And just like that...

May ended as every month is fated to do.

So, while I was worried about the results of my job and finally deciding that it did not matter if I’d done something else than what I already did, yesterday, I took more time that usual for lunch. My car was at the mechanic (service, not repair), I met my wife for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant (since she is still in the detox/eat-right phase) and she took me to the car after that. It was almost 1:30 pm when I got the car and being that I was close to the kids’ school I called my wife to tell her I would pick them up and take them home.

Pinka had a birthday party for one of her classmates, and wanted to go. We had discussed the matter on Thursday and told her that she was not going because we could not take her there, but, I was already there picking her up so she started pressuring (in her own way) and I caved in. I took her to the party. Then, Lexie (the nanny) called me at work. The mother of one of Pinka’s friends had called looking for my wife or for me and left a phone number. I called her and then she told me that Pinka had a small accident when jumping in a trampoline and that resulted in an ankle sprain.

So I forgot anything to do with work and started calling and receiving calls from my wife; trying to find out who was there, what is next and where we were going to take her. We ended at the Hospital del Pr@do; a very old hospital in Tijuana, used to be very good. Every one of us was there; my wife with Mediana (who was at home at the time of the accident), Vicky (in her way from work) and me. Pinka was taken to the hospital by her best friend’s mom.

After waiting 30 minutes, a classmate of Mediana arrived with his mom; he had the same injury, while playing football (futbol, not American football; soccer for Americans) at school. We talked a little while waiting for the doctor to show up. 15 minutes later the doctor arrived, then he got a panic attack because there were so many of us and… the asked us to move to a different exam room. There we went, and another 5 minutes got me to the end of my patience. We left. Usually, it takes 15 minutes for somebody to take care of you (specially when you are in the Emergency Room!!!) so after 45 I was about to hit somebody.

Ok, I did not, because nobody was even there to be hit. Anyway; we go to a different hospital (Ange1es) and what do you know; I took Pinka to the lobby and then returned to the car to park it. By the time I got back she was out for X-Rays! It took us 30 minutes to get out of the hospital, with X-Rays and medicine and an appointment with an orthopedist on Saturday! That is what I called service.

So, we went today to the orthopedist; he had to put a cast on her leg and now she is in crutches. She was really concerned, because she is in the school play (as one of the leading actresses) and though that maybe she was not going to be ready for it; but they will remove the cast and she will leave the crutches in two weeks; so she will have two weeks to recover enough for the school play.

There was something I did not like of this development; and it was that Pinka was rather happy to have a cast on her leg; because she will be popular at school. I am worried by that; this is the third time in the last three years she had something in her health and every time she was happy about how people at school was going to react (positively). Remember I mentioned about how there are no accidents? This situation REALLY worries me.

The results of my job? Well, we were only at 85%; and 99% in the quarter. Better than expected, but I rather failed miserably that having to have one of my girls in an accident again.

Envy

I got an account in Goodreads (*). Now I am trying to create my booklist.

How did people find the time to do it? I feel compelled to list all the books that I have at home (regardless if I have read them or not), but a quick count gave me more than 1000 books (**).

I need to develop an easier way to do it.

See you around.

(*) Because I have been seeing the "advertising" in some friends' blogs.
(**) I feel a little bit like bragging here. I apologize in advance. You are free to bring me back to my normal self with your comments if you feel the same.

Resignation

OK, I got to hand it to my wife. When I think she can not surprise me, there she goes again. We are OK. Which gave me time to focus on my work.

Seems like nothing can be done at this moment. We are going to achieve only 60 to 70% of the targets we had for this month; for the quarter we will be at 85% (approx). All of it will not give us a pass, we will fail. Not good. We can blame it on whatever we want, we are failing. Our bosses will not be happy.

Then, since nothing else can be done, I've decided to take it lightly; I started to look for some information and got sidetracked by what I found in today's news. I went further and remembered the controversy caused by the Memin Pinguin stamps for the Mexican post; I still do not understand the sensitivity of these themes for Americans. Maybe (s)wine can help me here.

But me, I can tell you that the last time I went to our California factory, one of the Quality Engineers there (female), told me that if I were to work in US, I would get fired for the comment I made of her (regarding the aggressivity she was demonstrating towards the employees from Tijuana and explaining it that the reason behind it was that she was a woman; I know what you will say, and you are right, but I was already pissed at her, she deserved that!).

So now, my wife is also right; I can be an insensitive bastard sometimes (even though she would not say bastard, she would use a Mexican insult [like cabron or pendejo]). The good thing is that I know this and can change (for her).

See you around.

Careful of what you wish for...

Yesterday, when contemplating the lack of “heavy issues” in my posts I decided not to care about it and go with the flow; “There will be a time, when I feel bad/sad/depressed/angry/etc. and then I will write about it”.

As the saying goes… “careful what you wish for, you may get it”.

Last night, I had (what for me was) a in-fun discussion with my wife. She complained that I try always (big word here!) to be right; and always (same word!) to be first, to win, never to lose. I thought she was not serious, but this morning; she was really pissed about it, she was lashing at me because of that; I let it go, since I did not want to get into a discussion that I know it won’t get anywhere. I wasn’t happy, but avoided temporarily a discussion with my wife (the results of discussions with my wife, when we cannot agree to something is that we stop talking to each other for several hours or sometimes days; not a good result). I knew I would pay (because that is the other part of it; she feels like I am hurting her on purpose and start doing things to bother me, she is partially right and partially successful).

I come to work and then the day starts unraveling. There is a shipment we can not make today and is a new customer (need to keep the good impression), there is a list of products that seems like we will not finish on time (we will be short in the monthly target for shipments), there is an audit from our sister factory in California (they want to be here tomorrow, in freaking quarter/month end!!), there is a complaint from corporate regarding materials, etc.

My wife calls me next; I have not gotten the SENTRI sticker for the minivan (we got it in December; so it is 6 MONTHS ALREADY!!); so we start discussing for that, and because of yesterday’s discussion she can not see the marvelous person I am!! She only sees the irritating things that I do (like procrastinating, spending too much time in the computer [she might be into something here!], spending too little time with the kids, not putting down the toilet seat and pressing the toothpaste at the middle ;^)).

It is 9:45 am; I hope that if I write this, it will stop here and prevent any escalation to full war with my wife.

Let’s see if I am successful. I will be posting additional comments as soon as I can.

P.S. She just called me to tell me she now feels better, so this should be working!!

Living Light

Now that there is a light version of almost everything, do you miss the full version of whatever?

I tend to be really introspective whenever I have the chance. Keeping up with this tendency (from yesterday) I was wondering if what I was writing was “too light”. Should I try for the serious stuff? Should I be worried about the state of things in the world? I decided I had to, and then wrote yesterday’s post. But, in any case, it was not enough for me. So I started thinking about what to write today. And I was still trying to decide the theme of today’s post when I got an email from Pily (good friend from Guajalajara times). She called last Friday, to say happy birthday and I shared with her my blog’s address, so she could read and kind of catch up with me. She told me in the email that I sounded really serious and unhappy (?) on the phone, but after reading the blog (in Spanish) she noticed that I was still the same joyful person she knew back then (phew!).

I am not serious then? I thought I should be!! But, in any case, why should I worry about trying to find a “serious” issue to write about? Let’s keep enjoying this writing, the main reason to write is to share, and if what I share at this moment is a laugh instead of a cry, well I just hope you (and I) enjoy it!!

See you around.

To whom it may concern.

Today is a really slow day for work.

It is giving me time to think; and one of the things I am considering at this moment is that we live in changing times.

The newscasts all over the weekend (both in Mexican and American) warned of the food crisis that exists in the whole world. Oil prices are soaring and less food is available at the prices we had a year ago. Wheat had increased the customer final price in 130%, vegetables in average had increased their price 65%, and oil has duplicated its price in the last 12 months. What does it mean?

I lived in an agricultural region in the north of Sinaloa. Tomato, corn, zucchini, chili, sugar cane, beans, wheat, soy, sorghum, safflower (cártamo in Spanish), cotton, etc. Everything was set to grow in irrigation soil. A drought that lasted for five years and the government control prices drove many people relying on farming income into poverty. You would hear this in my youth: “here, there is always food for everybody”; now is not true.

My parents being teachers did not depend on money from crops. However, both my grandfathers were farmers. My parental grandfather died when my father was 13. His brothers took the lands and the animals he had for them because that was the way it was at the time. The last of them died rich; and miserable at the same time, since not even his sons and daughters liked him. My maternal grandfather moved from his hometown at the river to where he lived to where my parents live now. In 1976 during the big peso devaluation (from 1 dollar equal to 12.5 pesos, it went to 25 pesos and eventually to 3000 pesos; when it was decided to reduce the quantity of zeroes in the currency [for your reference, now the exchange rate is 10.5 pesos or 10500 old pesos per dollar]) he lost the land he owned because of bad results and a credit in dollars.

Many people do not grow anything, they rather rent the land; and it is risky to try. You need to have money to survive 6 months, in addition to the money you need to invest in seeds, machines and people. If you get to harvest anything (cotton for example is really risky, any rain will ruin the crop) you have to fight for the right price. People do not want to do the labor work required, you will get only 6 dollars a day for a day that starts at 4:00 am and finishes at 4 pm. They rather go to work in a factory (you get 12 dollars a day), or move to a big city (like Tijuana) or the US (where you will get 80 dollars a day).

So, I know second hand (because I’ve never done it) about the difficulties to produce food. And I can understand some of the costs associated. And I do not want to get worried, but I can not help it.

When my wife interviewed me for a job in Tijuana (I lived in Guadalajara those days); she asked me what I would be doing 20 years later. The standard answer was: “I will be the president/plant manager/top executive/something of the company”. My answer was: “I will be back in my hometown, growing vegetables, retired of engineering work”. That captivated her; but to tell you the truth, I am not so sure of wanting to do it anymore.

See you around.

Living dangerously

The weekend was a blur, after I came back from the company picnic (no interesting stories there) I got home to a family celebration; there was strawberry-cream cake, my brother and his family were there, my family-in-law was also there; I fell down when I tripped on the porch (there is a step, my foot got tangled with my jacket when I was trying to step on the porch) my knees are killing me but there are no permanent scars this time.

Eat cake, drank milk, talked with the in-laws and my niece and nephew, Vicky’s friend was there, played cards with the in-laws (my wife won, but nobody paid this time) and went to sleep.
Sunday. Chilaquiles in the morning (**) because my mother-in-law thought that I would be with a hangover (I drank some beers at the company picnic, my wife was not pleased because I drove back home; she is right). Took the minivan for an oil change, went to Chulavista shopping (shoes for Mediana and Pinka, they are on the school play next month; I am already tired of hearing them rehearse); then Ensenada in the afternoon.

I like to drive, scratch that, I LOVE to drive. My hometown is 1000 miles south of Tijuana; we had driven there several times. One of those times we even went to Guadalajara and Leon (another 800 miles). Great vacation, that time.

So, this time driving to Ensenada at 4:00 p.m.; great! The road was almost empty, we were not in hurry and the sea, the sky and the overall view was soooo relaxing… I could have keep driving for another couple of hours. We got to Ensenada and stopped for fish tacos and seafood cocktail (shrimp, octopus, clams, scallops, oysters, etc.) on our way to a church. Attended mass and say hello to some old acquaintances. Return to Tijuana; now is dusk. Dust in the air makes the sky red. I have Fernando Delgadillo in the CD player; the kids are watching a movie. I feel so good. I tell my wife I love her, she does love me too!

We go to the store for today’s groceries and forgot dog’s food (we have a poodle, my parents gave it to my daughters), my wife goes to get some food from her sister. I put the kids to sleep, she comes back to me and we go to bed.

I was tired, but could not sleep; the realization that life can be this good when you do not complain of the small things is engulfing me.

My paranoia is kicking in, I should not feel satisfied; something will happen to make it disappear! I decided not to care, let others worry. I sleep.

See you later.

(*) Thanks to all people that was nice to me during the weekend; I enjoyed all of it.

(**) Chilaquiles is a Mexican dish that is made of layers of fried tortillas, then a watered sauce is added and put to simmer; when the water had evaporated you add cheese and cream. Served hot (sometimes with chicken or eggs and beans), it is spicy and supposedly a great help when you have a hangover.

A happy ending...

This was it.

A glass of Calvados to end the dinner.

I am so stuffed I can not think, least write.

See you tomorrow. Thank you to all people that made this day special for me: My wife and kids, my BFFs (Pily y M...), my family (parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, etc.) and everybody else. Special mention to Will since he will get me my money.

See you tomorrow.

Birthday update (I)

I just got this

From my wife and kids, keep the surprises coming!!!

Student's Day

It is my birthday today!!!!

All the worries I had prior to this day have disappeared (at least for a while).

The celebration started last night. I got a hotdog from Dogo's (best hotdogs in TJ; check #1 in this list; mmhh, mmhh, mmhh) that my wife sent my daughter to buy it. Then this morning I woke up to this song (See sidebar, my daughters know me so well), my daughters got me some presents and my wife gave me a card (we almost made up for the problem we had yesterday, not fully solved, but it is MY birthday; I get a free pass today!!).

My parents call me, I had breakfast (did not walk this morning, I was tired, and it is MY birthday, I get a free pass today!!). On my way to work I remembered my driver’s license expires today, so I went to renew it, took me 15 minutes and the two girls in the office congratulate me on my birthday. I got an e-mail from my best friend (finally, May 23rd is not a bad date for him anymore, but in any case it is MY birthday; I get a free pass today!!).

I got to work and after 20 hugs I got a taco of barbacoa (goat meat steamed with some herbs), a cake, and coffee (I know is too much, but in any case it is MY birthday; I get a free pass today!!). Vicky (my eldest daughter) got me this in our trip to Mexico City and count as a birthday gift.

And after that, I got this email:

“Dear Sir/Madam,

RE: ESTATE OF DR. MAURICE WOHL

Going through our records, it came to our knowledge that the greatphilanthropist, Late Dr. Maurice Wohl, made a random selection of individuals(via email addresses drawn from 250 Countries on the internet index, who heexpects to continue in line with his selfless services to humanity. After a lot of blah, blah, blah… Please if I reach you this time as I am hopeful, endeavor to get back to me assoon as possible to enable me conclude my job. By replying to this e-mail, youwill have to update the form below so that I can contact you and also send youthe AFFIDAVIT FORM IN SUPPORT OF APPLICATION which would be completed by you andsubmitted by me to the Assets Management Firm for claims. 1. Full Name2. Complete Physical/Mailing Address3. Nationality 4. Date of Birth5. Occupation6. Phone/Fax Get back to me as soon as you read this e-mail so that we can proceed furtherwith remittance to you. My email address is included below. Thank you and have anice day.CHAMBER, UNITED KINGDOM”

I need to ask Will about this. I think he already went through this…

Anyway, I got gifts, messages, and money; and it is only 9:00 a.m.!! So I will keep you posted about any other surprises. See you around, and you can hug me if you see me. (Because… in any case it is MY birthday; I get a free pass today!!).

Can I take that back?

One of my friends in college was suffering after a break-up; I talked to him (I don't really remember what I told him, but remember trying to cheer him up) and just immediately after that he tells me this:

"You can say the most hurtful things at the worst possible time".

I thought I was trying to help.

Then as time passed (and went to therapy for a couple of years), I noticed that I can turn on my unconscious mind (or let it take over) and allow it to take care of things.

I had done that occasionally, especially when driving; half the time I do not remember how I got from one place to another, the driver-inside took me there. But I really started tapping into that in therapy, when I would be asked to answer questions without thinking too much. And of course try to explain later why I said that.

So, this morning, after a really harsh/quick retort to my wife (I made her cry, I feel bad about myself now) I am trying to find out if what I said was really what she heard.

I do not think so, but in some way this is maybe justification on my side. If she was trying to provoke me into a fight or just pulling my leg (as a joke) I do not know. But, I felt insulted by one of her comments and I answer back.

I made her cry. Now I am suffering too.

Can I take that back?

The effects of adolescence in marriage...

While attending college (in a Jesuit university); one of the priests started a conference saying: "a professor professes”, meaning that it was similar to taking vows in a religious order.

Making the analogy with adolescence I would say, “un adolescente, adolece (madurez)” (in Spanish sounds better), “an adolescent, lacks maturity”; because in Spanish “adolecer” means to have a lack of or being sick of the characteristic mentioned after the verb.
When my wife and I got married, she had a 10 year old daughter (Vicky); she still reminds me that when she first met me I had no presents for her (seems like some/all of my wife’s previous suitors [I had to look up this word, but got this picture!] had always showed up with presents for her daughter, I did not and look where it got me!!). So I had the opportunity to have a preadolescent daughter at the same time I started my marriage.

And because of that, she delayed her adolescence by trying to be more mature. As an older sister (we have two more daughters) she would take some responsibilities that weren’t hers, and not only do that, but “fight” for the right to be responsible.

Over the years, this has been a source of interesting stories; the latest, being that, after going to Chile for a college term and to Europe for 2 months (while trying to find out if she could stay there); Vicky returned to a different home than she left. Different regarding that during her absence we learned how not to depend on her. Different in that we have expectations for her (she is 23 years old, already graduated as psychologist and she had been working for almost two years) we think she is not fulfilling, and different because of what is happening in Tijuana (all the violence, which actually is not random, but why risk it) that is affecting her social life (we have a curfew in effect at home).


She is also different, a little bit hesitant about what she wants to do now; start studying for a master’s degree, move to a different city, move out of our house, etc. And with the delayed adolescence that she went trough, well; to say the least, it has been a rough ride.

There is something I will never have with her that I have with my other two daughters; the opportunity to be there since the beginning. After all is accounted for, I am a substitute father. I am her father, because she did not have one. Her biological father disappeared of their life (my wife’s too) and rarely (every other year) calls or communicate with them.

And that is a problem; because my wife had to raise her alone, she did it relying on her family. While my wife finished college and developed a professional career that has taken her to great results (professionally), Vicky was with her grandmother and uncles most of the time. It had to be that way (well… I think it was better to do it), but is having consequences now. Consequences that her sisters will not have (we think).

On one side my wife regrets some of the decisions she had to make and feels “guilty” of leaving Vicky in her grandmother’s care. On the other side Vicky now feels that she was “abandoned” and “not-paid-attention-to” by her mother during that time.

And there is the current situation; she’s back, she doesn’t know what is next for her and (because we already moved on a little bit) she isn't as comfortable as it was.

And finally, every discussion, conversation, comments we have/make about/with her I get to choose sides. Get to side with my wife or side with my daughter. Both options have their consequences. Usually I try to weasel out of the conversation (because it will get to a discussion), but I am rarely successful; and many times I have to act as “the voice of reason” (or maybe is just another of my plots to avoid being blamed by whatever happens next!); which finally upset my wife.

So this morning, my wife accuses me of leaving her to dye (die) alone (maybe I was thinking of being yellow) when discussing with Vicky. She claims this is because I do not openly support her during the discussion. And being honest, I do not. It is difficult to do it. I feel uncomfortable with conflict. I rather negotiate, mediate and concede; I know the danger of concessions, eventually you end up in the opposite side of what you really want; but my initial response to a stressful situation is to mediate, concede, negotiate.

It is not that what my wife wants is unreasonable, but I do not agree completely with what she wants (I find no other reason for me trying to stay “out of trouble”) and I believe there are deeper issues here between them two. Issues that I can not fix, solve or improve. It is affecting my marriage, and THAT I can do something about it. Go to therapy or talk to my wife, which is what they can not do at this moment. Every conversation will play like this:

MW: “I am not happy with what you are doing”
V: “you’ve never been happy with me”
MW: “why you have to complain about that? It hurts me”
V: “why you have to make everything about you? how about how I feel?"

And on and on; until communication breaks.

Yes, I am guilty of abandoning my wife; in my defense, I could argue that things are easier that appear and talking through it will help you solve it, and if you can not have a conversation, you can still write it down. It takes two to have a conversation; and having two non-speaking-to-each-other people to deal with is really burdensome. Sorry.

I just hope they can work it out; and most hope that by the time Mediana and Pinka are adolescents we have a way to get through it without this much stress.

See you around.

P.S. I have been reprimended because I used the verb "adolecer" as if it has the same root as "adolescente". It does not. I know that, but phonetically they sound the same. I took that liberty.

Theory and Practice

I ran into this phrase yesterday:

"In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice they are different", (or something like that), by Yogi Berra.

So, I thought, in theory; what I think and what I write in my blog are the same things. However, once written, they are not.

I have been challenged, to put my money where my mouth (writing?) is. Bring the light to the deep darkness that is inside me. I am not talking about the good/bad/any-kind-of-judgment-you-want-to-make issues I have, but the issues I have been avoiding in these blogs.

Last Sunday I was thinking about that. There are lots of things I want to say, share, publish, make “permanent” in writing; but I am scared... I am scared and try to rationalize that fear by redirecting it to one main “reason” for not doing it. I will hurt others. My friends (!), my parents (!!), my daughters (!!!), my wife (!!!). The truth is that I am scared of being hurt. I have been hurt before, therefore I do not want to get hurt again. And the way I will be hurt if I say whatever is in my mind, is that nobody would love/like me if they knew me better.

Stupid thinking, isn’t it? Because in theory… your friends, parents, daughters/sons and life partner love you regardless (or because) of you are. But in practice… nobody really knows you, most of times not even you know you; then, who do they like/love?

In theory; if you have the opportunity to be hurt, you also have the opportunity to really enjoy the pleasure/benefits/good-feeling/results of what you were exposing yourself to.

In practice… you keep hiding behind a wall. You are not hurt, but you can not enjoy life as much. Stay in control; reduce the risk by reducing the reward. Like a gambler, or an investor playing the market.

I was not always like that; or maybe I was, but do not remember it. I blame it on my parents, an ex-girlfriend, a couple of people I hate, etc., etc. Never on me. But… bringing to mind yesterday’s post… it is my decision; I am responsible of who I am.

I would cry if I could, but I can not cry; physically cry. My eyes will fill with tears, but I can not get them out. They will dry out before shedding a tear. And that makes me sad.

I will get there…

See you around.

Coming soon!!!

Being in the movie review business lately made me reflect back on a comment I made about trailer watching.

For Mexicans, I am not referring to transportation. I am referring to the movie advances you will see before the movie starts or before you get to the DVD menu.

When I go to the theater (sorry Will, but even though I had a couple of Englishmen as English teachers I got stuck with the American orthography) I want to be early, the reason being that if I am early I get to watch the trailers.

I know, all trailers look great (well… not all of them, but close enough); I have a hypothesis (I have not prove it) that can explain it: What you see on the trailer is a summary of the movie best scenes, usually in the wrong order; so when you get to see the movie you will feel “surprised” enough to still like the movie. Or maybe is just me.

In any case, I did not see any trailer for “Indy does the Crystal Skull” or “Narnia 2; Still kicking” which is interesting. Why, you ask? (Or maybe you don’t) I believe there are no accidents in life. I think that everything that happens is because, in sometimes a very convoluted way (to avoid sayin in a sick way), you look for it. I will get back to this, however in the movie section of my mind this means that I did not wanted to see the trailers for Indy 4 and/or Narnia 2 because I want to feel REALLY surprised when I see the movie; because YES, I WILL SEE THEM! and I WANT TO FEEL SURPRISED!! (even though I already read all the Narnia books and I expect Indy to do what he does usually).

Now, back to the “there are no accidents in life”.

This is really hard to explain when you suffered something catastrophic (it has happened to me already, ask me in person if you want to know; but, maybe you rather not) and I will take out the natural disasters of the equation, because that is just Earth trying to get rid of us.

But in any other event, whether is that you were in the wrong side of the city o you did not recognize the car moving sideways before it hit you or you did not shut up before the other guy start hitting you (or hitting on you, for some people it could be scarier if this is the case!); all those cases... even as we call them accidents... could have happened in a different way... when you do different things...

Let’s discussion begin!!! (yes, I am lazy today!!)
See you later.

On being a "rifle"... (what?)

In the school slang, when you are copying homework of an exam from one of your classmates you will be called "fusil" (rifle).

So, today's my day to be a "fusil". I have 5 (3 actually) movies to see (we went to Blockbuster yesterday) and I will be posting my reviews during the day. As a special threat for me (and maybe for some of you) I will use the "critical" eye during movie watching.

See you in a while.

(Back to yesterday night)

12:30 a.m. I just finished to watch Hitman. Here goes the review. (Yes I know, I started before the original post; I can cheat a bit, I think, after all I am a "rifle" today!!!)

Hitman (2007)

I am not a big fan of Timothy Olyphant, neither of Game-to-Film movies. Then, why did I rent this movie? Well, I just bough the hype, I think. OK, let's start with this.

I could not understand the basic premise of having a "secret" organization when all the members are running around with the bar codes tattoed in the back of their heads; I would say they are pretty obvious. And, what purpose the bar code had? I never saw anybody scanning them or using them for any reason. I would like to know if they use the barcode to identify them or to charge for services (like, "OK you want #47, it will cost you $10 Mill; but in the Clearance section there is #13, he is a bit of bad luck but... you can have it for only $999,999!!").

Anyhoo; good cinematics, nice-looking leading lady (Olga Kurylenko -> Nina; I have not seen Paris, jet'aime, so I did not know her) but she can not act; the interaction between #47 and Nina is akward, but very believable (in the sense that #47 is like a killer-monk and does not know how to interact with women and she appears nekked [this is not for kids movie]). Special effects, nothing major to report. Music, nothing major to report.

So, bonus point for Nina --> 5 (out of 10, I will follow school-type grading).

Next!!!
10:00 a.m.

You Kill Me (2007)

I have something for Téa Leoni, ever since I watched her for the first time in "The Naked Truth" (old TV show in 1995) and I have always liked Ben Kingsley, specially in "House of Sand and Fog" and a little in "Lucky Number Slevin". So, it looks promising. Add Bill Pullman, Dennis Farina, Luke Wilson, Philip Baker Hall, etc. Very strong cast, of course is a comedy (dark), and those are difficult to pull.

In any case, they did it for me. Kingsley plays the role of a hitman (is there a theme here?) that is also an alcoholic; thus his addition is not letting him do his job properly. After he fails to kill an Irish mob boss (Farina) he is exiled by his uncle boss (Baker Hall, playing a Polish mob boss based on Buffalo) to San Francisco, until he recovers.

He starts going to AA meetings and working at a funerary (as a make-up artist (?) and general help). He meets Laurel (Leoni) in the first funeral he works and fancies her. Wilson is his sponsor at the AA and Pullman is his landlord/nanny. He starts applying the AA principles in his life (including the honesty part; he talks about his line of work at the meetings, that I did not buy completely, but, what the hell, is a comedy! and I like the actors!! [do you see to double standard here?]).

I do not want to spoil it, because I think people with the right sense of humor might like it. My wife really liked it and I know she does not like comedies to start with, but, she also likes Téa (and loved "Fun with Dick and Jane", strange). The final part is a bit cliché, but it is a Hollywood movie! Deal with it (I am talking to myself here).

Score: 8 out of 10 (bonuses points because my wife liked it and Téa Leoni).

Next!!!

12:45

I Am Legend (2007)

We are rolling here! However, I have to recognize I do not want to start watching "My Own Private Idaho". Maybe to do with big expectations; in any case, after this movie we will watch "There Will Be Blood" and My-House Premiere of MOPI will start in Primetime!

OK, Will Smith is bald, Ben Kingsley is bald, Tim Olyphant played a bald charachter in "Hitman", maybe the theme is baldness!! Not hitmen!! After I finish all 5 movies will let you know.

Acting -> Great!! "Sam" the dog, played a major role in the movie; she seems to be really intelligent, and because she is speech impaired I give her the Oscar (wait, this already happened!! *). Special thanks to "Fred, the mannequin" in the special appearance he made. The same for the kid almost at the end. Very similar acting skills.

In a serious note, Will Smith rocks. I was close to hate the story on "I, Robot", but simply because I know from heart all of Asimov's robot stories and novels; but he performed really good (and I like Bridget Moynahan). "MIB" (the first one) was good, "Bad Boys" (the first one, with Téa Leoni!!) was good, "Wild, Wild West" not so much (I blame it on Kevin Kline), then we got to see what he can do in "Pursuit of Happiness" and in a "castawaian" setup he did not embarrassed himself now. I need to read the book right now to confirm they kept the story close to the original, but at this moment I liked the movie. Great sound edition (knowing how to keep the silences is important, remember "2001"). And if you liked Anna (Alice Braga) you have to see "Solo Dios Sabe".

Overall score 8.5 out of 10 (I am strict, but since there were no bonuses here, this is a great score for a movie!)

Next!!!

5:30

There Will Be Blood (2007)

I knew it was based on a book; but I was not aware it was that loooooong! It made me sleepy for a while, so unless I change my rules it will not be OK.

I do not understand how a movie that can not keep the audience (me) interested will have so many Oscar nominations. I saw "Michael Clayton" and "No Country for Old Men" (and loved them **), I have not seen "Atonement" (my wife did and loved it, but in a comment, the commenter said there is a big difference between the movie and the book) so I do not know what to make of it. But for this movie to have those many nominations... I mean 3 out of 4 were based in books, I have not read any of those books, but a little time spent looking information for them showed me what I suspected: Oil! is the longest of them, Atonement is the second and a rather far third is No Country for Old Men.

OK enough ranting, I can not bend my rules here
Score: 5 out of 10 (bonus point because at the end I got interested again, the cinematography and Paul Dano, who makes it interesting beyond his inconsistent acting and Daniel Day-Lewis giving a very good performance).

So... "two little movies to be seen under the sun; one just burned and there is one"
Next!!!

0:30 a.m(Next day)
My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Disaster!!!! I wait for my wife to finish watching "Capadocia" so we start watching MOPI at 9:30 p.m.

It is what I remember (I watched more that half the movie the first time) and I am liking it but I am so tired that I sleep at the 25 minutes mark.

Dear readers; I have to apologize for this let down. I will continue watching the movie tomorrow (today) and post the report at night.

Yes, I know, I should not have procrastinated since the beginning and we would be better of, but... this is life. 4 out of 5 is not so bad and it will get its own review!!

See you around.

(*) in a side note, my Mexican-ness does not allow me to say something like "got the Oscar because speech impared" or like that without apologizing to all the speech impaired people who is reading this (that includes me, I usually grunt and point so people understand me).

(**) I actually more than like anything from the Coen brothers; since "Blood Simple" up to now, passing "Barton Fink", "The Big Lebowski", "Fargo", "The Hudsucker Proxy", even "Intolerable Cruelty"; pretty much all of them.

It's a small world, after all! (even with the obnoxious song)

[I hesitate as I am thinking about this post; this could increase the stress level!]

Have you heard of the "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon"? How about the small world concept? That's where the original Six degrees of separation are from. It says that only takes six connections (people that know each other) to get from any person in the planet to you.

I ran into a friend that I haven't seen in several years and we start talking about mutual friends, he knows the guy of the "Maguma taishu" story so I ask about him and when he tells me where he is working I start saying: "Oh, fulano and zutano (*) work there too", and then think to myself, why I have never contacted him, trough them? I should not, but I am still amazed that even with the 6 billion plus people IT REALLY IS A SMALL WORLD.

Case in point #1
A coworker in a Dutch company I worked for was telling me this story about when he lived in Brazil; he stayed there for a couple of years and lived in a condo with his wife. Eventually he discovers that there is another US couple living there, he goes to say hi and during conversation everybody discovers that they were born in the same small town in Wisconsin and my friend knows their families well. Of course is unusual, what are the odds?

Case in point #2
We visited Mexico City every summer (on our way to Veracruz) and every year we found at least one of my father students, where do you think? In the freaking subway!! (Called METRO in Mexico City). Every year, we would be going about our businesses and then somebody would call my dad and start a conversation. An old student. That even happened here in Tijuana several times (and my hometown is really tiny, I participated in a census in 1985 and there were only 5000 people living there).

The clincher.
I met my two best friends (hello there if you are reading!!) at college in Guadalajara, we really started being friends in our fourth semester, but we developed a really strong bond. One of the is from Sinaloa (no surprise there, we Sinaloans are everywhere!!!) and this story is related to him (**). In our last semester (8th) I went to visit him and got to meet his dad. His parents were separated and I have never met his father. He was from the north part of Sinaloa, so he starts asking me about my last name, I tell him and he starts asking about if I am related to some people there. I say "no, my father is from Veracruz, but my mother is from north of Sinaloa", so if he knows people with my mothers maiden name I could be related to them (but I am thinking that the name is very common and there is NO WAY he will find my relatives) (***). Here is the conversation:

Mr. S.: Where do your parents and grandparents live?

me: Where they have lived since they move because of the dam construction

Mr. S.: I know some people with your mother's name, but they live in this other town

me: What are their names? (because I DO HAVE relatives there)

Mr. S.: They are two brothers, that used to work at my father' store; one is named XX...

me (interrupting): and the other is named YY, but everybody call him YYón because he is very tall and his brother is also very tall.

Mr. S.: Yes, they are very tall.

me: Well, you have the names right but the wrong town. XX is my great-uncle and YY is my grandfather.

What are the odds???

I took the time to calculate them; if you know the right connections it only take each one of us to know 50 people to cover the entire population. Isn't it amazing? I know it has to be different people for each one, but, I have over 550 people in my current agenda; and this is without my ex-students, my parent's friends that I also know and a lot of people that I have no further contact with... to me it is really interesting.

See you around.

(*) Fulano, Zutano and Mengano is Mexican/Spanish for generic names, what-his-name or something like it. I like this better than what's-his-name. Maybe you can also use Masiosare.
(**)My other best friend is from Colima, I have an uncle living there; yes we are connected trough my aunt (she knows his mother).
(***) In Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries women do not change name when married; sometimes people would add the "de XXX" (like property, my wife actually goes ballistic when somebody calls her like that!!) but they keep lastnames.

Puzzling...

I love puzzles, riddles numbers and lateral thinking.

As a parent I have bought lots of computer games and table games that involve thinking. I also have enjoyed video games. When I was 16, I bought my first game console; an At@ri 2600. We played lots of games in that console (and had to refurbish the joysticks innumerable times). Later on, my little brother (I have 3 brothers and 2 sister, talk about big family!) bought a Seg@ Genes1s. Finally, before Mediana was born, I got me a PS. Now it has been exiled to my brother’s house.

Yesterday Pinka (she is almost 8 years old) was playing in the computer one of those games I got for them, and asked for my help to solve three puzzles (*)

The first one I got, the second one I messed up the instructions and had 50% success; the last one I messed up worse than the first one and had 25% success (we had to move 8 characters from one part of a map to another, I lost 7 in the way; really bad results).

After I embarrassed myself with those results my daughter tells me: “thank you very much daddy, I could not have done it without your help!” in a really happy voice.

Now, Pinka has been known to be extra polite. But she can be cut-throat when required (she told the nanny that she was not her nanny, she was a maid). So I know she is trying to be nice to me, but it got me thinking… The thank you in her voice was NOT for helping her. It was for the 15 minutes we spend laughing and joking and thinking about how to get it done.

After a difficult day; with a bad start, and visitors at work to spend time with, and my wife having a hell of a day… it is nice to know your daughter will let you off the hook.

See you around.

(*) Pinka is the same one that asked me one day (when she was 5): “What peculiar means?” I explained and then asked her back: “Why you want to know?” She then told me “so and so were behaving in a very peculiar way today at school”. Where does she get those words?

Looking up to the weekend (Part 2)

OK; it passed.

The visitors came and went and nothing major happened. Except KC (who work in my company but is based in the US) was here with them.

He always give me a lift; he is a salesman (a damn good one! it is a good thing he for us and not against us) and bring potential customers every so often to Tijuana. He used to work as a bartender and has a knack of entertaining customers and to keep them close to him; he has developed several personal relationships with some/many/all of his clients that it is amazing to see how they hesitate before complaining when a business deal is not going well.

So, I am feeling better (just enough). I also sent emails to my ex-workmates at the university and to my parents and received several anwers already.

Me likes this blogging thing!!!!!

See you around.

Looking up to the weekend

After I forgot to do something for my wife this morning (put some gas on the van and some money in her wallet, don't be naughty!), I am at work. I have visitors today but I feel drained, with no energy.


I woke up at 5:15 this morning (20 minutes past my normal get-up time) and did not prepare breakfast for my daughters (no school today! hooray for them!); had a discussion/conversation with my wife and my eldest daughter (Vicky) about a prescription she got from a "miraculous" doctor that will help her control her weight. In order to do that she has to take some pills. Mmmhhh.

The second alert goes when she mentions that are for "anxiety control"; so we spend around 10 minutes lecturing her why taking pills for ANYTHING (had I mentioned that as a family we prefer to use natural remedies instead of medication?) will only end bad for you, but if you take pills for "anxiety control", "depresion control", etc. then it will end VERY bad for you. We ended up the lecture with the: "but you know what you are doing, is you not us, and we will not decide for you". I think this is called parenting.

I step out of the house, start driving and 10 minutes later I remember I did not give money to my wife; call home and arrange the world long distance style (I am good at that). 10 more minutes go by and call again and this time my wife gets involved and complain that not only I forgot, I did not consider her opinion (that is true, all the previous arrangements were agreed with Vicky) for the plans. So, I am not to worry, she will take care of everything.

I feel useless. And I have visitors. And I do not want to "entertain" any people now. Let's see what happens next.

See you later (today).

The mother of all what ifs.

How do you explain where life has taken you? or, is the other way around?

Which decisions have you taken that brought you where you are?

Which decisions OTHER PEOPLE took [to bring] brought YOU where you are?

A little more than a month ago, one of my very good friends (and for a while a roommate) passed away. He was 43. Had been diagnosed with terminal cancer more than a year ago. He was living in US since two and a half years ago; the company he worked for closed the design office in Guadalajara and invited him to move to Idaho. In there, he joined a team and a group of people he knew since long ago (from school and from work) and before the move he got married; so he was not alone, but I wondered for a while if he missed his family (even though one of his brothers was living and working there), his parents and sisters.

This is a very Mexican thought; same with the "what if" questions. I do not know how to answer.

My father went on vacation to Sinaloa (and still is there, 46 years later). My grand-grandmother decided to send my mother to Junior High School, at a time, a place and in a family where education for women was not prohibited, but neither considered completely OK.

Before that, my aunt and uncle from Guadalajara (physicians both of them) decided to wait for a job in Sinaloa, instead of Chiapas (I would be in the EZLN right now!); and when the "Miguel Hidalgo" dam was built my grandfather and his brother decided NOT to go to an "ejido" (communal property system for land that was much in vogue from the 40's to the 80's in Mexico) and instead moved to a "colony" where they were owners of the land.

I decided to come to TJ instead of looking for another job in Guadalajara or applying for a scholarship overseas (France was my first choice, England the second).

With all of that (here is the Mexican culture kicking in):

Did my friend died because he decided to go to Idaho?

See you around.

TV night

I see very few of TV programs, but my favorite is "Two and 1/2 men"; I really enjoy the interaction between the two brothers and (even though sometimes I feel bad about the way the writers portray him as a stupid) the kid.


One of the biggest traumas I have in my life is the control of what is on TV. The way I have reacted to that is to stop watching. When I was a kid my father worked 12 hours a day (he was an elementary teacher with a second [and eventually a third] job as teacher for adults that did not know how to read). So, when he returned home (around 8:00 p.m. each weeknight) he was so tired he just sat in front of the TV and watched the "telenovelas" (soup[soap!!] operas). I always wondered how my father (my father!!) would watch those things; it was not until I got a job that kept me those hours I understood; the last thing you want when you get home is to think about anything.


Anyway, at those times, he had control of the TV channel and even though there was this extraordinaire mystery TV show in the other channel!! He just did not care; I had to sulk my way into books (by the way, thank you dad!) or music and (at one period in time after a hurricane hit my hometown and we were without electricity for six weeks ) movies. The only time I had the opportunity to watch almost whatever I like was during summer vacation.


My father is from Veracruz (Gulf of Mexico state) and we would visit his family during summer, taking advantage of the 6 weeks of vacation time my parents got (my mother was also an elementary school teacher). So when in Guadalajara or Mexico City (my aunt lives in Guadalajara and my grandmother lived in Mexico City) I would get to watch cartoons and other programs. I really loved those shows, however where I am going with this is that at that time in Mexico (late 70s) there were several shows from Japan on TV; "Señorita Cometa" (Comet San or Komett-San) y "Monstruos del Espacio" (The Space Giant, Magma Taishi) were my favorites (*).



Anyway, in "Monstruos del Espacio" there were these robots that transform into rockets and had a robot son; they were created by a very old guy and were defending Earth from this villain called "Rodak" (at least in the Mexican version); this guy had an army of zombie-like beings called "lugones" and they would melt when defeated (**).

It made me laugh so much; because, think of this. The program was originally created in 1966 and broadcasted in Mexico late 70's, early 80's; and I know what all you trekkies will say about the original "Star Trek" but the effects of "Monstruos del Espacio" were REALLY cheesy. You can find some trailers in the internet if you do not believe me.

Remembering all that makes me happy about all those good times; see you around.


(*) The last time I went to Japan (I worked for a Japanese company) there was this engineer travelling with me and he wanted to find DVDs that contain episodes of "Monstruos del Espacio", so we spend a whole morning in Akihabara looking for those; but even our guide did not know what the hell we were talking about. Eventually we went into this store and I found a PS game with a picture of "Goldar" (the hero of the series) and the guy explodes: "Maguma Taishu!!! Of course!!!" I looked back to my friend and say "ya ves guey! Maguma Taishu!! (you see, stupid!! Maguma Taishu!). We though we were going to spend the whole trip using that phrase, but something else happened and we changed it; I will tell the story later.

(**) In college I had a group of classmates that had so much personality we called them "The lugones"; of course in my family one of my Guadalajara cousins was very funny and always called names to everybody he knew. In the program he called the lugones the "uyuyuys"; I had to control myself when my classmates started being the lugones, because everytime I see them I would (almost) called them the uyuyuys (which in Mexico can be interpreted as the homosexuals). Also Trino (cartoonist I had talked about somewhere else) has a cast of characters call "the lugones"; barbarian-like group always attacking the castle of "El rey chiquito".

Iron man review # 12345600000003

Hello all, we made it back safe and sound! Got back to Tijuana yesterday around 8:00 p.m. but I felt so tired that I only unloaded the van an went to sleep. This morning I checked on the blogs and saw a couple of new comments (nice to meet you (s)wine) and a question from Will. Did I like "Iron man" the same I liked "Definitively maybe"? I decided to answer with my review of the movie. but first I asked my family about it: my daughters and my wife liked it,my brother and mother in law (which went on their own to watch it) loved it.

A little background here: I lived in Guadalajara (central Mexico, Mexico's second city) for eight and a half years; I attended college there and stayed working as a college teacher for almost five years. When studying I had to attend a couple of courses unrelated to Engineering (I have a BSEE) and one of them was "Cinema appreciation" (in 1987) and several years later (1993) I found myself alone in the city and to fill my Saturday mornings decided to attend an "advance" course of the same (I learned to appreciate my time on Saturday mornings more and to love Peter Greenaway movies!!). So, every time I go to the movies I could use the critical eye I "developed" during those lessons or (as usually happens) just sit down and drop my expectations to the point where if I do not get sleepy with the movie then it's considered to be OK. I had almost left a movie once in my life ("Salo, 100 days of Sodoma and Gomorra" by Pier Paolo Pasolini, not for the faint of heart) and actually left a theater twice (one with some friends in Guadalajara, when they became offended by the homosexual theme of "My own private Idaho" and one in TJ with my wife when they call her from her work because of an emergency). Then my opinion of a movie could be very optimistic.

"Iron man" got me entertained for the duration. Then gets the "it's OK" treatment. But, I would have to complain (and if you have not seen it read lightly because I might spoil it for you) that if you see the trailer you almost saw the movie. Because you "know" what will happen (if you are a comics' follower) and therefore there are not much surprises.

Now applying the critical eye: Robert Downey Jr. gives a very good performance; you can not say the same of Gwyneth Paltrow or Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges is so-so (he is a believable villain). But I think that, considering the small amount of effects the movie has, acting should have been more important. There is no "click" between Paltrow and Downey Jr.; and the friendhip between Howard and Downey Jr. is close to nothing. The script is just enough, the music gave me nothing (I saw "August Rush" a month ago and I got to know Kaki King from there!) and the camera work was adecuate.

The one thing I liked was to have all these actors in the movie. With Edward Norton as Hulk (coming soon!!) and the teaser scene at the end of the "Iron man" you can expect at least some buzz regarding comic-to-film transformations. Let's hope is going to be more than OK.

See you around.

getting to know more people

I am almost on my way to Mexicali, however I feel the need to share something with you. Maria and Will had linked my blogs to theirs. This feels really good, making connections. You will find the links to their blogs in the (obviously) links section.

Have a great weekend, see you around.

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. May 10th in Mexico, and I do not know about other countries, except US (where Mother's Day is the second Sunday of May). In Mexico, mothers have such a stronghold over all of us that today is BIG. However, my wife likes to be different and not to bow to the commercial part of celebrations (Mother's Day, Valentine's, Christmas, etc. except her birthday; which is all other dates together, so DO NOT FORGET her birthday!!); so we are going to Mexicali to visit some family.

After we make all the calls and send all the messages congratulating all the mothers we know, we will leave. My in-law family is coming (mother, sister and brother) which creates a logistics problem; we have a 7-seater minivan and there are 8 of us. And Mexicali is 110 miles from here (using Mexican roads) so someone has to take the bus. I am all for it to let my brother in law to ride the bus; he is a man (big guy, 5'10" and around 200 pounds) so he should be fine. But since he is the baby in the family (my wife was the youngest until he was born, 20 years later!) is going to be complicated to convince my mother in law. Finally my wife decides (she is very good at that!!) that she and her sister will ride the bus (I do not see the logic here, but that is just me).

We will have a good time in Mexicali; I like the relatives there (my wife's cousin and his wife and kids; also another of my brothers in law lives there now) and it going to be a little hot (good time for beers), but it means I will give a report of the visit until tomorrow night (or Monday morning).

Congratulations to all the mothers and see you around.

For starters

If you are coming from the Spanish blog, you saw a thank you note to Will.

Will is a teacher in my daughter's school, and by a very interesting story that I am not going to tell at this moment... well, talking to him encouraged me enough to (finally!!!) start writing.

The original idea was to translate what was posted in Spanish to English (and viceversa). However... "el hombre propone..." (Mexican saying that offers caution against plans made by man).

I have found that it is easier to write in English than Spanish. The reason being that in my profesional career (20 years of it) English is THE "official" language. What can I do? I am already forgetting some of the Spanish words that I am so fond of.

In any case, I will be posting intermittently in both blogs (the Spanish is in here http://sinajuense.blogspot.com/) so feel free to switch between both (or if it bothers you enough, then complain about it in a comment; I will promise nothing at this time but my answers to your comment).

For today, I only wanted to mention that (for those of you that do not know) Sinaloa is a state in Western Mexico, in front of the tip of Baja California, next to the Gulf of Cortes (not of California!!! as many people call it); for years, people from there (and I am one of them) have suffered of having a very bad reputation because of... drug trafficking.

As usual, most of the people there has no relation with that activity, but generalizations are so easy to make...

And considering the current perception of safety in Tijuana... there I go.

See you around.