Friday, 11th o December 1998
Today was "Olaia walk day". We went for three walks with her. She just loves the stroller. She could be crying her eyes out one minute and the next sleeping so soundly as soon as we get moving. Today we went for a walk in the morning to get a little sun. Then in the afternoon we went for some ice cream with our sister-in-law and her two kids. That was fun. Olaia slept.
Dinner time rolled around and we decided to go walking to a small Mexican restaurant on the ocean. Let me tell you, don't let anyone tell you that having kids means that can't have a romantic dinner. We sat by the ocean with the rough north sea crashing on the beach. I swear I could feel the mist at times. Olaia stayed in her stroller looking at everything, the walls, the ceiling, her daddy, her mommy, and lights. She just stared and stared. Laura and I talked an enjoyed each other's company, some delicious food, and our time together.
On the way home, we got hit by an rain shower. We took cover under an awning and shielded Olaia from the drops with an umbrella. We waited, laughed, and got a little wet. After about five minutes the rain went away and we continued home (Olaia sleeping again). It was her first rain shower and she slept through the whole thing.
Thursday, 10th o December 1998
The Day of the flat tire. I don't know how many of you have had flat tires, but today I have been initiated. This is no small thing. I am sure that aside from excuses for arriving at meetings-work-dentists appointments late it is a rare occurrence. Let me tell you about how it works down here. Half the cars drive around with those ridiculous little donut wheels (small spare tire). It's almost an epidemic. The other day I say a BMW (a nice one too) driving around with that silly little wheel. If he had been in a car locker room the towel whipping would have been fierce.
It's all fun and games, however, until it happens to you which if you live in Puerto Rico, it will. Maybe it has something to do with the heat (perhaps the rubber is half melted anyway allowing anything from a toothpick to a hard jolly rancher to penetrate your side wall), or the fact that the streets seem to have an extraordinary quantity of pot holes and debris. I don't know. But today I came out to the parking lot to find out that I had a flat. Aw man. I breathed a sigh of relief, however, because thank God that it didn't happen in rush hour traffic.
I whipped out the tiny silly diminutive God-awfully goofy little spare tire and cranked up those silly little toy jacks that take a million turns to go up half an inch, put the silly spare on and drove gingerly (avoiding pot holes and debris) to Santurce, a working class neighborhood (some would call it a tough neighborhood) and found a guy who repaired tires... for, get this... $5. Yes, you heard right. $5. Tire repair around here is such a booming business that they charge $5 a tire and work around the clock. Hell, maybe I should get out of the computer racket and cash in on the booming flat business. So the guys found the hole repaired the tire and slapped it back on in about 5 minutes..
...which is good, great wonderful, brilliant, but remember that $5 I was talking about? I didn't have it. I had $4.50. Now I couldn't exactly try to scam this guy out of fifty cents on an already impossibly low fee. Wouldn't you know it, they didn't accept credit or ATM. To further compound matters, I was in an area where there were no ATMs. Oh, did I mention it was now 5 o'clock. Aw geez, now I have to navigate down streets that when they were designed were intended to be two way streets. Today, however, Puerto Rican's have taken parking to new levels as cars are stacked on either side in impossible configurations making this already small two way street an even smaller two way street. So it became the Samurai on the bridge all over again. You gonna back up to the nearest cross street or am I? I think not knave. I have to find an ATM. You will suffer should you wish to challenge me. It worked, he backed off and up he went to the nearest cross street. I gave a little wave of thanks and made my way into the heart of a six pack a day smoker, potato chip snarffing, egg guzzling, red meat devouring, whole milk drinking, 500 hundred pound overweight 50 year old. CLOGGED is the word that kept rearing it's ugly head as I banged on my steering wheel and cursed the accursed traffic and the pot hole ridden tiny streets. After about an hour, I spied it, an oasis of money. A-ha, doh!, I'm on the wrong side of the street. Quick stop in a gas station-run across the street on a pedestrian cross walk that only half remained-narrowly missed by cars honking at this brazen fool who stepped out of his car for even a millisecond-lunging for the security of electronic cash, information age technology that would save my ass, give me my cash and allow me to get on with my life.
So the deed it done, now I have to get back to the tire shop. To relive the feeling, reread the above paragraph. Now I arrive back to the shop and it's closed. Ah, there he is. I breathe a sigh of relief, and notice the humble tire change guy hanging out at the bar next door. Here's your money, I say, and thanks for your patience. Whew. The day is done, the tire is repaired, I can go home complete, satisfied, whole again.
I'll worry about putting that jigsaw puzzle called the jack, lug wrench, wing nut, spare tire assembly sometime next month. For now it'll just kick around in the trunk. Hey, maybe I'll need it again really soon.
Tuesday, 8th o December 1998
Today, Laura and I went furniture shopping, and after running around all day and seeing the horrendous prices, we decided hell, we're going to build our own. So I bought two books on furniture building and we're on our way. First project will be a coffee table. I mean, I have a degree in engineering, and Laura has a degree in sculpture. If we can't build some nice furniture, we're pretty sad. I think it will be fun. It's much better to put your hands on something, to create it and have a true sense of ownership. It's like that thing is part of the family, not a trinket that you purchased made from fiberboard and plastic laminate. No sir, we're going to make it with our own two hands.
Monday, 7th o December 1998
Did you know that in the first two photos below, Olaia already weighs two pounds more than in the ones below. Wow. She is an eating machine (she's another kind of machine too, but we won't talk about that). It would suffice to say, Laura is the department of nutrition. and I am the department of sanitation.
Mostly the stuff I could talk about now is job related. Do you want to hear? Well I suppose you could just skip this section if you didn't care. It's mostly computer stuff. I'm installing LINUX servers for companies down here in Puerto Rico. They are grossly dependent on Microsoft for their computing needs. What I hope to do is show them that they can create Puerto Rican solutions to Puerto Rican problems, that they don't have to feed at the fringes of American Imperialistic software companies (Microsoft), that they can use and develop an operating system that belongs to the world (LINUX) that will empower them and embolden the future of non-American countries and bring about an era where the operating system belongs to the world... it's what you do with it that matters. There I've said my piece. As it is now, I've got to get some user's groups going down here. They have little idea that LINUX even exists.
In Spain, there is an incredible push to finish good Spanish Language documentation for LINUX. They are developing, molding, and organizing along with the other countries of Europe to create an operating system for the world (that is free). But over here in probably one of the most prosperous countries in the Spanish speaking world nobody thinks that computers and Spanish go together. This will leave so many people behind. Think of a world where everyone has to do it the American way. Pretty boring if you ask me and beside it will leave out so many people without that elite access to the English speaking world. So we need software in Spanish, and I hope to mobilize Puerto Rican technology professionals. Sound good? Exciting things are afoot.
Sunday, 22nd o November 1998
First, some pics:
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I guess it's obvious, but I'll say it anyway. We've been very busy. Between this little bundle of joy and the creation of our consulting business, we've been run ragged. At the moment I have a flu that I've been battling for the past four days. Sucks. I guess between the stress and lack of sleep something caught up with me.
Olaia is such a sweet heart, and rather than going on about how beautiful and wonderful and all those other things that new parents go on about, but for that mindless babble that we all know so well, you've got to come visit us in Puerto Rico. Sorry that's the deal. Come visit the OG Hotel to be opening up soon (as soon as we sign the papers and close on our house). Wish us luck.