Bizarro World

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...

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...

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...

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

Papers please...

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!

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

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

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 :)

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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 :)

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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

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...

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.

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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.

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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.