Jamie Wakefield

The high temperature in Madrid is a hundred degrees (F) every day this week. Monday I went out running at three p.m., essentially noon here in Madrid, the height of the heat. I ran down our hill, through the park to Principio Pio, down to the river, across the bridge, alongside the river, across the bridge again and up the hill. I wanted to get to the stoplight that ends the park and is halfway up the hill to our apartment. I had to look down at the sidewalk and ignore how far I had to go in order to make it. The entire run the dry heat of Madrid burned my lungs as I sucked in air, thin with oxygen. I'm so extreme aren't I? Um, no. Let me explain. I thrive on such weather. I have always run in the most insane conditions. When I was nineteen and a friend of mine was about to enter the military, I joined him on an extensive program designed to get him ready for basic training. It focused on push-ups and running. He was going to join in early spring so our regiment was in a bitter...

So, we're investigating... America has no companies doing nuclear. No new nuclear engineers. All the guys that used to do that are 60+ because of the current opinion about nuclear in the US right now. So, another country, of the five we're looking at, doesn't have the intelligence, infrastructure or technological base to do anything this company wants. Their computers and engineering are almost stone age. Another country has no nuclear. The country doing the most solar is... Spain. (Who we're not supposed to investigate.) Wendy puts me and the intern (the wonderful Diana) on search duty. Investigate the other countries. Investigate the US for thermal solar, co-generation and other tech the client is looking for. And so the search begins. This is harder than you might think. It takes me a week to grasp it, and another week to teach Diana. "No, they do solar, not thermal solar." "Yes, they have pictures of generators, but they build and sell them, they don...

I asked my wife permission to tell this story. Why? Because she’s a spy. Don’t tell anyone! People constantly ask you what you do. I’m a writer, and a computer tech. That encapsulates me. Wendy’s story is a little harder to explain and always confuses people. When she gets done explaining people generally say ”So, you’re a spy?” “No!” She protests. Yes, I nod. Wendy came to Madrid to work for a company that does competitive intelligence. They have some operatives in the field, they contact companies and say “Anything you need to know about the competition?” In a very general sense, things like that. Like I said, it’s tough to pin down. I really can’t go into all of the challenges she/I faced with her business because… well, because. Let me just give you a few examples that I find fascinating. Wendy came to Spain with essentially no training, no idea what she as getting into, no idea what the job would entail. In nine months she had contacts with the biggest companies in...

My father is terrified of flying. Much like I was a lifetime ago. He conquered that fear for us. We have desperately wanted them to come to Madrid to experience what we have lived for the past four years, and this week, they finally did. And they got it. They really, really, GOT it. Do you know how that feels to us? "Let us introduce you to all these things that we love. If you don't love them, that's okay, but we want you to experience it." They were in awe. Just like I was when I first came here (book link on the side, hint, hint.) They loved the people, the architecture, the food, the history, the living statues, all of it. We wanted to take them to a seafood restaurant and order a cold seafood platter and a hot seafood platter but it's so different than American seafood. Percebes, and crab guts and cigala and shrimp and all cold with no cocktail sauce. Also a hot seafood plate with shrimp and cigala grilled with salt and olive oil. Clean and natural and delici...

Wendy and I are huge fans of anything “Top Chef.” We have watched every season of Top Chef at least twice, most three times, Top Chef Masters I and II twice and Top Chef Just Desserts only once. Right now is the current season of Top Chef Masters III and it is still great, with a few human flaws. In Top Chef Masters these are already established chefs with their own restaurants, (many times multiple restaurants,) usually world famous with multiple Michelin stars (Did you know the Michelin star is actually awarded by the same company that makes Michelin tires? It all started with a travel and car maintenance guide in 1900. True story.) Since they already have their own empire, they don’t play for personal gain, all the money they win goes to a charity of their choice. And I just have to rant about that because some of the charities they choose, I consider stupid. The world has real problems and if you’re going to potentially be winning more than a hundred grand for a problem, it sh...