29

Today I turned 29. Thanks to all the people in my life that continue to make it special :-) 

iTunes Store Mexico

Finally, Apple has announced today the opening of iTunes Store Mexico. After six years of opening in the United States and continuing it’s expansion to several more countries, Apple has decided to begin it’s offering of Music and Music Video in Mexico.

You can purchase most songs priced at $12.00 MXN (Mexican Pesos, $0.076 USD per MXN as August 4), albums at $120.00 MXN and music videos at $24.00 MXN.

Gift cards will also be available in various stores and it will come in 200, 400 an 600 pesos denominations.

For registering you need either a credit card or a gift card and a Mexican address.

You can find the official press release from Apple here.

[via http://mundomac.org/itunes-store-mexico-ya-disponible.html]

Quote of the Day:
Misery is optional.
--Abraham Lincoln

"That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind"

Said Neil Armstrong, 40 years ago. (Previous Post: Follow Apollo 11, 40 years later)

Follow the Apollo 11, 40 years later

The year was 1969, some three blokes on an incredible mission to conquer one of the biggest mankind dreams, walking on the moon. It meant a milestone in scientific and technological communities and for space exploration.

It all started with President’s John F. Kennedy address on the Nation’s Space Effort:

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

Then Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were crammed into a tiny space craft that would take them to the moon. The rest is history. What a better way to celebrate Apollo’s 11 lunar landing 40th anniversary than with a re-enactment of their trip using modern technologies. A website called We Choose The Moon (www.wechoosethemoon.org) by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum allows to follow the Apollo 11 mission in real time just as it happened on 1969. On the page there is streaming audio of the mission, including updates from the spacecraft and mission control. There are also Twitter accounts for mission control (@AP11_CAPCOM), Apollo 11 (@AP11_SPACECRAFT), and lunar landing module (@AP11_EAGLE).

On July 20, 1969 mankind achieved something that was a dream since man became man, landing on the moon. Be sure to visit www.wechoosethemoon.org to commemorate and remember an historic event.

Follow up to Paseo Interlomas mall

Last year I wrote a post regarding a new mall that is under construction on my neighborhood, Paseo Interlomas (see original post here) and I wanted to update on the subject.

The construction last year was almost drawn to a stop (I suspect lack of funding was the main reason), but in the past couple of months the construction site seems to have been reactivated and the are now busy as ants.

I have also noticed that on the developer’s website, www.gicsa.com.mx there is some updated information and new renderings. Here is the description found on such website:

Paseo Interlomas is the modern version of a park combined with a regional shopping center. This place will be the first community center in the area to be developed inside a spectacular building with open and closed spaces meeting the highest security standards. This commercial concept with nearly 1.4 million square feet of built area and a parking area of more than 1.9 million square feet will include two department stores 16 stadium type movie theaters with THX mega screens (6 VIP), 12 restaurants, a food court and 180 retail spaces of all sort of services and specialty shops. The following are some of the project’s attractions: skating rink, health and fitness gym, a family entertainment center, children’s attractions and dexterity games as well as an art exhibition center and a hotel.

And here are the renderings:

From the renderings it shows that we can expect a Liverpool and the ubiquitous Sanborns. I will continue updating when I know more about it.

Quit Stalling. a video.

This video was made by a relative for an Oxfam campaign. It needs to get views in order to win a trip. Please watch it and share it with your friends.

I still exist, look at my new design

Hey there, welcome again to my blog. A blog which I have left unattended for five (long) months, sorry for that.

I tried to choose a new design that is simple and that I can modify and tweak as my blog goes on. It may still need some tweaks. What do you think of the new design? Is it too dark? did you prefer the old design? Please let me know.

I promise to post more frequently, at least once a month. If you have anything that would like to see on the blog, don’t hesitate and leave a comment.

Finally, for those returning after the long hiatus, thanks. You are the people that matter the most :)

Visit to Tepoztlan

Last Saturday I went to visit Tepoztlan with my brother and a couple of cousins. Tepoztlan is a little town located about half hour from Mexico City. This town is a traditional Mexican tow with old houses, small streets, a traditional marketplace, traditional food, handcrafts, etc.

We arrived late due to the heavy traffic (it was a long weekend and people escape the city in hordes) and we were hungry. We ate at the marketplace in a small stand that sells “antojitos”, basically quesadillas, sopes, and so on. First I ate an itacate, a triangle-shaped dough filled with the filling of your choosing, mine was potatoes with chorizo. Then I have a cecina (salted beef steak) taco and a cuitlacoche quesadilla, mmm I love cuitlacoche. Finally a chapulines quesadilla, tasty and something different.

To end the day we went walking through the handcraft vendors and bought a couple of things before returning to Mexico City.

Here are a couple of pictures from my visit to Tepoztlan:

Quote of the Day:
Vegetarian is an old Indian word meaning bad hunter.
--Anonymous

Barack Obama wins

All the projections points towards it.

Although I am neither American nor live in the United States I am happy that this  election turned out this way. It is a much needed change for the United States. But above all it means a renewed hope for that country. It is also a day to be marked in history as it is the first African-American to be elected as President of the United States.

I hope that this new President works towards a better world

Am I an Omnivore?

Am I? According to Very Good Taste if you call yourself an omnivore you should try this things at least once in their life. There are a few things I haven’t heard in my life.

So let’s see how I do (the bold ones are the ones that I had)…

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros (typical in every Mexican breakfast menu)
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding (the Spanish variation, morcilla)
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries (I have blackberries growing in my house since forever)
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans (or as the Cubans call “Moros con cristianos”)
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche (and it’s better cousin, Cajeta)
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (crickets)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu (a little too risky for me)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear (tunas)
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears (buñuelos) or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict (I LOVE EGGS BENEDICT)
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef (I’ve been dying to taste Kobe beef, but is too expensive)
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

adding up to 40 out of 100. Not bad but there are a lot of things to try out. I think that it also depends on the place you live and the places you have visited, so if you are a frequent traveler of the world you probably have no excuse in getting a higher score.

So, how did it go for you? Post in the comments or a link to your blog.