Spanish Word of the Day 30 September 2004 -- río

Today's word is río, which is river.

Vivo cerca del río. I live near the river.

Spanish Word of the Day 29 September 2004 -- cierre

Today's word is cierre. This means zipper.

Mi camisa tiene un cierre. My shirt has a zipper.

Spanish Word of the Day 28 September 2004 -- pavo

Today's word is pavo, which is turkey.

Me gusta comer sandwiches de pavo. I like to eat turkey sandwiches.

Spanish Word of the Day 27 September 2004 -- escuchar

The word today is escuchar. This a verb meaning to listen.

Here is the conjugation:
yo escucho
tú escuchas
él/ella escucha
nosotros/nosotras escuchamos
ustedes escuchan
ellos/ellas escuchan

Mi hijo no me escucha. My son doesn't listen to me.

Catching up

I have been so bad about posting the last week. I got the Sims 2 and I am addicted. Over the weekend, I stayed up until like 3 or 4 am playing.

Nothing exciting has been happening lately. I would like some good excitement, nothing bad. Maybe I should, in the words of a friend, "create some excitement."

I lost another pound this week. I'm up to like 32 pounds gone now. Yay! I'm about to have to get some new jeans. I got some jeans at Christmas last year that at the time, I was unable to zip/button. They are now so loose that I can slip them on and off without having to unbutton them. That's definitely a good feeling.

Spanish Word of the Day 26 September 2004 -- jugar

Today's word is a verb, jugar, which means to play.

The conjugation:

yo juego
tú juegas
él/ella juega
nosotros/nosotras jugamos
ustedes juegan
ellos/ellas juegan

Estoy jugando The Sims 2. I am playing The Sims 2.

Spanish Word of the Day 25 September 2004 -- mayonesa

Today the word is mayonesa. This is mayonnaise.

Me gusta comer papas fritas con mayonesa. I like to eat french fries with mayonnaise.

A Blogger on Blogging

This is an interesting article about blogging. Am I an obsessive blogger? At times. Are you?

Spanish Word of the Day 24 September 2004 -- impresora

Today's word is impresora. This is a printer.

Compré papel para mi impresora. I bought paper for my printer.

Spanish Word of the Day 23 September 2004 -- saber

Today's word is the other verb that means to know, saber. This means to know a fact, to know how to do something, to possess knowledge.

And here's the conjugation:

yo sé
tú sabes
él/ella sabe
nosotros/nosotras sabemos
ustedes saben
ellos/ellas saben

Sé conducir. I know how to drive.

Spanish Word of the Day 22 September 2004 -- conocer

Today's word is a verb, conocer. This is to know, as in to be familiar with someone or something.

The conjugation is:

yo conozco
tú conoces
él/ella conoce
nosotros/nosotras conocemos
ustedes conocen
ellos/ellas conocen

No conozco Buenos Aires. I don't know Buenos Aires. (I haven't been to Buenos Aires.)

Spanish Word of the Day 21 September 2004 -- viajar

Today the word is a verb, viajar, meaning to travel.

The conjugation:

yo viajo
tú viajas
él/ella viaja
nosotros/nosotras viajamos
ustedes viajan
ellos/ellas viajan

Quiero viajar a Argentina. I want to travel to Argentina.

Spanish Word of the Day 20 September 2004 -- oreja

Today the word is oreja, which means ear.

Mis orejas estan perforadas. My ears are pierced.

Under new law, floating checks no longer float

I really don't write many checks as it is now, but this is something to consider for those who do. After October 28, checks can be turned into a scanned image to present for payment instead of having to send the paper check to the bank for payment, cutting processing time from days to seconds.

I've lost a pound!

I lost another pound! Woo-hoo! I now weigh 4 pounds less than what I weighed when I went in for my first prenatal doctor visit on 5 September 2001. I was big then, but at least I'm making some progress. It's just been slow going.

It's so easy to get frustrated and think about quitting when I'm not seeing results. I'm hanging in there, though. I've lost 31 pounds since the beginning of the year, and I think the weight loss should pick up again, now that I'm more active, with all the running. If running 15+ miles a week doesn't jump start the weight loss, then I'm in trouble!

I'm also trying to watch what I eat, although I'm really not doing the SBD anymore. I usually have eggs and a sausage patty for breakfast. I have some sugar-free, fat-free yogurt for a morning snack. I've been eating Lean Cuisine meals for lunch. I eat pistachios in the afternoon. Dinner has been my biggest obstacle in the quest for healthy eating. I want to cook something that my whole family will eat. However, my husband doesn't like healthy food. He practically refuses to eat vegetables. He won't eat fish. I also have a picky toddler. When I was doing SBD, I was cooking 2 meals a night and I just don't have time for all of that. Any suggestions on good-for-you foods that taste good and I might be able to pass off as not-good-for-you foods?

Spanish Word of the Day 19 September 2004 -- bajar

Today the word is bajar. This is a verb meaning to go down, to descend, to lower.

The conjugation follows:

yo bajo
tú bajas
él baja
nosotros bajamos
ustedes bajan
ellos bajan

Estoy bajando de peso. I am losing weight.

Spanish Word of the Day 18 September 2004 -- perder

The word today is perder. This is a verb meaning to lose.

The conjugation is:

yo pierdo
tú pierdes
él pierde
nosotros perdemos
ustedes pierden
ellos pierden

A veces pierdo mis llaves. I lose my keys sometimes.

Spanish Word of the Day 17 September 2004 -- duchar

Today's word is duchar. This is to shower.

The conjugation follows:

yo me ducho
tu te duchas
el se ducha
nosotros nos duchamos
ustedes se duchan
ellos se duchan

Me duché anoche. I showered last night.

Rick James Update

From CNN:

Rick James had nine drugs in his system when he died on August 6, 2004, including cocaine, methamphetamine, valium, and vicodin.

"None of the drugs or drug combinations were found to be at levels that were life-threatening in and of themselves," the report said. It gave the cause of death as a heart attack and ruled the death accidental.

Report finds Iraq prospects bleak

The Bush administration has sought to downplay the significance of a U.S. intelligence forecast painting a pessimistic picture for the future of Iraq, insisting that predictions of difficulties ahead -- including the possibility of civil war -- were not a surprise.

My husband's Review of Locomotion

Disclaimer: the crap he wrote about the pirate hat simply didn't happen.

I must say though, that the game is sooo addictive. It's like crack, only cheaper and without the social stigma.

Spanish Word of the Day 16 September 2004 -- araña

Today's word is araña, which is spider.

No me gustan las arañas. I don't like spiders.

Update on the spider bite

He's fine. He can be such a hypochondriac at times. I took half a day off work and spent 2 hours in the doctor's office to have him tell me, "Hey, I'm fine. I got a prescription for some cream if the itching doesn't stop."

I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry, especially in the case of a spider bite. Our doctor said that he's been seeing a lot of patients presenting with spider bites, like a couple a day. It must be spider season, if such a thing exists. I just hope he's the only one who gets bitten in the family.

The doctor gave a tip for avoiding spiders:

Don't leave clothing on the floor. (Isn't that something mothers have been saying for centuries?)

BooksByBookEnds - Instant Print-On-Demand Self-Publishing

This sounds pretty neat. You can get your own book published for as low as $150 for 10 books.

I got my Japanese name!

My japanese name is 藤原 Fujiwara (wisteria fields) 美晴 Miharu (beautiful clear sky).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

clothes off our back

Always wanted a piece of your favourite celebrity? Here's your chance: celebrities donate their designer clothing items which are auctioned off and the proceeds benefit charities.

Should foreign-born Americans have an opportunity to run for president?

This is an issue I'm really torn about. There's a part of me that says, no the office should only be open to US-born citizens, not someone who was naturalized regardless of the length of time they've lived here or been a citizen. Then another part of me says that the best candidate should have the opportunity, but what if the best candidate happens to be someone who wasn't born here?

I've got some thinking to do on this one.

PE Scale

I found this Perceived Exertion scale, and it's pretty good. It's easy to categorize how you feel while you're exercising.

• Level 1: I'm watching TV and eating bon bons
  
• Level 2: I'm comfortable and could maintain this pace all day long
  
• Level 3: I'm still comfortable, but am breathing a bit harder
  
• Level 4: I'm sweating a little, but feel good and can carry on a conversation effortlessly
  
• Level 5: I'm just above comfortable, am sweating more and can still talk easily
  
• Level 6: I can still talk, but am slightly breathless
  
• Level 7: I can still talk, but I don't really want to. I'm sweating like a pig
  
• Level 8: I can grunt in response to your questions and can only keep this pace for a short time period
  
• Level 9: I am probably going to die
  
• Level 10: I am dead
  
  

Insurance fiasco continued

Have I mentioned that I hate insurance right now?

The health insurance issue comes after the car insurance fiasco where I got dropped by the company who had provided my car insurance for 13 years because my husband doesn't have a driver's license. He doesn't drive, and doesn't want a license. We got screwed over by the insurance company on that too. We got a letter 3 months before the expiration of the policy notifying us that they would not renew it. Called the agent and he said that the main reason was because of the hubby. I asked if he gets a license, would we be able to keep the insurance. He said that he didn't know, couldn't answer, it's up to the company. I called the guy whose name and number were on the letter, who is at the corporate HQ. I asked him the same question. He said that he thought that it wouldn't be a problem, but he really couldn't answer it definitely, because the final decision would be up to the agent, whether or not they wanted to write the policy. So at this point, agent says the HQ decides. HQ says the agent decides. Called the agent back, he again says that it's not his decision. Gives a different number to call. Get the runaround like this for over a month. Finally in frustration call the agent back and ask who I need to talk to. That I would like to keep the same insurance and what I need to do to make that happen. If my husband gets a license, can we keep the insurance? Finally, he says that he is the one who would make that decision. That if my husband has a license that we can keep insurance, but so close to the policy expiration date, he won't authorize it if he doesn't already have the license and that we should have thought about that earlier. So if I had got a straight answer from the beginning, I could have kept the insurance because we would have had time to get his license. I'm now with another company, paying $100 more a month. Clean driving record, too.

Doctor time!

When it rains, it pours. I just spent $85 on Friday to take my son to the doctor and to get the 6 weeks worth of medicine that treating his tinea capitis(ringworm on the scalp, if your latin's not that great) requires.

Then, yesterday morning, my husband woke up with a "rash" on his left arm and on his neck. I don't think that it's ringworm. It's like hives. There's a raised spot in the middle and a red area surrounding it. The spots are warm to the touch and they itch. He hasn't been able to sleep well the last 2 nights, so we're going to the doctor tomorrow afternoon to get it checked out. I'm not sure if it's some type of allergy, if something bit him, or if he was probed by aliens.

I don't know what it is with my husband and insurance. He's an insurance troublemaker. A while back, our previous family doctor retired. We had to choose a new provider. We were contacted by another doctor who said that he was taking over the practice, yadda, yadda, yadda. That never happened. The clinic was closed down, turned into a free Hispanic clinic, and then demolished to make room for road construction. So, in the meantime, we had changed both our primary doctors with the insurance company to this new guy who didn't pan out. I chose a new doctor last year and have been seeing him since. I was able to change the primary doctor with the insurance company with no problems, effective immediately. We decided to both use the same doctor. I called the clinic that I use and got an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. It was then that I realized that my husband's primary doc was still the other guy who he's never even seen. So...I call the insurance company. I am the primary subscriber on the account. The insurance is in my name, under my social, deducted from my paycheck. They tell me that I can't change my husband's primary doctor because I'm not authorized on the account. What?! The lady says that he has to request that, and that the change will be effective October 1. Arrgh. I went to their website and changed his primary doctor, and imagine this: it requires authorization from the primary subscriber -- me! Anyway, he'll be covered for the doctor tomorrow since it is a network doctor, but will have to pay a specialist copay instead of the normal one. It's $10 more.

Spanish Word of the Day 15 September 2004 -- desayuno

Today's word is desayuno, this is breakfast.

Comí salchicha en el desayuno hoy. I ate sausage for breakfast today.

Dubya was in the Air Force too?

Check this out. It's a copy of an ad promoting George W Bush in the Republican Primary for Congress back in the 1970s. It mentions that he served in the Air Force as well as the Texas Air National Guard.

50 Million Women Count

Use your voice and vote!

Baby dropped out of car during police chase - Sep 14, 2004

I read this and I just can't believe this.

Spanish Word of the Day 14 September 2004 -- pantalones

Today's word is pantalones. This is pants.

Uso los pantalones negros frecuentemente. I wear black pants often.

Spanish Word of the Day 13 September 2004 -- falda

The word of the day is falda, which is skirt.

Estoy usando una falda negra hoy. I am wearing a black skirt today.

Spanish Word of the Day 12 September 2004 -- tomar

Today's word is tomar. This is a verb which means to drink.

Here is the conjugation:

yo tomo
tú tomas
él toma
nosotros tomamos
ustedes toman
ellos toman

Mi hijo toma jugo de manzana con su cena. My son drinks apple juice with his dinner.

Attack of the ringworm!

My son has ringworm on his head. Bleh. It started about a month ago, when we picked him up from daycare and noticed a spot on his head where it was like the skin on his scalp was kind of peeled back, not really bloody. We thought that he may have had an accident on the playground or something, and so didn't think much more about it when it healed over. That area then started getting flaky, almost like a bad case of dandruff. It then spread over to the other side of his head, and the flakes were coming off, sometimes taking the hair with them. When a small bald spot began forming, I decided it was time to take him to the doctor to get this checked out. So we went, and it turns out that the crap on his head is ringworm. We have shampoo to use 2 times a week as well as an oral medication that he gets once a day for 6 weeks. Hopefully this clears it up and no one else in the family gets ringworm in the meantime.

Feeling guilty

Yesterday we had a potluck at work. I overdid it a little, as far as the eating goes. I've been having a Lean Cuisine meal for lunch. Yesterday, I had chips and dip, chili, hashbrown casserole, and...DESSERT. Arrgh! Then I went out for dinner last night with some friends and didn't exactly eat as healthy as I could have. Then today, I missed running because I was out running errands with my husband, and by the time we would have made it home, it would have been dark. I don't mind running in the dark -- with a buddy. Running by myself at night is not something I do if I can avoid it. Then, to add insult to injury, we went out for dinner, and again, I chose not-healthy-for -me items. I haven't gained any weight. But I'm getting back on track tomorrow. I'm going to make up the distance I missed today, since tomorrow was going to be an off-day anyway. I'm also going to make better food choices.

Spanish Word of the Day 11 September 2004 -- tiña

Today's word is tiña . This is ringworm.

Mi hijo tiene tiña en su cabeza. My son has ringworm on his head.

Spanish Word of the Day 10 September 2004 -- naranjo

Today's word is naranjo. This is the colour orange. This needs to agree in gender with what you are describing. The fruit is naranja.

Estoy usando una camisa naranja. I am wearing an orange shirt.

Argentina Wants Kerry, Not Bush

In the upcoming United States presidential election, which candidate would you prefer to see win? Would that be George W. Bush of the Republican Party or John Kerry of the Democratic Party?

John Kerry (D) 43%
George W. Bush (R) 6%
No difference 25%
Don’t know 25%


See the full article here.

Would you pay $1200 for these shoes?

I found these at Zappos in their couture collection. They're Pucci. They're staying at Zappos as far as I'm concerned.

Spanish Word of the Day 9 September 2004 -- manzana

Today's word is manzana. This is apple.

A Enzo gusta el jugo de manzana. Enzo likes apple juice.

i-stepwalk: pedometer monitor

This looks pretty cool. A pedometer that monitors your activity and transmits the info to an online site. It's definitely cooler than the pedometer I have.

Spanish Word of the Day 8 September 2004 -- abuela

Today's word is abuela. This means grandmother. The masculine form is abuelo, which is grandfather.

Mi abuela es vieja. My grandmother is old.

Spanish Word of the Day 7 September 2004 -- foto

Today's word is foto, which is photo.

A mi hijo le gusta mirar fotos de animales. My son likes to look at animal pictures.

Spanish Word of the Day 6 September 2004 -- computadora

The word today is computadora, which is computer.

Utilizo mi computadora cada día en el trabajo. I use my computer every day at work.

Whisky

Interesting photos. (en español)

Something I found

I don't know if I was supposed to see this or not. But I have. My husband and I have our own computers that are on a network at home, and we each have a shared folder. He moved a lot of documents onto that shared folder, for safekeeping if his machine went down. Blah, blah, blah. Anyhow, I wanted to share what I found.

Warning: It's long.

The 5K – A personal thesis (Not a memo. A mission statement.)

It’s been a little less than three years, at approximately 4.4 posts per day. Not that the numbers mean anything. I like to think that it’s the quality of the time spent and the kindness of the company. The numbers are just reflections of that.

Some time ago, a wiser man than me posted his personal thesis in celebration of his 5K. He now builds death camps, but that’s not the point. The point is that he posted something that is very true: Really, it’s very little of us that can be seen when we post. We know how each other posts, but we don’t know each other. I’ll try to fix that now. This is not a roast, so this time I won’t listen. I’ll do the talking. About what? About me. I know it can be an excruciatingly boring topic, but I’ll do my best. Work with me.

I was born (< --- I still don’t believe that part) in Buenos Aires in 1975. Right about the time the hysterics decided, like every other moron-in-charge thru history, that they had been selected by divine providence to rule the land and inaugurate with drums, trumpets and cymbals, the arrival of a new dark stain in the pages of humanity. But that was not the worst, for I was born squarely in a middle-class family, half spanish, half italian. Catholic, of course. So it wasn’t really the best of both worlds. It was probably the worst of every possible world. But even though the odds were against me, I made it out of my mother alive and unscathed. The rest is where it gets interesting. Catholic schools for nine years. If that doesn’t break a man, nothing will. But don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t always the recalcitrant agnostic I am now. At some point, yes, I sincerely believed in all the dogmas, accepted things as they were presented and was generally another happy cog in the mechanism. Why? Well, I suppose that the fact that I really had no fucking choice is probably the culprit. And it’s not that if I had a choice I could’ve used it anyway. All my friends were going to school with me and when I got home, the informal theological instruction continued. So it was either that or going to live in a cave somewhere, which is not an attractive prospect for a 5-14 year old.

We’ve had several discussions here in the box that goes something like “Ok, so when did you lose your faith?” or “What made you reject (x)?”. I always say that in my case it happened in my mid-teens and it was kind of a nebulous process. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. It was a process (actually, in the words of my mother, a “degenerative process”), but I do remember distinctly two particular instances that played a great part in swinging me to the dark side.

One, I was 14. In high school. During mass (yes, God creates you with free will but you better hold on to the skin of your ass if you choose to skip mass… ‘nuff said). It was the mass on the ‘day of the dead’. Nothing as colorful as the Mexican celebration, I’m afraid. It was simply the day where those who attended mass and wished to have the mass dedicated to a friend or family member that had already passed away could do so. Normally, before the mass, those who wished to do it would approach the priest before the ceremony and tell him or pass him a note with the name of the person they wanted mentioned. However, since this was high school after all, this task of collecting names was delegated that particular day to somebody from the senior years. And you know what happens when a message gets passed through many nodes: It gets degraded. Long story short, when it came to that part of the mass the priest called for this guy with the list that had been already passed through pretty much the whole school (hundreds of kids). So the guy steps to the little podium that had the mic and started reciting all the names. An incredibly boring time ensues. Name after name after name from people you didn’t even know, one after another. Like a mantra. But something happened after maybe ten, fifteen minutes of names. It appeared that some creative hands ‘slipped’ some questionable names into the list. There were hundreds of names, nobody thought to check the list beforehand and by the time the poor guy reading them got to these names, he was more numb than a drunken dervish and didn’t catch them.

So we had a nice, big, fat mass for dead people like “Donald Duck”, “Minnie”, “Mike Torello” (of “Crime Story” fame), “John Rambo” and many others, inserted between real names. The laughter amongst the kids present was barely containable. Some simply couldn’t. But suddenly, like everybody else (except the priest and the school directives, I’m sure) I felt good. I felt alive. And then it kinda dawned on me. Right there, sitting in that mass gone awry. I realized how bad this whole thing has to be for me to feel good when it goes wrong. Perhaps it was (is) meaningless. Perhaps it was just the endorphins kicking in. But that moment, and what I felt at the time, stuck with me.

Two, my planned catholic education and upbringing had always been a big deal in my family during my youth. It was the way things were and the path I would eventually, but inevitably, follow. Or else. Severely, but never aggressively or violently or anything like that (in fact I can count with one hand the times that my parents actually had to hit or spank me. And the times they did, I assure you, it was completely just and deserved. After I was 8 I wised up and they never had to lay a finger on me anymore). Nothing violent. It was simply the absence of a choice. I didn’t have one. Perhaps I had one, but not in this reality, dimension or universe. There wasn’t a choice of paths for me, at least in these religious matters. There simply was just one path. God was the way and my mother was his prophet.

And I say this kinda literally, because the parental unit in charge of setting me in this most righteous path was my mother. My father did not intervene much, but when he did it was always to back my mother’s position. As if she needed reinforcements. But anyway, what I extracted from years out of my father’s sort of ‘hands-off’ approach was that he also sincerely believed in this, but that he always deferred judgement to my mom for whatever reason. And since I had always been more attached and looking up to my dad than my mom, my reasoning went along the lines of “Well, she may be wrong. But if dad is onboard too, then she isn’t/it’s true/I deserve it/there’s no way out”. Having my dad onboard something that my mom spearheaded was the difference between reading the theory of relativity and having Einstein explain it to you personally. No room for error.

Until one day in high school (same school). It was customary at the time that the parents went in to talk to the directives at the beginning of each school year. So there I was, waiting outside the Principal’s office while my dad was inside talking to him. Problem is, if the area around the office was quiet enough (which was rare) you could hear the people talking inside the office perfectly. And it was a very quiet time. I don’t remember how the conversation between the Principal and my dad had reached that point, but I had the pleasure of hearing out of my father’s very same mouth and in no uncertain terms whatsoever that he didn’t care one bit about the religious instruction, that I was attending that school for the education standards and nothing else and to further drive the point home, that he wasn’t a believer at all and he put me in that school because my mother wanted me there.

Well, spank me in the ass and roll that beautiful bean footage.

I never confronted my dad and told him that I have heard that. He doesn’t even know I did. But that made me realize that not all was as it seemed. That fortuitous and savory accidental ‘in’ to previously hidden family politics was the other big factor that made me reconsider my own position. Before that, it was divine word more or less. But after knowing that, I knew that such a disagreement was what I needed to make me realize that I was free to choose my own path. I wouldn’t tell them about it, if it ever came to that (it never did), but it was something to keep to myself and use it if needed. I realized that if my favored parental unit chose a different path for himself, he had no grounds to ever forbid me to choose my own.

And so the process began. And it probably went on like it did with anybody else who went through a similar process. I began voicing the questions that couldn’t be answered. Seeking to read for myself the things that were never offered to me before. Slowly realizing that whereas before only one path existed, it wasn’t time to follow it but perhaps instead carve a different path of my own. It was the beginning of the end of the age of conformism.

Of course, all hell broke loose at home. But I knew I was on the right track when I saw who was doing all the breaking loose of said hell: my mom. My father simply sat it out. Intransigent. Perhaps never wanting to openly question my mother in front of me, but perhaps also cheering for me on the inside. I’ll never know. And I think I’d rather not know. If there was something I learned at that time was how to embrace doubt and how it can be something positive sometimes.

Of course, like everybody else, I was very interested in Buddhism at the time (I still am, but not enough to make it my path). I read them all, from Aquinas to Sai Baba. I got all the t-shirts.

Enough of religion. Curiously, politics was a much simpler matter.

My father had always been leaning to the right more often than not. A business owner (at least during most of my life), but previously he had worked for years at a textile cooperative. And before that, the Stock Market… of all places. An admirer of the core ideals and values of the western world (by extension, an admirer of the US as well) and a fervent believer of the principles behind Capitalism.

My mother, on the other hand. Literally. Hardcore, down to the marrow of her spine Socialist. Borderline Revolutionary Communist when you got her riled up (something my father was an expert at). If you think I’m bad with my posts here in the Soapbox, I assure you with the utmost sincerity and from the bottom of my honest heart… she’d be ten times worse. Ten times worse than a horny Keystone high on meth. She would’ve hit Marx with a broom on the head for not being hardcore enough, according to her. She was a typist and a piano teacher, whom developed into a dedicated homemaker after her marriage. Picture a Martha Stewart that would put a bomb under your bed if you dissed her floral arrangements.

Now you know why I’m so fucked up.

From my father, I learned a distinct sense of honesty, as applied to any activity you might engage in. I also learned, by example, a balls-to-bone passion for life and knowledge, in any way those two choose to manifest themselves. Also by example, he tried to teach me his impeccable work ethic, but to be honest it’s something I haven’t been able to replicate for myself so far. And I probably never will.

From my mother, I learned how to be passionate about music. How to appreciate it, play it and listen to it, which is such an integral part of it that’s often overlooked. Sadly, I didn’t inherit or learned her manual dexterity in areas other than playing piano. I also learned from her how not everything can or should be considered purely in economic terms. That there’s a whole array of elements, a big part of what makes a human being that simply does not understand economics, is unable to speak that language and it’s futile to force it.

But there’s a very important thing that I learned from both. And I’m sure it’s a lesson of life that, if it was up to them, they would’ve chosen not to teach me: How to hold on, be prepared, unfazed and how to keep on hitting when the world around you starts to crumble down.

Due to reasons that are of public knowledge, the situation back home has been steadily going down the crapper for years. They taught me that lesson as all this unfolded with time. What once was an upper-middle class family easily cruising by was transformed into a lower-class one desperately trying to make ends meet in the space of just less than ten years. The business started to generate less and less income (like everybody else’s!), things were getting more and more expensive. That ridiculous, humilliating and almost inescapable vicious circle of inflation and recession that caught the country just as it was starting to emerge from its own little hell during the dictatorship and kicked away fifty or more years of progress.

The car had to be sold. Our apartment, home for over fifteen years, sold as well. We had to move to a smaller apartment. And three years later, we had to move again. Most of the employees in the business had to be let go (it was a business of 20+ years and most employees had been there since… a decision that I caught my capitalistic father crying about once). My mom even went to help and work at the business, and she hadn’t worked in thirty or so years.

As for me, I had to get a job as well. I was maybe half into my first year of (public) college, but unfortunately I had to put that in the backburner. I regretted it inmensely at the time and it was my hope that it would turn into something temporary (the hours of the jobs I had lined up were simply incompatible with college. Something had to give) and I could return eventually. But I never could.

Besides, and to quote my father, it was “about fucking time you get a job”. Followed, of course, by the inevitable speech of how when he was my age he had already worked probably twenty different jobs (probably untrue), how he had almost made into the River Plate first team (definitely untrue) and how he was developing a cure for cancer, solving Euler’s theorem, the problems of Kierkegaard and saving the free world from Communist infiltration (mostly true).

Yet, in the middle of all this shit, food was always on the table, football was always on TV and the laughter, kisses and hugs never left the family. They made damn sure of that. They taught me probably the best way to face adversity and not lose your mind.

So what about me? This post is supposed to be about me anyway.

I don’t think I should talk about my views. At laest not in this post. Talking about my views is what I do here every time I post. This one is not a pulpit, it’s just a table, coffee and friends. What am I? I am nothing more than the sum of what you’ve (hopefully) read. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a guy with a whole lot of virtues and a whole lot of pitfalls. Like everybody else. Twenty-eight years old. Old as the hills. So, what am I? How am I?

I’m the guy that if you ask him nicely, he’ll even give you his underwear.
I’m the guy that will always prefer to give you a nice, big hug rather than a handshake.
I’m the guy that’s utterly and almost pathologically paranoid of losing his keys.
I’m the guy that likes to think before acting.
I’m the guy that likes to give because he has seen how it comes back.
I’m the guy that always falls in love and is always too late to say it.
I’m the guy that runs to know instead of sitting down to believe.
I’m the guy that’s incredibly inconstant.
I’m the guy that’s shy until he knows you.
I’m the guy that was expecting a son and got the whole universe wrapped in a blanket instead.
I’m the guy that’s not ashamed to cry, but would rather not do it.
I’m the guy that’s a terrific winger on the right side of the field but can’t dribble to save his life.
I’m the guy that loves his wife and recently realized it was in a big part because she routes around his crap.
I’m the guy that doesn’t remember phone numbers.
I’m the guy that wants to be a writer and eventually make a living out of it.
I’m the guy that will kick your ass, not because he’s stronger or faster, but because he’ll always get back up on his feet.
I’m the guy that is impossible to get riled up.
I’m the guy that’s pissed off about that last one because it’s a good thing and also a bad thing.
I’m the guy that hates politics because it’s full of politicians.
I’m the guy that doesn’t know the end of his road, but that doesn’t bother him.
I’m the guy that bites his nails.
I’m the guy with the karma. Apparently! Sheesh… never a break.
I’m simply the guy that posts here. Always your friend, and even if you decide otherwise, never your enemy. Thanks for reading.

Peace…

Training Plan in Place for Marathon --Woo-hoo!

Okay. I signed up for the local training group for the Little Rock Marathon. I think I may be in over my head, but I'm going for it anyway. The official "training" starts on 9/27, with the week being individual runs, and then meetings on Saturday to run with the group if you choose. There's also a build up training program. I decided to start that as of today. This week's schedule is as follows:
Monday: 2 miles
Tuesday: 1.5 miles
Wednesday: 3 miles
Thursday: 1.5 miles
Friday: off
Saturday: 4 miles
Sunday: off
Total of 12 miles for the week. Not too bad, all in all. I already completed my 2 miles for today. I actually went 2.17 miles. I'd rather not talk about the time, though. I'll just say that I wasn't setting any records today.

Anyway, the training builds up week by week, 12 miles this week, 13 miles a week for the next 2. When the official training starts, it's 15 miles the first week, 16 the next 2, 18 the next 2 after that, and so on until reaching a peak of running 34 miles in the week of February 7. The race is March 6.

I feel pretty good about what I'm doing. It could be worse. I suppose I could be sitting on the couch watching TV. I'm getting exercise, fresh air, and today an added bonus: a wink from an old man on a bike. Not bad for a day's work.

Korochi Industrias | Opiniones envueltas para regalo

My husband says he knows the guy responsible for this page from back in Buenos Aires.

Here's my husband and son back in May on our way to have dinner. 

love this one 

FriendTest.com - challenge your friends with your own custom quiz!

Feeling up to the challenge? Want to see how well you know me? Take the test.

Some of my favourite entries from the Moms calendar

July 17/18: Simply having children does not make mothers. --Irish proverb

June 30: Why do moms ask questions that have such obvious answers? For example:
Do you want a spanking?
Do you want to go right to bed?
Don't you want to save some of that cake for your brother?
Do you want a piece of advice?
July 20: Mom's Definition Intuition: Your ability to know what your child's excuse is going to be before he knows what it's going to be.

August 17: Mom's Definition Middle Age: The time after your mother took care of you and before your children take care of you.

August 10: Moms are like computers because only their creator understands their internal logic.

June 21: A Mommy Moment One afternoon Helen realized it had been several minutes since she heard the voices of her two little sons, Tom and Scott, playing in the yard. Silence usually meant they were up to no good, so she went outside to investigate. Her older son Tom, age six, was standing by the side of the house wearing a guilty look. His four-year-old brother Scott was playing alone in the sandbox. "What does this say?"Helen demanded as she pointed to the letters "T-O-M" carved in the siding of the house. Tom answered, "It says 'Scott.' He must have carved it."

June 18: Remember when you were twenty-five and you thought perhaps Mom might know a few things about putting a household together? Funny how she had gained all that knowledge while you were away at college.

July 29: You know you're a real mom when... You ask your girlfriends if anyone has to go potty before entering the movie theater on Girls' Night Out.

Spanish Word of the Day 5 September 2004 -- colchón

Today's word is colchón. This is mattress.

Necesitamos un colchón nuevo. We need a new mattress.

Buenos Aires Herald

An English newspaper based in BsAs

The Carrie Model

Well, to satisfy the curiosity of some...and to save you the trouble of building your own, here it is, the Virtual Carrie at 125 pounds.





Here's me at my current weight. The difference between the 2 models is more apparent in the side view.




I created these at My Virtual Model, and I can change the weight up or down, select my height, my hair colour and style, and other things. I can also take my virtual model shopping to virtually try on clothing.

Spanish Word of the Day 4 September 2004 -- rodilla

Today's word of the day is rodilla. This is knee.

Me duele la rodilla derecha. My right knee hurts.

Spanish Word of the Day 3 September 2004 -- ensalada

Today's word is ensalada, which is salad.

Me gusta comer ensalada. I like to eat salad.

Quotes about Running

When I first started running, I was so embarrassed, I'd walk when cars passed me. I'd pretend I was looking at the flowers. - Joan Benoit Samuelson

I can really identify with this one, I've done this before, only no pretending to look at the flowers.

If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don't spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it. - Priscilla Welch

Great advice that can be applied to anything.

In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that. - Fred Lebow

Amen. But it's always nice to be able to say that you won.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Confucius

This reminds me of a line written in The Fellowship of the Ring:

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say.
"You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing
where you might be swept off to."

Hurricane Frances lifts mobile home stocks

This scares me.

Spanish Word of the Day 2 September 2004 -- septiembre

Today's word is septiembre. This is September. The names of months and days are not capitalized in Spanish like they are in English.

El otoño empieza en septiembre en el hemisferio norte. Autumn begins in September in the Northern Hemisphere.

2005 WALT DISNEY WORLD Marathon

This looks like it would be fun. No way I can do it in 2005, though. Maybe something to shoot for in 2006.

Spanish Word of the Day 1 September 2004 -- huracán

Today's word is huracán, which means hurricane.

Hay un huracán acercandose Florida. There is a hurrican moving toward Florida.

Bush was AWOL in 1972

Hmm...

Korfball World - Home of the no. 1 korfball resource

I got my answer to my previous post about Korfball in the form of a comment from the webmaster of this site.

Hi Carrie (?),

I'm webmaster of KorfballWorld.com, an international site about korfball. I've played korfball for about 22 years. If you like to know more about it, just let me know through my site.

I live in The Netherlands, where korfball is quite popular. It's one of the five largest team sports in The Netherlands with about 95.000 registered members. It sue is fun to play! ;-)

Actually it's a sport related to basketball. One of the biggest differences is that it's mixed. And 'korf' is the Dutch word for basket. ;-)

Loca Luna

A yummy place to eat!!