En http://www.myheritage.es puedes encontrar tu "alter ego". No sé si es un ejercicio de tecnología para reconocimiento facial... o es promovido por algún gabinete psicológico.

En cualquier caso, personalmente no he salido mal parado... 

¿Fuí Federico Garcia Lorca? ¿Me ha quedado algo de su espíritu?
Para preguntar sobre mi belleza y sex appeal.. como Demi Moore... tienes que preguntar a mi mujer...
Hummm... La fuerza de Colin Powel, o la mirada de Dave Navarro o  Michael Keaton.. no están nada mal...

¡Experimenta contigo! O si no te atreves.. siempre puedes hacer la comparación con Zapatero, Rajoy... o aquel a quien más admires.

The winner will get...get this...a spot on a Telemundo show, a representation contract from Latin World Entertainment, and a $100,000 in cash (or whatever amount it comes to after the IRS has their share of the dough).

Telemundo had its own version a few years back. VH1's version will no doubt give the eventual winner and participants additional exposure in the English-speaking market.

Strange twist: astrologer Walter Mercado will give the contestants guidance. The fraudista. If he's so clairvoyant, why doesn't he just predict the winner and spare us all?

[Source: Vh1]

Sweatin’ is the Oldie

Yes, I went back to the gym Thursday and Friday and it was good. I did a bit more on Thursday but came up short not due to exhaustion but due to the horrible realization that I couldn’t find my cell phone on me. That kinda stopped me from doing much more. Luckily it was turned in at the desk. Friday I did a bit more again and felt great.The best thing is that an older gentleman came over to me and congratulated me for coming back after my fall on Wednesday. That made me feel great.The only bad thing is that the gym closes too early for me to use it during the ‘interweek’ (my name for the week between Christmas and New Year). Either I shall have to leave early or this week I’ll have to pound the neighbourhood streets again.Looking forward also I’m going to bet that the gym will be packed after January 1st with everyone working on resolutions. I’ll just have to work through that, too.

Gifts Given and Received

Had a lovely time Friday evening with my friends over sushi were we finished the gift exchange begun last Saturday at K&D&J’s party. I think everyone was pleased with the things we gave them; I certainly hope so. I know I’ve been given so many thoughtful gifts from all my friends I’m quite humbled. Sometimes I take the people in my life so much for granted.

Bit of a Bump

Is how I came down when Neal visited today. I thought I’d done well on the ‘mill but apparently I’m not moving fast enough. Oh well. I’m happy with my performance. It’ll have to get better but it’ll have to do. I also have to engage in a bit of retail fraud; I need to write up my eating for the last two weeks(!); some of it’s in my weight watchers files, some in my head, and some will be pulled out of my … ear or left blank. Apparently it’s not enough that I eat less, but also less sodium and transfats.It’s not easy. I can tell you. But it’s nobody else’s fault but my own that I overeat at the drop of a hat/chocolate bar/cookie/pretzel/steak.I need to take time though tomorrow to write it all up. I’ll do my best and just like the ‘mill, that’ll have to do. I’m trying not to let the perfect be the mortal enemy of the good enough, but I’m also not trying to hide behind excuses. I’m not perfect. But I’ll have to do.

Not Perfect Either

But pretty close is pretty Carlos Ponce, here in three rather good quality photos. As usual, for two of them at least, a flick or two of your finger will make him expand. Isn’t that true of most men?

Going Going Gone!

It’s amazing with a little tug on a drawstring can do, thinks our mini-obsession Rafael Branciforti. Do you want to give him some help with his pulling? The little pics get bigger if you treat them right.

But really, who could be mad for long at a face like this?

You may notice a new header to my blog - we’re going to say goodbye to Carlos and meet our new man. Here’s a clue to his identity - this picture of sexy masculinity made his big name in acting having cable-graphic sex scenes with another man….

I don’t see any problem with sexy masculinity having sex with another man. Do you?

It wasn't as bad as I expected at all. Even after I set the treadmill far too fast for me, and couldn't, panicking, figure out how to get it to stop or slow down, and wound up flying off the back end onto my back end. One jogger two 'mills down did stop and ask me if I were okay but it was just my dignity that was wounded.

Walking on a treadmill is very different from ambling around the neighbourhood; you just keep going, with no stopping to cross roads or change the music on your iPod or anything, without actually pausing for real. I found I tired quicker so I was content to do only 30 minutes with a few pauses. After all, I'd done nothing since Thursday of last week so anything was good. Neal will just have to put up with it. Five minutes more tomorrow afternoon is my plan.

The only thing that was a pain is that the cardio room is downstairs in the basement of the fitness center and I had to sit and catch my breath before being able to climb back up. Of course, I didn't shower there. Actually I noticed very little eye candy, what little I did I hope I wasn't staring at, and quite a number of ordinary people.

As I said the few people I talked to were pretty nice, but I think most weren't there to chit chat, except in the weight room (into which I glanced lusting not after the guys but the machines).

I did make use of an internet resource, the website RealJock.com. The people there were uniformly friendly and supportive also, and everyone was right.

C was also right when he told me not to worry. What floors me is that I know as certainly as I'm sitting here that even if everyone had laughed and jeered at me, he'd still love me. To love me even if nobody else can, even if I'm discarded and degraded, because he says he sees a real, a worthwhile me that I barely know, that's what he offers. He's always on my side. I'm incredibly, utterly, undeservedly lucky to have him in my life. He's so extraordinarily marvellous. I only hope I make him a tenth as happy as he makes me.

Working Out or Being Studious

Both seem to be Carlos Ponce's skills. Here we see him surrounded by reading materials, looking very studious, and there he compares biceps and strength with Lou Ferrigno. Which do you prefer - intellectual or irrepressible Carlos? If it's the newspapers you're after you're in luck - that one can be made bigger.

But he's got to pay the bills too; here he is in a (making of?) Nokia commerical. Think about putting it on vibrate and ringing over and over again...

After Avoiding the Splinters

Apparently our mini-obsession Rafael Branciforti loves to lie about, which is belied by his fine physical shape. Here he is, a man on a mat on a Brazilian beach. Could you ask for anything more?

If you click on these pictures, he'll get bigger and that will make him and everyone else very happy.

Friday

Friday we went to see my counselor. I've been feeling very negative about my job lately. I do like the commute but I find it more and more difficult to get excited about what I do. Partially because there's not really enough for me to do. Partially because I’m asked to take on the role of management controls coordinator, which I know little about. And partially because, well, it just doesn’t interest me. I feel sometimes like my real career is something else, something different, more attuned to my real interests and talents, but I have no idea what to do with that.

I watch some people in my field and they are so excited about it; frankly I don’t see how they can be. I’m glad to know the mechanics of it, but there’s so little scope here especially that I’m frustrated and bored most of the time.

Alan (counselor) asked me to rate my job from 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest). I came in at about 1.5-2. Big steaming pile of crap.

And I feel guilty of course; who knows if a changed career would be as renumerative as my current job at least at first, so I’d be asking for generalized familial sacrifice. But then I feel guilty about everything.

I was glad C was with me so we could talk it all over. Alan suggested that I talk to a career counselor to help me set, refine, and reach goals (or something like that). What do you think? The more I hang about here the more I am convinced that I need to do something.

After the appointment C & I went to a German bakery to get Stollen and Laugenbrötchen. Laugenbrötchen are 'lye rolls' made in exactly the same way as pretzels, they have the same dense chewy centers and the dark glossy outer surface that comes from a dip in a solution of lye. Mmmmm so good. I think in the New Year I shall try to make them. When I lived in Germany we'd get either Laugenbrötchen or Brezeln (pretzels) from kiosks on the street, sliced with butter and cheese or Schmaltz (rendered goose fat). Mmmmm Brezeln mit Schmalz.
Then we had lunch at Green Field Churrascaria. Burp. Waddle.

Then a few errands and out to dinner with friends. One of the errands was to get the photos back (finally) from the photo finisher. They don't look bad for a forty year old camera, do they? There's a shot of our car in the driveway, the office building I work in, the view from my desk at work, and autumn leaves in our front yard (beware, that one's quite big when seen full size).

Saturday

Neal came by; good session. Guess what? He gave me a referral to a career counsellor who he says helped him. I've decided to try working out at the gym on base; have to go tomorrow to (a) find it and (b) screw up the courage to go in and use it. Lazed about a bit after that and then went to my friends, K & D & J's Christmas Party. We had a good time, but I felt a bit bad not having any presents to bring - one of them, just one, is yet to arrive, so we felt it best to wait until we could pass out all of them at once. Got home rather late.

Sunday

Well, this really was the weak end of the weekend; we did very little and I think it irritated both of us. Somehow, lazing about feels fine until you realize you've suddenly left everything undone and then you feel guilty and angry. We've not had K&D&J over in ages, and my mum and dad are coming over soon for Christmas dinner, and my friends R & N and their three are coming in January. (More about the R & N later.) So we're feeling a bit pressured.

A Video Funny

I don't know if you have to be from Baltimore to understand all this but I bet it helps. I can't embed it - sorry.

A Video Sexy

Luckily I can embed this video of Carlos Ponce singing "Mujer Con Pantalones," and coincidentally I found this still from the video too. Isn't he arresting? I think the song's title is "Woman With Trousers" in inglés. Why he can't sing about liking Hombres Sin Pantalones I don't know. I'd hum along...

Risking it All for Us

Here's a few parting shots of our mini-obsession Rafael Branciforti risking a few splinters for our viewing pleasure...you can click on the smaller ones for a full size view...

(Let's get back to that 'sin pantalones' thing again, may we?)

Not sure if it’s good or bad but my GP wants me to get the ankle x-rayed and then to see the doctor who made my orthotics. I guess on balance it’s good. Mind you he had a particularly clear case of pain as on my way from my car to my office I pitched over and fell, sprawling, on my knee, then hands and ankle. Yes, the one that’s hurting. I was hobbling about all day. Bloody painful. He (GP) also wants me to ‘cut back a bit’ on the walking; so I’m going to stop trying to increase my time every time. I guess the key thing is consistency. I’ve not been slimming down as fast as I would like so it’s time go to on even more of an intake blitz. Not easy with free time and so many yummy things over the holidays Christmas. I’ll get the X-rays done on Friday, I guess.So into all this walked Neal the personal trainer who was more understanding than I thought he’d be. We talked a bit but I’d not written up my intake logs. Then we did a lot of strength work. I did crunches with a 10lb weight, then with my arms outstretched far behind my head, and then what he calls ‘bridges’ off my exercise ball. Neal seemed very pleased with my partial squats, I apparently can get quite far down and come up with control. I was so down when he showed up and felt a lot better when he’d gone. So that was good. Of course he comes back Saturday so here’s hoping intending for a good report to give him.

Preparations Unfinished

Oh, crap! There’s only two weekends before Christmas. Crap crap crap! Everyone’s going to be getting their cards late. Maybe I can write them out at Ikea tomorrow - we’re going after work to look for things to put our DVDs in. Crap crap crap! I have to get some Christmas shopping done! I have to make a grocery order for Christmas. Oder Stollen and get panforte. We’ve got Christmas cake so that’s okay. And the rumtopf’s been utterly forgotten. Crap crap crap!

A Photo Unfinished

I dropped off the test pictures from the Voightlander on Wednesday, 5 December at the CVS in Beltsville. They were supposed to be back on Monday, 10 December. Guess what? Not back. They’re doing a tracer on them. I’m annoyed because I really wanted to be able to give the vendor some feedback. And of course to share them with you, my adoring public. (Although I notice that my most hit posts are those with the names of porn stars in them…not my other stuff….) I hope they’re back soon because the camera is old and has no built in flash so I can only take pics during daylight hours. I’ll tell you though, once you go digital, all this palaver with running back and forth to the developer is for the birds.Oh, what really has me worried is that they’ve got photos from somebody with the same last name who’s not picked them up. One wonders.

Now That’s Good Coffee

No, really, I think I’m getting better with the Via Veneto. The idea I think is that you put the end of the tube thing into your milk, which is drawn up and then aerated with the steam and then dropped back into the container all foamy. I think though that it’s better to do the foaming first, and then the espresso into two little cups as the coffee cools down quite a bit while the milk’s foaming, while the milk won’t cool quite as quick under its little foam blanket. Made some with caffeine when we got home from our respective works, and will make one more before retiring for the night.

Java and the Blue Boy

Well, okay, it’s a bit of a stretch but there’s a blue vibe in today’s Carlos Ponce pictures, two conventional shots (but no less appealing for it) and one of him getting ready for a comforting massage. Would you like to oil him up and give him a long, slow rub? Click on the little ones to see him enlarge. I couldn’t bring myself to shrink him on the table, that grin looks too good full size.

And for our video delight, here’s Carlos singing “Decir Adios” which translates to “Saying Goodbye.” Not quite yet but I’m hard at work on our next obsession due soon. I am having fun doing Carlos though as there are so many videos.

[dailymotion id=8r6T85eZriCQX9uU2]

Frenching Rafael

Rafael Branciforti’s also fun to do, I’m sure you’d bet. Since the last pic of him by a pair of French doors stirred such interest, here’s the remainder of him playing with his reflected image in his very, very tight speedos.  Please note: I didn't do the cropping on any of these...

(Certainly keeping our interest up, isn’t he?)

Activity and relaxation was what this weekend was all about.Saturday, C and I were up and out pretty early and got a lot of errands done. So that was busy, but satisfying. In the afternoon I went for my walk but had a very rough time; my left foot was hurting again, but what really stopped me in my tracks was an odd twisting pain below my right knee, like my leg was somehow lacking in nerve signals or circulation or something. Nothing made it feel better; not standing with my weight on it, or off it, or sitting with my knee bent or my leg straightened. It really hurt and the pain seemed to come in waves. I was very upset indeed.

Saturday evening we went off to K&D’s house on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, on Kent Island. We bought with us half the makings of a dining room picnic-various lunch meats, rolls, cheeses, crackers, pickles, and sodas, and K&D provided the other half, and we enjoyed a nice dinner. While I was sitting on their sofa, the twisting pain came back, twice; I had to move to a hard seat to ride it out. Again, it came in waves. My Godson J was very charming - he’s a good kid.Apart from the pain, it was so much fun listening to old Bob Rivers twisted Christmas tunes that we wound up staying until nearly three a.m., and didn’t get home till nearly four. Which was very late.

Which is why most of today I spent lazing on the sofa watching Bear Grylls in “Man Vs. Wild.” Rather a nice way to spend it as Mr. Grylls has seemingly no problem with stripping off all or most of his kit - a quality I like in a man, (and a bit of a problem with veracity), but C & I were a bit snippy with each other for a while. Click on this pic of Bear on a hot lava flow in Hawaii to see him in all his survivalist toughness, but please keep in mind he looks better in person, with his sexy upper crust accent, than he ever does in a still picture.

Grazed on bits of lunch meat and bread and potato salad and things. Got a phone call from my mum relaying an invitation from my brother to go to their house for dinner; this was the first time I’d seen it. It was very nice, very comfortable and tasteful. My sister-in-law cooked a good meal and there was a somewhat late cake for my birthday last month. We watched their Christmas tree go up and get lit, and I got to read my niece and nephew a story which I think they enjoyed — I know I did. C made me so proud helping my dad get a big table in from the garage and playing with the kids. When I see him being such a fine, marvellous, all-around worthy man, I know 100% that I’ve made the right choice in my life. As I often tell myself, I never ever dreamed I’d be as happy or as proud to be with somebody as I am with him and I have no doubts at all that we’re right for each other. I adore him. Even when we’re a bit irritated with each other, I always know that he’s the goal of my life and everything I do and I wouldn’t have it, or him, any other way. Why alter perfection?

All in all a good, semi-productive weekend, but still dreading meeting with Neal on Wednesday. But looking forward to our troubles with our super-duper DVD equipment being solved. First problem was that the DVD player was a dud. That’s been sent back; the company, One Call, was very good about it. The new one arrived this week and C hooked it up and for one brief evening was able to watch DVDs in enormous 52″ grandeur. But since that one evening, the ground-fault interrupter type plug that this is all connected to waits four seconds or so, and pops out and won’t pop back in again. The company that did the basement finishing is coming back Tuesday to see what they can do. I’m really getting browned off about this. I have my mum & dad coming over for Christmas (God Help Me!) and my good friends the Kolbs coming in January, and I really want to have K&D over to see the new equipment very soon after Christmas, and my brother and his family, and one equipment issue after another keeps popping up.

Speaking of popping up

Our underlying obsession Carlos Ponce pops up all the time; here he’s covering the Emmys for People En Español and here he is on The History Channel En Español. This last one is a bit distressing - Mr. P’s hair pops up so nicely and lushly that I can’t understand the appeal of this buzzed cut. As always, if you mouse him, he will become bigger.

And here he pops up in a commercial for a Cadillac CTS (Carlos, Take me Soon?). Would you like to take him for the ride of rides?

(All fixed now! - Ed.)

Not Forgotten the Mystery Mini-Obsession

And how could I ever forget Brazilian model and surfer Rafael Branciforti; how could I? Ever since that false start so many moons ago nearly every day somebody pings on my blog looking for him. He’s handsome enough to be a main obsession but apart from looking good, surfing and doing one photoshoot I could find, courtesy of CisotoFotos, he doesn’t seem to have actually done anything for me to put up as more than a mini-obsession for your viewing fun. Now, even if he doesn’t do anything net worthy, he apparently does read; here’s some shots of him enjoying himself in the world of geography. More of him to come…

(A fine magazine can be so stimulating, can’t it?)

And the counter's only a little bit covered in hot water. I still can't figure out the hose contraption for the steam output but I'm sure I will and I'll start making lovely cappuccini soon. Now if only the ground fault interrupter in our media room would work so we can fire up our super duper ultra marvellous DVD player and sip coffee while we watch something good. Netflix has sent me "La Vie En Rose" which is the story of Edith Piaf and I can't wait.

My replacement pedometer arrived and I'm so chuffed; so did "WordPress for Dummies." Perhaps my blog will soon be less pedestrian. Perhaps.

Let it Snow, But Why Here?

Washington and Maryland had its first snow of the season today, only a dusting but the road crews and drivers seemed a bit unprepared. My normal 30 minute commute took about 50, thanks to an accident on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, just above Maryland Route 197. That was a common theme - overbridges were strewn with prangs and fender benders, and everyone was tailed back trying to get through. Here's a picture of our house, on our coming home; doesn't it look cozy? Click to see it a bit bigger.

Particularly ironic was how the walkways on the base where I work were not treated or swept or shovelled. Keep in mind that before every holiday we are frog-marched into the auditorium to get a safety briefing, where I, inter alia, a 40+ year old man (no, really I am) are told how to drive safely...yet that concern apparently does not extend to allowing me to walk safely. Odd, innit?

Meanwhile, there was an accident on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge so I was worried that my best friend K's husband D wouldn't be able to come over to this side of the bay and pick her up. I was half hoping <blush> that she'd have to come over to our house to wait for him, I enjoy her company that much. But it was not to be.

So How Can We Keep Warm?

We can remember summer days when we could lie around on the grass, possibly (preferably) with warm friendly people like Carlos Ponce, here looking relaxed and relaxing. Don't you love it when handsome men lie at your feet?

Or when it was not a freezing prospect to be under a dock warm and wet, maybe even with a smiling person like Carlos Ponce, damply, drippingly inviting...

I mean, you could have gone out today and get wet, but hardly warm, and I bet you wouldn't be smiling like Mr. Ponce here, not with the temperature at just below freezing. Despite his ice-blue eyes, he's more the tropical type, I'd say.

(Doesn't he get you warmed up?)

And blech, I have a meeting to go to tomorrow that I only just found out about, and I hate that because I get so nervous I'll make a fool of myself.

It's kind of a drag that I see quite clearly that I can never be promoted, not just in my current directorate, but in my current organization at all. I've spotted one job in the next building over that I may go for. Wish me luck!

It's also a drag that my boss said she doesn't know anything about my job and won't be learning; I have to educate her beyond her preconceived notions, which is just extra effort. Effort that the others, in the same field as her, don't have to expend. Whine! But I have to ask how she can appreciate it when I am busy, or do a good job, or both, if she doesn't know and appears not to care to know.

There has to be a happy medium between neglect and micromanaging - benign neglect? Helpful managing?

Arrivals

My marvellous (for $60, apparently a terrible buy for it's original retail of four times that) new Saeco Via Veneto espresso machine arrived today along with some marvellous Aboriginal art that C found on a web site of a gallery in his very own home town. I can't wait to get it framed. I also can't but have to wait to try out the machine - apparently I must prime the pumping mechanism first or "serious damage may ensue." Eeep!

Oh, wish me luck on the pedals tonight - if I get home before 11:00 I'll try them out, otherwise it'll be soon, I promise. And do comment, particularly with any theories on why I'm so frigging ravenous this evening.

Cleans Up Nicely!

Back to our current obsession, the handsome Carlos Ponce, who can croon us off our feet and into...whatever he wants us in. As I say this is just a quick one so here he is looking very polished and put together in a lovely suit. He looks so good - it must be that power thing. To gaze more deeply into his soulful eyes and to see more closely his enigmatic smile (although he does look a tad schnozzled), let your mouse click do the walking...and I'll see you tomorrow.

(Wouldn't you like to put a smile on his gorgeous face?)

Neal came, but I’d not managed to write up my week’s eating so we estimated what I’d eaten. I never thought I’d agree that it is important to keep a record but boy, it is. Some things were real eye-openers. For example, the kind of delicious burrito that I used to get at Chipotle, that I used to think had to be ‘good for you’ because it had no fried foods, is incredibly high in calories and fat. I used to get these yogurt parfaits at Starbucks and thought of them as healthy but they too are very high in fat.

I do have to wonder though if he doesn’t skimp on the strength training because he feels I need to be motivated on the intake side more; C timed him and it was a total of 45 minutes out of our 75 together on discussing my intake (and his plans to go from meeting in people’s houses to opening his own studio). Regarding that last point, I’m none too sure about it. Since I will have to drive to him, it seems like an increase in inconvenience to me, without a corresponding benefit. He’s selling it on the idea that there’ll be more equipment available for us but…I dunno.

He also wants me to be sure and walk every day even in this freezing cold, or to go to the ‘rec center.’ That worries me. I never enjoyed the gym; I always felt like I didn’t belong, that I was being laughed at, belittled. It’s also (whine whine whine) not that convenient for me to go there; I’d have to head over after picking up C and dropping him off at home; it’s not like when I was single and my time was my own. I’m not blaming him; I love spending time with him. My plan is to see what I can do to keep my motivation up this next week; other than maybe tomorrow when it’s forecast to be actively pouring cold rain, if I can layer up and walk outside, then I will but as Neal pointed out, if not, then I have to do something. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, at public gyms, there’s very rarely any real eye candy. :)

We (C & I) discussed buying a treadmill today; my friend K has one but I’m not sure. To get one to accommodate my…er…needs (weight) it’d have to be huge, and expensive. We do just have the space with a whole inch to spare!, but it would appear that we’ll have to spend not the $x that he thought, but around $2x, which is what I’d thought. But as I say, for the winter, something’s got to give. C feels very pressured now to find one that fits our budget and my…er…needs, which is unfair but that’s how lovely he is. I know I don’t need bells and whistles, just a basic with maybe a little incline (not much).

We’ll have to see. I bet that they’ll rocket up in price after the New Year with all those people making resolutions. We’re already spending so much money on me - $400 a month just for Neal, etc., etc., etc. I think it’s worth noting that Neal never recommended a treadmill, just going to the gym. What do you think?

Speaking of Intake...

Last night for our beloved "Friday Night Club" we all went to Il Mee in Arlington, Virginia, for all you can eat bulgogi. Mmmm. It works like this - after you eat some fairly good sushi, you get piles of thin sliced raw meat. It can be beef, pork or chicken, and the latter two can be highly spiced or merely lightly marinated. You bring them back to your table and the 'ladies' come by and light little grills built right into your table, and help you grill your meat right there. You can also toss garlic slices and other things on the grill. When the meat's done, you take some, add some gojujang (hot garlic paste) or denjang (fermented soy bean paste) and some rice, if you like, and make little packages wrapped up in big romaine lettuce leaves. Oh, it's so good and what makes it especially fun is the way you 'play' with your food, everyone can make their packages as they like and it's generally a good time. I do like the bulgogi, but I also like that they always have ddeukbogee and lovely pancakes as well, and that there's enough vegetarian dishes for my vegetarian godson to eat well, too.

I love Korean food. I really have to try making budae jjigae (Army Base Stew) some time as the idea sounds delicious. There's an excellent recipe here, with this picture; doesn't it look yummy? You can click on the thumbnail to see it bigger and more delectable. At the recipe you can see the history behind this half-American dish.

We were 'good' today, just a small bowl of Pho for me, with only one fresh garden roll. A few pistachios. A hard walk past the bakery. A cappuccino. And a gyros to be delivered in a few moments.

Speaking of good...

Doesn't Carlos Ponce look like he knows a joke, with that lovely little half smile? And yet as you can see, he can also look appealing when he looks more pensive, more thoughtful. Perhaps he's feeling ignored; here is singing a rather nice ballad called Escúchame ("Listen to me")...

He does cheer up nicely, here he is from that same photo shoot for Ocean Drive En Español, looking like he's just told the secret joke, and here he is trying to cheer all of the rest of us up, in our late, cold autumn, as he sits on the dock of his bay. As with all these pictures, if you want him to grow before your very eyes, you know what to do.

(I bet you know what you'd do with him on a dock.)

Continuing with the verbs, the book I'm using makes the point that what each 'screeve' (similar to a tense) is marked by suffixes, and puts them in a little table with the top row showing the suffix for the first and second persons, and the second row showing the two suffixes for the third persons, singular and plural (remember that the first person is also marked by a -v-, and the first and second persons plural are marked with a -t.

For the future tense, the table shows Ø for the first two persons, -s for the third singular and -en for the third plural.

Let's look at the first verb given, dats'ers. Dats'ers is made up of a Preverb (PVb) "Da"+ the stem "ts'er" plus the 3ps singular marker "s" = he/she/it will write it/them. We can now conjugate this verb in the future tense:

da-v-ts'er = I will write it/them. (Remember the -v- for first person!)
da- -ts'er = you will write it/them.
da- -ts'er-s = he will write it/them.

da-v-ts'er-t = we will write it/them. (Remember -t marks the plural in this person)
da- -ts'er-t = you all will write it/them.
da- -ts'er-en = they will write it/them.

That was easy, wasn't it? Now lets try gadatargmnis, which means "he/she/it will translate it." This is made up of a Pvb "gada" (which means 'across' 'trans'), the stem "targmn," and a Present/Future Stem Formant (P/FSF) "i." One note, the -en of the 3pp becomes -an when there's a P/FSF -i-. Let's go!

gada-v-targmn-i =I will translate it/them.
gada- - targmn-i = you will translate it/them.
gada- -targmn-i-s = he/she/it will translate it/them.
gada-v-targmn-i-t = we will translate it/them.
gada- -targmn-i-t = you will translate it/them.
gada- -targmn-i-an = they will translate it/them.

How about a more murderous example: Mo-k'l-av-s -- He will kill it/them. PVb "mo," stem "k'l," P/FSF "av." That gives us, quite obviously(!):
mo-v-k'l-av = I will kill it/them.
mo- -k'l-av = you will kill it/them.
mo- -k'l-av-s = he/she/it will kill it/them.
mo-v-k'l-av-t = we will kill it/them.
mo- -k'l-av-t = you all will kill it/them.
mo- -k'l-av-en = they will kill it/them.

Remember that the person prefix 'v' comes after a PVb, but before any of the optional Preradical Vowels (PV) (also called 'versioners')? Let's look at something a tad more constructive: aashenebs. The first "a" is the PVb, the second is the PV, the stem is "shen" and the P/FSF is "eb." This means "He/she/it will build it/them."
a-v-a-shen-eb = I will build it/them
a- -a-shen-eb = you will build it/them
a- -a-shen-eb-s = he/she/it will build them.
a-v-a-shen-eb-t = we will build it/them
a- -a-shen-eb-t = you all will build it/them
a- -a-shen-eb-en = they will build it/then.

So, when it comes to verb paradigms, avasheneb da aasheneb!

We'll look at the Present Screeve next (very soon) -- remember that to build the present from the future, you simply remove the Pvb, but keep the same endings (nothing, -s, or -en/-an). This makes things a bit tough, as the Pvb is often arbitrary; if you encounter a verb for the first time in the present, you've got to find out what the proper Pvb is before you can really conjugate it. Note that the distinction between 'present' and 'future' is more aspectual. I don't know if it's just me but is seems the present is less vital or vivid than the future; what it lacks is not just an indication of futurity, but semantic as well - it lacks the directionality of the future screeve.

Don't know about you, but I need some eye candy

Phew that was a lot to take in - I need the mental relaxation of Carlos Ponce now. Luckily for us he does seem to have a lot of trouble keeping his shirt on or buttoned, a definite plus in my book. Here he is demonstrating this, open to any breeze that may drift along...to investigate further just give a click. On the other side, he's in his persona as Bruce Remington on the telenovela Dame Chocolate ("Give me Chocolate"). Mmmmm yummy, eh? :) Click him for the sugar!

Speaking of eye candy, while we won't have a Themey Thursday quiz this week, later on I'll post a grab bag theme of male lusciousness from people who don't have quite enough available for me to present as a true obsession. More like eye candy corn.

Accomodation by local government

Modern govenrment is all about being accessible to the diverse populations it serves. This must be the reason why a local council in the UK erected this bilingual sign at a community dog park. How very culturally sensitive. Click the thumbnail to see what I mean.

Sitting here in the home office listening to C play Plastic Bertrand singing “Ça Plan Pour Moi” and wondering what to blog about. I mean you could be interested in my boring job, or why I need to pull my thumbs out and buckle down, or how hard that is when you feel that your function’s unimportant and unwanted. Here’s the video from “Top of the Pops” in 1978. I still think it’s cool…it was in a rather good French movie we watched (”Times Have Been Better“).

Or about the fact that after two days of indolence and three of very substandard walking times I managed to do 35 minutes in the cold cold Washington night. Or about the fact that my new espresso machine is still not here despite being promised but I really really want to give the seller one more day before I give up. After all, I just got a bunch of really beautiful Bodum cappuccino glasses (which I will put to the test before going to bed).Or about the fact that that very same cold dark Washington nights have meant I still have not managed to take the new old Voigtlander out for a test run to see if it really works because it’s too damned dark by the time I get home. Plan is to take it to work tomorrow and see if I meet a stern Military Policeman with questions as to why I’m taking snapshots of our building. If all goes well and the pics are decent I’ll post them for your viewing delight.

Oh, now he’s playing lovely sexy Ivri Lider singing “Jesse.”  I hope this openly gay Israeli singer comes to DC in concert soon. He sang the theme song “Bo” to “Yossi & Jagger,” a really romantic tear-jerker.

Or maybe you’d rather hear about my troubles with figuring out Dreamweaver? Nah, nobody wants to know about that. Not even me!

Could it be you want to hear about our delicious dinner, pasta with walnut and sage sauce? It was the one healthy thing I ate today after breakfast. Hotdogs at lunch were a bad idea. So were the little chockies my colleagues brought in.

Oh, I know what you want, you want a piece of Ponce, today’s view of our handsome hero. Here’s a picture of him looking young and fresh and lovely by a window…what a view, eh? Just click on Carlos to get him large…and when you’re done, enjoy this video of him singing “Te Vas.” He really is a talented package.

(He looks like he needs comforting...wouldn’t you help him?)

It was a bit odd, though; he arrived with jeans on...then after settling his bags and things in the basement he took his shoes off, and then stood up and unbuckled his jeans and unzipped them. I didn't know where to look. However it was just that his shorts were underneath. I don't expect he expected to leave them behind!

Sunday (today) I brought my new coffee maker to my office; it's on a timer so I can have fresh hot coffee on arrival. I hope that doesn't make me look too aloof. One of the things I don't like about this more 'troop' type organization is the enforced togetherness and groupiness that people believe in, and it seems to get worse all the time. (Ed.: It worked great!)

This Gets Better all the Time.

Lovely Carlos Ponce seems to get better all the time, doesn't he?

From the Cisoto Fotos website here he is...

...in his role as a special correspondent for "Entertainment Television." While Carlos is interviewing actress Cote De Pablo about her role on "NCIS," he and "NCIS" star Michael Weatherby both end up shirtless. Cote and Carlos used to co-host the Spanish-language TV show "Control."

BS Inclusion

Grrrr. This is what I call bull..er...bulldust inclusion. At work, we're to have a 'holiday' party on 14 December, a Friday. Now they're being very careful not to call it a Christmas party, so as not to let us non-Christians feel left out. Everyone's to feel welcome to leave work at ... well, their regular time and then go to a community center with their potluck dishes and dine and festivate together, and clean up. I mean, you wouldn't want people to have to take work time for this sort of thing, would you? I can only assume that while arranging this all-religions, non-Christmas get-together, they forgot that Jews, at least observant ones can't take part as it's Shabbat!!!! So it looks all First Ammendment-y, all sing kumbayah-y, all non-denominational, all inclusive, but it's really utter bullsh...er...bulldust. I guess Muslims can't really take part either as it's to be arranged during Friday prayer time.

Of course, if I say anything, I'll be the 'trouble maker' who wants to 'throw everything into disarray' (and who's 'being difficult'). Worst case scenario for me is that everyone'd resent me and it'd be moved to a Thursday thus depriving me of the chance to give up my free time to let our Commanding General think that we're all one big happy family (and not a crew of arsekissers). So I'll let discretion be nine-tenths and all...but it's all the utterest bull...er...crap.

I should calm down; here's Carlos Ponce looking all cool and collected and discreetly hairy. Doesn't he seem to be advising cool white linens and tropical rooms, even on this cold wintry evening? (I really should go for my daily traipse in a bit.) I swear sometimes I use pictures like this the way drunks use booze, just to clear my head for a moment. Does that make me sick? I hope not.

Are We Staying Here For a Bit?

Yes. I need to make sure that all my ducks are in a row before I move to my own hosting - I was having a lot of trouble. I need to figure out how to post thumbnails easily that (like the above) you can click on to drink in the full beauty, how to get the tag clouds back, and a lot of other sidebar stuff. I can't do that while generating content so I'll postpone the move for a bit. Don't scrape www.angloamssite.com off your favourites list just yet, though; once I stop typing this I am going to start patiently working through Dreamweaver. May I ask your indulgence for just a bit longer?

What I really need is a massage just like Carlos here...or to be Carlos's masseur. Would you like to oil him up?

(And rub him down, down, down!)

As he is quite at ease in front of the camera, his interviews always seem so relaxed and humerous; here at a photoshoot for Ocean Drive magazine (a glamour rag about South Beach), he demonstrates to the spokeslady just how sweet he is.

I wish my Spanish were better, he's done more on Spanish TV than English-language; I remember trying to watch Dame Chocolate just to see him but I couldn't keep up. I often watch Spanish TV for all the wrong reasons.

(What is it about these Latino guys?)