Observations

My sports routine starts to be effective. Now I am in a state where I can start to watch people instead of my own racing heart during a running session in Parque Sarmiento:
There is this one guy I see every day. He is always wearing the same baseball cap. And apparently the base cap is a little front-heavy. So the longer he runs the more the visor falls into his face. Due to these circumstances he is not really able to see what is in front of him, so he tilts his head back. And then he is running with his head in the most awkward position and it looks as if his neck is going to break any second.

I had been using a mobile with a business account provided by my company for a long time. The funny thing is, that this business account does not include a proper data plan. I can tell you from my own experience, that a smartphone without a data plan is basically an old-skool monoblock. You are able to call people and to send and receive texts, but that is it. And actually old monoblock designs are way more suitable to do that. I loved my old Nokia 3109c. But it was stolen or I lost it, I do not actually know. Either way, it is gone for good. So for my time in Argentina I got myself a second-hand mobile to be used with the business account (thanks to Matthias and Eugen... I actually got myself a selection of second-hand mobiles... :) ...) and I got myself a new smartphone with an Argentine SIM with a data plan. Rock'n'Roll! Of course I joined The Enlightened at once. I am now aiming to capture Resistant Portals every time I am roaming the streets of Córdoba and you can observe me running through Parque Sarmiento occasionally hacking a portal.

The last time I was in Córdoba, I observed, that the Lonely Planet effect is actually sort of blocking people's susceptibility to really good places along their touristy ways. Lonely Planet recommends an okay place called La Nieta as the top choice restaurant in Córdoba. La Nieta is situated at Belgrano 783. Usually lots of people there, expensive, full of tourists, food is okay. On Tuesday we went to Don't Worry Güemes (Belgrano 695; only one block away from La Nieta), a very nice place, young folks, good food; not mentioned by Lonely Planet, so no tourists, perfect prices. Same applies to Mercado Central (Belgrano 840; only one block away from La Nieta in the opposite direction): super nice place, a bit more expensive, but worth the money; not mentioned by Lonely Planet, no tourists.

Yesterday I went for an evening with friends. My main observations:

1. I have to improve my Spanish to understand what is going on (gonna apply for the language course at the UNC next week for sure)
2. Have to improve my cooking skills...

Oh and my final observation tonight goes out to Nicole: Parque Sarmiento is actually quite nice during the Argentine summer. As it was raining a lot, it is really green. And there are big flocks of rose-ringed parakeets in the trees. Did not yet have the opportunity to take a proper picture of the park (due to all the running and portal hacking). I promise to provide a picture as part of my next posting... :)