Jamil & Patricia

April Fool's Traditional Non-Joke

2010-04-01T14:35:00.002-04:00

In true Jamil & Patricia blog tradition, here are some news about our lives that are both true and unbelievable enough to seem like an April Fool's joke:

1. Of course, our Christmas Tree is still up.
2. Our house was flooded in January of 2010 (January 6 or something like that), and it is still in full blown disarray.
3. Our taxes are nowhere near filed.
4. I am sure the Census lady will be in our tracks today at 4pm as we have not sent our Census 2010 out... and this has nothing to do with my inability as a Hispanic woman to identify myself with any of the races listed.... I am inclined to mark them all at this point.
5. We have 2 dogs staying at our house, only one of which is ours.
6. My hair is partially blue and will hopefully get bluer in a few days.
7. I am going to Shanghai again at the end of April... Beijing as a follow-up... and Jamil might actually get PTO to come along!
8. 20lbs stand between me and skydiving... that is a moderate sized carry-on bag... bring on the oatmeal.

A few closing statements... I love the Census... I am infatuated with it.... In fact, I jumped up and down with excitement watching a friend fill hers out. I read every word... and yes I know they repeat some of it 8 times but it is my census and I read it if I want to. Dear Census lady, try finding us at work instead since that's where Jamil lives most of the time. I am also fond of my Tax return... which might be a tax bill if the current government had a say... but I guess one can only dream.

About te last year...

2009-09-03T18:10:00.002-04:00

In a few days it will be a year from the day that I set foot on my short lived stint at my previous company with the oh so awesome commute. That date coincides somewhat with the beginning of an unexpected journey of introspection and revision of my life. A journey of discovery and correction. A journey into a lot of new adventures, a ton of learning about myself and the world around me.

Looking back, it is somewhat scary. Although I have been very frustrated by the twists and turns that life has taken sometimes suddenly and although I have often grown disappointed at the things I have been learning or more the ways of the teacher I have to say I am glad. As often as I wished I would know where I was going, I am glad I didn't because I think I would have chickened out before learning the due lessons.

God has provided the right support in many ways. People have been placed in my path. Some that I can look up to, some that I can learn from, some that I can imitate and some that are counterexamples. Some people have come to teach a lesson and left just as quickly to open my mind and spirit to the next teacher. Resources have been provided to traverse the tough road. Some resources I have been provided with plenty of time, some with short notice, some have been for my benefit and some have had a lesser known or not as expected benefit of sorts. There has been obstacles and smoothly paved roads and this and that.

I am not done, haven't reached the end. I had the opportunity to visit with a friend this last weekend. It was unplanned, unexpected and halfway insane. It also will go down in my book as one of the best times ever. It blows my mind that without having gone through this journey we would have never met and it blows my mind how important this friendship has been throughout this time and how it has blossomed from a very small remote possibility. I hadn't thought about this journey in a long time, but I was reminded of it the minute I landed.

Since, I have done some crosschecks and some revisiting. The outlook of another x amount of time through this journey is scary. But, I look around at my life (blessings, hardships, joys and tears), the people in it (some new, some old, some re-acquainted, all awesome), the lessons learned (tough and easy but all valuable), etc... and I have to conclude that I stand to win more than I stand to lose. It doesn't erradicate the fear, it doesn't make me run for it, but it is encouraging. And it reminds me that whatever life may look like at any point in time, God is true to His promises and God is true to me and continues to be on my corner. I am not perfect, but I look at the work He has done in my life over the last year and as much nostalgia as there is for what was and what isn't any longer, there is rest in knowing that it is right... in Him.

Quick Updates

2009-07-06T18:27:00.002-04:00

I am loving my new job. Jamil is now an old man and was able to celebrate with a good friend from High School and his wife. Mambo will likely not undergo surgery as long as his knee continues to NOT bother him.

Thanks to all our friends who made it to Jamil's birthday party this past Saturday!

Wow! It's a wrap!

2009-06-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

Unbelievable...

I took a job at a company I have been looking at for a very long time sometime in the Fall of 2008. I even wrote about it on this blog. I loved this company beyond what I expected. They have solid leadership at the top, the people have a true team spirit and whether it is true or rehearsed, the company tries to convey a commitment to not compromise long term gain even through a tough economy. I'm a believer.

My last day there is Friday. I still cannot believe it.

My stay there has been nothing short of awesome. The increased personal time yielded by a decrease in travel and more regular work hours have allowed me to do some growing and thinking and learning that I never expected. Also unexpected is the unbelievable people I have met. I initially was unimpressed by their less cutthroat approach to career I encountered, but have been blown away by their approach toward life. I want to focus on 4 people in particular (no names) whom I have met while working (but who are not necessarily a part of my team) and who have left an imprint.

IN LOVE. He worked halfway across the globe from me in the old world. Despite of tough experiences in his life, he has found the love of his life. I have had the chance to witness the tail end of his saga to marry his bride and listened to him talk about all the troubles this has taken and about how in love he is. He makes me believe that true love and romance are not dead. I wish God to bless his quest and grant the pursued goal and beyond that, may He bless his marriage and relationship for many years to come.

IN PURSUIT. Extremely responsible with duties at work. Amazingly helpful. So straight-laced that I have only recently learned what an amazing (beyond just good and helpful) individual this person is. Full of dreams and aspirations and fearless to pursue them even with a family to care for. This person gives me hope that we don't all kill our inner children and our dreams when we reach a certain age and reminds me that it is worth pursuing my own dreams even if they seem silly at times. Also, that working does not have to happen in exclusion of doing so. I pray that God use this person for His glory.

IN YOUTH. Oh, to see life through this person's eyes. I have discussed many concepts: sushi, kidding, love, kissing... Some of the most enjoyable late night conversations (and I mean 2 or 3am) in the last 9 months have taken place with this person. Brilliant self-assurance, amazing passion for doing a good job, commitment to friends and life. This person reminds me that not everything I know of is worth pursuing and some of the less coveted things are best guarded. I pray that God reveal Himself in this person's life and keep their mind pure and innocent and allow them to be pleasantly surprised some day by all the experiences we have discussed.

IN AWE. I could write a book about this person but the impact this person has had in my life is so deep that I doubt it would make much sense to anyone else. For this person's benefit (if they ever run into this blog)... Crazy strong and courageous. Amazingly smart and clever. Absolutely helpful and kind. Their being exudes greatness. This person gives me hope that kindness and honesty and true friendship are not all dead practices. My truest desire is for God to pour blessings in this person's life, overflow their cup and grant the deepest desires of this precious heart and make His will in this life perfectly clear because this much talent cannot be wasted.

Maybe I am leaving a company full of amazing people (the 4 above are just examples)... I am kind of hoping that more than just finding a small sample of good, I have just gained new eyes to see the world around me instead. The new journey will be different, but I am hoping to not forget the lessons learned and I am hoping to continue to grow in this amazing way.

Unbelievable...

A Friday morning in our household...

2009-06-12T10:22:00.001-04:00

Ok, this is an honest to goodness re-telling of this morning's events.

I walk into the bathroom half asleep and Jamil is trimming his beard (he grew one the week he was sick and has ignored my jabs to shave it off). He was wearing a shirt the same color as mine and I asked him to go change it. He said he got dressed first so I should change mine. I told him I couldn't cause he hadn't done my Puerto Rico laundry. So here is what ensured.

Me: It makes you look pale, so change it.
Jamil: I am not pale.
Me: Yes you are, in fact in the years since we have been married, you have grown almost white. Actually, we are going out in the sun again, to reclaim the Florida/PR color.
Jamil: No I'm not.
Me: Yes, you are. You are way pale. I am married to the most American Indian in the world, don't want to be married to the whitest too!
Jamil: Maybe it is because you are really a vampire and suck my blood when I am not watching so I am growing pale. (said with a straight face, no laughter, no nothing).
Me: Oh, really? I'm surprised you wouldn't have noticed.
Jamil (matter of factly, still very serious): What? Can you think of a better explanation?

I had to leave for work, but if he is wearing a yellow polo shirt today and you see him, please pinch him for me?

Trusting God

2009-05-14T00:21:00.002-04:00

I like to blame things to human nature. The alternative is admitting that I am flaky and that goes against human nature in it's own right, right?

Isn't it strange that one of the reasons people get hurt the most is that they trust people who fail and that they have expectations out of fallible situations and people? Yet, a person gets hurt by a loved one (family member, friend, significant other) and in a little while longer, doesn't that same person forgive or goes looking for or allows a new such relationship to recur? Why don't we lose all hope and trust in all of human nature when we know humans let us down the same way we let others down? Why don't we lose trust in others like we so readily, sometimes, lose trust in God?

Isn't it strange that we can say we believe in a God, who has done such a demonstration of love as is giving His one and only Son to die a horrible death for our sakes, and yet we have trouble trusting Him? We have trouble sometimes by second guessing the goodness of his intentions?

We are absolutely willing to trust people who fail constantly with things like kids, money, posessions and happiness. YET, we have a God that has not failed us ever, and we continually fail to trust Him? Even after He made a clear statement of love in the action of offering His Son as a sacrifice for us?

God has never let me down. If anything, I have let Him down a bunch. Even when I have ignored or forgotten our relationship or put it on a second plane, He has continually made an effort to be there and bring me closer. He provides for all my needs: emotional, spiritual and physical. He really does, if I look around and think about the awesome things that have come about in my life, I cannot arrive to a better conclusion. Yet, sometimes, even shortly after He has shown how much He cares, I find myself wondering what is He thinking now, why am I in this or that or why didn't this or that happen or... over little things eve. At the same time, I am willing to let people who have violated my trust multiple times to have a second chance.

As part of putting God first, we need to learn to trust God. We need to stop wondering about his intentions when his handiwork is not in clear harmony with our desires. We need to trust that He knows better and He has our best interest at heart and this is hard and heart-wrenching and uncomfortable.

The last 8 months of my life have been pretty amazing (to me at least). Some events have been easy, happy and enjoyable. Some events have been tough, frustrating and painful. All events have been 100% God's provision and I am a better person for the amazing journey they make up collectively and individually.

Obligatory Christmas Tree post on April Fool's

2009-04-01T10:15:00.003-04:00

So, for those who have been watching, somehow it has become tradition around this blog to post regarding our usually present and somewhat green Christmas Tree.

This year is no exception, except for one thing. This past Christmas, we went down to Puerto Rico for the holidays. Having just gotten rid of 2007-2008 season tree right before Thanksgiving, I figured it made no sense to acquire a tree since we would not be home. So, we have no pictures of the 2008-2009 tree, because there wasn't one.

However, here is a picture of the 2006-2007 tree standing in our backyard. Yeah, that year we just planted it in the back as a solution to keep the HOA letters from filling our mailbox. It is no longer green, or even orange. Its youthful colors are a thing of the past as are its branches. BUT, it stands beautifully in testament to our first ever Christmas Tree in our house:

Usually, I also have to make some statement about how, even though this is a post done on April Fool's it is not an actual April Fool's joke. But, this is neither my house nor my tree. Both our defunct trees Rest In Pieces (yes, I meant Piece not Peace) somewhere in a dumpster after being manually shredded to bits sometime in April or November.

All that said, the following related posts from our blog's past are not jokes:

Our giveaway
The winner video post:

2007-2008 Tree featured in 2008's (NOT) April Fool's post
2006-2007 Tree feautred in 2007's (NOT) April Fool's post

Incidentally also NOT an April Fool's joke is that we have lost the pictures of the 2006-2007 tree in Jamil's hard drive crash.

We've been busy... How busy?

2009-03-17T16:08:00.004-04:00

Sooooo busy that the dog is doing my piano homework for me...

Ok, just kidding, we are WEDDING busy.

My little sister (24 almost 25) is getting married at the end of the month in Puerto Rico. So, we will be going to warmer lands and wearing dresses (Jamil gets to wear pants and I am slightly jealous of this) to celebrate with her.

In other news, I dislike weddings. Anyone else dislike weddings with me? I can't be the only one!

What else?

Jamil is leading 2-3 Bible studies. His hard drive crashed and had to rebuild his project's data and has slept an average of 2-3 hours a night at most. We made a roundtrip to Nashville in under 36 hours this weekend. I am making headway into my resolutions, maybe I will update that soon on here. Anyone up for skydiving?

The Birthday Post

2009-03-06T14:52:00.006-05:00

One of my favorite shows growing up was Doogie Howser. The show was about the growing pains of a genius teenager who is a brilliant doctor. At the end of every episode, he would turn on his computer (old timey PC) and make a journal entry. It was always short and sweet and cleverly captured the gist of the episode or chapter.

If I was Doogie, this would be today's entry:

It has been a wonderful life thus far... I have many wonderful people in my life including a wonderful family... I also have the privilege to call Christ my Savior.

I can count to 28 since I was about 3... It will be much harder to make 28 count... We must find a way.

On the subject of death...

2009-02-25T17:02:00.001-05:00

Death is a journey we all undoubtedly begin the moment we scream at birth. It is unavoidable. It is also one of the fairest experiences in life since it touches everyone: rich and poor, young and old, etc.

If you are like me, you don't even think about death on a regular basis. Maybe you even start to believe you are immortal. I know that I have made plans for what I will be doing in my 70s and 80s.

One of my best friends from High School lost his dad this morning to a short but fierce battle with liver cancer. It is the stuff you never hear about anymore. In our efforts to defeat death, we have transformed cancer from a silent sudden killer to a slow death. We have allowed ourselves to believe we can call the shots. This same friend and I happen to have been close to a young man who passed away right after our third year of college after a long battle with a similarly aggressive cancer which came back for the kill quite literally after we all thought we'd found the gold at the end of the rainbow.

I asked a friend this past Sunday what her biggest fear was. She said death. I was surprised being that she is a Christian and understands that upon death we are reunited with the Father. I inquired further. She explained that she is not afraid for her own death but for the death of dear and loved ones and the emptiness that it leaves. That it is not the same to see someone live a healthy 98 years and achieve all their dreams and make a difference as it is to witness someone pass in what seems like "before their time". We discussed the issue of time and forethought. I explained that cancer is quite unsettling to me. Just about every other illness one can die of can be somewhat explained and justified, but cancer just hits anyone without rhyme or reason and regardless of efforts to live a healthy life. Minutes before we embarked on the walk that sparked this conversation, a friend called her. The healthy husband that she was about to divorce had just had a terrible accident and walked the thin line between life and death were the next 48 hours would be crucial.

On Monday, I found out one of my old co-worker's mother had had a stroke over the weekend. My co-worker was on her way home from a trip to India. On the way to her layover in Paris, she heard the news. In a world where not too long ago going to India would be deemed much more dangerous than for a healthy mid-sixties woman to stand up from her bed in the morning, my friend was well and her mom had a stroke. She is afraid to die and losing mobility and independence on account of an unexplainable stroke is a threat to her life. My friend debates on the next point of action as she lives over 4,000 miles away in the land of opportunity.

So, what gives? It gives that living life in any way but the most meaningful way is a waste of time. It gives that doing anything but your best for a season, some season, any season is risky because it might be your last season. It gives that life is short and you should tell people you love them and you care. It gives that you should make every day count. It gives that similar to everything else in life, it makes no sense to just spill about anything which is finite such as your time on Earth and the time of those you love. It gives that you should allow God to take full control of your life, trust him to provide you with direction and not wait until you are older, wiser, done, sick or worse.

My friend's dad was not even 60, not even sickly, not even, not even, not even. Please pray for my friend and his family in this time of loss. Please go and make life worth your while.

Patricia goes speechless...

2009-02-20T10:58:00.001-05:00

One of the most eye-opening or demoralizing experiences I had in graduate school was doing poorly on the introductory course for the area in which I wanted to do research which was being taught by the professor I had hoped to study under. Not that I expected to be exceptional, but that I truly believed this was one of the areas in which I felt I was strong.

The real world is different from school. We do not get official grades by people we respect. Actually, most times any feedback we get about how we are doing comes from those who disapprove of our performance. While we exchange kind words with our friends, family and acquaintances, we rarely really give each other feedback that will help us improve on the important areas of life. I say important because we do exchange plenty of endless meaningless chatter about how we do on the wardrobe, hair, make-up, etc.

After school, there are few "checkpoints" in life that can give you a good, clear, objective measure of how you are doing. Some of them: making the proverbial 7-years of marriage mark, having children, children's graduations, work-related items such as promotions and evaluations, knitting the one scarf or blanket, etc.
But how do we know that we are doing good in the deeper areas? How do we know if we are being good friends? How do we know if we are making an impact? For those of us who are Christians... How do we know that we are living properly? How do we know we are sharing God with others? How do we know we are trusting God enough? How do we know?

The truth is that we do not know. The truth is that this is one of the reasons we trust God. The truth is that this is one of the reasons why only trust in the One True God can save us and grant us access to Heaven. How else would we know how good is good enough?

THAT SAID, along the way, if you pay attention, and specially if you trust God, you encounter points in your life that give you pause and shake you awake to realize where you are missing the mark.

I am generally bad at having serious conversations with people. Serious conversations make me uncomfortable, most of the time I think it is best to spare others of the details of your thoughts, I often feel like they are a waste of time and then they expose vulnerabilities that are best kept private. Secretly (or not so secretly like on this blog), I enjoy serious subjects. I am intrigued by the workings of the human mind. I am amazed by the way people think and make connections and simply floored by the way even "random" situations bring people together. Recently a dear friend of mine brought this up: "When the student is ready, the teachers will appear". It is so true, but how/why/when?

The friends I have known longest and I have known each other for about 16 years. It is a group of 3 girls plus me. You could not find more different backgrounds, beliefs, personalities and aspirations in any group of 3 random people.

To make a long story short, I can probably count the number of times I have had serious conversations with each of them. We have also, basically, lost touch over the last 10 years. Until recently, I only communicated with one of them on a semi-weekly basis, but more by her effort than any effor of my own (I am ashamed of this).

Recently, I was very frustrated at a situation in my life, and a different one of these girls picked up on it. A very serious conversation ensued. It was more a vent of frustration than anything else. I didn't think much of it. However, over the months following this conversation, we have been speaking more often. I attributed it to ME simply being around more often and this strange solemn frame of mind I can't seem to shake off.

On Tuesday night in the midst of a cough medicine stupor, the realization that I really have not paid much attention to her life in the last 10 years and extreme frustration at the stupid serious mood I cannot shake off, I asked her some tough questions. Yeah, ashamed of that too.

What is the moment that has left the deepest mark in your life?
An afternoon when a good friend of mine started talking to me like she never has before and trusted me with a private conversation. I felt like the best friend in the world and I cannot stop thinking about that day.

I have had the hardest time trying to come up with ANYTHING much to say about anything since then. I wonder if bathing in garlic will shake-off a serious mood?

Checkpoint: I am a clueless SCHMUCK!

A very nice rat wants very nice cheese

2009-02-12T09:44:00.003-05:00

A mad scientist has a very nice grant from a very nice university. This affords him a very nice lab, a very nice rat and some very nice cheese.

This is not ordinary rat. This is a very smart rat. It has been through many experiments and acquired wealth of knowledge. She is a 5th generation lab rat, in fact. She reads lab rat science magazines and admires all the great ones that came before her and all the great ones in all the great labs belonging to great scientists with great grants. She reads "Who moved my cheese" daily, just so she can be ready in case there is an experiment that day.

Of course, cheese is an important element of any experiment.

One day, the scientist takes the rat. More than a great lab rat this was the scientist's pet rat, so she got to go places that no other rats adventured to before. Her scientist was mad, but was very kind. On this day, they went to the grocey store. This was usual fare. The scientist felt that to achieve good results it was best to allow the rat to experience the cheese buying experience.

On this particular day, though, on the way back from the grocery store, they stopped at a big place called Home Depot. The rat could read, of course, that is how she knew where they were. At this place, her usually unskilled master bought what seemed like miles and miles of wood which he then piled up in his very nice little sedan (must protect the environment, even if you are a mad scientist).

The scene was familiar from the many journals he had read. Soon enough, it was clear what was going to happen. The proverbial maze.

Now, this was no ordinary rat and she could smell the cheese bought. It was no ordinary cheese. It smelled like no cheese she had ever had before. And so it was that with a tummy full of cheese scent, she set off to beat the scientist at his own game.

She sent a notice to all the rats and mice in the neighborhood. She would be recruiting for a special super secret mission. She needed someone astute enough to conjure up a plan, but not too interested in the cheese for fear that the temptation for the cheese was greater than the committment to work together. These mazes can be dangerous and if a couple of rodents were going to conquer, they would have to stay together. She decided not to mention the quality of the cheese.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of waste in New York City (where the rat lived), so not many replies came without the mention of the special cheese. I mean, why would subway mice leave warm hideouts full of junk food for possibly stale cheese? So it was that the best response obtained and the resource chosen by the rat was not a rat or a mouse but a squirrel. See, with urbanization, there were not many nuts to be had in the city and cheese sounded mighty good.

And so it was that the squirrel moved in. At night when the scientist slept, they schemed and planned and developed and thought about just how they were going to outsmart this maze. During the day, the squirrel would go in the stack of books covered in dust and would hide among the common rodents so the scientist did not catch onto their plan.

The day arrived when they were going into the maze. But, it arrived with the winter. And try as she could to wake up the squirrel, nothing could. She was disappointed and furious. She had not thought about how to obtain the cheese and conquer the maze by herself at all! What is a disappointed rat to do at the call of her master?

Surely, a 5th generation lab rat understands well that the principal duty of a lab rat is to further science research and discoveries. So she obediently went on. The maze was everything she had read about and more. Thankfully, the cheese was not moved. She could smell it. With every turn, it smelled like it was closer until the smell was overwhelming. But she seemed to be running around in circles. How could it be? Everything she read indicated there would be an opening and the golden substance would shine right through like a mighty irresistible, mouth watering giant. But, she couldn't get to it. And come to think of it, this did not smell like the very nice cheese from the very nice grocery store. Oh, that nothing this day will turn by the book.

After hours of struggle, the scientist opened the entrance door to the maze and called out the rat. She followed the way out, dejected and disappointed. All the planning, all the scheming, all the desire, all the effort to have neither conquered maze nor tasted golden cheese.

The mad scientist took the rat to her cage and as she opened her eyes, through her heavy eyelids from all the effort and all the frustration, she spotted it. And it was white, not golden. And it was the very nice cheese from the very nice grocery store and she was given it freely by her master and she could not understand. In the cage next door, the other rats and the dust covered squirrel enjoyed the usual meal.

Alas, a very nice lab rat can read very nice writings about the way things should be. She can trust very nice squirrels and come up with very nice plans. But some mazes are unconquerable and the sweetest blessings come but from the mercy of a very nice master. Alas, a very nice mad scientist might be mad, but what is a scientist to do if not care for his flock of rodents, the converse of which makes him a mere exterminator?

Sister Alice (or Catholic School stories Pt 2)

2009-02-10T10:31:00.001-05:00

Sister Alice was a nun at my High School (one of 4 or so). She had had a pace maker put in her heart shortly before I started school there. She had some other health issues which affected her mobility and forced her to wear orthopedic shoes.

Sister Alice is one of the deepest ladies I know. She was 100% dedicated to her labor as Vice-Principal and teacher all the same. She grew up in Massachussetts and I remember she had an interesting story about how she decided to become a nun. Actually, I never heard the full story. I kind of wish I had dared ask the nuns at school more questions about their travels to clergy, but I didn't.

Anyway, our school always had animals in it. They were not school pets, they were just stray animals: roosters, hens, chickens, dogs, dogs mating, cats. Sometimes, actually a lot of times, the kids at school abused these animals to some extent. One such instance being this black cat.

To the surprise of many, Sister Alice took to this cat very dearly. This cat would hide from everyone but come straight to her. Surprisingly, for a cat anyway, the cat followed her EVERYWHERE. As it turns out, the cat was a pregnant female and shortly after this love began, she had 4 little kittens.

There are a good number of stories relating to the kittens and the cat. A lot of people in the administration office did not really appreciate sharing their space with them. The end of the 5 cats living at school was a bout of stinky diarrhea in the Administration office. They were quickly given away then, all but the original mother of course.

My favorite story:
Sister Alice taught what you guys would call Honors English. One section each for 10th, 11th and 12th grades. I believe this was during my 12th grade. The kittens and cat had contracted the cat version of pink eye. Now, because the mother was afraid of the students, she taught this habit to the kittens and unless they were all "chilaxing" at the Sister's office, you would not see them.

Our English class was right before lunch. The kitties needed eyedrops to cure the pink eye infection, but as I explained the Sister's mobility was not such as to pursue cats throughout school. So, our duty for a week was to leave class and find the cats throughout the yard, catch them and hold them still while she adoringly put the eye drops in their eyes.

That is how a number of people from my class ended up wearing scratches all over our arms. The Sister was very strict and tough. Most people would say they "deaded" her, but if you dig deeper and consider this story, you can easily see that we all were fond enough of her and her labors to get scratched out to lend her a hand.

Next time, I will tell you how 6-10 people from my class ended up with strange moles all over our arms for a couple of weeks.

Thankful Friday (as in thank God it is not Thursday anymore)

2009-02-06T10:41:00.005-05:00

This is me at 10:27AM yesterday morning.

This is me around 12 noon.

Yesterday, around 12 noon I was chewed out (expletives and all) by a customer. Actually, I was verbally abused, more than just chewed out. I have very thick skin, so to have been upset by someone speaking nonsense is unheard of. Actually, I have a high tolerance for foul language, to make it more unbelievable yet.

I won't explain the details, quite frankly because I am just worn out of explaining the occurrances to: my co-workers (who did not know what to do when I was so upset), my manager, my Sr. Manager, and recently my Director who wanted a write-up for HR.

The amazing thing to anyone that knows me well is that I never lost my cool and I never talked back. The amazing thing to my 18 year old who does not understand why I didn't break my hand against the phone is that I am just really glad for the lessons I have learned from this:

1. I should stop using foul language. It may seem harmless to me but it may be harmful to others. It also may send the wrong message even when I am not trying to be inpolite.

2. I am thankful for my job, my company, my co-workers and my manager. It is very nice to have people champion behind me and take this situation seriously (maybe a little too seriously).

3. I like my job, a lot. A little something in the back of my head was worried that I would get in trouble and I did not want to be in trouble, because I like my job.

4. I have made headway into a few of my secret goals for 2009. One of which is self-discipline.

5. Another one is re-encountering my fear of mediocrity.

6. The last one being allowing myself to feel what I am feeling. Granted, it is pretty easy to allow myself to feel anger, but it is going somewhere.

7. I have good friends who were upset WITH me and wanted to take this guy down on my behalf.

8. I have a very supportive husband.

9. I have encountered the WORST and handled it, which means I can deal with it ALL.

10. I have a new umphh to do my job and will do my best to prove the jerk wrong and show everyone that I am on top of my game.

11. I have the strength to not let one guy ruin my whole day. We laughed about the whole story last night. Me and my peeps from our very long-running Thursday Night Bible Study.

12. I can know win bad day poker and bad customer poker with one story.

13. I am an emotional eater, after all. This is a good realization because now I can work on controlling that.

All is well that ends well.

My favorite hymn that we sang last night:

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Catholic School Stories Pt. 1

2009-02-03T15:06:00.004-05:00

Puerto Rico schooling is such that whenever possible, a parent will pay to send a child to private school. Most private schools are Catholic and much more affordable than in the US. I went to many schools leading up to the 7th grade. When we moved towns, my mom managed to find us a spot at Notre Dame and my life changed. Yep, even though I am not Catholic and my parents weren't either, we all agree that ND is a life changing school. If you are looking for schooling in PR, look no further and contact me for details, but if you are reading my blog, I will spare you and instead bring you the first of (hopefully) a series of stories from school.

STORY ALERT (may be boring):
Unlike the stereotype, we did not have nuns running all over the place. We also did not have priests. Our school was run by what I consider liberal Redentorist priests assisted by the nuns of Notre Dame, who are also quite liberal and wear simple blueish skirts with white button down shirts and short hair. We had something like 2 priests and 4 nuns. While all but 1 of the priests that went through were Latin American, the nuns were all American. They had been in Puerto Rico for a long time and could converse to some extent in Spanish. The nuns and American priest had quite the American accent and confused the genders of stuff constantly, but you get over the initial funniness of that after a bit.

We had a huge campus (by PR standards at least) and our sports teams were at the top of the lists. Our school also had a very intense/dedicated science program and a strong focus in that area so we competed in many science competitions and belonging to the Chemistry club was just as elite as belonging to the Varsity team.

Our principal is a visionary. An amazing guy really. He has been in seminary, he taught every AP Chemistry class until a few years after we left and while he was not the day to day moderator of the Chemistry club, as a chemist and early member of it, he was quite involved.

The Chemistry club initiation took place close to the end of every year (as close to St. Patrick's as possible) of High School and was officiated by the principal. It was a semi-secret event to which only teachers and Chemistry club members along with special guests are invited. A demonstration proceeded with the legend that a nun, a long time ago had encountered an elf in the school who eventually died. She kept the bones of the elf in a coffer and every initiation, the elf likes to come and visit. The recipe is written in the history of the school. He had all the props, setup the Bunsen burner and added all the chemicals and would stir in the "bones". Supposedly, as he stirred, the bones of the elf would contort and reveal the future of the school.

It was awesome! I do not know if my classmates liked it as much. The elf spoke in parables of wet twins (water fountains) and things of the like. It was up to the attendees to decipher the predictions. Eventually, an explosion would occur and the elf would materialize (really a purple foam) in a cloud of smoke and all the guests would rush out the doors and proceed to the reception.

Why don't we have stuff like that as adults? Why don't we make everyday life interesting like that? It surely isn't just teenagers that enjoyed the demonstration, the teachers (the ones that had been there for a long time anyway) made sure to attend. So what happens when we grow up? When do we become boring and uninterested?

What I am learning (Thursday 13)

2009-01-28T14:11:00.003-05:00

The serious post is here, if you want to read a funny list of 13, skip here

1. Work Life balance is NECESSARY and HARD to maintain/create.

2. Working Out WILL, indeed, give you more energy. Write that down to remember when you don't want to go.

3. The need for friendship is NOT properly satisfied by the constant acquisition of random acquaintances. It is important to invest in people's lives and it is equally important to allow others to invest in yours.

4. Leave it all out on the field. Once you carefully choose a course of action, LEAVE IT ALL OUT ON THE FIELD.

5. It IS, indeed, true that: Second to trying and winning is trying and failing (LM Montgomery). As a corollary, it is shameful to not try at all, it is weak and shallow.

6. Do NOT judge a book by its cover. My best friends have found me before I was aware of them. Some of my favorite activities started with "I never will".

7. Do NOT look at the past in an attempt to re-live it. Look back only long enough to learn from your mistakes and LET IT GO. Once you do that, you will be stronger, happier and ready for new experiences.

8. Kids and the elderly hold the key! Look at things through their eyes and the smallest day to day tasks take on a new value and a new meaning. This so far seems to cure road rage, impatience, the desperate need to understand stuff and delusions of grandeur.

9. Them mice in your head that work double-time at making you doubt and wonder and not trust and second guess? FIRE THEM! Keep your conscience and common sense, but the mice are no good. Maybe without them you will be wrong about some things, but with them, you can never enjoy a good thing.

10. True friendships are indeed resilient and lasting. There is no sweeter taste than the realization that a "lost" friend was just on hiatus. True friendships are apparently re-kindled effortlessly, when you least expect it and when you most need it.

11. Do not let your fears have any impact on your choices/decisions and actions. It is silly to let thoughts of things you do not like direct your path.

12. LIVE LIFE! Enjoy every moment, every note, every red light, every falling hair, every rain drop, every puke, every cold, every germ, every tear, every laugh, every hug and every helping hand. Enjoy every little, big, old, young, new strong and weak gem that crosses your path. Do not do this because you are afraid it might be the last or you might lose your gems, do it because it is worth enjoying all that.

13. I miss my sisters more than anything in this world. My sisters are both wonderful, beautiful, smart, insightful people. It is a good thing God picks those because I could have never made a better choice and I would have missed out. My baby sister is amazingly trustworthy and loyal. My middle sister does not ever cease to amaze me and I doubt she ever will. If someone wrote a movie about our lives together (me and middle sis), it would HAVE to be a musical.

Happenin' Humping Hump Day

2009-01-28T11:09:00.004-05:00

So I am readying a post of Thursday Thirteens, but Thursday is an easy day. So, I figured people need something to read on Wednesdays. The title is in honor of my teenagehood friend Elba who loves calling it 'Hump Day'.

So, here it is.

Things to do to get through Hump Day:

1. Pandora --This is very easy. It takes literally 30 seconds to get you to your favorite music. You enter artists and songs that you like and Pandora will play it intermixed with songs they consider to be similar. You get information about the artist and why the selection was made. Also, if you don't like something hit the thumbs down and they apologize and never play it again. What is wild is that I tried this for a few hours yesterday and only had to thumb down 2 songs and thumbed up just about everything else.

2. $2 Skate -- In Georgia, Sparkles has a $2 skate night. Also, Bowling Alleys and other like places have discounts on Wednesdays.

3. In Puerto Rico and other states, Wednesday is ladies night for movies and other date type activities. Meaning discounts.

4. Blogger -- Start a blog, or revive your dying one.

5. Text/E-mail a friend you haven't spoken to in a while.

6. Craigslist -- Get on craigslist and just look at the ads. Be careful with personal ads as they can be inappropriate and meeting people off the internet is dangerous.

7. Ebay -- Remember that lunch box you carried to school in the 3rd grade? Do you miss it? Look it up on ebay. Careful, it is addictive.

8. Lottery -- We do not advocate playing. Seriously, even if you played, chances are you would not win. BUT, the GA Lottery records the numbers for all past drawings and you can enter numbers on the website and it will see if it matches any drawings in the past. You can even download the results to Excel and do some stats with it.

9. Draw something, doodle, something. Remember that pencil you pushed through so many years of school and which has been replaced by the keyboard, use it... it is very freeing to do so.

10. Make your weekend plans. Nothing makes Wednesday go by faster than planning for the weekend.

11. wikiHow -- Learn anything from how to braid, skate, ride a bike to how to bake, throw parties, re-create your life. It is amazing! When you are done reading the crazy abundance of guides try something from there for kicks (I do not recommend trying anything from the life advice section).

12. The Uncyclopedia -- Bet you have heard of Wikipedia by now. But, the Uncyclopedia looks, feels and smells like Wikipedia without all the real content. It is hillarious. Read the article on Earth for starters!

13. Wikipedia -- Gain some real knowledge that is close to accurate. The impress your friends. Consider this piece of interesting information about the Birthday Song and its strict copyright. I bet you never knew! Ok, if you have ever eaten with Jamil in the last year at a restaurant and it was someone's birthday, you have heard that information. If you are not inclined to reading, we are open for dinner all of next week just find a restaurant with good probability of birthdays and he will tell you all about it!

So, hopefully this will help you in your future pursuits of conquering Wednesday. We are not responsible for your employment status resulting directly or indirectly from following any of the 13 suggestions above. Nor are we responsible for the effects of any action resulting directly or indirectly from you following instructions from anyone, including any item contained hereinto or hereoutof or due to your bad hearing, etc, etc, etc. Read, we are broke and will not be sued!

Jamil and Jamil went for a walk...

2009-01-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

Patricia's recent post had me thinking about what my own "20 year old self", "15 year old self", and even "5 year old self" would say about my current life... Here goes...

Favorite Ice Cream
Now: Rocky Road.
20 yo: Rocky Road.
15 yo: Chocolate (hadn't discovered Rocky Road yet).
5 yo: Chocolate.

Prepackaged lunches
Now: Awesome!
20 yo: Awesome!
15 yo: Awesome!
5 yo: Awesome!

Gym / Exercise:
Now: Never!
20 yo: Never!
15 yo: Never!
5 yo: Never!

Work:
Now: Shouldn't I own my own business?
20 yo: Stupid cube farm.
15 yo: Nice! You're successful.
5 yo: Wow! That is a lot of money, and you're on the computer all day!

Favorite Color:
Now: Blue.
20 yo: Blue.
15 yo: Blue.
5 yo: Blue.

So, in short... The only differences between "me" and all the "mini-me"s, are related to how I view my job/work. (At least for the specific categories in Patricia's original post!)...

Patricia and Patricia went for a walk

2009-01-20T11:35:00.013-05:00

If it isn't clear to the few lurkers of this blog, something has changed.

I am trying to bring Rolling on the floor laughing back, but I don't know if it is still there. I mean, I am laughing lots and lots and lots: YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I am enjoying little things that you wouldn't believe. Jamil is thankfully quite amused by all of it. This morning this moron lady changed lanes in front of me, past where the turn lane line becomes solid, with no indicator on and proceeded to break on a yellow so we missed the green turn light: I did not honk (gasp).

Actually, I wanted to for a minute, but then I thought "it is just as well that I sit here in my car on the road and enjoy my morning drive since I do not get to drive so much anymore". 25 year old Patricia screams in my ear: Seriously, WHAT?! C'mon, get a grip Patricia". 16 year old Patricia claps twice and says "Goody yes, maybe let's also skip work and go for a long drive, we have waited so long to do this". 5 year old Patricia thinks "Look! special edition, I wonder why her car is special edition, why is it special? how many special ones are there? what does the regular edition look like? that's a pretty green color hanging there!" 3 year old Patricia, meanwhile sucks her thumb intrigued by a very familiar smell in the car, it makes her smile.

In an effort to bring funny back, here is some other Patricia arguments:

Which ice cream flavor?
Strawberry of course. 22 year old screams: Jake's chocolate slap yo' mama. 10 year old says nothing like chocolate, 7 year old remembers good bean ice cream and 5 year old does not really like any of it.

About my pre-packaged lunch?
If I never eat Hormel again it will be too soon. 20yo: Hey, that solves the problem with the fridge space, awesome, no refrigeration... if only there was a rice with cheese one. 14yo: Why, Patricia, that does not look like rice and beans and while we like to try new things, rice is not supposed to be soupy wet. I thought we were going to step up from cafeteria food. 10yo: Whew, then we can put all $2 in our pocket to buy a nice present for someone special instead of wasting it on ketchupped burgers, maybe we can go to the craft store and buy some materials to make some stuff. 5yo: Can I just have milk instead? I really like the brown warm chocolatey stuff flowing from the bottle. The bottle has cool numbers, some are really big and some are small and they are on either side and when you scratch your fingernails on them it makes a cool sound and it feels nice. 2yo: I am never ever eating again, people who eat get fat. Look at grandma's pastor and all the people from church.

On going to the gym/excercising:
We must and we will! 20yo: Never, ever ever... I will play some roller hockey though with the guys on Curran Deck. 16yo: Ummm, remember we tried to avoid this? It causes injury and pain and we... ok we used to not need it... you have gotten a little chubby though, but still NO GYM can't we just walk downtown instead? 11yo: What and get hurt like the time with the baseball bat or the time with the basketball or the time with the volleyball? 4yo: Must conquer the monkey bars, we only got to the third one remember? 3yo: Can we ride the bike instead? I like playing better and you seem to have finally got the no wheels bit down, why risk forgetting?

On work and what I do for a living:
Pays the bills. 23yo: it will do until we figure out what we want. 17yo: great, found a way to be on the computer 24/7, I knew you could do it! I bet you are making friends all over the world! 12yo: I hope you get to program a lot and play Carmen San Diego, but exactly how are you going to make a better world on the computer again? 9yo: I bet you are really good at them fractions and conjugations and that's how you got the job. 7yo: Wow, and do you get to see how they make stuff? 5yo: You do what? Aw, c'mon. That is the best you can come up with? At least be the guy who puts the pills in a bottle but the lady who sits far away on a desk... c'mon! 3yo: But we liked flying, remember? What happened with all the flying? We also like hotels, remember the room service and the big bed and the TV and sleeping with the light on?

And what is my favorite color?
How the heck do you wake up one morning and not know what is your favorite color? Yet, I cannot name one!! 3: blue, 4-5: brown and black, 6-18: blue, ~19-20: yellow (RIP Jose Miguel) and Orange, briefly at 20: red and then I just don't know. I do like my eggs fried over medium with some sodium bicarbonate for the digestion. All Patricia's scream: yea, them tummy aches are no fun, but giving up chocolate/worrying/hot dogs/brownies/milk/fried food/eggs is no fun.

So that is it, my attempt at not boring you to death. WAKE UP!! WAKE UP!! WE ARE ALMOST DONE, WAKE UP!

I don't actually hear voices, but it is fun to try on someone else's perspective for a chance especially if it is a younger you. It helps figure out where you are going. Hopefully, one day, 70 year old Patricia will look back, smile, be in touch with the lives she has touched and the people she allowed to touch her heart, sigh, close her eyes and exhale the name of the most beautiful color in the world. Even better, she will ask two very important questions that we should all ask ourselves: Was it worth it? Are we proud of our work? and 70 Patricia's all of different ages will smile and scream in unison: YES! and YES! We are working to ensure God joins in on the second one.

The analogy you will never hear at Church--especially if you are Baptist

2009-01-13T12:15:00.005-05:00

Disclaimer: We don't drink, smoke or advocate anyone to do either.

We are all alcoholics... every one of us, so to speak.

We all have very important needs (food, clothes, etc.), but we also have very strong desires or wants (emotional, physical and spiritual). The most popular: respect, relationships (love, friendship, parent-child), power, recognition, etc.

Most of these are harmless, but when we get too much of one of them, it consumes us. Like alcohol consumes an alcoholic. The desires are not bad, like alcohol in itself is not bad. However, they are both intoxicating. Some of us have higher tolerance than others. In C.S. Lewis's eyes the pursuit of any of these is simply a pursuit of happiness and he writes “And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

So we hear this, C.S. Lewis is a highly regarded scholar so we try to heed his advice. We can sober up, switch to cigarettes, a lesser form of that which fills our needs. We turn to God, and the strength of the pull from the alcohol is minimal. Then, one day, by accident even, you get a taste of the sweetest, purest, highest proof alcohol you have ever tasted-something they call joy-and you know life will never ever be the same.

So you go back to Lewis:
“God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

And you wonder:
You realized the error in your ways. You realized that there was no happiness away from God. You realized happiness is in seeking God. You deprived yourself of earthly desires that take your attention away from the Source. You were not even looking for anything else, yet you are in the middle of pure bliss, so how could this be?

My answer:
God allows us to have a taste of happiness/joy provided by Him (a happiness you could never find even if you searched the whole world for it), with no effort of our own. This temporary state allows us to experience:
1. His Power--He can do what your efforts have failed to do.
2. His Mercy--We screw up, yet he chooses to bless us.
3. Heaven--happiness on earth is just a small taste of Heaven.
4. Your powerlessness--You need HIM.

When it is all done, because everything in the world ends, you are left longing not for the happiness which we can obtain by our efforts, but the joy only He can provide. Life's tests are simply the time periods during which this joy is absent from our lives. It is then that we make a very important choice: be bitter that our perfect bottle has been taken away and wallow in cheap beer or push on through enjoying the spare cigarette along the way knowing full well that whatever we do not have here, there is a bigger bottle of the sweetest, purest, most intoxicating alcohol you have ever tasted waiting on the other side. You have had a taste and know that nothing else will satisfy you the same.

Cherish every rainbow rising in the sky in spite of the rain...

2009-01-08T08:46:00.003-05:00

So it is officially an epidemic of pondering around these parts. I have discussed the issue of trust and friendship at least 30 times in the last month with a good 15-20 people--only 5 times have I been the one to bring up the subject. Roman and Greek philosophers such as Cicero and Laelius wrote many treatises on the subject with great passion. The Bible itself contains a good number of examples: David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, Jesus and Lazarus. This is just a low quality story and is not meant or able to rival any of the other sources.

So this is right after one of the best summers of my life (Math program in California). I was building a puzzle of L.A. in my parents house in Puerto Rico when the phone rang and my "plans" changed.

Me: Hello
Christel: Hello, Patricia...
(Christel's tone is very business like which is not uncommon for her, but she worked hard to get to the next few words--this made it harder to understand what she said next)

Christel: I have some very bad news.. You remember Kevin?

Boy did I remember Kevin! Kevin was the most awesome guy in the world. We were all in grad school together. Grad school is very trying. Kevin didn't have it all figured out, but he sure as hell helped as much as he could to get us to feel welcome and figure stuff out. I loved Kevin like the big brother he took upon himself to be. I bugged him to stop smoking, but would stand outside with him while he smoked all the same.

He was very tall, very sweet, a huge teddy bear like no one else I ever knew. He was also very deep. We had a number of very interesting conversations about life, heritage, love, family, God, our beloved islands in the Caribbean and math. He was always encouraging me to push through in grad school.

As a matter of fact, I had been thinking about him and even e-mailed him without response a few weeks before Christel's call with no response. I figured he was busy...

Patricia: Of course... How is he doing?
Christel: Yes, so they found him dead. Apparently he died on Monday (July 21st, 2003)

Dead what? Dead serious? Where is Michael laughing in the background? C'mon guys this is not funny...

Patricia: What do you mean dead?
Christel; His roommate found him dead in his room. His brother is making arrangements to take his body back to the island. There will be a memorial service later in the week.
Patricia: What do you mean dead? What happened? Was he sick?
Christel: He had had food poisoning. No one really knows what happened and his family is keeping everything private. He has had a rough semester overall.
Patricia: Send me the details of the memorial.
Christel: Ok, but you will not be in town.
Patricia: No problem.

So a few other things about Kevin: he was sick an awful lot and he rarely complained. But, food poisoning? How could food poisoning take MY friend? How could a little food poisoning take down a guy as big as Kevin?

I did the only natural thing... I continued to build my puzzle.

Mom: Who was that?
Patricia: Christel
Mom: What happened?
Patricia: Oh, she was just telling me about a kid in school who died...

I must have sounded very convincing because she did not pick up at all on what the news meant: I had lost my dear Kevin. Actually, I think I was convincing because the news hadn't made it all the way in my head yet. Either way, I realized there was something odd that just happened. I tried to understand what was going on. What went wrong. A few minutes later, I had it all figured out. I called Christel back with my conclusion. She said they had decided not to tell me the whole story until I got back.

I should have kept in touch like I said I would! I am a tool for not doing so, life is sooo short. That would not have changed the outcome since some things were already in gear which I could not stop, or could I? It took a long time to make peace with the fact that Kevin was not coming back. It took longer to make peace with the fact that I wasted the last 2 months of time I had with Kevin by not staying in touch. I had phantom Kevin syndrome for a very long time. I would think "oh, I need to tell Kevin this" or "oh, Kevin is not in yet" or "should I wait for him to go to lunch?" The calls coming in our shared office asking for kevin in the following year did not help. I was in shock.

I tried to blame his death on other people and when I got tired of assigning guilt, I heard the full story from another source. Then I understood that there are things you cannot change and there are things outside your control. Everyone must travel their own road and all you can do is be there, open ears to hear their calling for help, open arms to help them stand up and open heart so you can rejoice in the memories later.

Today, 5.5 years later, I still think of Kevin. He was so right about so many things and so wrong about so many others. I took for granted that he would be there when I came back. This is a bad philosophy of life because there is no promise of tomorrow. We should live today, every day, like there is no tomorrow. Real friends are special gifts from God/life with unknown expiration dates. Few are meant to stay a lifetime, no matter how hard we try. But we serve them and ourselves best if we maximize the little or long time we have together by putting all we got on the line and worrying about picking up the pieces later. Worrying before loving is a recipe for regret and missed opportunities or as L.M. Montgomery puts it: Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing.

"Dance like no one is watching, love like you'll never be hurt,sing like no one is listening,and live like it's heaven on earth."- William Purkey

The proof is in the pudding or American nonsense sayings series part 2

2009-01-05T13:29:00.006-05:00

Jamil is nuts. Yes sir, he most certainly is. He is trying to make it sounds like it is me, but no sir, it ain't. He is the crazy one he just has you all fooled.

One thing about me, though, I think American sayings do not make much sense.

This afternoon he says: the proof is in the pudding.
Me: The what?
J: The proof.
Me: What proof?
J: The pudding.
Me: So what does the pudding prove?
J: It proves nothing, the pudding IS the proof.
Me: But you said the proof was IN the pudding.
J: Right.
Me: So how can the proof be both THE pudding and IN the pudding?
J: I need a grocery list.
Me: I will give you a list, but I do not like pudding, so don't buy any.
J: I wasn't going to buy pudding.
Me: Is this pudding thing a saying or something?
J: Yes.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0704/dictionary_men070804.asp

(Jamil always resolves everything with google, ask him why his shoes are not velcro and you'll see)

J: It is a perfectly valid saying.
Me: All your base are belong to us.

Seriously! What a waste of perfectly good computer space.

The original proverb: "the proof of the pudding is in the eating."
So what if you do not like pudding? and what proof does the pudding require? And what if the pudding ends up being a false lead, why would you eat it? And eating just proves you have a stomach. If anything, this actually says the proof is in the eating of the pudding. How do you go from the proof is in the eating to the proof is in the pudding?

Other stupid American sayings I heard recently:
Bats in a bellfry -- Hopefully the bellfry is in the caves where bats belong
A Chain is Only as Strong as its Weakest Link -- Do you mean it is only as WEAK as the weakest link?
A diamond in the rough -- Doesn't that mean you are hard to cut through and have potential for being a lot of work for nothing? How is this a compliment?
A little goes a long way -- Yeah, if you are Jesus. Have you looked at the economy recently?
A dime a dozen -- listen, a dime is 10 and a dozen is 12. So what gives?

Some real sayings, the kind that help you live longer and avoid injury. Also the kind that explain life rather than complicate it. Of course, from Spanish origin:
A shrimp that falls asleep is swept up by the current.
He doesn't miss even a doll's baptism.
Longer than a poor man's hope.
Slower than a tar IV or a procession of lame men.
No one knows who they work for.

New Year's Resolutions...

2008-12-27T00:00:00.001-05:00

I used to do them as a kid because my parents made us do it. I haven't done them since I went to college. Recently, my piano teacher asked us to establish piano playing goals for 2009. On top of that, work requires us to write 5 goals for the year. While I hate the paperwork, there is something to be said about having explicit goals, so I decided to extend it to my whole life on a 1-year trial basis. I don't know how many you are supposed to have:

1. Put God first.

Learning
1. Complete writing the 2 piano pieces I am working on.
2. Complete my current piano level on the 2 methods. Get at least halfway through the next level.
3. Learn a piece I really want to play (deciding between the danza Coqui and Raul DiBlasio's Corazon de Nino).
4. Read at a minimum 1 book per month + 3 classics in the New Year.

Fun:
1. Go skydiving.
2. Go to an Atlanta Symphonic Orchestra concert.
3. Help with set-building consistently at Dramatech for at least 1 show.
4. Visit a few Jazz venues.
5. Take advantage of the city and all the festivals and arts that are available.
6. Support local independent artists.
7. Learn to shoot a gun.

Travel:
1. NYC--I haven't been in almost 2 years, and that is unacceptable.
2. Miami--I may decide to scratch this one off after visiting family nearby on Jan 4th.
3. Dallas--I have seen Elba for about 6 hours in the last 4 years or so, need to improve that stat.
4. See a new state with friends.

Focus:
1. Develop a plan to leave the grasp of The Man within the next 10 years.
2. Go on an unorganized retreat away from the city before April, religious or not.
3. Continue an exercise regime and improve on the diet for the next year.

What are your resolutions?

Things that make me go Hmmmm....

2008-12-23T08:55:00.002-05:00

Not one for the sap, but this is pretty neat.

And for comedy relief, I really want a CD by this guy!!

What's up?

2008-12-19T18:22:00.003-05:00

Someone brought to my attention an old post in the blog. Then I realized we haven't posted in a while.

All is well. New job is good, Christmas tree is gone and we get to spend Christmas in PR.

God has been teaching me some lessons lately:
1. HE is in control and not me, I should not worry.--My new company laid off 150 people, 2 from my team, about 3 weeks into my new job. Somehow I was spared. One of the reasons I wanted to change jobs is the many lay-offs in the previous company.
2. I should obey when he speaks--We had a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch with friends from many places. We did this in obedience (I hate to cook). I am not one to over-Godify everyday life, but maybe I should.
3. New people--I have had the opportunity to make new acquaintances at the new job. it was hard in the beginning. I was so used to moving in the road-warrior consultant world where everyone is equally outgoing and equally willing to meet new people (especially when it meant dinner is not eaten alone), that I had forgotten how the whole thing worked in the real world. I am re-learning and patiently waiting for Him to use these "new" bits for His glory.
4. Music--God has a plan for it all and I need to be diligent with my part.
5. Mysterious and Magnificent--God works in mysterious ways, at mysterious times, by mysterious circumstances and through mysterious people. I am overwhelmed by this truth. My cup is overflowing with his blessings. My mind is amazed by His power. My heart is glad. These ways, circumstances and especially these people, I am convinced, are God's way of lending us a taste of heaven here on earth.

Will hopefully update closer to year end with some resolutions.

The Night Before Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T01:18:00.008-05:00

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving, when in the garage
A single tree was standing - no not a mirage!

The limbs were still greenish with spots of light brown,
But this had to be done, or the house might burn down.
Patricia was at work, earning some bread,
While visions of mulch danced in my head.
The dog was still playing, and I hadn't begun,

When Patricia arrived home and saw what I'd done.
The garage smelled of pine, she said with a smile,
I replied, "It will be better, if you wait just a while!"
To the hedge trimmer, I went with great speed,

While Patricia took Mambo away with the lead.
The needles began to fall to the ground,
While the trimmer made trim-trimming sounds.
I paused only to take some quick photo shots,
Though few are displayed, I really took lots!

I circled the tree, trimming all around,
Then swept all the clippings into a small mound.
The needles, the branches, and the rest of the tree
(Not the trunk, I mean just the debris),
Went into bags - big ones and brown -
To be picked up by trucks, owned by the town.

With the Christmas stick, I decided to play,
I made it hold the broom, in more than one way!
First, like a hook, it held it so high,
Then balanced across (You should give this a try!).

Finally, I finished, but for one task,
Chopping the trunk, but I had not an axe!
No matter, a friend with a saw came by, you see,
And saw he did; We saw him saw the trunk of the tree!
The sawing, I didn't take pictures of, though.
So you can't see, but at least you can know
How the Christmas tree from 2007,
Stayed with us until month number eleven,
And how after 339 glorious days,
We said our good-byes and parted our ways.
So to all who are reading, before saying good-night,
Know Patricia is happy, that it is out of her sight!

From Twilight to Eclipse (Thursday 13)

2008-11-06T11:20:00.002-05:00

So, we haven't posted much lately. I am not really sure why because I have thought about it a bunch.

No Spoilers here if you have read through half of book 2.
I have been reading the stupid Twilight Series. I hate so much that I am unable to put the stupid books down!! I am halfway through Eclipse. I was super enchanted with Edward in book 1 and super mad at him in book 2. The I fell in love with Jacob and cannot understand why Bella would prefer Edward. Perfection should wear out at some point. Besides, there is only so much one should be able to glare without going cock-eyed, smell someone's breath without sending them to brush their teeth and wouldn't you rather cuddle with a pillow than a wall or be embraced in warm arms than cold ones? I guess it must be the whole rebellious teenager bit.

Then, there is the election. I do not like to discuss politics in an open forum like this. I think my political ideologies should be private. However, there is one question that I wonder:
Regardless of who you support, being that Obama ran on a platform of change there should be one question on everyone's minds will this be Twilight to Eclipse or Twilight to Dawn? This is a valid question wherever you stand because with big risks come big accomplishments or big failures.

Whoever you are:
1. Be conservative with money, lending and committments
2. Be conservative with energy.
3. This Christmas, shop for items that will provide entertainment for long periods so as to avoid spending on outings (board games, bicycles, etc).
4. Do the best job you can for your employer whether you think you are doomed for unemployment for life or whether you think you are indispensable, the whole economy will benefit from steady workers and God looks gladly on this committment.
5. Above all, be honest, resist temptation.
6. Enjoy your family and help others in need to provide them with the opportunity to enjoy their family as well.
7. Cherish the elderly, learn from their advice, bring joy to them any way you can.
8. Start a diet, no better time to eat less than now when the food is so expensive.
9. Exercise, it costs nothing to do a few push-ups and sit-ups and it will save energy from a TV that is off, money from entertainment you did not pay for and give you better sleep.
10. Listen to the kids. They usually have insight we do not, they see the world through oh so very simple eyes and oh so very calm places.
11. Wash your hands, do it often please... I do not want to catch a bad cold and I refuse to get vaccinated against the flu.
12. Root for Georgia Tech... especially if you are a Dawg. Ok, if you are outside of Georgia, root for a team where their athletes are more than race horses but are actually being challenged and working toward being productive in the future... like Georgia Tech.
13. Above all, praise God. Take this opportunity when you either have no President to defend (if you didn't vote for Obama) or where you have no candidate to sell (since your vote elected Obama) and get closer to God.

Happy day before Friday!

And the winner is...

2008-10-12T21:48:00.006-04:00

Heidi

Sure enough, the 100 entries gave her an edge right into the winner's circle. A fair seed random number generator was used for complete fairness. Heidi, contact me through facebook so we can arrange pick-up. Due to the surprise nature of the tree type, no pictures had been posted in the giveaway announcement. However, I have managed to take some now and here they are: pictures of the all-natural, low-maintenance, organic, indoor tree. This tree has served us well for the past year and we hope it fills the Zawisa home with the same joy and good times as it did for us... May it bless you for many years to come!!

This experiment has worked so well, in fact, that I will be working on a next, even better, giveaway in the next weeks. Stay tuned all ye new followers... do not give up on us yet. There is more to come...

Giveaway pictures:

This tree has been featured in other posts such as:
Tag we are it
My husband the lizard-catcher Rocks!
Where have we been
Free mulch and other Thursday 13s

Here is what it looked like in its youth -- the free tree that we received the day before Jesus' birthday! It's the gift that keeps on giving!!

Nature Made!! Free!! Giveaway!! Enter now (ends October 12th at midnight)!!

2008-10-03T09:56:00.004-04:00

So, Heidi is giving away a beautiful hand-made bulletin board. This has pumped her ratings in the blog-world very high!!

I cannot compete with Heidi though, just read the rest of her blog and you see why. Besides, she has all the mom's in the world on her side and we have no blog readers.

Either way, I discussed this new idea with Jamil and we are ready for our very first, free! giveaway. To enter, just leave a comment on this blog.

We are giving away, ONE ORGANIC ALL-NATURAL NATURE MADE TREE. This tree is an indoor tree and will require no painful planting in your yard (you could plant it in your yard if you prefer though). This contest is open to anyone willing to come to our house (background check required) and pick it up. For pick-up you will not need anything bigger than a mid-size sedan (we picked this tree up in our Accord), we do recommend you bring a trash bag as all trees are dirty. The kind of tree will be kept a surprise as we are an equal opportunity blog and would never discriminate amongst the Plant Kingdom. With the tree, you also get your very own J&P lunch! That is right folks! The winner gets lunch which will be at least Fast Food quality (this is to balance the organic giveaway, we are an equal opportunity blog and would never discriminate, besides organic means that it contains Carbon as does just about anything you eat--except rocks, metals and some dirt).

So, why wait? Enter now!! Leave a comment and get 1 entry, blog about this on your blog and get 10 entries (better than Heidi!!). Be the first to post a youtube video and get 100 entries (all others that post on youtube get 50 entries). This is an opportunity not to be missed. Contest ends October 12th at midnight, because Jamil and I got engaged on this date.

Tag WE are it!

2008-10-02T09:46:00.002-04:00

Jessica has tagged us! The rules of the tag are as follows:
1.Post the rules on your blog.
2.Write six random things about yourself.
3.Tag six people at the end of your post.
4. If you are tagged, JUST DO IT, and pass the tag along.

Since Jessica actually tagged BOTH me and Jamil and in the spirit of Heidi's blog, I will divide these evenly between random things about me and random things about Jamil. For those of you still blind enough to believe Jamil is blameless and oh so nice, I have a Christmas Tree sitting in my living room, 3 months away from next Christmas (which is now this Christmas).

Six random thoughts:
1. Jamil is very sheltered. He has these ideas from when he was a kid that no one bothered to correct and I have had the arduous task to do so. Thank God for Google. Some samples: he used to think the Winter Olympics were the main event (ok he still does although he acknowledges the evidence), he used to think the guys holding "I need ticket signs" outside the stadium really did need tickets and almost gave away some really good ones to them and wouldn't believe they were scalpers and you should ask him one day what the pharmacist does in the back room when you deliver a prescription.
2. I call myself Puerto Rican, but truly, but American definition, I am not. I was born and raised there, but my mom is Cuban and my dad is Dominican so I am actually a 1st generation American.
3. Jamil is also a 1st generation American. But even better, he is actually African American because his parents were born and raised in Africa (which makes them African). The dimwit rejected attending Duke because the threatened to offer him a minority scholarship!! Boys and pride!
4. There is nothing I love more than white rice and cheese in bed. Yep, I can even eat and drink lying down and love me some white rice (non-Uncle Bens, cooked with salt) and a slice or two of American cheese melting on top. I learned this delicacy as a latch-key kid and I learned the lying down skill because for the first 11 years of my life, I ate every meal in that fashion spoiled at the hand of my grandmother, great grandmother and great grandmother's sister. My childhood was pure bliss!
5. Let's just say that Jamil does not like blood.
6. The idea of getting a puppy started with me. Although, by the time we were about to get him, I was halfway to my senses, I started the whole puppy craziness. That said, it started with me trying to get a reaction from Jamil and when he wouldn't react, I had to insist until I got a reaction, only I started to believe it myself. I don't regret it though and Mambo has helped lessen my ubiquitous fear of dogs.

I don't really think many people read this blog. Also, all the people I stalk have been tagged, so that leaves only people I know in person who blog (not many). I am a big rule believer though, so I'll tag 6 people as per the rules: Allison, Sarah, Christine Butcher, Pete (I am certain he doesn't read this but he hasn't been tagged so it satisfies the word of the law) and the Cranes.

Nathanael

2008-09-27T15:03:00.002-04:00

So my old boss has the cutest little red-headed kid. They live in deep south, rural South Carolina which is highly republican. They are still trying to figure this one out:

My husband, the lizard catcher, ROCKS!

2008-09-14T21:22:00.002-04:00

Jamil had a recent experience at Church where during the altar call he jumped in the front of the room, to the awe of our pastor to catch an intrusive lizard.

Yeah, that was probably a bit goofy, but he was just trying to save us women toward the front of the Church from being eaten by this lizard.... By the way, this was no ordinary lizard, this was a salamander about a foot in length (tail included) color black with yellow. Either way, I didn't see very many other men ready to tackle the beast, including Pete who, while from the country, does not know a lizard from a salamander.

Well, Jamil cooks, cleans, takes care of the puppy, does the laundry and works to bring home our daily bread and goes out of his way to find my food from home in odd places. It is very nice to know that a couple of weeks ago when I went to PR, he stayed with the puppy and I knew was coming home to a clean-ish (Esperanza was in Colombia... more on her later) house and all the clothes we needed for our Vegas trip nicely laid out.

Unfortunately, he is off the market, although I do rent him out to special, qualified women over a certain age. Fortunately though, I married him while he was still in his desirable age because his great charms are hidden under loads of geeky Star Trek, 1 hour showers, behind 2 computer monitors and between two HUGE ears and a big nose so you wouldn't want him anyway :P

Where have we been?

2008-09-10T19:31:00.002-04:00

Maybe one day I will write all the posts I meant to write in our hiatus. Here is the skinny (ok a little chubby really):

1. I quit my first full-time job in what was a very tough. I have been wanting to move to a different position on and off for the last year. I finally jumped the shark and now it is buh-bye.
2. I had some time off in between jobs which coupled with Labor Day weekend adds up to me going to Puerto Rico for a few days.
3. I couldn't leave Jamil without some jobless bliss, so my last weekend as an unemployed woman I took him (we really have one pocket, but this sounds funnier) to Las Vegas baby!
4. We met Miesha and her sister in Vegas. Jamil's "jamilness" showed up in full fling and we learned every "how to be cheap in Vegas" trick in the handbook thanks to me being out on the long weekend and Travel Channel's special on Vegas.
5. We saw David Copperfield and Blue Man Group (everyone must see BMG and Tobias actually fit BMG quite perfectly).
6. We came back and I have been at my new job for a grand 3 days. So far not a dull moment at work which is very nice!

Maybe Jamil will get bloggy and post some video and pictures. Our Christmas Tree went from green to orange right in time for Halloween so, since I dislike Halloween, now its death sentence has been called!

Free Mulch! and Other Thursday 13's

2008-08-21T18:50:00.003-04:00

1. Do you have a mulcher?
2. A pickup truck?
3. Do you need dead used-to-be green matter?
4. Boy have I the solution for you.
5. Our Christmas Tree has just recently turned brown.
6. We will hopefully not be there in January when we can safely throw it out without weird looks from the HOA.
7. But I don't think the tree will make it another year.
8. So, if you have a truck and need pot-purri (ok it doesn't smell so much anymore)...
9. Maybe you need mulch? (ok maybe it is a little dry now).
10. If you like lighting things on fire?
11. Maybe you need to decorate your kids' classroom (not guaranteed to survive the travel).
12. I know, maybe you are someone with some influence over Jamil?
13. TAKE MY TREE AWAY AND OUT OF MY HOUSE!!

Thirteen Things This Thursday

2008-08-14T21:23:00.002-04:00

1. I can't believe how fast everything has happened.
2. I can't believe I have accepted a job.
3. I can't believe I gave my 2 weeks notice.
4. I must be nuts!
5. No more working from home.
6. No more travelling to cool places.
7. Ok, maybe I will still get to travel some.
8. I hate the unknowns.
9. I am the queen of What If's.
10. I can't believe I am leaving the job that was my dream job not too long ago.
11. I hope the new job is all it is cracked up to be.
12. I am excited that I get to see my family soon.
13. So much to do at the old job, for the new job and even to go see my family.

I read that stress can take as much as 7 years away from your life expectancy. I feel like I am under constant stress. I am not even sure stress for what or about what. So, there it is... I am really leaving this time, I try not to think about it to try to increase my life expectancy.

Jamil missed the deadline and I got stopped by a cop

2008-08-01T16:36:00.004-04:00

Happy Anniversary to us. We got married on August 1st. And here is Jamil's gift. One day, I will tell you how he booked our honeymoon. I cannot believe people think he is THE nice one:

No fair! Jamil missed the deadline to renew our cars' tags and I got stopped by a cop early in the morning for it. This is my first time being stopped and they gave me a warning and let me go. I am very thankful but I am very upset that I wasted my warning on something that was not my fault.

So this has caused a change in perspective... Perspective of how this mythical stop would occur.

Before I ever got stopped here is what I would have imagined:
Officer: Ma'am, do you know why I have stopped you?
Patricia: I am sorry, I am not sure.
Officer: Ma'am, your registration has expired.
Patricia: Oh really, wow... Hey, I got some medicine here, can you check the expiration date on that too?

or

Officer: Ma'am, your light is out.
Patricia: Oh, serious? I am so sorry, I better run and change it.
Officer: Ma'am, also your tires seem a little low.
Patricia: Yikes! Can you check my oil level while we are at it?

This is what actually took place:
Patricia (thinking): Oh my God this police car is behind me... Oh my God it is still behind me.... Please don't run my tag, please don't run my tag.... Jamil will die if she...
Officer: *whooot Whoot* *Bright lights*
Patricia (thinking): Oh Crap!!... I was certain I changed the proper distance past the intersection. I also put my indicator and looked to the side. Jamil is sooooo dead, there is no way she will not notice now.
Patricia (talking loudly in the car in hopes that the officer can hear): Ok, where do you want me to stop? Please don't shoot, I am going to pull into the parking lot in front. Look, I am slowing down. Ok, where do you want me to park?
Patricia (thinking): I better put my hands on the wheel. But how can I open the window if my hands are on the wheel. Maybe the officer will tell me.
Officer: *Tap Tap annoyed that the window is up*
Patricia: Ok, she has no gun and has seen I have no gun so I guess I will put my window down... I wonder if I am supposed to...
Officer: Ma'am, the reason I have stopped you is that your registration is expired.
Patricia (very annoyed at Jamil): I know!! I just had this conversation with my husband. We got the cars inspected last night.
Officer: May I see the receipt?
Patricia looks and realizes she does not have it because dim wit Jamil kept it to register the car even though he said we better keep it IN the car.
Patricia: Crap, my husband has it, but I can call him and get the number from him.
Officer: That will not be necessary, do you have your driver's license?
Patricia: Yes, Ma'am (thinking she is grateful she took it, since sometimes she forgets.)
Officer goes away for what seems like eternity, Patricia prays really hard that she will not write a ticket and mess up her clea record, oh and she hopes she could have Jamil deal with the cop instead but the head blink and nod is getting her nowhere near this goal.

Officer returns license: Ma'am, I am going to let you off with a warning this time since we are still in July but you need to take care of this immediately.
Patricia: Thank you, thank you. I am really sorry.
Officer: I will move out from behind you first, then you can leave.
Patricia agrees and proceeds to call Jamil on her cell phone while trying to exit the parking lot, losing all common sense and driving in the middle of the road rather than the side of the road until she realizes the cop can still stop her.

This morning, Jamil had still not registered the cars... EVEN THOUGH HE HAD ALL THE PAPERS HE NEEDED!!! I called him every 5 minutes until he did and we are driving legally once again. Jamil is not as ashamed as he should be.

Me likes to travel...

2008-08-01T16:23:00.005-04:00

...But when I had the time, I had no money and when I have had money, there has been no time...

I am much farther behind on the 50 state feat than I thought... I guess with the depressed dollar we will speed up this list since travelling abroad is so much pricier.

create your own personalized map of the USA or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

And unfortunately, I am just as far behind on this one as I had expected.

create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

Anyone up for a trip this year?

"I fear mediocrity more than death"

2008-07-27T22:46:00.002-04:00

We recited this over and over on the first day of a life changing 10th grade. Benjamin Mendez, the 10th grade English teacher who just about wrote this in blood, would turn out to be both the best and the most dreaded teacher I ever had. He attended our wedding, in his white tuxedo, the designated pusher (you know in case I decided to walk backwards). He convinced me that my homesickness was only temporary and I wanted my Georgia Tech degree more than anything. He met and approved of Jamil. He was there when we were spent at a very tough and sketchy Forensics speech competition and I got my proud 6th or 8th place. I don't remember what place it was, but I remember he was there, just like he was there to convince me to stick in Forensics after I was edged out the previous year by some other strange circumstances. He was the first to hug me when I finished my speech as class Valedictorian. He was waiting at the bottom of the steps.

He is still alive somewhere in PR. It used to be that I could say he lived in my mind every time this phrase would sneak out into my thoughts. I fear mediocrity more than death... actually, I used to fear mediocrity more than death. Some days, and more frequently now that I work for THE MAN, I am not so sure. Somewhere in time, my fear of mediocrity has turned from fear to acceptance and I find myself resting in the easeness of a life that is content with what a minimum effort for what I need provides.

This needs to change. In fact, this change is starting now. Not only does Ben frown upon mediocrity but God does too. He has asked that everything we do should be done as if unto the Lord. How could I possibly offer mediocrity to a God who gave His only begotten Son for me? So what if my mediocrity goes by unnoticed, what if THE MAN, my friends, others are easily impressed? That is no excuse for me to settle at that level, because I do not do everything I do for anyone and I am not called to do it as if it was to THE MAN or as if it was to my friends or as if it was to others. I am called to do my duties as if onto the Lord.

Ben is no God, but God who provided me with Ben is a powerful God who works in mysterious ways, including excentric writings on a 10th grade English classroom wall at the hand of an unforgettable teacher. And so it is, that Ben was meant to have a one year impact in my life but instead has impacted my life in just about every season, even when it has been over a year since we last spoke. God bless Ben, God bless all the Ben's around the world and God continue to use Ben's to bless us and make us Ben's to bless others.

I voted!!

2008-07-22T16:56:00.003-04:00

And here is my sticker to prove it.

Here is a surprising fact...

Even though I am not afraid to express my opinion and I highly advocate excercising your vote whenever possible, I have never voted. Ok, so I did call a couple of times to vote on American Idol this season, but never for government posts.

Now, I registered to vote in Puerto Rico at 17. I eagerly looked forward to my first election in 2000, but I was in the U.S. and somehow missed my opportunity to vote by absentee ballot. Most people will brush that off saying ah.. those don't really even get counted, but there is a LARGE number of absentee ballots casted on any one PR election.

Then in 2004, I had achieved my most prized qualification. I was able to vote in the U.S. election (PR is part of the U.S. but we do not vote for the President or have any senators). But, ironically, a trip with my International Affairs class put me out of town for the election and somewhere along the lines of studying and planning projects, I missed the deadline for submitting my absentee ballot.

This year's primary.... that was going to be it. But then, the DMV stepped in to make my life miserable one more time and they lost my voter registration and I was not able to be registered on time to vote. Around April, when I had to renew my license, they seem to have hired someone with nonzero IQ at the DMV. I know the IQ was non-zero because I renewed via computer and many of them cannot really properly operate one (I have had to assist in the past, and I have had to sit through system down situations, so believe me I KNOW). I got registered to vote and my card came in the mail to the surprise of both me and my husband.

So, first chance I got, I voted. July 15th at 27 (a whole 10+ years since I first set out to be a voting citizen). I will not tell you who I voted for, but if you ever catch me in person, I will explain lots of fun stuff about how we chose.

And so we put an end to this little embarrassing part of my life.

FAQ:
1. What do you think of the sticker?
There is an 80% turn out for voting in PR, so we don't get stickers back home. The first time I saw these people with peach stickers I had to resist laughing.
2. Did you wear your sticker?
We voted at night time so I had no place to wear it to. Well, there was the grocery store, but I just carried it proudly in my hand through out there.
3. Man, I sense some bad vibe with the DMV, what is that all about?
The extense space occupied by the "intertubes" is not big enough to explain my gripes about the DMV. Maybe one day I will post some stories, but basically going to the DMV sucks. Whenever I walk through the door they immediately associate a number of adjectives to my person which do not belong and treat me like a second class citizen.
4. Are you sure it is not just about the fact that they ask about your weight?
No, if anything it is about how fat they make me look in the picture, but it is about neither of those.
5. Do you need a voter's registration card to vote?
No, just your driver's license. However, when the DMV refuses to get a grip on the inner workings of hispanic last names... you might need a smallish army of identifications unless you register through them.
6. Absentee ballots count in PR elections?
Yep, although usually the tie breaker votes are amongst the people in jail and prison. They also have Air Conditioning and Cable TV.
7. Wow, that is a good picture of your hand lines. I have nothing to do, can I read your hand and tell you the future?
No, but I hear the DMV is hiring. Let me know if you take the job, because I will then be able to read YOUR future.

Dear Sonny...

2008-07-10T11:59:00.003-04:00

The first day you turned these stupid light meters on, it took me and my husband (we carpool to save gas) about 30 minutes to get to the Highway entrance. This normally takes no more than 10 minutes.

Our commute at this time of the day is 35 minutes on average. Once we get to the expressway, regardless of traffic, we must drive 15 minutes at least. Now, an average is a smoothing of a number of trials so that an average of 35 minutes means that sometimes it takes us less and sometimes more than 35 minutes. You have thus successfully increased our late afternoon commute (we wait traffic out by giving the man extra hours of our lives) on average by at least 15 minutes if you keep this up.

Yes, it looks nice and clear on 285 but on top of all this, it took my husband 20 minutes to make his way down 1.5 miles on Hammond to pick me up for carpooling. He drove 1.33 hours that afternoon because as soon as we hit an area without a meter, you guessed it, 285 was just as packed.

Basically, you have achieved the great feat of making carpooling worthless for us and decreasing 285 traffic at the expense of local traffic (you should hear what those who pay expensive rents at the top end perimeter to avoid 285 have to say).

Let's see if you remember this very popular speech given at weddings:
The ring, great because it is a circle... it has no beginning and no end... like your love/relationship etc.

Do you know what else is a circle? 285. People only take this road because they feel the need to drive around the perimeter. This is the ONLY way around, backroads not only suck, but they are just as packed and only lead you to the next entrance to 285 which are now backed up due to people trying to get to the next (hopefully) less crowded 285 entrance.

Now, this was a while back... But we would not know what it looks like anymore since we are too busy trying to make money to pay for gas or buy a helicopter whichever is cheaper.

Here is a grand idea: How about incentives for companies that allow telecommuting? How about a useful public transportation system? How about increasing the speed-limit so people can ride around their circle quickly and just as quickly get out of my way?

Seriously man...

Sunning like an Iguana

2008-07-09T16:37:00.007-04:00

We just came back from Puerto Rico. We did a lot of sight seeing, family seeing, dog seeing and High School classmate seeing (the men are a lot fatter than the women and I am not the only one carrying a suitcase around under her skin--whew!). One highlight being "la casa de los pastelillos" which gets added henceforth as one of my favorite spots on the island. We also hit Lago Dos Bocas where we spent 15 minutes after a 2 hour drive because the restaurants only open on the weekends. And of course, we spent a nice afternoon at the beach in Isla Verde's El Alambique on a beautiful almost cloudy day allowing for refreshment without melting away. My baby sister has now seen a semi-naked European/Canadian/American male tourist at the beach--click on the link at your own risk (his was white).

Mr. Mambo came with us and he played lots with Kiwie (my baby sister's dog). This turned my parents house into dog central and a number of other dogs (exactly 1) came to visit and play. Mambo had a blast.

On the way back we got stuck in Orlando (thanks airtran--NOT) and all thoughout Mambo was a trooper. We didn't even give him meds.

He has been sleeping ever since we got back.

The Christmas Tree survived the preparation for our trip and so it is Christmas in July at our house (picture from today complete with suitcases in the background so you believe me). I am starting to think Jamil feels the piano will be lonely if we remove the tree.

Thirteen Things in my mind that I should not be typing

2008-06-27T12:42:00.003-04:00

So, there is this whole list 13 things thing that Hollie, who we entrust with keeping our pastor sane or at least grounded, started.

I am calling it 13 Things in my mind that I do not have time to type, because I need to be doing a million other things right now:

1. Why oh why am I wasting my time like this?
2. How do I get to doing what I need to do?
3. How long has it been since i last posted on this blog?
4. Oh Crap, the Christmas Tree is still up!!
5. I hope Jamil can get rid of it tonight.
6. Mambo has been awefully quiet all morning... must be all that jumping on me to get me up that tired him out.
7. My baby sister can't wait to see me, I know cause she never calls and has called every day this week.
8. I need to take a shower.
9. I also need to finish 32 hours of work in about 6 hours that are left in the day.
10. I was a whole 60lbs thinner when I graduated High School.
11. 60 lbs is like a very heavy, very full, full-size suitcase--yikes!
12. How can I hide my double-chin from the ever critical HS reunion folk.
13. I probably can't and it will get forever plastered on the pages of impossible-to-leave facebook.

I am soooooooooooo stressed out.... God please help me finish everything I need to finish in a miraculuous short time. I guess that requires me to start so, we sign off.

No one ever reads this, but if you just did, write your 13 on your blog and leave me a comment so I can procrastinate some more.

Carrusel for the Spanish Speakers

2008-04-17T17:55:00.002-04:00

This is a soap that was very important to me and my sister when we were growing up. Cool days. When my baby sister was little they replayed the soap (or maybe it was still going on) and she would say "presente" like the kids on the show intro.

Well they had a 15 years later reunion.

Here is the now on the top and the original on the bottom:

Proof we have a tree, digital pictures and my dog the smoker

2008-04-02T18:34:00.005-04:00

So, we took a picture of the tree last night. Unfortunately, we are not sure where you buy a newspaper so you are just going to have to trust us.

Which makes me think that it is a good thing digital pictures, when downloaded properly, keep dates up because otherwise, 20 years from now, we would look at the picture below and not only wonder why our dog was smoking a cigar, but determine from the fact that the Christmas Tree is still up, that it must be... Christmas. However, this picture is from 3 weeks ago around March 9th, which is 3 months after Christmas.

Incidentally, the tree is still up if anyone wants cheap mulch and has a tree shredder! Oh, and Mambo is not smoking a cigar, he is chewing on a bull penis (sold as a bully stick at the pet store).

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how green you stand up in the Spring

2008-04-01T14:26:00.002-04:00

So, in following with the non-April Fool's April 1st tradition at our household we have a full grown, still green with needles on Christmas Tree standing. It is no longer decorated, but it is a Christmas tree all the same. I think we posted about this on this date last year too, so I figured I would post this today.

In contrast to last year, we didn't cut this one ourselves so I am surprised it hasn't crumbled to pieces. Also, Jamil has not watered it, so I am amazed it hasn't crumbled to pieces. Mambo likes to bite at it if we are not watching so it is crazy that it hasn't crumbled to pieces.

The funniest thing is that we only remember it doesn't belong there when someone comes to visit and points it out like something out of the ordinary.

I am halfway considering putting it out on the curb to go with the weeds so our HOA only sends us 1 letter about our yard rather than 1 about our yard and one about our house decor when they get to their window peeking rounds (I am sure the peek through the windows). Then again, assuming we don't light it up (fire hazard) it would probably make a nice tree next year too assuming it doesn't crumble to pieces.

This is my super-secret way to have Jamil get rid of it without asking him. Last year he was so embarrassed at the idea of me taking a picture of the tree for the blog that it was gone by the time I was back. So, I WILL BE TAKING A PICTURE TONIGHT IF THERE IS ANYONE OUT THERE LISTENING.

Gallegos... More than meets the eye

2008-03-18T18:06:00.003-04:00

Hmmmm...

I just read this news article. A woman in Galicia (people in Galicia are called Gallegos) gives birth to a girl with the help of her 6 year old son. She had pain the night before and dismissing the whole super large pregnancy bit, she rolled over and continued sleeping because she figured it was just pain from moving furniture the day before. Apparently, she also didn't tell her husband before he went to work. She went to the restroom, her water broke and her new daughter dangled from her far enough that she had to hold her and ask her son to help. In the end, she called for some help and followed instructions on how to handle the umbilical cord. The Emergency folks arrived toward the end of the whole thing.

In latin/hispanic culture, they make fun of gallegos. They make them out to be not the cleverest of people and end up being the butt of jokes. I don't really find those jokes funny because I am so far removed from the culture that surrounds the "funniness" of the jokes. I do have to wonder about a couple of things:
1. Moving furniture while pregnant... hmmmm
2. Not telling husband of strange abdominal pains while very pregnant... hmmmm
3. Delivering a baby with 6 year old, while 6 year old finds it normal and easy... hmmmm

Maybe I ought to read more about how these jokes started... Oh, and all of you who read the story and find it cool or sweet are simply sick! At 27, I do not want to deliver my mother's baby (especially by pulling down while reaching) any more than I did at 14 when my mom did have a baby.

Why Darwin is wrong, it is not the fittest that survives but those for whose God's appointed days are not over yet

2008-03-17T13:24:00.006-04:00

I am perplexed why people think this video is heart-warming or tender. I think this woman has a death wish. However, this illustrates a good point and is a good example of why Survival of the Fittest is not the rule that truly applies to how a group sample changes over time.

Following Darwin's survival of the fittest, she has twice escaped her fate: she rescued a hungry (skinny lion's are not usually over-stuffed) lion and then she came up to his pen and reached in. According to Survival of the Fittest, this woman's life is such that she would die before child bearing to make the group of humans fitter going forward.

Here is the point that is missed. This woman will likely die a Steve Irwin death, not due to stupidity because we have already seen her stupidity was not enough twice already. She will die when her God given days are over.

So what if she dies as a lion appetizer? Well, this is no different than someone who often eats bad foods (henceforth called Fatty for endearment) dying from a blocked artery or heart attack or someone in a high stress job (such as a CEO and henceforth called the suit for effect) dying of a heart attack. In the examples of Fatty and the Suit, they are not necessarily less fit, especially if Fatty eats a lot but excercises a lot so that he actually looks and acts fit and especially considering the Suit exemplifies all the characteristics we admire in this here corporate America.

It is not unnatural for people to die doing what they do most of the time, by simple probability. If at any point in time, you have a 1% chance of finding out you won the lottery, it should be no surprise that you find out at work if you are a workaholic, at the gym if you are sick and ripped like Schwarzenagger or at Starbucks if you are a yuppy.

Besides, she looks like she could have had kids already if she had wanted to so that the supposed certain effects of Natural Selection would be mute at the time of death.

What is the moral of the story?
I would rather die with a full stomach in my 90's than IN a full stomach any day, so I will not be rescuing or hugging lions any time soon. Oh and I am not going near stingrays, fires, fubu (the blowfish, not the clothing brand, although wearing the wrong brand/color of clothing in the wrong place would be a bad idea too) or downtown Atlanta either just to better my chances of dying the way I want since I cannot control the when.

Tornado in Atlanta

2008-03-15T01:27:00.004-04:00

We are safe!

There was a tornado in downtown Atlanta at about 11pm. We found out by chance when instead of turning off the TV we decided to check out Leno briefly only to find out some crazy news scene. I think cable tv companies should have a way to interrupt programming or send messages regardless of what channel you are watching.

Tornadoes scare me a bit. A hurricane is scary, but it goes by steadily, and rarely hits one house while sparing the next oh and you have a whole 1-2 weeks build up of expectation and preparations. We also read the 3 little pigs story and build out of cement for when the big bad tornado wolf blows our house stands.

I an getting a NOAA radio... trying to calm back down. Here is live feed from the inside of the Georgia Dome from the coverage of the basketball game that was taking place at the time. I think you can hear noise kind of like a freight train (not a horn but a train) in the background:

The difference between Alabama and South Carolina

2008-03-13T18:14:00.002-04:00

It is not apparent to the naked eye. In fact, it is not clear as you drive through the fields on the mostly straight highway in the opporite direction from the other.

That said, I enjoyed my time in South Carolina a good bit more than any hour I have spent in Alabama. I even found me some land and a cow for sale if I ever choose to move. It also seems like planting and selling fruit is a lucrative and popular business. Besides, at $5,000 an acre and the fast rate of growth of Atlanta, it may be a good investment for when the Atlanta city limits border SC so that SC is the great suburbs we pay so much for. The way I see it, we only have 1/4 or less of an acre and pay a rent it from the bank for a good bit more than $5,000. While all along I could have bought an acre for $5,000 and a high quality trailer for about $2,000 my cow is about $1,500 (not too high quality but it will do to not have to pay someone to mow the lawn) and I would have been all set. Heck, I paid more than that for our 1.5 years in our 650 sq ft. apartment.

But this is not about realty or money and quite honestly this post is not about making much sense. The one thing this post is about is my bewilderment that knowing land is cheap in Alabama ends at the word cheap and is followed by my high dislike of our neighbor to the west but knowing land in South Carolina is cheap has a long string of what I would do with it and how big the farm would be etc when in reality they both look very much the same and have about the same amount of entertainment and are equally far from civilization.

I am going to Alabama again at the end of March. I will spend the whole weekend there. I will be working in Alabama that weekend. I will be doing this somewhat voluntarily even. I will not be using the words never and Alabama in the same sentence again anytime soon. At least this time Mambo and Jamil will be coming along. Oh, joy!

Some Women in the South have JOBS... even interesting, challenging ones!

2008-02-25T23:31:00.004-05:00

I am very irritated...

I think it is very commendable for a woman to want to stay at home and make that their full-time job. I do not currently belong in that group. That may or may not change, not because I am too good for it, but because staying at home with kids is harder than any job I can imagine.

I currently work, in an office, like many men (with many men, even some who call me for help), after being in traffic for a while, wearing my best business casual attire. I even do some work in a very interesting, challenging field which some consider male dominated. Dare I say, I excel at it and my superiors would tell you this in a heart-beat? Then, why is it that when we spark up casual conversation you ask my husband what he does for a living and ignore me? Am I not worth asking? Are you just not interested in my life? Are you assuming I am a stay at home.. what... because I have no children and when you see me at church with my husband this is clear so clearly I am not a stay at home mom! And if I was a stay at home mom then what? Would my duties of raising the world's future not be worthy of such a question as well?

And there is no pride in working for THE MAN other than that of a job well done. But there is a lot of arrogance in your assumption that it is not worth asking what I do for a living. Or perhaps a lot of cowardliness? Are you afraid I have a better education as I wear a Tech shirt and you sport your red and black? Are you embarrassed of your job? Why should it matter? It sure did not matter when you decided to ask my guy? How come you don't want to know about mine?

There is no financial pride in my irritation, if we had too much money I wouldn't work... I do not know anyone who works as hard as I do without needing the money! There is pride however in what I have achieved in my life and you DISCOUNT my worth to society when I become just an accessory to my husband as demonstrated by your disinterest in my life, REGARDLESS OF WHAT I DO OR DO NOT DO. It is RUDE for you to discount my life in light of the man standing next to me no matter what I do or want to do! No matter North or South of the Dixie line!! Did you not learn that in school?

I am not saying I am the same as a man, or you should respect me in the same way, that is your choice. I am saying don't carry your pretty leather Bible to Church listen to the sermon about loving people (all people mind you... if my husband is your neighbor... so am I), caring about people and discount my life. Hypocrite Southern man!

I just don't know what "Southern manners" you learned.... I am not sure what Bible version you read... and I would not make the assumption that this post is about just ONE person... because more than one of you are guilty of this. Women and men roles are different, but never was one life worth more to God than another and never was one role valued over another by the Creator.

So when you ask my husband about his life (which happens to include me), why must you always ignore mine? What are you afraid of? Why is his life important and mine not? Why must you edge me out of conversation? Did you miss him searching for his keys while I approached you with a question?

First Impressions

2008-02-15T18:17:00.004-05:00

I have been working for my current company for 2.5 years or so. I started travelling for work about 2 years ago and so far have been to a number of cities and rural towns. Achieving the most despicable yet covetable achievement, Medallion Status.

Here are some first impressions as I think back on the last year alone (Delta's history does not go back to the first year):

Long Island, NY--Not a bad place, the greatest part of it being how close this is to NYC.

Rochester, NY--I saw the most snow here that I have ever seen, as in total up how much snow I have seen in my life (not a whole lot considering I grew up in the Caribbean).

San Juan, PR--It is always a pleasure... no, seriously, I only go there for pleasure but I am hoping for some customers there some day.

Winston-Salem, NC--The smokiest town I have ever been in. It is nice, good places to eat and close to the university, but the whole town, restaurants and even the customer site are just smoky. Not a big surprise considering the origins.

North Lawrence, NY--I made a post about this place earlier. I was not aware there were rural parts to New York, or even Indian reservations, but there I was, 2 days in the land of the Mohawks.

Montreal, Canada--My first trip to Montreal in 1999 definitely was a better trip. This trip to Montreal in April put me up in a smelly Comfort Inn Hotel, driving was confusing and the food was pretty boring. I did get to drive accross the border from North Lawrence so I got to see some other parts of Canada, but...

Rockland, MA and Boston, MA--Boston deserves all the recognition it gets. This is truly a melting pot, not in the same way as New York, but in a heightened cultural sense. You have to be there to understand, but you should not die before experiencing Boston. I had the chance to see Plymouth which is worth the trip! I also visited Sommerville (I forget how to spell that) and MIT. Getting to see my old roommate Michelle was awesome!!

Milwaukee, WI--I want a summer house in Milwaukee. Just the thought of Milwaukee makes me smile, relax and feel happy. Boston is nice to visit, but Milwaukee is perfect if only it was not cold.

Houston, TX--It is just sticky and dusty there. Ughhh, I am going back near there in a week and while I wouldn't trade it for a trip to Yuckabama (our neighbor state to the west), I may be willing to return to Saskatchewan (yes, a real place in Canada) over Houston. I got to see an old friend there and pig out. Karoline knows the absolute coolest places to eat.

St. Louis, MO--This is certainly not a clean looking place. Just a few minutes there was enough to determine nothing should be left visible in the car. However, St. Louis was nice. The food was awesome. I got to see Tope shortly after she arrived for school and that was very cool! I had a good time and it looked pretty friendly, only one of 3 places I have seen on business that I would consider moving to.. until I read about its position on the dangerous city scale (see previous post).

Indianapolis, IN--Can we say corn? Just corn. Straight roads, can't remember the name of the town I was in, but I do remember ever present corn, even around my hotel. The customer I visited there makes the best double-dipped chocolate peanuts of which I had about 4 party sized bags. If you like M&M's let me tell you what is better than candy coated chocolate covered peanuts... uncoated double-dipped ones. I was next to the Frito-Lay factory which was cool but unsurprising considering how much corn these people have. If companies push for Ethanol, I will buy some land in Indiana, because I am pretty sure corn grows the spontaneously.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan--I always thought Saskatchewan was just some made up word kids used to name a really far away place.... until my boss told me I was going there. I thought he was kidding for a while, but he wasn't. Nothing much to be said really. I was only in the industrial part which is why. I did get to see the museum for one of the tribes Winneskuwan (sp?) but only the outside, because they closed at 4pm. The museum is in the middle of nowhere... but literarilly, not figuratively like most of the time when people say this. I won't be running back... the change of colors from the air as we flew over Minneapolis was a sight though! Almost as good as Milwaukee (Minneapolis that is).

Baltimore, MD--These folks really know how to season their crabs. I probably ate a pound or more on my own. At the end of dinner I saw a roach on the table... that was a downer, but I just took my dessert home with me. The crab place name is Bo- Jacks. I can see why people live here. I am not sure it is for me though. But I will be visiting again.

Las Vegas, NV-- WOOOHOOO!!! This place is larger than life and bigger than any TV screen can capture!!! Absolutely awesome!! And I cannot wait to go back!! I got to see the Hoover Dam when I left, the strip was cool, the Belagio Fountain was awesome... this place deserves a post of its own, which I meant to do but didn't. I have pictures, and I may show some (want to make sure what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas). Legends in Concert is a really cheesy sounding show that is absolutely awesome!! My customer there does some really cool work with diamonds and it is most likely the most interesting operation I have been involved in.

Paramus, NJ--Hmmm... New Jersey is just exactly as uneventful and uninteresting as everyone says. I had good company, but I am not rushing back there either.

Anywhere, Alabama--Then there is Yuckabama.... sigh... I know many people live there and love it, others grew up there and miss it. I have a hard time seeing either. I respect people's love of it and Sweet Home Alabama is both a good song and a good movie. That said, if I don't ever go there again I won't really long for it. Just thinking about it makes me depressed and frustrated. Everyone I have worked with there and who I know from there is very nice and polite, but sigh...

St. Petersburg, FL--The drive there from Tampa is nice. I did not get to see a whole lot of St. Pete because I had an awful 24 hour funk/bad luck/series of unfortunate events there. No opinions can be formed, but I did get to see my friend of 16 years (that sounds old though--I think it is 15 not 16 though), Elba. My St. Pete funk was to become a post of its own, but the seies of unfortunate events lasted into much later in the night than expected so when it was all done I was out of there in a flash. People in St. Pete were very friendly and made me feel right at home. I got cookies for everything there.

Philadelphia,PA, Cherry Hill, NJ and Camden, NJ--I visited the corner of PA and NJ which apparently is on the east side of PA not the west side like I thought. My customer there had a neverending supply of snacks and it doesn't get much better than that. I scraped ice from my car for the first time there... then I gave up and hitched a ride with the Project Manager. I almost slipped a number of times. I got to see Camden, NJ in the only way someone like me would...accidentally. Will come back to PA, but will skip the Camden/Cherry Hill bit except for the hotel rate in Chery Hill is good.

I will try to post some pictures I have later. They are not good pictures though, since most of them where taken from the car driving at 40MPH.. by the driver. At least I wasn't talking on my cell phone and driving though... :)

I survived Camden, NJ...

2008-02-11T20:29:00.000-05:00

...By the grace of God alone.

Last night, sometime between 9 and 10 PM, I got lost in Camden, NJ. I didn't even know where I was. It was only after reviewing the route I took and discussing with the locals, that I found out where I was. I knew it was scary and dark and I also knew the guy in the big Cadillac slowed down to check me out. I also knew enough to make an illegal U-turn at the entrance of the darkest road I have ever seen. Today, I found out locals consider Camden scary. If you have ever been to New Jersey, then you know that the whole place is scary, so Camden being considered a bad area is insane.

I was starting to feel pretty lucky and somewhat brave about the whole thing (even though I had nothing to do with not getting shot on my drive from the Philly airport to my hotel... all God there). I had Jamil go on a scavenger hunt for information on Camden. I like scaring him with bad experiences once I have survived them. It is funny, but of course there is nothing funny about it while I am in the situation. He looked it up and it all had the expected reaction. Camden was the number 1 most dangerous city in the U.S. for 2005 and 2004 and third in 2003. I was having fun...

Then, I read the wikipedia article about Camden. Looking in the crime section, I realized that not only had I been to no. 1 for 05 and 06, but I have been to no. 1 in 2006 St. Louis. Now, that is the scary thought!!! I actually enjoyed St. Louis. I didn't feel totally safe, but it was no Camden. There is nothing scarier than not having been scared when I should have been.

Del agua mansa libreme Dios, que de la brava me libre tambien....

Peace out!

We got a puppy

2008-02-07T10:53:00.000-05:00

Jamil has always wanted a dog. I like puppies but I am afraid of dogs (mostly big and/or yappy ones). We have had him for about 8 weeks now.

Ode to Corporate America

2007-10-10T13:49:00.000-04:00

Legal Disclaimer: The following is supposed to help you who are bound to work until you are 65 either smile, chuckle or sigh... It should not be taken seriously, used as fuel for making career decisions or execute accusations of any sort. Corporate America is a trade mark of the United States. The words below have been produced by an anonymous person of unknown identity to us and whose existence we doubt and does not express the opinions of these bloggers or anyone associated with this blog. You may therefore not contact our legal department with questions.

Can't live with you
Can't live without
that sweet fresh pay-stub
the money in the bank account.

Your path is erratic
yet so certain your walk
your ways sometimes barbaric
are like air to my lungs.

Ode to great corporate America
commander of this capitalist nation
provider of many a benefit package
enabler of the American money-pocket relation.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows--NO SPOILERS HERE

2007-07-21T02:01:00.001-04:00

I'm done reading it! What a journey!! 7 books is a lot of pages. If you get a chance listen to the audiobooks. Jim Dale's narration has made my reading journey ten times more pleasant and made it easy to get through the details, it is an experience superior to any movie you can watch and it adds a bunch to the repeat reading experience.

Public Restroom ethics and Contradictions

2007-06-05T18:08:00.000-04:00

It has been bothering me for a couple of weeks this matter of public restrooms. To begin with, the whole process of eliminating body waste is weird. It is quite silly that there are orifices in our body that when exposed let out stuff that while perfectly fine or perceptually clean inside is absolutely gross once it is out. It is also very strange that while draining other liquids in the body through other orifices is not acceptable in public spaces (think mucus, saliva, sweat), somehow it is normal to free up poop and urine out of the body even multiple times a day in a very casual manner. Some people even talk while visiting John in the porcelain throne.

As if this was not odd enough, it is somehow not ok to be naked or exposed in front of others, but isn't it silly that it is ok to uncover part of your most private privates in a space considered public, where your only separation from others is 3 walls less than an inch thick? Then, the air is shared, so that while you sit there in you supposed isolation the air you breathe mixes with the air someone else released? Or how about all the people that sprinkle when they tinkle and did so before you went there? Even worse, if they are neat and wipe the seat, you will not know but residue and bacteria of others' liquids might share in with some of your own or your own body if you seat (the thin paper cover is not water-proof).

This brings me to my next point. Public Restrooms are weird enough as they are, by definition so you should learn your Public restroom ethics. I cannot tell you how many people I encounter day after day during my visits to the restroom that do not understand how awkward it is to be in the restroom with others. As if going to the restroom was not enough, going while there's others around listening to the free flow or wild explosions is enough to be busy not thinking about to also have to stare at someone's shoes. Shoes, the constant reminder that the wall is less than an inch thick and someone's filthy air is mixing with the air you breath. It would all be better if we all followed some simple rules:
1. If there is a splash, go out come back later, Mary does not want to create a show and you do not want to be near Mary.
2. If a stall is taken when you go into the restroom, it is NOT ok to create a splash. Yes it is a natual activity and all that, but the mere akwardness of exposing not half of your body but just the bottom section should indicate this experience should not be shared.
3. If you must go now and you recognize my shoes, please go on another floor so I don't have to think about this everytime you shake someone's hand or I have to touch your computer.
4. If you wear tampons do not shake anyone's hands, touch the locks, touch the faucet or even the restroom door. You hands are banned for no more than 7 days to prevent the ever disgusting ever present random red marks on the stall doors near lunch time.
5. If you violated rule number 4, do not wipe your mark, leave it as a warning to the poor souls coming after you.
6. There should be, at all times, one stall between you and the nearest person to you.
7. If the only bathroom mirror is in front of some stalls, you cannot look at yourself longer than 15 seconds somone might be about to explode waiting for you to move.

The New York I didn't imagine existed

2007-04-26T20:03:00.000-04:00

Unlike what might be your first assumption based on my title, I do know and did know New York is not all like New York city. I just didn't expect a little town or a couple of little towns including the land (or part of the land) of the Mohawk nation from where the hairstyle name arises. It blows my mind!!

1. It took me a whole 8 hours to get to it (granted I did not take a non-stop flight).
2. Cell phone reception in the area is almost 0. I had no signal even while roaming.
3. We carpooled to a restaurant in the nearby town of Massena because we were worried parking wouldn't be enough.

The place was actually delightful. I worked with some very smart people. Everyone was extremely friendly and extremely knowledgable and proudof their work. We even had some absolutely delicious Italian food.

But the wooden houses, some in really bad shape, the countles farmlands (whether they were or not used for farming), the amazingly high ratio of Casino's to restaurants totally threw me off. I don't think I would come back as a tourist, but I am glad I got to see this place!

Here is a picture courtesy of google, albeit an off-season one:

Our Christmas Tree--- This is NOT an April Fool's Joke

2007-04-01T19:32:00.000-04:00

I am writing about this today because I think this would be a funny April Fool's joke if it wasn't real, but unfortunately the following story is true:

We cut our own Christmas Tree with my family when they cam in town on December 16th, but went on vacation from December 29th to January 8th. Now, I am new to Christmas in the states and Jamil is new to the concept of a real Christmas tree. That is to say that without any notices, memories or being able to see what our neighbors did, we have taken the ornaments down from the tree, but not the tree itself.

This sounds silly, but we have had our fair share of encounters with our HOA (Home Owners Association) over strange things on our lawn (like weeds and brown grass and not enough mulch). The last we wanted was a letter from the HOA about how we have a tree siting on our curb, or how the garbage guys cannot pickup organic stuff or how the lawn trash people do not pick up Christmas tree about some date X.

What does it all add up to?
WE HAVE A GREEN CHRISTMAS TREE SITTING IN OUR HOUSE TODAY APRIL 1st OF 2007 AND THIS IS NO JOKE

Well, Jamil who was in charge of disposing of the tree over the first weekend we were back from Christmas vacation but during which I would be out of town, points out today that he thinks the tree is finally dead. Now, I am no scientist but having figured the tree was probably dead close to the time it was cut down, I asked how he knew. His response: "It is not driking the water anymore". That's right folks, he has never watered the lawn, or my poor and now dead banana plant, but he has been watering the Christmas tree up until late March when he has determined the tree is dead. In January he excused it as the Three Kings tree, in February it was a love tree with some fetility explanations that almost made me chop down the tree immediately, in March it was green like St. Patty's day, but I don't think using the verse about Jesus having been nailed to a tree will do here.

I will try to take a picture to prove this is not an April Fool's joke, but does anyone know how to get rid of a Christmas tree in April without offending the HOA? We already have enough weeds to also explain a Christmas tree on the curb which is too organic for trash pickup and too big for either the little recycling bin or the little Home Depot brown bags? Or is there anyone out there that wants some free fertilzer? How about a discounted Christmas tree you can use next Christmas?

I wonder if it would make it until next Christmas so we can throw it out with everyone else's trees?

Patricia needs

2007-03-29T11:01:00.000-04:00

Thanks to my "tocaya" buddy Patricia Polacco whoever she may be, and google (the website of all answers) I have finally found out what I need in life:

"Patricia needs a full service hotel that includes room service or a restaurant attached to the hotel. You are responsible for the costs of breakfast, lunch, and supper."

Wanna find out what you need? Google: "<your name> needs" (don't forget the quotations and don't leave the > and < signs in once you put your name in). Why don't you start with John (google "John needs")?

Fark TV makes it to Digg's front page!

2007-01-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

An article proclaiming the launch of Fark TV (one of Super Deluxe's artists - "the walking/talking version of Fark.com") has made it to Digg's front page! I like two of their episodes quite a bit: Homeless Soccer and Eric Bell.

Super Deluxe goes live!

2007-01-17T16:14:00.000-05:00

Yay! The website I've been working on at work (Super Deluxe) has gone live today. Go check it out. Beware, though, some of the content is mature/edgy. What is Super Deluxe? It is a comedy website -- think of it as a YouTube or GoogleVideo where all the uploaded videos are funny, and add in some editorial content (in other words, not *just* user-generated stuff.) If you register, feel free to add me as a contact -- let me know who you are (if I know you), and that you saw my blog post. =)

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

2006-12-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

Yay! I'm excited that we have a REAL Christmas tree in OUR house. That is all. =)

Having a cold makes me icky...

2006-11-09T14:05:00.000-05:00

...but Tylenol Cold non-drowsy makes me happy, really really happy!! I have more energy than when I am healthy if only my head didn't feel like I was underwater. Thanks to my wonderful husband though, I am ready to go to war with this fall weather illness. I got my Zicam, Tylenol Cold, Chicken soup (tastes really really bland with the decreased tasting ability caused by Zicam), onion-honey-lemon home Spanish remedy and warm jackets and blankets.

If you see me outside don't talk to me though, because my grandma always says it is not good to talk outside in the "sereno".

I am interested in knowing what the few readers of this blog use as cold first-aid other than the lame American stay at home solution...

Athletics, Mets, Cardinals, Tigers, Washington, Adams, Jefferson...

2006-10-10T17:51:00.000-04:00

We have been playing trivia for the past few weeks and it has been lots of fun!! There is, of course, the many obscure, random and maybe even inappropriate questions. A few amazing questions that we have somehow managed to guess correctly:
1. The sitcom movie the 40-year old virgin is handed along with a box of porn to resolve his problem (Answer: Everybody Loves Raymond, Thanks to Paul).
2. The artist that proposed to talk show host Rolonda Watts in 1997. I don't know anyone who has heard of this Rolonda Watts show... (Answer: James Brown, Wild guess by Sarah and Allison).
3. The president one of the guys in Fight Club would like to take down/fight.. (Answer: Lincoln, Great guess by Gaines, Aaron and Paul based on a small hint in the exact quote that made an allusion to the fact that this president is really big... I am impressed, I did now know anything about Lincoln other than he wore a hat and a beard. For a while I thought he was contemporary with Martin Luther King and even confused the two).
4. The Bavarian doctor that in ___year did lots of research on the cerebral cortex (Answer: Alzheimer)

Then there is the, we are geeks and know what things actually should be called or look like rather than what books say:
1. When exposed to a base, litmus paper turns what color (Our Answer: Pink, expected answer Red. Every book in the world says red, but it is not freaking red, it is pink, get it right!).

And then the misses we should know:
1. The one actor from LOTR that got nominated for an Oscar (Half of us believed: The guy that plays Gandalf, the other half: The golem guy.. aparently Golem was a guy). We answered Golem, and of course it was the Gandalf guy.
2. Where some former Braves played (I tried to answer this and failed to guess ANY of them). We only live in the city owned by Turner.

In general lots of fun. Lots of learning too. I am now off to go home to get ready for the next go at it tonight, hopefully we can improve our performance.

Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Jetson, Flintstone, Huxtable, Turner, Jackson, Missipi, Maine,...

Not everything is as it seems

2006-10-09T14:13:00.000-04:00

This is a cool example of how perspective can affect what you see if you are standing in the right place:
Right Place
Wrong Place

For those that think the earth is round, you should see what it could look like if it was really flat and our satellites just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

This is wayyy cool!!! I say we try it out!! Any takers? We need someone that can draw and someone that knows how to do sidewalk chalk and someone that knows about perspective... because as for us, 3-D effects come in PCI and AGP flavors.

Shoelaces vs. Velcro

2006-09-05T10:15:00.000-04:00

A long time ago, Patricia and I had an interesting argument - "Are shoelaces more dangerous than velcro?" Like most of our "arguments," neither of us really cared, and were merely using the argument to justify another decision - namely, whether I should be allowed to wear velcro shoes or not. I like velcro shoes - they are convenient, easy-to-wear, look nice, and make a neat sound when you undo them. Plus you don't get "untied" easily, and have to deal with bending down to tie them (as well as strangers telling you "hey - your shoe is untied" - even though technically, it is the shoeLACE that is untied - how do you tie a shoe?). You can even change the style of how you wear them (hmmm... shall I keep the straps straight or cross them today?)

Patricia, on the other hand hates velcro shoes. She thinks they look hideous and unprofessional, and should only be worn by children (who can't tie their shoes) and the elderly (who can appreciate the convenience even more).

So, of course, I "justified" my wearing velcro shoes (for the record, I don't wear velcro shoes anymore) by saying that shoelaces are dangerous - they can be used to strangle people; they can trip someone at the worst possible moment, sending them to their death over a cliff or by getting hit by a car. (Nevermind that shoelaces are also dirtier than velcro, as anyone who has visited a men's restroom with untied shoes will note.)

Patricia, of course, joined in on the argument, saying that velcro was more dangerous. Like many of our "disputes" we "solved" it with a google search. Of the two phrases "velcro death" and "shoelace death", whichever received more hits on google would be the more dangerous. (Of course, this method of solving our argument is not logical or accurate, but neither of us cared - it is enough to decide how to determine a winner of the argument. Heck, I'm sure we would even go for coin flipping on some of our "arguments.")

The results? The phrase "velcro death" received many more hits, and thus velcro was deemed more dangerous. (Apparently, velcro death was the name of a band.) Today, the phrase STILL gets more hits, although I don't see any mention of the band in the 1st 20 results. People just have a fascination with the word velcro and the word death, I guess - because none of the results seem to actually be a death caused by velcro.

Anyway, today I found a patent for a shoelace warning system. Now, I ask you (the reader), would you need a warning system for velcro being "untied"? I think not! Hence, velcro must be superior to shoelaces! =)

Note: This is the part where some geeky reader decides to search the patent office for patents involving velcro, and links to them in the comments... :-P

American nonsense sayings series: Break a leg

2006-08-30T11:48:00.000-04:00

If you have ever spoken with me, you probably have heard my rant about inferior (compared to Spanish) American sayings. "Slipped my butter", "Break a leg", "Like water running down the goose's back", "Serious as a heart attack", etc., etc.

American sayings are very grim not to mention cryptic. I am going to get some "grub". I am not sure what this "grub" is but I would never guess you would want to eat something that sounds that bad. Well, they say that when in Rome you should do as the Romans do (again, w00t? do you mean speak Italian, wear a toga and complain about Americans? why would you do that??--disclaimer: I love all of the above including Rome, togas and Italians). This does go along with my belief that you should blend in the culture of a country you visit rather than disturb its culture with your presence while at the same time sprinkling some of your culture's goodies.

Then, it is not surprising that while I try to sprinkle my igno... I mean American friends with our superior Spanish sayings ("The donkey talking about ears", "Slower than a caraban of lame people"--a non PC saying, "Slower than a tar IV"--its PC substitute, etc., etc.), I too have assimilated and acquired some of these sayings and included them in my every day language. That is how often, I explain to my boss that he is "Preaching to the choir" (probably not PC), or how come I can be "dead serious" (I am not serious very often just to be on the safe side), see people "buck nekkid" (I recently learned that a buck is a deer type thing-- I also recently learned you don't say butt naked, but buck nekkid) and even "feel butterflies in my stomach" (which I am not sure how I feel them because I have never had butterflies over a meal).

The one thing I will never ever ever ever (I know, never say never) assimilate to the death wishes of the famous "Break a leg", regardless of where the saying comes from and especially after what happened last night:

Last night, after a healthy dose of music practice and TV watching (do not bother with this stupid show called Celebrity duet--gag), I pondered on my next steps. Really, literarilly pondered my next steps as my foot was asleep which meant I had to get up form the floor and figure out how to make the numb foot not tingle like it did. Since sitting down would make it tingle more, I remained standing, until the numbness was almost gone. That's when it happened. I noticed the plates from dinner were still sitting on the table. Normally Jamil does a nightly routine which includes putting stuff away, but yesterday I decided it would be ridiculuos since there was only 1 desset ceramic place, one take-out plastic container and 1 fork left.

I forced myself to be nice and take the plates to the kitchen. Then in the kitchen decided I should go all the way and actually throw away the plastic container rather than my initial "I will just put it in the sink tonight and throw it away tomorrow thought". And so it was that I proceeded to throw the plastic container away while still holding the dessert plate and fork thinking "Let's do it this way so that I do not dirty the counter with any food residue there might be on the bottom of the dessert plate".

And that I did. I put the plastic plate in the trash can but the lid closed back on it while it was still sticking out, then I pushed the trash further in (still holding the other two items). So I thought, I am never going to make it with my hands this busy. The great idea: "Shove it in real quick then retrieve your hands so that the lid will close quickly". 3 seconds later as I lost my grip on everything and saw the ceramic plate fly in the air while the plastic container pushed its way out of the trash, I realized this might have not been such a good idea. But, I was convinced when even though I could not see the ceramic plate near me my foot was throbbing in pain. Then I heard the plate bounce on my right side and roll and finally break on my left side.

Thought number 1: Oh! Crap, I hope I am not bleeding!! We only have light colored sheets!
Thought number 2: Ok, the plate only broke once.
Thought number 3: the broken side of the plate looks like a knife I better look under my sock.

And then, whoa!! there is no blood but my foot hurts... A LOT!

Thought number 4: Where are my toes?
Thought number 5, 6 and 7: That was really noisy, I can't really put any weight on my left foot, now why would Jamil not come see what happened, what if I had died?!

Moments later I say sweetheart loud as can be and there came my trusty hubby who looked like his thought process was something like:
Thought number 1: Patricia is making too much noise in the kitchen, I can't hear my WoW game.
Thought number 2: Maybe something happened I will call her out and that will make everything better no need to get up from the computer.
Thought number 3: Silence... that's more like it (this likely happened while I was trying to determine where my toes were).
Thought number4: There she is calling again!
Thought number 5 (as he entered the kitchen): Oh oh, I hope she is not bleeding (and when I confirmed I wasn't: I am glad she is not bleeding).
Thought number 6: OK I now have located all plate pieces, put the fork in the sink and the plastic bowl in the trash, can I go back to play.

But little did he know that going away was not that easy. I couldn't put any weight on my foot and he couldn't put any of my wegith on him without threatening to hurt my foot.

Patricia's thought number 8: I knew I should have gone on that diet!

So after many attempts and ideas, I made it to bed, propped my foot up and put ice on it. I have never broken anything, but this hurt more than anything I have ever felt before (other than those darn menstrual pains in the winter), which made me think it was broken. Jamil, who is used to me thinking stuff is broken, ignored this but suggested we go to the emergency room. I am known for exaggerating and I was pretty sure that pain was not like anything I have ever felt before but the way I figured, hmmm, well, there was NO WAY I would go to the ER unless I was dying. Let me say that again, NO WAY especially at 11PM or so when everyone chooses to get shot and stab themselves or have heart attacks and food poisoning. The way I saw it, I had never heard of anyone dying of a broken bone and the thought of a doctor trying to put stuff in place in my foot and paying a $100+ medical bill later helped me win my case.

In the end, I slept the night. I was able to walk around 2AM when nature called in the middle of my sleep. Mark (our good friend and WoW companion for Jamil) suggested this would indicate non-brokenness. My sleepy sister suggested if it was broken I would be in horrible pain the next day. I took my chances and although it hurts, I can live. However, I will never wish anyone to "break a leg" and especially not "break a foot".

Stupid American sayings!

Mmmm... iPoDonut

2006-08-19T17:50:00.000-04:00

No, not a quote from a simpson's episode, but rather a cool non-invasive iPod accessory by Japanese iPoDonut company.

When I got my iPod, like many others, I got to thinking there were some things I would need. The first thing was a case. I figured I would hate to break a $300+ item in a fit of stupidity, and figured a case would help with that. In searching for such, I came accross other ways of protecting your iPod without adding to the thickness of it, one of them being the iPoDonut.

Most cases out there will protect the iPod pretty well, but forget the click wheel. This is where iPoDonut comes in. It protects the clickwheel from scratching and hand grease where some cases will not. Even nowadays when the number of cases that protect the click wheel are increasing, the iPoDonut with its glow-in-the-dark finish (and sillicon glue so that it does not leave a residue on the precious iPod comes in quite handy. If you ever fall asleep listening to the iPod, you don't have to turn on the lights to figure out where it is and move it away from that snoring heavy set husband sleeping next to you endagring the precious gadget or even just to find it in a dark foreign hotel room. And now when I fly, I don't have to roam through my whole bag to find out where I stuck my iPod anymore, I can just look for the green glow.

Actually, recently I received one of these guys for the iPod video (also available for the iPod nano) for review. I will have to say that the glow-in-the-dark finish which makes the sticky look almost white is a good improvement on the gray click-wheel look of the naked ipod. It also does not add any bulk to it which is good. It was pretty easy to stick the iPoDonut on the iPod. It does certainly change the feel of the click wheel however as it the material is less slick and more, I want to say porous. This is good, if like so many others you find it hard to figure out whether you are moving in circles over the clickwheel or some other part of the iPod. I have a screen protector with click wheel protector and so I stuck the iPoDonut on the clickwheel directly (I like that glue better anyway) and then put the click wheel screen protector on top to make it feel slick.

I do not know how that arrangement affects the iPoDonut's glowing ability however, because like I said I do not like the idea of having a $300+ item at the mercy of my hands with no cushion around it. So I came upon a blog where this guy who owns the same case I own uses an iPoDonut on top of the case because he likes the ability to find the iPod in the dark, but like me is afraid to drop the thing and have it shatter in pieces. I tried this out. As far as functionality this is great. I, however, have a blue case, which is not so hot with a white sticky on top. It is not bad at night when it glows (let me suggest to the iPoDonut guys to research blue hue glow-in-the-dark--and I believe iSkin blue glowing cases), but in the day it looks somewhat bad. I am getting used to the white circle.

In general, I think there is plenty of utility to have some part of your iPod glow without having to touch it as it allows you to find it without knowing where it is. I do not love the setup I have right now with the donut on top of my case, although it would be awesome if I had gotten the arctic white case rather than the blue one. The glue is also somewhat weak on the case's sillicon. However, since the donuts were not made to go on top of a case and it actually looks pretty good on the naked iPod, I will have to say this is a fun item (a little pricey for a sticker @$6.95 which includes shipping) that brungs back many good childhood memories and will give it a thumbs up. If you go for it, let me suggest you forgo the simple style one as it is just white (displayed bellow) and somewhat boring, spice it up with their designs from nuclear to bricks!

Here is a picture from their website (really accurate). I am having trouble uploading my own pictures to blogger, but will post my ugly guy on here when the problem goes away.

Weekend in Nashville

2006-07-24T08:48:00.000-04:00

We went to Nashville on Saturday after much mini-golf, good chicken and rice and Hoodwinked on Friday. I will I could tell you how Hoodwinked was, but I fell asleep 15 minutes into it. My body is not made to stay awake past 10:30PM anymore, especially after much mini-go and good chicken and rice.

The trip to Nashville was not only good, but important as we went to see a cousin of ours (like 5th cousin or something, to put it in perspective he went to school with Fidel Castro, that's how old he is) who is battling lung cancer. Like every other Hispanic family, my mom and grandma have predicted his death day many a time now and it is not uncommon for me to get a panicked call to see if I know something because my grandma heard he was skinny or simply hasn't heard from me. I guess the fact that I live in the States makes me immediately knowledgeable of people who live in the States too. I am not sure what the logic is here, but it reminds me of the days when they would call Cuba and speak really loudly because they were calling long distance :)

My mom will be staying one more week, and this rocks!

Mom is in town... Hooray!

2006-07-19T09:30:00.000-04:00

We have been eating well. Sometimes she has cooked and others we have gone out. Regardless, we have eaten well. My babysister has tried tons of new food and everything new she tries she says it is her favorite. I am very impressed by the way she tries new food even without being expected to. She is not a picky eater like I thought. Maybe is the novelty. We took her to eat chocolate fondue and her face was worth $1,000,000.

Yesterday they went on an expedition to the Atlanta Zoo. They took MARTA and it took them about 1.5-2hrs to reach the Zoo. We later went to the laser show at Stone Mountain (if you haven't been in a year or so, you would find that there are some brand new cartoons).

This experience of trying to entertain them during the day without having to be with them has made me realize that there is no good central place were Atlanta tourists can find a list of attractions with attraction reviews and such, geared for the "family visitor" to our great city. And even if there are some guide books and such, it wasn't until they came back and told me so that I knew for example that all Zoo animals seemed to be sleeping in the afternoon or that the MARTA bus takes 30 minutes to come back. And even if that information is available, our great city changes so fast that it is hard to keep up. And even if there is really all that, I am in any case going to start a set of posts with Atlanta attractions, information about them and reviews based on theirs and my experiences. So stay tuned. Also stay tuned for our vacation review.

Lots of work on the Atlanta front

2006-07-18T10:24:00.000-04:00

We are hard at work these days. I have been travelling a good bit: twice to Red Bay, AL, twice to Winston-Salem, NC and once to Bloomington, IN. Each trip was a good bit different and although each of these towns is quite a bit different from the city of Atlanta, I am glad I got to visit and get to know parts of the US I would probably not have seen otherwise.

Red Bay has a small town charm, the people I met there were simply great and very hospitable. Winston-Salem had the best food, the people were also very friendly and just plain helpful, here I also got to spend some time with a different team from my company and got to know a little bit of what they do and how we can help each other. Finally, Bloomington was quite pretty. Again, the people here were very hospitable and the town felt like it had all the great food of the city with the looks of the country.

All this travelling always leaves a lot of work sitting at the office and so I spend most of the non-travelling time trying to clean my plate to ready ourselves for our trip to Europe (used to be trip to Rome, but that is a different story). My mom is in town with my baby sister and that is a lot of fun. I will write more on that later though.

My leg of the musical baton race

2006-03-02T13:29:00.000-05:00

I am now back from my civil rights trip (mental trip) and away from the world of seriousness. Life is pretty good. The math competition is this Saturday (we'll be on campus to help) and I am pretty excited and very eagerly hoping this year's volunteer T-shirts are tye-dyes again. Otherwise I think I will try to talk Alan into tye dyeing ours on Friday night. Which reminds me that Alan and Ashley will be in town (pretty cool).

In other news, Chandra tried to talk me into running (those who know me should not freak out, she didn't mean one foot in front of the other) the music baton race. Here is my leg (those who know me should know I am too attached to my leg to really let go off of it) of the race.

Amount of music on your computer?
Judging from the amount on my ipod (the best Valentine's ever), not much but certainly lots more than I thought I did, say 4 or 5 GB.

Currently listening to?
Besides the little voices that only talk to me? Just kidding, no little voices talk to me. As it turns out, I have become quite addicted to audio books and although I just put my music down I was listening to 1984 just now, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (sp?) was playing in the car this morning.

Five songs that mean a lot to you?
1. Amazed (Jamil and I's song, by circumstance if you ask him, although I like it regardless), 2. Bombero (Facundo Cabral and Alberto Cortez really put the existentialist questions of everyday's growing pains plain and simple), 3. Don't let me get me (Pink is way cool no matter how much of a weirdo she might be), 4. Ventricle (you gotta check out Ponies in the Surf, although I am not sure I like their full-length album as much as the others), 5. Anything by Ricardo Montaner (He just knows how to capture the moment). Since Chandra cheated by using an extra pick that is a hymn, I must be allowed to do the same: In The Garden.

Top five albums?
I don't usually like albums as a whole there is usually about 4 songs I like on each. If I had to say, I would have to go by the albums I can actually sit down and listen mostly through and through: 1. Wors Sound & Power (Christafari), 2. Ponies on Fire (Ponies in the Surf), 3. Donde estan los ladrones (Shakira), 4. Tributo a los Beattles (Various), 5. Lo Cortez no quita lo Cabral (Facundo Cabral y Alberto Cortez).

Last album bought?
The 4 album's Eric Peters brought to the concert at the church.

I guess I can pass the baton on to my dear husband who is ever so absent from the blogging world. Oh, maybe I'll pass it on to Kennan, unless Gaines and Allison already tagged him.

Coretta Scott King is gone

2006-02-08T11:46:00.000-05:00

Maybe I was just tired, or maybe the sentimental overtone of the special edition CBS news last night covering CSK's funeral did it, but even though I didn't really know much about what she did and stuff, I am kind of sad. I think it is this whole change thing.

CSK's death marks the end of an era. An era of constant, physically dangerous fighting for rights and equality. While, there is still much fighting for equality around the world today, her death marks the end of the era of marching and beating and sitting down in buses to make statements. Not that people don't fight for equality these days, but that it is different.

When I started thinking about it I realized that living where I live now would be not allowed or looked down upon if it wasn't for the pioneers of that time. I would be restricted to which school I could go to, where I could live, who I could marry, where I could work, etc. And suddenly, the silliness that many associate to the civil rights movements (I like to think of it in plural because making it singular makes it sound like a one shot easy feat) is gone.

And then I started thinking... I disagree with a lot of rights being fought for today, some sound like abuse of power (not political power but emotional power, like when a kid who has been punished unjustly asks to eat chocolate because he knows mom or dad are feeling pretty bad right about now). How will my kids feel though? Is my disagreement a sort of forgoing of liberties and rights that I deserve and do not realize because I am too lazy to question the social ways of today? Will my kids look back on some of the figths won by the "fighters" of today and be thankful for them? Or will my kids look back and wish I had done something about my disagreement? Is the world truly getting worse? Are the rights sought truly not rights but priviledges? Or is the world and the fights of today simply an intact time translated snapshot of the world and the fights of yesterday?

This all probably doesn't make sense. I am very much thinking in Spanish today, things I feel passionate about usually do that. The point being that I am very grateful for those who fought so that I could go to any bathroon that was open when I have needed one. I am very grateful for those who fought so that I could vote and have a say in how my life and the world around me should work. I am grateful that we do not have to march today for these freedoms, but have different forums to obtain what we want or need. But I do have one wish for those who are fighters today: seek the wisdom of God in choosing your battles so that you choose battles which are just and honorable to God and remember that not everything that is allowed is good or righteous. Let us avoid the temptation to fight for things that are not good just because they should be allowed or they should be our right, that road leads to dangerous places and strangely enough, to many prohibitions.

Four Things

2006-01-31T14:33:00.000-05:00

We were tagged by Chandra earlier today, so I figured I would use my lunch break and follow in the Four Things tradition. We are really boring as you can already tell though so don't hold your breath.

Four Jobs I've had:
Paper filing at Jorge's office--really not my job, but the current secretary just knew how to ask
Computer Programmer--for Jorge's company.. this job was actually mine
Teaching Assistant--throughout college
Jr. Development Consultant

Four Movies I could watch over and over (I am cheating):
Wedding Singer (really almost anything Adam Sandler)
Shrek (and Shrek 2)
Sleepless in Seattle
Elf

Four Books I could read over and over again:
Truly, I don't like to read anything more than once because the second time around I remember everything I have already read and it gets boring. Here is the closest to books I can read over and over
Harry Potter (audio book version)
Chronicles of Narnia (audio book version)--really haven't finished listening to it so I might be lying
Bible--not that I find it easy or super entertaining always, but you kinda have to read it over and over again
Harry Potter (audio book version)--there's 6 of them so they should count at least for 2

Four Places I have lived:
Carolina, PR
Caguas, PR
Cidra, PR
Atlanta, GA
I bet you didn't think there were that many towns in Puerto Rico... I didn't either until I moved to Caguas.

Four TV shows I watch (I am cheating again because I am not listing current shows):
We haven't been watching much TV, but this is what we would watch
The Apprentice--Always
Cosby Show --have slowed down recently
Quantum Leap--recently very often
Punky Brewster--on ocassion

Places I have been on vacation:
St. Lucia--honeymoon
Costa Rica--unbelievable trip
Montreal--really nice
California--not really on vacation but did vacation type stuff

Four Websites I visit daily:
www.webex.com
www.google.com
mail.yahoo.com
http://www.cnn.com--almost --almost daily

Four Favorite foods (cheating):
Grandma's
Rice with Cheese
Asian (Thai preferred, Japanese and Chinese follow)
Anything that lives in the water

Four Places I’d like to be right now:
Puerto Rico
Europe (never been)
Somewhere in South America (Chile and Argentina come to mind)
My mansion that is already paid for, where I am retired to at the age of 24.

Four Bloggers I’m tagging (cheating one more time for good measure):
I don't know 4 people who know about our blog, have a blog, would play along and haven't been tagged, I actually don't know 1 person that fits that description so I will tag people I think should get a blog.
Carolina (sister)
Christian (sister's boyfriend)
the lurker out there
Elba (I'll give her the address of this blog so she can see she's tagged)

One small post about nothing...

2006-01-31T12:46:00.000-05:00

As you know, I'm not very good at blogging regularly. I suppose that part of the problem is that I only feel like saying something when a significant event happens, or when I'm particularly upset about circumstances. When I'm upset, though, I have Patricia read over a draft of my blog entry beforehand. Let me tell you - you've been spared more than once from reading my rants about various things.

Today is the last day of January, 2006. I can't believe 1 month has gone by so quickly. That's 8.33% of the year, done already. Tax papers have been coming in the mail, and I've been keeping them aside so that I can do all of the taxes in one fell swoop when I have everything. Taxes this year are going to be more complicated than last year, and last year was more complicated than the year before. Thank goodness for TurboTax.

Oratory and the little church in the mountains

2006-01-27T09:35:00.000-05:00

When I was in High School, more than an overachiever, I was over involved. I wanted to try everything once, and I did just about. I learned a lot doing this, I also spread myself pretty thin most of the time. In about 8th grade, I joined the Forensics Club. In the beginning I thought Forensics club was kind of creepy and wondered how you would study dead corpses in High School, then I heard someone say a speech during my English class and our teacher had her explain what was this Forensics Club (English Speech club). I joined. Truth is that I would have probably joined even if it studied dead people, as long as they didn't do it in the dark. I started in Humor, but the category was always very sought after and being the youngest didn't help (the moderator at the time regarded seniority as more important than quality). Then, Ben became the moderator and everything went for the better. A few weeks later my coach Mrs. Benitez and him decided I was serious and so should be doing Oratory. I don't think for a second that I was very good at doing speeches or anything, but Oratory was a hard category and hardly anyone was any good, so I had nothing to lose. I did it. "A woman could one day be President" was the first speech I did. Later I did "And God created man" by David Van Treese. I was actually a double with a drama speech I can't remember the name of, but was only an alternate in that category (although my last year, I almost had to do my speech). There are many stories and times tied to my Forensics Club tenure, ending with a competition where our team did well enough to move up a category (I got 8th place or something like that), but we were pretty much given different rules than everyone else, (our coach couldn't speak English, he was actually the French teacher). We brought fewer people than we could because we were told the rules had changed, we came to the competition to find out everyone knew the rules were revoked, but us. Our school's English faculty was very sweet about it and after a very stressful competition day where we were done wrong and our French teacher learned to speak English in an all of a sudden burst of anger, they all came to be there for the awards ceremony and ocngratulated us all. I would do it all over again. My last speech: "And God said, let us create man in our image and after our likeness, so God created man. These words indicate God's creation of man as equals. Come with me Mr. American, let me introduce you to peaceful little quiet city, the year is ..." This brings me to the point of this post. Come with me Mr. blog reader, let me introduce you to a little Baptist church in the mountains.

The year is 2006. When I say it is in the mountains you can see that I am not kidding. The church has no walls, no kitchen, no paid worship team, no central heat (it actually gets pretty cold in the winter for even US standards), no central AC for the hot summer. When it rains you get wet. However, you must make sure you come to service early, because the Church has many more attendees than chairs.

Why do 300-400 people from a small town in Puerto Rico, some of whom don't have cars, many considered too old by most to be coming such a long way come to this church? The pastor rarely preaches just a happy message, and is not afraid to point out the things that are wrong. They don't come in search of a great praise group (but they are far from refined or professional). The choir is not bad, but have no formal vocal trainning. They don't come because the place is hip or cool or jazzy or in, just look at the picture. They don't come for food, although occasionally they used to have fund raising food cooking, this is made considerably harder by their current kitchen-less facilities. They don't come for fancy coffee, most of the time, and unless it is a sunrise baptism service, there is no coffee other than the one sitting in your stomach. So what do they come for?

They come because the Word of God is preached there. Because a Church that follows God's direction is attractive to the faithful. They come to feel the almost unbearable presense of the Holy Spirit. To witness the many lives that come to Christ week after week.

This is not to say that I agree entirely with everything they do. But it is to say that God glorifies himself in that small church in the mountains. They don't have lots of money, and if they do, they certainly don't flaunt it.

One day they dream of having a nice temple, like the one God directed them to leave in the middle of the town of Cayey, PR, in search of service to their Jerusalem. The place where they meet to worship today will one day be the basketball court of the school God is leading them to start. One day they will again have walls, although probably no A/C or heat. One day they will have a kitchen that serves warm fellowship meals and coffee, but not to be up and coming, but to enable the Church members to spend all day at Church with no need to leave to eat lunch, to reward those who made the step of faith of coming to witness baptisms at 4AM on Thanksgiving day. One day they will again have a baptismal pool inside their temple once again so that anyone that believes can be baptized like Jesus was himself one day baptized.

The weird thing is that their move doesn't feel like a step backward while so many moves I experience today do. They had a church, and they had a stove and they had a fellowship area (which they rented from a business), they had fans for the summer and they had walls. The difference is that they did not arbitrarily chose to leave everything the had in search of something better, they were instructed by God to leave their comfortable situation in the small mountain city to reach out to other areas, to enhance their ability to serve others.

Over the 103 years of their existence, this small mountain town church has planted small churches in areas of this small town where people are less likely to drive and even less likely to go to Church far from their community, where the roads are not the best. Even at the main temple, it takes just a short look around at the many generations, social standing and varying degrees of education and professions to realize the long reach their ministry has had over the years. Looking around at the other Baptist churches started in the surrounding towns by missionaries from the First Baptist Church of Cayey (the small church in the mountains which is the subject of this post), and the success of these, no one can underestimate their impact in my beautiful island that sits in the Atlantic Ocean on the Caribbean Sea, made of volcanic rock.

Our house has officially been dedicated to the Lord

2006-01-19T09:22:00.000-05:00

In the company of some very important people and with the Fireplace as our witness, our house was officially and publically dedicated to the Lord and the Lord's work.

In a series of amazing events, back in October, God provided a house for us in a great neighborhood no more than 30-45 minutes away from work in normal traffic. We have had the opportunity to have some of our friends come over and watch TV, play games and even spend the night already, but last night we had a group of friends help us do this house dedication that is so important to us.

All in all, a great night. Next on the schedule: an open house (we didn't want to do it until after the house dedication, but it is coming)... look for information in the near future in a mailbox near you.

Back from sunny island

2006-01-04T13:39:00.000-05:00

Coming back from Puerto Rico is rarely any fun, especially when you know everyone back there is still on vacation, eating good and sleeping lots. It does get better the more I do it, but that thought alone is not comforting enough to make me want to do it too many more times. It is pretty silly because when I am here I rarely get homesick, 10 days at home and all of a sudden I don't want to go back to the place where I was happy 10 days ago. I think Hispanic family closeness is sick.

During our time in Puerto Rico we went to the pool, ate some overpriced bad food at the Beach Club, had Christmas, ate at many places but mostly the same food (arroz con gandules), met and got to know my sister's boyfriend a little, fell asleep on a hammock each night only to wake up at 1AM and realize everyone is gone, went to old San Juan, fed the pigeons in the pigeon park at old San Juan, spent New Year's eve finding ways to escape our party-destined-fate finally going to Jorge's mom's house and spending some time with her eating kid sized portions of Puerto Rican (Cuban if you ask my mom) Chinese rice and saw my grandma and great-grandma's sister a good bit. Other activities included: Alfredo's graduation party, watching movies at home, finishing my sister's Harry Potter Scarf (very cool looking... I am waiting for a picture), introducing everyone to the dangers of Sudoku puzzles, lighting matches with the excuse of lighting my sister's sparkling stars and getting nagged by my parents and sisters to have a baby (apparently they don't realize how much responsibility comes along with a munchkin).

We almost didn't make it back on time due to mechanical maintenance of our original first plane (which made it late, meaning we would miss our second flight) early in the morning and after much persuasion and hectic talking on the phone to Delta many times to try and get to Atlanta in a different way gave up and got on our plane to Orlando, half-way resignated to the idea of having to explain how we took a 10 day vacation and get to work 4 hours late. When we got to Orlando, I called on my cell phone in hopes that our Atlanta plane was delayed by the Atlanta weather and so it was. By God's provision, our plane was delayed just long enough to not only get off the plane (the next plane was thankfully accross the hall), but also for Jamil to buy us some Hot Dogs and fries. Then we thought we had lost our suitcases, but we found them. Our friend Miesha came to pick us up and we left her Hot Dog in her car and didn't tell her about it until the next day at night. We went to bed around 2AM (3AM Puerto Rico time) and then it was off to work the next day.

We'll be back soon enough, Easter. In the meantime, back to work and our very square sedentary lives, looking forward to the next vacation, summer and no babies.

Time flies

2005-12-16T11:05:00.000-05:00

No this is not about a type of fly, like fruit flies and the like. I am just saying that time actually goes by very fast like it was flying. Only it is actually better because time doesn't have to flap wings over and over to move as fast as it does.

I must have thought about a million things to write about this week, it has been a pretty intense week (in good and bad ways), but I just never found the time or should I say the right time to write about it. In case I never get around to writing about all these things, here is the summary:
Sunday: We had the priviledge to visit some very cool people at two nursing homes in the company of 4 even cooler people from church.
Monday: God called home yet another grandfather. After a battle similar to that of Mr. S, my stepdad's father died on Monday around noon time. No more escaping to the movies and having food he's not allowed to eat or listening to his stories of living at the "central" (sugar factory). We watched the Chronicles of Narnia.
Tuesday: Christy came to practice with the worship team. The only thing that would make this any better is if Lacey stayed.
Wednesday: We spent some good time with Mrs. S eating chicken soup and watching ice come down outside. It reminded me of drinking hot chocolate as a child at my grandma's house in the middle of a storm, only now I am older and can touch the floor with my feet while I sit down (barely since I am short).
Thursday: Bible study is always a good time. Chandra's cheesecake rocked. Not that it was rock hard, and I barely even noticed being poisoned. It was seriously really good.
Friday: I was very disappointed it did not ice this morning. I think I would have liked to work from home today.

I will try to expand on these events later, I have learned a lot this week. It seems like I have been learning a lot recently. To think that I would have to finish school to start learning, or maybe it is that now that I am not in school I have time to sit back and think about how much I have learned.

Upset about stuff

2005-12-09T13:53:00.000-05:00

I will not post details about the source, because I learned a while back that I will probably regret it later. I still need to get it out of my chest, and hence the post.

I don't like a lot of stuff. I don't like that stuff that I don't like is messing with stuff I just love. I don't like that stuff that I disagree with interferes with stuff I am willing to go along with perhaps even want to go along with. I don't like the way stuff is going and I don't like were stuff is heading. The worst part is that I know I have no control over stuff... and I am trying to fight it which makes me even more upset. I particularly don't like that stuff is going the wrong way (from how it played our in my head)!! I don't like not having control over stuff and I don't like the anxiety of not being able to do anything to make stuff go my way. I particularly don't like that the anxiety and upsettedness of stuff makes me not be able to just relax and trust that stuff will work out. I don't like that I know where stuff is headed and that I know that stuff will end or be different, especially when I can forsee it and not prevent it even though I don't want stuff to stop or change. I want stuff to be fixed and I want stuff to be ok and I want stuff to be better and I want stuff to go back to the way stuff was. I hate changes, I hate unwelcome changes a good bit and I hate changes triggered by stuff I don't like even more. I want to scream, but screaming does't fix stuff.

Oxymoron: Closing a church on Christmas day because it falls on Sunday

2005-12-07T10:23:00.000-05:00

Give me a break!
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/06/churches.closed.christmas.ap/index.html

If you know me at all, you probably know I am not a big fan of big churches to begin with, but this has nothing to do with my dislike of big churches and everything to do with the message something like this sends out to the world, be it coming from a big church or a small church: it does not matter!

I understand the attendance issues but I am also a big believer that if even one person wants to come to a church service, the church should be open for them to hear the Word, otherwise we have set ourselves up for failure in the Great Commission. How do we tell someone it is important that Jesus was born and God is first priority and then say, "well I think we don't really have to have church on Christmas... I know we have been talking about it the past few weeks and all and it is still very important but we know people will be busy opening presents and going to see family we don't want to bother them with church". How do we preach on the importance of Christmas and then cancel church.. doesn't cancelling church kind of imply that it is not important to think about God on Christmas... what's next? I can see it: "And now for our benediction: May God help you in all your Christmas shopping and one final announcement: don't forget Church will be closed next Sunday night because the mall is still open and we wouldn't want Church to get in your way". Which brings me to my next point: I have run out of words to explain my outrage, the irony and contradiction of closing Church on Christmas day, for further assistance, go to Church this Christmas; e-mail me if you need assistance finding one that is open near you.

My strong opinion on this is kind of ingrained in my upbringing. In Catholic "culture" Christmas is probably one of the days of highest attendance throughout the year (up there with Easter and Good Friday). People that don't go to Church the whole year go on these days whether it falls on Sunday or not. As a matter of fact, I am sure the Catholic churches near us back home have many plans for Christmas day this year more than others because having Christmas on Sunday is a blessing and implies a huge influx of people.

I haven't been Catholic for many years for many reasons I will not go into (we can discuss this over e-mail if you would like), but I do admire their position in this matter, granted they have benefits such as a leader who is entirely devoted (exclusive from any other demands) to their Church community and that helps, but they have been able to relay the message and teaching to the community of believers and that is admirable in our days. I am not commending anyyone to convert, I do have many disagreements with important parts of Catholic doctrine that in my opinion go against what the Bible teaches. I am, however, exhorting our leadership to think twice before making decisions about opening the Church based on attendance. Instead of considering whether the Church should be open or close, maybe the energy should be spent trying to figure out how to bring more people to Church despite the social drive that works against us. Maybe we should leave our comfort zones and figure out why it works for the Catholic church and not for us. I think this news should be a wake up call to all believers to consider not just whether or not to go to Church this Christmas, but also, what other things we do that might send out a confusing message to our leadership and to the world, and what can we do about them as we approach the beginning of a new year.

Departed, but not forgotten!

2005-12-02T14:24:00.000-05:00

Mr. S. died on November 18th. Those words are not stated merely as a fact, but they are stated with great respect. Mr. S was a very fine man, and he had many admirable qualities. He is someone that I will continue to look up too. Not only was he a strong Christian, but he had many worldly qualities as well. For example, there were so many things around his house that he built himself. He was great at woodwork, and he wasn't afraid to work with his hands and get a little dirty.

Now, only two weeks after his death (it seems like ages), am I finally ready to post about it. I've opted not to read other people's posts about the matter (including my own wife's posts, which I will read after posting this). I preferred instead to digest everything, examine my feelings, and then write. I'll read everybody else's thoughts later. Sure, you may not be able to "feel" the raw emotions I felt in the beginning, since I've let some time pass --- but I don't prefer to broadcast my emotions, anyway.

The main thing I ask myself is, "Who will I remember?" There are lots of different answers to this, because there are many different situations in which I have seen Mr. S. If I think about him as a leader of our church, then I remember him in this fashion: giving announcements during the service in a very southern accent, mentioning building repairs that were needed during church meetings, bringing up issues that no one usually thinks of, and dressing very well for the service. If I think about his declining health, I think about the prayers that were said for him, the delight he took in the singing of songs, the way he would pick up his walker and walk normally (just holding the walker), the pills that he took, but most of all, how he remained dignified even when dressed in his pajamas and how he tried to appear that he was "doing just fine" (even insisting that he go out to eat). If I think about his humor, I think about how he stuck out his tongue at Mrs. S to show her that he hadn't swallowed his pills yet, how he jokingly accused Mrs. S of putting crumbs over his placemat, and the wry smile that he would give after making a joke. If I think about his love, I think about the kisses he would ask his wife for as she served him his dinner, about the many people he has invited into his home, about the many weddings he and his wife would attend, and about the stools he worked hard to make as gifts.

I could go on and on about the different ways I think about Mr. S - his practical, down to earth style, his modesty, his little quirks, his service to the Lord, etc.; and there are probably a hundred little anecdotes that I could bring up (#4 haircut, moving his chair to just the right spot, watching baseball with wireless earphones, dominoes, etc.). When it comes down to it though, there just isn't another man that I have as much respect for as Mr. S, and not another woman that I have as much respect for as Mrs. S.

I know Mr. S is "doing just fine" right now, and that he is enjoying being with the Lord. I know that Mrs. S is going to miss him more than I can imagine, and is going to have to rely on the Lord for her comfort. My prayers go out to all of those who knew him, that God comfort them, bless them, keep them, grow them, and glorify himself. I'd just like to end with a shout out to those in heaven: Mr. S arrived on November 18th.

Music that captures the attitude, not just the instance

2005-12-01T23:39:00.000-05:00

Jamil and I have very different tastes in music. Part of this is cultural (he is Indian and I Hispanic), but the other part is due to what each looks for in music.

When Jamil listens to a song he judges it by its rythm maybe its melody, but I listen to the lyrics and the mood of the music. I am not looking just for a song that captures an event in life or a simple feeling but a song that with a mix of lyrics and sounds captures that exact emotion you can't describe. I have discovered (trying to explain it to Jamil) that this is not easy to explain, but I will attempt to do so on Jamil's stupid DVORAK keyboard (i.e. bear with the typos).

Try to think back on a memory that was emotionally intense. I don't mean just sad or happy, but one of those feelings that is very rare, very intense: you can feel it deeply. I have found that unless this event is recent it is hard to get that feeling just by remembering. Yet, good or bad, most of these emotions leave a desire to be felt again. For example, your exact feelings on your first kiss with your husband or wife or the exact feelings that make you not want to go skiing again (say intense pain of a broken bone).

I and my middle sister grew up among adults and, not knowing that you could say anything about it, listening to "old people music". Well, a lot of these older (mostly spanish-speaking but seldom Italian or French) singers worked really hard at this. We are not talking about people with popular voices and pretty faces only, we are talking about people that besides a nice voice, had a poetic instinct and wrote a lot of their music to this end. People like Alberto Cortez, Facundo Cabral, Joan Manuel Serrat really coptured the feeling. A song about aspirations in life and how they change as you grow older, but that at the same time capture the feeling of that youngster crying inside that wants to be a fireman throughout even in his old age and after he has given in to the pressures of society to pursue some other prestigious career (Yo Quiero Ser Bombero--I want to be a fireman).... or a song that coptures the emotions, ambiance and feelings of a man whose beloved wife of not too many years is now gone where the singer and writer (my favorite: Ricardo Montaner) captures the details... the picture... the instance with that one piercing feeling (Dejame Llorar--Let me cry).

The point is that these songs trigger those emotions and allow you to relive them as close to the real thing as possible and not many artists can. I am a sucker for this kind of music and have even tried to capture an emotion in music myself with limitted and low frequency success, I am sure many die trying.

Well, part of the problem (you might have realized if you clicked on any of the liks above) in trying to explain this is that there aren't many such attempts in "American" or "English-language" music. And then I heard them: Ponies in the Surf it took 5 notes of their song Ventricle and I knew I had found it... the way to make it all clear to Jamil. I shared it with Jamil the very next morning. In the beginning it was frustrating, he didn't get it. He was listening for the rythm, the melody (which given an old guitar and two voices was not very appealing to him). Now, he actually likes it and can at least relate to this feeling I have been describing.

This all sounds really random, but it came about from a very logical chain of thoughts. At the time that I started writing this post, we had just gotten back from Bible study where we sing church hymns as part of the night's activities and it hit me: a lot of these hymns do capture feerings: awe at the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross (When I survey the wondrous cross), a feeling of meeting Jesus inspired by his encounter with Mary Magdalene (In the garden), confidence in our God, in whe He is and in what He does and has done, and humbleness before Him knowing how much we owe Him (Rock of ages). So all of a sudden I have a whole "new" source of triggers... of the better kind... of the kind that, instead of sending you remembering good and bad memories, send you remembering why you are where you are, what God has done and where you should be headed... capturing the attitude rather than a fleeting emotion. It is funny how a few years back I didn't even like hymns... I missed out...

Upside down verbose realization

2005-11-23T16:53:00.000-05:00

I was looking through some of my friends blogs and then I went back to ours. We don't post half as often, Jamil barely even posts... but man our (my) posts are long. I apologize.

Jamil and I are right now in the process of cooking Kawa Sak (sp?) basically stew beef in a tomato onion base. Jamil's family is coming tonight for dinner. The publix near us has bad produce. The onions were the size of small lemons and the tomatoes were not ripe. Nobody has ever died after we have cooked Kawa Sak. Our toilet sometimes suffers after a nice Kawa Sak meal. We have enough atomizers to fix this.

Jamil's niece and nephew are also coming. They are precious, but I wonder what they'll do. When they have been at other people's places, they play with the ornaments on the tables, but we have no ornaments... makes me wonder if they will try to climb the walls instead.

Talking about ornaments, I just realized that I lied in the previous sentence. Jamil's mom graciously sent some Christmas ornaments direct from QVC and HSN. Optical Fiber grandeur.

I hear QVC or HSN now sell upside down Christmas trees of the expensive kind. I can't believe anyone would pay more money for one of those than for a normal tree. If something like that sells that well being turned upside down, I wonder what I can turn upside down myself and make a profit: upside down TV, upside down lamps, upside down chimneys.... the possibilities are endless.

I don't really like being upside down, unless it is temporary while riding a rollercoaster.

I don't like cooking and I don't like ornaments and I don't like Jewelry and I don't like make-up. I am thankful that I can cook and that people (Jamil's mom mostly) think about giving me ornaments and Jewelry, I am very unthankful about the existence of make-up. There is also no love for upside-down trees, laughs and giggles maybe, but no love.

I am hoping to wake up really early on Friday morning for shopping madness. Then roll over, realize I don't need to save those $10 or $20 that bad after all and sleep until 4P.M.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Follow-Up
We came home around midnight after Thanksgiving dinner and the store we planned on visiting at the crack of dawn had what we needed at the right price online. We slept in, hung out with Alan and Ashley and spent all afternoon doing what we like to do the most: nothing.

The aftermath & other sad ponderings

2005-11-21T16:41:00.000-05:00

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore-
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
Nameless here for evermore.

Maybe that doesn't capture my thoughts exactly, but it captured the mood.

Mr. S went home last Friday (see previous post). This is ok. That is truly what he wanted, although I know he was afraid to leave Mrs. S. I am thankful that we got to know him the way we did, and I know Mr. S's stories and memories will make nice stories when we have grandkids that (like me) can never get enough stories from their grandparents. And that is how we thought we were visiting the S's to keep them company only to find out that we were visiting the S's because God had a plan. Most people think we were ministering to them not knowing they were ministering to us. Not that we were seeking or expecting these blessings because in fact we have done as was in our hearts, but that God has blessed us through getting to know them.

As it is when sad things happen, I came to thinking about a bunch of things. I, of course, considered the future as anyone does when a death makes you realize time on earth ain't infinite, but more importantly, I have had a chance to think about my journey in the past few years. Don't take me wrong, I don't think dwelling in the past is good, but one has to look back every now and then to make sure they are walking in tha right direction. The following long post is a collection of thoughts I wrote down (but didn't get to publish) yestarday afternoon.

Why do I live in Atlanta? I have asked myself that question many times. Sometimes in longing for my loved and warm Puerto Rico full of family and laughter, sometimes looking for a purpose. Because I believe in God, I know that I am not here by accident. As I was thinking about this last night (Sunday) on my way home from a work reception I had a couple of thoughts:

1. I have matured so much since coming to Atlanta. I am no longer the young puertorrican that arrived at that unfamiliar airport with a suitcase full of clothes, a guitar and a computer. I am now married. I live in a house. I have a church family of my own. I have friends and different support groups. My accent has faded, my thoughts on life are very different these days. When I came I was a very inexperienced girl, perhaps too smart for her own good. Now I have more experience, but sometimes I feel dumber (not as in lacking intelligence, but as in unable to explain things that had simple explanations before).

At 17 when I arrived here I knew what I learned in Catholic school about the Bible, what I learned from my parents helped me develop a moral system and the stories of my grandma, greatgrandma and greatgrandma's sister helped me smile and reminisce with a little nostalgia of times that I never knew.

2. I have matured in my faith. I might not be as black and white as I used to be when I was 17, but sometimes that black and whiteness resulted out of self-righteousness and in that sense I have become wiser. I now understand much more than I did then. The Lord has met me in Atlanta in a way that I would have never expected, but never violating my desires. We had agreed I would let Him take over, but I was afraid of change and so I pleaded that He does this slowly. And He has... looking back know He has taken over so much and it is so much better this way. Praise God!

3. I now do things I would have never thought of. At my arrival in Atlanta I didn't want anything to do with Christian music. Today I help with worship music at West Merritts Baptist Church (really the name of the church is Midtown Community Church, but in my heart there is a special place for the old name). At 17 I wasn't going to get married until I turned 30 or so, at 24 I am married, own a house and will probably have kids before 30. At 17, I was going to return to Puerto Rico and live there forevermore as soon as I finished school (at 21). God saw it otherwise and I am not even sure if that will ever happen.

At 17, I knew God had something for me to do, I didn't know what. At 24, I have a pretty good guess and am amazed at the way that God has worked in my life for that goal in these 7 years during which sometimes I didn't even feel any closer to God than a non-Christian. At 17 God promised He would never let me go, all He asked is that I seek Him and I pray to Him. Today, when I realize I might have not been as faithful as I should, I realize He is just as faithful if not more than ever!

I will be 17 no more, but I have no need to be 17 again. God has made sure to provide for me in ways I could never imagine. And I just now, come to realize how great is His faithfulness.

1. He brought me to a church of dedicated believers where I have learned the word.
2. He brought me to a church that more than a church is a church family and has truly provided in that sense.
3. He has provided for me the husband I prayed for. Not that I prayed to have a husband because I didn't really want to get married, but knowing that one day I would get married, I prayed for my husband whomever he was, so that God would bring him safe and wise to me. God did.
4. He has provided for me financially.
5. He has provided for me emotionally. Today I stand tall as an emotionally mature individual with ocasional instances of homesickness.
6. He has provided for my family while I have been away.
7. He has provided endless opportunities of growth.
8. He has provided many ways to do His service and has remained faithful even when I have hesistated.

Recently, God provided Jamil and I with grandparents. We have grandparents at home, God bless them. I grew up around my grandma, grandpa, greatgrandma, greatgrandmas sister etc. etc. I love my immediate family, but I owe my extended family a good bit of my upbringing. God even thought of that. WMBC sports an extended family of 6. But most recently, God has allowed Jamil and I a pair of special grandparents away from home. I am thankful to God for them, and I am thankful to them for their faithfulness. I am thanful to God for the family and friends he has provided. I am thankful to my friends and family for what they let God do through them (knowingsy or unkowingly). I am thankful to God for where I am in life. I am thankful to God for bringing me to Atlanta. I am thankful to God for working on me even when I haven't been faithful. Lord, bless all the people you have put in my life, every single one of them. Lord, bless their lives, their loved ones, provide for them as yau have provided for me and allow me to be a blessing in their lives tha way you have made them a blessing in mine.

Last thought:
The human in me fears cooking neverending pasta again. The Christian in me rejoices in the knowledge that I do not have to worry about these things because God is in charge. At 17 I would have been embarrassed about this post, at 24 I could care less. I am not done growing or being molded by God.

Mr. S, I know you told me not to be sad, but I am not sad for you (I promise), I am sad for us who will now go on without you (and your wise advice) and for those who will never have the chance of getting to meet yourself or someone like you. Don't worry though, we'll take care of Mrs. S for you.

The end of a hectic week full of neverending pasta and the passing of Mr. S

2005-11-19T22:42:00.000-05:00

Well, this was a hectic week and we should have guessed it being how it started.

Sunday: I decided that since we had finally gotten Jamil's car fixed the day before at the dealer, we would take separate cars to church. That way Jamil (who had stayed up all night preparing the Bible study) wouldn't have to get ready in such a short time. Instead he could hang around the house a bit longer and then go get Mrs. Louise. Well, his nicely tuned up car blew a tire... not punctured or anything just plain blown on the side. After much debating and in the middle of me trying to figure out how to get juice and pastries without money or a wallet for the hungry Sunday schoolers to come, Jamil decided he needed me to come over and help him. So I did. And that is how I left for church at 8am and didn't get there until 11:10AM. Makes that story of the little ladies in Florida's 24 hour church trip not sound so unbelievable.

Monday: One of my co-workers was leaving at the end of the week which left me with the daunting task of trying to get a brain dump out of his head. That and a customer installation that couldn't be completed took up most of my day. At the end of the day we went to see the S's for a little bit. Time with the S's is always nice, educational and refreshing. It reminds me ever so much of my time as a kid with my grandma.

Tuesday: Mr. S got taken into hospice as an inpatient, and that is how the day started. Pretty confusing all around. And at work, besides trying to get a brain dump from my coworker, I had to move a customer's system that was being tested and then I had to work on a presentation for a meeting next week. At night we were able to see the S's and spend some time with Mrs. S who was still getting used to the new in-hospice environment. Mr. S slept the whole time we were there, much different from the man we left on Monday. At least he was not in pain.

Wednesday: Jamil's uncle from Canada was in town and so we invited him and Jamil's grandma and his other uncle and aunt (the ones that live in Lawrenceville) for dinner. We cooked neverending pasta. Since the couple's group was coming in the next day we went ahead and made two trays. Well, Jamil's family almost finished the pasta, but of course they didn't because it is never ending after all. Then the thought dawned on us: out of 3 times we had cooked this, 2 it hadn't ended and out of those 2, one was followed by a death (someone who hadn't eaten pasta). It is a good thing we are not superstitious. We were able to see the S's briefly and drop Mrs. S a banana. Mr. S didn't look any better, but again at least he was out of pain.

As icing on the cake, I had a doctor's appointment with a doctor I dislike very much. It was scheduled for 11:30AM and I was not helped until 12:45PM. I just needed a prescription. I said this on the phone when I scheduled my appointment. On my first visit to this doctor, after making me write 15 pages worth of information on my first visit (visit was scheduled for a simple consultation), made me urinate in a cup, took some blood and asked me to lie down without ever talking to me about the reason I went to see him. When I asked if he even knew why I was there he was very startled. This time this is how it went an hour and 15 minutes after my scheduled appointment:

Nurse: Hi Patricia can you please give me a urine sample
Patricia: Can I? Yes I can because after an hour sitting here I have had plenty of time to partially refill my bladder, but do you want to know why I am here?
Nurse: (Thinking no) Why are you here Patricia?
Patricia: For a prescription
Nurse: Ah
Patricia: (Thinking... these people need to learn to read, maybe that way people wouldn't sit in this office so long). I can still urinate in a cup for you if you would like.
Nurse: No that is ok, come sit here

I sat in the lab section, and after asking how much longer it would be, she directed me to a sit far from he in front of the doctor's office. The meeting with a doctor was exactly 4 minutes, and he didn't even really talk to me.

Thursday: Work was once again hectic. I left about 1 hour later than I had planned due to this passing of the baton. We rushed through bad rush traffic to meet the Bible study group. We arrived 10 minutes after the first couple and found out that it takes a lot longer to warm up neverending pasta than it would have taken me to make it fresh. Bible study was good. 1 Samuel 27. We prayed for the S's. There was (as usual) pasta left over. Mrs. Louise joined us ( we would like more people to join our group since we recently converted it from the couple's group to the everyone who wants to come group. We would particularly like more of the older members of our church to join us, they are all such a great influence and model in our lives. I stayed up until 3am knitting my Harry Potter scarf (to be worn at the movie viewing on Friday), but didn't finish so I wore a half done scarf instead of a completed one.

Friday: Since Mr. S had gotten bad last week, we had made sure to have our cell phones in the room every night. Thursday night Jamil's cell phone stayed out. A 6am voicemail message from the eldest S son told us that Mr. S had passed away at 1am the night before. It is the end of an era. We returned the call (we got the message right as we were leaving late for work). We decided to join our group to watch Harry Potter after all. We stopped by before meeting out group to see Mrs. S.

Saturday: Mr. S viewing. No matter how many of these things you go to, they don't get any better. Mr. S had gotten a little mischivieous in his last few weeks (or at least we had gotten to know his joker side just a few weeks ago) so you almost expect him to sit up in his coffin and laugh at everyone. But he didn't, and that is how after 9 years of ups and downs and many of what seemed like near death encounters, Mr. S is know with the Lord. He has left a great legacy in us though. And by us, I mean Jamil and I but I also mean all the people that ever knew him, because it is impossible to have know the S's and not learn anything. Mrs. S is a very gifted and strong woman and we are sure she will make it through this and our group is all very committed to ensuring this happens.

We will see what God has in store for Sunday... Maybe we'll take one car this time and avoid the temptation to cook pasta... Fortunately, God is in control of all things and so we do not have to worry about superstitions.

New house, no lease breaking fee, all is well

2005-10-27T17:01:00.000-04:00

It is so hard to keep up, specially when there is exciting stuff going on.

We found a house, put an offer, went back and forth with the seller and closed on it all in 4 weeks *breathe*. We also found someone to take over our lease.. go craig's list. So we saved about $700 and just about doubled our monthly expenses.... and this is a good idea why?

Anyway, we love our house.. all minus the tiny garage suitable for small European cars only. It is a good thing I didn't get an SUV after all. We moved three days after we closed on it and the move took 2hr35min from the people arriving to help us move to unloading the last piece off the truck... Now we are unpacking.. except for work is hectic and now we NEED to make money (read.. if we want to still have the bank allow us to stay in their house) so really we have unpacked some but far from all. Our stuff probably doesn't cover 15% of the house.

Jamil fertilized the lawn last week in his attempt to do yard work.... I am guessing this will last exactly until he has to cut the grass twice. Bets are welcome. Home Depot will now be reported in our income tax forms as a dependent. we have already looked into direct deposit (yes sir, how do I sign up for direct deposit?... Direct who?... yeah the way I see it if you are going to get 30% of my income won't you at least take it before taxes?). We met a nice gentleman at our HD called Woody he knows pretty much everything there is to know about locks and more.... this is actually somewhat of a scary thought (remember that movie Cable Guy?).

So that is us, we doubled our expenses -$700 and went from renting a place to borrowing a house from the bank. You have to love this capitalist system where companies will buy the house you want for you and let you stay in it for some cash!! Excellent!!

In other news, there is a constant fire flame in our house in the attic. Which makes no sense being how the inside of the house is as close to cardboard as it gets... Wihch brings me to my next point: someone needs to read the 3 little pigs stories to all these house builders. Then people wonder why hurricanes do so much damage in the U.S.

The cat is gone, the pressure is on and other subjects

2005-09-24T22:43:00.000-04:00

Things seem to finally be coming down to a normal level, judging from the fact that we have been able to post a little more often.

The cat is finally out of our hair, actually we never had direct contact with the cat so it really was never in our hair... these English language expressions are quite annoying. What does it mean to have something in your hair? Where do sayings like that begin? How do they transalte to bigger things? Suppose it all started with people being happy to get rid of lice. How does it's finally out of our hair (talking about lice) ever translate in anyone's view to stuff like: that salesman is finally out of my hair, or the kids or anything bigger than say a fly. Wouldn't you notice if something that big was in your hair to begin with, wouldn't your head fall off if you had something that heavy in your head?

Talking about heavy in your head, a house is a lot of work. So many things need to get done in so little time. It better be worth it. I don't really know how I got tricked into this house buying cause as far as I remember I was sure I liked renting a good bit. Oh well. We like the house so hopefully that makes up for all the headaches.

We went to Jamil's uncle's house yesterday to drop off the cat. Looking at the mess of boxes makes our move even more dreadful: not looking forward to doing all that ourselves. We (at least I) moved many a time in college (8 times over the course of 7 years), every move was at least twice as hard as the previous always. I am a pack rat. Everything is attached to a memory, a time, a place, a person. We have many boxes stored in a closet, some of them haven't been opened in a few years. The problem is that every box is a trip down memory lane, and I like memory lane. There is a bit of traffic, but the pace is nice and constant, not many accidents happen on memory lane.

We watched the apprentice this afternoon. I always think of myself as a TV addict, yet anytime and everytime there is something else going on in my life, it is really easy to stop watching TV with the same intensity, so maybe I am not as addicted as I think. In fact, I have lived places without a TV for as much as a month or two at a time and not been bothered by the lack of TV. The truth is, however, that when I want to truly relax, I plug in to the tube and it works really well. Since today is the first time in a while that we've been at home for a good bit of time, I have been plugged in to the tube for a bit. Other things we did: play the guitar (p), sleep (P&J), work on Bible study(J-currently), mail house paperwork (P&J), forget the cat is gone and then smile when we rememember it is gone(P&J). I think I will go in and continue reading "Of Mice and Men" in a bit.

In other news:
One of our friends is really sick and not suspected to make it past tomorrow. Actually, he hasn't been expected to make it many more days for about 9 years, so it is kind of hard to really think this is it, but he is certainly worsening. The nurses don't expect him to hold on much longer. Please keep his family in your prayers. He is ready to go home to the Lord, and those around him understand this and find comfort in this, but it is one thing to know it in their minds and another when reality hits. Pray for God's direction in trying to figure out how to be there for them.

The funniest thing about posting in a blog is that we tell each other, hey I posted on the blog today, and that is the only way the other will ever know to read it. Being that we are probably 90% of our audience, this is pretty sad. Oh well, it is better than chatting on MSN accross the room (we don't do that...anymore).

Take care and don't forget tomorrow is a Church day.

Closing on a house...

2005-09-22T10:02:00.000-04:00

So, it looks like we are finally going to close on a house... After much intense negotiation, it looks like the seller and us have finally been able to agree on a price.... The closing date will be October 12th, if everything goes well (and hopefully it will)... Patricia and I have signed the contract, but as far as we know, the seller has not signed it yet.

There are a lot of things to take care in preparation for the closing:

Get everything straightened away with the lender (this involves signing tons of forms, and looking up papers from as far back as 2003)
Getting hazard insurance (this involves calling insurance companies, and getting apples-to-apples quotes --- some of the companies will trick you by giving you a lower quote by changing the deductible, or by not including certain coverages)
Get a home inspector to visit
Get the home appraised

Right now, we are both pressed for time with a million things to do, and having to "prove" all sorts of things --- for example, Patricia has to prove that her degree relates to her job in some fashion... (It's apparently not enough to prove that she has an income, and that she is a full-time employee)...

With all the things that the lender pokes their nose into, I find I'm worried about the possibility of identity theft (especially because we shopped around for a lender)... and of course, I found it funny that one of the insurance companies said to me, "we can add identity theft to your coverage for a mere $10 a month, it covers up to $25,000"... I'm wondering --- don't my credit cards protect me from that already anyway? As far as I know, I just have to call the credit card companies and say, "Hey, I didn't do that!"...

In other news, the cat was in its cage (travel container) today. So far, we've found it: in its cage, in the chimney (fireplace), on top of the cabinets, behind some boxes, under the table, and behind the couch. I cleaned the litter this morning. Ick!

Why Jamil and I should not have pets

2005-09-21T18:07:00.000-04:00

We are cat sitting for Jamil's aunt and uncle who just moved from Florida to Atlanta kind of (they ahven't actually closed yet, and a hotel is not a residence). We were asked to sit for their cat Omar. Originally, they were all going to stay with us for a night. I guess the fact that we only have 1 bedroom and on top of that we live far from where they have to do their errands stuff, made them decide to stay away at a hotel in Lawrenceville (the middle of nowhere, GA). We got left with The Cat.

Day 1:
Jamil wakes up a good bit before Patricia, after searching for the cat everywhere, goes to take a shower. Patricia wakes up shortly after and searches for the car herself (not knowing Jamil had done so already). Patricia tells Jamil she can't find the cat, hoping that Jamil would say don't worry I saw him when I woke up. Well, Jamil had had no luck and soon it was Patricia and Jamil searching furiously for a cat all over their *small* apartment living room/dinning room and kitchen (we obviously kept the bedroom and bathroom doors closed). At this point Jamil is almost late to go to the dentist and Patricia is past due on her ironing.

The night before they had seen the cat go into three different places. The last one being the chimney, the scared cat owners made us cover the entrance to the chimney with a box. Low and behold Omar had figured out how to get in anyway and after 40 minutes of on and off searching we found the cat. We left in a hurry.

Around 10am, Patricia realizes no one left any food for the cat. Thankfully, we had leftovers in the fridge and live close enough to home where we could go and fix this.

After work, we came in quietly in hopes that the cat wouldn't hide. Once again, the cat was nowhere to be found. Now, our apartment living area is pretty empty at the moment and we have no furniture or anything of the sort, but we searched easily for 15 minutes including lifting the heavy couch, the chimney, the fridge, cabinets etc. The cat was camuflaged in his kitty cage. I think that's where we should have left him all along. Jamil cleaned the litter right before bed.

Day 2:
Wake up. Search for the cat. I believe that on day 2 we didn't have as much trouble finding him (he was in the chimney and very upset). Jamil cleaned the water plate. We left for work. A few hours later Jamil was on the phone: "Hey, I am out of my meeting and forgot to put water back out for the cat". Seeing as to how the cat hadn't eaten much of his food the day before when we forgot to leave him food, we decided to wait until we were out of work to solve this.

At 5:30pm we left work with a list of things to do, including putting water for the cat and getting rid of the darn cat. Jamil ran upstairs to take care of the water issue and found a memo from the leasing office: they will be entering apartments the next day we were to secure all pets. Two good thoughts followed: 1. an excuse to leave the cat caged, 2. a reason to kick the cat out of our place (since we are not supposed to have a pet). Other side thoughts included: maybe the cat will run away, maybe Jamil's uncle won't want the cat locked up so long so he'll pick it up. Just as a smile began to show in my face, the phone rang: Jamil's uncle had broken his arm, also they hadn't closed on the house so they had no way to keep the beast.

6:30PM dinner
8PM Band practice
9:30PM Pick-up Jamil
9:45PM Emergency room

yep at 9:45pm we were on the way to Lawrenceville (read very very far). We spent the best part of an hour at the emergency room.

12am Search for the cat.

Thankfully, the cat was so depressed at this point, that it was just sitting on the cage.

12:15am Kill a bug
12:20AM Clean the cat litter

Stupid cat pooped and urinated about 3lbs worth, I don't even think he ate that much. I am going to guess that Jamil just didn't do a good job the night before cleaning the litter.

1AM or so, sleep.

Day 3:
Wake up late on account of the lack of sleep. I ran in the bathroom for some alone catless time, Jamil searched for the cat. This time it took 15 minutes to find the stupid thing and another 15 to try and get him down from the top of the cabinets that run over the fridge. Jamil got afraid of the cat because it hissed and managed to get him to stay as far out of reach as possible on top of nothing else but the fridge.

Thankfully, we left the cat in a cage today, without food and without water, so we have had a not cat worries day today. I am secretly hoping they fine us, just to ensure Jamil's uncle would never ever think or leaving the cat with us again.

Then again, in 3 weeks we move into a house, duh!

*sigh*

Jamil and I shouldn't have pets!

Change your job! Change your house!

2005-09-09T14:55:00.000-04:00

So... House shopping is tough... The house we thought may have been "THE HOUSE" turned out to have a very different price than we thought... Oh well... back to searching the market... We want a Single Family Home --- not a townhouse (although we would go for a townhouse if it was big enough and private enough)... We want a home more than we want an investment... (so fixer-uppers are out, as are houses that seem like they will madly appreciate, but don't feel like "home")... Yet, both of us still want a good deal... Maybe we should look into purchasing foreclosures...

I switched jobs... I no longer work at Federated Systems Group... I now work at Internet Security Systems as (drumroll) a contractor! Yes, I finally took the leap into contracting. It's better pay, and if I work more than 40 hours in a given week, I get paid for it. What about benefits, you ask... Well, I can use Patricia's benefits, or buy them myself (with some of the extra money)... What about job security? Yeah, contractors are generally let go before full-time employees, but I'm not worried. The market is good right now, and when the market does go bad again, I still don't think it will be too much of an issue.

Hmmm... I think Patricia and I are going to cheat on our diets tonight... Red Lobster is doing all-you-can-eat shrimp, and it's September 9th --- one of the many special dates for us...

it's tough to keep up

2005-08-30T14:49:00.000-04:00

It is really tough to post regularly.

I love my job. Jamil changed jobs. We now carpool. We are looking for a house. We think we found THE HOUSE last night. It felt right and the price tag was right too.

The hammock is now hung back home in PR, it was tested with two 200lb men and it survived. I hear the dog likes it a bit. I got to watch the test over webcam.

Crime is still on the rise.

Jamil's family is moving to Atlanta.

My sister came for a week and we had lots of fun.

We celebrated our 1 yr anniversary in Savannah at a place called Forsyth Mansion...hypelink to come later.

All is good in our neck of the woods, although things at Church are a little weird and stressful.

ATM Tour and Batman

2005-06-28T17:31:00.000-04:00

The news in PR these days contain many instances of what we call the ATM tour or Tour de las ATH(for the spanish letter for at all hours). The idea is that when you are going to your car after a day of shopping or a Big Mac, two men coming out of nowhere and armed with guns force you to let them into your car, make you seat on the back seat and drive you to an ATM machine to make you withdraw the maximum amount allowed ($500 in most PR banks). By then they would have taken the money in your wallet. If you are one of the unlucky ones who gets robbed not at midnight, they will attempt to make you drive them to your house for more money or beat you up rarely do they steal your car. If you get robbed close to midnight they wait until 12:01a.m. to take you to another ATM since at that time the limit is reset.
THE GOOD NEWS: They don't kill the victims
THE BAD NEWS: You are down $500 and scared sh*tless. Since the righteous owner of the bank account is the person who makes the withdrawal the whole FDIC protection thing fails.

Yesterday, scared because of the news and leaving behind a very paranoid pair of parents (see the above paragraph), we went to the biggest mall to see Batman. The biggest mall has good parking and there is security all over the place, but has acquired a bad reputation over the years so I guess they were justified. In any case, Batman was great!! I kind of missed not having funny looking villains but it was still exciting enough. I don't like how they made Bruce seem like a lost soul at times and how they made out his character weak with fear of bats. But a movie being what it is I will forgive the writers.
VERDICT: Predictable but entertaining/absorbing the future looks bright for a new installment of Batman movies.

If only Batman were Puerto Rican, maybe he would fight the ATM Tour mafia!!

Channels Misplaced

2005-06-21T10:49:00.000-04:00

After much searching, I just found ABC and something that looks like the WB and WGN. The satellite company seems to have misplaced them among the local channels... I wish I had found them yesterday...anyone know what happened in Summerland?

Runescape

2005-06-18T21:34:00.000-04:00

So, it's a little wierd for the two of us to start a blog while we are about 1500 miles apart. Patricia is currently in Puerto Rico, and I -- well, I'm home in Atlanta.

I've spent most of the day playing a little online game called runescape. You should check it out at http://www.runescape.com. It's an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) written in Java (hoo-rah!). It's free to play, and there are tons of things to do. You can fish, mine, smith, craft, as well as the usual fight. There are quests to complete, but I'm sorry to say I've finished all of the free-to-play (f2p) quests. I could subscribe to get access to the pay-to-play (p2p) items and quests, but I figure that I might as well continue leveling up on the f2p servers (since I'm still having fun).

I could go on telling you about how I fought some moss giants, defeated a green dragon, and other silly stuff like that, but suffice it to say my day just wasn't as interesting as Patricia's (see her post about hanging the hammock). Don't take me wrong, I've had fun today. I just don't think you'd be interested in hearing about it. ;-)

Hmmm... maybe I should get off the computer - and get on the gamecube. ;-)

Hammock hanging gone wrong

2005-06-18T14:55:00.000-04:00

In May we went to Costa Rica with some friends (Mark and Alan). We had a really really good time and like good Americans it all ended at a gift shop center in Sarchi. As we pondered on souvenirs for our friends and family, it occured to me that it would be a good idea to buy Jorge (my dad) a hammock. At Jorge's family's house they have always had a hammock in front of the TV and we are all couch potatos (hence the cable downgrade being a disappointment), so this was to be the perfect gift.

I came home on time for Father's day and my diligent mother arranged for one of their friends (who is from Costa Rica and whose house sports a few hammocks) to come hang up Jorge's on time for tomorrow's celebration.

It all started at 9a.m. although being hispanic the 9a.m. start consists of calling people and trying to rush them to make the ideal noon start time. In any case, their friend came around noon followed by a long 30 minute discussion of the process to follow which (being that their friend is male and so is my dad) included a trip to Home Depot to find the "right tools". Being that they had discussed in full detail the tools needed and that Home Depot is no more than 3 minutes away from our house this was to be a quick trip. Once again, we are hispanic and they are men and my mom and their friends' wife made the mistake of releasing husbands in the wild with credit cards, so 2.5 hours later they came back. I am not really sure what more they bought because it seemed like everything they came back with they already had, but they were smart enough to come food in hand (forseeing the dangers of coming back to hungry impatient wives who surely were to have spent their time together making fun of men's habits.

So after eating, much suspense and finding the metal frame of the wall, we hung the hammock. First test subject was my 250lb dad... no problems. A few oohs and ahhs and be carefuls but otherwise no problem. My dad commented that it wasn't wide enough. The expert friend determined to show the ignorant dad the stretching ability of the hammock sat on it.

Mom: Be careful, Jorge just sat there... be careful (as a true hispanic woman she continued).. we should put up a sign to be careful blah blah blah
Friend: Look Jorge look how much it stretches.
Jorge: Hmmm.
Mom: That is a man who truly believes in his work.

A proud worker, their friend moved forward sat up and jumped up as if to get higher up on the one side. That is how two seconds after my mom mentioned his pride in his work it happened. First a click then a bam! and the laughter finally came as my mom's friend lied down on the floor in disbelief. My sister missed it and almost cried at the sight... "to think that I was not even doing anything important.... Do it again!". My mom's thoughts: "Man, all that to not have a camera!!!"

Lesson: Do not use hooks sold at Home Depot for hanging plants in pots to hang people in hammocks. I'm still laughing and the hammock remains unhanged!

What do you mean no cable?

2005-06-17T12:57:00.000-04:00

I am currently in Puerto Rico. After 7 years and 3 degrees at Tech, I will be working in July and so I came home before I start.
Puerto Rico is a beautiul island. The beaches here are absolutely awesome, the food is excellent, it is warm all year round (it means only one set of clothes: summer) and the culture is very relaxed. However, when you have grown up here it feels more like it is too hot always, traffic sucks (worse traffic than Atlanta traffic) and the best beaches are crowded which makes one less than relaxed.

In any case, my family lives closer to the mountains (30 minutes away fromt he beach), it is not so hot, there is always a breeze and we don't have to stumble into rush hour traffic very much at all so really I don't have it that bad so I can come, spend time with my family and relax. However, I am faced with a very big challenge when it comes to enjoying myself: my parents have unsubscribed from 90% of the cable (satellite really) channels that matter.

Whoever has heard of paying for cable if you don't even get NBC and ABC? Who cares if you get QVC, HSN and ESPN if there is not a single movie channel. I can watch TV from all around the spanish speaking world, but I can't see old one hit wonder singers jinx current one hit wonder singers on Thursday night! This is outrageous, were they not informed that we didn't subscribe to any movie channels in Atlanta because we were counting on catching up on all the movies we hadn't seen during our vacations in Puerto Rico? How can we have quality family time if our nice big TV only plays cartoons? Not to mention local Puerto Rico TV is a moral, health and intelligence hazard.

I am afraid of what I will be surprised with when we come visit for Christmas. Now, to google to figure out what people did for entertainment before there was cable.

First Post

2005-06-17T12:48:00.000-04:00

After much thinking about it, we have joined the blog fad.

Who are we?
We are a young married Christian couple living in Atlanta. Jamil is originally from Florida and I am from Puerto Rico. We have been living in Atlanta for over 7 years and met in college while attending Georgia Tech.

What will we write about?
We'll see.