Meat and Veg (Argentinian Style)

Dinner.....Bife De Ojo (eye of beef) with veg

Following 2 photos courtesy of Asado Argentina - FYI: 'Asado' = 'BBQ' in Argentina - Why just throw a shrimp on the barbie when you could throw half a cow instead?

Why stop at half a cow when you could have three cows instead!Every single bit of the cow is eaten hereThymus gland or pancreas known as sweetbreads are surpisingly yummy!Sorry - NO VEGETARIANS ALLOWED!.. . .

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Blogger Suicide

I almost committed blogger hari kari today. No I didn't try and 'top myself', but I completely screwed up my blog template so none of the posts were readable. The rest of this post will probably sound like gobbledygook gibberish unless you have a blog (and probably if you do too!) but here goes anyway.

What I wanted to do , should have been a fairly simple tweak to the blogger layout template and add a few new blogger widgets. I do make backups periodically but haven't done so in a while and I'm sort of a techie geek that should know better. *slaps himself on wrist*

There's a new blogger in-line comment feature which you can enable in draft blogger that finally puts a comment box below the post instead of having to click and launch a separate window or pop-up window.

I like it BUT......


a.) You have to do another code tweak to make it work if you previously tweaked the classic blogger template. This proved frustratingly difficult as the code refused to work "blogger incomprehendable error... blah blah blah!"

Twenty google searches later and tweak, tweak, tweak, like a budgie with bad pronunciation, it finally worked but not before a 30 minute slot where the only thing the hordes of people saw as they dropped by my blog was a small feedburner banner and no matter what they clicked on it just looped back to the same page. To those two unfortunate individuals, I offer my sincere apologies and please do come visit again!

b.) You can't sign up for follow-up comments on the new comment form which kind of sucks if you want to keep tabs on if/when your comment has been responded to (I love/hate this feature in all blog platforms.) I like being notified of a response to a comment I've made, but I hate being notified of 250 other responses i.e. 250 email messages, so I use that feature sparingly! Thankfully Gmail wraps the blog response emails in a cloak of the same conversation so its easier to manage. Hotmail has a lot to learn from the new kid on the block!

I found another hack that lets you add a link to the old comment form so your visitors can comment on either the 'new' or 'classic' version of the form. This worked fairly well except I kept messing up, since I had both the real blogger dashboard and the draft blogger dashboard open at the same time as I modified stuff and one would overwrite the others changes - argh!.

Finally it's working - well sort of - I still have some alignment issues!
... but you can now comment the old way with email follow up (if you have a gmail id) or use the box below the post. Now I understand why people move to Wordpress , MoveType etc!

OK almost the end of techie gibberish post. I've also tweaked the comments for I DO FOLLOW (remove 'No Follow') so you get a little link love from your comments when the Google Spiders come crawling here!



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FREE BEER! - Yes You Heard Right !

I like (actually I love) to go for a quiet pint every now n' then and just stare into the deafening silence and hear the hypnotysing clock on the wall "tick- tock - tick- tock!" There's something therapeutic about it.

When I want to go out for a pint somewhere with some atmosphere, it gets a bit more complicated. For one thing people don't go out here until LATE, VERY LATE! - They eat late, they drink late, they party late. They go to work late! - A city of vampires if ever there was one!

Bars mid week are empty until 11pm so forget about the after work tipple. If your lucky the bar will get some traffic just before midnight.

Clubs don't open at weekends until 1 am and won't be busy until 3am and wrap up somewhere between 7-10am. Siestas are a way of life and one which I've adapted to....zzzzZZZZZZZZZ!

....Where was I? ah yes....

There is an exception however......


From the same person who brought you 24 Hour Alcohol Delivery comes the true story a local bar that is offering the following:

FREE BEER !!!

For Girls : Free beer and free national drinks everyday noon to midnite
For Guys : incredible HAPPY HOUR with free pizza - 3PM-8PM.

Chicas Argentinas
Photos Courtesy of 'El Alamo Bar': Sunday, Monday, Tuesday Night is Bikini Night!

Full Details Here

Shoeless Joes El Alamo Bar

Address: Uruguay 1175 (between Santa Fe & Arenales), Recoleta

Photos of signs courtesy of Buenos Aires Tours

• Free Beer for everybody with lunch.
• Free domestic booze for the ladies until 10pm.

Before I get slapped for being a sexist pig (again) - I am really only doing this as a public service announcement for you thirsty ladies. - SO ENJOY!

Thanks to fellow blogger Julia at Evans Gate for reminding me about this den of inequity.

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AXIS of EVIL!

What was my reward for hours of torture spent bouncing between numerous waiting rooms at the post office? If you are just joining this thread you need to read here and then here first to know what I'm venting about.

As somewhat anticipated, my parcel was a batch of forwarded mail from the UK containing the following:

• 9 bank statements and
• 7 credit card statements
• 1 Annual report publication (199 pages) from a bank (yawn)
• 2 Pension statements from the USA (showing a loss for last quarter)

(despite the fact I signed up for electronic versions only for all of the above!)

• 2 Natwest bank card readers (whatever they are?)
• 8 solicitations for extra credit and balance transfers (how many trees do banks kill every day?)
  

and........ drum roll please.......................

A letter from securemail delivery service in the UK saying that they tried twice to deliver an atm card but I wasn't there to accept it, so I need contact them to arrange to pick it up in person (must show id) - that's going to be easy, NOT! The damn machine swallowed my card here recently so I had ordered a replacement and that was the one thing I really needed!

Now that North Korea is off the list, I'm officially nominating the Post Office all over the world as part of the "AXIS of EVIL!"

Join forces with me now and help spread the word!

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Gone Postal - Past Tense!

....So back I went the following day. If you don't know what I'm talking about you need to start here first. Just to throw some complication into the mix, a friend who had heard about my saga/adventure the previous day, politely asked, if I could enquire about her missing package (a book), sent from her Grandma in Portugal to Buenos Aires back in May, that had never showed up. She had called the post office but got no answer. She had the details (registration #) and was told by the Portugese Post office the package was in the international post office in Buenos Aires. (kill 2 birds with one stone n' all that!)

I like a challenge, so I accepted. Forty minutes by subway and walking, take a number, forty minute wait, show passport as i.d. and I get handed the magic ticket with a magic number, to go to the next room and wait with the 300 people, waiting for the package.

Then I ask about my friends M.I.A. package and am told, low and behold it's here!

• Me:- "Why wasn't it delivered?"
• Rather Hot Postal Working Girl:- "Dunno!"
• Me:- "Why didn't you send a notice to make my friend shlep down to the local sorting office as a tease and then tell them they needed to shlep down to this out of the way office, you know, like you did to me?"
• Rather Hot Postal Working Girl:- "Dunno!"
• Me:- "OK - so what now?"
• Rather Hot Postal Working Girl:- "Hmmm... Well You need to go the next room and wait for your number to be called out for YOUR package!......But you need to be in this room too, so we can advise you about your friends package!"
• Me:- "Talented as I am my Dear, I cannae be in two places at the same time, what do you recommend?"
• Rather Hot Postal Working Girl:- "If I was you I would wait halfway, between this room and the next and just keep your ears open - very open!"
• Me:- "Fair enough, I like a challenge!"

Be careful for you wish for. This was not a digital display with luminous numbers incrementing, there was no visual display what so ever! Only an inaudible version of crazy bingo!

In Spanish - Over a really bad speaker....numero...12??34, 183???, 34???,45???? - NOT EVEN THE SAME SEQUENCE OF NUMBERS??????

Even the locals were stupified..What? Que? Que dice? No entiendo? TOTAL FRIKKIN' chaos ensued! 300 pissed off confused people, wanting to kick some postal ass!

Once your number was called you passed thru a turnstile and then two doors. There was a big sign on the wall - "Don't enter unless your number has been called!"

After an agonising hour of this farce, I stormed in and by a stroke of luck, my number had been called. I picked up my first package and walked past the security guards (without hassle or signing - make note for later on!) and back to the other waiting room for package #2.

After an hour, I heard a scream of "Portugal!"

"That's me!" I said and waited for the package to be handed over but alas NO, this was just the line to get the ticket to go back to the dreaded room with the 300 people and wait your turn!

I picked up the ticket and waited an eternity trying to decipher the inaudible drivel and finally picked up package # 2.

Free, Free Free at last!, I marched out of this hell hole!.... well not exactly.. I got stopped by security because I hadn't signed my packages out, (despite having no trouble the first exit?) so had to return and sign, countersign, initial etc.

NOTE: DON'T POST ME ANYTHING HERE. EVER! NOT EVEN A CHEQUE. JUST WIRE $$$ TO MY ACCOUNT! PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME GO BACK THERE! PRETTY PLEASE!

So what was in the package that was worth all this shi$ I hear you ask?
No frikkin' idea - I haven't even opened it yet! - See Photo above! - Tune in tomorrow!

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I'm Going POSTAL!

I got a little notice from the post office (Correo Argentina) the other day to let me know they tried to deliver a registered letter but I wasn't home. In actual fact, I never left the house all day so that was a big fat lie. Mr Postman just couldn't be arsed ringing the buzzer. The notice said I had to come and pick up the 'package' from the local sorting office. There was no option to have them redeliver but that's fine I'll go and stretch my legs.

Twenty minutes there, take a number, twenty minute wait, show drivers licence as id, twenty minutes back. The 'package' was in fact a letter from the post office. Hmm... why are the post office sending me registered letters? The letter was a notice from the international sorting office advising me that I have a 'package' to pick up. W.T.F. - Why didn't you just let me know that in the first place!

So I head to the international sorting office downtown. Forty minutes there by subway and walking, take a number, forty minute wait, show drivers licence as id and...

• Surly Bored Postal Worker: - "You need to show a passport."
• Me: - "huh!...I just showed my drivers licence to pick up a registered package this morning so why do I need to show a passport now"
• Surly Bored Postal Worker: - "That was a domestic package, this is an international package."
• Me: - "W.T.F. why didn't you let me know this?"
• Surly Bored Postal Worker: - "We did, it's in the tiny fine print on the back of the notice near the bottom."
• Me: - "F$%&8@#&{~>?{}][%%#!!!!" x 10
• Me: - "So I need to come back tomorrow, forty minutes by subway and walking, take a number, forty minute wait, show Passport as id and then I get my package right?"
• Surly Bored Postal Worker: - "No, this line is just to show id. We then give you another ticket with a number and you go into the next room with 300 people and wait for your number to be called"
• Me: - "You're F'in joking right?"
• Surly Bored Postal Worker: - "Actually no and there's one more thing, you need to pay a 4 pesos admin fee."
• Me: - "F$%&8@#&{~>?{}][%%#!!!!" x 1000

Roll on tomorrow!

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MONEY FOR NOTHING !

I have a bit of a passion for travel. I have a currency collection which the missus kindly scanned for me yesterday. Ta much - missus! - I've just had a brainwave on how we can be rich, but more on that later!

Some would say I'm a wanderer, others might call me a tinker or a gypsy or a knacker. My first big adventure away from home was for a month about 150 miles from Dublin in the Gaeltacht (Irish language summer camp) of Ballvourney County Cork . You stay with a local family and take Irish classes during the day. I was 12 years old and practically starved due to an extra stingy mean host but survived off my card gambling earnings. On return to Dublin, I literally cried a river and thus began my wanderlust.

At 20 years old, during college summer break, I went to Copenhagen, Denmark in an effort to earn money to help pay for my upkeep. I landed a prestigious job in Burgerking where half of Dublin seemed to work and became an expert at tossing whoppers (sounds lude but it's not!)

The work was mind numbingly boring but we made our own 'craic'. You'd start out bottom rung of the ladder, cleaning the toilet, restaurant and work your way up to the broiler, fry station, whopper table, sandwich table and maybe even as a cashier if you could memorise 'double whopper med ost'. (double whopper with chese!)

I can still visualise and almost smell the nasty grease tray from the broiler which collected the drips of fat - yeuch! I went back for a second stint a year later as you could make more money in BK at that time than in a 'real' job in Ireland. After all the hard work, I figured I had earned a well deserved rest so I ended up blowing most of the dosh in 10 days island hopping around Greece :-(
fyi - I have not eaten in Burgerking since then - When you know what and how its cooked you steer clear! - Don't Supersize me!

After college it was either join the dole (collect unemployment benefit) or go to London, so off I trodded to the UK. I spent 3 years there and in retrospect had a good time although it wasn't where I wanted to settle down forever and Irish people were not flavour of the month at the time due to the troubles in Northern Ireland (Thankfully now over). So I headed to Australia where I spent another 3 years. I saved enough money to go walkabout for 9 months and if it wasn't for a slight visa complication (um..err.. I didn't have one), I might still be there as I absolutely loved the place.

I headed back to the UK and tried to make a go of things in Liverpool for six months but it just didn't work out so I returned to London where within a week I landed a good contractor job at a US bank. It was then that I won the lottery, yes I WON THE LOTTERY! - WAHOOOO!!!!!

Okay, unfortunately it wasn't a money lottery, it was a green card visa lottery where you submit your name and if you're lucky, a computer picks your name at random and if picked and after much paperwork you get to go and work in the USA. I managed to swing a transfer with the same US bank and off I went to the Big Apple, New York. It's a fantastic city and there is so much to explore in and outside of NY. I ended up staying 10 years and traveled extensively east coast, west coast and in between. The bug had not subsided so back I went to London for 2 years and rode the Ryanair/EasyJet cattle planes many many times to see as much of Europe as I could.

I've now been in Argentina for a year and have been fortunate enough to see most of the highlights in this great country and well beyond. The time has come to think of somewhere new however so I have a couple of questions for you the reader.

1. If you still live where you were born, were you ever tempted to leave, why did you stay, and what keeps you there?
2. If you moved, what motivated you to leave and would you consider moving back?
3. Finally - What's the favorite place you've visited home or abroad?
   

Oh! and I almost forgot - FREE MONEY!

Wherever you are, you can place a low value local currency note in bleach for 2 minutes to remove the ink. Let it dry and then stick it in your printer and print off a note from the currency collection below. Don't say I never gave you anything and spend it wisely....and no I won't bail you out so don't even ask!

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Take the poll if you dare!

I've got bloggers constipation so you either need to come down here and give me cod liver oil or fess up with personal stuff so I can ponder then dump.
- Don't hold back now! Feel free to create a whole new category in the comment section! After you vote - elaborate as far as the comfort barrier allows in the comments! You spill and I will too!

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Yes - DO cry for me Argentina!

I have to admire the Argentinian sense of camaraderie. As a nation, they have been fu(ked over so many times by their politicians that there is a seriously deep sense of distrust of any governing body, be it a financial institution, religious or school committee or national government. As an Irishman I can fully relate to that and then some! The Argentinians now come out in their droves to get their point across in peaceful protests at the drop of a hat.

Tonight (June 16), we had yet another protest (2nd in 3 days) with thousands of people banging pots and pans on the streets of Buenos Aires and Entre Rios, Gualeguaychu, Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Cordoba provinces. This is to let the new-ish President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner know that her decision to raise taxes on farmers exports is not winning her any friends here or abroad. Her popularity ratings are sinking like a sumo wrestler in a bath of jello and are even lower than it was when I wrote about it here. In fairness, she desperately needs to raise money somehow but this may not have been the best course of action. She tried to forceably remove the farmers road blockades at the weekend which turned into ugly riots in the rural areas. Some blogs and bulletin boards have hyped this as potential civil war which I find to be annoyingly hyped exaggerated hysterical nonsense, but it is a serious situation nonetheless.

The level of frustration among the porteno people was noticeably heightened tonight when thousands of people hammering on saucepans, waving flags and carrying signs, took to the capital's main streets. SMS texts were flying around earlier in the evening, gathering support and advising people of the impromptu protest and many of the main streets in Buenos Aires were completely blocked and traffic brought to a grounding halt.

This is the fourth farmers strike in three months and more vocal than the previous big protest and threatens to cause food shortages yet again. Restaurants and supermarkets were left bare just a few months ago and it's likely the same will happen again. Hopefully the government won't need to resort to THESE TACTICS this time.

Photo: Courtesy Bloomberg

Inflation is at an all time high of up to 25% (depending who you believe), but this is venomently denied by the government who publish their own 'adjusted' figures of 8%. (All I know is my beer costs 25% more than it did a year ago nuff said!) Foreign investors are starting to run for the hills, so we could be in for a rough ride. I really hope I'm wrong, but this country is renowned for its up and downs which come in cycles (last crash 2001) and this cycle could be just about to turn into a cyclone!

I know what you're thinking - This is a serious post for Quickroute - Where's the pics of naked chicks - ( See post below -pervs!) - but seriously - How's the economy/job situation where you are???

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Argentinian TV - What's on your Box?

Photo: TV Show - Bailando por un Sueno

Television has changed a lot since I was an innocent wee lad back in Ireland. As a very young lad, I remember watching TV programs like The Waltons (good night John Boy!) and then in my late teens watching Beverly Hills 90210 (I had the hots for Kelly). We had some great home grown soaps like The Riordans and Bracken where none other than actor Gabriel Byrne started out. Then there were those nice 'wholesome' shows like One Man and his Dog where you watched a farmer control his dog solely by whistling and the dog guided sheep thru an obstacle course and into a pen (riveting stuff I kid you not!)

Then came the advent of Reality TV with Survivor, Big Brother, The Bachelor and that god awful horrible series called The Swan where contestants were competing to have extensive plastic surgery. I hated all of these shows and would rather watch paint (or indeed cow dung) dry.

Around the same time we had the explosion of quiz shows like Who wants to be a Millionaire and You are The Weakest Link - Goodbye!

Now we are in the era of talent shows. American Idol, X-Factor, Pop Idol etc and they have gone one step further and added celebrities to these 'talent' contests.

The current unbelievably popular craze on Argentinian TV is Bailando por un Sueno (Dancing for a Dream). It's been around for a few years. They pair up numerous professional dancers with a celebrity (non dancer) and whittle them down over several (agonising) months. Although I refuse to watch an entire show (well over 2 hours), I do like to watch the highlights (go figure!).

Surprisingly I couldn't find anything on YouTube (maybe copyright issues), so I had to do some technical wizardry to port these videos up (I hope you appreciate the lengths I go to just to educate you to the Argentinian way of life!)

Since all these type of shows are syndicated world wide, I presume they have something like this in your neck of the woods - yes????????? - Let me in know comments pls - Muchas Gracias!

If YouTube doesn't work you can see it here



If YouTube doesn't work you can see it here



If YouTube doesn't work you can see it here



If YouTube doesn't work you can see it here

I'm not sure RTE (Irish TV) would go for this!

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