Artist - Teacher - Game Designer - Filmmaker - Traveler - VJ - Dudeist
Practical Joke in Amsterdam
Originally uploaded by gabemac.
Every now and again someone puts soap in a fountain here in amsterdam. This happend last week at the American hotel. All of leidseplein was covered in little bits of bubbles that looked like snow. Even mindcaster said, "damn it's snowing'.
It's been so hectic the last 2 weeks. I haven't blogged much, because so much has happened. Just before I went for a trip to New York, my best friend Pavle's father passed away. Tamara talked about it on her blog a bit. It was really devastating for him. That was a lot to deal with, and too much to give it justice in the few sentences that I have your attention. The only thing I can say is that his father was a REAL tough guy. He had cancer of the lower intestine for months, and the pain must have been unbearable. But his family didn't know, and all he was using was aspirin for the pain. I'm not sure if he didn't want to worry his family, or he just didn't want to admit it himself, but he refused any treatments to prolong his life for another half year or so. It seems I've always got someone i know dying of cancer around this time. Last year it was my Grandmother. I'd like that to stop please.
On to more pleasant things, I went to New York for a conference. GEMS or (Global Entertainment and Media Summit). Not much of a summit. I think there were maybe 50 people there? But I did meet with a couple of interesting people that I hope we will be doing some great "Green" projects with. New York was in full Christmas swing. EVERYONE was out on the streets shopping. MAn what a lot of people. I hope to have some videos up soon of that. I was a bit worried of Bed Bugs as that's what everyone said be careful of. I really searched my hotel room for any signs, but found none, so I think I'm safe. I can't really say too many exciting things as I was only there for 2 nights before I left for Paris and Le Web 3.
It was larger than last year, and it was really freaky being there. Le Web was the first REAL conference that I spoke at about videoblogging. It was wild to go back there after one year, and to know SO many people in the web 2.0 biz. It gave me a realization of how far I've come in such a short time. And made me wonder where I and XOLO.TV will be in another year from now. The conference was hijacked by French politics which I'm sure you can read all about that scandal all over the place. For me it was great to meet up with old friends, and new. A real treat was meeting Luca. The crazy Italian blogger who is a big fan of XOLO. I guess in the end this whole web thing has added a new dimension to meeting people. The only thing is, I have to read about the lives of som many friends now, it's almost hard to keep up. :-)
But it is nice to be back home again. I was soooo tired that I couldn't do anything at all for a couple of days. I was seeing double even after my second cup of coffee. Time to wind down and enjoy the holidays my body was telling me. So that's what I'll have to do. In any case, I'm hoping for a version of XOLO that I can really let loose on before Christmas, that would be a great present. But an even better one will be no laptop, lots of wine, food and friends in the end. So to all the virtual friends out there. Be Merry!!!!
You've heard it before. We love to fry things in the south. Fried chicken, fried snickers bars, fried shrimp (thanks bubba) and for thanks giving Fried Turkey. You may wonder how that works?
Well you first put a sloppy paprika sauce on it like my uncle is demonstrating here. Doesn't that look good?
And then drop it in a big vat of hot fat. YUMMMY!!! While you are waiting you have a few beers, talk to family, catch up etc. It actually cooks the turkey really fast, and yes it is juicy!!!
But of course we have all kinds of great dishes to go along with it. Tamara loved the Squash Caserol. For those not from the South, squash is a yellow vegetable. May favorite is Sweet Potato Suffle'. Of course my Aunt Bonnie did the family's famous Pound Cake. It puts a pound on you with each bite, but it tastes soooo gooood. Tamara loved that and is begging me to make it.
I guess I'll have to wait till she gets better. She's come down with some flu that everyone else has got. In-Ah has it, Jag has it, even Wiendelt was in the office today coughing all over everybody. I really hope I don't get it. I did make Tamara some of my famous Chicken Soup to get better. In any case
It was great seeing the family again for ThanksGiving. I think it may be a while before I get back to the states though. :-(
Hugs and Kisses to the whole family!!!
Today is ThanksGiving here in the states. After coming over to talk to some people about investing in a second round for XOLO.TV I get to spend some time with my family. And I'm really lucky that Tamara got to come along as well. It's not often that I get over to see my parents, uncles, aunts and cousins for Thanks Giving.
I think the last time I was here for Thanks Giving was at least 6 years ago or so, if not more. I'm really excited to see everyone, and I have all these Christmas gifts already for the Family. Although I haven't wrapped them yet. Well I couldn't becuase of the freakn' security checks that if anything was wrapped, they would be unwrapped, and I'd have to wrap it again. Thus wrapping and travelling is a waste of time.
Well the cars is being loaded up, so I gotta grab the cameras and go have some turkey. YUM!!!!!! Oh and sweet potatoes. Gotta love those!!! A little note for the non-americans, it's usually turkey for Thanksgiving and Honey Baked Ham for Christmas.
Wiendelt made a great video of the Jam Party 2006. There are more videos to come, but enjoy this in the meantime. :-)
There was a great vibe going on in the Akhnaton Club in Amsterdam last night. Wiendelt and Esther organized the 3rd Jam Party. It's when a bunch of friends get together, practice for a month and then perform great jam songs for fun. But don't think it's not professional. It's sounded excellent! Gabe B sang a number of songs, Hugo sang a great rendition of "Saturday Night", Wiendelt and Esther tore down the house many times and I got to sing a song as well. If you missed it, that's too bad. It may be a while before another Jam Party is organized seeing as how Esther is about to have a second child. Oh man, when does it end all these kids being born around me? In the mean time, there will be some videos online soon I'm sure, but you can always check the Jam Party Photo pool on Flickr. If you were there and have some great pics, please add them to the pool! The pictures added there were taken by Tamara. They look excellent, but she thinks she still needs a better digital camera. I tend to agree actually. Any advice for what she should get? Let us know. It's almost Christmas.
To everyone who came to the party and helped organize it, thanks for a wonderful night. Now I need to go take another aspirin for my hangover.
Halloween 2006
Originally uploaded by gabemac.
Last night Tamara and I threw a Halloween Party. It was to celebrate MY Birthday, Tam's birthday and a 3 year Anniversary. Click on the picture to go see some more photos. It was excellent seeing all the costumes that everyone came in. And oh man was there a mess this morning. After 5 hours we've finished cleaning and are now reliving the night. Notes for next party:
- 3 bottles of Vodka is not enough
- Need more Cointreau
- No one drinks red Vermouth
- Tamara's guacamole dip evaporates within seconds
working in amsterdam
Originally uploaded by murque.
Tamara was looking theough our Flickr contacts this evening when she saw a picture of my old desk and office. WITH SOME GIRL SLEEPING THERE! I guess that's not strange as we are no longer there at the offices near the river in Amsterdam, but it came through a photo stream of one of my ex-students / intern / friend (but not in that order). The interent is a small place indeed.
Through my travels the past month I have watched the World Cup in 5 different languages. It started off with English and Spanish in the United States. ESPN was covering the World Cup pretty well while we were at VloggerCon in Sanf Francisco, and then Atlanta. However the Spanish station Univision something (which has recently doubled it's viewership since the World Cup) had better covereage. You have of course seen us watching the games in the airplanes on the way to California, but it was great to watch it with my uncle Dean who was my soccer coach as a kid, and who has a tournament named after him in Georgia. You can see him and Tamara in the picture here in full supporter getup.
Then back in Holland I watched the continued matches while I prepared for my trip in Berlin. Watchng the first rounds of many teams, and Holland winning thier second match to secure entry into the next round. Then off to Berlin.
In Berlin of course everything was in German. I still can't get used to the conference way of watching a game which the Germans love. It basically swithces in between the different games playing at any one time, which means that you never get to watch a Goal happen Live! Bummer. I was so disappointed when Holland lost as I feel it really is home for me now. But life must go on, even though I was in Full Orange getup for the games.
Then I arrived for my backpacking trip through Thailand yesterday. I thought World Cup coverage would be sparse at best. I was wrong. We got updates from the pilot of the game, and once we got our hotel sorted out, I went to a bar 1 block away and watched the highlights of the English loosing to the team that shall not be named (see above holland vs. X), and the French winning over Brazil games. It was all in Thai, so I didn't understand a word of it. But I saw all the amazing moments of the Matches and understood enough. I'm currently posting this in an internet cafe in Bangkok. The price price per minute is 25 euro cents. Gives you an idea of what the football clothing is that they sell here. I saw some German, and France game shirts (the official ones) for about 100 baht. That's about 2.5 euro! Sweet!
So there you have it folks. One Cup, 2 Gabes, 3 cameras, 4 countries, 5 languages and counting. WeallSpeakFootball!
My last day in Berlin and I went on a little travel with my Mini Cooper and Tom Tom to guide me. After going around and seeing the sites like Check Point Charlie, The Prusian Palace, and other amazing sites, I met up with Frans and Alex to enjoy a nice brewski on the side of the water to philosphise about the tao of blogging. 
It was a real emotional and thought provoking trip going around old East Germany in the Mini. Here you can see a picture of the Mini with the Amercian flag crossing the wall's monument line, just a block from Check Point Charlie. It seems there is nothing left of the old East German way as everything has been taken over by Subway, Starbucks, Hilton, etc. Good or bad I'll let you decide.
It was such a great experience to be in the Coke Flat for 2 weeks and meeting all the awesome people that came by and be a part of the whole football madness. Getting tickets to the games was a real treat, and one I hadn't expected. I could literally smell the grass from the pitch
I was so close in this picture after one of the games. I know most people are gonna role thier eyes now, but I really want to thank KnallGrau and Coca Cola for the oppurtunity to be a part of weallspeakfootball. It's something I will not soon forget and enjoyed thouroughly. To those who still get to go, make the most of it I say, and steal a couple bottles of Coke Blak for yourselves. :-)
