De hecho la cosa se me ha ido tanto de las manos que mi acompañante ha acabado trabajando allí y estoy escribiendo esto porque este fin de semana se celebra como cada año el Evento Blog España en Sevilla y no podría saludarles sin que se me cayera la cara de vergüenza; aunque me estoy desviando de la historia, aquí he venido a hablar de mi libro la fiesta J&B The Party Project en Valencia el pasado 20 de Julio de 2008.

Como ya he dicho esa noche iba perfectamente acompañado por la señorita Coco* y antes de que empezara la fiesta fuimos a cenar por ahí para calentar un poco la noche. Después de que se nos hiciera un poco tarde (como no) nos acercamos a la Feria de Muestras que era el lugar escogido para celebrar la gran fiesta. La verdad, yo me imaginaba que iba a ser algo más reducido, con menos gente pero menuda tenían allí montada: autobuses, colas… una fiesta como dios manda!

En cuanto conseguí encontrar aparcamiento nos pusimos en la cola donde unos señores la mar de curiosos (no se me ocurre otro calificativo) nos entretuvieron hasta que al final nos acreditaron y conseguimos entrar. Si por fuera la fiesta ya parecía impresionante por dentro lo era aún más. Un montón de gente bailando y disfrutando al ritmo de la música que los DJs pinchaban mientras algunos artistas realizaban sus performances; aunque personalmente lo que más me gustó fue poder jugar un ratito con la ReacTable.

Nos invitaron a un par de bebidas también muy exóticas aunque yo no bebí demasiado ya que luego tenía que conducir y llevar a la damisela a casa, después de que acabásemos rendidos por toda la noche de fiesta.

Sin duda me lo pasé muy bien y puedo recordar que esa noche fue muy especial. Para que lo veáis con vuestros propios ojos os dejo con las fotos que sacó Coco*.

Aunque yo me quedo con esta, sacada desde la playa cuando ya se hacía de día

Si estáis como yo, sin un duro en el bolsillo, una buena alternativa a ganarse la vida sin necesidad de deslomarse de sol a sol es jugar a algún juego de apuestas. Sin embargo esto implica algunos riesgos por lo que mejor que desperdiciar todo nuestro dinero en algún juego de azar en el que no sabemos si nos va a tocar algo o no lo que podemos hacer es apostar en algún juego de cartas que podamos aprender (como por ejemplo el poker) y así aumentar nuestras probabilidades de ganar.

¿Pero donde hay una escuela de poker? Pues yo os lo voy a contar.

La gente de Pokersapiens se ha montado una página bastante curiosa en la que aprender (y dominar) el noble arte de este juego de cartas; con diferentes lecciones según tu nivel y recompensas para apostar según vayas avanzando. De este modo podrás llegar a convertirte en un jugador profesional de poker totalmente gratis.

Además tienen un montón de material que podrás consultar, recopilado directamente de la página Noticiaspoker, que también administran y donde podrás informarte y estar al día de las últimas noticias, artículos informativos, torneos y demás cosas interesantes para cualquier amante del mundo del poker.

Si conseguís haceros con algo de dinero espero que por lo menos os acordéis de quien os recomendó esa página y no desaparezcáis en un viaje a las Bahamas. Yo por mi parte ya tengo para comer mañana de menú en el chino de aquí al lado.

I had already fallen in love with this redesigned Apple laptop before it was released in the latest 2008, so when it came the Christmas time and my birthday I gathered all the income I could in order to renew my (not very old) PC.

I know I was (and I still am) an Open Source enthusiast -enthusiast is the word for that kind of person who has been able to compile a Gentoo system from Stage 1- however as I am taking more and more work in the last months I needed a professional portable computer I hadn’t to struggle with in order to have it working. And the final result is…

I couldn’t be more satisfied with the purchase of the MacBook in terms of hardware and, software over all. It exactly meet my needs as I got it in order to move from one place to another now that I’m living in Valencia; the apartment, the University, my parent’s house… furthermore Mac OS X was meant to make our lives easier; the rock stability of UNIX but as sexy as any OS I had seen before, with a very special care of small details. So it has definitely made my blogging and web development job a pleasure (that’s what it must be). Anyway, I still will promote and defend Free and Open Source Software.

This is how my workspace looks now:

As you can see, the aspect of my desktop hasn’t changed much from the default settings; I’m not such a great fan of desk-modding and I feel perfectly comfortable as it is. For those interested in my daily usage I will list the programs I use grouped by space/area of work:

1. IM / Communications
- iChat
- Skype
- Adium (only for logging in eventually with my Y! account)

2. GTD / Management
- Things
- Gmail (it has it’s own application with fluid)
- NetNewsWire

3. Navigation
- Safari (4 beta)
- Firefox (for webdesign and where Safari 4 flaws)

4. Coding
- Coda (frontend work)
- TextMate (backend work)
- Cyberduck

5. Design
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Pixelmator
- Skitch

6. Media
- iTunes
- Spotify
- VLC (the ONE player)

Utilities / No space assigned
- iWork ‘09
- iLife ‘09
- Awaken
- Transmission
- Dropbox
- Evernote
- Twitterrific
- CoconutBattery
- Paparazzi!
- PokerStars
- Zattoo (3 months HiQ subscription)
- Google Earth

¿Do you recommend me anything more?

One of the pending tasks I had remaining was the review of Jack keane: Al rescate del Imperio Británico, a video game that Bloguzz (I’ve already told you that I love these people?) had kindly handed over me. This video game has been developed by Deck13 and 10tacle Studios and distributed by FX Interactive.

I really enjoyed playing this video game (as the staunch fan of graphic adventures that I am); it reminds me the time I used to play Day of the tentacle or Monkey Island. In fact, I think I won’t be wrong if I claim that it was deeply inspired in this LucasArts saga.

So, let’s get it on. The pack comes with the installation/play CD and a very useful handbook that may help you to solve any problem you may encounter during the initial contact. The first thing in order to play is install the game, which was rather slow. However a new system called WannaPlay let me watch some explanatory videos during the installation. Anyway it’s possible to skip them and turn to the handbook in any case if needed. Once it is installed and the game settings (screen resolution, effects, music and such…) are configured we are ready to have a great time.

Something I specially liked was the fact that the game started with a quite short and easy first level where you can get used to the controls, actions and response of the character. After this we’ll have hours of entertainment ahead.

The plot deals with Jack Keane, an intrepid (and a bit unlucky) captain. He is in a secret mission under the orders of the Queen of England who lead his ship to a very mysterious island. Although at first it may seem quite simple and linear, then the plot thickens in a sudden turn of fate, unveiling a very interesting story full of intrigue. Furthermore the witty dialogues, and the numerous references (like the famous “Por qué no te callas” or the Indiana Jones quote “I don’t like snakes“) make it very entertaining and funny.

Regarding the graphics it should be noted that a very good work has been done by the developers of the game. A great use of colors, shapes, textures and 3D modeling in general contributes to a pleasant gaming experience, with beautiful landscapes and vivid characters.

Besides all this, another thing that I also find it interesting are the resources that we can find in the FX Interactive website. There we can take a look at the guide, which only has some available episodes right now or view the promotional trailer, that I reproduce here.

Summing up; take Indiana Jones, Guybrush Treepwood (from Monkey Island) and a 3D videogame, mix it up and you will get Jack keane: Al rescate del Imperio Británico.

In my opinion a very good game which deserves 4 stars out of 5.

Last Wednesday Spain Ticket Bureau, a company dedicated to sell tickets for sporting and music events invited a series of bloggers -including myself among others such Albert Barra, Carlos Mantero, Ruben Temporal, Daniel González and Ángel Custodio who was my companion- to the Copa del Rey match between F.C. Barcelona and Valencia C.F. that was held in the Camp Nou.

So that I went to Barcelona keen on cheering my team, Valencia C.F. The night started frankly great, with a little reception in which we could have a bite to eat and refresh our thirsty throats. I must say we drank all we could wanted but they where a bit short on food. Hey, we the bloggers are hungry people!

After that and with a bit of rush we could find our preferential seats and the referee gave beginning to the match. The first half passed with no goals between the Valencian team and Barcelona, that didn’t take advantage of their ball possession. In the second half the match got a lot of play, with as many efforts on goal by either side as the goalkeepers and defenders saved. Eventually Villa made the first goal for Valencia, which lasted until the very end despite the persistence of Barcelona players -specially Messi-. Finally, Xavi succeeded at making a goal in the fourth minute of added time to gain a 1-1 home draw that leaves open the qualifying round for the match in Mestalla.

With no question it was a great experience; Barcelona impressed me in many ways, I met some people whose blogs I usually read and to see more than 90000 people going crazy after Barcelona goal left me stunned.

Disclaimer: If you didn’t realized yet this is a sponsored post. To end up I must thank Roser and Carolina, our hostess of Spain Ticket Bureau and Eduard Corral from Bloguzz for preparing everything.