Quick Update

Over the past week and a half, there hasn't been a lot going on for me outside of work.  Still, I've had a few interesting experiences that I can share:

Pitch and Putt Tournament - Fortunately for me, the schedulers for the annual pitch-and-putt competition between Grifols Maintenance, Grifols Engineering, and Grifols Holding chose a date when I could play (as part of the Engineering team).  After a warm up round the week before, which I mentioned in my last blog, I was ready to tackle the course again and improve on my mediocre effort.  I ended up scoring better by three or four shots, which was good enough to lead my team but not good enough for us to win.  Still, it was a wonderful effort followed by an even better dinner with traditional Spanish tapas to start, grilled duck breast for my main course, and fresh cheese with honey (the cheese was almost a cream more than cheese, but a solid consistency if that makes sense!) to finish.  The eleven other players were all very nice; I was challenged to speak more Spanish (which I am improving on with each day) and joined in on and was on the receiving end of many jokes through the afternoon and evening.  All in all, it was a successful day, even if we didn't win!

Movies in Barcelona - This past weekend, I went to the movie theater to see the newest Batman release.  Luckily for me, there  is a theater here that shows movies in their original language with Spanish subtitles so I was able to enjoy the movie in the "American" fashion rather than being confused for the full 165 minutes!  The movie theater was EXACTLY like one in America, except that stadium seating did not exist.  The concession stand, the general layout, everything else reminded me of Anywhere, USA in much the same way that the bowling alley did.  And in case you're wondering, I loved the movie and think it was the best of the three in this set (and I'll take Jessica to see it when she visits!).

Rancid Concert - I'll cover the concert in detail in my next post (for people interested in that type of thing) but to summarize... I was able to get a ticket to see Rancid on their 20th anniversary tour in Barcelona.  The concert venue, Razzmatazz, was located in an industrial area of the city, very similar to the area in Pittsburgh that had Metropol (at least back in the mid to late 1990s).  The crowd was typical, and I immediately realized that I'd "grown up" some from the last time I saw them play in 1996.  If I wasn't one of the oldest 10% of the people there, I'd be shocked.  Most kids seemed to be in their early 20s, and dressed in the standard legitimate t-shirts you'd expect (Operation Ivy, the Ramones, the Business, etc.).  Inside the concert hall, it was like a carbon copy of the United States with the setup and the poor sound quality!  Rancid, one of my favorite bands, was amazing and the other two groups were good as well.  The whole concert experience was a perfect reminder of my youth (which makes me sound and feel extremely old just typing it) and the enjoyment I had in every concert I attended.  When I get back to Raleigh, I am going to make a point to go more often to Cat's Cradle.

That's about it for the past 10 days.  Jessica arrives in less than two weeks, and our vacation is set.  Our new plan is for a 5 day trip to France followed by a few days at the Costa Brava in northern Spain, both of which will be perfect with the two of us here together!