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New House Party

2010-03-08T16:01:00Z

I had a sweet house warming party this weekend. It was a smashing success. It was black or white or Lucha themed. Big thanks to everybody who contributed before and after.

Catering by Los Elefantes was super good. You guys were perfect, thanks!
Sicario Photoblog for showing off all the hotties
More photos over on Simpson’s Photo Blog Tapacholos
The music was super awesome. Thanks goes to DJ Coast 2 Coast for the sound system and Dj Set.
Big thanks goes to VIce Fever for fully shredding.
Also thanks to DJette Maru, (DJ) Jose and DJ Nic’s Ipod.
Renno for talking the cops out of arresting me without giving them any money
Dude trying to sleep with my couch surfer so bad, that you were willing to sleep on the floor of my service room on the roof and then stick around and clean the next day
- I admire your dedication but don’t respect you

Fuck You’s go to:

Dude who puked in the corner
Water dept of Mexico city for deciding to turn off the party
The police
Crazy lady two doors down
Annoying kid with the camel back
- for the last time i’m not moving the DJ setup to the roof
Girl freaking out about the cops
- tranquila por favor
Crazy bitch screaming at 7 am “NIc!!! NIcc!!!!” out front of my house
- Please go home
Annoying fucker at 8 am trying to get in and wake up my beautiful roommate cus you need to talk to her
- You don’t even know her name
- Everybody is asleep
- tal ves debes ir a hoga y chaqueta (and fuck off)

Sicario Photo Blog

2010-03-04T21:42:00Z

Made it onto another photo blog

You Hung Like A Baby Grape

2010-03-03T00:31:00Z

Hobo#1: “Nigga! You wouldn’t bust a grape!”

Hobo#2: “Don’t go around sellin’ nickel bags for 20, in my town a dub is a dub, but I don’t sell drugs no more”

Hobo#1: “Come here I’ll bite your nose off, bite that shit right off”

Submitted by a portland reader

Mexican Cargo Bikes

2010-03-01T21:46:00Z

These are the cool cargo bikes that all the street vendors use. People pretty much setup propane tanks with girdles on them and ride around selling food. You get them cheaper downtown at the markets, but still for less than 200$ they are pretty cool.

Tamales Oaxaquenos

2010-03-01T19:54:00Z

Plaza De Toros

2010-02-24T17:01:00Z

I went to the Fiesta Brava this last weekend. The Plaza De Toros in DF is the biggest bull ring in the world, holding a stunning 50,000 people. It was almost at capacity this weekend, because it was a special event with the bull fighters all using horses. These horses were amazingly courageous, agile and well trained. Like running sideways as the bull charged full speed and the bull fighter would be fending him off with his lance (or whatever its called). They also had these amazing ‘juke’ moves, where they would both charge head on and then at the last second the horse would fake out the bull and dash the other way and the bull fighter would make an attack. One horse even showed some fancy foot work, by literally dancing right in the middle of a skirmish. Another bull fighter got his horse to kiss the bull right before the kill.

It was an interesting event. It was a good sampling of the general mexican people: the rich, middle class and poor all enjoy and can attend. And in one of the most economically stratified cities in the world, that is a unique thing to witness. Of course the deaths of 6 bulls for entertainment seams a little excessive and I took no pleasure in the act. But on the other side, most bulls don’t do anything with their lives except eat crappy food and be forced to make bang on top of cows they don’t truly love. But for one day they are champions in an arena, with many people routing for them, the underdog (or bull). It is nice to know, that the entire stadium will boo the bull fighter if he misses the kill shot and the bull doesn’t die instantly, as my friend said, ‘the bull shouldn’t have to die alone’.

Sonidos De Los Calles Del DF

2010-02-17T17:26:00Z

I have mentioned all the sounds as identifiers in the streets of Mexico City. But they are just so interesting i will mention a few more. I’m sure there are even more, that i just haven’t picked up on yet

The garbage truck will park on a block and ahead of it is a guy ringing a loud bell. It means that you should bring your garbage down.
The garbage bell should not be confused with the smaller bell with shorter rings, which indicates the handmade ice-cream-cicle.
There is the guy who runs ahead of the propane truck with the long and boisterous “Gaaaaaaaaaassssss”
If you hear a cute simple melody on a whistle, grab your knifes and grab the guy on the bicycle with the knife sharpener on the back
The repeating and mono-toned recording “Tamales, Oxaninos” (not sure on the spelling of the last one) means that there is a guy on a bicycle cart selling yummy stuff, Go find him. Took me a bit to re that it was a recording. I’m sure the guy has nightmares about that repeating voice.
Honorable mentions go to the trucks with megaphones and a political agenda and the cat calling hombres ‘titztitztitztitz”

Silly link

Life Update:

Quit my job at ELCTech
Got a WAYYYY better job with my friends Hans, TJ, and Toby at Turing
Moving into a super sweet huge house at the end of the month
- Still looking for a 4th roommate
- Looking for cheap/free furniture
- Out of town friends, I got a room on the roof with a hammock for you
- Rumors are not true, i am not moving back anytime soon
The puppy Soma i wanted to buy got bought the day i went to get her.
- Bummed but still looking
- Thinking about getting a French Mastiff or Argentinean Dogo

Andre Going Off

2010-02-01T15:13:00Z

Look who’s rep’in the west coast.

All my souvenirs are booze related

2010-02-01T15:10:00Z

Last weekend i got these two cool bottles. One is a drunken burro bottle sitting in an agave cactus stand ($7), it contains mezcal. The other is a cermanic bottle with a sweet goats head, some other bids, all have boogley eyes and a mushroom stopper($10); it holds the tequila. I also got this cool box set with melty shot glasses.

Nobody Can Top That Shit

2010-01-27T22:02:00Z

Who can top this shit?

Via: MMM (good)

Vitamin T

2010-01-26T18:38:00Z

My Life's A MashUp

2010-01-20T22:17:00Z

So its like week 3 or something. I’m pretty much going to stop counting now.

Some people say they feel like they live in a rap video, or that something reminds them of a Steely Dan song. Well then i must live in a mashup.

<object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sq8OU-7JDFA&start=0&autoplay=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sq8OU-7JDFA&start=0&autoplay=0" height="355" wmode="transparent" width="425"></embed></object>	<object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/A6MEyNT2fuw&start=0&autoplay=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/A6MEyNT2fuw&start=0&autoplay=0" height="355" wmode="transparent" width="425"></embed></object>
YouTube Doubler

You might want to tweek the volumes, i was in a rush.

In my last post I mentioned going to the Mexican Venice it was really fun. You rent this brightly colored barge for a couple of hours and float around with your friends and get drunk. People in other barges come up and sell you food, they have big propane griddles on their little boats, booze and crafts. And groups of Mariachis also rent barges and compete for you to rent them to come and play on your barge. One was like the mexican Elvis of mariachi. The highlight of the day was when a barge full of a lot of people floated by and one guy wanted to cheers all of our ladies (we kinda had an unfair amount). But when he was leaning over onto our boat, they started to seperate and he was left doing the ‘bridge’ thing, then spooolsh head first into some very not so clean canal water. Then when his friends pulled him out, he was pissed at us, it was hilarious.

I have been making lots of new friends. Nathan introduced me to a photographer friend of his and he has some cool friends in the fashion world here. They are pretty fun to hang out with. Allan Wilson introduced me to a cool friend of his, Maru, who apparently has the same type of scathing, yet endearing, humor Auggie and I have…. Sounds like a match to me! I also became a moderator for the Gringos in Mexico City Couch Surfing group, I have meet some cool people through there, we are actually having a met up tonight. Zac’s Girlfriend is a DJ and promotor for Sicario groups like Buraka Som Sistema, Phoniex and others to DF), so we have seen some sweet shows and gotten a few free drinks. Did you know Cookers wants 50K to come and DJ here, outrageous!

Soma is fitting right in here, well actually standing out in her normal way. There aren’t a lot of dogs like her around, so i get a lot of people totally stoked on her and little kids totally scared. I tell them “cuidado, ella es lobo feroz”. I also say that to all the little dogs that are mean. Its hilarious. This one young boy dog likes to play with her, which she likes, but he is always trying to make bang on top of her, which she doesn’t like. And the last time they meet soma kinda kicked the shit outta him after he tried, the owner didn’t care, we both had the ‘got what he deserved’ face. Thats my girl. But she walks around the hood without a leash, waits outside of the cupcake shop where i get my coffee and the mini mart for beer. We are 3 blks from the fabulous Parque Mexico. On sunday it gets flooded with dogs from all over the city, its fun. Soma even scored me a cute mexican girl’s digits this weekend, she did everything except put it in my phone….what a great dog! (except for the not being able to use a cell phone)

Oh man i wanna go to Coachella this year. The Lineup looks awesome! I’ll be in the states during that time, but I’m unsure of if i can logistically make it. BTW i love the 1 for 10 program.

Hey ladies, prolly some stuff you already do and some new tricks in The Girls Guide to Depravity (its all about the rules on the right).

BTW thats a British style plug. I think they are trying to set us up, cus they are jealous of our skills with duct tape and zip ties. Also note in the setup there isn’t any duct tape or zip ties. Nice try wankers… back to the cricket.

Week Two In the Big Taco

2010-01-15T20:09:00Z

So I’m sitting in this cafe right now, because the power went out at my dept, therefore no internet. Maybe I didn’t hear the electric guy ringing the bells, so he could fill up the array of car batteries on my roof. If you flip the camera to across the street you can see my favorite statue in my neighborhood, Senor Einstein.

Week Two was pretty crazy. It feels like i am on week 4. I have made quite a few new friends. Tomorrow we are going to the mexican venice, Xochimilco (pronounced Suchi-Meal-Co …. i think). I am trying to find a place that develops rollos de fotos, but its not very facil. So I promise to make a legit blog post with pictures and stuff soon(ish)

Porting Your Phone Number For Cheap

2010-01-12T15:25:00Z

So I have been keeping my US cell phone, because the Intl data is nice and i didn’t want to lose my cell phone number.

But its kinda cost prohibitive. I dropped the Intl data, but the lowest package I can get is 40$ a month. Still expensive for a phone that i’m not going to use.

The lowest plan cricket has is 30$ a month.
Skype isn’t technically a VOIP, so they can’t port numbers
Vonage is too expensive and is prolly going out of business this summer
Google Voice is working on porting numbers, but aren’t there yet, but they would be ideal
Enter 3jam
- For 4.99$ a month & a one time fee of 25$ you can port your cell phone number over
- Same features as Google Voice: Voice mail transcription, mobile apps, etc
- I doubt it is actually as good as google voice
  - it is written in PHP
- You can port your number out also

So I signed up for 3Jam today. So I’ll keep you posted on how it all turns out.

A Week In Review In The Big Taco

2010-01-05T22:42:00Z

So today marks my one week in Mexico City. Feels like 2 weeks though.

The Beginning

The day before I leave, i realize I have a dog crate to big to take on the plane
- Spend all day selling one dog crate and buying another
Good bye drinks with Dj Snacks and friends at tiga
3:30 am… no sleep… Head to the airport
My bag is over 50 lbs
- Incur 150$ fee (eat a bag a dix Delta)
Turns out they double charge me for Soma and the luggage
- so thats 380 times 2 = $760
- its going to take 2 “pay periods” for my refund (Delta: eat a bag of dix times two)
Arrive in Mexico City
In customs
- no money + no atm => no cart + soma can’t get out => me pushing heavy dog crate + big luggage
- 1 laptop + 1 laptop => Customs Shake Down($60) + no money + no atm => giant fucking hassel with multiple security checks points
All my roomies were gone on vacation
- Had to ring all the doors trying to talk my way into the building to retrieve the hidden key
And relax

I’m up there on the top floor with the corner room

My days in general

Exploring my new neighborhood
Learning spanish via Rosetta Stone and of course trial by fire
Eating lots of street food
Spent the new years with flat mate and friends at a bar
- Locals don’t party on new years, only spend time with the family
- They also eat 12 grapes the last 12 seconds of the year
- Oh Aussie girls
Saturday night
- Went to a bar on the 50th floor of a downtown building… amazing panoramic
- Saw Nina Dioz at Cultral Center De Espana (free/libre)
Sunday went to the
- biggest market in Mexico Mercado Merced
- Tour of Metropolitan Cathedral Bell Towers
- National Art Mueso (libre)

The Oddities

Got hassled for drinking on the street
- 5 mins later cops drive by thanking me for picking up my dogs shit
If you wanna take out your garbage
- Hear a bell ringing
- Grab your garbage and run downstairs
- Chase them down and give it to them unsorted and they sort it there
- Some people even tip them
If you want a hot shower or to cook food
- You have to hear a guy yelling on the street “Centa” or “Gas” early in the morning
- Run down stairs and catch them
If you want a cell phone
- go to any corner store and pay 40$
- three phone calls later it might work
If you want a transvestite prostitute
- Hang on my block
If you want a regular prostitute
- Go to the street on Mecado Merced that only sell bicycles
I’m now the 2nd moderator for the Gringos in Mexico City Couch Surfing Group
Mexican Girls are wildly agressive when it comes to hooking a gringo in a night club
- I’m gonna like it here