What is next?

The league has spoken; there will be a make-up game between Pinka's team and the "forgotten team". The winner will do... I do not know; if Pinka's team wins, they will go to the Final game (as originally resulted last Saturday); but if the other team wins, I have no idea what will happen.

Let's wait for the end result.

In other order of things, my mother in law is now back in the saddle. She decided what happened could happen to anybody, then it was not personal. No need of victime-role playing or agonizing over "what if" scenarios. She is back to her previous self and that is good for all involved.

Bonita is a little worried about it anyway; she invited Vicky back home for the time being. But Vicky is at the moment being very practical about this. She really wants to try to be on her own; since eventually she will completely be. So, there you go.

At work we closed the month almost on target; everybody is happy (for the time being) and I expect they will start pushing for the grand finale of the fiscal year (coming soon! in February). Busy times ahead.

Bonita had an epiphany about her current job. She discovered money can not buy tranquility and quality time with the family; so she, who was worried about losing her job a couple of weeks ago, is now in the "let's take the money and run" mindset (Mexican labor law is particularly loaded to protect the employee in case a company fires you). So she is more relaxed on that sense. In overall, still stressed, but changed the point of focus to Vicky/family instead of work. I think this is an improvement.

My parent will be here on Saturday night (flying from Sinaloa); they have not been here since last year (I think?). It will be good to see them again (we met them at Guadalajara in the summer), and Mediana and Pinka will be temporarely more spoiled than usual, but that is the grandparents job, isn't it?

See you around.

Vacation is over (really?)

Was it not over like... two weeks ago?

Well, our vacation trip was over two weeks ago, but school vacation is finally over. Mediana and Pinka are back to school tomorrow. They are not so excited about it; in any case they are veterans of going back to school (Pinka goes to 3rd grade and Mediana to 6th grade), but in Mediana's case there are a couple of things that will happen this year to make it interesting.

1) This is her 10th and final year in this school; yes, she has attended since Nursery, until 6th grade all available grades there are in the school; so she is leaving. Going to Junior High, I think she is a little worried/excited over that. We are too. We already selected in which Jr. High we would like Mediana to be enrolled, so we have to be really careful not to miss the admission exam dates and all of the sort. In the other hand, we are sure it is going to be really emotional for her.

2) Will is going to be her teacher. Considering both my parents are teachers, and my mother taught me during 1st and 2nd grade I do not see anything strange about that. But in Mediana's case, is a little different. Because we are friends with him and Maria. I think she is getting more comfortable with the idea, but... at a times she looks unsure about it. I've told her there is nothing to worry about. We will behave and try not to be the overbearing parents with the addidional "complication" of being friends with the teacher. I know the feeling, but it was not a big problem for me. In any case I really believe it changes nothing. Work and life are two different things (what is what Will uses to say? "I work for a living, I do not live to work", this is it!).

So, not a big deal. The biggest deal of the vacation being over is that the practice books for both the kids did not arrive!! Bonita went to review the material on Thursday (for Mediana) and Friday and both days she ended up being the "bad" mother that did not take care of her children school requirements! On Thursday because she forgot ALL the books, the photographs and something else; and on Friday because the practice books were not here (they still are not here! I need to call the service department of the website where I bought them!) Big disappointment for all the other mothers! (Most of the mothers at the school are a little snob, and in some cases very! They look down on you when you are not "perfect"!).

In other vacation news, Pinka went to audition for a part in a Mexican movie. When Bonita asked her how it went, her answer was: "I will not repeat the audition, if you want to see what happened wait until I appear in the movie". Talk about self-confidence!!

Also, yesterday Mediana and Pinka restarted their art lessons (painting and drawing) on Saturday. Which means we will be stuck on that for the whole year; I do not really like the schedule, I rather take them on weekdays, but this is the schedule they like and in this particular case we prefer to go along with this. Maybe we will stop going to the US on weekends! (That could save some money, you know!).

And finally, I have been really busy at work. I was away two weeks; and even though I spend maybe 1 hour daily on the phone and another hour reading and answering some e-mails during the vacation, the amount of pending issues that were waiting for me was amazing. Not only that, but I had corporate visitors and a customer quarterly meeting to host. In a room with over 20 people and no air conditioning. Have I mentioned that I sweat? and not just sweat, but sweat a lot? My shirt ended stained and I had to change it. For some strange reason I had a spare at the office, so I did it; finally I got a pass, from both corporate and the customer. I have to go to Massachussetts on November, but it will be fine. So, I am back on track; this next week is end of the month, besides the shipping/production rush we have to reduce manpower. 5 people need to be let go (euphemism for firing them). Never a good thing. So, wish me luck.

See you around.

And to complete the full report...

Complaining was the last part of the vacation; actually I am wrong here, I am not taking into consideration some of the strange sights we were witness during the vacation; like the cross dressing guy we saw at the road between Santa Ana and Hermosillo; or when Pinka said that a kid was driving a motorcycle (with his mother on the back, or something like that); or the tropical storm in the middle of Baja that almost got us stuck in Ciudad Constitucion. So we had our share of adventures; actually I believe we should call all of the "annoying" things adventures (I know Bonita will disagree with that!).

1) The top carrier opened as soon as we came down "La Rumorosa" (very "curvy" road, the name refers to the noise the cars that falll downhill made): Bonita got three tequilas to overcome her desire to return to Tijuana immediately and I had to buy two straps to hold the thing together. We lost a child carrier, child shoes and the suit carrier that held my clothes got ripped apart (no damage to the clothes, fortunately).

2) We saw a "police scene" when driving out of Mexicali; two federal agents were shot by the "bad guys" (whoever those are).

3) We saw a guy walking on the road wearing a red dress and high heels while we were driving from Caborca to Hermosillo (I think that was the weirdest sight!)

4) We almost got stuck in Hermosillo while Bonita was talking with her cousins, the husband of the eldest cousin got drunk and I had to cook the "carne asada"; Bonita kept getting updated news (and a ton of memorabilia, pictures and the sort!) from the family before finally deciding to move to Ciudad Obregon.

5) The windshield got broken by a pebble very close to Los Mochis; this reduce our excitement of getting to Sinaloa.

6) We saw another "crime scene" after we passed Guasave; this time we did not investigate what happened!

7) We got to Mazatlan in the middle of "high season for Mexican tourists" and the hotel we wanted was full, so we decided to "see first" if the Aquamarina was OK and Bonita registered before I could tell her it was a bad idea. Of course everything was my fault, since it was the hotel my father use to take us when we were on vacation (25~30 years ago!).

8) In Guadalajara, we were hit with hail while returning to my aunt's home. My daughters had never seen hail. There is a video somewhere.


9) In San Juan de Los Lagos we saw this:


10) In Guanajuato we were approached by a kid that was a tourist guide; he took us to the Inquisicion Museum where we saw mummies, torture instruments and a chastity belt. Then the guide disappeared and we never saw him again (he migh be one mummy now!!)


11) In Dolores Hidalgo we mistaken the church where "El Cura Hidalgo" did not yell "Viva Mexico!!"


12) This was a common sight on the roads.



13) Everything was quiet until we got to the ferry. The ferry had a problem on one of the electricity generators and the trip was delayed 13 hours, we spend 24 hours on the ferry and we were really tired and hungry by the time we left. That's where I noticed my kids and my wife are a little spoiled, they could not eat the food that was given to us on the ferry! They wanted gourmet food! (I've learned to eat whatever is available, you never know when you will eat again!).


14) We could not find the hotel in Cabo San Lucas, when we finally did it was great; but for a while Bonita was getting mad at me.


15) While driving through the central part of Baja, we ran into a tropical storm at Ciudad Constitucion; I could not take pictures but Bonita was scared. Of course Pinka decided she needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the storm; we got drenched in rain while looking for a toilette!!



16) We got to Santa Rosalia to find a creepy hotel; Bonita still thinks it was the original of "Psycho". It looked OK at daylight! And of course it was also my fault because I did not know there were only 4 (or maybe 3) hotels in Santa Rosalia!

17) We went through 7 army "retenes" during the last two days of travel; I asked for a certificate of being verified because I was getting tired of opening the top carrier every freaking time!! Could they not see we were in family travel!

Anyway; we made it back safe and sound. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously (even if the pictures show different evidence!) Thank you for your patience and your attention.

See you around

Getting into the ferry...

And Pinka is wondering if the boat is like the "Titanic" or the "Poseidon"... I hope neither!!!

Mission accomplished

I’m only happy when it rains….

...I’m only happy when is complicated. I woke up yesterday morning with this song on the Video Channel and also I heard it during my morning ride going to work. The name of the group is Garbage.

OK, we took off Tijuana at 4:00 p.m. going to Mexicali. The car was fully loaded and we were merrily in our way. I was trying to drive slower than normal (110-120 Km/h [70~75 Mph] when normal is 130~140 KM/h à 80~90 Mph) because we are not in a rush.

We stopped at La Rumorosa; to appreciate the view (some pictures here) and drove down to the Laguna Salada plain. I was passing a semi, when… (big dramatic pause here for effect) …Mediana said, “what is that noise?” I heard something strange and saw something flying back in the rear view mirror.

The freaking luggage carrier got open!!! I had loaded 4 luggage pieces (ours) and later my brother Nolo wanted to send some things to my sister and brother living in Sinaloa (for their kids) and I put them there. Seems like the carrier was a little overloaded and with the combination of wind, speed and load worked together to break it open. We lost the things my brother sent; my bag flew but it was unharmed.

Bonita freaked out!! Fortunately there were no weapons in the car so I am still alive. She wanted to go back to TJ immediately and start looking for planes to go somewhere else; Mediana and Pinka started to cry because after they were convinced by their parents to go on this trip. I finally calmed down everybody, close the thing and started driving to Mexicali at 80 Km/h (50 Mph). Got there and then our cousin Mexicali, gave Bonita a tequila (for the excitement, you know?). We talked, she vented, we did not agree to anything yet. I went out to buy some straps to close down better the thing and then decide what to do. I will keep you posted.

On a side note, “Mexicali” invited me to the Cucapa Brewery. Arqui, Mexicali and me went there to try to have some Cucapa draft. They did not have any. They did not know the Chupacabras version so I had a “Chope” (from Modelo, which I thought is a “Negra Modelo” in a different name, but now I know otherwise). After Arqui had 4 beers (Cucapa Light) we said enough. Mexicali and me went to eat tacos (first time I see a “Taqueria” closed and with Air Conditioning, but the temperature in Mexicali was really high).

I went to bed at 1:00 a.m. and I am now waiting to see if we take off for Hermosillo or back to Tijuana; I will let you know.

See you around.

Good/Bad day

Today is (actual) Pinka's birthday. Since it is after the end of the school year we usually host the party before the actual date. The first two birthdays we had to celebrate on the road; two of my brothers got married in consecutive years (in Chihuahua, 2001 and in Sinaloa, 2002). Then, the third one we celebrate at home. From fourth to now, she has been having celebrations all over Tijuana (P3ter P1per Pizz@, anyone?); with her friends from school.

So, today, it is supposed to be a very good day, but something happened and I do not feel good; I have to respect Pinka’s birthday anyway. And because of that I will hold a couple of post that are screaming to be written (I may write them, but post them until tomorrow or over the weekend).

Have a nice day. See you around.

Movies again!

Well, yesterday I took Mediana and Pinka to the movies; to see Kung Fu Panda. I’ve read a little about the screening at Cannes and the actors doing the voices of the movie (Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane in English; Omar Chaparro, Pedro Armendariz Jr., Bruno Pinasco, Erika Edwards and Cesar Evora in Spanish); but I did not expected the movie to be that good.

We watched the movie in Spanish, I have not seen the English version yet; but for all of you that do not know; Mexico has a really good dubbing industry (40-20 years ago it was even better), Telly Savalas was known to say that he really preferred his dubbed voice in the Mexican broadcast of Kojak (hear here as the Eagle’s voice); and the Flintstones and other cartoons (Count Duckula!) were really great; the Shrek movies were also really good and they made a really good work this time. Of course, saying “Pot-Belly Panda” in Spanish sounds really funny (is Panda Panzon, with the accent in the “zon” for the curious).

The story is also good; I agree to many of the things mentioned there; specially the “there are no accidents” bit, since is part of the family philosophy. We also had great laughs, made us almost cry and ended up with a good feeling overall. I will now get the English version to compare.

See you around.

Vacation time.

I have my daughters at work today; being 4th of July and working for an American company with (mostly) US based customers mean today is a very quiet day.

There had not been any phone call or e-mail. Basically I am sitting here, finishing some reports and some information people have requested for next week, so it is going pretty good. After a week where I was somehow stressed (work related) this is peaceful. I found out why I was being restless and why I got drunk last Sunday! Several reasons, many of them good and one of them that was the trigger (the stress!); then, if I can not say I will never do it again, at least I know what is going on (you know I am a control freak).

I will cut my day at work short and take the kids to the movies (Kung Fu Panda, anyone?). Go back home early and maybe read a little; I have not advance in two of the books I am reading, I got hooked back into Discworld and I am re-reading several of the books (Night Watch and Death series); but maybe I will continue with “The Viscount of Bragalonne” and “The Historian”. I also have pending adding books to my Goodreads account (I counted 234 books in my bedroom I have not catalogued, and I am still missing the hall bookcases and the kid’s bedroom). I have so many pending things to do that I am starting to feel bad about it (not enough to DO something about it, just feel it by now).

What is the reason why procrastinating is so easy? I am good at it (ask my wife), which sometimes does not bode well for my relationship’s wellbeing. At least I feel like something will be done later rather than sooner.

Tonight we will have dinner with friends, we expect a good time; is better to know is Friday and tomorrow we will not have to wake up early.

See you around.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle…

We are in the middle of a series of events for the family. Yesterday were Mediana (as Tim0n) and Pinka (as Nal@) in “The Li0n K1ng”; produced by the school (will had a lot of responsibility preparing all the actors; kudos to him) and my niece Sobrina’s (Polaco’s daughter) graduation ceremony from elementary school.

Today it was Sobrina’s graduation “party” (luncheon in a big old house, French style) and tomorrow is Pinka’s birthday party (who surprisingly will have a “The Li0n K1ng” theme! But, I think the lion won’t be happy).

My mother is here, visiting her granddaughters; with a great effort from her since she was here three weeks ago during Patita’s presentation (in the church) and next Monday is my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary.

So is celebration over and over again.

A good change after I forgot to pay the kids’ tuition and my wife could not get the report cards on time (and she felt slightly ashamed because that happened in front of all the other moms; sorry!).

Too many things happened (and are about to happen) during this week; from the month-end-closing activities at work to the preparation of the presentation and parties on the weekend.

We also had our monthly therapy session (couples therapy) and in there my wife recognized that she dislikes our therapist. We are going to skip the next session (since we will be on vacation; road trip to Central Mexico and going back through the Baja! 2 weeks of driving, walking, talking to the family! It’s going to be great!!) and return to session last week of August; it will be interesting.

We closed the month at work really close to our target. My boss will be happy, and after reviewing the next two months schedule we are in a far better position for hitting all monthly targets and the quarterly target.

I am not as tired as I was at the beginning of the week and even though this week will start with tiring activities; I looked forward to next week. Mediana and Pinka will be at school on Monday (6th year graduation) and at the movies on Tuesday (a treat from the school, for the effort they made towards a great performance yesterday). On Wednesday we are planning to have them join a “summer camp” at the French Alliance (we are pushy parents and want them to start learning French) but we are not sure that will happen. In any case, I will be reporting what happens.

See you around.









(This picture has nothing to do with this post; it is that I forgot to mention that I saw it at the entrance of the customer I went to visit in North Carolina; I wonder if is some kind of hospitality sign there!!)

Sundays are good (sometimes)

June 15th is an important date. Flor’s birthday; Salvaje’s birthday; Father’s Day (this year) and it is the anniversary of my graduation from college.

I finished college 18 years ago. Those were really good times for me, I though it was going to be really difficult to feel like that again. Curiously enough, yesterday I was feeling like never before. For some reason I started reading some of Discworld novels again. There is one that the first time I read, did not really liked enough to warrant a second look; but now, for no reason it was calling me. It is “Small Gods”.

The main character is a novice in the church of Om; his name is Brutha. He found himself in the interesting position of being the only one that can hear Om; because people have forgotten about him, Om can only take the shape of a small tortoise. The story is full of irony, satire and all the fun Terry Pratchett pours into his novels. But there was something really surprising for me, since I did not see it the first time. This novel is full of compassion. The hard complete compassion that is required for people lacking… anything. And in this book there are many of those. Especially Bruthat’s antagonist, Vorbis.

Anyway, I read it and reread it several times, trying to get the most of the message written on it and finally I could not read it more. I would start crying when reading. Even now when writing this I feel the need to cry.

This is extremely unusual; not that a book makes me cry (Porthos dying in the last part of “The viscount of Braggalonne” made and makes me cry) but that just by remembering it I want to keep crying… I had to close my office door now.

I tried to tell the story to Bonita yesterday, and started crying, she was surprised, but let it happen (which was really good). I felt so alive… and after that really enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.

Family from both sides visited and stayed for "carne asada" (barbeque); we had some beers (Pacifico, because of the weather) and I got a little tipsy. My wife was bothered by it a little bit, but I think it was OK. We started watching “The Godfather”, but it was late and went to bed.

This morning everything looks great; good weather; Vicky, Mediana and Pinka woke up early and got ready on time for work and school. Bonita and me slept a little more than usual, but got out of the house in time. Good start of a beautiful day.

I got into a discussion with somebody from work on Friday, but he called me just now to patch up things and propose a solution for a problem we have (which is what I wanted since Friday, so I got it!)

Things are moving; and if they are moving we can then steer them. I know this is just a beginning (of many that exist) and we will hit some lows, but with the right attitude everything improves.

See you around.

Getting back to the saddle.

Well, the weekend was full of those moments that make life so interesting. After not getting enough sleep Friday night, we were (rudely I would say) waked up by my mother-in-law at 6:00 am, when she arrived at my house to give her car a wash. After several annoying noises I finally got up and asked her politely to keep it quiet. She was embarrassed but not enough to stop completely. My wife and I started laughing after that, because we could have made such a big problem out of that, it was just not worth it.

After Vicky’s comments (and all other comments that followed!) we were expecting her to be mad at us. We knew she was upset when she commented, but for her it was a way to vent her frustration; so she was back to her normal charming self. My wife wanted to have breakfast with her, but schedules prevented that (Mediana’s rehearsal, Pinka’s medical appointment and Vicky having to go to work).

We left the house, took care of the kid’s activities and left to US for some shopping. Pinka’s birthday party is coming and Sunday was full of celebrations (Father’s Day, my sister-in-law Flor and my wife’s friend Salvaje’s birthdays) so we needed to get some things before we run out of time.

We left Mediana and Pinka in Tijuana, they did not want to go shopping (what a surprise!) and it was just Bonita and me. We talked, a lot. About Vicky, empathy, getting offended and life in general. It was really deep conversation and we had a great time.

When we came back, Vicky and Bonita went out to have lunch and talk. I stayed home, ordered some sushi for me. My brother and his family arrived and my niece Patita was in her “I like my uncle” state which is so good. We talked and waited 20 minutes for everybody else to get back. Patita and Joseantoñito love Mediana, so when they saw her their faces beamed and they ran to give her a hug. They stayed for a while at the same time we were preparing for a round of “Continental” with my in-laws. We played, had a good time; and at the end of the game, Vicky said to my wife “ok, let’s finish this and start again in a blank slate”.

So, yes. Vicky and Bonita (me too) are leaving bad feelings behind (where they should be) and looking forward to improve their relationship (and all relationships they have by extension). So it was a great way to finish Saturday.

See you around.