007/03/16/elevators-and-floor-numbering/)) of a building that used to be a factory.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987490678_040f6ddeee_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3342.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987490678_a3fb2d3b35.jpg" alt="CIMG3342.JPG"/>
</a>

Since I had been there last, they have hung some paintings on the wall and strung flags from the ceiling. They are the [Basque](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_%28autonomous_community%29) and [Extremadura](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremadura) flags.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986661093_7deb07f612_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3343.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986661093_3173950727.jpg" alt="CIMG3343.JPG"/>
</a>

Mid meal.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986673929_38b44ffc72_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3344.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986673929_9c27c3406e.jpg" alt="CIMG3344.JPG"/>
</a>

Grandma Ramón and Juan down at the gentlemen's end of the table.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986692991_cfda7c12f4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3345.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986692991_9af763059b.jpg" alt="CIMG3345.JPG"/>
</a>

This was a wine-induced attempt at an artistic photo that I will call, "The Intersection of Cultures and Lines".

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987557930_f1664eca4a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3346.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987557930_068f384dc0.jpg" alt="CIMG3346.JPG"/>
</a>

This is the wine that is specially bottled for the Extremadura Center. It's from Extremadura, of course. I like how the Center's seal incorporates the shape of the territory, the colors of the flag, and the shape of the iconic tree from Extremadura: the "[Encina](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encina)" (or "Holm Oak").

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987573752_6488d0bcec_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3350.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987573752_caa30a9e5b.jpg" alt="CIMG3350.JPG"/>
</a>

The cakes!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986747107_bc5b4eb5aa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3351.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986747107_2e09ece67a.jpg" alt="CIMG3351.JPG"/>
</a>

Marce turned 57.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986862803_a9221a2e95_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3352.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986862803_8007267d2a.jpg" alt="CIMG3352.JPG"/>
</a>

Alejo turned 59.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986881011_b63a5c9547_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3353.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986881011_6ce4df1b56.jpg" alt="CIMG3353.JPG"/>
</a>

Inés turned 52.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987756756_3399901758_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3354.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987756756_878cd223f3.jpg" alt="CIMG3354.JPG"/>
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This redheaded cutie is the son of one of Inés' nieces.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987781400_b4b151e91c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3355.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987781400_f6329a6d28.jpg" alt="CIMG3355.JPG"/>
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Candle lighting.

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  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987818264_a0ab988aa7.jpg" alt="CIMG3357.JPG"/>
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Group hug!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986993375_59acb39069_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3358.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/986993375_656a5ac86e.jpg" alt="CIMG3358.JPG"/>
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The birthday kids.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987875792_1275a5a718_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3359.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987875792_b4d7d34ce0.jpg" alt="CIMG3359.JPG"/>
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Ice cream and peaches too!

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  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987030529_754600742c.jpg" alt="CIMG3360.JPG"/>
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Cousins Maikel and Gorka pretend to pose with some card game trophies on the stage.

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  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987889890_a586c58a29.jpg" alt="CIMG3361.JPG"/>
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Andoni gives his brother a kiss as he pretends to accept a potted plant trophy. Ain't alcohol great?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987064585_293eeb9d89_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3363.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987064585_089c634ffb.jpg" alt="CIMG3363.JPG"/>
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Mmmm!! Ice cream!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987927954_2d22217f18_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Marga has a secret">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-06-triple-birthday/987927954_1a70e8651a.jpg" alt="Marga has a secret"/>
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Marga has a secret.

Time to go eat some leftover cake that we brought back with us...


Triple Birthday


One of the many, many varieties of candy available here is a little chewy piece of candy called a meón. The word "meón" literally means "pisser", or to be slightly less vulgar, "one who urinates". The shape of the candy has always struck me as humorously vulgar, which is the intent, I think. The white debris you see on him are little grains of sugar from being in a bag with other candy.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-03-pisser-candy/987095510_eeafd39d08_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3336.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-03-pisser-candy/987095510_228f36bdea.jpg" alt="CIMG3336.JPG"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-03-pisser-candy/986242989_0fbdb272b8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="CIMG3337.JPG">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-03-pisser-candy/986242989_6a5cbd09b1.jpg" alt="CIMG3337.JPG"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-03-pisser-candy/987099152_cb807f4a5e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Pisser Candy (1 of 3)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-03-pisser-candy/987099152_105105d3da.jpg" alt="Pisser Candy (1 of 3)"/>
</a>

The shape is modeled after the [Manneken Pis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis) statue in Brussels:

[![Bruselas](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-03-pisser-candy/707781227_c86177d1ed.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/8867316@N03/707781227/)

This is kind of a scary picture taken by a tourist in a Belgian souvenir shop:

[![Pisser Army](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-03-pisser-candy/181351303_84820f8196.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/lozinho/181351303/ "Pisser Army")

Can you imagine a product with such emphasis on genitalia being marketed to children in the United States? Imagine the social uproar!


Pisser Candy


I just found one of the more clever usages I've seen of a tag cloud. A [tag cloud](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_cloud) is a new form of histogram chart where words or "tags" that appear more often are shown in a larger font. The first one I ever saw was on [Flickr](http://flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/tags/) a year or two ago, but they've since become quite popular. I even have one right here on my blog for my post topics (see "Topic Cloud" left sidebar). Check out the following article:

[Pollster.com: Tag Clouds for the Democratic Debate](http://www.pollster.com/mystery_pollster/tag_clouds_for_the_democratic.php)

It's about the word frequency in the speech of the presidential candidates during [the first Democratic debate](/2007/04/27/first-donkey-debate/) last week. It's a similar analysis to my earlier post about [Bush Speech Word Frequency](/2007/01/30/bush-speech-word-frequency/).

Here are two quick examples to pique your interest:

![Obama tags](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-02-cloudy-debate/ObamaTag400.png)

![Clinton tags](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2007-05-02-cloudy-debate/ClintonTag400.png)

Again, you can see them for all the candidates on [pollster.com](http://www.pollster.com/mystery_pollster/tag_clouds_for_the_democratic.php).

I found the site via [this interesting blog about charts](http://junkcharts.typepad.com/junk_charts/2007/04/cutting_through.html) that I might subscribe to.


Cloudy Debate


Today is a holiday in Spain. It's Labor Day, or Workers' Day. Somehow, it got conveniently placed right on [an ancient Pagan holiday celebrating the begin of summer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maypole). The Spanish are clever, and often, when a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, they say, "Aw, what the heck? Let's make it a four-day weekend!" This is called, quite reasonably, a "puente" ("bridge"). So most people didn't work yesterday.

On Sunday, I was informed that I wouldn't be working on Monday either. Marga's sister (with boyfriend), aunt, two cousins, and parents took me shopping for a vest (and shirt and tie and shoes) to go with my suit for the wedding. Marga's employer doesn't do puentes, so she had to work. The first stop was a store halfway to Santander. It was in an old three-story mansion that was extremely well cared for. The gardener was out in the rain with the leaf blower when we arrived. There was a beautiful garden, a stables, and a pond with swans, and an area with peacocks and waterfalls. If the weather hadn't been so gray and drizzly, it would have been absolutely gorgeous. It reminded me of some of the palaces I've visited as a tourist. But this wasn't a palace; it was a "[Nuptial Villa](http://www.arras.es/)", a high brow tailor shop that specializes in weddings and idyllic backdrops for wedding photos (at that link, click on "Cantabria" to see photos of the place). Up on the third floor, the woman that attended to us pulled out a pile of shiny silky vests, and placed them on the stylish billiard table for us to peruse.

Because my suit is dark gray ("charcoal", I'd say), we thought it important that the vest and tie have some color. After trying on a few, we settled on a dark red that those present said went well with my definitely-not-mediterranean skin tone. I'm a moody shopper. I have to be in the right mood to buy something, and even when I'm in the right mood, if I like something, I want to buy it so that I don't have to keep shopping. But the family had a whole day planned with three more stores to visit, so we asked the woman to hold that vest and shirt that I liked for a day or two and that we might be back.

We ran into traffic in Santander, and it took us two hours to go the 25km into the city center. By then it was lunch time, so we found a restaurant. The wine was so bad that we expected the waitress to bring us some salad and olive oil to eat with it, and the waitress spilled three different kinds of sauce on me throughout the meal. Needless to say, I didn't leave the restaurant in the best of moods.

We walked back to the car to get my suit, and then set off to find a store that one of Marga's coworkers had told us about called, and I quote: "'smart' or 'stark' or 'stock' or something". After three calls with Marga and coworkers and entering four different stores to ask for directions, we finally found a store that was called something completely different, but had the word "Smash" written very subtly in a tiny font on the floor just inside the door, a word that they used on all their packaging, and thus was "remembered" as the name of the store.

But Smash was still closed for lunch. When I tried the door, a man came and unlocked it and let us in as the first afternoon customers. They weren't quite ready for customers yet, though, and we had to wait while the employee that later attended to us finished packing some boxes. In the five minutes that we waited, twenty other customers entered the store, and they had to lock the doors again to stop more people coming in. That's how popular this shop was. The contrast to the first store from the morning was incredible. The morning store had carpet, chandeliers, and elaborate gilded molding, very traditional, very elegant, very royal. This place was stark and modern with a huge arch that you had to walk through on entry made of shiny red plastic. The guy brought out 20 vests and a few shirts and put them down on the table in the middle of the store for us to see. He then proceeded to dress up the clothes hanger that I'd brought my suit in on...first the shirt, then the vest, then a tie, then the suit coat, which is called "la americana" here, I learned. I told him that it looked good, but that the hanger wasn't even engaged to be married yet. He finally let me go try the stuff on. I had to make my way through the crowd to the dressing room, put it on, and come back out, ask people to clear away from the mirror so that I could see myself, and try to evaluate how I looked with a crowd of impatient people staring at me judgmentally. We thanked him, but said that we were looking for something else, and asked for the door to be unlocked so that we could leave.

The next store provided an experience that I will not soon forget. It was full of name brands, prominently displayed. Gucci, Prada, D&G... We found the suit section and waited there patiently for someone to come ask if they could help us find something. Store employees walked by us every 20 seconds of the five minutes that we stayed there. I didn't really understand what had happened until we got back out on the street. That's when the word to describe the experience hit me: _invisible_. When we were in the store, we were completely invisible. We had been judged to not be the right level of clientí¨le for the store to bother with, and had been completely ignored. And it's true that, looking back, the people that were being attended to definitely _were_ of another social status, but still... The only contact the store employees made with us was when they politely opened the door for us to leave. The experience was very degrading, but I'm glad that I had it. I completely understand the motivation of the store clerks. It's in their best interest to go to the customer most likely to make a purchase first. And it was also humbling to be on the receiving end of the invisibility treatment that we all, consciously or not, give to people that we judge to be below our social class.

The final store that we went to was quite well hidden down some alleys that we wouldn't have found if we hadn't been directed there from another store. They had a whole area of the store laid out for exactly what we were doing. There were little 3m x 3m (10 ft x 10 ft) cubicle areas set up, each with a full-length mirror on one wall, two comfortable chairs looking away from the mirror towards the place where a person would stand to look at himself in the mirror, a chair with a shoe horn on it, plush carpeting, and a little curtained off dressing area. It was specially designed for families to come and help choose wedding outfits. I was so impressed with the thoughtfulness of the design that I didn't mind waiting 15 minutes to be attended to. I was also impressed with how the employees were so dedicated to the customers that they were with, yet would take a few seconds while their client was changing to come tell us that they'd be with us as soon as possible and to bring us extra chairs to sit down while we waited. During our wait, we overheard, from the next cubicle, a woman exclaim, "It's so hard to decide! He's so handsome in _everything_!!" followed by the store clerk responding in a loud homosexual voice, "You _must_ be the mother, no?", which sent the rest of us in the store laughing.

When we finally got our turn, a woman came over and asked for information about the date of the wedding, whether it was a morning or evening ceremony, and where the wedding would take place. She eyed me head to foot, handed me my suit pants, and told me to put them on and that she'd be right back. She gave me a shirt, which I also put on, and when I got out of the dressing area, she pulled out some suspenders. It has been years and years since my shoulders have helped my pants fight gravity. It was a very strange feeling. But she logically explained how it avoided wrinkles in my trousers that would have appeared if I'd used a belt. Then a vest and a tie. It was the third time that day that I'd had a tie tied around my neck for me. The feeling of being dressed by an expert is very opulent. You feel very important. The vest that I most liked from this store was the first one. It was _very_ elegant, it felt much more elegant than the vest I liked in the morning. The morning vest was more playful and colorful. The woman in the afternoon also commented that she would tailor my "americana" a little more, so that it was closer to my body.

So, in the end, I'm torn between the vests at the first and last store. Throughout the day, I learned the one-hand-in-pocket pose which opens the suit coat, thus exposing the vest, which everyone told me is the standard groom photo pose. I also learned to not think, "Look, it's a restaurant waiter!" when I saw the good looking fellow in the mirror wearing a vest. I also learned that they won't let you take photos of yourself in the nice clothes...hence the entirely textual nature of this post.

When we finally got home, I was pretty beat. Marga got various versions of all of the above from the different witnesses. So I didn't buy anything, but I successfully got my feet wet in the river of wedding clothes shopping.


27 posts from May, 2007