Wheel and website

The pavements of Corralejo are starting to take their toll. On Thursday, I noticed that one of two suitcase-type wheels in my sound system is broken. Visits to the local hardware stores so far were not promising. Next week, because of public holidays, we are doing the classes in different location, namely in the Botanical Park (El Parque Botánico). Thankfully, it is much closer to my house, so if the wheel is still not fixed it is not a big problem.

In other news, I have launched my new — bilingual! — website built with Weebly. Thank you Elena Ureña for Spanish translation — so professional! (On the “what to bring” page, I have left Zumba’s footwear recommendations exactly as appear on their Spanish FAQ page.)

It was a quiet(er) week, so the classes were not too crowded. We tried two new songs: Zorba and Hecha Pa’lante.

Song List

1. Mbube — Warm-Up (1) — African song — by Miriam Makeba
2. Adouma — Warm-Up (2) — Afro-pop — by Angélique Kidjo
3. Chillin’ — Merengue
4. Hecha Pa’lante — Bellydance
5. Zu Bailaito — Quebradita
6. Baila Pa Emociona — Calypso
7. Dança Da Mãozinha — Axé
8. Zorba — Sirtaki
9. La Batidora — Reggaeton
10. Caipirinha — Brazilian Dance / Bellydance
11. Meneando la Cola — Salsa
12. Culiquitaca — Merengue — by Toño Rosario
13. Muna Xeia — Cool-Down — by Sara Tavares

iRiver iHP-140 jukebox

I bought this amazing piece of kit seven years ago and it is still alive! I even have a few gigabytes of its (40 GB) disk space left. Back in 2004, this was probably the best gizmo of its kind. Granted, even then it did not look as sexy as iPod, but it can do so much more. Most of my music there is in OGG format. It also is a surprisingly good-quality dictaphone. There is a (still unreleased) recording of a bass/drum/guitar trio (eventually becoming a duo as the drummer left the building) in the basement of my old workplace. (When I grow old and famous, I may want to release it to raise some cash.) Also, from time to time I used it just as a portable hard disk that it is.

And here’s a problem: where to get a replacement when (or, better, before) it crashes? iHP-140 is not available in shops any longer. According to Wikipedia, this player is discontinued and succeeded by iRiver H300 series, which is also unavailable. Most of affordable MP3 players for sale now have no more than 8 GB memory. In the meantime, I hope it does not die a sudden death just before my Zumba class.

ION Block Rocker

Hooray, my new sound system has arrived! I went to collect it from the Correos today. I thought I managed to buy it for reasonably good price from Amazon UK — VAT-free and free delivery, because it was qualified for a free delivery in the UK... wait, that couldn’t be true? Maybe it ain’t. At the post office, they charged me €20 (twenty euro) before handing it over.

Still, I am a happy bunny now. Block Rocker comes with a microphone “to make announcements or sing” (nice try) but the 3.5 mm headphone jack to RCA adapter was not included. That is the only essential thing I really need, to connect it to my MP3 player. (Not iPod. I don’t have iPod. Block Rocker is advertised as a “Battery Powered Speaker System for iPod” but in truth you can plug in anything, provided that you have the right cable.) So I did cycle to the town in the afternoon to get the adapter. Check! Apparently, the batteries allow the system to blast at the full volume for 12 hours. We’ll see about that. I did not listen to “the full volume” properly yet. It’s getting too loud for our kitchen but maybe won’t be that loud for my, er, Zumba class when the time comes.

No more excuses: let’s rock!