June 4, 2008<\/u>.\u00a0 Another active day showing Ellen and Matt around Barcelona.\u00a0 First we hiked at the top of Collserola Parc, which provides fantastic views of the city.\u00a0 Then we went to lunch at our local Turo Parc followed by a visit to Mont Juic, and the “El Puble” Espanol, which is\u00a0supposed to be a Disneyesque small world visit to the various parts of Spain.\u00a0 It’s not as cheesy as you would expect, and in fact all it really is\u00a0is some\u00a0B+ art collections plus some nice vendors with some pretty nice crafts.\u00a0 I especially liked the glass designs, which are decorative only, and something I have not in fact seen in Spain.\u00a0\u00a0 Anne, Ellen and Matt went to a concert at the Palau de la Musica, to see Diego El Cigala sing.\u00a0 They reported a very good concert.\u00a0<\/p>\n
June 5, 2008<\/u>.\u00a0 Yet another active day.\u00a0 I went out for a three-hour bike ride, checking out some of the roads made popular by me for me on my bike.\u00a0 Anne, Ellen and Matt visited Park Guell (didn’t like it — too touristic) and Segrada Familia (too church-like).\u00a0 We went to a going away party for D.R and his wife which was next to our building.\u00a0<\/p>\n
June 6, 2008<\/u>.\u00a0 And yet another active day for Anne, Ellen and Matt.\u00a0 They went to another music concert (starting at 10 p.m.).\u00a0 I am watching and worrying about the US Economy, the astonishing lack of leadership from the Executive Branch, and what will happen to the airlines and leisure travel and skiing as gas prices continue to rise.\u00a0\u00a0 The increase is clearly speculative, but how it will shake out is an unknown.\u00a0 I think the price of oil will drop below $100 a barrel and probably below $90 a barrel within six months.<\/p>\n
June 7, 2008<\/u>.\u00a0 We saw Matt and Ellen off today.\u00a0 I drove them in a bit of a rush to the airport.\u00a0 Why the rush.\u00a0 Well, we attended a poorly planned soccer game (an hour late, luckily since it took us an extra half hour to find the place).\u00a0 Then, while the car was parked, someone broke the window trying to find something to steal, and only found Matt’s jacket.\u00a0 He left my baseball cap and Matt’s hat too.\u00a0 As I approached the car, I noticed the glove compartment was open and realize after a minute the back window was broken.\u00a0 Bummer since we thought we’d get out of Barcelona without having any crime incidents.\u00a0 It’s a real pain to deal with, that’s for sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It seems to be happening.\u00a0 Our friends Dan and Amy reported someone trying the “mustard” scheme on them (put mustard on someone, act like you want to help them wipe it off or otherwise distract them, then pick-pocked).\u00a0 It didn’t work.\u00a0 Another friend had his mother out to visit and her wallet was stolen.\u00a0 It happened so stealthily that she didn’t even notice.\u00a0 It’s clearly time to go before something else happens.<\/p>\n
I went to the police station to report it.\u00a0 The guy who was working there when I walked in was obviously playing video games (with sound — star wars type game) and didn’t want to\u00a0be dragged away to help\u00a0me so he asked the guy who spoke English to help.\u00a0 That guy was very nice and even though I’d done all the work on-line, apparently they had to do it again.\u00a0 It took a while, but was basically enjoyable.\u00a0 They have nice digs, large spartan offices with high ceilings.\u00a0 It was in a residential neighborhood and looked like a house they converted over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
June 8, 2008<\/u>.\u00a0 We started packing stuff today since we want to\u00a0be organized and get out of here with as little hassle as possible.\u00a0 David asked how long before we are home.\u00a0\u00a0Specifically, could I design a count-down timer until we arrive in Aspen.\u00a0 Here it is:<\/p>\n