The sea around here looks like this today. The weather is kind of rough, but I though it would be interesting to share this photos. The waves are quite big, 4 or 5 meters I would say. It's nice, but not as much as in Sakhalin.

Right after the show, I had to travel to Holland to go offshore. I spent the night in Den Helder, to take the chopper the next morning. This is one of the biggest ports in The Netherlands, home to a naval base.

Our flight was cancelled due to fog, and we spent another night in town. In the hotel they had these funny pets: Llamas!

These are the helicopters that take us offshore:

A view from the helicopter of the naval base.

And this is the rig where I am right now! The Ensco 72. Quite good, I must say. I have been to its sister rigs Ensco 70 and 71, and even after they were refurbished and upgraded they were not so good.

This is one of the latest additions to my collection. A medal for the Defense of Leningrad. There were 1,4 million issued up to 1985. This one is from 1943.
I bought it from a seller in Kiev.




And this is another campaign medal I got, well documented. This one is for the defense of Stalingrad. 740000of these medals were issued during war time. This one has a very low serial number in the document, 1672, dated 22nd of October, 1942.

Why did all my American guests, when they came to Madrid last week, apologize for their president beforehand? It was like, "Hi, I´m Mark Wheatley, please to meet you, I apologize for George W."
I am a little time pressed now, and cannot talk much about George. I will just write about the visit his brother Jeph made to Spain a couple of years ago, when he just had dinner with the King and Queen of Spain, and then he goes to a press conference and says that he is so very happy to be visiting the Republic of Spain.

Photos courtesy of www.bushorchimp.com

Our friend here, the Pope of Rome, who is the perfect example of how the Light side of the Force is stronger than the Dark side. As well as Darth Vader came back to the Light in the last few minutes of his life, just by saving his son´s life from the Emperor Palpatine, the fact that he was a member of Hitler´s youth did not stop the Counsil to make him Pope. Anakin slayed hundreds of Jedi and countless other lives during his rule of the galaxy. Mazinger was a part of the Nazi war machine. Anyway, he probably only killed communists, gays and other such elements.

The cocktail before dinner, with some of our staff. Adri talking to Emilio at the back.

Joseba, Xavi, Kenny Ruíz and his girlfriend. I know why his name is Kenny. Then Tirso Cons.
Carla Berrocal,???, Marc Bernabé and Dani Acuña, winner to Best Artist of the year 2005.
This is what we had for dinner on saturday. Tender beef, carrots, asparagus and marinated onions. I ate the Dude´s onions!! I wanted to keep them and maybe sell them on Ebay, but I am not sure you can sell dairy products there.

Chris Claremont through the (champagne) glass. Beth to the left, Carlos Pacheco to the right.

The Dude, Olga and María, interpreters. And me, of course.

Celia assaulting me.
Celia Blanco, porn actress extraordinaire, wearing my Russian Army jacket.
Miguel with Monica, Super-Girl extraordinaire.
Beto and Nuria at the show.


The crowds during the costume and karaoke competitions were big.


The costume competition was dominated by the manga and anime costumes.

Our official dinner with all our guests, publishers and some select staff.

Emilio. Is he laughing with them or...?

Award ceremony. Javivi and Tallafé.

Mrs. Croft made a big impression on Tirso Cons.

Miguel, The Dude and Gino.

This was Nora´s first convention.

Signing sessions, Chris Claremont got the longest lines, followed by Carlos Pacheco and Steve Rude.

Michel Durand in the live sketching session.

Miguel and Mrs. Croft.

Ok, the show started yesterday. I meant to update this everyday, but yesterday was CRAZY. It was the first time in 5 years I don´t enjoy the show. I has all the problems of 5 years combined in 1 day, multiplied by 2. Today was a little better, usual problems. The show looks really good. People seems to be happy. We have many good guests, Steve Rude, who went to lift weights 5 min after he arrived to Madrid, Chris Claremontñ whose lines are just a little shorter than Neal Adams´ , Mark Buckingham, whose girlfriend Irma is helping me more than she should, Mark Wheatley who came back from Seville and now is a little sick. We have Carla Berrocal, who made me a sketch of Franco and Celia Blanco shooting a porn film, Kenny Ruíz, Dani Acuña, Alfonzo Azpiri, Michel Durand, who was stucked in the plane´s toilet for some time yesterday, Richard Marazano who missed his plane yesterday, Víctor Santos, Luís Royo... So many.

Steve Rude in the gym.

The Dude´s booth, with Gino Gianelly and Adrian.

The show.

The signings.

Chris Claremont at the radio.

Aliens vs. Predator, Deadliest of the Species, the book I co-published with Recerca. But due to a mistake, I am only credited as translator. :( This book was so special for me.