Paseo Interlomas now open!

Paseo Interlomas is finally open. I have been following on this project since 2008, long before any construction was made and the final project decided on. Now Paseo Interlomas has been opened and it looks great. Well not all the stores are opened yet, but the ones opened are nice.

The mall includes three main stores, Liverpool, El Palacio de Hierro, and Sears. There is also cinemas, an ice rink, a food court, and a restaurant area. There are 110,000 square meters of retail area with 229 locals. The mall interior has wood highlights, very good natural illumination and ample spaces. The exterior has three elements that catch the eye: the restaurant area is covered with wood-like paneling and has terraces for the smoking areas of the restaurants; El Palacio de Hierro looks like a giant slab of black granite (think 2001: Space Odyssey) with a video screen on one corner; but the most intriguing design is the one of Liverpool, its facade is made of 7,5000 unique stainless steel panels that gives the illusion of the flow of the cars. The exterior of Liverpool was designed by the team of Rojkind Architects.

Here is also a bird's eye view of the mall, from the twitter account of Rojkind Architects:

Bellow I have compiled a list of the stores that are expected to open in Paseo Interlomas:

Update: I'll update the list as I know of more stores in the mall and which ones are open.

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.

Update now the mall is open, read more about it in Paseo Interlomas now open

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.

No Harry Potter Movie for this year

In an unexpected announcement, Warner Bros. Pictures  have made the decision to move the release of the sixth Harry Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, from it’s original date of November 21, 2008 to the next year, specifically on July 17, 2009.

Warner’s president, Alan Horn, explained the two reasons for this delay: “Our reasons for shifting ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films—changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.”

The Teaser Trailer for the movie has been around for two weeks, building up the hype for the fall release.

I don’t like this decision at all. First, the reasons given for the delay does not have to do anything with the movie itself, the movie would be the same if releases on November. Second, the last Harry Potter movie was released over a year ago. And third, it delays the next movies for the last book, The Deathly Hallows Part I and II, originally intended for 2009 and 2010, to 2010 and 2011 respectively.

“We Have Water”

That is what William Boynton of the University of Arizona one of the scientist from the Phoenix Mars Lander said regarding the confirmation of water in Martian soil.

This news are …. I mean one thing is seeing what appears to be water on images transmitted from Martian suburbs and another, complete different thing, is receiving confirmation after chemical tests.

Maybe this news will pass without much furor among the massive amount of information that passes through our eyes each day, but I really think it could be one of the greatest discoveries of all time. It may mean that Mars one held some kind of life, or it may mean that humans could inhabit Mars one day (as distant as it may see).

I am no expert on the matter but I wanted to express my opinion in my site (yes for  those 5 people out there reading it)

You can find the news on this page: NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended.

Quote of the Day:
A good composer does not imitate; he steals.
--Igor Stravinsky

Happy Birthday bro!

Today is my brother Andrew’s birthday, so this post is to congratulate him.

Happy, very happy birthday Andrew!!!

New York City Trip 2008

If you read my last post you may wonder what I actually did on my trip. Sine this was my second trip to New York I mostly have already seen the main stuff (the Statue of Liberty, the Met, Times Square, Ground Zero, etc.) I was only missing a few important things.  So in my trip I went to those places and some other places out off the beaten path.

I arrived on Monday afternoon to JFK, it is a nice airport but it takes a lot of time to get to Manhattan due to the high traffic. I checked into my hotel and went to grab dinner at the Empire Diner, it was very good. On Tuesday morning I want to pickup the tickets for the baseball game and checked out the New Yankee Stadium, it is a beauty!Later that day took the 2-hour sightseeing tour of Circle Line, it was OK but far from wonderful, maybe for some first-timer in New York could be good. To end the day, I visited Brooklyn’s Grimaldi’s Pizzeria. Who doesn’t loves pizza, and the pizza in New York is the best I have ever tasted (so far) and Grimaldi’s is one of the top spots in town.

Moving on to Wednesday. In the morning I spent 3+ hours visiting the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), they have some cool art in there. Lunch at the obliged Kat’z Delicatessen, pastrami sandwich. The rest of the day was reserved for the Yankees. Oh my gosh, what a experience that was, definitely one of the best experiences of my life! Since you board the a 4 train packed with fans to The Stadium to the last out of the evening, everything was memorable. The first pitch was made in space aboard the International Space Station. My seats were a little above behind and to the right of the home plate. The Yankees pounded the sox 15-9 in a 4:10 hour game.

Thursday. Grab a doughnut at the Doughnut Plant. Later I visited the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to see the Cherry Blossoms. Then I went to The New Museum in The Bowery, it is nice but feels like just an art gallery. My lunch for the day was at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, lovely and delicious place between the trees in the park. Finishing the day was the second Yankees game, seats in the Bleachers. It was a pity that the Yankees lost.

On Friday morning I visited the Upper West Side (H&H Bagels, Zabar’s, and some of the area around them) and Central Park. In Central Park I visited Strawberry Fields, rented a bike and drove the 6+ miles circuit, and rested some in Sheep’s Meadow. In the afternoon went to do some shopping in the 5th Avenue Area. In the evening went to The Blue Note in the Village to enjoy some Jazz.

The last day in the morning went to Chelsea Market, and old Nabisco factory where the Oreo cookie was invented and now it is transformed into a food market and offices. Finished my shopping and packed my things for my flight back to Mexico.

Here are some photos of the trip, hope you liked this post :)

 

PD. Sorry for the LOOOONG delay for this post, no excuses this time. Sorry.

New York City Trip 2008, Part 0

Last month I made a trip to New York City. I really like New York because you have a great amount of things to do, to see, to eat, etc... It was my second trip to NYC and I'll write some posts and upload some photos about it :)

The idea for this trip surged from my wish to see the Yankees play in the Yankee Stadium before they tear it down later this year. It has always been kind of a dream of mine to do that. So after thinking a lot about it I made up my mind to do it. So when the Yankees tickets for this season were made available I was able to buy tickets for two games at The Stadium against the Red Sox! I was so excited, the greatest rivalry of baseball.

So I've made my trip plan (flights, hotel reservations, etc.) around this two games (April 16 and 17).

On the next posts I'll write about the trip itself...

--
Quote of the Day:
It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust
--Samuel Johnson

WRC Corona Mexico 2008 photos

As promised, here are a few photos of my trip to the WRC Corona Mexico 2008.

Quote of the Day:
Forgiveness is not an occasional act: it is a permanent attitude.
--Dr. Martin Luther King

Earth Hour 2008

Tomorrow Saturday March 29th, at 8pm local time, switch off your lights for one hour to make a stand against global warming. The idea came form Sydney, Australia where in 2007 thousands of people turned of the light. Here is a video

YouTube - Earth Hour 2007

Quote of the Day:
All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific.
--Jane Wagner

While writing this, I was listening to "No" by Shakira

oops, too much time since I posted anything

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have keep forgetting to post. I'll post a few pics of the Corona Rally next week, and hope to post most often, sorry again.

WRC Corona Rally Mexico 2008

In a few hours I am off to Leon, Guanajuato for the World Rally Championship, Corona Rally Mexico 2008. I'll take lots of pictures and post some when I come back. See ya!