More on Michelle...and a Political Diatribe

I watched and listened to an interview with Michelle Bachalet (the President-elect of Chile) on PBS this evening. I don't know why it did not occur to me that she speaks English; I knew she had lived in Washington, DC for awhile as a child before Pinochet killed her father and tortured her and her mother.

Anyway, I was impressed with her ideas and attitudes; if only she were the one governing our country. She is, of course, a politician but she is not the slick, slimy, untrustworthy politician commonly found in the halls of power in the U.S. She was careful to avoid landmines of political philosophies, but she clearly articulated her own personal philosophy; she believes in individual rights, in social and societal responsibility, and in respecting and honoring diversity. So utterly, completely, and thoroughly at odds with the current U.S. administration.

The U.S. media is painting a picture of clouds on the horizon as it talks about a growing left-leaning political culture with Evo Morales in Bolivia, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and now Michelle Bachalet in Chile. I think our media should explore exactly what it is they are harping about. "Left-leaning" is viewed as dangerous, zealous, and at-odds with our culture. Horseshit! "Left-leaning" is simply a media and right-wing code-word for a political point of view that puts corporate greed, fanatic super-patriotism, and outright imperialism on the defensive.

The odds-on favorite to win the Mexican presidency this summer is another "left-leaning" politician (in this case, I do have my concerns...but for other reasons) who will, if elected, give Washington yet more reason for paranoia and, I shudder to even think it, military posturing.

I've been exploring, albeit only half-heartedly because my wife is far more concerned with financial stability than I, selling out...getting rid of the house, selling the business, selling much of the excess crap we have accumulated, and moving to a country like Mexico or Chile that I find far more appealing than the U.S. My very, very poor Spanish and my wife's complete absence of any knowledge of the language give me pause, but I'm growing increasingly disgusted with the U.S. I have come to understand that the U.S. and its position as a superpower will...not may, will...become increasingly irrelevant, probably in short order. I have come to understand that China, Latin America, and probably (for the relatively short term) the Middle East will rise above the U.S. in terms of power and ability to demand our traditionally middle-class lifestyle.

OK, enough prosletizing (bad spelling, I'm guessing). It's after 7:15 and time for dinner.

Oh, my thanks to a writer, known well to me, for his comments on this blog about his experiences with a Guadalajara taxi driver...completely different from mine with the bottom-feeder cabbie who stole my camera!

Worse for the Wear

I'm back from Long Beach, CA, having manned an exhibit booth at a trade show. It was my second trade show in a week. It's very, very hard on the feet and knees, having to stand all day. Last week's trip to New York and the trudging around in search of my computer and camera did my feet no good. I don't recall whether I mentioned before that I sprained my ankle a week ago Saturday, on the 14th. Trudging about on a bum ankle did it no good and apparently had an impact on my other foot and both knees (says the doctor) because of the shift in how I held myself and my weight to protect the ankle. My left ankle swelled to enormous size while I was in Long Beach and my 3 middle toes turned very dark red, almost black. This worried me, so I asked my wife to arrange for a doctor's appointment upon my return, which she did. A brief visit with the doctor and an X-ray revealed nothing broken...he suspects the swelling of both feet and the swollen knees will disappear within a week. If not, he invited me to return to get blood work to rule out systemic problems.

The bastard cabbie returned my computer, but not my camera. He now claims he never saw the camera and that he did not say anything about a camera when I spoke to him last week. My guess is that he figures that computer theft is a felony due to the value, but a digital camera isn't and that I probably won't pursue him. He's wrong on the latter point. I'm going to go back to the New York police department about him and will invite the NYC Taxi Licensing Commission to revoke his license; he broke their rules, there is no question about it. I'm not going to devote a great deal of time to this bastard, just enough to try to teach him a lesson. And when I return to NYC in October for another meeting, I'm going to do my best to pay him a visit.

I am not in the mood to work this week, but I must. The weekend will be devoted to cleaning the house and getting the dust out of the carpet.

I hope to be in the mood to write more this week...not this mundane stuff, but something interesting and thought-provoking.

One of my sisters has returned from what she describes as a wonderful trip to Egypt and I assume that my brother who has been vacationing in Mexico is back home by now, or nearly so.

I'm beat. I think a stiff drink will be just the ticket. It's after 6:00 pm, so it's OK now...and then, I watch '24' on television, my favorite series. After that, I may sit under a powerful light so I can read one of several books I have been collecting--waiting on new glasses, time, and a high-powered lamp to enable my decrepit eyes to see.

Interruption...and Again

There has been an interruption in my blogging and will be another.

I went to New York City early Sunday [January 15] morning (the same day Michelle Bachalet was elected president of Chile, I am pleased to say). When I arrived, I went straight to the Jacob Javits Convention Center to put up an exhibit booth, after which my colleague and I grabbed a cab for the very short ride to our hotel. Unfortunately, I was in a rush to get out of the taxi and managed to leave my computer and digital camera in the back seat. I realized what I had done before I had even opened the door to the hotel, but by then the taxi had sped away. For the next two days, I searched and searched...called Taxi Licensing Commission, visited with several cops, called the police precinct where lost items are supposed to be delivered by cabbies, etc., etc., etc.

Fortunately, the receipt for the cab included the medallion number for the cab, but the Taxi Licensing Commission was closed Sunday & Monday (Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday) and on Monday I spent hours trying to get hold of the driver. The police precinct reported that no notebook computers had been turned in.

Last night, I left a message for the cabbie...after getting bad phone numbers for him. I asked him to call me in my hotel. No return call when I awoke at 4:30 am, so I called and left a threatening message, saying I knew who he was, I had filed a police report, and I was going to do everything in my power to find him. He called back just as I was boarding my flight back to Dallas. I asked him to send my computer and camera back to me via Fed-Ex and told him I would call him later in the day with my Fed-Ex number. I did that, but then he started in on me, saying he did not believe the computer was mine. This conversation lasted quite a long time, and I was proud of myself for keeping my cool and not threatening to kill him and his family. Finally, he agreed to send it back to. He called later to say it was on its way. I only hope it really is. I wanted to get the tracking number, but his English was so poor that I could not understand much of what he said and vice versa.

I won't know whether it was returned until tomorrow afternoon, when I call back to the office from Long Beach, CA, where I am going for another trade show.

I won't have access to a computer, so will not be writing...but will be keeping my brief notes so that, if anything interesting happens, I can write about them with some degree of accuracy.

Finally, tonight, I must say of my trip from LaGuardia airport to the convention center on Sunday...it was frightening. I truly loathe cabbies who work hard to get me to wet my pants by playing aggressive, high-speed, high-stakes games of "Chicken" with large tanker trucks full of gasoline. I must say, too, that the New York City Police Department has some civilian employees in the Mid-South station who should be euthanized for the good of society. I must say, finally, that the New York Taxi Licensing Commission is tied with the Mid-South police precinct for having the most obnoxious, unintelligent, knuckle-dragging morons as customer service staff personnel.

More to come when I have access to a computer...now, it's time to wash clothes and repack.

Travelin' Man

Now that the new floors and paint are almost finished (the contractor says 3 more hours tomorrow to do fix-up and clean-up...but I think it will be more), the place is looking better. But it will take literally days of cleaning to get the house back to a truly livable condition, including a keyboard that does not accost me with everytouch.

But maybe my favorite wife will take care of all of that while I am away. Tomorrow, I spend time in the office trying to finish last minute stuff and then, early on Sunday, I'm off to New York City for a trade show. I'll miss the season openers (2 shows, night after night) of 24, the show to which I have grown addicted, and hope my wife will tape it for me. I will be in New York, dealing with being an exhibitor at a trade show. The show is Monday and Tuesday, then I return to Dallas on Wednesday mid-day, just in time to shower and shave and pack for a trip to Long Beach. I leave Thursday for Long Beach and I return the following Monday morning. Nightmare!

I used to enjoy travel. Now, I only enjoy it on my own time, on my own dime. The Long Beach trip is my own dime, since it is for an association we own, but it's not really for us. I just have to do it.

Back to the floor. It looks great, despite the dust. My wife is not happy with her selection of grout color, saying it is too red. I like it. The tile is reddish brown and the grout sets it off. I'll like it, by God, whether she does or not!

My wayfaring brother from Falba is still in Mexico. He has wandered around the Pacific Coast and is, I think, now headed back toward Guadalajara and Ajijic, with plans to bus back to Falba soon. I envy him being able to kick around Mexico for awhile; I was not meant to work but, instead, to wander and write and comment on wine.

Gotta go watch NPR and check on the availability of clean socks.

Forcible Blogging

I'm forcing myself to write something in my blog...but it's hard. Miserable dust is making my keyboard an evil thing to touch and I'm sneezing with abandon, thanks to the dust from the sanding, floor replacement, etc. If nothing else, my blog will remind me later what I was experiencing so I can rewrite and redescribe in some way to make it more real, more interesting, and more bearable.

Tonight, my wife and I went out to eat Brazilian food...perhaps it wasn't the finest Brazilian restaurant, or perhaps it just happens to be a cuisine of which we are not particularly fond. It was tolerable, but hard to know what we were eating. The waitress spoke only broken English, but was probably fluent in Portugese. She could not describe what the very few dishes on the menu were, nor was there any explanation on the menu. People were nice, but not awfully helpful. We did learn that they have dinner buffets on Friday and Saturday nights and buffet lunches during the week; apparently, the choices are far greater when the buffet is being served. I need to learn a bit about Brazilian food before I return, so I will know what I am about to order or about to eat.

Fingers are rebelling...more tomorrow, perhaps.

My First Webinar

Today is my first official, open-to-all-interested-persons webinar. It's for a client, but I'm seeing quite a lot I could use for my business and our own for-profit association, as well. It involves a speaker (in this case, the client association president) using a PowerPoint presentation for talking points. It's easy to see how webinars can replace some in-person meetings. I have to get ready to go to the office...maybe I'll write more later about how it went. We have about 45 people signed up to participate, so it should be a good test of how it works.
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It's late in the afternoon now. The webinar went well, except for the fact that we did not notify participants of the password they would need in order to participate...making it a bit of a harried first few minutes of taking many phone calls, sending frantic emails, etc. But it went pretty well after that. I now see MUCH potential for using webinars for member education, PR, and a host of other such things. But for PR, etc., it will be necessary to act quickly, because everyone and their dogs will be doing it very soon and webinar offers will soon be like email spam. Too bad, because they really do have so much potential. If only the bottom-feeding scum would not take advantage of a good thing.

On a completely different subject, the tile in my hosue continues to get closer to completion. There's still much to do, but I can now envision how it will look and I think it will look very nice. My wife has to pick out the grout color tonight and then we will call the installer to let him know what grout to use...and tomorrow he says the grout will be put down on the walkway between the garage and the breakfast area. He says it will be completed, entirely, by Friday. I have my doubts, but hope he is right.

My fingers still despise typing on this miserably dusty keyboard, so enough for now.

A Powerful Message that's Very Informative

I listened today to another "This I Believe" piece on NPR. You have to understand that I am suspicious of this stuff. I think there are some nut-case Christians who want to control my mind and they may have control over the producers. But I heard something today that is utterly irrelevant to religion, but also utterly condemnatory of my lifestyle. It's a stark and reasonable attack on my 'sit back and comment' lifestyle. It was written by Jody Williams, who is the founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. It may even change me. It frightens me; it makes me realize that my words are meaningless; only through action can I matter:

I believe it is possible for ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things. For me, the difference between an "ordinary" and an "extraordinary" person is not the title that person might have, but what they do to make the world a better place for us all.

I have no idea why people choose to do what they do. When I was a kid I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I did know what I didn't want to do. I didn't want to grow up, have 2.2 kids, get married, the whole white picket fence thing. And I certainly didn't think about being an activist. I didn't even really know what one was.

My older brother was born deaf. Growing up, I ended up defending him and I often think that is what started me on my path to whatever it is I am today.

When I was approached with the idea of trying to create a landmine campaign, we were just three people in a small office in Washington, DC in late 1991. I certainly had more than a few ideas about how to begin a campaign, but what if nobody cared? What if nobody responded? But I knew the only way to answer those questions was to accept the challenge.

If I have any power as an individual, it's because I work with other individuals in countries all over the world. We are ordinary people: My friend Jemma from Armenia; Paul from Canada; Kosal, a landmine survivor from Cambodia; Haboubba from Lebanon; Christian from Norway; Diana from Colombia; Margaret, another landmine survivor from Uganda; and thousands more. We've all worked together to bring about extraordinary change. The landmine campaign is not just about landmines -- it's about the power of individuals to work with governments in a different way.

I believe in both my right and my responsibility to work to create a world that doesn't glorify violence and war, but where we seek different solutions to our common problems. I believe that these days, daring to voice your opinion, daring to find out information from a variety of sources, can be an act of courage.

I know that holding such beliefs and speaking them publicly is not always easy or comfortable or popular, particularly in the post-9/11 world. But I believe that life isn't a popularity contest. I really don’t care what people say about me -- and believe me, they’ve said plenty. For me, it’s about trying to do the right thing even when nobody else is looking.

I believe that worrying about the problems plaguing our planet without taking steps to confront them is absolutely irrelevant. The only thing that changes this world is taking action.

I believe that words are easy. I believe the truth is told in the actions we take. And I believe that if enough ordinary people back up our desire for a better world with action, I believe we can, in fact, accomplish absolutely extraordinary things.

How much of this can I live my life by? I do want to try.