Today's Random Comments

Michelle Bachelet
Michelle Bachelet was sworn in as President of Chile on Saturday. The Santiago Times describes her as "a former prisoner of the Pinochet regime, a former exile, a lifelong Socialist Party activist, an unmarried mother of three, and an agnostic." According to the publication, the world first started taking notice of Michelle Bachelet after her victory in the runoff voting that took place in Chile on January 15, but I took note of her some time before that. The first time I mentioned her in my blog was, I think, December 5 last year, but I am sure I knew about her well before that. In any event, it's done. She is President of Chile.

Condo Mexico
I'm waiting to hear whether our bid on a condo in Mexico has been accepted. I don't have much hope that it will be, because the realtor says he thinks someone else is making an offer very near the asking price. I guess we'll see tomorrow. I now wish I had offered more...but I'm really a bit skittish about it at the price I offered, since we don't have that kind of money laying about. If we get it, great, but we'll need to do some shuffling to make sure we don't find ourselves broke.

Mexican Websites
Speaking of Mexico, I have visited lots and lots of websites operated by Americans who live in Mexico. For some unknown reason, I have noticed that lots of them are badly designed, ugly, and relatively useless. I wonder if I could make a living in Mexico, redesigning those websites? I've developed a fairly decent repertory of skills in website creation, though I'm not by any means a pro...but compared to the designers of some of the sites I have seen, I'm more of a pro than some designers are.

The Darker Side of Mexico
An item on NPR this morning talks about rapes of American women in San Miguel de Allende. The NPR website, which has a link to the audio, says this: "Over the past few months, three American women have been raped in a Mexican town known for being an expatriate haven. Locals are upset because the foreigners are trying to force the government to take action when, they say, this happens to Mexicans all the time and no one does anything." When I listened to the segment, though, I did not hear the Mexican women sounding like they were upset...they expressed respect and appreciation that the rape victims were speaking out.