In the early hours of this morning I downloaded the Mac version of Dave Winer’s new OPML editor. It looks interesting. It allows you to create outlines. All I have to do now is figure what an outliner actually is and how I can use one. I am going to play around with it to see if I can figure them out.

I have just finished reading Lance Armstrong’s book “It’s Not About the Bike”. It’s a great book. I couldn’t put it down. I only started reading it yesterday morning.

In the book he writes about his childhood, albeit briefly, as well as his battle with cancer and his career as a cyclist. It’s certainly a frank account of his life. He talks openly about his treatment for testicular cancer as well as the IVF program that he and his wife had to go through in order to have a child.

There a number of things to take away from reading this book. Firstly, I guess we could all do with taking a step back from time to time to look at the big picture and appreciate what we have instead of complaining about that which we don’t. There are people worse of than ourselves. Secondly, there’s hope if you are prepared to do what it takes. Sure, having talent helps but it’s not everything. I don’t remember who said it, but I remember somebody telling me a long time ago that you create your own luck. What he meant was that if you work really hard at something, you are more likely to succeed to at it. Well, that’s what I read into the story anyway.

Last night I uploaded the final lot of photos from my Spanish trip. Most of them are pictures of Segovia and El Escorial. As usual you can view them here.

I’ve been playing around with the new version of iTunes with the podcast directory built-in. It works quite well. It’s reasonably easy to find what you are looking for and subscribing to podcasts is easy – just find the one you are interested in and hit the subscribe button. The interface also makes it easy to receive previous episodes of a podcast that you may have missed.

Maybe I’ll start listening to podcasts again on a regular basis. I used to listen to them regularly way back in October 2004 but I got so annoyed with the lack of decent tools for subscribing to and receiving podcasts that I gave up listening to them.

The latest version of iTunes with the podcast directory built-in is available. I have just downloaded it. I’ll post something about it later on when I have had chance to play around with it.

Want to play Windows media files on Mac OS X? Then download Windows Media Player 9 for Mac OS X.

I’m back. I landed a few hours ago. The weather, of course, is terrible. Grey, dull and overcast not to mention about 15 degrees cooler than Madrid. Maybe I’ll find out when the next flight leaves back to Madrid. No wifi access in Madrid airport though, well, none that I could find.

I’m glad to back. I enjoyed Spain but it’s getting a bit too hot for me. I wonder for how long I’ll be glad to back. I give myself about a week or so 🙂

Today I spent the day in Segovia. It’s just over an hour by bus from Madrid and two hours by train. Spain has to be the only country I know of where it’s quicker to go by bus than train. Admittedly the buses do tend to go directly to their destination but trains are supposed to be quicker right?

For lunch I had roast suckling pig. It’s a speciality of Segovia apparently so I had to try it. I went to one of the best restaurants in town, or so I have been told, Meson de Candido. Damn it was good! I can highly recommend it. Pig never tasted so good. It’s right next to the aquaduct so it’s not too hard to find.

I have some photos of Segovia that I took but Flickr seems to be misbehaving so I’ll upload them later on in the week.

Speaking of Flickr, I have just received an email from them telling me that they are shifting their servers from Canada to the US, presumably because Yahoo bought them, and that this “will result in speediness, stableness, and happiness”. Here’s hoping. I have been using Flickr for about a month or so now and it is really sssssslow, especially when uploading photographs.

I have just read Steve Jobs´ commencement speech that he gave last weekend at Stanford University. I particularly like this quote from the speech:

You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don’t settle.

Right on! You can read the whole speech here.

Time`s almost up. I fly back to London on the 25th.

No more Spanish lessons for me. Today was my last day. As I couldn`t change my flight I have the whole of next week to do tourist stuff.

Maybe I should change my career.

Finally, I have found somewhere with free wireless Internet access, The Irish Rover. The nearest metro stop is Santiago Bernabeu. However, don’t sit by the window. The signal strength is not good. Upstairs is better but for some reason it’s really dark. Now I can have a pint while I check my email. Makes a change from lattes all the time.

I listened to the Daily Source Code the other day, the first time for a long time. Curry hinted that the new version of iTunes with the integrated podcast directory will be released in around four weeks time.

I bought my ticket from British Airways a while back, online of course. I tried changing the return date of my flight but because I bought my ticket online I wasn’t allowed to change it. Grrr!