Luso's Lair

My 15 minutes of fame

2011-10-18T13:48:00.001Z

So, while on vacation in Lisbon, I was told that the local TV station asked if I could be interviewed. Yeah, this kinda shocked me.

It shocked me even more when I found out that I was one of the main guests. Sorry, but how does a shlep like me get to that point? I still can't figure it out.

Anywho, for those who know Portuguese, here's the video of the show, Azores.RTP.PT

Cautious Optimism

2011-07-01T15:20:00.003Z

So, this is the new PM of the country. His name, Pedro Passos Coelho. And so far, I am liking what I am hearing from him and his government and what measures he is planning to move forward with.

And those who have read my blog up until now will probably figure that, if I like it, the majority of Portuguese will hate it. And I can accept this since I've said many times in the past that this society need a good shock to the system. A wake up call so that they can go to being what I think they are capable of and not what they currently are.

Ok, there is one thing they did that I didn't like, but I compeletly understand it. They enacted an extraordinary tax on christmas bonuses for this year. The cut is supposed to be 50% of that of which is over the value of the national minimum wage(essentially, take the amount of the bonus, subtract the NMW value of €485 and that remainder is what gets the 50% tax). This special tax is estimated to bring in nearly €1billion. In return the government is advancing with a series of privitizations, eliminating certain public positions and selling its property, which should sum up to another €1billion

Now, I usually don't like when the government takes more money out of my wallet, in fact, I despise it. HOWEVER, I understand why this was done. There was a fairly big shortfall in the budget of about €2billion, and this country has a series of very strict obligations set forth by the IMF, the European Commmission and the European Union to reduce the deficit to 5.9% by the end of the year if we are to continue to receive financial aid to help get us out of this mess we're in. That said, the current number should be at 6.7% and not the 7.7% it is now. Now, while I don't like the state take more money from me, if my contribution goes towards an actual goal of helping re-establish our finances and help make things better, then it's a sacrifice I'm willing to take. But let it be known that sacrifices this big better not be a common occurance.

To those who are complaining, if you know of a better way to come up with nearly €2billion in under 6 months, I'm sure the government would be willing to hear you out. And that wasn't sarcasm.

Now, with that said. There are other measures that are planned to take place over the next 4 years. Measures such as simplying the tax code, reducing the number of income tax pay scales, revising both the labor laws and rent laws and implementing measure to speed up the justice system to help expediate court cases that have dragged on for nearly a decade.

All of this to go along with possible consititutional revisions that will include, among other things, redoing the electoral law by eliminating party lists in favor of uninominal candidates(ABOUT TIME).

I like how this government was formed, with people who, for the most part, aren't career politicians but rather have their own professional lives and don't need any benefits at the taxpayer's expense. This is a very refreshing change from the constant recycling of the same faces that proved to do nothing but worsen the situation of the country.

Now, while it's still early, and this government may end up being another facsimile of past governments(living here for 16 years, you grow wary of people promising change and doing nothing), I do like what they are saying and what they are putting forth in parliament. It almost seems like this government is doing the one thing most of Europe doesn't like seeing, they're actually acting like a right-wing government.

Firing off a few rounds......stand clear

2011-01-04T13:56:00.003-01:00

A new year and, in this country, alot of fears. Namely of the economic variety. But yet, I don't see why people are so shocked. I mentioned, in a rather elaborate(and maybe not the most PC manner), in my last blog post that we only have ourselves to blame for this. Years of overspending and living far beyond our own expectations was a recipe for disaster. And we make matters worse with our extreme political apathy, voting in people who clearly don't serve the people but rather themselves, and then blaming some fictitious entities for the representatives we put in office rather than looking into a mirror.

Earlier this year, I took a weekend trip to Lisbon and one of the stops I made was to the Colombo Shopping Center, once regarded as the largest mall in Europe some time ago. I was hard pressed to believe that we were in a financial crisis since the mall was PACKED, and people were making lines in some of these stores. Money was definitely being circulated....alot of it. Kids with expensive cell phones, wearing designer clothing, or getting new computers. Or people buying new LCD TVs. You name it, it was being sold and not in small quantities, and worse yet, with ALOT of credit and little to no cash.

What I find funny is that alot of people here accuse Americans of being consumerist. And maybe they are right. Portuguese aren't consumerist like Americans......they're even more consumerist.
More and more, I've come to a grim reality. We Portuguese don't make too many moves in terms of progress and success because we dislike progress and success. In fact, we think it's damn near criminal that anyone or any group should be successful. We demand the spotlight for ourselves while doing nothing and get angry when those who worked for the spotlight actually get it.

Think I'm kidding? Talk to some of the locals about businesses doing well here or nationally and you probably wouldn't need a whole hand to count the people who speak well of said businesses. Most will do the exact opposite. If it's Sonae, then it's accusations that Belmiro de Azevedo is a cheapskate(even though he is one of the largest private employers in the nation and Belmiro started this operation literally with nothing). If a restaurant is doing well, then rumors of bad food start flying. If a dealership is doing well, then it's talk of bad service. After a while, you just want to lash out at these naysayers.

A while back, there was a NY Times article about how Portugal was in the forefront in renewable energy. This was thanks largely to the policies put forth by the current prime minister, José Socrates. While I usually hold alot of disdain towards him(mainly due to a few very suspicious dealings with a TV station and a mall), credit to where credit's due. This was no small feat. However, there are those, many of those, who look past that and say that these measures were horrible and that this is only to profit the national electric company. Yes, people even criticised something that was receiving international recognition(something that is a big rarity these days for Portugal)

Hell, even when money isn't involved, people still dislike seeing progress. I know of cases where groups and associations were run effeciently and carried a great deal of legitimacy and success thanks to the tireless, and in many cases, thankless effort and hard work from those in charge who, in exchange, received nothing, only to be attacked and berated all because of petty jealousy of others who want all of the credit attained but none of the work that was involved to attin it. Worse yet, those who do the berating, when given the chance to back their words up and take charge, do nothing but prove their own ineptitude.

So, nowadays, when I hear some people with their tavern talk wonder why we don't advance more as a country, I don't bother saying anything anymore, I just laugh.
Finally, on a lighter note. It's that time of the year, the NFL playoffs. And I've definitely enjoyed seeing the Patriots play this season. They've been playing their best football since the 2001-04 period. Yes, I know they broke a ton of records in 2007, when Brady was throwing what seemed like a million TDs to Randy Moss, but even then, I just didn't feel that said team was really "all there". It was alot of flash but not really that much substance, and was worsened with a defense that was starting to show their age and subsequent lack of speed.

This year's team seems to have figured it out: a return to the team concept, where everyone gives an important contribution, guided by a quarterback who seems to be incredibly flawless behind an offensive line that is always well-coached, a head coach who stresses extreme humility to his players, and a corps of youth and veterans who are all focused on the team rather than themselves, and last but not least, a defense that seems to step in and make plays when it matters. While they won't kill you with a 50 yard pass or rip a 70 yard run, they'll gnaw away with the short gains, add a few solid runs up the middle, keep moving the chains and then a pass to a TE to put points on the board in the end.

Even if they don't win it all, hell, even if they don't win their first playoff game, it's been nothing short of great seeing this team perform and I as a fan look forward for the next few years with this group of players.

The general bellyaching

2010-11-23T11:52:00.002-01:00

You know, I see the news of the upcoming general strike here in Portugal, and I laugh. Seriously. Do we REALLY think that a day off is going to change this government's intention of implementing it's austerity measures?

People laugh at the Tea Party in the states, but they showed EXACTLY how to make their voices heard, be it there or anywhere else where there's a democracy worthy of it's very name. Form civic movements, make yourself heard, go the source and make sure those in power can hear you, loud and clear, day in and day out. 1 day of belly aching isn't going to change a damn thing and ceding to unions and the "status quo" political parties haven't done much so far. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Am I saying that this govenrment is 100% right? Hell no! I'm sure I've noted in the past of the continuous pork-barrel spending, the unnecessary entitlement programs, the constant pandering to unions, and it's unseemingly endless attempts and trying to meddle with private enterprise. But guess what folks, WE ELECTED THESE DIMWITS INTO POWER! Yes, we. Not someone else off the streets. Not "big corporations" or "private interest groups", WE DID. You want to start somewhere in trying to change the course of this country? LOOK IN THE MIRROR! I remember when Socrates was first voted in and thinking then that most who voted for him didn't have a clue as to what they were doing. Now they attack him, but forget that they were the ones who put him in power......TWICE! Government, in any democracy, is ALWAYS a clear reflection of the people that voted them in. You may hate that line, but that's the truth.

We're in a heap of trouble financially right now because we, again WE, simply couldn't say when. We demanded free health care, we demanded job security, we demanded massive handouts, we demanded easy access to public sector jobs as if there was an endless supply of them, and we demanded easy credit without any assurances that we'd pay it off. Now, after pigging out at the financial buffet for years, we're footed with the bill and, while our faces are still stained, are claiming we didn't eat any of that? Who in the hell are we fooling?

And here's the kicker. Alot of the benefits and entitlements could still be saved. That's right, the health care, the job benefits, the entitlements, could be saved. No, it's not through hiking taxes, nor is it though simple budget cuts. It's, once again, through ourselves. We need to make a difference in this country. We need to step up and do what we do, but do it better, faster and more efficiently. If you work the fields, get those crops in quicker and try to make them better. If you're in a facotry, make your product more reliable, more attactive and appealing to the consumer. If you're in an administrative position, get your work done well before the deadline and with as little flaws as possible. By doing these simple things, we improve as a whole. We start becoming true masters of our own destiny, and we can start naming our own price instead of expecting an easy handout. Results matter, folks.

People are refusing to accept the reality of this situation. We are in SERIOUS trouble, folks. I don't think people quite understand the possible "end game" in this which could very well be technical bankruptcy. You DON'T want foreign investment to stop investing in this country because we are not self-reliant, not in the least. A situation of an IMF intervention, while not doing much more financially, would have a brutal blow towards our credibility and image as a nation. Hate to break it to you folks, but we're not the US, UK, Germany, France, etc... We're Portugal. We're a tiny little country in the Iberian Peninsula that most don't even know exists. We can't live without the outside world giving us credibility. To return to the pre-1986 times would have a devastating effect, not only to those in power, but all of us too. Inflation and unemployment would surely skyrocket and we'd be no better than Albania.

So. Instead of not working for a day. How about making that sacrifice and understanding that we're all in this together? Stop passing the buck and start accepting your flaws and faults. Stop blaming others and start making a difference yourself. We got into the mess together, we can get out of this mess together.

FINALLY, something positive about Portugal

2010-08-17T11:27:00.003Z

It's not often that you see Portugal make news internationally, except for when it involves some screw-up committed by our politicians.

This, however, actually is quite the feather in our cap, and something I'll toot my horn about: Portugal is among the world leaders in renewable energy.

5 phrases to live by

2010-07-26T15:27:00.003Z

Read this somewhere and, somehow, this would apply beautifully here in Portugal:

1) You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2) What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3) The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4) When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation.

5) You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

Low Cost at Any Cost?

2010-01-11T09:44:00.003-01:00

A new year, and with it, new whines from certain factions here in the Azores. Now, it seems that the flavor of the month is from a group of people, hammering, whining and complaining that there are no low-cost flights here in the Azores. And I seem to be one of those who actually OPPOSES this idea.

Now, I know there are some of you that read that and think I've gone insane. Hear me out first before passing judgment.

For those who aren't familiar with the Azores, we're a tiny archipelago almost dead center in the Atlantic, between Lisbon and New York. There's slightly under 250,000 people here, 54.5% of which is based on one island, São Miguel, who, surprise surprise, are the ones yelling the most for these flights.

But what these people forget is that there 45.5% of the population, scattered throughout the 8 other islands: Terceira, Faial, Pico, São Jorge, Santa Maria, Flores and Corvo. These people are no different. They go to work, pay their taxes and, in the smaller islands, have an even bigger burden due to the products being more expensive on the account of it being more costly to ship there.

The Regional Government, many years ago, have understood this and also understood that those who live on each island generally have vested interest in going to Lisbon. To some it's for business purposes. To others, it's to go to school, to others it's to visit family, and of course there are those who simply want to take a trip and be in a bigger area for a short while, just to shrug off a bit of the isolation these islands may bring(especially in the wintertime). For that reason, they came to agreement with not only the airlines that service this region(TAP and SATA) under a code share agreement, but also established a Public Service statute. This means that the service MUST be maintained all year round and on a daily basis, even if the planes fly empty for a period of time. Nobody in the Azores is denied this service due to geographical limitations.

To pull that off, the Regional Government, in cooperation with the National Government, has helped to heavily subsidize these flights in order to keep them flying. The cost of the ticket an Azorean pays is merely part, a good part of it was already subsidized.

Now, you have a half dozen people, maybe good natured in their intentions but definitely myopic in their thought process, who see the term "low cost" and become instantly enamored by it. See, we here tend to aspire to that which we will never be. They see how someone can fly from Lisbon to anywhere in Europe for a ham sandwich, and they think they can have it too. This would be like driving a Pinto and thinking you should be as fast as a Ferrari.

To those who are firmly planted on the "pro-low cost" side, I feel the need to hit you with an ice cold bucket of reality:

1) Low Cost airlines operate ONLY where there is a chance at profitability. That's what keeps their costs low. That means that only 1 island would be serviced(São Miguel) and, even then, it would only be serviced on a seasonal basis. During the Summertime, everyone wants to go over here. However, anyone with even minimal intelligence would prefer the sunny beaches of Cuba, Canary Islands, even Cape Verde, than the high winds, low temperatures and generally awful weather the Azores offers in the winter.

2) The Regional Government(and for a rare instance I AGREE with them) established a rule for any airline that wants to fly here. See, for many years, the Lisbon/Azores route was established by a yearly "selection process" which usually ended up being TAP. Now, they replaced it with a rule. Any airline that wants to fly to the Azores MUST cover 5 airports: Ponta Delgada, Terceira, Horta, Pico and Santa Maria.

For those who don't live here(and a few that live in São Miguel) they don't quite understand why the Regional Government is so rigid with this. Those who live in the 8 other islands, however, know all too well.

See, as I said earlier, the Regional Government, through the Regional Transportation Fund, heavily subsidizes these flights because it's not just viewed as "just another route", but rather as a public service deemed all too necessary for the Azores as a whole. It's not just to carry tourists. It's to help with transporting patients, to shipping goods and services, to helping send students to and from the mainland, etc...

Also, the 5 airport rule helps in another aspect as well. Because that route is subsidized as well as the inter-island routes, by having direct flights from the 5 island mentioned, their fiscal burden gets reduced to only 8% of the population that resides in the 4 islands that don't have direct flights(São Jorge, Graciosa, Flores and Corvo) rather than the 45.5% of the population that lives outside São Miguel, or even the 22% that was originally covered before Pico and Santa Maria were included. This greatly eases things from the regional economical standpoint. The service is provided and costs are reduced. Reduced costs means more ease in providing the services at a lower cost as well as a lower fiscal burden on every Azorean.

This helps me add a footnote: The Regional Government is NOT trying to "make a quick buck". They lose alot of money by providing these services, especially at the cost they are providing them at. This is, given the layout of these islands, a VERY necessary evil for the region.

By allowing a low cost to fly in São Miguel, ESPECIALLY during peak season, that will cause more of the TAP/SATA flight to fly with more empty seats. This essentially means that, since THOSE flights are considered a public service and MUST fly at all times, that the Regional Government would have to subsidize even MORE money, which would be a greater drain on the regional finances, which, in turn, would be a greater drain on the National finances as well. More subsidies would have to be pumped in, which means more tax money being used, which means a possible hike in taxes.

If anything, low cost flights will actually cost MORE to the region than the current setup that exists.

So, in lieu of that. The Regional government is standing firm with the 5 airports. You either play by these rules or you don't play at all. It's very simple.

3) Those who defend low cost are trying, desperately, to compare us with another Portuguese archipelago, Madeira. Ok, this is just wrong on so many levels.

Madeira is, essentially, 2 island, and not only does a little over 98% of its population live on just one island, but a huge part of that live in just one city, Funchal. This makes things incredibly easier from a managerial standpoint because then you CAN have any type of flight you want. All the Madeira Regional government has to worry about is the littler under 5,000 people living in Porto Santo.

Madeira also enjoys relatively moderate weather all year round. It's much easier to, not only fly from one island to the other, but take a boat as well.

The Azores are NINE ISLANDS, and almost half of its population is dispersed in 8 of them. The weather here is good for about 6 months. From a government standpoint, this is nothing short of trying to balance a tray of glasses atop a high wire. You not only need to provide basic services to all 9 islands, but that of which is considered necessary for development of the archipelago, needs to be as general as possible.

Plus, to add salt to this already festering wound, half of the year, this has to be done with limited resources in terms of transportation.

4) This is the point that simply makes my blood boil: Alot of those that defend low cost airlines say that "This will allow more tourists to come over.". I hate to sound as frank as this but: TO HELL WITH THE TOURISTS! They don't live here, WE DO!

Look, Tourism is a part of our economy, but it is not THE part. I do not, nor will I ever support an idea to be completely subservient to those who are simply visiting these islands. Any rule, measure or proposal should, first and foremost, serve the needs and interests of the Azoreans, ALL Azoreans. Tourism should be a SECONDARY effect of any of those measures. If things are good for those who live here, then, by that aspect, it WILL be good for those who visit.

There are many issues that need to be addressed before tourism can be considered: schools need improvement, villages that still need their electrical grids, phone lines and cable improved, certain roads that need to be renovated and made safer(as was viewed by the tragic events in Agualva a short time back), there needs to be a greater emphasis on local commerce and promoting products made here in the Azores. And, we still have a few lingering issues like not having the same 4 public access channels that exist in the Mainland.

All of those things mean MUCH more to me than whether or not a half dozen mainlanders or other Europeans think it's too expensive to spend a weekend here. Quite frankly, I don't give a crap about their travel plans.

If you travel to the US, or France, or the UK, do you honestly think that they cater first to the visitors and then those who live there? Of course not. So why should we think any differently?

Look, I don't oppose more competition. In fact, I welcome the idea. More competition does indeed go a long way to provide cheaper rates. However, this can't be done in such a crass and irresponsible manner. We need to accept who we are and that we have geographical and climatic obstacles that will never disappear. If another airline wants to fly here, they need to serve all Azoreans, not just a handful.

LIARS! MENTIROSOS!!!! Pick your language and go with it

2009-08-05T18:26:00.005Z

This particular public work has officially driven me over the edge! Ok, so roughly 2 years ago, our "benevolent" Regional Government decided to repair and "requalify"(whatever the hell that means) our only highway, all 22Km of it, they also included in the project 3 new rotaries, 7 new offramps and onramps, a number of overpasses(2 made EXCLUSIVELY for cows...no comment needed), a protective barrier in the middle, radars, repavement, the whole 9 yards.

Well, for 2 years, we've been "treated" to a bevy of nice surprises such as chicanes switching sides, single-lane traffic, STOPLIGHTS!, and just about anything else capable of irritating even the most sane of individuals. FINALLY, the regional government announces that, on Friday, July 31, 2009, the highway would be "innaugurated". One of the more popular island papers, Diário Insular, made a point of making a full-page front page article announcing it. And so, after 2 years of arduous sacrifice, we Terceirans would be able to enjoy regular traffic on that particular road once again.

.....Well, not quite.....

You see, the 31st came and passed, and yet, even with EVERYTHING set up, traffic remains single-lane with half of the highway completely empty of traffic because they have it barricaded off. No reason given by the government, no justification as to why it wasn't re-opened, and to top it off, not even a peep from ANY newspaper regarding this particular Snafu.

So let me get this straight. Our government, paid for with our taxes, has been essentially insulting us and lying to us about this? Do these buffoons have a clue as to how essential it is to have that road re-opened IMMEDIATELY? Why haven't they said a single solitary word regarding the reasons of said delay? And why aren't the people irate at the politicians because of this?

EDIT: Here's a few news articled mentioning said "innauguration" on July 31st. Note that there is NOTHING mentioning the lack of said ceremony OR the fact that the highway is STILL restricted to 2 lanes.

Links are in Portuguese. You'll need to translate them to English if you can't understand them.

•RTP: Via Rápida Angra do Heroísmo/Praia da Vitória inaugurada em Julho
•Jornal Diário: Via rápida entre Angra e Praia concluída em Julho
•Diário Insular: Inauguração em Julho

Alinsky's Louçã's Rules for Radicals

2009-03-03T13:35:00.003-01:00

I gotta admit. This nutjob must be loving the current economic situation going on in the world, but here in Portugal more importantly. Banks losing money and being nationalized, workers striking, general sense of insecurity. All the things that make any communist smile from ear to ear because it generates an atmosphere that welcomes radicals who promise the world and deliver nothing but worse results(Lenin, Hitler and Moussolini are 3 examples).

Having said that, I thought it would be a great time to bring up a Jewish-American author named Saul Alinsky, who published his "Rules for Radicals" in quite accurate fashion. And I thought, after some of you read it, that you'd find very similar traits between these rules and our resident Trotskyist:

RULE 1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)

RULE 2: "Never go outside the expertise of your people." It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone. (Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don't address the "real" issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.)

RULE 3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy." Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)

RULE 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity's very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.)

RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)

RULE 6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid "un-fun" activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)

RULE 7: "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." Don't become old news. (Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.)

RULE 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up." Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)

RULE 9: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists' minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)

RULE 10: "If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive." Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management's wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.)

RULE 11: "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem. (Old saw: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.)

RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

Pork Spending - A European Artform

2008-09-17T20:29:00.010Z

It sure has been a VERY long while since I've updated this blog. I guess there was nothing worthwhile to talk about. Well, that changed as of yesterday.

You know, with the US presidential elections about a month and a half away, there's a word that gets tossed around a bit more around this time. It's a derogatory word called "Pork". No, this has nothing to do with the bacon you eat each morning. This is a term used by politicians to describe excess expenditures by the government.

Now, in the US, pork spending isn't uncommon. Many people crack jokes about the "$10,000 toilet seats" when referring to how government appropriation bills tend to give a little too much cash for certain items. However, here in Europe, pork spending has been perfected to an art form of comedic proportions. Which leads me to what happened yesterday evening.

I get home and check my mailbox, and in it, I discover this nice glossy box with "Government of the Azores" written on it:

Right off the bat, my Libertarian mind starts having very nauseating thoughts. Thoughts of "This is where my hard-earned tax dollars went?!?". Those nauseating thoughts would soon become worse as I proceeded to open the box and see it's content:

Yup, all of THAT came out of that nice, shiny cardboard box. And that consists of:

1 Azorean Flag made in a very nice fabric, might I add. I mean, if you're going to waste my tax money, hey, do it in style.
2 Azorean flag window stickers. This way, you can tell everyone else that you were taken for a sucker by your own government.
A CD containing, not one, but TWO versions of the Azorean anthem(yes, this region actually has an anthem that is played PRIOR to the Portuguese National Anthem on the TV station here) and played by a military band(which I'm sure did this out of charity...)
A pamphlet detailing all the medals the Azorean Government gives out. Now we're bordering on absurd. I wonder if there's one for the Order of Idiocy, because the one who came up with this idea is certainly deserving of it.
And last and most certainly least, a form letter from the Azorean Regional President, Carlos Cesar. Even says so on the bottom, though, it doesn't even contain a computerized signature or anything...

The letter itself. Well, translating it into English, here's what it said:

Our Autonomy, founded in secular aspirations of self-governing and largely supported by the Azorean People, include a group of representative elements that accentuate our cultural identification and our institutional individuality.
Therefor, we have the duty to promote and respect our symbols.
The distribution we are doing right now - of our Flag and our Anthem - is to specifically give a better understanding of these elements that mark our collective lives as a Region.
These are the objectives of this Autonomy Kit, which will arrive in every single Azorean home.
CARLOS CÉSAR
President of the Azorean Government

Gee Carlos, thanks for being so thoughtful. I mean, not only are we to be more aware of these symbols, but these items will be sent to EVERYONE IN THE REGION. How nice of you. By the way, here's another Euro, take it and a BUY A CLUE!

I mean, rather than taking the tax money used in this absurd venture and, say, investing it into the school system as to teach our youth more about the region, this government thought it would be better to simply give each family a flag and a CD. How lovely.

This really shouldn't surprise me. After all this is a government that is ruled by the Socialist Party, so spending tax money on stupid initiatives is already a fairly common trait for them. However, this is even more insulting then when they give free houses to deadbeats who don't work because it's so blatant. They are literally saying "Yup, we're wasting your tax money. And we're going to keep doing it because you never complain.".

And the people here really don't complain, they accept this as normal. They literally look at this and don't care. Seems that all these years of handouts and welfare has subdued the locals into complacency. And, because the people don't question or demand transparency when it comes to their tax money, the government KEEPS DOING IT. How unbelievably infuriating!

And, for those of you living in the US. Should Obama get elected and, sometime down the road, you get a "Freedom Kit" containing an American flag, stickers and a CD of the Star Spangled Banner, let me be the first one in advance to say "I feel your pain".

No smoking....................but............

2008-01-23T22:45:00.000-01:00

As of this past January 1st, it is now forbidden to smoke in most establishments here in Portugal. From restaurants, to bars, to supermarkets, to malls. You name it. The anti-smoking law is in full effect...

...of course, there are exceptions...

Well, where to begin. This law which, like I said, went into effect on January 1st of this year, should've actually gone into effect January 1st of LAST YEAR. The law was passed in Parliament in 2006 and was expected to go into effect on 01/01/2007. However, seeing that this country makes a point of keeping itself behind for inexplicable reasons, they decided to put it off for a year. Since that year, they made a couple of alterations:

1) Rather than put an outright ban effective for all establishments, they allowed that establishments can be considered smoking establishments, provided they have an exhaust system. What kind of exhaust system? Good question, because there's no provision in place as to the standards needed in an exhaust system. In fact, as I myself have seen already, an establishment can be deemed a smoking establishment if the kitchen exhaust is "strong enough". This stuff just doesn't write itself folks.

2) Any place deemed a "recreational area" are exempt of this law. What does this mean? Well, if you were to put a pool table, fusball table, slot machine, video game machine or any other type of game into your bar or restaurant, you are covered under this law. Way to go Lisbon. Way to go.

You know, it never ceases to amaze me. This country, which it's people are not exactly too dumb, and where the will to advance and develop is strong, has an uncanny penchant for WANTING to be behind the pack. It gives them something to talk about at their local bar or at work. I mean, what would they do if this country was better off? Work?

It's been a while

2007-09-28T09:37:00.001Z

Ok, as some of you may have noticed, I haven't been updating this blog in a while. As some of you also know, I generally don't update this blog on a daily basis. I usually wait until there is something that is really gnawing at me to the point where I just HAVE to put it here.

However, since I really don't have anything of real importance to talk about, I decided to take a handful of current events here in Portugal to comment on.

1) Madeline McCann

This topic has been talked about for the past few months, and it's getting absolutely annoying. I mean, for starters, I'd like to know how both Portuguese and English authorities have been taking this damn long in trying to find out if she's missing, dead and who's behind it.

Now, it seems that the Portuguese Judiciary Police have listed the mother as a suspect. Well gee, no kidding? I mean, about a week after this girl is missing, her and her husband decide to hold press conferences in England, Germany, France and even go to the Vatican City to meet the Pope. Let me repeat: They decided to go TRAVELLING a week after their daughter went missing. Oh yeah, that's not going to draw any suspicions. And OJ Simpson is still looking for the real killer.

To top it off, aside from leaving her and their 2 other daughters in the hotel room while they decide to go to a restaurant, she was sleeping BETWEEN the other 2 girls, and yet, the 2 other girls are still there and there was no signs of breaking an entry nor any real signs of a struggle. So yeah, Mrs. McCann, this isn't looking too good for you.

2. Luís Felipe Scolari, José Mourinho and the Tuga follies

Ok, this one is pretty comical. UEFA, after this particular incident:

decided to suspend the coach of the Portuguese national team, Luis Felipe Scolari, for 4 games, which happens to be how many games they have left in the qualifying round for the 2008 European Cup.

Now, fast forward to a couple fo days later, Chelsea supercoach, Jose Mourinho, out of the blue, decided to have an "amicable seperation" with said club. News that was so important, that one of the local Portuguese networks, SIC, decided to cut away from an interview with a local political figure, Pedro Santana Lopes, who was talking about the current social and political situation in Portugal, to go to an update of Mourinho's departure from Chelsea, complete with an "on location" reporter at the Lisbon airport, awaiting Mourinho's arrival (a decision that left Santana Lopes furious once they went back to the interview, causing him to end the interview early).

NOTE: Sorry, this is solely in Portuguese, though I hope some may understand the mannerisms from this video.

I will say one thing about this video, Santana Lopes was right. It's pretty sad that they would cut away from this particular interview just to talk about a sports-related issue. Imagine CNN interviewing George W. Bush and cutting away in the middle of said interview to give an update on Bill Belichick. Pretty sad indeed.

But I digress.

Anywho, a few days after Mourinho's departure, the head of the Portuguese Soccer Federation, Jose Madail, said that he is putting his full trust in Scolari. Essentially, what happened was that Madail was worried that the "Tugas", currently in 3rd place in their qualifying group, which would keep them out of Euro2008, decided to call Mourinho, who wanted to take over. But Madail didn't want to fire Scolari right now so, rather than offer the job outright to Mourinho, he asked him that, if Scolari couldn't qualify the Tugas to Euro2008 and was fired, if he would like to take over then. Mourinho, a man who hates to live in uncertanty, said no, forcing Madail to have to support Scolari from here on out.

So, we have a slap, a termination of employment, a political interview being cut due to sports-related news and a bunch of double-talk.

That's Portuguese soccer for ya.

3. We sure have some interesting billboards

Well, this one is a little old, but for those who don't live here, I'll fill you in.

In this ocuntry, our constitution forbids the formation of fascist parties (mainly due to the 1974 revolution), however, this is one party that managed to go around this law by claiming to be "highly conservative, but not fascist" called the National Renovation Party (Partido Nacional Renovador or PNR). This party bases itself on a platform of anti-immigration and a very racist-oriented agenda. Thankfully, said party gets the least amount of votes in each election.

However, earlier this year, they managed to get a license to put up a giant billboard in one of Lisbon's busiest rotary, the Marquês de Pombal rotary, which translated reads "No more immigration" and in smaller letters "Nationalism is the solution" with a plane taking off on the left with "have a nice trip" written next to it and a picture of their leader, José Pinto-Coelho,pictured on the right and "Portugal for the Portuguese" written on the bottom.

This billboard, since then, has been the target of vandalism and defacement, which has led to PNR to keep replacing it. However, one particular group, deicided to have some fun with it.

A comedy group known as Gato Fedorento (translated means "smelly cat") decided to put, right next to this billboard, a billboard of their own, which was pretty much a bizarro version of the original. In their version, they had written "More immigration!" with "The best way to annoy foreigners is to force them to live in Portugal" below it, a plane landing with "Welcome" written next it, the Gato Fedorento crew to the right with the same goatees the leader of PNR has and "With Portuguese alone, we're going nowhere" in the red square and "Nationalism is stupid" in the black square.

Now, why did I mention the last billboard in past tense? Because tthe Nationalists filed a complaint and won due to the fact that the Gato Fedorento crew didn't aquire a license before putting up the billboard, meaning that, while GF's billboard is no longer there, PNR's billboard is still there.

Yup, this is the country I love folks.

And that's pretty much it for now. I'll have another post up as soon as I can come up with enough stuff to talk about :)

Sometimes, it's just better to wait

2007-07-13T11:31:00.000Z

You ever seen a plane at an airport that just looks a little funky? Color schemes just look a little out of place? There's often a very common explaination for that.

Well, most airlines don't buy their planes new. They either buy used or lease them from other airlines to get them cheaper. Well, in both cases, the planes come with the colors (also known as livery) of the old airline it belonged to.

Now, the new airline could paint the entire plane to it's own livery, but painting a plane is a process that can take months, and a plane that's stopped too long is a plane that isn't making money carrying passngers/cargo. So, to circumvent that, airlines will paint one part at a time, and run routine flights in between paint jobs. Think of it as you getting your car repainted, but you paint the hood first, drive it for a month, then pain the hood, drive it for another month, and so on and so forth. During this process, the planes look rather weird and out of place. You see a United plane with Qantas colors, silver American Airline planes with blue Southwest tails, etc...

Well, in one instance, the Colombian national carrier, Avianca, bought some 757's from small, privately owned North American Airlines. So, Avianca, proceeded to start the paint job into their own livery as usual.

...Of course, Avianca forgot just one little detail...

...They forgot about what North American Airlines had painted on their tail.

Sometimes, it's better to lose some cash and not lose your independence at the same time :)

The "joy" of home ownership...

2007-03-15T23:01:00.000-01:00

Ah, the "dream" many have of home ownership. As of 2 days ago, I entered this supposed dreamland. Of course, right now it seems more like a nightmare.

Ok, 2 days ago, I closed on my new 2 bedroom apartment overlooking a hillside and some ocean (a great site might I add). An aparment, mind you, I waited a year for and this after months of the realtor saying "just a few more weeks".

Even before I signed the paperwork, I was notified that the complex has no cable tv and no landline phone. Ok, the lack of cable may make some sense (let's keep in mind the island I live on). However, this isn't 1907 folks, this is 2007, and it's absurd that these eggplats didn't get the license to get the phone company to set up the equipment. So essentially I'll be without any decent means of internet at home (well, I could go the moron's route and opt for a wireless provider from one of the cellphone carriers, pay the high monthly fee and with major download restrictions, this for a 12 month committment no less). Ok, that's where this begins. I repeat...BEGINS.

10 minutes after closing: I head up to the apartment and find it in an absolutely deplorable condition. Dirt on the floor, windows dirty, the finishings around the doors were either cracked or moldy, one of the the marble finishing in the main bedroom window was damaged, and, to coup de gras was that my bathroom was in such a condition and such a stench that I couldn't even last 10 seconds in the place without feeling faint. Needless to say, they got a rather long-winded email from me describing, in full detail, all the issues of the place.

Day 1: I get to the apartment and notice that there was neither electricity or running water. Oh yay... The builders were notified by the realtors to clean up the place, which they did in such a meaningless fashion that it would make most 10 year old boys proud. I also spend the day writing checks as if I were Bill friggin Gates. Get a ton of cleaning supplies, a shelf and mirror for my bathroom and some light fixtures. I spend the next part of the day waiting for the electric company to come, who then notice that the Mensa construction company connected the fuse box so well that they didn't connect the main fuse that would supply the electricity. Yeah, I was a bit tired at the end of that day. I also got a call from the applaiance guys, mentioning to me that they would be the next day. Being already half unconcious from the day's work, I simply remember telling them to be there in the afternoon.

Day 2: Yeah, the same applaince guys call me at 9:30am, telling me that they were already in front of the apartment, and here I was wearing pijamas on the other side of the island. Rather than get fully ready then, I figured that they were installing the water heater, so I'd just go up there and then get ready after they finish installing the stuff.

So I get up there and they move all the stuff into the kitchen and start hooking things up. Fridge, check. Oven, no gas yet but hooked up. Dryer, check. As for the water heater, washer and dishwasher....yeah, the Mensa builders did it again. See, rather than have faucets ready to hook these applainces to, they simply plugged those pipes up, and so tightly that it was partially entrenched into the cement. Well, I go down to the hardware store to buy 4 faucets and had to wait another 10 minutes because apparently said hardware store had just been robbed (you can't make this stuff up folks). I get the faucets and head back, only to find that the appliance guys couldn't get the plugs out, and the resident plumber had to be called in, but could only make it by sundown.

Meanwhile, the furniture guys get there and set up the couches and set up the main bedroom. Well, of course something would HAVE to go wrong here. Turns out that the bedroom set I ordered couldn't fit 100% into my bedroom. So one nightstand now sits in my office and I have a very narrow space between the closet and the bed.

Sundown and the plumber FINALLY arrives. He manages to get the plugs out (by way of CHISELING THE WALL!) and installs the faucets and I finally get the water heater to fill up with water. One of the engineers of the complex shows up and, in his best apologetic voice, explains his regret for the stuff that happened in my apartment and, in his hand, was a copy of the email I sent them. Good, they do listen. Things are looking up...

Of course, right there and then, the water heater springs a leak and starts dripping water onto the floor. My NEW water heater no less. Apparently the valve isn't working properly and the appliance guys need to go up there and fix it. AAAAAARGH!

Yup, the "joy" of home ownership. Now, if you replace "joy" with "gut-wrenching and agonizing pain", you might be onto something...

Blast From The Past #2

2007-02-26T23:02:00.000-01:00

Ok, I figured to wait a little while longer, but recently I've been on a new kick of watching old Gong Show clips on YouTube.

For those of you who aren't quite familiar with the Gong Show, it was a talent show that aired in the US on NBC from 1976 to 1980, where contestants, both good and bad, would come from all over American to compete for the grand prize: $516.32, apparently a symbolic value since, at the time, that was the take home pay the Screen Actors' Guild would pay for a day's work. If the performer, or performers, were bad after the first 20 seconds, one or more of the 3 judges would hit the gong behind them, ending the act and disqualifying the contestant.

Below is an example of how bad a bad act can be. One phrase best describes this: "DON'T LOOK ETHEL!!!"

The Gong Show grew such a cult-like following that Barris decided to run with it, brining back a few more popular acts more than once. These acts weren't actual contestants but rather fixtures of the show. You had the "Unknown Comic" who would do a stand up routine with a bag over his head, you had "Scarlett and Rhett" who were 2 people portraying the 2 Gone With the Wind characters, and, you had the grandaddy of all reoccurring acts: Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, who was actually one of the stage hands Barris noticed one day dancing and liked his act so he put him on stage. Whenever Gene Gene's "theme song" would start playing (Count Basie's Jumpin' at the Woodside), Barris would start imitating Gene Gene's moves and the audience and judges would start dancing, and the other stage hands would start throwing objectes onto the stage as Gene Gene would contuinue dancing, oblivious to the debris.

Here's a clip of one of his famous entrances

Again, Barris was simply ahead of his time and, to this day, I've yet to see ANYTHING that tops the zanyness and just total creativity that the Gong Show had.

Blast From The Past #1

2007-02-22T20:40:00.000-01:00

Yesterday, I came across this pretty cool website called RetroJunk.com. I spent hours on it because it's basically an archive of tons of tv show intros and commercials from back in the day.

In the spirit of such, I decided to start an insert called "Blast From The Past", where I'll yank one of the intros or commercials from this site and air it here, along with a small description of course.

And, to kick things off, we go back to the mid 80's, when the popular fast food franchise, Wendy's, in the spirit of the Cold War, came out with this commericial that's been stuck on my mind ever since. Reason being is that during the live TV shows here in Portugal, the live audience normally looks like they're in a funeral. Nothing but blank faces. Almost immediately me, or even my folks when they watch it, go "Eez Next.......Eeevneengvear!".

Enjoy :)

NOTE: Due to the flash not working effectively, I got another from YouTube.

An issue I've tried not discussing

2007-02-11T17:23:00.000-01:00

Well, for the past few months, there has been campaigning in the streets here in Portugal with political parties about, left and right, movements of all kind giving out flyers, holding functions, throwing concerts and giving speeches.

Though this isn't for some normal election. This is for the abortion referendum that was held today. Voters will cast their "Yes" or "No" vote to the following question (more or less translated into English.):

"Do you agree with the voluntary interruption of pregnancy within the first 10 weeks, which would be performed at a certified medical facility?"

Well, aside from the overly political correctness of that question, it's so incredibly vague given the issue at hand.

Ok, for starters, I haven't posted anything in my blog about this because past experiences have taught me that abortion is a debate issue that causes fights, tears friendships apart and can make people become outcasts. The beliefs on both sides are so entrenched that they simply won't listen to the other side, regardless of how good or bad their arguments are. These debates can get so heated that physical violence has happened from it.

For this very reason, I've been trying to see how to post this without provoking. See, I'm against abortion, however, there's a reason why I originally said that the question on the referendum was too vague.

See, in this country, abortion is illegal except for the scenarios of rape, the woman's health is at risk or there is a terminal deformity in the fetus. Said scenarios are also only applied for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Up til this point, I really don't have a problem with abortion since this is the "lesser of the 2 evils" scenario. You look out for the mother's health in this situation.

However, in the current system, any woman caught having a "back-door" abortion can be arrested, tried and imprisoned up to 3 years. This is an extreme I just can't get myself to agree with. In most cases, the women in question come from low-income families, many times have some form of traumatic experiences in the past and feel as if they are under duress to have this abortion. Having said this, the state should not treat her as a common criminal, the same way they shouldn't treat a drug user as a common criminal. There should be infraestructures set up to support women in need and legislation to even help facilitate adoptions and further educate people so that pregnant women no longer feel like abortion is even an option anymore.

Both the "Yes" and "No" movements are against the current system, but the issue lies in how each side wants to resolve it. The "Yes" people simply want to legalize abortions so that said abortions can be done in hospitals. Thus assuring that certain standards are maintained and that the woman's life is no longer at risk. The "No" people believe that the issue is deeper than just legalizing abortions, and that it needs to come in the form of long-term education and better family planning. The system should be able to inform people about all the different forms of contraception and family planning out there as to get people out of the dark. Right now, here in Portugal, there's a blatant lack of information regarding sex education and family planning. They are just starting to get that message across, but it will take some time.

In my opinion, I don't oppose abortion for religious purposes. I simply believe that we don't know when life begins. There has not been one convincing argument that states "Life begins at this point", and by legalizing abortions, we are, in some respect, trying to play the role of God by giving people the right to end what could be a living human being.

For that reason alone, we should not really touch this subject until we have further evidence that could justify one side or the other. And that is why this has been an issue I've tried to avoid for some time now.

MATSUZAKA!

2007-02-11T17:14:00.000-01:00

Recently, the newest member of the Boston Red Sox, and one of the cornersotnes of their offseason aquisitions, Japanese starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, already donned the Red Sox uniform, even though Spring Training hadn't even started.

The reason for such was to advertise a Japanese beer. Since in Japan he's viewed with almost God-like status, leave it to the Far-East marketing geniuses to not waste any sleep getting his face on TV as much as possible.

Here's his ad for Asahi Super Dry

10 Great Portuguese

2007-01-17T00:20:00.000-01:00

Well, the recent buzz in this country has been a poll conducted by the national television station, RTP, about who are, in the opinions of the viewers, the top 100 Portuguese of all time. Votes were cast over the past 6 months or so, results were tabulated and, this past weekend, results were given to the bottom 90, with the top 10 being cast back into the pool for a 2nd round of voting. They listed those that ended up in the top 10 (with the cell phone number so some schmucks can pay €0.70 to text message the vote in) and, in another few months, after a series of debates and documentaries made by the "defenders" of each candidate, they will then announce the final ranking. Well, I decided to add my devalued 2 cents in the matter by giving, what I think, should be the ranking order for these 10. Here it goes:

10. Alvaro Cunhal (1913-2005) - Founder of the Portuguese Communist Party How this guy actually made it this far into the list is beyond me. People here in Portugal have this outlandish fascination for the late Cunhal, who was a devout Stalinist to the end. Here's a guy who's face is plastered into the minds of the nieve who think he was the true image of the 25th of April Revolution that brought democracy into this country. Lemme repeat, many people here think an old-school Communist actually represented democracy. The same guy who nearly plunged Portugal into a civil war in the "Verão Quente" or "Hot Summer" of 1975 because he was intent on making Portugal into a People's Republic (the irony of that term knows no boundries). You may laugh now.

9. Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) - Poet This guy made a number of, what some here say, "literary classics". His supposed claim to fame? He was able to write in multiple peronalities and used alcohol and anti-depressants to "even things out". In other words, he was a schizophrenic, drug-using booze hound who knew how to write decently. Yeah, there's someone I want to represent all Portuguese. I guess the local loon who pees in the flowers wasn't on this ballot.

8. Sebastião de Melo (aka. The Marquis of Pombal) (1699-1782) - Statesman Was made de facto head of state and put in charge of rebuilding Lisbon after the Earthquake, Tsunami and Fire of 1755. Most of what is the "old" downtown of Lisbon was his work. Of course, he was also a highly brutal and repressive dictator, made such by the "grace" of then King José I. In one particular case, he ordered the execution of the Tavora family (he implicated them in an assassination attempt against the King), without a fair trial, in a fashion that would even make the terrorists in Iraq cringe. I won't get into details as to not offend those easily offended.

7. Afonso Henriques (aka. Afonso I) (1111-1185) - Founder and 1st King of Portugal Well, this one was a given. After all, he was the founder of the country. But, he wasn't really a well-liked individual, which is intertwined with how this country was formed in the first place. Portugal pretty much originated with, to put it in the easiest way possible, a fight with his mother and cousin. His mother was the Queen of Castille and he fought with her in order to get the county of Portugal. He then argued with Pope in order to try and gain independence, which he got under very strict condtions (one of which was that he wasn't allowed to expand westward, only south, which was occupied by the Moors). And thus began the conquest of the 7 Moor castles (which are the same 7 castles that show up on the Portuguese flag today).

6. Vasco da Gama (1468-1524) - Navigator The very first European to find a rout to India. He pretty much started the notion of a "Global Community".

5. Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) - Statesman This was pretty much the guy that pioneered the age of European colonization of the "new world". It was his initiative to start the navigational school in Sagres that attracted, what would end up being, the big names during the age of discoveries. The Sagres school helped innovate navigation and topography.

4. John II (1455-1495) - King Although Prince Henry pioneered the age of discovery, it was King John II that gave his brother Henry the order to start such a venture....at the age of 19 no less. He was a visionary, no doubt about that.

3. Luis de Camões (1525-1580) - Poet Author of the book "Os Lusiadas", known here as the "Bible of Portuguese History", also known as the book every kid in Portuguese schools, from grades 5 through 12 have to endure 4 months out of each year until they are ready to commit suicide. Apparently, the reason why he's "blinking" is that he was once a soldier who fought against the Spanish and lost his right eye in combat. Apparently eyepatches were reserved for pirates in the 16th century.

2. António de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970) - Minister of Finance/Prime Minister/Dictator I don't think you could get a worse bum rap than this guy. For alot who were born post-1974, they view him as a ruthless tyrant who governed Portugal like a police state and refused to give independence to the African colonies. However, if you were to actually read factual accounts during his time, first as Minister of Finance, then as Prime Minister, you will see that he was someone who completely broke the dictatorial mold. He was modest, highly frugal (to the point where he would go as far as diluting the wine he drank as to "make it last") but most of all, very patriotic. He came in after 1926 after the 1st Republic (established in 1910) all but ruined the country, and through tight economic and social reforms, brought peace and stability to the country. He also managed to successfully keep Portugal out of 2 successive wars (the Spanish civil war and WWII). His downfall was due to 3 very important aspects: 1) He didn't invest more in education, which led to decay, namely from High School and up, 2) His ministers tried so much to make a cult of personality (although against his own wishes, believe it or not) that it led to a power vacum once he died. and 3) His corporative model of governing left too much social control to big corporations which ended up leaving little, if any, social programs for those who did not work for said corporations.

1. Aristides de Sousa Mendes (1885-1954) - Diplomat #1 definitely goes to one of the unsung heroes of WWII. Named Portuguese Consul in Bordeaux during the German occupation of France, he risked job, freedom and life in order to help over 30,000 refugees, mainly Jewish, from the gas chambers and ovens of Nazi concentration camps. Doing his best to avoid being caught by German authorities as well as a neutral Portuguese government trying not to provoke Germany, Mendes issued thousands of visas into Portugal to these refugees. Many ended up making Portugal their permanent residence afterward.

And there you have it. Feel free to drop off a comment and give your opinion.

Bizarro World

2006-11-22T15:22:00.000-01:00

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of things that go on in this country I live in. Things that anyone with even minimal intelligence would find comical. I mean, ok, yes this country spent 46 years in a dictatorship and yes there are still many people here who lack the education most others take for granted, but still, you have to be kidding me.

Case #1: Giving students the right to strike
This was the first thing I came across when I first moved to Portugal in 1991. Under Portuguese legislation, students from grade 9 and higher actually have the right to strike and protest. These strikes are pre-approved by the student councils of the respective schools and the teaches CAN NOT mark you absent on a scheduled strike day. Basically, you get extra days off granted by the elected student body.

Ok, that's already a bit weird, but not nearly as weird as to WHY many of them strike in the first place. When I was in high school, we "striked" about final exams and imposing tuitions for college. You know, things you are normally used to in the US and Canada. Hell, today, there are high school students striking because they are against a new law that allows for the creation of a "parallel group" of teachers that were on call for whenever a regular teacher was sick.

That's right, they were protesting against SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS! See, up until now, if the teacher was sick, there was no substitute teacher. Hell, there wasn't even a class. You were given that hour off which was dubbed a "furo" or hole. The argument the kids have: "it makes no sense to sub a history teacher with a gym teacher". Hey kids, you have books and homework, DO THAT while the teacher is sick.

Case #2: Highly restrictive rental laws
This is another archaic policy in this country. Ok, you're an owner of an apartment and you decide to rent it out. Well, if you rent it out to someone, you have to BY LAW offer them 3 consecutive leases and, after each lease is over and you decide to sell the apartment, you HAVE to propose sale of such FIRST to the current tenants.

But, as the old cheesy 80's ad goes: "But wait! There's more!". See, aside from being bound and gagged by these clownish leases, you also are bound by a strict rent that CAN'T be adjusted at will. You are allowed to raise rent by a government-established percentage, which never really goes over 5%. So, what does that mean? It means that, in an old apartment building, while tenant A, who recently moved in, is paying $700/month rent, tenant B, who moved in when Eisenhower was president of the US, is paying $100/month. Yes, there does exist such cases.

Screw it! When I want to rent out my place, I'm renting it to US Air Force personell. They're here for 1.5 to 2 years tops and have no intention of buying the place. Why risk otherwise?

Case #3: Buying a used car is very "easy"
This one just borders on blatant stupidity. Ok, so you're in the market for a used car (which the market is flooded with now, by the way, thanks to dirt cheap financing offered by new car dealerships). You go to a used car lot and find the car you like. Hell, you can go in, say you want a certain car and drive it off the lot in the same day.

Oh, wait a sec, there's something wrong there you ask? Well, see these guys don't care if you have the money on you right there or if the car is insured or not or even if the car is in your name. See, they'll worry about it later on. It works on a "trust system" here where they trust you to go back and take care of everything. So, what happens? You end up having cases of cars switching hands many times but it still being in the name of the original owner. Yeah, real nice system.

This happened to my folks already. They sold the car they brought over from the states in 1994. Simple enough. But 2 years later, a guy comes to their house asking them to sign a "buy/sell contract" for the car. Huh? But they sold the car to someone else in '94. Well, it seems said guy never transferred the title to his name and it changed hand 3 times until such happened. My parents went as far as asking the cops to impound the car until the title was finally transferred (which happened about 24 hours after that happened. People get nervous when they see their car being hitched to a Police tow truck).

Yes, these are just 3 of the things that happen here. But I've grown acustom to these things over time. Key is to not let it get to you and know how to work around it. People who are used to a certain routine most of their lives aren't going to change if you tell them too, so why try? In exchange, I got 11 years of comfort in a small island.

So bizarro or not, it's not too bad of a tradeoff :)

5 years...

2006-09-11T23:59:00.000Z

It goes without saying what happend on this very day 5 years ago. The world shook as a nation woke up to a tragedy of proportions not seen before. The event that, in effect, altered how most of us live our lives and how we now deal with things.

And, as each year passes, I still remember, so vividly, where I was and what I did that day. Most of the older folk remember where they were when Pearl Harbor was hit, or when man landed on the moon. For most of us, we all still know where we were on September 11, 2001.

That morning didn't get off to a good start. I was living in Nebraska at the time and owned a 1992 Buick Skylark that, since some vandal decided to break the driver-side window, had major power window troubles. The night before, the motor stopped completely and seized it halfway´, meaning I had to take it to the mechanic the next morning.

Well, woke up, got ready and went with Steve (my neighbor from across the hall who also worked at the same place I worked at) to the mechanic to drop off my car. As I started pulling out of S. 19th St, and bound for O St. to head to the shop, I was listening to the morning show I normally listen to. They reported at the time that a "small plane" had hit the World Trade Center, but really didn't pay it much attention, so they resumed with normal programming, and I resumed with my drive.

No less than 5 minutes later, things changed dramatically.

When the song stopped playing, the morning show guys didn't waste a second to report that a second plane struck the World Trade Center, and that this was no accident. This immediately put me into a kind of state of denial because the shock of itself made me think "no way is this happening.".

It was after I dropped my car off at the mechanic and got to work that I found out just how severe things were. The first image I saw on CNN.com was that of the twin towers, both filled with smoke. Then, when I went to ESPN.com, the usual sports content was replaced with news about the attacks as well. It was just a bombardment of information from all sides. My colleagues were all listening to news radio that has switched to CBS in New York City to give live coverage. There was a TV set placed in the tech department in order to show the news. The company was at a virtual standstill as we watched Dan Rather report what was going on.

Then, there was news that the Pentagon was hit. The first words I heard after that was from a fellow senior developer, Jason, who said "those bastards! I hope we make them pay for this!". Didn't take much time to figure out who the bastards in question were. His anger became more increased when we then heard of a 4th plane coming down in Pennsylvania.

When the 1st tower fell, I was still at my desk and hearing the radio report it. By then, I went to the tech department and there, we all saw the 2nd tower collapse as well. The silence was so eerily silent, like a funeral silence but about 100 times more saddening. We all returned to our desks, but I doubt any work was done from that point on. I drove to the mechanic at lunchtime and saw that the state capitol building had been cordoned off with national guardsmen and that traffic was conditioned around a few areas of the city. It was a very spooky feeling to it. When I finally left for the day, I noticed that the panic had reached a level to where there were lines of cars at gas stations. Just a surreal experience.

For the next 2 days, there was no regular TV. All stations were eihter giving news broadcasts or just shut down. The cable company started tranmitting a NYC station, radio stations were also giving news broadcasts. Pleas for blood, monetary and material donations were being sent out by the Red Cross and were being met with millions eager to support. There were numerous young kids lining up at military recruiting offices, ready to enlist to go after those responsible for these attacks. Patriotism and national pride suddenly became the order of the day as candlelight vigils happened and flags were draped.

When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, over 2700 people in the WTC perished, along with another 100+ at the Pentagon and 40+ in Pennsylvania. Of the 2700+ in the WTC, 343 of them were firefighters who, without a single worry about their own life or personal safety, braved their way into the burning towers so they could rescue as many people as possible. Those 343 people were true heroes. The unsung soldiers of 9/11.

Today we remember, and we shall never forget.

Ugh...

2006-04-01T11:34:00.000Z

Ok, so I'm recovering from a small hangover from yesterday. At the last minute, I was invited by an old Army buddy of mine to go to an outing with a group of US Ari Force flyboys. It wasn't bad and a good way to unwind. Anywho, I was woken up this morning by the sound of my cell phone. It was my pal Mike asking if I was still going to the Radio Popular that was opening up here. For those wondering what Radio Popular is. Think of it as a Portuguese Best Buy. It was the first one to open on the island that they had some major discounts going on. So, even with a slight hangover on me, I dragged my sorry butt out of bed and into the shower and then got myself ready to go out, then got Mike and headed up there... I wish I had never gone up there in the first place... Ok, before I go a bit further, I need to get some of you filled in on how alot of the people here on the island act. See, they have this mentality of, if something new opens up, they HAVE to be there. So they move in droves and mob the place. In 1997, when they opened the first major supermarket here, there were cars backed up for about a good 2 miles with people waiting to park their car and get in. Yes, it's THAT kind of mentality, and it does get annoying! Well, anywho, I figured: eh, Radio Popular is an appliance store, why would people mob a place that would sell things that you just don't buy everyday? It'll be managable. Take a look at the picture below and tell me that it was managable: That was the entrance and that was as far as I got. Seeing the mob of people waiting to get in, I had no quams in saying "Mike, I'm outta here!". But not before leaving a few choice words about that crowd (I belive "savages" and "dimwits" were 2 of the cleaner adjectives I used in that tirade). I mean an appliance store, A FRIGGIN APPLIANCE STORE!!!! They went to it by the busloads! There were BOUNCERS at the entrance only allowing a certain amount of people in at a time. This isn't a 3rd world country folks, we have these amenities, but because it is new, these people think the place will close down after today. BAH! I guess it's a tradeoff for living on a peaceful island. Eventually you're gonna come across some stuff that'll just make you scratch your head.

We interrupt this long-winded blog...

2006-03-28T11:03:00.000Z

for a short post with a classic, head-banging, *ss-kicking music video. "Walk" by the legendary group, Pantera. Party on :)

Papers please...

2006-03-27T13:50:00.000Z

Well, it seems the main topic rolling around here in the Azores has been the news coming out of Canada of their government preparing to deport some 15,000 Portuguese immigrants who were living there illegally. Not a day goes by where I don't see a report on the local news of some poor schlep and his/her family of 10, worried about what to expect now that they are gonna be shipped back to Portugal. That atop of more news coming from the States of Congress ready to pass reformed immigration laws where it would actually be a felony to be an illegal alien in the states. Ok, my view on this isn't that of some Xenophobe who thinks that all immigrants should be either shipped out or shot, nor is my view that of some bleeding heart who thinks that illegal immigrants should be coddled. My viewpoint is relatively simple to understand. I believe in LEGAL immigration. See, my father moved to the states in 1971, knowling little to no English whatsoever. He spent the first few years in California working as a janitor, and then in a steel mill, pouring 3000º molten steel into molds. He became a US citizen a few years after moving there and also learned English as well and got his Bachelor's Degree at Cal State-Hayward. I routinely use him as an example as to how ANYONE can make it in the states as long as they put some effort into it and if they do things the right way, but going there legally and doing the right things at the right time. Now, you have the other side of that spectrum which are people that decide to curb the system by going ilelgally and never legalizing their situation. So when the immigration services of that country come knocking at their door, they become all flustered and scared because they were caught red-handed. People start pulling up statistics and numbers saying how illegal immigrants contribute to the economy, and how we should give exceptions to them. Well to these people, a few points: 1) What about those who wait months, if not years, for their paperwork to be processed? Or try many times to get approval through legal means? See, those defending illegal immigrants never mention those who try to come in legally because it defeats their argument. If you're gonna facilitate illegal immigrants, you should also facilitate the legal process for those who have been waiting. You can't have one without the other. Either deport the illegals or get rid of the borders and let everyone in. Doing anything other than that is blatant hypocracy. I know that, if I were going through the legal process of immigrating and seeing those who went there illegally being given residency, I'd be hopping mad. 2) Alot of illegal immigrants complain that the country they are living in are only giving legal residency status to people of certain professions that the country needs. To which I say: So? It is their country, which means they can set the rules as to who can move there and who can't. This isn't fantasyland folks, welcome to reality. If you want to get a better shot at moving legally to the states or Canada, get yourself skilled in a profession they are looking for. 3) There's an interesting trend I have seen with most of these cases of illegal immigrants that are being deported back here. Alot of them come from poor sections of Portugal and say how they have it bad here. Sorry folks. Coming from personal experience, I can tell you that your life here in Portugal is HOW YOU MAKE IT OUT TO BE. There are opportunities to do what you want and when you want. And to top it off, the government here gives more subsidies than the US government would ever give and the credit system here is so lax that you can finance OVER 100%. Hell, I bought an apartment for €75,000 and even managed to get an extra €11,000 to pay the escrow of the place, pay off my car and get furniture, and the loan is laid out for 40 years at 3.5%. You couldn't get a loan like this in the states, at least not from any reliable credit institution (trust me, I tried). See, the same people complaining about being deported back to Portugal are normally those I see here, on TV, with a 1 room house and 5 kids crying "If only the government could give me a house". For those living in the states, I could not make this up. That is EXACTLY what they say! They want the Government (ie, my tax money and the tax money from everyone else here) to pay for a brand new house for them. This isn't cash poor, this is mentally poor. Yet, when they move to the states, they work like slaves and actually save cash. Why? Simple, the US government doesn't give handouts like the Portuguese government does, so they (the immigrants) are pratically obliged to work for a living. So, for those being deported back, just do what you were doing in the states or Canada and you will be fine here. Hard work pays off here too. It's not the end of the world. In conclusion, I'm no xenophobe. We're in the 21st Century and we live in a more globalized community nowadays than we did 50 years ago. However, one must always respect the rules and regulations of the country he/she lives in or is moving to. If you want to immigrate to a place, look up the immigration laws and see what you need to do to move there and moreso, see if the move is really worth it. And if you're one of those being deported back to the Azores, do not fret. There are many opportunities for you here too. You can go back to school to get better educated, or you can start up your own company and the bank (with government assitance) can help you out there too. In any case, welcome back.

Sometimes, you just HAVE to say SOMETHING!

2006-03-25T01:42:00.000-01:00

WARNING: The content below contains information that many of you may not understand and, for some, may not want to know. If you are one of those people, I will totally understand if you decide to not read this post. This is just me letting off steam. Thanks for your cooperation :) Hey there boys and girls. Surprisingly enough, I managed to put up another post shortly after my last one (granted, my definition of "shortly" is roughly a few days apart, but who's counting? :) ). Anyway, I've been a bit invloved these past few weeks with the world of Blogs. As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, my friend Mike mounted up a blogboard displaying pretty much all of the blogs from the Azores. From there, we get to see all the recent info put up without havig to navigate to all of those blogs. Quite a nifty idea. Well, Mike went many sleepless nights trying to perfect it. He got it into Portuguese (not Brazilian Portuguese, which was the only apparent translation), created the logo for the blogboard, then spent DAYS looking for all the blogs on these 9 islands. In total, he managed to install and configure the blogboard to how he wanted it and put in over 120 blogs. He was showered with compliments and rightfully so. Poor schlep damm near went nuts trying to perfect it. Yup, he got compliments for just about everyone.....................except one. See, one of the bloggers couldn't help but poke and prod at the blogboad. See, this blogger (who will remain unnamed for the time being) was at the blogger gathering me and Mike went to. He went on about how he created his own blog and how he was making the groups' website and posters. But he kept trying to insist that he made his own blog. Well, this brain surgeon decided to drop a comment on Mike's blog saying that the blogboard was a template made by "a colleague of his". Basically, he tried to cheapen the blogboard with that rather unnecessary comment. Mike admitted that it was a template, but not the one this low-life mentioned, and that he did spend nights making constant modifications to it (a fact I can easily back up). I even followed up with a comment of my own (writtin in some obviously broken Portuguese since it is my 2nd language, not my 1st) saying that if this guy wants to criticise, that he should make his own blogboard. Well, at that point, a salvo was fired, and I moved on. Besides, I have my job to worry about anywho and this guy wasn't worth ink on my blog anyway. But then things got interesting. It turns out that we were revealed to a post on this guy's blog where he said he won a Golden Web Award for his blog for being original. Ok, no prob. But then me and a couple of others decided to take a better look at his blog. As it turned out, the blog was NOT his creation, but rather a TEMPLATE called b2evolution which can be downloaded free of charge. And, to top things off, the guy made a massive slip-up with "his" blog. See, he left the default installation file on the site, allowing anybody to access it and see that the site was not "all his". So now, not only was this guy envious, but also a boldfaced liar. But oh, things got even more interesting. For we would uncover something about his past that would surprise even us. This information came through a forum we visited a couple days ago. See, this wonder boy spent some time Mainland Portugal and, for most of the time he was there, tried to pass himself off as a Scottish band promoter for any local metal band interested in hearing his cock-and-bull stories. What he basically did was try and get the guys to buy into his tripe about him being in an "elite Scottish clan" and talk of promises for the band because "he knew important people" back in Scotland. Of course, he wasn't Scottish not a band promoter, just some SOB wanting others to adore him by making empty promises. Some of these bands were able to exact some form of retribution by beating this nimrod within an inch of his life, but all he did was move on to the next unsuspecting schmo. No brain, no pain I guess. Funny thing is that this guy was once a client of the company I work for. He had a couple of pages hosted on our server which were then pulled due to the fact that he didn't pay for months. My boss, fed up with the fact that the guy was stiffing us, decided to just shut the sites down without further notice. He didn't pay us for months, why would we need to advise him that we were "evicting" him? Next time, pay your bills chump! The one thing that has irked me about this guy is that he's trying to pass himself off as a programmer. I've been a programmer for 6 years now, and have toiled and made sacrifices throughout these 6 years to attain the status I proudly claim as Lead Programmer and Project Manager of Via Oceânica. I've helped, with my expertise in PHP, ASP, ASP.NET, MySQL, and SQL Server 2000, create and publish the better part of about 50 different websites, from Government agencies to local restaurants. I take GREAT personal pride in my accomplishments and take this career VERY seriously considering the time and money I have spent so far. So when I see a two-bit con artist like this guy pass himself off as a programmer, I take it to heart. This guy couldn't code his way out of a paper bag. Well, now it seems that his next set of victims is the bloggers' association of this island, which is why I'm posting this. This group of people are very honest and forthcoming and were highly friendly. Well, this parasite found it to be an ideal situation to promise them a site and posters. Of course, those who know his past know that said site and posters simply won't happen. I'd advise you to drop a few comments on his blog, but see, it seems he shut off the comments section of his blog after a group of people decided to expose him. He then followed up with another post, basically trying to disacknowledge anything that happened earlier. My advice, if you see him, don't buy into his bull, and don't fall prey to his promises. In fact, just pity the poor bastard and move on with your life. He suffers from a massive need for attention and tries to get it by being something he's not.

One more thing I've been through

2006-03-22T23:36:00.000-01:00

Ok, I have seen quite a bit in my 30 years of life. Not much really surprises me nor upsets me nowadays. Hurricanes? Hah! Winter in the Azores is like a 3 month hurricane. We get waves up to 20 feet in the winterime. Earthquakes? Please! I've lived through an earthquake that destroyed our house back on New Year's Day 1980 (which subsequently left my folks to move us back to the states and me to spend my childhood in the New England area.). Power outages? Uhm, I did tell you that I live in the Azores right? Power outages are all too common. Water shortages? Been there already. When we moved here in 1991, we had water once every 3 days and for 30 minutes in the morning. It was quite a sight to see my family go down to my aunt's house to shower because she had running water. Yes, I've been through alot and seen alot. But I've NEVER in my entire life been through what I and 60,000 other people on 3 islands had to go through yesterday. I mean this was one for the record books. It all started at 2pm Azorean time (10am Eastern, 7am Pacific). I was programming one of the many sites we host at the company I work for and listening to WEEI online talk about the Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo Pena deal when suddenly the radio goes dead, then all my messengers go dead, then I can't access any web page out there. The entire internet went dead. Ok, right there no biggie, been through that before. After all I do live on an island smack dab in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. But I then tried to call my friend Mike about what was going on and, even though my cell phone had full signal, the call couldn't be made due to an error in the network. So now, I had no internet and no cell phone. Alright then, I pick up the land phone and decide to call him. Nope! Even though there was a dial tone when I dialed, there would be a message halfway through me dialing the number saying that there was a malfunction in the network. So, to recap, I had no internet, no cell phone and no landline. Every form of telecommunication was rendered useless.......FOR THE NEXT 12 HOURS!!! Now, just how severe was this? Well, aside from your everyday Joe not being able to Google a site up, but if you wanted to get some cash from your local ATM, you were S.O.L. If you wanted to buy some groceries and wanted to pay by credit card or debit card, no luck. If you wanted to Go to the bank to withdraw cash, sorry. For 12 hour, the island I live on (Terceira) and 2 neighboring islands (Graciosa and São Jorge) were without any form of telecommunications to the "outside world". And you can bet that estimated losses in revenue from this glitch could be well around a few million Euros. There were cases of people leaving full shopping carts right in the isle at the supermarkets because they had no cash on them and couldn't pay with credit card, debit card, and even check. Now, worse yet is that the company in charge of the telecom infraestructures here, Portugal Telecom, didn't say what the problem was the whole time. In fact, we only knew about it the next day on the afternoon news, and even then the regional director for P.T. only said it was a "software glitch" that caused it. That's all he said, nothing more, nothing less. And, the coup de gras in all of this is that I've yet to here one store owner, or one travel agent, or one person who lost cash yesterday due to the "glitch", mention a law suit or demanding retribution on the part of P.T. See, had this been in the states, this would NOT have gone unanswered. The telephone company would be flooded with so much litigation that they would be signing checks until they suffered Carpal Tunnel sydrome. But alas, here in the Azores, where things run SLOW, people would just prefer not to act because they "don't want to get the importanr guys angry". Well, on my part, from me to the guys at Portugal Telecom, who screwed me out of 12 hours of net. I salute you!

The meeting, the blogboard and YouTube

2006-03-14T22:25:00.000-01:00

Well, this post is a few days late. Work has been keeping me rather busy, and by the time I get home, I normally think of nothing more than hitting the sack or just plopping myself down in front of the tube. Anywho, I went to the Blogger gathering this past Saturday with my friend Mike (http://leicammaciel.blogspot.com). It wasn't too bad, plus, my thanks to the guys who organized this, Azoriana and Ideias e Ideais. I realize the effort something like this takes to organize a gathering like this and getting some of the big wigs you got, not to mention getting the local media involved as well, all the way up to the local TV station. However, I do have a couple of suggestions for the next gathering: 1) Now that we all know each other, why not make the next gatehring a dinner, maybe even during Sanjoaninas (of which I will be on vacation at the time) and hold it in a Tasca. It's a fun way to get together, similar to how IRC channels do it. Plus, it requires no cash and just a simple reservation. We can pay our own way. The IRC dinners I used to go to were always rather good to go to because of the informal atmosphere and open conversation. 2) Some of the speeches were a bit too long. Sorry, but this is the truth. I created this blog pretty much as a means to record anything that happens in my own style. I didn't take into account statistics or that France had the most blogs in Europe. The speeches done by Azoriana and I&I were straight to the point with no overly-flowery adjectives and even Nuno Barata had some nice quips (of course, being that I myself am also from the same political faction he's from, I guess I'm kinda bias in that aspect). I like that. Then again, I've always preferred the American style of speeches. Aside form that, not a bad meeting at all. And I did get this certificate :)

Ok, now Mike (see blog link above) has installed a "blogboard" that lists most of the blogs from this island. You can find it at http://www.factosonline.com/blogs It's pretty nice. Keeps a live update of the blogs and shows which one has the most recent post and which post it is. By the way, make sure to comment Mike's Blog, it keeps him happy :)

Oh, on another note. I've started to get back a taste for country music, mainly the works of the late, great, Johnny Cash. His name rings a familiar bell because I seem to have been branded by my family due to it. It all started back in 2002 when I was living in Buffalo and I went with my sis and company to Niagara Falls to an outdoor Karaoke show. Now I was about a week or so removed from my stay in Nebraska, so I still had plenty of that "country boy" mentality in me. And I still have some of it to this day (what can I say, the midwest REALLY grows on you :) ). Well, I got up and did a rendition of Johnny's famous song "Ring of Fire". Since then, my sister has NEVER forgotten to remind me about that time or that song since I not only sang it, but also sang it with the country twang I had then which, with my baritone singing voice, sounded actually quite on the money :) I guess it's one of those ackward moments you like and hate at the same time :) Well, I've recently been going to YouTube.com and managed to see, not only a 1968 video of Cash's hit song. But also a video of the LAST song he sang before he died, a remake of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", both excellent renditions by the late Mr. Cash. Anywho, I leave you with a vide of each. Enjoy :)

Luso's tips to decent living

2006-03-10T00:15:00.000-01:00

Ok. So here I am, thinking what am I supposed to write into my blog, wracking my brains out about what should be written. In case you haven't noticed, I don't post too frequently. I normally let a good amount of time pass before I put something up, which by then would make my entry rather big. But alas, here I am, still with no idea what to write. So I figured, why not post up something, I guess you could say, superficial, which is just a few guidelines towards living decently. I don't mean "decent" in the religious sense. I mean as in being comfortable in life, even if you have little cash. So here it goes: 1. Respect your parents. I can't stress this enough. Your family should play a pivotal role in your life, moreso than your friends, regardless of how good your friends are. Your parents raised you and brought you through life and have given you the tools necessary to excel in life. Respect them for that and make that respect visible. Whether it's helping them out every once in awhile with chores, treating them to dinner out, or a simple thank you. They'll apreciate it in the long run. Trust me. 2. HONESTY! HONESTY! HONESTY! It's a simple concept, true. But nowadays, it seems to be a concept that is becoming more and more foreign to more and more people. Whether it's a girlfriend denying she's seeing someone else while a guy is getting dressed in the other room, to companies telling false information about their competitors to try and boost their own sales. Lying has been growing like a disease. Be honest, be open and be frontal. You'll see that doing this will not only make you look good in society, but will also make you feel good inside. 3. Seize opportunities as they pass. In life, we're given many opportunties. Problem is that we don't notice most of them, just the ones that "scream the loudest". The key is to stay alert and be attentative. What may seem rather "blah" on the outside, may just be the diamond in the rough you were looking for. For example, in 2000, I moved to Nebraska to start a programming job that I thought would be a "dead end" job because of where it was. Turned out to be such a great stay that I extended my contract for another 6 months after the 2 years I stayed there. 4. Don't sweat the small stuff. Nowadays, people tend to worry over the smallest of things. Whether they were shortchanged at the supermarket, cut off in traffic, irritated at their boss at work, etc... While to be mad is natural and, to a point, helpful in keeping stress down, it's not good to let it linger for too long or to let it build up into rage. Take a walk, get a punching bag and go a few rounds, write in your diary, whatever helps ease your tension, do it. Life is WAY too short to let the small things consume you. You allow that to happen, and you'll end up strolling into a Post Office one day with a loaded AK-47. 5. Don't worry about getting alot of friends. Just get GOOD friends. Some people think the measuring stick to their self esteem is by how many friends they have. I've come to learn that said measuring stick is not too reliable. The key isn't having a bunch of friends, but rather having a couple of very good friends who you can count on for anything and who can count on you for anything. I know alot of people, but I only really have about 2 actual friends. The others are merely aqquaintances who I know either from work or from the bars or whatnot. 6. Think about getting a fishing pole rather than a fish. Self-reliance is a big factor in living decently. The goal to acheiving such is nothing more, nothing less than work, hard work. However, this can be reached, be it a long or short process, if you are patient enough and determined enough to let it happen. This ranges from aquiring a decent job, to working towards home ownership or even renting a place to knowing small things like how to cook, how to clean, etc... 7. Find your niche in life. Everybody has something that they are very good in and enjoy doing. Doesn't matter who you are, each and everyone of you have one particular talent, and said talent differs from one person to another. Whether you are a wizard at capentry, know the ins and outs of an automobile, can read 1's and 0's efficiently, etc... We all have a skillset we are good at. Find this skillset and let it prosper. 8. The only scapegoat in life is yourself. Nowaday, there is a growing tendency to pass the buck onto someone or something else as a means to hide one's mistakes. It's not a bad thing to admit to one's mistakes and, in fact, is a true sign of courage and character. Ask young George Washington who chopped down a cherry tree, but then admitted to his wrong dowing to his parents. I belive he ended up being the 1st president of the US or something :) 9. Do unto others as they would do unto you. I know, it's a cliché. But a good one though. This has been one of my golden rules that I've tried my best to follow through life. When presented with a certain action that I could take, I stop and ask myself if I'd like it if said action happened to me. If you don't like it happening to you, than chances are that said person would not like it to happen to them either. Keep in mind that you're not alone on this planet and that others share it with you. 10. Work is always good no matter what it is. Every once in awhile, I see people who are ashamed to say what they do for a living as they feel that their job mighty embarass them. This is wrong on so many levels. Having a job is a plus, whether you are a CEO or a garbage collector. You're earning a paycheck, paying bills and helping yourself live independently. Be proud of what you do and don't be ashamed to say it. Better to be picking up garbage or waiting tables rather than doing nothing. Believe me, this is from personal experience. And those are my 10 tips. I know, some of you probably read that and said "Well gee Luso. I already knew that!". Still though, never hurts to make reference to it every once in awhile as a reminder :) Take care people.

A few random things...

2006-02-07T22:01:00.000-01:00

Well, for starters, I'm single again after being engaged for 2 years. Now, before you start with the "I'm sorry dude", don't bother. This has really turned out to be a blessing in disguise. See, had I have moved to the states, I would've sacrificed: 1) A job I am so ungodly secure in that I could probably drop a #2 on my boss's desk and STILL not get fired. 2) A car that has been pratically mistake-free for 3 years now. 3) The life on this island which I still think is heaven on earth. Well, when she said she "wasn't the marrying type", at first I was rather angry. I mean, honestly, 2 years engaged and she goes and does this. Oh well, as my best friend Mike would say "They're like busses, if you miss one, another one will be right behind it". However, with that aside, I was now able to "unlock" alot of the things I didn't do because of the enagagement and, what would've been, pending move to the US. For starters, I wnet out and bought an apartment in the complex shown below: Not bad eh? 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, nice, big living room and dining room, plus a great view of the mountainside. Plus, this is one of the "cost-controlled housing" developments which is basically government-assisted, but it's not Welfare. It's a system where you buy a new place at below market value, but comes with a minimum committment of 5 years. That means that, for the next 5 years, I MUST live there and cannot sell or even rent the place out. But hey, for the price I'm getting it at, a small sacrifice. Plus, after 5 years, I can then turn it around and rent it out to one of the many US Air Force guys on base for at least double of what my monthly mortgage payment will be. The place will be all built and ready by May, at least that's what the real estate agent said, and I'm hoping he's right about this.

Selo de Inscrição E.B.I.T In other news, I just got an invite to participate in a gathering of bloggers of the island. 2 other guys at work (also bloggers, but both of their's are in Portuguese) got invites as well. Eh, I guess it's something to do, but I normally hold alot of doubts about these particular gatherings. Especially considering the type of blog mine is as compared to the blogs of the other participants. I just write stuff down of my interests, which alot of times have pratically nothing to do with the island itself. So a gathering like this for me would probably be like Snoop Dogg attending the Republican National Convention. However, one must never write things off without at least trying once, which I will, but nevertheless, I'll do so with alot of doubts.

So Super Bowl XL came and passed and the Pittsburgh Steelers finally won it. Whoopee! (End of Sarcasm) However, after that game, the "Ben Roethlisberger is as good or better than Tom Brady" spiel is officially DEAD! His performance in that game was so putrid for a Super Bowl winning QB, that it made Trent Dilfer's SB XXXV performance look like a Hall of Fame highlight reel. "Big Ben" better have opened up his wallet and bought the entire Steeler Defense food and drinks afterwards, that's all I gotta say.

A pause to reflect

2005-07-07T23:31:00.000Z

A moment to reflect on the tragic events that took place in London today. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.

I like flying but...

2005-04-09T21:32:00.000Z

If I have to fly another one of these planes within the next 3 months, I'm gonna scream! 3 times in 2 weeks I had leave this island to go to São Miguel Island, all 3 times on business, all 3 times to check up on an application I made, and all 3 times I got back home more exhausted than when I first left.
Now, don't get me wrong. Not that these were bad flights. Amazingly enough, I manage to sleep on that prop plane, and this is coming from someone who can't get a wink on trans-Atlantic flights to Toronto and Boston. Don't ask how that is because even I can't tell ya. No, my beef is that I can't do this kind of travelling with this much frequency. I love to travel, however, going to the same place 3 times in 2 weeks is rather irritating. This NOT counting a trip to Lisbon I spent with my woman a week prior to these trips.
All I want is my bed, a nice meal and a wish that I can return to some form of normality and stability as soon as possible.

And the Darwin Award Goes To...

2005-03-24T19:49:00.000-01:00

*sigh*. It happened YET again! Yet another individual loses his life by doing the unthinkably stupid under idiotic circumstances.
Who was it and what did he/she/it do you ask?
I'll tell you my faithful readers. For the past few days there has been a rather strong storm hitting here in the Azores. Winds up to around 60mph, torrential rain and waves reaching as high as 30ft in some instances. In other words, for those who live here, a "typical winter storm" considering we get these quite a few times a year.
Now, what would you want to do in a storm like this? Stay at home and read a good book? Nah! Too boring. Stay at home and watch what's on the tube? Nah! That's some precious electricity that would be wasted. Ooooh! I know! I'll go to a bar right by the waterfront, get rip-roaring drunk and then walk towards the water and look at thoe big waves coming at me!
Now, why am I not doing that now?..................Hmmmmm...........lemme see.................oh yeah, I know why...
BECAUSE I AM SMARTER THAN A DAMM FRUIT FLY AND ABLE TO KNOW WHEN NOT TO DO CERTAIN THINGS AT CERTAIN TIMES!
Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for 3 kids, ages around 16-17 years old. Yup, you read right, 16-17 YEARS OLD. These kids, at 2 in the morning, decided to head to a waterfront bar called Petiskaly, which is located right on the barrier of one of the beaches here called Silveira, got trashed beyond belief, and then ventured off towards the water, where the giant waves swept them to the water, and with one of them, tragically to his death. Oh yeah, did I mention that there was a storm going on?
This is the kind of stuff that really gets under my skin. First off, I don't care if it's Easter Vacation or not, at 16 years old, you shouldn't be out at 2 in the morning. Secondly, at 16 years old, I was able to use something called COMMON SENSE, and that little commodity would tell me that, in bad weather like that, the last place I should be is AT THE WATERFRONT! And finally, what parent, in their right mind, lets their 16 year old kid out, at that time of night, in the middle of a storm like such?!?!?
Do I feel bad about this tragic loss? Of course I do. Death is always tragic and should never be wished upon anybody, regardless of the circumstances. But do I see the kid as a poor victim of an unavoidable circumstance? HELL NO! He shouldn't have been there in the first place and there was ample chances to have avoided such a horrific tragedy. His parents could've forbade him from going out (I mean, for Pete's Sake, THERE WAS A STORM PASSING THROUGH THE ISLAND!), his other friends could've been more responsible and gone elsewhere, they, as a whole, could've just gone over to one of thier own houses and chilled, and also, THEY COULD'VE AVOIDED GETTING DRUNK BY NOT DRINKING!
Yet again, another accident that could've been avoided.

I'm American.....I'm European......Ugh!

2005-03-08T22:54:00.000-01:00

In my 29 years of life, I've lived in 3 different countries (US, Canada and Portugal) which situate themselves in 2 different continents (N. America and Europe). I was born in the US and, when I was 15, my folks decided to apply me for Portuguese citizenship, which made me a Dual National, US citizen by birth right, Portuguese citizen by naturalization. This leads for some rather interesting conversations depending on where I'm living at the time. See, I am proud to have been born in the US and proud for what it stands, however, I can't forget about my bloodline and history from the old country. The issues normally start to rise when I hear stupid remarks from either side. If it's from a Portuguese, it's normally how Americans are "dumb" and "arrogant". If it's from an American, it's how Europeans are "sissies" and "can't do a thing without the US". When either happens, it tends to rile me up. Seeing how I've lived ample time in both places, I can give rather balanced assessments about both sides. Problem is that I nromally have to give those assesments while on the opposite side of the fence, which makes me stand out as a European in the US, or an American in Europe. First off, I get a tad fed up with the "Americans are stupid" remark from the Elitist European crowd that seems to be so out of touch with reality that they'd probably belive there's chocolate on Mars if told so. Having worked in the US in the corporate field, I can say that Americans are outright intelligent when it comes to business saavy. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY can sell a product better, or more efficently than Americans. While Europeans may build an efficient item, it takes an American to make it sell, end of story. Americans also excel when the times are tough. Their innovative thinking helped propel them through recessions and other times of crisis and have always put them on top. This is probably one of the things that really ticks the Anti-American crowd in Europe so much. No matter how much beating she takes, America will always find a way to come out on top. It's as if it was in their blood. Now, on the other hand, Europeans are excellent in the theoretic areas. The majority of top scholars tend to come out of Europe. They are also key diplomats and tend to see everything on a very even keel. There's never a time when there's an international crisis where you don't see a European working his or her diplomatic magic to sooth both sides. Europeans are also experts in certain industrial fields. Automobiles instantly come to mind. When people think of reliable cars, Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagon come to mind. When people think exotic, Ferrari jumps to their head. When they think posh, Rolls Royce anyone? These are brands that are light years ahead of Ford, GM, etc. Now to say either are without faults is absurd. Although Americans can be ambitious and business saavy, a large majority of them also have a narrow view of the world in the geographical sense. When I was in Nebraska, it would enfuriate me to no end when I would say that I was from Portugal and get an inane response like "Isn't that in Brazil?". Nevermind that Portugal created Brazil and was responsible for paving the way for European exploration. To most Americans, the world "starts in New York City and ends in San Francisco". You watch the news in the US, and alot fo times they only cover the news where there is US interest, "World News" it isn't exacly. Europeans DEFINITELY have their faults too. As I said earlier, alot of them are out of touch with reality. There are times where the sword is mightier than the pen, such as the current war on Terror. I remember a while back here in Portugal, one of the so-called "wise men" of the Portuguese political circles, former Portuguese president Mario Soares, said that "the war on terror would be easier to win if we entered in talks with Al Qaida"......................uh EXCUSE ME?!? Oh yeah, let's get into talks with a group that flys planes into skyscrapers, and makes human explode in town centers and bus stations. Yeah, that'll really work. Alot of Europeans have this idea that if we all sang Kumbaya by the fire, all would be resolved. You can't even make this up. I guess the whole explaination to this rather long and vented post is that both sides have a rather absurd generalization about the other side. We need to look a bit harder. Alot of Americans need to really get more informed about Europe and alot of Europeans really need to get more informed about America.

Welcome to Red Sox Nation Matt

2005-02-21T22:58:00.000-01:00

Baseball season is just around the corner, and my team, the World Champion Boston Red Sox (never thought I'd hear myself say that in THIS lifetime) is gearing up for run to repeat as champs. Well, the Spring Training games haven't even started yet and, already, one new team member gained some brownie points amongst Nation memebers. Newly signed fireballer, Matt Mantei, pictured to the left in his old Arizona Diamondback uni, made a humorous, and quite accurate, crack at the New York Yankees: "...I don't like the Yankees. I don't think anybody does. I don't think anybody does except the Yankees..." Welcome to the team Matt :)

One Word: Dynasty

2005-02-08T01:57:00.000-01:00

That's 3 times in 4 years folks. Say hello to the new kings of the gridiron, the New England Patriots :) To think that in my 20 years of being a fan of this team I would hear "Patriots" and "Dynasty" used in the same sentence and not be a joke. Pats are a Dynasty Sox are World Series Champs and I'm engaged to an amazing woman Am I lucky or what? :)

Here is your stinkin' update :)

2005-01-27T09:38:00.000-01:00

What can I say? When you live on an island of 51,000 in the middle of the Atlantic, it's not like each day is full of excitement. I guess waking up is considered an exciting thing :)

So I now have a blogger

2004-11-30T02:00:00.000-01:00

Well, I guess this is where I start. My name is Eduard Anthony Fagundes Maduro. I've at times been referred to by my nickname, Luso. I live a rather simple and undisturbed life here on this island in the middle of the Atlantic known as Terceira Island. It is part of the Azores Islands, a Portuguese territory. I am almost 5 years into a career as a computer programmer. My travels to this point have included the US, Canada and Portugal. In those 3 countries, I have moved quite a bit, 15 times to be exact. 15 times in 29 years. That number will be 16 next year as I head into a new chapter in my life.....marriage. I am currently engaged to an absolutely fantatic american named Liz. We met when I was living in Nebraska and we simply never disconnected since. We've had our on and off moments, but we never seemed to forget each other. Up until I met her, I sincerely thought that true love was a myth and that I would never find such a creature. How things change. There simply isn't a day that doesn't pass when I don't think of her. Right now, she is stationed in Iraq and there isn't a moment in my day when I don't worry about her. I've spent many sleepless nights worrying about her, hoping and praying that February comes, she leaves that godforsaken hellhole and we can be together again. Last summer, we met once again, this time on this island, and I could not let the opportunity slip away again. I proposed and she accepted :) We are planning on being engaged for about 2 years tops, and get married here in the Azores (she really fell in love with the island and the surroundings). She has been so cooperative it's that it's nearly mythical. She wants me to finish my BSc (something that has been nagging me for some time) and is even willing to move to Portugal. I have truly found something special and really do not want to lose it in any way shape or form. Well, I guess that'll do it for now. I dunno how many people actually read these things. I guess it's a nice little diary. Stay safe kids, Luso