Monthly Archives: September 2018

anchoa revived!

10 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by in computers, work

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In other home computer news… about two years after buying La Anchoa as a travel notebook option back in 2014 (instead of lugging my big 17″ guy around on trips) I began having problems with her screen. It starting flickering on one trip to Málaga, and in the end it got so bad I had to give up and just use my iphone. Then one day it went flickery-flickery-flickery and totally died. Damn. At the time I thought that it probably wouldn’t be worth taking her in to be fixed, but I also didn’t want to fork out for another small travel option. So oh well. It was adiós Anchoa and back to either taking massive laptop with me or working from the iPhone (NOT ideal) on trips.

Then the other day, while reading the specs on El Boquerón (shit, I’ve already named him!) I noticed that he has a touch screen, something I hadn’t noticed at the store. And then I thought… hey, Anchoa has a touch screen too. Hmmm, I wonder…

So after not having used her since 2016 I took my little Anchoa out of hibernation, revved her up, saw the old flickery-flickery thing start up… and then I TOUCHED THE SCREEN. And hey – problem solved! I mean, fucking DUH or what? Why hadn’t I thought of that before??

And the best thing? Picasa works just fine on her! I can upload my photos and they all show up, ready to be edited and sorted. Yay! There was a tense moment when suddenly Windows starting doing updates (well, it had been two years…) and I thought I might lose Picasa like I did on Sterling. But so far so good! Of course, editing photos is primarily why I want to have a nice big 17.3″ screen at home, so now having to do it on a tiny 11.6″ screen kind of defeats that purpose. But at least I can do it. So for now my little Anchoa is set up next to my desk, propped up on a stack of books, acting as my photo editing assistant.

Now I just have to decide if I’m keeping El Boquerón…

accidental upgrade

08 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by in computers, devices, geekiness

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Oops, I did it again. Well sort of. Maybe. Before I went away to the Basque Country I was having some “issues” with Sterling, mostly to do with things bogging down and running slow, including frustrating totally unresponsive moments, requiring me to reboot, sometimes 2-3 times. So I started thinking about upgrading, then saw that Sterling is only 3 years old. I mean, shouldn’t these things last longer?? Mind you, The Greyhound was also 3 years old when I replaced him with Sterling. But Peter inherited The Greyhound, so that was okay, and he worked with him for another three years, glitches and all, until he died a sudden death in July, requiring the emergency purchase of Silver. But it also meant Peter lost everything, something that strikes a note of terror inside me, even though I do make backups frequently(ish).

This is all to say that, if Peter hadn’t already bought a new laptop, then at this point I would be happy to pass Sterling on to him, as he doesn’t spend as much time on his computer as I do. He also has much less content stored, etc. And then I would feel justified upgrading. But now I’m not sure what to do, especially as I actually purchased this new fabulous beast the other day as “insurance” while it was on sale at 15% off. It’s still in the box, so I can return it any time… but do I want to?

It’s weird because I have no qualms about updating my iPhones every three years or so. Then again I usually have someone who wants my old ones. But what to do with Sterling? I mean, he mostly works well. And perhaps if I stripped him back to factory settings, removing all my shit, he would be much friskier. Having said that, he has been behaving much better since I got home (figures).

How often do you upgrade your laptop?

Below you can see the specs …

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back at it!

07 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by in casa azahar, cats, home

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While I was away last week Tomoko stayed at my place, looking after the cats, and sending me daily photos (which I really appreciated). Then one day she sent me the two pics above saying… “um, should I stop her?”. Ha. Of course I said no, and explained that this was the reason I put curtains up in that room in the first place. So Morcilla could get back to her ninja climbing routine. Now I just need to rig up some sort of “stair replacement” for the other two.

best. meal. ever.

06 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by in michelin star

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It wasn’t all pintxos in San Sebastián (though really it mostly was). But I had told Gabriella @tenedor that I wanted to invite her for a nice meal while I was there in thanks for her generous hospitality. At first she recommended Elkano, just a short drive away in Getaria. But as we were making plans on the fly the whole time I was there (kind of the way I like it) in the end there was nothing available. Then Gabriella remembered Amelia, a place she had only visited once when they first opened just over a year ago. And within that time they have earned a Michelin star.

I’ve only been to two Michelin star restaurants before (1 stars, like Amelia), and was seriously underwhelmed. But Gabriella’s PA Katharine had just been to Amelia the previous evening and said it had been perfect. It was a sign.

Run by Argentinian chef Paulo Airaudo in an attractive and discreet location with  minimalist décor in the Romantica district, Amelia seats just 22 people, and there are only two tasting menus on offer. We ordered the smaller version (100€ pp), but somehow ended up with the larger one (130€ pp), not including wine. And while I could have done without the extra desserts, the star of the show (for me) was the hake with caviar and buerre blanc, which we would have missed out on with the shorter menu.

Although the Basque Country is awash with Michelin star restaurants, for the most part they are located outside either San Sebastián or Bilbao, so you’d either have to hire a car (and then not be able to drink), or a private driver. When I told Paulo that it was such a big point in his favour that he was in the centre of San Sebastián he simply said… Bingo!

It was also fun chatting with the new sommelier – a charming young man called Alex. They have a few nice sherries on the menu and it may turn out that I will meet up with Alex again one day in Jerez.

And so, here you go.
Possibly the best – definitely the most expensive – meal of my life.
Totally recommended.
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