Are you there Tequila? It's me, Xoch

I almost cried at the office today.

My brother was online, and his msn nick name reminded me of my grandfather. Some lyrics from the first The Music album. This English band where the lead singer looks a bit like a bird (not a girl, a bird). This is because I bought that album for him a couple of days after Gramps died. It was a Monday or Tuesday, before the funeral. It was a really big hassle getting him home from S. Antonio, so he died on a Saturday but the shin-ding didn't start until Wednesday evening. I remember not wanting to be home so we went to the mall (sign of the times) and getting like a facial or something, and buying that CD. Funny how you remember some things, like the salelady's name at the Clarins counter.

So anyway, Kux says he has that lyric 'cause it reminds him of G., too. And then I was there, that Saturday at my grandparents' house, how we had to go get the suit, which I think wasn't even used in the end. How the dog was frantic, and how I couldn't cry 'cause I just felt so numb, and even my Dad had talked to me about it beforehand, when he was still in the hospital, and I thought of course nothing can happen he was only in for an angioplasty, and later on thinking people got bypasses all the time. And there we were in the empty house the four of us, and I couldn't fucking cry then 'cause I knew that if I started I wouldn't be able to stop and of course right now I'm trying not to start 'cause it's the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the damn newsroom....

And my grandfather is someone I think about practically everyday, but in terms of what he did and how his choices affected us so deeply further down the line, in a good way of course. But I hadn't remembered in a long time that he's gone, and well, it just hit me.

It's a bit later now and I'll go see if Ben is around, before I go home..

trágame tierra versión los pinos

Oso total con el pendejo que robó celulares a funcionarios de la Casa Blanca.

Rafael Quintero, subdirector de Coordinación y Avanzada de Los Pinos, fue acusado por el Servicio Secreto estadounidense de robar entre seis y siete teléfonos Blackberry pertenecientes a funcionarios y reporteros que asistían a las reuniones de los presidentes del TLCAN en Nueva Orleans.

Fox News informa que las cámaras de seguridad captaron a este pendejete. Desde Los Pinos informan que ya fue destituido de su puesto.

Me dio VERGÜENZA, no quería que se publicara esa nota en ningún lado. ¿Es una muestra de las deficiencias de nuestra cultura? ¿De la cultura gubernamental? ¿O tenemos bias de confirmación acaso? Osea, ¿si lo hubiera hecho alguien de otra nacionalidad se hubiera hecho el mismo pedo? No estoy excusando las acciones de este pinche puto pendejo baboso por usar la expresión preferida de Gustavo Arellano. Simplemente quiero ver esto dentro de un marco social / cultural.

Aún con eso, vuelvo a decirlo. Cuanta PENA.

Geek Fun

Ancient Graffiti on the walls of Pompeii


Ah, yes, greek antiquity.

Suspirium puellarum Celadus thraex.
Celadus the Thracier makes the girls moan!
(C.I.L. IV, 4397; in the barracks of the gladiators)

yes, I deleted it.
If anyone got to read it, well.

I don't like feeling small.

I hate being afraid.

En este camino no hay nadie más

"toma tus cosas y vámonos ya,
si no corremos nos van a dejar.
Ponte tu casco y tu traje espacial
la carretera no puede esperar"

-Vámonos, Café Tacvba

It's road trip season! I won't be taking one today, but oh, to just jump in the car and drive south! San Miguel de Allende, Real del Catorce, Tepoz, wherever. And even further down, Maruata, Pátzcuaro, Chacagua, Zicatela and all the other little towns and beaches in Michoacán and Oaxaca.

No time off right now, it's all double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble, hee.

Sure, I love what I'm doing, I just miss taking off. Rusty and I were going to Bangkok for three weeks and use it as a jumping off point to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. He never complained that it got canceled, such a sweetheart.

Instead we obsess about the Democratic primaries and talk about him leaving for London eventually, among a thousand other things. So many of our friends are getting hitched, and R feels stranded on the dock. I imagine a forlorn Principito staring out to sea... draw me a lamb...

A couple of months ago, he mentioned that if he could define me in a phrase, it would be:

lo que nos importe, y lo que nos congrega,
una sociedad conjunta que amamos y que nos dele,
y un futuro conjunto que también amamos
y que no estamos dispuestos a que también nos duela

Of course I googled that right away and it's from Pablo Fernandez Christlieb. Tomorrow I'm going over to gandhi and ordering a couple of his books. They almost never have what I'm looking for, it's a bummer. Maybe they'll have Coetzee on sale now.

This post is like a simpsons episode, starts off being one thing and ends up being another. Well, to continue in this slightly odd vein, let me fire my predictions for Obama.

Obama will win Pennsylvania, or Hillary might scrape by the skin of her teeth. Bittergate is a media creation and I don't think that many real people, voters, were offended. Hell yes, I'm bitter. I lost my job to the Chinese! or some such. You all know what I think about that sentiment, the importance of the service economy and the race to the bottom; but it's kind of hard to say that to someone who lost their job.

Anyway, things are not going well for the Clintons despite what they may think or what the MSM and pundits pompously posit on about. Her campaign is moribund, running out of steam and money.

Then you hace McCain, and Rove. Well, the Wave Principle will take care of this one, I think. A bad economy hurts the incumbent and helps the opposition. And folks, the economy isn't getting any better in time for the election. Bernanke said we'll see some improvement in the second semester, but central bankers tend towards optimism. And it's a good thing otherwise everyone else would panic even more.

But oil reached 117 on the Nymex last friday, and West Texas Intermediate closed at 116.69; Brent crude ended at 113.54 in London. It's not just the Nigerian sabotage and the Mexican interruption. Our ports close down for short periods due to bad weather several times a month, it's temporary and everybody knows it.

It's the weak dollar, the Chinese demand, OPEC and the war in Iraq. I believe I've written about this before. Also, the futures contracts for May expired on friday. The June contract will start trading on Monday, and there's no reason for it to go down. Oil prices will affect everything else, and we can expect further inflation.

There have been food riots in places like Haiti, Bangladesh and Egypt, and the world's grain stores are low. I know most Americans don't give a shit about disturbances in places like these, but this will bite them in the ass in a couple months, if not already.

The economy is slow, but unstoppable. It's not even that slow, just that we're used to 30 second sound bites, we have extremely short attention spans and no long term memory. Any macroeconomics guy will tell you that it takes two years to cycle out of recession, if it's a quick one. It can take six years if it's a slow cycle. Victor (Kux or little bro to you) compared it to "a happy iceberg". Happy, indeed.

What does all this mean? Well, I can't possibly guess what the political climate will be come september, but I can tell you one thing. Gas will be expensive, and so will food. Who knows if another Bear Stearns will pop up. Do you think Bernanke will follow Jezebel's advice and just tell Wall Street to go fuck itself? Three guesses.

And he really probably shouldn't. The so called little people might resent it if their tax dollars are used to bail out the big bankers, but all their credit comes from Big Banks, so it's not a good idea if BB goes broke. It's the same reason they bailed out LTCM.

Barring new terrorist threats, or the perception of a new terrorist threat, I really don't see how Rove will be able to distract middle America from the fact that their dollars can hardly buy anything, they have no money for gas and their mortgages are very close to defaulting. How the hell can he get a candidate elected on that? My perverse side would love to watch.

I'm not saying it's going to be a total meltdown. But the world's foremost economy is no longer. China's domestic demand is quite big, so are other emerging markets. Not to mention the EU. The world can keep spinning. Japanese bankers may not feel compelled to buy so much American debt anymore if they can find someone else to buy their products. Places like... you guessed it, China. And India.

Am I repeating myself? Sounding like an imbecile pundit? Did you know the fastest growing industry / sector in the U.S. economy in the last couple years is debt?

Well, it's late and my arms are hurting. It's weird, I don't have carpal tunnel syndrome but maybe it's some sort of tendinitis. Forearmitis?


Por mientras canto Tu TuruTu TururuTururururu,

Oh, LOL!



I was gonna post this last night, but I was too tired (still am).



John Edwards, aka Breck Boy, was on Stephen Colbert last night. He showed really good comic timing, and a willingness to make fun of himself. His segment was called the Ed Words. Since white males are the new soccer moms, and he's a white male, well.... he wants a jet ski. Two jet skis, in fact.


The reason he hasn't endoresed either candidate yet is 'cause, (insert Southern accent here) on the one hand, he doesn't want to be seen as "anti-hope." On the other, he doesn't want James Carville to bite him.


Other things the candidates can get him to get his support: make him a spy! put his mug on bills! National holidays named after the Edwards kids! Oh, and commit to ending poverty in 30 years. (there was some text appearing beside him, sort of the teleprompter's response, and when he mentioned this, a priceless quote appeared: "Bush ended middle class in 8") .

Don't be evil

que mal plan con billy corgan... totalmente anti-google, heh.

Llevaba una tercera parte del concierto cuando llama al público a que vea a un chico con una pancarta...

"Señor, señor," decía con su distintiva voz nasal y (whiny) midwestern twang. Y luego viene el kicker...

"If you're going to request a song, the least you could do is wear a Smashing Pumpkins approved t-shirt, instead of some cheap ass bootleg you bought outside, motherfucker!"

Le salió el id/ello o como se llame, de plano. El tipo se convirtió en un arquetipo frente a mi. O será más bien que mi percepción cambió. Su voz se tornó en algo molesto, casi aterrante, y tuve una epifanía psicológica. Oh, claro, con razón se sale la gente de la banda cada rato, los corre o corren pero que flojera jalar con un cabrón tan insportable, aunque sea talentoso.

Ok, dejaré de usar las itálicas ya.

La gente abucheó, se rió, no se si el abucheo era para el pobre tipo o para Corgan. Según el north side era en contra de la camisa pirata, pero yo lo dudo.

No estoy a favor de la piratería, en cierto sentido vivo de mi creatividad. Soy mexicana, y no me pega el sentido de indignación como a los gringos, jajajaja. Veo la pérdida económica, tanto para Britney y Billy como para el ingeniero en sonido que vive de su trabajo.

También veo a la persona que se está ganando la vida en la economía informal en parte porque la economía formal en México tiene muchos obstáculos para capitalizarse. La marchanta que da un valor agregado a su producto al dar recomendaciones a sus clientes es una enterpreneur, so there all you Wharton MBAs, ja.

Total, no me gusta la piratería, pero tampoco pienso que se necesita usar ese lenguaje y ese tono de voz. Dios, soy mi mamá. Pero bueno, es mi opinión.

Ahh, y luego del veneno, el wey tiene la osadía de decir "god bless". WTF!!! Que hipócrita. Sabía que esa sotana que uso por varios albums era por algo!

Después de eso ya no me pude prender. Fuimos simplemente por oír que tocaran Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness, y una que otra de Siamese Dream, pero ya no fue lo mismo. En el aspecto técnico fueron excelentes, son buenos músicos. Pero no me puedo entusiasmar con alguien que nefastea de tal manera, alguien que es tan nefasto, valga la rebuznancia.

No traían pantallas. ¿Qué diablos pensaban que venían a tocar al Café Iguanas? Claaro que necesitas pantallas en la Arena, ¿que no han hecho giras antes? ¿A qué le tira tocando el himno gringo? cosillas así.

Y es que nadie le ganará a las 3 horas y 33 canciones de Cafeta, con su excelente producción y sus luces tan chidas, con el pasito duranguense y las chicas banda y la improvisación de Meme y los piropos a su público cuando silbamos María....

Incluso Radiohead, será perfecto pero no creo que tengan esa convivencia con su público. Si la piel se pone chinita, no es lo mismo porque las canciones no habaln de lo absurdamente feliz que es la vida a veces y la inmortalidad del cangrejo.

Ahora sólo me falta ver a Spoon y a Jorge Drexler en vivo. Y tal vez Arcade Fire. Que ansia y oso que iremos a ver Bright Eyes, jajajaa, a ver si no nos golpean por emos.

Karl Rove is a perverse genius

The WSJ does their share of ass kissing today with a very flattering profile of Cindy McCain, business woman, charity worker, mother of an adopted child extraordinaire. I'm sorry for picking on the candidate's spouse, but I'm going to go ahead on this one.

It's not really Ms. McCain that interests me here, it's all the angles the Journal covered. It kicks off with a compliment about her hostessing skills. Can you say that about Bill? What about Michelle, won't she make you uneasy with all the uncomfortable questions?

There are a couple of references to her iPod and Blackberry. Hoping this hip image might rub off on John? He may be 71 and remind you of a grumpy grandpa who wants the kids off his lawn, but he's groovy and with it! (yes, no one uses groovy, that's my point precisely)

They bring up an old painkiller addiction that came about after a couple of back surgeries (yes, she's human and frail, just like you!).

"I was trying to be the perfect woman", says Ms. McCain. Awww, direct quote so we can empathize aaand something that speaks to all those working women out there.

All this happened around the time of the Keating Five Scandal, after Lincoln Savings & Loan imploded, costing U.S. taxpayers some $3.4 billion dollars. Did Rupert's rag mention this amount? Three guesses.

The article mentions the infamous barbecue weekend. Except for the Journal, it was not infamous. Those ribs were delicious, I'll tell you!

My point is, this piece is loaded with spin. The "Cindy is a very private person" shtick. How she reassured the employees at the family firm after her father's death,

"I want the employees and their families to know that I will take care of them the way my dad has", again, direct empathy quote.

Last, how she has "always" been proud of her country, unlike Michelle Obama. This is a very good (or very bad?) piece of spin, and I for one thing, am afrain of Karl Rove. Are you there, Karl? It's me, Xoch.

últimamente he ido a varios conciertos o toquines. Hoy veré a los smashing, la neta lo único que quiero es cantar Tonight, Tonight. Me encanta ese video de homage a George Meliés. De hecho si definiera como sueño, sería algo entre Meliés, Chagall, y los libros de la sep que le ponen caras a las nubes. La neta no se ni madres de arte, pero más o menos así recuerdo muchos sueños, como si fuera escenografía de cartón repintada con gis y con líneas curvas que simbolizan movimiento o que las cosas se mecen, como un niño montando un caballito de cartón /madera.

bueno, me desvío. Veré a Billy Corgan & Co, el sábado vi a los plastilinos con sus greatest shits (their wording, not mine) y a los invisibles (papis), hace unas semanas a los tacubos, a mr stewart, y pronto a bright eyes (eww!) y a radiohead.

El punto es que me encanta cuando se nota lo bien que se la están pasando. Nada de emos pendejos que hacen jeta. Imagínate a The Bravery cantando... o the Strokes, yo los vi. Cero improvisación, cara de hemorrín todo el tiempo. Que cool....que aburrido.

Microtrends. I knew iT! and our endless classifying and categorizing WORKS (at least if you believe marketers)

Well, if I'm ever out of a job my penchant for categorizing and predicitng people based on what they eat / read/ wear / listen to/ watch will come in handy for my next career.... instant pundit!

WHAT'S FOR DINNER? THE POLLSTER WANTS TO KNOW
By KIM SEVERSON

If there's butter and white wine in your refrigerator and Fig Newtons in the cookie jar, you're likely to vote for Hillary Clinton. Prefer olive oil, Bear Naked granola and a latte to go? You probably like Barack Obama, too. And if you're leaning toward John McCain, it's all about kicking back with a bourbon and a stuffed crust pizza while you watch the Democrats fight it out next week in Pennsylvania.

If what we eat says a lot about who we are, it also says something about how we might vote. Although precincts and polls are being parsed, the political advisers to the presidential candidates are also looking closely at consumer behavior, including how people eat, as a way to scavenge for votes.

The practice is called microtargeting, as much political discipline as buzzword. The idea is that in the brand-driven United States, what we buy and how we spend our free time is a good predictor of our politics.

Political strategists slice and dice the electorate into small segments, starting with traditional demographics like age and income, then mixing consumer information like whether you prefercasinos or cruises, hunting or cooking, a Prius or a pickup.

Once they find small groups of like-minded people, campaigns can efficiently send customized phone, e-mail or direct mail messages to potential supporters, avoiding inefficient one-size-fits-all mailings. Pockets of support that might have gone unnoticed can be ferreted out.

"This is essentially the way Williams-Sonoma knows which of its catalogs to send you," said Christopher Mann of MSHC Partners, a political communications firm, which has used microtargeting to help dozens of successful candidates, including Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington and Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Although gender, religion and other basic personal data are much more valuable for pollsters, information about eating - along with travel and hobbies - are in the second tier of data used to predict how someone might vote, he said.

So, for example, Mann knows that someone who subscribes to lots of gourmet cooking magazines is more likely to be a Democrat or at least more open to progressive causes. That can help a campaign decide if it's worth spending money courting that person's vote.

Although Karl Rove was not the first to use microtargeting in a campaign, he brought it to new levels of sophistication and prominence, dividing swing voters into groups like "tax and terrorism moderates." The strategy helped send George Bush back to the White House in 2004.

Matthew Dowd, the former chief strategist for Bush who is now a political commentator for ABC, helped orchestrate that effort. The Bush team studied food preferences, among dozens of other traits, as a shortcut to finding independents who might lean Republican, he said.

For example, Dr Pepper is a Republican soda. Pepsi-Cola and Sprite are Democratic. So are most clear liquors, like gin and vodka, along with white wine and Evian water. Republicans skew toward brown liquors like bourbon or scotch, red wine and Fiji water. When it comes to fried chicken, he said, Democrats prefer Popeyes and Republicans Chick-fil-A.

"Anything organic or more Whole Foods-y skews more Democratic," Dowd said.

But consumer information has to be studied in context.

"I don't know how much you can use food or drink alone to determine how they will vote," he said.

"You can't have a candidate with a Pepsi-Cola and Pizza Hut box and think that's going to win an election for you."

Jeff Navin, managing director of American Environics, a progressive research and strategy firm, agrees.

"Knowing that your base drinks gin doesn't give you a clear idea on how to communicate with them effectively on issues," he said.

"But if you take it a level deeper and say, are there psychological drivers that will help understand the values behind the behavior, you can speak to those values and persuade voters."

Navin offers an example from his firm's ongoing survey that periodically asks 1,800 people in-depth questions about their lives. In last summer's polling, the latest available, Clinton scored high among voters who also had favorable views of McDonalds, Wal-Mart and Starbucks.

That led his team to conclude that Clinton supporters put a high value on national brands. Although the landscape in the Democratic race has shifted since the poll was conducted, Navin said, back then the name Clinton was the most popular national Democratic brand.

Mark Penn, a microtargeting expert who was dismissed as chief strategist for the Clinton campaign last week, wrote a book on the subject: "Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes" (Twelve, 2007). Although Penn, who claims credit for coining the term "soccer mom," didn't specifically seek out research on the dining habits of voters, he does use food as a way to define the candidates.

Specifically, he points to Obama's comments about the rising price of arugula at Whole Foods during a campaign stop in Iowa.

"He has more of the arugula vote," he said in an e-mail message last week.

"Senator Clinton's voters are more likely to be making ends meet and so they do a lot more cooking at home and a lot less eating out at expensive restaurants."

Although Obama's team is also using consumer data to target voters, the campaign is focusing more on what one adviser called "macrotargeting." The idea is to build a unified, all-encompassing Obama brand that works well across all kinds of media platforms.

"I would say we're old-fashioned in that you have to look at America as a whole," said Bill Burton, Obama's national press secretary.

That's not to say they don't have specific information about voters, he said. And the campaign isn't above using food to gain an edge. After the founders of Ben and Jerry's endorsed Obama, the campaign blog quickly suggested a new ice cream flavor that plays off of a favorite campaign slogan: Yes, Pecan.

Whether a campaign uses a lot or a little consumer information, it can cause trouble if not interpreted correctly, some political veterans cautioned.

An environmentally minded independent who trends Democratic might buy organic milk, but so might an independent conservative who is more concerned about the health of her children than the state of the earth. They buy the same product, but for different reasons. Send an environmental message to the conservative and you could lose her vote.

That's why some, notably James Carville, a Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator, see microtargeting as a waste of time and money. Although he believes the cost of food is a fast-rising issue among voters, knowing what they eat doesn't win elections.

"Suppose I found out people who drink cappuccinos are Democrats and black coffee drinkers are likely to vote Republican?" he asked. "So what? All kinds of other things are more predictive and less expensive to find out."

Besides, the lines between who eats what continues to blur. Republicans are not necessarily red-meat-eating bourbon swillers, and not all Democrats are carrying their lattes to the farmers'market.

Mann recently saw someone on a Metro train in Washington with a Bush/Cheney sticker on his bag reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," Barbara Kingsolver's meditation on eating local food.

Some people who cook and serve food have been students of microtargeting for years. JoAnn Clevenger, the owner of the Upperline restaurant in New Orleans, doesn't need a data set toidentify how customers might vote. She just watches what they order.

"The Republicans are more formal and have more attention to structure when they eat," she said. The classic example would be her delicate trout meuniere. Democrats tend to order earthy, down-home food with lots of juice for sopping, like Cane River country shrimp with garlic, bacon and mushrooms.

But lately she's seen a lot of interest from both sides for her Oysters St. Claude. The oysters are coated with corn flour, gently fried and then slipped back into their shells and covered with anadventurous, Morrocan-style sauce seasoned with ground whole lemons, garlic, cayenne and paprika. It's the ultimate crossover dish, and she believes it's popular this year because voters are being pulled in several directions.

"You have a respect and a yearning for the past," she said, "but a feeling like you want something new and exciting that says let´s go all the way."

Campaña Social

Estos prints, que me encontré en el briefblog, son de una campaña tailandesa en contra de la pederastia. Son de Creative Juice/G1, y les aviso que están bastante fuertes. Sin embargo, creo que son buenísimos en lograr su cometido, porque la reacción que provocan, al menos en mi, es instantánea y visceral. No son pornográficos en sí (bueno, para mi no) pero si transmiten el dolor, confusión, el aspecto antisocial, del asunto.

http://www.briefblog.com.mx/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/thaichild_anal.jpg
http://www.briefblog.com.mx/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/thaichild_oral.jpg

Muchas veces estas campañas sociales dramatizan o chantajean, como por ejemplo la de los huercos mamertos y la piratería, de que si tu haces trampa comprando pirata yo hago trampa en el examen y la madre. No creo que en este caso estén dramatizando en exceso, mas bien creo que estan interpretando el dramón que viven las víctimas de la pederastia. Deberían poner estos posters afuera de las iglesias de los Legionarios.

Uncle Zeta wants YOU

http://www.elnorte.com/nacional/articulo/423/845154

Una manta en Nuevo Laredo:

Grupo operativo Los Zetas te quiere a ti militar o ex militar: te ofrecemos buen sueldo, comida y atenciones a tu familia, ya no sufras maltratos y no sufras hambre, nosotros no te damos de comer sopas maruchan.

Dicen los militares que eso refleja la desesperación de los zetas porque están acorralados, por no poder trabajar ante los operativos del Ejército y que no representa ninguna tentación para los militares...ja!

Osea, sí, puede ser una manera de bravuconear, pero esto refleja mas bien que les vale madre si la ley los ve.

Retirar droga del mercado resulta en un alza de precios, y eso hace el negocio más atractivo. El problema se trasladó de Colombia para acá. Ahora nosotros a donde lo vamos a transferir?

http://www.elnorte.com/estados/articulo/423/845133/

Chemical engineer in Zacatecas who claims to cure cancer with herbs, by giving microdoses which will correct DNA defects caused by pesticides in veggies, clembuterol in meat products and radiation in canned goods.

Exhibamos nuestras miserias...

Pone en Mónaco el toque regio

Orgullosa de sus raíces mexicanas y de su tierra regiomontana, Estela Páez no pierde oportunidad de enaltecer a Monterrey cada vez que visita a la familia real de Mónaco.

Esto corresponde a una edición suburbana, no de Gente.

WTF con verbos como "convivir"

Pooobre que Almodovar le urge saber (de la boca de esta persona, no less!) si en Monterrey vemos sus movies.

Men Explain Things to Me. Facts Didn't Get in Their Way

Men Explain Things to Me. Facts Didn't Get in Their Way

Wonderful essay by Rebecca Solnit on the Tomdispatch about the subtle (and not so subtle) ways some men put women down, assuming they know what we don't, and we need to have it explained.

Cosas raras del centro.. que diablos son los pañales agrícolas?

suena asqueroso.... más viniendo de Aguascalientes, de donde nunca ha salido nada bueno, por más que mi papá cante odas en su nombre (con la honrosa excepción de los herrera...aunque a veces eso tampoco es bueno). Me imagino un anuncio en la feria de San marcos, "pañales agrícolas!"

Tuve un sueño de lo más raro anoche. Iba a casa de Serrato (??) a jugar Guitar Hero, y cuando llegaba me decía que era un fraude porque nunca había terminado la carrera. Que en una de sus clases pasaban lista y decían mi nombre, entonces yo no me había titulado. Y por más que yo le decía que yo nunca estuve en la Uni, ni siquiera en prepa, el wey se enojaba cada vez más.

En eso llega Meléndez, un superjefe en mi oficina, con el cual yo tengo cero contacto, y me decía que como había mentido acerca de mi licenciatura y el MBA, me iba a correr. Pero lo decía tipo Donald Trump. De que, you're fired! Y mi pensamiento era, chale, tendré que vivir de mis blogs.

Para empezar, blogs, plural? Aparte, no me preocupaba, que nada que ver con mi personalidad medio aprehensiva. (Aunque no lo crean, jajajaja). Oh, y otra cosa. todo el tiempo la música de fondo era You Were Always on my Mind, de Pet Shop Boys.

Mark Penn, Microtrends author and Dem's version of Karl Rove, leaves Clinton camp

Mark Penn is out. He was supposedly the closest thing the Clinton's had to Karl Rove, but his unfortunate remarks have hurt her campaign.

e.g. "Could we possibly have a nominee who hasn't won any of the significant states -- outside of Illinois? That raises some serious questions about Sen. Obama."

He has minimized Obama's wins saying caucus wins don't really count, small state wins don't really count, medium state wins don't really count, states with large African-American populations don't really count, et al.

The straw that broke the camel's back apparently was a conflict of interest, since his lobbyist organization was working with Colombia on gettint their free trade agreement with the U.S. pushed through, and Clinton was publicly against it. He met with a Colombian rep, apologized, was fired by Colombia, and then by the Clinton camp yest.

Does this mean the Clinton campaign will get back on the right track (was it ever?) or just another sign that it is floundering and that we may expect a resignation if they lose Pennsylvannia?

Hueva total mañanera y porqué no me gusta el redondeo

Pues llego al Seven a comprar un jugo (elaborado con 25% jugo de verdad!) y al pagar, me preguntan si le entro al redondeo. Le digo que sí al cajero, pero oh sorpresa, ya no es donación al Hospital Universitario.

Al preguntar por el nuevo programa, me enseña un ´díptico (lo que sea) de un lugar llamado ANSPAC. Inmediatamente saltan a mi vista las palabras "moralidad" y "familia".

Le comento (amablemente pero con mi voz de hueva mañanera) que es un lástima que estén donando a una institución moralina, a lo que se defiende que ellos no deciden. Es un comentario, no espero que él pueda hacer algo. Total, este mes yo no voy a redondear en el Seven.

Subo a mi lugar, y claro que busco ANSPAC por internet (I Google!). La página confirma mis dudas y temores. Un extracto:

La Directiva Nacional ha escogido para nuestro ya tradicional concurso anual la elaboración de un TARJETERO, en el cuál se sugiera un propósito que contribuya a nuestra superación, apoyándonos en alguna frase célebre o texto de la Biblia, que nos ayude a alcanzar nuestras metas.

El TARJETERO deberá estar formado por 24 tarjetas (dos para cada mes del año) y cada una de ellas debe contener una cita o frase de apoyo, con un propósito definido para trabajar en una tarea específica.

Te invitamos a participar, utilizando toda la creatividad y la capacidad de expresión que te caracteriza como mujer ANSPAC.

Que pinche horror, y luego tan temprano en la mañana, jajajaa.

I (heart) Google

I love Google.

There aren't enough words to express my love. I can't live without it. I worship at the altar of Page & Brin & the Googleplex and all those people who make my life better (kidding...not)

Does anybody know how to sort results by date rather than relevance? I can do this with the News, but not with the Web results. Just wondering.

Since I saw Rod Stewart day before yest, let's sing to the Goog:

Have I told you lately
that I love you?
Have I told you
there's no one else above you?

You fill my heart with gladness
Take away all my sadness
Ease my troubles,
that's what you do


Laugh, but it's true.... and I'll be posting odes to Wikipedia and Imdb next.


Today's other musings:
Espresso and coffee n' go don't go together.
How long until pharmaceutical companies develop medication for procrastination? and how will the marketers motivate people to stop procrastinating on "talking to their doctor?"

Leer para Creer y el Efecto Mariposa

This is straight out of Ripley's believe it or not, but sadder. I don't think it happened in Mexico back in '95, but we had squatters or "posesionarios", didn't we? Funny how all these things converge, and a lot of it is somehow related to oil and Iraq.

Some homes worth less than their copper pipes

Rising metal prices have rendered some foreclosed homes worth less than their plumbing, and theives are stripping the vacant abodes of copper, aluminum, and brass to fuel a lucrative overseas trade.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2527885420080401

It may sound like leftist drivel, but the reason commodities are rising is (in part) 'cause oil is so expensive. Take corn. Some people are trying to use corn-based ethanol since oil is $100+ bucks a barrel, and that creates more demand which results in more expensive corn. Also, most fertilizers used today are oil based, which keeps raising oil demand and therefore oil and corn prices.

It's a sick little loop, inflation. I had an Econ teacher who used to explain it by tellling us about the time the lady who sold "semillitas" at the stoplight raised her rates since sugar was up. He told her semillitas didn't have sugar in them, to which she replied, "Ah, but I use sugar in my coffee".

Invading Iraq has not lowered oil prices as anyone can see. And invading Iran is not the answer either. Thank God Bush is on his way out, but I'm not too sure about McC at this point. It's possible that if he turns out to be a manifest destiny freak, the current geopolitic tension and iraqui insurgents blowing up oil pipelines will seem like the good old days.

So, everything is related and the butterfly effect is real. My primary obsession, as most of you know, is getting all the (right) facts and reading them correctly in order to see the Big Picture. I'm reading the Black Swan right now and Taleb sort of goes against that. Although maybe I need to finish it first. Anyway, I ran accross this random piece of news and wanted to share.

American Propaganda: subtle, insidious, sugarcoated, focus-grouped, and market-tested.

Weekday Update

Haven't written in forever, since my workdays have been too hectic recently, and I've been just way too burnt out at the end of the day. Sort of forgot my promise to myself, to just do it (just write) and let things flow.

So I apologize to myself, and to whomever might be reading this out there.

I have seen some cool movies recently, read some good books and listened to some mind blowing music, so I'll write about that instead of moaning about the economy or my job or whatever.

First off, Cafe Tacuba last Friday was awesome! Impressive, mind bending, and looong. Three hours worth of music, and they still had enough songs for three more. The Arena really does have great acoustics, and you can see the stage perfectly from wherever you're seated.

Ruben Albarrán, who's calling himself Cone Cahuitl these days, is a demented dancing elf with a bratty punk sneer, but he's capable of crooning sweetly when the occasion so requires. He's cool, groovy, hip and square.

Meme is my hero, he's a musical genius! His geeky demeanor and his robot dance have completely won me over. So has have his improv skills. And his lyrics. And his keyboard and synth and programming. Meme rules. The Rangel brothers are also the coolest, and their bass and guitar are not to be taken lightly.

It was the best concert of the year so far, and I'd say I won't see better in 2008, but I already have my Radiohead tix so maybe I'll declare a tie.

We're going to Rod Stewart tonight, my mother's idea, so I expect I'll be listening to her sing Handbags & Gladrags, et al, all spring.

April also has the Smashing Pumpkins, Groove Armada, Sasha & Digweed, Plastilina Mosh and Los Amigos Invisibles, all in all a pretty good month. Aand Ennio Morricone and the Orquesta Roma Sinfonietta are coming in May with Musica per il Cinema!

Haven't read much fiction lately, I started the Name of the Rose but got caught up in all the work related Business/Economics non-fiction. I'm in the middle of the Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It's counterintuitive but it's also not. I'm not sure yet if I can believe in what he says or it's just a lot of smoke. Problem is his theory isn't really the kind that will go down in parts, heh.

I also have a tall TBS (To Be Seen instead of To Be Read) pile, which includes There Will Be Blood (I knowww!!), The Lion in the Winter, Gone Baby Gone, The Assasination of Jesse James, and The Maltese Falcon. I can always see a comedy but I haven't found many good ones lately.

Oh, one thing. How come they completely ignored Sean Penn and Into the Wild at the Oscars? Really, that was insulting. Hal Holbrook? What about script, photography, direction, Eddie Vedder's music? Emile Hirsch? It's awful that movies like Into the Wild or Once get such limited releases when the Meet the Spartans is at every multiplex. It's one of the few redeeming cultural offerings Monterrey has, so called indie and international (Non USA) releases.