I've been trying to think of a good sum-up post for the five weeks I spent in Spain, and I've had a tough time coming up with something that can really pull it all together.

The thing is that time in Spain was almost like a parallel universe to my life in Denver. A totally different place with very little overlap in people, landscape, culture or lifestyle. Everything is so different, it makes it hard for my head to grasp that I was there for as long as I was...and that I was away from home for that long as well.

The sights, sounds, smell and experiences in Barcelona were extraordinary. The people I interacted with at work and in my living situation were kind, inclusive and interesting to be around. And the work that I am doing is challenging, interesting and exciting.

But damn, it's good to be home.

Chances are things here at MarketingPunk will be heading back in the direction of marketing related posts...mainly because that's what I do here, and writing about marketing helps me get better at what I do for a living. With that said, I love the fact that I can use this blog to keep friends and family updates on things in one central place...so I am sure there are more personal posts in the future as well.

I'm in the process of uploading a lot of Spain photos to Flickr...if your interested, check them out here.

Posted by James at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm back in Denver! More posts to come soon...just thought I'd let people know I arrived safely and only slightly delayed.

Good to be home.

Posted by James at 05:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's 2:40 AM and I'm back home - with headphones in - hiding from the orgy or destruction that is taking over much of the city. At about 10 tonight I decided to head to the sea, where the action would be. To short train rides on the Metro and I was there...heaven for pyros...El Dia De San Juan Babtiste.

This shot seems to do the visual scene some justice....the audio portion will need to come later.

Not sure how St, John felt about fireworks and I'd be shocked if he was a fan the ones happening all over town tonight. But I've witnessed the great thing that comes from this holiday and I'm sure John would agree with me that the danger of lost limbs is well worth it.

You see tonight, across town, when people of all races, religions, creeds and colors toss fireworks directly at other people, they were no longer different. They were not richer or poorer, more or less educated. No. These peoples are all unified under one word.

Dicks

Posted by James at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow will start my last work week here in Barcelona (for a month or two anyway) - and this weekend was the last of 4 weekends I've spent here.

Due to the sudden decision of the Spanish Weather Gods to switch from cool and rainy to all out HOT, I decided the best way to spend today was down at the beach, relaxing. Actually, my trip to the beach started as a walk to a nearby bookstore and when that was closed, well, I just started wandering.

My one goal for the day was to catch the French Grand Prix, and luckily I found a cafe that was showing the race down on the beach. To one side of me I had a TV with F1 on it, and on the other side, the Mediterranean - not a bad setup.

After the race I took a walk along the beach in a direction I had never gone before. On said walk I learned an important lesson...sometimes nude beaches just happen. No signs, no ropes, no bushes (to block the view...not the other kind pervs), no warning at all.

I know these things aren't a big deal here - in fact, it is totally legal to be a nudist here in BCN and some of my coworkers see naked folks walking down the street quite a bit - but for little old American me, when I'm walking down the beach and all of a sudden a naked dude goes flopping past, well, I laugh. I tried to cover it up, but man...naked dudes having a stroll is an odd sight.

I bought a beer from a beer man and took a seat surrounded by three groups of people. Group one - naked guy reading a book and his pretty much naked lady friend. Group two - pot smoking beach bums yet funnily, not nudist. Group 3 - these ones could have been American - it was a man, his wife (topless) and some random little dog who was trying to dig his little paws off.

After my can ran dry I figured it was time to head back home. But there was some type of accident on the Metro, so I decided to hoof it. The hoofing was good. Ended up in Parc de la Ciutadella and since it was about 4, I tough it would be good to take a nap. Didn't take me too long to find a nice place to siesta.

After a nice rest I packed up my self, and headed to my apartment.

It was a good day - looks like my sunburn had fun too!

Posted by James at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's crazy to think, but I'll be back in Denver a week from tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to getting back to my regular life back in D-Town.

This week has been pretty intense at work - trying to get a big presentation ready to give to a very smart group of people is always a bit nerve racking. Gave the presentation today and things went well, but I'm very glad to have it done with (presentations for me have always been something I enjoy, but I put a lot of work and thought into them, so they become pretty consuming).

This weekend BCN will be the host of the Sonar Music festival and St. Johns day. From what I've hear, Sonar could be a nice time, but the other event(St. Johns Day), which is actually a bank holiday is, in the words of one of my roommate, "HORRIBLE."

Why so bad? Imagine handing thousands of teenage kids buckets of M-80 firecrackers and telling then to go out and have some fun from sun down on a Monday to sun up on Tuesday....oh yeah, also don't forget the bonfires all over the city (made with old furniture)!

Even tonight Barcelona sounds like a mini warzone. On the positive side I think I am figuring out what these boxes are for on the side of buildings:

Crazy pyros!

I'll try to get some good pictures and share them here.

Everyone enjoy your weeked!

Posted by James at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a wonderful weekend with Kristi, it was back to work today.

Working on some really challenging and enjoyable stuff, so the long days at the office are actually flying by. Flying by so fast, actually, that it's now hitting me that I'll be back on a plane, headed to Denver, one week from this Friday.

Crazy.

As a part of the Super Duper care package I got from Kristi, I have a few of my back issues of BusinessWeek. One had a cover story that I found to be a somewhat interesting, yet ridiculously brief article on the state of blogging and social media as of 2008. You can read it here.

The one thing I wish they would have mentioned in the story is the number of major media outlets that have "blogs" and that mention said "blogs" continuously throughout their shows. To me, that's a good sign...so long as I can call it a blog and can stop putting quotes around the word "blog."

Ok, enough "blogging" for tonight...I've got a box of USA smuggled, prime-time, hardcore Oreo Double-Stuff cookies calling my name.

They are, in a word, perfection.

Posted by James at 02:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok, so tell me if you can spot something out of the ordinary in this picture I took today...

If you said it's Kristi head, you're correct!

So here's the deal, yesterday I went out to lunch with a coworker and my boss. We had a great lunch, and suddenly my boss got up, said he had to go, and left me sitting outside with my coworker. We were discussing work and life and then BOOM, out of nowhere, Kristi was sitting next to me.

My brain shut off.

I noticed my boss was standing next to her smiling, and I looked to him for some guidance - what the heck was going on? After the initial shock wore off I realized that Kristi was really here - after traveling 15 hours on a plane - to see me for the weekend.

For those of you doing the math, that's 30 hours on a plane to hang out with me for 60 hours. And if you've experienced the humiliation of airline travel as of late, you know that that, my friends, is love.

We're having a wonderful time - spent the day at Park Guell and the beach and tonight we're going to go out on the town...last night was going to Sagrada Familia and catching up and drinking sangria.

My head is still spinning...in a good way. It's amazing to be able to spend the weekend with my favorite person in this amazing place.

Posted by James at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While I am guessing it isn't news in the States, there is a trucking strike taking place here in Spain. Across the country truckers are blocking roads and freeways to protest the rising price of fuel and, in turn, the reduction of their income.

The strike started yesterday and you could almost immediately see the effect in the many markets here in Barcelona. Fruits and veggies are in short supply, which suck, because I forgot to stock up on Saturday (virtually all markets are closed on Sunday).

To learn more about the strike, you can read this.

On a positive note, I found an Asian market that is on my walk home that sells tofu...yes, it's the little things.

Posted by James at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First off, I gotta say, Skype (or Skippie as my dad would say) has been a Godsend for Kristi and I. There is nothing cooler than being able to talk, with video, across the globe, for free.

Due to the time zone situation (8 hours difference), Kristi and I usually Skype when she's at work. Funny thing is, she doesn't want people to think she is crazy, since she uses her computer's built in mic and a pair of headphones to chat.

So what is she to do? Fake a cell phone call, that's what. Here's a picture from our chat tonight. I can't stop laughing when she does this:

Hilarious I tell you!

Posted by James at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’m glad to report that this weekend was a very good one. I’m also happy to report that this post will include a number of pictures, something that has been sorely lacking since I’ve had some issues with my internet connection at home (pretty sure it is a Mac OSX issue, not, as previously thought, a Spanish provider issue).

Friday Night

I decided to check out the Magic Fountain at Montjuic on Friday night. The fountain sits in Placa Espana, which is the site of a number of attractions here in Barcelona, including the big art museum, which is pictured here.

Here I am, with some of the waterfalls in the background.

The Magic Fountain is a big spectacle, with light, sound and the fountain itself putting on a show every half hour or so. It’s very touristy, but well worth the trip...it’s like the fountain at the Bellagio in Vegas, but authentic :) Here’s a shot of the fountain doing it’s thing.

On the way home I wondered down Las Ramblas, which ends at the port with this statue of Columbus, pointing at the New World...in theory anyway, with the way the coast is situated, he is actually pointing at Libya. Oops.

Saturday

Saturday turned out to be a wonderful change from the usual, as I was invited to go to a BBQ outside of the city with my boss and his family. To get out of the city was nice to begin with, but to be able go somewhere that was remote and full of an international crowd was fantastic.

Here is the view from the road to the house:

This is the view from the pool at the house:

And this is the house, and the people at the BBQ:

And finally, a shot of part of the spread...yes that is a piq’s leg, something I am getting used to seeing :)

The day was capped off with an evening on the town, with the highlight being a trip to the crazy-popular Hard Rock Cafe for some Jameson. I swear it’s not as bad as it sounds, the Hard Rock here is a cool place for an international crowd to hang out.

Sunday

Sunday was the day to knock some of the sightseeing to-dos off my list. First off was Park Guell...one of Gaudi’s most famous works. The park has some amazing views like this:

I love the design of everything in the park, from the “caves” built with rocks from the park (America’s Next Top Model finale was shot here...yes, I watched it...bite me.)

To the fairy tale buildings:

To the cactus plants that I fell in:

Ok, that was staged, I did not fall in, but I took the picture just in case I did, because hey, that’s the way things have been going lately.

Oh yeah, did I mention the view?

It was actually right after I took this picture that I realized that it was hot enough that people might be going to the beach, so I hiked to a metro stop and headed to the coast.

Turns out I was right in thinking the beach would be busy, it was packed with folks:

I ended up hanging out, having a couple of beers, and relaxing. A good time indeed. Also walked by the big copper fish sculpture on the coast, which was part of the development built for the Olympics:

To keep up with my efforts to knock stuff off of my tourist list, I headed over to the port side of the cable car that goes from the port to Montjuic.

Again, some great views were to be had of the city, and the busy port full of tankers, cruise ships and some mega yachts.

After all of that I decided to head home, which meant hopping the Metro, which drops me off right in front of Sagrada Familia...something that always astounds me when I look at it. Here are a couple shots from the Passion side:

My favorite part of this side is the golden figure (guessing it's Jesus?!) that sits above everyone else looking down:

That’s it for tonight. Much love to all...tomorrow, back to work!

Posted by James at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, hump day is over. Tomorrow is Thursday, then Friday, and then, well, my first real weekend in many moons. And by real I mean not packing, moving, traveling, etc...I'll still be in Spain, which is still surreal.

So I figured I'd share more observations from Spain tonight, because that's the material I've got darn it.

So here we go:

• My hands, which are usually about as dry as they get are amazingly smooth and soft. I think between the humidity and a lower frequency of washing my hands I've earned myself the hands of a 29-year-old, instead of a 500-year-old. I have an appointment with a hand modeling agent next week. Or not.
• I've been to the store about 20 times so far this week. Can't seem to remember to buy everything that I need when I go. Funny thing though - many stores don't refrigerate milk or eggs here. It freaks me out to be honest.
• People seem to create a lot less trash here. Especially when it comes to paper products. Paper towels, something I use like air, are nowhere to be found in most kitchens. This has left me totally confused while doing most kitchen tasks. When I moved to this apartment one of the first things I did was buy 4 rolls of paper towels. They live in my closet. I am embarrassed by them.
• Even with the less trash thing, there are garbage cans on every corner here. It's really nice and helps keep the city clean. But if someone does litter...
• There is an army of cleaning folks wandering around the city with brooms and little trucks. I mean seriously, so much sweeping going on it's crazy...but it keeps the streets and sidewalks looking nice. I mean, except for the dog poo and all - the broom people seem to avoid that. Maybe there is a Poopsmith who takes care of things when people are sleeping?
• When everyone eats lunch at work, most people's lunches look like they were prepared by a restaurant. Very different from the Lean Cuisine and Hot Pockets we are all used to.
• I've had two very good conversation with two different Spaniards about the state of things in Spain. Interestingly, they were both concerned with the level that Americanism and Capitalism is creeping into the mindset of their countrymen. It's not like they hate it or us, they just fear a world without the community and, well socialist values they have grown up with. I think the proliferation of Starbucks here doesn't help.
• And lastly, no matter how cool, collected and relaxed I try to look, I am uncontrollably awkward here. It wasn't just the locking the keys in the apartment thing. It's little things...like buying a milk that doesn't fit in the refrigerator at my new place. So I set the milk on its side, with the screw cap on, but it turns out milk doesn't close all the way here (seriously, I tested it), so I deposited a liter of milk into the bottom of the refrigerator. This was day 2 of living with my very clean roommates. I dunno, time to just go with it I guess. So long as I don't break my face.

Posted by James at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I was catching up on my blog reading this evening and almost died laughing while reading the Fail Blog.

Check it out if you need a laugh.

Posted by James at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just wanted to send a picture along from my new neighborhood.

This cathedral-in-progress is the world famous Sagrada Familia, which is actually right around the corner from my apartment - very cool, eh?

What? Not so cool? Well, if that doesn't impress you, how about this landmark that's a block away in the other direction...

That's right folks, I live a block away from the poupee club.

HA!

Posted by James at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[This post is coming out of chronological order, but hey, at least it’s here.]

I’m writing this on Friday night, late. I’ve finished my first week here and I’m pleased to say that after the key incident, things are going very well.

I’m really enjoying the group of people that I work with. They all are talented, friendly, and hard working. An enjoyable combination to be sure.

Outside of work, I find myself walking...a lot. Barcelona is an extremely pedestrian friendly city, and a beautiful city as well. No wonder many locals spend their evenings strolling along the streets, enjoying the Mediterranean climate, and watching the people pass by. Quite a different world compared to home...not really sure which I prefer at this point, but things are certainly different.

Another major difference is the daily schedule here. It seems that things happen a bit later here than at home, meaning work starts at 10 AM, lunch is at 2 PM (and can last quite a while...depending), and work ends at 6 or 7 PM. Then people seem to go home, or out for drinks and a walk, and then dinner happens around 10 PM or so. Surprisingly, I’m adapting pretty well to the schedule...the late wake-up time is certainly helping.

For the sake of brevity, here are some other observations from my time here:

• This town is a lot like Las Vegas...seems to be a popular place for conventions and bachelor and bachelorette parties. Of course, the bachelors and bachelorettes tend to be British. Which leads me to my next observation...
• Drunk British guys like to sing...often poorly, but with great gusto. It’s actually impressive as it’d be hard to find a group of American men who would all know the same song well enough to sing it as a group. However...
• I’d be pissed off if there were people of any nationality running around Denver drunk, singing at the top of their lungs. I’m sure the locals HATE the drunk Brits.
• Bicing, Barcelona’s public bike program is amazing. More on that in a later post.
• Dog poop. Everywhere. I think it has a lot to do with all the dogs in this city. I have yet to step in poo, but the chances of me keeping this streak going are minimal. I will let everyone know when there is poo on my shoe, stay tuned/
• It’s usually easy to pick Americans out of the crowd because they are either wearing baggy shorts (guys), or trying waaaaaay too hard to look like a Spaniard (girls). Although I shouldn’t talk...I might as well a neon sign that say foreigner in this place.
• High school Spanish may actually be paying off! Some of the vocab is coming back, but not enough to sound any smarter than your average Spanish 4-year-old 2 year-old.
• I am washing some clothes right now...it’s talking over an hour to wash one load (an hour and forty minutes to be exact)...what the heck is up with that?
• Someone dropped a strawberry on my head from a building one night. I was unhappy when I got hit in the head, but when I smelled strawberry, I thought, “hey! a strawberry!” Funny how that works.
• Everything is more expensive here except for beer and wine.
• There are hardcore pornographic commercials on TV after midnight, but I swear kids are still up here at midnight. Not sure how that works for parents.

And finally, I miss my peeps back home! Hopefully I’ll be able to hook up with people through Skype when I move on Sunday, but in the meantime, much love to friends an family. Hope all is going well.

Posted by James at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey everyone! I'm officially moved to the new apartment...it's quite nice and my roomates seem quiet, clean and mellow. Just the way I like it. Of course, the most exciting part of moving is being in a place with WiFi - the connection is a bit slower than I am used to at home, but hey, a slow Intarwebs is better than no Intarwebs at all.

I'll hopefully be posting more now that I'm able to be online outside of work - and I figured I needed to put up a picture of the keys that I locked in my apartment. So without further ado...

The set on the top were the apartment keys, the ones on the bottom are for my office.

I told you they were treasure chest keys!

More to come soon!

Posted by James at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)