El Gringoqueño

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Who Will Serve My Latte?

July 2, 2001 /

From an email conversation with my friend, Laura Golden, about The Latte Manifesto a forthcoming book about culture or lack thereof in Silicon Valley

Or, what do I do about the problem of de-latte-ization in the affluent urban centers?

Hey, here’s an idea!! Let’s use gene therapy to make apes smarter and use
them as domestic servants. Hmm, never mind, need opposable thumbs to serve
coffee, probably would spill. They would revolt, wipe out humans, and take
over the earth? What are you smoking, it would never happen.

We could get Mexican’s, they’d be cheaper. But then every damn politician
that came along would threaten to deport them all for stealing good jobs
away from Americans. Course by then, they’d be TECH jobs, because you’d
need to be a PERL/JAVA/PHP/C++ programmer to operated the web-enabled 5 GHz
Pentium 5(tm) espresso machine and to keep out the 31337 L337 hackers using
Zombie IRC chat servers to Denial of Service attack Starbucks Inc.

We could use robots? Wouldn’t be cheaper or more efficient… probaby would
spill more coffee and cost a lot more, but hell you could put it on the web
and track it… little coffee cam, clip together the funniest spills and
sell the tv rights. Or maybe you could order your drink remotely and then
pick it up… cold. Hmm, too stupid? This is America, I don’t think so
*G*.

What about 16 year old high school students? That used to work pretty well.
People complained that they were rude and hadn’t a clue about how to serve
coffee, but they at least did the job, and worked cheap? How about them?
What, you say? Too busy anyway rolling in IPO money and they have coffee
makers in their ferraris? Nevermind.

So where are we left? Well, I’m glad you asked that. You see the
problem of de-latte-ization in the affluent urban centers is one that I have
sworn to combat. I’ve been a strong proponate of education and school
vouchers. It is only through education that we can make a difference.

Words do Not Matter

June 12, 2001 /

.. "fire" does not matter, "earth" and "air" and "water" do not matter.
"I" do not matter. No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers
words. The more words he remembers, the cleverer do his fellows esteem him.
He looks upon the great transformations of the world, but he does not see
them as they were seen when man looked upon reality for the first time.
Their names come to his lips and he smiles as he tastes them, thinking he
knows them in the naming.
— Roger Zelazny, "Lord of Light"

Two kinds of people in this world: Those that use facts and figures as a refuge, and those that use them to take flight.

I’ve been dealing with some annoying distractions with regard to
small minded people who would rather bog down in
rules/specifications/legaleez than actually pretend to know the spirit,
the higher method to the legal/bureaucratic nonsense that surrounds us.

It’s funny to note that some people are particularly good at
mimicking the "letter of the law", but there are few who actually chew
it or understand on a level that doesn’t just make it a talisman of
protection from the unwashed masses.

I’m talking about empathy, passion, earnestness, idealism, facts as protectors and ideas as
enablers. East egg West egg, new wealth, old
wealth, the separation of classes from those that "get" it and those
that only imitate it. I am fully convinced that the assumption of power
or old money (however ugly it can otherwise be) represents a natural
relationship with the things we "know" as versus the scandalous whip
that learned facts and deludes and concludes that it is all there is.

Knowledge is NOT power, never was and never will be. Knowledge is
the great liberator that lets one off that little ledge upon which
we’ve holed up. Would you hurl stones from your nook and laugh at the
ignorant or perhaps put yourself to flight and risk falling?

Before we put someone down for ignorance we should ask ourselves
whom do I serve: Do I serve my place, my space, my territory, or am I
an agent of the Truth, the essence of a thing and the spirit.

And it all comes full circle doesn’t it? Pick any idea from the New
Testament, Leave your belongs and come with me, Believe in me and you
shall have eternal life, let he who is without sin cast the first
stone. We could quote all day, but if we only see them as stones, we
end up with nothing, tucked into our nook, huddled clinging to our
knees in the cold and out of the light.

Ah, Now I Understand

April 22, 2001 /

Figured out what Jessie’s bad habit is. She likes to shred things. Note to Olaia, keep your toys put away… hmmm, maybe I can work this to my advantage *GRIN*.

Quote came to me in the car coming home from Reserve Duty. Don’t risk your life uselessly. USE it riskily. I was just thinking about people that have to thrill themselves with risk, bungie jumping, extreme sports, running with the bulls, whatever we can dream up to tempt death. This isn’t a useful way to spend your life. Now if you risk yourself in the service of others, save a buddy, stop a crime, struggle against politcal or religious oppression, do charity work in crime ridden areas etc. Now these are uses, and I imagine you’ll feel a lot more alive.

Olaia, the Cow Girl

April 16, 2001 /

We went to a birthday party for one of Laura’s cousin’s daughters, Ana Isabel. It was in Guayama where Laura’s Uncle, Tio Benny (hehe, Tio means uncle… so that’s Uncle, Uncle Benny) has horses. At first Olaia was a little tentative. We finished one and a half laps and she said to me, "Daddy, I’m done."

"Oh, okay, little girl."

We went inside to play party games, run around, snack etc… and she kept trying to sneak out to see the horses. Hehe, that little girl finished the day with about 10 laps on the horseys.

OlaiaDaddywithHorse.jpg

We also picked up a cute little stray dog that we named Jessie, after the Jessie from Toy Story II (whom Olaia loves). This little dog was recently abandoned and we gave her a new home, so it seemed the right name. She was lost and now she is found. And she IS the sweetest little dog. At 10 weeks, she is a little bundle of energy, but I can not figure out why someone would have abandoned her that way. Some people.

The Creation’s the Thing

April 13, 2001 /

I’ve been listening to Performance Today, a classical music program
from NPR, every day for the past two months. There’s nothing that I’ve
enjoyed more than my daily dose of classical music, commentary, and
history. Today, Fred Child related an interesting footnote to one of
Haydn’s works. Haydn’s newest piece was anticipated with great
expectation. His publisher was taking pre-orders on the score while
Haydn finished it up. That’s where I began to think.

Imagine, no CD’s, records, tapes, broadcasts. People (although
probably only the wealthier class) actually got all excited about a new
score coming out. They went out and bought the paper copy, brought it
home, learned, practiced, and played it. That was pretty much the only
method of reproduction that existed. If you wanted to hear a
performance you’d have to go to one. You as a listener didn’t control
when and where the performances happened, so if you wanted music on
demand, you had to play it.

Contrast this simpler form of music on demand to today’s digital
streaming, napster, cd’s, Direct TV, DVD’s etc. These days you have
access to thousands of hours of music at the touch of a button, from
anywhere, while you’re jogging, driving, sitting, or studying. Where
are we going? Obviously consumption of music has risen each year since
CD’s where introduced. Since Napster came along, CD sales have
increased over 50%. I’m sure the average music collection of Americans
has grown considerably as well, both in pirated and legal works.

I pondered all this while listening to music and enjoying myself. It
was easy, I sat there and listened. Imagine how long it would have
taken me to write Bach’s Passion of Matthew? It’s a lot easier to
listen to it than to write it, or play it. Playing it would require me
to study it, Bach, and other performances by Bach devoteés. I would
probably have to learn other pieces by Bach first, study technique,
history… wow. That’s years of preparation, careful dissection, and
practice. It is certainly easier to listen to it.

However, I do so wish that I had the time to learn to perform or
write. One day, I keep saying, I will dedicate myself to learning an
instrument. I’d like to be able to express myself in music. Sure it is
infinitely more work than listening or consuming, but to create
something… this is the joy of being human. I add maybe one or two
pieces of music to the world, in my own little corner. Maybe just
friends and family hear it. Maybe just Laura. Who knows, but it adds a
little piece of sustenance to our hungry world. It maybe feeds
someone’s soul just a bit. No one artist can create the world’s
repertoire, just as no one can right all the wrongs of the world, feed
every starving person, or save all the children. But if we all do a
little, take a leap, give of ourselves a bit instead of consuming,
eating, stuffing our faces with more and more and more every day, maybe
then.

So music is big business there days. "What is going to sell?" the
Sony execs ask. Creation is falling on fewer and fewer shoulders all
the time. Orchestras around the country have been failing at an
alarming rate. Pop music, never a bastion of creative integrity has
gone from hiding pre-fabbed bands, keeping the secret that Milli
Vanilli didn’t actually, write, sing or produce their own songs, to
just doing it right there on the TV for millions to see. Who cares if
they have talent. They look good, they can dance… the corporate
interests will take care of the slick packaging. Isn’t it funny that
there is more food in America than ever before, but more and more of it
is being grown by fewer and fewer people. Is this how the disease,
pesticides, and antibiotics have sneaked in? Is anybody at the wheel?
Who’s driving this bus?

It’s all connected. You name it, our military power is being
consolidated into fewer and fewer hands. Smart this and smart that. You
only need one person these days to take out a city. Take our Government
(please); far from the days of grass roots support and involvement, we
get all of our information from CNN. Just serve it up steaming hot and
we’ll suck it down without even a second thought. Does it matter that
it’s not quality, that it doesn’t demand back from you? No, I’d rather
just sit here. No wonder America is the fattest country on the planet.
Is it also why we’re the hungriest as well?

And there I sat. Wasn’t it a wonderful dream.

Contorted for the Sake of Music

April 12, 2001 /

Well, we’ve been in Puerto Rico for almost 3 years now. I wonder if
should change the title of this website to say, "What is Jim up to?" I
first created it so that people (parents and friends) would know where I was. "Where" isn’t as big a deal anymore. "What" is more interesting at least.

I’ve been consumed with work mostly. Business is going okay… we’re
running out of money, and things look grim. I believe the long term
prospect is very good, but we have to pull off some miracles between
now and then. Blah blah blah. Working hard, not doing much else,
except…

Being obsessive about classical music. There’s this great radio
program called Performance Today on National Public Radio. In Puerto
Rico, it’s broadcast on a dinky little university radio transmitter. I
could only pick it up in the car. It’s a two hour program, and so I
never quite got to listen to very much of it. I sometimes would pull up
to an appointment and sit in the car for five or ten minutes while I
finished the piece like savoring a nice slice of pie. You always hate
to rush it.

It always nagged me, tugged on my self… not a waking moment passed
without thinking of a way to hear all of Performance Today. Their
commentary, music from around the world, and history lessons are so
valuable that even missing a single day is devastating. How to get that
program recorded, I pondered.

Okay, first things first. Reception is terrible at our house. I
tried small antennas, stringing them around the house, contorting and
balancing them trying to find a sweet spot. Sigh, no avail after a few
days of fighting, the static still ruined my listening experience.

Meanwhile, I had set up a special program in Linux to record it
digitally every day while I was out. At least I could record the
program, but it still sounded crappy. Since it was in digital format, I
tried cleaning out the pops and static with a little program. It
worked, albeit not as well as I would have hoped. The "cleaned" signal
was decidedly flatter than the original. No pops, but the experience of
sitting in a concert hall just wasn’t there. It still bugged me.

Bring in the big guns. I stomped off to Radio Shack one weekend to
buy a rooftop antenna. I picked up a nice big one on clearance for 40
bucks. Not bad. Bought mounting hardware, wire, grounding kit etc.,
loaded it up and motored home. Since I am impatient, and I didn’t have
time to install it on the roof, I stood it up in the back yard, strung
the coax cable through the window and connected it up. I asked Laura to
listen in the computer room to see how the music sounded while I stood
in the back yard holding this contraption over my head. "How’s it sound
now?"

"Bad."

"Okay, now?"

"Better."

"Better-fine, or better still bad."

"I don’t know, what do you consider good enough?"

I fiddled a bit more

"Oh, stop there, it sounds the best."

Groan. There I was with this thing high above my head contorted,
leaning trying to avoid the trees. I placed it down best I could
pointed it roughly in the same direction as before and went inside to
hear for myself.

"Hey that sounds pretty good. I’ll leave it like that for a while."

The Olympics are Dead to Me

October 1, 2000 /

Got disgusted with the Olympics a bit early this year and decided to
go right into Halloween. Is it just me or have the Olympics lost their
spirit in the past ten years?

I guess it all started going awry for me after they started
admitting professional athletes. I think it was summed up
unintentionally, but pretty well, by Venus Williams after winning the
gold medal in women’s singles tennis. "How does it feel to win a gold
medal?" She was asked.

"I never really much thought about it. I guess… I um.. it feels pretty good. I’m just so happy."

She tried to recover but the truth was there. Of course the slip is that she really hadn’t
thought about the Olympics. For her, the basketball dream team, and the
professional cyclists this was just another world class meet, not
something for which they had sacrificed, suffered, and struggled. The
struggle was before, when they were working to go professional and make
a career there, gain fame and fortune. Now after they are on top, we
say, hey why don’t you come out and win a gold medal for your country.
Maybe it’s ratings, maybe it’s national pride, win at all costs, whip
the world so to speak, but there just isn’t the personal passion that I
remember as a kid and teenager. Now it’s just one more notch on the
belt. Hrrmmpfff, *shrug* just another big meet.

I never get to see wrestling, probably one of the oldest and noblest
sports in Olympic history, naw, nobody’s ever heard of this kid from
Iowa. Oh wait, he beat the Russian… okay let’s show that match. Bah!!
I want to see amateur athletes struggling, fighting, and happy with
winning a bronze. Where was the decathlon coverage? Where was
wrestling, shot put, discus, javelin, swimming? These sports were
covered only marginally… perhaps there weren’t enough famous American
athletes there. Oh well, I guess, I’ll stop complaining. In the
meantime I’ll sit back and enjoy the newest most fantastic-liscous
sport we could have ever dreamed up… synchronized diving. AHHHHH, now
we’re getting somewhere.

Zombie Lights, Sucking the Juice from My Eyeballs

September 16, 2000 /

joemoon.jpgI’ve always loved the movie "Joe Vs. The Volcano." It’s always
touched me in ways that only a handful of other stories or pieces of
art do. I always thought I was the only one. Then I found out through
an idle web search that there are a lot of people out there who have
dedicated a lot of time and thought into enjoying and studying this
movie. Imagine my surprise and delight. Some great stuff.

A great essay

This guy sums up just how I feel about the movie and indeed it’s a
pretty good life philosophy for me. Then I read this other one that
started me off on my own little wandering path of thought.

Another great essay

As our business has gotten funded and we are moving out our fog of
discontent, things are starting to make sense again. Once again, I’ve
learned some valuable lessons from Puerto Rican culture. I’ve been
noticing that people generally put up with a lot from one another and
are slow to break ties over disputes, ill words or broken promises.
Perhaps it’s the island culture that no one is very far from one
another and getting along is sort of a survival instinct.

Part of the reason most people behave better with strangers than
loved ones, is that strangers, others, co-workers, and friends are
quicker to throw you away if you screw up. You put yourself on your
best behavior directly proportionately to your imperiled value to the
other person. In Puerto Rico, office cultures are sometimes what we
Americans would call unprofessional… lots of noise, people maybe
talking loud. People are quicker to bring their home problems to the
office, bring their kids, bring their personal lives into the forefront
of their professional lives. I suspect that since Puerto Ricans are
slower to throw each other way, in a way it’s like family. You deal
with it and try to make it better instead of cutting the guy a pink
slip, check and sending him on packing on his merry way.

Viserally, Puerto Ricans are connected to life in a far deeper way
than most Americans… work, life… these two aren’t seperate.

Increasingly I’ve seen technology make culture take on a more
drastic meaningless existence. Movies are all show and no imagination.
Two hours is a very short story if it’s all visual. And breathless
wanting kisses of the forties have been replaced by a carefully crafted
sculpted silicon breast shot. Shakespeare in Love? Shouldn’t it have
been Shakespeare in lust?

The fast pace of the Internet makes ALL the rules able to be
rewritten in a matter of months. The WAY of doing things seems to go
extinct overnight, with the next new thing growing ever closer and
closer. To what are we beholden? Increasingly we grow dissatisfied with
religion. We shift from thing to thing looking for some sort of self
satisfaction, peace, or wellness. We flit and click and jump from one
thing to next hoping that it will fill us. We don’t want to hold too
tightly to any one thing for fear it will evaporate in a heartbeat. So
we tie down emotionally and fill our lives with eye candy… the
illusion of life.

At work we can be replaced without a second thought. Shareholders
you know… Downsizing, cutting middle management, move to new
facilities, restructuring, not making the cut are all reasons people
are tossed aside.

Quoting Joe in the movie Joe vs. the Volcano, "Zombi lights… sucking the juice out of my eyeballs."

It’s difficult now, with all external indications that the US is
doing very well. We have lots of jobs, money, and we are busy busy
busy. Gotta move, gotta do, gotta be.

I sometimes criticize Puerto Ricans for not caring about doing a
good job, being lazy or not being efficient. But Laura shamed me the
other day as I was bitching about something she broke or damaged,
saying to her, "At least I care about how I treat things."

"Too bad you don’t feel the same way about people," she shot back.

And damn it if she wasn’t right. We Americans are so pointy clicky,
efficient, and bottom line oriented that we seem to forget that people
are more important than things. It’s easy to answer correctly on a
test, but hard in practice. That’s one thing at which Puerto Ricans
excel. Things are inconsequential. Sure they love gadgets, cars, and
all manner of cool toys, but 99% of them are damaged in some way…
including all these new Jaguar’s I’m seeing recently. You work it out,
it’ll work out. Está bien… tranquilo.

And so there I will leave this for now. I’m still learning, still
growing, still failing, but every once in a while these things just
come out of the blue and hit you over the head plain as day. I hope the
Latin influences of family, culture, fun, and society can have some
great positive influences on the American way of life.

Registering to Vote

September 13, 2000 /

I registered to vote here in Puerto Rico. Laura’s sister,
Nellie, kept bugging us (Miray, Laura, and me) until we finally got
around to it. Feels good. Now I feel more a participating member of the
island. As far as the candidates go, I don’t believe that any make any
sense except for the Statehood party, Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP).

Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) which is the commonwealth status
party just wants to remain semi-autonomous. No vote in Congress, just
the good will of the US. It’s like having no responsibilities and
living at home with mom and dad. It’s gonna get old eventually. The
only solution is to move out, get a job, and visit during the weekends,
and don’t bring home your laundry.

As far as the independence party goes, Partido Independentista
Puertorriqueño I don’t know what to say. Keep dreaming maybe? Hehe, get
this, the party was founded by a guy named Gilberto Concepción de
Gracia [corrected his name and of course the next part is rendered moot ]. It can’t be his real name. He must have changed
it because it means "Gilbert Conception of Grace".  What a nut. I wonder what his mother said? Anyway, if Puerto Rico cuts
loose I don’t see it staying afloat. Too far out and too dependent on
the US’s economy. To become independent would be like moving out from
your parents and becoming homeless but having too much pride to ever
ask for help or just trying to do it on your own. Doesn’t make sense
either.

Really, the only fair choice is for the statehood party. It gives
Puerto Rico power as a state and keeps it from falling off the face of
the planet. I mean after 500 some years of being a colonial possession,
how does it think it could hack it on its own? Commonwealth is just the
same old mooching off your parents and eventually it gets old.

The Great Salmon

February 26, 1999 /

How do you judge the value of a salmon steak. Take the person who
buys it. Without the money for having bought that salmon steak it
wouldn’t be a reality. It would never arrive to the hands of the
seasoner. Sprinkle lemon, a little cilantro. Sprinkle precious drops of
olive oil. Rub it into the pink meat. Let it set. So without those who
would season the meat, there would be no great salmon steak. You have
to give those seasoners credit. Let’s pass that filet to the grill.
Without the griller, the right temperature, a few smoldering briquettes
for smoky flavor. Watch that meat, it only takes five minutes to cook a
piece of fish to perfection. Too hot, it’s blackened… too cool and
you risk it falling apart. Pass that fish to the serving plate. They
eat it, exclaiming, "Wow, that was the most wonderful salmon I’ve ever
eaten. My hat is off to you chef."

"Ah, but," he replies, "I couldn’t have done it without the
seasoner. That salmon was only as good as the seasoner. Seasoner, my
hat is off to you."

She smiles politely, "Very well, but without the buyer, I wouldn’t
have had anything. Without that great delicacy to start with, I
wouldn’t have anything to season."

"Thank you, but my part is a small one." says the buyer.

It was a fine salmon and all are in accord. They had made a fine meal and it was a team effort.

And then my mind drifts off to the salmon waters of the North
Pacific. I see a great strength darting through the cold ocean waters.
Is this greatness a gift of the buyers, seasoners, and grillers? I
think this as I imagine its life, and I see that the grand beast was
magnificent.

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