Live Blogging from Hotel Omm in Barcelona. I had a rough day with long meetings, but at least they were very productive.

After that I wandered around (I had no clue where I was!) and ended up having dinner at Kibuka, a Japanese restaurant that does not look very Japanese, but the food is reasonably good (although the portions are pretty tiny).

Some comments about Omm:
- good Caipirinhas
- minimalist design withouth creating a cold atmosphere
- they wanna charge you 30 Euros (!!!) for the Spa
- dispensers instead of disposable shampoo/conditioner bottles: great idea! better for the nature and saves the hotel money (I guess)

1105 days online.
131 posts
73 comments
102 pictures
3 files

...more to come!

Last night I went to see the movie Babel. A very good movie which creates an intense atmosphere and has some great, colourful shots. However, the evening session was sold out and we had to opt for the night session which was good enough for us anyways.

To waste some time in between, we went to check out the new rooftop bar of the hotel Me at Plaza Santa Ana. From the terrace there you have a great view over the city and apparently they have some very good (but pricey) cocktails. I had a Flirtini (sounds a bit girly, I know) made of Grey Goose Vodka, Cointreau, Champagne & Pineapple Juice. While it is still a bit chilly for rooftop terraces, this bar will be an excellent place to hang out in the summer.

Talking about rooftop bars I have to mention the bar/restaurant at the Hotel Unique in Sao Paulo. It has the most stunning view of the citie's skyline and the coolest pool I have ever seen (it is black). Moreover, prices are pretty moderate compared to Europe (which is not always the case in Sao Paulo). Unfortunately, I could not find a good photo on the web, but the one below should give you an idea of this amazing place.

It's true!

I am a big fan of innovative NGO's or good charity ideas. That's why I lit a light at the Darfur wall when I read about it at Mikko's blog.

One of my favourite albums right now is the Evolution of Robin Thicke. Check out the great intro song and "Cocaine". On Youtube I have found a video of a song that is also pretty cool: Lost without you.



Today I stumbled across another music video on Paradeiser's blog and I found the song so convincing that I ended up buying the whole album on iTunes. Herman Dune sounds a little bit like a mixture of Adam Green, Beck and Sufjan Stevens. I hope you like it too!



P.S.(ttt): Another great album is "Begin to Hope" from Regina Spektor (& her myspace site).

It seems that most of the time when I write a blog post here I am announcing to blog more frequently again, because I haven't done so in Well, herewith I do it again! I started the new year with some plans which I'd really like to make happen. Here they are (not all of them, but some):

1.) Establish better Work Life balance
2.) Do more sports
3.) Take language course in Portuguese/French

Point Number 1 has directly to do with writing blogs. It should not mean that I will spend all my freetime in front of the internet, but that I do the things which I enjoyed doing before I started to work at Google more frequently again.

However, even if I achieve this goal, my freetime will be limited. One of my hobbies is cooking and I probably won't get to cook as much as before but therefore I get to go to restaurants more often. That's why I plan to write more posts on restaurants that I liked or really disliked - so expect some serious gourmet critiques here!

This weekend I spend mostly working on my computer, throwing old stuff out and updating essential software, but I also used the time to read my favorite blogs - something I have not done in a long time. It's good to see that most of them are still around and updated frequently. One thing though I am really proud of is that I converted my girlfriend into a real blogger. I know I am repeating myself here, but I really like her stories and her positivism and I would be an equally fascinated reader without knowing her, that I am sure of. You should not miss out on her blog in any case.

this is hilarious...

http://worlddominationbattle.com/play.htm

Tip: Play with George W. Bush and see what happens when he is about to lose...

max

Paparazzi pics leaking out of Google:

Me, the Google team in Spain & some guy called Eric Schmidt

Somehow I can not get over this irony: Blogging is probably part of the reason why I have got my job, not only because I got excited about the internet through it but also because I spent hours reading other blogs and thus educated myself about so many things concerning this medium. Still, since I am working at Google, I spend more hours than ever before online but somehow still can not manage it to update my blog regularly. In the meanwhile, my girlfriend became quite a passionate blogger and it's well worth to check out her blog.

However, altogh I take mostly care of different stuff in my job (have a look here and here), I still have to do somehow with blogging, because I coordinate marketing efforts for this little, precious blog here.

When I am already doing some publicity: check out the web albums of Picasa. It's not that I say the product is perfect, but it has great potential. My fotos you can find here.

And last but not least, some videos from Google Video:

- James Bond Trailer
- Funny I
- Funny II