<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988</id><updated>2009-11-11T00:36:37.981-08:00</updated><title type='text'>I'm shvitzen! Hose me down!</title><subtitle type='html'>My life, or lack thereof. It's a lemon!</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>71</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-4894233037362653078</id><published>2008-11-08T10:57:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2008-11-08T10:57:27.455-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Houston Pride Band Concert!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Hello friends! &lt;p&gt;The Houston Pride Band is having a concert this Friday, the 14&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;. We’ll be playing some fun stuff. I think you guys will enjoy it. Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased online. &lt;b&gt;This concert will be benefitting the Lesbian Health Initiative&lt;/b&gt;. Tell everyone about it! If you’re in Houston, come out and support us. &lt;p&gt;And you get to see me in a tuxedo! J Click the link below to get to the Houston Pride Band’s website and see the details. &lt;p&gt;Hope to see you all there. &lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.houstonprideband.org/ScreenShot002.jpg"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-4894233037362653078?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/4894233037362653078/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=4894233037362653078' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/4894233037362653078'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/4894233037362653078'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/11/houston-pride-band-concert.html' title='Houston Pride Band Concert!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-2720999461423200325</id><published>2008-10-20T16:02:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-10-20T16:02:23.154-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Munchkin and Arkham Horror.</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Gosh, I'm becoming more of a geek as time goes by.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;I'm now the happy owner of my own copy of Arkham Horror. I've played a few times and basically have memorized the rule book. So if anyone ones to play sometime, I'd happily host a game. I also bought the other day a card game called Munchkin. Much simpler and faster than Arkham Horror... and definitely cuter. And, it only lasts a little while as opposed to several hours like Arkham Horror. Anyone want to play with me?&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-2720999461423200325?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/2720999461423200325/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=2720999461423200325' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/2720999461423200325'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/2720999461423200325'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/10/munchkin-and-arkham-horror.html' title='Munchkin and Arkham Horror.'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-3081911940903924979</id><published>2008-10-17T11:55:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-10-17T11:55:18.994-07:00</updated><title type='text'>OKCupid's Dating Persona Test</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Here are my results. Is this really me though? I guess maybe as far as mentality is concerned. Although I don't think I'm too much of a playboy. Oh well, it's just an Internet test. :)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;table cellpadding="5"&gt; &lt;tbody&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;h2 style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 5px; width: 560px"&gt;The Playboy&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;h3 style="font-weight: normal; float: right; margin: 0pt; width: 560px"&gt;Random Gentle Sex Master (&lt;span style="shmolor: red"&gt;RGSM&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;img style="float: left" alt="The Playboy" src="http://panther.is0.okcupid.com/graphics/persons/RGSMm.gif" border="1"&gt;  &lt;div id="text-n-opp" style="display: block; float: right; width: 560px"&gt; &lt;p style="margin: 10px 0pt"&gt;Clean. Smooth. Successful. You're &lt;strong&gt;The Playboy&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="margin: 10px 0pt"&gt;You're spontaneous, and your energy is highly contagious. Guys therefore find you fun to be around, and girls find you compelling. You have lots of sex, and you manage it all without seeming cheap or being hurtful. Well done. You probably know karate, too. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="margin: 10px 0pt"&gt;It's obvious to us, and probably everyone else, that you're after physical rather than emotional relationships, but you're straight up with potential partners. And if a guy you want isn't into something casual, it's no big deal. You move on. BEFORE sleeping with him. Usually. At least you try to. Such control is rare. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="margin: 10px 0pt"&gt;If you're feeling unfulfilled, maybe you should &lt;em&gt;raise&lt;/em&gt; your standards. New conquests will only be satisfying if there's a possibility of rejection. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;div id="exact-opposite" style="border-right: rgb(221,221,221) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(221,221,221) 1px solid; font-size: 90%; background: rgb(238,238,238) 0% 50%; float: right; margin: 0pt 30px 0pt 0pt; border-left: rgb(221,221,221) 1px solid; width: 220px; border-bottom: rgb(221,221,221) 1px solid; text-align: center; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial"&gt; &lt;p style="margin: 10px 0pt 0pt; width: 220px"&gt;Your exact male opposite:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="width: 220px"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Mixed Messenger&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img style="border-right: rgb(221,221,221) 1px solid; padding-right: 3px; border-top: rgb(221,221,221) 1px solid; padding-left: 3px; background: rgb(255,255,255) 0% 50%; padding-bottom: 3px; border-left: rgb(221,221,221) 1px solid; padding-top: 3px; border-bottom: rgb(221,221,221) 1px solid; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial" alt="The Mixed Messenger" src="http://panther.is0.okcupid.com/graphics/persons/DBLDm_thumb.gif" border="1"&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;p style="margin: 10px 0pt; width: 220px"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deliberate Brutal Love Dreamer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;p id="avoid" style="margin: 25px 0pt 0pt"&gt;&lt;span style="text-transform: uppercase; shmolor: red"&gt;Always avoid: &lt;/span&gt;The Playboy (RGSM)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="consider" style="margin: 25px 0pt 0pt"&gt;&lt;span style="text-transform: uppercase; shmolor: blue"&gt;Consider: &lt;/span&gt;The Bachelor (DGSM), The Poolboy (RGSD)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;Link: &lt;a href="http://www.okcupid.com/online.dating.persona.test"&gt;&lt;b&gt;The Online Dating Persona Test&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href="http://www.okcupid.com/match?kw=personals"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;b&gt;OkCupid&lt;/b&gt; - personals &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;| &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.okcupid.com"&gt;Dating&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;My profile name: : &lt;a href="http://www.okcupid.com/profile?u=CharlyDude"&gt;&lt;b&gt;CharlyDude&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;  &lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-3081911940903924979?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/3081911940903924979/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=3081911940903924979' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/3081911940903924979'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/3081911940903924979'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/10/okcupid-dating-persona-test.html' title='OKCupid&amp;#39;s Dating Persona Test'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-656007139716099412</id><published>2008-10-08T18:53:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-10-08T18:53:40.810-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Can't forget...</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Every once in a while... well, way more often than I'd like to admit, I hear a song or see something or smell a cologne that reminds me of &lt;em&gt;him&lt;/em&gt; and I just miss him so much. Obviously, I can't help but wonder what things would be like if they had gone differently. Would I still be living in Catalonia with him now? Would we be happy?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;I still feel like I love him. I don't feel really crazy in love with him anymore. I don't get butterflies anymore when I look at his photos. But when I hear his voice or I see him smile because of something silly I said to him on webcam those butterflies come back sometimes. It's been more than a year since he broke up with me. Longer than we were a "couple". I just feel so connected to him sometimes.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Fortunately (although rather inconveniently), I think I've fallen in love again with another boy from the Internet. There goes Charles again with that Internet and those long distance crazy things. This one lives in Alaska, is a talented clarinetist, funny, charming, smart, beautiful and more than a foot taller than I. Hah! Well, most people are like more than a foot taller than I am, but that's unimportant. This guy is really special. A pity that he's so far away. He wants to visit me during spring break. I'm nervous that I'll fall pathetically in love with him, like I did last time and then the distance will make me crazy. Oh well. I'm sure it'll all be worth it.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl4WN-aOWDY" target="_blank"&gt;Happy Ending&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;This is the way you left me,&lt;br&gt;I'm not pretending &lt;br&gt;No hope, no love, no glory, &lt;br&gt;No Happy Ending&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Wake up in the morning, stumble on my life&lt;br&gt;Can't get no love without sacrifice&lt;br&gt;If anything should happen, I guess I wish you well&lt;br&gt;A little bit of heaven, but a little bit of hell&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;This is the hardest story that I've ever told&lt;br&gt;No hope, or love, or glory&lt;br&gt;Happy endings gone forever more&lt;br&gt;I feel as if I'm wasted&lt;br&gt;And I'm wastin' every day&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;This is the way you left me,&lt;br&gt;I'm not pretending&lt;br&gt;No hope, no love, no glory,&lt;br&gt;No Happy Ending&lt;br&gt;This is the way that we love,&lt;br&gt;Like it's forever&lt;br&gt;Then live the rest of our life,&lt;br&gt;But not together&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;2 o'clock in the morning, something's on my mind&lt;br&gt;Can't get no rest; keep walkin' around&lt;br&gt;If I pretend that nothin' ever went wrong, I can get to my sleep&lt;br&gt;I can think that we just carried on&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A Little bit of love, little bit of love&lt;br&gt;Little bit of love, little bit of love[repeat]&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-656007139716099412?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/656007139716099412/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=656007139716099412' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/656007139716099412'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/656007139716099412'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/10/can-forget_08.html' title='Can&amp;#39;t forget...'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-1177866653467047772</id><published>2008-10-07T14:59:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-10-07T14:59:00.696-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Another Hair Cut!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;So I changed my hair style, yet again. I've worn various types of mohawks for the past year and although I love mohawks, I've decided to grow my hair out a little more... in the meantime, I have a cute little transition hair cut... short on the sides, long on top... and new highlights to keep me feeling sexy. ;)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a title="My New Hair" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/2916747116/"&gt;&lt;img alt="My New Hair" src="http://static.flickr.com/3157/2916747116_bc8aebd123.jpg" border="0"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-1177866653467047772?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/1177866653467047772/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=1177866653467047772' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/1177866653467047772'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/1177866653467047772'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/10/another-hair-cut.html' title='Another Hair Cut!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-8455619138003893344</id><published>2008-09-30T11:32:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-09-30T11:42:54.583-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Dying blog</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Gosh, guys. I always feel like I have so much I want to share with everyone, but I never feel like actually sitting down and writing.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;What has happened since my last post? Gosh, lots of stuff...&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;I went to Barcelona for two weeks in April for a big conference for the Catalan communities outside of Catalonia. They consider me Catalan now. Hah! I am, well, almost.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;This summer, I went to Minneapolis for a week for another conference having to do with TPRS, which is a language teaching method that I simply adore. I think I'm going to become an amazing teacher now that I've discovered this method. I've had such great results with my students so far.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;I got to meet Blaine Ray as well, who wrote the books on TPRS and all that stuff. Here's a picture of us!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a title="Blaine Ray and Charles" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/2823746212/"&gt;&lt;img alt="Blaine Ray and Charles" src="http://static.flickr.com/3159/2823746212_d1ed7741b7.jpg" border="0"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;At the conference, I was also able to meet and spend good quality time with my online friend Ignacio from San Sebastian in Spain. It was so fun to actually spend time with him in person for once and learn together at the conference. Here we are on some bridge near the Mississippi river. ;)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a title="Ignacio y Charles!" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/2823726814/"&gt;&lt;img alt="Ignacio y Charles!" src="http://static.flickr.com/3157/2823726814_1025b38ef6.jpg" border="0"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;My business is growing, little by little. I love getting to teach and watching my dream slowly become reality. And of course, I can't forget to mention that if you guys get me referrals, I'll give you commissions/classes/my soul.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;I think I might be going back to Barcelona for one month in December and January. Who wants to go? :)&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-8455619138003893344?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/8455619138003893344/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=8455619138003893344' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/8455619138003893344'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/8455619138003893344'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/09/dying-blog.html' title='Dying blog'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-1950139167143348816</id><published>2008-03-23T00:39:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-03-23T00:39:59.446-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='rants'/><title type='text'>People. Ugh.</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;It seems sometimes that the smarter you are, the more talented you are, or the more beautiful you are, the more people are just waiting and hoping to find a reason to demonize you.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I lost a friend today. He told me that since I’ve lost weight, I’ve become some horrible, arrogant person with no class. It all started a few nights ago when I went out with him and some of his friends.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He has a store and he took some of his employees to JR’s. I asked, “Oh, so you go out with your employees?” Him and all of his employees were so offended by my question because of their stupid mind-talk telling them that obviously my question was a negative one meaning that I couldn’t believe that he spends time with &lt;i&gt;the help&lt;/i&gt;. What I meant was, good on him for taking the time to get to know his employees and spending time with them and making the work environment a nice one. Why are people so cynical?  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;OK. I think I’m finished with my rant.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-1950139167143348816?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/1950139167143348816/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=1950139167143348816' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/1950139167143348816'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/1950139167143348816'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/03/people-ugh.html' title='People. Ugh.'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-1720546121924416131</id><published>2008-02-16T18:30:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2008-02-16T18:33:15.851-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='random'/><title type='text'>Needs Contact Information!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Hey guys. I kind of got pick-pocketed on Thursday night... They took my phone and my wallet and consequently, I've lost a lot of phone numbers. So with that in mind, I need a favor from you guys. Would all of you please, please, please send me an e-mail (it's on my business card in the last entry if you don't know it) with your full name, phone number and your address and birthday too, while you're at it, so I can have everyone's agenda again.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-1720546121924416131?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/1720546121924416131/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=1720546121924416131' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/1720546121924416131'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/1720546121924416131'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/02/needs-contact-information.html' title='Needs Contact Information!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-7525859638899044418</id><published>2008-02-08T11:27:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2008-02-08T11:29:42.600-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='català'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='castellano'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='português'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='random'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='ESL'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='work'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='français'/><title type='text'>Business Cards!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;I got my new cards in the mail! They're so cute.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;What do you think? Anyone want to design a really cool card for me for my next batch? It needs to be profession, but light-hearted too so as to not scare people away and have them think that I'm some scary big corporation... but still professional looking enough to help me land corporate contracts. If I like it, I'd probably buy the design from you.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a title="Business Card" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/2250405589/"&gt;&lt;img alt="Business Card" src="http://static.flickr.com/2157/2250405589_5a50780da3.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-7525859638899044418?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/7525859638899044418/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=7525859638899044418' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/7525859638899044418'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/7525859638899044418'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/02/business-cards.html' title='Business Cards!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-7671177517532771485</id><published>2008-02-07T21:30:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2008-02-08T11:30:28.205-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='català'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='castellano'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='português'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='ESL'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='work'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='life'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='français'/><title type='text'>Language Courses</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;So I'm really starting to seriously consider quitting my job and teaching full-time. I just need more clients and a little more stability. But in any case, I'm advertising like crazy. Anyone want language classes? I do individual, pairs and small group classes in &lt;strong&gt;Spanish&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;French&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Portuguese&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Catalan&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;English&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;My rates look like this: &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;$50/hour (individual)&lt;br /&gt;$30/hour/student (pairs)&lt;br /&gt;$25/hour/student (3-6 students)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;My rates are, of course, negotiable if you want several hours a week or make me an interesting deal. I sell time in blocks and the more time bought at once, the cheaper the rates. For individual classes, for example, this is what I normally do: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Block of 5 hours: $50/hour x 5 = $250&lt;br /&gt;Block of 10 hours: $45/hour x 10 = $450&lt;br /&gt;Block of 15 hours: $40/hour x 15 = $600&lt;br /&gt;Block of 20 hours: $35/hour x 20 = $700 &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'm even beginning to offer a new service online that I find kind of interesting. Conversational English courses online through VOIP software such as Skype. My target clientele are students with some English knowledge but who lack the opportunities to practice their spoken English and listening comprehension with native speakers. It gives them a chance to really apply what they learn in class and improve their fluency.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of the really cool things is that they can pay me online with debit or credit through &lt;a title="Paypal.com" href="http://www.paypal.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Paypal&lt;/a&gt;!  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For that service, my rates look like this:  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Block of 5 hours: $35/hour x 5 = $175&lt;br /&gt;Block of 10 hours: $30/hour x 10 = $300&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;This one is negotiable too, of course.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If you know anyone interested in lessons, refer them to me and I'll pay you a finder's fee (that means 10% of the first contract!) So if you find me a student who commits to 20 hours at $35 an hour, you get 10% of that $700! So, that's a nice $70 for having done nothing except making a phone call.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Keep me in mind, guys.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-7671177517532771485?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/7671177517532771485/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=7671177517532771485' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/7671177517532771485'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/7671177517532771485'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/02/language-courses.html' title='Language Courses'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-7021278665396291887</id><published>2008-01-21T16:32:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2008-01-24T15:40:37.194-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='català'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='traveling'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='life'/><title type='text'>First posting for 2008</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Well guys, another update finally. It's been overdue for a while.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Well, what's new? In my quest to find people to practice my Catalan with now that I've left Catalonia, I discovered an organization called AICS (the American Institute for Catalan Studies). It's like a cultural center for Catalan things here in Houston (or a &lt;em&gt;casal català&lt;/em&gt; as they call such things in Catalonia). Anyway, they had one of their semi-annual cultural events in December, which I attended. Wow, how exciting. I met a lot of Catalans and had a great time. I met the board of directors of the organization as well and they adored me, being that I'm a Texan with no real connection to Catalonia other than my crazy love story and linguistic interest but I speak Catalan pretty fluently and am interested in their culture... so I left them with a really great impression.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Then they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The president of the organization asked if I would lead the youth portion of AICS and help organize stuff for the youth in Houston's Catalan community. Awesome stuff. And now they want to send me to a conference for casals catalans all over the world as their youth representative in April for five days in Catalonia! Awesome stuff some more!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Well, the fun doesn't end there! In December, a reporter from Catalonia doing a documentary on Catalan products sold outside of Catalonia found me on the internet. She was sending a camera crew to do interviews with some guy who sells Catalan nugats here in Houston and while they were at it, they wanted to interview some Catalans living in Houston and also people interested in Catalan culture. Well, this woman searched on Google for "catalan" and "houston" and up popped my blog. She read my story and watched my videos about my story with Rubèn and she said that it was such an interesting story that she asked me if they camera crew could film me and do several interviews with me in various parts of Houston. And on top of that, she offered to pay me money to just hang out with them and interpret.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Well, they came, and it was an awesome week. We had so much fun and I feel like I made three new friends who live in Barcelona. You know, I've learned three very important and practical languages (French, Spanish and Portuguese) and nothing too interesting every came of it. And now, I just recently learned this little bit European language and suddenly all this cool stuff is happening because of it. Who could have imagined that speaking Catalan would bring so many fun opportunities to my life. Maybe I should learn another small language!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;So what else?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Well, there is my weight loss. In 2007, over all, I have last around 50 pounds. When I got back from Catalonia, I had lost about 55 total, then I gained like 15 back in September and October... and since then I've been working to lose it all again. Well, I lost about 10 of those pounds and I'm almost back to where I was. 2008, I plan to lose thirty more pounds maybe. We'll see what happens.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Here's a visual aid to help things out. I started it over. At first I only wanted to lose 50 pounds... well, now I've gotten there so I've upped my goal. I think I should weigh around 120 with my height... actually, I just want to lose my fat. So whatever weight I end up with after I lose the fat is good for me. In any case, I made a ticker to show what's going on. :)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.tickerfactory.com/weight-loss/wQBgohQ/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://tickers.tickerfactory.com/ezt/t/wQBgohQ/weight.png" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;And... well, here are two new photos just for fun. :)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a title="Blue Contacts" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/2153099204/" target="_new"&gt;&lt;img alt="Blue Contacts" src="http://static.flickr.com/2121/2153099204_b9bf7b857f.jpg" border="0" height="477" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;This is me playing with some blue contacts. I think it made me look kind of evil. Hahaha!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a title="At the Red Door" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/2201459654/" target="_new"&gt;&lt;img alt="At the Red Door" src="http://static.flickr.com/2166/2201459654_849f5a75c5.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;This is me when I went out to the Red Door with that camera crew and some other people we met. Miquel (Miki) is the one right behind me with his hand on my shoulder and then there is Enric next to him, this one with his tongue sticking out and the crazy face. The girl and the guy with the cigarette are some people we met through interviews and stuff. Anyway, Enric and Miki are awesome. I miss them!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-7021278665396291887?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/7021278665396291887/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=7021278665396291887' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/7021278665396291887'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/7021278665396291887'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2008/01/first-posting-for-2008.html' title='First posting for 2008'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-4480063588465078967</id><published>2007-10-10T22:31:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-10-10T22:34:13.357-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='social'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='cultural stuff'/><title type='text'>Samhain!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Holy crap, I'm going to the Samhain festival organized by CMA. I'm so excited!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A year and a half ago, I went to a Beltaine festival put on by a small group and I had such a wonderful time. This time, however, will be with hundreds and hundreds of people. I'm so excited. I'll be going with my friend Brett who convinced me to go with him (and kind of helped me a little bit with the fees).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Who else is going? Let me know so I can plan to find you. Maybe even camp out near you. :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-4480063588465078967?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/4480063588465078967/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=4480063588465078967' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/4480063588465078967'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/4480063588465078967'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/10/samhain.html' title='Samhain!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-2579776307907573869</id><published>2007-09-02T11:07:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-09-02T13:25:41.299-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='traveling'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='life'/><title type='text'>Back to Life, Back to Reality</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Wow, so I'm finally back in Houston. I really wanted to update sooner, but when I returned to El Vendrell from Lisbon, we didn't have internet at home so I was kind of disconnected for the last month.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Well, so what happened the last month of my trip? Not a whole lot. I ended up going to the hospital twice because I had some extremely high fever. It turns out that I had an upper respiratory infection. I also travelled around a bit with Rubèn. He took me to the Pyrenees into the Vall d'Aran where they speak a really neat language called Aranese which is somewhere in the dialect continuum between Catalan and Occitan. We also went on a few other small trips to other places and saw lots of pretty things.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Oh! Just before I left, two Wednesdays ago we went to Sitges (basically the gayest city in all of Europe) which is only about 20 minutes from where I lived. We wanted to go out to the bars and party. Well, we were walking around and came upon a club that was having a foam party. I'd never been to one, so I was really excited. We went in, checked in our clothes (most people were wearing only undies) and danced in foam up to our waists. It was so fun! Hehehe. Just lots of really hot, foamed up, attractive men in wet underwear dancing.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In the last week, when we started paying more attention to one another, we really reconnected. It's too complicated. I'm happy to far from him now, even though I feel like I left my heart there with him. I love him and I just can't let that go. There is even another WONDERFUL guy named Fábio who loves me and simply adores me and the sex we have is exponentially better than the sex I had with Rubèn... but I just can't open my heart to him. It's such bad timing. I need more time to heal.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Well, I don't really feel like writing much right now. I'll say more later. I just really wanted to update. And just for fun, the grand total of weight that I've lost since January is 54 pounds. Here is a photo of me as a fatty and some photos from this week so you can see the difference. :)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Fat Charles:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a title="Wurstfest" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/382401017/"&gt;&lt;img alt="Wurstfest" src="http://static.flickr.com/165/382401017_444dca5524.jpg" border="0"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Wurstfest" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/382403325/"&gt;&lt;img alt="Wurstfest" src="http://static.flickr.com/140/382403325_ca3436cdab.jpg" border="0"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Chubby, New Charles:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a title="Harness" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/1255898446/"&gt;&lt;a title="Blue shirt, smile.jpg" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/1304344071/"&gt;&lt;img alt="Blue shirt, smile.jpg" src="http://static.flickr.com/1207/1304344071_b99f30e7ea.jpg" border="0"&gt;&lt;a title="Tweety Techno" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/1255892898/"&gt;&lt;img alt="Tweety Techno" src="http://static.flickr.com/1393/1255892898_1a934a8353.jpg" border="0"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Shades" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/1255034057/"&gt;&lt;img alt="Shades" src="http://static.flickr.com/1425/1255034057_d9b7da8243.jpg" border="0"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Harness" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/1255898446/"&gt;&lt;img alt="Harness" src="http://static.flickr.com/1214/1255898446_06c1b914be.jpg" border="0"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-2579776307907573869?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/2579776307907573869/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=2579776307907573869' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/2579776307907573869'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/2579776307907573869'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/09/back-to-life-back-to-reality.html' title='Back to Life, Back to Reality'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-548587828624877584</id><published>2007-07-05T01:37:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-07-05T02:21:55.327-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='català'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='life'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='video blog'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='love'/><title type='text'>Heartbreak and Portugal</title><content type='html'>Well, I know you guys have been waiting for it. Here it is. Any questions? Ask, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6CV4mhNX7h0" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-548587828624877584?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/548587828624877584/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=548587828624877584' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/548587828624877584'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/548587828624877584'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/07/heartbreak-and-portugal.html' title='Heartbreak and Portugal'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-4164098842272271565</id><published>2007-05-27T23:07:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-05-28T00:19:31.220-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='català'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='traveling'/><title type='text'>I'm here!</title><content type='html'>I am here! Oh my god, I am finally here.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have been waiting for almost a year. It seemed like it would never come... and then I met Rubèn and the wait became more intense. But finally, on Friday, I arrived here in Catalonia.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At the moment, I'm sitting in the study of my home this summer. I'm in a town called El Vendrell in the region called Tarragona. I'm very close to Barcelona... 25 minutes by car, an hour by train... something like that. I haven't learned to use the public transportation yet. I've been so busy just settling in, trying to get over jet lag and just spending time with Rubèn. We have so much kissing to catch up on.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don't know where to start!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, my flight was frustrating. My original itinerary was Houston-Miami-Barcelona. Well, my 10:30 flight to Miami was cancelled so they rerouted me Houston-Frankfurt-Barcelona. But I had to wait until 3:30 to flight to Frankfurt... it was so annoying having to wake up so early for nothing and then wait there all day so anxious and kind of freaking out. Oh well, it wasn't that bad. On the flight, I was sitting next to some Portuguese guy who had several glasses of wine with me on the flight and we both got kind of drunk and stupid. It's good times laughing with strangers and drinking. Anyway, when I arrived in Frankfurt, I was freaking out about my flight because my ticket had a certain gate written on it, but the gate had changed and I didn't know and everyone was speaking German and... well, finally I figured it out, just five minutes before departure!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I finally arrived in Barcelona at about 12:15pm, Catalonia time or 5:15am in Houston. I was exhausted... however, I was greeted at the airport by Rubèn and Prema. Prema is one of my favorite people on Earth. He is so special. We met while I was living in Brazil. He's a native of Belo Horizonte who, by coincidence, is now living in Barcelona. Life is perfect sometimes. Anyhow, I am so happy to see him.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And Rubèn... oh, Rubèn... we saw eachother and I think we didn't know what to do. I couldn't stop smiling or say anything, I was so nervous... until he greeted me with his usual "Hola, bonic" (Hello handsome). He put his arms around me and I melted. He gave me a little kiss on the neck while he hugged me. In that moment, he conquered me. I'm so in love with him.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I feel like it's not the first time we're meeting. It seems like we've already been dating for a while. Well, I mean, in a way, we have been (virtually, at least). We've been "together" for about five months and really it feels that way... except now we can make out all we want. He's such a beautiful person. He's so patient with me and treats me like a prince. He makes me laugh, he's smart, goofy, sweet... everything. Not to mention that he's handsome, tanned, has very blue eyes, and has a body like pornstar. No, really. He does. His body looks like art. It's even more beautiful in person than in photos. And he, this perfect man, thinks I'm perfect. It's amazing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, so we spent that day (Friday) in Barcelona. We walked all over. It's such a beautiful city. It was so fun spending the day with Prema and Rubèn. We laughed so much. It was kind of strange, though, since Rubèn speaks to me exclusively in Catalan, I speak to Prema almost totally in Portuguese and sometimes English, while Prema and Rubèn speak to eachother in Spanish. We managed to communicate and still have a lot of laughs, though.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saturday, I slept all day. Rubèn didn't wake me up early to help me adjust to my new time zone like I had asked. He said he couldn't because I look like such a little angel when I sleep. Too much mush. Hehehe. I got up around noon, we drove around to see some things around here. The beaches here in El Vendrell, then the beaches in Tarragona (the city), which were marvelous. Tarragona is also such a pretty city. I loved it. We had orxata which is similar to the horchata that we have back home, but I think it's not made with rice like the Mexicans back home make it. In any case, it was delicious. More sightseeing and such... then it was late and we went back home. Rubèn made us a &lt;i&gt;truita espanyola&lt;/i&gt; (Spanish omelette) and we had a nice quiet dinner together. Oh, by the way, they have lots of Morrocan fast food places that make super good Arab food... mmm. I love me some Arab cuisine. Just thought I'd share that.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sunday, Rubèn let me sleep until noon again. Then we got up to go and have lunch with his two best friends. Ramón and Joan. They are a cute gay couple in their forties who have been together for 18 years. They were really sweet and fun. Ramón is a great cook. He made us all this delicous seafood. We drank lots of cava (it's like champagne, but made in Catalonia) and shots of some sort of delicious liquor made with herbs. It was super smooth, well I think so. They couldn't believe that I thought it was smooth. I guess us Americans are just hardcore like that. After lunch, they went to get the desert. When they came back, they had a cake with sparklers on top for me with the words &lt;i&gt;Benvingut a Catalunya, Charles!&lt;/i&gt; (Welcome to Catalonia, Charles!) Geez. They are so sweet. After that, we walked for a few hours along the coast of a beautiful city called Salou. It was a nice day.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Today, well, today Rubèn has to work and I still haven't learned how to use the public transportation here... so I'm taking advantage of the chance to update my blogs and let you guys know that I'm doing okay. Things are wonderful so far.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By the way, send me e-mails. I love e-mails. Or comments on my blogs. I promise to respond to everyone. ;)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Until next time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fins aviat!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-4164098842272271565?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/4164098842272271565/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=4164098842272271565' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/4164098842272271565'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/4164098842272271565'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/05/im-here.html' title='I&apos;m here!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-1056863264703024536</id><published>2007-05-23T19:14:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-05-23T19:15:45.444-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='tidbits'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='life'/><title type='text'>Someday I'll Fly Away!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;So I fly away in about 13.5 hours. I am so incredibly excited! I should totally be finishing up my packing, but I wanted to step away from my luggage for a moment.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;I really doubt I'll sleep tonight.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If you are interested in seeing exactly where I am going to stay, &lt;a title="Map to El Vendrell" href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?om=1&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;hl=en&amp;amp;msa=0&amp;msid=102228403918315895712.00000112bbce2d4a27406&amp;amp;amp;ll=39.96028,-3.955078&amp;spn=12.018398,20.324707&amp;amp;z=6" target="_blank"&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; and you can see a map of Spain with a little blue marker over the town where I'll be staying. You can zoom in and everything. Take a look. :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-1056863264703024536?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/1056863264703024536/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=1056863264703024536' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/1056863264703024536'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/1056863264703024536'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/05/someday-i-fly-away.html' title='Someday I&amp;#39;ll Fly Away!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-584375802419266179</id><published>2007-05-09T09:24:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-05-09T09:26:26.774-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='life'/><title type='text'>Wrapping up!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;So I wanted to start making entries more often, &lt;em&gt;at least&lt;/em&gt; once a week. But these last few weeks before my trip I've been really a bit busy with so much stuff. I have finals this week and preparation and such... my friends are wanting to spend time with me and go out and do stuff and getting in their last minute Charles-time.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;I can't believe I leave in&lt;strong&gt; fifteen days&lt;/strong&gt;. Holy crap! (Yesterday, I said holy crap in public and some lady responded that crap isn't holy; only the Lord is holy. Of course I had to respond that her assumption was incorrect considering that crap may or may not sometimes be full of holes. Homophones, bitches. Then she tried to recruit me into some cult.)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Anyway... AH! So what are we doing this weekend?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:bc40b698-011a-4e51-89c0-2ed425f1922e" contenteditable="false" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"&gt;Technorati tags: &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/vacation" rel="tag"&gt;vacation&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/holiness" rel="tag"&gt;holiness&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/cults" rel="tag"&gt;cults&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-584375802419266179?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/584375802419266179/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=584375802419266179' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/584375802419266179'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/584375802419266179'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/05/wrapping-up.html' title='Wrapping up!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-9110576042604249493</id><published>2007-04-28T18:41:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-28T19:34:15.431-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='português'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='life'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='video blog'/><title type='text'>Video Blog!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kzm_oOH3_BY" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;So, I decided to make a video blog! Tell me what you guys think!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Decidi de fazer um blog video! Digam-me o que vocês acham! Espero que gostem! :)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:ed11f02a-7d08-49b1-992e-41a66abb467f" contenteditable="false" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"&gt;Technorati tags: &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/vlog" rel="tag"&gt;vlog&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/portugu%c3%aas" rel="tag"&gt;português&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-9110576042604249493?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/9110576042604249493/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=9110576042604249493' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/9110576042604249493'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/9110576042604249493'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/04/video-blog.html' title='Video Blog!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-7898090216419641733</id><published>2007-04-26T20:38:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-29T12:53:41.824-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='català'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='tidbits'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='cultural stuff'/><title type='text'>Norma!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;So, as some of you may remember, for my birthday Rubèn bought me tickets for us to go see the opera Norma together in July. While searching around, I found a video of the famous aria from Norma. The aria is called Casta Diva and in the video it is sung by Montserrat Caballé, the best Norma ever, and&amp;nbsp;perhaps the best soprano ever. Oh, and she's Catalan too, by the way! Montserrat is a typical Catalan name for girls. It's pronounced moon-suh-RAT. The letter E in that word being pronounced as a schwa, (like the U in the English word "up" or "under". And roll the R... like a lot. ;)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Anyway, enjoy the video. When I listen to it, she really takes my breath away. I hope that the soprano who sings it when I see it can compare. I'm sure I'll cry like a baby when I see it live.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YwwcXssv4FE" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-7898090216419641733?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/7898090216419641733/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=7898090216419641733' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/7898090216419641733'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/7898090216419641733'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/04/norma.html' title='Norma!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-6010642196505925038</id><published>2007-04-26T07:56:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-26T07:57:18.001-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='memes'/><title type='text'>My Daemon!</title><content type='html'>&lt;embed src="http://goldencompassmovie.com/goldenCompass_blog.swf?id=16443" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" menu="false" height="400" width="450"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-6010642196505925038?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/6010642196505925038/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=6010642196505925038' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/6010642196505925038'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/6010642196505925038'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-daemon.html' title='My Daemon!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-3920660286681872651</id><published>2007-04-23T13:30:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-23T13:31:26.262-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='memes'/><title type='text'>I'm standard!</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="display: none;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;div style="border: 1px solid ; margin: 1em; width: 500px; text-align: center;"&gt; &lt;div  style="padding: 4px; font-weight: bold;font-size:large;"&gt;What American accent do you have?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;Created by &lt;a href="http://students.csci.unt.edu/%7Ekun/survey.html"&gt;Xavier&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href="http://memegen.net/"&gt;Memegen.net&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style="padding: 1em; color: black; text-align: left;"&gt; &lt;div class="result_list"&gt; &lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;img src="http://people.unt.edu/tpk0005/west.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;p style="color: black; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Western.&lt;/b&gt; Like Midland, Western is another accent that people consider neutral. So, you might not actually be from the Western half of the country, but you definitely sound like it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style="padding: 4px; font-weight: bold; font-size: large; text-align: center;"&gt;Take this quiz now - it's easy!&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style="padding: 1em; text-align: left;"&gt; &lt;form id="quiz" name="memegen_quiz" action="http://www.memegen.net/view/show/2313" method="post"&gt; &lt;table&gt; &lt;tbody&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;We're going to start with "cot" and "caught." When you say those words do they sound the same or different?&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;div style="border: 1px solid ; margin: 1em; padding: 2px;"&gt;&lt;input id="questions[7673]24925" value="24925" name="questions[7673]" type="radio"&gt; &lt;label for="questions[7673]24925"&gt;Same, no wait I mean different, maybe, a little bit different...&lt;/label&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style="border: 1px solid ; margin: 1em; padding: 2px;"&gt;&lt;input id="questions[7673]24924" value="24924" name="questions[7673]" type="radio"&gt; &lt;label for="questions[7673]24924"&gt;Different&lt;/label&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style="border: 1px solid ; margin: 1em; padding: 2px;"&gt;&lt;input id="questions[7673]24923" value="24923" name="questions[7673]" type="radio"&gt; &lt;label for="questions[7673]24923"&gt;Same&lt;/label&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;input value="1" name="page" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;input id="memegen_next" value="Continue on Memegen.net &amp;gt;" name="memegen_submit" type="submit"&gt; &lt;/form&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-3920660286681872651?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/3920660286681872651/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=3920660286681872651' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/3920660286681872651'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/3920660286681872651'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/04/i-standard.html' title='I&amp;#39;m standard!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-8827360389833159170</id><published>2007-04-23T11:46:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-23T12:24:58.628-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='cultural stuff'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='photos'/><title type='text'>Houston International Festival 2007</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;So the &lt;a title="Houston International Festival - Home Page" href="http://ifest.org/" target="_blank"&gt;Houston International Festival&lt;/a&gt; started. It's going on this past weekend and next weekend. For those of you who didn't go, you missed out on some awesome concerts.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;I work on the Hospitality team which, as you may know, offers hospitality to the artists and musicians flying in from everywhere. We pick them up from the airports, we transport them to the hotels, festival, wherever. It's a pretty cool gig. Anyhow, this weekend I had the opportunity to meet one of my favorite singers and the members of her band: &lt;a title="Angélique Kidjo" href="http://www.kidjo.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Angélique Kidjo&lt;/a&gt;. I've been a fan for about two years. Her music is awesome. I spent some time with her and she is such a cool person. Her personality is very fun and energetic. She seemed to me so powerful and childish at the same time. Really interesting.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;After their performance last night, the band members wanted to go to have dinner, so we took them all to Mai's for some yummy Vietnamese food. I finally had the chance to get to know them a little better. I sat next to Rubens who is a really cute Brazilian guy from São Paulo... the guitarist for the group. He was super nice and fun. He even gave me his card and contact information so that we could stay in contact. His brother is an opera singer in Barcelona and he's going to try to introduce us while I'm there this summer. Yay for networking!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Anyway, there should be some good shows and concerts next weekend. If anyone is going, you should contact me!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Oh, and just for fun, here's a cute photo of my niece Kaiya playing with my second cousin Jayden.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a title="Jayden and Kaiya" href="http://flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/470217535"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Jayden and Kaiya" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/470217535/"&gt;&lt;img alt="Jayden and Kaiya" src="http://static.flickr.com/220/470217535_ea55760487.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:97e075ba-0997-4d0a-be53-787b03c42e89" contenteditable="false" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"&gt;Technorati tags: &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Houston%20International%20Festival" rel="tag"&gt;Houston International Festival&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Ang%c3%a9lique%20Kidjo" rel="tag"&gt;Angélique Kidjo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-8827360389833159170?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/8827360389833159170/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=8827360389833159170' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/8827360389833159170'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/8827360389833159170'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/04/houston-international-festival-2007.html' title='Houston International Festival 2007'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-5695017766993182813</id><published>2007-04-05T22:55:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-05T22:57:28.554-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='català'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='tidbits'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='internet'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='love'/><title type='text'>Update on Rubèn</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a title="My phone!" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31022342@N00/444609074/"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;" alt="My phone with my Rubèn as the wallpaper!" src="http://static.flickr.com/192/444609074_356e81e94a.jpg" align="left" border="0" height="500" width="247" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;So only six or so more weeks until we get to be together! We're so excited. It's amazing... even though we talk every day, often we get on our webcams, microphones and headphones to talk, and during the occasional silences we just stare at eachother and giggle. Just like the first time. We're like little school girls.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Being the total lovesick puppy I am, I totally miss him during the day. To help solution the problem a little, I put him as the background on my phone. I just can't help myself!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:31e37c37-b70c-4ef2-999a-1d4eb544c717" contenteditable="false" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"&gt;Technorati tags: &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/online%20dating" rel="tag"&gt;online dating&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/internet%20love" rel="tag"&gt;internet love&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/boyfriend" rel="tag"&gt;boyfriend&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/foreigners" rel="tag"&gt;foreigners&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/El%20Vendrell" rel="tag"&gt;El Vendrell&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Catalunya" rel="tag"&gt;Catalunya&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-5695017766993182813?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/5695017766993182813/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=5695017766993182813' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/5695017766993182813'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/5695017766993182813'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/04/update-on-rubn.html' title='Update on Rubèn'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-2673024069827035849</id><published>2007-04-05T22:36:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-05T22:42:03.393-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='català'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='social'/><title type='text'>Catalans in Houston</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;Several months ago, when I first began to study &lt;a title="Catalan Language on Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language" target="_blank"&gt;Catalan&lt;/a&gt;, I decided to make a group on Google Groups for Catalan speakers and Catalan enthusiasts to find eachother. Well, months passed without a single response until finally, a girl named Sara here in Houston contacted me! Well, she doesn't speak Catalan, but she understands a good bit and she's been to Catalonia several times and has lots of Catalan friends (none of which live in Houston still). In any case, it was a start! And so she suggested that we meet and have our first official meeting for the "&lt;a title="Catalan in Houston Google Group" href="http://groups.google.com/group/catalan-in-houston" target="_blank"&gt;Catalan in Houston&lt;/a&gt;" group. The very same week that she joined the online group, I had met a super cute and adorable Catalan guy named Albert at a French meetup group that I attend on Wednesdays called the French Connection. So I invited him too! And now we're three!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;So tonight, we had our first meeting at &lt;a title="The Gingerman" href="http://houston.gingermanpub.com/" target="_blank"&gt;The Gingerman&lt;/a&gt; in the Rice Village. It's a little pub type place. Sara put out her Catalan flag on the table and we had some fun discussion and conversation. Albert showed up and brought his friend, an Argentine, who also is interested in Catalonian culture but doesn't speak the language yet. But that's okay. The four of us seemed to have a good time. I really enjoyed hanging out with them.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;So I'm the founder of a new little minority culture group in Houston. It's pretty neat. God, I'm such a nerd, but I love it.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:fb2f0d25-39f5-4dfb-ba20-2efa014607a2" contenteditable="false" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"&gt;Technorati tags: &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/catalan" rel="tag"&gt;catalan&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/catalonia" rel="tag"&gt;catalonia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/language" rel="tag"&gt;language&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/meetups" rel="tag"&gt;meetups&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/catal%c3%a0" rel="tag"&gt;català&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/catalunya" rel="tag"&gt;catalunya&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/llengua" rel="tag"&gt;llengua&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tags/trobades" rel="tag"&gt;trobades&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-2673024069827035849?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/2673024069827035849/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=2673024069827035849' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/2673024069827035849'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/2673024069827035849'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/04/catalans-in-houston.html' title='Catalans in Houston'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31872988.post-1827062439138284440</id><published>2007-03-29T07:48:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-03-29T08:00:56.175-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='random'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='life'/><title type='text'>Hair Removal!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;So, some of you who know me REALLY well know that I have some assymetrical body hair on my right shoulder that I think is super ugly. Well, I have finally started taking the steps to permanently remove it. I went to a hair removal place a week ago on Thursday and got my folicles zapped. I'm so excited. After a few more treatments, I won't have to shave anymore!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;It's always been a source of insecurity for me, so I'm so happy to finally start getting it removed. My second session is in a few weeks, and hopefully I'll get another one in before I go to Catalonia... then when I come back, I'll resume treatments -- unless it's not too expensive to continue in Spain, in which case I may get some treatments there... but you can't be in the sun between treatments, so I'm thinking that it might be a big no since I'll be living a five or ten minute walk from the beach all summer.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;So anyway, super exciting for me. I may be a teddy bear, but I don't have to be totally fuzzy wuzzy!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31872988-1827062439138284440?l=carlofaccino.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/feeds/1827062439138284440/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31872988&amp;postID=1827062439138284440' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/1827062439138284440'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31872988/posts/default/1827062439138284440'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://carlofaccino.blogspot.com/2007/03/hair-removal.html' title='Hair Removal!'/><author><name>Charles</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07068992234415654756</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='04795936273647200836'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry></feed>