casa az

hairball

azahar — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:10:19 +0000

Maybe I have a hairball?

Anyhow, back to the hospital for the third time this week to see if someone can figure out what’s wrong with me. That’s their job, right?

hierarchy of disagreement

azahar — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:03:23 +0000

Image found at Create Debate

Based on an excellent essay written by Paul Graham called How To Disagree.

Though it seems that most arguments tend to move in the opposite direction.

the felitron

azahar — Wed, 07 May 2008 22:06:04 +0000

The Felitron

Subtle Energy Harmonizing Device

This instrument harmonizes disturbed subtle energy patterns of an cat. It depends upon radionic, shamanic and dowsing principles. Its effectiveness depends on your confidence in your efforts, your degree of focused intent, and your dowsing ablities.

I dunno … it’s either this or the psychic facelift. What do you think?

~ found over at nursemyra’s ~

full of hot air

azahar — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:05:43 +0000

Well, it was a possible medical emergency for about 4 hours.

What happened was I woke up Monday morning feeling just awful. At first I put it down to being hungover as the previous evening I had been out with you know who , so I reckoned I’d feel better after a bit of coffee and breakfast. Instead I was suddenly hit with the most amazing lower abdominal pain, as if the Alien creature was trying to bust out of my guts . . .

This went on for most of the day at about 15 minute intervals until I thought I’d die. It was so excruciating that I couldn’t even breathe while the spasms lasted as I was doubled over in agony with my face looking more than somewhat like Archie’s avatar. At times I just burst into tears it hurt so much. But, thinking it must be gastroenteritis, I figured I’d probably be feeling better the next day.

WRONG.

So I called Dr A yesterday and he thought it was curious that I didn’t have any of the other usual symptoms of gastro (vomiting, fever, ‘dire rear’…) and so he thought I should head over to emergency to make sure I didn’t have anything more serious like appendicitis.

Of course by the time I left for the hospital I was not only convinced that I had appendicitis but also pancreatitis, crohn’s disease and about seven kinds of cancer. I even went so far as to prepare some clothes, toiletries and stuff for Nog to bring me as I was surely going to be rushed into the operating room as soon as my test results came back. So I was pretty much hysterical as I walked out the door, knowing that I’d never see my darling cats and my lovely home again (have I ever mentioned my fear of hospitals?).

But other than the annoyance of having to spend four tedious hours at the hospital (Nog came to keep me from totally losing my mind company) it ended up a bit of an anti-climax. My blood test came back normal and my abdominal x-ray didn’t show anything scary growing inside me. But the doctor did say I had an awful lot of gas caused by the gastroenteritis and that was the cause of ALL THAT PAIN. Gas??? He also said it was unusual to have such acute gastro without the other usual symptoms but that I might still get them (oh joy!).

Ah well, this was meant to be a detox week for me anyhow. Looks like my body is helping me get off to a serious start as I’ve barely been able to eat anything for the past couple of days (though I also haven’t been able to go to yoga or pilates). And although I am very pleased and thankful not to have any of the dreaded illnesses I had been imagining (does anybody else do this?) it’s still a bit humbling to be brought so low by something as mundane as gas!!! Sheesh.

blogger spelling test

azahar — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:50:27 +0000

sol holidays

azahar — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:08:34 +0000

Yet another blog/website… solholidays

This one I’ve made for my friend Manolo. I help him with renting out three holiday apartments he has on the Costa del Sol, which he has listed on a few different websites (I take care of the correspondence). And so, because I love any excuse to try setting up a nice looking page, I did this one up for him the other day.

What do you think? Anything I should add or change, other than the photos? I’m hoping to get down there for a weekend soon and take some pics - the ones that are posted were given to me by Manolo. I should also add a map. Anyhow, I’d appreciate any feedback you’d like to pass on. Thanks!

feria de jerez

azahar — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:01:10 +0000

What a fabulous day!

I haven’t been to the Feria de Jerez since May 2005. It is absolutely my most favourite feria, much better than the very famous Feria de Abril in Sevilla. And so yesterday myself, Nog, Jay, Pipocas & Chucky & Kidlet, “R” (another of the ladies) and her visiting friend all converged on Jerez to spend an afternoon at the fair…

The reasons I prefer the Feria de Jerez are because, unlike the massive and very cliquey one in Sevilla, this one really feels like a fair should. Most of the casetas are public and very charming, it’s located in a lovely park with palm trees and flowers … and then there are the horses. Jerez is famous for its horses and is the horse capital of Andalucía.

For starters, here is an example of extreme adorableness (at least I thought so)

Getting down to business we decided to opt for an earlyish lunch (1pm) so as to beat the crowds for a table and then have more time to ogle the horses. As you can see, “J” was clearly getting into the spirit of things. No food pics this time around but we feasted on such things as grilled Italian peppers, marinated shark, stewed pig’s cheeks, pork loin in ‘castellano’ sauce, breaded prawns, croquettes, fried squid and ‘mero a la roteña’, all washed down with mucho fino, beer and rioja.

It wasn’t until we had finished eating that we realised we’d been sitting at the corner of Flagellation and Bitterness streets … rather festive sounding, doncha think?

After a stroll around the fairground Pipocas & family had to get going, so the rest of us carried on seriously drinking being festive and stumbled into this caseta owned by the famous Domecq family. That’s “J”, Nog, “R” and R’s camera-shy friend enjoying getting fried in the very hot sun.

An example of the most idiotic shoes to wear to feria. By the end of the day all of us were so tired and footsore that we adopted a rather cutthroat every man for himself attitude when it came to getting a seat on the train home. I wonder how this one (who was mutton dressed as lamb, btw) felt when she got home.

My favourite horse of the day … there’s always one. I loved the mane on this tawny beast and took several photos of him.

You can see the rest of the photos here (starting at number 59)…

~ Feria de Jerez 2008 ~

blog addict? moi?

azahar — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:08:28 +0000

12 Step Recovery Program For Blogging Addicts

I will have a cup of coffee or tea in the morning and read my PAPER newspaper like I used to, before the blog.
I will eat breakfast with a knife and fork and not with one hand typing.
I will get dressed before noon.
I will make an attempt to clean the house, wash clothes, and plan dinner before even thinking of the blog.
I will sit down and write a letter to those unfortunate few friends and family that are internet-deprived.
I will call someone on the phone who I cannot contact via the internet and resist the urge to ask them what they think I should blog about next.
I will read a book… if I still remember how.
I will listen to those around me about their needs and stop telling them to turn the TV down so I can hear my lastfm music.
I will not be tempted during TV commercials to check for email or to check my blog stats.
I will try and get out of the house at least once a week and socialize with people who do not blog, if it is necessary or not.
I will remember that my bank is not forgiving if I forget to balance my checkbook because I was too busy blogging for adsense pennies.
Last, but not least, I will remember that I must go to bed sometime… and that the blog will always be there tomorrow!

Hey, I’m already doing 3 (well, usually), 7 (a little every day!), 8 (what’s lastfm?), 10 (the ‘ladies’ are making sure of that) & 11 (got nothing to balance), so that means I’m okay … doesn’t it?

How about you?

~ swiped from timethief long after I should have been in bed ~

casa az blogfriends meet

azahar — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:06:23 +0000

“Perhaps one day we can have tapas together in real life!”

Thus spake Wandering Coyote in her comment on yesterday’s post. And this got me a-thinkin (always a possibly dangerous activity) which then led to wondering about organising a ‘weekend getaway’ meet here for blogfriends who either live in the EU, or are planning to be in Europe and might be able to also pop over to Sevilla, or who own their own jets . . . whatever!

Back in March 2005 I organised a similar meet for h2g2 friends and it was a lot of fun. Some had met in person before and others hadn’t, and we a great time together.

So the initial plan is basically to find a weekend that suits enough people to make this a viable and attractive idea. Between 8-12 people seems to be a good number and my first thought about a date is sometime around the end of September. It’s usually still quite warm then and flights should also be cheaper. Thursday evening to Sunday would be ideal if people are able take a Friday off work.

To give you an idea about what to expect…

On the arrival evening we’ll get together for a meal and get to know each other a bit. And maybe go out for drinks afterwards. But don’t worry that you’ll be organised to death. I’ll probably plan one meal and one place to visit each day for those who are interested. Meanwhile I’ll give you lots of good information about places you can visit on your own, places to shop, and of course wonderful tapa bars.

I’ve just set up a page for this. First of all, people who are interested can vote on a date and sign up - even just as being interested in the idea. At the end of May we’ll go with the most popular date and then those who definitely want to/are able to come can confirm their attendance.

After that we can talk more about accommodation. There are lots of options, from cheap & cheerful pensions with shared bathrooms to holiday apartments and hotels.

And so this post is just to put forward the idea and wait for some feedback. I can think of quite a few people that I’d really enjoy meeting in person, can’t you? And hey - it’s Sevilla! I’ve never met anyone who didn’t totally love being here.

Here is the page (you can also find it in the header)…

casa az blogfriends meet

my second wordpress anniversary!

azahar — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:05:52 +0000

Gosh, seems like it was just a year ago that I was doing this.

In many ways this second year of casa az was even better than the first. I’ve met even more wonderful people, including two that are threatening planning to visit this summer - nursemyra and daisyfae (eep! Sevilla will never be the same!). I also had a recent visit from hmh and her husband, as well as from my dear friends Sara & Steve who were here last autumn (met on h2g2 but they also show up here from time to time).

So far I’ve been keeping up with the blog 365 challenge, though now that my real life is picking up I don’t know if I’ll manage the whole year. But I’ve actually been enjoying it because it makes me think about my day and then come up with something that happened, or something I came across, that I’d like to share or make a note of here.

Well, just to say that I’m very happy to still be here with you all.

Because it really is you guys that make this all worthwhile.